http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Teesan28/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Teesan28 en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:44:48 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:44:48 +0000 I ate my way through Ottawa. These people sure do know how to eat. I had some great dinners here and excellent baked goods. Highlights of the trip all the cool people I met at the conference the food the creepy hostel which use to be a jail and the museum of civilization. The museum had a show on all about the pre Incan people called the Sican in Peru. Great gold metalworkers At the show th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Ottawa/blog-266503.html The train trip to Toronto from Princeton began at 4 am. Meep After I get to Princeton Junction the barely moving falling apart train appears far away and we have to clamor down the platform with bags to the train to Newark. Then I transferred to the train to New York. I saw none of either city because my connection to Toronto was at 930. Again I met some great people including Alison who was http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-264497.html My first stop was at Princeton University who had invited me for their Graduate Student conference in the history of biology. Princeton NJ is a parochial town where the university is the centre of everythinghellipexcept the expensive shops that line the plaza. Itrsquos an odd town because of all the well heeled students with Prada bags and ties that belie the universityrsquos snobbery. Th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Jersey/Princeton/blog-264496.html Back in Tokyo for a day before we fly out. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/Asakusa/blog-206824.html Matsuo Basho is my favorite Haiku poet so any monuments to him are always high on my list. He traveled all over Japan when it meant the same as walking it during the Edo period around 1600s and wrote travel diaries with the best poetry ever. Good thing he made a pit stop in Gifu and made some frinds. We headed to the town of Ogaki where Basho showed up in 1684 to take in the sights. He made a l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Gifu/blog-206290.html Gify City and surrounding areas are a pretty place nestled in hills and small mountains and the Nobi plains with lots of little towns. Dave and I have had the tourist expereince now we're here not only to vist but to get into the modern culture a bit less the temples and more the people. I am really done sightseeing to be honest I am really templeed out. Wow Gifu has grown a lot in 16 years http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Gifu/blog-206287.html We were running a bit early so we decided to stopover for an day in Nagoya. As I had done no real research on the area I did not know what to expect. It's a sleep little city with a lot going for it. The Atsuta Jingu is a part in the centre of town sort of an oasis from the concrete that dominates the city. A park and shine combo it boast holding the sacred sword Kusanaginotsurugi one of th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Gifu/blog-205710.html Mad place mad world...Osaka is a party town with a hip young population as the dominant force. There were a lot of buskers here mostly young guys with guitars but all had thier own sound systems. One band on the pedway from the main train station to the malls had a five piece set up they rocked That is the best thing about Osaka it feels so vibrant. Tokyo felt like money Kyoto felt like a ki http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Osaka/blog-203666.html Other than touring the sites we also tried to practice our bad Japanese on the kind people that would help us the temple cleaners the attendants and the poor cab drivers. They had a lot of patience with us for being so clumsy That is the main feeling I have here that I am a bull in a china shop and I have to be extra careful everywhere as I am just so coarse and the Japanese are so cultured. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/blog-204822.html Man we are sweating like mad here in Kyoto the old capital of Japan until the Meiji Restoration where the Emperor moved camp to Edo which was the domain of the Shogun. The people of Kyoto are still pissed the Emperor left and want him to come back. Which is why the palace is still mostly closed off to visitors and they keep it at the ready for a visit. I guess you have to live for something.I am http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/blog-203665.html We were in Tokyo for five days and I could have spent the whole vacation there. Every corner there was something new to see or do. The shopping despite the reports of it being expensive are incorrect as there wassome great little shops to be had. While I have been here I have also assembled a list of things you should bring or purchase as soon as you land to make your life easier in Japan...and mo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-202134.html Kamakura is about an hour southeast of Tokyo and is a quiet little city withstanding the hoards of pligrims that invade it to see the many temples that it holds. Dave and I were among them and found it spritually refreshing. The first one we visited was the biggest and most popular Hachiman gu Tsurugaoka built by Minamoto Yoritomo the first Shogun in Kamakura in 1180s. It's got so much to see i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kanagawa/Kamakura/blog-202120.html Arrived in Tokyo from China on September 5th. Dave met me at the airport he had just come in off his flight from Canada and desperate for a vacation. We headed to the hotel a no frills business one that was clean and dirt cheap and passed out for a day. After our recovery we hit the temples in the area. Asakusa is very old and has some great little nooks and crannies to explore. The main temp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/Asakusa/blog-201043.html Ok the best part of all of Hong Kong happened today. The three of us Brigit Jack and I decided to go hiking. We had all had enough of the city and needed to get a bit dirty. Well we got our wish. First was the walk to Hong Kong Park where I found a statue devoted to a Canadian soldier who tried to defend Hong Kong from the invading Japanese. Next was the rise to the top of Victoria Peak on a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-201036.html I decided to hit Macau as well and all I have to say is it's definely the Las Vegas of China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century. After the Opium War in 1841 most of the foreign merchants in Macau left for Hong Kong and took their business with them. Administered by Portugal until the handover in 1999 it was the oldest European colony in China. But this tiny island h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-199537.html Now showing...Hong Kong. Well sort of. I am staying at Mt. Davis Hostel on Hong Kong Island. It's on top of a peak and there is no other way to get up the hill except for a hostel bus driven by a grumpy man who takes the turns at death defying speeds as all amnner of animal and human jump out of the way to escape his wheels. But the view is worth the fear as it is the best thing I have ever see http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-199536.html No longer in the lap of luxury I have moved up stix to the old home of the 8th cohort in Xi'an now called the Seven Sages youth hostel. It's clean and very primative with a laid back attitude. Just my style. Already met two girls here from south of here Yolanda and Thereese who speak cantonese and a tiny bit of English and Mandarin. So we stutter a bit but are bonded in our love of a good gig http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi--an/blog-197586.html Today my two friends and I are off to the Shaanxi Museum to cut loose with some artifacts. This is my first museum trip in China since I hated the one in Beijing when I went in 2004. Wow what a difference. I leaned a lot got aching feet but felt like I made a real effort to understand where all the local pride in their province comes from. Shaanxi and the city of Xi'an therein are considered o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi--an/blog-199831.html The train trip to Xi'an was 12 hours and very mellow. The lady in the hard sleeping cot below me kept trying to feed me which was very sweet. A lot of my fellow travellers helped me along and assited me in finding a taxi. As usual the driver had no idea where I wanted to go or at least that is what he said to the traintaxi guard. The driver waited while I was wisked away to speak to a English http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi--an/blog-196763.html The point in me going to Beijing was to see all the stuff I missed three years ago so with that in mind I explored more of the city itself and felt a little woosy because of it.No one stays at home in Beijing they love to go out eat see friends just hang out on the street corners. It's a massive sea of humanity moving and flowing so much that as you sit and watch them you feel like you're http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Xuanwu-District/blog-196204.html