Fish, Rain and Rani

The famous Tokyo fish market was in the news last week because at the morning fish auction, a 457lb tuna sold for $1.76 million. You have to get there at 5 in the morning to see the auction action, so we passed on that, but we did see plenty of action and plenty of fish. This is a wholesale market that sells fish that is distributed throughout the entire country so it is very busy and very big. Everybody eats fish.  At every meal. Every day.

After leaving this vast space we decided to go visit Ueno Park, walk around, and because it was starting to rain, maybe spend some time in one of its half-dozen museums. Our preference was the Tokyo National Museum but unfortunately because of the coming New Year it was closed and the only one open was a museum showing art from the New York Metropolitan. We didn't come half way around the word to see that so we decided to push on through the rain and visit the Shinto shrines in the park but eventually the rain forced us inside. The Met show was fine. Crowded, but fine.

After the museum we wandered the park a bit more but then got in out of the cold and damp and went for lunch of steaming hot noodles nearby. Here are Bill and Daniela anticipating the food:

The rain kept coming and increasing by the hour. We couldn't go back to the apartment because first, what would we do in such a tiny place? (it was still mid-afternoon); and second, we had checked out from our place that morning for the next four days because tonight we were going to meet up with Rani and head on over to the bullet train (Shinkansen) for a 3-4 hour ride to Kyoto. 

We got the impression that people in Tokyo don't go home to get out of the rain either. They go shopping.

We finally met up with Rani and boarded the Shinkansen. Rani has been in Japan since September and she's such a pro. She really knows her way around. 

Getting to know the neighborhood

This next morning we got up early as one does after a jet-lagged night and decided to just wander  around and explore the neighborhood.

We are located between the famous Tokyo fish market (about a four  minute walk) and the ultra ritzy Ginza shopping street (about an eight minute walk). We are also quite near a large river/canal leading into the Tokyo bay. We are clearly in a not very crowded part of the city, but that is relative, walking down the street takes a lot of weaving and dodging to not bump into people and bikes coming at you from all sides. It's a lively vibe.



We found a peaceful Buddhist temple half a block away and once we reached the river/canal we were far from any crowds; just the quiet river, the skyline, and bridges criss-crossing.

Bill is always the first to brave new food, here unwrapping something from a convenience store for breakfast. (Since we hadn't done any shopping yet.) 

It is winter here in Tokyo and cold. Most of the trees are bare, all lawn grasses are amber. We were lucky to start off on a sunny day as we wandered the neighborhood.

This is a shot of the Ginza where many high-end stores like to be seen. Since 2013 is the Year of the Snake, this Bulgari (jewelry) store has draped around it a necklace in the shape of a snake. At night it is lit up like diamonds.

Arriving in Tokyo

It was nearly midnight as we stepped out through the Higashi-Ginza Metro turnstile and started to look around for exit #5. Cheryl, our host said she would be meeting us at exit 5 to lead us to the apartment we were renting from her for the next three weeks. Almost before we had a chance to even glance around, she came up to us, asked me if I was Ingrid and gave me a welcoming hug. She also correctly identified Bill, Alexis and Daniela. We had 'met' when I was searching online for a place to stay in Tokyo and chose to stay at her place that she had listed through Airbnb. Now here she was, middle of the night, temperature near freezing, cheerfully leading the 4 of us down the block and letting us in to what would be our home for our Tokyo stay.

It is a very small space for 4 of us, but a typical apartment size for a single or couple in Tokyo. Here Alexis and I are posing on the two single beds, and to Bill's right is the small couch that unfolds into a small double bed. To his left he can reach the wall where we will be putting our upright suitcases. No unpacking, no closet, no shelves.
                                                                   

 But there is a kitchen,With sink and electric burner, dishes, a pot, frying pan and kettle; and a little fridge, microwave and toaster oven stacked over it. Cheryl stocked the fridge with juice, fruit and even bags of potato chips!

There is also a bathroom with a tub and shower about the size you get on a small cruise ship.

Let the adventures begin.

d

One Month Later

A month ago was my last post! How can that be? Knowing that Bill and Alexis are posting photos and providing commentary has made me lazy. Sorry about that. There is always something new or funny to share or a thought I'm just dying to pass along. 

For example, how about attending this conference held two weeks ago in Brisbane? You wonder if they would serve coffee; and would they allow extra breaks between speakers, or perhaps no breaks, to see how effective their suggestions were.

Sorry about the potty humor, here's a cute photo of a little kid feeding kangaroos. 

He was obviously a seasoned pro because while we were in awe of being in the same enclosure and up-close-look-can-we-actually-pet-them!!! he would walk around with his little bag of kangaroo kibble, wake up the dozing 'roos by tapping them somewhere on the face without even looking at them and proceed to get them to eat out of his hand, only to race over to the next one and the next one.

Yes, the everyday wildlife here in the cities and in the country is all so exotic to us. You've seen Alexis' pictures of the Kookaburra, the colorful-necked turkey, lorikeets and the long-billed bird we'd see walking around Brisbane. Well, here are some local town bats, flying foxes to be more precise, in the small town of Hervey Bay:

They weren't just hanging out, they were pushing each other off the branches, and flying around and squeaking and chirping. And it was daytime as you can see.

On one of our walks we saw a pod of dolphins: 

There are also some unusual plants. 

Bottle Tree

incredibly large Staghorn Fern

Vines across the hiking trails:

Fig trees you can live in:

And lastly, among the different and amazing things we are finding here in Australia, is a musical instrument; the Didjeridoo

Haw Par Villa

In just the past 4-5 days we have been seeing and going to ever more amazing, beautiful and crazy places, I can't keep up the blog. Today we went to visit Haw Par Villa, which would fall under the CRAZY category. 

This 'villa' is a 'theme park' previously known as the Tiger Balm Gardens, built in 1937 by the two brothers whose fortune came from the medicinal Tiger Balm sold everywhere in Asia. They wanted to portray scenes of Chinese folklore, Confucian teachings, legends and history so as to benefit society. 

It goes on and on with fabulous and grotesque dioramas and grottoes, culminating in the Ten Courts of Hell. This is the (very) graphic portrayal of the judgement upon dying that a soul must endure. Each of about 50 sins has its corresponding punishment all rendered in 3-D bloody plaster dioramas. Not for children or for the faint of heart. 

I didn't photograph the Courts of Hell (it was dark in there) but here are some shots of some of the other  parts of the park:  

Crab woman.

One of a half-dozen huge apes.

Fish woman fighting in a sea battle.

Attacking tiger.

Pigsy being naughty. (We learned all about the character Pigsy.)

Mermaids being playful. 

Three giant masks.

Dragons in the clouds.

Johor Bahru

Yesterday Lex and I went to Malaysia. It is only a 30 minute bus ride (and $2-3 fare) to get to the northern shore of Singapore and cross the bridge to Johor Baru, 'the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland'.

On this map you can see Singapore in the lower center, just off the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Johor Baru is not shown on the map but it is a big city, Malaysia's second largest with nearly 2 million in the metropolitan area.

The difference in the two cities is not quite as severe as San Diego and Tijuana but does have those contrasts. Malaysia is more 'wild West' while Singapore is much more controlled, manicured, polished and efficient.

We arrived at the modern bus terminal, walked out and encountered Southeast asia: muggy heat (no surprise there) traffic, broken streets, some litter, shabbiness. Singapore, by contrast, is like tidy, organized Europe, inside a sauna.

The residents of JB are about 44% Malay, 42% Chinese, 9% Indian and the rest, other minorities. Everyone we met was very friendly. After about 15 minutes of wandering, we entered a small Chinese temple and were graciously encouraged to enter. It was pretty basic, but had the incense stand at the entrance and a half-dozen or so people walking in for a few minutes to pray. We went inside to sit and take in the peace and quiet a while.

Across the street, and half a block down, was a Sikh temple where we were again invited in by the guy at the door who gave us a guided tour (in his very basic English) of this 2 storey building. Downstairs just inside, it looked like a huge dining hall with a large kitchen off to one side. Upstairs was the prayer room -large, open, carpeted, with an altar at the center rear. Again, a half-dozen men or women were entering and praying for a few minutes as we walked around with our guide. Back downstairs in the dining hall, he offered us a meal or tea. Since it was still morning (11am) we decided to accept only the tea and he brought us some delicious sweet milk tea.

Here is the kitchen.

It was explained to us that Sikhs never turn anyone away who is thirsty or hungry. No matter what race sex or religion, all are equal in God's eyes and share the same rights.
We really enjoyed what we saw and learned here at this temple.

Around the corner, another temple this time, Hindu!

Oh, the colorful images here are each crazier than the next:

           

We sat inside to enjoy the cool shade and breezy marble floor. After about 5 minutes, a ceremony began with LOUD bells and drums and a clarinet-like instrument. Half a dozen people were following priests around as they lay brilliant flower wreaths and ghee-butter lamps on and in front of several colorful gods. We didn't take photos of this but here is the main part of the temple where it took place:

After leaving this temple we wandered down toward a tree-lined street that looked like it was going to be pleasant to walk on. We were hoping to go and visit the main history museum of the area, when we were approached by a middle-aged man who started giving us directions and advice on how to visit the city. He walked us to the water's edge, were we could look back to see a panoramic view of Singapore  and told us that to see the sights we wanted to see, we would have to hire a taxi who spoke English. He hailed us a taxi, and, well, he had a few hours to spare, decided to go along with us to guide the taxi to the various interesting places of the city. This gentleman was very interesting, and he did take us to see various sights, including this mosque/tomb of the Sultans:

By the way, Sultans still 'rule' here in the different states of Malyasia. Nine Sultans take turns to become  King of Malaysia for 5 years. They are just figureheads, like the queen of England, and there is a parliamentary system, but they live lavish and some say debauched lifestyles paid for by the government. 

We also stopped at a fabulous outdoor lunch buffet.

Well, after about 2.5 hours of a whirlwind tour .... and this guy was truly hyper, we were taken back to the bus depot and told to pay the taxi $175! Whoa, no way did we bring along that much with us, and it was a shock that this would be so costly. We paid what we had, $100, keeping only $6 with us so we could get back to Singapore. We hadn't even brought our ATM cards because of the pickpocket warnings. As we left our guide and the taxi, it slowly dawned on us that we might have been scammed. Ok, we were scammed. Bill later did the math looking up the taxi fares and we probably should have only had to pay $70. Luckily we hadn't brought a penny more.

Never mind, it had been a great day and we topped it off with a rousing 90 minute game of tennis at our courts. Tennis in Singapore, it's like playing in a sauna.

Chinatown, Temples and City Planning

The MRT pops right up into the middle of Chinatown!

We bypass the shopping and head over to visit some temples: this beautiful Buddhist temple, incense burning at the entrance, and a Hindu temple. Since Alexis writes about both in her blog, http://www.alexishamburger.blogspot.sg/2012/06/temples.html I will go on.                    

As we continue wandering through Chinatown, we play around with the bronzes honoring or remembering life in the past that appear here and there in these little mini parks.

We then leave Chinatown and wander past some fancy hi-rises,

until we arrive at our next destination, the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Center, an amazing interactive city planning department with a three-storey exhibit demonstrating and explaining how dynamic city planning is carried out in Singapore. Yawn, you might say but no, this museum was fascinating in the story that it tells about how Singapore, a small island city-nation is constantly planning, building, improving and transforming itself in very innovative and sustainable ways, questioning and balancing the needs of a city (transportation, commerce, energy, water supply, infrastructure) with the needs of its human inhabitants: recreation, nature, neighborhoods, and all the things we desire for good 'quality of life'.

They've planned tree-lined connections -foot trails and bike paths- for people to pleasantly access the many different parks and nature reserves. They save or recover built-up land by consolidating into one building several functions that go well together and previously had been housed in separate structures, such as combining a library, an indoor sport center and a small food court into one multi-level building and connecting it by overpass or underground tunnel to a school. As a result, there is more green-space today than 20 years ago.

A few days ago we visited a new state-of-the-art concert hall which at mid-day had no operas or symphonies performing but was in full use for its other functions: a lending library dedicated to fine arts and performing arts, classes and workshops for teens in dance and music, spas, restaurants and cafés. I thought it a bit odd that these other functions were housed in this elegant building, but now I understand the philosophy. Five million people live on a small island. Urban planers have to think out of the box.