Chase A. Wolf's

Archive for the ‘Between Destinations’ Category

     By Chase A. Wolf

Lisbon - View from the Torre del Belem

     Chase’s Log  3.28.2010.  Well, this is it, two months and fifteen countries later – Japan, South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Maldives, India, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal – I’m heading home.  I’ve seen and done a lot; eaten amazing food and met wonderful people – my brain and body a little worse for the wear and tear, but the journey – to promote my new venture Global Shopping Adventures – has exceeded my most optimistic expectations. 

     The Gods of Travel, having played much mischief on me these past two months, were conspicuously absent – not even a last minute good-bye travel wedgie.  They know I’ll soon be on the road again – plenty of opportunity to bedevil me along the way later.

Rome - The Trevi Fountain

     At Lisbon, American Airlines upgraded me to First Class, and I changed into my long trip clothes – sweat pants and shirt – and settled into my comfy seat.  My neighbor, Mary, was delightful and also in the real estate business, so we had lovely chats abut many things and the time passed quickly.  Even the in-flight meals were most edible and it was nice to hear everyone speaking English around me.  That’s one of the things about travelling abroad for so long – you come to miss your native tongue.  Of course, the first thing as real traveler misses once they get home is the sound of foreign tongues, so there’s no pleasing the eternally restless. Read the rest of this entry »

      By Chase A. Wolfe     

The original wing of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel (1904)

     Chase’s Log 3.14.2010.  As I was leaving my week-long R&R in the Maldives, I found a place that served beer near the Male airport – no easy feat, with teetotaling Muslims being in the majority there – and I spent a few final hours with my Singaporean shipmates from the Orion before we were to bid each other farewell, and I was to fly off into the darkness for Mumbai, India.  We talked about our recent swim with a teenage whale shark and how gentle and polite it was, allowing us to swim and eat plankton with it.  Nothing like those ill-mannered brutes – Bull Sharks – that someone’s always hauling up on their backyard dock in Florida where I live.

     We talked about the diving in the Maldives in general and what a great week it had been – trading remembrances large and small.  That’s the sweet sadness of travel – making friends, sharing adventures, and knowing all the time that you may – and probably won’t – see them again.  But then, I do have this blog, the Internet, email and Skype, so who knows?  Burton Holmes, eat your heart out.  But all things come to an end and I boarded my flight to Mumbai.    

Hindu God with Connections to the Travel Gods

     Home Office has been fretting about how my delicate, Western-style intestinal fortitude will hold up in India, and I’ve promised to make opulent offerings to every elephant-headed, six-armed deity I run across – hoping they can get a message to the Travel Gods of Intestinal Fortitude.  They’ve been quiet for a few weeks now, but it would be just like them to pay a little mischief with the Indian food – which I love – and send me hopping, skipping and sprinting the Bombay Two-Step for the nearest thunder closet.    

A Mumbai Laundry

     I arrived in Mumbai without incident, but during the drive from the airport I was saddened by the many hundreds of people sleeping on sidewalks.  Such poverty amid such richness of culture.  So many things we take for granted in the States - even simple clothes washing – has a different meaning here - it’s work.  I make a mental note to be more grateful for the little things about my country.        

Whip it!

     I arrived at the opulent, colonial-era Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel – yes, the target of terrorists and, given the overwhelming display of police and soldiers, probably the safest place in India today – around 4:30 a.m.  I was given the choice of paying for a night’s rent or checking in after 9:00 am.  Frugal is my middle name, so I spent five hours snoozing in the lobby and business center before getting a very nice room later in the morning and crashing.  Read the rest of this entry »

     By Chase A. Wolf      

Singapore skyline

      Chase’s Log 02.28.10.  I LOVE Cathay Pacific airlines!  Apparently, the Gods of Air Travel  have lost interest in my humble self, and have moved on to torment some other luckless soul.  Maybe.  Hopefully.   

     En route to Singapore, I checked in at the Bangkok airport without a problem – no luggage or security issues – and was offered an upgrade to Business Class.  Why certainly, I replied.  A pass to the Business Class Lounge to hobnob with the swells?  Why not?   

Construction and cranes everywhere

      Cathay Pacific – in their great wisdom – appears to have a policy of filling their empty Business Class seats just before takeoff with loyal customers – like me!  Other, lesser airlines – and you know who you are – will leave the luxurious Business Class seats empty but continue stuffing the sweating proletariat into dank little sausage seats better known to most of us as “Economy Class” or “Coach.”  And what’s the point of that?  Okay, so they save a little on the Osetra caviar and fois gras – but how does that really compare to the loyalty of their customers?     

Singapore

      I settled into my wide, cushy seat, asked for a pillow and extra blanket, and pondered my good luck.  Of course, Home Office would just tell me to brace myself for the equal amount of bad luck ahead needed to balance out the universal equations of travel – but I decide to live in the moment and ignore Home Office’s chattering in the back of my head.        

From the Hippo tour

       Without even being aware of takeoff, I awoke with a start as a smiling flight attendant politely asked me to bring my seat up – we were already on final descent into Singapore.  I’d slept through the whole flight and missed my complimentary Swedish Message!  Damn – Home Office was right after all.       

     Debarking in Singapore, I was quizzed by an officious little immigration agent demanding to know my name, date and place of birth, reason for visiting Singapore, where I was staying, the last time I listened to Abba, my favorite Meg Ryan and Charles Bronson movies – weird – that sort of thing.  For a moment I thought of just giving my name, rank and serial number as a joke, but with my highly developed instinct for self-preservation, I suspected that my brand of humor wouldn’t be appreciated by people who work in a room festooned with big red signs saying things like: “Drug smuggling of any type is a death penalty offense,” and “Offenders will be violated” – or something like that.  So I smiled submissively and provided the required information without elaboration. Read the rest of this entry »

     By Chase A. Wolf    

The universal greeting

     Chase’s Log 2.16.2010.  After several nail-biting flights – well-chronicled in my earlier posts – I think I’ve finally figured out a way to appease the Gods of Air Travel – for now.  Whether I made the right supplications to the monk in Honk Kong or he was just well-connected, by the time our plane taxied down the runway, the perpetual Hong Kong haze had dissipated, I’d settled into my upgraded to First Class seat in good cheer, and nary a cumulous cloud ruffled the flight to Ho Chi Minh City, a.k.a. “Saigon.” 

     Naturally, Home Office cautioned me against hubris – they think I may have just taken my luck at the front end of the trip, rather than the back end.  I make a vow to appease the Travel Gods of Intestinal Fortitude, you know, just in case Home Office has a point and I bite into something that later bites back – if you get my drift.    

The family scooter

     The taxi got me to the right hotel this time.  I’m staying at the Asiana Saigon, part of the Intercontinental Hotel chain – gorgeous as always.  Even my room was upgraded to one with great views of the city (good luck still holding firm). 

     Eager to explore the city, I drop my bags off and changed some money at the front desk – with my $100 USD right now being worth about 1.9 million Dong, the official currency here – and set out.        

Museum of different times

     To many, the name “Saigon” conjures uncomfortable recollections of a time – not terribly long ago – that the U.S. and the Vietnamese shed many lives in this part of the world in a war many questioned – and many supported.  Evidence of the war lives on, but the Ho Chi Minh City of today is not the Saigon of yesterday.  If you don’t believe me, come visit for yourself – you won’t regret it.  Far from just a political slogan, there really is a feeling of hope – and change – in the air here. Read the rest of this entry »

     By Chase A. Wolf

     Chase’s Log 2.08.2010.  Hong Kong – what on Earth can I say about this city that hasn’t already been written about and shown in countless movies?

Downtown Hong Kong

     Being an eager traveler and excited about the next leg of my journey, I awoke early, shooed the roosters off my Taipei hotel’s window ledge, and, in one leap, jumped into all my carefully arranged travel clothes. 

     Hong Kong – here I come!

More Hong Kong Fog - From My Hotel

     Though I’d made proper supplication to the Travel Godsthe night before in hopes that my flight from Taipei to Hong Kong would be relatively uneventful, I stepped out of the One Season’s lobby and smacked my face into a wall of fog.  Again.  Naturally, the day blindness continued until our flight broke through on approach to Hong Kong International Airport – about 100 feet above the pretty blue water.  This time I prayed to Captain Sully – he of the U.S. Airways Flight 1549 fame – and, since I’m writing this, it apparently worked.

Business as Usual in Hong Kong

     My old friend Peter was there to meet me at the airport.  We caught up on a lot of things during the hour drive into the city.  And there it was – Hong Kong – perhaps my favorite city in the world.  It’s hard to describe this amazing city of more than 3 million people nestled between the harbor and the mountains: crowded, noisy, bustling and shuffling – bursting with energy and beauty. Read the rest of this entry »

By Chase A. Wolf

     Chase’s Log 2.05.2010   Touched down in Taipei, Taiwan this morning, without seeing anything during the flight from Shanghai to Taipei – nothing, no ground, no sky, no clouds.  My fingernails are gone and I’m now working on my knuckles.  Home Office tells me to quit worrying about ZERO visibility on take-offs and landings – that’s why aircraft have ground proximity warning systems, radar altimeters, etc. – but I don’t see Home Office sitting in the seat next to me, either.

Concierge at the "One Season"

     I grabbed a cab and gave the driver the address to my hotel – the Four Seasons – looking forward a post-flight debriefing at the hotel bar.  When we arrived, the Gods of Travel – those pranksters – had yet another little jest to play on me.  The hotel I’d booked was the One Season, not the Four Seasons.  Sigh. 

     (I’ve reconcile myself to the fact that I appear to have offended only the Gods of Travel Logistics, and not the Gods of Travel Intestinal Discomfort – so far.  I need to find a monk and get this sorted out before things get out of hand.)

     The One Season is a “boutique” hotel in the middle of downtown Taipei where nobody speaks English.   The room is a bit noisy from the traffic but it’s spacious, friendly and comfortable.  I am content and eager to explore the city. Read the rest of this entry »

By Chase A. Wolf

     Chase’s Log 1.30.2010.  Our plane lifted off from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport en route to Seoul, South Korea, and I absently muttered a traditional silent prayer to the Gods of Air Travel Safety - relaxing in the certainty that the flight would be a dull, couple hour hop.  Closing my eyes, I smiled and pondered the drink cart that would soon be headed my way.

     After a few minutes of climbing through the clouds, the engines grew silent and our plane began to lose speed.  Strange, I thought, shouldn’t we be gaining speed?  My fingers instinctively gripped the armrest a little tighter.  Aikido has taught me to control fear, but most dojos aren’t flying 500 miles an hour at 25,000 feet over the Sea of Japan. 

     BANG!  A sudden explosion, like the backfiring of an old car was instantly followed by a huge flash of electric light arcing all around the engine just outside my window.  Simultaneously, my fingers made permanent indentations in the armrest, my throat slammed shut and certain muscles went into instant, uncomfortable rigor.  I promised whichever Travel Gods I’d just offended that I would never think about mixed drinks again while praying.

     Eyes clenched, all I could think about was the location of the exit doors –  Read the rest of this entry »

By Chase A. Wolf

     Chase’s Log 1.29.2010.  Last full day in Tokyo – then a quick visit to Seoul, South Korea.  After unsuccessfully trying to crush the alarm clock, I rolled out, washed down a couple Ibuprofen to ease the soreness from this week’s Aikido, hit the streets and sprinted to the Hombu Dojo for the honor of having my butt kicked one last time.  Not even time for coffee and a smoke. 

     Said goodbye to the terrific people I met at the dojo, and, feeling wonderfully bruised and alive, I wandered the streets a bit – a little sad to be leaving and already thinking about my return.  There are many things I love about martial arts, but one of them is the easy and lasting connections made with people in faraway places who share that love – bondings that can last a lifetime.  After a week of eclectic dining, I said goodbye to Tokyo with a simple, traditional sushi dinner – even the humble, local sushi in Tokyo is better than anywhere else.  Maybe it’s the setting?  

     I’m an eager traveler – so the next morning I awoke before the alarm clock began nagging me.  I gently turned it off and politely apologized for all the things I said about it this week.  Bags packed, I set out early for the airport to return my rented phone and catch my flight to Seoul, South Korea.

     I arrived in Tokyo last week in a drizzle and a thick fog Read the rest of this entry »

By Chase A. Wolf

     Chase’s Log: 1.23.2010.  My arrival at Tokyo’s Narita airport marked the beginning of long journey through many countries, which will culminate in Portugal sometime in March.  This particular journey started with a good omen:  a downpour of rain and a miso-thick Japanese fog. 

     My philosophy:  it can only get better.

     Amazed that my flights were on schedule and my bags were waiting for me at the airport, I continue to be surprised every time I visit Japan at how efficient, “friendly” and polite the people are (even government officials).  I was through customs and immigration easily. Read the rest of this entry »