Well, I completed my 2 days of diving at the reef today. I can officially scratch another thing of my bucket list: Scuba Diving and the Great Barrier Reef!
I was pretty tense going in because I thought I would probably get sea sick and I hate that feeling, so I didn't really enjoy the first few dives. Crowded boats, nervous tension, cold wetsuits, forgotten material from my pool dives... by lunch I was contemplating skipping day 2. But by the time I finished the 3rd dive yesterday afternoon, I was quite enjoying myself. I got used to the rythm of who goes on deck when, when and how to get ready for my dives, remembered what I was supposed to be doing in the water, and generally just relaxed as I realized the motion sickness medication was doing it's job quite well. Plus the spot we went to after lunch may as well have been a pool it was so calm.
In fact, I'm starting to think I have a horse shoe growing out of my butt as just about everything on this trip has been going perfectly (aside from the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon being closed). The waters were so calm that even the crew was excited because they got to go to sites that some of them had never been able to go to before. They said this was as calm as it ever gets, and even last week the water was really choppy with lots of people were getting sick on the boat. Perfect timing for me!! The calmness also means underwater visibility was "amazing" to quote my dive instructor. Couldn't ask for anything better!
Have to admit though, it didn't really look any different than other reefs I've snorkeled in, but it certainly was bigger. I guess I thought "Great" meant it would be the most spectacular thing on Earth, but apparently "Great" just means "Super-Duper-Big". And that it was. The size, combined with the visiblity made for some very memorable views. Saw a shark on my first dive, giant (and I mean GIANT) clams, eels, and an incredible array of colorful fish and corals. Even found Nemo hiding in a soft coral plant exactly the same as in the movie!
Anyway, long story short, I completed my dives and am now a PADI certified open water diver. It felt surprisingly rewarding to get out of the water and have all the crew congratulating me, I wasn't expecting that. I went with Tusa diving, and would highly recommend them. Very friendly and helpful crew, good food, and I got my own private instructor for all 4 of my certification dives. They even let me go back out for a free guided dive with the other certified divers this afternoon since I was done my training. Incidentally, it is A LOT more fun Scuba diving when you get to just explore the reef and swim between the nooks and crannies instead of stopping to show you can clear your mask or retrieve your regulator multiple times.
Tommorrow I'll have to put on some clothes again (haven't showered or dressed in days, just been hanging out in my swimmers and t-shirt since I got here!) and join a day trip to the Daintree Rainforest. That's my mandatory decompression day before flying so that I can exhale all the excess nitrogen in my blood, as well as allow my jaw to re-align... does anyone else find their bite is all screwed up after snorkeling/diving, or am I just biting on the regulator too hard???
Day after that I fly to Sydney to Keep Up With the Joneses. I figure that'll be when I finally start getting more pictures up again. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Crashing in Cairns
I'm not one to complain about crying babies on flights. I don't have trouble tuning it out. Besides, they are babies, that's what they do.
However I learned on the overnight flight from Osaka to Cairns there's a difference between crying babies and screaming ones. Man that kid had a set of lungs!
After getting all of 3 or 4 hours of very poor sleep on the flight, I caught a cab to the Mantra Esplanade, quite impressed how quickly my "travel-light" methodology got me from plane to hotel... even with having to clear customs it was barely more than 20 minutes. That's when I realized that nothing is open in Cairns at 5:30 in the morning, including the hotels. So much for my hope of checking in early to get a few more hours of sleep. I managed to find a few chairs beside each other on the mezzanine, pulled out my trusting ear plugs, night shade and inflatable travel pillow, and conked out for about 2 and half hours. That inflatable pillow is unquestionably the best $3 I have ever spent in my entire life! Packs light and has probably doubled my in-transit sleeping hours the last 12 months.
Anyway, I've got a day to just relax and meander around the harbour here, who's beauty so far is matched only by the weather... highs of 27 and lows of 20, with sun and a sea breeze to boot it can't be beat. Tomorrow I catch a ship to the Great Barrier Reef where, if I'm not incapacitated by sea sickness, I'll do the first of my 2 days of Open Water dives to complete the SCUBA certification I started in January. I'd make some joke about hoping to see a shark, but truthfully I get pretty creeped out looking at all that alien stuff down there. It's amazing and I relish the experience, but it gives me the willies. I expect to have nightmares afterwards.
Oh, and yesterday was pretty near the perfect day to end the Japan trip. I made it out to Nara, the first Imperial capital of Japan, some 1300 years ago. The number of deer dwarfed Miyajima, and inspite of the rain, I think it was the most scenic and serene spot I saw in Japan. We also took in the Great Buddha Temple, Tujaido or something like that. That sucker is HUGE. I knew it was supposed to be big but it exceeded my expectations by a mile. I've never seen anything like that and I could have just stood and stared at it all day. At over 15 meters tall, it's the largest bronze buddha in the world, housed in the largest all wood building in the world. Definitely one of the highlights of my time in Japan.
We made it back to Osaka with just enough time to do the Doctor Fish thing I mentioned earlier. Fairly expensive for a 10 minute experience, but totally worth it. If I ever manage to get my phone online, I'll get a video up on that. I'm probably overdue for some more pictures too.
But first I'm overdue for some laundry so time to go check in...
However I learned on the overnight flight from Osaka to Cairns there's a difference between crying babies and screaming ones. Man that kid had a set of lungs!
After getting all of 3 or 4 hours of very poor sleep on the flight, I caught a cab to the Mantra Esplanade, quite impressed how quickly my "travel-light" methodology got me from plane to hotel... even with having to clear customs it was barely more than 20 minutes. That's when I realized that nothing is open in Cairns at 5:30 in the morning, including the hotels. So much for my hope of checking in early to get a few more hours of sleep. I managed to find a few chairs beside each other on the mezzanine, pulled out my trusting ear plugs, night shade and inflatable travel pillow, and conked out for about 2 and half hours. That inflatable pillow is unquestionably the best $3 I have ever spent in my entire life! Packs light and has probably doubled my in-transit sleeping hours the last 12 months.
Anyway, I've got a day to just relax and meander around the harbour here, who's beauty so far is matched only by the weather... highs of 27 and lows of 20, with sun and a sea breeze to boot it can't be beat. Tomorrow I catch a ship to the Great Barrier Reef where, if I'm not incapacitated by sea sickness, I'll do the first of my 2 days of Open Water dives to complete the SCUBA certification I started in January. I'd make some joke about hoping to see a shark, but truthfully I get pretty creeped out looking at all that alien stuff down there. It's amazing and I relish the experience, but it gives me the willies. I expect to have nightmares afterwards.
Oh, and yesterday was pretty near the perfect day to end the Japan trip. I made it out to Nara, the first Imperial capital of Japan, some 1300 years ago. The number of deer dwarfed Miyajima, and inspite of the rain, I think it was the most scenic and serene spot I saw in Japan. We also took in the Great Buddha Temple, Tujaido or something like that. That sucker is HUGE. I knew it was supposed to be big but it exceeded my expectations by a mile. I've never seen anything like that and I could have just stood and stared at it all day. At over 15 meters tall, it's the largest bronze buddha in the world, housed in the largest all wood building in the world. Definitely one of the highlights of my time in Japan.
We made it back to Osaka with just enough time to do the Doctor Fish thing I mentioned earlier. Fairly expensive for a 10 minute experience, but totally worth it. If I ever manage to get my phone online, I'll get a video up on that. I'm probably overdue for some more pictures too.
But first I'm overdue for some laundry so time to go check in...
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Over and Out in Osaka
We arrived today in our final destination: Osaka. Near as I can tell, it's a mini version of Tokyo, although the shopping districts (Den Den Town and Dotombori) seem to have more strange and wonderful things around than the rest of the country we've seen combined.
We actually got here yesterday, but only stayed for about 10 minutes before boarding another train to Koya-San. No bullet trains this time, just a local train. Picture riding the c-train all the way to Banff and you wouldn't be far off.
Koya-San is the birthplace of Buddhism in Japan, so aside from one small street with restaurants and shops (population ~4000), its full of monastaries, temples, and not much else. That's not a bad thing though. Very quiet and relaxing. We spent most of the day in transit getting there from Hiroshima, then toured a couple temples before heading to the monastery we were staying at. I was picturing some remote mountain place a la Tibet, but it was actually more close to the ryokan we stayed at in Hakone, including the sleeping mat on the floor, but add in monks that prepare and serve your food. The meal was very much like the one I loved so much in Hakone too, except vegetarian. I enjoyed it, as well as the vegetarian breakfast as well, but not everyone agreed. I am pretty sure I'm the only one on this trip who has managed to gain weight. It's all been delicious as far as I'm concerned.
Other than a creepy night-time walk through the cemetery culminating in a short stop at the temple where Kukai, who brought Buddhism to Japan from China some 800 years ago, is said to still be meditating, the real highlight was this morning.
We were awakened at half-six (as my British travelmates like to say), and called to prayers. We sat in a room filled with shrines as 3 monks entered the room, knelt before the shrines, and commenced a kind of song/prayer I had never heard before. Imagine an Asian flavoured Gregorian chant and you'd be pretty close. No cameras allowed unfortunately, it would have been great to record. It's still ringing in my ears. After about 20 minutes of that, we were invited to move forward and take a pinch of incense to sprinkle on what must have been hot ashes, because it went up in smoke as soon as it landed, releasing a wonderful smell that eventually filled the whole room, all whilst the monks continued their prayers. I doubt that's something the average tourist gets to experience, but I thought it a grand experience and left for the train station smiling at how fortunate and blessed I am to be able to do something like this. Not even 25% done, it's already been an incredible trip!
Not much to say about Osaka... Dotombori and Den Den seem like cool areas to explore, but the only thing I was aware of here was the aquarium (supposed to one of the largest in the world, complete with giant manta rays and 2 whale sharks), so my room-mate Lee and I headed there to kill the afternoon before re-joining the group for The Last Supper. Dinner was a total gong-show and even with a guide to translate we couldn't seem to communicate with them at all. Eventually the manager had to come out to settle the bill given all the items we'd ordered and been charged for, even though they were never delivered. A fairwell night of course isn't complete without another round of Karoeke, so we headed off to find that before bidding everyone good-bye. This one actually had a Crash Test Dummies song on tap, so I managed to hold my own better than last time.
Our group tour is now technically over, although several people are spending a few extra days here. A couple of us are going to try to do an early morning trip to Nara as I've heard that's a nice place, and hopefully get back in time to find some doctor fish before heading to the airport for my overnight flight to Cairns.
Thus begins the next leg of my adventure: Australia. I have a free day in Cairns so I'll hopefully get some more photos up before trying my hand at scuba diving. Stay tuned...
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Phinally Photos!!!
I know I tend to ramble, and it's much nicer to look at pictures, so I've got a few of them up for you at the link below. Sorry for the wait. It's not terribly organized, but it does cover everything up to Hiroshima.
Incidentally, you can probably go up a level to see (way too many) pics from my trip last year. One of these days I'll get all my pics online and organized.
Let me know if you can't access this. If you are working at Shell though, please call the helpdesk first and have them submit an incident ticket to the HAHAIMHEREYOURNOT que.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ashbygreg/Japan#
Incidentally, you can probably go up a level to see (way too many) pics from my trip last year. One of these days I'll get all my pics online and organized.
Let me know if you can't access this. If you are working at Shell though, please call the helpdesk first and have them submit an incident ticket to the HAHAIMHEREYOURNOT que.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ashbygreg/Japan#
Hello from Hiroshima
We arrived in Hiroshima yesterday, passing through Himeji and Kobe enroute. The famous Himeji Castle was spotted. The famous Kobe beef was not. I tried, but we only had 10 minutes at the train station.
We had a great group activity last night, starting with an okonomiyaki dinner before heading to Karoke! They have places here where there are rooms upon rooms of Karoke stations you can rent by the hour for a group, so then you only embarrass yourself in front of the people you know and have to see again instead of the people you don't. All you can drink for the hour included for 1000Yen/person. I had never worked up the guts to do it on stage before but it seemed safe enough in a private room so I gave it go and tried to sing along with one of my travel mates, Dean. I didn't know such a thing was possible in non-competitive Karoke, but I got absolutely schooled in Bohemian Rhapsody. I can carry a tune alright, but that guy can really sing!
Loads of fun, and if that kind of establishment were available in Calgary, I could actually see myself imbibing again back home.
This morning was Miyajimi Island. More crowded than I was expecting, but I don't know what I was smoking to be expecting a non-crowded tourist spot in Japan. None the less, it was great, and I could have spent an entire day there easily. Aside from the usual temple-hopping, there was great little streets filled with shops and restaurants. The highlight though was the local deer that are tame enough you could take them home as pets. Someone told me you can even hug them so I decided to try. Surprisingly, it is actually true!
After some sushi for lunch, we headed to the Memorial Peace Park. Hiroshima of course being famous as the site of the first atomic bomb explosion, it was something I had been looking forward to. I almost dozed off on the tram ride over so I was pretty groggy when I got there, but seeing the site of the 'Atomic Dome' brought me racing back to a very contemplative reality. It's one of the few buildings within a kilometer of the epicenter of the explosion that wasn't completely destroyed, although it may as well have been. Instead, what remained was kept as a memorial of the event, and it definitely gives you a sense of the force the bomb unleashed. We also toured through the museum, which was both fascinating and gut-wrenching. I'm not sure if even the Holocaust museums I have seen evoked such strong emotion in me. Enough anger to want to punch someone, enough sadness to want to cry, enough shock to feel sick to my stomach... it's unreal. Don't really know what else to say, other than you can not come to Japan and not go through it. IMHO.
Me being me, I was the last one out of the museum. We were on our own after that so most of the group had skadaddled, but I managed to catch up with one of the girls from the group. We did the necessary debriefing after seeing all that, then strolled past the Hiroshima castle since I had yet to see a Japanese castle. I saw a couple on the bullet train, but 'seeing' something from a bullet train window is a bit of a misnomer. The one today doesn't really count either as it was a reconstruction. Based on the before and after city models in the museum, the original vanished when the bomb was dropped. New one looks nice though. Then we strolled through the nightlife district of Hiroshima, which was quite something. Japan seems very conservative, organized, and efficient, but this area was a little more loud, neon-lighted, and chaotic. It felt like we had left the 'Western' part of South-East Asia and ventured much deeper in... except not really because we still didn't have to think twice about safety. Nice place to grab dinner (Pumpkin Pasta!) before catching the tram back again.
Tommorrow we head out bright and early for one of the ever-growing list of highlights on this trip: Koya-San. I'm not entirely sure what awaits us, other than we have to transfer something like 4 times to get there before ending up at a mountain monastery where we will spend the night hanging with some Buddhist monks, and I believe getting to observe their morning prayers the next day. Couple of ealy mornings coming up, so I should crash...
but first, yes, I have managed to get some pics uploaded... more details in a bit.
We had a great group activity last night, starting with an okonomiyaki dinner before heading to Karoke! They have places here where there are rooms upon rooms of Karoke stations you can rent by the hour for a group, so then you only embarrass yourself in front of the people you know and have to see again instead of the people you don't. All you can drink for the hour included for 1000Yen/person. I had never worked up the guts to do it on stage before but it seemed safe enough in a private room so I gave it go and tried to sing along with one of my travel mates, Dean. I didn't know such a thing was possible in non-competitive Karoke, but I got absolutely schooled in Bohemian Rhapsody. I can carry a tune alright, but that guy can really sing!
Loads of fun, and if that kind of establishment were available in Calgary, I could actually see myself imbibing again back home.
This morning was Miyajimi Island. More crowded than I was expecting, but I don't know what I was smoking to be expecting a non-crowded tourist spot in Japan. None the less, it was great, and I could have spent an entire day there easily. Aside from the usual temple-hopping, there was great little streets filled with shops and restaurants. The highlight though was the local deer that are tame enough you could take them home as pets. Someone told me you can even hug them so I decided to try. Surprisingly, it is actually true!
After some sushi for lunch, we headed to the Memorial Peace Park. Hiroshima of course being famous as the site of the first atomic bomb explosion, it was something I had been looking forward to. I almost dozed off on the tram ride over so I was pretty groggy when I got there, but seeing the site of the 'Atomic Dome' brought me racing back to a very contemplative reality. It's one of the few buildings within a kilometer of the epicenter of the explosion that wasn't completely destroyed, although it may as well have been. Instead, what remained was kept as a memorial of the event, and it definitely gives you a sense of the force the bomb unleashed. We also toured through the museum, which was both fascinating and gut-wrenching. I'm not sure if even the Holocaust museums I have seen evoked such strong emotion in me. Enough anger to want to punch someone, enough sadness to want to cry, enough shock to feel sick to my stomach... it's unreal. Don't really know what else to say, other than you can not come to Japan and not go through it. IMHO.
Me being me, I was the last one out of the museum. We were on our own after that so most of the group had skadaddled, but I managed to catch up with one of the girls from the group. We did the necessary debriefing after seeing all that, then strolled past the Hiroshima castle since I had yet to see a Japanese castle. I saw a couple on the bullet train, but 'seeing' something from a bullet train window is a bit of a misnomer. The one today doesn't really count either as it was a reconstruction. Based on the before and after city models in the museum, the original vanished when the bomb was dropped. New one looks nice though. Then we strolled through the nightlife district of Hiroshima, which was quite something. Japan seems very conservative, organized, and efficient, but this area was a little more loud, neon-lighted, and chaotic. It felt like we had left the 'Western' part of South-East Asia and ventured much deeper in... except not really because we still didn't have to think twice about safety. Nice place to grab dinner (Pumpkin Pasta!) before catching the tram back again.
Tommorrow we head out bright and early for one of the ever-growing list of highlights on this trip: Koya-San. I'm not entirely sure what awaits us, other than we have to transfer something like 4 times to get there before ending up at a mountain monastery where we will spend the night hanging with some Buddhist monks, and I believe getting to observe their morning prayers the next day. Couple of ealy mornings coming up, so I should crash...
but first, yes, I have managed to get some pics uploaded... more details in a bit.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Konichiwa from Kyoto
Logistics first:
- I just realized I had comments locked down... its open to all now so feel free to post away
- Still no Internet access for my phone so no pictures yet, although I just noticed the computer I'm using might have a way to connect it, so there's a chance I might be able to get some up if I have a spot of time in the morning before we head on to Hiroshima...
Kyoto:
Ignoramious that I am, I knew absolutely nothing about Japan before I decide to come here. I knew of Tokyo and wanted to go there. I figured Hiroshima would be an interesting spot. But all the tours I looked at spent hardly any time in Tokyo and more time in some place called Kyoto which I thought very strange and perhaps even annoying.
Now I understand why. Edumacation is a thing good.
Kyoto was the Imperial capital before it moved to Tokyo, and it has shrines and temples coming out the ying-yang. At least as much, possibly even more so, than Europe has churches. Look up 'things to do in Kyoto' and guaranteed the top 10 will be temples, shrines, or castles. I suspect one could stay here an entire month and still not have seen them all.
We took in the Golden Temple, Daikaito Zen Garden, Chiochi Temple and Kuyamuzu Temple, each one quite the experience. I probably completely butchered those last 3, but I've left my notes in my hotel room so I can't remember their correct names. The Golden Temple you've likely seen before in pictures, even I had. But again, no picture does it justice, not even the really good ones. Beautiful is the only word that came to mind.
The real highlight for me today though was hanging out in Gion. It was the first real city area I've seen that was completely modern, with quaint little streets and shops. Kinda like Europe, except Asian. I could have spent a week there just meandering. We wandered back at dusk as we'd been told you might get lucky and spot an official Geisha. We did, and Geisha-spotting became something of a game all evening. Quite addictive at that to be honest... although admittedly it lost some appeal once we realized it wasn't quite as rare and difficult as we were led to believe. Jolly good fun though, a definite highlight of the tour thus far.
I've heard it said that if you only have time for 1 city in Japan, make it Kyoto. After today, I have to whole-heartedly agree. I'll see if that holds up for the rest of the trip, but this may have been my most enjoyable day of the trip thus far. Nothing quite as amazing as the ryokan, but just a great day of touring with the group, free time to explore on our own, and the ambiance of what felt more Asian than Western. I think I finally felt like I'd left the busyness of life and schedules behind today, and have begun to just live and be again.
Sianara,
Greg
PS. I got talking with one of our guides, Aussie Charlie, today and found out he had been a successful financial analyst before a charitable fund-raising trip to Cambodia changed his life and he resigned to do this and 3rd world volunteer work instead... not to scare anyone back in the office... just saying...
- I just realized I had comments locked down... its open to all now so feel free to post away
- Still no Internet access for my phone so no pictures yet, although I just noticed the computer I'm using might have a way to connect it, so there's a chance I might be able to get some up if I have a spot of time in the morning before we head on to Hiroshima...
Kyoto:
Ignoramious that I am, I knew absolutely nothing about Japan before I decide to come here. I knew of Tokyo and wanted to go there. I figured Hiroshima would be an interesting spot. But all the tours I looked at spent hardly any time in Tokyo and more time in some place called Kyoto which I thought very strange and perhaps even annoying.
Now I understand why. Edumacation is a thing good.
Kyoto was the Imperial capital before it moved to Tokyo, and it has shrines and temples coming out the ying-yang. At least as much, possibly even more so, than Europe has churches. Look up 'things to do in Kyoto' and guaranteed the top 10 will be temples, shrines, or castles. I suspect one could stay here an entire month and still not have seen them all.
We took in the Golden Temple, Daikaito Zen Garden, Chiochi Temple and Kuyamuzu Temple, each one quite the experience. I probably completely butchered those last 3, but I've left my notes in my hotel room so I can't remember their correct names. The Golden Temple you've likely seen before in pictures, even I had. But again, no picture does it justice, not even the really good ones. Beautiful is the only word that came to mind.
The real highlight for me today though was hanging out in Gion. It was the first real city area I've seen that was completely modern, with quaint little streets and shops. Kinda like Europe, except Asian. I could have spent a week there just meandering. We wandered back at dusk as we'd been told you might get lucky and spot an official Geisha. We did, and Geisha-spotting became something of a game all evening. Quite addictive at that to be honest... although admittedly it lost some appeal once we realized it wasn't quite as rare and difficult as we were led to believe. Jolly good fun though, a definite highlight of the tour thus far.
I've heard it said that if you only have time for 1 city in Japan, make it Kyoto. After today, I have to whole-heartedly agree. I'll see if that holds up for the rest of the trip, but this may have been my most enjoyable day of the trip thus far. Nothing quite as amazing as the ryokan, but just a great day of touring with the group, free time to explore on our own, and the ambiance of what felt more Asian than Western. I think I finally felt like I'd left the busyness of life and schedules behind today, and have begun to just live and be again.
Sianara,
Greg
PS. I got talking with one of our guides, Aussie Charlie, today and found out he had been a successful financial analyst before a charitable fund-raising trip to Cambodia changed his life and he resigned to do this and 3rd world volunteer work instead... not to scare anyone back in the office... just saying...
Monday, May 17, 2010
High on Hakone
Yesterday I found out our guide was taking us to Harajuku before we left Tokyo, which was an area I had already been too. So had several others... apparently lots of us flew in a day or 2 early. So the four Canadians on the tour banded together and headed for Asakusa to see Sensoji Temple. If you are coming here, that's gotta go on your must see list. The temple exterior was covered up for reconstruction, but the 5 story pagoda and the market streets were the highligh of Tokyo for me. There were several groups of Japanese in short Kimonos (and I do mean short) carrying shrines down the narrow streets, about 20 people to a shrine, hopping up and down and chanting 'Asakusa, Asakusa'. I got some good footage that I'd love to post but haven't been able to get my phone online yet, but I'll get it up when I can. At any rate, that was the moment I really felt like I was in Japan!
We hopped on board the bullet train in the afternoon and heading for Hakone (pronounced with 3 syllables, and yes, it's a place, not a substance :) From what I can tell, it's like a Banff for Tokyo. This may have been the single best night in all my travels thus far!
- we stayed in a Royukan, a traditional Japanese guest house. Everything is screen doors, floors are mats and you aren't allowed to wear shoes on, tables are nay high off the floor so you sit cross-legged on a little pillow. My bunk-mate Lee and I were blown away at the size of our rooms: a sleeping area, a large central room complete with table and cushions for tea, a sun room, bathroom, etc. Might have even been romantic if we hadn't just met... and we both weren't dudes. :)
- after exploring the area a bit we found out there was a monkey on the roof so we went up to take pictures, then realized there were 2 more up there. I guess that's the Japanese equivalent to spotting elk in Banff townsite, except these guys make eye contact and come right up to the window. One of them was less than 10 feet away and staring at us, I thought he might even try to jump in before he jumped in the trees right beside us instead. VERY cool!
- the experience just got better at dinner. We were provided with Kimonos in our room so we kimono'd up and grabbed a spot on the floor for dinner. Each person in our group got their own setting which was something like 10 plates, including one that had a candle under it cooking some pork and vegetables. My personal favorite was the sushi... a few slabs of some kind of white fish on top of an entire whole fish that had its belly meat sliced up and deboned, ready to be plucked and eaten raw, skin and all, with head still attached looking at you. It was hands down the best sushi I have ever had in my life. More and more plates of unidentified food kept coming out until I was beyond stuffed. I've lost count of how many things I've eaten without knowing what it was, but there were several times last night I leaned back, closed my eyes and moaned as I savored it. Absolutely delicious! I was quite surprised to find out I was the most adventerous eater at our table... strange considering how picky an eater I was just a few years ago... I may not be able to stick to my plan of not gaining any weight on this trip.
- the ryukan also had it's own onsen... basically a Japanese natural hotspring. Separate ones for the guys and gals, because apparently here you nude-up, scrub down, and get in. Well... when in Rome... interesting way to get to know your new travelmates!
In short, it was an incredible night!
This morning we headed for a train and boat trip around Hakone to get views on Mt. Fuji. It's renowned for being covered in cloud a lot, and our guide said on 7 trips she's done this far, she's only seen it once. Well, we must have gotten lucky because we got some tremendous views of it. I wasn't expecting much because (a) every description said not to get your hopes up and (b) it's just a mountain right? The first spotting had me eating my words... I was quite taken back by the sight. Even when I get pictures up it won't do it justice, nor did any other pictures I've ever seen of it. Massive and Majestic is probably the best description I can manage. A definite highlight, and one sight that I'm sure will remain with me for years.
After a comical bus trip back to the train station... check that, some people rode the bus, myself and some of the other guys walked it because we couldn't all fit on... we caught the bullet train to Kyoto. Not much to report here yet but we did go out to a Japanese pub for dinner and ate more delicious and strange foods. I never would have thought of grilling avacado but that was... I gotta stop saying delicious, but that's what it was. Not the popcorn chicken tendons, or whatever that was. I'll leave that and the gizzards alone from now on, although I was one of the few who got it down. This has been easily the best Japanese food I've eaten... even the miso soup at breakfast was the best I'd ever had... although maybe the experience is just biasing my tastebuds.
More from Kyoto later... this is the old Imperial City so I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Sianara!
We hopped on board the bullet train in the afternoon and heading for Hakone (pronounced with 3 syllables, and yes, it's a place, not a substance :) From what I can tell, it's like a Banff for Tokyo. This may have been the single best night in all my travels thus far!
- we stayed in a Royukan, a traditional Japanese guest house. Everything is screen doors, floors are mats and you aren't allowed to wear shoes on, tables are nay high off the floor so you sit cross-legged on a little pillow. My bunk-mate Lee and I were blown away at the size of our rooms: a sleeping area, a large central room complete with table and cushions for tea, a sun room, bathroom, etc. Might have even been romantic if we hadn't just met... and we both weren't dudes. :)
- after exploring the area a bit we found out there was a monkey on the roof so we went up to take pictures, then realized there were 2 more up there. I guess that's the Japanese equivalent to spotting elk in Banff townsite, except these guys make eye contact and come right up to the window. One of them was less than 10 feet away and staring at us, I thought he might even try to jump in before he jumped in the trees right beside us instead. VERY cool!
- the experience just got better at dinner. We were provided with Kimonos in our room so we kimono'd up and grabbed a spot on the floor for dinner. Each person in our group got their own setting which was something like 10 plates, including one that had a candle under it cooking some pork and vegetables. My personal favorite was the sushi... a few slabs of some kind of white fish on top of an entire whole fish that had its belly meat sliced up and deboned, ready to be plucked and eaten raw, skin and all, with head still attached looking at you. It was hands down the best sushi I have ever had in my life. More and more plates of unidentified food kept coming out until I was beyond stuffed. I've lost count of how many things I've eaten without knowing what it was, but there were several times last night I leaned back, closed my eyes and moaned as I savored it. Absolutely delicious! I was quite surprised to find out I was the most adventerous eater at our table... strange considering how picky an eater I was just a few years ago... I may not be able to stick to my plan of not gaining any weight on this trip.
- the ryukan also had it's own onsen... basically a Japanese natural hotspring. Separate ones for the guys and gals, because apparently here you nude-up, scrub down, and get in. Well... when in Rome... interesting way to get to know your new travelmates!
In short, it was an incredible night!
This morning we headed for a train and boat trip around Hakone to get views on Mt. Fuji. It's renowned for being covered in cloud a lot, and our guide said on 7 trips she's done this far, she's only seen it once. Well, we must have gotten lucky because we got some tremendous views of it. I wasn't expecting much because (a) every description said not to get your hopes up and (b) it's just a mountain right? The first spotting had me eating my words... I was quite taken back by the sight. Even when I get pictures up it won't do it justice, nor did any other pictures I've ever seen of it. Massive and Majestic is probably the best description I can manage. A definite highlight, and one sight that I'm sure will remain with me for years.
After a comical bus trip back to the train station... check that, some people rode the bus, myself and some of the other guys walked it because we couldn't all fit on... we caught the bullet train to Kyoto. Not much to report here yet but we did go out to a Japanese pub for dinner and ate more delicious and strange foods. I never would have thought of grilling avacado but that was... I gotta stop saying delicious, but that's what it was. Not the popcorn chicken tendons, or whatever that was. I'll leave that and the gizzards alone from now on, although I was one of the few who got it down. This has been easily the best Japanese food I've eaten... even the miso soup at breakfast was the best I'd ever had... although maybe the experience is just biasing my tastebuds.
More from Kyoto later... this is the old Imperial City so I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Sianara!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Touchdown in Tokyo
It's 11PM on Saturday here... I think that means it's about 8AM Saturday in Calgary, so I should be just waking up, but instead I'm getting ready for bed. This is the first time I've crossed the international date line and it's doing a real number on my sense of time. I haven't had any issues sleeping though... after waking up at the crack of dawn this morning and having breakfast, I figured I'd take a quick nap... which ended up lasting till 2PM. So much for getting here a day early to explore Tokyo on my own! :)
I did get out after that though. Road the train from Shinagawa Station (across from my hotel) to Shibuya, walked to Omotosande then to Harajuku, then up through the Meiji Gardens, then on to Shinjuku. Then headed back on the train to my hotel to meet my group for dinner. Seems like a good bunch of people. Lots from England, a couple of us Canadians, and a sprinkling of Aussies, South Africans and Americans.
Anyway, they charge 100yen for 10 minutes of Internet here so I'll switch to trusty point form and give a quick update of my experience thus far. Sorry, no pics as I haven't managed to get my phone online yet:
- flight was surprising tolerable and I still felt good when I got here. Air Canada has come along way and I think I can officially say I no longer hate them. It was also the first time I've been served an airline flight with chop sticks.
- Since landing here, I've had that same stupid grin on my face that I first got when arriving in Moscow last year... the 'I can't believe I'm here' grin. Confusing train signs, rice fields, people bowing, strange foods... yup, I'm not in Kansas anymore
- on the train yesterday, as the rice fields gave way to buildings which got noticeably larger every few minutes, I started wondering why after all these years of thinking about going to London, it never occurred to me to come here when the flight is about the same? And why we fly East to get to Western Europe, and West to get to the Far East? And whether all my thoughts where that profound, or just when I'm tired enough to fall asleep with my eyes wide open?
- Japanese people are extremely courteous and friendly. About half the signs of at least a word or 2 of English on them. Train stations are fairly easy to figure out, albeit crazy busy. Shinjuku Station is supposedly the busiest in the entire world, and after going through it today, I would believe it. All in all though, Tokyo is very accessible to this Western Ignoramus, equipped with all of 4 Japanese words, and I can't imagine anyone having any trouble touring this place on their own, especially given how willing, even eager, Japanese people are to help. If anything, Tokyo is more modern and Westernized than the West, and I'm hoping we get into a little away from that on this trip.
- The food isn't Westernized though, and although you could eat like a Canadian here if you wanted to, I've already had at least 4 experiences of putting something in my mouth without knowing what it was. 3 of them were delicious. Chicken hearts by the way are fantastic. Chicken Gizzards I could do without.
- I'm staying at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. Look it up. It's insane. 4 Towers, over 3000 rooms, bowling lanes, shopping, even an aquarium. And I don't think that includes the Grand Prince and the New Prince either. My room was equipped was a bidet as well which I've never tried before, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I hit the stop button right after it started and will never do that again. I feel so violated.
Anyway, I'm almost out of time so I'll sign off for now. On to Hakone and Mt. Fuji tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Plans
Given earthquakes and oil spills to the South, volcanoes and Norwegian Police to the West, and, uhm, nothing to the North, I've decided to venture East in pursuit of adventures this year. That and I promised some good friends I'd come visit them during their stint in Aussie land and the time had come to fulfill such vows.
I get cranky on a 3 hour car trip though, so the thought of a 20 hour flight overwhelmed me and I thought I could maybe break it up a bit with a stop-over in Japan en route, and another in New Zealand on the way back. That last one doesn't actually make the return trip any shorter, but it at least crosses another country off my to-do list.
Full travel plans are below:
View Greg Ashby's Pacific Rim Trip in a larger map
I just finished packing and have a 40 hour day ahead of me so I best keep this short. Instead of going into detail I'll keep you in suspense, but I will list off my "goals" for this trip because, hey, if you don't write it down, you won't accomplish it right?
Japan
To be honest, I've never been to any Asian country before, so this part of the trip is mostly just about soaking in a different culture:
- eat lots of Japanese food
- see lots of Japanese sights
- learn a bit about Japanese history (I know almost none going in)
- survive a day in Tokyo on my own
- pay my respects in Hiroshima
- hang out with some monks in a mountain monastery (yep, it's on the agenda)
- find out, once and for all, whether or not the Emperor has any clothes
Australia
- scuba dive at the great barrier reef
- soak up some sun on the beach (if that's possible this time of year?)
- see the Outback
- eat a kangaroo
- see a koala, dingo, and duck-billed platypus
- fight a cassowary
- watch a toilet flush backwards
- play a game of knifey-spoonsies
- and of course, try to keep up with the Jones
New Zealand
- drive on the wrong side of the road, preferably with no accidents
- see a kiwi (the bird)
- eat some fresh kiwi (the fruit)
- visit The Shire
- go black-water rafting
- do something crazy... cause that is what New Zealanders are known for, correct?
That should keep me busy for about 4 weeks I figure. See you in June!
I get cranky on a 3 hour car trip though, so the thought of a 20 hour flight overwhelmed me and I thought I could maybe break it up a bit with a stop-over in Japan en route, and another in New Zealand on the way back. That last one doesn't actually make the return trip any shorter, but it at least crosses another country off my to-do list.
Full travel plans are below:
View Greg Ashby's Pacific Rim Trip in a larger map
I just finished packing and have a 40 hour day ahead of me so I best keep this short. Instead of going into detail I'll keep you in suspense, but I will list off my "goals" for this trip because, hey, if you don't write it down, you won't accomplish it right?
Japan
To be honest, I've never been to any Asian country before, so this part of the trip is mostly just about soaking in a different culture:
- eat lots of Japanese food
- see lots of Japanese sights
- learn a bit about Japanese history (I know almost none going in)
- survive a day in Tokyo on my own
- pay my respects in Hiroshima
- hang out with some monks in a mountain monastery (yep, it's on the agenda)
- find out, once and for all, whether or not the Emperor has any clothes
Australia
- scuba dive at the great barrier reef
- soak up some sun on the beach (if that's possible this time of year?)
- see the Outback
- eat a kangaroo
- see a koala, dingo, and duck-billed platypus
- fight a cassowary
- watch a toilet flush backwards
- play a game of knifey-spoonsies
- and of course, try to keep up with the Jones
New Zealand
- drive on the wrong side of the road, preferably with no accidents
- see a kiwi (the bird)
- eat some fresh kiwi (the fruit)
- visit The Shire
- go black-water rafting
- do something crazy... cause that is what New Zealanders are known for, correct?
That should keep me busy for about 4 weeks I figure. See you in June!
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