July 7 - Apartheid Museum, Constitunail Hill and enroute to San Francisco

Long day, promise writing all my blogs on the plane

Jul 6 - Pilanesburg and Lost City

Just too tired to write anything

Jul 5 - Safari and Johannesburg Downtown

Still out and about whatever I have done so far is being uploaded.

Jul 4 - First Day in Johannesburg

Enjoy the pictures while I come around to blog on this entry

Jul 3 - Around Bangkok and enroute to Johannesburg

Enjoy the pictures while I come around to blog on this entry

Jul 2 - In and around Bangkok

Enjoy the pictures while I come around to blog on this entry.

Jul 1 - Sentosa Island and enroute to Bangkok

Enjoy the pictures while I come around to blog on this entry.

Jun 30 - In and around Singapore

Enjoy the pictures while I come around to blog on this entry.

Jun 29 - Enroute to Singapore and First Day

Enjoy the pictures while I come around to blog on this entry.

Jun 28 - In and around Hong Kong

Enjoy the pictures while I come around to blog on this entry.

Jun 27 - Enroute to Hong Kong & First Day

I slept like a baby last night, the massage really did wonders and I woke up really fresh. After packing quickly, Johan and I headed towards the airport. The idea was to take the taxi to Maglev Train station and then take that to the airport. Johan purchased a First Class ticket on the train to go the airport which was very nice of him. I thanked him for the great time in Shanghai and we said our goodbyes and made sure that he visited me in San Francisco so that I could reciprocate the hospitality. Anyway for those folks who don’t know, Maglev is the magnetic train which runs from the airport to just outside of Shanghai downtown. It is a must to experience when visiting Shanghai. There are only two magnetic trains that run commercially in the world one in Germany and one here in Shanghai. There are now plans to have one run between Shanghai to Beijing, hopefully that will be completed before the Olympics in China. Coming back to my train, it takes literally 7 min’s at top speed of 431 KM/h to get to the airport. I mean we are so used to flying in planes at that speed, but actually sitting in a train and looking outside at such high speed is an experience on its own. I glad that I took the train, though I was the only one in First Class. I made a good movie clip and as soon as I figure out how to upload it on this blog I will add it.

After quick check in I waited for my flight to Hong Kong which was delayed due the bad weather in Shanghai. As soon as I reached the airport it started to pour as the thunderstorm which was predicted for the day had finally arrived. It was a short flight to Hong Kong on Dragon Air, as this was the only sector that I had to purchase outside Star Alliance, as none of the carrier’s fly directly from Shanghai to Hong Kong. I opted to sleep on the flight rather then to watch Joey and other sitcoms. As this was my first time to Hong Kong, I wanted to be awake to see the skyline as we descended into the city. Having seen many times in movies how challenging it is to land in Hong Kong over the sky skrappers I was looking forward to the experience. To much disappointment I did not get such an experience cause as we landed in Hong Kong all I saw was open land and clear views, I quickly checked with the person sitting next to me on what happened to the Sky Scrappers. He laughed and told me that was the old airport which was closed about 4 years ago when the new airport opened. Oh well you learn something new everyday.

Chinese people from the mainland don’t really respect any laws as they land in Hong Kong and the first taste of that experience was when most of these guys were standing in the immigration line. I mean they were shouting loudly just because the lines were too long. Maybe it was an isolated incident that is what I thought initially till one of the passengers told me that he see’s this quite often. Apparently no one from airport security came to stop them at all and they eventually shut up when the lines did not move any faster. I did not have an experience with the immigration officer as I did in Shanghai and he gladly stamped the page that I told him which had space on it. The best thing about Hong Kong airport is there is a great train service which takes you right into either Kwoloon or Hong Kong Island and from there a shuttle bus drops you to your airport. It took about 20 min to get to the Kwoloon Island and from there a quick shuttle ride to my hotel. I stayed at Marriott Kwoloon (New World), which was quite centrally located in the shopping district and only 10 min ride on the Ferry from Hong Kong Island. After quick check in and shower I called the tailor’s (Ashok Narwani) to see if he could make some suits for me while I was in Hong Kong. He came highly recommended by Mary Lou and her friends in Japan. With my appointment set for the morning I made my way down to the concierge and asked him about the tours and stuff to do around in Hong Kong. He suggested visiting The Peak and checking out the laser show at the harbor for the evening, as all other things required more time and they were better seen in sunlight. So with information I was off to the harbor. It was very sticky outside, I mean the temperature was bearable but the humidity was just out of the world and especially being next to the water you felt it a lot more. I just made it in time to the place to catch the ferry, when the laser show across from the Honk Kong and Kwoloon Island started. It is a sight to watch at night for folks on both side to view the spectacular show. The sky scrapers come alive at night and it was something I had seen for the first time. After spending some time on Kwoloon side enjoying the show I decided to get on the ferry and experience the rest from the water. Once on the Hong Kong Island it was quick bus ride to the Tram station to go the peak. This tram has been running over 100 years taking folks on the island to the peak and surrounding areas. The ride on the tram takes a few minutes but you really feel the pressure on the tram as you go up to the highest point in Hong Kong. Once on the top I was really curious to know why it was such a big deal to come up here and was worth it? Man!! as you can see from the picture in the slide show it was just breathtaking and it was such a lovely night that you really got a great view of the Island from up here. Your regular digital camera’s don’t do the job here, so I opted to get a picture taken with one of the professionals up there who had power lenses and flash to do justice to the photo. The half an hour was spent walking around at the peak and visiting the temple over there.

It was almost 11 pm and I decided to make my way back to the hotel and call it a night, as I was going to spend watching the game between France vs. Spain later on in the morning, plus the tailor was going to come to size me for my suits.

Jun 26 - In and around Shanghai

When I woke up today my body was still aching. I could not figure out why? Was it the bed or the massage I had last night, considering that it was supposed to help me rather than to give me body ache’s. Nothing that a hot shower could not fix, I jumped in and came out refreshed and ready for Wei to pick me up. He was a bit delayed as his daughter had been running a fever and he had to go to the hospital to get her checked out. Thankfully it was nothing too serious, just had a mild infection.

When Wei arrived we took a taxi to go towards The Bund for exploring that area and ride in on the river to that I could get a good view of both sides. Man it was bloody hot today, I mean it must be close to around 90 F with close to 110 % humidity. You could literally see the humidity in the air as shown in the pictures in my slide show. It was great to be with Wei, as having spent quite a bit of time in US and grown up in Shanghai he was the best person to be around to get a view of the city and culture.  Anyway we decided to skip the walk on the Bund and jumped on the boat for a cruise which took us all the way down to the port area and got great view of the high rises along the way in Pudong. It also was a great way to be able to see the new and old at the same time, a city which has been constantly changing for the last 10 years, and with Expo coming to city there is more development planned. As matter of fact they are relocating the entire port area to a new place outside the city.

After the boat ride we walked the BUND and along the way where appropriate took pictures where ever there was a photo opportunity. Our stroll took us through people square and French Concession area. While in there we came across another watch seller. This time around I had come prepared from home with a picture of a Bentley Bretling watch. Wei told me just wait till you show the picture, they all will say they have the watch even before the actually fully see the picture. Guess what? He was spot on!! I mean this guy must have looked at the picture for less then 5 sec and he said he has many like those and asked to follow him to the supplier’s shop which was couple of yards away. Walking through really dodgy allies, we ended up at a door at which there was knock in signal and we were let in. It was amazing to see the inside of the shop with rows of watches and purses laid against the wall nicely and cool air blowing from the AC. Not what you would expect when you see the outside. Turns out they had loads of fake Bretling watches but not the one that I wanted. Well our hunt did not stop there, the guy who had brought us from the street insisted that there were other shops around where we could get the watch and walked us to two other places, before I finally said to him look at the picture closely and go see if you have this watch if not we are leaving. He took my piece of paper and returned back after 5 min, having been to 4-5 other places by himself to tell me, we don’t have it.

Having not secured my fake Bretling, we walked towards the planning museum, a must place to visit when in Shanghai. This place is a piece of art as it has the whole city of Shanghai in a miniature model with the utmost detail that one can imagine. It also shows the future expansion of the city and the proposed new airport. Once we were done there, it was almost time to head back to Dave’s Tailor to go for my first fitting for my custom suit. Having reached there a bit earlier then what they were expecting us, Wei and I chatted a bit about the history of china and why the people in China accept communism vs. democracy. I can’t get in details about it as I could write a whole entry on it, so I am going to skip our chat :-). Turn’s out that my first fitting was not exactly as it was supposed to be and there were too many adjustments they had to make, so they requested me to come back again for a second fitting in the evening. I was getting a bit concerned on how could they have been so off and was doubting that they could do a good job, but I was given assurances, that all will be well when I come back in the evening.

From there we walked to Xiang Yang market for a last ditch effort to see if I could find my fake Bretling. Our efforts there again did not yield me any results, though I was able to pick up some much needed ankle sports socks. By now both Wei were really getting hungry as we both had skipped lunch and it was almost also time to go for a second fitting for my suit, which went very well and I walked out of the place satisfied. The place Johan had chosen for dinner was Ugihur restaurant (Shinjin place). The food there was just out of the world and we had great music and company. Got to see the traditional dance & enjoy the food, what else could I ask for now? Having heard me complain about my massage from last night, Ying had arranged another massage for me, Johan and herself at Dragon Fly. This time it was the head and foot massage, where two people work on you at the same time. Oh man let me tell you it was amazing, I fell asleep during the massage and Ying tells me that I was snoring away…it was that good…though at one point I did feel as if my feet were on fire (I was told later, they were wrapped in hot towel). I had a full day and by the time I got home I crashed immediately, as I needed to get up early to catch a flight to Hong Kong. The time spent in Shanghai had flown by so quickly that I already am thinking of coming back here again. No wonder Shak misses it so much :-)

Jun 25 - First Day in Shanghai

Even after a late dinner I woke up pretty hungry. I just have no idea I have been eating a lot on this trip. My goal was that I would be able to lose weight considering all the walking I would be doing, but it feels like either I am the same weight or must have gained a few pounds. Oh I am sure those will shed away as soon as I do running around my kids, whom I missing a lot since the call last night. My son for the first time said a full sentence and that was pretty amazing. Humera tell’s me Zaina on the other hand has been missing me a lot and has been throwing tantrums at everyone, hopefully I will be able to be back with them soon.

Surprise surprise it was very hot and humid in Shanghai, I don’t think I am going to switch the AC off in my room at all, sorry Shak, probably will rack up the electric bill. I am sure Tanweer can tell you stories about me and my AC :-). Johan was still asleep guess he was still pretty tired from last night. He finally woke up around 1:00 pm. By then I was all showered and ready to head out and we decided to start my day by visiting Shanghai Old Town and the temple there. There was a famous restaurant around the temple known for their Crab dumplings and that would be our stop for lunch.  Once we reached old town it was buzzing with tourists and being a Sunday, Johan advised that I wait till Monday to do any shopping as the price drops when there are no tourists around. So after a quick photo shoot around the temple we made our way to the restaurant, which amazingly had 4 floors or levels to eat. Johan’s friend Mary Lou joined us for lunch here. What was so interesting about this place was that person on the ground floor got the same crab dumplings but he paid a surcharge of 8 RMB to stand in line and buy food, where as we sat on the 4th floor in AC and served by waiters the surcharge was 60 RMB per person, so basically they catered at all levels. The food I must say was pretty amazing, from the crab dumplings, to the shrimp patties and the crab ovaries soup (I was hesitant to try it first….) but it was delicious.

One cannot be in Asia and not get some custom suits made, so we headed to Dave’s. This guy apparently had spent time making suits in England and claims to have made some for the royal family, at least on the poster in his shop. I was just thinking what a time to come for sizing after having a great meal. So after a quick sizing, they asked me to come for a try for my suit the next day, within 24 hrs, and that was just for a try, the suit would be mailed to me in US, before I got back.  From there we made our way to Xinag Yang market (fake galore). Wow!!! I mean you name it and you get it here, from Bretling & Rolex watches, to Adidas & Nike clothing and all sorts of back packs and you name it…all there. This place is shutting down at the end of the month, so it was CROWDED. Full of tourists and locals shopping to till their hearts were content and pockets empty (literally as well, you got be very careful of pick pocketers…). I decided to have some fun here, the best way to get a unit price of a watch is to ask to buy in bulk. So we started with this guy who was trying to sell us watch on the street, but they don’t actually carry them. The idea is to get your interest and then walk to you a small shop where they hold their watches. Anyway having agreed to walk with them he asked me how many did I need and I told him 20,000 (yeah….lol). His eyes almost popped out….and he was like “you joke me”….and with a serious face I said, no, I want to see one for quality and unit price and then we can do a deal.  Well after much negotiation I was able to bring him down to 80 RMB vs. 300 RMB from where he started.  Now how do I get out of this….anyway so I asked for a watch and started to muck around on the quality issue and wasable to wiggle myself out of his shop, he came running after me and you can see a picture of him and his partner in the slide show :-).

Well it started to rain (monsoon season…) so Johan and I decided to take a taxi and go to the DVD/CD shop to pick up some movies from there, but that was not before we stopped while walking out to get a gym bag for him and we picked up some Adidas shorts …(these look real..trust me…). Having slept through Divinci Code (saw it the day after moving back from Ireland…) the first time. So I picked up the DVD hoping to watch it in one of the flights. Pretty beat, we decided to make it back to the apartment to chill for a while and made plans for the night to go for dinner to “Thousand and One Nights” and then to end the day with some massage at “Dragon Fly”.

Without any idea on what to expect at the dinner, I was really impressed with whole atmosphere and was also surprised to see “Chinese Belly Dancers’’ yeah you read that correctly. I mean I have seen Belly Dancers at many restaurants around the world, but not had seen a Chinese one, well I guess I have that check marked now. Ah….the food was just delicious nice juicy kebabs and lamp chops…hmmmm and excellent company.

After dinner Ying, Johan and I headed to Dragon Fly, where we all had massages. If you can only come to China and do one thing, then it is to get a massage done everyday. It is cheap and really good. I opted for an Oil massage, but I don’t think I would do it again, as I felt in the hr that I paid for, the lady spent more time taking off the oil then actually applying it.

It was almost midnight when we got back to the apartment and it was time for England vs. Ecuador. I think I crashed on the couch after I saw Beckham score on a beautiful curl on a free kick. I was told later I did not miss much as that was the final score of the match. It had been a long day and I was really looking forward to see what was in store for me on Monday.

Jun 24 - Birthday in Shanghai

I knew I had landed in China when my interaction with the immigration officer ended up in a slight tussle even before I had cleared immigration.  Well turns out that I have nearly no page left in my passport to stamp anywhere so the immigration officer decides to stamp my passport on a clean empty page (page reserved for amendments/endorsements) even when I kept saying to him don’t do stamp that page and he looked at me with a blank look and stamped the passport (kinda like dude watch me do it)…..Oh you have no idea how I controlled myself and just decided to walk away from the counter cursing (in Punjabi) :-) Oh well when now I go to the passport office to get new pages guess I have some explaining to do there.

Rain and Johan (Shak’s roomy) greeted me at Shanghai airport. We hopped on Wei’s (Shaks’s buddy) car and we were on our way to the bachelor pad. On the way Johan gave me present for my birthday, book on living in Shanghai (which I left there for him to mail me :-), he told me that it was birthday of a good friend Ying Shin tonight as well and if I was up to it I could join them.  After a quick shower and change of clothes Johan and I were on our way to Pier ? (a new place in town). On the way I saw something I had not seen in ages, VW Santana 2000, I thought these cars were long dead, guess not as it is the main taxi in Shanghai and still co-produced by China and VW till this day.  As we sat in the taxi I heard for the first time a white guy speak Chinese and trust me the words coming out of his mouth all sounded the same “Chiefo Shant tay lou” I mean no matter how he said it and whatever accent didn’t matter cause just like me the taxi driver did not get it either….lol…. Well after saying it several times the driver finally caught on what Johan was trying to say and took us to the Pier (Johan told me, he has to try several times in different ways and when the drivers finally get it they are like I know where that place is why didn’t you say that before). Anyway before I forget those folks who plan to visit Shanghai anytime soon here are some good tips written by a good friend of mine Shak…..

We arrived at Pier and went upstairs to the top to get a view of the city and wait for Ying and her friends to arrive. In the mean time caught the Germany vs. Sweden game for a bit and just like that Germany scored two goals and caught completely derailed Sweden from their game. By the way the place was pretty dead, so we made our way downstairs to get some refreshments and meet up with the others getting together for Ying’s party. I met up with 15-20 odd folks in the next half an hour and trust me nearly all of them were commercial real estate agents. I mean the market is so hot in Shanghai seems like that is where the money is and that is what folks want to do. I also met up with birthday girl Ying and she was pleasantly surprised to find out that is was my birthday as well and we really hit it off from the word go. I guess us fellow cancerian’s know how to get along very well. After a while when thing did not pick up at the Pier, it was suggested that we head towards Bar Rouge. Now I had heard stories from Shak about this place, I mean this is a very exclusive place of where folks what to be seen, kinda like want to be present to be part of the “IN”crowd.

Once we got there I knew immediately why Shak used to rave about this place. It was situated right across the “BUND” and you got a beautiful view of the river, pearl TV tower and other buildings in Shanghai. The next several hours here pretty loud and engaging :-) Had some interesting conversations and one by one started to see people disappear (now you all know where….u are smart folks!!). I think around 3 am, Johan and I decided to leave the place to get a grab a bite to eat and we made our way a nice Turkish place. The kebab’s here really hit the spot and when we finally got back to apartment it was almost 4:30 am. Time to go out and explore Shanghai, well that was not to be, Johan suggested we leave around noon and make our way to Old Town.

Pretty beat up I was ready to crash, but not before I got a call from Zaina, Zaid and Humera to wish me Happy Birthday and then it was lights out and sweet dreams…Wow if this is how the time was going to be in Shanghai, I was definitely not going to be able to blog at all :-)

Jun 24 - In and around Tokyo & enroute to Shanghai

Wow…it’s already June 24th, time has really flown by very quickly. Oh yeah !! I have turned 33 today, so I guess Happy Birthday to me. I guess I will be celebrating my birthday in Tokyo and Shanghai, pretty cool huh? Considering I only had half a day in Tokyo left I decided to have an early day, so I got up around 6:30 am and decided to hit the Gym. After picking up my Gym pass from the lobby I was on my way. Half way through I looked at the pass and on it said on sat the gym opened at 10:00 am, so with that plan shot down, I ran around the block before heading back to the hotel for some breakfast. Ichiro was going to meet me at 11:30, so I had time to catch up on some of my blog’s. While writing my wife called and asked me had I been making huge purchases on our Visa card, as the card been blocked for security reasons. Called Visa to find out that there are been 3-4 purchase attempts been made with incorrect expiration date from London to Utah and Texas. I guess somehow the card # was stolen, so I cancelled my card and hoped the rest of the trip I wouldn’t have to use my Visa.

Having taken care of this small matter, I awaited Ichiro’s arrival. I guess Japanese standard time is similar to Pakistani :-), Ichiro had a long night and did not go to bed till 3:00 am (his excuse, I bet he was sitting and downloading stuff from the net….turns out he is a semi-hacker as well, when he’s not working at SONY). Once he arrived, Ichiro and I started the hunt for the magnets and post cards. We first went to the Aoyama, which is quite a modern shopping district full of brand name designer shops. Here they also have the original KITTY store, which a must to stop by to pick up something for the kids (especially girls).  I was quite surprised to see the amount of teenagers in this store buying stuff, now I know why Rika on her every trip back from Japan always used to talk about KITTY and bring some kind of small new toy back for herself, she is truly a young at heart :-)

With now luck in finding the magnet or postcards, Ichiro told me that he knew of one other place we could try, but first we were going to head towards Yoyogi Vehara, where the biggest Mosque in Tokyo was located. I had mentioned to Ichiro last night that I would like to go to see the mosque and he came through with research and location.  This is mosque is maintained by the Turkish government and was renovated recently (2002). It was built in 1938 and since then has been a icon for Islamic architecture in Tokyo. After reading Zuhr at the mosque I went down to see the library and the community hall and guess what I found over there….Post cards, the perfect one’s from Tokyo. I was really glad we made a stop there. As time was running out we made our way from the mosque to Shibuya once again to see if I could find some magnets. No such luck and I guess I was going to leave Tokyo without any magnets. As it was almost time for me to make my way to the airport to head to shanghai we headed back to my hotel to take the shuttle bus to Narita. I said my thanks and goodbye to Ichiro and promised him to not write about how he was not on time and what a great GPS system he has on his mobile phone :-).

After quick check-in at Narita, I started to stroll in the Duty Free area, thinking maybe I might be able to find a magnet there. With having given up hope of finding one, I made my way to the ANA lounge and on my way there could not believe my eyes when a small shop happened to have tourist magnets. I was thrilled, after all one should never lose hope.

The flight to Shanghai was a bumpy one, but was made pleasant by watching Glory Road and the excellent service by ANA.  Upon arrival in Shanghai we were greeted with a thunderstorm and I was finally beginning to think that I must be carrying some bad luck with me, cause the rain seems to be following me around. Oh well, I was going to make the best of it and was not going to let it ruin my birthday in shanghai. After all Shak had promised me a great time in Shanghai and I was looking forward to it.

Jun 23 - First Day in Tokyo

Having slept really well, I got up quite early to watch some of the world cup games, I was hoping that US would beat Ghana and make it to the next round, as Italy had taken care of business for them, but that was not to be as the Black Stars were way to quick for them. The game between Australia vs. Czech was amazing and I ended up watching that rather than to see Brazil really drub Japan. After the games it was quick shower and down to the concierge to plan my day. She suggested the Dynamic Tokyo, which basically covered most of the stuff and was for the whole day. I hopped on a taxi from the hotel to head to the Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal and I was on my way exploring Tokyo.

First stop of the day was the Tokyo Tower from where you can get some really nice panoramic views of the city, on a clear day you can even see Mt. Fuji, no I didn’t have such luck it was overcast all I captured was a picture of the direction of Mt. Fuji. From there we headed to for a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony at the “Happo-en” Japanese Garden. This was really an interesting experience as there is so much finesse in whole ceremony.  As most of you know I don’t drink any type of Tea ( or coffee, mocha, latté and the cousins in that family…), I ended up sitting (without knowing) on the seat which happened to be the head of ceremony (guest of honor). This I did not know till, the tea was made and the lady headed my way with big bowl of Green Tea, and they really want you take big sip and make slurping sound. Well thinking very quickly I said, how can I have tea, which a such beautiful lady sitting next to me (Ellen from New York….68 years), it would be my honor if she took the first bowl….whew…I had really dogged a big one here, well after Ellen had drank the first bowl, we were all given bowls of tea and I someone managed to slip out without taking a sip :-).  From the gardens we made our way to for our lunch at “Ghinzan-so” garden restaurant for some nice Teriyaki (Vegetarian for me….there was no fish unfortunately). After lunch it was quick stroll through the garden to look at some of the Bonsai Trees and Three Story pagoda which amazingly was built without using a single nail, as you can see in the picture behind me.

The next 30 min’s were driving through different parts of the city from the National Diet Building to the Japanese Parliament, before we ended up at Imperial Palace. This is also a great time to tell you a bit about our tour guide. This is the funniest Japanese I have ever come across and I have met a few over the years.I guess he gets to practice his jokes on a daily basis with all the tours of the city. He totally made the trip a lot of fun and interesting. Anyway having reached the palace I availed the quick photo opportunity at the palace before we headed to the Sumida River Cruise which was eventually going to take us to Asakusa Kannon Temple. As I sat on the boat for the cruise the sun finally was making it’s way through the overcast skies and timing could not have been perfect to enjoy the boat ride. Sumida River Cruise’s main highlight was the 13 different bridges the boat passes under before reaching Kaminarimon the main gate to the temple. Making my way through the main gate one cannot miss the Nakamise Shopping Arcade which is along the way to the main temple hall. Here one can buy souvenir’s and other stuff, so I decided to look for the fridge magnets that I have been picking up on the way from the other cities. To my amazement I could not find a single shop in the whole Arcade with magnets, so I figured maybe I did not look hard enough so I went a second time around to look for them, nope no luck again. Having given up hope finding any magnets I made way to the main temple. The first thing that strikes one at entrance is Incense Burner. This is constantly surrounded by people wafting the smoke over them to keep them healthy. Making sure I followed the tradition of the visitors at the temple, I took some smoke over my freshly shaved head and wished that I could grow my hair back :-). After spending the next hour in and around the area, I eventually made it back to my bus where, before driving to my hotel in Ginza we stopped at the Hanazono Shrine, where it was quick in and out of the temple.

It was almost 5:30 and Ichiro was going to meet my hotel at 6:00 pm for dinner, so I got dropped off at my hotel rather then to make it with tour to the Ginza shopping district. Met Ichiro in the lobby and we took the subway to our restaurant “Sorano-Niwa” a traditional Japanese Tofu place. Yes Tofu!!, much to Ichiro's delight, he was so glad that I ate Tofu, as Rika had told him I was vegetarian (go figure that…she has only known me since 1998 :-), as he did not like vegetables just like me. After a dinner Ichiro took me to Shibuya, an essential place to visit in Tokyo. This place is just electric and Friday night in this area really crazy. Mostly this area is a hang-out for teenagers. The place is full of different stores, bars, clubs and places to eat. Having found out that Ichiro had never had Haagen-Dazz’s Beligan Choclate ever before, we headed to give him his first experience. Having indulged in some nice ice cream, I asked Ichiro if he could help me find some magnets and postcards, can you believe it we went around in the whole area and I could not find a single place with magnets or post cards. I see a great business opportunity here sell some magnets in Tokyo :-) Ichiro you up for it? Exhausted from our unsuccessful search we decided to call it a night and headed to my hotel on the subway. Reaching our stop, Ichiro forgot the way to our hotel so he said no worries, I have GPS on my phone, let me punch in the address and we will be there in no time. Please note from the time he entered the address in his phone to time we got our hotel it was good 45 min, and in the end we were no more than 10 min’s walk away. I blame the delay on user error….not on the service on the phone. It had been a long day and we decided to meet up in the morning for some more sight seeing and maybe to find those magnets.

Jun 22 - Konichiwa from Tokyo!!

So after a very long flight from Auckland I have finally made it to Tokyo. Even with all the comforts of having great service on board and not having to change diapers on the flight, one still does get tired. Anyway making my way out to of the plane, I immediately felt the change in weather, I was finally back in a summer zone, having experienced my first winter in June, this was feeling much normal, nice humid and muggy.  

P R O F I C I E N T…..yes I purposely put it that way!!. My first 5 min’s in Tokyo and I knew I was going to have a good time here, from the airport staff that greeted as we boarded of the plane, through immigration and finally getting my shuttle ticket to my hotel, it was really smooth sailing. Efficiency, friendliness and pride in what the folks do at the airport to give first impression about the place, I must say was PERFECTO!!!. I have never felt so welcomed at a new place as I did in Tokyo. By the way if you don’t know already, Narita airport is around 45 KM outside Tokyo city, so don’t be booking any hotels in Narita, cause else you would be daily be shuttling between the two places. My hotel Renaissance Tokyo Hotel Ginza Tobu, was situated right in the heart of the modern Ginza shopping area and it took us about an hr to get to my hotel. The weather was overcast, but it was nice change from the last 6 days to see the sun go down later then 5:30 pm.

Check-in was pretty quickly and after a quick shower, I went out for stroll in the Ginza area. Man this felt like I was at Valley Fair Mall. Huge Department stores and filled with folks to spend their Yen. After a quick Milkshake from Hagen Dazz, I made my way back to the hotel. As I sat down and started to flip through the TV channels, to my surprise everything was in Japanese :-) (duhhhhh…what else would it be….). Now with that settled I decided to take advantage of the in room Japanese massage. I called the front desk and 10 min later there was someone in my room to give a 45 min Japanese massage. The lady must be 4 feet tall about late 40’s and I am asking myself (Naveed you ain’t getting a Swedish babe here…) I was also thinking I wonder if she can really give a massage, anyway within the first 2 min I knew I should have not doubted here, cause she started to squeeze living day lights out of my shoulder and neck muscles… and I was thinking what have I walked into….there are still 43 min’s to go. So having squeezed the hell out of my shoulder she finally started to give a good shoulder massage. The poor lady did have a hard time, cause 25 min into it, she had to take a break and rest…(she goes to me ‘’’You American big guy…..I need to rest). Well she finally finished and left my room and I was ready to go to bed, but not before my friend Rika came through big time. Her friends, boyfriend (Ichiro) who lives in Tokyo called me and we set up time for dinner for the next day. I knew then I was going to get some good guidance here, someone who really knows Tokyo…cool….Lights out and I was knocked out within a few min.

Jun 22 - Goodbye Auckland & enroute to Tokyo

Having arrived in Auckland around 11:00 pm from Sydney, I realized that I had to be back to airport in the next 5 hrs again, this was finally getting a bit monotonous (airport check-in, security lines, collect bag blah blah blah……). I packed whatever I needed to and we left for the airport around 5:15 am from home, as Neeraj had a meeting that he had to be at 6:00 am. 

I want to take a few a lines to really thank my friends in Auckland (Neeraj and Trish). I mean they were really great, to really adjust their schedules around me to take me around, drop and pick me up and just be a lot of fun to be around. Neha and Nikhil reminded me of my two little munchkins (Zaina & Zaid) at home. I really had a great time with them in Auckland and I don’t think I would have covered as much of Auckland had they had not been there. So Neeraj, Neha, Trish and Nikhil --- THANK YOU!!!! (Trish I really want that Lamb curry again…it was awesome)

Anyway back to the airport, being a Star Alliance Gold member really has it’s perks, because so far I have not had to stand in the long security lines at any of the airports, I have breezed through security lines and have had access to the VIP lounges (free food ……lol). Not having had enough sleep and $40 odd NZ and $20 odd AUS dollars to spend somewhere I saw a sign of Massage here sign, so my options were, I can spend time sitting in the lounge and watch World Cup match or get a nice massage to make my 11 hr journey to Tokyo more pleasant. Any guesses what I opted for?

Having boarded the plane we got our breakfast and I started to read my Eyewitness Guide on Japan and things to do in Tokyo and surrounding area. Picking up some tips in the book I started my movie marathon of King Kong, Match Point and The New World. Having gone through all these I still had 3 hrs to go before landing in Tokyo so I took a nap to finally be asked to bring my seat back to the upright position to land in Tokyo.

PS... If you didn't guess I opted for nice back and shoulder (oil) massage :-)

Jun 21 - In and around Sydney

The day started quite early in the morning for me, I could not sleep in anticipation of the much awaited game between England vs. Sweden, so I started to flip through the TV channels and to my delight they were showing Sri Lanka vs. England cricket match. Forget football, I got live cricket. What a day for Sri Lanka, they hammered England to a mammoth total of 320 and then took care of business when they bowled. So maybe the football game was going to be as good and England would not finish on top of their group and would have to face Germany, but looks like lady luck has been with England this world cup, they drew with Sweden and have again have avoided to a play a team which would show how lucky they are to be in the round of 16. Owen was a loss for England, but he was shadow of himself this world cup anyway.  OK, enough about sports, I had a packed day in front of me and there was a lot to cover.

Hoping to get the same kind of weather as the day before, I checked out around 8:30 am from the hotel, in the lobby I looked at the weather on the TV for the day that said showers for most of the day, but when I looked outside it was just a bit overcast and I said to myself could it be that the weather men in Sydney like in Pakistan? Where when they tell you it will rain, the sun shines and when they say it will be dry we get a lighting storm :-). Either way it was not going to stop me of proceeding with my day. Grabbed my $5 muffin ($AUS) from the harbor and my ticket for Sydney Explorer tour. There were another tour toward Bondi beach, but with the weather predicted I opted to stay with the sights in the city, plus I had already been to Manly Beach last night and that was amazing, so my checklist to cover a beach in Sydney was already done :-) Sydney Explorer was like any other hop and off buses, where you get off on any place you and get back on when you feel.  Well first stop was Sydney Opera house, because I was staying at Harbor I had already walked from my hotel to the Sydney Opera House steps and back so I opted to stay back on the bus, but when the stop for the Royal Botanic Gardens came I opted to hop off the bus, just I was getting off I asked the driver when the next bus would come and he told me every 20 min and he said good luck I hope it does not rain and I just smiled at him. Well walking through the gardens was very nice till I came to a point for this breath taking view of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge, I did not waste time to get a shot taken. As I was enjoying the view I felt a few drops come down, being bald has it’s advantages and disadvantages (perfect target for bird poop :-) within a few seconds it started to come down hard and like they say in Ireland “it was lashing” , I could not an area in the garden where I can save myself from getting wet. At that point I put my hood on my head and stood under a tree and took a picture of myself to weather the storm. This must have been the longest 20 min I waited for the tour bus to come.

To my delight I saw the Explorer head my way and I hopped on and guess what the rest of the day stayed on and did the 2 hrs tour. The tour was pretty good and covered most of the places I would not have been able to cover on foot. The tour took me through to various places (Aquarium, ChinaTown, Darling Harbor and Harbor Bridge etc). As I got off to my last stop at the Sydney Cove, I realized it was almost time to head for my Sydney Cricket Ground tour. So I took a taxi from there to SCG. I got there just in time for the tour to start and it turned out there was another crazy guy like me there for the tour, all the way from Singapore. The next two hours were spent going to Aussie Stadium (spent 20 min) and rest of it at SCG. The ground sure does have a lot of history to offer and we were lucky enough to get a good guide (Raj) who took us through places where generally the big tour groups were not taken, I mean he took us through the dressing room and told us some stories on how Hayden broke the door of their pavilion while coming back from getting out to a bad decision to how Langer broke his bat in the dressing room.  It was great to be there. I have made it to two of the five cricket grounds I wanted to visit on my trip (Hong Kong, Singapore and Johannesburg left). Having finished the tour I realized I still had some time to kill so I took a taxi from SCG back to Darling Harbor area where took a ride on the Air Train which took me around the area and I had lunch at the official American Embassy (McDonalds). Time flew walking through the Harbor area once I had lunch and I realized it was time to head back to the airport to catch my flight back to Auckland, so made my way back by hopping back on the Explorer Bus to my hotel to pick my bag pack and make my way to the airport. Two days was not enough in Sydney and I want to come back again, there is a lot more this city has to offer and I hope to be back here sometime in month of Dec (who knot’s which year :-).

The flight back to Auckland was pretty smooth and I finally caught a nap on the plane but in between also managed to watch Failure to Launch. All in all, this is the best I could do in two days, but I leave a satisfied man.

Jun 20 - G'Day Mate from Sydney

Sydney here I come!!! As I look at my itinerary I still can’t realize why I only decided to spend one night in Sydney, my mistake I should have realized this earlier but can’t do much about it, so I'm going to make the best of what I can in the next 1.5 in Sydney. But before we head there, I do want to let everyone know I still have been following the World Cup and did manage to sit  and watch the game between Spain and Tunisia at the airport, saw Tunisia headed towards an upset but a single goal was not going to win the game.Finally the Spaniards came to their senses and eventually won it 3-1.

Now that is out of my system lets get going to Sydney. It was gorgeous day in Auckland clear blue skies and just the right weather to be staying back, but I was headed to Sydney.  Anyway the flight time to Sydney was around 3:20 min from Auckland and it was smooth ride over. I watched Eight Below (had no other choice) on the plane, it was Okaaaay. Got in around 10:30 am in Sydney and the fact that I did not have any luggage was a blessing so whizzed through immigration and security to come outside to a very warm Sydney. I had totake my jacket off immediately as it was quite warm. Here I waited for the shuttle bus to take to me to my hotel, Marriott Sydney Harbor and I am glad I choose this place as it was right smack on the harbor and downtown so there were a lot of things I could cover by foot. With the rest of day ahead of me, I made quick stop down at concierge and asked him on what I should be doing based on the time I was spending in Sydney.  He suggested the Harbor Ferry Tour which would cover most of things Sydney Harbor, Harbor Bridge, Opera House and Darling Harbor. Excited about covering all those I hopped on the next Ferry that left and was well on my way exploring the Harbor area. Man, you cannot justify the beauty of this place in pictures and it is worth seeing it in person it is truly amazing. The Sydney Opera House does stand as the major Icon for the city and now I was here, I had finally made it.

After about a 20 min ferry ride to Darling Harbor, I got off and walked through the Chinese Garden of Friendship and had fish n chips at Doyle’s. There found a lot of folks talking about Whale watching, having never done that before I said, why not and headed to Whale Watching (did not realize it was going to be 2 hrs, always ASK!!!). I guess I could have spent more time exploring other areas as well, but really this one shot I took was truly made the whole trip worth it. It’s in the slide show on the left. The next 2 hrs were spent seeing about 15 whales (mostly Humpbacks), if you have not done this it is certainly worth doing it at least once.

As the sun started to set we headed back to the Harbor, I wanted to make sure I at least got some shots at the Harbor, so I asked this lady on the boat to take some pictures. Man did she suck!!! I have to go back tomorrow to get some shots with sun being in front of me instead of behind me.  I found a nice Kebab shop near the hotel and grabbed a nice bite to eat there before heading to Manly Cove on a quick ferry ride from the Harbor.

This place is truly amazing and was buzzing with life and tourists. After a quick stop at Blue Water I made it to the beach, the sound of the waves was very soothing and I almost fell asleep at Manly Beach. Well at that point I knew I had to gather strength and make it back to my hotel as I had a long day ahead of me and was going to get up to watch Sweden vs England.

Jun 19 - Glow Worm Caves & Rotoura

The day really started early as I had to leave the house to catch my bus to leave for Waitomo Caves and Rotoura around 7:00 am. Well I get there and they tell me that I am the only one who has booked a tour with them today, but not to worry their sister company has an upgraded tour which takes us to a farm to see sheep shearing at a farm called Agrodome near Rotoura as well as the other two places and has meals airplane style on board the bus. Happy with the free upgrade I sat in the bus to begin our 3 hrs journey through the country land outside Auckland. My luck of good weather had finally ran out and it was bitterly cold, yes I said COLD, all of you who have known me over the years that I never say I am cold, but trust me from my tushi to my shaved head everything was frozen :-).

First stop was the Waitomo caves. The Waitomo Glowworm Cave was explored in 1887 by local Maori Chief Tane Tinorau accompanied by an English Surveyor Fred Mace. On their raft of flax stems and with candles as their only lighting, they floated into the cave where the stream goes underground. As they entered the caves, their first discovery was the Glowworm with

its myriad of tiny bright lights dotting the cave ceiling. This was an amazing discovery as till today hundreds of visitors like (me) are excited to see such a miracle down under (literally). Unfortunately the cave caught fire last year and most of it’s outside surroundings the café, visitors center and shops were burned down, so the owners since then have not allowed to take any pictures inside the cave or make any video, so my only memories are some postcards that I bought and the picture taken outside (see on the left the slide show). Interestingly enough the caves were very warm, outside temp 6 C inside temp 15 C (all year long), so most of my group were not looking forward to the trip to the farm.

It took us about 1.5 hrs from the caves to get to Argodome Farm, where a sheep was to be sheared for us paid visitors. With rain coming down hard and wind blowing we made our quick round around the farm feeding some sheep, deers and ostriches. Nah I didn’t bother feeding and was very happy sitting in my seat in the tractor buggy. Next was the sheep shearing which was OK, as I was not too excited to see the poor chap lose it’s wool for us in this weather. After a quick pit stop to the shops we were off to the geysers.  For the folks in the US who have visited Yellow Stone Park, Rotoura is similar but on a smaller scale, but what you get here is also history on the Maori culture, which you don’t at Yellow Stone.

So let’s step back in time to learn a bit about the Maoris, before I tell you about my experience at the Geysers. Maoris were the first inhabitants of New Zealand, arriving on the islands in about 1000. Maori oral history maintains that the Maoris came to the island in seven canoes from other parts of Polynesia. They came from Islands of Fiji to all the way from Hawaii. The reason they left on canoes to explore new land was the over population of their islands and inter-fighting among the tribes. All in all there are 11 main tribes of the Maori people, but today in New Zealand there are 92 sub-tribes which eventually are tied with the 11 main tribes. If you like to read more on Maori culture this is a good site.

Now that you know as much as I do, Sally our Maori guide took us around the place and showed how the Maori lived, ate and hunted when they first landed on the island. They like us Asian people loved big families, loads of kids (anywhere from 10-14) per family. They mostly ate fish and fruits, as there were no wild animals on the island till the Dutch and British arrived. Walking through different parts of the park we eventually reached the geysers. Our luck did get better as the rain stopped and we were greeted by erupting geysers (only erupt every 2 hrs), so timing was perfect. If you have never been to a geyser before it smells like rotten eggs (my 10C buddies, it reminded me of all the stink bombs we broke in Mian Aslam’s class in school). I enjoyed sitting on the hot rocks to warm up a bit and just watch the beautiful site. Even though there was some stink around but it all felt warm after the cold day we had experienced. As the sun was setting, we got the signal from our tour guide that we had to head back to Auckland. Boarding the bus I just thought of the day I had and what amazing things lie outside the boundaries we live in. Got to see the most gorgeous sunset on the way back and the bus driver told us that it was going to be a clear day in Auckland the next day. I slept most of the trip back on the bus and arrived at around 7:30 pm in Auckland. Neeraj picked me up and I got home to eat the most amazing lamb curry his wife had cooked. You can’t leave New Zealand without eating the lamb here. Tomorrow I am off to Sydney and hopefully will have good time there as well.

Jun 18 - In and around Auckland

Yeah, I thought about it last night and decided to stay a chicken, I have way too much to cover in next coming weeks then to have a malfunction and lie as plastered fly on the ground going bungee jumping, so I have officially decided to skip my jump. Now that has been settled, Neeraj and Trish had planned a full day for me in and around Auckland.

We started the day by going to One Tree Hill which was landmark in New Zealand for folks to come and see single tree on the hill, till one day an angry man went and chopped down the 125 old tree, since then there has been a debate to plant a new native tree on the hill. Remember U2 had a song “One Tree Hill” well that was written for written to commemorate the death of  their New Zealander band member who died in a motorcycle accident. Once we got on the hill got a spectacular view of the city, but man was it windy, I almost lost my beloved “Goofy” hat on the hill.  As it was in Dublin the weather here in Auckland changes every 5 min, so after getting some great views from the top, we were also greeted with some showers so decided to make our way to Victoria Park Market to pick up some souvenirs (fridge magnets). Can’t have a trip to any city completed till I have added to my collection. From there it was off to my highlight of the trip to “Eden Park” theground where Inzy had a real coming out party in the 1992 World Cup Semi-Final between Pakistan vs. New Zealand. We almost ended there the first night I was here to watch my first live rugby test match between the All Blacks vs. Ireland, but the weather was so miserable that Neeraj and I decided to stay in-doors.

Next stop was a trip to the west coast of New Zealand, towards Arataki. This is one of the national parks in New Zealand which is still left untouched where people can still go and hike and experience the real nature. One interesting thing which I did find out is there are no snakes in New Zealand, so in a way hiking and camping cannot be made much easier for folks. We had our afternoon snack here, before heading back to town and one last stop of the day was the mosque in Auckland, “Masjid Umar” which is conveniently located across all the Halal stores in Auckland. We had a full day, Neeraj’s kids “Neha and Nikhil” were getting tired so we decided to head home. I had a full day and was really happy with coverage I was able to make considering we got some showers along the whole day.

In the evening it was the boyz night out to Nandos (all of them in Auckland are Halal…amazing) and by watching MI3. All in all a great day in Auckalnd, tomorrow I off to Rotorua and glow worm caves, so till then --- Haerera (Goodbye in Maori)

Jun 17 - First Day in Auckland

To my surprise the luggage did come on time and Neeraj and I were able to leave the house pretty quickly to start my day in Auckland. Guess what we were greeted with pouring rain, which came often and hard. The weather here is very much like Dublin where there are brief moments of clear sky, strong wind and then pouring rain.

Anyway first stop was north head beach where we got a good view of the youngest Volcano of Auckland Rangitoto only 800 years old. Funny enough the whole city was formed based on Volcano eruptions ages ago, very beautiful and very scenic. It is also called the city of sails. There are more pleasure boats per capita of in Auckland than any other city in the world.  The day followed out with stop at Davenport  where the sun finally shone brightly for the rest of the day and a brief stop at north head mountain in Davenport where I was able to get a gorgeous view of the city, quite like what we can on the hill in San Francisco behind the golden gate bridge.

Then we were off to the landmark of Auckland, the Sky Tower which is now the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere.  I made it up to the tower to only find out that there are crazy people who like jumping off this tower. Man 630 ft of sheer exhilaration…wow what a rush!! I was too chicken to try it, but I still have two days to think about it.  Who knows you might be reading an entry about it tomorrow, after all I am out for an adventure....... :-)

Jun 16 - Sunrise in Auckland

Got to Neeraj’s place and it was still pretty dark outside. I was hoping to catch the football game between USA vs. Italy, till I realized that wasn’t till the next day (Sunday in New Zealand). After that was settled, Neeraj gave me a tour of his pad and it is an amazing place on top of hill and breath taking view from their balcony (see left in my sun-rise picture). Also got the first taste of a bit of Kiwi culture and history regarding the Silver Fern which is a national symbol for New Zealand, what you see in my picture is how the stem is created and really the birth of a new branch in my friends front yard.

It’s about 9:30 am here and it’s finally stopped pouring, am still waiting for luggage to come before I head to explore the city.

Bum's of Steel ---- 60K all the way baby!!

What fun would it be if there were no flight delay’s, got my first taste of it on the tour, flight was supposed to leave San Francisco for Los Angeles at 6:10 pm, we did not take off till about 7:15 pm. Connecting flight to Auckland was at 9:30 pm and what lied ahead were the joys of going from one terminal to another at LAX. Lovely isn’t it!!

After huffing and puffing my way from Terminal 7 to Terminal 2 in less then 20 min for the flight to depart, I get more wonderful news, they had been announcing my name for upgrade but I did not show up, hence it was given to next person in line.  My charm did not work at all and now was to get the joys for the next 12+ hrs to enjoy my flight in seat 60K. Got glimpse of the Miami vs Dallas game, where it seemed like Miami was in control before I finally boarded the plane.

You know it was not that bad after all, I was pleasantly surprised to see enough leg and hip room for big guy like me to sit quite well through the flight.  Air New Zealand definitely has a better cabin than United. Sat next to a nice couple from Timaru, who were on the way back home after spending 8 weeks in US driving their RV that they bought in LA for around 12,000 miles across the US. Heard some nice stories of their travels and also was amazed to find out that they shipped their RV back to New Zealand, go figure!!. 

With flight well on its way, I watched Firewall and The Matador and then slept most of the flight to my early arrival in Auckland on Sat Jun 17 at 5:15 am.  Whizzing through immigration I waited for my luggage to arrive, till I heard someone from Air New Zealand calling my name and I knew it at the very moment my luggage was not here, sure enough he gave me the news and told me they would deliver to my friend’s place later in the day.

I guess it’s been an exciting start to the trip and I hope my luck gets better as the trip progresses, but before I forget I better stop writing to call American Express to claim my insurance on delayed luggage  :-)