Stonehenge, England – September 2006

Pictures taken by Jenny

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Since I have posted our visits to ruins of Manchu Picchu in Peru and Khmer Temples in Cambodia, I thought I would add another World Heritage Site: Stonehenge, England.

We visited Stonehenge as part of our fall 2006 Ireland trip with my sister Frances and her husband Dr. Jan Creech. Jenny & I continued on to Scotland and England while Frances and Jan returned to the States. After a beautiful trip to Scotland and a stopover in the historic town of York, we then continued on to London where we made a trip down to Salisbury and Stonehenge.

Much is known about the Manchu Picchu and the temples the Khmer Rulers built, but there is a great deal of disagreement as to exactly how the Stonehenge site was built, who built it, why it was built and exactly when it was built, although most archaeologists place the date of the current ruins around 2500BC. However, some work using wood was probably constructed a couple thousand years earlier.

But the amazing aspects of this is how did they get these huge stones, weighing upwards to 6-8000 pounds and which could have come as far away as 150 miles, to the site and then erected them. And of course, what we saw and the pictures I’m posting today is just a small part of the original site. As beautiful as it is today, think of what it looked like a thousand or so years ago!

This is a wonderful, historical place and well worth visiting.

Zola Ruth

All of the above pictures were taken in 2008, except the black and white; it was taken in August 2007
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Well I warned all of you! I said from time to time I would be posting information on our granddaughter, so here goes.

This posting will be short on words but long on pictures since, as they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

Our granddaughter lives about four hours from us and although certainly not as close as we would like, it is close enough for us to go as often as we can without wearing out our welcome!

All of these pictures were taken by our daughter, Peggy Wong; you can visit her web site at bluepoolroad.com where you can see just how talented she really is.

Iguaçu Falls - February 2006

The Pictures really need no explanations! Just spectacular!

The bottom picture was taken from our hotel room.

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When Jenny & I started planning our trip to South America there were always two major requirements: we must find a way to visit Iguaçu Falls and Manchu Picchu. So when we found a cruise that sailed out of Buenos Aires down to Falkland Island and around Cape Horn and ended up in Lima Peru; we said this is it!

We were able to add a pre-cruise trip to Iguaçu Falls and a post-cruise trip to Manchu Picchu. This was just perfect. I have already, in a previous posting, talked about Manchu Picchu and now I would like to post our trip to Iguaçu Falls.

We arrive in Buenos Airs around noon, checked into the Sheraton Park Tower Hotel and then Jenny and I hit streets. This is what we do in most places; we love to walk around the city; it is a great way to get to know the place. Riding a bus on a tour just doesn’t get. More on Buenos Aires perhaps in another posting!

The next morning we were up early for a flight that took about an hour and a half to Iguaçu Falls. When we arrived it was so hot and muggy, since it is about 13 degrees north of the Equator. I didn’t tell you but this is February 2006? And as you know it was summer in South America.

Iguaçu Falls, one of the world’s most awesome series of jumps, cascade or waterfalls (whatever you want to call them) is located in the Iguaçu National Park on the border between Brazil and Argentina. The Falls are over two miles wide with 275 jumps, and a total height of 180 feet. This falls is the widest in the World, although the water that runs over the falls is not near as much as that of Niagara. This site was declared a World Heritage Area by UNESCO in 1984.

We had a great time here! All we did basically was hike around the trails to see as many of the cascades as we could. What a spectacular place! We really enjoyed this trip. We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel overlooking the falls, very much like the Sheraton overlooking Niagara Falls, however, not as close to falls as that one; we could still see one of the falls from our hotel window. Beautiful view!

Manchu Picchu - South America

While posting our trip to Cambodia to my blog and seeing the ruins of the Khmer Rulers, it brought to mind the terrific trip we had in February 2006 to South America to see the wonders of that country, but especially Manchu Picchu. This is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world!

This trip was a 20-day cruise beginning in Buenos Aires and ending up in Lima, Peru. The trip to Manchu Picchu was a post-cruise trip. We spent the night in Lima and then the next day headed for Cusco the stepping off point for Manchu Picchu and a beautiful little town, actually not too little; population little more than 300,000. With its old churches and squares, it seemed like a small place, but a great place to just walk around and enjoy this beautiful old town.

Cusco is located about 11,000 feet above sea level and before we got there we were lectured over and over again about altitude sickness. I thought they were over doing the warnings, since in my younger days I have been in much higher places, including the Rockies and the mountains in Bavaria, Germany. But they were right! It wasn’t long after we got there that I had to sit down and relax a little! It might have to do with my age, you think?

There are many ways to get to Manchu Picchu from Cusco: bus, car, hiking, and train. The way to go is on the Orient Express “Hiram Bingham” train. Such comfort and luxury! It takes about three hours through some beautiful scenery. It was a slow trip but with the views and the food that they served, you wanted the trip to last longer.

As you can see from the picture above there isn’t much left this beautiful archeological site. But it is full of history and so beautiful. The picture, although nice, and one a lot of you have seen in many travel magazine, but this is one taken my me.

As I said it is such a beautiful site; almost like a religious sanctuary!

Cambodia Trip V - Tonle River Cruise

Top two Pictures are our boat; bottom picture was our "First Mate"!

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The last day in Siem Reap was supposed to be a free day for us, prior to flying back to Phnom Penh later in the day and then transfer to a Dagon Air flight back to Hong Kong. However, we all decided to pay US$12/person for a trip on the Tonle River to see some fishing villages, markets and some really amazing sights.

Just a word about the boat we were about to get on and some I my thoughts at the time. When we arrived at the marina, it looked pretty bad. So I told Jenny that if I were not satisfied with the boat, I would not go on the trip. My mind was on the catastrophe that happened to the Ethan Allen on Lake George, NY in 2005 that killed 20 people. After checking the boat over I decided to take the trip but then, about ten minutes out, the engine stopped and I thought we might have to swim back. But it was quite an experience and we made it back. One of the pictures above shows the boat! Just another thought: when we arrived back at the marina, we could not dock because the gangpank leading to boats had collapse just moments before; a number of tourist had falling into the river and unfortunately a couple had not been found at the time we left. And as we departed, we felt very lucky!

I think I took about 50 or 60 pictures, but Jenny took at least 200 pictures. The sights were amazing and looked similar to some sights we have seen in Malaysia & China years ago. Shown above are just a few of the shot I took. Eveywhere you turned, it was a "Kodak Moment".

Cambodia Trip - Part IV - Khmer Temples

December 4, 2009

After spending one day in Phnom Penh we flew to Siem Reap, the gateway to the Khmer Temples located about 200 miles north of Phnom Penh.

Angkor Archaeological Park, a World Heritage Site since 1993, encompasses about 400 square kilometers just outside Siem Reap.

The Park has more than one hundred temples, most are what I would call ruins. The one exception is Angkor Wat, which is the most famous of all the Temples and is pictured above at the top. But one can see enough of the ruins to see some beautiful art works as well as architectural wonders for the time built (about 800AD-1250AD).

Homg Kong Family Pictures

My blog advisers, Rob & Peggy, tell me I can write whatever I want and it can be as long or as short as I want so here goes; especially after the last blog, we need to lighten up a little.

This is my Hong Kong Family, who have taken me in and love me as their own and of course the feeling in mutual.

So this blog is to publish some pictures of my Hong Kong Family. After all they are my most ardent readers and I certainly should recognize them.

Cambodia Trip - Part III - Tuol Sleng Prison

The highlight of Phnom Penh for me, but not for Jenny, was visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. During the period between 1975 through 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, reigned over Cambodia in a bloody “killing field”, to borrow from the movie! It is said that during this period the Khmer Rouge killed over two million people.

The words “Tuol Sleng” means: a poisonous hill or a place on a mound to keep those who bear or supply guilt. Incidentally, there were many more such prisons throughout Cambodia.

The Tuol Sleng Museum was formerly a high school that was converted into a prison where one can see graphic details of what the Khmer Rouge did to anyone who disagreed with them; this included many, women and children. As with the Holocaust we should never forget.

This school, with three buildings, became know as Security Office 21 (S-21). The prison is reputed to have imprisoned at least 14, 000 people and most all of them never came out. Cambodia’s Genocide Tribunal is scheduled to hold its full trial on March 30, 2009, of Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch.

If you want would like to know more read this article published in the New York Times March 7, 2009.

Cambodia Trip - Part II

The Royal Palace and street scenes in Phnom
Penh

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Cambodia Trip – Part II

December 3rd - Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, is a large city with population of about two million, according to the locals; however, some web sites say it is just over one million. This city looks like it hasn’t had any major infrastructure in years: roads are narrow and poorly maintained and drainage is non-existents. No wonder there is high malaria and dengue fever in this country.

But one thing stands out above all else: the difference in the “haves and have nots”. There certainly isn’t any re-distribution of income here, what income there is!

While here we visited the The Royal Palace, which if any of you have seen the Palace in Bangkok, it looks similar, just not as big and as opulent. It is hard to fathom maintaining this outlandish lifestyle while so many people are in poverty! But the King seems to be loved by his subjects! We also visited many other sites such as: Independence Monument, Vietnam Monument, Wat Phnom and Tuolsleng Genocide Museum, which, although gruelsome, very educational; more on this later.

We stayed one night in the Inter-Continental Hotel in Phnom Penh; just a fantastic place to stay. The food was the best during the trip. Unfortunately that would be the last of the nice hotels on this trip!

While in Phnom Penh one sees some fairly nice cars, mostly SUV it seems, but rarely do you see a new car. I asked about it and our guide indicated that was because it is so expensive to import new cars! But not used cars? Anyway I think, just my opinion, that many of these cars came from Singapore, Hong Kong and other major cities where automobile thefts are so high.

Cambodia Trip - December 3-9, 2009

Top: Street scene in Phnom Penh.

Second: Crowds "loving" the Temples"

Third: Angkor Thom

Bottom: Angkor Wat

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December 3rd - The temperature in Cambodia, this time of the year: high of around 29C and low of about 26C. Does that seem like winter to you? But it certainly felt much hotter to me than 29C or about 85F.

I was concerned with Malaria, so I got my doctor here in New York to prescribe some medication for me to take before I left for Cambodia and during the time I was there. No one else in our tour group was taking Malaria pills, so it might have been overkill; but I felt safe and, as they say, I didn’t want to feel sorry for not taking it.

Our trip was a five-day trip to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and has a population just a shade over one million, while Siem Reap is a little town, about 200 miles north of Phnom Penh, with a population of under 100,000 people. It is the gateway to the Khmer Temples and hosts, somewhere north, of two million tourists a year. It was, incidentally the area where Khmer Rouge was the strongest, but more on that in a later post.

Cambodia gave new meaning to the term Fourth World Country or Least Developed Country. I don’t think we have seen poverty like that since we were in some of the smaller villages in China some twenty years ago: seriously lacking in infrastructure. A very poor nation by any measure but here is one mesure: per capital GDP (PPP) about US$1800, compared to the US of US$45,000, and Shenzhen, China about US$10,000.

Our primary reason for going to Cambodia was to visit the Khmer Temples built by the Khmer Rulers between 800 – 1250AD. There are hundreds of temples ruins that are now protected by ASPARA, an organization established by Royal Decree in 1993, shortly after the area became a world Heritage Site. Prior to the establishment of ASPARA, these sites were constantly damage through thefts of art and sold worldwide in many cases with the assistance of Cambodian Government Officers. Next time you are in a major museum look for some of this art!

Of all the of temples in the Angkor area, Angkor Wat is by far the most famous and is the only one that is still in use today as a temple and has been used over the years. This temple is so much a part of Cambodia that it is on the National Flag.

All of these temples are amazing and hopefully they will be protected for future generations. But I’m deeply afraid that we are “loving them to death”; that is, there are just too many tourists and many are not following the rules to prevent further deterioration.

These temples are not just works of art, but also an engineering marvel that is hard to believe; some of the temples were constructed more than one thousand years ago. While Angkor Wat, is basically still intact, and while many of the other temples have deteriorated or destroyed due to civil war and thefts, it is still amazing the temples are still here for us to enjoy. For example, Machu Picchu, built around 1450, is basically ruins with little of no walls; although it is a beautiful site to see.

Letters from Hong Kong - Part XVIII

View from our hotel.

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December 19,2008

Today we are doing some last minute visiting with family and then tonight we are hosting the Winter Solstice Feast here at the hotel for the extended family and friends. Should be a merry fest; I think we have twenty-two planned to be with us.

A word on Winter Solstice: the Chinese holiday. I know all of you know what Winter Solstice is, but probably have never thought of it as a very big Chinese holiday; in fact one of the biggest.

It is the closest thing to our Thanksgiving Day as it gets, and in fact many westerners call it “Chinese Thanksgiving” since it is a celebration of all the blessings in life. In the old days this was the time when the farmers basically finished their harvest and celebrated a good year. We are not going to have turkey, but it will be a celebration for all the good things all of us share in life.

Infrastructure: there has been a lot said recently about spending a lot of money on infrastructure to reduce unemployment and jump-start our economy in the States. There is no doubt about it, we need to spend a lot of money in the States on bridges, airports, roads, railroads and you name it! Of course you and I know that much I it will be wasted on “pork projects”.

Hong Kong infrastructure is amazing. The money that has been spent over the past thirty years on many of the area mention above is too large to comprehend. The sub-way and rail system is as good as any in the world.

The US is way behind the world in these areas. I mean have you been to some of the modern airports built around the world in the past ten years. Enough said!

December 20th - Although we have another day here in Hong Kong before we leave, this will be the last “Letter” for this trip. I would like in this last to disscuss what Hong Kong has contributed to what has amounted to a significant change in China in the past thirty years; since China opened its doors, so to speak, to the world in April 1978.

First, what has been accomplished in China over these past thirty years is just short of a miracle. As I have said before to some of you, history will show that more people have been lifted out of poverty during this period of time than at any time in the history of the world.

China has come from near bankruptcy, at the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, to becoming the fourth largest economy in the world. Some writers have indicated that upwards to 200 million people have been lifted out of poverty and it could well be more. In the early ‘80’s when I made my first trip to China with my son, Rob, bicycles were everywhere. Today, automobiles and motorbikes are everywhere.

Does China still have a long way to go in terms of human rights? Will China ever be as free as America once was? Yes, of course and they will get there, but the Chinese way. A quote from a speech made at Harvard University by Huang Mengfu: “A democratic path with Chinese characteristics has already been chartered.”

What does that mean? I think it means what they have already accomplished in the last thirty years: continue opening up China, but under the controlled leadership of the Communist Party. Any other way would be a disaster, certain in the near-term. And one day, probably not in my lifetime, China will be as free as America.

I didn’t answer my premise that I stated regarding Hong Kong’s contribution to China’s rise in power; I’ll have to make that over a beer or sweet-tea when I return.

So goodbye from Hong Kong! I leave you, again, with the view from our hotel room for the past two months!