Dead Sea

Remember those Dead Sea shots? Here are the ones we couldn't upload. See the white stuff on the rocks, it's salt. Imagine all the rocks on the bottom of the sea coated with a 1/2 inch of the stuff

So after slipping and floating at the public beach, we walked ( well some of us sort of cruised) south for a few minutes till we came to a hole out of which Australian Males were scooping out vast quantities of mud, covering themselves and then running apelike back into the water.


We scooped, covered but refrained from the extra antics.

Another Singapore Moment

Here are shots off the blackberry fromt he first couple days - most from the bus tour we took of the downtown area.

HOME

We're back - got in 2 hours before we left and that's why I screwed up Sarah's Birthday. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We'll try to get the rest of the pictures and the Japan stuff up this weekend. Off to lalaland.

Oh yes, the poll - the cake was from Beth at the reception desk at the hotel. She was so excited because she had the same as Melanie.

Yup, But the cake was good.

Finding the Bullet train

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Bullet train and Misuzu

The impetus for our stop in Japan was to visit Melanie`s friend from graduate school - Misuzu who lived with her husband in Kobe, were she is a nursing professor.
So at this point our next tast was to get our JAL voucher converted into a Japan Rail Pass. We found the JAL office and waited in line till we found we needed the next office. There we were promplty assisted. After issuing our our Rail Pass we told her what we needed to do next and she turned an made our reservations and printed our tickets. She had us booked on the 5:12 train. I looked at the clock as we gathered our bags and it said 5:04.
Weel, if she wasn:t worried why should I be. We made the train with no problem and headed off to Tokyo and our connection to Kobe. The trick was leting Misuzu know when we would arrive so she could pick us up. I won`t bore your here with the details, but let it be known - not everyone speaks English, the phones don`t use cash, and thank goodness for the food cart guy.
Call was made we sat back and prayed we didn`t miss our stop. Four hours late we arrived in Kobe within 2 minutes of the scheduled time, climbed off the train and with a lost look in our eye`s were delighted to see Misuzu and Paul on the other side of the exit.]
Figuring out how to get there was our next adventure.

arrival in Japan

It was a seven hour flight to Tokyo and we started flying over Japan four hours into it. Another whole in my geographic literacy exposed. Who knew the country was so big. Well better 40 years late than never at all.
We landed in Narita (about an hour by train from Tokyo) and I was struck by the amount of farmland I saw all around the area. Apparantly the farmers have been fighting expansion of the airport for 10 years or so, but I guess have lost and will have to move their farms over the next 10 years.
Through passort control and customs and then the final step - and yes, here we were fingerprinted and photographed - (not just us) This was a little creapy.

now we truly are leaving - actually we left 2 days ago

Friday morning we left the hotel at 6:15 for the 15 minute ride to the airport and met the first person that seemed negative on his country. He said `it is a great place for a holiday but not good to live here. You don`t feel free.` (and yes I know how to use punctuation , but on this computer be thankful you are not reading はしとちてすすくはしこはそょ).
At the airport, after getting through control we went hunting for breakfast. \this is a modern airport with only international flights (country is tool small). There are tons of duty free shops and a food court. Didn`t find a Mcd but did find Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, and oh yes, a place that advertised Irish Sandwiches. I wonder if or when American fast food will squash the eating habits of this part of the world. We know it certainly has changed their consumption of meat and processed sugar and that their bodies are paying the price for it.
Anyway, these different (from western) food palets are an important form of diversity that I am just beginning to appreciate.

Ooop have not finished the singapore blogs - enough already－what aboutＪａｐａｎ？

Ｗｈｅｎ　ｗｅ　ｆｉｒｓｔ　ａｒｒｉｖｅｄ　ｉｎ in Singapore, I saw a Schul on the map. Apparantly there are two on the island, one still in use. Larry`s business partner is married to a Jew and he mentioned they had just built a six story addition with a kosher grocery and a restaurant. It is and orthodox congregation dating back to the 1830`s I think founded by Jews from　India, best I could make out. We took a walk over and gave ourselves a tour, and enjoyed the AC in the small grocery.
I have just spent the last half hour trying to upload pictures on this laptop that we are borrowing, but to no avail, please plan on reareading the entire blog next weekend when pictures will be added.

Leaving Singapore

So we've departed Singapore. This is a tiny 40 year old country. An island less than 20x40 miles in size it is the home for 4 million people. It is a little strange to be in such an obviously Asian country but to communicate in English.
In Israel, most direction signs were in three languages - Hebrew, Arabic, and usually English. Singapore has 4 official languages - and signs in 4 languages. English, Chines, Malay ( might not be the correct name) and Tamil. All education is done in English, but each student is required to take language lessons in the home ( or other) language as weel. There is an interesting, and not American iew towrad diversity, allowing for curltrual awarness and expressioin but apparently keeping a lid on the majority from controlling everything (The population is way of 50% Chinese). Four different New Year Celebrations mean the country is doing new years for almost 3 months.
Every male is required to do two years of national service. While this is clearly a socialist country, capitalism is and the root of the national priority. The government is clearly geared towards building a society that takes care of its own, but to do so while creating a powerfull econmic engine. Singapore has one of the largest oil refinerys in the world, the third largest monetary exchange, and every few years starts to promote a new industry. Currently it is biotec. Unenployment runs under 3%. Most housing is heavily subsidized.
The Suntec area where we stayed was designed with feng shui to represent the human hand. Palm turned up with five buildings for the five fingers - the thumb of course being shorter. The palm is up to recieve money which is hoped to pour into it creating wealth for all.

Movies

Last night David wanted to go to the movies. Yes David not me. Here when you buy your tickets they ask which seat do you want - its assigned seats. Plus the popcorn choice is salty or sweet but no butter.
I was thinking how it would be great to see the new John Woo movie in Asia but it got panned + I'm not sure they'd have English subtitles. David wanted to see Hancock + I'm always up for Will Smith. I loved the movie no surprise. This was not an action or a childrens movie It was pretty dark + not at all like the trailer. But Zack it has the prison humor you love. I'd love to know what the critics have to say.
As I write this David is in the Vietnamese museum. I'm wilting from the heat so chose to sit at a cafe with an iced tea. A shame. Because they have a wonderful exhibition on Jane Fonda. That's a joke. But one only the older readers may get
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Last full day in Singapore

Hard to belive we will be leaving for Japan tomorrow - the time has flown by. Last night I got a voicemail from ATT telling me I had exceeded my "data package" time already for world roaming. I guess putting up pictures with the Blackberry really wiped it out - so don't expect too many pictures in next few days. In fact, don't expect too much of any posting in next few days as the phone will not work in Japan.

Sunday night we were taken out to dinner by Larry Bong - the Alfred Sales Rep here in Singapore. We had a delightful dinner ( which we just trusted him to order) and interesting conversation. Not just about the music business, but also about Singapore itself, it's history (only 40), government and society. Speaking of dinner - I think we really missed the boat by not taking pictures and writting down all the things we've eaten for the first time - I may try to reconstruct some of that in the future.

Singapore has been called a police state, and they have a very different way of looking at their relationship to government than do Americans. And I do understand that I'm primarily talking with members of the majority party. It feels less of a controlled environment than any of the other places we have been. I'll expound more on that later.

Yesterday Larry took me around to visit some retailers in Singapore. This too was interesting. As shopping is the major pastime here, display is very important and it was interesting to view how the shops work.

Got to run, but wanted you all to know what was up when the posts fall up.
And don't forget to vote!

More from melanie

Comment on Davids post. Besides noting the cool fan., note the cool but somewhat drunk birthday girl. Raffles was our only somewhat negative experience so far. All say you have to go to Raffles, a relic from colonial days. We went for the singapore slings + then my birthday dinner. They took 1 look at my Keen sandals + said they weren't sure that we met the dress code. They would confer + let us know. We decided we didn't like their attitude + turned to leave. They came running up to us to say it was OK + I guess I'm maturing @ 60 because I didn't say FU as David said no thanks. Instead we ate at a marvelous VietNamese restaurant on the water. Incredible food + ambiance + they didn't mind my feet. Plus great champagne martinis. I swear this was the only night I drank. Ok that's not true I had a drink after the missing boa (see Davids posting + mine below)
So we thought the night safari would be great fun + went last night + it was - except for the obligatory animal show. The theme was how scary can we make it for the tourists. The 1st animal came out crawling on a vine less then a foot over our head. Disconcerting to say the least. But when they announced a missing boa + started looking under the seats I was ready to leave. But not david + since I was hoping he'd carry me out high over his head I stayed too. After they found the boa they called a volunteer up ( they insisted it be a. man + I've never been so happy for sexist attitudes) and then when his back was turned they plopped the snake around his neck. At every action I kept saying "what are they thinking" + if my loving husband said once more we're not in Kansas anymore I would have fed him to the snake. The rest of the "safari" was wonderful. There was a tram that got us really close to the animals and then we took a walk that also got us very close to the animals. Only the tigers, leopard + hyena were behind glass we could have reached out + touched the alligators + the bats DID reach out + touch us. Apparently they didn't read the sign posted in Davids posting. David kept saying "they couldn't get away with this in the US which is a variation of "were not in Kansas anymore

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Birthday and Raffles

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Dr. Fish

I don't know how well these shots from the fish place came out, bet we needed to get the details for when we open Hickey's Day Spa and Dragon Emporium. You need a gimic to bring in the crowds.

And what would a trip to Singapore be without a trip to the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel: birthplace of the Singapore Sling. Note the cool fan mechanism on the ceiling.

flash back to Jerusalem

Ok, and now back to Singapore

I'm sorry about the posts seeming out of sequence (well I guess they real are out of sequence). Part of the reason is technical and not have a way to upload pictures quickly, the other is much of what we're doing and thinking about doesn't easily get translated into a few words. Anyway, as I said earlier, the Conrad was no Motel 6. After 20 some hours of traveling it was awfully nice to be shown into our room.

But the real hit were the rubber duckie and Conrad Bear that we were told were ours to keep.








After this respite, we went hunting in search of food. Hmm, someone seems to have gotten distracted on this search.

Dead Sea Floating.

And a shot of the life guard action- the guy on the table is the life guard.

Seeing how everyone floats I don't think he gets a lot of action. Actually the toughest thing to do is get your feet down so you can actually stand up and get out.

Picture says it all

So last night we went and did the night safari - which is actually very cool. We took a taxi out to the northern part of the Island and went to the 7:30 show. Apparantly they lost a 12 ft boa during the show so there was a bit of excitement while they found that under one of the benches ( there is some discussion as to if this was actually just a part of the show). By now it was quite dark. We took a tram ride for about 45 minutes around the park seeing everything from bongo's ( the antelope) to asian elephants, tigers, pelicans, rinos, lions and tigers and bears (oh no) as well as a bunch of mammels and rodents whose names I can't remember at the moment. Afterwards we walked the narrow paths through the jungle to get a closer look at the animals besides seeing some other animals that were not on the tram tour. The park is kept dark except for a little light in each area meant to replicate the light of a full moon so you could see the nocturnal activity. Flash photography was forbidden for the sake of the animals but I felt ok taking this pic before we entered the bat area. Needless to say, there was a lot hear that wouldn't get past the lawyers in the states.

AFter that was the obligitory stop at the gift shops and a photo shoot in support of conservation efforts.

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Last word on fish, promise

2 things
Incredibly our feet are smoother
I (MK) appear to have a sore between my toes Apparently 1 of the fish ate a little too much
'Nuf said
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More about fish

Josh asked how the fish know where to stop nibbling - where the dead skin ends. Apparently when it comes to me they are wrong. I'm sitting with my feet in the water thinking "I can do this" when ow - something bit me hard. I looked down + my leg was bleeding. This impressed the other 40 patrons who did not get bit. The staff ran over with a band aid + since I'm a slow learner I put my feet back in. 5 minutes later - ow I got bit again + again bled. Is it because I'm so sweet or harmed a fish in a previous life Walking out of there David asked what I wanted for my birthday dinner + with no hesitation I said fish Score 1 for my team
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This ain't motel 6

So we came back from a wonderful birthday dinner at a vietnamese-french restaurant sitting on the banks of the Singapore river.

We were too full for desert so took a stroll back through the civic district and sure enough we were ready for desert. I was set to settle for a bag of M&M's so imagine our surprise when we walked into our room. The bed was turned down, the curtains open to the spectacular view, classical music playing softly on the stereo, and there on the desk: a chocolate birthday confection the size of Ohio.

After a quick nibble she calls the desk to find out who it was from.
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What was I thinking?

Foot reflexology is big in Singapore. This spa features an add on. After the massage you put your feet into a pool of water and let the fish eat off all the dry and dead skin.
Yup, really!
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Queen for a day

Yup, yesterday she went to the birds but today she hits the big six oh!
David Zimet

Denny Crane

Do you see him? Alan is the tall one.
David Zimet

Speaking of food

Yes, there has certainly been a bunch of new foods for on this trip but one thing has followed us everywhere we've gone. This shot is from the departure lounge in Ben Gurion airport. The Hebrew on the sign reads "Kosher"
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Dinner

Melanie was very excited about visiting the Food Hawkers. Singapore has two national pastimes: shopping and eating. The hawkers are "fast food" street vendors. Here is dinner we picked up from three vendors on food street at the chinatown night market: with Tiger beer, chrysanthemum tea, peanut soup, and kwae tong (don't ask as I couldn't tell you except that it had egg and noodles).
After three days of hawkers and dim sum, she's ready for some sit down restaurants. We're going out with the district manager for Alfred publishing tonight and current birthday plans call for dinner at Raffles tomorrow - a 19th century hotel remnant of the British Empire which also hosts the "Long bar" - birthplace of the Singapore Sling.
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A new direction for Hickeys

It is time that Hickey's focus on expanding it import business. I'll let you know how the negotiations go but I'm notsure they can go by UPS..
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Singapore

Capitalism at its finest. Here is the view from our room:

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Musings

We saw a great British movie on the way to Singapore, "Run Fat boy, run"
I found my reaction to the incident in Israel I had an hour + a half for lunch that day + planned to eat fast + shop In fact I found out at lunch At that time we heard it was a bomb + I thought they're not going to stop me I'm going shopping I'd have a fit if the boys did that
Driving to Cairo we passed many shepards + their goats Strangely all the Shepards were named Zack If you want to know what this means ask Zack to do his impressions
So on the Cairo tour we met this whiny DDS from Long Island age about 29 He said he was Catholic It drove me crazy because I kept thinking" this kid has to be Jewish" when the bus left us off in Israel he made a point of coming over to us + saying he was Jewish but never admits it in Muslim countries That means I don't stereotype I'm just right
Lastly tomorrow David and I are going for a special pedicure where fish eat the dead skin off your feet I'm guessing Sarah won't be trying this next
M
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Again

David Zimet

A job well done

As most of you already know, the impetus for the trip was that .Melanie had submitted abstracts and was accepted to talk a conferences in both Israel and Singapore. What were the odds to be accepted by both and to have them only a week apart.
So besides playing tourist .Melanie was preparing her talk. The conferences apparently had some amazing speakers: it was so much fun to see her come back so charged from a session. It has also been fascinating to learn of the different place and roles talk en by nursing in different countries. I got to chat with a couple that live 60k down the road from Debra and Nils and who tried valiantly to correct my pronunciation of Smollenstenar.
.Melanies talk was Thus day am and apparently was well received. She certainly got a big enough screen!
David Zimet

Tour guide humor

As much as I've improved with typing all this with two thumbs on the phone, it is still a bit slow so forgive us if we give up trying to keep the blog strictly chronological.
So stepping back to Cairo, we had a driver and a guide who were both great. Melanie already commented on the driving, which really is too intense to put in words. Having a guide was also incredibly helpful.
The first day in Egypt we went to the Cairo Museum which in itself was an amazing experience. Earlier on the blog I posted a picture of .our guide Muhammad and I standing in front of the oldest synagogue in Cairo. This in turn was next to an ancient Coptic church. The story of the church was that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus hid in the cellar of the church after they fled from Nazareth. The current building I think dated from the 6th century and included icons dating back before the 12th century and stands over the catacombs where they hid.
The Synagogue is reputedly next to where Moses was found floating in the basket. Besides touring the building, we got to go up on the bima and look at the Torah Scroll as well as examine the other art of the place. It is also reputedly the only synagogue in existence with a tomb in it. The tomb is of the man who bought the property for the synagogue. I will bring home some pictures I bought from the place! Including a picture of some art from the walls. In one, the word for
God written in Hebrew, when turned upside down spells Allah in Arabic.
So anyway, on the next day, while touring the Sphinx, Muhammad was telling us how the area had been Americanized, and sure enough across the street fro$ the Sphinx was a Pizza Hut and a KFC. He went on to explains the in Cairo, KFC was translated as Chicken, Cat, and Camel
At one point a Chinese woman was walking and talking with us. Muhammad
asked how to tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese tourists: Chinese have one camera, Japanese have two.
We also got to see a demonstration of papyrus making and visit a Egyptian essence (of flowers) shop complete with Egyptian hospitality.
My thumbs are tired.
David Zimet

Honorary trombonist

Last night (Wed) Melanie and I went out to dinner with Eli Aharoni, retired Bass Trombone of the Jerusalem Symphony and author of two Bass Trombone methods that Hickeys distributes. We picked up Eli and his wife at their home and drove to the nearby Arab village of Abu Ghosh.
We had a wonderful dinner and Eli had tons to say. Dinner included two types of hummus, eggplant salad (sort of like an egg salad) cucumber. Salad, olives and a chicken stuffed with a wild rice and pine nuts.
For desert there were two types of baklava, mint tea, and turkish coffee.
As a gift they gave me a sculpture of a trombonist with a nice note: "although you don't play the trombone, we make you an honorary trombonist for your efforts on our behalf"
After we finished we dropped them off we made it back to our hotel. Melanie worked on her talk and I began to pack up. But that is another story.
David Zimet

Midabare -Angleet??

Each day we are here, I find that hebrew words and phrases are coming back to me. I've felt pretty smug about being able to ask simple questions in Hebrew. Of course, at least for the first few days they were answered in English so no problem.
But the last few days the answers have been in Hebrew. But with what little I remember and a few hand gestures we've gotten by. Definitely wasn't any problem in the Negev where there are VERY few roads. But in Jerusalem there are roads, alleys, barriers and a million one way streets and no left turns.
So with maps, and questions, and a lot of luck we've been able to get back to our hotel each time. But it is rarely easy.
Israelis, tend to put directions in general terms like go straight then left,left,right and you are there. Hmmm.
Is that first turn at the first roundabout or the first intersection or maybe three or four streets further.
The best was the other night trying to get back to the hotel from the city center and lost and stuck in a traffic jam on a narrow curvey street
I leaned out to the guy next to me Who was going in the other direction to ask for help. He told me I was going the wrong way. He thought a moment and (what I understood anyway) was go down there and go right and good luck...
David Zimet

YUP AND WE GOT TO PLAY TOURIST

I managed to find a computer to upload some pic's on so I'll quick put these up before the rest of the people in line kick me out.








You can just see Melanie in the foreground of two pyramids - big one to the left was the Kings, one on the right was one of the three queens. Guess who had the money.


The setting sun in the Sinai - on the way home from Cairo








We had our photo moments including with the bored camel, emerging from the tomb of a pyramid and a scary one of us covered in dead sea mud. Natives are getting antsy, guess I better give someone else a crack at this - got to run....

We are fine

I just heard about the incident in Jerusalem today with a bulldozerplowing into a bus. We are both fine.

PHEW

It's been a blur for the last few days. We arrived back from Egypt on Sunday night, went to check in and found we were missing a bag- oh yes the bag with money, rail pass, wallet....... I won't relate the next hour in detail but will just sum up that it was all dz's fault, we all stayed cool and it turned out all right. Old brains need new strategies.
So monday we drove north to the Dead Sea, past En Gedi and Quram and up into Jerusalem. Melanie registered at he conference (which after all is the reason we're here) and we checked in to our hotel. I've got a bunch of new photos and have not been able to find someplace to upload.
When .Melanie gets back today, we'll head off to explore the old city.

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