The trip to Japan

ChicagoLady commented on my riding on the high speed Bullet Train in Japan, and asked I tell more about that trip. My memory of parts of the trip are still quite vivid, even if it was a while ago now.

My grandparents and I flew from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and visited my grandmother's younger sister, my great-aunt Eleanor, for a day or two in Chula Vista. We boarded a Pan Am 707 and flew into Honolulu, Hawaii. The only part of Hawaii I've ever been to, and twice at that, is the airport! Once re-fueled, we took off again, with the plane taking a "detour" over Pearl Harbor. We were still climbing, so I only got a glimpse of the place. We landed in Tokyo and tired and jet-lagged as we were, we took what seemed to be a many hour tour of the city, including the Emperors Palace. Mostly I remember the mental haze that jet lag brings me.

Sometime later, we went to Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic bomb exploded in anger. I recall two things - the city had been rebuilt and was sparkly new - there were no "old buildings" to be seen. I also recall a native Japanese gentlemen that came up to me and said, "It sound strange, but we are in odd way thankful, for all old buildings to be gone. Let us build new, modern buildings, good for business, modern machines." I can recall my grandmother gasping when she heard this.

I recall seeing Mount Fuji - from the Bullet Train. It more beautiful than any photo I've ever seen of it.

We went to Taiwan and took a cruise on a lake. I don't know where the ferry was going anymore, but I remember by this time, being hungry for potato chips, and that two young school girls were munching something from a plastic bag. They must have seen me 'coveting' their snack, for they asked me, "You want some?" and when I said, "Yes! Thanks!" they gave me an unopened bag marked in bright red Chinese symbols. I opened it up and greedily ate a fistful. My face must have turned bright green or something, for the young girls started laughing at me. The bag contained some sort of fried, or dried octopus.

And I remember a short day trip we took while in Hong Kong where I "accidentally" walked into China and was escorted out of the country at machine gun point. The border crossing was an arched wooden pedestrian bridge. I walked half way over the at my grandfather's prodding, "You can say you were in another country!" when the two soldiers on the other side came to attention with ramrod backs and heels clicking. I took one more step, and they both lowered their guns at me. My grandfather was now yelling, "Come back!" So I took one more step to "cross the line" and then turned around and went back. We never told my grandmother about this episode.

Also in Hong Kong, we went to a floating restaurant, taking a Chinese junk (sailboat). While we were on our way to the restaurant, we encountered a huge ship wake, and several of the guest, all dressed in their finest, fell overboard. They were all quickly brought back aboard with little harm done beyond some wet clothes.

While in Hong Kong, we stayed in a hotel of 20-30 floors, and I wanted to go swim in the hotel pool. My grandmother said, "Okay, you put your bathing suit on and go find the pool." I wandered about the 4 or 5 star hotel for a while wearing nothing but my bathing suit carrying a towel - the signs where all in Chinese, until a bellhop said, "Use lift, push 'Ahh' button, it take you to pool." So got in the elevator and pondered the meaning of "Ahh" button. I saw one marked "P" so I thought, "Ah, the pool!" The lift swiftly went up to the "P" floor - turns out it was the Penthouse floor, the home of an enormously wealthy man that had a security-butler person stationed in the elevator foyer. This person said, when he saw me, "You not belong he." I told him I was looking for the swimming pool. He replied, "Go back in, push 'Ahh'." I looked at him questioningly, and he said, "I push foe you". So I got in and he pushed the "R" button. Turns out the pool was on the roof!

After my swim, we went to a swanky hotel restaurant, where I ordered spaghetti. Only me... in China, would order spaghetti... and the Chinese waiter, dressed in tails, with napkin over his arm, put it in front of me, and then when he saw how I started to eat it, said, "Oh dea-yah, not eat that way!" And with my permission, showed me the classic Italian manner of spoon-swirling one's spaghetti!

I remember the poverty and the open air markets of the Orient... the filthy water in the Thailand canals that people bathed in, washed their dishes, and brushed their teeth with.

The monkeys swinging in the forest outside the hotel, and seeing the bridge over the River Kwai in person and walking across it while whistling the Colonel Bogey's March...

And the long, long 40-hour flight home. The plane flew from Singapore to Hong Kong where it had to have a part replaced, which took 4 or 5 hours, then to Honolulu and Los Angeles and Philadelphia.