Photos for the notes!
I've started a photo-based travel blog to get my travel stories out ASAP. I'm having fun making it, and I'm sure you'll agree that it's much more fun and casual to read than my official travel blog. You can see the photos (and brief notes) associated with these notes here:
http://marklitraveljournal.blogspot.com/
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Travel Notes!
I have a lot of travel notes from the past few years, and decided I wanted to post them up somewhere I can always access them. In addition, it's a place for my friends and family to take a quick read of them if they are bored and wanted to read some of my raw travel notes. Note that there are many misspellings and grammar issues in the notes - this is because the notes are kept as original as possible, including hastily-jotted-down and nearly illegible scribbles and additions in the margins of my original paper notes. I'm hoping to get my photo journal up at some point, but that may take year since I'm pretty busy these days...
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 117 / Epilogue
Day 117 / Epilogue: (7 September 2011):
- Crashed at Aaron’s for a few days (2?), leg get better by itself, didn’t end up going to doctors, even though plan was ASAP.
- Oakland housing. Still have when finish writing on Dec. 10. (Eventually moved to Nob Hill in Feb).
- Spent a few days bumming around, Join MW2 in crunch. 0 to 100 hrs work weak shock.
- Mixups, etc., eventually got all my stuff, but had to pay nearly $1000 more. Much more than expected. Should have just couriered it.
- Crashed at Aaron’s for a few days (2?), leg get better by itself, didn’t end up going to doctors, even though plan was ASAP.
- Oakland housing. Still have when finish writing on Dec. 10. (Eventually moved to Nob Hill in Feb).
- Spent a few days bumming around, Join MW2 in crunch. 0 to 100 hrs work weak shock.
- Mixups, etc., eventually got all my stuff, but had to pay nearly $1000 more. Much more than expected. Should have just couriered it.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 116
Day 116: (6 September 2011):
- After the usual uneasy sleep & movies & etc, breakfast.
- Was a bit worried with time to make connection.
- Should have walked farther down line, ended up as one of the last to customs when was one of the first to be in area.
- Transferred to an agent. Surprisingly easy, didn’t even look at my transcript & diploma. “Will trust me on it.”
- I express my surprise, he says “we need more people like you” in the US. Want us in country.
- Flew out of LA, see the smog that’s ever present. Was so comfortable no longer in sweltering heat!
- After the usual uneasy sleep & movies & etc, breakfast.
- Was a bit worried with time to make connection.
- Should have walked farther down line, ended up as one of the last to customs when was one of the first to be in area.
- Transferred to an agent. Surprisingly easy, didn’t even look at my transcript & diploma. “Will trust me on it.”
- I express my surprise, he says “we need more people like you” in the US. Want us in country.
- Flew out of LA, see the smog that’s ever present. Was so comfortable no longer in sweltering heat!
Monday, September 5, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 115
Day 115: (5 September 2011):
- Fully awake as enter Tokyo & off highway.
- Listen carefully to announcements. (Music for near stations).
- Surprised i can understand some. “sugi wa shinjuku eki higashi (ko?).”
- Happy to see my bag unloaded.
- Arrive early morning. Not many people around yet. Familiar blds.
- Grab stuff & enter station. Find JR to Yokohama.
- Train not crowded but full. Pretty fast.
- Get off station, after exiting once by accident & looking around, found some lockers I can use by subway entrance.
- Walk towards Landmark Tower. Nissan HQ. Walkways.
- Try to cool off at mall at base of tower, but not really cool.
- Tower not open until 10.
- Sit around a bit, look around tower grounds. Leg not fully feeling too terrible so decide break plan & keep going.
- Walk by amusement park: game sheds & roller coasters & ferris wheel w / giant clock.
- Circular road-crossing bridges. Large stores, etc.
- Wask to the old brick storehouses, but closed! look around outside & continue. Now all stores & trendy restaurants. New yet-to-open cup (?) ramen museum.
- Continue walking towards Chinatown.
- Rain. Quite nice by harbourside walkway & cruise terminal.
- Raised walkway between buildings.
- City streets pretty. Trees.
- Enter Chinatown. Many gates. Lanterns, narrow alleys, but colourful & neat.
- Lots of similar food as in Kobe, but less street food & more restaurants. Some plastic food (buns) look tasty.
- Found the multistory complex mentioned in LP. Pretty cool atrium with lanterns. Walked around a bit, ended up in some yet-to-be opened places due to back stairs.
- Didn’t visit a nearby tower I saw.
- Follow signs back.
- Walk around old storehouses, go in one. Trendy stores, nice lobby area.
- Nice Japanese city centre w / blds & stuff.
- Walked back to tower via the causeway. Nice park. Rest a bit. Fish in water. Old tram railway?
- Should’ve taken a long escalator / moving sidewalk from beginning.
- Tower open, so go up, even though weather is questionable.
- Bowing. Very fast elevators, mostly accelerating & decelerating.
- Great view at top. Harbour. Tokyo in distance (Shinjuku, new tower). On clear day, can see Fuji, but not today.
- Box-like blds below, in typical Jap. style. Rain patches.
- Ice cream cone tower.
- Sit & enjoy Yokohama beer & watch view for a while.
- Walk back to station, ask about Yokohama ramen & train to Narita.
- One place (which ben rec’ed) is closed on Monday, try other recommendation. Have ~1.5 hrs before I need catch train.
- Glad there is a cheap local train, not just express. Not that much slower, either. Didn’t have to take bus.
- Got to Yokohama, but there was no obvious ramen posted outside that was Yokohama style. Nice walk. Also intimidated by lack of Jap.
- In the end, ate at Ippudo across the street.
- Nice walk back, busy stores, lights, person holding sign with siren light on head, etc.
- Glad to get inside the department store connecting to station, as they have A/C.
- A bit sad but also exciting, since is last time outside on this trip.
- Get bag & ticket. Ask person at platform: “sumimasin” “hai.” Ask in English, he look not sure either, but sign says Narita.
- Long ride through Tokyo. Watch as approach & depart from close to new tower. Train quite fast, as usual.
- long passage through the countryside, where I had my first glimpse of Japan a couple of years ago.
- Uniformed school kids.
- Some English speakers got off @ Narita, not ariport, was considering making sure with them, but decided not to.
- Things pretty smooth at airport. Use phone card to call parents.
- Use leftover amount to call Ben. Out of money, insert more coins. A meter showing how much time left. When down to Y10 coins, rate of insert barely kept up with time!
- Turns out is A380 Singapore Air.
- Took Japanese meal option. Soba.
- Too lazy / tired to explore upper floor, especially with leg pain. Sit not in aisle or window.
- Looked up a few doctors, tried to make appt, but decided to delay due to $150 reg fee.
- Fully awake as enter Tokyo & off highway.
- Listen carefully to announcements. (Music for near stations).
- Surprised i can understand some. “sugi wa shinjuku eki higashi (ko?).”
- Happy to see my bag unloaded.
- Arrive early morning. Not many people around yet. Familiar blds.
- Grab stuff & enter station. Find JR to Yokohama.
- Train not crowded but full. Pretty fast.
- Get off station, after exiting once by accident & looking around, found some lockers I can use by subway entrance.
- Walk towards Landmark Tower. Nissan HQ. Walkways.
- Try to cool off at mall at base of tower, but not really cool.
- Tower not open until 10.
- Sit around a bit, look around tower grounds. Leg not fully feeling too terrible so decide break plan & keep going.
- Walk by amusement park: game sheds & roller coasters & ferris wheel w / giant clock.
- Circular road-crossing bridges. Large stores, etc.
- Wask to the old brick storehouses, but closed! look around outside & continue. Now all stores & trendy restaurants. New yet-to-open cup (?) ramen museum.
- Continue walking towards Chinatown.
- Rain. Quite nice by harbourside walkway & cruise terminal.
- Raised walkway between buildings.
- City streets pretty. Trees.
- Enter Chinatown. Many gates. Lanterns, narrow alleys, but colourful & neat.
- Lots of similar food as in Kobe, but less street food & more restaurants. Some plastic food (buns) look tasty.
- Found the multistory complex mentioned in LP. Pretty cool atrium with lanterns. Walked around a bit, ended up in some yet-to-be opened places due to back stairs.
- Didn’t visit a nearby tower I saw.
- Follow signs back.
- Walk around old storehouses, go in one. Trendy stores, nice lobby area.
- Nice Japanese city centre w / blds & stuff.
- Walked back to tower via the causeway. Nice park. Rest a bit. Fish in water. Old tram railway?
- Should’ve taken a long escalator / moving sidewalk from beginning.
- Tower open, so go up, even though weather is questionable.
- Bowing. Very fast elevators, mostly accelerating & decelerating.
- Great view at top. Harbour. Tokyo in distance (Shinjuku, new tower). On clear day, can see Fuji, but not today.
- Box-like blds below, in typical Jap. style. Rain patches.
- Ice cream cone tower.
- Sit & enjoy Yokohama beer & watch view for a while.
- Walk back to station, ask about Yokohama ramen & train to Narita.
- One place (which ben rec’ed) is closed on Monday, try other recommendation. Have ~1.5 hrs before I need catch train.
- Glad there is a cheap local train, not just express. Not that much slower, either. Didn’t have to take bus.
- Got to Yokohama, but there was no obvious ramen posted outside that was Yokohama style. Nice walk. Also intimidated by lack of Jap.
- In the end, ate at Ippudo across the street.
- Nice walk back, busy stores, lights, person holding sign with siren light on head, etc.
- Glad to get inside the department store connecting to station, as they have A/C.
- A bit sad but also exciting, since is last time outside on this trip.
- Get bag & ticket. Ask person at platform: “sumimasin” “hai.” Ask in English, he look not sure either, but sign says Narita.
- Long ride through Tokyo. Watch as approach & depart from close to new tower. Train quite fast, as usual.
- long passage through the countryside, where I had my first glimpse of Japan a couple of years ago.
- Uniformed school kids.
- Some English speakers got off @ Narita, not ariport, was considering making sure with them, but decided not to.
- Things pretty smooth at airport. Use phone card to call parents.
- Use leftover amount to call Ben. Out of money, insert more coins. A meter showing how much time left. When down to Y10 coins, rate of insert barely kept up with time!
- Turns out is A380 Singapore Air.
- Took Japanese meal option. Soba.
- Too lazy / tired to explore upper floor, especially with leg pain. Sit not in aisle or window.
- Looked up a few doctors, tried to make appt, but decided to delay due to $150 reg fee.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 114
Day 114: (4 September 2011):
- Sleep in a lot & pack. Take photo of possible housing location maps & map of Yokohama.
- Take subway with my stuff to Osaka station & store there.
- Walk to Fukushima: remember the alleys we stayed at on our last trip here.
- Go to a tskemen place from magazine. Passed another place with ume tskemen Ben also been meaning to try.
- Apparently, he got a free oyako don last time ordering the set.
- I got the set: this is my shot at a classic tsekemen.
- Very solid, delicious.
- When done, pour in the hot soup to remaining sauce.
- Ben told me how, but due to awkward Asian thing, I was still not confident in asking for rock.
- Rock was a dense piece of metal shaped like an eggplant, presented on a spoon in a bowl. Under directions from Ben, pushed bowl away & dropped rock in. Sizzling & sputtering. Delicious hot soup. As usual, cartoon & instruction of entire process.
- Yuzu sprinkle also quite good.
- Leg seems to be a bit better today, but not sure if I’m just getting used to it. A bit worried as i read if a cyst abcesses, surgury is the only way it will get better.
- Walk to Umeda Sky bld for Octoberfest. Meet up with some Apple house people. Sky starting to darken. Can hear music as enter grounds.
- A few beer tents, with diff. beer. Pay deposit for glass, get back when return glass.
- Had a dark beer (forget which) & 1L Bitburger.
- Amusing to see Jap. ppl in german costumes playing german music on stage. Bow at end of songs.
- See Jap. businessmen doing funky chicken.
- ppl. sing, dance.
- When rain starts, everyone seems to pull out their umbrellas, seemingly in unison. Forms a solid canopy (mostly clear) where everyone is sitting.
- After the event, walk to Osaka station together, there was time for dinner, at an izakaya - again, a good (real) last dinner before I leave.
- One of the cheap places in an “izakaya tower.”
- Basashi: chunks of horse meat & fat.
- Go to Osaka station, get my stuff, & Ben see me on the bus.
- Tell luggage handler I will get off at Shinjuku instead of Tokyo stn. as on ticket.
- Settle in upstairs, lucky no one sit beside me, so have some room.
- Peek out closed blinds to lights zooming past.
- Soon, on less populated highway.
- Stopped a couple of times, once at some highway-stop like place. Some people get on/off.
- Eventually, drift in / out of uneasy sleep.
- Wet towel drying beside me.
- Sleep in a lot & pack. Take photo of possible housing location maps & map of Yokohama.
- Take subway with my stuff to Osaka station & store there.
- Walk to Fukushima: remember the alleys we stayed at on our last trip here.
- Go to a tskemen place from magazine. Passed another place with ume tskemen Ben also been meaning to try.
- Apparently, he got a free oyako don last time ordering the set.
- I got the set: this is my shot at a classic tsekemen.
- Very solid, delicious.
- When done, pour in the hot soup to remaining sauce.
- Ben told me how, but due to awkward Asian thing, I was still not confident in asking for rock.
- Rock was a dense piece of metal shaped like an eggplant, presented on a spoon in a bowl. Under directions from Ben, pushed bowl away & dropped rock in. Sizzling & sputtering. Delicious hot soup. As usual, cartoon & instruction of entire process.
- Yuzu sprinkle also quite good.
- Leg seems to be a bit better today, but not sure if I’m just getting used to it. A bit worried as i read if a cyst abcesses, surgury is the only way it will get better.
- Walk to Umeda Sky bld for Octoberfest. Meet up with some Apple house people. Sky starting to darken. Can hear music as enter grounds.
- A few beer tents, with diff. beer. Pay deposit for glass, get back when return glass.
- Had a dark beer (forget which) & 1L Bitburger.
- Amusing to see Jap. ppl in german costumes playing german music on stage. Bow at end of songs.
- See Jap. businessmen doing funky chicken.
- ppl. sing, dance.
- When rain starts, everyone seems to pull out their umbrellas, seemingly in unison. Forms a solid canopy (mostly clear) where everyone is sitting.
- After the event, walk to Osaka station together, there was time for dinner, at an izakaya - again, a good (real) last dinner before I leave.
- One of the cheap places in an “izakaya tower.”
- Basashi: chunks of horse meat & fat.
- Go to Osaka station, get my stuff, & Ben see me on the bus.
- Tell luggage handler I will get off at Shinjuku instead of Tokyo stn. as on ticket.
- Settle in upstairs, lucky no one sit beside me, so have some room.
- Peek out closed blinds to lights zooming past.
- Soon, on less populated highway.
- Stopped a couple of times, once at some highway-stop like place. Some people get on/off.
- Eventually, drift in / out of uneasy sleep.
- Wet towel drying beside me.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 113
Day 113: (3 September 2011):
- Leg is really doing horrible. Very difficult to walk. Huge limping. Tired. Black pockets in central purple raised area. Very sentative.
- For lunch / brunch, go to Coco Ichi. I got Motsu curry with katsu. 1-10 spicy level. Ben get 10 (?, something high), I get 3 (happens to be on sale?). Very tasty & filling.
- Take subway to Umeda (“expert” train maps) & over to the games meetup. Pick up drinks & Tamade.
- Juso looks like a nice place. Pretty crowded covered walkway.
- Nice quiet street in rain. A few neighbourhood gardens w / vegetables. Bad limp. Difficult.
- Get to apt. of host: localizer, did english “objection” voice of Phoenix Wright.
- Huge apt. (Not too expensive, apparently). Ping pong table. IRobot, pool on roof, man-cave. See the ridiculous Mortal Kombat anims for first time.
- Some food (didn’t really eat). Hang out, talk (mostly to Ben, as I prob. will never see the others again). Ppl. drink, play video games. I try to sit a lot to rest leg.
- Ppl confuse hei matau for magatama.
- Ben’s umbrella gone from pile, swap. Nice in rain. Some take taxi. Say bye at Osaka / Umeda. UB exchange.
-Back to osaka station, walk around the familiar under-station maze-like area where we had our first okonomiyaki 2 yrs ago.
- Had okonomiyaki & negiyaki at a LP listed place. Good, but not as good as the other okonomiyaki & negiyaki we had.
- Change my tickets to leave Sunday night. Stuck in Osaka, reminds me of “stuck in Olso.” Should have just flown out from Osaka.
- Leg is really doing horrible. Very difficult to walk. Huge limping. Tired. Black pockets in central purple raised area. Very sentative.
- For lunch / brunch, go to Coco Ichi. I got Motsu curry with katsu. 1-10 spicy level. Ben get 10 (?, something high), I get 3 (happens to be on sale?). Very tasty & filling.
- Take subway to Umeda (“expert” train maps) & over to the games meetup. Pick up drinks & Tamade.
- Juso looks like a nice place. Pretty crowded covered walkway.
- Nice quiet street in rain. A few neighbourhood gardens w / vegetables. Bad limp. Difficult.
- Get to apt. of host: localizer, did english “objection” voice of Phoenix Wright.
- Huge apt. (Not too expensive, apparently). Ping pong table. IRobot, pool on roof, man-cave. See the ridiculous Mortal Kombat anims for first time.
- Some food (didn’t really eat). Hang out, talk (mostly to Ben, as I prob. will never see the others again). Ppl. drink, play video games. I try to sit a lot to rest leg.
- Ppl confuse hei matau for magatama.
- Ben’s umbrella gone from pile, swap. Nice in rain. Some take taxi. Say bye at Osaka / Umeda. UB exchange.
-Back to osaka station, walk around the familiar under-station maze-like area where we had our first okonomiyaki 2 yrs ago.
- Had okonomiyaki & negiyaki at a LP listed place. Good, but not as good as the other okonomiyaki & negiyaki we had.
- Change my tickets to leave Sunday night. Stuck in Osaka, reminds me of “stuck in Olso.” Should have just flown out from Osaka.
Friday, September 2, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 112
Day 112: (2 September 2011):
- Windy & rainy. Typhoon. Pretty mild overall.
- Walk to Sukiya for gyu-don. Slick menu. Lots of choices & sizes, decide on medium original. Only Y280. Meal is instantly ready.
- Wet shoes again.
- Spend day researching housing, messages, etc.
- Pics of plane / flight info.
- Pack & wait for Ben to return, to ge to Tokyo together.
- Mostly indecision, but Ben took the earlier but longer bus, he leaning towards it.
- Just as I was about to leave, he e-mails buses cancelled due to typhoon. He is going to return ticket. Good thing he went, so he can sort things out!
- Walked to Namba to meet Ben.
- Random Jap. photographer (young, hipster-like). Old-school camera, going to take Shinkansen in morning to Tokyo.
- Had 2 drinks at izakaya & head back.
- See Big-man monitor, some cool streets. Considered eating at Namba & surrounds, nothing super interesting.
- Dinner @ Kurazushi again. Both felt bad for going, but cheap & tasty.
- Talk a bit, plan. Now can go to the Kansai games meetup ben wanted to go to.
- Windy & rainy. Typhoon. Pretty mild overall.
- Walk to Sukiya for gyu-don. Slick menu. Lots of choices & sizes, decide on medium original. Only Y280. Meal is instantly ready.
- Wet shoes again.
- Spend day researching housing, messages, etc.
- Pics of plane / flight info.
- Pack & wait for Ben to return, to ge to Tokyo together.
- Mostly indecision, but Ben took the earlier but longer bus, he leaning towards it.
- Just as I was about to leave, he e-mails buses cancelled due to typhoon. He is going to return ticket. Good thing he went, so he can sort things out!
- Walked to Namba to meet Ben.
- Random Jap. photographer (young, hipster-like). Old-school camera, going to take Shinkansen in morning to Tokyo.
- Had 2 drinks at izakaya & head back.
- See Big-man monitor, some cool streets. Considered eating at Namba & surrounds, nothing super interesting.
- Dinner @ Kurazushi again. Both felt bad for going, but cheap & tasty.
- Talk a bit, plan. Now can go to the Kansai games meetup ben wanted to go to.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 111
Day 111: (1 September 2011):
- Since no longer going to Fuji, make plans of going to Nagoya on way to tokyo for flight.
- Leg really quite bad. Was hoping some rest will resolve it.
- Quite swollen. Central bump turning black & purple. Abcess? Extended hand-sized red & warm patch, almost like flowing down leg.
- For lunch, go to Metepo, as rec’ed by Ben. The guy co-worker says my stomach will be bad.
- Walk there after consulting Google maps, happy when see it.
- Pressed the button using copied Japanese & phonetic pronouciation.
- Ushered in, awkward due to lack of Japanese.
- Share table. Woman server keep saying something, I don’t understand. Eventually, one guy at table say “thick, no. Regular, OK?” Thanked him for translating.
- Very short talk: Canada, NZ. He point at some pickles for me.
- Ate pretty fast due to awkwardness. Less comfortable than hoped.
- Even regular was ridiculously thick. Not convinced I didn’t get the thick one. Glorious pieces of fat.
- Thick here is the only ramen Ben thinks is OK not to drink the broth.
- Rest of day: Made preparations for Nagoya, take photos of LP pages & research online.
- Dinner with Ben at an izakaya, fitting last dinner together.
- Delicious, as usual. Skewers (take off skewers during izakaya), self squeezed chu-hi’s. Fried chicken livers. Hoppy.
- Before dinner, I looked for ticket counters (bus), found, but decide not buy. Upstairs at Namba JR.
- Ben decide go to Tokyo w/ me. Ramen & baseball game. Contact Tokyo friend.
- Very few tickets left. Tour of new Osaka station. Y5000. Tickets on diff buses.
- Ben seen some Apple House people downstairs. Hang out in lounge with some cans of beer / fake beer / chu hi.
- French person get teaching job. Other foreign ppl. Koreans. Nice lounge area w/ TV. Counters.
- Leg getting bad. Careful what position it is in.
- Good thing no Fuji.
- Since no longer going to Fuji, make plans of going to Nagoya on way to tokyo for flight.
- Leg really quite bad. Was hoping some rest will resolve it.
- Quite swollen. Central bump turning black & purple. Abcess? Extended hand-sized red & warm patch, almost like flowing down leg.
- For lunch, go to Metepo, as rec’ed by Ben. The guy co-worker says my stomach will be bad.
- Walk there after consulting Google maps, happy when see it.
- Pressed the button using copied Japanese & phonetic pronouciation.
- Ushered in, awkward due to lack of Japanese.
- Share table. Woman server keep saying something, I don’t understand. Eventually, one guy at table say “thick, no. Regular, OK?” Thanked him for translating.
- Very short talk: Canada, NZ. He point at some pickles for me.
- Ate pretty fast due to awkwardness. Less comfortable than hoped.
- Even regular was ridiculously thick. Not convinced I didn’t get the thick one. Glorious pieces of fat.
- Thick here is the only ramen Ben thinks is OK not to drink the broth.
- Rest of day: Made preparations for Nagoya, take photos of LP pages & research online.
- Dinner with Ben at an izakaya, fitting last dinner together.
- Delicious, as usual. Skewers (take off skewers during izakaya), self squeezed chu-hi’s. Fried chicken livers. Hoppy.
- Before dinner, I looked for ticket counters (bus), found, but decide not buy. Upstairs at Namba JR.
- Ben decide go to Tokyo w/ me. Ramen & baseball game. Contact Tokyo friend.
- Very few tickets left. Tour of new Osaka station. Y5000. Tickets on diff buses.
- Ben seen some Apple House people downstairs. Hang out in lounge with some cans of beer / fake beer / chu hi.
- French person get teaching job. Other foreign ppl. Koreans. Nice lounge area w/ TV. Counters.
- Leg getting bad. Careful what position it is in.
- Good thing no Fuji.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 110
Day 110: (31 August 2011):
- Since not leaving for Fuji, stay in Osaka even longer.
- Lots of organizing place to stay in SF.
- Leg worse, quite painful & swollen.
- Meet Ben & co for lunch again. To a set meal place, the 3rd place Ben mentioned for places to eat around work.
- Ume chicken. Nice, nothing too extreme.
- Head back, feel like a snack. Sashimi, vegetable drink & azuki ice cream sandwich from tamade.
- Long day of relaxing (so good to relax a bit), trying to fix computer (need Ben’s password for create Haiku USB boot), & CS / SF messages. Laundary(?).
- Meet Ben for dinner @ office. Got info & decided on a nearby fugu place during lunch.
- Bought an expensive Y5xxx set meal to share & a fugu dish we were curious about. Pretty empty. No one notice us enter, apologize.
- For all single serving dishes, gave us two! So nice of them, we felt a bit bad about it.
- Raw is definitely the right way to eat fugu. Wonderful texture. No tingly toxin though.
- Strange disk / wax paper boiling bowl to make rice thing.
- Ben chat as he make. He from Nagoya. Translate a bit for me & about my travels.
- After dinner, bow, show us outside. Give Ben Y1000 coupon.
- Walk to Umeda, some kind of CS meetup.
- Check Blarney Stone first. Gaijin hangout. The elevator: Jap. saying “there is a lot of gaijin here, I see one already,” then Ben burst out laughing, guy bow & apologize.
- At HUB, slightly expensive, gaijin sports bar.
- Chat a bit. Have some beers.
- 2 girls walked in, straight to a French guy & gave him their number.
- OK, but some didn’t speak English that well, some OK conversations, but nothing too good.
- Head home after long day. Try Haiku boot. Not work.
- Prev. attempt with Ubuntu disk: start booting, then say file system not found, & no longer work after.
- Life supermarket. Plan for weekend.
- Since not leaving for Fuji, stay in Osaka even longer.
- Lots of organizing place to stay in SF.
- Leg worse, quite painful & swollen.
- Meet Ben & co for lunch again. To a set meal place, the 3rd place Ben mentioned for places to eat around work.
- Ume chicken. Nice, nothing too extreme.
- Head back, feel like a snack. Sashimi, vegetable drink & azuki ice cream sandwich from tamade.
- Long day of relaxing (so good to relax a bit), trying to fix computer (need Ben’s password for create Haiku USB boot), & CS / SF messages. Laundary(?).
- Meet Ben for dinner @ office. Got info & decided on a nearby fugu place during lunch.
- Bought an expensive Y5xxx set meal to share & a fugu dish we were curious about. Pretty empty. No one notice us enter, apologize.
- For all single serving dishes, gave us two! So nice of them, we felt a bit bad about it.
- Raw is definitely the right way to eat fugu. Wonderful texture. No tingly toxin though.
- Strange disk / wax paper boiling bowl to make rice thing.
- Ben chat as he make. He from Nagoya. Translate a bit for me & about my travels.
- After dinner, bow, show us outside. Give Ben Y1000 coupon.
- Walk to Umeda, some kind of CS meetup.
- Check Blarney Stone first. Gaijin hangout. The elevator: Jap. saying “there is a lot of gaijin here, I see one already,” then Ben burst out laughing, guy bow & apologize.
- At HUB, slightly expensive, gaijin sports bar.
- Chat a bit. Have some beers.
- 2 girls walked in, straight to a French guy & gave him their number.
- OK, but some didn’t speak English that well, some OK conversations, but nothing too good.
- Head home after long day. Try Haiku boot. Not work.
- Prev. attempt with Ubuntu disk: start booting, then say file system not found, & no longer work after.
- Life supermarket. Plan for weekend.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 109
Day 109: (30 August 2011):
- Woke up at decent time after Ben went to work.
- Got lucky & caught most express train to Kobe.
- Fast & smooth. Pass many stations non-stop.
- Section where there is only one track. Wonder where other direction is.
- The train took me to centre of Kyoto.
- Walk to N-S line. Again, familiar outside. Cross the bridge with Kanagawa hangout, Chinese restaurant.
- Notice this train line goes to a station in Osaka too!
- Since did a more Southern loop last time, doing a more Northern loop this time, with Ben rec. go to Silver Pagoda.
- Look for gyu-don. Can’t find! Walk by some random temples, not that interesting. Van selling bento boxes by school. Tempted to take bus, but can’t figure out details. Hot.
- Commercial/store area in front of Ginkakuji.
- Decide go in even though want gyu-don.
- Nice & peaceful. Raked sand patterns. Small trail with forest section & mini waterfall. Not mind blowing but calm & pretty. Nice-ish view of city. Sign point out a tree transplanted from one of the nuclear blast-affected areas.
- Roofs are very pretty & neat.
- No silver panels, construction not as planned (?) (look up history).
- Enjoyed a matcha tea ice cream snack as started on the philosopher’s walk.
- Philosopher’s walk: clear smooth-flowing water. Wavering river weed & some fish.
- Calm tiny path & road beside the channel.
- Walk about ½, but then break to visit shrines up hill.
- Quiet neighbourhood, houses, trees.
- Nice quiet shrine in forest. Raked sand. Moss on thick thached gate roof.
- Fountain with leaf spout.
- Possible monk living quarters, but didn’t go there.
- Continue on philosopher’s walk.
- All temples signposted with history. Most closed to public.
- Walked up a street to find a temple, but just residential area.
- School children in uniforms (returning from lunch?).
- Bump into British (?) couple often.
- Go to the temple with the pagoda with nice view (look up name). Wasn’t going to enter, but then decided why not? Kind of expensive (Y600?).
- Even though I spoke English, attendant gave me a Japanese pamphlet, which I changed for an English one.
- Kind of reminded me of feel of Ginkakuji.
- Grounds divided up into an indoor loop: no shoes, wan wear provided slippers if want.
- Some nice rooms. Covered walkway up to a pagoda.
- Took chance to go to quiet toilet. Toilet slippers.
- Big prayer hall nice.
- Outside loop. Pagoda: nice view of city. Ponds.
- Bridge to mini-island with altar.
- Some construction being done.
- Some autumn colours just beginning to turn.
- Tried to find road to the couple of temples in forest, but after some wandering, come to some stairs & paths after some confusing alleys / roads. Nice though, bridge by pond, a temple. Person ringing large bell by large chord as with a few places) worshipping. Some sitting by table & vending machine.
- Continue to main entrance of (look up name, the big temple complex).
- Decide go up gate.
- Very large wooden gate. Access by an exposed staircase from one of the side houses.
- More nice views. Warm, comforting wood. Statues inside (?) (Don’t fully remember. Check up).
- Continue to inner section.
- Beautiful series of rooms with paintings. (Missed first time).
- The zen garden (tiger crossing river or something like that).
- Didn’t go to the side garden (Not mentioned in LP).
- Went by some cool brick aquaducts. Quite a good flow rate. Many people take photos through arches.
- Follow LP instructions to visit the forest shrines.
- Past a shrine & graveyard.
- Forest trail (paved) (with unpaved branches).
- Washing stations along trail.
- A bit spooky alone.
- An altar that you have to pass through.
- Cave with a small waterfall outside. Statues, graves.
- Janitor closet.
- Pass a western couple on way back. Me: “Hello.” They: “Konnichiwa.”
- Glad to be back due to creepiness.
- Did all the main things I wanted. Walk by more temples, by bank of river with fountains, through town. Intl. center & large torii near wity gov. blds.
- Walk by the largest wooden gate, but already closed (5pm). Sit for a rest & use banks of vending machines. Read LP. Quite a few tourists around. Taxis & buses there.
- Sad is closed. Sounds interesting from LP description.
- Continue, now through the familiar territory of the park, old-style streets, tower, etc. Remember making call/rest last time with Ben. Sick. Abt same time & lighting too!
- Lucky idols scattered around with descriptions.
- Still quite a bit of time left before I’m to meet Ben.
- Walk up the shop-lined road, so familiar. Tasty-looking matcha ice cream.
- To my surprise, Kiomizu still open. Open until 6:30.
- Considered get some food first, but then decide not.
- Side section with the love finder test. Lots of myths/idols. Closed? But still lots people go see. Hear about test stones, didn’t see them. Hear about dark room to feel around, didn’t see.
- Cool worship hall with big gong thing.
- Nice lighting, sun setting.
- Sadly, some construction blocking full view.
- Hills with lots of graves in forest. Map of plots.
- Follow trail down to sacred spring.
- Do washing ceremony. Cups in UV sanitizers. Water supposedly sacred and has healing power?
- Brief chat with American / Jap. gf.
- Following trail up, leads to upper outside. If come this way, no ticket needed?
- Walk back through busy town. Familiar. Stores where we had to go to bathroom last time.
- Sit in park by pond, read LP & wait.
- See the temple we missed last time.
- Help girls take photo. “sugoi!”
- Wander alleyways a bit.
- Overhear some talk abt. seeing a geisha from westeners. Wonder if real or tourist geisha.
- Back of pachinko parlour, see balls exchanged in alleyway.
- Cool AC vent w/hot vent right beside.
- Ben arrive. Meet with him.
- Leg worse than ever, been getting worse over time. Happy did not do Fuji, although possibly do-able, just painful.
- Subway station putters had water from the streams flowing down it. Intentional?
- Wanted the Nagoya style izakaya as did not make it to Nagoya.
- Decide on an izikaya with basashi. Some looking & decide on one on main strip.
- Delicious izikaya meal to end a tiring day. Non-stop walking. Not much eating.
- Nice curtained-off booth.
- Y1000 nomihadai (or discount, choice). Quite a few drinks. Surprisingly good drink service. Good variety of things.
- Very salty tako. Fill in detailed survey.
- Decide food good, but nothing extraordinary. Tako too salty.
- Make sure catch last train back.
- Back & sleep. Getting late. Ben has work next day.
- Woke up at decent time after Ben went to work.
- Got lucky & caught most express train to Kobe.
- Fast & smooth. Pass many stations non-stop.
- Section where there is only one track. Wonder where other direction is.
- The train took me to centre of Kyoto.
- Walk to N-S line. Again, familiar outside. Cross the bridge with Kanagawa hangout, Chinese restaurant.
- Notice this train line goes to a station in Osaka too!
- Since did a more Southern loop last time, doing a more Northern loop this time, with Ben rec. go to Silver Pagoda.
- Look for gyu-don. Can’t find! Walk by some random temples, not that interesting. Van selling bento boxes by school. Tempted to take bus, but can’t figure out details. Hot.
- Commercial/store area in front of Ginkakuji.
- Decide go in even though want gyu-don.
- Nice & peaceful. Raked sand patterns. Small trail with forest section & mini waterfall. Not mind blowing but calm & pretty. Nice-ish view of city. Sign point out a tree transplanted from one of the nuclear blast-affected areas.
- Roofs are very pretty & neat.
- No silver panels, construction not as planned (?) (look up history).
- Enjoyed a matcha tea ice cream snack as started on the philosopher’s walk.
- Philosopher’s walk: clear smooth-flowing water. Wavering river weed & some fish.
- Calm tiny path & road beside the channel.
- Walk about ½, but then break to visit shrines up hill.
- Quiet neighbourhood, houses, trees.
- Nice quiet shrine in forest. Raked sand. Moss on thick thached gate roof.
- Fountain with leaf spout.
- Possible monk living quarters, but didn’t go there.
- Continue on philosopher’s walk.
- All temples signposted with history. Most closed to public.
- Walked up a street to find a temple, but just residential area.
- School children in uniforms (returning from lunch?).
- Bump into British (?) couple often.
- Go to the temple with the pagoda with nice view (look up name). Wasn’t going to enter, but then decided why not? Kind of expensive (Y600?).
- Even though I spoke English, attendant gave me a Japanese pamphlet, which I changed for an English one.
- Kind of reminded me of feel of Ginkakuji.
- Grounds divided up into an indoor loop: no shoes, wan wear provided slippers if want.
- Some nice rooms. Covered walkway up to a pagoda.
- Took chance to go to quiet toilet. Toilet slippers.
- Big prayer hall nice.
- Outside loop. Pagoda: nice view of city. Ponds.
- Bridge to mini-island with altar.
- Some construction being done.
- Some autumn colours just beginning to turn.
- Tried to find road to the couple of temples in forest, but after some wandering, come to some stairs & paths after some confusing alleys / roads. Nice though, bridge by pond, a temple. Person ringing large bell by large chord as with a few places) worshipping. Some sitting by table & vending machine.
- Continue to main entrance of (look up name, the big temple complex).
- Decide go up gate.
- Very large wooden gate. Access by an exposed staircase from one of the side houses.
- More nice views. Warm, comforting wood. Statues inside (?) (Don’t fully remember. Check up).
- Continue to inner section.
- Beautiful series of rooms with paintings. (Missed first time).
- The zen garden (tiger crossing river or something like that).
- Didn’t go to the side garden (Not mentioned in LP).
- Went by some cool brick aquaducts. Quite a good flow rate. Many people take photos through arches.
- Follow LP instructions to visit the forest shrines.
- Past a shrine & graveyard.
- Forest trail (paved) (with unpaved branches).
- Washing stations along trail.
- A bit spooky alone.
- An altar that you have to pass through.
- Cave with a small waterfall outside. Statues, graves.
- Janitor closet.
- Pass a western couple on way back. Me: “Hello.” They: “Konnichiwa.”
- Glad to be back due to creepiness.
- Did all the main things I wanted. Walk by more temples, by bank of river with fountains, through town. Intl. center & large torii near wity gov. blds.
- Walk by the largest wooden gate, but already closed (5pm). Sit for a rest & use banks of vending machines. Read LP. Quite a few tourists around. Taxis & buses there.
- Sad is closed. Sounds interesting from LP description.
- Continue, now through the familiar territory of the park, old-style streets, tower, etc. Remember making call/rest last time with Ben. Sick. Abt same time & lighting too!
- Lucky idols scattered around with descriptions.
- Still quite a bit of time left before I’m to meet Ben.
- Walk up the shop-lined road, so familiar. Tasty-looking matcha ice cream.
- To my surprise, Kiomizu still open. Open until 6:30.
- Considered get some food first, but then decide not.
- Side section with the love finder test. Lots of myths/idols. Closed? But still lots people go see. Hear about test stones, didn’t see them. Hear about dark room to feel around, didn’t see.
- Cool worship hall with big gong thing.
- Nice lighting, sun setting.
- Sadly, some construction blocking full view.
- Hills with lots of graves in forest. Map of plots.
- Follow trail down to sacred spring.
- Do washing ceremony. Cups in UV sanitizers. Water supposedly sacred and has healing power?
- Brief chat with American / Jap. gf.
- Following trail up, leads to upper outside. If come this way, no ticket needed?
- Walk back through busy town. Familiar. Stores where we had to go to bathroom last time.
- Sit in park by pond, read LP & wait.
- See the temple we missed last time.
- Help girls take photo. “sugoi!”
- Wander alleyways a bit.
- Overhear some talk abt. seeing a geisha from westeners. Wonder if real or tourist geisha.
- Back of pachinko parlour, see balls exchanged in alleyway.
- Cool AC vent w/hot vent right beside.
- Ben arrive. Meet with him.
- Leg worse than ever, been getting worse over time. Happy did not do Fuji, although possibly do-able, just painful.
- Subway station putters had water from the streams flowing down it. Intentional?
- Wanted the Nagoya style izakaya as did not make it to Nagoya.
- Decide on an izikaya with basashi. Some looking & decide on one on main strip.
- Delicious izikaya meal to end a tiring day. Non-stop walking. Not much eating.
- Nice curtained-off booth.
- Y1000 nomihadai (or discount, choice). Quite a few drinks. Surprisingly good drink service. Good variety of things.
- Very salty tako. Fill in detailed survey.
- Decide food good, but nothing extraordinary. Tako too salty.
- Make sure catch last train back.
- Back & sleep. Getting late. Ben has work next day.
Monday, August 29, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 108
Day 108: (29 August 2011):
- With Ben back to work, slept in a good amount.
- More e-mails for Fuji & SF housing. Directions for Mode-off.
- Bright & hot outside.
- Go to udon place with coworkers. Have cheesu katsu curry udon. Delicious. As Ben said, significantly better than cheap generic curry udon (also tatsy).
- get some final shopping instructions from Ben. Today is Fuji shopping day.
- Go to shinsaibashi / Namba. The bld. with Mode-off closed! Walk around a bit.
- Visit near stores by Dotomburi as there were sporting stores, but then decided wasn’t too interested in the stuff.
- Forgot where I was trying to walk to that day, maybe Ben’s place/Namba(I think) but get somewhat lost.
- Walk & notice maids standing around, and see a maid café. Anime shops. A bit creepy.
- Go one street over: Den-den town. All makes sense now!
- Quick tour of Den-den town.
- Triedly walk to Nmba. (Bld bigger than I expected, approaching from different direction).
- Walk back to Ben’s. More organizational work.
- When Ben comes home, look for food. Choice boiled down to a Korean-ish izakaya & motsunabe place.
- Motsunabe / tepan place. Shoe lockers. Residential bld?
- Sit on floor & eventually, just us in restaurant.
- Nabe. Tepan thing, same as nabe, but in square pan...?
- Chat a bit. I extend stay a bit more than planned.
- Decide go to Kyoto tomorrow, since not leaving Osaka yet.
- Find is very expenlise to Isehara: Shinkansen, no good local way of doing it other than bus to Tokyo.
- Msg. from Frederik. Typhoon. Decide cancel, as Ben & co. say even light rain will make climb bad. Should not attempt. Releived in a way.
- With Ben back to work, slept in a good amount.
- More e-mails for Fuji & SF housing. Directions for Mode-off.
- Bright & hot outside.
- Go to udon place with coworkers. Have cheesu katsu curry udon. Delicious. As Ben said, significantly better than cheap generic curry udon (also tatsy).
- get some final shopping instructions from Ben. Today is Fuji shopping day.
- Go to shinsaibashi / Namba. The bld. with Mode-off closed! Walk around a bit.
- Visit near stores by Dotomburi as there were sporting stores, but then decided wasn’t too interested in the stuff.
- Forgot where I was trying to walk to that day, maybe Ben’s place/Namba(I think) but get somewhat lost.
- Walk & notice maids standing around, and see a maid café. Anime shops. A bit creepy.
- Go one street over: Den-den town. All makes sense now!
- Quick tour of Den-den town.
- Triedly walk to Nmba. (Bld bigger than I expected, approaching from different direction).
- Walk back to Ben’s. More organizational work.
- When Ben comes home, look for food. Choice boiled down to a Korean-ish izakaya & motsunabe place.
- Motsunabe / tepan place. Shoe lockers. Residential bld?
- Sit on floor & eventually, just us in restaurant.
- Nabe. Tepan thing, same as nabe, but in square pan...?
- Chat a bit. I extend stay a bit more than planned.
- Decide go to Kyoto tomorrow, since not leaving Osaka yet.
- Find is very expenlise to Isehara: Shinkansen, no good local way of doing it other than bus to Tokyo.
- Msg. from Frederik. Typhoon. Decide cancel, as Ben & co. say even light rain will make climb bad. Should not attempt. Releived in a way.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 107
Day 107: (28 August 2011):
- Wake up at a descent time again, for Koya San.
- Get to station approx on schedule & catch one of the higher express trains.
- Switch to a local train at a stop. Ad for special sightseeing train. One-sided layout.
- Nice scenery, hills, villages, etc.
- A few stops in middle of forest. Not sure where / why.
- Finally, transfer to a steep cable war for final ascent.
- Ears popping, pretty high. Great view below on way up. See station drop away.
- Turns out need to pay more, fare not enough.
- Take bus: windy bus-only road. To near entrance of main area at far end. See the fare board go up. Strangely, 6 is in kanji while all other stages in arabic numerals.
- Look for food, see lots of tasty stores through town.
- Cheap curry udon. Wait for Alberto to show up.
- While waiting for Alberto, ate vending machine ice cream.
- Bought box (1 of each) of delicious-looking mochi/dessert things.
- Met with Albert at entrance. Photo set-up.
- Lots of graves. This outer portion has a lot of graves set up by companies. Big monuments. Cool statues, (rocket, etc.).
- Debate / discuss if we should take photos. Sign near inner area says appropriate dress / no photos inside, so settle debte.
- Worshipping area. Water on Bhuddah, not sure if ppl. going it right.
- inner area has big temple thing. Pretty cool.
- Downstairs has shelves of small lanterns. Cool.
- The purity test stones. Line too long so didn’t do.
- Wander around outer area.
- Ben overhear a Jap. tourist say is like world of Totoro.
- Huge trees, very cool vibe.
- Old gravestones with Nepalese Bhuddhist symbols.
- Lots of the wood posts with lettering on them.
- Moss. Rock stacking. 1 yen coins in cracks. Very peaceful.
- Some famous / rich / corporate tombs as well.
- Wonder if all the tourists are disturbing their peace.
- Walk outside through town. Info centre. Eat the tasty things.
- Lots of shrines / temples in town, many charging admission.
- Went to the one with a famous Zen garden (2 dragons?).
- Alberto has the book that gets signed & stamped at shrines.
- The cool big red pagoda. A concert (?) was being set up there.
- Road’s “grid problem.”
- Keep walking to main gate. Far. Buy drink from a small supermarket. Shop w/ lots of people, wasn’t sure what. An old wooden gate. Windy road & hill, trail map.
- Find bus station, wait for (last) bus back.
- The dried tofu things in shops.
- Bus stop line.
- Felt we got a pretty good tour. Didn’t warrant an overnight stay (For ~Y10 000).
- Took train back, switch to JR as decide go to Osaka-jo for some kind of light festival. Lament how JR worse than subway.
- Walked through park to castle. Familiar from prev. visit, although this time is at night. Most people heading back now.
- Pics of castle at night.
- Grass & concrete / steps area filled with candle lanterns with writing on them.
- People sitting around. Cool city background.
- Up near castle, some food stalls, hard not to eat, getting very hungry.
- Lanterns placed in patterns, words.
- Long walk to subway. Mildly lost, but used map signs.
- Finally decide eat @ Kurazushi near ben’s.
- After a short wait, really happy to get table. All very hungry!
- Matcha & hot water tap. Sushi on belt, quite a good selection. All Y100.
- Separate orders through screen. Delivered via express cart. Awesome!
- Ate 11 plates, only Y1100, stuffed.
- Plate return slot. Animations with chain mascots, win shinkansen gotchapong.
- More e-mails abt. Fuji. go to sleep very tired.
- Wake up at a descent time again, for Koya San.
- Get to station approx on schedule & catch one of the higher express trains.
- Switch to a local train at a stop. Ad for special sightseeing train. One-sided layout.
- Nice scenery, hills, villages, etc.
- A few stops in middle of forest. Not sure where / why.
- Finally, transfer to a steep cable war for final ascent.
- Ears popping, pretty high. Great view below on way up. See station drop away.
- Turns out need to pay more, fare not enough.
- Take bus: windy bus-only road. To near entrance of main area at far end. See the fare board go up. Strangely, 6 is in kanji while all other stages in arabic numerals.
- Look for food, see lots of tasty stores through town.
- Cheap curry udon. Wait for Alberto to show up.
- While waiting for Alberto, ate vending machine ice cream.
- Bought box (1 of each) of delicious-looking mochi/dessert things.
- Met with Albert at entrance. Photo set-up.
- Lots of graves. This outer portion has a lot of graves set up by companies. Big monuments. Cool statues, (rocket, etc.).
- Debate / discuss if we should take photos. Sign near inner area says appropriate dress / no photos inside, so settle debte.
- Worshipping area. Water on Bhuddah, not sure if ppl. going it right.
- inner area has big temple thing. Pretty cool.
- Downstairs has shelves of small lanterns. Cool.
- The purity test stones. Line too long so didn’t do.
- Wander around outer area.
- Ben overhear a Jap. tourist say is like world of Totoro.
- Huge trees, very cool vibe.
- Old gravestones with Nepalese Bhuddhist symbols.
- Lots of the wood posts with lettering on them.
- Moss. Rock stacking. 1 yen coins in cracks. Very peaceful.
- Some famous / rich / corporate tombs as well.
- Wonder if all the tourists are disturbing their peace.
- Walk outside through town. Info centre. Eat the tasty things.
- Lots of shrines / temples in town, many charging admission.
- Went to the one with a famous Zen garden (2 dragons?).
- Alberto has the book that gets signed & stamped at shrines.
- The cool big red pagoda. A concert (?) was being set up there.
- Road’s “grid problem.”
- Keep walking to main gate. Far. Buy drink from a small supermarket. Shop w/ lots of people, wasn’t sure what. An old wooden gate. Windy road & hill, trail map.
- Find bus station, wait for (last) bus back.
- The dried tofu things in shops.
- Bus stop line.
- Felt we got a pretty good tour. Didn’t warrant an overnight stay (For ~Y10 000).
- Took train back, switch to JR as decide go to Osaka-jo for some kind of light festival. Lament how JR worse than subway.
- Walked through park to castle. Familiar from prev. visit, although this time is at night. Most people heading back now.
- Pics of castle at night.
- Grass & concrete / steps area filled with candle lanterns with writing on them.
- People sitting around. Cool city background.
- Up near castle, some food stalls, hard not to eat, getting very hungry.
- Lanterns placed in patterns, words.
- Long walk to subway. Mildly lost, but used map signs.
- Finally decide eat @ Kurazushi near ben’s.
- After a short wait, really happy to get table. All very hungry!
- Matcha & hot water tap. Sushi on belt, quite a good selection. All Y100.
- Separate orders through screen. Delivered via express cart. Awesome!
- Ate 11 plates, only Y1100, stuffed.
- Plate return slot. Animations with chain mascots, win shinkansen gotchapong.
- More e-mails abt. Fuji. go to sleep very tired.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 106
Day 106: (27 August 2011):
- Wake up @ moderate time in morning (~10am?) to go to Kobe.
- Dog poop. Ruin my view of Japan?
- Considered getting kobe beef, but had slightly blocked nose / slightly sick, so leaning against. Tired still.
- Make our way to Umeda. Try to meet another CanAsian friend of Ben’s, but apparently difficult to arrange things with him.
- Story about a friend who just doesn’t try to learn Japanese. Says English with Japanese accent and hope it works. Even basic food ordering is not done in Japanese.
- Get on one of the better express trains at Umeda.
- Ben tell me of the confusing express system & ranking, with non-descriptive or counterintuitive names.
- Train surprisingly cheap. Only slightly more than the subway ride to station.
- Got in mild AC car, move.
- As per usual in Japan, very on-time, extremely clean & neat.
- Thought the burgundy trains looked very old-fashioned.
- 3-4 trains left at same time. Cool to be part of the “pack” of trains, all leaving ~ same time, same speed across the bridge. (To the place where the pronunciation of the place is strange).
- Train is very smooth & fast. Houses wizz by. Head toward the mountains & hills. Blds on hills & valleys.
- Arrive is busy station. We both struggle in the humid heat. Glad to see it wasn’t just me.
- Walk along a pretty cool & very busy covered arcade.
- Discussions with Canasian friend (Alberto?) continuing.
- 1st stop: Kobe’s famous Chinatown. Hot & sunny.
- Chinatown area has traditional entry gates & blds. Red decorations, lanterns. Strange seeing Chinese greeting & speaking Japanese. Can tell the difference. Almost like they resent repeating so much & getting tired of it.
- Lots of food stores: combo restaurant & snack stand. Fried foods, steamed buns & sheng jian bao seem popular. Pork belly buns & pre-made Peking duck - steamed bread sandwiches. Fake food, as with all restaurants in Japan. Food surprisingly expensive.
- Want to eat at this steamed bun place Ben read about, but very long line in the sun. Decide walk around first. Kobe beef croquette, OK, but I believe Kobe beef should never be ground.
- Finally, decide wait in line. I use umbrella. Statues & pagodas.
- Happy to be inside mildly A/C room, as unbearably hot outside.
- Buns surprisingly cheap. Looks like it’s all they make. Wrapping take-aways in paper together.
- Ordered set of 3 for each. Eat-in. Found a bit of table space. Cup of tea & vineagar.
- Store with panda eating food socks for every Jap. region (almost).
- Surprisingly good, Had that umami taste, in same league as the shen jian bao of Shanghai. Clearly not as good, but remind me of the goodness level of xiao long bao in Shanghai.
- Continue explore the small, but happening & compact area. Useful map signs on streets.
- Suddenly, rain. Duck in a conbini for shelter.
- Ben debating about buying an umbrella: he only believes in the Y100 ones. Then “trade up” as he loses a series of umbrellas at parties, restaurants, etc.
- Seems like some others also hanging out, read magazines.
- Quite enjoyable. Wonder if hanging out in conbinis is acceptable & normal.
- Rain starts, & ends, eventually Ben buys umbrella.
- I’m always jealous of the clear umbrellas in Japan.
- Rain doesn’t continue for that much longer.
- Walk to the water. Cool statues, some cool buildings.
- Hot. Take any chance to go into AC.
- Walk by tower & cruise terminal, then to a cluster of malls. Familiar suburban mall feel, once again, surprisingly busy. These malls are moving the core of Kobe.
- Buy Y1000 shoe inserts to fix “grid problem.” Ben translate for me. Very interesting situation.
- I will climb Mt. Fuji in those shoes? “sugoi!” Seems to be the common reaction I get (Ben’s Jap. friends, co-workers.) Making me very concerned.
- Tired, enjoy sitting on benches under basement escalators by supermarket.
- Cool, “tiered” escalators in mall. Seems inefficient & unnecessary.
- Meet Alberto in mall, he buy a shirt, on sale.
- Decide visit Ijinkan.
- Raining outside again. Looped around through a parking lot accidentally.
- Quite cozy in rain, with low-level hum of people, lights, traffic, trains.
- Left shoe extremely wet. Keep complaining about it. Recurring problem. Even in non-puddle wetness. in SF: investigate, huge gash of poor quality rubber coming apart.
- Increasingly tired, but end up walking entire way.
- Guide arrows / maps on road.
- Getting dark, can’t see much. Didn’t see anything that was obvious colonial foreign houses.
- A bit hilly, small shops. Atmosphere did remind me of SF.
- Walk back in dir. of train station. Decide not hungry enough for cheap all you can eat Kobe yakiniku places.
- Quite a chill but busy environment. Like it very much.
- End up deciding to eat back in Osaka.
- Meet Ben’s friend at Namba. As with all, think I am Japanese & introduce herself in Japanese, ask me, etc.
- 1st place she led us to (in the covered promenade) had long wait but looked very good.
- Settle on okonomiyaki & negiyaki. Spatula tool with “fork” section. Heard from Jap. lady “yakisoba” when Ben translated my Q. Surprised I understood. Ben act as translator again. “Ichiban oishi manjuyaki wa doko desu ka?” meant monjaiyaki. Throughout visit, random phrases, which I have a habit of doing. Best purase” ichiban sugoi ramen wa doko desu ka?
- Negiyaki looked like pile of negi, which magically turned into a pancake.
- Reaction to Fuju plan.
- Drink a bit. Head back after dinner.
- Happy to sleep & rest. Exhausted for some reason.
- Make tentative plans for next day. More Fuji e-mails.
- Getting used to cozy room & bathroom set up.
- Wake up @ moderate time in morning (~10am?) to go to Kobe.
- Dog poop. Ruin my view of Japan?
- Considered getting kobe beef, but had slightly blocked nose / slightly sick, so leaning against. Tired still.
- Make our way to Umeda. Try to meet another CanAsian friend of Ben’s, but apparently difficult to arrange things with him.
- Story about a friend who just doesn’t try to learn Japanese. Says English with Japanese accent and hope it works. Even basic food ordering is not done in Japanese.
- Get on one of the better express trains at Umeda.
- Ben tell me of the confusing express system & ranking, with non-descriptive or counterintuitive names.
- Train surprisingly cheap. Only slightly more than the subway ride to station.
- Got in mild AC car, move.
- As per usual in Japan, very on-time, extremely clean & neat.
- Thought the burgundy trains looked very old-fashioned.
- 3-4 trains left at same time. Cool to be part of the “pack” of trains, all leaving ~ same time, same speed across the bridge. (To the place where the pronunciation of the place is strange).
- Train is very smooth & fast. Houses wizz by. Head toward the mountains & hills. Blds on hills & valleys.
- Arrive is busy station. We both struggle in the humid heat. Glad to see it wasn’t just me.
- Walk along a pretty cool & very busy covered arcade.
- Discussions with Canasian friend (Alberto?) continuing.
- 1st stop: Kobe’s famous Chinatown. Hot & sunny.
- Chinatown area has traditional entry gates & blds. Red decorations, lanterns. Strange seeing Chinese greeting & speaking Japanese. Can tell the difference. Almost like they resent repeating so much & getting tired of it.
- Lots of food stores: combo restaurant & snack stand. Fried foods, steamed buns & sheng jian bao seem popular. Pork belly buns & pre-made Peking duck - steamed bread sandwiches. Fake food, as with all restaurants in Japan. Food surprisingly expensive.
- Want to eat at this steamed bun place Ben read about, but very long line in the sun. Decide walk around first. Kobe beef croquette, OK, but I believe Kobe beef should never be ground.
- Finally, decide wait in line. I use umbrella. Statues & pagodas.
- Happy to be inside mildly A/C room, as unbearably hot outside.
- Buns surprisingly cheap. Looks like it’s all they make. Wrapping take-aways in paper together.
- Ordered set of 3 for each. Eat-in. Found a bit of table space. Cup of tea & vineagar.
- Store with panda eating food socks for every Jap. region (almost).
- Surprisingly good, Had that umami taste, in same league as the shen jian bao of Shanghai. Clearly not as good, but remind me of the goodness level of xiao long bao in Shanghai.
- Continue explore the small, but happening & compact area. Useful map signs on streets.
- Suddenly, rain. Duck in a conbini for shelter.
- Ben debating about buying an umbrella: he only believes in the Y100 ones. Then “trade up” as he loses a series of umbrellas at parties, restaurants, etc.
- Seems like some others also hanging out, read magazines.
- Quite enjoyable. Wonder if hanging out in conbinis is acceptable & normal.
- Rain starts, & ends, eventually Ben buys umbrella.
- I’m always jealous of the clear umbrellas in Japan.
- Rain doesn’t continue for that much longer.
- Walk to the water. Cool statues, some cool buildings.
- Hot. Take any chance to go into AC.
- Walk by tower & cruise terminal, then to a cluster of malls. Familiar suburban mall feel, once again, surprisingly busy. These malls are moving the core of Kobe.
- Buy Y1000 shoe inserts to fix “grid problem.” Ben translate for me. Very interesting situation.
- I will climb Mt. Fuji in those shoes? “sugoi!” Seems to be the common reaction I get (Ben’s Jap. friends, co-workers.) Making me very concerned.
- Tired, enjoy sitting on benches under basement escalators by supermarket.
- Cool, “tiered” escalators in mall. Seems inefficient & unnecessary.
- Meet Alberto in mall, he buy a shirt, on sale.
- Decide visit Ijinkan.
- Raining outside again. Looped around through a parking lot accidentally.
- Quite cozy in rain, with low-level hum of people, lights, traffic, trains.
- Left shoe extremely wet. Keep complaining about it. Recurring problem. Even in non-puddle wetness. in SF: investigate, huge gash of poor quality rubber coming apart.
- Increasingly tired, but end up walking entire way.
- Guide arrows / maps on road.
- Getting dark, can’t see much. Didn’t see anything that was obvious colonial foreign houses.
- A bit hilly, small shops. Atmosphere did remind me of SF.
- Walk back in dir. of train station. Decide not hungry enough for cheap all you can eat Kobe yakiniku places.
- Quite a chill but busy environment. Like it very much.
- End up deciding to eat back in Osaka.
- Meet Ben’s friend at Namba. As with all, think I am Japanese & introduce herself in Japanese, ask me, etc.
- 1st place she led us to (in the covered promenade) had long wait but looked very good.
- Settle on okonomiyaki & negiyaki. Spatula tool with “fork” section. Heard from Jap. lady “yakisoba” when Ben translated my Q. Surprised I understood. Ben act as translator again. “Ichiban oishi manjuyaki wa doko desu ka?” meant monjaiyaki. Throughout visit, random phrases, which I have a habit of doing. Best purase” ichiban sugoi ramen wa doko desu ka?
- Negiyaki looked like pile of negi, which magically turned into a pancake.
- Reaction to Fuju plan.
- Drink a bit. Head back after dinner.
- Happy to sleep & rest. Exhausted for some reason.
- Make tentative plans for next day. More Fuji e-mails.
- Getting used to cozy room & bathroom set up.
Friday, August 26, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 105
Day 105: (26 August 2011):
- Arrange to meet Ben at office for lunch.
- Use morning to sleep in & fix computer (try) & find housing in SF & look for Couchsurfers / Fuji information.
- Meet Ben @ office. Tried to check out a bank for exchange, but didn’t have time. Buy Y850 day pass. Ask station attendant help. Turns out “today only” Y650. Great deal, as Y280 to Ben’s office.
- Try ramen place again, but long line again.
- Okonomiyaki place. Took long time to serve. Pork belly kimchi. Should have gotten gyoza for Y100 extra.
- A bit awkward w/ Japanese vs. English, but OK.
- “That’s a very Markli answer.” Female ask, Ben explain. “So can you say Benli?” Best quote of the trip.
- Had a bit of female’s, as she did not finish. Took 5 extra min to eat, very hot. Feel bad they 15 min late back to work.
- Have the tasty salty litchi drink Ben had night before.
- Take subway to Osaka Port for aquarium. Stop Just before big bridge on an outside portion of rail. Nice view of dense suburbs whizzing by.
- Very guided tour path. According to Ben, all museums & such in Japan all have set up tour paths. Not as free form as the West. Nice walk around. Large rainbow ferris wheel. Other attractions & hotel. Walk around water area. Pretty expensive admission.
- Useful pamphlet. Feeding times. Offer me Chinese pamphlet, I take English.
- Entrance on line up, covered queing area with mist. Busy concourse.
- Smelly forest area on top.
- Giant fish in some exhibits.
- Feeders have sea lions do tricks, feed penguin, the animals climbing all over.
- Children zone in front of windows.
- Lower few floors spiral down, visiting same exhibits at different depths. A bit repetitive.
- Giant central aquarium cool. Huge ray doing flips. Hammerheads. Divers. Whale shark with escorts following (fish). But just swim in circles, & fin is injured. Not as big as expected.
- The cute dorsal finless dolphin. “Hi everybody.” Cartoon character quite cute & amusing, doing diff things in exhibits.
- Turtles & king crabs. Tank filled with small fish.
- Escalator with warning of can’t return afterwards.
- Jellyfish exhibit. The angel-like things very popular. Much smaller than I expected.
- On way out: special “Kawaii” exhibit. See ads in subway.
- Tiny fish. Strange cute blobs. “Kawaii!” from girls few times per minute.
- one small eel-like burrowing fish look in direction I suddenly turn to look in.
- Small jellies also in exhibit.
- Small sea urchin with giant eye-like bulbus thing. Ben says no wonder they make the bosses in videogames in Japan. Turns out bulbous thing is an anus.
- Also cool touch tank where you can touch different sharks & rays after washing hands. Signs indicating where is OK to touch, guy with megaphone constantly saying instructions.
- The ray that flared up & turned away right before get to my hand, I go “ehh?” & a female cracks up beside me.
- Walk around busy plaza a bit. One or two street shows attracting attention.
- Some shopping centres. Had matcha float after some confusion ordering: pointing to pictures, signs, etc.
- Felt comfortable in a modern shopping centre for first time in so long. Kind of like a suburban mall. Surprisingly busy, families.
- Didn’t have that much time left, but decided to go for a quick walk around Tsuruhashi.
- Lots of Korean restaurants as Ben stated, make me hungry. Cool alleyways with lights under train tracks, lots of small stores. Line of restaurants & blds under tracks. Small area, outside is just like typical busy Japan neighbourhood.
- Subway back & meet Ben on time.
- Ben not ready yet. Say hi through window then come down. Stay a bit extra due to late return from lunch.
- Walk around Umeda a bit. Busy/cool place beside / under train tracks.
- Back to meet Ben (of course, constant drinks from vending machines).
- Walk to Umeda. Discuss the 3 colour ramen ranking system. Blue, green, gold. Ramen maps.
- Eat at (3-6-3?), a “green” ranked place. Agreed to rank. Pretty solid ramen, cool room, steamy kitchen, acrylic steam barrier.
- Ben had tsukimen, said it was pretty solid. Of course, more instruction sheets on how to eat tsukimen.
- Decide drink in Namba (or Shinsaibashi?). Cool flourescent tube “chandaliers” in station.
- Find a cheap izakaya. Try chu-hi. Skate wing bones as snack.
- Mini toy vending machines. Get race car card.
- Play games with coins.
- Hinted us to leave (ask us any more orders) as we just drink slowly, not much food. Take their Y280(?) drink deal.
- Walk back. Nice, but far-ish walk. Remind me of walking drunk in Tokyo to our hotel last time.
- Decide go to Kobe tomorrow.
- A CSer going to climb Fuji with me. Can stay at his place for a night. Turns out is close to Tokyo, had impression it was half way.
- Arrange to meet Ben at office for lunch.
- Use morning to sleep in & fix computer (try) & find housing in SF & look for Couchsurfers / Fuji information.
- Meet Ben @ office. Tried to check out a bank for exchange, but didn’t have time. Buy Y850 day pass. Ask station attendant help. Turns out “today only” Y650. Great deal, as Y280 to Ben’s office.
- Try ramen place again, but long line again.
- Okonomiyaki place. Took long time to serve. Pork belly kimchi. Should have gotten gyoza for Y100 extra.
- A bit awkward w/ Japanese vs. English, but OK.
- “That’s a very Markli answer.” Female ask, Ben explain. “So can you say Benli?” Best quote of the trip.
- Had a bit of female’s, as she did not finish. Took 5 extra min to eat, very hot. Feel bad they 15 min late back to work.
- Have the tasty salty litchi drink Ben had night before.
- Take subway to Osaka Port for aquarium. Stop Just before big bridge on an outside portion of rail. Nice view of dense suburbs whizzing by.
- Very guided tour path. According to Ben, all museums & such in Japan all have set up tour paths. Not as free form as the West. Nice walk around. Large rainbow ferris wheel. Other attractions & hotel. Walk around water area. Pretty expensive admission.
- Useful pamphlet. Feeding times. Offer me Chinese pamphlet, I take English.
- Entrance on line up, covered queing area with mist. Busy concourse.
- Smelly forest area on top.
- Giant fish in some exhibits.
- Feeders have sea lions do tricks, feed penguin, the animals climbing all over.
- Children zone in front of windows.
- Lower few floors spiral down, visiting same exhibits at different depths. A bit repetitive.
- Giant central aquarium cool. Huge ray doing flips. Hammerheads. Divers. Whale shark with escorts following (fish). But just swim in circles, & fin is injured. Not as big as expected.
- The cute dorsal finless dolphin. “Hi everybody.” Cartoon character quite cute & amusing, doing diff things in exhibits.
- Turtles & king crabs. Tank filled with small fish.
- Escalator with warning of can’t return afterwards.
- Jellyfish exhibit. The angel-like things very popular. Much smaller than I expected.
- On way out: special “Kawaii” exhibit. See ads in subway.
- Tiny fish. Strange cute blobs. “Kawaii!” from girls few times per minute.
- one small eel-like burrowing fish look in direction I suddenly turn to look in.
- Small jellies also in exhibit.
- Small sea urchin with giant eye-like bulbus thing. Ben says no wonder they make the bosses in videogames in Japan. Turns out bulbous thing is an anus.
- Also cool touch tank where you can touch different sharks & rays after washing hands. Signs indicating where is OK to touch, guy with megaphone constantly saying instructions.
- The ray that flared up & turned away right before get to my hand, I go “ehh?” & a female cracks up beside me.
- Walk around busy plaza a bit. One or two street shows attracting attention.
- Some shopping centres. Had matcha float after some confusion ordering: pointing to pictures, signs, etc.
- Felt comfortable in a modern shopping centre for first time in so long. Kind of like a suburban mall. Surprisingly busy, families.
- Didn’t have that much time left, but decided to go for a quick walk around Tsuruhashi.
- Lots of Korean restaurants as Ben stated, make me hungry. Cool alleyways with lights under train tracks, lots of small stores. Line of restaurants & blds under tracks. Small area, outside is just like typical busy Japan neighbourhood.
- Subway back & meet Ben on time.
- Ben not ready yet. Say hi through window then come down. Stay a bit extra due to late return from lunch.
- Walk around Umeda a bit. Busy/cool place beside / under train tracks.
- Back to meet Ben (of course, constant drinks from vending machines).
- Walk to Umeda. Discuss the 3 colour ramen ranking system. Blue, green, gold. Ramen maps.
- Eat at (3-6-3?), a “green” ranked place. Agreed to rank. Pretty solid ramen, cool room, steamy kitchen, acrylic steam barrier.
- Ben had tsukimen, said it was pretty solid. Of course, more instruction sheets on how to eat tsukimen.
- Decide drink in Namba (or Shinsaibashi?). Cool flourescent tube “chandaliers” in station.
- Find a cheap izakaya. Try chu-hi. Skate wing bones as snack.
- Mini toy vending machines. Get race car card.
- Play games with coins.
- Hinted us to leave (ask us any more orders) as we just drink slowly, not much food. Take their Y280(?) drink deal.
- Walk back. Nice, but far-ish walk. Remind me of walking drunk in Tokyo to our hotel last time.
- Decide go to Kobe tomorrow.
- A CSer going to climb Fuji with me. Can stay at his place for a night. Turns out is close to Tokyo, had impression it was half way.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 104
Day 104: (25 August 2011):
- Records starting to get sparse, writing in Early Nov. After starting work in SF.
- Ben was right, very dark in morning. Go back to sleep after Ben leaves for work.
- Arrange to meet Ben at a ramen place he’s been meaning to try at work but always has line.
-Check Google maps. Walked in wrong dir. from subway, but eventually found. Familiar ticketing system, atmosphere on streets, etc.
- Sit @ park across & Ben & coworkers arrive in a few min. Line too long. (Wait - did Ben’s co-workers show up this day? I don’t think so).
- One female “eingo-ninja.” One male, tiny bit of English. Exchange office. Nervous bowing.
- Go to tantan tsekimen place instead. 1-10 rated spicyness, black & white sesame. White (& any milder versions in Japan) for women. Also a 20 spicy black available from machine.
- Luckily, 3 black was the special (1 special per friday), only Y500.
- Amazingly tasty. Sesame water to accompany.
- Glad whenever indoors, as Osaka is surprisingly hot & humid. Sweating even when standing still.
- Grind your own sesame. Crispy rice soaked delicious.
- Set of rules & steps written on how to eat. Seems there are instructions (often with cartoons) in lots of restaurants.
- Short discussion of what to ho.
- Decide take slow walk/back, take subway if necessary.
- Easy directions from Ben. Show me where his office is. Walk to Umeda. Familiar. Yodobashi.
- Walked around Umeda for a while getting lost. Osaka station: underground surprisingly busy. Hanshin store. Look for bank / exchange. No real good rates.
- Decide may as well visit Sky Bld. Underground walkway with painted progress indicators on walls. Construction.
- Some kind of Science of Doraemon exhibit. Lots of kids & balloons.
- Go in lobby, directed me to outside up escalators. Decide take a look at Showa street underground, as written in Ben’s LP.
- Nothing too exciting. Some places with good atmosphere, but small. Good number of food stalls.
- Up to sky lobby. Cool glass elevator tube / shaft. Futuristic escalator tube with Japanese announcements. Very overhyped in LP, as usual.
- Buy ticket. Up to observation deck.
- Indoor deck has small viewing platforms & cafe. Overrun by kids from Doraemon exhibit.
- Nice views from inside deck, glass pretty clean.
- Outside deck dissappointing. Small circle track on square roof, so roof gets in way of view. Cool seeing down the open ring tough (through glass).
- Futuristic sounding announcements.
- lots of bridges. Lines of multiple trains constantly going in & out of station.
- See the bld with highway on ramp going through it again.
- Building with cathederal on it.
- Stayed a while to enjoy view & try compare view with map.
- Harbour & hills in distance. Dramatic clouds.
- Cool down a bit in Yodobashi. Song. Familiar bright busy store. Gotchapong lanes.
- See a few cool alleyways. Arrive at island park with city hall.
- Nice small park. Bridge joins a small garden section. Water sculpture show is just a big hose.
- Rest, read LP. Concrete shores nice effect against tidy blds.
- Bridge off island. Shinsaibashi to Namba very happening, big busy covered promenades.
- Should have stopped for some mochi & taiyaki, but still getting used to Japan (again).
- Lots of cool alleyways.
- Dotomburi.
- Walk back, pretty tired.
- Ben try to look for a summer festival, may have found one. Didn’t have much time to rest, meet Ben at subway stop.
- Not many snack stalls. Some kind of show. Lots of lanterns. People dressed up in traditional costumes.
- Tako sandwich with no takoyaki (ran out. Discounted price). Forgot to put mayonaise on mine, as expected, friendly, apologise, “will put on a lot!” Ben translate for me.
- Didn’t stay long, as is not the summer festival Ben hoped for.
- Walked to Americamura, familiar concrete triangle park. So strange to be back there with Ben again.
- Real tako sandwich. Delicious.
- Went to a motsunabe place he liked with Kevin (for some reason Kevin is recorded as Ken in a few places in notes). Happy to sit from day of walking.
- 2 nabes. Salty but delicious soup.
- Due to miscommunication, they gave us more salty soup, when we meant to say we were finishing the bit left. Lots of umami flavour. Surprisingly, the cheaper nabe was better than the spicy nabe. Hot gasses blowing in my face. Cool exhaust pipes.
- Quick walk through Nipponbashi / Den-Den Town. Ice cream bar. Mostly closed, but still some open. Smaller version of Akihabara. Cool covered sidewalks.
- Head back full & over salted. Also tired.
- Got a drink or two from supermarket. Fake beer, Autumn beers, chu-hi.
- Records starting to get sparse, writing in Early Nov. After starting work in SF.
- Ben was right, very dark in morning. Go back to sleep after Ben leaves for work.
- Arrange to meet Ben at a ramen place he’s been meaning to try at work but always has line.
-Check Google maps. Walked in wrong dir. from subway, but eventually found. Familiar ticketing system, atmosphere on streets, etc.
- Sit @ park across & Ben & coworkers arrive in a few min. Line too long. (Wait - did Ben’s co-workers show up this day? I don’t think so).
- One female “eingo-ninja.” One male, tiny bit of English. Exchange office. Nervous bowing.
- Go to tantan tsekimen place instead. 1-10 rated spicyness, black & white sesame. White (& any milder versions in Japan) for women. Also a 20 spicy black available from machine.
- Luckily, 3 black was the special (1 special per friday), only Y500.
- Amazingly tasty. Sesame water to accompany.
- Glad whenever indoors, as Osaka is surprisingly hot & humid. Sweating even when standing still.
- Grind your own sesame. Crispy rice soaked delicious.
- Set of rules & steps written on how to eat. Seems there are instructions (often with cartoons) in lots of restaurants.
- Short discussion of what to ho.
- Decide take slow walk/back, take subway if necessary.
- Easy directions from Ben. Show me where his office is. Walk to Umeda. Familiar. Yodobashi.
- Walked around Umeda for a while getting lost. Osaka station: underground surprisingly busy. Hanshin store. Look for bank / exchange. No real good rates.
- Decide may as well visit Sky Bld. Underground walkway with painted progress indicators on walls. Construction.
- Some kind of Science of Doraemon exhibit. Lots of kids & balloons.
- Go in lobby, directed me to outside up escalators. Decide take a look at Showa street underground, as written in Ben’s LP.
- Nothing too exciting. Some places with good atmosphere, but small. Good number of food stalls.
- Up to sky lobby. Cool glass elevator tube / shaft. Futuristic escalator tube with Japanese announcements. Very overhyped in LP, as usual.
- Buy ticket. Up to observation deck.
- Indoor deck has small viewing platforms & cafe. Overrun by kids from Doraemon exhibit.
- Nice views from inside deck, glass pretty clean.
- Outside deck dissappointing. Small circle track on square roof, so roof gets in way of view. Cool seeing down the open ring tough (through glass).
- Futuristic sounding announcements.
- lots of bridges. Lines of multiple trains constantly going in & out of station.
- See the bld with highway on ramp going through it again.
- Building with cathederal on it.
- Stayed a while to enjoy view & try compare view with map.
- Harbour & hills in distance. Dramatic clouds.
- Cool down a bit in Yodobashi. Song. Familiar bright busy store. Gotchapong lanes.
- See a few cool alleyways. Arrive at island park with city hall.
- Nice small park. Bridge joins a small garden section. Water sculpture show is just a big hose.
- Rest, read LP. Concrete shores nice effect against tidy blds.
- Bridge off island. Shinsaibashi to Namba very happening, big busy covered promenades.
- Should have stopped for some mochi & taiyaki, but still getting used to Japan (again).
- Lots of cool alleyways.
- Dotomburi.
- Walk back, pretty tired.
- Ben try to look for a summer festival, may have found one. Didn’t have much time to rest, meet Ben at subway stop.
- Not many snack stalls. Some kind of show. Lots of lanterns. People dressed up in traditional costumes.
- Tako sandwich with no takoyaki (ran out. Discounted price). Forgot to put mayonaise on mine, as expected, friendly, apologise, “will put on a lot!” Ben translate for me.
- Didn’t stay long, as is not the summer festival Ben hoped for.
- Walked to Americamura, familiar concrete triangle park. So strange to be back there with Ben again.
- Real tako sandwich. Delicious.
- Went to a motsunabe place he liked with Kevin (for some reason Kevin is recorded as Ken in a few places in notes). Happy to sit from day of walking.
- 2 nabes. Salty but delicious soup.
- Due to miscommunication, they gave us more salty soup, when we meant to say we were finishing the bit left. Lots of umami flavour. Surprisingly, the cheaper nabe was better than the spicy nabe. Hot gasses blowing in my face. Cool exhaust pipes.
- Quick walk through Nipponbashi / Den-Den Town. Ice cream bar. Mostly closed, but still some open. Smaller version of Akihabara. Cool covered sidewalks.
- Head back full & over salted. Also tired.
- Got a drink or two from supermarket. Fake beer, Autumn beers, chu-hi.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 103
Day 103: (24 August 2011):
- Wake up pretty early. Pack up remaining items left to dry overnight.
- Meet da bo & he take me to taxi & tell driver where to go.
- We find Anding building & he drop me off. Ask, find bus stop.
- Buy ticket from attendant standing there.
- Bus not full, comfortable ride to airport. Lots of taxis.
- Buy bunch of food/snacks for Ben.
- Try find breakfast but nothing I like: all western food.
- Finally time came to board. Gate 50 open close to boarding. I went in wrong line first. Turns out is kind of domestic flight. Strange gate configuration. Short flight to Qingdao. Surprised no meal.
- Collected @ gate, walked in group out & through security & customs to connecting flight.
- Straight to boarding. Surprised they schedualled it so tight.
- Meal on flight. Lots of Japanese, even on connecting flight on Beijing.
- Arrive Osaka just before 4pm. Customs: passport getting dangerously full.
- Excited to see Ben, but at same time, weary of travel already lost the excitement & feel like want to go home to work. Also worried about visa issues, etc.
- Bought phone card, surprisingly expensive. Should have just used coins.
- Ben will probably get home same time as I arrive. Plan will meet there.
- Pretty smooth finding train, etc. Familiar tickets. Knew the drill by now. Later: realized can just put all coins in machine at same time. Forget to take change once. Ben say I fast. Joke I just throw coins at machine & usually enough get in the slot for ticket. Didn’t take buses. Causeway over buses. Info desk & map.
- View of “Lego houses.” Bridge from airport. Not just an airport train, but one of the expresses.
- Mildly air conditioned, bit too warm for comfort.
- Confusing express ratings, start to understand eventually.
- Transfer to Midosuji @ Namba. One station to Daikokucho.
- Used Ben’s directions, but didn’t find obvious place. Turns out house name, “Apple House,” not displayed. Addresses on small green plates.
- Look for payphone, none in station, eventually found at Life supermarket.
- Y100 call. Better deal than card. “Safeway-like” or “crazy Japanese with lots of flashing lights?”
- See Ben as walk out towards station. Happy to see him.
- Very small room with mat on floor, bathroom, unused kitchen area.
- I am getting increasingly tired.
- Went to Don Quixhote (familiar & exotic multi-floor Japanese shop.) to get air mattress. Tell me about all his air mattress capers when others & Kevin was there.
- Walking tour of Shinsakai, previous era associations. “Unsafe” for Japan standards & unkept, but not too bad in my opinion & Ben’s.
- Showed me the outside of the expensive spa complex too. Looks like a mall. Supposedly has waterlsides, etc.
- Ate at famous kushiyaki place (Daruma?). Short chat with some exchange person from Chicago. Ben says similar to the less famous places. Fried stuff & cabbage dipped in the communal sauce. Deliceous. Beef appetizer.
- Some goes with sauce.
- Set up air mattress & sleep. Chair cushion that was not so good for pillow.
- Pretty much no floor space left in Ben’s room.
- Warned me of darkness in morning. Balconey faces concrete wall. Washer drains on balconey: normal. Booties (silicone) on balconey.
- Wake up pretty early. Pack up remaining items left to dry overnight.
- Meet da bo & he take me to taxi & tell driver where to go.
- We find Anding building & he drop me off. Ask, find bus stop.
- Buy ticket from attendant standing there.
- Bus not full, comfortable ride to airport. Lots of taxis.
- Buy bunch of food/snacks for Ben.
- Try find breakfast but nothing I like: all western food.
- Finally time came to board. Gate 50 open close to boarding. I went in wrong line first. Turns out is kind of domestic flight. Strange gate configuration. Short flight to Qingdao. Surprised no meal.
- Collected @ gate, walked in group out & through security & customs to connecting flight.
- Straight to boarding. Surprised they schedualled it so tight.
- Meal on flight. Lots of Japanese, even on connecting flight on Beijing.
- Arrive Osaka just before 4pm. Customs: passport getting dangerously full.
- Excited to see Ben, but at same time, weary of travel already lost the excitement & feel like want to go home to work. Also worried about visa issues, etc.
- Bought phone card, surprisingly expensive. Should have just used coins.
- Ben will probably get home same time as I arrive. Plan will meet there.
- Pretty smooth finding train, etc. Familiar tickets. Knew the drill by now. Later: realized can just put all coins in machine at same time. Forget to take change once. Ben say I fast. Joke I just throw coins at machine & usually enough get in the slot for ticket. Didn’t take buses. Causeway over buses. Info desk & map.
- View of “Lego houses.” Bridge from airport. Not just an airport train, but one of the expresses.
- Mildly air conditioned, bit too warm for comfort.
- Confusing express ratings, start to understand eventually.
- Transfer to Midosuji @ Namba. One station to Daikokucho.
- Used Ben’s directions, but didn’t find obvious place. Turns out house name, “Apple House,” not displayed. Addresses on small green plates.
- Look for payphone, none in station, eventually found at Life supermarket.
- Y100 call. Better deal than card. “Safeway-like” or “crazy Japanese with lots of flashing lights?”
- See Ben as walk out towards station. Happy to see him.
- Very small room with mat on floor, bathroom, unused kitchen area.
- I am getting increasingly tired.
- Went to Don Quixhote (familiar & exotic multi-floor Japanese shop.) to get air mattress. Tell me about all his air mattress capers when others & Kevin was there.
- Walking tour of Shinsakai, previous era associations. “Unsafe” for Japan standards & unkept, but not too bad in my opinion & Ben’s.
- Showed me the outside of the expensive spa complex too. Looks like a mall. Supposedly has waterlsides, etc.
- Ate at famous kushiyaki place (Daruma?). Short chat with some exchange person from Chicago. Ben says similar to the less famous places. Fried stuff & cabbage dipped in the communal sauce. Deliceous. Beef appetizer.
- Some goes with sauce.
- Set up air mattress & sleep. Chair cushion that was not so good for pillow.
- Pretty much no floor space left in Ben’s room.
- Warned me of darkness in morning. Balconey faces concrete wall. Washer drains on balconey: normal. Booties (silicone) on balconey.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 102
Day 102: (23 August 2011):
- Pass through Beijing South again. In time to catch 1st bus.
- Pretty quiet that early in morning. Still dark when we start.
- Get to da bo’s. Soy milk. Breakfast @ fast food chain place. Buy shoes.
- Sat at da bo’s until hotel ready. Washed some clothes.
- Turns out dad had to make a run to a company, so left before noon.
- Day of rest in hotel. Lunch w/ da bo. Some fast restaurant, quite good, lots of his co-workers go.
- Internet. Nap. Bluescreen on wake up. Can no longer boot computer. Very bad timing.
- Try find food for Ben, no real good stuff.
- Dinner at Szechuan restaurant. Expensive, well known. Some less pricy but very tasty dishes. Donkey. Da bo says some inappropriate things: Best donkey skin whipped, erect donkey penis cut off, abt be not finding virgin, etc. More & more lean to have me find a gf from everyone.
- Cousin pay me a visit late @ night. Sleep @ 11-12. Early start for tomorrow too.
- Pass through Beijing South again. In time to catch 1st bus.
- Pretty quiet that early in morning. Still dark when we start.
- Get to da bo’s. Soy milk. Breakfast @ fast food chain place. Buy shoes.
- Sat at da bo’s until hotel ready. Washed some clothes.
- Turns out dad had to make a run to a company, so left before noon.
- Day of rest in hotel. Lunch w/ da bo. Some fast restaurant, quite good, lots of his co-workers go.
- Internet. Nap. Bluescreen on wake up. Can no longer boot computer. Very bad timing.
- Try find food for Ben, no real good stuff.
- Dinner at Szechuan restaurant. Expensive, well known. Some less pricy but very tasty dishes. Donkey. Da bo says some inappropriate things: Best donkey skin whipped, erect donkey penis cut off, abt be not finding virgin, etc. More & more lean to have me find a gf from everyone.
- Cousin pay me a visit late @ night. Sleep @ 11-12. Early start for tomorrow too.
Monday, August 22, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 101
Day 101: (22 August 2011):
- Drop bags off @ reception for storage. Storage tickets. Breakfasts have pretty good choice. Remember first day happy compared to North Korea. Random Chinese hotel compared to what is probably NK’s best hotel.
- Take bus to near train station. Over 1hr wait. Others also getting concerned. #8 bus.
- Old bus show up. Extremely bumpy ride after turn off to dirt road.
- Piles of garbage dumped over walls down hill.
- Out to the countryside. Passed a surprisingly large city/town.
- See small dirt structures on hills, signal towers?
- get off @ a town. Thought dad had plan/knew where we are going, but turns out not.
- Nice gates at some villages.
- Ask directions in village. Dusty, empty.
- Small shop accessed through a room with bed, weed stove & traditional “kang.” Two old people chatting.
- Person had heavy accent, could not write, but pointed us in a direction. Dad bought a old-looking bottle of Coke on shelf.
- Since said was only 2-3 li, walk.
- Dad wave down a taxi, we decide take ride, he seems to knew where old Great Wall is.
- Pretty far drive, past a factory. Turns out is the coal washing factory Da Bo described to us (?).
- Drive almost to Fengzhen. Down a side driveway with a tourist sign of old Great Wall area.
- Turns out we get dropped off at #8 bus terminus stop.
- Walk through small quaint village with brick / mud blds. Past cool gate & wall.
- Farming village, see fields around.
- Past village, fields, then big wall. Another cool gate.
- Walk through field & up wall.
- Series of walled-off areas. Maybe for traps? Villages? Now all fields.
- Different crops, sorghum, millet, etc.
- Use umbrella against sun when outside village.
- Climb around walls.
- Cool other small village. View of train tracks, cows, Inner Mongolia just across & up hills. Storage sheds.
- Another walled off area: old bricks & tile pieces. Some with parts of words embossed. Old artefacts or recent rubbish?
- See an old wall with large letters carved. From communist times?
- Walk by rows of garden sheds. Modernish road reminds me of suburbs. Sheep droppings.
- Walk past tall old wall into cool abandoned section of village.
- Short chat with some Czech backpackers who hitchhiked here from Inner Mongolia - how did they do that?
- Walking back through town, didn’t take a great photo op of old man sitting with his donkey. Dad take photos of sheep herder.
- Wait at bus stop for a while, then dad ask ladies across street. Turns out bus not coming for a couple of hours at 4:30pm.
- Walk down road & hail passing bus on highway, by recommendation of ladies. See all forms of vehicles carrying coal, from large trucks to old tractors. Small coal pieces on road, very light & feels almost like charcoal.
- Hard to differentiate between buses & trucks.
- 8 van stopped for us, we took last 2 seats.
- Drove straight back to station in Datong. My fold out seat had no back rest. Took a height-limited route through dusty villages (& rubbish on ground), lots of van buses running this route.
- Took cab back to hotel area.
- Walk to explore new walls. As a taxi driver says, crazy the walls were taken down by the Gang of Four onlf a few decades ago, and now they are being reconstructed.
- Very large construction project. Thick walls. Passes (arches) for roads. Pagodas on walls. Will circle all of city centre. Plan is to replace all blds enclosed by walls with old-style blds. Lucky all high rises were built outside of walls.
- Find Internet (place being renovated) & MaDaHa Hotpot from Wikitravel. Dad constantly busy on phone, e-mail. LP place gone, moved, as is part of new renovated area.
- Buy some melons from vendor in truck just outside walls.
- Find hotpot place, still 1hr from serving time.
- Walk around town plaza a bit to wait.
- go back for hotpot. Still sit & wait a bit before start.
- Nothing that special. Somewhat pricy. Donkey pastry.
- Walk around a bit. Final pics of temple by the public square.
- Pick up stuff @ hotel. Bus to train station.
- 1hr early. Try find place for a tea/soda/etc. Can’t.
- See dao xian mian restaurant with noodle-making robot.
- Sit & write in public square in front of station. Difficult, as most surfaces are quite dirty.
- Most uncomfortable train ride ever. “Overhang” seats. Smelly feet/shoes. Crowded. Some people stand entire night.
- Half sleep/awake. Quiet cities & towns roll by outside, with some action at stations.
- Drop bags off @ reception for storage. Storage tickets. Breakfasts have pretty good choice. Remember first day happy compared to North Korea. Random Chinese hotel compared to what is probably NK’s best hotel.
- Take bus to near train station. Over 1hr wait. Others also getting concerned. #8 bus.
- Old bus show up. Extremely bumpy ride after turn off to dirt road.
- Piles of garbage dumped over walls down hill.
- Out to the countryside. Passed a surprisingly large city/town.
- See small dirt structures on hills, signal towers?
- get off @ a town. Thought dad had plan/knew where we are going, but turns out not.
- Nice gates at some villages.
- Ask directions in village. Dusty, empty.
- Small shop accessed through a room with bed, weed stove & traditional “kang.” Two old people chatting.
- Person had heavy accent, could not write, but pointed us in a direction. Dad bought a old-looking bottle of Coke on shelf.
- Since said was only 2-3 li, walk.
- Dad wave down a taxi, we decide take ride, he seems to knew where old Great Wall is.
- Pretty far drive, past a factory. Turns out is the coal washing factory Da Bo described to us (?).
- Drive almost to Fengzhen. Down a side driveway with a tourist sign of old Great Wall area.
- Turns out we get dropped off at #8 bus terminus stop.
- Walk through small quaint village with brick / mud blds. Past cool gate & wall.
- Farming village, see fields around.
- Past village, fields, then big wall. Another cool gate.
- Walk through field & up wall.
- Series of walled-off areas. Maybe for traps? Villages? Now all fields.
- Different crops, sorghum, millet, etc.
- Use umbrella against sun when outside village.
- Climb around walls.
- Cool other small village. View of train tracks, cows, Inner Mongolia just across & up hills. Storage sheds.
- Another walled off area: old bricks & tile pieces. Some with parts of words embossed. Old artefacts or recent rubbish?
- See an old wall with large letters carved. From communist times?
- Walk by rows of garden sheds. Modernish road reminds me of suburbs. Sheep droppings.
- Walk past tall old wall into cool abandoned section of village.
- Short chat with some Czech backpackers who hitchhiked here from Inner Mongolia - how did they do that?
- Walking back through town, didn’t take a great photo op of old man sitting with his donkey. Dad take photos of sheep herder.
- Wait at bus stop for a while, then dad ask ladies across street. Turns out bus not coming for a couple of hours at 4:30pm.
- Walk down road & hail passing bus on highway, by recommendation of ladies. See all forms of vehicles carrying coal, from large trucks to old tractors. Small coal pieces on road, very light & feels almost like charcoal.
- Hard to differentiate between buses & trucks.
- 8 van stopped for us, we took last 2 seats.
- Drove straight back to station in Datong. My fold out seat had no back rest. Took a height-limited route through dusty villages (& rubbish on ground), lots of van buses running this route.
- Took cab back to hotel area.
- Walk to explore new walls. As a taxi driver says, crazy the walls were taken down by the Gang of Four onlf a few decades ago, and now they are being reconstructed.
- Very large construction project. Thick walls. Passes (arches) for roads. Pagodas on walls. Will circle all of city centre. Plan is to replace all blds enclosed by walls with old-style blds. Lucky all high rises were built outside of walls.
- Find Internet (place being renovated) & MaDaHa Hotpot from Wikitravel. Dad constantly busy on phone, e-mail. LP place gone, moved, as is part of new renovated area.
- Buy some melons from vendor in truck just outside walls.
- Find hotpot place, still 1hr from serving time.
- Walk around town plaza a bit to wait.
- go back for hotpot. Still sit & wait a bit before start.
- Nothing that special. Somewhat pricy. Donkey pastry.
- Walk around a bit. Final pics of temple by the public square.
- Pick up stuff @ hotel. Bus to train station.
- 1hr early. Try find place for a tea/soda/etc. Can’t.
- See dao xian mian restaurant with noodle-making robot.
- Sit & write in public square in front of station. Difficult, as most surfaces are quite dirty.
- Most uncomfortable train ride ever. “Overhang” seats. Smelly feet/shoes. Crowded. Some people stand entire night.
- Half sleep/awake. Quiet cities & towns roll by outside, with some action at stations.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
2011 - NZ To SF - Day 100
Day 100: (21 August 2011):
- Morning: Take bus to one of the bus stations.
- Was worried about ID req’s as sign suggested ID, but never checked.
- Not long until bus leaves, so got on bus. Buses in China are usually surprisingly modern, but sometimes not well maintained.
- Driving out of the city, see wide avenue, new highways, bridges, new decorations/lights on road & lots of construction outside city walls. Old city wall.
- Stopped at an outer bus station just outside walls near shopping plaza. Bus now full.
- Nice long drive. Some traditional houses/villages en route. Offer pay 5RMB each he’ll get us to hanging monastery.
- Suddenly hit hills. Windy road & villages below. Bus stop to pick some one up at edge of road / let ppl off, etc.
- See massive new highway w/ bridges & tunnels under construction.
- Town is kind of out of the way down road.
- Made 2(?) stops, moto-taxis waiting for bus.
- Drop us off a bus stop. Transfer us to a taxi. Dad didn’t realise this is what’s going on.
- Drive up to monastery includes pitch of us to go up mountain for a pretty high price. Tell us we don’t have to go in, best view is outside.
- 150 RMB admission. Toilet stalls w/ plastic bags? Someone cleaning or emptying bucket below.
- Walk around a bit. Pagoda. Photos.
- Large dam & huge tunnel entrance. Under construction?
- From map, mountain does not seem far. Just past dam. Looked at map after coming back.
- Stairs, nice view at bottom, look up.
- go in, follow a path around narrow ways.
- Very crowded, wonder if designed for this load.
- Wonder where the money is going & what happened to monks.
- Narrow ways. Small rooms (statues) & walk over roofs.
- See the wood beam-in-cliff structure holding temple. Wonder why they added the extra thin long supports.
- Mix of Dao, Buddhist, Confucianism items.
- Some rooms have great wood carvings, very complex, painted. Roof patterns, beams, etc.
- Near end, a front passage & pack passage against cliff.
- Gift shop, etc. Stamps w/ hanging temple. Seems stamps are always popular & sold in Chinese gift shops. Lots of tickets also serve as post cards.
- Cool cliff staircase w/ wood stairs above section.
- Overall, cool, but small.
- Bathroom break for both, wait @ pagoda.
- More selling abt. trip to mountain. Agree to take us back for 20.
- We get in car, & he go to pull other people.
- Joined by a couple who will go to mountain. He drive us back first with couple in car. Tell them it won’t take long.
- Not long wait for bus to wooden tower. Leave very soon so get on bus.
- Short drive just out of town then stop, tell us going to the end town to transfer.
- Follow person down dirt track to a minibus parked under bridge in shade. Ahead is sand tarp or inflatable barrier, then water.
- Wait a while, some more people board.
- Perhaps other bus is making room for more pick-ups & this is express? Turns out is prob. Not the case. Mysterious transfers.
- Bus drive to road & tell us to get off again.
- Wait a bit & transfer to yet another bus.
- This time, we actually head off to the town. & make it in OK time.
- See signs to tower in town. Get dropped off relatively central, after making a few stops.
- Also a small nice old-style town centre. Feel is that this tower is the lifeblood of town, drawing visitors.
- Town dirty: garbage on streets, kids pee, dogs poop, etc.
- Find a (chain) restaurant to eat.
- Tower very old. Now can only go to 3rd floor, some renovation above.
- Old dark steep staircase. Statues in centre.
- Nice view of surrounds. Old village atmosphere. New big temple.
- Tower obviously leaning, cracks & small “crunches” in beams.
- Tall statues & paintings on ground floor.
- Turns out tower hit with cannon during some war. See obvious damage outside. Looks like close to collapse.
- Decide go see buddhist relics. Extra 100 RMB / person.
- Small room. Low security. Some photos of relic in detail. Adjascent room with relic. Very unimpressive, but cool there were 2 relics & where they were found. Dad wonder if they are real, seeing the low security measures. Feels is a bit of a rip off.
- Walk around a bit more & decide to head back.
- Took a “super tuk-tuk_ to bus station.
- Waited. pretty dirty. Bit smelly due to bathroom inside. Pear. Ask for extra RMB 1 each for highway, or get off bus.
- Took bus back. Guy talk to me. Me nervous due to imperfect Chinese. Gave directions. But went with dad’s plan, as not really listening to them for some reason. So get off bus a bit early. (One stop or two?)
- See a cool street market. Ate “dou mian” at a chain-like place.
- Walk back, buy more water, as usal & go to sleep.
- In non-deluxe room now. only diff I can see is no computer & fancy shampoo/soap. One floor higher, directly above prev. room.
- Morning: Take bus to one of the bus stations.
- Was worried about ID req’s as sign suggested ID, but never checked.
- Not long until bus leaves, so got on bus. Buses in China are usually surprisingly modern, but sometimes not well maintained.
- Driving out of the city, see wide avenue, new highways, bridges, new decorations/lights on road & lots of construction outside city walls. Old city wall.
- Stopped at an outer bus station just outside walls near shopping plaza. Bus now full.
- Nice long drive. Some traditional houses/villages en route. Offer pay 5RMB each he’ll get us to hanging monastery.
- Suddenly hit hills. Windy road & villages below. Bus stop to pick some one up at edge of road / let ppl off, etc.
- See massive new highway w/ bridges & tunnels under construction.
- Town is kind of out of the way down road.
- Made 2(?) stops, moto-taxis waiting for bus.
- Drop us off a bus stop. Transfer us to a taxi. Dad didn’t realise this is what’s going on.
- Drive up to monastery includes pitch of us to go up mountain for a pretty high price. Tell us we don’t have to go in, best view is outside.
- 150 RMB admission. Toilet stalls w/ plastic bags? Someone cleaning or emptying bucket below.
- Walk around a bit. Pagoda. Photos.
- Large dam & huge tunnel entrance. Under construction?
- From map, mountain does not seem far. Just past dam. Looked at map after coming back.
- Stairs, nice view at bottom, look up.
- go in, follow a path around narrow ways.
- Very crowded, wonder if designed for this load.
- Wonder where the money is going & what happened to monks.
- Narrow ways. Small rooms (statues) & walk over roofs.
- See the wood beam-in-cliff structure holding temple. Wonder why they added the extra thin long supports.
- Mix of Dao, Buddhist, Confucianism items.
- Some rooms have great wood carvings, very complex, painted. Roof patterns, beams, etc.
- Near end, a front passage & pack passage against cliff.
- Gift shop, etc. Stamps w/ hanging temple. Seems stamps are always popular & sold in Chinese gift shops. Lots of tickets also serve as post cards.
- Cool cliff staircase w/ wood stairs above section.
- Overall, cool, but small.
- Bathroom break for both, wait @ pagoda.
- More selling abt. trip to mountain. Agree to take us back for 20.
- We get in car, & he go to pull other people.
- Joined by a couple who will go to mountain. He drive us back first with couple in car. Tell them it won’t take long.
- Not long wait for bus to wooden tower. Leave very soon so get on bus.
- Short drive just out of town then stop, tell us going to the end town to transfer.
- Follow person down dirt track to a minibus parked under bridge in shade. Ahead is sand tarp or inflatable barrier, then water.
- Wait a while, some more people board.
- Perhaps other bus is making room for more pick-ups & this is express? Turns out is prob. Not the case. Mysterious transfers.
- Bus drive to road & tell us to get off again.
- Wait a bit & transfer to yet another bus.
- This time, we actually head off to the town. & make it in OK time.
- See signs to tower in town. Get dropped off relatively central, after making a few stops.
- Also a small nice old-style town centre. Feel is that this tower is the lifeblood of town, drawing visitors.
- Town dirty: garbage on streets, kids pee, dogs poop, etc.
- Find a (chain) restaurant to eat.
- Tower very old. Now can only go to 3rd floor, some renovation above.
- Old dark steep staircase. Statues in centre.
- Nice view of surrounds. Old village atmosphere. New big temple.
- Tower obviously leaning, cracks & small “crunches” in beams.
- Tall statues & paintings on ground floor.
- Turns out tower hit with cannon during some war. See obvious damage outside. Looks like close to collapse.
- Decide go see buddhist relics. Extra 100 RMB / person.
- Small room. Low security. Some photos of relic in detail. Adjascent room with relic. Very unimpressive, but cool there were 2 relics & where they were found. Dad wonder if they are real, seeing the low security measures. Feels is a bit of a rip off.
- Walk around a bit more & decide to head back.
- Took a “super tuk-tuk_ to bus station.
- Waited. pretty dirty. Bit smelly due to bathroom inside. Pear. Ask for extra RMB 1 each for highway, or get off bus.
- Took bus back. Guy talk to me. Me nervous due to imperfect Chinese. Gave directions. But went with dad’s plan, as not really listening to them for some reason. So get off bus a bit early. (One stop or two?)
- See a cool street market. Ate “dou mian” at a chain-like place.
- Walk back, buy more water, as usal & go to sleep.
- In non-deluxe room now. only diff I can see is no computer & fancy shampoo/soap. One floor higher, directly above prev. room.
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