Tokyo has been really interesting, and has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I have visited a Buddhist Temple, a Shinto shrine, a couple of parks as well as the Tokyo National Museum. Less exciting has been the weather, mostly rainy and overcast, which has unfortunately prevented me from really seeing Mt Fuji which is quite sad.
The Shinto shrine was really amazing though, and despite being fairly busy seemed to be quite quiet and serene. I think that the fact it is set within an amazing forest with over 170,000 trees helped promote that feeling, and it was hard to believe standing there that the forest had not existed before 1920 when the shrine was built. THe shrine itself is a reconstruction of the one built in 1920 as the original burnt down during WWII - it is quite simple, far less ornate and loud than the Daoist shrines of Taiwan, but I really enjoyed visiting it.
The Tokyo National Museum was really good too; it shows the evolution of Japanese culture and art across a number of different years, and shows the influence that other countries have had on its own development too. There were some really interesting exhibits, including a separate building with an archaeology of Japan exhibit, which I particularly enjoyed.
The next few days are now all planned as we set off on a tour of Japan using the JR Pass before ending up in Kyoto and Osaka - it seems as though the end is both really soon and really far away.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Taiwan
It seems quite surprising to me that I have already finished my 10 days here as it seems to have gone by so fast and been filled with many different things - a day at the seaside, a day in the countryside, and many many temples.
The temples here are quite spectacular; they are incredidibly ornately decorated with bright colours, intricate stone carvings covering every wall as well as the columns and gorgeous tiled statues on the rooves. They also seem to fill most spaces in the cities, squeezing in between tall skyscrapers or down side alleys, I have even walked past a couple of them that are just in tiny spaces between two shop fronts - they really are everywhere.
I also came across a festical of some sort that was happening outside one of the Temples in Taichung. I'm not sure exactly what it was that was being celebrated, but there was quite a lot going on, with people wearing giant costumes or facepaint, dancing to drums. They also seemed to be taking some of the statues out of the temples and carryong them around the streets before bringing them back in a hail of dancing, swordplay and earsplitting firecrackers. All very exciting!
It has been really interesting to get to know Taiwan beyond it being a place where a lot of cheap goods are manufactured. It is also quite distinct to China, as they do seem to have a distinct identity and culture, despite a number of similarities, and I have enjoyed both tremendously.
The temples here are quite spectacular; they are incredidibly ornately decorated with bright colours, intricate stone carvings covering every wall as well as the columns and gorgeous tiled statues on the rooves. They also seem to fill most spaces in the cities, squeezing in between tall skyscrapers or down side alleys, I have even walked past a couple of them that are just in tiny spaces between two shop fronts - they really are everywhere.
I also came across a festical of some sort that was happening outside one of the Temples in Taichung. I'm not sure exactly what it was that was being celebrated, but there was quite a lot going on, with people wearing giant costumes or facepaint, dancing to drums. They also seemed to be taking some of the statues out of the temples and carryong them around the streets before bringing them back in a hail of dancing, swordplay and earsplitting firecrackers. All very exciting!
It has been really interesting to get to know Taiwan beyond it being a place where a lot of cheap goods are manufactured. It is also quite distinct to China, as they do seem to have a distinct identity and culture, despite a number of similarities, and I have enjoyed both tremendously.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Last few weeks in China
The last few days in China seemed to be filled with not too much, except for the major task of extending the visas, we didn't manage to get too much done except visiting Jiuzhaigou and spending what seems t have been quite a bit of time in Chengdu doing not too much. Though this was quite nice as after 3 months of hectic busy-ness it was nice to have a couple of days rest.
Jiuzhaigou was fairly fantastic though. It was a 9 hour bus journey, which was less than good, especially as the bus was literally falling to pieces (I may not know a lot about busses, but I'm fairly certain that having to stop and pick up a part of the bus that fell on the road is not a good sign), and the hostel was once again lacking in heating while it was freezing (there was actual snow!) but despite this it was definitely worth it. The park is full of some of the most amazingly blue lakes I have ever seen, with a few of them interconnected by various waterfalls. A number of them were still surrounded by snow, and the largest lake was still frozen over!! The park also claimed that there were pandas there, but I can't say that I believe that (being an expert on pandas now) - for one thing there was no bamboo there.
I have now arrived in Taiwan, after a slight disaster catching the plane - namely our train was 6 hours late meaning we missed the flight! Luckily we managed to get on the next flight, and got here without too much trouble.
The first couple of days have been amazing, I have already seen a couple of temples and museums (the National Palace Museum and the Museum of World Religions). People here are, if possible, even more firendly and helpful than in China and Thailand. This afternoon when I was trying to find the Museum of World Religions I got a little lost and was befriended by a group of school kids who then took me all the way there on the metro.
It seems quite a bit different in Taiwan to China, but it is not something that I could really describe. I am enjoying being here though which is the most important part.
Jiuzhaigou was fairly fantastic though. It was a 9 hour bus journey, which was less than good, especially as the bus was literally falling to pieces (I may not know a lot about busses, but I'm fairly certain that having to stop and pick up a part of the bus that fell on the road is not a good sign), and the hostel was once again lacking in heating while it was freezing (there was actual snow!) but despite this it was definitely worth it. The park is full of some of the most amazingly blue lakes I have ever seen, with a few of them interconnected by various waterfalls. A number of them were still surrounded by snow, and the largest lake was still frozen over!! The park also claimed that there were pandas there, but I can't say that I believe that (being an expert on pandas now) - for one thing there was no bamboo there.
I have now arrived in Taiwan, after a slight disaster catching the plane - namely our train was 6 hours late meaning we missed the flight! Luckily we managed to get on the next flight, and got here without too much trouble.
The first couple of days have been amazing, I have already seen a couple of temples and museums (the National Palace Museum and the Museum of World Religions). People here are, if possible, even more firendly and helpful than in China and Thailand. This afternoon when I was trying to find the Museum of World Religions I got a little lost and was befriended by a group of school kids who then took me all the way there on the metro.
It seems quite a bit different in Taiwan to China, but it is not something that I could really describe. I am enjoying being here though which is the most important part.
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