Singapore and Tokyo

Short update here since I wasn't in either of these cities for too long. I also have no pictures from singapore since they are all on Daniela's camera. Its been a few weeks since the last posting, but I have some time this afternoon to finish asia, then this week I can put together some pics from Iceland.

We landed in Singapore and checked into the hotel. As its singapore, everything went very smoothly except the cabbie had no idea where the hotel was or even where any of the streets were. He eventually took us to queen street which is nowhere near the Aqueen hotel. We eventually found it and he only charged us half the fare on the meter on account of his poor sense of direction. Nice guy. The room was ultra-modern and minimalist, as is typical of singapore. All kinds of fun buttons for lights and stuff that could be programmed automatically.

After that we headed down to little India to grab a bite to eat and have a look at a few temples. After that we went to china town to see a buddhist temple and then to the waterfront area for dinner. The waterfront area is interesting because its very classy and extremely well done, but its clearly all new and purposely built at the same time. I think thats a rare combination that a local government can decide to create nightlife downtown and have it spontaneously be really fun and well done. In any case, there are mushroom like roof structures that shelter a lot of the area if it rains, lots of out door dining on the water and no shortage of bars and clubs on the street. Not cheap, but somehow it has a sense of character that is very singaporean. The next day we went up to the zoo which was impressive. They allow a lot of the animals to roam free so you can feed a giraffe, sit and have lunch under a tree full of monkeys or have a kangaroo walk across your path. The animal enclosures are also quite large and well designed to give the animals privacy and space yet also allow good views. It did rain quite a bit during the day but by running from hut to hut I don't think we really missed much. There was quite the variety of tropical species which was cool and different from more temperate zoos. When there is no real barricades between you and the animals you get to see their personality a lot more. Giant tortoises just do not care and do not seem to be even aware of your presence which monkeys definitely know whats going on. Late in the day we also took a short elephant ride. That was pretty sweet. The most interesting thing was the feel of the hide. Its tough, like leather and the hair is very bristly. One of the people on the elephant in front of us dropped a shoe and the elephant kindly picked it up and handed it back with its trunk. After that we headed down to the airport and went our separate ways. On to Tokyo for me.

Andrea and I landed in Tokyo and jumped on the next train to the city. The express isn't cheap, like 30 bucks each way, but Narita is also about an hour and a half from the center of Tokyo. The trains in Tokyo are about as sweet as one would think. We went to Ginza which is kind of a business center. Its where the stock exchange is, but also the fish market and the palace. The city felt a little older than I thought it would. A lot of stuff seemed like it was 80's vintage when it was constructed which I guess makes sense if you look at economic growth. Its clearly modern, efficient and well run, but at the same time a lot of the infrastructure is clearly a bit older.

This is a park near the palace in the middle of the city. Well maintained, which is not surprising. Everyone working around us seemed to take their job very seriously. Quite a difference from New York.

There is the palace in the background. At the very least I thought there would be a visitor's center of some sort but there isn't. Just a gate, a moat, a high wall and a bunch of people getting their pictures taken in front of the wall. Can't really see anything and it was a long walk in blazing heat to get there.
At this point we rearranged our priorities and decided to head down to the fish market in hopes of finding something more organic and exciting than the business district. Jackpot. We ate lunch at a hole in the wall diner under the train tracks and continued until we hit the fish market, which was a hubbub of activity.
After walking around a bit and by the many tiny stalls selling fresh sushi, we decided we needed to get some. While in Tokyo...

Establishment of choice. There were about 10 restaurants in this maze of activity, 3 or so which are visible in this pic. Like indonesia, I don't really fit to well.
From the pictures we deduced what salmon and tuna were and we figured that was pretty safe so we got a bowl of it and split it. Needless to say it was outstanding. I'm not really a big sushi eater, but it tasted pretty good. The fish market was within 100 feet or so of this place, so it can't be bad. It was also busy with Japanese people, another good sign.
After that and some more wandering over towards the stock exchange, our time in Tokyo was up and we went back to the airport to catch the flight to NYC. Which, by the way, was amazing. I watched a movie, ate the food they gave me, watched another movie, then fell asleep for 8 hours with no waking up. When I did awaken, I had breakfast in front of me and 40 minutes until landing. Perfect, and in an economy class seat. The key was the perfect window/plastic bulge positioning of my window seat that allowed me to slump over in a very comfortable spot.

And back to America.