Shinjuku

Kon'nichiwa from Tokyo where it is pouring down with rain, and has been all day long. Apparently we’re about to have a typhoon, but if it’s anything like the one I experienced in China, I’ve nothing to worry about. At least the rain is making it much cooler. Well, we shall see how it goes tomorrow – the typhoon will be coming into this area around midday, then after that it looks like we’re back to sunny, sunny October – I’m even getting a bit of a tan!

Thankfully we decided to have our outing yesterday – the weather would be too bad to go today. We hopped on the Odakyu line along to Shinjuku, about a 25 – 40 minute subway ride, depending which type of train you’re on. Shinjuku station is absolutely, completely mad. It’s in the Guinness book of World Records as the busiest train station in the world – easily achieved with over three million passengers going through it every day. The station has 36 platforms, and connects 12 different subway and railway lines. There are also, can you believe it, more than 200 exits from the building, so you can see how we got confused when trying to work out where we were. Not exactly the kind of place where I’d normally be found hanging out, but the Shinjuku area is a very typical example of Tokyo (tall buildings, flashing lights, etc) so I thought I should go and see it.

Once we scrambled out of the rabbit warren of Shinjuku station, we had a walk up the main street to the park, which was closed but we’ll go back sometime when it’s open. From there we circled around and headed towards a small temple, which looked like it had fallen out of the sky and landed smack-bang in the middle of all these monolithic sky-scrapers. It was peaceful there, even being in the middle of the city centre. We stood and watched people going to up pray – here, the procedure is something like ‘bow twice, clap twice, bow once’. I liked the little prayer tablets that looked like wooden postcards – people had written their messaged on them and they were bound together in a frame, clanking together in the wind like a Jacob’s Ladder toy.

After leaving the temple, we wandered down to the bar district, where rows of alleys are crammed with tiny bars – some with only enough seats to host a handful of patrons. Most of these places have a table charge, and others will charge exuberant prices to anyone apart from their regulars. But still there are some places where it’s safe for a foreigner to have a drink without getting ripped off, and the layout of the area means there are dozens to pick from within a stone’s throw from each other.

En route to the main attraction of the day, we walked past Omoide Yokocho. It means “Memory Lane,” but the place is more commonly known as “Piss Alley” – in days gone by, patrons of the little bars and restaurants didn’t have public facilities nearby, and would relieve themselves in the street. Thankfully this practice has gone out of fashion, but now instead the street is overflowing with smoke from the yakitori – a type of BBQ that is popular in Japan. It usually refers to skewered chicken, but also to skewered meats of all types. The billowing smoke chokes the whole alleyway, with the low ceilings making it difficult for the air to clear.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is a great place for tourists to go to, not least because of the Tourist Information Centre on the ground floor. We picked up dozens of leaflets (in English) to cool places around here, such as the Tama zoo (one of like three zoos in Tokyo) which I am very much looking forward to visiting. The government building itself is amazing – with twin sky-scrapers each standing at 245 meters tall, it’s a colossal building. Both of the towers have observation decks on the 45th floor, which are free to the public and open late, which is handy because the best time of day for a great view is after sunset. The view was immense – on a clear day you can see all the way to Mt. Fuji and other mountain ranges in the area, and of course, all the thousands and thousands of buildings in between. It wasn’t too busy on the observation deck, and I was surprised that such an interesting tourist attraction was free.

Going to a busy tourist spot on the weekend isn’t usually my idea of fun, but sometimes you’ve got to bite the bullet in order to see something that really sums up a city. Tokyo is the most populous metropolitan area in the world – the total population of the prefecture exceeds 13 million. The area of Tokyo that we live in isn’t at all like the bustling Shinjuku area (thank goodness) and it was nice to return to the quiet, bland suburb after our day out.

To end this post – another luncheon update. Today we went to the local Coop this morning to do our weekly shop and bought ready meal lunches. I had a box set with rice, pickles, sweet egg, salted salmon, deep fried white fish and fried squid. 380 Yen, so about £2.20. Not bad! Sayonara for now.

A Fan of Japanese Lunch Options

Kon'nichiwa again from me in Japan, where the weather is much cooler today because it’s been raining on and off today. It’s really pleasant, actually, what with our little room getting so hot and stuffy; the rain is keeping the temperature down. I was wondering how far the ash would travel from Mount Ontake, which erupted without warning a few days ago, but we’re about 125 miles away so I doubt we’ll see any ash here.

I’ve been in Japan for one week, and this week have had two interviews for teaching positions. I applied to about a dozen jobs last week, mostly on http://gaijinpot.com/ which is a great website to find employment, housing, etc. Lots of Tokyo opportunities. A few other jobs have replied to me but I’m saving those as back-up choices (particularly the one-off Halloween Party event where, rather than the ‘teaching event’ that was listed, what I have been contacted about is coming in for an interview so I can ‘learn the dance moves’ for the performance… uhh, no thanks!) The first job interview was with a Kindergarten that teaches in the Montessori style. I really liked the environment and the job is for the age group I most like to teach, but the pay isn’t so great and it’ll be over two hours of commuting each day. On the subway. Which I hate. So, pros and cons. The second job is with a very professional company that pays quite well, but the age group (12-15 years) is older than what I prefer to teach. Depending on what I’m offered, I could be at a school just a few metro stops away, or I could be more of a substitute teacher, going to a different school every day with no regularity. So, both jobs have ups and downs. At the moment I’m just waiting to hear back from them with firm offers and the like to make my decision.

I’ve really been enjoying the shopping experience in Japan, where customer service is excellent and the items seem good value. For the first few days we were going to the supermarket pretty much every day, making the most of the late-night discounts. We got overexcited the first time we saw this, then we realised that they have this deal every day. Japan has high food safety standards and as such they never sell food that is out of date, particularly fish. When at the supermarket, we make a beeline for the fish sections to see what’s on offer. The first reductions happen at about 6:30, where sushi, sashimi and fresh fish is marked with 10% off. About half an hour after that, they go around again and mark it down to 20% off. Finally, if there is stuff that really needs to go that day, you sometimes see fish with a 30% off sticker on it. You’d think the best way would be to go to the shops late to get the best deals, but of course if you leave it too late, the best offers have gone already, so about 6:30 – 7:00 is a good time; the fine science of when to buy your sushi.

In the Aeon supermarket, they have duplicate sections for popular items. For example, there are two fruit and vegetable sections in the store – they are completely separate, selling fruit and veg from different suppliers and at different prices. It seems a bit mad to me, but I guess it’s a way to offer customers lots of choice. The main point is that, in this one shop, there are three separate sections that sell fish. That means three lots of sushi, three lots of sashimi, three lots of fresh fish… it’s great. We’ve pinpointed which section has the best deals and head to that one first, of course.

Something else I love about the Aeon supermarket is that the checkout is super-efficient. As you approach the desk, there are channels marked on the floor, like the start line at a race-course, so that you don’t block the way of people trying to cross the aisle. As you put your basket on the counter, the checkout girl will place another basket on the other side and put your items into the new basket once they’ve been scanned. This is pretty much the most organised thing you’ve ever seen. The way they pack the basket for you is far beyond the ‘heavy at the bottom, eggs on top’ mantra. Basically, it’s like a game of edible Tetris, and they win every time. There isn’t an inch of space in the basket that is wasted. Then, to make things even more orderly - rather than packing your shopping into bags at the end of the counter (while getting in the way of the person behind you) what you do is take your intricately-packed basket to a separate packing counter and pack your bag there. It’s amazing. Perhaps I’m getting carried away with my shopping experience, but I love how methodical it all is.

Back home, ‘ready meal’ is a bit of a dirty word. It conjures up images of nasty, microwavable packages filled with indiscernible gloop. The kind of cheap, unhealthy muck that burns on the outside while it’s still frozen on the inside. You know what I mean. But the ready meals in Japan are awesome. I think it’s got something to do with the working hours of your typical ‘salary man’ who works long hours and needs to grab something quick on the way home for dinner. These ready meals are great for lunch too, and I’ve been enjoying trying out different ‘Bento Box’ style lunches. Today I bought a boxed lunch from a convenience store that was epic. It contained three onigiri rice rolls, ginger, a sweet meatball, a few strings of spaghetti, sweet fried egg, deep-fried vegetables in an onion bhaji style, katsu-style fried fish, mushroom and carrot. Delicious, and it only set me back 298 ¥ (about £1.70). Also, it’s all pretty healthy. The Japanese love deep fried things, but they tend to be quite a small part of the meal with the majority just being plain rice. Good for me, good for my wallet.

I went to the 100 Yen store again today – we discovered a smaller one that’s near our house and I popped in the get a few things. It’s such good value! Better than Pound World, that’s for sure. I bought a small umbrella, a mini clothes drying rack (octopus type), tuppawear… all for only 108 Yen per item (the 8 Yen is tax added to the price of 100 Yen). Not bad at all. As for the rest of the day I’m going to do some more writing, and make a start on learning some Japanese. Sayōnara!

The Travelling Bee Arrives in Japan

Kon'nichiwa (hello) from Japan – the Travelling Bee is off once more on another great adventure. It feels like this has been a long time coming – when I first qualified as a TEFL teacher, this was where I wanted to go. Japanese teenagers were my first language students – they’d come over to the UK and I was their part-time teacher, an experience which got me into TEFL teaching and inspired me to move abroad. I applied for the JET program (Japanese-English Teaching) and was fairly sure I’d be offered a position, but because of a lack of employment opportunities in the UK that year, three times as many people as usual applied for the JET program and so I didn’t get in. Which is why I wound up in China. So basically, I’ve eventually got to where I wanted to be - I just took the scenic route.

One thing I was sure of before I started looking into this trip – getting a job in Japan would certainly be harder than getting one in China. In China, they are desperate for English teachers. It’s still a new market – language learning is a contemporary thing in China, and right now it’s booming. But in Japan, there has been a Western influence for decades, particularly since its occupation by the American’s in World War 2. People here have been learning English for a long time, and as such their need for English teachers is less frantic than in China. Browsing online jobsites for teaching opportunities in Japan, many schools won’t offer an interview to anyone who doesn’t currently reside in Japan – and that seems to be fairly standard. So here we are, in Japan, and I don’t yet have a job.

Sasha’s job is through a well-known company that hires teachers for Japanese Universities, and he’s been placed in Tokyo. I wasn’t too keen on living in Tokyo as I’m not much of a big city person, but you need to go where the jobs are. Actually, the area we’ve ended up in is nothing like the ‘big city’ I imagined. We’re in Tokyo, but we’re not really in Tokyo – we’re in a city called Kawasaki, which in itself is also pretty huge. Our area is Asao-ku – one of the seven wards of the prefecture.

So far, our local area seems lovely. It’s green and fairly quiet, even with a main road only 100m from our window. It’s not too built up in this area – there are some apartment blocks like the bit we live in, but for the most part it’s just individual houses of two floors, which look all the more smaller for their cute, compact design. Today I went exploring and found two tiny parks that are near our house. They’re little more than children’s play areas with some trees and patches of grass, and both of them were overgrown, but in a charming sort of way. Like how British parks have currently been featuring these ‘wild’ patches to encourage insects and animals to live there, except I don’t think the overgrown patches in these parks are planned.

We’re a 15-minute walk from the Shin-Yurigaoka subway station, which is surrounded by shops, restaurants and the like. Our local supermarket is only five minutes away and also there is a big one at the station, which is called Aeon. ‘Topvalu’ is like their own-brand and a good choice while we’re still working out how much things cost. It’s much harder to calculate than in China. In China you just divided by 10 for a rough idea of how much things cost (100 Yuan = about £10), but with Japanese Yen you’d need a calculator - £1 is about 175 Yen, so a bit tricky for me to work out in my head. I guess I’ll get used to it in time – once I’ve bought a few things and compared prices in different shops it’s easier to remember what’s good value and what’s not.

Thursday was our main admin day, and amazingly we managed to get lots done even though jet-lag completely messed up our sleep and we didn’t get up until after 2 pm. We had to go and register and show our residency cards, which we were given to us at immigrations at the airport, and also sign up for the National Health Insurance. The NHI in Japan is amazing – with the insurance you only need to pay up to 30% of medical costs, though fingers crossed I won’t need to use it at all.

The place where we’re living is block of little flats that are private or dormitory room style. Needless to say that we have a private room! We have a bedroom, small caravan-style bathroom and a corridor with washing machine and fridge/freezer. On each floor there is a tiny communal kitchen, and a large kitchen/dinning/living room on the ground floor. It’s not ideal, but as Sasha’s work is a short contract we’ll likely only be here for 3 months. Housing is expensive in Japan, and until I find a job we need to try and save money. It’s small, but it’s cute and functional. Easier to clean too as there is so little that needs cleaning!

So far, I love Japan. The main thing is the food, which is just amazing. Japanese food has always been one of my favourite cuisines, with the added bonus that it’s good for you! In China, I struggled with the food as the diet there contains lots of wheat (noodles, dumplings, bǎo zì, pancake) and everything is fried in so much oil all the time – I like Chinese food, but it didn’t make me feel very well. But Japanese food is so simple and clean, and at the same time – delicious! Just plain sticky rice and clean, healthy fish… yum. Obviously we won’t be eating sushi and sashimi platters all the time – it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than in the UK but it’s still not the cheapest thing, so while I could happily chomp my way through a plate of sashimi every day, we’ll be keeping it to special occasions.

As well as sushi, there is an abundance of fish in general at the supermarket. We’re cooking at home a lot to save money, but it’s easy to make tasty meals when you can get fresh pieces of fish for cheap. Our trick is to go to Aeon at the end of the day – at about 6:30 they reduce the prices of fresh things and the reductions are considerable. Last night we got a packet of delicious chunks of fish for about 150 Yen, which is less than a pound.

Something I had been told by friends who lived here is how much the Japanese love pastry. In general I try not to eat too much cake and bread because of the wheat, but I make an exception when it comes to things like donuts, which I love. So as you can imagine, we’ve only been here for 4 days, and we’ve already been to the ‘Mr Donut’ shop where you can get a basic donut of 100 yen (about 60p). Sasha had a ‘curry donut’ – someone he knows bought one of these by accident and got a nasty surprise when he bit into it, but Sasha likes savoury things and chose the curry option in full knowledge, enjoying it thoroughly. I had a sweet donut with yellow sugar crystals – I can see myself working my way through their menu over the next few months!

Yesterday we went to the harajuku shopping area, mainly to go to the ‘100 Yen Store’. As we’re not sure exactly how long we’ll be here, we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on appliances and furnishings, so this store was perfect to pick up those few things we needed for the flat – cushions, mugs, soap etc. We didn’t realise it before going there, but the Takeshita-dori shopping street seemed to be some sort of popular tourist destination, as it was fairly busy with Japanese and Westerners alike. There were loads of little cafes, bars and restaurants, as well as street-food vendors selling, of all things, crepes. We didn’t have much of a look around the area but it’s one we’ll be going back to.

So today Sasha went for his induction at work, and I’ve been madly applying for jobs and just getting things done here really. That’s it for now, but I’m looking forward to the next adventure and being able to share it here on my blog. So it’s Sayōnara for now. (So tempted to put ‘zàijiàn’ at the end there but I need to get used to my new sign off!)

Awesome Travels Part Six – Dàlǐ

Our final travel stop was Dàlǐ, which is a very popular destination for Chinese tourists travelling in Yunnan. Dàlǐ was awesome, not least of which because the Jade Emu Hostel is one of (if not the) best hostels we’ve ever stayed in. The rooms were fairly cheap and while not on the large side the room was nicely decorated, comfortable and everything in the room worked. The hostel offered great tours for low prices, the staff spoke excellent English, and the internet connection had a free, working VPN. The drinks menu wasn’t too bad, but the best thing about the hostel, hands down, was the food menu: sandwiches, hot dogs, pie, Italian food from the ‘La Dolce Vita’ restaurant next door… and all very reasonably priced. We were in heaven!

On our first day in Dàlǐ (after our 2 hour train from Lìjiāng which arrived mid-morning) we had an epic lunch at the hostel and went to explore the Dali old town. It was so much nicer than the old town in Lìjiāng! It wasn’t heaving with people, and the roads were wider so it didn’t feel crowded. There was tourist tat for sale, of course, but people in Dàlǐ seemed less pushy and desperate to sell.

We walked along the city wall and back again, then went on a hunt for some restaurants that were listed in Sasha’s rough guide. The guide being a few years old now, we’ve learnt that, where possible, it’s best to check out a restaurant actually still exists before you go there, hungry and without plans of where to eat when you discover it’s actually been closed down for the past two years! That evening we decided to eat in small local restaurant, and it turned out to be one of the worst meals we ate in China, which was really disappointing! The tángcùlǐjǐ (sweet and sour pork) just tasted burnt and like it has been cooked in the juice from a tin of spaghetti hoops…yuck!

On May 16th we went on a tour around Er Hu (ear lake, so named because it is shaped like an ear.) It was just us, the tour guide/driver and an older American man called Richard. We left at 9:30 (not too early a start, so I was very happy with that!) and got back around 4. It was a great day out for only 100RMB each. Our guide (who didn’t speak much English and was grateful for two Chinese speaking tourists) took us on a drive all the way around the lake, stopping off at various village markets, as well as a temple with very friendly patrons, and a tie-die factory. Batik tie-die is famous in that part of Yunnan and you can buy it everywhere – Sasha bought a couple of colourful pieces of cloth as souvenirs and gifts.

Richard bought us lunch in a little Chinese eatery, and it was great fun talking to a fellow Westerner who knew relatively little about China and wanted to learn more. The day was really relaxed – we stopped often to take photos of the lake from different viewpoints, marvelling at the changes in scenery between the different areas. We visited a traditional Bai house, where several families still live together in the rickety wooden structure with a dusty central courtyard. Lines of women were stooped in the rice paddies, the sun gleaming off the shallow waters.

In the evening we went to Stella’s Pizzeria for dinner, where I had a tuna and sweetcorn pizza and Sash had enchiladas. We were amazed by the variety of Western foods you could get in Dali which is, after all, not a very big place (one night we had fish and chips at a restaurant that had recently been opened by a man from Shanghai. Manolito’s fish and chip restaurant opened in March 2014 on 259 Ren Min Lu (phone: 186-1690-9760). They serve a two person set menu for 128 RMB which comes with two pieces of flounder, hand-cut chips, squid rings, onion rings, scallops, shrimps and two drinks, as well as homemade tartar sauce. Or for 32 RMB you can get one piece of flounder, chips and a drink. The proprietor speaks excellent English) After our dinner we had a drink in the bar and played a 2 person game of poker, while watching scores of inebriated travellers trying their hand at the Ping-Pong competition (play against the boss – lose and you buy him a drink, win and get a nights free accommodation… no one had won it yet!) and the weekly pool competition.

On May 17th we decided to climb Cang Lang Mountain. I say we decided to climb it… Sasha left early in the morning to climb the mountain, and I spent the first half of the day sunbathing in the hostel roof garden. For 110 RMB the hostel arranged a car to take me to the GanTong cableway, which included a ticket up and down the mountain as well as park entry. So when I saw I climbed a mountain, what I mean is that I climbed the stairs from the entrance up to the cable car. I had a small picnic lunch at the top, and then had a look at the giant Chinese checkers board, which was being re-painted at the time of my visit. It was a very picturesque mountain top, with a beautiful pond boasting a religious statue in the water. I also walked up to the Jade Roam Road and walked along there for about 20 minutes before walking back – that path would lead along the mountain tops to another peak where there also used to be a cable car.

On our last day in Dali we had another look around the old town, did a little bit of shopping, and just chilled out really. I thought I’d have tonnes to write about this place because it was one of my favourites, but thinking about it we did just spend a lot of time chilling out, reading and not doing very much at all… just relaxing the last few days of our holiday. Dali was amazing, a great place to unwind in.

After that we travelled back to Shanghai. We took the train together from Dali to Kunming, which was several hours long, and then after that Sasha got straight on a train from Kunming to Shanghai. Just for reference, Shanghai is on the East coast of China, and Kunming is in the South, below Sichuan Province. That’s a distance of almost 2,400 km. By train, the journey is over a day and a half long… so you can see why I wanted to take the plane! I mean, amazing landscape, great experience… but not for me! Sasha loved it, and I’m so glad I didn’t go because I just know I would have been grumpy and ruined it for him.

I took the plane because I thought it would be more comfortable. At only 3 hours long, the pain of travel was over quicker, that’s for sure. But it was one of the craziest flights I’ve ever been on. Western tourists often comment that Chinese tourists are difficult to travel with, but for my flight from Kunming to Shanghai, I seemed to have managed to book myself onto a flight that was also hosting the travelling tour of the world’s most frustrating people. The guy sat behind me spent the entire flight kicking the back of my chair, and holding onto the top of my headrest whenever he stood up or moved, so that my chair was constantly jerking backwards and forwards. The guy across the aisle and one seat forward from me started the flight by noisily clipping his nails, which were scattered liberally all over the floor, and then made the rest of the flight audio-hell by spitting into his sick bag every two minutes with the sound like he was throttling a grunting pig. His mate, who was sitting in the row in front of me, just baffled me beyond belief with his stupidity. As we were coming in to land at the halfway point (not a direct flight) we were about 5 minutes from hitting the ground. The seatbelt signs were on, and the flight attendant was buckled into his seat at the back of the plane. Does this sound like the correct time to undo your seat belt, stand up, open the overhead compartment, rummage through your bags, and then start distributing snacks between your friends? Well, the guy in front of me certainly thought so. There we were, pretty much ready to land…you can imagine the look on my face. The flight attendant started screaming at him from the back of the plane to sit down, and eventually the guy did sit down in his seat… but he left the overhead compartment open, with all the bags and bits of rubbish rattling around and threatening to come flying out as we hit the ground. The flight attendant hurtled down the aisle, screamed at the guy, slammed the door shut and then ran back to his seat just as we touched the ground. CRAZY. You know the craziest thing? On the second half of the flight, the exact same thing happened twice more, with two other, entirely different people at the front of the plane. I almost choked with disbelief when the guys in front of me started shaking their heads and tutting at a woman being told off for doing it, when they had just done the same thing! Yeah… I felt absolutely gob-smacked by the time I reached Shanghai. If you had done that on a Western flight, you’d be in serious trouble – the potential to cause harm from flying bags could even be enough to bar you from using that airline. But China is China, and if there is one adjective to sum it up, then crazy is the one!

I loved my awesome travels in Western China. It was amazing to travel to places so different from where I’d already been. My time in the east of China had taken me to many cities, but once you get out of a certain area, it’s like a different world. The differences, for example, between snowy Harbin in the North of China, close to North Korea, and sunny Xiamen, on the South coast, looking out to Taiwan. Or the differences between the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, and the small cities of Yunnan. China is all one country, but at the same time, it’s like hundreds of different countries all jammed together. The differences between the North and the South, the East and the West… how can that all be the same country?

After a reasonably terrible time volunteering in Yantai, I was desperate to have one last holiday in China and find some things to love about it again. In three weeks we saw such amazing, varied things. We climbed a snowy mountain, got sunburnt and were drenched by torrential rain. We went on cable cars, boats, planes, trains, monorail, subway, taxis…we even cycled! We ate BBQ goat’s eyes and minority speciality foods; we had fried cheese with sugar and amazing Western dishes. It truly was the trip of a life time, and the best way to end an awesome, challenging, unforgettable two and a half years in China.

So, what is the Travelling Bee up to now? Well, I just finished a short term summer contract teaching at a UK Summer School (which was… interesting. I’m thinking of writing an article called ‘How to Survive Summer Camp…as a Teacher!’) and now I’m just sort of floating around, waiting for the next adventure. Travel wise, I’ve booked a flight for September 22nd to head to my next destination (yes, that’s right, I’ve had enough of China and am moving on to somewhere new) so look forward to more teaching and travelling experience blogs from me when I’m safely ensconced in… Japan! Zàijiàn for now!