Hong Kong Day 2

After getting a call from my parents' room, they came over and joined my brother and I for a light breakfast. We had some bread, cheese, pineapple, and apple to go with our morning coffees. Very soon, we were meeting with Grace, her parents, and her many friends in the hotel lobby for the days' adventure. Around 9:30am, a tour guide named Jennifer joined us in the lobby and quickly ushered all of us onto a tour bus that was waiting just outside the hotel. As the bus sped us all away from central Sha Tin, Jennifer began outlining the events for the day as well as providing us with some history and facts about Hong Kong.

Our first stop was at the cable cars near the Novotel outlet malls. The cable car ride would take us to the site of the world's largest Buddha statue and temple. I had been here ten years before, but back then there were no cable cars to take us over the mountains and the area hadn't been developed yet. It was a incredible view on the ride over the mountains, despite the thick fog. Once we arrived, I could barely recognize the area. It seemed that most of the immediate area around the Buddha statue had been developed to service tourists and there were gift shops and cafes a plenty. Quite a difference from the forest and unpaved roads from a decade before.

Though the rain was pouring down, we enjoyed the visit to the Buddha and the temple. We also got to have a delicious vegetarian lunch with everyone at a restaurant directly adjacent to the main temple. I should also note that we were not allowed to enter the Buddha 10 years ago, but we were this time. Inside houses many scrolls and paintings dedicated to the Buddha and it was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside.

Around 2pm, we all met up again and took another bus to a fishing village in Hong Kong called Tai O. Some of the buildings in the village were very old and built in the old style. We took a boat out into the ocean near the village with hopes of seeing some of the white dolphins, but it was too cold for them to be out. After the boat ride, we took another bus all the way back to the cable cars and we were given the option to check out the outlet malls. Since we were all pretty exhausted from the busy day, everyone agreed to just catch the bus back to the hotel.

After getting cleaned up and taking a quick nap, my family and I joined Grace and her family at their apartment for dinner. It was all delicious homemade food that her grandmother prepared for us and it brought back memories of all the great meals I had eaten all of those years ago. Once dinner was finished, we stayed a bit chatting and gave some gifts we had brought for Grace and her family. We then made a quick stop at the
market for some breakfast foods for tomorrow.

Since there are no real plans for tomorrow, we have a day to ourselves.
I wonder what kind of adventures are in store?

Hong Kong Day 1

 

This year has been one awesome year of adventures for me so far. I took a three week trip to Japan in April, came back to Ottawa and started meeting new people who have quickly become such great friends, started a new job and quit my old one, went on a couple of exciting road trips, and now I'm back across the sea for another adventure. In the summer of 1999, my family hosted a student from Hong Kong named Grace. She became such a good friend that we welcomed her and her parents back to Canada the following year. After that second visit to Canada, Grace became like family to us. Her and her parents welcomed my brother and I to Hong Kong in the summer of 2000 and it was an experience I'll never forget. After 10 long years, I'm back in Hong Kong and the city is just as gorgeous as ever.

Several months ago, my family received an invite from Grace to attend her wedding in Hong Kong. Of course we all agreed, and yesterday we found ourselves together, bags packed, boarding a plane. After 15 excruciating hours in the air, we arrived safely in Hong Kong and we were greeted happily by Grace and her family. Though so much time has passed, we all look the same, but maybe a little more mature.

We boarded a double-decker bus at the air port, and took off toward the city. I felt a little nostalgic as the bus cruised towards the city and I began recognizing certain buildings and locations. I was a bit amazed at how many giant new apartments had sprouted up everywhere. I thought a city so big could never grow any bigger, but I suppose that you can't stop progress.

 After getting checked into our hotel rooms, we all got cleaned up from the flight, and took a quick nap before meeting with Grace, her family, and her many friends for a lovely dinner. The dinner was lovely and I was able to meet so many of Grace's wonderful friends from all over the world. During dinner, Grace told us of the plan for the next day. After eating, we all quickly rushed to the supermarket for some snacks and supplies for the day ahead of us. What tomorrow holds will be kept a surprise for now.

Back in Canada

Okay, so it's been over a week since I've been back in Canada and I've begun to adjust to my regular way of life.Though I still have some general fatigue, I believe that I'm over my "sleep madness", as my friend Max likes to call it. I'm beginning to adjust to being back in Canada. There are things that I've noticed about Japan and North America. Things that annoy me.



1. In Japan, just about everyone dresses very well. Even store employees do because they all have uniforms and they all look nice and neat. In North America, most people do not dress well. In fact, they dress like homeless people do. Honestly, for the first little while I was in Japan, I thought that there was no homelessness, but then I realized that homeless people there dress about as well as normal people here. I guess North Americans just suffer from a general lack of self-respect and discipline.


2. Despite the lack of available garbage cans in Japan, the streets are nearly spotless. It was only on the rare occasion that I would notice trash lying about. Contrary to North America, where there are trash cans everywhere (at least in my city) and the streets are full of garbage.


3. It seems like nearly everything in Japan is recyclable, while here in North America we're limited as to what we can put in our blue box every week. Honestly, with the current ecological state of the world, this seems damn irresponsible.


4. Just about every store in Japan has some kind of points card or loyalty program. I find this both awesome and a bit of a pain. It's a good way to keep business booming and to reward the customer, but it also promotes consumerism and fills people's wallets with tons of point cards that ultimately have little use.


Just some of my personal observations from my experiences in Japan.

Also, even though I should be saving my money for important things, I can't seem to stop buying stuff that I don't need. I wish there were some way to just turn off this lust for material things. Why do I feel a compulsion to buy all of the time? It's beginning to make me feel sick some days.


To end this on a positive note, I've been eating a lot better recently. Much better than I was eating before I left for Japan. This is a very good thing.

Japan Day 21

The Park in Ikebukuro.

Our final day in Japan saw me awake at 5:30am to some torrential downpours. We had our fair share of rain since coming to Japan, but today was probably the worst. Since the showers at the hostel didn't open until 6:30, I spent the next hour in bed trying to sleep some more. After an hour had passed, I got up and started getting everything ready. Since we didn't have to check out until 10am,

spent the next three or so hours trying to kill time. Mostly I bothered Tim and Patrick who were still trying to get everything packed and ready to go. Once 10am rolled around, we checked out of the hostel and made a final trip to Akihabara.


We stuff our giant backpacks and suitcases into some coin lockers. I made my way to Mister Donut and Tim went to find a small backpack to use as a carry-on for the flight. Once at Mister Donut, I bought a coffee and exchanged my points for my mug. Victory! My new mug in hand, we then went to Animate for a final visit. I wanted to get the latest issue of Famitsu since Siliconera had posted some scans of the Last Story coverage. Once in Animate, it was impossible to not browse and after exploring several floors, I ended up leaving with a few more souvenirs as well as Famitsu.


After that brief adventure, it was finally time to get to Tokyo station and head to the airport. We got our tickets for the Narita express train and sadly said goodbye to Tokyo. The train ride was very quick and before we knew it we were at Narita airport. We went to gate D to check our baggage, but they wouldn't be doing bag check for our flight until 2pm. With about an hour to kill, we decided to search the airport for something to eat. We ended up going to Subway, and while Patrick and Tim had eaten at Subway in Japan before, this was my first experience. It was pretty awesome. They have a different variety of bread and the meal comes with potato wedges instead of chips or cookies. Not only that, but the potato wedges came in a variety of flavors including regular, barbecue, cheese, and basil. It was a satisfying lunch.


Our bellies full, we explored the airport for a bit and I ended up purchasing a couple of last minute souvenirs. Soon enough it was time for us to check our baggage and it was waiting in one line after another. Waiting in line to check our bags, waiting in line for security checks, waiting in line to board the plane, etc. No wonder airports want you to arrive at least three hours before your flight departs.


We made a quick stop at the duty free store where I bought a couple more last minute souvenirs. After that, it was time to wait to board the plane. It was a long wait, too, since there was a delay in boarding. I guess the plane needed to be finished being cleaned properly. Unfortunately, unlike our flight to Japan, this flight was packed so there were no seat changes. We were all sitting together in row 28. It was thena gruelling 12 hours back to Canada.


Our flight back had some new choices of movies, though, and I ended up watching The Book of Eli, (500) Days of Summer, and Defendor. Book of Eli was pretty good. Great acting from everyone involved. (500) Days of Summer was also good. Not as good as my friends said that it was, but I would definitely watch it again. Defendor was amazing. Honestly, it is the best movie I've seen in a long time. Also, it was not what I had expected it to be from the preview. Defendor is a Canadian movie starring Woody Harrelson who plays a want-to-be super hero. I would say more, but I don't want to spoil the movie. It is amazing and I highly recommend that everyone watches it. Watching Defendor made the sadness of leaving Japan bearable.


The landing of our flight was delayed due to too much air traffic, which was frustrating. At this point, I just wanted to be home. I hadn't slept the entire flight and since I was awake at 5:30am, I had been awake for almost a full 24 hours. At the airport we were greeted by friends and family. Our friends Andrew and Kelsey came to pick us up, but also had my brother, father, and cousin there to greet me. After saying farewell to Tim, Patrick, Andrew, and Kelsey, I headed to my uncle's place to have some dinner. All I wanted to do was sleep and dream of the day I would return to Japan.

Japan Day 20

Today's Tim Quote:

- Look what you did! You almost made me hit an old lady!

Today was our last full day in Japan. Though I would try to get as many things done today as possible, I really didn't end up doing a whole lot. Unfortunately, the weather was poor. Dark clouds and rain hung over Tokyo all day long. After having a shower and getting everything packed, we went to Tully's Coffee for a quick breakfast and coffee. It's interesting that there are so many Starbucks clones all over Japan. Ther's Tully's, Excelsior, and some other place I don't remember the name of. And those are only the bigger chains. There were smaller cafes similar to Starbucks everywhere we went.

After checking out of the seedy Sakura Hotel, we ventured off to the station to catch a train to Yokohama. Tim and Patrick wanted to visit the Pokemon Center in both Yokohama and Tokyo today, so they got off and stored their bags in some lockers at Tokyo station. I continued all of the way to Yokohama and stored my stuff there. It was a long train ride and the weight of my backpack made it feel even longer. Once there, I ventured towards the harbor front. Even with the rain and clouds, Yokohama is beautiful. I took a lot of pictures, especially of the giant ferris wheel at Cosmo Land. From the station, it took me about 30 minutes to walk all of the way there, but that was with several pauses for photos. Once I arrived at Cosmo Land, I stopped in one of the malls next to it. It was really nice, but kind of empty. There was an HMV store in there, too, and it reminded me of the old HMV location I used to work in before it was shut down. I have a feeling that the same fate awaits this Japanese HMV.

There were lots of nice shops with some trendy stuff. As I was browsing, I realized I needed to find an ATM. Once I found one just outside the mall, I withdrew some money and then began exploring more of the harbor. It was lovely. I kept stopping to take photos. I made my way along this really nice path that looked like it had once been part of the railway. I got to another part of the harbor where a vessel called the Nippon Maru was docked. The Nippon Maru was the flagship Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 16th century fleet, or so I discovered when I read some of the info on it. Still, it was neat to see. Yokohama was just an incredibly nice place to explore. There were interesting sculptures and architecture to see almost everywhere.

Wondering where Tim and Patrick were at, I sent them a quick text message to find out what was up. They informed me that they were at the Pokemon Center in Landmark Mall. Since I had no idea where that was, I told them I'd meet up with them later and continued to wander. Feeling a bit hungry and wanting to get out of the rain, I ventured into a shopping center. Turns out, it was Landmark Mall! I sent the guys another message to let them know I was there and we all met up. We were all hungry, so we walked to the nearest JR station and then rode it one stop to the main Yokohama stop. Once there, we got some food to eat. While Patrick ate at Pepper Lunch, Tim and I tried this awesome curry place in the station. It was a bit more expensive than what we were used to, but the portions were very big by Japan's standards. Even Tim, who was seemingly never full, said that he couldn't eat another bite.

Our bellies full and our energy replenished, I grabbed my bags from the coin locker, and we caught the train back to Tokyo. Once at the main Tokyo terminal, Tim and Pat had to go grab their stuff, so I just continued onward to Iidabashi. Decided to stay at the Tokyo International Hostel again since it has a very convenient location to the JR station, it's inexpensive, and it's very accomodating. There was one person already staying in the room. A really cool guy from New Jersey named Omar. We talked a bit about Japan and Tekken. He was just starting his adventure in Japan, so I gave him some recommendations about what to do in Osaka and advised him to stay at the Shin-Osaka Youth Hostel. After I got settled in and had a drink of grapefruit juice, Patrick and Tim showed up and got booked in a different room. Since they still hadn't gone to the Tokyo Pokemon Center, they headed off their while I decided to make one last trip to Akihabara. Making a quick stop at Mister Donut, I had to pay quickly and leave since the store was closing. Since Tim and Pat sent me a message saying they would meet me there, I let them know it was closing. So, though I have the required points for my souvenir mug, I haven't gotten it yet!

Running around Akihabara at night is a lot of fun. There were some souvenirs I was looking for, but regrettably, could not find. However, I did run into Omar! He was out taking photos of the Japanese night life. He asked me where else he should go in Tokyo for some great night photos, so I recommended Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. Looking back, I should have also said Roppongi. It's a shame that myself and the guys never got to see the inside of Luida's Bar, but maybe next time I'm in Japan? After saying so long to Omar, I bought a cheap backpack as a carry on for my flight, and a couple of games that were on sale at SofMap. Wondering what to do with the rest of my night, I sent the guys a text to see where they were at. They had found a Mister Donut in Shinjuku that was still open so they were heading there to buy enough donuts and get enough points for their mugs! Since I just had Mister Donut, I didn't want to go back. I told them to meet me at the hostel, and I did some last minute shopping. Bought a bunch of Japanese hair products. Gatsby brand is very popular, and my housemate Jason asked me to bring some back for him.

Once back at the hostel, the guys arrived with a ton of donuts. Patrick ended up buying $15 worth of donuts just to get his mug. All in all, though, we all spent the same amount. With tomorrow being my last day, I will walk into Mister Donut for the last time and bring home a souvenir mug. Makes me wonder if it was really worth all of the trouble? Half a day left before I catch my flight back home. I'm going to miss Japan, but tomorrow holds one more adventure, I'm sure.

Japan Day 19

So, we're on day 19, and we had different ideas of what we wanted to do for the day, so we ended up splitting up. My plan was to hit Akihabara first for breakfast and a stop at Tora no Ana. After that, I would head to Ikebukuro and take some photos. I was up and ready first, so I took off for Akihabara to grab breakfast at Mister Donut. I'm only a few points away from getting that mug as a souvenir! On my way there, I got a text from Tim asking me where I was. Told him my plans and he met up with me at Misdo. Stopped at Tora no Ana and got the latest issue of Shonen Sirius. Cover featured art from Suzuhito Yasuda as well as a bonus CD and an alternate book cover for Yozkura Quartet volume 8 (which hit stores that same day).

Tim and I then took off for Ikebukuro and stopped at Tora no Ana there to browse a bit. Once we left, we explored Tokyu Hands department store where Tim bought some souvenirs. While Tim venutred into Ikebukuro, I hopped into ABC-Mart and ended up buying some sweet new Puma's. I got a text from Tim saying that he was in Sunshine City, so we met there and dropped our stuff off in a locker. We then visited a park near by and took a bunch of pictures. It was pretty nice, but there were quite a few homeless people. Though it's quite common to see the homeless for us, it's only recently that it has become a bigger issue in Japan. While in Kyoto last week, I was reading an article in the paper saying that it wasn't until last year that the Japanese government released the figures of those living in poverty in Japan.

Across the street from the park was Mandarake, and while the one we visited in Osaka was awesome, this one was not. It was solely for those of the girl-geek culture. That is to say, comics that focus on male couples. We then realized that were back near Otome Road. We left there and just started exploring more of Ikebukuro. It's a really nice area. Lots of shops, but it's a really fun place. To me it seemed like Akihabara, only with less maids, less crowds, and less electronics. After grabbing some lunch at Sukiya, we grabbed our stuff from the locker and headed back to the hotel.

We dropped our stuff off and chilled out for a bit playing Coropata, a DS game Tim bought here. It's like The Incredible Machine. Lots of fun with puzzle solving. We then began repacking everything so that we'd be ready to go in the morning. Once everything was put away, we set off to find some dinner and explore the area. Since we had only really seen the exit of the metro and the route to the hotel, we were amazed at the awesome neighborhood! This was Tokyo's bookstore district and they were everywhere. Not only that, but there were tons of cafes and fancy restaurants. Seeing that we only had another day left in Japan, we ate dinner at a fancy steak place. It wasn't too expensive, but it was really delicious. We then wandered around some more and saw all kinds of sporting goods stores. Stopping in a small bookshop, I found the limited edition copy of Yozakura Quartet volume 8, so I had to buy it. We then stopped at Tully's Coffee (which is basically Starbucks, only slightly cheaper), and then went back to the hotel. After testing out a new set of headphones I bought, I went to bed thinking about my plans for my last day in Japan.

Japan Day 18

Today was another day of shopping. I had been waiting this whole trip to visit Harajuku and Shibuya to get some new threads, and it happened today. First of all, though, we got seperated and lost looking for the right train. Tim had a map on his iPod, and it said Harajuku station was part of the Keio line, but that was on the Tokyo Metro. We took the Keiyo line on the JR and ended up going out near Yokohama. Once we got back to the right station, we hopped on the Yamanote line and then jumped off at Harajuku. It was crazy. It's hard to describe, but I got some photos. Just wall to wall people snatching up whatever caught their eye.

At first we were checking out some of the small local shops, but it was hard to browse and move around, so we took a quick break at Starbucks and then checked out H&M. Most of the stuff was the same as what H&M sells in North America, but there were a few items I had never noticed before. Once we were done there, we took off for Shibuya where we spent most of our day and evening. Shibuya was also pretty insane. People everywhere shopping. We got to see the famous Hachiko statue and the Scramble Crossing. I spent a good part of the evening taking photos. It was incredible. I also discovered that HMV still exists in Japan, and since I couldn't find everything I was looking for at Tower Records, I stopped in and grabbed a couple of CD's. After my stop at HMV I headed to 109-2 (there are two buildings named 109, one strictly for women's clothing, the other is mostly men's fashion) and bought some nice stuff at a store called Disrev. The staff was very nice and even gave me a free souvenir mug.

Once we had all met up again at the station, we headed back to Akihabara to transfer to the Tokyo Metro to get back to the hotel. However, once we stopped off, Tim and Patrick wanted to get some ramen. Since I was sick of ramen and still kind of full from lunch, I went and explored Akiba's Book Off. Ended up buying more CD's, but they were used so they were also very inexpensive. Once we all met up again, we caught the metro back to the hotel we were staying in. It's called Sakura Hotel and comes recommended by the Lonely Planet guide, but I don't find it to be all that great. As a plus, it doesn't have a curfew, but the place is pretty seedy. The location is also inconvenient for JR pass holders. In any case, another day of adventures awaits me tomorrow.