Day 7

In the morning, we headed out and our first stop was the Golden Palace, which was built as a place of relaxation. It was literally covered with gold. Amazing as the views were of the temple in April, we saw pictures of the souvenir shops of the Palace in winter with snow all around, and it was even more spectacular then. The Palace was surrounded by a beautiful garden, and that’s when we first learned about the importance of Japanese gardens. Dr. Clark explained to us how the Japanese put a great deal of thought and planning into the design of their gardens. He said they will often start a tree with a plan of what they want it to be in 120 years, knowing that they won’t be around to see it. They know that they are now able to enjoy gardens meticulously planned by their ancestors long ago, and they feel it their obligation to do the same to provide for the enjoyment of generations to come after them.

Our next stop was the Kiyomizu Temple on Mt. Otowa in Kyoto, which is the ancient capital of Japan. There were several shrines, including the Jishu Shrine, which is actually independent of the Temple, even though it resides within the Temple. It is said the dwelling place of the god of love and matchmaking. You can buy charms, and many come to pray for good marriage and ‘splendid love.’ The name Kiyomizu means “pure water” and there is a shrine where water from the mountain flows out and people from all over the world come to drink the water. The Buddhist monks will also stand beneath the falling waters and pray, sometimes for hours on end. The temple also offers great views of Kyoto.

After a short lunch in the area, we headed to Kanazawa. Upon our arrival, we checked in to our apartments on KIT’s campus. Most of the party went to a dinner reception hosted by the Student Association, while Coach Shaw and I attended a dinner with Coach Aoki, his assistant coach, our good pal Tets, and two Deans from KIT. I can’t speak to the dinner reception, but I know that our dinner was a wonderful experience. We ate at a Japanese restaurant, at which we sat on the floor at a small table. Dinner was brought out continuously, and consisted of some raw tuna, squid, salmon, octopus, a chicken stir fry, pork, cucumbers, among other stuff, then capped off by a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

One interesting tradition that we learned at dinner was the importance the Japanese place on seating arrangements. The place of highest honor is in the middle of the table near the wall with some decoration. As the guest of honor, Coach Shaw was assigned to this seat. As the hosts, the folks from KIT were seated opposite us. The most interesting time came when Coach Shaw switched seats for comfort reasons. In order to “keep the balance of the room,” our counterparts on the other side of the table adjusted with us. They kept their highest-ranking official across from Coach Shaw.

As Dr. Clark pointed out to us, they place great importance on ranking and honor in such things as seating arrangements and where people stand, but then they are very egalitarian in function. Conversely, in America we make efforts to say that we’re all equal, but in function we are very hierarchical.

Tomorrow we tour some of Kanazawa, and play our friendly against KIT.

Day 6

Today we flew from Shanghai to Osaka-Kansai airport in Japan. The flight was around two hours, and was a great flight. We had our first introduction to Japanese food, as the All Nippon Airlines is a Japanese airline. Apparently word didn’t travel well of our arrival because the entire airport seemed almost empty. It was quite nice to not have to stand in any lines at customs or baggage claim. After gathering our bags, we found our old friends: Tets, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at KIT, Dr. Scott Clark, Professor of Anthropology and Japanese Culture at RHIT on sabbatical at KIT, and Takashi Aoki, Head Basketball Coach at KIT. It was very good to see old friends again.

That evening was one of rest and recuperation, as we arrived at the hotel in Kyoto, ate dinner and went to bed. We head to Kanazawa tomorrow.

Day 5

Last night, we took an overnight train ride from Beijing to Shanghai. The ride was 14 hours, and let’s just say it was an experience. We were in two kinds of cars, one with two “beds”, and one with four “beds.” I put beds in quotations because they were very hard, and not very big. The rooms were very small and cramped. The two-bed cars had a bathroom that was very similar, though slightly bigger, to an airplane bathroom. In Asia, smoking is still very common, and restrictions on smoking in public places are non-existent, especially in China, so it was very smoky on the train. With nowhere to go for fresh air, it made the ride even longer, but it was still a good experience that we aren’t able to easily duplicate in the States.

When we arrived in Shanghai, we found a very different city than Beijing. It was cleaner, it seemed more compact, and the buildings looked much newer. We learned, from our tour guide, Ren, that much of the city of Shanghai has been built in the last 15 years. The Prime Minister of China visited the city and said that they needed to build the city, and since it has seen a tremendous buildout.

We visited one of the top museums in China, with many ancient furniture, ceramics, calligraphy, art, and clothing displays. Outside, was their city’s public square and city hall. After the museum, we visited an ancient garden in the Old Town area of Shanghai, and we also did some shopping in the many shops in Old Town. One of the highlights of this area was the Dairy Queen, and many of us found some familiar refreshment. I didn’t see anyone order the Green Tea Blizzard, though.

At night, we saw a Chinese acrobat show, which was very unique and entertaining. At the show, we met a Rose-Hulman alum who has been living in Asia for many years. Dave Sutherland, one of the best basketball players in Rose’s history, met us at the acrobat show and spent some time with us after the show as well. Dave came to Asia as a Vice-President at Smuckers, and now owns a business trading products in the food industry. He works in Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo, and has made East Asia his home. Dave told some stories of life on the road traveling with Coach Mutchner and Head Trainer Til Panaranto. He also told of their history of international trips and was glad that the tradition carried on today.

To finish our time in Shanghai, we went up in Jin Mao tower (I think it was the 6th tallest building in the world) where we had a spectacular view of Shanghai at night. The buildings along the Huang Pu River were lit up, and it reminded us a bit of Las Vegas. The Pearl Tower, the largest TV tower in the world, was on one side, and on the other was a building under construction, which will become the tallest building in the world when its complete. The final height is being kept a secret for now. It was a fitting end to a busy day in Shanghai. We leave for Japan in the morning.

Day 4

Day 4

This was the day that most of us had been looking forward to, The Great Wall. It exceeded our expectations. It was staggering to see its vastness and imagine how people could possibly have built that 500 years ago, and even 2000 years ago when some sections were built. We could certainly imagine why it is often called "The World's Longest Cemetary". Many Chinese died during the construction of the Wall.

Most of the players climbed the wall to its highest point in Bandaling, a small village where we visited the wall. Some of us older folks didn't quite make it that far, but it was still quite a physical achievement. When you consider that the Wall is in the mountains, we were basically climbing a mountain as we climbed the Wall. Before we got there, I didn't realize that the Wall had stairs, which made climbing easier and harder at the same time. We all thought it was worth it though, because the views were breathtaking from the top.

Tonight, we ride an overnight train to Shanghai. The trip will last over 13 hours.

-Matt

Day 3

Day 3

After a light morning of sightseeing, we headed for our game against Tsinghua University. TU has about 20,000 students. Most of their players studied business and economics.

The game was very physical, and competitive for most of the game. We held a lead as high as 11 points in the second half, but TU fought back. The officials were three students from the University who are hoping to become officials someday. Their head coach is a Chinese basketball legend who played on the National Team for many years, including 4 Olympic teams. Needless to say, the calls went to the home team down the stretch. What was a pretty well-officiated game became a free-throw shooting contest as every contact seemed to be a foul on the Fightin' Engineers. The final was 82-77 in favor of the home team. Our Chinese tour guide, Vivian, even apologized after the game because she thought we got a bit of a raw deal.

It was fun, and a good experience for both sides. At the end of the game, we had a special competition. In TU's league, they play each team home and away. If the games are split, they decide a winner with a free throw contest. Mr. Lee, TU's assistant coach, asked us if we would participate in this contest with them so they could practice making the free throws in that situation. We agreed, with a team suicide (that's a running drill) on the line for the loser. Unfortunately, we came up short on that one too 10-9, and the Engineers got a little extra conditioning in.

Gifts were exchanged, and everyone had a good time.

Tomorrow, its off to the Great Wall.

-Matt

Days 1 and 2

I'm a little late with these, but here they are...

Day 1

We arrived after a LONG flight from Chicago to Beijing today. The flight path was pretty interesting. We basically left Chicago and went north, through Canada, traveled about 400 miles left (if you’re looking at the US on a globe) of the North Pole, and then came down over Siberia in Russia, before entering Chinese airspace and finally arriving in Beijing. We left at 12:46pm on Friday and arrived at 3pm on Saturday in Beijing, crossing the International Date Line on the way.

After touching down, we went to the hotel, the very nice Crowne Plaza in Beijing. Some went out for dinner near the hotel, while some got dinner at the hotel and went to bed. Sightseeing starts tomorrow.

Day 2

On our first real day in Beijing, we first hit a local “flea market” where individual vendors were selling all kinds of wares. After that, we were off to TianAnMen Square and the Forbidden City. At TianAnMen Square, we got our first taste of the aggressive street vendors selling Mao watches, tourist books, Chinese army replica hats, and other such necessities. Another very interesting phenomenon was, well, us. The Chinese people were very interested in us, particularly our height. We had numerous photo requests from Chinese people who wanted to have their picture taken with members of our traveling party. Our youngest member, Taylor Millington – age 9, garnered the most requests, mostly from Chinese families wanting to photograph their children with Taylor. Several young Chinese lasses desired a photo with the young American men in our party. The tallest members of our group also had several requests in the Square as well as the Forbidden City. Needless to say, we were as interesting to them as they were to us.

TianAnMen Square featured the Chinese Hall of the People, which seemed to be their equivalent of Congress, a memorial to Mao Zedong, a Chinese museum, and a memorial to their fallen soldiers in the middle of the square. On the North side of the square was the gate to the Forbidden City. Built in the Ming Dynasty in the early 1600s, it was quite a remarkable place. It was also known as the Imperial Palace, and was the home to the Emporer’s in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. As one might guess, it was called the Forbidden City because the general public was forbidden from entering. There was an Outer Palace and an Inner Palace. The closer you got to the Inner Palace, the fewer people were allowed. There were many gates, and the entire palace was symmetrical on each side. Many of the architectural elements drew from the Chinese Feng Shui “philosophy”.

For lunch, we visited the Hutong area of Beijing and ate at the home of a local Chinese family. The food was excellent, and the family was very hospitable. We took "pedi-cabs" through the Hutong area. Hutong originally meant "alleys" so much of the area is not accessible by any means except by foot or bicycle. A pedi-cab is a bike with a double seat on the back. It was a fun experience and the only way we could have seen this area of the city. One interesting aspect of the Hutong area is that none of the homes have central heat, so they have coal-burning stoves in the corner of the house and use pipes to radiate the heat through the house. Many of the homes also don't have their own toilets, so sometimes up to 20 families will share a toilet facility.

Tomorrow we play Tsinghua University at 3pm.