My apologies. It's been two weeks since I've posted last, and in that time quite a bit has happened. I'm back in Auckland, which I prefer far less than Wellington. I met up with my friend, and, among other things, went Glowworm Tubing, which has been one of the neatest things I've done on this trip. In less exciting news, I've downloaded the Google Phone SDK, and have been trying to learn it.
The hostel at which I've been staying has free Internet, and I've settled somewhat back into my old routine: Run at night, make a post, work on projects, sleep. I'm positive this will get disrupted on Friday, when I go to Fiji, but at the very least I'll write posts on Sparky and be able to backdate them when I get to a terminal. Overall I think I prefer the Livejournal interface to the Blogger interface, which tends to be kind of wonky, or at the very least unfamiliar.
Therefore, this shall be my last posting on blogger. Future updates can be read at my Livejournal page, which I try to update nightly.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Wandering about Wellington
It's Saturday, and thus far it has yet to be clear enough for the observatory to be open. If it's not clear tonight, I'll just have to wait until I get back to Auckland to go to an observatory, or just look up at the sky when I get to Fiji.
I did the City to Sea walk on Wednesday, and my calves still hurt. Thursday I explored Wellington some more, and ended up walking to the airport. It wasn't nearly so hilly as the walk to the sea -- it was along the bay the entire way -- but it was still walking, which means my calves hurt even more. But walking is fun, so I really don't mind.
Yesterday was spent in the Wellington: City and Sea museum, which had as one of the displays "101 stories", which told of one event that has occurred every year from 1900 to 2000. It was a very interesting exhibit, and ended up consuming most of my afternoon. I spent the evening reinstalling Windows on my laptop, a process which I ought to complete today. Not every day can be perfect.
I did the City to Sea walk on Wednesday, and my calves still hurt. Thursday I explored Wellington some more, and ended up walking to the airport. It wasn't nearly so hilly as the walk to the sea -- it was along the bay the entire way -- but it was still walking, which means my calves hurt even more. But walking is fun, so I really don't mind.
Yesterday was spent in the Wellington: City and Sea museum, which had as one of the displays "101 stories", which told of one event that has occurred every year from 1900 to 2000. It was a very interesting exhibit, and ended up consuming most of my afternoon. I spent the evening reinstalling Windows on my laptop, a process which I ought to complete today. Not every day can be perfect.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Wellington: City to Sea
I have just finished Wellington's City-to-Sea walk, running from Wellington to Island Bay. It involved three hours of walking, much of that up hills and down. It also involved gorgeous views and wonderful solitude, a welcome change from hostel life.
It was lent a bit of excitement, as on the radio today I heard the words "drizzle" and "afternoon" used in the same sentence, though I'm not sure the exact phrasing. The clouds began rolling in about halfway through my walk, which made me start to worry. However, as I write this (sitting in a fish and chips shop), the weather remains sunny.
If it stays clear, I hope to go to the observatory tonight. The main observatory is closed for refurbishment, but there are two others located in Wellington Botanical Gardens, which are just a short walk from my hostel. Otherwise, I'll find something else to do, probably involving reading.
It was lent a bit of excitement, as on the radio today I heard the words "drizzle" and "afternoon" used in the same sentence, though I'm not sure the exact phrasing. The clouds began rolling in about halfway through my walk, which made me start to worry. However, as I write this (sitting in a fish and chips shop), the weather remains sunny.
If it stays clear, I hope to go to the observatory tonight. The main observatory is closed for refurbishment, but there are two others located in Wellington Botanical Gardens, which are just a short walk from my hostel. Otherwise, I'll find something else to do, probably involving reading.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Welcome to Wellington
I'm in Wellington. It's windy. The moniker "Windy Wellington" is well-deserved.
Based on the description in the tour book, I spent my first three days in Wellington in a charming hostel a half-hour's train ride outside of the main city, and a 1km walk from the train station. On the plus side, it was large, had a well-stocked library, and contained friendly people. Unfortunately, I was a half-hour train ride from the city, a 15-minute walk to the train station, and it was cold and windy.
It seems that the first three days that I experience in any new city city will be filled with discomfort, which is entirely understandable given the circumstances. It's also a very important self-discovery, as it brings with it the promise that Things Will Get Better.
So what did I actually do during my first three days in Wellington? Not much, actually. Which I think is the general mindset of the hostel. I spent time in the city exploring and hunting for Internet access, which I eventually found. I spent quite a bit of time either on the train, or waiting for it. I read Neverwhere, by Neal Gaimen, which happened to be on the hostel's bookshelf. And I talked with other hostel patrons, like one is supposed to do. In short, I spent a lot of time working very hard to do very little. And that is what I spent my first three days in Wellington doing.
Based on the description in the tour book, I spent my first three days in Wellington in a charming hostel a half-hour's train ride outside of the main city, and a 1km walk from the train station. On the plus side, it was large, had a well-stocked library, and contained friendly people. Unfortunately, I was a half-hour train ride from the city, a 15-minute walk to the train station, and it was cold and windy.
It seems that the first three days that I experience in any new city city will be filled with discomfort, which is entirely understandable given the circumstances. It's also a very important self-discovery, as it brings with it the promise that Things Will Get Better.
So what did I actually do during my first three days in Wellington? Not much, actually. Which I think is the general mindset of the hostel. I spent time in the city exploring and hunting for Internet access, which I eventually found. I spent quite a bit of time either on the train, or waiting for it. I read Neverwhere, by Neal Gaimen, which happened to be on the hostel's bookshelf. And I talked with other hostel patrons, like one is supposed to do. In short, I spent a lot of time working very hard to do very little. And that is what I spent my first three days in Wellington doing.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Life in a new hostel
Have I mentioned there isn't a whole lot in New Zealand? I'm fairly sure I mentioned the fact that there is but a single cellular provider (though, to be fair, while it is relatively expensive, they also have 3G available.) There also seems to be only one supermarket serving all of downtown Auckland. Sure, there are plenty of convenience stores (which are), but they are all overpriced when it comes to basic goods, and they don't have a very large selection. There does seem to be an abundance of coffee shops, though.
Which brings me to a peculiarity that I have found nowhere else: Coffee in Auckland is usually served in bowls. Cups are used for take-away beverages, but shops seem to serve beverages in a dish that is wider than it is tall, and tapered somewhat. It's the sort of thing I'd usually eat cereal or noodles out of, not sip coffee. But it works, and it's how they do it, so who am I to argue? Plus, it's interesting.
My second hostel was much nicer than the first. It had more character, and seemed much friendlier. Sure, some people still used it as a stopoff point on their way to exotic places down south, but a one-week stay seemed to be the average, with some people having stayed for at least three months. When I go back through Auckland on my way up, I'll try to stay there again.
I do have a date-of-return now. I'll be in Auckland until November 21, and I'll be back in San Diego on December 4. In the interim, I'll be in Fiji, which turned out to make the flight cheaper. Plus, Fiji itself is fairly cheap compared to the places I've been so far. It's fairly exciting, especially since until I booked the flight, I didn't even know where Fiji was.
So I have one month in New Zealand, then two weeks in Fiji. I fly to Wellington on Thursday, and at some point might take a ferry to the South Island. I'll be meeting up with a friend in two weeks in Auckland, which I'm looking forward to. I'm still not sure what one does in Fiji though, but I'll find out when I get there.
Which brings me to a peculiarity that I have found nowhere else: Coffee in Auckland is usually served in bowls. Cups are used for take-away beverages, but shops seem to serve beverages in a dish that is wider than it is tall, and tapered somewhat. It's the sort of thing I'd usually eat cereal or noodles out of, not sip coffee. But it works, and it's how they do it, so who am I to argue? Plus, it's interesting.
My second hostel was much nicer than the first. It had more character, and seemed much friendlier. Sure, some people still used it as a stopoff point on their way to exotic places down south, but a one-week stay seemed to be the average, with some people having stayed for at least three months. When I go back through Auckland on my way up, I'll try to stay there again.
I do have a date-of-return now. I'll be in Auckland until November 21, and I'll be back in San Diego on December 4. In the interim, I'll be in Fiji, which turned out to make the flight cheaper. Plus, Fiji itself is fairly cheap compared to the places I've been so far. It's fairly exciting, especially since until I booked the flight, I didn't even know where Fiji was.
So I have one month in New Zealand, then two weeks in Fiji. I fly to Wellington on Thursday, and at some point might take a ferry to the South Island. I'll be meeting up with a friend in two weeks in Auckland, which I'm looking forward to. I'm still not sure what one does in Fiji though, but I'll find out when I get there.
Friday, October 26, 2007
First days in New Zealand
Here I am, nestled at the bottom of the world, living in the future. It's blustery, cold, and generally quaint. This, I gather, is New Zealand in a nutshell.
New Zealand observes daylight saving time, which gives me the curious pleasure of being in the future, relative to anyone I care to talk to online. Right now I'm at UTC+13, which means I'm 20 hours ahead of those back home in San Diego. Effectively, it's tomorrow.
The hostel in which I am currently staying is, by far, the most backpacker-centric locale I have yet witnessed: It is ten storeys, with an STA Travel agency for students located on the eighth storey. The third storey is home to two TV rooms, a vast number of washers and dryers, a massive kitchen, an array of perhaps fifteen couches, another travel agency, an Internet Cafe, and a job board. There's a pub on the fourth floor, but I have it on good authority that it's not very good.
The room would be alright, except for two things: First, my roommates are definitely night owls. It's after 1pm now, and the other three are still asleep. This may be in part due to the second problem, that being that the room is located in the middle of the building, and is thus cut off from natural light. I feel almost like I'm in one of the cave experiments from the 60s. Not an ideal way to overcome jetlag.
At the airport, I picked up a brochure on Auckland tourist attractions. Sunday I went to the Maritime Museum, which overall was very interesting. Unfortunately, due to the weather I was unable to go on the tiny steamboat that was supposed to be running.
There is a park here called, and I am not making this up, Sheep World. I think it's a farm, but at the moment they also have a scarecrow exhibit. I'm not sure if I will actually make it to this wonderfully-named site, as it's a ways' ride out of town, but know that it exists.
New Zealand observes daylight saving time, which gives me the curious pleasure of being in the future, relative to anyone I care to talk to online. Right now I'm at UTC+13, which means I'm 20 hours ahead of those back home in San Diego. Effectively, it's tomorrow.
The hostel in which I am currently staying is, by far, the most backpacker-centric locale I have yet witnessed: It is ten storeys, with an STA Travel agency for students located on the eighth storey. The third storey is home to two TV rooms, a vast number of washers and dryers, a massive kitchen, an array of perhaps fifteen couches, another travel agency, an Internet Cafe, and a job board. There's a pub on the fourth floor, but I have it on good authority that it's not very good.
The room would be alright, except for two things: First, my roommates are definitely night owls. It's after 1pm now, and the other three are still asleep. This may be in part due to the second problem, that being that the room is located in the middle of the building, and is thus cut off from natural light. I feel almost like I'm in one of the cave experiments from the 60s. Not an ideal way to overcome jetlag.
At the airport, I picked up a brochure on Auckland tourist attractions. Sunday I went to the Maritime Museum, which overall was very interesting. Unfortunately, due to the weather I was unable to go on the tiny steamboat that was supposed to be running.
There is a park here called, and I am not making this up, Sheep World. I think it's a farm, but at the moment they also have a scarecrow exhibit. I'm not sure if I will actually make it to this wonderfully-named site, as it's a ways' ride out of town, but know that it exists.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Onward to Melbourne!
I took the overnight train to Melbourne. It's an 11 hour train-ride that leaves at 9pm, and arrives at 8am. I took the economy student seats, that cost $65 one way. It wasn't comfortable at all, as I was sitting upright the entire time, but it was cheap, and I got to see Melbourne.
Overall, I think I like the city. My first day there I saw a pair of Scottish bagpipers in full regalia, standing on the side of the road, piping. I also saw a fake protest (something about using diesel fuel), a real protest (save the Burmese!), and a marathon.
There is a Pixar exhibit at the film museum, which basically chronicles 20 years of Pixar animations. Quite possibly the neatest thing at the exhibit is a Toy Story 2 zoetrope, "inspired by the one at the Ghibli Museum". While not quite as neat as the Totoro one (among other things, they don't bring the lights up and stop the spinning at the Pixar one,) it was still a very nifty display.
In a bit of local culture, I've seen people making hook turns. Because Melbourne generally has trams instead of buses, almost every street downtown has a light rail line running down the middle of the street. As streets are sometimes one lane in each direction, this makes turning right somewhat annoying for those behind you who want to go straight. So the solution is to pull into the four-way intersection and turn to the left first, to wait for a clearing. Once it's clear (i.e. there are no cars coming at you in the opposite direction, nor cars coming behind you and going straight, nor trams going in either direction), you're allowed to turn across all lanes of traffic. It's a maneuver so bizarre it has its own Wikipedia page.
On Sunday, I took advantage of the $2.50 "Sunday Saver" fare, that allows for riding on all trains and trams around Melbourne. Based on advice from someone at the hostel, I took a train to Belgrave, an hour and a half from the city center. Once there, I took a ride on Puffing Billy, the 1900-era narrow-gauge steam train. With lovely views of the Victoria countryside, along with energetic kids and crisp mountain air, the ride was certainly a pleasant one. I ended up at an appropriately-named stop called Lakeside, that I can imagine, during summers when the weather is warmer, would be a nice place to go for a picnic.
Overall, I think I like the city. My first day there I saw a pair of Scottish bagpipers in full regalia, standing on the side of the road, piping. I also saw a fake protest (something about using diesel fuel), a real protest (save the Burmese!), and a marathon.
There is a Pixar exhibit at the film museum, which basically chronicles 20 years of Pixar animations. Quite possibly the neatest thing at the exhibit is a Toy Story 2 zoetrope, "inspired by the one at the Ghibli Museum". While not quite as neat as the Totoro one (among other things, they don't bring the lights up and stop the spinning at the Pixar one,) it was still a very nifty display.
In a bit of local culture, I've seen people making hook turns. Because Melbourne generally has trams instead of buses, almost every street downtown has a light rail line running down the middle of the street. As streets are sometimes one lane in each direction, this makes turning right somewhat annoying for those behind you who want to go straight. So the solution is to pull into the four-way intersection and turn to the left first, to wait for a clearing. Once it's clear (i.e. there are no cars coming at you in the opposite direction, nor cars coming behind you and going straight, nor trams going in either direction), you're allowed to turn across all lanes of traffic. It's a maneuver so bizarre it has its own Wikipedia page.
On Sunday, I took advantage of the $2.50 "Sunday Saver" fare, that allows for riding on all trains and trams around Melbourne. Based on advice from someone at the hostel, I took a train to Belgrave, an hour and a half from the city center. Once there, I took a ride on Puffing Billy, the 1900-era narrow-gauge steam train. With lovely views of the Victoria countryside, along with energetic kids and crisp mountain air, the ride was certainly a pleasant one. I ended up at an appropriately-named stop called Lakeside, that I can imagine, during summers when the weather is warmer, would be a nice place to go for a picnic.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Last days in Sydney
After sydcon, I went back to doing largely what I was doing before Sydcon: walking around, reading, trying new things, and so on. At one point I had a kangaroo burger, which tasted rather like stewing meat, as it was both tough and heavily seasoned. I also discovered that what we call a milkshake they call a thickshake, as milk shakes are more liquidy.
I went to the Powerhouse Museum one day. It's basically a Miscellaneous Museum, as they have a rather wide range of exhibits, ranging from computers and the Internet, steam engines, and the environment, all the way to design and fashion, and now a temporary exhibit on Princess Dianna. Overall it was thoroughly enjoyable, and well worth the 10 bucks.
I also had the pleasure of eating at a ramen house. Ramen was one of the foods I grew to love in Japan, and it made me happy to be eating at one again. Most people in the restaurant were Japanese, and when I entered I was greeted with "ashemasen!" (sp?), and the tempura ramen was tasty, if much more expensive than in Japan. It made me happy.
I did experience a moment of panic. I managed to get a phone interview with a company back in the US, and decided to give them my mobile number here, rather than my US number. A half hour call could cost me eight bucks, and I thought I'd try to be cheap. Well, it turns out that, unlike other countries, you drop the leading digit when dialing a number from abroad. So, whereas normally I'd dial "0432" to reach my mobile number here, from abroad I'd tack on the country code of "+61", and chop off the first digit, so I'd call "+61-432". I didn't realize this (Skype will call anyway, whether the leading zero is added or not,) and ended up missing the call. Fortunately they agreed to reschedule the interview. Next time they're calling my US number.
I went to the Powerhouse Museum one day. It's basically a Miscellaneous Museum, as they have a rather wide range of exhibits, ranging from computers and the Internet, steam engines, and the environment, all the way to design and fashion, and now a temporary exhibit on Princess Dianna. Overall it was thoroughly enjoyable, and well worth the 10 bucks.
I also had the pleasure of eating at a ramen house. Ramen was one of the foods I grew to love in Japan, and it made me happy to be eating at one again. Most people in the restaurant were Japanese, and when I entered I was greeted with "ashemasen!" (sp?), and the tempura ramen was tasty, if much more expensive than in Japan. It made me happy.
I did experience a moment of panic. I managed to get a phone interview with a company back in the US, and decided to give them my mobile number here, rather than my US number. A half hour call could cost me eight bucks, and I thought I'd try to be cheap. Well, it turns out that, unlike other countries, you drop the leading digit when dialing a number from abroad. So, whereas normally I'd dial "0432" to reach my mobile number here, from abroad I'd tack on the country code of "+61", and chop off the first digit, so I'd call "+61-432". I didn't realize this (Skype will call anyway, whether the leading zero is added or not,) and ended up missing the call. Fortunately they agreed to reschedule the interview. Next time they're calling my US number.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Sydcon
My new hostel proved to be in a very convenient location. It was technically in an area of town known as Redfern, but the front door bordered on Prince Alfred Park, which borders on Central Station. By any measurement, it was very central.
I spent the next five days meandering about the city, shopping at Paddy's Market -- a sort of bazaar that sells many things -- and going on lengthy walking trips -- some as long as four hours a stretch. Weekly rail passes proved quite useful, and took most of the stress out of getting around. I spent time in a few libraries, reading books purchased from Galaxy. Occasionally I would surf the Internet, though I tried not to do that too often.
On Saturday, Sydcon began. This roleplaying-games convention proved a welcome respite from the realm of frat boys and cranky old Irish I had encountered while living in hostels. Here was a group of people who would understand my jokes, and who were generally nifty people. Plus they're natives, and know where to find the good cafes.
As it was a gaming convention, I played several games. I was cautious, and didn't sign up for too many of them. The convention planners had eight game slots: Three on Saturday and Sunday, and two on Monday, with a trivia contest Saturday night, a banquet Sunday night, and an afterparty Monday night. The way my schedule worked out, I always played games beginning on or after 1pm.
The first game I played in was a Star Wars game, entitled "Supertroopers 2: The Search for More Money". It was a silly game, as evidenced by the title. As an example, in order to explain a box of explosives, one of our players invented a new holiday called "World Day," and manged to get away with it. For this, the game master awarded him a "one of a kind" miniature, produced by "a friend who works in the special effects industry": A gelatinous cube. It was really well done, complete with a floaty sword and shield. And scaled to size, too.
The afternoon game was a Cage Match, which definitely could have been more fun, but is an interesting idea regardless. The basic concept is to roll up a level-twelve character and have them fight other players in a cage, to the death. Unfortunately, it seems that I'm not very good at creating those sorts of characters. In the end, I lost all five matches we played, sometimes on the first round. Not so much fun.
The next day began with my first ever freeform game. Invented in Sydney, they're sort of like Larps, in that it's live-action. However there is almost no system, just a sheet of paper with your goals, and interaction with lots of other characters. It's kind of like improv theater. The game was set in the year 2330, and was entitled "A Colder War". Basically, there was a standoff between the worlds' superpowers China, Brittan, Russia, the USA, Germany,and the Athuleans (offworlders). There was squabbling over a superweapon. My character happened to be a high-ranking salesguy for a defense contractor, trying to make a sale at every opportunity. I basically played Robert Preston. It was wonderful. And the Earth blew up, but that's okay, we were on a space station.
In any case, I decided to skip Day Two of the cage match, and instead opted to play in a game called Turf Wars. That could have gone better, but it could have gone worse. I played the Cowardly Rogue, who ended up hiding in a warehouse while our base was overrun. Bonus points for surviving, but penalty points for cowardice.
Monday was NSW Labour Day,so the con continued for a third day. The only game I played on Monday was "Djude, where's our wizard?", where I played Djude the Barbarian, as we tried to find our wizard. I really enjoyed the game, though Djude didn't do much more than look pretty and hit things a lot. Which, really, is what he's built for.
Other events I attended included the Trivia Challenge, where my team managed to get last place, the Banquet, which took place at a fancy pizza restaurant, and the After Party, which took place at a bar. I ended up meeting lots of people, and had a great time. It really enforced the idea that, as long as you have a good game master, the games can be really quite a lot of fun. I look forward to finding a good group wherever I end up.
I spent the next five days meandering about the city, shopping at Paddy's Market -- a sort of bazaar that sells many things -- and going on lengthy walking trips -- some as long as four hours a stretch. Weekly rail passes proved quite useful, and took most of the stress out of getting around. I spent time in a few libraries, reading books purchased from Galaxy. Occasionally I would surf the Internet, though I tried not to do that too often.
On Saturday, Sydcon began. This roleplaying-games convention proved a welcome respite from the realm of frat boys and cranky old Irish I had encountered while living in hostels. Here was a group of people who would understand my jokes, and who were generally nifty people. Plus they're natives, and know where to find the good cafes.
As it was a gaming convention, I played several games. I was cautious, and didn't sign up for too many of them. The convention planners had eight game slots: Three on Saturday and Sunday, and two on Monday, with a trivia contest Saturday night, a banquet Sunday night, and an afterparty Monday night. The way my schedule worked out, I always played games beginning on or after 1pm.
The first game I played in was a Star Wars game, entitled "Supertroopers 2: The Search for More Money". It was a silly game, as evidenced by the title. As an example, in order to explain a box of explosives, one of our players invented a new holiday called "World Day," and manged to get away with it. For this, the game master awarded him a "one of a kind" miniature, produced by "a friend who works in the special effects industry": A gelatinous cube. It was really well done, complete with a floaty sword and shield. And scaled to size, too.
The afternoon game was a Cage Match, which definitely could have been more fun, but is an interesting idea regardless. The basic concept is to roll up a level-twelve character and have them fight other players in a cage, to the death. Unfortunately, it seems that I'm not very good at creating those sorts of characters. In the end, I lost all five matches we played, sometimes on the first round. Not so much fun.
The next day began with my first ever freeform game. Invented in Sydney, they're sort of like Larps, in that it's live-action. However there is almost no system, just a sheet of paper with your goals, and interaction with lots of other characters. It's kind of like improv theater. The game was set in the year 2330, and was entitled "A Colder War". Basically, there was a standoff between the worlds' superpowers China, Brittan, Russia, the USA, Germany,and the Athuleans (offworlders). There was squabbling over a superweapon. My character happened to be a high-ranking salesguy for a defense contractor, trying to make a sale at every opportunity. I basically played Robert Preston. It was wonderful. And the Earth blew up, but that's okay, we were on a space station.
In any case, I decided to skip Day Two of the cage match, and instead opted to play in a game called Turf Wars. That could have gone better, but it could have gone worse. I played the Cowardly Rogue, who ended up hiding in a warehouse while our base was overrun. Bonus points for surviving, but penalty points for cowardice.
Monday was NSW Labour Day,so the con continued for a third day. The only game I played on Monday was "Djude, where's our wizard?", where I played Djude the Barbarian, as we tried to find our wizard. I really enjoyed the game, though Djude didn't do much more than look pretty and hit things a lot. Which, really, is what he's built for.
Other events I attended included the Trivia Challenge, where my team managed to get last place, the Banquet, which took place at a fancy pizza restaurant, and the After Party, which took place at a bar. I ended up meeting lots of people, and had a great time. It really enforced the idea that, as long as you have a good game master, the games can be really quite a lot of fun. I look forward to finding a good group wherever I end up.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Weekend in Sydney
On Thursday, I met up with an American friend, Brittany. She's living in Melbourne, and decided to take a short vacation and fly to Sydney for the weekend to meet up. The people with whom she was staying have a house in Sydney, that they were kind enough to let us borrow for the weekend. This change from having no privacy to speak of (after having slept in crowded dorms for over a week) to having my own room in suburban Sydney was a welcome change, and one for which I thank both her and her hosts.
The first day mostly included aimless wandering: We took a ferry across the Sydney Harbour, which offered very nice views of both the opera house and the harbour bridge. At dusk, we were in The Domain park, and got to see the bats swarm out of the Botanical Gardens for the night. Afterwards, we saw Stardust, which I still think is a wonderful movie.
Friday began with a walk along the harbour bridge, on a BridgeClimb tour. Ten years ago someone got the brilliant idea of letting people walk along the access routes on the harbour bridge, giving them a unique view of the city. It really is a spectacular view, though they don't let you bring anything dangly along, like cameras. Towards the end, as I happened to be climbing down the access ladder as it went below the bridge surface between the tracks, two trains rushed past me simultaneously, going in opposite directions. That was surprising, yet exciting!
Afterwards, we returned to the house, and I spent the afternoon submitting resumes. Within the previous few weeks, I had gotten it in my head that I could easily find a job in Australia, and that getting a job there was what I really wanted. The process of submitting resumes put me in a foul mood, having convinced me that I was both unemployable and without skill. This feeling would remain for several days, until introspection allowed me to formulate a new plan.
Sunday brought with it laundry day, which took entirely too long. Afterwards, Brittany and I parted ways, with her going to the airport (via bus -- apparently the train not running that day,) and I to my new hostel. As I was still new to the city, I ended up walking in exactly the wrong direction, and got very lost before calling for directions. Hooray for mobile phones. So it was that I had found my way to my new home for the next ten days.
The first day mostly included aimless wandering: We took a ferry across the Sydney Harbour, which offered very nice views of both the opera house and the harbour bridge. At dusk, we were in The Domain park, and got to see the bats swarm out of the Botanical Gardens for the night. Afterwards, we saw Stardust, which I still think is a wonderful movie.
Friday began with a walk along the harbour bridge, on a BridgeClimb tour. Ten years ago someone got the brilliant idea of letting people walk along the access routes on the harbour bridge, giving them a unique view of the city. It really is a spectacular view, though they don't let you bring anything dangly along, like cameras. Towards the end, as I happened to be climbing down the access ladder as it went below the bridge surface between the tracks, two trains rushed past me simultaneously, going in opposite directions. That was surprising, yet exciting!
Afterwards, we returned to the house, and I spent the afternoon submitting resumes. Within the previous few weeks, I had gotten it in my head that I could easily find a job in Australia, and that getting a job there was what I really wanted. The process of submitting resumes put me in a foul mood, having convinced me that I was both unemployable and without skill. This feeling would remain for several days, until introspection allowed me to formulate a new plan.
Sunday brought with it laundry day, which took entirely too long. Afterwards, Brittany and I parted ways, with her going to the airport (via bus -- apparently the train not running that day,) and I to my new hostel. As I was still new to the city, I ended up walking in exactly the wrong direction, and got very lost before calling for directions. Hooray for mobile phones. So it was that I had found my way to my new home for the next ten days.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Hello, Sydney.
The flight to Sydney was interesting, mostly because it was an overnight flight of about 11 hours, yet crossed only one timezone, making it more of a flying hotel than anything. It was pleasant flight, however: I saw Young Frankenstein, which I hadn't previously seen, then I had a Toohey's beer, then I slept. Which was nice.
My first few days in Sydney were an interesting experience, owing mostly to the locale in which my hostel was located. It seems as though Kings Cross is the party-district of Sydney, having a high concentration of hostels, pubs, nightclubs, and so on. As I'm not normally one for those sorts of places, during the course of my three days there I spent most of my time in other parts of the city. While my roommates were definitely partiers, I was fortunate I was only staying Monday through Thursday, as I missed the nights that tended to be loud well past 4am.
My very first night I decided to go see Ratatouille. Except for the part where I went into the wrong theater and didn't notice because my phone hadn't picked up the timezone change, I enjoyed it. Sometime, however, I'd like to see the first fifteen minutes of the movie. I also discovered that in Australia, movies are really expensive. I spent $15.50 to get in. Apparently the price gets cut in half on Tuesdays.
I also did quite a bit of walking. I enjoy exploring, and was delighted to find that, after purchasing a SIM card for my phone, it began to display the name of the community in which I currently was. That made it slightly easier to explore, as I could tell when I was getting near to a place I had previously been. I got lost at one point, but then I found myself again.
During the course of my walkings, I discovered a wonderful bookstore, where I have spent entirely too much money: Galaxy Books is a shop dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels. Worse still, the new Terry Pratchett book was released the week I arrived, and costs $55 in hardback. Thus far I have resisted the temptation, instead preferring many paperbacks to a single hardback.
My first few days in Sydney were an interesting experience, owing mostly to the locale in which my hostel was located. It seems as though Kings Cross is the party-district of Sydney, having a high concentration of hostels, pubs, nightclubs, and so on. As I'm not normally one for those sorts of places, during the course of my three days there I spent most of my time in other parts of the city. While my roommates were definitely partiers, I was fortunate I was only staying Monday through Thursday, as I missed the nights that tended to be loud well past 4am.
My very first night I decided to go see Ratatouille. Except for the part where I went into the wrong theater and didn't notice because my phone hadn't picked up the timezone change, I enjoyed it. Sometime, however, I'd like to see the first fifteen minutes of the movie. I also discovered that in Australia, movies are really expensive. I spent $15.50 to get in. Apparently the price gets cut in half on Tuesdays.
I also did quite a bit of walking. I enjoy exploring, and was delighted to find that, after purchasing a SIM card for my phone, it began to display the name of the community in which I currently was. That made it slightly easier to explore, as I could tell when I was getting near to a place I had previously been. I got lost at one point, but then I found myself again.
During the course of my walkings, I discovered a wonderful bookstore, where I have spent entirely too much money: Galaxy Books is a shop dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels. Worse still, the new Terry Pratchett book was released the week I arrived, and costs $55 in hardback. Thus far I have resisted the temptation, instead preferring many paperbacks to a single hardback.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Leaving Japan
Sometime between my stay in Kamoaosa and my return to Tokyo, I decided that I had experienced enough of Japan, and that it was time to leave. At the time, my desire was based on three things:
In retrospect, the second point is the biggest: I enjoy going to places to experience things new and different, and see how others live. I've discovered that it takes me roughly five days to feel comfortable in a city, to understand how to get around and get a basic grasp of how things work. During that time, things are new and exciting. After that, I need something to do.
So, once in Tokyo I set out to find the travel agency so I could reschedule my flights. In the process, and this is why I've come to love Tokyo so, I made a wrong turn and ended up in the biggest department store in the world, (which also includes its own rail line,) according to my Lonely Planet guide. Not necessarily where I wanted to go, but still interesting in any case.
Eventually I found the travel agency and changed my dates: Instead of leaving on a Wednesday evening, I'd leave Sunday evening. I also modified my departure times from Sydney, from where I will depart on the 11th of October. It cost me JPY 4400, and they gave me a really pretty receipt.
What does one do with no money and lots of time in Japan? Walk! I ended up taking the train to Akihabara and visiting Super Potato finally, which did prove to be a wonderful place after all. I poked around some other stores there, including one that sold SUN and SGI hardware, then decided to walk back to my hostel in Asakusa. I took the less-travelled streets, and generally enjoyed the walk.
I did manage to leave Japan with almost no money, and I suppose a trip to a pachinko parlor could have made it happen. As is, my last purchase in Japan -- a pizza naan, bottled water, and milk tea -- left me with exactly one yen left. So my last coin sits in my wallet, ready for use during my next trip to Japan, which I hope to take someday.
- I was all alone in a country that didn't speak my language, and didn't use Roman characters all the time
- I was running short of things to do, and
- I was running short on cash, in a very cash-oriented society.
In retrospect, the second point is the biggest: I enjoy going to places to experience things new and different, and see how others live. I've discovered that it takes me roughly five days to feel comfortable in a city, to understand how to get around and get a basic grasp of how things work. During that time, things are new and exciting. After that, I need something to do.
So, once in Tokyo I set out to find the travel agency so I could reschedule my flights. In the process, and this is why I've come to love Tokyo so, I made a wrong turn and ended up in the biggest department store in the world, (which also includes its own rail line,) according to my Lonely Planet guide. Not necessarily where I wanted to go, but still interesting in any case.
Eventually I found the travel agency and changed my dates: Instead of leaving on a Wednesday evening, I'd leave Sunday evening. I also modified my departure times from Sydney, from where I will depart on the 11th of October. It cost me JPY 4400, and they gave me a really pretty receipt.
What does one do with no money and lots of time in Japan? Walk! I ended up taking the train to Akihabara and visiting Super Potato finally, which did prove to be a wonderful place after all. I poked around some other stores there, including one that sold SUN and SGI hardware, then decided to walk back to my hostel in Asakusa. I took the less-travelled streets, and generally enjoyed the walk.
I did manage to leave Japan with almost no money, and I suppose a trip to a pachinko parlor could have made it happen. As is, my last purchase in Japan -- a pizza naan, bottled water, and milk tea -- left me with exactly one yen left. So my last coin sits in my wallet, ready for use during my next trip to Japan, which I hope to take someday.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sendai and Kamoaosa
After Kitakata, I had one day by myself, then on to one or two more days of couch surfing. Seems reasonable enough, except for one small fact: I'm in a town of 50,000, and I have absolutely no idea where I'm sleeping tonight. That's a very scary situation in which to be.
So, 30-pound backpack in tow, I struck off for the local train station. While waiting for a train, a complete stranger ("Yoshi", I found out his name eventually) came up to me and started talking. Apparently I don't look Japanese, and so people seem to think I speak English. Well they're right, so Yoshi and I struck up a [very broken] conversation: Where I was from (San Diego? Padres!), where I was planning on going, what I thought of Japan, what he was doing, and so on. It was a pleasant way to spend the time waiting for the train.
So I took the train to Wakamatsu, then took the slightly bigger train to Sendai. Great, I'm now in Sendai, and I don't know where I'm going to sleep. I want to stay in a place that's reasonably priced, yet can fit me in today. Fortunately my guide has a map! No hotels listed, but it lists an Internet Cafe. I set about navigating the city to find this cafe.
Matching up the map to the city wasn't that difficult, but once I got to where it should have been, I discovered I could not find the building. After much walking around, I determined that I was actually looking for a hostel, which I now suspect had closed down a few years ago. Instead, I found the Hotel That I Got From A Vending Machine.
It looked from the outside as though it had been pieced together component-wise: A square array of windows, all looking the same, meeting at right angles. The scenario went something like this: Put money into the machine (I put in JPY 10000), get change back (I got 4005 back), and get a receipt. There are two important numbers on this receipt: (1) Your room number, and (2) a code to get into the room, and to get into the building after-hours. That's it. No staff to hassle, no keys to get, no checkin, no checkout. All very business-like. Which explains why the overwhelming majority of those at breakfast the next morning were Japanese dressed in business suits. The sleep itself was fairly good, and I'd definitely stay in another one of that chain's hotels.
As for Kamoaosa: It was lovely. I got there by taking the shinkansen from Sendai to Akita, then taking the (gas-powered!) local train to Oga, then taking a bus to Monzen, at which point they picked me up in their car and drove me to Kamoaosa. That's remote.
The town is a fishing village so small it doesn't have a Wikipedia page, and as of publishing this entry, has 94 entries. I'm sure it has a few more now. My hosts there were absolutely wonderful: They have a spare guesthouse they let me stay in, they fed me dinner, and they loaned me bedding.
On the first day, they let me go out and claim a rock for myself, upon which I sat for a good long while decompressing from the stress of the past few days. On the second day, they loaned me shorts, a shirt, gloves, socks, shoes, a bag, a floatey, a screwdriver, a mask, and a snorkel, and they took me diving for shellfish. The water was warm, and the shellfish were pretty. We saw baby fugu, but didn't do anything with them. Also, from a distance, urchin look just like soot sprites.
I ended up staying for two nights, as one night just wasn't enough. It was definitely worth it. My two couchsurfing hosts definitely made this visit one of the high points of the trip.
So, 30-pound backpack in tow, I struck off for the local train station. While waiting for a train, a complete stranger ("Yoshi", I found out his name eventually) came up to me and started talking. Apparently I don't look Japanese, and so people seem to think I speak English. Well they're right, so Yoshi and I struck up a [very broken] conversation: Where I was from (San Diego? Padres!), where I was planning on going, what I thought of Japan, what he was doing, and so on. It was a pleasant way to spend the time waiting for the train.
So I took the train to Wakamatsu, then took the slightly bigger train to Sendai. Great, I'm now in Sendai, and I don't know where I'm going to sleep. I want to stay in a place that's reasonably priced, yet can fit me in today. Fortunately my guide has a map! No hotels listed, but it lists an Internet Cafe. I set about navigating the city to find this cafe.
Matching up the map to the city wasn't that difficult, but once I got to where it should have been, I discovered I could not find the building. After much walking around, I determined that I was actually looking for a hostel, which I now suspect had closed down a few years ago. Instead, I found the Hotel That I Got From A Vending Machine.
It looked from the outside as though it had been pieced together component-wise: A square array of windows, all looking the same, meeting at right angles. The scenario went something like this: Put money into the machine (I put in JPY 10000), get change back (I got 4005 back), and get a receipt. There are two important numbers on this receipt: (1) Your room number, and (2) a code to get into the room, and to get into the building after-hours. That's it. No staff to hassle, no keys to get, no checkin, no checkout. All very business-like. Which explains why the overwhelming majority of those at breakfast the next morning were Japanese dressed in business suits. The sleep itself was fairly good, and I'd definitely stay in another one of that chain's hotels.
As for Kamoaosa: It was lovely. I got there by taking the shinkansen from Sendai to Akita, then taking the (gas-powered!) local train to Oga, then taking a bus to Monzen, at which point they picked me up in their car and drove me to Kamoaosa. That's remote.
The town is a fishing village so small it doesn't have a Wikipedia page, and as of publishing this entry, has 94 entries. I'm sure it has a few more now. My hosts there were absolutely wonderful: They have a spare guesthouse they let me stay in, they fed me dinner, and they loaned me bedding.
On the first day, they let me go out and claim a rock for myself, upon which I sat for a good long while decompressing from the stress of the past few days. On the second day, they loaned me shorts, a shirt, gloves, socks, shoes, a bag, a floatey, a screwdriver, a mask, and a snorkel, and they took me diving for shellfish. The water was warm, and the shellfish were pretty. We saw baby fugu, but didn't do anything with them. Also, from a distance, urchin look just like soot sprites.
I ended up staying for two nights, as one night just wasn't enough. It was definitely worth it. My two couchsurfing hosts definitely made this visit one of the high points of the trip.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Kitakata, and my first Couch Surfing experience
After getting over my initial shock of "Huh. I'm in a country where I don't understand the language, and now I'm all alone," I got down to the business of travelling.
Tired, I took the long way home from the airport. The very long way home. The parting happened at 5, so I waited in the station until the train arrived at 6. Then I stayed on the train until it reached Chiba (around 7), then waited for a train to Akihabara, where I arrived at around 8:10. I very quickly found Super Potato (it's 5 storeys, has 6-foot-tall Pac Man and Mario sprites on the front, and emits NES music,) which closed at 8. Oh well, now I knew where to go for the next time I'm in Tokyo.
The next day I struck out early for Kitakata. I took a train from Ueno station to Sendai, then a smaller train to Wakamatsu (which is oh so much fun to say!) My Couch Surfing contact said he'd meet me at 5. It was now noon. Huh. I had time to kill.
So I stashed my backpack and wandered the town. I found a fort that had been destroyed in the 1800s and rebuilt in the 1960s. I found an open wireless access point. I found a retro videogame shop. I found a very uninteresting used clothing store. And I found lunch.
In case I haven't mentioned it before: Japanese have a thing for plastic food. It's a brilliant idea: put plastic representations of the menu in front of the store to entice people to know what they're ordering in advance. As I was hungry (and still somewhat culture-shocked,) I didn't want to bother with the trans-lingual ordering. So I pulled out my camera, took a picture of the plastic representation, went in, pointed to the screen, and pointed. Lo and behold, a real version of the dish appeared on my table! Tasty.
Around 5:30 my CS host shows up. He's had a long day, and it's raining, and the restaurant he wanted to go to is closed. So we decide to get sushi (which was fairly tasty), then go to an onsen (which was a good experience). Afterwards, we headed back to his house, and were promptly wrangled by some of his Japanese friends to go work on a float for an upcoming festival.
The float was, in actuality, a car covered in cardboard. Our task was to cover the cardboard with double-stick tape, then put futon foam on the tape, making it look like a cloud. Their unofficial task was to (1) help with the tape and futon material, (2) chat, (3) smoke, and (4) provide and drink sake. Neither of us Americans (myself or my CS host from Las Vegas) smoked, but we did do all of the rest. Oh boy did we. Eventually we all finished the bottle of sake, at which point they took out "Chuo" (I believe it's called), which is made from [unfermented] potatoes. That was tasty. Then they took out "The hundredth best sake in Japan," (apparently is a common moniker), which we also drank. It, too, was tasty.
At around midnight, we decided that it was just about time to head home, and we bid my newfound friends "Sayonara" and stumbled home. That was a good nights' sleep.
Next time: The hotel room I got from a vending machine, and my visit to a very small town.
Tired, I took the long way home from the airport. The very long way home. The parting happened at 5, so I waited in the station until the train arrived at 6. Then I stayed on the train until it reached Chiba (around 7), then waited for a train to Akihabara, where I arrived at around 8:10. I very quickly found Super Potato (it's 5 storeys, has 6-foot-tall Pac Man and Mario sprites on the front, and emits NES music,) which closed at 8. Oh well, now I knew where to go for the next time I'm in Tokyo.
The next day I struck out early for Kitakata. I took a train from Ueno station to Sendai, then a smaller train to Wakamatsu (which is oh so much fun to say!) My Couch Surfing contact said he'd meet me at 5. It was now noon. Huh. I had time to kill.
So I stashed my backpack and wandered the town. I found a fort that had been destroyed in the 1800s and rebuilt in the 1960s. I found an open wireless access point. I found a retro videogame shop. I found a very uninteresting used clothing store. And I found lunch.
In case I haven't mentioned it before: Japanese have a thing for plastic food. It's a brilliant idea: put plastic representations of the menu in front of the store to entice people to know what they're ordering in advance. As I was hungry (and still somewhat culture-shocked,) I didn't want to bother with the trans-lingual ordering. So I pulled out my camera, took a picture of the plastic representation, went in, pointed to the screen, and pointed. Lo and behold, a real version of the dish appeared on my table! Tasty.
Around 5:30 my CS host shows up. He's had a long day, and it's raining, and the restaurant he wanted to go to is closed. So we decide to get sushi (which was fairly tasty), then go to an onsen (which was a good experience). Afterwards, we headed back to his house, and were promptly wrangled by some of his Japanese friends to go work on a float for an upcoming festival.
The float was, in actuality, a car covered in cardboard. Our task was to cover the cardboard with double-stick tape, then put futon foam on the tape, making it look like a cloud. Their unofficial task was to (1) help with the tape and futon material, (2) chat, (3) smoke, and (4) provide and drink sake. Neither of us Americans (myself or my CS host from Las Vegas) smoked, but we did do all of the rest. Oh boy did we. Eventually we all finished the bottle of sake, at which point they took out "Chuo" (I believe it's called), which is made from [unfermented] potatoes. That was tasty. Then they took out "The hundredth best sake in Japan," (apparently is a common moniker), which we also drank. It, too, was tasty.
At around midnight, we decided that it was just about time to head home, and we bid my newfound friends "Sayonara" and stumbled home. That was a good nights' sleep.
Next time: The hotel room I got from a vending machine, and my visit to a very small town.
Monday, September 24, 2007
No more (detailed) posts from the past
Aside from the fact that I was getting very far behind, the memory card on which my diaries were stored has stopped working. It may be software, in that the disk format is not right, but I suspect it may be hardware. In any case, I do not currently possess the necessary tools to repair it.
Therefore, I shall present the Cliffs Notes version of my trip, thus far:
Kyoto was not very fun. I blame this on not enough sleep, tremendous heat, too much walking, and not enough information on what to do there.
Hiroshima was wonderful. The memorial was very well done, and was worth the trip. We had okonomiyaki, which was very very tasty. Again, the Japanese train system is wonderful.
Back in Tokyo, we went to the Ghibli Museum, which is also very well done. Anyone who is under the age of eight, or is interested in animation at all, or likes Studio Ghibli movies, needs to go to this museum. It's a very nice way to spend a couple of hours. And the environs are pretty, too.
On Sunday I got a tip from a friend: I needed to go to Super Potato. Unfortunately for us, I thought he meant Super Potato, which has a .jp domain, shows up first if you do a Google search, and is also located in Tokyo. It's an interior design firm, though, not a retro-video-game heaven.
Sunday afternoon my dad and I went to the train station to catch a train to Narita, so he could catch his plane. Unfortunately again, once we got to Narita, we discovered that it would be a while before the train from Narita to Narita Airport arrived. Oops. He ended up getting to the airport with 45 minutes to spare, which on an international flight is not good. Apparently he made it home just fine, though.
I think that's where I'll stop it for now. Next time I'll finish up Japan, and begin writing about my time in Sydney, so far.
Therefore, I shall present the Cliffs Notes version of my trip, thus far:
Kyoto was not very fun. I blame this on not enough sleep, tremendous heat, too much walking, and not enough information on what to do there.
Hiroshima was wonderful. The memorial was very well done, and was worth the trip. We had okonomiyaki, which was very very tasty. Again, the Japanese train system is wonderful.
Back in Tokyo, we went to the Ghibli Museum, which is also very well done. Anyone who is under the age of eight, or is interested in animation at all, or likes Studio Ghibli movies, needs to go to this museum. It's a very nice way to spend a couple of hours. And the environs are pretty, too.
On Sunday I got a tip from a friend: I needed to go to Super Potato. Unfortunately for us, I thought he meant Super Potato, which has a .jp domain, shows up first if you do a Google search, and is also located in Tokyo. It's an interior design firm, though, not a retro-video-game heaven.
Sunday afternoon my dad and I went to the train station to catch a train to Narita, so he could catch his plane. Unfortunately again, once we got to Narita, we discovered that it would be a while before the train from Narita to Narita Airport arrived. Oops. He ended up getting to the airport with 45 minutes to spare, which on an international flight is not good. Apparently he made it home just fine, though.
I think that's where I'll stop it for now. Next time I'll finish up Japan, and begin writing about my time in Sydney, so far.
Friday, September 21, 2007
2007/09/04 at 21:48
Guess I was tired. I just woke up from a nap. Good morning.
The hot water will be turned on for ten more minutes at the hostel, so I think I'll try to wake up enough to take a shower, then go see what I can rustle up in terms of dinner.
The hot water will be turned on for ten more minutes at the hostel, so I think I'll try to wake up enough to take a shower, then go see what I can rustle up in terms of dinner.
2007/09/04 at 17:26
Well, last night's meeting went well. I met with someone from Qualcomm Tokyo, who happens to be Australian, and who happens to know people there who could help me get a job. Fantastic. The one in the Canon R&D department sounds particularly interesting. Woo.
The food was also particularly tasty. I had a specific kind of Japanese beer, whose name I forget, and a drink which has been called Japanese vodka, because it's made from [sweet-]potatoes, though it's not distilled. I also had something that my Tokyo-dwelling Australian friend had never heard of, which turned out to be soupy tofu with an urchin in it. Which wasn't bad.
I got back to the hotel relatively late, around 9pm, which means I got to bed later than I have been lately, which probably aided in my sleeping-in this morning until 5am. Almost acclimated.
This morning, however, was quite an adventure. The initial plan was to get up, "Activate" our JR passes (which involves taking them to the station and saying "One /n/-week pass, please! Here's my voucher!") then going to Hiroshima, tourtourtour, come to Kyoto, check in, go to sleep, explore Kyoto tomorrow.
At least, that was the plan, up until we got to Ueno station, and noticed the JR pass shop doesn't open until 10:30.
So we decided to try for Tokyo Station, as it's bigger, and therefore maybe it opens sooner. Well, yes, sort of. It opens at 10. But, thanks to the time it took to get there, we had to wait only two hours, rather than three. The plan now was to get into Kyoto, hang out there today, and go to Hiroshima tomorrow.
So breakfast was bought, and I putzed about a bit. I found an open access point that allowed http connections, so I could check mail but not IM.
Finally the office opened. The process was relatively painless. The "fun" began just after we got our train tickets to Kyoto. The ticket is entirely in Japanese, save for a few numbers. Unfortunately, none of these numbers seemed to indicate the platform number, so we had to run around the station showing our cards to various attendants trying to find the track number. On top of that, it turns out our tickets don't actually work in the ticket machines, we need to show them to an attendant, then effectively hop over the turnstiles. Fun. Did I mention I'm carrying my backpack, with all of my worldly possessions? Heavy.
So, eventually we find the train. Once we got on, I take out Sparky, only to find the battery pack has died. I could read my comic book, but I'm saving that for the trip to Australia. So I decided to just look at the scenery as it whizzed by.
Unfortunately, while we did get a no-smoking car, smoke wafted in from the adjoining car, making the entire trip a smoke-filled adventure. Plus, I have a headache from the tension. Ow.
Once in Kyoto, we notice it's hot. Hotter than Tokyo, and more humid. We ended up eating at an overpriced, not-very-good Italian restaurant, then walk the twenty minutes it took to get to the hotel.
At this point, I'm tired, have a headache, and am starting to miss hearing people speaking English. I'm sure a nap will do me good, but for now I'm just cranky. And tired, for some reason. Oh well, I'll try to sleep now. Goodnight.
The food was also particularly tasty. I had a specific kind of Japanese beer, whose name I forget, and a drink which has been called Japanese vodka, because it's made from [sweet-]potatoes, though it's not distilled. I also had something that my Tokyo-dwelling Australian friend had never heard of, which turned out to be soupy tofu with an urchin in it. Which wasn't bad.
I got back to the hotel relatively late, around 9pm, which means I got to bed later than I have been lately, which probably aided in my sleeping-in this morning until 5am. Almost acclimated.
This morning, however, was quite an adventure. The initial plan was to get up, "Activate" our JR passes (which involves taking them to the station and saying "One /n/-week pass, please! Here's my voucher!") then going to Hiroshima, tourtourtour, come to Kyoto, check in, go to sleep, explore Kyoto tomorrow.
At least, that was the plan, up until we got to Ueno station, and noticed the JR pass shop doesn't open until 10:30.
So we decided to try for Tokyo Station, as it's bigger, and therefore maybe it opens sooner. Well, yes, sort of. It opens at 10. But, thanks to the time it took to get there, we had to wait only two hours, rather than three. The plan now was to get into Kyoto, hang out there today, and go to Hiroshima tomorrow.
So breakfast was bought, and I putzed about a bit. I found an open access point that allowed http connections, so I could check mail but not IM.
Finally the office opened. The process was relatively painless. The "fun" began just after we got our train tickets to Kyoto. The ticket is entirely in Japanese, save for a few numbers. Unfortunately, none of these numbers seemed to indicate the platform number, so we had to run around the station showing our cards to various attendants trying to find the track number. On top of that, it turns out our tickets don't actually work in the ticket machines, we need to show them to an attendant, then effectively hop over the turnstiles. Fun. Did I mention I'm carrying my backpack, with all of my worldly possessions? Heavy.
So, eventually we find the train. Once we got on, I take out Sparky, only to find the battery pack has died. I could read my comic book, but I'm saving that for the trip to Australia. So I decided to just look at the scenery as it whizzed by.
Unfortunately, while we did get a no-smoking car, smoke wafted in from the adjoining car, making the entire trip a smoke-filled adventure. Plus, I have a headache from the tension. Ow.
Once in Kyoto, we notice it's hot. Hotter than Tokyo, and more humid. We ended up eating at an overpriced, not-very-good Italian restaurant, then walk the twenty minutes it took to get to the hotel.
At this point, I'm tired, have a headache, and am starting to miss hearing people speaking English. I'm sure a nap will do me good, but for now I'm just cranky. And tired, for some reason. Oh well, I'll try to sleep now. Goodnight.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
2007/09/03 at 12:50
So far, so good. The morning went much as yesterday's did, in that calls home were made, e-mail was answered somewhat, and breakfast was purchased from a mini-mart and consumed in Ueno park. It really is a pretty park. There are feral kitties there, who like to hunt the feral pigeons. Ah, the circle of life.
We decided to return to Odiaba, where I had reached my limit yesterday. As it was 9:30 at this point, we ended up having to do a bit of walking first. We walked to the National Museum of Emerging Technology, which basically turned out to be a science center. No surprise there, but before we saw the exhibits, we were treated to what can only be described as the most surreal planetarium show I have ever seen; while we were given translators, the content of the show was mostly a star machine showing us what I'd imagine was the night sky at various points, while at the same time a show about how the planets formed was playing on top of it. At one point a double-pendulum appeared on the screen, only to swing for about five minutes, multiply, fade out, fade in, and freeze, all while interpretive percussion was playing in the background, consisting of what I imagine were found instruments.
After that, we went on to see the exhibits. As far as science museums go, it was pleasant. And at JPY500 (with technicolor planetarium show thrown in,) it was certainly priced competitively. In the "Technology" section, there was a 3D racing game going on, with many different types of controllers. One was a steering wheel, one was a joystick, one was a pair of ropes used to control your horse avatar, one was a musical keyboard, and one was an oversized mug that you tilted to move. I don't think you could win, but that didn't matter.
They also had The Internet set up, or at least a subset thereof. It consisted of a series of ramps, where you put in black or white marbles in one place, designated a destination, then watched them get routed through the series of ramps. Ted Stevens would be proud, if a bit bewildered at the reference.
Afterwards, we went to Venus Fort. I think it's supposed to be a shopping mall directed at women, complete with a Women-Only day. They have shops with lots of shiny things, clothes, and fancy restaurants. The architecture is taken directly from Caesar's Palace in Vegas, complete with marble statues in a fountain, located at the middle. And the sky changes from day to night, by clever use of lighting.
And now, time for lunch.
We decided to return to Odiaba, where I had reached my limit yesterday. As it was 9:30 at this point, we ended up having to do a bit of walking first. We walked to the National Museum of Emerging Technology, which basically turned out to be a science center. No surprise there, but before we saw the exhibits, we were treated to what can only be described as the most surreal planetarium show I have ever seen; while we were given translators, the content of the show was mostly a star machine showing us what I'd imagine was the night sky at various points, while at the same time a show about how the planets formed was playing on top of it. At one point a double-pendulum appeared on the screen, only to swing for about five minutes, multiply, fade out, fade in, and freeze, all while interpretive percussion was playing in the background, consisting of what I imagine were found instruments.
After that, we went on to see the exhibits. As far as science museums go, it was pleasant. And at JPY500 (with technicolor planetarium show thrown in,) it was certainly priced competitively. In the "Technology" section, there was a 3D racing game going on, with many different types of controllers. One was a steering wheel, one was a joystick, one was a pair of ropes used to control your horse avatar, one was a musical keyboard, and one was an oversized mug that you tilted to move. I don't think you could win, but that didn't matter.
They also had The Internet set up, or at least a subset thereof. It consisted of a series of ramps, where you put in black or white marbles in one place, designated a destination, then watched them get routed through the series of ramps. Ted Stevens would be proud, if a bit bewildered at the reference.
Afterwards, we went to Venus Fort. I think it's supposed to be a shopping mall directed at women, complete with a Women-Only day. They have shops with lots of shiny things, clothes, and fancy restaurants. The architecture is taken directly from Caesar's Palace in Vegas, complete with marble statues in a fountain, located at the middle. And the sky changes from day to night, by clever use of lighting.
And now, time for lunch.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
2007/09/03 at 04:32
Getting better at this whole sleeping thing. I'll be completely adjusted within a couple more days. Hooray! Just in time for the typhoon.
Current plans for today: Find stuff to do, then at 4, go to Qualcomm to have a beer with someone who may be able to get me a job in Sydney. No pressure, right? Right. I can do this.
He's a member of the security department, so I think I'm going to wear my "sudo make me a sandwich" shirt, because really, who doesn't love UNIX references on clothing?
Aside from that, I may try and find a manga reading room, or possibly even just a McDonalds. Somewhere I can obtain wireless Internet, so I can finally do a blog-dump. I'm sure people at home are dying to read about the exciting trials and tribulations of my time abroad. Anything that doesn't involve walking another 15 miles. It'd be a bit much to do three days in a row.
Current plans for today: Find stuff to do, then at 4, go to Qualcomm to have a beer with someone who may be able to get me a job in Sydney. No pressure, right? Right. I can do this.
He's a member of the security department, so I think I'm going to wear my "sudo make me a sandwich" shirt, because really, who doesn't love UNIX references on clothing?
Aside from that, I may try and find a manga reading room, or possibly even just a McDonalds. Somewhere I can obtain wireless Internet, so I can finally do a blog-dump. I'm sure people at home are dying to read about the exciting trials and tribulations of my time abroad. Anything that doesn't involve walking another 15 miles. It'd be a bit much to do three days in a row.
Friday, September 14, 2007
2007/09/02 at 19:23
There are three computers downstairs that are free to use. Two run as Administrator, one runs with reduced privileges. Guess which computers have the most spyware? Coincidentally, guess which computer I'm unable to connect Sparky to, as I can't install the USB device driver?
Oh well, I can wait.
After idly surfing for a while, answering journal posts, figuring out if I was, in fact, in the area where Shenmue took place (quite possibly yes,) calling my Qualcomm contact), I came upstairs, watched some news about the current fires in Greece, got bored, then went to lunch.
It was the same shop as I sent to the first day. They don't seem to have noodles, only rice. The first day I'd gotten that tasty cheese dish. This time I got a dish that had some sort of meat on it, topped with something white, somewhat creamy, and full of granular material of some sort. I had to fight not to think of it as cold phlegm. I much preferred the cheese.
I also had an Asahi beer. I didn't intend to order a large bottle for myself, but then again, I didn't actually /ask/ for anything, I merely pointed. It was a lot of beer. More than I'd ever drunk at once. Needless to say, I was a bit tipsy shortly afterwards. It was only mild, so I got over it fairly quickly. I returned to the hostel, checked mail again, read journals, and came up here.
I did discover, though, that there is a typhoon headed towards Japan, It will be hitting in three days. Television doesn't seem to say anything about it, and if it weren't for a friend's inquiry, coupled with a Google search and data from NASA, I wouldn't know anything about it. It might become a Category 3 by the time it hits. I'll be in Kyoto, and it ought to prove interesting, at the very least!
For now, sleep.
Oh well, I can wait.
After idly surfing for a while, answering journal posts, figuring out if I was, in fact, in the area where Shenmue took place (quite possibly yes,) calling my Qualcomm contact), I came upstairs, watched some news about the current fires in Greece, got bored, then went to lunch.
It was the same shop as I sent to the first day. They don't seem to have noodles, only rice. The first day I'd gotten that tasty cheese dish. This time I got a dish that had some sort of meat on it, topped with something white, somewhat creamy, and full of granular material of some sort. I had to fight not to think of it as cold phlegm. I much preferred the cheese.
I also had an Asahi beer. I didn't intend to order a large bottle for myself, but then again, I didn't actually /ask/ for anything, I merely pointed. It was a lot of beer. More than I'd ever drunk at once. Needless to say, I was a bit tipsy shortly afterwards. It was only mild, so I got over it fairly quickly. I returned to the hostel, checked mail again, read journals, and came up here.
I did discover, though, that there is a typhoon headed towards Japan, It will be hitting in three days. Television doesn't seem to say anything about it, and if it weren't for a friend's inquiry, coupled with a Google search and data from NASA, I wouldn't know anything about it. It might become a Category 3 by the time it hits. I'll be in Kyoto, and it ought to prove interesting, at the very least!
For now, sleep.
2007/09/02 at 16:01
My feet hurt less, though this is mostly due to the fact that I am back at the hostel, sitting on my bed.
I decided to head home early to (a) recuperate, and (b) call some people and generally decompress. Beginning-of-trip stress finally got to me, so I decided to forego any further interactions, and instead struck out alone for the hostel. My dad is still out in Tokyo somewhere, shopping for presents. I'm to wait at the hostel until he comes back. This I can do.
Along the way, I decided I'd try to be clever and divine Japanese pronunciation. To do this, I got a copy of the Tokyo Metro map in both English and Japanese. I'm actually somewhat proud of this feat, actually, because I couldn't find a map in English, so I asked the security guard (?) "Sumimasen. Aigo-ka?", while holding up the Japanese version of the map. While it is almost certainly not a valid sentence, it got the point across. Whee!
So far, I know the following characters: Yama, Tokyo (To-kyo?), Me, Te, Ro, and no. I may also have Naka, but research is still pending. Hey, it's something to do on the train :)
I'm very glad the hostel has Internet, as Internet cafés seem extremely difficult to locate in Japan. Open wireless access points even more so. More research might have to be done in this area.
For now, I think I'll go downstairs and try to make those phone calls, and if I can, upload the journal entries thus far. And get something from a vending machine. There are always vending machines from which goods must be purchased.
[Ed. note: Blogger is being incredibly annoying, and completely ignoring the fact that I'm asking for pages in English, and is instead producing pages in Japanese. This, compounded by the fact that I can't display Japanese characters, makes this a very challenging activity.]
I decided to head home early to (a) recuperate, and (b) call some people and generally decompress. Beginning-of-trip stress finally got to me, so I decided to forego any further interactions, and instead struck out alone for the hostel. My dad is still out in Tokyo somewhere, shopping for presents. I'm to wait at the hostel until he comes back. This I can do.
Along the way, I decided I'd try to be clever and divine Japanese pronunciation. To do this, I got a copy of the Tokyo Metro map in both English and Japanese. I'm actually somewhat proud of this feat, actually, because I couldn't find a map in English, so I asked the security guard (?) "Sumimasen. Aigo-ka?", while holding up the Japanese version of the map. While it is almost certainly not a valid sentence, it got the point across. Whee!
So far, I know the following characters: Yama, Tokyo (To-kyo?), Me, Te, Ro, and no. I may also have Naka, but research is still pending. Hey, it's something to do on the train :)
I'm very glad the hostel has Internet, as Internet cafés seem extremely difficult to locate in Japan. Open wireless access points even more so. More research might have to be done in this area.
For now, I think I'll go downstairs and try to make those phone calls, and if I can, upload the journal entries thus far. And get something from a vending machine. There are always vending machines from which goods must be purchased.
[Ed. note: Blogger is being incredibly annoying, and completely ignoring the fact that I'm asking for pages in English, and is instead producing pages in Japanese. This, compounded by the fact that I can't display Japanese characters, makes this a very challenging activity.]
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Radio stuff - 2007/09/02 at 05:00
Last night, I decided to take out my shortwave radio, to hear what I could hear. This is what I discovered:
- There are more shortwave stations in this part of this world
- My amplified antenna really makes a difference
- There are still evangelical stations in English
- Like home, there's nothing on longwave here
- There are only a couple of stations on FM
- Mediumwave ("AM" in the US) is unheard of here
Mediumwave was the biggest surprise. I found two stations before I got tired of scanning. The first was, I believe, in Portuguese. It was certainly some Roman language, close to Spanish, but pronounced with an accent much different than any I've heard before.
The second, as far as I can tell, is AFRTS, which I've only heard before on shortwave. I can't imagine any other station talking (in an American accent) about how, depending on where you've been stationed, it may be impossible to donate blood.
I'm still trying to figure out when to see RTI. I hope it's possible. If not, well, no big deal, I'll catch it when I go to Australia and New Zealand.
Friday, September 7, 2007
In which we accidentally find a pagoda - 2007/09/02 at 04:26
Woke up at 4am today. This is an improvement over yesterday's 3am, but obviously I have a few more days to go yet.
Lots happened yesterday. After resting our feet for a while, we decided to head out for some dinner. Our hotel is in Ueno, nearish to Asakusa. In fact, it's located in Asakusa-dori, so we should have known that keeping to the street would take us there eventually.
However, we were very surprised when, completely by accident, we stumbled across a massive arcade filled with shops of all kinds. Vendors selling everything from parasols to postcards, people crowded around televisions outside watching races, smoky and loud pachinko parlours, and even, at one point, a complete amusement park with an impressive assortment of rides, considering it was located in the middle of a city.
Eventually we picked a restaurant, based mostly on the appeal of the plastic food located outside, and ate dinner. The beer was tasty, and the noodles good -- my first noodles of this Japan trip -- and we paid and left.
On our way back to the hotel, we decided that, you know what? we should see a pachinko parlour. So we headed back into the fray once more.
Then, like a ferret, we changed our minds and decided to have a look at the amusement park rides. We found the entrance to the park, noted that it required admission, then turned away.
...and noticed the five-tiered pagoda.
We had accidentally come to the Senso Temple, Dembo Temple, and Asakusa Shrine. This massive temple has many buildings, huge lanterns, and people everywhere. We took many pictures. Then we walked through the Nakamise shopping district, got a parfait at AMPM, then headed back to the hotel to collapse.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
20070901-1428
I just walked around Tokyo, and boy are my feet tired!
Hmm... the joke doesn't really work that way, but in this case, it's actually true. I've been walking almost continuously since about 4:30. The day started out with a walk to the Ueno station, as the local metro stop was closed. Granted, none of the metro stations open until close to 5, but we didn't know that, so we decided to head to Ueno. Faced with a closed station, we wandered for about 10 minutes, waiting for it to open.
During these wanderings, we had our first adventure with vending machines. I put in JPY120, and was rewarded with a beverage called "300", which was sweet, and rather tasty. My dad put in JPY120, and was rewarded with "Sweat". It's basically lemon water. Goody, together we have a movie.
Eventually, we hopped on the train to Tsujika (SP?), the fish market. It's almost but not quite entirely unlike Pike's market, which is what I had expected. For starters, there is a lot more seafood. A lot. I have pictures of the tuna auction area, where they will auction off huge fish. Everyone there drives these interesting carts, which remind me a bit of bumper boats, in that it's basically an engine on a shaft, with the entire apparatus being rotateable, so it's like a very manoeuvrable shopping cart. These things were everywhere! I'm sure if they switched to electric power rather than petrol, people would die, because they wouldn't hear them coming.
Afterwards, more wandering occurred. Eventually we ended up in Ginza, which, while impressive, is not really what I came to see. So, very shortly, we hopped on a metro and came back for the umbrellas, to perhaps mitigate the nagging sprinkling rain. On our way back we ate breakfast at a Yoshinoya, which went satisfactorily.
Armed with protection from the elements, we headed off for Tokyo Station, and ultimately to the Imperial Palace Gardens.
The Metro station near Tokyo Station is massive, and happens to be the sub-sub basement of a block of buildings. Very confusing. It took some amount of guessing to figure out how to get out. Once out, we noticed Tokyo Station, which is a large brick building. I'm sure I'll have more interactions with it soon, but for now I just saw it from afar.
The Imperial Palace Gardens are impressive, partly because they're nice and green -- quite a departure from the brown of San Diego -- but also because they are a large, calming park located in the middle of a major metropolis. It's easy to forget the surroundings in this place. By this point in our journey, we were making liberal use of park benches, having walked a large distance already.
Upon having taken our fill of greenery, we decided to for the polar opposite, and head to Akihabara. I'm not sure I can properly articulate the splendors that lie within, and I'm fairly certain it warrants a second look, owing mostly to our exhaustion during our tour. I did meet some nice people from Taiwan, though, who suggested I try a Pineapple Taiwanese Biscuit from this one shop, rather than the Cherry one.
So, for now, my feet hurt. I very much suspect the hostel computers are spyware-ridden, and I need to change my passwords. I haven't been able to find wireless Internet that is (a) free, and (b) in a location where I can sit -- i.e. an Internet cafﾃｩ of some sort. Perhaps soon I'll discover such a beast.
First morning in Tokyo - 2007/09/01 at 03:45
Woke up early, at 3am, after going to bed at 10pm.
The plane trip yesterday was not bad. From SAN to SFO I sat next to my dad, and we mostly chatted along the way. From SFO to NRT, I sat next to someone who was on their way to Hong Kong, who was sitting next to their acquaintance who was also travelling to Hong Kong, so I didn't talk to them much. I suspect my neighbour couldn't speak very good English, which was fine, because he seemed to understand the notions of my wanting to get up and walk around, which is really the important part.
10 hours is a long time in a plane.
It's also very strange that I took off on Thursday, landed on Friday, and never saw the sun set.
Customs was blissfully simple. I told them I'd be in the country for three weeks, and they stapled something into my passport. I got my bag, told them I wasn't carrying anything illegal, and they let me through. The tourist office was also very helpful, and was nice enough to even correct my pronounciation of "Ueno" ("Ue-no", not "U-eno". Oh well.) The train to Ueno was JPY1000, which was not bad at all. The drawback was that it took an hour and ten minutes, during which I got the chance to notice that my dad and I were the only gaijin using the train. I have a feeling this will be happening a lot in the days to come.
Once we got to the station, we had to find our hotel. This wasn't too difficult, especially since we had a map, and a reasonable idea of where the streets were located. After check-in, we went to a noodle shop down the road. Fortunately (and probably not coincidentally), the shop had a menu with pictures, allowing us to point to the dish we wanted to order it. That worked well, and I ended up with a cheesy beef dish on rice, and a bottle of green iced tea. Score!
Japanese TV is as silly as I've been led to believe. Though I'm sure it's bolstered by the fact that I don't understand what's going on. I didn't see much, as I was rather tired at the time. More writing to come later, after I've had a chance to explore the city.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Packing
The initial stage of packing is done. I have most of what I'll be taking picked out, and almost all of it is bagged. I'm sure I'll find a better way of organising things, but for now it's one item per bag. T-shirts seem to fit in a quart-sized bag, which is a pleasant surprise.
Plug adapters (ungrounded) are sold at Fry's for $2 each, and the grounded variety are $5 each. That's not a bad price at all. That ought to cover all of my electronics devices, which are all dual-voltage.
One other thing: The image above was taken on my new digital camera, whee! Thank you everyone at AC(S|T), at UCSD. I spent today reading the manuals. Also cool is that I discovered a 1 GiB card I had wedged in a digital camera that I was going to use as a project, but never did much with. Score! I was able to take the picture on the camera, pull the card out, put it in Sparky, open it in The GIMP, then upload it to Blogger. That I got The GIMP working is rather exciting.
I have one or two more things to procure, and then I'll be all packed. I intend to take care of that tomorrow.
Friday, August 24, 2007
First Psot!
This marks the inaugural post of my travelogue blog, titled simply "☃". I do not know whether I will keep this name, but it was available, and is certainly unique.
The excitement begins in six days.
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