Post #20 - October 31, 2012 - Beijing, China

Patty here....

We have been busy trying to finalize our plans for China which is why I am posting late. There's so much to see and we only have 30 days in China so we obviously want to make wise decisions. We are also discovering we have a slight despise for most things touristy. So, we really want to go off the beaten track a bit here. And according to Jeff's friend Dale, China is a safe country to do so. We're having dinner with him again tonight to get his input on where he thinks we should go so hopefully everything will be ironed out soon.

Yesterday we were on the Great Wall of China!! It was an entire day trip that got us out of bed at 6 am. We scurried off to the bus to meet our fellow travelers and departed at 6:30 am for the wall. The bus driver had luke warm McDonald's coffees and weird Egg Mc Muffins waiting for us. The sausages inside the Egg McMuffins looked a dark pink colour and tasted kinda funky but we ate them. After 3 hours travelling through what looked like the sort of terrain you'd see in a western movie, we arrived at the base of the wall.

Our tour guide recommended we take the cable car up to the top of the mountains where the hike began. This added to the cost of an already pretty expensive day... but we followed her recommendation. Later we learned we probably could have made it up to the top faster on our own in a much less death defying fashion. The cable cars were slow and up very high.

 

 Once we got up there and got going with our hike, we were greeted by some overly friendly locals. They kept near us for quite awhile trying to converse with us using their clearly minimal English, offering to take pictures, sharing with us they were from Mongolia and smiling at us constantly. After 10 mins, we started to realize we were clearly being followed. Not sure why we were the unlucky chosen ones, but they ended up following us for 30 god damn minutes. There was one lady who had greeted us first I think, who seemed to think she had claimed us for herself because she started scolding another lady who I started conversing with. The other lady was a much better sales person; personable, and much more genuine. The moment I asked the nicer lady if she had kids, the other lady could see I was warming up to her and she started screaming at her. Then a third lady got involved in the scuffle and both were yelling at the nicer lady who ignored them and looked at me with desperation kindly asking that we look at her souvenirs and buy something from her. This bickering between them went on for 10 mins when it felt like it could get out of hand. As they were bickering, I told Jeff "hey I think they're fighting over us".

At this point Jeff and I had ran out of patience. We agreed we should make a break for it so as the one lady was yelling with her eyes closed like a small child having a temper tantrum, we ran to the next post as fast as we could. I ended up tripping on some stairs landing on my knee, and putting a small dent in camera lense (nothing serious). The fall didn't stop me, we kept running for another minute or two until we were sure we had lost them. There's a hilarious picture of my back turned to the camera with my arms up in victory at the top of a post on the wall. You would think I had climbed to the top of a very difficult climb, but no.... this was in celebration of good riddens! Even the ladies stalking us began laughing as we started running away... It is kind of funny in a way, but the whole spectacle was also kind of sad. Jeff thought they were pretending to fight to annoy us enough that we would pay them off. I think they were actually fighting over us. If not, then they were talented actresses. But in any case, their desperation made it very difficult to show them kindness. I think Jeff and I both felt stuck between a rock and a hard place, because you want to empathize with these people, but they don't look at you like human beings. They look at you like you're dinner. It's an unnerving, uncomfortable feeling and the whole thing for me kind of set me off on the wrong foot. I ended up getting over it and we took some amazing pictures but the ordeal stuck with me for most of the day.

The weather was perfect yesterday. Not too hot or cold and it was mostly sunny. We couldn't have asked for much better unless there was some fog around the mountains to go with our sunny day. I only wish we could post some of our pictures, but sadly the internet connection is WAY too slow to do much here. We'll post pics as soon as possible. Overall, the wall was amazing. It stretches as far as the eye can see! We hiked for a total of 3 hours along the actual wall itself. We almost made it to the last post - where the wall is no longer hikeable, but, we were in a rush a to get back to the base for lunch.

We got back, had a decent lunch and then slept most of the way home. We were exhausted! We ended up  having dinner at our hostel which turned out to be our best meal so far in China. It was excellent. We ordered two 600ml Chinese beers at $0.60 a piece, a dish with spicy chicken with green peppers, onions and black beans which also came with a big portion of white rice and we also ordered another dish with shredded potatoes and onions with white rice on the side. The whole meal came out to less than $10!

Today we're venturing out into Beijeng to do some bargaining and get some good deals on silk and pearls - hopefully the real things. I did some research on discerning fakes from real ones but sometimes the fakes are too good to recognize. Anyways, wish us luck. These vendors are said to be verrrry feisty. But, thanks to The North West Company, I can be feisty too! I am pumped. I haven't practiced by bartering skills in a while. Good to time to brush up.

Ciao for now,

Patty

Post #19 - October 30, 2012 - Beijing, China

Can't upload pictures. Will do so as soon as possible. 

Jeff here. What an interesting day. Today I think we are further refining what it means to us to travel. I'll start from the beginning. We had a pretty lazy morning, having stayed up pretty late finishing our blog last night and getting settled into our hostel. We wandered down into our hostel's courtyard around 11:30 am to set out for the day. A very helpful worker here, who I think is the owner of the hostel, recommended that we eat lunch at a nearby restaurant that serves hotpot, which sounded amazing. So we headed there for lunch.

It was about a five minute walk and only once did a security guard run up to us to indicate to us that we were walking where we shouldn't be! Pretty good start. The restaurant was beautiful and the staff surprisingly welcoming. The people are much different here than in Japan. People seem more laid back. The women also seem to have a higher social standing in China than in Japan. They are much more confidant and direct. Weird, but a nice surprise. We had to wait about 15 minutes for our meal, and a couple of others also waiting tried to strike up conversations with us. Let's just say those conversations ended after about one word. We sadly know nothing in Mandarin, and it must be one of the most complicated languages in the entire world. The word "ma" has four different meanings. What distinguishes one meaning from the next is the tone: it can be constant, go down, go up, or go down then up. It's insane. This makes saying even simple words like 'hello' and 'thank you' a monumental task. Hopefully within the next 30 days or so we get the hang of the basics.

Once we were led to our table, we were shown a menu and had no idea what to order. Patty showed the waitress the phrase "what do you recommend" from our Lonely Planet book, and she suggested a bunch of things. It was weird because all the pictures in the menu were of raw foods, like meats and vegetables. So we ordered and then they brought us essentially a bowl of water with a flame underneath. Then they started bringing us the raw meats and vegetables that we had ordered. We sat there staying confusedly at our meal until our waitress actually started grabbing the meat and putting it into the boiling water. We had a good laugh at this because over the course of the meal, our waitress was basically feeding us and teaching us how to cook our various dishes. In the end, it was an interesting meal, but not one that I think either Patty or I will seek out again. Here's a pic:

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I thought for sure I'd be sick after eating this, but it's about 12 hours later and I'm still standing. After lunch we hopped on a bus (1 Yuan each, or about 16 cents!) and headed to Tiananmen Square, which is apparently the largest public square in the world. It really is gigantic. There is a massive pillar in the middle, but I'm unsure what it means. Here's a pic:

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Before heading to the more northerly part of the square we spotted a massive structure to the south of the square. These structures were the gates to the Forbidden City:

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After looking around here, we headed to the northern part of Tiananmen Square. There was a quite stunning floral arrangement, as well as two massive TV screens playing government propaganda. Here are some more pics:

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From here we headed into the Forbidden City, but not before I got a picture with Mao:

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We took a million pictures of the Forbidden City, but overall I wasn't very impressed. Taken as a whole, the complex is absolutely amazing. It's massive. The scale is beyond anything I've ever seen. But the architecture is pretty similar throughout, making it a really long, boring walk. It pains me to say it, but after seeing the same design of a beautiful building three, four, five times in a row, it becomes tedious. It was also cold. This may have had something to do it. We followed a tour group for a bit, listening in on some of the details of the complex, but that too wasn't very interesting. We walked rather quickly through the remaining half rather quickly. Here are some of the more interesting shots we took while there:

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We were meeting one of my former colleagues for dinner that night, so once we were out of the Forbidden City, we headed back to our hostel. Luckily, it was within walking distance. We took a little bit of time to plan out the next stop on our trip and then my friend, Dale, arrived. We had a really great night. Dale took us to a restaurant he had been to before. I think the bill for the three of us ended up being about 50 Yuan, or about $8. It wasn't incredible, but it was definitely edible. And you can't go wrong for that price! We then wandered over to a really beautiful part of Beijing that had restaurants and pubs surrounding three quite large lakes. It was quite a stunning area that we'll need to go back to to take a proper picture. Here is one pic:

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We mostly talked about traveling. Dale has been everywhere and done almost everything. We learned a lot from him and will adjust our itinerary in China as a result. We will now be adding south-western China to the list, a place near Yangshuo called Xingping, I believe. We're actually going to meet with him again (this time to buy HIM dinner) on Thursday to pick his brain a little bit more.

One thing we realized when talking with Dale was that seeing the main tourist sites is not really what we signed up for. While nice, they just don't have the authenticity that we are looking for. We both think that Dale will really be able to help us to choose some better destinations in terms of finding what we're looking for. We'll of course update our itinerary when we can.

Tomorrow we're off bright and early to the Great Wall!! Our bus leaves around 6:30 am so I should get to bed. Hope everyone is well. Take care!!

Post #18 - October 29, 2012 - Beijing, China

Good morning in Canada, it's Patty writing from our super nice guesthouse in Beijing China at around 11:22pm local time.

I still can't believe we're in China. I never thought I would get the chance to go to China and here we are, unscathed after our creepy night in a former mental institution turned hostel and long day of travelling. 

A funny note about our flight was the announcements regarding turbulence  Every time we encountered some, a recording of a guy with a deep voice and an English accent came on saying "We are experiencing turbulence. Please return to your seats as soon as possible. Those passengers in the toilets, please hold onto the railings"... We had a good chuckle every time that came on.

We arrived in Beijing at around 9pm local time. We whizzed through several different customs desks prior to arrival but entered the country with no issues. It's pretty cool to see all the work and planning for this trip finally being realized - preparing the Visa applications, booking the hostel and flight in and out of China, Mr. and Mrs. Valdivia, and Jeff's bro Chris kindly driving us around the city of Ottawa all in order to get our Visas to see this country. And, after it all, here we are. It's surreal and very cool!

Japan was exciting in its own unique way but we never felt too far away from our western comforts. But, here... wow it already feels soooo foreign. Many of the customs people were dressed in olive green military uniforms that looked like they dated back to the 40's, some others at the airport were dressed in long black trenchcoats and military boots directing people to taxis. It already has such a different feel than Japan and it's much colder (+10)... Can't wait to learn more about this country.

So after waiting 15 mins for our luggage at the location we were directed too, we got sent off to a separate location in the airport reserved for international pick ups. So we, and around 8 others muddled our way there and collected our luggage. Jeff and I joked about secretly hoping our luggage was lost so that we could use our luggage insurance claim to buy some decent new clothes (we're already getting disgusted with our selections)! 

Anyways, once we finally picked up our luggage, and after several rejections, we finally found one very nice taxi driver, who took the time to understand where we needed to go and got us there at a fair price. We walked through some very dark creepy alleys before finally getting to our dear hostel which as I mentioned is awesome. It's over a hundred years old. It was the top choice according to Lonely Planet and is called "Sitting on the Walls Courtyard" for a reason. Once you get in, the room is solely lit by red paper lanterns hanging all around a roofed courtyard with red painted doors and window trims surrounding the entire space of the courtyard. Each door leads to a different set of bedrooms. There's a pretty fountain in the center of the room surrounded by sofas, coffee tables, and various dark brown wooden tables and chairs. Each table has its own pretty lantern or lamp that look like an antique. Our bedroom is on the second floor and we actually have a bit of privacy. The bedrooms are quaint but cozy. There are 2 twin beds each with crisp, clean white sheets and a doorway that leads to another room with the same set up. It'll be a solid get-up for our 6-night stay here at this hostel - the longest we have been in one place since starting this trip. Here's a somewhat fuzzy pic of the courtyard:

No plans yet for the morrow except meeting up with Jeff's former co-worker/friend Dale who is working and living here in Beijing. We should bring our notepads and take some notes on how to travel through China. This guy Dale, is as seasoned a traveler as they come. He's been everywhere.... and I mean everywhere. I can't list all the places, but Jeff will share more about him tomorrow. All I know is he speaks many different languages including Arabic and he's a white dude from Thompson, Manitoba. He sounds like a great guy, and a very interesting fellow.

Have a great day back at home.

Patty

Quote of the day:
Following my suggestion to try scuba diving at least once and suggesting Jeff was too scared to, he responded in a snappy tone:

"Well I'm also scared of putting my head in a lion's mouth, that doesn't mean it's a good idea."
~ Deep analogies by Jeff Valdivia

Post #17 - October 28, 2012 - Osaka, Japan

Jeff here. Last night we spent a wonderful evening on an overnight bus to Osaka from Hiroshima. I first have to say that the bus line we are taking, called Willer, is pretty unconventional. They did not have a bus station in either Kyoto or Hiroshima, so we were basically instructed to wait at a particular spot until the bus arrived. In Kyoto there were buses coming and going prior to our departure, so at least we had the peace of mind of knowing we were in the right spot. In Hiroshima, there was no bus and no workers at the place we thought the bus would pick us up from until about 20 minutes before the scheduled departure! Anyway, a little bit nerve-racking.

So, we boarded our bus around 11pm and sat down in front of a young couple that looked and sounded like they were from North America. As soon as we got settled into our seats, like on our previous trips, we started leaning our seats back so that we could get to sleep. As Patty was moving her seat back an indignant squeal erupted out of the girl behind her. She was apparently on her laptop and the back of the seat was getting in her way, since they lean back very far. So, Patty apologized and stopped moving backward. We figured that once the bus got moving they would go to sleep themselves so leaning our seats back wouldn't disturb them. We were wrong. They were up for a couple of hours on their computers, so we were stuck not being able to lean our chairs back. At one point, after an hour or so, I asked the guy behind me whether he would mind if I leaned the chair back further. He didn't respond, but the girl said something like "Actually, pretty sure that's the maximum!"  She was pissed. But so were we. We chose the overnight bus so that we could sleep! The ride itself was only 6 hours long! It was impossible to sleep with our chairs in the positions they were, so Patty and I had a horrible night's sleep. Hopefully those morons behind us did as well. I don't think either Patty or I fell asleep until after 3am, with the bus pulling into the Osaka train station at 5am. Sigh.

We arrived in Osaka so early (on a Sunday!!) that practically nothing was open. It's a good thing we were in Japan, where it seems as though there's always people up and about. We took a quick subway ride to the station that was closer to our hostel and it wasn't too long before we found a coffee shop to sit down. We grabbed two coffees there and pulled out food for breakfast we had been carrying. We spent around 2 hours just sitting there and trying to wake up. We assumed our hostel would not open until about 8am, so we waited.

We found our hostel without too many issues and arrived around 8am. The hostel is very strange. Like, out of a horror movie strange. It's on the 9th and 10th floor of a huge office building. Patty thinks it was once a hospital or care home, because it has really wide hallways, the massive sliding doors, and a cafeteria. Everything is also oddly clean. I had visions of being abducted in my sleep and being experimented on.

Unfortunately, we couldn't actually check-in until 4pm, but were able to drop off our luggage. We stayed around the hostel until about 10:30am drifting in and out of sleep on a couch in the common room. We weren't really sure what we wanted to do, if anything at all. We were exhausted. We decided to head to a noodle restaurant recommended by our book that sounded amazing. We made it there without too much difficulty, even though it was in the basement of a large office building, but it was closed. This is the third or fourth time that stupid Lonely Planet has let us down. So, starving, we set off for another restaurant. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was pouring rain. Thankfully most hostels offer free umbrellas. My feet were still soaked by the time we made it there.

Since it was our last day in Japan, we decided to go all out. It was a sushi restaurant, so we ordered rolls, nigiri, and tempura. It was all delicious. Here's a pic:

By this time we were barely conscious. We lingered at the restaurant debating what to do, and we decided to just head back to our hostel. We got back around 2pm. We couldn't check in, so we again just hung out in the common area. I napped some more.

Once 4pm finally rolled around, we both showered and then set off to find some dinner. We decided on an Italian place recommended by our book. I think both of us have had enough Japanese food for the time being! We ordered a pizza, one side deluxe and the other jalapeno and minced meat, and it was quite good. Not as good as our pizza in Nara, but very tasty. From there we set off to find a pub where we were meeting an Italian fellow, Federico, that we had met in Hiroshima. The pub was a small and quaint. The bartender spoke English and was from Australia. He was pretty friendly. Federico arrived shortly after we did and we spent about two hours chatting with him. He has done a lot of traveling and he was telling us where he's been and the things he's learned along the way. He invited us to stay with him in Milan when we're in Italy. Very nice guy.

Our hostel has a curfew at midnight, so Federico led us to the closest subway station. He was staying at a hotel in the area, so he knew it well. He also took us down Dotombori street, which is famous for its crazy lights. Here's some pics:

We had a tricky time getting home because we took a different train line back to our hostel, but managed to walk through the front door well before 11:45pm. Tons of time!

Take care everyone! Next stop - Beijing!! :)

Note - Anyone can now post comments; we corrected the setting!

Post #16 - October 27, 2012 - Hiroshima, Japan

Howdy, it's Patty.

Sitting here in our hostel watching the clock tick by slowly as we wait for our bus to Osaka. Osaka will be our last stop in Japan before heading to Beijing, China on Monday, October 29.

Today we slept in, and were in no rush to get anywhere. The lack of haste was largely to due to the fact that we decided to fast today i.e. go all day without eating anything. This probably comes as a surprise and perhaps some concern to my parents, and in particular my Italian side of the family. But, since getting here, it has been abundantly clear that I am a slave to my stomach and so too is Jeffrey. We don't even really know when we're hungry. We just eat because it's that time of day to eat. And, in our lifetimes, we have been so incredibly fortunate to have never gone an entire day without eating. That's insane when you think about people dying of starvation in some areas of the world. According to sources online, 25,000 people die of hunger or hunger-related causes everyday. So, to show homage to those suffering, and to try and get a better understanding of what it truly means to be hungry, we decided to not eat a single thing all day. We're not becoming hippies, we just wanted to see what hunger is really like, so that hopefully, we begin showing more appreciation for so many of the luxuries we take for granted back at home.

So far, it hasn't been as bad as we thought. We were thinking we would end up killing each other by the end of the day, but actually Jeff and I have been in pretty good spirits! We have been trying to kill time and keep our minds off of food, but everywhere we go in this country, there are smells and pictures of food. Jeff has been reading up on China and its cuisine, so unfortunately we've been unable to escape the beauty that is food, but man are we pumped to eat tomorrow. China is going to be soooo cheap for food, and so varied, and it sounds so delicious! Wow I've been talking a lot about food. 

We didn't really get out of the hostel until about 2:30 in the afternoon. We spent a lot of the morning packing, and doing laundry before heading out to the mall. We made our way to Fuji Grand Mall. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I think scrunchies are going to make a come-back. I still believe this, so today I bought 3 on sale. I also bought a cute little thing called a fascinator - it's like a comb that goes in your hair with jewels on one end which was also on sale at 50% off. All the neat stuff sold in Japan has gotten me thinking about how it would sell in Winnipeg... Maybe I could open my own shop with international fashions... travelling gets you dreaming and gets you thinking. And, hey who knows? 

Shopping/browsing kept me occupied most of the afternoon while Jeff hung out on some couches at the mall reading up on China. We're both pretty excited to get to China. As much as we have enjoyed our time in Japan, I think it feels like we are ready for a new adventure. We haven't totally mapped out our 30 days in China, however here's a look at our tentative schedule:

Beijing - 6 nights, October 29 - November 3

PingYao - 3 nights, November 4-6

Xi'an - 4 nights, November 7-10

Luoyang - 2 nights, November 11-12

Kaifeng - 2 nights, November 13-14

Shanghai - 5 nights, November 15-17

Xiamen - 2 nights, November 18-19
(unknown - 4 nights, November 20-23)

Macau - 1 night, November 24-25

Hong Kong - 5 nights, November 25-29

We're pretty excited! Anyways, it's 9:25pm here. Our bus leaves at 11pm, so we should be getting on our way.

Ciao for now,

Patty

P.S. "I think we're gonna get fat in China" - Jeff

Post #15 - October 26, 2012 - Hiroshima, Japan

We will be adding pictures as soon as possible. Internet is still too slow here.

Jeff here. I can't believe we are just about ready to say good-bye to Japan and head to China. We still don't leave until Monday, but I think both Patty and I sense that our time with the Japanese is coming to an end. I won't try to sum it all up, since we still have a couple days here, but it's definitely on my mind.

We had a great day today. Our intention was to do a hike in Sandan-kyo, which is a gorge about 50 km northwest of Hiroshima, so we had a relatively early start to our day at 7:30 am. We bought eggs the night before, so we had a nice breakfast of eggs, toast, bananas, and oranges. While we were intending to leave as soon as possible, we got talking with a bunch of other travelers in the lunch room, so we actually didn't end up leaving the hostel until around 9:30 am, and this only because one of the other travelers had informed us that the bus service to the gorge wasn't very frequent and that it was quite lengthy.

So we kind of rushed out the door, hopped on a tram, and went in the general direction of the bus depot where we would catch our bus. We had some difficulty finding the place since we forgot our city map, but Patty quickly spotted the building and we were on our way. We had a little time to check out a department store before getting onto the bus. I think Patty almost had a heart-attack when she saw the row upon row of shoes. It was pretty crazy. I've never seen so many shoes in one place before! Everything was extremely expensive though, so I don't think anything really piqued Patty's interest.

As usual, our bus was exactly on time, so we jumped on. We realized that our stop was the last stop the bus made, and checking the schedule, the ride would take a little over two hours. Our book stated 1.5 hours. Stupid book. Anyway, we made the most of it by sleeping a little and eating some of our packed food, which included some Subway sandwiches. The ride there was also incredible. Patty said at one point that the cost of the ride (about $15 per person, each way) was well worth the price. It was truly rural Japan. The hills rose up all around us. It seems that the slopes of many hills are too steep to build on, so the resulting view is spectacular: above a certain point on these hills, they are completely covered in forest.

We arrived at the gorge around 1:15 pm (exactly on time), and set out on our hike. It wasn't an overly touristy area, with only a couple of shops. Some plates for soy sauce grabbed our attention pretty quickly, and we would eventually end up buying four of them on our way back for quite a good price (less than $10)!

Pretty much immediately as we started the hike we knew it was going to be special. The hills of Japan are absolutely stunning and we would be walking along a river in between them. Interestingly, the path was paved, but I don't think that bothered either of us. I think the natural beauty of it all immediately had an effect on Patty, who had never been on a hike like this in her life. I've been on quite a few, but have to say that there was something very special about this particular hike. We arrived at mid-day so the sun was directly above us, but the hills were high and steep, so we were moving in and out of shadows. It was quite cool at first and neither of us had brought a jacket. But we quickly warmed up. The hike took us right down to the river and high up into the hills. It was a wonderful walk that I think has inspired us to do other hikes when the right opportunity arises.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it far enough to see a huge waterfall, which is one of the attractions of the hike. As well, these is apparently a spot on the hike that takes you up to the peak of one of the hills. It would have been nice to see those things, but we really just didn't have the time, since we got there so late in the day. Overall, we spent out 3 hours hiking around, which I think was enough for the both of us. It wasn't an easy hike, either, so we were satisfied.

We caught the bus home at 4:30 pm, hit rush-hour and didn't arrive back at the Hiroshima station until 7:00 pm!! That was a long trip. We were very happy to say good-bye to that bus! Then we went on a little adventure looking for a place to eat dinner.

We tried a pub the book recommended, but they apparently were all reserved. It felt a little odd being kicked out like we were, but on we went. Patty had been wanting to try the oysters in Hiroshima, which are a specialty here, so we went looking for a place that offers those. Often restaurants have pictures outside so we could check out their menu. One restaurant had oysters, but as we approached the entrance, we were literally looked up and down, and essentially denied entry, with the guy claiming they didn't speak English....in perfect English. So, feeling just terrible about ourselves at this point, we continued on, until we saw another picture of an oyster. This time, no one denied us entry, even though it looked like they wanted to. They even told us that we needed to leave by 9pm because apparently they had a reservation for that time. By this point we were pretty disgusted with everything because it seemed that wherever we went, people were judging us by the way we looked. Which, I must admit, was not pretty, but it's not as if we looked like bums off the street either. We ended up having a very expensive meal, but enjoyed some excellent oysters. The oysters came in their shells, one was cooked in a butter sauce and the other in a vinegar sauce. We also got a very interesting potato dish, which was essentially fries covered in a fishy/mayonnaise-y sauce. The fries were amazing.

Unfortunately, by this point we felt pretty embarrassed because of what we were wearing. We did note that everyone else on the street was pretty much dressed to impress, so perhaps we were just in the wrong neighbourhood! We headed back to the hostel, picking up some cheap soups in a 7-11 that we made once back in the kitchen. There we chatted with some very friendly travelers. We ended up going out for drinks with them at a local German pub. It was hilarious seeing Japanese people eating German food with chopsticks!

Overall, a mixed bag of a day. The hike was wonderful, but for the first time we experienced a negative side of Japan. I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised that people can be superficial!

Hope all is well back home. Bye for now!

Post #14 - October 25, 2012 - Hiroshima, Japan

Hey, It's Patty writing. Finally, we're back on track and writing about today.

We had a pretty relaxing day today, which was much needed. We slept in fairly late, enjoyed some coffees in the morning and took some time to really nail down our budget. Up until this point we had been keeping track of daily expenses with a target of spending only $150 a day. Some days we were over budget, for example our most expensive day was $219 and our cheapest was $29. Fortunately, as it turns out we are under budget!! Woo hoo, which means we may actually make it 6 months if we keep it up. What a relief it was to us to have all our finances entered on an organized spreadsheet. We have both been stressing about money since we first started tracking our spending so to finally get organized and see an overview of it all was such a relief. As a result, we had a great day relaxing with no stress.

Originally, we had planned to do a hike today through the Sandan Gorge which is 1 and 1/2 hours away from Hiroshima by bus. We decided to be flexible and take the day to relax instead. So, tomorrow we're heading there. It'll be an 11 km hiking trail through waterfalls/forest. Should be fun. 

Once we finished lunch we headed to the Peace Memorial Park near the museum.  Here are few of the pics we took while there:

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Even today, we felt pretty emotional being there after having learnt so much about the amount of suffering caused by the atomic bomb. I remember learning briefly about the event in high school, but I certainly don't remember understanding the magnitude of it. Jeff and I decided we want to take our kids here one day, when they're old enough to truly appreciate it. It's a place I think everyone needs to see for themselves. Nuclear weapons are a very scary concept, and still a very real threat, that in North America is not addressed nearly enough. The USA has 8000 of them, Russia 10000. Tests are run regularly throughout the year and as Jeff noted, emit toxic radiation into the environment. It's messed up and it needs to stop. Each time a nuclear test takes place, the city of Hiroshima sends a letter urging the country that conducted the test to stop their use of nuclear weapons and they use their suffering to set an example for the world. All their letters are up on the wall in the museum. It's remarkable. I love Hiroshima.

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We also checked out the musuem again today since it's only 50 Yen to enter which is about $0.60 per person. We wanted to read the stories about the victims again, so that we will never forget them.

From there we headed to dinner in search of a restaurant recommended by the book and our hostel that specializes in the local specialty of Oysters! Sadly, for some reason the place was closed. And it looked sooo nice. It was right along the river near a bridge too so it would have made for a very romantic setting. We had to settle for the cafe next door which was pricey and the food portions left something to be desired.

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The food was good, but it just wasn't enough for us fatties. So, the search for more food continued. We made our way through the streets on foot, which we are realizing is our favourite way to see cities. We will be doing more walking in the cities we visit from now on. We found a cheap little place where we shared a nice bowl of noodle soup. The poor server didn't speak a word of English but we managed to somehow communicate with our hands and by pictures. Guess we'll have to get used to this now before heading to China where I don't think too many people will be speaking English to us!

[insert picture here]

Dinner was yummy and this filled us enough to satisfy. We're learning some tricks here on how to save money everyday. We have come to love Subway here. They have some interesting sandwiches on their menu. Yesterday I had an avocado and shrimp sandwich with wasabi soya sauce in it for dinner. It was delicioso!! We bought a 12 inch turkey sandwich last night that we had planned on eating for lunch during our hike today, but we ended up eating it at the hostel. It had basil mayonnaise which was also very interesting and very tasty. But, basically these sandwiches are even cheaper than the ones we have been preparing from scratch and they come prepared with lots more veggies than we were using. So today after dinner we went in search of another subway to buy our lunch for tomorrow. We lucked out because it was turkey day and we only paid 700Yen for a 12 inch. We were so proud of ourselves.

So that was our day. And I forgot to mention, we tried the Japanese Takoyaki dish the other day which are essentially fried Octopus balls. We decided if we ever need to curb our hunger, we'll just eat some of those. They made us lose our appetite in no time!

Good night,

Patty

Post #13 - October 24, 2012 - Hiroshima, Japan

I need to preface this blog by saying that the internet connection at our hostel is too slow to upload any pictures. We will try to upload these as soon as possible. 

Jeff here. Today began with us waking up in Hiroshima having taken an overnight bus from Kyoto. It was 6am and we were pretty out of it, so we set off to find a place to grab a coffee and figure out how to get to our hostel. We headed into the Hiroshima Station, looked around a bit and found a McDonald's. We ordered two wonderfully caffeinated coffees and sat down to a breakfast of bananas, oranges, and some sweet little buns.

Our hostel, although recommended as the top stay in Hiroshima by our travel book, did not appear on its map. Instead, it gave the following directions: "From the station go immediately left along the train tracks..." Now, I'm no expert at giving directions, but when there are both north and south exits from a place, and that exit is not specified, saying "go left" pretty much loses all meaning. Anyway, we took a guess and it was correct.

We arrived at our hostel just before 8am, tossed our stuff into a luggage closet, and sat down in the kitchen for another coffee and to plan our day. We were in no rush to get going after our night on the bus! We decided to go to the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum. So we jumped on a tram a couple minutes' walk from our hostel and in less than 20 minutes were standing at the Atomic Bomb Dome. The building, built in 1915, originally served as the Industrial Promotion Hall. It was one of the few buildings so close to the epicenter of the blast
that remained standing. Someone with really clear foresight decided to preserve the building after the war as a memorial, and it was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in December 1996.

Approaching the building I felt a strange solemnity about the place. It was neither glamorous nor modest: it just was. A guardian of historical knowledge demanding never to be forgotten. It was here I read that about 200,000 people were killed by the explosion. Under other circumstances, that number would be too large to have much meaning, but the building itself seemed to give it meaning: the missing dome roof, the half-melted metal stairway, the twisted steel, the smashed cement. No force of nature could do this. At least, not one I have ever witnessed.

It was at this site that we met two people who seem to have devoted their lives to educating tourists on the horrors inflicted by the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The man in the picture was in-utero during the explosion. Here is their picture:

[INSERT PICTURE HERE]

I didn't catch either of their names, but the woman in the picture talked to us for about 10 minutes and described some of the circumstances in Hiroshima before and after the bomb. It was an intense and emotional 10 minutes. She spent some time explaining the lives of the people of Hiroshima before the bomb and showed aerial photographs of what the city looked like before the explosion. I know little about Japanese history, but discovered they had been at war with China (in the Second Sino-Japanese war) on-and-off since 1931, with total war breaking out in 1937. At this time, there was a huge war effort going on in Japan, with even young school children participating in war-related activities in Hiroshima. These activities included creating fire breaks around important government buildings in the city, which mainly meant tearing down buildings. I also believe adults were conscripted to help in the war effort in one way or another, but not necessarily in military service. On the morning of August 6, 1945 two separate air raid sirens were sounded in Hiroshima: one early in the morning (3:00 am-ish), the other around 7:30 am. All-clear sirens were sounded soon after both. It was a bright and sunny August day, and after the all-clear siren rang out before 8:00 am in the morning, men, women, and children went about their day as usual. No one had any idea or warning that the clear August morning spelled the destruction of most everything and everyone they held dear.

The earlier air raid sirens were prompted by reconnaissance planes. Clear skies made the perfect conditions for the bomb drop. The nuclear warhead, named Little Boy and carried by the Boeing B29 Enola Gay, had no means by which to steer itself and had to be simply dropped out of the plane. A cloudy day over Hiroshima would have meant, likely, the cancellation of Hiroshima as a target. Due to the value of the bomb and the desire to hit the target as precisely as possible, the flight team had practiced the drop in the United States, as well as dropping dud bombs in cities across Japan. This major Hiroshima landmark became the visual cue for the bomb drop:

[INSERT PICTURE HERE]

The decision to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was calculated down to the smallest detail. The city was spread over just the right area that the maximum amount of damage would be inflicted. The height of 600 metres above ground level was chosen for the bomb to explode to ensure maximum destruction. Meteorological equipment were dropped into the area to measure the heat and air pressure of the blast. As we learned later, the bomb was also used as a political move to force the Japanese to surrender to the United States as opposed to Russia, which was increasingly becoming a threat to the Unites States.

At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay and her team achieved it's goal. The nuclear warhead detonated 600 metres above ground level a few hundred metres away from their target. That was irrelevant. In a split second, in all directions, total destruction resulted. Near the explosion point, called the epicenter, temperature reached a few million degrees Celsius. At the hypocenter, the point on the ground directly below the explosion, the temperature reached between 3000-4000 degrees Celsius. The force of the explosion caused air to rush away from the explosion at hypersonic speeds, more than 400 meters per second or over 1,400 km/h. Finally, there was the radiation, which was not well understood at the time, if at all.

Try to imagine, if you can, watching the meteorological equipment drifting slowly in the sky carried by parachutes only seconds later to be plunged into what might only be described as hell on earth. In an instant, you feel intense heat, pain, the sensation of being thrown off your feet. After regaining your senses, you look around and see utter desolation. Everything around you is destroyed. The street you were standing on is no more. The screams and cries of people everywhere fill your ears. And there is no explanation of what you have just experienced. As far as you know, a weapon of this nature does not exist. You have never heard the words "atomic bomb". Here is Hiroshima after the explosion:

[INSERT PICTURE HERE]

The effects of the bomb were varied depending on how far people were from the explosion, but all effects were gruesome, and many too terrible to imagine. If you were unlucky enough to be at just the right distance to not instantly be killed, the heat of the blast would have melted your skin. If you were somewhat further and directly exposed to the blast, your skin would have been charred black. Further out, various degrees of burns would have occurred depending on whether you were in direct line of sight of the blast. Stories tell of burned children wandering the devastated city asking for water, with many finding their final resting place in rivers and water basins trying to find respite from their burns.

One particularly moving story was of a high school-aged boy who was caught in the explosion while  taking down buildings to create fire breaks. After he regained consciousness, he ran to his home only to find it on fire with his mother trapped inside. The boy was able to put out the fire and save his mother. Later that day, with his mother and father by his side, he lay in his bed and asked for an ice cream. His father put a coin in his hand and told him that he could buy one with that. The boy took the coin, and quietly died from his burns.

Every time I think of the many stories I heard today, I realize that there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of stories of equal or greater horror, many that have been forever lost in this great tragedy. The vast majority of these people were not in the military. They were simply living their lives. So much like everyone I know back home. Can I imagine those I love suffering the horrors of the atomic bomb? Not even close. But the people of Hiroshima lived that. And I now feel that I have taken a small piece of that suffering with me. And as hard as it is, I will hold it close to my heart for as long as I live.

Some of what I have described we also learned in the Peace Memorial Museum. This is housed within a huge park, all of which is dedicated to remembering the horrors of the bomb and to ensuring a future where there are no nuclear weapons. We spent many hours in the museum. It was difficult to pull away from the pictures, stories, and artifacts left behind by victims of the bomb.

What I have left out so far are details of the days, months, and years following the explosion. We learned a lot of what went on here during that time and I don't want to go into too much detail, but one of the most sinister aspects of nuclear explosions is the radiation. Even those who were unaffected physically by the blast began to show strange symptoms in the weeks and months following the explosion. At the time, doctors could not explain what was happening. This was radiation sickness. Once again, people were exposed to the horrors of nuclear weapons. The powerful radiation released by the bomb penetrated most materials, so being behind a wall during the explosion might have saved you from the heat and the physical blast, but it would not have saved you from the radiation. Various illnesses arose out of this, and many more people died in the month or so after the bomb. The mysteriousness of these diseases must have only added to the despair already felt by these poor people.

I would wager that Hiroshima is unlike nearly all places on earth. While the memorial is a reminder of destruction and suffering caused by atomic weapons, the city itself is a vibrant reminder that life goes on. That the people of Hiroshima decided to remember the horror of August 6, 1945 and not simply try to erase it from their memories is incredible. But that the people decided that the city should itself become an advocate for the abolishment of all nuclear weapons is truly heroic. So easily is human nature swayed toward anger, resentment, revenge, and hate it is remarkable that a city could suffer such tragedy and emerge as a symbol for world peace.

I am deeply moved by this city and its past. Today I stood at the spot 600 metres above which the atomic bomb detonated. Today I heard stories, saw pictures, and touched artifacts recounting that horrific event. Today I understood the minutest fraction of the suffering those people. Today I wept for Hiroshima.

Post #12 - October 23, 2012 - Nara, Japan

Wow, I cannot believe we have only 4 full days in Japan left! We have already whipped out the Lonely Planet book for China. Time goes by so fast.

So, I guess we're late with this blog post due to our overnight bus trip to Hiroshima last night. But I will quickly recap our somewhat uninteresting day yesterday.

We woke up to a very rainy day in Nara. It was pouring all morning as we ate breakfast and planned out our day. First stop was the post office to mail home a little gift for our good friend who is enduring trying times. He is on our mind and we wanted him to know we were thinking of him and wishing him all the best. Luckily, mailing things home turned out to be way easier than we anticipated! So ladies, the fake Gucci purses I promised from Thailand really will make their way to you... provided they are as helpful and reliable as the Japanese were. 

Next, we planned to check out the 5 tier pagoda in Nara so we walked there under our umbrellas and once again declined to pay the admission into the temple. Which I think was a good choice since we are certainly "templed and shrined" out if you know what I mean. 

That meant it was time to pack up.... again.... and board a little train back to Kyoto, where we would spend the day walking by restaurant windows of brilliant Japanese fresh baked bread, pastries and other dreadfully tempting desserts, like crepes and sundaes. We also browsed around the gazillion clothing stores which are almost all women's clothing stores, with such beautiful stuff. So, it was a day of yearning to eat junk and spend money. I really I have to hand it to the Japanese, they have AMazing fashion. I told Jeff several different times that we need to come back and just shop. They have inspired so many new ideas of how to dress, and try neat combinations of colours and prints. A few trends I thought I would point out that I will definitely be trying when I get home, and can finally look semi-fashionable, will be the following:

- Tights (like stockings) with shorts... and many different colours/subtle prints of tights

- Skinny printed pants even floral

- Scrunchies - yes I really think they're going to make a comeback and I intend on buying one here in Japan before I leave

- Faux Furs - they're everywhere and are beautiful for the fall

So, that was the gist of our day. We ended up having a light dinner at McDonalds which was conveniently right by where our bus left. We ended up spending only $35 yesterday! So that was awesome.

It was a nice day. I'm really glad Jeff has to write the next blog. I know he'll do it justice as we saw the highlights of Hiroshima today which were incredibly impactful and difficult to put into words how much so.

Good night everybody.

Lotsa love,

Patty

Post #11 - October 22, 2012 - Nara, Japan

Today was an awesome day! It started out at the leisurely hour of 8am, when we began packing our bags for our trip to Nara. We had bought some things to eat for breakfast so before we checked out of our hotel we walked down the street to the McDonald's to grab a couple coffees and eat our breakfast. What a great way to start a day! Nothing like taking it easy in the morning. I'm thinking we'll definitely have to do that more often.

Both Patty and I have been pretty exhausted the past couple of days, running from one site to the next, and I think we're coming to realize that more is not better. At least not for us. Not to mention I think we'd both burn out long before our six months is up if we keep up this pace. Today we learned an important lesson: we need to find a pace that will both allow us to see things AND experience them in a meaningful sense. Not to mention the stress of running from one site to the next just to put a check mark in a box isn't our style, nor is it the reason we decided to come on this trip in the first place. From now on we're going to try to find a better balance between seeing as much as possible and not closing ourselves off (due to fatigue, stress, etc.) to new or worthwhile experiences.

Once we were done our breakfast of bananas, oranges, and croissants, we headed back to our hotel to grab our stuff. Here, Patty had the wonderful idea of taking the subway to the train station instead of the bus. Until then, we had only taken buses in Kyoto because we could get a well-priced, daily bus pass. The subway turned out to be similar to those in Tokyo, so we felt right at home. It wasn't until we arrived at the station that the trouble started.

I had looked up how to get to Nara the night before, so we knew we had to take a specific train line, Kintetsu, to get to Nara in the least expensive fashion. So, when we arrived at the station, we began looking around for where to buy tickets. We wandered around a bit until we realized that we couldn't buy the tickets we needed anywhere in sight. So it was time to muddle our way through a conversation with a local. We were informed that we needed to go to the other side of the train station. Long story short, whenever we asked for directions, we immediately saw signs that pointed us in the direction of the Kintetsu line. Except once. We got lost because of a bad sign. But everyone is so helpful here that as long as we could pluck up the courage to ask, people were more than willing to help us out. Even once we had bought our ticket and walked through the gate, we would not have been able to figure out which train to get on, let alone where to transfer, had some very kind worker not gone out of his way to write down on a piece of paper the time, departure platform, name of destination on train #1, and the name of the station where we had to transfer. Wonderful. So, we hopped on the train, transferred where we needed to, a train was waiting for us bound for Nara, and in no time we stepped out onto the streets of Nara.

Getting our bearing and arriving at our hostel took only 20 minutes or so, and we dropped off our backpacks there and set off for somewhere close to eat our packed lunch. There is a huge park on the east side of Nara where many of the major sites are, so that's where we headed. Our Lonely Planet book suggests a route for seeing all the sites in Nara, so we began following that. We got to the first stop, called Isui-en, one of Nara's finest gardens, realized we needed to each pay 500 Yen to get in, turned around and headed for stop two. I think it's a combination of being sick of paying to see everything and being really hungry that caused us to turn around. Like Patty mentioned in her previous post, benches of any sort are a rarity in this country.

We walked for about 5 minutes until we reached a more central part of the park, and emerged directly between two of the recommended sites, Nandai-mon and Todai-ji. I'll get to those in a second. One thing you might not know about Nara is that there are actually tame/docile/overly-friendly deer wandering around all over the park. At first, it was pretty cute that they didn't just run away from us, and that we could even touch them. Here's me having a polite conversation with one of them:

But they're not all fun and games, these deer. If you don't give them what they want, they can be pretty feisty. Here's me losing a game of tug of war with one of them (yes, that is a map...they're apparently not very picky eaters):

While this particularly bossy deer is trying to eat our very useful map, we were of course trying to eat our lunch. So after this deer wouldn't leave us alone, we decided to pack up and run away. Thankfully, she did not follow us. I don't know why she couldn't be more cute, like this one:

Anyway, we ended up running up to the gate of the Todai-ji to this particularly breathtaking view:

This behemoth is the Daibutsu-den Hall, home of Nara's famous Daibutsu (Great Buddha). The Hall itself is the largest wooden building in the world. Impossibly, the present structure, rebuilt in 1709, is only two-thirds the size of the original! Now, you might not be able to tell the scale of this guy from the picture, but let me assure you that this building is a beast. It's one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

As mentioned earlier, this Hall houses Nara's Great Buddha, another magnificent thing to behold. Unfortunately, I don't think any picture could do the size of this thing justice. The Buddha is one of the largest bronze figures in the world and was originally cast in 746. It currently stands over 16 metres tall and consists of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130 kg of gold!!! Here is the best pic:

We lingered quite a while here. The building and the Buddha are truly stunning. After this, we quickly ran to the main gate of the Todai-ji, called the Nandai-mon, which was also pretty impressive. Then we continued on with the path suggested by our book and took a short jog up a hill, climbed some steps, and got a nice view of Nara from a veranda:

From here we decided to head back to our hostel to freshen up before going for dinner. Luckily, we were not more than 20 minutes away and got back no problem. We were taken for a tour of the house, which is about 100 years old, and represents a typical old-school Japanese home. It is VERY cool. Apparently the previous owner had been a tea master, but I'm not exactly sure what that means. The house is definitely missing some comfy-ness, but it'll more than do for one night.

We decided that our destination for dinner was going to be an Italian restaurant recommended by our book. And what a meal! Patty ordered a pizza that she claimed was one of the best she'd ever had. I agree that it was delicious (we shared of course). And I ordered an interesting rice casserole that was good, but not so good that I wasn't yearning for another pizza instead. We ended up getting dessert, which was really different. It was a combination of vanilla and green tea ice cream, rice balls, crispy flakes, and some other odds and ends. Not sure I'd order it again, but it was enjoyable.

That's about it for today. Tomorrow we are taking the overnight train to Hiroshima so we might have trouble writing a post tomorrow, but we'll try!

Hope you're all well! Good night!

Post #10 - October 21, 2012 - Kyoto, Japan

Hi, it's Patty writing from our wonderful private hotel room!

What a beautiful thing its is to have your own room. We have all our stuff sprawled out around the place just like home!

Today we both realized we have been pushing ourselves pretty hard physically in order to see every last bit we could possibly see in this amazing city. That's great and all, but by the third temple, you just don't have the same appreciation for the following sights because you're distracted by hunger, fatigue, or heat etc. So  we decided we would take one day a week to just relax with a cup of coffee and read, and plan, and watch the time go by. Unfortunately we won't be able to do this for another couple days when we get to Hiroshima because we leave for Nara tomorrow morning. But, we will make time for this in Hiroshima.

Our first stop today was Nijo-jo castle, and this was by accident. We had totally mapped out our day today from top to bottom and even decided in advance where we would be eating. When we got off at our first bus stop on our way to Daitoku-ji, we happened to land right smack in front of Nijo-jo castle quite conveniently so we headed there. Nijo-jo is an old castle in the middle of this sprawling city of Kyoto. This is one of the reasons Kyoto is so amazing. You have a huge modern city completely fused with ancient/historical sites of the old city everywhere. It's a constant reminder of the past, and how it's evolved into the culture of Japan today. One of the other really cool things about the sites in Kyoto, is that most of the tourists are actually Japanese! I am still so fascinated by the people here. I don't really understand how you could have such an enormous population of people with such pride and respect for their surroundings. Again in Kyoto there's so little garbage around, everything is so clean from the streets, to the restaurants, to the public transportation, to the bathrooms, it's astonishing. And, their respect goes beyond things. They're respectful of the people around them too. Of course some are more polite than others, and I am speaking generally, but the consensus is that Japan's beauty is equally matched by its people. I'd say the only criticism I have of the culture is that it seems to be very sexist. In fact, I read in our Lonely Planet book that of the most powerful first world countries, Japan ranks the lowest in gender equality in the workforce. Women make 66% of what Japanese men earn. And as the book discusses, it's as much a company issue as it is a societal issue. You'd be amazed at how many clothing stores and other retailers are just for women. The women generally seem much more concerned with their appearances than anything else. I can't tell you how many women we saw walking through the bamboo grove and other historical sites in these huge high heels. It wasn't just a couple, it was the majority of them. In the malls, it's mostly all women shopping. And then in the big business areas of Tokyo, it's all men in suits with briefcases. You can definitely see the imbalance of things. Another example I saw last night was the commercials on TV. Two commercials at least, showed men talking down to women, and the women just agreed and nodded submissively. It's very interesting.

Nijo-jo castle was a very neat place. The best part was that we got to go inside the castle, but again we were not allowed to take pictures. Here are some pictures from the exterior:

Unfortunately the pictures don't really tell you much about the castle. The interior was certainly the most interesting part.The castle was built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the Shogun (the hereditary official who governed Japan). The floors of the castle were "Nightingale" floors which are designed to make a squeaky sound when walked on so that nobody can sneak into the castle undetected. There were also concealed chambers, which we didn't get to see, where bodyguards could keep watch. In some rooms of the castle they had life-like mannequins depicting who would be present in the room during certain events and it also showed where they would be seated relative to the shogun. That was probably the neatest part. There was also some artwork on the walls, which in my opinion were nothing special. 

After this, we were both pretty hungry and kind of tired of sightseeing, but we trudged along to the next site which was Daitoko-ji which was ranked high in our Lonely Planet book for rewarding sites to see. Jeff mentioned that yesterday we tried getting here before it closed but we were too late. Today however, we made our way there and arrived on time. We lucked out and found a bakery that was open so that we could buy some lunch. Most places seem to be closed on Sundays. Once we bought our lunch, we headed inside the grounds to find a nice spot to sit to eat lunch. One of the other criticisms we have of Japan, is that there is almost no public seating areas anywhere. There are also very few garbages around, which is mind boggling because the place is so spic and span. So we found some steps outside a shrine and munched away.

After lunch, neither of us said it, but we didn't really want to be there. Daitoku-ji is huge. It's like another world inside Kyoto. It's a collection of zen temples, gardens and lanes. There are 24 temples and sub-temples of which many require you to pay admission fees to enter. So, we kind of wandered through the place half-heartedly trying to find some of the highlights a nice old stranger had recommended to us. We found one, but when we saw the price of 500Yen we turned around, blew the popsicle stand and headed for the Toji Temple where the Kobo-san market-fair takes place on the 21st of every month. We managed to catch the last hour of the market to look around at some of the antiques and street food, and clothing on sale. It was the funnest part of my day. Jeff wasn't so interested, but I have been dead set on bringing back some little plates to put soya sauce in for sushi. Well everytime I find one I like it's like 2000Yen for just one! The market was no different so I think we're going to settle for some chop sticks from Japan as some souvenirs.

Not so much Jeff, but I have also been determined to find and eat the best sushi of my life before I leave, and finally we succeeded at dinner. We found this place the book recommended and although it was pricier than we liked, it was very very much worth it. In fact, it was the best sushi I have ever had. Look at the presentation!

Tomorrow we're headed for Nara in the morning. It's pretty much a hop, jump and a skip away so we should be there before lunch. Again, I think we're both happy to be moving on. Kyoto was exhausting.

Hope all is well back at home.

Good night.

Post #9 - October 20, 2012 - Kyoto, Japan

Hello blog. Jeff here. I'm writing this from probably one of the nicest hotels we'll stay in in Japan. 'Unfortunately', we had to switch from our hostel to this hotel today because our hostel was out of rooms. Other hostels had no vacancies, so we had to reserve a hotel in a slightly higher price range. It's really nice to finally have some privacy!

We started our day pretty late this morning, at around 9 am. We had to pack up and leave our hostel and I don't think either Patty or I were looking forward to that. We chatted with our roommates for a bit. Turns out they were both from England and teaching English in Tokyo. They were spending the weekend in Kyoto and around. After we had a pretty quick breakfast and made some sandwiches for lunch, we were out the door with all our junk and off for our hotel, which is right beside the Imperial Palace in the middle of Kyoto.

We bought a bus pass yesterday and had found it very useful, so we did the same again today. The bus service is actually pretty decent, with buses running pretty frequently and down convenient routes. We jumped off a bus at an intersection near our hotel and walked the rest of the way, walking past the Imperial Palace. We haven't taken a look inside yet, but it's not supposed to be one of the more impressive sites in Kyoto.

At our hotel, we were able to leave our backpacks behind and set off for the bamboo grove, which is...well, exactly as it sounds. We got there by bus after a pretty long drive. The grove is somewhat outside Kyoto on the west side. So far, in fact, that there's an extra fee to be taken there. We jumped off the bus one stop before we should have (due to an improperly labelled map, not due to our poor map reading abilities, of course), but had a pretty nice walk to the site. It was a pretty neat place. As you probably guessed, there was bamboo...but there was an entire forest of it. It was really quite beautiful. Here are some pics that don't do it justice:

The path was absolutely packed with people, and it's probably better experienced in silence, but we both enjoyed it. After heading out of the grove, we panicked as two buses approached and jumped onto the bus that we didn't want. This led to a somewhat interesting experience wandering through 'rural' Kyoto. Here's a picture that somewhat describes our location:

We had a bus map that showed that the bus we ended up taking led us near a bus route that we wanted to take to get to our next site. We learned an important lesson today: never navigate by foot using bus maps! We wandering down some suburban residential areas in the general direction of the line we were looking for. Patty ended up noticing a sign for the place we were headed and, with a bus stop in sight, it wasn't long before we were on the bus bound for our next destination: Kinkako-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion).

This time, we got off the bus at the correct stop. We wandered onto the temple grounds, paid the 400 Yen each, and this is what we saw:

The temple was pretty nice, but both Patty and I agreed that the temple we had seen yesterday, Ginkaku-ji (Temple of the Silver Pavilion), had been much nicer. The grounds of the temple today were nice, but nothing compared to the perfection of Ginkaku-ji. There was truly something spiritual about being in Ginkaku-ji: the garden was absolutely spectacular. Neither of us got this feeling from Kinkako-ji. Anyway, it wasn't like it was a complete waste of time, but it was a bit of a letdown, since we'd assumed gold is better than silver.

Before leaving we decided to try to make it to one more site before sundown, so we checked out our bus map, determined the best route, and jumped on a bus. It wasn't too long before we were wandering down a path at a complex known as Daitoku-ji, which, according to our book, is a collection of Zen temples, raked gravel gardens, and wandering lanes. I say "according to our book" because we didn't make it in time. Although we could walk down a path and see a couple sites, the main sites were already closed. We may head back again tomorrow. Here's a peak:

We ended up leaving the site from the opposite side we had arrived at and we very surprisingly did not get lost. We debated the route we should take at a bus stop for a bit, until a nice older gentleman offered to help us out. He provided some good advice, and then after he left we decided to head to a different destination. When we hopped onto a bus, another older gentleman who had witnessed our earlier conversation, waved at us to indicate we had gotten on the wrong bus! What beautiful people. We did our best to assure him we were OK, but who knows if he understood.

We were headed to a part of the city called Gion for some dinner and to see, according to our guide book, the nicest street in all of Asia. The bus dropped us off fairly close to our restaurant of choice, and after a short walk we were greeted by some extremely friendly workers. An older couple worked there and it looked like they were married, and perhaps their grandson worked there as well. We were seated at one of those really short tables, sitting on pillows. Neither Patty nor I are very flexible, so we were both struggling to sit in a comfortable way that didn't offend anyone. In the end, we were so tired we just extended our legs straight forward and rested our backs against the wall. Thankfully, no one seemed to mind. When our food arrived (sashimi and tempura) Patty took some pictures and two older women started to laugh and spoke to us. We had no idea what they were saying, but they looked pretty amused at the picture taking. They spoke to us very good-naturedly and were really cute. Anyway, here is the pic of our food, which was pretty tasty:

After this, we wandered around a bit looking for the "nicest street in Asia." We are sincerely hoping our book is incorrect about this statement because, while nice, the street wasn't exactly awe-inspiring. Anyway, it was a nice little diversion on the way home. People are always dressed up so nice here, it's just fun to people watch.

No solid plans for tomorrow yet, but we do need to plan our hike through an old pilgrimage route that we'll take after Nara. Hopefully we get a chance to check out a couple more sites too!

Post #8 - October 19, 2012 - Kyoto, Japan

Hi! It's me, Patty writing.

We got into Kyoto this morning at around 8:30am after a long overnight bus trip. The seats were pretty sweet actually, they were more like lazy boy recliners than bus seats. They went as far back as most recliners, and the leg part came up too. They also had these things that were in the shape of bonnets or visors that came down from the top of the seat to block the light from your face. We managed to save a lot of money on accommodations by doing this so that was part of the reason we did it. 

We both slept most of the way, so the ride really wasn't too bad. Don't get me wrong, the night felt like one long nap, but at least the ride was quick. The worst part of the trip was the last hour where we didn't know where on god's green earth we were supposed to get off. So we stayed up half asleep and tried to focus on when to get off, but both of us kept dozing off til the last 20 mins when we knew our stop had to be coming up. 

Once we got off the bus in Kyoto, we were both exhausted but happy to be somewhere different. Just as got off we spotted a McDonalds at the Kyoto Station across the street and headed there to buy some coffees with hopes of finding a place to sit down and plan our route to the hostel. The Japanese love their Mc Donalds, so as it turned out there were no seats left in the place whatsoever... Kyoto Station is enormous! It has 11 floors of visible escalators in one direction, 4 flights of stairs and escalators in the other. Japanese signs are everywhere with packs of people coming at you from every direction. So... picture us walking through this madhouse for about 10 mins trying to find a place to sit while carrying every single one of our belongings; our massive backpacks, our day packs and waterbottle, and sweaters along with our coffees and maps, completely exhausted and still not really all that awake after our night long bus ride. You'd think this would be a situation that could put someone over the edge... well it kind of did. Nobody got hurt, but it was one of those moments in life when you think about pinching yourself cause hey, it could all just be a bad dream. But no, it was real and it was annoying.  I hope I'm painting a picture for you so that perhaps you can somewhat grasp the stress and frustration flooding through us on this particular morning. Well... fast forward through 15 minutes of flashes of red. We have finished our coffees and now have an idea of where we're headed. The clouds part, the sun shines through and some very nice young Japanese guy sees our hostel map and says "hey I'm going there too, come with me. I'll ask how to get there." He ends up escorting us all the way to our hostel. We had a nice chat with him and his friend on our way there. And afterwards, we vowed to only have 3 bags on us at all times while travelling long distances.

Once we got settled at our hostel, we spent some time trying to plan the rest of our trip in Japan. We booked our hostel in Nara and we're now contemplating doing a pilgrimage hike through southern Japan before heading to Hiroshima. We'll have to make a final decision about that tomorrow, but at least Nara is now booked.

We followed Emma's advice and got ourselves all day bus passes which were a great deal, and a pretty convenient mode of transport once we got the hang of how it use the system. We grabbed a quick lunch which consisted of a soup with Tempura and Kyoto's unique Udon Noodles (way better than Tokyo's in our opinion). We shared it and it was very good and quite cheap - 850Yen which is about $10 bucks give or take a bit. 

First stop of the day was Sanjusangendo Temple which is one of the stops Emma and Ivan recommended. It's a pretty amazing temple that has 1001 statues of the Buddhist god Kannon and one huge statue of Kannon in the middle. Unfortunately they were very strict about not taking pictures in there so we didn't get any, but at our next stop Ginkakuji Temple also known as the Silver Pavilion, we more than managed to make up for lost time and took plenty of pictures. Here are some highlights:

Ginkakuji was incredible. It was originally the home of a shogun in the 1400's with several buildings and a huge garden with little bridges and streams all through it, and a vast forest in the far outskirts of the estate. The Japanese really know how to make a place feel peaceful and look beautiful. My favourite part of this place was the forest in the back as shown in the 2nd last pic above. If this place impressed us as the Silver Pavilion I can't wait to see what the Gold Pavilion looks like. We're heading there tomorrow.

Today, we were hoping to also see the Nijojo Castle, but we ran out of time sadly. 

When we got back, we both took some much needed showers and headed to dinner. We had a really nice meal at this random place Jeff picked. I really wish I could remember the name of this type of dish cause it was awesome, but here are some pics of the meal:

So, tomorrow we head to our next hotel for two nights before hitting up Nara. I'm off to bed as it's already 12:42am here. Hope the weather's good for us tomorrow. We're hoping to see 3 more big highlights in Kyoto tomorrow.

Good night :)