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Published: November 1st 2007
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Our last day in Shanghai ended up being very wet and grey so all our plans for a boat trip to the mouth of the Yangtse went out of the window and we ended up shopping instead. Both of us were in need of a couple of bits of clothing and both of us had a bit of a shock.....when asking to try things on we were holding, the assistant disappeared and came back with a larger size. To our surprise and dismay these fitted in both cases and we are now in possession of Large (Sarah) and XXL (Hugh) items of clothing indicating the difference between Chinese and UK sizes. I will have to cut the label out before I wear it! (S.)
A very scary taxi journey to the airport instead of the Maglev early the next morning. Shanghai Pudong airport was disappointing considering it is only a few years old though we were quite surprised to discover that you are able to buy live crabs in Duty Free shops to take on planes with you!
Arriving into Tokyo was such a contrast though. Yes, it's also impossible to read anything and again we are taller than
most, but the similarities really end there. Getting through the airport was amazingly efficient, to the extent that by the time we got to the baggage carousel we thought the area unusually empty considering the carousel hadn't started moving yet - it was only after we had finished filling out the customs form that we realised that our bags were on the floor next to the carousel and we were among the last ones to collect! It then took us less than half an hour to get cash, exchange vouchers we held for rail passes, make our first train reservation, get bus tickets to the hotel and buy some snacks - what a fantastic country!
The only downside was that we had taken the rain with us so it was a very wet, grey Tokyo that we drove into which gradually worsened into the following day resulting in a typhoon in the evening by which stage Hugh's umbrella had disintegrated and I was running out of dry clothes (S.) I have since been able to repair the umbrella with the help of a few paperclips (H.)
In many ways Japan feels like being in Europe but not quite....
The people are remarkably courteous and well dressed (yes, we feel very out of place). The streets are so clean and traffic stops when you get on a pedestrian crossing (not like the scrums in China). And then there's the toilets - in China public toilets are almost always a hole in the floor , if not just a channel running through all the toilets. In many there are no cubicle doors so you look out on the cubicle opposite. And you're lucky if there's running water in the sinks. By comparison, I have been in public loos in Japan that are like the control centre at Nasa - the seat is heated (a little disconcerting!), there is a shower system which appears to provide a bidet function, there's stuff to clean the seat and sometimes an automatic pre-wash. Our current hotel loo has a remote control! In public loos they also often have speakers and will play flushing sounds so that you can't be heard by anyone else, and at Kyoto station it plays train noises!
In Tokyo we met up with a very old friend of mine (S.) from student days in Manchester who I reckon I've
not seen for 10 years (well, he's been in Japan for 8). A number of you will know Tim Morley (including some that I didn't know did until we talked to him, Jane!) who, if anything, is marginally taller than Hugh so rather stands out around here. He's been teaching English in various parts of the country over the years and seems to like it. He took us out for a much missed curry our first night and a couple of days later spent a day taking us to some of the sights, including up the Tokyo Government Building to see fantastic views of Mount Fuji (which we had actually discovered we could also see from our bedroom window that morning) and the rest of Tokyo. Try as he did, he was unable to persuade us to go with him to watch the
'beautiful game' that afternoon so he went off on his own and we went to our first Japanese temple which was rather beautiful in an understated way. There were a couple of weddings there which were very stately affairs with lovely costumes.
The last few days we have been in Kyoto which was once the capital
and has a huge range of temples and gardens. Unfortunately we had a spectacular first day of closed venues - a speciality of ours which seems to be getting more common. Yesterday we went to Osaka for the day and spent much of the afternoon in the excellent city aquarium which has sea otters, dolphins and penguins amongst the other more usual sharks and rays etc.
Today has been a bit damp again but we went a bit out of the city to see the Golden Pavilion and what is apparently the most famous Zen Buddhist garden. The Golden Pavilion was crammed with tour groups which was a pity as the setting was beautiful with the Japanese acers just changing colour to reds and yellows. The Zen garden is 15 stones carefully placed in a gravel rectangle - a place to muse over its meaning and meditate a while - much quieter too.
At another Buddhist temple we saw a hall filled with 1000 lifesize carved wooden Buddhas - really stunning - with a huge central Buddha they are protecting.
And then we saw some traditional Japanese dance at an autumn festival where even some of the
audience were in traditional dress and fully made up - it looks very uncomfortable, particularly the way they shuffle around in the tight kimonos. I am surprised that we have actually seen a number of women in the street wearing full kimonos both here and in Tokyo - I really didn't expect people to still wear it for ordinary occasions.
A couple more nights here in our dinky hotel room with even dinkier bathroom - I can only just get into the shower and Hugh has to kneel down! Still, that's what you get in one of the most expensive countries in the world. Having said that, while it's expensive compared with China, it's certainly cheaper than home & probably a bit cheaper than I expected.
Would love to hear from any of you - you don't have to put on a public comment, you can just send a message or an ordinary email - it'd be good to know some people are reading this and to know what's going on back at home.
Hope you're all well and looking forward to Christmas(they just seem to be getting it together here but I guess it's been ongoing
for a while now at home)!
Love S & H xx
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jen
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hello
Sorry not to get in touch for so long. I'm still struggling with the green eyed monster. My hols seem ages away. Steve went to North Korea which was interesting. I think he became a very obedient boy for the duration. He brought official Olympic souvenirs back from Beijing. All we need is for the games to be cancelled and then they'll be worth a fortune. Are you in possession of garish teddies on the same principle? No, I thought not. Watch that back you very large lady! (What size would I need??)