Travel – Whovian travling through TV-series

Japan – Tokyo

Hey Guys,

welcome to the first part of my travel experience of Japan. I am still not sure how I want to do this. So I will decide on the go. First I want to say a little bit about Tokyo in general. Everything else will follow. I think there will follow a few special places. But honestly I don’t know if I have one favorite spot in Tokyo. Oh yes the park – more about later. So here we go.

Big in Japan

Tokyo is a really big city. There are many skyscrapers and everything is built closely together. I really mean that. On your first day in Tokyo we wanted to see the Metropolitan Government Building, which you should have an amazing view over the city. My Japan-Freak friend said it should be easy to find it because we should see it. It is so high that we should see it. We didn’t. There are so many big buildings. You can’t see from many points in the city. Because all building are tall. There is no way to find your way to things like that. You just see the nearest tall building. But it was quite fun to ask her maybe it is this building – or maybe this.

Not so big at all

Like I said Tokyo is a really big city but everything seems kinda small. For example: Akihabara. You always heard that this is the big district for all electro stuff and the Otakus. I thought of a really big exciting district. There should this big store for Manga and Anime over 7 floors just with that stuff, which I wanted to see. When we were in Akihabara it was really small… It is more like one street and the small street between this street and the next isn’t so much going on anymore. My best friend and I were search for this big store. At some point I stand before a really small looking store with 7 floors and said that this has the same name as the big store we are searching. But my best friend ment that this can’t be it. It is too small. In the end it was totally that store.
Maybe it be big inside. We hadn’t time to go back there (that sadly happens when you travel with such a big group). But it really looked really small. When you take all the floors and put them on the same level it is many be as big as a Talia with to floors.

Where are they coming from and where are they vanishing

I thought Tokyo would be full of people a little like Beijing. But it wasn’t. Over the day the city was almost empty. Maybe this is a little exaggerated. But there are not so many people like you would have thought. But in the nights?! From like 6 o’clock to midnight everything is full. All the trains are full of people in suits. They are everywhere. Also Shinjuku is full of people. It is really hard to go in the other direction of all the floats of the people are going. You really have to look every few steps if your group is still near you or if you already lost them in the masses.
So just one tip don’t drive the train after 6 o’clock. The later it becomes the fuller it becomes too.

Adventure eating

Eating everyday was quite an adventure. It is not that there weren’t enough possibilities. One thing is quite clear. You have to go were it is full because if it is not there is a reason for it. I didn’t eat bad food in Japan but when we were on Miyajima for example. There was a small ice shop and with along queue. Just three small shops further was no one. Half of the group bought the ice on the full and the other on the empty store. The part of the group who bought at the full store had his ice cream for 100 yen less than the others.
But back to the problem. Like I said before everything is really small. So the shops or restaurants are all so small too. There are actually were little restaurants that are bigger and then there are most likely restaurants like chinese, italian or Mac Donalds/Burger King.
So with our big group of 8 people we filled most of the shops. So obviously it was impossible to find something to eat with a table for 8 people.
What I love about the restaurants in Japan is that first you almost everywhere you get water for free (no matter what the others say I think that this can be in every country standard). The second thing is that you can see what the cooks are doing. I love it that you can watch them make your food.
In Tokyo we hadn’t something to eat were I said you have to eat it. We mostly ate ramen in Tokyo. I love ramen. Just one thing I really dislike is that the meat is quite fatty is not the right word I think. I just hate fat on my meat.

For Tourist

So, the only thing left to say is… okay I think I didn’t even told you half of it. And here it goes and I remember what I wanted to tell you all. So first of all the city really quiet and clean! So clean! I love how clean it is! That is just amazing. In Tokyo is also everyone so calm. So without pressure to get a train or something. Nobody runs in this city excepted the jogger. Because the train just drives every two seconds. Okay not really but all three minutes. So what wanted I say? Oh yeah they are really quiet but the can be really loud if they want. When they are for their hour drinking with their colleagues, they are loud like everyone else. Also in the night the train are not as quiet as in the mornings.
Second thing is. When you watch an Anime and the two main characters are meeting at night, they are always in a little park with a swing. I haven’t seen one swing in Tokyo. I was looking for them. Maybe I was in the wrong places. In Kyoto I found more of them. So maybe all Anime play in Kyoto.
So back to the point I actually wanted to make. The best thing you can do is buying a JR-Pass. With this Pass you can drive to whole japan with paying again. There are JR East and JR West. With that pass you can drive with the Shinkansen. Tokyo has a really great JR lines through the city. You really don’t need any other ticket. Kyoto has also a JR line going through the city. But there are just two lines but it is enough. Also in Kyoto are also JR busses and you can drive them for free with that ticket.
So yeah. It is quite easy with that pass to move around in Japan.

So guys. This was the first round of my impressions of Tokyo and Japan. Also I am quite annoyed now by our train system and my costumers. The first time I traveled in Berlin again with a train. He just stood with out a reason two meters before the stop… for like 5 minutes. Why? Something like that never happened in Japan. Not once.
The second… everyone was so friendly and open. It was amazing – not like China. In china everyone made pictures of as. Here in Japan nobody cared about us that way. But they were always ready to talk to you. In one restaurant we asked the neighbor table to take a picture and they not just made a science about it so that the picture will be beautiful. There were really interested in what we will see on our travel. It was so nice.
Here the customers not even can say ‘hello’. It is so annoying how unfriendly we are. I miss japan.

And what I totally miss too is the heated toilette seat. I always said that don’t need that but now that I had it everything is different. It is so nice. Oh how I miss it already.

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April 16

Beijing – Peking Duck

Hey Guys,

i am sorry that this took me so long to write about one of the most amazing meal I had in Beijing – Peking Duck. obviously we had to eat Peking Duck in Peking. There is no way around it. There are many restaurants were you can eat it. We were in one at the top of shopping center. It was a really nice restaurant.

The waiting

The first thing we learnt was that it is not easy to get a table. When we came there you, you take your place in the queue and wait your turn to get your waiting number. Is it your turn you say how many people you are and then you get a number and then you have to wait around until your number is called. Than you get a table. This was a first for me to get a waiting number when I wanted to eat something. I actually don’t remember how long we waited for table but it was definitely more than a half of hour.

The Dishes

We always ordered four different dishes and eat from all of them. Here we ordered a half Peking duck and egg-rice with shred duck, than something like pancakes with a filling we don’t know and something else where we don’t know what it was. All the dishes were very delicious. All the dishes get serve at the same time except for the Peking duck. The Peking duck came an hour after we ordered.

The duck itself got cut direct on our table. You can watch them and you get very little of what the meat. Than came the stuff that I didn’t know about. All stuff you need to eat Peking duck. We got melon, onions and cucumber. Also we sugar, sesame sauce and at last we got really thin flatbread. When I search for it in the web I always find crepes as the flatbread.

The duck in the combination of all these ingredients tasted amazing. Now I really want to eat Peking duck again.

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March 19

DW: The Who Shop

Welcome Guys,

as a Doctor Who Fan and you are visiting London you have to go to the Who Shop. Sadly it is not in the center of London. It is a little outside. When I got out of the train I thought that I am wrong, but I found the shop and the way was worth it.

Address

The Who Shop
39-41 Barking Road, Upton Park,
London E6 1PY
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8471 2356

What to expect

The Who Shop as everything that a fan heart needs. They have everything from cups to towels, books to audio books. They have all the stuff about the New Who. But the best part about the shop is that it also has the old stuff. Here you find the first Big Finish Main Range Adventures that are only available as a download a Big Finish. Even better are the few older Doctor Who Books. It was a dream come true. I spend a very long time in this tiny shop.
They also have a TV-Museum. The entrance cost 3 Pound. I looked around in the shop and asked myself were the Museum should be.

The TV-Museum

If you want to see it you just asked the Seller about it. They take your stuff and brings you to the TARDIS. Yes the TARDIS is the Entrance to the Museum. You can open the door yourself with the TARDIS key and the Seller is always so nice to take pictures of that.
When you bring a really camera you can use it in the Museum. Handy camera are not allowed. I don’t want to spoil it. But the Museum is fall with old Doctor Who stuff. It is filled from the ground to the top in stuff. Truth be told it is not a big Museum and I would pay the money again, but I think it was actually worth it.

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December 1

Cardiff – Doctor Who Experience

Hey Guys,
i know that now here should be an article about Beijing and the Lamma Temple, but since they anounced that the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff is closing in summer 2017, I thought that my article about it should be now before it is too late. Last year in november i visited London and also made a stop in Cardiff. I visited Cardiff before and i fall in love with that little town. It is beautiful and has an old charm. Truth be told it is really really small. I has big city kid would not stay longer than three days. I can just recommaned to visited the castle and the national museum and of course as a Torchwood fan the bay.

My Way

This time I wasn’t there to see any of this or the shopping. What totally doesn’t mean that i didn’t any other stuff like shopping and visiting what the bay has to offer for us Torchwood fans – but later to that. The reason i visited Cardiff that time was the Doctor Who Experience. I am sure you can take a train or bus to get form Cardiff central to the bay. But since i know a little of Cardiff i decided to walk. It is not far from the central station. I didn’t at the clock but i think i need 15 minutes. When you start seeing the Millenium Center than you are in the right place. As a Torchwood fan you should stop here for a moment and make picutre of the water tower or search for the spot nobody can see you. I don’t think i found the right place because it seems that every could see me.
When you follow the pier (not in the direction of the Cardiff Quay) you can already see the TARDIS before the building, which is were i wanted to go.

Some infos before we start

When I was there the normal entrence cost £16.20. I of course bought the Merchandise Packages for £37.50 when you buy it on the internet you can save £5. The set you will get at the end of the tour. You got your ticket were it stands that you have the Merchandise Packages. When got through the experience you land in a shop and there you show your ticket on the cash register and they will bring you the packages. So now the important part. What is in that Merchandise Packages:
In this set is a bag with the size of DinA4, Official Companion Guide (something I would have bought anyway as a memory like a programme of musicals), a certification (which has gold ornaments on it. It is really lovely to look at.), a souvenior ticket, wrist band (which is in my opinion unnecessary), a T-shirt, and the best thing the key to the TARDIS which is in jewellery box. It is not so much money for what you get. One thing with the T-shirt is important is a man shirt man just to take the right size.
Have a look at it:

Let’s start

The most important thing is that is not a museum. Like the name says it is an experience. Which means that you will be part of the show, the story that is told. The groups are not small. You go in with them. I don’t know if story change but when i was there we were visiting the Gallefry Museum after the time of the time lords. It is not just fun for fans of the NewWho. The Classic fans will have their moments too. It starts with Romana as Lady President tells as about the time lord, the war and of course of the Doctor. After that the story really starts. You and your companions have to help the Doctor to save the universe with the lovely Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.
The scenario is created with love and details, so you can feel the work that is in it. They work alot with light effects. I just can recommaned this to everyone. Go and experience this as long as you can. Because it is made with so much love and it is Doctor Who.

Exhibition

After the show you come into the exhibition. The Exhibition is not really big. First you have the TARDIS controls, which are really lovely. You will find a few sceneries and above all that you find monsters and outfits of all doctors (also war doctor) and many other outfits from the NewWho serie. The most things are from Clara. For me this part of not so interesting. I am more into the classics. But you can make as many pictures as you want and you can make really good ones.
Also there is a green screen were you can let them take picture from you and choose the background – like the consule room of the first doctor. The first photo cost £10 and every next picture £5. You also can let them send the data of the picture as an email.
After that you go into the shop. Where you can buy alot of Doctor Who stuff and get you Merchandise package.

When you are at the bay

When are already on the bay, you should totally go and visit the Ianto Shrine. It is at the pier down by the water. It is amazing to see how much Ianto Jones is still loved. It always change. I really like the place. So go and visit the lovely town Cardiff before summer 2017.

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November 4

Beijing: Shichahai

Hey Guys,

welcome to the next station of my beijing travels – Shichahai, which is a famous scenic. It is a little like two worlds met. The Old and the new and mostly the tourist. It is an amazing scenic and fun to visited at day but the best way to walk around the lakes is the night.

Two worlds

The area is around three lakes Qianhai (前海), Houhai (后海) und Xihai (西海). The way around these lakes is full with little shops, bars, cafes, restaurants. You can almost find everything here. At light it is full lights and music and life. It is full of people and has just an amazing atmosphere.

But also this area has the best instand Hutongs. Hutongs is the name for the small alley with old houses. The look really beautifull i think.

Actually i think there is no more to say about it. Shichahai is something you has to see and feel not to read about.

If you want to visited Shichahai the simplest way is to just drive to the station ‘Shichahai’. This station is still in the built but can already be used. It starts at end of the lovermost part of the three seas and start with a beautiful view.

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October 20

Beijing: Sport Place (Beihang University)

Hey Guys,

welcome to the next article about Beijing. This is really not normal that some place like this is in such a list. But this place just felt right. It was nice and we had alot of fun at this sport place. We sat many evenings on that tribune.

Sport

In Beijing the people came out when it gets dark to make sport. This is the only time this is possible. The warm temperature and the smog is making the evening the best time to do it. For me it was still to warm to make something like sport. But alot people in beijing are coming out to the sport place and run their rounds. Some of them are jogging, some running, some walking, and some are walk around the place.
You see people in sport cloth but mostly the are runing in jeans or skirts… not all are even having sport shoes. You see sandles or even high heels.
Just lets say that you always have something to watch. You will always find something interessting.

What we were doing

We of course didn’t make sport. What did was buying coke and beer also cookies, ice and chips and set on the tribune and just watched. Okay we were also talking with each other. There is a nice silence in this place you find not often in beijing. It is relaxing just siting there and enjoying the place. Sadly but perfect for people that have to drive home the place closes on 10 o’clock. So you get the subway before it stops.

The university we were visiting was the Beihang University.

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October 5

Beijing: Summer Palace

Hey Guys,

here comes the second point on my list the summer palace. The summer palace is an amazing palace. The most important thing to know for this trip and i would advice to make it a whole day adventure, you need something like sport shoes. You have to talk any stairs and something like climbing… a little bit. Has you can assume now is that the summer palast is built on a hill what makes it so much more beautiful than the other temple.

Few first infos

If you want to have an audio guide you can take one on the start. You have of course chinese as a language and english. This is a big sightseeing so you have a lot of other languages for example german.
Of course you have to pay for the inlet. No matter if you visit the summer palast or the forbidden city it is all the same way. You can only pay for the main attraction here it would the summer palast or for the whole area.
Than you have to different price one for the peak season – that would be summer – and the low season – Winter. So for summer it would be 50 yuan and 40 yuan in winter. (For germans 1 yuan divide through 7 and you got Euros – in this case it would be 7,14 € and winter 5,71 €). So yes buy a ticket for everything.

The area

The area is really big. With the through ticket there are for 6 buildings you have entred to. Summer Palace, Garden of Virtue and Harmony, Wenchang Gallery, Suzhou Street and Tower of Buddhist Incense. But there is way more to see like the mamor boat and the kunming sea.

Kuniming Sea

The sea is taking the most of the area. It is a beautiful sea and you can get with about over it. The boat is driving you around a area with the look at a few pavilions. Sadly i hadn’t that look because we started at the wrong side and lost to much time at searching for the Tower of Buddhist. But my friend told us that it is absolutely worth it.
The buildings close at 17:00 o’clock. But the area is longer open. So we sit there in the park with the look at the sea. It is quite nice.

Garden of Virtue and Harmony

We think when we read garden about green grass and flowers, but this is not what you will find here. Actually you will only find a tree in the middle of it and a theater, what is actually the one thing that is to see their. The theater is really beautiful.

Garden of Virtue and Harmony - Theater — Garden of Virtue and Harmony – Theater

But you can find in the area a garden that is a little bit more like a garden. It is a really beautiful place is a little away from the main road so there are not so much people. So this is a good place to make pause.

Wenchang Gallery

‘The exhibits include bronzeware, jewelry, chinaware, furniture, paintings, calligraphy, ancient books, enamels, clocks, handicrafts made of gold, silver, bamboo, wood, ivory, horn and lacquer, and other miscellaneous items, representing almost all types of Chinese antiques.’
This is what you can read everywhere and you find there really beautifull things. But if you expect something like the juwelry in London for example you will not find them there. There is alot with jade in many forms. You should totally take a look in there.

Suzhou Street

My friend likes this part the most. This is a street around the moat with alot of little businesses. It is a sweet street. The way is really small but it has a nice atmosphere.

Tower of Buddhist

You can see the Tower from any points of the area but we had a few problems finding the right way into the building. It is on mountain/hill and you have to ‘climb’ many stairs to get to it but it is totally worth the sight.

So this is an amazing place and totally worth visiting. Hope this was hopefull. If you have questions you can always write me.

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September 21

Beijing – Hot Pot

Hey Guys,

maybe it is not quite usual to say that the best thing in a town was the dinner but Hot Pot was special.

First of all what is Hot Pot?

Hot Pot has something from Fondue. You have a big pot not with fat but with some sort of sauce. We had to different versions. You can have pot with one ‘sauce’ or with two different ‘sauce’ in one pot. You can choose different ‘sauce’. We had one half of the pot with a mild milk combination and the other was a spicy one. Like the name says this get hot like the fat when you do fondue.
Then you can choose alot of different staff to throw into the pot. Just to say a few things: sweetcorn, tofu, meat (more like bacon), noodles, eggs and leaves.
But that was not all. Then you got a little soup and different sauces that you can mix on your own. Also you got melone to eat until everything is ready.

How to eat

This is really simple. You throw everything in there and wait until it is ready than you fish for it and took in one of the sauces and than you eat it. It is really delicious.

Happy Hot Pot

We were two times at the same restaurant, because it was just so much fun there. Most Hot Pot restaurants let you do all that stuff on your own. At the place we were they make alot for you. The make sauces for you (you can still make your own if you want) and throw the stuff in for you. At first we thought why would him bring us here. But than we had like ten different sauce from them. They came and asked questions. They were all really sweet and really interessted. They have little presents for you and when you sit long enough you get a lot of stuff for trying.
But the most special thing is that you can let them dance for you. It is really sweet and funny to watch them dance gangnam style.
It was one of the nicest evenings in beijing.

Addresse:
ZhiChunLu Jia 20Hao, Beijing, China

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September 7

Beijing – Must See

Hey Guys,

here is my list of things that you should do or see in Beijing. Afterwards i will go into detail of the things in other articles. Soo the hardest part about it is to decided what i like the most. Everything we did was fun… okay except the Temple of Heaven. But i will talk about too. Sooo first things first what was my highlight of the vacation. It is really hard. But i decided for Food. My number one is:

1) Hot Pot

Hot Pot is a special way of eating food. It is little like fondoue. There are a lot restaurants for it. My friend visited two friend restaurants but we just got one of them, but it was amazing. It was super delicious and funny. But it is totally a group activity. You should be at least three persons. More infos will follow here.

2) Summer Palast

Of all the Palast and temple this was the one that i found the most beautifull. Mostly it looks like all the other places but the palast and everything what counts to this whole area is built on a mountain. Which means good shoes and it gives you a totally differnet view of the buildings. More infos will follow here.

3) Sport place at the Uni of my friend

Yeah, this one is weird one. But it was actually the place we spend the most time in Beijing. It is really chilly there. Of course i and my friends too didn’t make sport there. It is like a big stadium and when it gets dark all the students and other people came out to run or walk. We just got to sit at the tribune and watch them. It really were best nights out.

4) ShishaHai

It is the toury area but it is so amazing. The area goes around three sees and are little shops and restaurants. At night everything is colourfull and everywhere os live music. If you need a place to go, go there. More infos will follow.

5) Peking Duck

Okay, eating is really important and that peking duck is amazingly delicious. I never ate peking duck before. So i had no idea what to expect and it looked a little suspious when my friend showed me but it taste really good. More infos will follow.

6) Lamma Temple/ Confusius Temple

I love this temple so much because it is still used as a place to pray. What makes it really make special place in Beijing. More infos will follow.

7) The Forbidden City

It is the sighting in Beijing and i really love this place. It is so huge and beautifull. I could stay the whole day there and just watch the building. But there is just so much that makes the other places just a tiny bit more amazing for me. More infos will follow.

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August 22

Beijing – the way around

Hey Guys,

here i will tell you a few things or better tipps. Most of it comes from my friend in Beijing. I loved Beijing. It has really beautifull places and is a city like the most. Mostly it is like every other city. People talk about culture shock but didn’t had anything like that. Beijing is a really big and smelly city. Of course there are a lot of asians, which brings us totally to the first point.

1) Everyone is looking at you. Everyone and everywhere is taking pictures of you. Some will come to you and asked if they can make a picture with you. They are mostly really cute and nice. You feel like a really important star. Others will totally make pictures of you when you are not looking. They are really obvious about it. Sometimes family place their kids next to you and take pictures.

2) Please look out. The traffic is something else in Beijing. Really it is amazing that there are so little or no crashs. Because everyone is driving like crazy and like the want. Something like red amples means nothing their. Some of them are driving on the walkway and that are just the nice things. Really the traffiy is something else. You can stand the whole way on the crossroad and just watch them better than every soap.

3) The good thing about Beijing is that it have everywhere toiletts. Really everywhere. But they look not really nice…not. Also you should bring your own toilet paper – Chuck was right toilett paper is the most important thing, even when the world is not going down. That toilett paper has to be thrown in the basket beneath the toilett.
What you know is that the toilett are of course all an earth closet.

4) The fastest way to travel is the subway. Normally my best friend and i always walk everywhere, but in Beijing we choose to travel with the subway. The best way is to buy a Transportation Smart Card. To charge the card you go to one of the almost 24 hours open counter. At every station is a security counter where they shine through your purse. The prices are 2 yuan. Just the airport express cost more (25 yuan).

5) Don’t travel in china in summer, but if you do buy many suncreme. It is hot and muggy. So please don’t forget the suncreme.

6) Yeah, don’t eat at the little street stands. Just eat where they have flowing water.

I believe that are the most things that you should know. I hope you have fun. If you had visit beijing i would love to hear your storys and what you think about the city.

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