Aloha and Farewell

Friday 29th January



I was so tired last night I skipped blogging. It had been a wonderful but exhausting day and on top of everything else we had to wave good bye to Hawaii.

It was a beautiful sunny morning so George and I took a cab up to the Bishop Museum of Hawaiian and Polynesian Culture. I'm always a little intimidated by Museums but this one was a gift. It is first of all housed in a lovely old building, built I think in 1889, and stands in about an acre of tropical gardens. The first thing you notice on entering is the quietness and subdued lighting; the walls are mostly a warm, dark wood as are the frames of the display cabinets. We started by reading the history of the place itself. The land belonged to a 19th century Hawaiian Princess(Beatrice) who married an Englishman by the name of Bishop. When she died her husband gave the land back to the people of Hawaii and the museum was built on it so that generations to come would learn from it and honour their heritage and culture.

We spent about two hours there looking at the exhibits of clothes, Gods, rituals, old styles of housing and living, bark fabrics with exquisite designs, pottery, headresses and ceremonial garb. My only problem was that after a little while I began to feel as if the ground was shifting under me ....it has taken much longer than usual to shed that sensation of walking on a moving ship. I had to keep sitting down to regain my balance. There is no one slower than George going round galleries and museums but this time I was at the same pace....partly from fascination and partly because of my frequent sit-ins!

We decided after a couple of hours to get a bus down to Waikiki for last minute shopping and lunch. I realised how much more of the scenery and culture you observe in a bus than a taxi. Because Hawaii is a part of the United States one tends to think it is simply a sort of exotic "American" island but although there is that aspect on the surface there is a vast difference from any mainland State in the appearance of the people (a mixture of Polynesian, Japanese, and Chinese with black hair, dark eyes and deep golden/brown skin) and their language and culture. They are such a friendly, gentle and dignified people that I felt sad to think of all the close-to-the-earth-and-sea spiritualism and culture they are in danger of losing. I feel more cheerful about the survival of their language as you know...I hope I'm right!

After a last drink at our favourite on the beach restaurant we made our way back to the ship by bus at about 4 o'clock....to miss the long queues as the SAS trips return all at the same time.

We sailed out of Honolulu at 8 pm last night and it was a beautiful sight. The whole city was lit up but you could still see the shapes of the high hills beyond and of course the famous land mark, Diamond Head. There was a starry sky and a full moon so perhpas you can imagine the view as we pulled away from Aloha Towers almost in the centre of the city. There was a warm breeze and we know that we are movong now towards the colder climes of Japan and China.

It is 1600 hours on board as I write (tea time Dia!) and after a very wet start to the day with pouring rain during the night we are sailing through calm seas with a light breeze under cloudy skies. We have all been back to classes today and this evening is going to be full: drinks in the loungs at 5 pm, post port reflections in the Union and our Sino/American lecture somewhere...we haven't been given times and locations yet. There is also a meeting of the news committee to which I am supposed to be invited apparently and a film on Mao Tsetung on TV which we are supposed to watch....hmmm?

I'll let you know how it all works out...