Saturday 28 February 2009
A quick note on the photos
Hello! Just so you know, I've removed the slideshows from the blog posts as they were causing the blog to slooooooow down big time! So now there is just a text link to go directly to the photo albums and view them that way, much easier and faster! :-)
Thursday 26 February 2009
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Where Are We Again???
This has to be the craziest 3 weeks of all time - Tokyo, Singapore and now Sydney! Its been so mad that Tokyo is starting to feel like some surreal dream (though it did when we were there!), so really looking forward to take the time to write up the rest of the blog on Tokyo to re-live it all!
Singapore was so beyond our expectations, its a truly stunning place that has almost everything you could want (it is pretty much a purpose built city, but without the overt soullessness of, say, Dubai). It has the most amazing shops, bars and restaurants you have ever seen, in some of the most stunning settings (google Clarke Quay or Boat Quay) and then Sentosa Island's beaches just top it off. If one thing sums up Singapore its the FOOD! The local Hawker centres offer entire meals for $3! Which kind of made up for the insane beer prices (8 pound and rising!!!)
Sydney is amazing.....
Singapore was so beyond our expectations, its a truly stunning place that has almost everything you could want (it is pretty much a purpose built city, but without the overt soullessness of, say, Dubai). It has the most amazing shops, bars and restaurants you have ever seen, in some of the most stunning settings (google Clarke Quay or Boat Quay) and then Sentosa Island's beaches just top it off. If one thing sums up Singapore its the FOOD! The local Hawker centres offer entire meals for $3! Which kind of made up for the insane beer prices (8 pound and rising!!!)
Sydney is amazing.....
Friday 20 February 2009
Tired Toes in Tokyo Town - Part 1
Ok, so its about 11pm in Singapore right now (it rocks here by the way, but that's another blog entry for another day) - time to finally get you up to speed on what we got up to in Tokyo!
I guess the main thing to say about Tokyo is that whilst it is a city of contrasts (new vs traditional) it is on the whole like being beamed about 10 to 15 years into the future. There are times when you just look around slack-jawed thinking the UK seems like the dark ages. Its not like they have teleporters or hovering jet cars or anything, its just that the overall infrastructure and architecture is so advanced and pristine that it looks like nowhere else on earth.
We were really lucky with the weather too, most days were bright and sunny - in fact the day we went to Harajuku we were sweltering carrying our jackets around the whole day!
I have never, in my life, been anywhere that has remotely close to the number of shops that Tokyo has. Every district, every neighbourhood, every street, every subway station, every street light seems to have its own mall. Or three. I cannot express in words the sheer number of retail outlets that exist in this city (Singapore is almost as bad by the way!). I guess only the worlds most populous metropolitan area can sustain such insane levels of consumer choice.
Ginza is New York's 5th Avenue on steroids. Like Tokyo as a whole it is sprawling and vast, and has more Gucci and Dior stores than we have Tesco Express. Its quite unbelievable when you consider Japan hasnt even recovered from the economic bubble burst of the 90's, let alone the current recession! But it is great to walk around and window shop and people watch.
Two brand new shopping and entertainment districts have recently popped up in Tokyo - Roppongi Hills and Ometesando Hills, both built by the same company. The latter quite a nice managable high end mall, the former a un-navigable, over-complicated, 6 floor, 5 zone monster where the mall directory looks like an Escher painting! Seriously we were stuck in there the whole day trying to escape only to end up at the same Starbucks about 4 times.
We did eventually escape and found solice in a Pool Hall in Roppongi High Street, which very conveniently had a phone next to the table to order beer from. Nice.
Roppongi Hills was actually the start of one of our busiest days of the whole week, after Pool we headed to Akihabara - "Electric Town". This is the hub for all things electronic, geeky and loud - so I was in my element, Sam...was not. However to her credit she managed to smile gratiously through gritted teeth as I dragged her through 8 storey amusement arcades, playing Street Fighter 4 and trying to understand how to exchange money for Pachinko balls (which I fear I may never).
After Akihabara we were both shattered but managed to muster the energy to head on over to Tokyo Tower. I cannot stress how KNACKERED we both were at this point having walked half of Tokyo and spending what seemed like a few days in Roppongi Hills, but the view at the top of Tokyo Tower made it all worth it. It was simply stunning to see the city of the future from that height. As well as an amazing view, Tokyo Tower also showed us something in the distance that we had no idea about - a mysterious, shiny, flashing multicoloured ball of light on the horizon that would end up giving us the best final nights entertainment we could of imagined.............
In Part 2: Ueno, Shimo Kitizawa, Odaiba, Sushi and more!
I guess the main thing to say about Tokyo is that whilst it is a city of contrasts (new vs traditional) it is on the whole like being beamed about 10 to 15 years into the future. There are times when you just look around slack-jawed thinking the UK seems like the dark ages. Its not like they have teleporters or hovering jet cars or anything, its just that the overall infrastructure and architecture is so advanced and pristine that it looks like nowhere else on earth.
We were really lucky with the weather too, most days were bright and sunny - in fact the day we went to Harajuku we were sweltering carrying our jackets around the whole day!
I have never, in my life, been anywhere that has remotely close to the number of shops that Tokyo has. Every district, every neighbourhood, every street, every subway station, every street light seems to have its own mall. Or three. I cannot express in words the sheer number of retail outlets that exist in this city (Singapore is almost as bad by the way!). I guess only the worlds most populous metropolitan area can sustain such insane levels of consumer choice.
Ginza is New York's 5th Avenue on steroids. Like Tokyo as a whole it is sprawling and vast, and has more Gucci and Dior stores than we have Tesco Express. Its quite unbelievable when you consider Japan hasnt even recovered from the economic bubble burst of the 90's, let alone the current recession! But it is great to walk around and window shop and people watch.
Two brand new shopping and entertainment districts have recently popped up in Tokyo - Roppongi Hills and Ometesando Hills, both built by the same company. The latter quite a nice managable high end mall, the former a un-navigable, over-complicated, 6 floor, 5 zone monster where the mall directory looks like an Escher painting! Seriously we were stuck in there the whole day trying to escape only to end up at the same Starbucks about 4 times.
We did eventually escape and found solice in a Pool Hall in Roppongi High Street, which very conveniently had a phone next to the table to order beer from. Nice.
Roppongi Hills was actually the start of one of our busiest days of the whole week, after Pool we headed to Akihabara - "Electric Town". This is the hub for all things electronic, geeky and loud - so I was in my element, Sam...was not. However to her credit she managed to smile gratiously through gritted teeth as I dragged her through 8 storey amusement arcades, playing Street Fighter 4 and trying to understand how to exchange money for Pachinko balls (which I fear I may never).
After Akihabara we were both shattered but managed to muster the energy to head on over to Tokyo Tower. I cannot stress how KNACKERED we both were at this point having walked half of Tokyo and spending what seemed like a few days in Roppongi Hills, but the view at the top of Tokyo Tower made it all worth it. It was simply stunning to see the city of the future from that height. As well as an amazing view, Tokyo Tower also showed us something in the distance that we had no idea about - a mysterious, shiny, flashing multicoloured ball of light on the horizon that would end up giving us the best final nights entertainment we could of imagined.............
In Part 2: Ueno, Shimo Kitizawa, Odaiba, Sushi and more!
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Tokyo Pictures Galore!
Click here for all the photos you could want! : Tokyo
Finally uploaded all the photos of Tokyo from Sam's camera, it took forever! Have spent the whole morning in our hostel in Singapore doing this, so we hope you enjoy! Just click on any of the photos to view them large then you can scroll through them in the photo album in large format.
Singapore pics and Tokyo blog of what we got up to still to come...stay tuned!
Finally uploaded all the photos of Tokyo from Sam's camera, it took forever! Have spent the whole morning in our hostel in Singapore doing this, so we hope you enjoy! Just click on any of the photos to view them large then you can scroll through them in the photo album in large format.
Singapore pics and Tokyo blog of what we got up to still to come...stay tuned!
Thursday 12 February 2009
Konichiwa from Tokyo!
Hello from Tokyo!!!
Well we have been here a few days now and it is absolutely insane!!! Nothing can really prepare you for the culture shock of not being able to read 95 percent of what is around you, really the only thing that is bilingual is the subway signs - good thing really otherwise we would probably be halfway up Mount Fuji by now.
Once you get used to it though this city is truly amazing, unlike anywhere else on earth - everything is very very different and you just have to either embrace it or freak out.
Our hostel room is about the size of a small cupboard with bunk beds! We use the bottom bunk as storage and we both sleep in the top one which is highly amusing. Asakusa is a quieter part of town which is nice, right on the Sumida River and round the corner from the famous Asahi building - the one with the giant gold flame on top!
Yesterday we went to see the imperial palace, then went to Ueno Zoo which was spectacular - every animal under the sun! After the zoo we ended up walking into the most unbelievable street market that had everything from surf shops to fish stalls to 5 storey arcades and pachinko parlours - i havent worked out how to play yet but i will!!!
Its about 10 in the morning here now and we are off to Roppongi Hills shopping district, then Akihabara to geek it up with the Otaku. Plan to finish the day on top of Tokyo Tower!
Will post pics as soon as we can get on computers with USB connections!
Stay Tuned, Sayonara!
Sunday 8 February 2009
Bye Bye Weymouth!!!
Well it's the eve of the big day and we're not even done packing...not good. Have probably forgotten everything but it will have to do. Bye bye everyone, love ya and will see you in 2010 - next stop TOKYO! Dont forget to check back here every now and again to see what we're up to, you know you want toSAYONARA!
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