Look..It's a white guy

Date: Tuesday July 21,2009
Party: Vu, Dan
Travel: Taxi
Lodging: Dorm
Photos: 20090721BeijingOlympicPark_BeHai_Random
Another day Dan & I were touring the city alone, while Kim is studying away. This day we decided to tour Olympic stadium. The olympics were just a year past, and this place was still a major attraction. As it was the case most of the trip, many of the locals had found an attraction with Dan, as they probably have never seen a white giant before. They probably even thought he could have been Michael Phelps. As we walked to the ticket booth, a couple of guys just could not stop giggling and looking at Dan, and it was apparent that they had wanted to take a picture of him. Dan agreed. Once we were inside the stadium, we thought it would have been funny that if someone had taken a picture with him, they would have to pay up. So after a guy asked to take a picture with Dan, he immediately started requesting for money, first starting at 10, and then working his way down. The Chinese guy was totally getting intimidated, but we just told him we were joking.
Soon after, we made our way to the water cube, where the swimming and diving events were taken place. There were thousands of empty seats around us as we sat down. However, there was a lady who sat right next to Dan, with all the empty seats around, and it was obvious she was posing for a camera from far away. Dan noticed and just moved in closer to her and smiled so that she could have her picture with the white monster.
The olympic park was enormous, as everything else was in Beijing, and we didn't want to venture out to see all of it. We decided to leave and visited Be Hai, which is another lake/park attraction. Dan was feeling ill, so we went back early. Before stopping in, we stopped at that local eatery, and used the power of pointing. We ended up getting 10 piping hot steam buns and 10 potstickers for all about 1 USD. Can't complain about the prices and no need to bargain here.
In the evening, we went out with a bunch of Kim's friends to go shopping at a tourist market place. There were a lot of bargains to be had, and we even built strategies. Kim and I used our Vietnamese to beat the market. I really wish I could have gone back and had more time to pick up some snowboarding pants, as this turned out to be my only chance to shop in Beijing.

Great Wall of Mutianyu

Date: Monday, July 20
Party: Vu, Dan
Travel: Bus; Mini Bus
Lodging: Dorm
Photos: 20090720BeijingMutianyuGreatWall
The problem with a weekday is that there are fewer modes of transportation for tourist around. I'm sure we could have called a tour, or have just taken some private taxi to the great wall, but Dan & I decided we wanted it to feel like we were hardcore. There are a couple of locations in which you can visit the great wall, 2 of which are Badaling and Mutianyu. Badaling is a bit touristy, and usually full of people, but it's easily accessible by train. Mutianyu is a little more difficult to reach, but it has a Toboggan ride down the mountain. Need I say more on which one we decided to go on. There is a tour bus on the weekend, that could have taken us straight to a town called Huairou, but this was Monday.

View Larger Map
It was supposed to be pretty easy according to websites and books we read, take the local bus to Huairou, take a mini bus the rest of the way to Mutianyu. So we took the local bus up to Huairou, and tried to communicate to the bus attendant. She was probably one of the more attractive people I saw in Beijing, as everybody in the street we encountered we generally unattractive. Anyways, as we started to arrive the outskirts of Huairou, the attendant mentions that this is Huairou. We exited the bus, and immediately, there was a guy soliciting us for a ride. Everybody solicits here, but this feels shady. We are supposed to find a mini bus, not this random guy on the street in a gray van. We stand there a bit and feel like idiots not knowing where we are at, or what we are supposed to do. This was just a fairly small town we were at. We just stand there, and one person who knew English, asked what we were doing, but he didnt know the area, so he could not help. The only thing he told us was, "be careful." Wonderful... So now we start walking into town and the sun is shining strong, which fuels the need to even be on the wall even more, since it would be a beautiful clear day. The original solicitor starts following us, and keeps yelling prices at us, which I think he started at 300 yuan, and started coming down until about 100. We just keep walking and walking away, and decided to take another bus, because we were actually looking for a particular stop, the convention center, but we don't know how to say this, and we don't even know what its supposed to look like. We just need to look for the mini bus. So driving around for a while, we still have no idea what to look for, and no mini buses in sight. How can it be this hard, all these publishings just list these simple, general instructions. But I think the words "be careful" was still dug into the back of our minds. We gave up on the bus, time to take a taxi, but we only knew of the Beijing taxi cabs, which were blue or green, and had a distinctive look. We could not find any around, but we thought, hey maybe the hospital would have some. There should be taxis line up there. As we walked towards the hospital we get many other solicitors in gray vans to drive us to "Mutianyu." We kept walking, and there was this particular guy, (I'll call him Chuck), who started following us, and he was saying 60, then 50, then 40. We completely ignore Chuck, we didn't even say no. Just kept walking away looking for the hospital. There were none. Being distraught, we got lucky, finally found 1 Beijing taxi driving our way, and as we approached the driver, I point to Mutianyu on the map and he shook his head no, and just drove off. Damn it! That was supposed to be our savior. We were about to just give up, and take the bus back to Beijing. Again Chuck followed us around. As we reached the bus stop and people started to exit, we had found our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It wasn't quite gold, but her hair was. This young blonde lady walks around, and Chuck, among others, start soliciting her, and she could actually communicate back with them. We walk up to her asking for her help, and she says, well Chuck is offering to drive you for 40, and she pulls out her travel book and we conversed.

Pot of gold: "40 is a good deal, the travel book expects it to be around 50."
Idiots: "Yeah, but is it safe? can we trust them?"
Pot of gold: "Sure, I use them all the time"

After that reassuring tip, we take Chuck up on the offer, and after 3 hours of stumbling around, we get our chance to go to Mutianyu. I look at Dan and tell him, "Man, we are such pussies. Here is this girl going alone all by herself with no problems or fears, and here we are just standing around not knowing what to do, in fear we would probably lose our organs." Dan was not scared though, he had his GPS on him and told me,

"It's ok, if the driver does not take us on the correct path, we can jump out of the car."

On the drive up, I noticed a bunch of gray vans on the streets, and parking lots full of them. And then after thinking about it, only the drivers of the gray vans really solicited us about driving to Mutianyu. I started to wonder what the heck a "mini bus" was in the first place. It dawned on me that those gray vans ARE the mini buses. Whatever, it makes for another good story to tell. As we get to Mutianyu, Chuck parks his car, and walks us all the way to the entrance. He then tried to tell us that he will be waiting for us. Wow, that would be good, I thought the least thing we could do was to tell him what time we would be done.
Before entering the wall, we go out to the street vendors to buy some water. The vendor asked for 10 yuan. But it only cost 1 at our local market. So we ended up bargaining with the vendor, and threatened to walk away and we end up geting 4 half frozen bottles for 6 yuan. As we gulp down our ice cold water, other tourist buying water paid the full 10 yuan. Aye, no wonder why they raise the prices, tourist will still pay. I can't ever help but feel like I'm getting ripped off in China.
So we finally get to take the ski lift up to the wall, and it was a beautiful clear day. The wall was empty of visitors, and you could freely walk the amazing wall beyond the eye could see. After a few hours of trekking on the wall, the best part was to go down the mountain, as it featured a toboggan slide down, which you had the ability to control the speed. It was soooo fun, and we probably should have gone back up the lift just to go back down. There was staff along the toboggan ride often reminding us to slow down. The rowdy boys in front of us even crashed into each other.
As we completed the wall, as promised, Chuck was waiting for us at the bottom, ready to take us back. To think we actually were ignoring him the whole time, when he's really probably just trying to feed his family. We compensated him nicely for sticking around, and he was quite grateful. I think we had enough excitement for the day, but we did have a spicy hotpot for dinner, and that probably finished Dan off for the night.

Beijing & Crazy Rickshaw

Date: Sunday, July 19
Party: Vu, Dan, Kim
Travel: Subway; Taxi
Lodging: Dorm
Photos: 20090719BeijingHeaven_JingShan_HoHai
That morning, Dan and I had ventured out by ourselves as the rest of the group had already seen where we have been. We started out with the Temple of Heaven. It was cloudier that day, but it was still humid out. After visiting this temple, we realized that most of the temples decoration through out Beijing would likely be decorated the same. This temple is unique for it being round. After spending the morning walking the entire park, we decided to walk to a nearby park, one which would not be as crowded, and would be more serene. It was a small park which we thought was Longtan, but its actually next to it. It was a pretty little place. On our way back, we decided to just take taxis's instead, as the subways had gotten way too crowded. Depending on the times, it got more crowded than we ever saw in Japan. We actually had to use Dan to part the sea of people. You really had to push people just to get off the train. Anyways, we visited Jingshan Park, where we get to climb up to a tower overlooking the complete forbidden city. It would have been great if we did it the day before, as the visibility was not that great. As we make our way down, we get a little flavor of the Chinese in the park. We get to see them have fun, dancing and singing. It's nice to see them use these parks and actually smile some.

After leaving the park, we tried to flag down this 1 taxi driver, but I think he was on break and didn't want our money. But as we were turned away, a tricycle rider (kind of like a rickshaw but with a biker) stopped in front of us and was able to solicit a ride from us. He seemed really nice at first, and we asked to be taken to the nearest train. We asked how much and he said only 3 yuan. Sounds good, so we get on, and then he says, oh its 3 per minute. Hmmmm, ok whatever, this should be a fun ride. But then he starts making a U-turn in the middle of the road with traffic coming back and forth. He was running red lights, and then he started taking us in a different path. I was like, no the train is to the left, but he wanted to take the scenic route and go the long way, and we threatened to get off. Instead he quickly turns around, and I mean quickly as traffic was still moving around us. All of a sudden, there are cars driving towards us, and we are in between cars and buses. An SUV almost ran us over. I think Dan was scared for his life, I was pretty amused. After we get on a straight away, we asked to get off, as the ride was taking a bit too long. A taxi fare would have only costed us around 15 yuan at most which would take us home, but this tricycle ride was hitting 10 minutes. So the driver said, ok 240.... We were like, 240?? are you kidding me, it was only 10 minutes. Thats only 30. And he points to each of us, "no no, 30 minutes, 30 minutes," implying that each of us owe him for 30 minutes. "No...it was only 10 minutes.. 3 per minute, 30!" Then he starts yelling at us, "NO, 120, 120 each!" "How do you even figure 120? Even it was 30 minutes, its 90, 90." "I WORK SO HARD!" (you have to do the accent and imagine him wiping the sweat off his head. We were like, no, look the most we'll give you is 60, 30 for the 2 of us. And that is more than generous considering a taxi would have only been a quarter of the price, so hes making out like a bandit. Nevertheless, he starts making a scene, and over and over he keeps saying "I WORK SO HARD." I was thinking a police officer would come by since he's making such a ruckus. He eventually just turns around and rides away, spitting like every other local does.

For the more uneventful evening, we enjoyed the lakes at Ho Hai, which is a nice hangout spot with a ton of restaurants around.

Beijing sites & scorpions

Date: Saturday, July 18
Party: Vu, Dan T, Kim L, Kim's classmates
Travel: Bus;
Lodging: Dorm
Photos: 20090718BeijingSummerPalace_ForbiddenCity_Tienanmen
Outside our dorm, there is a local convenient mart, a small eatery, and a pancake like shop where we can enjoy a very cheap meal and supplies. These places were the basis of our future bargaining decisions, because here, we have to bargain about everything.
Kim was scheduled to tour with her class, and Dan and I were lucky enough to hop on the same van, so we didn't have to worry about transport, but of course, we had to pay for our own entrance fee, which at times were an adventure itself. The first stop was the summer palace. There are rails to help form a line outside the ticket booth, but it did not seem to really matter. Dan was standing in front of the line, but then there were 4 others from his side and behind who tried to sneak the money past him, and the teller accepted it. We just dazed at each other and was like wtf... but even that gave the 4 others around us to sneak their admission fees past us. You just have to slap others around and squeeze your way through, thats just the way.
Dan and I bought the full admission, allowing us to travel all parts of the palace, meaning we get to exert more sweat climbing more stairs and exploring more paths. It was only mid morning, but it was already starting be unbearable.
The palace was huge, and we ended going up to multiple towers. Ice cream never had tasted so good. After exploring around the big lake with the millions of Lotus plants in bloom, the van takes us to the forbidden city. Forbidden my ass, it was incredibly crowded. That's what you get for going on a Saturday in the summer. Many of the places were just packed, and walkways were elbow to elbow. We didn't really get a good chance to explore around much and enjoy what the Forbidden city had to offer.
Crossing the street, we get to walk through Tienanmen Square, where we eventually had to crawl through a bunch of vendors selling Mao memorabilia. I was thinking what a scene it would cause if you bought a Mao keychain, threw it down on Tienanmen Square, and stepped on it. It would probably not be a good idea, especially after the recent riots in Urumqi. Due to those events, logging on to facebook (and apparently twitter) were blocked.
With no real point on hanging around the internet, we made our way that evening to Wangfujing market, where you can find exotic creatures ready to be eaten. Starfish, scorpions, beetles, sea horses, and probably some others weird things. They just hang on a skewer and the worst part was that you can actually see the scorpion legs move!

Sayanora Japan, Ni Hao China

Date: Friday July 17
Travel: Flight: Oita to Haneda; Subway to Narita; Flight to Beijing; Taxi
Stay : Dorm
Early in the morning, I make my bitter goodbyes with my cousin, and start on my next journey. Taking the bus back, I actually get to the airport 4 or 5 hours prior to my flight and get to witness another bit of excellent Japanese service. I learned that there is a an earlier JAL flight, so I walk up to the counter and request to be put on the earlier flight. The first attendant couldn't speak English well, so she promptly grabbed her coworker who could. Being that I actually used American Airlines (AA) reservation and miles to book, JAL could not actually modify the reservation, but instead of just saying that I was SOL, she asked me to just sit in the lounge a bit, while the representative did all the legwork in finding the AA reservation desk and trying to change the reservation for me. Eventually she got me on the phone with an AA representative , I just had to verify some security information and acknowledge that I wanted to change my reservation. The whole process actually took almost 20 minutes and was a bit more painful then I described, but she did all the work for me (and with a smile), and right before I left, I had asked for her name, so that I could provide feedback to JAL. She started to blush and her coworkers were like looking at her, as if I had asked for her phone number or something. I guess this type of service is just expected here.
After boarding the airplane, I find another gesture of hospitality. I looked outside my window and I see a grounds crew made of 3 people, 2 standing on the ground with the traffic signals and 1 guy in the luggage cart driving in the opposite direction of us. As our plane was being backed out of the terminal gate, the crew completely stopped what they were doing (even the guy, and started to wave there hands, in complete unison in a slow robotic fashion. Even the guy who was driving had turned around inside his cart to perform this choreography. And it's quite amusing to see, because they all have these big bright yellow hats and gloves, and they looked like little robotic dolls. I look around inside the cabin to see if anybody even notices or cares, but that's just crazy attention to detail that SOMEBODY had to instruct the crew, because this is definitely not a natural gesture by grounds worker. I'm starting to wonder if you get whipped or something for not pleasing the customer.
After spending my extra little time shopping around Tokyo, I return to the airport. Then, there was another deed of good service I get to awe in. There is a program if you use the Narita Express that you get a ticket ride to Tokyo, plus 1000 Yen of usable transit credit on the a card. You could save that card for a souvenir, or return it at the office at the airport for a 500 yen refund. I decided to do the latter. As I returned the card, the representative didn't have the 500 yen at her desk, she actually ran to the back office. And I mean running, like a full on sprint. In the time it would take some folks to open a cash register in front of them and count the change, I got my 500 yen even quicker. There was only 1 person behind me, and I wasn't in a rush, so I was quite surprised. There seems to be pride in being efficient and being productive (something I should be doing right now), no matter what job it seems to be.
Inside the airport, I finally get to find the one thing I was looking forward to most, mochi ice cream. There was so many different flavors, and I just don't understand why it's so hard for me to find. Inside Narita airport, I get the benefits of enjoying the lounge, and wow it was nice. There was a lot of options of drinks and food, and fresh to order types of cuisine as well. I was very impressed.
I say sayonara to Japan, and ni hao to China. And what a shift from day to night, metaphorically, over a 2 hour flight. I go from such a wonderful service experience of Japan to, well..China. It was slightly past the height of H1N1 swine flu outbreak, and there was a scare of being quarantined for 7 days. So if you showed any signs of illness, you would be held for 7 days inside a hospital, (or a pit) with lack of proper care. As soon as we landed and parked, a representative from the airport walked into the airplane to verify no one had visible signs of illness. Then everybody else piles through the medical inspection like a bunch of chickens about to get their heads chopped off. There was no lines really, you just kind of poked through the crowd to walk through a body heat scanner. There also seems to be a handy device which scans your head for temperature, so not everyone has to slobber over the same thermometer. I started noticing that the workers here don't smile. Perhaps some would, but half of them at the airport were wearing masks. Besides all of that, the international terminal was beautifully architect-ed.
It was difficult to find help, and of course, nobody speaks english, at least not very well. I got a taxi driver who was fairly thick compared to what I was seeing further east. I tended to notice that through out the trip that people in China were a bit heftier then the folks in Japan. Anyways, as I tried communicating with the taxi driver, I thought he was barking at me, but that's just the tone and how people talk here. He knew the general location of the school I was staying at, which is where I would be meeting Kim and Dan. Once we got in the area it was a bit dark with gates locked everywhere. I thought he was going to dump me off in the area, but he was seem to keep questioning and pointing whether this was the place. I had no idea what to look for, so I showed him the address again and phone number. He signaled to me if I could call them, but I didn't have a phone that worked nor had any idea what to say. He ended up using his own cell phone and called the number, and after circling the blocks a few times, he parked in front of the location, walked out of the car and asked somebody if this was the place. I was quite appreciative of what he did, since he didn't look friendly, didn't smile and sounded like he was yelling at me. He could have just dumped me outside the street, but he knew I probably would have been lost or shot (maybe caned). Of course he was smiling after payment and a nice tip. After getting inside the dorm, I was again checked for my body temperature. What if I had a temperature, they would just reject me? I probably should have stayed at a hotel...but thats just not as fun sometimes. I mean, if I stayed at the hotel, I couldn't tell people that I thought the room had a thousand holes on the wall, only to find out on closer inspection that it was actually mosquito splats on the wall. Nor could I tell someone that you are not supposed to flush toilet paper down the potty, you are supposed to put it in the waste basket.
Welcome to China.

Hell in Beppu

Date: Wednesday & Thursday, July 14-15
Party: Vu, Linda Le
Travel: Bus;
Stay: Linda's House
Photos: 2009071415Beppu
In the morning, I follow my cousin to her APU campus. On the bus ride up I notice steam coming out of the ground and some of the homes, and I could not wait for the tour later on. It was an absolutely sunny morning and very humid. The campus was beautifully etched into the mountain, with a nice view of the town and sea below. I got to spend the morning in economics class, where I was a bit surprised it was taught in English. I thought I was supposed to be in Japan!
After venturing around the campus, I rest inside a cafe, where I end up hearing a sound as if the windows was being power washed. I look outside and I can see the students fighting against the wind. It was a typhoon, and the rain was coming down so hard. I could have sworn it was just sunny like 15 minutes before.
After waiting the rain out, my cousin was finished for the day and we get to make our way to our first Jigoku (a hell!). It's just a water spring. The first was the Honbouzu Jigoku, which is the mud hell. Here you can see natural pot like structures with what looks like boiling mud. The warm steam underneath the mud causes air pockets underneath to rise to the surface. There was an all-Jigoku pass which you could use to see all the Jigoku's, but we only decided to visit the top few. The next Jigoku on the list, was Umi Jigoku, which means Sea hell, due to its bright blue colors. This particular place you can smell the sulfur in the air. Over the steaming part of the Jigoku, you can see that there are some chicken eggs being "soft-boiled" inside the warm waters. It was quite tasty. This particular Jigoku was nicely landscaped and developed, with a water garden, and even another spring in red clay. The final Jigoku for the day was the Shiraike Jigoku, which is supposed to mean white or milk hell, because of the white color of the spring. While we were in the area, we just happened to "run into" a hihokan, which is a sex museum. It wasn't really a coincidence that we stumbled upon it in our paths, I read about it somewhere and was like, what?? only in Japan (or probably many other asian countries). We didn't spend much time to realize it was going to be a throwaway of 700 or so Yen, but what's sort of interesting is that there was still some sort of censorship, albeit a very weak one. There was also a disturbing exhibit involving Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Come on now...Snow White is a family character.

The Next day
After another morning spent at the APU campus, we headed out to our final Jigoku stop, the Chinoike Jigoku, which is the blood hell. This is basically just a large red clay pool of hot warm water, surrounded by tall towering trees. It was quite a peaceful scene and worth the time to take it all in. We went home for an afternoon break, since my cousin spent the previous night up finishing her paper, and slept on the floor

(she would not let me sleep on the ground but only on the bed..still, I'm such a jerk).

We get to release some of our own steam that evening at Takegawa Onsen, which is known in the area for its traditional look, and the sand treatment. The bath itself was not all that great, as it was a pretty small room, but being buried in the sand was quite an experience. It was very warm, and you could feel all the moisture leaving the body. It was a tough 10 minutes but after wards it felt soooo refreshing. I even bought a small souvenir towel, which I find so amazing because the tiny thin towels were used commonly in my cousins house. It didn't look like it could dry much but it was extremely efficient, and probably very easy to clean. I have always been used to thick, bulky towels. Now I can see another aspect of my lifestyle as inefficient and wasteful.
For dinner, we went out for champon ( I remember this from their little english slogan "we are the champon") and my favorite, ice cream.

JAL & Meeting with Linda (cousin)

Date: Tuesday, July 14
Party:
Travel: Subway; Flight: Haneda to Oita: Bus
Lodging: Linda's Home
After waking up in the morning and enjoying some of the hotel amenities, I walked around the nearby Hamarikyu gardens. I then went on a small self architecture tour. Early in the afternoon, I made my way to Haneda, which is the domestic airport for Tokyo. The flight itself seemed a bit empty, and all the instructions were issued in Japanese. Its a domestic flight that I assume there are very few foreign tourist travel. Once the flight attendant noticed my blank stares, she asked if I only knew English, and then they ended up repeating the instructions later in English. Maybe they are supposed to do it anyways, but I like to think that the customer service is great there. When they did the cross check right before the plane doors open, the flight attendants bowed to each other.
So after I landed at Oita, I was supposed to take the bus. I walked to the customer service desk and asked how I pay for the bus and that I wanted to go to Mochigahama. Without saying anything, the service lady vacated her counter, walked me over to a vending machine, pulled out money from her own pocket, and bought me the correct ticket. I suppose she assumed I would pay her back for the ticket. I'm just used to the finger pointing, "you go there" routine.
After getting on the bus, there was only Japanese being spoken. All I knew was that I was to get off the 8th stop on the number 2 bus. Once I got off at the stop, I stood around waiting for a bit. From the distance I see Linda start running my way. I wave to her, and she waved back. When she got to me, she asked, "How do you know who I am?" My response was, "Well who else would be running towards me and waving back." We start walking up the hill to her house, dragging heavy bags up the steep climb, and in 80% or so humidity. A shower never felt so good. After wards, we go for dinner which I had the best udon in my udon-deprived life.

Tokyo & Gundam

Date: Monday, July 13
Party: Vu
Travel: Flight: Tokyo; Narita Express Train; Subways; Yurikamome
Lodging: Conrad Tokyo
Photos: 20090713Tokyo02
After arriving late into Tokyo, I was happy to be greeted by such a nice hotel. The city view was pretty nice, and the bathroom was great, something I want to model the shower one day. It was still pretty early in the night though, so I decided that I had to go visit the newly erected Gundam statue. I really did not know where it was, but all I knew was that it was in Odaiba, the large artificial island. Taking the (the robotic elevated monorail like car) I got off at the Daiba station. There was a lot of youth around and some even started asking me where the Gundam was. Do I look like someone who knows where the Gundam is? Anyways,

I started walking down the road, and with the number of nerdy looking folks around, I figured I must be on the way to Gundam.

Sure enough I found it, but it was too late that the lights have already been shut off. Nevertheless, it gives me a chance to test the night shooting with the new camera. It didn't turn out too bad.

Business Class to Tokyo

Date: Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12
Party: Vu
Travel: Flight: Tucson --> Los Angeles --> Tokyo
Flying Southwest Airlines to LAX, I get to use the friendly services of Rakki & Helen where we do our traditional Korean farewell dinner and last hamburger fix for a month. After going back to LAX, I get to sit in the JAL lounge, since I was flying Business class (Story from prior post). So since this is the first time I get to go trans pacific in such fashion, I will get to share a bit here. I really enjoy the bucket seats which recline about 165 degrees, where 180 is completely horizontal. The seats have a massage equipment built in, and you get wined and dined the whole time. There was a slight glitch with the personal entertainment systems, which JAL compensated me with 10k yen (about 90 USD at the time). I ended up asking Rakki to go spend it all during his visit to Japan months later,which I think he was able to get JAL logo stuff.

East Asia Summer 2009 Plan

A year after the last big Japan trip, a few people had come up with some plans for the summer of 2009. Kim had an opportunity to learn acupuncture in China, and Daniel was going to Bali for a pharmacy conference. I thought, hey, why not try to make a trip to both China and Bali. I already made some new friends from a business trip to Indonesia earlier, so I could get some pointers from them for Bali. In the end, it was only Kim and her boyfriend, Dan, would be the only ones going to China and Bali, but anyways, we all had our own separate itinerary. I had racked up a lot of American Airlines miles, and wanted to put it to work. Anyways, the cost of flying to Beijing, then to Bali, and back home to L.A. would be 100k miles, 70k for an asian roundtrip, and 30k for a one way (It would cost almost $3k if I purchased it). I noticed on the itinerary that there were layovers in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and asked if I could spend a few days there. The answer was no, not on this type of travel, you can not have stop overs. However, I was then pointed to something called One World Award, where One World is a group of airlines around the globe, where I can travel to as many destinations using a fixed amount of credit/miles. The way it works is that I can visit as many destinations that the One World Alliance flies to, and the cost depends on the distance it takes to fly to all those destinations. For example, a Zone 6 award allows you to travel between 14k-20k actual miles, for a single cost. A mile over 20k, then you need a zone 7. So using the One World Itinerary generator, I was able to create an itinerary which is about 19,900 miles (tried to get as close to 20k without going over) in actual distance, and it only cost 100k miles. This allowed me to visit Tokyo, Oita, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Jakarta, for just 100k miles, the cost of visiting just Beijing and Jakarta on a normal award. As I went to book this, the final segment did not have anymore reward flights available....but this was only on economy. If I booked Business class, which cost an additional 30k miles(the price of a domestic ticket), I can have business class ALL the way. And this was available, and so it was done. My plans were set, and I was ready for a memorable East Asian trip.