Santiago 2014

New adventure... We will see if I REALLY never get sea sick (I am worried about cruising round Cape Horn)  Paula and I are doing a Chile and Argentina trip and cruise. We have a couple of days added on at the beginning and end of the trip to be able to classify this as not just a cruise. Packing was a challenge because of the huge temperature difference and the Holland America requirement of 3 dressy outfits. I won the minimalist packing challenge (Paula usually wins- but she has lots of throw away clothes this time so she may win on the return leg). I only have 2 carry on size bags and a small back pack while Paula has a very full 24", 1 carry on and a tot size bag plus purse.

Plane ride was smooth but not very quick. Paula got us bulkhead seats and even with the extra leg room - nine hours is nine long hours sitting in one place.   Paula slept with her little magic pill and dreamed the people on the plane were collecting jelly beans from all over the plane floor and sorting them by color into their shoes. This actually has a logical explanation. I would doze for 20 minutes then wake up - play candy crush then doze again and repeat the process. We both had our shoes off. I always love telling Paula her halcyon stories the next day.
After a false start we finally caught up with the Holland America people and was bused to our hotel.

We only had an afternoon free so we decided to take a tour using the Santiago Turistik Hop Off Hop Off double decker bus.  Paula as usual did her pre-trip research and found a restaurant that was recommended by her various sources. And I had some inside information about shopping from Jay, our Marigold Ct.  traveling pro. As we were waiting for our bus we met Martha from central Mexico, who was taking our same tour. She ended up being just one of the angels we met this afternoon. She not only stayed with us and helped us find the restaurant,  translated menus, checked bills and even ordered the Chilean local foods.  She asked directions of two gentlemen and one of them, another angel, actually stopped talking to his friend and walked  us to the restaurant. It reminded a lot of China in that people were willing to help total strangers in their country.  It happened many times with me during my 3 years.

We had a wonderful lunch at the Bar Liguria with 2 appetizers of bread with fresh salsa, mussels with cheese and olive oil and 3 main courses of steak, chicken and cod. My favorite was the pisco sours - a wickedly strong drink made with egg whites.  Martha told us all about her family, her travels and shared photos.  After a couple of false starts, with much running and retracing steps we finally found the our tour bus stop. We got off in the Bellavista area which had a lot of lapis lazuli and other native crafts. We saw some wool sweaters, scarfs, and hats but it was too hot to even touch them. Paula and I bought some earrings and I bought a penguin. Martha negotiated a taxi for the three of us to get back to the hotel and crashed. We had to pretend we didn't know her so that we wouldn't be charged tourist prices.

We have a slight mix up as to where and when we catch the bus tomorrow, but I am sure we will get it straight there eventually.

2 Years Later and The Chinese Censors Are Still Around

It is now November 2013 and I was rereading some of my Chinese adventures - I looked back at my entries from the August of 2011 when Cynthia and I went to Tibet - for a few days. I was shocked when I discovered that the link to all my photos from that section of our trip was removed - I renamed it "Southwest China 2011" and put it back in. I also noted that most of my blog entries are missing (which I will never get back - because of course I didn't save them anywhere except blogger). It seems so strange that the Chinese Censors would worry about a web site that most Chinese can't even view (Blogger is blocked - unless you have a VPN account). And if the censors had bothered to read the entires, they would have realized that they didn't have anything that bad or shocking about Tibet/China relations. Whenever blogging about China, I actually tried to remember that I was a guest in their country. I tried to be respectful of their beliefs.  I have kept some of the things I disagreed with - in my head and not on paper (or digital format). Is China becoming so paranoid that it needs to censor a then 63 yr old's ramblings? If the powers that be continue to constrict information - will it backfire? The Chinese people are becoming more and more educated. I worry what will happen if government continues on these lines. It is sort of like how parents treat small children - lots of rules to keep them safe, but as they got older (and wiser) the young adult is given more freedom. Restrictions were needed when 80% of the population was illiterate - that is NOT the case anymore. Whatever happens - the Chinese people will survive- they are very adaptive - but will the government survive in its current form?

Vietnam and Cambodia

I was lucky enough to go to Vietnam and Cambodia in the winter of 2013. Overall impression was that both were very poor countries. I worry about the majority of the children never getting past a survival fishing existence. I am glad I went but I wouldn't want to live there. Food was ok but not as good as the food in Hangzhou and Changsha China. Photo links on the right.

Netherlands

I went with Paula and her 90 yr old mom, Gregg, on a 2 week trip to the Netherlands. Photo links are on the right.

Africa Trip 2012

This July I was lucky enough to join The Galland Family's Africa Trip. We split the trip between the two countries of Kenya and Tanzania. I took over 1400 photos but don't worry I picked the best 300 for my online posting - That still sounds like too many.  That is the problem with digital photos you don't have to control yourself when you are clicking away. We were a group of 8 which ended up being a perfect number - they put 4 in one safari vehicle and 4 in the other - lots of room to jockey for that perfect photo taking position. For the 'brave' here are the links.

Kenya - Nairobi and Amboseli
Kenya & Tanzania - Amboseli & Lake Manyara
Tanzania - Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater
Tanzania - Ngorongoro and south west Serengeti
Tanzania & Kenya - Serengeti & Maasai Mara

Paula did a nice little blog documenting some of our adventures. No real problems until we were TRYING to head home. If all the above photos didn't turn you off - check out Paula's blog. Great trip - definitely worth the time, money, and the little glitches that come with all travel nowadays.

Little Accident

I am surprised that we don’t see more accidents with the normal crazy driving – but I have to admit Chinese drivers are probably the best defensive drivers in the world because they EXPECT everyone else to be breaking the rules as they are. Also another reason is that you can ‘t drive very fast here because of all the traffic.Anyway… to the accident. We were on a bus going from the wedding to Cynthia’s home county. It was a fairly uncongested country road -2 lanes – paved with most of the cars, trucks and buses probably going about 60-80 km I would guess. The road had nicely paved shoulders but as normal there was this car that decided to stop in the middle of the road. This is a COMMON occurrence – they don’t pull over to the side – they don’t give any prior warning, they just stop. The bus couldn’t stop in time and clipped the back end of the car. No one was hurt but it was interesting how it was handled. The bus driver stayed cool. The other “stupid” driver was ranting and raving. Police were called. When the cop got there – he took pictures and then everyone left – which by then included lots of the local farmers and their kids that came to see what the excitement was about. 

Cynthia's Hometown

In the last 30 years, the standard of living has changed tremendously for Cynthia's family. (Along with the majority of people in China) Cynthia's father, who was part of the Red Army and not allowed to finish his schooling, did finally finish his schooling, went to college and is now the Dean of the English department at the local university. Before the family moved to Changsha, Cynthia, her parents and sister grew up in this small village about 3 hours away from Changsha. Her Aunt and Grandmother still live nearby with very few changes in their lifestyle. The photo below is of Cynthia with one of her 'Aunties' in their old village.

Below is a photo of Auntie's bed and bedding. 

Below are the photos of her working kitchen and dining room.