By the time I left Singapore I had been traveling with Kiran and Richard for over a month and a half… and Danny for like 4 days. However, all good things must come to an end and our group was split up for our final destination. Kiran and Danny went to Brunei while Richard and I went to Japan.
Richard had already been to Japan in January but he had gone with his family on a tour group. So he was excited to see Japan from a different angle.
We were in Japan from June 21st to June 25th and we spent the whole time in Tokyo. Trust me, 4 days is barely enough to even scratch the surface of Tokyo. It would take several lifetimes to fully explore the city,
The Most Populated City in the World
With 35 million residents, Tokyo is considered to have the worlds largest population. However, you wouldn't know it by how smoothly the city is run
It's actually a very interesting juxtaposition one sees a lot of in Tokyo. On one side Tokyo is crowded and the culture is super flashy, while on the side the people are quite civilized and everything is quite orderly.
For example, take the metro system (which, by the way, is one of the most extensive metros I've ever been on). If you get on during rush hour, the first thing you're going to notice is how crazy busy it is. Everybody is shoved together like sardines in a fashion similar to Mumbai. However, the second thing you'll notice is how politely the Japanese people squish each other. They actually line up to get on the train and let people get off before filing on. When in the train people don't even talk (even on their cell phones) in order to minimize the discomfort to others.
As expected, the people in Tokyo are extremely polite. Us Canadians have nothing on Japanese politeness. One uniquely Japanese trait is they tend to give each other a little bow for most transactions such as greeting, partings or anything involving money.
A event as plain as buying something from the 7-11 can involve you receiving 5 bows from the cashier.
1: A greeting bow when you walk up to the till
2: When you give them the items to ring in
3: When you give them the money
4: When they give you the change
5: A final bye bow as you take your receipt.
I noticed by the time I was leaving Tokyo I was giving everyone a little bow for most things.
Food
I am a big fan of Japanese food. Sure if you're a finicky eater in Japan you're screwed but if you can get over how odd most of it is, it's good eating.
My personal favorite Japanese food was Ramen. Ramen is a term applied to noodle houses that can be found all over Tokyo. Walk in order your meal (which generally consists of noodles mixed with something like an egg or vegetables) and fill up for less than 3 bucks.
The seafood is defiantly where you get the crazy stuff. Take for example one meal which consisted of prawns, 4 kinds of fish (salmon being the only one I recognized), crab and seaweed all served raw on top of rice. It was awesome. I felt like I had defeated the ocean and was now devouring it.
Even MacDonald's got into the crazy seafood act and offered such delights as a shrimp burger (I wasn't a huge fan).
Snacking and caffeine hits were also super convenient in Japan. If you were to lazy to go to one of the 7-11-esque stores you could find at every street corner, you could just go to one of the millions of vending machines scattered throughout the city.
We even had a chance to try some authentic Japanese sushi. It was good stuff and affordable.
Best of all, it was possible to get kebabs! It was the best moment of my life leaving the bar to see the streets filled with kebab stands.
I think I'm having a Seizure
It's a stereotype that Japan has a zany pop culture filled with bright colors and madness. Well I can officially confirm that it's all true and I'm confident that it broke my brain.
Not every street in Tokyo was completely filled with neon. In most streets the only neon you saw came from the local pachinko place (more on this later). But the streets that were filled with neon more than compensated for those lacking it. I felt over stimulated just glancing at the Shinjuku and Shibuya areas.
Japanese TV is similarly over the top. Not every show is super crazy, but none of even approaches our level of calmness.
If you ever want to kill 12 hours, go to a Tokyo toy store. There's so much cool stuff in there I can't believe that the Japanese haven't conquered the world yet. Be it little solar powered dudes made of corn or awesome boxing games, Japanese kids are lucky,
You know how there's some people who are completely obsessed with anime and manga to the point where it runs their lives. I'm pretty sure every third person in Tokyo fits this description. The shops selling anime and manga were huge and always busy. It was a very common site to see a 40 year old business man whip out a manga comic and start reading it on the train.
Video Games
We were able to see many cool futurist electronics but the thing that captured my attention the most was the arcades. Namely the size and popularity of the arcades.
In Canada an arcade often describes a dusty machine shoved in the back of a lobby in a movie theater. In Japan, an arcade refers to a five floor building filled with rows upon rows of games.
I was able to find most of my favorite classics, but the thing that captured my attention the most were the games you could only find in Japan . Take for example this awesome game that involved one sitting at a table with a screen in front. You would purchase cards and then move the cards on the table. The table would read the movement of the card and then move your players in the game. If this was in Canada I would play it every day.
Also cool was this large Gundam (giant fighting robots) virtual reality pod. Each player had their own pod filled with a huge screen (which filled your vision) and realistic Gundam control system. In order to play it you had to buy a card which would track your progress and allow you to earn upgrades. I of course had to play then and it was awesome.
The most popular form of "arcade" were pachinko places. Pachinko is a form of gambling (it's the thing with the little metal balls). Pretty much every block had one and they were often filled.
Gambling was actually pretty prevalent throughout Tokyo and it wasn't hard to find slot machines or electronic horse racing.
Green Space
Tokyo is considered to the be the city with the most green space in the world. At first this is hard to believe until you see it's parks. Each one is huge and filled with beautiful plants and often temples.
One of the most interesting Japanese culture experiences was in the park just outside Meiji-Jingu Shrine. We visited the park on Sunday by accident but were surprised by what we saw. The park was filled with various groups of people just chilling out or doing some odd activity. It should be noted that pretty much everybody was drinking heavily. The park was huge so the groups were fairly spread out.
Some of the activities we saw included dancing, juggling, dressing up in elaborate costumes that would put KISS to shame and playing music. My person favorite was a group who had brought a couple of mixing tables to the park and set up several tapestries. They even had candles and a dude was doing a good job mixing.
It was surreal.
Goodbye Asia
Tokyo was a great way to end our trip. It was different enough from Canada that it was still interesting, but relaxing enough that to be a good wind down from India. I had always wanted to go to Tokyo and it didn't disappoint.
I will probably have to go back to Japan again since I missed many of Japan's big sites (Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, etc.) but I'm glad we stayed in Tokyo .
I'm happy that we took two months off in order to go traveling. However for me, I think 2 months was enough for nonstop travel. While I'm capable of more (I wasn't feeling homesick), I noticed that near the end, I wasn't appreciating things as much as I should. Also I need to save some parts of Asia for my next trip.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Singapore
I have been in Calgary for about a week now so this blog is kinda of late. However, I managed to keep up with all my other travel blogs and don’t want to let this one slip through the cracks. So without further ado, here’s my blog for Singapore.
We flew from Mumbai to Singapore on June 15th and we left June 21st. The flight was surprisingly long and Singapore is in a time zone 2.5 hours before India. For the rest of the trip I never adjusted to the correct time zone (too many late nights).
When we arrived in Singapore we met up with our friend Danny who was in middle of his own Asia trip. Kiran and Richard were good travel buddies, but it was nice having someone new to liven up the conversation. He told us that all three of us independently mentioned the same thing to him the first day he arrived.
Singapore, Singapore
My first thoughts upon arriving on Singapore were, “How could this possibly be on the same planet as India”. The contrast was so great it took me some serious time to adjust.
Singapore is actually a unique little country. Located on an island in the south of Malaysia (but north of Borneo), the country of Singapore is literally one city (called Singapore) that spans the whole island. It should be noted that it’s not a very big island either; it’s smaller than Vancouver Island.
It’s not only its size that makes it unique in Southeast Asia but also it’s wealth. When Singapore gained independence after WWII, its politicians preformed a miracle. They managed to take a small British Port and transform it into a banking capital and port destination. Even though Singapore lacks natural resources, it still makes a ton of money off of oil refining.
Perhaps the most famous aspect of Singapore is the restrictiveness and harshness of its laws. Caning is a punishment and many crimes hold a death penalty (including most drug related offenses). Singapore is the place you heard about where gum is restricted (you’re allowed to chew it discreetly, but you can’t buy it in the country).
It’s because of these tough laws and wealth that Singapore is by far the cleanest, most organized place I’ve ever been. Everything runs on time and is orderly. It was a nice break after the chaos which was India.
Even though the population of Singapore is mainly made up of Chinese, Malay and Indians, the primary language in Singapore is English. Everybody speaks it and all the signs and markings are in English only. This makes it easy for a traveler to get around.
Shopping
If you can say one thing about Singaporeans, it’s that they love to shop. You can’t walk a block without finding a mall that will be packed at all times.
But these aren’t your standard North American malls. These are huge labyrinths of stores. The malls on Orchard Road are grand enough to dwarf any mall you’ve ever dreamed and inspire one to write epics about them.
It’s like being in a different reality where consumerism has taken a physical form in the shape of Orchard Road.
Needless to say, if you’re the type who likes to shop, Singapore would be for you.
The Sights
Singapore is not the type of country that has a lot of sights. It’s got a couple, but after coming from a place like India, it’s more the type of place to chill at.
The primary attraction of Singapore is the tiny island of Sentosa. Located off of Singapore it’s beautiful beach in a completely artificial kind of way. The beaches are just a little too nice and it’s loaded with tourist things to do. It’s still a pleasant way to spend a day though and the giant Merlion statue is so campy it rocks.
Singapore’s zoo is defiantly its primary attraction. It’s quite large and well sculptured. The best part of it all is the Night Safari, which is another zoo that is filled with nocturnal animals. It only opens after dark and it was a ton of fun wandering through its simulated jungle trying to spot animals.
For such a buckled down place, Singapore has a surprisingly thumping night life. It wasn’t hard to find cool bars and they were quite full. Most nights there I was up long past 4am.
Wrap up
Initially I wasn’t planning to spend much time in Singapore. The only reason we had scheduled such a long stop was Kiran wanted time to visit friends, Richard and I had been planning to do some day trips. However, my laziness and the charms of Singapore made it easy to find things to do for 5 days.
Next Time: Tokyo
We flew from Mumbai to Singapore on June 15th and we left June 21st. The flight was surprisingly long and Singapore is in a time zone 2.5 hours before India. For the rest of the trip I never adjusted to the correct time zone (too many late nights).
When we arrived in Singapore we met up with our friend Danny who was in middle of his own Asia trip. Kiran and Richard were good travel buddies, but it was nice having someone new to liven up the conversation. He told us that all three of us independently mentioned the same thing to him the first day he arrived.
Singapore, Singapore
My first thoughts upon arriving on Singapore were, “How could this possibly be on the same planet as India”. The contrast was so great it took me some serious time to adjust.
Singapore is actually a unique little country. Located on an island in the south of Malaysia (but north of Borneo), the country of Singapore is literally one city (called Singapore) that spans the whole island. It should be noted that it’s not a very big island either; it’s smaller than Vancouver Island.
It’s not only its size that makes it unique in Southeast Asia but also it’s wealth. When Singapore gained independence after WWII, its politicians preformed a miracle. They managed to take a small British Port and transform it into a banking capital and port destination. Even though Singapore lacks natural resources, it still makes a ton of money off of oil refining.
Perhaps the most famous aspect of Singapore is the restrictiveness and harshness of its laws. Caning is a punishment and many crimes hold a death penalty (including most drug related offenses). Singapore is the place you heard about where gum is restricted (you’re allowed to chew it discreetly, but you can’t buy it in the country).
It’s because of these tough laws and wealth that Singapore is by far the cleanest, most organized place I’ve ever been. Everything runs on time and is orderly. It was a nice break after the chaos which was India.
Even though the population of Singapore is mainly made up of Chinese, Malay and Indians, the primary language in Singapore is English. Everybody speaks it and all the signs and markings are in English only. This makes it easy for a traveler to get around.
Shopping
If you can say one thing about Singaporeans, it’s that they love to shop. You can’t walk a block without finding a mall that will be packed at all times.
But these aren’t your standard North American malls. These are huge labyrinths of stores. The malls on Orchard Road are grand enough to dwarf any mall you’ve ever dreamed and inspire one to write epics about them.
It’s like being in a different reality where consumerism has taken a physical form in the shape of Orchard Road.
Needless to say, if you’re the type who likes to shop, Singapore would be for you.
The Sights
Singapore is not the type of country that has a lot of sights. It’s got a couple, but after coming from a place like India, it’s more the type of place to chill at.
The primary attraction of Singapore is the tiny island of Sentosa. Located off of Singapore it’s beautiful beach in a completely artificial kind of way. The beaches are just a little too nice and it’s loaded with tourist things to do. It’s still a pleasant way to spend a day though and the giant Merlion statue is so campy it rocks.
Singapore’s zoo is defiantly its primary attraction. It’s quite large and well sculptured. The best part of it all is the Night Safari, which is another zoo that is filled with nocturnal animals. It only opens after dark and it was a ton of fun wandering through its simulated jungle trying to spot animals.
For such a buckled down place, Singapore has a surprisingly thumping night life. It wasn’t hard to find cool bars and they were quite full. Most nights there I was up long past 4am.
Wrap up
Initially I wasn’t planning to spend much time in Singapore. The only reason we had scheduled such a long stop was Kiran wanted time to visit friends, Richard and I had been planning to do some day trips. However, my laziness and the charms of Singapore made it easy to find things to do for 5 days.
Next Time: Tokyo
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