A relaxing break at the Conrad Hotel, Tokyo

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, Japan

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Japan 1 week in, 1 to go....

This post is for "Mama van Wyk"....

I am drafting this post as we sit comfortably in airline seats with ample legroom (more than any plane I have flown on) zooming along on the Shinkansen Hikari 408 from Kyoto to Tokyo. This bullet train like all the trains in Japan pulls up to the platform exactly on time, the door opens next to the marked spot on the platform, you step on and off you go. So far my impression of Japan is it is a first world nation that should serve as the model for other 1st world western nations. It has everything we have, but it is just done better, cleaner and faster. Everything is incredibly easy to understand, navigating the incredible public transportation network is a breeze (high speed trains, local trains, subway, tram and bus), this place is spotless, I mean not a cigarette butt in sight (and they smoke a lot here). We have actually seen people walking a distance just to drop the ash into an ash tray. How do they do it, well they clean, and never stop cleaning, also the culture just seems to support not littering, it is fantastic. Both the hostel we stayed in in Osaka and the guest house in Kyoto were clean as a whistle (the 2 best places we have stayed so far, except for the 5 star Marriott in Hong Kong). Another thing is the people are incredibly friendly and always ready to help. If you are lost, and get out your map, next thing someone will stop and ask if they can help you. And if they don't know they run off and find someone who does know. We have had this happen a number of times and even people who speak virtually no English help you out.

Now how did we spend the first half of our visit to Japan? Well after a brief stay in Osaka (we did come back 2 evenings as it is just 25 mins on the train from Kyoto) we headed to our 1st base, Kyoto. This city has more history in it than you could possibly take in over a month or more, but we did our best and with the help of the guest house visited some truly lovely spots around the city. Also 2 of the nights at the guest house we watched DVDs, 1 was the Last Samurai and the other, Memoirs of a Geisha, both these movies where filmed in and around Kyoto and we saw many of the locations used. I will let the pictures of the gardens speak for themselves, but as you can see, fall is a beautiful time to visit Japan. All the temples had beautiful gardens, but our 3 favorites were; To Ji, Ginkaku-Ji (Silver Pavilion), and Eikan-do (which we visited at night since it was illuminated). Other favorites were; the Fushimi-Inari Taisha (Inari Strine) which is known for its 4km passage of hundreds of red Torii up the mountain, Kinkaku-Ji (golden pavilion) and Nazen-Ji for the Hojo with Leaping Tiger Zen Garden. Other cool spots worth a visit are; Higashi Hongan-Ji, Kyoto Station itself an awesome building and mall, Kiyomizu-Dera, Heian-Jingu (see the pic of the huge Torri that straddles the street) and Tofuku-Ji for its Zen Garden and Bridge to Heaven. We would skip the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park (Forest Park in St. Louis kicks its butt).

A really cool thing to do in the evening is visit the Gion area of Kyoto. If you get there between 6-8pm you will likely see one of the Geisha's walking to or coming from an appointment. We were lucky enough to have 3 walk by us while strolling around, unfortunately I only got 1 photo off and it was from behind because they walk very quickly and pop in and out of various tea houses along the streets. If you don't see any no worries, the area itself, with traditional tea houses and other houses/ restaurants makes for a really cool evening stroll.

Given Kyoto's location it is also very easy to visit both Nara and Himeji by train and we did. Nara was amazing, its like Kyoto but much smaller so you can walk most of the city in a day. We just visited the Tourist Information Center in the station and the women mapped out our day for us, which took us past some incredible temples, shrines and trough a forest of stone lanterns (I have decided, I love stone lanterns and want one in my garden some day). Another cool thing is the deer that are all throughout the park and temple areas and are very friendly (looking for snacks :-)). We visited; Todai-Ji, home to the worlds largest wooden building and two fierce looking Nio Guardians, the finest wooden statues in Japan, if not the world; Kofuku-Ji, famous for its 2 pagodas; Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do; Kasuga Tausha and the forest of lanterns and beautiful ponds. We also made the trip to Himeji for an afternoon to see Himeji-jo, which is the most magnificent Japanese Castle, still in its original (non-concrete) form. It is a beautiful structure and quite an interesting walk around if you have the time. Also it sits on top of the hill in the middle of the city, so once on the top floor of the main tower you can see all of the city below.

Ok, my fingers are getting tired, so I will wrap this up. We are on our way to Takargawa Onsen, 2 hours outside of Tokyo for some relaxation in what is considered the most beautiful Baths in Japan.

Kyoto

We are in Kyoto, Japan and are loving it. The Japanese people are very
friendly, helpful and clean. We can't get over how clean everything
is. Also the transportaion network is out of this world, it puts
Europe to shame, it is simple, fast, on time and you can go anywhere.

The YHI we stayed at in Osaka was amazing, spotless, modern and
comfortable. And the guest house in Kyoto is just perfect, great
location, beautifully appointed, and clean. I would highly recomend
both the shin-osaka yhi and Tour club to travelers to Japan. We got
our bullet train tickets last night, but we still have a few days in
and around Kyoto before that adventure begins.

Cheers

Ryan

Sent from my iPhone

Ryan on the Great Wall of China

Ryan on the Great Wall of China
Originally uploaded by fromthevillage

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Shanghai - A City of Towers

So I promised in a previous post that I would post on our visit to Shanghai when I got a chance to put the pics on flickr, so while some are on there way up, here is my summary.

Shanghai is certainly a city of biggest and fastest. The most interesting thing about the city is the new right on top of the old, you literally have old traditional neiborhoods that are well over 100 years old being torn down to make way to a skyscraper or high rise condos in the same space. You can walk through these old poor areas, and cross the street and strain your neck at a skyscraper. We asked there was so much building going on in the old areas (basically shacks building additional floors one on top of another) and the reason is that when the government designates a block for regeneration then they pay out the current land owner based on SQ Footage. So folks have people on the inside that know this is going to happen, give the owners the heads up, and the building begins, all just to be torn down again.

So some of the biggest. Shanghai is home to two of the worlds tallest skyscrapers, and they are both new. D and I made the trip to the sky deck of the Shanghai World Financial Center, which is no longer the worlds tallest building (Tai Pai 101 has beat it by adding a spire), but it is the worlds highest observation deck and the grand opening for the building was the day before our visit :-)... you are literally above all the other skyscrapers and above the clouds... plus the floor is glass (see the pic, we were walking across that top bridge above the hole in the building.

We also did a roundtrip journey on the Maglev Train, the fastest comercial train in the world, traveling at 341km per hour... I was very excited about this. Just to think we were literally floating on magnets.

Our visit included a walk through the French Concession, a walk along on the Bond (AKA British Concession) and your typical exploring.

I loved the pace of development, it was truly astounding. One other thing, when we drove to the Train Station (45mins in a bus) I kid you not, I must have seen 10 thousand 25+ floor apartment buildings as far as the eye can see in every direction.

Now I have to run, we are back in Beijing, about to catch our flight to Osaka, Japan.

- Ryan

We love Hong Kong

Hello all, we are in Hong Kong and unfortunately we are leaving too soon (aka tomorrow morning). Last night we took in the city light and sound show along the harbor front which was awesome, the view is just incredible. Then we traveled to the top of the Peninsular Hotel (the men's bathroom is truly unique, urinals along a glass wall looking over the city :-)). Then to Temple Street for some local eats and then a bar with our fellow backpackers to spend our last night together. We plan on meeting up with some of them later in our journeys. Today we changed hotels in the morning, and then rode the famous Hong Kong Tram through the city, took a star ferry cruise in the harbor to take in the views and then met up with a colleague (Kan) from AT&T who I was working with on a project before the trip. Kan hosted a fantastic lunch for us, the dim sum and tea were the best we have had yet. We are now sitting in the AT&T offices on the 31st floor overlooking the Hong Kong Harbor! "Wish my office had a view like this :-)"

We are off to take the tram up Victoria Peak. Then to Japan tomorrow....

We are high in the Longji Rice Terraces

So today we made the trek to the Longji Rice Terraces and are now staying in a all woodern guesthouse purched on the top of the Terraces. Its raining outside and we are literally above the clouds. We are hoping we will have clear skies tomorrow for the views as we hike 6 hours through the terraces to the next village and another questhouse. Ok so how am I typing this, well it is clear profit is not an issue for China Telecom because they have DSL everywhere...

This is just a beautiful part of the world, and the people are so friendly. I had an old lady tell me I need to have a baby that will grow even taller :-)