Asia Trip 2023

The day today focused on travel. We had to take two flights: one was Shanghai to Hong Kong, and the second was Hong Kong to Taipei. We had our final farewell breakfast at the Westin and then left Kerry's gift card that he won at the brunch at the concierge desk. (I hope Blair picks it up soon.) Then our new and final guide in China, Rong, joined us on a taxi ride to the airport that took about an hour. He really didn't say much at all to us on the trip, and, while he did help us check in, I frankly think we really didn't need his services to do so. The airline agent spoke English pretty well.  Once we went through the lines in China, the fun REALLY began. First, we realized that we were supposed to show another "health declaration" form that generated a QR Code UPON EXIT. We had no idea we were supposed to do this; we thought it was just an entrance requirement. So I hurriedly tried to fill it out on WeChat, but my Internet was not functioning properly. I tried to...

Today was a pretty low-key day: it was really all about the Westin Brunch, which I've looked forward to for YEARS. We went down to the lobby: they serve drinks first, so I had an orange-flavored spritzer and a white wine spritzer. When it was time to eat, I began by indulging in the seafood: scallops, shrimp, mussels. During the meal, I had goose livers, lamb chops, and medium rare prime rib. All great stuff! I also had some fruits (especially watermelon, which I've been stuffing my face with in Asia) and salad. They didn't appear to serve hummus anymore, but I did have some chicken shwarma in a pita and some guac and chips. Close to the end of the meal, I had coconut ice cream with chocolate chips and nuts. While we were eating, the DJ (who'd been playing since the beginning) stopped and the orchestra began. Then they had a male opera singer followed by three entertainment acts: two female drummers, a male and female acrobat, and then a stuntman who could climb high he...

 We took a train trip from Suzhou to Shanghai today. It wasn't long--it only took about 20 minutes or so. Then we met up with Mulan once again, who took us to a lunch with my former students that she helped to arrange. I was excited but nervous to see them again; I hadn't seen them in about 4 years. Yiming was the first to walk in the room we had reserved, and I thought she was Cora! Cora arrived next, fortunately, then Katniss, then Blair. We had a lovely lunch: my favorites were the fatty Shanghai pork and the fried eggplant (to DIE FOR!). I learned that Blair had gotten married; Cora was teaching middle school and felt frustrated with it; Yiming had a boyfriend and was working in Nanjing; and Katniss was working as well. It was so nice to catch up with them. We talked about Chinese vs. American culture and politics, too: those are always fun, fascinating conversations to have.  Afterwards, we went to SISU--two of the students came in the car with us, and two took a cab.We a...

 For today, we spent time in Suzhou and Tongli. We completely skipped breakfast in the hotel in Hangzhou because I hadn't been feeling well the previous night after our dinner with Alex, and we just weren't hungry right away. We did, however, get take-away food: scrambled eggs, pork sausages, watermelon, and brie cheese. We ate this on the train to Suzhou. In Suzhou, we met Tracy, who was our guide for the day. (It is notable that we also had a female cab driver, which we almost never see in China.) Tracy took us to the Lingering Garden, which reminded me a lot of Yu Gardens. Lots of stone sculptures, water, trees, and ancient halls. Very much in the presence of nature; we even saw bonsai trees, which Tracy told us originated in China, not Japan. After this, we did one of my favorite activities yet: a rickshaw ride! Each of us climbed into a rickshaw and our respective drivers drove us around. I felt sorry for the driver, dealing with my weight! But still I had a lot of fun. I ...

Today was our Hangzhou day. In the morning, we got on a train--after a brief breakfast in the Westin--and travelled to Hangzhou. It took about an hour--not so bad.  Once we got to Hangzhou, we met our guide, a woman named Lulu. She took us to two different places. The first was West Lake: it was a beautiful, peaceful place, and we even got to ride on a boat there. It was a bit crowded, and I didn't like all the cigarette smoke, but there were a lot of picturesque scenes. Water, flowers, foliage  galore.  However, I told Lulu that we were getting behind schedule after we spent about three hours at West Lake. Initially she planned for us to have a lunch of Chinese food, but Kerry and I opted for KFC at the Lingyin Temple, our next destination. My favorite part of this temple is the Felai Feng (Flying Peak), a Buddhist grotto site. I like the happy Buddhas the best, perhaps because spiritually I fancy myself as one. :)  We then went into the actual temple: saw some amaz...

Today was a very full day. Essentially, it involved a tour all over Shanghai. We began at the Shanghai Museum after a nice breakfast buffet in the Westin: I think I liked the brie cheese and the watermelon best! It's so great to have a private car drive us around everywhere: no going from subway to subway, and the walking today was less than it has been. We didn't have a lot of time in the museum, but I enjoyed what we did look at it. This included bronze objects, calligraphy, ancient Chinese paintings, Buddha statues, and jade items. What's nice is that I'm sure I've seen some of this before on previous visits, but it all felt fresh to me. A great visit. Next, we went to Yu Gardens. The beauty of this ancient garden always entrances me: the trees, the ponds, the fish, the ancient rooms, and the walkways. The crowd was not as bad as usual, and there were almost no foreigners. We did, however, run into this one Italian girl in her 20s. She claimed to be from Milan an...

 Today was a big travel day. We had to get up at 2:30 am to go to the airport. Hiro arranged for a taxi in advance. I gave him the rest of his tip, got a selfie with him and Kerry, and wished him well. He was a nice man and a good guide. The taxi was expensive, but it got us to the airport in plenty of time. The airport was VERY empty when we got there, and we didn't have to wait in lines long at all, not even in security. And the security in Tokyo was WAY more lax than in the USA: we didn't have to remove our shoes or belts, nor did we have to take CPAPs out of our bags. No major invasive pat downs.  Then we had a lot of waiting. Fortunately, Kerry found a vending machine with both food and drink and fed me a egg-ham-cucumber-tuna sandwich (I kid you not). The actual flight to Seoul was great: I even managed to buckle my belt with no extender (a personal triumph). They fed us a chicken cutlet dish with rice and I slept most of the way. We had some drama in Seoul, though. We c...

 Today was really all about food. It began with a journey to a fish market...or what I thought was a fish market. I mean, there was fish, but there were other things that people were buying as well. Kerry and I even bought some bowls with kitties on them as well as a cute owl figurine. Other folks were buying ice cream, and Lawson's was quite crowded with people buying food as well. The fish market was insanely crowded. But it was enjoyable! At one place, I bought salmon sashimi, and at another I tried sea urchin and the tastiest, biggest oyster I've even had. They told me to squirt some lemon and soy sauce on it, and it was perfection.  Later on, we went to a sushi-making class, which was a lot of fun. We learned how to make negiri and rolls. The negiri were of all sorts: tuna mayo, salmon, asparagus, and even hamburger with a little ketchup. And what was fun was that we got to eat it all at the end!  We went back to the hotel to rest a bit after the class. Then, it was ...

 Today focused on popular culture. First, we had a guide (named Waka) give us a walking tour of Akihabara, Tokyo's central anime/manga district. Very electronics-oriented, too. He kept talking us up and down escalators of different stores, which was such a waste of time. Eventually, he stopped doing this and just started pointing out various stores and talking about them. I do wish we could have spent more time here, but we were only given about two hours, and most of it was either walking or going up and down escalators for seemingly no particular reason. The only part of this experience that I really enjoyed was going to a hedgehog cafe. It was very different from the one I went to five years ago: it was quite small, and they allow only three people in at a time. Those three people were me, Crystalyn, and my former student Ella (who was a great student, btw). The first hedgehog I was given was a dud: he just rolled himself up in a ball, and I couldn't even see his head. So I ...

 I can best sum this day up by saying that the day was a bust but the night was a blast. We drove for five hours to see Mt. Fuji today and didn't even catch a glimpse of it. Some people were able to, apparently, but we could not. So that was unfortunate. One thing I did enjoy today, though, was a boat cruise on a ferry on Lake Ashi--I liked this a lot. I haven't been on a boat cruise since we were in Hong Kong back in 2018, And I will admit that it was fun to take a cable car up a mountain and get some beautiful scenic views: but nothing of Mt. Fuji. So I went home feeling supremely disappointed. And we had to listen to 2-3 girls giggle and meow at each other the entire three-hour trip home. I wanted to smack them so badly. Things got better when we decided to go out for the evening. After one Uber cancellation (we couldn't figure out where they wanted to pick us up), I asked the hotel clerk to call us a cab. He got someone and we went to the gay district in Tokyo. There...

Today was definitely not as full and crazy as Day 3. But the day focused on Japanese culture. The first thing we did was go to a Japanese tea house and attend a Japanese tea ceremony. It was very intricate in nature with many precise steps. We got to eat a sweet and drink some matcha tea. Some students even participated in working through the steps on their own while we watched. After watching the ceremony, it is easy for me to see why the Japanese are so exacting in everything that they do. One part I liked in the ceremony was when the woman running it reminded us all that this was one moment in time that would never be repeated, and that's why made the tea ceremony so special. I think that's a message that's worth remembering about life, is it not? The other major part of the "culture" day was a visit to the Japanese National Museum. I wasn't thrilled with the LONG walk to Ueno Park, in the rain nonetheless. But once we got to the museum, I really enjoy look...

Wow, we did a lot today. Full itinerary and a 90 degree day. The day began with an amazing breakfast buffet: lots of incredible stuff! Scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, chocolate croissants, and even salad and fruit. Great variety. Then we took a bus ride to the Imperial Palace. It's a beautiful ground area; however, we didn't get to see the actual palace itself. There's a big moat there with a double bridge that's quite notable. So the place was mostly just a brief photo op. One of the interesting things we got to see was the changing of the guard at the Palace. Our local guide told us we were very fortunate to see this because it happens just randomly. We did have time for matcha soft serve ice cream after all this, which was nice. Afterwards, we headed to the Meiji Shrine. I loved walking through a very woodsy, open air, peaceful area. Seeing the Shrine in the springtime was such a different perspective from seeing it in the winter, when we were last here. We went to ...

 Well, we had to get up at 2:30 am in order to get to the airport for our flight to Detroit, which left at 6:10 am. Our check in was okay, but security was not. TSA Pre was not open, so I had to take my shoes off, get patted down because I left a tissue in my pocket, and remove my CPAP from my carry on. Not fun. I really dislike TSA--it seems to me that TSA agents are just on a huge power trip. Our flight to Detroit was fine, though. Pretty uneventful and fast. We had breakfast in the Detroit airport with Crystalyn and two students, Kaye and Demojanee. That was pretty fun accept the waitress got a bit bitchy once she realized that one of us took off with her pen--we never did figure out who. We were just in a hurry to board the plane; in fact, Kerry and I were two of the last people on. The flight to Japan was insanely long. 13 hours. Kerry and I watched the movie Lost in Translation at one point; that was enjoyable. The food was not particularly amazing: two meals and a snack of ...