Posts from — April 2009

We had not yet taken a long distance train on our trip, so we were all looking forward to our overnight train to Beijing.

At the same time, we knew we were entering uncharted territory.  China is one of those places we couldn’t figure out how to tackle, so we decided to just plunge in.

Our train left Hung Hom train station at 3:15 pm and was due to arrive at Beijing’s West Train Station 24 hours later.

We booked a “soft sleeper” – four bunks in one compartment.  At first blush, it looked incredibly small, but once we found the storage spaces, it turned out to be quite roomy.  We settled in for the ride.

Shortly after dark, there was a knock on our compartment door.  When we opened the door, a young female train attendant seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see her.

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A Day in Pictures
Hong Kong, SAR, China

Even in the 16th century the Chinese exported far more than they imported, sending growing quantities of silk and tea to Europe with Portuguese traders.

That changed for a time after the British arrived in Hong Kong because the British brought with them one imported good that could not be resisted: Opium.

The British drug trade led to the First and Second Opium Wars – and ultimately a 99-year British “lease” of Hong Kong. The lease ended in 1997, and Hong Kong was returned to Chinese control.

Today, nearly 12 years after the British handover to the Chinese, Hong Kong remains a global economic center.

Hong Kong’s harbor is one of the world’s most scenic – and busiest. Skyscrapers ring the harbor, and nothing seems to slow the pace of construction.

At night, the harbor comes alive, putting on one of the world’s biggest light shows.

And a streetside version of one of our favorites: Hong Kong Idol.

There are more pictures from Hong Kong here.

We have just finished watching The Deep End of the Ocean.

It’s on HBO, one of three channels in English here at our serviced apartment in Bangkok. We watched it fully engaged in the drama and at times with tears in our eyes. But I’m worried about us and here’s why: this is the fourth time we’ve seen this movie.

We’re positively stuck in the doldrums, counting the days until we can move on.

We arrived in Bangkok after a grueling bus trip over bumpy dusty back roads from Siem Reap. (I think the only roads in Cambodia are of the “back” variety.)

Thirty-eight travelers in a vehicle built for 35, plus the driver, plus at least one huge backpack for each person crammed into a retired school bus with no shocks and open windows pulling reluctantly at the thick dirty air whenever we lumbered over 10 mph.

One man sat in a child-sized red plastic chair placed in the aisle near the front door. He got the best breeze since the door stayed open for the entire ride.

All the way back, lumpy duffel bags and unwieldy suitcases took the walkways. In the final row, people sat five across under a tottering roof of stacked packs threatening an avalanche with each slam on the brakes.

Perhaps, after several squeaking hours you might doze: a small mental escape. But whining, invasive honking would pull you back in to the reality of the journey. Hand on the horn, foot on the gas careening toward and then away from bikes, tuk-tuks, oxen, schoolchildren, goats over the powdery red dirt roads.

Nothing could have been more pleasing to see than the “Welcome to Thailand” sign.

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Cambodia was a challenge for us, but a rewarding one. I think we all left with a renewed appreciation for the strength of the human spirit.

Our travel report is here.

Every day that we possibly can, we open our big blue suitcase on wheels and pull out the textbooks.

Caroline has a big, green, shiny English 9 book and an accompanying dense black writing handbook.  A 10-pound U.S. History text, a geometry book, and all the tools to go with it (calculator, protractor, compass, etc) rounds out her list.

Conor’s stack includes a fat, red math book and two huge spiral-bound math manuals, a social studies book covering lands of the eastern hemisphere and its matching workbook, and a language arts book.  (We’re dissecting sentences and learning parts of speech.)

None of this really blends in with world travels: sight-seeing, trekking, photographing, eating strange foods, and moving over and over again to yet another new spot.

But schoolwork has become a necessary framework and, at times, a welcome one.  Even though, like at home, it causes a certain stress, it is a constant thread through our crazy changeable year.

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