Hello Virginia Beach

Hard Work:  No one will believe this, but 80 days around the world is hard work!  The only things that were planned out when I left were my airline destinations (with a few unplanned overland sections) and my first couple of night’s accommodation at the hostel in London.  Other arrangements were made on the road or on the spot.  I ended up staying in a variety of accommodations:  hostels (London, Liverpool, all of Australia and New Zealand), YMCAs (Singapore, Hong Kong, Honolulu), bed-and-breakfasts (England, Chiang Mai), low-end hotels (Delhi), mid-range hotels (Kuala Lumpur, Phuket), and high-end hotels (Mumbai, Bangkok, Malacca).  Eating?  Rarely did I eat in a real restaurant.  The best street food was found in Thailand.  The worst food was found in Hong Kong (sorry, I just don’t like Chinese food).  To India:  thanks for letting me be a vegetarian for two weeks.  The best hamburger was found in Wangarei, New Zealand:  thanks Frangs.  Internet connections?  McDonalds and Starbucks offer free wifi; it was like teleporting back to the US when I passed through their doors.  My biggest treat was when I found a local café that had free wifi (as on Ponsonby Road). 

My favorite place:  probably Haridwar, India, though there are other close contenders.  My prediction:  Haridwar will emerge as the chic new destination in India.  Biggest contradiction:  loving and hating India at the same time.  My least favorite place:  probably Phuket in Thailand, where tourism is in the process of destroying the very resources that attract the tourists.  However, I am willing to give Phuket a second try.  As for traveling alone:  it has its advantages and disadvantages.  When alone, you are more likely to interact with the locals and other travelers, and there’s no negotiation over where to stay or what to do.  Plus, only when alone can you concentrate on photography, which is really my passion on trips like this.  It is in the evening when I miss not having someone with me.  Also, two people can sometimes mean saving money by sharing accommodations.

Documenting Destinations:  I don’t take pictures; I document the physical and cultural character of places around the world.  Doesn’t that sound more scholarly?  On this trip and all trips, I create primary documents: visual images of people, places, and environments at a particular conjunction of time and space.  I hope you have enjoyed my photo blog at:

http://www.geographicallyyours.blogspot.com. 

The irony is that an entire day of taking pictures (to the tune of hundreds) might yield two to ten really good ones.  It’s the good ones that I post on Geographically Yours.  The key to getting good pictures is not being in a hurry, not letting yourself be distracted, and always having your camera at hand.  Pick a place, linger, wander around, become a part of the environment, look local (having a local haircut helps in that regard).  Do I ask people if I can take their picture?  Sometimes.  The downside of asking is that people pose and look stiff.  When I do ask though, rarely am I refused, and only once on the entire trip did I get a violent reaction from someone I took a picture of (that was in Bangkok, it wasn’t a Thai, and it really didn’t turn violent).  When I ask, I try to be as goofy as possible; acting clueless seems to be disarming.  Camera?  All I have is a Cannon Powershot that fits in my pocket.  It was relatively new when I began; it is now worn out.  I estimate that I clicked the shutter perhaps 20,000 times on the entire trip; I erased the worst ones.  Bottom line:  what I enjoy the most is spending a day wandering around taking pictures. 

Saying Thank You:  I hope you enjoyed following me around the world.  I also hope that my Geographically Yours and Geographically Yours Too blogs might continue to be of use to teachers, especially those who teach geography.  I want to say Thank You to Five Ponds Press for making this trip possible.  They do a wonderful job of making education exciting for young readers, and their books are widely used in Virginia.  Look them up on the Internet.  At their website, they have a link to this blog:  http://fivepondspress.com/

July 18, 2011:  One day later than expected, I arrived home at 11 pm.  Thanks to my wife and brother-in-law for picking me up at the Norfolk International Airport where the trip began. 

Geographically Yours,

D.J.Z.

The Beginning of the End

It’s Sunday, July 17, and time for me to make my way to Honolulu International Airport for the final leg of my trip.  As things worked out, it took me two days to get home, but that’s all part of the adventure. 

Recycling:  As a place collector, I love keeping track of and thinking about the places I buy clothes and other things.  On a trip like this, I cast off and acquire on a continuous basis.  Here is how my pack has changed:

Shoes bought in Harrisonburg, Va.; left in Honolulu; replaced with sandals bought in Honolulu.  Several pair of socks lost, none acquired.

Long sleeve shirt bought in Camp Hill, Pa.; left in Adelaide; replaced with a short-sleeve collared T from the Bridge Climb in Sydney.

Two short-sleeve Ts, both given to me by my son; one lost in London, one ditched in Melbourne; replaced with a short-sleeve T from Old Vic in Melbourne and a short-sleeve collared T from Malacca.

One leather belt bought in Marrakech, Morocco; ditched in Hong Kong; replaced with a leather belt from Hong Kong.

Two pair of long pants purchased in Salisbury, Md.; one ditched in Hong Kong, one ditched in Auckland; replaced with one pair of new pants from a Hong Kong street market.

One fleece purchased in Camp Hill, Pa., donated to the Heart Association in London; replaced with a winter jacket in Melbourne, donated to the City Mission in Auckland.

One pair of shorts purchased in Greenfield, Mass., and one swim suit I got as a gift; both coming home with me since I couldn’t find replacements. 

One pair of boxer shorts found in the YMCA locker room in Hong Kong:  finders keepers!  Too much information, right?

One Tungsten backpack, purchased in San Francisco in 1999; coming home with me; showing signs of wear but still no new one spotted on the horizon.

Permit Me a Rant:  I have been flying on a Round the World ticket issued by American Airlines.  Until today, however, most of my flights have been with their OneWorld partners.  I have flown British Air, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas.  Service could not have been better.  My flight from Honolulu to Chicago today, however, ranks as the worst flight I have ever taken.  I am ashamed to have the name America attached to this airline, especially in contrast to the service that their international partners deliver.  People coming to the US from Asia on Cathay Pacific, from Australia on Qantas, or from Europe on British Air must feel as if they are venturing to a less developed country.  The trip took 8 hours; no food was served, not even peanuts or pretzels, not even the tiniest of bags.  Furthermore, the only food offered seemed to be sandwiches, for which you had to pay.  I will have to admit that the airlines didn’t push food sales; there was one brief announcement at the beginning of the flight and that was it.  In fact, after they served everyone a complimentary can of soft drink, the flight attendants disappeared!  Quite in contrast to flights on other airlines, we weren’t even offered water to keep us hydrated, though before we landed they gave us orange juice, which was still half frozen and slushy, plus tea or coffee.  I can live without food, however, and probably should.  But, I could hardly stand the cold.  I had a seat in the exit row next to an air conditioning vent, which certainly didn’t help.  AA gave us one blanket (full flight, don’t ask for a second!) and everyone around me seemed to be bundled up.  I rang the attendant and asked if they could turn the air conditioning down.  Never happened.  I tried to sleep anyway, but (on this 8 hour flight) they gave us no pillows.  I kept my feet warm by putting them in the one bag I had at hand.  You see, I made a strategic mistake when I checked in.  For the first time in many years, I actually checked my backpack and had no access to any additional layers that could have kept me warmer.  Did they charge me to check my backpack?  Yes.  I reminded them I was on a Round the World ticket.   They reminded me that I was back in the US and therefore I had to pay; free baggage only on international flights.  Given long flights like this on any airline, I depend on two things to while away the time: sleeping or watching movies.  I was too cold to sleep (but did catch a few zzz), and they showed one movie.  On an 8 hour flight, they showed just one, one I had seen.  Diary of a Wimpy Kid was good, but nothing you would want to watch twice.  What’s more, they charge you for the earphones; mine were checked away in my backpack.  They did show a few TV reruns, but then the flight map and info slides came on and stayed on for hours.  I was seated close to the screen, and even with my eyes closed, the screen-to-screen flashes were annoying.  Everyone was trying to sleep, so why didn’t they just turn off the ‘entertainment system’?   My only airline hassles the entire trip have been with American.  In fact, my AA flight out of Norfolk was cancelled, so they routed me to Philadelphia on USAirways, followed by a London flight on British Air.  For my flight back to Norfolk from Honolulu, they didn’t even have my name in the system.  As far as they were concerned, I didn’t have a ticket, but that’s another story.

Geographically Yours,

D.J.Z.

The Leeward Coast

The southern and western sides of Oahu are dramatically different geographically than the northern and eastern sides.  The former are dry and the latter are wet, thanks to the Northeast Trade Winds that blow in from the northeast, rise to go over the mountain ranges, and drop their moisture on the windward side of the island.  Today, I drove along the western side of Oahu, part of the leeward coast.  It was desert-like in the sparsity of vegetation, exactly as the Honolulu area used to be until urban irrigation (trees, lawns, parks, gardens) turned the south coast green. It is the south coast, though, that has the natural harbors (e.g., Honolulu Harbor and Pearl Harbor), so early haole settlement favored the dry side of Oahu. 

The west coast, or Waianae Coast, is tightly hemmed in by mountains, but suburbanization has taken over.  Subdivisions, a few resort complexes, and an isolated shanty town are strung along the coast-hugging Farrington Highway, but most of the shore is still open to recreation and some areas are protected from development.  There are numerous public beaches, and the road ends in a state park.  None seemed to crowded, however, even on this Saturday afternoon.

My last stop of the day was the Royal Mausoleum.  On the grounds are the crypts of Hawaii’s two ruling dynasties:  the Kamehameha rulers and the Kalakaua rulers.  Only, Kemehameha I is not buried here.  His final resting place is unknown to this day.  The golden orb is the symbol of royalty; two stand outside the entrance to each tomb. 

At the center of the grounds is a chapel finished in the 1860s but soon deemed too small for all the rulers.  I was the only visitor, and I took the opportunity to stroll through the neighboring cemetery, one of the biggest in Honolulu.

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.

North Shore Bound

Car and Kite:  After finding an affordable 2-day rental, I drove for the first time in months today.  It required me to take a bus to the airport, but now I have wheels to get me there early Sunday morning when I leave Honolulu for home.  To the North Shore I headed with my surf board.  Actually, the waves are not that big this time of year, so I decided not to borrow a board from the Y before I left.  I took my camera instead.  I covered the entire North Shore; it’s a small island.  Haleiwa is the old service center for the region; Waialua is the old sugar mill town.  The road to the west eventually turns to dirt.  Much of the land is under protection or is owned by the military.   The beaches and coves are amazingly beautiful, as blue as can be, hemmed in by a mountain backdrop, and frequented only by the hearty.    The winds are strong, which meant that the kite surfers were in fine form.  What a sport!  I watched as they readied their kites and launched them into the air.  Then, out to sea the wind pulled them.  I was worried about one of them who seemed to be too far from shore, but he apparently knows how to manage the island’s cosmic forces because he and his board were soon back within sight.  I think this was the first time I have seen kite surfing, which is a quantum leap beyond wind surfing.

More than a Muralist:  I follow mural art when I travel, so I was delighted to see the Wyland gallery in Haleiwa.  Too bad, I missed his visit by a day.  We have a Wyland mural in Norfolk, and I thought that was all he did.  Not so.  He actually considers himself a sculptor who paints on the side.  Some of his marine life paintings were also on the display at the gallery, as were some of his glass sculptures.  Now you know something about economic geography of the North Shore.  It’s not just for surfer dudes anymore!  It’s for the artsy crowed who keep the Wylands of this world afloat.  One thing that did surprise me, though, was how few motels there seem to be anywhere in Hawaii.  Although there are lots of hotels and resorts, the mom-and-pop enterprises that we get used to on the mainland seem to be absent.  In fact, the trend seems to be towards more resorts as the state exercises its powers of eminent domain to claim property along the North Shore. 

I covered a lot of territory in one day and was ready to head over the mountains (actually through them in a tunnel) to Honolulu.  I passed a mall in Kaneohe, however, and an idea struck!  This was Friday, July 15, and the opening day of the Deathly Hallows.  The mall had a cinema and, by chance, I arrived just in time to catch the last matinee of the day.  Great movie.  This was one of my favorites.  They say it won’t happen, but there’s plenty of room for some more Potter adventures, though maybe not Harry’s.

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.

Missionaries and Outriggers

The American Protestant Mission:  Hiram Bingham was the explorer and re-discoverer of Machu Picchu who inspired the tales of Indiana Jones.  That was Hiram III.  Today, I visited the house his grandfather (Hiram I) built in Honolulu, the same house his father (Hiram II) knew well when he came to the Pacific. Hiram I led the first party of missionaries to Hawaii in 1821, sailing directly from Boston around Cape Horn.  On Hawaiian soil he planted New England Calvinism and established a settlement that made his missionaries feel as if they were back in Connecticut.  The house he built was of wood frame construction, possible only because he brought the wood with him from Connecticut.  It still stands and is now part of the Mission Houses Museum.  The Chamberlain house was the next one built.  It provided needed storage space for supplies destined for the five islands where missionaries were in residence.   With the Chamberlain house, you can already see responses to the island’s physical geography.  The design is “New England Large,” but this is the dry side of Oahu, so no wood was readily available.  What was?  Coral, cut from the reefs offshore, but then stuccoed over to disguise its origins.  Moreover, its axis was chosen to better capture the Northeast Trade Winds.  The frame house was simply aligned with what is today east-west King Street.  The north wind (i.e., heading towards the equator) had difficulty blowing through, something compounded by the small windows typical of cold New England.  The church next door, Kawaiahao Church, is built in New England style, but of coral blocks.  On either side there are windows that open to the Trade Winds, providing a cooling breeze during services.  Around the church is the cemetery, where only the descendants of the original missionaries may be buried.  Added to the assembly of buildings was a print shop, which also became the place where the Hawaiian language took to the printed page and came to be preserved.  Of course, while the language was being recorded for posterity, the native Hawaiian population was dying from diseases brought by the colonists.  Sound familiar?

To give you a time perspective on all of this:  the native Hawaiians came to the islands from Polynesia around 500 AD; Captain Cook became the first westerner to land on the islands in 1778; the American Protestant Missionaries arrived in 1821; the islands were united in 1795; the monarchy was overthrown in 1893; Hawaii  became a state in 1959.

Outrigger Canoes:  They are popular for racing now, but they are also the technology that permitted settlement of the remote islands of the Pacific.  As I watched teams training in their colorful outriggers today, I realized they were also preserving an art form that tied them to the earliest settlement of the islands 1500 years ago.   On the shores of Ala Wai harbor, the wisdom of the ages was being transferred to a new generation of young people anxious to learn an ancient art because it is challenging and fun, not because it is necessary to find new places to live and new resources to sustain life.  These crews would row way out of the harbor to the coral reef, and then back in again, catching the shoaling waves.  It looked like hard work.  Why isn’t outrigger canoeing an Olympic sport?  It looks far more athletic than golf, which will return to the games in 2016!  It’s probably because not enough countries participate, so let’s promote the diffusion of outrigger canoeing!

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.

Another Monitor

It was a day for the Honolulu Zoo, if for nothing else than to see the Komodo Dragon and the lemurs.  We have our own Komodo Dragon in Virginia Beach, and I am becoming aware that these monitor lizards are the rage right now.   Even Starbucks has a Komodo Dragon:  coffee, that is.  As for the lemurs, they are my favorites only because their hands look so human-like.  Unfortunately, their cage here doesn’t permit a very close look.  There seems to be upgrading and expansion going on, however.  The elephants are getting a new habitat that will provide some much needed space.  There seems to be much room for expansion since the zoo is located at the foot of Diamond Head and right next to Waikiki Beach.  The zoo does a nice job with its native species of birds and geese.  Apparently, all of these isolated islands in the Pacific share a common natural history.  They were easily reached by birds and marine life, but not by mammals or reptiles.  That meant the birds had a heyday; Hawaii was the “Kingdom of Birds” according to one sign at the zoo.  Without predators, many lost their ability to fly.   Then the earth’s premier predator arrived, homo sapiens, and with him other species that would wipe out many of the indigenous bird species.  You’ve heard of the Dodo of New Zealand, for instance.  Hawaii had its own Dodo-like birds, and they almost all disappeared when the Polynesians arrived.  Now, the zoo and the state are worried about the indigenous Nene goose, Hawaii's state bird.   It managed to survive, but its numbers are dwindling.

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.

More on the Monarchy

The greatest of the Hawaiian monarchs stands in front of Hawaii’s palatial judiciary building:  King Kamehameha I.  He united the islands, but that was little more than 200 years ago.  Under his centralized rule, the tribes stopped fighting with each other.  For this, he is known as ‘The Great.’  I saw his statue today on my venture through Honolulu’s government precinct, next to the CBD (and far from Waikiki).  Here, today, King Kamehameha the Great stands in full regalia: on the spot where the abolition of Hawaii’s monarchy was proclaimed in 1893. 

Kamehameha began the Hawaiian monarchy; Liliuokalani ended it, but it was under protest.  I met her today as well.  Her statue stands in front of the state capitol.  She seemed more accessible, more human, than Kamehameha.  Enforcing that feeling of humanity were two other monuments discovered not far away:  both honored the Aloha Oe, the song everyone associates with Hawaii.  It was written by Liliuokalani after witnessing a heart-rending goodbye on a ranch she was visiting. 

Liliuokolani’s only children were adopted.  Remember, it was her niece who was to inherit the thrown.  So, is there an heir to the Hawaiian throne?  Quite incidentally, two threads came together in Honolulu’s CBD.  First, I discovered yet another statue, this one of Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox.  Second, I remembered reading about him yesterday in Barnes and Noble’s Local History section.  Here he was on the cultural landscape looking very much the populist hero he is revealed to be in the literature.  He was descended from Maui royalty himself, but later in life took a native Hawaiian princess as his bride.  She was a direct descendant of Kamehameha’s brother.  It is his great granddaughter who is making the best case for being next in line to the Hawaii throne.  Side note: Wilcox became Hawaii’s first territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress, where he was marginalized and forced to use separate facilities because he was of mixed race!  He served only one term.

Why all of this attention to the Hawaiian monarchs?  It’s because I learned in my English composition classes that expository writing is a circular process.  Good stories end where they begin.  You do remember where I started my 80-day venture.  It was in London with the marriage of a Prince in line to the throne of the United Kingdom: may they live happily ever after.  Now, here at my last stop, I end my story with a monarchy whose “ever-after” was not so happy.  The beginning and the end converge here.  I started my trip under the Union Flag in London; I end my journey under the Union Flag in Honolulu.  Yes, the British flag, a symbol of the world’s most successful monarchy, still flies here in the canton of Hawaii’s state flag.  But, you see it flying always with the Stars and Stripes.  The only exception is above the Iolani Palace, the “Buckingham Palace” of its place and time, a visible reminder of monarchical days.

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.