Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Konnichiwa from Tokyo and Happy New Year! We are sooooo excited to be here and it couldn't be more different to everywhere else- even when you are expecting it! We spent the last few days in Ho Chi Minh city where the highlight was visiting the Chu Chi tunnels 92km outside of the city. The tunnels were used by the vietcong in the Vietnam war and there are 200km of them going all the way to Cambodia. Kitchens, dining rooms, sleeping areas and even hospitals were under the ground all linked with these tiny pitch black passageways. We went there by car with a guide, Lin, who was really informative. On the way she told us that most of the Vespa scooters we were seeing on the street are fake- it was amazing as they look exactly the same as mine at home. As we drove out of the city and into the countryside the consistent beeping quitened marginally and constant hustle and bustle gave way to people sleeping in hammocks amongst the rubber plantations.
When we got there the first thing that we saw was how hidden the entranced to the tunnels where. Our guide challenged us to find one and when we couldn't kicked back the leaves to reveal a tiny hatch underneath. We carried on walking through the woods and saw all of the different horrific traps that they used to catch the American soldiers. These were truly awful, holes with sharpened bamboo canes inside, some on rollers and in different arrangements, each more brutal than the last.
We then came to a clearing where the shooting range was, something that Charles was very excited about. We got to try out a Colt 45 and an AK 47 at targets and the main thing to report is that the noise from them was ridiculously loud. I mean you imagine it to be but nothing can prepare you to what it sounds like when you stand next to it going of. None of us hit the targets which were a fair distance away but it would be an understatement to say that the guns had seen a lot of use and looking through the sights did not seem to help much. After deafening ourselves we left the range to see a demonstration of how they make rice paper which is used for delicious fresh spring rolls.
It was then our oppurtunity to have a go in the tunnels oursleves. Charles and I opted for the longest distance- 100metres. They had been widened for westerners but when you climbed in they still felt incredibly narrow and at some points you were slithering on your hands and knees with your back scraping along the top. It was pretty claustrophobic in the dark with our guide shouting at us to come on come on and impossible to imagine how men spent their whole time underground in smaller ones that were up to 10 metres below ground.
On the way back from the tunnels Lin showed us a restaurant that served dog meat- quite a delicacy in Vietnam, mainly for people from the North of the country. Apparently the dogs are killed by being tied in bags and thrown in the river until they drown which doesn't seem to be the most effective way- a bit weird really and obviously horrible. It's weird how everyone talks about the Chinese eating dog but not other countries that do. Anyway we didn't have dog for our New Year's Eve dinner in the hotel restaurant. At 11pm Charles and I headed out onto the streets which were absolutely packed. There were beautiful fairy lights in the trees and creating an archway down the streets that led up to a big stage in the centre of town. It seemed that every person and their scooter had come out to see the New Year in and people were shouting, laughing and spraying lots of fake snow! Itw as absolute carnage.
We nearly didn't make it to Tokyo at all- our flight from HCM was delayed and when we arrived in Hong Kong we had one hour before our flight departed. We ran through the terminal to the transfer desk and had to describe our bags for someone to collect them from the baggage carousel outside and check them onto our new flight with half and hour to spare- imagine our surprise when 4 hours later we arrived in Tokyo and so did our bags!
Welcome to the ultimate urban jungle! With 34 million people living in Greater Tokyo, this is the biggest city in the world. It's the equivalent of the population of California squeezed into an area a little smaller than Hawaii. In 50 years, Tokyo has transformed from a bomb-shattered capital of a fallen empire to the beating heart of the world's second biggest economy. Though the glory days of the bubble era are a distant memory now, the city has not lost its appetite for reinvention. New developments are constantly reshaping the urban landscape, but all the while, the remnants of old Japan live on between the cracks.
It is truly amazing here. Even if you know and love Japanese food nothing quite prepares you for going to a restaurant and trying to get a meal but both of the ones we have got have been delicious without us knowing what we are choosing. Today we went to the Shinbuyo district which is famous for the busiest intersection in the world- every 3 minutes absolute anarchy comes into play as hundreds of people battle their way across the road! It is also known for the "cosplay" girls- young girls who dress in crazy outfits- the recent craze seems to be huge minnie mouse ears bigger than their head. The shopping is just unbelievable- such an amazing variety of things packed into a tiny place and amazing stuff we have never seen before. Outside every shop are people screaming, shouting, singing and dancing to try and get you to come in. I mean every shop- even the pharmacy- it is super loud!
Shinbuyo is also famous because of Hachiko- a dog who waited at the station for his master to return from work every day. After his owner died of a heart attack Hachiko returned to the station every day for 9 years until he died himself. There is a film about him which is super sad- Charles and I were both in tears watching it on the flight over and I didn't even have the sound. The original film is Japanese and the new American one is based in Rhode Island but still the same story. Anyway we saw his statue which has been built in the place he used to sit- it is actually the second one made as the first was melted down for metal as part of the war effort.
So here we are- understanding not a word of what is going on, being absoulutely freezing whilst trying to adjust from being at 30degrees to 5 degrees and having no idea what to do and where to go but loving it all the same. It is mega expensive- the budget accomodation starts at 25quid per person but so far we feel it's worth every penny! Especially seeing as every single toilet- from the one in our cheap hotel to public ones in the shopping centre are huge machine contraptions with loads of buttons- among other things they have heated seats, wash you with water temperature and pressure you can adjust and one I visited today even makes noises like "fake flushing sound!" In fact even the subway has heated seats- they love to look after their backsides here! On that note I will toto up the bill from this ridiculously expensive internet and go to bed!
- comments