Japan Day 3: Kyoto

We had a super slow start today due to our late light karaoke session and detour taxi ride from Kyoto from Osaka. Needless to say, we did not have ambition to do much. The only thing on our list was to see one temple (out of the 200 Kyoto has :P) and meet Rick's friend, Akane, for dinner.

Rick, Wendy, and I started our day with a nice, big bowl of ramen. The Kyoto Train Station's 10th floor is dedicated mainly to ramen (except for one random burger stand). We had a lot of options, but the one restaurant with the longest line got our attention. Plus, there were displays outside about the restaurant's awards, and they even had a trophy inside, right next to their pre-packaged noodles for sale.



The nice thing about Japan is that some restaurants use meal ticket dispensers to place your order. Most of them usually have pictures above the buttons, so in addition to the food displays on the front, you pretty much know what you are getting, without having to speak or read Japanese. AND some places even sell different meal sizes: mini, medium, and big! It's perfect because I can order the mini (apparently I eat like a bird) and save money. Win-win!

After getting our orders in, our ramen bowls arrived within a few minutes. The broth was pretty salty since it was miso-based, but the pork was tasty and the ramen was just right, not soggy at all. Rick already decided then he wanted to come back the next day (which we did).


Ramen with Pork, Onions, and a Raw Egg

Next, we rode the #100 bus from Kyoto Station to Sanjūsangen-dō, a temple housing 1,000 golden statues of Kannon, the goddess of compassion and mercy. (We couldn't take photos inside, though). It was pretty impressive in that the hall housing the statues was 400-ft long. What wasn't impressive was the bus ride to the temple. Turns out that this temple was just 2 blocks from our hostel! We could have easily walked. Oops.




So far, taking the metro and railways have been surprisingly easy in Japan. Both Osaka and Kyoto metro systems were very similar, and the maps were easy to read. There was a station a few blocks from our hostel, so it took us no time to get to Shijo-dori, near the Gion area, to meet Akane.

Akane was so nice! It is really great to have someone local show you around, even if it's for a little while. They know so much more about where to go and can communicate for you (which we really needed at times). We had dinner reservations for an modern okonomi-yaki place later in the evening, so in the mean time, she took us to Nishiki-koji, a great food market in narrow backstreets. Even though we were stalling for dinner, it didn't stop us from trying a few things, like sashimi and grilled fish (I can't remember the names, but were similar to hamachi and one was like eel, but it was a fish).




She also took us to the Daimaru food basement, which was just incredible. Lots of food, from sushi, to cakes, breads, teas, gyozas...it was a lot to take in. They had a great display for Milky, with Peko-chan! If only we didn't have reservations in a few minutes...we would have gladly tried some food there as well.



Cute Milky Packaging with Peko

But the okonomi-yaki place Akane brought us to was amazing! 100xs better than Donguri, because the mixed ingredients of eggs, leeks, cabbage, carrots, and onions were more balanced; not overly egg-y like an omelet. They had non-traditional sauce toppings. We tried one that contained avocado and shrimp and two with tomato and pork. I never really ate leeks that much, but I had of lot of it in Japan, and I like it a lot more now.


Okonomi-yaki with Avocado and Shrimp

To walk off our food coma, Akane took us to Gion, the traditional area of Kyoto, where geishas are often spotted. (Unfortunately, we did not come across any.) It was a beautiful area at night, with the lantern-lit cobblestone streets and women wearing kimonos walking around. It was a nice way to spend our last night in Kyoto.

Japan Day 2: Osaka

Wendy made dinner plans with her friend, Tatsuya, in Osaka today and invited us all to come. We took the JR train back to Osaka from Kyoto (about half an hour) and aimed to see the Osaka-jo (Osaka Castle), see a bunraku (puppet) show and walk around Den Den Town (electronics/gadgets neighborhood) before we meet Tats for dinner.



Osaka-jo and its surrounding park were really nice. We took our time walking and once we got to the main park in front of the castle, we got to see a glimpse of Osaka-life happening around us. There were some school children running around and playing games, while some were sketching in their drawing pads. A lot of elderly people were out hanging out in the park too, as well as couples out on picnics with their children. It was enjoyable just to see the kinds of interactions going on.





We went inside the Osaka-jo, which was modernized into a history museum of the castle. There were some great displays of painted screens depicting Osaka life, and some well preserved artifacts like clothes and samurai armor from the 16th century. What was really cool were these viewing boxes that projected holographic scenes of the castle's creator, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, from his birth to his death. The view from the top of the castle was nice too, but Osaka does not have a prominent skyline.


National Bunraku Theater

Next, we took the metro to find the National Bunraku Theater in hopes of seeing a traditional Japanese puppet show. It took us a while to find it. Wendy can read some of the Kanji Japanese characters, since those are Chinese characters. So when she saw the character(s) for "show" on a poster (as in "puppet show"), we thought we had found it, only it turned out to be an "adult show"! The poster of a woman with no clothes on tipped us off that this was not the National Bunraku Theater :P But we eventually made it. Unfortunately, the puppet show turned out to be about USD$60 and 4-hours long. If we had more time, and more money to spare, it might have checked it out.

So, instead, we headed over to Den Den town, a neighborhood full of electronics/gadgets store. We walked into a store that had about 5 levels of electronics, ranging from digital cameras, to hair dryers, to massage chairs (see below). It was like Best Buy, but on crack x 100. Zany circus music was playing on the speakers overhead, probably 10secs long, looped. I'm not kidding. I don't know how the salespeople take it. I guess it's white noise to them. We ended up relaxing on some massage chairs, since we had a such a long day of walking around. The chairs we sat in costed as much as a small car! Funny too, because there were signs all over the chairs that apparently said "no sleeping". There were more shops, but we didn't have any time to see them.



After that, we finally met up with Tats and had Korean BBQ. According to my guidebook, Osaka had the largest amount of Koreans in Japan; there is even a Korea Town in the Tsuruhashi neighborhood. We didn't actually have K-BBQ there, but the place we went to (near the JR Loop Line station) was very good. The beef was so tender! I tried corn tea as well, which tasted....like corn.

Tats didn't let us leave Osaka yet without karaoking! He was such a fun host. We ended up karaoking for 3 hours! We sang mostly English songs (Wendy sang one Chinese song), but we couldn't manage to get Tats to sing a Japanese song. Darn. He kept calling up plenty of orders of sake though. Most memorable were: Tats: "It's My Life" (Bon Jovi), everyone: "Bad Romance" (Lady GaGa), Rick and me: "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (Starship), and the grand finale by everyone: "Living on a Prayer" (Bon Jovi - we all pretty much wrecked our vocal chords screaming on that last one).


Me, Dan, Wendy, Rick, and Tats

We karaoked so late that we had to run for our last train back to Kyoto. Most of us were pretty tipsy, but we got onto our train. Little did we know though, that even if you catch the last train, it will not get you to your final destination. It will only get you to as far as it goes by closing time (1AM). We hadn't reached Kyoto at all when the trains stopped running. We got kicked off in a small town somewhere between Osaka and Kyoto and ended up taking a taxi ride back. Pretty expensive...it came out to almost ¥12,000, so each of us had to eat ¥3,000 (USD$35!). It was well worth it though.

Thank you, Osaka!

Japan Day 1: Kyoto

Rick, Wendy, Dan, and I got into Osaka Kansai Airport in the late evening. By the time we figured out how to take the JR train to Kyoto, ride the train for almost an hour, and then finally arrive in Kyoto, it was pretty late. We had a short 10-min walk from Kyoto train station to our hostel, K's House. After checking in, we went in search of food, and luckily, the hostel recommended a few late night spots in the area.

We checked into Donguri (about 2 blocks from K's House), where I had a Negi-yaki mix served on a warm grill that was the size of basically 80% of the table. The Kujo-leeks were yummy and refreshing. I felt like I hadn't eaten my vegetables in Hong Kong.





Afterwards, I split an ice cream sundae with Rick: 2 black sesame ice cream scoops, red beans, mochi balls, whipped cream, and a crunchy wafer/cookie all on top of a matcha cake. I liked the dessert better than my dinner.

Ohayo from Kyoto!

We just got into Osaka, Japan last night. Hopped on the JR rail train and got to Kyoto in about an hour (wasn't the bullet train). Here's a little pic of the Kyoto Tower.

Today, we are heading back to Osaka for a little exploration, hopefully involving a castle, puppets, and gadgets! So excited to be in Japan :)

Lantern Festival And Fire Dragon Festival

I arrived just in time to join the Mid-Autumn festivities. There was a Latern Carnival and Fire Dragon Festival in Tin Hau on the same night. It was already the second day of the three day celebration, but I'm glad I was able to even catch it at the right time.

The Fire Dragon Festival was really neat. A giant dragon is made out of thousands of incense sticks, which are lit, as volunteers parade around the grounds. I couldn't get a really good picture to capture the dragon; I wish I could have captured the smell too because the incense was very fragrant.





Right down the block was the Lantern Carnival in Victoria Park. I didn't understand the scope of this Carnival, but it was huge! The crowds were pretty overwhelming, especially having just arrived to HK that day, but I made it through and took some nice photos. All the kiddies had their own lanterns or other light-ups like glow sticks and wands. It's a cool family-fun event.










Cute little airplane lantern. And kid!









Happy Mid-Autumn Moon!

Hello From Hong Kong!

Whew, it is humid here! I missed the typhoon by a couple days, but the humidity is still lingering. There's the option of running into freezing AC buildings, although I hope I do not get sick from the jumping temperatures (*knock on wood*).

So, the back-story...I'm staying in Hong Kong at my Step-mom's place and using it as a hub between my travels to Japan and SE Asia for the next couple months. I will be in HK for about a week at a time for a total of 3 weeks. I have some family here, a friend who is visiting from Seattle for 5 days, and my Dad here for a couple weeks, but most of the time I will most likely explore on my own. This is my third visit to Hong Kong. Last time I was here in 2002, but it was part of a tour, so I didn't really get to take time and travel how I would like to. On this visit, I'm hoping to explore more parts of HK (other than the tourist spots), get to know my family better here, and practice my Cantonese (doing ok so far).

....My first day went pretty well. Didn't suffer much from jet lag at all (thanks to these no-jet-lag pills Katie gave me from our Europe trip), so after getting in at 6:30am, I took a short nap and was ready to hit the town with my Dad. My Step-mom had to work, but since it was the day of the Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival, she could leave work early (as in 4pm. Normally, she works until 9pm!). In the meantime, we met up with my dear cousin, Elisa, for an afternoon break in the Sheung Wan district, right by her office building. I had the shui gow dumplings with egg noodles, and of course, Hong Kong-style tea.


Dad on the MTR (subway)


Cousin Elisa


My shui gow dumplings+noodles and HK tea

After that, my Step-mom picked us up and we headed over to Tsim Sha Tsui to have dinner with her good friend, Joann. We walked along the waterfront before dinner, and saw Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side.


Peninsula Hotel and Kowloon Hotel Buildings


Bruce Lee statue along the waterfront


Step-mom, May, and Dad, Peter, getting grilled cuttlefish at the waterfront


Hong Kong Island


Hong Kong Island

After dinner, we made our way over to Tin Hau for the Lantern and Fire Dragon festival. Photos and more to come on next post!

NYC - Week 2 Recap

Hmm, not sure how I will keep up on blogging for my Asia trip. It's very time consuming. I haven't even really written a lot about NYC, and now that I am back in the Bay Area for a minute, I feel like it's past time to write about it. BUT, can't leave you hanging right? Here we go!

NYC week 2 for me was all about just relaxing, especially after doing so much and going out a lot the previous week. I got to see more friends and even family this week, which was really nice. A friend once said that the key to living in NYC is to get out of the city ever so often. Really good advice, because the highlights of the week were taking long subway rides out of Manhattan, namely to Coney Island and to the US Open out in Queens (sporting event? whaaa??).

So...

Highlight #1 - Coney Island!!!



So glad I made it there with my girls, Jaizi and Kim! Couldn't have asked for a better crew to hang out with at this magical place. We aimed to get there just before sunset, and I have to say it was very picturesque and charming at that time. Although rides were kind of expensive, we managed to ride the infamous Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel, two must-dos if you are ever there. (The rides are part of different amusements parks, so you can't really buy discounted package tickets for these two rides.)





The Wonder Wheel was great! Make sure you go on a swinger car, because as the wheel turns during the ride, your car will slide down these rails and swing back and forth. Way better than a ferris wheel. I loved Jaizi's reaction...she made us all scream like little girls whenever our car moved.





The Cyclone was keraaaazzzy! I haven't been on a roller coaster in years! I'm glad I went on it this year, because had I been a year or two older, I am pretty sure I would have had a heart attack or serious whiplash. The drops were very steep and the ride in general was pretty rough and rocky, but SUPER FUN! I sat in a seat by myself (Jaizi and Kim were in the row behind me), and that ride flung me around side to side so many times, I don't even remember where I sat to begin with. I hope they never tear this ride down.







Highlight #2 - Going to the US Open

I'm not a tennis fan at all, but my friend Jason was in town and found cheap tickets on craigslist, so I thought, why not go check it out. It's not something I would do on my own; plus it was an opportunity to get out of town.

The US Open itself was an experience. It was interesting to see the people who went. Some people were really dressed up, while others were super casual. But Polo shirts were EVERYWHERE. We did not really sit in the stadium for a game very long. We had nosebleed seats, but we managed to watched a good chunk of the men's doubles match.




*the one shot of get of the court and there are no players on it!



I had more fun taking photos outside of the arena.





My favorite thing about this highlight really was taking the 7 Subway from Manhattan to Queens. It was nice getting to see other parts of NYC. There was an awesome block of graffiti along the ride.







Only regret was not going to Flushing for Asian food after. We were only one stop away. Golden Mall, I will find you some day!

Highlight #3 - Not Getting Bed Bugs!

I stayed at a hotel a couple nights, went to a movie theater, took a bus to Boston, and was in a lot of public spaces. Happy to report, no bed begs. I survived!

And now, on to get ready for my Asia trip. I am leaving on Monday night and am starting to pack. What to pack...what to pack...