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.

Sim's Cozy @ Chengdu

20/5/08 - the 3 guys are still on the sea right now to JP. I am sorry to say that the team George Igo is down to 3 men now. Only my heart will go on~ Don't think the boys got any internet access on the ship, so in the mean time, let me continue on this journey.

After watching the Singapore News, knowing that the toads are out on the streets of Sichuan again... But the officials say that it is not another sign of the earthquake... Anyway, I called the Sim's Cozy up and they are fine and alive. Up till now, they still feel the after-shocks... It is not over yet...

I am back in Singapore and resuming work on Thur.

Work Work Work,
Jackie

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.

Hangzhou leaving for Shanghai this evening..

This morning we woke early for the Olympics Torch passing through Hangzhou's Xi Hu (West Lake)... The tons of spectators however, didn't allow us any space to see the torch bearer but fortuntately with some teamwork, we managed to carry Weipeng up above the crowd for him to capture some photos... Followin' that, we had breakfast at Yong He, some you char kway, fried sunny side ups and soya bean drinks and went up Wu Shan (A short hill).

Interestingly, midway up the hill, there were many old historical wooden temples with tiled roofs where many many old folks were playing mahjong, chinese chess, wei qi, poker cards in them. These temples double up as a open air gambling area for the locals and anyone can join in for a game. Eventually, Jackie persuaded the reluctant me to sit down for 1 round of mahjong.. 3 yuan each was the charge, and we could play for more than 6 hours.. we started around 11am and were told that we could play till 4pm. And there was unlimited freshly brewed chrysanthamum tea too! The locals play mahjong without any of the "Huas -flowers". There were no animals and flowers. We finished 1 round.. Got quite bored and ordered some noodles and fried rice there.. nothing great about the food but it was the whole ambience of open mass gambling in the hills, surrounded by trees, plants and the occassional breeze that was refreshing!

At this moment, we're sitted at the living area of our backpacker's hostel, Wu Shan Yi, in Hangzhou. Jackie, weipeng and benny juz went for a bath and it will be my turn after this. Our train tonight will depart at 749pm from here to Shanghai. We should be there in 2 hours, est. 10pm tonite. Our next lodging place is the Blue Mountain dormitory in Shanghai. Highly recommnended by Sim's Cozy hostel and Tour An Backpackers' hostel. So we hope that the ambience will be highly interactive juz like Sim's Cozy in Chengdu. We really miss the cacophany and synergy of the various nationalities and cultures and exchanging stories with fellow travellers frm Japan, Australia, France, Austria and the ever friendly reception that we receive whenever we return to the hostel. It is by far, the only lodging place that has left an indelible mark in my mind. Friendly staff, lots of interaction opportunities with other travellers facilitated by their inhouse table tennis, darts, gym, billard table, chill out areas on the roof terrace, musical instruments), delicious and well priced food and drinks, free portable water, cheap international phone calls, 2 cute little daughters (of the Singaporean owner and his Japanese wife) who kept bringing their toys to play with us make this place a seldom achievable "home away from home". You just feel sooo comfortable even if just staying in the entire day. If you do visit Chengdu, you owe it to yourself to experience this wonderful abode, a place that doesn't seem to take, making money as the reason for it's business. AMAZING in a word.

Stuart

Hangzhou 2

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

HangZhou

 
Our 4 bedder in Hangzhou, Wu Shan Yi backpacker's inn.

 
Marco "Duck man" having a solo shot in Wu Shan Yi.

 
Benny fed up with the "Fidgeter" whom he sat with throughout the flight to Hangzhou. Obviously, he fidgets and adjusts lot in his seat, unabashedly takes up both sides of the side armrests and plays continuously with his seatbelt making "Tiak tiak" sounds repeatedly. This has caused Benny to experience various degrees of irritation, frustration, anger and hatred emotions throughout.

 
Close up: "The Fidgeter" with his Matador outfit.

 
Wu Shan Yi inn

 
Benny with Bin'er at Wu shan yi.. There's another Collie called Lele who's also very cute.

 
Ben and Stuart enjoying some Dong Po Rou at a eatery opposite Xi Hu. Not the most genuine and delicious ones we had but not bad.. we had betta ones later that evening.

 
Marco and Jackie showing off their Dong Po Rou.. Jackie loves Dong Po Rou. He orders it for every meal!

A forgotten post - Olympic Torch Relay in Hangzhou

Well, this post should be dated back during the days in Hangzhou. The post was kinda forgotten by all of us despite it being an eventful day for the people of China and us.

The Hangzhou Torch Relay on 18 May (Olympics):

Can't remember exactly what time we woke up but it was quite early. Blazing hot sun and packed crowds along the streets in Hangzhou. We managed to buy four flags (two bearing the 2008 Beijing Olympic logos and two national flags of China) and some stickers before the relay.

This is Jackie, showcasing his total commitment for this event



Stuart, not losing to anyone else


Three of em except me, trying to get a short glimpse of the torch


Hangzhou residents, proceeding on what others may think twice before engaging



Finally, Team George I Go, after the torch went pass


End
Benny


Outdoor Mahjong up in the mountains with many local old folks.. we were only young participants.. It was almost full house! Different games avail.. chinese chess, wei qi and mahjong. A different feel to the usual game as we enjoyed the forest breeze, chirping birds and lively atmosphere!

That's Benny and Jackie finding a way to break my Gor Tai.. to no avail.




And then Marco also tried.. actually i was forced to play by the other 2 Ang Mo Kio Secs and Mr Poh.. Coz not really in the mood after too much viwawa.



Our drinks. Fresh hot free flow chrysanthemum. Good stuff..



PONG PONG PONG!!!! PONG PING PIANG! PONG PONG MASTA!


Further updated by Stuart

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.