TravelStream™ news feed for member nietsreuef on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/nietsreuef en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:28:38 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1258820882/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1258820882/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1258820882/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:28:38 -0500 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Rabat, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaër, Morocco

The Capitol of Morocco bounced between Rabat, Fez, Marrakesh and Meknes over the centuries, each new Sultan making his selection as best suited his defensive strategy, political organization and entertainment agenda. Rabat was Morocco's capitol in the 16th century, but was destroyed by the Portuguese for bad manners.  It was selected again as the capitol city by Yaqub al-Mansur, the Andalusian pirate sultan, after Muslims were booted out of Spain in 1609.  He established the Bou Regreg Republic and managed to sustain an economy based on piracy and slave trade that lasted until 1829 when Austria finally had it with that nonsense and bombed the city from ships at sea.  Rabat was again designated capitol by the French in 1912, moved from Fez because it was easier to supply and defend on the coast than was Fez in the mountains of the Berbers.  France lusted after Morocco for decades, trying to find the right excuse, finally trumped up enough debt and confusion to declare Morocco a "protectorate" in a deal that had the blessing of Spain, Germany, US, and Britain, if not Algeria which was already under the French thumb. So began France’s equivocal and contentious 44 year development program, centered on Rabat which was shaped by a dose of French city planning.  This is the Rabat that exists today.  It is remarkable how similar the planning strategy was to Dalian, China, redesigned by French architects at almost exactly the same time – 1905-1956.  Dalian had no substantial history, compared to Rabat with centuries of the medina, Kasbah, Chellah and Tour Hassan, but the traffic circles, boulevards, government presence, architecture, markets, and sidewalk prominence are clear in both cities.The Rabat streets maneuver around the history, and because France needed to hang on to the Sultan for political reasons, at least at first, they installed him in a Palais Royal in Rabat where they could keep their eye on him.  The city surrounds that property, and the Royal family has managed to expand their prominence here with compounds for the prince and princess, royal stables, golf course, polo grounds, and parks.  The public is generally not allowed, though a couple of the parks are open as the king wishes.The sidewalks in many locations are gracious, interesting and lively, and in other places, it’s no mistaking the Third World.  Moroccans like to stroll in the evenings.  Streets such as Mouhammed V (The king’s much admired grandfather) and Hassan II (The king’s much detested father) teem with the full spectrum of the city.  5 star hotels and bamboo hovels front on the main streets as the city’s taxis honk and ply their trade.  Donkey carts are not uncommon, though motor traffic rules.  Biking is an adventure.  Generally traffic is consistent, not orderly, with the left side going one way, right side going the other, green means go and red means look both ways.Neighborhoods in Rabat take on the centuries.  The Kasbah houses about 3000 people in a 12th century compound.  The medina with its market stalls includes a few thousand apartments within the 17th century city walls.  Downtown where the major hotels, mosques, palace, embassies and government are located is a 20th century city and Hay Riad, a bit further out, is a 21st century collection of malls, high rise apartments and garages.  I live in Agdal, built in the mid 20th century as the French were winding down, a comfortable balance of Rabat’s character next to the Palace, with European shops and markets, parks, boulevards, walking distance to the beach, embassy, and train station.        
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1256982204/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1256982204/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1256982204/tpod.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:11:57 -0400 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Meknes, Morocco

Mulai Ismail Ibn Sharif (about 1645-1727), reigned as Moroccan Sultan from 1672-1727, the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty, claimed to be a descendant of Muhammad's grandson. Ismail is one of the greatest figures in Moroccan history, known as "Warrior King", Ismail The Bloodthirsty, and Mon Pere.He succeeded his half-brother Moulay Al-Rashid who died after a fall from his horse in 1672.  That makes it sound like an accident.  Twenty-six year old Moulay Ismail took over a country ravaged by tribal wars and royal pretenders.  It did not take long for him to learn the value of ruthless aggression.After subduing his local rivals, he fought the Ottoman Turks in 1679, 1682 and 1695/96, battles that established Moroccan independence with considerable respect, the only country in Northern Africa and the Middle East to withstand the powerful Ottoman empire.  He also didn’t appreciate that Europe occupied Moroccan seaports.  In 1681 he took al-Mamurah from the Spanish and in 1684 Tangier from the English. Moulay Ismail played France against their common rival Spain.  He convinced his friend Louis XIV to train the Moroccan army and advised in the building of public works.Moulay Ismail was a fearsome warrior and an uncompromising ruler. He reputedly murdered family, friends and servants for his cause.  At one point, he had 10,000 skulls hung around the capitol to offer intimidation to prospective enemies. He perfected the slave trade, accumulating at least 25,000 Christian slaves and 30,000 other prisoners whom he used to construct his capital at Meknes, excepting the ones that he gladly sold back to his enemies for inflated returns.  He also added more than 100,000 slaves to his Black Guard, the most feared military force of its day.  Most of his slaves were snatched by Barbary pirates working out of Rabat/Sale, one of Morocco’s most enduring and successful industries.           Moulay’s models for his empire were Egypt and Rome both of which Ismail studied and admired.  His personal tastes were shaped by Louis XIV, including his capitol at Meknes that was inspired by Versailles, though certainly the Moroccan version.  At its peak, Ismail's empire spread from present day Algeria to Mauritania.  Mulai Ismail left a considerable political, architectural, and cultural legacy, but his fame is secured as the world’s most prolific gene factory.  He claimed to have sired 548 sons and 340 daughters through his harem of 500 women.  Serious researchers think the number may have been closer to 1000 children.  And, there are serious researchers – one stellar investigator calculated that Ismail would have had to copulate with an average of 1.2 women per day over 60 years to achieve that number of children.  That would have been more than 26,000 spawnings, a 3.85% "hit" rate.  Come on Ismail!In an interesting 20th century correlation, Wilt Chamberlain attempted 11,862 free throws, of which 6,057 “scored”, a rate of 51.1%.It is generally accepted, in Morocco at least, that the famous Arabian Nights story of the concubine who saved her life by enrapturing the sultan with 1001 endless stories is based on Moulay, whose regular strategy was to love and dispose.Moulay Ismail selected Meknes in 1673 as the site of his capitol because of its defensive geography and its proximity to Volubilis, the westernmost extension of the Roman empire, and the most visible evidence of Morocco’s significant history in the development of Europe and the Mediterranean.Moulay Ismail encased the city in 40 km of defensive walls and obsessively pursued his vision of a great world capitol with palaces, granaries, reservoir, commerce, armies, concubines, eunuchs and his 60,000 or so slaves. From this stronghold, Ismail united Morocco for the first time in five centuries.  It is still regarded as morocco’s Golden Age.  After his death of natural causes at the age of about 85, his sons jockeyed for power and continued to develop Meknes, but the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 severely damaged the palace and the capitol’s buildings.  In 1757 his grandson, Mohammad III moved the capital, salvaging and transporting the richest remains to Marrakech.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1253435102/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1253435102/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1253435102/tpod.html Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:58:30 -0400 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Rabat, Morocco

Ramadan ends this weekend. It is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, traditionally the month in 610 AD when Allah revealed the Qur'an to a caravan trader named Muhammad who took to wandering the desert near Mecca while thinking about his faith. Ramadan is a "month of blessing" marked by prayer, fasting, and charity.  Morocco being 98.7% Muslim, this event dominates the scene.  All able Muslims over the age of 12 must not eat or drink from sunup to sundown.  Restaurants are closed during the day, some close completely during the month and it looks like about 20% of them use the time to remodel.  Drinking water during Ramadan daylight hours can land you in jail in Morocco.   Because it is a lunar calendar, the seasons advance about 11 days each year.  Ramadan occurred from August 23 to Sept 21 this year, but it will start on August 12 next year.  That means for the next 6 years or so, Ramadan takes place during longer daylight hours with longer fasting during hotter weather.  That makes it more intense.  The families eat early, 4:00 AM, then hold out until sundown for a traditional meal.  An hour before sundown, the streets and grocery stores are packed, people anxious, hungry, tired, focused on getting home for dinner.  You don't want to be driving or buying your weekly supplies at that time.  Streets are empty for an hour after sundown.  The end of Ramadan is a festival called Eid al-Fit, "Festival of Breaking the Fast,"  an occasion for fine clothes, lights, decorations, gifts and visiting friends and family.  One of the most popular sites in Morocco during this time is Tour Hassan, a 12th century minaret in Rabat, conceived to be the world’s largest architectural tribute to Islam.Tour Hassan is a 44 meter tall prayer tower, located on a bluff overlooking the River Bou Regreg.  It is the tower element for an adjacent mosque, begun in 1195.  The tower is ascended by ramps, allowing the faithful to ride a horse to the top of the tower to issue the call to prayer.The tower was originally designed to be 86 meters high, but neither the minaret nor the mosque were finished due to the death of the architect, and shortly after, in 1199, the death of the Almohad sultan, Yacoub al-Mansour, who commissioned the buildings. Today the carved red sandstone minaret stands in a plaza once covered by the mosque.  Its walls are 16 meters square, 2.5 meters thick.  The mosque was supported by 312 columns and 42 marble pillars, covering an area of  about 183 meters by 40 meters.  By contrast in the Christian world, the Tower of Pisa, built by one of the most powerful Mediterranean City-States if its time, was started in 1173 at 55 meters tall and the adjacent cathedral is more like 30 meters by 80.The mosque itself was destroyed and the top of the minaret toppled by an earthquake in 1755.  What’s left of the minaret and the stubs of some 200 re-erected columns on the original plaza were listed in 1995 as a tentative UN World Heritage site.Sultan Yacoub al-Mansour (1160-1199) was one of history’s greatest builders.  Among his many civil and architectural achievements, he ordered construction of the mosque La Koutoubia in Marrakesh and the Giralda tower in Seville Spain.  The latter is detailed in similar sandstone decoration, converted to a cathedral bell tower after the Jews and Muslims were thrown out of Spain in the 16th century.  The Rabat mosque was intended to displace Cordoba, Spain as the center for western Islam.  Al-Mansour's plan included schools, gardens and meeting spaces, the center of a new and grand Rabat that was to have been a magnificent world Capital. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1252607773/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1252607773/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1252607773/tpod.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:10:20 -0400 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Rabat, Morocco

I've been in Rabat for a week now, a thriving City of history, religion, sultans, commerce, and 98.7 % friendly liberal muslims, who still like the donkeys to lead and the women to follow behind.  Morocco competes with Albania for the title of the US’s closest Muslim ally.  Rabat's history began in the 3rd century BC with a permanent settlement on the banks of the River Bou Reg Reg, and has been continuous from that time.  The original settlement was visited by the Phoenicians for trade, then taken over by the Romans in 40 BC, as it became the Westernmost outpost of the Roman Empire, Sala Colonia.  Their forum and walled enclosure is still in tact, called the Chellah, after the original name of the Moroccan town.Rabat has been a sanctuary and hotbed over the centuries.  Favored by the Berber and Almohad tribes, it was the center of Morocco’s greatest kingdom during the Middle Ages, stretching from Spain to Egypt at its peak.  Rabat housed a great library and scholars who were a major resource for the intellectuals of the European Renaissance.  When Spain finally threw out all the Muslims and Jews in the 16h century, many of them migrated to Rabat where they set up pirate shop to get even with Spain, and eventually with the rest of Europe.  By the 18th century, Rabat pirates were being paid not to plunder European ships and coastal towns, a dilemma that sucked in the newly independent United States, since we lost our ransom rights under British allegiance.  George Washington, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson all lobbied the Sultan through their French friends to back off.  He eventually was so enamored with the US that he gave us a building for our embassy in Tangiers, one that we still own, now under the watchful eye of the Facility Manager in Rabat. Morocco people are friendly and likable.  Ramadan dinners are big greagarious family events every day after fasting from sunup.  The streets dry up by 7 PM.  It’s a Muslim experience, of course, but the Moroccans seem to favor it at least as much for the health benefits.  Many extend the fasting for a few weeks, or even on selected days for the whole year because it just feels good.   Moroccan food is weird but delicious.  They have a corn flat bread that looks like luffah sponge, but is it surprisingly edible.  Their tagine dishes are especially rich, baked in a cone shaped ceramic pot, full of whatever combination of fish, meat, vegetables, fruit and spices might be handy.  They are eating pigs heads and sheep entrails, but at least a guy can identify it as flesh.  And most everything is garnished with cous cous.Morocco’s literacy rate is 53%, average age 25, 72 year life expectancy, $4000 per capita GDP, 10 cars per hundred people (compared to 70 for the US).  Morocco has limited industry, almost all centered in Casablanca.  Their top 4 national products are phosphates, citrus fruits, sardines, and carpets.  It’s the carpets that capture allegiance.Morocco is a constitutional monarchy.  That means that the king does whatever he damn well pleases, he has a legislature to kiss up to him for doing it, and a military to make sure they get it right.  He’s a direct descendent of the Muhammed, and the people love him for it.  He also is astutely balancing political, cultural, generational, economic, and religious pressures while he maintains the kingdom and expands Moroccan opportunities.  Because our cars have diplomatic plates, the drivers can take a shortcut to the embassy through the palace grounds.  If the world’s best hotel is a 6 star, the palace is a 10.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1246922055/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1246922055/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1246922055/tpod.html Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:25:37 -0400 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

Fourth of July in Washington DC has to be the most wholesome event of the year.   Parade, hot dogs, fireworks, flags, Army Ceremonial Band, speeches, Fife and Drum Corps, Barry Manilow, Obama hosting 1200 military families at the White House, several hundred protesters sounding off about taxes, and Marion Barry arrested, again, this time for stalking an ex-girlfriend.  Tens of thousands of tourists, foreign and domestic.  Fortunately, nobody talked for very long, and the fireworks finale was spectacular enough to put an end  to the show.  By daybreak, the place was back to normal, except for Marion Barry who spent the next few days dodging the press.I'm still in training classes.  We have been certified to defend ourselves and the embassy, tested for any signs of verbal skills, taught the difference between "disparative" and “distractive”, and had our characters profiled.  One of the recent quotes: “the BC develops service standards collaboratively with the provider, reviews and approves workload count modification requests, and reviews and recommends budget approval to the Council.”   We even got tested on that one.I’m scheduled to travel to Morocco at the end of August, looking forward to the mild climate, rich history, colorful craftsmanship, and the subtleties of the “world’s most liberal Muslim culture.”  By one estimate, Morocco has more than a thousand unique carpet designs, each one the trademark of an indigenous tribe at a certain time, under a certain ruler, pre- or post-islamic (7th century), and the effects of two thousand years of feast, famine, war and peace.  One series traces the desertification of the Sahara as it dried out over the past few centuries, changing from plant icons to geometric, solar, even to sand dunes, as the wool materials themselves changed quality along with the climate induced health of the local sheep and camels.  Experts refer to the patterns as vocabulary, symbolizing the indigenous plants, animals, geographic features, cities, religions and kingdoms.  Most of the serious carpets are made of white or black wool, dyed with natural materials, mostly reds, ochres and yellows; woven or knotted, though Morocco’s reputation seems to have been made on the woven version, in which the looms are regarded as sacred and the weaving process is protected from evil spirits by the decorative symbols carved in the wooden looms, cast in the weaving hammers, or tattooed on the worker’s hands.  All sound business practices in the Moroccan economy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1242475320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1242475320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1242475320/tpod.html Sat, 16 May 2009 08:15:49 -0400 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

I've been posted to Rabat, Morocco where I will be facility Manager for the embassy, staff housing, and several other Morocco buildings.  Morocco is the historic home of the Barbary Pirates and the Arabian Nights.  Desert, Atlantic Ocean, Carpets, Arabic, Constitutional Monarchy (King MOHAMMED VI), 53% literacy rate, fezzes, 72 year life expectancy.  The embassy is about 50 years old, scheduled to be replaced in 2012, but I will be gone by then since the State Department policy is that all diplomatic personnel rotate every 2 years.  We don't want any of our nationals to go "local".  Morocco was the first country to recognize the US after the Declaration of Independence.  In the late 18th century, the Barbary pirates, generally harbored at fortified Rabat, were so successful that Britain and the rest of Europe agreed to pay tribute to them for the privilege of not having their ships hijacked. The US by that time had engaged in a healthy shipping trade with Europe, especially with Italy through the Mediterranean.  But after the US declared independence from Britain, we lost our status as a British protectorate, and the Rabat pirates threatened to put US ships back on their hit list.  In a deal that involved Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, France convinced Morocco's king to exempt the new country which was only possible if Morocco acknowledged the US as an independent nation.  Another victory for piracy!  Rabat is on the Atlantic, about 300 kilometers South of Tangiers at Gibraltar, 200 kilometers North of Casablanca.  It has a mild climate, comparable to San Diego.  Round trip flights to Europe start at about $130.  Morocco is 98% Muslim, generally regarded as the world's most liberal Muslim culture, whatever that means.  Arabic is the official language, French is popular for business and tourism, and there is a Berber local dialect.    The King is definitely in charge, 3rd in line after his father and grandfather, who took the country back from the French in 1946.  Mohammed VI is 45 years old, has been in charge since 1999. He has a law degree, a movie star wife and a prince and princess.  His palace is in Rabat and it lives up to its purpose, an enormous complex in stucco, marble, and ceramic tile.     I am scheduled to land in Rabat about the first part of September, after 5 months of diplomatic training, security screenings, budget instruction, acronym memorization, French, terrorist precautions, embassy operations, and an armload of immunizations.  The State Department training is incredible insight into a global operation that, by its nature, is not necessarily understandable, or even definable.  Fortunately, I think, each embassy is relatively coherent.  The Rabat embassy has about 50 Americans from 6 or 8 US departments, and a staff of about 150 local hires.  I will oversee about 30 local maintenance guys including carpenters, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, gardeners and janitors.  Washington is starting its long, hot, humid summer.  Tourists crowd the public places.  Politicians hightail it to wherever they go, except Cheney who's now a talker.  Obama and Biden had lunch at a burger joint across the street from my apartment last week.     
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1239319020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1239319020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1239319020/tpod.html Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:42:29 -0400 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

State Department training turns out to be an impressive production.  No specifics, of course, since everything is SBU (Sensitive, but unclassified), but rest assured that every new hire is given the latest education in human relations, asertive cooperation, and cultural respect.  The 7 new guys in my section, Facility Managers, got our list of available posts - Conakry, Guinea; Capetown, South Africa; Gaborone, Botswana; Rabat, Morocco; Tunis; Madrid; Sofia, Bulgaria.  Chengdu, China was initially on our list (I had been lobbying for that one), but it got replaced by Sofia.  Bulgarian does not quite have the universal appeal that Mandarin does - 7 million speakers vs. 800 million.  We prioritize our preferences, then the State Department makes the final assignments.  We find out next week where we go.  Then about 3 months of training, or so, and off to the embassy.  I'm thinking Morocco, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Madrid, ...  Each post has its own pay incentive, cost allowance and services, as well as the local culture and travel opportunities.  State Department tries to level the incentives for places like West Africa, including outright bonus incentives for under-staffed posts.        In the meantime, the Cherry Blossom season has come and is rapdily turning into Spring.  This year broke new attendance records.  Speculation is that the economy is keeping people closer to home.  The place was packed last weekend.  Washington's streets and public spaces may be the best in the world for comfort.  Many wide boulevards with not much traffic, plenty of pedestrian paths and interests.  The City was certainly the most aggressive urban design of America's first century.  In 1789, Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton convinced themselves that it was time for a national capitol and, more or less, appointed themselves to the task.  Congress officially honored Washington with the final selection of the site.  They picked a Frenchman as engineer, Pierre L'Enfant, who had fought for the States in the Revolutionary War, eventually as one of Washington's chief military engineers.  Jefferson wrote the rules for selection of the site and development of a plan.  In a situation that was certainly first and last, L'Enfant envisioned a city grander than Jefferson's own concept.   10 square miles of rectangular streets crossed with public boulevards at angles to create intersections of parks, plazas,  monument sites and extended vistas.  L'Enfant selected the locations for the Capitol, President's house, major parks and monuments.   He sketched plans for the first public buildings, but Jefferson and Washington both thought the Capitol too modest and the President's House too bloated.  By 1792, L'Enfant had pissed everyone off and Washington canned him, turning the job over to engineer Andrew Ellicot who finished the design of the Capitol.  L'Enfant went on to a contentious and gradually disgraceful career, dying in poverty in Maryland.  But the French are persistent - in 1909, with the support of the French ambassador, L'Enfant was eventually recognized and honored.  His remains were exhumed, laid in state in the Capitol (he and Rosa Parks are the only private citizens to do so) and  he was then re-buried in Arlington National Cemetery under a monument that looks, more or less, like a dining table.The plan itself has been regarded as a visionary success.  200 years later, under circumstances unimaginable at L'Enfant's time, the city is vibrant with transport, grandeur, access, function and beauty.  The City was able to accommodate 2-3 million people for Obama's inauguration, approximately the population of the entire country in 1790 when L'Enfant devised his plan.                         ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The last blog won a spot on a Travelpod story about popular travel destinations.  They used it as the Washington DC feature:http://blog.travelpod.com/2009/04/09/top-10-most-disappointing-tourist-spots-in-the-world/ 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1237930380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1237930380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/2/1237930380/tpod.html Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:05:55 -0400 GF State Department March 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

 I left China in July 2007.  It was a an involuntary departure, as the airlines say.  China was getting rid of the dispensable in preparation for the Olympics.  It must have worked. I landed in Oregon via London and Washington DC, but then returned to DC in October to figure out a job with the State Department.  Then back to Oregon in January to spend the winter remodeling a vacant building downtown.  Corvallis continues to be an easy place to live, not easy to leave friends, family, and more projects begging for attention.  But, ... Now I'm back in DC, starting a job as Foreign Service Facilities Manager, an employee of our Department of State.  The job starts Monday with a reception and orientation at the State Department main building near the White House, then several weeks of training at the Foreign Service Institute in Virginia.   It's a good time to be in DC.  Cherry blossoms are out, new president, museums open and full of world treasures.  Everyone is a politico in Washington, of course.  Who's ahead, who's behind, who's behind the agenda, who'd kissing whose behind, who's got their head up their behind.  No bartender can afford to have weak opinions.  It was easier for them when the Republicans were in power.   It's pretty easy to identify the current losers here because what's left of the newspapers won't let them go - Daschle and the other would-be appointees, Louisiana Senator David Vitter (just off a DC madam's list and stepped into a shouting rage at the local airport - quote: "Do you know who I am?"), and just about all the Republicans except McCain.  Every form of media knows how to exploit the wounded, and, of course, DC is news central.  There are no winners in Washington, only those who hold power while it lasts.  There is an awkward air of reverence for Obama, many wondering out loud how long it will last, watching the bailout gamble like a hockey game, and enjoying the immunity of Washington's employment bubble.  In the meantime, Obama souvenirs continue in popularity with air fresheners and (The Audacity of) Soap-on-a-Rope in hot supply. Politics is background noise against the otherwise entertaining action in Washington DC, like a vacuum cleaner at the opera.  The City is clean and easy to navigate with a great Metro.  Crime is high, but generally contained.  The museums hold treasures from all over the globe, and some parts of the solar system.  Art, history, sculpture, literature, landscape, music, architecture, rotary compressors.   There is hardly a corner downtown that has no story to tell - big accomplishments and dashed hopes of our country's politicians, businessmen, suffragettes, writers, military men, hookers, scholars, philosophers, artists, laborers, developers and apologists.  Lincoln is alive in Washington - at least 22 events this year  - exhibits, books, theater, music, artifacts, memorials and recreations.  Ford's theater re-opened after a 2 year renovation.  John Wilkes Booth has been re-evaluated as a delusional psychopathic egomaniac with an identity problem and a nagging wife.  The guy needed a break.  Lincoln is regarded in almost all opinions as our greatest president.  Quotes from Abe:   -     How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.  -     It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.  -     Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. Architecture here is magnificent.  The Capitol, White House, Museums, Treasury Department, National Archives, National Gallery of Art, Old Post Office, to name a few of the best.  The National Building Museum is in the palatial 1887 US Pension Bureau Building where November's G20 summit was held, and one of the January Inaugural Balls.  The embassies are royal.  The Washington Monument is obscenely phallic, but it's a nice view at the top.  At the bottom of the list are the brutal FBI building, where J. Edgar kept his dresses, and the Department of Energy building which is as limp as their 30 year achievements. The City of Washington was planned from the start to be the center of  power for a nation with a future.  Washington hired his French friend Pierre L'Enfant to plan the city.  Together they picked the location on the Potomac River.  Wide Boulevards, sweeping vistas, calm waters, lush landscape, monumental backgrounds, and pedestrian comfort.  I doubt that they would be disappointed with the result except that L'Enfant got hacked off when Jefferson would not give him the commission for the Capitol Building.  But, then the French are so difficult.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/china2007/1216514280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/china2007/1216514280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/china2007/1216514280/tpod.html Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:23:56 -0400 Dalian China August 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Dalian, Biejing, Nanjing, Qingdao, Xian, China

Gary's Top 2 Dozen China Attractions I'm back in Oregon for a few weeks, thinking about many of the things about China that left an impression: 1.  TerraCotta Warriors - Qinshihuangdi Bingmayong. 2000 years old, buried for centuries in a wheat field East of Xi'an, a former capital of China.  Estimates say 70,000 workers for 10 years to complete the tomb and army.    2.  Great Wall - 10,000 km long, 100,000 workers during the Ming Dynasty (14th century) to protect China from the Mongols, Ghengis Khan and his descendants.  First conceived by Qinshihuang, the same guy who built the Terra Cotta Army.  He connected 8 or 12 existing city walls to make the defense about 3000 km long.   3.  Chinese People.  Smart, funny, serious, careful, thoughtful, friendly, healthy, and intensely interested in their role in the world's future.     4.  Chinese History.  4000 years of uninterrupted written history, unparalleled on the globe.  Inventors of almost every pre-electronics industry including iron, bronze, silk, ceramics, and fireworks.  Deep cultural appreciation for their role in history, and serious consideration of their global responsibilities.    5.  Beijing Capital Museum, Nanjing Museum, Shanghai Museums, Palace Museum, Xi'an Shaanxi Museum, Shenyang Loaning Museum.  The regional and national museums consist of artifacts collected by the dynasties along with items dug up locally during civil improvements.  During Chinese unrest, it was popular to bury art treasures so that enemies could not find and destroy them.  Treasures stay buried for centuries.  These museums are rich with the findings - Ceramics, bronze, cast iron, silk, wood, paintings.   6.  Dalian English Corner.  Weekly event in Dalian and many other communities where anyone interested gathers for English conversation.  During good weather up to 200 people participate, with a few Canadians, Australians, English and/or Americans to help with pronunciation and talk about all things English.  An impressive and endearing reflection of Chinese interests, sincerity, and friendship.   7.  Peking Opera (Jing Ju).  Over the top, highly stylized productions with spectacular silk costumes, makeup that spawned "Kiss", acrobatics, singing (squealing), and music around timeless themes of love, character and conflict.   8.  Forbidden City/North Lakes.  Opened in 1421 with 20,000 foreign visitors, some who stayed for months.  The royal compound, center of residence, culture, politics, and economy for China for 500 years.  10,000 Eunichs, several thousand concubines, officials, servants and the royal family, estimated 30,000 people at its peak.  Rampant intrigue with (supposedly) only 1 pair of testicles.   9.  Xi'an Ming Wall.  12th Century City Defensive Wall at a time before the Ming Dynasty moved to Beijing.  Regarded as the most well preserved City wall in the world, it has been re-built and is very well maintained for walks, biking and events.   10.  Tiananmen Square/Mao Mausoleum.  China's living room, touted as the largest municipal square in the world, about 1 kilometer square.  Dalian's Xinghai Square is larger, but it's not officially within the dense urban core, I guess.  Site of many of China's 20th century events including Mao's establishment of the People's Republic of China, displays of military strength similar to USSR,  Mao's numerous declarations, and, of course, the 1989 incident that remains a mystery to almost everyone.  The mausoleum is very popular, a wierd combination of opulence, reverence, security, sincerity, and souvenir sales. 11.  Dalian Markets.  Like most Chinese communities, the green markets are lively centers of commerce.  Fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, clothes, household goods, and almost any other commercial item are available fresh daily.  12.  Mao Badge Museum.  Mao seems to spawn unusual tributes, like his mausoleum.  This one is a collection of more than 300,000 badges and artifacts related to Mao, collected largely by one person over a 30 year period.  Mao liked the citizens to wear his image.    13.  Shenyang Mao Statue.  Stately and severe, erected in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution, with Mao's approval, this 10 meter statue dominates the street for several blocks each direction.  Locals like to say he's perpetually hailing a cab.   14.  Shenyang Qing Forbidden City.  Royal residence of the Manchu dynasty begun in 1626, before the Manchus moved to Beijing and booted out the Mings, establishing the last Chinese empire, the Qing Dynasty.   15.  Qingdao Tsingtao Brewery.  One of China's greatest commercial successes, established by the invading Germans in 1909.  Now an international brand with distribution on 7 continents.   16.  Summer Palace.  The Qing emperor's playground, built and re-built with money that was supposed to go to China's recovery during the 19th century.  Britain torched the place twice for "transgressions" by the Chinese.  Spectacular gardens, monuments, temples, residences, pavilions, and lakeside.   17.  Shanghai Nanjing Rd., Beijing Qianmen District, Xi'an Muslim District.  Commercial areas offering a variety food and goods at Chinese bargain prices.  Bargaining is so much fun that it's hard not to walk away with an armload of stuff that you would never need anyway.   18.  Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Xian Temples.  Buddhist, Tao, Muslim temples in a Chinese format of architecture and feng-shui.  Many with histories more than 600 years.  Peaceful settings for prayer, offerings sometimes souvenirs.   19.  Drum Towers and Bell Towers - Xian, Beijing, Nanjing.  Historic towers for the purpose of time keeping and communication.  Most remain active with ceremonies at selected times during the day.  Drum performances are thrilling.  20.  Beijing Haoyuan Hotel.  Hotel developed from an 18th century residence thought to be one of the royal attendants.  Charming courtyard style in one of Beijing's hutongs (alleyways).   21.  Dalian Squares/Streets.  Dalian city was planned by French architects working for the Russians who were trying to make Dalian their ice free Pacific port.  The port didn't work out, but the planning resulted in several wonderful public spaces.   22.  Royal Tombs in Nanjing, Beijing and  Shenyang.  Architectural masterpieces as tributes to the Ming and Qing Emperors.  All consist of a park surrounding a North-South series of characteristic Chinese buildings with symbolic forms and colors housing remains and artifacts of each emperor and their families.  23.  Qingdao City Plan, Beaches.  Developed by the Germans in the early 20th century, Qingdao was laid out to take advantage of the ocean frontage.  Today, a modern city, high rise construction along side European architecture all open to beaches, piers and a 40 km public promenade.   24.  Shenyang, Beijing, Shanghai Buildings.  Modern buildings with style, purpose, and public sensibilities.  Not so surprising in Beijing or Shanghai where they are striving to impress the world, but in Manchuria's Shenyang, an outpost of 7 million people, the architecture is startlingly fresh and innovative.   And the losers: X1.  Nanjing Massacre Museum.  A tragic event commemorated by an architectural tragedy.  Long narrow site bludgeoned with unapproachable barriers and manipulative crowd control.  Lost entrance feels like the architect was embarrassed that anyone might actually approach.  Oppressive entry experience funnels the masses through pipe corrals in order to maintain the museum's silly single file traffic while guards make sure that nobody steps out of line in a hot, stifling, unshaded, gauntlet.  Brutal geometric buildings in artificial patterns of elevation and orientation dumping patrons out into a claustrophobic and predictable reflecting pond with a 20 meter statue that needs a space.  The finale is an unceremonious exit into the bus parking lot where the patrons get gassed by the idling busses, no doubt part of the "experience".    X2.  Environment.  Only 45% of China's waste is treated.  Air and water quality are 40 years behind the rest of the world's developed countries.  Respiratory problems are chronic.  Yangtze and Yellow Rivers are on life support with cloud seeding required to provide a minimal water flow.  X3.  Food.  Beijing outlawed dog meat for the Olympics.  Dalian markets Sea Cucumbers worldwide - fresh frozen, dried, or powdered for your slug eating enjoyment.  Sauces that lubricate.  Cuisine for dieting.   X4.  Internet.  The irritating disconnections are accompanied by unpredictable and effective censorship.  X5.  Mail.  Inspections for postcards.  Packages are an international event involving at least 6 regulatory people and a bus ride.h
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/china2007/1215390180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/china2007/1215390180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nietsreuef/china2007/1215390180/tpod.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:03:05 -0400 Dalian China August 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Dalian, Biejing, Nanjing, Qingdao, China

The China holiday is over.  Some overachiever in the party decided that the place would be safer during the Olympics if they got rid of all extraneous foreigners, especially the lowlifes with my type of business visa.  So they gave me the boot.  Seems like a good time to share China's transportation methods.This week, ceremonies were held for the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin suburban high speed railway.  Shanghai has had one of these in operation for a while, a 30 km line from a European consortium, but this newest train is made in China, 120 kilometers long.  It's highest speed during the test was 394 kilometers an hour, about 260 mph.  Those are for show, of course.  Most Chinese have no motorized transport.  China has about 15 million private vehicles, 1.2 private cars per 100 persons, compared to the US with 175 million cars, almost 60 cars per 100 people.  These pictures show the diversity of transportation in China.  The majority of people take buses to work.  Most trade goods are carried on motorbike or bicycle.  Real size trucks are used for construction projects and highway transport, though not many 18 wheelers in China, and certainly no triple trailers.  Concrete trucks are about the same size as the US. It is refreshing that cars are so irrelevant in China.  Cars are prestigious to be sure, and the kids are all interested in them, but they are beyond reach for most families.  The car shows are well attended with all the usual promotions.  Buicks, Cadillacs, and all the German and Japanese manufacturers are here.  China is now building its own car in conjunction with Volkswagen, which will surely be a heavy favorite in a few years. Even in situations where cars would make sense, the Chinese are often not inclined.  The pictures here of the Wenchan earthquake survivors carrying their salvaged household goods is an example.  That really is a guy carrying a refrigerator on his back, across the rubble of the quake.   China does have an infinite grade of commercial transport.  For people moving, the bullet trains top the list, but the options go down to seats on the back of bicycles - a rickshaw-bicycle hybrid.  You can still get a rickshaw ride in the larger tourist cities.  In all cities, rides and delivery for hire are available by bus, taxi, pedicab (3 wheeler), motorcycle, and bicycle.  I'm certain you could find someone to carry you on their back in an emergency.   Trains are always full, used mostly for long range travel instead of planes.  A trip to Beijing takes one hour by plane, costs about $120 RT.  The same trip takes 14 hours by train, cost $30.  Trains carry more than 100 times the number of passengers as planes. Cable cars and inclines are common in China.  You see some as tourist rides, but many are functional ways to get up the hill, like the ones that deliver tourists up to the Great Wall, which would otherwise be an all day hike, even prohibitive for most people.  Mao said you aren't a man until you've climbed the Great Wall.  Maybe.  I took the cable car.  Mao also liked to joke about bodily functions. Surprisingly, bicycles are not that popular in Dalian.  The government discourages bike riding because of the danger in Dalian's traffic.  Too bad too, because Dalian is relatively flat.  But they are probably right.  Traffic is so chaotic that bicycles would make pedestrians the alternate targets.  
]]>