I was supposed to get back to Ottawa this past weekend, but due to a family emergency of sorts (my mom had surgery for a detached retina), I flew in a week early. Everything went smoothly, and she already has some sight back in her damaged eye, so it looks promising. Why bring this up you ask? Because of my girlfriends attitude towards me during the past week.
I came back because my mom was shipped off to Ottawa on a couple of days notice for eye surgery. Her parents passed away in 74 and 05, and my father died in 04. My sisters are stuck at work in Edmonton and Thunder Bay. The rest of the family is scattered throughout Northwestern Ontario. In a nutshell, I'm the only person within a 1000 km. As a result, I asked my boss for an early flight, and my company, thankfully, was very accommodating, so I was on a plane within 2 days (I'd been working in Italy for the previous 5 weeks, minus 8 days in Japan).
When I get back to Ottawa, all I get is pressure from my girlfriend to ditch my mom and spend time with her. Now, I can understand her being happy to see me, and wanting to spend time with me now that I'm back, but she got very upset when I tried to spend even one night alone with my mom. Or at least I interpreted the crying and yelling to be her getting upset...I could be wrong. Does anyone out there think that this is appropriate? I would have thought that she'd be more understanding of how I came back to support my mom. She's in town for maybe a week for surgery, which she is worried about, and all I get is flak about "needing us time".
Does anyone else think this is an unreasonable approach from her? Or am I the one who is overreacting?
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Japan Pictures
Hakone
Stinky Egg Place
So, which button flushes the toilet?
See? My feet aren't that big
Money Laundering, Japanese Style
As you can see, Brian wishes he had a smaller bill than 10000 Yen (~$100)
I swear I did not photoshop this picture
For afterwork stress relief. And yes, that's 4 litres.
Shopping Street
Downtown Tokyo
Downtown Tokyo II
Rainbow Bridge (and no, I don't know how it got it's name)
Me with the dancing robot
Brian's future father-in-law, now with bullet trains
Bullet Trains II
The Royal Palace
Tamie's dad and me...he rocks
Me and my gracious hosts
Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower II
AsakusaThe conclusion - pictures to come
Thursday.
Thursday was the first day that I had a proper guide (sorry Brian) since Tamie had left for China. Tamie’s dad spent the day with Brian and I, showing us the sights. The day started off quite early with a train ride out to the middle of nowhere, where we met up with Tamie’s dad to grab the bullet train (Shinkansen) back into Tokyo. While it took us an hour and a half to get out there, it was less than an hour to get back into Tokyo, and we started 40 minutes outside of Tokyo, so it was much faster. The train was awesome, and far roomier than any other mode of travel I’ve used, other than a limo. When we arrived at Tokyo Station, we wandered around the platforms taking pictures of the different types of Shinkansen trains as there is apparently more than one. They even have a double decker…it was neat.
After that, it was off to a giant bookstore to pick up a guide book and some postcards for me. A big thanks to Mr. Akimori-san for that. Then off to the Imperial Palace for a quick tour (most of it is closed to the public) and some pictures. Since there isn’t all that much to see at the Palace, we grabbed a cab to the train station, stopping off at the Diet buildings (their Parliament buildings) for some pictures. After quick train trip to Kudanshita (I think, I kinda forget which stations we stopped at), we stopped for a traditional Japanese bento lunch. Or something like a bento lunch…I think bento implies takeout. It was pretty good, although I must admit that I’m not a fan of tofu. Then it was off to Yasukuni shrine, a memorial to all of Japan’s war dead. More pictures, a brief stop at a museum, then off to Asakusa.
Asakusa is a really cool place in Tokyo…there is a large shrine there, but leading up to the shrine is a market street lined with stalls where you can get all sorts of traditional (and not so traditional) Japanese gifts. Again, Mr. Akimori-san was far too generous, and picked up another gift for me. Man, I swear I’ve got to send him half of Ontario to show my appreciation for the time he show me. We wandered around the area for a while, taking lots of pictures and seeing cool things before deciding to call it a night. Rather than just take the train back to Shinjuku, we hopped on a water bus and got a new view of Tokyo. Only problem was the boat was designed for Japanese people…I hit my shoulders on the roof when I stood up straight. At the station, Brian and I parted ways with Mr. Akimori, as we were heading back to Akihabara to find me a maid café.
Getting off at the station, it was promising when there were half a dozen maids passing out flyers outside. We asked for a picture with a group of three, but were quickly informed that had we tried, we would be cuffed and arrested. Either that or they wanted us to handcuff them…I hope we interpreted correctly. After that disappointment, we headed off in search of the maid café from earlier in the week. Problem with finding it is that we didn’t really remember where it was. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we found the place, but to my disappointment, the cute English speaking girl wasn’t working. So we hurried through our drinks and took off, as being ignored wasn’t the experience I was looking for. We then decided to ask all the girls in the street to see if we could find one where they do speak English. Ten minutes later, we discovered how anti-English the maid cafés really are…not a single one spoke English, and all seemed very pleased when we left.
To put this disappointment behind us, I decided that tonight would be the night that I finally try sake, so after a dinner at an Izakaya (Japanese-style bar…we had to take our shoes off), we headed back over to Brian’s usual haunt, Cathy and Edwards. Exxon guy was there when we got there, and I was informed that we would be getting a special sake treat, care of him. He had picked up a bottle of high end sake from a friend, and had given it to the bartender to take care of. Both Brian and I ended up getting two free drinks that evening, which in a normal place would have cost around $40 a glass. Pretty sweet deal, and the sake was awesome. Too bad I’ll never find any near as good in Canada.
All in all, a fantastic day, and a big thank you to Tamie’s dad for being our guide.
Friday.
Friday was a Kevin goes exploring on his own day, as Brian had to go back to work. Up at 9:30, a quick shower, and out the door I go. I decided to check out the beach on my last day in Japan, so it was down to the train station for an adventure. Thankfully all the stars aligned, and I pretty much just had to catch the first train at every station to get where I was going…I swear, it worked out perfectly. If only the weather had been nicer…it cooled off in a hurry in the afternoon. Anywho, I got to the right station easily enough, and then made my way towards the beach by following anyone carrying a surfboard. Worked like a charm. This is where Brian goes surfing, and the waves were pretty good in my opinion, although it was a windy day, so they might have been a bit larger than normal.
Walked down the beach a bit, then walked out to Oceania Island, which is a nice nature preserve and tourist trap rolled into one. A lot of eagles flying around, riding the thermals, and I got one or two nice pictures. Wish I had more optical zoom, though, as the pics could still be better. Up and down the island I walked (a lot of hills and stairs), and I even got to take some pictures from atop a tower on the island…an awesome view, but it was a bit cloudy and hazy, so I’m sure it could have been better. Still, well worth the $5. By this time it’s around 3:30, so I head back towards the beach, stop off at Denny’s for lunch (much different from North America), and give Brian a call to see what the plans for the evening are.
I’m pretty much beached out, and it’s getting cold (at least for the t-shirt I’m in), so we decide to meet up at Machida (station by Brian’s place with a lot of shops) for dinner. A bit of wandering around the area leads us to a mall for dinner. Good times were had by all, although I should have tried harder to pick up the waitress, even if just for funniness factor. We headed back to Shin-Yurigaoka to find a bar, and hit two places. The first was a total sausage party, so we didn’t stay too long, then it was off to the second place where there were at least some women. One of them even spoke English and tried to help us order (the bartender was trying to ditch us). Unfortunately, she turned down my offer to join us . Oh well.
Back to Brian’s where I finished packing and burned a DVD with all of the pictures that both Brian and I took, and it was off to bed. After all, I had to be on the 8AM bus in the morning, so I needed my sleep. I was woken up during the night by an earthquake though, just to make my experience complete.
Saturday.
Up at 7:30, a quick shower, and out the door. Said my goodbyes to Brian, caught the bus with plenty of time, and had no problems at the airport (thankfully). All in all, a great trip, and I can’t wait to go back, whenever that may be.
Thursday was the first day that I had a proper guide (sorry Brian) since Tamie had left for China. Tamie’s dad spent the day with Brian and I, showing us the sights. The day started off quite early with a train ride out to the middle of nowhere, where we met up with Tamie’s dad to grab the bullet train (Shinkansen) back into Tokyo. While it took us an hour and a half to get out there, it was less than an hour to get back into Tokyo, and we started 40 minutes outside of Tokyo, so it was much faster. The train was awesome, and far roomier than any other mode of travel I’ve used, other than a limo. When we arrived at Tokyo Station, we wandered around the platforms taking pictures of the different types of Shinkansen trains as there is apparently more than one. They even have a double decker…it was neat.
After that, it was off to a giant bookstore to pick up a guide book and some postcards for me. A big thanks to Mr. Akimori-san for that. Then off to the Imperial Palace for a quick tour (most of it is closed to the public) and some pictures. Since there isn’t all that much to see at the Palace, we grabbed a cab to the train station, stopping off at the Diet buildings (their Parliament buildings) for some pictures. After quick train trip to Kudanshita (I think, I kinda forget which stations we stopped at), we stopped for a traditional Japanese bento lunch. Or something like a bento lunch…I think bento implies takeout. It was pretty good, although I must admit that I’m not a fan of tofu. Then it was off to Yasukuni shrine, a memorial to all of Japan’s war dead. More pictures, a brief stop at a museum, then off to Asakusa.
Asakusa is a really cool place in Tokyo…there is a large shrine there, but leading up to the shrine is a market street lined with stalls where you can get all sorts of traditional (and not so traditional) Japanese gifts. Again, Mr. Akimori-san was far too generous, and picked up another gift for me. Man, I swear I’ve got to send him half of Ontario to show my appreciation for the time he show me. We wandered around the area for a while, taking lots of pictures and seeing cool things before deciding to call it a night. Rather than just take the train back to Shinjuku, we hopped on a water bus and got a new view of Tokyo. Only problem was the boat was designed for Japanese people…I hit my shoulders on the roof when I stood up straight. At the station, Brian and I parted ways with Mr. Akimori, as we were heading back to Akihabara to find me a maid café.
Getting off at the station, it was promising when there were half a dozen maids passing out flyers outside. We asked for a picture with a group of three, but were quickly informed that had we tried, we would be cuffed and arrested. Either that or they wanted us to handcuff them…I hope we interpreted correctly. After that disappointment, we headed off in search of the maid café from earlier in the week. Problem with finding it is that we didn’t really remember where it was. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we found the place, but to my disappointment, the cute English speaking girl wasn’t working. So we hurried through our drinks and took off, as being ignored wasn’t the experience I was looking for. We then decided to ask all the girls in the street to see if we could find one where they do speak English. Ten minutes later, we discovered how anti-English the maid cafés really are…not a single one spoke English, and all seemed very pleased when we left.
To put this disappointment behind us, I decided that tonight would be the night that I finally try sake, so after a dinner at an Izakaya (Japanese-style bar…we had to take our shoes off), we headed back over to Brian’s usual haunt, Cathy and Edwards. Exxon guy was there when we got there, and I was informed that we would be getting a special sake treat, care of him. He had picked up a bottle of high end sake from a friend, and had given it to the bartender to take care of. Both Brian and I ended up getting two free drinks that evening, which in a normal place would have cost around $40 a glass. Pretty sweet deal, and the sake was awesome. Too bad I’ll never find any near as good in Canada.
All in all, a fantastic day, and a big thank you to Tamie’s dad for being our guide.
Friday.
Friday was a Kevin goes exploring on his own day, as Brian had to go back to work. Up at 9:30, a quick shower, and out the door I go. I decided to check out the beach on my last day in Japan, so it was down to the train station for an adventure. Thankfully all the stars aligned, and I pretty much just had to catch the first train at every station to get where I was going…I swear, it worked out perfectly. If only the weather had been nicer…it cooled off in a hurry in the afternoon. Anywho, I got to the right station easily enough, and then made my way towards the beach by following anyone carrying a surfboard. Worked like a charm. This is where Brian goes surfing, and the waves were pretty good in my opinion, although it was a windy day, so they might have been a bit larger than normal.
Walked down the beach a bit, then walked out to Oceania Island, which is a nice nature preserve and tourist trap rolled into one. A lot of eagles flying around, riding the thermals, and I got one or two nice pictures. Wish I had more optical zoom, though, as the pics could still be better. Up and down the island I walked (a lot of hills and stairs), and I even got to take some pictures from atop a tower on the island…an awesome view, but it was a bit cloudy and hazy, so I’m sure it could have been better. Still, well worth the $5. By this time it’s around 3:30, so I head back towards the beach, stop off at Denny’s for lunch (much different from North America), and give Brian a call to see what the plans for the evening are.
I’m pretty much beached out, and it’s getting cold (at least for the t-shirt I’m in), so we decide to meet up at Machida (station by Brian’s place with a lot of shops) for dinner. A bit of wandering around the area leads us to a mall for dinner. Good times were had by all, although I should have tried harder to pick up the waitress, even if just for funniness factor. We headed back to Shin-Yurigaoka to find a bar, and hit two places. The first was a total sausage party, so we didn’t stay too long, then it was off to the second place where there were at least some women. One of them even spoke English and tried to help us order (the bartender was trying to ditch us). Unfortunately, she turned down my offer to join us . Oh well.
Back to Brian’s where I finished packing and burned a DVD with all of the pictures that both Brian and I took, and it was off to bed. After all, I had to be on the 8AM bus in the morning, so I needed my sleep. I was woken up during the night by an earthquake though, just to make my experience complete.
Saturday.
Up at 7:30, a quick shower, and out the door. Said my goodbyes to Brian, caught the bus with plenty of time, and had no problems at the airport (thankfully). All in all, a great trip, and I can’t wait to go back, whenever that may be.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Japan: Tuesday and Wednesday
Tuesday.
A really late start to the day as there was an accident on the train line. Everything was delayed a few hours, and as a result, we didn’t really start the day until 3 or so. We headed off to Akihabara, which is the electronics district in Tokyo. A lot of big electronics shops selling everything imaginable. It’s also home to a unique type of café called a maid café. In these establishments, the waitresses are all cute young girls dressed up in maid outfits. Naturally, the prices are a bit higher for the atmosphere, but I had a good time. We found a small little place, out of the way, that had a really cute girl who even spoke some English. A good time indeed.
After taking off from Akihabara, we headed off to Tokyo bay and the Odaiba area. There we found a lot of the sights that I wanted to take in the next day, including the Emerging Sciences museum and a car museum. We also got to see the Rainbow bridge (very cool) and a ferris wheel that was all lit up…a striking sight. There was also a huge Coke store in the area that we stopped by, where I got my picture with the famous Coke polar bear. I was in heaven.
Back to the station, back to Shin-yurigaoka, and off to one of Brian’s favourite bars, Cathy and Edwards. It’s name was apparently picked to give it a classy, non-Japanese feel. It certainly was a classy place with jazz playing softly in the background, and a really awesome atmosphere. The bartender was great, and spoke excellent English. We had a few beers/cokes, and I even got hit on my an Japanese woman. If only I had been the one drinking, she might have looked good enough to take home. Not sure that there is enough booze in the world, though, to cover up the chain smoking. A couple of hours later (around 3 am, I think), we extracted ourselves from the bar and headed back home for the night.
Wednesday.
Today is the day for some upper-class shopping. Window shopping, that is. I can barely afford to look at the crap they have on sale here it’s so expensive. Found some really nice jewellery for several thousand dollars, though. After a couple of hours wandering about (and checking out a really cool toystore), it was back to Odaiba to actually make it into the museums, where we got to see Asimo (Honda robot) dance. It was pretty cool. At this point it was starting to drizzle, so we decided to head off to Roppongi Hills for some at home love.
Roppongi Hills is supposed to be where all the ex-patriots go to unwind and enjoy a taste of home. Now, I can’t speak for everyone, but unless you live in a sleazy part of town, it won’t remind you of home. Again, lots of black guys asking you to go to clubs, women offering “services”, and more titty bars than I’ve ever seen before. There is a nice upscale part a few blocks away, though, that offered excellent views of Tokyo and more upscale shopping. Problem is, they kinda frown on two white guys in shorts and sandals there. We did manage to grab dinner, though. It was an awesome restaurant with an indoor waterfall…not really sure why it was there, but it was cool. We were easily the worst dressed in the entire place. Easily.
Then, like every night, after a bit more wandering it was back to Shin-yurigaoka for a night cap (this time at Woodstocks, where we had garlic potatoes and caught part of Goodfellas) and a good nights rest.
A really late start to the day as there was an accident on the train line. Everything was delayed a few hours, and as a result, we didn’t really start the day until 3 or so. We headed off to Akihabara, which is the electronics district in Tokyo. A lot of big electronics shops selling everything imaginable. It’s also home to a unique type of café called a maid café. In these establishments, the waitresses are all cute young girls dressed up in maid outfits. Naturally, the prices are a bit higher for the atmosphere, but I had a good time. We found a small little place, out of the way, that had a really cute girl who even spoke some English. A good time indeed.
After taking off from Akihabara, we headed off to Tokyo bay and the Odaiba area. There we found a lot of the sights that I wanted to take in the next day, including the Emerging Sciences museum and a car museum. We also got to see the Rainbow bridge (very cool) and a ferris wheel that was all lit up…a striking sight. There was also a huge Coke store in the area that we stopped by, where I got my picture with the famous Coke polar bear. I was in heaven.
Back to the station, back to Shin-yurigaoka, and off to one of Brian’s favourite bars, Cathy and Edwards. It’s name was apparently picked to give it a classy, non-Japanese feel. It certainly was a classy place with jazz playing softly in the background, and a really awesome atmosphere. The bartender was great, and spoke excellent English. We had a few beers/cokes, and I even got hit on my an Japanese woman. If only I had been the one drinking, she might have looked good enough to take home. Not sure that there is enough booze in the world, though, to cover up the chain smoking. A couple of hours later (around 3 am, I think), we extracted ourselves from the bar and headed back home for the night.
Wednesday.
Today is the day for some upper-class shopping. Window shopping, that is. I can barely afford to look at the crap they have on sale here it’s so expensive. Found some really nice jewellery for several thousand dollars, though. After a couple of hours wandering about (and checking out a really cool toystore), it was back to Odaiba to actually make it into the museums, where we got to see Asimo (Honda robot) dance. It was pretty cool. At this point it was starting to drizzle, so we decided to head off to Roppongi Hills for some at home love.
Roppongi Hills is supposed to be where all the ex-patriots go to unwind and enjoy a taste of home. Now, I can’t speak for everyone, but unless you live in a sleazy part of town, it won’t remind you of home. Again, lots of black guys asking you to go to clubs, women offering “services”, and more titty bars than I’ve ever seen before. There is a nice upscale part a few blocks away, though, that offered excellent views of Tokyo and more upscale shopping. Problem is, they kinda frown on two white guys in shorts and sandals there. We did manage to grab dinner, though. It was an awesome restaurant with an indoor waterfall…not really sure why it was there, but it was cool. We were easily the worst dressed in the entire place. Easily.
Then, like every night, after a bit more wandering it was back to Shin-yurigaoka for a night cap (this time at Woodstocks, where we had garlic potatoes and caught part of Goodfellas) and a good nights rest.
Friday, October 20, 2006
What a way to start the week
Monday...huh.
Monday morning was another early morning, as we had to pack up (we would be staying at Brian’s place from here on out). The only problem was that the late nights had taken the energy out of Tamie, so she wasn’t feeling too good by the time we got to Brian’s place, and decided to head home for sleep. She felt great the next day, so it was obviously the right decision, especially since she was due back in China on Wednesday (or was it Thursday?).
Anywho, after Tamie took off (around 1), Brian and I headed into Tokyo proper to check out the sights. We hit up Harajuku and the Meiji Shrine there, took some pictures of a family dressed up (I’ll post pics later), did some window shopping in Harajuku (teen fashion place), and grabbed lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s. After that, some more wandering, picked up some allergy pills (I had to cave, my sneezing was just ridiculous), and headed off to Shibuya. Shibuya is famous for it’s bright lights and billboards, like Times Square in New York, so this was my first experience in what I would call “my expected Tokyo”. I also saw the coolest parking garage ever…you drove your car in, where it was lifted away on a ferris wheel like thing, and when you backed out, there was a turntable on the sidewalk to turn your car around. Very cool. We ended up at a pub for dinner, where Brian enjoyed the smallest chicken wings I have ever seen. Honestly, they weren’t much bigger than my pinky finger around.
Then it was off to Shinjuku to (hopefully) find a really tall building to get some pictures of Tokyo from. Problem was, Brian picked the wrong exit from the station, so rather than end up in a brightly lit area, we were in the dark, and no where near where we wanted to go. After some aimless wandering, I ended up following a bright billboard which lead (completely accidentally) to the Park Hyatt Hotel, which was a place I wanted to visit. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed in thanks to Brian’s shorts and sandals, but we got to take some cool pictures. After that, we headed back towards Shinjuku station, where we found all the neon lights and the side of the station Brian was looking for earlier. Much more Tokyo-like in my opinion. Also much seedier as we were approached by hookers and many guys trying to get us to “come, try our club…completely naked nice Japanese girls. All you can drink!”. Very sleazy. I swear, if you see a black guy in Tokyo, don’t make eye contact…they will hunt you down otherwise.
After some searching, we found a karaoke place where we ended the night. A super classy place, it had some naked ladies on the walls, and posted naked pictures of women between songs. Oh, and smelt like an ashtray. Still, it was a good time, and a nice way to end the night.
Monday morning was another early morning, as we had to pack up (we would be staying at Brian’s place from here on out). The only problem was that the late nights had taken the energy out of Tamie, so she wasn’t feeling too good by the time we got to Brian’s place, and decided to head home for sleep. She felt great the next day, so it was obviously the right decision, especially since she was due back in China on Wednesday (or was it Thursday?).
Anywho, after Tamie took off (around 1), Brian and I headed into Tokyo proper to check out the sights. We hit up Harajuku and the Meiji Shrine there, took some pictures of a family dressed up (I’ll post pics later), did some window shopping in Harajuku (teen fashion place), and grabbed lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s. After that, some more wandering, picked up some allergy pills (I had to cave, my sneezing was just ridiculous), and headed off to Shibuya. Shibuya is famous for it’s bright lights and billboards, like Times Square in New York, so this was my first experience in what I would call “my expected Tokyo”. I also saw the coolest parking garage ever…you drove your car in, where it was lifted away on a ferris wheel like thing, and when you backed out, there was a turntable on the sidewalk to turn your car around. Very cool. We ended up at a pub for dinner, where Brian enjoyed the smallest chicken wings I have ever seen. Honestly, they weren’t much bigger than my pinky finger around.
Then it was off to Shinjuku to (hopefully) find a really tall building to get some pictures of Tokyo from. Problem was, Brian picked the wrong exit from the station, so rather than end up in a brightly lit area, we were in the dark, and no where near where we wanted to go. After some aimless wandering, I ended up following a bright billboard which lead (completely accidentally) to the Park Hyatt Hotel, which was a place I wanted to visit. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed in thanks to Brian’s shorts and sandals, but we got to take some cool pictures. After that, we headed back towards Shinjuku station, where we found all the neon lights and the side of the station Brian was looking for earlier. Much more Tokyo-like in my opinion. Also much seedier as we were approached by hookers and many guys trying to get us to “come, try our club…completely naked nice Japanese girls. All you can drink!”. Very sleazy. I swear, if you see a black guy in Tokyo, don’t make eye contact…they will hunt you down otherwise.
After some searching, we found a karaoke place where we ended the night. A super classy place, it had some naked ladies on the walls, and posted naked pictures of women between songs. Oh, and smelt like an ashtray. Still, it was a good time, and a nice way to end the night.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
The weekend
Saturday.
That early start ended up being a bit later than expected as we didn't roll out until 10 or so. Apparently no one wanted to wake me up (go figure). After grabbing fairly quick breakfast (rice, natto, and apples, I think), it was off to Hakone and the Stinky Egg place (it has a real name, but I can't remember it). The drive up to SEP was fun, as it was basically bumper to bumper traffic the entire way up the mountain. If it weren’t for the fact that we didn’t want to abandon Tamie and the car, it would have been much faster to just walk up the hill. Once we finally got to SEP, there were these hot springs in which they cook black eggs. Now, if you eat one of these eggs, it's reputed to add 7 years to your life. Eat two and you add 14 years. Not sure what eating three would get you, other than gas. We ended up getting a dozen (6 for us, 6 for Tamie's dad), and ate the 6. Guess that means I have 7 more years of this life to look forward to, at least. After that, we zipped down the mountain to Hakone where we wandered around, checking out a historic checkpoint that was used to monitor movement around the country. We also took a walk around the area, seeing some ancient redwood trees that were absolutely mammoth.
Back down the mountain we headed, off to check out a Japanese bath house. Not a traditional one, thankfully, as I got to keep a swimsuit on and hang out with women J. This place was huge, with many different pools, each with a theme. For example, there were green tea pools, sake pools, wine pools, and sea salt pools. It was definitely a different experience, and a lot of fun. Even if all the swimming while suffering from jet lag did want to make me hurl.
After all of that, it was off to find a place that serves Kevin-friendly food. This being Japan and all, it’s a bit harder than it sounds, at least outside of Tokyo. After trying an all-you-can-eat place to no avail, we ended up at an Italian place for dinner. Considering I had just flown in from Italy, it was kinda funny. I must say, the Italian on the menu wasn’t all that bad, although they did have a pizza named wrong. After dinner, it was off to karaoke. Who knew you could sing for 2 hours straight? Man was my throat sore. Everyone else's ears, too. It was a great time, though, and I’m glad to have gone.
Sunday.
The plan for Sunday was to head off to Enoshima to check out the beach, as well as head to Kamakura to explore the temples there. We ended up just driving past the beach and focusing on the temples as it was extremely busy (long weekend + nice weather). After parking the car we stopped at this cool store that sold swords and throwing stars. Man, if I could get that stuff through customs, I would have had a field day there. First temple was this place with a huge (and I mean gianormous) statue of Buddha. Very cool indeed. Very popular too. After that, it was off to a second temple where you got to take part in money launderying. Apparently it’s good luck to wash money at this temple, and so we all partook in the activity. It was funny to see the look of fear in Brian’s eyes as he dumped water all over his crisp new 10,000 yen note ($100). The temple itself was cool as it was in the side of a hill/mountain, and the entrance was a tunnel.
After that, it was a quick jog over to the last temple of the day, on top of a hill. Fantastic view, and we got to rub a god of money. Weird tradition, but if it gets me that raise I’m looking for, more power to it. Beautiful temple, lots of statues, and an awesome pond out front. Unfortunately we shows up right at closing, so by the time I headed back to take pictures of the pond, they had already shut off the fountains. I did get to see a turtle, though.
By this time, we’re already a little late for dinner with Tamie’s family, including her sister. We jet back home, stopping at a grocery store on the way. All I can say is Wow, Japanese people must be big drinkers…I saw a 3 litre bottle of whiskey for like $12. Messed up. At dinner Tamie’s sister gave me some gifts (damn it, now I have to get her something) which was very thoughtful if entirely unexpected. After dinner, Brian and Tamie did dishes while I tried to teach Tamie’s sister tongue twisters. Apparently the Japanese aren’t really good at “she sells sea shells by the sea shore”. And trying to explain “how much wood would a wood chuck chuck, if a wood chuck could chuck wood” can be a lot of fun. A few laughs later, and it was off to pool. By this point, though, we are all exhausted, so I don’t remember who won the last game. I do remember kicking Brian’s ass for most of the night, although Tamie wiped the floor with both of us.
That early start ended up being a bit later than expected as we didn't roll out until 10 or so. Apparently no one wanted to wake me up (go figure). After grabbing fairly quick breakfast (rice, natto, and apples, I think), it was off to Hakone and the Stinky Egg place (it has a real name, but I can't remember it). The drive up to SEP was fun, as it was basically bumper to bumper traffic the entire way up the mountain. If it weren’t for the fact that we didn’t want to abandon Tamie and the car, it would have been much faster to just walk up the hill. Once we finally got to SEP, there were these hot springs in which they cook black eggs. Now, if you eat one of these eggs, it's reputed to add 7 years to your life. Eat two and you add 14 years. Not sure what eating three would get you, other than gas. We ended up getting a dozen (6 for us, 6 for Tamie's dad), and ate the 6. Guess that means I have 7 more years of this life to look forward to, at least. After that, we zipped down the mountain to Hakone where we wandered around, checking out a historic checkpoint that was used to monitor movement around the country. We also took a walk around the area, seeing some ancient redwood trees that were absolutely mammoth.
Back down the mountain we headed, off to check out a Japanese bath house. Not a traditional one, thankfully, as I got to keep a swimsuit on and hang out with women J. This place was huge, with many different pools, each with a theme. For example, there were green tea pools, sake pools, wine pools, and sea salt pools. It was definitely a different experience, and a lot of fun. Even if all the swimming while suffering from jet lag did want to make me hurl.
After all of that, it was off to find a place that serves Kevin-friendly food. This being Japan and all, it’s a bit harder than it sounds, at least outside of Tokyo. After trying an all-you-can-eat place to no avail, we ended up at an Italian place for dinner. Considering I had just flown in from Italy, it was kinda funny. I must say, the Italian on the menu wasn’t all that bad, although they did have a pizza named wrong. After dinner, it was off to karaoke. Who knew you could sing for 2 hours straight? Man was my throat sore. Everyone else's ears, too. It was a great time, though, and I’m glad to have gone.
Sunday.
The plan for Sunday was to head off to Enoshima to check out the beach, as well as head to Kamakura to explore the temples there. We ended up just driving past the beach and focusing on the temples as it was extremely busy (long weekend + nice weather). After parking the car we stopped at this cool store that sold swords and throwing stars. Man, if I could get that stuff through customs, I would have had a field day there. First temple was this place with a huge (and I mean gianormous) statue of Buddha. Very cool indeed. Very popular too. After that, it was off to a second temple where you got to take part in money launderying. Apparently it’s good luck to wash money at this temple, and so we all partook in the activity. It was funny to see the look of fear in Brian’s eyes as he dumped water all over his crisp new 10,000 yen note ($100). The temple itself was cool as it was in the side of a hill/mountain, and the entrance was a tunnel.
After that, it was a quick jog over to the last temple of the day, on top of a hill. Fantastic view, and we got to rub a god of money. Weird tradition, but if it gets me that raise I’m looking for, more power to it. Beautiful temple, lots of statues, and an awesome pond out front. Unfortunately we shows up right at closing, so by the time I headed back to take pictures of the pond, they had already shut off the fountains. I did get to see a turtle, though.
By this time, we’re already a little late for dinner with Tamie’s family, including her sister. We jet back home, stopping at a grocery store on the way. All I can say is Wow, Japanese people must be big drinkers…I saw a 3 litre bottle of whiskey for like $12. Messed up. At dinner Tamie’s sister gave me some gifts (damn it, now I have to get her something) which was very thoughtful if entirely unexpected. After dinner, Brian and Tamie did dishes while I tried to teach Tamie’s sister tongue twisters. Apparently the Japanese aren’t really good at “she sells sea shells by the sea shore”. And trying to explain “how much wood would a wood chuck chuck, if a wood chuck could chuck wood” can be a lot of fun. A few laughs later, and it was off to pool. By this point, though, we are all exhausted, so I don’t remember who won the last game. I do remember kicking Brian’s ass for most of the night, although Tamie wiped the floor with both of us.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Japan, Day One
My recap of what happened in Japan, as best I remember it. Or at least, what I can legally tell. I'm going to break this up into a few posts, mainly to give me time to remember what exactly happened. Hopefully I don't screw this up too much.
Friday.
Ah Friday, my first day in the country. I wake up on the plane, going over my directions to Brian's meeting place. This is the time when I realize that I have no idea where he lives, what his address is, or what his phone number is even. We land at the airport on time, a good sign, and I head for customs. "Where are you staying?" I was asked. "With a friend" is my answer...apparently this must be common, as I was only asked to write down his name, nothing else. I guess there aren't that many Brian Estey's in Japan. I pick up my baggage and head for the currency exchange. Fill out some forms, wait in line, and when I get to the counter, what do I find out? I can't use a credit card to get Yen here, I have to use an ATM. Off to find a cash machine I go, and I don't find just one, I find 4. Do any of them accept my credit card, hell no. All I get is "invalid card" messages, and no money. Damn foreign countries. Not a major problem in the short term, though, as I only need 3000 yen to catch the bus to Brian's place, so I exchange the little Euro that I do have on me, hop on the bus, and hope Brian will be there to pick me up.
Two and a half rainy hours later, I get to Shin-Yurigaoka, and sure enough, there's Mr. Estey, big smile and happy to see me. At this point I find out that I actually landed in the middle of a typhoon, and that this is the worst weather Japan has seen in many years. Timing is everything. A quick stop at the post office to grab some cash, a short train trip, and I get to crash at Brian's place for a few hours while he goes back to work. Wake up at 5, quick shower (cold shower as I don't know how to turn on the hot water), and wait around for Brian to show up. At 6, he stops by, and off we go to meet Tamie (we're spending the weekend at her parents place as it's more comfy). This is where Brian's "familiarity" with Japan really shows, as we get on three wrong trains before finally catching the right one, in the process being about a half hour late in meeting Tamie. Must have been the weather. We finally meet up with Tamie, go buy some rain jackets, then grab a cab to her parents place.
I've never met Tamie's parents, so I'm not sure what to expect. What I got was two very friendly and welcoming people who made me feel like family/royalty from the get go. Shows how little they know about me, eh? They had fixed an excellent (and Kevin friendly) meal, which kicked some serious butt. Mainly the evening involved eating dinner, catching up a bit with stories, and heading to bed for an early start the next morning.
Friday.
Ah Friday, my first day in the country. I wake up on the plane, going over my directions to Brian's meeting place. This is the time when I realize that I have no idea where he lives, what his address is, or what his phone number is even. We land at the airport on time, a good sign, and I head for customs. "Where are you staying?" I was asked. "With a friend" is my answer...apparently this must be common, as I was only asked to write down his name, nothing else. I guess there aren't that many Brian Estey's in Japan. I pick up my baggage and head for the currency exchange. Fill out some forms, wait in line, and when I get to the counter, what do I find out? I can't use a credit card to get Yen here, I have to use an ATM. Off to find a cash machine I go, and I don't find just one, I find 4. Do any of them accept my credit card, hell no. All I get is "invalid card" messages, and no money. Damn foreign countries. Not a major problem in the short term, though, as I only need 3000 yen to catch the bus to Brian's place, so I exchange the little Euro that I do have on me, hop on the bus, and hope Brian will be there to pick me up.
Two and a half rainy hours later, I get to Shin-Yurigaoka, and sure enough, there's Mr. Estey, big smile and happy to see me. At this point I find out that I actually landed in the middle of a typhoon, and that this is the worst weather Japan has seen in many years. Timing is everything. A quick stop at the post office to grab some cash, a short train trip, and I get to crash at Brian's place for a few hours while he goes back to work. Wake up at 5, quick shower (cold shower as I don't know how to turn on the hot water), and wait around for Brian to show up. At 6, he stops by, and off we go to meet Tamie (we're spending the weekend at her parents place as it's more comfy). This is where Brian's "familiarity" with Japan really shows, as we get on three wrong trains before finally catching the right one, in the process being about a half hour late in meeting Tamie. Must have been the weather. We finally meet up with Tamie, go buy some rain jackets, then grab a cab to her parents place.
I've never met Tamie's parents, so I'm not sure what to expect. What I got was two very friendly and welcoming people who made me feel like family/royalty from the get go. Shows how little they know about me, eh? They had fixed an excellent (and Kevin friendly) meal, which kicked some serious butt. Mainly the evening involved eating dinner, catching up a bit with stories, and heading to bed for an early start the next morning.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Back in Italy...
Just a note that Japan was awesome, had a great time, big thanks to Tamie and her family for being such fantastic hosts (Brian was okay too), and I can't wait to go back. I'll post more pics and stories later...need sleep first (damn 12 hour flights).
Monday, October 02, 2006
Florence, home of the naked guy
This weekend brings me to the tourist filled confines of Florence (Firenze if you're Italian), where the statue of David is. Unfortunately for me, the lines were a bit too insane for me to even bother trying to see it...instead, I spent the time with a friend of mine, just wandering about and enjoying the atmosphere.
Since it was just a day trip, we only spend about 6 hours there (neither of us were feeling well), so I'm sure we missed a bunch of things. The Duomo was just awesome (huge church, with a big dome), as I haven't seen anything more impressive on the outside, including St. Peters. The inside was a bit understated, though, so the Vatican still takes that award. We also climbed the adjoining bell tower, all 414 steps of it. Beautiful view, well worth the minor heart attack. Definitely not for the clausterphobic, though, as the stairway is about 2 1/2-3 feet wide, and handles both up and down traffic.
I also picked up a cool bottle of grappa there, shaped like a clipper ship (pics when I get back to Canada, I don't want to unpack it). I swear, the staff spent at least 10 minutes trying to pack the bottle in a box, wrapped in bubble wrap and with paper packed around it. It was kinda funny to watch. Oh, and Florence has about the highest per capita of smokin' hot chicks. At least, the highest outside of Sweden, as Jay keeps telling me.
This week, Jay heads back to Sweden, and then I'm off for Japan. I wonder if they have potatoes there...
Since it was just a day trip, we only spend about 6 hours there (neither of us were feeling well), so I'm sure we missed a bunch of things. The Duomo was just awesome (huge church, with a big dome), as I haven't seen anything more impressive on the outside, including St. Peters. The inside was a bit understated, though, so the Vatican still takes that award. We also climbed the adjoining bell tower, all 414 steps of it. Beautiful view, well worth the minor heart attack. Definitely not for the clausterphobic, though, as the stairway is about 2 1/2-3 feet wide, and handles both up and down traffic.
I also picked up a cool bottle of grappa there, shaped like a clipper ship (pics when I get back to Canada, I don't want to unpack it). I swear, the staff spent at least 10 minutes trying to pack the bottle in a box, wrapped in bubble wrap and with paper packed around it. It was kinda funny to watch. Oh, and Florence has about the highest per capita of smokin' hot chicks. At least, the highest outside of Sweden, as Jay keeps telling me.
This week, Jay heads back to Sweden, and then I'm off for Japan. I wonder if they have potatoes there...
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