Real quick, we'll update more soon. We are safe and sound in Xi'an after the best train ride we've had in China. We're tired and ready for bed. Tomorrow we see the Terracotta Warriors!
Well, Shiz and I just got of what was suppossed to be a twelve hour train ride, but turned into a forty-wo one. We finally left Shanghai on Wednesday night and boarded a train boung for Kaifeng at 8PM. It was due to arrive at 8:30 AM, so we boarded the train, played some gin, read, and went to sleep. When we woke up, the train had stopped. None of the people around us spoke English or Japanese, but our bunks were below a really nice family and we wrote (the written language is similar at times to Japanese's) so we eventually asked them what was wrong.
The problem? Snow. It had snowed on the pass that we were supposse to take, so the train was stopped figuring out what to do. All day. We woke up at 7 and the train didn't move for about 15 hours. When, at around midnight, it did start moving, that was only for three hours. Then it stopped. It started again, but this time only traveled for an hour. then it stopped. then it traveled for thirty minutes. then it stopped. We FINALLY got to Kaifeng at 2:30 PM on Friday, and we were very ready to get off that train. the good news is that Kaifeng satifies where Shanghai lets down. There are these great old buildings, still the crazy traffic, lots of cheap food, the same amount of dirt but with cleaner air, and now snow! We've only been here a couple of hours, but we might stay an extra night. We found a cheap hotel that is still safe and even with an English-speaking receptionist, so we're pretty happy. Aftre this we're off to find Ma Yu Ching's Bucket Chicken House, est. 1153 and reputedly the oldest continuous restuarant in the world (though Casa Botin in Madrid, Spain - est. 1725 - also claims the title). Needless to say, I am very excited. We'll hang around Kaifeng maybe one more day, maybe two, then our next stop is the Shaolin Temple! The kung-fu Today was raining and crappy, so Shiz and I stayed at Andrew and Michael's house, relaxing, doing laundry, and watching movies. It was great. Tomorrow I pick up my passport with Vietnam visa, then we take a night train to Zhengzhou. From here on out it'll be just Shiz and I and it will really feel like we are traveling. Wish us luck!
日本語のセッティングができて、やっとブログが書けるー!わーい!
今上海です! 明日、Blazのベトナムビザを取りにいって、上海を出ます。あいにくの雨。そしてまだレインコートを買ってないわたし。。。 出発1週間前からこじらせて、ついにカマ声をとおりこして声が出なくなってたんだけどそれも良くなり、そうかと思ったらBlazが熱を出したりとかなり不健康な感じではじまった旅だけど、今は二人とも元気です。 今日一日ゆっくり休んだし、明日から二人だけでほんとうに世界旅行がはじまる気がします。 五日間くらい上海をうろうろして、ちょっと郊外に行ったりして楽しかったけど、 正直上海はもういいかな、というかんじなので、明日違う街に行くのが楽しみ。 ちなみに、まだちゃんとした中国料理は食べてません。 これから先、いろいろ大変なことがあると思うけど、楽しい旅になるといいな。 Finally I can put up a post from Shanghai! Shanghai is, well, very modern. It feels a lot like Sapporo in terms of things to do (i.e. very little and most of it a tad disappointing so far) but there is no doubt in our mind that this is China. Dirty streets, crazier drivers, some restaurants that give me pause, and lots of really interesting things. I have always wondered how close the various Chinatowns that I have been to represented actual China and I must say that they are pretty spot on. The restaurants feel the same. The shops with weird dried foods I have seen before. The markets with everything from pig brain to any part of a chicken or pig you can think of.
But China is good. The taxi drivers are all nice, it is safe (petty theft is punishable by death), and the rules are VERY flexible. Things are really cheap (beer for 75 cents, dinner for $2, good dinner for $5-10) and we're doing well at keeping within budget and still seeing lots of things. Today we went to The French Concession and walked around a bit. It felt eerily like New Orleans or Charleston. It lacked the inner courtyards of of New Orleans, but the architecture and the smell were New Orleans in copy. Tomorrow should be a good day. Shiz and I have been fighting off some hard viruses, so hopefully we'll be genki enough tomorrow to get to the Poster Museum, The Insect Market, The Chinese Sex Museum, and a couple of temples that sound nice. In a couple of hours, after styaing at a friend of Shizuka's in Yokohama, we board our plane for China! Shiz has been fighting off a persistent cough and I came very close to catching it, which would have made the first part of our trip not so exciting. But we are healthier, more excited, and really nervous. It doesn't feel like we will be taking our newfound homes with us for the next nine months, but we will! It hasn't hit us much because we have just been seeing friends in Tokyo, but once we hit China, I'm sure it'll become reality quickly. Luckily, we will start off by staying in Shanghai visiting my good friend Andrew, seeing sights and cathcing up while we get our visas ready for Vietnam. Wish us luck! 明日から中国よ!四日間の東京は楽しくて楽しくて”旅”の感じはぜんぜんないんだ。静香がひどい咳をもうちょっと治ってブラッズが風邪を治ってこれから健康で世界を見よう!!
今夜上海について、ベトナムのビサを待つ間にアンドルーという友達と一緒に観光する。超楽しみに! Just a quick update. We have had a great time in Tokyo introducing each other to all of our fantastic friends. I've met a lot of Shizuka's friends from university and she has met some of mine. It was a great time, but tomorrow we take care of some banking stuff, cancel our phones, then head to Shanghai!!
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