The City That Never Sleeps

For our last Saturday night abroad we made sure to live it up as best we could. Because we had been to Roppongi the last two days, we decided it was time to give Shibuya a try. The night started out like most other nights...with a sushi dinner. I think my favorite kind of sushi is now toro, which is fatty tuna. Sounds gross, tastes great.

In Shibuya we went to an English pub called hub. I liked hub a lot, but I would say the only similarities between an English pup and hub, is that the both serve beer. But the drinks were cheap, and we met these three Japanese guys, who really liked practicing their English with us. The bought some beer, so we of course let them practice all they wanted. One in particular named Shu was loving hanging out with us and he asked if he could come out and translate for us. And since no one in Japan speaks much English we gladly accepted his invitation. Jed said he read about a little lounge that played good music, so we headed to a place called Womb.

As soon as we got to Womb we all realized this was not some little lounge, this was the most popular club in Tokyo. It cost 4000Y to get in, but went in we did. We met some Brits in line, and they told us there was some super famous DJ playing tonight, so we were in for a treat. It ended up being a really great night! The DJ was named Magda, and she played nothing but hard trance, and house, which was a welcome break to all the hip-hop we've been hearing. We had fun dancing the night away, talked or attempted to talk to many Japanese girls, and drank a enough to make the night fly by. Around 4:40 we figured we had had enough, and got to see the sun come up for the third day in the row.

Needless to say it was not easy to wake up this morning. After hitting snooze plenty of times we made it up, got some breakfast, and headed to Harajuku for some people watching, especially to see the infamous "Harujuku girls". It was kind of neat, all these younger girls in the craziest costumes, most of the wore Gothic nurse outfits, or Victorian maid outfits. Besides the "Harajuku girls" there were also the "Rockabillies" which were basically Japanese guys dressed as greasers dancing to rock and roll. Yes kind of weird. I think Japanese culture is just too cute for words.

After Harajuku we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. For our last night aboard we got a traditional Japanese dinner, where you had to take your shoes off. It was a good dinner. I think its a safe bet to say we ate pretty well this trip.

Now were back at the hotel, packing, and getting ready for the 13 hours ride home tomorrow afternoon. Wrap up post to follow soon!

I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so

On Friday we woke up somewhat hungover, but not too bad, around noon. We got lunch at a Panini place and planned out our day. We decided to go to Akibara which is basically the geek capital of the world. Once we were off the train we were bombarded with anime, manga, pachinko, arcades, and tons of pimply teenagers. We went to a couple of arcades and finally found a DDR machine which we had to try and show off the moves.

There is a whole culture of geekdom in this place that we read about. Apparently, one of the staples of this culture is maid cafes. A maid cafe is basically a small cafe filled with girls dressed as anime maids who serve you soda and sweets, play games, and sing. They are everywhere in Akibara. Joe and I decided to try one of the more popular ones and it was actually pretty cool yet a little creepy. We got to @ home cafe on the 7th floor of some building and after being briefed on the rules (ex. no asking the maids personal information) we were seated. Everything is designed to look as cute as possible, from the pink interior to the J-pop music playing. It was filled with mostly young guys playing their PSPs but a couple of girls were there too. Joe got a little bunny shaped cake and I got a coke float. For a 500Y fee you can play games with the maid of your choice for 3 whole minutes. I ended facing one in some weird rock em sock em robot type game. After a hard fought battle I came out the winner and won a little prize which was a coaster with drawings on it by the maid. Joe got his picture taken with one for a fee too. The guy sitting next to us must have been to these cafes 1000 times because he had a book of all his photos with the maids. Unfortunately, he was a little shy to show us them but we saw the magnitude of his collection. It was a lot of fun and it was nice being a Tokyo nerd for the day.

Joe and I then went to Ginzu which is like Tokyo's fifth ave. There wasn't a lot to do there because we really don't have money to shop. We went to the Sony Building and looked at the new products. Then we stopped in a pretty big Apple store. We then went back to our hotel and headed back out for dinner. We found a conveyor belt sushi place that was amazing! The sushi chefs stand in the middle of the conveyor belt and just keep putting little plates on the belt while the customers just pick up which plate they want to eat. It was really inexpensive and the sushi was still excellent. Joe and I were stuffed by the end and decided to pregame in out hotel before hitting Rapongi.

Ropongi is the night life area of Tokyo. It's really sleazy and feels like Cancun. The bars don't get really going till midnight so we arrived around 11. It was a crazy night. Around 1am Joe and I arrived at the front door of a pretty well known club that had a 3,000Y fee to get in for guys. Just as we were debating on going in a out of shape white guy, who must have been in the club earlier, was denied entry by the bouncer because they have no re-ntry. After about 15 seconds the guy just leaped at the large muscle bound bouncer and a full brawl ensued. Joe and I watched for a little bit and just slipped right in for free. Yay! So that made us very happy. We met a ton of people and had a great but long night. The subways stop running at 1am so everyone stays out until they open up again at 5:30. This is what we did and emerging from the club to full sunlight wasn't a great experience. The trains were full of sleepy people and we finally made it back to out hotel around 6.

We tried to get up but couldn't till about 2pm today. With no motivation to really move we stayed local and saw "Knowing". Which actually turned out pretty good. Now we are planing out our 2nd to last night before going back home.

Bright Lights, Big City

After we got back to the hotel room, we decided to have a low key night, and save our energy (and money) for the weekend. So we walked around Shinjuku, enjoyed the neon lights, and called it a night.

We woke up the next morning at ten, and hit the ground running. We started off with a walking tour of Shinjuku, and saw some pretty cool architecture. We also found a foreign language bookstore and bought a Tokyo guide, which has come in handy all ready so it was a good buy. While in Shinjuku we went to the "golden gai" which is 4 small blocks full of bars, that only sit about 6-10 people each. I thought it was really cool.

After we had thoroughly explored Shinjuku we caught the Yamanote line, and headed to Harujuku! Harajuku has a way different vibe than Shinjuku and it surrounded by a beautiful park. We visited the Meji Shine, which was very ummmm large. After all the shrines, and temples we have seen on this trip, it really didn't stand out.

The park was well shaded with ancient Japanese cypress trees, and I am excited to go back there on Sunday to gawk at the Harujuku girls. From there we explored Harajuku street, which reminded me of St. Marks Street in NYC. Basically thousands of high schoolers all running to what they think are trendy shops. After a quick Bento lunch we made our way to the Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art. It ended up being an exhibition of one artists work, who I didn't like at all. Even Jed was disappointed, so we didn't stay for too long.

Went back to the hotel, showered, and went to dinner. We may or may not have eaten more sushi for dinner. From dinner we went to see Harry Potter! It was different seeing it with a Japanese audience, because they didn't laugh at the funny parts, but they got really scared at the "scary" parts. The girl next to Jed had to close her eyes for like 10 minutes. Which in itself is pretty funny. After the movie we head back to "Golden Gai" and decided not to drink there. They charge you at least 500Y just to sit down, and the drinks are really expensive.

So walking to the next bar we saw some fellow travelers, and we all went to get drinks together. The night got really fun from there, we drank, swamped our tales of traveling, and attempted to talk to Japanese girls. We met a few who spoke a little English, and we went with the to Roppongi for more drinks and dancing. I was wearing tevas, so I had to buy shoes before I could go in. Thankfully there was a dollar store next door, but although cheap they biggest size shoe they had was 3 sizes to small! Needless to say my dogs were barking by the end of the night. It was an awesome night, but we stayed out too late, and had to take a 30 dollar taxi home because the trains stop running. Which is kind of a good problem to have.

Our last stop... Tokyo!!

That first night out in Kyoto ended up being a lot of fun for a Monday. We found a pub style bar and had some shitty cheeseburgers. We met a European couple from Switzerland/Scotland. They had been on the road for over 4 months and had 3 to go. I know in America 5 weeks sounds like a lot but every single person especially from Europe are doing crazy amounts of time abroad. They def know how to do it over there, but I would be homesick. We went to a few bars and had some amazing Sake. I love that stuff when cold. We called it a night around 4 am and went back to the hotel.

The next day, our last in Kyoto, Joe and I headed to one of the most famous temples in Kyoto, The Golden Temple. After a sweaty ride on our bicycles we found the temple and it was very beautiful. It's covered in gold leaf and surrounded by a serene pond and garden. We chilled there for a while, found an onsen, and headed back to the hotel. Since it was the first night of one of Japans biggest festivals we got ready early. During Gion Matsuri they block off a bunch of streets and everyone in the city walks around and eats street food while looking at the floats. Joe and I actually weren't huge fans. Basically it was mobbed everywhere to the point you couldn't walk. The floats were cool for about 5 minutes. They all look alike and play a strange two note song all night. We stayed for a couple hours then headed to the bar district. Unfortunately, no one was there because of the festival so we called it a night early.

The next day (today) we woke up around 11 and easily caught our bullet train to Tokyo. The travel day was so easy. Just three hours and we made it. I lost my ticket when I got on the train and somehow my luck flipped and the conductor found it on the ground like 15 seat back. I had a heart attack looking for it.

We decided to take a Taxi to our hotel which came out to be 35 dollars for a 3 mile ride. Yes, worse than NY prices. The hotel nice but the room is tiny. We were spoiled by our last 3 hotels but we still like it. Joe and I got some McDonalds and walked around Shinjuku which is the district we are staying at. It is really crazy here and so confusing. No one speaks a word of English. We tried to find a movie theatre to see the new HP but to no avail it's sold out everywhere. The people in Tokyo are quite a sight. The girls especially. Basically its accepted here for 24 year old girls to play arcade games all day, love Dragon Ball Z, have dolls of Gizmo from gremlins, and get so into the claw grabber game that winning a prize is worthy of a celebration comparable to getting proposed to. My kind of lady. We played some weird but surprisingly fun gambling game with coins for two hours. Now back in the hotel deciding what to do now.

Kyoto Bliss

I am now one of those jerks who can say "Yeah this sushi is good, but it's nothing like sushi in Japan. Seriously, sushi just tastes better in Japan." Be careful if I ever invite you out for a Japanese dinner.

Yes, last night Jed and I went to a little hole in the wall sushi place called Masi Sushi. It was in the basements of someones house, and only sat six people. The couple who owned it loved talking to us, and they laughed at everything we said, especially when we tried some broken Japanese. We got a plethora of different sushi, each one more delicious than the last. It was so fresh they literally had a tank of shrimp that they turned into our shrimp sushi. The owners yelled at us for eating sushi like tourists, by using too much soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi. It was a lot of fun, and they loved the fact they we knew baseball, and could speak some simple Japanese phrases. The whole meal was 4000 yen, which is pretty expensive, but well worth the whole experience. They even gave us a few pieces that they wanted us to try. free of charge.

We woke up this morning and went to breakfast. We ended up at a coffee house, and I got pancakes, while Jed ordered a cream soda, and a ham sandwich. What Jed ended up getting was a large green soda with heavy whipping cream on top, kind of like a float, and 2 ham sandwiches with one piece of ham and mayo on each. I thought this was pretty funny, but Jed said it was pretty good. I think that should be enough about food for this blog post.


We then went back to our hotel and rented some bikes for the day. This is seriously the best way to see Kyoto, and we took the best tour throughout downtown. We visited temples, rode through back alleys, and even spotted three Geisha's. Yes Geisha's.

Every place we have visited I think is beautiful, but Kyoto is truly the best. Everything is so charming, and quaint. I can only describe it as a Paris, of the far east. The best part of Kyoto are the gardens. You can spot them by looking into someones yard. They are all breathtaking, and you instantly feel piece of mind. I would like a Japanese style garden one day!!

Tonight we are going to find some Kyoto nightlife, and hopefully some more Sushi. Tomorrow is the start of the Gion Matsuri festival, which we are very lucky to be around for. Oh also this is the start of our fifth and final week, time sure does fly.

Goodbye Beijing, Hello Kyoto

So after the Scorpion fiasco we hung out at the hotel, and got ready for our last night in Beijing. We decided we were going to make the most of it and just not go to bed since our flight left so early the next morning. After a little pregaming we headed to workers stadium where we heard there we some hopping clubs. After seeing the covers and absolutely no foreigners we decided we would go with what we knew and headed to Sanlitun. The bars were packed this night since it was Friday. We met some really nice Chinese girls and hung out with them most of the night. The bars actually played good music instead of the garbage they play in American bars so Joe and I were actually dancing. The alcohol may have had something to do with that but who knows. We stayed out until about 5:30 and decided to go to the hotel.

I'm definitely going to miss Beijing. Besides the pollution it really was a nice city that was good to foreigners. All the sites were excellent and I completely recommend it. There is a sense that it is red but its not overwhelming. It sucked not having facebook, twitter, or blogspot but we managed.

We got back to the hotel passed out for about a half hour and somehow managed to make it out. The cab ride was brutal due to being hungover. We got to the airport, had some starbucks, and just made our flight to Seoul. Two hours later we arrived in Seoul, South Korea and got really lost finding our transfer. We just barely made it to our flight, two hours later we made it to Osaka, Japan. Then a 75 minute train ride and a lot of walking we made it to Kyoto. Found a Geijien friendly cab and made it to our hotel. Hardest day of traveling ever! Staying out the entire night before was not a good idea! Our hotel is nice and the staff is extremely friendly. We passed out at about 7pm and slept till about 11:30 this morning. A very good sleep.

We found a McDonalds and walked around Kyoto. It's a really clean beautiful city. Seeing the sky for the first time in a week felt so good. Joe and I headed to the Kyoto Imprial park and watched some Japanese play some sports. We followed a map to the Heian Jingu Shrine. Which basically is an amazing garden. We walked through and took in the serene sights. There was a really nice bridge over a lake where we watched people feed the coy and turtles. We walked around a little more and now back at the hotel.

Dewa mata

San Li Tun, Summer Palace, and Scorpion Tails

 As you can imagine after our seven mile hike across the Great Wall, we didn't have too much energy left, so we ate dinner at the complimentary Novotel  happy hour, watched a movie, and called it a night.  The next day we slept right through breakfast and into the afternoon.  We then walked around Beijing, got some lunch at Pizza Hut, and hung out until sunset.  We spent sunset watching 108 Chinese soldiers take down the Chinese national flag.  It was pretty interesting, reminded me a lot of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  We were among tens of thousands Chinese citizens, so it was very cool to take in the culture.  I am so surprised to see the pride the Chinese people have in their country, but then again it's hard for me as an outsider.

The night we went to our favorite San Li Tun bar street, and started out the night the right way, with a couple of strong cocktails.  The night was a lot of fun, we talked to many locals, and expats alike.  We went to a bar/club and met a nice group of three Chinese hair styleists.  We ended up spending the whole night hanging out with Marco, Alice, and Lucy, and many Tsing Taos were drunk, and good conversation was had.  Of course only Marco spoke English, and our Mandarin is nonexistent, so the conversation was slow, but we still managed to have a blast. 

I woke up this morning around 9:30 to make breakfast, Jed decided to sleep in which was okay with me, because I had some emails to write, and a newspaper to read.  I brought Jed back some croissants, and we got ready to greet the day.  We wanted to go to the Mao Mausoleum, but unfortunately it is only open for about two hours a day, and two early hours at that.   So we settled on the Summer Palace, kind of like the summer version of The Forbidden City.  It took about an hour to get there, and when we did, instead of getting an audio guide, we opted for a tour guide.  Her name was Carol and we all had a blast with her showing us around.  It was really funny because her English wasn't perfect, but she tried so hard, and she really did know so much .  She would also quiz us at random intervals to make sure we were paying attention, and she taught us how to say a few more Mandarin words.   The Summer Palace is so nice, there are trees everywhere, so plenty of shade, a huge man-made lake, and a boat made out of marble.  It was really beautiful, and having the tour guide to show us around made it even more enjoyable. 

Jed really wanted to see the CCTV tower, and Carol said she would take us since she lived right by, and hey we were paying for a taxi.  Well what Jed really wanted to see was the CCTV building, but we didn't realize that until we were already at the CCTV tower.  It looked just like the Space Needle, and it is the tallest building in all of Beijing!   To make things even better there was an Aquarium underneath, and Carol really wanted to take us.  So Jed, Carol and myself visted the Beijing Aquarium, and it was exactly pretty cool.  We got to see the Sea Lion show which only lasted for 6 minutes, but was so funny to watch, and Carol seemed really love it, she even taped the whole thing on her phone. 

After the Aquarium we said our goodbyes to Carol, and paid her 100Y, with a generous tip because we had such an unexpected fun day.  I highly recommend getting a tour guide if you ever come to Beijing.  We went back to the hotel, and fought exhaustion and decided that we were going to have a tradional Chinese dinner.

We went to Ju De Roast Duck Restaurant, which was recommended by the hotel, and got seated.  After looking through the menu we decided to get half of Peking duck, and fried duck with scorpions.  Yes scorpions.  The duck was delicious, except the duck brain, which I didn't eat but Jed didn't make me wish I had.  Then the scorpions got there, and it was a bit of a shock, I mean there were 20 fat fried scorpions over a couple of pieces of fried meat.  Jed was the brave one, and ate the first scorpion, and after his third I finally gave it a shot.  It looked a lot worse that it taste, kind of like a salty fish, with a satisfying first crunch.  After the first one, we just starting popping em, feeling pretty bad ass as we did it.  I think Jed and I are ready for an eating challenge on some reality show. 

After dinner we bought some souvenirs and are back in the hotel now, getting ready for our last night in Beijing.  Our flight leaves tomorrow at 8:40 going to Osaka, Japan with a stopover in Seoul.  So excited for Japan, but actually a little sad that were only stopping in Seoul to change flights.  Seoul has a great reputation over Asia, and if we had known about it we would have definitely set aside some days to visit the city.  Oh well, there is always next time!!  We will be in Kyoto until 7/15, and the Tokyo until 7/20.  I can't believe we are in our last 10 days of this trip, it has gone by in a blink of an eye. 

Alright got to go make myself look cool. 

Zai Jian!

Olympic Village and THE GREAT WALL!

Monday night we headed to the bar area of Beijing where it was extremely slow. We had a couple of drinks and were approached by some scammer from Ghana trying to get us to go to some other bar. Luckily we didn't go. We came back to the hotel and went to bed. Not a very active night.

On Tuesday July 7th we woke up made breakfast and headed out around 10:30am. In our lonely planet guide it says to rent bikes and do a biking tour. We figured this was a good idea because it is so flat here and there are tons of bike lanes on all the roads. We got two bikes for the day at 40 RMB. We headed to the bank then did the tour around the forbidden city according to the guide. After this it was about noon. Joe and I decided to ride up to the Olympic village which is on the northern tip of Beijing and we were in the center. Not the best idea. We rode in the hot sun for miles and miles. We probably stopped and asked directions 5 times. The thing with Beijing is that the roads here change names every 50 meters and the map we had was the whole of Beijing with only the major roads labeled. On the map the Olympic village didn't look too far but after riding for about 3 hours and getting substantially lost we finally made it.

The village they built is HUGE! Like ridiculous for one event. We walked over to the water cube (the bubble looking building) where Phelps won all his medals. It was pretty cool inside but nothing to write home about. After we watched an empty pool we headed out to the National Stadium (The Birds nest). By far the coolest looking stadium from the outside. It was enormous and very new and well designed. We walked in, sat in the seats, walked around the track and hung out in the air-conditioned gift shop. It was cool to see but not three hour bike ride cool. It really is amazing and kind of sad that the Chinese put so much effort into making these Olympics special. We all remember how amazing they were this year but now the whole village is just a tourist trap and they don't really hold events there at all.

After being asked by Chinese families for our photograph we got on our bikes and headed back to the hotel. This time it only took an hour and a half since we sort of knew where we were going woo… Once back we showered up and bought tickets to our next destination Kyoto, Japan (more on that later). We then found a hostel and booked tickets for our Great Wall journey. Our bus was leaving the next morning at 6:15 so we just saw Terminator Salvation at the mall then called it a night.

Today, Wednesday July 8th was our Great Wall day!! A big reason we came to China was to climb the great wall. We successfully got up on time and caught the bus to the Great Wall. It's located about 3 hours outside of Beijing. The section we decided to do was the more challenging 10km walk from Jinshanling to Simatai. The drive was beautiful. Seeing the Chinese countryside instead of the city was like a breath of fresh air. When our group finally got off the bus we took a Gondola type thing to the beginning of the wall. The second we got there we started taking in the amazing view of where we were until we began being followed by "tour guides". Basically locals wait at the top and when they see tourists they follow along for a good amount of time offering tips, to take pictures, souvenirs, and water. It was pretty annoying walking and trying to enjoy but after some maneuvers Joe and I lost them.

The climb really was intense. Parts of the wall were so dilapidated that we were basically climbing loose stones. It was really cool though. Going up some of the really steep parts was extremely exhausting. But some parts downhill were nice. We went through 30 towers, over a shaky rope bridge and finally made it to the end. The views really were indescribable. It was really nice taking it all in. Once we made it to the end they had a optional zip line down to a boat that would take us to bus. Naturally Joe and I took the zipline instead of walking back down. It was really fast going down it and it was over a river about 300 feet below. Amazing! We got on the boat, bought some t-shirts then headed to the bus. Our dinner was included in the tour. Had some pretty shitty Chinese food and headed back. I slept like a baby all the way to the hotel which was needed heavily. A day well spent! Miss everyone!!

-jed

Invasion of The Forbidden City

Had a well needed night of relaxation last night, stayed in the hotel and watched The Strangers, read, than fell asleep fairly early.  Jed went for a walk to Tiananmen Square while I surfed the net, and planned out what we would do the next day.  We settled on The Forbidden City, home to the two Chinese dynasties.

We woke up around 9AM, and shuffled down to breakfast.  This was our first day of making a hotel breakfast, and it did not disappoint.  They had traditional Chinese food, as well as western breakfast.   I got pancakes, and a chocolate croissant, which was delicious and a great break from the local fare we have been having.   Got back to the room, and found we neither had clean clothes.  The laundry situation is pretty dismal in Beijing, and we were at the mercy at the hotel, where they charge about 5 dollars to wash one tee-shirt.  Picked my three favorite to wash, and put on my least dirty shirt, which says "I <3 HK" so much for not sticking out as a huge tourist.

Walked to The Forbidden City from our hotel, took about 20 minutes.  When we arrived I was reminded why China is the most populated country in the world.  The square to get tickets was insanely crowded, there had to me thousands of people waiting to get in, but the line to buy tickets was pretty fast.  We opted for an automatic guide, kind of a like an audio guide, but you have no idea when it goes off.  Mine was a bit more sensitive the Jed's, and would go off always like 2 minutes before.  The Forbidden City itself is just too cool for words.  It is immense, and it took us over 4 hours just to visit every building.  The architecture is just about as authentic as you will ever see, and it gives a great sense of what it was like for the Emperor living in the city.  There is a path made out of white marble that only the Emperor was allowed to walk on, so naturally we spent the whole say only walking on that path.  We felt pretty regal and decided that it would have been good to be Emperor.

We left The Forbidden City and went to explore Tiananmen Square.  It was pretty cool, but surprisingly enough, it doesn't have a warm feeling to it.  It's immense, but everyone seems like their kind of walking on egg shells, while visiting.  The whole communist style architecture that makes up Tiananmen can be described in two words:

Stone and Massive.  It has a 1984 vive, and with all the cameras, you can be sure that Big Brother was watching.

Went back to the hotel after getting a quick lunch.  This hotel is so great, we discovered that with our upgrade we now have access to a happy hour in the premiere lounge, which basically means free drinks and food for two hours a day.  Signing off now to go pick up our 30 dollar laundry, and see what to do tonight.  

Beijing...finally a post

Hey guys, so apparently in China there are a number of sites blocked by the Chinese government due to too much free speech. They call it China's great firewall. Unfortunately, Blogger.com is one of those sites that can't be accessed at all. So we are posting through emails, hope this work. 

Thursday Night July 2nd

So after we got back from Macau Joe and I decided to just have a chill night and watch a movie. We ended up watching Bangkok Dangerous. It turned out to not b e the best movie but it was cool seeing the sites of Bangkok again from a Nicolas Cage point of view.

Friday July 3rd

The next day we woke up pretty late. We went to this amazing Mexican restaurant where I got a salmon and pineapple salad. We then wanted to do some shopping so we took a bus to Stanley market . Its about 15 km south of the city. The bus ride was beautiful and scary. There were cliff edges constantly and we were literally a foot from going over. At Stanley we bought some pretty sweet gifts. We took the bus back got ready and headed  out for our last night in Hong Kong.  After hitting a few bars and buying an amazing special (6 shots for 100HK) we ended up in a pretty sweet bar called Club 9 where basically it was all white people from HK trying to see who can spend the most money and look the best while doing it. Kind of weird. We were hurting by the end of this night and only had three hours of sleep.

Saturday July 4th

The next day was a travel day…yay.  A great way to spend Independence Day. We got up at 7 and almost fought each other because of crankiness. Took the airport express to HK international and caught our flight to Beijing leaving at 10am. To summarize Hong Kong would be difficult. It really is like the New York of the East but with a different vibe. The western influence permeates the  city everywhere it seems.  But you still get a hint of a feeling that there is some traditional Chinese culture in the nooks in crannies. East meets west is this city and I really had a great time.  Joe called HK China light. Now Beijing is the real China or China heavy.

We got to Beijing around 4  and were utterly exhausted. We are staying at the Novatel Peace Hotel close to the Forbidden City. The hotel is excellent. We asked if they had any upgrades available and they put us on their luxury floor. The room has two beds so life is good.  We got some food at Pizza Hut after an exhaustive search. In Beijing no one speaks a word of English. We were told that the Pizza Huts here are like legit high class restaurants and it's true! They are so nice and the pizza was excellent. We then relaxed in the room and I found a blog explaining where we could celebrate the fourth. After some convincing we headed a really classy club opening called the beach. It was alright. Kind of a lounge on a roof deck with a beach motif. We luckily met a group from England who ended up being really chill who have lived in Beijing for some time.  They knew all the hotspots in Beijing. We all went bar hopping and eventually found ourselves in the bar district. The drinks were cheap and the music was excellent at this one venue where we spent the majority of the night. We met some Korean girls who raved about Seoul. We may visit. After a party night that we didn't expect we went home and crashed around 4am.

Sunday July 5^th

We woke up around 1pm today got some McDonalds. Then walked around a mall and found ourselves in a Chinese arcade. This place was amazing. So many DDR type games that the people were playing were just unbelievable. Joe wanted to show his skills but I saved him from embarrassment. It seemed whatever game we played the people would constantly be watching and be intrigued. I almost beat a little Chinese kid at some fighting game but lost.  Now we're back in the hotel relaxing and trying to figure out what were going to do next.

-jed

City of Dreams

Last night was our first really clear night in Hong Kong, so after a quick dinner, we decided to take the tram to the top of Victoria Peak. The tram itself is really cool, especially because it is really old, and the angle it goes up make it feel more like a roller coaster, and less of a tram. We got to the top after about 20 minutes, and rushed up 10 escalators through a fancy mall to finally get to the sky view terrace.

Looking down on the city, I was dumbstruck. It was one of the most breathtakingly beautiful views I have ever seen. It is one thing to be in Hong Kong walking the streets, and another thing entirely to look out it from above. Jed especially liked the "The Dark Knight" building, you know the one where Batman kidnaps the Chinese business man. I hope the pictures give you an idea of what is looked like.

Woke up this morning to try to make breakfast, but it didn't happen. So we got up at 10:30 and got ready to go to Macau! The ferry ride took an hour, and it was very comfortable. As soon as you get to Macau, there are just tons of Casinos who all want you to come to theirs. We skiped out on the sightseeing (heard it's nothing to write home about), and headed straight to the Venetian Macau. The casino was fun, and after a while we switched it up and went to City of Dream. It was more fun, and we were like the only white people on the floor. Someone even ran up to us and asked if he could take a picture with us. He must be a fan of The Lost Breeds. So fun day in Macau, lost some money, but had a blast while doing it!

Don't know what is up for tonight, or tomorrow. I want to hit up the Jade market, and buy some trinkets! We are all booked for our flight to Beijing on Saturday.

Cananda D'eh

Canada day was excellent! Apparently the person who developed Lan Kwan Fong was Canadian so they celebrate it pretty hard. Hong Kong also has the next day off so our street was packed. Joe and I got some half liter hogos then went bar hopping. We met some amazing Hong Kong locals who seemed to love Americans and our dance skills. We hit up a couple bars then found ourselves in a Russian ice bar. Unfortunately, the "ice bar" was just like 50 degrees and the ice blocks that made up the walls were made of plastic. But after being a hot sweaty mess the faux ice did feel nice.

The next morning we slept in until about one after that pesky Canada day. Then, for lunch, had some traditional dim sum. We had some chicken feet, dumplings, and noodles. The chicken feet were pretty gross to look at and actually just pretty gross in general. Joe and I were a little out of our element at this place but we ended up with a good meal. After this we took the star ferry which is Hong Kong's pride and glory for public transportation. We went across the river back into Kowloon. The public transportation here is amazing. The star ferry and MTR are way above anything in NYC. Walking through the subway system is like walking through a luxury mall.

Once in Kowloon we went to the Hong Kong Art Mueseum which was excellent! There was a really good exhibit of contemporary art that was hosted by Lois Vutton. I'm not a huge fan of a museum partnering with a commercial entity but some of the art pieces were utterly amazing. After this we headed to the Science Museum. It was basically a playground packed with children. I wasn't a huge fan because when I wanted to play anything there would be a large line of impatient kids looking like, "WTF is this guy doing taking my toys". We then took the MTR back to our hotel and are slowly recuperating.

Kowlooooooooon

We spent last night in Lan Kwai Fong, and SoHo. Started the night at TiVo, which was a pretty cool restaurant, where it was two for one meals, so we saved some money as well. Then headed down to The Brew House for the end of Happy Hour! We of course got Hoegartens which were served in half litter mugs. It was the biggest beer I have ever held, but don't worry we both finished them, and then another! From there we went to Z-bar to listen to some music. Around 10 we hit up the infamous club Dragon-I and got some nice 12 dollar cocktails. Apparently it was model night as everyone in their was a model from some eastern European country including Kazakhstan, and Estonia.

Most conversations when something like this:

Me:Hi, I'm Joe, where are you from?
Model:(roll eyes) Kazakhstan.
Me:That's pretty far, why are you in Hong Kong?
Model: I am a model
Me:Me too!!
Model: I have to go now

It was actually a lot of fun, and I just kind of laughed it off, and got to dance to some good music. After the model club we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Woke up this morning and went to one of our favorite restaurants, Pret A Manger! Then we took up the mid-level escalator, to the end, and the walked back down. Then we took the subway to Kowloon! The subway system here is so easy to navigate, and so nice. Also the card is called an Octopus Card, which is way better name than a metro card.

In Kowloon we took a walking tour. We visited the bird market, where lots of old Chinese men sat around with their birds, and played Mah Jong. Next was the flower market, where we could bu banzai trees got so cheap. If only there was a way to transport them back to the states! Next we went to an outdoor market and bargained our way to some good deals.

Jed is ruthless with the bargaining, if someone says 200 Jed says 20, if they say 150 Jed says 20. He always gets a good price though. When I bargain, they say 200, I go 160, they say 190, I say OK! I feel bad for them because they might actually need the money. My trick is if I really want something, I just let Jed bargain it down for me. We ended up getting some great souvenirs, and gifts for everyone back home. I think we are going to need to buy an extra suitcase to carry all the items we have acquired.

It was a long and hot day. Back at the hotel now. Getting ready to go out. It is Canada Day and they are having some huge parties, so maybe we will pretend to be Canadian eh?

Big Happy Birthday Shout Out to Jeremy Bia, who turns 12 today!

2 Weeks In!

Cannot believe this is officially the start of our third week traveling. As you can imagine after the flying all day we were pretty exhausted, but we still made night of it. Explored the area by our hotel, which I can only describe as version of Hell's Kitchen but instead of restaurants they only have bars. Ate dinner at an English Pub, which was good but found out quickly the HK is going to be much more expensive than Thailand. Much much more!! Walked around some more and got a few more drinks, than decided to call it a night. Hotel LKF is like a luxury apartment, they have everything, from a mini-bar, to complimentary bathrobes. To save money Jed and I got only king size bed so its also very romantic haha :) I highly recommend this hotel!

Woke up at 10:30 and got ready while watching the CNN. Surprised to see how much we had missed while isolated on the tropical beach Paradise of Phuket. Went out to get breakfast/lunch then walked around central, which is the uhhh central part of HK. It is like any city here in Hong Kong, but the catch is there are hills EVERYWHERE. We got lost many times trying to find the Bank of China tower, but eventually got to it.

We did a walking tour we got from our Lonely Planet guide, and visited the HSBC tower, St. Johns Cathedral, the Hong Kong Park, and Central Square. We also went to the Chinese Tea Museum which is exactly what it sounds like (kind of boring, but free to enter). Jed convinced me to go get some tea at the attached tea shop. It was kind of cool to watch how the prepared it, but in the end, it was just tea, expensive tea. 81 HK dollars each! The HSBC tower is called the Steel Robot, and it lives up to it's name. The architecture is really beautiful here, I am excited to take the tram up Victoria's Peak to see it lit up at night.

So tonight the plan is to hit up LKF, hopefully make it to a happy hour, and meet some new people!

Note:
$1 USD is equal to $7.75 HK

You for Scuba?

Our sixth day in Phuket was pretty low key. Luckily the day before we did all our confined water dives (in pool) so we had the day off from scuba. We woke up by far the latest at around 1pm. Then we hit up a new beach called Kata Beach. It was so much nicer than Karon. No killer riptides here! Joe and I just chilled and Joe got some questionable Pad Thai from some hut right on the beach. But he said it was still pretty reasonable. After some sun and boogey boarding we headed home showered and read. Our motorbikes took us yet again to Patong beach where we found a Scruffy Mcgees and listened to some live music and called it a night.

The next day were our first open water dives! We were picked up at the bungalow around 8:30 then headed to the boat. The boat was pretty large and just made for scuba. About 25 people were also on the boat ready to dive. We were the only divers training for our open water certification so basically we were the newbs. After three dives at three different locations we were feeling pretty good. The dives ranged from 36-50 feet deep. Joe and I took our final exams and passed with flying colors. Food was served on the boat and after a 10 hour day we made it back to our bungalow. That night being exhausted we caught "Drag Me to Hell". I definitely recommend. It was good in a classic, cheesy, funny kind of way for a horror film. A lot like Sam Raimis other film "Evil Dead".

Saturday was our final day until we got our Padi certs. Same deal... we headed to the boat and did three dives. This time our dives went deeper and we saw a lot more cool stuff. At about 65 feet at Phi Phi island (where they filmed the beach) we saw octopus, zebra mora eel, giant mora, rock slugs, trumpet fish, lion fish, leopard shark, school of yellow tail barracuda, sea horse and some catfish. Not to mention a million other tropical fish. After another long day we finally got our certification. Now officially we can go out on our own and find treasure! It was actually a lot of work to get this thing, but Joe kept pushing to get it. Our last night in Phuket, we went to another Irish bar right by where our motorbikes were dropped off and watched some rugby. We walked back to Kata and fell asleep.

Today was a travel day. Flight leaving Phuket to Bangkok then finally to HONG KONG!!
We arrived a couple hours ago to pouring rain but still I'm so excited to be here. The city definitely has a New York feel. Our hotel is amazing and finally were not slumming it. Were located right in Lan Kwai Fong in central Hong Kong Island. Supposedly a very happening area. Miss everyone and we will be updating more often no that we have internet!

Change of Plans

If you haven't noticed we have been in Phuket for a while now, and are not leaving until Sunday. You are probably wondering how we are going to visit all the places we had in our original itinery, and the thing is we are not going to.

Now that we are in Asia we have decided to take our time in the places we visit, this way we will get to spend more in without all the hetic travel. We still plan on going to HK, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tokyo, but are going to skip Singapore, and Vietnam. Vietnam was also a pain because the Visa are really hard to get right now.

Who wants to visit Vietnam anyway?

You Want Thai Massaaaaaaaage?

After the dangerous journey through the jungle, and weaving through Thai rush hour traffic, we met up with Tony, and Tim and decided we were aching for a massage. Now in Thailand, massage's are not hard to find, in fact the girls will grab you and do anything to get you inside.

The hard part in Thailand is finding a legit massage place, with no uhhhh funny business. After consulting with a hotel they told us the only place they could think of was called Let's Relax.

Not the most legit name, but we checked it out, and it seemed nice enough so we booked four thai massages, 1 hour for 500 baht. It was my first real massage, and it was as good as you can imagine. They bent me into shapes that are not natural, and really hurt, but felt so good later. It was funny because they kept making fun of us because we were so out of our element, every time they cracked one of our bones, they had a nice thai giggle.

After the massage we went to the Aussi bar, watched some AFL (like a combination of rugby and football) and called it a night. Tim and Tony caught their boat, so we said our goodbyes, but will hopefully see them in Australia soon!!

Yesterday was our first day at PADI. We went in at 8AM and after a long day of classroom and pool we were pretty tired. So we kept it pretty chill last night.

We went to the movies, which was so great. 140 baht for a premium reserved seat. Like a big lazy boy in the best part of the theater. Before the movie everyone stands to watch a movie of the King and hear the anthem. Being in Thailand really makes you love the King, I feel a big brother kind atmosphere.

Pictures coming when we leave Phuket, the internet is too slow on the island! Also there is no spell check at this terminal, forgive the typos!!