The Journey Ends; the Blog Goes On

We're back in Tokyo after our swing through Kyoto and the mountain town of Takayama. Tomorrow morning we fly home, on a flight I've calculated will be long enough for us to watch ten formulaic romantic comedies, should we be so inclined (and that's not even counting the connecting flight to Hong Kong). Before we head out tonight for a celebratory meal of sushi-off-a-conveyer-belt, I thought I'd post a quick update here.

As is fairly obvious, we never really had enough time to keep this blog up to date, especially where photos are concerned. After we're back in New York, I'll keep posting until the whole trip is covered. I know it's more history than blog at that point, but you might be interested, and we'll have more time to do somewhat better posts. At any rate, it'll be useful for honing any "how was your trip" questions, and you'll get some interesting first-hand reports on the sounds and smells of camels.

Can't wait to be home, amazing as this trip has been. More meaningful reflection will have to wait, as there's an automated sushi dinner calling...

Greetings from Kyoto

I'm on a coin-operated computer at the Tomato Guesthouse in Kyoto, so I don't have much time to post before I run out of change, but just a note to say we're here.

We arrived yesterday by Shinkansen, the famous bullet train. Traveling in a country you find you have time to develop all kinds of sweeping and poorly-conceived theories about its people. For instance, yesterday we were speculating on whether there is a relationship among the following facts: 1. Many people in Japan apparently live in tiny apartments with little natural light - even when it would be possible to have bigger windows, they don't - which they further subdivide into small paneled rooms; 2. The traditional Japanese restaurant likewise features a series of small, windowless paneled rooms; and 3. When traveling by train - including the famous Shinkansen - people in Japan seem to prefer to lower their window shades and shut out the scenery zooming by, the better to focus on their handhold electronic devices.

We did manage to catch a few glimpses of Mount Fuji before all of the blinds were closed, but I'm looking forward to getting a window seat on the train next time. Meanwhile, we have lots of temples to see in Kyoto. After five months in Asia we may be a little jaded to temples, but Kyoto has a fabulous history, having served as Japan's imperial capital for around a thousand years (until the mid-19th century), and we're going to appreciate it if it kills us.

Seriously, though - we had a fabulous time in Tokyo; we probably enjoyed it more than anywhere else we've been so far. It'll be interesting to see another aspect of Japan.

Confused in Japan

We have made it to Japan, which unsurprisingly is very different to anyplace else we have been so far. Staying with friends in Koenji, a happening neighborhood (where the 'real Weird people' hang　Out, we're told)　Not far from Shinjuku. So far we're still in　The mode of trying to get our heads around things,　Like the multitudes of vending machines offering a bewildering variety of canned coffees and other beverages, to the mysteries of the various devices we try to use －For instance, the toaster, or in the current case, this keyboard, which keeps trying to render my text in Japanese and is the cause of the eccentric punctuation and capitalization in this post.

Uploading more China pix to Flickr today. Will do more posts here when we have the chance.

Photos from Jaisalmer

Gateway to Jaisalmer Fort

Once again, here's a flashback to India - this is from late February...

Our last stop in Rajasthan was Jaisalmer, a desert outpost not far from the border with Pakistan (in an area bustling with military activity, especially given the heightened tensions around the time of our visit). Jaisalmer grew wealthy as a stopover for camel caravans en route between India and Persia, protected by a storybook castle rising out of the sands, inside of which narrow lanes are now filled with shops catering to the new nomads: travelers dropping in before heading further out into the desert on multi-day camel safaris (I'll describe our own trek in a separate post). Today the fort is crumbling and in need of funds for preservation and repair.

Jaisalmer Fort

Internet and vegetable vendors, Jaisalmer town - photo by Rachel.

Lane inside Jaisalmer Fort - photo by Rachel.

Tombs of the Maharajas, near Jaisalamer, sunrise.

Jaisalmer town, viewed from the fort.

More Jaisalmer photos here.

Today is our last day in China - we're heading out in a little while to see some of the Olympic architecture, adding a historical bookend to our visits to the Forbidden City and Great Wall. Tomorrow we fly to Tokyo to begin the last two weeks of our trip. I'll try to get as many photos online as possible during the next few days.

Entering China: Guangzhou

Swimming in the Pearl River, Guangzhou. Not for the chemical-sensitive.

I mentioned a little bit about Guangzhou's history in a previous post. Over the centuries it has served as one of the main (and, sometimes, one of the only) gateways for foreigners visiting China. A short drive up the Guang-Shen Expressway from Hong Kong, it continues to be a popular first stop for international tourists like us.

It certainly makes for an easy landing. We had a nice room at the Riverside International Youth Hostel (YHA: the secret to successful budget travel in China), right by the Pearl River on a street full of outdoor bars and restaurants. Just across the river was the old foreign concession on Shamian Island, with leafy car-free streets lined by French and British colonial architecture. Beyond Shamian stretches a big and vibrant city with beautiful parks and great historical sights, from the ancient through the 20th century. Getting around is easy, too, on the city's brand-new, shiny metro - which turns out to be in many respects a copy of Shanghai's system.

I'm sounding like a spokesman for the Guangzhou Booster Committee. The place was just nicer and more user-friendly than I was expecting, and we ended up staying an extra night, taking the city as a place worth seeing in its own right as opposed to just a stopover. A little bit of Guangzhou came with us when we left: our next two destinations were filled with tourists from the city and its surrounding province.

Neon sign right outside our hostel (but thankfully not outside our window), Baietan Bar Street.

Waiters lined up to receive their daily briefing, Shamian Island. We saw this at a number of places, and I couldn't help wondering if it was a holdover from the old danwei work-unit system. But I don't really know. Photo by Rachel.

Cargo by the river. Pic by Rachel.

Bust of a young Mao, Peasant Movement Institute. Guangzhou was the shared base of the Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party and the Communists during their brief period of cooperation in the early 1920s. The Communists, including Mao and Zhou Enlai, used a former Confucian temple as a place to train cadres. Now it's a museum, fairly interesting despite the lack of English captions on most of the exhibits.

More Guangzhou photos here.

More from Hong Kong

Grouchy cat, near the Mid-Levels Escalator, Hong Kong. Pic by Rachel.

In some not-quite-tangible sense, Hong Kong felt big the way New York feels big. It's something about the combination of wealth, grand physical presence, and grittiness. As noted below, by night it's actually a more impressive sight than NYC. By day it's pretty cool, too. Here are a few more pictures.

Above: minibuses and apartments in Kowloon.

Shoppers at the Goldfish Market, Kowloon.

Girl on a bike, Victoria Park, Hong Kong Island.

We're currently in Beijing, our last stop in China before flying to Tokyo. We arrived this morning after a marvelously comfortable overnight journey in a soft-sleeper class high speed train. Spent the day biking around the city, which was great but which has left us extremely grimy and with bloodshot eyes and sore throats from the pollution. Tomorrow: the Great Wall.

Chinglish, Part 2

Maybe these are funnier when you actually see them instead of reading about them on a blog but I can't resist posting this updaded list of hilarious English translations we've come across in the last week or so.

Names of shops:
Monopolying Shop of Tree Rock Carving and Jade Article
Satisfied Ornament
Thousand Predetermined
Eminent Frog Porridge and Soup Company Limited

Item on a menu:
North Peasant Family with Boiler
Dumpling with Ovary and Intestines of Crad

On a packet of almonds:
Absolutely You Cannot Resist This Palatable Food

Road signs:
Do Not Drive Tiredly
Climbing Section Driving Prudently

And my favorite, this sign alerting us to a pedestrian ramp at a bus station:
Caution Landslide!