Michael's Travels - michaelstravels

I spent three and a half weeks on the east coast this winter.  I was first in RI for 10 days with my family to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Debra, my former student turned daughter, joined me for five days to have her first tour of a rather cold New England. Thankfully, we got to go sledding and ice skating with my niece and nephew, Bella and Jacob.

After that, I was in NYC for 10 days in a seminar on orchestra management.  It was a great professional growth experience and I got to stay with my sister Jen to boot.  I also caught up with my younger sister Jessica, and our friends Denise and Rosie.

Finally, it was off to Miami for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.  I met up with three friends from my teaching days in Chicago and we enjoyed 75 degrees, white sand beaches, and a hotel with a pool and art deco glory. 

I spent this Easter with Alex, my good friend from college who lives in Hong Kong.  The impetus for this trip was Alex's baptism in the Catholic church for which I was invited to be his godfather.

This was my second trip to Hong Kong - the first coming in 2002 when I went to China and Hong Kong with my sister Jen and parents.   This was an opportunity to get better acquainted with the city as a I navigated to parts I had not seen before.  After Easter, Alex and I went to Bali.  Some highlights follow.

Hong Kong

The English name of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (Man Fat Tsz) comes from the main hall in the monastery complex that has 12,800 ten inch tall Buddha statues lining its walls - each distinct and different!  (Alex explained that 10,000 is a single unit in Chinese, much like 1,000 is in English, thus explaining the discrepancy in the counting.)  Statues were a popular theme in this monastery complex.  The monastery is on a hill behind a small town so there were plenty of stairs to climb to get there.  On the way up and among the grounds, we passed hundreds of life-sized statues with figures that (I'm assuming) are relevant to the Buddhist religion or mythology. 

Some interesting and disturbing notes about the monastery's founder from their website: "Reverend Yuet Kai was born in a wealthy family and then studied philosophy in a famous university in China. At his age of 19, he determined to embrace Buddha to consecrate his own life to Buddhism, he flamed his small and the next fingers on left hand, and cut down a piece flesh as big as a palm from his chest to light forty-eight oil lamps in front of Buddha for showing his aspirations: first, never seeking the luxury living; second, reading and studying all Buddhism scriptures and the third disseminating Buddhism to people and benefiting them. And he had achieved all what he wished.

Reverend Yuet Kai passed away in 24th April (23rd March in Chinese Calendar) 1965 at his age of 87. After eight months of burying, his disciples followed his will to take his body out from the coffin, unbelievable miraculously, just as Reverend Yuet Kai himself anticipation before death, the body did not any change at all. Then the disciples coated the body with Chinese lacquer and gold leaves. Up to now, the immortal body of Reverend Yuet Kai has still been preserved perfectly and placed in front of the altar in the main temple for people to worship."

The Po Lin Monastery on Lantau island was the second monastery we visited.  Alex's father led his sister Klara, brother Edwin, Edwin's girlfriend Sam and myself up the mountain to the monastery on a vigorous four hour hike.  Alex and his mother (arriving by the slightly less arduous bus ride) joined us for a vegetarian meal at the top.  Though rain was predicted, it held off during the hike and didn’t fall until Alex, Klara, and I went to see the Giant Buddha statue, known as the Tian Tan Buddha, for which this monastery is most known.  At that point, it poured.  The statue, however, was worth the soaking.  It is a giant bronze statue 110 feet in height of a Buddha in a seated position.  No easy feat constructing a statue of that size on top of a mountain.  Following the deluge, Alex, Klara and I took the newly built sky tram back down to the island mainland. 

A final Hong Kong highlight brought me back to my Portuguese roots.  I went Macau with Alex’s sister Klara.  Macau was an early Portuguese colony that pre-dated the British acquisition of Hong Kong.  Like Hong Kong, it is now a Special Administrative Region of China. Unlike Hong Kong, Macau did not retain its early roots as an epicenter for trade.  Its recent modest economic progress is more due to its booming casino industry (Vegas aficionados will recognize some names like Sands and the Venetian) than to a booming financial sector.  It has, however, retained some of its colonial roots in architectural relics that have not been similarly preserved in the very modern Hong Kong.  We had a mediocre Portuguese lunch, saw several churches and visited some beautiful parks.  A culinary highlight was Koi Kei bakery – lots of free samples and demonstrations of how they make some of their tasty treats.

Bali

For the last four days of my trip, Alex and I went to Bali.  Though short, it was a great window into some of what Bali offers.  We stayed in the heavily tourist driven town of Kuta – beautiful beaches but overdeveloped. Thankfully, we also had some great excursions outside of it that helped us understand a little more of the island and culture.  We took a great rafting trip on the Ayung River.   The van ride there from our hotel (about 45 minutes) brought us through some of the less-developed parts of the island where the traditional terraced rice paddies and small housing communities were in evidence.  We also spent a little time heading through the artsy town of Ubud.  The final morning in Bali, we did a brief snorkeling trip – some amazing tropical fish among coral reef that was worse for the intrusions of tourists like myself.

I did not sample much of Bali’s native cuisine but, ironically, did experience some of Rhode Island’s native cuisine.  Three doors down from our hotel was a Dunkin’ Donuts! 

Given the opportunity to go back, I would love to see parts that we did not see – the mountains that form a spine across the island North of where we stayed and some of the less populous areas on the north, west, and east coasts.  Unfortunately, while we were there, my camera ran out of juice (and I was without an adapter) so I have only a couple of pictures. 

The pictures on this site are part of my post-employment tour.  After finishing up 2.5 years at RISE (www.RISEnetwork.org) - a non-profit doing great things to keep quality teachers in communities where they are needed most - I set out travel to places I've seen and haven't seen before.  Here was the itinerary;

 

!) San Francisco > Seattle:

Met up with my friend Sean drive to Glacier National Park.  We did a quick kayak trip on the warm summer evening I arrived in Seattle before heading out the following morning.

 

2) Seattle > Glacier National Park:

Sean and I drove to Glacier (about 8 hours east of Seattle in northern Montana along the Canadian border).  We camped for 2 days/2 nights.  Glacier was amazing - we drove across the park and got to see many of the mountains and lakes that make it so breathtaking.  The first night we backpacked in to a campsite and woke up to 2-3 inches of snow covering the ground.  Cold, but beautiful.  The snow melted off by noon and we spent the next night car camping by Two Medicines Lake (this is the picture that is the banner at the top of this page).  Then it was back to Seattle to move on.

 

3) Seattle > Chicago

I spent five days in Chicago catching up with friends from my teaching days at St. James school, members of the St. James church and choir, and friends from the Inner City Teaching Corps (www.ictc-chicago.org) - the program that brought me to Chicago to teach.  The weather was gorgeous (70's and sunny all week despite the torrential rains that preceded my arrival).  I got to meet new family members that were not born when I was in Chicago last and spend great time catching up with friends over Ethiopian, Italian, southern, and good-old Chicago style cuisine.

 

4) Chicago > St. Louis

After five days in Chicago, I got to spend two days in St. Louis wih Debra, my former student turned daughter, who is now a senior at St. Louis University.  We had a great two days - especially starting off at the City Museum (a must-attend for anyone going to St. Louis: http://www.citymuseum.org/home.asp).   Kids can be kids and adults can be kids too!  The museum is made entirely out of recyled materials and takes up 4 floors in a building that spans almost a city block.  You can crawl, climb, and squeeze your way anywhere you can fit.  It's all about exploring and enjoying - more an amusement park than a museum. 

 

Debra's aunt Rebecca hosted us for a great meal and the next morning I went back to school to an Intro to Diplomacy class with Debra.  We ended the night with a dinner for my birthday at Mosaic followed by gelato (and another dinner for me at the crepe place).

 

5) St. Louis > San Francisco > Yosemite

A two day layover in San Francisco now until I finish up the trip with four days in Yosemite.  More to come...

...and the last installment - four days in Yosemite National Park.  I took the Amtrak out on a Thursday, showed up in Yosemite village with my frame backpack and enough food to carry me the night.  The kind ranger at the Wilderness Center set me up in the most sought-after campsite - Little Yosemite Village - because of a last minute cancellation. 

I set off around 3:00pm to get to my campsite which was just four miles away...four miles away and nearly a vertical ascent.  So I'm exaggerating - it wasn't vertical the entire time, just for significant portions.  There were two sets of steep switchbacks (cutting back and forth so it wasn't all directly uphill) that involved concrete steps.  It made it much easier but the steps were narrow and steep.   I was winded and sweating after the first 0.75 mile of the trip and that was before I saw my first step. Oy! 

But it was all worth it.  The campsite was a serene place to spend the night and the following morning I got up bright and early to beat the crowds and get to the top of Half Dome.  Half Dome is a peak in Yosemite that looks like half a dome (where the other half went, I didn't ask).  It's prominently featured in many of my pictures.  The best part about the hike is that the final 200 feet involve climbing close to a 75-degree angle with the support of cables that were set-up (and gloves made available at the base for you to get there) - see the pictures to get an idea.  The views from the top were awesome, but the satisfaction of getting there was even more so.  Eight miles away and nearly 4800 ft. up from where I started the previous day. 

I hike out that day and met up with my friends Eiko, Galen, and Renato for two days of car camping.  No more backpack to schlep and lots of good food and wine.  We hiked to North Dome on Saturday which had great views of peaks from the Valley.  On Sunday morning, we did a quick trip through a grove of Giant Sequoias.  The trees were awesome but we were more taken with the cows who were poking around off the path (and on the path at one point).  You expect bears in Yosemite, but cows?!?  And we ended the day by driving out and meeting up at Denny's for lunch.  A good way to end the travels!

Hope you enjoy.

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New Pictures 044.JPG
New Pictures 044.JPG 2008-09-22

New Pictures 046.JPG
New Pictures 046.JPG 2008-09-23

New Pictures 047.JPG
New Pictures 047.JPG 2008-09-23

Shot frm below, City Museum.JPG
Shot frm below, City Museum.JPG 2008-09-21

Squeezing along, City Museum.JPG
Squeezing along, City Museum.JPG 2008-09-21

St. Louis Arch 1.JPG
St. Louis Arch 1.JPG 2008-09-21

St. Louis Arch 2.JPG
St. Louis Arch 2.JPG 2008-09-21

St. Louis Arch 3.JPG
St. Louis Arch 3.JPG 2008-09-21

St. Louis Arch 4.JPG
St. Louis Arch 4.JPG 2008-09-21

St. Louis Arch 5.JPG
St. Louis Arch 5.JPG 2008-09-21

St. Louis Arch, Debra and Dad shoes.JPG
St. Louis Arch, Debra and Dad shoes.JPG 2008-09-21

St. Louis Arch, Debra's shoes and hand.JPG
St. Louis Arch, Debra's shoes and hand.JPG 2008-09-21

Tight squeeze (on my back), City Museum.JPG
Tight squeeze (on my back), City Museum.JPG 2008-09-21

Tight squeeze, City Museum.JPG
Tight squeeze, City Museum.JPG 2008-09-21

Top of the Arch 1.JPG
Top of the Arch 1.JPG 2008-09-21

Top of the Arch 2.JPG
Top of the Arch 2.JPG 2008-09-21

Top of the Arch 3.JPG
Top of the Arch 3.JPG 2008-09-21

Traveling down from the Arch 1.JPG
Traveling down from the Arch 1.JPG 2008-09-21

Traveling down from the Arch 2.JPG
Traveling down from the Arch 2.JPG 2008-09-21

Traveling down from the Arch 3.JPG
Traveling down from the Arch 3.JPG 2008-09-21

Traveling down from the Arch 4.JPG
Traveling down from the Arch 4.JPG 2008-09-21

View from the Arch 1.JPG
View from the Arch 1.JPG 2008-09-21

View from the Arch 3.JPG
View from the Arch 3.JPG 2008-09-21

View from the Arch 2.JPG
View from the Arch 2.JPG 2008-09-21

View from the Arch 4.JPG
View from the Arch 4.JPG 2008-09-21

View from the Arch 5.JPG
View from the Arch 5.JPG 2008-09-21

Yosemite (Sep 2008) 117.JPG
Yosemite (Sep 2008) 117.JPG 2008-09-26

LittleYosemiteVillage camp - view by night.JPG
LittleYosemiteVillage camp - view by night.JPG 2008-09-25

Half Dome hike 01.JPG
Half Dome hike 01.JPG 2008-09-26

Yosemite (Sep 2008) 119.JPG
Yosemite (Sep 2008) 119.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 04.JPG
Half Dome hike 04.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 11.JPG
Half Dome hike 11.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 05.JPG
Half Dome hike 05.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 07.JPG
Half Dome hike 07.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 08.JPG
Half Dome hike 08.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 09.JPG
Half Dome hike 09.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 10.JPG
Half Dome hike 10.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 12.JPG
Half Dome hike 12.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 13.JPG
Half Dome hike 13.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 14.JPG
Half Dome hike 14.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 15.JPG
Half Dome hike 15.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 16.JPG
Half Dome hike 16.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 17.JPG
Half Dome hike 17.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 20.JPG
Half Dome hike 20.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 21.JPG
Half Dome hike 21.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 22.JPG
Half Dome hike 22.JPG 2008-09-26

Half Dome hike 06.JPG
Half Dome hike 06.JPG 2008-09-26

Nevada Falls - Yosemite.JPG
Nevada Falls - Yosemite.JPG 2008-09-26

Yosemite (Sep 2008) 115.JPG
Yosemite (Sep 2008) 115.JPG 2008-09-26

North Dome-001.JPG
North Dome-001.JPG 2008-09-27

North Dome-011.JPG
North Dome-011.JPG 2008-09-27

NorthDome-016.JPG
NorthDome-016.JPG 2008-09-27

NorthDome Hike 13.JPG
NorthDome Hike 13.JPG 2008-09-27

North Dome-010.JPG
North Dome-010.JPG 2008-09-27

North Dome-012.JPG
North Dome-012.JPG 2008-09-27

North Dome-013.JPG
North Dome-013.JPG 2008-09-27

Giant Sequoia 03.JPG
Giant Sequoia 03.JPG 2008-09-28

Giant Sequoia 01.JPG
Giant Sequoia 01.JPG 2008-09-28

Giant Sequoia 04.JPG
Giant Sequoia 04.JPG 2008-09-28

Giant Sequoia 05.JPG
Giant Sequoia 05.JPG 2008-09-28

Giant Sequoia 06 - with cattle.JPG
Giant Sequoia 06 - with cattle.JPG 2008-09-28