Last Dinner at "Our Sushi Place"

Conveyor belt sushi place, on last time (that makes three for the trip - NICE!)

Me, and my plates of sashimi that were consumed during the meal

Us, in front of our place!!

And obviously concluding the night with some Mario Kart ...

... of which I was the WINNER!!!!!

Some Pics from Nikko

After we took the elevator down 100m at the falls at Chuzenji ...

The AMAZING view at Lake Chuzenji

My own personal "bridge to nowhere" - scammed again!!!!

Pagoda at Rinnoji

Shrine at Tosho-gu Temple

Worship hall at Futardsan Temple

Last Day in Japan

AMAZING last day! Carlos and I met down in the lobby at 6:50am to grab a 7:30am train to Nikko. After a two hour ride (which I obviously slept for most of) we arrived. As we were pulling up to the station, over the loud speaker they announced some tourist-y things to do, including taking a train up to an “observatory” where there was a waterfall. We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, decided it sounded cool, and found the information station once we got off the train for some more information. They pointed us in the direction of the bus terminal who promptly showed us the route to take, (took our money), and we headed to the bus stop.

After a 40 minute ride (up an incredibly windy road about 1400m up a mountain), we got off the bus only to realize it was FREEZING (and snowing). Post-bathroom stop in the shop (obviously) we headed down the road about five minutes to a breath-taking waterfall.
Once we couldn’t feel our fingers/hands/noses anymore, we found an elevator that took us 100m down for a better view. So, we decided to subject ourselves to a bit more pain in the name of a good look at nature, handed over 300 yen, and got on board.

We then headed down the road (it started snowing again) and towards a lake someone told us about. as we got closer and closer to the lake the roads got icier and the winds got stronger (we should have heeded this warning) but trekked on until we got to the lake. We were frostbitten at this point, I’m SURE of it, but it was totally worth it! The view was breath-taking x10 (possibly my favorite view of the trip) so we took as many pictures as we could before our fingers physically broke off, and headed back towards shelter.
We took a bus back towards town, and got off by the Nikko National Park. After paying 300 yen to cross the “bridge to nowhere” (OK, actually the Shinkyo, or Sacred Bridge – but seriously, we crossed, couldn’t get off, had to turn around, get off that bridge, and take an actual FREE bridge to get into the park – hmmmm) we entered the park and saw some pretty amazing temples and shrines (Rinnoji Temple, Toshogu Shrine, and Futarasan Shrine).

Train at 4:30pm, back in Tokyo at 6:30pm, and now we’re about to head to our favorite sushi conveyor belt place for our last Tokyo dinner (and sake)!

Back to reality tomorrow …

Day 4 in Kyoto

Just got in from another long, but amazing. Despite a taaaad bit of initial confusion regarding where exactly our train to Kyoto boarded, we made it to the Tokyo station and took a bullet train to Kyoto. The train was SUPER FAST and gave us a little peek at Mt Fuji.

Two and a half hours later we got off the train and had no clue what we were going to do. So, we wandered around the station for a while until we found what seemed to be in info station. They pointed us in a few different directions, and we wound up at a tourist guide stand. They told us we should head to Kinkakuji where there were a few temples. With no other ideas of our own, we got on the bus, and 40 minutes later got off ...

... well, we certainly stumbled onto something amazing. We paid 400 yen, still not really sure what we were getting ourselves into, and after walking down a few paths, stumbled on Kinkaku, the main building at the temple. The building is covered with gold-leaf on Japanese Lacquer and is surrounded by a lake and unreal landscaping.

After that, we walked down the mountain a bit more and ended up at Ryoanji Temple.

From there, we bussed back to Kyoto station (but not before we took the bus loop in the wrong direction and actually ended up at the end of the line where we had to get off, re-board, and try again). At the station we found a restaurant for some Udon noodles, tempura, and sushi.

Then, it was back on the bullet train and back to Tokyo. We had a little pit stop at the arcade on the way home and now here we are. Tomorrow's our last full day and Carlos and I are headed to Nikko while Kate and Maria are going to shop here in Tokyo ... we'll meet back up later in the day for an all out final Japanese dinner before we're back stateside on Thursday!

Day 3 = LONG ONE!

Long day today: woke up at 4:15am and headed to the fish market ... it was unreal!

We saw TONS of fresh fish and the auctions going on with the merchants. By the time we wrapped up there it was still really early - 6:45am - so we were able to see a nice little Japan sunrise. Then, we stumbled on a cool temple that had a worship ceremony at 7am complete with monks, chanting, etc.

After that it was on to Starbucks - shocker - and then we hopped back on the Subway and headed to Ueno. We wandered around the park there for a while (it's where all the Cherry Blossoms are ... not in full bloom yet but some of the trees had the blossoms starting to open), saw a temple and then got back on the subway.

We headed to Asakusa where there was another shrine. There was also a really cool strip of shops leading up to the shrine with just about everything Japanese you could ever want.

We hung around there for a while and then headed back towards our hotel - Shinjuku - and sat down for some sushi and sashimi. Carlos, Kate, and Maria went back to play in the arcade while I decided that a nap would be my preferred use of the time.

Around 6:00pm we headed back to Harajuku - the shopping district we were in yesterday - for a couple of hours of shopping. We split up, I went into two stores - a running store and the Adidas store - and then promptly hit my shopping limit (I lasted 20 minutes, today). So, for the next hour and a half I wandered the streets around the strip. We met back up, grabbed a quick drink, and now here we are back at the hotel.

Tomorrow we're taking the bullet train to Kyoto for the day - two more days left here before I'm back in State College on Thursday!

Day 2, Check!

Started today around 7am with a little run. I chatted with the front desk last night and they told me that there’s a park about a fifteen-minute walk away. So, woke up, stuffed the map into my sock, and off I went. I ended the run at Starbucks, headed back to the hotel, showered, and then the four of us hit the road for the day.

First stop, subway station. Despite a bit of initial confusion (which Carlos attempted to clear up in the Lost & Found) we eventually managed to get tickets and board the correct train. About 30 minutes later, we were in Akihabara - "techno-geek" heaven. Tech stores every step of the way with all the iPods, digital cameras, DVD players, TVs, etc, etc, so on and so forth that you could ever want!

From there, we headed to Central Tokyo - the Ginza area which is known for high end shopping. We grabbed some lunch (Chinese - go figure!) and then walked around a bit until I hit my threshold limit for shopping (for those who know me, it's not very long).

Then, we headed about 10 minutes out of the shopping region to a park where the Imperial Palace is located. We caught a glimpse of the palace (but couldn't go in - it's grounds are only open to the public 2x per year).

After that, we took the subway back towards our hotel but stopped off at Harajuku. That area was awesome. Take away the Japanese characters and you might as well have been in New York City. I bought a pair of shoes that I definitely didn't need and probably shouldn't have gotten but that I LOVE. After wandering around there for a while, we headed back towards the hotel, threw our bags down, and headed out for dinner. I'll give you one guess as to what we had ...

... you guessed it! Sushi. Obviously. And again, it was amazing! Downed a couple of bottles of hot sake, as well, and now here we are back at the hotel.

Plan for tomorrow? 4am wake-up call and we're headed to the famous fish market.

TOKYO!!!!

First, two words: Tokyo rocks!!!

Now for details … after a three hour flight from Shanghai, we landed around 1:00pm (we’re 14 hour ahead here) at Narita airport and took a 1 hour bus ride into Tokyo. Our hotel was a 5 minute walk from the bus station where we were dropped off. We checked in, changed, and took off to find some food ...

... we were after sushi and sake. So, after wandering into a few restaurants that were everything but Japanese (Mexican, Spanish, Italian), we found a place on the second floor of a building. Test #1: our waiter spoke not a lick of English. Fantastic! After lots of hand gestures and very little mutual understanding we managed to get sake for all and a couple of dishes of edamame. We couldn't find much sushi on the menu, so we decided to hit the road again in search of dinner ...

... and that's when we found it - the best possible first-night-in-Tokyo restaurant EVER! It was one of those sushi conveyor belt places but we were there early enough (5:30pm) that everything was made to order for us.

Needless to say, we ate A TON!!!

After that, we wandered a bit and of course, found a Starbucks where I ordered a tall which apparently here in Japan is teeny tiny ...

And then (this one's for you, dad!!) we were mesmerized by an arcade for a good hour and a half. We collectively put about $35 into the cranes (and did get some stuffed animals, thank you very much!!!), played some Mario Kart, and found the Japanese version of guitar hero (on the drums) - my personal favorite.

That's all for now!

Adventures of Harry and Dylan

Heard of Flat Stanley?? Well, Harry and Dylan are currently in Pu Dong Airport and getting ready to depart for Tokyo (but not before a quick stop at the airport coffee shop for some coffee, fruit, and pastries).




We're about to board here an Shanghai and it's a 3 hour flight over to Japan. We'll be staying in West Tokyo so we'll probably wander around there today before looking to explore some other regions tomorrow and on. DOT TOKYO!!!!

Shanghai Tid Bits

OK, so a lot of random things have happened, but I've been inspired by my latest adventure to post some of the more memorable events of the trip:

1. SCAMS! Soooo, pretty much my first Shanghai experience happened when Brian and I were walking on the street when we were stopped by a seemingly nice, innocent Chinese couple from outside of Hong Kong. They speak pretty good English, we start chatting, and they invite us to go have tea with them. Brian looks at me, I look at him, we both shrug our shoulders and agree to go. We walk a few blocks, go into this shopping center and up a flew floors. I'm starting to think a) this is sketchy and b) probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. We get scurried into this store front, where a woman brings us down this hallway past some wooden doors - I see Brian peek into on of the high windows on the door as we walk past so I'm thinking, this is great, he's as sketched out as I am! We wind up in the last room in the hallway where there's a table and a whole tea shin-dig set up - we sit down with this couple and the woman takes us through a "traditional" tea ceremony ... seems harmless enough. We're chatting it up with this couple having a grand old time until the bill comes - 500 RMB please (500 / 7ish = about 71 USD). We have to rush off to catch a tour with our school group, and we're kind of thinking OK, maybe we got suckered into that one a bit. Obviously word spreads to the group about our little tea adventure - the best part is, while we're at Disney, the guy who's talking to us starts dishing out advice and what's one of the first things he tells us? If someone Chinese tries to get you to go to tea with them - DON'T GO - they'll stick you with a huge bill. AWESOME. Good start.

2. This is not in chronological order, but while we're on the topic of scams, my China trip started with a scam and now I can proudly (or not proudly) say that it ended with one. A bunch of our friends decided to get our Chinese classmate who is here with us to book us massages. 90 minute massages for 188 RMB (27 USD) ... not bad! Well, we're on the street trying to get a cab to get over there, and apparently all 18 million people in Shanghai decided to use the cabs at the very same time. We finally get one cab, but only four people can fit (there are 6 of us going) ... so, Brian and I as the late additions to the massage escapade tell the others to go on and we'll see them later. We head back to the hotel and decide we'll see how much the massages at the hotel are ... 45 minutes for 200 RMB and we decide we're in. Well, long story short and 90 minutes later, somehow they've managed to stick both of us with a 480 RMB (each, that is). But you know, even now I'm still trying to be mad, but it was a pretty freaking good massage!!!

3. Caught a 5v5 tournament on the street. It was on turf but the turf kept getting ripped up in the middle through the run of play, so they kept having to call time-outs to fix the turf ... we forget how good we have it in the U.S.!

4. Almost got run down in the streets by a car, a bus, a motorbike, a bike, and many pedestrians on various occasions. Commute at your own risk!

5. Went to a 3-story Nike Town, walked two blocks, and then went to a 2-story Nike Town. Is this heaven??

That's all for now - time to pack ... 5:30am departure for the airport and it's off to Japan!

Last Chinese Afternoon

Showing a little Penn State pride on our last afternoon.

... at lunch ... not sure exactly what we ate, but it was good!

Group Shot

In between bargains, a little pic in front of a famous tea house ...

The cute little Expo guy that's all around the city (and the TV tower in the background)

Shanghai skyline from the Bund

Winding Down in Shanghai

Let's see ... we were at Bank of America yesterday as well as Tenneco (they engineer the suspension and emission systems for lots of well known car brands - Toyota, BMW, GM ...). We just got back from Bureau Veritas (they test and inspect products before they hit the market).


Last night we went to pretty cool lounge - Glamour Bar - where a lot of "ex-pats" (ex-patriots ... how they refer to pretty much anyone working in China that's not actually from China) go. I'm pretty sure I spent more money there on two drinks than I have for food over the course of the past three days - awesome!
We're done with the formal part of the global immersion trip. I'm about to head to lunch with some friends and then we're thinking about heading back to a market we went to last Sunday (where haggling is the expectation - game on!). We'll probably lay low tonight because we're off to the airport around 5am tomorrow - Tokyo here we come!!

Pics From Along the Way