Wang and I felt we had had enough of France for the trip after the 6 days in Paris so we decided to alter our schedule a little and add Lisbon, Portugal to the list. We booked a train ticket from Paris with a train change in Irun, Spain and then a second train to Lisbon. We left Paris around 4 o’clock and took a high speed train to Irun which was about 5 hours. The train change in Irun put us on a slower, older train to Lisbon. The train was to be about 14 hours and we were put in a cramped 6 person sleeper room. There were three beds on either side stacked one on top of the other. There were only 5 of the 6 filled and the other people were very nice. One guy spoke four different languages including English and was extremely pleasant, the other was from Portugal and the last woman was from France and wasn’t that friendly. Wang and I slept surprisingly well given our claustrophobic environment.
Once to Lisbon we took the metro to the appropriate stop and walked to the Hostel dragging our suitcases over stone bricked roads. The weather was great compared to Paris with sunny skies and 60+ degrees. Once we arrived at the hostel we left our bags because our room wasn’t ready yet and grabbed a quick bite at a local Portuguese restaurant and had an authentic dish called frango. Frango is a Portugese interpretation of roasted chicken. We went back and were escorted to our room. The accommodations were fantastic. We had an apartment complete with a kitchen, living room, balcony, and a large bedroom with bathroom we shared with two other people. Our roommates were from Chicago and were students traveling from Paris where they were studying abroad. Really nice kids. Wang and I only had a short time in Lisbon so we quickly showered, shaved and headed out for the city. We decided to spend the afternoon in the area of the city called Belem. It was only a short ride on the local bus which dropped us off in the heart of the Belem. A major port on the ocean, Lisbon has a long history of ocean travel and so we took a walk though the local Maritime museum admiring small models of large ships from centuries past and even a few life sized displays. I really enjoyed this museum as it was just full of historical boats and Wang was nice enough to agree to go. We then walked to the Tagus River which feed into the Atlantic right near Belem to tour the Belem Tower which sits right on the river. Once we climbed the 5 stories to see the views of the area we headed back into town for some dinner. The guy at the hostel suggested we stop at a little sandwich place for dinner and just like his suggestion for lunch, he was spot on. The food was great and it was on to the main event… Desert. Belem houses the Jeronimos Monastery which was supposedly the birthplace of the Pastel de Nata. Also know as Pastel de Belems, they are a small custard tart that was created before the 18th century by catholic monks of this monastery. The pastry shop next door called Pasteis de Belém has been around since 1837 and has been serving these delicious treats ever since. Wang and I thought it a crime not to try a few and so we ordered 4 with a glass of Portuguese Port to wash them down. We took the train back and had planned to grab a beer at the hostel bar. Upon check-in each guest receives a free drink ticket so we thought we would use it and maybe grab another after. Well there were no empty tables so we looked like lost kids and these two nice people from one table invited us to sit down at theirs. We ended up making conversation and it turned out they were from the States, Pittsburg to be exact. Luke was interning in Madrid for the past 6 months and Nikki was visiting him for the week. We ended up throwing back a few drinks and having a great time. Nikki asked if we had planned to go out and Wang and I already a few deep and enjoying the company and the weather figured why the hell not. We got changed up and headed out to Bairro Alto, the center of Lisbon’s night life. The streets were lined with bars and people serving cheep drinks and good music. We were drawn to this area like flies to a bug light. And there’s no open container laws here either. People would order their drinks and hang out outside in groups and be loud and drunk. Think Bourbon Street in New Orleans but not as dirty or trashy. We got destroyed drinking Large 1.50 Euro beers and 0.90 Euro shots. We ended up having a great time with Nikki and Luke.
The next day was rough as the hangover was killer. Too tired and to dehydrated, Wang and I decided to take it easy in the morning until our walking tour that afternoon. We again asked for a suggestion for lunch from the hostel and were led to a restaurant serving African cuisine. The food was decent but by no means the best we had all trip. After lunch we just hung out outside round the hostel taking in the sites of the ocean and the sun. When 3 o’clock rolled around it was time for our walking tour and to our slight disappointment it had been cancelled. In light of this change, Wang and I decided to make our own walking tour with the offered assistance of a staffer at the hostel. Our first stop was the Castle of Saint George which was a massive and simple complex situated on the tallest hill in the historic center of the city. We then walked around seeing both the old pre earthquake parts of the city and the newer post earthquake areas of the city. We ended up in the downtown area and walked around admiring large arches and water fountains throughout the downtown area. It was about dinner time so we sat at an outdoor table at a local restaurant. Dinner was quite good but it was time to head back to the hostel to grab our bags and make our way to the train station for our night train to Madrid.
Our stay in Lisbon was short but it was extremely enjoyable. The hostel was better than we ever could have imagined, the weather was killer, the scenery was beautiful and most things were cheap. Overall a great stop but it was time for Spain.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Paris
Well, this is my first blog entry ever written, so I hope to be equally thorough and entertaining as Naber’s have been. Also, we both apologize for the lapse of time between blog entries. The lack of internet in Paris set us back a bit, but we’ll be up to date soon enough, so fret not. Before I do talk about Paris itself, however, there are a few things that need mentioning. First is the actual travel between Asia and Europe. We took a midnight flight from Bangkok to Paris, with a layover in Zurich. This involves about 13 and a half hours of flight time, then add in the layover and travel to and from the airports. Note that it was 90 degrees at takeoff, and 25 degrees and snowing at Zurich, quite the scenery change. We arrived in Paris around 11 in the morning, to sunshine and a brisk 40 degrees. Catching the local RER train to the metro trains, we made our way to Elisa’s place. The second thing I wanted to mention before Paris itself is Elisa. Elisa, for those of you who don’t know her, is a good friend of mine from high school, who has recently moved to Paris for her job in the consulting field. She kindly put us up in her cozy one bedroom apartment, conveniently furnished with a pull-out couch. She also provided us with bread and cheese upon our arrival, a much needed refreshment after close to 24 hours of travel. As for the rest of her biography, consult her directly. So thank you, Elisa, for the hospitality. It was much appreciated by myself and Nick.
Anyways, Paris... the first thing is that I am no longer part of the majority, which was a bit sad. I had gotten used to Asians everywhere. And finding Nick in a crowd was like playing Where’s Waldo?, only easier. I also enjoyed feeling tall, and Nick as well. But in Paris, I was just average again, and Nick short. The immediate feel of European culture was like being back at home after Asia. When we had originally planned out our itinerary for this trip, we didn’t think too hard about the dates of travel for each city. Coincidentally, we landed in Paris the morning of February 14th, or the famed Valentine’s Day. Silly holiday, really, but I won’t go into the reasons here. After a snack at Elisa’s apartment, we strolled through her neighborhood and then on over to the Eiffel Tower, less than 15 minutes away. After taking the obligatory pictures, we were presented with a minor challenge. Tucked away in the streets of Paris was a small wine store in which Matt had purchased a bottle of wine for Nick. With Elisa’s working knowledge of the city, a metro hop and a bunch of walking through random streets, we eventually wound up in a small wine shop, where Nick was presented with a bottle of Chateau Griscours Margaux 1982. Quite a nice gesture, given the occasion. The buildings in Paris are quite the sight. Beautiful buildings line almost every street in the city, almost to a point where it’s too perfect. As I’m not an architecture buff, I find it difficult to describe to you the type of buildings, whether they’re Renaissance, Gothic, etc., so words such as beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, and all other synonyms will have to suffice. But I digress. Following our mini treasure hunt for the bottle of wine, we returned to Elisa’s apartment for a breather before a Valentine’s Day dinner. Europe, as those of you who’ve been will know, eats late dinners. Around 8, with Elisa as my dinner date, or maybe it was vice versa, we headed for a restaurant right on the same block as Elisa’s apartment. For purposes of my self-esteem, we’ll call Naber a third wheel for the night. Plus, he already got a nice bottle of wine that day. This restaurant should easily seat 100+ guests. Well, there were about 5 people in there eating when we showed up. Elisa asked for a table for 3, and the seating hostesses and maître ds looked at each other questioning if there was room for us, in the empty restaurant. We eventually were seated, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner accompanied by a drink or two. Even by the time we left, which was close to 9:30, the restaurant was just about to begin its busy hour. Full and exhausted from travel, we called it a night.
Paris, day 2. After about 12 hours of sleep, we decided it would be in our best interest to get up, shower, and see the city. Elisa had a prior engagement with a friend from Northwestern to see some tennis, so we were left to figure out our own day. Breakfast, or perhaps I should call it lunch, as it was close to noon, was a French baguette. They are quite amazing, at a whopping 85 cents, and about two and a half feet long. We set off towards the all-famous Notre Dame, and after 20 minutes of walking, were greeted by the magnificent sight of the cathedral, set on a small island between the split of the river. We walked through it, taking pictures, and continued past Sainte Chapelle, known for its display of stained glass windows. Crossing the river, we walked through the Palais Royal, the area where the Louvre is located, which again, the architectural beauty leaves the tourist awe-struck. We walked on through the Jardin des Tuileries, which is a bit dull given that it’s the winter, and onwards to Place de la Concorde, where a 3300 year old Egyptian obelisk stands. I’ll pause here briefly to talk about people in Paris: They all smoke. A lot. Picture your high class woman, dressed in a large fur coat, a Longchamp (or some other really expensive designer purse) bag hanging from her shoulder, her accessory small dog trotting alongside, walking down the street, but then add a long, thin cigarette between her fingers, taking small puffs at a time to portray her classiness, and there you have your stereotypical upper-class wealthy French woman. But then maybe it’s not so much a stereotype since it seems to apply to a majority. After the Place de la Concorde, we dropped by La Madeleine, a church inside a Greek building with Corinthian columns. Then we headed for Champs Elysees, the avenue for shopping and dining. Before we could make it through the avenue and to Arc de Triomphe, however, Elisa had finished up with her afternoon of champagne and tennis, and we headed back to grab dinner. Dinner was spent in an area called Marais, where we went to a Middle Eastern place for falafel and schwarma. Dinner was capped off by some great gelato with night views of Notre Dame and the Pantheon.
On day 3, I came down with a cold, most likely the result of a combination of the lack of sleep between Bangkok and Paris and the drastic weather change. To make things worse, there was no sun today. Cloudy, dreary, and cold. I tried to fight the cold, and we picked off where we left yesterday at Champs Elysees. Since I’m traveling with Naber, it’ll be no surprise to any of you that we stopped by the showrooms for the three major French auto companies; Citroen, Peugeot, and Renault. We made it up to Arc de Triomphe, then headed back towards the Eiffel Tower, hoping to stop by Palais de Tokyo, a free art museum. To our disappointment, it was closed, so we contented ourselves by having coffee at a café, then climbing the 670 steps up to the second level platform of the Eiffel Tower for some city views (and exercise I suppose). For dinner, we went to a place called La Marina, where we enjoyed French cuisine and beer. Since we decided we loved stairs on this particular day, we climbed up to the Sacre Coeur basilica to enjoy a night view of the city before calling it a day.
Day 4 was one of those travel days on which everything kind of doesn’t work out. I guess we’ve been lucky up to this point where everything has worked out, so a day like this was long overdue. I’m still battling a cold, which seems to have set itself out to make me live in complete misery. The day started off innocently enough, as we met up with Elisa for lunch after sleeping in. She works in Place Vendome, which is ridiculously nice. It’s a large plaza that houses a Cartier and several other similar caliber stores of watches and jewelry. We got lunch at a sandwich place, courtesy of Monitor Group. Well, half of lunch, at least. Thank you Elisa, for the other half. Per Elisa’s suggestion, after she went back to work, we went to Laduree, a famous store for macaroons. And it didn’t disappoint. That would be the last pleasant experience for the day. We had reserved this day for the museums, as it was another cold and dreary day, only to find that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. What kind of place chooses Tuesdays to be closed? No worries, right? Just go to another museum. Well, the Pompidou, the museum of contemporary art, happens to be closed every Tuesday as well. So we thought we’d just go to Versailles, a huge palace just 20-25 minutes outside Paris. We caught a train around 3:30 to Versailles, which closes at 5:30. This train happened to stop two stops before Versailles, where we were supposed to catch another train. Well, at this particular station, an announcement came over the loudspeakers, and of course neither of us understood a word, but noticed that every person got off the platform. Asking someone who worked there how we would get to Versailles, she directed us to another platform, and after almost half an hour of waiting, we got on another train, only to end up at the wrong Versailles station. We hustled across the town to get to the palace at 4:55, and were denied admission tickets which are supposed to stop selling at 5. Wonderful day. We had to settle for walking around the palace and through part of the gardens. Vast only begins to describe the acreage of the gardens. Again, save your visit to the gardens for spring, where everything would be much greener. One can easily spend 3 hours in the gardens alone. After the gardens, we got back to Paris, and I was drained from my cold. Got dinner on St. Germain Blvd. Food was delicious once again, so it was rather unfortunate that I could only taste part of it, compliments of the common cold. Turned in for the night with hopes of shaking the cold.
Day 5 was a day trip outside of Paris to the town of Blois (pronounced ‘blue-a’ really fast). Or you could be like me, and call it ‘Blah’ to make things easier. About 2 hours with stops by train, Blois is in the Loire Valley, where chateaus are scattered throughout and along the river. After sandwiches for lunch, we walked around the town, which was quaint and made up of very old but beautiful buildings, and toured the chateau there, defined by a large outdoor spiral staircase. Before I go on, I will mention a little bit about food and drink in Paris. Food is generally just delicious all over the place. But beware of the prices of drinks, and I’m not talking just alcohol. Coke and other sodas cost as much as 4 euro. I didn’t pay much attention to the price the first time we went to a café for lunch, and ended up with a great sandwich for 4.60, and a Coke for 4.10. Doesn’t seem quite right. Oh, and don’t even think the word “refill.” It doesn’t exist. But everything is bottled, and the novelty seems cool enough, for a few days. Anyhow, after Blois, we came back to Paris to actually explore the Pompidou, which in my book, is overrated. Instead, I enjoyed seeing Hotel de Ville. More or less, it’s similar to the Rockefeller Center in New York, complete with a public skating rink, only much more beautiful. We dined in another random restaurant with great food, and headed on over to the Eiffel Tower to get a couple pictures at night before calling it a day.
Day 6 was short, consisting of a morning trip to the Louvre before mentally preparing ourselves for 19 collective hours on the train for Lisbon. The building of the Louvre itself is amazing, and I suppose the art is too, if you’re into that sort of thing. We practically ran through the place, stopping, of course, to see the Mona Lisa. For those who haven’t seen it, if you’re expected this huge beautiful painting of the woman, be prepared to be let down. However, the full wall-sized painting across from the Mona Lisa is much cooler. And for those art history buffs that write a 100-page thesis on a piece such as the Mona Lisa, what the hell do you write about for so long? Get back to me on that one. Anyhow, we caught a metro over to Rue Mouffetard to get a crepe before leaving Paris, another must while in France. It should be a given at this point when I say that it was rather delicious, like everything else we’ve eaten in the city. France is always a must see and must do if an extended trip to Europe is made. However, note that French people are a little cold, and don’t always expect great service. People don’t seem to smile much in this city, which is odd, given that it’s supposed to be this romantic place. We overextended our stay a bit here, which worked out given that I had to recover from a cold and we had to get over jet lag as well. However, we remedied our extended stay by cutting out Avignon from our itinerary and adding on Lisbon. More about that from Naber later! For everyone that knows me, you should know I don’t do anything short when it comes to writing, so I’m not going to apologize for the length of this entry. I do hope you enjoyed it though, and I hope to write about a few more cities on the trip. Most of you should know that pictures are up on my Facebook profile, but if you don’t, feel free to take a look.
Anyways, Paris... the first thing is that I am no longer part of the majority, which was a bit sad. I had gotten used to Asians everywhere. And finding Nick in a crowd was like playing Where’s Waldo?, only easier. I also enjoyed feeling tall, and Nick as well. But in Paris, I was just average again, and Nick short. The immediate feel of European culture was like being back at home after Asia. When we had originally planned out our itinerary for this trip, we didn’t think too hard about the dates of travel for each city. Coincidentally, we landed in Paris the morning of February 14th, or the famed Valentine’s Day. Silly holiday, really, but I won’t go into the reasons here. After a snack at Elisa’s apartment, we strolled through her neighborhood and then on over to the Eiffel Tower, less than 15 minutes away. After taking the obligatory pictures, we were presented with a minor challenge. Tucked away in the streets of Paris was a small wine store in which Matt had purchased a bottle of wine for Nick. With Elisa’s working knowledge of the city, a metro hop and a bunch of walking through random streets, we eventually wound up in a small wine shop, where Nick was presented with a bottle of Chateau Griscours Margaux 1982. Quite a nice gesture, given the occasion. The buildings in Paris are quite the sight. Beautiful buildings line almost every street in the city, almost to a point where it’s too perfect. As I’m not an architecture buff, I find it difficult to describe to you the type of buildings, whether they’re Renaissance, Gothic, etc., so words such as beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, and all other synonyms will have to suffice. But I digress. Following our mini treasure hunt for the bottle of wine, we returned to Elisa’s apartment for a breather before a Valentine’s Day dinner. Europe, as those of you who’ve been will know, eats late dinners. Around 8, with Elisa as my dinner date, or maybe it was vice versa, we headed for a restaurant right on the same block as Elisa’s apartment. For purposes of my self-esteem, we’ll call Naber a third wheel for the night. Plus, he already got a nice bottle of wine that day. This restaurant should easily seat 100+ guests. Well, there were about 5 people in there eating when we showed up. Elisa asked for a table for 3, and the seating hostesses and maître ds looked at each other questioning if there was room for us, in the empty restaurant. We eventually were seated, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner accompanied by a drink or two. Even by the time we left, which was close to 9:30, the restaurant was just about to begin its busy hour. Full and exhausted from travel, we called it a night.
Paris, day 2. After about 12 hours of sleep, we decided it would be in our best interest to get up, shower, and see the city. Elisa had a prior engagement with a friend from Northwestern to see some tennis, so we were left to figure out our own day. Breakfast, or perhaps I should call it lunch, as it was close to noon, was a French baguette. They are quite amazing, at a whopping 85 cents, and about two and a half feet long. We set off towards the all-famous Notre Dame, and after 20 minutes of walking, were greeted by the magnificent sight of the cathedral, set on a small island between the split of the river. We walked through it, taking pictures, and continued past Sainte Chapelle, known for its display of stained glass windows. Crossing the river, we walked through the Palais Royal, the area where the Louvre is located, which again, the architectural beauty leaves the tourist awe-struck. We walked on through the Jardin des Tuileries, which is a bit dull given that it’s the winter, and onwards to Place de la Concorde, where a 3300 year old Egyptian obelisk stands. I’ll pause here briefly to talk about people in Paris: They all smoke. A lot. Picture your high class woman, dressed in a large fur coat, a Longchamp (or some other really expensive designer purse) bag hanging from her shoulder, her accessory small dog trotting alongside, walking down the street, but then add a long, thin cigarette between her fingers, taking small puffs at a time to portray her classiness, and there you have your stereotypical upper-class wealthy French woman. But then maybe it’s not so much a stereotype since it seems to apply to a majority. After the Place de la Concorde, we dropped by La Madeleine, a church inside a Greek building with Corinthian columns. Then we headed for Champs Elysees, the avenue for shopping and dining. Before we could make it through the avenue and to Arc de Triomphe, however, Elisa had finished up with her afternoon of champagne and tennis, and we headed back to grab dinner. Dinner was spent in an area called Marais, where we went to a Middle Eastern place for falafel and schwarma. Dinner was capped off by some great gelato with night views of Notre Dame and the Pantheon.
On day 3, I came down with a cold, most likely the result of a combination of the lack of sleep between Bangkok and Paris and the drastic weather change. To make things worse, there was no sun today. Cloudy, dreary, and cold. I tried to fight the cold, and we picked off where we left yesterday at Champs Elysees. Since I’m traveling with Naber, it’ll be no surprise to any of you that we stopped by the showrooms for the three major French auto companies; Citroen, Peugeot, and Renault. We made it up to Arc de Triomphe, then headed back towards the Eiffel Tower, hoping to stop by Palais de Tokyo, a free art museum. To our disappointment, it was closed, so we contented ourselves by having coffee at a café, then climbing the 670 steps up to the second level platform of the Eiffel Tower for some city views (and exercise I suppose). For dinner, we went to a place called La Marina, where we enjoyed French cuisine and beer. Since we decided we loved stairs on this particular day, we climbed up to the Sacre Coeur basilica to enjoy a night view of the city before calling it a day.
Day 4 was one of those travel days on which everything kind of doesn’t work out. I guess we’ve been lucky up to this point where everything has worked out, so a day like this was long overdue. I’m still battling a cold, which seems to have set itself out to make me live in complete misery. The day started off innocently enough, as we met up with Elisa for lunch after sleeping in. She works in Place Vendome, which is ridiculously nice. It’s a large plaza that houses a Cartier and several other similar caliber stores of watches and jewelry. We got lunch at a sandwich place, courtesy of Monitor Group. Well, half of lunch, at least. Thank you Elisa, for the other half. Per Elisa’s suggestion, after she went back to work, we went to Laduree, a famous store for macaroons. And it didn’t disappoint. That would be the last pleasant experience for the day. We had reserved this day for the museums, as it was another cold and dreary day, only to find that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. What kind of place chooses Tuesdays to be closed? No worries, right? Just go to another museum. Well, the Pompidou, the museum of contemporary art, happens to be closed every Tuesday as well. So we thought we’d just go to Versailles, a huge palace just 20-25 minutes outside Paris. We caught a train around 3:30 to Versailles, which closes at 5:30. This train happened to stop two stops before Versailles, where we were supposed to catch another train. Well, at this particular station, an announcement came over the loudspeakers, and of course neither of us understood a word, but noticed that every person got off the platform. Asking someone who worked there how we would get to Versailles, she directed us to another platform, and after almost half an hour of waiting, we got on another train, only to end up at the wrong Versailles station. We hustled across the town to get to the palace at 4:55, and were denied admission tickets which are supposed to stop selling at 5. Wonderful day. We had to settle for walking around the palace and through part of the gardens. Vast only begins to describe the acreage of the gardens. Again, save your visit to the gardens for spring, where everything would be much greener. One can easily spend 3 hours in the gardens alone. After the gardens, we got back to Paris, and I was drained from my cold. Got dinner on St. Germain Blvd. Food was delicious once again, so it was rather unfortunate that I could only taste part of it, compliments of the common cold. Turned in for the night with hopes of shaking the cold.
Day 5 was a day trip outside of Paris to the town of Blois (pronounced ‘blue-a’ really fast). Or you could be like me, and call it ‘Blah’ to make things easier. About 2 hours with stops by train, Blois is in the Loire Valley, where chateaus are scattered throughout and along the river. After sandwiches for lunch, we walked around the town, which was quaint and made up of very old but beautiful buildings, and toured the chateau there, defined by a large outdoor spiral staircase. Before I go on, I will mention a little bit about food and drink in Paris. Food is generally just delicious all over the place. But beware of the prices of drinks, and I’m not talking just alcohol. Coke and other sodas cost as much as 4 euro. I didn’t pay much attention to the price the first time we went to a café for lunch, and ended up with a great sandwich for 4.60, and a Coke for 4.10. Doesn’t seem quite right. Oh, and don’t even think the word “refill.” It doesn’t exist. But everything is bottled, and the novelty seems cool enough, for a few days. Anyhow, after Blois, we came back to Paris to actually explore the Pompidou, which in my book, is overrated. Instead, I enjoyed seeing Hotel de Ville. More or less, it’s similar to the Rockefeller Center in New York, complete with a public skating rink, only much more beautiful. We dined in another random restaurant with great food, and headed on over to the Eiffel Tower to get a couple pictures at night before calling it a day.
Day 6 was short, consisting of a morning trip to the Louvre before mentally preparing ourselves for 19 collective hours on the train for Lisbon. The building of the Louvre itself is amazing, and I suppose the art is too, if you’re into that sort of thing. We practically ran through the place, stopping, of course, to see the Mona Lisa. For those who haven’t seen it, if you’re expected this huge beautiful painting of the woman, be prepared to be let down. However, the full wall-sized painting across from the Mona Lisa is much cooler. And for those art history buffs that write a 100-page thesis on a piece such as the Mona Lisa, what the hell do you write about for so long? Get back to me on that one. Anyhow, we caught a metro over to Rue Mouffetard to get a crepe before leaving Paris, another must while in France. It should be a given at this point when I say that it was rather delicious, like everything else we’ve eaten in the city. France is always a must see and must do if an extended trip to Europe is made. However, note that French people are a little cold, and don’t always expect great service. People don’t seem to smile much in this city, which is odd, given that it’s supposed to be this romantic place. We overextended our stay a bit here, which worked out given that I had to recover from a cold and we had to get over jet lag as well. However, we remedied our extended stay by cutting out Avignon from our itinerary and adding on Lisbon. More about that from Naber later! For everyone that knows me, you should know I don’t do anything short when it comes to writing, so I’m not going to apologize for the length of this entry. I do hope you enjoyed it though, and I hope to write about a few more cities on the trip. Most of you should know that pictures are up on my Facebook profile, but if you don’t, feel free to take a look.
Bangkok *sorry for the delay*
We arrived in Bangkok at around 5 o’clock in the afternoon and Wang’s sister Jane had arranged for a car to drive us to her apartment complex in the city. She lives in a beautiful apartment complex with a large gate and guards in full uniform on duty at all times ever ready to solute you while clicking their heals together (I couldn’t get enough of it). Her apartment was an amazing 3 bedroom unit with a great view overlooking a large pond of the neighboring convention center and beyond to the city skyline. The place was huge and shortly after we settled in Jane returned home from work. We showered up and headed out for dinner. Jane wanted to try a place she had never been which served authentic Thai food. Nothing like jumping right into the local cuisine. We all ordered Thai iced teas which are like sweet tea with milk and are freaking delicious. Then in true Asian style dinner was ordered and eaten for the table, family style. I have gotten very used to and fond of this style because I can try all the different foods. The Thai people however do not use chopsticks but instead use a fork at knife. This was a slight disappointment for me as I had honed my chopstick skills quite well over the past few weeks. Dinner was very good and after it was only a quick cab ride to the local night market called the Suan Lum Night Bazaar.
This was unlike any other night market in Asia that we had been to. The first major difference was that you could actually walk around the market without being pushed and shoved everywhere. Another major difference is that there were things besides food that I was generally interested in purchasing. Everything from candle holders to shirts and shoes and let’s not forget about the ever popular knock off bags and watches. We walked around the market for quite some time and we found out quickly another large difference between this market and others we had been too, the vendors weren’t pushy and rude. They still excessively markup all prices only to be negotiated down to something reasonable and cheap by any western standard but at least they aren’t pushy. I ended up buying a collared shirt for 600 baht or 17 us collars, Jane fell in love with an awesome 9 piece original painting (which she later bought) and James escaped without being sucked in by the low priced goods. After spending several hours in the market, it was time to head back. But not before we got home we walked down Soy Cowboy, a popular red light district road in Bangkok, a city very well known for such. While you can image exactly what this road looks like… scantily clad Thai women soliciting sex, nasty white guys taking the bait and to our pleasant surprise elephants at each end for the road that were to provided added entertainment. After our trip down soy cowboy we headed back to decide what to do with our next day. We also were having our laundry done by Jane’s maid the next day. We couldn’t help but love this little convenience. Thanks Jane’s Maid!
Morning came a little later for us and we took the sky train to the last station which was the main dock on the river. I forgot to mention it is about 90 degrees and sunny, a very pleasant improvement from a couple days before in bitterly cold Beijing. We purchased two all cay tickets for what could only be called a water bus that was going to take us up and down the river seeing different areas of the city. There were about 13 different docks all with different things to see. The boats were very interesting, long and narrow, extremely old and pollution machines. They did the job though transporting us and probably 40 to 80 people on any given boatload, from dock to dock. We decided to take the boat all the way north and work our way down. The first stop was Bang Lam Phu and it was a backpacker’s paradise with several streets lined with shops, restaurants and bars. The main road was called Khaosan Road, hippies were everywhere and we loved it. We spent the better part of the early afternoon in this area checking out the sights and taking in all of the people watching.
We hopped back on the boat and headed to another dock which had the major tourist attraction the Grand Palace. It was a place of worship like other Asian temples we had seen but Thai temples are very glamorous. With extremely large structures glittering with colorful reflective stones. It was an amazing site one which I could never do justice through words. You will have to check the photos online. After this palace we took the water bus to another palace a few stops down the river. It was similar to the first but was known for a giant Buddha that was ‘reclined’. Lastly, we hit up the stop that the flower market was supposed to be at so we could buy an orchid for Jane. I say supposedly because it took us about 20 minutes to find this place as we walked through a large vegetable market before finding the flower market further than we expected off the river. It used to be a fish market but with such a foul smell it was converted into the current flower market. It was several major roads just lined with flowers for sale. I don’t know how anyone can make any money just selling flowers on the road so I assume they must be exported to other places to be sold.
That night we went to dinner with Jane at Curries and More and had a delicious meal of yup you guessed it, curry dishes. The food was great but we were instructed to save room for their even better desserts. This must be what they mean when they said ‘More’. After dinner we walked back and noticed that an intersection had been completely halted and our foot traffic to the sky train stopped. This was all in preparation for what Jane told us was a royal family member’s motorcade. They stop all traffic for any member of the royal family traveling through the streets. I thought this was very interesting to see but it was slightly anti-climatic.
The second full day was very relaxed day that started even more slowly than the first. We decided to head out and grab lunch first and then head to china town and check it out. Kind of ironic we know but it was a very popular area. We had read in our travel book that a good, cheap restaurant near Jane’s place was only a short walk away. Well it turns out that it takes an extremely helpful local to help two smart, capable and educated Americans find this place. We wandered around for the better part of 30 minutes before an older Thai man, probably in his 60’s, approached us and in decent English asked if he could help us find something. We explained to him where we were trying to go and what restaurant we expected to find there and he graciously gave is directions. When I want to thank him in my overly smiley, touristy way… he looked right at me, smiled and said, welcome to Thailand. This exchange is a perfect example of how pleasant and welcoming the Thai people are to tourists. It was very evident that a large industry in Bangkok is tourism. After lunch we hopped on a sky train to China town which to us seemed like a slight knockoff from where we had just been. While we were in Chinatown, Jane messaged Wang and said that she was going to take us to Vertigo for drinks that night around dinner time so we could see the sunset over the city. So we headed back and got showered up for drinks. Wang and I took 2-3 showers a day in Bangkok because of the heat.
Vertigo was on the roof of a very large building in Bangkok and was an extremely swanky bar and restaurant. So swanky in fact that Wang and I were underdressed in our shorts so they gave us both a pair of long pants to wear. They made us look about five times worse than the shorts but policy is policy right…???? This was made even more comical when we realized that several other men had been wearing ‘rental’ pants making a portion of their clientele look like waiters. And the icing on the classy cake was the gross, old, white men with Thai dates. Wink Wink. But appearances aside, the bar was beautiful with great drinks and snacks, decor and amazing views of the city. We also knew we were in Thailand because the railings were probably three feet tall. Anything like this in the states would have an abundant list of lawsuits on their hands. After drinks we went back to the night market were there were plenty of Thai places to choose from for dinner. We had dinner and walked around the market again. I again bought a collared shirt, Wang got a three piece picture and Jane finally got that painting she loved. The painter was so beside herself with excitement over her large sale to Jane that we all couldn’t help but be excited.
On our last day we went to Fred Thompson’s house. The man who was credited with reviving the silk market in Thailand was an American and his house is crawling with tourist. It really was a very beautiful place. After our guided tour of the Thompson house from our very pleasant English speaking Thai woman, we sat down at the café on site for a drink. Fred Thompson’s house sat on a very narrow waterway with water taxis flying up and down it all day long. I couldn’t help but want to see the river and jump on one of these boats. We timidly got on a water taxi and headed down the river not really knowing exactly where we were heading. We ended up getting off at the right dock so we could walk to the Golden Mount, a very famous monastery in the city. It sat atop a large hill overlooking the city and we climbed up to take a look around. It was a great discovery and on another 90 degree and sunny day was the perfect thing for us to do that afternoon. After the Golden Mount we hopped back on the water taxi to take us to another stop near Siam Square, a local shopping area full of little boutiques and other things to see. We walked around for a little bit and headed back for the apartment. We got back and showered up, grabbed a quick bite for dinner with Jane down the street and then packed up and got ready for Jane’s fondue party that night. The party started at around 8 and we could only stay for a short while before we had to hop a cab to the airport for Europe.
Jane was an extremely gracious host and we could not have asked for more comfortable accommodations. The weather was amazing and a very welcome change from what we were used to. The food and the people were among the best and most pleasant of any place we had been in Asia. Lastly it was very inexpensive compared to anything in the west. This is why I would strongly recommend anyone looking for a slightly more exotic place to visit for a warm vacation to consider Thailand.
With Taiwan, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Thailand visited in Asia, our 13 hour flight to Paris was the only thing separating us from our second leg of the trip in Europe.
This was unlike any other night market in Asia that we had been to. The first major difference was that you could actually walk around the market without being pushed and shoved everywhere. Another major difference is that there were things besides food that I was generally interested in purchasing. Everything from candle holders to shirts and shoes and let’s not forget about the ever popular knock off bags and watches. We walked around the market for quite some time and we found out quickly another large difference between this market and others we had been too, the vendors weren’t pushy and rude. They still excessively markup all prices only to be negotiated down to something reasonable and cheap by any western standard but at least they aren’t pushy. I ended up buying a collared shirt for 600 baht or 17 us collars, Jane fell in love with an awesome 9 piece original painting (which she later bought) and James escaped without being sucked in by the low priced goods. After spending several hours in the market, it was time to head back. But not before we got home we walked down Soy Cowboy, a popular red light district road in Bangkok, a city very well known for such. While you can image exactly what this road looks like… scantily clad Thai women soliciting sex, nasty white guys taking the bait and to our pleasant surprise elephants at each end for the road that were to provided added entertainment. After our trip down soy cowboy we headed back to decide what to do with our next day. We also were having our laundry done by Jane’s maid the next day. We couldn’t help but love this little convenience. Thanks Jane’s Maid!
Morning came a little later for us and we took the sky train to the last station which was the main dock on the river. I forgot to mention it is about 90 degrees and sunny, a very pleasant improvement from a couple days before in bitterly cold Beijing. We purchased two all cay tickets for what could only be called a water bus that was going to take us up and down the river seeing different areas of the city. There were about 13 different docks all with different things to see. The boats were very interesting, long and narrow, extremely old and pollution machines. They did the job though transporting us and probably 40 to 80 people on any given boatload, from dock to dock. We decided to take the boat all the way north and work our way down. The first stop was Bang Lam Phu and it was a backpacker’s paradise with several streets lined with shops, restaurants and bars. The main road was called Khaosan Road, hippies were everywhere and we loved it. We spent the better part of the early afternoon in this area checking out the sights and taking in all of the people watching.
We hopped back on the boat and headed to another dock which had the major tourist attraction the Grand Palace. It was a place of worship like other Asian temples we had seen but Thai temples are very glamorous. With extremely large structures glittering with colorful reflective stones. It was an amazing site one which I could never do justice through words. You will have to check the photos online. After this palace we took the water bus to another palace a few stops down the river. It was similar to the first but was known for a giant Buddha that was ‘reclined’. Lastly, we hit up the stop that the flower market was supposed to be at so we could buy an orchid for Jane. I say supposedly because it took us about 20 minutes to find this place as we walked through a large vegetable market before finding the flower market further than we expected off the river. It used to be a fish market but with such a foul smell it was converted into the current flower market. It was several major roads just lined with flowers for sale. I don’t know how anyone can make any money just selling flowers on the road so I assume they must be exported to other places to be sold.
That night we went to dinner with Jane at Curries and More and had a delicious meal of yup you guessed it, curry dishes. The food was great but we were instructed to save room for their even better desserts. This must be what they mean when they said ‘More’. After dinner we walked back and noticed that an intersection had been completely halted and our foot traffic to the sky train stopped. This was all in preparation for what Jane told us was a royal family member’s motorcade. They stop all traffic for any member of the royal family traveling through the streets. I thought this was very interesting to see but it was slightly anti-climatic.
The second full day was very relaxed day that started even more slowly than the first. We decided to head out and grab lunch first and then head to china town and check it out. Kind of ironic we know but it was a very popular area. We had read in our travel book that a good, cheap restaurant near Jane’s place was only a short walk away. Well it turns out that it takes an extremely helpful local to help two smart, capable and educated Americans find this place. We wandered around for the better part of 30 minutes before an older Thai man, probably in his 60’s, approached us and in decent English asked if he could help us find something. We explained to him where we were trying to go and what restaurant we expected to find there and he graciously gave is directions. When I want to thank him in my overly smiley, touristy way… he looked right at me, smiled and said, welcome to Thailand. This exchange is a perfect example of how pleasant and welcoming the Thai people are to tourists. It was very evident that a large industry in Bangkok is tourism. After lunch we hopped on a sky train to China town which to us seemed like a slight knockoff from where we had just been. While we were in Chinatown, Jane messaged Wang and said that she was going to take us to Vertigo for drinks that night around dinner time so we could see the sunset over the city. So we headed back and got showered up for drinks. Wang and I took 2-3 showers a day in Bangkok because of the heat.
Vertigo was on the roof of a very large building in Bangkok and was an extremely swanky bar and restaurant. So swanky in fact that Wang and I were underdressed in our shorts so they gave us both a pair of long pants to wear. They made us look about five times worse than the shorts but policy is policy right…???? This was made even more comical when we realized that several other men had been wearing ‘rental’ pants making a portion of their clientele look like waiters. And the icing on the classy cake was the gross, old, white men with Thai dates. Wink Wink. But appearances aside, the bar was beautiful with great drinks and snacks, decor and amazing views of the city. We also knew we were in Thailand because the railings were probably three feet tall. Anything like this in the states would have an abundant list of lawsuits on their hands. After drinks we went back to the night market were there were plenty of Thai places to choose from for dinner. We had dinner and walked around the market again. I again bought a collared shirt, Wang got a three piece picture and Jane finally got that painting she loved. The painter was so beside herself with excitement over her large sale to Jane that we all couldn’t help but be excited.
On our last day we went to Fred Thompson’s house. The man who was credited with reviving the silk market in Thailand was an American and his house is crawling with tourist. It really was a very beautiful place. After our guided tour of the Thompson house from our very pleasant English speaking Thai woman, we sat down at the café on site for a drink. Fred Thompson’s house sat on a very narrow waterway with water taxis flying up and down it all day long. I couldn’t help but want to see the river and jump on one of these boats. We timidly got on a water taxi and headed down the river not really knowing exactly where we were heading. We ended up getting off at the right dock so we could walk to the Golden Mount, a very famous monastery in the city. It sat atop a large hill overlooking the city and we climbed up to take a look around. It was a great discovery and on another 90 degree and sunny day was the perfect thing for us to do that afternoon. After the Golden Mount we hopped back on the water taxi to take us to another stop near Siam Square, a local shopping area full of little boutiques and other things to see. We walked around for a little bit and headed back for the apartment. We got back and showered up, grabbed a quick bite for dinner with Jane down the street and then packed up and got ready for Jane’s fondue party that night. The party started at around 8 and we could only stay for a short while before we had to hop a cab to the airport for Europe.
Jane was an extremely gracious host and we could not have asked for more comfortable accommodations. The weather was amazing and a very welcome change from what we were used to. The food and the people were among the best and most pleasant of any place we had been in Asia. Lastly it was very inexpensive compared to anything in the west. This is why I would strongly recommend anyone looking for a slightly more exotic place to visit for a warm vacation to consider Thailand.
With Taiwan, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Thailand visited in Asia, our 13 hour flight to Paris was the only thing separating us from our second leg of the trip in Europe.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Flying into Hong Kong is a privilege with the views of the ocean, ships, and small islands. The temperature was around 72 degrees and the skies were sunny. Needless to say, a dramatic improvement from the 50’s and haziness of Shanghai. We hopped on the train to the Hong Kong station and then took a cab to Wang’s auntie Grace’s apartment in the Causeway Bay area of downtown. This is a beautiful area packed with amazing shops and tons of people lining the streets when we got there Sunday evening around 5ish. Auntie Grace met us downstairs on street and showed us up to her 14th floor apartment. My introduction to auntie grace was an interesting one. Please note the formality of her title, Auntie Grace. The first thing she actually said directly to me was “you will call me Auntie Grace”. I had been warned of her love for certain formalities and seniority so I was very happy to honor her request. She was a very blunt woman but she was an exceptional host as long as you were very aware of her rules. The layout of her place had a guest room with a bathroom in the back and that is where we put our things and planned to stay for the nest two nights. Auntie Grace quickly shuffled us out of her apartment and to Peking Garden. We took the metro to the restaurant but not before Auntie Grace gave us both metro cards and filled them up with enough money to get around the entire time we were in Hong Kong. This was an extremely hospitable gesture and way over the top, but as we learned… Auntie Grace was an exceptional host. She was also very adamant about the fact that the food in Hong Kong is better than anywhere in Asia and her first example was Peking Duck. She ordered us a dinner that could have fed 5 people and to her point the duck was actually better in Hong Kong than Beijing but the wrappers were better in Beijing.
After dinner we walked through the park and in Auntie Grace style, she shuffled us to the next thing on the agenda which was The Peak Tram. Before we had a chance to realize where we had followed her, we were standing in line waiting for the next tram. We quickly thanked her and would see her in the morning.
The Peak Tram took us up the Mountain, sometimes at a 45 degree angle, to the mall and observation deck that overlooked the entire city. The city of Hong Kong is beautiful during the day and even better when lit up at night. We spent about an hour taking pictures and just gazing over the city. The weather was amazing and the wind on our faces was just like being on a speedboat. We took the Peak Tram back down and waited in line for a bus. The double-decker bus took us though the city to the ferry docks on the very short waterway separating Hong Kong Island with Kowloon. Once to Kowloon we walked down the “Avenue of Stars” which provided a great view of the city at night across the water and who could forget the always impressive handprint of Jackie Chan.
The next day we work up to Auntie Grace literally banging on the door saying “wake up”. We had told her we usually woke up between 8 and 9 and we had slept till 10. Heaven forbid. So we woke up and the maid had set out various types of fresh fruit for us to eat before lunch. We quickly took showers and it was off to the races again with Auntie Grace. We had to take a bus to the other side of the island where we hopped on a water taxi. I think Auntie Grace had the cell phone number of her preferred water taxi driver because we sent away several before settling on a woman that Auntie Grace was obviously friends with. The driver was instructed by Auntie Grace to take us on a tour of the harbor before doping us off to lunch at the “Jumbo Floating Restaurant” which was to serve us our Dim Sum style lunch. The tour around the harbor had everything from multi-million dollar yachts to the old houseboats that many of the poor in Hong Kong used to live in. it was quite a contrasting sight. After the tour was lunch and Dim sum is generally a wide range of Chinese dishes served alongside tea. The Jumbo Floating Restaurant was delicious and the service was as Aunty Grace expected… Perfect! After lunch we headed to the expo center and walked practically all the way across the city. Hong Kong isn’t really that large so walking across a major part of it only took a few hours. After our walk we headed back to the docks to have a ferry take us back over the river. We spent a couple more hours in Kowloon and then it was time for dinner.
Our plan was dinner around 8:30 with a high school friend of Wang’s in SOHO. Her name was Kalina and she worked in Hong Kong for Morgan Stanley. We met at a restaurant and had a great time and ended up at a bar a few blocks over. We had a beer at one bar that overlook and awesome road packed with small bars and people and the set out to find the very difficult liquor to find in Asia… Crowne Royal. We actually found a bar with it, had our last drink and headed home.
Our last day was started with another table of fresh fruit and this time with the addition of coffee brewed in something that looked like a mad chemistry experiment with a burner included. Breakfast was delicious and after we showered up and packed out bags for our flight later. The maid was busy working on boiled dumplings which were to be for lunch. Once cleaned up and packed we sat down for lunch but ate quickly as to make it in time for the last attraction that Auntie Grace had on our agenda. It was the Hong Kong Noonday Gun which is fired off every day at noon in some symbolic military event.
The trip to Hong Kong was short but long enough to make it to the top of my list of cities we have been to thus far. It had great weather, amazing buildings, beautiful waterways, and the hustle and bustle of a large city that I love so much. It was also formally a British colony so there was a ton of English and having less of a language barrier is always a pleasurable experience for foreign travelers. Next is Bangkok!
Flying into Hong Kong is a privilege with the views of the ocean, ships, and small islands. The temperature was around 72 degrees and the skies were sunny. Needless to say, a dramatic improvement from the 50’s and haziness of Shanghai. We hopped on the train to the Hong Kong station and then took a cab to Wang’s auntie Grace’s apartment in the Causeway Bay area of downtown. This is a beautiful area packed with amazing shops and tons of people lining the streets when we got there Sunday evening around 5ish. Auntie Grace met us downstairs on street and showed us up to her 14th floor apartment. My introduction to auntie grace was an interesting one. Please note the formality of her title, Auntie Grace. The first thing she actually said directly to me was “you will call me Auntie Grace”. I had been warned of her love for certain formalities and seniority so I was very happy to honor her request. She was a very blunt woman but she was an exceptional host as long as you were very aware of her rules. The layout of her place had a guest room with a bathroom in the back and that is where we put our things and planned to stay for the nest two nights. Auntie Grace quickly shuffled us out of her apartment and to Peking Garden. We took the metro to the restaurant but not before Auntie Grace gave us both metro cards and filled them up with enough money to get around the entire time we were in Hong Kong. This was an extremely hospitable gesture and way over the top, but as we learned… Auntie Grace was an exceptional host. She was also very adamant about the fact that the food in Hong Kong is better than anywhere in Asia and her first example was Peking Duck. She ordered us a dinner that could have fed 5 people and to her point the duck was actually better in Hong Kong than Beijing but the wrappers were better in Beijing.
After dinner we walked through the park and in Auntie Grace style, she shuffled us to the next thing on the agenda which was The Peak Tram. Before we had a chance to realize where we had followed her, we were standing in line waiting for the next tram. We quickly thanked her and would see her in the morning.
The Peak Tram took us up the Mountain, sometimes at a 45 degree angle, to the mall and observation deck that overlooked the entire city. The city of Hong Kong is beautiful during the day and even better when lit up at night. We spent about an hour taking pictures and just gazing over the city. The weather was amazing and the wind on our faces was just like being on a speedboat. We took the Peak Tram back down and waited in line for a bus. The double-decker bus took us though the city to the ferry docks on the very short waterway separating Hong Kong Island with Kowloon. Once to Kowloon we walked down the “Avenue of Stars” which provided a great view of the city at night across the water and who could forget the always impressive handprint of Jackie Chan.
The next day we work up to Auntie Grace literally banging on the door saying “wake up”. We had told her we usually woke up between 8 and 9 and we had slept till 10. Heaven forbid. So we woke up and the maid had set out various types of fresh fruit for us to eat before lunch. We quickly took showers and it was off to the races again with Auntie Grace. We had to take a bus to the other side of the island where we hopped on a water taxi. I think Auntie Grace had the cell phone number of her preferred water taxi driver because we sent away several before settling on a woman that Auntie Grace was obviously friends with. The driver was instructed by Auntie Grace to take us on a tour of the harbor before doping us off to lunch at the “Jumbo Floating Restaurant” which was to serve us our Dim Sum style lunch. The tour around the harbor had everything from multi-million dollar yachts to the old houseboats that many of the poor in Hong Kong used to live in. it was quite a contrasting sight. After the tour was lunch and Dim sum is generally a wide range of Chinese dishes served alongside tea. The Jumbo Floating Restaurant was delicious and the service was as Aunty Grace expected… Perfect! After lunch we headed to the expo center and walked practically all the way across the city. Hong Kong isn’t really that large so walking across a major part of it only took a few hours. After our walk we headed back to the docks to have a ferry take us back over the river. We spent a couple more hours in Kowloon and then it was time for dinner.
Our plan was dinner around 8:30 with a high school friend of Wang’s in SOHO. Her name was Kalina and she worked in Hong Kong for Morgan Stanley. We met at a restaurant and had a great time and ended up at a bar a few blocks over. We had a beer at one bar that overlook and awesome road packed with small bars and people and the set out to find the very difficult liquor to find in Asia… Crowne Royal. We actually found a bar with it, had our last drink and headed home.
Our last day was started with another table of fresh fruit and this time with the addition of coffee brewed in something that looked like a mad chemistry experiment with a burner included. Breakfast was delicious and after we showered up and packed out bags for our flight later. The maid was busy working on boiled dumplings which were to be for lunch. Once cleaned up and packed we sat down for lunch but ate quickly as to make it in time for the last attraction that Auntie Grace had on our agenda. It was the Hong Kong Noonday Gun which is fired off every day at noon in some symbolic military event.
The trip to Hong Kong was short but long enough to make it to the top of my list of cities we have been to thus far. It had great weather, amazing buildings, beautiful waterways, and the hustle and bustle of a large city that I love so much. It was also formally a British colony so there was a ton of English and having less of a language barrier is always a pleasurable experience for foreign travelers. Next is Bangkok!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Shanghai
Wang and I arrived at the older shanghai airport because our flight was domestic from Beijing. This was great because it was only a short taxi ride to the place we were staying. Wang’s aunt has a cousin that lives in Shanghai and had a place for us to stay. Her name is Lucy and she manages a large office building complex and part of the complex has some guest rooms. We got our things moved in, took a shower and headed for a walk into town. The weather was extremely hazy so we hoped for some more favorable skies in the next two days. We walked around for a couple hours, getting some coffee and picking up a camera bag to replace the one Wang had left in Beijing. We got back around 6:30 so we could meet Lucy for dinner. We hopped in Lucy’s car (a BMW X5 4.8 V10… Awesome!) and she took us on a quick driving tour of the city on our way to dinner. Dinner was in an area called Tai Kang Lu, part of the Luwan District. It is an amazing development which started with a renovated factory and grew into a very artistic, eclectic area full of small restaurants with no more than 10 tables at each, art shops, wine bars, etc. It was extremely cool and a we walked around looking at all of the shops for about 30 minutes. We ended up choosing a restaurant called Miss Ginger which served very good drinks and a menu with “panoramic cuisine with a Japanese attitude”. It was absolutely delicious! On the way home I started to feel very sick. I was light headed and had a sore stomach. We had originally planned to go out for drinks after in the French Concession but instead I ask that we be dropped off at our place so I could hopefully feel better before we went out. That time never came and I walked to the corner convenience store to get a bottle of water and went to bed. Wang and I both forgot to ask specifically for bottled water and I think that’s how I got sick.
The next day we woke up and I was feeling a little better. We headed out to Peoples Square so we could go to the Shanghai Museum. I was feeling extremely tired so we went on a search for coffee. We settled for a Starbucks a couple of blocks over from the square and we ordered our drinks. While waiting I noticed another guy ordering who had a Nielsen badge. I thought that was kinda cool. We got our coffee and headed to the museum. In the museum, which had free admission, we viewed Buddhist sculptures, Chinese paintings, furniture, jade carvings, etc. After, we headed to the MoCa which is the Shanghai Modern art museum which pales in comparison to the MoMa but still had a few interesting pieces. We then headed to Nanjing Dong Lu which is the most famous street in Shanghai filled with shops, food, and don’t forget the ever pesky knock-off vendors. We stopped and grabbed a quick bite at a little stand in peoples square and we both got what I would describe as an Asian pizza which was just round dough with pork meat top. It was very good.
We walked up Nanjing Dong Lu which connected Peoples Square to the Bund. Nanjing Dong Lu was full of stores and was great for people watching. The Bund is the old financial district with old buildings lining the Huangpu River. This is also very touristy but had amazing views of the old and newer parts of the city separated by the river. Walking up and down the Bund we were kind of disappointed in the weather because it was again a very hazy day. After the Bund we walked back to the metro and headed to Xintiandi and went to dinner at Ding Tai Fung.
Xintiandi is a very upscale, trendy area and was also where Ding Tai Fung was, which Wang had wanted to go to since we got to Asia. Ding Tai Fung serves great food but we decided to fill up on their famous Xiao Long Bao which are a mix between a dumpling and a steamed bun. After dinner we had planned to head back and get ready for our Friday night in Shanghai. Lucy had texted Wang to see if we wanted to go to a party with her. It was a “Ferrari” party at a gay bar downtown. We thought it would at least be entertaining so we decided to meet her there around 10:15. We had been misinformed of the cross street so we were about 30 minutes late. The bar was underground and called Shanghai Studio. The music was good the crowd was fun. Lucy’s old friend Amy was hosting the little get together and we all ended up having a hilarious time.
Day 3 started in Old Town which was full of little shops with chopsticks, tea sets, and other traditional Chinese things that make for good souvenirs. We walked around old town and found some lunch in an alley full of little food stands. In Asia I have gotten very used to food stands and walking and eating at the same time. After we finished our lunch we headed to the Yu Yuan Garden which is an old, traditional Chinese Zen garden. It was beautiful and completely enclosed by large walls isolating it from the hustle and bustle of the city around it. We spent a little over an hour walking through different areas of the garden that are supposed to evoke different kinds of feelings like calmness, joyousness, or carelessness, etc. After the garden we walked around old town a little longer and caught a cab to Pudong.
Pudong is a very new area in Shanghai that was developed in the past fifteen years and is occupied by many large buildings on of which is the second tallest in the world. We first went to Jin Mao which has a bar on the 87th floor called Cloud 9. We got a coffee which was about 10 US dollars but the ticket to get to the observation level which is just as high as the bar costs more than 10 dollars so we figured it was a free cup of coffee. Then Wang got an email from Lucy saying if we wanted to, she was in the Shanghai World Financial Center at Century 100 having some tea and if we wanted to join we were more than welcome too. Since SWFC is the second tallest building in the world we jumped at the opportunity. Century 100 was on the 91st floor and we had some more coffee and tea. It was getting very close to dinner time and we left and walked near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower which is also in Pudong and is a very cool building from the outside.
After our visit to Pudong we caught a cab back to Nanjing Dong Lu so we could check out the street at night with all of the lights. It was an impressive scene and well worth the detour to dinner. We decided to head to the French Concession, another area in Shanghai, for dinner. We settled on Simple Thai for dinner and it was great. It was a Saturday night but we both decided to head back to our room and get some sleep for our early morning to Hong Kong.
The next day we woke up and I was feeling a little better. We headed out to Peoples Square so we could go to the Shanghai Museum. I was feeling extremely tired so we went on a search for coffee. We settled for a Starbucks a couple of blocks over from the square and we ordered our drinks. While waiting I noticed another guy ordering who had a Nielsen badge. I thought that was kinda cool. We got our coffee and headed to the museum. In the museum, which had free admission, we viewed Buddhist sculptures, Chinese paintings, furniture, jade carvings, etc. After, we headed to the MoCa which is the Shanghai Modern art museum which pales in comparison to the MoMa but still had a few interesting pieces. We then headed to Nanjing Dong Lu which is the most famous street in Shanghai filled with shops, food, and don’t forget the ever pesky knock-off vendors. We stopped and grabbed a quick bite at a little stand in peoples square and we both got what I would describe as an Asian pizza which was just round dough with pork meat top. It was very good.
We walked up Nanjing Dong Lu which connected Peoples Square to the Bund. Nanjing Dong Lu was full of stores and was great for people watching. The Bund is the old financial district with old buildings lining the Huangpu River. This is also very touristy but had amazing views of the old and newer parts of the city separated by the river. Walking up and down the Bund we were kind of disappointed in the weather because it was again a very hazy day. After the Bund we walked back to the metro and headed to Xintiandi and went to dinner at Ding Tai Fung.
Xintiandi is a very upscale, trendy area and was also where Ding Tai Fung was, which Wang had wanted to go to since we got to Asia. Ding Tai Fung serves great food but we decided to fill up on their famous Xiao Long Bao which are a mix between a dumpling and a steamed bun. After dinner we had planned to head back and get ready for our Friday night in Shanghai. Lucy had texted Wang to see if we wanted to go to a party with her. It was a “Ferrari” party at a gay bar downtown. We thought it would at least be entertaining so we decided to meet her there around 10:15. We had been misinformed of the cross street so we were about 30 minutes late. The bar was underground and called Shanghai Studio. The music was good the crowd was fun. Lucy’s old friend Amy was hosting the little get together and we all ended up having a hilarious time.
Day 3 started in Old Town which was full of little shops with chopsticks, tea sets, and other traditional Chinese things that make for good souvenirs. We walked around old town and found some lunch in an alley full of little food stands. In Asia I have gotten very used to food stands and walking and eating at the same time. After we finished our lunch we headed to the Yu Yuan Garden which is an old, traditional Chinese Zen garden. It was beautiful and completely enclosed by large walls isolating it from the hustle and bustle of the city around it. We spent a little over an hour walking through different areas of the garden that are supposed to evoke different kinds of feelings like calmness, joyousness, or carelessness, etc. After the garden we walked around old town a little longer and caught a cab to Pudong.
Pudong is a very new area in Shanghai that was developed in the past fifteen years and is occupied by many large buildings on of which is the second tallest in the world. We first went to Jin Mao which has a bar on the 87th floor called Cloud 9. We got a coffee which was about 10 US dollars but the ticket to get to the observation level which is just as high as the bar costs more than 10 dollars so we figured it was a free cup of coffee. Then Wang got an email from Lucy saying if we wanted to, she was in the Shanghai World Financial Center at Century 100 having some tea and if we wanted to join we were more than welcome too. Since SWFC is the second tallest building in the world we jumped at the opportunity. Century 100 was on the 91st floor and we had some more coffee and tea. It was getting very close to dinner time and we left and walked near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower which is also in Pudong and is a very cool building from the outside.
After our visit to Pudong we caught a cab back to Nanjing Dong Lu so we could check out the street at night with all of the lights. It was an impressive scene and well worth the detour to dinner. We decided to head to the French Concession, another area in Shanghai, for dinner. We settled on Simple Thai for dinner and it was great. It was a Saturday night but we both decided to head back to our room and get some sleep for our early morning to Hong Kong.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Beijing
The Beijing airport is UNREAL! They must have completely redone the place for the Olympics. Not only is it massive but it is also clean and architecturally interesting. When we got our bags we had to figure out how to get to the hostel. We had two options… one was to take busses from the airport using the instructions we had from the hostel’s website or two, take a cab. We decided to do the latter because China is so cheap and we thought it would be more convenient. Well we quickly realized that the address we had for the hostel was in English and we didn’t know how to convey the location in Chinese to the driver. We knew what district it was in so we asked that he head that direction. This was less than a great situation because not only are Chinese cab drivers known for scamming, and we are both obviously “rich” Americans, but that we also didn’t know exactly where the hell we were going. All I have to say is thank god for blackberrys and googlemaps because without these two amazing resources for use throughout the trip, well who knows where we would end up.
We made it to our hostel which I would describe as a hotel with terrible beds making it a bad hotel but also making it an amazing hostel. To make things even better, our hostel was located in a great area with tons of stores, restaurants, cafes, and parks to walk around and the staff was wonderful. Once we checked in and got cleaned up it was about 4 o’clock so we headed out and checked out the area. We walked to an awesome lake that was frozen over and packed with people ice skating and ice biking? We walked past tons of stores and restaurants noticing that there wasn’t a single chain in sight. Everything in Beijing is mom and pop with the exception of a few McDonalds, KFC’s and a Starbucks here and there. Either way, far less than Japan or Taiwan. We grabbed dinner at a place up the street that served Sichuan food which is a province in western China known for using chilies, peppers, and garlic. After, we grabbed a beer at a pool bar and I had a Chinese beer called Tsingtao. It frankly tasted like Keystone (piss water) but the price was right!
We woke up the next morning and had a free breakfast at the café next door compliments of the hostel. Have I mentioned I love this hostel? It was then off to the Birds Nest or for those who don’t know the sight of the 2008 Beijing summer Olympics. The place is HUGE with music playing everywhere. It was a very cool experience. We took some pictures and asked someone to take a picture of Wang and I together. He was happy to do so but after he took out picture he told Wang that his young son wanted to take a picture with me. It was hilarious too because they didn’t really know how to ask if it was alright with my but I quickly understood their intentions and I took a picture with this little Asian kid.
After we took in the sights at the Birds Nest we headed south to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is huge and surrounded by some very cool buildings including the Chinese National museum, the Great Hall of the People, and the largest monument in China called the Monument of the People’s Heroes.
We were a little hungry after Tiananmen Square so we found a place to eat the served dumplings. We ordered 30 dumplings, fifteen a piece. We each had a drink and ate all of the dumplings and our total bill was 7 US dollars. You have to love the food prices in China.
To call the Forbidden City massive would be a gross understatement. It was the Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty. It was built in the very early 1400’s and has over 900 buildings with over 8,500 rooms. This place was huge and I really enjoyed walking through but by the end I was ready to go.
On the way back to the Hostel we walked up a near street with tons of shopping, again no chains. In China haggling is a must so in every store someone is there to sell you something and negotiate a “special price” for you. This was very irritating for me who just likes to shop and know the price of an item and whether not it’s worth it to me. This way if you actually want something you need to spend the next 3 minutes debating about how you only want to spend X and they can offer Y and so on a so forth. It just gives me a damn headache. We then caught the train back to the hostel.
I had gotten used to the polite and proper style of the Japanese as compared to the Taiwanese but now in China was like Taiwan again. The people have a complete lack of respect for personal space. It is very interesting to be bumped around all the time and cut in front of in lines when you don’t expect it.
We were heading back to the Hostel so we could be there in time for the Kung fu show we had purchased tickets for. The show was great with stunts, acrobatics and breaking of objects over bodies. After the show we got to bed early so we could get even more in the next day.
Day two came and went very quickly with three things on the agenda; the Beijing Zoo/Aquarium, the Great Wall, and Peking duck dinner, a Beijing specialty! We again grabbed some free breakfast and headed to the zoo via train. We actually had to take a public bus from the train station to the zoo and that was a very interesting experience. There is no English on local bus and apparently not a square inch of free floor space either. We got on the bus and packed in like sardines. It was a little uncomfortable but it was only a very short ride. We got to the zoo and saw the pandas, lions, tigers, elephants, and the aquarium display. The zoo was great and the aquarium was even better. We grabbed a delicious, quick lunch at the zoo and took a cab to the bus stop for the Great Wall buses.
We knew which bus number to take but the whole bus stop was so unorganized and not American friendly with little to no English. Wang did his best to communicate but it was a difficult trying to determine who was actually working there and who was just trying to hassle us for money. We got on the cramped bus and headed 2 hours down the road to the Wall. The bus ride there was less than two US dollars which is not bad for a 2 hour bus ride. The Great Wall is exactly as I expected… long and impressive. We spent a couple of hours hiking up and down the wall taking tons of pictures along the way. There were even two little Asian boys who saw me and said hello in English all excited and so I smiled and greeted them back. His mom then told Wang that they would like to take a picture with me. I of course did and appreciated how they help solidified my theory that young Asian children see me as a zoo animal over here. We grabbed a bus back to Beijing and took a taxi back to the Hostel.
Peking Duck was made famous in Beijing so we decided that we would have to try some out for dinner. We received a recommendation from Apple(the very nice girl at the front desk) at the hostel for the most popular roasted duck place in Beijing. The likes of Fidel Castro and George Bush have had Beijing’s famous roasted duck at this place so we figured why not? The food was UNREAL and being that it’s China, the bill was comparable to an expensive lunch in the states. We were tired after dinner so we headed back to pack our bags for the morning to leave for Shanghai.
We made it to our hostel which I would describe as a hotel with terrible beds making it a bad hotel but also making it an amazing hostel. To make things even better, our hostel was located in a great area with tons of stores, restaurants, cafes, and parks to walk around and the staff was wonderful. Once we checked in and got cleaned up it was about 4 o’clock so we headed out and checked out the area. We walked to an awesome lake that was frozen over and packed with people ice skating and ice biking? We walked past tons of stores and restaurants noticing that there wasn’t a single chain in sight. Everything in Beijing is mom and pop with the exception of a few McDonalds, KFC’s and a Starbucks here and there. Either way, far less than Japan or Taiwan. We grabbed dinner at a place up the street that served Sichuan food which is a province in western China known for using chilies, peppers, and garlic. After, we grabbed a beer at a pool bar and I had a Chinese beer called Tsingtao. It frankly tasted like Keystone (piss water) but the price was right!
We woke up the next morning and had a free breakfast at the café next door compliments of the hostel. Have I mentioned I love this hostel? It was then off to the Birds Nest or for those who don’t know the sight of the 2008 Beijing summer Olympics. The place is HUGE with music playing everywhere. It was a very cool experience. We took some pictures and asked someone to take a picture of Wang and I together. He was happy to do so but after he took out picture he told Wang that his young son wanted to take a picture with me. It was hilarious too because they didn’t really know how to ask if it was alright with my but I quickly understood their intentions and I took a picture with this little Asian kid.
After we took in the sights at the Birds Nest we headed south to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is huge and surrounded by some very cool buildings including the Chinese National museum, the Great Hall of the People, and the largest monument in China called the Monument of the People’s Heroes.
We were a little hungry after Tiananmen Square so we found a place to eat the served dumplings. We ordered 30 dumplings, fifteen a piece. We each had a drink and ate all of the dumplings and our total bill was 7 US dollars. You have to love the food prices in China.
To call the Forbidden City massive would be a gross understatement. It was the Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty. It was built in the very early 1400’s and has over 900 buildings with over 8,500 rooms. This place was huge and I really enjoyed walking through but by the end I was ready to go.
On the way back to the Hostel we walked up a near street with tons of shopping, again no chains. In China haggling is a must so in every store someone is there to sell you something and negotiate a “special price” for you. This was very irritating for me who just likes to shop and know the price of an item and whether not it’s worth it to me. This way if you actually want something you need to spend the next 3 minutes debating about how you only want to spend X and they can offer Y and so on a so forth. It just gives me a damn headache. We then caught the train back to the hostel.
I had gotten used to the polite and proper style of the Japanese as compared to the Taiwanese but now in China was like Taiwan again. The people have a complete lack of respect for personal space. It is very interesting to be bumped around all the time and cut in front of in lines when you don’t expect it.
We were heading back to the Hostel so we could be there in time for the Kung fu show we had purchased tickets for. The show was great with stunts, acrobatics and breaking of objects over bodies. After the show we got to bed early so we could get even more in the next day.
Day two came and went very quickly with three things on the agenda; the Beijing Zoo/Aquarium, the Great Wall, and Peking duck dinner, a Beijing specialty! We again grabbed some free breakfast and headed to the zoo via train. We actually had to take a public bus from the train station to the zoo and that was a very interesting experience. There is no English on local bus and apparently not a square inch of free floor space either. We got on the bus and packed in like sardines. It was a little uncomfortable but it was only a very short ride. We got to the zoo and saw the pandas, lions, tigers, elephants, and the aquarium display. The zoo was great and the aquarium was even better. We grabbed a delicious, quick lunch at the zoo and took a cab to the bus stop for the Great Wall buses.
We knew which bus number to take but the whole bus stop was so unorganized and not American friendly with little to no English. Wang did his best to communicate but it was a difficult trying to determine who was actually working there and who was just trying to hassle us for money. We got on the cramped bus and headed 2 hours down the road to the Wall. The bus ride there was less than two US dollars which is not bad for a 2 hour bus ride. The Great Wall is exactly as I expected… long and impressive. We spent a couple of hours hiking up and down the wall taking tons of pictures along the way. There were even two little Asian boys who saw me and said hello in English all excited and so I smiled and greeted them back. His mom then told Wang that they would like to take a picture with me. I of course did and appreciated how they help solidified my theory that young Asian children see me as a zoo animal over here. We grabbed a bus back to Beijing and took a taxi back to the Hostel.
Peking Duck was made famous in Beijing so we decided that we would have to try some out for dinner. We received a recommendation from Apple(the very nice girl at the front desk) at the hostel for the most popular roasted duck place in Beijing. The likes of Fidel Castro and George Bush have had Beijing’s famous roasted duck at this place so we figured why not? The food was UNREAL and being that it’s China, the bill was comparable to an expensive lunch in the states. We were tired after dinner so we headed back to pack our bags for the morning to leave for Shanghai.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Tokyo
Wang and I arrived in Tokyo at around 3 and the flight was only about 3 hours but the train ride from Narita airport to the area our hostel was over an hour long. We never knew a third of our traveling to Tokyo would be in a train in the city. Once in the city we checked into our 4 person room at the hostel which resembled a clean Frat room and headed out for the night. Shibuya which is a very popular part of town for restaurants and such so we decided to get dinner there. The original draw was that the area put Times Square to shame at night with lights and excitement and it didn’t fail. The area was PACKED with people and the buildings were lit up like giant advertising light bulbs. Four lane, 4 way intersections were swarming with people at the sign of each green walk light. We grabbed dinner at a sushi bar that had a conveyor belt with sushi running around the seats at the sushi bar. It was pretty good but by no means the best sushi I have ever had. After dinner we wandered around Shibuya for far too long until we settled on a bar called Lad’s bar. It was extremely small with probably about 25 seats but all of them were filled. We sat down and had a pint of Japanese light draft. Another great thing about this particular beer was that it was only 280 Yen or about 3 bucks which would be like a tourist finding a 3 dollar beer in Manhattan. When we sat down and this Asian guy couldn’t stop making eye contact with me and it just so happened that the two seats next him opened up at the bar. The seats were way better so we sat down. This guy and his buddy immediately asked where we were from (in English). It turns out there were from Malaysia, 20 years old, and studying language at a local university in Tokyo. They both spoke 6 languages (Chinese, Cantonese, English, Japanese, Malaysian, and Taiwanese) and smoked like chimneys. It was quite impressive. We hung out with them for a few more beers, talked about places they liked in Tokyo and then headed home. We got back to our hostel and met our two roommates. They were two girls from Australia who were traveling for several months like us during their summer break. Very nice girls but really not that interesting.
The next day we woke up a little later than planned and headed to the Tsukiji fish market. This is the largest fish market in the world and each day brings in over 2250 tons of fish valued at about 1.5 billion US dollars. It was a pretty unreal sight with trucks, motorized carts, and men running around everywhere trying to ship off that mornings catch to the rest of the world. One of the very popular things to do at the fish market is to eat a sushi breakfast so that’s exactly what we did. The place we chose was a hole in the wall place that had pictures and a little bit of English on the menu. When I say a little I mean “salmon” and “tuna”. We liked both so we figured why not? Our meals were similar and started with miso soup and about 8 cuts of sashimi over a bed of sushi rice in a bowl. It may have been the best salmon I have ever had and the whole meal was only about 8 US dollars. A little better than the 16-20 it would cost in the states. After the fish market, the next place on the agenda was the Imperial Palace. It was not as interesting as we had hoped because the actual palace is only open to the public two days out of the year. We didn’t find that out until we got there… awesome!
To get around the city we used the train system which proved to be complicated for two well educated men. The train system in Tokyo is the most elaborate system in the world with way over 15 different lines that are operated by three different companies. This meant that you need to be aware of which types of trains you were taking to get where and what kind of ticket that travel required. To give you an idea… we took 3 different lines to Shibuya and returning we couldn’t take the same three lines even though the fare we paid was the same. This was due to the fact the even though our fair costs were the same and a logical person would think that going back the way you came was an acceptable approach, we in fact had to route through 2 different stations than on the way out there to get home. It was a headache every time we needed to use them which was about 4-5 times a day.
After the Imperial Palace we headed to Roppongi which is an area of town with very cool architecture and tons of shopping, none of which we could afford. We settled for a café where we had a fix of caffeine to help us through the afternoon. We happened to meet a couple from Toronto who also gave us a few ideas on where to go in the city. From Roppongi we were able to take in great views of the Tokyo tower as well.
Wang and I decided to grab dinner in Shinjuku which is supposedly the center of young, trendy culture in Tokyo. From the minute we exited the station the streets were packed with young people looking for places to eat and drink. For the most part everyone was dressed to impress! We grabbed dinner at an Udon noodle place called Noodles & Live, where we waited in a line for about 40 minutes before we were seated. The food was very much worth the wait and at the 12 US dollar price tag, you couldn’t beat it on a Saturday night in the city. After dinner we wandered around Shinjuku impressed by all of the restaurants, bars, clubs and even their red light district where we were literally accosted by people at every turn to enter their “shop”. We again went looking for a chill bar because it had been a very long day. We went to the Hub which is an English bar where we found quite a few English speaking patrons and sat down for a beer. After a couple drinks we headed back to the hostel and anticipated the great weather the next day, a huge contrast to the weather of today that was windy, rainy and grey.
The sun was shining and it was off to the Senso-Ji Temple in Asakusa which was the area where we were staying. This temple was built in the 7th century and also has the second highest pagoda in the city. It was a beautiful temple with plenty of worshippers and great souvenir shopping to boot. Akihabara is the technology center of Tokyo and was next on our list of places to see. There was shop after shop of electronics with multiple vendors yelling from each one. Five story Sega buildings and street side gaming was everywhere. It was a dorks heaven… Paul you interested?? Needless to say Wang and I only needed a walkthrough to get our tronics fix for the trip. We then grabbed lunch at a place near the electronics district and had some Sobu noodles at Kanda Yaba Sobu.
Next was my favorite part of the Tokyo trip… Harajuku. Harajuku is the area known for the Harajuku girls that Gwen Stefani made so famous. They are all dressed in crazy clothing, congregated in large numbers on a particular bridge on Sundays. People are everywhere taking pictures of the street performers whose only talent was dressing very oddly. They did however take odd fashion to an interesting new level. The rest of the area was very hipster for a few blocks with shops and such with stores selling exclusively socks or others called ‘Condomania’. Once through the hipster part of the district the streets opened up to very high end shopping and modern architecture. The streets housed stores like Harry Winston, a five story Tods, a 4 story LV with a separate men’s and women’s entrance, YSL, Dunhil, and many other stores of equal or greater status. One thing is for sure… the Japanese LOVE to shop and it is very apparent throughout the city.
A note on fashion in Japan: It felt like everywhere we went, people throughout Tokyo looked like they were all wearing new clothes. Everyone was dressed well. Most Japanese women were put together like a very well dressed American woman but the men took it to a new level. They wore jeans as tight as the women’s (sometimes tighter), extremely long pointy shoes and about half of the time carried a man purse. This wasn’t just a district or two, this style carried throughout the city and only got more extravagant as you went to the more trendy districts.
We then ended up in Ikebukuro where we when to Sunshine City which housed a place that had 23 different steamed dumpling vendors. We grabbed some dinner and decided it had been a very long day and headed back to the Hostel. Once back I walked into the main room and found about 8 hammered Australians none of which I had any interest in meeting. About 30 minutes later a few Americans walked in and we ended up chatting with them. They were all from SF but had ended up moving to NY and Shanghai. The guy who lived in Shanghai, a Harvard graduate, offered to show us a good place to have dinner once we arrived in Shanghai. We ended the night early as the travel time back to the airport was long and our flight was at 10:40 am.
Tokyo was an amazing city with a very proud attitude. Most people understood English but unlike Taiwan and China, everyone always started to talk to me in Japanese and until I told them that I didn’t speak Japanese would they try English. They don’t particularly care for imperfection so I think speaking English embarrassed them slightly. Even with this barrier, everyone was extremely nice and helpful. Also in contrast to Taiwan and China, the Japanese respect ones personal space. There is no bumping into one another with no remorse or packed markets with people pushing one another. I also found their disdain for germs very interesting. I was in a train and could see about 20 people in my immediate view… 7 of them were wearing masks like the ones worn in a doctors office. This is to protect them from germs and illness but I can help but think about how it could affect the entire country and a possible lack of immunity to certain illnesses. Overall, Japan is an extremely respectable, clean country with a great culture. I would go back anytime!
The next day we woke up a little later than planned and headed to the Tsukiji fish market. This is the largest fish market in the world and each day brings in over 2250 tons of fish valued at about 1.5 billion US dollars. It was a pretty unreal sight with trucks, motorized carts, and men running around everywhere trying to ship off that mornings catch to the rest of the world. One of the very popular things to do at the fish market is to eat a sushi breakfast so that’s exactly what we did. The place we chose was a hole in the wall place that had pictures and a little bit of English on the menu. When I say a little I mean “salmon” and “tuna”. We liked both so we figured why not? Our meals were similar and started with miso soup and about 8 cuts of sashimi over a bed of sushi rice in a bowl. It may have been the best salmon I have ever had and the whole meal was only about 8 US dollars. A little better than the 16-20 it would cost in the states. After the fish market, the next place on the agenda was the Imperial Palace. It was not as interesting as we had hoped because the actual palace is only open to the public two days out of the year. We didn’t find that out until we got there… awesome!
To get around the city we used the train system which proved to be complicated for two well educated men. The train system in Tokyo is the most elaborate system in the world with way over 15 different lines that are operated by three different companies. This meant that you need to be aware of which types of trains you were taking to get where and what kind of ticket that travel required. To give you an idea… we took 3 different lines to Shibuya and returning we couldn’t take the same three lines even though the fare we paid was the same. This was due to the fact the even though our fair costs were the same and a logical person would think that going back the way you came was an acceptable approach, we in fact had to route through 2 different stations than on the way out there to get home. It was a headache every time we needed to use them which was about 4-5 times a day.
After the Imperial Palace we headed to Roppongi which is an area of town with very cool architecture and tons of shopping, none of which we could afford. We settled for a café where we had a fix of caffeine to help us through the afternoon. We happened to meet a couple from Toronto who also gave us a few ideas on where to go in the city. From Roppongi we were able to take in great views of the Tokyo tower as well.
Wang and I decided to grab dinner in Shinjuku which is supposedly the center of young, trendy culture in Tokyo. From the minute we exited the station the streets were packed with young people looking for places to eat and drink. For the most part everyone was dressed to impress! We grabbed dinner at an Udon noodle place called Noodles & Live, where we waited in a line for about 40 minutes before we were seated. The food was very much worth the wait and at the 12 US dollar price tag, you couldn’t beat it on a Saturday night in the city. After dinner we wandered around Shinjuku impressed by all of the restaurants, bars, clubs and even their red light district where we were literally accosted by people at every turn to enter their “shop”. We again went looking for a chill bar because it had been a very long day. We went to the Hub which is an English bar where we found quite a few English speaking patrons and sat down for a beer. After a couple drinks we headed back to the hostel and anticipated the great weather the next day, a huge contrast to the weather of today that was windy, rainy and grey.
The sun was shining and it was off to the Senso-Ji Temple in Asakusa which was the area where we were staying. This temple was built in the 7th century and also has the second highest pagoda in the city. It was a beautiful temple with plenty of worshippers and great souvenir shopping to boot. Akihabara is the technology center of Tokyo and was next on our list of places to see. There was shop after shop of electronics with multiple vendors yelling from each one. Five story Sega buildings and street side gaming was everywhere. It was a dorks heaven… Paul you interested?? Needless to say Wang and I only needed a walkthrough to get our tronics fix for the trip. We then grabbed lunch at a place near the electronics district and had some Sobu noodles at Kanda Yaba Sobu.
Next was my favorite part of the Tokyo trip… Harajuku. Harajuku is the area known for the Harajuku girls that Gwen Stefani made so famous. They are all dressed in crazy clothing, congregated in large numbers on a particular bridge on Sundays. People are everywhere taking pictures of the street performers whose only talent was dressing very oddly. They did however take odd fashion to an interesting new level. The rest of the area was very hipster for a few blocks with shops and such with stores selling exclusively socks or others called ‘Condomania’. Once through the hipster part of the district the streets opened up to very high end shopping and modern architecture. The streets housed stores like Harry Winston, a five story Tods, a 4 story LV with a separate men’s and women’s entrance, YSL, Dunhil, and many other stores of equal or greater status. One thing is for sure… the Japanese LOVE to shop and it is very apparent throughout the city.
A note on fashion in Japan: It felt like everywhere we went, people throughout Tokyo looked like they were all wearing new clothes. Everyone was dressed well. Most Japanese women were put together like a very well dressed American woman but the men took it to a new level. They wore jeans as tight as the women’s (sometimes tighter), extremely long pointy shoes and about half of the time carried a man purse. This wasn’t just a district or two, this style carried throughout the city and only got more extravagant as you went to the more trendy districts.
We then ended up in Ikebukuro where we when to Sunshine City which housed a place that had 23 different steamed dumpling vendors. We grabbed some dinner and decided it had been a very long day and headed back to the Hostel. Once back I walked into the main room and found about 8 hammered Australians none of which I had any interest in meeting. About 30 minutes later a few Americans walked in and we ended up chatting with them. They were all from SF but had ended up moving to NY and Shanghai. The guy who lived in Shanghai, a Harvard graduate, offered to show us a good place to have dinner once we arrived in Shanghai. We ended the night early as the travel time back to the airport was long and our flight was at 10:40 am.
Tokyo was an amazing city with a very proud attitude. Most people understood English but unlike Taiwan and China, everyone always started to talk to me in Japanese and until I told them that I didn’t speak Japanese would they try English. They don’t particularly care for imperfection so I think speaking English embarrassed them slightly. Even with this barrier, everyone was extremely nice and helpful. Also in contrast to Taiwan and China, the Japanese respect ones personal space. There is no bumping into one another with no remorse or packed markets with people pushing one another. I also found their disdain for germs very interesting. I was in a train and could see about 20 people in my immediate view… 7 of them were wearing masks like the ones worn in a doctors office. This is to protect them from germs and illness but I can help but think about how it could affect the entire country and a possible lack of immunity to certain illnesses. Overall, Japan is an extremely respectable, clean country with a great culture. I would go back anytime!
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