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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

{Part I of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia}

Let's start with these series of husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia on his People to People Citizen Ambassador Program.
On Friday, March 20, 1987 we both left for the Atlanta airport to leave the USA.
Pieter was flying west bound to East Asia and I was flying east bound to Europe...
So we hugged each other goodbye for 3 weeks and Pieter left with Northwest Airlines for Seattle, Washington state, via Minneapolis/St. Paul in Minnesota.
My plane left some 7 hours later so I stayed with some elderly friends till than.
This is an actual photo from Pieter at his final destination in China!

Everything on Pieter's Northwest flight went well, and upon arrival in Seattle, they did have a briefing with the entire delegation.
They also had to practice eating peanuts with chopsticks, followed by dinner.
They stayed at the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel in Seattle
The Four Seasons Olympic Hotel is now the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle but the address and even phone number did not change! 
Next morning after breakfast they again had some briefings, with Max Gerber of the Citizen Ambassador Program and guest speaker Karl Lo, Director of the University of Washington East Asia Library. 
After that we went by bus to the airport for check in.
Pieter got an upgrade with Northwest Orient and had seat # 12 in Executive class from Seattle to Tokyo, Japan on Northwest Orient flight 07.
Than somebody made a mistake and the evacuation slide came out and got inflated!
That caused two hours delay...
The flight to Tokyo was about 10-½ hours and it was a strange experience for having daylight the entire time. 
It was Pieter's first time, flying over the North Pole but he could not see anything because of cloudy weather.

To be continued...

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19 comments:

  1. practicing with chopsticks made me smile. :)

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  2. What an interesting post! The guardian dog is similar to Japanese ones! I have never practiced eating peanuts with chopsticks!!
    Have a happy new week,Dear Mariette.

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  3. Deast Mariette,
    thank you for those interesting post and pictures!
    Have a great week and take care,
    Love, hugs and blessings, Claudia xo

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  4. Liebe Mariette,
    dein schöner Post erfreut mich.
    Alles Liebe
    Elisabeth

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  5. That is a bizar incident with the slide from the plane!

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  6. Practice to eat peanuts with chopsticks! Wow, they wanted him to be very well prepared! I know it's challenging if you don't usually use them. Sorry the flight was delayed. It's very tiring especially when looong flight is waiting. Good thing he got an upgrade :-)
    Love the photo of him in China. I look forward to reading more!

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  7. Lieve Mariette,

    Had even binnenpretje toen ik in gedachte de delegatie zag oefenen(lees vechten)om de pinda tussen de chop stick te klemmen en dan ook nog naar de mond te brengen.
    Ja, wanneer je landen bezoekt met heel andere gebruiken dan dat je gewend bent,zoals eten met stokjes is het wel handig om vooraf te oefenen.

    Wij gaan regelmatig eten bij Japans sushi & grill restaurant waar je de keuze hebt om met bestek of stokjes te eten, wij eten daar altijd met stokjes die ze speciaal voor de onhandige onder ons stukje van bovenkant af aan elkaar verbonden hebben met elastiekje,hi,hi......geen enkel probleem.

    Over eetstokjes gesproken:
    Het gebruik van houten wegwerp-eetstokjes, zoals deze veel in Japan worden gebruikt, is een van de belangrijkste oorzaken van ontbossing.

    Vanaf april 2006 heft de Chinese regering vijf procent belasting op eetstokjes om de aanschaf en het weggooien ervan te ontmoedigen. Elk jaar worden namelijk vijftien miljard paar gebruikt. Voor de productie daarvan is 1,3 miljoen kubieke meter bamboe/hout per jaar nodig.

    Toen ik dit las moest ik denken aan de nieuwe wet in Nederland.
    Vanaf 1 januari 2016 zijn gratis plastic tassen niet meer toegestaan. Het doel is om zwerfvuil op straat en in zee tegen te gaan en verspilling van grondstoffen te voorkomen.
    https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/afval/inhoud/verbod-op-gratis-plastic-tassen

    De stenen leeuw zal niet de laatste zijn die Pieter tijdens zijn reis tegen kwam,
    ze staan in China symbool voor voorspoed en macht,als ik het goed zie op de foto een welpje aan de poot van de leeuw wat staat voor zorgzaamheid.

    Lieve groet,Ger

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  8. I never mastered eating with chopsticks even though I love Asian food!
    Wonderful going through your travels from a few years ago.

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  9. Interesting post as usually, Mariette.
    Peanuts and chopsticks...... we will have to try!!!!.
    Blessings and happy week.
    María

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  10. che esperienza!!!!!! aspetto la continuazione del racconto....un abbraccio lory

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  11. Hello dear Mariette!!
    What an interesting post!!Beautiful pictures from Pieter's trip!
    Thank you for sharing!
    Have a lovely week ahead!Hugs!
    Dimi...

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  12. Oh Mariette!
    You make me want to climb into a plane and fly far...!
    A lovely post reminiscent of great souvenirs I bet!
    I hope you are well and totally pain free now :)
    Keep well and enjoy the afternoon!

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  13. Liebe Mariette,
    danke für diesen interessanten Beitrag.
    Ich freue mich auf die Fortsetzung.
    Einen schönen Abend wünscht
    Irmi

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  14. Dear Mariette, I love that journey you are taking us on... Always nice to re-live good memories.. Though I bet a good memory for you here would also be when you met again after 3 weeks..?:-) Will follow the continuation of this journey - fun to follow:-) Sending big hugs

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  15. Lieve Mariette ...
    O dat is lang geleden ...mochten we de ijd maar terug draaien ,dat zal fijn zijn he Mariette ????
    Ben benieuwd na de volgende foto's van de mooie reis ..
    veel liefs

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  16. Hola querida Marietta espero que tenga un bendecido comienzo de semana
    Cariños

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  17. Dear Mariette,
    Wonderful photos of Dear Pieter looking so handsome at the start of his journey. Too bad about the delay, but all is well. I like the idea of practicing with peanuts! Hard to be apart for so long, but nice to have each other to describe your experiences when you reunite and to tell all of us these years later!
    Hugs xo
    Karen

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  18. Dear Mariette.
    Your husband Pieter's trip to east Asia and his people citizen ambassador program. His photos final in China and upgrade with Northwest orient and address to Tokyo Japan.
    It was few years ago.
    Hugs and Love your both!
    Michiko

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  19. I remember when I travelled these kinds of distances and had to refuel and/or connect through other airports. Now it's all non stop. In recent years I have flown non stop from Toronto to Tokyo and Toronto to Hong Kong, Paris to Johannesburg, Tokyo to Bangkok and so on. Those long flights are not the most pleasant experiences,however.

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Thanks for your visit and comment.

Mariette...