MOTHER & DAUGHTER JOURNEY: A SLOW BOAT TO CHINA

SHIPMATES on the FERRY Kobe, Japan to Shanghai, China

A Slow Boat to China: Not just a figure of speech.

We woke up in Kobe, Japan.
Stayed at the same hotel chain, that I now get the "local members" discount rate. Thanks Taro!

This one was a bit smaller than the hotel in Oiso. But 1300 yen cheaper!
We ate another unknown breakfast. I am starting to differentiate between colors, shapes and texture of their foods.
After piling up my tray with today’s meals I headed for a table. Everything was taken.
My eyes searched amongst the people until one caught my eye.
Bingo, we are in.

I motioned to mom from across the room, I found us two seats! We hustled over and sat down greeting our breakfast guest a good morning, "Ohio Gozaimas." Which comes natural to me. (over 20 years).

The lady was pleased and began to converse in Japanese at a speed that was incomprehensible to me.
I understood, she was 61. Had two children. Both married and hasn't seen one in years.
She was amazed that mother and I took the time to make this adventure a true journey.
She couldn't understand why at my age I wasn’t married, at home with a husband and children. It didn’t take long and she flapped her wings, and said "free" and smiled.

We laughed and tried to converse with what little words I remembered from my Karate days in school with my "Sensei" and now longtime friend, Aki.
After a lot of fun and great conversation which included mother, "Italian Style", we returned to our room to double check our departure time and Yen. We are prepare for our bon voyage on the Jin Shin Zhen Ferry.

Our 47 hour slow boat to China.


Kobe, Japan

We arrive at the Port Terminal with 45 minutes to spare.

It appeared we were the only passengers there. Perhaps, when it stated check in: 9:30 to 11:30
Japan checks in at 9:30 :)
By the time we got to the actual check in counter, 3 flights of stairs, 2 elevators, 1 escalator, 15 minutes had past. Again our luggage was weighing us down. I had to put my wrist braces in action as our bags seems to increase in weight from our 8 days in Japan. Mind you, we only have carry on!

We greeted them with smiles and excitement for a ferry boat to China. Something different and down time for mom to relax!

What?? SH*T! How are our tickets 53,000 Yen?
We counted our bills and all our change down to the coins I saved for Carla and Holly.
All we have is 49,054 Yen.

I looked at mom. She looked at me. This just didn’t make sense.
I saved enough for our tickets and a bit extra for FOOD.
You know how much we love to feast!
I asked the man behind the counter, "Where is the paper I just gave you that had our amount due?" He ruffled through a few papers,
"No, I don’t see it."

We need to find an ATM and quick. Time is running out.
This is the only boat to China from Kobe this week.
We now have 15minutes…
Frantically, I said in an octave or two higher,"ATM! ATM!"
The Port Authority Personal said" No, no time! 30 minutes away!"
I handed him a $100 dollar bill and a big smiled. As if I unknowingly thought he could exchange it. Again, he shook his head.
He proceeded to look through papers and again he counted my money.
"AH HA!" He found my reservation and realized I booked 2^nd class.
"Westerners don’t normally book 2^nd class." He said. And he gave us a First Class Room!

OUR FIRST CLASS ROOM

UPPER BUNK

We all understood now. Another Japanese man standing in our vicinity heard what was going on. He handed us the 4,000 Yen we were short and calculated something on his hand held component.
"$48 doll-are" he said.
We gladly handed him the American money and got our tickets from the man behind the counter.
I thought the buck stopped there.

But No! Mom said "How will we eat?"
The man probably thought, "I'm sure you two can feed off yourselves for a few days."

4 oz Coffee $3.56 Plate of Noodles .59

Mess hall Mimi Meal!


How am I going to continue to lose weight at this speed?

mess hall flat rate meal

BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER
It didn't take long and beer was our primary liquid at just over $1.00 a can


The man who gave us food money!

The Port man saw mothers terrified face that we may only be eating leftovers in our food bag. Snacks from the 100 Yen shop.
(Similar to our Dollar Store) and old water bottles that we filled at the last hotel.
You would have thought the $522 Social Security check was her retirement! Little did they know...
Her beautiful smile has done us wonders!

He slid across the counter 5000 Yen plus all our coins.
With a Big smile, said. "No Problem, Have Fun!"

We grabbed our Free First Class upgrade, food money and headed for the ships boarding plank.

Sayonara Japan, Sa-bi-shi-ku-na-ri-mas!

Goodbye Japan. We’ll miss you!

The Medicine Man, Kimmy and Mr. Marajuana

MR. MARAJUANA
An extremely kind man, showed us the safe ropes of the Jin Shin Zhen Ferry and Shanghai, China.
Upon our arrival, His driver drove us to our downtown hotel.
Thanks Again!

Mom and Mamasan

Mother and Mamasan spoke without the knowledge of each others language. But when Mr. Marajuana translated a few stories, they realized how much they had in common.
Mamasan respected our journey and reflected on her loss of opportunity with her own children. When tears, I believe of joy, were in her eyes, mother explained...."Your daughter is your daughter for the rest of your life, Your son is your son until he takes him a wife."

The Medicine Man:

One thing you need to understand when you travel in Asia:

The medicine man took too much medicine :(

Another Shipmate? Hey, this is our room!

Some people are aggressive and perhaps perceived as a little pushy. It may also come across as RUDE. Now, that doesn't mean they are! In fact, it is just a way of life. You need to jump on the band wagon or you will be left behind, or you may have wished you were.

This was the case of one of our shipmates who felt embarrassed!

As this story goes, the Korean medicine man, is an outgoing, firm and attentive man who meant well. However, there was something mysterious about black hat man and his modern male-pouch full of oils and herbs.

Out the corner of my eye I saw a man walk past our opened doorway. He glanced over and maybe there was a mili-second of eye contact, I didn't pay much attention. As I turned around and sat down beside the table in our room, Mr. Medicine man came up from behind and grabbed my hand. He ripped off my wrist brace and started to massage my wrist and arm like a baker kneading dough. Needless to say, Mothers jaw dropped to the floor. I was startled and said "Hello?" No response from the baker. I next asked "Who are you?" and thinking to myself "Why are you touching me?" He was rough, and really into it! There was something mystical about this man and I think I liked it. I felt safe enough with mom, mamasan and kimmy present.
The fragrance of the oil helped me relax and accept whatever was going on. And soon, I absorbed the odd pampering I had received. POOF! Mr. Medicine Man was gone as fast as he had appeared. And I my wrist was feeling better.

We all "sort of" talked and gestured about what just happened. Of course, we knew very little in each others languages and who knows what was said, but we all appeared at ease.

We finished unpacking, purchased a few Kiran Beers from the vending machine. You can get "ANYTHING" out of a vending machine in Japan and China. We got our daily exercise in walking the decks and inspecting our surroundings on the boat. Tired, we climbed into our upper bunks for a "good" night sleep.

I awoke refreshed and ready to go. But, lack of sleep woman, mom, pulled her curtain back and growled, "good flippin morning". I was whispering "Hey, they are sleeping." She jumped off the bed knocking over a few things intentionally making noise. Wow, what happened to mom? Mom told me the whole story.

We came to realize, medicine man was man handling a shipmate in the night!
I was unconscious and missed everything! (sleeping pills, well, I vowed to not take another one on the trip)
All night they were talking, giggling and whispering and making noise and having you know what!
"Shhhhh" Mom said, it should be like the saying goes."What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!"

I chuckled and said "What happens on the Jin Shin Zhen goes on the blog!"