Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Asia Cruise


To celebrate our 46th anniversary Bob and I signed up as enrichment speakers for RCCL cruise ship, Legend.  We left early so that we could visit our former students in Tianjin.  Steven met us at the airport in Beijing and took us to our hotel room.  HE spent the next day with us and then put us on the train to





Tianjin to meet Richard and Jasmine.
Our first stop was Shanghai.  A typhoon was on its way to Seoul Korea so the captain changed course to miss it and we spent an extra day in Shanghai.We visited several temples, museums, shopping streets, etc. IT was extremely hot and humid. It was very crowded due to the World Expo being held there.



Our next stop was Nagasaki.  Bob gave an excellent lecture about the A-bombing there.  We visited the Peace Memorial and Museum.  This is Peter Tam and Bob
A crowd had gathered along the pier and as we sailed away, they waved and the orchestra played, “We Are the World”.  They hung a huge banner that said ‘See you again in Nagasaki.”  All the ship decks were lined by passengers waving back and clapping for their performance.  It brought tears to our eyes.  Imagine—just 65 years ago, they were our enemies.  This was very moving to us. 






We next visited Okinawa's Peace Park which was huge and beautiful.  The museum was outstanding.












Taipai 101-Worlds second tallest building.  We went up 88 floors in 37 seconds!  Bob loved it--NOT!






We also saw very tall apartment buildings in Hong Kong.  It is a very crowded island with millions of people and huge commercial businesses.  There are more millionaires in HK than anywhere else in the world.  And it operates in the black--no debt!








The Hotel Peninsula is a very expensive hotel that picks up it's guest by Rolls Royce.  Their buffet at High Tea is $400/plate.  We enjoyed looking!


Yu and Emme took us on the world's largest cable car ride.  It had a plexiglass bottom which Bob never looked down at.  We went from Hong Kong Island to Lantau Island to see the 100 Ft Buddha that sits on top of the highest peak.


Note the Buddha and Monestary which we visited after our cable ride to the top. 

The highlight of this trip was the beginning and the ending—spending time with our students. They were so happy that we had come back. They saw us off at the airport and we arrived safe and sound 20 hours later.  We were exhausted and so glad to be home.  But we are so glad we got to see Steven, Richard, Jasmine, Emme and Yu.  They will visit us someday, we are sure of that!We enjoyed the cruise but it was too hot. Our lectures went very well. Crowds of 75-100 people came from every country. But the highlight was meeting the other speakers—Peter and Beverly Tam. We toured with them, ate meals with them, and shared thoughts and background.  The Lord guided, protected and blessed us. We are so grateful. But it is sooooo nice to come home! And we got China out of our system. We are just too old for the heat and long flight..






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