Chengdu!

By: Ellie

We’ve been really excited about moving on to the Sichuan province in China. They’ve got spicier food in Sichuan, and Chengdu is surrounded by tons of things to see, but we were most excited that Chengdu is the home of the giant panda!

After yet another night train, (the blankets were used again, but no cotton buds this time) we were whisked away in a taxi that the hostel arranged for us. It was nice to not have to search for the right bus or have to explain to the driver where we were going.
The Mix hostel was cute with a nice courtyard and plenty of space to socialize. We chose the cheapest option once again, which meant no air conditioner in a four-bed dorm. Luckily, the other two beds had some quiet and clean Chinese tourists, so it was not nearly as stinky as the last time.

Once we got settled in, we decided to check out the neighborhood and a nearby Buddhist temple that boasted a tea garden and mock meat style vegetarian restaurant. The temple was really more of a complex of beautiful buildings, courtyards, and gardens.

outside the temple

We hadn’t eaten since the day before, so we went straight for the restaurant. A hostess stopped us and told us we had to wait until 5pm until we could come in and eat. That gave us over an hour to gnaw our arms off. We decided to check out one of the tea houses that Chengdu is famous for. We ordered a cup of flowering tea and peopled watched while we waited.  There are men whose occupation is cleaning people’s ears with all kinds of strange tools while the customers drink flower tea and old ladies gossip and play mahjong.

ear cleaning

At exactly five, we marched right back into the restaurant and ordered a few local dishes. We had our requisite cabbage with garlic and peppers, some delicious spicy Mapo Tofu, which is a famous regional specialty, and some strange gelatinous “pork”. We skipped out on dishes such as faux-“Monkey Brains” and “Pig Ear” soup. Everything was delicious aside from the weird stuffed “pork” dish, which was sweet and more dessert-like than meat-like. Some temples just don’t get the faux meat right.

Back at the Mix hostel, we were excited to find that we showed up on just the right day for their free dumpling-making lesson. It was extra special because, while most hostels do a dumpling night once a week, this one was free and they offered a vegetarian option, the first one of it’s kind that we’ve encountered. We were pretty full when we got back, but the lessons were about to start, so we had to attend to find out the secret to Chinese dumpling making.

our dumpling crime scene

our finished products

and spring rolls too!

It was so much fun. Almost everyone staying at the hostel crammed into the dining room and almost half of us were vegetarian. After we rolled, filled, and shaped our dumplings, we got to eat everything we made. There were probably over 200 dumplings for 15 or 20 people. The dipping sauce was the most unique part. They used soy sauce and garlic and Sichuan peppers which have a numbing effect, so much so that Eastern medicine dentists use it as an anesthetic. Of course we had to have tons of beer to wash it all down. The hostel also brought out some Bijao, which is a potent homemade liquor. It was a great way to meet other travelers. In fact, this is where we met Annika and Lars from Hamburg, Germany. After wrongly assuming they were a couple instead of siblings, we got along great. They were traveling along a very similar route through China. We spent the remainder of the evening drinking 45 cent beers from the convenience shop next door.
Over the next few days we basically repeated a similar pattern. We’d do a day trip (more on those in the next post) to see sights or explore the city a little in the morning and afternoon, and then spend time drinking and eating with our new friends from the hostel. We were all backpacking for an extended amount of time, so were happy to go on the hunt for the cheapest hot pot or Chinese BBQ. Several of the nights were spent on street corners, outside of a restaurant/food stall, six or seven of us on tiny plastic chairs, around a table overflowing with dishes and empty bottles. Since Lars is also a vegetarian, we ordered plenty of veggies to share. I think his sister, Annika, was thankful that she got a break from sharing with some one who doesn’t eat meat, as she finally got to share with the rest of the carnivores at the table.

On our way home from our first night out, we discovered a massage parlor across the street from our hostel. After a few beers, we were brave enough to enquire about prices, hoping it wasn’t one of the happy-ending style parlors. It ended up being 20 yuan for an hour-long full body message. That translates into less than 3 US dollars! Who could resist? Even if it was after midnight.

As for exploring Chengdu, it actually was much more difficult than we anticipated. It is a sprawling city of 10.4 million people, and over 3 million of them live in the downtown area.  The city has recently begun work on adding an underground. This will be a brilliant  addition once it is in place, but for now it actually caused us a lot more headache. Bus stops were moved and some routes were changed all together, sending us miles in the wrong direction. We tried walking places, but quickly retreated to taxis once we realized that an inch on the map was like 2 km in real life.

baby butt caught in the act of popping a squat or dumpster diving?

We were able to walk to see their main square with a requisite statue of Mao and some beautiful but strange fountains/serpent statues, as well as People’s Park, one of Chengdu’s largest.

random wedding photo shoot in the park

We love Chinese parks because there is always so much going on in them. It seems that parks are a place for two types of people, very young and very old; Kids playing with weird toys and chasing insects, old Chinese people doing any one of their many hobbies. This time was one of the best experiences we’ve had in a park so far. We heard some loud music that could best be classified as a version of Chinese hip-hop. As we neared a clearing, we saw where the music was coming from. A group of about 50 men and women over the age of 70 were doing hip-hop line dancing. We watched from a distance for a while, noticing which ones were more sassy, giving an extra twist of the hips or clapping their hands with more flourish than others. We casually walked around the front of the group, hoping to get a better look without standing out too much from the other onlookers. Some how we caught the attention of one of the sassy 85 year old front-liners. She kept motioning for us to join in, and we would shyly shake our heads and laugh. In between songs, as we were about to move on to another section of the park, she came over and grabbed Kelly’s wrists. “Come, Come!”  Next thing I knew, we were both being dragged into the center of the group as a techno beat started echoing through the trees. They danced circles around us, literally. It was so much fun, even though we had no idea what we were doing. At the end of the song all 50 of the dancers and another 50 onlookers clapped for us, and people ran over to take photos with us. They tried to make us stick around for another song, but we gracefully bowed out and continued our walk. It was probably one of the most surreal and memorable experiences I’ve had so far on this trip.

On our last night, while out to dinner with Lars and Annika, we found a foot massage right next to our restaurant for less than 2 US dollars. Once again, we couldn’t resist. After all, we would be leaving the next day for Yunnan province with Lars and Annika and no one wants to carry a backpack with sore tootsies.

Xi’an

Our second overnight journey to Xi’an was the first time we realized how gross the night train can be, all depending on who slept in your bed before you. We boarded the train and on my bed, I found no less than 17 used Q-tips, 4 gnawed on olive pits and crumbs from something I couldn’t identify. I could deal with the olive pits, the crumbs and the used tissue that I later found crumpled under the pillow, but the Q-tips were too much. I used my rudimentary skill at pronouncing words from my Mandarin phrasebook and convinced them to give me new linens. It was fine, but have you ever tried to change a third story bunk bed while a train was moving? Yikes.

Regardless, we arrived in Xi’an and got a cab to Shuyuan hostel. Shuyuan hostel is a gorgeous traditional style building with three Chinese courtyards throughout.

We booked the room with only fan in the basement and were moved in with 2 guys who literally “live” in the hostel, which sucks because their possessions are everywhere and the room smells like man sweat and moldy towels. We walked to a huge mall we saw around the corner and ate Chinese noodles at the food court, which was dirt cheap and pretty impressive for variety. It was also interesting to see how the Chinese “do” food courts.
After that confusing experience, we strolled around the beautiful Muslim quarter, full of Chinese Muslims, of course. We tried to enter the mosque but couldn’t find the entrance so we admired it from outside. We also checked out the Bell and Drum Towers in the middle of Xi’an. Xi’an is a very modern city that seemed a little less manic than most other Chinese cities. Although is still has big beautiful traditional walls, it has more shopping malls on one block than Florida and big wide sidewalks.

Drum an Bell Tower

Muslim Quarter

BABY BUTT!

The Mosque

The next day, we made our requisite trip, like good tourists, to the Terracotta Warriors. We met Lauren from Long Island who was staying in our hostel and traveling on the city bus with us. We hung out with her for the remainder of the day. She had been teaching in Shanghai and knew a decent amount of Chinese so was a good person to have around.

On the way in. No comment.

The Terracotta Warriors figures were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers. The figures include strong warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 100 chariots with 400 horses and 300 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits. It was pretty impressive to see this site especially because it was nothing like I imagined it was going to be. I had this weird picture that they were in a cave, all in one piece, rather than buried and needing renovations and excavations. To see archaeologists working on digging more soldiers in the big pit was really cool because it was seeing history being made before your eyes.

Excavation

That night after the Terracotta Warriors, we headed to the Goose Pagoda in the center of town to see this famed laser light and fountain show. It happens every night at 9 pm, but there were hordes of Chinese tourists there. Everyone was pushing, in true fashion, to get a front spot. Ellie and I had a front spot on the front ledge and were struggling to maintain it, even though a grandmother had pushed her head between my legs so I was essentially sitting on her shoulders. She was content and therefore, I let my annoyance melt a little, even though I was uncomfortable as anything.  Soon after the show began, we realized how silly it was to even want a good spot. It was a pretty bland show. I’ve seen better fountains at the entrance of the Millenia mall in Orlando. The Chinese were loving it though so we let them have their fun and headed back to the hostel.

The next day, we were waiting to leave when one of our roommates, Roy who lives in the hostel, asked if he could make our portraits. Roy is from Hong Kong and is basically a live-in artist who does free portraits for hostel guests. He sleeps with a box set of Friends in his bed and has never heard of Bob Marley. He is a really sweet guy though, who is so curious about our trip and who I have admiration for, because he is going against his parents wishes of him getting a corporate job. He begins drawing me and Ellie is making choking/laughing faces behind him so I can see them. It takes an hour and the portrait is horrible. I look like a wrestler and he made my hair blonde and red. Oh poor Roy, maybe you should have gone for that suit after all.

We carefully rolled our portraits up and headed off for the train station, pretty excited to be heading towards Sichuan province where the food is hot and hopefully no one wants to draw portraits.

Still Kicking.

So, November 4th passed without too much fanfare, in fact, we laid on a hammock on our own little thatched roof bungalow’s porch all day in Southern Laos, only moving when it was time to have a BeerLao and maybe some curry. Regardless of how we celebrated, it was a pretty big milestone for us. Six months of solid traveling, of living out of the same bag and wearing the same often questionably smelling garments, of taking a bus/boat/motorbike/tuk-tuk every few days to a new location, and of learning to say hello and good-bye, thank-you and delicious differently at every border crossing. So what do we make of it? I can only speak for myself, but this six months is without a doubt, the most exciting, awe-inspiring, adventurous and downright challenging 24 weeks I have ever lived.  Here’s some little lessons, anecdotes and amazing experiences that I have acquired on the road.

1.    Patience pays. I can’t count how many times (mostly in Asia) that I’ve been quoted a 5 hour bus ride and been sitting on that same bus 10 hours later. In Asia, especially the local buses of Vietnam and the share taxis of Cambodia, they enjoy riding around, sometimes for hours until they fill the bus up, making it worth their while to make the journey. This means circling the city 27 times while someone shouts “Sapa, Going to Sapa!” or “Heading on the dirt road to Sihanoukville, come along” in local dialect. Often this involves a very systematic order where first they get goods to deliver, such as, but not limited to refrigerators, chickens, breakable pottery, lampshades, bananas, and on one particular bus journey, even a one ton table saw which was nimbly lifted on to the bus roof and tied lightly with a piece of twine. After goods, come any foreigners because we can be overcharged and after that, finally, any locals who need to get anywhere along the stated route. I have grown impatient on so many journeys, only to feel like a jerk when the attendant has to be the one to lift the table saw off the top of the bus at 2pm in the afternoon in 100 degree weather. The same attendant, then climbs back aboard with a piece of cinnamon bark that he’s pulled straight from the tree for me to try as we climb through the gorgeous Northern mountains of Vietnam all while offering me a huge, if not sweaty smile. All I had to do was sit for a long time, no heavy lifting was involved so who am I to complain?.

2.    The sunrise at Angkor Wat and seeing the man-made world wonder for the first time illuminated by the sun behind it.

3.    The sound of children screaming “Hello! Hello!” and then seeing their huge toothy grins and palms waving frantically out of windows or running behind your tuk-tuk in the countryside.

4.    That first motorbike experience with a strange man as a driver. Do you put your arms around him? Do you sit side saddle like the local ladies? What’s the etiquette? Will I fall off? Will he even stop if I do? It’s an amazing feeling zipping through the rice paddies and random temples with the wind whipping through your hair.

5.    I may be the charades master when I come home, because English skills are a bonus. Learning how to communicate in places like China, South Korea and even parts of rural Laos have been challenging, but also hysterical. I knew I was starved for the English language when I got so excited to hear a Southern lady voice on the other end of my long-distance Bank of America call. You take basic communication for granted everyday of your life, until spoken word does you no good.

6.    Seeing the golden ground slowly turn into the fairy chimney landscape of Central Turkey and the sunsets over the valleys while the call to Allah plays in the background.

7.    Toilets. Last night, I was on a night bus and after nearly peeing on my leg 20 different times over the half squat toilet with bucket flusher, I would have given anything for a western toilet with paper. I have mastered flushing anything with a big bucket of water, which direction to face to manage to get my pee in the actual toilet and never blinking an eye upon seeing other women use the toilet, often right next to me. Also, I always carry paper in my purse because even 5 star hotels don’t provide it.

8.    Eating Sushi Breakfast at Tskuiji Fish market in Japan at 6 am. Eating Lobster and scallops for 2 USD on the beach in Nha Trang. Drinking fruit shakes with Jackfruit and mango. Vietnamese fresh spring rolls. Curry Amok in Cambodia. Dumplings in China. I have learned that I will go to great lengths for good food even if it means walking an hour out of my way. I have also learned that my stomach thinks this is annoying trait of mine.

9.    Taking a traditional Japanese onsen with fifty naked women ranging in ages from two to ninety-five.

10.     Reaching the top of both Bokor Hill station in Cambodia and Ulsanbawi in South Korea.

11.     Finding out that for me it’s all about the people of the country. The country can have the best restaurants, coolest bars, most interesting culture, or jaw-dropping scenery, but if they don’t have gracious people who welcome you into their country, my experience is never as good. With that said, the Cambodian people have smiles that make you feel like you’ve won the lottery. After all of the torture and genocide they faced not too long ago, it’s amazing that one group of people can be so kind, accommodating and full of life at the same time.

12.    You are fatter than Asian people and nothing will change that. It’s nothing like a little healthy reminder from the locals by pointing to you and motioning to themselves about how much bigger you are or feeling it a bit odd that the van driver seems to think he can fit 25 people in a 9 person car, but then realize that none of the Asians are complaining. Way to go Big fatty Westerner.

13.     Night trains in China are their own special experience, often resulting in people sharing strange seeds with you, pointing at you while taking a picture of you on their camera phone, stealing your book to confirm in Mandarin that “yes, you do read in English and it looks funny,” and waking up in the middle of the night to find that, yes, people do enjoy watching the “Megwuo (American),” sleep.

14.     Fire red Sunsets over the Mekong river in sleepy towns while drinking local beer.

15.    Having your own small bungalow and your own hammock that costs less than 2 USD and thinking that this relaxation cost me less than an iced tea back home.

16.    The first motorbike you see that has 3 grown-ups, 4 children and the family dog on board in Vietnam.

17.     Plastic Chairs on street corners, eating whatever someone is cooking on their tiny cart or grill.

18.    I have learned to eat spicy food. For real. Now I’m the one reaching for the chili sauce at every meal. I never thought that would be me.

19.     Other backpackers can be small replacements for the best friends that you miss or as annoying as that dreaded co-worker that you felt fortunate to leave behind. The variety of people you get on the road means you’ll love some people and hate others and half the time, you’re first impression about someone will be wrong. With that being said, it’s sometimes incredibly hard to say good-bye to friends you make on the road, never knowing when you’ll see them again, but having shared that weird bus journey, drunken night out and creepy hostel roommate with these people, you feel so connected to them.

20.    Dancing until 4am on the beach with a bunch of Khmer girls to really bad hip-hop songs. Karaoke with South Koreans.

21.    Keeping and updating a blog is a good idea in theory. It’s hard to catch up when we do lots of stuff every day to write about and the internet connections in Asia, specifically SE Asia are hard to come by. We have a hard time just emailing our family much less downloading our photos and organizing the website.

22.    Ellie and I haven’t killed each other yet so it appears true that you can be with the same person nearly 24 hours a day and not go insane ☺ In fact, she’s the best travel partner I could ever ask for.

We have so much amazement left to come in the next 7 months of our journey. The north of Laos with tubing, villages and trekking. Heading for a long 2 month stay in Thailand where my mom will join us for 2 weeks, maybe getting my diving certificate on the Thai islands, a Full-Moon Party on Ko Phangnan for New Years Eve, Real Pad thai. After Thailand, traveling south to Malaysia for more beaches, Kuala Lumpur, and hopefully some orangutuans in Borneo. Work our way down to Indonesia to see the Gili Islands and Komodo dragons and fly over to the Phillipines to swim with the gigantic whale sharks. Over to Oz to explore for a few weeks and reunite with old travel friends before making a long flight home via Hawaii, San Francisco and Mexico City, stopping at all for a last ditch effort to see as much as we can before touching down on May 21st in Miami.

After all of this time, we often get asked by people “Is there anything you miss?” and even though, I feel like I’m living in an alternate dream reality most of the time, there are totally things I miss so now I give you in no random order this list:

1.    Good Tex-mex, big salads from Caroline’s, American-size pizzas (particularly Mr. Z’s after a long night), Ambrosia sushi, any American dessert that has actual chocolate in it, hummus, falafel, conch fritters, spinach dip, omelets from Camille’s, veggie burgers from the café, and sour cream. I add something new just about daily. I told you I like food.

2.    Choosing what I wear everyday. I can’t even remember what it feels like to have a closet with more than one pair of shoes and jewelry and dresses.

3.    Mango Margarita’s, micro-brew beer, and red wine.

4.    Cheese gets its own separate category.

5.    Going to the movies. I have a running list of movies I want to rent when I get back.

6.    Parties. I miss BBQ’s, birthday parties, Thanksgivings, fiestas, dinner parties, game nights, and any good time when I can rustle up a bunch of friends or family, good food and good laughs.

7.    Going to live music shows.

8.    Sometimes the efficiency of the Western world, where it doesn’t take 2 hours to change money at the bank or having someone accountable to complain to when things go wrong on a bus trip or a meal.

9.    Having an income. It’s pretty scary to watch your money dwindle and dwindle.

10.    Having wireless internet at my disposal at all times.

11.    And most importantly, my family and friends. I am shocked to hear my beautiful niece talk to me now on the end of the Skype call. I miss my mom’s cooking and her laugh where once she gets going, she can’t stop. I miss convincing Lauren to dance with strangers at music festivals. I miss the way that Gena and Merlin weave so effortlessly into the grand scheme of my life. I miss Sunday brunches with Natalie. I miss sitting on the front porch with Rachel. I miss sitting on my couch, watching bad reality TV with Cory. I miss meeting my Key West friends at the beach or at Melissa’s for some beers in the back room. I miss Dairy Queen runs with Caitlin. I miss spending time in St. Augustine with Ellie’s family, especially her mom’s bread and orange marmalade and her sister’s crazy high-school dramas. I miss going to brunch with my brother Joe at Goldman’s. I miss all of these people all of the time and there is no substitute for any of them. You never appreciate how nice it is to have people who already know your history and don’t mind when you scratch your butt or wear clothes that don’t match. Meeting new people everyday and having to explain where you come from, why you’re here, what you were like in 5th grade, can get tiring. It’s nice to have people who remember what you were like in 5th grade, for better or worse.

With that said, Thanks for reading this blog thus far and hopefully, it’s been helpful or entertaining or maybe just a time-consuming diversion from work. We’ll try to catch it up in Thailand where we hear internet is everywhere. We’ll work hard, that is, when we’re not eating Thai curry and drinking buckets of Thai alcohols on beautiful beaches ☺



Stop Over: Kaifeng

From Shanghai, we took our first sleeper train. Basically in China, you have the option of taking a soft sleeper which has 4 “fancy” beds and a door to your cabin or you can go hard sleeper which means you get a bunk bed in a row of 2 sets of three bunks per set. The bed isn’t really hard and you get a pillow and a blanket, although we would learn on later journey’s that the cleanliness of these linens are often questionable as they don’t get changed after every customer. The top bunk is the cheapest because you have no head room and it’s quite a climb, but I enjoyed the top because then I didn’t wake up with Chinese people staring at my foreign face. The lowest bunk is the most expensive and the most coveted because you get use of the table and you can properly sit rather than just lay for the whole journey.  The journey was pretty smooth and uneventful for the first ride with nothing but our usual stares, pictures taken and people offering us weird absinthe tasting seeds.

View Larger Map

Before I knew it, we had arrived in Kaifeng (pronounced Kigh-Fung). Kaifeng is basically a weird “town” which in China means it has less than a million people, but is still quite massive with over 500,000 people. Kaifeng was a weird choice because nobody goes there. It has no real attractions and nobody speaks a single word of English. Ellie and I thought it’d be good to stop somewhere during the 35 plus hour ride to Xi’an from Shanghai and looked at a map and chose the halfway point. This is how one finds themselves somewhere like Kaifeng. When we arrived, it was pouring and the streets were flooded beyond belief. Taxis wanted insane amounts to carry us 1.5 km down the road. We finally got someone to take us for a fair price and went to the hotel we had booked beforehand. It was one of the “fanciest” hotels in Kaifeng which means it was a little less nice than a Motel 6 in the US. We promptly had a buffet breakfast which consists of a variety of cold vegetable salads and hard boiled eggs before passing out in our beds for the remainder of the morning because who wants to walk around in a storm?

riding in the back of our first tuk-tuk!

When we awoke, the rain had cleared and so had the roads so we took a walk. Kaifeng is one of the only places that used to have a native community of Chinese Jews. The synagogue burnt down and then they moved elsewhere. Nothing remains of that community. Kaifeng also still has its authentic city walls around the old town which were interesting for about 5 seconds. We basically walked to a temple where some Buddhists were supposed to have a vegetarian restaurant running. We paid to get into the temple. The restaurant wasn’t really there, but some lady monks (are they monks if they’re ladies?) fed us some veg soup for about a quarter each.

The kitchen of the temple "restaurant". We're guessing there was a watermelon festival in the near future?

We toured the temple, which was pretty, and then bided our time until the night market began. Kaifeng has one of the best night markets in China, according to Lonely Planet. We ordered some prawns, eggplant, tofu, and other various vegetables and they cooked them on the BBQ for us.

It was really good and we hung out with locals who were trying to locate the English word for pretty in our Mandarin phrasebook. Kaifeng has seen so few tourists that we were something of a spectacle, even more than usual. People ran into trash cans to crane their necks at us and poked and prodded their friends in an obvious manner to let them know of our American presence.

At one point, a woman came over to our table and confiscated our Chinese Phrasebook. She proceeded to search through it for over an hour, getting a kick out of being able to communicate with us. She discovered such words as “American”, “pretty”, “Panda”, “beer”, and “thank you” and shared them with us. It was a really nice moment, and made us appreciate how hard some Chinese people try to make you feel welcome. But it also showed us how little we are actually able to communicate with people on a daily basis and how hard it really s.

At the hotel, I needed toilet paper and had to make a hand signal for butt wiping and they just laughed at me, confused. I thought butt wiping was pretty universal?

Our crazy 3 star hotel

Kaifeng was good fun though and it was pretty weird because for having no Western tourists to speak of, it had a Sam’s Club which made us laugh. The next day, we went to the market again before heading to the train station for our next leg of the journey to Xi’an, where the only weird incident that happened in the train station was some boy who said “Hello. Can I have your email address?” Hmmm.  I guess he wanted to be pen pals?

Bright Lights, Big City: Shanghai

After a long and very rocky 48 hour ferry trip from Kobe, Japan, we finally docked back in China, right across from the Oriental Pearl, a landmark that many Chinese and expats find incredibly tacky, but without a doubt, is one of the key images of the Shanghai Pudong skyline. Ellie and I agreed that we both kind of liked the tacky pink ball. Maybe, we were just happy to be off of a boat that felt as though it would tip over at any moment. Two typhoons brewing in the seas does not make for a pretty journey. Needless to say, we did A LOT of laying in our bunk beds and were pretty ready to be back in China, the land of the cheap and unusual instead of sterile and expensive Japan.

We did manage to make a few friends on the boat. While there wasn’t much in the way of food on offer, there was plenty of vending machine beer and Karaoke.

Happy to finally arrive in Shanghai, despite the smog.

We had contacted a couchsurfing couple named John and Emily and they responded back to us quickly, allowing us to stay in their crazy beautiful Shanghai apartment. There apartment was on a very high floor with big glass windows and incredible views over Shanghai. It was so clean and they were so nice, even giving us our own room and bathroom.

our room

Emily was forever filling up a glass of home brewed ice tea for me and if you know me, you would understand how perfect that is. Both Emily and John are Americans who have been living in Shanghai for a couple years. John works for a company that does LED displays.

The view from John and Emily's Shanghai apartment.

Our time in Shanghai would not have been nearly so colorful, if it weren’t for them. Shanghai is a lovely city, but is massive and hard to touch. Yet with Emily and John by our side, it was much easier. They came out to a vegetarian restaurant with us (that had the most amazing BBQ vegetarian spare ribs that I have ever had) and then even treated us for drinks in their favorite bar overlooking Pudong and it’s fabulous skyline. Shanghai’s skyline may be the best thing about the whole city. It literally glitters and entices you, teasing you because you know there is so much happening. It seems to a be a city completely unlike Beijing.

veggie BBQ spare ribs!

Shanghai's unbelievable skyline

The next day, they were kind enough to invite us to a BBQ at their friend’s apartment and we spent the whole afternoon, drinking wine and eating delicious food, particularly because one of their friends if the head chef at the Hyatt Shanghai. Later that night, Emily had some friends over and we play Mariokart and made french fries.

Kelly made quite a connection with a cute little Ozzie toddler who’s family are expats living in Shanghai. They got had a lot of fun, and I think her mum was happy to have a break too.

We did do a few cultural things while in Shanghai. We went to the Chinese propaganda museum which was hysterical to see the old posters that used to be commonplace in China. Most of the posters are about the imperialist Americans and we always have big red noses in the pictures. The museum is located in someone’s basement and for 5 yuan, it was completely worth it.

We tried to go to the Shanghai sex museum, but it was closed and in its place was an insect museum. Who knows whos idea that big switch was? I was pretty disappointed since this was the sight I was most excited about. Things are changing rapidly in Shanghai right now, due to the world expo and I imagine that, to get an accurate understanding of the city, Lonely Planet would have to create a new guidebook once a month. Restaurants close, important sights are repaired or moved, and the hum of the drill is background music. Even the world famous Bund was closed for “sidewalk work.”

The Orient Pearl Tower

Instead of  drown in my sorrow about the museum, we ended up spending a rainy day traipsing around Moganshan, which is the up-and-coming art district. A whole area full of mostly modern art galleries with some really impressive art. The galleries themselves are pretty interesting because some are decrepit attics in someone’s home and some are big museum style affairs. We had a couple of beers at the world music cafe, waiting for the rain to let up.

I was also excited because we got to go see THE CHINESE CIRCUS! Chinese acrobats are the most nimble and flexible people in the world, I think. I guess this is why many members of Cirque Du Soleil are Chinese. It was a pretty good show, although I had seen many of the same tricks in Cirque, but Ellie was super impressed with the motorcycles in the cage act. I had seen something similar but never to such an extent. At one point, there were about 8 motorcycles in a tiny metal cage, all circling each other and doing tricks. It was definitely the best part.

NO photograpy permitted (this is the only one we could get, and it was before the show)

Shanghai is a very livable city for ex-pats who move from Western countries because it has many similar comforts to other big cities like London or Paris or New York. However, it does still retain it’s Chinese charm. Motorbikes try to run you over, a local grocer is killing a pigeon for supper before your eyes and more people fit into one subway car than I ever thought humanly possible. Maybe Shanghai subway rush hour is just a training ground for many future contortionists in the circus?

Capsule photos

They gave us these crazy pink pajamas to wear, during times when we weren’t frequenting the onsen (spa).

Enjoy!

JAPAN: Budget Impossible?

Since many people often wonder how we pay for our extensive travels and for those who are about to take a RTW trip of their own, we have decided to start talking about how much travelers should expect to spend on certain things in each country so they can plan their own budgets.

We don’t keep an incredibly detailed budget or log of our spending but we know when something is too much money and we have no problem seeking out a better deal. We are actually trying to learn to track our expenses better so as time goes on, this portion of the blog may get more technical. I would say that we fall into a category of “budget travel” but we also didn’t travel halfway around the world to sit in our hostel room, eating bread and cheese. We make some sacrifices here and there, allowing ourselves to enjoy a luxurious meal or an expensive activity that is specific to the area, once in a while.

Japan uses Japanese Yen as their currency.

95 Yen=1 USD
2 Weeks in Japan = 1,085.79 USD for two people/542.50 each
Note: The above figure doesn’t include our transportation to/from Japan, because I thought it was helpful to see how much we actually spent while in Japan and will talk about transportation below.

Accommodation in Japan

Lodging in Japan is massively expensive. I would say that hotel and hostel costs can  safely add up to half of a persons budget in Japan. I think that when people talk about how expensive Japan is, one of the main factors for this opinion is solely how much people pay to lay their heads down at night. Couchsurfing, Hospitality Clubs or just old friends should absolutely be used if you plan to have an affordable trip.

Tokyo: We were lucky enough to stay with Ellie’s high school friend who lives in Tokyo for five nights. When we looked online at hostels, a few dorm beds start at around 2,500 yen (26.00 USD) and quickly rise from there.

Kyoto: Again, we were fortunately saved by a couch surfing miracle named Shoji who generously let us use his entire extra house with a couple other couch surfers. Traditional Japanese housing with an awesome host that didn’t cost us a dime is a pretty lucky situation. Kyoto is the king of crazy expensive lodging. With few youth hostels, many of the rooms cost around 7,000 yen (73USD) per person.

Kobe: The one night we paid for accommodation was out of sheer novelty. I really wanted to try a Japanese capsule hotel, so we stayed the night at the Kobe Kur haus which I highly recommend. It was 3,800 yen (40 USD) per person, but included use of the traditional onsen (Japanese baths) and sauna, hair dryers, mineral water, shuttle bus to the train station, toothbrushes, PJ’s and all the trimmings.

Capsule Hotels are good value, but most cater to men so check before planning your trip. Also, if really in a tight spot, many people use to the manga internet café private cubicles to sleep for the night. These can cost upwards of 2,000 yen (22 USD), but still remain cheaper than most hostel dorms.

Transportation in Japan

As we previously mentioned, we flew from S. Korea to Japan and our flight was a pricy 300 USD.

In Tokyo- We used the confusing subway system to get us around the city. Subway tickets cost between 150 yen and 300 yen depending on the distance of your journey. Cabs normally start around 800 yen and rapidly go up from there so they are best to be avoided.

Getting from Tokyo to Kyoto- Ellie and I bought a Seishun Kippu Under 18 pass which is basically a rail pass that is offered during school holiday times. You don’t have to be a student or under 18 to use it. The only catches are that they must be used during a specific time such as the season was from the end of July to September and you can’t use any fast trains or shinkansen bullet trains. This pass is perfect for people who have a decent amount of time on their hands. It costs only 11,500 yen for 5 rides that can take up to 24 hours. Also, two people can use the same pass. So Ellie and I each used one stamp on the pass to get us from Tokyo to Kyoto. It is brilliant because the pass is cheaper than even one ride on the bullet trains. However, a ride that normally takes 1.5 hours from Tokyo to Kyoto took us nearly 8 hours with about 5 switches so be prepared that saving money means losing time.

In Kyoto: We took the subway or the JR line trains and most rides cost about 200 yen per ride. It is pretty expensive and adds up quickly especially because to switch between JR lines and subway lines, you have to pay again. This system is a money sucker.

Day trip to Nara : We bought a ticket on the JR line that heads to Nara and it costs a little over 600 yen each way.

From Kyoto to Kobe- We used the remaining stamps on our pass to get there, but another really excellent value is the Kansai-through pass which costs only 2000 yen for one day so if you need to get somewhere such as Kobe, Kyoto, or Osaka for less than 20 USD this is the option for you.

Food/Drinks in Japan

In Japan, it’s possible to eat at convenience stores for really cheap. You may be thinking why would you want to do such a thing? Because the sushi and inari are cheap and super fresh. You can get small sushi sets for around 400 yen at the convenience shop. At restaurants, we paid about 1400 to 2000 yen for two people, but this is the cheapest we could eat at fairly cheap local restaurants. Food quickly gets more expensive and we saw many set menus in Kyoto, starting at 8000 yen (over 80 USD!) and included no alcohol. We became gigantic fans of conveyor belt sushi because it’s one of the cheapest ways to try lots of new sushi and normally costs around 130 yen per dish.

Beer at a convenience shop was normally around 300 yen and soda was about 150 yen. Water was similarly priced to soda depending on the bottle size. We had the pleasure of trying absinthe and that was about 1000 yen per shot in Tokyo but it was absinthe after all and at a pretty upmarket bar. Wine was fairly cheaper than other places in Asia. We found a bottle of fairly tolerable red wine for 500 yen, but many better quality imports could be purchased for only a 1000 yen.

Sights/ Activities/ Side Trips

In Japan, we tried to do a lot of things for free. We spent our time walking around Harajuku, people watching and we visited Tskuiji fish market, which of course is another free activity. We went to a bar that had a free art opening and free champagne, luckily enough. We visited the temple in Yoyogi park which costs nothing and to be honest, we walked a LOT, taking it all in, walking from one neighborhood to the next.

In Kyoto and Nara:

We paid to go in a few temples that sounded interesting and most of the time, the admission was 500 yen per temple.

We went to a little neighborhood onsen (a public bath) and it cost 500 yen. You could buy shampoo and conditioner for about 100 yen each and rent towels for the same.

So, Is Japan a budget destination for Americans?

I wouldn’t call Japan a budget destination for Americans, but I certainly wouldn’t agree with the critics who estimate that you will blow your entire mortgage with one trip to Japan. Can you blow a month’s rent? Sure, if you want to shop ‘til you drop in Ginza, eat fugu and Kobe steak, and stay at a 5 star hotel. Japan can be done amazingly with a decent budget though. I would say it’s similar to vacationing in NYC. Accommodation is the only really outrageous cost you will incur on a daily basis. Would I recommend it to backpackers? Maybe. If you’re trips not too long and you can stay on someone’s couch, then it’s doable, if not a little depressing because there are so many experiences you may miss out on due to money. Granted, I would love to go back with more cash and experience a different Japan.

JAPAN in Pictures: part 3

Japan was miles more Western than China and considerably more Western than S. Korea even. I think because of our short time and visiting only two very heavily touristed locations, we didn’t get to interact with locals as much as we normally like. One main reason for this was simply that no one was at all surprised or shocked to see us. Some of the best conversations, we had in S. Korea or China, were simply because we were different and interesting to locals. Nobody batted an eye at our foreigner faces in Japan. I think another thing that surprised me was that Tokyo was not this crazy city that is years into the future that the media and Western folklore makes it out to be. Was it interesting? Sure. Was there crazy technology and weird fashion to the point of making me pause and say, Now this is Tokyo? Not really.
Though, I was pleasantly surprised with Kyoto. What a beautiful city which deals really gracefully with the copious amounts of tourists that pour through it’s streets. The temples are stunning, the street festival that we stumbled upon was intriguing, the tiny alleys of Gion with red lanterns alight, buzzing with the anticipation of spotting geisha coming out small doorways at any moment teamed with the cozy dim lights of people on rooftops and basements, enjoying some of the finest cuisine in Japan, makes Kyoto a wonderful place to be. Though, we could afford no haute Japanese cuisine in fancy restaurants, we were content to sit with a coffee over the river at sunset. Kyoto is somewhere, I think, we both exclaimed a 1,000 times through the week that we MUST come back with money at some point. It made an impression on me where Tokyo left a scratch of disappointment.

Nara is like a smaller Kyoto but with deer approaching you all the time for biscuits. They have a giant Buddha in the largest temple in Japan (I think?) and a gorgeous lantern festival throughout the forest celebrating the dead. We had a wonderful day trip there that we recommend to anyone.

inari and sushi from 7/11

The food in Japan was simple, but delicious. We could afford only simple things like conveyor belt sushi or inari from convenience shops, but everything was fresh. Okonomiyaki, a sort of Japanese cabbage pancake became our favorite dish.

Overall, I don’t feel like Japan was anything like I expected, but I would love to go back and spend some time in other provinces, especially near Mt. Fuji and in Okinawa with a little more money and a little more time.

NARA in PICTURES (and video):

forgive all the deer photos, they are just too cute. I couldn’t help it.

snow cone maker!

Giant Buddha Temple

The Lantern Festival

At the Setsubun Mantoro (Lantern Festival) everyone goes out and dresses up in their traditional summer Yukata (cotton Kimono) and enjoys the lights and street fair.

Nara's Mascot

After our time in Nara and Kyoto, we just spent one night in Kobe, where we embarked on our 48 hour slow boat to China. But the one night we spent was pretty awesome because we stayed in a capsule hotel. Take a look:

Japan in Pictures: KYOTO

(PART 2)

From Tokyo, Kelly and I caught an early train out, the first of seven that day. Since we booked a student discount ticket called “Kippu Under 18 pass”. Anyone can get it, and it’s about $100 for up to five days of train travel. The catch is, you can only take the slow local trains. So from Tokyo to Kyoto ended up taking us about 9 hours, compared to the 2.5 hours by high-speed train.

We were excited to get to Kyoto to see a few of their temples  and shrines (there are over 30 in Kyoto!) and maybe even spot a few Geisha!

Here’s some photos from around Kyoto:

Starting with the covered market. It had everything from vintage stores and a 300Y (3 dollar) store with really kitschy home stuff and a kimono and yukata store that sold traditional Japanese clothing, to fresh fish and handmade candies.

an $180 sundae!

obviously, the fish were the most interesting photo subjects

Scenes from our walk from the train station to Shoji’s place. (we did this 15-20 minute trek two to four times a day fro a whole week)

one of the many gaming shops

At the train station after school

Buddhist cemetery on our street

One of our favorites out of all the shrines and temples we saw in Kyoto: Fushimi Inari Shrine

It has thousands of these huge orange tori (gates) that you can walk through. A really cool experience.

Foxes are guarding every entrance to the tori "tunnels"

In the evening, we checked out the quaint but ritzy Gion and the Kamo riverside along Pontocho Alley. It’s what we expected old Japan to look like. There are tons of traditional buildings housing fancy restaurants and boutique hotels.

Ponto-cho

Friday night street fair

Gion is also known for Geisha spotting. Geisha are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance. Most people like you and me will never see a Geisha perform. It is very expensive and you must be pesonally invited by some very important Japanese man or something. Geisha houses tend to be around this area, and in the evening you can see Geisha shuffling off to private appointments.

Typical Geisha House

Our first Geisha spotting!

We also did tons of walking all over  the city, seeing as many of Kyotos treasured temples as we could.

Sanjyusangen-do Temple: temple of 1000 Buddhas

Pretty shrine

Temple of 1000 Buddhas

Dude in a Yukata

more shrines...

Pagoda

another pagoda

And another Geisha spotting! This was a really weird, because we were doing our own little walking tour when we saw these two geishas. We didn’t think they were real geisha at first because often in Kyoto, you can pay a lot of money and dress up like a geisha and these two were taking photos of themselves on their camera phones. Then we followed them subtly down a lane and they walked into their geisha house. It was pretty funny to see the geishas doing normal things like cell phone picture taking.

We also saved some money by couchsurfing in Kyoto. We were lucky enough to get to stay with our first choice, Shoji’s House. This wasn’t your average host/surfer experience. Shoji is a middle aged Japanese man who has a wife and two daughters. He owns an “extra” house near the edge of town in Kyoto which he pays all the bills for, but doesn’t live in. He calls it “Shoji’s Couchsurfing Castle.” It’s a little bit of a walk and a subway journey from the city center, but a godsend for couchsurfers in expensive Kyoto. Shoji is truely a Japanese saint.

Ellie, Shoji, and Kelly

Shoji stops by on the day you get there to meet you, show you around the house, and give you maps and tons of information about the city. You can tell he really enjoys meeting travelers and hearing their stories. I don’t think he ever stopped smiling the whole time we were there. We found out that he actually had his honeymoon in KEY WEST over 15 years ago! He told us he has plans of coming back to Florida when he retires, maybe on a roadtrip from Maine and all the way back down US1 to Key West on a motorcycle!

His place is a traditional Japanese-style house with Tatami mats for floors and sliding paper doors through out. There are 3 large rooms. Everyone sleeps on rolled out futon mattresses. He has had hundreds and hundreds of CSer’s stay there from literally all over the world.. He basically says yes to as many people as he can and we all share the house together. It’s kind of like a cool hostel for like-minded travelers. And he lets everyone sign the walls when you leave as a little momento of your stay. We had a great time and ended up meeting some really great people.

Our little thank you notes...

More Tokyo

Scenes from Shinjuku: part red light district, part THE place to go out and be seen. Exactly what you’d expect from a night out in Tokyo.