Shanghai

Hello in Chinese

Our final port of call was a familiar port since we had visited Shanghai back in 2010.  The really cool part of our stay this time was that our cruise ship sailed right up the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze River that cuts right thru Shanghai. We docked at the Bund in the center of the city, right across the river from Pudong.  The Bund is a 1-mile long waterfront strolling wharf for locals and tourists lined with historical buildings and other important structures. It is one of the most famous tourist areas in all of Shanghai. Pudong is a crazy skyscraper complex of avant-garde buildings across the river that tease the artistic imagination of anyone who sees them (especially at night when they are all lit up).

And one more bonus for us: it was all right there outside our stateroom window!  Yea, our ship was exactly positioned so that we had a direct view of one of the prettiest and most famous sections of this river right outside our ship's window.

Busy barge traffic on the Huangpu River in Shanghai

The Huangpu River is always busy with boat traffic, all day & night long.  The Chinese are quickly building up their country like anxious little bumble bees.  Barges with building materials, coal, comestibles, and other goods are in constant motion along this important waterway.  Tourist boats, sightseeing along the Bund are also part of the clutter and traffic on this ever-congested river. 

Our 40-year-old tour guide Shanghai Tom

For touring this fun city, Anne had hired a driver (Shanghai Tom) to chauffeur us around Shanghai. It was fun just to see more of this very modern city than we were able to see last time.  We especially liked the skyscrapers everywhere! Our first stop was the Long Hua Temple, a local Buddhist temple seldom visited by tourists.

500 mini-Buddhas!

This temple complex encompasses 1000 years of Buddhist history. Many Buddhas are on display here from the smiling happy Buddha to a building with 500 mini-Buddhas, and even a Buddha with 1,000 arms! We don’t pretend to understand the history very well, but many Chinese come here to pray and commune with the various Buddha icons.  

Colorful bird market

Next, Shanghai Tom took us to several unusual markets – a bird market, a flower market, and the cricket market. Lots of colorful birds, flowers, and other common pets, but the most bizarre “pet” for sale was the cricket.

Fighting crickets on sale

Apparently, the Chinese somehow get crickets to fight one another and then they gamble on the outcome.  The arcades where these crickets are sold are filled with a high-pitched chirping cacophony created by thousands of these creatures at a somewhat disturbing decibel level.  We had never seen anything quite like it, but it fascinated us nonetheless.  Little crickets, big crickets, weird-looking crickets, colorful crickets, and others were in boxed up displays for sale all along the many halls of the market.  

Cricket sleeping mats (top) along with food and water dishes

And one thing further: these cricket markets sell all the paraphernalia to keep these critters happy and healthy.  Little thimble-sized food and water dishes, miniature domiciles to house the crickets, and little mats for the crickets to sleep on. A well-rested cricket will be a better fighter in the ring!  At times it was hard to keep from bursting into laughter!  But then we realize this is one of the reasons we travel.  You never know what tickles the fancy of different cultures until you see it firsthand.

Classy Xintiandi neighborhood

Shanghai Tom took us to the French Concession (a part of Shanghai inhabited by the French during the colonial period) and a famous, trendy area called Xintiandi where neat old Chinese buildings have been converted into upscale shops and restaurants. No signs of the old Communist lifestyle around here. With beautiful outdoor cafes offering international cuisine on every corner, it felt more like Paris then Red China.

Fun shopping on Old Shanghai Shopping Street 

And finally, we went to a bustling shopping area called Old Shanghai Shopping street where we walked around to see the wares of the market. The old-style Chinese building stood in fascinating contrast with the skyscrapers all around them. We browsed the shops -- lots of interesting stuff, but nothing we could use.

New Chinese friends

We made a few friends as we strolled the shopping district.  After all, we were a curiosity amongst the mostly Chinese shoppers there.  Many were anxious to talk with us and sometimes even photograph us westerners. Lots of fun to meet and greet these lovely people, and see how another world lives! But, it was a long day, and we were beat and ready to go back to the ship. It was our last full day in China; tomorrow we fly back to the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Pudong at night!

Pudong at night is a riveting sight filled with captivating blinking neon lights that shimmer colorfully in the waters of the Huangpu.  Half the passengers (including us!) were on the outside decks of the ship shutterbugging the vibrant Pudong skyline ad nauseum!

Repaired wheel hangs in there for the whole trip!

And one final thing.  The wheel has gone full circle.  For any of you who have been following our plight, where we’ve been hoping the wheel on Anne’s luggage would not come undone, we have good news.  After the fix Frank performed on that broken wheel just about a month ago, and after about 10,000 miles of traveling thru Asia (and back to America) with the repair, we are happy to report that the fix held up perfectly.  We did not baby it at any time, we just used the luggage as normal. The wheel weathered our journey just fine. 

 

More pics:

200-year-old pagoda in Long Hua
temple complex

Prayers to the Buddha

Cute expression on this little Chinese boy

Young sweetie waves to Mr. Frank

Young Chinese boy poses for Frank 

What a big-eyed cutie!

Little girl with popsicle

Faces of Shanghai

Enjoying a hot dog shish kabob

Buddha with 1,000 arms

Farewell to Shanghai

Fukuoka and Nagasaki

Along the canals of Fukuoka

Fukuoka

Fukuoka is known as one of Japan’s most cosmopolitan cities. It is certainly attractive with rivers running like canals through the city. Fukuoka is also renowned as a culinary center, and we were anxious to try the famous Fukuokan ramen noodles!

Japanese cherry blossoms

Holland America, our cruise ship line provided a free shuttle into the center of the city, a wonderful service they seem to offer frequently. We walked along one of the canals and got our first look at the famous Japanese cherry blossoms. Many people on our cruise chose this itinerary specifically for the cherry blossoms, but we never even thought about it until today. We did not book this cruise specifically for the cherry blossoms, but what a nice little extra!

Famous "Ichiran" noodle restaurant

We walked to the Canal City Mall in search of one of Fukuoka’s most famous ramen noodle restaurants, a place called “Ichiran.” “Ichiran” is justly famous for its flavorful broth and yummy noodles. But it also has a very odd serving process that we found interesting.

In the tiny eating booth at "Ichiran"

First you order and pay at an automated machine which spits out little card receipts for each item you order (spring onions, number of garlic cloves, level of spiciness, egg, qty. of pork, drinks, etc.). Not that you have many choices, but each choice costs you a few more yen. “Ichiran” specializes in one main dish, pork bone ramen noodles. They are famous for their handmade noodles, long-simmering broth, and special flavor (over 30 spices).

"Ichiran" noodles are now served!

Next, a hostess (who speaks no English) leads you to a strange narrow individual booth darkened for privacy on three sides. Waiters roam in a hallway beyond the front of the booth although you can only see their hands when they lift the curtains up partway and deliver the goods. Frank likened the process to being in a confessional booth back in Catholic school. Next, our waiter gave us each a form (barely readable in the dark booth) to indicate our next level of preferences – whether we wanted thick noodles with medium spicy broth and extra pork. Finally, our steaming ramen soup arrived in a rectangular bowl with a lid. Now we were free to commune in silence, alone with our ramen noodles! (This really was a lengthy, odd process, but in the end, it was the most delicious noodle soup, well worth waiting for!)

Drinking Orion beer among the cherry blossoms
 in a park by the canal

On our way back to the ship, we grabbed two cans of Orion beer at a 7-Eleven (7-elevens are on every block here in Japan!!). And drank them as we sat along the canal beneath the cherry blossoms! Ahhhhh, pure local Japanese ambiance!

Tram in Nagasaki

Nagasaki

There is something tickling and rewarding about finding your way around a foreign city that writes in no words you understand, and most of the people don’t even speak any language(s) you speak.  We found pride in learning and understanding the Nagasaki tram operations in this busy city on our own and arriving safely and precisely at the Peace Park that we targeted. And returning the same way.

At the Peace Park, monuments
commemorate Ground Zero

The Peace Park is located at the point of ground zero, where on 9 August 1945, the 2^nd atomic bomb hit Japan and forced its ultimate unconditional surrender. On the day we visited, the sun was shining, the air was cool, and the park was filled with cherry blossoms just starting to bloom. Several monuments commemorate the horrific bombing event and many of these are strewn with colorful handmade crane banners (just like in the Okinawa Peace Park). It truly was a peaceful place, and we found it impossible to imagine the horror that occurred here in August of 1945.

Stopped clock at the exact time
of the blast (11:02 AM)

As you enter the Peace Park museum, the first room poignantly displays a single, twisted, broken wall clock extracted from the rubble of the bombing.  It was stopped at exactly 11:02 AM when the nuclear bomb fell and destroyed Nagasaki. The B-29 Bockscar aircraft was scheduled to drop the bomb on the city of Koroku, but as fate would have it, Koroku was fogged in, so Nagasaki became the unfortunate alternate target.

Replica of  bomb dropped on Nagasaki
known as "Fat Boy"

The bomb dropped was a plutonium 239 bomb, whose 1kg nuclear mass was exploded two football fields above Nagasaki.  When the bomb exploded, the plutonium ball underwent almost total nuclear fission, while the rest of the discharge went into the environment as plutonium atoms and as fallout.

The flash from the fissionable material was so bright it was like another sun was shining in the sky, according to witnesses.  Objects standing near walls left shadowy images burned in the walls forever. Ceramic tiles that were decoratively embedded in walls and on street surfaces were literally boiled from the intense heat of the explosion. Glass bottles laying in the streets mostly became fused twisted lumps of unrecognizable goo.

Stylized sculpture portraying the suffering in Nagasaki

In Nagasaki, 12,000 homes inside a small perimeter from the epicenter were instantly burned down in the first few seconds of the blast.  Of course, anybody inside those homes at impact were trapped, and burned to death as the homes collapsed on and around them.

Fused bottles from heat of the blast

All-in-all, the museum was a great experience. However, we found the slant on the Nagasaki story to be a bit biased toward the Japanese side (by omission of info). It seems the Japanese want little to do with their part in the war and like to be the victims who suffered here in Nagasaki on the 9^th of August.

Charred body of Nagasaki victim

We find it hard to be “hard-hearted” about this, but we think the Japanese need to tell the whole story.  More introspection and rumination about the reasons for this atomic bomb destruction need to be inserted in this museum that merely concentrates on the horrific immediate terror experienced by the Japanese people.

Behind us, two monoliths identify the point of
the bomb's exact impact 

For example, don’t they remember the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor? Not one word of mention about Pearl in this museum that we saw. Cause and effect have been ignored.  Did the Japs merely believe the events at Pearl would be forgotten and go unpunished?  Dreamers!  Plus, we still don’t understand why the Japanese military refused to surrender despite the fact they had obviously lost the war. Just to save face?  Dreamers again!  Payment day finally came due this day in August, but it seems their responsibility to the United States retaliation simply faded behind their own grief.  In the end, a lot of this unnecessary loss of life was, in our opinion, self-inflicted. This word needs to be inculcated into the Japanese history books, this museum, and to the psyche of the Japanese people.

More pics:

The Japanese LOVE goofy characters
like this

More goofy characters (high on rooftop)

Japanese woman in traditional dress

Frank along the canals of Fukuoka, Japan

Anne amidst the cherry blossoms in Nagasaki, Japan

Japanese cherry blossoms

 

Okinawa

Our guide Sunny talks to us about Okinawa

We like to consider ourselves amateur WWII buffs, and we were excited to finally dock on the Island of Okinawa, just south of Japan.  Some of the bloodiest fighting and war atrocities occurred here on Okinawa, where many thousands were killed during the final days of the war. Although Okinawa is an island of Japan, it has a different cultural history and somehow seems apart from the other major islands of the Rising Sun.

Unique Shusa statue on rooftop
wards off evil all over Okinawa

The Volendam docked late in the afternoon at Okinawa’s Wakasa Berth. The ship had “beaucoup de paperwork problems” with the Japanese officials, so our first day on Okinawa was obviously shortened quite a bit. But not everything was a total bust. Towards the end of the day, we managed to get past the delays of customs, and grabbed a cab into the capital city of Naha for an evening look-around and maybe even some local chow, and of course, some unusual shopping.

Walking the streets of Naha, Okinawa

A delightful English-speaking, 50-ish Okinawan cabbie named “Angel,” who was the epitome of spit-and-polish (tall, erect postured, well-spoken, courteous, wearing white gloves and military-like uniform) picked us up at the dock and took us into Naha City on the main shopping street (Kokusai Dori). There, he shut his cab meter off and gave us an unauthorized courtesy tour just so we tourists could get our bearings, then let us out to adventure on our own. With jaws dropped at this unexpected welcome, we thanked him profusely and went on our way!!  And, he wouldn’t even take a tip on our $8 fare.  Lovely person!

We walked some of the busy shopping streets of this neon-blinking district, still somewhat dazed, but thankful for our cabby’s welcome to us on Okinawa. We found a quiet restaurant for some local vittles, and one that had a free internet to boot. We hadn’t seen or used internet in days, and we just wanted to get our next blog on its way. This is the way we have to do it sometimes, especially when we are traveling on a cruise ship, grabbing that internet access whenever/however we can!

War time pictures of Okinawan
devastation

Fortunately, we had two days on Okinawa, so we would return tomorrow for the real WWII experience. Although you could see no remnants of the war having affected Naha, the truth is that it was basically burned and leveled during the war. Now, it is a modern built-up new city, totally replacing the city that existed prior to the war. The memories of the war seemed distant, as we strolled these streets of Naha.  It was a vibrant young city now, and the well-dressed locals and shoppers seemed divorced from any thoughts of former devastation.

The following day on Okinawa, we took a tour of the Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters, with our tour guide “Sunny” showing us some of the highlights. We descended deep into the earth thru tunnels that were hand dug with pickaxes by Japanese soldiers during the war. Wow, what a feat of determination because much of the digging is thru shear rock. But the Japanese were not kind to the Okinawans who they treated as second-class citizens. The Okinawans were forced to fight for the Japanese during the war or be killed. Sometimes whole families were forced to commit suicide. Many unthinkable atrocities were perpetrated by the Japanese Command here and documented by the writings of other Japanese soldiers.

Typhoon of Steel pulverizes the Japanese war machine

Okinawa was the last big battle in the push to invade Japan proper. In fact, this was the only ground battle fought on Japanese soil in WWII. The Japanese knew they had to stop the Americans here, so they fought fiercely to save the motherland. But, the Japanese were severely outgunned, outnumbered, and outclassed against an invasion force they called “The Typhoon of Steel.” 

Sign in Japanese Staff Officer's Room
where they blew themselves up

Most of them were either killed, forced to surrender, or committed suicide. In fact, the walls of some of the Staff Officer’s Rooms down in the tunnels are pockmarked with shrapnel blast scars from the grenades the officers used to blow themselves up. Most were killed or committed suicide because surrender was not an option in their bushido code. Consequently, many thousands died here in the Battle of Okinawa, and in the war in general.  The actual statistics are sketchy, but as best known, 75,000 allied forces were killed, 84,000 to 117,000 Japanese were killed, and 149,000 Okinawans were killed, performed Hari Kari, or just went missing.

Marine examines horrors of Battle of Okinawa

We also toured thru the War Museum which had many detailed posters and photographs showing the horrors of the war in Okinawa. War is what it is, but many graphic pix and dioramas of the innocent victims of the war were displayed here enabling non-combatants like ourselves to gain insight into the severity of the collateral casualties involved.

Peaceful Peace Park by the ocean side

Finally, we visited the Peace Park dedicated to all who had died here on Okinawa during WWII.  Lots of symbology, an eternal flame, and the names of all who died on Okinawa regardless of nationality or gender. A peaceful non-war-like site now, it’s located high on a promontory alongside a serene ocean setting.

A last interesting fact about Okinawa.  It is claimed that the average lifespan here on Okinawa is the longest of anywhere else in the world. There are more centenarians on Okinawa than anywhere else in the world. 








More pics:

American soldier befriends Okinawan children

Anne checks out the underground tunnels

One of the original pickaxes used to hone the
Japanese tunnels

View of Naha, Okinawa from overlook

Frank explores Japanese war tunnels