All templed out

After two full days of temple visits here at Kyoto (not to mention Nikko and Tokyo), I am all templed out! Tomorrow, I will head for Osaka and Sanyo-Himeji to check out couple castles. I am praying the weather will be clear. So far I only have 2 sunny days in Japan and one of the day I was traveling!

I'll do some shopping on the last day (Friday), just to get some snacks for family transit through Osaka on our way to Taiwan. Probably no souvenirs from Japan, sorry guys(see previous post about cost in Japan)

O, here are more pictures since Tokyo

My impression of Japan so far

- people form lines waiting for bus/metro

- Ads are pasted every where people can see it

- Everyone is so polite, even most drivers yield to ped. They do run red lights though, speed is not that fast and other side wait patiently so no accidents.

- No tips is required and you get better service than any where I have been to. A Japanese lady told me that it is common for the store manager to come the customer's home and appology for mistake made by the clerk and refund the difference.

- Train are on time and run very frequently. Especially in Tokyo, you can get a train within 2-3 minutes. It makes DC metro/Amtrak look really bad.

- It takes lots workers to do the same amount of work as in the US. You may call it inefficient, but in some way it is sort of like semi-welfare that keep people employed and reduce the cost of dealing with unemployement.

- Japanese are not as homogenous as I thought, probably more diverse {I don't mean race} of the Far East race groups

- The ladies seem to be prettier than I imagined. Although this could because the makeups. It is very common for the ladies here to use make up.

- Everything is expensive here, well I sorted of knew this before.

- Japan isn't as fun for single traveler as other backpacker friendly countries/area. I guess there are so many places to stay/visit, you don't get bunch backpackers stayed at limited places and seeing/doing limited things to meet one and other. So for me, the night time is kind boring since I don't want to visit the few places I consider fun by myself. Example Karaoke.

- No one would die of thirst if one has money. There are vending machines every where, I mean every where with exception of inside of some temples.

- Bicylists ride on the sidewalk

- red light district seems to be in every major city, I guess prostitution is centralized in Japan and probably controlled by the Jakuza. BTW foreigners are not allowed to hire a prostitute. I guess they worry about aids.

Getting bored at Tokyo

Another full day of walking (my feet are just not what it used to be when I was younger): Senso-ji (twice) and Edo-Tokyo museum.

Change place of live, check out senso-ji at day and at night. Was surprised to see a festival at the place.






It was difficult to capture the festival since no flash is allowed, and the performers are in constant motion, and my lens is only 4.0 at best (5.6 at zoom).
So I shot at 1600 speed, hope it is not too grainy. O the triod is useless, but use it as a mono pod.

Here are few earlier pictures







O, did i mention the weather is bad, well it going be the same util I leave Japan I think, with couple typhoons throwin between now and then.

Anyway today I am resting my legs for tomorrow at Nikko, lot more temples there.
Just hope it is not raining cats and dogs there.

Finally, so far I am under my budget..........

First Full Day in Tokyo

After 13+ hours flight with little sleep, I arrived at Tokyo Kimi Ryokan around 6:15 local time. (it took about an hour to get through the immigration at the airport).

Went to sleep around 8 and wake up at 11 and hungry, so ate granola bars and beef jerky and read some stuff for about an hour. Finally get up at 4:30 and get ready to visit the world famous Tokyo fish market.

Had my first sushi with big pieces of raw fish for breakfast! A tradition for visitor to the market, so I must not break with tradition. So watch out Lynn and Wendy, you have new competition!

Then walk around the near by park, and then on to the Imperial Palace area for more walking and picture taking.

After that, I head on to Meji shinto temple and saw some shinto ceremony and a wedding. Good pictures I hope.

Then my feet are just too tired to walk any more, so I head back to Kimi for more granola bars and beef jerky, yum yum.. And checking mail to rest my feet for tonight's tour of Shinjiku district including its red light district :) No I am just going to taking in the outdoor sights and may be few pictures...

O, the weather here has been humid, cloudy, drizzly with temp in the mid to upper 70s and forecast is not looking good, pretty mush the same for the next 5-10 days :(
So no Mt. Fuji visit for me since you can't see through the cloud......

So now I need to figure out what to do with the extra day....

Also, I think I need to unload more stuff, it is definitely too heavy to walk around in humid weather.....

Please let me know if there are any significant local events.

Preparation

Getting ready for my trip....

Made the reservation (via skype out) for the first two nights is in Ikebukuro district of Tokyo at:
Kimi Ryokan

And 3^rd and 4^th night will be at Ueno district of Tokyo at:
Sakura Ryokan

And fifth night at Nikko two hours north of Tokyo:
Turtle Inn

There are fews more things to get done and I'll be packing this weekend.