Neon: It's the new neutral

People:  black, brown, khaki.

Buildings:  a kaleidoscope of neon.

The people on the streets are dressed in drab colors.  The street vendors may be hawking colorful scarves, but they’re not being worn by the populace.  The buildings, on the other hand, compete with each other to be the brightest, flashy and flashing.  The electric bills must be enormous. 

In Shanghai, we were told that the Podong side of the river was farms thirty years ago.  There were no bridges, only ferries to get across, and no one of status lived there.  Now, the farms have sprouted high rise buildings, and no one can afford the apartments inside them.  A skyscraper currently under construction will be the second tallest in the world; only Dubai has a taller one.  One building, called the bottle opener, has a square opening near the top to prevent damage from high winds.

Xi’an has a city wall that was built in the 14^th century, using kiwi paste as mortar.  It’s intact, and 8.5 miles long, so there’s a great business in bike rentals.  You can rent a single or a tandem bike, but from what I saw, the tandems are just an invitation to mooch a ride off the front rider.  The day we were there, there were few visitors, but Borbor told us it’s a great place to bring a date.  The base of the wall is 50-60 feet, so it’s a broad avenue for strolling.  Interestingly, it replaced a wall that enclosed a much smaller section of the city.  At night, it’s spectacular in its simplicity and classic Chinese lines.

In Hong Kong, the lights stay on all day long.  Many of the buildings have animated displays, others just flash their lights.  We were promised a light show at 2000, but it was a disappointment.  I overheard someone say, “It’s like someone gave the controls to a middle school kid.”  There was no coordination among the various buildings:  one building would spit out a few laser blasts, then another one would.  We were told there was a musical accompaniment, but we couldn’t hear it.  It reminded me of one of those birthday candles that comes back to life after you blow it out.  Lots of sputtering and sparking, but no pattern. 

Our berth was next to the Pisces, a ship which leaves at 2000 every night and goes out to international waters for gambling.  It returns about 12 hours later.  Or maybe it returns when everyone is broke.  We saw it come in while we were eating breakfast.  Friday night, we followed it out and headed south for Vietnam.  We will get there in time to celebrate Tết, our third new year of the new year.

A student at the mosque

The docent at the art museum

Meet me at the cupcake

The Hong Kong terminal was full of surprises, and I was not the only one who never actually made it to Hong Kong.  (The terminal is in Kowloon.)  It is a strange fact of shipboard life that we are kept so busy with classes and lectures and special events that we come to port in need of a rest.  Or with housekeeping items to do: It can take a surprisingly long time to find a post office or an ATM or a bottle of aspirin.  (This is why I am not sending postcards.)  It sometimes feels as if we are traveling around the world and not seeing the world.

Anywhere there is good internet, you see people trying to make arrangements for the next port, since it's so hard to do the simplest thing on ship.  Once the students go over their initial allotment of 120 minutes for the voyage, 30 minutes of internet costs $15.  But what you can do in 30 minutes at home can take 10 times as long here, because the internet is likely to shut off at any moment.  Most students have contacts back home who are doing work and sending email updates.  (Email is free.)

Like malls in the US, Ocean Terminal in Hong Kong has central points where the wings meets and you can go from one floor to the next.  Each of these is an internet hotspot, but each also featured a giant chocolate statue.  There were smaller structures throughout the mall, cupcakes and ice cream sundaes.  Some said "No climbing," but others encouraged interaction, and there were lots of children (and some adults) having their pictures taken there.  One of the designated rest areas, KidsX, was transformed into a chocolate scrabble board, with pillows to spell out "sweet," "chocolate," "eat," and "happy."

All of these were not actual chocolate, of course, although there was plenty of chocolate nearby to purchase.  They were part of "Chocolate Trail 2013," a presumably annual promotion at the mall.  The most interesting part of the event was a chocolate banquet, a tableau made entirely of chocolate.  Everything, including the table and chairs, was chocolate.

Chocolate fruit

Chocolate, the staff of life

Food, centerpiece, candleabra, plates, flatware--all chocolate.

Yes, the chair, too, is made of chocolate.

 I found it a bit overwhelming.  Even with a stuffed-up nose.