Self Guided Tour Kawasaki: Around Kawasaki Daishi

川崎といえば ... kawasaki to ieba ...When we mention Kawasaki..., the first thing that comes to my mind is the Kawasaki bikes.
My dad used to own a Kawasaki bike.

I thought when there will be a lot of Kawasaki bikes in Kawasaki.
Throughout my walking journey I saw only one Kawasaki bike store.
Seems to have more Lawson convenience store than the Kawasaki bike stores.

Getting to Kawasaki

Board the JR Keihin Tohoku Blue Line to the Kawasaki Station.
It is a big station.
Modern building with shopping malls.
You may want to explore the shopping malls on your way back.

乗る noru Get on the Keikyu Kawasaki Line.
Just a across the street from the JR Kawasaki Station.
The Keikyu Kawasaki is a smaller line, but I like it.
It gives a feel like a tram more than a train, which I liked it very much.

降りる oriru Get off at Kawasaki Daishi.

Kanayama Shrine

The first attraction would be the Kanayama Shrine.
I have never seen any shrine to so 頭が柔らかい atama ga yawarakai open minded.

Here there are no figures of animal or people statue.
But a huge glittering statue of a big ちんちん chinchin pen*is.

The figures of pen*is is everywhere within the shrine compound.
On the banner.
On the wishing board.
On the souvenirs.

It was interesting to see and read people wishes written on the wishing board.

People come here to ...を祈る wo inoru pray for fertility and a child.

The fun part is in the Spring, where there is a festival.
People celebrate it by parading the huge pen*is around town.
That sounds interesting doesnt it?

Kawasaki Daishi Heiken Ji

The Kawasaki Daishi Heiken Ji is not far away from the Kanamara Shrine.
I find this place to be very calm and welcoming.

I guess my feeling of calmness and welcoming is true when I saw the what was written.
It says: 祈りと平和 inori to heiwa "Prayers and peace".

Enjoyed the tranquility and calmess.
Furthermore it was autumn.
The cool breeze was amazing.

Walking back to the JR Kawasaki Station

The Keikyu Kawasaki only took me less than 15 mins.
It wasnt traveling fast anyway.
So I thought walking back to the JR Kawasaki Station would not be any longer.

Guess how long it took me to walk from the Kawasaki Daishi Heiken Ji to the JR Kawasaki Station.
1 hour 20 mins.
Anyway, I took my own sweet time leisurely walking back.
Looking around, smiling at the scenes around me.

The first thing that made my smile would be the sunset.

The second smile was when I was watching parents playing with their children on a "ship" playground.

Then I came to this park where these young guys were playing baseball.
Anyway, 野球 yakyuu baseball is like a Japanese national sports.
9 out of 10 Japanese is crazy about baseball.
So I sat there and watch them played for a while.

Then when I thought these guys only accepts high school boys.

This boy came in, "who said so?"

Walking Dogs

Japanese people love walking dogs
You know what, someone told me before that dog is part of the family.
To the singles, dogs are their partner.
Well dogs are 忠実 chuujitsu loyal.

This dog is walked

This dog is walked too.

and this dog waiting to be walked...hahaha.

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Beijing Free and Easy Blog: Last Day

Hongqiao Market

It was very near to Bestay Hotel Express Tiantan Beijing.
If you are interested in pearl or jewelry, visit Hongqiao Market on the 2nd floor.
There is another building behind it that sells jewelries.
Surprisingly, the 1st floor wasn't selling any pearl or jewelry at all.
There were electronics, toys, souvenirs, accessories, etc.

Bought myself a Gorilla Pod, that could 対応する taiou suru support a SLR camera.
First quote was CNY80.
"No", I said
"How much you want?"
"CNY50", I replied
"CNY60," she said.
My heart started to move. Thought it was reasonable. Maybe I could agree.
But wait..."No, CNY50 is my final price", I said trying my luck.
"Deal!" she said.

Hahaha....got myself for CNY50.
Perhaps I could go lower, but since I started with CNY50, that`s cool with me too.

Tips: Don't agree on the first price. Start by cutting half the price. Go up a little from there. If you can't get the price you want, just walk away. Sometimes the best deal comes when you walk away.

Qianmen

Qianmen is another interesting place at the far end of Tiananmen Plaza.
Before you go to the Qianmen Shopping Street, you might want to visit the China Railway Museum which is more of a Victorian style building.

China Railway Museum. Next to Qianmen Subway Station Exit.

I 思わなかった omowanakatta never thought Qianmen could this beautiful.
I thought it was just another street like the Wangfujing Street.
But no, it was so different from Wangfujing Street.

Me and Qianmen Street

I would recommend you to consider Qianmen instead of the Wangfujing

Blend of east and west. McD at far end.

I like the 調和 chouwa blend of modern stores and the grey bricks of Chinese houses.
I like the fusion of Western & Eastern brand side by side on the same street.

Tram also called Ding Ding Car because of the bell sound it makes.

Ding! Ding! Ding! The tram is coming.
They call it the Ding Ding Car.
Go onboard and it will take you from one end of the street to the other end for CNY 20 one way ticket.

If you are looking for a お買い得品 okaitoku hin good bargain.
Get off the main street and go to the back street.
You can get some silk scarf for as low as CNY10 per piece.
I bought 3 and I am pretty satisfied. They are smooth and nice enough for me.

Good bargain at the Qiabackstreet

Also there are some CNY 5 shops. Everything is sold for CNY 5. No need  交渉する koushou suru to bargain.
I saw a cap with a panda on top. It was sold for CNY 33 at Jingshan  Park.
Here I can get it for CNY 5.

There are also some local food, mostly cookies, biscuits and soft buns.

CCTV tower

Being in Beijing, I thought I should not missed out the iconic CCTV tower.
Took the subway all the way to Gongzhufen station.
Came out and I didn't see anything iconic.
I saw a tower, but it isn't in a squarish shape.

Old CCTV Tower at Gongzhufen

Oh gosh, this is the 古い furui old CCTV tower!
There is another 新しい atarashii new CCTV tower!

I had to take the subway Jintaixizhao station, which is at the other end of the line.

It is quite a big station. Exited the wrong station and got lost.

Asked a few person to get to the tower.

That's the 中国語が話せるの利点 chuugokugo ga hanaseru no riten benefit of speaking Chinese.

Finally, I had reached the tower.

It was tiring after all the wrong routes taken, but when I finally reached, it was satisfying.

New CCTV Tower at Jintaixizhao

Night Flight

Took a taxi to the airport.
Taking the night flight back to Malaysia.

It was a very satisfying trip from planning, making it happen and visiting all the places we wanted to.
We are glad we did a free and easy tour. We didn't have to visit the factories or any outlets where tours would usually bring us to. Could had wasted much time there.
We had our time fully used on enjoying Beijing.

We also did it on a budget. With very little money spent, yet we are very happy.

It was a great trip.

If you are planning a trip, we would to make it great for you too.
Leave us a comment. We will get back to you.

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