Tokyo City Tour

Been to many places in Tokyo, ah, new Japan, a big city filled with concrete buildings, much much shopping to do if you got lots of Japanese Yen to burn. Am actually quite sick of the city till I got to Harajuku today. A place where people indulging in cosplay gather. There is also a Meiji-shrine where Japanese weddings are held. This shrine is massive and comes with a garden.

Tomorrow, we are going back to nature, getting near to Mount Fuji. We will try to trek up Mount Fuji if the conditions permit. Well, it's a good break from the hustle and bustle of the huge city.

Marco

Posting from Ginza, Tokyo Apple Store

Hi guys, Ginza is the up market store in Japan and we are in the flagship store now. Power. Now, this is life. Mac is selling a lifestyle to the Japanese.

May Mac take over the world.

Marco

Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan

A vibrant shopping district with a Isetan Mens department store, where it is a shopping heaven for the guys, you can find the latest major and causal brands here. Everyone there are dressed up, so it is advisable to dressed up to do your shopping. Remember to get your tax refund back, though you have to watch out that the tax refund counter closes around 6pm.

Have a walk into Kabukichō after the shopping hours and you are at the red-light district of tokyo, the neon lights are colorful and the crowd is interesting to watch.

As you walked through Kabukichō, you will see lots of Love hotels around the region, completed with Pachinko and amusement parks, you even get rooftop futsal court and a baseball driving range.

At the end of Kabukichō, there is this Golden Gai,where there are lots of small pubs. The pubs are so small and it only fits in like 10 adults in the small space. There are news that the pubs only take in regulars but you could still check out the individual pubs.

Golden Gai

Yadoya Guesthouse, Nakano, Tokyo

Here are pictures of the room in Yadoya, Tokyo. It is place only meant for sleeping in. Now, i appreciate a living room.

Sure, at 1600yen/night, it may be the cheapest anyone can find in Tokyo. Still, everyone have the liberty to check out the living conditions first before you decide on staying here.

For the budget traveler, there should be no complaints for USD16 a night for a 8 men dormitory.

Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo

Visit the site here for the exact date that you are setting out for the Tsukiji Fish Market. There are certain days on weekdays even that Tsukijishijo is on off.

Time to smell the roses

Remember, no matter, how busy you are, tale time off to smell the roses*literally*, below are pictures of white roses that were in bloom around the Nakono, Japan

 

 

Taiyo Hotel, Osaka_ Internet Access

 

 

Irony: Picture This

 

The thing says no photography, but still..

Traditional Japanese Wear: Kimono

 

 

 

 

Kyoto, Japan Day 4

Kyoto is a nice place to see old Japan. The Gion area is a traditional town with lots of Buddhist shrines. One shrine of interest in particular is one which pays tributes to the batteries of artillery soldiers and horse-riding soldiers of the second world war.




Shrines

Stone statues and carvings are erected in the premises of the shrine as a memorial to the soldiers of specific battalions and batteries.

The bigger shrines are of the Buddhist and the traditional buildings which houses them are more refined and elaborate than in Osaka.






Where's Weipeng? Try to spot him in the photo above.

Wedding ceremony in a Shrine

Japanese in traditional dresses hold their wedding ceremonies in the shrine, the ceremony is formal and solemn. There is a aura of dignity and happiness in the ceremony. The aura is not broken even when lots of tourists,both local and foreigners, are taking photos of the event.






People

As it was a Sunday, they was a huge crowded and it was a definite good choice to visit on this day. You will see kimono-clad ladies and even geishas if you are lucky. The young Japanese ladies had fun dressing up and shopping for traditional cakes and pastries.


_____________________________________________
The entry is incomplete due to the lack of internet time. Internet is very expensive in Japan and it is not readily available.

I'm guessing it is due to the fact that Japanese are holding highly fanciful CDMA phones which allows them to surf the internet and watch TV, Wi-Fi is not widely available.




Marco
Osaka,after day trip in Kyoto May 08

Osaka day 3

Still in Osaka, woke up late today, visit a couple of Shrines today, have been pouring today, and we are stuck in the Shinnoen-jo, This is a big shrine with many small temples around.Its 445pm and the rain feels like it will go on for a long time.

Terrain pool, memorials, graveyards and huge Buddhist statues. The shrines are more modest compared to the golden temples that the Chinese built in Mount Ermei. The Chinese tend to construct and paint their statues gold while the Japanese have their statues carved out of stone.

Japan has longer days and it is still bright at 8pm. Comparatively, Japan time is one hour faster than in Singapore.

Language

To me, the Japanese government has done a good job in granting foreigners' Visas, the only minor twitch is that there is a huge language barrier. Japanese only speak their language and they do not bother to pick up another language. There is a huge number of tourist in the city here and businesses may be missed because of a miscommunication.

Considering the many countries, many tourist attractions will put up notices and explanation boards in 3 main languages namely Chinese, English and Japanese. They are pampering the Japanese and putting them in their comfort zone.

Nevertheless, we had a Japanese, a Kyoto native, who speaks English coming up to us and speak to us. That was because Stuart was holding his 'trusty' Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook. Now, this is one of the few Japanese that could speak good English. He had stayed in a few english-speaking countries before. His view was that Japanese are shy and afraid to converse or take up another language.

We met fellow travelers who have differing views, some had picked up Japanese and are looking forward to learning mandarin. Well, I say picking up any other language will be useful.

Signed off
Marco

Second day of Osaka

The first day of Osaka was sent mostly on orientation and settling down. It was a hungry day as we walked around comparing prices of food and lots of moving around by foot.

Second day of Osaka

Osaksa is a port city, and Shinsaibashi in the Minami area is a fantastic place and you could do people watching for the whole day. This is comparable to the Orchard Road in Singapore. Umeda is in the Kita area of Osaka and its is the CBD area of Osaka.


Commuting

You will be commuting with countless of Japanese man in full business suits. On the streets will be business suit-clad men and high-heel ladies cycling on the pavements. Their bicycles have a distinctive basket at the front. Parking of the bicycles will be outside their office buildings. There will be rows of bicycles on the sides of the pavements but you will see much order in the parking.

Food

In the morning, we visited the Hanshin Shopping area in the Umeda Station. Its like a huge takashimaya with 16 times more food. Food in Japan is not cheap, its about 20% more in Singapore, but I must totally compliment the pride that the Japanese put in serving and preparing their food.

It is in the shopping center's supermarket that we met with the SGD200+ rock melon. Ok, the skin of the melon is exceptionally beautiful, like those you would see on the delicate egg shell carving. We had big big apples that cost about SGD2 each and extremely sweet strawberries. Benny never like strawberry until he tried the Japanese version. Well, May is a good time to visit if you like strawberries as it is in season now.

At night, we went to have sushi buffet, but its actually quite disappointing as the variety of the sushi was not much and the quality is poor going by the Japan's standard. Nevertheless, it was a fine meal as the soup was good and there had like 5 versions of puddings. It was really good.

Shanghai to Osaka via Su Zhou Hao

The ferry is very comfortable, complete with onsei (hot spring bath), free breakfast, laundry and table tennis, good value meals, jackpot and magnificent view of the ocean, sunrise and sun set.

This ferry service is not very well-known yet, majority of the users are Japanese and Chinese, but the ferry still a small percentage of Irish, Australians and Singaporean.

This was a good chance for us to repay our sleep debt. Basically, the trip has been very physical. From climbing mount Ermei, to playing Mahjong and doing pull-ups, to the many cycling city tours and countless kilometers clocked walking. Therefore, the long journey had been a good time to recuperate.

I particularly enjoyed the 'onsei' and free laundry. Ha, its good coming to Osaka with fresh laundry.

Su Zhou Hao

It's 1:10am at night, the midnight of 20 May 2008. We are leaving for Osaka, Japan on the morning of 20 May 2008 on the Su Zhou Hao. This time round, Jackie have to leave home for Singapore on the same day. Ahhh, back to reality sooner.

The Su Zhou Hao will be departing from Shanghai on a 2 day journey to Osaka, Japan. This is a good time for us to rest and get prepared for the last leg of the trip.

We are going on a budget, 16 man tatami mat room. The ferry ticket costs 1300rmb with and additional 100rmb fuel tax.

Last Day at Chengdu

Above, the XiaMen Airline that was delayed for 2 hours as there was a queue for the departing air planes. Having some last shots with Lancy and Chelsea, the next time we go back to Chengdu, they must be much taller. Hmmm, wait, they may be in Singapore for education soon as their parents are sending them back to Singapore. Billiard and table tennis with Yasu, Japanese, a friend and fellow traveler.

Flight MF8304

After a long stay in Chengdu, China, Sim's Cozy, delayed by the earthquake, we are off to Hangzhou, China next. It is not in the original plan, but change is the only constant. This trip actually includes Tibet originally.

Flying via Xianmen Air MF8304 ETD: 2005 ETA: 2340

Wah, reaching the Hangzhou Shuang Liu Airport at 11.40pm, it will be a major 'Treasure Hunt' for our hostel, and the best part is, we have narrow it to 2 places, Tour An Backpackers and Wushanyi International Youth Hostel.

The flip side is, we have not decide on which to go yet. Will book beds over our receptionist later.

Tea Session in Chengdu, not La Kopi

In China, there is another culture, the tea drinking culture, we cycled to Wen Shu Fang street and had Tea there, ahhhh, a nice break from the Spicy and Hot Si Chuan Food.

Wen Shu Fang is a recreation of an old town with beautiful picturesque architectures from olden China. Cycling from the urban grind in the city through the gateway to Wenshufang, one is transported back into the past.. Where roof tiles of grey bricks and wooden doors and window sills are apparent in all of the buildings and tea houses with mahjong tables line the alleyways.

We had a wonderful after dinner tea session at Da Qing guided by the warm hospitality of a very forthcoming friendly old lady boss. She shared her experiences of the differences between the olden days and present economy, some basic art of tea appreciation and even enlightened us on why new buildings are less susceptible to earthquake with her vivid descriptions of how beams and layers of recent buildings are formed. It was a fulfilling albeit lazy evening with good friends, tea and chit chats with the locals.


Notice the sharp contrast, the color of the spicy duck dish (local sichuan specialty) and the soothing chinese tea with melon seeds.

Chengdu Bicycle City Tour

Riding a bicycle is so distinctively China, it is a culture of the china people, there are motorbikes and bicycles lane for the people.

Its a leisure to enjoy the city while waiting for our flight. Airport operations have been restored and we will be flying to Hang Zhou, China on the 16 May 2008.


By the way, the lovely ladies you guys see in the pictures never join us on the bicycle tour today, they are the little owners of Sim Cozy, cute huh? They love us, haha, keep coming to want to play with us.

Feelings About the Earthquake (Sichuan)

On 12/05/08, it was the first time I experienced an earthquake. Think that's the first time for most of the Chengdu citizens too. We were having some Chengdu desserts - 伤心凉粉 at an open space right in front of the shop. It was about 2:27pm when we first experienced the first shock at the Luodai Old Town (洛带古镇). Everyone ran to the open space and squatted down. It felt like having sea-sick during the shock. Well, at that moment, I was quite lost, my mind just go blank and watching the old buildings collapsing (partially).

When we were on the bus back, I thought of my loved ones...

After a few after-shocks and we are still around to blog about this... Alright~

Sichuan China Earthquake at Luodai Old Town

Empty Streets in Chengdu City after earthquake tremors felt. All retail stores are closed and people stayed on the streets, along the sides of the road.



Notice the fallen bricks, people gathering on open spaces, shops closing, bricks were still falling in front of me as I took the pictures.