4 flights down, 18 to go! We didn’t really fly much on the first half of the trip, but we’ll be flying a lot now!

After landing in Hong Kong, we made our way to the hotel. The airport is located on its own island so there is a train that takes you to one of the two main islands followed by a bus that takes you to the doorstep of the major hotels. It was very efficient actually!

We spent just over 2 days in Hong Kong and had several interesting experiences. Here are a few highlights:

Hong Kong History: Neither of us knew a lot about Hong Kong’s history so we kicked off our visit with a stop the island’s history museum. For those not also not familiar with Hong Kong, the areas has two main islands – Kowloon and Hong Kong. Hong Kong Island was owned by the British for about 150 years while Kowloon Island was leased for 99 years by Britain from China.

This lease arrangement expired in 1997, and negotiations between Britain and China ultimately led to China taking back its leased property (Kowloon) as well as the island Britain owned (Hong Kong). Crazy! This whole arrangement caught our interest so we’ve been reading more about the history as well as the future plan for Hong Kong.

Although we haven’t been to Hong Kong before, we definitely noticed a loss of the glam (particularly on the Kowloon side) versus we’ve heard about in Hong Kong. This article might suggest why… it looks like Hong Kong may not stay in the spotlight long term.

https://www.google.com/search?q=china+hong+kong+shanghai&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#hl=en&q=china+hong+kong+shanghai&tbm=nws

Peak Tower & Hiking: There are mountains that rise up behind the city portion of Hong Kong Island so there is a funicular tram that carries passengers to the top. The tram is quite steep but offers great views of the city below. We also hiked around the side of the island to get more views from above. We capped off the night with dinner overlooking the city. It was very nice!! The only sad part was that the view isn’t as pretty as it used to be…massive smog is overtaking Hong Kong (courtesy of Hong Kong’s own pollution combined with Guangzhou pollution blowing on the city).

Harbor & Hotel Room: The hotel moved us to a room with a full view of the harbor which was great! Here are a few snapshots of the view.

Shangri La Lunch: Ryan had been anxiously anticipating this lunch after reading about it a few months ago… he thinks it’s one of the nicest and largest buffets he has every seen! They had chef prepared noodle bowls, sushi, and dim sum which he loved. I, on the other hand, was spotted mostly at the table with an array of fruit and the dessert area 🙂 This was literally about all we ate that day!

Afternoon Tea: Given the British influence on the islands, afternoon teas were once popular. The original Peninsula Hotel has a tea each day so we finished off our time in Hong Kong with biscuits, tea sandwiches, and small pastries (and coffee for me since I don’t like tea! :)). It was also quite interesting to be in this hotel as was the headquarters of the Japanese Army based in Hong Kong in WWII.

– Michelin Not the Same in Asia: For the foodies out there, we agree with several articles indicating that there is not consistency in restaurant reviews between Europe and Asia. After visiting both countries and trying out restaurants, we agree with the below article indicating the standards don’t seem to be the same. We definitely agree… Europe standards are much stricter.

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/01/28/is-the-michelin-guide-relevant-in-asia/

Ryan had dim sum for lunch from Tim Ho Wan, which is known for its Michelin 1 Star rating. We also had dinner at a restaurant on the Michelin list. Having just been in France, we really think neither of these restaurants would have made the list in France. While both were good, they were more of mall fast food joints.

– Luxury Stores in Mall The IFC mall was literally packed with stores of every major designer and brand you could imagine. We’ve never seen such a major collection of stores in a mall that might be stand-alone in other markets.

– Garrett’s Popcorn: Speaking of the mall… look what we found! Why is there a Garrett’s Popcorn in Hong Kong?!

– Go Kellogg!!! A little purple pride here… look at the billboard we saw all over the airport!

We are now on to Australia after a great set of stops in Asia!

Hello!

Now that we’re back online, we can give you an update on our latest travels.

We kicked off our time in China in Beijing. Thanks to my awesome co-worker Kevin K (thank you, thank you Kevin! :)) we had a driver for our time in Beijing who was wonderful! The driver was waiting at the airport to pick us up and was with us throughout our time in Beijing. It worked out wonderfully since we speak absolutely no Chinese, and it allowed us to be dropped off at the entrance area of tourist areas and picked up at the exit which saved us tons of time. We also enjoyed the hospitality and kindness of the driver who was great!

After being picked up at the airport, we headed straight for the Great Wall. This was the place we wanted to visit the most in Beijing so we were very fortunate that there was sun and low smog when we were there! We visited an area of the wall at Mutianyu, a slightly less touristy section recommended by several friends and co-workers.

Although I knew it was steep, I was still surprised at how steep the stairs and path seemed in person. The steps felt like a ladder!

We weren’t planning this picture but a lady who spoke almost no English insisted on taking it this way 🙂 It was way easier to just pose!

We guess an upgrade to 5 As has occurred vs the original monument!

For our second day in the city, we had a private tour guide arranged by our driver who was fantastic! She had traveled to the US and several other countries as a guide, and her English and knowledge of the sites were both fantastic.

Our visit included the major UNESCO World Heritage sites from Ming and Qing Dynasties, including the Temple of Heaven (temples visited by the emperors), the Forbidden City (primarily living palace of the emperors), and Summer Palace (summer residence of the emperor which was burned by the British & French then rebuilt). We also had a chance to see Tiananmen Square. It was fascinating to be seeing these areas firsthand after seeing them in media and textbooks for years.

Locals exercising

Chairman Mao must have been a hoopster in his day

We finished off our sightseeing in Beijing with a visit to Olympic Park and saw the Bird’s Nest Aquatic Building where Michael Phelps won so many gold medals. It was interesting to see that the building, like many Olympic structures, isn’t being used much these days (proving out the research that one Kellogg GIM Team did questioning the long-term economic payout of hosting the Olympics!)

You’ll notice that it rained our second day in Beijing… but it was actually nice as it reduced the smog. Although it was sunny on our first day in Beijing, we could barely see the sun once we came out of the mountains because of the intense smog.

Here are few things we learned in China:

-Our 4g phone was always limited to 1g when using data…
-Pricing was interesting… Some things were inexpensive (a private tour guide was very affordable here, we had the cheapest taxi ride of any international city
– Beijing’s Population > Entire State of Ohio’s Population
-We saw nearly every Asian and Western model of car out on the roads, and many cars were very nice. The interesting thing is that in between brand new cars, we saw bikes and bikes that were modified with engines and trailers.

Overall, we saw a lot and learned a ton from our time here! Now onto Hong Kong!

The hotel sent its greetings as we departed 🙂 Note: The Room Key thanked us!

We finished off our time in Japan in Tokyo. Tokyo is absolutely enormous and has huge contrasts of historical sites with complete sensory overload modern sites. Thanks to Jessica And Eric C for all the great ideas (including the Tokyo hotel) 🙂

Shibuya Crossing
Our first taste of modern Tokyo was to visit the shopping area Takeshita-dori, Omotesando, and Shibuya Crossing. The best way I can describe Shibuya Crossing is to think Times Square on steroids. It’s crazy!

At the advice of Emily’s co-worker Jeff H (thanks Jeff!), we grabbed coffee from the multi story Starbucks overlooking the crossing to see the action (yes, Starbucks all over the place here too).

This street crossing is so crazy because there is a sea of cars moving through with literally hundreds of people waiting to cross. You wonder how on earth this will ever work… And then the crosswalk turns green. Literally traffic stops from all directions and a sea of people cross in every direction – diagonals, swerving… You name it!

Meanwhile, there are billboards blinking and blaring music and sounds everywhere. It seems like complete chaos… Until the crosswalk starts flashing green and everyone instantly moves to the sidewalks. Within seconds traffic is flying through the intersection again. Crazy!!

Posing as the Japanese seem to pose in pictures

Japan Baseball
Our next taste of modern Japan was going to a Yomiuri Giants baseball game in the Tokyo Dome. I’ve always wanted to go to a Japanese baseball game since reading about how animated it is. Wow, the game was a sell out and it was quite an experience in so many ways!

First, several of the logos are copies of the US MLB logos (look familiar San Fran friends?!)

Both teams have a dedicated cheering section that literally cheer constant chants the ENTIRE (every pitch literally) game! One team even had a drum player and a trumpet player whose lips must have felt like they were going to fall off from constant playing!

I haven’t been able to get to a PC in awhile, so I don’t have my videos uploaded yet. Here are some links I found on YouTube that represent the craziness of the cheering!
http://youtu.be/64v9t6_2s-0



http://youtu.be/q6TkT3sjsA8

Although many people we ran into said they didn’t speak English, all of the songs played on the stadium were English, the words balls/strikes/outs were used, and many T-shirts and ads had English. Interesting!!

There were beer vendors everywhere, and every single one was a young female. They have fluorescent colored clothes with flowers behind their ears and seemed to always smile! They carried around a beer backpack with a dispensing tube in the side. Contrast this to your beer vendor at Wrigleyville or the Reds’ stadium!

This was my first time ever having a bento box as “ballpark food”

Luxury Stores and a Love of France
We knew there would be lots of high-end stores, and we certainly saw about every designer. Interestingly, there are these stores not only on the Rodeo Drive street but also throughout many other streets we walked.

We were also surprised to see how many French foods there are here. There are French bakeries, creperies, chocolates, macaroons (our favorite from France – Laudree – is right by our hotel!)… You name it! We know both Japan and France are world-renown for food so Japan must embrace French things!

This was especially evident in the many department stores in Tokyo. One store, Isetan, had a huge amount of French foods that you could buy. The care taken with each item was amazing. Our caramels were packaged to withstand a storm while our pastries were given individual ice packs to keep the items cool!

They even had Amish Food…I thought about talking to the store owner about this, but thought that a lot might get lost in translation!!

Electronic & Camera Stores

Ever since I was a little kid I have wanted to go to Japanese electronic stores. These stores are often bigger than the Macy’s in New York City and only sell electronics!! Well, my dream came true as I got to go to Yodobashi Camera! This place is floor after floor of fun things including any appliance you could dream. I even bought an extra memory card as they had a wall with every memory card size, speed, and company you could imagine. I was able to get the exact company of card I normally buy.

I think that my Dad and Mr. S should make it a point to visit these stores 🙂

Note from Emily: For you Mike D 🙂

See…I am not the only person who wears Casio watches!

Traditional Palaces, Shrines and Gardens

In between these modern experiences, we had fun visiting palaces, gardens, and tea houses.

We particularly enjoyed seeing the Imperial Palace where the Emperor lives and the gardens. Here are a few pictures:

We also really enjoyed Yasukuni Shrine where we happened to be visiting when samurais were practicing. A gentleman told us this group was one of the best and strongest in the country so it was quite interesting to see! We also enjoyed visiting a Japanese military museum. It was helpful to see how several military actions arose and fascinating to learn more background on WWI and WWII.

Next up is Beijing!

Greetings!

After 2 days in Kyoto, we once again took a bullet train to go to Hiroshima and Osaka. My love of the bullet trains continues to grow! Not only are they always exactly on time, they always pull up precisely to a numbered gate by a corresponding numbered car. Once you are on the train, you are given a wet wipe to clean your hands.

In fact, we have found so many examples of a focus on cleanliness here. Before every meal, you are presented a towel or wipe to clean your hands, and even the cabs have been super clean! The cab we took to the train station had white seat covers, had freshly vacuumed floor mats, and the driver wore white gloves while driving. I now have a new level of cleanliness upon which to aspire. 🙂 After the bullet train arrived at Hiroshima, we tossed our bags into lockers (they allow that here!) and headed for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum.

In case you get lost, there is a full map of the bathroom!

This was an incredibly moving museum. We have now been to three of the most major World War II sites in the world in less than 6 weeks – Normandy, Berlin, and Hiroshima. It has been so thought provoking to hear the different perspectives from three separate vantage points – Allies, Germany, and Japan.

A watch that stopped at the moment of the atomic bomb detonation

The Atomic Bomb Dome – preserved as one of the few buildings that survived at the center of the explosion

The incredible part about the Hiroshima Museum is that the City of Hiroshima has dedicated itself to peace and preventing future nuclear attacks anywhere in the world. In fact, every time that a nuclear test occurs anywhere in the world, the mayor of Hiroshima writes a peace letter trying to persuade the area to abolish the use of nuclear weapons. It was especially interesting to look at all of this as my Grandfather fought in the US Navy in the Pacific Theater.

We then headed back to the train station to catch the Shinkansen to Osaka. As we grabbed our bags, we were serenaded by a floor cleansing machine which played a cute version of “Whistle While You Work.” In fact, we’ve noticed all of the tones here on machines, trains, and subways always play a pleasant little tune for you.

Our last fun observation at the train station was the use of the MLB Cincinnati Reds logo on the local Japan Major League Baseball Team called The Carps. Ha!

Thanks to a great corporate rate, we got to stay very affordably at a Ritz Carlton in Osaka. :). For dinner, we went to a steakhouse to enjoy Kobe beef. It’s quite expensive in the US but was much less expensive here. The restaurant was quite fun as they brought us raw steak and we cooked on a grill ourselves at our table! We finished off with mango desserts back at the hotel. 🙂

My final fun fact has been the toilets! At both hotels, here have been the features:
– Heated seat
– Deodorizing fans built into the toilet
– Automatic open/close of the lid when you enter/exit
– Bidet with massaging water, temperature control, and jet direction controls – if you like that kind of thing…
– Dryer
– and… One even had flush sounds with volume controls for privacy

What can I say but wow! Maybe I will have to order one for our house!

We are now off for Tokyo!

Hello from Kyoto, Japan!

We have had a wonderful time in Japan so far, and our great experience started with the flight. Despite being in Economy Class, we had a multiple course meal that actually tasted good, a constant flow of drinks and snacks, and lots of nice little extras such as toothbrushes in the bathroom after an overnight flight. I wish I could fly in Asia vs. the US! We also appreciated that they didn’t turn off the heat for the entire flight. Ryan put on his coat like he normally does and had to take it off as the plane was actually warm. 🙂

We have adapted to the time change well and hit the ground running. We purchased a JR Rail Pass in advance which allows you to ride on nearly all of the high speed train lines. We had mapped out our route in advance (it involved several exchanges coming from the airport) which was helpful – plus Japan’s subway and railways are almost all in English and are very intuitive. For instance, there are digital maps inside the subway cars that visually show the direction you’re headed, where you are on the map, and how many minutes it is to the next stop. This is incredibly helpful when you don’t know the language!

We took a Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and arrived in just a couple of hours. The trains go up to 200 mph so they feel like they are going very fast! The trains are great, and we so wish there would have been a bullet train between Cincinnati and Chicago as we could have been to Chicago in just over 2 hours!

We also quickly noticed the precision of the train – every train arrived exactly on time and left the station within 2 minutes of arriving. Ryan timed out the arrival with his GPS :), and they even seem to try to arrive at 30 seconds into the arrival minute. After some research, Ryan learned that the error goal is +/- 36 seconds the exact arrival time…. And some years it has been as low as 18 seconds on average. Ryan is in awe.

After arriving in Kyoto, we checked into our hotel and were ushered in for tea, coffee, and cookies. We quickly learned that this would happen every time we came back to the hotel. 🙂

We kicked off our sightseeing in Kyoto with a visit to Kiyomizu Temple (Kiyomizudera).

Our next visit was actually to a barber shop. After 5 weeks of traveling, Ryan couldn’t hold out any longer so we had a fun experience there! ;). Thankfully, I remembered the millimeters I cut Ryan’s hair (he is cheap) so I was able to explain what we wanted with a picture, labels, and our iPhone translator app. The Kyoto haircut was the most precise haircut he has ever had! The barber must have gone through Ryan’s hair at least 10 times trimming each area precisely.

We finished off our first day in Kyoto with a walking tour through the Gion District and dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. The Gion district is an area where some women can become what are called maikos and geishas. You have probably seen pictures of these women with white faces, hair up, clogs, and beautiful dresses. The history of this tradition is hard to understand (and still is a bit!), but the tour was quite helpful and interesting. We finished off with Japanese food where we sat at the counter in the kitchen where Ryan had tempora and sushi.

Our next day in Kyoto was wonderful! There is an awesome student organization called Good Samaritan Club that is comprised of 80 students from local universities. For over 50 years students have guided foreign tourists through major Kyoto sites to show visitors the city. The students volunteer to be hosts free of charge – with the sole intent of showing Kyoto to you and providing you with a wonderful experience. How amazing!

We had absolutely awesome guides (we even had 2 since one of our guides was in training). In fact, one of our guides actually led a Kellogg GIM (Global Initiatives in Management) tour last March (for those of you not familiar, GIM is a course we took at Kellogg last fall in which we went to Brazil and Argentina). Thank you so incredibly much Yuka and Motonobu for a wonderful day! http://www.geocities.jp/goodsamaritanclub_hp/index.html

Yuma and Motonobu took us to some of Kyoto’s most beautiful sites:

– Ryoanji Temple which has a fascinating Zen rock garden
– Kinkakuji which is known as the Temple of the Golden Pavilion and is made of real gold
– Arashiyama which is a district of Kyoto with a beautiful, natural setting if gardens, mountains, and a bamboo forest (the bamboo was so neat!)

The sites were fascinating to see, and getting to learn about the local culture from Yuma and Motonobu made the day incredible! They also took us to two great places to eat. We had rice and noodles for lunch and then had shaved ice and ice cream sundaes that were delicious. Ours had fresh mango (I love mango, and Japan grows mangoes so they were so fresh they melted in your mouth!)

After our tour we did laundry which proved to be quite an adventure. 🙂 The machine ate our only set of the correct denomination of coins (perhaps because we had no clue what buttons to hit since they were all in Japanese!). We were about out of Japanese Yen so we headed off to an ATM to get cash and discovered most ATMs in Japan don’t taken Debit cards issued outside of Japan. Apparently only those ATMs in post offices, 7-Eleven stores, and huge train stations like Tokyo take international debit cards. Since it was after business hours, we had a scavenger hunt for a 7-Eleven. 🙂 Now armed with cash, we were able to get our clothes in the washer. All went well until one of the washers wouldn’t unlock when the cycle ended! Thanks to the kindness of a local man and some prying, our clothes finally came out. We are so grateful for the locals here who are so friendly and helpful!!

We finished off our time in Kyoto with dinner in the Pontocho-dori, one of Kyoto’s most scenic dining areas. It is a narrow alley which runs beside a river and has pretty, traditional lanterns that glow at night. We ate a restaurant that combines French and Japanese food in a Japanese style. The food was amazing, and we had a wonderful experience visiting with our server, Miyu. She had been an exchange student in the US and is studying English at a local university now. We had so much fun learning about Miyu’s time as an exchange student (she even played percussion in her marching band) and learning more about Japan and Kyoto. Thanks Miyu for such a fun visit!

Is bminusc.com now sponsoring cabs in Kyoto?!

One of best memories of Kyoto will be the people. The service was incredible, and everyone was so friendly, kind, and helpful to us. We learned so much not only about the sites but also the culture. Thank you for a wonderful time in Kyoto!