[35-Days Trip 2010] Day 27-35 _ 100% solo trip in Japan

I started this 35-days trip the day after my birthday, so it's a birthday gift to myself, to my last birthday begining with a "2" :)
Also, eight and half days in Japan crossed one item on the very top of my wish list - now I can say I had been travelling in a foreign country alone for more than a week, without knowing anybody and without speaking their lauguage.

It's not a surprise that I end up writing about this trip 4 months later. The good thing is that time is magic for memories, not only works like a filter but also puts whatever left in drawers with different labels, while the original sequence in which they happened doesn't matter any more.

Label #1: Transportation
I made a crazy long list of things-to-do for eight days, tighter than any travel agency can possibly schedule for a super-valued condensive trip (I mean those get you up at 7am). I didn't think I would be able to follow my itinerary all the way through, just try to be prepared in case some items get unvailable by the time.
However, thank for the amazingly convenient public transportation system in this country, I experienced more things than I ever expected. Yes, the bullet train is famous, but if a person like me barely able to communicate can get that far in such a cheap (consider this is Japan) and efficient way, there must be something more than fancy speed.

travel map








JR Pass
(only for non-Japanese and only sold out of Japan)

JR reservation ticket free with JR pass
(top left)
Hakone 2-day pass including cable car, tram, rail train, bus, cruise
(bottom left)
Tokyo subway 1-day pass (middle top)
Kyoto bus 1-day pass (top right)
subway tickets (bottom right)

The above pretty much covers everything needed to wander around Japan, except the bus ticket is missing from this show list, will talk later.

I read an article online, talking about some train fans waiting in one of the busiest JR station all day, collecting portrays of "bullet family", should have saved that link :( I was always in a big hurry getting on and off the train and usually from or to the car specified in the reserved ticket, which most likely in the middle of a train. This picture was taken in one of the only two times I saw its "head". Anyway, searching "JR bullet train" helps getting to know its siblings.

I was all excited after getting on the first bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto to officially start my trip, until the guy sitting next to me unwarped his well-prepared Onigiri. I tried very hard during 3-hours ride to cover the noise coming from my stomach while surrounded by smell of eggs and tuna and don't know what other yummy seasonings are, especially after I noticed almost everyone got something to eat, except me. So, I made sure to bring  my own from one of millions 7/eleven or equal since then and had been more than happy with my various train snacks.
4 or 5 days later, I took JR train in the moring, with a hostel roommate, Australian-Shanghainese girl, who had been studied Japanese and teaching English in Japan for more than half a year. I unpacked my breakfast shortly after on board as usual. Before I got started, she whispered in my ear in Chinese, "it's not allowed to eat in the train". "What?!" I looked around, no evidence of food, but...
The truth is, I hadn't seen anyone eating in the train (except in bullet one with hours run) after that morning. What a shame! I didn't notice this detail after that very first ride.
Ok, on the other hand, is that because in the extremely densive rail network in this country, only bullet train is considered "train" and all the other railways are just like subways...

(to be continued)

[35-Days Trip 2010] a TRIP going HOME

There was a time when I was in the college, I watched half of my classmates rushing into a trip short or long, at least twice a year. That trip was called "going home". At that time I didn't quite get the feeling of having to consider "going home" as a trip happen once in a pretty long while.

Now, I guess I finally got it, even though I'm probably staying in the stage of "denial". Shanghai was the longest stop of my 35-days trip. However, during my 13 days of stay, I tended to feel like I was just hanging out to meet friends, familiy from home instead of from thousands of miles away. Of course, I didn't miss the World Expo 2010, just like a Beijingnese wouldn't miss Olympics 2008, but even that wasn't "big" enough to make it as a "trip".

For a long time since I lived in New York, I had to tell friends "I'm going home - refer to where I lived in the city" in a quite awkward way, especially if I was saying it in Chinese.  There's something special about "home" in my mind, no substitute.
Maybe that's the reason it's still hard to connect HOME to Trip and this disconnection came up unconsciously. For example, I was uploading my trip photos by time sequence and after the folder of HangZhou, I headed directly to Japan.

Oops, guess I'll just follow my guts and represent this stop of my trip temporarily by

[35-Days Trip 2010] Day 16-17 _ HangZhou

I knew that visiting HangZhou in a weekend is probably not a good idea. But since I didn't have as flexible as two-months summer vacation anymore like my first visit there, I only wished that it would be "good" weather.

And there it came, both sun and rain in perfect timing.

Leifeng Pagoda in the sunset is one of ten scences of West Lake. Legend of the White Snake and Lu Xun's article selected into school textbook added more dramatic sense into this pagoda originally built more than 1000 years ago.

However, I still couldn't have myself face its re-constructed model with modern elevators. Enjoying from a distance is good enough for me. 

A cup of tea along the West Lake with view like this, no wonder the new emperor in Southern Song dynasty lost all motivation to fight back for the land taken by invaders.

Overnight drizzle had washed the tiredness out of the city in a late summer day, while light fog around the lake offered a relaxing peaceful cruise away from everything belonging to a tourists' weekend. 

What's in reality and what's in the dream sometimes set parts far far away beyond you can possibly imagine.

 

"Was that real on the lake a blink ago?"

That's the question hovering in my mind every time I was surrounded in the rest of that day.

And every time when I found a small untounched corner right there just nearby, I sensed the very real peace in the center of West Lake.