Sydney with Ree

The first few days in Sydney were work days for me. Rhiannon got there before I did on Monday. Her friend from Year 6 at Oslo International School, Ben, picked her up at the airport and showed her the city a bit before I got there. Then she went to the aquarium, the zoo, on a bridge climb and out to the Three sisters while I conferenced. On Friday we hiked the bush on a walkabout tour.

Here’s the week from Ree's pictures and from our walkabout on Friday:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/SydneyAug13Aug182012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIvItdPt64fLYQ&feat=directlink

Saturday:
Ree and Ben went to walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens, then to china town.I stayed at the hotel to get caught up with things. Tomorrow she flies home and I will take the train two hours south to Wollongong. Yes, that is the name of the city. It’s a work thing, but I’ll go mid-day tomorrow (Sunday) and it’s a beach community so at least I’ll get a walk on the beach or something. Not sure what I’ll be doing the rest of this week.

Sunday:
Sunday morning Rhiannon and I had the fabulous breakfast buffet one last time – bored with it. Proof positive that you can get sick of anything. Then we puttered around and packed up. Ben picked us up to take Ree to the airport and I hitched a ride the few blocks to the train station (a few blocks feels a lot longer when I have all my stuff).

I took the train to this city called Wollongong. I think it means ‘place of storms’ in the aboriginal dialect of the area. They do get a lot of storms in summer. (Remember that although I am here in August, it is winter.) Sat with some locals – they were pretty bored with the place. Proof positive – again – that you can grow tired of anything. I thought the city was just lovely. They complained “There’s nothing to do.” This was mainly from the 27 year old married couple who said they were looking for jobs up in Queensland to move where it is warmer and less boring. Ha!

After taking my laundry for a frustrated walk in Sydney (and never finding a coin laundry), I was thrilled when the response to my FIRST question at the hotel in Wollongong was YES, there is a guest laundry. So that was first on my agenda. By then it was about 3p, late for lunch early for dinner. Still I went out exploring with the idea in mind of eventually finding a meal. It took me about an hour to find something suitable. By then I was pretty hungry so although I had some reservations about this brewery that I found I figured what the heck.  I got very lucky. Spent almost two hours there and barely made it back before full dark (again: winter here). It was getting quite cold by then!  

Sunday: My walk down the beachfront of Wollongong to have dinner. 
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/WollongongAugust192012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNGp-6ui5_bXtgE&feat=directlink

Sing-sing-singapore!

Monday I flew from Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I just spent the three conference days there this year - last year I spent the entire week. I did have some fun – went to the food streets and china town and had a couple of nice meals out with some of the folks from the conference. That was Tuesday/ Wednesday/ Thursday.

Friday morning I took the one hour flight to Singapore. I booked what is called a “Singapore Stopover” through Singapore airlines because it was very cost effective. But it meant that I had one night in one of the hotels they provide for this and I wasn’t sure I would like it and it got more expensive after the one night on the “stopover” deal. So I booked myself another hotel and moved after the first day. The Ibis would actually have been fine, but its fun to be in this fancy boutique-y hotel in china town too. So I had one night in the Ibis over in Little India, then two nights here at The Scarlett in Chinatown.

First day (Friday) in Singapore:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/Singapore?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCN2_sarvoeWUpQE&feat=directlink        

Saturday in Singapore:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/SaturdayInSingaporeAugust112012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLO2veWL2NnoOA&feat=directlink

Sadly saying sayonara to Singapore on Sunday – last day’s adventures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/SingaporeSundayFinalDayAugust122012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOH8s6KdhsfLXg&feat=directlink

Tokyo!

Friday morning Tokyo time
I got into my airport Hilton at midnight – I’m really glad I made that choice of just staying by the airport. It’s about 1.5 hours by train into Tokyo proper and I didn’t want to be figuring all of that out even when I thought it would be 10p. But with my flight delay it was 2 hours late! So this place is very elegant and I had a lovely if expensive breakfast and now I am about to head back to the airport to catch the train into Tokyo. If I do it right I can catch one train to within a 10 minute walk of my Ryokan – which is a traditional Japanese guest house. I had to work when I got here and I had to get up early to work – so I really only got a few hours of sleep. But the nice thing is that now I can play tourist and it is the middle of the night for my customers.

Friday - first day EVER in Tokyo!

https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/Tokyo2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJjft_-b8Kl9&feat=directlink

After finding my way from the airport to my guesthouse and cooling off for a bit I took the neighborhood walk to the subway station, figured out buying tickets (sounds simple, huh?) and got myself to the Shibuya area. I just wandered around, grabbed something for dinner and headed to bed early. I was still very tired. I ended up eating bakery food (see photo) for dinner because it is really hard to order food when you don’t have the language, no one around speaks any English and the signs are not even written in an alphabet that you can guess at the meaning. When I found the bakery, you will see in the photo how appealing it was and I knew what everything was without asking!

Posted Saturday morning:
Today I plan to go down to the central Tokyo train station where I can see the Imperial palace and also maybe catch a bus tour called the “skybus”. Then I may go from there down to the fish market, which is one station away. Then one more station gets me to the akihabara, the Electric Town where one can buy all sorts of technology. Not that I will buy any but it seems worth seeing. Then a subway that heads me back toward my home neighborhood will stop me off at Shinjuku which is the busiest train station in the world. I will see it on a Saturday – which is good and bad. Good because I won’t be in the middle of all that craziness, but bad because I won’t get to see it first hand. I think I’m okay with that! Also at this stop is the skyscraper region as well as a famous shopping area that has side streets that are knows for being red light districts in one direction and artists/musicians alleys in another. Again, will visit this area in broad daylight today – not sure I’ll even stay out after dark but if I do it will be back to Shibuya (see photos) to see that all lit up at night.

And how Saturday really went:
I took the train to Tokyo Station. Wandered around for a long time – it is HYOOGE. Took the skybus for a one-hour circuit. Took the train over to tech street. Got some lunch. Took the train and the subway and the long walk home. Tired and hot. I was going to take the train to the fish market and eat some sushi but I have to admit that I just wasn’t up to trying to figure out what to eat and order it. One huge mystery for me is that there are rarely places to sit and eat yet you do NOT see anyone eating. I am sure I could have found a little sushi joint over there to order and sit at a table – but by then it was all starting to feel really hard. (See the photos and you’ll get the impression.) So believe it or not I ate KFC. I have to admit that I was curious about it because they are rather into it here. They have many flavors and I couldn’t understand anything but there was a picture of a combo and I ordered that – it had like five pieces each with a different flavor. I took some of them home with me and had them for dinner, too.

Observations: cleanest, quietest, most efficient and polite futuristic society that I could imagine. There is no trash, no rudeness, no thugs – no noise. There are rarely any trash cans – so you just take your trash home with you.  No one is unfriendly but no one is outgoing or inclusive either. The range of fashion styles is quite breathtaking. They are very individualistic and make very bold choices. See photos.  No one speaks much or any English. Not oriented toward accommodating Western or English speaking visitors. We are not minded – but not catered to or capitalized on. Just sort of accepted with mild curiosity. There are a few places where you will see a few of us gaijin, but even then you might see just a few. There are some signs and maps with an English part but it is in tiny print amid the chaos of all the pictures and kanji. They do not believe in white space on packaging, brochures, magazines or maps, that’s for certain!

At starbucks -  you know how they will ask your name and write it on your cup sometimes? She didn’t ask my name – once I was able to order by pointing at a picture she wrote something on my cup. When I picked it up I noticed that it was ‘gj’ -- English characters. I am pretty sure she noted that it was the drink for the gaijin. She wasn’t mean to me or anything. Just thought I was a retard. Laugh.

Here is the rest of Saturday’s story in pictures and captions.
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/TokyoSaturdayAugust42012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKiP2PeKmt-MsAE&feat=directlink

Sunday in Japan
Got a relatively early start – out by a little after 8a.  The 8 block walk to my local F-station.  The F-train to Shinjuko, the busiest train station in the world. Naively I thought it would not be crowded on Sunday. Hah!  One thing I can tell you though is everyone’s demeanor is completely different on the weekend.  Lively chatter on the train, all the girls dressed in swimsuits and sundresses – at least on my train which was headed South to the beachside communities.

Caught my one hour train – got to sit during some of it even.  Got off at a remote train station and walked via the mountainside through various temple sites into a very touristy (Japanese tourists) seaside community.  Took a cable car, walked to an island … reversed the trip.  They tossed us off the train at Tokyo station instead of letting me ride in to Shinjuko as was my plan.  So there I was at that crazy place again!  I took the F-train but rather than going to my stop I got off a stop early at the big Ikebukuro station and bought my Narita Express pass to the airport for morning.  Then I popped outside to a very busy section of Tokyo that I had not really visited before.  I wandered a bit – took no pictures.  Then yeah, I’ll admit it.  I had a McDonald’s burger and a Coke Zero.  Then back to the subway for the last one-stop ride on the F train and the 8 block walk home.  I wish I had worn a pedometer today – I definitely walked  A LOT.

Now I am up early –it is Monday morning here. I will shortly pack  up and catch my 6a taxi to Ikebukuro station to catch my 6:43a Narita Express that will land me at Tokyo Narita airport at 8:10a for my 10:30a Malaysia Airlines flight.  I arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 4:45p.  I am being picked up by a car arranged by my partners in Australia.  So that will be nice – nothing more complicated than looking for my name on a sign.  Three days of staying in a 5 star hotel that caters to Westerners.  With a real bed.  And, if my room last year was typical, a giant bathtub.  Can’t wait.  J

Here is the photo-story of Sunday's exploits.

https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/TokyoAugust52012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKWWzqj_nvqivQE&feat=directlink

Last day in Japan – (Monday morning) mostly the trains.  Then a few shots in Malaysia:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/LeavingTokyoALittleOfMalaysia?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJXKnevn-OaTJw&feat=directlink