When we were in Okinawa, you may remember, we had to got through this "thermal scanning" thing. Well, this time we had to do it at 8:00 in the morning. Yay.
So, we managed to pull ourselves together for something that only took about 2 minutes at the most. After that, we got breakfast, then we were in Muroran by about 10-11 AM.
There were people from the town there that were playing drums and things like that when we arrived at the port. Lucky us, it was raining. Muroran is the port for Sapporo (where they make the beer), but we decided to just walk around.
They had a great bus system, which had 5 different stops throughout the town. We ended up walking around the first four. All the time looking for some stupid YAKITORI!!!
We had a paper from the ship that said that Muroran is Japans "Yakitori capital", but I guess since it was Saturday, the shops were all closed down. (BTW, yakitori is like chicken skewers) We walked around EVERYWHERE looking for a place that had it, but we couldn't find any...
By then my grandpa was getting really tired, so we went back. we went over this amazing bridge on our way back to the ship. I got off at the ship, but my grandparents went through to the first stop to get booze (TREND AGAIN).
As we were leaving Muroran, there were a group of children that were dancing to Japanese music for us. I don't think I've ever seen my grandma so into music/dancing before.
Japan was my favorite place that we visited in the whole trip. The people were all extremely nice, and the cities were beautiful.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Vladivostok, Russia
My grandma and I got tickets for a tour of Vladivostok, but luckily, it didn't leave until the afternoon.
My grandpa went into Russia before we did, then at about 1:00 we went to the theater. We were put on a bus, and when we go off the ship it was raining, but by the time we got to the first stop, there was no more rain!
Our first stop was the military museum in the barracks. It was kind of interesting, but it got boring. We had a male tour guide, and a girl was his assistant.
After that, we went to the Royal Arsinev museum, which also sort of dragged on after a while....
Next, we went to the central square. There were three interesting statues, but the most interesting part was the last stop which was called eagles nest look out.
To me, the name is a bit misleading. It is basically a hill that you can walk up and see a big part of Vladivostok. While we were there, I went into a souvenir shop and got a couple things for a couple people. :)
After that, we went back to the ship and relaxed.
Some interesting things about Vladivostok:
-In 2012, they are holding a conference/expo type thing that they are spending years getting ready for. They are building a bridge that we could see from the lookout, and something that I thought was cool was that they are bringing in cruise ships to the port, and they will function as "floating museums".
-Vladivostok (geez I'm getting tired of typing that out) was only opened to anyone (not even other Russians) that didn't live there in 1992. Before that, it was a closed port. You would have to get a special paper to get into the city.
-What was once the most closeed city in Russia is now the most open. For the rest of Russia, it is EXTREMELY difficult to get a visa (among other things, you need a letter from someone in Russia), but for Vladivostok, you only really need a passport.
-Vladivostok was originally inhabited by the chinese, who called it a name that meant "Place of Sea cucumbers", then it was Japanese, then finally it was Russian.
My grandpa went into Russia before we did, then at about 1:00 we went to the theater. We were put on a bus, and when we go off the ship it was raining, but by the time we got to the first stop, there was no more rain!
Our first stop was the military museum in the barracks. It was kind of interesting, but it got boring. We had a male tour guide, and a girl was his assistant.
After that, we went to the Royal Arsinev museum, which also sort of dragged on after a while....
Next, we went to the central square. There were three interesting statues, but the most interesting part was the last stop which was called eagles nest look out.
To me, the name is a bit misleading. It is basically a hill that you can walk up and see a big part of Vladivostok. While we were there, I went into a souvenir shop and got a couple things for a couple people. :)
After that, we went back to the ship and relaxed.
Some interesting things about Vladivostok:
-In 2012, they are holding a conference/expo type thing that they are spending years getting ready for. They are building a bridge that we could see from the lookout, and something that I thought was cool was that they are bringing in cruise ships to the port, and they will function as "floating museums".
-Vladivostok (geez I'm getting tired of typing that out) was only opened to anyone (not even other Russians) that didn't live there in 1992. Before that, it was a closed port. You would have to get a special paper to get into the city.
-What was once the most closeed city in Russia is now the most open. For the rest of Russia, it is EXTREMELY difficult to get a visa (among other things, you need a letter from someone in Russia), but for Vladivostok, you only really need a passport.
-Vladivostok was originally inhabited by the chinese, who called it a name that meant "Place of Sea cucumbers", then it was Japanese, then finally it was Russian.
Busan, South Korea
I woke up that morning, and checked the clock. Once I did so, I had to blink a few times.... Was it really 11:30 in the morning??? I woke my grandparents up, and we scrambled to get ready. My grandpa and I went up to the buffet to see what food we could get, and we were shocked to see tons of people there. Weren't they in Korea yet? We then realized that due to fog, the ship hadn't been able to dock in Korea. That worked out well for us because of our late wakeup.
So we ended up in Korea at about 3:00-ish. After waiting in lime for a bus (which took about an hour), we were finally in Korea! So, we ended up walking around, and we went through the fish market, which is one of re largest in the world apparently. My grandma got wine ( the trend is back) and then we waited in line for the bus back to the ship.
Korea was quite nice, and there was a schoolgirl that said hello to us, and said I was beautiful. :)
Next stop, Vladivostok, Russia!
So we ended up in Korea at about 3:00-ish. After waiting in lime for a bus (which took about an hour), we were finally in Korea! So, we ended up walking around, and we went through the fish market, which is one of re largest in the world apparently. My grandma got wine ( the trend is back) and then we waited in line for the bus back to the ship.
Korea was quite nice, and there was a schoolgirl that said hello to us, and said I was beautiful. :)
Next stop, Vladivostok, Russia!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Shanghai, Dailan, Qingdao, and Xingang
Since I haven't updated in FOREVER, I'm going to do the last 4 cities in one post.
Shanghai- After an incident with immigration (My grandmother didn't have the right stamp on her passport copy, so we missed our tour. Great.) we headed into Shanghai. We decided to just walk around. My grandpa had an "issue" with some guy that was trying to shine his shoes. While I don't blame him for getting angry, my grandparents are in their own little cultural "bubble" that is so tight that they can't deal with any single thing that isn't their own culture, so after about 30 minutes in Shanghai, we were back for an hour long bus ride to the port. The good thing was that apparently there is some expo going on in Shanghai currently, so the port we were docked in was brand new, and there was some sort of welcome crowd for us. Yay!
Quingdao- This was the port where about 2000 passengers got off the boat, and 1000 got on. Apparently the 32 day cruise I am on is basically two different 16 day cruises put together. So this place we were in (Quingdao) is basically the port for Beijing. There is NOTHING there. Literally. The only thing we found was a friendship store, and they had next to nothing. The only cool thing was at the building next door, there was the cutesy monkey in a cage. I wanted to take it home, but my grandparents wouldn't let me. Oh well.
Dalian- the next day, we were in Dalian, China. You haven't heard of it? Well, you aren't the only one. It was a port town that didn't have much to it. We were dropped off at a friendship store, but I soon figured out that the stores only friends were those with fat wallets. Think along the lines of 500-700 dollars for a windbreaker jacket. Uh huh. So we wandered around after that. We have figured out that China has a fondness for busy streets with no crosswalk lights. Add that to my grandfathers tendency to make scary bodies when he somehow sees a car that is 2659274933934936393 feet away, and I have heart attacks every time.
Quingdao- another place I am sure you haven't heard of. The only thing they are really known for is that they hosted the Sailing competition for the 2008 Olympics. Pretty cool. There is really nothing there though, so after wandering around, we finally went back to the ship.
I will probably update with P/B- usan (will explain in post) tomorrow.... Hopefully.
Shanghai- After an incident with immigration (My grandmother didn't have the right stamp on her passport copy, so we missed our tour. Great.) we headed into Shanghai. We decided to just walk around. My grandpa had an "issue" with some guy that was trying to shine his shoes. While I don't blame him for getting angry, my grandparents are in their own little cultural "bubble" that is so tight that they can't deal with any single thing that isn't their own culture, so after about 30 minutes in Shanghai, we were back for an hour long bus ride to the port. The good thing was that apparently there is some expo going on in Shanghai currently, so the port we were docked in was brand new, and there was some sort of welcome crowd for us. Yay!
Quingdao- This was the port where about 2000 passengers got off the boat, and 1000 got on. Apparently the 32 day cruise I am on is basically two different 16 day cruises put together. So this place we were in (Quingdao) is basically the port for Beijing. There is NOTHING there. Literally. The only thing we found was a friendship store, and they had next to nothing. The only cool thing was at the building next door, there was the cutesy monkey in a cage. I wanted to take it home, but my grandparents wouldn't let me. Oh well.
Dalian- the next day, we were in Dalian, China. You haven't heard of it? Well, you aren't the only one. It was a port town that didn't have much to it. We were dropped off at a friendship store, but I soon figured out that the stores only friends were those with fat wallets. Think along the lines of 500-700 dollars for a windbreaker jacket. Uh huh. So we wandered around after that. We have figured out that China has a fondness for busy streets with no crosswalk lights. Add that to my grandfathers tendency to make scary bodies when he somehow sees a car that is 2659274933934936393 feet away, and I have heart attacks every time.
Quingdao- another place I am sure you haven't heard of. The only thing they are really known for is that they hosted the Sailing competition for the 2008 Olympics. Pretty cool. There is really nothing there though, so after wandering around, we finally went back to the ship.
I will probably update with P/B- usan (will explain in post) tomorrow.... Hopefully.
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