Photo Update: Tokyo, Japan

Hello again. To Japan, now: Tokyo.

Asakusa Temple complex, Jomon Gate, it was an excuse for festival time when we visited because it was ‘Golden Week’:


Wafting the incense (that’s the smoke) in your face is all part of the fun:


More of the temple grounds, there was one large and two smaller temple groups on the one site, complete with festival stalls. I got to try Takoyaki (Octopus Dumplings) – they were good.


The old-fashion monks’ quarters at Asakusa, complete with seedy-looking pigeon:


Intersection at Shibuya. This is the same crossing that always appears to represent Tokyo whenever its on telly in some way or other, as it’s busy as anything:


This was the second time we’d seen these guys around town:

They were a militaristic bunch with a loudhailer preaching about something or other, the language barrier kept us from finding out. Just as well, as it was probably something about claiming the heads of foreign barbarians…

Tokyo by night:


The outer wall of the Imperial Palace in the centre of Tokyo. This is no Buckingham Palace style lark, this is there to keep you away and out:

Pop fact: the Imperial family only renounced being descending from Gods when they were under the heel of the Americans after WWII. We were interested to discover that the date on some things in Japan (like our Japan Rail Passes) is done by the Imperial calendar. It’s currently the year Heisei 17.

Scenery around Ueno park:


Beautiful garden and house at the back of the National Museum:

Inside, some impressive Samurai Armour:

And one of the many swords, a Tachi, for wearing at ceremonial occasions:

Oh, and here’s a shot from the Shitamachi history museum, which was concerned with Tokyo life before modernisation - from the turn of the century up until WWII – this facade is the entrance to an onsen bath house:


Next: Bandai-san and Kyoto!

- Lee.

Photo Update: Hong Kong

We continue:

On the Airport Express train heading down to Kowloon Island. Amazing hills sticking out of the sea. The huge tower blocks (increasing in density) are the first sign of the absolute bonkers-ness of the place:


Street scene. Serviceable sample photo of bonkers-ness mentioned.


Down on the Waterfront. The low cloud and mist only added to the spectacle:



In contrast, the ‘court’ of our (Budget Chinese) Hotel:


Bamboo scaffolding IN EFFECT. It’s used everywhere, we even saw some roughly 200 metres up a tower block on the edge of town.



Yes, we’re immature.

Escalators up the hill on Hong Kong Island:

You better recognise the poad. Whatever it actually meant.

The tram track upto Victoria peak:

Looking back down:

View of the City/islands from the top:


Proof that Chris Morris had somehow infiltrated a local toy shop:


The pathway upto the Sha Tin ‘Ten Thousand Bhuddas’ Temple:

Just some of the wonderments up the top:

Great Bhudda statue. Reputed one thousand arms on display:

Interestingly, when making graven images with a thousand arms like this, the craftsmen could allegedly get away with putting on twenty-five arms or so, “as each one of the great Bhudda’s arms has the power to save forty worlds”
Inside the main temple, these are the eponymous 10,000 (little) Bhuddas. Each one is slightly different. Unbelievable.


Old and new alongside each other:


View of the tallest building in HK from the viewing platform of another skyscraper:


The Star Ferry:


Tim getting suits fitted in Raja Fashions (as written about in top British press) The code word is “Beautiful Fabric”.

“You like the lining, eh? Eh? You like the lining? Eh? Hm! It dazzles, and excites!”

Next: Tokyo!

Look after yourselves,

- Lee.

Photo update: Singapore

Ha-haaa! We're back down in Victoria, Ozland again after visiting Alice Springs. So...

Right.

Photos.

Finally, we'll backtrack to Singapore.

But first, please note that Qantas airlines quite literally forbids the use of Furbies on commercial airliners.


Wheee!! WHOOSH! (This is the South China Sea.)


Tim went to Singapore just for the Singapore Sling, y'know. It turned out we couldn't check into our hostel early so ended up rolling down the road to drink cocktails first thing in the morning:

This is The Long Bar of Raffles, with mosaic floors where you throw your peanut shells, and ceiling fans that’re actually mechanized to wave back and forth lazily rather than spin round. The drink isn’t without it’s charms, either.

Mullins in front of building in the centre of town (notice the garden city landscape) that’s designed entirely along Feng Shui principles; No hard corners, all the uprights are capped off. Excellent photo by Tim:


Right in the centre of Singapore:


Huge fountain in downtown financial district:

(Which was never on, but all the plaques around it made it sound impressive) The area around here is an absolute maze of shopping centres and malls above or below street level.

Building the cable car across to tourist trap Sentosa island runs from:

Across the strait to the island, way up high; main road across below, Singapore’s huge shipping area visible top left:

View of old temple(?) complex at edge of swamp; as seen from the car, Sentosa. Singapore in the background:


MER-LION, symbol of Singapore. And it’s equivalent of the statue of liberty, on Sentosa. About 50 metres tall. Rawr:

The whole island of Sentosa is basically an evil lair for an arch nemesis of James Bond. It has a cable car to get to it, potential for a Crocodile farm, the all-important Monorail and the Merlion is hollow with lookout holes in the eye sockets. It really doesn't get much better; all it's missing is the henchmen and a cameo from Burt Kwouk.

Luscious patches of tropical rainforest you just happen to pass over:



Well...enough photos for now, but Hong Kong to follow soon

- Lee & Tim

Entry #2: Playing Catch-Up

The Flying O’Connor Bros. have been in Australia for he past week and a bit, staying with our lovely relatives in southern Victoria. Now we’re settled in a home environment, the fact that we’ve been travelling since the 23rd of April and not logged any of it in the shiny, shiny Blog rears its head… Now this is tough. When you’re on the trip of a lifetime, it’s probably better to spend time actually experiencing the country you’re currently in - instead of being hunched over a computer screen - ‘cos you can spend plenty of time being hunched over a computer screen when you get back home. I should mention here that if this blog is ever rubbish it’s because we’re living by that maxim (for lack of a better word) detailed above. Sorry if it doesn’t make particularly interesting reading, we’re naught but sheltered farmboys all a gapin’ ‘n’ a blinkin’ in the big wide world.
Well, I am, anyway.

Back on topic. So far, we’ve been to Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland Japan. We’re going to throw some photos and erm, ‘vignettes’ up here soon, when we trawl through the 20 Gig harddrive/cardreader/mp3 player Tim’s got as storage for as many digicam pics as we could possibly ever take. In the meantime, here’s some short and vague sentences by means of travelogue:
Singapore: Equatorial, multi-cultural garden city. I gave up trying to figure out how the brand-new metro system from the airport to the city was bordered on both sides by trees and palms that looked about 200 years old. People here are diverse – Malay, Chinese, Indonesian, Asian and Whities too. Everybody is relaxed and friendly too… All signs are in at least three different languages. It’s bloody hot. Especially if you’ve just come from Heathrow early in the moring.
All in all, the one place where we both found ourselves thinking “Yeah, I could live here,” after we’d only been there a day.
Hong Kong: Is, all-in-all, a sight that everybody should attempt to see once in their lifetime, I reckons. It’s truly unbelievable. The place is a hive. Literally, a hive. I really can’t describe it here without going into pages of adjectives, but trust me, I’ll get back to it.
Japan: Ahh, Japan. I would have liked a good three months or so to prepare for a trip to Japan, but things often don’t work out the way you would have liked. A trip to Japan is better than no trip to Japan, though. We started off in Tokyo, mostly bewildered, cashed in Japan Rail passes that let you go anywhere in the country on the Shinkansen bullet train and went up north to the Bandai region. Climbed up a mountain. Went to Kyoto, daytripped to the cities of Osaka and Hiroshima. Nearly went to the southern island of Kyushu. A completely interesting and many-sided experience.

That’s yer lot for now, as a placeholder.
I’ve got it in mind to turn the notes in the back of my sketchbook into lil’ travelogue mini comic strips, and turn this into a text/photo/comic blog. You have been warned.
More soon.
Nighty-night.

- Lee.

Good evening, Blogsworth

Hello, everybody. I’m Lee, half of the now world-famous ‘Tim and Lee’ sibling duo. We’re traveling round the world, and this is our blog.
We nicked the idea off someone Tim knows.
Let me set the scene: about three weeks before we left, some guy called Tim (who later turned out to be my brother) announced he was going to Go Travelling before he started his career as an air traffic controller. Being Tim, this was no ordinary Going Travelling to some under-privileged country for a month on mummy and daddy’s money in some kind of middle class post-post imperialist fashion – no – this was circumnavigating the bloody globe.
Anyway, ideally, he needed someone to go with him (to y’know, watch his bags and carry his sunglasses) and that was going to be me; I had three weeks to prepare.

The route, which was discussed, changed and reorganised quite a lot:

- Lee.