Kyoto & Nara

I spent my day in Kyoto sightseeing. I got a bus pass for 500 yen, which is $5, and set out for the Golden Temple. The bus was packed, mostly with Japanese tourists. I decided to be adventurous and not get off where everyone else did for the famous Golden Temple, but instead would go find another, less known one first. Bad plan, of course I get lost. I get on the right bus, but going the wrong direction. And because in Japan they don't seem to bother with street signs too often, it took me until I was almost back in town to figure this out.











This is the bus schedule, you see my problem - I got on the number 5, that was about all I understood from this sign







So instead of my morning at a temple, I ended up at Nija Castle, touring the grounds and various rooms and of course temples too.







Then I made my way back to the Golden Temple, this time getting off at the right stop with everyone else. You can't go in, but a beautiful sight from outside.

I then headed for another temple, Ryon-Ji, known for its Zen rock garden. Me, in super sightsee-er mode walked right by the garden, wondering why everyone was sitting there. I thought I had learned this lesson in Australia, to always ask what people are looking for, but no, I walked right by it and then had to do a full loop and come back in once I realized it. Maybe you can see how I missed it...

I then took 2 buses and made my way back to Gion, for my 2nd attempt at spotting a Geisha: The night before had been entirely unsuccessful, mostly as I discovered on day two, because I was on the wrong narrow street. I was starting to lose hope, after all I hadn't had much luck in finding living creatures where I expected them to be in the past weeks. But then I spotted one, of course going the other direction. I tried to catch up, able to move more quickly than she in the wooden sandals, but trying not to be too obvious. I catch her and get a (bad) photo, but was then horribly embarrassed for being so touristy.

Luckily, the next day, as I visited even more temples, there were several geishas out, and posing for pictures, so there was no chasing required.

I visited a few more temples, bought a Buddha named the God of Business Success at one, you never know, it could help me find a job?? Found the Ginkaku-Ji, or Silver Pavilion and walked along the Path of Philosophy, with lots of cherry blossoms.

View of Kyoto - I like the new city mixed in with the old temples.

Then I got my backpack and got on a train for 40 minutes to Nara. I checked in to my ryokan, a traditional style Japanese hotel. This was my most expensive accommodation yet (though still only $45), and while I did have my own room, the bed is a cushion on a straw mat on the floor, with shared bathrooms. It was comfortable enough and fun for a change. The paper walls weren't great for quiet, but still ok.

The next day I set out on foot to explore, I had heard about the deer in Nara, but still was surprised when I saw them.

All around the parks, there are deer, apparently safe and revered as messengers of god. I think I saw kids bow to them more than once, but won't swear to that! But they just wander free, and beware if you have any type of food, they will come for it!
Todai-Ji - hall of the great Buddha, the largest wooden building in the world; apparently. And the pretty cherry blossoms.

This is not the great buddha, one of the smaller statues beside the great Buddha, but a better picture! The big one was too big to even capture really.

Meals in Japan were my biggest struggle. There weren't a lot of English menus and places that catered to tourists tended to have fake plastic food out front, which never looked appetizing and I would decide not to go in. I still managed to eat of course, and in the end found some good food, and great gyoza (dumplings).

This is the street of my ryokan. Nara is a small-ish town, so a much different feel to Tokyo; Not what I imagined as a Japanese street.

Tokyo

So Japan was a welcome change after the insanity of Hanoi. It was strange to think of Tokyo even as quiet and empty. Of course this was only certain parts, and I found the hoards of people later, but refreshing none the less. And the craziest part, especially after Vietnam where motorbikes are coming at you all the time from every direction, is that in Japan, you don't ever cross the street until the green man in the crosswalk sign says its ok. No cars coming for miles and everyone still waits. Amazing.

There is something I love about exploring a city on my own. Wandering the streets, going wherever I choose, discovering new things that I let myself believe no one else in history has ever seen. But it gets boring when there is no one to tell what you've found. In Tokyo I had the best of both worlds. I was lucky enough to stay with a couple I knew from the Merrill office in London who moved to Tokyo 18 months ago. Cliona met me when I got off the bus from the airport, we dropped off my things at the flat, she gave me a tour book, a quick orientation (with important facts like my ATM card would only work at citibank), and then left me at a Starbucks to plan my day while she went into work.

I spent the day sightseeing - visited the Imperial Palace, though you can only walk around the grounds, it is a park about the same size as Central Park. Conveniently enough, due to no planning on my part, my visit to Japan coincided with the cherry blossom season. It was beautiful, cherry blossoms everywhere, and apparently they only last about a week, so really my timing was perfect.

Outside the Imperial Palace

I then headed to a viewing deck on the 43rd floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan building, disappointed that the sun had disappeared and I couldn't see to Mount Fuji.After being lost and wandering in circles for a few hours, I gave up on the idea of a traditional lunch and went into Subway (filled with Japanese people, but I ordered the same Subway club I do everywhere.) I finally made my way to Shinjuku, where I found all the people. And all the electronics. Phones and camera galore. I found what I thought was my camera, only a few months old, but it was one at least a few models ahead. But I didn't buy anything.

One of my favorite findings was the Krispy Kreme donut shop - there was a massive line in front, and another along the side. I sat and watched for a bit trying to figure out why so many people would stand in line for a donut - they were getting a free one in line (which was tempting), but then all coming out with dozens. I found out later that apparently Krispy Kreme is new in Tokyo, and is like that all the time, the Japanese are willing to wait as long as it takes to have one of whatever is the newest trend.

Had dinner that night with Cliona, after her long day of work and my long day of being lost. We went to a great, tiny local Yakatori place and ordered an assortment of skewers - chicken, meat, veggie. Dessert was brought for free, very odd bean thing, that didn't taste bad, but had the texture of baked beans. Then we went into Don Quijote, a huge 6 or 7 floor store with the strangest assortment of items - a big discount store really, but with a lot of uniquely Japanese things.

Friday I stopped at a bakery and picked up a few things for breakfast. No English signs, so just had to guess what would be good - they were ok, but the one I thought was cheese, was actually some sort of mixture with corn and another had some sort of meat filling. I walked through Ginza, checking out the expensive boutique stores (windows) and watching everyone on their lunch hour in the park. I took a tour of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which was interesting. I visited a temple where couples come to pray for children. There were lots of parents bringing their babies back for pictures in front of the temple. Tokyo Stock Exchange

I then went to Shibuya, and had to take back what I was thinking about the quiet, empty streets of Tokyo. It is a major crossing, where you can cross in every direction, including diagonal at the same time (like at Villanova, just about 1000x the number of people!)

Shibuya is a popular place for teenagers, and it was great people watching, especially for the clothes the girls were wearing. I took the escalators up to the 8th floor of one of the big shopping malls, taking it all in as I went up. I decided to be brave and ordered just by pointing to the picture on the menu. It worked, it was good, but I didn't find out until after I ordered that I was actually in a Korean restaurant. Not a bad thing, but I was trying to get local Japanese food!

On my way back to the flat, walked to Omotesando, another shopping district, though very different to Shibuya. Went into Kiddy Land, another huge 6 story shop with all sorts of fun Japanese things - any sort of accessory for your mobile, your dog, etc.

That night we went back to Shibuya to see it at night with all the lights. The journey took about one tenth of the time with someone who knew where she was going.

Saturday I finally accepted that I needed to figure out where I would spend my last 2 weeks, now that the Trans-Mongolian is not happening. I had been waiting to see what I felt like doing at the time and trying not to have everything too planned out. But I was worried about arriving in China without a ticket to prove I was leaving again. I emailed my travel agent with my new plan, he assured me it would be easy, and then I spent 2 hours in the Japan Airlines office trying to make the changes. After the 3 staff who were trying to come up with something deliberated for an hour, they informed me that there decision is that I should just keep my itinerary as it is and fly out of St Petersburg on the 26th of April. Of course, that is not an option as Russia won't have me, so it was back to the drawing board again...or literally the map. I started just pointing to places in Asia that looked like there were One World Alliance flights from that went to Europe and asking where it was and if I could go there. Not a lot of luck - I had two problems, one not being able to go over the total mileage allowed on my ticket (so couldn't fly via Hong Kong) and being on a low seating class that was all booked on flights for weeks.

In the end, I left with no plan and spent a few hours on the computer myself trying to come up with something. See, its not all so easy not working and traveling! Still no luck, and on Sunday I went back and after another 2 hours, had a flight Beijing, via Helsinki. Since the plane was going there anyway, I decided I´d stay for 2 nights.

After my hours with the airlines, I met Ruairi and Cliona in Asakusa, where it seemed like everyone in Tokyo had gathered to enjoy the cherry blossoms - people were everywhere, set up for the day with elaborate picnics.

Picnics in the park...and the man wearing his mask

Lots of interesting food options, I did not try one!

In front of the temple at Asakusa

We had lunch at a ramen shop, ordered by pressing the button and putting money into a vending machine (after the girl managed to translate what we wanted).

Ruairi looking suitably confused trying to order from the machine

Enjoying my ramen

We then walked through a massive electronics store, literally anything you wanted they had thousands - pianos were the most random item, I thought. But the place was packed with people. Apparently I was there a day early, because Sunday it is even crazier, with the sales people jumping out at you to make you buy and all the teenagers dressed in costumes.

Saturday night we went out in Roppongi to some cute tiny bars and had dinner at an izakaya style, bar that serves food.

Trying sake...of course

Sunday morning laying in bed I felt everything move, I didn't believe it, but it really was an earthquake! That afternoon we headed for a not-so-Japanese meal at a Hawaiian hamburger restaurant, that was packed with Japanese! And then after my 2 hours at the airlines office, I got on the Shinkansen, better known at home as the bullet train, that goes up to 300km per hour. It was a quick 2 hour trip to Kyoto, now dark, so I didn't get to see anything. I was surprised when I walked into the smoking carriage-surprised there is still such a thing on the train.

Vietnam...the end

We started our day off with breakfast at Koto (http://www.streetvoices.com.au/) , a non-profit restaurant that takes poor Vietnamese teenagers, trains them in the restaurant business and life skills, gives them a place to stay, medical benefits, etc, and in the end most go off to good jobs at nice restaurants and hotels in the city.

Then we headed for Halong Bay, another UNESCO World Heritage site known for the amazing rocks and caves. Along the way, we passed all sorts of sights on the road...

This is a popular postcard, but we saw many motorbikes on the bumpy 2 land 'highway', with various types of livestock on the back.
Working the rice paddies - when we first got out of the city, everyone was hurrying to get a good photo of the workers in the fields, not realizing it would be the landscape most of our drive.

We arrived in Halong Bay and boarded our boat, our 'floating hotel' for the night, as it was described to us. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually really nice, I had my own room and bathroom. We were served an amazing lunch and dinner on the boat, complete with very impressive vegetable art - the fish was served in a net made out of a carrot, the shrimp came in a bouquet with flowers made out of carrots and cucumbers.

The only downside of the trip was the weather. It was overcast and rainy the entire afternoon as well as the next morning. It was still beautiful, apparently Halong Bay is in the running to be named one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.

I stole Chris' idea to take black & white photos, since it was so grey anyway. We stayed on a boat similar to the one in the picture, anchored in the middle of the amazing rock formations.

A floating village - complete with a floating school. People also had floating markets, rowed their boats over to us, filled with beer, wine, Oreos, Ritz crackers, cigarettes, anything they thought they could sell. I did buy 2 beers when we went for a walk, mostly because I wanted to see how I would get them - she put them in a plastic bag and hoisted them up by a pulley system, then I put the money in the plastic bag and sent it back down.

We took a walk through Surprising Cave (I love the name), with lots of stalagtites and stalagmites, and then took a kayak trip where we could get closer to the rocks and caves. Again, I was disappointed because I didn't find the animals that were promised - this time monkeys. Apparently they usually are out at dusk, but because it was a cloudy day they were probably already asleep? Or so I was told.


The next morning we were back on the bus for a 4 hour drive back to Hanoi - this time I was smarter and didn't sit in the very bumpy back of the bus!
Maybe my new career if NYC doesn't work out??

We took our final cyclo trip of the tour and had a last supper, another feast. I knew it would be my last, no more 8 course meals for me for awhile - Japan is definitely not as cheap!

The 15 day trip ended the morning of Easter Sunday, but I had arranged for an extra overnight trip with 3 others from the group to go to Mai Chau, a town a few hours away in the mountains.

We were staying in Bain Lac, a small village just outside the town, where all of the houses are wooden built on stilts. The bus ride there was a bit terrifying, lots of mountains and blind corners, apparently in Vietnam they aren't too concerned about flying around a corner with no idea what is on the other side, they just blow their horn and assume if anyone is on the other side, they will get out of the way.

We did arrive safely though and to a nice, much more local feel of this small village, though even it has been taken over by tourism. Most of the houses either were open as homestays for visitors or were selling some sort of souvenir or craft out front. You couldn't walk more than a few steps without them trying to get you to buy something, something from them, even if you had the same thing in your hand that you bought from the house before. Some of the things clearly were not local crafts, made in China apparently, but there were people with looms weaving scarves, so we bought a few of them - hand woven and selling for 30,000 dong which is 2 USD (the keyboard doesn't have a dollar sign!).

The village

We watched a local music and dance show in one of the homes, and tried some of their local 'happy water', only a sip as we weren't too sure of the contents. We walked more around the village, watching people at work - all the men working together to build someone a new house, women out in the rice paddies, boys bringing the cows home before dinner, and a mother trying to get her 2 year old who was throwing a tantrum up off the floor of the front porch.
Our home for the night

The kitchen in the house where our meals were cooked...i tried not to look too closely!

We had dinner served by the family where we stayed and a pretty early night to bed, as it was dark and not a lot to do. But no matter how remote we seemed, I still received an Easter phone call from my parents on my cell phone just before bed - reminding me I really wasn't that far away! Bed was a cushion on a mat on the floor, upstairs in the stilted house, with a mosquito net - not a great nights sleep, especially with the roosters early in the morning, but an experience.

We took a couple hour walk the next morning, after our 7:30 breakfast through the fields and some of the nearby villages.

Once we were back in Hanoi, I was on my own - I moved to a cheaper hotel (30 USD instead of 50) and had a few days to myself - well after one last dinner with the only person remaining from our tour group.

The next 2 days I spent relaxing, enjoying some American tv and doing some practical stuff - laundry, trip to the post office to send home souvenirs, finding accommodation for Japan, etc. It seemed though that everytime I left the hotel room, I was instantly lost. Was I on Hang Bong, Hang Than, Hang Da, Hang Bac, Hang Bai or Pho Ba, Pho Ma, Pho Lo streets - I had no idea. I would be out of the hotel for an hour and come back exhausted from constantly dodging motorbikes, cars, street vendors. I did make it to the Ho Chi Minh museum, out for a final meal of pho noodles, a 2nd trip to the restaurant with grilled pork in coconut milk sauce, and did successfully drop of my laundry to be done and find the place to pick it up again (for 4 usd), so it was a successful few days I think.

Just in case you didn't get my point about the insane traffic

That's a bicycle under that little shop, if you can't tell!

Wednesday night I took a taxi for 15 dollars, for over an hour ride to the airport for my midnight flight to Tokyo, relieved to be leaving the craziness of Hanoi, but sad knowing my Japan would not offer me water for less than 50 cents, beer for max of a dollar, hotel rooms with own bathroom and tv with Oprah & ER for 30 dollars, and 8 course meals for next to nothing.

Vietnam Part 2

Continuing the tale of my trip through Vietnam...

We flew from Nha Trang to Danang, from one tiny airport to another, on Vietnam airlines - slightly worrying from when we pulled into the airport, but the flight seemed ok, until the landing - one of the worse I've ever experienced. But, we survived and got on our minibus to Hoi An.

We stopped first at Marble Mountain, climbed up for views of the city, and into the tunnels used by the Vietnamese in the war to shoot down planes flying above. We also stopped in a few marble shops, but it was all out of my budget! And besides, I don't think a giant marble statue will fit in my NY apartment (whenever I get one!).

The view from Marble Mountain

Down in a cave

We stayed in Hoi An for 2 nights, a small town of 80,000 people famous for its history and for shopping. The town was declared a UNESCO world heritage site and there are many historic temples, pagodas, and homes to visit. But more striking than the beautiful buildings when you arrive in town are the hundreds of shops. Basically you can buy just about anything in Hoi An, and even better have it made especially for you - dresses, suits, jeans, shoes, boots, belts, jackets, etc. This, of course, proved more tempting than most of the group could handle and almost everyone left with at least something custom made. After you pick what you want and the fabric, they take your measurements and photos of you, then you come back the next day for another fitting. If there are any alterations, they do them the same day. It was great! And cheap. :)

Sugar cane for sale in Hoi An

Monks visiting the famous Japanese covered bridge in Hoi An

Hoi An also has a beautiful beach that I spent a few hours on - rode down to the beach on the back of a motorbike (with a helmet of course), paid $2 for a lounge chair under a bamboo umbrella, and then when I was ready to go back, they called my motorbike driver to take me back to the hotel, for $3 round trip. Not bad. The only downside to the beach was that someone was constantly coming up asking me to buy something - postcards, jewelry, snacks - and didn't like no for an answer.

That evening, we went for a cooking class - made and enjoyed a 5 course meal - and have the recipes to try at home.

On Monday, after too much time ordering custom made clothes, I bought my ticket and toured the historical sites.

That afternoon, our group was picked up on motorbikes for a tour of the countryside. We went through the rice paddies and fields, spotting people out working, water-buffaloes pulling plows, lots of fishing, and small villages.




We then had a boat ride out to a small island where we had a private bbq. Another amazing day, it was great to be out of the city and see more local people and how beautiful the countryside is.

That night we celebrated St Patrick's Day - it was a fun night, no green beer to be found, but I was happy with the special of 2 beers for $1!

Wednesday morning we took a dragon boat down the river to visit the Thein Mu pagoda. The dragon boat was nothing like the boats we were in for a work function in London - it was much bigger and I didn't have to paddle! It was a day of sightseeing - after the pagoda, we visited The King's tomb, and after lunch toured the citadel. Lunch was unique though - we had lunch at a Buddhist nunnery, cooked and served by the nuns. It was yet another delicious, massive spread of food, but this time all vegetarian. After lunch, we took an afternoon rest on mats on the floor, making sure to have our feet away from the Buddha - yes, all 10 of us literally laid on the floor of the nunnery. I didn't sleep, but was amused at the concept, so figured I had to lie down!

One of the smaller buildings behind the pagoda

Lunch at the nunnery

The nuns going out

Thursday was another early morning, checkout at 6:15am for a flight to Hanoi - bigger plane this time so it felt safer! We were impressed by the architecture and layout of the city, much more French than Saigon had been. We stopped to take photos at the mausoleum where Ho Chi Minh's body is still being out to be viewed(apparently sent back to Russia for 'maintenance' 3 months per year - he died in 1969!) I can't say I was disappointed we were too late to visit the body.

The crowds waiting to get in to see "Uncle Ho's" body

We all followed Son, our leader, for lunch at a local restaurant. We ended up eating on the 5th floor, essentially the attic - I was getting more uncertain each floor we went up - for one, it seemed the whole place could have fallen over, especially with the number of people packed in for lunch, and 2, it wasn't really the cleanest, most appealing of places, especially our attic - though it was a private room I guess. But, lunch ended up being delicious - a bowl of soup with meatballs in it, then you add rice, greens, and however much spice you want. Eating with chopsticks was a challenge, but well worth it, because it was good!

Lunch in our private room/attic

We took a tour of the city that afternoon - visited the Temple of Literature (honoring Confucius) and the Hanoi Hilton, known for where John McCain was held. Of course, we received a very cheery and happy version of what went on in the prison - that the prisoners were held under the best of circumstances, allowed to have a Christmas tree, make Christmas dinner, send home letters, play sports, and generally live comfortably.

That night we saw a water puppet show, which was surprisingly impressive and then had dinner on the top floor of a building in the center of Hanoi looking down on the craziness that is the traffic of the city.
The water puppet show

And the next day we went to visit Halong Bay, on an overnight trip. Yes, believe it or not, I'm still not finished telling about Vietnam, more to come later!