Wednesday, May 25, 2005
China and more
Well, May has been another busy month. The craziness actually started on April 29 when I flew to China for a quick vacation. Normally there would be nothing crazy about such a vacation, except I was visiting 3 major cities in 10 days (china being a vast country doesn’t lend itself well to whirl-wind itineraries) and I was traveling with my friend Liv (I should probably mention at this stage that we have a bit of a reputation for being a little crazy together).
So the flight to China was fine… I didn’t get stuck next to the main weirdo onboard the flight, which was a nice change. The next morning when I looked out my hotel window I was surprised by the view that greeted me, lots and lots of dirty, cracked, broken and slightly crumbling roofs. The sight was more what I would have expected of a 3rd world country, rather than the next country signed up to host the Olympic Games.
When I went for a walk that morning, I was similarly surprised to find that the streets around my hotel were made of pressed dirt. Really, at first, Beijing was nothing like what I anticipated… for some reason I guess I was expecting another Japan… but I suppose I actually hadn’t really thought about it.
Later that day Liv arrived (sans luggage,,, apparently her luggage had forgotten to board the plane in London!) and we started sight seeing. We visited Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city all in one afternoon. That afternoon we walked and walked and walked and walked. I spent the next 9 days in China nursing blisters and trying to convince my feet that it was all ok!
The following day, May 1, we went on a tour to see the Great Wall of China. It was truly amazing (the walk up to the top almost killed us (the stairs are all uneven heights and some parts of the wall are up to 35 degrees in steepness- like climbing a ladder!) but afforded us a view of Mongolia… FYI, Mongolia looks surprisingly similar to China. That day we also took in some less exciting sites like the Ming tombs and a jade factory. I have to say, however, that lunch was a very welcome event!
The following day was my birthday. That morning we did a spot of touristy shopping before we flew out to Xian. We were put in a 6 bed dormitory. After introducing ourselves I asked if any of the 3 boys sharing our dorm room were snorers… they claimed they were not but I wasn’t so sure. Xian was quite different to Beijing… it was very beautiful and although it was also seething with tourists I am sure that at other times of the year Xian would be a much more pleasant place.
We went out to find somewhere good for dinner but our progress was hampered by my blisters and Liv’s insistence on attention-seeking ;-) we eventually ended up at a little family-run restaurant. We ordered a pork stew from the “English menu” and waited…. And waited….. and waited…. Then, when the meal finally arrived (looking delicious) we dug in and discovered that the meal consisted almost entirely of pig fat and chillies. The dish was so hot, we could barely manage to keep the meal in our mouths long enough to chew it! I have to admit that my birthday dinner defeated me very early on. Liv braved it for a little longer but by the time both our mouths were on fire and all our taste-buds were revolting against the assault, the meal still looked like we hadn’t touched it. We proceeded to return to the hostel in order to consume copious amounts of beer (for birthday and medicinal purposes of course!)
Later that night, as I dragged my little self into bed (dragging along with me a number of buckets of birthday beer) I was pleasantly surprised to find that the boys in the room were telling the truth, none of them snored at all!
The following day, nursing slight hangovers, Liv and I made up our own tour of Xian city, including the Muslim quarter, the bell tower, the drum tower, the wild goose pavilion and a shopping centre.
On May 4 we went on a tour to see the terracotta warriors. A guy from our dorm room, “Chris from Sweden” came too. I’m pretty sure he thought Liv and I are completely crazy… was it my fault that my breakfast (an egg in a flat bread roll) looked like it was talking to me… and so I added the voice???
The three of us had a really fun and interesting day… only slightly marred by the bunch of total idiots who were also on the same tour that day.
Liv and I left the following morning to fly to Shanghai. Shanghai was a lot like what I imagine Tokyo to have been 20 years ago… desperately trying to be modern, clean and rich but with large pockets of poverty, ancient buildings and filth. We really had only one day in Shanghai… but from what we saw, it was the contrasts that I found most interesting. Some of my highlights in Shanghai were the acrobatics show that we saw… if you’ve ever seen cirque de soleil, you’ll have some idea of the kinds of amazing, heart-stopping feats these people manage to perform every night. Another highlight for me was the bund tourist tunnel. Yes, it’s touristy (as you would expect of a tourist tunnel) yes it’s tacky, yes it’s psychedelic! I guarantee that if you go there it won’t be what you expect… but for a cold, windy, rainy day, Liv and I could find no better way to spend ½ an hour… closely followed by a few hours of shopping in a simply enormous shopping centre!
By the time we emerged from the shopping centre, the rain had cleared and the day was sunny, and pleasant. That evening (May 6) Liv and I traveled in a soft-sleeper compartment in an overnight train back to Beijing. We were really lucky to have no spitters or throat clearers in our compartment! Instead there was a middle-aged man (who spoke quite good English) and a teen-aged boy from the compartment next door, who spent the whole night in our compartment in order to practice his English. The four of us played card games together for much of the night (interrupted occasionally by the boy’s parents checking in on him).
On May 7, due to the heat on all the previous days we had spent in Beijing, Liv and I both decided to dress for summer… unfortunately, the weather wasn’t as pleasant as it looked out of our window and we both spent the day feeling different levels of frozen. We visited the Summer Palace and (in record time) the Beijing zoo… then went back to the hotel for a meal of Peking duck and a semi-warm shower.
The trip back to Tokyo was fraught with frustrations due to NWA in China. Let’s just say that we were eventually allowed to board the aircraft (after being stopped at every possible stage for searches of us and our luggage). The flight was fine and we made it back to my apartment in Tokyo without further incident.
For the next week Liv did the tourist thing alone in Tokyo during the day while I worked, then at night we went out shopping / for dinner etc. We completed the week by getting professional photos taken of us dressed as Japanese geisha. It was a whole lot of fun and the photos turned out to be really great! It was very sad to say goodbye to Liv… I guess we should start thinking about our next holiday together soon! ;-)
So the flight to China was fine… I didn’t get stuck next to the main weirdo onboard the flight, which was a nice change. The next morning when I looked out my hotel window I was surprised by the view that greeted me, lots and lots of dirty, cracked, broken and slightly crumbling roofs. The sight was more what I would have expected of a 3rd world country, rather than the next country signed up to host the Olympic Games.
When I went for a walk that morning, I was similarly surprised to find that the streets around my hotel were made of pressed dirt. Really, at first, Beijing was nothing like what I anticipated… for some reason I guess I was expecting another Japan… but I suppose I actually hadn’t really thought about it.
Later that day Liv arrived (sans luggage,,, apparently her luggage had forgotten to board the plane in London!) and we started sight seeing. We visited Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city all in one afternoon. That afternoon we walked and walked and walked and walked. I spent the next 9 days in China nursing blisters and trying to convince my feet that it was all ok!
The following day, May 1, we went on a tour to see the Great Wall of China. It was truly amazing (the walk up to the top almost killed us (the stairs are all uneven heights and some parts of the wall are up to 35 degrees in steepness- like climbing a ladder!) but afforded us a view of Mongolia… FYI, Mongolia looks surprisingly similar to China. That day we also took in some less exciting sites like the Ming tombs and a jade factory. I have to say, however, that lunch was a very welcome event!
The following day was my birthday. That morning we did a spot of touristy shopping before we flew out to Xian. We were put in a 6 bed dormitory. After introducing ourselves I asked if any of the 3 boys sharing our dorm room were snorers… they claimed they were not but I wasn’t so sure. Xian was quite different to Beijing… it was very beautiful and although it was also seething with tourists I am sure that at other times of the year Xian would be a much more pleasant place.
We went out to find somewhere good for dinner but our progress was hampered by my blisters and Liv’s insistence on attention-seeking ;-) we eventually ended up at a little family-run restaurant. We ordered a pork stew from the “English menu” and waited…. And waited….. and waited…. Then, when the meal finally arrived (looking delicious) we dug in and discovered that the meal consisted almost entirely of pig fat and chillies. The dish was so hot, we could barely manage to keep the meal in our mouths long enough to chew it! I have to admit that my birthday dinner defeated me very early on. Liv braved it for a little longer but by the time both our mouths were on fire and all our taste-buds were revolting against the assault, the meal still looked like we hadn’t touched it. We proceeded to return to the hostel in order to consume copious amounts of beer (for birthday and medicinal purposes of course!)
Later that night, as I dragged my little self into bed (dragging along with me a number of buckets of birthday beer) I was pleasantly surprised to find that the boys in the room were telling the truth, none of them snored at all!
The following day, nursing slight hangovers, Liv and I made up our own tour of Xian city, including the Muslim quarter, the bell tower, the drum tower, the wild goose pavilion and a shopping centre.
On May 4 we went on a tour to see the terracotta warriors. A guy from our dorm room, “Chris from Sweden” came too. I’m pretty sure he thought Liv and I are completely crazy… was it my fault that my breakfast (an egg in a flat bread roll) looked like it was talking to me… and so I added the voice???
The three of us had a really fun and interesting day… only slightly marred by the bunch of total idiots who were also on the same tour that day.
Liv and I left the following morning to fly to Shanghai. Shanghai was a lot like what I imagine Tokyo to have been 20 years ago… desperately trying to be modern, clean and rich but with large pockets of poverty, ancient buildings and filth. We really had only one day in Shanghai… but from what we saw, it was the contrasts that I found most interesting. Some of my highlights in Shanghai were the acrobatics show that we saw… if you’ve ever seen cirque de soleil, you’ll have some idea of the kinds of amazing, heart-stopping feats these people manage to perform every night. Another highlight for me was the bund tourist tunnel. Yes, it’s touristy (as you would expect of a tourist tunnel) yes it’s tacky, yes it’s psychedelic! I guarantee that if you go there it won’t be what you expect… but for a cold, windy, rainy day, Liv and I could find no better way to spend ½ an hour… closely followed by a few hours of shopping in a simply enormous shopping centre!
By the time we emerged from the shopping centre, the rain had cleared and the day was sunny, and pleasant. That evening (May 6) Liv and I traveled in a soft-sleeper compartment in an overnight train back to Beijing. We were really lucky to have no spitters or throat clearers in our compartment! Instead there was a middle-aged man (who spoke quite good English) and a teen-aged boy from the compartment next door, who spent the whole night in our compartment in order to practice his English. The four of us played card games together for much of the night (interrupted occasionally by the boy’s parents checking in on him).
On May 7, due to the heat on all the previous days we had spent in Beijing, Liv and I both decided to dress for summer… unfortunately, the weather wasn’t as pleasant as it looked out of our window and we both spent the day feeling different levels of frozen. We visited the Summer Palace and (in record time) the Beijing zoo… then went back to the hotel for a meal of Peking duck and a semi-warm shower.
The trip back to Tokyo was fraught with frustrations due to NWA in China. Let’s just say that we were eventually allowed to board the aircraft (after being stopped at every possible stage for searches of us and our luggage). The flight was fine and we made it back to my apartment in Tokyo without further incident.
For the next week Liv did the tourist thing alone in Tokyo during the day while I worked, then at night we went out shopping / for dinner etc. We completed the week by getting professional photos taken of us dressed as Japanese geisha. It was a whole lot of fun and the photos turned out to be really great! It was very sad to say goodbye to Liv… I guess we should start thinking about our next holiday together soon! ;-)
Monday, April 04, 2005
Kanamara Matsuri Festival.
Ok, now some things about Japan are different, some are strange and others just totally defy explanation... this event is one of the third variety.
My weekend started out like any other... shopping, housework, etc... then it struck me as a good idea to get some culture and visit a festival at a shrine... fairly reasonable, yeah? I thought so too... but the festival I attended is unlike anything I have ever seen before... because I lack the literary genious that is obviously required to describe such an event, I've stolen someone else's description... the photos are 100% my own though!
Spring is in the air, and perhaps the joys of the season in the Kanto region are nowhere more lusciously expressed than in Kawasaki Daishi, Kanagawa Prefecture, which is bracing itself for its annual phallic festival. Shinto offers more titillating tumescent thrills than most world religions, as the Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) this year on April 2 and 3 proves. Sexually transmitted diseases spurred the popularization of phallic symbols in some of Japan's festivals dedicated to the male member, such as this one dating back to the Edo period (1603-1867). At that time, Kawasaki's "ladies of the night" prayed not only that business would be brisk, but for protection from syphilis. Come cherry blossom time, they gathered baskets of bamboo shoots and other sprouting delicacies, carried the shrine's phallic image in procession through the streets, and then sat down to a merry banquet on mats spread out on the courtyard of Kanamara Shrine. With the spread of syphilis now curbed, participants in the modern festival solicit donations for HIV/AIDS research. Today, the highlights of this saucy festival include transvestites parading through the town's streets carrying a mikoshi (portable shrine) with a humungous pink phallus on top. And, if that's not guaranteed to make you blush as deeply as the surrounding cherry blossoms, then the spectacle of grandmas and grandpas sucking on carnal candy and sweetmeat replicas of this stupendous phallus, is more than likely to. Other attractions include locals carving penises out of daikon (radish), children and young women sitting astride penis-shaped seesaws for good luck and fertility blessings, as well as a seated banquet in the compound of Kanamara Jinja (aka Wakamiya Hachiman-gu shrine) where the phallic radishes are auctioned. All are welcome to take part in the festival's parade and banquet, which includes dancing and karaoke singing. Many revelers, Japanese and foreigners alike, turn out in kimono, Edo period attire or drag for this two-day event of phallic fun which is also attended by many of the area's community leaders and civic dignitaries.
My weekend started out like any other... shopping, housework, etc... then it struck me as a good idea to get some culture and visit a festival at a shrine... fairly reasonable, yeah? I thought so too... but the festival I attended is unlike anything I have ever seen before... because I lack the literary genious that is obviously required to describe such an event, I've stolen someone else's description... the photos are 100% my own though!
Spring is in the air, and perhaps the joys of the season in the Kanto region are nowhere more lusciously expressed than in Kawasaki Daishi, Kanagawa Prefecture, which is bracing itself for its annual phallic festival. Shinto offers more titillating tumescent thrills than most world religions, as the Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) this year on April 2 and 3 proves. Sexually transmitted diseases spurred the popularization of phallic symbols in some of Japan's festivals dedicated to the male member, such as this one dating back to the Edo period (1603-1867). At that time, Kawasaki's "ladies of the night" prayed not only that business would be brisk, but for protection from syphilis. Come cherry blossom time, they gathered baskets of bamboo shoots and other sprouting delicacies, carried the shrine's phallic image in procession through the streets, and then sat down to a merry banquet on mats spread out on the courtyard of Kanamara Shrine. With the spread of syphilis now curbed, participants in the modern festival solicit donations for HIV/AIDS research. Today, the highlights of this saucy festival include transvestites parading through the town's streets carrying a mikoshi (portable shrine) with a humungous pink phallus on top. And, if that's not guaranteed to make you blush as deeply as the surrounding cherry blossoms, then the spectacle of grandmas and grandpas sucking on carnal candy and sweetmeat replicas of this stupendous phallus, is more than likely to. Other attractions include locals carving penises out of daikon (radish), children and young women sitting astride penis-shaped seesaws for good luck and fertility blessings, as well as a seated banquet in the compound of Kanamara Jinja (aka Wakamiya Hachiman-gu shrine) where the phallic radishes are auctioned. All are welcome to take part in the festival's parade and banquet, which includes dancing and karaoke singing. Many revelers, Japanese and foreigners alike, turn out in kimono, Edo period attire or drag for this two-day event of phallic fun which is also attended by many of the area's community leaders and civic dignitaries.
Snowboarding at Hakuba
I had a fantastic week of snowboarding. There was heaps of snow still, most days the weather was perfect and there was almost nobody else on the ski slopes. How could I have not had a great time? Check out the snow!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Tokyo Tours R Us
What a busy couple of weeks! A friend of mine from the land of Oz (Christian) came to visit me in Tokyo. It was great to see him again and we had heaps of fun!
First, we went to Hakuba near Nagano March 12 and 13. We spent the weekend attempting to snowboard (I have to say I think I spent more time on my bum than on my board!) but we had a good time. The place where we stayed "Luna Piena" has great breakfasts and dinners and the best service ever! AND it's a mere 5 min walk to the chairlift at Happo ski/board resort. I had such a great time that I'm going back there for a week-long snowboarding holiday at the end of March.
After our boarding weekend (Nursing many bruises and sore muscles) we returned to Tokyo... Christian did the self-guided tour thing during the days and I proceeded to work hard all week. After that, we both still managed to go out shopping and dining most nights (not a bad effort, hu?)
I introduced Christian to the wonders of Japanese cuisine including Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes) and Yakitori (various chicken skewers). We found a fab Italian restaurant with the very Italian name of "Ole, Ole" and had great Indian food and even went to an Irish pub for dinner and a pint of Kilkenny on St. Patrick's Day!.
My kids had their school concert on Thursday. They did the most fantastic job. I was so proud of them, I nearly cried!
Christian led me astray and FORCED me to purchase a snowboard set... I have to say it IS super nice!!
On Saturday we went to Disneyland. It was fairly busy (It's a long weekend here) but we managed to get on some rides and have a good look around. We ended our day with a ride on Splash Mountain. I managed to get the wettest of everyone on the ride and still managed to look perfectly calm (almost comatose) in the photo... so I decided it was worth purchasing!
Then on Sunday I sent Christian off home... waving goodbye as his taxi disappeared into the sunset... I hope I told the taxi driver the right place to go!
First, we went to Hakuba near Nagano March 12 and 13. We spent the weekend attempting to snowboard (I have to say I think I spent more time on my bum than on my board!) but we had a good time. The place where we stayed "Luna Piena" has great breakfasts and dinners and the best service ever! AND it's a mere 5 min walk to the chairlift at Happo ski/board resort. I had such a great time that I'm going back there for a week-long snowboarding holiday at the end of March.
After our boarding weekend (Nursing many bruises and sore muscles) we returned to Tokyo... Christian did the self-guided tour thing during the days and I proceeded to work hard all week. After that, we both still managed to go out shopping and dining most nights (not a bad effort, hu?)
I introduced Christian to the wonders of Japanese cuisine including Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes) and Yakitori (various chicken skewers). We found a fab Italian restaurant with the very Italian name of "Ole, Ole" and had great Indian food and even went to an Irish pub for dinner and a pint of Kilkenny on St. Patrick's Day!.
My kids had their school concert on Thursday. They did the most fantastic job. I was so proud of them, I nearly cried!
Christian led me astray and FORCED me to purchase a snowboard set... I have to say it IS super nice!!
On Saturday we went to Disneyland. It was fairly busy (It's a long weekend here) but we managed to get on some rides and have a good look around. We ended our day with a ride on Splash Mountain. I managed to get the wettest of everyone on the ride and still managed to look perfectly calm (almost comatose) in the photo... so I decided it was worth purchasing!
Then on Sunday I sent Christian off home... waving goodbye as his taxi disappeared into the sunset... I hope I told the taxi driver the right place to go!
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Nagano Cultural Weekend March 5-6
This weekend I went to Nagano with some people from work.
We had a fantastic time.
First, we saw some of the city of Nagano. The Special Olympics were just finishing so there were lots of foreigners around. We got a volunteer guide when we went to the temple (she was awesome). Thanks to her, I managed to find the key to enlightenment AND be re-born... all in the space of an hour!
We stayed at a hostel inside the first set of gates to the temple. It used to be acommodation for the monks at the temple and it was gorgeous. The landlady was great too. She even gave us warm sake and called the local restaurant to deliver dinner to us!
It did become a little bit tragic when, around 7:30pm, we had eaten dinner, consumed a number of bottles of wine and were ready for bed! We decided instead to play some games... what followed was a couple of hilarious hours of (gradually more substandard) charades and celebrity head.
On Sunday we were up at the "crack of sparrows" to wash our faces in the icy tap water (hot water was down stairs but it was 2 degrees down there) I stuck to the cold water in the 5 degree environment. Bags packed, we went back to the train station (along with some Estonian masseurs... sadly, all female) for breakfast (some of us nursing slight hang-overs) then on the bus up to near the Snow monkeys.
http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/frameset.html
Check this website if you're interested. Not only does it have a "live webcam" (which seems to show one pic an hour) but it also has some of the most attrocious Engrish I've seen in a long time! But... the snow was beautiful and the monkeys were very cool!
A word to the wise... don't take any plastic bags! The monkeys associate that with food and they WILL attack (Saw it happen to an old lady Sunday morning). The lady was fine but her rice ball took a quick journey up the nearest tree, in the hands of a monkey.
We had a fantastic time.
First, we saw some of the city of Nagano. The Special Olympics were just finishing so there were lots of foreigners around. We got a volunteer guide when we went to the temple (she was awesome). Thanks to her, I managed to find the key to enlightenment AND be re-born... all in the space of an hour!
We stayed at a hostel inside the first set of gates to the temple. It used to be acommodation for the monks at the temple and it was gorgeous. The landlady was great too. She even gave us warm sake and called the local restaurant to deliver dinner to us!
It did become a little bit tragic when, around 7:30pm, we had eaten dinner, consumed a number of bottles of wine and were ready for bed! We decided instead to play some games... what followed was a couple of hilarious hours of (gradually more substandard) charades and celebrity head.
On Sunday we were up at the "crack of sparrows" to wash our faces in the icy tap water (hot water was down stairs but it was 2 degrees down there) I stuck to the cold water in the 5 degree environment. Bags packed, we went back to the train station (along with some Estonian masseurs... sadly, all female) for breakfast (some of us nursing slight hang-overs) then on the bus up to near the Snow monkeys.
http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/frameset.html
Check this website if you're interested. Not only does it have a "live webcam" (which seems to show one pic an hour) but it also has some of the most attrocious Engrish I've seen in a long time! But... the snow was beautiful and the monkeys were very cool!
A word to the wise... don't take any plastic bags! The monkeys associate that with food and they WILL attack (Saw it happen to an old lady Sunday morning). The lady was fine but her rice ball took a quick journey up the nearest tree, in the hands of a monkey.
Friday, March 04, 2005
School Cancelled for Friday March 4th due to Snow 6:23a.m
Due to the heavy snow fall over night ... International School has decided it is not safe for children to come to school. School will be closed today. There will be no school for ECE, Primary or Secondary.
Due to the heavy snow fall over night ... International School has decided it is not safe for children to come to school. School will be closed today. There will be no school for ECE, Primary or Secondary.
Horay!
I still have to go to work,
but I also get to play in the snow....
and I don't have to share it with the kids! :-D
Thursday, March 03, 2005
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