I met a ton of great people in China, Chinese as well as travelers. I met many backpackers from all over the world and talking to them about traveling was always funny. I rarely saw eye to eye with them. A couple of them loved Vietnam for one, couldn't wrap my head around that. But at the same time I think that is why I enjoyed China so much. Not just because it wasn't Vietnam, but Vietnam was like intense training for China. Many of the travelers I met hated China, but had never been to Vietnam, and the ones that loved Vietnam had often times been in India (or somewhere more wild) for a while before going to Vietnam. Its all funny though. Talking with other travelers is a kick, but I had so much fun talking to the Chinese. There are some seriously hilarious people in China. Of all the stories, my favorite and possibly my most memorable would have to be my last day in China. This little guy from Shanghai was staying in the hostel room with me. And the little guy slept all day, and he would lurk around at night. I was out walking around with this Japanese guy all morning, picking his brain about Japan, showing him around Shanghai and stuff, and took him to the train station but when I got back to the hostel at about 3 I woke up the funny little Asian boy. We started talking and his english was hilarious. He tried very hard, and actually had decent english compared to majority of China, but he would just say things that would make me die laughing. He was looking up on the internet all about California and telling me all these facts about it, and when he got to the governor, I knew I was in for a good laugh. According to him "Swazziger" is our governor. This Irish guy that was also in our room was dying laughing as well. Anyway, we had a great time messing with each other, he kept telling me he was 40 but looked really good cause he wasAsian and they age better than 'the white ones' (white people), and told me about how all the other Americans he sees look so strong and powerful but I looked like a woman. The whole afternoon and night were filled with laughs. I met so many awesome people in China. One of the things that amazed me in China was the way the people would just pop a squat and sit down everywhere. And it's not like a normal squat to relax, its a strange way that really hurts your knees. They would be flat footed and have their legs fully bent with their butts like an inch or 3 off the ground. Try it, it sucks. They could wait around forever doing that. Some of them had little seats they would bring around with them, but most just squatted. Blew my mind. My favorite thing though was the style of the older men in China. Usually a balding head with a comb over, generally very sweaty (it was summer time though), an unbuttoned collared shirt, with an exposed wife-beater undershirt most of the time stained, cigarette in mouth, shorts, black socks pulled up and leather loafers. That was like the IN-style I swear. It wasn't as prevalent in Shanghai, but in Beijing and Xi'an it was the happening style.
I know I should talk more about the Great Wall stuff and seeing the Forbidden City, and they were great, super interesting and awesome to see. But all the best memories came from being lost, exploring and having nothing planned. One of my favorite things in China though; the massage chairs. Holy Cow. The most technologically advanced devices I have ever got to play with. So intimidating to sit in at first, but once you did, this massive robo-cop-type chair would move and mold itself to fit your body. Some had arm slots, foot slots, hip movers, head massagers and calve squeezers as well as a slew of various back massaging options. The controls where all in Chinese as well, so I was just pushing buttons and seeing what happened. I could figure most of them out in a minute or so, but some I just ended up causing myself pain. And you couldn't just jump up if it was painful or turn it down because your arms would be locked in to the pneumatic arm massagers and you would be unable to reach the controls. Seriously though, I want one. New dream is to have my own movie theatre in my house with just a ton of those crazy chairs. I could charge admission to people. I have never sen anything like those in the States. seriously made the stuff at Sharper Image and Brookestone look like child's toys. Also the Children's toys in China where nuts! Right off the plane I wandered into a toy store and they had some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen. Remote controlled pirate ships, submarines, dinosaurs, bat-mans, 1000 different helicopters and a ton more weird and wild things, all of which were awesome. I could have spent all my money there. Dream day would be playing with all those toys sitting in a different massage chair every hour. Oh man, China is sweet. But then again, Japan is amazing. I haven't even been here for 24 hours yet and I already think this place is rad. I really haven't even made it to the cool parts either. According to a friend of mine I am staying in kind of a dud of a place, which is ok for me for now... except for the fact that my credit cards and ATM cards do not work here. Luckily I had some reserve cash that I could exchange, but I have a big journey tomorrow to find the Citibank (which apparently is the only US bank in Japan that American credit/debit cards work). Japan is a very expensive place though, especially Tokyo. I was going to take a cab from the airport to the little hotel I am staying in (which is awesome by the way, each room has a Kimono and kneeling table and free tea) but the cab fair was about $300 US. I took the train for about $10 and got lost for 2 hours but it wasn't a worry at all because I was in awe looking around. All my Japanese studying basically went out the window as well. I do not know any Kanji, which is the main type of writing that everything is written in. I only know some Hiragana and Katakana. Those are the 3 main types in Japan though. They talk so fast too that I struggle understanding. But I can pick out main words and reply with single words. I purchased a Japanese phrase book too which is a huge help. I love the bowing. Oh man I love it. It is fun to be courteous to the Japanese, they appreciate it and they bow. And every time I cannot help but smile and bow back. Sometimes I find myself doing a weird hand thing though, like I am bowing to a Karate Sensei. I did that a couple times today and felt like an idiot. The Japanese people are incredibly helpful though. I was struggling with the ATM situation today and this random guy from the service station store was trying to help me (not to rip me off, but he was just being a genuine nice guy, which really caught me off guard) and once it kept rejecting me he walked out side with me and pointed out all the other ones for me and then just went on his way. Same thing with the train station, I was super lost and asked a lady for help and she let me go on the train for free because if I tried to pay then I'd miss the train and she just asked me to pay at the other end. I am excited to see more and check out the main Tokyo city scene. I know this blog is long as all over the place, I still feel like there is so much I could say though. China was a great time, and I am so excited to be in Japan and experience the culture and people here. So anyways, Happy 4th everyone.
