mcooney74's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member mcooney74 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mcooney74 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:09:29 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Approaching the end — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1219375260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1219375260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1219375260/tpod.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:09:29 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

I was walking home the other day from the metro station and I saw this guy waiting for a bus. He was standing next to a huge pile of rope. This was his rope. He also had a bucket and a squeegee. The rope had a little wooden seat attached to it. This was about the size of a typical swing set seat. I realized this guy was a window washer. I took some pictures after seeing him of the guys cleaning windows. I wish so much that I had thought to take his picture. I could not believe that these guys bring their own ropes and cleaning supplies. Where are they getting these ropes? Garbage dumps? Are they making them? I get so nervous now whenever I see them up there suspended by their own little ropes that they transport from home and back each day on a friggin bus!

I went to see the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre a few days ago. It was pretty amazing. They have scale models of what the future city of Shanghai will look like and proposed models of the city plan for the 2010 World Expo. It was very cool to see. On the top floor the have a scale model of the entire city of Shanghai. It is about the size of a small gymnasium. It took my breath away when I first walked into the room.

Yesterday I took a walk through this park by us called Century Park. It was very beautiful and there is a big lake inside. It was so nice to see a lake! I tried to sit down to look at it for a few minutes but it was so hot yesterday that when I sat down the bench burnt my butt! So, I just kept walking.

Ryan and I are about to spend our final weekend here. I leave Monday and he is staying a bit longer to do some extra work. I am looking so forward to getting home and getting back to the cooler weather.

Hugs!
Michele
]]> Tom & Liz come for the weekend — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1218331500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1218331500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1218331500/tpod.html Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:43:32 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

Ryan's friend, Tom and his girlfriend, Liz came to Shanghai on Thursday night to visit for the weekend. They have been in the southern part of China for the past three months for Tom's job. There was a lot of beer consumed and mornings wasted sleeping off the night before but all in all it was a very nice weekend. Ryan and Tom pulled a couple or three all-nighters and made a few phone calls back to the USA in the middle of the night while Liz and I lay in bed with earplugs stuffed in tight and pillows over our heads.

On the second night I could not sleep so I came out to yell at them. It got very quiet after that and I thought how considerate they were being and tried to get back to sleep. Well, come morning I find out that they went into the little maid closet that is connected to the kitchen. This was done so that they could still shout on the phone but not wake us up. The room is about the size of a bathroom and has a window leading out to a ledge. They hung out in there for about an hour drinking more beer and calling old friends. When they decided to leave the maid's closet they discovered that the door had locked automatically and they were locked inside. Thankfully they had the cell phone. So Ryan started calling the apartment's land line. I remember laying in bed thinking to myself, 'when is this night going to end? Why can't they stop it already with all these damn phone calls? Arg!' But, of course I just laid there and ignored it. Well, luckily, Liz had a phone in her bedroom, so she could not ignore it as well. She came marching out intending to tell them to knock it off and found no one here. Then she heard their stifled yells and pounding from the maid's closet and let them out. Of course, had they not had their phone with them I am quite sure they would have crawled out on that ledge and tried to knock on the bedroom windows from 21 floors up. If it was not for girls I do not think boys would survive much past the age of ten.

We went cruising around Shanghai on Friday. Saw the Bund, and went to Antique World. Narrow streets with vendors selling a bunch of little things like statues of Buddhas and jewelry and tons of other junk. Liz and I found some beautiful jade bracelets. We love them! We went to a place called Lost Heaven for dinner that was amazing. After dinner we went to a Canadian sports bar and watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.

Saturday, I spent the day recovering because I had not slept the night before (I think you can figure out how that might have happened.) They pulled it together enough to check out The Jade Buddha Temple and Old Town. Later that night we all went to meet up with Florence and Tracy for dinner. On the way to dinner Ry and Tom spotted some local Chinese guys practicing the long jump on the sidewalk. It was pretty damn cute. They were taking turns jumping and marking how far they could jump. They are all very excited here for the Olympics. Tom decided to get involved and they let him jump too! Florence and Tracy picked the place for dinner and it was a very local Chinese joint. The entire meal for all 6 of us, with beer, came to about 30 US dollars. Crazy! The food wasn't too bad but, unfortunately for our wallets, I prefer Lost Heaven.

After dinner Ryan, Tom and Liz went out to Puxi to find some bar called Windows that apparently has all drinks for RMB10 which is about $1.50. I chose to head home and go to bed. Right now they are all sleeping and I am having my tea. It has been a fun weekend but I think we all need to rest and give our livers a break for a few days.
I hope you enjoy the pictures!
]]> random pics — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1218011880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1218011880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1218011880/tpod.html Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:56:34 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

Here are some pictures of some really nice homes designed for ex-pats. They are in gated communities and look like mini mansions. There are also some random pics of the city. Nothing to report today other than I found a wonderful lunch place and had the most yummy sandwich with red juicy tomato, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese on real sourdough fresh baked bread. I thought I have died and gone home to Buffalo.
]]> Warning: Gross Habits Described in Detail — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217925600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217925600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217925600/tpod.html Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:50:03 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

An Essay on the Chinese Art of Hoarking a Loogie and other Cultural Wonders

So, my mom mentions to me the other day that she had been reading about the Olympics. She said that in Beijing the authorities had been cracking down on spitting in public. So she asked me if I had seen anyone spitting here in China.

Have I seen spitting? Oh, god, I have seen it one thousand times. Yes, they spit all the time. Mostly just the men like to spit. And they do not save their spitting for the outdoors, oh no. They like to spit all the time, anywhere. They spit inside buildings, in the subway, anywhere. I'm telling you, it is crazy! They do not just spit either; the spit comes directly after a hard sniff, followed by the deep, guttural hoarking noise they make to get all that phlegm up and ready to release. Which, actually, I appreciate because it gives me time to get the hell out of the way before the actual gob of mucus it set sailing. They claim they spit for health reasons. They do not think it is healthy to swallow their mucus because of the air pollution here. So, I can only assume that as they let their loogies fly, they are not stopping to consider the potential health hazards of allowing one's disease laden body fluids fly through the air only to land in the path of my nice clean Nike sneaker. This is then, unceremoniously taken home with me to my apartment. Thank you.

So, as you can imagine, many of the Chinese habits/customs I find very difficult to live with. They burp (our sweet, little maid that come to clean likes to burp while she folds the clothes), spit, bump into you, chew and talk at the same time while food flies out of their mouth, cut you in line, talk super loud, allow their kids to pee on the street and on the sidewalks, stare (they see nothing wrong with staring and pointing) I get stared at all the time by all of them. It does not bother me very much when the women and children stare. I just assume they are curious. I have to say though; it wouldn't kill them to smile every once in awhile. I smile at them and they just continue their blank stare without seeming the least bit bothered by the fact that I am looking right at them. It reminds me of how we might look at an animal in the zoo. It does really bother me when the men stare at me. In the subway they just stand there like three or four feet away from me and stare. I look directly at them and they just continue to stare. They will even look at my chest when they know I am watching them do it. They do not care. It is very unsettling.

No one gives you the right of way here. Cars will run you over, bikes will run into you if you are not constantly watching for them and people
will cut you off, walk right in your way, step on your feet, elbow you, walk right up and cut in front of you when you are clearly next in line for something. No one says excuse me. They are not polite in the sense that we are used to. Men have no chivalry here. They push me out of the way getting on or off the subway; run to take the empty seats and they seem perfectly comfortable bumping out old women too. They would never hold a door for you or anything like that. It's pretty weird.

Another interesting cultural difference is that many of the men grow one or many nails on their hands very long. I looked this one up one day b/c I was so horrified by the number of men with disgusting long nails. I thought it was a city full of coke addicts or something. Apparently they do this to show that they are not manual laborers. I think it also must come in handy to aide them with all of their ear and nose picking. Now, the middle/upper class Chinese do not do this and many of the younger educated Chinese guys do not do this.

Bellies are another whole topic of interest. It is hot here, I'll admit that. But, I do not understand why the Chinese men here think that means it is perfectly okay to lift their shirts and walk around all day with their Buddha bellies hanging out. Oh, and it is never the nice looking, clean men. It is only the dirty, sweaty, hairy, men that enjoy doing this. They often lay down in random places too (like the middle of the sidewalk) to take naps with their bellies exposed and their shoes off. They are so proud of their bellies too, you can tell. I have seen more bellies here than I have ever seen on all the beach days I had last summer.

Now, all that being said, I would like to clarify that this is not a description of all the Chinese people here in Shanghai. These are the people I remember after a long day of sightseeing. These are the people you cannot forget because of their ridiculous habits or staring eyes or exposed body parts. I suppose it would be like if a Chinese person came to visit the USA and their only experience was spending a hot July day at the local county fairgrounds. They would definitely have some interesting impressions of the average American wouldn't they? So, all in all, the people here on a whole are very clean, they don't spit, have nice looking nails and cover their bellies. It is just that with over 20 million people you are bound to run into a bunch everyday that are pretty damn gross.



]]> Our Apartment — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217843340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217843340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217843340/tpod.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:57:52 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

Hi! I just thought I would share some pictures of our apartment here in Shanghai. It was a very clear day today so I snapped some shots of the views from our windows. Usually you can't see very much due to the smog. Today was beautiful.
]]> The Weekend — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217809380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217809380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217809380/tpod.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:44:38 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

I have a few days worth of stuff to share since I've been bad and have not been writing. Nothing too exciting to report, just some good relaxing fun. I needed a break from all the excitement last week after the big wallet fiasco. So, I'm happy to share some mellow, boring stuff today. On Thursday I spent the day checking out The Bund on the PuDong side of the river. It was a rainy day but I still enjoyed myself and took some pictures. I had a great lunch at this place called Element Fresh. You would all love it. It is Western style food and everything is clean and fresh. great salads and sandwiches. You pay a little extra for that kind of atmosphere and food here but to me, it's worth it. I also like to go there because of their bathrooms. They actually have toilet paper and soap! It is a rare deal in China to find just one of those things, so to find both in one bathroom is like finding a little bit of heaven.

Friday I met my Buffalo pal, Melisa and we went to lunch and then got some fun pedicures at this cool place called Dashing Divas. It was all pink and girly. I guess it is a popular salon with locations all over the globe. They have stores in the USA too. They have a bunch in NYC too! I highly recommend it!

Friday night Ryan and I went to this Chinese place called Crystal Jade for dinner. It was very good. Then we had a couple drinks in XinTian Di. XinTian Di is this very cool, but very expensive area of Puxi. It is targeted toward rich ex-pats and you feel like you are in Europe when you are there. I have included a couple pics of the area. It is a couple square blocks of restaurants, bars and boutiques. One drink is usually around 10-12 US dollars. Crazy prices.

Saturday, Ryan and I went to the Shanghai Aquarium. It is a beautiful, modern aquarium and if there had not been about 2 million pushing, shouting Chinese people there with us we might have really enjoyed it. Check out the pics of the tunnels we had to go through. You stood on a moving walkway that took you down these cool tunnels full of fishies. Trouble was, there were so many people shouting, pushing and pointing I was having a hard time remaining calm and spent most of the time taking deep breaths so as not to hyperventilate or have a panic attack. No, seriously, I was fine. Actually, I am getting much better at dealing with the loud crowds. Trying to see the exhibits was another story. One little old lady literally elbowed me out of her way so she could see the alligators. Pretty funny really.

On our cab ride to dinner later that night we saw an extraordinary site. I have seen many things in China and in Japan but this one may have taken the cake. As we were driving along a packed, chaotic Shanghai street going around 35 miles per hour(They drive crazy here but not too fast. I think this is the only reason there are not accidents constantly. It is kind of like a giant game of bumper cars but without actually bumping. Well, at least no bumping yet.) So, anyway...we look out our window to the right and see a man and woman on a scooter. They are cruising along, zigzagging around pedestrians, giant holes in the road, taxis, you name it. The amazing thing was this woman on the back of the scooter had out a make-up mirror and I thought, wow, she is actually applying make-up on the back of a scooter while driving through rush hour traffic in Shanghai. I was impressed. Then, I realized what she was applying...it was not lipstick or a little powder to her nose. She was actually applying mascara!!! Yes, mascara to her eyelashes while sitting on the back of a moving scooter. Now, I have to say, that is one hell of a woman! Oh, and I am quite sure she was wearing three inch heels to boot!

So, Sunday we had a very relaxing day. We got some reading in, walked, watched a movie. A usual lazy Sunday. Ryan is back to work today and I will try to figure out something to do worth writing about. Hope this one was not too boring. Till next time!
Michele
]]> my wallet — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217319480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217319480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217319480/tpod.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:46:11 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

Yesterday i was cruising around the city and decided to go into the second biggest mall in the world for lunch. I went to the top floor and sat down for a set lunch at a Japanese restaurant. When i went to get my wallet out of my purse I realized, much to my horror, that is was no longer there. Of course, I began to panic and take everything out on the table. The waitress was standing there with the bill and had no idea what I was doing. She spoke no English. Pretty soon about eight staff members (none of whom spoke English) were standing around me. i was shaking and crying and trying to mime that my wallet was gone. I showed them my address and told them i would be back to pay. Thankfully, they let me go. I raced back to this other mall I had just been to before lunch called Times Square and went to their service desk. Of course, once again no one spoke English. They managed to find a sweet young girl who knew a little English and I explained what happened to her. She was very kind and communicated to them that I had no money and needed a taxi home. Also, they asked me if I wanted them to call the police to file a report. I said yes. I turned to the young girl and said maybe someone would find it and turn it in to the police. At this, she quietly laughed and patted me on the arm. I took that as her way of saying, "Fat chance honey." Then, we went to this room to wait for the police. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, she looked at me and said that the police might take a very long time to get there and she asked me if I just wanted to get home? i said yes. I was very concerned about calling to cancel my credit cards etc. So, they were very kind and paid my way home in the taxi. Once home, I made all the calls then decided I should call the police to file that report because everything I read on-line said to make a police report if your wallet is stolen. Hmmm, maybe they were not talking about if it happened in China. About an hour after calling the police three Chinese police men rang our doorbell(Ryan was not home from work yet.) I answered and expected at least one of them to speak a little English. I also expected we would sit down, write a brief report and they would be on their way. Well, neither of those things happened. First they were all talking to me gruffly in Chinese. I stood there wide-eyed and confused. Then they tried to get me to leave with them. I said, no. Next, one reached out and touched my arm trying to get me to leave with them. I backed up and said, "no" again. Then, looking very annoyed, they called someone on the phone and handed me the phone. The guy on the phone said, "Do you want police report or not? You want report so bad. You follow police man. They take you here. We give this report to you. " I said never mind. That I was sorry but I would not leave with them. He got pretty miffed and said some other stuff to me then i handed the phone back and they left. It was awful.

So, today Ryan calls me from work around 2pm. You will never believe this...someone called him. they found the wallet and turned it in to the service desk at the mall!!! Of course, the caller spoke only Chinese but had found the list of numbers I had in the wallet and called Ryan's cell. He handed the phone to his gal pal, Florence and she interpreted everything for us. Unbelievable! I am sitting here still in shock. i just got home from picking it up. Everything was still inside except for the cash and the subway card which had about 20 bucks on it. They left my license, credit card, ATM card, insurance card, everything. I just can't believe it. I was feeling really down about it and really negative about being here and now I think my faith is restored. For someone who speaks no English to try to contact me by calling those numbers...Ahhhh, I love people again! To top it all off, I had the sweetest taxi driver on the way home who tried desperately to talk to me the whole way. He was so kind and I used my translation book to explain what had happened to me. He was so sympathetic and so nice to me. I love China again!
Yippee! now I just need to find out if they will reactivate my ATM card so i can get some damn money.
I love Happy Endings!;)
XOXO
Michele
]]> Birthday Weekend — Shanghai, Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217213940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217213940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1217213940/tpod.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:26:00 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, Shanghai, China

Saturday we went to lunch with two co-workers of Ryan's. They are so sweet and invited me to join them for badminton on Tuesday night. I think it is similar to how people meet up to play in softball leagues after work in the US. She said they go after work then go out for food and drinks afterward. I am excited to go. I love ping pong and badminton but I never get to play at home. One point for China!

Saturday night Ryan took me to dinner at this place along The Bund called Laris. It was beautiful. We sat at a table over looking the river and the Pu Dong side of Shanghai with the Oriental Tower all lit up and the sparkling boats gliding by.
After dinner we went to this French restaurant called, Jean Georges. We sat at their bar and had a couple birthday cocktails and Ryan got himself a fancy cigar and some cognac. It was quite a fancy pants evening.

Sunday we went to this famous water town about an hour and a half from Shanghai. Here is a brief description of it from Wikipeida...

Zhouzhuang is a town in Jiangsu province, China.
Zhouzhuang is a popular tourist destination. It is one of the most
famous water townships in China, noted for its profound cultural
background, the well preserved ancient residential houses, the elegant
watery views and the strong local colored traditions and customs. It
has been called the "Venice of the East".

It was very beautiful but very hot and crowded. It is an ancient town that has canals running through it. I was a bit concerned about eating lunch there though. This was old school, traditional, rural style Chinese dining at its best. Baskets of crayfish and other sea animals were sitting along the sidewalk. There were buckets of living things that were swimming around and I can only assume these were menu choices. As we walked along the narrow streets we were confronted with a variety of aromas none of which could be described as pleasant. They ranged from, "Hmmm, I don't think I want to eat whatever is creating that smell." to "I think that definitely smells like poop." Then there was the issue of the canals that ran throughout this Water Town. The canal was beautiful and you often saw gondola type boats being guided along with tourists sitting inside enjoying the views and the singing on their Chinese boat handler. The canal was also an excellent toilet for some. A young boy pulled down his trousers and went to the bathroom right next to a table where people were eating their lunches. Then, a few moments later, after we turned another corner,we saw a women washing her clothing in the canal. Hmmm? This canal is obviously very useful. Oh, and I almost forgot! If you own a restaurant along the canal it is a wonderful resource for fresh clean water to wash the dishes in. No need for a sink or dishwasher, just bring the dirty dishes down to the edge of the canal and wash away. Yea, I decided I would not be enjoying a birthday lunch in this town. Ryan and I bought a bag of peanuts and a couple of bottles of water to hold us over till we got back to Pu Dong. All in all, it was a very interesting place to see and I'm sure if it had been less hot and crowded we might have stayed longer. Next time, though, we'll be sure to pack a picnic lunch.

Sunday night we went to this area of Pu Dong call Gin Chow (sp?) It is beautiful and full of great restaurants and bars. We had a glass of red wine at a cool wine bar then went to dinner at an Indian restaurant that Ry loves. It was delicious. Funny, before dinner we were watching these kids throwing food to the giant goldfish and we noticed the toddlers in China do not wear diapers. Instead they have these funny pants with a big slit down the middle. They are encouraged to go to the bathroom wherever and whenever they may need. Made me think back to that young lad who chose to go right in the canal. Check out the picture of this cute little peanut with his little bum hanging right out. He must love those pants! Actually, as long as parents pick up after the child I think this is a great idea. Think of the benefits to the environment. No diapers. Great idea. But, whether they actually pick up after their little ones remains to be seen.

I hope everyone is having a great summer at home in the USA! I am homesick and missing everyone and everything. I would love to hear from all of you!
Hugs!
Michele
]]> A weekend in the ancient capital of Kyoto, Japan. — Kyoto, Kinki, Japan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1216781760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1216781760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1216781760/tpod.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:52:54 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Kyoto, Kinki, Japan

Ryan and I took a 21/2 hour train trip to Kyoto, Japan. It was the only city not damaged by bombs during World War II and is one of the ancient capitals of Japan. What they did not tell us was how hot it was going to be. When we got back to Yokohama everyone was talking about how Kyoto had been on the news over the weekend because it was the hottest city in all of Japan. It had hit record high temps the two days we were there! Crazy hot!

Regardless of the heat, Ryan and I had a wonderful weekend. We walked everywhere and saw many beautiful things. We saw this Golden temple called the Temple of the Golden Pavilion which was literally covering in gold leaf. It was amazing. We went to this place called Nijo Castle which served as the home of the first Tougawa shogun in 1603. It was really cool and my favorite part were the floors. This shogun guy was super paranoid and had these special floors installed called "nightingale floors" so that if someone were going to try to sneak in and kill him he would hear them coming. The floors creaked as you walked over them and they literally sounded like birds singing. It was really cool. That night we went to this 300 year old noodle shop which we read about that was supposed to be really good. Well, the noodle shop was visually neat because it was so old and traditional but it also smelled 300 years old and the noodle dishes were terrible. Oh well...we walked around after dinner and explored this narrow street that runs parallel to the river and is filled with shops, bars and restaurants. After that we walked down to the riverside and watched some street performances. It was a beautiful night and people we sitting all along the river. The moon was full and there were people singing, dancing and a group of people even did a show with fire juggling. It was very interesting because it was a public area down by the river and so many people were just hanging out drinking beers and watching the street performances or sitting with a date along the river. The thing that seemed so weird was that no police came around to kick people out and there was no litter anywhere. Everyone left with their own garbage that night and the area was left spotless. I do love that about Japan! I don't think the general population in the USA would behave quite so well if they were given the opportunity to have open containers, food and live music along a water front area without supervision and garbage cans everywhere. That is the other strange this about Japan, it is very difficult to find garbage cans yet the cities are practically spotless. When you do find a garbage can, there are about three of them and they are labeled for different types of garbage. One is for plastic bottles, one for combustibles and the third for non-combustibles. I usually stand and stare at the cans for an average of about 15-30 seconds trying to figure out where to place my garbage.

On the second day we walked the eastern side of the river. This area of the city was very beautiful and more like what we thought Kyoto would be like then the western side we had walked around on the first day. We walked down narrow, winding streets lined with old traditional Japanese buildings. Temples and gardens seemed to spring up around every corner. We were not even sure which temple or shrine we were at half the time but we knew they were beautiful. We actually got to see the beginning of a Buddhist monk ceremony in this one temple. The monks were chanting and banging on a gong or something. We ended the walk by visiting a temple called Kiyomizu Temple. We had to climb this hill alongside an ancient graveyard to get there. The graveyard was breathtaking. We eventually arrived and after climbing many stairs and hills we were able to get the grand views of Kyoto that we had heard about from the tour book. It was spectacular.

That night we had wine and pizza(believe it or not) along a canal and talked an looked at our photos. In the morning we took a cab back to the train station, got on the train and headed "home" to Yokohama. On our last night in Yokohama we made sure we stopped to eat some mochi-creams, which are the most delicious little desserts ever. I believe they are made from some kind of rice concoction on the outside and are filled with a variety of things. They look like the sweetest little dumplings you have ever seen. Our favorite was the chocolate banana. Oh man, I will miss the mochi-creams.

So, here we are back in Shanghai now. We were in the country for about two hours and Ryan was almost hit by a mini-scooter and I was pushed, cut off and almost ripped off at the grocery store. :o) Ahhh, back to China. It is quite a contrast to the highly civilized Japan and the very honest and polite Japanese. We are glad to be back though and settled in for about four more weeks. I am looking forward to finding more exciting things to do and experiences to have.
XOXO
Michele
]]> Day 2 — Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1214955300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1214955300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mcooney74/1/1214955300/tpod.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:39:58 -0400 Shanghai, China to Yokohama, Japan and back again!
Shanghai, China

Hello! Yesterday was awesome! I rode the subway by myself for the first time and traveled into Puxi(The downtown area on the other side of the river) It was great! Felt like NYC on steroids. Lots going on and best of all no mystery smell!! Beautiful buildings and shopping and dining everywhere. Ry and I went back there for dinner and walked all over and then down to The Bund. A pedestrian walkway along the river. Awesome views of Pudong side with the Pearl tower.
The subways are crowded and the temps today had to be in the 90s with insane humidity. Even at night after the sun went down the temps stayed the same...we were sweating at night. Crazy hot. People are funny here. Very friendly but they do not think twice about pushing and shoving. I guess b/c there are so many damn people that it is just the way it is. I am learning to be a little pushy. Physically pushing people in the line into the subway is considered normal. No one gets mad about it. They like to cut you in line here too. i have been cut in front of a bunch of times. People who speak English are very sweet and have helped me out a bunch of times. I like the people so far. it is a very interesting culture. Very different from home.
Hope the pictures come through!
Off again today for another adventure!
Hugs!
Michele
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