Shanghai - The Final Chapter

Amazingly, sadly and suddenly our year in China has come to an end. When I think about the fun of traveling and socializing in a new place, it seems the year went by in a blink. When I think about searching for taxis, meal time and other parts I found more challenging, it was perhaps time for a change. Karen has more consistent emotions - she liked her job and our life there and wasn't ready to leave. Regardless how we feel about it at any given moment, we've packed up, put our stuff on a boat and come back to the U.S. to relax and reconnect with friends and family. As could be predicted, our weekends ran short towards the end of our stint, meaning we didn't get to see all of China as one might hope on such an adventure. Nonetheless, we were able to make numerous trips - by plane and by train - to see at least some of China and other East Asian countries. This map shows the places we visited with blue and green dots.

Xi'an
Between packing and socializing and sleeping, we chose to use our only remaining and available weekend for an excursion to Xi'an, which is in central China west of Shanghai. Among other things, it is home to a mere 8 million people and the Terra Cotta Warriors - perhaps one of the most known elements of ancient China. Another interesting fact is that Xi'an, the capital of China for 13 of 39 dynasties, is an ancient city and was the start of the Silk Road, which ran all the way to Rome - over 5,000 miles west. After decades of modern growth and sprawl, the city's old defense wall now only serves as a tourist attraction and the visible boundary between the inner and outer cities. However, the wall also gave us about 60 minutes of fun as we rode a rented tandem bicycle, which might have been old enough to be from one of the final Chinese dynasties, around the 12 km (almost 7.5 mile) road along the top of the wall. The wall is about 40' high and 50' to 60' thick, depending on location. At each of the four main gate locations (the south gate is pictured here), they used a double-gate and high-walled courtyard system, such that if attackers breached the first gate, they would be trapped in a low enclosure where they could be attacked from above.



The room in our hostel, which was a nice enough place that cost us $90 for the weekend, was located exactly in the city center, near the Belltower (see the picture). The northwest corner of the city is the Muslim Quarter, which provided our first and only glimpse of Muslim China (which indicentally is focused in NW China). Of course, Chinese Muslims, like all other Muslims, do not eat pork. This leads to an above average ratio of mutton, with maybe some goat and other meats thrown in, in their diet. For some reason, Chinese people have an affinity for skewered meat products, but this is particularly noticeable in Xi'an. We tried some big dumplings that cost about $0.12 each, a spiced mutton meat sandwich grilled on the street that cost $0.45, and had a sit down meal in a very small little place run by a family, who ate their dinner at the table next to ours, after preparing our meal, for about $2.00, including Cokes. Sorry for the blurry photo, but the picture to the right is of a trash can in the street, piled impressively high with stripped skewers and odd bits of trash.

The Terracotta Army
Apparently the first emperor of China was a powerful and self-absorbed guy, because he had thousands of soldiers, horses, chariots, and other figures cast, fired, and erected in underground chambers to be buried along with him. The construction of this impressive monument involved something like 700,000 people and started in about 246 B.C. We visited the three chambers that have been exposed - there are likely more - over which buildings have been built. The largest of these chambers is pictured here. All of the figures you can see standing have been restored as at some point in their history, the wooden structures over them burned and collapsed, crushing the majority of the statues. In different parts of the chambers, the restorers have left some warriors in rubble form. Apparently each of the faces on the estimated 8,000, life-sized warriors is different. Further, there are infantry, archers, captains, and generals, which get larger (up to 6'-5") with rank. A closer picture is also provided so you can see the detail.

The terracotta army is of course impressive. For some reason, Karen and I were more amazed by some of the other ancient monuments we've seen around the world - such as the pyramids in Egypt, the Mayan ruins in Guatemala, and Petra in Jordan. Nonetheless, it was very neat to see in person and was a good final trip during our time in China. Plus, it allowed us to get this extraordinarily dorky picture of me.

Our Farewell BBQ
To live up to our expectations for ourselves, we decided to invite some people from work over for a BBQ. I say this as if it was an accomplishment because in some strange way, it was. We discussed doing this all year, but always put it off because we were busy and were never confident we could properly feed or entertain Chinese guests. I asked around at work about proper food, timing, and activities, and we went for it the weekend before the movers came. In the end, it was more or less like any other BBQ and it went off well. Most people showed up, it was relaxing, and our food and beer seemed acceptable to our Chinese guests and a welcome change from local fare for our American guests. I grilled pork, chicken, and sausage, and we had corn on the cob and miscellaneous snacks. There were a couple funny things. First, people were mesmerized by our grill alone. They were shocked by the size and the concept of a huge, outdoor cooking device. This was to the point where they took pictures of it, of me with it, and of themselves in front of it. Another thing was that we put out chop sticks because Chinese people are generally not comfortable using silverware, plus we couldn't find plastic cutlery at the grocery store (no demand = no supply). In keeping with the skewered food theme described above, they ate both the corn and the sausage by jamming chop sticks into the end and holding it like a kebab. Lastly, they loved the bean bag game (AKA Bags, Baggo, or Cornhole Toss in the Midwest), which was not a surprise because Chinese people love games and gambling. As an aside, Macau, the ex-Portuguese, Chinese-ruled, island gambling mecca southwest of Hong Kong now grosses more in revenues than Las Vegas - incredible!

Here are some pictures of the guests. Note the 'peace' signs in the first one. This is almost an instinctive reaction for people when they see a camera, seemingly throughout East Asia. The people in this picture from left to right, are Tony, TaoRong, Angela, and Nicola. Next, we have Harris, Jared, Armstrong, Kent, Paul, and GuShaoyi. Lastly, we have Bill, Leslie, and Karen. Bill and Leslie just arrived in Shanghai from Denver, on a similar assignment to the one we just finished.

I've listed the names in this section to give you a feel for the mix of Chinese and western names, as well as the interesting name selections that Chinese people make for their western names. By the way, as you may be wondering, Chinese people simply select a western name for themselves. They decide this on their own when they are old enough to do so. It is not uncommon to change your western name if you do not like it any more. Essentially, they pick a substitute name to make communication with western people easier. One interesting thing with this is that they also reverse the traditional order of their names when they do this. For example, if a Chinese person is named Wu Liming, Wu is their last (family) name, but in Chinese you say it first. Therefore, if Liming decided to call himself Linus, his western name would be Linus Wu. Anyhow, Chinese people sometimes pick one that sounds like their Chinese name, one that starts with the same letter as their first (second) name, one they simply like, or one that they just made up. In my company, we had people named Mountain, Beer, and Simple. Some of them use the western name all the time, some just with western people.

Finally, there is a picture of Sally and Karen. Sally also came to our BBQ and was Karen's Chinese co-teacher in her Year 1 (kindergarten equivalent) class at her international school.

This is a picture from the farewell party thrown by the people at Matt's office. They thoughtfully selected a place called Malone's American Grill. Anyhow, the picture provides an excellent summary of our year in China - us, surrounded by some people we know, but mostly by lots of people we don't know, all of whom are doing strange things, with us in the middle of it all trying to figure out what we should be doing.

Stay tuned for stories from our next adventure, to be delivered from a new website, called "Singletons in Mumbai", which will be available at http://singletons91.blogspot.com/. By the way, if you're wondering what the numbers are (86 and 91), they are the telephone country codes for China and India, respectively. As we've said to every taxi driver in Shanghai for the past year on the way out of the car, "Zai Jian!" ("See you later!").

Weekend in South Korea

Food, Friends, and Fun in Seoul

South Korea is one of a few countries that has gone from a developing to a developed country in recent times. It has experienced significant growth and success domestically and in the international business world. Samsung has passed Sony in terms of global brand value. Hyundai has gone from being regarded as a cheap Korean car to being widely accepted and purchased in the US market. Before we left our East Asian neighborhood (the flight from Shanghai to Seoul is only 1:40), we wanted to be sure to experience Korea. An old high school buddy of mine, Nathan, is currently living and working in Seoul as an English teacher, so this made all the more sense. It worked out that his dad, Gil, whose house I used to hang out at after school, came to Korea for a visit (fortunately longer than ours) on the same weekend as us. We found Korea to be a nice place - extremely clean and organized. It isn't quite as rigid as Japan, at least as far as we could tell. We basically stayed in Seoul, which is a large city with over 10 million people (picture above).

Our Local Hosts

My company has somewhat recently started operations in Korea and I had the opportunity to meet our Korean team on a visit they made to China. So, I made sure to say hello when we were there. They not only gave me a tour of our projects in Seoul, they took me out for Korean BBQ lunch (Korea is famous for its BBQ), and hosted Karen and I at two nice dinners. One dinner was in an area of Seoul that Nathan calls little America (Itaewon is right next to the US military base there and has every western brand restaurant you can imagine) and the second was in the old part of the city at a very traditional restaurant they said was about 500 years old. You can imagine the second was a much nicer experience. This picture is from that dinner. Korean food consists of many small dishes, served over the course of the meal. There are endless kinds of kimchee (usually pickled cabbage, but can be other pickled vegetable items). Some things were good, others were not so good (like the plate of raw beef), but it was a very nice place and a neat experience. The garden outside the old restaurant building was also amazing. Henry, Alex, Carolyn - if for some reason you read this - thanks again!

Our Non-Local, Local Host

Nathan has only been in Korea since January. He finds it a little boring (too western and developed after he spent 28 months in Kazakhstan), but seems to have made the rounds and learned the place in his few months there. Gil handled his jet lag pretty well, and we explored the city together on Saturday and Sunday. We hiked up to the North Seoul Tower to get the lay of the land and then went to the Deoksugung Palace downtown. It has an interesting mix of Korean-style and western-style buildings within the compound, a result of the varying periods of occupation by the Japanese. The architecture in Korea does not look that different from some of the buildings we have seen at temple complexes in China and even in Japan (to our untrained eyes). The traditional-style buildings were constructed of wood, with paper walls, and elaborate roof profiles. It is interesting (and confusing) how the histories of China, Korea and Japan are interwoven.

Even the writing is interesting. The Chinese came up with the complicated character language that is used in both China and Japan. However, the Japanese have combined it with more simple letters that represent sounds without meanings (like our letters in English), plus the pronunciation is completely different. Koreans used Chinese characters for a long time (although with another different pronunciation), but one of the Kings came up with a phonetic system that does not involve characters with meanings (like our alphabet). To clarify meaning, Koreans still learn, know, and use Chinese characters in parenthesis after words with multiple meanings. This means that Japanese and Koreans can go to China and read; Chinese and Koreans can to to Japan and read part of it; but Japanese and Chinese cannot go to Korea and read. One other potentially interesting fact is that the United Nations adopted the Korean alphabet and its associated pronunciation as one of the best languages to write the words of languages without writing. For example, some random language from Africa where they don't actually have writing to go with it, could best be written, by sound, in the modern Korean alphabet. Strange to think about.

After the palace, we caught part of the parade celebrating Buddha's birthday. It was a procession of colorfully dressed people - men, women, and children - singing, playing instruments and music, and dancing. A parade is a parade (even the pictures are pretty boring), but at least it was more interesting than the average holiday or hometown parade in America.

That evening, we ventured out for some streetside Korean BBQ. It is fun. Here are Gil, Karen, Nate, and I (right to left). You sit around a cooking barrel with a relatively small tabletop surrounding a grill-top well full of coals built into it. The place Nate took us to was more or less in an alley, meaning that mopeds and motorcycles would regularly zip past our table, which added something and took something away from the ambiance. The proprietor of the alley cookery let us do most of the work, but would occassionally swing by to correct our techniques and make sure we were enjoying ourselves. There were lots of sauces and seasonings that go with it. We ended up eating more than we needed because it is a set portioning per person, plus it was good and fun to cook. Here is the spread. After dinner, the three 'youngsters' (not so much any more) headed out to see a little South Korean night life, which is quite lively.

Other Tidbits

Here are a few more things, which I consider to be interesting on some level, that we experienced on our trip to Korea.

1. We tried to go to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as we heard it is interesting and the whole concept of North Korea is somewhat amazing. It is something that you have to book well in advance, so we didn't get to go.

2. The night life in Korea, and the culture generally, was impressive in its western-style mass consumerism. People are very high fashion. The malls are packed with young people out spending money. Bars were fairly expensive. Although it is still somewhat a closed economy and society, there is a significant presence of western brands and influence in the goods and services consumed in South Korea.

3. Virtually every car on the road is of Korean manufacture (maybe about 95%). Korean cars are cheaper in the US than they are in Korea. This is a closed market so import duties are huge. That said, when the presidential motorcade blew by us one morning, it consisted of a bunch of German sedans (BMW, Mercedes, etc.) and big US SUVs (suburban type secret service rigs) so while the government doesn't want Koreans to gain easy access to foreign brands, it has no problem overspending on them for its own fleet (Nate's observation).

4. We were served a bowl of peanuts and dried fish with hot sauce for dipping as a table snack at a bar. Nate and I had some; Karen refrained. Another interesting trend at the bar was that people just come in and buy a bottle (fifth) of alcohol - tequila, whiskey, etc. and then sit there and mix it or shoot it. I guess it is cheaper and effective, but it was different.

5. People eat small snails and cooked silkworms as a streetside snack (in addition to lots of dried squid and fish). In this picture, the round silver container is a cooker full of silkworms and the square one behind it is full of small snails. People walk around sucking the snails out of the shells, which is interesting. These things are eaten in China as well, but it seemed more prevalent in Korea. None of us tried this.

6. We went to Costco on our last day in Korea. This sounds lame, but we were actually quite excited, for several reasons. First, we were able to get drinks and hot dogs for less than $2. Second, Costco was virtually the same as it is in the US - many of the same products - exactly. Third, we were able to bring some foods we miss in China back with us (in limited quantity). We got good tunafish, canned chicken breast, blueberry bagels, and some granola bars.

7. Perhaps the most unique phenomenon we saw amongst the Korean youth, was the tendency for young couples to wear matching shirts. This is really weird and in my opinion quite unfortunate for the men of Korea. The shirts can be exactly the same - cut and color, the same pattern in different colors, the same colors but with cuts for men and women, or somehow be themed together, but different. This was very common. This picture is from the airport at one of the check-in counters. I've gone ahead and circled the visible matching couples in red, but bear in mind that these are just the ones you can see. I would bet there were at least three more in that crowd. You really should click on this picture to see it clearly.

OK, that's it for now. We were going to try to squeeze two more trips in before we go - one to Chengdu (pandas) and one to Xian (terra cotta warriors), but due to the earthquake we may only be going to Xian. So you'll see maybe one more post from China, and then it is off to India for us. Best wishes to all.

Update from China

Overdue Update
Karen and I have been busy lately with some guests, some weekend trips, and lots of business travel for me. I've been running from China to the US to India to the Middle East and back again. Consequently, I've been lax on posting. Before starting, I’d like to say that the recent earthquake did not impact us. I was in India and Karen was here in Shanghai, but she didn’t feel it. Apparently my office building in downtown Shanghai was swaying and everyone evacuated the building, but there was no major damage in the city. However, the situation is still very bad in western China nearer the epicenter. The Chinese seem very good about organizing and giving aid to their countrymates in the west.

Some Visitors
The week before Easter we were supposed to have a mini international Kellogg reunion as our good friends Aaron and Ulrika (living in New Zealand) and Jaap and Jantine (from the Netherlands) were supposed to rendezvous at our place in Shanghai. Unfortunately, the plan unraveled a bit. After the Dutch flew from Amsterdam to Munich, to connect for Shanghai, they were denied entry to the plane because they never got Chinese visas. Of course this was an unpleasant and expensive lesson for them, but they did get to see our friends in Munich, and we had a nice week with Aaron and Ulrika. We showed them around, hung out in the evenings and they took a day trip to Hangzhou. Essentially, they got a good taste of the city and our lives in it. Here a shot of us at dinner at Tang Dynasty, which is an inexpensive, but fairly upscale restaurant that serves very authentic (and strange) Chinese food. It would have been a nicer picture with six of us...maybe in India! The best part about Tang Dynasty is that the menu has pictures and is in English and Chinese. We opted to skip the snake soup and chicken cartilage, but went for Karen's favorite dumplings with peanut sauce. On Wednesday night that week, we took them to the Coconut, which is a little place we go sometimes on Wednesday because we know the people and ladies drink free. They have a good band and its five minutes from home. Here are Karen, Ulrika, and Mary Catherine (Canadian teacher at Karen's school) posing, Asian-style.

Another good thing that their visit did was motivate me to get our BBQ working again (not-so-cheap, cheap Chinese BBQ!), get our roof deck in order, and find some fire wood for our fire pit. You might think, as I did the day I bought a fire pit here, that finding fire wood in China would be easy, but this is not correct. You can get Delloggs at the grocery store for about $7 each. Much to Karen's dismay, the opportunity to get some wood arose when she was with me near a local mall. Some old guy rode his bicycle by with a bunch of wood on the back of it. I chased him down and asked if he wanted to sell his wood. He said yes for about $4. I said sure. Then I asked/gestured for a saw (these were more like logs). He said he had one at his house which was ten minutes away. I said great and we started walking and talking - him pushing his bike, me walking next to him, and Karen, disatisfied with the direction the situation had gone, about 100 feet back. Ten minutes turned into fifteen, then thirty, and then a series of "two more minutes". We ended up following him back to his house, which was really in the depths of a very local slum. It worked out fine, but I think I paid more than I would at Home Depot. Here was this old guy, along with his family, at their home which looked about the size of our bedroom, with a concrete floor, a table for two that doubled as the kitchen, newspaper cushions on the seats, and a pile of wood outside the door. I'm trying to negotiate and Karen is yelling at me for paying too little. In the end it was fine, the people were happy with the price, and I have an eager source for wood. Aaron and I made another wood run, partially to get more and partially for the experience. Here is a picture of the guy, his friend, his daughter (?), and I cutting the wood with their handmade saw. In case you are wondering, Aaron and I had a nice fire on the roof deck, just out of principle.

A couple weeks later, we were also visited by a troupe of my University of Washington Construction Management friends from America. Brian, Kaj, and Ken and his wife came to Shanghai for about a week. Ken and Susan (his wife) are Taiwanese-Americans, so they got around fine (they speak Mandarin in Taiwan, same as most of China) and even had some friends and family in town. We had a glimpse of the way young Taiwanese people spend their evenings in the big city - eating big meals while smoking and drinking Baijiu (white alcohol), followed by countless hours at fancy and expensive lounges, maybe with some KTV (Karaoke) thrown in. We skipped the late night, but that is what happened to Brian here. When it was our turn to host, we showed them all our normal spots - the pearl market, the fakes market, etc. They were doubtful of the appeal of the fakes market at first, but I think the cheap prices and negotiating game grew on them. Here is Kaj with the controller to our 'unlocked' Nintendo Wii, for which we can buy (copied) games for about $1 - of course, at the fakes market. We also made sure to take them to the Coconut (same local bar), where Kaj made efforts to recruit Sunny, a carry-on sized potential wife to take back to the States with him. That didn't work out, but he did go home with some fake dress shirts and some copied artwork. The appeal of a good deal in China can defeat most everyone's appreciation for legitimacy and respect for intellectual property rights.

Hong Kong
On my way back from a recent trip to India, for which I typically have to connect in Hong Kong, we worked in a quick weekend trip. Hong Kong is considered a special adminstrative region within China. It has a semi-independent government, its own currency, and has acheived a much higher level of average development and wealth. It is pretty organized and clean, although it does still feel like China when you wander around. Local people speak Cantonese (and most speak at least some Mandarin), and English is more common than in mainland China. I arrived in Hong Kong on a Saturday morning after a night flight (on a plane full of mosquitoes from sitting with the plane door open on the Bombay tarmac) and met Karen directly at Hong Kong Disney. Hong Kong Disneyland was nice - everything was a little smaller than the 'real' one in Orlando, but it is cheaper and there were very few people there. We did Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, found Mickey at the Character Corner, and reminisced about the old days, almost nine years ago, in the Happiest Place on Earth. Our final reaction was that Hong Kong Disney was kind of lame...more catered to small children than in California and Florida, where they have better rides. Here we are in front of the severely scaled-down princess' castle. After lunch, Karen decided to try a sweet red been and rice porridge 'desert', which more or less looked just like this when we left the restaurant (she didn't like it). They also sold dried squid at the snack carts there; I don't recall peddling those during my days on Main Street USA at the Magic Kingdom.

Other than that, we wandered around the city, which is very modern, has a nice waterfront, an impressive skyline, and is easy to get around in taxis, the subway, or the double-decker buses. We had some good conveyor belt sushi, did a little of the night life, and jumped on the 2.5 hour flight back to Shanghai.

India Bound
For those who have not heard, Karen and I will soon be leaving China, headed for another great overseas adventure. In early July, we will be packing up and heading to Bombay, for a stint in yet another booming developing country. Of course, India is very different from China; some things will be better and some things will be worse. As of last week, after our house-hunting trip to Bombay (Mumbai), we have both been there and are looking forward to the change. We are looking forward to the food, but dreading the heat and monsoon season. The people are more relaxed and social, but the poverty is striking. At least we'll have some local friends - Radha and Anant (of course from Kellogg). I don't know if we'll change the blog address, but there will certainly be many new things for me to write about. So anyone who was contemplating a visit to China to see / stay with us, you will soon have to consider visiting us in an entirely different place. Lastly, thanks to our visitors from this spring; we'll see you again soon - either in India or elsewhere! Hope all is well with everyone.

Our Japanese Chinese New Year

February brings China's biggest holiday - Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year). At that time, similar to the other two weeks during the year that many Chinese people do not have to work, the country becomes even busier than normal. The migrant masses embark on cross-country journeys, usually by train, to return home and spend their holiday time with family. This makes Chinese New Year likely the worst time to travel within China. So to avoid the misery, but take advantage of our time off, we decided to rendezvous with Justin and Kristi (Matt's brother and his girlfriend) in Japan, on their way back from a China/SE Asia tour. It so happened that Chinese New Year 2008 coincided with an atypical snow and ice storm in China, which more or less shut the country down (you probably saw the news coverage). It was snowing when we boarded the plane in Shanghai, which was why we had to sit on the tarmac for 3 hours before departure; we were just happy we didn't have to spend five days in a train station with 699,998 other people with no food, heat, water, or bathrooms.


Speaking of bathrooms, Japan is far ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to toilet technology. Here is a stall and associated signage in Tokyo's Narita airport, which obviously contains both a toilet and a butt-washing device (conveniently built into the same fixture). In addition, there are often seat heaters, variable angle, pressure and temperature water jets, and fake flushing noise buttons in ladies' rooms to offer some audible cover should it be necessary.

Karen and I arrived about four days before Justin and Kristi so we could catch up with some friends in Tokyo and relax for a couple days near Mount Fuji. It didn't take long for me to dig up my very basic Japanese speaking and reading skills so we could at least get around. Our first meal in Tokyo, motivated by curiousity and potentially a longing for US food, was at Denny's. Denny's was Denny's in the sense that the sign looked the same, but beyond that, it had been fully modified to suit Japanese tastes. I had ramen noodles and a beer, while Karen had Sweet Toast and red wine, followed by a dessert dish of vanilla ice cream, gooey rice balls (mochi), and sweet red beans. Essentially, all Japanese sweets contain sweet red beans. Always the survivor, Karen quickly adapted to the lack of chocolate in her new surroundings and vowed to eat at least two red-bean treats per day for the duration of our 10-day trip.

Our first couple nights, we stayed in a twin room on the top floor of a 'capsule hotel'. As the name suggests, most guests, typically business men who work too much, sleep in a pod in a wall of pods, arranged much like a file cabinet - three high and you slide in the long way. Anyhow, we met up with our friends Peita and Miki from Denver (some of you might remember Peita as my singing buddy in the karaoke bar at Mori Restaurant in Denver; he does a mean Maroon 5). We headed to Ginza, a fancy retail and commercial district, where we indulged in $8 beers and wine with the trendy youth of Tokyo. The next morning, we met up again and headed for Asakusa, a temple and shrine complex in the city. We wandered around and checked out the temple and shops - umbrellas drawn like everyone else - but it was snowing too hard and we ducked into a little okonomiyaki place. Okonomiyaki is a sort of fried lettuce pancake, which comes from the Kansai (Osaka) area. We all shared cooking duty on the hot plate in the middle of our table - see the before and after shot of okonomiyaki. It doesn't sound good, nor does it look it, but once it is fried up and the sauce has been applied - it's tasty. They typically put lots of meat, seafood, and vegetables in the mix. After lunch, they gave us the 'Tokyo when it's snowing tour" - lots of retail, restaurants, subways, etc. Thanks for being good hosts guys!

The next day, Karen and I headed out for Kawaguchi-ko, a little lake town right next to Mt. Fuji. We had to connect at the Shinjuku train station, where we ate at one of the menu button vending machine restaurants. Essentially, you pick from a very limited menu out of a ticket vending machine. You pay, give the ticket that comes out to the guy at the counter, and your food is ready in about 30 seconds. This is in line with many things in Japan - efficiency to the point that no communication is necessary. Nonetheless, it is fast and kind of fun.

Up in the mountains, we were surprised to find it was low season and the town was almost empty, which made for a nice, quiet couple days. We wandered around, ate good food, and took a cable car up a mountain for some good views of the town and lake. The clouds opened up a bit so we could pose with Mt. Fuji.

After some relaxed days, it was time to head back to Tokyo to meet up with Justin and Kristi. Of course, Justin and I planned an aggressive itinerary, which required us to criss-cross the country a couple times in a few days' time. The trains are efficient and comfortable and we had a limited amount of time. The first night they arrived, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) across Japan to Kyoto. Shinkansen are fast (about 160mph), quiet, smooth, and almost always on time. The Japanese train system must be the best in the world. Justin and Kristi held up, after having spent the previous night on metal benches in the Bangkok airport, and we made it to the Zen temple before the gates closed.

We were literally staying in a Zen temple called Daishin-in, with monks, raked sand, and all. The accomodations are basic, but comfortable. You sleep on futons (the real ones - mats that go on the floor) in small rooms with rice paper walls and tatami mat floors. In each room the only furniture is a futon and a kotatsu (a table with a heat lamp under it - see Justin warming up). This is a fairly typical arrangement in a home - even today. If you use the table, the futon is folded up; if you use the futon, the table is pushed to the side. Restrooms and showers are shared. We woke up for the 6:00 AM Buddhist prayer session, which was interesting, cold, uncomfortable (you are supposed to sit on your feet the whole time), and entirely unintelligible (the monk beats some drums with a stick and chants gibberish in Japanese - even they can't understand it). Here is a picture of the garden and buildings in the temple - very serene and nice. Daishin-in is located in an area with over 50 similar temples, so it is a quiet neighborhood.

The next day, we toured Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital and home to many cultural sights and temples. We rented bicycles and pedaled all over the city, which is fortunately relatively flat and arranged on a grid. We toured the Shogun (samurai leader) castle, which has deliberately squeaky wood floors as a security system. We rode through Gion, which is the Geisha neighborhood. The guidebooks all say that you are very lucky if you catch a glimpse of any geisha walking around; we saw several, but maybe they were geisha trainees or just random people dressed in what we thought were traditional clothes. Anyhow, these ladies are standing in front of a shrine where the normal prayer process is to go up and ring the bells with the huge ropes (to wake up the gods), throw a few coins in a big box, and pray. This was a really neat area - lots of traditional restaurants, parks, temples, etc. The other picture here is of three things: some guy in white (don't know), a rack of strings with fortunes tied on them, and two typical young Japanese girls. The strings with fortunes are a way that they raise money at the shrines - you pay a small amount (maybe $2) and draw a fortune at random. It could be a good, bad, or medium fortune. If it is undesirable, you tie the fortune to the rack with strings and leave it there. The girls are an example of what most young Japanese girls try to look like. This is a very fashion conscious place. They seem to wear really short skirts, hooded jackets with fur on the hood, and hooker boots - rain or shine, hot or cold.

The next day, we took a day trip to Hiroshima on our way back to Tokyo (a four hour detour in the wrong direction). The only reason we went to Hiroshima was to visit the musuem and Memorial Peace Park at the site of the atomic bombing. Here is a picture of A-Bomb Dome, one of the only structures that was left standing after the blast. This was more or less directly beneath the center of the explosion (they are designed to explode way above the ground in the air). The Japanese government essentially left it the way it was; there is rubble all around on the ground. Hiroshima was a worthwhile stop - the museum contains many things that illustrate the destruction and impact of such an action - certainly memorable.

After re-crossing the country, we spent a quick night in Tokyo and headed north to Kawagoe, the town that our relatives (my mother's mother's nieces and their family) live in. It is a little over an hour out of the city. We were lucky enough to be invited for a huge lunch at Kyoko and Masaaki's house. The lunch was fantastic and huge (thank you again!). In the big group picture, going left to right, the women are Kyoko, Asumi, Kristi, Saori, Karen, Fujie, and Kimiko. The men, from left to right, are Masaaki, Hideaoki, Justin, and I. This is in their living room. The table is a kotatsu - the heat table I described from the Zen temple.

After lunch, Fujie hooked Kristi and Karen up with hand-painted flower finger nail polish jobs. Then we went to check into our hotel and wander around town a bit (again, in the snow). The hotel they found for us was kind of a destination hotel - with an onsen (hot spring bath) and a Pachinko parlor. Before partaking in the hotel activities, we met up with the family again for a great dinner.

They selected a place with a variety of food (good stuff) and the added bonus of a one-price-for-all-you-can-drink menu. So, people could order one kind, then a different kind, then another...the only rule was that you had to finish your last one, or pawn it off on someone who would. Dinner was good, the drinks were good, Masaaki got cut off by Kyoko and Kimiko, and we all had a good time. Our relatives also knew that it was Kristi's birthday (tanjoobi) that day, so they thoughtfully had a cake and song incorporated into the evening's festivities (look at the sweet picture of Justin and Kristi cutting the cake).

After dinner and wandering around, we headed back for our hotel. It was an experience. Onsen (hot springs) are a part of Japanese culture and tradition (picture a scenic, outdoor bath with rocks and maybe a nice wood fence). This one was the more modern version, like a variety of hot tubs and swimming pools in the basement of the hotel. As many Japanese baths are, this one was separated - men and women. Karen and Kristi opted to stay in the hotel room while Justin and I paraded around the basement nudo (sorry, no pictures of this), trying out all the different pools for various lengths of time (they have different sizes, temperatures, chemical additives, etc) - no doubt in the wrong order. Fortunately, it was not too crowded and the unlimited drinks with dinner erased a bit of the awkwardness of hanging out with our brother naked.

The other thing the hotel offered, which was good to experience, was a Pachinko parlor. I don't really understand the game, but it is something like a combination of a slot machine and one of those games where the metal ball falls down through a series of metal pins, bouncing around, with an uncertain final destination at the bottom. Pachinko parlors are everywhere, and they are always loud, smoky, and well-illuminated. The one in the hotel was a little different, as it was linked to the lobby, which was linked to a lounge area. This was the weirdest place - lots of old people laying in big chairs, wearing robes (probably nothing else) after having gone in the baths, smoking, and watching a movie on a big screen, at all hours of the night. It was like a combination of an old-folks' home and an airport waiting area (creepy).

The relatives took the extra hospitable step to go down to Tokyo and show us around the whole next day. We went to the Tokyo Museum, which was quite good. Thanks again to you all for being such generous and thoughtful hosts.

Finally, came our last day, on which we were to get up at about 4:00 AM to visit the Tsukiji Fish Market. We briefly contemplated going to the clubs in Shibuya and staying up all night, but fortunately that was nominated as a bad idea. We rested for a few hours, jumped in a taxi, and made our way to what has to be one of the biggest seafood markets in the world. The attraction of this market is the variety of seafood, the tuna auctions, and the fresh sushi and sashimi next to the market. They have fresh and frozen tuna auctions. The fresh one is no longer open to the public. However, we watched some of the frozen one - it is pretty interesting - there is a picture and a movie here. The auction takes place in a damp concrete warehouse with a bunch of big, frozen tuna laying on the floor. Each fish has a number painted on it. The buyers have the chance to wander around for a while before the auction starts, to check out the goods and figure out what they want to bid for. These guys have cargo pants, flashlights, a meat hook device, and a bit of a swagger that you might expect of a bunch of smelly, early-riser, fishermen. They wander among the fish, looking at them, touching them, chatting with the other buyers, and taking notes. The primary means of determining the quality of a fish is to use their meat hook to hack out a chunk of meat from the base of the tail (the tails are cut off - see picture). It's like picking out a canteloupe - some guys smell the meat, taste it, rub it between their fingers, look at it with a flash light, etc. It is fun to watch. Some of the big fish can go for as much as $10,000.

Well, that is it. Too long, again. If you made it this far, at least there was a movie. We had a great trip. For Karen and I, Japan was really a breath of fresh air from China, for several reasons: (1) it has fresh air, (2) it is organized, (3) people are polite...very polite, (4) we can find food we actually want to eat, (5) phenomenally foul smells in the streets are rare, and (6) we did not have to suspect that every public surface is covered in urine or spit. That really paints an awful picture of China - it is not that bad, but there are some things that wear on us. We were glad to have run away from China's crazy time and to have had the opportunity to hang out with our friends Peita and Miki, our extended family the Kanekos in Japan, and Justin and Kristi. Thanks and happy (late) Chinese New Year to all; we hope to talk to you soon. Mata ne.