Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
吴怀祺照片-吴弘
吴怀祺照片-吴弘
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吴怀祺照片-吴弘
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Friday, October 17, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
熊三爷的第二封来信 - 给元生
元生大侄：
你们好！
接到韩庆转来你的第一封信，随即托韩庆回复一信，想已收到。今天又接到你的第二封（9月23日）来信和凯生来信，很是欢喜，这里就你信中所谈的事情回复于下：
一． 大哥，大嫂去世我早已得知。台湾方面，照，瑞，辉的情况我也闻知一些。照二爷，婶，他们在世时，经常通信，二爷回来过一次（1997年），自前年二婶去世后，她的儿女很少来信了。她的大女，四女，大儿，三儿都回来过。三儿宛城来的次数多起，原说照二爷回葬庐江，墓地我都办好了，前年二婶去世后，他们都不再来信，现在不知把二爷，二婶葬到哪里去了，我很失望。二婶在世时，多次邀请我去台，但我没有去，现在很后悔，很对不起她。
瑞二爷回芜湖我知道，没有见面，也没有通信，不知怀逊他们是为什么，事已过去，也就算了。瑞二婶王氏还在世于我同年，一度为了瑞爷在台湾再婚而怪照哥，嫂，接着又怪我，瑞爷回来后也就化解了。她是一个性格坚强的人，正是由于性格坚强，才能把怀萌，怀逊抚养成人，为七奶养老送终，我很敬佩她，对于她的错怪，我是谅解的，大约柔中大嫂（你母）以后也谅解了。
二． 你们现在在美国的身份是台湾侨民还是美籍台裔或美籍华裔？望把完整的定称在下次来信中告诉我。
三 （1）10月2日与你通了电话，当时我很兴奋，想不到60多年后还能有这样的奇迹，你还是“乡音未改”，60多年后几万里之外，居然能听这样微妙的声音，真是不可思议；前天 （9月30日）吴弘侄又来了电话，电话是我三儿子吴戚接的，吴戚随即把谈话内容转告了我，体现了万里之外亲人对我的关怀与思念，高兴之至，兴奋之至。
（2）你在电话中问我为什么要在滁蚌两地住？事情是这样的，1956我的工作单位（人民银行滁州中心支行）迁到蚌埠，我的一家全部迁蚌，以后我又调回滁州，家属子女都留在蚌埠，定居至今。我一人在滁，至今户口，单位，工资，医保，房屋都在滁州；房屋是一座三室一厅，前有小园，后有小院的一楼房子，也是我仅有的一所自有财产（约值二，三十万人民币）。滁州与蚌相距150公里，铁路，高速公路，都只1.5小时；另外蚌埠地近淮河，环境，人文颇具北方气味，而滁州，则地近长江一切与老家三河相近，近市有琅琊山，宋代著名的文人欧阳修写的两篇名文《醉翁亭记》，《丰乐亭记》，也就是这个地方，（这二篇文章，你一定读过），所以我热爱滁州，而对蚌埠没有兴趣，而家属子女又都在蚌埠，他们长期生活于蚌埠，习惯了这里，工作，产业又都在这。所以我只好两地跑了。由于我的来日不多，现在正打算把滁州房子卖了，再到蚌埠购买一所。
（3）你电话中所说的端莆，他原名子庄，他与我很熟悉，早在1947年前我们就见过面。80年代中，他回过大陆，在合肥我们又相聚过二天。他的老家在北神庙花胡村，90年中，我去过他的老家，他原配夫人姓张，儿子名心伟（据闻已死），孙子在百神庙搞公安工作。他有一个弟弟名子万，在安庆市住，对仲平帮助很多，为人很好，他家我也去过，那是我去仲平处时经过的，据闻已死。还有一个儿子名吴森，与飞群很熟。你与他通话时，可以把我的情况告知他。
（4）你们1947年去台湾前，那时吴氏正在修《家谱》，所以你们几个是在大陆出生的谱上都有名字（那是第六编，共四十大本，1947年秋即完成），是我主编的，现在族人又在倡议修第七编，如若真能成事，我当详细的信告你们，征集资料。
（5）我是一个电脑盲，对电子行当一窍不通，而要请人中转，如今更是老病糊涂学不会了，真是麻烦。
（6）你们如回大陆，望把时间放宽裕一些，不要走马看花。过去台湾照二爷，晚成他们回来总是匆匆忙忙的，很不尽兴，也办不了很多事。
（7）昨天（阴历九月初六），是我的生日，不知吴弘是怎么知道的，他还从沙特来电话祝贺，望你转告他，谢谢！
这次的信就写到这里了，凯生侄也并此不另，其他（她）侄也不另外写了，老病昏聩，望你们原谅。
三叔常熊
10月5日
你们好！
接到韩庆转来你的第一封信，随即托韩庆回复一信，想已收到。今天又接到你的第二封（9月23日）来信和凯生来信，很是欢喜，这里就你信中所谈的事情回复于下：
一． 大哥，大嫂去世我早已得知。台湾方面，照，瑞，辉的情况我也闻知一些。照二爷，婶，他们在世时，经常通信，二爷回来过一次（1997年），自前年二婶去世后，她的儿女很少来信了。她的大女，四女，大儿，三儿都回来过。三儿宛城来的次数多起，原说照二爷回葬庐江，墓地我都办好了，前年二婶去世后，他们都不再来信，现在不知把二爷，二婶葬到哪里去了，我很失望。二婶在世时，多次邀请我去台，但我没有去，现在很后悔，很对不起她。
瑞二爷回芜湖我知道，没有见面，也没有通信，不知怀逊他们是为什么，事已过去，也就算了。瑞二婶王氏还在世于我同年，一度为了瑞爷在台湾再婚而怪照哥，嫂，接着又怪我，瑞爷回来后也就化解了。她是一个性格坚强的人，正是由于性格坚强，才能把怀萌，怀逊抚养成人，为七奶养老送终，我很敬佩她，对于她的错怪，我是谅解的，大约柔中大嫂（你母）以后也谅解了。
二． 你们现在在美国的身份是台湾侨民还是美籍台裔或美籍华裔？望把完整的定称在下次来信中告诉我。
三 （1）10月2日与你通了电话，当时我很兴奋，想不到60多年后还能有这样的奇迹，你还是“乡音未改”，60多年后几万里之外，居然能听这样微妙的声音，真是不可思议；前天 （9月30日）吴弘侄又来了电话，电话是我三儿子吴戚接的，吴戚随即把谈话内容转告了我，体现了万里之外亲人对我的关怀与思念，高兴之至，兴奋之至。
（2）你在电话中问我为什么要在滁蚌两地住？事情是这样的，1956我的工作单位（人民银行滁州中心支行）迁到蚌埠，我的一家全部迁蚌，以后我又调回滁州，家属子女都留在蚌埠，定居至今。我一人在滁，至今户口，单位，工资，医保，房屋都在滁州；房屋是一座三室一厅，前有小园，后有小院的一楼房子，也是我仅有的一所自有财产（约值二，三十万人民币）。滁州与蚌相距150公里，铁路，高速公路，都只1.5小时；另外蚌埠地近淮河，环境，人文颇具北方气味，而滁州，则地近长江一切与老家三河相近，近市有琅琊山，宋代著名的文人欧阳修写的两篇名文《醉翁亭记》，《丰乐亭记》，也就是这个地方，（这二篇文章，你一定读过），所以我热爱滁州，而对蚌埠没有兴趣，而家属子女又都在蚌埠，他们长期生活于蚌埠，习惯了这里，工作，产业又都在这。所以我只好两地跑了。由于我的来日不多，现在正打算把滁州房子卖了，再到蚌埠购买一所。
（3）你电话中所说的端莆，他原名子庄，他与我很熟悉，早在1947年前我们就见过面。80年代中，他回过大陆，在合肥我们又相聚过二天。他的老家在北神庙花胡村，90年中，我去过他的老家，他原配夫人姓张，儿子名心伟（据闻已死），孙子在百神庙搞公安工作。他有一个弟弟名子万，在安庆市住，对仲平帮助很多，为人很好，他家我也去过，那是我去仲平处时经过的，据闻已死。还有一个儿子名吴森，与飞群很熟。你与他通话时，可以把我的情况告知他。
（4）你们1947年去台湾前，那时吴氏正在修《家谱》，所以你们几个是在大陆出生的谱上都有名字（那是第六编，共四十大本，1947年秋即完成），是我主编的，现在族人又在倡议修第七编，如若真能成事，我当详细的信告你们，征集资料。
（5）我是一个电脑盲，对电子行当一窍不通，而要请人中转，如今更是老病糊涂学不会了，真是麻烦。
（6）你们如回大陆，望把时间放宽裕一些，不要走马看花。过去台湾照二爷，晚成他们回来总是匆匆忙忙的，很不尽兴，也办不了很多事。
（7）昨天（阴历九月初六），是我的生日，不知吴弘是怎么知道的，他还从沙特来电话祝贺，望你转告他，谢谢！
这次的信就写到这里了，凯生侄也并此不另，其他（她）侄也不另外写了，老病昏聩，望你们原谅。
三叔常熊
10月5日
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
熊三爷的回信
吴弘舅舅
您好！
很抱歉，现在才给您回信。由于这两天工作很忙，我们这正刚上有个长假，但是我们不能休息，在赶着做新闻，。请见谅啊。
您批准我加入博客群，我已经申请进去了，还没在上面发帖子哦。
我外公的信也才通过我在蚌埠的一个妹妹转到我这。我也是想等这信到了一起给您回信。
舅舅在那一定要保重身体。我把外公的信也给元生舅舅发了一封。有什么事情可以和我说哦！！
祝舅舅
阖家快乐幸福
韩庆敬上
我怕您的电脑不能识别，故再附在信内
元生：
你们阖家好！
今天是9月25日，接到韩庆转来的你的来信，万分欢喜。真是很难想到的事而又来到了。许多往事，从何说起，我只好语无伦次的与你说说了。
一． 韩庆介绍：她是我小女儿吴越的大女儿，前些年毕业于芜湖师范学院，学的是物理。以后教了几年中学，2005年考入安徽大学读研究生，改学新闻。现在合肥电视台任编辑，她已结婚二年。丈夫姓陈，现在读法律硕士，都是长住蚌埠的，为了便于你们今后联系，特作简介。
二． 就你来信中所问的答复
1. 我今年87岁，你父大我十一岁，他是我们16位弟兄中最长的一位，我排在第九位，如今只有我和另一位小叔常杰在世了。在我们家祖祖辈辈以及兄弟姐妹中，我是最长寿的一位。我的妻子（你三婶）今年89岁，我们的婚龄已66年，在当今是少有的，我们有四子三女，孙辈14人，重孙辈6人，四世同堂，可说是“福寿双全”的。
2. 来信说，你25年前与我通过信，那是记错了。1990年你还来过两封信，至今仍完好的保存在手边。我们最早的通信是在70年代末，你还给我寄来人民币300元，自从你二姐仲平去美回来以后，才把我们的联系交由她办。她去世后交给她的孩子飞群办，我从他们那里得知你们的情况。仲平从美回来，带给我三张照片：（1）是大哥在台的坟墓；（2）是大嫂的个人照； （3）是你们兄弟的合影，如今仍好好的保存在影集中，时时与家人展阅。
3. 你的记性很好，你们1946年从江西回到老家的事都还记得。那是抗战胜利后，如今六十多年了，连我的形象，做事都还记得，是的，我的身高为1.84米，很瘦。当时我总管着族事，家事，又正在修家谱，办学校以及胜利后许多百废待兴的事很繁忙。以后把你们送去台湾，1947年我也就到芜湖萃文中学教国文，从而离开了家乡，直至如今60多年。
4. 你说不习惯于汉语而用英文写信给韩庆。这没有关系，你们常用英文，自较汉语简便，韩庆她可当翻译。其实你的汉语功底很好，汉字比我写的好，我是学古汉语的，常用毛笔，钢笔写字还是在50年代以后，如今老病眼花手软，更是不成字体。
5. 来信谈到我在团队中做过古典文字工作：我是学古汉语的，读书时的学校是无锡国学专科，所以先在芜湖教国文，50年代后转入银行，也还是做职工文化培训工作，80年代退休后返聘主编滁县地区史志（金融）主编工作；由于我爱好收藏古钱币，又搞古钱币学的研究，写些有关论文，1990年志书完成（30万字），个人还写些钱币研究的文章，也还参加一些诗文写作，自印有《江冷吟稿》的诗集，七七八八不成体统，只作为至亲好友一笑而已。
三 谈谈我的近况
1.身体 2005年以前，我的身体很好，由于我好运动，各项球类都参加，中年撑杆跳还能跳3.20米，骑马，打枪，游泳都爱好。2005年时，象棋，围棋，马马虎虎能打一个下午。写毛笔字，撰稿，看书一坐几个小时，耳不聋，眼不花，既喝酒又抽烟，在老年人中是少有的。2006年首发的是胆结石，胆囊炎，接着是冠心病，慢性支气管炎，肺气肿，前列腺增生，一时百病丛生。2007年日渐加重，住了两次医院，至2008年5 、6两月，以冠心病为重点而住院，一度达到危险，死而复生。6月28日出院，经过调治又渐次恢复，现仍在家服药医治中，由于久病体衰，体重只45公斤，畏寒特甚，今冬能否闯过，大是问题。已经87岁的人了，死生早已置之度外，听之任之吧。
2.生活 我原工作单位是滁州中国人民银行，有住房，每月退休金足有余裕。家属子孙都在蚌埠，滁蚌相距150公里， 火车、高速公路来往方便。我经常往返于两地。蚌埠子孙众多，各家住住。只是今年以来由于体衰，独来独往已不放心。过去每年都要去两次庐江拜扫祖宗坟墓，今春也未能再去。近日由于身体稍好，还打算再去看看。三爹的坟我是交给怀双，怀福兄弟照管，不知他们与你联系过没有？
四．介绍怀祺 他是你常焘（后用名孟覆,大学教授，学古汉语，1995年去世）的次子，北京师范大学历史系博士生教授，与你同年。今春曾去美国讲学，他通英语，会上网，我已将你的地址，网址转告了他，，现在也把他的地址，网址转告你，希望你们今后多联系。
北京师范大学
史学研究所
吴怀祺 教授 博士导师
邮编：100875 电话：（010）62208084
E-mail:wuhuaiqi@email.east.net.cn 宅电：（010）62208468
INSTITUTE OF HISTORY
BEIJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY
WU HUAI QI
PROF.
PH.D SUPERVISOR
BEIJING 100875 TEL : (86-010) 62208084
E-mail:wuhuaiqi@email.east.net.cn HOME: (86-010) 62208468
五．对你们的今后希望与要求：
1. 煦哥、嫂的墓葬地点
2. 你所要了解的家中往事，趁我在日可以提问，如今已很少有他人了解了。
3. 最好能回来看看。
由于我久病体衰，精神大差，组不好文句，写不好字，七七八八的实在不像话，这次就写到这里吧，
祝福全家好！
三叔 常熊手书
2008.9.30
您好！
很抱歉，现在才给您回信。由于这两天工作很忙，我们这正刚上有个长假，但是我们不能休息，在赶着做新闻，。请见谅啊。
您批准我加入博客群，我已经申请进去了，还没在上面发帖子哦。
我外公的信也才通过我在蚌埠的一个妹妹转到我这。我也是想等这信到了一起给您回信。
舅舅在那一定要保重身体。我把外公的信也给元生舅舅发了一封。有什么事情可以和我说哦！！
祝舅舅
阖家快乐幸福
韩庆敬上
我怕您的电脑不能识别，故再附在信内
元生：
你们阖家好！
今天是9月25日，接到韩庆转来的你的来信，万分欢喜。真是很难想到的事而又来到了。许多往事，从何说起，我只好语无伦次的与你说说了。
一． 韩庆介绍：她是我小女儿吴越的大女儿，前些年毕业于芜湖师范学院，学的是物理。以后教了几年中学，2005年考入安徽大学读研究生，改学新闻。现在合肥电视台任编辑，她已结婚二年。丈夫姓陈，现在读法律硕士，都是长住蚌埠的，为了便于你们今后联系，特作简介。
二． 就你来信中所问的答复
1. 我今年87岁，你父大我十一岁，他是我们16位弟兄中最长的一位，我排在第九位，如今只有我和另一位小叔常杰在世了。在我们家祖祖辈辈以及兄弟姐妹中，我是最长寿的一位。我的妻子（你三婶）今年89岁，我们的婚龄已66年，在当今是少有的，我们有四子三女，孙辈14人，重孙辈6人，四世同堂，可说是“福寿双全”的。
2. 来信说，你25年前与我通过信，那是记错了。1990年你还来过两封信，至今仍完好的保存在手边。我们最早的通信是在70年代末，你还给我寄来人民币300元，自从你二姐仲平去美回来以后，才把我们的联系交由她办。她去世后交给她的孩子飞群办，我从他们那里得知你们的情况。仲平从美回来，带给我三张照片：（1）是大哥在台的坟墓；（2）是大嫂的个人照； （3）是你们兄弟的合影，如今仍好好的保存在影集中，时时与家人展阅。
3. 你的记性很好，你们1946年从江西回到老家的事都还记得。那是抗战胜利后，如今六十多年了，连我的形象，做事都还记得，是的，我的身高为1.84米，很瘦。当时我总管着族事，家事，又正在修家谱，办学校以及胜利后许多百废待兴的事很繁忙。以后把你们送去台湾，1947年我也就到芜湖萃文中学教国文，从而离开了家乡，直至如今60多年。
4. 你说不习惯于汉语而用英文写信给韩庆。这没有关系，你们常用英文，自较汉语简便，韩庆她可当翻译。其实你的汉语功底很好，汉字比我写的好，我是学古汉语的，常用毛笔，钢笔写字还是在50年代以后，如今老病眼花手软，更是不成字体。
5. 来信谈到我在团队中做过古典文字工作：我是学古汉语的，读书时的学校是无锡国学专科，所以先在芜湖教国文，50年代后转入银行，也还是做职工文化培训工作，80年代退休后返聘主编滁县地区史志（金融）主编工作；由于我爱好收藏古钱币，又搞古钱币学的研究，写些有关论文，1990年志书完成（30万字），个人还写些钱币研究的文章，也还参加一些诗文写作，自印有《江冷吟稿》的诗集，七七八八不成体统，只作为至亲好友一笑而已。
三 谈谈我的近况
1.身体 2005年以前，我的身体很好，由于我好运动，各项球类都参加，中年撑杆跳还能跳3.20米，骑马，打枪，游泳都爱好。2005年时，象棋，围棋，马马虎虎能打一个下午。写毛笔字，撰稿，看书一坐几个小时，耳不聋，眼不花，既喝酒又抽烟，在老年人中是少有的。2006年首发的是胆结石，胆囊炎，接着是冠心病，慢性支气管炎，肺气肿，前列腺增生，一时百病丛生。2007年日渐加重，住了两次医院，至2008年5 、6两月，以冠心病为重点而住院，一度达到危险，死而复生。6月28日出院，经过调治又渐次恢复，现仍在家服药医治中，由于久病体衰，体重只45公斤，畏寒特甚，今冬能否闯过，大是问题。已经87岁的人了，死生早已置之度外，听之任之吧。
2.生活 我原工作单位是滁州中国人民银行，有住房，每月退休金足有余裕。家属子孙都在蚌埠，滁蚌相距150公里， 火车、高速公路来往方便。我经常往返于两地。蚌埠子孙众多，各家住住。只是今年以来由于体衰，独来独往已不放心。过去每年都要去两次庐江拜扫祖宗坟墓，今春也未能再去。近日由于身体稍好，还打算再去看看。三爹的坟我是交给怀双，怀福兄弟照管，不知他们与你联系过没有？
四．介绍怀祺 他是你常焘（后用名孟覆,大学教授，学古汉语，1995年去世）的次子，北京师范大学历史系博士生教授，与你同年。今春曾去美国讲学，他通英语，会上网，我已将你的地址，网址转告了他，，现在也把他的地址，网址转告你，希望你们今后多联系。
北京师范大学
史学研究所
吴怀祺 教授 博士导师
邮编：100875 电话：（010）62208084
E-mail:wuhuaiqi@email.east.net.cn 宅电：（010）62208468
INSTITUTE OF HISTORY
BEIJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY
WU HUAI QI
PROF.
PH.D SUPERVISOR
BEIJING 100875 TEL : (86-010) 62208084
E-mail:wuhuaiqi@email.east.net.cn HOME: (86-010) 62208468
五．对你们的今后希望与要求：
1. 煦哥、嫂的墓葬地点
2. 你所要了解的家中往事，趁我在日可以提问，如今已很少有他人了解了。
3. 最好能回来看看。
由于我久病体衰，精神大差，组不好文句，写不好字，七七八八的实在不像话，这次就写到这里吧，
祝福全家好！
三叔 常熊手书
2008.9.30
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
2008 QASIM PALEOZOIC FIELD TRIP - Wu Hong
2008 QASIM PALEOZOIC FIELD TRIP
Wu Hong
March 07 - As instructed, I took a taxi to the Upstream Venture Department building at 1:30pm. After people all gathered, a short brief and picture taken, we got on Aramco bus heading toward Aramco terminal. Looking at the attendances list, people were speculating we may have 3 ladies will join our trip once we arrive in Qasim. The Aramco airplane has two propeller/jet engines, it flies with load noise and yet quite stable. After one and half hours fly, we landed in Qasim, a small conservative town 90km to the northwest of Riyadh, with a brand new beautiful university. It took us more than 30 minutes in the VIP lounge to copy ID and passport documents for hotel registration. Once we got the room numbers, we were told to go straight to the bus. On the hotel bus, people just found out that our luggage were not with us. So, we rushed off the bus, back in the airport, to find the pilots (they are in the lounge ready to fly back to Dhahran in 2 hours), unlock the plane, unload the luggage. It was a huge chaos. I can only hope everything will get better from this point. Finally, we got to hotel 1 hour later. And it is a fantastic hotel in such a small town, without too many guests. The trip leader gathered us at the conference room to overview the geology we are suppose to see and passed some safety/security concerns we need to pay attention to. Every car will be equipped with mobile phone, walky-talky, and satellite phone. After a long meeting, we went for our dinner at 9:00pm.
March 08 - Our group of 20 sat in 5 Yukon 4x4's while 3 secret police cars, 1 in front, 1 at the end, 1 in the middle of our convoy headed out to the field. We checked out 15 outcrops. They are really typical geological outcrops with very impressive quality. We can also see the oil bearing formation outcrops. I picked up many beautiful fossils. During our trip, we got in trouble with some of the local authorities. Once that happened, there was always a car tinted in pitch black will show up from nowhere to ask the local guys to get lost. The only thing we were not happy about the secret polices was before our lunch; they raided our parked cars and consumed 4 of our lunch boxes while we were on foot to check out the outcrops. We had our lunch in a date tree farm. With the high-noon sun on top, the date trees really protected us from sunburn. During our lunch time we were trying to get more acquainted with each other. After individual introduction, we realized that the 3 expected ladies are actually 3 Italian guys with names as Paola, Luca, and Maria. The food at the hotel was so bad, the entire group decided to go to one of local Lebanese restaurant for change. Before we went out, we had to inform the secret police so that they will escort us outside the restaurant. The hotel prepared so much food for us tonight. They were surprised to find out none of us is showing up at their dinning hall. The 12-hour day trip exhausted everybody. And we still have 4 more days to go.
March 09 - Everything is getting in better order than the previous 2 days. Our last night dinner at the "Moon Over Lebanon" was terrible. Without choice, people were going to eat in the hotel again. On our way back from the field, our convoy passed over a brand new local police car on the freeway. Apparently, the police was upset and decided to cut in front of us and slowed the entire convoy down quite a bit. In about one minute, we started speeding up and left the police far behind us. I bet you can easily guess the secret polices had showed their secret again. Every time when we were out checking on the outcrops, they were remotely occupied the high points and hided behind the hills. They also controlled the road going in and out of our points of interest. This morning when I woke up, I found out that the secret polices also stayed in the rooms of the same floor. Among our group of 20, 6 are directly from Italy, 1 from France, 1 from Spain, 2 from Australia, 6 from Egypt, etc. Mark is an American geophysicist; he pees on every geological outcrop formation. He earned the name Mr. “Mark” Pee. We had made a big appearance in the local towns and attracted some attention. It is better to have the secret polices to keep us safe than sorry. We came back to hotel around 6pm. I went to the gym did one hour workout; the Italians were there doing workout, swimming, sauna, because the restaurant opened at 8:00pm.
March 10 - After several security incidences with the local authority, today everything regarding government formality was very smooth. Those 3 the secret police vehicles were still guarding us wherever we went. We checked out a site beyond a dumping yard. Just when we stepped out our cars, we found 2 complete petrified trees buried in the ground. Walking deeper inward, we found the ancient river channels, and there was a 20+ meter long petrified tree. Our field trip leader has been doing field geology in Saudi for 28 years. He talked to the ruling royal family to preserve many of the important precious geological sites. Some of the sites were fenced around, some left as is. It is very pitiful to see these treasures deteriorating. Tomorrow, we are moving to another town.
Comment from Yuan: After reading 4 of your reports, it dawned on me that this is not a vacation trip as I originally pictured. It appears that you are wandering into some potential dangerous ground with potential troubles and collisions with government official/police. I wish everything goes smoothly and return home without much your so called "interesting" incidence.
March 11 - We traveled 250km northwest to another town - Hail. Along our way there, we see the oil bearing formations disappearing. That is the main reason why Aramco drilled dry holes toward west and found most of the reservoirs in the eastern province. We saw police cars changing guard on the highway at the town border line when we traveled from town to town. Some times we felt over protected and became too obvious to the local people. Just when we finished visiting our last stop, one car’s tire was sliced open by the sharp rock. With 20 geologist/geophysicist/engineer, we can not get the spare tire out from the bottom of the car. After trying for one hour, the secret police drove to the nearby town to bring back a mechanic to do the job. The Italians were very interested in seeing how to change tire for the big car, because they are all driving small cars in Italy. Right before we entered Hail, the entire convoy was stopped at the checkpoint. All the white men were told to stay in the car. But everybody came out, because after 4-day sunburn, there was no white man at all. Within seconds, the secret police came to rescue again. And the reason they stopped us was the checkpoint police wanted to invite us for a cup of Arabian coffee, so we were told. At the outskirt of city Hail, there are huge mountain ranges. I saw 3 water falls coming down from the top. The scenery is outstanding in Saudi standard. Hail is actually a very prosperous town, business is booming (there is no oil here; I don’t know what causes the boom). We stayed in a 4-star hotel - Jabalah (Jabal means hill, Jabalah means twin hills). Only in the next morning everybody found out that it actually is a minus 4-star hotel. My room has no shower curtain (everybody's room has at least one thing not functioning, the trip leader’s room doesn’t even have soap), the phone doesn’t dial, the lighting all fail to work except the one in the bathroom, the blanket has strong Arabic smell I had to sleep fully dressed, I didn’t recognize any food but bread and boiled eggs in the restaurant which opened at 10pm. They wanted to send an engineer to fix my phone at 11pm. I immediately stopped them doing that; instead I went to the manager’s office to make the phone call and asked them to pay for the phone bill. This was a long night to kill.
March 12 - On the 6th day, we checked out more geological formations deep in the mountain range. We also went to an archeology site to see the ancient graffiti of giraffe, camel, hyena, and sacrifice platform. Of course, we saw graffiti with date in 2005 next to it. We headed back toward the airport via a different route, all the cars were getting lost in the desert even we have satellite phones, GPS, etc. Our trip leader Dr. Snalp, who spent 28 years doing field geology in Saudi, found the way out without GPS. He really made fun of us for this. We took the same Aramco 36-seater twin propeller airplane back to Damman Aramco terminal and got on the Aramco bus home while the Italians, French and Spanish were leaving from international terminal and Bahrain. During this trip I found Italian very hard working, French and Spanish very intelligent. We became very good friends of each other.
Comment from Yuan - Glad that you have completed the trip safely. No actual accident. Two questions:
1. I thought all the geo data in Saudi should have been well documented and checked out. Why do you still need to go to the field to check these data again?
2. Why is "of course we saw graffiti with date in 2005 next to it"?
Reply -
1) The sub-surface geology is never very clear anywhere in the world, Saudi is no exception. Although oil had been produced from underground for ~70 years here, any further detail study is crucial to change the model of the existing reservoirs. Hence, the oil reserve estimation/calculation can change accordingly based on our exploration results. You often heard some oil field reservoir has doubled/tripled after ONE single successful well was drilled and vise versa. That is why we are exploring and re-exploring.
2) "Of course" implies no matter how precious the archeology site is to us, you can still easily find modern day graffiti right next to it without too surprised. People are just not sensitive to the value of culture and environment.
Wu Hong
March 07 - As instructed, I took a taxi to the Upstream Venture Department building at 1:30pm. After people all gathered, a short brief and picture taken, we got on Aramco bus heading toward Aramco terminal. Looking at the attendances list, people were speculating we may have 3 ladies will join our trip once we arrive in Qasim. The Aramco airplane has two propeller/jet engines, it flies with load noise and yet quite stable. After one and half hours fly, we landed in Qasim, a small conservative town 90km to the northwest of Riyadh, with a brand new beautiful university. It took us more than 30 minutes in the VIP lounge to copy ID and passport documents for hotel registration. Once we got the room numbers, we were told to go straight to the bus. On the hotel bus, people just found out that our luggage were not with us. So, we rushed off the bus, back in the airport, to find the pilots (they are in the lounge ready to fly back to Dhahran in 2 hours), unlock the plane, unload the luggage. It was a huge chaos. I can only hope everything will get better from this point. Finally, we got to hotel 1 hour later. And it is a fantastic hotel in such a small town, without too many guests. The trip leader gathered us at the conference room to overview the geology we are suppose to see and passed some safety/security concerns we need to pay attention to. Every car will be equipped with mobile phone, walky-talky, and satellite phone. After a long meeting, we went for our dinner at 9:00pm.
March 08 - Our group of 20 sat in 5 Yukon 4x4's while 3 secret police cars, 1 in front, 1 at the end, 1 in the middle of our convoy headed out to the field. We checked out 15 outcrops. They are really typical geological outcrops with very impressive quality. We can also see the oil bearing formation outcrops. I picked up many beautiful fossils. During our trip, we got in trouble with some of the local authorities. Once that happened, there was always a car tinted in pitch black will show up from nowhere to ask the local guys to get lost. The only thing we were not happy about the secret polices was before our lunch; they raided our parked cars and consumed 4 of our lunch boxes while we were on foot to check out the outcrops. We had our lunch in a date tree farm. With the high-noon sun on top, the date trees really protected us from sunburn. During our lunch time we were trying to get more acquainted with each other. After individual introduction, we realized that the 3 expected ladies are actually 3 Italian guys with names as Paola, Luca, and Maria. The food at the hotel was so bad, the entire group decided to go to one of local Lebanese restaurant for change. Before we went out, we had to inform the secret police so that they will escort us outside the restaurant. The hotel prepared so much food for us tonight. They were surprised to find out none of us is showing up at their dinning hall. The 12-hour day trip exhausted everybody. And we still have 4 more days to go.
March 09 - Everything is getting in better order than the previous 2 days. Our last night dinner at the "Moon Over Lebanon" was terrible. Without choice, people were going to eat in the hotel again. On our way back from the field, our convoy passed over a brand new local police car on the freeway. Apparently, the police was upset and decided to cut in front of us and slowed the entire convoy down quite a bit. In about one minute, we started speeding up and left the police far behind us. I bet you can easily guess the secret polices had showed their secret again. Every time when we were out checking on the outcrops, they were remotely occupied the high points and hided behind the hills. They also controlled the road going in and out of our points of interest. This morning when I woke up, I found out that the secret polices also stayed in the rooms of the same floor. Among our group of 20, 6 are directly from Italy, 1 from France, 1 from Spain, 2 from Australia, 6 from Egypt, etc. Mark is an American geophysicist; he pees on every geological outcrop formation. He earned the name Mr. “Mark” Pee. We had made a big appearance in the local towns and attracted some attention. It is better to have the secret polices to keep us safe than sorry. We came back to hotel around 6pm. I went to the gym did one hour workout; the Italians were there doing workout, swimming, sauna, because the restaurant opened at 8:00pm.
March 10 - After several security incidences with the local authority, today everything regarding government formality was very smooth. Those 3 the secret police vehicles were still guarding us wherever we went. We checked out a site beyond a dumping yard. Just when we stepped out our cars, we found 2 complete petrified trees buried in the ground. Walking deeper inward, we found the ancient river channels, and there was a 20+ meter long petrified tree. Our field trip leader has been doing field geology in Saudi for 28 years. He talked to the ruling royal family to preserve many of the important precious geological sites. Some of the sites were fenced around, some left as is. It is very pitiful to see these treasures deteriorating. Tomorrow, we are moving to another town.
Comment from Yuan: After reading 4 of your reports, it dawned on me that this is not a vacation trip as I originally pictured. It appears that you are wandering into some potential dangerous ground with potential troubles and collisions with government official/police. I wish everything goes smoothly and return home without much your so called "interesting" incidence.
March 11 - We traveled 250km northwest to another town - Hail. Along our way there, we see the oil bearing formations disappearing. That is the main reason why Aramco drilled dry holes toward west and found most of the reservoirs in the eastern province. We saw police cars changing guard on the highway at the town border line when we traveled from town to town. Some times we felt over protected and became too obvious to the local people. Just when we finished visiting our last stop, one car’s tire was sliced open by the sharp rock. With 20 geologist/geophysicist/engineer, we can not get the spare tire out from the bottom of the car. After trying for one hour, the secret police drove to the nearby town to bring back a mechanic to do the job. The Italians were very interested in seeing how to change tire for the big car, because they are all driving small cars in Italy. Right before we entered Hail, the entire convoy was stopped at the checkpoint. All the white men were told to stay in the car. But everybody came out, because after 4-day sunburn, there was no white man at all. Within seconds, the secret police came to rescue again. And the reason they stopped us was the checkpoint police wanted to invite us for a cup of Arabian coffee, so we were told. At the outskirt of city Hail, there are huge mountain ranges. I saw 3 water falls coming down from the top. The scenery is outstanding in Saudi standard. Hail is actually a very prosperous town, business is booming (there is no oil here; I don’t know what causes the boom). We stayed in a 4-star hotel - Jabalah (Jabal means hill, Jabalah means twin hills). Only in the next morning everybody found out that it actually is a minus 4-star hotel. My room has no shower curtain (everybody's room has at least one thing not functioning, the trip leader’s room doesn’t even have soap), the phone doesn’t dial, the lighting all fail to work except the one in the bathroom, the blanket has strong Arabic smell I had to sleep fully dressed, I didn’t recognize any food but bread and boiled eggs in the restaurant which opened at 10pm. They wanted to send an engineer to fix my phone at 11pm. I immediately stopped them doing that; instead I went to the manager’s office to make the phone call and asked them to pay for the phone bill. This was a long night to kill.
March 12 - On the 6th day, we checked out more geological formations deep in the mountain range. We also went to an archeology site to see the ancient graffiti of giraffe, camel, hyena, and sacrifice platform. Of course, we saw graffiti with date in 2005 next to it. We headed back toward the airport via a different route, all the cars were getting lost in the desert even we have satellite phones, GPS, etc. Our trip leader Dr. Snalp, who spent 28 years doing field geology in Saudi, found the way out without GPS. He really made fun of us for this. We took the same Aramco 36-seater twin propeller airplane back to Damman Aramco terminal and got on the Aramco bus home while the Italians, French and Spanish were leaving from international terminal and Bahrain. During this trip I found Italian very hard working, French and Spanish very intelligent. We became very good friends of each other.
Comment from Yuan - Glad that you have completed the trip safely. No actual accident. Two questions:
1. I thought all the geo data in Saudi should have been well documented and checked out. Why do you still need to go to the field to check these data again?
2. Why is "of course we saw graffiti with date in 2005 next to it"?
Reply -
1) The sub-surface geology is never very clear anywhere in the world, Saudi is no exception. Although oil had been produced from underground for ~70 years here, any further detail study is crucial to change the model of the existing reservoirs. Hence, the oil reserve estimation/calculation can change accordingly based on our exploration results. You often heard some oil field reservoir has doubled/tripled after ONE single successful well was drilled and vise versa. That is why we are exploring and re-exploring.
2) "Of course" implies no matter how precious the archeology site is to us, you can still easily find modern day graffiti right next to it without too surprised. People are just not sensitive to the value of culture and environment.
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