Welcome Dish Readers

One of the proudest accomplishments of my life was winning a View From Your Window Contest a few years ago, so I really wanted to submit a few photos from my recent travels to Andrew Sullivan's blog.  To my great surprise Saturday, I saw the photo I took from my Panama City hotel room was the subject of this week's contest.  Now that the winner has been selected, I'll show you the other photo I submitted.  It was from my hotel room in Kowloon, Hong Kong and was probably too difficult to guess the location (though arguably the Panama City photo was too easy for some).

The view from my window in Panama City.

The view from my window in Hong Kong.

How the Rest of the World Views America

I am always curious to see what the people I meet think of America.  As a young lawyer in England in 2002 (i.e., before the start of the 2nd Iraq War), I was at a pub having drinks with some solicitors when one of them, quite inebriated, insisted on arguing with me about whether the US should have invaded Afghanistan.  I remember starting our discussion in the center of the room, but the guy kept getting in my face, so I kept taking half-steps backward to maintain some personal space.  After 20 minutes, without noticing it, my back was literally (but not figuratively) against the wall.  To this day, it was the only time in my life where I defended the policies of George W. Bush.

Travelling in Morocco in 2008, I was talking with a fellow in his 60s who owned a restaurant.  He blamed the U.K., and not the U.S., for whatever was happening around the world.  When I politely inquired as to his understanding of America's role, he assured me that the U.K. was pulling our strings.  I elected not to disabuse him of the notion.

Someone can only tell you they hate the American government, and not the American people, for so long before they figure out that ours is a government of the people and by the people.  After President Obama's election, I stopped meeting foreigners who would complain about America's government (while assuring me they liked individual Americans).  Granted, I'm not exactly travelling to the tribal regions of Pakistan to survey the local population, but in general, the feelings of the people I meet now are at least lukewarm, if not as positive as they were a couple of years ago.

The reaction I'll remember from this trip was from a young person in Shanghai who responded to my question of what he thought about America with three words: "the world's policeman."  There was a measure of respect in the way he said it -- as if somebody had to be the cop on the beat.  Of course, we've been chastened by recent events and more Americans now than at any time since WW2 don't want to be the world's policeman.

It seems as if we're blamed no matter what -- for doing nothing (e.g., Syria) or doing something (e.g., Pakistan).  In these cases in particular, both our inaction and our action may create enemies.  Perhaps the greatest challenge facing American foreign policy over the next decade or two is navigating between Americans' increasing isolationism and a world that still seems to need American leadership to solve problems.  I wish I had an easy answer.  I don't.  "Muddling through" doesn't sound like a strategy, but, honestly, all we can do is assess each situation as it comes along, act in accordance with our values, and only where we can make an obviously positive difference at a cost the American people are willing to pay.

The Trip Comes Full Circle (and I Catch a Piranha)

I devoted about 1/3 of my vacation time to Latin America, even if that seems a bit inefficient after travelling around Asia.  First, there was a quick stop in Panama to see the Canal (and, by happenstance, find a lot of American ex-pats at a sports bar showing NFL games -- all so I could keep tabs on my fantasy football team's victorious playoff semi-final).  Then, it was on to Ecuador and the Amazon Rainforest.

After being in some of the world's most populated (and crowded) cities, I was ready to really get away from it all.  I boarded a 30-minute flight from Quito to the town of Coca.  With about 50,000 people, Coca seems like a frontier town.  You see the tin-roof shacks as you fly in and there's definitely a rough-and-tumble feel to the place.  I had to chuckle at the baggage claim system at the airport.  There is no carousel # 1 or # 2; rather, they drop the bags off on a bench.

Then I boarded a motorized canoe for a 50 mile trip down the Rio Napo, which is one of the primary tributaries of the Amazon.  In most places during this journey from Coca, the river is at least a mile wide and you sort of get a feeling for what the Mississippi might have been like before the locks and dams were built.  There were about a half a dozen oil installations along the river and some barge traffic carrying heavy machinery and refrigerated food trucks to oil workers (there are no roads here).  One of the semi-trailers on a barge bore the logo for Halliburton.  I'm told the resource-extraction is rapidly increasing.  This year, the Ecuadorian government signed over huge oil concessions to the Chinese.  And thus, in a relatively remote and hard-to-reach place, my trip had come full circle.

One of the oil installations along the Rio Napo in eastern Ecuador.

I stayed at the Sacha Lodge, which I highly recommend.  After the 50 mile boat ride, there was a 30 minute hike into the forest and another canoe (manual, this time) ride across a lake to reach the lodge itself.  There, I joined 5 other tourists and 2 guides (one a native, one a naturalist) for 4 days of hiking in the forest, canoeing, a little adventure, and some surprisingly good meals.

I should be clear that the lodge and its surroundings are totally removed from civilization and the work of the oil companies.  It's the kind of place where every animal has 3 words to its name in order to differentiate it.  There aren't simply woodpeckers and macaws.  Rather, there are crimson-crested woodpeckers and red-and-green macaws.  Somehow, the guides could spot and name the various birds and monkeys from great distances.

A personal highlight was going fishing with a simple stick and line and catching a red-bellied piranha.  My guide claimed it was one of the larger ones he had seen, but perhaps he was just telling me what I wanted to hear.  I released it back into the lake and a caiman immediately poked its head above water, but the piranha escaped.

My catch of the day.

My piranha's teeth.

This caiman came out from hiding under the dock when I threw
 the piranha back into the water, but he wasn't fast enough.

All in all, spending some time in the Amazon was a great escape -- and a much-needed opportunity to really breathe some fresh air.  The biodiversity -- from the lines of leaf-cutter ants going about their daily chores to the multi-colored birds, scampering monkeys, and giant kapok trees is as astonishing as you'd expect.  It's easy to get lost (metaphorically) in the vastness of the rainforest and assume that a few oil installations representing humanity's seemingly insatiable search for natural resources won't threaten the habitat's existence.  I can only hope that's true.

The Best Way to Beat Quito's Traffic

Quito's traffic -- particularly between the airport and the city -- is rather infamous.  The journey can easily take 90 minutes.  It's a brand new airport, but they built it a fair distance from the city (probably where they could find some flat land) and, given the terrain, it will take a major effort to build an expressway (and I have no idea if they're planning on it).  Part of the journey now is on a simple two-lane road winding its way through the canyons and around the mountains surrounding the city.

Anyway, it so happened that I was not the only person going to the airport this morning.  So was the president of Ecuador.  His motorcade consisted of 5 Landcruisers, with one police vehicle in front and one in back.  There were several policemen on motorcycles surrounding the motorcade and also directing traffic.  While traffic going the opposite direction was stopped, my driver had the benefit of being able to follow the motorcade (and go through red lights) on the drive to the airport.  For a fair bit of time, we were the first vehicle trailing the motorcade.  I felt muy importante.

I'm now off to the Amazon Basin and likely won't have internet access until at least Friday.

On Trying to Visit the Future (and Finding It Vaguely Familiar)

In 1893, Chicago played host to the World's Columbian Exposition.  Europe's industrialists and princelings came and saw a city and nation on the rise.  Just 22 years after the Great Fire, Chicago was growing at a rapid clip, its construction (and giant slaughterhouses) providing jobs to the masses of immigrants arriving daily, including my ancestors.  There were growing pains, to be sure, but the coming American Century was on display for those who visited Chicago in 1893.  For our guests from the Old World, that may have been a rather disconcerting realization.

And, fully recognizing that I could never possibly come close to understanding China in 3 days (you'd need 3 decades), I went to Shanghai.  Frankly, if one wanted to see the birth of a modern power, I'm way too late, arriving during the new China's adolescent phase.  Yes, I am aware of the irony in referring to a civilization that's been around for millenia as adolescent, but China has re-booted itself several times and the current incarnation is a bit of a teenager, still learning how to project its power in the world.

After years of hearing fear-mongering in the States about how China is bound to surpass us -- that they own too much of our debt, that their children are more disciplined, that, unlike 21st Century USA, this is a country that can still do big things -- I came wondering if my experience would be similar to an Englishman visiting Chicago in 1893.

Indeed, the Chinese have accomplished something remarkable.  The rise of hundreds of millions of people from poverty over the last 30 years ranks right along side the Information Age and the fall of Communism as the most important societal changes of our time.  The Chinese were able to accomplish it with measures we would find unconscionable, such as the one-child policy and a police state that can order the building of cities and destruction of villages at the stroke of a pen.  There is a reason they can do big things, you know, and I really don't think it's a price we're willing to pay.

When you get off the plane in Shanghai, you can take the "Maglev" train to the edge of the city proper.  As the words magnetic levitation imply, the train doesn't use wheels, and travels at about 165 mph/300 kph.  You can see my photo of the on-board display of the train's speed below.

Now this is the future I came to experience!  Their airport and train may be better than anything we have, but what does that really say about the future?  More telling, I think, is that I arrived right after some of the worst smog Shanghai had experienced in years.  People happily told me I had arrived on a "sunny" day, but really, it still looked a little hazy to me -- and felt that way to my lungs.

One can only be impressed, however, after visiting Shanghai's Urban Planning Museum, where you can see a full scale model of the city (see below, but know that I could only get about 80% of the model in the shot).  It's a must for anyone who ever played SimCity.

Some might find this a little disconcerting, but I don't.  Some day in the next ten years, the Chinese economy will tie, and then surpass, the size of the American economy.  When that day arrives, we will hear how we now are in the Chinese Century and there will be a little crisis of ego in the States.  In reality, all it will mean is that since there are 4 times as many Chinese as Americans, the average Chinese will have 1/4 the GDP per capita of the average American.  That's not a cause for fear, again, that's cause to marvel at the end of poverty for hundreds of millions of people.

I would rather be playing America's hand, however, both now and for the foreseeable future.  China's challenges remain more difficult than ours.  They have 50 million more men than women, a population that's aging at an alarming rate, endemic corruption, human rights abuses, awful environmental conditions, and a population that, inevitably, will demand greater freedom and autonomy.  We have an economy still recovering from self-inflicted wounds, a political system designed centuries ago that cannot respond quickly enough to the demands of the modern age, tragic levels of violence, and enemies still determined to knock us where they can.  We also have people lining up around the world (including in Shanghai) to enter the US.  Apart from North Koreans, you don't see people who are beating down China's doors to get inside.  If nothing else I write convinces you about the relative standing of these 2 countries, the wisdom of those crowds should tell you something.

But wait, you say, haven't we been borrowing money from the Chinese, giving them leverage over our economy and foreign policy?  Truthfully, we bought Chinese goods, helped finance their economic rise, and then borrowed the money back.  They got millions out of poverty and we used the money in part to go to war in Iraq -- you can decide who got the better of that bargain.  But, the Chinese only own 8% of publicly held U.S. debt, roughly the same as our pals Japan and the U.K. combined.  And, ultimately, the Chinese are really more dependent on us than vice versa.  In the near and medium term, China desperately needs the US economy to succeed so we (and the rest of the world) can continue to buy Chinese goods and create jobs for China's population.  Whatever leverage they have is ultimately toothless -- if they use it, they will be worse off.

I don't fear the future.  And visiting China hasn't changed my mind.  American power is not going to look the same in the next 100 years.  We must recognize the limitations on our ability to throw our weight around anywhere we please.  That takes some getting used to.  America was able to run laps around the rest of the world while everyone else was recovering from World War Two.  That period is over and the U.S. economy faces competition now like never before.  The rise in living standards the U.S. experienced over most of the second half of the 20th Century simply occurred under conditions we are unlikely to see again, and the harsh truth is that we cannot expect similar gains in the decades to come.

The bottom line, though, is everyone has problems: Europe, China, Brazil, India, Russia, the developing world, etc., and I'd rather have ours.  Economically, China still has a long way to go to come close to matching the US.  And one local told me he doubted China could ever be an "economic threat" to the US because, in his opinion, Chinese schools did not encourage creativity.  In foreign affairs, cooperation will more and more be the order of the day, but that doesn't mean America will be replaced.  Far from it.  The recent spat between Japan and China (and, to a lesser extent, Korea) over some unpopulated rocks in the East China Sea only drives nations in the region away from China.  Look, we're not perfect, but America will continue to lead (in some changed way, shape, or form) as long as it wants, because no one else, including China, cares for that responsibility.

Forget Everything I Said

When possible, I like to talk with locals about what they think about America.  In Shanghai, I was asked first by a few what I thought of China.  This got a conversation started, and I heard some frank talk about the dissatisfaction some there have with their country.  I heard references to corruption, the Internet firewall, and the environment.  One topic that came up several times was income inequality.  While China is nominally Communist, it's certainly not a Communism that Marx or Mao would recognize.  Really, it's state capitalism.  Some people -- allegedly including those with family or other ties to top officials -- are doing extremely well.  When you've seen a few Lamborghinis cruising by People's Square, the irony isn't lost on anyone.  To those raised in a system where they're taught about Communism (and you can still hear the old Communist songs being sung karaoke-style on the streets), it's worse than irony, it's hypocrisy.

Technically speaking, China's income inequality is roughly the same as that of the United States, and there are recent signs that it's improving.  Americans, though, accept a degree of income inequality (though I'm sure that has its limits -- and I don't recommend approaching those limits).  You can't draw conclusions from the handful of conversations I had, but I don't know that the Chinese are as prepared.

The young Chinese I met are proud of their country and what it's accomplished, and they have long memories about the historical sins of the West (namely, the Opium Wars, the racism of the concession period in Shanghai history, and one even remarked about the West favoring Japan over China at the Treaty of Versailles).  But when I told one person that I admired the fact that China had raised the living standards of hundreds of millions of people in a few decades, he chuckled.  There are still a lot of poor people, he said, you just don't see them.  Another made an oblique reference to the events of "June 4" and "you know, the tanks" without ever using the words "1989" or "Tiananmen."

The opinions I heard were not severe by American standards -- I think almost every American I know has made stronger critiques of our government at one time or another than anything I heard in Shanghai.  By Chinese standards, though, perhaps there was a feeling that this last comment had crossed some invisible line that a Westerner wouldn't appreciate.  Because then, with a look that was at once both sheepish and wary, she ended this part of the conversation by telling me, "Forget everything I said."

Merry Christmas from Red China

When I arrived in Tokyo a few weeks ago, I was staying near one of the city's flagship department stores.  As I walked past the window displays of disconcertingly Caucasian-appearing mannequins, the familiar sound of Christmas music filled the air and then I saw the store's giant Christmas tree.  There were more Christmas displays in Seoul and Hong Kong, but I was surprised to see Shanghai in the Christmas spirit as well.  After all, this is not a religious country, let alone a Christian one, though of course in a nation of 1 billion plus, there are Christians here.  In all the shopping areas, though, one could find Christmas trees, Christmas music, and exhortations to buy a gift for someone you love.

Obviously, the world is heavily influenced by Western culture.  As I was going through customs here in Shanghai, a Muzak version of The Bangles' "Eternal Flame" played over the loudspeaker.  At my hotel, the lounge act warbled "Yesterday" as I walked in.  But Christmas?  Here?  It's not all like America -- there were no Nativity scenes in sight.  But, like America, it was plainly a consumer's (and shopkeeper's) holiday.  I asked an acquaintance when Chinese started celebrating Christmas.  He told me it goes back about 15 years -- but it is getting bigger every year.  "Christmas without Jesus" he called it.

Along E. Nanjing Rd. in Shanghai.

71 Hours and 45 Minutes in Shanghai Without a Tourist Visa

China, along with a few other countries, requires US citizens to apply for and obtain visas at a consulate before arrival.  I didn't have the time or the patience to arrange for a tourist visa to enter China, so I took advantage of the "transit visa."  There are 5 places in China where you're allowed to arrive, spend 72 hours (as long as you don't leave the city), and move on to another country.  Shanghai is one of those places (along with Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing).

All you have to do is make sure your departing flight from Shanghai is scheduled to leave no more than 72 hours and 0 minutes from your arrival.  When you check-in for your flight to Shanghai the desk agent for your airline will ask for a copy of your Chinese visa.  Your airline doesn't want to transport you to some place you're not going to be welcomed.  Not all desk agents are that familiar with the 72 hour rule for China.  When I told my desk agent from Dragonair in Hong Kong that I had no visa and what I was doing, she went to check with a supervisor, and carefully counted up my hours in Shanghai.  Upon seeing that my departing flight was scheduled to leave 71 hours and 45 minutes after my arrival, she said she was "worried" for me.  Really, though, there's nothing to worry about.  The only thing that could go wrong would be if my inbound flight to Shanghai were early, thereby meaning that I would be in Shanghai for more than 72 hours.  My understanding is that the clock starts when you approach the customs official, so if worse came to worse, I was prepared to sit in the bathroom until it was safe to emerge.  And really, what's the worst that can happen?  The whole point of this is that they want me to leave the country after 72 hours.  They certainly wouldn't detain me and keep me there longer!

I approached the customs official in Shanghai and, except for the fact that she had to go hunting for a special stamp, it went smoothly.  It's very important to show proof that you have purchased an outbound ticket and that you're going to some place different than from where you arrived (i.e., you can't leave home, go to China for 71 hours, and then just turn around and go back home).  And don't worry about what happens if your outbound flight is delayed, thereby keeping you in China for more than 72 hours.  That won't be held against you -- you only need proof that your purchased ticket was on a flight scheduled to leave within 72 hours.  The process did take a few minutes, as I had to fill out another form while I could feel the pain of the person behind me in line wondering why he was so unlucky to be waiting for the one fellow who was getting all of this special attention.

And I have to say that the Chinese customs official was very friendly.  Perhaps it's because this was the only customs area in the world that I've seen with a little keypad asking you, the traveler, to judge the customs official on a 4-point scale from Greatly Satisified to Satisified to Unsatisified to Greatly Unsatisfied (all with corresponding smiley-face or frowning-face emoticons).  After I got my stamp, I told her I was going to give her the "Greatly Satisified" grade -- and she beamed a big smile in response.

Behind the Great Firewall

Apologies for the silence, but I was in Shanghai, where I could not access Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, the New York Times, and Blogger.com, which hosts this blog.  I'm sure there a lot of other forbidden websites as well.  To me, this is not the sign of a confident regime.  A bit more on that later.

Conspicuous Consumption in Hong Kong

On a Friday night, I was at the Temple Street night market in Kowloon where vendors in makeshift stalls set up on a street and sell knick-knacks, clothes, luggage, toys, food, etc. Then I walked to one of the city's several high-end retail areas -- Canton Road.  The walk was about 15 minutes, but it may as well have been a world away.

You can find all the luxury stores on Canton Road.  Outside several of them, including Prada and Louis Vuitton, there were lines of 20-30 people waiting for others to exit so they could enter.  I'd never seen lines outside of any store in the States (apart from Black Friday morning), let alone luxury stores.  Now whether this was all part of a plan by store staff to limit the numbers allowed inside in order to build some sort of buzz, I don't know, or maybe everyone's just "browsing," but it was obvious that there's a lot of money waiting to be spent in Hong Kong.

It wasn't just the name-brand luxury retailers either -- around every corner there seemed to be a jewelry store -- and I always saw customers inside (unlike a lot of the jewelry stores I see at home).  Granted, it was a weekend during the holiday season, but it still seemed noteworthy.

The Ferry Between Hong Kong & Macau

My morning ferry ride to Macau was through placid waters and was thoroughly uneventful, passing by countless cargo freighters in the South China Sea (note the foreshadowing).  There are ferries departing Kowloon every 30 minutes during the day and it's all a rather simple process.  You show up at the ticket counter and they put you on the next available boat, which in my experience (in both directions) entailed getting out on the 2nd boat after my arrival at the ferry terminal.  You do go through customs, but to my great disappointment, they stopped stamping passports earlier this year.

The boat itself accommodates at least 300 passengers.  You're assigned a seat in a row, 11 seats across (with about 4 or 5 aisles running up and down the boat).  The seats themselves are quite nice and are as comfortable as business class airline seats.

On the ride home, night had fallen and I was sitting in the middle of the boat, so I took out a magazine and started reading.  The waters were a little choppier than in the morning, but nothing worse than light turbulence in an airplane.  About 30 minutes into the ride, we hit a decent sized wave and everyone looked around at each other, but things rapidly calmed down.  The 70-year old lady next to me (who spoke no English) and I exchanged glances and she muttered to herself (well, maybe she was muttering to me, but I couldn't tell).

Then came an announcement that "due to weather conditions," we would be a little late arriving in Kowloon and to stay seated.  I doubted there was anything wrong with the weather (it didn't seem windy when we left Macau) and assumed we had just passed through the wake of a freighter.  About 10 minutes later, we hit a series of waves, culminating in a big one.  As the series progressed, people started "ooh-ing" louder and louder -- it was a bit like a roller coaster.  Then when we hit the most pronounced of the waves, about 1/3 of the passengers let out a big "ooh."  I don't think anyone screamed, but everyone was talking and looking around nervously.  Then came the sound of one person vomiting ... and then another (though maybe it was the same person -- I wasn't looking).  The lady next to me looked at me and I took some exaggerated deep breaths as my only way of communicating with her.

The way I look at it, dozens of these ferries traverse this route every day, and I never felt nauseous, so I wasn't too worried.  What did give me some pause is that I assumed most of my fellow passengers took this route regularly, and they did seem a little concerned.  At the end of the day, though, no harm, no foul -- and I got a decent story.  As I departed the boat, I noticed two boxes each containing "1000 sickness bags" on the luggage rack -- so they're certainly prepared.

Macau: Meeting the Beneficiaries of China's Economy

I spent yesterday in Macau and the place turned out to be a bit of a revelation.  Since 2006, Macau has replaced Vegas as the world's largest gambling destination, and that's about all I figured I would see.  There's actually a lot of history and character away from the bright lights and hotel towers.  With its Portuguese roots, there are seemingly as many churches per capita in Macau as there are banks in Hong Kong.

Macau is a one-hour ferry ride (more on that in a later post) from Hong Kong that costs about $20 (US) one-way, depending on the time of day.  I took the # 3 bus from the ferry terminal (cost: about 40 cents, US) to Senado Square in the heart of town.  There's a lot of colonial Portuguese architecture and the crowds of tourists on a Sunday afternoon were a little much.  The going was so slow on some of the little streets on the way up to the Ruins of the Church of St. Paul that I took a break and headed over to one of the casinos before returning to the ruins on my way back to the ferry terminal.

Ruins of the Church of St. Paul

Senado Square

At the casino, I figured out who really benefits from the economic engine of mainland China.  I saw enough unorthodox blackjack play (standing on a 12 against a 10, splitting 7s against a 10, all against pro-house rules that you won't see in the US) and walked past a $10,000 US baccarat bet to wonder just how much of the money being made up north is winding up in the pockets of Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson.

The Tailors of Hong Kong

I doubt there is a more spectacularly situated city than Hong Kong.  Maybe Rio, but I haven't been there.  I began my visit by having dinner with an old friend and former colleague.  On my way to dinner, I walked about 20 minutes from my hotel in Kowloon (the peninsula) to take the 5-minute Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island.  I soon found that I was apparently as approachable in Hong Kong as I had been in Seoul, although this time I was popular with a different demographic: middle-aged tailors.  6 tried to stop me during my 20 minute walk and let's just say they are a persistent bunch.  I was wearing a suit jacket, but more likely it was my Western appearance that drew them to me.

Anyway, the best 35 cents (US) you'll ever spend is to take the Star Ferry ride from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.  Sit on the left-hand side of the boat and marvel at the dramatic skyline.

The view from Star Ferry looking south -- a little smoggy.

If Kowloon is a bit ramshackle (in a good way) with night markets and more of a southeast Asian feel, Hong Kong Island is all business (well, not all business).  After a great tour from my friend of some historical aspects of the city that they don't really include in the guidebooks, I came back the following day to the island for some more sightseeing.  There is extremely high population density in the city itself, with 60-story apartment buildings as far as the eye can see.  On the southern end of the island, there is a little more space to stretch out and Repulse Bay was beautiful.  I did take part in about the most touristy thing you can do in Hong Kong -- take the Victoria Peak tram up to the highest point in the territory.  Be sure to sit on the right.  And if you're ever in Hong Kong and need a tailor, I have a few cards for you (though I'm sure they'll find you).

My 2 Minutes in North Korea

I've always been morbidly interested in North Korea.  Just the idea that a nation like that can exist in our modern world is amazing.  Anyway, the main purpose I fit in a stop in Seoul on my way to Hong Kong and beyond was to visit the DMZ.  You can go there for about $75 -- you just need to send in a copy of your passport a few days in advance for "approval."

So today was my day to visit North Korea, however briefly.  I purchased my tour from tourdmz.com.  Of about 40 people, I was the only American.  Most Americans probably take a tour sponsored by the USO.  Anyway, after a visit to the War Memorial of Korea in downtown Seoul, we drove north.  Eventually, the heavy traffic of Seoul thins out as you leave the city, until you realize you're on a eight-lane expressway (4 lanes in each direction) with hardly any traffic at all.  At that point, you can start imagining what such a wide road could potentially be used for, though if you're optimistic, I suppose some day the Koreans will need a nice expressway between Pyongyang and Seoul, and now they're about half-way there (signs along the road even tell you how many kilometers it is to Pyongyang).

Facing north.
The boundary line bisects these blue buildings.

Once we reached the Joint Security Area, at two separate checkpoints, S. Korean soldiers boarded the bus and checked our passports against the approved guest list.  After a 15 minute briefing on the history of the DMZ and various violent incidents that have occurred over the years, we were brought outside of the U.N. Security Forces' building to face the North Korean side.  We were repeatedly told not to point at the North Koreans, and not to take any pictures of South Korean military positions.  Next, we were brought into one of the little blue buildings where any talks between the two countries take place.  Half of the building is in South Korea and half in North Korea and by crossing to the other side of the room, you're able to enter North Korea without a visa.  Just don't walk out the door on the other side, because you won't be coming back (not that the imposing South Korean soldiers in the room, such as my friend here, would ever let you out anyway).

Standing on the northern side with a southern officer,
but don't go out that door!

One of the most confounding problems of our time is what to do about North Korea.  The Korean Armistice that ceased overt hostilities was signed in 1953.  With each passing year, it's harder to imagine how reunification can happen in our lifetimes.  At the very least, it would require the Chinese to withdraw their support for the Kim dynasty, and while they clearly find the Kims exasperating, there's no evidence they want to deal with the unknown consequences of what could happen next.  In the meantime, the tragic stalemate continues.

On Briefly Believing I Was a Korean Celebrity

After a tour of the city, I took the Seoul subway to a neighborhood called Itaewon.  The only confusing thing  about the subway is that when you're done with your ticket, you can get a 500-won rebate.  Why they don't just take 500-won off the original price, I don't know.  And before you get too excited and plan to retire on all those 500-won rebates you can earn, you should know that 500-won is about 50 cents.  I'm sure almost all of you reading this are thus Korean millionaires.

Anyway, Itaewon is known for its proliferation of non-Korean restaurants, and it tends to draw an international, or at least American, crowd.  Now, before you mutter with disapproval at my seeking out a Western haven in Seoul, know that after days of faithfully eating local cuisine, I just craved a cheeseburger.  This is Korea, though.  So they even managed to make my cheeseburger spicy.

On my way to dinner, I was stopped by two teenage boys.  One began reading off a script about how he was a high school student, etc., etc.  I was about to tell him that, no, I was not interested in buying chocolate bars to fund his school field trip, but he said he was studying English and as part of an assignment, he was to interview an English speaker.  This probably explained why he was in Itaewon.  Everywhere else I went in Seoul, I was maybe the one Caucasian out of 200.  In Itaewon, though, it was more like one Caucasian for every 8.  After he asked to interview me, I responded that it was a good thing that I spoke English.  Apparently, my humor is a bit too subtle for the high school-level English classes of Seoul.

At the end of the interview, he asked me to pose for a photo (I assume to prove to his teacher that I was not a figment of his imagination).  While his friend was taking several photos, there were two teenage girls looking on and whispering to themselves.  After I said good-bye to the guys, they followed me and after about 5 seconds stopped me.  Honestly, and as stupid as it now sounds, my first thought was that they thought I was some celebrity being stopped for a photo. I was all ready to explain that, no, I am not Edward Norton, when it turned out they wanted to interview me as well.  This is apparently a common teaching technique in Seoul, because they told me they weren't in class with the guys I met.  In any event, I was happy to oblige with all interview requests, even as a random American.  The student's assignment was to videotape a discussion of hobbies.  I talked about playing the piano.  She talked about taking pictures of food and posting them to Facebook and Instagram.  Kids these days.

Seoul's Smog

Here in Seoul today, I took a tour of the city.  Since it has been destroyed by a few invasions over the centuries, and then again during the Korean War, basically all of the palace sites in the city have been rebuilt in recent years.  Still lovely to look at, but I hate to admit that it takes a little shine off of it when they tell you it's 10 years old.

Anyway, a fairly thick layer of smog hung over the city today.  I haven't dealt with a lot of smog in my life, so it's hard to compare, but this is probably the worst I've ever seen.  3 different locals assured me that it was "Chinese dust" wafting over from Beijing and its environs.  Such a shame.  By the end of the day, I was feeling it a little bit in my lungs.  And maybe I'm imagining things, but when I got back to my hotel, my face just felt dirty.  Having to deal with more of this smog is all the reason I need to skip Beijing on this trip.

Here's a picture of central Seoul taken around noon.  At one point, I saw a very red sun trying to peek out amidst the dust.  The sun was so dull, one could look directly at it without any discomfort.

Shinjuku on a Sunday Night

After stumbling off my 14-hour flight from Dallas, I was ready for some Tokyo immersion -- and that means seeing the city when it really shines -- at night.  I'm only a here a short while, so there was no point in waiting another day.  After taking the train to the center of Tokyo and my hotel, I set off to navigate the subway and take a 30-minute ride to Shinjuku to have dinner.  On the way there, there was an empty seat next to me and two 30-something year old women travelling together were eyeing it.  I could tell they couldn't decide who would get to sit and whom should stand, so I offered my seat.  One of the women said something to me that I couldn't understand and just stared at the seat and then back at me, as if giving me a chance to change my mind and reclaim it.  After I smiled and shook my head, she bowed rather deeply, right there in the middle of the subway car.  That doesn't happen on the CTA.

My only other trip to Tokyo was 10 years ago and Shinjuku is a neighborhood I didn't get around to seeing then.  Even though it was 9 PM on a Sunday night, the warren of streets around Shinjuku Station were alive with neon and throngs of people.  Now, not every part of Tokyo is like this, but this is the Tokyo I wanted to see again.

Apologies for the poor photo quality -- this was not a misguided effort on my part to appear artistic.  Worse yet, it doesn't really do the scene justice.

As for dinner, there was practically a restaurant or cafe (or 2 or 3) in every building.  My choice had no English menus, so I went with the point-smile-and-nod method of ordering, and it turned out fine.  Tomorrow, I'll be seeing friends of mine here -- both from work and from Iowa.

An Open Letter to the Toilet Manufacturers of America

I'm staying at a rather modest, inexpensive hotel in Tokyo.  So imagine my surprise when I found this model of modern ingenuity in the bathroom.

Hard to tell, but among the caution warnings
is a drawing of a youngster throwing a bucket of
water onto the toilet seat.
The control panel is below.

 Let me walk you through the features:

1) Upon my entering the hotel room, it automatically starts warming the seat.
2) There's a control panel on the wall.  If the bidet option is a bit much for you, you can choose a gentle "spray" for when you're finished.  You can select your water pressure on a scale of 1-7.
3) After you flush, it automatically applies a "deodorizer."
4) There are some hilarious caution drawings under the lid.

Why don't we have this in America?  If we do, why hasn't anyone told me?  So, dear toilet manufacturers of America, get to work.  And step aside Snapchat, the Driverless Car,    and Google Glass: here is modern technology I'm ready for.

And ... We're Off

I'm off on my Big Trip 2013 (a/k/a Operation Maintain Airline Status) and it wasn't without a little drama right off the bat.  While flying down to Dallas to catch my flight to Tokyo, there was a medical emergency on the plane.  There's nothing quite like hearing the flight attendant call out "Is there a doctor on board?"  We landed in St. Louis and, thankfully, the woman involved was alert and responsive as she was wheeled out past me.  I've had planes diverted due to severe weather and mechanical issues before (complete with a line of emergency vehicles lined up as we landed), and I even once had a woman sitting across from me removed in handcuffs for disorderly conduct (not at my request, mind you), but this was the first such medical emergency.  All things considered, if you have to experience one of these events, I'd choose the disorderly conduct.