Japan – Tokyo Day 1

Tokyo, Japan Day 93 (May 3)

Tokyo is a massive crazy place; although everything runs in a controlled orderly fashion. Imagine using the New York subway system to cover the central metropolis, and then multiply by ten for another rail system connecting the inner metropolis to the outer megapolis. I guess this is how they cram 40 million people inside an area just a bit smaller than the New York metropolitan, with its 19 million. To top it off, the bullet train connects Tokyo with other mega-cities, leaving Tokyo station every 10 minutes.

subway map for Central Tokyo

Tokyo is also a very trendy and fashionable place. Today, while we are sightseeing, Gege and Jiejie visit a new downtown coffee shop where people are lined up for several hours to sit down and have coffee. The idea of waiting so long for coffee is so crazy, people just can’t resist the buzz. According to their report; it was worth a 30 minute wait, but not 2 hours. Afterwards, they visit a new Forever 21 women’s clothing store which just opened, but the line is a kilometer long; wrapped around a large city block.

zzz..huh…line, what line?

Vana and I head to Jingu-bashi to have pictures taken with the “costume play” vampy goth kids, who pose for tourists. They don’t want pictures taken unless you ask for permission, so they can do their special poses.

GeiGei & JeiJei dropped us off at Jingu-bashi, then headed to the coffee shop

vampy goth kid

posing for pic

Jingu-bashi is not only for gothic kids to hangout. It’s also a place for young people to express themselves. Need a free hug?

And…kids who’ve been bullied in school

We visit the nearby temple; which turned out to be a waste after already visiting Kyoto. On the way out, the subway is packed like a rock concert.

temple entrance

colorful lamps

Looks too clean to be a temple

taking a rest before heading to the subway rush

which is packed like a rock concert

Next, we take subway to the bustling youth-oriented shopping district of Shibuya, and visit the famous 109 building. The teens and twenty-something’s in this mall are decked out in $1,000 dollars worth of product and looking for more; hair, nails, make-up, shoes, bags, and clothes. I was thinking the US Federal Reserve should pass out free tickets to America in this mall, since these Japanese women look like they could pull the US out of recession in no time!

109 building is a department store for youth fashion. One for women, another one across the street for men.

fancy crystal nails

Vana trying some high heels

Say what?

Sweet looking rags

Loving the knee high socks

Men line up outside the shop for women’s un-mentionables

Like my space goggles?

Stylin hats

for cool cats

Aside from cheeky comments, the young women look really good, and are wearing the best looking clothes I’ve seen anywhere in the world. There is amazing variety of fashion; cartoon doll, goth, funky hippie, punk rocker, etc. We now see why they are the fashion trend setters for all of Asia, which by population makes them the fashion world’s leaders. It’s really amazing to see the incredible variety of outfits. But, after several hours walking around without a subway nap, the high heels, knee high socks, and short skirts all start to look the same.

Same Same, But Different?

We top the day off with a quick visit to Ginza, which is like the Park Ave of Tokyo. With its sparkling buildings and squeaky clean windows, you’d think they mix diamond powder in the city water.

arriving Ginza

kids playing video game while mom shopping in the expensive name brand store

Stand in line for some famous mini waffle in the neighborhood

Yum! the best waffle ever…definitely worth the 10 min wait!

We visit the Sony building to see their latest wares; but left un-impressed. Seems Sony is yesterday’s news with the Koreans at Samsung and LG cleaning their clock these days.

Sony building

We take the elevator to the top floor of the Imperial Hotel for the view, but balk at the $300 dollar dinner buffet. Instead, we met GeiGei and JieJie for dinner at a sushi restaurant.

Tokyo at night

Sushi boat style restaurant

Around they go, where they stop, nobody knows…

Ahi dreamin!

CLICK HERE to see rest of the pictures from this day.

Japan – Nara

Nara, Japan Day 92 (May 2)

Kyoto to Nara

1 hr train ride

In the morning, we take the train to nearby Nara city, which is number 3 tourist attraction in Japan (below Kyoto and Tokyo). We walk around to visit the well known Isui-En garden.

Deer everywhere on the park grounds

Deer sniffs Kevin’s butt, thinks it was noodles for breakfast

everyone kid wants to play with the deer, me included

Japanese tea house in the garden

After the garden, we visited Todai-ji temple (Eastern Great Temple). This temple is the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world’s largest statue of Buddha Vairocana, also listed UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism.

Today is a holiday and the temple is packed with festive atmosphere. The kids dressed in traditional costumes are really cute.

Great Buddha Hall

Big Buddha

Buddha gate keeper

Kids climb through this hole, said to be the same size as the big Buddha’s nostril.

Famous bronzes of guardians in the temple gate

festival bling

street vendor in the hall way

sweet juice makes a happy kid

Vana with a new friend

awaits ceremony to start

here they come

welcome dance

ceremony starts

ceremony

end of ceremony

Glad that you don’t have to wear these shoes to work everyday?!

after ceremony chit chat

let’s keep walking

Saved by the bell

5 story pagoda

We head back to Kyoto by train, pick up our luggage at the hotel, and then bullet train back to Tokyo station. From Tokyo station, we subway back to Dongli’s house, and meet them again for some late night noodles. It’s pretty amazing to zoom around the middle of the country in a single day. From the experience, we perfect our train napping skills.

Nara > Kyoto > Tokyo

Train napping skills perfected

CLICK HERE to see more pictures from Isui-En garden
CLICK HERE to see more pictures from Todai-Ji temple

Japan – Kyoto

Tokyo, Japan Day 90 (April 30)

We drive back to Tokyo. GeGe and JieJie drop us off in Tokyo central station, where we catch the Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto.

Tokyo to Kyoto

by Bullet train, 180 mph

arriving at our hotel

Kyoto, Japan Day 91 (May 1)

We spend the day sightseeing in Kyoto. First we visit Nijo Castle, which is like a European castle with its walls and moats, but has Asian style buildings. The squeaky wood floor is especially cool; apparently designed to prevent sneaky Ninjas from ruining your lunch.

Nijo Castle

Wall & Moat

gravel grounds

door knob

Gateway

Castle

details

squeaky wood floor to prevent sneaky predator

but baby ted thinks he can get in without making noise

Next, we visit the Kiyomizu-Dera temple. The Japanese temples are kind of fun to visit, because each building within the temple has some kind of fun gimmick to play; drink special spring water, walk 18m straight between stones with your eyes closed to predict your ability to find love; shake for your fortune, and hang it in the wind, etc. We give a try for all the free stuff.

after walking up the hill with thousands of tourists and locals

passing numerous souvenir stores on both sides of the street

we’ve finally arrived Kiyomizu-Dera temple

front gate

one of many temple houses

washing hands and drinking special Spring/Holy water

Love temple

walk 18m straight between stones with your eyes closed to predict your ability to find love

Keep walking babe!

faithful prayer

Graceful Buddha

tie your wish here

another house

Today’s a field day for all

In the evening, we head to the Gion district and spot Geishas heading to their tea houses for work in the back alleys. The book said you could find them here in the early evening, and we feel kind of stupid, but it was fun.

arriving Gion district

no shortage of restaurants and bars

How about Shibu Shibu for dinner

after checking out the price, we decided to eat vending machine dinner instead, yuk!

Geisha heading to work in a tea house

KR taking pic outside nearby restaurant

Street snack

After dinner, we take a look nearby at the 24 hour Yasaka-Jinja shrine; popular with young people for an evening stroll; convenient since Gion has a sizable bar district.

Front Gate

Lights up in the evening

CLICK HERE to see more pictures from Nijo Castle.
CLICK HERE to see more pictures from Kiyomizu-Dera temple.
CLICK HERE to see more pictures from Gion district.
CLICK HERE to see random pictures of Kyoto.

Philippines – Donsol to Japan

Donsol, Philippines Day 87 (April 27)

Philippine Map

We are in Donsol

In the afternoon, Vana gets some great pics of a Cock fight in the small village on the beach behind our hotel. It is interesting to watch, because there is a lot of discussion, inspection, and betting that happens before the fight starts.

Apparently, the birds are specially bred and cared for, conditioned for increased stamina and strength, much like the professional athletes. We see the owners kissing their birds numerous times. Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species, and are generally protective of their hens, resulting in aggression towards any threatening being.

The birds are equipped with knives tied to the leg in the area where the bird’s natural spur has been partially removed. There are 2 kinds of knives used in Philippine cockfighting. The single edge blade and double edged blades. All knives are attached on the left leg of the cock. But depending on the agreement between owners, blades can be attached on the right leg, or even on both legs.

The end is a bit gruesome, since the fight is to the death; probably the reason this blood sport is illegal in most of western countries.

Prize bird

Bird inspection and knife attachment

Test to see if the birds are in fighting mood

Show of strength

Circling and studying

Offense and Defense

Attack!

Crowd closes in for the results

the winner is…

CLICK HERE to see more cockfight pictures.
CLICK HERE to see more Donsol village pictures.

We high tail it back to Legaspy for the night, and stay at the Dream Inn Hotel. It’s not so dreamy, but it does the job. The van has transmission trouble, and drops us in Darang (a town 20 mins away from our destination), where we take Jeepnie to Legaspy.

Our free three week visa is up, and it’s time for us to leave the Philippines. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the island of Palawan, which is said to be a “must see”. To sum it up;

• Great people and great fun, but get out of Manila and Cebu as fast as possible.
• Great opportunity to get off the Gringo trail; Transportation is extremely convenient and fun, but takes time.
• The worst food of anywhere we ever visited. It’s by far the biggest barrier to our desire to return to visit Palawan.

Some more misc pictures from Donsol below:

curious smile

Happy kid

Filippo Happy Hour; fiery death chased with water

Sleepy kitten out side of our room

Not only they wake us up at 6 every morning, the Filippo rosters make noise all day

as revenge, we order chicken every meal

happy Filipino sisterhood

Philippine Rocks!

Philippines to Japan Day 88 (April 28)

In the morning we fly from Legaspy to Manila, and then recheck our flight to Tokyo, Japan. From the airport in Legaspy, we have a clear morning, and can see the local volcano.

Ready to blow this joint

Perfect volcano shape, looks like a cartoon