Sunday afternoon in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Three people making lots of people happy. That simple.
To end with the first day in Beijing, I went to the Lama Temple just before the sunset, and they closed it… The Lama Temple is the best known buddhist temple outside Tibet and lies in a quite centric area of Beijing. Some emperor whose name I do not recall, and you do not really mind (I guess) also used this as his official residence, so you can imagine… and see.
For anyone who has watched the film Lost in Translation, this is a magic place: the New York Bar in the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku. Shinjuku is somewhat elevated over the rest of the city and full of skyscrapers. This hotel is one of those buildings reaching 53 floors, and with the wise idea of installing a bar on that top floor. That, together with the five stars (you feel the stars both in the service quality and in the price), good drinks, live jazz music, and an unimprovable view of the city, makes it an excellent place for an evening.
Of course, this is nothing without good company. Do you want to come? 😉
After walking around Tiananmen Square, I went to the Olympic Area. I had thought about going there in the night, as I had read it is very nicely illuminated, but I discarded the idea when I felt the cold. I would go nowhere in the night, rather than doing sightseeing… :S
The Olympic Area of Beijing is in the north of the city. The main spot is the new Olympic Stadium, also known as Bird’s Nest because of its external shape. Apart from this, I did not really see many more interesting things during the daytime. I was also trying to see something like in Munich or Barcelona, but it is still too early to see the Olympic Area being used by people.
Today, we are enjoying another public holiday on Monday (it is the fifth in the last four months), due to the Coming of Age Day. This day is basically a celebration of all those becoming adults after the teenage.
Today, the city was full of young people very dressed up (specially girls with those beautiful kimonos), who were during the morning in a shintoist temple with their family to pray for the new time…
… and in the afternoon they had already gathered with the friends, and were having some fun in Shibuya…
