October 5 - Shimonoseki, Japan and Typhoon Kong-Rey

Shimonoseki was the last port on our cruise.  We only had about seven hours in port.  The dock is really far out, and the only way to get there is to take a shuttle bus in to the city.  We all got on the same bus, and we were fortunate to all get seats again.  The buses were supposed to leave on a certain schedule, but it seemed our driver wanted to sit there and wait until there was no more room on the bus to even stand.  

When he finally took off, it was about ten minutes late.  It was supposed to only take twenty minutes to get to the first stop, but it was closer to a half hour.  Then it was supposed to take twenty minutes to get to the next stop, but that one only seemed about five minutes.  That part really didn’t bother me.  It was the starting late that did. 

David and I had researched what was available the night before and decided that we wanted to go see the aquarium that was in the Hakata area.  There were also some more shines in the area and the rest all decided to go see them, saying they might go to the aquarium later.  I think we were the only ones to go.  They were giving out discounts to tourists for the aquarium, so it only cost us about $17 US each to get in. 

Because it was October and they were going to celebrate Halloween at the aquarium, what could be more appropriate than to have a sea witch come!  The children loved her!  

Part of the dolphin pre-show.

I call it the vampire fish.

I don't know what this one was.  They had so many cool fish and sea creatures!

Horseshoe crabs.

There were several school groups that were there, ranging in ages from preschool to junior high school ages.  We started to wander, but needed to decide where we were at in the building, and see what the best path would be.  On the list of activities to see, was a dolphin and seal show.  We quickly found the arena, and when we noticed all the backpacks that were already in place, decided it would be best to stake our places now and wait for the show that would start in a half hour.

The pre-show, where they are “warming-up” the dolphins was fun with some huge jumps and flips being performed.  Then as more and more people came in, we were glad that we had decided to stay there and wait.  The show was really fun.  After the show, we wandered the aquarium and saw some amazing fish, plants and animals. 

It was a little after noon when we left the aquarium, so we headed over to the place where we would meet the bus and had lunch at an Indian restaurant.  The nan bread and soup were really good.  We caught a bus shortly after we were done and got back to the ship.  The ship left the dock around 3:30 p.m. 

After dinner, David and I went to the Broadway style show that was planned for the entertainment that evening.  The others of our group had all planned to go, but not until the 9:15 p.m. showing. I didn’t think I would be awake to stay up for the later show, so we went to the 7:30 p.m. show.  Both of us left the theater in tears because the theme of the production hit a little too close to home with David’s cancer.  A young couple falls in love, has two kids, but then she falls sick and dies.  It is mainly about what he goes through after she dies.

David had been tracking a super typhoon that had been named Kong-Rey.  It was on a collision course with our ship’s path!  We didn’t know what the ship’s plan was, but it turned out that we were trying to cross the strait ahead of it.  Fortunately, it had been downgraded from a category 5 to a 3 and then to a category 1, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but I don’t want to know what a stronger storm would be like!

We didn’t get a lot of sleep.  The ship was rocking and rolling quite a lot.  We didn’t dare leave the room.  At times, we were afraid that we might be knocked out of bed, but it didn’t happen.  It was difficult to move around the cabin.  It would seem to be moving in one direction, and then all of a sudden change to another.  And it wasn’t just back and forth, it was sideways, diagonal and back and forth!  We were a little worried but decided to have faith instead. 

When the morning came, we were still afloat, even though we were still rocking and rolling all over the place.  When it came time for breakfast, we carefully made our way down to the restaurant.  It was a little better lower in the ship.  We spent the morning assuring our family that all was well, and that the sky was beginning to have patches of blue.  We talked to someone at the service desk and learned that at one point we were only 70 miles away from the eye of the typhoon!  We have enjoyed this last day of the cruise to just relax.

One of the premier shows on the cruise was one called, "Pixels." They had music, dancing and a fantastic light show that went with it.  The only night we could get tickets for was Saturday night because it was so popular.  

Sunday morning, we packed and waited for our time to leave the cruise ship. They had a special line for foreign nationals to leave in, and we made it through fairly quickly.  Our bus driver found us and drove us all back to the other BYU teacher’s apartment building.  We visited with Neils and Jolene Thompson while the Holt’s got the Thunnel’s situated in their hotel room.  Then we met them at their apartment in time for them to get us a taxi back to the train station. 

As we entered the Holt’s apartment, they found their electricity had been turned off while they were gone, so all the food, including a lot of meat, that was in their refrigerator was spoiled.  It’s so sad, but happens often in China. 

We made it to our train and got a taxi back to our apartment.  Safe at home.  It was a lovely trip!

The only train tickets available for our trip back to Jinan were in the business class car.  this is what it looks like.  The seats recline so that you can sleep in it (if you are small like most Chinese).  They bring you a bottle of water and a small bag of snacks.  Of course, we had to pay extra for the tickets, but we didn't want to be getting back to Jinan at 10:30 and try to get up for our early trip to the Qianfoshan campus the next morning.

Day 3 - Fukuoka, Japan

Fukuoka, Japan Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Thursday, we docked at Fukuoka, Japan.  Our primary objective was to go see the LDS temple that is there.  We had gotten the address and showed it to the man that was getting people in taxis.  With fourteen of us, we put four in each taxi, but one taxi had two, that was David and me.  Our taxi driver was the best, because we got there first even though we started last!  He seemed to know how to avoid the bad traffic.  We had them wait for us because we were going to go on to the zoo and botanical garden that were close by the area of the temple. 

We got our pictures of the temple, and then tried to decide what to do next.  The offices of the temple president and the mission president for the Fukuoka Mission are right below the temple.  One of our group went down there and found two of the missionaries!  They were able to help us out.  It turns out that the botanical gardens and the zoo were just steps away from the temple!  We paid our taxi drivers, and then the missionaries showed us where to get tickets, which was right around the corner from the mission office.

 

If they don't know what this is for, I don't either!  Made me laugh!

The Japanese River Rat made me think of the ROUS's from the movie, The Princess Bride.

This is a sun bear.  They have extremely long claws that you could hear clacking on the cement as it walked.

Most of the couples wandered off in different directions, but we mostly stayed with the Holt’s and the Thunnel’s.  They have as much interest in trees and flowers as we do!  We had to go through part of the zoo to get to the gardens, but that was okay.  We saw some animals we had never seen before. 

These little automated cars would carry either up to the botanical garden or down to the zoo area.  They only go up if they detect that someone is in them. 

That is how far it is to the bottom of the rail to the zoo from the top at the botanical garden.

Our group’s plan was to wander where we wanted and then meet up at a certain place at noon.  We had planned to take the missionaries to lunch, but they got busy and were too far away to meet up with us again.  We asked the Sister in the mission office about getting back down to Tenjin area of town (it was close to the ship dock) and she was able to tell us how to catch the bus, and it would be a lot cheaper to do that then get taxis up there for all of us.  

An interesting flower at the gardens.

A waterfall wall.

Conical shaped tree.

 

This is what was left of the rose garden.  It was still pretty and smelled wonderful!

In the distance is the green house.  We didn't have time to see all we wanted to see, and the rain didn't help.

Fortunately, the bus was at the beginning of its route, and we were all able to get seats to sit for the long trip back to Tenjin area.  The people on the bus were kind in showing us how their bus system worked.  When we got to the Tenjin area, we had to find where all the restaurants were that we were assured we would find there.  It was down in the area for the subway system and we found a lot of different varieties of food.  Some of us had Italian, some had Japanese Raman noodles, and others found hamburgers. 

We all agreed to meet at a certain place and time, so we could go in search for the Shinto shrines that were supposed to be in a close area.  Following the directions on Cindy’s phone, we walked about a half mile and found the first shrine.  We couldn’t go in to certain areas, but we did find one shrine hat seemed to be dedicated to noodles and the man who brought them to that area.  It seemed a little strange to have a shrine made to him, but I guess we have Colonel Sanders and the McDonald’s clown…

 

These are the shrines to the men that brought certain noodles to the area.

Gate to the shrine.

Zen garden.

Main gate of the temple.

The wall went a long way.

Some of us were tired, and we wanted to go back, but others wanted to look for some more.  After looking at that shrine, David and I walked to the next street, and just as we got to the street, a taxi drove up, and we were on our way back to the ship.  It was a long, partly rainy, but fun day.

This was the last temple we saw that day.  You had to take your shoes off to go in, and since I had shoes that I would have had to untie and retie, I just got a picture from the doorway.

We were greeted by this little guy when we got to our room that night.

Oct 1-3. Cruise from Tianjin, China to Sasebo, Japan

Ready for our cruise!

The Holt’s had arranged for all of us to be transported to the harbor for our cruise in a bus.  It arrived at the hotel at 9:30 and drove us to the apartments that the other BYU teachers from Tianjin stay in.  After everyone was loaded up, we drove for about 90 minutes to the dock for the cruise ship. 

Shipping containers waiting to be used at the Tianjin harbor.  This is just a small section of the many that we saw.

After we dropped off our bags, they told us to get in a special line for all the foreigners to be processed through.  Since we were not Chinese, like 98% of the passengers were, that's where we went.  We got through without problems and found our rooms to drop our stuff.  We hurried up to the top deck where we had lunch with everyone else on the cruise ship.  Very crowded!  Some of the food was Chinese, some was American.

Our first steps on this ship, Ovation of the Seas.

Eventually we made contact with some of the other BYU teachers.  The ship took off a little earlier than planned, but we didn’t mind.  We wandered the ship and tried to get to know where things were.  It was a fine day for cruising!  We also tried to plan some activities that we would do as a group for the time we were together.

Home, sweet home for the next few days.

After dinner, David and I were on our own, so we wandered down by where one of the cafes had the TV on.  We sat down on some stools and started watching an American football game, something we haven't seen since last Super Bowl.  We only planned to watch for about 20 minutes, but a ten-year-old Chinese boy came by and said, “American Football!  I like American Football!”  We tried to talk with him a little.  His English was okay. 

After a few minutes, a man in a wheelchair came by, and it turned out to be the boy's father, who we had met earlier in the day.  We had met him after the instructions were given about using the lifeboats were finished.  The crowds near the elevators, with everyone trying to get on were pressing.  We had watched this man in the wheelchair trying to get on.  After several unsuccessful attempts, it looked like he was discouraged.  David and I noticed him and decided that we were going to help him get on the very next elevator.

David wheeled him close to the door, and I stood in front of it, kind of making a barrier that others couldn’t pass by us.  When the doors opened, I stood in the middle of the entryway while David wheeled him in, and we got him on!  This man was very grateful, and his stopping by where we were watching the TV was an acknowledgment of the service we had done for him earlier that day.  We had a friendly talk and enjoyed getting to know them better.  He taught us some Chinese words, and we taught them some English. 

I kept reading these signs on the ship.  Made me laugh.

Another sign.  Ha ha!

Tuesday was a day on the ocean.  We once again wandered the ship, met with our friends, and ate.  This ship is equipped with a lot of fun activities: wave boarding, wind tunnel, two swimming pools, many cafes, a basketball/soccer court that also doubles as a roller-skating rink and a bumper car deck, and a LOT more.  

Our group decided to try to get together for dinner on Tuesday.  We were able to get two tables close together, but they didn’t have a place for all fourteen of us at one table.  We were set at two tables close together, and we still had a fun time.  We decided that we were all going to go up and do the bumper cars.  There was quite a line, so we had to wait.  We watched as the Chinese had fun, but I don’t think they really had the idea of what the bumper cars were all about.  They were all so nice and just had fun going around in a nice circle.

It came our turn, and all but one of us got in the cars. He was our photographer for this event.  We also had a young Chinese couple that we shared the bumper car arena with.  All of us crazy Americans were running into each other, and we even got the Chinese couple following our craziness!  When our time was up, the Chinese waiting in line to do the bumper cars, applauded us!  I think they had a lot of fun watching us bump into each other!  It really made me smile when the young Chinese man that was out there with us, got to bump me at the end, and we shared a good laugh.

Our first glimpse of Japan.

Second glimpse of Japan.

Wednesday morning, we docked at Sasebo, Japan.  This was the first time that the Royal Caribbean had docked at this port, so all of the crew were excited and proud of it.  Sasebo is also the location of an American naval base.  Most of the shops seemed fairly new.  We walked through a covered mall area that was supposed to be unique.  We also walked through what was supposed to be an old market area, but we weren’t impressed, China has better old market areas.  It was very short and mostly had fruits, vegetables, and meat for sale.  

Going up that little street was where the "old" market was.

Tiny fish for sale at the old market.

Several flower shops that we passed by where the fragrance made it so that I just wanted to stay there and smell the flowers.

Eels for sale.  I don't think I have ever eaten eel.

A Shinto temple at the top of all those stairs.  I was happy to get a picture from the walkway over the road so that I didn't have to climb all those stairs.  My knee was really bothering me that day. 

After wandering for about two hours, we decided to get some lunch.  At the dock, people had a chance to have their picture taken with a mascot for the most famous burger in Sasebo, “The Big Man Burger.”  A few of us decided to eat there.  It was a really good burger, but we found a lot of things to be very expensive in Japan.  That one burger, good fries, and one ginger ale cost us almost $12 US.  It was 1240 Yen.  Except for the food, we really didn’t spend much money there.

The shopping mall that didn't end, at least it seemed that way.  

Our expensive lunch.  

When we entered the first part of the shopping area, we walked by this window display!  I couldn't believe that they were selling University of Minnesota clothing all the way here in Sasebo, Japan! 

After wandering the shopping area a little more, David and I decided to go back to the ship.  Some of the others were in search of a Shinto shrine that they were told was there, but we lost interest because of how tired we were and went back.

This was the first time for this ship to dock in Sasebo.  When that happens, the city will put on a special farewell ceremony for the ship.  The mayor greets the captain and some of the crew and then there was singing and dancing.  We could only see it from the top (15th) deck.

This little guy was waiting for us when we came back to our cabin for the night.

Sept 29 - Mid-Autumn Festival, Classes, and Off to Tianjin

We didn’t have classes on Monday because of the Mid-Autumn Festival.  I know that the Chinese love his celebration.  It is quite similar to Thanksgiving in the US.  They love it as a time to celebrate the harvest and get together with family.  It’s not like it used to be though, because more people are living far away from family and can’t make it home.  Eva sent me a video that explained a lot of the old traditions that used to be observed for this festival and she said that most young people don’t even follow the old traditions about it anymore.  They mostly use the time to study.  It made her sad.

For Mid-Autumn Festival, we took the Wilkins to DaMing Lake and went on a boat ride around the lake.  They take us all around the area that has the most bridges, it’s very enchanting.  After the boat ride, we walked up to Furong Street and grabbed some lunch from the vendors there.  

A small pavilion at DaMing Lake.

Each  bridge that we went under on DaMing Lake was different.  I just love the bridges!

The willows on the lake are so romantic! (The Chinese use this word a lot.)

The boat that we rode around the lake on.

We also walked around the old village part that they have restored and looked into some of the shops they had there.  We were starting to get a little tired, so we headed home on he bus.  While we were on the bus, one of David’s former students, Jaime, was also riding on it.  He tried to give us his seat, but an old man (who was begging for money, and he had is own QR code so you could pay be WeChat!) took it first.  Then Jaime gave us each a moon cake and the beggar man wanted me to give my cake to him!  I would have except I wasn’t sure if it would have been polite to give away the gift that had just been given to me.  Jaime walked us all the way back to our apartment.

Jay wanted some of the street food and we found this shop that roasts the whole back of the pig.  They cut off as much as you want.  It might have tasted better if it had been warmed up, but it needed some spices, in my opinion.

Squid on a stick is a popular food there.  You can get it breaded, non breaded, spicy or not.  It's really not that bad.

Classes went well this week.  We didn’t have our Monday classes because we were off for the holiday, and we won’t see them again until October 8 because we are on holiday for the National Holiday all of this coming week.  David and I each do a couple of phonics lessons for them, and I noticed many of my students furiously writing down notes on the presentation.  David has about 3 or 4 students that are auditing his classes and I have four auditing my classes.  One of the girls that is auditing my largest class of 40 students told me she had tried to get into my class, but couldn’t because my class was full.  Our reputations precede us!  

We received an email on Monday that our rent was due, so David headed over to the foreign student’s building to get it paid.  You can’t go pay if from noon to 2 p.m. for lunch break, and we teach from 8-12.  He went up the office to pay it, but a new sign said that it was now downstairs.  David went down to the office and there were two people in the office but the middle seat was vacant.  The other two can’t take the rent and told David that the one who could would be back in a half hour.  David went back in an hour, but she was still gone, and they said that she had taken the rest of the day off.  Could he come back tomorrow?  He said sure.

We pass by this sign when we go to the massage place.  The communist party is letting the people know that they are doing everything for them to ensure a safe, secure society, and they want  you to know about it!

So David goes back the next day, and they told him that her son was sick, and so she wasn’t going to be there that day either.  After David came back, we decided that it was probably going to be futile to try and pay it the rest of this week because National Holiday was coming up and there was probably a good chance that she was going to be gone for the rest of the week.  This person is the ONLY one in the office that can give us the receipt for paying our rent.  We decided it could wait until after National Holiday…

David went to get his hair cut on Wednesday.  I decided I’m going to let mine grow out a bit, so I didn’t go.  She asked about me.  David couldn’t tell her why I wasn’t there until an older gentleman came in who knew some English could tell her.  David had a nice little visit with the man.  

On Friday, we went to the hospital to see Dr. Tricia and have a visit.  She provided us with lunch and had a good talk.  It was good to see her again.  We brought some coins for her older son, Bill, and a little die-cast truck for her 5 year-old son, Baobao.  She was pleased with both gifts.  

Before we went to our massage and after we left Dr. Tricia, we went over to the Hanlin Hotel, where the SDNU BYU teachers live, to meet with Daniel and Bonita Quillan.  They were coming to our campus for dinner that night and to see where we lived.  Then we headed to the massage.

It seemed like we had the worse luck getting buses all day Friday.  We were late getting to Dr. Tricia, and late to our massage.  That was going to put us late getting out of the massage and home in time for our three tutoring students at 4:30.  We walked back to the bus stop as quickly as we could, praying the whole time that the bus we needed would be there soon.  We stood for less than thirty seconds at the bus stop before we saw the bus we needed come!  Then, that driver drove like he was possessed!  He made it through every light that was starting to turn red!  He didn’t have to linger very long at any of the bus stops for slow passengers, and we made it home in record time!  We were walking up to our apartment building just as our three students had come down the stairwell from knocking on our door!  Our prayers were SO answered!!

For tutoring, we decided to make some banana bread.  I had two bananas that needed to be used or else thrown out.  What better way to practice English than to have some skills go with it?!  The kids were excited.  Doris likes food!  Stone likes to play with whatever, and Michael likes to learn new English words.  They mashed the bananas, put the eggs in, creamed the butter and sugar, and then we put the batter into the little bread pans that I have.  While they baked, we showed them about Thanksgiving and made similarities to the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.  At the end of the hour, they were so excited to take a little loaf of banana bread home.  I wonder how much of it actually made it home….

We met the Quillan’s at the bus stop for our campus and then went to the KFC for supper.  They were ready to try some “American” food, even if it has a Chinese twist to it.  After supper, they came to our apartment for some banana bread and talk.  It was a nice evening.

Saturday, we got packed for our trip to Tianjin and later, for our cruise to Japan.  Aaron got a taxi for us and met us at the taxi.  We enjoyed the high speed train trip to Tianjin.  It took about one hour 45 minutes.  I so enjoy the high speed trains!  We were successful in getting a taxi to our hotel and enjoyed some quiet time in our lovely room while we waited for the Holts, Allen and Shelly, BYU teachers in Tianjin.  They were showing Allen’s sister, Cathie Thunell, and her husband, Randall, Beijing, Tianjin.  We will all be going on the cruise to Japan on Monday.

We had dinner with them and then walked along the river to a place where we could catch a river boat cruise.  It was really nice, not very cold, and we had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know each other better.  

St. Regis Hotel in Tinajin was our home for two nights. Very nice place!

Tianjin at night, all lit up.

A famous bridge in Tianjin.  There was a lot of European influence in Tianjin and the architecture shows it.

On the Haihe River.

We didn’t have church until 2 p.m., so the Holt’s had us all go to their campus, Nankai University and showed us around their campus.  We compared notes on their campus versus ours.  They are both good.  We like ours better.  They seem to have to take taxis most everywhere, while we catch buses to wherever we need to go.  Then we had lunch and went to church.  There were six of us, and we had to take two taxis.  Church was nice.  

Walking to church with the Pages (Jeff and Kristy) and Randy Thunell.

While we were in the taxi driving to church, Shelly Holt pointed out this building.  The guy who made it put china vases ALL over the outside!  It really is quite a tourist attraction.  If we go to Tianjin again, I want to go see it up close.

After church was over, we went back to the Holt’s apartment and had dinner with them, Cathie and Randy, and Dr. Jeff Page and his wife, Kristy, another couple that is going on the cruise with us.  We had a fun evening getting to know each other.  We had taxi rides back to the hotel where we will meet all the others tomorrow morning and riding together to the ship docks.

European style buildings along the river.

Looks like the Salt Lake LDS Temple, only taller.

We sure enjoyed this river cruise.

One of the largest ferris wheels in the world.