Ueno Station, originally uploaded by kdt.
One for the Gunzels. A night time photo of Ueno Station. There are a lot of Gunzels in Japan and they have very very expensive cameras. We took a ride out on the line past the Disney Resort and there were hordes of Gunzels.
Maid Paraphernalia, originally uploaded by kdt.
Photos are not allowed in maid cafes so you will have to be happy with a photo of some maid propaganda. If you want to see our photo with out maid, you’ll have to ask me to see it. It’ll be in my wallet!!
There is not much need to describe what happens inside because Japan in July described it so well. Only difference is that one of the Maids dropped a large tray of drinks just next to Helen, with a few splashes of sticky drinks and icecream on Helen’s feet and a lot of apologies from our maids. :)
Golden Half, originally uploaded by kdt.
I’ve upgraded from my Canon DSLR to a Golden Half. That’s right a plastic fantastic that takes twice as many shots per 35mm roll of film. That is a 36 exp roll gets you 72 exp. Awesome!
Helen says:
Okay… here is the detail about what occurred at the Shanghai Railway Station, which involved my camera, paperwork and a red thumb.
We returned to Shanghai around 8pm, after half a wet day at Suzhou. While it had been a good day I was tired. Exiting the the railway station, we were attempting to locate the the entrance for line 1 to head towards the Bund for some food. As usual we couldn’t find the entrance (obscured by entrance to the “sudway market”), and had already been down to the taxi subway once, and returned to the top looking for the entrance. Before I go any further, you need to understand that Shanghai railway station is big. I mean really big, and there are lots of people all the time.
After wandering around for 5 minutes or so, Kym spotted the entrance, and we headed over, dodging a number of people. We were about to go down the stairs, when I heard the velcro of my camera pouch and my bag suddenly felt lighter. Upon looking at the empty camera bag, I said “My camera, Kym do you have my camera?”, of course the reply was “no, I don’t”.
Kym says:
It was somewhat of a surreal moment, just as Helen was flapping about looking for her camera in her bag and we turned around to look for a lost camera we were approached by a couple of well dressed fit chinese men brandishing the camera, it was discreetly revealed and covered in a cloth. They asked Helen if she had just lost her camera. Of course the answer was yes! They flashed a badge, which of course was difficult for use to decipher the chinese and a less well dressed man was also there with has hands in cuffs. It turned out that these men were undercover Shanghai Police.
Remember this was at just after 8:00pm at night, and because there is no daylight savings it was getting quite dark. The two men asked us (in a combination of limited english and signs) to come with them, we assumed to make the report. We weren’t to certain. We walked towards ever darker parts of the railway station, ultimately to a somewhat shabby room.
We waited in a room with the accused for about 20 or so minutes waiting for the interpreter. The accused said he was sorry, in english, and I guess he was one of the poor itinerant workers that hung around the train station. When the other room was freed we were separated from the accused. The policeman contacted the police station seeking an interpreter. He told us (via our visual dictionary) that they had promised an interpreter within 30 minutes. That didn’t really happen. At this point, I would like people to think “Life on Mars”. You’re getting the idea a number of people came through and talked to the police officers, the currency of camaraderie were cigarettes. In those hours I certainly had my pack and a half of cigarette smoke that night.
I think ultimately they gave up on getting a professional interpreter. They rounded up a couple of the younger cops at the police station to do the translation for us. They intimated we needed to go somewhere else for the interpreter. So we followed, went through a large side gate onto a dimly lit station platform, along the station platform with track on one side and a construction site on other. A rhythmic loud pumping sound was ever present. The construction site had large drill like machines. We walked across a muddy walkway through the construction site to the back entrance of the Police Station.
Helen says:
Kym has forgotten to mention that while we were with the undercover officer in the daggy rooms, we attempted to communicate using our english/chinese vocab book. If you’ve had some experience with these books, you will understand that they do not contain enough useful words to assist in providing any information, apart from “interpreter”, and “I’ve had x stolen”. Nothing was quite appropriate. He flicked through the little book a couple of times and appeared to find it amusing. The only useful words in there were “interpreter”, and “I’m Australian”.
Getting back to our location at back of the Police Station. We were placed into what appeared to be a room used by the officers, but it was as daggy as the other rooms. Only difference being was there were socks drying on the seat I was sitting on, it contained a few lockers, and the computer (very dirty) had obviously been used a few minutes previously as the only words on the screen I could understand were “Game Over”. The drawers were over stuffed, and room was painted a smoked influence version of beige, quite some time ago.
End Part 1.
Advising…. no one present, originally uploaded by Helen K.
This was the last amusing sign we spotted in China. I realise I’ve commented on a lot of odd signs in China, but I really do think they are great. To me they represent their use of the English language (difficult at the best of times). I was sadden to read in a guide book here, that with the Olympics in Beijing last year, and the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010, there is a group of people checking signage to ensure signs are appropriate, and no or little occurrences of “Chinglish” in sight.
Signs like this are rare (Airport in Shanghai)… and therefore need to be shared with everyone. I was disappointed no one was there advising.
While it would of been cheaper and faster to catch a taxi to the airport in Shanghai… we caught the taxi to the Maglev station (very fast high speed train). Ah, that is what holiday experiences are all about.
We bought a ticket for the “ordinary section”, given the ride was only 7 minutes. Kym mentioned to me prior it was 15 minutes long and the top speed was 400km per hour. However, that speed is only done between 9am and 10:30am…. I feel cheated as it only did 302km per hour. Not even enough time to get comfortable on the train!
Re-arrangement sign, originally uploaded by Helen K.
While in Shanghai we did experience some “culture”, we visited the Shanghai Museum… in approximately an hour and a half. We had to shorten the time in order to pick up Kym’s suit. This also included a minor queue and security check to get past the front door.
The Museum itself was really well laid out, and had interesting exhibits, and it was free. Always a bonus. Great pictures, paintings and very very old relics. Not to forget an interesting sign – we felt no inconvenience.
Afterwards on the way to collect Kym’s suit, we got separated on the train. I made it on and Kym didn’t the train doors in Shanghai are not to be argued with, otherwise you might loose a limb. Then once the train got going, someone pulled the emergency cord major drama with guards running up and down the inside, and the train going no-where for 5 minutes. I found out later it was because someone got separated from someone, and panicked. Ot going, of course I got off the wrong stop, and caught the train back one to meet Kym… weph.
Steps are dangerous, originally uploaded by Helen K.
I wonder which one they meant? They all behaved normally when used.
We went on a short river cruise in Shanghai. Given that the Bund is being dug up and there is no other way to get a decent view of the buildings, a cruise for 100 yuan was on the only option.
During the 50 minute cruise, there were a lot of views of Shanghai and the buildings on the Bund, not to mention photos taken of us by other tourists. However, this was one of my favourites :)
Plug in the river, originally uploaded by Helen K.
Maybe if we pull on this really hard the water will drain from the river in Shanghai…
