Last Post: The Longest Thursday Ever

We started Thursday in Tokyo.  We had two very different shopping experiences.  Early in the morning we went down to the fish market.  They mostly sell fish but they do sell a variety of other things like vegetables and dried fruits.  After that we went to the famous Sony store in the Ginza shopping area.  It has three floors of their newest electronics.  The fish market is very unlike what you would find in the US, it is a variety of small stalls set up along a road.  The Sony store, on the other hand, was large and modern, displaying some products that haven't even come out yet.

After shopping, we went to the airport to catch our flight.  We took off at 5:30 in the afternoon and arrived in Denver at 4:30 the same day.  It took us 14 hours to fly home but there was a 15 hour time difference so we ended up arriving an hour earlier than we started.  It is nice to be home.  Thanks for following my blog!

at the local market

3D TV at the Sony store





Buddha

My dad was working in the morning so we didn't head out for sightseeing until the afternoon.   We went to a small town south of Tokyo called Kamakura.  Our main reason for going was to see the second largest Buddha statue in the world.  The statue is made of bronze but since it had been left outside it has a greenish hue, similar to the Statue Liberty.

The Buddha, much to our surprise, was hollow. It cost 20 yen (about thirty cents) to go inside the statue. We learned that the structure was reinforced to withstand earthquakes. However, the sign inside the buddha that explained the structural design was not particularly clear so I am not quite sure how they did it.

Getting there in the first place was a bit tricky. We had to take a subway to a train station, in which the train was late. Then we had to take that train to another train, and that train to our destination. We were able to manage it, though, with the help of a map and a few kind Japanese people.

How to find your way in Japan

1. Look like a tourist.

2. Stand there looking and pointing at a map.

3. Look confused. Someone will come up to you and help.

Japanese people are very helpful.

On our trip back, we saw a vending machine. I wanted some hot tea, which you can get from a vending machine there.  I had purchased one before and I liked it so we bought what we thought was tea.  We are in Japan so almost everything in the vending machine was written in Japanese.  All we had to rely on were the pictures.  It turned out we actually bought coffee but didn't realize it until I had taken a few sips.  It turns out that I kind of like coffee!

Tuesday in Tokyo

We started the day with a visit to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.  In the tea ceremony you don't just drink tea, there is a step-by-step process.  You have to hold your cup a certain way, drink a certain way, and make a large slurp at the end to indicate that you are finished.  The tea was very green in color.  It was frothy, very much like hot chocolate, except that the froth was tinted green.  It tasted like someone had mashed up grass and tree leaves and added in a little soap, except worse. It had a very bitter taste.  I found it difficult to keep a straight face but my dad enjoyed it.

The building we had the tea in was 150 years old with lush gardens surrounding it.  There was a row of impressive bonsai trees, some of them 500 years old.  They were twisted and gnarled to a point that it seemed they could not be any more twisted and gnarled. 

Later on we to the Meiji shrine.  It is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji.  The shrine was located in a large wooded area.  Inside the shrine area was a very large taiko drum.  We were not allowed to take photos inside so I sketched this picture of the drum.

The shrine was mostly wooden with a lightly deocrated curved roof.  It was surrounded by thick trees.  It was a very peaceful setting.

The shrine was in a large courtyard and at one point a wedding party walked through wearing traditional clothes.



Two Days in One Post

Sorry I couldn't find time to do a blog yesterday.  I will make up for it today by writing about two days' worth of activities.  First we took the high speed train to Osaka.  Its top speed is 186 miles per hour. When in Osaka, we saw Osaka Castle and then went to a Sumo Tournament.

Like many castles, it was built on a high location and surrounded by a moat.  The architecture and style of the building was pleasantly different than something you might find in America or England.

We arrived at the sumo tournament just in time to watch the opening ring ceremony where two groups of sumo wrestlers formed circles around the ring.

Sumo matches generally last around five minutes but the first four minutes are spent posturing and psyching themselves up.  Then when both sumo wrestlers have wiped their faces and touched both knuckles to the ground, the furious slapping, pushing, and shoving starts.  The period in which they actually wrestle each other is brief but very intense.  It is possible to win a match by forcing the other wrestler to the ground, out of the ring, or in one case into the first row of the audience.

After we saw the sumo tournament, we took a train to Kyoto.  Once there, we stayed in a traditional Japanase style hotel.  The floor was mostly made of tatami mats and the furniture is very low.  Instead of a Western style bed they have futon mats on the floor.  The doors were all sliding doors and you had to remove your shoes before you went in.

The next morning, we went on a peaceful nature hike just outside of the hotel. We saw lots of interesting plantlife and heard many birds.  Along the way was a small wooded shrine.

After the nature trail, we spent a full day exploring Kyoto.  We went to an area called Arashiyama, which is outside of the downtown area.  We went to the Monkey Park at the top of a large, steep hill.  The hike was slighly unpleasant but it was definitely worth it to see all those monkeys.  It was snowing when we reached the park at the top, which was fitting since we saw snow monkeys.  We were even allowed to stand inside of a caged building and feed the monkeys as they reached through the bars.  The monkeys had a very solid grip and their claws were sharper than I expected.

The picture below proves my theory that monkeys are funny.

After more exploring in Arashiyama, we went to a taiko drumming lesson.  Taiko drums are very big and you play them while standing.  They are carved from a single tree and covered in cowhide.  It was the only drum lesson I ever had where you were supposed to whack the drum as hard as you could.  You have to hit the drum so forcefully that it tires you out.

Next we went to Nijo Castle.  It was a large place but not heavily decorated on the inside.  This building is unique because of the nightingale floors.  The shogun was paranoid that somebody would sneak in at night and assasinate him so he purposefully had squeaky floors built.

Finally we took the train back to Tokyo and rested in our hotel room.

Exploring Tokyo

The weather forecast said it was supposed to rain most of today so we chose an indoor activity.  We went to the Miraikan National Musem of Emerging Science and Innovation.  Some of the exhibits were difficult to understand because the descriptions were written in Japanese.  However some did have English descriptions and there were a few fun interactive ones.

Shown above is a game where you are a pharmacist and you have to match the medicines provided to the needs of the patients.  If you give one of the virtual people the wrong medicine they get a rash.  That is me in the picture, purposefully giving someone a rash.

In this exhibit you had to robotically perform surgery on a pretend patient and remove a tumor.

We weren't certain what the purpose of this exhibit was.  In this picture my dad and I are looking up at a large globe.  This was my dad's favorite exhibit because he got to lie down.

We got to the science center by subway and monorail.  All of the signs were in Japanese, only a few are in English, making this city more difficult than Singapore or Hong Kong.  But because the Japanese people are so kind and helpful, any time we looked really confused they offered to help us find our way.

We stopped at Seven Eleven on our way to the museum and they had some unusual food items.  One of these items was a scary packet of squid.

Step 3: Japan

We are now in Tokyo and getting here was a bit of a pain.  First we took a taxi to the train station in Hong Kong, then the train to the airport, then took a four hour flight to Tokyo airport, where we then boarded another train, and finally another taxi to our hotel.  Tokyo is located at 35 degrees north and 139 degrees east.  Being further north than both Singapore and Hong Kong, we're much cooler on this step of our journey.  It has been raining ever since we arrived and it is so misty that we can barely see out of our hotel window.

The first thing I noticed was that the streets are wider than in Hong Kong and there is slightly more shrubbery, which was pleasing.  It is more crowded than Singapore but less crowded than Hong Kong.  Our late arrival and the dreary rain means we haven't gone exploring yet but I will keep posting until I leave on Thursday.

One Day To See Hong Kong

We only spent one day in Hong Kong.  Since we wanted to make the most out of it, we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour.  We wore headsets so that we could hear information about what we passed.  Sometimes my mom would hear this information in Japanese as I like to change her commentary language to be funny.

At one point we learned that some Chinese believe in cursing others.  According to them, to curse someone you write down information about the person you want to curse on a human-shaped piece of paper and take it to a special lady who has the ability to curse.  She will then repeatedly beat it with a shoe.  Then she will toss it into a small fire and, voila, you have cursed somebody.  Curses usually cost about HKD 40 and can last from a week to an eternity.

As were driving around the city there are some things that I noticed.  First off some of the buildings were clean, modern sky scrapers.  Others were dirty, ugly, and definitely well used.

We drove past a lot buildings that were having construction done on them and noticed that they used bamboo for scaffolding instead of the metal commonly used in the US.  It must be a very dense, strong wood to be sturdy enough for this.

The streets and sidewalks were narrow.  This resulted in a lot of slow moving traffic on the roads.

When we got off the bus tour we went on some very long escalators.  These are listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for the longest set of outdoor covered escalators.  From midnight to morning they go downhill then the rest of the day they change direction and go uphill.  This is very convenient for pedestrians because that region of the island is very hilly which would make it exhausting to traverse.  These escalators go over the roads so you don't even have to wait to cross the street.

Me in between two escalators

After the escalators, we stopped at a small Chinese temple called Man Mo Temple.  People were lighting incense inside as food for gods and spirits.  The pleasant aroma of the incense smelled smoky, like a fire, but slightly more fragrant.  It was small and simple, lightly decorated on the outside.  Unlike some churches and worshipping places you may find this one was more like a little hut on the inside.



Step 2: Hong Kong

Today for our last day in Singapore we went to the National Museum.  We went to the History Gallery which explains the history of Singapore.  It was discovered by Sir Raffles, a British statesman, who was looking for a new port for the British fleet.  In WWII the Japanese invaded, some on bicycles, and Singapore was surrendered.  After the Allies won the war, there was a period of instability.  Then in 1959 Singapore became their own country.

Here is a picture of the museum building:



That is me sitting on the steps and reading while waiting for the museum to open.

We had a four hour flight to Hong Kong.  Hong Kong is located at 22 degrees north and 114 degrees east.  This means we are no longer directly above the equator so it is much cooler here.  Hong Kong used to be a British colony too, but recently was given back to China.

I arrived in Hong Kong in the evening and didn't have much time to explore but here are my first impressions.  The first thing I noticed was that English appeared to be a second language as Chinese came first on the signs (unlike Singapore where English was first).  Based on my experience on the subway, Hong Kong seems to be a very crowded city.  Being on the subway car was like being crammed into our locker room with all of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade.

I went to dinner with a few of my dad's friends.  We went to a local Chinese restaurant called Peking Garden, which served northern Chinese food.  I tried a new food called Peking Duck.  It tasted surprisingly similar to steak except not as thick and chewy.  While we were eating, a man pushed a cart into the room and started making noodles with an amazing display of handiwork.  His hands were so quick and nimble with the dough, it was extraordinary to watch.

Adventures on Sentosa

Greetings from Singapore!  Today we went off to the small island off the coast of the city, Sentosa.  Sentosa is a Malay word meaning peace and tranquility.  This island is full of exciting things like a trapeze, wave pool, and luge ride.  There are also some beaches and hotels.

First we went to an area where you could hold live birds.  It was great fun!  I held four different birds.  The birds had a very strong grip like a clamp.  The talons of the birds were not so sharp that it was painful, they tickled more than they hurt. 

The last bird that I held laying on his back with his talons in the air.  His feathers were very soft and sleek.

After that, we went on a luge.  A luge is like a cross between a go-cart and a toboggan.  You ride it down a hill on a usually curvy path.  You steer by moving the handle bars left and right.  You brake by pulling them back. 

Next we went to a place called the Wave House.  It was in the shape of a diagonal slant.  At the bottom there is a high-powered water jet shooting water up to the top.  This creates a wave effect on which you can surf.  It was less difficult than I expected to stay on the board.  The water was so foreceful that whenever I fell off I was carried up to the top of the pool almost immediately.  It felt like I was actually in the ocean when the water completely covered me, and I often got pinned up against the back board.  Once the instructor had to fish me out.

It was a terrific way to spend our last day in Singapore.

Differences and Similarities

Today (Monday) we went to the Singapore Science Centre.  I was going to blog about that but it was unimaginably boring.  There was an exhibit where you had to walk through rocks without setting off the sound detector, which only went off when something reached 95 decibles.  So instead of boring you, I am going to tell you about some intriguing differences and similarities between Singapore and the U.S.

The first thing I noticed was that they were serving sushi and curry for breakfast.  But you can also get foods as American as pancakes and waffles.  There was also a very wide variety of fruits and juices being served, some that I had never heard of before such as the dull, gray dragon fruit.

We have been traveling on the subway often and we noticed that some of the names of the stops would seem very normal to us, such as City Hall.  Others, however, had names such as Bukit Batok.  This is also true of many streets and places.  There are also some picture signs on the subway that could be interpreted different ways...

Don't have hands?

Ah, the excitement of visiting a foreign country where things are so different and unique. Or exactly the same...

We met a friend for dinner who is from Singapore.  Here is our conversation below.  Her answers show some differences between the US and Singapore.

 

Me:  "Hi.  I have a few things to ask you about Singapore."

Friend:  "Okay."

Me:  "I heard it is illegal to chew gum in Singapore.  Is it true?"

Friend:  "It is illegal to sell gum in Singapore or to bring it into the country in large amounts.  It was to stop people from putting gum on train tracks."

Me:  "What language do you learn in school?"

Friend:  "The first language you learn is English.  The second language is your mother tongue.  So if your mother is Chinese you learn Mandarin.  If you are smart, you also learn a third language, either French or Japanese.  Japanese is most common."

Me:  "What is the school year like in Singapore?"

Friend:  "We have year-round school.  There is one month off in June and one in December.  The school day is from 7:30 until 3:00."

 

It was very interesting talking to our friend and hearing more about Singapore.

 

Singapore At Last

After 24 hours of plane flights, I am finally in Singapore.  If you are reading this on Monday, Happy Tuesday from over here.  It is a full 14 hour time difference, so chances are I will be a day ahead of you.  The latitude is 104, practically on  the opposite side of the planet from Denver.  The longitude is only 1 degree north of the equator so that makes it scorching here.  It is also tropical and humid, perfect for growing lush plants, which is why there are so many that grow so large.

We spent most of our day on Sentosa, a small island off the coast of Singapore.  First off we took an exciting Segway tour.  It was amazingly easy to balance, break, and turn.

Then I visited the southernmost point of continental Asia.

Singapore's location, which is a sort of gateway into Asia from many other places, makes it one of the busiest ports in the world.

New foods tried today:  Dragon Fruit (tasteless), Papaya (an orangeish fruit), unknown object

Preparation

One thing about this vacation - loooooooooooooooooong flights!  I'm prepared, though.  Or at least preparing!:) I am bringing a large (and heavy) stack of books with me.  These books feel like an elephant when I hold them altogether!

First Post

Click on the link below for a map of my travel locations.



http://g.co/maps/8my8e