Tag: Holiday

  • The Macao Run

    I had been to Hong Kong several times before but never Macao, so I was really excited about hopping on the ferry with Jade and checking it out. A quick 50 minute hop over on a choice of catamaran or jet foil, the first thing that greets you is the enormous Sands gambling resort, which I am almost positive could be seen from space – even without the night time neon.

    One half of Macao is this rather pathetic replica of Las Vegas, but it was the other half I came for. Staying in the East Asia hotel – a place that had clearly seen better days – we were in a good position to step out and see the old town. My Mother – perceptive as ever – had compared the place with Bury St. Edmunds – a small market town near to Cambridge.

    I can see what she means (although anyone from outside East Anglia may have trouble making the connection!) – the town square is just slightly too tarted up, with the McDonald’s concealed behind a colonial building facade and local boy racers dragging by in their rice rockets. Outside the centre, it takes on a much more southern European feel – indeed, I felt some similarity with Mexico and Guatemala, which is hardly a surprise.

    Overall, a very nice and laid back place and a very pleasant place to spend a day walking around.


    Macao – an amazing collision of colonial Portuguese and local Cantonese cultures


    King of the Castle


    The view from the town centre towards the horrific – HORRIFIC – new casino


    Rather more classic Vegas style neon. The Chinese visitors seem to stick to this part of town, whereas the westerners can be seen taking in the colonial sights.


    Bulbs powered by burning money inside


    Dozens of pawn shops outside selling expensive watches to pay for the good times


    Bamboo scaffolding on a Portuguese church makes for an arresting sight


    Stopping for a rest


    Jade and I chill in one of the small squares


    The Arabian Barracks – did the Portuguese host Arab soldiers?


    The Matsu temple – god of the sea – was packed with Chinese worshipers

  • Hong Kong with Jade

    Jade and I managed to jet off for a quick weekend in Hong Kong and Macao, before all the crazy stuff begins to happen in the next couple of months with her job – she’ll be spending rather a lot of time in Beijing from now on. Unfortunately, she managed to visit for the first time just a few days before while on business, but for once I have to thank her workaholic boss for showing her only the airport, client’s office and hotel.

    I am a relative expert with this place, so we managed to tick off a few favourites, as well as my first trip into the New Territories – far, far more pleasant than I ever would have expected. Indeed, it reminded me of Yangming mountain in its scale and beauty, and I came away rather impressed and relaxed having spent a day on the amazing public transport and taking in some cafes and nature. Somehow managed to forget to take any photos though!

    I was pretty amazed and delighted to bump into Lorenzo after a cool night listening to African funk at Yumla. He forgot to tell me his new phone number, so he took a wild guess as to where we might be and we met him in the street, which was a pretty cool feeling.


    On the cable car up to The Peak


    Jade surveys the city


    Do not climb


    BEN & JERRY’S IN HONG KONG. CHUNKY MONKEY!

  • Korea

    Other countries in Asia – Japan, Hong Kong and China – I had already developed a relatively strong impression for well before I moved out East. Korea, on the other hand, was a place for which my perception has definitely been influenced by my Taiwanese compatriots. That is certainly not to say it is a well-formed and balanced opinion, since it is mainly based on A. the spicy food in the restaurants here B. the Korean soap operas that are all the rage here, and C. gossip from Taiwanese girls that all Korean girls have had plastic surgery.

    Thankfully, except for the spicy food, all my perceptions were readily challenged by what I experienced!

    One of the main reasons I wanted to head out here was that Daniel Fertig, one of neighbours while growing up, had moved here with his wife Michelle and kids Anna and Sumi. I had not really ever had a chance to chat properly to Michelle and Dan and I have plotted pretty divergent courses up to this point that we ended up on the same side of the world together. It sounds strange, but it is nice to know that someone else is going through some of the same things that I am, and that my parents and his parents can talk about our strange stories.


    The writing is on the wall – Korean grafitti


    Jade leaves behind the spiciest meal of the holiday


    Shoes


    Admiring the roof


    One thing I liked about Korean buildings is they seemed to use much more colour than in Taiwan or certainly Japan; though I suspect it might be because they repaint regularly.


    Jade enjoys one of my jokes


    x


    High contrast


    Not at all Korean, but I thought it looked cool in the clear sunshine – shame it did not have Korean writing on it!


    Shiny door nobs


    Jade smiles for the camera


    The middle aged men of Korea were super cool. Aleays kind of hanging around, and often dressed in the most wicked suits you could imagine.


    I want to be him!


    Building bridges


    Hanging out in the markets


    Obligatory motorbike pics – this guy really went to town


    Similarly mental mods as the Taiwanese


    Jade looks radiant


    More shoes


    Korean Ginseng


    Sliding doors

    One of the pleasures of the trip was hanging out with super cute Anna and Sumi … we went up the cable car to check out the view and it was a grand day out!


    Stomp


    Anna – just slightly bolder


    And Sumi – very shy, but adorable! ( I hope I got them the right way round..)


    Are we going up there?


    Dad Dan looks pleased


    Ridin’ the cable car


    Cheap kicks had by all


    Now what?!


    DOG DOG!!!


    Sipin’ on the Sunup


    Jade and I on top of the world

  • Japan – A Nation of Textures

    I came away feeling like Japan is an immediately accessible place, and yet one that is completely impenetrable. If the society has a simple, immediately recognisable silhouette, then its culture is an intricate texture of patterns and forms.

    One of my mini personal projects was to look harder at these surfaces and textures. Just to force me to look up, down and sideways.


    Osaka downtown – for those that have seen Black Rain, you might recognise this scene


    Osakajo Icecream


    Rivetting


    Rusty nails


    First of the inevitible bamboo


    Yup


    Bamboo with some sticks


    Door


    Lovers wishes for eachother


    Some other type of wish thing


    Temple roof from below


    Characters in the rock


    Sumptuous Fabric


    Zen


    Combinations


    Different bamboo


    Cute – a flower contemplates life


    Hi


    Shadowy wood


    Light coming through wood – it’s not like you don’t get most of this anywhere else in the world, but it is nice to be forced to look for it!


    Zen raking


    Door


    I love this photo – close up of the chip wood roof ’tiles’


    Zen Zen Zen


    I still can’t find the meaning here


    Oh look at the light coming through the bamboo


    Lamps in a market


    The tasteful Kyoto tower refected in the thoughtful Kyoto station. Both fail to really capture the mood of Kyoto!


    Plum blossom


    The best shade of orange ever


    Stairs


    Stair close-up


    Oxidised


    Rather a nice wall


    Oxidised 2.0


    I had a beaming smile taking this photo – this is what I came to Japan for!


    Some wood


    This pole is worn by generations of people rubbing it


    It all hinges on this


    Fags


    New kicks hit the streets of Tokyo


    Bright lights of Shinjuku


    Barrel of laughs


    (and from the last trip…) Functional drinks


    Blood of the city


    Pachinko!

  • Tokyo Plastic

    Back in Tokyo, and ready to leave after a few days staying with Kaoru. This time, returning has been fantastic, but very different to last time. Whereas with the previous visit everything was new and shiny, this time I more or less knew my way around the major locations. As a result, I focussed my efforts on Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku … I decided I wanted to know less areas better, rather than seeing more of Tokyo.

    Anyway – gagging for breakfast, so I am hardly in the best mood to write!

    Next stop – Yokohama and Osaka. I’ll be bullet training in front of Fuji and claiming the cities for the Tokyo Shogunate!


    View at night from Kaoru’s apartment – thanks so much for letting me stay!


    Old shack in Shibuya


    Close up


    Super glamour in Shibuya


    View by day


    Roofs


    Harajuku girls – a tourist attraction in their own right


    A traditional Japanese wedding in progress at Meiji-Jingu, near Harajuku


    And another! Don’t ask me what is going on, but it looks like a scene from Star Wars


    Omotesando hills, with live orchestral accompanyment


    The Prada store – designed by Herzog & Meuron


    Inside, looking out at all the poor people


    Stairs – I am convinced photography was not allowed, but I had a nice looking camera, so who cares?!


    Human traffic again, viewed from Starbucks

  • Nara

    Nara was the capital of Japan before Kyoto, followed by Tokyo. I was not particularly interested to see the place, simply because Kyoto is so stupendously endowed, but in the end I came away really liking the place.

    Instead of the hundreds of temples and hidden gems in its neighbour, Nara has a couple of major sights and is otherwise a very pleasant feeling and relaxed small town. It was nice to get some appreciation of what a smaller place in Japan was like, rather than the uber-cityscape of Tokyo and the all too beautiful charms of Kyoto.

    The main attraction is the Todaji-Ji temple and is the largest wooden building, built to house Japan’s largest bronze statue of Buddha. It really is a deeply impressive sight.

    The other funny thing is that in the expansive grounds around the temple are hundreds of deer. They pretty much have the run of the town and throngs of tourists feed them on cookies. As a result, they have developed complete fearlessness with humans and will grab at anything remotely food-like, including going for your pockets. It is also assumed that these animals carry the message of the gods – clearly the gods like cookies!


    The deer in their relentless pursuit of food


    Sneaky


    Japanese schoolgirls walk in a line to class


    The largest wooden building in the universe


    Rather like a Samurai helmet!


    Granny God


    Mum & Dad – bannisters!!! Actually, it seems like the grain of the wood does not curve … so, did they carve the bend?


    A walk in the woods


    Land of the setting sun


    The dudes


    Delivery company logos are invariably very cute


    Contemplation

  • Kyoto Jazz Massive

    Kyoto is now officially one of my favourite places on the planet. The weather has been nigh on perfect for my time here and it has been truly splendid seeing the city.

    The highlight of the trip – just perhaps one of the highlights of all my travelling – was renting a bike and riding around in the winter sunshine on a rented bike with my Cambridge University scarf waving behind me. I had a smile on my face for the entire day, popping from temple to temple, putting my head round the door of a few UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and cutting up taxis riding just like a student so late for their morning lecture there is simply no point rushing any more.

    It would be very easy to overdo the temple thing here. They form the city’s major industry and have done for the last thousand years. I think I have done a reasonable job mixing it up though, making sure I also include some gardens, pagodas, food and stopping to ponder the immense complexity of this society – at once immediately accessible and frustratingly impenetrable; espacially here in Kyoto.

    I suppose the feeling I have of this place is of awe, but in a similar way to the secretive halls and passages of Cambridge University, even if I was Japanese I would have difficulty breaking more than the most superficial of surfaces – let alone understanding the place.

    I’ll have one more day to soak, then I will have to the even more historical capital of Nara and then on to Tokyo for a weekend of eating, shopping and drinking with Kaoru. Should be a blast, and a nice contrast to the hostel + ‘cultcha’ of this place.

    Ridiculously beautiful and endlessly layered, this place is beguiling.


    Sanjusangen-do. This temple had 1001 human-sized standing buddas standing inside. Each budda sported 40 arms. Each of those arms are able to protect 25 universes from evil. In turn, each can save 25. So, this insurance policy – an insurance policy that took 100 years to build – can protect a total of 30,033 worlds from destruction, and save mankind. Seems… a touch… excessive.


    Kiyomizu-Dera – UNESCO World Heritage Site


    The weather was simply perfect


    Pagodas in the mist


    What more to say? I played for a while with B&W;


    Views over Kyoto


    Happy Budda at the love temple – I would be too, surrounded by such beauty


    Hon-do – rather an arresting site in the gorge


    Even lamps in the cafe got my pulse racing!


    Everything – everything – seems to be considered and nicely executed, with little design solutions everywhere you turn


    Yeah, so my new camera has depth of field – you guys have guessed. Again, not Sakura!


    Port hole


    The roofs just blew me away every time


    3G monk!


    Heian-Jingu is a rather large and gaudy temple – or shrine, I always get them mixed up – in a very Chinese style


    Fortunes tied to trees


    Ginkaku-Ji, or the Silver Pavilion, is another UNESCO site. Very nice, but with a pretty ugly Zen garden (in my opinion) and rather too many chattering tourists


    Make a wish


    Tools of the trade on show at Ryoan-Ji. But he messed up all the raking!


    Hi Contrast


    Layer cake


    Icy cold sunshine


    Is this just the nicest row of buckets you have ever seen?!


    A very pleasant lunch while looking out across an immaculately manicured garden


    Hello … or rather Konichiwa


    At the Imperial Palace … much more well preserved than the other places. But with an organised tour, lots of camera toting tourists and a slightly hygienic feel, I think other locations were better


    Yeah sorry! Sakura? No.


    A lovely garden… but I have begun to realise that while Japanese gardens seem to be made for looking at, Western gardens are for sitting in. If I sat down I am sure a necromancer or irate gardener would shoo me away!


    Too cool!


    The English chap I hung around with for a couple of days; a hip hopper from Oxford

  • Japan – Speechless

    This second trip to Japan is a complete, unfiltered assault on my senses. I return to my room each night completely shattered, my nerves shot. I have travelled to some relatively extreme places, but Japan repeatedly leaves me bewildered, shaken and stirred.


    Waiting for my flight at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport – formerly Chiang Kai Shek… the island is in the process of severing links with the man, which I think may be going too far in some ways

    After a couple of months of tough projects, I escaped from the ROC while the rest of the island celebrates Chinese New Year, and landed in Japan’s third city – Osaka. I have already visited Japan once before while visiting my sister, so some of the sights and sounds were certainly familiar, particularly after living in Taiwan for so long.


    Shinkansen are astoundingly, stupifyingly fast – especially when standing a few metres away when they rocket by


    Zoom Zoom


    I definitely need a post dedicated to bullet trains. This is the oldest type, I think, but still my favourite – why oh why doesn’t the UK have these?

    Osaka is certainly more laid back and accessible, though it must be said that there is less to see than some of the other locations here. The prime attraction is the city’s castle, and this constitutes the most visited tourist attraction in Japan. I might suggest that the only reason for this is that there is nothing else touristy to see here! It was still a bit of a let down to reach the top and be told, in dramatic scale model style, that the entire thing is made from concrete and was constructed a in the last forty years. Still, Osaka’s octopus balls I could eat all day.


    Picadilly Circus in London can only dream – Dotomburi in Osaka


    The kids rock out to scores of amateur bands. They were actually pretty good and made for a very nice alternative use of a shopping arcade, once the shops has shut. Tokyo, sadly, has pushed out its amateur rockers from Harajuku.


    The walls of Osakajo (Osaka Castle). Interestingly, some of the blocks which seem to be as big as small lorries were only recently discovered to be about 20cm thick. All for show!


    My old man’s a Samurai


    Roar!

    I had been hankering to visit Kobe for years. The only two pieces of knowledge I have are A. the earthquake and B. the beef. Earthquake aside, I had a bit of a disappointing time looking for a decent beef restaurant and in the end I gave up. Much like buying an expensive bottle of whiskey or wine, I didn’t want to part with my cash without knowing what I was buying, and certainly not in one of the establishments established solely to cater to the dollars of Jonny Foreigner. They are 100 bucks a piece, minimum, so that cow lives to drink beer, be doused in Sake and receive erotic massages for another few months. But revenge will be mine, fat, drunk cow – mark my words.


    A super cool shopping arcade under the railway line had a super vibe, packed with old record shops, vintage clothes and military surplus


    China town in Kobe – ironically, full of Taiwanese tourists (though I can hardly talk!)

    After the suburban delights of Kobe, it was a delight to reach the castle town of Himeji. What a castle. Set as the backdrop to the Tom Cruise vehicle ‘Last Samurai’ and James Bond ‘You Only Live Twice’ it really lived up to expectations, and at the end of the day the sun emerged from between chilly clouds and I think I almost burnt out the SD card slot on my camera, taking the same shots over and over again as the light continued to improve.


    How cool is this?!


    View from the quarters of ladies in waiting


    I am a Ninja. I kill people. And I am awesome.


    This is the where the Samurais and warrior dudes keep their stuff. Know that I was almost peeing myself being surrounded by so much cool and smooth weaponry.


    Sakura! (or actually Plum – thanks Kaoru!)


    The Japanese clearly mastered Corporate Identity a long, long time ago


    Carping on


    A Kimono-clad lady flees a ninja attack!


    Plum I guess. Not Sakura.


    Rooflessly good


    I never really understand why bamboo never got exported to Europe when trading began. It’s such a versatile material, and surely some seeds could have been taken over? One of my little questions.


    How cute is this little girl? I mean really?!


    Roar 2.0

    It was at this point that I was in somewhat of a quandry – head for Hiroshima or for the delights of Kyoto and Nara? Well, after the so-so reaction to Kobe, I decided to stick with the ancient Japanese thing and head for Kyoto. It seems that I could spend several days here with no problem, and I am presently in a hostel, ready to sleep in the floor of the living room as the place is booked out – makes a nice change from the businessman hole in the wall hotels I have been frequenting up to this point. And tomorrow I plan to rent
    a bike and check this place out – I already have invitations from a fleet of Taiwanese students who clucked away with me in Chinese while booking in. A nice reminder of travelling on more limited means!

    Sayonara!

  • Salad

    I just had the best salad i have eaten in about 2 years. I was laughing it tasted so good.

    I hate myself for it, but I even took a photo.

    Now it’s time to read again for the next few hours.


    Salad – the food of Kings

  • Beached

    And so it begins.

    Wake up, walk to the cafe, eat, read, have a beer, read, sun bathe, snack, read, walk to a different position, read, have a beer, return to your room, shower, go out, have a beer, read, eat, have a beer, read, study some chinese, read, have a beer, walk up and down the beach, have a beer, return to room, read, sleep.

    Repeat.


    It’s a tough life


    The view up…


    Macro beach – the softest sand I have ever squeezed between my tootsies


    Paying people to carry me around the island – “harder!”


    The English Patient


    Evening entertainment


    Leaving on the trike – ‘God Speed!’ (I always wondered if that was an actual speed … “Light Speed…. Warp Speed… no…. GOD SPEED!”)