日本(Japan)

Japan was such an amazing country and yet so complicated to navigate! I didn't travel all of Japan like I really wanted to do. It was rather disappointing but I was fully exhausted by the time I got to Japan so it was to be expected. I traveled independently only for one day and it was just exhausting to do that. Our first port was Kobe.

The 1^st Day in Kobe:

Coming into Kobe was amazing. We were welcomed by a water performance on one of the smaller boats and a band not to mention the city government officials in Kobe came on to the ship and welcomed us personally to Kobe. It was an amazing morning but immigration took FOREVER! We got in at 8am and didn't even get cleared until 12pm! Too much craziness.

Oh yes one last comment: SAKURA SEASON! We came in at the peak of it.

I went to the Bunraku theatre and had to navigate the subway systems to get there. (I am still confused about the subway/train system in Japan. I have to say that Japan should take a few lessons from Singapore and China on how to make the subway system easy for tourists to use too.) The plays at the theatre were interesting even though they were mainly in Japanese. I remembered enough Japanese from anime and Takagi sensei's class to figure out what the play was about. They didn't give us the English brochures until the intermission which was kind of funny but we ended up leaving early before the next play because everyone but probably me had the attention span of a rodent but I liked the play very much. They used puppets that had to be operated by 3 males. On the right hand side of the theatre there would be one male speaker who played the voices of all the characters in the play and then next to him would be another male who played the biwa-lute. It was interesting to just watch as everything took place. I was fascinated and wished I could have stayed longer to watch but that is something that I would love to come back and do as well as the Kabuki theatre that I didn't get to do.

This is the poster that made my night though. Best thing I ever saw. Makes me love anime all the more.

2^nd Day in Kobe (Well it was actually spent in Kyoto)

Can I say it rained because I was practically drenched going back to the ship towards the end that I did not go to the Shinto shrine so I could mostly dry off and not be so exhausted. I was a little irritated with myself that I forgot my SD cards for my cameras so I didn't really get to take a lot of photos. So disappointing but I got a few really good ones. I went to 4 temples. My favorite temples had to be the 1^st two  Sanjūsangen-dō Temple and the Silver Pavillion (Ginkakuji). They were the most informative and interesting. It was fascinating to learn about the gods and just to note a couple which would be the Thunder God and the Wind God. (We couldn't take pictures at this temple)

Sanjūsangen-dō Temple Mini History: Named the rengeo-in originally, it was built by the Kiyomori Taira (political leader of the samurai) in 1164 as an annex to the houkouji Palace where the agency governed by the cloistered emperor Goshirakawa was located. It burned down 85 years later and then soon reconstructed in 1266. Since then, it has undergone 4 major reconstructions over 750 yrs. During the Edo and Showa periods, it was carried out by Muromachi, Momoyama. The Hall is 118 meters in Length. The Roof itself is built in two Japanese architectural styles: Irimoya & Honkawarabuki. At this temple is the following: 1000 armed Kannon (national Treasures), 1001 bodies of the Kannon (cultural properties) and 30 National treasures Taiko (Hideyoshi)

Statue of the Thunder God: The deity probably has its origin in the god of water, "Varuna" who is mentioned in the ancient Indian Sacred writing (Rig Veda). It is said that the image of Varuna was believed to preside over the rain and water and in the course of time, it began to be considered as the thunder god  which was believe to preside over the weather. The images of those deites derived from ancient people's fear of the water. This iconography is based on the tect of the Senju Darani-Kyo (Buddhist Sutra) and the fanciful folk belief of the thunder god from the Japanese Middle Ag Statue of the Wind God Fujin: It was introduced in ancient Indian sacred writing (Rig Veda) as a deity who drives a carriage through the air pulled by plural horses, defears enemies, offers fame, long life, fortune and assists in Child birth. Only god that has no influence of Chinese of Indian Iconology and the style of this god is solely based on Japanese iconographic ideas

After leaving this temple, our group went to the Silver temple. There I got to look around at the amazing view of the temple. Once I left and headed down the street, I had free tea and tried a lot of food all the way to the bus. I also went down philosopher's path which is a path leading up to the temple and it is amazing under the blooming Sakura (cherry blossom) trees.

I transited on the ship between Kobe and Yokohama so I really didn't do much else but homework, rest and joke with the crew members. Anyways, moving on to Yokohama!

Yokohama Day 1:

I spent the morning with Emily and we headed out into Yokohama since we were both still really tired from doing a lot of school work the night before and really needed to take it easy because we were excited about doing Mt. Fuji on the last day in Japan. We went to the park and took pictures under the sakura trees, then headed to the doll museum and around the baseball stadium since there was an event going on.

Sakura Trees and Two Parks of Flowers

Doll Museum

Baseball Stadium stuff and lunch

Day 5: Spent in Fuji and Hakone

Well it rained today but I loved it because it was snowing in Mt. Fuji!! J I loved the snow even though we couldn't see the mountain fully from below or vice versa. I wish that we could have stayed longer in Mt. Fuji or Fuji-san. It was so amazing! I prayed at a Shinto shrine at the 5^th station of Fuji-san that was known for the goddess of marriage. I found it rather fascinating and learned how to pray at the shrine so I did for the experience. We then went to Hakone which is known for its hot springs and big sulfur deposit area. We took a cable care through the area and we could see the sulfur spots but just barely through the clouds since it still continued to rain. From there we took a boat to another part of Hakone which was rather fun because you know SASers always have a funny way of entertaining themselves and since the ship was wet, we slid around on the decks.

Less than a month left! (Well like only a few weeks)

From January to now I have been across over half the world and I just wanted to put a visual to make that a reality.

I made my journey from San Diego, California and Look how far I have been with one more country to go and best of all it is Japan. I apologize for the fact that I did not put up any more maps but classes and country hopping is a bit crazy so I can't so I figured that this will suffice well let me see I will put up the ones I didn't include which was China (Shame on me.)

So in all reality I have less than a month until I will return to San Diego. I miss everyone but I will be home soon and don't expect any updates after Japan and I will not be writing anything on Hawaii because I will be resting on board in preparation for finals madness on the last few days going home to San Diego. The last piece I will write will probably be the Vietnam War Piece which I know I promised I would get done but the school work is enormous and time consuming so it will not get done until Hawaii or when I get home along with my reflection on this entire trip. I wanted to make the Vietnam War piece a little more special since it was still a sobering experience that I had when talking to the people in the war remnants museum and listening to the experiences of others that found themselves in more hostile situations or just in uncomfortable positions. I am still compiling stuff together for that. For those who want to know, I return to San Diego on the May 2^nd around 8am at the port so if anyone wants to come see me I invite my USD friends, professors and family to come welcome the MV Explorer to San Diego. I probably will not get off until later in the day so for those who want to wait and have the time then be my guest. The more the merrier and happier I will be. I wish everyone well!

Shanghai!

Shanghai was such an amazing place. It's so large and there were so many places to go to. It was pretty easy to get lost in too if you didn't know where you were going. I need to back up and tell a pretty entertaining story about my passport and visas while I was heading into Shanghai so I need to start this at the Hong Kong (HK) airport. So I am checking in at the HK airport and I went to the desk for HK airlines so I could check in and get my tickets for my flight. The guy behind the counter looks at my visas for a moment and then looked at my passport. My hair was up at the time with a loose curl in front of my face. I realized after a few moments he was staring at my hair and I asked him if there was a problem. He finally tells me that apparently I don't look like my picture. Ok, I must've had a stupid look on my face or something because he seemed to fidget nervously or something. I was still trying to figure out how I don't look like my picture in the passport. Did I need to give the same mug shot look? I finally out of pure annoyance went to adjust my hair and as I let my hair loose, he suddenly approves me and thanks me. I tied my hair up right then and looked at him. "Wait, you just told me that…" He interrupted my sentence with this answer. "Your hair made you look like the picture when you let it down." I didn't even know how to answer this. It was irritating at the time because it happened 3 more times after that, one in security, one at immigration in Shanghai and the last at the Okura Hotel which I will tell that funny story next. Anyways, I have to say that Hong Kong Airlines was such a nice airline. We got meals and free drinks if we wanted them. On the seats were these touch screen computers where we could watch movies, play games, listen to music, and many other things. It pretty much kept me entertained for the 1.5 hour flight to Pudong airport in Shanghai.

                Ok after getting into shanghai at 1am and going through everything and getting a taxi to the Okura Garden Hotel, I arrive at the hotel safely. Now here comes the odd but funny story of me checking in. I walked into the hotel with my stuff and the guy sitting behind the information desk stares at me like he had never seen a foreigner in his life. I am wondering how that is possible when several Caucasian individuals were just in front of me. I looked over at the empty check in desk and I asked the guy. "I need to check in." He looks at me and simply says that they didn't do check ins this late. I wondered how that could be since my mother had told them that I would be very late. Another woman came out and greeted me by name and checked me in right then. She said to not mind him so I didn't bother. My room at the Okura hotel was incredible and can I say something? THEY GIVE YOU JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING! This hotel puts all American hotels to shame. The room was just amazing and had such an amazing view of Shanghai. I loved my stay there.

My first day in Shanghai was spent museum hopping, going to the people's square, and going to the site of the 2010 Expo. I had such a good time doing all of these in such a short time so I didn't get to stay long enough to write complete detailed things on them or take all the pictures I wanted but I definitely would go back to these places to learn about them when I come back to China someday. I didn't do much else thanks to me spraining my ankle when I got back to the hotel (due to my own clumsiness as always) but it was amazing plus the food was so good!

(Left: Shanghai Museum, Middle: Building at the Expo, Right: Shanghai Urban Planning Museum)

My 2^nd day in Shanghai was spent at the Oriental Pearl Tower which I could rave about for hours. I loved this place. It was so amazing. The view of Shanghai from the top at around 360 meters above the ground was absolutely stunning and I could have so gone back for the rotating restaurant that was at 259 meters or so. The view of Shanghai was just amazing and loved it so much. There are three levels. The top is the space cabin. The middle has the restaurant and sightseeing area and the bottom is its own arcade with a roller coaster inside. The main floor has cafes and a mini mall inside. I love this place and could have at least spent another day. My only note to those who are clausterphobics, you get crowded in an elevator going up but it's a quick elevator ride so don't freak out about it and go visit this place. It's so worth it!

My 3^rd day in Shanghai was spent in bed on board thanks to the ship not telling us that they were moved to a new berth and so I had to walk 2 miles to heavy luggage and bags to the ship after being turned around 6 times which was ridiculous. It was a bit crazy and shame on SAS for not contacting us and telling us where they got moved to and it was stupid for a while. We weren't near any metro stations either so I couldn't really travel that much without always taking a taxi so I didn't bother for the day plus I was pretty sore across my back and legs. Oh but I do have something to say about where our ship is located. We have a spectacular view of this!

Yes the night lights were something to see from our ship and I couldn't say too much more because it was the most amazing thing ever! You had to be there to see the absolute amazing view of what our ship had here in Shanghai and I think Japan will not top this one for sure.

Moving on to the fourth day. I spent it on an FDP going here:

Yes the coca cola factory and I had a good time learning about their bottling process which was very intriguing and fascinating to watch as mainly machines do the work here with about 4000 employees watching and working to insure that everything is taken care of.

My 5^th day in Shanghai I went to the Longhua Temple and the Jade Buddha Temple. We observed people burning incents and praying to the Buddha for good fortune of any sort. It was interesting to see all the artwork in these two temples but I think the picture says more than what I can ever convey so plenty to show.

Longhua Temple

 

Jade Buddha Temple (The reclining Buddha on left is marble. We could not take pictures of the actual Jade Buddhas)

Hong Kong and Macau

So my first day in Hong Kong, I thought it was a pretty hilarious idea to go get lost around the city and actually it ended up being the best thing that I ever did as I hit all the museums in a single day J (GO ME!!) I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Culture Center, the Science & Tech Museum and history museum. I liked the Science and Tech Museum the best but it was fascinating to wander around, get food and enjoy the sights of Hong Kong for the single day that I was able to spend there so I found myself feeling pretty successful in what I did. I had a lot of food well I tried lots of soups (I honestly don't know why I did but I wanted to try a bunch of soups and it was really good except I forgot to ask the names of the soups but oh well China is in the back of my mind to note that I will be coming back next year or a little later J Still working on the logistics. Lights show in Hong Kong. So spectacular that I forgot to take pictures or video tape it lol. I loved the experience oh and FYI, there is a Disney resort on Lantau island near the airport for those who want a Disney entertainment in another country. J (I wanted to go so badly.)

My second day, I spent a total of two hours in Macau exploring on my FDP before I had to head back so I could catch my flight to Shanghai. It was so much fun and YES IT IS THE CHINESE VERSION OF LAS VEGAS! For example, MGM Grand and the Wynn both have hotels there. Shock! I wish I had actually stayed there and then left to the mainland but there is so much to do there. I wish I could have so spent more time at Macau. It would have been amazing but I went to the Maritime museum and had a good time there learning about the spice trade and Europeans colonizing the entire areas.

Change of plans

Hey everyone!

I have 5 quick things i want to say before i head into Hong Kong.

1. The Vietnam War post is being postponed until Japan.

2. For Dr. Sun: I am not heading to Beijing due to time constraints, changes and finances so i will be in Shanghai for about 5 days total. 2 of the days i will be doing class related trips and the other 3 will be on my own. Email me with suggestions

3. Japan plans have been changed and i will update with a new plan

4. All posts on China will not be put up until Japan

5. All Japan posts will be delayed because of school work.

 

Thats all folks!

Vietnam Day 4 & 5

Day 4:

It was amazing this morning as we went to a disabled school in one of the poorer areas of Ho Chi Minh City. The school had mainly deaf students who were really lively and reciprocated to us so well. It was such an amazing experience to be able to hand them pencils, pens, crayons and other things but the biggest reward was seeing a smile on their faces when you gave them something. The school works with these children and even assists in teaching the parents of how to deal with the children and some sign language so that they can communicate with the children better. I loved being able to play catch with them and just see their faces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5:

Today I went to the Mekong Delta and it was such an amazing experience and the food was so good (minus the coconut juice. sorry everyone, I normally don't like coconuts and I got a stomach ache from it)

We stopped at the markets on our way there and saw so much fruits, vegetables, chicken, meat, fish and tons of rice of all different types. Just an amazing sight to see so much food being sold in the area. J

(Above: These were how many types of rice? O.O Can you count them? Below: Eel it is! Good eating tonight! Ha ha!)

After the market we went on a boat across the delta and then rode on a horse carriage down the streets then went on several other boats and just for the record, I wore the hat! Proof!

We stopped at several places along the way and I enjoyed the time trying so many fruits and foods until I couldn't eat anymore! I loved the experience.

I had amazing tea with honey and Kumquat fruit which made it taste like apple cider along with other fruits.

 (Top: Pinapple, Jack Fruit (top left), Grapefruit (Top right), Mango(bottom left), Dragonfruit(bottom right) )

Yeah I ate this guy down here with vegetables, rice mixed with squid and shrimp, prawns, chicken and noodles plus soup.

 

FYI: The Vietnam War Piece will be up in a couple of days. Thanks and sorry about the delay!