Heading back to the States

Well, my Asian adventure has finally come to an end. It's 5:00AM Monday here right now. My bags are at the door and ready to leave. I will be out-of-touch until probably after 6pm EST. Actually, it may be even longer, so don't worry. I'm sure we'll be safe.

I'll post more pictures and details once I'm home and settled. it's been a great adventure and we met some great friends along the way!

Last Real Day

Well, I haven't had a chance to post much, but it's Sat. morning and it's our last full, free day. We are running around everywhere. We have some free time tomorrow too, but we have a meeting and we have to pack. We meet in our hotel lobby at 530am on Monday (our time) to go to the airport. This went by so fast! I'll still try to get more pictures and videos up though.

5/19 - Tuesday

Here's the second full-day in Tokyo. Flat Danny finally had his picture taken from our room looking out at part of the city.

Swine Flu

I have not had much time to post, but just to let you in on what we've dealt with here so far...

As you know, the swine flu has been a popular subject in Japan for some time. They are actively boarding planes and quarantining those that are sick. Well, even with all their precautions it appears that some students have it... and they are in Tokyo (where I am right now).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awF_0oQDV9c0&refer=worldwide Keep your fingers crossed for us. We'll be leaving in a few days (hopefully with no quarantines). I guess some Michigan State students got sick too when they went to visit the southern part of the country. We were supposed to see them the night they found out. Crazy time!

Time for Posting Again :-)

Sorry about the last few days of not posting. I didn't get lost ;) We've once again been running around like crazy for days. We've been leaving by 9am and staying out until the wee hours of the morning.

I bought my internet card for the day (obviously) and should have more time to post later on. Can't wait to show some more of my adventures.

5/18 - Monday
Here's some pictures of one of the main buildings where we are staying:




Random City view near the Meiji Shrine:


Shinjuku area at dusk:


Shinjuku videos:

Shinjuku Tokyo from Joshua Belliveau on Vimeo.

Shinjuku Tokoy from Joshua Belliveau on Vimeo.

Food pics from sit-down Japanese style restaurant:





That's all I have time for now. I'll try to get caught up more later, but we won't be back to the hotel until late again. Sorry :(

BTW, food here is amazing... Asia is amazing... can't wait to come back one day.

5/17 - Sunday - On to Tokyo

I'm writing this post at 7:40AM on Monday in my room in Tokyo. We finished our travels yesterday. Tokyo is an hour ahead of Taipei, so 7PM our time is now 6am the same day at home. Here's a random picture from the in-flight map:


Here is what we were served in-flight:


And if I haven't mentioned it yet, the recycling programs over here seem to be pretty advanced (picture below). Of course, another thing I don't think I mentioned is that there are HARDLY ANY trash cans around. I guess it's because they don't walk around with food and drinks, but for us it becomes a big pain when we do... lol.


Another neat thing is the use of cartoon characters in official things. For example the in-flight safety video or on this customs document in Japan:


The in-flight cameras are really neat. I took a video of the downward view and recorded our landing:

Landing in Tokyo from Joshua Belliveau on Vimeo.

After landing we had to take a train from the airport to near where we are staying. There were a lot of rice patties along the way:


We made it to the hostel. What a walk!!! We took the subway to a place near where we are staying, but we had to roll our luggage around 1/2mile before we got to the room. We even had a few bag's wheels break. Luckily mine was not one of them. Here's a map of the campus where we are staying:


The Japanese, as we've been told, are a very formal and rules based society. As such, they separated our group; girls are on the 7th floor, boys are on the 3rd. No food or alcohol is allowed in the rooms either. Strangely enough, we do have a small fridge though, so I guess I need to look into that rule.

BTW, I'm not sure if I ever mentioned the cockroaches and rats we saw in the street in Taipei outside the hotel. Well, I finally managed to capture a picture:


Also, I now have internet in my room (for a fee). What a relief!!!

5/17 - Sunday

Well, we made it to the Taipei airport. I checked both bags this time and squeeked in under the weight limits. At the hotel we were a little worried we wouldn't have room for all the luggage. We ended up filling underneath and the whole back row of the bus with luggage. Now there is a half-hour until we board and I figured I'd take advantage of the free internet terminal.

They keep telling us how busy and crazy Tokyo will be. Apparently we will be riding the metro for 2 hours to get to our hotel - with MANY bags too. This should be interesting!