This is the shit!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Home
After the 8.5 hour flight from Narita to Seattle we spent 12 hours trying to get on a flight to Denver. We finally got 2 seats on the 9pm Frontier flight. If anyone has questions on where something is at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport just ask me.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Yesterday in Tokyo
Our hotel room is equipped with blackout shades. These things really work. In the heat of the afternoon you can make your room look like the dead of night. We decided to give the suckers a try. They worked all to well. We awoke at 12:30pm. We were a bit disappointed that we wasted half of our day sleeping, but damn, it was nice to sleep in. We decided to make the most of the remainder of the day, and boy did we ever!
The guide book suggested that we head to the highest point in the city. Off to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building's observation deck we were. Much to our chagrin the TMG is located in Shinjuku. We had our fill of Shinjuku the previous night. As I mentioned earlier I am grappling with Tokyo. I am really trying to get my head around this city. I thought going to the observation deck would be a big help. The TMG observation deck is on the 44th floor. That is half the height we were when we visited Taipei 101. From floor 44 in TMG all you could see was city. There was nothing and I mean nothing but city in every direction. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Tokyo is just immense.
After a quick, but very good lunch at the top of TMG we decided to visit the Park Hyatt Tokyo made famous by the movie "Lost in Translation." Rooms at the Hyatt run about $600 a night. It was nice, but not worth one months mortgage.
After our visit to luxury we decided to head south towards Harjuku. We followed the path right to Yoyogi Park. What an absolute delight this was. The park is a completely tranquil retreat right smack dab in the middle of utter chaos. A majority of the park is just natural forest. A walk through Yoyogi Park was an unexpected treat. Halfway through the park we came upon Meiji Shrine Inner Garden. This is the largest shrine in Japan. It is a breathtaking sight
We exited the park and entered Harajuku (yes, these are where Gwen Stefani’s girls are from.) Apparently, this is the hipster district of Tokyo. And let me tell you, I have NEVER seen so many hipsters in one place, not even at Lipgloss. Along with the hipsters was a lot of upscale shopping. It really didn’t make sense to me either (hipster + upscale shopping = Harajuku.). James and I both fell absolutely in love with Harajuku. It is an absolute and absurd pure eclectic collision . It is Absolutely delightful. Oh, and it's so clean you could eat of the street, if that’s your thing.
We snaked south through the narrow streets of Harajuku which lead us right to Shibuya. This is were the tourists go the get the quintessential Tokyo experience. Shibuya is like Times Square on steroids. Shibuya is like the neon capital of Tokyo. Shibuya also features that famous all directional crosswalk.
We were growing quite weary after our long walk through Tokyo's district's, so we decided to catch the JR train back to Harajuku and get some dinner. We found this sheik little back alley bistro. We sat on the patio and enjoyed some really good drinks followed by a very good meal. After dinner we headed back to our hotel. As we rode the JR train back we both wrestled with the idea of going back to Shinjuku (which is something we said we were not going to do) to experience some night life. We gave in.
We freshened up and grabbed the last JR train bound for Shinjuku. When we arrived Shinjuku, at around 1am, we realized that the trains were shutting down for the evening, so we would either have to wait until 4:30am for the first train or spend around $50-70 to taxi back to the hotel. I was hoping for option A. There we were walking around Shinjuku in circles looking for this bar we read about called Arty Farty. With a little gumption James spotted the sign for Arty Farty. Arty Farty was dead, but we went in and ordered two mint beers anyways. We walked around the strange little bar then settled on some bar stools at the end of the bar. James started up a conversation with the bar tender, Hideto, who spoke beautiful English. We spent a good hour and a half chatting with Hideto about Japanese and American culture and life. We both enjoyed Hideto's company very much. After Arty Farty closed we headed back to the street. We walked around the corner to see if Dragon, another local bar, was still pouring. It was still open. We chatted, for a brief moment, with a couple of black drag queens from New York who choreograph for Beyonce. We bellied up to the bar and ordered a couple of draft beers. This is when we met Kenji. It turns out that Kenji is obsessed with Colorado and cowboys (apparently he thinks the two go hand in hand.) He owns an apartment building in Shinjuku. We got the idea that Kenji is very well off.. Owns apartment building in central Tokyo = rich off ass. We closed Dragon. James, Kenji and I headed across the street for some late night Tokyo grub. As we sat chatting at the table over pizza and coffee we realized the sun was coming up. I was happy because this meant I was going to experience a Tokyo morning, and this meant the JR trains were running again. We headed back to the hotel for some quick sleep. It turns out those blackout shades really do come in handy.
The guide book suggested that we head to the highest point in the city. Off to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building's observation deck we were. Much to our chagrin the TMG is located in Shinjuku. We had our fill of Shinjuku the previous night. As I mentioned earlier I am grappling with Tokyo. I am really trying to get my head around this city. I thought going to the observation deck would be a big help. The TMG observation deck is on the 44th floor. That is half the height we were when we visited Taipei 101. From floor 44 in TMG all you could see was city. There was nothing and I mean nothing but city in every direction. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Tokyo is just immense.
After a quick, but very good lunch at the top of TMG we decided to visit the Park Hyatt Tokyo made famous by the movie "Lost in Translation." Rooms at the Hyatt run about $600 a night. It was nice, but not worth one months mortgage.
After our visit to luxury we decided to head south towards Harjuku. We followed the path right to Yoyogi Park. What an absolute delight this was. The park is a completely tranquil retreat right smack dab in the middle of utter chaos. A majority of the park is just natural forest. A walk through Yoyogi Park was an unexpected treat. Halfway through the park we came upon Meiji Shrine Inner Garden. This is the largest shrine in Japan. It is a breathtaking sight
We exited the park and entered Harajuku (yes, these are where Gwen Stefani’s girls are from.) Apparently, this is the hipster district of Tokyo. And let me tell you, I have NEVER seen so many hipsters in one place, not even at Lipgloss. Along with the hipsters was a lot of upscale shopping. It really didn’t make sense to me either (hipster + upscale shopping = Harajuku.). James and I both fell absolutely in love with Harajuku. It is an absolute and absurd pure eclectic collision . It is Absolutely delightful. Oh, and it's so clean you could eat of the street, if that’s your thing.
We snaked south through the narrow streets of Harajuku which lead us right to Shibuya. This is were the tourists go the get the quintessential Tokyo experience. Shibuya is like Times Square on steroids. Shibuya is like the neon capital of Tokyo. Shibuya also features that famous all directional crosswalk.
We were growing quite weary after our long walk through Tokyo's district's, so we decided to catch the JR train back to Harajuku and get some dinner. We found this sheik little back alley bistro. We sat on the patio and enjoyed some really good drinks followed by a very good meal. After dinner we headed back to our hotel. As we rode the JR train back we both wrestled with the idea of going back to Shinjuku (which is something we said we were not going to do) to experience some night life. We gave in.
We freshened up and grabbed the last JR train bound for Shinjuku. When we arrived Shinjuku, at around 1am, we realized that the trains were shutting down for the evening, so we would either have to wait until 4:30am for the first train or spend around $50-70 to taxi back to the hotel. I was hoping for option A. There we were walking around Shinjuku in circles looking for this bar we read about called Arty Farty. With a little gumption James spotted the sign for Arty Farty. Arty Farty was dead, but we went in and ordered two mint beers anyways. We walked around the strange little bar then settled on some bar stools at the end of the bar. James started up a conversation with the bar tender, Hideto, who spoke beautiful English. We spent a good hour and a half chatting with Hideto about Japanese and American culture and life. We both enjoyed Hideto's company very much. After Arty Farty closed we headed back to the street. We walked around the corner to see if Dragon, another local bar, was still pouring. It was still open. We chatted, for a brief moment, with a couple of black drag queens from New York who choreograph for Beyonce. We bellied up to the bar and ordered a couple of draft beers. This is when we met Kenji. It turns out that Kenji is obsessed with Colorado and cowboys (apparently he thinks the two go hand in hand.) He owns an apartment building in Shinjuku. We got the idea that Kenji is very well off.. Owns apartment building in central Tokyo = rich off ass. We closed Dragon. James, Kenji and I headed across the street for some late night Tokyo grub. As we sat chatting at the table over pizza and coffee we realized the sun was coming up. I was happy because this meant I was going to experience a Tokyo morning, and this meant the JR trains were running again. We headed back to the hotel for some quick sleep. It turns out those blackout shades really do come in handy.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Tokyo
We have noticed that Chinese (and so far Japanese) society is not geared towards the self. In the states we describe ourselves as a "me society." I am beginning to see that not all cultures are as self concerned as us Americans. Almost every sales person / customer service representative /waiter that we have come in contact with is so concerned with how we receive their product. They have this crazy sense of pride in what they do. We have also noticed this sense of order to things. People do as they should. They do not break rules. They just follow social norms without resistance.
We arrived at Narita International Airport yesterday at 1:20pm. The flight was very nice. The crew was the inter-Asia based Singapore crew. They are unaffiliated with United's mainland crew. The service they provide is phenomenal.
We took the hour long train ride into Tokyo then connected to the JR train (Tokyo subway system) then to the Tokyo Monorail. Our hotel is very nice, but it is a bit off the beaten path. I wish we ere staying closer to one of the more major JR train lines. Once we got to our hotel room we relaxed and freshened up. We decided to go to the nearby Shinagawa neighborhood to find something to eat. We walked around for quite some time trying to figure out where to eat. We must have passed 100 little tiny 6-10 seat restaurants. We finally decided on this little tiny, very busy barbecue place that had seats outside. No one there spoke English. We managed to get ourselves beer and pork skewers (at least we think it was pork.) The food was really good. The chef also prepared something special for us. He brought it out and then pointed to his tongue. We think we ate tongue. It was chewy. We then headed out to the Shinjuku neighborhood for some night life. It was a 30 minute subway trip from Shinagawa. Shinjuku, at night, is like a big huge red light district. It was chaos. It is a far cry from the area in which we are staying. Everyone in central Tokyo is wearing a suit. I am not exaggerating here. I have never seen so many suits in my life. Shinjuku is a much younger crowd with much fewer suits. As we were attempting to get our bearings using the travel books map of Shinjuku we were approached by a friendly South African offering to help us find our way. He helped us right back to his tiny strip joint in the heart of the mayhem. We told him that was not what we were looking for. He didn’t get the hint. Afterwards, we tried as best as we could to navigate the neighborhood using the useless travel books map of the neighborhood. We finally settled on the books suggested Advocates cafe. It was lame. After all of that we decided to head back to the hotel.
Tokyo is a strange city. I don't quite have the feel of it yet. Hopefully after today, I will feel different.
We arrived at Narita International Airport yesterday at 1:20pm. The flight was very nice. The crew was the inter-Asia based Singapore crew. They are unaffiliated with United's mainland crew. The service they provide is phenomenal.
We took the hour long train ride into Tokyo then connected to the JR train (Tokyo subway system) then to the Tokyo Monorail. Our hotel is very nice, but it is a bit off the beaten path. I wish we ere staying closer to one of the more major JR train lines. Once we got to our hotel room we relaxed and freshened up. We decided to go to the nearby Shinagawa neighborhood to find something to eat. We walked around for quite some time trying to figure out where to eat. We must have passed 100 little tiny 6-10 seat restaurants. We finally decided on this little tiny, very busy barbecue place that had seats outside. No one there spoke English. We managed to get ourselves beer and pork skewers (at least we think it was pork.) The food was really good. The chef also prepared something special for us. He brought it out and then pointed to his tongue. We think we ate tongue. It was chewy. We then headed out to the Shinjuku neighborhood for some night life. It was a 30 minute subway trip from Shinagawa. Shinjuku, at night, is like a big huge red light district. It was chaos. It is a far cry from the area in which we are staying. Everyone in central Tokyo is wearing a suit. I am not exaggerating here. I have never seen so many suits in my life. Shinjuku is a much younger crowd with much fewer suits. As we were attempting to get our bearings using the travel books map of Shinjuku we were approached by a friendly South African offering to help us find our way. He helped us right back to his tiny strip joint in the heart of the mayhem. We told him that was not what we were looking for. He didn’t get the hint. Afterwards, we tried as best as we could to navigate the neighborhood using the useless travel books map of the neighborhood. We finally settled on the books suggested Advocates cafe. It was lame. After all of that we decided to head back to the hotel.
Tokyo is a strange city. I don't quite have the feel of it yet. Hopefully after today, I will feel different.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Taipei Day 3 (update)
After take out breakfast, again, James and I headed to the Pacific Core Living Mall. Not that I am into visiting malls on holiday, but it is an architecture marvel. We enjoyed a blended fruit drink while we walked around the 11 floors.
We took a long subway ride out to the Grand Pacific Hotel, one of Taipei's main tourist attractions. It is a beautiful Chinese style hotel that looks over the whole of Taipei. Unfortunately, it rained all day, so the view from the Grand hotel was not that grand. After we explored a bit we decided to inquire about their high tea. This was not your traditional high tea. It was a full Chinese, Japanese and American lunch buffet including a large table of salads/soups, a long buffet of traditional Chinese en trees, a Japanese sushi bar, a table with fresh fruit from the island, an ice cream bar and a beautiful dessert table. Oh, and tea of course. This was all for around $12. It was really scrumptious. I think we will both remember this as one of our favorite meals on this trip.
After high tea we decided to try and find the pastry shop that Ruth took us to on our first day with the really good pineapple cake It wasn't that hard to find at all. Once again that little pastry shop was packed with patrons.
On our return to the Greer's (James Family, our hosts) we decided to hunt down the Mr. Donut at Taipei Main Station/Taipei Underground Mall. The Greer's enjoy Mr. Donut, so we knew this would be a nice surprise for them. Let me tell you... we got ourselves back assward lost down there in that underground mall. That thing is HUGE. You literally cannot see the end of the mall from where you are standing. I would guess that there are miles of mall down there. It went on forever and ever. We decided to resurface to get our bearings. It worked like a charm. After we located Nova Computer Superstore (also from day 1) we had no trouble finding Mr. Donut. Of course, when we did find it there was about 20 people in line waiting to buy donuts.
When we got back to the Greer's we were greeted with a houseful of guests, sort of, the principle of the school where the Greer's both teach and her two sons. We ate Pizza hut and chatted about life in Taiwan.
Tomorrow we are off to Tokyo. Our taxi to the airport arrives at 6:30AM. Goodnight!
We took a long subway ride out to the Grand Pacific Hotel, one of Taipei's main tourist attractions. It is a beautiful Chinese style hotel that looks over the whole of Taipei. Unfortunately, it rained all day, so the view from the Grand hotel was not that grand. After we explored a bit we decided to inquire about their high tea. This was not your traditional high tea. It was a full Chinese, Japanese and American lunch buffet including a large table of salads/soups, a long buffet of traditional Chinese en trees, a Japanese sushi bar, a table with fresh fruit from the island, an ice cream bar and a beautiful dessert table. Oh, and tea of course. This was all for around $12. It was really scrumptious. I think we will both remember this as one of our favorite meals on this trip.
After high tea we decided to try and find the pastry shop that Ruth took us to on our first day with the really good pineapple cake It wasn't that hard to find at all. Once again that little pastry shop was packed with patrons.
On our return to the Greer's (James Family, our hosts) we decided to hunt down the Mr. Donut at Taipei Main Station/Taipei Underground Mall. The Greer's enjoy Mr. Donut, so we knew this would be a nice surprise for them. Let me tell you... we got ourselves back assward lost down there in that underground mall. That thing is HUGE. You literally cannot see the end of the mall from where you are standing. I would guess that there are miles of mall down there. It went on forever and ever. We decided to resurface to get our bearings. It worked like a charm. After we located Nova Computer Superstore (also from day 1) we had no trouble finding Mr. Donut. Of course, when we did find it there was about 20 people in line waiting to buy donuts.
When we got back to the Greer's we were greeted with a houseful of guests, sort of, the principle of the school where the Greer's both teach and her two sons. We ate Pizza hut and chatted about life in Taiwan.
Tomorrow we are off to Tokyo. Our taxi to the airport arrives at 6:30AM. Goodnight!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Taipei Day 3
By night market, I meant gay bar. The night market was crowded and overwhelming. The private food stand smells were rather putrid. We walked around Shida Night Market (which smelled like shida) for about 45 minutes then decided to get some fresh air at Fresh, one of Taipei's premier gay bars. It is three floors of Taiwanese homo bliss. The first floor is the main bar. It was extremely smoky. The second floor was the dance floor. The third floor featured a cozy sofa room and a really cool balcony featuring elephant tables and a lovely aroma of insense.
Today, we are heading to the Core Pacific Living Mall. I want to go there because I have added this mall to some of my cities in Sim City 4. We are then going to take in high tea at the Grand Palace Hotel (also featured in SC4.) Then, we are going on a mission to find a pastry shop Ruth took us to on day 1. They have the best pineapple cake in town and I want to bring some home.
Today, we are heading to the Core Pacific Living Mall. I want to go there because I have added this mall to some of my cities in Sim City 4. We are then going to take in high tea at the Grand Palace Hotel (also featured in SC4.) Then, we are going on a mission to find a pastry shop Ruth took us to on day 1. They have the best pineapple cake in town and I want to bring some home.
Taipei Day 2
After completing my second day in Taipei, I have decided that this is an incredibly civil city. This city, or country, is a little secret jewel of Asia. It's clean, modern and the bakery's here rival… nay beat out the French pastry shops.
While I was getting ready this morning, James and Vicki ran out for breakfast take out. It was really good. We had scrambled eggs, green onions with some sort of soy sauce all snuggled into a really lovely sweet roll. Vicki was our tour guide today. We headed to (via subway) Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and the National Concert Hall. We were, unfortunately, not able to get in due to some sort of Chinese reunification protest. I have some great video clips of protesters getting arrested. We watched the action from afar for a while then we headed to the Terracotta Museum. The Terracotta Museum features statues of solders made out of Terracotta. Thousands of these statues were discovered in Shaanxi, China. We then strolled through botanical gardens. Lunch was at a very sheik, hip and almost euro-french style coffee shop/cafe called Cafe Deon. It was really delicious and it was the boost we need to carry-on.
The highlight of our day was without a doubt our visit to Taipei 101. Taipei 101 is the world tallest building (for now.) We were able to travel to the 89th story. The journey to the top only takes 30 seconds via the world’s fastest elevator. The ride was actually uncomfortable. My ears popped several times during the ride. The sight from the top offers the most magnificent views of Taipei. We spent about 2 hours on the observation floor. After our 40 second descent, we enjoyed some pastries on the lower floors of Taipei 101.
We are no headed out to one of Taipei's famous night markets. The tour book states "If haven't visited at least one night market, you have not truly experienced Taipei. Wish us luck!
Friday, May 18, 2007
Taipei Day 1
My lord, it was an exhausting trip to Taiwan. We tried to get on the 6am United flight to San Francisco but it was full, so we headed to the 710am Frontier flight. We got on! We were more than delighted to both get a business class seat on UA831 San Francisco-Nagoya, Japan-Taipei, Taiwan. The first leg from San Francisco to Nagoya was just over 11 hours!
We are staying with James family, his Aunt Vicki, Uncle Mike, and Cousin John. After over 24 hours of travel that bed was like the best thing I have ever seen in my life. HELLO! I was exhausted. I took 2 Tylenol pm on the long flight but all it did was made me drowsy the rest of the voyage.
Our tour guide, John (and Ruth), have been most excellent. We ran an errand to the Eva Airways ticket office. We enjoyed some pineapple cake at the local bakery while we waited for Eva to reissue John’s ticket. We then headed to Nova, a four story computer superstore. James and I both bought memory cards for our cameras. OK, check this out 2.0GB for, are you ready for this, $17. In the states that same card goes for $200. We then headed to the underground mall and walked around trying to figure out which restaurant to eat at. The tour book said, and of course this is basic advice, to pick a restaurant with lots of patrons. We decided that we wanted noodles, so we familiarized ourselves with the Chinese character for noodle. We walked around the mall getting very excited every time we recognized the noodle symbol. So, what we were looking for was a crowded noodle joint. While we were walking around we found one of Taiwan’s famous fruit stands. Basically, you point at the fruit(s) you want and they blend and serve it to you. We had a pineapple, kiwi & apple blend. The lovely juice girl showed us where she eats her noodles. We ate there too. It was very good. The noodles are made right in front of you. We enjoyed a post noodle stroll through the streets of Taipei.
It is very very humid here. Our skin and hair feel good. Hope all is well back in the states. Blog to you all soon.
We are staying with James family, his Aunt Vicki, Uncle Mike, and Cousin John. After over 24 hours of travel that bed was like the best thing I have ever seen in my life. HELLO! I was exhausted. I took 2 Tylenol pm on the long flight but all it did was made me drowsy the rest of the voyage.
Our tour guide, John (and Ruth), have been most excellent. We ran an errand to the Eva Airways ticket office. We enjoyed some pineapple cake at the local bakery while we waited for Eva to reissue John’s ticket. We then headed to Nova, a four story computer superstore. James and I both bought memory cards for our cameras. OK, check this out 2.0GB for, are you ready for this, $17. In the states that same card goes for $200. We then headed to the underground mall and walked around trying to figure out which restaurant to eat at. The tour book said, and of course this is basic advice, to pick a restaurant with lots of patrons. We decided that we wanted noodles, so we familiarized ourselves with the Chinese character for noodle. We walked around the mall getting very excited every time we recognized the noodle symbol. So, what we were looking for was a crowded noodle joint. While we were walking around we found one of Taiwan’s famous fruit stands. Basically, you point at the fruit(s) you want and they blend and serve it to you. We had a pineapple, kiwi & apple blend. The lovely juice girl showed us where she eats her noodles. We ate there too. It was very good. The noodles are made right in front of you. We enjoyed a post noodle stroll through the streets of Taipei.
It is very very humid here. Our skin and hair feel good. Hope all is well back in the states. Blog to you all soon.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Greetings from the Midwest.
I am back in Woodbury visiting the family. My dad retired on Friday after 39 years as a plumber. 39 years ago today was his first day on the job. My gosh, I feel old. Both of my parents are retired. Minnesota is very lush and green this year and it’s humid as f---.
Tomorrow night I will fly back to Denver to do some laundry and repack then it's off to the Orient. James and I are going to spend 3-4 days in Taipei then 2-3 days in Tokyo. I am really looking forward to Tokyo. Don't worry ya'll my picasa album will be considerably smaller than my Turkey album.
Tomorrow night I will fly back to Denver to do some laundry and repack then it's off to the Orient. James and I are going to spend 3-4 days in Taipei then 2-3 days in Tokyo. I am really looking forward to Tokyo. Don't worry ya'll my picasa album will be considerably smaller than my Turkey album.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
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