Sensoi Temple, Imperial Gardens, Harejuku, and more

Sunday was a whirlwind day around Tokyo. We started the day right outside the ryokan at the Senso-ji Temple and went from there to the Imperial Gardens. Thankfully it was Sunday and the crowds across the subway were not terrible. The gardens were nice and quaint, but the problem struck as around 9am the rain started and did not let up the rest of the day, going anywhere from a drizzle to full pouring rain.

After the gardens, we walked over to the Yasukuni Shrine, the source of much controversy whenever a Japanese Prime Minister visits. We strolled around the shrine, but the weather was so inclement that we made our way quickly through it. I would have liked to have spent some more time there, but I think some of the most controversial elements are hidden away (such as the revisionist history view of World War II.

We ate at a little restaurant in the area, then kept trying to wait out weather in a coffee stop. With that nowhere near successful, we continued on to Harejuku and Omote-sando. Given the poor weather, the amount of folk in cosplay seemed to be tempered but we went through the side streets and ended up at some very boutiquie stores off of Omote-sando. We stopped in the Bapexclusive store (home of the Bathing Ape line of clothes), where I was keen on buying a hoodie but the $200+ price tag on each item put me off. The store was awesome, check out the pictures.

Akihibara was next in the day, which was total chaos (in a good way). We strolled around in the mega electronics store, in Akihibara Electric City and in to some manga stores. I bought some music (which sadly I forgot in the ryokan later) in a crazy chaotic store. By this point, our feet and shoes were fully soaked so we made our way back to Asakusa.

For dinner we ended up at a grill-your-own (forget the term) place, had a couple of drinks and called it a night.

Getting to Japan and Shinjuku

After 10 hours of flying, I’m back in Japan for the first time since 2005. I’m traveling here with Ben on a long layover to meet Pablo and his sister in Shanghai.

The flight was largely uneventful, although there was a fair bit of turbulence. I don’t recall this from before, but there was a fingerprint scanner at the immigration desk, along with a photo. Welcome to the new world order.

Getting from the airport to our ryokan in Asakusa took basically forever. We took the Kensi Skyliner train, an hour trip, from Narita over to Ueno station, and then transferred to the Ginza line to Askusa. From there it was a quick 10 minute walk over to the ryokan.

This is the first time I’ve stayed in a ryokan and we opted for a Japanese style room, which is basically a few futons laid out on top of tatami mats. The room is pretty tiny, about 8 tatami mats, but has its own bathroom, which is pretty cool.

After getting a few showers in, we went across the street to a place that served these pizza/pancake style meals. On each table was a skillet, and you ordered the components of your entre and they came out in a bowl. Most people in the restaurant (i.e. Japanese folks) mixed and mashed up the bowl and poured it on the skillet to make these pancake/pizza concoctions. Obviously not skilled in this, our waitress sensed our distress and make the delicious item. Topped with katsu sauce, it was delicious.

Once dinner was finished, we made our way via the Metro over to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is insane. Chaotic and full of people, the sea of humanity at 11pm (or any time for that matter) is stunning. We walked the streets for a while until we decided (more like I forced) to go to the Park Hyatt and have a drink at the New York Bar. A 1300 yen cab ride later, we pulled up in to what I still think is probably the most awesome hotel in the world.

Ben and I hung out sipping our 1900 yen Espresso Martinis (which, by the way, are as tasty as I remember them being three years ago), listening to jazz band on the 54th floor. Not a bad way to end the first night in Tokyo. We made our way back on the JR Yamanote line, but by the time we made our connection the Metro was closed, and we had yet another expensive cab ride.

I love this city. Today is the only full day we have here, so it’ll probably be hitting up the big sights and trying to stay dry (it’s been rainy).

My Shanghai Top 5

I’m heading to Shanghai and Tokyo for a week of vacation in June, to meet up with friends and travel with others. I love Shanghai and to share, here are my top 5 things to do while in 上海, kind of my “36 Hours”:

Y+ Yoga on Fuxing Xi Lu. I have yet to find a better yoga studio, with teachers as good and a small class environment. Not only that, but the facilities themselves are phenomenal in a beautiful old French building on a tree lined street, fresh fruit, water, and juice served after classes. Good luck finding that in the states.
Lunch time mega malls. Take your pick, Grand Gateway, Metro, anywhere in Xujiahui, or in Luwan or wherever. My favorites tended by be in Grand Gateway, but that’s just where I spent a ton of time. All varieties of food (both Chinese and otherwise) during lunchtime, ridiculously cheap and so easily accessible.
Old Town near Yuyuan. I could spent hours strolling through the streets here. Walking around, seeing the older side of Shanghai, without the 40+ story skyscrapers, people living real lives. Snacking on street food, watching the hustle and bustle, it’s something else. A close second on this would be walking along Fuxing Xu Lu until it runs in to Hengshan Lu. Leafy streets and plenty of little cafes to drop in to.
Dinner at M on the Bund. I don’t care what people say, this is my favorite restaurant in Shanghai. Sitting right at 5 on Bund, the views across the Huang Pu to Pudong are incredible, the patio outside if amazing, the service is great and the food is delicious. Every time I’m in Shanghai and whenever I had guests, we’d made it out here. Glamour Bar downstairs is also great.
Drinks at People’s Seven. Best. Bar. Ever. Hands down. Nothing I’ve seen after this place compares. A close second would be have a drink at the Grand Hyatt at Cloud 9 or Fuxing Gongyuan / Park 97 / Cashbox. The latter always comes in to play if you want to end the night singing until 5am.

I love Shanghai, and there a ton of other places and things that would be worth mentioning. In a city that moves that fast, it’s likely the places listed above don’t exist any more or have changed, but I love them all.

San Diego

I went down to San Diego, my old stomping ground, for Memorial Day this past weekend and again today for work. I miss the laid back style down there. Over the weekend, people were so laid back, to the point it started to get my frustrated. Standing in line to order coffee was a three or four minute ordeal! Imagine my frustration.

A lot has changed down here since I used to live here. Downtown has Petco Park, a ton of high end condos, Gaslamp looks totally invigorated with swanky restaurants and hip LA-style clubs. It doesn’t top there, though. I went back to UCSD to see the Price Center Expansion that I had worked on in school, and it’s finally complete. Walking from the old Price Center (now “Price Center West”) to the expansion (“Price Center East”), it’s a striking difference. The old center looks so old and tiny, but then it was all we had. The new center is light and airy, with a ton of open space for seating and dining. Since it was a Saturday that we went, there weren’t a ton of people, but I could imagine how it’ll help reinvigorate campus life.

United Online Checkin

I disapprove of United’s online checkin. I’ve had two very different experiences trying it. The first time (my outbound flight), the sales pitch to upgrade (for $29.99) to Economy Plus is so in your face. When you are checking in, you step through the wizard, and the right most button (the one you’ve been hitting “Next” thus far) is now a big shiny “Upgrade now!” graphic. The option to not upgrade is a text link on the left side of the page that you have to read and parse to figure out where it is. Such a sneaky and devious upsell technique. I hate it when online retailers do that.

On the return flight, I was unable to check in online for whatever reason. Instead of telling me that on the first screen it tried to book me on another flight. When I selected I was uninterested in changing, only then did it tell me online check in was not available. I also couldn’t seem to figure out how to check in online without using my Milage Plus information. Unlike every other airline in the world where you can use your name and confirmation number, it asked for my frequent flier login. They need to up their experience to just hit the bare minimum for usablity and get rid of their used-cars-salesmen techniques.

East Coast Bound

It’s vacation time! Work is finished up for the year, just a few loose ends to tie up at home, a little more packing to do, and I’m off on a plane for the East Coast. Not a whole lot planned. Going to the Met to see War and Peace (as an opera, we’ll see how that turns out) next Friday and possibly spending next Saturday in NYC as well. I’m just looking foward to spending time with the family and unwinding.

Arriving in Singapore and Little India, Chinatown, etc

After a grueling day of traveling due to China Eastern Airlines inability to depart on time I made it to Singapore last night around 9pm. After meeting up with my friends, we headed out to Chinatown to find some food at one of the various hakwer stalls. It was a familiar site, very close to what Kuala Lumpur was like with hawker stalls and people everywhere, but about a thousand times clear and hundreds of signs saying how much you’ll get fined for just about anything (including eating durian). We had some pretty good street food, then went to get some foot massages, then ended up walking around for a bit in the area. After we got bored of walking around, we decided to jump in a taxi and head over to the spectacular Raffles Hotel to grab a Sinagpore Sling at place it was created, Long Bar. The hotel was fantastic, full of old world British charm. The Long Bar was picturesque too, if not a bit touristy and the sling was, well a sling. We went back home to get an early start to today.

In the morning, we made our way over to Takashimaya to get a highly recomended breakfast of coffee, soft boiled eggs and strong sweet coffee at Ya Kun Kaya, located in the basement. It was delicious. We cruised around the basemen tof Takashimaya for a little longer, and I got some more food (it was pretty much the theme for the day), a Noyan rice ball wrapped in banana leaf. Again, delicious. I’d always wanted to try one, and that was the first time I’d seen a vegetarian version of the snack.

After finishing up breakfast, we went over to Little India by MRT. The subway system is very simular in rolling stock, ticket systems, and floor plans to the one in Shanghai. It’s very comprehensive, clean and runs often. Little India was fun, again centered around food. There were still a lot of signs up for Diwali as well as plenty of South Indian looking/styled temples. We ate at a veg South Indian restaurant, where I had a good masala dosa and a few other folks got some great looking thalis, too. We made our way back to the major market area in Little India to get some teh tarik, a Malay-style pulled sweet black tea.

From there it was back the colonial/city/downtown area and walked through the cricket grounds, the Supreme Court, and some of the other old British buildings. A lot of times it was hard to tell if you were in London or in Singapore just how the roads were layed out and the buildings were styled. On the docket for tonight is the night safari at the zoo, a supposed top thing to do in Singapore. We’re about to head out to dinner, who knows where, but I’m in South East Asia, which means I’m always ready to eat. Tomorrow I think I might hop over to Indonesia to spend the morning-ish hours at the beach at Bintan or another island over there.

To Be Back in Shanghai

I forgot how much I liked this place. There’s a lot to love about Shanghai. Yesterday I spent the day crusing around the city and work meeting up with friends all over. I loved being able to walk down to the street and pick up a taxi, pop on my head phones and spin around town. Today was more of the same, spent time eating, chatting and eating some more. We ate at Yuxin tonight, which is an amazing Sichuan place that is so crazy spicy that my sweating required napkining off. Delicious. I’m sure I’ll regret it tomorrow, but boy do I love it.

I’m off to Singapore in the morning, 9am flight via Hong Kong, and meeting up w/ some office folks. 85F right now, this should be fun.

Back in Shanghai

After a nine month hiatus I’m back in Shanghai. I didn’t quite remember the flight out here being so long (11:45 + 3.5 hours of flying, plus one hour of layover in Tokyo). As I picked up my luggage and walked through customs, out in to the open, the familar faces of Shanghai came back like a ton of bricks, as if I’d never left.

I went to the same ICBC ATM to withdraw money from my account in China (the money which thankfully did not mysteriously disappear), then passed through the various people harrasing me for “taxi” rides, and got in the offical taxi queue. The chalky smell of the air, the bumping and pushing, and public belching, it was all there in its full and wonderful authentic glory.

I was a little worried about having to use my rather poor Chinese when I got in the cab, but as I hunkered down it all started to flow and we were on our way to Xujiahui. As we crossed the Lupu Bridge, I could see the new World Financial Center (aka Shanghai 102), which looks like its topped out and makes the Jin Mao Tower seem small in comparison. Also different is how amazingly quiet the streets are now that there’s a 200 RMB fine for honking!

Didn’t do a whole lot today once I got in; I was pretty nuked after the flight. I did go however to the foot massage place we used to frequent and used it as an opportunity to catch up about life, work, and Shanghai with some old friends. It was great to hang out and talk the same nonsense as usual. I’m wishing I had more than just two and a half days here.

Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore: Here I Come

I’m off! I’m leaving today for a vacation over Thanksgiving. I’m heading to Shanghai first to meet up with a bunch of my friends from there, then off to Singapore with a couple of folks from the office to tour around, then we’re all off to Hong Kong for my good friends wedding. It’s gonna be a great trip and I’m looking forward to getting some time off. As usual, I’ll be blogging from the road.