{"id":1916,"date":"2017-06-25T09:41:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-25T14:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warrenharris.net\/blog2\/?p=1916"},"modified":"2017-07-25T05:13:05","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T10:13:05","slug":"2017-trip-to-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warrenharris.net\/blog2\/2017-trip-to-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 Trip to Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2017, we took a 2 week cruise to some amazing destinations in Asia.<\/h3>\n

A total of 17 days from departure to return.<\/h4>\n

We flew into Narita with enough luggage to fill a minivan.\u00a0 OK…\u00a0 Maybe not quite that much, but it sure felt like it while schlepping it all through the airport and train station during rush hour with what must have been six million Japanese going in six different directions.\u00a0 And this is after a 13-1\/2 hour flight.\u00a0 Y’all might think a 13-1\/2 hour flight is a lot.\u00a0 And for some people it is.\u00a0 For us, though, after our 27 hour (door-to-door) trip back from Bangkok in 2001, nothing else seems long at all.\u00a0 I loaded up my Kindle in advance and spent the flight reading, interspersed with cat naps.\u00a0 I did not find myself jet-lagged when we got to Japan at all.\u00a0 Karen was a little less perky.<\/p>\n

So anyway…<\/h3>\n
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Tokyo<\/h2>\n
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Tokyo Subway Kanji<\/p><\/div>\n

We got to Narita and then had to haul a massive amount of luggage out through the airport during rush hour and through the train station to take the train to Tokyo.\u00a0 This is by far the most economical approach, but it requires you to be adventuresome.\u00a0 Not reading Kanji puts the traveler at a disadvantage.\u00a0 If you wait long enough, most of the computerized signs will eventually give you information in English.\u00a0\u00a0 We got on the right train finally (whew!) and settled in for an hour-long ride into Tokyo, where we hustled out and flagged down a taxi – which got us to our hotel in short order.\u00a0 The Sheraton Miyako in Tokyo is beautiful.\u00a0 The rooms are excellent and the service exceptional.<\/p>\n

As you might imagine, we were pretty hungry — and tired.\u00a0 But I needed to get out and photograph the skyline with Rainbow Bridge before I could even consider going to sleep.\u00a0 We were leaving for Yokohama to catch our ship the next day, so this was the only opportunity to photograph the Tokyo skyline.\u00a0 But first some food.<\/p>\n

We were very pleased with our dinner and breakfast the next morning.\u00a0 Prices for dinner were pretty high by Dallas standards, but the food was excellent.<\/p>\n

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Tokyo Skyline Night<\/p><\/div>\n

We grabbed up the camera gear, hailed a taxi and headed for the area where the skyline view is best.\u00a0 Google Earth is our friend.\u00a0 It was raining, so not the ideal circumstances, but we had no other options.\u00a0 Almost as soon as the taxi started moving, Karen was out like a light.\u00a0 She needed her rest, so I let her sleep.\u00a0 I could not afford this luxury.\u00a0 We got to our destination in short order and I headed out to get the shots I wanted with our driver in hot pursuit carrying an umbrella.\u00a0 Everyone is Japan was very polite and courteous.\u00a0 I got the shots I wanted and back to the hotel we went for a little sleep before a very busy next day.<\/p>\n

We arranged for a private tour of Tokyo through TripleLight<\/a>s.\u00a0 We did the same thing in Osaka and highly recommend them.\u00a0 Mayumi was our Tokyo guide and she was excellent.\u00a0 We utilized public transportation both in Tokyo and Osaka and found it economical, convenient and educational.\u00a0 Around the world we have found the subway systems to be a great way to get around.\u00a0 Tokyo and Osaka were no exceptions to this.<\/p>\n

We started out in the subway station and picked our route to Asakusa<\/a>, which is famous for the massive Buddhist temple with the giant lanterns.\u00a0 There is much to see in Asakusa and we thoroughly enjoyed it.\u00a0 Shopping opportunities abound.\u00a0 Without a guide, it could easily become overwhelming, so we are very happy to have had Mayumi on deck.<\/p>\n

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Asakusa Entrance<\/p><\/div>\n

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Is that a giant lantern or are you just happy to see me?<\/h5>\n
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Asakusa Kids 1<\/p><\/div>\n

A highlight of this experience was encountering two groups of school children being escorted by one or two teachers.\u00a0 They come out to the popular tourist areas to practice their English.\u00a0 There would be 5 or so children in their uniforms with sheets of paper that had phrases for them to practice.\u00a0 They were adorable, impeccably dressed and very polite.\u00a0 We had a great time with them.\u00a0 After using us for practice they would give us gifts of origami, which we will treasure forever.\u00a0 I had been advised about them by a friend in Austin prior to our encounter, so I knew what was up.\u00a0 Our tour guide said in all the times she had been to guiding tours in Tokyo, she had never seen them before.\u00a0 So we feel especially fortunate.<\/p>\n

We spent quite a bit of time exploring the temple and learning the customs.\u00a0 We discovered that Asian people in<\/p>\n

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Osaka Dragon Window<\/p><\/div>\n

general are quite superstitious (and religious). Found more predominantly in Hong Kong, but also observed in Japan are tall buildings with\u00a0 a window or gap (tunnel) high up in the face of one side and opening all the way through to the other.\u00a0 This is so the dragons can fly to the water from the mountains.\u00a0 It is good luck and good feng shui, apparently.\u00a0 This example is from Osaka.<\/p>\n

We learned some interesting statistics on one of our bus rides.\u00a0 In Japan, when polled, 90% of people follow the Shinto religion, while another 80% subscribe to Buddhism.\u00a0 Think about that for a second.\u00a0 It seems pretty clear that about 80% of the population is hedging their bets.\u00a0 Apparently they just want to make sure they’re covered.\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n

We spent about 4 hours exploring Tokyo and then back to the hotel to gather up our massive collection of luggage and take a taxi to Shinagawa Station to catch a train to Yokohama.\u00a0 At least this time is was not rush hour.\u00a0 I was a lot of work hustling luggage through the station and finding the right train, but eventually we pulled it off and settled in for a relaxing ride.<\/p>\n

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Schlepping to Yokohama<\/p><\/div>\n

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Yokohama<\/h2>\n
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Yokohama Skyline<\/p><\/div>\n

Arriving in Yokohama, we took another taxi to the ship and got settled in.\u00a0 Unfortunately we would have no time to explore Yokohama.\u00a0 What we noticed in port and would rediscover throughout our trip is that massive, colorful ferris wheels are very popular in Asia and almost every port \/ skyline is punctuated by one.\u00a0 I did get a pretty nice shot of the Yokohama skyline from the ship, though.<\/p>\n

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Osaka<\/h2>\n

That evening we set sail for Osaka where we would meet up with Yoshi, our guide for a half-day tour.\u00a0 One of the highlights of Osaka is the Umeda Sky building.\u00a0 We discovered this during our research for the trip and added it to the itinerary immediately.\u00a0 Karen wanted no part of going up 40+ floors to ride an escalator that goes through thin air from the side tower to the over-bridge, but I was thrilled at the prospect.\u00a0 Videos of the Umeda Sky experience can be found in my YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

The Water Clock is another very interesting feature of Osaka.\u00a0 Located in\u00a0 Osaka Station City, it first went into operation in March of 2011 and I heard about it sometime later.\u00a0 When I realized we would be in the general vicinity, it was added to the top of our itinerary.\u00a0 The is literally a wall of water that, controlled by a computer, drops streams of water in a curtain that form numbers, words and graphical elements.\u00a0 It displays the time and temperature in English and Kanji.\u00a0 It also displays musical notes and a lot of other things.\u00a0 Basically, it works exactly like the print head on an inkjet printer.\u00a0 It’s amazing.\u00a0 Video of this is also on my YouTube channel.\u00a0 This is a must-see if you are in Osaka.<\/p>\n

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Osaka Castle<\/p><\/div>\n

From there we went to the Castle.\u00a0 Which is fascinating.\u00a0 Especially when you consider that it is<\/p>\n

surrounded by a massive moat hewn from solid stone, like any castle in Europe.\u00a0 But there the similarity ends.\u00a0 The structure of the current edition of the Osaka Castle is classic Japanese multi-story construction.\u00a0 It has some Victorian style to it and is made of wood, rather than the stone of European castles.\u00a0 They have a time capsule on the property that is very space-age looking, made of solid stainless steel.\u00a0 They also have abundant street food and a slew of food trucks, which not surprisingly look very different from food trucks in the States.<\/p>\n

As most of you know by now, I always wear a cowboy hat.\u00a0 Most of my life I have worn cowboy<\/p>\n

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Umeda Sky Building<\/p><\/div>\n

hats.\u00a0 So needless to say I was in my typical attire in Asia.\u00a0 As we are standing in the position from which this picture was taken, an Italian man in his 30s comes up to me and asks to take my picture in front of the Castle.\u00a0 You could have knocked me over with a feather.\u00a0 But then I would have gotten right back up and slapped the snot out of you, so don’t get any cute ideas, OK?<\/p>\n

Anyway…\u00a0 Go figure.<\/p>\n

Lots of photos of the Castle, food trucks, etc. in the online galleries.\u00a0 Links at the bottom of this post for all of them.\u00a0 Each city has its own gallery.<\/p>\n

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Mount Fuji<\/h2>\n
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Mount Fuji Flag<\/p><\/div>\n

Back to the ship for our trip to Shimizu and Mount Fuji.\u00a0 The thing about Mount Fujiyama is that nine times out of ten it will be obscured by clouds (nod to Pink Floyd) and you’re not going to get any great photos.\u00a0 We were very fortunate in that we had both clouds and great visibility of Mount Fuji.\u00a0 It was a moving target that kept fluctuating, so I shot a lot of Mount Fuji.\u00a0 There was a vibrant, rainbow colored ferris wheel where our bus stopped with made for some great photos.\u00a0 From there we walked through the city to another temple.\u00a0 It was quite remarkable, as were the views of Mount Fuji.\u00a0 And kindergartners in brightly colored hats.\u00a0 Fascinating!<\/p>\n

Shimizu has a very interesting temple.\u00a0 It is different in architecture from any of the other temples we were to see in our travels.\u00a0 As it turns out (you have to ask questions to find these things out) the difference is because this is a temple to a goddess as opposed to a god.\u00a0 Ah-HA!\u00a0 So the architecture is unique.\u00a0 The roof lines extend skyward like wings.\u00a0 The entire roof assembly is made of copper.\u00a0 You have to examine the images very closely to discover this.<\/p>\n

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Rainbow Ferris Wheel<\/p><\/div>\n

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Hososhima (Hyuga)<\/h2>\n

Back aboard the ship to our next destination – Hyuga.<\/p>\n

Here’s the deal.\u00a0 The only thing to see on this stop is another temple.\u00a0 By now we have a pretty good idea of what goes on in Shinto and Buddhist temples.\u00a0 In the final analysis we would have been happier with another day in Osaka.\u00a0 Then we would have taken the train to Kyoto for the day and I think that would have been a lot more interesting.\u00a0 Hyuga Cape and another temple.\u00a0 We’ve seen enough Japanese temples now, OK? \u00a0 The view of the Pacific Ocean from this location is pretty remarkable, but I could fill a book with views of the Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 So I don’t really need more of them.\u00a0 Osaka.\u00a0 Osaka for a 2nd day would have been better.\u00a0 Hello?\u00a0 Holland America?\u00a0 Is anyone listening?<\/p>\n

One thing I found interesting about the port of Hyuga.\u00a0 Tetrapods.\u00a0 How many people even know what these are?\u00a0 Show of hands?\u00a0 OK, you in the back.\u00a0 You can’t fool me.\u00a0 You wouldn’t know a tetrapod if you fell over it.\u00a0 They had row upon row of tetrapods lined up at the port.\u00a0 These are used to construct seawalls and jetties.\u00a0 Man-made ports all over the world are constructed with the aid of these remarkable cast-concrete shapes.\u00a0 They look a lot like jacks.\u00a0 You know the kid’s game?\u00a0 Bounce a ball and pick up as many jacks as you can on each bounce?\u00a0 Well, these are the kind giants would play with .\u00a0 Really STRONG giants.\u00a0 Well, I<\/em> found them interesting at least.<\/p>\n

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Tetrapods<\/p><\/div>\n

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Moving right along…<\/h5>\n
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Shanghai<\/h2>\n

Wow.\u00a0 Just WOW.\u00a0 The skyline of Shanghai is a thing of beauty.\u00a0 The Oriental Pearl tower is absolutely unique.\u00a0 The skyline reflected off the water is stunning.\u00a0 And the buildings on the opposite side are also in a category all their own.\u00a0 One of these massive towers is completely illuminated in LED graphics that constantly change.\u00a0 It’s amazing.<\/p>\n

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Shanghai Skyline Night<\/p><\/div>\n

Our visit to Shanghai was less than ideal.\u00a0 We were there for 2 days and it rained both days.\u00a0 The first day it rained a LOT.\u00a0 We had scheduled a tour each day with Holland America.\u00a0 Getting through customs is a very time-consuming experience.\u00a0 It should come as no surprise that a customs building in any Chinese port is going to be the size of a football field, but you can’t really wrap your mind around this until you’re standing in a sea of humanity while lowing like cows in a stockyard.\u00a0 Everyone does this, right?\u00a0 It’s not just me…\u00a0 Is it?\u00a0 Oops.\u00a0 After slogging through customs we get out the other end and off on a tour of the museum.\u00a0 It is really interesting and in hindsight (it being 20-20 and all) we would have been better off just staying there.\u00a0 But NO.\u00a0 We have to slog through the rain to the Yuyuan water garden with a wad of other tourists, some of whom are severely mobility impaired.\u00a0 This of course, holds up everything.\u00a0 And heading back to the ship, one woman simply cannot take another step.\u00a0 She’s halfway through the water garden when this happens.\u00a0 There is no way to get a car to her.\u00a0 The rest of us are standing on a street corner in a downpour (my hat has a whole new shape now) and wondering when we are going to get back.\u00a0 Fortunately we all decided to head for the transit terminal where we could at least be indoors.\u00a0 Meanwhile the tour director manages to get a motorized rickshaw type contraption to get this woman to the terminal.<\/p>\n

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Yuyuan Dragon Head Corner<\/p><\/div>\n

At this point we find out this is some big holiday and literally thousands of women are streaming through the transit terminal to go pray at some temple.\u00a0 Needless to say, this makes our departure for the ship take a LOT longer than we had expected.\u00a0 And by the time we get back, the Lido deck buffet is closed.\u00a0 And food options have gone way down.\u00a0 And we are all hungry.\u00a0 Now given that the tour was arranged, organized and sponsored by Holland America, you would think they might have their finger on the pulse of tour delays and keep the buffet open a little longer.\u00a0 Or arrange a stop for food.\u00a0 Or something.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Not even close, Sparky.<\/p>\n

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Hello?\u00a0 Holland America?\u00a0 Is anyone listening?<\/h5>\n
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Water Town Back Alley<\/p><\/div>\n

Day 2 in Shanghai we are bused to a Water Town.\u00a0 We and a small contingent of other travelers decide not to take the boats (which are taking a remarkable amount of time to make an appearance) through the city and instead decide to walk the city on a self-guided tour.\u00a0 We were very happy with the results.\u00a0 We saw some very interesting things and had a great time.\u00a0 We probably missed out on some historic stops, but at least we weren’t just standing around in the rain waiting for a boat.\u00a0 It rained a lot less this day, but the experience was to form the pattern for the rest of the trip.\u00a0 Immediately upon returning to the trip, we returned all of the future scheduled excursion tickets for a full refund.\u00a0 After this experience we decided to rent taxis and arrange our own tours.\u00a0 This would prove to be one of our best decisions.<\/p>\n

Visas.\u00a0 Did I mention the Visa debacle?\u00a0 I don’t think so.\u00a0 In all the documentation we received when booking the cruise – and during the telephone conversations \/ emails well in advance we were told in no uncertain terms that we would not even be allowed to board the ship without Chinese visas.\u00a0 Just for Shanghai.\u00a0 For us, that meant either a road trip to Houston or paying a service a big wad of cash for a couple of visas.\u00a0 We chose the road trip because Slick.The.Dog loves road tripa and I needed to photograph the Houston Skyline.\u00a0 This mean actually TWO road trips.\u00a0 One to drop everything off at the Chinese Consulate.\u00a0 And then another trip a week later to pick it up.\u00a0 They Will Not Mail anything back.\u00a0 Go figure.<\/p>\n

So we made two trips to Houston and spent just under three hundred bucks to get visas.<\/p>\n

But lots of other people did not.<\/p>\n

And they all got on the ship.<\/p>\n

And they all got off the ship in Shanghai and explored the city.<\/p>\n

Holland America?\u00a0 Thump, thump, thump…\u00a0 Is this thing on?\u00a0 Are you listening?<\/p>\n

Anyway… In defense of Holland America, this is China.\u00a0 Things probably change based on the barometric pressure.\u00a0 And our President’s latest Tweet.<\/p>\n

But we had no problems with customs, so…<\/p>\n

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Okinawa<\/h2>\n

More like Nope-Inawa for us<\/h4>\n

Well, hell…\u00a0 No Okinawa for us.\u00a0 When we were departing Shanghai, there were gale-force winds keeping us in the harbor.\u00a0 So we had to bypass Okinawa and sail for Taiwan instead.\u00a0 We were both very disappointed at missing Okinawa.\u00a0 Karen’s father was stationed there in WWII.\u00a0 My sensei, Mas Oyama was from Okinawa (I taught Kyokushinkai Karate for 10 years) and I had always wanted to go there.\u00a0 Maybe another time.<\/p>\n

By this time we had befriended a small group of fellow travelers from the east coast and Texas.\u00a0 We collectively decided tours were for schmucks and we were going to do a little research, hire taxis and go exploring on our own.\u00a0 This turned out to be a LOT more fun and loaded with benefits.<\/p>\n