6/26
Got into Beijing and got the bus to the hostel (the one around the corner from the one I'd stayed at previously) I'd wanted to stay at without too much trouble for 1RMB instead of taking the easy way out and getting at 17 kwai cab. Unfortunately that hostel was full, so I was back at my other one, though I don't mind too much- they're the same price and the other one was only marginally better. I got breakfast and wrote for quite a while, got cash out, then walked over to the International Hotel where I bought my ticket to Ulan Bator ($172 USD- but it's a LONG distance and a 30 hour train ride). I'd considered buying it online previously but had heard it was much cheaper to buy in Beijing and it was. By getting it here (which was surprisingly simple and straightforward and took all of about five minutes,) I saved about $200- and keep in mind that's $200 U.S. dollars. I walked back, making it a 5km walk for the morning, checked my facebook and Skyped my Mom and Grandma again- all before noon.
I felt quite smug by the time I got lunch at a place nearby that I knew was at least decent. Most of the things listed above sound so easy, but in China I've had days where getting cash out and going one place took me hours and was incredibly frustrating, so I have to appreciate the things that do go well, even if they're only simple errands. And since it's so rare for me to feel self-satisfied and proud, I'm enjoying it immensely. I even managed to read a few pages of the Motorcycle Diaries (which I'm STILL slugging through), talked to two people in my room, organized my photos and renewed my medical insurance. It's 5 p.m. right now and I'm even considering going for a run, taking a shower and a nap before watching the U.S.- Ghana World Cup game at 2:30 a.m. That, or anything else I could possibly do today, will just be whipped cream on top.
In my room, that night, I met Steffi, a cool German girl, and two very petite girls (one Chinese, one Australian) who lived near Urumqi, in Northwestern China. They invited us to come to dinner with them at a place that served traditional food from that area so we went. The kebabs were good, but everything else was average to disappointing.
6/27
After my super-effective day, I didn't do that much really but I met two girls in my room who I really, really liked and felt like I could actually talk to and really connect with. It was also exciting because one of them was the solo American female traveler I've been searching for! She actually isn't traveling in the same way right now (she's a teacher in Korea) but had previously and was planning to again in the future. The other was a German girl, Steffi, who's also traveling alone and is going on the train the same day I am so I'm going to hang out with her. It just always feels so refreshing to have real conversations because so often it's little more than "whereareyoufrom, whatareyourplans, blah, blah, same old, same old," and it's like you're spending a lot of time talking to people and saying absolutely nothing.
I went with the American (I can't remember her name now and she never emailed like she said she would) to the Donghuamen market (tourist place with weird food) though the only thing I got was some semi-dried shark (at least that's what they said) that I shared with her that was better than expected.
At night, the three of us went out, drank a lot of cheap beer and played a great game of Kings. It was a really wonderful, but still somewhat low-key (though late), evening. It was also nice because the two of them brought out some of the best in me, and I love that person I am at my best- she's fun and interesting and just that girl in the room that everyone adores. Most of the time I'm not that girl, and I don't even always aspire to be her because the calmer, quieter me has her own merits as well, but when I am that higher me it's fun and I'm happy and I love it/life/her.
6/28
All three of us woke up quite late and went for lunch at the decent place I knew nearby. None of us felt compelled to do anything adventurous so we wandered for a while, looking through the nearby hutong tourist market until the American girl decided she wanted to dye her hair blue. So, since I would've otherwise just screwed along online I, and Steffi, went with her. The search took us all afternoon, to several different stores, and two hair salons, but no one had blue hair dye that you could just buy and do yourself. We even saw a group of Chinese girls with bright (and incredibly well-done) blue hair and asked them, but they were cosmetology students and had mixed it and done it themselves. They took a picture with us and we continued our quest, but eventually we gave up and found a place with very cheap peking duck for dinner so they could try it. It was okay, marginally better than my first try, but still not great or remotely impressive. Neither of them had ever tried it though and they both liked it so that made me happy. The American girl left that evening on a train to Xi'an and Steffi and I went to bed early, planning to get up at 5:30.
At 4:20 a.m. I was woken up by feverish whispering from the two petite girls in my room. Apparently the 35 year old English woman who had just moved in that day had gotten drunk, stripped off all her clothes and climbed, naked, into the Australian girl's bed. The Australian girl had freaked out and the English girl had managed to get into her own bed, but not before peeing on the floor. The petite Australian girl and the petite Chinese girl had then decided it was necessary to loudly whisper about it for nearly an hour so I couldn't get back to sleep before it was time to get up for the train anyway.
Showing posts with label Drinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drinks. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Face to Terracotta Face
6/23
Busy day. I decided to go on a tour to see the Terracotta Warriors after much internal debate because it would've cost me at least 80 yuan (and I don't know if I've explained this, but RMB/yuan/kwai are all the same value, it's the equivalent of USD/dollar/buck or GBP/pound/quid) to go by myself and the tour was 190, but that included lunch, an English tour guide, an air-conditioned van to get me there and a stop at the Temple of the Eight Immortals (the royal temple in Xi'an). As it turned out, the tour was an excellent decision, mostly due to our wonderful guide, Jaija.
Jaija, whose name I remember because she said we could call her Lady Ja Ja, spoke very good English with an understandable accent and was very knowledgeable. Just as importantly, however, she was fun. She was adorable, really, and happy and excited the whole time and managed to unite our group and really bring us out.
The terracotta warriors were impressive, but didn't wow me as expected. They were cool and I was glad I'd gone but I guess I felt like seeing them in person wasn't really that much more exciting than seeing photographs of them. Some of the details were quite impressive though, and the number itself (8,000 total, not all visible or reconstructed yet) was astonishing. I do want to tell you a bit about the man who ordered them built though, as he's quite fascinating- my favorite Chinese historical figure so far besides Empress Xixi.
Emperor Qin ascended the throne as King of the State of Qin at age 13, and in the year 221 B.C., he unified China, which he ruled for eleven years, until he died at 49, completely insane at the end. In that time, he became the first Emperor of China by ruthlessly uniting the warring provinces, started the construction of, and completed the first section of, the Great Wall, built most of the terracotta army and drank mercury every day.
The mercury was supposed to make him immortal and a river of mercury still runs inside his mountain tomb 1.5 km away from the warriors, which is why it's not open to visit. He believed that the mercury would allow him to have a sort of afterlife and the warriors were there to protect/fight for him during said afterlife. They were never supposed to be uncovered.
I'm sure you know that what makes the terracotta warriors so special is the fact that all of the faces are unique but you may not know that they were modeled after real workers at the time. The paid for their artistic immortality with their mortal lives as the Emperor didn't want anyone making copies.
If you'd like to see a very good and truly aesthetic movie about China, the uniting of China and Emperor Qin, I highly recommend watching Hero with Jet Li. Great movie, and from what I've seen, it does a good job of showing the different landscapes of China.
Also, random, but did you know Mulan was based on a true story?
So, it was neat. The lunch was absolute crap and the temple was not particularly special, though they had a bunch of peacocks and I thought it was funny that they had six male peacocks for the single peahen.
I guess I just had some extra energy and was afraid I wouldn't have another chance to, but I decided this evening would be a good time to do my bike ride on the city wall. I knew it was 40RMB to get in, though only 20 with my student ID) and another 20 to rent the bicycle. Unfortunately, no one had bothered to tell me (of the several people I'd spoken to about it) that a 200RMB deposit was required and that the woman renting them was going to be a heinous bitch about it. I curse a bit regularly, but I try to keep this blog pretty clean but this woman was so awful I wanted to throttle her. I only had 100 on me for the deposit (besides the 20 for the rental) so I offered her my student ID and my debit card as a deposit in addition to the 100. She said she couldn't take it and refused to look at me and started helping someone else. The customer service here is awful in general and they are terribly rude and dismissive like that commonly but this witch was even more so.
Sometimes, things are impossible due to language difficulties. I get that and am always willing to pay for mistakes due to that since I'm the one who doesn't speak the language properly. Sometimes, things are impossible due to crap/ unfair company policies which the person can't change. I get that too, and try not to get angry or be rude to the representative who has no say in the policies they're required to enforce.
Neither was the case here. The woman was just being a bitch because she could and she felt like it (and incidentally, the second is virtually never the case in China) when I'd been very polite but was obviously desperate as the only reason I'd paid the entrance fee to do this. She wouldn't help me at all and it was the only place I could see where I could rent a bicycle so I couldn't just go somewhere else (though I later saw that there was another place to do so on the other side, but run by the same company). When it became clear that she wasn't going to help me and was pretending her English was significantly less than it was, I got pissed and went downstairs. I explained to the guard that since I couldn't rent a bicycle, I wanted a refund because I didn't want to see any of it except by bike. He got his manager and she said that it would be fine with my debit card, and later, that it would be fine with just 100 deposit. She radioed someone and said I could go back up to the wall and it would be okay.
It wasn't. The same awful woman still said I couldn't (and admittedly, I was being quite rude back at this point) and refused to help me in any way, or even look at me. I grabbed the radio, assuming that if I said something the manager (of the wall, I should explain, not of the company renting the bikes) would come up and help me so I said "Hello, no one is helping me at all up here," and heard nothing back. I went over to a group of men who also worked for the company and said I wanted to speak to the boss and they said the woman was the boss. I told them I just wanted to rent a bike but only had 100, and one of the men said I could. I told him that she wouldn't let me and he went around and made her take it. Finally. The entire ordeal took over 30 minutes and was incredibly frustrating, even more so when someone later told me they'd only had to deposit 200 total for three people. I don't know what that woman's problem was. I really was very nice at the beginning and she just decided to screw with my head for no reason. Also, this is a good example of a time when I am willing to make a big deal of something and argue it because I was being screwed over for absolutely no logical reason whatsoever (like one of the two listed above).
It really did ruin the entire experience for me. I was so upset. You can say I shouldn't have let it bother me so much, but screw you, it did and I did let it. It also just wasn't that fun or exciting in general. Yes, it was cool to ride a bike on top of a huge city wall, but the scenery wasn't diverse, interesting or pretty, it was just boring and repetitive.
Upon returning my bike after the 20-30 km ride, the bitch told me "You're over-time." I sure as hell was not. It was 8:30 on the dot, the time they closed, and I was supposed to have it for 100 minutes up until then, which I would've had if she hadn't delayed me for 30 at the beginning. As it was, I'd only had it for about 75. So no, I definitely wasn't. I grabbed my 100 that she put down on the table, not even handing it to me, and told her "Screw you, you stupid bitch," and stormed off. And no, I'm not the slightest bit ashamed of what I said and I think she deserved that and more.
Eventually I calmed down- my daily free beer from the hostel bar helped, and started talking to a group of people who gave me a free beer because they somehow had many extras, like four per person at the table. We started to play Kings, drank for quite a while longer and then went down to the bar to watch the World Cup games. England was playing Slovenia at the same time the U.S. was playing Algeria and both England and the U.S. needed decisive victories to continue onto the next round. The bar was only playing England's game, which sucked, but I wasn't going to make any really serious effort to watch it somewhere else so I watched that. Halfway through the game, a group of Americans convinced the bartenders to switch one of the tvs to the U.S. game. I didn't realize this until a bit later, but still soon enough to join them to watch Landon Donovan score an awesome goal. It was really fun to watch in a bar with so many people so excited about the games. Both the U.S. and England won their games, 1-0 and as there weren't many (any?) Slovenians or Algerians at the hostel, everyone was happy and excited.
With the group of Americans, and at least one English girl and two English guys, we decided to continue drinking somewhere else. We ended up as a club, whose English name was "Club," and after drinking lots more, including more beer and more of the gratis Jaeger and Red Bull type mix the Chinese love to give us foreigners, and talking to a bunch more random people, some who spoke English and some who didn't, I eventually got home and went to bed, drunk, but not too much so.
Busy day. I decided to go on a tour to see the Terracotta Warriors after much internal debate because it would've cost me at least 80 yuan (and I don't know if I've explained this, but RMB/yuan/kwai are all the same value, it's the equivalent of USD/dollar/buck or GBP/pound/quid) to go by myself and the tour was 190, but that included lunch, an English tour guide, an air-conditioned van to get me there and a stop at the Temple of the Eight Immortals (the royal temple in Xi'an). As it turned out, the tour was an excellent decision, mostly due to our wonderful guide, Jaija.
Jaija, whose name I remember because she said we could call her Lady Ja Ja, spoke very good English with an understandable accent and was very knowledgeable. Just as importantly, however, she was fun. She was adorable, really, and happy and excited the whole time and managed to unite our group and really bring us out.
The terracotta warriors were impressive, but didn't wow me as expected. They were cool and I was glad I'd gone but I guess I felt like seeing them in person wasn't really that much more exciting than seeing photographs of them. Some of the details were quite impressive though, and the number itself (8,000 total, not all visible or reconstructed yet) was astonishing. I do want to tell you a bit about the man who ordered them built though, as he's quite fascinating- my favorite Chinese historical figure so far besides Empress Xixi.
Emperor Qin ascended the throne as King of the State of Qin at age 13, and in the year 221 B.C., he unified China, which he ruled for eleven years, until he died at 49, completely insane at the end. In that time, he became the first Emperor of China by ruthlessly uniting the warring provinces, started the construction of, and completed the first section of, the Great Wall, built most of the terracotta army and drank mercury every day.
The mercury was supposed to make him immortal and a river of mercury still runs inside his mountain tomb 1.5 km away from the warriors, which is why it's not open to visit. He believed that the mercury would allow him to have a sort of afterlife and the warriors were there to protect/fight for him during said afterlife. They were never supposed to be uncovered.
I'm sure you know that what makes the terracotta warriors so special is the fact that all of the faces are unique but you may not know that they were modeled after real workers at the time. The paid for their artistic immortality with their mortal lives as the Emperor didn't want anyone making copies.
If you'd like to see a very good and truly aesthetic movie about China, the uniting of China and Emperor Qin, I highly recommend watching Hero with Jet Li. Great movie, and from what I've seen, it does a good job of showing the different landscapes of China.
Also, random, but did you know Mulan was based on a true story?
So, it was neat. The lunch was absolute crap and the temple was not particularly special, though they had a bunch of peacocks and I thought it was funny that they had six male peacocks for the single peahen.
I guess I just had some extra energy and was afraid I wouldn't have another chance to, but I decided this evening would be a good time to do my bike ride on the city wall. I knew it was 40RMB to get in, though only 20 with my student ID) and another 20 to rent the bicycle. Unfortunately, no one had bothered to tell me (of the several people I'd spoken to about it) that a 200RMB deposit was required and that the woman renting them was going to be a heinous bitch about it. I curse a bit regularly, but I try to keep this blog pretty clean but this woman was so awful I wanted to throttle her. I only had 100 on me for the deposit (besides the 20 for the rental) so I offered her my student ID and my debit card as a deposit in addition to the 100. She said she couldn't take it and refused to look at me and started helping someone else. The customer service here is awful in general and they are terribly rude and dismissive like that commonly but this witch was even more so.
Sometimes, things are impossible due to language difficulties. I get that and am always willing to pay for mistakes due to that since I'm the one who doesn't speak the language properly. Sometimes, things are impossible due to crap/ unfair company policies which the person can't change. I get that too, and try not to get angry or be rude to the representative who has no say in the policies they're required to enforce.
Neither was the case here. The woman was just being a bitch because she could and she felt like it (and incidentally, the second is virtually never the case in China) when I'd been very polite but was obviously desperate as the only reason I'd paid the entrance fee to do this. She wouldn't help me at all and it was the only place I could see where I could rent a bicycle so I couldn't just go somewhere else (though I later saw that there was another place to do so on the other side, but run by the same company). When it became clear that she wasn't going to help me and was pretending her English was significantly less than it was, I got pissed and went downstairs. I explained to the guard that since I couldn't rent a bicycle, I wanted a refund because I didn't want to see any of it except by bike. He got his manager and she said that it would be fine with my debit card, and later, that it would be fine with just 100 deposit. She radioed someone and said I could go back up to the wall and it would be okay.
It wasn't. The same awful woman still said I couldn't (and admittedly, I was being quite rude back at this point) and refused to help me in any way, or even look at me. I grabbed the radio, assuming that if I said something the manager (of the wall, I should explain, not of the company renting the bikes) would come up and help me so I said "Hello, no one is helping me at all up here," and heard nothing back. I went over to a group of men who also worked for the company and said I wanted to speak to the boss and they said the woman was the boss. I told them I just wanted to rent a bike but only had 100, and one of the men said I could. I told him that she wouldn't let me and he went around and made her take it. Finally. The entire ordeal took over 30 minutes and was incredibly frustrating, even more so when someone later told me they'd only had to deposit 200 total for three people. I don't know what that woman's problem was. I really was very nice at the beginning and she just decided to screw with my head for no reason. Also, this is a good example of a time when I am willing to make a big deal of something and argue it because I was being screwed over for absolutely no logical reason whatsoever (like one of the two listed above).
It really did ruin the entire experience for me. I was so upset. You can say I shouldn't have let it bother me so much, but screw you, it did and I did let it. It also just wasn't that fun or exciting in general. Yes, it was cool to ride a bike on top of a huge city wall, but the scenery wasn't diverse, interesting or pretty, it was just boring and repetitive.
Upon returning my bike after the 20-30 km ride, the bitch told me "You're over-time." I sure as hell was not. It was 8:30 on the dot, the time they closed, and I was supposed to have it for 100 minutes up until then, which I would've had if she hadn't delayed me for 30 at the beginning. As it was, I'd only had it for about 75. So no, I definitely wasn't. I grabbed my 100 that she put down on the table, not even handing it to me, and told her "Screw you, you stupid bitch," and stormed off. And no, I'm not the slightest bit ashamed of what I said and I think she deserved that and more.
Eventually I calmed down- my daily free beer from the hostel bar helped, and started talking to a group of people who gave me a free beer because they somehow had many extras, like four per person at the table. We started to play Kings, drank for quite a while longer and then went down to the bar to watch the World Cup games. England was playing Slovenia at the same time the U.S. was playing Algeria and both England and the U.S. needed decisive victories to continue onto the next round. The bar was only playing England's game, which sucked, but I wasn't going to make any really serious effort to watch it somewhere else so I watched that. Halfway through the game, a group of Americans convinced the bartenders to switch one of the tvs to the U.S. game. I didn't realize this until a bit later, but still soon enough to join them to watch Landon Donovan score an awesome goal. It was really fun to watch in a bar with so many people so excited about the games. Both the U.S. and England won their games, 1-0 and as there weren't many (any?) Slovenians or Algerians at the hostel, everyone was happy and excited.
With the group of Americans, and at least one English girl and two English guys, we decided to continue drinking somewhere else. We ended up as a club, whose English name was "Club," and after drinking lots more, including more beer and more of the gratis Jaeger and Red Bull type mix the Chinese love to give us foreigners, and talking to a bunch more random people, some who spoke English and some who didn't, I eventually got home and went to bed, drunk, but not too much so.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Why You Shouldn't Take Photos of Movie Stars
6/19
Oh right. Today. Well, today was the day before Father's Day so I decided to pretty much stay in bed all day and then drink myself to death as much as possible. No more comments.
6/20
So today was my day to go to the Forbidden City. I had to do my laundry, seriously, so I gave that to the people at the hostel and had to walk around in my dress all day. It's not actually that short- it goes almost to my knees- but since I didn't wear shorts for ten years (13-23) I still feel uncomfortable in anything shorter than capris. Anyway, it was a bit disappointing in general. I enjoyed walking under the famous portrait of Mao, and I could say the place was impressive in scale, but it seemed to lack character or much beauty.
Due to this fact, I didn't spend as much time there as expected, though I had to take some extra time to pose with random Chinese tourists who seem to love me. I had this experience a bit while on the Great Wall- because so many of the tourists in China are from within the country and don't see a lot of white people so I'm so strange oddity. This is perfectly fine, but it does start to feel weird. I'd always imagined that if I were a movie star it would be better if people took surreptitious photos of me so I wouldn't have to deal with them, but now, having been in a somewhat similar position, it isn't. Basically, it comes down to the fact that no one will pretty much ever be able to take a picture of you without your knowledge- trust me, I don't care how secret you think you're being, it's obvious, and so it becomes an imposition. Even it you have to respond only by ignoring them, some response is still required so it feels a lot better if they just ask, though of course, you'll agree.
Anyway, afterwards, I headed over to Jianshan park, which was a bit of a climb, but lovely. Some guy hung himself there.
6/21- Left for Xi'an.
Oh right. Today. Well, today was the day before Father's Day so I decided to pretty much stay in bed all day and then drink myself to death as much as possible. No more comments.
6/20
So today was my day to go to the Forbidden City. I had to do my laundry, seriously, so I gave that to the people at the hostel and had to walk around in my dress all day. It's not actually that short- it goes almost to my knees- but since I didn't wear shorts for ten years (13-23) I still feel uncomfortable in anything shorter than capris. Anyway, it was a bit disappointing in general. I enjoyed walking under the famous portrait of Mao, and I could say the place was impressive in scale, but it seemed to lack character or much beauty.
Due to this fact, I didn't spend as much time there as expected, though I had to take some extra time to pose with random Chinese tourists who seem to love me. I had this experience a bit while on the Great Wall- because so many of the tourists in China are from within the country and don't see a lot of white people so I'm so strange oddity. This is perfectly fine, but it does start to feel weird. I'd always imagined that if I were a movie star it would be better if people took surreptitious photos of me so I wouldn't have to deal with them, but now, having been in a somewhat similar position, it isn't. Basically, it comes down to the fact that no one will pretty much ever be able to take a picture of you without your knowledge- trust me, I don't care how secret you think you're being, it's obvious, and so it becomes an imposition. Even it you have to respond only by ignoring them, some response is still required so it feels a lot better if they just ask, though of course, you'll agree.
Anyway, afterwards, I headed over to Jianshan park, which was a bit of a climb, but lovely. Some guy hung himself there.
6/21- Left for Xi'an.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Jammin' Out with my Clam Out on a Bumpin' Dance Floor
6/17
Slept in until about two and then nursed a hangover that left me feeling tired and weak. I walked around
the city for quite a while, walking through a hutong with a small, but interesting market. There were so many things I wanted to buy for other people but didn't for the moment. I think I'm going to send another package full of souvenirs home after returning to Beijing from Mongolia.
I walked over to Tiananmen Square, which was huge, but somehow not quite big enough for me. I think I must be at the "impossible to impress" point as it is the largest public square in the world. It was interesting to see the Monument to the People's Heroes and Mao's mausoleum from the outside (as I explained to my Mom, it's only open from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. so it was unlikely I'd ever get inside). My pictures have been boring me a bit as of late, so I decided I should try to focus more on the subject and actually finding meaning in the photo, so I snapped a few of the People statues next to the often-present CCTV security cameras and guards. I headed home through this pretty little park I'd walked through before and got dumplings for dinner.
On my way to Tiananmen Square, I'd met Alex on the street and he reminded me of our plans to go to a club that night. I'm not a big clubber, but it had been a while since I felt like I'd properly, really danced, and THE DANCE FLOOR MOVED. If you've read more than one or two of my entries, you probably know by now that I'm a bit obsessed with obscure/oversized/bizarre/new things and this was no exception. I'd never heard of such a thing and there was no way I was going to miss it, so even though my liver was screaming at me not to, I agreed to meet him at their hostel bar at 11.
I didn't get back until after 7 p.m. so by the time I'd eaten, run a few errands, taken a shower, dressed and messed around online for a while, it was time to go. We had two beers at their hostel and then Alex, Eva and I headed to this club in a taxi (it came out to 15 RMB total, 5 (under $1 USD) each). Terry had left for somewhere on some train already today, but had been kind enough to leave us an extra beer he had, which we split on the way there. Eva and I were practically threatening Alex with bodily harm if the club wasn't as good as promised, but fortunately for him, it was. The moving dance floor was strange- it felt like you were dancing on a speaker as it moved in tune with the music, but by itself, not just as vibrations from the overplayed techno.
So we all drank and had fun. A singer at one point came on a hydrolic stage that lifted out of the dance floor, but I didn't think she was very good, though I was impressed by the dancers who came later. The club was called Banana, which, the three of us agreed, sounded very gay, and might have been. Two Chinese girls came up to me and started hitting on me pretty hard so I danced with them for a while. The bar was decent too (which was only fair after a 30 yuan cover charge for women) and I got an excellent mojito. They had a stripper pole, which I decided to try for the first time ever. It was fun and I think I did quite well, and I felt like finally, all of my third grade dreams and ambitions were coming true.*
We were just getting ready to leave when a group of Chinese guys invited the three of us to join them. They had more of that horrible jaeger-red bull (maybe) mix, but it was free so we stayed for a while. Actually, the guys were quite nice, but it was difficult to talk to them since none of us spoke Mandarin and none of them spoke English very well. Eva and I stayed for a while before getting a cab back, but Alex stayed with them until God knows when. It was only 3:30 a.m. when we got back, which I was very happy with, since I'd thought it was much later, though I still crashed into bed loudly.
*Explanation: In third grade, during a normal show and tell type session, we were supposed to say what we wanted to be when we grew up. I was disturbingly desperate for attention at that age, and so even though I didn't know exactly what it was or entailed, I, with my dresses and Shirley Temple permed hair, told my entire class that I wanted to be a stripper, just for the shock value of it.
Slept in until about two and then nursed a hangover that left me feeling tired and weak. I walked around
the city for quite a while, walking through a hutong with a small, but interesting market. There were so many things I wanted to buy for other people but didn't for the moment. I think I'm going to send another package full of souvenirs home after returning to Beijing from Mongolia.
I walked over to Tiananmen Square, which was huge, but somehow not quite big enough for me. I think I must be at the "impossible to impress" point as it is the largest public square in the world. It was interesting to see the Monument to the People's Heroes and Mao's mausoleum from the outside (as I explained to my Mom, it's only open from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. so it was unlikely I'd ever get inside). My pictures have been boring me a bit as of late, so I decided I should try to focus more on the subject and actually finding meaning in the photo, so I snapped a few of the People statues next to the often-present CCTV security cameras and guards. I headed home through this pretty little park I'd walked through before and got dumplings for dinner.
On my way to Tiananmen Square, I'd met Alex on the street and he reminded me of our plans to go to a club that night. I'm not a big clubber, but it had been a while since I felt like I'd properly, really danced, and THE DANCE FLOOR MOVED. If you've read more than one or two of my entries, you probably know by now that I'm a bit obsessed with obscure/oversized/bizarre/new things and this was no exception. I'd never heard of such a thing and there was no way I was going to miss it, so even though my liver was screaming at me not to, I agreed to meet him at their hostel bar at 11.
I didn't get back until after 7 p.m. so by the time I'd eaten, run a few errands, taken a shower, dressed and messed around online for a while, it was time to go. We had two beers at their hostel and then Alex, Eva and I headed to this club in a taxi (it came out to 15 RMB total, 5 (under $1 USD) each). Terry had left for somewhere on some train already today, but had been kind enough to leave us an extra beer he had, which we split on the way there. Eva and I were practically threatening Alex with bodily harm if the club wasn't as good as promised, but fortunately for him, it was. The moving dance floor was strange- it felt like you were dancing on a speaker as it moved in tune with the music, but by itself, not just as vibrations from the overplayed techno.
So we all drank and had fun. A singer at one point came on a hydrolic stage that lifted out of the dance floor, but I didn't think she was very good, though I was impressed by the dancers who came later. The club was called Banana, which, the three of us agreed, sounded very gay, and might have been. Two Chinese girls came up to me and started hitting on me pretty hard so I danced with them for a while. The bar was decent too (which was only fair after a 30 yuan cover charge for women) and I got an excellent mojito. They had a stripper pole, which I decided to try for the first time ever. It was fun and I think I did quite well, and I felt like finally, all of my third grade dreams and ambitions were coming true.*
We were just getting ready to leave when a group of Chinese guys invited the three of us to join them. They had more of that horrible jaeger-red bull (maybe) mix, but it was free so we stayed for a while. Actually, the guys were quite nice, but it was difficult to talk to them since none of us spoke Mandarin and none of them spoke English very well. Eva and I stayed for a while before getting a cab back, but Alex stayed with them until God knows when. It was only 3:30 a.m. when we got back, which I was very happy with, since I'd thought it was much later, though I still crashed into bed loudly.
*Explanation: In third grade, during a normal show and tell type session, we were supposed to say what we wanted to be when we grew up. I was disturbingly desperate for attention at that age, and so even though I didn't know exactly what it was or entailed, I, with my dresses and Shirley Temple permed hair, told my entire class that I wanted to be a stripper, just for the shock value of it.
Changing Directions
6/16
I was sitting in the front Cafe at my hostel, screwing around online when Terry, an English guy I'd met in Shanghai, came by- he was staying at a hostel right around the corner. It was just about dinnertime so I asked if he'd already eaten, he said no and we headed out. And immediately stopped.
Me: So, do you know anywhere good to eat around here?
Him: Ummm, not really.
Me: Well, I know of a couple of places, but I haven't had anything really extraordinary so far.
Him: We could always eat at my hostel, they have Chinese food and Western food.
Me: Hmm, I don't know.
After much more hemming and hawing, we did go to his hostel and it was actually, surprisingly good. Not great or particularly intersting so I won't tell you about it here, but a decent "chicken cubes with peanuts" meal. Their draft beer was 10 yuan (about $1.50 USD) for a very large glass so I had one, though I was planning on going to another Ladies Night with free drinks from 8-12 so I didn't want to have too much. Terry, who I roped into going to a Ladies Night in Shanghai that was quite expensive, was understandably unexcited by this plan and delayed me by suggesting another pint.
Eva, a Dutch girl who had been on the same Great Wall tour Terry had taken that day, came in and joined us and I managed to convince her to go with me to Vic's Ladies Night. We decided to go after a game of chess. I played Terry and lost quite pathetically (it's probably been at least five years since I last played, to be fair) and then Eva played him and lost, so I didn't feel as bad.
Alex, a German-Russian guy who'd also gone on the tour with them, came in and we all got another beer and started to play Kings. Eva was amazing at Never Have I Ever, which impressed me greatly. We all got another beer. I was very happy to be around people who truly appreciated the game. Since we were all drinking beer, we hadn't had a center cup and had substituted something else for the King card but they inisted we use something, and long island iced teas were "only" 50 kwai. We called a bartender over but she didn't know how to make one, even though it was on the menu. I volunteered to help and since I couldn't remember exactly, precisely how to make a LIIT, I just took a pint glass, threw in a lot of vodka, rum, gin?, cointreau and Coke and called it one. It wasn't god-awful but it wasn't a LIIT and it wasn't very good, but it was insanely strong and dangerous. We finished (abandoned?) the game and Terry and I split the odd concoction. I think that was what got me drunk and finished me. We went outside so Alex and Eva could smoke and I acted like a loud idiot.
Alex and Eva convinced me to go to Mongolia. Eva told me that it was her favorite place she'd ever been (and she'd traveled quite a lot, especially considering that she was only 21,) and Alex told me he was going there next.
There are other factors, including a girl I know (not a friend exactly, but a friendly acquaintance who I'd like to see again) who lives there and is Mongolian. The fact that Americans don't need a visa (for once- and maybe only once- it'll work to my advantage) while everyone else does. Eva also told me that she thought it would become very touristy in a few years and I had to go now. And that when I was doing minor research for this trip, I'd looked up Mongolia with the hopes of convincing myself to skip it since it is quite out of the way, but had just been more entranced. And it sounds cool, and I'm afraid that if I don't go now, I never will, and there's a Mongolian girl in my room, Dirn?, who's quite nice.
She told me a bit about Genghis Khan and how many people live in yurts (circular, tent-y houses) and always sleep with their head towards the alter inside each one (because to sleep with your feet towards it would show anger against Buddha) and their food (LOTS of meat, apparently) and their holidays. They have Womans Day (instead of Mothers Day, which I thought was pretty awesome in of itself) on March 8th, which is a public holiday, with everything closing and everyone getting the day off work, and Mans Day on March 18th, which is not a public holiday. I told her that I thought this was really smart because that way if the men didn't do a good enough job for Womans Day, they wouldn't get much for Mans Day, which made her laugh.
Rather sadly, she told me also that there is a huge wealth divide in Mongolia and people are either very poor or very rich with few in the middle class. She said that the people were discouraged with their country and that there were many single mothers whose husbands had left them to go off for work but drank all their money away. But, she also said that Mongolians were very hospitable and that it was a beautiful country. All three million Mongolians are supposed to be descended from Genghis Khan and his family (presumably because the population was so relatively small at the time) and thus have the heart and cleverness of his wife and mother, which were apparently great. So, if she were feeling bad about herself, for example, her mother might remind her of that, which I thought was really nice.
One of the last things she told me was that Mongolians (and she thought this was due to their historical interactions) have a fear of the Chinese people and think they're cruel, but that after being in Beijing (she's here to get a Canadian visa as there are no Canadian embassies in Mongolia!), she thought they had very good hearts. I thought this was particularly interesting given the Chinese girl's stereotype of the Japanese and because she told me most of this on the day I'd been to the Great Wall of China.
Lastly, regarding Mongolia planning, I'd already booked my ticket for Xi'an (where the terracotta warriors are) for Monday, and most trains to Ulaanbator leave from Beijing, so I'm planning on getting a train to Hohhot, then joining up with the Trans-Mongolian from there.
I was sitting in the front Cafe at my hostel, screwing around online when Terry, an English guy I'd met in Shanghai, came by- he was staying at a hostel right around the corner. It was just about dinnertime so I asked if he'd already eaten, he said no and we headed out. And immediately stopped.
Me: So, do you know anywhere good to eat around here?
Him: Ummm, not really.
Me: Well, I know of a couple of places, but I haven't had anything really extraordinary so far.
Him: We could always eat at my hostel, they have Chinese food and Western food.
Me: Hmm, I don't know.
After much more hemming and hawing, we did go to his hostel and it was actually, surprisingly good. Not great or particularly intersting so I won't tell you about it here, but a decent "chicken cubes with peanuts" meal. Their draft beer was 10 yuan (about $1.50 USD) for a very large glass so I had one, though I was planning on going to another Ladies Night with free drinks from 8-12 so I didn't want to have too much. Terry, who I roped into going to a Ladies Night in Shanghai that was quite expensive, was understandably unexcited by this plan and delayed me by suggesting another pint.
Eva, a Dutch girl who had been on the same Great Wall tour Terry had taken that day, came in and joined us and I managed to convince her to go with me to Vic's Ladies Night. We decided to go after a game of chess. I played Terry and lost quite pathetically (it's probably been at least five years since I last played, to be fair) and then Eva played him and lost, so I didn't feel as bad.
Alex, a German-Russian guy who'd also gone on the tour with them, came in and we all got another beer and started to play Kings. Eva was amazing at Never Have I Ever, which impressed me greatly. We all got another beer. I was very happy to be around people who truly appreciated the game. Since we were all drinking beer, we hadn't had a center cup and had substituted something else for the King card but they inisted we use something, and long island iced teas were "only" 50 kwai. We called a bartender over but she didn't know how to make one, even though it was on the menu. I volunteered to help and since I couldn't remember exactly, precisely how to make a LIIT, I just took a pint glass, threw in a lot of vodka, rum, gin?, cointreau and Coke and called it one. It wasn't god-awful but it wasn't a LIIT and it wasn't very good, but it was insanely strong and dangerous. We finished (abandoned?) the game and Terry and I split the odd concoction. I think that was what got me drunk and finished me. We went outside so Alex and Eva could smoke and I acted like a loud idiot.
Alex and Eva convinced me to go to Mongolia. Eva told me that it was her favorite place she'd ever been (and she'd traveled quite a lot, especially considering that she was only 21,) and Alex told me he was going there next.
There are other factors, including a girl I know (not a friend exactly, but a friendly acquaintance who I'd like to see again) who lives there and is Mongolian. The fact that Americans don't need a visa (for once- and maybe only once- it'll work to my advantage) while everyone else does. Eva also told me that she thought it would become very touristy in a few years and I had to go now. And that when I was doing minor research for this trip, I'd looked up Mongolia with the hopes of convincing myself to skip it since it is quite out of the way, but had just been more entranced. And it sounds cool, and I'm afraid that if I don't go now, I never will, and there's a Mongolian girl in my room, Dirn?, who's quite nice.
She told me a bit about Genghis Khan and how many people live in yurts (circular, tent-y houses) and always sleep with their head towards the alter inside each one (because to sleep with your feet towards it would show anger against Buddha) and their food (LOTS of meat, apparently) and their holidays. They have Womans Day (instead of Mothers Day, which I thought was pretty awesome in of itself) on March 8th, which is a public holiday, with everything closing and everyone getting the day off work, and Mans Day on March 18th, which is not a public holiday. I told her that I thought this was really smart because that way if the men didn't do a good enough job for Womans Day, they wouldn't get much for Mans Day, which made her laugh.
Rather sadly, she told me also that there is a huge wealth divide in Mongolia and people are either very poor or very rich with few in the middle class. She said that the people were discouraged with their country and that there were many single mothers whose husbands had left them to go off for work but drank all their money away. But, she also said that Mongolians were very hospitable and that it was a beautiful country. All three million Mongolians are supposed to be descended from Genghis Khan and his family (presumably because the population was so relatively small at the time) and thus have the heart and cleverness of his wife and mother, which were apparently great. So, if she were feeling bad about herself, for example, her mother might remind her of that, which I thought was really nice.
One of the last things she told me was that Mongolians (and she thought this was due to their historical interactions) have a fear of the Chinese people and think they're cruel, but that after being in Beijing (she's here to get a Canadian visa as there are no Canadian embassies in Mongolia!), she thought they had very good hearts. I thought this was particularly interesting given the Chinese girl's stereotype of the Japanese and because she told me most of this on the day I'd been to the Great Wall of China.
Lastly, regarding Mongolia planning, I'd already booked my ticket for Xi'an (where the terracotta warriors are) for Monday, and most trains to Ulaanbator leave from Beijing, so I'm planning on getting a train to Hohhot, then joining up with the Trans-Mongolian from there.
China Can't Keep It Up
6/12
I had a frustrating day; terrible weather and a museum I really wanted to see (the Chinese Sex Culture Exhibition- the only museum of its type in the country) had apparently been moved to a town 45 minutes away by train, in 2004. This pissed me off because I'd checked the Rough Guide from 2008, which still had it listed in Shanghai AND I'd checked the Lonely Planet from 2009, which also still had it listed in Shanghai. So basically, I spent today eating dumplings, wandering through the Pudong area (all corporate area and skyscrapers that aren't as cool up close,) trying to get to a museum and drinking beer. I did get some of these yummy chili-crayfish things for dinner with several Tsingtaos and I spent the rest of the night writing, drinking even more (hard not to when beer's about the same price as bottled water) and stupidly waiting up for the 2:30 a.m. (Shanghai time) World Cup match of England vs. the U.S. Secretly, I'm hoping the U.S. loses because then I won't feel any strange guilt for not watching the rest of the games.
6/13
I decided not to rush myself today so all I did was get up, check out, buy dumplings and got on my overnight train to Beijing.
I had a frustrating day; terrible weather and a museum I really wanted to see (the Chinese Sex Culture Exhibition- the only museum of its type in the country) had apparently been moved to a town 45 minutes away by train, in 2004. This pissed me off because I'd checked the Rough Guide from 2008, which still had it listed in Shanghai AND I'd checked the Lonely Planet from 2009, which also still had it listed in Shanghai. So basically, I spent today eating dumplings, wandering through the Pudong area (all corporate area and skyscrapers that aren't as cool up close,) trying to get to a museum and drinking beer. I did get some of these yummy chili-crayfish things for dinner with several Tsingtaos and I spent the rest of the night writing, drinking even more (hard not to when beer's about the same price as bottled water) and stupidly waiting up for the 2:30 a.m. (Shanghai time) World Cup match of England vs. the U.S. Secretly, I'm hoping the U.S. loses because then I won't feel any strange guilt for not watching the rest of the games.
6/13
I decided not to rush myself today so all I did was get up, check out, buy dumplings and got on my overnight train to Beijing.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Entire Day After
6/10
Hangover day. I could've done more than I did since it wasn't that bad, but I chose not to. I did have some awesome dumplings, the first really good food I've had since I've been in China proper. They were the xiao long bao variety (a Shanghai specialty which basically just means they have broth inside) and contained what I believe was a pork blend. The dumplings were made in a glass production area inside the seating area by spreading the meat mixture on the dumpling dough, tying them up, boiling them, then essentially grilling them which causes the meat mixture to release oils and broth inside the dumpling, then sprinkling them with sesame seeds and spring onions. Delicious, though so hot I always had to let them cool for an irritatingly long time- irritating because I wanted to eat them right away. 5 yuan (under $1) for four.
Hangover day. I could've done more than I did since it wasn't that bad, but I chose not to. I did have some awesome dumplings, the first really good food I've had since I've been in China proper. They were the xiao long bao variety (a Shanghai specialty which basically just means they have broth inside) and contained what I believe was a pork blend. The dumplings were made in a glass production area inside the seating area by spreading the meat mixture on the dumpling dough, tying them up, boiling them, then essentially grilling them which causes the meat mixture to release oils and broth inside the dumpling, then sprinkling them with sesame seeds and spring onions. Delicious, though so hot I always had to let them cool for an irritatingly long time- irritating because I wanted to eat them right away. 5 yuan (under $1) for four.
Tai Bai Bo. Tai Bai Bo. Tai Bai BO!
6/9
Today it was just dumping rain so I went to the Shanghai Museum, which was supposed to be fantastic, but I found it a bit boring. I was particularly disappointed in their Calligraphy exhibition, though their Minorities exhibit (showing traditional costumes of the many minority groups in China) was impressive.
I convinced Terry, an English guy I met at my hostel, to go with me to Zapata's because even though it was a seriously cheesy, trashy ex-pat bar, they had free margaritas on Wednesday Ladies Night. The margaritas tasted okay but had almost no alcohol in them whatsoever and all the other drinks were wildly overpriced, so we left shortly. We were walking back through the French Concession area (which was never French but previously very British and is still a big ex-pat enclave) and looking for a bar Terry thought he'd been to last night (he'd been too drunk to remember properly) when I saw it so we went over. 60RMB ($9 USD) got you an all you can drink bracelet but we were both unsure if we should go in because we realized we'd end up drunk and have to get a taxi back since the Metro stopped running at 11:30/12.
We caved. It was a really cool bar called CD Soho. He'd explained it previously and it had sounded, well, pretty much like any other pretentious bar, but it was awesome in reality. It was like walking through a futuristic ipod commercial with curving plastic white walls. The bathroom stalls circled a giant hollow ball made of hundreds of 2" diameter mirrors; the inside served as a vanity room, naturally. Plus it was just fun. The music was surprisingly good, and even though it was in an ex-pat area, it was obviously a local bar and except for maybe ten other foreigners, the bar was filled with a couple hundred Chinese.
Eventually we started hanging out with a group of Chinese, who decided that we needed more alcohol in our system (I managed to not get too drunk, but Terry lost count after 20 beers, yes 20) and starting making us drink premixed jaeger bombs and eat random food. With them, we played a game called Tai Bai Bo! where you each have a yahtzee cup of dice and try to guess the total count. It was easy enough to play once you knew the Chinese way to count on your fingers (different than ours). We both were fairly trashed, but because I'd paced myself by making myself drink one glass of Sprite in between the drinks, I got us a cab and we both got back to the hostel safely.
Today it was just dumping rain so I went to the Shanghai Museum, which was supposed to be fantastic, but I found it a bit boring. I was particularly disappointed in their Calligraphy exhibition, though their Minorities exhibit (showing traditional costumes of the many minority groups in China) was impressive.
I convinced Terry, an English guy I met at my hostel, to go with me to Zapata's because even though it was a seriously cheesy, trashy ex-pat bar, they had free margaritas on Wednesday Ladies Night. The margaritas tasted okay but had almost no alcohol in them whatsoever and all the other drinks were wildly overpriced, so we left shortly. We were walking back through the French Concession area (which was never French but previously very British and is still a big ex-pat enclave) and looking for a bar Terry thought he'd been to last night (he'd been too drunk to remember properly) when I saw it so we went over. 60RMB ($9 USD) got you an all you can drink bracelet but we were both unsure if we should go in because we realized we'd end up drunk and have to get a taxi back since the Metro stopped running at 11:30/12.
We caved. It was a really cool bar called CD Soho. He'd explained it previously and it had sounded, well, pretty much like any other pretentious bar, but it was awesome in reality. It was like walking through a futuristic ipod commercial with curving plastic white walls. The bathroom stalls circled a giant hollow ball made of hundreds of 2" diameter mirrors; the inside served as a vanity room, naturally. Plus it was just fun. The music was surprisingly good, and even though it was in an ex-pat area, it was obviously a local bar and except for maybe ten other foreigners, the bar was filled with a couple hundred Chinese.
Eventually we started hanging out with a group of Chinese, who decided that we needed more alcohol in our system (I managed to not get too drunk, but Terry lost count after 20 beers, yes 20) and starting making us drink premixed jaeger bombs and eat random food. With them, we played a game called Tai Bai Bo! where you each have a yahtzee cup of dice and try to guess the total count. It was easy enough to play once you knew the Chinese way to count on your fingers (different than ours). We both were fairly trashed, but because I'd paced myself by making myself drink one glass of Sprite in between the drinks, I got us a cab and we both got back to the hostel safely.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Eating, Drinking and Waking Up in Falsificaso Vegas (Redundant)
5/27 - 6/1
Yves and I did very, very little this week. We ate, drank, watched a lot of movies, picked up our visas and slept. However, we have done a few important things: eating very well and finding great bars. You may know that I have a particularly amazing skill: finding awesome places to eat and drink. Yves did his part in finding Fat Angelo's, an Italian restaurant that made their own fresh Italian dressing that was so good that I even liked it, and I hate all salad dressings (except Blue Cheese). Otherwise, he was very good at following me and indulging my whimsical quests when it seemed like a bar or restaurant didn't exist. Actually, one thing I especially liked about him in general was that he would indulge my crazy (and sometimes they get really random) whims and follow me anywhere. It made him very easy to be with.
Anyway, I don't remember exactly how I found the first place, but it was a place that specialized in Peking Duck, called...Peking Restaurant. He'd never had Peking duck before, which appalled me, and liked it. We were seated at the table with the other two foreigners (an older British couple) who took this picture for us. The duck, hoison sauce and pancakes were very good and I showed Yves how you put the sauce on a pancake then add duck, spring onion and cucumber. It would've been better if the pancakes and duck were hot, but it was still great.
We also went to a place recommended to me by my grandlittle sister, Tiffany, (from my sorority, Delta Delta Delta) whose family is from Hong Kong originally, though she's a native Californian (I know what you're thinking, and no, she couldn't get any more awesome if she tried). She recommended a dim sum restaurant, Din Tai Fung. We actually went to a different branch than the one she recommended (since it was three blocks from our place) and it was fabulous. It also had a plaque outside saying that the N.Y. Times had rated it one of the ten best restaurants in the world. Admittedly, the bronzed article was from 1993, but I was still excited. Dim sum is better with more people, but we were still able to try several fantastic plates.
We started with a plate of steamed spinach and garlic, which was very good (and surprising, since I normally dislike spinach), Spicy Shrimp Wontons (which was recommended by our waitress and was Yves' favorite and one of my favorites) which had an incredibly complex, developed flavor (do you ever wonder if I just make this tuff up by using buzzwords? Because sometimes I do.) but anyway, was really good and spicy without being grossly hot-spicy. Our third starting choice was the Steamed Pork Dumplings, their specialty (and my other favorite) which had a complicated method for eating, which always excites me. You started by picking it up with your chopsticks, then you dipped it in your sauce dish (a combination of fresh ginger threads and as much soy sauce as you wished to add) and then you transferred it to a small bowl where you put it down and poked it, releasing the broth inside which mixed with the sauce. Finally, you used a spoon to gather the dumpling, sauce and broth in a spoon and eat it. I think it probably would've been just as good without that process, but it was fun to poke it and sometimes I just like to over-complicate things unnecessarily.
Once we finished those, we ordered Special Sauce Dumplings (made with shrimp and pork) and Shrimp Fried Rice. Both were very good, but not amazing, as our first picks had been. For dessert, we decided on taro dumplings, which were just slightly sweet but, as Yves noticed as he finished his third and eyed mine, got better the more you ate. We each had tea and a Tsingtao beer with our meal and it came out to $359 HKD (about $47) for both of us, which I thought was a great deal.
At another point, we randomly walked into a sushi place and ended up with excellent salmon sashimi, which I mention because it means that we had great: Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Dim Sum and Peking Duck all in Hong Kong. Of course, we spent a bit more for this than I usually do, and in general the street food was unimpressive, but overall I mean to say that Hong Kong has wonderful food.
But, enough about the food. I want to tell you about the bars! I preferred Soho over the LKF or Wan Chi Red Light District (though a clean, fairly nice one) areas and Yves looked in his guidebook, which recommended V13. He had only to say the words "vodka bar" to describe it and and I was in. It also was on the edge of Soho, not quite in the middle, so it was a bit better, but when we got there the bartender told us it was no longer a vodka bar. They used to be, but had changed about six months ago. We decided to stay there for a drink anyway and I had a vodka-diet, while he opted for a (very good) White Russian). I had read somewhere that Thursday night was Ladies Night, so my goal for the evening was to get one free drink. The bartender told me that it was generally Wednesday night that was Ladies Night, but (I believe because he was bored as the bar was empty except for ourselves and one regular) he gave us all free tequila shots so we stayed there for most of the rest of that night and had a great time just talking to the bartender and the regular. Yves wanted a new lighter, so the bartender showed us the bars collection:
Somehow, that night, I was given a magazine for expats called Brouhaha (with NaNa from Ghana's number written on the back). I obviously ignored the number but read the magazine the next day and it recommended a secret bar (just the idea of which gets me nearly drunk with excitement) called Sense 99, which we went to that night. You went to 99 Wellington, which, due to some odd street signs is hard to find, then looked for the little buzzer button which had Sense 99 written next to it. On our way out, I noticed the unlit sign above, but you'd never know it was there or a bar otherwise. From outside, you couldn't hear any music or see any lights, but after you were buzzed in (by someone who checked that you knew what you were looking for) and went up a flight of stairs, you walked into a great little bar. The first floor had a bar which consisted of a cooler full of beers, another cooler of Coke bottles and a few scattered liquor bottles. The second floor had an outside balcony and a mini stage set up with a piano, bass, drums, guitars, rain stick, bongos, accordian and a few other instruments that were available for anyone to play. I might have tested my skills as a rock star, but while we were there, someone else was always playing, including an actual band that seemed to just coalesce out of thin air. The band was especially fun to watch because it was obvious that they were just jamming out and weren't getting paid. Each one of them just looked like they absolutely loved what they were doing and it's always nice to watch people do what they love, even if it doesn't really mean anything to you.
Yves had really liked his White Russian, so we went back to V13, which had some big party going on with a DJ, though by the time we got there, it was dying down. We went with a few people to some other club after that and called it a night (though way later).
On Tuesday, June 1st, I went alone to Macau. The weather sucked and many of the areas I saw were empty and closed. I was feeling fairly depressed about that and rather unimpressed because so much of the "Portuguese" waterfront area was refurbished, partially by casinos and partially by faux old Portuguese style so it was difficult to tell which parts were authentic and which parts had been built within the past ten years.
Macau itself was strange. It felt like Vegas in complete decline. The casinos were beautiful and glitzy but there just weren't enough people there. I went over to the more historic area: the Monte Fort and the front remains of St. Paul's Cathedral, of which just the facade and base structure was left. On my way through Senado Square I sat down and was quickly approached by a group of Hong Kong Middle School students. The group wanted to give me a brief presentation on the history of Macau and practice their English. Of course, I obliged and they were all very sweet. At the end, I filled out a survey about how well they'd done and gave them highest marks. They were so happy and excited and took pictures with me. I asked them to take a picture and here it is below. Oddly, this was the least happy they ever looked- at every other second they had these giant smiles filling their faces. After their presentation, they gave me a present. I opened it later and it was a bunch of Macau pastries. I actually didn't like them, but it was very sweet and none of the other white people accosted by the several groups of students got a present- it was just my awesome group.
I went to the cathedral remains and the fort. It was a weird feeling because it seemed so much like the areas and places in Mexico, the Caribbean and even parts of the U.S.- the forts in Florida and Puerto Rico (can we call that the U.S. yet?) and the feeling, though not the architecture, of so many of the missions in California. So Macau was very interesting, though felt quite strange.
Spending so much time on the road like this, it sometimes feels like I'm living several lives and the way people move through my life is so much faster that it feels like it just takes the core essence of relationships and misses the rest (good and bad). So, even though I know this sounds stupid and pretentious, in my opinion of myself, I can become a local in two weeks, or go through an entire relationship in that time period and have it actually matter (from the getting to know each other stage, to "dating," through the arguments, to the repetition, to the realization that you're not right for each other, all the way up to the break-up and leaving peacefully, hoping only good things for the other person and thinking they're alright, just not for you.)
More on Yves:
Yves and I moved into a single room together after two days and it's pretty hard to avoid someone you're sleeping in the same bed with. He's a good guy, though very...German. Just in general, he won't compliment me at all, even when I try to prod him by complimenting him. It took me a few days of feeling slightly ugly to get used to that but then I really realized that was just his issue, not mine and that was just the way he was. He's fairly smart and pretty funny, mostly interesting. He's also just easy to be with since this obviously isn't going anywhere and there's no pressure, and he lets me lead him anywhere I feel like (to the History Museum, the Big Buddha, two different restaurants and a bar).
Also, and don't tell anyone I admitted to this, but even though I'm obviously the person in charge when we go out to restaurants or try to figure out where we're going on the MTR (subway), it's nice to feel safe with someone. Walking with him, I can cross odd alleyways and streets, stay out later or even just leave my purse on the barstool with him when I go to the bathroom. It's simply comforting and sometimes I feel like I need a bit of stability, moving like I do.
Lastly, he spends more freely than I generally do and being a guy, eats quite a bit more and I've been somewhat imitating his habits. Terrible for my budget and thighs, but great for my happiness level.
And it sounds weird, but it felt like a real (albeit short and not super-serious) relationship to me. Neither of us was in love with each other, but enjoyed each others company and parted on great terms, like a textbook end to a relationship and I think that's the aspect I'm stuck on. Even though technically, we "broke up" (though I think he'd think it strange that I'd call him an ex-boyfriend) because I left the country (again), it was really because we just weren't right for each other, but still saw value in the other person. It was a very peaceful, mature break-up. Furthermore, I think I can call it a relationship simply because I say it is, since I'm the one considering it, and I say it is; it is, because of my saying so most of all, see?
Yves and I did very, very little this week. We ate, drank, watched a lot of movies, picked up our visas and slept. However, we have done a few important things: eating very well and finding great bars. You may know that I have a particularly amazing skill: finding awesome places to eat and drink. Yves did his part in finding Fat Angelo's, an Italian restaurant that made their own fresh Italian dressing that was so good that I even liked it, and I hate all salad dressings (except Blue Cheese). Otherwise, he was very good at following me and indulging my whimsical quests when it seemed like a bar or restaurant didn't exist. Actually, one thing I especially liked about him in general was that he would indulge my crazy (and sometimes they get really random) whims and follow me anywhere. It made him very easy to be with.
Anyway, I don't remember exactly how I found the first place, but it was a place that specialized in Peking Duck, called...Peking Restaurant. He'd never had Peking duck before, which appalled me, and liked it. We were seated at the table with the other two foreigners (an older British couple) who took this picture for us. The duck, hoison sauce and pancakes were very good and I showed Yves how you put the sauce on a pancake then add duck, spring onion and cucumber. It would've been better if the pancakes and duck were hot, but it was still great.
We also went to a place recommended to me by my grandlittle sister, Tiffany, (from my sorority, Delta Delta Delta) whose family is from Hong Kong originally, though she's a native Californian (I know what you're thinking, and no, she couldn't get any more awesome if she tried). She recommended a dim sum restaurant, Din Tai Fung. We actually went to a different branch than the one she recommended (since it was three blocks from our place) and it was fabulous. It also had a plaque outside saying that the N.Y. Times had rated it one of the ten best restaurants in the world. Admittedly, the bronzed article was from 1993, but I was still excited. Dim sum is better with more people, but we were still able to try several fantastic plates.
We started with a plate of steamed spinach and garlic, which was very good (and surprising, since I normally dislike spinach), Spicy Shrimp Wontons (which was recommended by our waitress and was Yves' favorite and one of my favorites) which had an incredibly complex, developed flavor (do you ever wonder if I just make this tuff up by using buzzwords? Because sometimes I do.) but anyway, was really good and spicy without being grossly hot-spicy. Our third starting choice was the Steamed Pork Dumplings, their specialty (and my other favorite) which had a complicated method for eating, which always excites me. You started by picking it up with your chopsticks, then you dipped it in your sauce dish (a combination of fresh ginger threads and as much soy sauce as you wished to add) and then you transferred it to a small bowl where you put it down and poked it, releasing the broth inside which mixed with the sauce. Finally, you used a spoon to gather the dumpling, sauce and broth in a spoon and eat it. I think it probably would've been just as good without that process, but it was fun to poke it and sometimes I just like to over-complicate things unnecessarily.
Once we finished those, we ordered Special Sauce Dumplings (made with shrimp and pork) and Shrimp Fried Rice. Both were very good, but not amazing, as our first picks had been. For dessert, we decided on taro dumplings, which were just slightly sweet but, as Yves noticed as he finished his third and eyed mine, got better the more you ate. We each had tea and a Tsingtao beer with our meal and it came out to $359 HKD (about $47) for both of us, which I thought was a great deal.
At another point, we randomly walked into a sushi place and ended up with excellent salmon sashimi, which I mention because it means that we had great: Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Dim Sum and Peking Duck all in Hong Kong. Of course, we spent a bit more for this than I usually do, and in general the street food was unimpressive, but overall I mean to say that Hong Kong has wonderful food.
But, enough about the food. I want to tell you about the bars! I preferred Soho over the LKF or Wan Chi Red Light District (though a clean, fairly nice one) areas and Yves looked in his guidebook, which recommended V13. He had only to say the words "vodka bar" to describe it and and I was in. It also was on the edge of Soho, not quite in the middle, so it was a bit better, but when we got there the bartender told us it was no longer a vodka bar. They used to be, but had changed about six months ago. We decided to stay there for a drink anyway and I had a vodka-diet, while he opted for a (very good) White Russian). I had read somewhere that Thursday night was Ladies Night, so my goal for the evening was to get one free drink. The bartender told me that it was generally Wednesday night that was Ladies Night, but (I believe because he was bored as the bar was empty except for ourselves and one regular) he gave us all free tequila shots so we stayed there for most of the rest of that night and had a great time just talking to the bartender and the regular. Yves wanted a new lighter, so the bartender showed us the bars collection:
Somehow, that night, I was given a magazine for expats called Brouhaha (with NaNa from Ghana's number written on the back). I obviously ignored the number but read the magazine the next day and it recommended a secret bar (just the idea of which gets me nearly drunk with excitement) called Sense 99, which we went to that night. You went to 99 Wellington, which, due to some odd street signs is hard to find, then looked for the little buzzer button which had Sense 99 written next to it. On our way out, I noticed the unlit sign above, but you'd never know it was there or a bar otherwise. From outside, you couldn't hear any music or see any lights, but after you were buzzed in (by someone who checked that you knew what you were looking for) and went up a flight of stairs, you walked into a great little bar. The first floor had a bar which consisted of a cooler full of beers, another cooler of Coke bottles and a few scattered liquor bottles. The second floor had an outside balcony and a mini stage set up with a piano, bass, drums, guitars, rain stick, bongos, accordian and a few other instruments that were available for anyone to play. I might have tested my skills as a rock star, but while we were there, someone else was always playing, including an actual band that seemed to just coalesce out of thin air. The band was especially fun to watch because it was obvious that they were just jamming out and weren't getting paid. Each one of them just looked like they absolutely loved what they were doing and it's always nice to watch people do what they love, even if it doesn't really mean anything to you.
Yves had really liked his White Russian, so we went back to V13, which had some big party going on with a DJ, though by the time we got there, it was dying down. We went with a few people to some other club after that and called it a night (though way later).
On Tuesday, June 1st, I went alone to Macau. The weather sucked and many of the areas I saw were empty and closed. I was feeling fairly depressed about that and rather unimpressed because so much of the "Portuguese" waterfront area was refurbished, partially by casinos and partially by faux old Portuguese style so it was difficult to tell which parts were authentic and which parts had been built within the past ten years.
Macau itself was strange. It felt like Vegas in complete decline. The casinos were beautiful and glitzy but there just weren't enough people there. I went over to the more historic area: the Monte Fort and the front remains of St. Paul's Cathedral, of which just the facade and base structure was left. On my way through Senado Square I sat down and was quickly approached by a group of Hong Kong Middle School students. The group wanted to give me a brief presentation on the history of Macau and practice their English. Of course, I obliged and they were all very sweet. At the end, I filled out a survey about how well they'd done and gave them highest marks. They were so happy and excited and took pictures with me. I asked them to take a picture and here it is below. Oddly, this was the least happy they ever looked- at every other second they had these giant smiles filling their faces. After their presentation, they gave me a present. I opened it later and it was a bunch of Macau pastries. I actually didn't like them, but it was very sweet and none of the other white people accosted by the several groups of students got a present- it was just my awesome group.
I went to the cathedral remains and the fort. It was a weird feeling because it seemed so much like the areas and places in Mexico, the Caribbean and even parts of the U.S.- the forts in Florida and Puerto Rico (can we call that the U.S. yet?) and the feeling, though not the architecture, of so many of the missions in California. So Macau was very interesting, though felt quite strange.
Spending so much time on the road like this, it sometimes feels like I'm living several lives and the way people move through my life is so much faster that it feels like it just takes the core essence of relationships and misses the rest (good and bad). So, even though I know this sounds stupid and pretentious, in my opinion of myself, I can become a local in two weeks, or go through an entire relationship in that time period and have it actually matter (from the getting to know each other stage, to "dating," through the arguments, to the repetition, to the realization that you're not right for each other, all the way up to the break-up and leaving peacefully, hoping only good things for the other person and thinking they're alright, just not for you.)
More on Yves:
Yves and I moved into a single room together after two days and it's pretty hard to avoid someone you're sleeping in the same bed with. He's a good guy, though very...German. Just in general, he won't compliment me at all, even when I try to prod him by complimenting him. It took me a few days of feeling slightly ugly to get used to that but then I really realized that was just his issue, not mine and that was just the way he was. He's fairly smart and pretty funny, mostly interesting. He's also just easy to be with since this obviously isn't going anywhere and there's no pressure, and he lets me lead him anywhere I feel like (to the History Museum, the Big Buddha, two different restaurants and a bar).
Also, and don't tell anyone I admitted to this, but even though I'm obviously the person in charge when we go out to restaurants or try to figure out where we're going on the MTR (subway), it's nice to feel safe with someone. Walking with him, I can cross odd alleyways and streets, stay out later or even just leave my purse on the barstool with him when I go to the bathroom. It's simply comforting and sometimes I feel like I need a bit of stability, moving like I do.
Lastly, he spends more freely than I generally do and being a guy, eats quite a bit more and I've been somewhat imitating his habits. Terrible for my budget and thighs, but great for my happiness level.
And it sounds weird, but it felt like a real (albeit short and not super-serious) relationship to me. Neither of us was in love with each other, but enjoyed each others company and parted on great terms, like a textbook end to a relationship and I think that's the aspect I'm stuck on. Even though technically, we "broke up" (though I think he'd think it strange that I'd call him an ex-boyfriend) because I left the country (again), it was really because we just weren't right for each other, but still saw value in the other person. It was a very peaceful, mature break-up. Furthermore, I think I can call it a relationship simply because I say it is, since I'm the one considering it, and I say it is; it is, because of my saying so most of all, see?
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sayonara!
5/6-
Naturally, I woke up a bit later than I wanted, so I rushed to the post office to ship a package home, and then took the subway, and then the special, expensive train ($20!) to the airport. I checked in just in time, weighed myself on the baggage carousel and got some sushi I hadn't tried, to take with me on the flight.
I don't know if I mentioned it specifically, but I have, of course, had sushi while in Japan before this, and it was good, but didn't blow my mind. This sushi, that I ate on the plane, didn't either, though that's probably because I was trying the weird stuff I hadn't gotten to before; unagi (eel) and sea urchin, though the other piece was a safe bet of grilled salmon. The unagi was okay, but the sea urchin was truly revolting. I'd heard it described as having the consistency and texture of wet brains, but that didn't bother me too much. The bright orange, the coldness of it, all of that was okay, but the true texture: solid and thick outside, giving way to gross, oozing orange pus and foam with a terrible taste, that was horrible.
They gave me something to eat on the plane that was edible and the rest of the flight was uneventful, though we had a fair bit of turbulence at one point. Even so, it was a perfectly decent flight and I have no complaints, which, for a flight, is saying a lot.
I'm a little sad to leave Japan and it's definitely somewhere I'd love to go back to and see more of in the future. For such a small country, there's just so much. I also really liked Tokyo.
I was able to disembark quickly and get through immigration without too much time or trouble, changed a tiny bit of money and walked out. Mei, a teacher friend of a friend of my Moms, who lives in Taipei and is sort of helping me out and sort of just annoying and a little bit crazy, was there with a sign to meet me.
Her "help" turned out to be more of a pain and more expensive for me than if I'd had no connections whatsoever. She was just a bit spastic and anxious and really didn't seem to know her city very well. Additionally, she kept telling me that Taipei is very difficult and confusing for foreigners if you don't speak Mandarin (it isn't- it's actually easier than Tokyo as more people speak English here) and implying that I really needed to rely on her and should be SO grateful for her help. On the bus ride, she asked me if I had a hotel for the night. I said I didn't but that I had looked up a few places. She said that was okay, that a student of hers was a travel agent so she called her.
Her student said she's found a place for around $40 USD. I said that was too much and that she really didn't have to worry or do anything about that for me- I'd find my own. Eventually, I did get a hostel and then after much unnecessary fussing, she left for a while, before forcing me to go out to a bar (which sounds like an oxymoron but I was tired and really didn't want to go out to this crap ex-pat bar with a 50 year old woman). After about two hours, she let me leave, though I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until she finished giving me a crash course in Mandarin pronunciation- yes, at 2 a.m. Not fun.
Naturally, I woke up a bit later than I wanted, so I rushed to the post office to ship a package home, and then took the subway, and then the special, expensive train ($20!) to the airport. I checked in just in time, weighed myself on the baggage carousel and got some sushi I hadn't tried, to take with me on the flight.
I don't know if I mentioned it specifically, but I have, of course, had sushi while in Japan before this, and it was good, but didn't blow my mind. This sushi, that I ate on the plane, didn't either, though that's probably because I was trying the weird stuff I hadn't gotten to before; unagi (eel) and sea urchin, though the other piece was a safe bet of grilled salmon. The unagi was okay, but the sea urchin was truly revolting. I'd heard it described as having the consistency and texture of wet brains, but that didn't bother me too much. The bright orange, the coldness of it, all of that was okay, but the true texture: solid and thick outside, giving way to gross, oozing orange pus and foam with a terrible taste, that was horrible.
They gave me something to eat on the plane that was edible and the rest of the flight was uneventful, though we had a fair bit of turbulence at one point. Even so, it was a perfectly decent flight and I have no complaints, which, for a flight, is saying a lot.
I'm a little sad to leave Japan and it's definitely somewhere I'd love to go back to and see more of in the future. For such a small country, there's just so much. I also really liked Tokyo.
I was able to disembark quickly and get through immigration without too much time or trouble, changed a tiny bit of money and walked out. Mei, a teacher friend of a friend of my Moms, who lives in Taipei and is sort of helping me out and sort of just annoying and a little bit crazy, was there with a sign to meet me.
Her "help" turned out to be more of a pain and more expensive for me than if I'd had no connections whatsoever. She was just a bit spastic and anxious and really didn't seem to know her city very well. Additionally, she kept telling me that Taipei is very difficult and confusing for foreigners if you don't speak Mandarin (it isn't- it's actually easier than Tokyo as more people speak English here) and implying that I really needed to rely on her and should be SO grateful for her help. On the bus ride, she asked me if I had a hotel for the night. I said I didn't but that I had looked up a few places. She said that was okay, that a student of hers was a travel agent so she called her.
Her student said she's found a place for around $40 USD. I said that was too much and that she really didn't have to worry or do anything about that for me- I'd find my own. Eventually, I did get a hostel and then after much unnecessary fussing, she left for a while, before forcing me to go out to a bar (which sounds like an oxymoron but I was tired and really didn't want to go out to this crap ex-pat bar with a 50 year old woman). After about two hours, she let me leave, though I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until she finished giving me a crash course in Mandarin pronunciation- yes, at 2 a.m. Not fun.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Annoying Alliterative Appetite
5/2-
The idea of doing anything seriously touristy or requiring much effort never even entered my mind today, so I looked at a map and saw that the East Imperial Palace Garden was nearby. My guidebook confirmed that I wouldn't have to do much besides walk around and told me that it was free, so I set off. They were very nice and it was a lovely bit of green. I planned on reading The Shadow of the Wind , which I'd brought with me, but after reading the prologue- or was it actually the first chapter? Who knows? Oh well- I realized that this was going to be a really good book that should be savored and that I didn't really feel like reading right then anyway. I'd save it for the flight to Taipei.
I walked over to Marunouchi Brick Square, the food area Saveur had recommended, and immediately was pulled into the La Boutique de Joel Robuchon. I bought a gorgeous "Religeuse Chocolat" a large cream puff topped with a profiterole with a very thick chocolate cream/pudding inside the cream puffs, covered in a dark chocolate ganache, topped with two discs of carmelized chopped nuts I couldn't quite identify; walnuts or pecans, and a sprinkling of gold leaf. It was a wonderful treat and quite reasonable for how good it was- around $5. I wandered around the corner and saw a long line outside one store, Echire. The plaza had a very strong Parisian influence so the name didn't surprise me, but the product did: butter.
Completely random sidenote- the square also had a strong Boston influence in the form of its fauna and masses of red brick/ architectural type. I thought this was quite strange as the Japanese have an obvious (and one sided) love affair with French culture, but nowhere else did I see a strong, particular American region/city influence.
But I'd better get back to the bountiful bevy of brunettes bartering for butter. Sorry, that was a bit much, but I couldn't stop myself. Alliteration: I am an absolute addict. There really were quite a few people waiting to go into the roped off butter store, and since I'm in Japan, they did all have dark hair. Like in Singapore when I waited because I had the time and wanted to know if it was really worth waiting for, I got in line here.
Besides selling butter, they also had a small bakery inside. Unfortunately they were all out of croissants for the day, so I got a rectangular Madeleine and a large pat (30 grams) of demi-sel butter. You may be wondering why I bought butter and what the fresh hell I thought I was going to do with it, but here's the thing: I really like butter. I don't know as much about it as I'd really like to, but I do like tasting it, using it in unholy amounts, and I've even made my own (which was good, better than the regular kind you'd get at the grocery store, but not as good as I'd expected).
So I bought it just to taste it, basically, with bread. But now I want to start alliterating again and you don't deserve that. I didn't know where I'd get the bread, but I knew I wanted good bread, not packaged white crap. And I was still sitting right next to the Robuchon cafe which had just put out a bunch more bread products, so I bought a croissant to eat my butter with. Croissants, of course, already have a devilish amount of butter layered into their soft sheets, but I always like it better with butter (stop me! It's a disease!) especially when cut open lengthwise, toasted and then with butter on top, which somehow never seems too buttery, but just buttery enough.
This croissant however, was already too buttery to put anymore on, so I just had to eat it plain. It was great, but this meant that I was just randomly carrying around a bunch of butter since I was now full, and had to bread (to butter it on, upside down or right side up).
Butter in bag, bag in hand, croissant in mouth, I got on the loop line which circles Tokyo. My guide book had suggested it as a good way to get a feel of the city as it was cheap and mostly above-ground. Part of it was quite interesting, but much of it just snaked past gray buildings. However, it also went to the station I'd decided I had the energy to go to; Harajuku, to go to Baird Brewing Co., the microbrewery bar Food & Wind recommended, as today was obviously a fine food and drink day. To see the whole city, I ended up doing a 1.5 loop around the city which took about 1.5 hours but again, why not, I had the time.
Wandering through this part of Harajuku was a bit more interesting, but still uninspiring, as most of it was the fleetingly trendy childish, typical "Japan-Harajuku" look, with lots of cartoon/ manga images. I found the bar easily, thanks to their websites excellent directions, and entered.
They didn't have a sampler (which I LOVE for drink tasting) but you could buy their beer in very small (I think less than half-pint) glasses so I could try several different beers without getting sloshed. They also had overpriced, overthought and underwhelming bar snacks, one of which I ordered (chicken and blue cheese deep friend egg rolls) since I hadn't had a proper dinner, just good food previously. They also had great T-shirts, one of which I almost bought for my Stepdad, but they were expensive for what they were, so I refrained.
I wish I could describe the beer as well as I would like to, or even tell you the names of all the different ones I tried, but I can't remember them. In anticipation of this, I had cleverly taken a photograph of the menu with all the beer descriptions. Stupidly, I hadn't written this or downloaded those pictures before I lost my camera.
What I do remember is that the beers were all excellently made and more bitter than I really like (as many well-crafted beers are). I also tried one beer that was memorably called Black Sails. While drinking, I remembered how just how much I enjoy beer and that I really do love beer tasting and microbreweries. I'd really like to learn more about them. To this goal, I flipped through a book they had at the bar, showing and describing the World's Greatest Beers. Neither Oranjeboom, one of my favorite mass produced beers, nor McMenamins Raspberry Ruby, my favorite microbrew, were listed, but I did write down the names of a few other raspberry beers that I wanted to try in the future (as much as I like beer, I like it in a very girly way, preferring very light, slightly sweet beers with fruit flavors). They also had a free magazine aptly called The Japan Beer Times, the first edition, which was all about beer, especially microbreweries, though they don't seem to like to use that term, in Japan. Obviously there's a microbrewery revolution in the U.S. but I had no idea they were also having a quiet one in Japan, so it was very interesting to read.
Slurring my way back to the hostel, I got out my netbook and started writing, as I seem most inclined to write when drunk (I also think that the readable bits are some of the most interesting and creative writings I do). I sat on the Cafe porch and started talking to the group of three French guys at another table. This turned into a very long conversation in French and I didn't do as badly as I might've expected, given my distaste for Frenchness and how long it has been since I last spoke it. One of the guys told me he wished his English was as good as my French, which I thought was quite a nice compliment.
I was working on a Cherry Blossom Suntory beer I'd bought at 7-11 (I'd bought some special pack of two beers for cheap, and very oddly, they'd given me a free orange juice with it,) when Marybeth came back. I asked her if she wanted to go out and she said no but that we should just hang out at the hostel. So we went and bought a flask of vodka and a Coke Light and just chatted with each other and two other English guys she'd met previously. It was nothing special, but a relaxing, enjoyable evening.
For the past two nights, I'd stayed at the Sakura Hotel in Jimbocho, which was were I was drinking. It was a decent place in a good area so I'd wanted to stay longer but they hadn't had any beds available that night, so I'd made up my mind to sleep in either a capsule hotel, a love motel or an internet cafe. Each of those options were very "Japanese" experiences I wanted to try and both the love motel and an internet cafe would be cheaper if I checked in after 11 at night which was why I was hanging out at the Cafe at the hostel. Marybeth went to bed at around 1 a.m. I stayed up for another hour writing and then decided that it would be dangerous and bothersome to walk around somewhere trying to find an internet cafe/love motel/capsule hotel that would take women (the large majority, like 95%+ don't).
At some point, I went downstairs where the dorm rooms and bathroom were. I had my purse and my backpack, everything I own (well, that I have on me) with me. I don't remember making this decision, but I decided to sleep in the shower. It locked from the inside and was a bit larger than a bathtub, split down the middle- half of it for the shower itself and half for a changing part outside it, separated by an accordian glass door. I locked myself inside with my belongings and slept for about seven hours. I think my body is just adapting to insane and horrible sleeping conditions because it didn't seem that bad, and, it was free.
The idea of doing anything seriously touristy or requiring much effort never even entered my mind today, so I looked at a map and saw that the East Imperial Palace Garden was nearby. My guidebook confirmed that I wouldn't have to do much besides walk around and told me that it was free, so I set off. They were very nice and it was a lovely bit of green. I planned on reading The Shadow of the Wind , which I'd brought with me, but after reading the prologue- or was it actually the first chapter? Who knows? Oh well- I realized that this was going to be a really good book that should be savored and that I didn't really feel like reading right then anyway. I'd save it for the flight to Taipei.
I walked over to Marunouchi Brick Square, the food area Saveur had recommended, and immediately was pulled into the La Boutique de Joel Robuchon. I bought a gorgeous "Religeuse Chocolat" a large cream puff topped with a profiterole with a very thick chocolate cream/pudding inside the cream puffs, covered in a dark chocolate ganache, topped with two discs of carmelized chopped nuts I couldn't quite identify; walnuts or pecans, and a sprinkling of gold leaf. It was a wonderful treat and quite reasonable for how good it was- around $5. I wandered around the corner and saw a long line outside one store, Echire. The plaza had a very strong Parisian influence so the name didn't surprise me, but the product did: butter.
Completely random sidenote- the square also had a strong Boston influence in the form of its fauna and masses of red brick/ architectural type. I thought this was quite strange as the Japanese have an obvious (and one sided) love affair with French culture, but nowhere else did I see a strong, particular American region/city influence.
But I'd better get back to the bountiful bevy of brunettes bartering for butter. Sorry, that was a bit much, but I couldn't stop myself. Alliteration: I am an absolute addict. There really were quite a few people waiting to go into the roped off butter store, and since I'm in Japan, they did all have dark hair. Like in Singapore when I waited because I had the time and wanted to know if it was really worth waiting for, I got in line here.
Besides selling butter, they also had a small bakery inside. Unfortunately they were all out of croissants for the day, so I got a rectangular Madeleine and a large pat (30 grams) of demi-sel butter. You may be wondering why I bought butter and what the fresh hell I thought I was going to do with it, but here's the thing: I really like butter. I don't know as much about it as I'd really like to, but I do like tasting it, using it in unholy amounts, and I've even made my own (which was good, better than the regular kind you'd get at the grocery store, but not as good as I'd expected).
So I bought it just to taste it, basically, with bread. But now I want to start alliterating again and you don't deserve that. I didn't know where I'd get the bread, but I knew I wanted good bread, not packaged white crap. And I was still sitting right next to the Robuchon cafe which had just put out a bunch more bread products, so I bought a croissant to eat my butter with. Croissants, of course, already have a devilish amount of butter layered into their soft sheets, but I always like it better with butter (stop me! It's a disease!) especially when cut open lengthwise, toasted and then with butter on top, which somehow never seems too buttery, but just buttery enough.
This croissant however, was already too buttery to put anymore on, so I just had to eat it plain. It was great, but this meant that I was just randomly carrying around a bunch of butter since I was now full, and had to bread (to butter it on, upside down or right side up).
Butter in bag, bag in hand, croissant in mouth, I got on the loop line which circles Tokyo. My guide book had suggested it as a good way to get a feel of the city as it was cheap and mostly above-ground. Part of it was quite interesting, but much of it just snaked past gray buildings. However, it also went to the station I'd decided I had the energy to go to; Harajuku, to go to Baird Brewing Co., the microbrewery bar Food & Wind recommended, as today was obviously a fine food and drink day. To see the whole city, I ended up doing a 1.5 loop around the city which took about 1.5 hours but again, why not, I had the time.
Wandering through this part of Harajuku was a bit more interesting, but still uninspiring, as most of it was the fleetingly trendy childish, typical "Japan-Harajuku" look, with lots of cartoon/ manga images. I found the bar easily, thanks to their websites excellent directions, and entered.
They didn't have a sampler (which I LOVE for drink tasting) but you could buy their beer in very small (I think less than half-pint) glasses so I could try several different beers without getting sloshed. They also had overpriced, overthought and underwhelming bar snacks, one of which I ordered (chicken and blue cheese deep friend egg rolls) since I hadn't had a proper dinner, just good food previously. They also had great T-shirts, one of which I almost bought for my Stepdad, but they were expensive for what they were, so I refrained.
I wish I could describe the beer as well as I would like to, or even tell you the names of all the different ones I tried, but I can't remember them. In anticipation of this, I had cleverly taken a photograph of the menu with all the beer descriptions. Stupidly, I hadn't written this or downloaded those pictures before I lost my camera.
What I do remember is that the beers were all excellently made and more bitter than I really like (as many well-crafted beers are). I also tried one beer that was memorably called Black Sails. While drinking, I remembered how just how much I enjoy beer and that I really do love beer tasting and microbreweries. I'd really like to learn more about them. To this goal, I flipped through a book they had at the bar, showing and describing the World's Greatest Beers. Neither Oranjeboom, one of my favorite mass produced beers, nor McMenamins Raspberry Ruby, my favorite microbrew, were listed, but I did write down the names of a few other raspberry beers that I wanted to try in the future (as much as I like beer, I like it in a very girly way, preferring very light, slightly sweet beers with fruit flavors). They also had a free magazine aptly called The Japan Beer Times, the first edition, which was all about beer, especially microbreweries, though they don't seem to like to use that term, in Japan. Obviously there's a microbrewery revolution in the U.S. but I had no idea they were also having a quiet one in Japan, so it was very interesting to read.
Slurring my way back to the hostel, I got out my netbook and started writing, as I seem most inclined to write when drunk (I also think that the readable bits are some of the most interesting and creative writings I do). I sat on the Cafe porch and started talking to the group of three French guys at another table. This turned into a very long conversation in French and I didn't do as badly as I might've expected, given my distaste for Frenchness and how long it has been since I last spoke it. One of the guys told me he wished his English was as good as my French, which I thought was quite a nice compliment.
I was working on a Cherry Blossom Suntory beer I'd bought at 7-11 (I'd bought some special pack of two beers for cheap, and very oddly, they'd given me a free orange juice with it,) when Marybeth came back. I asked her if she wanted to go out and she said no but that we should just hang out at the hostel. So we went and bought a flask of vodka and a Coke Light and just chatted with each other and two other English guys she'd met previously. It was nothing special, but a relaxing, enjoyable evening.
For the past two nights, I'd stayed at the Sakura Hotel in Jimbocho, which was were I was drinking. It was a decent place in a good area so I'd wanted to stay longer but they hadn't had any beds available that night, so I'd made up my mind to sleep in either a capsule hotel, a love motel or an internet cafe. Each of those options were very "Japanese" experiences I wanted to try and both the love motel and an internet cafe would be cheaper if I checked in after 11 at night which was why I was hanging out at the Cafe at the hostel. Marybeth went to bed at around 1 a.m. I stayed up for another hour writing and then decided that it would be dangerous and bothersome to walk around somewhere trying to find an internet cafe/love motel/capsule hotel that would take women (the large majority, like 95%+ don't).
At some point, I went downstairs where the dorm rooms and bathroom were. I had my purse and my backpack, everything I own (well, that I have on me) with me. I don't remember making this decision, but I decided to sleep in the shower. It locked from the inside and was a bit larger than a bathtub, split down the middle- half of it for the shower itself and half for a changing part outside it, separated by an accordian glass door. I locked myself inside with my belongings and slept for about seven hours. I think my body is just adapting to insane and horrible sleeping conditions because it didn't seem that bad, and, it was free.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sapporo Means Beer
4/28
Amazingly, I had a very good nights sleep on the train- it was a bit older so the seats were wider and soft from years of use, like an old sofa chair, and ugly, of course. I woke up right before we got to the Sapporo station at around 6 a.m. It was freezing. Literally. Of course, I only had my black hoodie, which I'm sad to report is insufficient for Siberian weather. Since it was too early to check into my hostel, I left my backpack in a locker there and started to walk around the city.
The weather really sucked and I wanted a hot chocolate in a warm cafe to keep me hot but it was too freaking early for any of the coffee shops to be open, so instead I walked over to the Nijo Fish Market. As it started raining I wished I'd brought my umbrella- safely stowed in my backpack in the locker- with me. The fish market was not fully open, again because it was too early, though by now it was about 6:30, but some of the stalls were and one kind fisherman let me try two different types of crab: Hair Crab, which he told me comes from Hokkaido, and King Crab. It was really good, but it was, as it should be, cold. I walked over to see the T.V. Tower, which was less than thrilling.
I was completely miserable; it was cold, wet and windy. I found an internet cafe, which is expensive, but gets you free soda/tea/coffee and a private half-cubicle booth, and hung out there to dry.
Two hours later, I was ready to face the rain and walked bravely out of Comic Land Sapporo into the slush rain. I looked dutifully at the Clock Tower, which apparently we're supposed to recognize as the symbol of Sapporo, though it also has the real symbol of Sapporo, the red beer star, on it. From there I walked along the Odori-koen promenade, where they hold a giant ice sculpture festival during the winter, thought I couldn't ever imagine it getting colder than this. A LED display showed the temperature as 5*C but I assume that wasn't taking the windchill factor into account because it was really much colder. I was cursing myself for the lack of umbrella and feeling sorry for myself because it was so gross when it started to snow. Just barely. Very light snow that didn't stick, I admit, but those white clumps of frozen water doused my hoodie. I wanted to kill someone. I hadn't seen snow since last winter sometime, December of 2008 or January 2009. I don't necessarily dislike snow, but I wasn't in the mood for it and I like snow to either be pretty, falling gently, or on the slopes. Otherwise, I don't want be cold. I wanted my permanent summer back ASAP.
It didn't help that I couldn't find the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art I was looking for. I finally went into a strange looking building and found a woman to give me directions. That got me as far as another random art museum and they were able to give me directions from there. The museum was small, but actually quite good, though that may have been simply because it was warm and I hadn't been to an art museum in a while. An interesting exhibit was on called On the 750th Memorial for Shinran Shonin: The History and Treasures of Hongwanji. Most of it wasn't that good, as the majority of it was scripts with descriptions exclusively in Japanese, but near the end, they had lovely gold paintings, exquisite windows and jewelry to die for. I also quite liked the permanent exhibition which had several woodblock prints by Sadao Abe, an exhibit of Arinori Ichihara's prints which played around with different textures, effectively, in my opinion, which seems to be difficult to do in abstract art, and a Contemporary Glass Art exhibit and I always love glass exhibits.
Though it was still snowing, I braved the cold looking for the subway station which was supposed to be just two blocks away. A lady at the information desk inside the museum had even given me a copied handrawn map and had told me it was easy. Ten minutes lost in the snow is equivalent to about an hour lost in the sun so I was again, miserable. At this point I decided that there was no freaking way I was going to stay in a place where it was snowing, so I would have to take the night train back in the opposite direction. I finally asked someone else who gave me better (and just verbal) directions and found it tucked away in the side of a building with a small sign indicating the station. This experience, of someone telling me that getting somewhere is easy and giving me a copied handrawn map with some English writing on it, and me trying to use that map and ending up lost, seems to be becoming a pattern.
I freely admit that I'm terrible with directions, but that's why I get so excited when someone tells me it's simple. The problem is that these maps tend to omit certain intersections or street names or alleyway/streets or will show most, but not all, of a certain type of business on the map. I'm sure most people just assume they're going the right way anyway, but even when I try that, it just doesn't work. I'm also much better with visual cues for directions than numbers or names. For example, I can tell you, even now, that to get to the place to go up to the observation deck at the Petronus towers, you exit the subway station, going up an escalator with an advertisement with a northern asian woman who is crying about love in one picture and happy above love in another. You turn left from her, then pass by several bakeries and a juice stand on the left side, through the mall, and you walk until you see the Shisheido makeup area (with a Dior makeup ad visible on the floor above it) and turn right to go up an escalator, passing Chanel. Go towards the Prada store, and just past that exit into the main lobby (past the two banks of ATMs on either side) and turn right. Walk a short while and you'll see an escalator you go down and turn to the right at the bottom.
Now ask me the name of the street my hostel was on, that I left about an hour and a half ago. I want to say it was Nanjing. I just looked on the business card. It was on Changan West. How many blocks was it from the bus station I walked to directly from there? Maybe half of one up, then two or three over, then 2?3?4? blocks down. I know people would normally say 1 block North/East/South/West but I have absolutely no clue which direction was which. I can't even guess.
So, that was random.
There's a tiny little underground alleyway of noodle shops in central Sapporo called Ramen Yokocho that's supposed to have incredible, wait for it, ramen. Ramen styles vary regionally, though they're ubiquitous and I never noticed a huge difference, but Hokkaido style is supposed to be really good, and with the weather as it was, hot soup sounded great. I got a bowl in one of the shops and spent a while working on it. It was good, but nothing spectacular in my opinion. Once I was slightly drier and slightly warmer, I headed out to the subway station to go out to the only thing left to do, and the most important thing, the Sapporo Factory.
The one I saw was the original factory- they don't make any beer there anymore, just keep it for historical value, tourists and events. My guidebook had said I could take a 50 minute tour which was followed by 20 minutes of all you can drink beer, without stating the price. When I got there, after another ten minute walk in the (at that moment) rain, I saw an old wood stove lit by the entryway, inside the vestibule. I pushed back the guarding grate so I could stand just inches away from the fire and just huddled for about ten minutes, hoping the two Receptionists wouldn't yell at me. Finally feeling nearly warm, I headed in. As it turned out, there was no actual tour, just an exhibit that was only in Japanese. They had a large English packet that they gave me though, which was actually quite complete so I learned a bit. Even though the exhibit was free, sadly, the beer was not, though it was still cheaper than it would be even to buy it in a convenience store. I walked through the exhibit, learned a bit that was very interesting at the time, but which I forgot almost immediately and got someone to take a picture of me.
The two things I learned that stuck with me were that: Sapporo Classic beer is actually the original beer they made and is only available in Hokkaido because it's formulated without preservatives and only lasts for two weeks, and Yebisu cans or bottles with two red fish on the label are lucky because only one such label is printed per hundreds produced (most Yebisu labels show the red fish in the front but not the red fishtail sticking out of the basket on the left).
After all that hard learning it was time to drink! I started with a sampler that included these beers: Black Label, Yebisu "The Black" and Kaitakushi Beer. Surprisingly they were all very good. I expected them to be more bitter, especially "The Black" but they really weren't. I liked them all enough to get another sampler, but I had other beers to try instead.
At this point I went to their other bar inside the factory, passing by this awesome photo opportunity on the way. It's a terrible picture of me, but it's a fantastic picture (currently my Facebook photo).
Now at the other bar, I tasted the Sapporo Classic, which was also very good, Yebisu, which was pretty good, and their beer of the month, a German inspired/type beer. Lastly, I bought a Naporin orange soda because it's also only available in Hokkaido (nothing special).
Back in central Sapporo, I stopped at Hall Stairs Espresso Bar which my stupid, useless guidebook described as "unique." It wasn't. It was just a normal bar, with black walls. Quite disappointing. Still with quite a lot of time to kill and not wanting to drink anymore, I went back to Comic Land Sapporo internet cafe for a couple of hours.
I think I grabbed some dinner in the train station while waiting for the train back, then left that hell that was white; snow white. (You'll get my undying respect if you can guess what I paraphrased that quote from. Also, I think Sapporo might be quite a neat city in proper summer, it was just frozen hell when I was there.)
Amazingly, I had a very good nights sleep on the train- it was a bit older so the seats were wider and soft from years of use, like an old sofa chair, and ugly, of course. I woke up right before we got to the Sapporo station at around 6 a.m. It was freezing. Literally. Of course, I only had my black hoodie, which I'm sad to report is insufficient for Siberian weather. Since it was too early to check into my hostel, I left my backpack in a locker there and started to walk around the city.
The weather really sucked and I wanted a hot chocolate in a warm cafe to keep me hot but it was too freaking early for any of the coffee shops to be open, so instead I walked over to the Nijo Fish Market. As it started raining I wished I'd brought my umbrella- safely stowed in my backpack in the locker- with me. The fish market was not fully open, again because it was too early, though by now it was about 6:30, but some of the stalls were and one kind fisherman let me try two different types of crab: Hair Crab, which he told me comes from Hokkaido, and King Crab. It was really good, but it was, as it should be, cold. I walked over to see the T.V. Tower, which was less than thrilling.
I was completely miserable; it was cold, wet and windy. I found an internet cafe, which is expensive, but gets you free soda/tea/coffee and a private half-cubicle booth, and hung out there to dry.
Two hours later, I was ready to face the rain and walked bravely out of Comic Land Sapporo into the slush rain. I looked dutifully at the Clock Tower, which apparently we're supposed to recognize as the symbol of Sapporo, though it also has the real symbol of Sapporo, the red beer star, on it. From there I walked along the Odori-koen promenade, where they hold a giant ice sculpture festival during the winter, thought I couldn't ever imagine it getting colder than this. A LED display showed the temperature as 5*C but I assume that wasn't taking the windchill factor into account because it was really much colder. I was cursing myself for the lack of umbrella and feeling sorry for myself because it was so gross when it started to snow. Just barely. Very light snow that didn't stick, I admit, but those white clumps of frozen water doused my hoodie. I wanted to kill someone. I hadn't seen snow since last winter sometime, December of 2008 or January 2009. I don't necessarily dislike snow, but I wasn't in the mood for it and I like snow to either be pretty, falling gently, or on the slopes. Otherwise, I don't want be cold. I wanted my permanent summer back ASAP.
It didn't help that I couldn't find the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art I was looking for. I finally went into a strange looking building and found a woman to give me directions. That got me as far as another random art museum and they were able to give me directions from there. The museum was small, but actually quite good, though that may have been simply because it was warm and I hadn't been to an art museum in a while. An interesting exhibit was on called On the 750th Memorial for Shinran Shonin: The History and Treasures of Hongwanji. Most of it wasn't that good, as the majority of it was scripts with descriptions exclusively in Japanese, but near the end, they had lovely gold paintings, exquisite windows and jewelry to die for. I also quite liked the permanent exhibition which had several woodblock prints by Sadao Abe, an exhibit of Arinori Ichihara's prints which played around with different textures, effectively, in my opinion, which seems to be difficult to do in abstract art, and a Contemporary Glass Art exhibit and I always love glass exhibits.
Though it was still snowing, I braved the cold looking for the subway station which was supposed to be just two blocks away. A lady at the information desk inside the museum had even given me a copied handrawn map and had told me it was easy. Ten minutes lost in the snow is equivalent to about an hour lost in the sun so I was again, miserable. At this point I decided that there was no freaking way I was going to stay in a place where it was snowing, so I would have to take the night train back in the opposite direction. I finally asked someone else who gave me better (and just verbal) directions and found it tucked away in the side of a building with a small sign indicating the station. This experience, of someone telling me that getting somewhere is easy and giving me a copied handrawn map with some English writing on it, and me trying to use that map and ending up lost, seems to be becoming a pattern.
I freely admit that I'm terrible with directions, but that's why I get so excited when someone tells me it's simple. The problem is that these maps tend to omit certain intersections or street names or alleyway/streets or will show most, but not all, of a certain type of business on the map. I'm sure most people just assume they're going the right way anyway, but even when I try that, it just doesn't work. I'm also much better with visual cues for directions than numbers or names. For example, I can tell you, even now, that to get to the place to go up to the observation deck at the Petronus towers, you exit the subway station, going up an escalator with an advertisement with a northern asian woman who is crying about love in one picture and happy above love in another. You turn left from her, then pass by several bakeries and a juice stand on the left side, through the mall, and you walk until you see the Shisheido makeup area (with a Dior makeup ad visible on the floor above it) and turn right to go up an escalator, passing Chanel. Go towards the Prada store, and just past that exit into the main lobby (past the two banks of ATMs on either side) and turn right. Walk a short while and you'll see an escalator you go down and turn to the right at the bottom.
Now ask me the name of the street my hostel was on, that I left about an hour and a half ago. I want to say it was Nanjing. I just looked on the business card. It was on Changan West. How many blocks was it from the bus station I walked to directly from there? Maybe half of one up, then two or three over, then 2?3?4? blocks down. I know people would normally say 1 block North/East/South/West but I have absolutely no clue which direction was which. I can't even guess.
So, that was random.
There's a tiny little underground alleyway of noodle shops in central Sapporo called Ramen Yokocho that's supposed to have incredible, wait for it, ramen. Ramen styles vary regionally, though they're ubiquitous and I never noticed a huge difference, but Hokkaido style is supposed to be really good, and with the weather as it was, hot soup sounded great. I got a bowl in one of the shops and spent a while working on it. It was good, but nothing spectacular in my opinion. Once I was slightly drier and slightly warmer, I headed out to the subway station to go out to the only thing left to do, and the most important thing, the Sapporo Factory.
The one I saw was the original factory- they don't make any beer there anymore, just keep it for historical value, tourists and events. My guidebook had said I could take a 50 minute tour which was followed by 20 minutes of all you can drink beer, without stating the price. When I got there, after another ten minute walk in the (at that moment) rain, I saw an old wood stove lit by the entryway, inside the vestibule. I pushed back the guarding grate so I could stand just inches away from the fire and just huddled for about ten minutes, hoping the two Receptionists wouldn't yell at me. Finally feeling nearly warm, I headed in. As it turned out, there was no actual tour, just an exhibit that was only in Japanese. They had a large English packet that they gave me though, which was actually quite complete so I learned a bit. Even though the exhibit was free, sadly, the beer was not, though it was still cheaper than it would be even to buy it in a convenience store. I walked through the exhibit, learned a bit that was very interesting at the time, but which I forgot almost immediately and got someone to take a picture of me.
The two things I learned that stuck with me were that: Sapporo Classic beer is actually the original beer they made and is only available in Hokkaido because it's formulated without preservatives and only lasts for two weeks, and Yebisu cans or bottles with two red fish on the label are lucky because only one such label is printed per hundreds produced (most Yebisu labels show the red fish in the front but not the red fishtail sticking out of the basket on the left).
After all that hard learning it was time to drink! I started with a sampler that included these beers: Black Label, Yebisu "The Black" and Kaitakushi Beer. Surprisingly they were all very good. I expected them to be more bitter, especially "The Black" but they really weren't. I liked them all enough to get another sampler, but I had other beers to try instead.
At this point I went to their other bar inside the factory, passing by this awesome photo opportunity on the way. It's a terrible picture of me, but it's a fantastic picture (currently my Facebook photo).
Now at the other bar, I tasted the Sapporo Classic, which was also very good, Yebisu, which was pretty good, and their beer of the month, a German inspired/type beer. Lastly, I bought a Naporin orange soda because it's also only available in Hokkaido (nothing special).
Back in central Sapporo, I stopped at Hall Stairs Espresso Bar which my stupid, useless guidebook described as "unique." It wasn't. It was just a normal bar, with black walls. Quite disappointing. Still with quite a lot of time to kill and not wanting to drink anymore, I went back to Comic Land Sapporo internet cafe for a couple of hours.
I think I grabbed some dinner in the train station while waiting for the train back, then left that hell that was white; snow white. (You'll get my undying respect if you can guess what I paraphrased that quote from. Also, I think Sapporo might be quite a neat city in proper summer, it was just frozen hell when I was there.)
Monday, May 10, 2010
For the Sake Bombs, We Say Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
4/19
Woke up late and decided (I say decided as if it's something I ever seriously consider- ha!) not to rush too much, even though I had to move hostels since J-Hoppers was fully booked for that night. I was in the reception area screwing around online when Renee and Darian came down. My netbook, though I love it, has been working really, incredibly slowly lately, to the point that my Skype had stopped working. I asked Renee if she knew anything about computers and she said that she didn't but that Darian did, so he screwed around on it for a while and miraculously fixed it! After that, I Skyped my Mom to say hi and talked to her for quite a while before going out to lunch nearby with Renee, Darian and a guy they'd met, Matt.
Since he'd fixed my computer for free, in a way that I never would've been able to do, I bought Darian lunch, and then we all headed in our separate directions. I went to the train station to go to Himeji, the most celebrated and beautiful castle in Japan...that, as of April 12, was closed for about a year for renovations. I was disappointed, but fortunately I knew this ahead of time, so it wasn't a shock. I'd still decided to go out, just to see the grounds and the view of the castle from the outside.
I missed the train I wanted by about ten seconds. I totally would've made it except that the signs didn't make any sense so I had a hard time getting to the right platform. The next one wasn't for another 17 minutes so I had to go on that one.
Laura: 1, Train: 1.
Once I got to Himeji, I was really happy I'd made the effort; it was beautiful, though I do wish it had been open, but hey, that's life. It was particularly nice because, though certainly on their way out, some of the cherry blossom trees were still in almost full bloom, which made me happy.
Back in Osaka, I changed hostels then went to meet Renee, Darian, Matt, and a guy he'd met, Andrew at an Italian restaurant. I know. I KNOW. But, Renee and Darian had already been there and had described the cheesy garlic bread in such detail that I couldn't resist.
I got superlost on my way there and was really late, even by my standards. Fortunately, everyone else was superlate as well, so we all had dinner (the cheesy garlic bread that wasn't as good as promised, and shrimp scampi-like spaghetti that was quite good) together. Afterwards, we headed upstairs- the restaurant was in Hep 5, a large shopping/entertainment complex- to the two stories of video and arcade games. I played some air hockey, appallingly, given that it's the one game I'm normally good at, and giant tetris with beach ball sized joysticks. We might have stayed there all night save one thing: this arcade had no alcohol, which we all agreed was needed.
We bought some beers for the train ride there and went back to the Dotonbori area. Renee said she wanted to go to some bar with belly dancers, and since no one else really had a preference, we tried going there. Somehow we ended up trying to find another bar: Wax 69, and after quite a long time, we walked into a building next door to a love hotel (popular pay by the hour hotels, supposedly very cheesy inside) and got off on the third floor. The empty corridor looked like the inside of a depressing office building, but after turning right, we walked into a very small room, coated halfway up the wall with red velvet. It was actually a very cool little bar, and the bartender, Jonah, was extremely happy to have us there, as we were the only patrons. We played a few drinking games, including Drinks, which is like a Connect Four board with shots at the bottom that you either try to, or try not to, land your coin in. Jonah was giving us great deals, including several free drinks and we all did sake bombs together. I'm sure you know that a sake bomb is when you have a glass of red bull with parallel chopsticks on top, and a shot of sake balancing on top of them, that you topple into the glass by pounding on the table, but I just thought I'd explain it, in case you didn't.
Next, we decided to go over to the bar, Kama Sutra, that was on the same floor a few doors down the still empty corridor. Jonah told us that it was owned by the same guy, but that they had karaoke. The decorating was similar too, though with more black than red, but the bartender wasn't nearly as nice. Regardless, we got drinks and started singing, including a very special version of "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto." I think it was around 4 a.m. when Renee started to fall asleep and Darian and Matt took her back to the hostel. Andrew and I kept drinking, along with Jonah, who'd joined us at the other bar. We went downstairs to a nearby bar called 500, because every drink is 500 yen (about $5.50). It was great fun and we stayed there for the rest of the night/morning.
Woke up late and decided (I say decided as if it's something I ever seriously consider- ha!) not to rush too much, even though I had to move hostels since J-Hoppers was fully booked for that night. I was in the reception area screwing around online when Renee and Darian came down. My netbook, though I love it, has been working really, incredibly slowly lately, to the point that my Skype had stopped working. I asked Renee if she knew anything about computers and she said that she didn't but that Darian did, so he screwed around on it for a while and miraculously fixed it! After that, I Skyped my Mom to say hi and talked to her for quite a while before going out to lunch nearby with Renee, Darian and a guy they'd met, Matt.
Since he'd fixed my computer for free, in a way that I never would've been able to do, I bought Darian lunch, and then we all headed in our separate directions. I went to the train station to go to Himeji, the most celebrated and beautiful castle in Japan...that, as of April 12, was closed for about a year for renovations. I was disappointed, but fortunately I knew this ahead of time, so it wasn't a shock. I'd still decided to go out, just to see the grounds and the view of the castle from the outside.
I missed the train I wanted by about ten seconds. I totally would've made it except that the signs didn't make any sense so I had a hard time getting to the right platform. The next one wasn't for another 17 minutes so I had to go on that one.
Laura: 1, Train: 1.
Once I got to Himeji, I was really happy I'd made the effort; it was beautiful, though I do wish it had been open, but hey, that's life. It was particularly nice because, though certainly on their way out, some of the cherry blossom trees were still in almost full bloom, which made me happy.
Back in Osaka, I changed hostels then went to meet Renee, Darian, Matt, and a guy he'd met, Andrew at an Italian restaurant. I know. I KNOW. But, Renee and Darian had already been there and had described the cheesy garlic bread in such detail that I couldn't resist.
Darian and Renee with the plastic food outside the restaurant
I got superlost on my way there and was really late, even by my standards. Fortunately, everyone else was superlate as well, so we all had dinner (the cheesy garlic bread that wasn't as good as promised, and shrimp scampi-like spaghetti that was quite good) together. Afterwards, we headed upstairs- the restaurant was in Hep 5, a large shopping/entertainment complex- to the two stories of video and arcade games. I played some air hockey, appallingly, given that it's the one game I'm normally good at, and giant tetris with beach ball sized joysticks. We might have stayed there all night save one thing: this arcade had no alcohol, which we all agreed was needed.
Hep 5 Building, complete with a red Ferris Wheel on top of it
We bought some beers for the train ride there and went back to the Dotonbori area. Renee said she wanted to go to some bar with belly dancers, and since no one else really had a preference, we tried going there. Somehow we ended up trying to find another bar: Wax 69, and after quite a long time, we walked into a building next door to a love hotel (popular pay by the hour hotels, supposedly very cheesy inside) and got off on the third floor. The empty corridor looked like the inside of a depressing office building, but after turning right, we walked into a very small room, coated halfway up the wall with red velvet. It was actually a very cool little bar, and the bartender, Jonah, was extremely happy to have us there, as we were the only patrons. We played a few drinking games, including Drinks, which is like a Connect Four board with shots at the bottom that you either try to, or try not to, land your coin in. Jonah was giving us great deals, including several free drinks and we all did sake bombs together. I'm sure you know that a sake bomb is when you have a glass of red bull with parallel chopsticks on top, and a shot of sake balancing on top of them, that you topple into the glass by pounding on the table, but I just thought I'd explain it, in case you didn't.
Next, we decided to go over to the bar, Kama Sutra, that was on the same floor a few doors down the still empty corridor. Jonah told us that it was owned by the same guy, but that they had karaoke. The decorating was similar too, though with more black than red, but the bartender wasn't nearly as nice. Regardless, we got drinks and started singing, including a very special version of "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto." I think it was around 4 a.m. when Renee started to fall asleep and Darian and Matt took her back to the hostel. Andrew and I kept drinking, along with Jonah, who'd joined us at the other bar. We went downstairs to a nearby bar called 500, because every drink is 500 yen (about $5.50). It was great fun and we stayed there for the rest of the night/morning.
From Shrines to Blade Runner in Under 3 Hours
4/18
Pretty much the only other things to see in or near Hiroshima were a castle, which had been decimated by the bomb and was a reconstruction, and the UNESCO shrine and floating torii gate on sacred Miyajima island, which is supposed to be one of Japan's "Three Great Sites." I decided to just go to the island, so I took a tram to the port, which took nearly an hour, and then a five minute ferry ride to the island.
It was a neat little island, but very touristy and somehow less impressive than I'd imagined. Deer roam free on the island because they're sacred in Shinto Buddhism, as they are messengers of the gods but they seem to just annoy and pester people. They were kind of cute and I wanted to feed one but then I remembered how I feel about tourists feeding seagulls in Morro Bay (disdainful) and imagined that the residents there probably felt the same about the deer, so I refrained. I have to admit though, that I did laugh at a man being followed mercilessly by a pack of deer because, for some strange reason, he had several loaves of bread in his backpack.
The Torii gate was kind of cool to see but it didn't particularly inspire me. It was supposed to be best at around 10 a.m. that day, due to the tide (when the bottom would be completely covered and it would appear to really float), but I still refuse to get up early unless something is actually unavailable at any other time, not just "better," so I was there around 12, when there was about a foot of grungy lichen at the base of the shrine but the rest was covered, and I felt totally comfortable with that. I don't think seeing it bobbing under one more foot of water would've been worth two extra hours.
I felt similarly impressed but uninspired at Itsukushima shrine, another UNESCO site but was lucky enough to catch part of a free Noh or Kyogen mask performance, which was actually a bit boring, but I was happy to see it anyways.
I wandered around for a bit, then went to Senjokaku, a wooden hall/shrine with some interesting paintings mounted on the beams and looked at the nearby five-storied pagoda, then walked back towards the port through the small village mostly populated by souvenir shops.
On the way, I passed the world's largest giant wooden spoon, as Miyajima is famous for this type of rice spoon, oddly enough. I also bought a warm, freshly made red bean paste momiji manju, a pastry in the shape of a maple leaf with various fillings. Red bean paste is the traditional filling, but after taking a bite of mine, and remembering that I don't really care for red bean paste, I threw that away and bought a custard filled one, which was delicious.
On my way back to the hostel to pick up my things before getting the train to Osaka, I stopped at the Memorial and dropped off a few paper cranes I'd made last night.
I decided that I didn't want to rush in my traveling so I left the hostel where I'd left my backpack at 4:30, hoping to catch a 5:15 train from the station, which I had to take the tram to. I got to the train station at about 5:10 and saw other tourists running. I didn't want to. I knew there was a good chance I'd miss it, but I'd checked previously and there was another train at 6:15 so I'd just catch that one. Walking calmly through the station, I saw that the train was still there but had trouble figuring out the gate, which I finally figured was platform 14. It was 5:14, so I gave in and ran about 50 feet but then waited calmly behind people on the escalator and walked quickly onto the train in the nearest car, after checking that the train was the one I wanted. The doors closed behind me about ten seconds later, as I was asking an attendant where the non reserved seats were. So I made it anyway, and didn't have to feel stressed. Laura: 1, Train: 0.
From the time I left my hostel in Hiroshima to the time I arrived at my hostel in Osaka, it took me just two hours and forty minutes, amazing considering they're 175 miles apart.
After settling in, I decided that, even though it was a Sunday night, I wanted to go out and have a couple of drinks. There was also a part of Osaka, Dotonbori, that was supposed to be especially cool and "Blade Runner" -esque at night so I decided I'd go there. I got ready and was at the door putting my shoes on when I heard some other people from the hostel mentioning going out. I asked them if they were going out drinking, if they were leaving soon and where they were going. "Yes, yes, we don't really know- Dotonbori," they said, so I joined them and we left. They were three other Americans; a sister, Renee, her brother, Darian, and his friend, whose name, I think, was Josh. That sounds right. They were all there for a three week vacation and said they were having a great time.
Anyway, so we got to Dotonbori and passed this building, which I really liked, and then went over to an Irish Pub.
I got an almost Snakebite; half Strongbow, half Fullers (but no blackcurrent) and fish and chips since I hadn't had any dinner. Afterwards, we walked past these, which I had to get a picture with,
and several "love hotels" (pay by the hour places that are very popular in Korea and Japan and often have themed and zany rooms, though I didn't get to see any). They really, really liked to take pictures, so I took this of Darian next to one.
We wandered through "American Village," passing a mini Statue of Liberty because we wanted to go to Absinthe Cafe (totally logical, right?). There, Josh and Darian tried absinthe fully, while Renee just had water, and I had an Absinthe Sour that was good, but a bit, well, too sour. We all split the cost of a ride back to the hostel so it came out to about $3-4 each and went to bed.
Pretty much the only other things to see in or near Hiroshima were a castle, which had been decimated by the bomb and was a reconstruction, and the UNESCO shrine and floating torii gate on sacred Miyajima island, which is supposed to be one of Japan's "Three Great Sites." I decided to just go to the island, so I took a tram to the port, which took nearly an hour, and then a five minute ferry ride to the island.
It was a neat little island, but very touristy and somehow less impressive than I'd imagined. Deer roam free on the island because they're sacred in Shinto Buddhism, as they are messengers of the gods but they seem to just annoy and pester people. They were kind of cute and I wanted to feed one but then I remembered how I feel about tourists feeding seagulls in Morro Bay (disdainful) and imagined that the residents there probably felt the same about the deer, so I refrained. I have to admit though, that I did laugh at a man being followed mercilessly by a pack of deer because, for some strange reason, he had several loaves of bread in his backpack.
The Torii gate was kind of cool to see but it didn't particularly inspire me. It was supposed to be best at around 10 a.m. that day, due to the tide (when the bottom would be completely covered and it would appear to really float), but I still refuse to get up early unless something is actually unavailable at any other time, not just "better," so I was there around 12, when there was about a foot of grungy lichen at the base of the shrine but the rest was covered, and I felt totally comfortable with that. I don't think seeing it bobbing under one more foot of water would've been worth two extra hours.
I felt similarly impressed but uninspired at Itsukushima shrine, another UNESCO site but was lucky enough to catch part of a free Noh or Kyogen mask performance, which was actually a bit boring, but I was happy to see it anyways.
I wandered around for a bit, then went to Senjokaku, a wooden hall/shrine with some interesting paintings mounted on the beams and looked at the nearby five-storied pagoda, then walked back towards the port through the small village mostly populated by souvenir shops.
On the way, I passed the world's largest giant wooden spoon, as Miyajima is famous for this type of rice spoon, oddly enough. I also bought a warm, freshly made red bean paste momiji manju, a pastry in the shape of a maple leaf with various fillings. Red bean paste is the traditional filling, but after taking a bite of mine, and remembering that I don't really care for red bean paste, I threw that away and bought a custard filled one, which was delicious.
On my way back to the hostel to pick up my things before getting the train to Osaka, I stopped at the Memorial and dropped off a few paper cranes I'd made last night.
I decided that I didn't want to rush in my traveling so I left the hostel where I'd left my backpack at 4:30, hoping to catch a 5:15 train from the station, which I had to take the tram to. I got to the train station at about 5:10 and saw other tourists running. I didn't want to. I knew there was a good chance I'd miss it, but I'd checked previously and there was another train at 6:15 so I'd just catch that one. Walking calmly through the station, I saw that the train was still there but had trouble figuring out the gate, which I finally figured was platform 14. It was 5:14, so I gave in and ran about 50 feet but then waited calmly behind people on the escalator and walked quickly onto the train in the nearest car, after checking that the train was the one I wanted. The doors closed behind me about ten seconds later, as I was asking an attendant where the non reserved seats were. So I made it anyway, and didn't have to feel stressed. Laura: 1, Train: 0.
From the time I left my hostel in Hiroshima to the time I arrived at my hostel in Osaka, it took me just two hours and forty minutes, amazing considering they're 175 miles apart.
After settling in, I decided that, even though it was a Sunday night, I wanted to go out and have a couple of drinks. There was also a part of Osaka, Dotonbori, that was supposed to be especially cool and "Blade Runner" -esque at night so I decided I'd go there. I got ready and was at the door putting my shoes on when I heard some other people from the hostel mentioning going out. I asked them if they were going out drinking, if they were leaving soon and where they were going. "Yes, yes, we don't really know- Dotonbori," they said, so I joined them and we left. They were three other Americans; a sister, Renee, her brother, Darian, and his friend, whose name, I think, was Josh. That sounds right. They were all there for a three week vacation and said they were having a great time.
Anyway, so we got to Dotonbori and passed this building, which I really liked, and then went over to an Irish Pub.
I got an almost Snakebite; half Strongbow, half Fullers (but no blackcurrent) and fish and chips since I hadn't had any dinner. Afterwards, we walked past these, which I had to get a picture with,
and several "love hotels" (pay by the hour places that are very popular in Korea and Japan and often have themed and zany rooms, though I didn't get to see any). They really, really liked to take pictures, so I took this of Darian next to one.
We wandered through "American Village," passing a mini Statue of Liberty because we wanted to go to Absinthe Cafe (totally logical, right?). There, Josh and Darian tried absinthe fully, while Renee just had water, and I had an Absinthe Sour that was good, but a bit, well, too sour. We all split the cost of a ride back to the hostel so it came out to about $3-4 each and went to bed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
