Having decided on our next destination we bought our tickets from the bus station for Tunxi. This required an underground subway ride but it didn’t take too long. Taikang Road Art Centre has a nice exterior and looks very modern so we decided to take a look inside. They were exhibiting a collection on Luilu glass art which was nice to look at but not that attention grabbing. Across the road is a western style small supermarket and we found ourselves some weetabix for breakfast for the next few days, the small things can make all the difference to the traveling experience, especially when eating them out of a metal thermos flask!

We proceeded to walk around the backstreets of Shanghai and we found Kommune situated at the heart of the Taiping Road Art district is a cafe/restaurant recommended in The Lonely Planet which has some tasty Chinese and western fusion food on offer, it’s a little pricey but the food and setting kind of makes you overlook this a little. In this area there are quite a few photographic galleries, some are very much aimed at the tourist with some nice(ish) images, but nothing that we haven’t seen before and a lot of repetition in imagery, style and so on. However one or two galleries have some really high end work and do manage to stand out above the rest. Its quite a contrived arts area but there have been some good renovations to the buildings and most things on offer including food and tourist tat is all a little over priced. We walked onwards towards the French Concession part of Shanghai which offers not-surprisingly very European style architecture and landscaping. Streets are much narrower and buildings are only up to 5-6 stories high. It’s really pleasant and does take you to somewhere in the Med. A nearby park once more offered some strong photographic opportunities in the form of men flying kites (a popular hobby in China) women gossiping, people exercising and practising Tai Chi along with the usual card and betting games. There’s always interesting things to document in these kind of environments.

As the afternoon passed we made our way over to Pudong well in time so we could get some good sunset views. We were perhaps a little over eager in getting to the viewing platform in The Jinmao Tower which is a very ‘Gotham City’ style looking building that looks out over Shanghai with the TV tower placed right in the forefront of your view. We stayed up there for a good few hours and waited for the sunset, they always disappear into a smoggy haze over the major cities in China, but from behind the glass we had some amazing views and met a few other travellers up top too.

On our way back to the hostel we found a great little cheap restaurant a few streets away from where we’re staying and managed to have braised tofu, green beans and a meaty dish for dave, along with rice for around £4. It really is amazing how cheaply you can eat over here!! It never ceases to surprise us! The waiters here were dressed in a retro military style uniform and our particular waiter entertained us by singing Beatles tracks as soon as he found out that Helen is from near Liverpool! Very entertaining! We followed this with a quick call to the folks and then few games of pool back at The Hiker YHA, our first game against each other and against all odds Helen won! This was the most important game of course, all others will be forgotten quickly… but this one will be held high in the list of sweet success.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

After a good nights sleep, all of 10hrs, we got up at 5am and thought we should use the jet-lag to our advantage. We grabbed breakfast from the hotel; toast, jam and tea, then left in search of the Tsukiji fish market via the underground. This is lesson number one of Tokyo… The underground is owned by two companies. They both own different lines and you can get either an individual or a combined ticket to travel on the whole network. We bought the wrong ticket and needed the station masters help.

Once we had sorted the underground ticket we hopped on and headed for the fish. The market is the largest seafood market in the world and has over 800 businesses all under one roof. It’s a huge place with many dangers. Very busy with not only workers, buyers and sellers but also mini trucks that move with surprising speed and agility. It was a great photo opportunity with live crabs breaded ready for the fryer, beheaded fish heads with quivering fins, and tuna the size of a small car! Industrial saws slice and dice the fresh meat with precision ready to be bought by local shops and restaurants. We had a nice chat with a friendly gent who wanted us to spend as much money as possible in Japan. We duly followed his instructions and purchased some Sashimi from the local market. It was marvelous.

We walked to Ginza which is where lesson two was learnt… In Tokyo almost all the designer / high fashion shops don’t open until 10.30 – 11.30am on a weekday. So with two hours to spare we wandered the streets looking for the Leica Ginza Salon which had a free mini photography exhibition along with a few iconic Leica cameras to make our mouths water (photography geeks). After a morning session of passing through underground shopping centers and the vast numbers of restaurants we went back to the hotel for 40 winks.

Late afternoon saw us take in Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown followed by a not so great bite to eat in a nearby food chain. Cold noodles are not Dave’s favorite dish. A trip up Tokyo tower later, based on the Eiffel Tower, gave some great night-time views across Tokyo along with school-kids, families and some quirky cosplay clad locals.

Finishing the night off with a good old Bagel and hot chocolate followed by a stint at Roppongi’s A971 bar for a cheeky beer we discussed the delights of Japanese culture.

Tomorrow promises a bike ride around the Imperial Palace and the famous Harajuku district. Two days in and we are loving it!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

On the weekend of the 16th/17th October we said our goodbyes to close family and friends, combining a lovely do at Helen’s parents house in Widnes with our youngest recruit to the Roscoe clan; Sukie-Bea (one on Tuesday – Happy Birthday!!!) to the eldest; Nana Champion (90 in November!!)

It was the first time the Rutter-Roscoe families met and it was a lovely occasion for us to celebrate our departure on the 19th. Lovely for us two but perhaps more emotional for others. We love you lots!!

So that’s the soppy part over with…here starts our travel blog for real! We flew from Manchester Airport early on Monday the 18th after a little send off from Mr & Mrs Rutter three coffees and one tea later and we left them for our departure lounge. Our first stop was a short spell in Frankfurt before boarding the new Airbus A380 along with 800 other Tokyo bound passengers. Lufthansa are going to be tough to beat on the smoothness of the flight, good selection of food and the added bonus of Toy Story 3!

After 16 hours of travel from door to door we arrived at the budget Hotel Sakura in the Kanda district of Tokyo. We thought we may be on the wrong path at one stage so followed other tourists off the train to find out where we should be going. Fortunately a helpful local man who spoke good English helped us on the right path toward our destination.

We managed to get an early check-in which meant we could finally get some sleep and a nice hot shower. Two hours later and we awoke jet-lagged but determined to get out and see some of the nearby attractions.

First stop; food at a nearby well-priced noodle bar. Second; a light stroll up to the local temple, Yasukuni-Jinja to walk off our meal, bustling with work-leavers and after-school chat, we managed an hour or so of sight seeing but after 26 hours of travel we were ready for bed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, processed in Lightroom 3)