Monday 26th March

1:Nicky's street.

2: Nicky's flat.

3: Shanghai skyline.

4: opposite sides of the same street - old and new.

Shanghai smells like: builder's rubble.
Tastes like: tasty spicy savoury pancakes; over-priced tea.
Looks like: a builder's site.
Sounds like: spitting.
Feels like: wary of Russian embassy officials; grateful for nice people who let me sleep on their couch.

I woke up early, fed the cats, and headed off to the Russian embassy to get my visa. There was some waiting around, then some feeling nervous in front of embassy people as they go through everything written on my application form and ask me questions, then utter disbelief at the cost of a visa.
"Can I get same day processing?"
"Miss, it's a little expensive." There's a sign on the wall, 120 dollars. I can live with that.
"That's ok."
"240 dollars, please."
"What?"
"That price is for Chinese people. For British people same day processing is 240 dollars."
That's a lot of money. Suddenly regular 5 day processing and coming back to Shanghai to pick up my passport seems like a much better idea.
Feeling naked without my passport, I go for a walk. The buildings in Shanghai are a brilliant mix - old Chinese buildings, French mansions, British banks, American-style hotels. People look at me curiously. For all that Shanghai is supposed to be an international city, everyone seems to be Chinese. Including the 3 Beijing students who want to practice their English and then take me to a tea-tasting session. I don't have anywhere I have to be, so I go drink tea. It turns out to be extremely tasty, and surprisingly expensive. The students open their wallets without hesitation. This is the new Chinese middle class, it seems.
After tea, I walk around some more and find myself in the People's Square. The people's hobbies seem to be spitting, kite flying, and shouting hello to foreigners (though not necessarily in that order). I feel like I've been under the spotlight too much, so I go back to Nicky's apartment. I play with her cats and wait for her to come home so we can go for dinner.
I met Nicky though a site called Couchsurfing.com, where travellers can arrange to stay on couches all over th world. A bit like house swapping, only without the house or the swap. I stay in her house, and in return I buy her dinner. Much more convenient than a hostel. Nicky is an architect, originally from Beijing. She studied in America and her English is excellent. Her house is in the French quarter, and extremely pretty. It's interesting to be in a real person's house instead of staying in a hostel.

Sunday 25th March

Weather: foggy.
Progress: Slow.
Hours delayed: 7.

Woke up and everything outside the window was white. Couldn't even see the water. Dropped anchor at 7 am and sat there in the mouth of the Yangtze river for 7 hours. When the fog finally lifted we saw other ships nearby, equally still. When we finally got moving, it took some time to sort out the traffic jam and get moving. We finally got off the ship in Shanghai at 8. I walked into town with a few other people. I tried to phone Nicky, my accomodation, but Chinese phones seem to be a practical joke. I made it to my digs at 10 pm, totally exhausted. The cats kept me up for a while, but eventually settled down at the end of my bed.

Saturday 24th March

I slept in a tatami room with 8 other people, and slept quite soundly. I wasn't sure about how futons would work if the sea was rough, but we were all fine. We were fine for another couple of hours, and then the sea gradually got rougher. And rougher. The waves didn't look that bad outside, but lots of people were puking. There was nowhere to escape. Chinese women were puking in our cabin. A Japanese man was puking in the lounge. Children were puking downstairs. The deck was too rough. I felt ok if I lay down, so I did that. I didn't puke. Finally the waves calmed down, but we'd spent so much time sleeping in the day we were all wide awake at night. We played various international versions of card games, supervised by a curious audience. The next day I saw a Chinese family playing the version of Scabby Queen we played. I felt quite proud of that.

Friday 23rd March

So this me leaving Japan: sweating, heart pounding, and twitching slightly. Let's recap. I left Nagoya at 7.30 and took the Shinkansen to Osaka. From there I dashed to the Chinese consulate to collect my passport and lovely shiny Chinese visa. After that I zoom to the ferry terminal. I am there in perfect time. It is 10.30, the ferry leaves at 12, I am cucumber cool. And also, I soon realise, in completely the wrong place. The international ferry terminal is somewhere totally different. I have a horrible vision of missing this ferry and either having to fly to Shanghai, or camp in Osaka until the next ferry on Wednesday because it would just be too embarrassing to go back to Nagoya. I get back on the train, go back several stations, manhandle a station attendant, walk/jog for 10 minutes through a non-descript industrial estate, and arrive, wheezing slightly, at 11.30, a full hour later than I was supposed to be here. The attendant looks at my passport and points to the ship. It seems I have plenty of time after all and need not collapse in a small heap just yet.
I don't know what to think as I stand on the deck and watch Japan slide away. I've made some good friends here, had a lot of fun, and done lots of cool things. I can't imagine how the next part will go, and the excitement of the trip briefly overrides the recognition that I have left Japan.
On the boat, I don't know what to do with myself. No phone, no internet, no pressing things I have to do. I wander around the boat, play cards, read books. It's very strange.

Wednesdy 21st March

1: Matt.
2: Me, Nozomi, Kumiko, Kentaro.
3: Eddie the karaoke god serenades us all.
4: Crafty cig.





Leaving party and karaoke - super super fun getting drunk and being silly. Drunkeness in no small part helped by the nasty pint of guinness with shot of bailey's sunk in the bottom Matt made me drink. I dont much care for guinness. A few people called off due to flu and snot, but I got a couple of nice phone calls from people who couldn't make it.
Weird to leave Japan... more thoughts on this later.

9 days to go

Number crunching:
9 - days left in Japan.
1 - shiny new passport with passport photo that doesn't make me look like a 40 year-old lesbian.
2 - free pages left on my old passport, which is why it had to be renewed early.
4 - visas to get for a month-long trip.
2 - days left at work.
1 - speech to be delivered on Friday morning in English and Japanese. Argh argh argh.
0 - boyfriends. I like to travel light.
3 - parties to go to over 4 days.
48 - hours from Osaka to Shanghai on a ferry. The slow boat to China, if you will.

Hokkaido Photos

Exciting new things

I have lots of pretty photos from the Hokkaido snow and ice festival that I can't show you here because Blogger is evil. It has decided to punish me by putting all of my menus into Japanese. I don't know how to change them back because, hey! I don't speak Japanese. Well done, Blogger. I don't know why it doesn't want to upload my photos, so no photos for you I'm afraid.
So imagine, if you will, 10 metre high snow sculptures of arctic scenes, famous buildings, and a giant cow. Ice sculptures lining the streets, snowflakes glinting in the dark... you get the idea. The ice bar was impressive. The owner made a metal frame, covered it with packed snow and then dripped water through the ceiling to fill the roof and walls with icicles. Embed fairy lights into the floor, add a bar and a pair of speakers, and presto! Money spinner. Wins 'coolest bar in Japan 2007' hands down.