China - 1.3 billion people, 1 post

I guess the best way for me to catch up is to combine some of the stuff I've already done, here goes:

Alan and I took the China Japan International Ferry Company ferry from Osaka. Since we'd been delayed by a day due to typhoon we would be arriving a day later than my brother which was good since he needed some time to recover from jet lag.
2 days in 2nd class which was a room with 2 bunk beds built into the sides and a small couch area with a tv. We got lucky so it was only the two of us in the room for 4. The whole ship was a bit empty, since the (usually) tuesday was not as packed as the friday/saturday trips were. We were pleasantly suprised, we didn't expect the boat to have as nice accomodations as it did, a cafe, dining area, 2 levels of outside decks, a karaoke room/bar, majong room, and a video game room with a ping pong table.
We met a French guy Sandro who is currently doing a 3-5 year trip. Whenever an American hears about our trip of 3.5 months, the reaction is usually, "whoa, that's a long trip", to Europeans and Austrailians, it's an average trip, but 3-5 years, I don't care who you are, that's a long ass time. We also met a really cool British couple who had been living and working in Japan for a couple years. They were on their way back to London for the first time in a while and were doing the Trans-siberian railroad to ease their way back.
After watching the many islands of Japan pass us by as we cruised the shipping lanes we went back in for dinner and to watch the movie in the karaoke room, a pirated copy of the movie "Crank". The 2 days passed pretty quickly, highlight being Alan karaoking for the first and only time on the trip.
We approached Shanghai which looked really awesome and touched down. Went through customs where a bunch of Chinese people kept cutting in front of me, then Sandro, the Brits, Alan, and I went to an atm to get cash for the taxi to our hotel.

I'd arranged for a decent hotel in Shanghai so my brother could relax getting into Asia but still semi-budget conscience, so we checked into the Yangtze hotel after a few mishaps with the taxi which Beijing had taught me a few years ago to expect. I swear that at least some of the taxis are just giving us a hard time for kicks, how many times can you pronounce the same word and not be understood only for them to finally get it, repeat it back the real way it's supposed to be said only for it to sound exactly the same (OH! you mean shi shzou BING gwon)

Anyway, our room was really big, actually, pretty huge. We farted around for most of the day looking at stuff until the evening. My brother was still tired so Alan and I went to the French Concession. The jazz club we found was packed so we went to the Blue Frog where we met a couple of English speaking locals, Joy and her friend who I will now call Joy2 (the downside of posting weeks after the fact). We ate tapas and retired. The next night we went to an "American" restaurant named Malone's and had hamburgers, it was afro wig night apparently and they had a really awesome live band covering 70s hits.

During the day we went to the Propoganda poster museum. I'd learned by now that it's best to have your destination written by someone in Chinese to hand to the taxi driver. But don't get them mixed up. I wanted to eat at the dim-sum place first but handed the taxi driver the poster museum paper. We got there and the confused museum guard didn't know what to make of me making eating motions at him. He handed me the card with a map to the basement museum and then I realized my mistake. After eating and coming back, the guard gave me another map and laughed at me, miming my eating motion and saying something in Chinese. My non verbal skills have improved quite a bit and I'm sure he was saying, "LOL what are you an idiot? *eating motion* isn't museum. LOL you wanted the museum and you made eating motions and now your back, stupid."

Afterwards we went to the Raijin Guesthouse, an estate owned by a really rich foreigner way back. We were almost going to stay there but it was a bit too pricey for my budget. Had a couple of mojitos while the sunset, the bar called Face was really nice and the weather was just about perfect. We walked the Bund along the river and checked out the Pudong skyline. We stopped at Captain Hostel which has a bar on top with an awesome view of Pudong, especially for a budget hostel.
The next day we checked out the Shanghai museum and went to Cloud9, the tallest bar in Shanghai up at the Jinmao tower. It's even higher up than the New York bar at the Tokyo Park Hyatt (which reminds me, I need to add more detail about the Tokyo portion. I hung out with some of my favorite people and didn't even mention them. That's right, favorite people, if you weren't one of them I pretty much hate you) Afterwards we checked out the atrium at the Grand Hyatt.
Afterwards Alan and I hit up a bar/club which happened to be hosting some sort of a super hot European/Latin/insertuberhotcountry model convention.

The next night we took the Z14 train to Beijing. It was a fairly decent sleeper train that got us into Beijing in the morning. After fighting tiny Chinese grandmothers for a taxi we checked into the Guangto hotel (180 yuan a night, score). Alan and Jon were tired so I went out on my own. I got a little lost and finally found the street my Juan's guidebook I borrowed (thanks Juan!). The street looked familiar until I realized passed by a tea shop to ask directions. I looked in and thought, "this shop looks familiar..... oh yea, I sat there while the store guy did the whole tea ceremony and served us....... oh crap, this is the suit street!" it was the same street I was at a couple years ago to have suits made. Not very exciting, but made me a bit nostolgic. I ate some nasty old dumplings and saw a dude selling duck out of a cart. I waited until a local bought one and saw how much he paid. I then casually walked up and nodded, gave the "one" sign and handed the same amount to him. I figured as long as I kept my mouth shut I could pass as someone who knew what was going on. He took out the duck and started chopping it up and then he asked me something. I said "Huh?" and he laughed at me. Damn duck in a cart seller.

I had learned in Tokyo that O.D., a guy from '06 Tokyo was studying in Beijing. I gave him a call and set up a time to meet. He gave me the name of a subway stop and a time. I took my brother and Alan to Tiennemen Square for lunch and pointed them to the Forbidden Palace. I jumped in a cab and we sped off.... well not really, we kind of sat in traffic for a long time. About an hour fifteen after wards we passed by a store and it looked really familiar. Then it hit me, I realized I was going to the subway station near Tsinghua University where I spent the summer. I hit myself on the head and found an internet cafe to call OD and find out where he was since I was an hour late.

We finally met up, had some of the cheapest beers I've ever had (1.5 yuan per big bottle..... that's like 16 cents). I called up my brother and Alan and we all went to OD's friend's place for beers and poker. OD's friend was a bit of a sore loser and did everything to keep us there, trying to get all the money in the room. My brother ended up winning everything and we all went to the local bar where we played the dice drinking game (think Pirates of the Carrabean). Jon got sick and we went home =)

Next day everyone got up around noon and we hired a cab for the the day to take us out to the Great Wall at MutianYu. We hiked up and took the German made downhill bobsled car on the way down. Jeeves (our name for the driver) took us back and dropped us off at the most famous duck restaurant in China, so famous that I can't remember the name right now. They issue a death certificate for your duck, which by the way is awesome. The duck, dumplings, spring rolls, everything was amazing.

Alan and I went to look for this bar street that I found last time I was in Beijing, but alas, it has been bulldozed to make way for some shopping complex...... damn economic growth. We headed out to the lake and had a few drinks before heading home.
Our last day in Beijing was spent going to the Mao-soleum which was closed and getting our train tickets from CITS. Apparently the russian travel company that booked my tickets is making a killing in their commission. I snuck a peek at the CITS papers and saw what they were charging my agency. If anybody does this trip after me, talk to me first, I can save you a bundle.... *sigh* oh well. Afterwards the dynamic duo and I went to the Pearl Market for some trinkets and bootlegged stuff. Alan bought some nice things for his girlfriend, my brother got a cool zippo, and I got nothing because they wouldn't go down in price 5 more yuan...... 60 cents..... damn them.....

We were leaving the next day so after we got back, Alan and I had a final beer outside the hotel that we bought from 3 guys drinking and running a small cart from a burned out space between two buildings.
Woke up the next morning, packed, rushed to the train station through heavy traffic, ran breathlessly to get to the train on time only to be early and wait around for a bit, have a smoke, take a few pictures, and say goodbye to China.

Due to Popular Demand

I have been informed by one of my two readers that it has been one week, time for a new post. And I concur, but since Irkutsk is not exactly a hotspot for wireless connectivity, I'll have to post from an internet cafe without my pictures. So for the momment, I will skip China (although it's written on paper).

We just got back from Listvyanka, the closest Lake Baikal town to Irkutsk. It was about 1.5 hours away by bus and pretty cool (and pretty damn cold too). We stayed at the best value place yet, 500 rubles a person got us a place with the hostel through the baikal complex. It was really a hotel, not a hostel, brand new wooden 3 story building with new private attached bathroom and shower (sweet sweet privacy). My brother and I ate smoked omul and kababs by the lakeshore and wondered why Irkutsk sucked so much.

We're back in Irkutsk now through =(, just checked into the Baikaler Hostel. After having walked the city about 10 times the first day we got here looking for sold out hostel after sold out hostel, the town has lost much (but not all!) of its charm. The staircase to the hotel is scary and smells of old urine with a sprinkle of fresh feces. The rooms are ok though, looking forward to moving to the next town.

As soon as we get a place with an internet connection I'll upload some pictures and download the episodes of House (and maybe Prison break) that I've missed as well as update the rest of the trip since I've already written it longhand as well as the tale of the missing fellow traveler from Ulan Bator who I am currently unintentionally live action re-enacting the movie Lake House with at this internet cafe.

p.s. I'm thinking of updating wikipedia to include the fact that it is cold in siberia during the winter.