Our sleeping quarters

We each had a bunk. We shared a room with 2 young American girls. The accommodations were basic but sufficient. Very nice place to take a nap. No window in our central room, plus with the curtains, napping was extensive. The second day of the cruise, especially, when there was absolutely nothing that had to be done, but relax, eat, sleep, sit on the deck, watch the sea, take a bath (hit the sauna), and then drink while watching the ocean. I would most definitely do such a trip again.


P.S. I know Amber wouldn't want this picture to be up, but I needed it. Sorry ね！

Dinner on the Yanjing

This is the view from our little table in the cafeteria on the Yanjing, which ferries between Japan and China. The food was not bad (we thought it was pretty good on the way to China, but on the way back to China, it seemed subpar). The prices, too, seemed amazing -- until after we'd spent time in China. The dishes didn't vary much. It was designed to be Chinese style. You'd get some dishes, your friends would get some, and you'd all share. Every night there was a big group of people at the center banquet tables having a lively dinner and drinking party. The food was sometimes cold, sometimes warm. There were lots of green beans, rice, soups, tofus, pears and watermelon, Japanese and Chinese beers, tea, and mystery meats.

The slow boat to China

The view from the deck. Our first evening, sunrise, after dinner. The sea in Japan is beautiful, dotted with soft little islands rising gracefully above the surface, a friendly green. That's Amber and some mysterious teenage girl who spoke Japanese and silently wrote her diary in Chinese in the smoking section. a 16 year old smoking menthols on the boat to China. Isn't that everyone's dream summer vacation. Taking the ship to China from Japan for 50 hours to visit family. Like a road trip in parallelia.

Kobe, Japan --> Tianjin, China

We (I?) decided to take the ship from Japan to China. Lots of my friends have done it, and it seemed like it would be more interesting than flying. Plus, we weren't pressed for time at all, an it's affordable, so we did it. We took one that goes from Kobe to Tianjin weekly. It takes 48 hours. The ship accommodates about 400 passengers.


It's pretty nice. You can get a private suite, for about $1000 round trip, or get a 4-, 6-, or 10 person room. If you get the cheapest one, you sleep on futons on the floor next to a bunch of strangers. We opted for beds.

One night in Osaka

This is Carp. We stayed with him in Osaka for a night before heading to China. Osaka is awesome. Tokyo people think Osaka people are loud. It's true, they are. Thank God. Tokyo people are often too quiet for me to handle. Sometimes it drives me crazy. Osaka people are far more outgoing.


We stayed with Carp thanks to Couchsurfing.com. He was great. He took us to this festival, the Tenjin or Tenjinbashi Matsuri. It was held in an area of downtown Osaka alongside a river, and there were more stalls than you could shake a stick at -- all kinds of Japanese food, drinks, sweets, games, and a haunted house.

Tokyo --> Osaka

You can take a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka in 2 hours -- or you can take the slow train, like we did, which takes about 9 hours. What's the point? It only costs about $20. And you get to see a lot more scenery. This was taken near our destination, around Kyoto. Sometimes you get a seat, sometimes you don't. Usually it's not crowded, but when you pass through important stations or cities, it can get packed.

Trip to China

This is the first (of various?) posts about my trip to China with Amber. First of all, let me tell you: it was amazing! I loved it there, we had such a good time, we saw so many things -- I hope that I can explain to you some of the things we experienced and learned in our 3 week trip.


We started off from Tokyo in late July and took the train west to Osaka. From Kobe, near Osaka, we took a ship that delivered us, 48 hours later, to Tianjin, about 2 hours from Beijing.


This is how much money we brought with us to start. About ¥100,000 worth of Chinese Yuan (about $1000). It ended up lasting us much longer than expected. China was so wonderfully cheap: we could eat what we wanted, take taxis, take people out, and stay in hotels for almost nothing.