Today we’re on our way to Hawaii! We crossed the International Dateline and set our clocks back 24 hours so we had two Tuesday April 15th (and celebrated the second with an ice cream cake!) We have many more days to go before Honolulu and unfortunately we lose an hour each night for four nights in a row!
The ship has been rocking and rolling the past few days! (The Pacific is a total misnomer for this ocean.) It’s a bit boring- we’ve been so used to having a new port to explore every 2 days- but I have lots of work to do.
We have a whole 22 hours to live it up in Hawaii once we get there. Then a few days in Costa Rica for our last hoorah!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Japan
We bought our Japan Rail Passes in Vietnam so we were ready to rock once we got off the ship on 4/11. This was after all 800+ passengers had thier temperatures taken, picked up passports, got pictures taken and fingerprints documented in a one-on-one with a customs officer. It took awhile. We jetted to Hiroshima on the bullet train that afternoon. Hiroshima is a beautiful city with very few physical remnants of the atomic bombing left other than the A-Bomb dome. The Peace Park is beautiful and the cherry blossoms were nearing the end of their week in bloom. The museums in the heart of the park are incredible- very moving, very informative- I highly recommend visiting. I am reading the book Hibakusha for Human Rights and it was most moving for me when I read the first dozen stories after boarding the train again that evening. Hibakusha means atomic bomb survivor in Japanese. (I think the direct translation is “one who met with an atomic bomb”.) That night we arrived in Kyoto and spent the night at K’s Guest House- and adorable and comfy hostel with great comforters and heated toilet seats! The 4 of us- Mason, Conner, and Eliza and I were in a dorm-style room with 2 bunk beds. The next morning we found some great toast for breakfast and went to the top of the Kyoto Tower waiting for Conner’s friend from Marist, Stu, studying in Osaka, to meet us for the day. He guided us to a cool temple that we explored for awhile- the grounds were very beautiful, saw more cherry blossoms, and we saw some fake geishas on the way too! We had some soba noodles for lunch. Then we walked around the Gion district for a while. Then Stu took us to a shrine that consists of hundreds of orange gates lined up which we walked through. That night we jetted to Tokyo and finally found our capsule hotel in Asakusa after battling the Tokyo subway system (we kind of got the hang of it after a few days.) The capsule hotel was quite an experience. They kind of look like slots in a morgue lined up against the wall- but with TVs and alarm clocks inside. Very uncomfortable mattress. Mason, Eliza, and I had some bonding time in the communal shower on the 9th floor. This hotel was one of 2 capsule hotels that even allows women (2 of the 9 floors were women-only.) Conner was all alone on the 4th floor. The next morning we grabbed breakfast and explored the large park (it felt like Central Park in NYC) and its lakes and flowers and museums. We had tickets to a Tokyo Giants baseball game at 1:30 at the Tokyo Dome so we made our way there to see the Giants beat the Swallows 6-4!
That night we visited Shibuya crossing (the busiest intersection in the world) and Harajuku District, know for people sporting crazy outfits and home to the hip shops (the hangout for teenage rebels). The next morning we decided to visit these same 2 areas again to get a sense of them during the day. We sat in Starbucks overlooking the crosswalk and watched the morning commuters and did some shopping in Harajuku.
We got up early that morning (by early I mean like 7am) to visit the Tsujiki (?) Fish Market- the largest in the world! It was fascinating to see but unfortunately it is only in existence to support the severe over-fishing of our oceans. Over-fishing is the most destructive issue facing our oceans today. It has to do primarily with the way we catch fish. We watched the BBC documentary “Deep Trouble” our first day back in Global Studies. It is really eye opening. (Interesting fact: 50% of the food eaten in Japan comes from the sea, whereas for the rest of the world seafood makes up 15%.)
Trawling the ocean floor is one of the destructive fishing methods. Prawn and shrimp trawling is the worst of all. 15 POUNDS of other species are discarded for every 1 lb. of shrimp caught. (Think about this next time you’re going to order shrimp cocktail.)
They actually served salmon last night after we had this whole discussion in Global- I don’t think many people ate it.One solution the movie mentioned is to create more no-take zones in the ocean. Something you can do personally is find a Seafood Guide on the Seafood Watch website- it tells you which types of fish are the Best to buy, some good alternatives, and which to avoid. (One to avoid include cod, mahi-mahi, salmon, and tuna.)
Overall Japan was great! On our way back from Tokyo we bullet-trained it to Osaka- ate some pastries there and walked around, then continued on to Kobe. It was an action-packed 4 days and I’m leaving out lots but I highly recommend a visit! I would love to go back and see/climb Mt. Fuji and spend more time shopping in Tokyo!
That night we visited Shibuya crossing (the busiest intersection in the world) and Harajuku District, know for people sporting crazy outfits and home to the hip shops (the hangout for teenage rebels). The next morning we decided to visit these same 2 areas again to get a sense of them during the day. We sat in Starbucks overlooking the crosswalk and watched the morning commuters and did some shopping in Harajuku.
We got up early that morning (by early I mean like 7am) to visit the Tsujiki (?) Fish Market- the largest in the world! It was fascinating to see but unfortunately it is only in existence to support the severe over-fishing of our oceans. Over-fishing is the most destructive issue facing our oceans today. It has to do primarily with the way we catch fish. We watched the BBC documentary “Deep Trouble” our first day back in Global Studies. It is really eye opening. (Interesting fact: 50% of the food eaten in Japan comes from the sea, whereas for the rest of the world seafood makes up 15%.)
Trawling the ocean floor is one of the destructive fishing methods. Prawn and shrimp trawling is the worst of all. 15 POUNDS of other species are discarded for every 1 lb. of shrimp caught. (Think about this next time you’re going to order shrimp cocktail.)
They actually served salmon last night after we had this whole discussion in Global- I don’t think many people ate it.One solution the movie mentioned is to create more no-take zones in the ocean. Something you can do personally is find a Seafood Guide on the Seafood Watch website- it tells you which types of fish are the Best to buy, some good alternatives, and which to avoid. (One to avoid include cod, mahi-mahi, salmon, and tuna.)
Overall Japan was great! On our way back from Tokyo we bullet-trained it to Osaka- ate some pastries there and walked around, then continued on to Kobe. It was an action-packed 4 days and I’m leaving out lots but I highly recommend a visit! I would love to go back and see/climb Mt. Fuji and spend more time shopping in Tokyo!
China
Hi all, I’m way behind in my blogging- I think I left off early on in Vietnam, but I’m going to jump ahead to China! We docked in Hong Kong on April 3rd. a small group of us went out to explore the city. (I’d already been there a few years earlier to visit my friend Miho from SD). Miho actually met up with us in the afternoon so we had a tour guide to show us around. We walked around Times Square, went to Repulse Bay Beach, took a double-decker bus, and ended up back on the Kowloon side (where the ship was docked) for dinner and light-show viewing. Mason has a friend in HK too, Shobo, and she was so cute and treated us all to dinner. Then we all went out to the Lang Kwai Fong (?) district to experience the nightlife. The entire area was totally overrun with SASers but it was lots of fun.
The next morning my Beijing University trip to Tsinghua departed at 11am. Mason and I were on the same trip, which was probably the only reason we both survived it. We were able to entertain ourselves from certain death by boredom in the following ways: 1. Asian pictures. 2. Bucket-O-Noodles 3. Ass-less pants. I will explain. 1. You know how all Asians (I don’t want to generalize) put up their hands and make the peace-sign in all their pictures? Well- when you visit Asia you must do this also. Mason and I took every picture of each other, us together, and with random Chinese people and insisted upon the use of the peace sign. Regarding photos with random Chinese: various families would come up to us and ask us to be in what seemed to be their Christmas card photo with them. We accepted. 2. In the US we have this lunch item called Cup-O-Noodles (which I find disgusting). In China they have this as well, except its 5x larger, thus we titled it Bucket-O-Noodles. They sell this large meal in convenience stores and at most tourist destinations. At the Summer Palace Mason and I creepily took photos of the Chinese slurping their ginormous noodles- very entertaining. 3. Best of all: The assless pants. (or ass-less chaps as we like to call them). While trudging through the Forbidden City I noticed a child sitting on a fence and there was skin showing through his pants. I ushered Mason over and we giggled and thought the kid ripped his pants. Then- we noticed every toddler had this problem! They wear pants with big slits cut out of the crotch; their version of pull-ups or something- except opposite. We eagerly asked one of our University student guides about this and she said she used to wear them too and apparently it’s easier for the kids to “potty train” because they don’t have to pull their pants up and down. We’re still confused about whether this means they can control their bodily functions at this age or...not. Needless to say ass-less pant sightings and picture-taking made for hours of entertainment.
I’m glad we choose to use diapers in the Western world.
I do have one major regret in China: I didn’t buy and wear a face mask. I wish I had one to wear in every Asian picture. Bejing was constantly overcast- we were told later that 80% of the grey sky was smog, 20% fog. Everyone wears masks in Beijing to protect their lungs (supposedly breathing the air there is like smoking 8 packs a day.) Yep- big regret.
Some other adventures in China: As part of our university stay they offered Tai Chi classes at 7am each morning. We begrudgingly got up the first morning to check it out. It was freezing and we couldn’t stop laughing so we decided to sleep in the next 2 days. We spent one evening at the Silk Market in downtown Beijing. Basically it’s a big 4-story building with aisles and aisles of booths manned by extremely pushy salespeople. They sell North Face jackets, designer jeans, dresses, shoes, polos, t-shirts, and lots lots more for really cheap! But you have to bargain! This was the most thrilling experience of all. We did one walk-through of the shops then stopped at am ATM (where I accidentally got out $4,000 yuan instead of $400. Equivalent to almost $600- oops.) We found some really cute dresses (the labels say Chole and Marc Jacobs but I’m pretty sure they’re not real). The woman was asking for about $2,000 yuan. We countered by saying she already offered one of them to us for $100 yuan (we did stop by there earlier but I don’t think she actually said $100.) She was flabbergasted of course and we went on debating for a good 10 minutes- finally we got our two dresses and a coat for Mason for $200 yuan each ($14 US). We were thanking her and she told us in defeat, “you are very good bargainer.” This happened to us lots- some women would be so dejected after giving in to our low price and then pop back and say- “you are very clever!” Needless to say this was an extremely exhausting process but very fun! Some women on the other hand would get furious and when we named a ridiculously low price they would say, “are you joking?” “No! Be serious with me!” Like I said- so much fun.
Bejing is furiously preparing for the Olympics. They have built numerous new buildings and stadiums and infrastructure. Who knows what they’ll do with it all in a few months. Of course it’s a huge source of conflict for many (for me anyway) to decided whether or not to support to Olympics in light of the Tibetan issue going on right now and the numerous human rights violations that China is guilty of. China executes 3 times more citizens in one month than the rest of the world combined does in three years. And they execute for such crimes as: stealing a stick of gum, tax evasion, or killing a panda (and many many more). They are increasing patrols in their lethal injection vans to get rid of any undesirable people so as to cleanse the city for the Olympics.
I know of a few athletes (distance runners mostly) who have dropped out of the Olympics because of the pollution.
Our last day in China was spent in Shanghai. It was a miserable day though; rainy, windy and cold, so Mason and I trudged to the nearest grocery store to stock up on chocolate for the Pacific crossing (they had Dove!) and then to the Post office, and then back to the ship. The whole outing took about 30 minutes. (I’ve already been to Shanghai so I don’t feel too guilty.)
The next morning my Beijing University trip to Tsinghua departed at 11am. Mason and I were on the same trip, which was probably the only reason we both survived it. We were able to entertain ourselves from certain death by boredom in the following ways: 1. Asian pictures. 2. Bucket-O-Noodles 3. Ass-less pants. I will explain. 1. You know how all Asians (I don’t want to generalize) put up their hands and make the peace-sign in all their pictures? Well- when you visit Asia you must do this also. Mason and I took every picture of each other, us together, and with random Chinese people and insisted upon the use of the peace sign. Regarding photos with random Chinese: various families would come up to us and ask us to be in what seemed to be their Christmas card photo with them. We accepted. 2. In the US we have this lunch item called Cup-O-Noodles (which I find disgusting). In China they have this as well, except its 5x larger, thus we titled it Bucket-O-Noodles. They sell this large meal in convenience stores and at most tourist destinations. At the Summer Palace Mason and I creepily took photos of the Chinese slurping their ginormous noodles- very entertaining. 3. Best of all: The assless pants. (or ass-less chaps as we like to call them). While trudging through the Forbidden City I noticed a child sitting on a fence and there was skin showing through his pants. I ushered Mason over and we giggled and thought the kid ripped his pants. Then- we noticed every toddler had this problem! They wear pants with big slits cut out of the crotch; their version of pull-ups or something- except opposite. We eagerly asked one of our University student guides about this and she said she used to wear them too and apparently it’s easier for the kids to “potty train” because they don’t have to pull their pants up and down. We’re still confused about whether this means they can control their bodily functions at this age or...not. Needless to say ass-less pant sightings and picture-taking made for hours of entertainment.
I’m glad we choose to use diapers in the Western world.
I do have one major regret in China: I didn’t buy and wear a face mask. I wish I had one to wear in every Asian picture. Bejing was constantly overcast- we were told later that 80% of the grey sky was smog, 20% fog. Everyone wears masks in Beijing to protect their lungs (supposedly breathing the air there is like smoking 8 packs a day.) Yep- big regret.
Some other adventures in China: As part of our university stay they offered Tai Chi classes at 7am each morning. We begrudgingly got up the first morning to check it out. It was freezing and we couldn’t stop laughing so we decided to sleep in the next 2 days. We spent one evening at the Silk Market in downtown Beijing. Basically it’s a big 4-story building with aisles and aisles of booths manned by extremely pushy salespeople. They sell North Face jackets, designer jeans, dresses, shoes, polos, t-shirts, and lots lots more for really cheap! But you have to bargain! This was the most thrilling experience of all. We did one walk-through of the shops then stopped at am ATM (where I accidentally got out $4,000 yuan instead of $400. Equivalent to almost $600- oops.) We found some really cute dresses (the labels say Chole and Marc Jacobs but I’m pretty sure they’re not real). The woman was asking for about $2,000 yuan. We countered by saying she already offered one of them to us for $100 yuan (we did stop by there earlier but I don’t think she actually said $100.) She was flabbergasted of course and we went on debating for a good 10 minutes- finally we got our two dresses and a coat for Mason for $200 yuan each ($14 US). We were thanking her and she told us in defeat, “you are very good bargainer.” This happened to us lots- some women would be so dejected after giving in to our low price and then pop back and say- “you are very clever!” Needless to say this was an extremely exhausting process but very fun! Some women on the other hand would get furious and when we named a ridiculously low price they would say, “are you joking?” “No! Be serious with me!” Like I said- so much fun.
Bejing is furiously preparing for the Olympics. They have built numerous new buildings and stadiums and infrastructure. Who knows what they’ll do with it all in a few months. Of course it’s a huge source of conflict for many (for me anyway) to decided whether or not to support to Olympics in light of the Tibetan issue going on right now and the numerous human rights violations that China is guilty of. China executes 3 times more citizens in one month than the rest of the world combined does in three years. And they execute for such crimes as: stealing a stick of gum, tax evasion, or killing a panda (and many many more). They are increasing patrols in their lethal injection vans to get rid of any undesirable people so as to cleanse the city for the Olympics.
I know of a few athletes (distance runners mostly) who have dropped out of the Olympics because of the pollution.
Our last day in China was spent in Shanghai. It was a miserable day though; rainy, windy and cold, so Mason and I trudged to the nearest grocery store to stock up on chocolate for the Pacific crossing (they had Dove!) and then to the Post office, and then back to the ship. The whole outing took about 30 minutes. (I’ve already been to Shanghai so I don’t feel too guilty.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)