Farewell to my island in the South China Sea
Then when I checked into the service apartment late at night, I was greeted with: "You are booked to check in tomorrow". So I looked at my watch: "Okay, wait 30 minutes, then it is tomorrow". We all laughed and finally: "No problem ... Welcome to Beijing".
Iguazu Falls
The Iguazu Falls are an interesting place to visit for all those which have been also bored by the Niagra Falls. The Iguazu ("Big Water") Falls are set in a secondary subtropical rainforest and by that itself are much more part of the natural environment. The Brazilian side is more panoramic, the Argentinian more intense. You can reach over to Devil's Throat via gangways and of course it is quite splashing to take a boat at the foot which takes you extremely close to the fall (bring a dry bag for you things). You can reach Iguazu by plane. If Aerolineas Argentina gives their standard announcement that the flight is canceled or delayed because of weather, it might in this case even be true. The clouds can be hanging really low above the rainforest here. And when I broke through, it was just a few hundred feet above it - with patches of fog dense on the forest canopy. Even in detail the vegetation is different from the Amazon, by the landing scene I was reminded of Fizzgeraldo by Werner Herzog.
Iguazu was the last stop before of my five year academic sabbatical. From here it takes 18 hours by bus (because flight canceled due to a volcano eruption) plus 15 hours plus 13 hours flights with no significant break in between. Then applying for a Chinese F-Visa (one of the very few F-Words I use), and finally hitting a bed. Then packing up and moving to Beijing. Life itself can be extreme sport already.
Drake Passage
In 1578, Sir Francis Drake was blown by Northerly gales off the Magellan Strait into open waters South of Tierra del Fuego and discovered this as a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Today it is named after him the Drake Passage and it reaches from Cape Horn towards the Antarctic Peninsula. Passing Cape Horn has the most hazardous reputation and with the development global trading routes, it is often referred to as the "sailor's graveyard". In good weather it can be very calm - and the sailors joke calling it the "Drake Lake". What amazed me is that there is no marine weather forecast available here. The only thing you get is a fax showing the isobars and a few temperatures. The rest you have to do yourself. I remember that when I studied in 1987 in the Meteorological Institute in Cologne University, this was already used as an exercise to show us students how weather forecasts were done in the past. Our depression (this is how low pressure fields are called scientifically) system moved North and then struck us with a number 10 storm just South of Cape Horn. That's then called the "Drake Shake" and when there are icebergs you call it "Drake Shake on the Rocks".
When passing the horn, Dave who was historian on board, took the PA system to recite the English translation of Sara Vial's poem that is beside an albatross statue on the Cape to remember the sailors who died here:
I, the albatross that awaits for you at the end of the world...
I, the forgotten soul of the sailors lost that crossed Cape Horn from all the seas of the world.
But die they did not
in the fierce waves,
for today towards eternity
in my wings they soar
in the last crevice
of the Antarctic winds
Sara Vial, Cape Horn 1992
Antarctica
When I made Antarctica the examination continent of my choice in 1988, it was because I did not have to bother with people. I only got interested in people later, but back then I preferred the simplicity of a seismogram. Of course studying Antarctica for a while like this, my perception became that all people must be explorers. And as the people I met on the streets around me in Cologne were not explorers, I concluded that there is something wrong with them. Only years later, I figured out that there was actually something wrong with me. In Werner Herzog's fascinating movie "Begegnungen am Ende der Welt" (Encounters at the End of the World), he visits Antarctica exactly to find out what people are there. An idea I would not have. In an interview by Herzog with a linguist who worked in a greenhouse on the Ross Ice Shelf (a place where you may not expect a linguist to find work), he put it in the way that it is a natural consequence that people with similay wavelength mingle in Antarctica: all those who do not have a grip on the planet, slide down and meet somewhere around the South Pole.
There are two feasible ways to travel to Antarctica: one is to fly in with a military plane from New Zealand to the Ross Ice Shelf, the other is to cross the Drake Passage by ship and enter from the "North". Of course what I call "North" now is not more North than any other coastal location of the continent, because the South Pole is just about in the middle - so in any direction you move away from the Pole, you move North. But the "North" I mean, is according to the convention to point the Antarctic Map upwards into the direction of 0 Degrees. As the Ross Ice Shelf requires more time and is less disverse in terms of landscape, the entrance over the Antarctic Peninsula is the better choice this time.
We boarded the Russian research vessel Akademik Ioffe on November 8th. The ship belongs to the Shirnov Institute of Oceanography in Kaliningrad and is built for the purpose of "silent listening". It is a 117 meters, 6600 GRT ece strengthened vessel with two diesel engines at 7000 bhp and thrusters which manoeuvring in narrow and difficult conditions. It makes a maximum of 15 knots and has a cruizing speed of 13.5 knots. Water and fuel storage define an endurance of 60 days in polar waters. The major interest of the researchers using this ship is to observe underwater wildlife together with its sister ship the Akademik Sergey Vavilov. For this it is equipped with 15 kHz and 45 kHz echo-sounders, which have enormous antennas in the mud room. Russia is very famous for having a good overview on what is moving below the surface of the oceans and wildlife is for sure very interesting.
The first landing was on Half Moon Island on November 12th and there were a few things which became instantaneously clear. First of all, this is a beautiful place, which is so amazing that no photographer, no painter and not even a poet may capture it. Secondly, this season is early spring in Antarctica and one of the earliest expeditions of this kind which is made there. This means the ice makes it not easy to find landing sites for the Zodiacs and sudden changes in weather can pack in a landing point very fast and you have to take off from another place again. The wind can pick up fast too and even the temperatures are moderate minus degrees, the wind chill can be a bit biting. Not just for people, but also for the camera, the ice landscape is an exposure nightmare. The Aperture priority setting simply did not figure out what to do with the light and I had to take all pictures in full manual and overexpose all pictures by 1 to 2 stops. Penguins are cute little guys, but that's about it. On Half Moon Island they were Chinstrap Penguins ducking down in the snow storm. Only later, when I saw an old recipie of Penguin breast with peanut butter in the British station Port Lockroy, my interest in Penguins rose again. But there were other birds, which I found fascinating. One of them is the Albatros. I am sure this is done already, but if I would have to construct planes, I would study the Albatross very carefully. It is for me a miracle of efficiency how these birds can follow the ship for days in the roughest weather conditions with no landing. And it seems so effortless.
The journey went further South passing through Orleans Strait into more protected waters. Still the surge can be freightening in a Zodiac, specially when you consider that falling into the -2 Degree Celsius salt water only leaves minutes to survive. I was told that the life vests are here called "mark vests", because you don't survive anyway, but they make it easier to find the bodies. Just going around a rock, can mean that the wind picks up so strongly that you have to suddenly withdraw. In our case around once the Akademik Ioffe left its location to pick up a Zodiac. The visibility was so low, that the ship was just gone. Now, these Zodiacs are the best boats in the world and have a 60 horsepower engine. So we were safe at all time, with radio connection to the bridge and an experienced expedition leader coordinating the move. But how must people like Shakelton and his crew have felt in their wooden nutshells? I found it still memorable to sit on a "rubber duck" in Antarctic waters, bouncing on the waves, and no ship in sight.
A breathtaking experience was when the Captain closed the bridge and prepared the ship to enter an island. Of course a ship can not enter an island I thought. But in this case it was "Deception Island", which looks like an island, but is a collapsed caldera which can be entered by a narrow opening. Inside the caldera are the remains of a whaling station and on shore there are hot springs. I was not aware of the extend of the whaling industry and how large was actually the dependency on whale oil which was used in oil lamps. In the long Antarctic hours I wanted to read Moby Dick again, but found that I did not have it on my Kindle. For a moment I thought of using my Iridium Satellite phone as a model and to download the book. This would have been the first copy of Moby Dick which would have reached Antarctica via space. And probably it would have also been the most expensive copy, so I dismissed the idea and downloaded it when back in terrestrial network coverage.
So far all landings were on islands North the Antarctic Peninsula. Then on November 16th I set my foot the first time on the Antarctic continent. I wanted to make it a memorable moment and before stepping out of the Zodiac I thought: "A big step for me, but a small step for mankind". It took me 25 years from the University textbook to finally come out here and have a look. And this time I only landed where the old explorers actually started their journeys, nearly a century ago. Antarctica is often called the earth's last wilderness. I remember as a student I was upset that no resource exploration is allowed here under the Antarctic Treaty. This meant no jobs down here. Back then I thought: "What's so special about these dull and boring penguins?"
Today I am grateful that Antarctica's beauty and fragile ecosystem has been protected. And I hope the world's hunger for resources does not change this. Well, not sure whether I am getting more wise or just old. This time I have no more 25 years to come back.
The beginning of this journey is "The End of the World"
Patagonia
"Il n'y a plus que la Patagonie, qui convienne a mon immense tristess ...", writes Blaise Cendrars in Prose du Transsiberien. I wanted to know more about the geography and people, which turned Bruce Chatwin from a journalist into a a fine writer. There, in his book on his journeys down in the most Southern Part of the Andes, it says: "Patagonia! ... She is a hard mistress. She casts her spell, An enchantress! She folds you in her arms and never lets go."
Patagonia is a desert of thorns, bushes, steppe, Megellanic and Valdivian forests, ice fields and glaciers - which is shared between Argentina and Chile. It is a volcanic area with Ceratous rocks and Teriarty granite, cut deep in my rivers and with long sand and gravel fields in meandering streams. El Calafate, even it is still a large settlement for Patagonian standards, already is a village community. And it is not just because of the visitors still passing by here that most clothes you can buy are outdoor gear. There is simply indoor life expect the dinner table and the bed in El Calafate. And people are so strait forward that it took me sometimes some effort to remember to be still in South America.
Patagonia is the last place on Earth, which was reached by human migration. Wherever you walk, you will go for hours. But time goes slow in Patagonia. Nothing matters, but being warm, fed and knowing directions. Like this you hike through crystal clear air and drink from crystal clear rivers. The guest house outside El Chalten, where the railheads to Mount McKinroy start, was powered by the river nerby. Drilled into my mind since childhood to switch off the light when leaving the room, here it was just a bit of clear water running a turbine alongside the house. The Patagonian Ice Field is feeding countless glaciers pushing their bright blue compressed ice masses down into the low land. They end in moraines, or break off in lakes. Many of them are still stable, luckily - despite global warming. It is like nothing from the "other world" can touch you here.
I know many people, when they think about where to retire, they think about a place with mild weather and good medical services. I am actually thinking about Patagonia. As I quoted before: "... She folds you in her arms and never lets go." This is one of the most fascinating landscapes I have seen so far. If I ever have the chance for a new sabbatical to write a book, then I might write it here.
Buenos Aires
I remember that we went for dinner and paid quite a price for a steak. I wondered that if this is expensive for us, then how do the Argentineans pay for their steak? Weeks later they rose up. There were street riots, looting of shops and people died in street fights. Then Argentina un-pegged the Peso from the US$ while I was sitting in a tango bar in Buenos Aires. The currency literally collapsed and the country declared default on their debts.
Now, more than 10 years later I returned to Buenos Aires as a stop over to Patagonia. It is one of my favorite cities. The artistic and creative output is ranked as one of the word's highest. Who ever knows how to do such rankings?
Acute Inka Fatigue
This article is still work in progress ... Thank you for your patience.
Zanzibar
In the book of the thousand nights and a night, also known as Arabian Nights, it says: "In my times no honest Hindu Muslim would take his woman-folk to Zanzibar on account of huge attractions and enormous temptations there and thereby are offered to them". Zanzibar is located between Mafia Island and Penbu and is a place which could not be more divers and exotic. The old stone city still shows the mix of Omanian, and Portuguese architecture and African elements. And so do the people. Zanzibar is a bright and colorful place, part of Tanzania, but still very distinct. This was the place where the early Africa explorers equipped their expeditions. One of them was for example Dr. Livingstone. Everything was traded here: spices, ivory, silk and the slave market reminds still today of one of the darkest chapters of mankind.
Zanzibar had a relatively peaceful past and was the place were the "shortest war in history" took place on 27th of August 1896. The immediate cause was, that when the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini died his immediate successor Sultan Khalid bin Barghash, failed to obtain the permission of British consul. After the ultimatum passed at 9 am in the morning. Then it took the British Navy 38 minutes to shell the palace into rubble, defeat the entire Zanzibar army and restore a more favourable Sultanate.
Zanzibar is for me a place where it is easy to get stuck in a positive way. And many people actually did, came for a vacation and then stayed and settled. Even it is still a long way to go, I have put Zanzibar on my list of places to consider when I retire one day - if I ever do.
East Africa
It occurred to me later after arrival here, that this travel will lead me from the Cradle of Mankind around the Oldovai Gorge, to the last locations where where men put their feet. It could have been interesting to follow just this line of thought and put the whole journey into one blog article. But it would neglect too many other impressions. Another remark to make here, is that my photos do not capture the full beauty of wildlife this time. The reason is that I later in this journey lost, beside other things, my primary Camera in an armed robbery in Peru and that I did not backup the pictures. But I stayed alive and so did my memories.
The first time I saw Mount Kilimanjaro was from Arusha National Park over Lake Manjara with thousands of flamingos in the water and flying by. This is paradise. Instantainously all the old childhood stories come back, like Hemingway's Snows on Kilimanjaro. But at that time the plots were set in a far away place and a long ago past - when men were still real men and women were still real women. The Arusha wildlife was introduced as an "appetizer", but at that moment I could not believe it can get any better. Only the armed ranger with a big game rifle was a reminder that we are not in a zoo.
Arusha has comparably small wildlife reserves. But as the way passes via Tarangire, the Ngorongoro Crater into the Serengeti you will be taken away completely by the beauty of this land. There is not a minute you don't want to spend getting close up to buffaloes, wilderbeests, lions, leopard, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, elephants and all the other wildlife from birds to corocodiles. For me two situations caught me completely. One was a peg of lions hunting buffaloes in the Ngorongoro Crater. The other was the big migration where thousands of animals come into the Serengeti and move towards water and green grass. Perhaps these are some instincts deeply engraved in the human brain millions of years ago, but to watch this is one of the most intense experiences you can have.
The closest was to leave the tent at night for a pi and walk strait into a peg of lions, just a torch in my hand and no gun. And even if somebody would have been awake with an AK47, I thought that being between him and the lions might even make it worse. As I am too small to be serious food, I slowly retreated to be also not be perceived as danger, but watched them carefully not to end up as a toy.
This region is Maasai land and they still roam around in a traditional way and live in clan based villages with a patriarch and around ten wifes each. Everybody are brothers and sisters in the genetically sense of the meaning and it is actually surprising to me that evolution did not wipe them out as a result of inbreeding. Another question, which they did not answer, was what happens to the men which do not find wifes in this system. I just could not match the numbers. But I was told that this ratio is natural. Maasai architecture is very much shaped by the building material which is cow shit. And sitting in such a cow shit hut in front of a fire place with no chimney and nearly no ventilation, explaining to my host that Carbon Monoxide makes you sleep well but perhaps not wake up again, I was thinking how good it was I did not study Anthropology when I was young. Later, when we had to leave behind a Rand Rover trailer with a broken axle in a Maasai village, I followed the bizarre picture how they dragged the trailer into the inner circle of the stick fences for a while until it disappeared in the cow herd. I found the Maasai are strait forward to talk to, but for me a bit hard to read the faces.
After weeks of wilderness and camping, the unpaved Serengeti airstrip was the point to take off again. On a pole hang the airbag flattering and a man with a walkie talkie and a binocular standing beside. This was the tower. A few Land Rovers standing around. This was the terminal. People with spears boarding the Russian plane. This was the security check. A sign that the axe is beside your seat behind the pilot was another reminder that this operator might not comply with IATA rules. We took off East and had another view from up here on Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Then the pilot pulled South towards Zanzibar.
Currently Out of Office
I am currenly out of the office. As I am roughly following the red arrows on the map above, please allow longer time for responding e-mails due to potential lack of sufficient infrastructure. Please also allow infrequent updates of this website, if at all. Later though, most likely at the beginning of the next year, I am happy to condense field book notes in some blog posts and also upload some photos. If you like you can subscribe to the RSS Feeds and you will not miss it when I am back to Cyberspace. I will try to feed the Microblog from time to time, which you also find in the left column or you can link to Twitter, which is the system via which I feed this section remotely. I hope you excuse, that I have pulled the contact form on this website into the "members only" section, as I will not be able to respond to website requests. If you have a login to this website, you will see emergency contact data and satellite communication features. I wish all you on the Northen hemisphere a good autumn and those on the Southern hemisphere a nice spring time. Some of you I might meet on the way. So far, take care and all the best.
Arabian Sands
Since thousands of years they all came though these regions, of which a part is today the relatively new construct of Jordan. It were Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greek, Nanataenians, Romans, Christian crusaders. Some came in peace, some for war. All of them left their traces and influences. It is a region, in which the Bible reads like a tour guide - specially the old testament. Even Chinese porcelain was found in Aqaba, dating back centuries. Today you don't find it as a surprise that trading ties are close between Jordan and China. Cement, phosphate, potassium, salt from the Dead Sea and other minerals, are traded against rice and infrastructure projects. For example the lighting system of the new stadium in Amman is contracted by a company from Shenzhen. Jordan has been drawn up on a map by the late British Empire, like many other Nations. Specially under the reign of King Hussein, also called the Lion of Jordan, the country remained exceptionally peaceful for this region. A nearly miraculous act of balancing powers. King Hussein is very much admired for his ability to maintain mostly peace and the loyalty to his people. His last wife Queen Noor, which became her name after her conversion to Islam, had an important role to explain the Jordanian position to the first Golf War to American audiences. The current King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania have very big shoes to fill and are sometimes seen as installed figures by the United States. Since the American lead invasion into Iraq, Jordan is swamped with refugees, lost an important trading partner and access to cheap oil. In a time in which many Middle East and Magreb governments have been either overthrown or are under pressure, Jordan seems to remain stable. King Abdullah II promotes reforms and Queen Rania changed her PR strategy by avoiding gala balls and is now only seen visiting charitable organizations, hospitals and educational institutions. Still, compared with the charismatic and legendary King Hussein, the recent efforts of the two head figures of the current regime seem a bit helpless. But how good can you be, when you are publically compared to a nearly mythical souvereign like King Hussein?
An old former soldier with a several times broken nose, who must have been in his 70s, told me over a cup of tea: "Don't believe what you see. He has good intentions and tries his best. But he is a King of Jordan, who speaks better English than Arabian. How can he explain to Arabs, that he understands their needs and problems? Specially in times in which being the bridge to America is not seen as good. He might be a traitor to Jordanian interests. Inflation is high in Jordan. People measure him against King Hussein. Dictatorships are only as good as their dictators."
In Jordan the past is always present. Even though its capital Amman is a city, mostly built in the 21st century, it still breathes a lot of traditional oriental air. I stayed in Amman during Eid festival, which marks the end of Ramadan and enjoyed the liveliness of families getting together and going out in best clothes to best restaurants in town. The scenery changes abruptly, when you leave the city of Amman into the Wadi As-Seer and follow further to Iraq Al-Amir, which is the home of the Jordan national flower, the black Iris. There are also nice remains of ancient fortified homes and caves, which are interesting to see. For example Quasr al-Abad (Palace of the Prince) is one of the rare remains of pre-Roman architecture. North you quickly get into the impressing site of Jerash.
It is great fun to negociate with Arabians. Everbody is somehow a salesman. There is rarely a saleswomen, by the way. I learned that North European men "don't wrap their women decently and care excessively about their opinions". Women here often agree to being wrapped very decently, and their opinion about it has been explained to me by their husbands: "They like it better that way". I believe that, first because it is very sunny and dusty outside, and secondly it does not cause this confusion which we have often in Northen Europe. God is great, isn't he?
Like in all Arab countries the sales process of any product is done in no hurry and includes a thorough discussion on the product's value and the relation to its price. I always tried to combine this with some business lectures, which is a "deformation professionelle". For example the negotiation for a Bedouin headscarf, a Keffiyeh, I included the learning objectives 1) understanding the price as a function of supply and demand and 2) competition and Adam Smith's invisible hand.
A Bedouin salesman started with a friendly smile and said: "Only 8 JD". Completly uninterested looking at my watch, I responded: "You know, my friend, the price is a result of supply and demand. You have supply and I need nothing. So you have to give it to me for free". He thought a bit and then bursted out: "For free, that's not fair". So I told him, looking serious and deep: "You are right, my friend, that's not fair. If you give me something for free which I don't need, I have expenses for transportation, storage and maintenance. So, if I take it from you, you pay me 5 JD for my service. OK?". He thought a bit and then sounded angry: "No". So I had to ease the situation slightly: "No? That's the wrong answer. Like this you can't sell it. I am just trying to help you my friend. Find a better answer. Think a bit and try again". He thought, looking up to the sky for a moment, and said quietly: "But you need it". I was very happy he got it so fast: "Very good! How much do I need it and why?". Now he felt that he was on the right way and smiled: "You need it a lot. The sun is very strong today". I still had to cover Adam Smith: "Very good! But I can buy this from somebody else cheaper". He looked disappointed and said: "But you are my friend". I had to help him back on the strait path: "Hey, don't go for moral arguments. This is not the ethics class. Try again. I know you can do better than that". He thought a bit and understood: "Mine is better quality and when you are not happy with it, you come again and I give you your money back". We were nearly there: "Great, so 2 JD and I will take care of it?". Finally the deal was sealed with a happy handshake and under laughter: "3 JD? ... Ok!". From this day on, with my new scarf and my old sunglasses, I looked so much like an Bedouin, that people were making space for me when I crossed crowded places and drivers greeted me with their horn like an old friend.
Driving South, up to Madaba, the you find an industrial desert, in the true sense of the meaning, with a mix of factories from canned food over chicken factories to silicon. It might have to be like this in a country which develops manufacturing industries in a quest how to progress. However, there is more than enough space already here, to get off the road and get some feeling for your car and test the limits of your low ratio gearbox and your ground clearance. You will need it later. Further, on the way South you may pass the Dead Sea, and many architectural relicts including the the impressive crusader castles of Al-Karak and Ash-Shwabak, which is already close to Wadi Musa and the ancient stone city of Petra.
I entered Petra, like everybody who pays for the ticket, through the Siq, which is a steep gorge eroded in the sandstone. Sometimes it is only a few meters wide. When I came to the end of it the view opened to the large sandstone structure called the treasury, I really did not believe my eyes. It is a huge cave, with a sand stone building front hammered into the rock. Further right following the now wider gorge, I entered the main basin in which Petra lies and in the moment I passed the Theatre and had a fuller view. At this moment it was clear that this is the most amazing architecture, I have ever seen - and might ever see in my life. No doubt this is one of the seven wonders of the world. Temples, tombs, even a byzantine church, gateways. But Petra is as much about these grand monuments, as about the own discovery of caves and tombs reaching far into the desert mountain. When I went up to the monastery and passed a sign "View from here to the end of the world", I looked into the Araba desert and it was clear that I did well trying out the limits of the car first before going any further into such terrain.
Soon I passed another sign, explaining the dangers of what is upfront, and telling me only to cross this point with at least one companion. My companion this time was a Toyota Land Cruiser, which I regard beside the Land Rover Defender and the G-Class Mercedes, as the only suitable transportation for these conditions. Soon I turned out to be wrong and the leaf spring of the Land Cruiser broke, an incident which is best described in my mother language with the German word "Scheisse". Wilfried Thesinger was right, that only camels are companions in the desert. When your camel dies, you die. When your car dies, you might die. But I did not, because the car was still drivable. From there I had to switch to Toyota Hilux, which is not my first choice for further pursuit into a place which was the film set for the movie "The red planet" in which it served as the surface of Mars: Wadi Rum and the Southern Desert. The journey started with a flat tire - "Scheisse" again.
Wadi Rum is a stunning desert landscape, with rocks, mountains and changing colors of sand. This is where Prince Feisal decided, with the advise of T.E. Lawrence to send a small number of men to Aqaba which was held by the Turks. Uniting other tribes on the way, this was the beginning of the Arab Revolt in WW1, ultimately taking Aqaba and driving out the Turks, but not giving freedom to the Arabs. It must have been an enormous expedition to cross the desert on camels, which is sand, sand and stony plains underneath and a hammering merciless sun from the top. It needs not just some skills handling a 4x4 vehicle today to cross it, but also a bit of tricky driving around checkpoints as the crossing needs special permits, which I failed to obtain.
Aqaba, has been an important port since ancient times. It was a castle and a garrison. Then it was used by the British to supply their military activities in the North of it. In modern times, it might be called a "hub". There is not much to see in Aqaba itself, but the beauty of it lies in front of the city: the Red Sea. My first impression coming out of the desert was that the Red Sea is the bluest sea I have ever seen. Of course, this gave me the question why it is called Red Sea. Making sure, that I do not see it just differently, I asked other people and they confirmed that it is blue. So my next question was: "How come you call something Red Sea for thousands of years and I figure it out in 5 minutes, that it is blue?". This did not just cause bursting laughter among the Arabs around me, but also brought me a very nice dinner invitation, because they found me very entertaining (an adjective by which I am usually not described in other parts of the world). Also in other incidents I found that German and Arab humor matches very well. The Arabs I met in Jordan were the most friendly people I have seen since traveling through Sri Lanka earlier this year. Of course, it did not take long to find out that the Red Sea appears red under certain conditions in which a red alge grows. But I could not eye witness it myself.
The most beautiful part of the Red Sea is under the surface. As soon as you put your head under water, there are fish of all colors and all sizes in a beautiful coral landscape. Sunk trade ships and military clashes left wrecks of vessels and tanks, which are slowly taken back by nature. So much to see, that 10 liters at 200 bars disappear like nothing. But also just snorkeling will keep you for hours in the water. Some corals though are destroyed by divers and boats, which is sad to see. The campaign of the Heinrich Boell Stiftung together with the city of Aqaba can not be seen enough: "Take nothing but photos. Leave nothing but bubbles". I just hope no ship ever sinks here with a harmful load. This would be a loss for the planet and for mankind.
Setting the desert on fire
Lawrence of Arabia was a central figure in Britain's campaigns in the Middle East during the First World War. He skillfully facilitated the Arab Revolt against the Turks, sieged Medina, participated in the Battles of Fweila and Aba el Lissan. Using his local knowledge and enormous physical endurance he united Arab tribes while crossing the Nefud Desert and took Aquaba. The city was nearly defenseless because artillary pointed to the Red Sea and could not be turned towards the desert, because it was believed nobody can cross it with a significant army. In the years to come he was a central figure in the battles of Talifeh, Deraa and Damascus. He was pulling the strings of Arab tribes terrorizing the Turks in small units, blowing up railways and performing surprise attacks. This was guerilla warware in its early form - some might call it terrorism.
Lawrence translated Homer's Odyssey from ancient Greek into English and his major books were the Seven Pillars of Wisdom and Revolt in the Desert. He was a close friend to Charlotte Shaw, the wife of George Bernhard Shaw, who both gave him a Brough Superior SS100 as a present, which was one of the fastest motorcycles at that time. Two months after he left the forces, he had a fatal accident with it. There are a few recent books on T.E. Lawrence, like John E. Mack's The Prince of Our Disorder, or Michael Korda's Hero and collections of his own writings, like Evolution of a Revolt, and Malcom Brown's anthology T.E. Lawrence in War and Peace.
I recently read James Barr's Setting the Desert on Fire, which is easy reading and discribes contexts around the campains of Lawrence of Arabia during the First World War. Also Wilfried Thesinger's Arabian Sands is an interesting record of the world of the Beduins, decades after Lawrence, but still in the same pre-oil money era.
The Middle East kept going through war and peace since the 1916-1918 campaigns. Glory and tragedy are always hand in hand in war. Now there is a fragile peace in some regions and revolts in others. The deeper you dig in the Middle East, the closer you come to the cradles of Europen civilisation. I will carefully listen to the news and watch the map in the next few weeks and stay on the safe side of the line.
Farewell to the Ivory Tower
When I left the Blacks College Guesthouse today, this was not only a farewell to this peaceful habitat for visiting academics. It was also not only the end of my summer lectures in Hong Kong. It was the end of being a Professor for five years - a time in which I have taught over 3000 students, executives, government officials and managers. Yes, I taught a lot. But I learned even more. This was a time in which I had the freedom to choose any perspective on any topic and explore it. Education is a lifestyle and I had the privilege to have a five year break from the corporate world, generously supported by the Volkswagen AG, which I will join again in December.
The list of people I want to thank is long. But it clearly starts with those who made it possible at all, that this experiment could be done at all. It was Professor KC Chan, the former Dean of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School and now Treasurer of The Government of Hong Kong, who replied by e-mail on his Blackberry and invited me over. It were Professor Steve DeKrey, the Senior Associate Dean, and Chris Tsang, the Diector of the MBA Programme, who pushed for practitioners in Business Education. Professor Gary Biddle, the former Dean of The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Business and Economics, who entrusted me the launch of EMBA Global Asia with London Business School and Columbia University Business School. Professor Chris Chan, the former Dean and Director of the HKU MBA Programme and now Dean of the Cornell University Hospitality School in Singapore, helped with advise and shared his experience how to run a programme during this time. Sachin Tipnis, the current Executive Director of the HKU MBA, I wish all the best for running and contiunue building the programme. Thanks also for the support of Dean Eric Cheung and Professor Amy Lau, the Director of the School of Business, and Professor Mervyn Peart, the former Head of the Geography Department. Thanks also to my colleagues for sharing whit and wisdom, the aministative staff for making possible things first impossible and then possible again. Last but not least, I thank the students for not choosing the easy way and for making my experience in and beyond the classroom a very memorable one.
Sometimes I am asked whether it was "worth it". Well, when I leave now, I do it with a better understanding of the world we live in. I have seen countries, people and ideas which I would not have seen otherwise. I built friendship with people I would have never met. Whether this is worth it, everybody has to answer for himself. For me it was and always will be.
Red Flag ( 红旗)
You see them as museum exhibits, but rarely there is a first generation Hongqi, 红旗 (Red Flag) in the streets in China. It has been a Chinese icon and a proud symbol of the People's Republic of China.
The first generation 红旗 (Red Flag) has been introduced by First Automotive Works (FAW) in 1958 on the basis of a 1955 Crysler. The car was mainly used by Chinese Government Officials. It became famous beyond China by the coverage of President Nixon's visit in 1972, when Chaiman Mao was riding in the convertible. It was powered by a 147 kW V8 engine, and in 1965 a streched three seat row derivate was launched. The car stayed in production until 1981 without major changes. The second generation Hongqi was a licensed re-badged Audi 100. It was streched and supplemented by a smaller 1.8 l Hongqi Mingshi. Production of the second generation ended in 2006 and the third generation, on the basis of a Toyota Crown Majesta, stayed successless as it did not attract private customers. The forth generation Hongqi, called HQE, was used by Premier Hu Jingtao during the parades of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 2009. This car was already shown as a concept in 2005 on the Shanghai Motor Show. FAW announced a fith generation Hongqui for 2012, which will be based on the C6 version of the Audi A6.
"Mad, bad and dangerous to know" by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Fiennes' biography starts very average: Eton boy, commander in the SAS, fighting the Arabs as member of the special forces and secret service, following the footsteps of his father (who was killed two months before his birth by a German mine). Nothing special, which would hint at an outstanding bio, but his quite rebellious personality. But he breaks out early of the conventions and his book and gives an exciting account of all his expeditions - out of which "Transglobe" is the most amazing one. In this he and his team members followed the zero lagitude around the world, crossing both poles. Literally they were doing the journeys of Livingstone, Scott, Amundsen and Franklin on one go. He also ran 7 marathons in a row, climbed around in the Himalaya and was chasing and killing German war criminals, which was published in his book The Secret Hunters. "Mad, bad and dangerous to know" is a required reading for any young traveler and a good one for the older ones. It is very well written and an easy reading: completly "non scientific" though, and much less observing than Thesinger's Arabian Sands for example. But you can feel the spirit of the man who cut off his frozen digits with a Black & Decker powertool. For me personally, the book was a little bit too much about Sir Ranulph himself, because I would have been also intersted to learn more about the technical aspects of his travels. But of course, when you read an autobiography this is what it is about. And I enjoyed to read how intelligence turned into wisdom over the years. Of course it is the wisdom of Sir Ranulph. I also enjoyed how openly he describes the struggles how to get his expeditions funded - and in some cases just how to make a living. In a world where people do not see money as a resource, but as a purpose, it is refreshing to see it the other way round. Nobody crosses Antarctica for money I guess. I will read more of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, whom Prince Charles calls "marvellous but mad". And this will fill quite a few evenings to come with perfect bedtime stories.
Summing up Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a place to drop in, do your business, and leave again. It is designed to be used and not to be liked. And it is actually hard to like Hong Kong. It often calls itself a hub. And that's what it is: easy to get in and out, practical and convenient. Sometimes it also calls itself "Asia's World City". But this is wishful thinking. Hong Kong is an accounting trick. It efficiently processes millions of lives from the cradle to the grave. When you die, you just move into a smaller box. Life happens between a cramped flat, an office cubical and the Mass Transit Railway (MTR). This is not a city, but the most efficient storage system for life human bodies. A more pleasant reality people find on Facebook where they upload photos of their dinner plates sharing culinary pleasures with friends. The big moments in life are also posted: for example photos of the University graduation posing with academic gown and a "Hello Kitty" or wedding pictures when "prince and princess" are taken in front of the Luis Vuitton store. A carnival. Everything is just a costume to play something which they never become. You grow up very late in today's Hong Kong, if ever. It is an infantile society which's intellect is formed by local gossip tabloids and a view of the world which is framed by an iPhone and thick short sighted glasses.
For those who come for business though, Hong Kong is a great place. It has just enough regulation to keep things on the road. But what you do on the road, is absolutely up to you. Processes for everything are of breathtaking efficiency. Hong Kong is not really governed, but it is managed. And it is managed well. You find interesting people, who take advantage of this and have put Hong Kong on their list of places to operate. You "operate" in Hong Kong only. Other things you do elsewhere. But if you need to stay longer, there are still places to hide away, which are not converted into a shopping mall yet. Not many, but there are. And last but not least Hong Kong has wonderful islands and country parks - which are mostly empty, because the Hong Kongers live on Facebook and work long hours to pay off their overpriced flat.
Arsenic Keratosis
One of the long term effects of arsenic poisoning is keratosis, which usually occurs decades after arsenic exposure in drinking water and food. In Europe the diagnosis of arsenic keratosis is not concluded frequently, as exposure is low and only recorded in some wine growing regions which historically used arsenic pesticides. In China though, cases are more common, as heavy metals may cause poisoning of patients using Traditional Chinese Medicine, are exposed at their work place or contaminated drinking water and food. This may be why physicians in Asia diagnose it easier. Arsenic keratosis is hard to treat and even to manage and it may trigger cancers. A very good description of the cell patterns related to arsenic keratosis, you find by clicking here. Some research shows that oral retinoids, like acitretin or its metabolite etretinate (which has been discontinued in some markets because of the high risk of birth defects and complicated dosing due to a long half life of about 120 days), may reduce the risk of cutaneous and internal malignancy formation. I found the following related papers:
- Son SB, Song HJ, Son SW. Successful treatment of palmoplantar arsenical keratosis with a combination of keratolytics and low-dose acitretin. Clin Exp Dermatol. Mar 2008;33(2):202-4.
- Yerebakan O, Ermis O, Yilmaz E, Basaran E. Treatment of arsenical keratosis and Bowen's disease with acitretin. Int J Dermatol. Feb 2002;41(2):84-7.
- Sharma SC, Simpson NB. Treatment of arsenical keratosis with etretinate. Acta Derm Venereol. 1983;63(5):449-52.
Non-oral treatment has been undertaken with imiquimod cream and is described in: Boonchai W. Treatment of precancerous and cancerous lesions of chronic arsenicism with 5% imiquimod cream. Arch Dermatol. Apr 2006;142(4):531-2.
Surgical removal and destruction of cell clusters have been are working if applied properly. Treatment with salicylic acid (for example Duofilm Gel) seem does not reach the cells causing the keratosis over-formation.
Electronic Books
A real change to me has been made not by the Personal Computer, but by the introduction of really good electronic book readers. When I was working in the High Tech Practice of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the late 90s, I was first introduced to "electronic ink" which is a display that uses charged pigments to create a paper like, very sharp picture. At this time the company was still an early stage venture, but it developed amazing displays in the last 12 years. They can be read under strong sunlight as well as in the armchair under a lamp. And it only uses power when the pigments change direction, which is when you turn a page. I have tried a few electronic book readers, and found that the Amazon Kindle is the best. It is perfectly integrated into the Amazon store and I have two devices: one as a pocket book and the other to read larger formats. Everything in the Kindle makes life easy and emulates the way you read a book. And the best thing about the kindle is not what it does, but what it does not do: it does not distract the reader by anything "fancy".
Since about a year I sold and donated most of my paper books and re-bought them in electronic format. As I read a lot of classics, this is quite cheap to build up a decent library. Much cheaper than shipping tens of boxes of paper books around the planet, next time moving house. First I thought that I would miss the touch and feel of paper, when I read on the Kindle instead of a conventional book. But overall I found that I read much more and much faster on the Kindle. Try it and you will soon forget about the touch and feel of paper.