Current Events

Some days you are meant to achieve greatness and other days its better to not even attempt it. Today is one of the latter days I fear. I’m lazy and slothful and those are the best of my weekend qualities. Being away from home on a holiday is different. I don’t remember the last time I was away in a hotel room alone on the weekend of the 4th of July. I’ve gone out here in Chennai far more this trip than I had time for ever before. I’ll be putting stuff up on my flickr photostream soon so people can live vicariously with my adventures riding autos, going places, working and playing. The place I am staying in here is called the New Woodlands Motel.  Its a very  interesting corner of the world to be in.

I am told by Deepak that Mylapore is one of the oldest parts of the city and is regarded as a cultural center. It also has a long history which appears to go back to the Roman days. Its close to the Marina Beach area which is one of the longest continuous beaches in the world I am told. It also has its fair share of restaurants, a mall, interesting olds and news, and I’m digging it.

Someone told me that the best way to see Chennai is out the window (or lack of one) of the Chennai auto’s. The auto’s look like this…

There ya go! Not me riding in one but I’ve been bustling around in them myself. Taking photos out of the window/door thing is a blast. I’ve promised a few people at work to chronicle a day going to work. I’ll be riding the Mylapore MRTS which is a hop, skip, and a auto ride from the hotel I’m at.

I’ll try to post more often since someone in the office showed me some kindness and gave me a little Tata Indicom USB broadband CDMA modem so I can do email and light webstuff when I want to.

I’ll be flying out tomorrow first to Japan and then on to Singapore. Then onward to India for 3 months or so. I plan on writing on a daily basis while in Chennai because there is a lot I want to capture about the adventure. Stay tuned to the weblog and perhaps even a brand new category here about the trip and the stay.

Catch you all after I get to Japan on Saturday! I wish I could have an extra day or so and get back to the Lion Beerhall in the Ginza; but there is always a next time for that.

Today was the walk to end all walks I think. Started with the skyline of Shinjuku which pretty much looks like this:

Pretty incredible! Lonely Planet says that Shinjuku has the most skyscrapers of all Tokyo and I believe it. I went for a stroll which took me quite a bit away from probably the biggest subway/train station I have ever seen. Shinjuku station is floors of malls, restaurants, pubs, deli’s, posh restaurants, fashion. The place is divided into east and west. East is a rather incredible place with a variety of interesting elements. Have to be seen to be believed. West is the land of what my daughter calls “skyscratchers”. So many that almost defy belief. Some are shaped strange and have hotels on various floors. Others are just awesome.

Then I left there and decided that Tokyo is the land of differences and went to Meiji-jingumae. This is where the restored Meiji shrine sits in a beautiful, peaceful and rather longish up and down hill walk. Check it out!

You cannot take photographs past the gate you see above so this is the best it gets. What can I say about the park? Lonely planet described it as the most peaceful spot in Tokyo and I believe it.

Then coming home I got mixed up and did not do the stations right and had to walk about 1.5 miles back to the hotel. Oh well, today was a day of walking. Feet are tired, body is tired; but I feel good!  Tomorrow is it for me and I come back home to work, family, stuff. I think stuff is going to get more significant but family always rules. I bought some momentoes at the shrine for the wife and kidlets. Wife will appreciate; kids will not. They always want more.

I was over in Tokyo some dog years ago and when I decided to stay over here a few days after a business trip, it was not with the idea of trying to find places or views of things I saw then. I don’t recall too many of them; yet I tromped all around Tokyo back then. I walked here, walked there. I remember being on the Ginza at Christmas in the late 1970s. Christmas trees, lights, signs saying “Ginza wishes you a Merry Christmas”.

These days they block of the street and you stroll up and down the mega shops on the street itself. I was walking along and stopped cold though. I saw this one place that I had this vivid memory of. Of all places it was a beer hall. Well, if you know me, you would probably say “figures”. But I had to stop and just stare and the memory came back. Its like some dusty old synapses suddenly relinked and I had this memory of going into that beerhall, drinking a beer, perhaps eating. I felt rather uncomfortable to tell the truth. It was like a connection was made from another time. It Lion BeerHall though. The beerhall of Ginza. A place in the way back machine I had went to, drank and ate at. Why was I there? I don’t know. What was I doing in Tokyo then? I seem to remember waiting for someone or heading off elsewhere. Back then, I knew Tokyo pretty well I think.

I also went to Ueno Park and the Ueno area. This area can be characterized as place of differences. One beautiful park with museums, age old temples. Then down the next street crowded stalls with people selling ties, suits, toys, fake this and real that. Man. You gotta see it if you are here.

Some tips for you would-be Japan travelers. Get a Tokyo Metro day pass! Very worthwhile. You can ride all over the Metro which is really like 7 lines or something for all day and just use the one card. Its cheapo too. Don’t worry about understanding the system. Its all in english around. You can get the day passes from hotels like the ANA very easily. Also get a lonely planet Tokyo book. Don’t neglect the book that tells you stuff. Get a Metro subway map and plan out the day. Resources you may want to consider in planning a series of day adventures:

1. Tokyo Guide – this site is very nice and tells you all the good stuff.
2. Tokyo Metro Subway – the site is in english and it tells you how to do everything with the subway.
3. Lonely Planet Tokyo Guide – this guide really spells out where to take the turns, what to see, what to do. Maps are great in it. I bought one in Tokyo but now I think of it I should have been studying and researching.

Well, that was today’s adventures. I may head back to Lions for the stew. I remember eating the stew there now and its only two stops down for me on the subbie. Tomorrow I’m hitting the road to the Electric Zone called Akihabara. More on that journey tomorrow.

Greetings all! Its Singapore time for me now and I am back for a day of meetings here in Singapore. I landed at 6am yesterday after an all night flight from Chennai which is rather tiring for some reason every time I do it. I could not marshal up the energy to go in to the office yesterday so just rested. Today I meet with colleagues and do some work in the Singapore office and then tomorrow, its time to fly on to the last leg of this trip. I have a few personal days in Japan. I’ll be going to the Doll district right next to Akihabara one day and then on to Shinjuku for a personal recollection the next day. Mostly its about renewing my acquaintance with a place I visited and actually lived in years ago.

I’ll be blogging from the exciting and rather expensive ANA Intercontinental Hotel next!

It must be Chennai. If I were in the Bay area it would still be yesterday evening. Confusing? Not if you are here with me . I woke up a bit early today due to perhaps jetlag but after a great dinner with the office colleagues from Singapore and Fremont at the hotel. Now I’m preparing for the weekend voyage to Pondicherry. We’ll be gone a single night and then back tomorrow at the hotel. Back to work Monday which is a holiday in the states but not for us. I’ll be in India until Wednesday and then I fly back into Singapore for a few days of meetings.

Then…

I have personal time for some days in Tokyo. I chose Japan because it was easy to get a flight routed there and I simply love Japan. Tokyo is one of those cities you can wander around for a day, get lost, jump a cab, and come back. I did this in the way back machine and I’ll be doing it next weekend too.

This trip has been quite productive thus far and I’m very excited about the progress we have made on a few fronts. I’ll be catching up with this from Pondicherry over the next day or so.

So here I am. Landed at midnight. Waiting to do lunch with my boss here in Singapore. This is a great place! But are we really Lemurs?  Well, could be at one time.  I love science when it brings to a level where we look at the amazing antiquity we have. There is a fabric to our lives here on this planet. It stretches this way and that. Its texture is rich and compelling. We are more ancient yet like infants.

I loved the story and google’s take.