Fiji is Turning Out to Be a Really Nice Job.....

.....aided by the fact I somehow managed to get a 2 1/2 day weekend.  The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, the water off the coast baby blue, the job has gone well, and the food is great.  After a rocky start, life is good.....very good.

The work days have been pretty long and that's part of the reason we got done a little early this afternoon.  I took the time to walk around the city for almost three hours taking photos.  Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow yet.

The Fijians have been very friendly and welcoming and I don't think it's a "tourist thing."  A former British colony, they still have the Queen's portrait on their currency and in most of the buildings downtown.  The people are all very dark-skinned but there is a very obvious difference between African heritage and South Asian (India and Pakistan) heritage.  The Brits brought in a lot of Indian indenured servents during the colonial days and their influence is still very obvious today.  Lots of Indian restaurants in the downtown area. 

I've seen a few mosques, a few Hindu temples and a lot of Christian churches on the island.  I think Hindu is the predominant religion here but it seems pretty equally divided.

The Holiday Inn is right on the harbor--a small seawall marks the end of the hotel property.  In the evenings, before dark, I've been wandering along the coast and it is pleasant.  There's an old, old colonial hotel along the beach--the shutterd windows, fluted columns and arched wrap around-porch.
The name on the front is "The Grand Pacific Hotel" and I'll bet that in it's day it was a five-star place.  Right now, it's completely gutted and someone is doing a total renovaton on it.  I'd love to stay there in a couple of years.

There's also a "bowling green" located along the coast.  When I was in Southampton, England I came across the oldest bowling club in the UK, wandered in, took a couple of photos, and was promptly thrown out.  Here, however, it's far less formal.  The "green" is rather large and consists of beautiful grass much like our putting green grass on our golf courses.  The bowlers use a ball (looks to be leather) about half-way between the size of a softball and a volleyball.  I watched for quite a while the other afternoon and decided I definitely don't have the patience for the sport.

Many of the men here wear skirts.  I think it's actually a Polynesian thing.  Fiji, after all, is in the general location of cultures like Somoan, Maiori, even Hawaiian.  The skirts are worn by bankers, shopkeepers, even the police.  It appears to be completely normal and nobody thinks twice about it.  School children--boys and girls--wear them.

There are lots of schools located around the city.  Some are government-run; many are religious in nature; and some are just private.  The literacy rate is very good here but they do speak English with a very heavy accent which I often have trouble understanding.  Of course there are a lot of other languages spoken as well.

I've really enjoyed my first week and am looking forward to doing something this weekend.  I'll be flying home next Friday after five weeks on the road.  Still, I'm looking forward to my final week in this tropical paradise......

The First Week in Fiji is Almost Over and I Head Home a Week From Today.....

…..despite the fact nobody expected us here until next week.  We have a student from Papua New Guinea (actually Australian); one from New Zealand; and one from Fiji.  Three of us flew in on separate flights, weren’t met at the airport; made our way to Suva independently; and met at the hotel Monday morning.  The student from Guam didn’t make it at all.

Despite that, we’re off and going and it means I’ll probably have a five day work week with the weekend off now and I’m trying to arrange something tour-wise for Saturday.

Suva is the capital of Fiji and is an old colonial (British) town with some really neat and picturesque old colonial buildings along the “Parade,” or main street along the harbor coast.  The water and beaches here are not the pristine you see in the tour guides but it is a really nice and pleasant place.  Yesterday, I walked down to the national museum which is very small but very nice.  This is a good place to relax and vacation.

One major surprise is the weather.  Days are sunny and very nice but not too hot.  The evenings, however, are actually cool to the point people on the patio at the hotel are wearing long pants and sweaters.  This really surprised me.

My first week, for better or worse, is almost finished.  We’ll see what Week 2 brings.  In the meantime, I hope to get a good tour this weekend………

After a Ten Hour Flight, Was Stranded at the Fiji Airport With No Ride.....

……waited around 1 ½ hours then contracted a taxi service.  Not exactly the reception I was hoping for after a 10-hour flight. The airport is at Navi and I’m working at Suva, which is literally on the other side of the island—basically a 3 ½ hour ride on absolutely terrible roads with a Kamikaze taxi driver.  The fee was around $136 and I may be in trouble tomorrow but I had to get here somehow.  I’ll deal with it tomorrow……

Fiji may be a paradise to some, but not to the majority.  As we drove along the coast, there were flashes of the pristine beaches you see on the brochures, but they were inevitably on resorts and off-limits to the locals who live in Africa-type poverty.

The countryside is beautiful in its own way—reminded me a lot of Costa Rica with mountains, forests and rivers.

The Holiday Inn here did have reservations for me and is an older hotel but still nice and a good view from my room out over the harbor.   Ate a light lunch after arrival, unpacked, and took a short nap.  Later in the afternoon I took a couple of hours just walking around the downtown area.  There is a nice city park along the harbor side and it is very pleasant here.  I felt pretty comfortable but as it started getting dark, I headed back to the hotel.  After tomorrow when I talk to some of my students, I’ll have a better idea if its ok to come down here in the evenings to eat supper.

I got back to the hotel just as the sun was going down over the harbor.  I got a table on the outdoor patio and had a beer while the sun set behind the mountains across the water.  Palm trees in the foreground, fishermen with cast nets working the low tide, and a beautiful sunset.  Starting to feel like what I visualize Fiji looking like.

Nobody has contacted me yet so tomorrow I’m going down to the lobby and wait.  If nobody shows up for me, I’m going swimming around 9:00 am………

Killing Time Until I Head to the Airport......

.....Hong Kong has been the best part of this long job so far, and I'm really glad I worked in a trip to Macau--it was the highlight of the week.

Thailand was kind of a disappointment what with the six-day work weeks and long commutes, I didn't really get to do any real sightseeing.  On my first night to Hong Kong, I slept 10 1/2 hours which is something I haven't done since I was a kid but that's how exhausted I was.  The location in Hong Kong was actually beautiful--mountains and harbor views--but not really ideal for sightseeing either.  Except for yesterday.

Unfortunately, Fiji may be another Thailand-type work schedule.  Other than the day I arrive tomorrow, I only have one day off during the next two weeks.  Still, it's someplace I haven't been and it may turn out really nice.  We'll see.....

My flight today is at 5:00 pm and I have to check out of the hotel at noon so I'm spending the morning killing time.  I think I'll check out and head directly to the airport and spend the rest of the time in the business lounge.  Beats having to rush and fight the airport and security lines although Asian airports are so much easier than African, or even U.S., airports.

My next post should be from Fiji.......

Couldn't Arrange a Tour, So I Did the Solo Traveler Route Today and Did Just Fine Going to Macau.....

......a bit surprised--albeit in a very pleasant way.  I knew Macau was in a "transition period" like Hong Kong.  Both countries reverted back to China in 1999 but there was an agreement for them to have a 50 year transition.  Macau is the oldest European settlement in all of Asia and the Portuguese influence is very evident.

I couldn't figure out the Hong Kong train system so I just took a taxi to the harbor and caught one of their ultra-fast twin-hull jet boats.  I don't know the distance but it was almost exactly an hour trip and I would estimate most of it was 50-60 miles per hour on the water.  I had all kinds of stuff written out in Chinese to show the taxi drivers and ferry people but it turned out the signage was excellent and I really had no problems.  The ferry probably held 200 people and was only about a quarter full going over but packed coming back. 

The only slowdown was customs getting into Macau.  I had carried my passport just in case and it was a good thing, because Macau is still operating as an independent country and it took a good while to get through customs but I guess now I can add Macau to the list of countries I've visited.  Once through customs, I took a taxi to the old historical district of the city.  Macau is much like Las Vegas to us; the coast is virtually ringed by high-rise casinos and luxury hotels.  I think in many ways, it is one of those "playgrounds for the rich."  If I recall correctly, it is also a banking haven for the super-rich to hide their money.

The coastal area is like Disneyland or Branson, but once I got into the interior of the city, it became more European--read that, Portuguese.  I took a ton of pictures so those will be posted later. 

Some of the places I visited were the ruins of the Church of St. Paul--built in the early 1600s by the Jesuits using Japanese Christian workers.  It's really unusual in that the only part of the cathedral standing today is the front facade--everything else has fallen down.  The square in front, the long stairway, and the plaza at the entrance are all intact, as is the entire front wall including the statues in their alcoves and the European Baroque designs.  It's very bizarre but also very beautiful.

Above the facade are the remains of the Fortress do Monte, or mountain fortress built by the Jesuits from 1617-1626 to protect the church below as well as defend the coastline.  In it's time, it became a very formidable fortress for the Portuguese military and today the ruins are open and feature fortifications and old, old cannon.  In between the fortress at the top of the mount and the church ruins below, there is a really nice Macau Museum and I really enjoyed it--probably spent a couple of hours here.  The top floor of the museum enters into the old fortress ruins.  You can visit the Fortress do Monte without visiting the museum but it would be a shame not to do both--so I chose to do the full Monte.

From there, I just kind of wandered around on my own.  The other thing I really wanted to see was the Lagardo do Senado square and just by accident I wandered into it.  I've had days where I couldn't find something I was looking for to save my life, but today, I just wandered aimlessly and seemed to take every correct turn on the winding streets and ended up where I wanted to be.

The Lagardo do Senado square is the true historical European heart and soul of old colonial Macau.  Here, the buildings date back to the 1500s in some cases, and the plazas and fountains look very European.  One of the tourist brochures I picked up listed Macau as "Venice without the canals", which I have a problem visualizing.  I was in Venice many years ago on my honeymoon and I can see, however, the similarities in architecture.  The square was so old, so interesting, and so beautiful and I took a bunch of photos.

Wandering down a side alley, I found a quaint Portuguese restaurant and decided to have lunch.  Inside the old, old building it was very nice--two story and they sent me upstairs I suspect because the waitress up there spoke English.  But besides speaking very good English, she was also very attractive and I ordered a lunch of grilled lamb ribs with rice and a soup I can't explain but it was very good.  I also had not one, but two glasses, of Portuguese red wine.  It was a really nice lunch, not cheap, but a good investment to make this trip memorable.  And yes, I tipped the good-looking waitress more than I probably should have.  My prerogative......

After that, I backtracked back to the ruins and fortress, caught a taxi back to the ferry terminal, made a fairly fast connection to Hong Kong, cleared customs, took a taxi back to the hotel, and had one very nice day.

Tomorrow I fly to Fiji and another country I can add to my list........

.....and I suspect I will find out who actually reads this blog by the responses to one of the comments I made here........

The Hong Kong Job is Finished, Fiji Lies Ahead, and I've Got the Better Part of Two Days Layover Here.....

....and I've been unable to book a day tour to Macau so, if it's not raining tomorrow, I'm going to take a taxi to the harbor, book a turbo-ferry, and go on my own.  If you watch the news and see a video of a lost Texan in Tibet trying to get directions, you'll know I messed up big time with this.

The Hong Kong job went well, much smoother than Thailand and only a 15 minute commute each way.  I've enjoyed it here--the terminal was on an island off the coast and this area is covered with mountains, narrow winding roads, and is very beautiful.  Not at all like my last visit to the central city.

The express elevator at the hotel still takes almost a full minute to rise 87 floors.  That got me to thinking just how high I really am in my room.  I Googled "Houston skyscrapers" and discovered the Chase Tower is the tallest building in Houston at 75 floors--and is the 44th tallest building in the world.  My room is twelve floors higher than the highest building in Houston.  Just thinking about a fire below me is frightening. 

Macau is reportedly really nice.  It was the first European settlement in Asia and Portuguese is still the official language there.  Although it is dominated by high-end casinos today, there are still a lot of historical colonial landmarks and, supposedly, some of the best Portuguese food outside Portugal itself.  Since I'm not familiar with Portuguese food, this will be another first for me.  The only thing that might cancel this trip would be pouring rain and that's a possibility tomorrow.

Overall, though, the trip is half through; in general pretty smooth; and I'm looking forward to flying to Fiji Saturday afternoon.  I'll post my impressions of Macau when I get back......

Made it to Tsuen Wan in the Hong Kong Territory and Still Can't Upload Photos.....

…..I’m not actually in Hong Kong, but outside the city in the mountains.  The area here is known as Tsuen Wan and, in itself, probably has a half million residents. 

The flight was short, about three hours, but it took me almost an hour standing in line to clear customs, another 45 minutes to claim my suitcase, and another forty minutes taxi ride to get here.  The hotel caters to tour groups and, not exaggerating, there must have been over a thousand tourists milling around in the giant lobby.  That involved another 45 minute wait in line to check in but, in the end it was worth it, because I somehow got an upgrade to the executive suites on the top—87^th floor—so my room has a magnificent view of the harbor below.

The suite itself is three rooms and one whole wall—about thirty feet—is solid glass with, like I said, a magnificent view of the harbor, ships, and mountains surrounding the area.  There are two huge semi-suspension bridges, much like the Fred Hartman Bridge in Houston and at night they are lit up.  The harbor itself is immaculate and the land area is covered with high-rises but all are new and in pristine condition.

Photos, it seems, won’t be an option on this trip.  Not only is my computer not downloading, but now it can’t locate them in my camera.  I’m taking photos and know they’re there, I just can’t access them until I get home.  I really wish I could post my view from my room.

Today is Monday and I start work tomorrow, so I’m just taking it easy.  I hadn’t realized just how exhausted I was from the two weeks in Thailand.  Last night I walked over to a small shopping mall and ate in a noodle shop.  Cheap, really good, but this morning I wasn’t feeling 100%.  I don’t think it was the food, probably exhaustion.  I may eat there again tonight.

I did go out this morning for a walk.  It was raining pretty hard, so I rented an umbrella at the hotel and set out with a map to find an old ancient walled city that is now a museum within the city.  Actually, I found it pretty easily and checked it out.  It’s in the city itself, on the side of a mountain, but virtually surrounded by high rises.  It’s typical Chinese here—crowded sidewalks, traffic jams, neon signs in Chinese lettering almost making an awning over the street itself.  The streets are named in Chinese and English (British influence I guess), and I never really got lost.  The museum is called Sam Tung Uk and was nicely restored.

Walled cities were Chinese traditions over the centuries.  They would consist mostly of extended families and the walls created a fortress protection against the bandits and, occasionally even the local Chinese army and militias during uprisings.  Last time I was here, I visited a walled city in the New Territories that was very, very old and this particular one was still inhabited.  They even had an old cannon to protect their main gate to the city.

Anyway, sorry about the photos this trip, but this second stage in Hong Kong seems to be off to a good start……..

Some Random (Non-illustrated) Thoughts About My First Two Weeks in Thailand......

…..these have been a long, hard two weeks.  Working with an interpreter always is but this time we had to factor in the almost 4 hours of round-trip commutes every day.  This has resulted in 12-13 hour days and I’m exhausted—more so than any other job I’ve done overseas.  I fly to Hong Kong Sunday and have two days off before and after my next job, so I can catch up then.  I do plan to take a trip to Macau while I’m there.

The King of Siam, or Thailand, is the longest reigning monarch in the world—66  years.  Thais are observing with amusement all the hoopla surrounding Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee.  The King is very revered here—photos of him are everywhere, in offices, on billboards, virtually everywhere.  And the people truly love him.  He is basically a figurehead in a democracy however Thai politics are extremely corrupt—even by American standards.  When things get really bad, the military overthrows the government, and then crack heads until they are pressured to call for new elections.  When this happens, the King steps in and convinces the military to lighten up on the people and then usually is the pressure that causes them to call new elections.  He is a moderating influence on the military and I suspect that is a large reason why he is so respected.

Despite the terrible reputation Thailand has for the sex industry and, especially child pornography, Thais in general are very conservative and religious—and it shows in all aspects of their society.  A Thai citizen will do the typical “bowing out” several times every day.  It consists of placing the palms of the hands together in a praying position and bowing toward the fingers.  This started with a show of reverence to the Buddha but is extended to shop keepers, taxi drivers, doormen at hotels.    When I start a class in the morning, we begin by standing, and then we “bow out” to start the day and repeat it at the end of the day.  It is also usually done when somebody says “thank you.”  The higher the reverence, the higher the hands are held.  We usually hold the hands with the fingertips just below the chin, but a monk would command higher respect.  When worshiping a Buddha at a temple, most Thais hold their arms extended all the way above their heads when bowing out.  It is a very gracious and graceful tradition.  Even Thai boxers do it before their matches.

In the mornings when we leave the hotel, the sidewalks are packed with food vendors—I have sampled their offerings but am generally afraid of the sanitation.   Buddhist monks, however, walk along the sidewalks in their orange saffron robes (I so wish I could download photos) carrying a ceramic pot and the vendors will offer them food.  For the monks, it is a requirement of humility and their only food they will receive for the day.  When the vendors give them food, the monk holds the pot above his head and the vendors offer prayers.  Even the monks, however, are required to share some of it with beggars on the streets.  I imagine it’s impossible to feel self-important when you must rely on others for all your food.  I’ve been told that, when he was younger, the King would put on robes one day a year and walk the streets asking for food to maintain humbleness and relate to the poverty of his subjects.  Somehow, I can’t imagine an American President doing that.

Traffic in Bangkok is terrible, but not the worst I’ve seen—that honor has to go to Cairo.  There are some traffic lights but most traffic is the “yield” nature and people rarely fail to let others in or out.  You rarely see drivers show irritation and I have never seen anybody yelling or giving the finger.  I think, in many ways, America has become a rude, crude and very angry society.  It is a pleasant experience to get away from it occasionally.

One of my students this week is from Singapore and has been going out in the evenings giving bottles of milk and biscuits to beggars with children.  Pretty cool, and the fact he’s Muslim sure shatters a lot of stereotypes.  There is no education like traveling and believe me, the media does not portray accurately the people of the world.  Tonight, he and I are going out for Sushi—that’s not a dietary restriction.

I turned in ten days of laundry yesterday and got it back this afternoon.  With the heat and humidity, you change everything daily, but my laundry was basically just pants, shirts, socks and underwear.  The bill for ten days came to over $182.00.  I’m authorized to have laundry done every ten working days so I’ll be doing one more on this trip—probably in Fiji.  I would like to thank all you Exxon consumers who are supporting this at the pumps.

I’m tired, and that’s it for this afternoon.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to download photos when I get to Hong Kong Sunday.  I’m looking for the time off, the chance to take some day trips, and the experience of a new country……

Still Can't Get the Photos to Download.....

.....the first week went ok.  The commute to the container terminal where we're doing the training can take up to 1 1/2 to 2 hours each way and these are six day jobs meaning I'm dead tired most of the time I'm at the hotel.  On Sunday I did take a train to the central market and walked around.  I really hope this photo issue goes away when I get to Hong Kong next weekend.  I'm thinking Devin may be right about the connection here--it tries to load my photo then denies permission.

Made it to Thailand With No Major Problems.....

.....and spent the first day trying to stay active and not nap so as to fight the effects of jet lag.  It was a long, hard trip but once I left the airport in a taxi, I remembered what it is that I like so much about Thailand--this is truly an exotic part of the world. 
     I got about four hours sleep, got up and decided to spend the day staying active no matter how tired I was so I could get a good night's sleep Sunday night before working.  After breakfast, I took their elevated monorail across town to the Chao Pryia River which is their large commercial waterway that runs through the city.  Their monorail was built by Germany and is super-efficient.  I went clear across Bangkok in about twenty minutes with two connections that cost less than $2.00.  I just don't understand why Houston can't do the same thing.
     This is my fifth job in Thailand and I'm getting pretty comfortable with the public transport here.  I knew where to get off the elevated and walked down to the public pier for the water taxi.  That ticket cost me less than 50 cents and I rode up the Chao Pryia River for several stops to the ancient Imperial Palace.   I've been there a couple of times before, so I skipped the palace this time and walked five or six miles to an old fortress in the ancient part of the city.  After looking around there, I headed back and managed to get lost in the maze of streets.  Not to worry, I simply flagged down a tuk-tuk--one of those motorcycles that has been converted to take three passengers--and he took me back to the water taxi pier.  That cost me about $3.00.  By then, I was getting really tired, so I reversed the journey and headed back to the hotel.
     I'm staying at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel which is a really nice four-star located in a really good central location.  There's a high-end shopping mall next door which doesn't appeal to me but they do have a really good food court with various Thai restaurants so I'll probably eat supper there most of this trip.  I spent three weeks here on a previous trip so I know the area pretty well.
    Overall, a good start to a long job, which starts tomorrow morning.

I'm having problems downloading photos to the blog.  Devin suspects it may be my connection here at the hotel and, if so, it may be Hong Kong before I can download them.  I'll keep trying in the meantime.