Tokyo: A sensory overload

Shinkansen, the Bullet Train, passing by at high speed

Tokyo, as we know it, really comes alive at night

The SONY building, where we checked out a dancing robot

Ginza 4-Chome intersection

Hamubagu, a hamburger without the bun

Electric Town

Futuristic architecture in Aoyama

Yamanote line

Roomier than you might think

The Swedish tourist was granted access to the Capsule hotel

Check out the different subway maps, all different companies

Dinner in Sugamo

Hiro, Saki, and Ai

Where do we start. This place is insane. In a very good way! And forget all the myths about Tokyo being expensive. We live in a cosy ryokan (a Japanese Inn) for about 400 SEK / night, eat the best sushi ever for about 50 SEK / person. Our biggest cost is transportation since the very fine tuned spiderweb consists of so many different subways and commuter trains, all operated by different companies.

About four days have gone and we have been busy. I (Toni) visited an old friend of mine, Hiroshi, who lives in Tokyo with his wife Ai and their newly born girl Saki. Hiro took me out for a traditional Japanese dinner and it was a new experience to sit on floor level with the shoes kicked off. The food was terrific and everything seemed very fresh and healthy. I rounded off by checking out one of the rumoured capsule hotels (only for men!).

Then following day me and Ewelina headed out to Aoyama and the famous shopping district Omotesando. Not for shopping, but for the cool architecture, for example the new Prada building designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Everything was very hip and chic and we didn`t really fit in with our two sets of backpacker clothes!

Next we took the train out to Electric Town in Akihabara. A huge district full of discount electronics.

We ended our day by eating a traditional Japanese hamburger, Hamubagu, next to the famous 4-Chome crossing in Ginza.

The pics tell the whole story...

We are in Japan!

Last day in Hong Kong

On top of Victoria Peak

We took the old school Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island, then tram up to Victoria Peak. A must when you are in Hong Kong!

Hong Kong, take 1

Tsim Sha Tsui station

Hot Pot for two

Double decker trams

Kowloon Waterfront (Hong Kong island in the background)

Hong Kong is definitely our favourite city so far because it is such a lively and diverse place. It is crammed, pulsating, and full of cool bars, cornershops, and restaurants; a real Mecka for cityslickers. It is a place hard to define, best described as an Asian melting pot with lots of western spices. The world's most free economy has bread a city full of hardworking people, commerce, and futuristic architechture but there is inevitably an always present flipside to that coin given the history and intermingle between Great Britain and China.

There are beautiful green hills coming in from the airport and the landscape changes with the islands. Only one our from the city there is a sandy beach (Repulse Bay).

We currently reside right in the heart of Hong Kong, Kowloon Island, with either the subway or the Star Ferry transporting us to Hong Kong island south of Kowloon.

We have been very unlucky with the weather but we are still giving Victoria Peak a try today. Speak soon.

We travel high and fast

The view from Cloud9 bar in Jin Mao Tower (400 m)

MagLev

In Shanghai we visited the Cloud9 bar, which is locatad on the 87th floor in the Grand Hyatt building (Jing Mao Tower), approximately 400 metres up in the sky. Albeit a cloudy night, the view was quite breathtaking (sorry about the dark photo).

To Pudong International Airport we travelled with the MagLev (magnetically levitating) train at 431 km/h. The ride was painfully short - about 7 minutes - but we enjoyed every second of it!

More Shanghai...

Huangpu River and Pudong

The Bund

Ming dynasty style architecture

TV tower

Bruce Lee

Some more pics from our two past days of sightseeing.