Mt. Fuji

We hiked Mt. Fuji on Saturday! 1400m vertical, 3776m altitude at the peak.
We hiked the Fujinomiya Trail, which is the shortest course for reaching the highest point on the mountain. This also means that it consists of many difficult and steep areas! We started at the 5th station on the Fujinomiya Trail: 2400m.

You can see the route we took on this map. We started at the 5th station on the Fujinomiya trail, which is on the bottom left hand-side of the picture.

And we're off! We went with Daryl, Kirk, and Rob (Joe's co-workers from Boeing). This was actually Kirk's second time climbing Mt. Fuji... and as the Japanese say, "A wise man climbs Mt. Fuji once in their life, only a fool climbs it twice."

Everyone around us were wearing coats, pants, gloves, hats, etc. The 5 of us, on the other hand, were taking off as many layers as possible and still sweating. It was a lot steeper than I thought it would be. I think this was about the time that I was saying, "I don't think I'm going to make it to the top!"

Finally broke through the clouds - it was beautiful.

I was surprised that it was all rock and gravel. I was expecting more trees and greenery. It wasn't a very scenic hike up, but the views from the top were worth it!

On top of the world! We made it to the top in 4 hours :)

Crater at the top.

Shrine at the top.

We bought these walking sticks at the bottom of the mountain. As you hike the mountain, you can get each hut's unique "stamp" branded onto your walking stick. It helped us on our hike, and is a neat souvenir.

Starting our descent... we've got a long way to go.

We were trying to make it down before the sun set, since we didn't bring flashlights with us. We all agree that going down was more difficult than hiking up the mountain. It was so steep, and with so much rock and gravel it was hard to keep your balance and footing - and hard on your joints.... not to mention we were physically exhausted from the climb up.

Beautiful sunset. We made it down in 3 hours.

It was an amazing adventure and accomplishment. But also the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I'm glad we did it, but I will never do it again! If you want to see more pictures, I posted an album on facebook and shutterfly: http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/

Tokyo

We went to Tokyo for the weekend, and loved it! Joe had to go to a town called Utsunomiya for work for a few days, which is north of Tokyo. So we decided to meet in Tokyo for the weekend. After spending a frustrating hour searching for each other in the ginormous Tokyo Station, we finally found each other and had a great weekend!

This may not look like much during the day, but at night this long street comes alive! There are tons of restaurants, bars, and cafes under the train tracks... a very unique setting and fun atmosphere. We ate at a little Italian restaurant our first night just down the street from here.

We didn't have the energy to get up at 4am to see the actual famous Tokyo fish market, but we did venture over to a little market area near the fish market later in the morning. :)

Did you see the fish Joe caught!? It was a whopper!

We spent the afternoon shopping in an area called Shibuya - a popular and trendy shopping area for young people. This picture is of the famous Shibuya Crossing intersection right outside of Shibuya Station. It's known as the world's busiest street crossing, and one of the world's largest cross walks. When the traffic lights turn red, all traffic stops in every direction. So the entire intersection opens up for pediestrians to cross. Thousands of people cross within minutes, all day, everyday: morning, noon, and night.

At night we went to a neighboring district called Roppongi, known for it's nightlife. We loved all of the international food choices and decided to go on our own little pub crawl. We started out at a German pub, ordering appetizers and beer. Second, we went out for margharitas and dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Next, we found an Irish pub with my favorite Strongbow Cider! Last, we went to a sports bar which had a variety of draft beer choices. Very fun night!

The next day, we wandered the streets of an area called Ginza, which is one of Toky's upscale shopping districts. They close the streets on weekends to accommodate all of the pedestrian traffic. Our favorite part of this district was probably the Sony Building, which is essentially a Sony showroom with hands-on displays of the latest gizmos and gadgets.

We ventured into the 12 floor Abercrombie & Fitch store, famous and popular for being Asia's first store. I wasn't surprised to smell the perfume from down the street and hear the booming music, but I was very surprised to see girls dancing in mini-skirts and male models without shirts on displaying the classic "abercrombie look." I was too uncomfortable to take a picture, but copied a couple from the internet to show you what I'm talking about:

Most of the male and female models were "white," and people were lined up to take pictures with them. Prices were over double what you would pay for an item in the U.S. The lowest price we saw for jeans was $250. And even still, people were buying like crazy... if they only knew how much they were overpaying!

Overall, we had a great weekend trip to Tokyo and plan on going back soon!!!

Memoirs of a Geisha

I just finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden. It was one of the best books I have read in a while, and I highly recommend it! The story is about one of Japan's most celebrated geisha working in Kyoto during World War II. It's a heartfelt story of a young girl sold to be a geisha... spending the rest of her life wondering if this was her true destiny. It gives great insight into the life of a geisha during the 30's and 40's... describing how the war effected Japan and the depression that followed. Geisha life has always been a secret part of Japanese history and culture - so not only did I find it intriguing, but I also learned quite a bit about the culture.

After finishing the book, I immediately watched the movie. I have to say that I was quite disappointed in the movie. It left out a few important parts, and frequently didn't explain what was happening. I think it might be difficult for someone who hasn't read the book to truly understand the movie. I kept having to pause the movie to explain to Joe what was going on and why.

China FAQ

Many people have been asking us similar questions about China, so I decided to do a FAQ blog post:

1. Was it clean?

I have to say that overall China was a lot cleaner than I had imagined. With that said, there was still plenty of trash on the street, the rivers were brown and had trash in them, many stray dogs around town, and many areas smelled of urine.

2. Was it crowded?

I can't even begin to tell you how crowded it was! I have never agreed with the law allowing Chinese to only have 1 child... but now I completely understand why that law is in place.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see all of the people on the background.

The crowds only got worse as the night went on. On this particular evening, the subway ticketing was even shut down because there just weren't enough machines and staff to accommodate the thousands of people needing to use the subway. So everyone just got on for free. That was one of the few times that I felt unsafe in China - it had a riot type of feel - and I can see how people can get easily trampled.

3. Were the people nice?

No. I would describe people as having no "spatial awareness." The concept of personal space does not exist. People were loud, yelling into their phones or while talking to another person. They were pushy, grabby, and not afraid to talk to us or touch us. I had many people grab my arm to try and sell me something. Also, pedestrians do not have the right-away in China... and drivers don't care if you're in their way. I have heard that the #1 way tourists die in China is from getting hit by cars!

4. What was the most annoying or frustrating thing?

What I found the most aggravating was the constant cameras in my face. Sometimes people were nice enough to actually ask to take a picture of me, or with me. But the majority of the time people would just walk right up to me and take a picture. They either thought I was someone famous, or don't see light hair/blue eyed people very often.

What Joe found the most annoying was the umbrellas. People use umbrellas to block the sun, but when you're talking about millions of people using umbrellas - it's a lot! Unfortunately for him, he was tall enough to constantly be knocked in the head. Sometimes he would have to walk down the street with his hands near his face to deflect the umbrellas. Like I said above, people aren't nice - and they don't care if they hit you in the face with their umbrella.

5. What did you find especially odd or different?

Many men walked around town without shirts or shoes. It's not a conservative society what-so-ever. Also, babies don't wear diapers - in fact, their clothing had holes cut out and their private areas were exposed. We also saw young children without underwear, who would squat in the street to urinate. I guess that explains the constant urine smell.

6. How was the pollution?

Of course there was pollution, but I was surprised to see blue skies everyday. I was expecting smog and constant gray skies. I was even told by someone that when you visit parts of China, the inside of your nose will turn black after spending the day outside and breathing in the polluted air (this didn't happen to us). Trash, on the other hand, was horrible.

7. How was the food?

To sum it up, Chinese food in China is not the same as Chinese food in the U.S. The food was oily, greasy, and fatty. Not to mention they eat just about every part of an animal... so the items you would see on menus were not very appetizing. After a couple of meals, we decided to stick with international foods the rest of the trip. I will however say that we love dim sum (steamed buns or noodles filled with whatever you want - chicken, beef, pork, seafood, vegetables, etc).

Dim sum

8. Can you drink the water?

No, you can't drink the water. We even bought bottled water to brush our teeth at night.

9. Did you get sick?

Joe got really sick one day, and we're thinking it's from the draft beer he had at a local brewery. I also got sick a few days later, and I'm thinking it's from the juice I had.

10. What was the weather like?

Hot and humid. I wouldn't recommend going in the summer! Temperatures in the upper 90's.

11. What did you like the most about China?

It's cheap! You can eat, stay, and shop for reasonable prices. You can go anywhere on the subway for 20 cents! The subway system was also very easy to use - digital touch-screens and in English. It also has a lot of history, and we enjoyed seeing the famous sights.

12. What was your favorite sight?

#1 = The Great Wall!!! #2 = Big Buddha in Hong Kong

13. What was your favorite city?

HONG KONG! We loved Hong Kong and want to go back. It reminded us of a bigger and better Seattle. It's surrounded by water and mountains, and tons of islands. It also has different unique districts and a very young population - which makes for a fun atmosphere! It was diverse and international - great food and everything was in English! It definitely exceeded our expectations.

14. Is China similar to Japan?

Not in the least bit! People in Japan are nice and helpful. Japan is also a very conservative society, with people dressed up and in suits all the time. Japan is less crowded and more diverse, and clean! China was the opposite from all of this. The only thing that reminded us of Japan was some of the architecture.

15. Were you happy to be back in Japan?

YES! It was a great trip, and we would do it again. But we were glad to be "home."

16. Would you go back?

Probably not. Unless it was back to Hong Kong or to a different area to explore.

Hong Kong

City #3 - Hong Kong! Hong Kong was by far our favorite city, and nothing like China. It was clean, people were friendly, very diverse, and everyone speaks English. The scenery actually reminded us a lot of Seattle... surrounded by the ocean, mountains, and islands. It had steep & hilly terrain, and quite a few unique districts - also similar to Seattle.

We took the historic peak tram up to Victoria Peak to enjoy the beautiful views of Hong Kong.

The longest outdoor covered escalator in the world! All uphill, covering 800 meters (2,625 feet). It went right through out favorite area of town: SoHo.

One of the streets of SoHo. It was hard to capture the feel of this area on camera - it had tons of little streets and allies filled with restaurants, bars, cafes, bakeries, etc. It had a very fun atmosphere - many of the restaurants and bars were wide open, since Hong has a warm climate... and if the bars were full, people would just drink outside of the restaurant/bar in the street. We also loved that it had a variety of international food and drink choices! We went out for tasty Mexican food and margaritas! [Good Mexican food is something we have had difficulty finding in Nagoya.]

Our last day in Hong Kong was spent on Lantau Island, where we took a cable car to the top of a peak to see the Big Buddha. Second to the Great Wall, this was one of my favorite things that we did on our vacation. It was a beautiful ride to the top, through the mountains and overlooking the ocean.

Can you see the Big Buddha in the background (sitting on top of the mountain)?

Tian Tan Buddha statue - the world's largest outdoor bronze buddha statue.

View from the top of the Big Buddha - gorgeous!

After visiting the Big Buddha, we ventured back to the SoHo district that we loved so much... a great way to end our trip: lots of beer, great food, and cake!

The Great Wall of China

We loved the Great Wall. It was such an awesome experience!

We went to 2 different sections: Mutianyu & Badaling. We reserved a private tour, which turned out to be fantastic. It was nice not having to plan the day or worry about anything, travel in an air-conditioned car, and our guide was terrific.

The 1st section of the great wall: Mutianyu. It took us a little over 2 hours to get to this section from Beijing. We loved this section - it was less crowded/touristy, more scenic, and more original. We had an hour and a half to explore and climb this section.







The 2nd section of the Great Wall - Badaling. It took about an hour to get to this area from Mutianyu. This area was also beautiful, but more crowded and touristy. We had another hour and a half to explore this area, and we needed just about all that time to climb to the top and then back down.


Another hour later, we were back in Beijing - exhausted and sore. Such a long day, but it was worth it! This was our favorite part of our entire trip. :)

Beijing

On to City #2 of our incredible China trip... Beijing!

We had an easy 2.5 hour direct flight from Shanghai to Beijing. We got in, took a bus to our hotel, checked in, then headed to an acrobat show. The show was very impressive - we were amazed by their flexibility and strength! In this picture, the guy at the very top was balancing on a rolling board while flipping bowls onto the top of his head.

We started our 2nd day off at the Forbidden City. Apparently it's named this because it was literally off limits for 500 years. It's the largest and best-preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China, and was home to two dynasties of emperors. This picture is right outside of the entrance.

The grounds were huge, you could probably spend a couple of days exploring everything inside. There were many ancient buildings, paths, as well as a variety of museums. The only real downfall was that there was no shade anywhere! We were roasting!

After visiting the Forbidden City we ventured on to Jingshan Park to get an aerial view of the Forbidden City. We climbed all the way to the top - and were surprised to see a buddha in the top building. The shape of this hill supposedly protects the palace from the evil spirits.

Aerial view of the Forbidden City from the top of Jingshan Park - I wasn't kidding when I said the grounds were huge.

The Bird's Nest at Olympic Park. This entire area was very touristy, but neat to see. We paid to go inside the stadium - it's very nice, wish we could have seen an event there.

We couldn't go to Beijing without trying the famous Peking Duck. We went to the most popular restaurant in town, known for their "lean" duck. Even though it was lean, it was still pretty greasy. But the flavor was good, and we really enjoyed it. We bought the entire duck for about $30, then they bring it out and carve it in front of you. They even bring you the head, but no - we didn't try this part.

We started the next day at the Summer Palace. It was a huge area filled with temples, gardens, pavilions, and lakes. Very beautiful! Apparently this area was originally a "royal playground" for the emperors and royal court living at the Forbidden City. It was their summer vacation spot to escape the heat at the Forbidden City.

Next we went to Beijing's most famous Buddhist temple, the Lama Temple. The buildings were beautiful, each with it's own buddha or statues and worship area. Inside this building holds the largest indoor buddha in the world... carved from a single block of sandalwood, he stands 26 meters (85 feet) tall! Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture inside.

Here is a picture of one of the statues inside one of the many buildings on the Lama Temple grounds. It was hard to keep track because there were so many buildings and statues.

We ended our trip to Beijing at a Kung-Fu show. It was a really neat experience. See the "statue" behind us? It's actually a real boy!

I didn't post pictures from The Great Wall, I thought this deserved it's own blog post... stay tuned :)

Visit facebook or http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/ to see more pictures of Beijing.

Shanghai

Joe and I just spent about 2 weeks in China for vacation and to celebrate our anniversary. We went to Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. You can just imagine how many photos we took (I have albums on facebook and http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/ if you want to take a look). I'm going to try to blog about the main attractions we saw while we were there... 3 different posts, one for each city. Then I will end with a China FAQ blog post to share some of our opinions.

Welcome to city #1... Shanghai....

We were surprised by how large Shanghai was - both in area and population. The city has over 16 million people, and we definitely got to experience what it feels like to be in an overpopulated city. It was very overwhelming, claustrophobic, and caused constant stress and anxiety. The city was very large and modern. It was just about impossible to get around without using the subway system. Luckily, we have had plenty of experience getting around in Japan using public transportation, which turned out to really help us navigate our way through Shanghai.

Overall, Shanghai consists of many different districts, each with its own unique feel: the French Concession, The Bund, New World Shanghai, and Old Town. It was surprisingly modern, and cleaner than I had imagined (maybe because the World Expo is there right now?). It is not how you might picture "traditional" or "rural" China.

We started our trip at an area called the French Concession. Surrounded by tree-lined streets, this area is filled with narrow allies leading to cute little retail shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars. This was my favorite area of Shanghai - so unique!

Next we ventured on to a neighboring district, called Xintiandi. This area is known for it's international cuisine, bars, and designer shops. We landed at this wine bar and ordered a pitcher of sangria! We were nervous about the ice cubes (since you can't drink the water in China) but turned out to be ok. The sangria was delicious and the bar had a fun & relaxing atmosphere. Next we ventured on to a Chinese restaurant to have my favorite Chinese dish: dim sum (similar to dumplings... round noodles filled with whatever you want! YUM!)

We started our second day off at the Shanghai World Financial Center. It's the world's third-tallest building, measuring 492 meters high. This building has the highest observation deck in the world and as well as the world's highest hotel above ground level. The building is very distinct from the rest of the skyline, and looks like a bottle-opener.

The view from the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center building. The river was pretty brown, and had quite a bit of trash in it.

Next we went to "The Bund" - a famous area along the river bank which separates 'new world' Shanghai from 'old world' Shanghai. This pictures is of 'new world' Shanghai, an area called Pudong.

'Old world' Shanghai at night from "The Bund." Beautiful, old, unique buildings - but incredibly crowded. We found a local brewery down one of the allies called The Bund Brewery - which had good beer and a pub atmosphere, but may have contributed to Joe getting sick the next day... maybe from the water in the draft beer?

Day 3 started out at Yuyuan Gardens. This picture is right outside the entrance, and a very popular sight to see.The teahouse in the picture is one of the most famous teahouses in China, and the "zigzag bridge" is also a popular site to see.

This picture is inside the gardens, although it was very hard to get a good picture to capture the entire feel of Yuyuan Gardens. It was a huge area with tons of beautiful halls, buildings, pavilions, ponds, bridges, small allies, amazing doors/entrances, rock pathways, etc. We have tons of cute pictures from Yuyuan Gardens on shutterfly and facebook.

After fighting the crowds at Yuyuan Gardens and being in 95 degree hot & sunny weather - we decided to try to escape the crowds and heat for a while at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Wow, were we wrong... it was so busy that we couldn't even find a place to sit down (including at the restaurants!). We ended up waiting in line for about 30-minutes just to get a drink and quick snack, then we found a spot on the floor and sat down in the middle of the museum. The museum offers a lot of interacting exhibits, like taking a penalty kick at an electronic goalie, but the wait in line never seemed worth it and was quite disappointing.

We ended our trip at Lawry's Prime Rib Restaurant... a fantastic way to end our Shanghai experience! Joe loves Lawry's seasoning (and they even have it on the table!), so it was perfect. The meal was incredible & the atmosphere was excellent.