Fun Activities in Tokyo

I enjoyed fun activities this weekend in Tokyo.

I was on this Yakata Boat for dinner on Friday.

Here's a view from the rooftop of the boat - on Sumida River.  Over the blue truss bridge, Tokyo Skytree was seen.

Here's an Ukiyo-e picture of what it used to be in Edo Period.

Then on Saturday, went to Sumida Aquarium.  It is very nice new facility right next to Tokyo Skytree.

Here are garden eels.  They were cute.

Jelly fish.

Penguins.

A big tanks contained beautiful fish.

Solar Eclipse photos

All over Japan, people could observe an Solar eclipse this morning. I climbed up on our roof for it.

We had special eye glasses to directly look at the sun.  It was amazing!  At around 7:34 of our local time, the moon was perfectly aligned with the sun - making a perfect golden ring.

Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to capture it with my iPhone camera (yes, that's all I had).

I just took a bunch of photos of the sun.  Of course, when I was taking them, I did not know how they will turn out.  Below are two of the many photos I took of the sun.

But interestingly enough, I did capture it!  The below is a close-up of the area right below the bright part of the photo.  For some reason, the eclipse was clearly shown.

At the time of the eclipse, shadows became blurry, as seen in the photograph below.

Tokyo Skytree Tour

The celebrated new tower - a 634 meter-tall Tokyo Skytree - will officially open next week.  I was very lucky to be invited to the pre-open viewing of the tower, yesterday.

Had to wait in a line to get in - this is the entrance to the lift.

We were greeted by koto players, a fifty-second-ride to the 350m observation deck. 

This is the view - towards the center of Tokyo.

After another lift-ride to 345 m, we walked up this circular walkway.

Hee's the highest point of the observatory - 451.2 m.

The view from the highest point - towards Senso-ji Temple of Asakusa.

At the 350-m observatory were open glass windows looking straight down - very thrilling.

Inside the observatories, the tube structures of the tower are intensionally left uncovered.  At the right of the structure, the men are taking photos of the same glass window of the previous picture.

The structures of the tower at the bottom and outside of the tower.

Looking straight up at Tokyo Skytree from the bottom of the structure - magnificent!

Mumbai Run

My last stop in India was Mumbai. My experience there was different from the other two cities.

I was taken to Mahalaxmi Racecource.

There were many people running, walking and exercising.  I thought it was nice of the city to open the race track to the public.

The track was by the seaside.  But there were people living there on Tetrapods.

The Cricket Team - Mumbai Indians are heroes there.

Haji Ali Dargah

Mahalaxmi Railway Station

The view from my hotel - one of many slums of Mumbai.

New Dehli Run

The next stop in India for me was New Dehli.  I could take a nice long run there.  The experience in this picturesque city was so different from that I had in Kolkata - so beautiful and peaceful.

India Gate.

This dog chased birds away at a pond along Rajpath.

Rashtrapati Bhavan at the end of Rajpath.

Little trees were planted to promote greening of the city.

But the city was mainly very green - this is a typical street.

Lodi Gardens - supposed to be the largest of the gardens in Dehli.

The taxi that took me to the airport was a Hindustan Ambassador.

New Dehli was also hot, but the humidity was much less.  That made it easier to run, but made my very thirsty.

Kolkata Run/Walk

I spent a couple of days in Kolkata, India.  Before my meetings, I could run and walk around my hotel.

There was this body of water called Salt Lake.  It was more like a dirty pond.

I saw some pigs there.

This was some sort of a temple.

Modern progress is being made there.

This is a nicer residential area - not too far away.

Salt Lake Stadium was also very close from my hotel.

There were many stray dogs in the area.