the mode of transit in... BANGKOK

in the middle of september, i made a one-week trip to bangkok for my short summer holidays. the primary aim was to experiment something really energetic and chaotic, and it was super easily achieved. annoying tuktuk driver deceived me, annoying tourist information deceived me, annoying shop keepers deceived me, and i was obviously not ready for that sort of chaos. but besides that, everything was great. even such annoying experience wasnt that bad for me. anyways, there were so many things interested me so i start from the mode of transit (again).

first of all, this city has a great variety of transport modes, such as (annoying) tuktuk, (scary) bike taxi (that i didnt challenge), taxi, boat, bus, metro, and train. it seems that many locals use bus but it was nearly impossible to use if properly for me as i didnt understand the writings. but the system was rather funny. old bus without air-con is cheaper than new bus with air-con. i tried both but the old one was much fun.

tuktuk seemed to be a rather convenient node of transport, but the drivers are just sooooo annoying. the worst thing is that they look actually nice and friendly!!! nways, next time i go to bangkok or any cities with tuktuk culture, i will surely give a hard revenge on them:P

the Chao Phraya river is a big element of the city, and therefore the boat culture seemed well. the boat fair was quite cheap and therefore it seemed to be a daily use of locals. 

and the most modern modes of transport were metro and train network. it seemed that metro was the same package as that in taipei. and the train was really cool. they were like "underground" and "overground" as metro runs underground, and trains run over-ground. both of them were really convenient as the traffic jam is always a headache of bangkok yet it cannot bother them. the biggest problem is, however, its not so convenient to go to either metro or train stations. 

so, in the end, as i was too coward to use bike taxi and hated tuktuk drivers, rivers were not on my way, and either metro/train stations were in walking distance, i had to rely on the use of taxi. i usually dont like taxi, but in this city taxi is the best way to move around. taxi fair is super cheap in this city, and no drivers tried to ripoff from me (the biggest asset)!!! yet it was funny that i had to ask drivers if they could take me to where i wanted to go before i used them, because, according to my friends living there, they dont like traffic jam!!! lol  so probably, many taxi drivers prefer to use trains and metros to their own taxi for their transportation:P  funny contradiction ne!!

back to sweden?! or to ikea

its been 11 months since i left sweden. time flies!!!! sometimes i doubt myself whether i was really living there as i take the life in tokyo for granted and it seems to be super natural to me. but the ikea trip made me realize that i was actually there in sweden, although its kinda obvious.

what gave me the evidence of my life in sweden was this cookies:P i totally forgot about this beautiful snack. my bad. of course i brought them home with me:P

i realized that ikea could be the place where i can feel sweden the most in japan. probably. at least more than H&M for sure.

the mode of transport in Naoshima

ok, this is the last entry of "the mode of transport in ..." series from my business trip. it was rather surprising that i could visit naoshima this easily again only two months after the bullet trip in the end of july, although this time i could see next to nothing. so what i payed attention to was its mode of traffic, which was ferry. 

i wrote that having a tram network is a great asset for a city, yet having a ferry network is superb (from touristy perspectives)!!! and in this area, the price of one ferry ride is super generous unlike a customer-unfriendly ferry company operating between niigata and sado, which always rip off... with this price, it must be easy for islanders to move around the area, and definitely easy for tourists to travel around. 

but there is a huge problem about this ferry network, which is its frequency. if they operate bit more often, i think i could see bit more than just a pumpkin and a public bath...

it was my second business trip to outside tokyo, and i reconfirmed that i wanted to just make a trip, not a business trip, so that i could just enjoy something extraordinary. but at the same time, i really appreciate this sort of opportunity as i could at least glance something different from my ordinary life in tokyo.

the mode of transport in Hiroshima

the biggest characteristics of the mode of transport in Hiroshima is its tram network. i strongly believe that tram is the best urban public transportation system as it provides a city identity and users urban scenery. so i really respect Hiroshima that it has been keeping this great invention. 

one short ride costs only 150yen, which is super generous. yet its service was not necessarily generous. as i didnt have the transportation card for this tram (naturally as i dont live there) so i had to pay with cash. but paying machine was not able to give me 50yen of change, and the driver was frustrated at my behaviour of throwing 200yen to the machine as he had to work something additional...!! ok, it was my fault that i didnt pay a big attention to how to pay, but then this driver should be the one to tell me how i should pay for the ride. but instead of telling me how to, he just saw me in trouble, making mistake and got frustrated at what i did. i didnt get it. from this perspectives, i realize that i like cities with tram network with sophisticated system and drivers/staffs. hiroshima has some way to go in this aspect.

nways, after a short tram ride from the station, i could see the famous atomic bomb dome of hiroshima. this area made me determine that we have to maintain our globe more peacefully not only for all human but also for the all beings.

the mode of transport in Takamatsu

in the end of september, i made a business trip to hiroshima, naoshima and takamatsu. it was quite frustrating as i couldnt look around the cities almost at all (naturally as it was a business trip), yet there was an interesting finding about takamatsu, which was its mode of transport.

in takamatsu, bike lanes were quite well organized and therefore it seemed quite convenient to cycle around the city. comparing tokyo there were much less people and traffic of course, and that also enabled cyclists to cycle around. it was a big surprise to me because i really didnt expect cities of the size of takamatsu could afford to do this.

ok, i wouldnt deny its good development of bike lanes, yet i wouldnt say that i like this sort of bike lanes either as im pretty sure pedestrians would walk on this bike lanes to bother cyclists (as i did without noticing it) and cyclists dont care which direction they would cycle to. so in my opinion, bike lanes should be organized on the edge of traffic roads so that cyclists must follow the flow of traffic and pedestrians wouldnt bother them. plus, some areas provide bike lanes on the traffic road, but as the traffic lights were not yet provided for cyclists, inconvenient pathway was provided. 

nways, although this city has quite good bike lanes in japanese standard, it seemed that the number of cyclists were much more on pedestrian's mall. in this sort of area, bikes shouldnt be allowed in my opinion. 

i hope cyclists would obtain better rights in the cities in this country in the near future, yet in order to make it come true, cyclists should understand how they should cycle in cities. 

shinjuku, discovery of greatness

with my dear friend from seoul, i made a great discovery tour of shinjuku. i always thought that shinjuku was a nasty place to hangout, but as i got a very bad leg at that time and we decided to watch a movie there, we just decided to try to find something interesting. 

to begin with, it was damn hot outside although it was already in september. so the primary plan was to stay inside. we first headed to a cafe called bowls cafe next to shinjuku gyoen. (although it would be better to walk in shinjuku gyoen, it was simply impossible. weve gotta do something about this global warming thing!!! wait, i AM working for that:P) nways, the cafe is quite cozy and popular as it was on books and magazines. ive been there several times but i didnt know that it was a popular destination introduced on books until then, when i discover this cafe on a book i bought just before we went in to the cafe.

afterwards, it became impossible to just stay in, as i had to show around shinjuku to my guest. so we headed to shinjuku golden-gai. during the day time, it was super cozy although nothing was happening. we ended the day in the evening btw.

after we went to watch "the borrowre arrietty" by the studio ghibli, we headed to shinjuku 3chome. there, we had a good butadon, and went to see rakugo at suehirotei. it was my second time to go to rakugo and the first time to be at suehirotei. i realized how great actually it was! every saturday evening, it organizes night shows with four young rakugoka for only 500yen. i think it would be one of good ways to spend a evening of saturday. after rakugo, we headed to golden gai as mentioned earlier, and had a great time at a bar.

i didnt know that shinjuku was this exciting. i always thought its a chaotic place where all annoying people come to do something irritating. but if i try to discover something extraordinary, shinjuku is the place that offers me something beyond my expectation. 

ebisu

in the end of august, i took a day off. the main purpose was to watch a documentary movie "beautiful islands" at yebisu garden cinema (? i dont remember the cinema's name anymore). the movie itself was really interesting but the story telling was not as interesting as i hoped it to be.

n it was almost my first time to stay in ebisu longer than certain hours. so as usual i made a few hours of walk. it started from yebisu garden place. it is famous for its christmas illumination and maybe something more, but during the daytime in august, it was just an ordinary nice luxurious area. it was not as nice as mid town tokyo in roppongi. i think it was renovated from a brewery? not that sure. i dont deny it is a nice place to hang out, but thats it.

but the surrounding areas of yebisu garden place was cool. it seemed there were many cozy cafes and restaurants, good bars and shops. 

i should definitely explore more to acquire deeper understandings about this area. they must have many more to see. 

tokyo is so exciting! coz no matter where u go, ull surely find something new and interesting!!