Saturday proved to be one of the best days we’ve had in Beijing so far. Brendan didn’t have to work, so he was able to hang out with us and help us get around. We went to a big market called Luilichang that sells papers and brushes and other kinds of crafts. […]
For our first full day in Beijing we decided to go see the Forbidden City. We took the subway there and before we could go inside we were ambushed by two young Chinese people. They took us to the nearby museum to see some of their artwork that was being displayed in a […]
We got up at 6am to make it to our 11am plane in Tokyo. We hurried through the airport and made it to our flight with plenty of time. Our plane to Beijing was continuing to Xian and, being a connecting flight, there weren’t that many people on board.
As it turns out, Chinese pilots don’t […]
Today was a light day. Our jetlag really caught up with us and we lost some momentum as soon as we realized exactly how exhausted we were. In fact, we’ve done so much in the past couple days that I’ve got to read these posts to remember all of our adventures. At any rate, we […]
Finally, this morning, we were able to sleep past 7am. Although we were more rested and feeling more human, that meant getting a late start. After breakfast, we took the subway to Asukasa, the end of the line, to visit the Senso-ji Temple. It was somewhat hidden from most main access roads so we had […]
Jon and I struck out on a little adventure by ourselves today. It was the first time we had been left unattended in Tokyo. Armed with detailed directions from Scott, we set out to find Omote-Sando, a neighborhood full of upscale shopping (but aren’t they all??), droves of pedestrians and the hip […]
I’m starting to realize a particular variable that makes Tokyo, if not Japan in general, so exhausing and overwhelming. That is, the appearance and function of everything, down to the most irrelevent minutia, is so beyond over-considered that, as an outsider not used to that, you find yourself getting sucked into the unbelieveable details that […]
It’s been another huge day. It’s only 10pm here and I’m ready to crash.
This morning, a friend of Scott and Marcia’s, Mamiko, came by. She’s a curator for a university museum. I’d guess she’s about 27 or 28. She was very friendly, but conversation was tricky because of her little English and our nonexistant Japanese. […]
It’s been a very long day. I’m not even sure that I’ll be able to recount the events without an omission here or there.
I won’t even talk about the flights, suffice it to say that it took a very long time and there were a few pains in the ass along the way.
Anyway, Tokyo is […]