Travels in the 10/40 Window

Tel Megiddo

2009-12-02T00:40:00.001+08:00

Tel Megiddo National Park, Northern Israel

What it must have looked like long ago during King Solomon's time...And what it looks like now.

Simon The Tanner

2009-11-25T00:40:00.002+08:00

One morning in Jaffa (Joppa), south of Tel Aviv in Israel...

Let's visit Simon the tanner!

Why? Is he your friend? I wanna go Shopping at the Galleries Shops.

Let's watch the Ships at the port.

Why? I want to go Shopping!

Let's go to the Synagogue!

What for??

(Pause)

You know, the cat's glaring at us. Better get outta here!

I wonder what's Showing at the Hasimta Theatre...

Sweet Treats

2009-11-21T00:40:00.000+08:00

Stocking up on boxes upon boxes of deelicious sweet treats during a shopping spree in Japan... I can't help wondering about that um... blue nun on this particular brand. Can anyone shed any light?

Ramesses II

2009-11-18T00:40:00.003+08:00

Kings often leave behind interesting statues of themselves. We saw King David sitting perpetually at Mount Zion.

During our couple of days in Egypt, we met probably one of the greatest pharoahs ancient Egypt ever had, Ramesses II. This fellow left behind several statues. The one we saw in Memphis was known as the Colossus of Ramesses II and it was 10 meters (33 feet) long. I mean, tall.He had one leg broken, so he was lying on the ground while everyone walked around him.

Egyptian Sheep

2009-11-14T00:40:00.000+08:00

A bunch of very woolly sheep by the roadside, seen from our tour bus while we were going through Memphis.

Onsen

2009-11-07T00:40:00.001+08:00

Oh, you don't know Japanese? I learn this word from watching Japan Hour on Saturday evenings. Invariably every episode they would find an onsen, and go ahhhhhHHHHHH as they dipped themselves in it and then sat there soaking it up like it was the best thing in the world! But of course they were all modestly covered in their white towels.

Anyway, I was highly curious about this ahhhhhhHHHHHH factor, and was very much looking forward to the onsen i.e the spa experience in Japan. However, at the real onsen, you have no big white towels to wrap yourself in. And that was why too many people felt "too malu" to even want to try it, despite having already paid a bomb to go to the land of onsens, I mean, the land of the rising sun.

In Hokkaido, we stripped to nothing a total of three times, to try three different spas.

We first went to the Yunokawa Onsen, which according to my research, has a 360 history and it is the first and oldest onsen in the whole of Hokkaido to be opened. We took a tram (or streetcar) to the nearest station, and then walked to the onsen area using a map.

Taking the tram. And the three words on the tram says Yunokawa.Are we there yet?? No, not yet, don't jump in!Finally we're there! Lovely view of the sea!And there's the onsen hotel! If you're wondering where's the actual spa, here it is - see red arrow. Er... do be careful if you wish to poke your head out to look at the sea view while soaking. Don't stand up too high or everyone passing by on the road will get a free show!
From research: this hot spring is said to be good for those sensitive to cold temperatures, rheumatism, sprains, bruises, women's problems, stiff shoulders, back problems, nerve pain and gastroenteric disorders in addition to being able to soothe fatigue. Sounds as good as the Jordan river, where Naaman once, um... you know.

So how was my first experience? Giggles aside... there were already two or three ladies sitting in their birthday suits in the locker room when we entered. They took no notice of us, and I made a great effort not to gape. We rented the lockers for our handbags, took a basket each which were for our clothes, and started to um.. you know. And so, my very first time... I have to admit that it was hard to control the eyes, and also hard to control the giggles. Also, taking off took quite a long time... you first. Then me. Go on, you take that one off first. Meanwhile the other ladies were getting dressed.

Ok, everything's packed away nicely in the basket, and we took our soap and shampoo and little towel, and went into the next room -the hot springs was there - not the open air one but an enclosed one. And there was another lady in her birthday suit, sitting at the edge and looking meditative.

First, a quick shower and scrubbing so that we do not bring dirt into the pool, and then we dipped a toe in. Ooooh, hot HOT! How come those Japan Hour folk could go ahhhhHHHHHHHH? We went OWWW! Live scalding! (Now I can imagine the feelings of those delicious lobsters being thrown into boiling pot!) The meditating lady smiled and told us to turn on the cold tap at the side, and we managed to cool ourselves and tried again. This time, it was nearly an ahhhhhHHHHHH.

Not bad, not bad, but it would be better if it wasn't so hot. We were literally boiling ourselves. It was hard to stay dipped in for longer than two minutes at a time. After a half hour or so of going in and coming out and going in, we decided to go to the next onsen, the open one which the photo (with the red arrow) showed. Ahhhh, how about a soak with a view?

It was much more manageable and cooler, because the air was cooler. We could have stayed there longer, but we were a bit concerned about 'people on the road outside', and so we hurried indoors again. It has become ok for us to look at one another, but we were definitely not going to be free shows for outside folk, especially the pervert type who might peek!

I heard there were some mixed bathing onsens. Yeeeeks. No thanks. But a quiet, clean, exclusive one like this in Yunokawa... no problem at all. I loved it. And the cost inclusive a big towel for drying off - 500 yen.

After that, we skipped out of the onsen with all our aches temporarily gone. And it was no longer cold either - no need sweaters any more despite the strong chilly winds! Of course it only lasted a short while, and next day, we took the train out of Hakodate for our second onsen experience. That one, including train ride, cost 1500 yen, and it was worthwhile too!

Pater Noster Church

2009-11-04T00:40:00.000+08:00

Peculiar name.

Named for the "Our Father" prayer (Latin: Pater Noster), the Church of the Pater Noster stands on the traditional site in Jerusalem where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.

There are 62 tiled panels which gave the prayer in 62 different languages.And we descended down into a cave (lots of caves in these old churches) and gathered to repeat the Lord's Prayer.One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Our Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'" - Luke 11:1-4

Shopping In Jerusalem?

2009-10-31T00:40:00.000+08:00

No, just passing by.

Our heartless tour guide, with his long legs striding up and down the Old City, and we were 30 poor little sheep trying to keep him in sight the whole day, otherwise we would become lost little sheep. Hey, I now wonder if he would be like the shepherd in the Bible who had 100 sheep and lost one and went out looking for it... ah well, nobody liked to find out and get lost.

I only needed five minutes to 'beo' the goodies at this shop but no, just a two-second pause to snap a pic. Sobs! That red pair of pants look like can fit me.....

Mount Of Olives

2009-10-28T00:40:00.000+08:00

I supposed there are plenty of olive trees on the Mount of Olives? I dunno, I can't tell one tree or one plant from another.

View from the Mount of Olives. That's the old city of Jerusalem with the golden dome of the Rock.Hmm, interesting. What do you think are those...
Eeps! The mount of Olives is one big cemetery!Seems that the Jews all want to be buried on this prime location.

Church Photo

2009-10-24T13:44:00.005+08:00

Yiiikes, I thought I'll have time to update after October the 17th but I guess I didn't!

If you didn't know, in Sept, I'd queued a whole lot up for scheduled publishing over a few weeks. So I come back now and find that there are no more posts that will show up automatically. And the last post in my other photo blog was Sept 16th! YIKES!

October has been a busy month. And it's going to continue to be busy till year end, with budgets and SOPs. Boring and busy. Oh well. Any other boss with anything else to delegate and who is reading this, please do be patient. Your things will be done one fine day, but may not be top of the priority list. Thank God for understanding, patient bosses.

Here's a photo from last year, somewhere in Israel. I think it's the church of the Lord's Prayer. Also known as the church of the Pater Noster, if that makes any sense to you. Anyway, if I didn't get it wrong, that's a rare profile of the church, it's taken from the car park where all the tour buses were.

Sunday Worship Service In Israel

2009-10-17T00:40:00.000+08:00

It has been a long time since I posted anything about Israel. It was the Lord's Day and on our itinerary was a visit to an interesting place - Mount Carmel!

And so we climbed huffing and puffing, in Elijah's footsteps, up the steep mountain for several hours... oops, wrong country.

Ahem, I meant to say, the air con tour bus took us up Mount Carmel and we discovered that this Carmelite convent now stood on the hill.Anyway, we tried to find shade and settled down, and sang a few worship songs from our songbooks.Then the preacher (above) gave a short sermon, on the scripture text from 1 Kings Chapter 18, of course, about Elijah's challenge against several hundreds of Baal's prophets. And we also looked around to see where those altars could have been, and tried to imagine the fire of God shooting down from heaven to burn up the sacrifice.

Eeeps, that had better not happen while we were sitting on Mount Carmel!

I half-expected to see some big, black crater of some sort on the hill to show the remnants of that burnt sacrifice (must be a big one!) but nope, there was no sign of it. Well, perhaps the convent had been built over it, who knows.

An airbase was nearby, and I remembered lots of aircraft flying overhead as we had our simple worship. And then these two fellows also came striding along, and passed by. Er... what's that on your back... who are you two here to shoot?View from Mount Carmel.

Mount Zion

2009-10-14T00:40:00.000+08:00

When we were in Jerusalem, the energetic tour guide took us on a whole day walking tour in and around the Old City. A lot of times, we were too focused on trying to keep up (HEY, waaaait for me!) and to catch our breath during the brief stops when he told us what's this and that and the other. So, we weren't looking, and we weren't listening much.

Nearly a year after my Holy Land tour, I look at my photos and confess that I could not remember what's this and that and the other. It's too bad... exploring a city, especially the interesting, historical Old City of Jerusalem, should be a leisurely pursuit over several days, to give time to absorb and understand and remember!

Like... my recent tour of Japan, because we were on our own, we had to use our brains to navigate using maps, and catch the right tram, bus or train to get anywhere. Far better than merely looking at the back of the tour guide's head half the time to keep him in sight!

Anyway... there's always the internet and the dubious Wikipedia for researching and matching the photos I had taken during the tour with its history - so let's see what Wikipedia says about The Tour I Could Not Remember...

Here we were going down yet another narrow street, and Wikipedia says we were in Mount Zion outside the city walls. Or something like that.And here's our first glimpse of a magnificent church.And the internet says it's the Dormition Church. I have pictures also to show that we went inside, but that will be next time. Need more research.Then we came upon this statue with a crown and a harp. Guess who?
Close up shot. Say cheeeese!
No need research. His name is on the sign. And his tomb is nearby, which we also visited, although... was he really buried in Mount Zion? Can any bible historian tell me??

Hakodate Travelogue Final Day

2009-10-10T00:40:00.001+08:00

Sniff, how time flies!!!

The airport bus shows up in front of our hotel at 7.16am, and if we miss that, we miss the flight to Tokyo! So... we checked out by 7 am, and waited hopefully for the bus which of course, arrived on time, and got us to the domestic airport in good time.

Flight to Haneda Airport was uneventful, and then we transferred to Narita Airport via the limousine bus. My last chance for fresh sushi!!!!Then, we had a few hours to shop and pick up all the boxes of stuff we didn't buy in Hokkaido. Boxes were slightly cheaper inside the airport.

In conclusion... the high points of the whole trip - I could say the food... yum, yum!

...or the onsen, three different hot springs! Such a pity some folk who went to Japan never go to the onsen, you have no idea what you missed!

The low point of the whole trip - hmm, I would have to say, Sunday morning.Sigh, right after that service and scrambling out in a hurry, I had asked why didn't we find a charismatic church to attend, that would have been soooo much more interesting! And even my pastor said the same thing. Oh well, I won't complain but will take that Sunday morning wasted as a 'once in a lifetime' learning experience in the name of er... official research.

And next trip to Japan (if there's ever going to be one), this missions coordinator would like to research other 'types' of churches, please.

Or better... maybe we WILL send a missionary to Japan and then I can go there twice a year! Yippee!!!!!!

Japan Sunday Lunch

2009-10-07T00:40:00.001+08:00

Our last chance for a feast in Hakodate.

Hakodate Travelogue Day Six

2009-10-06T00:40:00.001+08:00

Sunday (Day Six), and like good Christians, we had already found a church on the map which we thought we could attend, and so that morning, we had a long leisurely breakfast (sashimi again!).

All the places of worship in Hakodate were located on the slopes of the mountain. Ah yoh. It was like the streets of San Franscisco, walking up and down, and up. Phew, whew!

Huffing and puffing... finally saw the church, and we have to climb this steep slope to find a way in!
Navigating via the incomprehensible Japanese map again, we finally arrived at the church door step out of breath just after 10 am, and were warmly greeted by a couple of older ladies.

To find out the rest of our time spent in the church and my thoughts, you'll have to go to a big mission.Enlarged sign.We had planned to visit the Japanese shrine after the service. It was next to the church, but on second thoughts, we did not want to be spotted by our Christian Japanese friends and so hurried past the shrine. There was a Roman Catholic church nearby. Another city church a little way off, and that one was closed. No service. Huh!

Lunch - crab, and tempura, and soba. Not the flower crab, which was not in season, but the hairy crab. We then took the tram to the community onsen - the third hot springs we were going to. This was the cheapest onsen, and used by the general public. Instead of one or two other ladies inside, there were about twenty others. And instead of one exclusive hot springs bath, there were three pools.

However.... oooooh, it had been quite a hot Sunday, and we found the water too hot! Despite it being marked as 40 degrees Celcius, I couldn't stay dipped in it for more than a minute at a time. Instead of forcing ourselves to get boiled slowly, we gave up, took the cold bath instead, and relaxed in the community center. I had an ice cream to cool down.

In the late afternoon, we went for our final stroll up and down the coastline, exploring the rest of Hakodate. We were dreaming of eating desserts for dinner - cake, ice cream, more cake... but, sobs, the cake shop closed too early. And so, ending up in the same restaurant for the 3rd time, instead of sweets, we feasted on Hokkaido potatoes which were a tad too salty, and cheese fondue.That was our final day in Hakodate. The next morning, we had to be up early to be on time to catch the 7.15 airport bus. If we miss that, we miss the flight.

Hakodate Travelogue Day Five

2009-10-03T00:40:00.001+08:00

On Day Five (Saturday 5th Sept), we woke up to gloomy skies as it was still slightly drizzling. However, the weather changed into probably the hottest, sunniest, brightest day Hakodate ever had since the beginning of the year. For a city which did not have a summer in 2009, this must be heavenly (yup, according to them, the weather was cold all the time and they never actually enjoyed a real summer), poor things!

We headed out to a good fishy breakfast again at the morning market. We had booked a whole day tour which started at 9.30 am and yup, of course it started on time. The tour cost 6,000 yen per person, from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm, and took us to Onuma National Park. Lunch and a cruise on the Onuma lake, as well as visits to a locomotive museum and a couple of factories, were included in the tour package.

The tour guide was very friendly and extremely hardworking, and from the moment the bus moved off the terminal at 9.30 am, she was on her feet, talking non-stop, waving right and left. Every time we descended from the bus for a tour, and returned to the bus, she was there waiting to hand out snacks (Hokkaido potato snacks), drinks, and even free packet of some soup stuff, all included in the tour.

Everyone in the tour probably thought she was a good and hardworking tour guide, except um... me. Because I couldn't understand a word she said from the beginning to the end.

Ah well, never mind. The service was impeccable, everyone in the group was well behaved, and everything was on time. Here are some pics of the tour.

Hardworking tour guide in the bus.View from bus window.Tour of locomotive museum
At the lake.
Cruising on the lake in one of these.Tour guide said we may see some bears. We saw these instead.We were back in the Bay Area and were determined to find real Hokkaido steak to feast on for dinner. Never mind if it was expensive. Must eato the Hokkaido steako!The Bay Area became a magical fairyland of lights in the night time.After the steak, we decided to look for Hokkaido crab (no, no, not to eat that day, but to prepare for the next day's meal!) and while hunting, we came upon a free feet onsen (hot springs). This one we can show photos, because no need to take off everything, just take off your shoes and socks and soak your feet in the hot water.

Narita Airport to Haneda Airport

2009-09-30T00:40:00.004+08:00

Now that I am a bit of an expert on this, after one trip...

Firstly, if you're travelling on your own and need to transfer between Narita Airport and Haneda Airport, ensure that you have at least four hours in between flights. Any less than that and you might be in trouble!The easiest and also the most expensive way to transfer from Tokyo Narita Airport to Haneda Airport and back (if you have lots of cash and do not speak the language) is to take a comfy cab. The taxi fare is guaranteed to cost much more than your return flight fare from wherever you came from.

Here's a taxi in Hakodate. Was told that a ten-minute cab ride would cost S$50/- (US$33). Eeeeeks!The next best way, if you still don't speak the language, but you are a little careful with your money, or have a lot of luggage, is to take the Airport Limousine Bus. Beg some polite Japanese with peculiar English to help you buy a ticket at the machine, if you need help. Ticket costs 3,000 yen one-way. That's US$30/-.

Airport limousine bus queue at Haneda.The bus is on time, journey takes about one hour (sorry, fell asleep in the bus!) down the highways and it was very comfortable. We took the airport limousine bus when we came back from Haneda to Narita due to our heavier luggage. Too much shopping, hehe! Of course we were each 3,000 yen poorer.

The cheapest way is... no, no, not on foot because it's really a very long way - that by train - the Tokyo subway, or MRT or whatever they call it.

Figuring out how to buy train tickets.Check the train times on the internet before you take this option, and decide which trains you need to take in advance! The trains are very punctual.

We purchased a train ticket at Narita which cost 1,300 yen (USD$13/-) and sat in the train for about one hour plus to go to Shinagawa.

In Shinagawa.We had a leisurely lunch and shopping in Shinagawa, and then bought another train ticket, about 600 yen, I think! to Haneda Airport. This trip took a few minutes only. Note that everything is in Japanese, and you need to be adventurous and have a bit of time for investigation in order to take this cheapest option.

Observation deck at Haneda Airport.
We arrived at Haneda in good time to check in for our domestic flight to Hakodate, the 3rd largest city in Hokkaido.

The most headache free option - book a full package tour, prepay everything in advance and let the tour guide handle all the transfers.

Hakodate Travelogue Day Four

2009-09-29T00:40:00.002+08:00

On Day Four (Friday) and our third day in the city of Hakodate, we had booked an onsen (hot springs bath) and went for an early breakfast in the coffee house in order to be in time to catch the JR train to the onsen. If we miss it (like typical Singaporeans), we might as well forget about bathing.

We had our first onsen experience the previous afternoon, at an exclusive little place by the sea about 20 minutes walk from the tram station. This second onsen experience was like the typical Japan Hour program - take the train out for about an hour, and get off at a remote little station with nobody in sight for miles around.

And so, there were the two of us getting off the train, and it left. We were all alone in the wilderness. Ooooooooh!

Oh, there's the onsen, within walking distance!After our bath... er... um, if you're expecting photos of us soaking in the hot springs, you're in the wrong blog. Cameras were not allowed inside. Actually, nothing was allowed inside, not even a tinsy winsy towel. You have to take off everything before you set a toe in. The towel was provided but had to be left outside the bath for you to use to dry yourself off. No wrapping yourself in it!

We got so relaxed that we went for a cold udon lunch afterwards, a very simple meal but yet absolutely heavenly!

Cold udon dipped in sesame sauce. We had a lot of time to relax before catching the 12.42 pm JR train back to the heart of the city. Yup, the train was once again amazingly on time. (I wonder how they do it??!)

Back in the Bay Area, we decided to look for a bauble-making shop we found in an interesting flyer. That entailed some navigation based on a tiny little map.

I have no problems finding my way about on foot in strange cities using a map. I did this successfully in San Diego years ago. My brother and I did it successfully, together and also separately, on our many walking tours in Sydney, Australia (same genes, so our brains could process maps). However, with Japanese maps... groan!

My Japanese-speaking tour partner was a little bit map-challenged. She confessed that she often walked the 'opposite direction' and to find her way around - she talked about walking 'towards the mountain' or 'away from the mountain' which I absolutely couldn't understand at all.

On the other hand my problem was, I was totally Japanese-illterate - cannot figure out the characters which marked the roads or landmarks. So, the two of us, bent over the tiny map, had to co operate, she could read and interpreted what's this, that and the other, while I looked up and down fifty times (comparing real landmark with Japanese words on the map) to get my bearings right. It took longer than usual but once my brains could process the directions, we were off!

The trouble was, the bauble-making shop was on the slopes of Mount Hakodate, which meant some hard uphill climbing. Once we got there, we had some fun!We learnt how to make these!Our afternoon was spent in a very pleasant section of the city, with parks, the City Hall, museums, and lots of soft cream (ice cream) shops competing with one another.

For dinner, we had the freshest sashimi in a seafood restaurant in the Bay Area. It was my first time swallowing yuckky looking stuff like the uni (sea urchin) as well as fresh red salmon and totally uncooked scallops. OoooooOOOOH!

And it rained that evening. We were prepared. Every morning before we ventured out of our cute little hotel room, we watched the news to check the weather report. Their trains and buses were accurately on time and apparently so was their weather prediction. There was a typhoon in Tokyo, and rain all over Hokkaido, and that day, Hakodate was predicted that there was 80% chance of rain at 6pm on Friday, and the rain would last till the next morning.

The weather prediction was off by 15 minutes - it started raining at 5.45pm, which brought out all the umbrellas, and that was when we hurried indoors for our sashimi dinner.

Mud And Rain

2009-09-28T00:40:00.000+08:00

Oops, heheh, somebody taking my pic... I'd better wave and grin and er... look like I'm enjoying myself!This is not Japan, definitely not, not a speck of mud there, they are so clean! After trip to clean, sanitised Japan, I headed for Cambodia and it was still the rainy season. We had been truly blessed during the last trip in June when there was no rain and no mud, but this time, it rained from the moment we crossed the border from Thailand to Cambodia.

And it rained the next day, and the next.... however, the Lord is good, the rain of course stopped at the right time. Our team travelled in the car as well as a hired van, and after our visit to some Aids patients at the local hospital, there was a downpour and a tree branch fell right upon the van with a loud THUMP! If the branch had fallen on the windscreen, it might have smashed it and caused injury, but thank God it fell on the top of the van itself. You can see the remains of the leaves on the van.

Sotong City

2009-09-26T00:40:00.006+08:00

The national dish of the city of Hakodate is the sotong... pardon me, the squid. So, Hakodate is also known as Sotong City. I mean, Squid City.

Sotong statue guarding the entrance into the shopping mall.It was our first breakfast in Japan, and I was being introduced to seafood so fresh that it moved! When I mentioned this to Ptr Mike, the ex-chef whom I thought had probably cooked and/or eaten nearly everything on the planet, he did look horrified.

In Hakodate, at breakfast time, the chef fished the sotong straight out of the tank when an order was received.

When the plate was presented to the customer and she started to pour soy sauce over it, it tried to walk away. (Video clip above)

Many have commented about the fish head curry photos that they hate to eat food which stared at them. I've no problem with the big fish head looking at me. No problem eating crab with the two crabby beady eyes looking at me. However, if my food starts to move.... I think I'll move too! Far, far away from it!

And so, when my breakfast appeared, I poked it many times to make sure it was absolutely 100% dead. Hmm, right. It's not a sotong so it's safe enough to eat. I hope.

Hakodate Travelogue Day Three

2009-09-23T00:40:00.002+08:00

After checking in at our hotel, we went up Mount Hakodate. Then it was dinner at the restaurant on top of the mountain while enjoying the sunset, before we finally called it a night.

On Day Three (Thursday) and our second day in the city of Hakodate, we were up bright and early to catch the 7.06 am tram at the tram station (around the corner from our hotel) to go to the morning market for breakfast.

Ahem, Singapore will NEVER have a world-class, top class public transportation system until we publish the EXACT times (i.e. to the minute) of the arrival of every bus and train, and STICK to the time as well. If the Japanese could do it, why not us? Pfft!

Anyway, we trusted that the tram (they called it streetcar) would be on time, so we hurried to the station at around 7 am. Sure enough, at 7.05 am according to my watch, the tram appeared. It stopped for us to get on, and some folk to get off. And at exactly 7.06 am which was the published time, it moved off. The next tram was due on 7.16 am, if we missed the 7.06 am one.

At the tram station.Inside the tram.We had bought a one-day tram pass for 600 yen, since we were going to explore the city of Hakodate and would have to take trams up and down. Each tram ride cost minimum 200 yen up to 240 yen for the longest distances.

Arriving at the morning market, we were introduced to the sotong, both live ones, dead ones and about-to-be-eaten ones. Hakodate is Sotong City. I mean, Squid City.After breakfast and the smoothest green tea latte I ever had, we explored the area on foot, and walked all the way to the Bay Area, which reminded me somewhat of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf which I visited years ago. However, Hakodate's Bay Area didn't have the smelly seals. I'll never forget the smelly seals at San Francisco's Fisherman's Whart! We had an appointment to keep at the Glass Studio and were nearly late due to um... getting lost, and I will probably write about this adventure in another blog post.

I had the freshest sushi for lunch, and in the afternoon, we took the tram to the other end of Hakodate to visit the Cape. The road signs also led us to some important person's family graves.

Our exploration of the city continued with tram rides and long walks, to our first onsen (hot springs bath), and then to the Tower in the evening, which offered another good view of the city.

Dinner was at a famous ramen restaurant where we had a spread of the best ramen, plus some delicious gyoza. Oops, I ought to have removed that huge pair of chopsticks from the pic.

Roaming The Streets Of Hakodate

2009-09-22T00:40:00.004+08:00

Out for a walk in the late afternoon after we checked in at the hotel, and it seems that there was nobody else.
Mount Hakodate in the background. That's where we were going. Hmm, where is everybody? Doesn't this city have any people at all? Why such a wide road and no cars??
Excuse me, lady... are there any living persons around at all?
Uh... excuse me... oh, you're not living people either, are you?Ooooh, finally saw someone across the road! A pink lady! HEY! Hellooooooooooo!
Miss Pink is still in front of me. And there's nobody else at all! That Korean song with the popular dance steps, Nobody, nobody but youuuuu is starting to play in my head... Miss Pink is always in front of me! I think she owns the city!

Sea Urchins

2009-09-19T00:40:00.002+08:00

Do you know that these horrible looking things actually taste great? We were at the morning market and one was opened with a spoon stuck in it - that means you can have a slurp of the yucky looking yellow stuff straight from its shell, before buying the hairy black things.
So we had sashimi on our rice, and the yucky-looking yellow stuff (known as uni) appeared together with the prawn, the crab, the raw salmon and other fish slices. I dabbed plenty of soy sauce on everything.

The sashimi was super-fresh and first-rate! I'll never have Jap food in Singapore again... sniff, sniff, the freshness cannot be duplicated anywhere else!

Cute Toilet

2009-09-16T00:40:00.003+08:00

So sorry! I've been to so many countries where the toilets were very er... challenging. So often we have had to pray hard that we would not need to visit one for the entire day!

Then I entered a Japanese toilet and fell in love with them.
Besides the cutie pinkie flowery toilets, there were the high-tech toilets with too many buttons, the musical toilets (to drown out any funny noises you were making), the automatic ones... And so, visiting different toilets several times became part of our daily tour. And I was never disappointed.Do not press the wrong button!

Hakodate Travelogue Day Two

2009-09-15T00:40:00.003+08:00

We arrived at Narita Airport in Tokyo in the early morning, waved bye-bye to the boss and wife who were being detained at the aerobridge for some visa issues, and immediately took the train to Shinagawa, which is part of Tokyo, for some shopping and an early lunch. The train ride took more than an hour and cost us over 1200 yen. Here we were figuring out how to buy our train tickets from the machine.I was surprised to find that there were not many people in Shinagawa - I thought Tokyo must be teeming with bodies, but it wasn't lunchtime yet. The crowds appeared only during the lunch hour.

At the busy railway station during the peak hour.
Waiting for train to Haneda Airport.We caught another train (this time it was a short ride of a few stations) to Haneda Airport to check in for our domestic flight to Hakodate. Haneda was formally Tokyo's international airport until Narita was opened, and it now serves the country's domestic air traffic. I expected it to be old and run-down but it had been refurnished recently and looked great!

Even the planes looked great er... weird!Our Air Do flight (don't ask me what sort of airline!) took off on time and we arrived in the little Hakodate airport at around 4pm. Took the airport bus right to the doorsteps of our hotel, and the bus driver neatly bit off our heads when we tried to pay our 410 yen fare with a 10000 yen note.

Checking in to our hotel was fast and easy, and when we arrived at our room on the fourth floor, the first thing which struck me was - what a CUTE little hotel room! That was not all. I discovered a little door and pulled it open thinking it was the closet, but it led into a CUTE little bathroom! Ooooohhhh (mimicking the cute squeal), everything's so cutie CUTE! My roommate told me that her apartment when she used to work in Tokyo was not much bigger than this hotel room. Oh, really!

We put down our luggage, refreshed ourselves and then eagerly hurried outside for our first tour of Hakodate in the early afternoon.