NeeHow from Qingdao

We arrived in Qingdao this evening weary from our ocean voyage. The boat experience was interesting to say the least. The boat was designed to hold upwards of 300 people but times must be tough for Orient Ferry as most of the cargo were containers and only about 30 passengers. I'm sure when the boat made its maiden voyage circa 1980 it was the toast of the Yellow Sea but now the aged decor and pungent aroma of diesel fuel permeating all corners of the boat was not something that made a great first impression. We warmed up to the boat a bit after discovering we were booked in a 12 person dorm room instead of the private room we thought we had booked. The 12 person dorm room ended up being our own private suite as there were so few people on this boat. The boat had a certain strange resembling to the Overlook in The Shining hence the restless night sleep. The creaking boards and occasional chinese/japanese loudspear announcements didn't help. Aside from the deadpan silence that flowed over a room whenever we entered, we were able to make friends with the obnoxious young children that quickly took over the gift shop and boat. Once we were able to conquer the gift shop back, we discovered they sold Tsingtao beer, the beer of our current residence, for 100 yen. This calmed our nerves and got us used to the rough seas.

As we approached China this morning the sky grew dark with some weird weather pattern we were told by our new Swedish friend Daniel (the only other Westerner on the boat) that this is what a nice day in China looks like. Our arrival was a little rough but Daniel's Swedish hospitality saved us with the offer of a taxi ride and a quick crash course in Chinese bargaining. We're here now and if the amazing plate of chow mein and skewers of meat we had for dinner says anything about the rest of our trip here, it will be a delicious experience. Tomorrow we are going to the Tsingtao beer factory to see where its all made. Coincidentally, Quingdao is also known for their wine, but I don't think we will have time to make it out to any vineyards before we hop an overnight train for Beijing tomorrow night.

P.S. Genevieve took advantage of Lady's Night at a weird Japanese internet cafe to post a lot of pictures on the zooomr.com site.

more pictures

so there are some more pictures posted to the zooomr site. I still havent mastered the japanese keyboard or the zooomr site so there really isnt much order up there and i think there are still a few pictures missing.

It rained today so we went to Osaka to check out the mall. They have these crazy food malls here with what seems like hundreds of restaurants. We ate japanese curry and yakitori. The yakitori was various chicken parts on skewers. We were able to figure out what each part was except for a hard crunchy one with a very strong taste. Any Japanese or chicken experts know what this was? This food mall was across the street from an electronics mall that makes Best Buy look like a small mom and pop store. Pretty much the only thing Japan doesnt have on the US is the iphone.

There is an amazing knife store in Kyoto that sells all sorts of Japanese knives. Its quite impressive. Im debating whether to buy one or not. Anyone shipped a knife overseas before?

Hopefully it stops raining tomorrow so we can go for a hike.

Blogger switches to Japanese

So Im trying to post some pictures and write something, but blogger has switched into Japanese. Anyways, we are in Kyoto. We spent yesterday seeing some impressive temples, Kiyomizudera and Higashiyama. We are heading to the Miho museum today for Genevieves birthday. We will be in Kyoto until the 22nd so we can see the Kurama Fire festival and then head to Hiroshima for a day or 2 and then on to Shimonoseki to catch our ferry to China.

We hung out with Lydia Briggs in Tokyo and had a drink with some Cornell people on the top of a great hotel with impressive views of Tokyo. Thank you to her for putting us up for a night. The bullet train to Kyoto was a great experience. Its a much better way to travel than airplanes, so civilized. All in all, a thumbs up for Japan so far.

I am trying to post some pictures to zoomr, but the connection is pretty slow, so i can only get a few in there in the time I have. more to come later.

Tokyo

Here's the quick version of the last few days:
-landed in Tokyo during rush hour
-toured a few of Tokyo's neighborhoods
-went to Kamakura and Nikko
-rode a Shinkansen
-ate Takoyaki, Ramen, Udon, Mister Donut, Tempura, and lots of bizarre snack foods
-beginning to recover from jet lag

pictures to come soon

Getting Ready To Go

Well it's almost time to go. I will be out of my apartment this afternoon and mostly everything is in storage. I've figured out why most people do this sort of trip when they still live with their parents, as trying to concentrate on the trip while moving out of an apartment is pretty stressful. At least I don't have to go to work today.

I wish everyone a great next few months, please email me and/or Genevieve with what's going on in your life. I'll apologize in advance if I don't write back right away or at all. I am going to try to keep this blahg up to date, but we'll see what really happens. I will definitely promise pictures getting posted, but no promises for anything more than that.

Off to Tokyo Wednesday morning...

Only one more week to go

Everything is in storage, a few things left to sell, and then it's goodbye SF.