Beijing

I had the opportunity to travel to Beijing for a presentation, and to meet the project architects, and development group. Beijing is an amazing city, that seems not quite sure what it wants to be right now. The gap between those well off and those that are not, is huge and evident everywhere you go. The roadways are packed with traffic, and I am not sure if riding or walking is a scarier experience. The taxi drivers drive like nascar drivers, but pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way ever (regardless of what a crossing signal indicates) so you constantly have to watch for cars, dodge them, and get honked at when you cross a street. Of course it probably doesn't help that people walk and ride bicycles on the highways.

The food is great, and there is so much history to see and explore. Much of the new architecture is very interesting, but of course much of the new housing developments are bland and generic, but likely a huge improvement over previous options. In China, architecture is king, and it seems the landscape, public plazas, and pedestrian ways are an after thought, and often very harsh - mostly consisting of hardscape (paving) and architectural features like fountains, statues, etc. The scale of Central Beijing is not very human, and it seems they have adopted the American system of auto induced sprawl, only on steroids.

Beijing Airport is huge! The ceiling lighting is almost starlike which

only makes you feel smaller, but a very interesting place

Some typical apartment buildings along the highway. Not traditional, but also not new - maybe 80's-90's development. Beijing is definitely a city of patterns. Design one building and use it 30 times.

Typical "older" retail. Very similar to US strip malls.

Newer Standardized housing development. These types of towers dot

the horizon in every direction.

View from the 62nd floor of the Hyatt Hotel's on the conference level. Pretty hazy, but this is the day before the big sand storm

Look Kids the Birdnest....I can't get over!

National TV station building. China seems to be an architect's dream...for now. It is amazing to see the modern skyscrapers and retail complexes juxtaposed with the older residential and commercial developments.

Ming Dynasty Tombs - 13 Emporers in all. Only 2 tombs are open to the public

Detail of one of the temples at Chingling Tomb

What's up Verne

Statue of the Yongle Emporer - Chengzu

3rd Emporer of the Ming Dynasty, who moved the capitol to Beijing and built the forbidden city in the heart of Beijing

Massive tree trunks used as pillars in the temple

Changling (long masoleum) tomb

Yihe Yuan or Summer Palace
(not part of Ming Tombs)

Main entry

Sculpture in the plaza below the Rock Gardens

People use the palace as a park-like space, exercising, playing games, and dancing

The Tower of Incense atop Longevity Hill

A tower in the rock garden. Chinese garden design incorporates rock labrynths with pathways, tunnels, and bridges that people can climb and walk through. The towers and doorways signal movement into new rooms or areas that have a different character and mood.

A gateway to another room in the garden

The massive complex that is the Palace

More of the Complex

Looking back up at the Tower of Incense

Chinese Cosby? Alicia, I invited him to this years sweater party.

Quilin statue

Miyakoda-san enjoying the rail car ride up to the Great Wall. Our tour only lasted 2.5 hours and it takes 3 hours to walk to the top...so we had to cheat a bit to get up and back in the time allowed.

Miyakoda-san and Watanabe-san celebrate conquering the wall

The wall is enormous, and hard to imagine people building so long ago and without modern equipment.

All the walking caused Miyakoda-san's shoe to blow out. Parts of the wall are very steep and you walk on the balls of your feet quite a bit.

Example of how the wall was built directly into the mountain ridge

A setion of the Wall opposite our location. Shows the enormity of this project, and what a difficult construction site this was. The picture is not clear due to the huge sandstorm that was occuring while we were on the wall.

Things in English? Vol. 1

This is the first of what I hope will be many posts on the interesting use of the English language. Of course it is cool to use another language, even if you really do not understand the full meaning or a word or how to spell it. What is important is that you use it with confidence because the only people that do know it is incorrect cannot communicate well enough with the locals to expain your error anyway. It is very similar to Americans who get 'infinity' tatooed in Japanese charaters only to find out years later that it really says "Donkey."

Everyone loves mom and meat right?

Such a cool label had to be producted by someone

No errors here...just liked the sign.

Something about it reminded me of the south.

Much funnier if you say it like the first line of 'Romper Stomper'

?????????

Not the tasty beverage I was hoping for

Instills confidence in me

You may be noticing a theme but I am not trying to pick on hair salons. Perhaps in their field it is very cutting edge to use English. Or perhaps it is because 50% of the small businesses in Tokyo are hair salons, so they are just statistically more likely to make a mistake, or should I say words use purpose confuze

Random Photos Vol. 1

Killer Boots Man!!!

Why did I have to wait 33 years to realize these exist?

Nothing says Japan like a touch screen waiter.

Easter...no thanks

In Japan children fear a visit from the easter bunny

(can you blame them?)

Don't be fooled by the candy and balloons

Wasn't this a character in a Stanley Kubrick movie?

Congratulations...even I had nightmares because of this

Tabemono (aka Food)

The first prepared dinner in our new home

beef stirfry, salad, rice, & miso soup

Nihon Kai (Japanese Ocean), The local sushi house of the Miyakoda-clan. Cap you may remember this place

The same seats we have sat in over the last 5 years

Maguro & Ikura (tuna & salmon roe)

Fish Art - I think Kimball is into this

You pay by the plate. Each color is a differenet price ranging from $1-$8. These plates represent the sushi course served after the first courses of fried squid, kimchee pork, & nikudofu (pork/tofu stew)

Aya hoging all the space in the kitchen

stir fried squid (Ika) with vegetables

Toriki - I saw this retaurant over a year ago on No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. Turns out it is 6 stops on the Ikegami line from our house, or about 1/2 way between my office and home. Famous for their fresh tori (chicken) prepared vaious ways.

Toriwasa - seared chicken ( you can see how "raw" it is) served in a wasabi-citrus-soy sauce...DELICIOUS!!! Probably my favorite of the meal.

Some goofball gaijin who ruined everyones meal

5 5 courses of chicken...something only a Thompson could love...until now.

Yakitori (skewered chicken with green onion in this photo). 'Yakitori' collectively includes all parts of the chicken from skin, and common meat, to liver & heart. The innards are some of the most flavorful pieces.

Aihara-San, the master chef. An amazing character, and 50% of what makes the restaurant what it is. We sat right in front of him while he manned the grill. Every piece of chicken is freshly prepared from a whole chicken prior to being cooked! He told me that Prestige Farms actually serves pigeon, whatever that means.

Yakitori, a breast, a thigh, and livers on the grill

A picture from the front door. You can see everything in the restaurant but the 2 tables on the wall to the right in this photo. An 'intimate atmosphere' to say the least. Anyone who makes the journey to visit will get to experience this place. We still have to try chicken sashimi, & liver sashimi.

BOSS

Someone told me beards are not socially acceptable

Garage A Trois

Sunday, January 31st, our first night in our own place. How better to celebrate than....

Special thanks to the Rocco's for knowing what

we would need in Tokyo before we even got here

A little different with Marco Benevento than with

Charlie Hunter...both sick musicians

Crazy action shot...hard to keep up with the lights

"Special Others" one of the opening bands.
Will be sending their CD out as soon as I am able to locate it

Keys were on point

Waiting in line on a sunday. Shibuya apparently has a good live music scene. Cool thing is that I can stand in the back and still see the stage no problem.

Shibuya, one of the busiest intersections in the world (according to me). You may remember it from "Lost in Translation." Sorry for the blur, just held the camera over my head and snapped a shot.

This picture does not portray the enormity of the intersection, but when the signals allow it people move in 10 different directions from 5 different intersections. Pretty cool place to just sit and people watch.

A little sample of the show. Marco is a bad, bad man!

One more with Skerik blowing his horn. Nothing like that dark dirty GAT sound.