Tokyo, Lembeh Straits, Taipei

The destinations on this trip were chosen around our desire to go to Lembeh Straits for muck diving.  You may already be asking yourself “why would anyone want to dive in muck”? Well, the water isn’t actually mucky, rather the bottom consists of black lava sand that little critters love.  It is one of the best places in the world to dive for the ‘small stuff’ like frog fish, nudibranchs, tiny octopus, and seahorses.

After considering several routes for the 24-hour flight to Manado, Indonesia, we settled on a week-long stop in Tokyo, Japan on the way out and another week in Taipei, Taiwan on the way home. No sense missing an opportunity to see more of the world, plus we try not to be too jet lagged when we arrive at a dive location.  After booking the trip 8 months in advance, our non-stop, middle of the day, 6-hour flight on Garuda Airlines from Tokyo to Lembeh got cancelled.  WTF!! Our alternative was a 6-hour flight into Jakarta, where we had an 8-hour layover before our 5-hour flight (that left at 2:00am), to Lembeh. We also had to leave Tokyo a day early, sacrificing a non-refundable and expensive night at our Tokyo hotel, so we could spend it flying around and hanging out in airports. You can imagine how happy that made us.

Arrival in Tokyo was trouble free and our Oakwood Hotel was nice, with a great view of the Tokyo Tower from our room.  We started our sightseeing at Sensoji Temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. It has a very interesting history about a statue called the Kannon that was buried under the temple in 645AD, and has 30 million visitors a year. The approach to the main hall was through Nakamise-dori shopping area which was already packed with people buying sweet treats and items for offerings.  Not sure why they call the temple a hall because it is a square building, within a square courtyard, with a giant red lantern, weighing about 700 kilograms, at the entrance. We were not allowed inside, but the front is all open and we stood among the praying visitors to take our photos of the interior and the Buddhists sitting vigil.  There was so much to see, and we had a great time exploring all the exterior adornments, offering tables, and side shrines.

Sesoji Temple Entrance

As we were leaving, Bill spotted a sign indicating a ceremony scheduled for two days later so we planned a return visit. Families in their very best clothes gathered at the temple to pray, then the group walked in a parade around the complex several times accompanied by an Ogre with a red mask, a couple of men that looked like priests, and a woman all in white with a huge round head covering.   There were men in elaborate, bright orange costumes with a long-striped sticks, moving in a martial arts type synchronized dance, joined by the ogre.  A pair of beautiful drums provided the beat for the dancers.  Bill said it was wedding, but do they really advertise and have a guy in an ogre mask at a wedding?  (I think every wedding should have an ogre to let the husband know what his future is going to be like.   I’m kidding. I’m kidding!!  Please stop hitting me).  The park surrounding the temple contains lots of cherry trees, so it would have been great to visit during blossom season but we really enjoyed it anyway.  (If you ask Dessa, every experience can be improved with flowers and or a garden but it would have been nice to see all the blossoms).

Ceremonial Parade

For our visit to Meiji Jingu Shrine, the Uber let us out at the entrance to the beautiful Yoyogi Park where we walked through the giant gates, along a peaceful wide path, under amazing 80-foot-tall ginkgo trees. The Shinto shrine is in the middle of a forest, in the center of Tokyo. The shrine was not as ornate as the temple, but we enjoyed the ladies and girls in kimono’s, the sake barrel display and the Ema, votive tablets, with visitors wishes and thanks.

Yoyogi Park

Nearby was the packed Harajuku shopping area, where quirky pop culture goods can be found along with all kinds of touristy treats.  This is where I found the best food I had in Japan, a potato twist on a stick.  I don’t eat mystery meat or tofu, so I am pretty sure I was protein free in Japan.  (I on the other hand, ate a lot of wonderful food in Japan).  From Harajuku, we walked to the river to see the Asashi Flame aka The Golden Turd, a funky large golden structure on top of the Asahi Beer Hall, designed to look like a golden flame, representing the “burning heart of Asahi beer”.  (I never once thought it looked like a golden flame so someone should ask that architect for their money back.  However, it did look pretty cool especially when one of the Battlestar Galatica looking river boats sailed past).

The Asashi Flame with Battestar Galactica Ferry

The famous Shibuya Crossing is the Times Square of Tokyo, and required a daytime and night time visit. When busy 1000 to 2500 people scramble across the intersection every two minutes. It was quite an experience both times.  For dinner we explored the upscale 109 Shibuya shopping center where all kinds of fancy foods and sweets were available.

On our last day we went to TeamLab Planets. It is considered a museum, but it is like no other museum we’ve ever visited. Multi-sensory is the best way to describe it. Their description is “The artworks change depending on the presence of people. Immerse yourself in massive artwork spaces and become one with the art.” We were required to be bare foot for the entire experience and walk through up to knee high water in some exhibits.  It was an absolutely amazing experience. The photos don’t do it justice, so you would just have to see it to understand it.  They also have a TeamLab Borderless, we chose Planets because it is temporary.  If/when we return to Tokyo I would definitely go see Borderless, among some other sites we did not get around to. 

The Bubble Room at TeamLab Planets

While I did not enjoy the food, I did like the city.  It is one of the cleanest cities I have ever visited.  Zero graffiti, and a spotless subway system.  That was an experience all its own at peak transit times.  Talk about getting up close and personal with a bunch of strangers.  I would guess getting molested is a common occurrence, the way people were pressed up against me.  Of course, Bill would discourage that in a crowd with his resting body guard face (Hey! that’s just my normal face.  It also helps to be bigger than most of the other passengers).  Next time we visit Tokyo it will be during cherry blossom season.

After our torturous travel to Lembeh, we were very happy to settle into our villa with private pool at the top of a cliff. It was beautiful!  We also had a butler to bring us ice and drinks, and save us a good table in the dining room.  I could get used to this (hopefully she is just kidding about that).  The diving was fantastic!  We saw so many tiny creatures that are almost impossible to find, and many don’t even exist, in the Caribbean.  There were lots of frog fish in several colors, seahorses (including a pygmy), manta shrimp, cuttlefish, octopus and more than a dozen types of nudibranchs. Most creatures were one to two inches long, so we really do mean tiny. Bill got some great photos. They may not impress non-divers, but when you consider the size of the subject and the fact that he is floating while focusing on something he can sometimes barely see, they are excellent. Many of these we would never have seen without the guide, they could spot a squid the size of a grain of rice.  Much of the sea life was just out on the open bottom. Every dive was great, and so was the weather.  The food was good, and Bill ate so much raw tuna (Sashimi Tuna thank you very much) he made himself sick (and it was a sacrifice I would happily make again). The only possible negative, other than how hard it was to get here, was the lack of a beach, but we don’t like the beach so that works for us.  (She has forgotten to mention that we had to walk up and down the equivalent of 4 flights of very steep stairs multiple times a day to get from our cliffside villa to the restaurant and diving and …    Trust me, she mentioned it several times while we were at the resort.)  (Having said that, I agree with Dessa, that this was our favorite dive vacation.  While there was practically no reef to speak of, the sheer volume and variety of cool critters to find and observe was AMAZING!)

Mantis Shrimp with Eggs

While the weather was excellent in Tokyo and good in Lembeh, Taipei by contrast was gray and rainy every day.  Our Airbnb was acceptable but not great (the pictures looked pretty good, the reality just OK.  Sometimes Airbnb seems like on-line dating.  You’re never quite sure what exactly you’re going to get).  The Ubers were as cheap as the transit system so that was a plus.  Food was again not to my liking but Bill catered to me with lots of pizza (a little weird but edible).

The temples we saw seem to have more than one name, but hopefully I got them right… Longshan Temple is a Taiwanese Folk Temple built in 1738. It has been damaged by fire, earthquakes and bombing during WWII, but it is always rebuilt and restored. Prayers follow a specific order, and we watched people practicing the ritual of jiaobel (throwing wooden crescents to divine yes or no answers to questions).  The golden statues of deities, and the roof coverings with dragons, warrior images etc. were amazing.

Longshan Temple

Dalongdong Bao’an Temple was originally built in 1804 and restored in 2003.  The vibrant colors in the murals and tile work made it well worth the visit.  There are so many interesting things to see in these places, but we are ignorant of the symbolism of any of them.

Dalongdong Bao’an Temple

The National Palace Museum was a massive complex containing over 700,000 artifacts, and is considered 17^th in world ranking.  They have an interesting backstory because many of the objects originated from China’s Forbidden City, and then were moved around and hidden many times during China’s 20^th-century political upheavals. We liked the ceramics, jade, and bronze sculptures most.  Apparently one of the most famous items is a Jadeite Cabbage with Insect, which we saw but were not super impressed, and were unaware of the importance at the time, so we did not fight the crowd surrounding it to get a photo. 

National Palace Museum

We saw the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park, honoring a former president, and the Shida night market.

Because of the weather we put off our visit to Taipei 101 till the last day.  It was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2009, now ranked #11.  We went at sunset, but it was rainy and except for glimpses of the city below our view was obscured by the clouds swirling around the building.  At 101 stories, it is more than half a kilometer tall, 1667 feet.  Its elevators reach a speed of 37 mph.  It is the largest eco-green building in the world, and has the largest damper ball in the world which enables the structure to withstand the Pacific Ring of Fire’s earthquakes and the region’s tropical storms. The 660-ton steel pendulum serves to offset movements in the building, reducing up to 40% of the tower’s movement.

Glimpse of YoYogi Park from Taipei 101

Taipei was ok, not bad or good, so I wouldn’t recommend putting it high on your list.  Tokyo was well worth the visit and I would definitely like to go back to Japan during cherry blossom season, but it is on the expensive side as places go.  I would love to go back to Lembeh, and we may (will) return someday. 

You can find all our pictures here.

…Bill & Dessa