One of the oddities of the Odyssey2000® schedule is the same one that saved Phineas Fogg his fortune, in that by going around the world in a mostly easterly direction, we gain a day. When we fly from Auckland, New Zealand, at 3:40pm, December 17, we arrive in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, U.S.A., 4400 miles later at 3:00pm, December 17. Yes, by local times, we arrive 40 minutes before we leave.
When we take the train from China to Hanoi, Vietnam, we have to change trains at our 2am border crossing because China and Vietnam do not use the same width railroad tracks.
With the phones in China and Vietnam, I may very well be out of frequent e-mail contact from the time I leave Hong Kong on the 15th of October until I arrive in Phuket (POO ket), Thailand, on November 9th. Except that the tourist town of Yangshuo has a bunch of internet cafes for half the price listed in the Lonely Planet (which many Odyssey riders carry like a Bible).
What are the ingredients for heaven? Sugar, hazelnuts, full cream milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa paste, emulsifier: lecithin and vanillin. At least that's what's in Guylian Belgian chocolate Sea Shell Shapes.
I've learned that even though I'm eating so much that I'm not losing weight, I need to take a quality multi-vitamin everyday to fulfill my nutrient needs.
One of the things I'm come to appreciate to a greater degree since being on this trip is clean air. Dresden would be a gorgeous city if not for the black soot on the buildings. Japan might be prettier if you could see it: the haze is a bad as L.A. smog USED to be.
Apparently, I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed our bus travel in Japan. While I enjoyed the different perspective, most hated it.
Hong Kong is Chinese for fragrant harbor. That used to be true because of the trees. Now it is a place with a forest of tall buildings, some VERY rich people and a majority living in public housing with "one family per window." In 2005, Hong Kong opens another Disneyland on land reclaimed from the sea. Chinese television shows a dubbed version of Bill Nye the Science Guy. The major industries in Hong Kong, in order, are: banking, real estate, tourism, clothing, and electronics. Mostly, Hong Kong makes money for the few. The People's Republic of China is a story (or update) unto itself and the reason many are on the trip of a lifetime.
Happy Trails,
Bruce