After two nights in Kyoto, I had to leave my hostel and find somewhere else to stay. I decided to head for the slums of Osaka to find one of the cheapest rooms in the country. But first I did a bit more sightseeing in Kyoto. I walked to the nearby Chion-in Temple. I noticed construction workers erecting a heavy duty steel structure on each side of one of the old wooden buildings. It looks like they are going to do some restoration work, but their temporary structure looks more permanent than the thing they are saving.

I was lucky to see all the famous cherry blossoms in full bloom while I was in Kyoto. There are only a few days of the year when it is possible to see the peak time. I also had a chance to see one of the biggest bells in the world. The Chion-in Temple Bell weighs 74 tons, cast in 1633 and I had to wonder how they moved it up the hill where it is located now.

I checked out of my eight person dormitory and got on a train to Osaka. A $4.85 ticket on the Hankyo Kyoto Limited Express gets me to Osaka in 47 minutes.  Then I had to change to a subway line four stops away for $2.85. I’m too used to Beijing’s flat rate of $0.32 to get anywhere on the subway system.

By the time I emerged, it was raining hard. Good thing I had been studying the area so I had some idea where to go. I found Hotel Kaga and got a private room for $20 which is really good for Japan. I saw some signs around for as low as $10 but I’m not sure they accept foreigners and not sure what you get for that price. The reason for all the low prices is because this is the area where most the homeless people stay and it is kind of depressing. A lot of disabled old men wander the streets and a lot of bars. I didn’t see anyone eating but I did see a lot of people drinking. The name of this area (Kamagasaki or Airin) doesn’t appear on maps because I think it has been such an embarrassment they changed the names. I saw some second hand clothes shops, a rare thing in a country where people prefer to be the first owner. I found a store that sold some old food for a discount, so I tried some of that. Most of the day was rain, so I took a break.

I woke up from my $27 per night 10 person dormitory room and started heading for Mt. Hiei on the northeast side of Kyoto. Since I had no JR Pass this time in Japan, I was free to take any public, private, or subway line I wished. My plan was to take some trains to the trail head and then walk up the mountain. This is when I started realizing how expensive Japan is. Taking a subway just a few stops cost over $2. These little trips can really add up. I decided to get some food since I haven’t eaten in nearly 24 hours. In 7 Eleven, I found a single slice of bread with butter already on it for a little over $1 and a rice ball for around the same price. Wow, if a little bit of bread or rice costs this much, what about a real meal?

I walked along side a river and started going up the mountain. I didn’t see any signs pointing the right way, but I studied a map before I started. After a while, the trail stopped. I looked around but couldn’t go any further. I had to retreat back to the train station.

I did have a nice walk through a neighborhood. I noticed each home takes great care with what little space they have. They will fill the entryway up with flowers and they would take their tiny yard and turn it into a great garden with huge varieties of trees.

Since walking didn’t work out so great, I did have another option which was the tram. I took a cable car most of the way up the mountain and continued to walk. Mt. Hiei is known for its marathon monks. The mountain also has a lot of large old trees, ancient temples, and a nice atmosphere.

After looking around, I decided to walk down the other side of the mountain to Sakamoto. This took a little over an hour. This town is pretty interesting too. A lot of old houses and temple are at the base of Mt. Hiei. I decided to try the Japanese traditional green tea called matcha. At $4 for a little bit at the bottom of a cup, it isn’t exactly good if you’re thirsty.

I got on a train and headed back to Kyoto. In the middle, I had to change trains, so I got out and tried some restaurants. First I had some gyoza which is fried dumplings. Taste the same as the Chinese version. Then I had some soba noodles which I had to order by a machine that worked just like the train ticket machine. Then I took one more subway line back to the Gion district of Kyoto, where my hostel was located. Just a couple days later I learned of a traffic accident that involved 16 people in the same district of Kyoto. I always say crossing the street is the most dangerous thing when traveling.

I decided to go back to Japan since I found some cheap tickets from Air Asia (Kuala Lumpur -> Osaka) and Spring Airlines (Tokyo -> Shanghai). The only problem is due to deflation in Japan and inflation in the US, everything costs 50% more than when I was here in 2007. Five years ago, I stayed three weeks. This time, only five days. This meant I had to plan quite a bit and schedule a lot into a few days.

Currency exchange rates aren’t the only thing that changed. I almost didn’t make it on the airplane to get into the country because I needed to prove I had an onward ticket. At the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I showed the woman a piece of paper where I wrote down my booking number and flight information but she didn’t believe it. Then I showed her the email on my phone and she said “hardcopy!” I looked around and asked where can I print it? The plane is boarding in a few minutes. She said go to the premium passenger lounge and print it and then she would let me on the flight. So I go there and they say they have no printer. I decide to try my luck with someone else. I ask a man to check my documents and after some questions he believes the electronic documents. Then at the gate, another man asks similar questions about what I’m doing there, how long I’m staying.  I got through both checks and made it on the plane just in time.

Arriving in Japan immigration, there was another change. Forced fingerprint scanning. The only other time this happened to me was when I was leaving Singapore a few years ago. After immigration, I had to pass through customs. Another change here was hand searching of the luggage of every foreigner. I thought the USA was the only country that would do this, but not anymore. I’m not sure what happened.

My next step was to get some cash. I tried a Japanese ATM. I quickly realized there is no English option and it must not accept international cards. I asked the information desk and they said there is a Citibank ATM, so at least that one worked well.

Next, I had to figure out how to get to Kyoto where I had a reservation. There are a lot of options. There is the state owned Japan Rail (JR) line and there is a private rail line. I knew JR had the fastest train (1.5 hours), but I would need a rail pass to make it a reasonable price. I didn’t have a pass, but there was an office that sold them. I stood in line and waited. When I got to the counter I had the same trouble as before with proving an onward air ticket. No one trusts me. Email is no good, but email on paper is good? I had to walk away.

Next I tried the private Nankai Electric Railyway line since they had a good price. The man in some very broken English said it would take 3 hours and I’d have to change trains two more times. I said I’d think about it.

The last option is to buy a normal ticket from the ticket machines. These machines had 53 buttons and I would try pressing a button and nothing would happen. I gave up and then tried a couple more times. No response and no English. Finally, I found a sign explaining how to use it in English. My mistake was the first step. I wasn’t supposed to touch anything but instead insert money first. Once I put in money, the buttons lit up. They were prices like 230 Yen, 450 Yen, 900 Yen, 1160 Yen. There was a map above the machines showing the ticket price to each station, so I pressed the button with the price that matched where I wanted to go. Once I did, my ticket and change appeared. At least the ticket machines don’t say “no” to me.

My plan was to take the train from the artificial island created for the Kansai Airport to the main train station in Osaka. From there, I could change to another train to Kyoto. It would be cheaper than the direct train. After a few minutes on the train, it stopped. I’ve heard that Japanese trains are very punctual. In fact, I noticed the driver of the train had a sheet of paper showing the exact times he must stop at each station at eye level. The train was delayed about 30 minutes. I’m not sure what caused this delay, but I’ve heard one big cause in Japan is train suicides.

I did make it all the way to Kyoto and my reserved bed was still there. Right now is the worst time of year to find a place to stay in Kyoto because the cherry blossoms are blooming. I was lucky I made a reservation a month ahead of time.

Malaysia Notes

The bus stations have made some great improvements in the years since I got my wallet stolen at one in Kuala Lumpur a few years ago. The new station called Terminal Bersepadu Selatan is the best bus station I’ve seen. It is designed like an airport. Separate areas for departures and arrivals, clean and modern, and connections to all the important transit lines.

I noticed quite a few blind people in the area I was staying in and I noticed them outside crossing streets alone. I realized I’ve never seen this in China because I think they would be murdered quickly by a Chinese driver.

One man who looked like he was of Indian decent in Kuala Lumpur told me he hates Obama after I told him I was from America. I asked him why. He said it was better in the days of Bush and Cheney since they started wars. He wishes someone would start a war with Iran. Not often I hear people around the world critical of the US for not dropping enough bombs on foreign countries.

I visited two old cities in Malaysia. One was Georgetown (on the island of Penang). The town is a former British colony and is supposed to have the best food in the country. The other was Malacca, which has a history going back to the famous Chinese admiral Zheng He who used this port 600 years ago with his massive fleets of hundreds of ships.

Price of gas in Malaysia: 95 Octane = $2.34/gal (Recorded by me on March 26, 2012)

Thailand Notes

The Mo Chit Mai bus station in Bangkok was interesting. There were over 100 ticket sellers and none had any English signs. I guess this is why most people go through a travel agency. But I had to get some help from a school teacher to be able to get a ticket. I ended up getting on a first class bus. This bus had everything. A lot of room, a touch screen entertainment center with a lot of Nicolas Cage films, some food and drink, a Sega Master System emulator built into a game controller with about 15 games, an electrical outlet, and a simple massage seat.

In Bangkok, I found a guesthouse near the subway line. For a city of 8 million people, I’ve never seen a subway so empty. It is a nice modern system so maybe after the next extension there will be more passengers.

I’ve noticed Thais do not like bicycles or any electric scooters. I haven’t seen any stores selling them and see very few people using them. What they do like are two cycle gasoline motorcycles. These loud, dirty bikes are everywhere and it makes sleeping a little difficult.

I think it was a mistake to go to Thailand in March because March/April is the hottest time of year. It was an experience without air conditioning. I felt like I was dying or at least like having a fever constantly.

Price of has in Thailand: 95 Octane = $5.00/gal (Recorded by me on March 19, 2012)

On my way from China to Malaysia, I took the high speed rail to from Beijing to Tianjin. This train has a top speed of 291kmh (180.8mph). The top speed of all the high speed rail in China was reduced by 10% in 2011 due to concerns of the concrete foundation lifetimes. The train passes the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th ring roads during this video.

Beijing-Tianjin High Speed Rail (Video, 5 min, 8 sec) 

It is hard to recognize this place after one year. Building construction view from Yizhuang Line (Video, 1min 38 sec)

The Chinese New Year took place here a few days ago. Along with getting woken up by firecrackers at 6:00AM, there was a lot to see at night. I tried to take a video of some. Beijing Chinese New Year Fireworks (Video, 1min 35 sec)

Firework in Chinese is called yānhuā (烟花), literally “smoke flower.” Firecrackers is bàozhú (爆竹) or “exploding weapon.”

In February 2011, I spent a day in the city of Guangzhou on my way to find someplace warm. I haven’t been to this city in a couple years, so I was curious to see what had changed. The city was host to the 2010 Asian Games and it had a large building boom in anticipation. I first noticed that instead of taking a bus from the airport, I could take a new subway line directly into downtown.

I spent my time walking around Zhujiang New Town, a new downtown development. The owner of the hostel I stayed at mentioned they are trying to make something like Manhattan, NYC here. I could see they were building it from the ground up with new subway lines at the bottom, a park above that, flanked on both sides with new sky scrapers. I later saw a one building, the Pearl River Tower, on a TV documentary for being a very energy efficient building, including wind turbines in the middle.

Zhujiang New Town Master Plan

On the other side of the river is the iconic Canton Tower. It is one of the tallest free standing structures in the world. In March of 2008, I wrote in my blog that I saw a model of Guangzhou in a museum and couldn’t believe a tower that was twice as tall as everything else in the city. One of the interesting things about China is fantasy does turn into reality.

I also stumbled on one of the largest malls in China, The Grandview Mall (aka Zhengjia Plaza). The top floor has an unlicensed Indiana Jones ride.

After Guangzhou, I took the train to Shenzhen. Too bad I was a little too early, because a pair of world class high-speed rail stations and a new high-speed line between the cities was not finished yet. This new line includes a tunnel under the Pearl River, rated at 350km/h, the only tunnel rated at such a speed in the world. Eventually, there will high speed service all the way to Hong Kong. A few months after my visit the Shenzhen metro system tripled in size too.

In Shenzhen, I met Andy (the Beijing art student) since his family lives here. Since it was still the week of Chinese New Year, his family went out for Guangdong style hot pot and I was invited. It isn’t spicy like Sichuan style but everything else is similar.

I also had a chance to see the electronics market in Shenzhen. Unfortunately, most of it was closed because of the holiday. Andy and I did take a day trip to Hong Kong however.

Hong Kong was the first place in Asia I ever visited (June 2007), but I haven’t returned until now. The border crossing was interesting because it was done by subway and walking. The subway stops at the border and then I walked on a bridge over a river which was the border between China and Hong Kong. On the other side, I got in another train and look it the rest of the way. Hong Kong didn’t seem as crazy as I remember it the first time. I think I’m more used to everything now, so there wasn’t any culture shock.

Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong are all racing to build and I noticed all three have recently completed buildings that are in the top 10 tallest in the world:

• Guangzhou International Finance Center (Completed 2010)
• Shenzhen Kingley 100 (Completed 2011)
• Hong Kong International Commerce Center (Completed 2010)

The China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing is considered the number one art school in the country. Last April, I had a chance to see an experimental art exhibition at its museum.

I learned some of the students now use micro controllers like the Ardunio with their projects now. For example, using sensors to make something interactive. Also they are using programming languages like Processing or visual programming languages like Max/MSP/Jitter.

I also had an opportunity to see a real dormitory. The room is roughly 10 feet by 20 feet. Six students live in this space with a bed on top, desk on the bottom filled with books, peanut shells, and empty cans. I noticed a few buckets on the floor where clothes are washed and socks hung on the radiator. Maybe not the most comfortable space, but I learned it is dirt cheap.

On December 30, 2010 at 2:00PM, the gates were pulled open to the public for the first time to five new subway lines in Beijing, China. At any given time, there are about 11 subway lines under construction in Beijing. Every year some phase of these lines are added to the system, growing into the 5th busiest system in the world. As a side note, it is basically the same story in Shanghai, with over 10 lines under construction, already the longest metro system in the world and ranked 4th in number of passengers.

A Beijing Subway station on a Saturday afternoon.

Beijing is world famous for its traffic jams. Now whenever I see a traffic jam in Detroit, I don’t complain. Beijing subways are boarded over 5 million times per day. To cover the rest of the city there are around 20,000 buses that try to squeeze� as many people on board as possible.

To me, it is interesting to see this challenge and see how they are engineering solutions. Still, it seems no matter how fast roads and subway lines are built, they are filled to capacity nearly immediately.

In February, I was in Beijing for my first Chinese New Year festival. Previously, I’ve tried to stay out of the country during this time because I’ve heard how hard it could be to travel during that time. However, the major cities are actually fairly empty during this time as a side effect. I was able to spend the new year’s eve with a Beijing family.

Chinese New Year marks the first day of the new lunar calendar. I was also in Beijing for the January 1st solar new year, but there were no celebrations at all, including no countdown on TV at midnight. On the moment of the new year on January 1st, the president comes on TV with his suit and tie and has a speech saying it will be a good year.

Of course there was a lot of food. This included not only eating food, but cooking food. Everyone was involved with making jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) by putting some filling into a wrapper and later they would be boiled.

The other event is the special new year’s TV entertainment, like choreographed singing and dancing, or comedy sketches (that I’ll never be able to understand). On a side note, HDTV has been rolling out quickly this year. I was able to witness one apartment block get the upgrade. On a scheduled date and time, everyone brings their old cable boxes out and swaps it with a new HD cable box. A pretty fast upgrade. HDTVs are common here and now the decoder boxes are too, but I’ve been to a number of houses and every HD box I’ve seen has been connected to the HDTV with an old composite cable reverting back to SD quality.

Fireworks are another big tradition during this festival. You can buy cakes of fireworks and strings of firecrackers here, including strings of M-80s. I witnessed a couple strings of M-80s and those were pretty scary since they were flying pretty far in every direction.

On new year’s eve, there are explosions heard almost all day, but the climax is at midnight. Sometimes there is a designated area to fire them, so maybe each family will buy a cake and bring it there and add to the chaos. I was checking my watch and I think for 15 minutes I heard the constant sound of strings of firecrackers firing. And then there are people lighting fountains and cakes at the same time. No remote firing here, just walk into the kill zone and use a lighter. As it got closer to midnight, the crowd standing in their winter coats backed away more and more.

Father and daughter take cover from blast.

The problem is the bursts of these fireworks is often less than the height of buildings in the cities. This creates some nice echos, but I’ve witnessed myself some sparks hitting the sides of buildings. If a window is open, that causes some problems, like in the city of Shenyang during this same night burned a building. And two years ago in Beijing, the same thing happened. You could say this makes China an exciting place. With the lack of safety, you never know what is going to happen.