Greetings from Hong Kong (HONG KONG)

I have decided I prefer Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City.  I arrived early this morning after taking a 5:00 AM flight from Saigon.  It is not that I wanted to get out of town early, but that is the only United Airlines flight from Saigon to Hong Kong.  The plane was packed!  I enjoyed my days in Saigon, but the inability to do much walking around the city limited my ability to see as much as I would have liked to.  It is a fascinating and exotic city, which I continued to look at through the lens of the late 60's and early 70's.  It is hard to imagine that we had any interest in being there and fighting a war for as long as we did.  It is now certainly a vibrant city with a great deal of potential.  The sad reality, however, is that it seems all of the money goes either to the Communist Party or its members who benefit most from the development taking place in the city, and country.

And now it is Hong Kong, a city I visited more than 20 years ago when it was still one of the Commonwealth countries.  It is certainly a major world class city.  In the short time I have been here, I revisited some of the sites I did 20 years ago.  There is a lot more here, including a new airport and many more skyscrapers.  It is a booming city and on the move.  I guess I am a big city kind of guy  at heart. Who knew!  

One other piece of news, I decided it is time to go home and start packing for my move to Chicago.  I have enjoyed every aspect and moment of my travels since early January, but it is time to go home.  I cancelled my plans to visit Beijing and Vancouver, cities I have already visited, and to return to Boston on Saturday.  I am looking forward to being home, even for the short time I will have left in Boston.  I will move to Chicago in early July to begin my new job on July 15th.  As I have already told a few friends in Boston, prepare the fatted calf!

Until then, some photos from Hong Kong...

I think the skyline of Hong Kong rivals that of NYC.

The hills of the New Territories in the distance.

One of the boats of the famous Star Ferry Line whose ferries traverse Hong Kong Harbor.

A tour boat sampan cruising the harbor.

One of the locals on her personal sampan.

The promenade along the Kowloon side of Hong Kong harbor is called the Avenue of Stars.  Like Hollywood, there are stars on the ground with cement impressions of the hands of movie stars or simply their names.  Dotted along the promenade are little displays such as these and sculptures with a cinematic theme which you will soon see.

Everybody wants to be in pictures!

The ever iconic Peninsula Hotel.

Tea at The Peninsula.

No trip to Hong Kong, or China, would be complete without a photo or two of peonies!

Saigon Images (VIETNAM)

My flight for Hong Kong leaves tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM, which means I leave for the airport at 2:30 AM. It is now mid-day in Saigon, so I decided to do this posting now because I am planning an early bedtime to get ready for the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

I took the photos attached to this posting during my short walks near the hotel.  They were usually short walks because you take your life into your hands when you want to cross a street.  Traffic rules mean absolutely nothing here, and cars and motorcycles come at you from all directions.  Saigon is notorious for the number of fatalities and maimings from traffic accidents.

It was much easier to navigate near the main tourist attractions, but even there you always needed to be on guard for the traffic.  The attached photos are from the area near my hotel, including me sitting in the lobby having a Diet Coke and water.

I posted a photo of this area in my first posting from HCM City.  I took it from the window of my room.  What I did not know at the same was that the large area next to the hotel is some sort of military compound.  If you look real closely, you will see Vietnamese soldiers in the open area doing drills of some sort.  I noticed them yesterday afternoon and took this photo.

A typical sight on the streets of Saigon, elderly women in coolie hats selling various food items.  I resisted the temptation to try any of the food!

What we ordinarily only see in movies is real life here.

The tangle of wires for what appears to be a utility pole is not quite uniform!  Do you think any repairman would know which wire leads to where?

Another local Communist Party Headquarters.  It is fascinating to see the number of Communist Party compounds which dot the city.  They tend to be very clean and well maintained buildings, certainly the nicest buildings other than the office buildings and hotels.  When you look into the parking areas, the cars tend to be Mercedes or Lexus.  Not a bad life!

One of the guard towers along the perimeter fence of the military compound next to the hotel, which you can see in the background.  Note the security camera on the top of the tower.  Such cameras were along the entire perimeter.  You know Big Brother is watching!

These mushroom caps were also along the perimeter of the fence.  They are obviously the tops of bunkers for the underground tunnel system of the compound.  All I could think of when I saw them were the infamous tunnels of the Vietcong which were regularly featured in news reports during the war.

You are looking into the eyes of the future of Vietnam!

Next posting, from Hong Kong....

LUC in HCMC (VIETNAM)

In case you are wondering, the longer version of the title of this posting is "Loyola University Chicago in Ho Chi Minh City."  The English edition of the local newspaper refers to Ho Chi Minh City as HCMC, so I took the liberty to do the same.

As you can see from the photo, I visited LUC's Vietnam Center and was warmly greeted by the receptionist when I arrived.  I have already mentioned that Julio Giuiletti, SJ is the Director of the Center.  I had a very informative visit with him at the Center.  He explained to me all of the programs and activities which the Vietnam Center coordinates.  It is a very impressive operation with programs for Vietnamese university administrators, study abroad students, Vietnamese students who have an interest in going to LUC for their undergraduate studies, and visiting medical professionals of LUC's Medical and Nursing Schools who volunteer at local hospitals.  For a Center with a small staff of 4, Julio has done an incredible job navigating the bureaucracy of the Vietnamese government to initiate and manage this remarkable array of programs.

Julio Giulietti, SJ with his staff.

Yesterday, after my tour of the Reunification Palace on on my walk back to the hotel (really, to a taxi to get to the hotel), I had the chance to revisit some of what I saw when Julio gave me a tour of the city.  Here are a few photos from that part of the excursion.

Interior of the General Post Office with Ho's portrait on the back wall.

A clock in the lobby of the post office.  Every other clock in the post office was for the time in major cities of the world, then there was California time!

Original maps (murals in the Post Office) of Indochina and Saigon, as they were then known.

And speaking of maps, this is a photo of a map of the world in LUC's Vietnam Center.  Julio explained to me that when the delivery of the map went through Customs control in Vietnam, the "censors" took some white out and covered the name of the South China Sea, since Vietnam does not like the reference, nor does it like China!

A happy bride and groom posing in front of the General Post Office, across from Notre Dame Cathedral.

When the bride became undone with her buttons, the groom helped!

Whatever the sign reads, it was over the entrance to a gate which was being guarded by a Vietnamese soldier.

Another Communist Party Office compound.  They are throughout the city in varying degrees of grandeur.

And so, I end this posting whence I began....