PEARL'S ASHES #8

I did say I would post part 2 of my Democracy series today, but I haven't quite perfected a better future for Mayday Mayday, so this will come later in the week.  Instead, as this is nostalgia Tuesday, I will reach back and specifically look at the eighth ash drop for Pearl at the Taj Mahal.  However, first, a few of the latest developments imposed on the world by President Donald Trump.

• 
  Trump had a press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, the first world leader to do so.  Shockingly, Trump indicated that the USA will take over the Gaza Strip.  Watch this video.  Previously, he took credit for brokering this peace, but new American boots on the ground in the Middle East is almost beyond the pale.
• 
  China is the only country currently struck with Trump's tariff, 10%, and announced a counter tariff.
• Remember my travels to China and how this blog site had problems because of the ongoing fuss with Google, which began in 2010? 
• Google's market share declined from 36.2% to now 3.8%, primarily because Google is not blocked in Hong Kong.  
• Well, look for more problems between the two because of this now tariff war.
• There is a large list of websites not able to operate in mainland China.
• You Tube since 2009.
• Facebook, 2009.
• Yahoo, 2021.
• Wikipedia, 2019.
• Reddit, 2018.
• Netflix, 2012.
• Blogspot (this blog), 2009.
• Instagram, 2014.
• WhatsApp, 2017.
• Spotify, 2008.
• Pornhub, 2016.
• BBC, 2015.
• New York Times, 2012.
• Washington Post, 2019.
• The Guardian, 2019.
• Bloomberg, 2012.
• HuffPost, 2019.
• Wall Street Journal, 2015.
• Reuters, 2019.
• TIME, 2016.
• Australia Broadcasting Corporation, 2018.
• The Economist, 2016.
• ABC, 2021.
• Voice of American, for a long time.
• NBC, 2019.
• HBO, 2020.
• TikTok, yes, TikTok, 2020.
• ChatGPT, 2023.
• Truth Social (Donald Trump's media platform), 2022.
• A lot more on this list.
• 
  Well about the China blowback, Trump indicated now that he is in no rush to talk to President Xi.
• As you know there was a trade war between the U.S. and China in Trump's first term.

• 
  This time, China is prepared to counter.
• Trump's tariff on China is currently 10%.  
• China said it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquified natural gas, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars to take effect next Monday.  
• Maybe most important, China will control the exportation of high-tech products and will minimize sales of rare minerals.  This will cause huge problems to some American companies.
• Should all that occur, GDP growth will be lowered, inflation in the U.S. will grow and there will be negative effects on the U.S. dollar.
• As those New York Times graphics above show, American's remain relatively wealthy, but unhappy and unwell.
• 
  Fossil fuel CEO Chris Wright was confirmed as Trump's Energy Secretary, supported by 8 Democrats on the floor. Wright will "drill, baby, drill" and distantle the Democrats "green new scam."

• 
  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s and Tulsi Gabbard's nominations were approved for floor vote, which means they will almost surely be approved by the Senate. 
• Trump will be closing down the Department of Education.  He says, let each state do it themselves.

There is a timing issue about Pearl's Ashes in this blog site.  Most of the ash laying ceremonies themselves occurred 14-16 years ago and my blog compiled them into regular postings around 12 years ago, but I then decided I would write a virtual book featuring mostly photos, and these chapters unfolded 8 years ago.

• So back I go 17January2010 when I began a global journey mostly to drop Pearl's Ashes #8 at the Taj Mahal.  While the first seven occurred in Hawaii, my primary purpose was to travel the world to drop her ashes at locations she wanted to visit, but did not, mostly because I personally had no interest in India and South America.  For this trip I only dropped her ashes once.

• 
  On 8February2010 I visited the Taj Mahal.
• The previous day I wrote about getting into India.  INDIA SUCKS…* remains as the most commented posting I've ever had.
• To quote:

Let's forget yesterday. I'm appalled that I said "India Sucks." 

Today, though, was not much different, but my attitude has re-adjusted and returned to my normal self. To begin, can you believe there are 82 HD channels, and at the time of the Super Bowl, there were 6 soccer matches, 2 rugby, 2 badminton, 1 tennis, 1 golf, 1 auto racing, 3 cricket and, on ESPN, a SEC gymnastics competition. NO SUPER BOWL in Delhi. Anyway, I couldn't have caught all of it as at 6:15AM I was picked up for my Taj Mahal encounter, the primary reason why I'm on this trip.

• We caught a van from New Delhi to Agra.  Very cost effective for a 260-mile roundtrip.

There was a driver of a minivan and a navigator, joined by a tour guide for a person from Sweden, another from Turkey and myself. Remember from yesterday, all this cost me about $50, including lunch. 

The drive of 4 hours to Agra was a nightmare. Early in the morning, a red light means please consider slowing down, but, if there appears to be no crossing traffic, whiz through as fast as possible. The 130 mile ride was mostly down a four lane highway, with a few complications. Ox, goat and horse driven carts; wandering cattle and water buffalo; way overloaded trucks; tuk-tuks that carry not two people, but up to 20; congested towns; people running across the street and horrendous air pollution (it was smokey the whole way). For transportation buffs, you will see every possible mode of transport since the dawn of civilization, including trains that seem to move along well and, above, airplanes, which I only imagined were there, for the haze is worse than when the volcano emission envelopes Honolulu.

We finally got to Agra and went straight to the Taj Mahal. The cost of entrance was about $20 for this and the Red Fort. Frankly, like Angkor Wat, the experience was not awesome. I'm glad I came, I enjoyed the tour, but I was sort of disappointed. These accompanying photos actually show the Taj to be whiter than actual. This is one of the 8 wonders of the world. Time and pollution, though, have stained the white marble. But, after all, this complex is more than 350 years old. I did, however, honor Pearl.

The Red Fort, almost 450 years old, is the second must see, but, again, I'm templed and forted out to enjoy any more tours. The lunch at a 5-star restaurant was Indian, and good, with Kingfisher, an Indian beer.

The most exciting part was the ride back to Delhi, all 6 hours of it. This was the equivalent of the road through hell. They say that just at the moment of a catastrophe, time slows, like, say, your car meeting another head-on at 60 miles per hour. To survive in this traffic, the driver needs to be intrepid, no, make that, reckless. He needs to fearlessly pass cars and toot his horn as much as possible. Time virtually stopped for me at least a dozen times today.

I was so exhausted about surviving the day that I ordered room service: a butter/pesto tossed linguine with a bolognese sauce, accompanied by an asparagus Caesar salad. I opened the bottle of bordeaux provided the Le Meridien and had one of the better meals on this trip:

Amen.

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PEARL'S GOLD TREE AND ASHES

Well, President Donald Trump did sign-off on the executive orders he promised during his campaign.  Here is the list.  Uncertain how any one or group can prevent them from becoming reality, but a few are trying:

• 
  18 states (of course, Democratic ones) have challenged Trump on his order cutting birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants.  The attorney generals of those states said that the President has no authority to nullify a constitutional amendment.  150,000 such births occur annually.  This matter will be settled by the Supreme Court.
• 
  Trump's first fire was in removing Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan.  Trump's early contention was he be doing this to promote diversity.  What an idiotic first choice, for she is the only female officer at this high level in the Administration.
• For those so interested, from TIME, the best inauguration photos.  Here is one.

19July2009 was a particularly tragic day for me.  My wife, Pearl, passed away after 47 years of marriage.

• She had been in Kuakini Hospital for about a month.
• I was there daily, and about a month into her stay, a staff member passed on to me a piece paper that showed the bill as of that date of over $200,000.  I thought, oh my gosh, if she's there for five months, that would be around a million dollars, plus other costs, like for doctors.

• 
  She was suffering from BOOP, and the prognosis was that if she survived, she would need to be hooked up to a ventilator for the rest of her life.

• 
  A few days later, it was a Sunday, first the bad news, she passed away.  The good news was that she would not be in a ventilator for the rest of her life.
• She was on Propofol, which was the same sedative used to treat Michael Jackson, who died six days later.

• 
  It was midmorning, and when I returned home, decided to write an article for the Huffington Post, called Gratitude...Not Grief.  It was published that day.  I borrowed that title from Thornton Wilder:  The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.
• I had bought a keyboard and was practicing to play something when she returned.  I also had a Dom Perignon for her homecoming.  I drank the whole bottle and gave away the keyboard.
• The next day, my posting in this blog site was about her, In Celebration of Pearl.

Over the next couple of years, I devoted myself to following up on a few projects in her memory.

• First, though, about the medical costs, a year later I had not received a bill for her hospital stay.  So I went to HMSA, and they said they were still not sure.  Even a co-pay of 20% would be around $40,000, plus doctor bills.  It now has been more than 15 years, and I never got a bill.  I must have a fabulous medical plan.
• I formed the Pearl Foundation to do what I was not sure.

• 
  She loved this yellow colored tree, so I went on a search to find what it was.  
• One trip took me to Thailand.  Their national flower is called ratchaphruek, and I thought this might be it.
• But this tree has long pods, something the Gold Tree did not.
• Professor Hunsa Punnapayak of Chulalongkorn University said he saw the Gold Tree in Pattaya and northern Thailand.

• 
  However, while I was in Bangkok, Pearl's sister  in law, Gwen Nakamichi, who worked at a botanical park in Hilo, found the tree, growing in Hilo, Pearl's home town.  A large one is located close by her Hilo High School, to the right.

Family: Bignoniaceae (big-no-nih-AY-see-ee) (Info)

Genus: Roseodendron (ro-see-oh-DEN-dron) (Info)

Species: donnell-smithii

Synonym:  Cybistax donnell-smithii
 Synonym:Tabebuia donnell-smithii

• The Gold Tree, it turned out, also can be found all over the Manoa Campus of the University of Hawaii, including a bank of them right next to my building where I now sit.  Below is the one at Hamilton Library.

• It took some effort, with the aid of Fresh Onishi, who was a councilman in Hilo, to gain the permission of the City Councils of Hilo and Honolulu, to do the planting.
• Ala Wai Golf Course, which was covered by one of the local TV stations.

• 
  A second planting occurred at the Hilo Municipal Golf Course.  I should mention that a second tree could have been the one selected, a Jacaranda, where the flower has a wonderful aroma.  Appropriately enough, the Gold Tree in Hilo was planted right next to a Jacaranda.
  

• 
  At the one-year ceremony for her in Hilo, I published a book, a compilation of some of my Huffington Post articles, featuring her on the back cover.  In addition to that publication, I also passed out saplings of the Gold Tree so those who came could plant them in their yards.
• So today there are many more gold trees, even at the Ted Makalena Golf Course.

• 
  
  My second remembrance project was to drop her ashes off at meaningful locations, particularly to places she wanted to visit, but I didn't, but now would.  To quote:

In most ways, thus, this was a conscience assuaging repentence.  I added nostalgic locations and places she would have truly enjoyed.

• 
  I had a series on PEARL'S ASHES in this blog in 2017, and when I went back, noticed there was one on 2January2017, a couple of weeks before Donald Trump was to be inaugurated for his first term.  Title?  IS DONALD TRUMP DANGEROUS?   Read that, I was at my prescient best.
• Took me two around the world trips to lay her ashes at 50 sites, and I began to write a book on this experience.  But first, Hilo, where I said:

10 August 2009 was a day I won't forget.  I awoke early to catch the sunrise at Mauna Kea.  However, it was cloudy, and instead of a picturesque view of the mountain, I saw a rainbow:

• I explained how I prepared her ashes for placement.

• Pearl liked to visit Rainbow Falls when she returned to Hilo, so that was the location of the initial ash drop.

• Soon thereafter, we drove up to Mauna Kea for a mass dropping.  When she woke up every morning from her youth, she could see Mauna Kea from her home.

• I left the group and headed west for the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, where we spent our honeymoon, then the Four Seasons Hualalai.  Dropped her ashes at sunset.

• I then drove to Naalehu, for this is where we met and got married.  Dropped her ashes off at this site, with the Hutchinson Sugar Company factory in the background.

• Stayed the night at the Volcano House, tossing the capsule, #6, into Halemaumau Crater (which is now erupting again), with a rainbow in the background.  Here is a reprise of the first six ash layings.

• 
  I then returned home to Honolulu, and on my roof planted ashes #7 in an African Blood Lily plant which has a story.  Her previous stay in Kuakini Hospital was for a breast cancer operation.

While she was recuperating at Kuakini Hospital, I saw in a flower shop a red, spherical flower with no leaves.  I learned that this was an African Blood Lily (Scadoxus multifloras) and grew from a bulb.  I called it a sunburst to inspire her.  I told her that as long as she could re-grow this flower, she would live.  While chemotherapy lasted for a terrible few months, she mothered two more flowers the following year, and they almost kept doubling each year.  That's the view of Punchbowl from our Craigside penthouse.

• Also in Hawaii, Haleakala National Park on Maui, where I experienced another sunrise.  Placed the ashes next to this Silversword plant.

• I will in time on one of my nostalgic Tuesday postings return for Pearl's Ashes #8:  Taj Mahal.

And no, I am not dropping any ashes on the Taj Mahal.  Return for the story, and more.

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WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE PLANET EARTH

We're in the Plumeria Lounge of Hawaiian Airlines.

Next stop, Haneda Airport.

 

It's alway so exciting to anticipate the coming of a global adventure.  

• Now, I want these trips to be as secure and comfortable as possible.  Thus, we are traveling business class, except for the Bangkok to Dubai to Munich leg being on Emirates first class.  
• I never asked, but I assume they don't practice Ramadan on their flights and airport lounge. In 2022 we caught an Emirates first class from Bangkok to Dubai.  Unlimited caviar, with showers on the plane.  Fabulous experience.  
• So we thought we'd double the pleasure.  It is 3000 miles from Bangkok to Dubai, but 3700 miles from Dubai to Munich.
• And a big plus.  Washington D.C. is reaching peak cherry blossom blooms now.  They said it's due to climate change.  Tokyo and D.C. are very similar in terms of weather.  Certainly, too, our first few days then will feature a surprisingly early Sakura season.

So here is our entire around the world trip:

Stops in Tokyo, Singapore, Bangkok, Munich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York City.  Three cruises:

• 8-day Tauck Spirit Tulip cruise from Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 10-day Regent Seven Seas Voyager Mediterranean from Barcelona to Athens.
• 7-day Queen Mary II from Southhampton to New York City.

Our first stop of four days in Tokyo should offer some Cherry Blossom sights, for they are blooming early this year.  The Tokyo Westin is across the street from Robuchon, so we'll return there for dinner.

Not sure why we're stopping Singapore, but it's a particularly safe city with a variety of sights and scenes.  Four days in Bangkok for me to make my final series of vests.

I haven't been to Munich for a long time.  Love the city.  Not sure what is planned.

Copenhagen has Noma, which is soon to close, so a reservation is impossible.  Never bothered to check.  Will spend a day at Tivoli Gardens.

Will have a couple of days in Amsterdam, always a joy.  The tulip cruise departs from this port.

A few days in Barcelona.  Nothing particularly planned.  The Regent cruise departs from here.

Then on the Queen Mary II to America.  We have six days in New York City because the plan was to catch Amtrak to DC for three days.  However, the hotel does not hold any luggage so we skipped DC.  A couple of Broadway shows.  Perhaps a Yankees game.  Went to one the last time I was here.

On Day 52, fly from JFK New York to Honolulu via Seattle.

I haven't been around the world for more than a decade.  I remember another sakura and tulip combination in 2012.  I think my last one, though, was My Ultimate Global Adventure, in 2013, 51 amazing days.  Click on any day to read the whole posting.

• MY ULTIMATE GLOBAL ADVENTURE, Day #51: San Franci...
• MUGA Day #50: Mendocino to San Francisco
• MUGA Day #49 : Architecture and Wines of Sea Ran...
• MUGA Day #48: Sonoma and Mendocino Wine Tasting
• MUGA Day #47: Napa and Sea Ranch Wine-Tasting
• MUGA Day #46: Stanford Class of '62 50th Reunion ...
• MUGA Day #45: Napa
• MUGA Day #44: Rancho Solano GC and Umi Sushi
• MUGA Day #42: Napa--The Ultimate Wine Glasses
• MUGA Day #41: The Ultimate Wine Summary--Part 1
• MUGA Day #40: Dow Jones Industrial Average
• MUFA Day#39: TOP UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD: Best...
• MUGA Day #38: Vacaville
• MUGA Day #37: My Day in San Francisco

• MUGA Day #36: Denver to San Francisco
• MUGA Day #35: My Day in Denver
• MUGA Day #34: DC to Denver
• MUGA Day #33: Further Adventures in DC
• MUGA Day #32: My Day in our Nation's Capital
• MUGA Day #31: Frankfurt to DC
• MUGA Day #30: My Day in Frankfurt
• DAY #29B: Beijing to Frankfurt
• MUGA Day #29: My final meals in Beijing
• MUGA Day #28: China--On the Matter of Human Rights
• MUGA Day #27: My Day in Beijing
• MUGA Day #26: Arrival in Beijing
• IF YOU CAN'T LINK TO MY DAILY BLOG TRY...
• MUGA Day #25: In Search of the Perfect Shanghai D...
• MUGA Day #24: Shanghai--Mr and Mrs Bund
• MUGA #23: Seoul to Shanghai
• MUGA Day #22: Pierre Gagnaire
• MUGA Day #21: Miracle at the Westin Chosun
• MUGA Day #20: Tokyo to Seoul
• COUNTRY #212: Micronesia
• PEARL'S ASHES #18-#24: Kumamoto Castle, Nagasaki ...
• MUGA Day#19: Tokyo and Jindaiji
• MUGA Day#18: Matsumoto Castle--Pearl's Ashes #17
• THE GREEN REVOLUTION OVERTAKES COSMETICS
• PEARLS ASHES #16: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
• MUGA Day#17: Hiroshima University
• MUGA Day#16: Osaka--Some Trials and Tribulations
• MUGA Day#15: Osaka--Kahala
• MUGA Day#14: Tokyo to Osaka
• MUGA Day #13: Tokyo--Lunch at the Best Restaurant...
• MUGA Day #12: Bangkok to Tokyo on the Airbus 380
• PEARL'S ASHES: #15--GRAND PALACE
• MUGA Day #11: Bangkok: Saying No to Shark Fin
• MUGA Day #10: Bangkok--Eat Me
• MUGA Day #9: Bangkok--nahm
• MUGA #8: Sydney to Bangkok

• MUGA Day #7: Sydney--A TOTAL MAKEOVER FOR NORTH K...
• MUGA Day #6: Australia
• MUGA Day #5: Sydney: Est
• MUGA Day #4: Sydney--Australian Royal Easter Show
• MUGA: Day #3-- Arrival into Sydney, Australia
• MUGA: Day 2--San Francisco to Sydney
• MY ULTIMATE GLOBAL ADVENTURE: Day 1--Honolulu to ...

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