Thailand - June 27 2007

À VENIR....

Hong Kong - June 19 2007

Hi,
>>
>>This is my last day here in Hong Kong, I am leaving in about 10 hours.
>>For those of you who are not informed yet, before leaving Asia I decided
>>to
>>visit Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok in June. So for everything has been
>>great, lots of experiences (good and bad) but it is all worth it.
>>
>>I will write again from Thailand.
>>
>>Hong Kong was a great trip in a true World City that bridges East and
>>West.
>>There are Chinese traditions that are kept here like dragon dances, bamboo
>>structures for construction and deliveries are made in bamboo baskets. At
>>the same time, it is very modernized with smart chip technology that is
>>integrated througout the network of trains, ferries, tram and metro. You
>>can pay by flashing your card over the reader and in one second the
>>payment
>>is done, but the greatest thing is that you can use it to pay in
>>convenience
>>stores and vending machines as well.
>>
>>Hong Kong enjoys a duty free status so my friends and I did lots of
>>shopping
>>especially in the night markets where we saw all sorts of items at good
>>prices. And how about Chinese food in Hong Kong? the best! We went to
>>traditional tea drinking and brunch (Yam Cha) at the city hall on Sunday
>>morning and we had to wait 1h to get in because that place is so popular.
>>The specialty of Yam Cha is small finger food that is mostly steamed such
>>as
>>shrimp dumplings and sticky rice cooked in a big leaf. Of course I tried
>>the infamous peking BBQ duck and the rich and tasty treats baked daily in
>>local bakeries all over Hong Kong. I have to say thought that if you go
>>in
>>Chinatown in Montreal you get the same kind of food and the same taste...
>>that means our chinese food in Montreal is authentic! Yesterday we went
>>to
>>Lamma island to try seafood, another specialty of this port city. At a
>>very
>>decent price we ate 6 types of seafood in an open-air restaurant on the
>>seaside.
>>
>>The city of Hong Kong itself is very beautiful and I never grew tired of
>>seeing the skyline of Hong Kong island from the Kowloon peninsula. There
>>is
>>the biggest ongoing laser show on earth in Hong Kong, involving 37
>>buildings
>>and it plays nightly at 8pm... I saw this show at least 3 times from
>>different view points... Spectacular!
>>
>>Hong Kong island during the night also turns into a big party area for
>>busnessmen, locals and tourists alike. They have very nice and varied
>>clubs, pubs and bars... something for everyone's taste. The streets
>>become
>>packed with people there to have a good time and music floods the streets
>>from everywhere... great atmosphere.
>>
>>The surrounding islands of Hong Kong and the great parks (including a free
>>public zoo!) offer an opportunity for the hardworking international
>>community to relax in an oasis of greenery, waterfalls and amazing water
>>fountains.
>>
>>That is my summary of my Hong Kong trip... it got off to a bad start with
>>a
>>hostel situation where I was tricked twice (the hostel advertised on the
>>internet probably does not exist and I was not refunded when I cancelled).
>>But I guess this kind of thing is bound to happen, so I took more
>>precautions for the upcomming Thailand trip.
>>
>>For those of you wondering, I am returning to Canada officially July 13th
>>because of a schedule change. If you have any questions please email
>>me...
>>I cannot check my emails regularly when I am traveling in my suitecase,
>>but
>>I try to check them every 48 hours.
>>
>>Take care to you all and hopefully see you soon
>>
>>
>>Joel

Sayonara Tokyo - June 11 2007

This afternoon I am taking a plane to Hong Kong and for the next 3 weeks will be touring Hong Kong and a few spots in Thailand. I will also be meeting friends that I met at Kansai Gaidai university.

Decidedly, I am a real geek: of all places, I went back to Akihabara for my Tokyo farewell tour. I listened to a few street bands playing cacophonic music that were all competing on decibels rather than music.

I also caught a glimpse of a young girl posing for a bunch of avid photographers. I think she waved good bye to me, I know she did.

Sayonara Tokyo.

Asakusa - June 9 2007

I feel I have done everything I wanted to do now in Tokyo... Harajuku girls, Shibuya cross-way, Yasukuni shrine, a festival, crowded trains and today I wrapped everything by visiting the popular Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Other than its infamous Kaminarimon giant lantern, it is peculiar for having an open air market leading to the main gate (Hozomon). If you are looking for souvenirs, that is definitely a place to go. Things are quite cheap and you can find a bit of everything... from cheap pocket-sized souvenirs that probably has the ubiquitous "made in China" stamp to expensive looking statues and antiquities waiting to be purchased by the willing but unaware tourist.

I did a bit of shopping myself, bargaining for a pair of sunglasses on the pretext that I cannot buy expensive sunglasses because I break or lose all of them within weeks. Indeed, since my trip in Wakayama, I seem to have contracted a curse that makes me lose or break all my sunglasses. Maybe I did not respect the protocols or I didn't pray properly on Mount Koya. Well, I got these ones for 20$.

I am also starting to be cheap because I know I will be spending alot in the next few weeks.. I will be playing the Jet-Set tourist in Hong Kong and Thailand.

Akihabara #2 - June 8 2007

Today I had the opportunity to meet one of my very good Japanese friends that I met back in Montreal. From Tokyo, she used to work at Tokyo Disney and now works in a fancy pub in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo.

I first went to Akihabara for lunch and had extra spicy curry and then met up with my friend at the Ueno station of the Yamanote line. Then we decided to go to Akihabara to have a truly Japanese experience: go to a maid café. Going to a maid café means that you are a master to the young waitresses in their French maid costumes. Apparently this is a big fantasy for Japanese geeks, or Otaku. This was a funny experience, but I still don't understand why it's a big thing. Also, my Japanese friend had lots of trouble explaning the "MOE" word in Otaku culture so that is also a mystery to me. Anyone knows?

I ended up joining her at work and had extra spicy potatoes.. they were too spicy, I started having hiccups. The bartender was quite friendly and kept making jokes about Osaka people because I told him I had stayed in Osaka most of my time in Japan.

That night I visited East Shinjuku under a different light in the ni-chome area until late... I wandered in the streets and found myself feasting on Takoyaki watching transvestites, gogo boys and drunken samurai passing by. They seemed to be remnants of a party I had missed. It was time for me to go back to the youth hostel. Only now, I was alone, well not exactly, I had seen a roach hiding under my futon when I turned on the light, so that night I slept with the lights on with all my clothes on.

Ghibli - June 7 2007

Today was the last full day that my friend was in Tokyo with me, and in Japan for that matter. After spending one semester in Asia he is going back to Utah. I am going back to Quebec in less than a month.

We had a real nice treat for us today. To continue the museum treck we went on yesterday, we visited the Ghibli Museum. For those of you who are not familiar with Japanese Animation, Ghibli studios is responsible for some of the most popular animated movies from Japan. Few of them have been distributed by Disney, such as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving castle. I suggest you to look into those movies if you like magic and fantasy.

The museum is a real charm and the exhibits are surprising, some being very simple but still astonishing. One of them features a recreation of Hayao Miyazaki's office (the director of many popular Japanese animations). The main point of the museum is the life-size statue of a robot in The Island in the Sky.

Of course like every respected museums, you will find an overpriced boutique for tourists. This really got me in the mood of buying Ghibli merchandise and I ended up buying 2 card holders, 2 keychains, 1 fridge magnet and 1 figurine. My craze also sent me scrambling for Ghibli merchandise in different boutiques and Toys R Us stores all over Tokyo.

Museum day - June 6 2007

We were busy visiting museums all day: the National Museum is in fact 5 museums in the Ueno area. They have a vast collection of national treasures ranging from ancient tapestry to samurai armors!

The other museum we visited was in Odaiba, another place coming right out of sci-fi flicks. We visited Miraikan (The museum of the future) in this was one of the coolest places I have seen. The most impressive exhibit was a robot-controlling simulation. My friend and I learned how to control a small six-legged robot and then we were lead into a large room with an imax screen. We had 3d glasses and then we were at the commands of the same robot we were learning to pilot. The simulation makes you feel like you were miniaturized and inside the robot because cameras and mics are installed on the robot and the sound and image is used in the large room for the simulation. Not only that, the whole room is placed on a hydraulic system that recreates the movements we order the robot to do in real time.

We ended the day meeting up with a Tokyoite friend to have a few drinks and end up completely drunk and talking about the greatness of Japan to local salarymen.

That night we slept in the comfort of a Capsule hotel... It wasn't that comfortable, but we had to try it! This one was in Akihabara.