A group of us is off on a new adventure ... A cruise from Seattle to Japan, via Alaska, Russia and Korea.  Yesterday we boarded the Diamond Princess in Seattle.  At 5 PM after the fire drill we set sail under clear skies and mild weather.  The skyline of this big city was the back drop.

I don't know how to introduce our group? ? ?  It's a mixture of school friends, travel friends, relatives and church friends.  It wasn't until last night at dinner that we all met as a group as we sat at two nearby tables.  Here we are:

TomO, Carl and Ken (good friends and travel mates)
Joel and Elaine (brother)
Levonne and Rick (cousin)
Barbara and Blanche (twins, high school class mates)
Karen and Paula (high school class mate)
Pat and Rod (cousin)
Helen and Chuck (friends)
Tom and Roger (me and my cousin)

Click on the thumbnail to see us leaving Seattle: 

Today is an "at sea" day.  Tomorrow we arrive in  Ketchikan at 7:00AM.  TomO, Carl, Ken and I are taking a sea plane excursion.  I'll tell you about it if I survive!

Our first stop was Ketchikan, Alaska.  The weather was mild and partly sunny.  TomO, Ken, Carl and I booked a float plane ride.  We assembled on the pier and took a short bus ride to Taquan Air where our plane was waiting.  The plane is called a Beaver and was built by DeHavilland.  It seats 8 passengers plus the pilot.  I sat in the front with the pilot and 4 people sat behind us.
 

After we returned to Ketchikan, we toured the old town, shops and dock area.  There are some old building on Creek Street ... built on piers over the water.  We walked along and watched salmon jumping.  Almost all of the stores are offering 50% off.  I bought a Russian cold weather military hat in preparation for the glacier excursion later on!

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On our first full day in Osaka, we were met by Keiko, the wife of Tetsue.  Tetsue
is a high school teacher who lives in Kobe and was an exchange teacher to the United States in 1993.  He stayed for several weeks with Joel and Elaine.

Keiko took us by train to Kyoto.  The day was sunny and warm.  We toured a temple and shrine before ending up at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.

First we saw the Golden Pavilion (Rokuon-Ji Temple), built in the 1220's.  We walked into a serene, park-like area ending up beside a lake.  In the near distance was the beautiful, three story gilt structure, topped by a Chinese phoenix.  Everyone stopped at the shore of Mirror pond to snap pictures.  We continue walking around the grounds before continuing on to the next temple.

We did a lot of walking today.  Next to a stone works (lanterns and small pagoda shapes), we entered a shrine called the Ryoan-Ji Temple with its Zen garden.  At the top of the steps, we took off our shoes and strolled to an area with a "garden" of raked gravel and flat stones.  It made me very agitated and I wanted to smooth over those rake marks and dig holes and plant chrysanthemums!

We were late and just had time to walk through "forest" ... a grove of redwood planted in a carpet of green moss.

You can see pictures at:

and  

Tetsuya  had the day off as his students were taking tests!  The was fortunate for us because he was able to take us to the city of Nara.  We are very lucky to have Tetsuya  and his wife Keiko guiding us around Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and later on Kobe!

This city if noted for its temples and "Bambi".  We took the train then a city bus and even before we arrived at our temple destination, we saw deer walking through the city parks.  We started out at a Shinto temple.  When we got there, a service was in progress and we watched for a while.  There was some music from

a pan flute looking instrument and chanting/singing.The priest wore a black, net helmet with a stiff tail.  Other officials less elaborate head wear.  Two women  in white kimonos synchronized their movements including the ringing of bells.

The next temple (Todaiji) was Buddhist and was bjuilt in 700's.  It is home of the Vaiocana Buddha "shines like the sun".  The enormous wooden structure has burned several times. 

Although this current temple is 1/3 the size of the original one, we were told it's the largest wooden structure in the world.  The enormous bronze and gilt Buddha statue was inside.  In the back was a large wooden column with a hole near the bottom.  The diameter was the size of the Buddha's nostril and if you could climb through it, you would have good luck.  There was a group of school children (10 years old) doing that!
 

Tonight, Ken packed his bags and took off for the airport for his return to San Francisco.
 

You can see some pictures at:
   and      and 

On our last full day in the Osaka area, we took the train to the Kobe station. where we were met by Tetsuya.  He took us by bus to where he and his wife Keiko are building a new home.  The house was draped in grey tarps.  The framing and outside (stucco) are complete and work was progressing on putting wall-board on the interior walls. It is 2 story with an attic (storage) and Tetsuya thought it would be finished in 2 months.

An unusual feature in the kitchen were wall cabinets where you open the door and the interior storage racks lower to a convenient level.  Keiko served cold tea and coffee to us before we continued on to downtown Kobe.

Tetsuya took us to the City Hall building which was 20 or 30 stories tall.  We took the elevator to the top where there were 2 view restaurants and we had lunch.

Afterwards, we went to the main train station.  TomD spun off to do Internet things and the rest got on another train to go over the mountains to a hot springs spa for som communal bathing.  Now days, the men bathe separately from the women.  Everyone came out feeling 20 years younger!
 

Most of our group has now returned to the West Coast, USA.  Ken left after 2 days and Joel, Elaine, Rick, Levonne, Roger, Pat and Rod left on Sunday after 4 days.  Now we are three travellers:  TomO, TomD and Carl!

As we left our "security blanket" Tetsuya, and the suburbs of Osaka, our train climbed south steadily into the mountains.  Two trains, an almost vertical cog railway, and a bus brought us to  Koyasan, as the Japanese affectionately call this Shingon Buddhist enclave of more than 115 temples, which was founded in 816 CE.

Koyasan is a beautiful and peaceful retreat 3,000 feet above the mad beehive of  Osaka.  Vegetarian head-shaved monks chanting in the temple at the crack of dawn, the scent of incense, a full moon, mist swirling about the towering cypress trees, exquisite Japanese gardens and temples  ... all part of the atmosphere here.

About 50 of the temples have Japanese ryokan (country inn) style accommodations  for guests.  Part of the fun was encountering the complicated rituals of the various kinds of slippers --- some for the tatami-matted bedrooms, some for the toilets, etc.  the ritual of the Japanese hot tub baths, our, komono-clad, cross-legged vegetarian meals on the floor of our room, the futton laid out on the tatamis for our beds.

We met a lively, young Spanish artist named Paco on the train.  And we spent time with him exploring and taking lots of pictures of the temples and gardens. 

Tomorrow we go off this quiet mountain top to the madding masses of Tokyo.

You can see some pictures at:
  and 
 

We ran into a nice, young Spanish artist named Paco when we were taking the trains to Mt. Koya.  We chatted a lot and then went our separate ways when we got to our destination.  He was in Osaka on a grant and knew someJapanese and helped us get around.

The next day we ran into him again as we were hiking around visiting the Temples in this sacred area.  When wewent insode of a huge, bright orange temple, he noticed the quality of the light that came in through the shogi screens.  We took turns taking pictures of each other and pictures on a timer, and the attached postcard shows you
the results. 

Okay, this is going to another long e-mail as I try to catch up!  You may want tostart looking for the delete button on your computer.  TomO, Carl and I left ourneat Shinjuku hotel on Oct 25th.  They have gone on to Sri Lanka and Southern India  to continue their trip.  I am now in Korea, visiting a friend named Louis.  This e-mail will tell you a little about our  week in Tokyo.

(Please let me know if you want your name taken off of the e-mailing list!)

On Oct 16th, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Shin-Osaka station (Shin = new, Shinkansen = "new trunk line")  and arrived at Tokyo Station about 2.5 hours later.  We discovered that we were on a "Nozomi" train and our passes were NO good.  However, since it was their mistake, they let us finish our trip!  We're not sure what a Nozomi is, but it's a little faster than a speeding bullet.

We looked up a friend named Aurelio.  I'd met him in Honolulu in January and again in Southern California in August.  He's originally from Texas and San Diego and has now lived in Tokyo for 13 years.  He teaches English to private students.  Throughoutour stay, he was a great help in getting around and finding the sights to see.

* * * Roppongi * * *

Our first Tokyo hotel was in the Roppongi district.  There are a lot of foreigners here because many embassies and consulates are here.  The hotel was nice and staff friendly.  We each had a very small, modern room there.

We visited the Tokyo Edo Historical Museum.  A volunteer guide took us around the exhibits of what Japan looked like in the 1600's.  The guide had just returned from a trip to Portland where she had attended college years ago (Cascade? or Concordia? or something like that.)  On of the exhibits was a set of wooden buckets, weighted as to be full of night soil.  You could lift them and see what it would have been like.

We found an Internet cafe within one block.  The three of us wanted to go in and only use PC but that wasn't allowed.  We ended up each using one.  A day or so later I returned with my laptop and was able to connect to their network and download a week's worth of e-mail.

One night we went to the Ginza district.  It was a little like Roppongi ... affluent,
but with more westerners, Mercedes and BMW's.  There was a lot of energy ... human and all of the neon lighting.  Like Time Square, there were large screen TVs with ads on them.



* * * Fish Market * * *

A trip to the Tokyo Fish Market is highly rated in the tour books.  Aurelio said he thought the fish market was not allowing tourists to come through anymore.  However, we were able to go into the huge, huge warehouse - wholesale floor.  We could see why it might be dangerous because the activity is frenetic with carts, motorized carriers, buyers, sellers, fish cutters and so on.  At one point I saw a worker using a machete to precisely slice through an 8 foot tuna.  Here is a little movie I made at the fish market.  It is about 800 Kilobytes and I think it should play in your browser (it does on mine):  http://www.tomdaniels.com/2005AsiaCruise/FishMarket.mov

We split up after the fish market and Carl went to see the Meiji Shrine and Old Tokyo.  TomO and I headed out for Electric City (Akihabara).  TomO got his watch band fixed ($2.00) and we started looking at the offerings.  For blocks and blocks, the streets are lined with stores selling computers, software, cameras, cell phones, refrigerators, and so on.  I saw my next laptop computer!  LIGHTWEIGHT and with  a LONG BATTERY LIFE.



* * * Shinjuku * * *

After three days we left our hotel in Roppongi and moved over to Shinjuku.  We had booked a very nice hotel on the Internet but were unable to change the dates whenwe decided to arrive in Tokyo earlier.  It was the Southern Century Tower Hotel, immediately south of the train station.  We were told that the hotel was used in  the movie "Lost in Translation".  The lobby was on the 20th floor and  our room was on the 25th with beautiful views of the city.

We went out for dinner with Aurelio's friends Dominic and Richard Daniels.  (They are each English men who have married Japanese women.  Dominic writes software for teaching English as a second language and Richard teaches English.  I put in Richard's last name because it's the same as mine.  His brother is James, the same as my brother's!! Maybe they belong to our family who stayed in England several centuries ago? ? ?

On night we went to a Karaoke Box.  This is a karaoke place when your "rent" a small room.  Ours had a table, sofa and room for 5 or 6 people.  They charge for each person for each hour and you can drink as much as you want while you are there.

I drank Calpis (pronounced Cow Piss) while the others drank beer and more exotic
drinks.  We had an foreigner's book (English) book of song lists by title and artist.
It was fun. 



A special treat was a Butoh dance performace at a small theater not too far away.  Butoh Dance is a Japanese avant-garde dance originated by HIJIKATA,Tatsumi in 1950s. The program was called Kokuge and there were 2 dancers and one musician!  The dance seemed primal, physical and self-abusive at times (hitting and scratching their  bodies, falling on the floor, etc.).  The musician was fascinating.  He played a bass violin (bass fiddle).  For some movements, he lay it on the floor and used  2 bows on it.  He ran the bow across the strings above and below the bridge.  One time he played a flute as he was playing the violin.  Very  bizarre and fascinating! (You can see more information on Butoh at

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/butoh/itto/butoh-e.htm
 

We took 3 day trips out from Tokyo:   to Kamakura, Hakone and Nikko.

* * * Kamakura* * *

In an effort to get our money's worth  out of our Japan Rail Passes, we took thebullet train south, past Yokahama to Kamakura.  At the station we got a tourist map and directions to several Buddhist temples.  The first (Kotokuin Temple) is the site of a huge, bronze statue.  (The second largest Buddha next to the one we saw in Nara).  At one time, this Buddha was in a temple building but, at the end of the 1400s, a huge tsunami came along and washed everything away except the Buddha. It is said the face has an unusually serene countenance. 

For a few additional yen, we went inside of the statue to inspect the welds.  We also bought bundles of incenseThere was a little flame machine near the selling area to light it.  Once they were lit we walked to a large incense burner and placed them inside.

The temples sell all kinds of good luck charms and Carl bought enough to cover all of the bases (health, luck, good grades in school, longevity and automobile safety.) It was a little rainy and colorful umbrella were open to add to the scene. 
The other temple was the Hasedera Temple complex.  We walked past a koi filled pond and entered a cave to see the Buddha carvings and get claustrophobia. 

Further up the hill was a set of temples.  In one was a huge wheel shaped "thing" lying it's side.  If you took a handle and pushed it around one revolution, you will gain the knowledge of the library it represents.  I don't know about that. I couldn't even remember the name of the temple once I left it.

From this hillside vantabe point, we could see the beautiful bay at Kamakura.

TomO and I decided to get a can of "milk-coffee" out of the vending machine.  Imagine our surprise and pleasure when the can came out almost too hot to hold!

* * * Hakone * * *



We awoke to very clear weather.  In fact we could see Mt. Fuji from our hotel.  We took a set of trains including the bullet train to Odawara, a private railway to Gora which is near Hakone and Lake Ashi.  In fact at various times we were on train, bus, boat and cable-car tram.  At the train station we were fortunate to run into a guy from Singapore named Alfonse.  He'd actually READ the tourist brochure and could show us the recommended route. 

It was a beautiful day and at different points Mt. Fuji made a dramatic backdrop.

A highlight was the Hakone Open Air Museum, a compound which included outdoor sculpture
gardens and indoor art galleries.  They have a collection of art by world famous artists:  Miro, Picasso, Calder, Moore and so on.  I especially like the "Symphonic Sculpture",  This was a round tower with a metal spiral staircase inside.   The walls are stained glass which you don't realize until you are inside with the light shining through.  At the top is an observation deck.

A wading pool of hot, mineral water invites the viewers to take their shoes off and soak their feet!

At this point, Mt. Fuji erupted leaving only a large hole in the ground.  Not really, just checking to see who's made it this far.

* * * Nikko * * *



Aurelio came with us to the town of Nikko, about 2 hours north of Tokyo.  Here we found Toshogu , the most popular shrine in Japan.  It is the where Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the first Shogun of Japan, is enshrined.   The complex is vast.  We took pictures of the crimson Shinkyo Sacred Bridge.  It was originally built for the exclusive use of the Shogun and his entourage, and now anyone with 500 yen (about $5.00) can use it.  (Please note that it doesn't go anywhere.  You walk to the other side but have to return.  So if you really want to go to the other side of the river, you might consider another route. )

At the Sacred Stable (Shinkyusha) is the famous carving of the three monkeys in  "see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil".  We took our shoes off several times.  You might consider wearing slip-ons if you come to this shrine.  By the  way, "Temple" refers to Buddhism and "Shrine" refers to Shintoism.  People seemed more insistant on this distinction than I though was necessary!

 * * * Sayonara Tokyo * * *

* * * Seoul * * *

On the weekend we went to Seoul and met a friend of Louis' named Mr. Park. He was a great help in getting us all around the city by bus and subway. We took the express bus to Seoul then a subway to meet Park.

Louis was wearing a brand new pair of shoe for which he paid a bargain price of $7.00. Even before we got to Seoul, the sole started coming loose. There was a shoe repair stand at the train station and they glued it back together. (for $4.00). Before we too much further, the second sole failed and came off completely! Luckily he had a second pair of shoes at Park's apartment.

Kimchi is ubiquitous here. It is pickled and/or fermented cabbage and raddish. They even sell big "chest freezers" which is really for making and storing kimchi. The other day I went to a Baskin and Robbins and looked for kimchi ice cream! I had to settle for sweet potato ice cream instead. It started out taking quite nice, but when I started to run into chunks of potato ... hhmmmmmm. They also like pickled Chinese raddish (as do I) and they make sushi rolls everywhere.

In Seoul Louis got his "new" cell phone activated after some aggravations ("come back next week"). From there we went to the electronic shopping area. We entered a building with floor after floor of stalls selling TVs, cell phone and computers. They sell the Korean brands of LG, TG and Samsung brands as well as Japanese and HP and even Dell. I saw a small laptop with 2 GB of RAM that I wanted to buy. I'm reluctant to buy a brand that isn't sold in the US. Here were are in Seoul at a wonderful (mostly) vegetarian buffet! s

That evening we went to a Korean Sauna (hot springs or baths). I think it would be like the one in Kobe, Japan that our group went to. Inside we showered and then sank into hot pools. We could even go outside and sit in a hot pool under the stars. There were a lot of young men there ... teenagers and in their 20s. The evening had turned cold and the hot water felt so good. We sat in the steam room, sauna before ending up sitting on low stools for a final soapy scrub.

Louis and I stayed at Park's for the night. He has a special floor sleeping pad (that I've seen advertised on their TV). It has "Jade" (quartz) wafers and electricity so it heats up. Although I was basically sleeping on the hard floor, I slept like a log!

The next day we took the bus to a Buddhist temple on a mountainside just outside of Seoul. Park is a Buddhist and he showed us how to pray in the temple. There was A LOT of kneeling and bowing and standing and kneeling and bowing and standing! Buddha statutes were carved in the stone outside of the temple and along side of that were many little piles of stones. We added "our" stones to the pile, not quite knowing why. You can see a postcard of Seoul Old Town and the Buddhist temple

We went to the puppy stores when we came back to town. I teased Park and asked if they were delicious. He loudly said "NO, NO". This is the man whose name is pronounced "Bark" and who would not let me kill the mosquito in his apartment! Like many other businesses in Seoul, many, many pet stores are side by side.

Before we left Seoul, we went to a big downtown park. It was filled with old people who come here for the day to meet friends, sing, dance, drink and hang out. This was immediately next to the Palace grounds ... the home of the former kings of Korea. You can see some old people and city scenes in this postcard:

Sorry for the overly-long trip news e-mail. I hope that by now you've found the delete key!

On the way to the Seoul Buddhist temple, we passed a building with a bunch of carved "totems" out front. The shapes looked vaguely familiar. My theory is that since Christianity is such a growing force here and since this was close to a Buddhist temple area, I believe these are Christian symbols that are trying to counteract the forces of this Eastern religion.

At about the same moment we saw a woodpecker working away at the trunk of this tree.

You can see this bird and these sacred art pieces here:

I am now in Chengdu, China ... the capital of the Sichuan Province ... the second most populated province of China (Henan is the most populated province.)

(Please let me know if you want your name taken off of this e-mailing list.)

My friend Don is in his third year of teaching English at the Chengdu University of Technology. You can see scenes of the campus at this web link:

 http://www.cdut.edu.cn/cdut/english/Campus%20Scene.html

Don found a hotel for me at the building next to his apartment. It is in a building with many restaurants on the ground and first floor. The hotel "reception" was on the 5h floor and my room is on the 6th. I have a view of the back where it is quiet.

Don and his friend Danny picked me up at the airport. The plane was an hour late and it seemed to take a long time for luggage to arrive on the carousel. I could see Don from the baggage area and we could exchange sign language! we took a taxi to an intersection very near my hotel. We couldn't get closer because they are building an overpass and this blocks traffic.

I'm staying in a large room, polished wood floors, TV, refrigerator, sofa, double bed, a/c, Internet connection plus bath room. It is very inexpensive ... $12 a night. It's in a nice area ... the US Consulate is nearby as well as Ring Road No. 2, hotels, shopping center and restaurants.

I always pictured Don living in a dusty village, but Chengu is a large cosmopolitan city. Chengdu's population is 2 million while the greater Chengdu area is 6 million. There are remnants of a more primitive way of life: pedicabs, street vendors (cooking food, roasting chestnuts, etc.). there are lots of people, cars, motorcycles, buses and bikes. The pedestrian is lowest on the "right-of-way totem pole" and you have to be very careful when crossing the street. Cars go through red lights and plow through crosswalks at a high speed even when we have the green pedestrians light.

On Sunday the 3 of us too a bus and taxi to the Qingsheng Mountains, about 30 miles NW of here. Outside of the city, on the expressway, we passed car dealerships and modern office parks.

Qingsheng is the birthplace of Daoism. It is way up the mountainside and we walked up hundreds of steps. At one point we ferried across a lake and took a cable car to a higher elevation. The temple was handsome and at different places sold red candles and pink incense which we bought and lit. You can see some sights of Qingsheng at

If you want to see the way I wanted to get up to the mountain top temple, click on this

Yesterday I went with Don to his campus to meet with his Chinese tutor. We had a good visit and at noon-time, walked just outside the campus to a restaurant along the river. Tonight I will go back to the campus to attend a music competition. Don is one of the judges!

Here are a few more pictures

In Chengdu, I got up around 5:00AM so I could finish packing, check out and take a taxi to the airport.  Danny came over to my hotel to get me and we went to Don's apartment for a quick breakfast and coffee before leaving.

My luggage was over weight and I had to pay US$50 for Air China to fly it to Shanghai.  The flight was about 2 hours and when I arrived, I got a Hotel Shuttle Bus which brought me near my hotel.  The driver gestured and pointed m"3 blocks in that direction".  This turned out to be the way and I check in to the Magnificent Plaza Hotel. 

* * * Magnificent Plaza Hotel * * *

Oddly enough, this hotel resembled the hotel where I stayed in 1984 (but is actually a lot newer)  I had 2 large rooms and the biggest bed I think I've ever slept in.The hotel was walking distance to the Shanghai Museum, Peoples Park, the subway, Nanjing Road and the Bund.  But to get there, I walked past about 4 blocks of little shops.  As the day progressed, more vendors came out on this street until in the evening the sidewalk was packed with people cooking food to sell, produce, jewelry, clothes, DVDs, etc.

* * * Shanghai Museum * * *

This is one of the first places I went.  I spent time in the "Minority History", Jade and Ceramic galleries.  At the end I saw the Louis XIV exhibit of paintings, sculpture, tapestry, etc. related to the reign of this French monarch.  The signs for the exhibit were in French and Chinese.

* * * Market * * *

I went to the market which is a large area separated into 2 main areas:  Food and merchandise.  The vendors were very aggressive here.  They met my cab waving pictures of Louis Vitton bags and Rolex watches.  As I walked through the merchandise area, vendors grabbed my arm and poked and pulled me!  I smiled and shook my head.  I loved looking at the scarves, Chinese jackets, leather jackets, jewelry, binoculars, hats, golf clubs, shoes and so on.

The food market was something to see too ... plastic basins "boiling" with swimming eels, crabs, bull frogs, clams, fish, fruit, vegetables and the largest assortment of tofu I've ever seen.  I came to the market 3 times but didn't buy very much.  One time, a guy started talking to me.  He wasn't bothered that I wasn't buying anything.  He wanted to practice his English.  At one point he said he worked in a "hospital".  Did I want to see it?  I thought that would be interesting.  Actually he said "house" and I ended up at his "uncle's" place, down a street, up an alley, through the kitchen, up 2 flights of stairs and into a room lined with designer bags and Rolex watches.

High quality fakes.  President Bush was in Beijing that day and the police were walking through the market in groups of 5 and 6 and I saw signs warning about selling fake goods.  There were other westerners in this room buying and I looked at the bags and watches but didn't buy anything.

You can see some pictures of the market at: 

* * * Ferry to Pudong * * *

The guy at the market and his friend offered to take me across the Huangpu River to the Pudong section of Shanghai.  This used to be farm land and but now the only thing planted there are some of the tallest buildings in Asian.  We took a taxi to the Bund, walked along admiring the views, to the ferry which took us across the river to Pudong.  We walked to the Shangrila Hotel where I stayed with  John and Jill in 2001.  The hotel has built a new tower behind the old one.  I walked through the lobby of the "old" hotel and admired the city views.

* * * Shanghai Pearl Tower * * *

This tower was the next stop.  I bought tickets for the 3 of us to go up to the observation deck.  Unfortunately the sunny clear skies of the prior days were replaced with a mocha haze and I couldn't see all that far, but I saw impressive panoramas anyway. You can see tower pictures at 

TomO flew in on Thanksgiving, the day after I arrived, and I went to the airport to meet him.  We returned to our Kowloon Hotel (that's the name of it).  We had a room the 17th floor, the "club" floor (we got a lot of extras).  One thing that wasn't included was space!  It was one of the smallest rooms on the whole trip!  The hotel was situated on Nathan Road between the Peninsula Hotel and the YMCA ... a great tourist location ... we could walk to the Star Ferry and lots of nearby shopping. 

We ate Thanksgiving dinner on the 9th floor of a Japanese restaurant facing HK Island.  We expected the nightly firewords at 8PM, but instead the bulidings across the way lit up and there was a laser light show off of about 5 of the tallest buildings.

One view of from Hong Kong:

 

* * * HK Island * * *

We traced and retraces some tourist steps in Hong Kong ... Tram to Victoria Peak, Excalator "Street" up the hill from Central, The Night Market and the Stanley Market.  A highlight was a sea food dinner with 6 of Robert's friends.   One of the dishes was crab ... which had the biggest and fattest claws I've ever seen.  Afterwards we went to a harborside bar for drinks.

Another night we ate as a grilled restaurant where you are served raw food next to a foot square extremely hot, flat stone.  You put your food on the stone and cook it to order.

Near the Stanley Market (lots and lots of stalls), a shop was untying a load of fresh Christmas Trees.  I went over and look at a tag which said they were Douglas fir had come from Sublimity, Oregon.  Another  "Postcard" from Hong Kong: 

* * * Macao * * *

On Saturday we took the 1 hour fast ferry to Macao.  This island was returned to China from the Portuguese in 1999 and like HK is a Special Administrative Region (SAR).  It is popular because of the casinos.  Las Vegas resorts have casinos here.  The highlight was the Ruins of St. Paul.  This was a Catholic church built originally in the 1600s but had burned 3 times since then.  The last time was in the mid 1800s and now all that is standing is the front wall and the steps leading up to it. 

The Macao was performing an outdoor concert and you could sit of the steps of St. Pauls and listen.  Here are 2 "Postcards" from Macao:

* * * Oakland * * *

TomO and I flew home on Cathay Pacific airlines on Monday, 11/28/05.  It's great to be home!  Season's Greetings:   Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Click here to see my Digital Christmas Card: