Tokyo, Japan

A very impressive city and a very impressive civilization. One day in the quirky, architecturally old-fashioned Asakusa and two days in the upscale, high rise Ginza near the fancy stores. Public behavior is very orderly and appears relaxed. Citizens and drivers wait three-minutes or so for some lights to change without showing impatience. Turning cars unfailingly give pedestrians the right of way. Streets are immaculate everywhere. In fact, everything is immaculate. Prices are high for basics and relatively low for luxuries.

I could say this was the neighborhood of Asakusa, our first hotel in Tokyo but it's actually a portion of one of the wonderful models in the Edo-Tokyo History Museum.

Our Asakusa neighborhood was quite beautiful

Our Asakusa neighborhood had long shopping streets

Our 6-tatami mat room in Asakusa - charming but not as comfortable as we would have liked - so we moved to a conventional hotel in the Ginza.

One of the spectacular dishes from our splurge dinner at Les Creation de Narisawa. Glass plates specially created for the restaurant. The dish was called "Chiayu, sweet fish - Sakura on the surface of the river" (Includes pink, sugar-coated cherry blossom petals.

"Soil 2001" called "dirt soup" by some, made with soil plus ? - Not bad., more a philosophical dish than a real soup.

The Ginza neighborhood of our second hotel

Our second hotel was walking distance to the Tsukuji Fish Market, where we blundered into the inner market at 7:30 AM, in technical violation of the ban on tourism there until 9AM.

Lots of fish and lots of electric vehicles.

Afterwards, the best sushi we ever had in one of the many sushi restaurants which adjoin the market.

A man who has never been to the top of the Empire State Building was compelled to go to the Skytree in Tokyo

The Skytree at night, seen from our hotel window with artistic reflection of a shirt.

Department store attendant bows to departing elevator passengers.

Sidewalk repair above. Porter below

Proof that Japan is the world of the future - escalators at bottom of Skytree.

Subway guard. I saw him salute the last car as it passed.

Subway map

Subway seats are upholstered. Percentage of suits is high.

Cleaning crews prepare to board our train and give it a thorough cleaning before we board and travel to Kyoto

The ideal theoretical view of Mt. Fuji from our train window

The actual view of Mt. Fuji from our train window

Taiwan

Taiwan offered some relief after the unrelenting heat of Vietnam. Also, some room on the sidewalks was welcome as was a bit more English comprehension. Taipei had the feel of New York to me - and the taxi cabs were better and cheaper.

However, the National Palace Museum, which was the main reason for our visit and to which we had looked forward for years, turned out to be a gigantic disappointment. For years we had read about how they took the best works out of mainland China in 5000 crates and about the size and quality of what they own. That may be true BUT THEY ARE NOT SHOWING IT! There was no general history of Chinese painting, just one exhibit of a classical painter and one exhibit of modern painting. Hundreds of jade pieces, ceramics and bronzes did not make up for this disgraceful omission. They don't allow photography which is annoying but possibly defensible. On the other hand they do not allow you to bring in water bottles. That is plain cruelty. And they don't supply water either. A pox on them! I should mention that the museum was overrun by groups, led by flag-carrying leaders. Fortunately, they rarely stopped to look at the works on display.

A restaurant named Silks Palace has a building on the museum grounds providing dining levels of different types. Our lunch of classical dishes was superb except for the dessert which was visually impressive but, in substance, consisted mostly of variations on red bean.

Evening was spent in a cutesy craft market and then the authentic night food market where we waited on long lines to have fried taro balls with pickled egg yolk in the middle and fried bits of chicken and pork at 50 Taiwanese Dollars for 100 grams, to be eaten out of a paper bag with wooden skewers. We did find one worthy item in the craft market, collapsible round light shades made in Laos of cotton string infused with glue.

On the following day we rose at 5:30 AM to for a 25-minute flight to the East Coast to see one of Taiwan's scenic wonders, the Taroko Gorge. Unfortunately, we could only do it on a one-day organized tour from Taipei - group tours being something we avoid like the plague. This was a schizophrenic experience. The first half was efficient and blissful, consisting of a short flight from Taipei to Hualien, small bus (18 people) under the guidance of Josephine, a theatrical but competent guide, through the gorge with many beautiful stops (including some short hikes and crossing bouncing suspension bridges over the gorges - variations not available to the large bus groups), and a good lunch. The second half was a coercive waste of time stopping at a candy factory/store, a marble factory/jade store and a beach. Return to Taipei by train at about 7:30 PM. An overnight in the area might make it easier and would not be a mistake.

Hordes of bus tourists in large buses cannot be avoided, a hundred buses a day according to our guide and 200 when a cruise ship is in the area - as it was from Japan on our day. But it is a measure of the beauties of the area that it was still worth seeing.

After we returned we did laundry at the facilities provided by our very fine Dandy Hotel on Tianjin St. Kudos to the very helpful staff especially Queenie.

Please forgive the disorder in the photo sequence. Blogspot problems.

Taipei taxis show speed on windshield. Drivers wear suits.

Cutesy crafts - dog ties and bandanas

Taro ball stand.

Steps Leading Up To The National Palace Museum

Foldable Light Shades

Like NYC

Night Market

Fried Taro Ball

Pickled Egg Yolk Inside

Taroko Gorge Guide Warns of Dangers of Crossing Suspension Bridge

Gorge 

Fearless tourist crosses bridge.

Some of the buses

Pagoda and ancient sun symbol in Taroko Gorge

Scenery

Marble Factory and disgusted tourist.

Busmates from France, Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico

Last Day in Saigon

Just three hours of touring this morning was enough to make me so tired that I chose to nap rather than eat lunch. A rare occurrence indeed. But it was a rough three hours. First, the "Chinese" market in District 6 (Cho Binh Tay Market), a place that makes the more-visited market in District 1 (Ben Thanh Market) look sedate and orderly. It is a two-story structure, so densely packed inside , with such narrow aisles that even we, fearless travelers, were daunted and felt claustrophobic. So we just went around the building examining the stalls on the outside, only occasionally venturing a bit into the interior.

Then we went back to the center on a fruitless hunt for a type of hairnet Emma had seen the hotel women wearing. We couldn't find it in the stores, markets or department stores. Only later did we find out it is a special order item supplied by the hotel to its female employees. Anyway, this search, important as it was, could not be continued in the midday heat. We retreated to the hotel pool, then an unsuccessful hunt for a restaurant in the immediate hotel area (nothing looked good to us) a rest period and a trip to a recommended restaurant followed by a dance/acrobatic theater presentation on Vietnamese culture at the Opera House.

The recommended restaurant was so authentic and non-touristy we had tremendous communication problems. The relatively high quality of the food was negated by the unbelievable difficulty of conveying simple matters like, the dish we ordered has not arrived and, bring the beer with the food, not before. English language communication has been extremely difficult here.

Tomorrow, on to hopefully cooler climes in Taiwan.

"Chinese" Market - Maximum interior density, particularly due to low ceilings. Structure is about two or three blocks square.

Dried sea cucumber? Definitely dead.

Eatery

Dried edibles.

Tree ears fungus, I think - I like this

Vendor's child concentrates on coloring book.

Tight squeeze and it wasn't even the busy period.

Common carrying method

Market eating alcove.

 Crocodile and snake leather shop

I could say this shows men trying to get a cheap thrill by touching a department store ad of Gwyneth Paltrow? but it was actually workers squeezing the air bubbles out.

U.S . Presidents sell cosmetics here.

Department store interior - Merchandise and displays were not attractive.

Sidewalk manicure

One last sidewalk vendor

Bye Bye Vietnam!