Wolfie in Japan

KOBE, japan

I liked Kobe, Japan...there were very crowded streets. This is a picture of a packed street in Kobe's Chinatown.


On the first day I went to a kindergarden. They served us kindergartner-made soup. There was one little boy who would not let go of my hand and kept coming up to me and saying hello in English.


Then, we went to a YMCA building (they founded the kindergarten) and there we ate our box lunches. They also showed us how to make a paper crane. (That is how all these paper cranes showed up on Wolfie). Do you know why paper cranes are so special in Japan? If you want to know, ask me and I will write it down. We then went back to the ship.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Later on we went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Here are two photos (one of the conveyor belt, the other of me and my sushi).

Yum! Sushi!

And hot dogs!

Shang Hai, China

[Shang Hai view from our cabin]

In Shang Hai we went to a market that had a garden that had the same mountains made of rocks. (There were some caves made of rocks, too).

There also was a koi garden that I sat by for nearly 30 minutes.


Then we went to a Shinto temple that had a place where Taoism is practiced.


And there I met a new friend...


Then, we went to the other places [in the temple] and there was one room that was covered with a type of good luck charm on the ceiling. REALLY.


There was a little blue man that was everywhere. Finally they told us that he is the sign for Expo, which is short for the World's Exposition. The little blue man is supposed to be a drop of water.

Then we had lunch at a place where first you take your food, then you pay and eat (you see your food which is on a lot of trays and you pick what you want). [diem sum]




In Shang Hai we went to a shopping district where I got dragon pajamas and here is a picture.

Beijing, China

We went to Beijing and the first night we rode on a pedicab to someone's house for dinner. We ate good food such as rice, some vegetables and meats, such as down below. We also had tea.





Then the next day, we went to the Forbidden City and there were many fake mountains made from rocks that had washed up from the sea.


And there were beautiful buildings which were painted about 90% red.




Then we got a panda hat in Tianamen Square.


Next we went to an orphanage where we played tug-of-war with them (and they won).


Then we painted a wall [at the orphanage] but my coat got so dirty with paint that I couldn't paint it anymore.

At the orphanage, I saw a huge hare but in photos his eyes turned out red. Mom fixed the photo, though.

After that we ate dinner where they had Peking duck. And I really liked it.


The panda hats were really popular!


The next day we went to this place and after we came out it was snowing lightly. And then we left for the Great Wall. But before we got there it stopped snowing...so we had to go to the Great Wall without snow. When we got there, it almost looked new. Then we got on the cable cars and went up. The Great Wall went up and down and we took many pictures.




Almost every person who was on the Great Wall snickered at our panda bear hats. It was quite a scene.

Then we hiked from Station 8 to Station 6. Then we took the toboggan down, which was very fun.

One of the students we know had almost no one in front of her and almost no one behind her because they had all gone ahead so she went full speed and all the Chinese people who were supposed to check to make sure she was not going too fast yelled at her, but she did not mind.
When we got down, I got a new pair of gloves.

Then we went to an acrobatic performance, which was amazing. They were pretending to be birds and they even had real, live macaws.






Then we went to dinner in Beijing.


The next morning we went to the Temple of Heaven, which was pretty cool.


Then we had a tea ceremony. The types of tea I liked best were tea water and fruit tea.

Then we flew to Shang Hai, where we went back to the ship and unpacked.

Hong Kong

We went on a hike in Hong Kong with my mom's old student who lives there. The hike was about 7 kilometers. We went on a ferry back.


After that, we rested and then we went out and ate dinner. For desert they had some sort of pudding with red beans and dry ice on sides.

I really enjoyed being in Hong Kong. And then the next morning we flew to Beijing.

Vietnam and Cambodia

The temples in Cambodia [Angkor] were amazing. Some were overgrown and there was a temple from a movie called Tomb Raider that was the most characteristic. It was made of stone and it made you have that feeling that you get that something amazing happens (or happened) in that temple.

These are alligators, not crocodiles (ouch). These alligators are in Cambodia. We went on a boat to a village which was in the middle of the lake. We fed fish to carnivore fish.

Vietnam:



[A Vietnamese dog in Ho Chi Minh City]


A pineapple lantern holding spring rolls (spring rolls are on toothpicks).

Singapore

Arrival in Singapore

We went to Singapore and we saw Sentosa Island. Sentosa is an island off the coast of Singapore. We went to a beach named Siloso. Then we went to a restaurant and I had steamed rice and chicken. Before that, we were waiting for a bus and I saw a ball crossing the road by itself. It was very odd and funny.

Danielle on the beach at Sentosa

Monkey at Sentosa chimp show

If you went to Singapore, you would find Indians, Chinese, Malays and tourists who speak English. Singapore is very nice and if you wanted to (but only if you wanted to--I do not recommend this), it is so clean that you could lick the sidewalk.

["Lickable sidewalks in Singapore: Orchard Road, Singapore's major shopping street]

Sorry, but no picture of Wolfie can be provided.




We had Halloween in Singapore. [Below: Danielle getting trick-or-treats from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, two cabins down--kids trick-or-treated at all the ship cabins].