posted
Hi again people. I'm leaving in a few days for Hong Kong for a few days and then Tokyo after that. Does anyone know any really cool places they can recommend to me that i might be able to see/visit while im there? im pretty flexible with my trip, especially in japan. so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know ASAP. i leave wednesday.
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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Are you traveling with other people? If so, it's really fun to go to a yakiniku or okonomiyaki restaurant, where you cook your own food. This is less fun on your own, though still delicious.
For cheap fun, ride the Yamanote line in a circle & see the sights from the train. (Not during rush hour, though.)
I also liked wandering around some of the huge department stores--I like to window-shop, though. And also, when I was in Tokyo I had no money, so most of my entertainment had to be cheap.
Many people on this board have been to/ lived in Japan a lot more recently than me, so let's see what they recommend...
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I second the Akihabara recommendation. It was my favorite place to go around Tokyo. Then again, I'm a nerd (particularly in regards to anime, toys, and video games), so it was like a paradise for me. Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by accio: Try Akihabara for the latest electronics.
And try Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong for the latest in electronics at factory prices! You shop in Japan don't complain when you don't have any money left.
You can take the MTR (underground train) to Sham Shui Po, take I believe the D exit (look at the exit plate first it should have a place called "Golden Computer Arcade", go upstairs and cross the street and you will see a place with "Golden Computer Arcade" emblazoned on the front. There are 2 floors, the hallways are narrow, like 6 feet between shops, leave very happy. If you look carefully you can find guys selling pirated computer software as well, and its a pretty elaborate adventure between selecting your games and picking up your merchandise, SERIOUSLY! But you didn't hear it from me.
If you want to do just generic shopping, (arts, crafts, clothing, just about anything), go to Stanley Market in the south part of the island west of Tai Tam and south of Repulse Bay. Its prices are VERY affordable and its the perfect place to snag a souvenir. You will have to take a Bus there from Central. Stanley Market this time of the year should be a ton of fun, you can buy just about anything there, the weather should be beautiful, and there are some wonderful restaurants to eat at if you are hungry. It also straddles the beach, so kick back and relax.
There is Disney Land, which you can reach by MTR again, it has its own stop. Or if you want a purely Hong Kong amusement park experience try Ocean Park in Aberdeen, its in the middle section of Hong Kong island, south of Central, but North East of Repulse Bay. Most Taxi Cab drivers know where it is if you can't find the right bus to it.
There is the Sun Yat Tsen, (formerly LDS chapel, formerly Japanese WW2 detention center, formerly colonial mansion) memorial museum. Its in the middle of central at 7 castle road, if you get in a taxi cab in central or nearby say, "Why Sing Doe" thats the phonetic pronounciation of the address in Cantonese. When you see the museum just say Sun Yat Sen to the taxi cab driver and he will get the idea. Its a very beautiful and historical building in Hong Kong.
If you are up in Kowloon instead of Hong Kong island then take a bus or cab to Shen Zhen, you can buy clothing at factory prices from all major clothing labels there as well as many other commodities.
I know you will be in Japan longer then Hong Kong, but if you list your interests Ill try to be more of help, right now I am just shooting wildly into the dark and hoping I hit something. I'd really like you to enjoy Hong Kong while you are there, that place is very special to me.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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BlackBlade, thx for the great suggestions. i sent an email to my sister who is already there with everything u just said. she also said she has found a lot of cool places to show me. if i do any shopping on this trip i really want it to be in HK... everyone tells me japan is oh so expensive.
As for japan, we might just make tokyo home base and go out on day trips. originally we wanted to start in south japan and work our way back north, but tokyo has so much right by it i think we can easily fill our week there with great things to see/do. we definitely want to spend some time in shibuya, and see the meiji temple. possibly ride the bullet train? there is also a really famous fish market that i cant remember the name of.
if anyone has any more suggestions for tokyo, please keep them coming. i leave in a few hours towards hong kong, but wont be in tokyo until the 13th. i think i can check my email while i am still in HK though, via my sis's work laptop.
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Is the fish market Tsukiji (I think that's how it's spelled, but I'm not positive)? If so, be prepared to wake up really early to go, as I hear the best/most interesting stuff for it is early in the morning.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I don't recommend riding the bullet train unless there have been major changes. When I rode it (back in 1996) it was basically like...riding a train. Ho hum. Expensive, and only useful if you really want to take a quick trip somewhere kind of far, like Hiroshima (which was my favorite tourist destination in Japan, by the way).
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
If I recall right (and I may not as it's been almost a year since I heard this), I was told that I should get there around 6AM or so if I wanted to go. I could be wrong though. I'll leave it up to someone more knowledgeable than I.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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If you find some time in Tokyo, go to shibuya and go to the goth clothing district. There are teenagers dressed up in cool halloweenish costumes, there are curb side bands belting out cool toons and selling CDs its really fun to visit, and who knows you might actually buy some of their freakishly cool threads.
Tokyo dome has the coolest haunted house that I have ever been too, the rollercoaster is a truckload of fun too if you are into that.
Why not visit the Sumo stables while you are in Tokyo, and watch a match, its a big deal in Japan?
Hit up Mt Fuji if you can, its a fun drive if you can get there.
The Meiji Shrine is a beautiful walk, and there is lots of history there.
If you'd like to get a better glimpse of traditional Japan try visiting Kyoto, some of the older style buildings are still there, and you may catch a few people wearing traditional clothing
That's all I got for now, Ill ask my parents if they have any suggestions as they live in Shibuya (a suburb of Tokyo.)
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Shibuya is sort of crazy. I don't know if I've ever seen so many people on the sidewalks. It's a fun sort of crazy though. Really if you have the time, most of the major areas of Tokyo are cool to see (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Akihabara, etc.).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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ok so i just woke up from my first night in Hong Kong. The view from the hotel room is beautiful. this city is amazing. simply amazing! its so much bigger than atlanta. i wish i was here later in the summer though as they are celebrating the 10th anniversary of its freedom from the UK.
i wont be able to use the internet again until i get home. so thanks to everyone for the suggestions and im sure i'll have some good stories for everyone when i get back. bye d^_^b
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
ok so im at a cyber cafe in tokyo. ive seen the tokyo tower, meiji shrine, and a lot of other cool stuff.
IMO hong has a much cooler vibe than tokyo. thanks for the places u recommended black blade. ive been over here a week already, and im still jet lagged. i wake up around 5am everyday and take a 3 hour nap at 6pm everyday.
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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quote:Originally posted by krynn: ok so im at a cyber cafe in tokyo. ive seen the tokyo tower, meiji shrine, and a lot of other cool stuff.
IMO hong has a much cooler vibe than tokyo. thanks for the places u recommended black blade. ive been over here a week already, and im still jet lagged. i wake up around 5am everyday and take a 3 hour nap at 6pm everyday.
I'm sorry you didn't have more time to in Hong Kong to visit much, just out of curiosity where did you manage to visit?
Jet lag does not go away by itself, you have to fight it. Try your best force yourself to stay awake until like 9-10:00pm and then if you wake up early, keep yourself in bed and try your best to sleep until like 7-8:00am. DONT take that nap in the afternoon, you have to get your body's circadian rhythms to obey you.
Also as is typical, you will probably get over jet lag right as its time to go back home and you get to do it all over again! Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
DANG! My lack of internetting makes me miss stuff like this until it's too late.
Krynn, if you get to check again and you still have some time, get thyself to Yokohama! Minato Mirai has awesome shopping and there's cool historical stuff all over the place. Must see: Chinatown, (from Yokohama Station get on the Minato Mirai line and get off at Motomachi) Yamashita Park, the Kanagawa Prefectural Cultural History Museum. (It's close to Bashamichi Station on the same line.)
If you can't get down to Mt. Fuji, take the Chuo line out to Hachioji (west Tokyo) and then the Keio line to Takaosanguchi and climb Mt. Takao - a casual little mountain climbing hike that is beautiful and there are old temples all the way up the slopes. Plus, from the top you can see Fujisan very beautifully.
If you do get time to go all the way down to Fuji, spend some time in Fujinomiya. And go to the Emporer's summer home in Numazu. You can take the bullet train to Mishima from Tokyo (takes about 50 minutes) and then local trains from Mishima to Numazu and Fuji City. Beautiful, beautiful country.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
OK, so its my last night in japan before i fly back home to the states. i wrote out a list of all the stuff i did. here goes:
Hong Kong Day1 -Check into Grand Hyatt -Conrad Hotel for drinks -Club 9
Day2 -ferry to buddha statue -arrived 2 hours before it opened -visited the temple and the Wisdom Path (very cool) -saw the buddha right as it opened -rode the skyrail back from buddha -Golden Computer Arcade -World's largest escalator to SoHo -Felix bar in kowloon to watch light show at 8pm
Tokyo Day1 -Explored our hotel (great view) (Tokyo Prince Hotel, Park Tower) -had a couple drinks at the top floor at the bar
Day2 -Zojoji Temple -Tokyo Tower -Meiji Temple
Day3 -Imperial Palace -bowling back at the hotel -checked into new hotel (Chisun Hotel, Akasaka) -walked through Akihabara -night out in Roppongi
Day4 -Ueno Zoo/Park -Ameyoko Market -Geronimo Shot Bar (Roppongi)
Day5 -Tokyo Dome City (very cool roller coaster) -Roppongi Hills -Night out in Shibuya (GasPanic)
Day6 -Bath House -Cinema (spiderman3) -4th and best sushi restaurant, but cant remember its name. its in Roppongi Hills
One of the best trips ive ever taken in my life. thanks for all the great suggestions. i wish i could have done more. ill be uploading my pics next monday sometime to something like OFoto. ill leave a link here. again, this trip was awesome.
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Glad you had a good time! I was most pleased you found your way to Golden Computer Arcade. Did you find anything of interest? Occasionally it gets busted by the police and it takes about 1 month for business to get back as usual. Still that area of Hong Kong is one of my favorites.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
i wanted to get some import video games for my frirnds since they would have been so much cheaper there... but i didnt buy anything. i was traveling with my sis, and she was giving me these looks like she would rather die than be in that place another second. video games and gadgets and computers ar enot interesting at all to her. she was also the one who allowed me to go on this trip, so i bit my tongue and left with her after one lap at golden computer arcade.
BTW, there are 2 GasPanics. the one main one by starbucks off Center Gai was smaller, with more people, but MUCH more ghetto. there is another one just up the way from Club Asia that was much cooler and still had a decent crowd. best part about GasPanic #2 was the lack of all the wannabe pimps/playas.
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Sounds like you had a lot of fun there! I want to go back to Japan someday. As far as Akihabara goes, it's a can't-miss thing for nerds like us, but I got tired of it after a while. Too many creepy guys there.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by krynn: i wanted to get some import video games for my frirnds since they would have been so much cheaper there... but i didnt buy anything. i was traveling with my sis, and she was giving me these looks like she would rather die than be in that place another second. video games and gadgets and computers ar enot interesting at all to her. she was also the one who allowed me to go on this trip, so i bit my tongue and left with her after one lap at golden computer arcade.
BOOOO!! I should have given you better instructions. There is always a guy handing cheap photocopied maps. You approach him and request a map, you follow the map to a location and its usually a secluded upstairs room in an apartment. Game cases line the walls and catalogs are on the tables. You make your selections and pay for them there. You are then issued a number and instructed to wait downstairs. About 10 minutes later a man comes running up with several bundled and taped shut plastic bags and they match your number with the appropriate bag. Its the most fun I've ever had purchasing something. The guys all have ear pieces and look like secret agents, and it only costs about $5 per item purchased.
I guess there is always next time. What can you do?
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
aww man! that sounds like so much fun! i wish u had told me about it earlier. i think my sis would have enjoyed that cuz we both love ecret agent type stuff. in fact, our favorite bar is a place called the Safe House. its a bar in milwakee that is themed after secret agents and has trap doors and stuff. very cool. i would have bought like 15 games had i known about that place u told me. yeah, always next time. as for now, im trying to conquor jet lag. i only slept till 1pm today. thats 5 hours earlier than yesterday XP
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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