SHANGHAI

Anna and I have arrived, with sea legs and people to meet us at the port, in SHANGHAI, CHINA!!!!
I'm not usually big on exclamation points or all caps but believe me if you could see and hear and feel what I have in the last 4 hours you would be into it too.

I'll start with some days gone by:
We left Dorthy's, she made us coffee in the morning, packed us lunches and waved us farewell as the train pulled away (she's a delight) and we made it to Nikko a few hours later. Nikko is a place with beautiful old temples high in the mountains, water running everywhere. It is also a place people devote a day or two to, we spent 7 hours and most of it was doing an out of the way hike along a river. Nikko is full of beautiful temples but they cost money and we are certainly on a budget. We went into one and well we're both satisfied enough with the experience. We sat in the temple and listened to a monk speak in Japanese about the history of the temple or something, wish I knew what he was really talking about, im sure he said something enlightening. Anyways beauty doesn’t cost money.
That night we went to Nagoya for a place to crash and the next day did a ridiculous up mountain, down mountain hike to see these small towns which have been preserved or remade to resemble old world Japan. The hike was nice because it was in the Kiso Valley which is (once again) beautiful but the old towns were just wooden buildings and I didn't want to tell any of the Japanese tourists but old wooden buildings are everywhere in Japan. So not too exciting.
Next day, or that night we were in Hiroshima to see the hot spots or really just where the bomb dropped which was evidently really hot. Evidently is the wrong word. Or maybe hot. Bottom line we were both really touched with that sort of sickened, could cry at any moment sort of feeling. The Peace Memorial Museum is there and only costs $.50 and we spent most of the morning there furthering the sickening feeling.
That afternoon we went to an island right by Hiroshima called Miyajima full of semi tame deer, temples, and one giant mountain with a spectacular view. We spent the afternoon at the beach with only other people there being of the German variety and after dinner parted ways. Anna went to the hostel with both our bags and myself up and down the mountain in record time. It was close to six and the trail was to take 1.5 to 2 hours to get to the top and wanting to avoid the dark I made it in a hour and enjoyed the last of the sun with a 360 degree view of ocean and bay.
Next day was riding the train superfluously. The idea was to go past Mt. Fuji and see all its wonder but it ended up being the train ride of learning a new card game with a group of Spaniards (very entertaining) and momentarily viewing the mountain. (I consider this our first friend making experience.) That night Kyoto.
Kyoto we found the nicest hostel and didn’t really want to leave. We bought groceries and made things we had learned from Dorthy, had amazing meals, slept in air conditioning, hung around all day talking about feelings… it was nice. We saw some of Kyoto but it’s all about temples which for anyone in Japan for more than a week or two, we’d already seen plenty. Stopped in Nara, I saw the giant bronze Buddha, more tame deer but the real highlight is we arrived on a day of parades and dancing. I don’t want to sound mean or ignorant or I don’t know, callous but the Japanese are not good dancers. Right, probably just the ones we saw but no one could keep a beat or stay in formation but very endearing regardless. That sounds demeaning…. We had a great time full of family fun and thoroughly entertaining.
Last night in Japan was in Osaka and we stayed in an extreamly poor part of the city, accommodations are cheaper there. But unlike anywhere else in Japan there were people sleeping on the streets, one legged men with crutches, the smell of piss and cats and trash everywhere. We realized that night how cushy we’d been living and I must say today, that night was good mental preparation for what’s to come.
Caught the ferry the next day and spent the next 50hrs boating across the ocean. We did a lot of reading (I finished two books), napping, ramen eating since we didn’t bring enough money for actual food, meeting other travelers and singing karaoke. Anna was an instant star sing Scrubs by TLC with her photo being taken numerous times and instant dance partners. We then did a duet of Hit the Road Jack, I was Ray Charles and she was my hot lady singers. That, of course, was another hit.
And now Shanghai. We watched the city for an hour getting closer as the boat went along an inlet covered with construction and boat docks and then through immigration and customs and a taxi ride “home”. We’ve registered with the police, or tried to at least. Had spaghetti for dinner, never thought that American food could taste so good. Our bellies are full, we have access to the internet and we are so happy to be off the boat and home for the next week. The city is an expanse, buildings as far as the eye can see and winding streets that don’t really make sense. The streets are torturous. Cars WILL hit us. This is where we learn to cross the streets without dying, we have been told to wait for a clearing and then run like a bat out of hell! We will too.