Traveling Experiences 4

AMAZON CRUISE

Nora and I went on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Manaus, Brazil in 1992. We visited some of the Windward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, St, Thomas, and Martinique, before arriving at Bridgetown, Barbados.  Barbados is the most easterly of the Caribbean islands and, because it is exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, has a slightly cooler climate than the other islands.

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Here we spent an enjoyable day visiting friends, the Fosters, with whom I had formerly worked at the Ozama Sugar Company, in the Dominican Republic.  We had not seen each other for more than 35 years and it was good to reminisce about our time together.

We continued on with a side trip to Devil’s Island.  This has been a prison site for French prisoners for many years. When we reached the mouth of the Amazon River, we left the Atlantic Ocean and proceeded up the river.  The Amazon is so wide that one is unaware of having left the ocean; in fact the water in the ocean is not salty at this point because of the large volume of fresh water coming out of the river.  We stopped at the village of Alter do Chao and went ashore.

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We continued up to the river to the city of Manaus.  Manaus, with a population of more than 1,500,000, is the largest city in northern Brazil.  During the late 1800’s, this area was the principal source of rubber in the world and Manaus prospered.  After rubber tree seeds were smuggled into southeast Asia, this area began to decline.  In recent years, other sources of income have been developed and the economy is improving.

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We next flew to Miami, where we encountered an unexpected problem. There was a labor dispute underway at the time and the staff was “working to rule”.  They were examining every piece of luggage and chatting with the children.  As a result, progress through immigration and customs was extremely slow. Our next flight was scheduled to leave in 30 minutes and it was apparent that we would not get through immigration in time to take this flight.  I saw a man, leaning against the doorway, who I surmised must be fairly high in the hierarchy since he did not need to appear to be busy.  I told Nora to give this man $20 and explain our situation.  Hopefully, he would be able to help us.  This scheme worked better than expected.  The man picked up our luggage in the incoming passengers reception area and took us through a couple of back doors to the head of the line in the departure area.  

MALAYSIA AND BORNEO

In 1993, Nora and I went on a tour of southeast Asia. We visited Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo and Taiwan. A highlight of the flight from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, was when the flight attendant invited us to visit the cockpit. This was the first time that I had the opportunity to see the cockpit of a 747 airplane.  I was surprised at how small and crowded it was.

George and Jo Ross, and Nora and I went ahead of the main group and spent two days in Singapore. Singapore is an island city state located 140 km north of the equator at the south end of the Malay Peninsula.  It has been an independent country since 1965 and has developed into a major financial center and a busy port. The 5 million people have the third highest per capita average income in the world.  English is one of the official languages and the one most commonly used in the business community. There are a large number of foreign workers in the city, due to the low birth rate amongst the inhabitants.

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We flew back to Kuala Lumpur to join the rest of the group. Malaysia has a population of 25 million people, one and a half-million of which live in Kuala Lumpur.  The country has an area of 330,000 km².  Since the country is located close to the equator, the climate is tropical. It was formerly a British colony that obtained its independence in 1963.  The government is a constitutional monarchy, with a bicameral legislature.  The sultan is a figurehead position with no effective power. The next day we went on a tour of Kuala Lumpur and were very impressed with the city. Some of the more notable buildings are shown below.

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The next day we left for the Taman Negara National Park. This involved a long boat trip up the Tembeling River. The accommodation in the National Park was exceptional. We enjoyed the jungle-like setting. We spent two days here and experienced much of the local culture.

A demonstration of blowpipe archery and a chance to try our luck at this were some of the activities in which we participated.  Needless to say, the locals handily won the blowpipe competition.

We left Taman Negara by boat and continued on our way back to Kuala Lumpur by bus.  The next day, we left Kuala Lumpur for Strawberry Park in the Cameron Highlands. During the time that the British occupied this territory, the Cameron Highlands were used as a vacation location because the climate is slightly cooler due to the altitude. The main industry in this area is growing tea. The pictures show various activities related to tea growing.

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The workman is mixing the tea leaves as they are curing.  The leaves are kept warm during the process. The flower garden is a change of topic, to provide some variety.

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We continued on our bus trip to Penang.  Penang is an island at the northwestern corner of the country.  A 13.5 km long bridge gives access to the island from the mainland.

The provincial capital is Georgetown.  This name is undoubtedly a carryover from the British Colonial days. We spent a day touring the Penang area.

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The next stage of our visit was a flight from Penang to Kuching, in Borneo. There we visited an orangutan sanctuary and the Sarawak Museum.

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The next day we traveled by boat to the Inkawe River where we spent the night at a local village.  Nora decided to stay in the comfort of the hotel in Kuching. The tribe who live in this village were formerly headhunters, but they no longer engage in this activity. They provided a show of local talent in the evening, which we enjoyed before going to bed in the village longhouse.

During a conversation with a young man, I learned that the children from the village attend a residential school in Kuching.  They were home for a school holiday.  I asked him what he hoped to do after finishing school.  He replied, “I don’t know.  If nothing better is available I may have to come here to live.  But I hope that I don’t have to do that.”  I couldn’t help but see the parallel with the residential school situation in Canada.  I was also impressed with his knowledge of Canada.  A Canadian teenager probably wouldn’t know where to look for Borneo on a map of the world. The next day we returned to Kuching.  We spent the night in the Holiday Inn and some of the group expressed the opinion that, for comfort, it was an improvement over the longhouse. The following day we flew to Kota Kinabula at the eastern end of the country.

The next day we visited Kinabula Park.

The next day we flew back to Kuala Lumpur and had a free day to explore the city. We flew to our next stop, Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.  Taiwan is an island off the coast of China.  It was formerly a part of China, but when Chiang Kai-shek was overthrown by the Communists, he took refuge in Taiwan and established Taiwan as a separate country.  The Chinese governments have never recognized this and, till this day, there is an uneasy relationship between the two governments.  China threatens to invade Taiwan and restore it to its original status as part of China but hasn’t done so yet.

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While we were waiting for the bus to take us to the airport I went for a walk and got lost.  I had a card from the hotel, so I showed this to a taxi driver and indicated that I wanted to go there.  He looked at the card and shook his head in bewilderment.  Then he pointed across the street at the hotel.  I was fortunate that he was honest; otherwise he could have driven me around the city and run up a big bill ostensibly looking for the hotel.

Our flight back to Los Angeles on Malaysia Airlines went well.  This route is a good example of maximizing the use of an airplane.  It starts in Kuala Lumpur and arrives in Mexico City 22 hours later, after stops in Taipei and Los Angeles.  After an hour to prepare the plane, it flies back to Kuala Lumpur on the same route.  In this way, the plane is in in-flight service 22 hours every day.

BUS TOUR OF EASTERN EUROPE

Nora and I flew to Frankfurt, Germany, in 1994, to start a bus tour of Eastern Europe.  Our first stop, after Frankfurt was in Heidelberg, where the attraction is a 14^th-century castle built on the on a hill overlooking the present day city. The next city we visited was Munich, in southern Germany.

The 1972 Munich Olympics are infamous because of the massacre of many of the Israeli athletes by German extremists.  This was the first time that an event like this had occurred at the Olympic Games.

From there we went to Nuremberg. The main thing for which Nuremberg is notable is being the site of the trials of the Nazi leaders after World War II.

The next stop was Prague in the Czech Republic. Two of the main attractions here are the Charles Bridge, built in the 15^th century, which is still in use, and the Prague Castle.  The castle is said to be the largest in Europe.

From Prague, we continued on to Vienna. We had visited Vienna earlier so we had already seen most of the tourist attractions. We stayed at the Parkhotel Schonbrunn shown below. Vienna is the capital of Austria.  The population is 1.75 million.  In the past, during the time of the Hapsburgs, it was a more important city.  It also noted for the importance of music in the life of the city.

Our next stop was Budapest, the capital of Hungary.  The population is 1.75 million and the city has been the capital of Hungary for many years.

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The next day we continued on toward Krakow, in Poland.  We stopped for lunch at a winter ski resort in Slovakia.  Since it was summer, there was no activity in the area.  In Krakow, we attended a folk festival featuring some of the local artists.

The next scheduled stop was Czestochowa in Poland.  This city has two main claims to fame.  It is the home of the Black Madonna portrait and is the birthplace of Pope John Paul II. As well as the statue of the Pope, there is one honouring his parents.

The legend of the Black Madonna goes back several centuries.  One of the many related versions credits the painting to Saint Luke.  It is said that he painted the portrait on a table top belonging to the Virgin Mary and presented it to her.  Some of the other stories are slightly more believable but still lack credibility.  There are also a variety of explanations for the dark coloration of their skin.

The day we were there was the occasion for a confirmation ceremony.  The area around the cathedral was jammed with school buses filled with children dressed in white for the ceremony.  There were also several busloads of tourists.  The tourists, including our group, were wandering into the cathedral in order to see the portrait, which is in a separate room reached by going through the sanctuary.  The other ceremony went on, ignoring the interruptions.

The drive from Czestochowa to Warsaw was through an agricultural area, somewhat similar to the Canadian prairies.  The big difference is that the people live in villages rather than on their individual farms.  There were a number of new houses in these villages, many still under construction.

Warsaw was completely demolished early in World War II.  When the city was rebuilt after the war, the buildings were reconstructed in their former style.  This is a different approach than in St. Petersburg, in Russia, where the rebuilding resulted in modern looking buildings.

On our way westward towards Posnan and Berlin, we passed several new two story houses.  They were finished in an ornate style and seemed out of place in the countryside.  Our guide commented that they were owned by Gypsy used car dealers.  He didn’t make any specific reference to the source of the used cars, but the inference was that they were obtained illegally and brought to Poland for sale. Posnan is one of the oldest cities in Poland and was the capital of the area in the Middle Ages.  There was comparatively little damage here during the war.

Our next destination was Berlin.  Since our last visit to Berlin, the wall had been opened and East Berlin was accessible.  This enabled us to see the contrast between East and West Berlin.

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From Berlin we returned to Frankfurt and flew back to Edmonton from there