Bangkok

Here in Bangkok we met up with our old friends Steve and Barb!  They've just come over on the Crystal Symphony and are touring SouthEast Asia. Bangkok is mid-90's hot and humid which you can see in our faces as we visit two of the many of the beautiful temples (or wats) that are in the city.  Above, George and Ann pose in front of the 5 ton solid gold Golden Buddha. Below, we pose with Steve and Barb at the foot of the Reclining Buddha.

We also walked through the street markets -- stall after stall of beautiful flowers and flower tributes. It is the Buddhist tradition to have small temples in each home decorated each day with fresh flowers. George even got a blessing for our trip from a monk that we met on the ferry across the river!

As Easter morning dawned, we got this shot of the Bangkok skyline from our room in the Peninsula Hotel.  We boarded a longboat like the one below and toured the river and canals of Venice of the East!

Xian & Terracotta Warriors

You can't imagine the wonder and awe that we felt as we walked through the actual site where the figures of the Terracotta Army were buried in 210 BC. Can you imagine the expertise and creativity to perfectly model and fire these 6000 figures with very individual faces and very peaceful expressions? They guard the tomb of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Di, the first Qin August Emperor, who also was responsible for the creation of the Great Wall. This guy was not known to be such a nice guy, but did he think big!  Imagine what they will uncover if they ever open up his tomb!  Our guide through our days in Xian was a wonderful woman, Zhang Lin, who was President Clinton's guide when he visited this site.


In the evening we had dinner at a traditional Chinese dinner theatre. Beautiful sets and costumes -- quite elegant.

The next day we visited the Green Mosque in the Muslim section of Xian -- a peaceful oasis in the middle of the Muslim Bazaar!  The cherry blossoms were in bloom - a touch of spring in this bustling city!

Great Wall

Words cannot describe this experience! 

Wan Li Chang Cheng translates to The Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li. The first sections were built as early as the fifth century BC! Spanning 4500 miles, we climbed this small section outside of Beijing up to the sign that says One World, One Dream. (You really need to click on the picture below to appreciate the vastness of the wall and find the sign.) Didn't quite make it to the top tower.

As you can see from my outfit, it was quite cold and breezy up there. George bargained for a very cheap price for my gorgeous hat from one of the many peddlers!

We couldn't leave Beijing without a comment on the wine! We were able to enjoy Great Wall Red and Great Wall Muscat at one of our dinners -- We switched to chinese beer quickly after that!  At any rate, since we couldn't bring back our bottles, we've included pictures instead.

Beijing

China -- We arrived in Beijing just as the reports of a rebellion in Tibet were being projected throughout the world. In our room at The Peninsula Hotel, any mention of Tibet on the TV was followed by minutes of blackout. A quick reminder of the communist influence over the media!

Everywhere we went, there were signs of the Olympics.  We were able to have a quick drive through the Olympic site.  The Birds Nest Stadium looked to be complete, but there is much construction underway.  The Natatorium looked complete, and an international Water Polo competition was scheduled for the week we were in town.  We begged the bus driver to find a store with Olympic gear, and finally we were successful.

We spent a very busy morning in Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City. Tian An Men Square was very stark with a variety of Chinese soldiers marching about to make sure that there we didn't disturb anything. We then proceeded through the Chairman Mao Gate into the Forbidden City. Full of hundreds of buildings that are centuries old. As the dynasties continued, the emperors just continued to expand the facilities.


I fell in love with the enameled roof ornaments.  The larger the procession of figures, the more important was the building. For instance, this building with nine figures on the roof was meant to be used by the emperor.

George and Chairman Mao met up again at the park outside the Temple of Heaven.  This was a great stop -- not a lot of tourists, but full of senior citizens enjoying a pretty spring day!  All along this promenade, there were groups of people playing cards, singing, playing musical instruments and just having a great afternoon in the park!  Inside the walkway, the walls and the ceilings were decorated with centuries old paintings and murals.

Hong Kong -- A study in contrasts

Here we are -- Hong Kong Harbor on a sunny spring day!  We docked right in the middle of this bustling city -- so modern with skyscrapers for as far as one could see and around every turn. We had a great tour of old temples and historic buildings in the New Territories.  The picture below is of ancient Chinese ceramics that lined a rooftop of an ancient home in the middle of a crowded suburb of 1960's style apartment buildings.  We finished up the day with a ride on the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island and Peking Duck at the Mandarin Oriental.

Brunei

Here we are in Brunei on Borneo Island on our way to Hong Kong.

It is an interesting study in contrasts -- a benevolent dictatorship of 400,000 ruled by the Sultan and his family.  We visited the Mosque built to honor the present Sultan -- the 29th Sultan of Brunei, so there are 29 golden domes, we've only captured 11 in this picture. Everything in the mosque is only the very best --the Italian marble,the unbelievable mosaic tiles, the 29 Austrian crystal chandeliers...

We also visited a home in the water village where some of the common Brunei people live.  We traveled in a pontoon boat on the river that goes through the city -- to the water village where there are several thousand homes built on stilts above the river -- the water taxis such as the one above are everywhere! The homes are very simple and have electricity and some have plumbing -- not anything that would be acceptable to many of us. The government apparently has built condominiums on land that are very nice, but some of the water village people don't want to leave their homes on stilts!

As we were leaving, we caught this picture of the brand new parliament building.

Unbelievable!

Sea Days

Soo we have had a few days at sea and I completely abandoned the blog! 

Actually, we've had nothing to post -- We were rained out of our trip to the Great Barrier Reef and there was absolutely nothing to post about our trip to Darwin.  I don't think we'll be going back there though we did get some great t-shirts!

But, just so you all know, we have been very busy while cruising the Indian Ocean, the Java Sea and the South China Sea en route to Hong Kong.  The ship sponsored a World Games activity with all kinds of opportunities to participate.  Crystal even brought Cathy Rigby and Mitch Gaylord from Olympics of old and had them officiate.   So George and I signed up to play Social Bridge --- and we won the Gold Medal!  George bid and made a couple of small slams and I played as best I could, and we had the best cards we've had in a long time... So here we are with the Captain and Mitch and Cathy and the other medal winners!  Very exciting!