Asia

Part of me thinks I should detail everything I did and saw while in Japan and China, luckily for you, most of me realizes that's not the way to go (I actually started doing that and got bored somewhere around day 2). I'm not quite sure how to organize all of this so I'll try to hit some of the highlights and concentrate on the interesting observations rather than individual events. Ok, enough meta-discussion.

First off I have to toot my own horn (do people still use that phrase?). Between work and multiple degrees and life in general I should really be used to the idea of setting goals and achieving them, but I must admit I'm quite pleased that on Sept 30, 2006 I posted that I was going to Asia some time before Sept 2008 and thirteen months later I landed in Tokyo.

Mike and Laura joined me for the Japan part of the trip. It was great getting a chance to hang out with them and it was also nice to have friends around for my first experience on the other side of the world (and most important they split hotel room costs with me).

In both countries I learned two words, hello and thank you, which were basically start interaction and end interaction. In many cases I actually really liked not speaking the language. There is so much background noise and not being able to understand it, makes it noise rather than something to think about. When I got back hearing things like ads at the gas station really annoyed me because I was forced to listen to something so stupid.

Everything I am about to say is a massive generalization based on a small number of experiences over a small period of time (aka the definition of stereotyping).

Some observations about Japan:

• It is super clean. We saw a team of people scrubbing the side walk at one point.
  
• Tokyo is big, like really, really, big. On many streets its almost like you are inside because the buildings form such tall walls
  
• Guys wear suits everywhere. I saw a college baseball game on TV and the guys in the audience were wearing suits. And there are lots of stern looking older guys wearing suits (it is like seeing Hiro's father everywhere). While most people go for conformity a few go for crazy fashion. And the two ways most people seem to distinguish themselves are their hair and what is hanging off their cell phone.
  
• Vending machines are everywhere, especially in Tokyo. I mean if you don't like the one in front of you walk a block or two. Most are selling iced tea, soft drinks, coffee and energy drinks, but there's some variety. Although you see very few people walking down the street with drinks.
  
• The electronics area in Tokyo (Akihabara) was amazing. It was like being in a digikey wearhouse. I wanted to buy something, but didn't need a connector or network analyzer at the moment. It is a combination of small vendors all specializing in a particular item (almost like a swap meet) and huge stores. One of the funniest parts was the health level of a big store where they had numerous scales that told you everything about yourself, toilet seats with so many functions they came with remote controls, and an exercise machine which was basically a mechanical bull.
  
• The craziest thing I had in Japan was seared horse sushi - it was really really good.
  
• I do not have an appreciation for traditional Japanese (or Chinese) music. Of course I also do not have an appreciation for traditional western music either so it is probably actually really good.
  
• Kubuki theater was interesting, although a bit slow and it would have been good to find out before hand that it is common for audience members to yell things out in the middle of a performance.
  
• I thought that China's sites were on a much grander scale than those in Japan and that the gardens were nicer in China, but in Japan people actually know how to be quiet. So the serene gardens were actually serene. I actually enjoying sitting and contemplating a rock garden (if I didn't have TV and a computer I could see doing it more often).
  
• The subway in Tokyo was sometimes packed, but everyone was silent and super polite and instead of talking on cell phones, everyone was texting (or using the internet or playing games or some other use for cellphones we've never heard of). The Tokyo subway is like an underground city complete with shopping malls and gardens.
  
• The popular cellphone shape was actually a bit disappointing it was a bit box shaped, but apparently that is the in thing.
  
• Kyoto is far more traditional than Tokyo. Many more women in Kimonos, lots more bowing (that took a bit to get used to), and many temples interspersed with the modern city.
  
• The cross walk in front of the Kyoto train station makes the same sound as the cross walk in the animatrix (the one with the haunted house).
  
• I know that in the US we often significantly change foods from other countries so it was funny to see what was called French pastries in Japan (mostly pastries filled with red bean paste or curry).
  
• There are many places where you are supposed to take your shoes off (especially temples), except you do not have to take your shoes off at the airport...
  
• Either I just got the wrong thing in Japan or I am much more a fan of Chinese tea. Most of the tea I had in Japan was either a bit bitter or was dry roasted which was ok, but didn't compare to the green, oolong, and jasmine teas I had in China.
  
• Did I mention how polite people are? If you know about the whole business card protocol (two handed presentation), the same thing is done with money and receipts. As train attendants go from one car to the next they bow multiple times to the people on the train.
  
• Nara is a small town near Kyoto that has a park with a bunch of temples. It was fun to see and the temples were not super extravagant, but they were nicely mixed in with nature. There are also lots of deer running free through the park. Nara also caused me to wonder, if you visit Japan and you go to a tourist trap aimed at Japanese people, was it a tourist trap for you or part of the experience? (Nara wasn't a trap, but a few of the streets leading up the park clearly were).
  
• After Kyoto we headed to Hakone for a day on the way back to Tokyo. Hakone is a town in a big park which is known for the hot springs. We stayed at a Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn - nothing on the floor, when it is time to eat they bring out trays, when it is time to get up they unfold mats, when it is time to get up (according to them) they take the mats away). In addition to the huge dinner the really nice part was the outdoor hot baths.
  
• Mike pointed out that in one day traveling around Hakone and heading back to Tokyo we took 6 different kinds of trains.
  
• An observation from having seen lots of western Europe and now a small portion of Asia - America wins for most standardized bathrooms. I'm not saying they are the best, but growing up in the US you would think there is only one way to make a toilet or urinal, but there are actually a huge number of possibilities.
  
• I think that we often take one aspect of another country's food and then use it in every restaurant. Like if there are 10 common ways of eating eel (which you quickly find by going to an eel restaurant) in the US every Japanese restaurant will have the same one or two ways of eating it. So it is not like the food in the US is totally made up, it is just one example of how to eat a particular item, well then there is some added creativity, such as stuffing 5 different things into a sushi roll.
  

Quick breather.....




I had sort of figured that going to Japan first would be a good way to get used to Asia before heading onto China. I think that makes as much sense as someone going to California for the first time going to Beverly Hills and Napa Valley to get ready for a stay in Compton and Oakland. (Not that Japan is like Beverly Hills - the people in Beverly Hills are not that polite, and I'm not saying China is Compton - there's actually not much violent crime in China, but you get the idea).

When I first got into Shanghai I took the maglev train in to town. It was only going 300 km/hr (185 mph), not its max speed of 450 km/hr (280 mph), but it did feel more like an airplane taking off than a normal train. It drops you off at a subway station. I waited outside with a bunch of people for a cab, but none were showing up. Eventually I decided to figure out the subway (it had been reasonably simple in Tokyo once you had figure out which of the million lines you needed to take). It turned out there was only one line at the station and it was the one I needed so I got a ticket and got on the train. As I stood there with my bags, more and more people got on. Not the quiet, try not to bump into you type, but people yelling to each other, talking on their phones, and full force pushing their way on when the train was overflowing. I got to my stop and pushed my way to the door. As I was just about to get off people started getting on. I pushed as much as I could, but it didn't look like I was actually going to make it off (it seemed like people were mad at me and were yelling something). Then the sea of people parted as a train attendant pushed them to the side. I thought that was nice and started making my way off again, then the attendant reached in, grabbed me and pulled me off the train. At that point I knew this was not a similar culture to Japan, but rather the exact opposite.

Disclaimer: I really got into the cheapness of things in China. When I bartered I went after that last 10 yuan ($1.50). I did not stay in hostels, but I spent less than $50 per night on hotels (in central locations) and most of my meals were under $4 and some were $0.75 (and I was plenty full, even walking 6 hours a day). Occasionally I would go crazy and spend $15 on a meal and it was clear that if you are willing to pay closer to America prices for things you can have a completely different experience. Such as if you are willing to spend $3 you can take a cab across town instead of spending $0.25 to take the subway.

Also I was mostly in at least somewhat touristy areas so I was dealing with people trying to sell me stuff. I ran into a number of very nice, helpful people in China, particularly as I got away from tourist spots. So while I paint a certain sterotype, that clearly is not everyone.

Some observations:

Every part of the country I saw was under construction, I think it is in overdrive due to the olympics, but the olympics are far from the only reason.

I really got into bartering. At some points I felt bad because I would push to save what are tiny amounts of money to me, but probably several days worth of food for the other person. But I felt better when I remembered that he still probably charged me 5 times what it is worth. I got things for anywhere from 1/2 the starting price to 1/9 the starting price. It is a bit odd telling someone that you will pay 1/10 what they are asking and then starting to walk away when they act offended (of course as you do, they pull out their calculator and type a much lower price).

As a white guy who looks college age walking around alone it was like I had a giant target on me. In touristy areas people were nonstop trying to sell me stuff, the list was typically a subset of "Shoes? No. Clothes? No. DVDs? No. Watches? No. Women? No. Massage? No. Sex? No." then they gave up and the next person started (eventually I realized that if they bother you, you say nothing and keep walking like they don't exist (although I did that to one woman who threw the t-shirt she was trying to sell on my shoulder)). At one point I tried saying "Je ne parles pas anglais", but apparently the assumption is that if you are white you speak english because they just kept on going.

I also had tons of people wanting to be my friend and walk with me and eventually suggest getting tea or going to a tea ceremony (according to the tour book, when you get there they charge you hundreds of dollars for the tea). And the most intense were the guys selling rickshaw rides. The best scam was a girl with two guys and the girl started by asking me to take their picture. Eventually I realized I could use all these "friends" to my advantage and would have them take my picture in front of stuff (since I was traveling alone and the self photos come out really bad) and if I had questions about China I would ask them then make it clear I'm going somewhere else. The ones that had me take their picture explained to me the meaning of the dragon (male) and the phoenix (female) and why they are everywhere (for those following the Dumbledore is gay thing - his "symbol" was the phoenix...)

One striking aspect of China (particularly Shanghai) is the combination of poverty and wealth. Right next to a Ferrari dealership or Rolex store will be a tiny alleyway where people live in tiny connected homes and wash their clothes on washing boards in the alleyway (not exaggerations). In Beijing it is a bit different because instead of building nice stores in front of the poor homes, they just wiped away most of the poor homes and replaced them with tall apartment buildings and modern shops (culturally seems bad, but it means people get things like heat and running water and sometimes air conditioning). Parts of Beijing called hutong are preserved areas of small roads and traditional housing. This was really fun to walk around. Partially because you get away from heavy tourist areas, although anywhere with shops comes with people yelling out to you.

There are lots of street vendors who have carts with heaters and they heat up food for you on the street. The hygiene is questionable, but they cook it in front of you so probably not much worse than a restaurant. It is super cheap and fairly good. One of my favorites was spicy squid on a stick.

When I would wander around I would sometimes end up in restaurants where no one spoke english - it was fun to either point at what others were eating or keep pointing at the waitress till she picked for me (if it was no good I would go find another $4 meal, although it was usually really good). One cool thing about China is it is quite large so there are a huge number of types of food so almost every place I went was something new.

In China I ate a lot of crazy stuff, most of which I cannot list because I do not know what it was. I did go to a Sichuan style restaurant where I had beef tripe in duck blood soup, which was the spiciest thing I've ever had. I comes with black numbing peppers in the soup which I kept chewing on to cool my mouth down, eventually I had to spread it on my lips because they were hurting.

From Shanghai I went on a day trip to Suzhou (a little place about a half hour from Shanghai - little meaning over 1 million people). It is known for its gardens and temples. I saw a garden, a Daoist temple, Buddhist temple, and Confucius temple. Confucianism seemed very interesting because it is all about the proper way to rule and largely based around education. However, I do not quite get having a temple for a guy who was a good educator and did not believe in spirits (not criticizing, just do not understand). One cool thing about seeing the Buddhist temples in China and Japan was seeing people there praying (it's one thing to see a Buddha statue, but another to see people burning incense and bowing to it).

Shanghai was a great city to walk around, but Beijing had the huge tourist sites: forbidden city, near the great wall, temple of heaven, lama temple...

Since Mike reads this - traveling with Mike and Laura was clearly better than traveling alone. But traveling alone was really interesting because if I felt like going somewhere on a whim I just did it without any discussion or concern of what others wanted (I think that is part of what is making re-entry so hard is losing that huge level of freedom). It was also a lot easier to try something I thought could be lame because if it was I could just leave, I did not have to worry about boring others. It was also really easy to just meander around places (like the forbidden city) because I could just choose which direction to go at any given moment. On the other side when I saw something really cool or crazy I could not tell anyone about it (it was nice because I could at least call home and talk about the craziest parts - thanks mom and dad for the cell phones).

The way I would describe most of China is think of when that one gift everyone has to have for their kids comes out and people stomp each other to get it, now imagine that is everything (remember I was in huge cities so probably applies less elsewhere). The airport was just like that, but once we were on the plane it was great. It wasn't quite the imagines of airlines in the US when the first started, but somewhere between that and what US airlines are like now.

I supposedly met the nephew of the last emperor of China while I was at the forbidden city (no idea if it was true or not, but I wish I had something more clever to say than "Ni Hao").

In China I met my crazy eating limit. I had heard that you can get cooked scorpions on a stick in China. When I finally saw it (they also had centipedes and silk worms) at first I was determined to try it, but after looking for a moment I could not do it. I had met my match.

Going to parks was interesting because people were out there doing tai chi, other exercises I couldn't identify, playing hackie sack with a thing with feathers coming out it, playing go, chinese checkers, and card games. Also lots of musicians - although the funny part was different musical groups would sit 5 feet from each other and perform different songs. On the small streets there were rooms dedicated to people playing mahjong.

I ate a vegetarian restaurant near a Tibetan style temple (lama temple) and there were people there in monk robes. It was interesting because I think they were trying to make things look and taste like meat dishes, but meat dishes I had never had. It was good, but odd to not even know what it was supposed to look like.

There were lots of tea stores where you can sample tea and buy it. They do a whole ceremony for the tasting. Sampling was a lot of fun.

The great wall was cool to see - it was like the pictures, but I was there. Unfortunately, part of the amazing part of the great wall is it is over 6,000 miles long, but of course you can only see a tiny part, but one aspect I did not realize is that it wanders along the tops of hills so it is not very straight, but twists around a lot.

Ok, I should eat so probably a good stopping point (and this is too long to proofread - sorry). At some point when I get the rest of the pictures up I'll post a link (see previous post for the first batch - the site does not work with IE, so, um, don't use IE). This is far from all my stories and observations, I'll save some in case people were to talk to me more directly.