8. Vietnam

Fri, Oct 17 Nha Trang, Vietnam

Vietnam is another world. A world of people earning a few dollars a day for a whole day’s labour. Our pictures will say it all. This is a country of poverty – not as desperate as Saharan Africa, but still poverty, of idle men sitting in groups at the side of the road or in roadside shacks, of literally millions of scooters and motorbikes, of chaos on the often very wide but always poorly maintained roads. But, it is also a country of a lush and beautiful landscape. Vietnam has 86 million people living in a long slender land mass that is one half the size of Ontario (which has a population of 13 M). The rural habitation is like nothing you would see anywhere in Canada. When the US military left South Vietnam in 1975, the country was unified into a closed Communist state with a capital, Hanoi, in the north. About 20 years later, however, Vietnam realized the benefits of some capitalism, and began sharing its natural beauty with visitors from around the world.

The Open Communism policy created opportunities for international investment and considerable very inexpensive tourism.

Nha Trang – which means White House - is an oceanside city of 1 million, with beaches and lush vegetation, but major squalor. Our friends, Stephanie and Peter, had pre-arranged a private driver and tour, so we boarded a surprisingly comfortable air-conditioned van to tour the region. As in other parts of the world, big and small tour operators are given money by factories and businesses to bring prospective clients for “rest stops”.











Ours included an embroidery factory where young women huddled over stretched frames using microscopic silk thread to stitch pictures painstakingly day after day. We succumbed and bought.

The other “rest stop” was a traditional home (shack)-based business making the omnipresent reed coolie hats – where we again purchased, this time 2 hats for $1.50 each, which had taken 3 women all morning to weave!

Colleen continued her practice of handing out Princess chocolates to children, when possible. Amazingly, whenever she did this, as much as the children were fascinated, they never asked for more even though they could see she had a bag full. Of course, back home, kids would always ask for more.

Our excellent tour also included a mid-morning fruit break at a rural home, seeing rice paddies and water buffaloes, up close, lunch at a wonderfully scenic and rustic restaurant on a river, and doing the streets of Nha Trang by pedicab! Quite a day. and all for a reasonable price, in good company.














Sat, Oct 18 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Formerly called Saigon until the US military left in 1975, this madhouse city of 8 million had no redeeming features we could discern - other than our excellent lunch at the Inter-Continental Hotel. After a scenic few hours cruising up the deep-water navigable part of the Saigon River to our docking berth at a place called Phu My, we once again bought a Princess-led tour bus and had a 2 hour drive north into the city.











During our 3 hours in the city, we saw the famous Rex Hotel, from which news correspondents reported the War; the Reunification Palace, where the Vietnam War ended with the fall of this building on April 30, 1975; and the US Embassy grounds from which the last helicopter departed. (The embassy building itself, and its photo-memorable rooftop, were torn down and replaced).





One particular highlight: we bought a beautiful picture of 4 Vietnamese women that we will display somewhere at home.



One particular lowlight: the large covered Binh Tay market that we visited for an hour.

The images of gaunt, hopeless, stall-keepers selling the same jeans, shirts, fish, kettles, posters, tinware as their neighbours, and toiling away their lives for a dollar or two a day in ghastly, cramped, fetid, stinking conditions, still haunts our minds. Not our favorite day, but a real day in the lives of many Vietnamese.

7. Hong Kong

Tues & Wed, Oct 14 & 15, 2008 Hong Kong, China

Check off another of the 100 Places to Go Before You Die. We have now been to Hong Kong, and it was quite magical. Hectic, crowded beyond belief, noisy, frantic, and prosperous. Victoria Harbour is known as one of the most beautiful harbours in the world, and we can believe that. It has a mesmerizing skyline and level of activity on the water. Ferries, cargo ships, sampans, motorboats, fishing vessels, junks, all jockey for space in a crazy water ballet. But get away from the water’s edge, and the concrete hides all vistas. At least in SF and Vancouver, other contenders for best harbour, you still get glimpses of the natural beauty around you. In Hong Kong, the hundreds and hundreds of 40 storey slender towers block the views.

Our ship was too big for the inadequate docking facilities, so we anchored in Victoria Harbour and were transported to HK Island by 3 city ferries. We took a Princess-organized Introduction to Hong Kong Island bus tour, which included stops at the famous Stanley Market (disappointing souvenir junk), Victoria Peak (the main mountain with awesome views and a steep tram, for which we spent more time lining up than visiting), and Aberdeen fishing village (around which we took a sampan boat ride that was excellent). On our own, later, we left the island by ferry to transfer to the mainland side of the harbour – the city of Kowloon – and dropped in at the famous Peninsula Hotel (akin to an upscale version of Toronto’s Royal York), and searched for fabric and tailors… of which there are many. After sunset, still on the Kowloon side, we met up with friends Sharon/Hugo and Steph/Peter to view the laser light show that nightly plays out to music against the skyscrapers of Hong Kong across the harbour.
[This is a video. Click black arrow to experience the sights and sounds of Hong Kong harbour]

We ferried back to the ship at 9 pm, and squeezed in another quick meal and a fabulous 3 act folkloric show (Chinese musicians, dragon dancers, and a “face-changer” – an advanced art from the Beijing Opera where the performer changes masks at lightning speed) before retiring.

Day 2 in Hong Kong was on our own, and a group of us took a subway (sleek, clean and efficient) under the harbour to Kowloon’s Ladies’ Market, another multi-block souvenir site, it turned out, but with some nuggets. We prowled other dense, dense streets, then subwayed back to Hong Kong to ride the longest outdoor escalator in the world. Hong Kong has some hills akin to San Francisco’s, but in lieu of a cable car, a covered escalator ascends some 10-12 city blocks to ease the commute for mountainside city dwellers past narrow crowded streets where there is no bus service.

Hong Kong buzzes and teems: population 10M. In 2001, Hong Kong, Kowloon and the adjacent New Territories, reverted back to the People’s Republic of China, after Britain’s 99 year lease expired. Very little (by a further 50 year agreement) has changed; this beacon of capitalism still thrives in the new China.

6. Islands: Okinawa & Taiwan

Sat, Oct 11, 2008 Okinawa, Japan

The paperwork to enter some of these countries on this trip is unbelievable. China and Japan have had MAJOR bureaucratic requirements to get into their countries. China has already been documented above. Japan’s Immigration officials have required all passengers to be fingerprinted and photographed each time we have come to a Japanese port. Okinawa was our third. In this age of high tech, you would think electronically transmitting records would be customary, but the Japanese insisted we all line up for hours and be re-documented. What a waste of Princess’ staff time, too. An added twist in Okinawa was that before getting off the ship, every passenger also had to be thermally scanned to ensure no fevers or infections with heat sensing guns aimed at us! We spent longer preparing for the Okinawa stop than being there.

Okinawa is a 60 mile long island located 340 miles south of the southern most main island of Japan, and it had a pivotal role in WW2. As the Allied forces cleared the Pacific and began to close in on Japan, they needed a secure major island from which to launch their assault on Japan’s main cities. It turned out to be the bloodiest battle of the war, and there were more casualties in the 86 day Battle of Okinawa than at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. In all, 125,000 combatants and 100,000 Okinawan civilians died. Japan’s army suffered nearly 90,000 deaths – including many to suicide – while the US hemorrhaged some 28,000 soldiers, sailors and Marines in the 86 days – that is an average of 325 dead per day – a staggering total. Many, many more were wounded including a record 35,000 lost to psychiatric combat stress disorders. The materiel losses, too, were massive: more than 750 airplanes were destroyed – a huge amount – and dozens of ships were sunk by kamikaze pilots. The losses were so great, coming as it did on the heels of the death toll at Iwo Jima, that a Congressional investigation examined the Pacific military leaders’ conduct. The losses also were instrumental in the decision by Harry Truman to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki just 6 weeks later.

The US Air Force still maintains a base and 25,000 personnel on the island, and so it has become Americanized far more than Japan proper, yet very few citizens speak English. There are naturally some monuments to Peace and some relics of the Japanese Naval HQ, but the focus of tourism now is the old Japanese Ryukyu heritage, embodied in the . Shurijo Castle – yet another UNESCO World Heritage site, and a restored site of kings from 1429 to 1879. In fact, in a recent resurgence of significance, the 2000 G7 conference was held at the castle. With Steph/Peter, and Sharon/Hugo, we picked up a taxi at the pier for 2700 yen ($27.00) and rode a comfortable taxi up one of the many mountains to it. The site was interesting but hardly regal compared to European standards. Lots of Japanese school groups in uniform, and seniors there on day trips.

Later, we dropped in to a small grocery store and found an unusual array of goods, only a few of which we could decipher! After we bought wine which we carried in a see through bag, we were approached by a local official that it was against the law to have liquor or wine visible as you walked through the streets. (So we removed our clothes to conceal the wine, and proceeded on naked through the streets.)

Naha City is the main city on the island, and for the return from the castle to downtown, we boarded the smooth and efficient monorail line.

That was good; the downtown wasn’t. It was essentially a single main drag that was crass, touristic and disappointing. One positive though is that the Japanese are really into keeping a clean environment. Recycling bins were frequent and visible. All in all, however, this was a 6 hour port stop that was not worth the paperwork!

Sun, Oct 12, 2008 Taipei, Taiwan

Today we entered one of the regions of greatest manufacturing wealth in the world. The island of Taiwan, we were told, is one of the largest creditor economies in the world. Taiwan enjoys a foreign exchange trade surplus of $500 billion. And the city of Taipei, which is the center of it all, looks prosperous. Taipei and suburbs have a population of 6.7 million, and a high density (some 10,000 people per square mile), but there are lots of parks, memorials, and colour. It is hot here, since it is just a few miles north of the Tropic of Cancer, and on the same latitude as Cuba.

Taiwan is the last remaining territory of the formerly huge Republic of China – as opposed to the People’s Republic of China, which is mainland China. Dr. Sun Yet Sen, in 1911, led an uprising in China that toppled the last Emperor - and ended the long history of dynasties which had ruthlessly ruled China since 200 BC - and ushered the Chinese into an era of tentative democracy. His successor in 1925 as leader of the Kuomintang party, Chiang Kai-shek, tried to suppress developing Communist party cells but in the ensuing Chinese Civil War (1927-1949), he was forced to retreat to Taiwan, as the Communist Party under military and political leader Mao Zedong took over mainland China, renaming it the People’s Republic of China. The PRC insists Taiwan is part of the PRC, but the UN still recognizes Taiwan as the Republic of China.

Two of our dining tablemates, Carol & David, from south of San Francisco, organized a tour in Taipei, coordinated by a former colleague of David’s, May Lin, who was visiting her parents here. And what a terrific day it was! So, while a hundred buses lined up on the dock to take the Princess-organized tours in groups of 45 out on their day at $100+ per person, we hopped into a luxurious mini-coach for 10 with a guide personally chosen by May’s family, and were off. Among the highlights in this impressive city:

National Palace Museum – A truly magnificently displayed collection of national treasures showing the development of Chinese calligraphy, silk making, pottery and other arts, with a special emphasis on the Ming Dynasty (1500s) pieces

Martyrs’ Shrine – Several acres of buildings and monuments dedicated to Sun Yet Sen, and the others who sacrificed for the termination of China’s dynastic rulers; we also witnessed the very formal changing of the guard ceremony.

Grand Hotel – One of the top 5 hotels in the world, a few years ago, according to our guide. It still had splendor, from what we could see (although a Superior room was only $250US), and we had a lovely traditional Chinese luncheon courtesy of May’s mother, who was accompanying the tour.

Pao-An Temple – A very colourful downtown Daoist temple. Plenty of incense. After praying for some specific need, the penitents drop on the floor two pieces of wood shaped like large apple slices with red paint on one side. If two red sides come up, the prayer is going to be answered. If not, uh-oh…

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial – Very large plaza and dramatic monument to Taiwan’s most famous leader

and finally…

Taipei 101 – The tallest building in the world at just over ½ km high, with the fastest elevator in the world. It took us a mere 39 seconds to rise to the amazing observation deck on floor 88 (the luckiest Chinese number is 8; the unluckiest is 4, so there are no floors numbered 14,24,34,44, etc). This building is so tall that there is a 660 ton ball on the 89th floor that is hydraulically controlled to counterbalance the wind that would otherwise make it sway.

Mon, Oct 13, 2008 At sea
By crossing the Tropic of Cancer today - which lies at 23° north of the Equator – we officially entered the tropics. Sea conditions remain calm. We have had amazing weather on this entire trip. After passing through the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and mainland China, we continued on the East China Sea.