How this came to be

Saturday, 24 Nov 2007 | Journal

When i was in Holland earlier this year, Kim told me she might go to Malaysia for a conference and we agreed we would try to somehow meet up if she did.

Lets each fly 1000km and have a coffee

And thats how this came about. I flew down from bangkok to Kuala Lumpur and she flew up from Kota Kinabalu. And we spent the afternoon together.

Go and come back?

Wednesday, 21 Nov 2007 | Journal

When I moved I already knew I was going to do a lot more traveling than I was used to. Since I started working, this traveling has actually mostly been for work, but a personal trip is coming up - very quickly all of a sudden!

Kim is in Malaysia for a conference and has Given with her. And although originally she was going to come up to Bangkok for 2 days, those tickets were so expensive that we’re meeting one another in Malaysia. She is flying up from Borneo to Kuala Lumpur and I am flying down from Bangkok. We’re going to spend the afternoon together and then depart in opposite directions again! A strange rendez-vous, but how often do we get a chance to see each other!?

Air Asia (oh dear) would again (sigh) not accept my creditcard and so I had to call them. The (Thai) girl on the phone asked me “go and come back” (thats Thai-English for “return ticket”) “on one day??”. Yes indeed madam!

I’m excited to see them!

Tokyo Number One!

Tuesday, 30 Oct 2007 | Journal

Japan and especially Tokyo have always been at the top of my list of places to visit. After the decision to move to Asia, it was really only a matter of time before I would end up visiting. Taking the first opportunity given (with Natalie visiting) and I was on my way there. One of the things I was really curious about is if I would like it as much as I thought I would. What we in the west perceive Japan to be could of course be way off.

Having spend almost a week in Tokyo, the conclusion I’ve reached is that what we perceive Japan to be in broad lines is true. A very civilized country, a very polite people with strange habits and great food. But it is very obvious, much more so than I’ve found in places like Thailand, that there is a layer beyond what we can see. A layer which we will never be able to see. I don’t pretend to understand Thai society, but when it comes to Japan the message of ‘you will never really understand this’ is much stronger than in a country like Thailand.

When I visited Hong Kong for the first time, it immediately became my favorite city. New York got bumped. Before my trip, I was wondering if Tokyo would beat Hong Kong and sort of expected it to. It has and it hasn’t. There are certainly things about Tokyo which I find much more interesting than Hong Kong, such as the technology industry, the level of sophistication, that incredible attention to details, etc. But Hong Kong also has certain things going for it, for example the fact that it is much more open to foreigners. Both have the elements of surprise which I love about Bangkok and so dearly miss in Singapore.

I can’t seem to make up my mind. So yes, Tokyo is my number one favorite city in the world. And so is Hong Kong. I’m sure they won’t mind sharing the much coveted and highly reveared position of being MY favorite city.

The hustle back

Sunday, 28 Oct 2007 | Journal

The original plan was to stick around Kyoto for two days. I left Tokyo with some shopping yet to be done and figured I would get to that on Saturday. When I asked Taka about the trip back to the airport, he painted a picture of a day long travel after an early rise. We all know I don’t like early rises and so it was that I decided to join Natalie on her trip back.

After I got to Tokyo and said goodbye to Natalie, I was left to find a hotel. I stored one of my bags in a locker at the train station so I wouldn’t have to carry it with me and back to the train station. Then I called the hotel I had been staying at, but they only had more expensive rooms available. I tried to find a capsule hotel and briefly considered booking a love hotel after all, but ended up paying for the more expensive room.

An evening with rain, I did go out for a quick bite and had a drink in a bar, but went to sleep fairly early. I woke up the next morning, had a shower and set out for my errands. A Tokyo city mug from Starbucks, I wanted to get a bag for my computer to take to the office, etc. Walked out of the hotel (they couldn’t be bothered to let me know checkout was at 11am so I had to pay extra) and walked into a very rainy day. Enough of this already, I know I said I was so happy to find fresh air again but I never said I missed rainy days!

Soaking wet from a 200 meter walk to the Aayome-Itchome subway station, I decided to have breakfast before heading downtown. I had a bagel with cream cheese and blueberry, a blueberry juice and blueberry pastry and a coffee. The reason I mention this is because it demonstrates how seasonal things find their way into a lot of things. Fall for example is the season of chestnuts and one can even get chestnut Kitkat and chestnut flavored drinks. This store went the blueberry route and I quite enjoyed. But I digress.

Subway to Shibuya and I was able to find my way into several department stores without getting wet, using the subway station as underground tunnels. I spent too much time browsing (and ended up not buying anything, to make matters worse) and then had quite the hustle to get on the plane. I had to rush from Shibuya to Tokyo station (a half hour trainride) and then take the airport express for an hour. In between, I had to pick up a bag and somehow call the airline to see if I could check in because I would arrive at the airport the same minute the checkin counter would close.

No bento box yummieness for this boy

When I get home around midnight tonight, I’ve got one more day to relax and then holiday time is over and it will be back to work for this boy.

A day in Kyoto

Friday, 26 Oct 2007 | Journal

The fastest Shinkansen, not ours though

 
A random Kyoto suburb street and local snackshop

Kyoto is a very traditional city and the old Japanese lifestyle is still to be found here, long gone from the streets of for example Tokyo I presume. Funnily enough, it is also known for its technology industry - a lot of small tech companies work out of Kyoto for whatever reason. Natalie and I, after dropping our bags, spent the evening wandering around the suburbs and after the downtown area. Funny was that in the suburbs we really did get the feeling people did not get to see foreigners a whole lot, but downtown I spotted so many tourists that it seemed odd that these places were in the same city. Kyoto is a very quiet town, both in the suburbs as well as the city center.

Tongue restaurant, who would have thought!

 
The entrance to the temple and our humble abode

The Shinkoin temple turned out to be a family temple, one of many that had all been clustered around a main temple. It was a bit of a disappointment in the sense that it made for a different type of experience. More or less a traditional Japanese house in my eyes, a temple I expected was one with monks scurrying around and things like that. I took it for what it was to me, relaxing time after having run around for a week and really enjoyed the time we spent there. After having slept late in the morning, Natalie was taking a Zen meditation class (I was meditating in my own way!), and the weather not looking very good I decided to stay at the temple and spend the day relaxing. Natalie was planning to do a walking tour, but when the rain started coming down she also decided to stay in for the afternoon. We read, slept and chatted and after the rain stopped took a stroll around the area. We then decided to head back to Tokyo together. Initially I was planning to stay in Kyoto a second night but the trip from Kyoto to the airport would be too long and basically take up the whole Saturday already. So I figured I might as well go back to Tokyo today.

Looking back now, the whole trip to Kyoto cost 2 days and we did not really get to see or do a whole lot. But it was interesting to see another city and a really nice and relaxing experience to stay in the temple. Some true down time in a holiday that otherwise was a lot of running around. And for that alone, it was worth it for me.

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