Sunday, August 22, 2004

The trip begins! Australia & Japan

Had a few minutes in the Korean Air lounge and thought I'd check in.

Pretty uneventful flight thus far, outside of the 14+ hour length! Cute little complimentary house slippers in the seat pocket, combs, toothbrushes, paste & shaving stuff in the bathroom. Lots of interesting food on-board--had some "seared" tuna with a salad that seemed one step away from sushi; seaweed soup with lunch; and tiny little octopi mixed up in the seafood pasta--yum!

The Seoul international terminal is large and nice, made up of mostly duty-free shops plus a few diners. There is a massage place, which is sorely tempting right now, but I'll hold out for a better price elsewhere.

Hope to sleep between here & Sydney--another 10 hours on the plane, then a 7:40 AM arrival. Then I hope to be ready for a pretty full day exploring Sydney, in order to get in the right time zone fast (based on my typing, I'm not there yet...).

So--I'm alive as of Sunday evening in Seoul. More as I'm able to check in.

Monday, August 23, 2004

Got to Sydney yesterday morning, and am having a great time! Did a 2.5 hour tour around Sydney Harbor, including spectacular views of the Opera House! I scored some tickets for the symphony there Wednesday night, so I'll get to enjoy seeing it and hearing
music in it at the same time!

I later did the Bondi bus tour (all part of a Sydney transportation pass I bought, including the ferry tour mentioned), and saw a good bit of the city and the surrounding shore lines. I'll do another bus tour today, walk across the harbor bridge, and explore a bit more of Darling Harbor.

My hotel is great, with wonderful views straight out on Darling Harbor. Food is pricey at the hotel (breakfast buffet about $20 US), though, so I'm eating at diners and the like.

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Had a good arrival into sunny Sydney, and got an early check in at the hotel. Signed up for the 3-day transit pass, which got me on all busses, ferries, subways, etc in the region--a great plan! I rode two different tour loops around Sydney on busses, seeing Bondi Beach, neat neighborhoods, across the Harbor Bridge and to the Opera House. I did both daytime and nighttime cruises on ferries on the harbor, getting as far as Manly.

The two highlights were walking across the Harbor Bridge, and attending a concert at the Opera House. The Bridge walk was about half an hour, with added time to go up in one of the pylons, read about the building of the bridge, and enjoy the views from the top. I've got a few photos on the Australia picture page.

The Sydney Symphony was playing a Bach violin duet, and then Bruckner's 4th Symphony. Very nice concert, good acoustics in the hall, though the temperature was
more than warm and muggy. Sadly, the docents wouldn't let me take pictures inside, even though it was before the performance. You'll just have to go and see if for yourself...

Did the 11 hour train ride to Melbourne, meeting on the journey a sheep shearer and a young man who had danced in the closing ceremony for the Sydney Olympics. The sheep shearer was returning from testifying in his neighbor's attempted murder trial

Arrived after dark in Melbourne to a rainy night and a train station under construction. After a frustrating time finding the right trolley, I finally made it to my hotel. My friend Jake Meadley, a former camp staff person, met me there the next day and has
been a terrific host! I also spent an hour with Kerri Couch Nichols, an other camp summer staff person who was in town for a conference.

Jake has taken me all over Melbourne and the vicinity. A real thrill was our drive down the great ocean road yesterday, arriving at the southern coast in time to see "the twelve apostles" at sunset. I've got a great picture of them on the Melbourne page.

We attended church this morning at the New Community Ringwood, which meets in a community center here. Kind of a "seekers" church, it was an interesting service. They have a website at www.ncr.org.au .

I fly out tomorrow, back to Sydney, then Seoul and Tokyo. I'm concerned about the typhoon that is hitting southern Japan and heading for Korea. I guess I'll find out if it affects my flights very soon.

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Whoa--glad I looked at this after I posted it! The computer in the webcafe here in Tokyo put up some very interesting non-english letters...

So, I'm in Tokyo and all is well! The only hitch with the typhoon was an aborted landing coming into the Narita airport--pretty exciting in a 747! I knew it would be interesting when the video screen in the plan showed tailwinds of 40-50 mph while we were landing. They got us down, though, and so the trip continues...

Tokyo is hot and humid--I broke out the shorts today, the heck with the local style police! Tokyo's best are the buddhist shrines you happen upon in parks. I:ve also gotten in a couple of museums, and have successfully navigated their daunting train system. Back to the hotel this evening, then I’m off to Mt Koya and Osaka.

I may not be in touch again until my next flight in 4 or 5 days, when I can log in at the airport. Until next time--

Saturday, September 4

Well, I just read on-line that we had an earthquake here. I never felt it, but it explains why the trains were running so slowly this evening, and why the elevators at my hotel aren't working. I'm on the 20th floor, I was on the other end of town when it hit, and
I'm not taking the steps back up--so, here I am.

Japan has been great. The rail system in Tokyo intimidated me at first, but I picked it up pretty quickly. Stops are in japanese and english, and also post what the next stop is, which is enormously helpful. What is not helpful is when the passengers have lowered all the window shades in the rail car and you can't see out to read the signs...

I just came to Osaka today, after three days in Koyasan. Koyasan is a center for "esoteric" buddhism, with over 100 temples, about half of which offer lodging and meals. I stayed at Ekoin, in a traditional japanese room: tatami floor, paper covers over the windows, vegetarian breakfast and supper delivered to my room. I attended prayers all three
mornings, which was a wonderful experience. After the prayers, they had a fire ceremony in another, smaller temple. This was much akin to the days when I had to build campfires at summer camp, and they didn't always want to start. The priest here had some sort
of oil (lighter fluid?) in some brass dishes that helped things along. Toured a number of temples and pagodas in Koyasan, and the cemetary, which is a world heritage site. An amazing and moving place. I'll try to post a few pictures later tonight--if the elevators
come back on line.

Japan is both wonderful for it's hospitality and beauty, and frustrating for things that seem silly to our culture, like the obsession with cleanliness: taking your shoes off, putting on slippers, putting on different slippers in the bathroom, etc. I've just eaten way too many things this week that I couldn't recognize.

That's all for now. Osaka castle in the morning, then off to Cairo.

Sunday, September 05, 2004

So, I'm reading in bed on the 20th floor of the Osaka Hilton at midnight last night when the second, larger quake hit. The news is saying it was 7.3.

First vibrations, then shaking, then the building started swaying. Closet doors sliding back and forth, but nothing falling off of shelves. The building was creaking and groaning, but held up (or, obviously, I wouldn't be writing this!). The swaying lasted about 5 minutes. News channels were broadcasting tsunami alerts, and the hotel loudspeaker came on at 12:20 AM announcing the elevators were once again out of
service.

Woke up at 5:30 AM to a smaller aftershock. Just some vibrations and creaking and groaning, but not much swaying. I'll sleep well on the plane tonight!

This link ties to the yahoo-AP news story:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...pan_earthquake