New ICT experience in Japan

Sorry for the length between posts.  We are all okay, but much has happened, especially in the last 48 hours.  Laura and the girls are now on a plane from Taipei to Los Angeles, then on to Minneapolis, then to land in Sioux City morning of the 19th.  The U.S. Embassy families in Japan were evacuated to ease the logistics should an emergency evacuation be required.  It was a voluntary thing, and we chose to accept the free chartered flight to our city of choice for a total of 30 days.  Hopefully, they will be coming back sooner than that.

So here is a simply awesome picture of the ladies arriving in Taipei, they were famous for a little while there!  Check out the link to the story, too:
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aSOC&ID=201103180001

And then they got on TV upon arrival in Sioux City!  Check out the link:

http://www.ktiv.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=5675033&at1

www.ktiv.com


As for me, I'm great but not in Tokyo at the moment.  Check out this new blog for the details:
http://calvarytohokurelief.blogspot.com/

For the time being, all updates on my ICT will be through Calvary Tohoku Relief, and then some new posts here to summarize the experience from an ICT perspective.  


Thanks!  

Godsey family okay from Japan earthquake

Just a quick post to let you know that we are all okay here in Kokubunji, a suburb of Tokyo.  No injuries at all, no damage to the house or in the neighborhood as far as we can tell now.  Cell phones all done in the country, and that is all we have, but internet is fine so Skyping us is the most direct, facebook also works.


Please pass the word to anyone who is interested, thanks and God bless!


Maxx

Into the Middle Kingdom- Xi'an

I'm back home now in Tokyo, though time is still precious with settling back in, getting started up again with Japanese classes, and oh yeah our household goods were delivered while I was gone so there are still lots of boxes strewn around.  Never stops...being fun!


Our time in Xi'an was very impressive for many reasons, mostly because it was completely different from Beijing or Harbin.  Enjoy the pics and captions, and then stand by for the Shanghai chapter.

The world famous Terra Cotta Warriors museum, one of the eight modern man'made wonders of the world, I think.  This is  Pit #1, the largest one which everyone remembers, and also the only one I am publishing pics from,  There is also one other pit and another exhibit hall on the grounds.  What needs to be remembered here is that all those statues lined up were assembled by the Chinese, the original state they were found in were crumbled, which can be seen in the distance of the rows.

This is a good example of an excavation site in Pit 1, and yes that is a "no photo" sign below, though I did not see a camera pass by me without a photo being taken.  A true symbol of Chinese laws- plenty published, few if any enforced.

The outside back wall of Pit 2.  As I sat on the bench resting a bit I saw those faces recreated in the huge wall and I thought deep thoughts, such as: here is an ancient display of man's supreme vanity, and now comes the new China who builds another immense museum and park to showcase the find, an area of development of colossal proportions, displaying yet another example on top of the old one, of man's vanity to a new generation.

Too fun to pass up...a separate photo op room with replica statues and a widescreen backdrop.  Had to pay to take a photo...very Chinese of them.

After the sort of splendor of the Terra Cotta museum, our hired driver for the day took us to a real local joint for lunch, which turned out to be the highlight of the trip.  Definitely off the beaten path, tons of authentic food which cost a total of about $30 for all four of us to eat.

At another historical park, the hot springs area, where we had a chance to engage the PLA!  Actually, he was PLA but like a basic private on leave with his sweetie.  He didn't know nothin' about nothin', but my buddy Paul still tried to do his duty of sowing the seeds of discontent.

Another thing to do is to take a cable car tram to the top of this mountain, where there is a temple to see.  Of course, you have to pay to enter the park below, pay to ride the tram, then pay to enter the temple.  We opted out of the third one and enjoyed the horrible smoggy view instead.  Though, in defense of the city, a large part of this pollution is dust that gets blown in from the nearby plain.  Still, Xi'an is just plain pretty dirty.

Before showing the current inner city wall, here is a pic of the original Tang Dynasty city wall, which we found by chance in a deserted museum hall below the new wall.  Quite interesting, really.

Now, I love to see butchered English phrases in Asia as much as the next guy, but the truth is we just did not see too many in China.  So when I caught a glimpse of this gem, I just had to share.  The ticket window to the wall.

A decent enough shot of the city wall, rebuilt and indeed impressive.  They say it runs about 15 K all around.  Good enough for me.  What struck me, though, was how few people were up there.  Seems like an awesome place of locals to have a stroll or bike ride and stuff.  But only scattered foreigners like us, for the most part, that day.

On to the next attraction, the Moslem quarter.  A simple enough looking outdoor market but they were always able to draw us in to check out all the crazy crap.  Lots of Chinese people in Islamic garb, especially headdresses, but I did not feel like stealing their souls.

Here is the main prayer hall of the Great Mosque in Xi'an, and I will say it was a very impressive compound, distinctly Chinese, what they called the minaret looked more like a pagoda.  What was not distinctly Chinese, though, was how immaculate the bathrooms were, the best we saw in China, hands down.

Time to beat feet out of town, and it's a long story but we had to take a slow train out of there, running out of time to departure and this is the line we were faced with.  But along comes Jamey "Quick Goat Thinking" Isaacs who decided to play stupid foreigner and go talk rapid English to as many guards as possible until somebody let us cut way ahead in line.  Made the train on time, and then 22 hours later we arrived in Shanghai, and to a whole different side of China.

Into the Middle Kingdom- Harbin

Hello again!  Wow, is it hard to find time AND a good wireless connection in China!  My trip is over tomorrow, 6 March, and here I am finally able to post something about our awesome trip to Harbin, in the northeast area of Manchuria.


I'm figuring that I will upload a post for each city visited from here on out.  So please read the captions of each photo to get all the scoop.  And please stand by for more to come in the next week.  Thanks!

The scene from our hotel room.  Note the Russian style of architecture...you'll see it again!

This was taken from the Dragon Tower, apparently the second highest observation deck in Asia.  An interesting cityscape the shows the frankly overall blandness of the city, several million strong.

The Siberian Tiger Preserve.  When I get the chance I will upload an awesome video of these guys in action.  For now, suffice it to say they were huge...glad I was in the bus!

Here is the main reason we came to Harbin, the Grand Snow Festival.  Best done at night, though the temperature was well below freezing!

Another great example of the festival.  This is all ice, with LED lights built into the blocks, and the lights flash and change colors, too.

An example of the scope of these sculptures.  Early on in the festival, you could walk under them, but at this time they were roped off, though we could still get very close to them.  Really cool (heh heh).

A very sober but important stop in our tour, the Unit 731 Museum.  Unit 731 was a Japanese medical unit that performed chemical experiments on prisoners and local citizens.

Yes, the heavy political bent of demonizing the Japanese was in full force.   This is not to say that the Japanese did terrible things here...they most certainly did.  But the spin on the issue is unmistakable.  This statue was created to show the two faces of the Japanese; on the right, the smiling business gentlemen, and on the left the ruthless smirking military officer.  

Another stroking example of the museum's agenda.  I had to snap this photo of these very cute Chinese children reviewing this diorama and video of what is reportedly an example of the chemical weapons experiments performed on hapless Chinese by the Japanese aggressors.

So here is some beauty after those serious museum photos.  St. Sophia's cathedral downtown, very nice on the outside, and a good shot with some birds flying.

But hold on!  What's this inside St. Sophia's?  Turns out the inside of the cathedral has been completely left to waste, with several junk stands and a small museum about life in Harbin in the 1920s replacing the stately cathedral adornments.  At least Jesus is in here somewhere, through perhaps the Lenin nesting dolls are a little more prominent.

Finally, a little shot of Center Street, with plenty of Russian and other European architectural influence.  And so ends our trip to Harbin...cold and old and broken down in so many ways.

Cheers!  See you in Xi'an, next post.

Into the Middle Kingdom- Days 1 through 4

Greetings from China!  I am finally able to get a post out.  Slow internet access or just time management issues during this fast-paced trip have made things a little challenging until now.  Anyway, I am in Harbin tonight finishing day 6 of the trip, but this post will sample from the first four days, all in Beijing.

I will put individual comments on each photo's caption, so please look to those.  Overall assessment of Beijing in two words- Income Disparity.  Everyone who has been to Beijing says it, and after seeing it firsthand I must must echo it; Beijing has amazing appearances of glamor and success but the veneer is quite thin.  Still and all, I believe it can be compared to countries like the United States or Japan only in the aspects that it wishes to; I guess I mean in ways like GDP and modernization of various industries and lifestyles.  

However, in so many other ways, China is completely different from the west and chooses to remain that way, so it hard for me now to compare things like society values and cultural norms, but instead to just roll through it for the ICT experience.  And there have been plenty of "ICT moments" so far!

Anyway, don't want to make this one too long.  Please review the captions for a fuller picture.  Next post will wrap up the last day in Beijing and show the two days in Harbin, way up north in Manchuria.  Thanks for reading, catch you later!

Haneda Airport International Terminal in Tokyo, in the Edo era mall there.  Very cool, very clean, very busy.  Nice way to exit the country!

Me and travel partner Capt Jamey Isaacs on a Beijing subway.  The fare is always 2 yuan anywhere you want to go.  That's 30 cents, by the way.  Clean system, always crowded, but nothing new on Asian trains!

Me and Jamey at Temple of Heaven Park.  Very nice city park, mostly retirees in there (they get in for free) but also some tourists.  Beautiful weather that day.

One of three huge shopping centers we visited in one day.  This one is Yashow, about seven stories.  Combat shopping at its finest; everything is negotiable and some real deals can be made in there.  Some of the vendors get very aggressive in trying to get you in their stalls and make a sale.  Just business, baby, can't take it personal!

The Great Wall from the Badaling site.  Definitely the most popular sites for tourists, mostly because it is the closest big one.  Crammed on the wall we walked, but amazing thing to see.

Front of the Military Museum, which mostly focuses on the People's Liberation Army but also has exhibits from ancient China.  Very clean, very large, very skewered histories to read.

In that booth you can see two nice young ladies who are guards for a section of  the weapons displays, and yes they were both sound asleep.  When I took this picture, another guard came up, said nothing to me, but next time I looked the gals were awake and going about their duties smartly, though what those duties were escaped me.

Interesting display here.  This is the number of casualties sustained in the War of American Aggression in Korea.  The number must be read as 1.8 million people and change, and then the bird designs on either side list the battle sites and numbers of casualties of each.

Night Market in the Wanfujing shopping district.  Look close at the impressive array of snacks available. 

National Theater where the Shaolin Monks Kung Fu show runs every night.  Super impressive, was not allowed to take pics of the show, sorry.

Entrance way to a very normal Beijing family courtyard home in of the hutong, or local neighborhood, areas.  Several related families will live in there.  Outside the quad area, where I am taking the picture, are the local streets where the families will often have their shops.  This is very common site in central Beijing; the more affluent live on the peripheries.

Just add to add this pic of a hand bag available in a hutong shop.  Had to pay the shopkeeper 10 yuan to take the pic, but just about everything is negotiable!  Who says the Chinese don't embrace sarcasm? 

One more shot of an impoverished city center district.  What you can't see is that there are modern corporate buildings just four blocks to the left of this area.  We are here going to the reputed best roast duck restaurant in the city, and it was really excellent, with authentic atmosphere!

One face of gambling in Japan...the pachinko parlor

Didn't plan to, but I had to get this photo and video up before the China reports begin.  Every country has its gambling culture, and Japan's is perhaps not so much different from many others.  Still, I continue to be amazed at scenes like this:

This is a pachinko and slot machine parlor, called Oriental Passage, which is right around the corner  from my language school.  This picture was taken at 0920 Tuesday, and yes if you look to the left of the building that is indeed a line of about 15 people waiting to get in to start their day off right.

And then there is the actual inside of the place.  Now, I like noise as much as the next guy, but wow...

So there is just a small snippet of gambling life in Japan, in a smallish area of town, not even real downtown Tokyo.


I am sure there is plenty more to see in China, so thanks for tuning in and please come back again for more!

Some quick images from this week

A good week.  I added another 10 teas to my growing album, so be sure to check out the small slide show on the right margin of the blog.


Had a full set of language classes, and that meant getting to also stroll around Kichijoji a bit.  Very lovely park called Inokashira, here's a shot of some artists working on capturing a scene.

Also found a good noodle shop around the corner, here is a lady cutting up the freshly made pasta.

Finally, a brief video giving a glimpse of daily life at Shinjuku Station, the world's busiest train station.  That fact is hard to grasp when you are in there because the structure as very low ceilings and is very compartmentalized.  Still, this is normal weekday traffic about 90 minutes after the rush hour period, and it is still crazy.

To wrap up, it is less than a week until I fly to China.  Everything is in order, time to kick off this ICT with a bang, an 18-day cross country trip, from the northeast of Manchuria to the southern tip of Hong Kong.  Providing I find wifi along the way, I plan to chronicle as I go.  

That's it for now!  じゃまたね。