TravelStream™ news feed for member trizzyb on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/trizzyb en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:16:12 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1252775610/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1252775610/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1252775610/tpod.html Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:16:12 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Columbus, Ohio, United States

One long 26 hour day of travel and we are home. Now we have to find jobs. What a drag!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1252775520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1252775520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1252775520/tpod.html Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:13:20 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Tokyo, Kanto, Japan

Back to Tokyo for our last days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249308571/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249308571/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249308571/tpod.html Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:02:01 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Hiroshima, Chugoku, Japan

Go Baystars!

We arrived in Hiroshima in the afternoon and noticed 2 baseball stadiums on the map nearby so we looked it up online and score! there was a home game!!! We took the streetcar (tram) to the Railway Station and then walked to the Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium. Unfortunately all of the cheaper home seat sections were sold out so we ended up in the visitor section..the Yokohama Baystars. We highly recommend attending a Japanese baseball game, the fans are brilliant, we have never heard so much cheering and chanting for a game ever, it was constant. Although the Baystars fans were far outnumbered and losing badly until the 6th inning, you wouldn't know it by their sheer enthusiasm and energy. It was a high scoring game, very entertaining and in the end we were die hard Baystar fans with them winning 9-8.

Our second day in Hiroshima was more somber as we visited the Peace Park near the hypocenter of the atomic bomb dropped on August 6, 1945. They were getting the park ready for their annual peace ceremony. We spent over 3 hours in the museum which had exhibits, horrific images, and belongings from the victims. The museum did a great deal explaining the lead up to the atomic bomb and the aftermath. There was a picture of a woman with a pattern from her kimono burned into her skin, a victims tricycle, watches that stopped at 8:15 the time of the bombing, black rain on white walls, glass shards in building walls, and lots of charred student uniforms. They shared the story of Sadako who was exposed to the A-bomb but didn't show symptoms until 10 years later developing leukemia. She believed if she folded 1000 paper cranes her disease would go away, her classmates helped fold the cranes. After her death a statue was built for her and all the children lost. Students and people around the world still send in paper cranes, representing peace. The main focus of the museum is to ask the World to rid itself of all nuclear weapons and to showcase what happened here and why it mustn't happen anywhere else in the World. They are running a 2020 campaign, they wish to abolish all nuclear weapons by then. Hiroshima is devoted to the cause of Peace and the Mayors for Peace campaign. http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/peaceenglish.html

Another grim reminder of war is the remnants of the Industrial Hall and now known as the A-Bomb Dome. The bomb went off almost overhead of the structure leaving the dome intact and some of the walls, it was an eerie sight. We rang the bell for peace.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249119030/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249119030/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249119030/tpod.html Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:05:48 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Osaka, Kinki, Japan

The train ride from Kyoto to Osaka is only a half hour but it still took us 3 hours in total of traveling. After following the vague directions to our ryokan "exit 1 from subway then 2 minute walk" we took another 2 minute walk to the famed Osaka Aquarium. We agree it was the best aquarium we have ever been to, even though some of the tanks were small, especially for the dolphins. We timed it brilliantly and witnessed the seal feeding and playtime for the dolphins. The animals were from The Ring of Fire region, so we saw an impressive Great Barrier Reef tank, penguins, and giant sea otters. But the main draw for the aquarium is the two resident whale sharks. The tank was massive and could be viewed from three levels on a walking ramp. The whale sharks were impressive but we couldn't find any information on how large these ones were, they seemed to be smaller than 40ft. There were hammerheads, reef sharks, zebra sharks, and leopard sharks as well. They also had a ginormous manta ray, which neither of us had seen before, it was brillant. At the end of the aquarium they had a touch pool that dad would be deathly afraid of, it had lots of nice size black rays and sharks.

We spent along time at the aquarium and needed some eats. Right next door was a little shopping complex and also the Worlds Largest Ferris Wheel it was easily 5x bigger than a normal ferris wheel. We discovered the brilliance of Japanese cuisine: deep fry your own food. It was delicious, we were really happy to batter, roll, and fry our own sticks of meat and veg right at the table. And I was happy to have lots of sauces, the best one is simply called 'sauce' tasted like bbq. We decided that deep frying your own food is not healthy but utterly delicious and calling for a deep-fry-your-own-foods back in the states.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249137195/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249137195/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249137195/tpod.html Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:32:07 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Nara, Kinki, Japan

Took a day trip to Nara from Kyoto to visit Nara Park, another World Heritage Site. "Tame" deer are everywhere in the park strategically located next to deer biscuit vendors. The deer are tame as long as you do not possess deer biscuits. As soon as they see you walk up to a biscuit vendor you are fair game. They were a litte aggresive but reminded me the way a dog will act to get scraps except for the giant antlers, which were fuzzy. A local legend holds these animals to be heavenly and that they protect the city.

We went to the Buddhist Temple Todai-ji that houses the great buddha statue 15 meters high. The temple was celebrating its 1300th Anniversary.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249036537/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249036537/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249036537/tpod.html Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:58:13 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Kyoto, Kinki, Japan

Its a shame that we are burned out on temples and shrines because Japan has some spectaular ones. I believe I read that Kyoto has 17 World Heritage designated sites, more than anywhere else, and we saw probably the most popular ones. We stayed in two different ryokans because we didn't book ahead too far in advance. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn from the Edo Period. We slept on tatami mat floors with a roll out foam mattress and comforter, actually very comfortable. They are similar to hostels as there are communal bathrooms (this one is in the basement, 2 flights down) kitchen, laundry, and communal area. The last one we stayed at had a public bath, which I now know is for muscle relaxation and not cleansing. Gojo Guesthouse is located in a back alleyway in the Gion district, known for its geisha quarters.

We mainly used buses to get to all of the sites by purchasing a 500Y bus pass from our ryokan, saved us heaps of money but took forever to get anywhere. Kiyomizudera Temple stands on stilts from a hillside surrounded by forest. Its a popular destination in autumn when all the leaves turn and was impressive even without all the colors. There is a waterfall with three outlets for visitors to drink from, they are said to bring either wisdom, health, or longevity but its bad luck to drink all three.

Another impressive temple was the Zen Buddhist Golden Pavilion. The shimmery gold structure reflected brillantly in the pond and is adorned with a Chinese Phoenix on the roof. We also went to the nearby Ryoanji Temple famous for its zen rock garden. We walked through the Nijo Castle, which is parly under renovation. We creaked our way around the Nighteingale floor, which was constructed to chirp under weight to alert of intruders. There was a nice lookout area of the moat and quarters.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249033301/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249033301/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1249033301/tpod.html Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:32:34 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Tsumago, Chubu, Japan

We left Nikko for Nagoya via Tokyo, the whole journey took 5 hours by train. The only thing we could tell to do in Nagoya was to see a castle but we arrived too late so instead we went out to dinner and watched movies on the laptop. Greg got extensive assistance in planning out our next day with our hotel clerk, deciphering the train schedule since it was all in Japanese. So the next day we took a train to Nagiso and then a short taxi ride to the post town of Tsumago. The town was part of a route that linked Tokyo with Koyto during the Edo Period and survives along with Magome. Tsumago is government protected so the street and buildings remain the same from long ago. Our plan was to enjoy Tsumago and then walk 2-3 hours to Magome, but around lunchtime it started pouring down rain with no sign of letting up, so we only got to visit Tsumago. The main street had a variety of inns, shrines, houses, and of course souvenir shops. Next time we come to Japan, we will do the walk with our bells on (bc of bears!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248787593/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248787593/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248787593/tpod.html Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:33:48 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Nikko, Kanto, Japan

We left Tokyo on a train, headed North 2 hours to Nikko. We walked the 20 minutes to our hostel, which is in the woods near a river and walking trails. We were going to stay a 3rd night but the lodge was booked up so we decided to plan out the rest of our trip and only stay 2 nights there.

We have been buying breakfast foods from convience stores to save some money and we walked to the bus station for tourist information. They were very helpful and we got public bus tickets, expensive $20 (like everything else here) and rode out a half hour up a windy mountain road to Chuzen-ji Lake. From the bus stop we walked 300 meters to Kegon Falls, pretty nice as far as falls goes, similiar but not as nice as Akaka Falls, Hawaii... I'm just saying. Then we walked to the lake and was a little bummed out by the hiking trail options and it started to rain and neither one of us wanted to trek up a mountain. We found some very good and cheap (by standards) meals at a restaurant with views of the mountain and lake. Time quickly escaped us so we headed back to the bus to go towards town again and got off at Shinyko Bridge. The bridge was one of my favorites, looked like a postcard with the mountains in the background and fog under the bridge. We ventured into some temples and shrines, we got a combined ticket for 1000Y otherwise most temples would have cost 1300Y each. The area has been designated a World Heritage Site. The most important and famous is the Toshogu Shrine, inside the gate is a horse stable with the three wise monkeys carved, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. All the temples were very nice and not very crowded and they were surrounded by moss covered stone walls and fences.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248615484/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248615484/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248615484/tpod.html Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:43:47 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Tokyo, Kanto, Japan




Another all day travel day from Beijing to Tokyo. We found a sweet porcelain and blue glaze dragon rice wine bottle in the airport for $10 but because we had a layover in Seoul, we weren't allowed to purchase it...I'm still bummed. We were in Seoul for 3 hours because our plane was delayed an hour in Beijing. We found a Korean Cultural Center in the Airport...stellar idea...we were able to pass some time by gluing together paper to make traditional Korean socks. Its funny though, on the package it says "Traditional Korean Socks Cellphone Accessory" It was actually a really super nice airport, they had "relax lounges" and free wifi zones, so if you do have a long layover have it in Seoul. Korean Air was very nice too, lots of legroom, actual cup holders!, and free beer! We finally make it to Narita airport and make it through customs and immigration with 20 minutes to spare to figure out our Rail Passes, which took another 10 minutes to figure out and barely made the last train into the city. We then got off at Ikebukuro for the Metropolitan Hotel.


First thing we noticed right away about Japan/Japanese (getting off the airplane) is how polite they are....sooooooo nice and refreshing after just surviving China. Another thing we noticed in the airport: they know how to queue! And we are super stoked that we can once again use tap water to drink and brush our teeth. Our first day in Japan began with a quest to find Godzilla. We had read other blogs and articles which were very helpful in describing the location. He is located in Ginza next to Kitchen Corner, across from Toho Building and down the street from Imperial Hotel. He was sedate after presumably an all night rager about town and allowed us to pose with him. Greg was very happy. We stumbled upon the Sony Building and went inside for a look-see at the newfangled products set at a future release. We were a little disappointed there wasn't something absolutely crazy never before seen, but it was cool to play with the HD Video Camcorders. The place was set up as an Aquarium, a future aquarium with HD TV monitors of fishies, probably the wave of the future as Japan successfully diminishes the whale and shark species. They did have an impressive 3D aquarium setup, best 3D we've seen, better than Captain Neo....RIP MJ.

We then took the metro to the Shibuya district for a walk around and an exotic lunch at Wendys! Had to represent Ohio, couldn't resist. They have loads of crazy eateries that we haven't figured out yet. You punch in your order and pay at a vending machine and then walk inside to a very small, sometimes standing only restaurant or very small restaurant with a counter and stools. I love how the billboards, ads, and just decorations are Japanese Anime cartoons or just hilarious. Even the buses and trains are adorned with Pokemon and cute kitty cats. They also love Disney here, and we popped inside a very cool one, very whimsical, how all Disney stores should be. We walked to Harajuku, I was bummed that the Lolita Goths usually make an appearance on Sundays so we will be missing them both visits. The area had loads of cool shops, kinda like Hot Topic/Spencers but loads better. This was a full day of walking around, 11 hours, we got advice from a Westerner at the train station and took the faster JR train using our rail pass, we were a little confused about the passes. That was twice we were given or asked for help, very nice city folk.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248266160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248266160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trizzyb/2/1248266160/tpod.html Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:17:43 -0400 Flight of the Unemployed

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Beijing, China

TB:We took a flight from Chengdu to Beijing arriving in the afternoon. They have a brand new Airport Express Train built for the Olympics. We took advantage of the cheaper transportation and then transferred to another Metro Line and got off conveniently in front of our hostel. We met Alex from Maine at the hostel and he invited to go out to dinner with him, he picked up Chinese while living in Shanghai teaching English. How the hell you just "pick up" Chinese is beyond us. We went to a small restaurant in the back alleyway and ordered several dishes and lots of beer, all were cheap and very yummy. We have been scared to go into restaurants by ourselves, no one speaks English and its rare to find a picture menu. We have frequented McDonalds, sad to say, and we have never eaten McyD's as much as we have since traveling. Note to self: bring picture cards of food or learn Chinese.

GD: We finally made it to Beijing after a short flight although delayed from Chengdu. We took the airport express train built for the Olympics in 2008 into Beijing center and caught the metro to the stop next to our hostel. The airport express train was nice but there was no place to put our bags. It didn't matter to anyone else since nobody seemed to have any, apparently they just like going to and from the airport. The next day we went to the forbidden city built by the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. It seemed like at least half the 1.4 billion Chinese people were there as well. The crowd seemed to all follow a straight line through the city so we just went off to the right to escape the masses. We wandered for hours not sure what anything was but read the few signs that were in English to find out. We ended our tour with the gardens at the north end of the giant palace. Here people were carrying steaming boxes of rice and fill in the blank back to there families for lunch. We fought our way back through the crowds to the front so that we could go to Tienanmen Square across the street from the forbidden city. Tienanmen Square wasn't what we expected. Most sites were closed since it was Monday.

We booked a tour to the Great Wall for the next day. It wasn't really the tour we wanted since it included the Ming Tombs but it seemed that most tours did the same itinerary. We got on the bus at 7:30 AM and were the first group picked up. It took 2 and a half hours to pick up the other 8 people in our group. The fist stop was the Ming Tombs. There are 13 tombs altogether, but we only visited one. It was the largest and oldest of the tombs. Here the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty was buried with his wife and dozen or so concubines. Next we went to a jade factory for a little shopping and lunch. The guide book warned that many tours include these 'factory tours' to get people into the shops. There was very little factory and mostly showroom. I'm sure the four jade carvers they showed working stop once the tourist go past. The lunch was very good though with many Chinese dishes to try.

Finally we were on our way to one of the seven wonder, the Great Wall. We went the Ba da ling section of the Great Wall which is the best preserved and most popular part. The guide informed us that it would take 3.5 hours to walk to the the top. Since we only had 2 hours to enjoy this wonder, it was no wonder that everyone decided to take the cable cars to the top instead. This part of the wall is on top of a mountain range and has steep inclines as it twists and turns from peak to peak and through valleys. After having been sunny all day,it was a bit of a wonder when it started to rain while we were at the wall. Visibility was down to maybe a mile as we could see the wall disappear into the clouds.
TB: Being that a seven wonder exists near Beijing I thought there would be tour companies, info, and brochures about tours, silly me I forgot that I was in China. We didn't have time to shop around for tours, which are mostly offered by your hotel, and I was disappointed that we got stuck with the "best avoidable" kind. The next day on the way to the Summer Palace we ran into a Dutch couple (because we were lost, apparently the bus they tell you to take is incorrect) and they went on a tour that was ALL day at the Great Wall and they hiked it for 10km, I would've much rather done that. So we get onto another bus and the bus attendant actually told us when to get off...finally! But it was nowhere to be seen and there were no signs, so we got the help of a couple of Chinese people to help us on our way. The Summer Palace was crazy busy and nothing at all like on "Samantha Brown" and there was a lot of fog. The place was ginormous, we saw the Marble Boat, some gardens, and temple. It took an hour and a half to get there (18 km away) it always takes forever to get around using the metro + bus.

　
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