This Ain't Japan

The first day of the trip really only consisted of travel. Walk, train, bus, airplane, bus, taxi! Just need to add a boat and a bicycle and I'd have done it all. Checked in and walked up the boulevard to check out the locale. I stayed at a hostel in a hutong (old maze of allies), so this neighborhood is quite authentic. And this is so not Japan. The people are just so different. They're loud, and ready to argue (not to me of course, but with each other), they are also much more touchy feely (smacking each other, holding hands, playing with their children, etc.) and breaking any old rule, any old time they feel like it. Truthfully, I feel more like I'm back amongst real people. Much more like America than Japan. And the best part of the first day was ordering chinese food and having it delivered to the hostel. And it was soooo good.