Osaka, Japan

What doing in a gray rainy day if you are in Osaka? Easy, just squeeze your railpass as much as you can and have a trip to Takayama, in the middle of Japanese mountains! The town was ok, but honestly it didnt impress me too much, as impressed me - for instance - the crazy speed the train was flying through the cities on the way back: more than 330 km/h!

Hiroshima, Japan

Now I know why they are so called bullet trains, they are so freaking fast you really cannot imagine what it means until you have placed your ass on one of them.　And you cannot even understand how they are　crazily expensive: just think that if I hadn't a pass (which I had to buy out of Japan only) today's trip was around 160 euros! Well, I went to Hiroshima, the first city targeted by an atomic bomb in the history of human kind in 1945, two days before Nagasaki. No need to say anything else about it but sadness, for this kind of tragedies words are empty. Then I headed to the beautiful and traffic free Miyajima island, home of one of the most famous and photographic temples of Japan. I met there a photographer from Usa, one of those professionals who sells pictures to Getty Images and big companies like that. He is going to spend 6 weeks in Japan and plans to get at least 25.000 pictures, After all, it will take about 8 months the whole post-production process... Well, after this story, are you still thinking I am photo addicted???

Nagasaki, Japan

I`ve finally got my Japan Railway pass which allow me to travel for 7 days without limitations on the whole Japanese network, even on the bullet trains `Shinkansen`, the world ranking high speed trains reaching almost 300 km/h. The price of the pass has been very expensive but, as the whole transports here are hyper-expensive, still remains a good deal. Well, this means for the next week I will be extremely busy in a sort of marathon to squeeze as much as I can the pass to the main shrines of Japan... Anyway, after last days` fun I thought was a good idea to jump back to reality with a depressive trip to Nagasaki, the city targeted by Us army with the atomic bomb during the 2nd world war: 75.000 people died for the explosion that hit the city the morning of 9th August 1945, while other 75.000 were seriously injuried or died just few months later. The same people responsible for that tragedy nowadays talks about fight against terror or exporting democracy to foreign countries... Bah!

Fukuoka, Japan

I`m finally in Fukuoka, Japan, the destination of the original plan of my trip. In my original plans there was also the idea to reach Vladivostok through Siberia and then Japan, but I`m definitely glad to had a detour through Mongolia, China and South Korea as the cultures and things seen are really hard to describe. After all, plans are made to be changed, no?
I`ve reached the coast of Japan sailing with a night ferry from Pusan and, as usual, each time I leave a country it`s sadness time for me. The days spent in Korea have been really stunning, like Koreans are. I love them all. People is so respectful, polite, kind and friendly that seems to me impossible to be true: they call it Korea, I better call it Paradise.
Japan now! I quickly understood to be in Japan when the bus out of the ferry terminal was driven by a driver in white gloves while the engine was turning automatically off each red light and, even if the bus was pretty busy, the silence in there was surreal, that kind of loud silence previously experienced at funerals only. I`m sure will be a lot of fun to discover this country... Japan, here I am!

Pusan, South Korea

Quality is much more important than quantity: two days, two days only in Pusan, but simply perfect. I reached Pusan by bus from Gyeonju, and it`s the 2nd biggest city in South Korea, a very active port and party town. I like this city, his colours, his flavours. But mainly I have such good feelings just because of the great times had there. I wanna spend few words saying how cool it was to meet Penelope Cruz again, and visiting Yonggungssa temple first - a beautiful Buddhist temple settled on the seashore - and then hitchiking the way back to the city for fireworks show, and looking to all the people squeezed on the streets and deciding to see the show illegally from the roof of a skyscraper, and trying to open his door with hair pins, and finally be allowed to see the unbelievable show from up there, before drinking booze on the beach and moving to a tasty Korean barbecue session...
Once more, people makes your travel more than the place itself.
The real meaning of travels is listening to anybody has a story to tell.

Gyeongju, South Korea

Gyeongju: the ancient capital of Shilla Empire, nowadays a quiet medium-sized city settled in the middle of the gentle Korean countryside. The area around Gyeongju is spreaded with world ranking shrines, like the Unesco`s world heritage temple of Bulguksa and Seokguram Grotto, as for Yangdong ancient folk village. A totally different charme to big cities, simply lovely. I`ve travelled this sights with the company of a Penelope Cruz-like French lady met at the hostel, mixing cultural trips to heavy party sessions and, finally 5 years later, back to hitchike! Yeah!

Seoul, South Korea

I`m in Seoul since few days right now, reached by a freighter ferry from Weihai, China. Seems unbelievable how few hours sail can brings you to such a different culture than the one you left. South Korea is completely different to China, so close but so far. And it`s also amazing to consider how these countries I`m crossing, which were previously just names on the map for me, now they`re quickly turning into voices, faces, memories. Anyway, I feel an irrational simpathy for Koreans. Don`t misunderstand me, I`m not saying that just because the girls are hot, but because they are so polite and kind that I`m totally astonished for it. Seoul is a very modern city mixing Asian and Western charme, I could easily live here or at least spending some months, who knows... why not?
Among the remarkable things I`m experiencing here is: enjoying a traditional Korean barbecue and cold noodles with friends met in Mongolia in bustling Seoul`s Saturday night; eating silk worms while sipping Soju, the national firewater; hiking to the top of Mt. Bukhansan; walking the streets in search of mistery food and much more. Nice!

The soul of Seoul

The Past...

...the Present...

...the Future

Goodbye China

I already knew that I`d have had just a little taste of China, it`s such a big country you need more than a bunch of days to discover it. I leave China with many memories in my mind. No, I won`t remember the Great Wall, the Forbidden City or the Terracotta Army, but I will definitely keep in my mind all the perfumes, the smell, the lights and the crowd of the streets, the delicious cuisine, the people - sometimes rude but also able to reward you with the biggest smiles I`ve ever seen. I will miss China, I`m sure. As I`m sure I will come back here again in the very near future, maybe to visit the villages in the west side of the country.
This time I`ve been to China`s heart, next time I will try to touch his soul.

Bargaining for dummies

-Looki, looki, Sir! Looking for a belt, Sir?
-Yeah, I`ve lost many kilos and these jeans tight at the beginning of the travel now they`re large... How much?
-Good price for you, Sir: 85 yuan.
-What??? 85?!? Ok, bye.
-No, no, no... Please come here, Sir! How much you wanna pay?
-I give you 30.
-Are you serious?!? Don`t you see this is fine leather, a very high quality product! 45 yuan, Sir.
-Yeah, I see it`s high quality, well refined and maybe Mr. Armani handcrafted personally this belt... but I guess the right price is 30.
-40! Where are you from, Sir?
-Italy. 30. Last price.
-Okay, Sir, give me 30.
-Ooops, my mistake! I have only 25 yuan...
-But you have said 30, Sir!
-Just because I didn`t previously checked the money left...
-Okay Sir, 30!
-I don`t have it, 25 is all I have!
-Sir, only 5 yuan more!
-I don`t have this bloody 5 yuan, you don`t wanna understand me... Bye!
-Okay, 25.
-First let me try the belt, it looks a little bit too large for me...
-No problem, Sir, I can make you extra holes on it or cutting away a slice.
-But if you cut away a slice of leather, the belt won`t be new anymore, so it should be cheaper... 20 yuan.
-Are you sure you`re Italian, Sir? You say you`re from Italy but I don`t think you`re really Italian. You`re too tough. All the other Italians I met weren`t tough as you!
-You mean the other Italians you met were stupid?
-Okay, Sir, 20 yuan. Get it.

Shanghai, China

After 21 hours by bus I`m arrived in Shanghai, the most developed city in China and, honestly, the less charming to me. Shanghai is a 15-million monster, a grey urban jungle with no personality, no soul, no flavour. It`s a very new and modern city: looks like one of the many metropolis spreaded all around the world, same as anywhere else in heavy indutrialized countries. And, like all those cities, it`s posh. Simply, Shanghai it`s not China, at least not the China I enjoyed to live. Even the beautiful shacks (those with orange plastic tables and chairs) where I`m used to eat genuine Chinese entries everyday, here are replaced by western brands like KFC, Subway, McDonald`s... Anyway, a short visit was worthy: the central area along the river is fulfilled by huge skyscrapers and was nice to walk there, while the view from the observation deck at World Financial Centre, at 490 metres high (the 3rd tallest tower in the world) was really breathtaking.
Just a sort stay here, enough to see all the main sights Shanghai has to offer. Next stop: Wehihai.

Xi`an, China

Liu Xiaobo, the dissident who fights against Chinese dictatorship, has won the Nobel prize for peace: Beijing obviously says it`s a scandal because he`s criminal. I`m not surprised about that, just read couple of posts below. Everyone who doesn`t agree with the government is labelled as criminal and his mouth be shutted, in a way or the other. I`m writing from Xi`an and I arrived here by train with a night service from Pingyao lasting 11 hours. When I got the ticket all the seats were already booked so I bought a `standing` ticket: my naive mind thought the meaning of the word standing was synonymous of taking the available seats without a reservation... Well, I`ve never been so wrong. Standing meant REALLY standing all time long, packed like animals among thousand people into an overcrowded wagon where moving was impossible. After staying there for a while I decided to move to the restaurant car in search of an available seat allowing me to rest. Honestly, I don`t remember how long it took moving there. At restaurant there were available seats and many other people wanted to sit down there but the waitress, in a very rude and violent way, said everybody to move out that car as it was `closed`. We looked her spending the next 2 hours talking into the empty wagon to her friend just for feeling the taste of power and not allowing people inside there. After 2 hours, those guys waiting like me for a seat, said me to go taking a seat as they proabably wouldn`t have said nothing to me `cause they`re `scared of foreigners`. Still have to understand what they`re scared about. Anyway, they were true, after a while, one by one, everybody took a sit there and we spent the night and slept inside the restaurant wagon. In the morning, when I took a picture of the wagon, the officer came to me forcing to delete it. Obviously I tricked him and I didn`t delete the photo at all, but a question`s still in my mind: why this conspiracy of silence? Why nobody kicks the government ass?

Xi`an was the ancient capitol of China as well as the endpoint of the Silk Road. Nowadays is a huge metropolis with more than 4,5 millions population and some outstanding archeological sites. I`ve come here, at the very heart of China, mainly to see the world-ranking Terracotta Army: I`ve seen it, but I wasn`t particularly impressed. I mean, it`s cool but the entrance fee is ridiculously expensive for European standard, I don`t wanna even imagine for the Chinese one. On the other hand, I really enjoyed strolling around the muslim area in Xi`an, the Big Goose Pagoda and a funny cycling tour all along the 14 kilometres of the ancient city walls. The weather is hot and tomorrow I leave to Shanghai with an overnight bus.

Pingyao, China

I definitely enjoyed my stay in Pingyao. The ancient city centre is very well preserved and it looks like a country town coming directly from China`s past. Great is that moving just few metres from the main touristic street, people really live like in ancient countryside towns. This means very basic way of living for them, but endless charme for me. To balance on all this beauty, I admit I had maybe the worst hotel room ever in my travel career. All the cheap accomodations were already fully booked so I had to get what found. The air inside that room was almost unbreathable and the toilet had a curious smell similar to dead body mixed to shit. It was really unpleasant staying there... I`ve never been so thankful to have brought with me the camping-emergency blanket!

The great Wall

No, I`m not talking about the wall built to protect the Chinese empire by the assault of nomads, I`m talking about the wall the institutions have built around China to hide at the world the lack of freedom and democracy the population is afflicted. Everybody`s talking about the unbelievable rate of growth China is experiencing in GDP, the low cost of labour, the fact that within few years China will be probably the first world economic power: but which is the cost people has to pay for this leadership?
Freedom of speech is pure utopia. I was in Tien`Anmen square when one man with some writings to his neck sitted down in the mid of crowd for a silent demonstration. After 2 minutes police got him, 2 minutes later he was moved into the police cab. Photos were obviously not allowed and a girl who took the picture has been forced to delete it.
The Chinese economy grows very quickly, but what about the copyrights? Just have a tour to the Silk Market, the biggest bazar in Beijing, to understand all the main brands sold there are fake. And what about human rights not respected, the death penalty (with more than 5000 executions per year, China is leader also in this sad statistic), and the respect to environment (aka Kyoto protocol)?
Nobody talk too much on these topics. In other words, the great wall built by government to keep the world far from Chinese boundaries works. Works well. Time to break it has come, don`t you think?

Datong, China

I arrived in Datong mainly for one reason, to escape from Beijing and his bloody crowd, and I discovered a medium sized city maybe not nice-looking from common standars of beauty, but definitely charming to me. Datong is a coal mining town (`only` one million people!), well far from the economic boom Beijing is experiencing. Here is city of blue collars and you can feel it walking down the streets, it`s exquisite decadent and dirty. The road next to where I live is a trade-fair of cheap restaurants: small awful shacks where the real Chinese life takes place. I haven`t been able to resist from the temptation to get into one of them: has been simply amazing, one of the best bowls of noodle ever.
I went also visiting Yungang caves and Hanging monastery, the first is a mountain with caves and more than 50.000 Buddhas carved inside, while the second is a beautiful monastery settled on the edge of a huge cliff. Both interesting sights, useless saying they were overcrowded as usual.

China

In China freedom of speech and choice is something similar to utopia. Even internet is kept under control. Many sites are blocked, this means it`s not possible to connect them all over the country. Among those sites there is Facebook and my blog... For this reason I cannot reply to messages or update my blog. I have taken some good shots, and for one subject I should be prosecuted by law if got with it. Well, I`ll try to do my best to publish news and pics as soon as possible through the italian `service centre` :)

Beijing, China

After the peaceful quiet of Mongolia, moving to a crowded bustling city like Beijing, with a population of 15 millions, is definitely stressful and shocking to me. People is everywhere, and everywhere is overcrowded. The traffic is the most crazy thing I`ve ever seen, no rules at all, it`s anarchy. I even learnt how is possible not being able to get out the train at the right station because of the wild flow of people squeezing you far from every door... There is more: the 1st of October is National holiday commemorating the born of DPRC in 1949, and Chinese have 7 seven days of holidays. It looks like all the Chinese population has moved to Beijing to celebrate it! I`ve visited all the main sites (Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall) and they were very interesting, but with all those persons queing everywhere they seem to me like tourist`s playground more than the charming sights as they are. By the way, I must admit Beijing is a very nice city, closer to western standards than I would have ever imagined, with old and new mixing into a modern form of Chinese style. Highly recommended!