Walking Ixus

November 25, 2003

On to Osaka

After the Palace, we took a bus to the Nishiki market. It’s a big flea market that’s held on the grounds of the temple monthly. There was a LOT of cool stuff there that I could never bring back to the US. But if I move over there, I know where I will be getting a lot of furnishings from…

Then we decide to take a bus to Kyoto Station. It took forever to get there but it got us there in an hour. Kyoto Station is a really neat building that has a performance stage, two malls, restaurants, theatres and oh yeah, a big JR station.

On a whim, since we both have JR passes, we decide to go to Osaka. I mean, since we were in a train station, we should take the train, ne?

At least it made sense then…

November 25, 2003August 20, 2022

Kyoto Imperial Palace

After waking from my shochu & sento enhanced slumber, the rain stopped and I made it out to the Imperial Palace. I ran into a fellow traveller from the New Koyo in line to enter. We tried to contact each other when we got to Kyoto, but was difficult since we were staying in different places.

Kyoto was the capital until the late 1800s when the seat of government was moved to Tokyo. The palace is still here and it’s now used for enthronement ceremonies.

Notice how this building is chained off?

The grounds are open to visitors, but the buildings are closed which means admiring them from the outside.

It was impressive. Especially the gardens. Like my backyard could look like this!

November 25, 2003August 20, 2022

Rain and Foilage

Today (Monday) is Japan’s Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday.

Everything official was closed but everyone was out to enjoy the scenery that Kyoto is famous for.

I went to a famous soba restaurant that has been around for about 300 years in the same location. Yummy but pricey…

A really old restaurant with really fresh soba

After lunch, I took a stroll in the Eastern part of Kyoto in the big park and toured some temples.

And as soon as I left, the skies opened up. Rain and rain and rain.

When I got back to J-Hoppers, there wasn’t a lot to do because it was raining. Myself and two others wound up going to a Sento (public bath), grabbing dinner and ending the evening with shochu and beer at 0300.

That’s not good because I have to get up early on Tuesday to visit the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Getting up early….brrrrrr.

November 23, 2003August 20, 2022

Kyoto Arrival

I’ve arrived in Kyoto for the first of two “trips within trip” of this Japan trip via Tokaido Shinkansen, 2 hours, 43 minutes exactly.

Even though Kyoto City is just over 1 million people, I don’t find it as overwhelming as Tokyo. It feels more comfortable and the people seem more relaxed.

I’m staying at a guesthouse called J-Hoppers. It was founded by a motorcyclist who did one of those “Around the World” motorcycle trips. He was so inspired by the hospitality he received that he decided to open up a guesthouse to return the good graces he received on the road in his home town of Kyoto.

This is the nicest guesthouse I have ever been in.

The facilities are clean and new, the staff isn’t surly and there’s free food in the fridge!

There’s a common area where you can make meals and eat

Even though I’m in a dormitory (for $25/night!), it’s still nicer than my last place.

And the bathrooms here are more like someone’s home as opposed to a subway’s. They even have the heated bidet butt dryer toilet seat on all of the toilets! Wah!

November 22, 2003August 20, 2022

Otaku outed at Bandai Museum

Today marks 7 days until I gotta go back to SF so I decided to do something absolutely silly.

I went to the Bandai Museum in Matsudo where I saw stuff like this:

Right next to Matsudo Station on the JR Joban Line

Entrance on the other side of Matsudo eki

This is the Bandai Museum and there are features on every show and franchise Bandai holds.

Kamen Rider, the first from 1971 and the start of the franchise

The original Gorangers, the first of the Super Sentai series

The Gundam part of the museum is upstairs.

Here you are immersed in the world of Universal Century (UC) Gundam.

A 1/30000 scale model of a O’Neill cylinder that the Earth Federation built for space colonization.

One of several infographics that explains the physical attributes of a Zaku

Only nine? A Zaku looks heavier than that. Especially with its onboard nuclear reactor

A life size Zaku head with illuminated mono-eye

Zakus usually fall to this guy

These cosplayers are here for an event. Nice!

And of course, you’ve got the Gift Shop at the end where there are silly things to see and buy

Haro, pink Haro and a Zaku head…all plushy!

Do as the sign says, otherwise….”swatch!”

November 21, 2003

Last Train

I left the Jazz Bar at just the right time (23:55) because as soon as I got downstairs, there were people running toward the gates.

The last train was about to pull in.

Soooo many drunk people so early, including me! Ha Ha.

On the way to the platform, there were men in green police style uniforms (actually subway personnel) shooing people to their respective platforms so they wouldn’t miss their ride home and be stuck taking a taxi (which is a rip-off as opposed to the rest of Asia where it’s a relative bargain).

Men in green making sure you don’t get ripped off. Nice.

November 21, 2003August 20, 2022

Food and Drink

Under the weather

As documented earlier, I’m dealing with the aftermath of food poisoning from KL. I’m convinced it’s the roadfood that did me in because I had oysters last night and didn’t get worse.

I met up with Yumi last night and she took me to her hangout bar where we met up with some of her other friends.

We drank a lot.

1 Bottle: Nouveau Beaujoulais
1 Bottle: some unidentified French White wine

1 Bottle: Sake from Kyoto, the 2 liter size.

We ate a lot. A lot of sashimi and soup.

And then a nightcap in Roppongi. Another glass of a different Nouveau.

Not a bad way to end the short evening…

November 20, 2003

Tokyo Red-Eye

So I flew the red-eye from Singapore Changi to Tokyo Narita. Arrived this morning to cold and rain and darkness at 1600. We’re north now so it gets dark sooner.

It’s chilly, like NYC is right now.

And despite the proximity to the city, it takes over an hour to get into town from Narita. I’ve heard it takes longer by road.

The flight wasn’t without glitches tho.

My “space seat” broke (stuck in the bed position) so I was moved. I didn’t sleep well and the bloke I was moved next to was not happy he now had a neighbor.

Nothing was SQ’s fault, except for the broken space seat. Stewardesses were lovely and hospitable as usual.

In fact, she was the last person I saw before I passed out into fitful slumber on the plane.

Where I dreamt about another…

November 19, 2003

Maxwell’s

One of the many joys of Singapore are its Hawker Centres.

Basically big stand alone food courts with many many small stalls of incredible variety. Good safe food because these places are frequently inspected and tourists as well as locals eat here.

Although the most infamous hawker centre is Newton Circus because they stay open late to sate the bar and club crowd, Maxwell’s has been around longer and is preferred by most of the people I know here.

Think about it, two beers and three dishes to fill up two people plus lime juice afterwards for about S$14.00. That’s about US$8.00. Whattabargain!

November 17, 2003

Crap! or actually, lack of crapping

So after the KL trip, the four of us, Hugo, Sun, myself & Truc come down with food poisoning…According to what I’ve been told, it’s the classic symptoms.

Can’t crap, feeling bloated and kinda flu-ey. The really bad thing is that it attacks your immune system while it’s going through your body.

We figure it’s either the roadfood in a Malaysian hawker stand/rest stop or the oysters at the Pan Pacific seafood buffet.

In either case, I’m feeling like shite. First I’m too hot. Then I’ve got the chills. This is annoying.

If this had to happen, it should happen while I’m at work so I can use some of my many sick hours…