Reminiscing

Time to leave - Thank you for following along with us on Duquesne's 2008 Asia Adventure.

Starting out with a layover in Japan - a whole new world

First Chinese meal - Breakfast in America was never like this

Friday Night In Tokyo

Our last night as a group, and we had dinner with our new Japanese friends. Then some went out to the karaoke. This group might not have the best vocals but they have the best heart! Tomorrow and Sunday are free days. A group of Japanese students are taking some of us around to see the sights on Saturday and some of us are going to try to get tickets to a baseball game on Sunday.

Tokyo May 22

A pretty slow day in an amazingly fast city. Half of us had lunch at a "conveyer belt" sushi restaurant (yum!) and the other half went for Italian. We met up with the Japanese students at Rikkyo University and did a joint presentation with them. The lot of them went out for Karaoke after the post-presentation reception that we were given. I STILL cannot figure out what's up with the peace sign, but it seems to be universal.

By the way, the Japanese student is Kyo Ko. She was embarrassed to have her picture taken and I told her that I would put it on our blog. She didn't believe that I would do it...I just cannot resist a dare!

On to Tokyo

We had a free day in Kyoto and then boarded the bullet train for Tokyo. Not as fast as the maglev, but we covered 300 miles in 2 hours. Karaoke on the bus that took us to dinner: We Will Rock You, Hotel California, Stand By Me, and Country Roads. This is a great group, but the singing was...let's just say it was inspired. Dinner was Shabu-Shabu (like a cook it yourself hot pot) with Kobe beef and a fantastic view of the Tokyo skyline. We're here for 5 nights so we get to unpack and settle in for a while.

Kyoto

The Golden Pavillion behind Dan and Kara and Chase and Raweh. BreAnne and Sylvia are sitting on the rock reserved for noble persons. The group picture is in front of the 16th century Nijo Castle, home of the last Shogun. The dragon drinking fountain is at the Kiyomizu Temple. The women went wild at the hotel in their yakutas.

Off to Tokyo tomorrow on the bullet train.

Kyoto

Left Shanghai in style on the maglev to the airport at 250 miles per hour. Arrived safely in Kyoto. We wanted real traditional and we got it. The ryocan (hotel) is 150 years old and its like a maze going up and down with little gardens around every other bend. We feel like we're in a Japanese doll house. Dinner was...different. We had snails, whole little fish, tempura, miso soup, sushi, and a lot of stuff we didn't recognize. It might have been strange but the service and appearance was beautiful and apparently authentic.

Shanghai - Last Day in China

Last China stop - Shanghai. We visited the Yu Gardens, went to the top of the Pearl Tower (the "needle") for a daytime view of the city and took a river cruise for a night time view. We closed out the visit with the Chinese Acrobatic show. They selected a participant from the audience for the knife throwing act, and who did they choose but our own Professor Ron Dick. It was a close call, but he survived!