Culture shock in Shanghai

First impressions of China; noise, traffic, humidity, smog, rain, bustle, shouting, spitting, umbwewa umbwewa!? You can't even begin to compare this place to Japan. We arrived at Captains Hostel sweating and exhausted. On the plus side the hostel easily wins the best location award as it sits right on The Bund, a raised walkway which looks over the super futuristic skyline of Pudong. As night falls the dirt and the grime of the city disappears, the roads are almost crossable and the skyline lights up to reveal the full glory of Shanghai. Standing on The Bund looking over to Pudong we can't quite believe we're in China so soon, and despite the initial impressions this place really begins to grow on us.



Highlights of Shanghai include the Shanghai museum, the Science and Technology museum and of course the towers of Pudong. The city doesn't have a huge amount of historic sites or tourist spots you might expect but the scale and buzz of the place soon infects you. What really excited us was the 27p bottles of beer in the store right next to our hostel! However to buy the same drink in one of the bars here would cost you around £6 so we really had to watch the pockets.



If Shanghai taught us one thing, it's that China has completely transformed from what it once was. We expected to find a communist nation under strict rule but instead found a 24/7 culture, plush bars and clubs, chaos at ever turn and Hooters! For photos from Shanghai click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157624075322914/

Completing the loop - Kyoto to Tokyo

After our last stay in Kyoto we made the decision that we definitely had to return on our way back to Tokyo. The city has so much to see and is a firm favourite from our travels so far. Coming back allowed us to explore some more of its many temples and shrines as well as having a proper chance to hit the town and check out the city's night life centre.

We decided to stay at Tomato Hostel again due to its close proximity to the train station. It's a very basic hostel and certainly not the best we've stayed at but luckily we met a good group of people here and had a great couple of days here despite rainy weather.


Ivan, Tomas, Shad, Katrina and Patrick at Tomato Hostel, Kyoto

Out on the town we found a cool little music bar called Club Ghost. You can go in here and if you're a musician, pretty much help yourself to the instruments on stage and rock out. We met some really cool Japanese people here; Ryuichi who plays in a band and the staff Jackie and Akie. Ryuichi and I had a bit of a jam on the guitars before he treated us to some of his songs in Japanese which were very impressive.

For more photos from Kyoto click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623881200134/

So saying goodbye to Kyoto we returned to the mega city of Tokyo for our last couple of nights in Japan. We stayed again in Asakusa but this time in a different hostel. On the Sunday before leaving we headed to Harajuku Park which is famous for locals in crazy fashion and 60's style dancers. Along with these we also saw a number of strange sights including an old Japanese man dressed completely in Nazi uniform (rather disturbing!).


Just some of the weird examples of Harajuku fashion, Tokyo



Its a shame to say goodbye to Japan, the two weeks here completely flew past. The people are so friendly, the cities so clean and the 24/7 culture is highly addictive. The only thing I know is that I already want to come back! So long for now Nippon.

Our photos from Tokyo can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623756716811/

Hiroshima

The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima

After our couple nights in Nagasaki we headed to Hiroshima on our route back to Tokyo. Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki of course share a similar history and although we've heard that the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima is the better of the two we couldn't quite face any more horrors. We did however explore the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome which lies right at the heart of the city. The Dome was close to the hypocentre of the explosion and was one of the only buildings remaining standing so close to the blast. It's pretty difficult to imagine the devastation now with the modern buildings surrounding the park but thousands of tourists still come to reflect on what happened here. 

In the evening we headed out to various bars down town, guided by a local tourist map which highlights the best of them. It was a pretty quiet night which is a shame as some of the bars were really cool. One that really stands out is Macbar, which is apparently an institution in Hiroshima. We could certainly see why; the whole area behind the bar is stacked not with drinks, but CDs.


The legendary Mac and his bar, Hiroshima

Mac, the owner, must have an encyclopedic knowledge of his entire collection which runs into the thousands. As soon as he clocked that we were Scottish a stream of Scottish songs blared from the speakers; The proclaimers, Rod Stewart (OK not technically a Scot) and Dougie Maclean's Caledonia. There was certainly a Scottish vibe about the place with a Scotland football top hanging up along with several mentions on the walls. I wish there were more people around like Mac, you could really sense his passion for music and in sharing his collection. It's just a shame we couldn't spend another night here.

For our pictures from Hiroshima click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623914531164/

Fukuoka to Nagasaki

After the last week of non stop partying, (not forgetting the celebrations before leaving Scotland) Shad and I were both in need of a good rest. We arrived in Fukuoka to a welcome of rain and clouds which provided the incentive to take it easy and catch up with some much needed sleep.

When you're travelling so often and only staying at any one place for a night or two you always feel the need to get out, explore the sights and of course meet the locals in the bar for a few drinks. You can imagine how this can really wear you out so I don't feel so bad in saying we had a night off in Fukuoka. A bit of a shame really as I've heard they have a great night life here; maybe next time.

The super tranquil Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki

So it was straight on to Nagasaki the next day which is right in the south of Japan. I have to say the city is one of the nicest I've been to in Japan, surrounded by hills and at a much more manageable size (with a population of only half a million). Much of the sights are within walking distance and there is a tram network for when the legs get tired.

We stayed at the AKARI hostel where we were made welcome by the very friendly staff. The hostel is in an excellent location for many of the sights and essentially within walking distance of the bar area! As it turns out, if you're looking for a party Nagasaki is not the place to come. Granted it wasn't the weekend while we were here, but the place was near deserted come ten o'clock. We did have a couple of great nights here however and can recommend a stop at Kendo's bar for some local Nagasaki banter.



There is of course one rather horrific event that Nagasaki is known for so a trip here has to take in a visit to the Atomic Bomb Museum. There are also several key statues and relics dotted around the city such as the hypocentre and one legged tori gate. The museum was just as you'd expect, horrific and very sobering. If you ever make a visit prepare yourself for the written testaments at the end which describe some of the personal horrors from the bombing and its aftermath. There are various artifacts such as items of clothing, clocks and burnt stones but one which really gives you an idea of the nature of the bomb is a piece of glass with the bones of a human hand embedded in it.

As you can imagine we were in real need of some comic relief after all that, which was provided in the form of an old lady almost falling down a flight of 200 stairs. The poor old dear kept us laughing for hours! We really must get to church at some point and pray for our sins.

For a full gallery of our photos from Nagasaki see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623756881315/

Kyoto to Osaka

Ok, first of all we apologise for the lack of blog updates. The travels are proving to be way too much fun and busy to sit in front of a computer screen. China also presented some problems with their ban on the blogger website. We're in the south of Thailand at the moment and have a little time for some updates so here we go, continuing our journey where we left off in Japan...

Before leaving Kyoto we managed to do a little more exploring; visiting one of the world's largest wooden buildings and scaling Kyoto Tower for impressive views over the city. Kyoto is pretty much surrounded on all sides by hills and forest which makes for a beautiful setting. Kyoto station is also worth a mention, the building is massive and you can take a series of escalators right up to the rooftop garden.

You can view a full gallery of our photos from Kyoto here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623881200134/

The shinkansen to Osaka took barely 30mins, our hostel was located in Shin Imamiya, which has a huge homeless population making for some rather messy streets. Despite this we never once felt unsafe as with most Japanese people they kept themselves to themselves.

The main reason for our visit to Osaka was to catch up with our friend Makoto. It was great to see her and some other old friends again, especially Leah and her family. This included a new addition who Shad quickly connected with...



We also made a visit to Tsukamoto where we'd spent about three weeks on our last visit to Japan three years ago. We popped in to our old local Izakaya and met the master who was really pleased to see us again.

While in Osaka we also visited Osaka Castle in glorious sunshine, easily the warmest day of our trip so far. The castle is stunning from the outside but once indoors you realise that the whole thing is actually very new, with a modern interior. Still, the views from the top are beautiful.

You can see a full gallery of photographs from Osaka on our flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623881244086/

Travel update - Tokyo to Kyoto

Alright folks, although we're currently in Nagasaki, we're running a few days behind on updating the blog (which I'm guessing will be standard). So for now here's an update on our travels in Tokyo and Kyoto...

Tokyo was as always an attack on the senses. We stayed at the Khaosan Smile hostel in the Asakusa area of the city. The hostel was okay although we did have to swap rooms on our second night which was located in a different building entirely. Asakusa is a pretty chilled out part of the city; one landmark that seemed to have everyone excited is the new Tower Sky Tree; a being built nearby which will eventually reach 2080ft. As its only half done at the moment it seemed a little strange to see literally hundreds of people taking pictures of the thing.

Other Tokyo highlights include Tokyo Tower, which also houses a very funny wax museum (some of the figures are hilarious) and a few other cool exibits. At night we managed to visit the Shibuya area with its famous crossing - see the video below :)



Check out our full gallery of photos from Tokyo here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623756716811/

After Tokyo we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto where we stayed at Kyoto Tomato Hostel where we met a Japanese guy called Yoshiyuki. Despite him only speaking about five words of English and us only knowing limited Japanese we invited him out with us to exxplore the city. At first it was a little awkward with the lack of communication, but by the time we'd reached Maruyamacho park, bought some hot street food and had a beer, we were talking fluent gibberish to one another. As the Sakura (cherry blossom) is in full bloom here, everyone is having Hanami parties. Basically groups of friends go to the park and sit under a Cheery tree with food and drink. It makes for an awesome atmosphere.

After taking in some more sights we headed back to the hostel with some drinks before heading out to a local izakaya for some delicious chicken elbow. The following videos will explain all!!





That's all for now folks but there is much more to come!!

The journey begins!

I'm very glad to report that both Shad and I have arrived safely in Tokyo! The flight over was very long and tiring and we were awake for over 24 hours but it is all worth it. To be strolling around Tokyo on a warm spring day, taking in the sights, sounds and pongy smells, when only hours ago we were in rainy Scotland, is an awesome feeling. It was even better when we stopped in at a nice outdoor cafe to enjoy a cool glass of Asahi.

Anyway I'll keep this short, there's a lot of exploring to be done. For now here are a few photographs of the sights so far...