Thursday 7 November 2013
Hong Kong trip 2013
I needed a new visa and so my company sent me to HongKong to get one, it meant a 3 day stayover, staying in the new territories not on hongkong island (to save money on hotels) and I had a great time, although busy in the Hongkong office for some time part of my job there (whilst waiting for the visa) was purchasing, meaning I was forced, as part of my job, to trawl around the huge computer markets of HongKong, awesome! I managed to escape with only a little purchase for myself (a wireless charger), however I had been asked by a contact in Coventry university (who now lives in Shanghai) to help her son buy an iPhone as they are much cheaper in HongKong (100gbp cheaper on a 600gbp device). I tried to buy one however they were like golddust! In the end I queued for an hour in the middle of the day (it was busier in the morning) to get a while model, no blacks available and white only had limited stock, apparently so many are being shipped over illegally into China that they can't keep stock up in HK! Madness!
I did get to ride the star ferry, and had a nice hotel room, and stock up on Bombay Sapphire in Duty free! Perfect! I got my visa O.K, so back to the mainland!
Random Japan things
Fugu (puffer fish) Restaurant pictures I missed before, (including a dried puffer fish) and an amusing can of Mens Spray!
I also never mentioned going to the Tokyo internet cafe, we needed internet when out and about so went to the 8th floor of an office building, we checked into a booth and went into a huge room of small cubicles, inside was a low sofa, and two computers, with internet, games, movies, etc, and you can sit and relax, they also have massage chair seats for an extra cost, and free unlimited drinks, snacks, and ice cream! They even have a shower there and so for a lot of young people they will go out for the night, end up in an internet cafe, pay the 10gbp nightly 2am to 7am fee, sleep, shower, then get the metro home when it opens in the morning! It was really cool!
Beijing trip
The company needed some onsite work in Beijing so I got sent to Beijing for a few days on the companies dime. Great! I took the fast train up to Beijing and got a nice hotel near the client office, I did the onsite work however the plan changed as I was on the train and the 12 machines they needed fixed changed to only 4, however accessibility meant that I still needed to stay over 3 days, perfect!
The hotel was a Spa hotel, offering spa quality water, however the water was yellow!
I managed to not work too hard and sneak away an afternoon and do a little sight seeing, going to nearby TiananMen, eating a mountain of Beijing Duck, and getting over to the Birds Next stadium, which is a huge place left over from the Olympics, and the scale of the place must be seen to be believed. I didn't manage to make it to the summer palace however to see the giant inflatable duck 'sculpture' that is there at the moment, a shame!
New job!
I finally found an IT job in Shanghai like I had wanted for so long, working as IT and security administrator for a small company which is great. I started and have been rushed off my feet every since, I've been working on many projects, and this is a relatively new position here there are many IT projects I'm getting involved in, as well as learning computer forensics and analysis and mobile phone investigations too!
I have a new place right behind the Shanghai Center sharing a flat with a Chinese girl vivi and a French girl, they seem nice but we are really busy so I don't spend too long with them. I've been working weekends and evenings but whenever I'm not working hanging out with the people I work with, it is a fairly young company and so there are quite a few cool people who are happy to drink a beer or two when needed!
2nd August – Back to China
All good things must come to an end, as must my time in Japan, I booked a flight on Spring Airlines, a budget carrier, back to Shanghai but unfortunately that meant that I wasn't flying from Tokyo airport, but Iberaki, a 2hour bus ride away from Tokyo in a sleepy rural town!
I got the metro to the bus stop, and Mina accompanied me to the airport too, at the airport they inforced the militant policy of 15kg, including handluggage, and everything you want to take, it all goes on the scales and all gets counted, I was of course expecting 22kg in the hold + 8kg in hand luggage, so was a bit over, but luckily not too much, I paid the fee and got on the plane, the airport was cool as it was mostly military and in fact from the viewing platform we watched a couple of fast jets shoot off into the sky!
I landed in Shanghai alone and went to my new house to drop off my things, I then rushed to the station to get onto the next train back to Ningbo as I still had to pickup all my things before work started on Monday in my new job!
On the train Chris texted me to say he was celebrating his birthday with a beer so I went straight from the station to the bar he was at for a few beers, then, very tired from a very long day of travelling, I went to the Ningbo student apartments and went to sleep!
Last day in Japan, this time!
My last full day in Tokyo and we went out to do some last minute shopping, after a long morning we stopped off for a rest and then we wanted to take to the skies so we visited one of the many skyscrapers in Tokyo. Most have expensive entry fees but one, run by the government is completely free and offers amazing panoramic views around Tokyo, beautiful!
Then I had heard that there was a beautiful island on the end of one of the train lines, so we headed out that way to explore it. We got there late afternoon and took some cool pictures around the harbor and looking back over Tokyo, we then did a bit of shopping and got a picnic to eat whilst watching the sunset over Tokyo skyline and the miniature (but still big) statue of liberty copy.
After that we walked to a nearby mall for some more gift shopping and to see a huge lifesize Gundam model that people had randomly built, we took pictures with that and then got some dinner before jumping on the train back in the dark. I really like Tokyo, I don't want to leave!
31th Tokyo day 2 – Fish markets and poisonous fish
One place my guidebook recommended was the Tokyo fish market, a huge place where apparently 10% of all Japanese seafood is bought and sold (and the Japanese love their seafood!) We tried to get there early but didn't manage that, arrived late morning when it was mostly closed up, however the scale was still amazing to see and the nearby market was filled with fresh seafood, Mina was very keen to try a very expensive cut of fish, one of the best, from a street vendor there offering a very good price. We took a chance and bought it (for around 8gbp) and tried it, it was nice in flavor but was a bit more chewy than I would have liked. After this we walked around the area and found a recommded place to eat puffer fish. Despite puffer fish being out of season you can still get it in some specialized restaurants, and it was on my list of things to try! We ordered it among a few other dishes, and it arrived prepared in a few different ways, the traditional way is very thin shashimi, raw slices of puffer fish flesh, and that was nice, nothing hugely special. Perhaps in season, or highly expensive versions, are hugely tasty but I think I still prefer salmon sashimi with extra wasabi!
We then walked through another beautiful miniature garden and found a very famous shrine that is very infamous in asia as commemorating all Japanese war dead, including many convicted war criminals, it was interesting to see and is very near a giant military museum. We walked through there to take a look and it was also interesting, with one of the most shocking being an example of a suicide submarine, just big enough for one crew member to pilot and try to blow up taking an enemy ship with him, they also had photos of Japanese war dead, a huge room and corridor covered floor to ceiling with small photos, very moving.
Then we recovered with some retail therapy, I may have accidentally bought a Macbook I had my eye on… for a very good price, and we had good fun wandering around the electronic markets and buying some cool technology!
One odd thing was the 'maid bars' that are everywhere, with girls in French maid uniforms working there, you can go and drink with them, much like a hostess bar, and chat with them, but nothing more, a bit strange, but so so popular, I however didn't take advantage of this unique experience!
30th Tokyo Day 1 – Museums and Famous crossings
My first day in Tokyo Mina's friend went off to work and so we went off exploring, we got the metro to a huge park full of museums, with possibly the biggest and busiest starbucks I had ever seen and went to see the Tokyo Museum, it had some nice art and some lovely statues, we didn't spend too long there as it got a bit overwhelming after a while and so we walked back through the park and went to the really famous intersection, featured in every film of Tokyo (including Tokyo drift) and went to the overlooking starbucks for the best view of the crossing and the sea of people flowing over it at every rotation of the pedestrian crossing, very orderly and patient after living in China for so long!
We then went to the huge electronics markets in Tokyo Shibuya ward, a huge multi street temple to electronics of all sorts and shapes and sizes, it was amazing, I wandered around happily for a couple of hours and could have stayed a lot longer, there were so many things I wanted to buy however I held off, but I know I will be back before I leave! Among other things I noticed a Macbook air for a VERY reasonable price, £200 cheaper than the Chinese price!
We then wandered around a nearby district of bars and hotels before heading back to Yonehs house, Tokyo is huge and really busy and fun, I like this place!
On to Tokyo
Today was on to Tokyo, we got the train with no problems and arrived in Tokyo! We got the metro out to a stop outside the center and waited in a coffee shop for Mina's friend, whos house we had been offered to stay at.
She was a bit late finishing work and so a bit late meeting us however when she arrived she was lovely! Yoneh! She also spoke no English, or very little, but welcomed me into her house and it turned out we were sleeping on her floor with her in the bed next to us! My British upbringing coming out I was a bit embarrassed about sleeping on the floor of someone I had just met that night but there wasn't much I could do about it! No worries though, it was a common thing in Asia and they were really loved people, and I was happy to have a place to sleep!! Fantastic.
28th Fireworks and Japanese clothes!
With no real plan for this day we wanted to just chill out around town and maybe catch a film, so we got the car and drove over to a nearby shopping center, had a wander around and some window shopping in this giant place before finding the cinema, we watched the new fast and furious film (huge in japan) and then going out went to a nearby pizza place for some pasta and free unlimited pizza side, random but tasty!
After the pizza we went home and it turned out that Mina's brothers friend had tickets for an annual fireworks display nearby that night, VIP tickets! He offered them to us but in the end managed to get another 2 tickets as well so we could watch together!
We decided to wear the Japanese tradition clothes to go and watch, just for fun, and it seems that is pretty common in Japan, people can often be seen hanging out, shopping or walking around wearing the traditional Kimono and other clothes, it is a nice feeling and makes it feel very Japanese.
Mina is good at doing the traditional Japanese clothes, and actually has a qualification in fitting and helping people wear a Kimono, but doing mens traditional clothes turns out to be completely different, luckily with youtube on her phone and her brother as a model she did his first, and then mine, it was very funny, it did however take an hour to do us two, then 10 minutes to do her own!
I was wearing the traditional Yukata, the summer Kimono, but didn't look hugely Japanese, it was however good fun and we were in the second row of the uppermost balcony of the yacht club watching the huge display over the harbor and drinking beers, very fun! We must have been a good picture with mina, her brother and I all in the traditional Japanese dress, (and a few others were too, although no other foreigners) in this small town drinking asahi and taking pictures, unforgettable!
To the beach!
Mina's brother, (Ken-san) as well as having a really cool house, to be a really cool guy, friendly and down to earth, and with a real love of speed. He used to be really into racing, and has a drift car parked on his drive waiting for a new Engine, he also has moved onto Jet Skiis to get his kicks until his car is back on the road.
He offered to take us out for a spin, and we readily accepted.
It turns out that her brother has a drift car, a Prius for day to day driving, a minivan parked on his drive to sell to Mina's sister, and also has a really cool tiny little van. It probably has the footprint of a mini, but is built like a box, with a tiny engine, needless to say I instantly wanted one, much to his surprise!
We got into his tiny van towing his JetSkii and went off to his club. At the club there was a launch ramp, a forklift, a terrace bbq area, and lots and lots of JetSkiis! I never knew it was so big over here!
We got changed into stuff we could get wet in, and he offered to drive us over to a beach on a nearby island, we could stay there for an hour then he would come and pick us up again, giving him some time alone with his friends.
We agreed and he drove us out (3 up) to this nice island, dropped us off in the shallows and went back, leaving us there with a few other people. It was a lovely beach, not as clean and nice as Okinawa but still lovely, and had a tower built out in the water for people to jump off, I swam out and left Mina relaxing on the shore and proceeded to climb up and jump off, soon I was joined by some friendly Japanese locals who promptly (and good naturedly) pushed me off, I climbed back up and in equal good humour pushed them off the top, they loved it and soon we were diving and jumping off together into the warm sea, Mina swam out after a while and we took turns jumping off and swimming around before it was time to go back to the meeting point to meet our jetskii.
Mina's brother came to pick us up and said that he would like to give me a drive, but you need a license to drive them in Japan, and you need to take a test, which I obviously don't have.. However on the 15minute ride back he stopped half way and offered me a go, which I of course accepted! I started easy, worried he would be annoyed if I gunned it, motoring along nice and gently, however he had a need for speed and so with his urging I gunned it full throttle, flying across the wavetops even three up, this thing was fast! Great fun too! As we neared the coast he motioned that the people on shore shouldn't see me drive, so we swapped back and headed in for a break.
In this time lots of his friends had arrived, who all didn't speak English, but were very nice. One guy especially, a bit older, but was very very friendly.
We ate bbq food and drank a few beers, then the friend suggested I try wakeboarding! A little drunk by this point I agreed anyway, never having done it before they took me out and then, since it was just me and the guy, he explained by motions what to do and I gave it a try, I was towed behind ok but when he gunned it I just couldn't stand up. I'm sure there was a secret tip (possibly linked to me weighing twice what they did) about how to do it but after many tries I couldn't get it, damnit! Next time… I will have to take a lesson in the UK so they can explain the technique then I am sure I could give it a good go!
We went back in after half an hour of playing around for a few more beers, the last of the good, and then we packed up and headed back. When we got dropped off another of Mina's brothers came over driving his giant white hummer, needless to see Mina and I had to go out and take lots of stupid pictures with it, fun!
I was shattered and had an amazing shower before hearing about a festival in the town, we walked out from the house and up the small main road and found lots of food and stalls set up for a small local festival, we had a nice walk around but didn't stay out too late, we were so tired after the days exercise!
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