Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year, that is. I would say everyone is going nuts here (it is big in Thailand as well), but I've fallen into a tourist trap. Phuket (pronounced poo-ket) would be absolutely lovely if it weren't for all the damn tourists! Ha. Naw, I think I chose a spot right on the main touristy street, so I'll blame myself. I was supposed to be here for five nights, but I've decided to take off tomorrow for a more secluded island -- Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee). I'm loving the hostel thing. Seriously, I'm paying $8.50 for my own room with a king-sized bed (a little perk -- I signed up for a twin). And rather than charge me for five nights even though I'm leaving, my hostel owner has arranged for my trip to Phi Phi, has set me up with a hostel there, and I can leave my big bag here -- all without charge! Well I'll probably pay a storage fee, but that's cool ...

I'm at Patong Beach in Phuket, which I would call the Cancun of Thailand. I am in the majority here, as a Westerner. Not many Americans, though. Mostly Europeans. And it's a little creepy the number of middle-aged men with young, attractive Thai women. Creepy because you have to assume they're paying for the company. (Prostitution is legal here.) I stopped in a beauty shop yesterday to get a pedicure (badly needed!) and there were these two pretty, skinny, dressed-up Thai women getting their hair straightened. They looked sort of trashy, so I assumed they might be prostitutes. Then they started talking. Not only were they dressed up for a crazy night ... they weren't women at all. They were men, baby! Apparently it's not all that uncommon either. Weird.

Anyway, I have an early boat tomorrow for Phi Phi. Very excited. Snorkeling. Beaching. Not as many Westerners (knock on wood. Random aside -- I made a Danish friend in Bangkok. Instead of saying "knock on wood" they say, in Danish, "seven, nine, thirteen" and then knock twice. Apparently 7 and 13 are unlucky but 9 is meant to ward off their bad luck. Hmmph!)

Easy, tiger!

Easy, tiger!
Originally uploaded by mercoop.

Wow!! I'm in Thailand! Basically as soon as I got here on Monday evening, I was gone again. I signed up for a two-day trip to Kanchanaburi, a couple hours away, that left at a little after 6 Tuesday morning. I was with five other supercool people from my hostel -- four Norwegians and an Australian. And our guide, Jolie, was pretty cool, too.

One of the more exciting things we got to do was pet tigers! There were a bunch of them at a tiger monastery and we walked into the enclosed area with someone from the monastery while another staff member took our pictures with our cameras. Very nice! And we got to pet three or four tigers each. They´re so beautiful! And the monastery had a million different kinds of animals. We also got to see these two cute little tiger cubs playing. And there were buffalo, cows, deer, pigs, chickens, horses, peakocks, you name it -- all running around together. Pretty neat.

We also got to ride elephants (pictures tk), shop on a floating market, visit the bridge over the River Kwai, climb an impossibly tall waterfall -- and swim in it, with the fishes!

Overall it was an amazing trip. I put some pics up and will work on finishing that up. The past two days were spent in Bangkok. HUGE city. The temples are very gold. And the buddhas are very big. Except for the emerald buddha, which was surprisingly small. I got totally lost both days. Drivers taking me/us to the wrong places, etc. But it all worked out. Tomorrow I´m off to the beach. Yay!

Thank you, China!

Or, rather, xie xie (pronounced shay-shay). I am sad to leave! Despite the craziness and frequent difficulty getting around, I really enjoyed it here. I would come back, for sure.

The most fabulous thing I saw in China? The Great Wall. Seriously amazing. Once you're on it, you can basically look in any direction and still see wall. It snakes around on the mountaintops for 3,000 kilometers (hello metric system) - and it was built 600 years ago!

The food surprised me a bit. It was mostly very good. But, for instance, they serve most meat dishes bones and all. I had some fried pork - had to nibble around the bones. I had shrimp that came in its shell, complete with eyeballs. Also, while I saw a lot of fried rice, I didn't see much chow mein. There are a lot of noodle dishes here, but they are typically served in a soup. Yummy!

Well, goodbye China - it's Thailand's turn now. Can't wait for some warm weather!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

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Originally uploaded by mercoop.

Not the nicest of photos, but .... they eat some strange things here in China. Unusual, let's call them. I'm in Beijing now. It's a nice city, but very very different from Shanghai. If I were to compare the two, I'd say Beijing has a lot of history and, perhaps, importance, but Shanghai has a lot more character.

One of my roommates, a cute Korean boy named ManSu, and I went out one night for Peking (aka Beijing) duck. YUMMMMM. And afterwards, we walked along the main shopping street. We stumbled upon a food market with offerings such as scorpion, grasshopper, starfish, frog, snake, pig testicles, kidneys, beetles ... I tried the snake. Chewy! But not bad. ManSu tried the frog. Yuck! Actually he said it wasn't bad ...

A snowstorm, a bar fight, an Internet cafe

Xi'an has been an experience. And I haven't even seen the Terracotta warriors yet!

It all started on a whim. I had planned to go straight from Shanghai to Beijing, but after many recommendations on the wonders of Xi'an I decided to detour through the ancient Chinese capital.

I managed to book a sleeper train for Tuesday night. Travel is nuts here now because of the approaching Chinese New Year. So I boarded around 8:15 PM for my 15-hour trip. There wasn't much to do but sleep, especially considering only one other person on my train car spoke English - a very nice Indian man - and he was busy stinking up the car with his smoking buddies.

The sleeper train was an experience in itself. In the morning I watched as we passed through rural China. The most remarkable thing, I think, was that the cities were all surrounded by walls. Small towns had walls. One of Xi'an's claims to fame, actually, is its well-preserved city walls. Very cool and different.

At one point at around 11:45 AM, the train tickets lady came by my bed and motioned for my ticket, saying "Xi'an." I gave it to her and tried to ask if that meant we were almost there and she left without even trying to explain. Grr. I whipped out my translation book and tried to ask my roommies, with equal luck. I tried reading the electronic sign in the hallway. All it told me was that the temperature was 5 degrees celsius and that we were traveling at a velocity of 45 km per hour. Finally I tracked down the Indian man and discovered that we were indeed approaching my stop and that yes, I should get my things together.

I think that's one of the most frustrating things so far about traveling. With buses and trains you rely on being able to figure out where your stops are. And if you can't understand the announcements and can't read road signs you risk missing your stop. It gets me nervous!

Well I got off in Xi'an as planned and walked out of the station into pure madness. People were lined up en masse to enter the station and others were trying to buy tickets. I was the only non-Asian in sight.

I had been unable to print the directions to my hostel so I relied on notes scribbled on a scrap of paper as my guide. It called for me to take a bus, but after the train I decided a taxi was a better idea. I was approached by a couple of drivers and I struggled to tell them I wanted to go to the clock tower. I followed the least sketchy one and he drove me to what I now believe to be a pagoda. My directions told me to get off the bus at the tower station and walk through an underpass to a post office building. I asked the driver where the bus station was. He didn't know. I asked for an underpass. No clue. I walked around a bit, looking, with no luck. My directions were all in English, so even after I realized that I needed to go to the BELL tower instead of the CLOCK tower I couldn't translate.

So I broke down and asked him to take me to a computer cafe (my book gives no word for bell OR Internet). He understood, though, and he brought me to a cafe and came in with me. I checked my email for the directions and copied and pasted them into an online translator ... And it worked! He took me directly to the hostel. Phew!

(I should explain about my BlackBerry. While I have good service here, I don't have Internet capabilities everywhere. I don't have them in Xi'an.)

I checked in and went off to see the city walls and the history museum. Xi'an has been inhabited for 1,500 years and served as the Chinese capital before it was moved to Beijing. Cool OLD stuff in the museum. I picked up some antique bowls from the Qing dynasty - mid-1700s.

I ate dinner in the Muslim quarter, where they serve great local cuisine. A lot spicier than what I found in Shanghai! But good. The menu was actually in English. Some interesting offerings, like mutton, sheeps feet and entrails. Mmm ... I had undercooked chicken. Just kidding. I had shrimp.

At this point it had started to snow. I went back to the hostel, showered and changed. Then I met my roommates - three guys my age, one Canadian, two American, and all three a little buzzed. They were all friends from teaching English together in some small town here. They were going to a nearby club and invited me along. Sure! So we headed off to Babyface. Beers were expensive - 45 yuan, or about 5 bucks. But we could get a bottle of Absolut for only 300 yuan. The boys treated. And they chose vodka. Apparently it was a popular choice because everyone had a similar setup on their table. I was a little worried about too much vodka (puke) but I paced myself and we finished the bottle. We made friends with some English-speaking Chinese people and joined them at their table, where they gave us more drinks. The boys were flirting and I told one of the girls they were flirting with that I liked her necklace. Half an hour later she gave it to me. And she asked for my email address. Ha!

Well, a little while later I don't really know what started it but I have a feeling it was over a girl. A Chinese guy came at one of my roommates and a huge brawl ensued. They were breaking bottles over my roommates' heads. I mostly stayed out of it except to try to pull guys off one of them when he was on the ground. Eventually it ended and we got out. Oh man. Bloody. Two of them had to get stitches - one on his forehead, the other on the back of his head. Stupid boys, though. After they calmed down they were like, "That was awesome! Let's take pictures!"

So right now it's snowing up a storm and I'm on my way to see the warriors. I hope my plane this afternoon to Beijing will fly in this weather! If not I suppose I'll have another crazy night in Xi'an!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

Crazytown

Shanghai is nuts! Seriously nuts. But it's cool. I can't believe I'm here!

There are so many people here it's crazy. And no one pays attention to traffic. Regardless of whether the little man is green or red, people walk. So there is the constant sound of car and bike horns because everyone is in everyone's way.

It's easier to get around here than it was in Japan though. Hopefully it will be that way in other cities. The street signs are in English! Well, we'll say they're in Roman letters. Because x sounds like sh and q sounds like ch and so on. More on the language layer.

It's been sort of foggy since I hot here so I haven't been able to fully appreciate the skyline, but I love the look of this city. The architecture is beautiful. I actually went to the museum of urban planning today and Shanghai is pretty proud of its buildings. Rightly so! It's a mix of old and new, Chinese and western. I can't wait to get my pictures up! I'm having a hard time finding a computer with a CD-ROM drive. Maybe in Beijing!

I've walked around here a lot. Nanjing Road is a huge huge huge shopping street and within walking distance of my hostel. I also walked around the old town area, which was nice. Both are fun places, but super busy. And because I'm a foreigner people stare at me and yell at me, "hello lady! Come look at my store!" Some shop owners even physically grab you to take you into their stores. Ack! I will say this, though: they have cool stuff to buy - and most of it is cheap! Reference point: a double cheeseburger value meal, medium size, at McDonalds, costs a little less than $2. In Japan it cost about $5. A taxi here costs about a dollar to go anywhere in the area. In Japan the same cab ride would cost about $10. I've hoten some great deals here!

My hostel here is more like what I had imagined than the one in Kyoto. It's a lot bigger for one. And everyone hangs out in the bar/restaurant on the first floor. I made instant friends by - guess what - playing pool! And my roommates are cool. I went to lunch with one today. Josh. He's from Beijing, so he had pointers for me when I go. And he helped me get my train ticket to Xi'an. Thanks!

So overall I really like Shanghai. But just to visit. Hopefully I'll hey some good pics up soon!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

Sing along, now

I had an awesome time with my friend Joel! He lives in Oita, a small southeastern city near Beppu. I'm sad I only had two nights there! He introduced me to some more new things, most of them requiring you leave your modesty at the door - with your shoes.

The first night we went out for a delicious meal at one of his favorite restaurants. On the menu, and our plates: pork on a stick, various kinds of sashimi, beef, fried cheese, and (drumroll) raw horse. It tasted like chicken. Ha, just kidding. It was red and chewy and (gasp!) pretty good! After dinner Joel needed his fix so we headed over to the local karaoke-box joint. I hate singing in public. Actually I don't even hate it - I just don't do it. But something came over me that night (a sudden urge to belt out "Hit Me Baby One More Time," perhaps?) and I sang - and it was fun!

Yesterday, after a cool but less-than-relaxing solo excursion to Beppu, I did another thing I never really expected or wanted to do - I took a bath with a bunch of naked Japanese women. And guess what - it was fun! Public baths are huge in Japan. Joel says it's one of his favorite things to do! They had a whole bunch of baths, at different temperatures and jets and things. My fave was the one under the stars. So cool!

Thanks, Joel!
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I fell in love with a Zen garden

As long as I can remember I've never been a garden person. Somehow that changed! My favorite place in Kyoto, for sure, was Ryoanji Temple, with its famous Zen gardens. One of them is this really strange minimalist rock garden. I'll put up pics soon. It's 15 randomly placed rocks. Supposed to inspire contemplation. I can see why! And there are amazing landscape gardens I just loved.

Thank you, Miyuki!

In Miyuki's house
Originally uploaded by mercoop.

I had the best time visiting with Miyuki and her family. I'm working on getting photos up. Just a few so far ...

A good day!

For my first full day alone, I think I did pretty well. I got my bearings and took a walking tour around eastern Kyoto. It was so nice! I saw some of the prettiest temples and shrines. My favorite was Kodai-ji Temple. It has the most beautiful garden setting. And then I walked around the old geisha district, which is full of shops and restaurants and theaters. Super fun. And super tiring.

My first night in a hostel was nice, too. It's traditional Japanese, so we sleep on futons. They have one "Western" toilet and the others are Japanese-style (a glorified hole in the floor -- it does flush, though). And they have a lounge and a small kitchen and laundry machines. I sat down to watch TV last night though and yeah, nothing in English. Big surprise, huh! But they did have something similar to that show "Bonsai" -- it was on for a while in the US and it was Japanese. Funny stuff. And no language required :)

Konnichi wa!

Hello from Japan! I just spent a fabulous weekend with my friend Miyuki! I stayed with her family just outside of Tokyo. They have such a nice house. It's traditional Japanese, and very homey. They cooked some of the most delicious foods! Some of them I had tried before (I did live with Miyuki for a while at USC) but many were very different from anything I had tried before. I even ate salmon eggs! Squishy!

Tokyo is a huge city. Probably more like New York City than anywhere else in the U.S. Public transportation is key -- there's nowhere to even park your car in the city! And all of the buildings are very close together and go up rather than across. The average department store (many of which are attached to train stations) is 6 or 7 stories tall. I think the strangest thing about them is that they dedicate at least one of those floors to food. Who needs one bakery when you can have 20? But seriously, the selection of fresh baked goods was unbelievable. We picked up a couple for dinner :)

I am now in Kyoto. On my own for a few days before meeting up with another friend, Joel, also from USC. I will admit I had a bit of an awakening today when I got off the bus near my hostel. I was trying to read the map but it didn't do much good because I couldn't read any of the street signs! At least in Tokyo I had a trusty guide in Miyuki! Well I eventually found the hostel, but it does remind me to give myself extra time to get places!

Well, my BlackBerry sadly doesn't work on the Japanese network and this keyboard is cramping my left wrist because the spacebar is unusually small and every time I try to hit it with my right thumb it turns the whole thing to Japanese. So I am calling it a night.

Until next time ... sayonara!

It's all happening

I'm sitting in Chicago's O'Hare airport, waiting to board my plane to Seoul. From there I'll fly to Tokyo. It's still not real to me yet! When I was packing my bags last night I tried to imagine living out of them for the next 4 months. I couldn't do it. The closest I came was piecing together bits of movies I've seen, including "European Vacation." I guess I just won't know until I know. Expect the unexpected, right?

So, wish me luck! Farewell family, friends and America!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

The art of packing

Everyone's been asking me how much I'm taking with me, so I figured I'd let you in on my packing secrets. I will admit, I didn't come up with my packing list alone. I scanned many a backpacker's list and learned from their experiences. Here goes:

1 large backpack
1 small backpack
1 small purse
1 money belt, water-proof thingy if I go in the water

2 pairs jeans
1 pair black pants
2 long-sleeve shirts
5 short-sleeve shirts
1 tank top
1 sarong
1 pair pajama bottoms
2 pajama tops
1 swimsuit
7 pairs underwear
7 pairs socks
4 bras
1 pair hiking shoes
1 pair flip-flops
1 pair black flats
1 scarf
1 fleece
1 rain jacket
1 hat
1 pair gloves
1 pair sunglasses

1 travel towel, 1 travel washcloth
1 travel sheet
1 pillow case for my dirties
1 first-aid kit, bug spray, toilet paper, water purification tablets (just in case), wetnaps, hand sanitizer
1 bottle Dr. Bronner's (it'll clean anything)
1 Tide pen for stains
medicines -- allergy, malaria, vitamins, sleeping pills, pain pills, antibiotics, etc.
1 small hairbrush, hair rubberbands, clips
1 compact hairdryer
1 bottle shampoo, 2 bottles conditioner
1 razor with refillable blades
1 tube toothpaste, 2 toothbrushes, dental floss
1 bottle face wash, small bottles of hand lotion, chapstick, small case of makeup, tampons, nail file, clippers

1 small water bottle
1 travel alarm clock
1 camera, memory sticks
1 mini-CD burner, mini-CDs
1 BlackBerry
chargers, extra batteries, plug adapters, flash memory stick
1 mp3 player

2 small flashlights, duct tape, earplugs, compass, sewing kit
2 padlocks, 1 bike lock
travel guides (or pages torn out of travel guides), phrasebooks
journal
pens, Sharpies
2 paperbacks
1 neck pillow

and of course:
tickets, passport, insurance card, dinero

Now here's the challenge: fitting it all into my backpack! That's the task for tomorrow. So I'll keep ya posted on how much of it gets to stay in St. Louis.