back home

Sorry I didn’t keep the blog going last week… I was pretty busy with plenty of traveling. After HK I headed back north towards South Korea for one last stop in Asia. I only stayed there two and a half days but I really enjoyed Seoul and definitely think I’ll go back at some point. After a long day of travel on Wednesday (via Tokyo on a red-eye) I arrived in the evening at the Lee&No Guesthouse and was greeted by a few other travelers that were about to head to dinner. After cleaning up quickly, we went to a local restaurant they’d spotted earlier in the day which was a do-it-yourself type of cooking (very popular in Korea apparently). Basically we ordered a huge plate of baby octopus and pork slices and placed it on a stove located in the middle of the table and let the whole thing cook (it was covered in some sort of fiery hell-broth too). When it was all nice and hot, we all started digging in. As seems to be the custom in Korea, we were given a whole slew of side dishes to go along with this and wrapped everything up in lettuce leaves . We also drank our fair share of beer and soju (the local rice wine), which caught the attention of the businessmen sitting next to us. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were drinking soju with them. It turned out to be quite the long evening – parts of which are rather blurry – but in the end we all agreed to meet the following evening for dinner.

Thursday I tried to walk off the soju induced hangover by visiting a few temples and palaces around Seoul. The city feels very similar to Tokyo, though people are much more relaxed and easy going. It’s a really nice place to visit and there really seems to be something for everyone – shopping, eating and sightseeing. Anyway, I was on cruise control most of the day just kind of walking around aimlessly and not feeling quite right until about dinner time. Of course I’d agreed to go to dinner again with everyone, though I was sincerely hoping it would be a bit tamer. We ended up getting Korean BBQ, which was fantastic (something about being able to cook it yourself makes it taste so much better!) and only had a few beers this time – I avoided the soju like the plague. Apparently the businessmen had all stayed out all night at a karaoke parlor after the previous night’s dinner and gone from there straight to work – some without changing… so they were all a bit tired too.

Friday – my last full day in Asia – I went to an art museum in the morning to stay cool and walked around some of the markets and shopping areas of Seoul. I really can’t imagine anyone not enjoying themselves here – it’s really a great place and the food is fantastic. That evening I met up with Cathy, another Kellogg student, for some traditional Korean food and tea. She showed me around town a bit and we talked about the now rapidly approaching start of the school year.

So that’s it. 62 days in Asia comes to an end. The flight back was somewhat long but unadventurous. Now I’m back in Boston preparing to move to Chicago within a couple days. So thanks to all of you for reading the blog – hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Steve, Rob, Paul, Nicole, the Irish, Daniel, Gorka, Anita, Yoda, Haskell, Richard, Trinh, Viji, Vickna, Dipti, Cathy and all the other random people who joined me on trip. And thanks to all family and friends who emailed and chatted with me while I was on the other side of the world.

top 5

Everyone loves lists... so here's the top 5 sights from the trip

5. Shangri-La and Kyoto. In many ways these two locations couldn't be more different. However, I just couldn't bring myself to pick one over the other. Between Kyoto's temples, shrines and pagodas and the remote, almost mythical town of Shangri-La, it's a real tough call. Both are truly unique, though unfortunately I think Shangri-La will go the way of its southerly neighbor Lijiang and become quite the tourist trap within five years. Either way, when visiting either you really feel far from home and yet very at ease at the same time. Kyoto offers a history as rich as any other city on earth and Shangri-La a peaceful retreat from the craziness of the rest of China. Really two very magical places.

4. Tskiji Fish Market Last time I was in Tokyo, I missed this amazing fish market and was quite upset about it. Now I know I had good reason to be, but luckily this time I did not miss out on one of the greatest free shows on earth. The energy and commotion here truly something else - especially considering it's 6AM! Fish flying every which way, massive fresh and frozen tuna lined up in every direction and creatures you'll never see anywhere else. It's really a feast for the eyes and when you're done... well you have sushi restaurants all around you to satiate your newfound appetite for raw fish at 8AM.

3. Tiger Leaping Gorge I had read some stuff about this trek before leaving home but hadn't planned on going since it was a bit out of the way. After the earthquake hit near Chengdu in May I had to change my plans around a bit and ended up spending more time in the Yunnan Proivince, giving me ample time to make it up to The Gorge and beyond. I was rewarded with a magical two-day trek through the clouds along the worlds tallest and narrowest gorge. It didn't hurt that along the way I met two great guys to hike it with and

2. Great Wall of China I did not expect to enjoy the Great Wall as much as I did. Most of the picture's I'd seen or filled with thousands of tourists climbing over what was a recent reconstruction of the wall... What I found however was completely the opposite. I took a tour to a slightly more remote location and was rewarded with a 10km hike up and down The Wall with just a few people from my tour group. This section had been rebuilt in parts, but enough was left unrestored to make it feel more authentic.

1. Ha Long Bay This one was really easy to pick. I had really high expectations for Vietnam and Ha Long Bay especially and it pretty much exceeded all of my expectations in every way imaginable. We were extremely lucky with the weather and made a great decision to stay an extra night in order to have a whole day of kayaking. In any event, this place is surreal and Haskell and I constantly remarked how unbelievable it was while we were there. I just flipped through the pictures Haskell and I took there and still have a hard time coming to grips with the scenery. Anyway, if there's one thing on this trip that I would unequivocally recommend to everyone, it's surely this one.

hong kong

note: I've uploaded pics from Penang, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur below...

I'll be honest - I was starting to get a bit tired of big Asian cities - they were all starting to look pretty similar, with few surprises to be found. Then I got to Hong Kong. Now I have a new favorite city. This place is unbelievable and seems to get better each day. I feel like some cities -- Beijing comes to mind -- drain all your energy while others, like New York and Tokyo seem to do just the opposite. Hong Kong certainly falls into this latter category.

So I've spent my first couple days here exploring the different parts of the city. On Friday, my first full day here, I spent most of the day in Central and SoHo on Hong Kong island. This is basically the main business area and where you will find most of the expats and businessmen as well as some of the world’s most impressive sky scrapers. It's also home to an absurd number of fancy malls, hotels and restaurants. But unlike other cities of similar size, the streets here are narrow, varied and a pleasure to walk around. The setting is also amazing, with green hills out one side and Hong Kong Bay on the other. Great backdrops for an amazing skyline.

There aren't many "sights" in Hong Kong, but the city itself is really the main attraction. The most touristy thing to do however, is to climb to the top of Victoria Peak on the extremely steep tram and take in the view of the city and harbor. This is exactly what I did at the end of the day, taking in the sunset as the city comes alive with lights. A spectacular skyline.

Saturday, I walked around Wan Chai and Causeway Bay - also on Hong Kong Island. It's a main shopping destination and since I had nothing to buy, I simply enjoyed walking around and people watching. In the Evening I went to Kowloon, directly across from Hong Kong Island for dinner. I made a bee-line for the Temple Street night market, fully expecting to find some decent food there. The market itself was pretty boring, but sure enough I found a busy restaurant that seemed to specialize in garlic/chili crab, something Anthony Bourdain taught me is somewhat of a local specialty. And so I had myself two large crabs with massive amounts of garlic and chilies. This took me close to 40 minutes to work my way through. Though very messy, it was really quite the feast.

another week, another country

Well that's it for Malaysia. Once again didn't really have much in the way of internet access here, so I haven't posted any pictures and obviously this is my first post since I first arrived. I'll try not to make it too long, but I have a few days worth of travelling to blog about.

So after my mini-fiasco at the airport on Friday evening in Kuala Lumpur, I did eventually make it to Penang Island Saturday morning. I was greeted by Viji and Vickna - Ravi's sister and brother-in-law as well as their 3-year old daughter Brihnda. They whisked me away from the airport back to their lovely home just south of Georgetown, the main city on the island. After dropping off my bags, Vickna gave me a tour of Georgetown in his air-conditioned car. I haven't travelled this luxuriously in weeks! Georgetown is a very cosmopolitan city with an interesting mix of cultures - Malay, Chinese, Indian and British influences combining to create a quite the diverse city. The food is equally varied with plenty of hawker stands and restaurants to choose from. For lunch we stopped at a hawker stand near their house and had a few Chinese dishes from various vendors and then at dinner enjoyed a tasty meal at an Indian restaurant. Off to a good start.

The second day I spent exploring the town by foot. It's not very large so I got a good feel for the various neighborhoods and really enjoyed the different architectural styles - from British Colonial to ultra-modern - that sit side by side. I climbed to the top of the Komtar tower (by way of an elevator) to get a good view of the entire island and the mainland. One of the other things that I noticed while walking around was how much quieter it is here than in Viet Nam and China. Most people drive cars and few if any honk their horn as is all too common in those other countries. It was quite relaxing, but having gotten used to the honking also somewhat disconcerting.

The next day I took a ferry north to Langkawi Island located near the Thai/Malaysian border. It's a major tourist spot and has great beaches and resorts - think Martha's Vineyard for Malaysians hehe. However, instead of lounging on the beach I decided to rent a scooter for the day and make my way around the island. Having previously been taught the ways of the scooter by Haskell, I decided I was ready to tackle a bike on my own. The traffic was much lighter/calmer than in Viet Nam and the roads were all well paved so the only catch was that they drive on the left side of the road here! In the end though everything went well and I avoided on-coming traffic like a pro! Among the highlights from the 40-mile trip around the island were a run-in with a pack of wild monkeys and a little hike up to a nice waterfall. Plus, I actually used suntan lotion this time so I didn't toast like Haskell and I had at Ha Long Bay two weeks ealier (I'm still suffering).

So that was Penang/Langkawi. I've since spent the last two days in Kuala Lumpur. It's very similar to Singapore in that it's your standard big city with sky scrapers and traffic and it has the same ethnic mix as Penang and the rest of Malaysia. It's got a bit more grit than Singapore (not very hard) but like its southernly neighbor there's not much to do here besides eat and walk around in massive malls. This is not a bad thing, but as I've found out, there's only so much one person can eat each day, and with only a day and a half to explore the many cuisines on offer, trying to eat your way across town is kind of a pointless exercise. So Kuala Lumpur has been kindda boring, but I didn't really have high expectations and now I'm ready to move on to Hong Kong, which promises to be a good time. I'll be staying with Dipti, my roommate from Oakland, and her husband, so it'll be nice to see them again. I'll upload some pictures from my week in Malaysia when I get to Hong Kong and hopefully post a few more times while I'm there. 53 days down, 10 to go. Alright, Enjoy the 4th and see (most of) you soon!

saigon

edit: here's some text to go along with the pictures:

So before I forget everything... We arrived in Saigon on Tuesday evening with some members of the party still realing a bit from the previous night's festivities. Not missing a beat however, we went hunting for food after dropping off our stuff at the hotel. Since we were staying in the backpackers district, there was plenty to chose from, but we settled on another bowl of pho from a street vendor. It would end up being our last bowl of pho in Viet Nam, which is really quite sad now that I come to think of it.

The next day, we were quite set on actually doing some sight-seeing, but needed a good meal to start us off. So we stopped in for a bowl of Bun Bo Hue, the spicy beef soup from Hue. Following the Lonely Planet's advice, from there we made our way to the fine arts museum, which was a nice french colonial building (don't worry, we didn't actually go in!). Unfortunately, it started raining slightly soon thereafter, so we stopped for a cup of coffee which unfortunately did not really seem to make the rain go away. In any event, we continued on towards the reunification palace - headquarters of the south vietnamese government during the Vietnam/American war. Though the building itself was really quite hideous - straight out of the 50's/60's, the interior was quite interesting to visit, with everything from stately meeting rooms to a movie theatre and game room with billiards and a bar (fortunately for us not operational). It's also always fascinating to see buildings that were so central to the war.

From there we continued on to the War Remnants Musuem, which offered a fascinating, if slightly biased, view of the American (as it's called here) War. One exhibit in particular, which contained many photographs taken by reporters and photographers was particularly captivating. Other parts of the exhibit which showed the effects of napalm bombing and the use of agent orange were downright deppressing. Definitely worth seeing however. We finished the day at a fancy hotel, drinking Tigers beers on the rooftop with a nice view of the city all around us. That night Haskell started feeling slightly under the weather, with all the streetfood finally catchin up to him a bit. So after dinner we joined Trinh, whom I had met last time in Saigon, for a quick drink near our hotel. She had another American friend in town, and took us all up to a nice balcony on the 5th floor of a bar. Quite relaxing.

The next day, Haskell headed off to the Cu-Chi tunnels on his own. I had visited the tunnels last time I'd been in Saigon and instead took care of financial aid and health care stuff for school - oh the joy! The Cu-Chi tunnels are a set of tunnels that the north Vietnamese resistance foces used to hide from the Americans and get very close (and under) some of their bases. You really get a sense of their determination when you realize that they lived in these tunnels for weeks and months at a time. It's well worth a visit if you're in town.

Friday was our last day in town, so we were both somewhat unmotivated to do a whole lot with the travelling we'd be doing later in the evening looming. So we headed on a leisurely walk towards Saigon's Chinatown. There wasn't much to see there because in the end it was all quite similar to the rest of Saigon. So after one last meal at a random little restaurant, we hopped on two motorbike taxis and made our way back towards the hotel were we seperated ways after another coffee. I was off to Malaysia while Haskell had a nearly 3-flight, 40 hour trip back to
Boston ahead of him.

My flight was rather uneventful other than the fact that when I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Bank of America decided that an ATM withdrawal at the airport constituted a suspicious activity and decided to lock my account, leaving me without any cash. Of course not realizing this had happened, I tried every single ATM in the whole airport. Luckily I had 20 US dollars in my wallet and was able to make it to my hotel and make a $10 call to BoA to tell them what idiots they are. Needless to say, this all put me in quite the good mood. So anyway, now I'm in Penang staying with Ravi's family. Penang is a small but very developed island in northern Malaysia renowned for its good food. So far I've already eaten some Chinese and Indian specialties and will undoubtedly try more in the next couple days. Speaking of which, I'm starving so enough babbling, I'm off.

hue and hoi an

edit: pics and paragraphs added...

I've had limited internet access since the last post, so I haven't really been able to blog at all (obviously). However, Haskell and I have had a few good days in Hue and Hoi An. We found the city of Hue somewhat unremarkable, though we didn't do too much of the 'cultural' stuff, so maybe we missed a few things. The temps are pushing 100 every day and the humidity is equally oppressive, so doing much of anything during the day requires some significant motivation - which we obviously lack. However, we did manage to get out on Saturday afternoon for what turned out to be an adventurous ride on a scooter. I let Haskell do the driving since I wasn't quite ready to learn how to ride and deal with Vietnamese traffic all at once.

So we headed towards the beach, located about 15km north of Hue. We ended up driving through tiny little villages where just about everyone we passed seemed to be saying/shouting hello. It was actually quite fun. Adjacent to this particular beach (which is 50km long) are a series of cemeteries which you can ride through. After riding through these a little while, we found a quiet spot along the beach. Little did we know that we had been followed by a horde of 15 local kids who - from what we could tell - just wanted to play around with us. We had no idea what they were trying to tell us, but we all started having fun when they started showing off their break-dancing moves and we were snapping photos and showing them what they looked like. Quite funny.

We ended up not going in the water because of the crowd around us and instead decided to go back to another spot along the beach that we had passed and seemed more developed (with parking for the bike, food, etc...) Of course wouldn't you know it, about 10 minutes down the road we ran out of gas. Time for another adventure. So we walked around looking for anyone who could help, and quickly found a younger girl at a small store who had, what appeared to be, a single liter bottle of gasoline. After some confusing attempts at communication, we decided to poor this green liquid into the bike, not really knowing whether it was in fact gasoline. Of course to do that, you need to know where the gas tank is located - which we did not. With the help of another local who seemed thoroughly amused by our predicament, we eventually figured out it was under the seat and got the bike started again (this also was not easy since Haskell had run it completely dry - yes I fully blame him).

Eventually we got to the beach and took a quick dip in the warm water before making our way back to Hue. That evening we met up with someone I had met in Dali, China and happened to also be in town. We evenutally sucked about 5 or 6 other random people into our group and closed the bar down somewhere around 4:30am. Needless to say, the following day wasn't particularly productive either.

Anywho, now we're in Hoi An which we've enjoyed a bit more then Hue - it's a small town with plenty of tourists. The other thing Hoi An has plenty of is tailors. And though neither of us had intended to have a suit made while on vacation, I now have two new custom made suits which are being shipped back home. Haskell also broke down and had one made. The prices are obviously quite reasonable and having a suit made to my measurements was actually quite fun. We also did some more beach-bumming and met up with a few more people - including another admitted Kellogg student - last night for another night of fun around town. Though I did not stay out quite as late as Haskell, at least I still have my shoes and have not sworn off alcohol for today.

So... the last few days have been tiring, not particularly productive in terms of sightseeing, but immensely fun. Tonight we are headed to Saigon for our last stop in Viet Nam. I'll try to upload some pictures when I get there as the computers here are slow as molasses. Alright, time to go wake Haskell up for a game of pool.

ha long bay

edit: second set of pictures added below.

Haskell and I have just arrived in central Viet Nam in the old city of Hue after our three day boat trip through Ha Long Bay. Simply put, Ha Long Bay was one of the most stunning things either of us has ever seen. Though it was raining when we arrived on the boat on Wednesday, the sun was shining bright Thursday and Friday, resulting in incredible sunsets and some serious sun burns. After the first of many copious meals, we took a walk through a very large cave in one of the limestone formations and then went kayaking for an hour or so nearby. Since it wasn't raining too hard, this was actually quite fun and when we returned everyone went for a swim around the boat. Eventually, after diving off the boat for a solid hour, we reluctantly came back on board to be fed once again. We spent the night drinking Tiger Beer (our now undisputed favorite south-east Asian beer), learning about German Techno and playing cards with a German couple. We awoke Thursday to bright sunshine and while most of the passengers on our boat were headed back to the mainland (they were doing a 2-day cruise), Haskell and I were joined by a Dutch couple and a German family for a full day of kayaking and boating (on a smaller boat). Though we had wavered between the 2-day and 3-day cruise, by the end of the day, everyone agreed that the extra day was very worthwhile. After a 2-hour kayak journey through the bay, we reached a quiet part of the bay away from the crowds. There we swam in and out of caves, kayaked through bat filled tunnels - into enclosed lagoons and explored some very dark caves on foot. Eventually, we slowly cruised back towards the big boat, charring our skin to a lobster like color in the process. All in all, an amazing day! The third and final day was simply a cruise on the bigger boat through the bay and one last meal on before hopping back on a bus for Ha Noi. So anyway, onto the pictures - mine are maily from day 1 and 3 as we only took Haskell's camera on the kayak trip on day 2. His are the second set of pictures below (apparently, mostly of me :P).

smoked dog

Here's a little post for you foodies and dog lovers out there. Haskell and I began our day bit early and rather poorly yesterday by watching the Celtics lose game 5 of the finals. Of course this was a great opportunity to enjoy some sticky rice with grilled pork and start drinking tiger beer at 8AM, both of which I obviously highly recommend. The rest of the day was spent walking round Ha Noi's Old Quarter, enjoying all the sights and smells. After a quick bowl of pho ga and some more wandering, we went to a water puppet show, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like - puppets frolicking in water for 45 minutes. Wonderful. Afterwards we slowly made our way to Highway 4 for our "fancy meal" ($20 for two, including beers drinks :P), which ended up being a bunch of appetizers and beer - this is not a bad thing. In case the post title didn't tip you off, among other things, we had some smoked dog meat. Basically it tasted like ham - since it was smoked - and wasn't really weird in any way. Woof Woof. We also had some catfish rolls, spicy lime beef jerky and some chayote greens. All quite good, as were the Saigon and LaRue beers :) Our thirst not quite fully quenched yet, we finished our night at a Bia Hoi (draught beer) establishment, drinking 40 cent beers on 6" stools on the sidewalk. Nice.

Today we made our way towards Hoa Lo prison, which had been used as a prison during both the French Colonial period and the (American) Vietnam War. Very interesting and well put together exhibts which among many other things included John McCain's uniform which he had been captured in. Afterwards we went to Army Museum, with a variety of weapons and vehicles which had been used and captured during the many wars Viet Nam has been involved in the last 100 years and beyond. In between all this we ate more pho (of course), took a few rides on the back of xe om's (motorcycles), walked around the history museum and Ho Chi minh Mausoleum and stopped at a french cafe for coffee and cake. Not a bad day - and not quite done yet.

Tomorrow we head to Ha Long Bay for a three-day boat cruise which promises to include plenty of fun adventures on kayaks and lots of sea food. Very much looking forward to that. Anyways, here are the pictures from the last two days - enjoy!

ha noi

First of all, Happy Father's Day dad :) While I wait for Haskell to arrive tonight I thought I'd upload a few pictures from my first couple days in Ha Noi and jot down a few thoughts on the city. I'm not sure why this country has such an effect on me, but I really really enjoy it here. Normally I hate hot, humid, oven-like weather - which is certainly an apt description of the weather here. Add to that constant harrassment from the moto-drivers and street venders, who constantly call out at you (and sometimes physically grab you) trying to get you to hop on their bike or buy whatever crap they're selling, and I can see how someone would hate it here. And although I often get the urge to punch the moto drivers, I usually just keep walking, look ahead and inevetably start smiling again.

No matter where you go, the streets are buzzing with activity from before sunrise to well after sunset with people wheeling and dealing - and most importantly eating. There's food everywhere! At every street corner and everywhere in between, someone is selling something for you to eat. Of course I have no idea what most of it is, but that hasn't stopped me so far. For example... yesterday at around dinner time, the skies absolutely opened up. Torrential rain. I guess that's why they call it the "rainy season." So there I was standing at some random street corner under an awning, without an umbrella or rain coat - hardly surprising, right dad? Of course, there also happened to be a lady serving bowls of beef pho (soup) straight out of a big cauldron. Around her, a group of maybe two dozen patrons happily slurping down their "fast-food" on tiny little 6" stools. So of course, I hunkered down and ordered myself a bowl, joining everyone else in a quick meal. By the time I was done the rain had conveniently passed.

Today I had some sticky rice with what seemed to be chicken for lunch and a bowl of pho with with I gathered were duck innards for dinner. I honestly couldn't figure out what half the innards were in my soup.. duck blood? duck intestines? I have no clue... but I'm thinking that's probably a good thing - though make no mistake, it was quite tasty. Now I'm thinking I need to go get more street food, just cause I can't help it. Oops nevermind - the skies just opened up again - maybe I'll go later. For now, enjoy the pics, I'll try to get more food pictures up in the next couple days for you foodies out there :)

headed south

Haven't posted in a few days because I haven't done a whole heck of a lot besides simply been enjoying the cool mountain air in Sapa. After the crazy bus ride there, I basically slept and relaxed on Tuesday and Wednesday - occasionally walking around town, eating food and reading. By Wednesday evening I'd made my way around the entire town about six times, knew all the internet cafes and their hourly rates and had tried most of the restaurants. So I was hoping to do some trekking come Thursday and explore the surrounding villages and take in some of the stunning landscapes. Unfortunately, the skies decided to open up overnight and it rained pretty much all day Thursday. Thus, I spent yet another day wandering around the town being attacked by the ethnic minority girls trying to sell me purses, necklaces and marijuana among other things. I did take the opportunity to plan out some of the details for my flights to Malaysia and Hong Kong and take care of some school stuff, so Thursday wasn't completely wasted. When I awoke Friday, it was still raining and I anticipated another day of boredom. Fortunately, the skies cleared up and I was able to take a short walk to the nearby Cat Cat Village, which is a small ethnic minority village a few kms below Sapa. It wasn't the long trek I'd originally hoped to do, but with an evening train to catch, I didn't want to go to far either... Along the way, I met Alex, another french traveler who was headed in the same direction and so decided to tag along with him. Like I said earlier, the scenery around these parts is really something else. The mountainsides are covered with rice paddy terraces which transform the mountains into something resembling a detailed topo-map (I don't think I'll ever not be an engineer at heart...) So now I'm in Ha Noi, the capital, having taken an overnight train to get here (arriving at approximately 4:45AM?!!?) The train was infinitely more comfortable than the bus ride to Sapa despite the early arrival time and accordingly I slept relatively well. It's good to be back in a big city too - though it sure is humid and hot here - even early in the morning. Alright, time to go explore and get my bearings before Haskell gets here tomorrow.

i'm alive

The trip to Viet Nam turned out to be quite an adventure! I left Dali Monday morning at 10AM and planned to get to Sapa in northern Vietnam by about the same time the next morning. I had already figured out that I would have to take five buses to get there, and in the end, that's what happened, though I never quite expected it to be such a crazy adventure. The first two buses were simply local buses to get me to the main bus station in Dali. Those two rides went off without a hitch and left me feeling like I could get anywhere in China if I wanted to. The next ride was a four-hour bus trip back to Kunming. Again, everything went relatively smoothly minus the traffic in Kunming and the fat guy next to me that snored the whole time. With a few hours to kill in Kunming, I went to Pizza Hut. Now I know you're all wondering if I've lost my mind. And maybe I have. But I also had a 12 hour bus ride to the Vietnamese border awaiting me and wanted to play it safe with my choice of dinner.

So while reading about the virtues of CSA's and community farms, I scarfed down my pizza and pepsi and then made my way back to the bus station. I was still feeling quite good since I'd also managed to figure out the left-luggage situation at the bus station and was now ready to embark on my next bus trip. Now overnight buses in China are often "sleeper-buses" with 3 rows of beds instead of seats. The rows are also two levels high, and so there are maybe 30 beds in total on the bus. The "beds" are approximately 5'-9" (175cm) long by 1'-6" (45cm) wide. I know this because my head, feet and both arms were pressed agains the metal bars and window next to me. Needless to say, this was not promising, nor comfortable. I popped two Dramamine pills just to be safe, hoping they'd also put me to sleep in the process and turned on the ipod as the bus pulled away. 12-hours in this bus did not seem like a good time, but I thought I could manage. Little did I know what awaited me once we left the highway an hour later.

Now there's a highway that goes all the way to the border - I think, however, since using said highway would reduce the trip length to about six hours, thus getting us to the Vietnamese border in the middle of the night, we used the local "roads" instead. Oh I forgot to mention, at this point the bus already smelled of cigarette smoke and smelly feet. Not the best combination - but again, I thought I could deal, since I was next to the window. The final straw however was the fact that these local roads were NOT PAVED. That's right... I had a 12 hour ride on what amounted to a muddy, rutted dirt path directly underneat the smooth highway. I was bouncing all over the bus the entire night - only resting when the driver would take a 10 minute break. Words alone can't do this insanity! To top it off, I was certain that I would die at some point during this journey. I had seen a mashed up "sleeper-bus" just a couple days earlier near Lijiang and also continuously worried that the whole thing would tip over into what seemed like a river as it swayed from rut to rut. Now I'm not the type to worry about being safe in a vehicle... but I really thought that was the end.

So we finally -and safely - arrived at Hekou (the chinese border tow) at 7AM, which conveniently was about an hour before the border crossing opened. Crossing was uneventful, though after the previous nights ordeal, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be leaving China. Once through imigration and into Viet Nam I hopped onto a scooter and was driven to the local bus station. Taking a ride on a motorcycle never seemed so safe. A few hours later, I made it to Sapa - though I haven't really had a chance to enjoy it since I was pretty much a zombie all day.

Anyways, that's my story. Not something I would wish onto anyone. And here's a picture from the internet of what these buses are like inside (i did not have the energy to take my own picture...)

onto viet nam

I'm just about set to move onto Viet Nam. After parting ways with Daniel I came back to Dali to spend a couple more days. The ride back was rather long - 8 hour in a 20-person minibus with my knees jammed into the seat in front of me and 19 other chinese guys who each smoked approximately 2 packs of cigarettes. Not the fondest memory I'll have of China. I was glad to be back in Dali however, and quickly found a bed at the Jade Emu hostel I had stayed at the first time I was in town. I spent the evening with a couple people who were staying at the hostel and went to a bar which advertised "Argentinian" music. Turns out, it was an "Argentinian" guy singing everything from the Beattles to Nirvana with a South American accent. Quite enjoyable.

Today I took a 25 mile bike ride through villages which line the lake. Biking isn't my favorite thing to do, but riding through tiny villages, rice paddies and corn fields was quite nice. The weather was great and accordingly I got a nice "tan" (read sunburn). And since I'm leaving the country - I'll admit it, I picked/stole a few ears of baby corn along the way... hopefully they dont catch me before I get out! Oh and this evening I had a little adventure that turned out to be not such an adventure. After dinner, I took a strole into town and walked by a hairdresser. Since I'd been considering getting my hair cut at some point and with nothing else to do I walked into the shop. The lady looked slightly confused until I made a motion and sound to buzz all my hair off. She smiled and approximately two minutes and $1.30 later I walked out with my usual haircut. Like I said, what I thought was going to be an adventure turned out to be rather quick and painless.

Tomorrow I'll head back to Kunming during the day - a 5 hour trip - and then take the sleeper bus to the Vietnamese border overnight. I should arrive at Lao Cai and the Vietnamese border bright and early on Tuesday morning. From there, I'll take another 1 hour bus ride to Sapa - a tiny village nestled in the hills of northern Viet Nam. I anticipate spending a few days there before moving on to Hanoi, but I'm sure I'll update the blog before then. Anyway, that's it for China. T'was an interesting 3 weeks full of surprises, frustrations and many fascinating sights and I'm leaving knowing I only experienced a tiny fraction of the country. There'll certainly be a return visit in the future.

shangri-la

A few quick notes and pictures from 3,200m. I've really enjoyed Shangri-La, the people here are way nicer than others I've met in China and actually seem to smile back at you! I've explored the town and neighboring Tibetan monastery with Daniel and we've both concluded that making our way up here was definitely worth it. The air is cool and crisp and the weather has more or less cooperated, though I'm glad I have a sweater and could probably use something a bit warmer. Some of the highlights that you can see from the pictures below include the monastery, the local market and the dancing in the main town square, which happens each night during the summer.

the gorge

So when I last posted I had just arrived in Dali... Now I'm practically in Tibet and am somewhat exhausted. In the end I really like Dali, but only stayed there two nights. I could probably have stayed a bit longer and may actually stop there a day or so on my way back towards Kunming. After Dali, I hoped a small mini-bus for a 3 hour ride north to Lijiang - another small town in the Yunnan province. Although the guidebooks claimed it was nicer than Dali, I thought the exact opposite. Lijiang's old town just seemed like a tourist village full of shops selling all sorts of crap that I didn't want. Not much fun. I arrived there at 3pm and walked around for a while, eating some dried yak meat along the way... tasted just like beef jerky to be honest -- not so exciting. That night I went for a drink with Merek, originally from PA, whom I met at the Hostel. He's lived in China for three years so he had plenty to say about the Chinese... I may meet up with him again later down the road back in Kunming as we are both headed for Viet Nam.

Anyway I decided to leave Lejiang right away and head straight to Tiger Leaping Gorge. This gorge, which is supposed to be the worlds deepest and narrowest river canyon (along the Yangtze River) is a very popular hike with backpackers, and the hostel I was staying at organizes regular tours there. So I left bright and early the next morning for the 3 hour ride - on pretty rough roads and again in a small mini-bus to the starting point. There I met Daniel, a Quebecois, and Gorka who is from the Basque Country, and without ever really saying so, we agreed to hike the gorge together. The three of us got along quite well as we journeyed along the 15km long trail which runs the length of the gorge. Needless to say, the views are stunning and really made the whole journey worth it. We hiked about 6 hours to a lodge called The Halfway Guesthouse where we spent the night. The weather was mild with a few sprinkles and quite grey, but the clouds rolling over the mountains made the whole trip that much more enjoyable. The next morning, Gorka headed down to the main road to catch a bus back to Dali. Meanwhile, Daniel and I continued on through some rain, mountain goats, waterfalls and more breathtaking scenery. This second part was really the highlight of the trip - really amazing stuff. The hike goes on for quite a bit longer than the 15km we did, but we called it a day around 11AM because we were both headed north to Shangri-La.

The bus trip back from the end of the gorge was typical of my travels lately. Daniel and I were walking down the main road and pretty much had to jump in front of a mini bus to stop him. We discussed a price for the trip back and jumped in. Maybe discussed is a strong word since the driver spoke no english and us no mandarin. The trip back was bumpy - with lots of land slides obstructing parts of the roads and other areas left totally unpaved by waterfalls. Once we arrived back at the beginning of the gorge, we picked up the bags we had left there the previous day and immediately and somewhat by chance were pointed to a bus headed to Shangri-La. Again, we agreed on a price and jumped on. Two hours later the bus stopped and Daniel and I concluded we had arrived. We looked up a place to stay in the Lonely Planet, found a cab and showed the driver the chinese characters for where we wanted to go. Once there, we were shown a couple rooms, negotiated the rate down a bit and layed down are bags... Somehow, without any speaking any mandarin and no prior plans of any sort, we had arrived.

So now I'm in Shangri-La with Daniel and haven't quite figured out what we'll be doing for the next couple days. This town is pretty much in Tibet, so there are plenty of Tibetan monastaries to visit... I'll probably stick round these parts for 3 days or so before slowly heading back south towards Hanoi. I've managed to upload pics from the last few days. Tiger Leaping Gorge pictures didn't come out great because we were in the clouds half the time... but if you want more, there are plenty on the internet.

moving on

I've moved on from Kunming and headed north as planned. Though frustrating, my stay in Kunming was quite productive in the end. Among other things, I ate my first mangosteen (and have eaten a dozen since - I think they taste a bit like a peach and a pear, but also a bit tart and with the texture of a lychee...), I also found an english book to read at a bookstore near Yunnan Universtiy - no small task in Southwest China. Though my choices were pretty limited - mostly to classics - I found a book about the history of salt by Mark Kurlansky, the same author wrote about the history of the oyster in New York City which I just finished and enjoyed (recommended for you foodies). So I was more than happy to pay a pretty penny for this book. I was also able to buy a pair of hiking shoes in Kunming - for just a hair over US$14. Not sure how long they're gonna last, but the price is hard to beat.

So now I am currently in Dali, a five-hour bus ride northwest of Kunming and a small town populated by the Bai minority. The town is right between Lake Erhai and the Cangshan Mountains and seems really nice and peaceful after all the large cities. Since it's quite a tourist/backpacker destination, most places here have english menus - making it much easier to eat! The hostel/guesthouse I'm staying at is also by far the best place I've stayed at so far on the entire trip. It's brand new, not too big and very clean. For less than $5 a night I can't imagine staying at a much nicer place.

Today went on a quick 10km hike in the Cangshan Mountains which offered great views of the city and lake. Tomorrow I may spend some time in the village and around the lake, and then continue north towards Lijiang in the afternoon. I've managed to upload some pictures from Beijing and Xi'an for your enjoyment. Working on the Dali pictures as we speak. It's not quite as easy when I'm on a shared computer...

frustration

I've arrived in Kunming which seems to be a very nice and quite liveable city - especially when compared to Xi'an and Beijing. The hostel rooms arent so great, but it has a great rooftop deck to enjoy the nice weather, so that's definately nice. Gone too are the smog and hot temperatures of Xi'an and Beijing, which are both welcomed changes. Unfortunately, my computer has taken a turn for the worst and pretty much has stopped working entirely for no apparent reason. It feels like it's overheating and then just kind of shuts down without warning. So now I'm left with a hefty and utterly useless pile of crappy chinese plastic to lug around for seven weeks in the hopes that I can recover the first few weeks worth of pictures from it. Most of you know me well enough to realize I'm having a hard time letting this go and it's bugging me to no end right now. Recent weather has also left much of this area very wet and muddy - meaning some of the trails I was hoping to trek aren't so navigable anymore. In any event all this has left me in a sour mood. So I'm not sure where all this is going to lead me. I should have a better idea over the next couple days, though it's going to be hard to maintain the blog as I have and upload pictures without my computer. I'll see what I can do, but no promises. Anyway, that's it for now, hopefully I'll be hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge in a couple of days...

xi'an

I’m about to leave Xi’an and head to Kunming this evening, so I thought I’d check in first. Xi’an was a nice change of pace from Beijing and I’m getting much better at navigating Chinese cities. Xi’an is a huge city of some 3.5 million people or so, but feels manageable. I stayed within the ancient city walls in a nice little hostel close to most of what was worth visiting in the city. There’s a lot of history in this part of the country, but roaming around museums never sounds too appealing to me. So, instead I made it out to the nearby Terracotta Warriors, spent a good amount of time in the Muslim quarter which is full of street food and vendors and generally continued my aimless exploration of Chinese cities. I also managed to tag along with a large group from Ireland for a fun night of drinking and card games on Monday night. The Irish never disappoint.

The Terracotta Warriors is a fascinating site with an entire army in battle formation ready to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huang after his death. It’s an impressive display and truly maniacal – my type of guy! What’s most impressive is that none of the 7000 soldiers have the same facial expression. I also managed to get there on my own (as opposed to on a tour), which wasn’t so bad – and saved me quite a bit of money - though I could have done without the horn-crazy bus driver that took me back to Xi’an. My head was throbbing when I finally got back.

Unlike Beijing I did a good job of finding good street food and eating local specialties. The Muslim Quarter – home to a large population of Chinese Muslims for several centuries - was great for this. Mutton soup, fried pancakes, some sort of noodle dish, dumplings and various other random things. I took quite a few pictures of the vendors, so hopefully you all can get a better idea of what this part of the city is like. I really enjoyed it.

Well guess that’s it for now. Sorry I haven’t uploaded pictures in a very timely fashion, I’ve been having some technical difficulties with both my camera and computer - but I think I’ve found a way around them for now. Tonight I hop a flight to Kunming in the Yunnan province in Southwest China and then head north from there towards Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La and the Tibetan border :)

duck hunt

My last couple days in Beijing were interesting – and frustrating. In the end I found Beijing to be quite challenging and felt like I barely even scratched the surface in terms of visiting its neighborhoods. The city is impossibly huge - growing in every direction (including up). I spent most of time getting from one site to another – and not really getting a good feel for the city itself or really understanding any differences between neighborhoods. Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, and Beijing tower are all very nice and well worth visiting but I really wished I’d been able to explore the city a bit further. Several things I learned

1. It’s not worth being stubborn and trying to walk from place to place– city blocks here are massive and taxis are much more efficient. That being said, it can also be extremely frustrating sitting in traffic with the cabs meter running. The subway is decent, but doesn’t cover the entire city and the buses are way overcrowded. Pick your poison.

2. The Lonely Planet map is not detailed enough and is hopelessly out of date already (only 1.5 years old). Definitely worth investing in a current map. There’s nothing more frustrating than making it all the way to an area only to find several city blocks have been completely razed and are in the process of being rebuilt.

3. Rudimentary Mandarin does not get you very far. The only people who seem to speak any English are those likely to make some money from knowing the language – in other words they’re trying to rip you off.

4. Speaking of which – bargaining is an art which I have not yet mastered. Regardless of how low I go, I still feel like I’m getting ripped off. For example, I’ve gotten sodas for 25 cents instead of 40 cents, but still feel like I could have saved a few more cents with just a bit more effort. I also got a pair of sunglasses for 1/10 the original asking price, yet once again, I felt like I got ripped off in the end – after all they wouldn’t have sold them to me if they weren’t making a profit…

Anyway, Beijing wasn’t all bad. I met some pretty cool people at the hostel and during the Great Wall trip with whom I hung out on Saturday and Sunday. I also got to have some Peking Duck, which was fantastic – though as it turns out, eating a half duck by yourself is a bit much! On Sunday night I hopped on the overnight train to Xi’an where I am spending a couple of days. The 11-hour train ride was reasonably comfortable and with a little help from Dramamine, I slept for all but the final hour of the trip. Today, I spent a few hours just walking around the city aimlessly and enjoying some of the street food in the Muslim Quarter. I think tomorrow I’ll be headed to the Terracotta Army and then will fly to Kunming on Wednesday to start the more outdoorsy part of the trip. After spending so much time in large polluted cities, I am very much looking forward to that.

great wall

Made it out to The Great Wall today. Instead of going to Badaling - the closer and more popular section of the Wall, I took a trip to Jinshanling with a group organized by the hostel I am staying at. This is approximately 75 miles northeast of Beijing, which as I found out can be a 5 hour ride during morning rush hour. Ouch. Although my spirits were slightly dampened by the long journey there, things immediately got better when I got out of the bus and realized our group was really the only group around - there were virtually no other tourists to be seen! The plan was to hike a 10km section of The Wall between Jinshanling and Simatai over 3-4 hours. Over this section The Wall is rebuilt in parts, but untouched in others. The backdrop is a lush green canvas with mountains fading into the haze. A truly authentic and breathtaking experience. The hike is actually quite strenuous, with steps leading up and down from tower to tower along a ridge with some very steep sections in both directions. At the end of the hike we had the option to "zipline" over a reservoir down to the bottom of the hill. Clearly I did not chose the walking option! Once at the bottom, we were shuttled to a nearby restaurant-like establishment for $0.50 beers and food which was included with the tour. Sometimes, beers can be exceptionally tasty, and after this hike, that was certainly the case!

onto china...

Welcome to the flip side. I’m not sure where to begin – but here it goes. Yesterday I traveled pretty much all day. What seemed like it would be a quick hop from Kyoto to Beijing was in fact an all day affair. Three different buses, three trains and 1 flight later I arrived in Beijing at the Wangfujing Hostel. How I actually found this place without any written directions is beyond me, but I did, and without getting too lost either. When I finally arrived at 11PM, I promptly went to bed.

This morning I wanted to hit the ground running and just started walking towards what seemed like The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The hostel is conveniently located about 20 minutes away from both – which as I’ve learned today, is just about next door in Beijing. Everything here is massive, including city blocks. Just to give you an idea, the municipality of Beijing is the size of Belgium. I’m shaking my head as I write this. It’s big. Anyway, on the way there, I stumbled across Wangfujing Snack Street, which is basically a couple little pedestrian only streets chalk full of food for shoppers and tourists alike. I unfortunately have no idea what real Chinese food should taste like yet, so eating here didn’t really bother me and I think it was reasonably authentic. I settled on two skewers of spicy grilled squid and passed on the grilled grasshoppers and scorpions. Breakfast of champions! I continued my journey towards the Forbidden City, electing to skip Tiananmen Square for now. As expected, there are a ton of cars lining each and every street. As a result, the sky here is extremely hazy, so much so that the moon seems orange through the haze at night. Anyway, as I entered The Forbidden City, I had a big grin on my face. This place is awesome in the true sense of the word. It’s really really impressive. I spent the next three to four hours wandering inside somewhat aimlessly, taking everything in. The Chinese certainly had a sense of grandeur when they built this place. Inside there are countless exhibition halls including a very cool exhibition of ornate clocks, mostly from Europe, that had been brought to China over the years. I finally left the complex around three o’clock looking for some more food. I had hoped to get some roast duck, but the place I had in mind is closed during the afternoon, and so instead I did what everyone else would do and had a lamb kebab and big plate of boiled intestines and a beer! Apparently I was quite the curiosity as each of the waiters came in turn to see the white guy eat his plate of boiled intestines. It wasn’t all that bad, though without the accompanying sauce, the tripe really didn’t have much flavor.

The plan now is to rest up a bit more and hit the town later this evening looking for some more crazy food and maybe to head back to Tiananmen to take in the scene after dark. Tomorrow I head to the Great Wall for a 10km hike – very much looking forward to that!

kyoto

Kyoto has been very nice and definitely lived up to the hype. It doesn’t have all the neon Tokyo does and it’s certainly not blue collar like Osaka, but it does have an unimaginable number of temples, shrines and pagodas. It’s a little overwhelming to be honest. We arrived Sunday evening and after checking into our hostel, we headed back towards Kyoto Station to find some food. The station is actually a massive complex opened in 1997 with shopping, dining and a hotel – not to mention a major train and bus station. The inner concourse is enormous – with skywalk on the 10th floor and great views of the city from the 11th floor. Afterwards, Steve and I enjoyed some conveyor belt sushi – which we hadn’t had since the first day in Tokyo.



On Monday morning we headed out hoping to cram in quite a bit of sightseeing. The weather channel called for rain on Tuesday, so we wanted to get as many sights in as possible. Our first stop was at Kiyomizu-dera, which to the untrained eye might otherwise seem like an Ewok village perched in the hills. It was gray and hazy out, but we still got some great views of Kyoto while following the hordes of school children and tourists around the grounds. From there we followed the path set out by the Lonely Planet guide down small alleys, parks and near other temples and shrines, though we opted not to visit each and every one in detail – there are literally hundreds. This actually took quite a while and so it was soon time for lunch. Having become experts in Japanese fast food over the last week or so, we were quite comfortable ordering rice and noodle bowls from a vending machine… Basically you walk in to the restaurant, put your money into a vending machine, press one of the buttons – most of which have tiny little pictures of what you’re getting – and then hand your ticket over to the waiter. In turn, he brings your food tableside. It’s just as efficient as everything else in Japan and it’s actually kindda fun trying to figure out what all the tiny pictures are when you’re “ordering”. So far I don’t think either of us has been disappointed with of the food that we’ve gotten at these “fast food” restaurants and in fact some of them have been excellent. After lunch, we made our way to Ginkaku-ji which is a temple (unfortunately under construction) with very peaceful gardens behind it. There’s a cool rock garden, a pond and lots of pine trees, all of which make for a very nice afternoon walk. With a light rain falling we decided to head back towards the hostel along the “Path of Philosophy.” Rest assured that Steve and I did not philosophize about very much of anything, but the walk down the canal was also very pleasant. Note that we saw countless other shrines and temples throughout the day, but those were certainly the highlights.



This morning (Tuesday) we left anticipating a day abbreviated by rain. As it turns out, the forecast was way off and it was actually nicer than yesterday – thanks weather channel! Once again, we ended up walking a ton, first heading north from the hostel towards the Imperial Palace Park. The park is massive and it took quite some time for us to get across – but it wasn’t nearly as crowded as the rest of the city – so that was a nice change. Since the weather appeared to be holding up we decided to turn around and head south, past the hostel to Fushimi-Inari Taisha. This shrine originally dedicated to the gods of rice and sake has thousands of torrii which lead up the wooded slopes of the adjacent mountain. It’s a very impressive sight and was certainly worth the long trek down. Oh, I almost forgot. On the way down to the shrine we stopped at Mos Burger – essentially the Japanese equivalent to McDonalds. But fear not, I haven’t lost my mind quite yet. I really wanted to try a “rice burger” which is basically a burger with “rice patties” as buns. I also didn’t actually get a burger but rather “ginger pork” which was actually something like bacon simmered in teriyaki sauce and ginger and then stuffed between the “buns”. It was quite a challenge to eat since it basically falls apart into what would normally be a rice bowl – but was otherwise quite good. Other differences from McDonalds – coke served in an actual glass (and made with real sugar!), no ketchup to be found and tableside service by a staff that actually seems happy to work there. After the Fuhimi-Inari shrine we took a train back to the hostel (we needed a break from all the walking) but stopped at the Nishi food market nearby first to take full advantage of the samples of Japanese pickles and other assorted food products on display. All in all Japan has been full of awesome foods and I think I’ve really enjoyed each of my meals here. Whether it was an Izakaya, a noodle shop, a sushi restaurant or a “fast-food” stop, the Japanese really know how to eat well. It’s been a fun nine days.



Tomorrow Steve heads back to the States while I make my way to Beijing. A number of you have asked me about the status of my plans in China given the recent terrible earthquake in the Sichuan province. I have been following the news closely and will certainly adjust my plans as necessary to avoid Chengdu and the Sichuan province in general. Since I don’t really have concrete plans past Beijing, making last minute adjustments should not be difficult. For now I expect to simply fly from Xi’an to Kunming and spend more time in the Yunan province than I had originally planned. Hope everyone back home is doing well. Next stop, China.

oh deer

Today we made it out to Nara which is directly east of Osaka – just under an hour on the local train. Nara is home to quite a few UNESCO World Heritage Sites including the impressive Todai-ji temple. It’s supposedly the world’s largest wooden structure and houses Daibutsu - the giant Buddha statue and several of his equally mammoth friends. Many of Nara’s UNESCO sites are within Nara Park, which is where we spent most of the day. The park is also home to some 1,200 wild deer, which aren’t actually very wild at all. In fact they’re just about as docile as you could imagine and rub right up to people – especially children – looking to be fed the round crackers people buy inside the park. It’s like one giant petting zoo. Now we’ve moved onto Kyoto for our last couple days in Japan. Very much looking forward to all the sights here.

osaka and himeji-jo

Osaka has a slightly more laid back atmosphere - but then again after the insanity that is Tokyo I can't think of too many cities that wouldn't feel this way. After our smooth 3 hour trip on the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka on Friday we dropped off our bags at the hostel and and went for a walk towards the nearby business district, grabbing lunch along the way at the supermarket. After walking around a bit, we took a ride on a ferris wheel which was perched atop one of the buildings to get a better sense of what the city is like... Turns out, it's huge! Although Steve spearheaded this ferris wheel adventure - it didn't take long before he balanced himself in the middle of the cabin and admitted he was afraid of heights. This amused me to no end. We eventually made it back to the hostel, which is utilitarian but clean and with a friendly staff to help navigate the city. We took a quick nap before heading to the Dotonbori Dori area in Osaka. It's basically the main drag where you can get all sorts of street food and do quite a bit of people watching. After walking up and down a few times we settled on a random Izakaya for a late dinner and beers. We both enjoyed the deep fried hard boiled quail eggs and the Ochazuke - green tea poured over rice with salmon on top - very much comfort food (well maybe not the eggs!).

Today we made it out of the city and headed towards Himeji-Jo - the oldest remaining castle in Japan and a Unesco World Heritage Site. The five story castle is quite imposing, overlooking the town of Himeji and beyond. I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one, but it was very different from any other castle I've visited. Afterwards, Steve and I took advantage of the free bicycle rental at the town tourist office to bike around town aimlessly for a little while. This didn't last too long though because we're quite lazy and decided to return home on the train. Tomorrow we're planning on heading to Nara before going to Kyoto for our last three days in Japan.

onto osaka

Thursday was our last full day in Tokyo. We spent most of the day with Rob, a fellow Kellogg admit who is doing an around-the-world trip and happened to be in Tokyo at the same time as us. The three of us wandered around Shinjuku and Harajuku, looking for gifts and other random Japanese "stuff". It was the first time it had been sunny in Tokyo, so we mostly enjoyed the weather and tried to explore each neighborhood a bit more. We also stopped at Meiji Jingu Shrine near Harajuku which was a little less overrun than the Asakusa Kannon Temple on Wednesday. After parting ways with Rob who's headed south to Kyushu in the south of Japan before heading towards China, we met up with Josh again and headed towards the Tokyo Dome Complex for wrestling. Wrestling was... interesting. Steve enjoyed every last second and Josh seemed entertained. Unfortunately for me, it left a numbing sensation in my brain. After the "fights", Steve and Josh headed out to Shibuya to have some food and drinnks with Kumiko while I headed back to Ueno to let my brain recover some. So that's it for Tokyo. Now we take the Shinkansen to Osaka for a couple days - stay tuned.


note: I've also uploaded pics from the previous post - so make sure to check those out.

go go swallows!!

We've seen quite a bit of Tokyo since Tuesday morning's tuna feast. That afternoon we met up with Josh, Steve's girlfriends's brother, who has lived in Tokyo for the last couple years or so. After a quick stop in Akihabara we went straight to Shinjuku. As advertised, Shinjuku really does seem like a scene out of Blade Runner. It's impossible to capture in pictures because you're completely surrounded in all directions by flashing neon, hordes of people and cars zooming by. It's dizzying, though in a good way. Think Times Square on steroids. Later that evening we met Josh's wife Kumiko in nearby Shibuya for dinner and drinks at a cool Izakaya (restaurant/bar). We had our own private little nook and let Kumi do the ordering. Very cool little place, plenty to drink and good food.

We got off to a slow start Wednesday morning since neither of us have really fully adjusted to the jet lag yet. We stopped at the Asakusa Kannon Temple, which is Tokyo's largest temple. Kind of an introduction to what we'll be seing a lot more of in Kyoto. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking a boat cruise down the Sumida River and wandering around Hama Rikyu Gardens and Ginza - Tokyo's fifth avenue. Really we're just absorbing all of Tokyo's eccentricities each day. It's all quite fascinating.

In the evening we met up with Kumi and Josh again and went to see a Yakult Swallows baseball game. The swallows are Tokyo's B team - kinda like the Mets and A's are to NY and SF. The stadium wasn't close to being full but there was plenty to keep us entertained. For staters, each player their own chant which fans sing the entire time he's up at bat. This goes on for all nine innings and for both teams. It's quite impressive and makes US baseball fans seem pretty apathetic. Fans from the opposing team - the Nagoya Dragons in this case - are assigned the left field grandstand and bleachers, so each team has its own side. Another startling event is when the Swallows score, all the Tokyo fans raise their umbrellas up and down repeatedly and do some more chanting. Definitely caught us off guard. Finally there's the food. You can get a hot dog, but why would you when you have Bento Boxes, Ramen Soup, Rice Bowls and all sorts of other things to enjoy. After the game, we ended the night at Okonomiyaki restaurant where you essentially make your own savory pancake with all sorts of stuff in it - bacon, shrimp, scallions, noodles and whatever else - right in front of you. It's an Osaka specialty, but this is one of the few places you can cook one yourself. Very tasty stuff. Alright enough rambling, now I need to get geared up for Japanese wrestling!

tuna orgy

Didn't sleep that well last night, though it seems like Steve slept like a log. Not sure whether it was the green tea or what but I just couldn't fall asleep despite being exhausted. In any event, Steve and I left the hotel at 6:15 AM and headed south towards the Tsukiji fish market through the early morning rain.

As it turns out, Tsukiji was everything I'd hoped and then some. More seafood - both fresh and frozen - then you could imagine and an atmosphere of organized chaos which is exhausting to be part of. Basically the whole time you're there, you're on edge trying to avoid getting run over by the thousands of carts zooming throughout the market in every direction, down all the narrow isles, while trying to take in all the sights and sounds around you. Exhausting, but endlessly fun!

Afterwards we went and did what any self-respecting tourist would do at Tsukiji and ate Sushi for breakfast. This too was sensational. After a bowl of miso soup, I enjoyed the tuna plate special with four types of nigiri tuna sashimi including ridiculously unctuous fatty tuna and some tuna rolls. Steve enjoyed the chef's special plate with a full assortment of nigiri. Sushi doesn't get any fresher than that - what a great way to start the day.

Unrelated, I'll be continuing to post the slideshow of pictures in my posts, but you'll have to allow popups from this site to see the pictures full size - otherwise I don't think it'll work.

finally here

After about 22 hours of traveling, Steve and I have finally made it to Tokyo. Our flights were unremarkable, with terrible food and crying babies to keep us amused. I slept part of the way and read The Tipping Point on the 11 hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo. I don't think I've ever read an entire book in one sitting before, but I really didn't have much else to do. The Ryokan Katsutaro (hotel) we are staying at is in Ueno - a quiet/residential part of Tokyo on the northeast side of the city. After checking in around 5pm we decided it was time to get our first Japanese meal. We ended up at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant and had some pretty basic sushi to start our trip. Nothing fantastic, but the price was right and we didn't have to strain our tired brains too much to order the food. Afterwards, we walked from Ueno to nearby Asakasa, which is the electronics neighborhood. At this point, we were both pretty exhausted plus the shops were closing, so after visiting a few "geek" shops with all sorts of toys, we returned to Ueno. Tomorrow we may try to hit up the Tsukiji fish market since we're calling it an early night. Course that may change depending on how we feel in the morning.

the last burrito

It's funny - having already been lucky enough to do one of these trips before I know exactly what the first thing that I'm gonna miss will be. Now I've whined bout bad burritos in Boston for some time now - but while you can get reasonably well executed Italian and French food and maybe even the occasional well-cooked burger in Asia, the one thing that I know full well I will have to go without for two months is a tasty burrito. So yesterday I had my last burrito at Felipe's in Harvard Square for lunch. While it was far from the best burrito I've had there or elsewhere, I did savor it a little more knowing that I won't be having another until mid-July.

Steve and I fly off in less than 10 hours and I think everything is just about ready. In the end I think I did a good job of packing light. I have about 8 days of clothes - maybe a bit more - all packed into a mini 20" carry-on and a backpack. As planned I'm also bringing my laptop, camera and of course my ipod... I still have lots of room in my bags to buy things along the way too - definitely did a better job packing than for my last trip I think.

I added a little time/date feature at the top of the blog. As you may have guessed, this is the local time wherever I may be. I don't think it would do you much good to have another clock showing your local time now would it. Alright, time to download some music for the road. Next stop Tokyo.

one more week!

Almost time to leave! I'm done with gainful employment for a couple years, I've moved out of Davis Square and back to good ole Belmont and now have a week to finalize a few more details before I leave the land of never-ending primaries. In case you haven't already noticed, I've added a subscription feature to this blog, so you can just type in your email address over to the right and get email updates whenever I post something new. Let me know if you have any problems using this service since I've never used it before and I'll see what I can do. I'll be honest though - it confuses the hell out of me and I don't have the patience to figure it out, so I'm really hoping it just works.

So, the first stop will be Japan, which I'm very excited about. Plans to go see a baseball game and Japanese wrestling (like the crappy fake wrestling Steve likes!) haven't quite materialized yet, but I think where there's a will, there's a way. Plus isn't there something appealing about going to Japanese wrestling and maybe meeting a couple Japanese hicks? Do they even have hicks in Japan? Only one way to find out, right? I'm also still very much planning to go to the Tsukiji fish market which I missed last time due to some ridiculous Japanese holiday (national foundation day -- commemorating the crowning of the first Japanese Emperor in 660BC -- serisouly, how was I supposed to know this). In any event, I'm looking forward to sushi at 8AM this time!

OK, I admit, I didn't actually have anything useful to say, but I thought I should check in anyway. I'll post again once Steve and I get to Tokyo next Monday. Weeeeeeee!

one month to go

It’s been almost a month since I last posted and the trip is about a month away so figured I’d check in and update things. Since the last post, I’ve taken care of most of the “annoying” stuff. I’ve booked round trip flights using miles to Tokyo, Beijing/Hong Kong and Seoul. Although I’m trying to leave things as open as possible, I had to book these flights early to take advantage of the air miles. I also decided to get visas to China and Viet Nam before I leave rather than run around trying to get that done in a foreign country... So the itinerary as of now looks something like this:

Boston – Tokyo – Osaka – Kyoto – Beijing – Taiyuan – Xi’an – Chengdu – Kunming – Hanoi – Saigon – Penang – Kuala Lampur – Kinabalu – Hong Kong – Seoul – Boston

The trip starts with ten days in Japan with Steve, who seems to be rather giddy about everything Japan. I’m especially excited about Osaka and the food there. Everything between Beijing and Hong Kong is pretty open, but I think the plan is to travel from Beijing to Hanoi via train over the course of three weeks or so stopping along the way to eat and drink. After that, I’ll be traveling through Viet Nam for a couple weeks – hopefully with Haskell before heading over to Malaysia. I’ve been told that my coworker’s family should be able to take care of me there. The idea behind the side trip to Kinabalu (on the eastern part of Malaysia) is to do a 14,000 ft hike. Not sure if that’s definitely going to happen or not, but it’s certainly an attractive option if I can get over there. On my way home I’ll spend a few days in Hong Kong with Dipti - my old roommate from Oakland - before visiting Seoul for two days and finally returning to Boston just in time to move to Chicago. So, yeah… it sounds pretty well planned out, but I think there’s plenty of room in there for me to change things on the fly.

Other notes: I got the good news today that I really don’t need any shots for my trip. Not that I mind vaccines, but if I can avoid them, all the better. Most of my vaccinations from my last trip are still up to date. However, I will need malaria pills and have once again opted for doxycycline which is the “cheap” malarial pill that I took last time I went to Asia. It doesn’t give you crazy dreams like Larium and it's much cheaper than Malarone – plus it seemed to work fine last time…I also picked up some cipro which will be needed in case of serious stomach issues. I'll pick up some Immodium and Pepto for good measure :)

I’ve also decided that I’m going to look into couch surfing. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept (I was too ‘til Brian introduced me to it), it’s essentially like facebook for travelers. You find people that are registered in the places you are traveling to and ask to sleep on their couch for a couple nights. The main benefits are that it's totally free and that you might get some good info from from someone that speaks English (according to their profiles) on what to do, eat and drink in an otherwise very foreign city. We’ll see how it goes, but seems like an interesting concept in theory.

Finally I’d like to note how much information there is about planning a trip like this on the internet. I realize everyone probably already knows about this so called "internet", but it’s really amazing how much you can find about places that are 10,000 miles away right from your computer. Wikitravel for starters is a great little tool and Seat61 is a great website for train travel throughout the world. Fantastic.

Things left to do before I leave... health insurance for the summer, travel insurance, learn mandarin...

smoked dog

This blog will serve to document my two-month trip to Asia between May and July 2008. I'll try to update it as best I can with pictures and text as I travel through East and South-East Asia. For now my itinerary is not settled and I'm just starting to plan everything. You kind of forget about the crappy parts about planning these trips after they're done, but visas, health insurance, immunization shots and frequent flyer miles are all un-fun things to deal with.

The purpose of this trip is obviously going to be to experience lots of great food, meet some random people and see some pretty cool stuff. My guess is I'll be able to do all of that within three days of arriving - but I'll be there for 63 days, so there should be plenty to write about. For now, the plan is to spend about ten days in Japan with Steve and meet Dipti in Hong Kong at some point. Other possibilities include meeting up with Haskell in Viet Nam and spending some time with Ravi's (coworker) family in Malaysia. Other potential destinations include Mongolia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

I've already booked a flight to Tokyo and back, so the next step is to take care of Steve's flight to Japan and possibly the next leg of my journey which may bring me to Shanghai, Beijing or Mongolia?? I'll post another update in a week or so, but in the meantime, if anyone has opinions about Shanghai or Beijing, feel free to let me know...