Day Eleven

we woke up kinda late & had a late breakfast, consisting of the left-overs from last night's dinner & some things Ruoya's mom concocted, it was pretty terrible in all honesty. After eating, she took us to her office, where she showed us her company's research lab, where they research drugs to help fight against or prevent strokes. So after the 5 minute tour, we took a bus to another part of the town (the port) & went on a pretty crappy boat tour of the port (a real shit hole of a port anyways). After the tour, we walked around for a bit, but then took a taxi back to her apartment to eat some fruit & get our stuff to go to the train station to go to Tainjin (we were actually in TEDA (Tainjin Economic Development Area). The train ride took about an hour, once we got there, we waited for Ruoya's uncle to pick us up to go to dinner. We ate a large meal with his uncle, his wife, their son, his grandparents, his mom & the two of us. The restaurant specialized in Bao Zi, which are quite tasty dumplings that are shaped like balls and steamed. I ate quite a lot of them. After we finished eating, Ruoya's mom paid for everyone (as is customary) & asked for a receipt, here's where things got crazy. I'm not sure what was happening exactly, but there was a good bit of yelling at each other & the staff (turns out, they didn't feel like they could give them a receipt, they wanted one for liability's sake, etc.) The driver (same one) took us back to Beijing. At this same time, Ruoya started to break out again and his skin swelled and itched. While Ruoya sat suffering next to me, I listened to Harry Potter until we reached Beijing. Ruoya's aunt was waiting for us once we got back to Beijing & drove us to our apartment, where Ruoya went to sleep immediately to hopefully find some relief & I continued to listen to Harry Potter until bed.

Day Ten

Woke up pretty early this morning, tried to listen to Harry Potter, but my iPod has developed this rather annoying problem that it will not restart from a paused status after more than a couple of minutes, so you have to restart the track which is pretty crappy because the they're so long & you are unable to fast forward (it turned out to only be those MP3s & not my iPod itself). So I had to restart once I had already listened to half of it. When Ruoya woke up his skin was even worse than before, so his aunt picked us up a little bit later, took us to eat breakfast at a typical Taiwanese restaurant, consisting of donut-like fried dough (not sweet though), a prawn wonton soup, a tea egg (boiled egg, cracked a bit, then soaked in tea) a spring onion pie & either hot or cold (sweet) soy milk. After that, we went to her hospital, used the computer & drank some instant (yuck) coffee, while Ruoya received an IV drip for his allergic reactions. We then returned to the apartment & are currently awaiting the arrival of Ruoya's mom's company's driver to take us to Tainjin // We met the driver at a restaurant, had some hot pot lunch, which was very similar to the sumo meal in Japan, & picked up his grandparents at his aunt's apartment, then set off for Tainjin. The drive took about 2 hours, which is funny, because it's only something like 110 km from Beijing. Once we got there, we went up into Ruoya's mom's summer apartment, which is really nice. It would be the kind of apartment I would like to have one day, very modern looking, lots of wood, leather sofas, cool lighting, etc. Anyways, later on, we went to dinner which was pretty decent, but nothing memorable. When we returned to the apartment after dinner, I listened to Harry Potter until I fell asleep some time later.

Day Nine

This morning we walked to the bus stop & on the way we got breakfast (Moonpies or at least the Chinese equivalent). We rode the bus to the subway, then again back to the Pearl Market, where I tried on my suit, it was a very good fit, so no adjustments were necessary. After I got the suit, I bought 5 more polo shirts, because the others did not fit. When we left the Pearl Market, we walked down the street to get some food and, on the way, we saw a street vendor selling polos for 25 RMB each, which is half the price of what I had to haggle for at Pearl Market. So I bought 2 more for me and 2 for presents. At lunch, we got some chicken and egg & tomato, which is pretty good stuff. I don't remembering paying a lot for it, but with 3 beers, I know it wasn't much. After lunch, we went back to the apartment for put my suit down before setting off again, this time for the mountain close to the apartment. We walked over to the mountain at 3:45 & we summited (walked up a trail) & were back down by 5:00. We walked out of the mountain's 'scenic resort' & to the bus stop. we rode the bus toward the main part of town in order to find a restaurant. We walked around awhile, but we eventually found one that suited our eyes & with cheap enough beer. So we ate there & took the bus back to the apartment. Ruoya started complaining of his skin itching around his neck, well, he must have had an allergy to something because his itching continued to get worse & his skin because very swollen & red. I went to bed early as I fell asleep listening to Harry Potter.

Day Eight

Woke up this morning & there is a really powerful windstorm outside which I'm sure is producing a good bit of dust tornados & such. The power has gone out (I assume from this storm) which means no hot water, boo, so I suppose I'll take a cold shower. Oh, but, we checked the 'circuit breaker' to see if it was tripped & funny enough the whole apartment is on two circuits, but it wasn't tripped either, so no luck. At least it's a gorgeous day outside (& since yesterday wasn't too hot) i don't think It'll be that hot today either.// The weather was nicem we went back to the aunt's apartment to pick up all the stuff we bought yesterday at the Pearl Market (we did go, that journal entry yesterday was just silly...), then once we had it all back at our apartment, we went to the Temple of Heaven, pretty cool, then we went back to the same area where we went last night to get dinner and Ruoya really wanted a massage. So we got dinner for 26 RMB each, then we got 40 minute massages for 88 RMB. I would have to say that I did not enjoy the massage fully, it was really rough and awkward. We took the subway home and went to bed

Day Seven

I woke up this morning with a beautiful sight out the window, a blue sky....Yesterday it was so overcast & smoggy that I never saw any blue of course it probably means that it'll be obscenely hot today. So this morning Ruoya is going to get a hair cut, we're going to the summer palace, great wall, tibet tourism bureau & the Pearl Market (again). I'll see how much of that we actually get done...// OK, so I did get a suit made today & we are going to Tibet! Yay! we ate dinner with his family, just OK food, nothing special, went out to buy drinks (I'm pretty drunk while wiriting this), 6 drinks for like ~150 RMB, terrible price, but who cares. It was funny, whenever we walked down the street, "Hello Sir, Lady Bar?" Haha. I'm drunk, Ruoya wanted to get a massage (legit), so we found a place for "just massage" for 30 each plus 50 for a tip for this guy who directed us around. So we followed him around the streets, but he took us to places that were closed. I don't care, oh well, I'm drunk, taxi 76 RMB, fuck, good night.

Day Six

We awoke kinda late today at like 9 o'clock. We left the apartment & walked around to the main street of the area & found a small bakery to get breakfast. So we paid about 5 RMB for breakfast, so that's like 60 cents or so...pretty cheap. After we ate we went to the bus stop, where we waited for like 15 minutes until we realized that we waiting for the bus on the wrong side of the street (wrong direction), so we walked over the over-pass to the other side of the street. After waiting another 15 minutes, the bus arrived. We rode the bus until we got to Tian'amen (it took almost 2 hours with all the fucking traffic). Anyway, we walked to the square, wisited all the sites, looked at all the monuments until lunch, where we walked away from the square & found a small restaurant, where we had three delicious dishes (this is how you eat in China, not one per person, but however many and all share) & a couple beers, all costing 53 RMB (1 USD = 7.6 RMB). Awesome, we walked back to the square & walked to the Forbidden City & deliberated whether or not to buy the admission tickets (it was 60 RMB, and just eating all of that delicious food I was skeptical). Well, I decided that it would be silly as shit to come to China and not go to the Forbidden City, so I decided to buy the entrance ticket and I think I made Ruoya feel bad enough to buy a ticket too. I'm glad we did go in, it's only once in awhile that a poor farm boy like me can go there. Inside the forbidden city, were relics from the various dynasties & emperors, and, of course, the palace (winter). You can't really go into parts where the emperors lived. After that we took a cab to the Silk Street Pearl Market, which is a huge building of counterfeit goods, where I'm going to buy a lot of gifts & things for myself. After we left (Ruoya bought a pair of adidas for less than 20 & felt ripped off), we walked around outside & some guy approached us asking if we wanted to buy some 'DVD movies' & we did, so he took us to a nail salon, where he went to the back, and returned with suit case with a retarded amount of DVDs. I ended up buying 4 DVDs ($2.50 each). After we that we got some over-priced coffee, took the subway to meet his aunt at a restaurant. the subway is pretty shitty, similar to MARTA, but it's trying to be Tokyo's subway (but it is not, not by a lot). We rode it & when we got off, we took a taxi, to the restaurant in a four-block U-turn (haha) we had dinner, it was pretty good, but I liked lunch more. After dinner, Ruoya's aunt took us to her office at her hospital to use the internet. Now we're back at the apartment, watching Rocky II, which is awesome.

Day Five

Without an alarm, I woke up exactly at 4:30, my desired waking hour. We ate a bit of breakfast, consisting of salad, sausage, grapefruit, milk & 'really thin pancakes'... We then took a taxi to one of the out-lying elevated train stations then we waited for a train (~20 minutes) & rode it to Narita (~90 minutes). My experience in the airport was rather hectic, but eventually we got through customs, immigration & security (which is a lot less ridiculous than the US). Despite our ridiculously early departure from Nerima, we didn't have to sit around the airport for too long. Now I'm sitting on the airplane enjoying some non-peanut snack mix & a Sapporo Draft (in a can). I think iPods are prohibited but I'm bored so I'm going to use mine anyways. // OK, the Beijing aiport was pretty crazy, we got off the plane & had to deal with security & customs immigration, but it really didn't take that long. When we got out, Ruoya was surprised that there wasn't a subway at the airport. So we looked around & decided that a shuttle could set us close enough to the city to take a taxi to his aunt's apartment. So we rode the shuttle for a long time & finally, at the last stop, we got out & tired to cross the road (we almost died), but as I forgot to mention, Chinese drivers are retarded. More retarded even that WDW drivers. Anyway, we got to the apartment there are rather a lot in the area) Ruoya was unsure of both the building & which apartment it was...So after 3 incorrect attempts, Ruoya found the right apartment. Inside were his grandparents, who were really nice but they didn't speak English, which makes things interesting. Anyway, we waited for his aunt to get home from work in order to take us to her old apartment where we were to live. While we waited, we showered & checked our email, then sat around until dinner. We had dumplings & some other things, it was good. I think I forgot to mention how fucking dirty Beijing is, so here it is, it's really, truly, a dirty, nasty city (or so I thought at the time). Anyway, so his aunt. who speaks English with a British accent, took us to her old apartment way across town to stay there. The surrounding area is pretty crappy, but the apartment itself is pretty nice. We were both pretty tired after the day of traveling (oh and the traffic is the worst too!) so we went to bed shortly after arriving.

Day Four

Today we went to Roppongi (Tokyo Midtown) to see the Tokyo Tower, we got there using the subway, which by the way to get anywhere in Tokyo, & saw that they were charging an entrance fee & decided that our money could be better spent (the observation deck isn't even as high as the TMG building) so we took a few pictures of it from the base, which look pretty cool, & bought some 'really thin pancakes' filled with bananas & whipped cream. After that we took the subway to Ueno, which, probably because it was Sunday, was rather ghostly. Not many shops were open & even fewer restaurants. We decided to walk around a lot...Oh, I forgot to say we also went to Akihabara, the electric city, not very impressive, most things are not very cheap (as they were promised). They did, however, have some cool cell phones though. OK, so we walked around Ueno for awhile & decided to go back to Ikebukuro for lunch, really good stand-up sushi & to drink some beer. The second part was more difficult than we thought. The pubs were closed, but oh well, we got the sushi. We then took the subway to the far souutheast side of Tokyo to see the port, but we mostly just walked around the area off the last stop on the Y-line. Oh well, we then just headed back to Nerima, which took a long time. When we got back home, we rested until dinner (at the house) at which I got to try some very expensive Chinese white wine (moonshine 56% a/v). It tasted and felt like lighter fluid. After dinner (at which I drank several beers) i was pretty tired & kinda drunk, but I needed to pack because we were to leave at 5 for the airport.

Day Three

We got up early again and went to Shinjuku, we walked around for awhile looking up mostly, because of all the skyscrapers surrounding us. As we walked closer into Shinjuku, we visited a park there, quite looked pretty at its' entrance with this big waterfall style fountain, but is (as we saw in shocked confusion) most popular for its blue-tarp tent homeless population. We then walked around back toward the street and found the entrance to the TMG building, which has a really nice view from its 45th story observation deck of all of Tokyo and even Mt. Fuji (although we could barely see it through the smog). We met a Japanese man from Yokohama there who went up to the deck with us. He pointed out the Emperor's Park to us and told us that the Meiji Shrine was in there. So we decided to go with him to look at it. Once we took the subway a couple stops over, we got into the park and walked to the Shrine. We used the Clearwater at the shrine to cleanse our hands and mouth, 'prayed' for Meiji, & got a poem (written by Emperor Meiji). This was all pretty confusing for us good ol' American boys. We left the park and went to Harajuku-dori & Takeshita-dori (this I can understand). These streets are basically teen-goth heaven. Crazy shops selling ultimate goth fashion and other weird shops (namely "Banana Fish" & "Store my Ducks"). For lunch we took the subway back to the Shinjuku station & ate again at one of those vending machine places. After lunch we went to Ginza, which is mainly known for its outrageously expensive high-end shopping (Prada, Bvlgari, Porsche, Mont Blanc, etc...). After this endevour into the rich area, we were extremely tired from walking around all day & headed to Ikebukuro to eventually meet his uncle, his aunt, his aunt's sister, his aunt's brother, their Japanese friend, and his aunt's brother's wife's parents (ha.) for dinner. Well, we rode the subway there and didn't do too much before meeting up with them, but we did end up stopping at this Japanese Pub where we split a litre bottle of beer for 410 yen. After the beer and some dried squid (it's like squid jerky), we went back to the west exit of the subway and met them. We then took a short walk to the restaurant, which turned out to be 'Sumo Food' (aka very similar to Chinese Hotpot). The food was really good, and so was all the beer and sake that everyone kept making us drink more of. So by the end of dinner I was pretty buzzed, this sparked Ruoya and I's decision to return to Shinjuku by the moonlight to check out the neon life. This was a bad idea. We walked down a little dori (Ruoya was drunker than I was ((by a lot))) and ten steps into a very well-lit alley and we were approached by, what can only be described as a 'Nigerian Spammer' who was extremely persistent at trying to sell sex. 15 more steps, another one. Jesus. Once we got away from them, keeping Ruoya from not puking & close to me in the crowds were difficult until we got back on the Oedo line & home safe in Nerima.

Day Two

We got up early this morning (5:30) without an alarm, I suppose this is due to the time difference, but i feel well rested, so who cares. We walked to the subway & rode for about 40 minutes to get to Tsukiji Fish Market. My first impression - wow. Fucking wow. It's crazy how big it is. We walked around for a couple minutes, but then we realized that Ruoya didn't have any money (any Yen that is). So in need of exchange, we went around looking for an international ATM. Well this was a much bigger deal than expected. None of the ATMs we found in various convenience stores accepted our cards, even though some of them had English menus... So eventually, we talked to someone and asked them to direct us towards a bank. Well we walked to the bank and discovered that it was still closed, we looked around in this area and found the post office, inside of which was an international ATM, but it too was closed. So we walked around and eventually decided to get some coffee and a snack. We went into a coffee shop and had some delicious, real coffee, and some pastries. So once the post office opened we got money, but the machine gave us a 10000 yen note (about 100 usd), so we went into the nearby bank in order to change it into smaller bills. Once we had our small bills, we walked back to the market. Once again, we were in awe. There was so much going on at once and once again, it was ridiculously big. After navigating through the fish market and taking a lot of pictures, we're back on the subway to go to Shibuya! // In Shibuya, we ate lunch at a very interesting (and cheap!) diner-like Japanese restaurant. You enter, turn left and go to a machine, much similar to a vending machine, you deposit money, make your meal selection (there are pictures on the buttons or numbers associated with pictures on a poster above the machine) and out comes a ticket, you hand the ticket to the attendant, and depending on your selection (curry comes out in about 20 seconds) you receive your meal, shortly afterward. After lunch we headed to the imperial palace, once we got off the subway, we walked around the entire perimeter of the imperial grounds (there's a moat) looking for an open gate. And all of that to find out that you're actually not allowed to enter the inner grounds anyway. So we stayed near the entrance to try to plan out what/where we would go that night. We decided to just go back to the apartment, rest, shower, and eat. // After dinner we decided to go back to Shibuya to go bar hopping. // OK. before I forget, I need to say that the air in Tokyo is extremely dry, so much so that the corners of my mouth are cracked & my nose is dried out...So last night, once we walked around Shibuya for a bit, we ended up not being able to find any place with any english posted outside (for awhile anyways), but eventually we came across (after walking for about half an hour) GASPANIC, which is a crazy bar with happy hour from 6:00-9:30, during which time, any drink is 400 yen, and for this town, that's not bad. So we each had 6 drinks each, including a Corona. Anyway, this bar is frequented by Young Japanese (mostly women) & knowing American tourists (and Naval personnel, who are very persistent with the women). Making our way back to Nerima in our drunken state was no problem (thank you subway).

Day One

I woke up this morning at 6 o'clock, got my stuff together and carried my bags downstairs and waited for the shuttle to come. It arrived at 6:25, after I sat impatiently on the curb for a good 15 minutes, and took the shuttle to Marta. The train arrived promptly and delivered me to the airport quickly as well, and although Marta is very limited in its destinations, I feel like its the best way to get to the airport, that is if you live close enough to it, not to have to drive to the station. Both security and check-in went smoothly, and at check-in, the agent kindly asked me if I wished to change my seat, from the middle of a 5-person row to the aisle seat on a 2 person row, how sweet the glory. Having plenty of time to kill, I walked all the way from check-in to concourse E to get currency exchanged; I got 190000 yen and 520 RMB. My gate was in concourse T, so I decided that I had walked enough and took the train back. Once I found my gate, I bought a coffee and waited for what seemed only a short while. I'm now currently on the airplane waiting to take off for Dulles. // After sitting silently for 30 minutes next to a clearly Chinese woman, I started talking (with my limited, very so, skills in Mandarin) to her. She is a very nice woman from Beijing whose son lives in Atlanta. Whenever I knew how to say what I needed to say in Mandarin, she never had a problem understanding me, and that is encouraging.// Now we're landing in Dulles, it is rather cloudly & the airport looks (much like Erin said once) dull. My lay-over is an hour & a half, than it's off to Tokyo. I quickly shoved down some Wendy's & called Lacey (after attempting a total of 10 pay phones).// i've got about one hour left overall left in the flight. i know it's 14 hours, but there was plenty to do. I took advantage of the free drinks having: a bloody mary, some bailey's, some Jim Beam, and 2 Kirin. I loves me the booze. I'm done with 7 of the 8 Japanese lessons, & I've read a good bit of one of the guide books. I slept about 4 hours, watched The Pursuit of Happyness and Rocky Balboa, both good movies. The tv just told me that it's a beautiful sunny day in Tokyo at 77 degrees Fareignheit (or 25 degrees Celcius if you're Nihon-jin). I've written quite a bit in this enrty , which makes me wonder if i'll need a bigger journal. I'm excited to land, Ruoya should be waiting for me at my gate or when I pass through customs and immigration...We'll see.//I got off the plane & went through immigration, and when they asked me who I was here to see, I didn't know (Ruoya never told me) So I answered with Ruoya Wang (true). Ruoya's plane got delayed leaving Chicago, so he arrived late so I ended up waiting for him for about an hour. His aunt was waiting for him near me most of the time, but I had no idea who she was, so I never talked to her. We then rode the train into Tokyo and then transferred a couple of times and after approximately an hour, we arrived in Nerima and took a taxi to his Uncle and Aunt's apartment. There we met his uncle and his cousin, Kan. We sat our things inside and immediately went to dinner nearby. We ate a ton of food, including an absurd amount of sushi, everything was good excpet for sea urchin roe (tastes like innards). We then returned to the apartment and promptly fell asleep after our long days.