Donaway

We’re back in Denver after a journey that has taken us to Hangzhou, Singapore, Bali, Darwin and Australia’s Queensland coast, and across the Pacific by ship. We stopped off along the way at ports in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the two Samoas (Western and American), and ended our thirty-three day sea voyage in Honolulu. We also got to relive April 23rd two times over by crossing the International Date Line. Like some of my literary forebears (Jack Kerouac), I worked my way across the Pacific. But unlike Kerouac, I didn’t have to wash dishes or swab the decks on a pukey tramp steamer. Instead, I lectured aboard a state of the art cruise ship – Royal Caribbean’s "Rhapsody of the Seas" - in exchange for room, board, and passage for myself and Nancy. Normally I ... read more

We boarded our ship in Singapore last Thursday and sailed east for two days before arriving in fabled Bali; back packer paradise and the "Love" section of Elizabeth Gilbert’s tripartite spiritual memoire: "Eat. Pray. Love." Bali reminded me of the Asia I knew in the 70s and 80s: hot, crowded, chaotic -- just the way I like it. Seriously. Especially when compared to squeaky-clean Singapore. We spent four days there and were hard-put to find anything left of its original charm. It's all been obliterated in the name of progress and a very muscular brand of consumerism. We stayed in an 18-story hotel (on the 13th floor – a Western superstition unknown in Asia), located minutes from the city’s main shopping hub, Orchard Road. Singapore in general, and Orchard R... read more

“To be Rich is Glorious!” We spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of last week in Hangzhou, or as people here call it: “Downtown.” Xiasha, where we live, is only 10 or 15 miles from Hangzhou, but on the big red articulated bus, which has comfortable seats and an overhead television playing China’s Funniest Home Videos, it takes a good forty-five minutes to get there. From the main bus terminal, it’s another twenty minute cab ride to the West Lake District. West Lake is one of the country’s premier tourist attractions, but the Crystal Orange Hotel, where we spent two nights, is a wonder in its own right Not because it’s quaint and traditional, but because it’s ultra-modern and oh so high-tech. Take the electronic key cards for example. You don’t slide them into a ... read more

First Impressions We’re in the town of Xiasha (Shia-sha), about 40 minutes bus ride from downtown Hangzhou. Xiasha is an artificial city along the lines of say, Brasilia. Like the capitol of Brazil, it didn't arise spontaneously. It was created for a specific purpose, namely to house some fourteen universities and colleges where over 100,000 students are being prepared to lead the New China. It’s an odd place, Xiasha. There’s not much soul, no links to the country's storied past, no culture outside of what you might find in the Universities themselves. Ten years ago this town was all farmers’ fields. Now it’s one sky scraper after another. I've come here to teach a month-long course in public speaking at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. We arrived here last Friday, February 24, and were met at ... read more