Show Sly Bly Beal Relives Long Trip Mrs Bly DIy Beal of Ephraim returned returned returned re re- re- re turned recently from a fascinating fascinating ing trip to the Orient The following following following fol fol- lowing is an account of her ex ex- I left San Francisco on November November November No No- vember 1 with a group of motel owners from California After flying to Japan via Honolulu we arrived arrive at Tokyo at sunset on what was actually the next day since we had crossed the International International International Inter Inter- national Date Line The next morning we started on our Adventure Tour of Rural Japan This took in all of Japan south of Tokyo Highlights of this tour were seeing seeing see see- ing the Great Buddha where throngs of school children were coming and going as they were everywhere whether at Budda- Budda hist Temple or Shinto Shrines All the temples and shrines were in beautiful well kept national parks and the hotels where we stayed were dream spots too Other tourist attractions were Mt Fujiyama with Lake H kone at its feet Pearl Farm and several delicious Japanese served meals Including including including ing a lunch featuring beef from beer fed cows We toured Kyoto former capitol of Japan with its tree-lined tree streets and museums of Japanese art The Ise Forest Skyline Drive the Goden Pavillion Pavillion Pavillion Pavil- Pavil lion and all the towering peaks and lovely lakes were experiences ces never to be forgotten Taking the Bullet Train miles in three hours back to Tokyo we passed through most of Japans Japan's farm land Neat checkerboard farms cover the landscape These farms grow four or five successive crops a year usually alternating rice rlee vegetables rice etc Even the small hills are terraced for their famous green tea and rice Japan Japan Japan Ja Ja- Ja- Ja pan has people and since only 15 of the land can be used for fOI farming the industrious industrious industrious indus indus- Japanese utilize their resources resources resources re re- re- re sources well Tokyo was a surprise Many citizens wear western not Oriental Oriental Orien Orien- tal dress and the city is clean and modern It is the largest city in the world and Is highly industrialized We enjoyed some fabulous Japan Japanese se entertainment with exciting costuming and staging The Emperor lives in Tokyo Toky and th the privilege privilege privilege of burial after death All other Japanese are cremated North of Tokyo we toured the Nikko National Forest with Its lanes of evergreens which signify signi signi- fy Japans Japan's longevity These lanes lead to fantastically decorated temples The National Forest boasts waterfalls and lakes and the fall coloring and chrysanthemums mums were gorgeous In this area are grown especially especially especially espe espe- delicious Mandarin oranges oranges oranges oran oran- and apples The people are friendly and courteous and the school system is very fine with many languages being taught including Including including In in- English After two weeks in Japan we flew to Taipei Nationalist China another beautiful coun coun- try This country is progressing rapidly It is first in pineapple production in the world We visited the interesting Village where live the descendants descendants descendants descend descend- ants of the ancient settlers of Japan In Southern Formosa seven crops can be raised in a year The people are famous for their carved teakwood and beautiful metalwork From Taipei we flew to Hong Kong a British possession From the air Ive I've never seen a more breathtaking view than this harbor harbor harbor har har- bor with its many waterways green mountains and beautiful homes high on the hills On the ground some scenes were not so beautiful Aberdeen Village where the water folk live on houseboats and houses built out over the water is a swampy ugly place and many streets in fa Hong Kong are crowded and littered There are literally thousands of shops in fa Hong Kong with everything everything everything ev ev- in the world to buy One could truly go broke saving saving saving sav ing money here because the thelow thelow thelow low prices tempt one to overspend overspend over over- spend himself This city on an island with its neighbor Kowloon across the harbor and the New Territories leased from Red China where the farms and industries are located located located lo lo- making for a very interesting interesting interesting in in- spot on earth Incidentally Incidentally Incidentally tally millions of gallons of drinking drinking drinking drink drink- ing water is piped from Red China to the cities of Hong Kong and Kowloon every day There are a million refugees in fa this territory and thousands of new apartments One block of apartments house people and since the supply of housing has not not- yet caught up with the demand there are hundreds of shacks and lean tos dotting the hillsides The Church has a foothold foothold foothold foot foot- hold here about members members members mem mem- bers most of them inactive The do not go to church they live their religion in fa their homes and hearts so our religion religion religion reli reli- gion would be a new way of life although some of their beliefs are much like our Word of Wis Wis- dom On the way to Thailand we flew over South Viet Nam The Thai people claim from Tibet in fa the Century Ninety-five Ninety per cent of the people peo peo- pie here are Bangkok is called The Venice of of the Orient because of the canals which it has although the canals canal in the city have Shave been filled inand in fa inand and paved making wide streets The country folks still take their products via canals to the selling places and are called floating markets The old palace palace palace pal pal- ace grounds and other places have fantastic architecture and decorations The bananas and pineapple here were the best Ive I've ever eaten The fabulous Emerald Buddha about three or four feet by 2 2 feet is made from a solid block of emerald The Thailand dancers by their own Thai-made Thai reed instruments were elaborately elaborately elaborately dressed and are quite famous fa fa- mouse This country is known for its semi-precious semi s stones ones bronze work Thai silk and lumber The schools here are good presently employing 1000 American teach teach- ers From Bangkok we flew to Singapore flying the full length of the Malayan Peninsula We enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner in the beautiful Raffles Hotel garden We were told that the Island of Singapore was bought from the Malayan government for a song It was originally swampy and the strait was full of man-eating man crocodiles and sharks Today Singapore is the fourth largest port in fa the world Here we saw snake charmers and a lot of beautiful tropical country We visited across the causeway causeway causeway cause cause- way to where the Sultan of Malaya lives The Japanese conquerors here as well as in fa faManila Manila gave the people a bad time during World War II Manilas Manila's education Is tops thanks to the USA school here as in Japan is compulsory through high school There is much industry and building going going go go- ing on and fruits and vegetables are grown Beautiful silver fill fill- free work is done here as well as pearl farming After ten straight days of flying flying fly- fly ing fag over water we arrived In fa Honolulu Four and one half hours of flying and we landed in fa San Francisco After about miles of air travel and five weeks after beginning on the trip I arrived home on December December December De De- cember 1 1 Its It's good to be home although a few times latel lately hot Bangkok seemed pretty good In fa memory |