Friday Funny Oct 22, 2010

Happy Friday, everyone. This week is a two-fer...two funnies for the price of one! They complement each other. You'll see. These were taken in our local mall's public bathroom.

You have to plan in advance as there is no toilet paper in the individual stalls. 

You better know your body well!

This is what you're supposed to do after....

I love this! Sounds like an OCD's dream come true!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Elizabeth's first full day in Tokyo Oct 1, 2010

Yes, the family is still with me! We had a wonderful night's sleep and then headed down for breakfast.

 Japanese style breakfast buffet

I still preferred the hard boiled eggs and freshly baked little croissants

The Patels set out on foot to a well-known street called Omotesando. I had an extremely knowledgeable former native of Tokyo tell me, in wonderful detail, all the places we should go and, especially important, what would interest teenagers. It's always about the kids, isn't it? 

Hare and Vivian's first stop

Apparently you can't get good quality Dr. Pepper in Shanghai.

Poor deprived dears.

Hare had an adverse reaction after having gone so long without his favourite cherry cola.

Audio-kinesthetic sculpture near our hotel. Mesmerizing!

I like that the Japanese put their magazines in bondage so you can't read them in the store.

Intriguing little French restaurant down an alley. 
Note all the empty wine bottles. Not my doing. 

Bike "garage" a few feet from restaurant.
Everyone has their own slot.

Raccoon god outside a restaurant. We haven't seen a live one yet in Asia.
Yes, those are coins on his little stone head.

Manhole cover. It's the little things that make a difference.

Bus stop sign. 
Japan seems to put an emphasis on cute. It makes me think of some of my former students.

Dog size-ism! 
Golden Labs of Tokyo, speak up! 
Speak, boy, speak! 

Guess what these are?
Tape dispensers! Adorable!
The Japanese really do take cute to a new level. 

We stumbled upon a 3M store on Omotesando. I at first thought it was an installation art piece. 

Hare, momentarily stunned into silence. 
This does look like an art installation though, doesn't it? 
Hare looks like he's a part of it.

Vivian in Post-It note heaven.

Moving along, we left the 3M store and ducked down a side street that we later learnt (typical of me!) is famous-Cat Street. I am not making that up. See below, shamelessly lifted from another site:


Cat Street (キャットストリート) is a well known shopping street that runs through the Shibuya and Harajuku areas of Tokyo, Japan. The street is famous for it's hip youth oriented fashion shops and cafes as well as being a popular place for people watching. Cat Street crosses Takeshita Dori and Omotesando Dori in the Harajuku area.
The path that Cat Street now follows used to be a river or stream bed. Legend has it that the street got its nickname from the fact that a lot of cats used to wander around the street.


Now we all know something we didn't before, unless you're from Tokyo...or well-traveled..or well-read.

A restaurant on Cat Street

Residential lane off Cat Street. I could handle living here.

Adorable erasers on display at Kiddyland, a very popular toy store. Vivian and I spent an hour in there. 

So cute it hurts.

We explored more of Cat Street and the surrounding area, poking our heads into various stores. Hare and Vivian preferred the second-hand, oops! Pardon me, "vintage" stores, while I leaned more towards housewares stores and bakeries. I know, but I miss my baked goods! China is not a country that bakes. Trust me. 

On our way back to the hotel, we saw more interesting buildings. 

A building-sized mosaic

These buildings seemed to be typical of Tokyo-narrow, with outside, uncovered stairs. Rakesh guessed that this kind of construction might have something to do with earthquakes. I think he may be right. Tokyo doesn't have huge skyscrapers like Shanghai.

Green wall, literally. 

Hare's had enough fun at this point. Good thing we were on our way back to the hotel!

We stumbled upon this temple/shrine on the way back. No idea what it was called. It didn't seem unusual  though to have these temples/ shrines tucked in between modern buildings.

Headstones? Monuments? 

Your guess is as good as mine, unless you're from Tokyo...or well-traveled...or well-read.

Indiana Jones crossing

We made it back to our hotel neighbourhood and popped into a local high-end grocery store for snacks.

Vivian decided not to go with the mini-fish snack. 

First family dinner in Tokyo and we made it Italian.

I got a lovely piece of cake for dessert. 

Mmmmm....cake (insert choking on drool noises here)

I was happy. Time for bed. 

Elizabeth goes to Tokyo Sept 30, 2010

Yes, the family came with me! The kids had time off from school for the Chinese National Day Holiday, which celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949. You didn't know you were going to get a history lesson, did you? The holiday actually lasts a whole week, one of the so-called Golden Weeks in China. Oh, sure, now you want to know what that is. So do I. Thank goodness for Wikipedia. Here we go:

Golden Week (黄金周) in the mainland of the People's Republic of China is the name given to two annual 7-day national holidays, implemented in 2000:^[1]

• The "Spring Festival (or Chinese Lunar New Year) Golden Week" begins in January or February.
• The "National Day Golden Week" begins around October 1.

A third Golden Week holiday, which spanned May 1 and celebrated Labour Day, existed until 2007.

Three days of paid holiday are given, and the surrounding weekends are re-arranged so that workers in Chinese companies always have seven continuous days of holiday. These national holidays were first started by the government for the PRC's National Day in 1999 and are primarily intended to help expand the domestic tourism market and improve the national standard of living, as well as allowing people to make long-distance family visits. The Golden Weeks are consequently periods of greatly heightened travel activity. [Aside-no kidding!]

An estimated 28 million Chinese traveled during the first National Day Golden Week in 1999.^[2] In 2007, this number had increased to over 120 million.  [The Patels increased that number by four.]

They are re-thinking these Golden Weeks, but that's another topic.

I was a bad parent (so what else is new?) and pulled H and V out of school for a half-day so we could fly out to Tokyo. We left Sept 30 in the morning.

A blogger's work is never done

In Pudong (Shanghai) International Airport

Since I booked our trip late (now I'm also a bad wife), we had to fly first to Incheon, South Korea. Oh, well. At least we got out of China on a super busy holiday. Did you read how many people travel during the Golden Week? That 120 million probably doesn't include expats.

Our lunch on China Eastern Airline, Shanghai to Incheon, South Korea

I don't think we're on the Bund any more, Toto

Edible and more interesting than an Air Canada meal

Now for the really bad news. We had a five hour layover in Incheon, South Korea before flying on to Tokyo. I know. So we headed to the private Star Alliance lounge. Now you can say you've seen a lounge in South Korea.  It's huge! We can cross off another Asian country on our "To Visit" list. Hey! Even a layover counts.

Our trip was sponsored by Apple (I wish!)

Rakesh and I somehow manage to struggle through the long, tedious hours.

The massage chairs helped.

Our view towards North Korea

O.K. I don't know if that really is the Hermit Kingdom, but it could be.

Not our plane, but a cool shot

Our Japanese-style dinner en route to Tokyo 

We arrived in Narita Airport, Tokyo in the early evening and were greeted by this when we went to the airport bathroom.

Fortunately, it came with instructions.

Hilarious, I know, and it is definitely a system that takes some getting used to. Sure, we didn't have to indulge in all the features, but you know, when in Rome... Just about every toilet we saw in Tokyo was like this one. 

After a long drive from Narita, we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Asia Center of Japan, in the ward of Minato-ku, for those of you who like that kind of detail. The location was great, within walking distance of everything we wanted to see and in a nice neighbourhood, close to the Embassy of Canada, no less!

I had already sold my left kidney for the flights over, so we economized on the accommodations. Rakesh and I altruistically took the smaller of the two rooms.  Our room was reminiscent of the cabin I had on a cruise to the Caribbean. Talk about your efficient use of space. We didn't stay in one of those capsule hotels, but this was close. This is the entire room. I took the photo standing at the door. The bed is right up against the wall. Did I mention the location was great?

Wow! What I couldn't get in was the big step up. I definitely felt like I was on a cruise ship. 

But wait, this was the best part

In order to divert water to the shower, you had to turn this knob. OK, now I'm not just on a cruise ship, I'm back on Toad V!! The tub was knee deep, but I felt it would be wasteful to take a bath. Next visit I'll just head to the hot springs. 

These little tags were on every carpet corner. I asked about them (That's me! Terminally nosey!) and was told that it was the permit for these flammable materials to be used in the hotel. The Japanese are very fire prevention conscious. I guess it's a holdover from the days of living in rice paper walled houses. I'm not sure. Google time!

And we're back...yep, it's a cultural thing. This other blogger writes very well on the topic:


It's not possible to overstate how deeply rooted the fear and respect of fire is ingrained into Japanese culture. Especially for the first couple of thousand years of modern Japanese civilization, the safety of one's house and family was directly related to the fire-prevention habits of everyone else nearby, because if one house caught fire, it would spread to all houses in the area. (Until recently... until maybe 30 or 40 years ago... the vast majority of Japanese buildings were made mostly of wood.) If you made a mistake, thousands would pay, and vice-versa. Despite this ingrained caution, mass conflagrations were apparently common, so the fear was well founded.
The direct fear of mass conflagration is much less now, of course, but you can still see the deep-rooted cultural fear/respect in daily life, from 「火の用心」 (hinoyoujin, be alert/cautious for fire) printed on signs and the sides of buildings all over, to buckets of water still kept at the ready outside many people's houses. Still today on summer evenings, it's not uncommon to hear the resonate sound of someone hitting two thick wood batons together in cadence with a chanted “火の用心”, as a general reminder (during the evening cooking hour, since until recently cooking was always done over a fire?) to be vigilant against fires.

There! We all learnt something. I saw those buckets of water at certain public monuments, like General Nogi's shrine, but that's for another day.

So, we arrived safe and sound, had a good sleep and prepared for our first day's adventure in terrific Tokyo.

Friday Funny Oct 15, 2010

So many photos, so difficult to pick just one... I honestly could do a who;e post on my grocery store alone. Maybe I will when I run out of tour, lunch, travel and volunteering material.

Here is this week's selected photo.

Now that's what I call sensitive, compassionate service.

Have a great one, guys!

Elizabeth lunches with the ladies...again Sept 29, 2010

No, it's time for an intervention yet. I'm trying to convince Rakesh that what I'm really doing is research for my parents' upcoming visit Oct 10. I think I've almost won him over...


This is another organization, the Shanghai Expats Association (SEA). I told you I signed up for everything! Again, what do I think of a club that would have me as a member?


Lifted from the SEA website:

The Shanghai Expatriate Association (SEA) is a non-profit, multinational, member-based organization. The SEA was established to provide a social and cultural network for expats and their families in Shanghai, and is one of the largest groups of its kind in China. We are committed to enriching the China experience for expats living in and around the greater Shanghai area. We welcome any foreign-passport holder as a member, including Elizabeth Patel.

In my opinion, I think the SEA sponsors higher-end events. The AWCS is more budget-friendly. It's good to have a choice. It's even better that these people donate their money and time to various causes. Just living here makes me all that more aware of how incredibly blessed we are, here and in Canada. 


Laris is on the Bund and has a great view of the river and the spectacular skyscrapers on the "new" side, which is Pudong. 
The Shanghai ExpatriaYte

 Association (SEA) is a non-profit, multinational, memOOO

YOuYYYours truly trying to look as glamourous as the restaurant

First course Goat's Cheese Stuffed Zucchini Cannelloni

Oooooooooooo

Main Course Wild Duck Breast with Shitake Polenta and Okra

OOThe

This was the other choice that I did not have
Honey-Soya Seared Tuna and Abalone with Whipped Potato

T
Mango Panna Cotta

Laris' Signature Chocolates
(disappointing actually, filled with red bean paste and other nasty moon cake type fillings)

After the luncheon, I took the ferry home. Sorry I only have this one photo. My camera battery died on me! The ferry was a different way to get across the Huangpu River and was more scenic than the subway.

passport holder as a member