I awoke knowing that today would be less exciting as the previous two. I had done research on the Beijing area before leaving and I knew that we had basically seen all that there was to see in that great city.
After breakfast we loaded up and went to a famous bridge on the western outskirts of the city. I'm afraid I don't remember the name, but it wasn't very impressive. However, I did get some nice shots of the early morning.
After the usual photo shoots we headed on. This time we went to the site of the Peking Man, a early human ancestor. It was pretty interesting and had some neat little canyons and stuff. The biggest thing that stuck out to me though was the blatant propaganda. There were numerous mentions of the great Chinese state and how beautiful and great China is and the government party is. I thought it was funny. I don' t think I had actually seen stuff worded like this before so I got a kick out of it.
This day seemed more rushed than usual and before we knew it, we were on the bus again heading back to Beijing. Lunch was definitely better than the previous day. Today we had Chinese noodles. There were several types of sauces and noodles and of course tons of side dishes. I was very satisfied by this meal and was ready for a nap rather than more sight seeing.
Our last real destination was the old summer palace. This place was really neat. I enjoyed roaming around the garden area and seeing the old courtyards. I have to say that I think this place was nicer than the Forbidden City. I guess it must be it's close proximity to nature that lead me to that viewpoint.
The summer palace is home to the longest wooden passage in the world. It made for some great pictures. I scampered about taking pictures and talking with the other travelers. But soon I was tired and opted to sit down and relax. We were eventually called back to the bus for our last dinner.
Dinner was Cantonese food. Boy was it good. Lots of rich, spicy foods and just all around goodness. I spent dinner with the others, talking about our trip and plans after it was done. It was strange. I had only known these people for about 4 days and already we were pretty close.
After dinner Aaron and I went to the convenience store and loaded up on 30 cent beers and some snacks. The girl was much nicer since I used a bit of Chinese with her. We spent our last night in China drinking and watching movies.
The next day was basically us just going back to Japan. I had a little trouble because I look different now than I did when I got my passport (I was 20 when that was done). The Chinese immigration agent almost seemed like he wasn't going to let me leave. I was pretty nervous about it, but finally after about 10 minutes he let me through. I've thus decided to wait to go to China again until after my passport is renewed.
Sorry that this post is so weak. It's been almost 3 months since I went and I've been very lazy to post this.
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Tennessean Ninja
Every since I first came to Japan I have been wanting to go to the Ninja museum at Iga-Ueno in Gifu prefecture. Like many boys growing up in the 80s I have been deeply interested by ninja for most of my life. I was a rabid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan. I loved all the campy ninja movies like 3 Ninjas, Surf Ninjas and American Ninja. It was just cool. So when I finally got to go to Iga-Ueno, a little bit of my childhood came back.
My school hooked everyone up with ninja costumes. Not everyone was excited about wearing them, but we all did. I enjoyed getting to wear it and creep around like a ninja. It was a bit uncomfortable though. The elastic cut into my legs a bit, but I do have really big legs.
The museum was pretty nifty. We got to watch a ninja show wear two actors/martial artists demonstrated some typical ninja weapons and moves. It was awesome and the lead ninja was hilarious. After the show we got to pose with the ninjas and got to throw a couple ninja stars. One of mine bounced off the ground and hit the target. It was cool. One guy sank a star into the target so deep that only about an inch was left sticking out.
The icing on the cake was when I got to hold an authentic samurai sword. This sword is dated from the Warring States Period and is over 400 years old. I'm a big history nerd and I was extremely stoked to be holding it. Makes me want my own.
After the show we rushed through the museum and ninja house. The house was cool because it had all sorts of trap doors and other secret areas. I wish I could have seen more of the museum, but we were being hurried by our chaperons to get back to the bus. I was a bit disappointed by this.
Our next stop was Futami-Ura. This is a famous pair of stones set not far from a beach in Toba. They are supposed to bring luck to marriages and are actually said to be wed themselves. This is symbolized by the ceremonial rope tied around and connecting each. The area was fantastic. It was really windy and the waves kept threatening to splash us. It really made me want to live by the sea again. Unfortunately we were only given about 20 or 30 minutes to see this great site. We were herded back onto the bus and headed to our hotel.
The hotel was great. It commanded a great view of the ocean and gave us many luxuries such as internet, karaoke and a large public bath. Dinner was a buffet and we were welcome to eat as much as we wanted. I stuffed myself because my lunch was rather small. Afterward we all took a long soak in the bath and then proceeded to let loose. We all gathered in one room and started in on our drinks. I had bought a local beer called Sinto Beer. It was pretty good. The pale ale was a bit too hoppy for me, but the brown ale was fantastic. I wish I could find it up here.
At some point in the night one of the Alaskans declared that he was going to go jump into the ocean. A bunch of us decided to join him. So about 15 people walked down to the little harbor and mainly just hung out. The wind was brutal and people were starting to lose their determination to jump into the water. However, they soon got it back and were in the water. Soon, too more guys wanted to go. Then one of the Japanese students and another exchange student wanted to go. I decided to join them. The water wasn't so bad actually. I felt warmer there than I had dry and on land. After about 3 minutes we climbed out. Soon after getting out I realized that my vest had blown into the water (my friend hadn't realized that I gave it to him). My old coin purse was in it. I'll miss it, but I'm glad it went out like it did, a true sailor's death.
The walk back to the school was a little harder than it was going down, mostly because I was freezing at this point. My hands were numb and I was overall just miserable. Immediately after getting back to the hotel all who had gone swimming took another bath. It was also during this time that we noticed a couple guys had gotten cut by something, most likely barnacles. One guy was bleeding pretty badly, but is ok now.
After the bath we all went to bed.
I awoke the next day feeling slightly hungover. That was soon cured by the breakfast buffet. This stuff was good, but not as good as the dinner had been. I also realized that I missed American breakfast buffets. There's something about biscuits and gravy that fixes a hangover like nothing else. We had a little free time after breakfast which I spent packing and checking emails. Soon the time came and we all piled back onto the bus for our next destination.
15 minutes after getting on the bus we were getting off again. We boarded a sightseeing boat and cruised around the bay for about an hour. It was nice because I got to converse with my friends and just enjoyed the scenery. After the boat, we were off to our last destination of the trip: Ise Grand Shrine.
Ise Grand Shrine is the most important shrine in all of Japan. It is the main shrine to Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and also the mythological founder of the Japanese Imperial thrown. It's massive and extremely beautiful. The only downside is that pictures are not allowed in the main shrine area itself. But in other areas it's permitted.
I wandered the shrine with various groups of people and eventually left and began my pursuit of lunch. This turned out to be quite difficult as most places were one, expensive and two, not very impressive visually. My friends and I settled on soba. I've had soba many times and this was probably the worst I've ever had. It was ok in the taste area, but the size was tiny for the 700 yen we paid. After lunch we had about an hour and a half to kill before needing to be back on the bus. We hunted for cigarettes (one guy was jonesing for one badly) and bought some gifts for girlfriends and family.
Finally we got back on the bus and headed home. I slept most of the way back home. The rest of the time I spent talking.
Overall this was a great trip and I highly recommend Mie prefecture as a good place to go if you want to get off the beaten path.
My school hooked everyone up with ninja costumes. Not everyone was excited about wearing them, but we all did. I enjoyed getting to wear it and creep around like a ninja. It was a bit uncomfortable though. The elastic cut into my legs a bit, but I do have really big legs.
The museum was pretty nifty. We got to watch a ninja show wear two actors/martial artists demonstrated some typical ninja weapons and moves. It was awesome and the lead ninja was hilarious. After the show we got to pose with the ninjas and got to throw a couple ninja stars. One of mine bounced off the ground and hit the target. It was cool. One guy sank a star into the target so deep that only about an inch was left sticking out.
The icing on the cake was when I got to hold an authentic samurai sword. This sword is dated from the Warring States Period and is over 400 years old. I'm a big history nerd and I was extremely stoked to be holding it. Makes me want my own.
After the show we rushed through the museum and ninja house. The house was cool because it had all sorts of trap doors and other secret areas. I wish I could have seen more of the museum, but we were being hurried by our chaperons to get back to the bus. I was a bit disappointed by this.
Our next stop was Futami-Ura. This is a famous pair of stones set not far from a beach in Toba. They are supposed to bring luck to marriages and are actually said to be wed themselves. This is symbolized by the ceremonial rope tied around and connecting each. The area was fantastic. It was really windy and the waves kept threatening to splash us. It really made me want to live by the sea again. Unfortunately we were only given about 20 or 30 minutes to see this great site. We were herded back onto the bus and headed to our hotel.
The hotel was great. It commanded a great view of the ocean and gave us many luxuries such as internet, karaoke and a large public bath. Dinner was a buffet and we were welcome to eat as much as we wanted. I stuffed myself because my lunch was rather small. Afterward we all took a long soak in the bath and then proceeded to let loose. We all gathered in one room and started in on our drinks. I had bought a local beer called Sinto Beer. It was pretty good. The pale ale was a bit too hoppy for me, but the brown ale was fantastic. I wish I could find it up here.
At some point in the night one of the Alaskans declared that he was going to go jump into the ocean. A bunch of us decided to join him. So about 15 people walked down to the little harbor and mainly just hung out. The wind was brutal and people were starting to lose their determination to jump into the water. However, they soon got it back and were in the water. Soon, too more guys wanted to go. Then one of the Japanese students and another exchange student wanted to go. I decided to join them. The water wasn't so bad actually. I felt warmer there than I had dry and on land. After about 3 minutes we climbed out. Soon after getting out I realized that my vest had blown into the water (my friend hadn't realized that I gave it to him). My old coin purse was in it. I'll miss it, but I'm glad it went out like it did, a true sailor's death.
The walk back to the school was a little harder than it was going down, mostly because I was freezing at this point. My hands were numb and I was overall just miserable. Immediately after getting back to the hotel all who had gone swimming took another bath. It was also during this time that we noticed a couple guys had gotten cut by something, most likely barnacles. One guy was bleeding pretty badly, but is ok now.
After the bath we all went to bed.
I awoke the next day feeling slightly hungover. That was soon cured by the breakfast buffet. This stuff was good, but not as good as the dinner had been. I also realized that I missed American breakfast buffets. There's something about biscuits and gravy that fixes a hangover like nothing else. We had a little free time after breakfast which I spent packing and checking emails. Soon the time came and we all piled back onto the bus for our next destination.
15 minutes after getting on the bus we were getting off again. We boarded a sightseeing boat and cruised around the bay for about an hour. It was nice because I got to converse with my friends and just enjoyed the scenery. After the boat, we were off to our last destination of the trip: Ise Grand Shrine.
Ise Grand Shrine is the most important shrine in all of Japan. It is the main shrine to Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and also the mythological founder of the Japanese Imperial thrown. It's massive and extremely beautiful. The only downside is that pictures are not allowed in the main shrine area itself. But in other areas it's permitted.
I wandered the shrine with various groups of people and eventually left and began my pursuit of lunch. This turned out to be quite difficult as most places were one, expensive and two, not very impressive visually. My friends and I settled on soba. I've had soba many times and this was probably the worst I've ever had. It was ok in the taste area, but the size was tiny for the 700 yen we paid. After lunch we had about an hour and a half to kill before needing to be back on the bus. We hunted for cigarettes (one guy was jonesing for one badly) and bought some gifts for girlfriends and family.
Finally we got back on the bus and headed home. I slept most of the way back home. The rest of the time I spent talking.
Overall this was a great trip and I highly recommend Mie prefecture as a good place to go if you want to get off the beaten path.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
China day 3
This day was again an early one and again I stuffed myself at breakfast. This day was promising to be another full day of sight seeing and fun. However, today, most of Beijing was resting under a nice blanket of snow. It proved to be a very cold yet great day.
Our first stop was to Tiananmen Square. I was actually expecting something a bit different from all the pictures I've seen, but it was still great. We were told by our tour guide that there were many undercover police officers in the area so we should be careful not to say or do anything stupid. We all paused and took the obligatory photos and such. I marveled at sheer openness of the place. It truly is huge. I was a bit disappointed that we weren't going to Chairman Mao's mausoleum, but I guess we already had tons on our plate.
After about 20 minutes or so of photo taking and slowly freezing we headed into the Forbidden City. On our way from the square to the city itself we passed by army personnel doing drills with brooms. It was pretty interesting and I felt a bit bad for them.
So we enter the city and boy was it huge. I have truthfully never been in a building that large before. I've been to castles, both European and Japanese. I've been to huge cathedrals and temples, but never have I been somewhere like this. This place was expansive. We spent most of the day there. I think we were there for just about 4 hours. After a while I was getting tired of the constant march and the seemingly same scenery. We did see some interesting things though. There were several beautiful gardens and walkways and other places, but I was pretty cold and just wanted to get warm again.
Something that I enjoyed the most was getting to go to the traditional wall scroll workshop. There were a lot of neat pictures and I really wish I had the money to buy one, but alas I didn't. If I ever go back there I'm definitely going to make sure that I have the money to get one. That was the only thing that I saw while there that I really wanted.
Actually I'll take a little time now to make a little gripe. Because we were on a tour we were taken to several areas to buy souvenirs. I like getting something from my travels, but this time it was all ritzy crap that I didn't care about. I never saw anything that said China to me. We were taken places that would appeal to Japanese, which was fine as we were on a Japanese tour, but it seemed like the same mass produced junk that I could buy just about anywhere. I was just a bit disappointed that there weren't more items that had a more traditional feel to them.
After the long, cold and tiring trek through the city we finally emerged on the other side and quickly headed to a nearby park. This was pretty cool as there was a huge hill from which you could get a great view of the Forbidden City. I took some pictures and headed to the rendezvous point. I was by this time tired and pretty hungry and just wanted to get some food in my belly and to sit down for a bit.
This lunch was to be yamcha style food. I wasn't quite sure what it was and actually I still don't know why it was so special, but I wasn't impressed. I ate my fill and was happy, but the taste just wasn't as good as the other places had been.
Once lunch was done we shot over to The Temple of Heaven. It was nice and very picturesque but we were there too long. I got bored quickly and wanted to see other places. Sadly, we were done for the day. Dinner was next on our agenda and then rest time.
Dinner was another disappointment. It was Shanghai style and was sweet. I dislike sweet foods. I also felt that the stuff was all pre-made junk. I ate and was happy, but I felt a bit cheated.
Once back at the hotel Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure. I had seen a McDonald's a little ways from our hotel and since we were both unsatisfied with the dinner we had, we decided to pop on over. The walk was less scary than the night before, but we had to walk through a tunnel and I was a bit apprehensive about that. I come from a big, pretty dangerous city and tunnels are not fun there. So when I saw the volunteer cops I felt better. We got to McDonald's and that's when we realized that we don't know any Chinese outside of greetings and other simple phrases. We basically ordered by smiling, pointing and nodding. We both got Big Mac meals with Diet Coke. It was good. It was basically the same as Japanese McDonald's and thus better than what you get back home.
We crashed at our hotel and just watched movies till sleep called our names.
Our first stop was to Tiananmen Square. I was actually expecting something a bit different from all the pictures I've seen, but it was still great. We were told by our tour guide that there were many undercover police officers in the area so we should be careful not to say or do anything stupid. We all paused and took the obligatory photos and such. I marveled at sheer openness of the place. It truly is huge. I was a bit disappointed that we weren't going to Chairman Mao's mausoleum, but I guess we already had tons on our plate.
After about 20 minutes or so of photo taking and slowly freezing we headed into the Forbidden City. On our way from the square to the city itself we passed by army personnel doing drills with brooms. It was pretty interesting and I felt a bit bad for them.
So we enter the city and boy was it huge. I have truthfully never been in a building that large before. I've been to castles, both European and Japanese. I've been to huge cathedrals and temples, but never have I been somewhere like this. This place was expansive. We spent most of the day there. I think we were there for just about 4 hours. After a while I was getting tired of the constant march and the seemingly same scenery. We did see some interesting things though. There were several beautiful gardens and walkways and other places, but I was pretty cold and just wanted to get warm again.
Something that I enjoyed the most was getting to go to the traditional wall scroll workshop. There were a lot of neat pictures and I really wish I had the money to buy one, but alas I didn't. If I ever go back there I'm definitely going to make sure that I have the money to get one. That was the only thing that I saw while there that I really wanted.
Actually I'll take a little time now to make a little gripe. Because we were on a tour we were taken to several areas to buy souvenirs. I like getting something from my travels, but this time it was all ritzy crap that I didn't care about. I never saw anything that said China to me. We were taken places that would appeal to Japanese, which was fine as we were on a Japanese tour, but it seemed like the same mass produced junk that I could buy just about anywhere. I was just a bit disappointed that there weren't more items that had a more traditional feel to them.
After the long, cold and tiring trek through the city we finally emerged on the other side and quickly headed to a nearby park. This was pretty cool as there was a huge hill from which you could get a great view of the Forbidden City. I took some pictures and headed to the rendezvous point. I was by this time tired and pretty hungry and just wanted to get some food in my belly and to sit down for a bit.
This lunch was to be yamcha style food. I wasn't quite sure what it was and actually I still don't know why it was so special, but I wasn't impressed. I ate my fill and was happy, but the taste just wasn't as good as the other places had been.
Once lunch was done we shot over to The Temple of Heaven. It was nice and very picturesque but we were there too long. I got bored quickly and wanted to see other places. Sadly, we were done for the day. Dinner was next on our agenda and then rest time.
Dinner was another disappointment. It was Shanghai style and was sweet. I dislike sweet foods. I also felt that the stuff was all pre-made junk. I ate and was happy, but I felt a bit cheated.
Once back at the hotel Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure. I had seen a McDonald's a little ways from our hotel and since we were both unsatisfied with the dinner we had, we decided to pop on over. The walk was less scary than the night before, but we had to walk through a tunnel and I was a bit apprehensive about that. I come from a big, pretty dangerous city and tunnels are not fun there. So when I saw the volunteer cops I felt better. We got to McDonald's and that's when we realized that we don't know any Chinese outside of greetings and other simple phrases. We basically ordered by smiling, pointing and nodding. We both got Big Mac meals with Diet Coke. It was good. It was basically the same as Japanese McDonald's and thus better than what you get back home.
We crashed at our hotel and just watched movies till sleep called our names.
Hamamatsu Festival
So last week was Golden Week, a week long holiday in Japan where almost everyone goes traveling. As to not feel left out I decided I needed to go somewhere too.
I had originally planned to go to Koga in Shiga prefecture. Koga is famous for ninja. I figured since I'll be going to Iga ninja town I should probably get the other famous place out of the way as well. Well I was vetoed by the girlfriend and we settled on Hamamatsu.
I had been to the outskirts of Hamamatsu years ago for some mandarin orange picking. I didn't really get to see the city in depth. On our list of sites were Hamamatsu castle and the Unagi Pie factory (unagi pies are famous in Japan and are made in Hamamatsu).
We took local trains into Hamamatsu and arrived around noon. After a brief stop at the local tourist information center where we learned that there was a festival going on, we decided to to scrap our plans and head to the festival.
Festivals are almost always fun be it a penis, kite, or rice festival. This turned out to be a kite flying festival. In the old days people who had a newborn baby would donate money to make a kite to be flown for the child's sake. The tradition remains today.
It was pretty amazing to see all the kites in the air and to see how big some of them were. Some were about 2 meters in length. I've never really been one for kites, but I enjoyed this festival. I also got to see the ocean. I realized that it's been nearly three years since I stood on a beach. It made me a bit wistful and I immediately got the itch to travel to a tropical beach somewhere.
After we had our fill of kite viewing we swung by some of the food vendors. It was of course overpriced, but I always like festival food especially when it's meat on a stick. I had a tasty Asahi Super Dry and a skewer of beef. Once lunch was finished we decided to head back to the station and then to the castle. Little did we know that our plans would not be fulfilled.
The line for the return shuttle was just under an hour and a half. By the time we got back to the station any chances of going to the castle were gone. So we decided to take in some of the local area before heading back. I liked Hamamatsu. It's not a huge city, but it's no village either. It seemed like it would be a nice place to live, but I'm a long way away from settling down.
We wandered around the streets and got to see many festival participants wearing ancient Japanese attire. Finally the parade started and things took up a lively atmosphere again. After about 45 minutes of watching the floats go by and listening to taiko drums and shamisen, we headed back to the station to get dinner.
Dinner was disappointing. It took almost an hour to get our food and it was just so-so. But what do you expect from a chain restaurant?
With dinner digesting in our bellies we headed back to Nagoya. I got home and hit the hay.
This wasn't a big, stress inducing trip. I highly recommend Hamamatsu for anyone in the Nagoya area who just wants to get out and see something new.
Something I learned on this trip is to ask the station personnel if they have any deals on tickets to my destination. I was originally going to pay about 30 dollars for a round trip train ticket, but once the guy learned I was only going for the day he changed the discount I got a ticket for roughly 24 bucks. It was a nice way to start the day.
I had originally planned to go to Koga in Shiga prefecture. Koga is famous for ninja. I figured since I'll be going to Iga ninja town I should probably get the other famous place out of the way as well. Well I was vetoed by the girlfriend and we settled on Hamamatsu.
I had been to the outskirts of Hamamatsu years ago for some mandarin orange picking. I didn't really get to see the city in depth. On our list of sites were Hamamatsu castle and the Unagi Pie factory (unagi pies are famous in Japan and are made in Hamamatsu).
We took local trains into Hamamatsu and arrived around noon. After a brief stop at the local tourist information center where we learned that there was a festival going on, we decided to to scrap our plans and head to the festival.
Festivals are almost always fun be it a penis, kite, or rice festival. This turned out to be a kite flying festival. In the old days people who had a newborn baby would donate money to make a kite to be flown for the child's sake. The tradition remains today.
It was pretty amazing to see all the kites in the air and to see how big some of them were. Some were about 2 meters in length. I've never really been one for kites, but I enjoyed this festival. I also got to see the ocean. I realized that it's been nearly three years since I stood on a beach. It made me a bit wistful and I immediately got the itch to travel to a tropical beach somewhere.
After we had our fill of kite viewing we swung by some of the food vendors. It was of course overpriced, but I always like festival food especially when it's meat on a stick. I had a tasty Asahi Super Dry and a skewer of beef. Once lunch was finished we decided to head back to the station and then to the castle. Little did we know that our plans would not be fulfilled.
The line for the return shuttle was just under an hour and a half. By the time we got back to the station any chances of going to the castle were gone. So we decided to take in some of the local area before heading back. I liked Hamamatsu. It's not a huge city, but it's no village either. It seemed like it would be a nice place to live, but I'm a long way away from settling down.
We wandered around the streets and got to see many festival participants wearing ancient Japanese attire. Finally the parade started and things took up a lively atmosphere again. After about 45 minutes of watching the floats go by and listening to taiko drums and shamisen, we headed back to the station to get dinner.
Dinner was disappointing. It took almost an hour to get our food and it was just so-so. But what do you expect from a chain restaurant?
With dinner digesting in our bellies we headed back to Nagoya. I got home and hit the hay.
This wasn't a big, stress inducing trip. I highly recommend Hamamatsu for anyone in the Nagoya area who just wants to get out and see something new.
Something I learned on this trip is to ask the station personnel if they have any deals on tickets to my destination. I was originally going to pay about 30 dollars for a round trip train ticket, but once the guy learned I was only going for the day he changed the discount I got a ticket for roughly 24 bucks. It was a nice way to start the day.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
China Day 2
The wake up call was right on time, 0630. It took me a minute or two to realize that I was actually in China rather than home in Japan. It was a bit disorientating. Aaron and I headed down to breakfast and man it was a treat.
There was just about every breakfast food imaginable down in the restaurant. It was a buffet. For those of you who don't know me, I throw down at buffets. It's like I go into a "I'm never going to be able to eat again" mode. I had bacon, sausages, steamed buns, stir fried vegetables and tons more. Finally it was getting time for us to head out for the day.
Aaron and I both decided to pack lightly. We took with us our backpacks and just enough clothes to get us by for five days. So we basically took our entire luggage with us wherever we went.
The first stop of the day was to get some pictures of the Olympic buildings. The stadium itself was only so-so in my opinion, but the cool dragon building across the way was really neat. After our picture break we were taken to a jade store where we could buy jade on the cheap. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.
45 minutes of wandering around later and we were on the bus heading to the Great Wall of China. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. I had seen pictures of it before, but nothing can compare with actually being there and seeing it for yourself. The scope of it is amazing. Standing on something that was built so many centuries ago was very awe inspiring. I wish I could have spent the rest of the day just walking around and looking at the wall from different aspects. We wandered around the wall, trying not to fall (it was cold and some parts were icy). We also avoided the numerous souvenir vendors trying their hardest to sell us silly hats.
We hiked around a couple of the more nearby hills and took our fill of pictures. And then our hour and a half was over. Aaron and I headed for the rope way and actually ended up with the same group of people we went up with.
Shortly after descending, it started to snow. The snow continued for most of the day and gave the area a nice ambiance. The Great Wall would have looked amazing with the snow, but sadly, I was not to see it.
The next stop was lunch. After the huge breakfast I had I was a bit surprised to find myself hungry. But hungry I was and greatly welcomed the Chinese lunchbox which had been prepared for us. There were several items in there and the only thing I didn't eat was the fish. Also during lunch we were treated with some Chinese alcohol. I'm not sure if it was meant for drinking or cleaning engine parts, but it did the trick and after only three shots, I was feeling nice and warm. After lunch we had another, shorter shopping break. I decided I needed to get something for my girlfriend so I hunted for something to get her. The place was obviously geared for Japanese people of means. All of the vendors spoke Japanese and would hurry around trying to get people to buy stuff.
Once back on the bus we headed to the Ming Tombs. That was also a very pleasant area, but I think that it was made more attractive due to the freshly fallen snow. It gave the entire area a nice charm that I am glad I got to see.
The tombs were of course very elegant and I marveled at the detail of the place. However, I was pretty cold at this point so I was having a hard time keeping my mind focused on the scenery. To actually enter the tombs we had to pass a security check where all bags had to be in the left hand. I thought it was a bit excessive for something that isn't very famous or popular. The inner areas of the tombs didn't hold much. There were some thrones and then a "tomb" section which had nothing but large, red, metal boxes. I didn't find this as interesting as the outside.
Mr. Lee hurried us out of the tomb and back to the bus to begin our drive back to Beijing and dinner. Dinner was simply amazing. We had Peking Duck and it was just great. I've had Peking Duck in the States, but there's no comparison. The chefs made a big production of cutting the duck and we all got to take pictures. The duck of course went fast and I ended up a bit disappointed at not getting to eat more of this delicious bird. The side dishes, though, were awesome too. I filled up on the many stir fries and other concoctions that came throughout dinner.
We headed back to the hotel and Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure of our own. We grabbed our money and went into the night.
That was an experience. It was still part of the Chinese New Year so people were shooting off fireworks and such. That coupled with the falling snow made me feel like I was in a war movie. Every time a firework shot off, I would jump. The steam and mist in the cold air gave an eerie atmosphere to the entire place. After walking for about 10 minutes we decided that we did not want to get lost or stabbed so we headed back. I of course wanted beer. So we popped into the little convenience store down the road and proceeded to buy snacks and liquids. The girl working there was mean. She literally tossed our change at us and just came off as being rude. Outside we ran into some nice Japanese guys who were on our tour and they bought us beer. That made me happy.
Back at the hotel Aaron and I ate our snacks and watched some TV. We finished our stuff and decided to go to bed to prepare for our third day: The Forbidden City.
There was just about every breakfast food imaginable down in the restaurant. It was a buffet. For those of you who don't know me, I throw down at buffets. It's like I go into a "I'm never going to be able to eat again" mode. I had bacon, sausages, steamed buns, stir fried vegetables and tons more. Finally it was getting time for us to head out for the day.
Aaron and I both decided to pack lightly. We took with us our backpacks and just enough clothes to get us by for five days. So we basically took our entire luggage with us wherever we went.
The first stop of the day was to get some pictures of the Olympic buildings. The stadium itself was only so-so in my opinion, but the cool dragon building across the way was really neat. After our picture break we were taken to a jade store where we could buy jade on the cheap. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.
45 minutes of wandering around later and we were on the bus heading to the Great Wall of China. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. I had seen pictures of it before, but nothing can compare with actually being there and seeing it for yourself. The scope of it is amazing. Standing on something that was built so many centuries ago was very awe inspiring. I wish I could have spent the rest of the day just walking around and looking at the wall from different aspects. We wandered around the wall, trying not to fall (it was cold and some parts were icy). We also avoided the numerous souvenir vendors trying their hardest to sell us silly hats.
We hiked around a couple of the more nearby hills and took our fill of pictures. And then our hour and a half was over. Aaron and I headed for the rope way and actually ended up with the same group of people we went up with.
Shortly after descending, it started to snow. The snow continued for most of the day and gave the area a nice ambiance. The Great Wall would have looked amazing with the snow, but sadly, I was not to see it.
The next stop was lunch. After the huge breakfast I had I was a bit surprised to find myself hungry. But hungry I was and greatly welcomed the Chinese lunchbox which had been prepared for us. There were several items in there and the only thing I didn't eat was the fish. Also during lunch we were treated with some Chinese alcohol. I'm not sure if it was meant for drinking or cleaning engine parts, but it did the trick and after only three shots, I was feeling nice and warm. After lunch we had another, shorter shopping break. I decided I needed to get something for my girlfriend so I hunted for something to get her. The place was obviously geared for Japanese people of means. All of the vendors spoke Japanese and would hurry around trying to get people to buy stuff.
Once back on the bus we headed to the Ming Tombs. That was also a very pleasant area, but I think that it was made more attractive due to the freshly fallen snow. It gave the entire area a nice charm that I am glad I got to see.
The tombs were of course very elegant and I marveled at the detail of the place. However, I was pretty cold at this point so I was having a hard time keeping my mind focused on the scenery. To actually enter the tombs we had to pass a security check where all bags had to be in the left hand. I thought it was a bit excessive for something that isn't very famous or popular. The inner areas of the tombs didn't hold much. There were some thrones and then a "tomb" section which had nothing but large, red, metal boxes. I didn't find this as interesting as the outside.
Mr. Lee hurried us out of the tomb and back to the bus to begin our drive back to Beijing and dinner. Dinner was simply amazing. We had Peking Duck and it was just great. I've had Peking Duck in the States, but there's no comparison. The chefs made a big production of cutting the duck and we all got to take pictures. The duck of course went fast and I ended up a bit disappointed at not getting to eat more of this delicious bird. The side dishes, though, were awesome too. I filled up on the many stir fries and other concoctions that came throughout dinner.
We headed back to the hotel and Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure of our own. We grabbed our money and went into the night.
That was an experience. It was still part of the Chinese New Year so people were shooting off fireworks and such. That coupled with the falling snow made me feel like I was in a war movie. Every time a firework shot off, I would jump. The steam and mist in the cold air gave an eerie atmosphere to the entire place. After walking for about 10 minutes we decided that we did not want to get lost or stabbed so we headed back. I of course wanted beer. So we popped into the little convenience store down the road and proceeded to buy snacks and liquids. The girl working there was mean. She literally tossed our change at us and just came off as being rude. Outside we ran into some nice Japanese guys who were on our tour and they bought us beer. That made me happy.
Back at the hotel Aaron and I ate our snacks and watched some TV. We finished our stuff and decided to go to bed to prepare for our third day: The Forbidden City.
Monday, March 8, 2010
China Day 1
About a week and a half ago my roommate, Aaron, and I left Japan and headed on a 5 day whirlwind trip of the Beijing area. It was a great trip and I got to experience a lot of stuff that I had wanted to for years.
The first morning I wake up and was surprisingly not hungover from the previous night's fun. I toss some stuff into my pack and we head off towards the nearest train station with a line to the airport. We get through the airport stuff, get some Chinese money and finally we get onto the plane.
Once we land in Tianjin (both me and my roommate thought we were flying into Beijing, shows how much we paid attention to the brochures) we went through the Immigration stations. I was a bit worried since my stuff had been slightly misspelled (my passport has my middle name misspelled and even though it was corrected on an amendment page, no one ever pays attention to it so I'm constantly having problems). My worrying was for naught as nothing happened. I went through and met our tour guide.
Our tour guide Mr. Lee was a very nice guy and spoke great Japanese. Yup the entire tour was done in Japanese. That proved to be quite interesting. Once everyone was together we headed to a "cultural shopping center". Boy, was that a learning experience. This was the first instance where I could really see the difference between Japanese and Chinese people. I looked over in time to see a woman spit right on the floor. Now I don't mind spitting (usually), but inside? I mean that was pretty gross. After that we headed to Beijing.
By the time we got to Beijing it was dark and everyone was pretty tired. I was beat even though I slept most of the way from Tianjin. We make a quick stop at this shopping center with this huge television screen. It was pretty neat. I got a Starbucks coffee in order to make change. I made it back to the bus in time to make it to dinner. Dinner was good. It was Sichuan food. I think this was my favorite of all the meals we had. It was simply amazing. Everything was nice and spicy.
After dinner we were taken to our hotel. It turned out to be a Best Western. Now the Best Westerns I've been to in the States have been nice, but this place looked to be a 3-4 star hotel. There was a nice chandelier in the lobby, all the staff were wearing nice uniforms. I was pretty stunned. There was even a dance club on the third floor. So we check into our rooms and due to the stresses of traveling all day, we just lazed around.
The first morning I wake up and was surprisingly not hungover from the previous night's fun. I toss some stuff into my pack and we head off towards the nearest train station with a line to the airport. We get through the airport stuff, get some Chinese money and finally we get onto the plane.
Once we land in Tianjin (both me and my roommate thought we were flying into Beijing, shows how much we paid attention to the brochures) we went through the Immigration stations. I was a bit worried since my stuff had been slightly misspelled (my passport has my middle name misspelled and even though it was corrected on an amendment page, no one ever pays attention to it so I'm constantly having problems). My worrying was for naught as nothing happened. I went through and met our tour guide.
Our tour guide Mr. Lee was a very nice guy and spoke great Japanese. Yup the entire tour was done in Japanese. That proved to be quite interesting. Once everyone was together we headed to a "cultural shopping center". Boy, was that a learning experience. This was the first instance where I could really see the difference between Japanese and Chinese people. I looked over in time to see a woman spit right on the floor. Now I don't mind spitting (usually), but inside? I mean that was pretty gross. After that we headed to Beijing.
By the time we got to Beijing it was dark and everyone was pretty tired. I was beat even though I slept most of the way from Tianjin. We make a quick stop at this shopping center with this huge television screen. It was pretty neat. I got a Starbucks coffee in order to make change. I made it back to the bus in time to make it to dinner. Dinner was good. It was Sichuan food. I think this was my favorite of all the meals we had. It was simply amazing. Everything was nice and spicy.
After dinner we were taken to our hotel. It turned out to be a Best Western. Now the Best Westerns I've been to in the States have been nice, but this place looked to be a 3-4 star hotel. There was a nice chandelier in the lobby, all the staff were wearing nice uniforms. I was pretty stunned. There was even a dance club on the third floor. So we check into our rooms and due to the stresses of traveling all day, we just lazed around.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sake (酒)
Sake, the traditional alcoholic beverage of Japan, is something that is somewhat unknown back home in Tennessee. Of course a lot of people know about it, but it seems that they only know that it's a drink and it's from Japan.
There are tons of different kinds of sake. Almost every region in Japan has its own special brand and in many cases more than one. I've decided to use this blog to give people more knowledge of this great spirit.
The first one I tried was Yoshinotomo (よしのとも). It was very nice. It had a nice smooth flavor and didn't a strong after taste as a lot of sake does. It goes very nice with fish, especially tuna. I drank it at room temperature, but the nice old man at the liquor shop said you could drink it hot as well. I highly recommend this sake.
There are tons of different kinds of sake. Almost every region in Japan has its own special brand and in many cases more than one. I've decided to use this blog to give people more knowledge of this great spirit.
The first one I tried was Yoshinotomo (よしのとも). It was very nice. It had a nice smooth flavor and didn't a strong after taste as a lot of sake does. It goes very nice with fish, especially tuna. I drank it at room temperature, but the nice old man at the liquor shop said you could drink it hot as well. I highly recommend this sake.
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