portrait of the composer

I took the Jung's Typology test the other day as recommended by a friend. She told me she'd bet that I was the Artisan type aaaaaand *pause for effect* she was correct. I'm an ISFP.

ISFP (intuitive-sensing-feeling-perceiving), according to Dr.David Keirsey, falls under the temperament Artisan, the concrete utilitarian. The temperament Artisan is divided into four divisions. He calls the ISFP Composers.

The following is a direct quote from Keirsey Temperament Website.

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ISFP
As Concrete Utilitarians, Artisans speak mostly about what they see right in front of them, about what they can get their hands on, and they will do whatever works, whatever gives them a quick, effective payoff, even if they have to bend the rules.

Portrait of the Artisan
Artisans are the temperament with a natural ability to excel in any of the arts, not only the fine arts such as painting and sculpting, or the performing arts such as music, theater, and dance, but also the athletic, military, political, mechanical, and industrial arts, as well as the "art of the deal" in business.

All Artisans share the following core characteristics:
- Artisans tend to be fun-loving, optimistic, realistic, and focused on the here and now.
- Artisans pride themselves on being unconventional, bold, and spontaneous.
- Artisans make playful mates, creative parents, and troubleshooting leaders.
- Artisans are excitable, trust their impulses, want to make a splash, seek stimulation, prize freedom, and dream of mastering action skills.

Artisans are most at home in the real world of solid objects that can be made and manipulated, and of real-life events that can be experienced in the here and now. Artisans have exceptionally keen senses, and love working with their hands. They seem right at home with tools, instruments, and vehicles of all kinds, and their actions are usually aimed at getting them where they want to go, and as quickly as possible. Thus Artisans will strike off boldly down roads that others might consider risky or impossible, doing whatever it takes, rules or no rules, to accomplish their goals. This devil-may-care attitude also gives the Artisans a winning way with people, and they are often irresistibly charming with family, friends, and co-workers.

Artisans want to be where the action is; they seek out adventure and show a constant hunger for pleasure and stimulation. They believe that variety is the spice of life, and that doing things that aren't fun or exciting is a waste of time. Artisans are impulsive, adaptable, competitive, and believe the next throw of the dice will be the lucky one. They can also be generous to a fault, always ready to share with their friends from the bounty of life. Above all, Artisans need to be free to do what they wish, when they wish. They resist being tied or bound or confined or obligated; they would rather not wait, or save, or store, or live for tomorrow. In the Artisan view, today must be enjoyed, for tomorrow never comes.

There are many Artisans, perhaps 30 to 35 percent of the population, which is good, because they create much of the beauty, grace, fun, and excitement the rest of us enjoy in life.

Artisan - Portrait of the Composer (ISFP)
More than the other Artisans, Composers are in tune with their senses, and so have a sure grasp of what belongs, and what doesn't belong, in all kinds of works of art. While the other Artisans are skilled with people, tools, and entertainment, Composers have an exceptional ability-seemingly inborn-to work with subtle differences in color, tone, texture, aroma, and flavor.

Although Composers often put long, lonely hours into their artistry, they are just as impulsive as the other Artisans. They do not wait to consider their moves; rather, they act in the here and now, with little or no planning or preparation. Composers are seized by the act of artistic composition, as if caught up in a whirlwind. The act is their master, not the reverse. Composers paint or sculpt, they dance or skate, they write melodies or make recipes-or whatever-simply because they must. They climb the mountain because it is there.

This ability to lose themselves in action accounts for the spectacular individual accomplishments of some Composers, and yet on their social side they show a kindness unmatched by all the other types. Composers are especially sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, and they sympathize freely with the sufferer. Some have a remarkable way with young children, almost as if there were a natural bond of sympathy and trust between them. A similar bond may be seen between some Composers and animals, even wild animals. Many Composers have an instinctive longing for the wilds, and nature seems to welcome them.

Composers are just as plentiful as the other Artisans, say nine or ten per cent of the population, but in general they are very difficult to observe and thus greatly misunderstood. Very likely the difficulty comes from their tendency not to express themselves verbally, but through their works of art. Composers are usually not interested in developing ability in public speaking, or even in the art of conversation; they prefer to feel the pulse of life by touch, in the muscles, in the eyes, in the ears, on the tongue. Make no mistake, Composers are just as interested as other types in sharing their view of the world, and if they find a medium of non-verbal communication-some art form-then they will express their character quite eloquently. If not, they simply remain unknown, their quietness leaving their character all but invisible.
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there you go ENTP heheh.

melbourne - singapore - jakarta - bangkok - siem reap - bangkok - jakarta - singapore - melbourne

Everytime I go travelling there's always some kind of drama going on. This time is no exception. Here's how it went.

The flight schedule:
07 Nov, 01.00AM, Singapore Airlines - Melbourne to Singapore
07 Nov, 07.40AM, Singapore Airlines - Singapore to Jakarta
08 Nov, 01.30PM (roughly), Thai Airways - Jakarta to Bangkok
15 Nov, 08.30AM, Thai Airways - Bangkok to Jakarta
16 Nov, 06.00AM, Singapore Airlines - Jakarta to Singapore
16 Nov, 10.10AM, Singapore Airlines - Singapore to Melbourne

The drama
On the night of my flight from Melbourne to Jakarta, I ordered a taxi. Remembering it was a Saturday evening, I did order the taxi about a half hour before I had to leave the house. After half an hour, no taxi showed up. I gave them a call back asking where my taxi is and I was told that they are resending one straight away.

Cool. Half an hour later, no taxi showed up again. I was getting quite impatient. After all, have you ever had to wait for a taxi for an hour? So I gave them another call and guess what I was told? 'A taxi was in front of your house at 11.05PM but no one was waiting outside'.

Huh?

So according to this woman, I was supposed to wait for the taxi (that never showed up) in front of my house for the past hour? Is she nuts? Couldn't the driver just get off and knocked on my front door if honking wasn't allowed? I did turn on my lights outside. What the hell man? Anyway so she told me she's sending one right now and that I should wait for the taxi outside. 'No way in hell' I thought to myself.

So while waiting for the taxi (again), I received an SMS from Singapore Airlines telling me that my flight from Singapore to Jakarta had been cancelled due to Mt.Merapi's volcanic activities.

Great. The taxi never showed up and now my connecting flight is cancelled.

I still went to the airport anyway. I must be the last person checking in since the check-in line was empty and while I was dropping off my baggage I received a call from Tullamarine Airport's Singapore Airline's customer service asking if I was still flying tonight. I said I was at the counter already and he checked me out from the other end of the check-in counter.

I also asked about my cancelled flight from Singapore to Jakarta and was told that it might just be a system error. I was told that a passenger received that SMS previously as well but they weren't told anything about it.

Woohoo! Now nothing stood between me and the Thailand & Cambodia trip anymore. It was already 12AM by that time and I even still had the time to get my MacBook Air GST back. Sweet huh? Not long after that, I boarded the plane and quickly fell asleep. I felt really tired after all my effort to get to the airport and the supposedly system error SMS.

So I arrived at Changi airport in the morning, got off the plane and asked the customer service straight away, "which gate is SQ956?". She answered me straight away "Oh flight SQ956 to Jakarta has been cancelled sir".

SAY WHAT?

Remember that SMS I received last night? Apparently that was correct. All flights going in and out of Jakarta had been cancelled and I was told that Soekarno-Hatta airport was closed (of course this wasn't the case). I could see how it was a precautionary measure by airlines. Still I was groggy and I was pissed off.

So I was told to gather at the Transfer Station where they gave us stickers to check in to the Pan Pacific Orchard.

At this time I had a few choices.
1. Go back to Melbourne
2. Re-route my flight to Bangkok instead of Jakarta
3. Wait and hope Singapore Airlines will still fly me to Jakarta

Not long after I received the sticker to check into the hotel, the customer service made an announcement. He had news that there might be a flight flying to Jakarta at 11.30AM. Might, not will. So I decided to wait and got another sticker to fly that might-be-flying flight.

Fortunately, it did fly. And my travelling drama ended here.

The trip
The trip itself was quite fun. It's a bit like last year in Bangkok.

We visited the Grand Erawan Shrine for the birthday of the Four Faces Buddha. Same thing happened this year, lots of smoke from burnt incense, lots of tears (because of the smoke) and lots of coconut drinks. Ayutthaya was also the same with the addition of Wat Ban Rai.

And on the fourth day of the tour we went by bus and stopped at the border crossing in Poipet. From there we took another long bus ride to Siem Reap. Roughly 400km wasn't supposed to take that long but the road condition and the traffic made it quite long and felt like a never ending bus ride.

The next day, we visited Ta Prohm, the Bayon and Angkor Wat. They were unreal. I loved the details of the carvings in these temples. It was really hot though, the typical Southeast Asian heat where you'll just be sweating for no reason whatsoever and by the end of the day your top would have went through the cycle of being wet and dried again for a few times. And that night we also went to Angkor night market and visited Artisans Angkor the day after before heading back to Bangkok. Here'are the pics (also live on my Flickr).

  

After going back to Bangkok I went to Wat Arun and Wat Pho. Wat Arun because I've always wanted to go since last year's Chao Phraya river dinner cruise and since Wat Pho was just across the ferry pier, I'd just visit it briefly.

Wat Arun wasn't too big, in a sense that you'd be able to walk around it in less than half an hour. It was really high though, and tourist were only allowed to climb up to the third level I think. So I climbed to the highest I was allowed to (you'd know you're at the highest since the don't have anymore stairs afterwards) and felt vertigo kicking in straight away. The way down was even more scary. I had to climb down the stairs fairly slowly, but I made it.

I didn't spend too much time in Wat Pho. Only went in to see the huge reclining Buddha.

If you want to see what I snapped in Thailand this time around, click here.

That was essentially the trip this time. I'm still planning my Europe trip for next year (May-June) but to my dismay I still haven't got a travel buddy yet. Fingers crossed.

to japan - part 5 - the finale & encore

Monday, 5 April to Monday, 12 April

So we arrived back at Tokyo. What a familiar feeling. So many people, all busy, noise everywhere. I was home. And felt more at home when we finally got back to our ryokan. After re-checking in, we went to dinner and rested.

Next day, Shinjuku. Yep, back to the busiest station in Tokyo. It was so big that when we got separated, even if we knew where we needed to meet up, we couldn’t find the right exit.

Went through Takashimaya and around 3 or 4PM, I went back to Asakusa. Went to Daiso/Hyakuen shop (100yen shop) and back to Senso-ji. Took photos of it and I learned my lesson that day. And boy I was glad my camera handles high ISO photos better than my previous one.

Japanese temples are much better photographed at dusk. They are OK if you photograph them during daytime but at dusk, that’s when they really shine. Or maybe it’s because my daytimes in Japan are mostly filled with clouds, not the nice ones, the gloomy ones.

After dinner, it was just the routines, fully packed train ride, Sunkus konbini opposite Minowa station and bought breakfast the next day and headed back to the ryokan.

The next two days were Disney themed with Odaiba in between.

First day we went to Disneysea. Took the Disney themed monorail from Maihama station. Even the station attendants kept on waving at people to look nice and happy.

I didn’t have that much fun in Disneysea. It’s not the place, it was the cold and drizzly weather and my stomach. My stomach hurt the whole time and I had to do my business a couple of times. Can you believe that? Finally at around 3PM I decided to bail. I went to Odaiba then back to Ueno to grab myself a quick dinner at Gyuu no Chikara then back to the ryokan.

The next day at Disneyland, it was much better. The weather was nicer, although still cold and my stomach wasn’t acting up anymore. Had lots of caramel popcorn. We stayed until late and left after the fireworks. Saw lots of parade there.  Dinner, again, at Ueno. Had a karage set in a nice small diner at the corner of an alley in the market. It was so good Then back to ryokan.

And Friday came. Went to Mitaka to Ghibli Museum. After that we just went straight to Shibuya, just to take photos of the crossing, then back to Akihabara. Tried going into one of those maid cafés. I felt weird. I won’t explain what it is. If you don’t know and you want to know, click here.

Later that night we had some yakiniku at, yes, Ueno then headed home..

Two days before we left, we went to Ueno station quite early and bought ourselves the Skyliner tickets for us to go back to Narita airport on Monday. I didn’t bother bringing my camera out today. My shoulder was sore. Then off to Shinjuku to have lunch, then off to Shibuya and just explore the alleys. Later that night we were taken by my friend’s friend, a local, to have dinner at an izakaya in Shibuya (if I’m not mistaken, sorry Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro is now a blur to me heheh) and she promised to take us to this spicy ramen place the next day in Ikebukuro. Woohoo! Spent the night, yet again, in Ueno. Got myself a Crayon Shinchan plushie after the machine ate probably 2000yen of our money. Never again.

Last day in Tokyo, we went to Ikebukuro and as promised we were taken to this spicy ramen place called Nakamoto ramen. People were queueing outside and I didn’t dare try the spiciest ramen (10/10 fires) since tomorrow I had to hop on a plane and I don’t want my stomach acting up again, just a precaution. If I were still there for a couple of days, then I would.

The verdict, it was spicy.

Then spent the afternoon around Ikebukuro and Harajuku and that night, yep, you guessed it, Ueno again. I’ve become so attached to Ueno because of their small alleyway markets. The food was awesome and it was close to our ryokan, only two train stops away. I tried to go back to the place where I had Hambagu rice on our first week in Tokyo but I was too late. When I got to the alley where it was located, I saw a sign on the door and straight away I had a bad feeling. And I was right, the sign said ‘closed’. Argh! Next time I’m in Tokyo I have to go back there again. I hope I still remember where it is.

And on the day of the flight, we woke up quite early, took a taxi to Nippori station where we then took the Skyliner to Narita airport. There I returned my rental simcard, had breakfast at McDonald’s (yup, they had a muffin with pork, how cool was that?), bought some snacks and was on my way home.

Would I come back? Definitely, but I’d like to travel around to other countries before I go back to Japan if possible.

Things I’m gonna miss: definitely the food and the snacks. They’re fast, they’re easy on the stomach and they look good too. And the toilets. I love Japan’s toilets.

Things I definitely don't miss: getting lost, the noise, the packed trains, the packed trams, the packed buses, the continuous ‘irashaimaseeeeeee’ (welcome) in high pitch voices whenever you enter a store (it was cute at first but after a while it becomes quite annoying), the maid cafés and the scarceness of rubbish bins

Photos as usual, are up on my Flickr.

And I will post again soon, hopefully, just about anything.

to japan - part 4 - banzai kansai

For my Japan trip photos, click here.

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 to Monday, 5 April 2010

We were on our way to Tokyo station quite early. Shinkansen leaves at 8.30 (from memory) so we didn’t have time to dilly dally.

Got to the platform on time, bought ourselves bento boxes for lunch and we’re on our way to Hiroshima.

It was our first Shinkansen ride. We were excited.

The Shinkansen passed the Mt.Fuji view but I was able to resist my urge to take photos of it. I don’t know why but for me Mt.Fuji wasn’t that exciting. I couldn’t remember if we needed to switch to another Shinkansen somewhere but the train ride to Hiroshima took about five hours from Tokyo and of course, most of the time we were sound asleep.

And so we arrived in Hiroshima.

We didn’t waste much time in Hiroshima station. Went straight to our hostel, checked in and straight back to Hiroshima station since we wanted to catch a train to Miyajima-guchi.

When we were waiting at the platform, I wasn’t sure of what was going on but nobody seem to be getting on board the train, so we tried asking around, and by asking around I meant asking around since it’s really quite a daunting task if you don’t speak Japanese.

Not sure what was really happening but apparently the train to Miyajima-guchi wasn’t running at that time and we had to take the tram to Miyajima-guchi.

No worries, I’ve been on trams before, they’re alright.

Mistake! Apparently everybody from the station (yes I’m exaggerating a bit) had already queued at the tram stop for tram No.2, the one that’s going to Miyajima-guchi. And after we got on the tram, it was jam packed with people *reminiscing my Tokyo trains experience* and so it began, the hour-long tram ride to Miyajima-guchi. It felt like so long that when there are actually space in the tram for me to sit down, I didn’t feel like it anymore.

An interesting fact: you get on the tram from the front door and exit from the left-hand side door where you pay your fares to the conductor there.

When we got to Miyajima-guchi, it was freakin’ cold. I finally sat on board the ferry that’s going to take us to Miyajima island.

And there it was, Itsukushima jinja. I went all the way to Hiroshima just for this.

And so began the long walk from the ferry terminal to the actual giant tori and when I got there I was amazed. It was huge. Photos didn’t turn out great since the sun was facing our way and I, being a lazy person that I am, didn’t bother bringing a tripod with me so I could HDR the view.

We stayed there until the sun went down. It was freezing. I bought a few manjus on my way back and when I finally got back to the ferry terminal, the warm tea in that pet bottle felt like the best tea I’ve ever had. It gave me warmth, it gave me sensation (of all twenty days of travel this day killed my legs the most. It was far and it was cold), it gave me life.

Back at Hiroshima station, I was already craving for some Hiroshimayaki and I got mine from Reichan in the Hiroshima station complex shopping mall. It was big, it was tasty, it was satisfying. And afterwards, we went back to our hostel.

The next day, it’s our second Shinkansen ride. We’re going backwards to Osaka. Took about two hours from Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka station. From Shin-Osaka station we had to take another train to Osaka station and from there we had to take the Osaka-loop train to Noda.

In Osaka, nobody speaks English.

That’s not an understatement, they’ll actually force you to speak Japanese. Don’t trust me? Well, seeing is believing. Go ahead and try.

And the subway system didn’t help making it any easier either. I think Osaka’s train system is the worst compared to Tokyo and Kyoto. We didn’t reach the ryokan without getting lost first by a rapid service that actually went past Noda. We had to go back a bit.

As usual, after we got to Noda station, maps didn’t help so we had to…yes, ask around. We finally found the hotel we were staying in and even there, they just spoke really really broken English. Example: yes, phone *pointing to a telephone*,  black, free.

We waited until we could check ourselves in. It was 3PM by then and we went out again half an hour after that.

The site we were after was the Osaka 1970 Expo park. It was located at Banpaku Kinen Koen station. Got on the train to Senri Chuo station and took a monorail from there. Walked a bit more and I finally saw it from afar.

The Tower of the Sun.

As glorious as it was drawn in the 20^th Century Boys manga..only without the ‘friend’ logo.

After getting lost again, of course, we managed to get ourselves to Dotonbori. Time to feast! My friends ordered tempura, seafood etc etc and I could only manage to get myself a pot of sukiyaki, with raw egg, of course. It was delish. And so the night ended.

The trip to Koya-san the next day was probably the longest trip without Shinkansen ever for us. It was two train rides, a cable car ride and we had to take buses within the Koya-san complex. The whole trip to Koya-san probably took an hour and a half one way.

Went straight to Okuno Dobyo, the deepest site at Koya-san complex and made our way backwards to the entry. It was already 4PM when we left. I was quite tired and hungry.

That night we went to Naniwa Kuishinbo Yokocho, a foodcourt which supposedly was modeled after Osaka in the 70s (or 80s) but we got there quite late and most of the food stalls were already closed. Dammit! Had a curry rice but it wasn’t great.

The day after, took another Shinkansen to Kyoto. After checking in, we had lunch at Sukiya. This was one of the many meals we were going to be having at this place. For us, it was cheap, it was delicious, it was fast. I, of course, got myelf a gyuudon with raw egg.

Inari station was only two stops away from Kyoto station. Here lies the infamous Fushimi Inari Taisha. For you who has seen the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, this is the place where they shot the oh-so-many-red-gates scene. We didn’t finish the whole complex as it was quite big. We decided to have a walk around the district and had a look at a lot of shops, mostly selling seafood and souvenirs.

That afternoon, we went to Gion. I had to see what it was like and it was quite packed. Had to take a bus to go there and, as usual, it was jam packed without any seats left.

Fact: get on the bus from the left-hand side door and exit from the front door next to the driver where you’d pay your fares there. Prepare small change.

We weren’t quite sure what to do in Gion so we walked around and ended up at an opening of a festival. Can’t remember what it was but it had something to do with the sakura. Got one free shot of sake and felt a bit woozy afterwards. Yes, I haven’t had anything to eat yet. Stayed in Gion until probably 8PM-ish and back to, yep you guessed it, Sukiya! Actually we wanted to have dinner in this fancy place where they’ve got like a kaiseki but it was fully booked.

Next morning, another Shinkansen ride to Himeji. Took about an hour from Kyoto. When we got there, me and a friend just rushed to Himeji-jo as there was a sign that said, in English, waiting time at the entrance of the castle was 40 minutes. I knew we couldn’t waste so much time since we had to catch our Shinkansen ride back to Kyoto later that afternoon.

So after a lot of queueing, we got to enter the castle. The wait is finally over.

Apparently not. It was the same inside. And after what felt like a few hours of queueing, we finally were able to go into the castle, explore all six levels of it, went back down and exit. We had to take our shoes off to enter the castle but they did provide plastic bags for us to carry our shoes. Free of charge.

After Himeji, rode the Shinkansen again back to Kyoto and I went to Pontocho dori, next to Gion, which is an alleyway famous for nightlife, geisha, restaurants and teahouses. Got some snaps of a couple of geishas, or as they say for geishas originating from Kyoto, geiko.

The bus ride to Kinkakuji the following morning was a long one. As usual, it was packed. I guess everybody wanted to get a look at what the Golden Pavillion is all about.

Got there after about an hour standing in the crowded bus.

Once we got to the photo spot of Kinkakuji, I was pissed and I can now say that Chinese tourists are the worst. Well, maybe that’s not true but these people made it seem that way for me.

I was just doing my business, that’s photographing my view in front of me. I was leaning on the fence in front of me when this couple of Chinese tourists started pushing me to the side.

First push I thought OK, they might just be getting themselves next to the fence in between other people so I sorta let that go. Then came the second push, so I took a quick look at them and went back to photographing. While I had a glance at them, the woman said something in Chinese, which I didn’t understand, but I was sure it wasn’t asking me politely to move away (I kinda guessed out of her facial expression), so I just continued taking photos when another push to my hand landed.

Seriously, couldn’t you just wait for a few seconds?

What does she think? That I’d be standing there the whole day just to not let her have her picture taken with her boyfriend/husband?

Back to Kinkakuji, I did a circle of the complex and out. Went back to Kyoto station area and had lunch. Not at Sukiya but at this fancy restaurant I wrote above.

Afterwards, went to Arashiyama to Sagano bamboo grove. To tell you the truth, I was expecting more, but I took photos nevertheless.

Later that night, I did my laundry and hung around at our hostel with a large can of Sapporo.

The following day, it was time to go back to Tokyo, but not before visiting Kiyomizu dera.

The bus to Kiyomizu dera was the same with the one we took to go to Gion, only we didn’t have to stop as far.

It was quite a long hike to the entrance but I persevere. It was still early after all. The temple was gorgeous. Especially with the sakura around it. Walked till I finished the whole complex and went back down. My friend rented a kimono and I took a few photos of her.

Had a bowl of Kyoto style noodle soup and we were on our way back to the hostel. Checked out and went to catch our last Shinkansen ride of the trip back to Tokyo.

To be continued…

to japan - part 3 - lost in tokyo

For my Japan trip photos, click here.

Wednesday, 24 March 2010 to Tuesday, 30 March 2010

So, we were roaming Narita airport (without my luggage) and went to the JR Office, exchanged our JR Passes and bought the Narita Express tickets along with some Suica cards.

Yokoso Japan!

When we first board the Narita Express, I thought Japan was so peaceful. The train was quiet, we were the only ones in that carriage and there was only the occasional tray-pushing waitress selling drinks and snacks passing by.

After an hour and a half, we arrived at Tokyo Station area and started losing our way even though we’ve got directions to our ryokan. So we started asking around. I couldn’t remember which train line we hopped on but it was definitely a JR train. We were told to get off at Minami-Senju station even though the ryokan gave us directions to get off at Minowa station. We thought ‘yeah, it’s OK. We’ll just find a map and find our way to the ryokan’ (this happens all the time during our first week in Japan, directions were scarce).

So we got off at Minami-Senju station only to confuse ourselves once again. After asking people around and finally giving the ryokan a quick call, we finally were able to find our way there. It’s not too bad. It was only a fifteen-minute walk with us lugging our luggage’s (yes I did help a friend carry their luggage too, so I wasn’t dilly dally-ing).

Once we arrived, we just did all the paperworks and were on our way.

First stop, Kanoya Udon. Having to feel the winter breeze all over again (in March mind you) without the proper jacket is really a situation you don’t ever want to be in..ever. So having seated myself in this cozy udon restaurant and slurping my udon and the soup away was really refreshing to me, my body and my two sleepy eyes. Got coffee for free afterwards. So warm.

I didn’t think we did very much on our first day. After lunch we went looking for a Lawsons (one of the many konbinis – convenience stores). Lawsons sell the entry tickets to the Ghibli Museum and we haven’t got that yet. We finally found one. After a lot of effort buying it from the ticket machine (don’t understand the language and the entry time slot were all fully booked), we managed to squeeze ourselves into one of the timeslots and went back. It was just check-in and sleep afterwards.

Went to Ueno for dinner whilst getting amazed by our surroundings. When we first arrived at Ueno station and got out, we were surrounded by shops selling..just about everything, and when we got out from the station, it was even better. We didn’t explore too much, we just wanted to go for dinner. So finally we went into one of the curry rice restaurants. Whaddya know? A vending machine curry restaurant. So we ate and we ate hard (we were hungry people). Afterwards, went to a seven eleven and bought some snacks and then home.

The next morning I’ve already thought to myself ‘relax, if my luggage doesn’t arrive this morning, it will be here this afternoon’. So we showered. Lucky the ryokan had towels, liquid soap and shampoo provided for tenants.

I was ready to go when the reception called and she told me my luggage had just arrived. I was excited.

Changed my undies and we started exploring. We went a little bit further than Ueno to Akihabara, the electronic city. Went in to Yodobashi camera and had a look around but mostly drooled a lot. Only bought an Ethernet cable since our room has free internet connection. And I now can hum the Yodobashi camera theme by heart.

Went for lunch in a restaurant where they didn’t have any English menu. So with my limited Japanese (I can only read katakana) I was finally able to order myself a kaki fry set.

It was a rainy day but our ryokan was kind enough to lend us umbrellas. They have a neat system in Japan where if you go into stores when it’s raining, the always have a place where you can get plastic bags for your umbrella that’s shaped like an umbrella cover when you first bought it. Sometimes they’re manual, sometimes they’re semi-automatic (you just put your umbrella into the hole and pull out with your umbrella already covered in plastic).

Later that afternoon, our destination was Odaiba. My long lost friend agreed to meet us there. I still remember how we had to ask for directions in Shimbashi station to go to the Yurikamome monorail. Odaiba wasn’t so bad after all. Weather sucks though. Most of our days in Tokyo are filled with one hand wielding umbrella and the other hand in a pocket to make sure we’re not freezing to death.

We visited Yoyogi Hachiman temple the following day. It was a secluded nice small temple. Finally, time to click that shutter away.

Afterwards was a visit to the Meiji-jingu. This was a large temple right behind Harajuku station. Plenty of local tourists as well as foreign tourists here. I think we entered from the back side and exited from the front where they had sake barrels all lined up nicely just after the tori.

Naturally we visited Harajuku and Omote-Sando after that. Had lunch at a ramen shop in one of the alleyways of Omote-Sando. Beautiful. Hung around in Takeshita Dori almost the whole afternoon then crossed the road to Harajuku St where I finally got myself one of those hot sweet potatoes. So very sweet, and for the weather that day, it was heaven.

I bought myself a Nobita action figure from Kiddy land and a Sapporo Tee from UT then moved our butts to Jimbocho and had ourselves dinner at Le Gout Raffine en France. It was packed. I had the beef curry and if it was a little bit more spicy it would’ve been awesome, but I didn’t complain.

The next morning started really early. I should probably have said dawn instead of morning. I woke up at 4AM and gotten myself ready to go to Tsukiji fish market to see the tuna auction which start at 5AM. We got there alright, not just us, a few hundred other people too. 

Walking into the market while watching ourselves not to get hit by the buzzing battery carts we made it to the tuna auction area and had to queue for a bit. It was quite a scene. And viewers could only watch from a near distance without being allowed to enter the actual tuna auction area. We were just, sort of, passing through the tuna auction area and it was so packed with people it felt like the trains in the evenings.

Had hot tea and onigiri before and after the market then breakfast. Sushi and sashimi at Sushizanmai. I wasn’t too fond of them but they’re OK.

After that, we visited the Kitanomaru garden and got a glimpse of the blooming sakura. There wasn’t too much there yet but we got the gist of it. Afterwards, had some snack at Yasukuni jinja and went for a buffet lunch at Zenmaru.

Shinjuku was bustling with people. That’s my first impression when I first got there after lunch. I though maybe because it was lunch time but then I was informed that it was actually the busiest station in Tokyo. Believe me, it is. We hung around Shinjuku until late afternoon and went to Nakano afterwards. I want some Crayon Shinchan but couldn’t find any.

My cravings for gyuu don brought me into Yoshinoya and man, I was satisfied. Say what you want about Yoshinoya but I’m a sucker for gyuu don. Went back to the ryokan with my legs feeling as if they were almost done for.

Next morning, Ueno again. Got out of the ryokan quite late thanks to yesterday. Went straight to lunch to this place where there was no English menu (different from before). I had a hambagu rice (minced meat like they have in burgers) and a potato salad. I love this place so much but I didn’t know what it’s called and I forgot to ask. I actually tried going back to this place the night before we flew back to Singapore but it was closed. Damn!

Walked around Ueno a bit then off to Roppongi. I really want my Crayon Shinchan. Made our way to Asahi TV building and got myself some Crayon Shinchan. I was quite surprised and disappointed since they didn’t have that much Shinchan merchandise compared to Hello Kitty and Doraemon.

Anyway, spent some time at the bazaar next to the building and went to Ginza later that night to have wagyu bagu for dinner. Nice.

Next day, Asakusa’s Senso-ji, but not before doing our laundry, dried it and had many-pork-noodle (chasiu-men, but it says many-pork-noodle on the menu) for lunch. That many-pork-noodle is one of my food highlights in Japan. I'm still hooked up to this day and I wish Melbourne would have something similar to it. I will be back!!!

Once we got to Senso-ji, it started raining. Awesome. Why Tokyo? Why? Bought some umbrellas, one an actual umbrella and two other were just tiny ones..for photography purposes I guess. Again we entered the temple from the back and made our way to the front where Kaminarimon is.

Had Mos Burger after Senso-ji and later that night we visited Nijubashi bridge in Chiyoda. Parked ourselves at Wadakura Fountain Park and back to the ryokan afterwards.

The following day, we were off to Kansai.

To be continued…

to japan - part 2 - quirks

For my Japan trip photos, click here.

Alright, before going into the whole trip, I’d just like to point out some facts and quirks which you might not be able to find in any other countries. Here goes.

Locker coins at train stations

I’m not sure if other countries have this kind of facility. I know Asia probably don’t. Australia definitely doesn’t. Not sure about European countries though. You’d just put whatever things you don’t need to carry if you know you’ll be going back to the station where you put your stuff is. Not sure if the coin is refundable though.

Rubbish bins, where are they?

If you’ve ever tried to dispose of any kind of rubbish you have in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka or Hiroshima (these are the cities I visited) then you’d probably notice the same thing, that it’s really hard to find rubbish bins. And when you actually find one, you’d probably had to differentiate your rubbish from cans, papers, bottles and plastic, or in the more lenient rubbish bins, burnable garbage and non-burnable garbage.

I did a google search on this and (since I’m so lazy) apparently the Japanese used to litter all household rubbish in public rubbish bins. I believe it. But these days the city is so clean it’s crazy. Maybe it’s a good thing that you can’t find rubbish bins since it forces people to carry their rubbish with them and dispose it accordingly.

Vending machines galore

Even on small streets and alleys you’ll find them. Most of the vending machines sell drinks but in some places, they’ve got vending machines selling ice cream, newspapers, books, memory cards, batteries, cup noodles, flowers (I didn’t actually find one) and in a lot of fast serve restaurants you don’t order from the guys at the counter. Yup, you go to the vending machine inside the restaurant, insert your money and choose what you want to eat. You’d get a ticket, give it to the person at the counter and you just sit and wait.

Eating while standing

Have you ever went to a restaurant where you’re standing while you’re eating? I happen to see a lot of these restaurants in Japan, unfortunately I didn’t get to try any one of these. My legs were always killing me so I always want to sit when I’m eating. Helps me ease the pain.

Every train station has their own theme song

Does that calm the soul? Does it make people walk a bit more slowly? Anyway, every train station does have their own theme song.

Super packed train carriages

I thought I’ve experienced ‘packed’ during peak hours in Melbourne, apparently I was wrong. I’ve now experienced what it’s like being pushed into a crowd of people when I thought they couldn’t fit more in. I was standing next to the door inside a carriage until the announcement was saying that the door was about to close and it felt like my first metal concert when the headliner was on. I was pushed into the middle of the carriage, stuck there and couldn’t move an inch.

Can’t talk on your mobile phone in trains

There’s always that announcement telling you to turn off your mobile phone if you’re standing next to designated seats (for elderlies etc etc) and to not talk on your mobile phone. And in trains, people only seem to do a few things; play games on their phones, watch TV on their phones, play a Nintendo DS, or sleep.

Tissue packs as promotional materials

Everywhere I go it seems like people are always handing out small tissue packs as promotional materials to whatever kinds of things. Brochures just aren’t enough anymore.

Heated toilet seat and bidet

Love em! I can’t say that enough. Love em! It was cold when we were there. So when it comes down to me doing my business, that’s a no brainer.

They love to push

Seriously, and they don’t think it’s rude…at least that’s the impression I got over there. I’m not sure if they’re like that to other Japanese too but in a society where people seem to be so very polite compared to other countries I’ve been, pushing each other seem contradictive.

Maid cafés and butler cafés

Seriously, I felt awkward when I went into one of the maid cafes in Akihabara. It’s like a whole different world. The waitresses in maid cafes dress up as French maids and will serve you like you’re their..masters? I felt weird, seriously.

Fashion

If you’ve been to Japan, you’d definitely see what you’d probably think a wacky sense of fashion, especially if you hang around Harajuku. Takeshita dori comes to mind straight away. Go and see for yourself.

To be continued…

to japan - part 1 - the beginning

For my Japan trip photos, click here.

Tuesday, 23 March 2010.
OK, I was excited. I was going on a holiday, I was going to meet some friends and I was going to Japan!

Of course it wouldn’t be me if there weren’t any mishaps in my trip. And apparently, it didn’t take long for things to start going wrong.

The flight from Jakarta to Singapore was delayed for about fifteen minutes. The PA said it was because the flight from Singapore to Jakarta was delayed for fifteen minutes.

No biggie right?

Wrong. My connecting flight to Tokyo is scheduled to take off an hour right after my flight to Singapore and me, being not too fond of being in an airport and waiting thought I had cleverly booked a, sort of, back to back flight. After all, there’s an hour space for me to get out of the plane and move to the next one right?

Wrong again. Since my flight was delayed, when I arrived at Changi Airport, the customer service there was already shouting around asking for the people who should be boarding their next flight to Melbourne or Tokyo. And one of them is me.

So they had me and a Japanese guy hop on to one of those battery cars they have at Changi and took us to the gate where our flight was supposed to be boarding. This is when I heard more bad news.

‘I’m sorry, but since you arrived less than fourty five minutes before your next flight, we don’t have enough time to move your luggage into your flight to Tokyo, so when you arrive, talk to the customer service there and they’ll arrange for your luggage collection’.

I beg your pardon?

I tried to reconfirm and he said the same thing except he also added that if they could, they’d try to do it then but he didn’t want to give me any false hopes so I gave in..because I was quite tired too, it was an evening flight.

And so he drove and drove to almost the very end of the B gates of terminal 3 when he spoke to someone on his walkie talkie and found out that he drove us to the wrong gate. So we went back to the A gate (I think it was A10) and I managed to board my flight with my friend still waiting for me to come.

So we caught up for a bit since we haven’t seen each other for a while but on the flight, I was sleeping most of the time because I was tired and I know we’ve got a whole day ahead of us tomorrow morning. At this time, I haven’t even met my two other friends I’m supposed to meet from Melbourne.

And so we arrived at Narita airport. Hello Tokyo. Konnichiwa!

When I stepped out of the corridor, I thought we’d both wait for my two other friends so we'd check out together but guess what, I’ve already got my name written on the whiteboard just outside the corridor. Talk about your five-star welcome to Tokyo huh? So I walked over to the lady who’s apparently a Singapore Airlines customer service personnel. She explained (in English mind you) that my luggage couldn’t be brought along with this flight since my previous flight was late (way to go smartass) and that it would have to be delivered to where I was staying. And she added it could take a week.

SAY WHAT?

No big deal, I'd just walk around in Tokyo with the same piece of clothing everyday, right?

So I met my two friends, asked them to take my photo with the whiteboard with my name on it and proceeded to baggage claim area. I filled some forms there to get them to send my luggage to the ryokan I’m staying. I grabbed the simcard I had rented afterwards and was on my way to Tokyo.

Lesson: when you need to book two connecting flights, leave about a two-hour window in between. You'd have to wait longer but it guarantees that your luggage travels with you.

To be continued…