Best sushi ever. Tsukiji, Tokyo

 

17-18.04: Plan, Do, Err, Get lost, Check and Act (Deming cycle – Tokyo style)

I had thought that going to Tokyo would feel like going ‘home’. I mean, I was certain at that point that I would move to Japan and Tokyo would then be the most logical place to live. It worked out a bit differently though. As you know from my previous blog, my time was restricted to 1.5 days. Tokyo is huge so this sightseeing expedition had to be planned meticulously and run as a military operation. So I sat myself down in my Command Control Center, the local gyoza restaurant (yummy) around the corner of the hostel and worked out the strategy.

I hit the road as soon as possible. Well, not the road but the metro. Things got complicated in a heart beat. Tokyo appeared to have two rail operators offering 10 odd packages, some blended products, and tickets were deer, as everything in Japan. So I saw, thought and bought… the wrong ticket. My first mistake was surmountable; I had taken a train with my metro-only pass so had to pay a top-up. No big deal. The second mistake was more awkward; I had managed to get into an area where I should not have been able to get. The railway officer insisted on ‘fraud’ and wanted to charge a hefty fine. I was utterly indignant, and it may be possible that had come across because the officer got increasingly aggravated. A Japanese lady helped to lull the situation and got me out without a fine after a long debate. My mood had dropped to rock bottom but I reckoned it couldn’t get worse. yeah right.. the next hurdle was imminent 🙁

This time the hurdle had a name, ‘Shinjuku Station’. It was Big & Busy and I had been warned in advance. I thought I was used to vibrant cities being a resident of Dubai but, wow, how many people can fit on 1 square meter! In Tokyo not a handful but three hands full. It felt as if all 38 million inhabitants had assembled in Shinjuku. Crowds don’t bother me normally but this was intense. Things got worse when I got lost. Yes, I, Ms. Linda van Dijk, had lost my way INSIDE a metro station! It took 2 hours to find my way out of this ‘village’ 100 meters below the ground. Damn absence of English signage and -speakers. My forehead was covered in clammy sweat when I finally saw daylight. The funny thing is that I must have passed a hundred exit signs in Japanese. If you ever visit Shinjuku -or other place in Japan- look for this: 出口.

 

Fortunately, my good planning paid off afterwards and I saw many highlights within no time and no major trouble.

Shibuya crossing (the picture that everyone knows)

Tokyo Sky Tree

Imperial Palace East Garden

31.03: Fire alert at Chengdu airport

China is on another planet. Honestly! I already realised that at the conveyor belt for luggage retrieval at the airport. Conveyor belt? Yes!  I am used that people wait a meter from the belt, quietly step forward to pick their suitcase, walk to their cart, load and leave. Okay, I agree this is the sophisticated case, and yes, I have had people park carts AT the belt (and if you are one of them, please could you try to stop it, there is simply not enough space for carts).

Chengdu however took it to another dimension. I barely heard the alarm indicating the belt initiation because peril broke loose (in Dutch: de pleuris uitbrak). People started shouting, bulldozing carts to the belt, leaning forward on/over the belt and pushing an occasional person out of the way. For a moment I thought I had missed a fire alert announcement and reasoned that people were frantically trying to rescue their valuables. But people relaxed once reunited with their belongings so that did not add up. I was astonished. What an interesting start of this China Adventure.

1.04: Six for one… when oh when will I know know better

I woke up early due to arrival of my new dorm mate, Henry. This amicable British rock climber/traveler and PhD student-to-be suggested to bike around Chengdu together. Nice idea so off we went, Henry with helmet and I without, because Dutchies just don’t do helmets, sorry. I must have had a bad influence on Henry because he ended without too.

Biking in Chengdu was modestly dangerous because cyclists need to use the major roads in absence of designated cycle lanes. We had tons of fun despite the traffic risks. Witnessing a mass tea ceremony was definitely one of the highlights.

The stakes went up when we entered the National museum. We got a little bored because most signs were in Chinese so we invented our own interactivity: bets. For example, we disagreed on the location of Chengdu on a map on display so we needed to figure out who was wrong and that person had to buy a round of beer. Map reading skills…. Yes, I should have know better, I lost! (Note to Claire, since you asked me to refrain from stigmatising language I want to add to the above comment that map reading is a personal improvement area of an otherwise reasonably intelligent human being, and as such is hence fully unrelated to gender).

We biked to Chengdu’s top nightspot, which was beautifully located at the riverside. New challenge: no one spoke english and the menu was in Chinese only and very confusing because 1 beer costed roughly the same as 6 beers. So what do Penny-Pinched Dutchies & Budget Brits do? Ofcourse… they order [rounds of] 6 (and apologies for the blackmarking of the Dutch and Brits). That wasn’t the most sensible decision ofcourse because the next early morning I had panda petting scheduled  and trust me, I got punished badly for this mistake.

PS. If you visit Chengdu then pls try their hot pot. We dared to eat many uncommon items such as heart and some animal’s skin.

2.4: Cutest cuddly creatures

I now understand why WWF chose a panda as logo. Forget it penguins (of the movie ‘Madagascar’); cute and cuddly is reserved for these teddy bears with their big bellies.

One instinctively wants to run up to them and hug them. Part of the fun is that you actually can because they are not aggressive. I went early in the morning to see them at their most active and I can tell you these creatures are LAZY in caps. No complaining from my end though, my body system was nowhere ‘near the green’ yet, so thanks to their immobility I managed to take a few reasonable shots despite the shakes.

When the furry fellas made preparatives to nap, I went back to the hostel and had a nap too. At night, some locals invited us to a local gig. Chinese techno/house plus live jamming on Chinese instruments. Impressive!

3-6.04: The LOOOVE boat soon will be making another run….

The next morning I had to take a tough decision. I wanted to finish in Beijing and could travel eastwards via the Yiuzhaigou National Park with possibly the best ever horse riding hack or go via the (South) Center and sail the Yangze river’s Three Gorges -printed on China’s 10 Yuan bank note- and see Xian’s terra-cotta army.

I decided for the Middle because the East was simply to far out and I read some negative reviews on the hack on the internet. So I traveled to Chongquin on a high-speed bullet train and boarded a ‘world-standard’ cruise ship that night that would take me to Yichang in 4 days. Our Chinese Isaac was a little less fun then the series’ since ours spoke little English. This seemed the standard on the vessel; only 3 crew members spoke English and a travel group of 5 Brits and Aussies, who basically adopted me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

It was unexpected good fun on the cruise liner. I rested quite a lot. Isn’t it funny that if one is somewhat confinement it is much more easy to kick back. I also wrote some blogs, edited pictures and had a great time listening to 80s-90s music with Vince, my new friend from the UK/Aussie group.

And then there were ofcourse the gorgeous gorges; the biggest one, the Qutang Gorge (on the 10 Yuan note) was incredible, however, I liked the Lesser Three Gorges best. On tiny tourist boats, we were taken into  a whole new world, brilliant.

Another highlight of the trip was not the word’s largest dam (the Three Gorges Dam), no. Much more damn memorable was witnessing a full cruise ship perform the Chicken Dance (in Dutch: vogeltjesdans). Hilarious! Never expected that this song was still accepted, LOL!