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Published: February 29th 2008
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Hello all and our sincere apologies for the lack of any recent updates. Since leaving Bali we have been busy little travelers. Our 2 night stopover was virtually non-stop and the 10 day tour of China was action packed, our travel agents had us touring from dusk till dawn! We are now on the start of our Trans-Mongolian Railway trip (known as a Trans-zip!) and we are posting this blog from Ulaan Baatar in Mongolia just before we are about to jump back on that train and head into Russia. Interesting days ahead we are sure and we will try to keep you updated more often. Read on to fill in the big gap...
Turning Japanese This is a quick synopsis of the most surreal 2 days & nights in Tokyo. We have written a detailed account but it is locked away in our ill-fated computer (more on that later).
We managed to sleep little, have breakfasts at midday and encounter the most interesting people in our short stop in Tokyo. We arrived in Tokyo on Valentines day - how little we knew where that would lead us! More about that in a moment.
We stayed with
Simon in his cozy little apartment along with another of his friends, Rebecca. We slept head to head in the corridor (see pic). It was great to catch up with Simon & know that friendships formed long ago can still live on after years of little contact.
So why was it so surreal? It was the 2 evenings/early mornings that had us reeling.
Evening 1: Started with a lovely meal in a quaint, traditional feeling Japanese restaurant that had a touch screen ordering system - all in Japanese! Boys being boys, Simon & Lee pressed buttons & nearly ordered who knows what. Before long we found ourselves in the basement of a night club at a Valentines day party called "Glitterball" drinking all you can drink free booze and watching pole dancers (the clothed kind). We ended up in the VIP section of the party talking with an ex-pat Canadian & and ex-pat Brit. As they turned up the lights and closed the bar these ex-pats lead Simon & Lee off to an after party - but we won't go there for now. Rebecca & Kerry went home to sleep & Simon and Lee ended up at a 'rock
bar' called "Current" located next door to Simon's apartment building. They 'closed the bar' and got in after 5am!
Evening 2: We had the ultimate experience of Simon's work, Cirque de Soleil - Dralion tour. First we got a brief site tour, then we got to eat with some of the crew and artists in the on-site dining room, we were then treated to seeing the show from front row seats - awesome. After the show we got a back stage tour and learnt about how the magic happens followed by supper with some of the Cirque team and then partied on at Current with a number of the Cirque crew. What a night, but wait, there's more!
The Current was busier this night as Japanese hard rock fans awaited the possibility of one of the bands in town turning up - which was highly likely considering the walls of this bar are covered in signed tour posters.
Spured on by the presence of the foreign crowed these rock fans put on a spontaneous show of air drumming, air guitar (on inflatable guitars) and singing into real mikes (which fortunately were not plugged in). They had all the moves
and most of the English lyrics down pat! Before long "Helloween" (a German heavy metal band) turned up and the place was pumping. How bizarre rocking on with Japanese hard rock fans, Cirque de Soleil crew and a German heavy metal band! The owner of the bar, named Sushi, was buying rounds of shots at the end of the night/morning in the hope to close the bar, already an hour past it's closing time. "One for the road" he cried to no avail. He got desperate when he had to plead "My children miss me"! Kerry had turned in at the actual closing time and Simon & Lee rolled in about 6.30am.
Luckily Kerry woke up (no alarm & no natural light to help) just in time for us to be on the train to the airport within 2 minutes of it pulling away from the station - phew!
Thanks Simon for an awesome time, there is no way we would have seen this side of Tokyo without you.
China girl (& boy) It has been a very busy itinerary in China. We have traveled across 3 main cities and between temples, gardens, palaces, a neolithic
village, the terracotta warriors, a rickshaw tour, famous walls & squares, markets and more.
One of the highlights was spending 2 days walking along the great wall in remote and unrestored areas. The magnitude of this incredible feat of engineering hits you as you stand at any point and see it stretch out beyond sight in both directions.
We arrived in China during the 15 day Spring Festival. We got to experience many of the ways they celebrate, like:
- Eating really yummy dumplings - we did a tour on a rickshaw through the Hutong district, an old part of Beijing, where a local family cooked us the most delicious meal, which included dumplings.
- Lanterns - everywhere we went was decorated with all manor of lanterns particularly red ones, which at night would create a warming glow.
- Singing and dancing - on one of our evening adventures we discovered many locals dancing & singing in the middle of a large round about. We risked our lives crossing that road, but it was fun to be amidst the celebrations.
- FIREWORKS - the last night of the spring festival is the last night people can legally set off fireworks.
Tokyo accommodation
The cozy corridor. Kerry slept from the front door to the kitchen, Lee from the kitchen through the doorway into the bedroom! Words can't describe what we saw, but "wow" & "crazy" were 2 words we used often that night as we walked the streets we had to look out for where they were being set off next - on foot paths, in the middle of roads, between buildings and even from apartment windows!
Of course the Terracotta Warriors were high on the 'must do' list & it was worth every moment. It was quite an emotional experience, a mix of feelings from awe to despair at the state the warriors are actually found in to disbelief at the work and sacrifice it would have taken to create this army for the emperor, plus the effort taken - and still happening - to restore them. Of the several thousand warriors uncovered so far, only one was found in one piece. Excavation has begun on only 3 of the many tombs of the Terracotta Army site since it's discovery 34 years ago, and none are finished. The rest are quietly awaiting their turn to be opened and restored. The most prized of course being that of the emperor himself, the location of which is known but as yet there are no plans
to open that tomb. It is said to be very heavily trapped and also the authorities want to wait until the technology for restoring and preserving the finds has been fully developed. The history, and future is quite overwhelming.
Not on the typical travel agenda, and something that made our Chinese guide nervous, was walking on a frozen lake in Chengde. After seeing a dozen men drag a massive rock across the ice we decided it must be safe so we had some childish fun and did a really bad impression of Torvel & Dean for the camera 😊
There is so much more to tell but there is so little time to catch you up on what we have been up to. Look forward to a long slide show when we eventually return. Ha ha!
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Shon
non-member comment
Love the matching Costanza jackets! It looks like you're having a ball. I love hearing about your adventures - I can live vicariously through you two without having to take off my ugg boots....perfect! Hope you had a great birthday on the 22nd Lee! Love, Shon xx