August 2006 Archives

Got back to SIN from a whirlwind tour of KL and Malacca VERY late last night. At 0200, I stumbled into my usual guesthouse/hostel. Only to find out this AM that...

THERE'S NO WI FI!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! Used to allow can??? *wails* Broken routers suck.

Have not been online in four days (cuz no wi-fi access in KL) so am rejoining the world now. I'm at a McD's where there's free (but pokey) wi-fi access and where my MacBook will wind up smelling like french fries.

MUST CALL AHEAD in future!!

Melaka is a historic town roughly halfway between Singapore and KL. If KL is Malaysia's Tokyo, Melaka could be seen as Malaysia's Kyoto, a city that was great in the past and now is seen as a historic town.

One of the draws of Melaka is the famous Christ Church, built by the Dutch in 1753 and is still in use today as a church.

Christ Church at night

There's a fountain and a companion building next door too

Christ Church is near a river that cuts through the city

It looks like a work in progress...

We met up with Yi-Lin's cousin who is an architect here. She took us to the best siew yuk hawker stall in the universe.

That's some siew yuk mein, wontons and some sour plum drink that was pretty good

Here's a close up. It really was THAT good!

We also learned a lesson in etiquette when YL tried to place our order, she went up to the front of the hawker cart instead of going round to the back. It placed us as outsiders and everyone got a good laugh. We got the last laugh at the end because we got our orders first!! Wahahahahah!

After we visited Christ Church and toured the historic quarter, we were back on the Federal Highway to Singapore. 2 more hours to go...

31 August is Hari Merdeka, the founding of the modern state of Malaysia. I was in KL on 30 August when celebrations into the night welcome in Hari Merdeka.

Kinda like New Year's Eve parties to welcome in the New Year. People in Malaysia are very patriotic by showing their colors all over the place. Sometimes on buses. Definitely on the streets. Nicely on their persons (complete with bad pun). And sometimes patriotism just spurts out of their cars.

Must've driven into a flag storm...

Saw this car at lunch in Klang, on the Road to Singapore.

KL in some ways is an urban planner's nightmare. The roads aren't in a grid, thus making navigation a challenge for first time visitors. And the traffic!! The traffic jams are legendary.

This is traffic at 1600. And it's really not that bad YET!

To help deal with this, KL has several rail lines (LRT and monorail and high speed) running through the city. However, they are all run by different companies and transferring between them is an exercise in patience (and ringgit). If you plan to muck around in KL, it's best to PLAN PLAN PLAN and to use your map reading skills...

After I finished my Petronas Tower tour, I decided to check out the Bukit Bintang area. This is one of the busy spots in downtown KL with lots of shops, restuarants and bars for expats and upwardly mobile types. Tonight is Merdeka eve; many of the bars were getting ready for evening festivities. It even has its own KL Monorail stop!

It's really the Coca-Cola stop...

As if you had any doubt about who is sponsoring this staion..

Ah, you've probably noticed that it's a co-branded Monorail stop. Apparently ALL the stations on the KL Monorail have corporate "sponsors" that blanket their respective stations with advertising. It's useful in a touristy way if you have to give directions. "Take the monorail and get off at the "Coke" station". Hey, if it keeps fares down and brings in revenue, it's all good with me!

Can you recognize the companies that have stations here?

THE Malaysian landmark (the one thing that people think "Malaysia" when they see it) is unquestionably the Petronas Towers.

They're quite tall. And there's a mall at the bottom!

I was last in KL in 2003 when I was introduced to Tiger Beer with ice, spicy chicken noodle soup, World Union Rugby and the mother of all hangovers. During this lost weekend, we tried to get tickets to the Petronas Towers tour, but got there too late (all gone!). Tickets for the tour are free, but rationed. They are distributed on the same day, from 0800 until they run out.

My first stop after arriving at KL Sentral from KLIA was to the ticket desk to try to get a tour ticket. I arrived there around 1015 and I'll have to admit, I wasn't too optimistic. But sometimes things work out. Because I got a ticket for the 1400 tour!

A view of a tall mall

My favourite store in the KLCC!

After lunch, puttering through the mall and an all too brief internet session, I went on the tour. It began with a brief film on the construction and design of the Towers followed by a ride in what seemed to be a freight elevator to the skybridge on the 41st Floor.

Looking down! Note the brace supporting the skybridge

It's a nice view from 41 stories up

The park that's adjecent to the KLCC

Detail shot of some of the 65000 square meters of stainless steel cladding used on the Towers

Tower 1 is occupied by the Petronas company and Tower 2 is leased out to commercial tenants. No restaurant or view deck at the top of the towers. Still I wonder who has the highest office in the building?

As this is a corporate headquarters, the usual disclaimer...

Hmmmm. Since I don't speak Bahasa Malaysia, should I retitle this entry to "Aeroline Basi"?

So after an evening at the Singapore Island Club (because Wild Rocket is closed on Mondays!!) and overnight in the Summer Tavern, I dragged my roller bag toward Waterfront Plaza. Then I gave up and flagged down a taxi and RODE to Waterfront Plaza. A very inconvenient location since there's no MRT stop nearby. Aeroline has since moved their Singapore terminal to Harbourfront. It's a good location since all the buses and taxis know the location and it's the terminus of the NEL.

Get on the bas...

Now why am I riding the basi instead of flying or taking the train, you may ask? Well, taking the train is SLOWER than taking the basi. And taking the basi is hella cheaper than flying and it's just a few hours longer. See, Singapore and Malaysian Airlines have an arrangement where they monopolize the KL-Singapore route, keeping all others (such as Air Asia, JetStar, Tiger, etc) out. The prices that are charged are expensive for a 40 minute flight. In other words, RIP-OFF! There's movement to change that, but for now, the basi is your best bet.

And for basi, it's not that bad. It's a modern double decker with seating for about 20 upstairs and a lounge area and seating for another 10 or so downstairs. The basi left promptly on time and drove to the Tuas checkpoint. Where we all played the "immigration hokey-pokey" which went something like this:

Get off the basi. Queue up in scary building. Stamp passport. Get on da basi.

Drive across the bridge

Get off the basi. Take your luggage. Queue up in scary building. Stamp passport. Toss luggage into back of basi. Get on da basi.

A bit of a pain, this is. I do understand the need for passport control on proper sides of the border, but geez, still a pain. Kenny Sia wrote about this too and made a neat-o graphic.

Apparently, it's a special thing if your KL basi has food. From what I'm told, it's usually a cold sandwich. On Aeroline, you get a bottle of "processed tap water" and a hot lunch.

Hot lunch!

What is this? Looks like chicken...

Besides the mystery meat, the rest of lunch wasn't too bad. And the ride over was comfortable. The seats were leather (nicer seats than UA), they reclined and there were a couple of movies (Pirates of the Carribean and White Chicks) too. Thankfully, I slept through most of the movies.

The view from my seat

Didn't really miss much out the window during the 5 hour trip because this is what you see for most of it.

Yep, it's a lot of rubber trees. Going by pretty fast. That's all you see for about 5 hours. Then 5.1 hours later, you see this (along with a LOT of traffic)

Petronas Towers at night from the basi

This means we've arrived! My frens are here to collect me so this means time for real food!!

Besides the usual accolades about Singapore Changi (home base of SQ, spa, movies, free broadband, cushy chairs, transit hotel, koi pond inside the terminal, hawker centre, great duty-free, yadda yadda), here's more reasons why Changi is, quite possibly, a destination upon itself.

Free Financial Times!!

And when you get off the plane, you see these every 10 meters, from the gate to immigration.

These are foot massage machines. OK, more like reflexology machines!

You lose your socks and put your feet inside for 10 minutes of pain and bliss. Waaah!

This being Singapore, there are exact instructions so you dun hurt yourself

Both OTO and Osim have different machines on the path to immigration. By the time I finished my session and cleared immigration (the latter taking a whole 3 minutes!), my baggage was already off the belt waiting for me. I was the last one from my flight to leave the airport! Sheesh.

Yum yum yum! It's lunch time!

And which one to pick? The "continental" or the "japanese" lunch? Choices, choices!

Check out the instructions on the "sauce for the noodles". I wouldnt've figured it out...

And this being SQ, each big meal ends with the infamous ice cream cup. On today's flight, our ice cream cup comes from France via Japan.

It's a Fauchon cup! Verry rich french vanilla bean ice cream! Click between the French and US sites for some interesting insight...

And the fun continues...

Along with redoing the entire South Wing of Tokyo Narita for the Star Alliance, they redid ANA's outer lounge. It used to be a small, unexciting lounge that you killed time at because you could. Now, it's new, has a neat design AND has a soba bar!

Yup, that's soba alrighty...

Wao! Check out the fish cake in the middle of the bowl! Advertising lah!

The usual beverage bar and food aisle. They have snacky treats and sushi. And a beer machine too!

They also have a fully stocked bar but since this was a morning flight, it wasn't open. Oh well.

Looks like one of those trendy bars that you have to dress up to get into...

I luuuurve the specialty of the house. Too bad it's morning!!

And this is the front desk, the first and last thing you'll see when you use this lounge.

They're just LOOKING busy...they're really a cheerful bunch

ANA Lounge is highly recommended. I think there's some other kind of united lounge here but what ANA lacks in size (it's not as big), it makes up in quality.

One of the seating/lounge-y areas of the ANA South Wing Lounge

Did I mention the free wi-fi?

One ironclad rule I've tried to live by when travelling is, "find a crash pad near the train station". Repeat that five times really loud. "FINDACRASHPADNEARTHETRAINSTATION" X 5. OK, done.

And for the most part, I've been pretty good about that. There are several advantages to having a guesthouse/hostel/hotel near the train station. They include:

You have an instant landmark (the train station).
If you find yourself iniebriated, you can simply tell the cab/police car driver, "drop me off at the "blank" train station".

Convenience.
When you arrive at your destination late in the evening, you don't want to be scratching your head trying to figure out where your lodging is, especially since everywhere else is closed (because it's late). Also, since most Japanese towns have the eki in the center of town, all the useful things, such as combini and late night food are close by.

As I wrote about in an earlier entry, my JR Pass was due to expire this evening. If I spent the night in Tokyo and braved the commuter hell the next morning, I would be Y1150 and at least 2.5 hours poorer. Ever try to push your way onto the Yamanote with baggage during the commute? I have and it's something I don't want to do. EVER. AGAIN.

I had the brilliant idea of going out to Narita (the town) tonight, crashing in a hostel there and heading out the next morning to Narita (the airport). It sounds good on paper, right? Well, it didn't turn out quite as painless as much as my Japan travel usually is.

In order to maximize my time in Tokyo, I booked myself on the last N'Ex of the evening which left around 2000. I spent much of the afternoon wandering around Kabuki-Cho and the Golden Gai, two places in Shinjuku i've not been to yet.

The last train outta town...or at least to NRT

One piece of advice for riding the N'Ex. When you acquire your ticket, you get a car and seat assignment. That assignment cooresponds with the signage on the platform floor. The N'Ex splits into two sublines upon arrival at Tokyo-eki from NRT. One part continues on to Shinjuku and the other continues on to Yokohama and points south. When you are taking the N'Ex back to NRT, the two parts arrive and combine to form one big train that leaves Tokyo-eki and arrives at NRT.

I watched some Amerika-jin chase the first part of our train to arrive down the platform before having to stagger back to where their seat assignments were when the second part of the train arrived a few minutes later. They did this even though there was a lot of signage saying "don't do that". Ha!

Hey, I may have attended the San Francisco Public schools, but at least I can read lah!

Anyway, the ride to Narita (the town) was uneventful aside from meeting a couple from South Africa who came to Japan for their honeymoon. They spent a lot of time in Kyoto and Hakone, as a lot of honeymooners who come to Japan do (heh heh). When the train arrived at Narita (the town), I ran into a couple of other flashpackers who had the same evil plan I did so we decided to get lost together. After a few wrong turns and some confused directions, we found our way to the Azure Guesthouse. It took us a grand total of 45 minutes to find the place, dragging baggage up and down hills. I developed ugly blisters the size of dollar coins (Eisenhower) on at least four parts of my feet. Pain!

The lobby of the Azure Guesthouse at 0600. That be early!

The Azure Guesthouse is a bit of a way away from the eki and what passes for downtown Narita. You pass through downtown, pass a hospital and a Chrysler (!) dealership. You also pass a Matsumoto-Kiyoshi (drug store), a used bookstore and a grocery/liquor store before you get to Azure. Once we arrived, we found out that there were a total of five guests (including the three of us who just arrived) in the entire hostel. There was a couple of Koreans who were staying here and commuting into Tokyo each day to play tourist. That's like staying in Simi Valley and driving into downtown LA each day. Not the smartest use of your limited vacation time.

The hostel is on the small side, but was relatively new and whose interior designer subscribes to the "neo-japanese dark wood" design asthetic. It looks cool. There are three rooms with three bunk beds in each. One shower and one toilet for all. My brief stay here was tempered by some quirks that I normally would have expected in guesthouses in Bangkok. Or mainland China. But not Japan. First off, the guesthouse is on the second floor of the building. That really means the third floor, because here it's "Ground" then "1st" then "2nd" floor. For much of the US, it's "Ground" then "2nd" then "3rd".

That's to cut off any sort of wise ass remarks that may come because I had to go up ONE flight of stairs...

Then the signage. Signs everywhere. "No shoes past this point". "Drinks only in the common room". "Clean up after yourself". "Make your sheets like this". The last sign annoyed me to no end. Seems that they want you to fold your sheet into a psuedo-sleeping bag, covering your pillow so that the only thing your gaijin body touches is the sheet. Very uncomfortable and when I tried to comply, it didn't work. The next AM, I woke up (EARLY!) with the sheet on the floor and the blanket and pillow in some unholy communion under my head. Guess they'll have to wash the pillowcase! And the sheets! Did I mention that I got charged Y300 for a towel? And Y300 for plugging my MacBook into their (throttled) "broadband " connection? That's gotta be the slowest broadband I've ever experienced in Japan. On the plus side, they sell beer (Yebisu!) and there's a combini across the street that sells pretty good kara-age.

Like I said, it felt more like Bangkok or mainland China, except cleaner and with smarter design.

It's always easier to find your way back then to find your way somewhere. The next morning, I followed the directions posted to get back to the Keisei Narita-eki, which is next to the JR Narita-eki. I left the guesthouse at 0615. I arrived at 0635. And that was with me walking slowly, dragging my roller bag behind me. It's definitely easier when you know where things are. And when it's daylight.

The best thing was that Keisei took my Passnet card, which I thought was only good on the Tokyo Metro, because that's where I bought it. The Passnet card is a stored value card (like a BART ticket or an Octopus/EZ Link) that you can use on all the subway lines in the Tokyo area (EXCEPT JR lines). I purchased one for Y1000 becuase I needed to take the subway for a few trips and I hate having to purchase a ticket each time I go through the wicket. Best of all, if you have to transfer between the Eidan and the Toei, you don't have to purchase two individual tickets. Using your Passnet card makes the transfer seamless.

This is Keisei Narita-eki at 0646. If this were anywhere in Tokyo, I'd be drowning in commuters right now.

Here ends your Japan travel advice for today...

First off, I need to return here at night. It's much more interesting then. However, I was put off by some of the signs that say "No Pictures". Except it was on the street!

Much has been written about the Golden Gai and how it represents how Tokyo used to be before it became "modern", how the misfits and rebels and gaijin hang out here, yadda yadda. Basically, the Golden Gai is a small area packed full of really small bars and alleys that look very "Shitamachi" in "Yamanote".

The outer edge of the Golden Gai

This is how it looks inside the Golden Gai. In daytime. When everyone's closed.

Wonder what's upstairs?

Most, if not all of these bars have a steady clientele that they make their money from and many of these bars are not friendly, or are even hostile to strangers (gaijin, you AND me) who poke their noses into what many consider their private space. Most times you'll be able to tell how welcome you are by how the mama-san reacts when you open the door. Other times, you can read it on the wall outside.

If you wanna visit, go with a local! Or take Nihongo lessons!!

Gotta save some money, drag some frens with me and drink here next time!!

A big ol' billboard (out of three) in JR Shinjuku, the busiest train station in the world.

People have gotten lost in this station. Is it because it's so big or because people are looking at advertising?

As part of my series on my biannual pilgrimage to the Nissan Gallery Ginza, here's a van that's designed for the disabled in Japan. Very progressive!

The arm holding the bucket seat can support even a big Amerika-jin like myself

Aw hell, this is the REAL reason I come to this Ginza landmark! Heh heh.

Konichiwa!

This Tokyo trip has been jam packed! Awaodori dancers, doing some shopping, visiting frens and their kids, there wasn't almost enough time to do the things I really like to do in Tokyo (besides visit MUJI).

Mmmm rammmmen!! At the first shop where I got hooked on the stuff.

Can anyone out there translate?

Each visit to Tokyo includes a visit here, here being 5 minutes from JR Shinjuku-eki's South Exit. I've written about this place before, so I'll just cut to the artsy pictures.

One of those bowls is mine...! Gimme gimme gimme...

Itadakimasu!!

I went to yet another cultural event here in Tokyo. This Japan leg has been all about culture. Visiting the tombs and temples of Nikko. Climbing Matsumoto-jo. In past trips, I attended the Sanja Matsuri, the biggest event in Asakusa (Tokyo). Now i'm hooked on the rhythmic beat and the visual delight of the Koenji Awaodori.

Awaodori dancers in motion...

More of the same...

Aw heck, here's THE Awaodori dancers starting the parade!

Roy has been attending various Awaodori for over ten years and this year, he broke in moi and Brad who also works and resides in Tokyo (lucky!).

One of them is really excited!

We got to JR Koenji-eki early and planted ourselves on the street. After several runs to 7-11 for fluids (me) and a run to McD's for a cup(!) of french fries and a Coke (Brad), the countdown ended and the 50th Koenji Awaodori began!

The crowd across the street from us and the reviewing stand

And then the worst possible thing happened. Battery died! Crap! So when Brand and Roy post pix, I'll link accordingly in this post.

The dancers were fun, the beat was infectious, my feet hurt and had a great time! Must try to make it next year!

I came to a realization early on this trip. Actually, it was from a copy of the Straits Times that I read on SQ11 (Hey UAL, guess what? You CAN get newspapers and magazines on REAL airlines!) about midway through my flight.

I like the whole idea of staying in clean hostels and mucking about on the ground eating street food. I like going to local festivals and hanging out where locals do. Doing local things. I also luurve Business Class, airport lounges, Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) and the Shinkansen.

But I hate wasting time. I hate waiting. And I like to plan things. My entire itinerary on JR on this trip? Planned to the minute 4 weeks prior. And guess what? It worked! I have a list of HSBC and Citibank locations for every destination on this trip. I can't travel anywhere withouth my iPod and MacBook and I try to stay in establishments that provide free broadband or wi-fi.

These things sound contradictory? Hostels and Business Class? Not really the traditional backpacker? Guess what? I'm not a backpacker, I'm a flashpacker. Yup, flashpacker, yet another term you get to learn reading this site. At least it ain't Singlish. Wah Lau!

The latter exclaimation was Singlish, by the way.

I've been travelling to different parts of Japan for the past few years. During those trips, I've stayed at all kinds of lodging.

I've stayed in business hotels, international hotels, ryokan (both semi-fancy and basic), minshuku and hostels. Until tonight, I've never stayed in a capsule hotel. Now I'm going to be in one for 2 days.

Now, the question always comes up. "why"? Well, there's a few good reasons for that.

First, it's on the Yamanote near JR Akibahara-eki. That means it's on the loop and will save a lot of time coming and going over the next 48 hours.

Second, the price isn't too bad. I got charged Y3700. It's Y500 more than I usually pay for Tokyo lodging, but it's worth it for the extra hour I save coming and going to the hotel I usually stay at.

Third, I've never stayed at a capsule hotel before. And capsule hotels, like them or not, are iconic places of modern Tokyo.

The ritual of staying here is different. First off, you put your shoes in a shoe locker next to the check in desk. You hand the clerk the key to your shoe locker and the night's room charges and he checks you in. You get your capsule assignment and a matching key for the lockers in the locker room on the second floor. You change out of your street clothes into yukata for lounging about the hotel. The shower room and communal smoking lounge are also on the second floor.

My assigned bunk, #703...

...was on the bottom left of this row.

Each capsule is a self sufficent sleeping space with its own alarm clock, lights, TV, vent and radio controlled by a handy dandy control panel on your right as you lay down inside.

Capsule Control Panel. Also makes a handy shelf.

Contrary to popular belief, there's enough room for sleeping one person. And that's about it. The capsule was just longer than 2 meters and a bit over 1 meter in height and width. I could sit up inside the capsule, but that's about it.

How my capsule looks when I'm sitting up in it

If you want to do anything else besides sleep, you have to leave your capsule and putter about in the common areas of the hotel. Besides the 2nd floor facilities, there's vending machines for coffee and beverages as well as for neatly pressed dress shirts and underwear (!) in the lobby. There's also broadband, wired in the common areas and wireless on the capsule floors. The router on my floor was not connecting to the internet, a common theme of this trip. So to get emails, I was forced to drag my MacBook to the common areas to plug in. Once online, it was really fast!

Capsule hotels are generally considered the lodging of last resort, usually for salarymen who missed the last train home after a night of carousing at the local izakaya. Because of this, there aren't any real facilities for luggage, since who goes to work with a carry on, right? There is one luggage rack in the back of the lobby, but otherwise, luggage is locked and chained under the main staircase that leads to the second floor.

Now despite these drawbacks (and the feeling I was back in the dorm in college), I'd recommend staying at least one night in a capsule hotel. They are clean and safe (this IS Japan, remember?) and although most capsule hotels are men only, the one I stayed at reserved the top floor for women. That top floor had capsules, a common room and bath and shower rooms. Self contained capsule hotel in a capsule hotel.

Just don't bring a lot of baggage with ya...

She's apparently part of Japan Post's advertising campaign.

I love creative advertising!

Yup, that's the power of advertising. Made me look!!

I'm at JR Nagano eki making a transfer to the Asama 546 that will spirit me back to the fleshpots of Tokyo.

I had half an hour to kill and there was the small matter of the JR East Pass.

Seems that I miscalculated its validity. It's 5 days from the day of activation. My original plan was to brave the Tokyo crush on Monday AM, getting out to NRT by 0900. Problem was that since I activated my pass on Wednesday evening, it expires Sunday evening!

I considered my options. Coughing up Y1050 for the Keisei Tokkyu and sleeping two hours on the train. Or...

I could blow out of Tokyo on Sunday night, spend the night in Narita (the town, not the airport lah!) and use my JR East Pass to the very end!

Which of course I'm going to do! And since all of JR is networked and computerised, I simply went into the ticket office and asked for a N'EX ticket (in nihongo, I might add!) for Sunday night. And the ticket was issued. And still had 25 minutes to spare. Depending on how things go on Sunday, I may head out there eariler. Narita is one of those "places I've not been yet" and would fit in nicely with the theme of this trip...

Amazing how good customer service and an excellent rail system can make me, Joe Cranky traveller, uncranky! Emphasis on the "good customer service". Ain't finding either with Amtrak or UAL lah!

After lunch and a JR ride back to Matsumoto, I went to the Clock Museum to get me one of them thar free bicycles. I filled out the form and was told to bring it back before 1700. Easy. No deposit required and only a cursory ID check (US Passport with scary picture).

According to the maps at the JR eki, it's about 1.2 KM to Matsumoto-jo. Thank goodness I had a bicycle! Remember, it's still hot and humid outside. Walking is a bit of a chore. Riding is much easier. It took only a few minutes to cover this distance on wheels. Matsumoto-jo is one of two castles with a moon viewing room and the oldest intact castle in Japan.

Someone viewing something from the moon viewing room

It's called the "Crow Castle" because it's in varying shades of black

Many of the other castles in Japan were either burned down (Japan and fire dun mix, since there's a lot of wood here), destroyed and rebuilt, or were flattened by the 14th Air Force in WWII. Some castles in Japan were just lucky to not have been damaged during the war. Matsumotojo escaped war damage because A: There's nothing here of strategic value and B: Matsumotojo was state of the art for its time but was never laid siege to in anger back in the day.

But it's laid siege to every day by visitors. And I'm one of the horde! Wahahahah!

When you reach the top of the tower (where the Shogun had his office), you're rewarded with a commanding view of the Matsumoto area.

View from the top of the tower. Puuuurty!

The castle has bi-lingual signage when it comes to telling the story about the castle.

All the floors are open on a self-guided tour and there was method to the design of the castle. Like these hella steep stairs. Some of the older folks couldn't climb up. The kids loved scampering up and down these stairs. I was somewhere inbetween.

Climbing these "stairs" was akin to climbing up a verry steep ladder

The view looking down. Yes, it's quite high.

Besides the castle, there's a collection of ancient weapons donated by one of Matsumoto's leading citizens. The collection ranges from matchlocks to flintlocks to the first revolvers.

Some of the first firearms introduced to Japan

And this was once all a private collection! The weapons displays, however was mostly in Japanese. Hopefully they'll be a translation soon. It's neat stuff, worthy of a History Channel special.

Well, I think it says something about the first matchlocks used in combat in Japan...

Assembly instructions. Got it. Just like IKEA furniture...

One common thread in all the ryokan that I've stayed at over the past few years is that the smaller it is, the more it feels hospitable. I mean, big ryokan won't collect you from the eki in a driving rainstorm. Small ones do.

My only problem (NOT a complaint) is that Matsumoto dun have enough low cost ryokan. Nonya Ryokan was the most affordable I could find through the booking engine I use and that was Y5000 for one night. Usually my lodging costs at MOST, Y4000/day. That's a difference of Y1000. And includes wi-fi. Just something to keep in mind if you come up here to eat wasabi infused food or nearly bump your head on a low column in Matsumoto Jo. Y1000 is most of a meal here. Or two beers. Keeping that in mind, I got on a train with a bunch of other overprepared Japanese hikers equipped with backpacks, hats and ekiben and headed out to Hodaka, where Japan's largest wasabi farm is. And a nature area with a bunch of trails for them to hike. Since I was underprepared, I went to the farm. Overprepared? Go commune with nature.

When I arrived at JR Hodaka eki, I saw very little in basi here. The tourist information bureau suggested that I rent a bicycle. Since much of the area here is flat (again!), it shouldn't be a problem, if you ignore the searing heat and humidity.

The bike rental place, just outside of the Eki

Y200/hour for a bicycle? Whatta bargain! And they didn't even take a deposit or make me prepay! The guy spoke english, drew out a path on the map and sent me on my way. I luuuuurve this part of Japan! The ride to the wasabi farm turned out to be one of the high points of the trip. It was very pretty and serene. And very green.

Once you clear the town area, this is what the next kilometer or two looks like.

The country air was nice and there weren't too many cars on the road

This is the river you cross before you enter the farm.

14 minutes and one wrong turn later, I found the wasabi farm.

It was easy since the path was well marked. If you followed the map!

looks like something you'd see marking a winery

The first thing I noticed about this place was that there's a lot of stuff to buy. And then there's the wasabi. First you can have it in raw form.

I got yr wasabi, rrrrright here!

Or you can eat it in pickles, ice cream, soba, chocolate and most every kind of food you can infuse that eye tearing flavor into. I had the ice cream. The wasabi taste was there but subtle. The sweet cancelled out the harsh sting so all you had was a nice aftertaste, like a good cigar. *here ends my Anthony Bourdain moment*

This is how a wasabi ice cream stand looks like. It was more like a softie than hard pack ice cream.

The next thing I noticed was that there were a lot of kids here. With their parents. Much of the farm is actually well tended openspace with trails for hiking and strategically placed eateries for when you get hungry after hiking.

Here's the map of the farm. In some ways, it reminds me of an amusement park

This is a strategically placed wasabi soba restaurant

There's a place on the trail with great views, two temples and a place to soak your feet in the water that's feeding the wasabi. It's hella cold BTW. According to the brochure, it's 12 degrees cold and that for good wasabi, the water needs to be hella cold while above, the plants need to be hella hot.

The wasabi is covered from direct sun while it's irrigated by cold mountain water runoff.

It looks like a river of wasabi.

Soaking your tired tootsies in cold mountain water

MatsumoTooooooooooooo! MatsumoTooooooooooo!

That's what greets you when you get off the tokkyu that brings you in from Nagano. A very happy welcome to Matsumoto, gateway town to the Japan Alps and close to one of the biggest wasabi farm/theme parks around and a big nature area that's only accessible when the snow melts.

Matsumoto is a proper Japanese city. The center of town is where the eki is. There are loads of cabs and basi stops. And directly across the street is a McDonald's. But not just any McD's. This one is 24 hours and has some VERY nice talent after hours.

At a US McD's, you get crackheads and bums after dark. No talent. None. At. All.

Nonya Ryokan is about 10 minutes away from JR Matsumoto-eki. The walk itself is pleasant since about half of the journey is on a pedestrianized street. And did I mention the talent?

Yup, I think I did.

Back to the Ryokan. It's been open for close to 20 years and is family run. It has character. Dark wooden floors. My room is 6 jo, twice as big as the usual cubbyhole I stay at in Tokyo.

Now this is a big impressive room. Y5000/night and it could be yours too...

Did I mention it's on the 3rd floor? *grunt* And the floors, even though they look gorgeous, squeak hella loud. This will become a problem later when I had to use the head at 0230. I swear, even with the most "stealthy like ninja" effort, the floorboards still hella squeaked.

"hey, the guy on the third floor is going to the head! Just thought you'd like to know, the rest of the building!!"

Anyway, after settling in and taking a shower AND a bath, I threw on some clothes and wandered around the town center. I found, in no specific order that Matsumoto has a kick ass castle, a clock museum, a nice developed riverfront area, a Muji, an obsession with frogs and no other late night places to eat (it was around 2230 when I was farting around outside) other than McD's.

Matsumoto has a nicely preserved riverfront area

It reminds me of Kyoto's riverfront area. Very nice.

Apparently, this froggie is on the local maps as a landmark. It's across from a koban.

I also noticed a LOT of bicycles. Most of Matsumoto is flat (funny that, since they're in the mountains) and there's no subway (not big enough). So there are a lot of bicycles here. Turns out that certain buildings/establishments participate in a "free bicycle program". You ask for the bike and fill out your particulars. They give you a key and tell you to bring it back before 1700 (when they close).

So tomorrow will be a day of wasabi farm, clocks and bicycles. And JR East as I head back to Tokyo to my waiting capsule.

Sidebar: So ALL of Asia is like Singapore in the summer, eh? Guess I deal better with cold than with hot humid heat...

I spent 18 hours in transit yesterday. First it was a 10 hour flight on SQ11 from LAX to NRT. Can I tell you I'm in luuurve with SQ all over again?

Even in steerage, I mean "economy", I got 70+ movies ON DEMAND on my own vid screen, I couldn't finish my meals, they fed us soooo much and I would have proposed to at least two of the Stewardesses on the spot if common sense and community property laws weren't hovering around my head.

The flight left an hour late out of LAX but strangely enough, we made up the time enroute and landed NRT 15 minutes early. Glad that happened because even with fudge time, I was still on a tight clock because...

They redid Terminal 1 at Narita! The South wing is all new and is where all the Star Alliance airlines are at (I'll write more about that when I fly on to SIN). I spent 20 minutes hunting for the Citibank ATM that used to be at arrivals after being misdirected. The person I asked probably presumed that I wanted to stay in the South Terminal when she told me to go up to 4th Floor departures.

I went up there. Got my cash. And won an American Express pen!

Then when I got back down to the arrivals floor and walked from South to North, I found my old trustworthy ATM, right where I left it. D'OH! *palmforeheadslap*

I got to the JR East ticket office with 6 minutes to spare (they close at 1900). Got my pass and my tickets. Even with all the delays and getting in early and losing the time I gained hunting for that bloody ATM, guess what? I still made my schedule! And JR being JR, all the trains arrived and departed on time.

Here's how the schedule went:
NRT to Tokyo Station via N'Ex.
Tokyo to Utsunomiya via MAX Shinkansen
Utsunomiya to Nikko via JR Nikko Line.

Then, when I arrived at 2238 (on da nose, btw), it was raining Singapore style. That means, hot steamy heavy rain. Real rain.

I forgot, it's August, ain't it? Thought rainy season was done....

I had one night at the Narusawa Lodge booked.

This is OBVIOUSLY after the rain passed the next morning

Wada-San, one of the owners, came out to fetch me in her Mini Cooper in the driving rain. That was fortunate because Nikko shuts down after 1800 or so.

At that moment, the most comfortable room in the universe...

Tomorrow: Nikko.

I'm flying on SQ11 right now, somewhere over the Pacific. And liveblogging!

Seems that there's Wi-Fi on this flight. And the deal's not too bad either.

Check out the airlines that offer this progressive high tech service. Notice the conspicious lack of US carriers? It's probably a good thing. If UA had this service, they'd probably restrict it to 1st/Bzness and charge three times as much.

Lunch just came out. Here's what was for lunch:

Sauteed hanger steak with onions in mustard sauce, roasted veggies & gratinated potato
Cheese & crackers
Marinated Seafood Salad
Ice Cream (famous SQ Haagen-Daz cup)

Yes those are all my beverages. I believe in a liquid diet...

Not bad! You could either have this or the Japanese dish (since this is a flight bound for Tokyo Narita) which was wakadori sansho yaki. Will probably do the Japanese dinner.

More to come!

Maybe it's that my standards have been raised too high by my travels to Asia or that SFO's International Terminal is only a few years old, but...

LAX needs a new International Terminal PRONTO! Or at least a remodel. I've written about this before, but the lounges look like they're part of a really boring office block in South Gate.

Yup. Glamourous. Sure.

And they're pretty small too. Hella small. I'm on SQ and the Raffles Class lounge is actually a shared lounge with Qantas. The Silver Kris lounge at LAX is only for First Class. Bleah. On the plus side, there is FREE wi-fi.

SQ11 was delayed for about an hour. The ground staff did a great job in keeping everyone informed of the delay and as such, no stress. While I was waiting, I turned plane geek and took a bunch of photos. All the planes that land and take off from LAX pass by the Tom Bradley Terminal.

CX. Big nose.

CX leaving, my flight late!

MUJI has an airline??

Look familiar?? Wahahahahah!

...because that's how you get out of Union Station!

Sunset through the windows of Union Station, Los Angeles

The old ticketing counter (it's closed to the public, but you can see it)

Check out the counter and the light fixtures. It's old even behind the counter too!

I would have taken even more photos except my battery died...!

Yeay!

I'm in Los Angeles (again) for yet another conference. This one is hosted at the Hyatt Century City, a definite improvement over where the last conference that I attended was! My room is on the 15th Floor in the remodeled wing of the hotel.

See those buildings in the middle shrouded in smog? That's Downtown LA!

Famous fountains on Avenue of the Stars

Of course, before the meetings begin, there's debauchery. There was a big BIG cigar suite last night. Spent most of my evening there. It involved handrolled cigars, an open bar and lots of silly people. And a cigar hangover due to the Churchill I finished off last night...

Writing from SFO, Gate 73 for my twice delayed flight to LAX...

I have something nice to say about UAL, so you'd better read up! It dun happen very often...

Although UAL deserves its horrible reputation for putting the union before the customers and company, sometimes they get it right.

UA has a service called Easy Update. It will shoot an SMS to your mobile a few hours before your ticketed flight. It will also send you another SMS letting you know when a flight has been delayed and the new departure time.

Because of this, I didn't have to rush to SFO with two duffle bags, a big, heavy box of books from Amazon, two pet feeders and a couple of nested suitcases with 7 days of clothes for hot environments. The first two items are not mine; I'm just couriering them over for a friend.

Best thing about hot clothes; they take less space!!

So if you're a UA victim, sign up for Easy Update. It often knows of the delays and rescheduled flights faster than the gate agents do!

Waaaaaaaaah!

Mijita is a Mexican place in the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace which is a food mall for foodies.

Lots of good stuff here if you've got the appetite and the (big) budget for it. Gotta get down here early though because most of the Ferry Building closes at six. How are they going to get people to stay in the City after hours if nothing of note is open? *blur look*

I was down here today during dinner time so I decided to duck in and eat. The entire menu is in espanol so brush up on your food Spanish if you ever make it here. I ordered the "3 crispy chicken taco" special and a cerveza fria. The cerveza was a dollar more than the Coke light I was going to get. Beer for a buck? Bring it on!

dinner flanked by the good things, hot sauce and beer!

But wait, you say, "those don't look like tacos". And you'd be right. They look like taquitos. They tasted like taquitos too. Which is to say they tasted great (with copious addition of hot sauce) but....

These weren't tacos as we know them! The cerveza was great tho. Burp.

Mijita
1 Ferry Building
Number 44
San Francisco CA 94111
415-399-0814

Now these commercials are the reason why you drink coffee! I like the one with the "machine".

Wahahahahaah!

Just realized that this is my 500th entry into this amateurish chronicle of food and travel. Imagine that!

Besides the strip search that all passengers have to endure at US airports, possibly the most stressful part of catching a plane in the US is actually getting to the airport. Where you will be ordered to remove your jacket, empty out your pockets, remove your MacBook from its case, lose your shoes (and beverages) and walk slooooowly through the metal detector.

It's tough flying these days. But we endure because the world is big, there's a lot to see, people are generally good (for the most part) and there's a lot of food to eat!

The US does not put a priority on "getting to the airport" easily. I live in San Francisco and it took 30 years to get BART (regional rail transit) to go directly into SFO. Oakland is even worse! They had the opportunity to build BART directly into OAK (this was in the 1960's) when there was absolutely NOTHING out there. Instead, they built an half-assed station with a bus connection to the Terminals. Remember that you'll often spend just as long on your bus journey then the actual ride time on the BART train from downtown SF to the Coliseum/OAK station. In the language of my forebears, CHI SIN!

But enough of the wonkish discussion of the transit gap. I used to work with urban planners.

Getting to Logan is relatively easy. Take the Blue Line to Gov't Center and transfer to where you need to go. Unless you begin your journey on the Green Line, which does an uncanny impression of MUNI. It goes slow (realllly sloooooow) and stops every 10 feet...IN THE FRICKING TUNNEL!!! Why lidat? It even says in the guidebooks that if your journey involves the Green Line to allow extra time!

Naturally, my hostel was off of, you guessed it, the Green Line (Kenmore Station). But it was a nice day when I had to leave so I decided to take the Water Taxi over to Boston Logan. You catch the water taxi behind the Marriott on Long Wharf. It takes 10 minutes to cross the harbor and another 5 for the shuttle basi that takes you to the terminals. If you're running early, this is a nice way to get to the airport.

See that tower thingy in the distance? That's Logan's Control Tower

There are several water taxis that run back and forth between Logan side and Long Wharf

Some folks heading into town from Boston Logan

It's a nice farewell to "America's Walking City" and it's always good to learn another way to and from Boston Logan. As long as it's warm outside!

Buh bye Bahston!

Remember this as you're ordered to shoe-strip at the checkpoint...

It's more like the smallest police cruiser I've ever seen! Tripped over this in Chinatown. Just imagine this rollerskate in "hot pursuit"!

So what do you do when he hits you with light and siren? Continue pedalling?

And for those of you who may be thinking that this is some community patrol vehicle, check out the plate on the back!

Yup, it's a police car alrighty. Guess i'd better pull over.

Besides beans and the Red Sox, one of Bah-ston's better known products is Samuel Adams beer. More here. It's named after a real person who was part of the Revolution.

This sign directs you to the Brewery. Big enough?

There's not much to say about Samuel Adams except that they brew VERY GOOD beer. And there's several kinds to choose from, such as seasonal brews or varieties that get rotated around. Although their major breweries are in the midwest, the Boston Brewery is where Sam Adams began and is where they still make keg beer for local consumption.

This is where the magic started!! Buuuuurp.

The Boston Brewery has tours. Most of it is a video presentation followed by a walkthrough around the big tanks and some education on what and how the beer is made and its history.

Take the contents of these barrels, combine with a lot of water and process. Voila, beer!

Ever say a beer is "hoppy"? Well, this is what makes it "hoppy". Hops! But not just ANY hops. Noble Hops!

Beeeeeg beeeeeer taaaaaank

After the "educational" part of the tour, we got to "taste" several brews. Which was what probably, oh say, EVERYONE was there for. There are two bars for the tour groups.

Like most popular pubs, there's a queue and someone checking IDs...

We were the last tour of the day and because of that, they didn't shoo us out after 20 minutes so the next tour could go through. So that's a good tip. Take the last tour on a Friday! I was there for an hour drunking a LOT of beer. Thank goodness I took the T out there.

This is where beer REALLY comes from; it comes from the bar!

The staff would have us all try each brew they had on tap, like a big wine tasting. Fill up the pitchers, pass them around and then have a "taste". Some of us "tasted" a lot...!

Full of Boston Lager (original Sam Adams brew)

All tasted out! This happened about 9 times before they kicked us out!

We had Boston Original Lager, Summer Ale and Black Lager. When about 2/3 of the crowd left, they opened up the Honey Wheat taps for us. A great time and the tasting was FREE!!! Waaaah!

Yes, I know it's "SEA"food not "see"food, but remember the old maxim, "Got a great diet. I see food, I eat it".

In Boston on Sunday. Met up with the DSD to play tourist in "America's Walking City". Duck Tour done. Walked a lot. Hungry. Time for seafood!

So off we go to Legal Sea Foods @ Prudential Center! Got lucky as we arrived just before the dinner rush. Our waiter was pleasant and patient as I'm sure he's had to deal with hungry tourists who want to devour the entire menu all the time. Dinner selections were classics; the idea is if they can't make these right, they can't make any food right at all. Happily, the entire meal was fattening and delicious! I think I'll begin that detox diet after I get back...

Started with crab cake. Mmmmmm. That plate could actually be a meal.

Whatta deal, crab cake (from real real crab!) and a salad! Ate it all we did...

Clam Chowdah. Mmmm. Really good!

I had a whole lobster (split in half)!

One half is baked. Other half is steamed. So I've got stoned, angry lobster halves...

DSD and I have excellent eating skills, honed from devouring shellfish at many, MANY Chinese banquets. The result?

Itsy Bitsy Lobster parts...cracked and sucked clean!

After all that, couldn't even LOOK at the dessert menu. Walked all the way back to the Common.

Swan Boats in the Boston Public Garden

It's Sunday in Boston! What to do, what to do? Well if you're a complete tourist (and who isn't when they're visiting a strange place), you eat and do silly tours. First the silly tour! Eating later!

quack quack, whooooo!

Boston Duck Tours (apparently there are Duck Tours all over the world) is a tour of Boston's touristy parts in a duck. Well officially a DUKW. WWII surplus that's still in use today. And still seaworthy. But instead of crossing the Charles River to invade and liberate Cambridge from the forces of the politically correct, we just swam around in the river. Fun! The Duck Tours here are extremely popular and the weekends are usually sold out. Fortunately DSD has a concierge in her hotel who was able to swing some tickets. "the concierge is yr fren!"

A tip of the hat to a WWII phenomonon

The tour itself takes you around downtown and much of the tourist areas that are accessible by road. Of course, if you've got time, chances are you've seen much of these spots already on foot. But if you're pressed for time, this is a fun alternative. You also get to see things that don't have the same impact if you were to see them on foot.

The fancy cable stayed Charles River Bridge.

When we were in the Charles, we went under several bridges and learned about various buildings on the waterfront. The most fun thing was that the guide asked for volunteers (first kids then kid like adults) to steer the boat.

The approach to the river where the duck began to swim...

I didn't step up BTW. I behaved myself. Although it looked fun...

Somehow things look nicer when seen from da water

See what I mean?

Bah-ston was where the Revolution began. There's a LOT of history here.

This is the Park Street Church next to Boston Common. This is NOT the Old North Church where Paul Revere got the signal for his ride.

Elegant Spire

This is the New State House, brand new since 1797. It's the home of the Massachusetts State Government.

Looks impressive at night

The New State House is at the top of Beacon Hill, a really posh area that's like stepping back in time (except for all those horseless carriages and stuff).

It's lit by gaslamp, has bricks laid streets and NO PARKING to speak of

And when you see this hovering above you, you know you're near Fenway Park!

Yup, a big oil company sign.

I was puttering around Hah-vahd Square this afternoon when I looked up and saw that my attorney has offices here!

Say the names out loud to get the joke

I didn't go up to say hello because then it would be considered an office visit with a one hour minimum consultation fee...

I finally made it to the hostel where you can actually see Fenway Park from my window facing Comm Ave.

That's the park in the middle. The Green Monster must be sleeping...

Getting here was a bit tedious since the T is old and escalators were one of those newfangled inventions that was to be avoided, back in the day. Lots of stairs. Luggage. A guy who just got off the redeye AND the connecting flight. Did I mention that it's raining here? Priceless.

From BOS, you take a shuttle basi for 10 minutes or so to the T station. There, there was a Massachusetts State Trooper on station. He was armed with an MP5 with a flash suppressor. Serious stuff, so I declined to take a snap.

I took the Blue Line and transferred to the Green Line. The hostel is across the street and down 1/2 block from Kenmore station so it was convenient. And even though check in is at 12 noon, I looked soo knackered that the desk staff found me a room that was ready to go. Nice lah!

The flight in was uneventful. I was actually upgraded! Waaaaaah! So I sat in my big seat, had a cuppa coffee and promptly passed out for the duration of the 1.2 hour flight. So if there WAS anything that happened, I missed it.

I did notice something about people here in Boston. They are FAT. Really fat. As in unhealthy fat. It's got to do with how they eat. Example: back home, regular coffee means black. Here, it's tons of cream and sugar. Yeech.

Time for a shower. Got 7+ hours of plane and train on me. Yeech.

When I arrived at IAD, I had 30 minutes to walk (what seemed to be) at least a kilometer to get from gate C15 to D15.

Can anyone tell me why lidat?

I mean, does "shuttle" or "train" mean anything to the Washington Airports Authority? How about AirCon? Because once you crossed the line that separates Terminals C and D, the AirCon disappeared. Yeech.

Thank goodness it was at this ungodly hour otherwise there would be teeming masses of humanity (and humidity) making it worse still!

On the plane now, going to Boston.

Is there EVER a United Airlines flight that:

is NOT packed to the gills? I'm surprised that they don't sell the seats in the Lavatories...

AND

you can actually use your 500 mile upgrades??

None? I thought so. More from Beantown!

It reads like the City of Boston dealing with an downsized Cylon. More Cylon Cillyness (erm, Centurion) here.

I'm off to Boston on the red-eye. I get to attempt to sleep on the non-stop to DC (hope hope hope the plane is empty!) and then change planes to Boston Logan. So I'll arrive somewhere around 0830.

I've never "done" Boston properly, like I've done many of my other destinations (HKG, NRT, SIN, et al). On my previous visits, I've always gone there to visit people I knew out there and these trips would often be short. So this trip, I'm staying at a hostel (the most EXPENSIVE hostel I've ever stayed at becuase Boston lodging is just THAT expensive), doing touristy stuff and (best of all), eating local speciality food!!

Thank goodness the heat wave that's been baking the East Coast has finally broken...Pix and food coming soon!