Wednesday, May 6, 2009

travel china and japan- the lines story..

Hello friends and family!

As promised, below are some notes on my trip and a link to my photos. I’m having a fabulous time so far, though it hasn’t really sunk in yet that I don’t have to go back to work after this!

Photos can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jennifer.beall/JapanChina

If you don’t have time (or care) to read all of my detailed notes – here’s the high level recap of what I’ve been up to:

July 10-July 18
Fiji with Ashley

Sat 7/18
Flight to Tokyo
Beatles Cover Band in Roppongi

Sun 7/19
Met with Hiroko – a friend of a friend and great tourguide
Harajuku – fashion area
Ginza – shopping district
Meiju jongi Temple
Shinjuku – view from Tokyo Metropolitan Govt bldg
Flight to Beijing

Mon 7/20
Delicious dumplings
Shopping for fake designer stuff
Pedicure
Kellogg dinner in Nan Luo Gu Xian

Tues 7/21
Flight to Xi’an
Meet Naishin’s work colleagues
Sichuan Hot Pot dinner

Wed 7/22
Terracotta Warriors

Thurs 7/23
Biking on Xi’an City Wall
Shopping
Fountain Show at Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Fri 7/24
Flight to Beijing
Out to 80s night with Princeton alums

Sat 7/25
Beijing zoo
Indian food

Sun 7/26
5 mile hike on The Great Wall

Mon 7/27
Spa day for only $100!!!
Roast Peking Duck
Karaoke

Tues 7/28
Tiananmen Square
Forbidden city / Imperial Palace
Malian Dao
Texmex

Wed 7/30
Post office drama
Flight to Bangkok via Osaka

July 10-18: Fiji
I’m not including any detailed notes on the first week in Fiji since I was there for work and not vacation. The basic recap is that my sister Ashley joined me in Fiji, and we had a great time on a Sailing & Snorkeling trip to Modriki in the Mamanuca Islands, which is where Tom Hanks filmed Castaway. We also did a traditional Kava ceremony and ate some delicious swordfish. During the week, I headed out to the Fiji Water bottling plant, and Ashley joined up with my friend Jon Lock and two of his friends from Chicago out in the Yasawa Islands. However, on the 2nd day there, she got some sort of stomach virus which basically ruined the rest of her trip. I joined back up with her on Thursday night at Denarau Island (the resort area near the Nadi airport), and spent Friday evening with her and Mark Deppe (my coworker Julie Kefer’s visiting friend). We all had a great time celebrating my last day of work with a Teppanyaki style dinner.

July 19: Fiji to Tokyo
Today I took the 9 hour flight from Fiji to Narita and kept myself entertained with The Other Boleyn Girl – a book by Phillippa Gregory that Ashley loaned me and which I highly recommend!!!

When I arrived in Tokyo, I took the Airport Limousine bus to my hotel (Thanks, Ruwin for the recommendation!). I finally got to cash in some of my points for a really nice room at the Hilton Tokyo in the Shinjuku business district. Apparently 8 months living at the Embassy Suites in Arkansas during the week was worth something! My Diamond VIP status got me access to the amazing Executive Lounge with free food, drinks, internet and fabulous views of the night skyline. In true Japanese style though, the room was very compact but nice nonetheless.

After getting settled, I headed to the Roppongi district to check out The Cavern Club – a bar featuring a Beatles cover band. (Kim Gordon – thanks for the BEST recommendation ever!!!). This was probably one of the most hilarious moments of my trip so far. John, Paul, George, and Ringo were really talented and had great voices, but their major limitations were 1) the bad attempts at dressing and getting haircuts to look like The Beatles, and 2) they can’t pronounce the letter L!!! Some of my favorite songs that they covered included: “Yerrow Submarine”, “Arr My Rovin”, “She Roves You”, “Herro Goodbye”, “Birstday”, and “Brackbird Fry.” I wanted to order sushi or yakitori or something traditional but somehow got suckered into the English menu and the closest offering I could find was a California Roll… though it was definitely the best California Roll I’ve ever had. I met some ex-pats who had been living in China and they kept buying me Shoju drinks which were pretty gross. Then, a rauckus group of Navy folks stationed nearby came in and really created a scene. I ended up staying out much later than expected because I was having so much fun!

July 20: Tokyo
Sunday morning, sleep deprived and slightly hungover, I managed to get up and head out to meet a friend of a friend named Hiroko (Ngai-Chi: thanks for the intro, she was fabulous!). Hiroko spent some time in the US at a Stanford summer program and spoke really great English, and I loved having a local tour guide to help me get around. Though, it was hard to control my smile when she told me she was starting a consulting job with “Deroitte” ? Having a local guide was especially important because in Tokyo there are NO STREET NAMES. I can’t believe that a culture which prides itself on being uber-efficient at everything would have such an inconvenient city plan making it extremely difficult to find anything. We started out by heading up to the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) building for some views of the city. Unfortunately, the haze which I have now realized covers all of Asia meant that we couldn’t really see Mt. Fuji in the distance. Tokyo is a massive city though and the view was great.

Then, we took the subway to the Ginza district which is sort of like NYC’s 5th Avenue. Shopping was super expensive though, so we just went to lunch and had some traditional Japanese rice bowl type of things. We stopped to admire some $50 melons and Mochi desserts before taking the train to the Harajuku area, known for the fashion-obsessed crowds. We then walked to Meiji Jingu shrine / temple which was beautiful. Unfortunately we were then stuck in a mob at the subway of families trying to go see Disney on Ice in the nearby Olympic Park.

I wish I had a few more days in Tokyo to explore – particularly sad that I didn’t make it to Akhibara (the electronics area), Sensoji temple in Asakusa, the Tsukiji fish market (closed on Sundays!), and the Shibuya area. Would definitely like to come back another time and try a lot more of the food! Fortunately, my Platinum status on American Airlines allowed me access to the Sakura lounge at the Tokyo airport where I had a delicious udon noodle soup, beef curry, and experimented on a variety of pickled items. Then I even got a free 15 minute massage!

July 21: Beijing
My friend Naishin from high school met me at the new Beijing airport on Sunday night. She has been volunteering this summer with an AIDS organization that she worked with at her last job with the Global Fund for Women, and then she is headed off to Harvard in the fall for a Masters in Public Health.

On Monday, we picked up some delicious little pork dumplings from a hole in the wall near Naishin’s apartment and then headed into her office for a meeting she needed to attend. Then, we went out to lunch with her coworkers in a back alley – definitely no tourists anywhere nearby. In my attempt to train myself into being a more adventurous eater, I tried some eggplant and Chinese green beans in a garlic sauce and a few other strange looking items which were all pretty good. We ate a huge feat for the equivalent $3 each, and I labored to become a more effective chopsticks user. The most interesting part of this meal for me was viewing the (lack of) Chinese manners. People just spit the bones or fatty parts of the meat on the table while they are chewing. Then, they hock phlegm in their napkin or on the streets all the time. Sooo disgusting!

Then we headed out to the Yaxiu area for some shopping where we were bombarded with fake designer items which are amazing replicas and incredibly cheap! I got a Longchamp bag for $8 and you can barely tell the difference from the $110 version in the US. We got a pedicure at the mall and then headed to Nan Guo Lu Xian (one of the hutongs in Beijing – or small alleys). We met up with 4 of my future Kellogg classmates: James, MiaoMiao, Elissa, and Yaoli. They treated us to a magnificent dinner of Chinese fusion food (though I chickened out on trying the mutton), and James even brought me a small gift of some red paper carvings. I was very impressed by their English and wonderful hospitality.

July 22: Xi’an
We caught a flight to Xi’an today. Upon arrival, we went to meet another Women’s organization that Naishin has worked with before and again were welcomed with a nice gift. They sent us to an amazing traditional Chinese restaurant for dinner that served Sichuan Hot Pot. I think its pretty similar to Shabu Shabu, and I LOVED it. We basically got to dump our own vegetables and meat into a boiling broth at our table and then dip them into a delicious sauce. Thank goodness Naishin’ Chinese is so good because otherwise I’m not sure I could order at any restaurants, especially since she has to tell everyone that I don’t like spicy food!

Walking around Xi’an is literally like trying to play the game Frogger in real life. There are NO street lights or stop signs at major intersections, and it is absolute madness just trying to cross the street. I actually felt like I was at risk of death everytime we were in a taxi, on a bus, or walking around! People on motorcycles were the worst – some have their entire family sitting on the back with no helmets or seatbelts. The people watching was also interesting. They just carry babies around, no strollers or anything, and the babies don’t wear any underwear or diapers. The parents just hold them over the nearest bush whenever they have to go – and somehow the babies are potty trained so early on that they let their parents know when that is.

July 23: Xi’an
Today we took the bus to the outskirts of town to see the Terracotta Warriors, which were created in 220 BC and just discovered in the 70’s. It was an AMAZING sight to see – something like 6000 completely unique life-sized soldiers all being excavated. There are 3 large pits that we wandered through – fighting the large crowds of mostly Chinese tourists – including some really cool relics and bronze statues. Apparently some crazy Chinese emperor though it would be cool to have everything he had in real life with him in the afterlife, so he had his entire army rebuilt along with many of his other worldly goods. I absolutely recommend seeing this to anyone who hasn’t already!

July 24: Xi’an
This morning we rented bicycles for the 12k ride on the top of the City Wall in Xi’an, one of the best preserved city walls in the world. Though it was full of potholes and not the smoothest ride, it was pretty cool to see the different city gates and elaborate watch towers along the ride. The ever present haze kept us from getting a good view of anything in the distance, but overall I really liked Xi’an. After our bike ride, we went home and cleaned up before heading out shopping in the Drum Tower and Bell Tower area where I was surprised to find a Sephora and several other American stores. We had lunch in a muslim area with some delicious treats and great shopping. Unfortunately, the delicious treats didn’t settle well and I was faced with something I had so far avoided very carefully – the scary squatter toilets!!! They are basically just holes in the ground, and there is no toilet paper anywhere. Luckily Naishin gave me a little packet to carry around with me so I was prepared. I’ll leave it at that…. Yikes.

In the evening, we took a cab over to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda for a fountain show which was much like the one at the Bellagio in Vegas, though much larger. Plus, the Bellagio would never let tourists and kids run amuck in the middle of the shooting fountains. It was a really beautiful site and the fountains were well choreographed with the classical music.

July 25: Beijing
We hung out in the pool at the Sheraton Xi’an in the morning since we had a mid day flight. We stopped at a restaurant boasting an English menu for lunch, and I ordered pizza thinking it must be the safest option, and I was DESPERATELY craving bread of any form — starting to get really tired of rice, noodles, and dumplings! Well, of course, the pizza was probably the worst thing I’ve eaten the whole trip — basically a really soggy dough with KETCHUP on it, topped with a few sliced tomatoes and cheese. I managed to eat it just because I was starving, but wow… lesson learned.

When we got back to Beijing, we headed out to an area with a lot of bars frequented by tourists, specifically searching for an 80’s theme night Naishin had been aching to check out. Of course, the entire Princeton study abroad program and alumni club was there, along with a bunch of Canadian Olympics volunteers promoting the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. We were having a great time until we realized the DJ only had about 8 songs from the 80’s on his playlist and then proceeded to play them over and over again!

July 26: Beijing
Today we rested in the morning and then headed for the famous Beijing Zoo in the evening. I was SO excited about seeing the Giant Pandas, and was slightly disappointed with the fact they were not very giant, all pretty sleepy, and there were only a dozen of them – and no babies. Plus, they had no English signage or names/histories of the Pandas like they have at the San Diego Zoo. They were adorable nonetheless, but Naishin and I really enjoyed all of the monkeys, apes, orangutans, and gorillas. Overall, it seems like Beijing has made a huge effort to make the city tourist friendly in anticipation of the Olympics, but the Zoo must have been overlooked.

We had to go sign up for our Great Wall tour back in Nan Luo Gu Xian, so we headed out there and found a really delicious Indian food restaurant. Probably the best cardamom chai tea I have ever had!!!

July 27: Beijing & Simatai (Great Wall)
Bright and early we headed over to the backpackers hostel to meet our bus for the Great Wall. While the traditional tourist spot, Ba Da Ling, is only about an hour from Beijing, we headed to a more remote part of the Wall about 3 hours away which has a good mix of restored and unrestored sections of the wall. It was built between 200 BC and 1500 AD to keep the Mongolians out of China and it truly is one of the 7 Wonders of the World! As usual, the hazy sky kept us from seeing very far in the distance, but we could see far enough to be completely amazed. We did a 4 hour hike (about 5 miles) in the roller coaster like mountains, snaking up and down constantly and avoiding sprained ankles on all of the crumbling stairs and rocks. It was a tough hike but extremely enjoyable and something I will never forget!

One interesting side note here – Beijing, in its desperation to clean up the air before the Olympics, has banned half the cars from driving each day by limiting which license plate numbers are allowed on the roads. It was kind of funny to see all the cars with license plates ending in odd numbers. Apparently HP gave all their employees bicycles so they couldn’t use the lack of a ride as an excuse to miss work during the Olympics! I don’t think its helping though – the sky is still really icky looking… though Naishin read something that says the govt is going to try to ‘induce’ rain by shooting something up in the sky and hoping it washes away some of the pollution… Yeah, right!

July 28: Beijing
A day of recovery!!! We were SO sore from our hike in all of the strangest places. Walking on all of the crooked rocks and steps and long downhill stairs made our ankles and calves really sore. And what is the best remedy for soreness? Why not a half-day at the spa!?! We found a really nice Spa in the business district called Bodhi where we were able to get 4.5 hours of treatment for $100 USD!!! I am not even kidding – you can barely even get a one hour massage in the US for that price. It included, a foot washing, body scrub, aromatherapy body massage, dermalogica facial, seated stretch & massage, and our favorite part given our soreness, a 1 hour foot massage. Heaven!!!

We had lunch at a local restaurant known for their traditional Peking Duck which my Kellogg friends had insisted that I try. While skeptical that I’d like it, we went for it and it was AMAZING. The duck is perfectly cooked and crispy on the outside, and then you wrap it up fajita style with fresh melons and cucumber and plum sauce. Then we stopped by to see the new CCTV building which is an architectural marvel – built in the shape of 2 L’s… with a large corner suspended in the air without support (must look at the pictures to understand!). It isn’t open yet but looked so cool anyways.

For dinner, we met up with the Kellogg crew again at Party City Cashbox KTV (Karaoke) which was such a fun experience! I knew Karaoke was popular in Asia, but the concept is completely different from American karaoke. Each group has a private room with our own tv, microphones, and set up allowing us to queue and select songs. What was hilarious to Naishin and me was that they all wanted to croon ballads (primarily in Chinese), while we wanted to sing Pop songs like “Umbrella” and “Forgot about Dre” ? We had a few Tsingtao beers and enjoyed the buffet dinner, staying well past our allotted time until they had to kick us out! We were also joined by a current Kellogg student Rossi who is doing his summer internship in Beijing.

July 29: Beijing
This morning we went to Malian Dao, the tea district, in search of a nice tea set. Literally the whole street is full of shops and malls with nothing but tea and tea accessories everywhere. The experience was comparable to wine tasting in Napa – but free. We would get called into the various shops, sat down at a small table, and have a personal tea concierge who would brew various teas for us to sample: reds, whites, blacks, and greens. We found some that we liked and bought others to bring home as souvenirs. After a long hunt, I finally found a tea set that I really liked and managed to get it on for half price… e.g. about $10 USD!

In the afternoon, we finally got around to doing the ‘real tourist’ stuff in Beijing and headed to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace). Tiananmen Square is apparently the largest square in the world, but it mostly just reminded me of the Civic Center area in San Francisco. They had some large Olympic replicas of the new sites around the city including the Birds Nest (National Stadium). The cool thing is that on the subways, they have TV’s playing explanations of various Olympic sports like field hockey and other less popular events. The Forbidden City was HUUUGE and all Feng Shui – completely symmetrical. We walked through plaza after plaza and saw a ton of beautiful architecture and some artifacts from the Ming and Qing Dynasties including bridal suites for empresses and tombs for emperors.

Sidenote: did I mention that all the Chinese people think its cool to wear socks with their sandals? It’s really, really terrible.

For dinner, we managed to find a Texmex restaurant in the international area, and it was surprisingly AMAZING. Naishin and I both cleaned our plate – and I they even had DR PEPPER!!! It was so exciting if you can’t tell.

July 30: Beijing to Bangkok
This morning I had to head to the Post Office to ship back my tea set and some of the souvenirs I bought in order to lighten my load in anticipation of my whirlwind trip across Southeast Asia over the next 10 days. The Post people were a giant pain and tried to refuse to ship my tea set insisting it will be broken. Considering it only cost $10 and I definitely didn’t want to carry it around for the rest of my trip, Naishin and I talked them into shipping it for us. Worst case it gets lost or broken, I’m out $30 of shipping & purchase price and just buy a new one in the US.

I caught the flight to Bangkok with a stopover in Osaka Japan (completely out of the way!). I hope I never ever have to go back to the Osaka airport as it was completely inefficient and annoying and I couldn’t find any sushi which I am still hunting for! Oh well, I have a 9 hour layover in Tokyo on the way back so I will do whatever it takes to find some then! I am getting a little tired of all the same movies on the plane every time – I have already seen 21, Penelope, 10,000 BC, Vantage Point, Fools Gold, Batman Begins… sigh.

Arrived in Bangkok without incidence and took a cab to the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Luxury Collection which is probably the most magnificent hotel ever. I don’t want to leave!

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