Lots and lots and lots of trees

I'm writing this from onboard a ship, cruising in Alaska. It's the second time that I have been on this cruise -- the last time was well over 15 years ago -- and it'll be interesting to see how the landscape has changed. I heard that the glaciers have retreated quite a bit since the last time I was here.

We flew into Vancouver two days ago and spent yesterday cruising the Inside Passage. Last time when I was here, we managed to catch a pod of killer whales as they hung about the side of the ship for a while, so it was a disappointment to not see any whales this time. The scenery was stunning, though -- miles and miles of evergreen trees lining both sides of the channel.

Today, we're landing at the port of Ketchikan and we're going to try and see some bears. Will try to post pictures of some bears upon my return -- that is, if we're lucky :-).

Back to Nature

Well, not really. It's not really "nature" when you are experiencing it from the sanitized location of a resort. But at the very least, it's much more than anything you could get in Hong Kong.

A friend and I went to Redang, Malaysia, for a couple of days, just to chill out and relax. Maybe we just got there at a lucky time, but the sea was absolutely calm and the waters crystal clear. For somebody like me who's terrified of waves and also claustrophobic, it was swimming heaven.

The day after we got there, we went on a snorkeling tour. There were tons of sealife to be seen, the best of which were sea turtles. We saw three of them and actually got to see them interact with each other. Okay, sea turtle interaction isn't all that exciting. They just kind of stop being oblivious to everything around them and swim in the direction of each other, then swerve aside at the last moment.

Another exciting sealife moment was when we ran across a humongous ugly-looking fish with really sharp teeth that we later identified as a "Titan Triggerfish". Now, I don't scare much where animals are concerned, as a rule, but this one scared me badly. I had been fish feeding when all of a sudden I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I had known that he was in the vicinity -- I had been warned about him -- but still it was enough to really scare me. He gave me the evil eye and I threw all the bread I was holding in his direction and swam frantically off in the other. Apparently they are really territorial and aggressive, and they have a habit of chomping on divers.

Apart from that, I also saw a random monitor lizard hanging around on the beach (who kind of took off as soon as I got close to him with a camera -- so much for the Komodo Dragon reputation), and a bunch of bats which I mistook for birds at first. Having been closer to wildlife for a few days is making me really realize how completely artificial and sterile Hong Kong is. We hardly see any non-pet non-bird animals in HK. Well, except for the pests. So the general feeling is that any living non-human and non-pet is a pest and harmful to humankind, and deserves to be stomped on and killed.

Not quite a healthy view to have.

Dubai, close up

It's nearing the end of our cruise and again, we're back in Dubai, where we boarded the ship. We have a day and a half here, and then we fly back to Hong Kong tomorrow night.

Dubai is an amazing city -- you walk through the place and you are gripped by what seems to be an endless optimism and exuberance. It's certainly a very young city -- most of the population seems to be young people (certainly a high birth rate helps), and most of the construction is new, too. Actually, the city looks very American -- wide freeways, sprawling strip malls and carparks. But of course, being much more glitzy and glam than any American city could ever claim to be.

The architecture of Dubai is also amazing -- I couldn't take pictures from the taxi, but Google for some photos and take a look at the skyscrapers. Now just having skyscrapers wouldn't be that big a deal, but the amazing thing is the way that they're building these things. Unlike Hong Kong, where the game is just to throw these things up in as cookie-cutter a shape as you can make them, it seems here that the architects are trying to outdo each other as much as they can. Most of the buildings are built in a way so that the insides of the building shows, bringing light into the deep recesses of the building. I noticed that some of the skyscrapers also have transparent lift shafts in the center of the building, and since the innards of the building is visible from the street, a passenger in the lift can see the view as he shoots up the building. And of course there are also lights. All the buildings are lit up so beautifully that they are almost like pieces of art.

Seriously, I don't think that it would be hyperbole to say that in such a city, the iconic Burj al-Arab isn't all that big a deal. Sure, it looks different, but then, all of the skyscrapers do, so what's so special about it?

(To be honest, the feeling that I get here is one of spending and consumerism gone out of control. It's almost like a "spend-it-while-you-can" mentality, and I suppose, with the price of oil so high, why not spend what you have? It's almost frightening, though also infectious at the same time. I can see why so many expats are attracted to living here. And yes, it sure is a very international and cosmopolitan city.)

The malls here are amazingly huge. I suppose that they are planning for the 5 months of boiling hot summer, when the temperatures can shoot up to 50 degrees Celsius and nobody wants to be outside. Then you really have nowhere to go but into the malls (sort of like the reverse of the Canadian winter). The malls here, though, are like megamalls -- there are malls inside malls.

Of course we couldn't resist a visit to the gigantic Mall of the Emirates, with the Ski Dubai resort inside. And gosh -- this is a feat of engineering. They have ski slopes (even a black slope), ski lifts, a snow cave, tobaggan runs, everything -- all inside a mall. And just to make sure that mall goers see what they are missing, there are windows looking into the ski area, so you could be wearing a t-shirt, drinking a soft drink, and watching people go by on a ski lift about 200 meters away!

I once swore that I would never ski again -- my last experience with skiing wasn't all that great -- but I got talked into doing it today. And finally I managed to learn enough to be able to take a ski lift and come down a blue slope, though I did fall once and had to be helped up since I couldn't get back onto my feet on my own. But it was fun and worth it. Who ever thought that I would manage to finally learn how to ski -- in Dubai?

Oil Wells, Camels and a Tree

Greetings from the tiny little state of Bahrain, which is our stop today. I was going to post a picture of, yes, oil wells, camels and a tree, but I decided not to risk the computer going bonkers on me again. So the pic will have to wait for later.

Bahrain City is quite an interesting place. The old part of the city is much more run-down -- reminds me of some of the 2nd world countries that I have been to, actually -- and also, for the first time since we have been in the Gulf, we saw beggars on the street, which was a shocker. They were ladies, too -- or at least, they were wearing a full-length burka and veil. I suppose that Bahrain City (or Manama, the old part of town) isn't quite as completely planned as some of the other cities such as Abu Dhabi. The economy in pre-oil days was built upon pearling, and they had a natural resource in abundant potable water, which made it possible for a settlement of some kind, unlike the other cities, which I suppose didn't quite exist before the discovery of oil made it feasible to even have a settled area at all.

Outside Manama, however, you see a dramatically different state. New construction is everywhere, and there are multitudes of new and in-construction residential areas. And those houses are HUGE -- they're practically villas. Our maid in Hong Kong, who has a brother working in this area, told us that it's not uncommon for one family to hire a ton of help: one person for the baking, another for the laundry, another for driving one car, yet another for gardening, etc etc.

We passed by several interesting sites in Bahrain: the old fort, which is both a tourist attraction and an archaeological site. You could wander all over the place for free, but the weird thing is that there are no signposts, nothing to tell you what's what. There were some side rooms that I wandered into, and there were random displays in cases, but no signs whatsoever. Whether they really seriously intend for this to be a tourist site is debatable: they certainly keep it very well restored, but then, why not go the extra mile and put in some information for the tourists?

The second place that we went to were burial mounds. Apparently 5% of the entire island is covered with these mounds. The biggest of these are taller than a tall man and wider than they are tall. Again, it's an archaeological site, but you can wander freely around the mounds (and for some of them, which are opened, into them), which is weird. The weirder thing was that only about 100 feet away was a new residential building. The inhabitants would get the view of the mounds every time they walk out of their front door. Maybe they don't have the superstitions that the Chinese have, or maybe the mounds are so old that they don't count as graveyards anymore.

The last place is the one that gives the title to this post. In the middle of the Bahraini desert is a tree called the "Tree of Life". No, it's probably not the Tree of Life, but it's a spreading mesquite tree which must have survived for a while, in the middle of the desert, all on its own.

The Bahraini desert -- or at least the part that we went to -- is covered with oil wells and oil pipes. Apparently we're also coming up to a festival for the locals, so there are many tents in the desert where families were vacationing. And every now and then, you'd see this dune buggy go roaring past the sand dunes.

The coolest thing was running into a shepherd with his flock of -- not sheep or goats, but camels! The shepherd, whom we think is paid to look after the flock, had herded them close to the Tree of Life for tourists to take pictures, and I suppose, also earn a few extra dollars for himself. There were about 40 camels in the entire flock, and he had hobbled some of the tamer ones. It was really cool to be able to walk right into the midst of so many camels. That was the highlight of my trip :-).

A Study in Excesses

There are no ports of call today because we're on this long trip from Istanbul to Dubronik, so I have been trying to make the most of being on this floating city. And it seriously is a floating city -- when we were in Istanbul, I looked back towards the port and the ship looked like this giant white mountain against the backdrop of the city. Made the buildings and other ships -- some of them big container ships -- look like children's toys.

I have come to believe that cruising is seriously a study in excesses. There's such an incredible amount of stuff that's going to waste, chiefly amongst them being food. I guess that when you have 4000 guests and over 1500 crew to feed, with two dinner sittings and only 2.5 hours between them, you can't afford to be conservative -- better to have and not need rather than need and not have. But the amount of food that must be getting thrown away is staggering.

Anyhow, there's not much to report today. Have been wandering the ship in search of entertainment. They have a nice gym on board and nice swimming pools. However, the pools (or rather, the decks around them) are completely packed with people trying to get a tan. Some people kind of park themselves on a deck chair and stay there all day. Incredible.

Crossroads of Europe and Asia

We arrived in Istanbul today for a full-day tour of the only city that straddles two continental plates at once. Having read so much about Istanbul before, I had been expecting it to be rich in history and culture at once, while still bustling with modernity. I was a little disappointed by the latter (well, coming from HK, what do you expect, I suppose), but certainly not disappointed otherwise.

For a religious-architecture afficionado like me, Istanbul is absolutely fabulous. I could have spent hours in the Blue Mosque or in the Hagia Sophia Museum just staring at the domed ceiling and wondering how they had the technology to build that thing so many years ago. Or just wandering about the streets and soaking up the atmosphere. It was amazing to walk down a street of seemingly new buildings and all of a sudden come across a centuries-old mosque, or to be watching the metro go by and notice that it was passing next to an old city wall. The downside was our tour guide, who seemed to be on a quest to break the speed record for showing a group around Istanbul. I was tempted to leave our group several times, but then she was so conscientious about making sure that everybody was on the bus, I decided not to go about causing trouble.

One thing that I have noticed about Turkey: the Turks seem to absolutely adore cats. I finally gave up on my usual practice of taking a picture of every cat I see on the street. There are just too many of them hanging around. The nice thing is that all of them seem to be happy and well fed. (Okay, not too surprising, but I just came back from Hubei. Ask Stephen what those kitties look like.)

Ruined City: Ephesus

The first thing that greeted me on Turkish soil was a magnificent orange tabby cat that was strolling nonchalantly around the customs area of the port of Izmir. She was kind of blase about the tourists who were trying to get her attention, but she did stop to let me pet her and give me a good meow. Quite a difference from those cats that we saw in Hubei -- I think that she probably weighed as much as 5 of those Hubei kitties that Stephen and I saw.

Ephesus was much more impressive than Olympia. It's one of the three big Roman ruins -- you have Pompeii, there's one in Jordan whose name eludes me at the moment, and then there's Ephesus. Of course, this being the height of tourist season, the place was positively crawling with people, and it was also an extremely hot day (about 40 degrees), which was suboptimal for sightseeing. But it was impressive nonetheless. I especially liked the theatre/stadium with its rows and rows of seating. Will post my pictures when I finally get back to a reasonable internet connection.

(Note about my pictures: It's incredibly easy to make pictures lie. When you see my photos, you'll get the sense that Ephesus is somewhat deserted and you're free to roam as you like. Not so. You can barely squeeze through some of the narrower passages at times.)

Our guide for today was a retired journalist and somewhat of a philosopher. He shared a lot about what he thought of the Jewish/Christian/Islamic conflict (he didn't even try to be PC at all, which was shocking at times but also a refreshing change), and though he was Muslim, he knew a surprising bit about Christianity and the Bible. As he pointed out where St. Paul supposedly preached in Ephesus, he talked about the Christian martyrs and then he said, "We learn about the basics from our parents, from our mosques, churches and synagogues. However, we never really think about the fact that people have died in order to give us what we believe in." He then went on to talk about the lions that they used to feed the martyrs to.

Some of the Americans in the group weren't too pleased about this, "what a downer", they were saying, but I appreciated the reminder about how we got what we have today.

Greetings from Olympia!

It's been three days on this ship now and it's starting to feel like forever, sort of. Well, okay, not that bad. At least I'm managing to get some good sleep in and get a good rest after the massive whirlwind that was the last three weeks. But this is a huge liner -- almsot 4000 people -- and I have to admit that I suppose I don't really like the floating-city-on-the-sea idea.

One good thing about this ship, though -- it has a chocolate bar! Everything's chocolate -- they even have shot glasses made of chocolate inside which they serve choc-flavored liquor. And the whole place smells like chocolate. It's fast becoming my favorite place on the ship.

Anyway, the ports have been nice so far. Went cycling in Bari yesterday for about two hours -- those of you who have been on the biking trips with me before, it was about 38 degrees Celcius and under the noonday sun, so you can imagine what it was like. But somehow it didn't seem as bad as it would have been in HK -- maybe because it was so dry that your sweat pretty much dried off immediately. I do have a small sunburn and a few bruises from a minor accident to show for it, though :-D

Today was Olympia, place of the ancient Olympic games. And to be honest, it was a little disappointing -- maybe it was the hordes of tourists (note to self: when a 4000 person liner docks, it regurgitates 4000 tourists onto the same small town at once), or maybe it's because I have been spoiled by too many Roman ruins before, but it was somewhat underwhelming. I much preferred the ruins of Leptis Magna in Libya, or those in Jordan -- those had more of a "WOW" factor to them.

Tomorrow will be Ephesus. Will report more then. For the time being, I better get off this expensive Internet connection (0.50 Euros per 30 secs!!!!!)

Outdoor research lab

Enroute from Dunedin to Queensland, we passed by a research institute with some pretty cool labs. The institution does research on animal husbandry, and one of their projects is seeing what sort of grass gives the best weight gain rate for sheep. So their labs consist of fenced-off areas, each with its own bit of grass and its own flock of sheep. I suppose that at the end of the test period, you weigh each one and see what the average is.

Since *our* labs require that we be stuck inside a building all day long, that sounds kind of fun.
"What do you need to do today?"
"Oh, I need to go and weigh some sheep."
Baaaa...

Not having been fast enough to take a picture of the labs, here's a picture of two very happy sheepdogs to make up for it :-). Yes, that dog is actually leaning on the sheep. I kid you not.

The Smoking Land

This picture was taken from my hotel room window in Rotorua, New Zealand. The smoke is coming out from fissures in the ground: Rotorua lies in a seismically-active area and hot springs and geysers are common; kind of like a mini version of Yellowstone National Park.

It was neat to see the smoke coming from so close. Of course, having to smell the sulphur for the entire time that we were there wasn't quite so nice...

Ctrl-Alt-Del... the plane

This is a picture of the seat-back TV on the flight to New Zealand. Apparently somebody decided to go and reset the computer that controls the DVD movies and games. Thank goodness, though, that this did not occur till after we landed. Think of how scary it would have been if this had happened mid-flight...