All posts filed under: Travel

Jinan, China

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This was my husbands third trip to Jinan, China. The university he works at has an exchange program with Shandong Jianzhu University. Professors go to teach during the summer and winter semesters and undergraduate and graduate students can participate in student exchange programs to attend classes overseas. Professors and students from Shandong Jianzhu University gave us tours of the campus of Shandong Jianzhu University, the Shandong Museum, Baotu Spring, a horse racing park, Lingyan Temple, (Buddhist temple), and places around the city. Shandong Jianzhu University Shandong Museum Traveling around Jinan without native speakers and a driver would have been difficult. Jinan is an ancient city with a large population but not a lot of people speak English and my husband and I only know about 5 words/phrases in Mandarin. It was very neat to see such an old city. The people there were very nice and the university professors and students take hosting guests very seriously. They bought us gifts, food, and souvenirs. It is an interesting city and I look forward to my next …

Top Three Tips For Touring Japan

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I covered a lot of topics in my Planning A Trip Overseas post. Obviously, your itinerary and activities will determine what you chose to bring with you to Japan. I prefer to be over-prepared and in some ways I was (there were a few phone applications I downloaded that I never used) but for the most part I was perfectly prepared. These are a few things that will make navigating Japan much easier. Here are my top three essentials for traveling Japan. TRANSPORTATION PASSES PASMO IC OR SUCIA CARD The majority of the time you will be walking or using public transportation. We decided against the JR Pass which seems like a really convenient way to travel around Japan. However, it is really expensive ($263/person for an ordinary 7-day pass) and based on our calculations, we were not planning and actually did not average $36/each a day in transportation expenses. Public transportation is really convenient and inexpensive. We used our Pasmo IC Card throughout Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. When we arrived at Haneda Airport we …

Touring Japan Language Tips

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Traveling to Japan would be especially easy if you could fluently speak and read the Japanese language. However, it is definitely not a requirement because (at least in Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, and Osaka) English is written almost everywhere and most everyone speaks a little English. But, you’re visiting another country, so the least you can do is learn a few basic greetings and phrases. For the entirety of our trip, my husband and I spoke a mixture of basic Japanese and broken English to every person we encountered and to each other. Our subjects and verbs were all over the place but we got our point across to strangers and each other with very few words. Here is a small list of the key phrases that you should learn before visiting Japan. Every single day, multiple times a day I used these words and phrases: English Japanese Excuse me sumimasen Thank you very much arigatō gozaimasu Good Morning ohayō gozaimasu Hello konnichiwa Good Afternoon konnichiwa Yes hai I’m sorry gomen nasai Every once in a …