Well my new Head of DM starts on Monday, which means I can handover the sales activities to someone else. This is great because it means I can concentrate on the real work that I came here for. I guess the first 3-4 weeks will be handover anyway, so a more gradual phasing out of the activities.
Anyway, today was a bit warmer, and not windy for a change. In fact when I went out for lunch ("Asian" bento which means a combination of curries on rice), it was actually quite pleasant. The sky was bright blue, and Tokyo was generally a nice place to be. By about 4pm it had come over cloudy which was a shame. However, still a nice day.
No idea what it was like in Bangkok - if people post enough comments, maybe we can convince Sonia to add something here?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Winter
Well it continues to be cold around here. The temperatures are getting down to around zero most nights. A few times the wind is strong enough that it gets a lot colder, and walking down the street can actually be painful on the face. However it's quite dry so at least there isn't ice all over the place. Both Sonia and I now have coats, so at least most of us is warm. A scarf takes care of other parts, just leaving the nose and tips of the ears. And the hands!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Itineraries
Believe it or not he not only made a decision but he got it wrong. Typical! Instead of flying out of Tokyo on a Thursday night as originally planned we are now flying Friday night. Goodness knows what we will do with the days leave we have booked for Friday :-)
The tickets are booked and here is the plan
Tokyo - Brisbane Friday 7th March
Brisbane Auckland Sunday 9th March. We are conveniently arriving at 3.55 in the afternoon, so if anyone wants to come out to the airport it will make a nice Sunday afternoon diversion :-)
Saturday 15th March we are heading to Queenstown, returning Monday 17th. (Sorry Craig, even knowing that you were organising it I could not convince Andrew that church camp was what he really wanted to do with his one weekend back in NZ...)
We are heading out again on Friday 21st March and spending Easter in Melbourne before returning to Tokyo on the 26th. A bit of a flying visit all around, but it will be good to catch up with everyone again.
Let me know if there is anything anyone wants bought back from Thailand or Japan. Dried fish snacks anyone????
The tickets are booked and here is the plan
Tokyo - Brisbane Friday 7th March
Brisbane Auckland Sunday 9th March. We are conveniently arriving at 3.55 in the afternoon, so if anyone wants to come out to the airport it will make a nice Sunday afternoon diversion :-)
Saturday 15th March we are heading to Queenstown, returning Monday 17th. (Sorry Craig, even knowing that you were organising it I could not convince Andrew that church camp was what he really wanted to do with his one weekend back in NZ...)
We are heading out again on Friday 21st March and spending Easter in Melbourne before returning to Tokyo on the 26th. A bit of a flying visit all around, but it will be good to catch up with everyone again.
Let me know if there is anything anyone wants bought back from Thailand or Japan. Dried fish snacks anyone????
Thursday, January 24, 2008
An update
Well the snow arrived in full force. From about 6:30 in the morning yesterday, it snowed. It was still snowing when I walked back to the office from a meeting at 1:30. Then sometime before 5pm it finished. Unfortunately it was not really enough to actually settle on the ground, but it looked great while it lasted. I got a couple of photos that I will transfer from the camera soon, and will post these so you can see what it looked like from the apartment window.
Today has dawned sunny with a bit of cloud, so I guess there will be no more snow today.
Today has dawned sunny with a bit of cloud, so I guess there will be no more snow today.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Trips
Grrr - Sonia will not make a decision on which itinerary! She insists that it is my decision, except that I know from many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many years of experience that whatever I choose will at some stage be considered the "wrong" choice.
Oh well, here goes again!
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many,
many years of experience that whatever I choose will at some stage be considered the "wrong" choice.
Oh well, here goes again!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Weather forecasters
Are not much better in Tokyo than anywhere else. Usually the forecasts here are quite accurate, however the snow has not materialised!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Some more pictures
A shot of the crowds waiting to get into the shrine in Kamakura. It took about 30 minutes of inching forwards to get to the shrine itself.
Guards at the bottom of the final steps up into the shrine itself.
Lovely sign!
And looking back down the stairs at the next group of people who
And I've just found this picture of the gate into a small shrine in the centre of Tokyo - actually from last winter:
Guards at the bottom of the final steps up into the shrine itself.
Lovely sign!
And looking back down the stairs at the next group of people who
And I've just found this picture of the gate into a small shrine in the centre of Tokyo - actually from last winter:
Snow!
Sonia has just left to go to the airport for the week in Bangkok. As we walked to the bus we stopped at the local 7-11 to get some cash. There is a friendly guy there who likes to practice his English on me, and he was kind enough to pipe up and tell us that the forecast is for snow at 6pm tonight - in about and hour and three-quarters!
And one morning last week I got out onto the street and noticed that the ground was wet. Strange, but it had not been raining that I'd heard. I found out later that there had been a small amount of snow overnight. Not enough to stay on the ground, but enough to make it wet!
I have just got around to saving a few photos from the camera onto the PC.
This is one example so far for our new collection of dog photos. We saw this one at the shrine in Kamakura in the New Year week...
And these two of Mt Fuji from our trip to Gotemba. The first one is from the train station where we had to change trains part-way through the trip. You can see clearly that there were no clouds anywhere in the sky. Apparently this is a bit unusual.
Not long later on (we'd arrived at the Gotemba outlet shopping village), I saw that clouds had built up:
And one morning last week I got out onto the street and noticed that the ground was wet. Strange, but it had not been raining that I'd heard. I found out later that there had been a small amount of snow overnight. Not enough to stay on the ground, but enough to make it wet!
I have just got around to saving a few photos from the camera onto the PC.
This is one example so far for our new collection of dog photos. We saw this one at the shrine in Kamakura in the New Year week...
And these two of Mt Fuji from our trip to Gotemba. The first one is from the train station where we had to change trains part-way through the trip. You can see clearly that there were no clouds anywhere in the sky. Apparently this is a bit unusual.
Not long later on (we'd arrived at the Gotemba outlet shopping village), I saw that clouds had built up:
Saturday, January 12, 2008
First week at work
This is the end of the first week back at work in 2008. An interesting week in Tokyo, as many people are trying to ease into work as slowly as possible. However, we are trying to launch a call centre for Direct Marketing (you know, the people who call you at dinner time to try and sell you something). As such, we have been working with a few external companies to put the project together. This week was getting things finalised and a budget submitted to our regional office in HK for approval.
I have also been recruiting my replacement, and this came to close on Friday when the preferred candidate signed a formal acceptance of our job offer. Sigh of relief... This means that instead of double-hatting (Acting Head of Direct Marketing was now what I came here to do) I can focus my attention back on the projects side.
Sonia did her first week trip from Tokyo to Bangkok (and back). Seems to have worked ok.
The weather has been cold but sunny most of the week. Today dawned cold and rainy, so I guess everything comes to an end.
Grocery shopping this morning, and the gym this afternoon. Tonight off to dinner at the boss's house.
I have also been recruiting my replacement, and this came to close on Friday when the preferred candidate signed a formal acceptance of our job offer. Sigh of relief... This means that instead of double-hatting (Acting Head of Direct Marketing was now what I came here to do) I can focus my attention back on the projects side.
Sonia did her first week trip from Tokyo to Bangkok (and back). Seems to have worked ok.
The weather has been cold but sunny most of the week. Today dawned cold and rainy, so I guess everything comes to an end.
Grocery shopping this morning, and the gym this afternoon. Tonight off to dinner at the boss's house.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Holiday week
Well it has been a relatively busy holiday week here in Tokyo as we have rushed to keep up with the rest of Tokyo. Having been warned in advance by people at the office that most of the residents of Tokyo depart the city, we felt it was incumbent upon us to follow them. We searched carefully and decided on a couple of places where we felt it was most likely that we'd find them, and then set off on our way.
Sure enough, we'd correctly guessed that everyone in Tokyo would be at the big shrine/temple in Asakusa on Tuesday 1st January. We arrived about midday (45-minute trip on the subway to the end of the line), and the queue to get into the shrine was out to the roadway. Discretion being the better part, we hived off along the road, through small streets of shops and stalls, eventually coming to the shrine through a back entrance. Which conveniently led through all of the Japanese junk food stalls that had sprung into being on the grounds of the temple. After watching the crowds of people (resembling farm animals being herded into the shrine) for a few minutes, we sampled some of the food. Being the adventurous one, I chose a pancake that is grilled/fried with a big handful of shredded cabbage, an egg, and sauce. Sonia chose a plain baked potato with butter. We found a small area to one side of one of the pathways and joined a number of other groups that had stopped to "savour" the food. By the time we'd finished and made our way back through the streets and round to the main entrance of the shrine, we found that the queue had grown and now stretched all of the way down the road (conveniently closed to traffic) and almost to the main road (about 100 metres?). We took this as a good sign, because we now know where Tokyo goes on the first day of the new year.
Wednesday was shopping day - trying to find a winter coat at the sales. However, it turns out that all of Tokyo congregated in one of 3 or four shops. One attraction of the sales is what is called fukubukuro, which is sometimes translated into English as a "Happy Bag". This is a big shopping bag into which the company puts some stuff, seals it, and sticks a price on it. You take your luck with what you get. So if you are wondering where everyone is, they are at the department stores on Wednesday.
Sushi for lunch - there are a few places in Tokyo with the sushi "trains". This one was good, and we got through about 14 plates between us (each plate has two pieces of sushi).
Thursday, we went to an outlet village in Gotemba. This required a train trip of about 1 and 3/4 hours, with a change of lines after an hour. At the changeover point, we had about 30 minutes between trains and decided to have breakfast. The only places in site were a small noodle shop and a 7-11. Since we are now seasoned travellers, we decided on the noodle place, which conveniently had pictures of some of the dishes on the wall outside. When we got in the door, we found the vending machine where you purchase the tickets for the food you want. Which only had Japanese writing, and no pictures. I ended up with my head out the door trying to match the pictures to the writing. In the end we got two tickets for what we expected would be noodles with some pieces of meat. While I waited for the food, Sonia went off the find a table. Which was difficult since there were only four tables in the place, all within one foot of each other. When I saw them dishing the noodles I noticed the guy scoop a big spoon of gloop and put it into the bowls. Turns out we'd ordered noodles with curry sauce. Which turned out to be very nice.
At the outlet village, we were reminded of Cheshire Oaks in UK. Basically the same, but some of the brands were different. And full of everyone who was living in Tokyo. Did I mention it was freezing? This area is close to the foot of Mt Fuji, and I managed to get a few pictures that I'll load in soon.
The following day (Friday) we went to Kamakura - a place outside of Tokyo that one of my colleagues had introduced me to previously. It was apparently the capital at one point? Getting off the train at the station we ended up standing to one side as this stream of people from the train tried to exit the station at the same time. We must have waited almost five minutes as they filed past. Then we got out and walked our way towards the main shrine. Again, loads of people - I guess the people who went to Asakusa on Tuesday must have decided that they needed to hedge their bets and go pray at the Kamakura shrine as well. A number of people were dressed up in very nice looking kimonos.
After standing in line to get into the temple grounds for a look we made our way through and back out to the streets. Since it was past time for lunch we decided on Soba noodles - a place we had passed earlier. I am now at the point where I can manage to get food in Japanese, so we were not too worried about the menu that only had Japanese and no pictures. When you're in a Soba restaurant there is not much choice (would you like hot soba or cold soba?), so we ordered soba with tempura. When it arrived it was a big bowl of noodles in clear soup with a huge tempura prawn on top (maybe 15cm long). Not bad for JPY1300 each, although it is more expensive in this touristy part compared to the soba place around the corner from the office where I normally pay about JPY 1000 for noodles with more tempura (prawn, pumpkin, mushroom, and something else that I cannot identify).
Saturday has been out looking through a suburb called Hiroo for a supermarket that Sonia had read about. We found it, but I think the one I usually go to is bigger and has a better selection of stuff. Expecting to catch up with a couple of friends from UK for dinner tonight, although I am not sure if this will happen because they are not answering their phones. We will have to see...
Sure enough, we'd correctly guessed that everyone in Tokyo would be at the big shrine/temple in Asakusa on Tuesday 1st January. We arrived about midday (45-minute trip on the subway to the end of the line), and the queue to get into the shrine was out to the roadway. Discretion being the better part, we hived off along the road, through small streets of shops and stalls, eventually coming to the shrine through a back entrance. Which conveniently led through all of the Japanese junk food stalls that had sprung into being on the grounds of the temple. After watching the crowds of people (resembling farm animals being herded into the shrine) for a few minutes, we sampled some of the food. Being the adventurous one, I chose a pancake that is grilled/fried with a big handful of shredded cabbage, an egg, and sauce. Sonia chose a plain baked potato with butter. We found a small area to one side of one of the pathways and joined a number of other groups that had stopped to "savour" the food. By the time we'd finished and made our way back through the streets and round to the main entrance of the shrine, we found that the queue had grown and now stretched all of the way down the road (conveniently closed to traffic) and almost to the main road (about 100 metres?). We took this as a good sign, because we now know where Tokyo goes on the first day of the new year.
Wednesday was shopping day - trying to find a winter coat at the sales. However, it turns out that all of Tokyo congregated in one of 3 or four shops. One attraction of the sales is what is called fukubukuro, which is sometimes translated into English as a "Happy Bag". This is a big shopping bag into which the company puts some stuff, seals it, and sticks a price on it. You take your luck with what you get. So if you are wondering where everyone is, they are at the department stores on Wednesday.
Sushi for lunch - there are a few places in Tokyo with the sushi "trains". This one was good, and we got through about 14 plates between us (each plate has two pieces of sushi).
Thursday, we went to an outlet village in Gotemba. This required a train trip of about 1 and 3/4 hours, with a change of lines after an hour. At the changeover point, we had about 30 minutes between trains and decided to have breakfast. The only places in site were a small noodle shop and a 7-11. Since we are now seasoned travellers, we decided on the noodle place, which conveniently had pictures of some of the dishes on the wall outside. When we got in the door, we found the vending machine where you purchase the tickets for the food you want. Which only had Japanese writing, and no pictures. I ended up with my head out the door trying to match the pictures to the writing. In the end we got two tickets for what we expected would be noodles with some pieces of meat. While I waited for the food, Sonia went off the find a table. Which was difficult since there were only four tables in the place, all within one foot of each other. When I saw them dishing the noodles I noticed the guy scoop a big spoon of gloop and put it into the bowls. Turns out we'd ordered noodles with curry sauce. Which turned out to be very nice.
At the outlet village, we were reminded of Cheshire Oaks in UK. Basically the same, but some of the brands were different. And full of everyone who was living in Tokyo. Did I mention it was freezing? This area is close to the foot of Mt Fuji, and I managed to get a few pictures that I'll load in soon.
The following day (Friday) we went to Kamakura - a place outside of Tokyo that one of my colleagues had introduced me to previously. It was apparently the capital at one point? Getting off the train at the station we ended up standing to one side as this stream of people from the train tried to exit the station at the same time. We must have waited almost five minutes as they filed past. Then we got out and walked our way towards the main shrine. Again, loads of people - I guess the people who went to Asakusa on Tuesday must have decided that they needed to hedge their bets and go pray at the Kamakura shrine as well. A number of people were dressed up in very nice looking kimonos.
After standing in line to get into the temple grounds for a look we made our way through and back out to the streets. Since it was past time for lunch we decided on Soba noodles - a place we had passed earlier. I am now at the point where I can manage to get food in Japanese, so we were not too worried about the menu that only had Japanese and no pictures. When you're in a Soba restaurant there is not much choice (would you like hot soba or cold soba?), so we ordered soba with tempura. When it arrived it was a big bowl of noodles in clear soup with a huge tempura prawn on top (maybe 15cm long). Not bad for JPY1300 each, although it is more expensive in this touristy part compared to the soba place around the corner from the office where I normally pay about JPY 1000 for noodles with more tempura (prawn, pumpkin, mushroom, and something else that I cannot identify).
Saturday has been out looking through a suburb called Hiroo for a supermarket that Sonia had read about. We found it, but I think the one I usually go to is bigger and has a better selection of stuff. Expecting to catch up with a couple of friends from UK for dinner tonight, although I am not sure if this will happen because they are not answering their phones. We will have to see...
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Tokyo Christmas
It was an interesting Christmas day in Tokyo. It was the first working day of the week because the Emperor's birthday was on Sunday and therefore moved to Monday. Tuesday was a working day, except that for the expats it's Christmas, so you really don't want to be working. And for the Japanese, it's the start of the last week of the year.
I was invited to Christmas lunch at the boss's house, so after spending the morning in the office, I left to catch the subway. At the other end I ran into a couple of other people on their way to the same lunch, so we shared a taxi to the house.
Lunch turned out to be the full monty - an enormous turkey, baked honey ham, brussel sprouts (which I gave a miss of course), stuffing, potato, etc. Desert was apple pie, pumpkin pie, and Christmas pudding. Not bad!
Finished at around 4:30, at which point I headed back to the office to pick up my bag. Then a small dinner with a couple of New Zealanders that I knew from Wellington and who now live in Wilmslow (UK) but are in Tokyo. Dinner was at a restaurant set up by Francis Ford Coppola - the guy who made the Godfather trilogy of movies, along with many others.
I was invited to Christmas lunch at the boss's house, so after spending the morning in the office, I left to catch the subway. At the other end I ran into a couple of other people on their way to the same lunch, so we shared a taxi to the house.
Lunch turned out to be the full monty - an enormous turkey, baked honey ham, brussel sprouts (which I gave a miss of course), stuffing, potato, etc. Desert was apple pie, pumpkin pie, and Christmas pudding. Not bad!
Finished at around 4:30, at which point I headed back to the office to pick up my bag. Then a small dinner with a couple of New Zealanders that I knew from Wellington and who now live in Wilmslow (UK) but are in Tokyo. Dinner was at a restaurant set up by Francis Ford Coppola - the guy who made the Godfather trilogy of movies, along with many others.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Tokyo Festive Season
Well the festive feeling has touched Tokyo. This afternoon it seemed that all of the residents of Tokyo (and possibly the surrounding prefectures as well) had decided that it was time they went shopping. Only made worse by the wonderful sunny day, which they needed to enjoy by walking sooooo slowly. The sun was down by 5 (maybe a little earlier?) and the streets were getting colder so it was time to head home.
I got the news that Paul finally found someone... the pressure is now on, Jonathan.
I got the news that Paul finally found someone... the pressure is now on, Jonathan.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tokyo
Things are creeping slowly towards Christmas next week, although for the locals it is more about New Year. Apparently the city empties out a bit from 31st through until Monday 7th. Getting colder now - not sure what the temperature actually is, but it's very chilly in the morning on the way to work.
Nothing new to tell - parcels of Christmas presents are safely in NZ with one exception - Paul - which we missed sending because we thought he would still be in PNG. Then we find out that he's just arrived in Auckland. Oops!
Nothing new to tell - parcels of Christmas presents are safely in NZ with one exception - Paul - which we missed sending because we thought he would still be in PNG. Then we find out that he's just arrived in Auckland. Oops!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
What a difference...
...one day makes, 24 small hours... (look it up).
Back in Hong Kong for the weekend, arriving around 1:00pm today. Amazing how bad the pollution is. As we walked through the shops in Central, you could see the fuzziness of the air (?) across the space of maybe 50 metres. Probably worse for me having grown used to Tokyo's relatively unpolluted environment. As I sit writing this, I can look out the window towards the west where I should be able to see the sun setting. Alas, the pollution is so bad that you can hardly see the boats passing (M&D remember how big the ships are and how close they pass?)!
As soon as I got here today, we were off to the tailors to collect a suit that I'd got made. It fits really nicely, and they've done a great job quality-wise. Apart from a couple of chalk marks left on the jacket, that is. Three-button blue/gray with thin pinstripe. And four white shirts. This is the second suit I've had made in HK by the same crowd. They were recommended by a guy at the office who was impressed with their work.
Previously I'd got a couple of suits made in Bangkok by one of the tailors that most of Prudential seem to favour. The suits are good, but the quality is not up to the same standard as the HK guys. The Bangkok tailor is an Indian guy who was borne in Bangkok but spent a lot of time in the UK. Then moved back to Bangkok and married a local lady (if I recall correctly). Apparently he spends much of his day trading stocks in between consulting with clients!
I am now faced with a bit of a problem - I've lost just over 10kg and some of the suits are looking decidedly baggy. I think it will be back to the tailor to get some of them altered.
Tonight it's off to our favourite restaurant (Harlan's) for dinner. We've been there a few times and they know us well. To the point that desert is usually complimentary. However we do actually want to sample things off the desert menu, so we have strategised how we will jump in and ask for the menu before they bring out the desert.
Christmas presents are all either in NZ by now or on their way, with the exception of Paul and Jonathan because they are (1) troublesome to find something for, and (2) in countries where we cannot easily get the presents sent (Philippines and PNG). Now I just have to find a present for Sonia!
Back in Hong Kong for the weekend, arriving around 1:00pm today. Amazing how bad the pollution is. As we walked through the shops in Central, you could see the fuzziness of the air (?) across the space of maybe 50 metres. Probably worse for me having grown used to Tokyo's relatively unpolluted environment. As I sit writing this, I can look out the window towards the west where I should be able to see the sun setting. Alas, the pollution is so bad that you can hardly see the boats passing (M&D remember how big the ships are and how close they pass?)!
As soon as I got here today, we were off to the tailors to collect a suit that I'd got made. It fits really nicely, and they've done a great job quality-wise. Apart from a couple of chalk marks left on the jacket, that is. Three-button blue/gray with thin pinstripe. And four white shirts. This is the second suit I've had made in HK by the same crowd. They were recommended by a guy at the office who was impressed with their work.
Previously I'd got a couple of suits made in Bangkok by one of the tailors that most of Prudential seem to favour. The suits are good, but the quality is not up to the same standard as the HK guys. The Bangkok tailor is an Indian guy who was borne in Bangkok but spent a lot of time in the UK. Then moved back to Bangkok and married a local lady (if I recall correctly). Apparently he spends much of his day trading stocks in between consulting with clients!
I am now faced with a bit of a problem - I've lost just over 10kg and some of the suits are looking decidedly baggy. I think it will be back to the tailor to get some of them altered.
Tonight it's off to our favourite restaurant (Harlan's) for dinner. We've been there a few times and they know us well. To the point that desert is usually complimentary. However we do actually want to sample things off the desert menu, so we have strategised how we will jump in and ask for the menu before they bring out the desert.
Christmas presents are all either in NZ by now or on their way, with the exception of Paul and Jonathan because they are (1) troublesome to find something for, and (2) in countries where we cannot easily get the presents sent (Philippines and PNG). Now I just have to find a present for Sonia!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
And dropping even further
I saw the forecast for Monday - down to 5 degrees at 6pm tomorrow night! Ouch.
This afternoon I took a ride with some friends - a lady from work and her husband. We hired motorbikes and rode out to a beach - about 250 km round trip.
I'd forgotten how cold it gets on a bike, especially once the sun goes down. I hired a Honda CBR600RR - a very nice ride. Red and black, nice and powerful. See it here.
We rode out to a beach and stopped for coffee at a local cafe (not an NZ-style cafe), where there were a bunch of guys on customised bikes. It's difficult to see on the pictures, but these are large two-stroke bikes (maybe 400 cc?) that have all sorts of cosmetic changes including back supports for the passengers - a la "whale tails" on cars. As well as cosmetic changes, they've changed the mufflers (or removed them?). You can just make out a police car at the far end of the carpark (in the last spot). This police car follows the bike gang around to make sure they don't cause too much trouble. When the bikers decided it was time to go, the policy car starts up and follows them out with lights flashing - but doesn't stop them.
The next picture is of the second set of bikes to arrive - these were larger four-stroke bikes, therefore being much more serious. Apart from using the length of the carpark to do wheelies when they arrived.
After warming up with koohi (coffee), we rode up the beach to a lighthouse. The views were great but the pictures I took didn't work so I've not posted them.
Then back towards Narita (the international airport) and back into town.
Click here to see the points of interest on Google Maps. When it opens up, click the "Satellite" button to see actual pictures.
By the time we got back around 7pm, it was positively freezing. But I do remember what I enjoyed about riding.
This afternoon I took a ride with some friends - a lady from work and her husband. We hired motorbikes and rode out to a beach - about 250 km round trip.
I'd forgotten how cold it gets on a bike, especially once the sun goes down. I hired a Honda CBR600RR - a very nice ride. Red and black, nice and powerful. See it here.
We rode out to a beach and stopped for coffee at a local cafe (not an NZ-style cafe), where there were a bunch of guys on customised bikes. It's difficult to see on the pictures, but these are large two-stroke bikes (maybe 400 cc?) that have all sorts of cosmetic changes including back supports for the passengers - a la "whale tails" on cars. As well as cosmetic changes, they've changed the mufflers (or removed them?). You can just make out a police car at the far end of the carpark (in the last spot). This police car follows the bike gang around to make sure they don't cause too much trouble. When the bikers decided it was time to go, the policy car starts up and follows them out with lights flashing - but doesn't stop them.
The next picture is of the second set of bikes to arrive - these were larger four-stroke bikes, therefore being much more serious. Apart from using the length of the carpark to do wheelies when they arrived.
After warming up with koohi (coffee), we rode up the beach to a lighthouse. The views were great but the pictures I took didn't work so I've not posted them.
Then back towards Narita (the international airport) and back into town.
Click here to see the points of interest on Google Maps. When it opens up, click the "Satellite" button to see actual pictures.
By the time we got back around 7pm, it was positively freezing. But I do remember what I enjoyed about riding.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
11 degrees
That's the daily high temperature at the moment, but most of the time it's down around 8. And I assume colder at night, although I must admit that I don't stay up to find out!
Getting colder, but still lovely clear blue skies...
Getting colder, but still lovely clear blue skies...
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
All things sushi
Sonia and I had sushi for lunch before she left on her way back to HK and Bangkok. As we ate it, we realized how far we have come in what we now eat - surprisingly me more so than Sonia. As best I can recall the lunch:
Start with a soft tofu appetizer - served hot in a very small pot, with a couple of thin slices of mushroom on top, and a small prawn in the bottom. Yummy.
Then on to the sushi itself. Each piece is made separately in front of you, shaped by hand, a dab of wasabi (grated freshly in front of you), and the seafood on top. The piece of sushi is put on the lacquered counter in front of you, next to a pile of pickled ginger. There is a small saucer of soy sauce on the tray in front of you, but you're not really supposed to sully the excellent fish with soy. You eat each piece of sushi from the counter with your chopsticks, straight into your mouth. The chef stays about one piece ahead of you, so you cannot get much fresher than that.
The sushi part of the meal usually starts with tuna (very nice), snapper (or something like that), then a piece of squid, a piece wrapped in seaweed with a pile of salmon eggs on top, then more fish. During this part, a dish of miso soup with small clams arrives.
One of the sushi courses is made with an egg mixture - made with egg and fish soup, which is cooked and then allowed to set into a fairly firm cake - this is cut into pieces and put on top of rice.
Depending on the menu price, you may also get sushi made with sea urchin. Oh, and usually sea eel!
The sushi part usually finishes with rolls made with jellyfish and/or more tuna.
All of this is accompanied by Japanese green tea.
Quite a big meal, and I normally don't have a big dinner afterwards. I now eat everything except the clams in the miso soup. Not bad for someone who still dislikes broccoli and cauliflower! Sonia's not so keen on the sea urchin, or the salmon eggs.
Start with a soft tofu appetizer - served hot in a very small pot, with a couple of thin slices of mushroom on top, and a small prawn in the bottom. Yummy.
Then on to the sushi itself. Each piece is made separately in front of you, shaped by hand, a dab of wasabi (grated freshly in front of you), and the seafood on top. The piece of sushi is put on the lacquered counter in front of you, next to a pile of pickled ginger. There is a small saucer of soy sauce on the tray in front of you, but you're not really supposed to sully the excellent fish with soy. You eat each piece of sushi from the counter with your chopsticks, straight into your mouth. The chef stays about one piece ahead of you, so you cannot get much fresher than that.
The sushi part of the meal usually starts with tuna (very nice), snapper (or something like that), then a piece of squid, a piece wrapped in seaweed with a pile of salmon eggs on top, then more fish. During this part, a dish of miso soup with small clams arrives.
One of the sushi courses is made with an egg mixture - made with egg and fish soup, which is cooked and then allowed to set into a fairly firm cake - this is cut into pieces and put on top of rice.
Depending on the menu price, you may also get sushi made with sea urchin. Oh, and usually sea eel!
The sushi part usually finishes with rolls made with jellyfish and/or more tuna.
All of this is accompanied by Japanese green tea.
Quite a big meal, and I normally don't have a big dinner afterwards. I now eat everything except the clams in the miso soup. Not bad for someone who still dislikes broccoli and cauliflower! Sonia's not so keen on the sea urchin, or the salmon eggs.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
A Weekend in Tokyo
Sonia arrived on Friday afternoon while I was out at a Call Centre trade show (which is interesting when it's all in Japanese). We met up at the Park Hyatt hotel, which has a restaurant and bar that was featured in the movie "Lost in Translation". The view is amazing from the 52 floor - you can see most of Tokyo and what looks like all of the way down to Yokohama.
On Saturday we started slow with bagels and coffee (at home) then wandered around central Tokyo sorting out errands. Getting new heels on my work shoes turned out to be expensive - around USD 30 per pair! Then a walk to the bookshop (there is a small shop with all English books) and on to the supermarket. The supermarket is pretty good - a large range of stuff that we have mostly not been able to get in KL and HK. The afternoon included a good workout at the gym - on level 22 it also has a good view up towards Roppongi. Then we went out to an Italian restaurant: "Il Mulino". Very nice! But it did make us realise that Tokyo can be very expensive. Coincidentally we saw a couple of advertisements for apartments (for sale). Most of them seem to be between 1 and 3 million USD. Incredible the prices!
This afternoon we caught the subway to Omotesando, then walked down the road to Shibuya. A walk through the backstreets around Shibuya, eventually finding a cheap hole-in-the-wall place that did nice Indian food. Then back to the apartment, the gym, and dinner of chicken breast and salad.
Tomorrow it's back to work, and Sonia is off to HK on the late afternoon flight (and on to Bangkok on Tuesday morning).
On Saturday we started slow with bagels and coffee (at home) then wandered around central Tokyo sorting out errands. Getting new heels on my work shoes turned out to be expensive - around USD 30 per pair! Then a walk to the bookshop (there is a small shop with all English books) and on to the supermarket. The supermarket is pretty good - a large range of stuff that we have mostly not been able to get in KL and HK. The afternoon included a good workout at the gym - on level 22 it also has a good view up towards Roppongi. Then we went out to an Italian restaurant: "Il Mulino". Very nice! But it did make us realise that Tokyo can be very expensive. Coincidentally we saw a couple of advertisements for apartments (for sale). Most of them seem to be between 1 and 3 million USD. Incredible the prices!
This afternoon we caught the subway to Omotesando, then walked down the road to Shibuya. A walk through the backstreets around Shibuya, eventually finding a cheap hole-in-the-wall place that did nice Indian food. Then back to the apartment, the gym, and dinner of chicken breast and salad.
Tomorrow it's back to work, and Sonia is off to HK on the late afternoon flight (and on to Bangkok on Tuesday morning).
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