Adventures in Himeji

Hiroshima

The sky got grey. And it seems like it chose to rain everywhere I'm going. But I'll have to live with it.

Should have trusted my instinct, when I got in Hiroshima under the sun, and should have gone directly to Miyajima, where is the famous Floating Tori. From there, I wanted to climb a mountain, the Misen, to appreciate the view.

But I decided to push it back to the next day. One afternoon would be too short... But the next day, it was raining. I waited under a small roof, in front of the Floating Tori (covered for renovations), but it wouldn't stop. So I traveled back to Hiroshima.

One day later, I left for Himeji. The only directions I had to get to my hostel : from the train station, walk for 20 minutes.

So I took a taxi, hoping not to get lost. It was 9 PM. But the driver didn't know where was my hostel.

He decided to stop randomly in the middle of an alley. Rang one house door bell. The people living there got out and gave him directions. But it didn't look like he understood. So one woman got in the car with us and helped us get to the destination.

There, it wasn't really a hostel, but more of a guesthouse. A real japanese house, a 100 years old, where you sleep on the floor in the most traditionnal way. It looks like they are Japenese welcoming people in their house.

You know you're not in a commercial hostel when the owner hugs you before you go, and when he waits on the sidewalk, waving at you while you walk away.

Other than that, Himeji has nothing very special. Especially (that is my luck) since its castle, the real attraction there, is closed for renovations until 2015. Scaffolds again. Not allowed to walk in.

After, I got in Kyoto, where it should rain for two days. And like everywhere else, I was told I should visit the aquarium. They are obsessed with aquariums in here. 

Getting in Japon

Like in New Zealand, you need to have bought a ticket to get out of Japan to be allowed in. Having had trouble at the beggining of this trip, I had everything with me. But nobody asked for it.

Vietnam visa

A visa is necessary to get in Vietnam and you need to obtain it before arriving in the airport. So I used the website myvietnamvisa.com. Very efficient, for a small fee, you get a letter which confirms the visa was granted. You then need to exchange that letter against the visa itself once you get in the airport. Crossing my fingers for everything to work well.

Amazing contrast

Osaka

The contrast is amazing between China and Japan. Interesting to see that two asian countries, so close to each other, are that different.

Even if I spent only two days in the rising sun country and I've seen only the ordinary town of Osaka, I can tell I like that country.

First, no smog. No-thing. For now, at least. Two days full of sun with blue sky all the time. No clouds (or rain or smoke).

The streets are clean, clean, clean. No spit anywhere. Noise? Not close to the noise in China. Funny looks at my white guy head? None? Surprised looks when I mime something? None. Japanese try to understand.

For a third consecutive day, strangers ran to help me. I take a picture of myself? Someone run to take the picture for me. I have a big question mark above my head in front of the not-easy-to-understand metro system? I get help to buy the ticket and someone helps me to get to the appropriate platform. Super!

In the innovation category : the three-in-one faucet in the bathrooms. They give soap, water and dry the hands. Also in the bathroom, they thought of putting a seat for a baby in front of the toilet to allow parents to free their hands. I also like the vending machines with which you order in the restaurants... if you can understand what is written on the buttons. You choose, you pay, you get a ticket and the waitress arrives with the meal.

The only problem came from transportation. It is efficient, no doubt about that. But for the foreigner, it is kind of complicated to understand. Because there is the JR, the metro and another train company in the same town. Once you understand how the map works, you need to catch how you're supposed to pay, it gets easy to understand where you go and how much it costs. After, you choose the amount on the machine, no matter what the destination is, and there you go.

No congratulations for the overpacked stuff though. Buying a bottle of water and putting it in a plastic bag? We'll need to tell them.

In the end, the recycling bins are everywhere. Especially next to the vending machines. For the trash can, on the other hand, you need to search a lot. Maybe it helps people to recycle, but if you're a tourist with the first signs of a cold... it's not very nice.

Tip

I don't think I wrote about that earlier. When you leave Canada, it is possible (and recommanded) to register online on the canadian governement website. That way, if there is any security issue while you're gone, it'll be easier to find you and to get in touch with you.

Just for fun

Why does this video makes me think of my godson? If it wasn't that useless, and if I wouldn't have to carry it, I would have bought it for him. You can find that little donkey everywhere in China.

The Golden Week

My luck! Don't buy any lottery ticket for the week-end. Without even choosing the numbers, I know I'll win. Because I have an incredible luck. Really!

You might remember the Melbourne Grand Prix? Here I am in a similar situation, in Japan, because of the Golden week. In fact, the Japanese have holidays on April 29 th and May 3, 4 and 5. Most take the whole week off and travel, get to tourist attractions and use transportation... in their own country. And to top it all, the prices get higher because of it.

Guess who is gonna get in Japan and will be stuck somewhere because of the Golden week? Meeee!

It takes what it takes. I fortunately found out about that two days ago. Using my time while the rain was falling over Beijing, I rushed to the non-censored internet to book hostels.

My original plan holds : two days in Osaka, one night in Hiroshima and one night in Himeji. No problem there. Where I am getting in trouble is Kyoto, where I wanted to spend 5 or 6 days. Everything goes for the first two. But the next two days : nothing. No hostel anywhere. Except in female dorms. Not good for me.

So I booked in Osaka, less than 40 minutes away by train, and I will take a return trip in the morning and in the evening to go back to Kyoto. Unless someone from Couchsurfing answers my request. But for now, everybody declined... because Japanese won't be home on these dates, obviously.

I just take a deep breath, I wait, and I'll see.

On another subject, I am now thinking about the flight I need to book to get back home in August. Because the one-way ticket from Argentina or Brazil, to Montreal, has a long stopover. I'm thinking of taking some "vacations" for four or five days on my way back home. Maybe in Cuba. Maybe in Puerto Rico. Suggestions?

Grumble for the last time

Gilly with my Finnish friend Tua, at Temple of Heaven

Haaaaaaaaa! Done with China. Not that I didn't like it. But it will be good for me to breath new air. Even if I'm not sure there is less smog in Japan...

That said, I haven't been writing a lot in the last few days. It is because my proxy wouldn't let me blog. I could only post short stuff when I was lucky.

The end of my trip in Beijing was interesting. I met a lot of people who I got along with really well. Fate made me meet with Aurelien and Marion, a French couple, for three consecutive days, without any appointment, in three different cities. Who said China was huge?

While visiting, smog and grey skies stole the show until rain brought the dust down. Because dust and pollution, God knows we breath a lot of them in the chinese capital.

I won't miss my very hard bed in the hostel, on which I spent nine nights with hurting bones. It was only a plank of wood with sheets. I won't miss the  «Take a looke... Very goode... Good price for you my friend». Neither those people who gumble all the time and spit in the streets... or on the floor in the restaurants. I won't miss being pushed around in the metro, being scamed in the markets, trying to explain to the waiter that I want to pay the bill, being honked at even if there is room to go around me.

Yes, I liked my time in China, which made me see a different world. We can get used to being a nomad, to see new stuff every day. To the point it is scary to think we can loose the capacity to be amazed in front of the unknown. Even the discomfort brought by the difficulties to make ourselves understood become easy to manage.

But there is nothing better than changing countries to get an electric shock. To loose all marks.

I left Beijing this morning for Osaka. Beijing airport is impressive and complicated. I was sent from desk to desk to check-in. First, thanks to the Chinese who put in the metro a list of all the airlines with the terminal you should step down at... only in mandarin.

My flight was stopping in Yantai, China. Choice # 1 : international terminal or the domestic one? Trying the domestic one. There, I could find the sign for the flight to Yantai with the accurate number. But error! You need to check-in at the international terminal... and then take the plane at the domestic terminal... Why make it simple? You can add one hour of delay before take off to make it more fun...

At the stopover, the plane was emptied for everybody to get a stamp on their passport. And we got back in the same plane a couple of minutes later.

In Osaka, I needed to get my rail pass, valid for two weeks, which will allow me to use all JR transportation in Japan. Without the precious help of Japenese, I wouldn't have made it to my hostel. First because the train system looks very complicated to a foreigner who only slept for four hours the night before. And because the signs are not all as clear as I wished.

A woman who waited for the metro on a different line from mine decided to leave her platform to help me get where I needed to go. She even boarded the carriage with me to make sure I was reading the map correctly while she was counting the stations for me.

Even if I've seen only a beam of 100 metres around my hostel in Osaka, near the Momodani metro station, I can say I like Japan. For its intelligent cash registers. For its toilets with an integrated faucet, which reuse the water we washed our hands with. For its bins for liquids, in the fast-food restaurants, where you put what's left of your soft drink or the ice left in the glass. Smart!

And my sweet tooth, who found nothing in China, is getting back in shape.

* A theory might change the way I was seeing expired food in China. I was told the date we find on products might be the date where the food was made instead of when it expires. The client would then need to know for how long that type of food is good. I still have my doubts, but it makes sense.

Done with the bad news

Traveling means being far. Being far, its getting only two types of news. The very good ones... and those which are a little too bad.

Since I left, it seems bad news keep on coming. You seem to rush to the hospital while I'm gone you brats. Fortunately, most of the problems happening at home look like they can be solved.

Whatever happens, for all of those who are going through bad days, I put in a box the chinese sun and I send it to you with all my positive thinking. That is why it is raining like crazy today in Beijing. But I'm not complaining.

And to transform negative into positive, here is the publicity of the day. This is a link to give for my friend Marianne's team, who will take part in the Relais pour la vie event. Because it is with that money we can make sure we keep people we love with us. And because of that, most problems can be solved.

Verry goode! (sic)

Chinese know how to negociate... We don't... Not when we're starting, at least. But we can learn. And we hope to be able to evaluate how much an object is worth, even if we always have that feeling we could have paid less.

That said, China is probably the best place to start, since you need to negociate only in the markets. Not for food.

I started slowly, for postcards. Might not have been the best idea. Postcards are already worth nothing. But it helped me see how the markets work.

I was told I should try to get the third of the price they ask in Shanghai, half of it in Beijing. It is probably true if the seller asks a reasonable price from the start.

In Xi'an, I got an object for a little more than half the price. In Pingyao, around the third of the price. In Beijing, I bought something for eight times less. It comes to a point where you don't know anymore and you start with ridiculous prices.

One thing stays the same. Each seller will tell us he can't lower the prices because his price and his product are in fact "verry goode". With an accentuated "e" at the end. He's always better than the one next door, who sells, of course, mediocre products.

And when they'll eventually give up, because you won't bouge, they will say : "Very hard, you..."

One woman tried, in vain, to make me raise my price. She was hitting me on the arm because I wouldn't go higher. But when I wanted to leave, she would keep me from going, saying she wanted to make business with me. When she finally agreed on my price, I wanted to make sure she understood well.

- Ok for 150 yuans?
- 160!
- No, I said I wouldn't go higher than 150.
- But this is only about 10 yuans!
- Exactly. Only 10 yuans. So you don't need them.
- Ok! 155.
- No. You told me 150.

So I got 150 yuans out and she said : 
- 10 more.

And when I said no, she took the 150 yuans with a sad face... "Very hard, you." They try really hard.

When we don't know, it is better to try several places and ask the starting price, saying that you don't really want the item once the price was given. For one object, they asked 180 yuans. On the next level in the market, the woman asked : "You want my starting price or my best price?"

Best price, of course... 30 yuans. Six times less. And the good thing about it is we still could negociate. Crazy.