And So It Begins...

As a brief recap (since it has been a few days since I posted) I moved out of my apartment yesterday. Initially, I had planned to go to a hostel in down town Shanghai, but I decided to  just crash at the apartment complex on the couch of one of the other interns. I forfeited my $10 fee to the hostel, but being in a familiar area, with a familiar route to the airport seemed desirable. I packed up the clothes I will be taking with me on my 14 day adventure (I will be backpacking around China in a series of monochrome t-shirts) and took the rest of my things to Yu Cui’s apartment. Also, since yesterday happened to be my birthday, I took a walk across the observation deck at the World Financial Tower (which happens to be free on your birthday) and treated myself to a crappy slice of pizza at a little restaurant in Pudong.

This morning, Yu Cui messaged me on We Chat (China’s only legal social media app) saying that she thought it would be safer if I had a cell phone with me while I travel. The cell phone that was included in my fee to the recruiter only covered the days I was actually working at the internship. It had been shut off yesterday. She offered to put me on her cell phone plan for the next two weeks so I could make phone calls to her, John, or Vivi if I needed to. She texted me to say we’d meet at 11:30 to get it all set up.

I met her at 11:30 in the lobby with my stuff. “Have you tried hot pot?” she asked me. Hot pot is a very traditional Chinese dish. The Sichuan hot pot is the most famous and very spicy, but all regions of china have some variation of the dish.

“I have not,” I told her.

“Do you want to?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“Okay,” she said. “What time is your flight?”

“7:00” I told her. “So I need to leave at 3:00 to get there.”

She looked at her watch. “Okay we have time.” We went outside and waved her arm over her head. A white taxi came screeching over to the curb. “Get in.” she said.

That driver wouldn’t take us to where we needed to go, so we changed taxis a few minutes later. The experience of riding in a Chinese taxi is pretty much everything you’d imagine it to be. Having walked in front of these guys for the past 7 weeks, I knew what to expect but I’m sure if you were new to China, it would be traumatizing.

Yu Cui called ahead and made a reservation for us at the Hot Pot restaurant. The idea is that you get a pot with a particular soup base brought to your table. You then order different meats and vegetables to put in the soup. There is then a bar to sample different sauces—or more traditionally, make your own—that you can dip the meat and veggies in after they are cooked in the pot.

I got a tomato soup base for my pot. Yu Cui ordered beef and lamb, as well as something that translated to pork balls. We couldn’t decide on which veggies so she ordered a sampler that had lettuce, bot-choy,  various mushrooms, and arugula on it. We also got wantons and “bing.”

For sauces, I got four different types. One was a fermented red bean sauce that I mixed dried peanuts into. Another was some sort of spicy soy sauce. Another was a spicy black bean sauce. The final was a sesame based sauce. There was also a famous house sauce that this restaurant made, and we each were brought a dish of that.

The entire meal was amazing! Yu Cui kept insisting I eat more food—and not knowing what would happen to my diet when I got to Hong Kong, I did. It was all so flavorful and tasty. Definitively one of the best meals I have had in China.

“You know,” I told her, “I will really miss the flavor of Chinese food. Some of it has admittedly been scary.” She laughed. “But I’ve liked most of it, and we don’t have anything like it back home.”

“Do you like the chicken feet?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “I won’t eat the chicken feet.”

“You should try it,” she said.

“I like the chicken wing,” I said.

“Chicken wing is boring,” she said.

We had a great lunch, a fun time chatting, and so much good food. She gave me her old cell phone that was set up with minutes and 3G data that I could use within the mainland. In Hong Kong and Macau, it wouldn’t do anything, but when I go to Beijing and Xi’an I can use it if I’m in a bind.

When lunch was over, I got on the subway closest to the restaurant and took it to the airport.

I haven’t really written a post about the end of my internship. I’ve tried to a couple times but it never seems right. I thought a lot about what I wanted to say during the subway ride to the airport. Words just don’t seem appropriate. I had an incredible time working at AllSet. John was such a great boss and taught me so many useful skills I will definitely be able to use in the future. Vivi, Yang Renjun, and Yu Cui were such good friends to me. They taught me a ton about China, helped me make the most of each trip I took, and took really good care of me in making sure I ate enough and knew how to get around…not to mention the Chinese lessons were awesome and I learned so much more than I expected to.

Maybe I dozed off or something but all of a sudden, we were at the airport. The subway ride that seemed interminable last week flew by this time. In fact, I was now there too early. I walked around a bit before going in a book store and buying a book on Chinese History that looked interesting. I then proceeded to read the entire thing before check-in for my flight even started.

It turned out I had to go through both customs and security to go to Hong Kong. Reading about the relationship between these countries is interesting. It’s like they are separate, but China wants Hong Kong, but not completely, and Hong Kong wants a little bit of China, but not completely (In the end I now have a Hong Kong visa in my passport so I am counting it as country #16.)

I got to my gate and spent some time journaling. My flight was delayed so I bought some tea. When it was time to board, we were all herded on a bus that took us out to the plane on the runway. On the bus ride I talked to a Ukranian girl who was being deported to Hong Kong because of an expired visa. I couldn’t completely understand her broken English (it sounded like she said “some one got stabbed on the subway”) but it seemed like she was having a very bad day.

My flight to Hong Kong was on Spring Airlines. Spring Airlines is a low budget carrier out of China. When you fly on a low budget carried, you expect less leg room. The problem with this is, Chinese airlines don’t have a lot of leg room to begin with. My knees were pressed so tightly against the seat in front of me, I had to bend them so my feet didn’t even touch the ground.

The flight however was very fun. We flew along the coast of China and there a thunderstorm going on over the main land. Watching the lightning from the plane was incredible, although I learned that Chinese people do not like turbulence at all.  About 15 minutes before we landed the flight attendants turned up the cabin lights and led us in a little Tai Chi stretching. It was hilarious to watch, but it actually felt really good as they demonstrated how to re-set the “Chi” (life energy) in your tissues.

When we landed, we disembarked and were ushered into customs. The screening was very easy, and they handed me my visa (which was not attached to my passport apparently) and departure card. I cleared customs and rounded the corner to venture out into Hong Kong.

Unfinished Japan

[Unfortunately, my posts about Kyoto and Kobe have been lost somewhere to the great Chinese firewall. I still have the original journal entries in my notebook, so at some point I will recreate them. For the interest of time, I'm going to focus on uploading my more recent travels. If you’d like to hear more about Japan—and I truly, truly loved it so I’d be happy to share more—feel free to shoot me an email. Maybe we can go for Sushi or something when I get back!]

Big Buddha

I waited for Keiko in the lobby of the hotel. There were a lot of weddings going on at the hotel today—either that or a bunch of guests decided to wear the same white princes outfit. Lots of people were coming and going. I noticed that Japan appears to be a much less masculine culture than China. Body language of both genders is more relaxed and less posed, and there is way more affection between couples, friends, and families.

Keiko came into the lobby carrying two umbrellas. “Sorry I’m running late,” she said. “Do you want to use this umbrella. It is raining really hard.” I looked out the window and it was.

“I didn’t even notice,” I said. “I must be cursed. Every country I’ve visited it has rained on me.”

We walked outside and down along the pier. “What did you have for breakfast?” Kieko asked.

“I didn’t find Starbucks,” I said, “but I found a really good breakfast place and had pancakes.”

“Oh there is a good pancake place over by the Ferris wheel,” she said.

“Called Butter?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“That’s where I went.”

“You got into Butter?” she asked. “There is normally a line out the door!”

“No,” I said. “I got right in. It was so good!”

We walked back over to Umie. “I think today we will go to Nara,” she said. “They have the largest Buddha in Japan there. And lots of deer. It’s just a very nice city.”

We went into Umie and down a floor on the escalator. It was like an entire city underground. We walked several blocks underneath the streets of Kobe, with shops and craft fairs, and restaurants, and salons all over the place.

“Is all of Japan like this?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “You would not believe some of the shops they have underground here.” I didn’t.

We walked all the way to the train station underground. I thought subway stations in China were clean, but this was spotless. Again, everything was so white and shiny. We bought tickets and got on the subway. A few stops later, we changed trains to one that took us out of town and up into the hills.

I noticed on the train that young people have an odd way of dressing. Girls all had very shaped hairstyles that formed to their heads. Almost all of them were wearing so much lipstick they had the “duck-lips” look. Short shorts were popular, but the waist of the shorts started up by the belly button. They almost looked like the style of shorts from the 60’s in the US. Guys on the other hand wore jeans and v-neck t-shirts. They all had really moppy haircuts, and most wore ear piercings of some kind. Men on the train were almost all wearing suits (even though it was Saturday) and women had on dresses.

Sleeping on trains in Japan is sort of a well-known stereotype, and one that I can confirm. A lot of people would get on and doze off as soon as they sat down. In a lot of ways it is very practical. There certainly have to be health benefits to sleeping when you are tired.  Something I didn’t know was that it is socially unacceptable, and possibly even punishable to talk on your cell phone on the train. When Keiko’s cell phone rang, she immediately silenced it and explained this rule to me.

Another established trend in Japan that we talked about was the high suicide rate. Japan has the highest rate of suicide in the world.

“It’s interesting,” Keiko said. “In a lot of ways, the suicide has to do with face. Part of face in Japan is the idea that individuals have to live up to the ideals of ‘being Japanese.’ It is both a very collective mindset and individual mindset. So a lot of time when bosses or managers mess up at work, they kill themselves to take ownership for their mistakes.”

We also talked about how this mindset of face really conflicts with Western ideals. By the definition of face, it is okay to make adjustments or—for lack of better word—hide things in order to “save face.” The desirable outcome is maintaining face so if you have to “cut corners” to do so, that is acceptable. What’s important, and difficult, to understand though is that the motive is not to be deceitful or malicious, the society just values reputation more than they value specifics. It’s the way things function, it’s just radically different than the way the west functions.

As the train climbed through the hills we passed lots of houses with brightly colored roofs and doors. There were pink ones and lilac ones and baby blue ones, among other colors and shades. Even some of the other trains we passed and brightly colored coaches.

Nara was about an hour outside of Kobe. When we arrived, it had stopped raining. Keiko had gotten a message from her son Eric that he and his friend Shane were going to meet us in Nara. They had taken a different train route because they had passes for one of the express lines. We waited for them at the station next to a fountain and a monk begging for money.

The Romanization of Japanese is much more phonetic than pinyin is for Chinese. Maybe it’s just because we all know so many Japanese words—like Honda, Nintendo, Sony, etc.—but reading signs, I could pretty much figure out how to say what I was reading.

“Nippon?” I asked Keiko, “is that 'Japan' in Japanese?”

 She confirmed it was.

A bunch of middle school aged girls in white and blue uniforms were standing around drinking juice boxes. Keiko suggested that we go get something to drink, so we went and bought juice boxes as well. On our way back to the station, we passed a pottery store and Keiko stepped inside for a few minutes to look around. The tea pots were really cool and molded into just about every artsy shape imaginable. The store was also playing an internationally recognized soundtrack: Frozen. First it was the Japanese version of “Let it Go.” Then, they played the English version of “Let it Go.” Then they played the Demi Lavoto version of “Let it Go.” Next up was Japanese “For the First Time in Forever”  …I’m assuming it continued from there, but we left.

Eric and Shane arrived and we decided to go get lunch. Keiko took us to a stir fry restaurant where they cook the noodles and meat on the tabletop in front of you. I had beef and noodles and they were really good. It looked like a lot of the noodle dishes I’ve had in China, but not as greasy or as salty. In fact, it was kind of sweet and the vegetables tasted awesome. I got it with the udon noodles because they are a little thicker and easier for me to pick up with chopsticks. The tabletop skillet actually kept the food really warm, and the last few bites were almost a little too hot.

As we started walking up towards the temple, we saw lots of big red prayer flags with little grave stones along the trail. Keiko explained that the grave stones are put up by families that have to abort their unborn babies. These memorials give them places to pray so that the child’s soul will go on to the afterlife.

I was able to ask Keiko a lot of questions about some of the Buddhist architecture and significance. The little towers I’ve been seeing that look like pawns from a chess board are actually old style lanterns. No one can give me a completely clear answer about what a pagoda is, but they are generally built in honor of someone or some event and used as an additional place to pray.

Keiko is a huge animal lover and her favorite thing about Nara is the deer. Nara has deer like most cities have squirrels. This is because deer were considered sacred in Buddhism so these deer roam the temple grounds. They are very tame and will lay or stand for people to pet them. They get a little aggressive around food, but they are incredibly smart. The even wait for the green light to cross the street. Keiko was taking lots of pictures with the deer, and at one point she may or may not have been kissing them.

As we approached the entry to the main courtyard of the temple, we could see a big arch up ahead in the distance. Little vendors lined one side of the walkway, while a large open park with a big pond sat on the other side. The most popular vendor item were cookies to feed to the deer.

The courtyard was guarded by two large statues of warriors. They were both several stories tall and had bulging muscles with tunics draped over them. Their faces were menacing looking, with pointed beards like the whiskers on a dragon.  The courtyard itself had lots of tall evergreen trees and cobblestone paths that went in different directions. About 100 meters down was a white and red building where you bought tickets to go see the temple.

And the temple was beautiful. It was a large building, with two flowing roofs that have that traditional Asian architecture to it. The building was white and the roofs were brown. At the very apex of the roof there were two gold fish statues facing each other. All around the temple was a green grassy field, which was almost as beautiful as the brilliant blue sky.

As we walked up the trail, Keiko explained that it is tradition to wash your hands before going into a temple. We did so at a small fountain with cups to ladle water over your hands. People were lighting incense over a large fire outside the entry way. Stepping up and over the lip of the door, we were inside.

The Buddha was big! His one nostril was said to be six feet in diameter. He had curly hair on top of his head (which Keiko said each curl represented a connection with divinity). One hand was held out with the palm facing forward. The other was resting on his knee with the palm facing the ceiling and his middle finger raised slightly. Keiko said that the hand gesture on his knee was supposed to represent “saving the people from suffering.” She wasn’t sure what the palm facing forward represented. The Buddha did sit cross legged on a bed of eight locust pedal. Each petal was intricately carved. We read about the significance of the carvings, but some of it went over my head. I gathered that the top portion of each petal was depicting different teachers from Buddhism. The bottom portion depicted different teachings of Buddha. I was more impressed by the fact that this Buddha was made sometime around the year 700AD.

One of the pillars supporting the temple roof had a hold drilled into it. It was supposed to be good luck to crawl through the hole. Despite watching various people wiggle their way through—and there was a line to do this—Keiko, Eric, Shane, and I were all pretty sure that we would get stuck if we tried.

“Where do they do the offering to the ancestors?” I asked, recalling the money burning ceremony I’d seen in Shanghai.

“Ancestor worship is only practiced in Chinese Buddhism,” Keiko explained. “In Japan, when you are dead, your spirit goes wherever it goes and that is the end of your role in this world.”

We wandered up to a garden that was behind the temple. It was far less crowded and touristy. A lot of little grave stones dotted the trail, up to the point that a large beige wall rose up on either side. In the gutter between the trail and the wall, there were little orange gutter crabs and massive blue dragon flies. There were some buildings that looked like either small shrines or maybe little houses. They all had those Asian style roofs to them and were built almost entirely from wood. But the higher we got, the distracting view was the rolling green hills, and beautiful blue sky.

We climbed up one final staircase to the main shrine where you had a great view of the city.

“This is what I miss about Japan,” Keiko said. “Nature is so close. You just walk 15 minutes from the city center and you are out here with all this fresh green life.”

Eric explained that at a shrine, you ring the gong over head by pulling on the rope. Then you clap your hands a pray.

“You can pray in English,” he said. “Shrines are multi-lingual.”

Shane rang the gong first and then I went. Clapping my hands I prayed, “Dear God. Thank you!” There was so much beauty, so much history, and everything was so clean. I was thankful for all of that, and also thankful to have Keiko and her family guiding me around. It was turning out to be a great weekend away…and I couldn’t wait to see more!

As we hiked down from the shrine, Eric explained to me a little bit of Japan’s history to me. “You see the whole country has basically been in a recession for 30 years,” he said.

“I’ve had a few conversations with people in China,” I explained, “and part of the problem China faces is that Chinese people do not want to buy products made in Chinese. If the foreign demand for Chinese made goods went away, China’s economy would collapse.

“Japan is in the same boat,” he said. “They led the way with the video game boom, but they’ve pretty much been living off of the success of Nintendo ever since.”

He and Keiko both told me about how this past month the president has reinterpreted the constitution. Following WWII, Japan formalized their foreign policy that they would only enter into war if attacked on their own soil. In June, the government voted to amend this so that they can also assist their allies in any military ventures.

Back at the temple, Keiko couldn’t resist and bought some cookies to feed the deer. She split them with Shane, who inevitably got chased by the small herd that formed around him. Keiko on the other hand went seeking out the baby deers and the ones that were off by themselves.

“Careful Mom,” Erick said. “If you get too close to some of the babies, you’ll find out which ones are the mothers.”

We took a taxi from the Temple back down into town. There, we caught the high speed train back to Kobe to meet with Erick and Shane’s wives. Shane and his wife went with their friend to have a steak dinner while Keiko, Erick, his wife (Stephanie), and I went to a buffet restaurant that Keiko had a membership at.

The food was all you could eat for 2 hours. It was really good! I’m not a huge tofu fan, but the fried tofu was pretty good. I also had tempura squash, vegetables, and shrimp. It wasn’t served with the usual soy/teriyaki sauce that we eat it with the US. Instead, it was sprinkled with green tea salt. It was kind of sweet and kind of salty, but neither taste was overpowering. There was some thinly sliced pork that was really tender and flavorful. I tried some sushi but really wasn’t a fan. It was more like shashimi than America rolls. The salmon didn’t have much flavor to it, but the octopus tasted really odd. There was a rice and curry dish that was pretty good, but did make me belch.

My favorite thing of all had to be the salad. Finding vegetables in China that are both fresh and don’t make me sick is a challenge (you can find both categories separately, but both is much harder.) It was just a standard salad of ice berg lettuce, carrots, radishes, and dressing, but it tasted so good!

The desserts were also pretty good. There was a chocolate fountain with some pastries to dip in it. That was a little disappointing in flavor, but the soy based soft serve made up for it. There was also a tofu based custard that was pretty good.

When we finished, we went to meet Shane and his wife at a bar. I tried a mixed drink that Stephanie suggested that tasted pretty good (by that I mean it was really fruity and didn’t burn my throat at all…I don’t know what I was called but I would drink it again.) Shane had picked up some Gyoza from the most famous Gyoza restaurant in Japan, and we stood around sharing his leftovers. They too—and this is probably starting to sound repetitive—were really good.

Erick and his friends were going to stay out a little longer, but Keiko wanted to head back to do some grading. We were talking about going to Kyoto tomorrow so I decided to head back too and get some rest. She took me most of the way back to hotel (until I could see it) and gave me some more money for breakfast. It was almost midnight by the time I got to my room, and after a quick shower, I passed out on the bed.  It was an awesome day, and my only concern now was, how will I be able to go back to China.

 

 

 

Mermaid Hunting

Before going to bed last night, I texted the following to my Mom:

“Japan is beautiful. The top 5 things I like about it:
1.) I can drink the tap water
2.) I can see across the bay
3.) There are clouds and stars in the sky
4.) They drive on the wrong side of the road (which is both confusing and fun)
5.) There are no bones in my meat.”

Not only did I sleep in, but I slept great! The curtains on my windows totally blacked out the sunlight, and since my cell phone died in the night, I slept well past my alarm that had been set for 9:00. When I got up I had an email from Keiko saying that she had slept in and would be ready to meet at 11:30. In the meantime she suggested I walk over to the mall called Umie and get something at the Starbucks.

I got dressed and went back out on the balcony. The blue sky and fluffy clouds were amazing. The sky was so bright it actually hurt my eyes to look at it. I guess the smog in Shanghai acts as about an SPF 10 or so, because this sunlight was just incredible. The mountains—which I could see the silhouette of last night were awesome too. Kobe is a long and narrow town with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.

I went outside and walked along the pier. Everything in the skyline looked so futuristic. The architecture was very sleek and modern and everything seems to be either white or silver. [Keiko explained to me later in the day that a lot of this new architecture was because Kobe was leveled in an earthquake in 1995.] Across from me on another pier was a large Ferris wheel and lots of different restaurants with outdoor seating. As I got closer to town, there were two things that I haven’t seen enough of in Asia: old Catholic churches, and pigeons! In a lot of ways, Kobe felt a lot like a European city, but a very futuristic one.

I could see the sign for Umie mall and made my way over. I was excited to cross the street with traffic going the opposite direction, but it was a lot less thrilling than I anticipated. Inside of the mall was very clean. I entered through a department store called “Victoria Golf” that seemed to sell kind of athletic-looking, trendy clothes. I took a peek at the price tag, and was surprised at how expensive it was. It definitely wasn’t as expensive as the Euro-zone, but it was more expensive than China. It might be comparable in price for the same quality in the US, but after living off of Yuan in China, it still gave me sticker shock.

Everything inside the mall was very quiet. If it’s possible, this mall was even bigger than the Chinese malls. The department stores themselves were not very big, but there were hundreds of them, and every hallway seemed to lead to another hallway. It was also huge; at least 7 stories that I could get to by escalator.

The escalators also are worth mentioning. In both the airport and the mall, I noticed that they were made by Mitsubishi (an obviously Japanese company.) The hand rails were different colors—the airport had red, the subway had blue, the mall had green—and the stairs came in different patterns. You could ride it up as a normal escalator for a floor and then it would become a moving sidewalk while it moved you across a small landing, and then became stairs again and kept moving you up.

I looked around for quite a while to starbucks. I took the escalator up to the 4^th floor, which from the pictures on the sign appeared to be the food court. My assumption was correct, but a food court in a Japanese mall—much like a Chinese mall—has lots of different mid-range restaurants (not exactly the fast food joints we have in the US. Starbucks wasn’t here.

I did find an ATM however. There was an English option on it, but it did not take a visa card. This is actually the first international ATM I’ve run into that wouldn’t take my card.

Going back to the main floor I found a little café that looked like it had basically copied the design of Starbucks. Unfortunately it was closed. There was a pedestrian bridge over the road from the mall to the pier with the Ferris wheel. I decided to go look over there.

Walking the pier really was like traveling back to Europe. There were lots of little boutique shops and cafes. There were Italian restaurants and German delis. There was a Swiss chocolate shop and gelato stand opposite each other on the cobblestone road. The smells of hot dogs, pizza, and fresh caught seafood all blended together and teased the senses…but there was still no Starbucks.

I thought about crossing back over to the mall and just getting something from the food court. But as I walked away, I saw a little sandwich board sign that read “Butter” across the top in fancy script. Below the heading were pictures of various breakfasts, most of which featured pancakes, eggs, sausage, and fruit…none of which I have had since I came to Asia.

There was a man wearing a badge that had the information “i” on it. I saw him give directions to a Japanese couple so I went up to see if he could point me towards the pancakes.

“Where is this restaurant?” I asked pointing at the sign.

He said something in Japanese, which I think sounds a lot like Spanish.

“Pancakes?” I said, pointing at the sign.

He looked at the sign and nodded. “Yes, pancake.”

“Where?” I asked. He pointed at a little white building that was designed to look like a house. “Open?” I asked. He nodded. “Thank you.” He smiled and bowed. I tried to bow a little too before walking to the restaurant.

When I went inside, I wasn’t sure what to do. In America, we wait to be seated. In most of Europe, you seat yourself. In China, you seem to typically order at the front and then take a seat. I couldn’t remember what Keiko had done last night. It seemed like someone had led us to a table, but maybe Keiko was just talking to the waitress. Either way, I figured I’d err on the side of caution and play “stupid tourist” in the entry way until someone came to show me.

Eventually, a girl came out from the back and said something. “Breakfast,” I said. She held up a finger telling me to wait and went back into the kitchen. Another girl came out who spoke English and led me to a seat in the back of the room. The wall paper had a pattern of sand colored stones that were wearing away.

I found one of the cheaper pancake breakfasts and ordered it along with tea. The waitress suggested tangerine tea, which sounded good to me. When my breakfast came it was incredible. I wish I’d taken a picture of it. The pancake was cooked in a steamer, and was about an inch and a half thick. It was covered with custard, and scorched into the bowl with a brulé torch so it had a hard caramelized topping. It was topped with blueberry jelly and diced pieces of strawberry…and it was absolutely amazing! When I bit into the strawberry, my lips tingled from the familiar sweetness that is impossible to find in China (much less eat.) The entire thing was so sweet, with way to much sugar, but it was so unbelievably good.

The tangerine tea was pretty good too. In China, they make tea by boiling water and then putting tea leaves in the water. Keiko explained that Japan uses teabags made of netting so that the leaves don’t get in the water and can be removed before serving.

When I was done—and I did eat the entire thing—I walked back over to the hotel to get my phone and meet Keiko in the lobby. It’s going to be hard to leave this place I thought. Japan has definitely gone in for the win!

Land of the Rising Sun

Putting in my ear buds I listened to my new “America” playlist until it was time to board. I considered getting something to eat, but boarding was supposed to start in about 5 minutes and the flight was only 2 hours, so I decided to pass.

When boarding started, everyone got up and lined up. There were no zones, no groups, nothing fancy like that. Just one announcement that said in Chinese and English, “Flight HO 1337 is now boarding.” Surprisingly, it was oddly fast and efficient. I was on the plane within about 40 seconds of getting up to get inline.

The inside of the plane was very, very purple! Like magenta, everywhere! I stowed my backpack in the overhead compartment and then took my seat in the aisle. We sat for a while before the pilot came on and made an announcement. It was funny because when he made the announcement in Chinese, he sounded Chinese, but when he repeated in English, he sounded British, without any hint of a Chinese accent at all.

“Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said. “This is Captain Jack speaking. Our departure has been delayed by the rapidly deteriorating weather in Shanghai.” Looking out the window, I realized it had started to rain. “We are currently fifth in line to depart, but the control tower is not letting anyone take off right now. I am not sure how long it will be, but please make yourself comfortable and let our crew know if there is anything they can do for you.”

I should have gotten food I thought. But I have to say, I was impressed by the service from the crew. They brought everyone a pillow, and passed out blankets to those who wanted them. They also served green tea and water several times during the ninety minutes we sat at the gate. I was a little worried since I didn’t have any way to let Keiko know I was running late, but I figured she would find out when she got there. Just part of traveling!

The take-off was really bumpy, and most of the flight was turbulent. It’s funny because every time we hit a patch of turbulence, they made an announcement informing us that we had hit turbulence and to remain seated.

Now the most impressive part of the flight was definitely the free in-flight meal. I am too young to have ever had in-flight meals in the US (at least complimentary meals, I have bought those snack boxed a few times.) This meal came on a tray, with a banana, a hot roll, some mixed nuts, and a moon cake, as well as a little plastic cup of water. It wasn’t the most significant meal, but for a two hour flight, I was impressed. You can’t get the same quality service on a flight from LA to Seattle, and that is even longer!

Now they did have a very strict no electronics rule on the plane. This included cell phones, ipods, and cameras. I broke all of those rules and was yelled at by flight attendants…repeatedly. I wanted explain that nothing I was doing (listening to music and taking pictures out the window) would interfere with the plane—especially since my iPod does not have a cell phone or wireless signal—but they did not want to hear it.

I got up at one point to use the lavatory. When I came back, my seat mates had opened the window shade. Outside was blue sky and fluffy white clouds. I hadn’t seen either in over a month! The “blue” sky we get in Shanghai is more like a “less grey” or “not completely white” …but this was just as blue as it is back home.

As we began our descent, the plane turned and dropped below the clouds, when it did, we had a glorious view of an absolutely stunning sunset. It was a completely golden sky with ruby red flashes of light shimmering on the clouds. It felt like I’ve been living in the black and white part of Wizard of Oz and now I was landing in some strange Technicolor world.

Fireworks can’t top that view I thought. What a perfect way to celebrate the 4^th of July.  

When I first got off the plane, my first observation was that there was not as much English as Shanghai. Almost all the signs in Shanghai Pudong Airport—as well as the street signs and subway signs—have English on them across the bottom. Nothing in Osaka had this feature.

I followed the crowd onto a monorail shuttle that took us back to the main terminal. When we got off, we walked down to customs, which was quite a spectacle. Security in Shanghai had been a more multi-step process than in the US, but it wasn’t necessarily “tight.” Security in Japan made TSA look like a birthday party. They took my picture both facing the camera and turned profile. They finger printed me and asked me several times where I was coming from and why I was going to Japan. I gave the answer of “Tourism” for that second question, figuring it sounded better than “The Chinese government wouldn’t approve me for the visa I wanted so I came here to try and find a loop hole.” Once again, they gave me a departure card, but this time they stapled it to my passport, along with my Japan visa sticker and my entry stamp.

In customs they asked me if I had anything to declare and directed me to the green “Nothing to declare area.” There I was asked to fill out a form listing everything I had to declare…I wasn’t quite following the logic of why there was a nothing to declare area if it meant you filled out the same form, but what do I know.

Outside of customs, I saw Keiko waiting for me.

“Hi!” she beamed and gave me a hug. “I’m sorry I was late. We went to an aquarium today and it took me 90 extra minutes to get here. I just got in.”

Well that’s a lucky coincidence. My flight is delayed 90 minutes, she was delayed 90 minutes…the way this travel stuff just “works out” makes me wonder.

“Do you need anything before we go?” she asked. “It is about a 90 minute bus ride to Kobe.”

After my bus ride to Huangshan, I figured a toilet might be nice. We found the men’s room and I ran inside. I have to say, it is perhaps the cleanest restroom I have ever seen. There were no squat toilets (and while I have not yet had to use a squat toilet in China, since both my office and apartment have Western style toilets, t’s nice to know that here in Japan they won’t be an issue.) The urinals were spotless, as well as totally odor less. The floors were also incredibly clean (it seems like every public restroom in China has an odd layer of either water or greasy film on the floor.) The sinks also had automatic water, soap, and dryers all built into the sink bowl.

“Japan is a country of vending machines,” Keiko explained. “Why don’t we get something to drink for the road.”

We went over to a large white machine and got some ice tea to take with us.

“I don’t know if you’ve been reading my blog,” I told Keiko relaying my story of my bus ride adventures. I’m starting to think that out of the ten weeks total I will spend in China, that bus ride might turn out to be my best story.

“I have been reading it,” she said. “I really admire you for going to China. I think so many people are afraid of China. So many of our business exchanges at the University go to Europe, I don’t remember sending anyone to China before.”

We talked a lot about China on the bus ride and I picked her brain a little on some of the cultural things I’ve observed and how she thinks they might relate to my Business degree.

“It really isn’t that dirty,” I said. “I mean the air definitely is, but the city itself isn’t grubby. The subways are pretty clean, for sure, and it’s not like there is trash everywhere. No one recycles, at least not with the religious vigor they do in Europe, but I think the people are friendlier to foreigners than they were in Europe.”

The biggest culture question I had for her was in regards to this idea of bribery. I relayed to her the story of Felix being stuck in China because his company wouldn’t make the payment to expedite the customs screening. Obviously this is bribery in the Western sense of the word, but I can see where it may be rooted in Eastern culture. Relationships are key to most interactions here, and gift giving is part of Chinese relationships.

“Where is the line between gift giving within a relationship and bribing?” I asked.

“I think it depends on the nature of the market,” Keiko said. “If the gift deters competition, it is more bribery. I think it also depends on the value of the gift.”

“So which is correct?” I asked. “If you’re going to do business in China, do you do what is culturally correct—make the bribes, etc.—or do stick to American ethics and not do it.” Obviously asking the University’s ethics professor gave me a bit of a biased view, but I’ve always enjoyed having these deep conversations with Keiko.

“I think it depends on the relationship too,” Keiko said. “I like giving gifts. If it is a coworker you know and you think a gift is appropriate, you can give gifts. But most people don’t know the government or the agencies so that is pretty much always just a bribe.”

When we got to Kobe, we went to find food. “I grew up in Kobe,” Keiko told me. “I have been walking this very street since I was 10 years old.”

She explained to me that all of the restaurants in Japan have wax models of their food in big display cases outside. That way, even if you don’t speak Japanese, or don’t read menus, you can see what they have and order by pointing. They are very beautifully crafted and many of them look totally real!

Keiko is a vegetarian but we found a restaurant that had some vegetarian options. All of the food was amazing. My meal came with breaded pork, miso soup, fried tofu, potato salad, radish salad, and green tea. The pork was really tender and totally bone free. The miso soup was fantastic, and while I’m not a real tofu fan, the fried tofu was really good. Familiar vegetables tasted good too and I ate all of the potato salad and radishes. Of course the pork came over rice, which tasted like…rice.

After we finished eating, we went to catch a cab. Keiko waved one down and we climbed in. As we sat down, I noticed something odd. The driver was sitting on the wrong side of the car. In addition, the car was also on the wrong side of the road.

“Are we on the wrong side of the road?” I asked. “The opposite from back home.”

“Yes,” Kieko said.

“Have we been since we left the airport?”

“Yes,” Keiko said. “I don’t think I could ever drive in Japan.”

I laughed. “I assumed we’d been on one way roads this whole time.” That’s awesome!

As we drove through Kobe, Keiko pointed out a few museums, some shops, and the famous Kobe port tower.

“It seems like every city has something tall you can go up,” I told her, listing off the Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower, the London eye, the Pearl Tower, the St. Louis arch, etc.

My hotel looked like a cruise ship from a distance. It actually was affiliated with a cruise line and it made the nicest of hotels I’ve stayed in look pretty crummy. From the time we got out of the taxi, everything was fancy. The doorman bowed for both Keiko and I. A greeter took my pack and Keiko’s purse. The lobby had two fountains and several brightly covered rugs, and the view looking straight up at the ceiling (some 12 stores) was spectacular.

At the counter, Keiko helped me check-in. The girl working presented me with a contract to sign and asked for my passport. I reached into my passport keeper and…felt nothing! I pulled the pouch out from around my waist. Sure enough my passport was gone!

Well the whole plan just blew up! I can’t renew my visa if l lost the entire thing! I don't know where I would have left it. Oh! Yes I do. I bet I set it down when I had to fill out that form in customs proving I had nothing to declare (I knew it was a stupid form!!!) I’ll have to renew the passport in Japan, and then fly to the US to reapply for a new Chinese visa, and that's not going to happen…or...oh...wait…

It was in my pocket.

The girl behind the counter escorted me to my room. Keiko came up too to make sure it was okay. The glass elevator, which was in a glass elevator shaft in the middle of the lobby, only made the view more elegant and impressive. We were escorted to the room, where she demonstrated how the card key worked (it worked like every other hotel card key) as well as the light switches (which worked like every other light switch outside of the US) and all of the amenities in the room. She offered to help me unpack, but I told her I could handle that. With that, she bowed to each of us and wished me a nice stay.

The room was very nice. There was a long walkway in from the main door, with the closet and the bathroom off to the right side. In the bathroom was a bathtub and shower. There was also a close line that pulled out of the wall and hung over the tub. In shower there were dispensers for shampoo, conditioner, body soap, and acne soap. By the sink there was a hair dryer, two hair brushes, two toothbrushes, q-tips, make-up pads, razors and shaving cream.

In the bedroom, a queen size bed was pushed into one corner. Two sets of pajamas were folded on the bed. At the foot, facing the wall was a desk. Diagonal from the bed was a cupboard, with a TV on top of it and a mini-bar inside. Next to the TV was a red chair and small coffee table.

But I think the coolest part of the room was the balcony that overlooked the bay with the Kobe Skyline and mountains on the other side.

“Keiko thank you so much! This is so nice,” I said as we stood out on the balcony.

“It is nicer than I expected,” she said. “Japan is very elegant. I don’t want to be rude but,” she told me how much the room was for my three nights in Japan. Compared to the US. I stayed in a motel 6 last spring with a friend, and each of us paid more for the room for one night than Keiko paid for my entire stay in this ritzy joint.

“This really is kind of a low end hotel for Japan, but I hope it will work for you?”

“It is probably one of the nicest places I’ve stayed,” I told her.

With that Keiko left to go back to her sister’s house. “I am not really a morning person,” she said. “How about we meet tomorrow at 10:30?”

“That sounds perfect!” I said. “I haven’t gotten to sleep in for a few weeks, so I can do 10:30.”

“Let me give you some money for breakfast and maybe you can go eat before we meet up.” She handed me 2000 yen (which is $20USD.) The money was the same color and same size. It was printed on beige parchment with various political figures outlined in blue on the front.

I thanked her and she left. When she did, I went back out on the balcony to enjoy the view. I saw a picture on Facebook of the Grand Canyon that was captioned “No Pictures. No Talking. Just Look.” That’s what I did. I just looked at the cityscape in front of me. The air was so clear I could see each and every building. When I looked up, I saw big fluffy clouds in the sky. Beyond the clouds, I saw stars (also for the first time in months.)

As it got to be closer to 11:00, I went inside to take a shower. The mirror was heated so that the condensation left a small circle above the sink for your face. The toilet seat was also heated, and also included a bidet. Putting on my Japanese pajamas (which I didn’t know I needed until I tried them on) I went out on the patio to enjoy the fresh air. I texted my co-workers and sent them plenty of pictures of my view. I wasn’t tired in the slightest…I was excited. It was clean, it was beautiful, it was fancy…it felt fun.

Around midnight, I did go back inside and laid down. Maybe I was a little more tired than I thought. After a few minutes of trying to figure out the Wi-Fi, I gave up and fell fast asleep.

Independence Day

My coworkers seemed just as excited about my trip to Japan as I was.

“Take lots of pictures,” Yu Cui told me over lunch. “I am very interested in this country.”

“Go to Disney!” Vivi said. “I love Disney!”

“It’s funny,” I said. “I’m really excited to go, but I almost feel more nervous leaving China to go to Japan than I did leaving the US to come here.”

“Nervous?” Yu Cui asked. “Why are you nervous?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I guess I’m starting to feel ‘Chinese’ and I feel like I have to take a side in the conflicts between China and Japan.”

“You don’t,” she said. “The conflicts are between the governments. The people are not like that. We like Japan. We will visit there someday.”

It’s funny because this makes Yu Cui one of several people to tell me something along the lines of “the government is separate from the people.” Coming from a country of government for the people, by the people, etc. and etc., it’s kind of hard to detatch my thought process like that. But at the same time, there is some truth to it. I feel like the more I travel, the more I realize that most world conflicts are actually conflicts between people (the countries and armies get dragged along with it.) I mean most of the conflict in the Middle East goes back to a Centuries’ old blood feud. European leader’s invaded places they thought were pretty (ie: Hitler into Prague.) Even tensions between the US and Russia seem more rooted on principles than actual threats of danger.

“What time is your flight?” Vivi asked.

“I think it is at 2:00pm,” I said.

“You should be there two hours before,” Vivi said. “And you should leave, maybe, two hours before that.”

“Really?” I said. “Can’t I just get on the subway out here and take it all the way to the airport.”

“Yes,” Vivi said. “But to be safe, leave two hours.”

“When I go to the airport,” Yang Ren Jun said, “It always takes me one and a half hours to get there.”

Seriously??

I checked last night before going to bed and my flight is actually at 3:30pm, so I needed to leave my apartment by 11:30. I set my alarm for 9:00 the next morning. When I got up, I packed while texting with my Mom and doing a bit of budgeting for my upcoming trips. I’ve now bought tickets to Hong Kong & Macau, Beijing, and I’m looking into going to Xi’an (the original capital 4,000 years ago) but still maneuvering the details of that. I left my room at 11:00am, and sure enough, it took 2 hours to get there. I bought a pastry to eat on the Subway. Basically, I took Line 2 out 11 stops. The line continues from there, but you have change trains and go another 9 stops to the airport.

While I was on the Subway, I started fiddling with my Canada key chain that I bought in Vancouver. It was odd not being home on the 4^th of July (even more odd to see the number of Chinese people that were wearing American flag patterns on their clothes today.) Traveling Europe opened my eyes to some things. Hearing about American history from a non-public-school-in-the-US perspective made me realize that America might not have as much to brag about as we’d like to think. At the same time, being away from home makes me realize, even if the system isn’t perfect, it is a pretty good system. America has certainly perpetuated a lot of evil in the world…but it has also done a pretty fair share of good too. And nothing’s perfect, right? I mean the whole premise of America…a democratic-republic, with free press, free speech, free elections, and freedom of religion…is a pretty lofty goal for our human brains to handle. But 238 year later, we’re still here. Somewhere along the way, we must have done something right.

I smiled and made a decision. Threading the zipper back through the clip, I took off my Canadian camouflage. I can’t necessarily be proud of everything our government does, but as my Chinese friends have taught me, “government does not always represent the people.” I was blessed to be born in America, and I’m proud to be an American. It’s home!

Being back at the airport was an odd sensation. It felt like a total time warp. Ever since I got to China, leaving the US feels like a lifetime ago. But being back here, it feels like I just got to China. Everything looks, smells, and sounds exactly the way I remember it when I got off the plane. It’s just so odd that it can feel like it was yesterday, and also feel like some sort of blurred memory, all at the same time.

I walked across the pedestrian bridge to Terminal 2 for International Arrivals and Departures. Riding up the escalator, I passed a group of British School kids all wearing matching t-shirts and being herded by several adults. I’m guessing it was a high school trip, but my observation was that their British accents were just as loud and obnoxious as people accuse American accents of being.

The departures area of the airport looked so much like Prague Ruzyne Airport, and practically identical to Barcelona. I mean the layout looked like most European airports, with various islands of counters for airlines and a large display board to check which island you could check in at for your flight. I was a bit nervous because when I went online a few nights ago, the airline (Juneyao) couldn’t find either this flight or my reservation in their system. I booked it through a third party travel website, and I’m hearing more and more horror stories about using these services. But as I looked up at the board, I saw my flight number: HO1337.

Cool! I thought. That’s a step in the right direction.

Check in was at island “J.” As I walked from “A” passed the other airlines, I smiled. This is what Independence feels like, I thought, having the freedom to take risks and make amazing memories every day.

As I got further down the alphabet, I saw a long line forming at one of the islands. Of course, it was at island J. Only three counters were open for check in and there were clearly more than three Juneyao flights leaving in the near future. I scanned around and saw a few Juneyao kiosks. Deciding to use one of those, I went over to check in.

I put my passport up to the scanner to read my identification information. Suddenly the machine made an odd mechanical sound and sucked my passport into the reader.

Well that’s not good I thought, especially since the screen didn’t change. In fact the machine didn’t seem to be doing anything other than eating my passport.

“Excuse me,” a lady in a purple uniform said. “Where are you going?” She was holding a tablet and had a Juneyao nametag on her jacket.

“Osaka,” I said.

“The kiosk is for domestic flights only,” she said. “Please wait in the line.”

“Oh okay.” I said. “How can I get my passport back?”

She looked at the machine, but she also looked a bit confused. She tapped some things on the screen and it responded, but it didn’t seem to have a return feature. Eventually, she gave up and pressed a button on the back of the machine. It turned off and she opened the back panel to reach in and pull my passport out. It wasn’t damaged at all and appears to have been just sitting in there.

The line took about 25 minutes to get through, which really wasn’t so bad. Lines aren’t entirely a thing in China. The idea is there—people stand behind other people to wait—but the structure isn’t quite as formal. For example, if you would like to be in front of the person ahead of you, it is quite permissible to insert yourself into that spot in line. This doesn’t always set so well with the American in me. I can put up with it in the Subway or even the grocery store, but not when I’m checking in for my next adventure. I did a fair share of grunting and smirking at people which allowed me to keep my spot in line.

I was still worried that the airlines website didn’t recognize my confirmation number. When I got to the counter, I handed over my passport. As the kid, who looked to be about 15, typed my passport number into the system, a boarding pass shot out of the ticketing machine.

Success! I thought! He handed me the pass saying, “This is your gate. This is your seat. You board at 3:20. Have nice flight.”

I thanked him and followed the signs to security.

At first I was surprised by how intense the security screening process was. The first stop was a health declaration, with signs saying they reserved the right to examine you if you had any symptoms. No one appeared to be stopping at this counter so I too just passed it by. The next stop was the exit interview, which required you present your “Departure Card.” I don’t remember if I wrote about this when I arrived or not, but when I cleared customs coming into China, the customs form had a little perforated, detachable card with an ID number that matched my original form for arrival. I’d kept my card in my passport, which I was thankful for giving the amount of grief the customs agents were giving to an elderly American couple that had lost the wife’s card.

Just as when I arrived, I waited behind a gold line until I was called forward.  I handed over my passport, departure card, and boarding pass. The girl examined each and plugged a bunch of numbers into her computer. She checked both my passport, my visa, my entry stamp, and my departure card several times over (I’m assuming she was comparing them to the data they had in the computer about me….I wonder if my trip to Suzhou and Huangshan had also showed up?) After about a minute, she pulled out a red stamp and stamped my passport, boarding pass, and departure card. Putting my card in her inbox, she handed my passport and boarding pass back to me.

I looked at the stamp. It read “Departure 4-7-2014.” Phase one was complete; my first sixty day stay in China was officially and legally over…now I just needed to hope that I could get back in with the same level of ease that I did the first time.

Next came the actual security portion, which looked a lot more recognizable to US security—except with way better customer service. Everyone went through one at a time and was escorted by an officer. This person helped you arrange all of your things in the bin (which included cellphones, wallets, watches, laptops, and belts, but not liquids or shoes) and made sure all of your stuff was secure while you passed through the scanner. It sounds like a slow system, but it was actually pretty fast and way less stressful than TSA. And I think this is the first international airport where I wasn’t pulled out of line and patted down (it seriously happened every time I flew in Europe.)

I perused the duty free shops on my way to my gate. It was all really expensive—or at least more than I was willing to pay. I did find a kiosk of Milka chocolate though and I was tempted to stock up. Chinese chocolate really hasn’t been cutting it. Generally speaking, if I want good chocolate, I have to buy either a Dove bar or a Snickers, both of which are so sub-standard to anything I ate in Europe. Although this past week Nate brought home some Japanese chocolate that was pretty awesome. It is crazy expensive, but it compares very favorably with Swiss chocolate.

In the end, I was able to resist the purple wrappers and did not buy any Milka. I did check out a book store that had some interesting books on China in English. I considered buy one, but I already had a book for the plane and they were also a bit pricy.

When I got to the gate I started journaling. I am struck by the fact that Japan is country #15…especially because that means I’ve visit 14 countries in 18 months. I always knew I wanted to travel, but I never dreamed I would do so much, or that it would become such an obsession for me. But I have to say, as far as hobbies go, I think it is one of the best! As one last July 4^th observation, I do feel blessed to have been born in a country where we have the freedom to travel as we please!

Flashback

Let me back up for a minute to recap some of the events that took place when I first found out I was going to China. First of all, when I first contacted the recruiter I worked with, they told me I would probably get placed in Australia. When I filled out the application, I checked “anywhere” but wrote in the comments that I’d rather not go to Europe since I had been there last year. About two weeks later, they called and told me that their partner in China (a company called “Next Step Connections”) had picked up my application and taken an interest in my resume. I was willing to go anywhere, so I agreed to move forward with Next Steps. (This part of the story was also covered in my post called "Going to China" back in February.)

Once I paid my deposit and agreed to go to China (this is the new part of the story) I learned that there is a TON of scholarship money for American Students going to China. Education is starting to see China as the future and lots of non-profits offer money to students going for academic experiences. As I started applying for these scholarships, I asked my graduation advisor (Dr. Keiko) to proofread a few essays for me.

I had Dr. Keiko for Introduction to Management my sophomore year of college. This was the semester right after my Dad’s SCUBA accident and right before I left for Prague. Dr. Keiko was a SCUBA diver—her husband, a former instructor—and she had taught in Prague previously. We got to know each other while discussing both subjects and I filled out paperwork with the university to have her oversee my curriculum for my degree.

Later, we also found that we have a shared interest in world religions. I’ll never forget her telling me one time, “Someday I will show you around Japan and teach you all about Buddhism and Shintoism.” At the time, we laughed, knowing that the odds of us ever being in Japan at the same time were pretty slim. But when I told Keiko that I had been offered an internship in China, she extended the same offer again.

It turns out, flying from China to Japan is not a cheap venture. A couple perusals through Kayak and Skyscanner and I basically dismissed the idea. But then my visa came.

The Chinese Visa is not particularly hard to get. You can apply by mail with just an application and a letter from your host in China. The processing takes about 5 days (which beats the 60 days for a Czech visa by a lot) and it really is pretty simple. The only downside is the Chinese government offers dozens of visas for different purposes, with different limitations, and for different lengths of time.

I had applied for a class M visa, which would allow me to work in China and make multiple entries over the duration of my visa. My visa was good for a year so I can return to China anytime between now and May 27, 2015. The only downside was, I could only stay for 60 days at a time…and my stay in China was scheduled to be 75 days.

I called the embassy to appeal the issue, but no luck. They told me that it was up to the governments discretion and the only way to override it was to re-apply for a new visa (which would likely get rejected because I had already been issued a visa.) My other option was just to use the visa as intended: in increments of 60 days or less. If I exited China and re-entered through customs, it would reset my visa.

So a trip to Japan was in the cards. Keiko was spending the summer with family in Japan, and we found a weekend she was free for me to visit. As I plugged in the data from my passport to buy the ticket, I realized Japan will be country #15 for me. This whole “world traveler” gig is working out pretty well!