Loveboat: Yianjing

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The possibilities for movie name puns for this were endless but since Im in a hurry right now, I chose that sub-par title for this subject.

The reason for my lack of posting was due to my sea voyage that took a turn for the... unexpected. Rather than ruin the ending before I begin the story, I‘ll write a quick update on the day before I left and then get to the log of my sea voyage, which is through my handwritten entries, which Iwrote on board the ship. (the name of the ship is the Yianjing).

I left Kyoto in the morning to catch a bus to Himeji, the ride was long but worth it, as Himeji is home to one of the oldest standing castles that exists today much as it did hundreds of years ago- most other castles have been remade or reinforced by concrete; it is impressive for many other reasons, one of which is that the reason is still stands in its original form is that it was never conquered- in the many years since its completion, there has never been a successful attempt on destroying or taking the castle by force.

After that I went to Osaka to spend the night. Ideally I wanted to sleep in Kobe, as that was the city where I would leave from the next morning but Kobe is a very expensive city not good for cheap travellers like myself. Osaka was great because it has a real 'scene' and nightlife. There is actually an entire area called America Village- which looks remarkably like Greeniche VIllage in NYC- lots of hip looking stores with extremely overpriced clothing but it was fun to walk around before retiring to my capsule hotel and sauna spot. Weird combo right? It was as cheap as a capsule hotel should be but it had a sauna and hot baths area on the top floor- no pictures from there, though.

As for the next part of my journey, you can read below but if during any part of the story you become scared, please be assured- I live to tell about it and Iam safely in Beijing as I write this. But I will save all that for the next post.

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Comments

[Miriam]

amazing
I finally got the chance to sit down and catch up on your blog and the whole things sounds amazing. I'm so glad you are passing these stories along. From a few posts back, I want to hear the bathroom story. I think you might need a public telling of it. Can't wait to hear about your next adventure.

[ellice]

Mark, I felt sea-sick reading this! Good work. Haha, seriously though, this post made me actively not want to go on a boat. Glad you survived!

[Shira]

Sum yung brotha
Hi baby- i love these blogs. i heard from mom that eli extended, which is awesome. im glad to hear that David was representin israeli style on the slow boat. im very impressed with your lack of freakout- it sounded smellier that i could have handled- and all of those people in one room, to be honest, it made me nausious. so don't OD on msg there in china- i love you, enjoy china. be safe and have so much fun!