Today was a beautiful day… too bad I spent most of it studying (although I did get to demo the new Sony Tablet S … hehe)

Here’s a video from 2 weekends ago!

This being my third trip to Japan the past five years, I wanted to get away from the big cities. Since Ema had to return to her hometown of Saku to take photos with her sister before her sister’s Coming of Age ceremony (Seijin-Shiki / 成人式) next January, I took this opportunity to tag along. The first day was mostly spent getting to the city…

In the town of Saku, there are p.a. systems installed everywhere. Every day at 7am, music plays to ensure everyone gets an early start to the day, and every night at 5pm, music plays to ensure citizens get off work and go home, I KID YOU NOT. I can’t really remember what music was playing, but for the most part I ignored it. For breakfast, I had salmon with rice, pumpkin, fresh cherry tomatoes and tofu, ginger and vegetable soup. After breakfast we headed off to Teishouji temple, a quick 5 minute drive away. On the walk from the foot of the hill (the temple was at the top of a flight of stairs), there was this traditional Japanese house tucked away to the side. Upon closer inspection, the house appeared to be well maintained and two older women were inside, enjoying tea. Aside from the kettle hanging, the house was unfurnished. The tatami seemed new and the wood seemed to of been polished recently, but I suspect the house looked new due to the meticulous upkeep. We were invited by the ladies to take a look around; apparently they don’t live there but spend their time taking care of the house. After signing the guestbook, which Ema insisted I do because “how often would someone from Canada really stumble upon this place?” (yes foreigners are rare in this city), we continued up the steps to the temple.

Entrance to Teishouji

Unlike the temples I’ve seen in Tokyo and Osaka, this one was small and empty. There weren’t crowds of tourists and there were no priests or shrine maidens; it was just a tiny temple sitting in the mountains surrounded by trees. It wasn’t an abandoned temple either, I could see that some laundry was hung outside (probably only earlier in the morning) and the place was well kept. We washed our hands in the fountain and proceeded inside.

There here at least 100 cicada shells on this one tree…

After we left Teishouji , we made a quick 7-11 stop to pick up some onigiri and tea for lunch and drove up into the mountains. On the way up, there were cars just parked to the side of the road. They belong to people who are cultivating mushrooms in the forest. There are many varieties of mushrooms in these parts and some, like the Matsutake can be sold for quite a bit of money. According to wikipedia:

The Japanese matsutake at the beginning of the season, which is the highest grade, can go up to $2,000 per kilogram. In contrast, the average value for imported matsutake is about $90 per kilogram.

I didn’t know these even existed in Canada until now, but apparently Canada is a large source of Matsutake imports. Aside from random people stopping to pick mushrooms, we also passed a few places selling soft cream (soft ice-cream). Since it was still quite warm (we were still less than 2000m above sea level), we decided to stop for one, and oh it was good. I don’t even really like soft ice-cream and I thought it was delicious!

We finally reached our destination, Shiragoma no Ike. A lake in a forest 2000+ meters above sea level.  First thing I learnt, was how to hypnotize and capture dragonflies. First, you have to let them land somewhere. Secondly, from about 50cm away, you point at the dragonfly with your index finger and slowly twirl your finger making a circular motion. As you twirl, slowly move your hand closer to the dragonfly. The twirling motion will catch its attention and you can see its head trying to follow your finger. After a while it will be too dizzy to move and you can catch the dragonfly with your hands (by the way, if it is not dizzy enough, they will bite).

The forest itself was serine. There is a path through the forest that is roped off and because people stay on the path, the rest of the forest floor is undisturbed. Following the path will take you to a small lake/pond where, I imagine, during warmer weather people would be out there on paddleboats and canoes. But on this cool overcast day, it was just us and the dragonflies (and these two kids that ran by).

After exploring the forest we headed back home where we rested for a bit before heading out to the local supermarket to shop for dinner. Most important thing I learned today; wasabi is a plant (this is what happens when you eat cheap wasabi out of a tube all your life I guess…? That or ignorance.) Dinner consisted of assorted sashimi, veggies (pickled carrots, fresh cucumber with miso, pumpkin) and a clam and vegetable stew. Speaking of sashimi, I was surprised that they eat carp sashimi (I didn’t get a chance to try it). Normally, only saltwater fish is used because it is much cleaner and contain less bacteria than freshwater. So to be able to eat carp sashimi, well let’s just say the water is really really clean.

Rice paddies, mountains and blue skies? I’m there!

This being my third trip to Japan the past five years, I wanted to get away from the big cities. Since Ema had to return to her hometown of Saku to take photos with her sister before her sister’s Coming of Age ceremony (Seijin-Shiki / 成人式) next January, I took this opportunity to tag along. The first day was mostly spent getting to the city…

The trip started with us almost missing our 8am flight in Hong Kong, last ones on the plane again yay! Arriving at Narita International 4.5 hours later, we hopped on the Keisei line to Ueno station in Tokyo. Somehow, between the purchasing the ticket and the gate to the station (not even 20m away), I managed to lose my ticket. After a few minutes of searching, I gave up and bought another 1200 yen ticket. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the “Super Express” train to Ueno (which only comes every 30 mins, but gets you there in 35 minutes) , so we ended up exchanging our ticket and taking the more “scenic” (aka more crowded and a much longer ride) local train to Ueno. The ride took a little over an hour and Ema spent most of the ride playing Drawn to Life on my DS  while I just took in the scenery. Before reaching Ueno station, I would find the lost train ticket in a little nook in Ema’s suitcase… Fail (We ended up getting our money back for the unused ticket, minus a 150 yen fee).

At Ueno, we switched to the JR line and caught the Shinkansen to Sakudaira (5,460 yen). By then we were starving, so we ordered a kamameshi (rice in a clay pot) which consisted of chicken and vegetables, with a side of pickled veggies. Most stations have a special one you can purchase. This particular one is called Toge no Kamameshi (峠の釜めし, literally “Pot rice of the hills” because it comes from a station which is located up in the hills/mountains) can only be  purchased on the train. You even get to keep the cute little clay pot it comes in (which we didn’t). As we ate, the scenery quickly changed from city to rural, from flat land to mountains. A little over an hour later we had arrived at Sakudaira (Alas, Saku was still a 15 minute drive away).

Toge no Kamameshi (峠の釜めし)

While walking from the station to the car, this teenager looking at his cellphone walked by us, and as he passed, made a sound and ran off quickly. Not really noticing anything wrong, we just kept walking. A good 10 seconds later it just started pouring out of nowhere! I asked about it later, Ema claims the locals can sense it (I don’t quite believe her, but I can’t really come up with a better explanation).

Chiwa … the… chihuahua… orz

For dinner, we went to a soba restaurant nearby where I had some soba and tempura. The soba was grown and made locally (actually, I didn’t even know soba was a plant). I also didn’t know they gave you (what seemed like) a bucket of soba and as much as I love soba, I just couldn’t finish all that food. The rest of the night was spent watching TV, playing with Chiwa, drinking whiskey and talking (well mostly the family talking in Japanese and me trying my hardest to follow the conversation).

After a little studying and a quick shower, I settled into bed. Tomorrow, I would get my first real glimpse of the town (it was raining too hard to see anything, plus they don’t really have streetlights).

*Note: Aside from the bento, no food photos were taken the whole trip, as gadgets at the breakfast/lunch/dinner table are a no-no. Also, I left my cellphone AND my camera at home the one time we went to a grocery store

Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

Busy busy lately. So many things have happened the past two weeks… I started at my new job, so I’ve just been settling in comfortably over there.

I’m heading to Japan in a few days, but aside from that, no real immediate travel plans. I did, however, dig up my travel journal (I carry this tiny moleskine, I can hear the groans now, while I travel). So hopefully once I get back from Japan, I’ll kick my blog black to life with some weekly postings, mostly excerpts and photos from my journal. I think I’ll start off with my notes from my Mt. Kilimanjaro climb (actually one of the main reasons I even started this blog was to share this story. Never really happened orz). Followed by India, and then my Mt Kota Kinabalu climb. I’ll probably find other interesting things in my journal to throw up on my blog.

Look forward to it (or not)!

ARRRRRRRRRGHHH!

 Random photo taken in Sai Kung last weekend

Unfortunately, nothing much to talk about since my return from Toronto/NYC. It was nice seeing most of m friends again (I was only able to make it to Toronto for 3 weekdays, so unfortunately, I didn’t get to see many people, especially those that live a good 4+ hours drive from Toronto (yes, I know Google maps says 2.5 hours, but unless road conditions improved drastically from 4 years ago, that is a complete LIE). Since I’ll be taking DP this fall, I’ll practice by writing my blog post in point form (because apparently that’s what I’m supposed to do on my exam… ).

• My good friend Benny moved to Seoul for work so that kinda sucks. At least I’ll have more incentive to go skiing in Korea. He left behind alot of booze.
• Heading off to Japan Mid-September for a very short vacation (aka. Get away from Hong Kong for a weekend so I can study). I haven’t been back since I climbed Mt.Fuji in 2006, so this should be fun. I’ll be heading to a small town “City” called Saku in Nagano Perfecture. Aside from Mt. Fuji, I’ve never really spent any time outside big cities in Japan, so this should definitely be interesting (and if it turn out to be boring, I can always study… right!?).
• I’ve had my Samsung Galaxy SII for about 6 weeks now. So far so good. I’m an app whore, so as much as I love HTC (it’s the only manufacturer that I have actually purchased 2 phones from!) they just don’t want to put more memory on their phones!! So, yes, I’ve gone with Samsung instead and I’m loving the huge Super AMOLED Plus screen, all the extra storage, and especially how unimaginably light and thin the whole phone is. Battery life went from “absolute crap” to “manageable” after I rooted it (I’m currently on Villain Rom)
• Google+ … uhh I don’t know, my stream is so flooded that I’m having trouble keeping up with posts. I need to sort things out better. I love the concept though and I do have a similar set-up on facebook using lists to keep separate groups of people from seeing certain things, but its much easier/lower maintenance on G+. For now, anything “public” is usually posted on Facebook/Twitter (or this blog!) and things that are more.. private… I’ll post to specific circles on G+. That’s a fairly good compromise for now.
• Sometimes I feel like my blog posts don’t contribute to the world. But that’s ok, because there are people like Zach Weinersmith who is currently summarizing Calculus: Early Transcendentals . Sad to say, I actually liked this textbook so much that I still have it.
• Going to watch Captain America’s Hong Kong premier tomorrow. Still haven’t watched the last Harry Potter yet. I’ll do that soon.

From left to right:

iPod Nano 4th Gen
Acquired : April 2009
Retired : Aug 2010
Reason : Was in pocket during freak thunderstorm

iPod Nano 5th Gen
Acquired : Aug 2010
Retired : June 2011
Reason : Fought my washing machine and lost

iPod Nano 6th Gen
Acquired : June 2011
Retired : June 2011
Reason : “Shake to shuffle” overkill. Seriously, I’m having too much fun with this feature.

Also, please let my new Nano live more than a year >.<

Ema decided to make a cute little FIMO camera keychain/phone strap thingy:

I decided to make her a toilet. (Comes with detachable pile of poo!!):

Cats, acrylic on canvas

Ema, (the only one who didn’t have a source for painting):

other paintings from my coworkers:

The Good:

• Food. So much good food!! My particular favorites are the Hainan chicken and duck rice. So goooooodd. Another favourite of mine is the Kaya toast with the runny eggs on the side (with lots of soy sauce and pepper). Topped up with a cup of Kopi (traditional styled coffee), a great start to the day. I only had chili crab the weeks before my departure from Singapore and although I hate de-shelling with a passion, the Chili crabs are worth getting my hands dirty for. I had the chili crab at both Seafood Paradise and Long Beach (by the way Long Beach de-shells for you if you ask) … so yeah!
• Between the great people at work, the friendly bloggers based in Singapore and the amazing (and random) people Ive met on planes, the people I’ve seen and met  while in Singapore has made the experience here that much more amazing.
• Hot hot hot weather, all day, every day. Kind of nice.
• Lo Hei, was a strange and funny new experience for me.

The Bad:

• Things here are relatively more expensive than in Hong Kong. For example I went to UNIQULO the other day and the same pair of jeans were 20% more expensive than they were in Hong Kong (this might have something to do with the Singaporean dollar shooting up like crazy against the Hong Kong dollar, but lets not forget the 7% sales tax in Singapore as well).
• While some foods are tastier, I felt the variety was not as good as in Hong Kong, plus I’m not very good with spicy food :T
• Hot hot hot weather, all day, every day. Kind of  bad if you have to walk around outside for prolonged periods.

The Ugly:

• Starhub sucks

I wish I had time to write a more detailed post, but alas, I’m off to Hong Kong in 10 minutes and New York tomorrow, making a stop in Toronto, then heading back to Hong Kong again. So … lots of airport time, meaning more blog posts?