Smith Family Home

     Day two weather was another story. Because of Hainan's location on the South China Sea, it has been rocked with at least one Typhoon every year for the last 50 years. This year the first Typhoon struck early in the season and was followed by nothing more serious than two or three tropical depressions/storms. Before our trip, Hainan enjoyed weeks and weeks of great weather. You can see where I'm going with this, can't you? In the three days prior to our scheduled trip, Typhoon Xangsane built up in the Pacific and on the day we flew down it was pounding the Phillipines. We were aware of this before we left Shanghai and checked half a dozen forecasts to see if we should cancel the trip. All forecasts had it continuing across the South China Sea and hitting Vietnam a few hundred miles south of Sanya. Despite the almost certain bad weather, we decided to go anyway--partly because Michelle loves weather-watching and was excited to see what it might be like to be in a Typhoon's outer bands.

     Well, she found out all right. We experienced pouring rain coming down sideways because of the wind, giant crashing waves which made the beach unusable, and general disappointment that our pricey family trip was going to be confined largely to an over-priced hotel room. After an hour of grumbling about what a waste it had been to go down, we decided to not let the weather ruin the vacation. We bought rain ponchos and umbrellas from a roadside vendor and caught the local bus for the ride into Sanya. After watching the pounding waves at Dadonghai beach, we searched out one of the local hotels with travel agent services and arranged to hire a cab for the day for 300 RMB. He agreed to take us around Sanya and then up the east coast a total of about 150 kilometers stopping at the Li/Miao Ethnic Village (interesting but overpriced), Monkey Island (name says it all, but it was closed because of the storm), and Wen Chang Hotsprings along the way. In the evening, he took us all the way back into Sanya and dropped us off at a good restaurant on Dadonghai Beach. After dinner, Steven and I went for a walk along the boardwalk while Michelle and Sabrina did some shopping. While there, we observed some swimmers disregarding the life-guard warnings to stay out of the water because of the waves. Sure enough, one of them ventured out too far and got caught in a strong current which began pulling her out to sea. She was screaming for help and struggled to stay above water, but the waves kept crashing on her and holding her down. The life-guards did a good job of making it out to her and bringing her back in. It was just like Baywatch. Once they had completed the rescue, the three life-guards, breathing heavily because of their exertions, all immediately lit up cigarettes and lectured the young woman on the foolishness of doing something that could kill her.

     We spent day three on the beach again. The rain had mostly moved on, but the Typhoon south of us churned up huge waves which had actually gotten bigger than the day before. We played on the beach chasing the waves in and out and by exploring the parts of the beach we hadn't walked along before. The pools at the Gloria were terrific and we spent a lot of time swimmng and snorkeling in them because the ocean was too dangerous. The kids made friends with the kids from another family also on vacation from Shanghai and had a good time playing while Michelle and I lazed next to the pool or in hammocks slung between coconut trees overlooking the beach. Day four was another beach day before we had to pack up and catch our flight home in the afternoon. All in all, the trip turned out well and we're glad we went.      

     I traveled to Japan for ten days in November ('06) for an academic conference as part of my International Relations of East Asia class. The conference was hosted by Keio University (Japan) and attended by graduate students and professors from Fudan University (China) and Yonsei University (South Korea). The highlight of the conference was meeting, exchanging views and socializing with the grad students from the different countries. Upon conclusion of the conference, most everyone (about 30 people) went out to a Karaoke bar and sang songs in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English until the wee hours of the morning. I have a hunch if they installed a karaoke bar somewhere inside the United Nations building in New York City, the world would be a friendlier place...

     Because the Keio SF campus was located just outside Yokohama, our group from Fudan moved to a hotel closer to downtown Tokyo which was about 90 minutes away by train. From there, we spent almost every minute of the next two days exploring Tokyo. I've got to tell you, I'm a big fan. Public transportation is efficient (even if it is super crowded), the streets are clean, people are polite, there are a million things to see and do, and even the air smelled fresh. It was also good to discover that some of the Japanese I studied years ago is still locked inside my head and only needed some immersion to come out of total dormancy. Highlights in Tokyo included the Imperial Palace complex, Yasukuni Shrine, Shinjuku and the Tokyo Hyatt Park Hotel (from Lost in Translation fame), Harajuku, Meiji Jingu Shrine, Shibuya, the government district and the Diet Building, Ginza, and a boat cruise on Tokyo Bay up to Asakusa and Sensoji Temple. Given all the political problems spawned by Yasukuni, I wanted to see it in person and learn what all the fuss was about. Yasukuni is Japan's version of Arlington National Cemetery and it is so controversial because WWII war criminals are enshrined there along with other soldiers killed in war. Former Japanese PM Koizumi visited the shrine annually which put a chill on Japanese relations with both Korea and China for the last five years of his administration. I'm kind of on the Chinese side in this one--the Yasukuni museum has history just plain wrong from about 1890 onward. Two examples: 1) According to the museum, the Nanjing Massacre was a small "incident" in which Japanese forces suffered great casualties but in the end were able to capture the city after which the Chinese inhabitants were able to live in peace. 2) President Roosevelt forced the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor by initiating an oil embargo. He did this in order to start a war with Japan to end the economic depression in the United States. There were other such examples, but these were the two which I remembered. Pictures were not allowed in this part of the museum. I still like Japan, but I can see how China and Korea are upset over Japan's refusal to acknowledge its wartime aggression.

     Most of my Fudan classmates returned home, but I stayed on to visit Yokota for a couple of days and then to visit Kyoto for three days. I traveled down to Kyoto on the Shinkansen (the famous Japanese bullet train) and was impressed at how efficient and smooth it was-it only took about two hours to make it down there from Tokyo. Kyoto is Japan's cultural heart and home to some of the most beautiful temples and zen gardens I have ever seen. Where Tokyo is big, crowded, and hectic, Kyoto is smaller, more easy-going and relatively peaceful. The guidebooks all say if you can only visit two cities in Japan, they should be Tokyo and Kyoto. They're silent on which city to visit if you can only see one--for culture and beauty I'd say it has to be Kyoto. Will Carr (the Olmsted Scholar in Kyoto) was a great host--he let me crash at his place for three nights and did a terrific job making sure I saw the best places around town. Sites here included Nijo Castle, Shokokuji Temple, Nanzenji Temple, Ginkakuji Temple, Chion-In Temple, Kiyomizudera Temple, and Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine. On my last day in Kyoto, Will and I took a 90 minute train ride down to visit Himeji Castle which is recognized as the best preserved feudal castle remaining in Japan today--it was impressive.  I had a great trip, but by day ten I was really looking forward to coming home to Michelle and the kids in Shanghai.