Asian Influences

The last time I posted to the blog I was in Brisbane and as it's not that big a city, the 2 days I had there were pretty much long enough! Really liked the feel of the city though and it had a bit of a buzz going on with it, I think partly because the elections for the new Prime Minister were going on when I was there. They were interesting to see as there is far more going on at the polling station than you get back home. No serious-faced person in Australia asking if "they can rely on your vote" but stalls and balloons and people giving out leaflets to show how to vote for their candidate, made it almost seem like a bit of a circus! Make of that what you will! Also seemed strange to me with it being on a Saturday but with compulsory voting you can see why it's then and not a Thursday.
So I left Brisbane and headed to Singapore. Some of you know that I've wanted to visit this place for years (about 15) and I have to say, it really was all I hoped for, absolutely loved it! I was staying in the Islamic quarter which was fascinating in itself, with the Muslim Mosque and all the all the shops. On the first day I mooched round there and then went up to Little India which was scarily like the real India I visited earlier in the year. OK, the roads weren't all being dug up and there weren't people sleeping in various random places, but the smells and colours and the people hassling you to buy "pashmina/shawl" were all too familiar! They didn't seem to honk their car horns quite so much though which did show some restraint compared to the real thing! I also went to the Tekka Market in Little India which is not for the faint hearted! I walked in and saw something move out of the corner of my eye when I first got there and it turned out to be a fish that had somehow escaped from it's box where it was supposed to be with the other fish and then there were stalls selling various meat products - that's about the best description I can give you as my anatomy classes at Uni were obviously not good enough to know what some things were in the market!
From there I went to Fort Canning and mooched round the gardens there before heading back to the hostel where on my journey I found a Marks and Spencers. Now not that I'm craving home or anything but the sight of something so familiar and the thought that I could buy M&S pants which will fit my ever expanding bottom was just too much and so couldn't resist a visit! and yes I do now have new pants that fit!! Marvelous!
The next day I went to the Botanic Gardens and the Orchid Gardens that are situated within them. It was absolutely beautiful there and the orchids were out of this world. Whilst there however, the inevitable happened and the heavens opened! I thought I'd seen some rain storms in Cape Tribulation but this one made those look like an April shower! I waited under some shelter for about 45 minutes and then decided I could probably be there all day at that rate so braved the rain, getting incredibly wet and so cut my losses and headed back to the hostel for dry clothes. That night I went to the night safari which was good but quite a few of the animals had obviously decided they didn't want to come out in the rain (which by this point was barely noticeable) so didn't get to see some stuff.
On the Thursday I headed to the Orchard Road which is the most amazing shopping street if you've got lots of money and don't have to carry everything in a rucksack - so obviously I miss out on both those counts!! Then from there went to Chinatown and then mooched round various places such as the Raffles Landing Site, Boat Quay and the Sri Mariamman Temple. That night I went to Raffles for my Singapore Sling (or 3!) which was delicious! And like a good girl threw my peanut shells on the floor!
On my last day there I went for a walk around the Colonial District and the Padang which is where the Cricket Club is and then that night met up with my old boss Paul and had a really fun night out with him (was very good to see you Paul!).
After the slightly (!) late night I then had to get up early for my flight to Hong Kong which went fine - finding the hostel when I got there, not quite so fine but found it in the end. As soon as I got in the room, a girl started chatting to me who it turns out came from Hinckley (and for those of you who don't know that's about 4 miles away from where I come from!). Along with her were 2 girls in the room from Newcastle so we all went out together for dinner which was a lot of fun. The next day we all stayed together and went to visit the Big Buddha which is truly huge! along with Po Lin Monastery which is next to it. Then in the evening we took the tram to the top of "The Peak" for spectacular views across Hong Kong.
The following day I walked miles and headed from Fortress Hill where I was staying all the way across to the Star Ferry and goes that over to Kowloon. As I was quite thirsty by this point, I had a watermelon juice which had birds nest and honey jelly in the bottom. Slightly strange but quite nice. Then carried on up to Mongkok, the big shopping area, the Jade Market and finally went for a walk down Temple Street Market in the evening.
As I was a bit cityed out by then I went to the Botanic Gardens (it seems every city has them!) and zoo followed by the escalator which is basically as series of escalators which take you up a steep hill! From there went to Hong Kong park where a very sweet guy learning English got me to listen to him and help him with his pronunciation (and with my accent as well!!).
Although I did quite a lot in Hong Kong, have to say I didn't really get the city. There was just something about it which didn't appeal to me although I couldn't say for sure what it was. I guess you just like some places more than others.
And so at the moment I'm in Tokyo! In the guide books they always warn you about something about the city to be aware of. For example, in Singapore it was the snort. Similar to the Indian throat clearing but as they're not allowed to spit they do it twice as loud to make up for it from what I can gather. In Tokyo it should be the bikes. Cycling is very common over here but cyclists use the pavements not the roads and there doesn't seem to be priority for them over pedestrian or vice versa and so everyone is vying for the same space. Almost been taken out by one at least 3 times so far! I really like Tokyo, it's a great place, very clean and other than the cyclists everyone seems very polite but I don't feel I can really get to know this place as I'm finding the lack of my ability to speak Japanese quite a hindrance. Most of the restaurants are OK because a lot of them have these very realistic plastic versions of the food they sell on display outside and so you can just take the waitress out and point at what you want. And basically lots of bowing and "arigato" saying (means thank you) seems to work well! It's the fact that not very many of the streets have names and so addresses are linked to an area and not a street and the block and building number within that area so although I'm seeing lots of cool places to visit in my guide book I can only actually find about 20% of them! Which is quite frustrating! But never mind, have still manged to see lots of the city, even if it doesn't always include everything that I wanted to see. Today I went to the Imperial Palace East Garden which was just beautiful as the leaves on the trees (mostly Acers - one of my favourite trees) were changing colour and it was just amazing. Then from there went to Ueno and to the Park there and again a similar thing with the trees. Have also been to the Shinju Temple which is close to where I'm staying where I bought a fortune which turned out the be "Bad Luck" and went on to say I will have bad luck and this bad thing will happen and that bad thing and my employer will not be happy with me (thank goodness for being unemployed at the moment!!) etc etc. Deciding that I wasn't happy with that I bought another one which turned out to be "Good Luck" and was - not too surprisingly - the opposite of everything that had been said in the bad luck one!
So I have one more day here before I head off to South Africa and have a few days with Rob and Katalin which I'm very much looking forward to before I start my 6 week tour of Africa.
And as for a weather update. It didn't rain once in Hong Kong and hasn't done so yet in Tokyo. Here we have beautiful days which although cold are crisp and have beautiful sunshine!