http://shappy.blogdrive.com/ Asia Trip 2004 Thu, 16 Dec 2004 11:35:00 PST http://www.blogdrive.com Copyright 2004. Travel http://shappy.blogdrive.com/archive/6.html Mon, 12 Jul 2004 12:32:26 GMT We slept in a bit, which was a nice change from the past several days. Many places where people stay have a breakfast included in the price of a room. The Camellia had a breakfast buffet that was pretty good. Dave recommended that I try a type of sausage that he "really likes." It tasted like crap and then Dave thought that maybe that was not the same thing he tried. I'm guessing he didn't want to be the only one that ate the crappy sausage. I decided before I came to China that we should go see Shilin (the Stone Forest) just outside of Kunming. There are actually several different... (more) http://shappy.blogdrive.com/comments?id=6 http://shappy.blogdrive.com/archive/5.html Sat, 10 Jul 2004 21:09:09 GMT It's a good thing I didn't stay out with Craig until 5am in HK because I probably would have missed my early morning flight. I woke up, said goodbye to Craig and caught a taxi to HK station to take the train to the airport. They have a really nice setup in Hong Kong at the train station. You can check you bags right there at the train station. It's very convenient. I had a great flight on Dragon Air, partly because it was a business class ticket. There was, however, some pretty strong turbulence at one point. I was sitting next to this younger Asian guy who had a long sharp pinky... (more) http://shappy.blogdrive.com/comments?id=5 http://shappy.blogdrive.com/archive/4.html Sat, 10 Jul 2004 10:11:53 GMT I woke up super early today to pack and leave for my flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it wasn't early enough because I missed my flight. The blame lies on the Tokyo train system. You cannot take the same train to the airport that you can take from the airport. So, I attempted to figure out how to get back to the airport, but no one seemed to be able to help. Finally, through a variety of hand gestures I figured out that there are two parts to the station. To get to the train that I was trying to catch, I had to go out of the station and walk down the street a ways to a... (more) http://shappy.blogdrive.com/comments?id=4 http://shappy.blogdrive.com/archive/3.html Fri, 09 Jul 2004 12:08:55 GMT It was very difficult waking up this morning because of the long day yesterday. I was thinking about it and I probably walked at least 15 or 20 miles yesterday throughout the day. My feet hurt a bit, but the heat was the only thing that made it unpleasant. The new hiking boots that I bought were serving me very well. Today is the hottest day so far and I'm worried how hot it will be in China. I had to keep buying lots of water. The first thing that I did after getting ready today was to change more currency. Tokyo is a very expensive city. In fact, it is supposedly the most... (more) http://shappy.blogdrive.com/comments?id=3 http://shappy.blogdrive.com/archive/2.html Wed, 07 Jul 2004 22:52:24 GMT I was in a mission today to buy presents for my family and a few friends. I ate breakfast at the Jonathan's at the hotel. Jonathan's is kind of like a Japanese IHOP. The Japanese have some weird combinations of things for breakfast. There were two parts to my mission today: 1) Buy two wedding presents and 2) Find a katana (Japanese long sword) for my brother and myself. I must have walked up and down every street in Asakusa twice looking for gifts. I found a beautiful Japanese china tea set from Kyoto as well as a similar Sake set for the two wedding presents. After I bought... (more) http://shappy.blogdrive.com/comments?id=2 http://shappy.blogdrive.com/archive/1.html Wed, 07 Jul 2004 15:59:59 GMT I arrived at Narita airport without having any real knowledge of Tokyo or Japanese. I found out that the airport is actually very far away from central Tokyo. It would take over an hour to get there, which means a taxi would cost about 30,000Y (~$300). Even though I had all my bags, I wasn't about to waste all that money on a taxi, so I took the train for only 1,000Y ($10) and then the subway to my hotel in Asakusa for 160Y. I noticed that almost everyone on the train or subway closed their eyes and took a nap immediately after sitting down. I also noticed immediately that most of... (more) http://shappy.blogdrive.com/comments?id=1