Tne North Shore

Went to the famous(for surfers at least) north shore of Oahu.   Following are thoughts for today.

*The beach is steep. Take 3 steps into the water and you are way over your head.  Water is colder but tolerable compared to the Atlantic.  Obviously has more salt because I can float on my back with minimal effort - not so in the Atlantic.

*Lots of surfers.  Seems to be a way of life here.  Waves currently under 10 feet but come December they aren't considered competition-worthy if not over 30 feet.  Visited  Waimea Bay where the competitions are held.  Waves quite calm here now.  Swam further up the coast near the location known as the Banzai Pipeline.    Probably more surfers here than elsewhere quite far out waiting for "the wave".  Witnessed some good runs but nothing dramatic.

*Finally got "The Wedding" to load after numerous times trying.  A number of these shots are video footage but I can't get them to run on the blog.  Thomas showed me how but obviously I'm doing something wrong.  I'll keep trying or you'll have to wait until I get back.

*Reports are that the 5 largest shopping malls are now in Asia.  I don't if the one's I've seen qualify but I can report that the ones I've seen in Narita, Japan, Taipei, Taiwan, Kunming, China, Hong Kong and Honolulu have for the most part all the same high-end name brands.  So do all the airport terminals.  Most will not likely make it to Fayetteville.  To name a few - Hermes, Cartier, Tiffany, Fiendi, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Prada, Bally, Giorgio Armani, Boss, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Lacoste,  Ferrari, Swarovski, Tissot, Omega, Swatch, Chanel, Bose, Leica, etc., etc., etc.  Believe this is just a fraction of high-end shops which we were surprised to see consistently throughout the trip.  Some brands may have many stores in the same location, particularly airports. To some extent this is depressingly boring were it not for all the wonderfully different local merchants.

*I know why the price of concrete has remained high despite the economy.  It's all in Asia.  Taiwan is building an elevated high-speed rail line and expressway between Taipei and the airport an hour away. High-speed rail already runs from Taipei to the south end of the island several hours away.  China is building the equivalent of our interstate highway system throughout Yunnan Province.  Because of the mountainous terrain this is an enormous undertaking with long stretches of elevated roads, bridges, and massive earthwork which we encountered throughout the trip. There were many other infrastructure improvement projects underway.  I'm convinced that the economies which are visibly booming in this part of the world are being driven by these public improvements as much as anything else.  We could do the same in the USA and it is way over due.  This trip has been an eye-opener.  We are dealing with bright, well-educated, hard-working people who are clearly capable of kicking our  butt in the world market place.  In China alone there are four people for every one of us so when it comes to educating our people to compete in the world-wide economy, we cannot afford to waste anyone or to cut back on funding for education.  This will be a bad, bad decision based on what I have seen on this trip.

*More later.
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