Shanghai visit - Day 2 - After a day of work

After a day of work, I headed out a bit to explore on the way back to my hotel.  I stopped off at the Century Square.  The Station at Century Square is within an underground shopping complex with many cheaper items for sale.  It is a bit of a hassle to walk to thru the complex since the vendors follow you insistently trying to get your attention so that you may want to take a look at their particular store.  It is particularly annoying.

Back in Lujiazui area a bit later, I made another attempt to get a good photo of the TV Tower.

Travelling to Shanghai, China - Day 1 - scammed, then fun

After spending a week in Japan, it was time to get on to Shanghai.  The flight between Tokyo and Shanghai is about 2.5 hours and one time zone difference.  I took the Maglev from the airport to Longyang.  For whatever reason, the Maglev doesn't extend to center of Shanghai's iconic area in Pudong.  So, once you get to the end of the Maglev line (in under 10 minutes), you have to make a choice about how to get the rest of the way:  Taxi or Subway's Line 2.

Hmm, the taxi?

Shanghai is a city where scams abound.  You have to watch out when taking taxis.  Unfortunately, I got into a cab and walked right into the broken meter scam.  The scam happens when the meter isn't turned on when you get into the cab.  The driver drives about 100 feet, then stops the cab and tries to negotiate the cab fare to your destination, expecting payment upfront.  Here's a hint, taxis are super cheap in Shanghai.  These taxi scammers know that out-of-towners generally have no idea of just how cheap, so they try to scam you into paying a much higher price; a price that you might be more accustom to paying in other places.  I don't really strong have advice to avoid the scam, other than to say, be very very cautious at the Maglev station at Longyang.  Make sure the cab as a plexiglass guard between the driver and the passengers.  Make sure the meter is started before you drop your bags in the trunk and get into the car.  One last piece of advice: taxis in Shanghai are cash only, whether they are legit or not.

Moving on

Once settled in the hotel, I met up with my colleagues and wandered around Lujiazui Finance District.

We took a tour cruise.  It was a bit hazy, but the pics weren't that horrible.

Later, I got a couple of angles on the Century Peace Bell.

Japan Day 8 - Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Some of us did some wandering around.  We got a little lost from confusing Shimbishi, Shambuya and Shinagawa stops on the subway.  Even still, we did eventually find our way to the Tokyo Imperial Palace.  The Tokyo Imperial Palace has grand walls, but once you are inside, it really is apparent that the purpose of the palace is to create a calm atmosphere.  The gardens are modest, surrounding a large and open grassy field.  Most of the buildings are also modest compared to what one might expect for something labelled "Imperial Palace".   Entrance is free.

The day was hot, sticky and bright, so I made a special effect to reserve myself to the shade where I could.

Approaching the palace

Guard house

Palace gardens

Locals appear to visit regularly to relax, meet, and even sunbath (modestly) on the grassy field at the center of the Palace gardens.

 

Observatory (higher ground for a bit of a better view)

Ruins of the major donjon

Famous Guard Tower @ the Forbidden Gate

There's a bit more do the palace than these exterior photos, but every thing seems to be of a modest nature.

Travelling in Japan - Day 3 - Another side of Kyoto

After a restful night, the plan was to explore more of Kyoto before finishing our journey to Osaka later that day.  Our party first visited Fushimi Inari-taisha, known for its vibrantly colored gates and stone shrines.

The gates lead up to the top of the mountain.  Unfortunately, the walk was taking longer than we hoped, so we only made it about a 1/3 of the way up before heading back down.

On the walk back down, we found many shrines and altars.

Our next destination was the beautiful Tenryu-ji.  You can take mass transit between Fushimi Inari-taisha and Tenryu-ji.

The temple is beautiful.  Full admission is 600 yen.  Added appeal of this location is its proximity to the Path of the Bamboo, which is free.

We had a really good and reasonably priced lunch in Kyoto.  Just watch out, as a reminder, many places do not take credit card (cash [yen] only).

Travelling in Japan - Day 2 (part 2)

For much of the afternoon and early evening, our group was on foot, exploring temples in Kyoto. We walked to Ryosen, Kiyomizu, and Yasaka temples.

 Tokyo and Kyoto are very humid right now, with varying clouds and clear sky as the days progressed.  Portions were also very crowded.  It's very easy to unintentionally bump into people.

I don't know if this is a daily thing, or we visited Kyoto at the right time, but there were a lot of Japanese dressed in traditional attire, both men and women.  It kinda reminded me of Renfair in the US.

Travelling in Japan - Day 2 (part 1)

After a somewhat restful/restless night, I woke up on my day 2 in Japan with a mild recovery from the previous day's 13hr flight (to a location 12 time zones out of sync with my own).  Our party all had to get up and get out early, since our JR bullet train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto was early morning.

The ride is about two hours on the bullet train.  Our JR train commonly maintained speeds between 150 to 160 mph.  We watched the city, suburbs, countryside, suburbs and city wiz by.  Of note, there were an unusual number of Ferris Wheels visible from the train, along with a rather high number of netted driving ranges.

Once in Kyoto, we dropped our bags off at our hotel, then went exploring on foot.  We found a good place along the river for lunch.

I had the Chicken Salad.  This dish was a 'salad' in name only.  The chicken was great, and the lettuce was really unnecessary.  The noodles where good too.  I was suprized that I liked the tofu skins that came with the appetizer.

The view we had while dining was of the river, but the river isn't much of a view.

There were several types of birds that were up to their bird-antics nearby the river, which did serve as mild entertainment while we enjoyed our lunch.  Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to properly check-in and prepare for the afternoon exploration around town.