Lol did anyone just get my joke there???
Nevermind....
Hey – just as an FYI – I figured out how to get my pictures off of my camera (Yay!) So, hopefully I'll be adding some to my posts soon! (btw -- I don't have pictures for part of this country so.... it kind of has a gap... 😊)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I literally am so sorry guys!! I haven't posted at all for Japan, China, or Hong Kong!! It's been a little hectic... So... I guess in this one, I'll talk about what we did in Japan, because otherwise it will never get done. (ugh I hate chores 😊)
So, I’ll start from the beginning. We ported in Kobe, Japan on January 24. We ate breakfast, grabbed our massive backpacks, and I turned on my camera. We didn’t stick around in Kobe, but instead grabbed a train and headed for the cultural capital of Japan, Kyoto. We stayed for three days, and I loved it almost as much as I love my dog (Almost is the key word 😊 ) It was an amazing city, and we saw so many great things in our time there.
When we first got there, our only concern was getting some ramen and finding the hotel so that we could take our dang backpacks off! We did both 😊 We dropped off our backpacks in our hotel rooms (one for the girls and one for the guys) We ended up finding a small restaurant right near our hotel that served up ramen and a delicious version of our very own fried chicken!! It is a Japanese version similar to KFC, Bush’s Chicken, Cane’s, etc.… Whatever kind you like to use when that cheat day comes around…. They call it Karage (Ka-raug-eh) and they serve it with lemon juice, and a sauce that is so delicious, that I would totally eat it by itself. We also tried three different types of ramen that I had mixed feelings about. We had burnt soy, pork, and miso, and I, for the most part, really liked it. I think I just have a bias against miso because I tried it once, and now the smell just sets me running away. But… oh well, that didn’t stop me from having lots of ramen anyways. 😊
To speed things up a bit, we walked around a famous market named the Nishiki Market, saw the outside of a beautiful temple called the Kenninji Temple. We also went to the Gion Area with lots of fun shops (food and clothing)
On our second day, we visited a temple called Kiyomizu-Dera. We got an incredible view and was very fun to visit. It is one of the top 20 to visit in Kyoto even though there are over 1,500.
Later that day, my parents surprised us and took us to two really fun activities. Japan and China are both known for their traditional tea ceremonies with kimonos. We got to wear kimonos during the tea ceremony. I liked the experience of wearing one for culture sake, but I probably wouldn't buy one for more than one use. You had to put on many layers underneath it to get the look they want it to and it was so much padding that it was harder to breath.
In the tea ceremony, we learned how to clean, mix, and drink the matcha tea properly. Most people think matcha is bitter, but I really enjoyed it! After the tea ceremony, we went to a ninja/samurai museum! I really enjoyed seeing and learning about all the different pieces of armor and its history. After learning some history on the samurais, we got to learn about their weapons! We threw (rubber) ninja stars (that surprisingly worked really well) and also, we got to shoot blow darts.
The last thing we did that day was to visit an underground food court. It sounds kind of weird, but there is a whole basement full of different and weird types of food. The company is called Daimaru and they have these department stores (they are like the food courts) all over Asia. We visited it at least 3 times while we were in Kyoto because there was so much stuff to try.
On our last day in Kyoto, we went to a suburb and saw a bamboo forest. We also hiked up part of a mountain to see wild monkeys. You could feed them and take lots of pictures. They were so cute!
The next day, we left Kyoto and headed back to Kobe. We didn't do much that day. We took our stuff back to the ship, and then after went to a church service. Our family has actually made it quite a goal to visit one in each country on Sundays since we can't hold our own services. We have seen some really cool ones. The rest of that day was spent looking around at the huge shopping mall right in the center of the city.
On the last day of our stop, we found a chinatown area and ate lots of food from street vendors. We had strawberries covered with a sweet hard layer around them. They were really good! We also got to try Kobe beef ramen, which is probably the best ramen I've ever had. Kobe beef is a rare and really expensive if you get more than a little, so it was really fun to try it and for really cheap. The last thing we did that day was do karaoke!! It is popular in Japan to do karaoke, people will get private rooms and sing for hours. My dad really wanted to do it, so we sang for about 30 minutes. It was really fun to try!
Overall, I thought that it was really interesting and had a lot of thing that are way different than what we are used to. I loved the markets and all the food they have, and also where they were inspired from. A lot of the Japanese food shops were actually French based. We ate a lot of pastries and baguette bread while in those towns. I also thought all the people were really nice. It felt weird not to be able to communicate with them, but we constantly used a phrase that got us through everything. We would say thank you in Japanese. It is pronounced Arigato (ar-e-ga-toe) and even after leaving Japan, we still were using it.
Well, That's all for now, folks! I hope to get back on track posting!
Love ya! - Rebekah