Japan, China, and Rugby - Craziest 3 Weeks of My Life

Well, I just spent the past 2 hours blogging, writing about my travels through Japan, and my internet cut off for some reason and I lost everything. I am so ridiculously frustrated that I don't know how much I'm going to be able to rewrite, so forgive the brevity of this post (even though it may be a relief for some of you).

A little over a week after Vietnam, I traveled to Japan. This was an incredible journey. I landed in Tokyo and spent my first day and a half exploring there. Highlights included Akihabara (the intensive electronics shopping center, where anything battery-operated is sold) and the Tsukiji Fish Market (one of the largest fish markets in the world, where enormous fish the size of small children are sold and auctioned off). To be quite honest, I was not all that impressed with the city itself. The buildings were not nearly as interesting as Hong Kong's, both in size and aesthetically. What is impressive is the size of it. The Tokyo Tower (a building based on the design of the Eiffel Tower but to the Japanese is better because it's 9 meters taller) is the best place to get a sense of this. Taking those who are willing to pay the price up 250 meters, I got amazing views of the vast city, understanding why it's hyped up so much. Lights everywhere, traffic going in every direction imaginable, everything and everyone moving at light speed. I had some great first-time experiences visiting some shrines (Yasakuni-jinja) and the one day I visited the Imperial Palace, it was closed, so the best I could do was walk around the Imperial Garden and marvel at its beauty and potential when the cherry blossoms are in season.

I then took a shinkansen train (bullet train) to Hiroshima and walked all around the Peace Memorial Park. What surprised me about everything, the statues, the monuments, the Peace Memorial Museum, was how everything was dedicated to peace. There was no real hostility towards the US or other enemies, but rather a striving towards world peace and the drive to make everyone know the real dangers of nuclear weapons. Some other incredible memories include staring at the Cenotaph frame the Eternal Flame of Peace with the A-Bomb Dome in the background. The Eternal Flame of Piece is a long menorah-looking sculpture with one flame in the middle that will never be extinguished until the last nuclear weapon is destroyed and the A-Bomb Dome is the last standing building from the explosion (it's a UNESCO World Heritage Sight). One of the most moving memorials was the Statue of Mother and Child in Storm. This sculpture is of a mother so hunched over that her back is nearly horizontal, hugging one child under her stomach with her other arm clutching her other child that hangs on her back, arms hooked around the mother's neck. It is a very moving statue, that really depicts the feeling of destruction and despair that the Japanese must have felt after the bombing, and how no one, not even innocent civilians, deserve that. It was a really humbling experience. Another memory was walking past the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound - a huge mound comprised of the ashes of all the victims. It's enormous. Check out the pictures. Very incredible. What's more was watching a tour group stand in front of it and pray together for a moment in silence. Very moving.

The next day I explored the nearby island recommended to me by many called Miyajima. Entering by boat, I saw the famous floating orange torii (Japanese gate that you walk through when entering a shrine) and the floating shrine called Itsukushima-jinja. The island was covered with wild deer roaming around, eating anything they could find off tourists and I hiked up to Misen, the tiny summit only 530 meters high. Once I got to the top, I reached a speechless view of the Japanese sea with random island pockets and a gorgeous view of Hiroshima. And believe it or not, it actually started snowing little flurries on the top. It was very magical and mystical. Really really memorable.

I spent the whole day there and that night took a short train to Kyoto where I had my first CouchSurfing experience. CouchSurfing is basically an on-line backpackers organization that brings travelers together by letting the traveler stay at a local's place/couch for free, allowing the traveler to experience the culture and life in a more real sense. It's a great thing, and I did it for the first time in Kyoto. The couple that lent me their couch were so nice that they told me where their key was and to let myself in once I got there because they work at night so they wouldn't be there when I arrived. How nice, huh? Once Maia and Brett came home, we all went out for dinner where I learned how they met and how they both have been teaching English in Japan for several years and are on their way to Thailand as we speak to get their teaching certificate and teach for a school in Thailand after. Pretty neat people. They were so awesome, giving me maps and drawing out routes for me so I could hit all the major spots and really get to know Tokyo. I had 3 full days there. All of which I spent to the max visiting temples, gardens, shrines, eating phenomenal food, and doing probably the creepiest thing I've ever done in my entire life: literally stalking a geisha. Hair pulled back, white make-up on, beautiful black and white kimono on with a velvet shawl wrapped around, she was scurrying down the street in sandals, trying to escape unnoticed, but she couldn't escape my eye - as she was absolutely beautiful. And like I said, I literally stalked her. I followed her around every corner and back alley for a good 7-10 minutes, until I saw her pull out a cellphone and a man came out and brought her into his place. Now she could've been going to either an appointment or going to another place to get ready for an appointment or she could've been a maika (a geisha in training), but either way she was authentic and was in the geisha business. It was very exciting and walking away from it, I remember thinking how that was by far the creepiest/sketchiest thing I've ever done in this lifetime so far. Of all the temples, gardens, and shrines I went to, here are the most memorable: first, Fushimi Inari. This was the first one I ever visited, and it was where Memoirs of a Geisha was actually filmed (never saw it but apparently it's the scene where she's under hundreds of orange torii). That's what this place is. On a hillside, it's basically one big maze where literally hundreds of torii create paths that you follow down. It's really incredible to be covered in this color and stroll down a walkway leading you around and up and through mini-shrines in the area. Near the top, when I came to a clearing that opened up a beautiful view of Kyoto, again, it started to flurry mini snowflakes on my head and shoulders. And once again, that feeling of mysticism arose in me, as sparkles of white fell from the sky and I looked out at the ancient city of Kyoto. Next was another great one: Sanjusangen-do. This houses 1,001 Buddhas - 1,000 normal-sized Bodhisattva's flank one big one with 40 arms, which sits in the middle. This is pretty impressive. As you walk along, the couple dozen guardians of the Buddha stand there, protecting the main Buddha. Probably Kyoto's most famous, and nearly everybody's favorite, temple is Kiyomizu-dera. An enormous wooden structure, supported by huge wooden pillars with great balconies that present phenomenal views of the city, it's just a gorgeous temple with lots of history that I can't go into now. One of its coolest attractions is this hole that you walk into. You take off your shoes, hold them in your right hand, and make your way down into pitch black only being guided by the rope that you're supposed to hold in your left hand. So dark you can't even see your shoes when held up to your face, you just have to make your way slowly with this rope, until you turn a bend and see a glow coming from a gigantic boulder in the middle of the black with a Japanese character written on it. Then I slowly made my way out, back into the light. I later learned this is supposed to symbolize being reborn - going into the dark, seeing the light, then coming back into life. I spent 8 hours that day walking around, visiting 7 or 8 different Japanese temples, gardens, and shrines. You can only imagine how sore and tired my legs were after that. Really, I could barely make my way back to the apartment I was staying at. I just collapsed. But of course I had to start out real early the next day, because I had even more to see and more ground to cover. But Maia let me borrow her bike for the day so I could see everything I wanted to. (They were such nice people!) One of the biggest places I went to that second day was Nijo-jo - the famous castle where one of the most powerful Shogunate's ruled. I could just picture James Clavelle's book, Shogun, taking place. I walked all around the castle, and through the wide gardens, taking breaks on benches to stare into the rivers at the reflections of the bushes and bare cherry trees. It was really nice being alone, just wondering on my own in my own world, sort of meditating and just taking it all in, allowing me to appreciate it all. One of the coolest things also was walking through the gardens and seeing the perfectly raked sand. Just straight parallel lines in the sand, so defined and precise, with concentric circles around rocks in place. They were really a sight to look at. I literally spent 8 hours that day biking all across Kyoto, from the south to the west, across the center, and all the way to the east. Now that may sound like a bunch of gibberish to those who don't know Kyoto, but look on a map and you'll realize this is no stroll (or rather tricycle ride) in the park. Not only that, but I told Maia and Brett I'd be back by 5:30, and at 5 I left my last temple, and got lost, and ended up biking down this major highway, and somehow ended up getting a flat tire, and biking the next 30 minutes at half speed with twice the bumps from this damn flat tire. That was a hell of an afternoon. That night I met up with a friend of my cousin's, and he took me out to a couple bars and we ended up meeting more of his friends, and finally, I experienced the ultimate Japanese phenomenon - karaoke! Quite different from the Westernized version, we rented a room and some microphones and were able to pick our own songs from thousands and spent the next hour drinking and singing to each other, eliminating shame from the equation. It was really a great time.

The next day I visited a small town 30 minutes north called Kurama. Known for its beautiful scenery, I took a couple hours and just hiked all over the mountain, seeing gorgeous and enormous mountains covered in green pine trees and reaching a shrine at the top. The best part of the entire day though was having yet another first experience - the onsen experience. This is public bathing in natural hot springs that reach temperatures in the low to mid 40-degree Celsius, which is in between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. That is effin' hot! But it felt so good, stepping into that scalding mineral-rich water, with the cool breeze flowing over equalizing the difference in temperature, watching the hundreds of trees covering the mountain sway like seaweed in an ocean. Absolutely phenomenal. The feeling of complete and utter relaxation, both mental and physical, is unequal to anything I've ever experienced.

That night I put my stuff in a locker and met up with another HKU friend in Tokyo (the shinkansen train is amazing and so worth it since I got a JR pass that allows me to take as many bullet trains as I want within the time period) and we went out all night. It was crazy and ridiculous, but nothing really to brag about. Stayed up all night and took the first train at 6:30 am back to Kyoto, then took a 30 minute local train to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, where I met up with another of my cousin's friend, Akiko. This was one of the best days of the trip. She took me all around the city, walking all over the park and visiting the famous temple and pagoda and lake with deer running around, and of course, the Todai-ji Daibutsu, the largest Buddha in Japan enclosed in the largest wooden building in the world (and is also another UNESCO World Heritage Sight - I visited a lot of those). The best part about this was around the back of the Buddha, where a large pillar stood, reaching up to the ceiling. At the bottom of this pole was a hole cut in from one end to the other. It's said that this hole is the size of the Buddha's nostril, and if you can crawl through one end and out the other, you'll be enlightened. Of course, I needed this enlightenment, and so got in line behind the dozen 5-year olds who also supposedly needed it (I bet they don't even know what enlightenment is, stupid kids). So as I prepped myself up and stretched out, and read in the LonelyPlanet how to do this because they actually do have a strategy written out so you don't get stuck, I saw Japanese tourists step out of line from their kids so they could take a picture of the gaijin (foreigner) trying to do this. I managed to wiggle my way through and jumped out to the cheers and clapping of the crowd, with my arms raised triumphantly, and all of a sudden, a light shone from above and enlightenment crawled in me. If you got any problems, come ask me. I'm enlightened. Akiko was next and got through no problem also. She was a great host, very interesting and fun to talk to (spoke perfect English) and really excited to show me around and teach me all about Japanese culture and customs. She also took me to a place where they make the black chalk that is exported and melted to turn into the black ink that is used to Japanese calligraphy. This man she took me to is one of 16 people in Nara who produce this chalk, and 90% of the chalk in Japan comes from Nara. And in this session, where he taught us how to make it, we actually made our own chalk and is now in a box in my drawer where it needs to sit and not be opened for 3 months so it can dry properly, otherwise it'll crack. The craziest thing was once we finished he asked me where I was from, all translated through Akiko because he spoke no English, and he asked if I spoke Spanish, and I said yes. Then he started rambling off Spanish to me, telling me how he had lived in Peru and Bolivia with these people who didn't know Japanese or English so he was forced to speak and learn Spanish. Then we seriously had a 10-minute conversation about Peru since I had been there also. How many people in Japan can speak Japanese, no English, and Spanish? Not very many I would guess. But this guy did and we had a great time. I left with a big grin and an invitation from him to come back and have dinner with him when I returned to Nara. Akiko and I marveled at this experience as we hiked up a small hill to watch the sunset. That night, Akiko wanted to show me a temple that's supposed to be pretty nice at night, but we got there and there were hundreds of people crowded around, including a camera crew set up nearby. We then learned that there was an annual festival that night going on called Omizutori, where the temple's closed off and monks run across the upper level balcony with burning bushes on long sticks, shaking the ashes onto the crowd, and if the ashes fall on you, it's supposed to purify you. So we watched as these monks twirled huge bundles of fire and the ash sparkle down on the crowd, of course receiving some of this holiness ourselves. So not only am I enlightened, I'm also pure. Not a bad day, huh?

I took a night bus back to Tokyo that night, and spent my last day, wandering around. And I spent my last hours doing the best thing possible - relaxing in an extremely local onsen with 45-degree Celsius dark mineral-rich water. Super friggin hot, but amazing! There was also a 20-degree Celsius natural bath, and going back and forth between the two, shocking my muscles between the scalding and the freezing, felt absolutely incredible. Flying back on a plane never felt so good.

The Japanese people in general are actually some of the kindest people I've ever met. With a map pulled out, at least 2 or 3 people came up to me every time to make sure I knew where I was going, on trains, buses, or in the street. Once in Tokyo I was standing in drizzle, not much rain at all, it really wasn't a problem, and one stranger walked up to me and put his umbrella over my head so I wouldn't get wet. Honestly, who does that? I was shocked every time at how friendly and open and kind the whole country was, no matter where I went. This wasn't just a regional thing, it was nation-wide. And of course, I had some of the best food in the world. The freshest sushi and sashimi, best ramen and udon dishes, and the pork in these noodle soup dishes was just phenomenal. Soaked and marinated in broth so much that one soft bike into it and the whole slice of pork just broke off and literally dissolved in your mouth - it was so tender and juicy. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. I had another really cool dish in Hiroshima where the noodles and broth were separated and I dipped the noodles into the spicy broth, along with cabbage and other pickled veggies. And the only cup of sake I had was with Akiko for dinner, and boy was it delicious. Cold sake is much better than hot sake - write that down.

Two weekends later, and I experienced a complete 180, making my first trip to mainland China. I went with another exchange student Omar (from LA), and we flew into Chengdu, and spent the night again with a guy from the CouchSurfing website. Going out to dinner with him and his roommate, we had our first Sichuan meal (Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province). Unbelievably excellent spicy pork and veggies, and a beef and green pepper dish with rice. It was all unreal. The next day we got up fairly early and took a 2-hour bus to a town called Leshan, which is not worth visiting at all except for one thing: the largest Buddha in the world, the Dafo (literally Grand Buddha). That was quite a sight. Monstrous head, long drooping earlobes, and a towering torso, and feet so big you can take a nap on its toenail. The only crappy thing about that was all the Chinese tourists. They are the most rude people. They don't care at all about the pictures you are taking, they'll just walk right in front of you taking your picture and take their own. It was really annoying, and the line to walk down the stairs along the side of the Buddha was ridiculously slow because these tourists kept taking their sweet time. But seeing it was pretty amazing. I kept going back to my Petra visit in Jordan, and comparing the two. The Dafo took 90 years to build and started in the 8th century I think. Pretty incredible that it's survived this long. After having some more unbelievable Sichuan food, Omar and I took a 30 min. bus ride to the town of Emei. This was the main part of the weekend trip - our plan to climb Emei Shan (Mt. Emei), a 3,077-meter high mountain. One of the 4 most sacred mountains for Chinese Buddhists to ascend, we were excited to see some real amazing landscape views and of course, the wild monkeys that roam the mountain that are supposed to be just insane.

We started our trek up around 8:15 am, hiking up stairs and stairs and more stairs, up and around and over mountains and forests. It wasn't that strenuous, just lots and lots of steps. We reached temples and monasteries, sat down and took water breaks, just looking at the vast mountain range with a blue-white sky above. We came across several monkeys on our trip up, one of which actually growled and showed its sharp deathly teeth at us. Freaked us out so much that we basically decided not to hike alone on the chance that we would meet a pack of those beasts and be outnumbered. 9 hours later, and we finally reached the top. It was a great hike. We walked through snowy trails as we got higher and higher up the mountain, and the clouds slowly but definitively rose up to our level, eventually completely covering us and everything we could see. It was like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style - if you fell over that mountain, you would literally disappear and never be found again. It was insane how much mist and fog there was. We took our time going down, spending a good 2 days enjoying the better views of the mountainous valley and making sure we did not piss off any monkeys. Took 6 hours the first day of our descent and we spent the night in a monastery covered in 5 blankets each because it was so damn cold. Then another 7-7 and a half the last day, reaching the bottom with a feeling of triumph and excitement...and of course complete exhaustion. Our knees, calves, quads, hamstrings, everything was just completely dead. We treated ourselves to a feast before heading back to Chengdu - fresh fish soaked in Xue Moyu sauce (a Sichuan-flavored sauce), sweet and sour cabbage, and double cooked pork (so phenomenal, I couldn't believe how great this tasted). I am officially the biggest fan of Sichuan food. Of course I need to get to the Hunan and Yunan province and try that stuff too.

Finally, this past weekend was the world famous Rugby Sevens Tournament. Unlike normal rugby, which boasts 15 men a side and lasts 80 minutes total (40 minutes a half), the Sevens is only seven men a side and 7 minutes each half, but on the same size pitch (that means field for all you ignorants out there). The game is incredibly fast-paced, non-stop action, with all the violence in regular rugby. It was amazing. I've never been to a bigger drunkfest in my entire life, in all the concerts and sporting events - this tops it all. People chucking pitchers and cups full of beer, citizens from all over the world dressed in their best costumes (from a team of Average Joe's to superheroes to cowboys/cowgirls to the Asian Bird Appreciation Association), and of course the rowdy naked drunkards. I went with Dave (from Ireland), Kristoff (Germany), and Jojo (New Zealand), and we painted our faces and wore some Hawaiian hula skirts. It was fantastic. Games started at 9:45 am, and the final didn't happen until 6:20 pm, where we watched the All Blacks (New Zealand) kick the crap out of South Africa. Those New Zealanders are so damn intimidating - you do not want to see them running at you. It was so hilarious. This one group of English chaps about my age just got so hammered and constantly picked on the drunkest guy who just poured beer over his head and shook his hair like a dog. Mind you, they were in the row directly behind us. At one point, they ripped ever single piece of clothing off of him. So here's this pasty English guy completely nude in the bleachers and then his friends start spanking his bum left and right in front of everybody. It was the funniest, grossest, drunkest thing I've ever seen people do. Then Dave, the mensch in the group, took off his undershirt and gave it to the naked guy, who put it on and stretched it all the way down to his knees. It was so ridiculous. I can't describe how funny it was. Dave got it right when he said, "There's only one word for this: carnage!" Keep an eye out for pictures.

I am so done with writing. Just a quick observation. Of all the drunks, English drunks are the worst. They are just mean, angry, and obnoxious (which can be funny at times). The Chinese are the dirtiest people I've ever seen. They just hock up the biggest loogies and spit everywhere, beside them, in front of where they're walking, on the goddamn bus. I was amazed at the really gross customs they have. Spitting is by far the worst. I can't believe at one point they considered themselves to be clean and the Europeans to be barbarians. Times must have changed. Hong Kong should never be associated with China.

I have a 3,000-word paper due this Thursday, of which I've only written one paragraph due to the nature of this Rugby Tournament. As for future travels, I want to try and get to Laos not this weekend but the next for the Laos new year, since I don't think I'll make it there for the rest of my time here. That would be an interesting time to go. Other than that, the name of the game right now is "school."

I uploaded lots of pictures. The links are posted to the right. Enjoy!