Made it back home to Boston

I got to Boston without delay or incident after about 14 hours of travel. I'm staying with Kerry, et. al., for a couple of days and will be back in Wellfleet in Monday. Too tired and jet lagged to write more now. It was an amazing 6 weeks and I'll have to digest it all and reflect later.

Final day in Japan

So we`re down to the wire here. We`re headed out to the fish market with our luggage to store in a locker in Tokyo Station before we go to the early market. We won`t make the 4 a.m. tuna auction but the trains don`t run that early anyway. But we`ll have a sushi breakfast there. Should be interesting! Hope we don`t get splashed or we`ll smell like fish all the way to US! Our seatmates won`t like that!
We had a lovely visit in Kamakura, except for the rain! Slogging around in that wasn`t too great! But we saw the big Buddha, climbed inside him to see how he was formed of huge sheets of bronze! He survived the earthquake, bombing, whatever, but the wooden shelter built around him didn`t. So now he sits there serenly out in the elements and doesn`t seem to mind. Pretty impressive! 800+ tons!
There was also a temple to Kannon (in China she`s called Guanyin) goddess of Mercy. apparently two statues alike were carved and one is in Nara. This other one was thrown into the sea to be compassionate to the rest of the world, and floated ashore near K. Love these stories that go with the temples!
We stayed in an IYH and I inadvertently had sent my card home with Joyce in my other suitcase. She was able to scan it at the library and they accepted it which saved me Y1000. Yea, Joyce!! Thanks!
The hostel is run by Japanese grandparents who had lots of their 4 (soon to be 5) grandchildren from their 4 sons who live scattered around Japan. He was very helpful with maps of Kamakura and umbrellas to keep us somewhat dry! We were able to leave our bags there (checkin wasn`t until 4 p.m.) and walk around with a lighter load.
It`s a very neat town, on the beach and lots of Hawaiian shops - go figure! I remember so many Japanese tourists, especially golfers, in Hawaii! I heard they go there for the golf as golf courses here are hard to get a tee time! We rode this funky train/looks like a tram from Kamakura to Kamakure Hase 3 short stops away. It had wooden floors and moved very slowly!
Our room when we got to it was unusual - the top bunk was SOOOO high! I wouldn`t even attempt it so I took all the blankets and futons I could gather and slept on the floor, ala the temple in Takayama! Didn`t have a great night`s sleep but didn`t fall out either! I could hear people talking loudly downstairs through the floor so got up and went into the room with the kotastu (that heated table with big quilt! and read for awhile!) Finished The Thousand Mountains of Jacob de Loet - great Japanese story! and picked up another paperback for the plane.
After a great Japanese breakfast prepared by Grandpa and Grandma, we headed ;off to Kamakura and KiteKamakura for some more temples.
Betty`s ready to go so I`ll have to finish this later.
Sayonara from Japan!
Kerry and all, can`t wait to hug you guys later today (actually tomorrow!)

Relaxing day at Lake Kamaguchi!

Yesterday was one of our most laid back days. It was beautiful and sunny, if a bit chilly (It IS December!). We cooked a wonderful omelet with lots of veggies, cheese, etc. for breakfast in this huge kitchen and then headed off on bikes around the lake. It looks like a big boating area, although we only saw a couple of swan peddle boats and a couple of jet skiers actually out yesterday (it was a Monday - I think this is a weekend place and people went back to work). There were lots of boats still in the water and we passed a couple of water sports equipment stores around the lake. The map says the circular route is over 20 km. It was very deceptive on the map and we kept thinking we were further along than we were. But it was a very nice ride, with many spots where there was an off-road trail right down by the water. In one place it was a conservation area where banks of various flowers and herbs were planted - fields of lavendar, of course, not in bloom now! But I bet it's gorgeous when it is.
One stop we did make was at Kawaguchi Sengen Jinja Shrine - a very old Shinto shrine (of course we did the cleansing ritual and then the two bows, two claps, make a wish and one final bow!) We had a bit of trouble finding it but stopped and ask this woman farmer working. She babbled in Japanese and pointed and Betty seemed to understand her. Sure enough, we found it following her pointing!

The two neatest things there was, first, no one else was there. A couple was just leaving so we had this ancient place to ourselves to look around. Also I had read the gigantic cypress trees lining the entrance were over 1,000 years old.



They were pretty amazing (I've never seen the redwoods in Ca). I thought this was the shrine where in ancient times the pilgrimages to the top of Mt. Fuji would begin. We followed what seemed like a trail for awhile but then it kind of ended, and there was a main road crossing so we weren't sure and turned back. I had read that pilgrims went to this shrine, climbed this smaller mountain for a view of Fuji and then continued along a ridge to finish the actual Mt. Fuji climb. Turns out when we studied the map, there are actually a couple of other places marked "Sengen Jingo Shrine" so not sure where it started. Now I think pilgrims just drive or ride up to the 5th Station where we'd been the day before with the Izumis and start from there. Last year Betty read over 300,000 people climbed Mt. Fuji!! Pretty impressive. Turns out we were lucky as people here at the hostel who just arrived wanted to take the local tour bus up and our day was the last day until March. So they weren't able to go up that far. We got some great pictures from up there.
We also got MANY various views as we circled the lake of Mt. Fuji from all angles.



We finally ended back at the hostel to relax for the afternoon. We actually watched a movie - Letter from Iwo Jima, which I'd never seen. It would have been fun to see the American side - Flags of our Fathers - movie back to back but it wasn't here. Then, since we couldn't agree on what food to eat for dinner, we went to the grocery store and each got our own thing to bring back and eat here. We sat around the kotatsu, a low table with a quilt under it that you plug in, put your feet under the table and it's toasty warm. Apparently this is what some Japanese have in their home in the winter. We had seen many hostelers sitting around it while we've been here but last night was our turn. I finished my book I'd been reading about Nagasaki, the Dutch traders there on Nijima island, around 1800 when they were the only foreigners allowed to trade with the Japanese. Really good story! Gotta find another book for the long plane ride home. I can leave one and take one from the shelf here. Love those hostels!!
The young woman at the desk here was able to change our bus tickets for today so we can leave earlier to spend more time at Kamakura, since we have only one night there. We go back to Shinjuku station in Tokyo and then hop a commuter line south through Yokohama to K. which is on the water. I had inadvertently send home with Joyce in my suitcase from China my youth hostel card - which they require at the next hostel - haven't needed it at all in Japan. But it's an extra 1000 yen if I don't have it. She was able to scan it at the library and e-mail it to me. It came in really clear. Hopefully they will accept it. It's worth printing it out here and showing it to them. It has my name and expiration date very clearly printed.
Off we go for our almost last new spot in Japan before heading home. Only the fish market and the shrine near our hostel, plus shop for final souvenirs (don't know where we are going to put them!) before our flight on Thursday.
Sayonara!

Mt. Fuji is out!

We woke up Sunday to an absolutely gorgeous sunny sky in Tokyo as we headed off for Mt. Fuji. We rode the long distance bus after getting some breakfast to go at our trusty 7-11. Who knew that store would be such a blessing here in Japan?
As we traveled through the suburbs of Tokyo on the elevated highway, all of us sudden Mt. Fuji appeared out our window in the distance! It is amazing as you don't see other mountains around it - it just appears by itself, with the top part already covered in snow and ice. We arrived almost an hour earlier than we had thought, after a very comfortable ride. Now the mountain seemed to be right there to reach out and touch. K's Hostel here in Kamaguchi has a pick-up service so we phoned them for a ride and they came in about 10 minutes.
We haven't yet learned his name but the driver/host at the hostel has excellent English and has been enormously helpful. Another passenger being picked up was a young man from Bangkok on his first trip to Japan. He was only going to spend one night so he spent the afternoon on a bus around the Lake seeing some of the Lake Kamaguchi sights.
 I had been e-mailing since arriving here friends of Sr. Trai Nghiem, one of Doug's monastic friends, whose name is Akemi. Shortly after our arrive at the hostel, they (Keisuke and Toshito arrived to meet us. It turns out they are like second parents to Akemi. She was born in Texas and then moved to Japan for about 12 years.The friends, Keisuke and Toshiko Izumi, are a delightful couple who live between Yokohama and Kamakura (where we are headed tomorrow for a day) but also have a little apartment in the Hakone area near Mt. Fuji. It's still about a couple of hours ride from here so they were so sweet to come all this was to spend the afternoon with us.
It turns out they had never been in this area before so hope they enjoyed seeing a different part of the Mt. Fuji area as well.
Anyhow, it turns out their daughter, a couple of years older than
Akemi, played the violin as well as A. and they became friends. Now the daughter lives I think in Yokohama and is married and works as a translater. She had studied in London and also in Beijing so speaks Mandarin and English. When I talked about my friend's son who writes for Lonely Planet and leads tours here in Japan, Toshiko mentioned that her daughter had translated some for Lonely Planet, I guess from Chinese into Japanese.  So they have known A. since she was five. Kazemi lived in Japan until she and her mother moved to Seattle for a better education. When her parents split up, she stayed with her mother and went on to study in Europe. She played as a concert violinist at a very prestigious orchestra in Berlin, I think, and they mentioned something about a Mahler Chamber Orchestra. I know K. had said she was playing concert tours until about five years ago when she joined Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village and became a nun. I met her for the first time at my house in October when Doug and 15 others stayed with me for 4 days when they were on the US Tour. She had given me the names of some friends to contact when I was here.
So we spent a lovely afternoon with these generous people. It turns out they had lived 5 years in Netherlands near the Hague and 5 years also in New Jersey when he was working for some electronics company. Their English was really good.
Our guide at the hostel was very helpful in suggesting things to Keisuke for us to do that afternoon, since they had never been in this area. First they took us for lunch at a very Japanese restaurant nearby. Long low tables were filled with tourists eating lunch so we had a few minutes wait. They ordered the local specialty, a miso based soup filled with all kinds of vegetables and the local thicker noodles. It was delicious! Betty and I shared a large bowl and Keisuke and Toshito shared one. We took many pictures and had a delightful conversation.
Next we headed up, up, up the highway to the 5th Station on the side of Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately we followed all the way up a diesel tour bus that choked us with fumes but we shut the windows. With pine trees dense on both sides you didn't get the sense of being up high until once in awhile there would be a glimpse of the valley in the distance. But when we arrived at the station, there it was! We were right on the slope! I never thought we'd be able to get that close. Snow and chunks of ice were all around and I was glad I had gone back into the storage area to grab my extra windbreaker as it was COLD! This is where now the pilgrims start their hike to the top of Mt. Fuji. It used to be near the bottom at a particular shrine. They've been doing this pilgrimage for 1000 years or so! Mt. Fuji is the highest and I believe considered the most sacred mountain in Japan. K and T said they had never been up here. There was a statue inside one of the buildings of a guy who when he was 105 had climbed up and down 13 times in succession!! We got to talking then about Keisuke's parents - his father is 100 and his mother 95 and still living on their own in a different prefecture east of Tokyo. He is the oldest of 4 sons. He thought the average life expectancy for Japanese men is now 78 or so and women over 80. Must be all the fish, vegetables, healthy living, hot spring soaks, etc. We have seen so many elderly Japanese out walking around all the tourist places we've visited. The retirement age is 60 so they have a LONG life after retirement.
There was a post office up top so I wrote out a post card to Jackson and Sarah to be stamped and mailed from there. Of course, there was also a small Shinto shrine with a terrace overlook the other side down to Lake Kamaguchi and in the distance the Hakone area. They suggested we might want to go to Kamakura via Hakone area but it's a lot of bus rides and train changes and I don't know how much we'd really get to see in one day with all that traveling and still get to our reservation in Kamakura tomorrow night. We also didn't think we'd be able to refund our bus ticket back to Shinjuku station in Tokyo that we already paid for. So I think we'll just stick with our plan and keep Hakone area for another visit! I feel content that we really got to see a lot of variety in this country and didn't just stick to the Tokyo area as many tourists do. But you always leave things to come back and see and there are plenty of them here.
After K and T dropped us back at K's hostel at nearly dark - they still had a couple of hours drive back home, Betty and I walked to a local grocery store to pick up some dinner and eggs and veggies, etc. for our breakfasts for a couple of days. After dinner, we walked with the guys from Bangkok (another one was also staying here so he joined the first one) over to the local onsen for a great soak! They had some outside tubs so we spent most of the time looking at the moon and stars while the cool air kept us from boiling in the hot water! It's a lovely way to end the day!
Our roommate last night was a young art teacher from Wales, Sharon Flint,  who is 4 months into an 8 month trip (and I'm feeling tired after 6 weeks!) around Asia. She just arrived from Tokyo and is kind of doing our tour in reverse. She previously was in China as well, and then Vietnam, Cambodia and I think India. Betty talked with her before I came in the room so I didn't hear all of it. But we compared notes on travel in China. She is also doing a blog so she gave me her URL (www.flintythenomad.blogspot.com - for those travel bugs like me who will read about ANYONE's trips) that I'll check out later. She said she doesn't mind wearing the same 3 outfits but she said she felt grungy in Tokyo with all the beautiful girls there. So she went out and spent 10 pounds on a "Tokyo dress." She felt much better!
She also told me how to get on directly to add my entries as I constantly had to e-mail to Michelle to have her upload it. Now this morning with her directions (go to the blog FIRST and THEN sign in and that seemed to work), I'm able to type the entry directly into the blog. Yea!!! She also told me how easy it is to add pictures but I don't have my gadget that I put my stick into to upload pictures. I'll work on adding them when I get home.
I forgot to mention Sharon (the woman from Wales) mentioned she went by bus up to 5th Station and met a German guy who was also going to try to hike a bit. The two of them hiked up to the 6th station. She said she was glad he was along as it was very treacherous (the hiking season ends in September but I guess no one stops you!). She fell and also scraped her leg on something. So I'm glad we never even gave it a thought!!
So off today on bikes, after cooking our breakfast in this HUGE kitchen, to see Lake Kamaguchi and more peeks at Mt. Fuji!

Day 2 in Tokyo

Okay,　Tokyo has not been a highlight on my list in Japan. Probably has to do with the weather which has been raw and cold. Today we walked around in the rain but it finally let up so we just had to carry the umbrellas (generously loaned by the hostel) around for the day. We started out going to a station to line up our tickets for the bus tomorrow out to the Hakone/Mt. Fuji area. The weather is supposed to be sunny for the next 3 days so we`re hoping!! We will meet up first thing in the afternoon with two friends of Sr. Trai Nghiem - a friend of Doug`s. Hopefully they can explain a bit about the area and what there is to see. We hope to do some hiking (not too much as my feet are ACHING!) and find one or more onsens to soak in with the beautiful views!  We then went to another station to line up our ticket to Kamakura after Mt. Fuji on Tuesday just for one night. It`s a local train so we didn`t need to book a seat. With all those travel details taken care of, we were off to the Imperial Palace. It`s the largest palace grounds in the world, they say. But you really can`t get past the bridge so we just took some pictures. It`s a very peaceful place in the center of the government buildings surrounding it. Lovely grounds and moats. As we walked around the moat on our way to a controversial shrine, tons of runners out enjoying the rain letup passed us. I think there must be a race or marathon or something they were all training for. After way more walking than we thought, we arrived at the Yasukuni Shrine - a Shinto shrine dedicated to the war dead. There is a statue of the guy in the 1800s who started the Red Cross Society in Japan. But there are also memorials to 14 Japanese (considered by an American tribunal) war criminals including the General Tojo. And so apparently there are frequent protests here when officials leave wreaths, memorials, etc. at this shrine. There was a museum with further info on the wars in Japan with lots of gruesome pictures so we opted out of that. It`s also controversial because of things like calling the Rape of Nanjing in 1936 where over 300,000 residents were slaughtered as the "Nanking Incident." This gets the Chinese riled up! When I was teaching in China 7 years ago, I remember the Chinese were upset because a new Japanese history textbook had been adopted here that really made light of many of the WWII atrocities. We then made our way to a train station and went to the Akihabara Electric area - a geeky area where you can shop for anything electronic in both big stores and little shops. We found a store that had the Japanese toilet seats you could buy and take home - they were $700+ so I unhappily let that one go! Maybe I can buy one online when I get home. They are made by Sanyo. They had iPads for around $670 but decided NOT. If something goes wrong, you want the store nearby. We then headed back to our hostel as it was dark, stopping at good old 7-11 (where you can buy all kinds of hot and prepared foods, as well as ATM) and bought some dinner to bring back here. In for the night!! We also got a ticket for the Narita Express train on Thursday to take us to the airport for our flight home. I`m excited!  My feet are looking forward to a nice long SIT!!!

Day one in Tokyo

We headed off in the cold and damp yesterday for our first full day in Tokyo. First we headed to the National Museum. There was a special exhibit of Buddhist artifacts from temples in Kamakura, a town south of here that was the capital for awhile and a big Buddhist center. We will go there on Tuesday. The crowds of Japanese looking at these things was daunting. Fortunately, we were a bit taller and could look over shoulders. The art work was amazing - vivid colors from scrolls that were painted 800 years ago. Would love to know what kind of materials they used that lasted so long. There were two monks that recorded many of these scrolls and don`t know if they or others did the art work. There wasn`t a lot of English explanation and no guide in English. There were many wooden statues as well. So it was worth the look. Then we wandered through the rest of the museum with some red pottery, etc. Next we hopped a train (our JR pass is amazing but mostly doesn`t work on train lines here in Tokyo) for a walking tour that was mentioned in the Lonely Planet Tokyo book we borrowed from the hostel (another great feature of hostels - they always have books to use). It was an old neighborhood reminiscent of the Edo period - the old name of Tokyo until the late 19th century when the capital was moved here from Kyoto and renamed Tokyo. There was a neat Buddhist temple, then walking through an old cemetery. Later a guy told us there were 70 cats that lived in that cemetery and were fed by volunteers. We didn`t see a single one. But high on Betty`s to do today is a shrine nearby to cats! We found a store along the way that had all kinds of cat socks, bibs, posters, etc. An entire store! That was the guy who told us about the cats in the cemetery. We found the temple to Kannon, the Japanese version of Guanyin - the female Buddha from China. But the temple itself was closed, although wandered through a small cemetery outside the temple. Then the interesting small museum of sculpture on the walking tour was ALSO closed this month for renovations. Then the Swiss restaurant that had fondue I was looking forward to we never did find!! So the tour was kind of a bust but it was an interesting neighborhood. I think Tokyo is like New York and Boston - filled with all kinds of interesting small neighborhoods. You just have to know where to look for them. Hopped another train to go to this Toyota Salon, it`s called, where I had hoped to find maybe a gift shop to bring my son-in-law a hat or t-shirt. It was an interesting 5 level car showroom that had all kinds of info on cars. There was a driving simulator that made me nauseous and I had to stop. All kinds of Toyota models that I`d never heard of - you could sit in. Never saw the Highlander but lots of Camrys. It was definitely a very different showroom for cars! We stopped for dinner at a Shakey`s Pizza - it was delicious!!! There was another stop we made at this area where these cosplay they call it - teen-age girls who dress up in crazy costumes with goth makeup, etc. pose for tourists. It mentioned Sunday afternoon and last night we didn`t see any so maybe it`s something we`ll miss. I didn`t care at this point. So we headed back to the hostel by train. This time we were in the RUSH HOUR crowd! We literally were pushed onto the train and as I was packed between about 4 people, they could feel me laughing and one Japanese girl could understand me as I said to Betty - what happened to my personal space? Japanese people are SO courteous and considerate, etc., and it all goes away on the crowded trains! It reminded me of the time in Shanghai when I was literally lifted off my feet onto a subway by the crowd. Back at the hostel I was too tired to go down the street to soak in the public bath - although I`m sure I would have enjoyed it. I had gotten up at 6 a.m. yesterday to try and talk with Kerry and my grandkids on Skype. We finally were able to - I could see and hear them but they couldn`t hear me until one of the guys from the office fixed the headphones. I got up today to talk to my sister, getting the headphones last night from the desk, and they wouldn`t work. Apparently she could hear me but I couldn`t see or hear her. Bummer! I`ll try again tomorrow! This hostel is very nice - in a great location for the train, next to a great souvenir shopping area, and out the direction towards Narita airport. Unfortunately, when we go to the plane, we have to head back to downtown and then take the JR train out to the airport. The hostel has just 4 beds ensuite - with our own toilet (still love those Japanese toilets with heated seats! showers from underneath with warm water! ) and our own sink and shower for just the 4 of us. An elevator (we`re on the 3rd floor) with a sign that says we should walk up and down if we don`t have luggage, to save the electricity for the victims of the tsunami/earthquake.  A couple of places we have stayed said part of their fee goes to the victims. They are all still well aware of how much people suffered and continue to suffer. I mentioned the 9 people Mr. Uno took in for a few months after the tragedy . So it`s time to wake Betty and get moving for today. Hopefully the weather will be better. Off tomorrow for Mt. Fuji area where I will meet a couple who are friends with Sr. Trai Nghiem, one of the sisters traveling with Doug on the Wakeup Tour. They are going to be weekending in the Fuji area and we will meet up tomorrow for a visit. She said she has known them since she was 5. She was born in Dallas,　TX, but lived in Japan for 12 years growing up. Both her parents were Japanese but have both passed away. She was a concert violinist インEurope until about 5 years ago when she joined Doug`s community in France. I had never met her before. She gave us a wonderful concert of a Mozart piece after the dinner they all cooked, when they were staying with me. She had contacted her friends here so we could meet up. Sayonara! from Khaosan Hostel in Tokyo!

Hikone ~ Part 2

We are now settled at the hostel in Tokyo and went out shopping already! Internet is free here so I may have time to finish this entry. I left off after the castle in Hikone.
Dasi had planned to have an "interesting conversation" from 7 to 9 with some other people who want to speak with foreigners last night. We left our suitcase in a locker in Hikone and trained one stop to where she lived in South Hikone. We then walked about 45 minutes stopping at a grocery store along the way to pick up dinner. By this time I was ready to bag this whole encounter as I was SOOOO tired and my feet and knees hurt. But we plodded on. She said her friend Mr. Uno would cook miso soup and rice but we should pick up stuff to finish the meal. We then walked MORE and finally arrived at his lovely home. He was delightful, very energetic and we spread out the food to supplement his rice and soup. His English is sparse but we managed with Dasi to translate. She had told us, and he later told us, that he was an elementary teacher, 5th grade, and when he was 25 he got a disease in his eyes and is now blind. He has now become Christian (he left later that evening for church which he attends on Sunday and Weds. ) He also has learned to play the saxophone and played 3 beautiful numbers for us, Amazing Grace, White Christmas and Silent Night - beautiful! after dinner. He also has learned massage and acupuncture and promised to massage our weary legs after he returned from Church. We should shower and then soak in his deep tub and then he would massage us.
3 women arrived for conversation - one a friend of Dasis who lives on a farm, about 90 minutes away - she drove - with her parents and one of her children still in high school (two are at university - she is a widow, going to start a Farm Visit business for tourists. ) She spoke a little English and was charming. then two young girls, in their 20s, I think, arrived. Dasi had found them on some listserv, I think. They also drove even further to attend this conversation! We felt a bit intimidated. But they were all delightful and we asked and answered questions about Japan and America, the environment, politics, marriage, courting, divorce in both places, lawsuits, etc. We all hugged (American) and bowed (Japanese) and exchanging e-mail addresses at 9+30 when Mr. Uno returned.
Mr. Uno showed us where to bring down the futons and blankets from upstairs to set up for the 3 of us (Dasi was staying the night as well after she bicycled home to feed the rabbit) to help with translating.
Betty quickly showered and soaked and then she had a wonderful pressure point massage. Then I did the same! Wonderful!!!! His house in the living room and dining room is usual in that it has radiant heat in the flooring. So we were toasty and comfortable all night.
Mr. Uno prepared a wonderful breakfast of stir fried veggies, leftover rice and chicken and the miso soup before he headed off to work (he teaches at a blind school). He set us up on the internet in his bedroom (where I was writing before ) before he left. We told Dasi he would make a charming co-host of a small inn like she wants to set up and they could help each other.
BTW, Japan has all over the sidewalks and in buildings like rail stations, etc., these yellow strips with bumps and dots. I thought they were for dividing the walkers, bikers, whatever. No, they are for blind people!! They can follow them with their canes! It reminded me of the Freedom Trail in Boston except these are painted yellow rather than the red in Boston. Talk about consideration for a minority group of people!!
Mr. Uno is now 47, he told us. He maneuvers and manages in his house, and the world, I suspect, just fine. He was telling Betty-san and Susan-san that he couldn't really tell our voices apart but he could tell I was taller as my voice was coming from a higher place! He was just so friendly and charming! and Dasi was so incredibly helpful to us. She walked with us back to the station where we hopped the train for Hikone, grabbed our suitcases and got an earlier train to Maibara and then the Bullet train to Tokyo. We made one mistake when we got here and took a metro the WRONG direction. When we tried to put the ticket in on exiting, the railway guys called us over and told us the right way to go and reimbursed our ticket back the right way. The hostel is in a great location, not too far from Narita airport where we will stay our last, Weds. night before flying out. We will be here over the weekend, then train or bus to Mt. Fuji area for 2 nights and possibly meet up with Sr. Trai Nghiem's friends (she is in Doug's Buddhist community and she stayed in Wellfleet for the 4 days when Doug was there in October). Then we will spend one day in Kamakura, another former capital, and big Buddhist site before returning to Tokyo for a final night. I'll be really glad to see home!! But it's been amazing!

In Hikone

I am typing this as I sit upstairs in Mr. Uno's bedroom in his home. Here's how it happened (have I piqued your interest? :)

Three stops ago we met Dasi at a guest house in Kanazawa up north. She persuaded us to visit her town of Hikone north of Kyoto on the largest lake in Japan. She said her house was too small (and she has a rabbit!) but we could stay at her friend's house, Mr. Uno. So yesterday we arrived around 10:30 at the station and she was there to meet us. She's a former teacher so she had the day planned. We walked to a temple dedicated to a woman monk (nun) who had died 33 years ago. She was in a reclining position (her statue) and you could put a coin on the body part of her that YOU wanted healed (I put coins on her knees which are hurting from over 30 days of constant touring!) Betty is having a problem with one leg that keeps her awake at night and aches so she put her coin there. We met and took a picture with the monk in charge of this small temple who had been a monk for 40 years. He had not met this nun but heard about her. It was a lovely little temple.

We then continued to walk to the main attraction - the castle that had been moved here in the 1500s and set up as a home for a samurai warlord, it sounded like. The area used to have more water around it but had been filled in around the castle to make more farmland. There was a strange "cat" who was a mascot of Hikone (and you saw dolls and pictures of him everywhere in town) who would appear at 1:30 in the courtyard outside the castle. I was expecting a real cat, I guess. But this guy in a cat suit with a Japanese battle helmet with red and orange, the Ii family's colors, and two horns, appeared. People, mostly adults, waved and laughed and took hundreds of photos of this guy. Dasi said since his adoption as the mascot of Hikone, tourists have increased by 200,000 at this site.

We then climbed the 3 levels of the castle. No tatami mates in sight. She said it was because it was a samurai  family home so they always had armor, etc. on wide wooden floorboards, huge ceiling beams that looked like tree trunks and VERY steep stairs up and down. We told Dasi that in America they wouldn't even allow tourists in such a place for fear of lawsuits if someone fell. I have to catch the train to the station to get our stored luggage, then another train to Maibara to catch the bullet train for Tokyo.

So I'll have to finish the story of Mr. Uno later! Stay tuned!

Last day in Kyoto

Today Betty tested her map skills on the bus system here. We got a one day bus pass and we used it thoroughly. She had me up and out by 7 or so so we could get to this Zen garden way on the northwest corner of K. by opening at 8. After a couple of bus switches and some walking we got there before the tour buses. It was neat! a garden with 15 rocks and while pebbles (I've got plans for my zen garden at home now!). The rocks represent mountains and the pebbles, the sea. It was raked to perfection and mostly silent! We enjoyed it. Then on to the Golden Temple - not so quiet and peaceful with the tourists moving in, plus lots of school groups. 5 girls took pictures with us and asked us questions. They go out on these field trips but they always have a list of questions to practice their English. We've run into it a few times. Nice students! On to one more temple/garden - that has a bamboo forest we wanted to see. I really love the Japanese gardens. The trees are hand picked for the dead needles (on the pines). The stones are raked each day, leaves picked up. Hoards of workers maintaining them. Really lovely! And the Japanese people are going NUTS over the beautiful maple trees. Today we had some sunlight finally so could see the brilliant colors. They said it was a exceptionally warm fall so the colors are really late. But now people are out traveling and looking. We rode the train back and then a bus to our hostel and had some Thai food for lunch. We were back here for a free 3 p.m. 90 minute tour by one of the workers at the desk here (we think so she can practice her English). There were 5 Australians and Brett from NY and the two of us. We went to the Gion district where the geisha (here called Geiko and Maiko (geisha in training) work. She explained that girls at around 13, 14 decide if they want to be a maiko. They are interviewed with their family (they don't get to see their family during their couple of years training). Once they are accepted, it's very rigorous dance, musical instrument, tea ceremony, etc. training. they live in one of the houses together with other trainees and have their expenses paid for them by a patroness/housemother/former geiko. they get no pay during this training. Their real hair is used and done in the winter to last about 10 days, in the summer 4 days. Very elaborate hairdos. they have to sleep on hard propped up pillow things, with rice scattered on the floor around so they can be found out if their head slips! All part of the rigorous training! At about age 20 they can decide if they want to continue as a geiko and earn money. they then have to pay back their patroness. then they can earn money on their own working at places in 5 different areas of Kyoto. We glimpsed a couple hustling to work around 6 p.m. but we weren't to hassle them or stop them for pictures. Other women were dressed as geiko without the makeup and just walk around the area for fun. We then opted to go to Gion Corner, to see a show, for Y3,150 that showed tea ceremony, dancing, lute playing, a comedy sketch, classical music from old Japan, etc. It was interesting! Not as elaborate as Chinese shows but interesting. Only way we would get to see a geisha of any sort. Our tour guide also took us to a Shinto shrine and showed us the proper way to pray, ring the bell, etc. She also showed us an elaborate restaurant where only previous customers can get in (so their needs are met perfectly) and geishas perform. It cost about Y100,000 to arrange an evening! We hoped to see some customers or geisha going in but didn't. Back in the hostel Betty and I are finishing her bottle of saki and head to Hikone tomorrow for one night. Winding down! Getting tired sooner each day. Will be really ready for a break! Sayonara!

Biking around Kyoto

We arrived yesterday afternoon by train through the mountains from Takayama to Kyoto, for 1000 years the capital of Japan. Apparently Kyoto was on the list of possible targets for the A-bomb in 1945 but I'm very glad it was spared! It would have been a shame to destroy so much history. We found Kyoto's hostel, a very modern one, with kitchen, big common areas, even a rooftop terrace very near the Kyoto Station. We went out to see one of the temples Betty had heard about from a traveller. It was UP, and UP and UP!!! It was a Shinto shrine with a long tunnel of orange painted (we learned today that was to keep evil spirits away, similar to the red color in China), torii gates - on and on and on, up a mountain. We never made it to the top. After climbing steps and walkways for over an hour, a couple told us there was another hour to go. I'd had enough! It was dedicated to the fox and there were statues of foxes everywhere. It was neat and almost dark when we came down. But my knees and feet hurt. I told Betty I couldn't do all that walking today so we rented bikes. After a great breakfast at the next door cafe, off we went. We needed to get a ticket (it was free but you had to register) to get an English tour at 10 a.m. of the Imperial Palace. It was where the emperor lived and was crowned until 1860s or so when capital was moved to Edo (Tokyo) The current emperor, Akito who is in his 70s, lives in Tokyo. We were able to take backroads up there and so avoid most of the a.m. traffic. My map skills served me well today. We got tickets for the tour and also tickets for a 1:30 tour of an Imperial villa and gardens NE of Kyoto. The tour was interesting. Our guide showed us a sketch of all the buildings that had been removed in anticipation of WWII bombings so only a few remained. The amazing cypress bark roofs have to be replaced every 30 years. They strip thin layers off the trees without damaging the tree and the bark grows back in 10 years. They are very thick roof tiles held together with little bamboo picks. The guide said it takes 25 years to replace all the roofs and then it's time to start all over! The gardens of the emperor's private area were gorgeous and the Japanese maple trees are in full color. In fact later on our way back, we followed this huge crowd going to a temple. There was a very long queue waiting to pay Y1000 to walk through this garden that is lit up to see the lights through these wonderfully colored maple and ginkgo trees. We just took a few pictures over the wall and biked on. We biked along a river out to the Imperial Villa that one of the emperors had built after he retired. It was a design for gardens that uses the landscape views and combines with plantings. It was pretty amazing, at the foothills of nearby mountains. There are maybe l35 acres with these 3 building areas, and a lake. In between the Imperial Household Agency has purchased the land and has it planted in rice fields and vegetables, farmed by local people. Before we went into these gardens, we had lunch at a real local place, delicious bowl of rice with shrimp tempura for me and soba noodles and veggies for Betty. I had borrowed, leaving Y1000 deposit here, a Rough Guide book that we were looking at during lunch. About a 1/2 hour bike back to town, when  we stopped to read about the Silver Temple, I realized I'd left the guide book at the restaurant. Betty very kindly biked back with me to get it! Luckily there it was!! Aargh!! So then we were riding home to K's in the dark, getting kind of lost and into touristy areas. But FINALLY we got back and had a great little pizza and beer next door for dinner. Another wonderful, tiring day! I think tomorrow we will get the all day bus pass! Notes about Japan:  Very rarely do you hear, in all this traffic, a horn honking. In China it's a way of speaking, I think!!! It is constant! Big difference! The drivers are very considerate of bikers. They are an incredibly courteous people. It's so cute on the train when the conductor enters and leaves the car, to take tickets, he stops and bows and says something and then enters. We've gotten into the bowing habit. That's all for tonight! Got some clean laundry yesterday, too, so life is good!!

Day in Takayama

Last night we slept in our temple. It`s very quiet! Not many people staying here. We went to a grocery store and bought some things to cook breakfast in this huge kitchen. So we had a great veggie omelet and toast and jelly with juice! Great start! Our only complaint is the heater in our room smells of kerosene but it shut off part of the night and we kept one of the shoji open so we wouldn`t get asphyxiated!
We were  invited so we attended the 15 minute ceremony in the temple at 9:30 which we thought would be attended by some monks. But it was just the young girl/woman who works in the office who lit candles and invited the bell, a wooden drum and a metal drum while she was chanting. she thanked us for coming.
Off we went by bus for about 10 minutes to this reconstructed village like it was in the 1700-1800s. It was really cool! They get so much snow here they have specially designed shingled roofs with rocks (to protect from the wind). Some of the earlier houses had hugely thatched roofs with big overhangs. We could see snow on the distant peaks they call Japan`s Alps. I think Nagano, where some Olympics were held, is on the other side of those mountains. This area specializes in carpentry, as men were sent to the capital, Edo (now Tokyo) to work on the castle there. They came back and taught the locals the skills they learned. They also do lacquerware. I didn`t realize there were lacquer trees that they drain the sap like maple trees, and then paint the lacquer on wood in layers to make these beautiful dishes. No room to buy anything!!
We had a beautiful sunny day so came back to change camera batteries and buy some sushi for lunch and chicken and veggies to cook our dinner. Food in restaurants is very expensive so we`re trying to be frugal. We cooked a great dinner of cabbage, peas, rice and chicken in a wok and had Kirin beer with it and a shared pear for dessert! That was $10 about for the two of us, buying it in the grocery store and cooking it! Last night`s dinner, which wasn`t as good, was over $20 for us.
We walked around town and found a lovely very modern museum (that was free! not much is here) that had artifacts from the local history and some art. Then we walked on this Walkway passing a dozen shrines along the outskirts of town. Our legs and feet were really hurting by this time. We had earlier passed a local town foot bath with maybe a dozen people soaking in a hot spring! But it was too far to walk back so we just came home.
On to Kyoto tomorrow, the former capital, supposed the most beautiful town in Japan, and I`m sure, TONS of walking!! I`m wishing for another onsen experience!

Practice makes perfect!

Our little ladies practicing to be English tour guides.  They used us!  They were delightful!

Thanksgiving Day

We found a lovely little guesthouse called Pongyi (monk, in Burmese! to stay in in Kanagawa. What a coincidence! Masaki, our host and owner of the place, had been a monk for awhile in Burma (Myanmar) but said there were too many rules - no laughing, no smiling, eat whatever people put in your bowl even if it`s meat, etc. So he came back to Japan and started over (he had given everything away) and now owns this little place. He, Yu and Mara bought and cooked two huge pots of veggies, chicken and broth with noodles for our Thanksgiving feast. There were 3 other 25+ year old women there traveling. One works as a river guide in summer and ski instructor in winter in Nagano. The other one works for Ikea. and the third was a design student in school. We all had a really fun festive time. We played rock, scissors, paper to decide who got to pick which Mister Donut treat at the end of the meal. We took lots of pictures.
When we left the next day, Yu and Mara had made these little cut paper envelopes for us to take, to put money in for New Year`s for kids. They carried our bags outside, gave us hugs and waved us off! You never get that in a hotel!! Oh, and our picture will be up on their Facebook page - Pongyi.  We`ll have to look! He had a beautiful Buddhist altar in the dining room with an unusual walking Buddha with hand down, which I`d never seen. He said his Burmese master monk had given it to him. Very peaceful place!
AND I got to talk with Jackson and Sarah on Skype and say hi to everyone in New Hampshire gathered for Thanksgiving! Only 2 more weeks of travel! It`s been 29 straight days of constantly on the go each day packed full!  It will be nice to get home!
Tonight we are staying at a temple inn in Takayama kind of in the mountains. On the train ride here we saw snow up high - just a dusting! It was cold walking around this evening. But we have a lovely two room suite - tatami mats, futons and duvets so it should be warm. Outside our shoji (the sliding wall) is a lovely garden. So far Betty has picked excellent places.

Soggy day in Kanazawa!

Yesterday we arrived by train from Kirasaki in the north (remember wandering around town from onsen to onsen in our Yakata)? The train ride was smooth and uneventful through mountainous towns down to Kyoto and then switch trains (only 5 minutes to do it but we made it) and then north for a couple of hours to Kanazawa. We found our way to our little guesthouse Ponji. Everything is in miniature! This 300 year old house on a canal used to be a kimono shop and down the way a bit with red Japanese lanterns hanging out front where we had dinner last night also belonged to the same owner. Now it`s a little guest house that has 4 bunk beds (the bottom bunk that I`m in is a futon on the floor). It`s a bit bigger than my walk in closet at home. But again There is a lovely duvet cover, a pretty hard pillow but I`m getting used to them, and a nifty curtain that you pull around the bed for privacy. Very cozy and I slept great! We had one roommate, a Japanese retired teacher who is now researching to try to start her own guesthouse outside Kyoto. She has invited us to come and stay for a couple of days and see her town. We have to figure out our schedule in Kyoto and see if it fits in. She wanted to practice her English so we went together to a pub that serves pub food - meat on sticks, veggies on sticks, etc. We had great draft beer and she helped us order. I had chicken and pork on sticks, asparagus wrapped in ham and cheese wrapped in ham and some green peppers. It was delicious! We had great fun with the cook and server and took their pictures with us. Today Betty and I set out in the pouring rain with umbrellas from Ponji and bought a loop bus one day ticket for Y500. It`s an on-off deal so it worked out great. We started at one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan - built by one of the shoguns back in the day. It was really lovely, even in the pouring rain. I can imagine it when the plum trees and cherry trees bloom in the spring. But I`m sure the hoards of tourists then would spoil it. Usually this is a big leaf-peeking season but the fall has been unusually warm and very little color is showing in the mountains yet. We had some hail as we were walking through the garden. We then crossed the bridge to the Castle remains (it had burned down after only 20 years) and is now being reconstructed somewhat. We found another senior volunteer English speaking guide to walk us around but only a couple of storage of weapons houses were original and the walls. It`s amazing how they built these huge walls, cutting huge stones, fitting smaller stones sort of as mortar. This area wasn`t of military significance so had little damage during WWII. The owner, Masaki-san told us we will all prepare a Japanese hot pot/Thanksgiving feast tonight for us. He was a Buddhist monk in Myanmar for a couple of years, I think, and then changed his mind and wanted to lead a normal life. He`d given away everything to become a monk so he said he started at the bottom, working at an onsen and restaurant, and now owns this little place. Very kind lovely man! And Yu and Maru, two young girls who share a flat down the way work here as well. Yu taught us to fold paper cranes last night (I`ve already forgotten) and has a whole bag of them, I think to take to the Peace Park in Hiroshima to burn for World Peace. We were all going shopping in the market for the food for dinner but when we returned to Ponji Mara said they already went in a car because of the rain. So I guess we`ll cook later. It`s very quiet and peaceful here, but we`re having a hard time with all this sitting on the floor. My knees just don`t bend that way any more. Tomorrow on to Takayam, a couple of hours train ride away. We`ll be staying in a temple there. We`re hoping it`s not freezing cold and on bare floors!  It`ll be an experience we haven`t had! Happy Turkey Day to all!

Glorious onsen!

Betty and I had a wonderful splurge in the northern part of Honshu (the main island in Japan). She booked us at the "best onsen experience in Japan". We rode the train to Kinosake to a very small town to the Mikuniya ryokan. This included a gourmet dinner and breakfast, a massage and unlimited use of the 7 public onsens (public bathing pools) in town. When we arrived, our own private tutor instructed us on how to put on the cotton kimono-like dress called yukata and geta (the wooden sandals. We could then walk around town with just this on around town between the onsens. We had tea in our private room with tatami mats and a table (I'm NOT getting used to sitting on the floor! My knees just won' cooperate! I'm sitting at this computer on top of piles of pillows and trying to type!)  We then dressed in our yukata and geta and off we went to our first onsen. Okay, I'm not real comfortable walking around a bunch of strangers totally NAKED! But after the first one, who cares? You take only a little towel (that you store on your head) and first go to the sinks and soap down and rinse off. Then you go to the big pool and soak in really hot water! The first one they sent us to they said was the most beautiful, and it was. There was an outside portion with lovely rocks and waterfalls. We soaked for awhile and then dressed and headed to the next one, throwing only our yukata and geta on (not bothering with underwear!). We realized we didn't have time for another before our dinner would be served at 6:30. So back to our ryokan and our room.  Many dishes, with a lot of crab, both raw, grilled and boiled (at our table) were on the menu - crab being a specialty in this seaside town (it's near the Sea of Japan but it must have been over the hill as we didn' t see it). Next was our oil massage in the same ryokan. LOVELY but too short and didn't include a foot massage which I really missed! _Then back to our room  where our futon bed was laid out on the floor with comfy duvet coverlet. Betty opted to back to the ryokan's own onsen room that she had for herself. I was tired and went to bed. In the morning the onsens opened at 7 and we were at the door of another one. We took in 2 of them for about 1/2 hour each before our breakfast was served in a common room at 8:00. Can' say I am wild about Japanese breakfast and had fish breath in the morning until I found an ice cream cone to take it away! But it was an interesting experience, albeit an expensive one. We think we each paid about $300 for the whole one night experience.  It was interesting to see all the people, lots of couples, wandering around town in the evening and morning in their yukatas from the different ryokans. I did mention, I hope, that these pools were segregated - the men went in one area and the women in the other. All very healthful and relaxing! When we've seen so many Japanese businessmen in black suits (would like to have stock in THAT company!) rushing too and from work, they need to relax on the weekends or some time! When we mentioned them to some Japanese women who were practicing on us their tour guide English, she said the men had relaxed some - they even wear SHORT-SLEEVES sometimes now! Wow! ;) We wandered around this little canal town the next morning while waiting for our train back to Kyoto and on to Kanazawa where we are now. Must stop as Yu (one of the lovely hostesses here) is going to teach us how to make a Peace crane of origami that can then have a message written inside and then burned to send the messages up to the gods! These are like the peace cranes we saw in Hiroshima at the Peace Park memorial. More later!

Passing on the right, not the left! - Things I've noticed about Japan

It is an incredibly clean place! We walked behind a business woman going to work today and she picked up 3 pieces of trash from the sidewalk as she went and put it in her snack bag as she went along. Does everyone do this? We have yet to find an old beat up car (do they buy a new one every few years?) and NONE with any dirt on them. Is it required to wash your car every night when you come home? It's incredible! There's a boxy looking car that Betty likes - she calls it a bento box on wheels! (bento box is a little box of Japanese food you can buy a lot of places to take for lunch. We haven't tried them yet.) Everyone bows! The conductress entered the train car and bowed and then went down the aisle. Entering and leaving Mister Donut or any store, you give a slight bow in and out. Asking for help, you bow. It's nice! I think all school children must wear uniforms - some version of the British school girl pleated skirt, all navy blue, with a little variation on the top, knee socks. Haven't seen many boys that seem dressed the same. Japanese men seem very courteous and deferential to women, their wives or any other. Frequently we've been given a seat on a bus, train, tram. People have a sense of personal space and NEVER cut a line! We think we goofed getting on a train in Osaka when this woman told us where to line up, and there was a line of people standing back in line, waiting for the door to open. Oops! Not intended! Things are very quiet here. You don't hear loud groups of men in a train station shouting at each other, etc. I forgot traffic moves on the left here, people walk to the left! it's hard to remember.

Rainy day in Osaka

The daughter of the couple running this CaminoRo is just standing in the rice cooker sitting on the floor! She keeps saying Nana! Nana!  I know she:s not talking to me as when I look at her, she cries! She`s 13 months and almost ready to walk. So cute! Makes me very lonesome for Sarah but if I try to hug this little one, she`d scream, I know! Anyway, met Shirley last night - traveling from New Zealand for a week here. She talks very fast and it was hard to understand her. I think she`s from Auckland. She left for home today after buying a sweatshirt. We had more oatmeal and nuts for breakfast and headed out with our plastic see-through umbrella`s loaned from our place. It was POURING all day! Made me appreciate what could have happened but didn`t in China! We took the circle route so we could use our JRPass. We were going to purchase a day pass for all the subways and buses here in Osaka but at the information office this lovely woman told us most of the sites we`d get into for free with the pass were free today anyway (it`s a Saturday). And she said using the circle line for free with our pass, it wouldn`t be much of a walk to get to the sites we wanted to see. So we saved 2000Y and headed off. First was Osaka Castle, a drippy 15 minute walk. and up many steps. The outside walls around and between the moats was pretty amazing. It was built in 1500s, then burned down within the first 100 years. A guy named Hidori or something became somewhat of a hero in Japan here and many legends grew up around him. The castle was restored twice and then bombed in 1945 (by us, I`m guessing!) so not much to see inside except large screens showing battles.  We then headed back and really had to do some climbing around walls to avoid rivers of water (by this time our feet were completely soaked!) and then got back on the train. This time headed for the Museum of homestyles of old Osaka. We were wandering lost when this lovely couple ended up walking us down a LONG covered shopping area into a building and pointed us to the 8th floor. We never would have found it!  It turned out to be delightful, with reconstructed village with rooms you could walk through, a worker there who grabbed Betty and I and a guy to do this tricks with stick-like mat that did the neatest things. Made a fishing line, two flags she said were American and Japanese, a water fall. It was fun! Afterwards she gave each of us this little box made out of origami folds with two cranes and a top inside, all made out of the tiniest folded paper. Amazing! It almost seemed like it was a Children`s Museum as lots of families with kids were there. _There was a light show that is hard to describe.  By this time, I was ready to go back to room and get a hot shower. We picked up some food from the vendors out front and had a meal at home of what we thought was like an omelet but wasn`t eggs. and some noodles with a bit of pork, and a bun shaped like a fish with bean paste. The beer we shared was the best part of the meal! Off to Hiroshima tomorrow!

First full day in Japan

Osaka After a great night`s sleep and a lovely shower, Betty and I headed to the JR station to activate our JR Pass (think Eurail Pass for Japan. )  Then we headed out for Nara, about 40 minutes away to visit the Giant Buddha and other temples in this much smaller city. We WALKED and WALKED and WALKED! My feet are hurting and I`d love to spend tomorrow relaxing at an onsen (Japanese hot spring). There were a few school groups around and one of them stopped us to ask what were our names, where were we from, what did we like - sounded like a school assignment. Each temple we washed our hands with ladles of water. Some girls also drank but we didn`t risk that. Nara was the first capital (but only for 75 years) back in the 700s AD. The first Japanese emperors came from here. Then when a priest seduced an empress, they moved the capital far away to Kyoto.  We found a restaurant to have dinner (we are using up the oatmeal I brought - thank you, Michelle - with some added nut and tangerines for breakfast) and had a bowl of rice, with tempura shrimp and veggies on top - and of course a beer! It was delicious, albeit expensive! We may try to cook here at our CaminoRo guesthouse tomorrow.  The young couple who apparently live here and run it have an 18 month old little girl - so cute! I`ll have to show them Sarah`s picture!  In for the night and ready to relax!

Last Day in China

I think this will be posted out of order but I can:t figure out all the Japanese language on this computer. Michelle, maybe you can switch it around, thanks!
I am writing this in the CaminoRo in Osaka, Japan. I got e-mails from Pat and Joyce that they have made it home - Joyce with my extra suitcase filled with things I didn:t need and things I bought in China (I still have things NOT opened from China 7 years ago! But I will organize everything, give it away, etc. when I get home over the winter) Joyce said my angel was still watching out for me and she didn:t even have to pay extra for the extra checked bag, since she`d bought her ticket before July 5th. It still would have been worth the $70 NOT to carry 2 bags now!
We had another wonderful breakfast at the Dongling Resort (check out their website in Yangshuo and you can see how lovely it really was! Haven`t figured out posting pictures yet). The day previously our van had stopped at an ATM in town so we all could get money. Then off we went for our float down the Li.
The next morning as we were packing up all our things, Pat couldn`t find her credit card (used to get the mone). After multiple searches, she took the receipts from the ATM to the office to have Jan call the bank to see if a card had been left in the machine (Joyce had done this in Xi`an and a guy had come running after her with the card! That guardian angel again!)
Anyway, Jan said her husband would take Pat down to the bank, with her passport to check. Qin, our guide would meet them there to help. To Pat`s surprise (would have LOVED to see her face! but I wasn`t present) the husband showed up on a motorscooter. Remember that LOOONG downhill driveway? Pat said she wrapped her arms around the husband`s chest, pressed her head against his back and closed her eyes for most of the trip. She said the driveway was much less bumpy on a scooter, she remembers. She never opened her eyes to look at the weaving in and out of traffic. Arriving in one piece, she showed her identity and it turns out the bank attendant found the card in the back of the machine. When the screen came up to say, Take Card, Pat had just walked away and NOT pressed it so it stayed in the machine. Relief!!
Later our guide Qin picked us up, with all our luggage in this very comfortable van with a driver. Off we went, first to stop at Silver Caves, discovered in the area in 1996 and made into a tourist site. It was a 2 KM walk up and down steps through caverns with huge stalagtites and stalagmites, pools of water with colored lights to display all the imagined creatures somebody came up with in the limestone formations.
Then Qin found a wonderful restaurant near the river before we finally left this beautiful area with the unusual karst formations for the airport. We were the only ones in the restaurant (it was early). We walked through the nearby strawberry fields where workers were laying black plastic over the beds and cutting holes to bring up the lush plants through the holes. This was while our fish was being killed for our lunch! I tried, as a good Buddhist, not to think about this! The fish was wonderfully tasty, with big bones that stayed on the plate! This had been an issue on my last trip and I generally just said I didn`t eat fish! Couldn`t deal with all the bones as the Chinese do- it seemed easier that way. Another delicious meal and off we went.
We had a smooth drive to the airport, Qin came in and helped us through the ticketing, to the security gate where we said goodbye. She was delightful and a great find. We will all go on Trip Adviser to recommend her as she and her husband are trying to do their own little startup side tour business. She was going to stay the night in Guilin with her husband. It`s so convenient with whole family living where she can just go off and leave her son with Auntie and Grandma and not worry!
Our flight back to Shanghai was uneventful and then we struggled a big dragging our bags to find the DaZhong hotel between the two terminals at Pudong airport. Here we ran into the rudest Chinese we had come across. The non-English speakers at the desk were pretty unhelpful but we settled into our double rooms. _They reminded me of those hotels I`ve heard about that are almost a drawer with just a bed. But we squeezed in, the beds were comfortable (albeit hard as the usual Chinese bed, and it turns out Japanese as well! I like them) The shower, however, was terrific with a square rain shower head and a handle as well. EXCEPT the side wall of the shower was opaque and visible to the bed area! Pat wanted no more mooning so we pulled the shade down! :)
In the morning Joyce warned us before we paid that the Chinese breakfast was not worth the 30Y so the other 3 of us went over to the airport (very convenient, all inside to the terminals) to a food court and found breakfast sandwiches. We picked up Joyce and they all we`re going to find a business office to print out their boarding passes, said goodbye to me and I went off to my earlier flight to Osaka..
Everything was smooth and I was soon waiting at the gate for a couple of hours early for my flight. It was China Eastern again and I had only a carryon (that conveniently zips apart into two pieces so it will fit in the overhead). It was about 1 hr and 40 minutes until we landed at Kansai Airport in Osaka. I changed money at the ATM which gave me 3 10,0000 yen bills!! When I asked at a travel counter where I could get change for the bus (Betty had sent me directions on how to get to our hotel) they said do you have a bus ticket? NO! and they sold me one and gave me change! Probleｍ solved! Off I went for an hour busride into downtown Osaka, followed the directions, with help from a lovely man who helped me buy a train ticket from the machine, then took me to a service office where they guided me to the right train, with everyone bowing at me! It:s hard to switch to arrigato from xie xie!!! Again Betty had provided me with a map to the hotel as I got out of the station (unfortunately she had misplace that map when she arrived the day before and she wandered around for awhile before she found the lovely covered street with shops on both sides leading to our upstairs hotel). But I came along straight there and she came down the steep stairs behind M. our proprietess who runs this with her husband and  15 month old daughter. It`s squeaky clean, shoes left at bottom of the stairs, lovely kitchen to cook in, computer free here in the common area, and a 4 bed dorm room for us.
I already did an entry for yesterday. Today is raining so we don`t have a plan yet. I think we will leave for towards Hiroshima tomorrow stopping at this canal town overnight to see some recommended sites. That`s all for now. Sayonara!

Mooning over the Li River!

We will be really nostalgic to leave this wonderful place! We can't wait to get on Trip Adviser and highly recommend this hotel here in Yangshuo. I paid up my bill this a.m. and it was about 600RMB for 3 wonderful nights, 3 great breakfast and two loads of laundry (plus free Internet mostly available! we think they shut the router down at night!) which is under $100 American dollars!! So yesterday Qin (Gao's wife - he was working in Guilin yesterday) picked us up with a very comfortable van to drive us to our bamboo rafting trip. No putt-putting for us! We bought flower wreaths from old ladies as we got there to wear as we floated down a branch of the Li River. Pat and I were on one raft with a woman poler (punter, whatever) and Marilynn and Joyce on the other. Reclining rattan seats with an umbrella and off we went! Very peaceful, lots of "Ni hao!"s from passing boats - didn't see any other foreigners on the water. Qin had told us we would stop for pictures but we didn't quite know what that meant. Turns out there was a wall dam where we exited the raft and waited while they rolled it up onto the wall. We then sat back down and slid off onto the upstream side for maybe 15 more minutes of floating. Very peaceful, gorgeous scenery! We turned around and got back to the dam. Same procedure only this time as we slid down, both Pat and I got soaked! at least the bottoms of us! There were stands where photographers were taking our picture many times and then soaking wet we were led onto the stand to purchase pictures. We each bought 3 and they were laminated (they got Joyce and Marilynn for maybe 6 or 7 each!) and off we went. Pat had on knit pants that weren't going to dry so she stood on the raft with her bum facing the sun, backwards (to the hilarity of our punters!). My cargo pants are nylon so I did the same position for a bit (of course, we had to take pictures of this ridiculous position that will be posted when the other 3 ladies get home, I hope!) as we rode along. Qin was there to greet us with the van driver after our 1.5 hr. float. We headed off for a neighboring village to see "Moon Rock", a karst with a big hole moon-shaped and more markets to buy things! and pose for pictures.  Then we headed to her village, where we shopped for dinner in the local market. We had Qin there now to tell us what some of the bizarre things were! We were all a little freaked out by the "butcher shop" area with big pieces of animal hanging. Pat had a close encounter with a heart of some animal! The chickens were all in cages and villagers going home with one dangling from their hand, wings flapping! And of course, all kinds of fish still swimming around in tubs! We took the scenic short cut through the rice paddies and fields on narrow walkways from the village to Qin's family home. We met her auntie, mom and dad and later her 5 year old son whom the auntie picked up at school at 5 - he's in kindergarten. She showed us his sheet of homework of math and how he would learn to do it on an abacus. I didn't get it!! Not smarter than a Chinese 5 year old, I'm NOT! We went out to pick beans (looked like BIG lima beans! I'm not a fan!) and some oranges from a nearby grove. We sampled one right by the tree and then she had us bury the peels! We assumed this was someone else's grove but she explained if people see the peelings, they'll know the oranges are ripe and would take some. This was her family's plot. The government divided up the land and gave each family plots in different areas, so they would have a wet one for certain crops and dryer one for others. We saw lotus plants waiting for the roots to be dug up, various kinds of "lettuce" which is what they seem to call ALL greens that we've been eating, rice that had mostly been harvest (with bundles of stalks drying for animal fodder in winter), strawberry fields (she said they are ready from February at New Year to April). The father and uncle were busy constructing and repairing a side house for the upcoming wedding of Qin's brother - big event with feeding over 100 people, 3 times a day over a 2 day celebration. But the couple will live in Guilin. I thought it was unusual for Qin to be living with her mother and father, with her son (3 women all share one bedroom, and it looked like one bed!), father across the living room in another room. Gao, the husband lives and works in Guilin. It seems he works for a tour company but does these other tours on the side. He and Qin, it sounds like, are trying to create their own business, having home stays on the farm, the home dinner, etc. So she quit her job at a hotel here when her son was a year or so and she has been working with Gao on this for awhile. Her English was excellent and she was so helpful! Gao had built this separate building that was a dining hall with big round table, and two bathrooms (Eastern, of course) off it. I think this is in anticipation of more tourists coming. We helped in the kitchen peeling the peas and beans, Mama cooked in this gigantic wok, rice cooker was going, several greens dishes and we had a lovely spread. Oh, we each helped stuffing the fried tofu balls with a pork, onion mixture that was later deep fried! We ate, had oranges and pomelo for dessert and walked through the fields out to the main road to meet our driver again. Off we went to the magnificent sound and light show! It was put together by John someone who did the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics. There must have been 500+ there in the outside theater (and a second showing at 9:15 p.m. - in the summer they do 3 performances a night!). Over 600 mostly minority Chinese participate in the show, floating in boats and platforms over the water, with the gorgeously lit karsts in the background! It was breathtaking! Fortunately there was a guard going up and down the aisles making the men put out their stinky cigarettes!! Very helpful! The show was about an hour with the finale of about 200 people, in silvery lit up costumes seeming to "float" - we think there was a submerged platform raised up) over the water towards us. It was worth every penny, we all agreed! After a great night's sleep, warm shower and terrific breakfast, we paid up and that's when disaster struck! Pat, so organized and efficient with her little black tie-on purse in the front where she keeps everything, couldn't find her credit card. We backtracked in our minds and had stopped the day before starting out at a bank. We looked at the slips from the bank and concluded she must have left it there. Maybe a good Samaritan had turned it in! Jan called Gao who gave her Qin's phone #. She got the info on which bank and decided Pat should go with her husband down to the bank. Qin would meet them there. Off she went! When she returned, she showed me the mode of transport - a MOTORCYLE! Pat, a bit China-traffic-phobic! - said she got on, grabbed him around and closed her eyes most of the time, through the tunnel, over the bridge where they met Qin. There is a question at the end of getting money that says "Take Card" and apparently she had just walked away. The guards checked her passport, another bank officer opened the back of the machine, and there was the card!! Our angel is watching out for us!! Soon Qin will take us to Silver Caves here and then to the airport for our last night at the airport in Shanghai. Zai jian!

Died and gone to Heaven (called Yangshuo!)

I was so frustrated last night! I wrote for an hour and the Internet cut off and nothing was sent. So I'm trying again!

After our wonderful day in the rice terraces (climbing hundreds of steps!), we ate dinner at our hostel and schlepped our heavy backpacks and one rolling suitcase each out to the bus stop, hopped (yea, right! more like dragged) it all onto a crowded rush hour bus for 2 stops to the bus station (we were told a taxi wouldn't take us that short distance but it was way too far to walk!). It was an adventure crossing double lanes of traffic (that the Chinese make into 6 lanes each!) with this luggage to get to the long distance bus station for our bus ride to Yangshuo. A couple of us are rather skittish in the traffic so it was a real challenge. But we made it without losing anyone, got our tickets and were on the bus. It was a bumpy hour and a half ride to Yangshuo in the dark, trying not to look at the headlights coming at us when our bus would pass others. I couldn't find the reservation slip for our hotel but remembered the name. A kind English speaking Chinese wrote it for me on a card to show the taxi driver. We negotiated 30 Y to take us (most we've EVER paid for a taxi!) and drove down the road, through a tunnel, over a bridge and then turned up a gravel driveway, a LOOOONG driveway! It got rather silent in the back seat as we drove up, up and someone mentioned maybe this was a campground. We finally arrived and a paved entry and then walked up with the driver to find the office (everyone else just stayed in the taxi - they were afraid to let him go!) Jan was sitting outside the office and not expecting us until the next day (the girl at the hostel who called for me confused the arrival time and day!) but all was well, they had rooms ready for us (it was Sunday night and I think they had many people over the weekend but they were all gone).

Our rooms (NOT a hostel) are spacious, with a gorgeous view out the window of the moon over the karsts (see previous entry). The shower still floods the bathroom and toilet (have the Chinese NOT heard of shower curtains?) but is clean and spacious. The difference between anxious, confused, exhausted and adventurous, clear-headed and ready to go is a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!

In the morning a wonderful, one of the best, Chinese breakfast was waiting on our veranda outside our room, surrounded by beautiful yellow and red flowers! Jan was ever so helpful to take away our laundry and guide us down to the river and into town. Away we went, back down that hill and across the street and walked along the Li River with many bamboo boats with 6 or so seats putt-putting along the River. We passed newly planted gardens (they have 2 seasons here as it's so tropical - was about 80 degrees F. yesterday walking around). Water buffalo were drinking at the river, we passed a woman with 2 harnessed monkeys. Marilynn paid to hold one and feed it and get a photo. She also had two cormorants with the bands that you could pose and get your photo taken. We passed a young woman taking a photo of her 80 year old parents. She asked if we would pose with them (I wonder what the Chinese do with all these photos of us with them!!) and then Mama wanted a picture of each of us with just her!

There were stalls of tourist ware (the boats must stop along here) and we browsed and bought a few things. We finally made it and climbed up to the Yangshuo bridge (before the tunnel). We were going to flag a bus down but two women there indicated, no, we should wait for the cheaper 1Y tuk-tuk, I call them - that's what they were called in Thailand. Little open air buses with 3 bench seats. We hopped on with them, showed them our West Street (the pedestrian shopping street in Y.) paper Jan had written on for us in Chinese (the WHOLE key to traveling in China is get things written in Chinese, pin yin - if you want to pronounce them- and English to show taxi drivers, etc.) We got off and wandered and shopped, had a great lunch, order chops for grand kids - a seal with their name on the bottom in English and Chinese - for them to stamp with.

Then came the highlight - a one hour full body and 1/2 hour foot massage!! We had to wait 1/2 an hour for 3 guys available but it was well worth it - 138Y. This averages us about one massage a week since we've been here! A highlight for me! and I think Marilynn and Pat are converts! They were painful especially our calf muscles from all that climbing but we felt great after!

The tuk-tuk ride in rush hour at the end of the day wasn't quite as smooth but we made it to the bottom of that driveway with two different vehicles and headed up.

We had dinner in a lovely private room - we were told no chicken soup because the chicken was still running around! None of us like the thought of ending his life for our supper! The pig, on the other hand, was already dead! Vegetables, pumpkin slices, soup with veggies, pork and snow peas, and beer topped our evening.

We still had time for Pat to break out the mah jongg cards (easier to travel with than tiles!) and we taught Marilynn and Joyce how to play. It worked quite well with each of them winning a game. Then Pat and my type-A personalities came out and it was every man (woman!) for themselves! Pat won that game and we retired for the night.

 I forgot to mention when we arrived the night before an Israeli couple were just returning from a wonderful day on a bamboo raft trip, going with their guide to the market, garden, and then his home to help prepare dinner and eat with his family, and then go to the wonderful sound and light show on the River. We got the guide's name (he was driving them to the airport the next day) and met him the next morning at breakfast. He is booked for our day today, same agenda! It's the kind of experience you can't duplicate on a regular tour. So we're waiting after our most wonderful breakfast on the veranda, where we met Caroline, from Singapore on a holiday with a couple of friends and we compared notes on what we had done here and in Guilin. We passed on Gao's name (our guide) to her for them to use later in the week.

Life is so good! We're coming to the end of a wonderful time together! We've become friends (we only knew each other before in pairs - Pat and I and Joyce and Marilynn - and had only gotten together once before the trip! It's been amazingly smooth and fun!

Up, Up and Up!!

We left on a tour van this a.m. after a great breakfast (eggs,bacon, toast, tomatoes and FRESH SQUEEZED OJ!!) with an Australian guy, and two German girls and a Finnish girl who are studying business in Hong Kong for the Longi Terraced rice fields up in the mountains around here. First we stopped at a village of the Long Haired Women and wandered through (and over two swinging bridges!) their village with 3 storied wooden houses: first story for animals, second for family and top floor for the food stores (and the rats!!) They reminded me of the Naxi houses in Yunnan province. The women have exceedingly long hair worn in 3 styles. Covered up if they are unmarried (only when they marry and their husband is the first to see their hair); twisted in a coil smoothly around their head if married but no babies, and coiled with a knot thing in front if married and had baby. At the end of our visit they did a show with lots of singing and showing their tools and instruments: plow, looms, cooking things. Our guide Harry said men look for 3 things when choosing a wife:  big butt, so they are good child bearers, loud voice so they can call over the fields, and big feet, so they are sturdy in the fields. He also mentioned small hands so they could do the delicate handwork and weaving. They had two Chinese guys and two westerners on the stage to reenact the courting ceremony. Pretty funny! They each sang a love song! To show they care, the women pinch the men's bum!  We were pinched on our way out of the program - a way to show affection! The men are to tap the women's toes! Very ethnic, with colorful costumes!

We then drove high up and then climbed steps for over an hour to the top, for a fantastic view of another Zhong village with the rice fields that were terraced in the Tang dynasty (600 AD) and been planted twice a year since! Amazing! they look like a contour map of mountains in 3 D!

The knees held out on the long way down and then a hair raising ride (no such thing as NOT passing on a curve or anytime they feel like it!!) down the mountain for an hour and a half back to the hostel. We're eating here (more OJ!!!) before dragging our luggage to a bus for an hour and a half trip to Yangshuo, on the beautiful Li river for a relaxing final 3 days here!

Looking forward to it!! Not a hostel, it's called Dongling Resort overlooking the river and mountains! We have hopes!!