Big on Trips

Japan trip reports on Wordpress

2011-04-22T16:59:00.013+08:00

I am shifting the reports on the April 2011 Japan trip to a new site. The new site allows me to have larger pictures amid a faster picture upload time.

Please click on:

http://bigontrips.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/first-day-in-japan/

That's the first post. More will follow. I will try to post and upload as fast as I can but do bear with me if things are a little slow.

I hope you enjoy reading the trip reports as much as I enjoyed making these discoveries in my 15 days in Japan.

Japan in April 2011

2011-04-03T18:24:00.004+08:00

In a couple of hours we'll be off to Japan and I'll be taking my maiden flight on business class. To me, that is as good a highlight as the trip itself. Our itinerary as follows: Apr 4 - Osaka - Kyoto (Grande Vista Hotel, Shinsaibashi, Osaka) Apr 5 - Nara - Osaka (Grande Vista Hotel, Shinsaibashi, Osaka) Apr 6 - Yoshino - Osaka (Grande Vista Hotel, Shinsaibashi, Osaka) Apr 7 - Osaka - Nagoya - Takayama (Spa Hotel Alpina) Apr 8 - Takayama (Spa Hotel Alpina) Apr 9 - Shirakawago (Magoemon) Apr 10 - Okuhida (Yarimikan) Apr 11 - Matsumoto - Kiso Valley (Shimosagaya in Tsumago) Apr 12 - Magome/Tsumago hike (Fujioto in Tsumago) Apr 13 - Train to Kii-Katsuura (Hotel Nakanoshima) Apr 14 - Nachi falls - Yunomine Onsen (Minshuku Teruteya) Apr 15 - Kumano Kodo hike and spring matsuri in Hongu (Minshuku Teruteya) Apr 16 - Kumanogawa, Hayatama shrine, Shirahama and Osaka Apr 17 - Osaka? Kobe? Apr 18 - We have the whole day but nothing planned as yet. Flight back to Singapore late at night. Apr 19 - Arrive Singapore early morning.

Abandon Japan?

2011-03-15T15:32:00.003+08:00

Every night a horror story plays on the 9.30pm news. The devastation seems total and the bad luck in the chain of events never-ending for Japan. Where else in the world do you get a major earthquake, a deadly tsunami, a nuclear crisis and an erupting volcano all happening in one place? I feel terrible about what has happened to this beautiful country and its people.

Just like on Sept 11, I was transfixed by the images coming out from my TV - that rolling wall of black water, the houses crushed like sticks by water the force and speed of a jetliner. It seems as surreal as planes ploughing into the sides of a skyscraper in New York. Like something out of one of those cheesy apocalyptic Hollywood disaster flicks.

The reports coming out from ground zero depict an apocalyptic nightmare, a wasteland of mud and debris where life barely flickers. But like the blackest night, the pinpricks of light shine through from the people.

Stories are slowly trickling out into the world, of a people stoic, calm and orderly, of solidarity in the face of tragedy, of kindness to strangers. There is little hysteria and panic and blame. No one has time for navel-gazing. Given the fact that their homes were wiped out, their friends and loved ones dead or missing, that their basic necessities like heat, food, gas and water are non-existent, that they live with the shadow of radiation from a nuclear fallout hanging over them, they seem to be remarkably calm. Perhaps no one has time to fear or cry when they're all just busy with the business of staying alive.

But this is typical of the Japanese personality - this stoic acceptance, the pragmatism of living, of moving on. They are not open or demonstrative or exuberant as a people or a culture, but quiet in their actions. Yet these actions are no less powerful or kind. There is a lot of steel which we don't see. Which is why I know and I have hope that they will overcome this - the destruction, the state of their economy, the nuclear crisis. I know they will manage in their own inimitable way and move on.

I flew over Tohoku en route to Sapporo just two months ago. We flew along the coastline. Through my plane window, I saw hills and forests dusted with snow, farmlands painted white, the roofs of houses and dark grey seas far below. I know all those are gone now. It is hard to imagine that they can be wiped out just like that.

We are due to leave for the Kansai region in three weeks or so. This trip is to celebrate 20 years of marriage and we had planned to hike the ancient Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route as well as the Kiso Valley route. On the itinerary were nights in homely minshukus, old ryokans and gassho zukuri farmhouses. Punctuating this would clouds of pink and white as this is prime sakura season.

But now, with the fears of a nuclear fallout and radioactive dust inevitably enveloping the rest of the country slowly but surely, it seems sensible to let this option go and either postpone the trip or go elsewhere. At least, this is what friends, colleagues and family urge me to do.

Yet, I am reluctant to let Japan go like this.

People say to travel like this is the height of insensitivity since thousands have died and the whole nation is clearly in mourning. We should not be intrusive at this time.

But the counter argument is that more than ever, life has to go on, the Japanese economy needs to get back on its feet and while our travel is not going to make much of a difference in the national coffers, every little bit helps. And this is exactly how and what I see the Japanese doing - getting on with survival and moving on.

This is also the season for spring, a time for sakura and the hanami. This time has always been for one to appreciate the piercing beauty that life brings as well as its transience, for the sakura stays on the trees for barely two weeks in a year before the winds and the weather do their work. In spring, while appreciating the blush of the flowers, we understand how cyclical life is - that after a harsh winter comes this beauty. It is an affirmation of life. This year, more than any other in recent history, I think the Japanese will feel this more keenly than ever.

Not sure if it makes any sense but I feel a bit disloyal to abandon my plans now. Yet even as I write, nations are sending planes to ferry their citizens out, foreigners are queuing at Narita for seats on any flight out, some airlines are cancelling flights to the country, government advisories warn against travel, many people are cancelling travel to Japan, trains are packed with people leaving the capital and heading south. To a country reeling from such a huge disaster, whose people offer such wonderful hospitality, it really seems disloyal to just abandon the place. I can understand the fears fuelling this kind of exit rush, but I would feel quite sad to see this if I were Japanese.

I am in no rush to cancel my plane tickets. For now, I will wait and see. Because this little act of defiance at least, superfluous or not, makes me feel a little bit better about a situation that I can do nothing about.

Japan in winter - solo travel once again

2010-12-27T00:02:00.004+08:00

2011 is starting out on a great note for this fledgling travel blogger wannabe.

In about three weeks from now, I get the chance to see Japan blanketed in snow. And where better to see the whitest of white landscapes than in Sapporo, Hokkaido?

I am bracing myself for temperatures of -4deg Celcius! And lots of fresh seafood from the icy northern waters, steamy hot onsen in the white hush of winter and a chance or two to take a tumble down a ski slope! I will be in the company of other journalists, and once more, travelling solo sans the family.

Thus far I've seen Japan in her glorious crimson hues of autumn, in the verdant green of late spring and now's my chance to see her clad in white - just before my next date with her in spring where KH and I will see the transient yet delicately pale hues of sakura in full bloom.

I'm looking forward to this! I hope 2011 will be a year when my passport gets filled up and my bags remain constantly packed. Japan aside, we are already logging in dates in 2011's calendar for another Tioman reunion, or possibly Brisbane when Cait goes over for gym training. We'll see.

And as usual, I will be writing, logging in my experiences (slowly but surely - yes I'll get there!) in these pages.

Summer colours of Tioman.

2010-11-01T22:54:00.017+08:00

If I could recite the colours of June, they would be for me: ochre, azure, teal, aquamarine, mauve, emerald, sand. Then again, this was in Tioman, where it is presumably summer year-round. But yet, when the tropical squall hits and steel grey skies cloud overhead, the colours of summer vanish, replaced by white tip waves and a grey forbidding sea. The lightness fades into a heavy dull tones.

Writing about this now in December, Tioman seems like a lifetime away. But we had such a good time there that unanimously, we all decided that we would be back next year.

I had hesitated for years about going to Tioman. I was worried I could not take the 2hour ferry ride from Mersing since I was so prone to motion sickness. But Rita's stories were too persuasive and we were also looking for something different beyond the Malacca-KL route, so it seemed like a good time to try Tioman.

We paid about $800+ for two beachside doubles at the Paya Beach Resort which included the return ferry fare as well. Rita had opted to take the bus from Singapore but we opted to drive from Malacca down to Mersing, cutting across Johor's midsection via the hilly rubber plantations and pineapple groves of the Kluang district.

The drive itself was something new since this would be our first time but it proved surprisingly easy - just take the NS Highway from Malacca towards JB, turn off at Kluang and go straight (only one road) towards the east coast. The ride was picturesque and curvy at times, bumpy too. Traffic was light except for the occasional lorry. Neat orderly rows of rubber and pineapple stretch into the horizon.

We arrived at Mersing and spent the night at the Hotel Havanita, just off the main Mersing-JB road. The family suite was generously sized with a sitting area and two bed rooms with a smallish chaise-lounge which Owain took. It stormed really badly the whole night which left us apprehensive for the boat ride the next day but luckily, the next morning was clear and sunny!

I dosed myself with anti-sickness meds before the ferry ride. But the ferry left later than expected - almost an hour late! The ride to Tioman did not feel very long and along the way we passed some pretty small islands with a glimpse of of some tantalising white sand. The ferry stopped at Pulau Rawa about half an hour into the journey. We loved the clear blue waters and the little chalets perched on rocks but later found out that these were so expensive that they did not seem worth the money when we had had such a good experience at Paya Beach.

We finally arrived at Tioman around 2pm only to find the Tans already there and lounging around at the Sunrise Cafe. Lest you think this is a swanky place, it really is just a wooden warung just next to the jetty and along Paya Beach's main and only drag. But with cheap and good food, who cares! It really fits the laidback island atmosphere to a T and we have several fond memories of eating there. The kids lived on the Ramly burgers for practically the whole trip and Owain loved the chicken Maggi soup noodles. I tried to tell him these were no different from the instant noodles we get at home but he insisted these were better! Must be the salty sea air!

There was a bit of a commotion when we checked in though - the Front Desk did not have enough rooms for us. Seems like some overbooking was going on. They could only give us one of the beachfront rooms instead of the two that we booked. There was a deluxe suite available and we insisted they upgrade us to this one. Moral of the story - come in on the earliest ferry to secure your room, even if you already have a booking.

Deluxe suite was great - king-sized bed, king-sized bed/sofa in the living room, big jacuzzi and outdoor shower - all elicited wows from us. Until we realised there was a distinct smell of sewage coming in from somewhere nearby.

But that detail didn't bother us because our time was mostly spent outdoors in the water or on the beach. From this point on, the hours just rush past in a blue-green-ochre blur.

This is a tiny island within wading distance of the resort's beach. There was a sliver of white sand beach. The waters were crystal clear but the barnacle-encrusted rocks were a hazard and the cuts and grazes on the kids were testimony to this. Just a little offshore was the fast-fading remnants of a once colourful coral garden. While some still maintained their colour, most were already bleached. Sadly, it seems this is the situation all around Tioman, the island being just another victim of the relentless tide of global warming and warmer seas.

Island sunsets are often memorable. The ones on Tioman were no exception. Interestingly enough I thought the colours were muted instead of showy - no bright blazing orange balls, just a dull bronze that slowly sank into the sea, leaving a bronzed trail over water.

Dinner was sea food cooked in various ways, all of them palatable. Was the food really good? Or was it the company, the pink glow on the faces of the children amid the chatter of friends that made it so? We don't really care. Dessert was the incredibly cheap stick of Magnum ice-cream from the mini-mart down the lane, made even sweeter by the fact this was RM4 instead of SGD$4! Hanging out with ice-cream and friends, peering into the darkness of the sea and knowing the next day was another to be filled by more sun and sea... that was a really good feeling.

Morning belonged to the beach. Later in the afternoon, as the sky turned a bit grey with the promise of rain, we headed inland to the waterfalls and a lovely private pool carved out of rock. We had to cut through another smaller resort to get there, this was a more budget, laidback version of the Paya Beach.

You certainly don't see laundry lines like these anymore. They really brought back nice memories of a different, slower pace and time.

A short trek over a murky creek, upslope on a gentle jungle trail and there it was. The pool could fit us all in - 10 kids and 4 adults from both the Tan and Chong broods and another family, friends of the Tans. The rock pool was great! Water was clear right through to the sandy bottom on the pool, but icy cold and took some getting used to. Occasionally a crab or two would come out from under the rocks and give a good nip as punishment for us invading its sanctuary. There were other pools further up but these were deep and not suitable for the younger kids.

The day ended with another visit to the rocks of the tiny island adjacent to the resort. Striding on the sandbar with water pushing against my legs, the sun on my shoulders, my body unused to exercise felt sore. Still, I had the satisfaction of knowing that at least here I was getting more exercise than I ever would back home where it was so easy to just revert to my slug-like existence.

With the younger kids on a kayak pushed by the men, the older kids and adults had life jackets on as they snorkelled and swam around the coral garden. At least that's what most of them did. I was just busy flailing my arms about trying to flip myself over like a turtle on the wrong side and alternately clutching KH in a panic trying not to drown.

Poor man, on his part he was trying NOT to drown since I was using him as a life preserver. You can tell by now that water is not my best element and that it has been years since I actually swam and not just splashed about in the baby pool keeping an eye on the kids. Add that to the fact that on a good day, my hand-eye co-ordination could be said to be only 'developmental', and you can imagine the panic I was in to be floating (a) in the open sea and (b) with nothing but a life-jacket to keep me afloat and not fish food.

Still, when I did manage to get my gears in order, the glimpses that I caught of the coral garden revealed a world of pink, purple and blue, with flashes of yellow, silver, black, teal and orange occasionally darting past my line of sight. Sometimes these were glowing and luminous. Petrified though I was, I had to concede it was fascinating and very pretty. Just amazing. Who knew that life under the sea was really so colourful and lovely? And all this while I just chalked it down to snazzy cinematography in documentaries and skillful lighting in aquariums!

So, yes it was beautiful and pretty and all that, but it still felt a bit surreal to be floating in what seemed like a giant aquarium tank to me. It occurred to me, rather uncomfortably, that here I was at the bottom of the food chain.

The others loved it though and there was non-stop chatter about all the discoveries they'd made, chief of which was the sting ray they'd seen half hidden beneath a rock. Ivan found a dead baby black-tipped reef shark and that ended up on our dinner table that night as sambal shark - yummy!

By day's end, there was a pleasant soreness in my body, and despite the use of sunscreen, my shoulders were dull pink from the sun. But it felt good. It felt a bit sad to know that this was our last night and we had to leave the next day.

But leave we had to. Good to know that we all decided, pretty unanimously, that we would be back in 2011. There are still plentiful green nooks we have not fully explored, unknown coves to be kayaked to and just the sheer green-blue waters to plunge into.

Going home

2010-10-10T13:46:00.018+08:00

Morning at the Honke Bankyu.

Woke up to bright sunlight flooding the room. For a minute I thought I overslept till noon. The light looked like the morning was already well underway, but actually it was only 4am. The morning mist coated the hills around Yunishigawa onsen, lending it a rather dreamy vibe. It was lovely to sink back into the futon and drift back to sleep.

Here's the vine bridge and the annex across the river where I had dinner the night before. Breakfast, however, was in the main building. It was a cheery affair with a generous buffet. Honestly, I had no clue as to some of what I was eating but everything tasted good! I liked the shishamo, the soft eggs and the onsen tamago. Gohan, as always, in Japan, was light and fluffy - a huge improvement over what we get in Japanese restaurants here in Singapore. Maybe its the water.

After I checked out, I left my bags in the reception area of the ryokan and went for a walk around the river. I still had some time to kill before the bus arrived.

Spring had arrived and flowers were out in bloom. Dandelions, marigold... the riverbanks were a riot of colour. With the warm breeze and blue skies, the teal-green of the water, it was one of those days when you just want to take a deep breath and feel great to be alive.

Across the new red lacquered bridge, there was a tiny shrine and small cemetery directly in front of the ryokan. But what was a great find was the tiny pool in a hollow of rocks. That was a natural hot spring where hot water gushed up from a slash in the rocks. It was just too tempting to remove my shoes and socks and soak my feet in the pool. The fact that there were rough steps carved up from rocks leading to the pool and an absence of bath/shower facilities made it obvious that this was meant more as footbath. So I sat there, feet in water, gazing at the ryokan across the river, insects buzzing around and a slight wind played with the branches above. In all honesty, I wish I didn't have to leave, or that this moment would just freeze in time. It was a very idyllic spot on a lovely day.

But regrettably, I had to go. The shoes were waiting. The bus was coming and 6000miles away, the kids would be clamouring to go pick me up from the airport. My 'me' time was coming to an end. But I was glad it ended on that note, at the tiny hotspring pool, before I had to return to Tokyo, to Singapore and the rest of my life.

True to form the bus arrived exactly on time. We trundled back the same way we came and once again, my journey in reverse, I was alone on the bus ride. Back at the JR Yunishigawa onsen stop, the bus stopped its engine while the driver took a break. He sportingly took a picture of me with my pack on the empty bus. I also asked to skip across the road to take this picture of an old rail bridge and the lake. It was an incredibly scenic place.

Back in Tokyo after three hours, I had some time to kill before catching a train back to Narita. At Asakusa, I was again tempted to go to Sensoji but found the crowds overwhelming. I did make a quick round of Nakamachi dori for cheap souvenirs - in particular Owain's request for a tiny samurai sword before I took the subway back to Ueno where I stuffed the backpack into the lockers at the Keisei Ueno station. I bought my ticket for the Skyliner and then wandered for a bit around Ueno park, seeing the Kannon temple which the kids visited. I had missed seeing this in 2007 when I had to make the long commute back to Chidoricho station and Kangetsu ryokan to search for that blasted brand new Burberry we lost!

The Kannon temple was quiet. I took the opportunity to do what I usually do, write an ema tablet and hang it up. I was in good company. Around me were ema tablets written in Korean, in Chinese, in Spanish, in French, in Russian. It was a place of hope. I liked reading the messages. A Taiwanese (presumably since it was written in the long-form Chinese) woman gave thanks and expressed her love for her husband (newly-wed) and requested for a baby to come their way. One in French asked for blessings of happiness and health (deciphered from the remnants of very rough rudimentary French that I still remembered).

I asked for health, happiness, peace for all of us and for Cait to get into the national training squad. And so far, its been more than half a year and Kannon has looked upon us favourably! Perhaps that Taiwanese lady also has the baby she asked for!

The afternoon was getting uncomfortably warm. As I stood by the lotus pond near Shinobazu pond at the Benten Hall, an Indian man asked me for directions. Guess what, the guy was also from Singapore! For a tiny nation like us, we are either an incredibly well-travelled lot or the world is really a tinier place than I realised! This journey was just full of chance meetings with Singaporeans!

I could not leave Tokyo without a last go at some sushi. I remembered a stall in Ameyoko across from Ueno. I didn't have much time but I thought I could just make it. It took me a good 10minutes to walk into the market, past the fish stalls, the dried goods stalls, the garment outlets etc before I spotted the colourful stall front. This was a place we had seen the last time we visited Tokyo in 2009. I remembered the cheap plates of sushi-don in various mouth-watering configurations blown up in colourful photographs and was determined to have a go at this.

Oh so tempting... should it be ikura-don, or maguro-don? Or uni? I gave in to the bowl of pale pink minced toro with ikura. Sitting at the tiny stall, a paper cup of tea and gulping down the fish - this was what I enjoyed so much about being in Tokyo. Great food, inexpensive sushi, a street-side food experience in a lively market.

From here, it was a brisk walk back to Keisei Ueno, catching the Skyliner back to Narita. At Narita, I was foolishly forgetful and absent-mindedly tried to get past immigration with Owain's tiny samurai sword still in my bag. I was stopped, bag searched and scanned several times before they realised it was the toy sword. I pointed out to them that this was plastic, helpfully jabbing myself in the arm to demo. They hemmed and hawwed and made lots of polite noises. I realised I was making it difficult for them to say no. At that point, I really wanted to just give up the sword but they were extremely helpful and apologetic. The immigration officer walked me out back to the JAL check-in counters where the staff (with more animated bowing, nodding, smiles and rapid-fire Japanese) took the sword from me, dropped it into a cardboard box and checked it in.

It was a bit embarrassing and I was vexed with myself for making this sort of dumb mistake and inconveniencing everyone. But they were very good about it and I was escorted back through immigration without re-joining the queue. So that experience really summed up why the Japanese are so polite to a fault, and so well-known for their service culture! Had this incident taken place in another country known for hostile lengthy interrogations at immigration where visitors are known as 'aliens' (take a guess) I don't think I would have had such a gracious or kind reception.

So ends my solo trip to Japan. I really liked this trip. I liked being on my own and I had good experiences all round. I thank the Japan National Tourist Organisation, JAL and the good people of Tokyo Disney Resort for making this trip possible.

Now, looking forward - Japan in early spring 2011! But before that, look out for posts on Tioman and Hong Kong.

Where Heike warriors walked… and bathed!

2010-08-18T17:04:00.008+08:00

It was an overcast day but the grey clouds only served to add mist and atmosphere to the hidden valley deep in Tochigi prefecture. From Asakusa Tokyo, it took me the better part of three hours to get to the remote Honke Bankyu ryokan atYunishigawa Onsen. But it is well worth the journey.

From the Villa Fontaine at Shiodome, it was an easy walk underground to the Ginza station where I took the subway to Asakusa. What I love about Tokyo is the connectivity of their buildings with the transport system. Seems like everything is well-planned and thought out. Underground malls and passages connect both JR lines and subways with the major buildings.

From Asakusa Tobu station, with lots of sign language and smiles, I managed to buy a 2-day pass for travel in the Kinugawa/Nikko area which covered both my bus and rail journeys.

I was early and as always, it was interesting to see the cleaning crew on standby at the platform, and then bowing before making their way into the train to clean up the train and reverse the seats.

The train I took was a sleek nosed model called the SPACIA. I had to pay a supplement for this but I think it was worth skipping most of the smaller stations along the way. I was seated across the aisle from a group of excitedly chattering obachan, clearly out for a girls' day out at the spa. Again with smiles, bows and sign language, I asked one of them to take a picture of me and the tiny obachan cheerily obliged.

Passing the wide grey Sumida-gawa, I passed the usual views of Tokyo with all the ferroconcrete structures cheek by jowl, a small patch of grass and tiny playground, schools, workers in a cafetaria having a break, passengers waiting for trains on a platform. All that soon gave way to farmland, running alongside the tracks, bamboo groves, gentle green hills and clusters of houses with the occasional Jizo statue standing guard at some road junctions. As the train snaked deeper into the countryside, we passed mist-covered pools of water, fringed by dark trees. The further away from Tokyo I went, the more of an adventure I felt I was in.

Almost two hours into the journey, the train pulled up at Kinugawa Onsen. Kinugawa Onsen itself is a popular spa town among the Japanese. But I was looking for something a lot more traditional than the many blocks of hotels that ringed the area. So off I went, asking for directions again at the stationmaster's office, just to be clear that I was on the right track. Just outside the station is a large plaza with a series of bus-stands and right on time, with just a few minutes wait, the bus for Honke Bankyu pulled up.

Again, I am always amazed how much clockwork precision went into timing train arrivals and bus connections to fit just right. If this sort of mapping can be done in a country like Japan, connecting even the most remote towns so efficiently and painlessly, why can this not be done in a city like Singapore?

The bus trundled over hills and valleys, passing in the middle of sleepy quiet towns, over bridges spanning wide rivers. About half an hour into the journey, it stopped at Yunishigawa train station, a tiny station in the middle of nowhere. No houses stood in the vicinity. It was just the station and the river. No one got on. I was the last passenger on board. A bit apprehensive, I clarified once more with the driver, who made an OK sign and grinned reassuringly.

On we went for another half an hour - just me and the bus driver on a road that was increasingly narrow. On one side was the tree and foliage filled face of the hill and other, a drop into a steep canyon where a tiny river trickled by on a pebbled bed. There was some construction along the way and it brought to mind Alex Kerr's bitterness about the desecration of Japan's rivers and streams by constant damming.

Finally the bus lumbered into a one-street town and the driver nodded to the left - Honke Bankyu ryokan. I got down and there it was - a double story white and timber building at the background of a gravelled parking lot.

The ryokan must have been expecting me. A ryokan staff, dressed in a dark green kimono, hurried up to me with an umbrella. At the foyer, I slipped into a pair of slippers and the lady of the house who spoke halting English, welcomed me warmly. Someone struck a drum, a deep sound of welcome reverberated, marking the centuries of tradition at the ryokan to announce the arrival of a guest. I fumbled for my camera apologetically and with warm smiles, they struck the drum again.

My room was up a flight of dark wooden creaky stairs and timber beams. The main building, where I stayed, is a 300-year-old building with beams that look uneven in size and texture, floors that have been worn smooth by time and altogether, imbued with the tradition and rustic charm that I was looking for in a ryokan stay.

I had the standard room, which the picture does not do justice to. The sliding doors of the main entrance opened to a tiny vestibule where the slippers are kept. On a raised wooden platform, another set of shoji screen doors open up to the room itself. What you see in the picture is a sitting area with doors that open up to a view of mountain, forest and stream. The area even had a wooden trapdoor that concealed an irori - an indoor hearth. On the left, unseen in this picture, is the wood-lined bathroom with a deep cedar tub.

As the custom in a ryokan, I was given a brief orientation, tea was brewed and I was asked what time I would prefer to have dinner and breakfast. It was all a bit formal but once the kind lady had left the room, I skipped about the place gleefully, unable to stop grinning. I made it! I am here in this wonderful room, with only the rustling of leaves and the murmur of the stream far below.

Dinner was at 6.30pm so I had about an hour or so to check out the onsen. The Honke Bankyu had segregated baths, one an indoor bath and the other a rotemburo for ladies. The changing area was large, well-lit and came with bells and whistles such as hairdryers, warm tea, all the tiny amenities that ladies needed and even a weighing scale - which I steered clear of!

So here's the truth - no matter how many onsen you visit, you're still an onsen virgin until you've bathed with strangers. In earlier visits to Japan, there were only my girls with me in the bath. Here, at the Honke Bankyu, I met my waterloo. I tried not to look at them and I tried to scrub down as quickly as I could but it was hard not to sneak a peek. I'm glad I did because it was good to see that I'm not the only one with all the weird bits hanging out! You do get used to it after a while and once in the water, no one really cares if you look like the Goodyear blimp since everyone's just spacing out or talking quietly to friends.

After the bath, I suddenly realised how hungry I was. At 6.30pm sharp, I crossed the kazura bashi - the vine bridge that linked the old main building to the dining hall. It was all so atmospheric. In the deepening purple and mauve light of dusk, the hills were only dark shadows and outlines. Far beneath my feet, water with glints of light, gurgled past. The lights of the ryokan had come on, warm and orange. Dressed in my yukata, standing there gazing at the scene, I felt as if I had gone back centuries in time.

Dining was communal in a large hall laced with lanterns. We all sat on the floor, flanking our own irori where food was already skewered and standing ready in the sand, gently heated by a small fire. Next to me was my own personal tray of food - always so impeccably arranged and in tune with the seasons and setting. I had read that the food at the Honke Bankyu was unusual even by Japanese standards, so I was prepared for something really special. True enough, it did not disappoint. My favourite was the shiksa sashimi - raw deer meat sashimi, lightly torched. There was no hint of gaminess and neither was the meat chewy.

The waitress patiently tried to explain and describe each dish to me. As we tried conversing a bit, I heard a familiar accent. A couple seated across from me smiled and asked me where I was from. When I told them, they grinned: "So are we!"

They were friendly folk but ack, what are the odds of bumping into other Singaporeans in this remote, far-flung corner of Japan! We chatted for a while but it was clear that they were in a different social strata. Retired, well-educated, clearly well-heeled and well-travelled, they were in Japan tracing an onsen route through highly expensive exclusive ryokans. For them, the Honke Bankyu was a stop in an itinerary punctuated by the best ryokans Japan had to offer. For me, this was a splurge!

Midway through dinner, the owner of the ryokan gave a speech. All in Japanese so I was completely lost. She then went from one party to another, being the gracious host. Yikes, I was not looking forward to that! In fact, I was thoroughly intimidated. I could not speak a word of the language so past the initial smiles, she stiffened up a bit and beckoned me over to the other Singaporean party where she also invited a young Frenchman (but fluent Japanese speaker) to translate. It was all a bit awkward. French guy was cute though.

After dinner, it was a quick exploratory walk through the ryokan. The living space had a large irori as a centrepiece. Above it, near my room is a cosy library corner complete with leather couches, book-filled shelves and an internet corner. Back in my room, I found the table cleared away and my futon already laid out - an invitation to slumber which I gladly accepted.

Snuggled there, bean pillow beneath my head, I gazed out at the night sky - just an insignificant little dot tucked away in a far-away corner of Japan. I liked the feeling of anonymity and solitude. I was glad I made the journey to the Honke Bankyu. I liked the sense of anticipation for the next day's travel and the delicious thrill of not knowing what comes next. But right then, at that time, I could not sleep better anywhere else in the world.

Tsukiji - land of fish and swords

2010-08-03T17:56:00.011+08:00

It was grey but very bright at 4.30am when I woke up.

The plan was to head to Tsukiji market, load up on the freshest sushi ever before continuing on the next leg of my solo adventure to Honke Bankkyu. That was the plan.

But it was raining – the cold drizzly rain that drips down your neck and makes you utterly miserable – and it was soooo tempting to just snuggle back under the covers. Plus unlike other hotels, the Villa Fontaine actually offered a decent Japanese breakfast buffet!

I alternated between the mental tug-of-war and actual sleep before I jumped up at 5am, deciding it was time to haul my lazy protesting butt out of bed and get some seafood. I’ve been to Japan twice before and never had the chance to visit Tsukiji. Third time, I was determined, had to be the charm.

The Princess was supposed to come with me but repeated calls to her room went unanswered. So off I went. I was pretty happy to go alone – liked the sense of liberty.

The Villa Fontaine is very well-placed for a visit to Tsukiji – arguably the largest and the most famous fish market in the world. It was either a 15-minute walk or a 3-minute ride via the subway from Shiodome. Had the weather been more obliging, I would have chosen to walk since I could see more stuff above ground than in a train. I would also have loved to cover the Hama Rikyu garden. But it was wet and chilly, so subway it would be!

I got an umbrella from the front desk, hopped down the escalator and voila – the subway was just there. That early in the morning, there were less than five people on the platform of the Shiodome station on the Ginza line. I was the only woman. In any other subway, in any other major city in the world, I would have thought twice about this. But this was Tokyo. About the only other place in the world as safe as this would be Singapore.

Once out of the train, you know immediately where you are from the unmistakeable smell of – fish!

I followed the stream of people to the entrance of the market. A notice on the walls clearly state the new rules: limited numbers of visitors to the tuna auction, no visitors in the market until after 9am. I was already too late for the tuna auction so that was okay, but the other new rule – meh! I chose to ignore it but decided to make a mental note to keep out of the way and to look unobtrusive. Here’s where looking Asian helped – I think!

First impressions – lots of lorries, refrigerator vans, motorised carts, puddles. The place was like an airplane hanger – huge. And that was just the entrance!

I made my way to the outer market – trial and error, skipping puddles and dodging vans and trucks. The outer market is a made up rows of shops back to back. Here were the food stalls and sundry stalls that sold everything and anything that had to do with Japanese food – seaweed, condiments, wasabi roots, pickles, rice, utensils, right down to some really cool t-shirts!

But all that could wait. I had to see the inner market first before all the action died down.

Let me say two things right up front – the inner market is well worth a visit even if you can’t make it to the tuna auction because all of God’s weird and wondrous undersea creations are here – you just have to guess what they are if you don’t know Japanese. Second, wear grungy shoes. The place is riddled with puddles and slippery cobblestones. The motorised cart derby guys do their best to avoid making you roadkill in the market but dodging them may mean jumping into the nearest icky puddle – unless you are very nimble. So you have been warned.

Clams as big as my face, abalone as thick as my fist, wriggly streams of eels, bulbous puffers, all sea creatures great and small, spiny and smooth, they are all there and – apparently – all edible and waiting to be served on someone’s dinner table! The stars of course, were the gigantic tuna and the men who cut, sawed, hacked and filleted them to precise requirements.

The kids would have loved the dangerous-looking metre-long swords, the industrial saws, the axes, wicked-looking hooks and all manner of iron that served to reduce the blood-red meat to more manageable proportions.

The tuna auctions long over, I saw the silver, frost-coated torpedoes lined up on floors, covered by sackcloth. These giant fish looked heavy but the workers just hooked them and flipped them over with ease.

All around, people were looking busy, talking on handphones, writing orders etc. I presume these are the smaller restauranteurs and retailers checking out the day's best buys. Some did look at me curiously but no one said anything about the fact that I should not be in the market before 9am. There were other tourists also wandering about so I was not alone in flouting this rule.

After seeing all that fish, I went back to the outer market in search of my sushi brekkie. You can't get sushi fresher than this, straight from the world's largest fish market!

I saw the line outside Sushi-Daiwa, one of the well-known sushi restaurants in Tsukiji. They had queue poles outside which already told me that the place is used to queues. Plus the line was stretching right around the block! People were queuing in the rain for goodness sake. Look, I love sushi, but I don't love it that much!

There were faded small mom-and-pop shops which sold noodles too and you can tell these were authentic with workers still in their wellies at the counter slurping away. But I was looking for sushi and finally found a warmly-lit welcoming tiny place. It wasn't until I sat down at the teensy sushi bar that I realised that the place was full of gaijin! Wrong place to be since this is likely to be less than authentic and catered more to gaijin tastes! But since I was in already, I sat down. The chef could speak English and he sang while he worked - all in the name of showmanship I guess!

I ordered the largest set which cost 3600yen. Came with all the usual suspects including my favourites - including those glistening vermillion spheres of ikura, a long, generous slice of anago, the lushly succulent pale pink otoro and the orange morsel of uni (sea urchin). The set also included miso soup with large prawns.

Next to me was an Irish girl and her British boyfriend. They were sushi virgins. The girl ordered by telling the chef that she'll have what I have! When her set came, she didn't know what to do with it so I told her about the different types of fishes on her platter, how to eat it etc. But it didn't do much good - they tore apart each piece of sushi to 'share' and all the best cuts were left either uneaten , nibbled at or worse, spat out - very gross! I don't know about the chef but I thought that was an appalling waste of food. They were not the only ones. As I left, I noticed other platters left with many pieces of sushi/fish left uneaten. What a waste of good fish!

I know travel is an experience and an experience in a sushi joint in Tsukiji would have counted as an 'experience' to be savoured too. But to me, travel also means preparing oneself for the experience and if sushi was really new to these guys, they would have been better off trying out the stuff at a kaitan-sushi joint first. Culturally, they would also have gotten more out of the experience had they read up a bit and tried out a bit of the baseline sushi (eg maguro, shake etc) before coming to Tsukiji and trying out all the more adventurous cuts. Call me a sushi snob, but I think the fish deserve better.

Brekkie over, I indulged in some retail therapy and ended up paying too much for two t-shirts at 4500yen a piece. The prints were really nice though, and I did not see them sold anywhere else. I know, I know - I am trying to console myself!

From Tsukiji, I headed back to the hotel to pack. I had a long and slightly complicated journey ahead of me to the Honke Bankyu ryokan in the remote area of Yunishigawa, up at Tochigi prefecture. More on that in the next post!

At large with a Princess in Tokyo

2010-06-29T13:41:00.009+08:00

It was raining the night I left Disney for the bright neon of Ginza. A stuffed backpack on my back, a bulging Monsters Inc. briefcase in one hand and a Disney plastic lunchbox swinging crazily by its neon-green strap where I had haphazardly tied it to my pack, I must have looked quite a sight.

The Princess I was travelling with, on the other hand, looked spiffy in her colour-coordinated pink ruffled dress and coat and boots, pulling along not one, but TWO suitcases. We may be friends but we’re as different as chalk and cheese. We were teased earlier about how different we both were in spite of our friendship. She is the posh publisher who wears only colour-coordinated dresses and accessories, travelling with suitcases packed with glam stuff and accessories including curlers! I was the diametrically opposite independent traveler who is happy to live in scruffy jeans and tees out of a backpack.

That said backpack was now a deadweight thanks to the mad spree I went on in Disney.

Why oh why did I succumb to temptation and buy so many Disney souvenirs? With no KH there to stop me, I went on a Disney binge in the resort’s shops – buying boxes of Mickey crackers, Tinkerbell souvenir plates (porcelain for heaven’s sake!), lunch boxes, bags, key chains and all nature of paraphernalia. Thank God I stopped short of buying the blue Monsters Inc. helmet – though I was sorely tempted – because now, lugging all this behind me in a rainy net to make two train changes and one long commute to Shiodome was just not fun anymore. After struggling less than 200m into Ikspiari, the mall leading to the JR Maihama station, I sat for a rest.

The Princess surveyed me with amusement. This is why, she said loftily, I would never travel with a backpack. You have too much stuff. Go into the Disney store and buy a spare bag, she advised. The large one with Mickey and Minnie on it, she directed. It was canvas and looked like the tacky large ones that hold all manner of sundry, usually seen on rural trains in China. But apparently the Princess was not above one of these. It was on sale anyway, so buy it I did. But to my immediate dismay the bag was so large and unwieldy that it was practically dragging on the floor! Glumly I folded it back and added it to my already groaning bags. One more for the road.

We plodded through the rest of Iskpiari and I resolutely walked past the cute bakery that tempted me earlier, with the milk roll and oh-so-kawaii cow-print bag it came with. I ignored the colourful scarves on a cart nearby. I could NOT add to my already stuffed bags anymore. Wisely the Princess also decided not to stop and shop.

We made it to JR Maihaima. And here’s where I slipped into familiarity and navigated the ticket machine like a native. The Princess, being a Princess, left the ticket-buying to me. Once in, I had to scout around for a lift to take the Princess and her bags to the platform level. My turn to feel loftily smug. This, I told her, is why I would never travel with suitcases! It would not be the last time I would rub it in as our slow journey through the train stations to our hotel would be punctuated with attempts to look for lifts.

Once in the train to Tokyo, we chatted – about life, loves, present and past, children, travel, just catching up on the 20-odd years that had elapsed since we last met. Back then she was a sales executive and I was a fresh reporter working for the same magazine. Today she is a publisher of well-known travel magazines and I am a mother of five. She asked, not cruelly, “What happened to you? I always thought you were ambitious.”

What can I say? Life happens in ways you never expect.

It's not as if there were no doors open. But like the game shows, you walk through the door of your choice. Had I walked through those, my five children would not have happened and my life would have been very different. I chose a different door. Still, one man's booby prize is another man's lottery win. I think it’s where you are in the present that counts and right now, my life is in a pretty good place. I have no money, no status, no designer togs and my resume now reads as simply ‘mother of five’. But being where I was that night – sitting in a train on a rainy night in Japan, my kids waiting back home, I felt so thankful already, like life had already taken me further than I had ever expected. It was not grand, but it was fine.

In Tokyo station, after navigating streams of black-suited penguins again on the long walk from the Keiyo line and always pointing the Princess to the lifts, we found ourselves in front of glass-fronted station cafes, suddenly starving. She plumped for kare raisu (curry rice) and I opted for that tempting bowl of rice with a dollop of mentaiko next door.

It was not until I sat at the counter, salarymen tucking into steaming bowls of udon on either side that it hit me – I was really and truly in Tokyo. Back in Japan! It was hard to hold back the squeal of excitement so I just ended up choking a bit on the mentaiko.

The Princess later told me that was the best kare raisu she’d had. And this was just a mere faceless hole-in the-wall shop in the bowels of Tokyo station!

At Shinbashi station, the Princess met her waterloo – no lifts! She motioned me to go ahead on the escalators. I said drily that I would feel safer being BEHIND her! Nonetheless I went ahead and waited at ground level to see what she would do.

And of all things? The old damsel in distress trick. She batted her eyelashes and smiled winningly at a passing salary man who happened to speak a bit of English and he helped navigate her bags down the escalator, whereupon she thanked him sweetly.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle but the Princess had had enough. We’ll take a cab, she decided briskly. And so in less than 3 minutes, we had arrived at the Villa Fontaine Shiodome. The ride had cost us 710yen. Sometimes, there are perks travelling with a princess.

Minutes later, we had checked in easily. The Princess was miffed to be given a room on the second floor and tried to no avail to get her room changed. I, on the other hand, was given what I think is the best room – on the highest floor, in a corner where the view peeked directly out onto Hama Rikyu garden and Tokyo Bay! No way was I going to swop rooms with the Princess! It didn’t matter even when my room reeked of stale smoke because – check out the view! And never mind that the view was one of raindrops silhouetted against a black night, I was here in Tokyo and all on my own.

Now that was what mattered!

Solo travel

2010-06-27T21:04:00.004+08:00

I've been wanting to blog about this for the longest time but life was going on around me too much for me to sit down and reflect and write.

I want to write about my trip to Japan a month ago - feels like a lifetime ago already. But I've still got some commercial stuff to sort out so specific trip reports will take a bit longer to post.

For now though, I'd just like to put some thoughts down on my solo travel adventure.

The very first trip I took on my own was when I was 21, on a flight to Melbourne. I stayed there for a month with my aunt who became like a second mother to me. So does that count as solo travel? Not quite right?

Since then, every trip I've taken has been with my KH - best pal and other half - who has taken very good care of me on all our trips. When I consider that he's the guy who writes up the packing list, packs our backpacks and does our laundry, I wonder if I should just pack him in my luggage with me. But then again, he's also the same guy with whom I've had some memorable rip-roaring fights on those trips too. Never a dull moment!

But now, it looked like I would be on my own in Japan. For two days after the Disney junket, I would be alone. It was only two days. Big deal right? But to me, it was a big scary deal. I had not done this alone before. I had not gone on a business trip, let alone a solo trip. No one to talk to, no one to remind me of the essentials (like my meds, as KH always faithfully does) and no one to share my mistakes and wrong turns.

You'll be okay, KH reassured me. You know Japan. You know your way around.

He kept telling me that until 5am that rainy morning when I left the house for the airport. I left with a big stone in my chest - one loaded half with fear and half with exhilaration.

Luckily, I travelled with a nice bunch of reporters and I had a long-lost friend to catch up with. Helped me feel more grounded and a lot safer. The Disney portion helped ease me into solo travel.

For once, I had a whole room to myself. I could soak in the tub for as long as I liked after a day of walking in the parks and I did not have to contend with kids chasing me out for their own soaking! I could surf the internet past midnight and not have KH nag. I could have a decent complete meal with adult conversation without having to cut up meat for a little one or referee a fight.

Did I miss the children? Yes, in that I wished I could share my experience, let them see what I am seeing as well. Hence my videos at Tsukiji and Honke Bankyu. (To add, when Gillian saw the videos, she said my narration made it seem as if I was narrating to them there and then - as indeed was the case. I wanted to show them exactly what I was seeing) But at the same time, I relished my freedom from the mummy role. Does that make me a bad mummy? Or am I sending myself on another self-imposed guilt trip? Maybe there is a time and space for life to happen and maybe now at this point in my life, this is where I would like to be. Could there be room for all my roles? I would like to think so.

When I left Disney to venture into Tokyo and further, all I felt was a sense of confidence and familiarity - I knew how to navigate the train ticket machines with ease, I could find my way to the hotel and check in with no problems. The fear, the trepidation, apprehension - all vanished. Even a drunk lurching towards me at the hotel reception did not faze me - the savvy staff of the Villa Fontaine caught him a quick second before he could sway onto me.

Yes, I wished I had someone to talk to at times, or marvel at the scenery together, or soak in the ambience at the Honke Bankyu, a setting so ripe for romance. And certainly, when my shoulders ached and the backpack felt too heavy, how I wished KH was there.

And of course, there was the dilemma of photo-taking. No one to take photos of me. Or I of them. In Disney, with a princess for company, I took many pictures. Of her. But on my own, there was nobody. I resorted to putting on a smile, sign language and asking strangers to take my picture - with the train, next to a town mascot, in a bus. They always did. Bemused that I was travelling alone but gamely obliging. I always returned the favor though and volunteered to take pictures for them. And when there was no one around, I did the loony thing and took my own self-portraits.

All that aside, I don't think I was ever homesick or oppressively lonely and longing for company. How could I, when there were the long train rides where I wrote in my journal, listened to music, ate onigiri, drank Coke and looked out the window and just day-dreamed?

Perhaps being alone, after being surrounded by noise and movement and activity in my large family day after day, was like manna to one who had not known she was hungry? I said before that I think Japan is a place well-suited for solitude, as if there was a sense of deep loneliness that I found familiar, that appealed to me. And so it was. Being alone did not feel alien or frightening. Instead, I enjoyed it greatly, navigating my way around and making my own decisions. At times I felt so free as if I could just soar, and perhaps, never come back.

I feel like I came into my own skin back in Japan. Its another part of me I never thought I'd be brave enough to find. Included now, with my other identities as mother and wife and worker drone, is now a sense of newfound independence as a traveler. And rather like an addict, trapped in the rush of sensations of a trip, so have I too been caught up in the seductiveness of solo travel. Like a really bad itch, I long to do this again. And now, back in the humdrum of everyday life, I miss it greatly.

Hanami and the beach

2010-06-01T18:01:00.003+08:00

Last night, minutes before 4300 Krisflyer points were about to expire forever, KH and I booked our business class tickets to Osaka for April 2011. In celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary together, I think the theme for Japan in 2011 will be flowers and romance. Nice? I shall have to plan an itinerary centred around that. And for once, for me at least, we will travel in style - frog in a well that I am, I have never sat in Business class so I am excited about that.

We booked only the first leg of the journey leaving our options for the return trip wide open for now. We could go deeper into central Honshu to explore Kamikochi, Takayama, the Japanese alps and the Kiso Valley. Or explore the backroads of Shikoku and the islands of the Seto-Naikai National Park by car. Or wend our way up the northern coast towards Niigata, and the Tohoku region, ending in a loop back at Tokyo. We are also toying with the possibility of flying from Japan to Beijing and then returning from there.

So that will be something to look forward to. I am already gleefully anticipating the planning!

But for now, in the immediate future, there will be good old Malaysia for us in a couple of weeks from now. This time we are headed for Tioman where we will join Rita and her brood at the Paya Beach Resort. The kids are very excited to vaca with the Tans again after having a blast in Tokyo Disney with them a couple of years ago. We will be driving the usual Malacca-KL-Kuantan route, looping down to Tioman and then home.

Can't wait.

Back to Japan... sooner than I thought!

2010-05-13T09:49:00.002+08:00

Heading back to Japan sooner than I thought. I feel very thrilled and privileged to be invited by JNTO to be part of their media trip to Tokyo Disney Resort. We will get a go at the brand new Monsters Inc. ride in Disneyland. When I went last November, the queue for Monsters Inc stretched to 4 hours, to our dismay and disappointment! We had to skip this - who could queue 4 hours? So I am glad to be able to try the ride out now. KH is green with envy because he thinks I won't even have to queue - yes the perks of being part of a media group!

Also in the itinerary, a look at the beautifully themed (and very upmarket)Miracosta Hotel at Disney Sea) and a backroom look at the new Cirque du Soleil show in Tokyo Disney Resort.

I plan to extend my stay in Japan for a couple of days because no visit to Japan is complete without a dip in an onsen, preferably in a ryokan far from the madding crowd.

It took me a while to find the perfect spot. And this is in the remote valleys of Tochigi prefecture, 3 hours away from Tokyo and one and a half hours away from Nikko. It will take me at least 2 changes of train and bus to get there. What place, KH asked, would be worth the hassle of so many transport connections, just to stay for a night and then repeat the journey the next day in all haste to make the flight home?

I will not say more for now except that it is a very special, unique place among onsen ryokans in Japan. I have tried to search for this in the conventional travel books and come up empty. It promises a very interesting travel accommodation experience. And for me, travel is really all about the experience. So hassle or not, I'd go far to find these experiences.

Japan - some final thoughts

2010-02-28T21:27:00.004+08:00

You all know KH has got this thing about the Italian curse - believing that the second time you visit a place would not be as good as the first, and in fact, the trip might be so bad, it would mar all your original memories of the place. Happened to us when we visited Italy for the second time. First time we went, the weather was great, we had surprise experiences that we treasured (like a mass in St Peter's conducted by the late Pope John Paull II), awesome places like Venice, the Cinque Terra etc, great accomodation and food and so on. Second time we went, hoping to re-capture the magic, it all flopped. The weather sucked, the accomodation choices lost their zing. Even places that captured our hearts the first time round, like Siena, seemed to have lost the mojo for us.

So understandably, he was worried about the Italian curse manifesting as the Japanese curse.

I am happy to say that it did not happen that way. In fact, I think this second trip was even better than the first.

1) We covered a great deal more ground, saw more of Japan than we did the first time round. There is a great deal more to Japan than the usual Tokyo-Kyoto circuit. I would really urge travellers to go further afield even though there is plenty to keep one occupied for weeks in these great places alone. I liked that we had time in the great metropolis of Tokyo and Osaka as well as contemplative, quiet time in Koyasan. While we enjoyed the rides in Disney resort, we also enjoyed the rituals we performed at the temples and shrines.

2) Accomodation choices really shone this time. We had such good accomodation, in top-notch places, with prices that did not bust our budget. In many places, we lived really really well. Kokuya, Auberge Watanabe, Hotel Villa Fontaine etc all provided different, unique experiences in their own way. I am glad that we experienced the full range of accomodation choices that Japan had to offer - from hostels to family-run inns, elegant ryokans to business hotels.

3) We visited lots of 5-star sights - Himeji, Itsukushima shrine, the Peace Park in Hiroshima, Okunoin on Koyasan, Kenrokoen in Kanazawa etc.

4) Great unforgettable experiences - onsen and kaiseki in Kokuya, snow in Zenkoji, shojin ryori and our own personal hanare in Koyasan, henro and omikuji in the temples and shrines etc.

5) The weather for the most part, co-operated, except for unpredictable Kyoto weather and the one day it poured in Disneysea. I think, even on hindsight, the wet nasty evening in Kyoto which was the lowest point for me, was an interesting experience. At least, it would be something I would not forget in a hurry! But this is travel isn't it? You take the good with the bad and it all adds up to what makes your trip so unique and interesting.

6) We familiarised ourselves with the train system and the timetables, enough to understand it well enough to optimise our time. By the end of the trip, we'd become savvy enough to hop on and off the shinkansen like it was the Toa Payoh feeder bus.

7) We were lucky enough to grab a very good MAS deal. At S$398 per person, this is still hard to beat. Right now, looking at fares coming out of NATAS, the cheapest is S$559 and even that is far off from the MAS deal.

When we arrived home and did our sums, and wept at our credit card bills, we realised that we had spent the better part of $17,000. But if you think about it - 15 days, a wide range of experiences, great accomodation, train travel, all food and incidental expenses in - for a family of seven! It could not be considered expensive. Especially when I just came from the NATAS fair and saw tour packages of about 6D5N to central Japan going for more than S$2200 per person! Had we taken a conventional tour package, extrapolating from the cost of one of these, it would have easily cost us about S$50,000 and that does not include ALL food/incidental costs either.

So I am very happy to say that we had a great trip, many unforgettable moments, we ate well, slept in lovely places and did not have to take out a second mortgage on my little yellow house for it.

Would I go back to Japan? Yes. Maybe not immediately, but I do want to return. Maybe next time I'd visit the places I didn't get to visit this time - Kamikochi in the Japanese alps, Takayama, Iya valley in Shikoku, Kinosaki Onsen on the Sea of Japan coast, Kusatsu Onsen and so on. I think the next time I go, it will be in spring. Autumn is very beautiful and the red leaves can be dramatic and showy but next time, it will be cherry blossom season and hanami!

The crowds are all heading to Hokkaido and the place is really being promoted at the travel fair. People I meet who say they are going to Japan, all say they are heading for Hokkaido! Don't know about you, but I just dislike heading to a place where the odds of me bumping into another Singaporean are higher than spotting the brown bears of the island. Nope, I'll stick to Honshu or Shikoku or Kyushu for now. I'll leave the pastures of Hokkaido for when the Singaporean crowd dwindles.

But whenever that will be, you can be sure I'll be back!

Day 15 Tokyo and home!

2010-02-28T20:47:00.009+08:00

Last day in Japan!

Woke up to another great blue-sky day, which made me feel even more regretful that its my last in Japan. The buffet brekkie in the Villa Fontaine was really good value. It was packed with travelling business people. But at a table near ours, I thought I detected a familiar accent!

We wanted to take a quick walk to Hama Rikyu koen, just at the back of the hotel, across the road. We in fact made it as far as out of the hotel, right down to the cross junction with Hama Rikyu beckoning tantalisingly close across the road, before we decided we just didn't have enough time. But note to self - next visit to Tokyo, the Villa Fontaine will be my accomodation of choice again and this time, I will visit Hama Rikyu and also the famed Tsukiji Fish Market, 15 minutes away on foot.

From Villa Fontaine, we checked out and were soon walking back towards Shinbashi JR station. It was a weekend so the place was deserted - very similar to the ghost town that Shenton Way and our CBD turns into over the weekends. The black-suited penguins that hibernate in their glass cubes in the sky were nowhere to be seen. Shiodome felt abandoned and a bit depressing Or maybe that's just how I felt walking away, slowing leaving Japan by inches.

Getting back to Tokyo station and taking the Narita Express was easy. We used our JR Pass for the last time. I sat looking out as the train zoomed past, as if in a visual rewind, the ferro-concrete grey blocks of buildings, the unlit neon signs, then fields where kids were playing baseball, rivers and bridges, then bamboo groves, rice fields, red-bibbed Jizo on the road shoulder and all too soon, Narita airport.

Yes, can you tell? I was SAD. Only cheered up at the duty-free when I bought a box of mentaiko which was carefully packed in dry ice and insulation! Note: I have eaten half the mentaiko and every bite is bliss. The other half, I am slo-owly savouring knowing that, as with this trip report, once its over, its really over.

The plane ride was greeted with less boisterous excitement than before - perhaps everyone was feeling a bit down at going back home. The holiday was over. As usual, once on board, the kids were glued to the in-flight entertainment system so it was not difficult to keep them occupied.

We transited in KLIA for three hours which allowed us to grab some dinner. Too bad the food was overpriced and subpar (and I think I am being kind in describing it thus). We could not stomach paying RM16 for a plate of wonton mee which we could easily have gotten in the heart of KL for RM3 and at far better standards too!! What a rip-off. Settled for fast food but even that was like sawdust and cardboard. Either our tastebuds were spoiled after 15 days in Japan, or KLIA food was really an overpriced excuse for crappy food. Combination of both, probably.

Arrived in Singapore late, past midnight and took separate cabs home. The night was warm, so different from the crisp coolness that Japan had. Tigerlily greeted us with a meow. Home smells... familiar and comfortable! It always feels good to be home.

But how I wish home was somewhere in Japan!

Day 14 Miyajima and Tokyo

2010-02-23T22:14:00.018+08:00

Last day in Japan! Woke up to fogged up windows, a sea of scarlet and gold leaves across the road, the murmur of water, a great breakfast and regret. I felt sad to leave Auberge Watanabe after being so well taken care of. Yuki and Shigeo had been very kind to us and we were sorry to leave. I also felt sad to leave Miyajima - I'm glad we decided to splurge out and stay the night. More than that, I knew that our trip was certainly coming to an end with Tokyo in sight for the night and our flight home waiting for us the next day.

We left our bags in Auberge Watanabe and walked across the creek to Daisho-in. Unlike many other temples we've been to, Daisho-in had a very comfortable air of being well-used - like a neighbourhood parish church instead of say, the town cathedral. Instead of being elegant and reverential, it bordered on the quirky, whimsical and cheeky.

For one, even before we passed through the big gate, we were already charmed by the tiny stone statues of little bald monks in varying playful poses scattered throughout the grounds. These impish little guys were sleeping, praying, grinning, dressed as a samurai, practising kung-fu, sitting, meditating, holding gold ingots and so on. The kids had a nice time running around looking for ever more of these cute little statues. I think we found easily more than 50 of these scattered everywhere - under bushes, beside paths, next to gurgly streams, on a bed of moss and so on.

Even the many sub-temples on the grounds were more fun, like a huge gathering of every Buddhist saint and deity under the sun, in various little houses. I thought it was fitting that Daisho-in was like a summary of all the temples and all the things we did at the temples throughout Japan this trip. So we got the omikuji (in English!), rang the huge temple bell for blessings, ran up and down stairs to twirl the Buddhist sutras for luck, doused the Jizos for the last time, ran the entire 88-temple Shikoku pilgrimage in one hall, said a silent prayer at the Kobo Daishi sub-temple, descended to the bowels of the main hall in another attempt to 'gain enlightenmight' or good luck - whichever works best! And of course, I got my lovely henro!

I also got to say a nice goodbye to Miyajima, fittingly, high up on Daisho-in in front of Kobo Daishi's shrine, where the hills of Miyajima spread around and the silver glints of the sea a little beyond.

Down from Daisho-in, we collected our bags and said goodbye to the good people at Watanabe. Shigeo was kind enough to give us a lift in his MPV down to Omotesando. There, we bought a typical Miyajima souvenir - momiji manju - soft buns shaped like maple leaves with filling inside. I liked the one with chunks of apple filling while the kids gravitated to the chocolate and cream cheese filling.

We also chanced upon a stall selling skewers of deepfried 'fishcake'. Particularly loved the prawn and veggie mix. It was so good the kids were clamouring for more. Had to go back and buy about two more skewers.

Back on the mainland, we retraced our steps to Hiroshima station, collected our bags from the lockers and took the shinkansen back to Shin-Osaka. From there, we changed shinkansen to one heading back to Tokyo. By this time, we had grown a lot savvier about shinkansen-hopping without the need for reservations, managing to find the right platform, the right carriage (non-smoking! Lesson learned after choking for more than half an hour on two separate occasions where we ended up in the smoking car!) right down to the right door. We could have taken the shinkansen from Okayama, several stops earlier than Shin-Osaka, but figured that Shin-Osaka being the busier station, we would have more chance at getting seats.

And we were right! Shin Osaka was a lot busier than Okayama but being early at the head of the queue meant we could get our choice seats. The work day was clearly ending by then as hordes of commuters also crammed on board the shinkansen. It was so packed that people were standing in the aisles - pretty much like a town bus or a commuter train - except that this was the shinkansen and the commute was a 2-hour journey all the way back to Tokyo!

So passed our last evening in Japan with the day's dying light casting long shadows on the platforms of Shin-Osaka. We passed the two hours napping, talking, eating. The crowd on the train never got less.

By the time we got to Tokyo station, it was night. But the place, the nexus of train transport in the city, was still buzzing with commuters hurrying off to their appointments. From Tokyo, we hopped on the Yamanote line two stops down to Shinbashi station. From there, we walked about 10 minutes to our hotel. We walked on a raised pedestrain walkway that led us beneath the Yurikamome monorial line and through the heart of Tokyo's futuristic city, Shiodome, encircled by towers of glass.

KH and the kids were wondering what kind of posh hotel I was leading them to since this area of Tokyo clearly looked expensive. I had a nice chuckle to myself since the Hotel Villa Fontaine is a nice, value-for-money find. I enjoyed watching their jaws drop as they saw the sprawling marble lobby and the soaring atrium. I could see the calculator ticking in KH's head! But in truth, the hotel offered decent-size, comfortable business-class rooms in a fantastic location at a fraction of the cost of its neighbour hotels in the same locality. It was great value and unlike other business hotels, also included a buffet breakfast in the price.

Lobby of the Hotel Villa Fontaine

Once the kids had gotten over their excitement and KH's jaw had been lifted off the ground, we dropped our bags off and headed out for dinner. We backtracked back to Shinbashi station. Lots of action going on there with a lively nightlife and restaurant culture. Packed into tiny slots beneath the JR tracks are smoky bars and izakaya filled with penguins (the black-suited corporate warriors) of nearby Ginza having a post-work drink. It was very atmospheric and I wish we could have walked around more but stomachs were growling and the natives were restless.

We settled on a small izakaya filled with locals, the red lanterns outside the door giving a welcoming glow. We were led upstairs to a small room with low tables. As usual, we had to take off our shoes and were shown to a low table with cushions next to a window. On the menu - DIY BBQ with salad, different cuts of chicken, pork and beef. The grill was on the table. The waiter could speak some English and could produce an English menu! The other tables in the room were filled and the sizzle of the grill and the smoke of cooking meats filled the air. The mood was quite festive.

This being our last night in Japan, we decided to splurge it. It was a great meal, memorable because it tasted good and was a novel experience. It also ended up costing us more than S$250!! But okay, no regrets!

As with the end of all wonderful trips, I felt wistful and nostalgic on the last night. I hadn't even left and yet I felt like I already had. We walked back, satisfied and bellies filled. The night air was cool and the lights and neon of Ginza glittered. We were in the heart of Tokyo's (perhaps the world's) most expensive bit of real estate, nestled in a future city of steel and glass. What a nice way to end the trip - looking to the future. It would not be the end, I reminded myself, just as I did two years ago on the Narita Express heading back to the airport. I will look towards the future and plan for a day when I would come back.

Day 13 Miyajima

2010-02-15T23:37:00.013+08:00

Once in every trip, there are those really perfect blissed-out days when life seems like it couldn't get any better. Days you wished could last forever and places so lovely you wish you need never leave.

The Miyajima day is one of these.

I think for me, the greatest impression I got of the day was one of colour. Nature's palette really outdid itself in Miyajima that day. Gorgeous splashes of blue, yellow and red. The blue of the sky and the Inland Sea and the various hues of red - the maples, the five-storey pagoda, the Itsukushima shrine, the O-torii and the canary-gold of the gingko.

We started out with great weather. Most of the clothes had dried out overnight despite the lemon dryer we encountered. We packed enough for an overnight stay and left the other day backpacks in a large locker in Hiroshima station. Note that if lockers in the station were all full, you could try the lockers in the 2nd floor of the department store adjoining Hiroshima station.

It was easy hopping on a commuter train for the half hour ride to Miyajimaguchi. Once out the train station, the ferry terminal is less than 5minutes away. The JR pass let us ride for free.

Beautiful sunny hazy day with the hills of Miyajima drawing closer and of the greatest sights in Japan - the Itsukushima shrine and the huge O-torii floating in the glittering sea drawing nearer. Once out of the ferry terminal, we were greeted by the ever-present deer. We were warned by the guidebooks that these deer eat anything, even maps and tickets, so we were careful not to let anything remotely edible tempt them. The kids were thrilled to stroke them and coo over them though the mother in me worried about bites and fleas. They were everywhere - in the streets, lying on the sidewalk, as common as street cats are in our neighbourhood, and probably tamer. It was an interesting experience to see deer right in an urban environment.

The game plan was to go to Auberge Watanabe (about a 20min walk inland) to store the bag and then walk around, but the day was so nice we just lingered and took our time to slowly walk round the seafront promenade, stop at the beach for the kids to pore over a rockpool (they found a tiny hermit crab!) and then climb down the steps in front of the Itsukushima shrine to get a closer look at the O-torii. The torii itself was standing in water but it was low tide enough for people to walk around for a closer look. The kids of course, were more engrossed in looking for shells, crabs, and other tidal life than at the huge orange gate barely 50m away.

Back up on the promenade, the smell of oysters on the grill set our mouths watering. We stopped at the open window of a restaurant which was selling the oysters. Juicy fresh oysters shucked but left to grill in their open shells. You know you've got something good when the kids' faces light up and they start clamouring for "More!" especially since oysters were never really on the top 10 list of the kids' favourites before.

En route to Auberge Watanabe, we had to pass a shallow valley with a rushing stream. The maples overhead, the gurgle of the water and the deer on the banks of the stream all contribute to a really pretty picture. Auberge Watanabe is located at the end of the street just before Daisho-in.

It is a small family-run inn with only three rooms and run more like a cosy B&B than a formal ryokan. There is a small restaurant on the ground floor. This place is a gem. We were very very lucky to find it, particularly since I had booked right at the last minute.

Initially, I had booked an entire house at the other end of Miyajima to accomodate all of us. But then as things happened, it did not make much sense to book such a big place when our group was shrinking. Also, I really wanted to get a good ryokan/inn experience on Miyajima. But by the time I cancelled my house reservation and looked for something else, practically all rooms on Miyajima were taken. It was the peak autumn leaf season after all. By chance, I stumbled on Auberge Watanabe and was able to get a room. I had not heard much about this place before booking it, but as my experience went, I was so glad I did.

From the tiny lane outside the inn, there was a trail leading into the wooded area of Momijidani-koen. It was not difficult to walk and unlike the main streets of Miyajima, not crowded at all. The maples of Momijidani lived up to their name and provided a fiery canopy above us. The path occasionally opened up to gorgeous views that stretched all the way to the shimmering sea in the distance. We could pick out the landmarks of Sengokaku hall, and the crimson spire of the pagoda next to it, below us the grey-tiled rooftops of Miyajima.

From Momijidani, we took the cable-car up Mt Misen. The ride was broken into two legs - one in a tiny cabin that held just our family, similar to what you see on the Sentosa cableway, and the other a larger cabin that would have offered fabulous views across the Inland Sea had we not been squashed in one corner cheek by jowl with about a hundred other people. It felt like rush hour on the Tokyo lines all over again.

Up on Mt Misen, we oohed and ahhed over the view of the many islets scattered like green pebbles in the misty blue horizon of the Inland Sea. This is a slice of the Seto Naikai national park. It was hazy and hot so much that you couldn't really tell where the sea ended and the sky began. One day though, I would like to explore those islets in that hazy distance. On a sidenote, KH said he had sailed through the Seto Naikai Park once many years ago and certain passages were so tight and close to shore that people on board could look right into islanders' living rooms.

On the peak of Misen, monkeys and deer co-habit peacefully. As on the streets of Miyajima, the deer were everywhere. Paths and trails led down to other important temples and shrines that dotted the flanks of the mountain, leading all the way back down to town. I would have wanted to walk this route, passing the little temple where a fire has burned for more than a thousand years, courtesy of Kobo Daishi. There's that name again. Fresh from Koyasan, I was curious to see this but bowed to heat and cranky kids and took the easier way down - cable-car and bus.

It was already late afternoon by the time we arrived at the heart of town. The light was lovely then and gave the raw, unfinished wooden textures of Sengokaku Hall, a burnished glow. This long building was built to hold Buddhist sutras in 1587, but it was never completed. The beams and pillars were left unvarnished, unpainted and the wooden floors have been worn smooth by time and countless visitors. I liked the simplicity and the pared down sparseness of the hall.

In contrast, the five-storey pagoda on the grounds adjacent to Sengokaku was showy in bold fire engine red. You could see it for miles!

By this time, most of the day-trippers had left and the seafront promenade we walked on earlier in the day was largely quiet and empty. This was the secret Miyajima that people wrote about when they urged visitors not to just visit the island in a day, but to stay on for the night. Once the day-trippers leave, its really just you and the deer and the kami in the shrines.

Unlike the early part of the day, the Itsukushima shrine was nearly empty. We purified ourselves as usual, and went in. I tried an omikuji but for once, got a really bad one which is really rare for me in Japan so I sent the bad luck on its way and tied the scrap of paper to the lines. By evening, the tide had also come in so we were treated to the sight of Itsukushima as it was intended - floating on dark green water and beds of seaweed.

It was almost dark by the time we returned to Auberge Watanabe, not far from the shrine. Trin had fallen asleep and was a dead weight shared by Gillian, KH and I as we trudged back to the inn.

For some reason, just as we were seated at the table for our check-in formalities, Trin woke up and immediately went into a full-scale tantrum. Chalk it down to fatigue and possibly hunger, but she screamed blue murder. She was loud and it was embarrassing. I excused myself from the inn and tried to pacify her outside the inn but she wasn't having any of it and continued wailing and screaming. The inn's owner, Yuki, was concerned enough to come outside with us, wondering if she could do anything. But from experience, I knew there was nothing anyone could really do - just let her finish what she started. It was hard though, to hear the shrill fire-alarm screams and I was torn between feeling helpless and murderous.

Thankfully, in what seemed like an eternity but was probably 20min or so, she stopped screaming and we were able to go back to the inn to complete checking in. We were given the largest of the three rooms - Shiraito, a 16-mat room. The room was lovely. As you walk into the room, the cypress bath is on left of the glass-enclosed wooden corridor. Sliding shoji screens open up to a long room with tatami mats. On the other side of the room, sliding shoji screens open up to another long glass-enclosed veranda with casual seating.

Before and after dinner - tada, the futons come out by the time we finished dinner!

Dinner was in a private dining space on tatami mat with a low table. Okay, if we raved over Kokuya's food, let me just say that Auberge Watanabe's food really threw the game right out of the ballpark. Course after course of prettily presented morsels. The younger kids had bowls of niku udon but the rest of us enjoyed the full course. Deep-fried juicy oysters, hamachi sashimi, steak on a bed of straw mushrooms with a lemon butter sauce and more. Can I just say, wish you were there to try this?

After dinner, we took a quiet but chilly walk down to Itsukushima shrine again, hoping to see the shrine lit by lanterns. Sadly, all was dark that night. Only the O-torii was lit by floodlights in the distance. Even Yuki was puzzled as to why the shrine was not lit that night. That was our only disappointment in what was a fantastic day. Even Trin's major meltdown was not a real dent in the day.

The night was cold, but in our yukatas, snuggled deep under thick covers in our futons, we slept well. Outside the creek running below and the tiny fountain gurgled and burbled away.

Day 12 Himeji and Hiroshima

2010-01-22T21:54:00.013+08:00

What a great day this was! Filled with 5-star sights, blessed with blue skies and great weather. One a graceful castle with clean stone walls soaring up into the air, steeped in history and the other, one of Japan's, indeed the world's, saddest sites.

Bright and early, we backtracked to Shin Osaka to hop on a shinkansen for the 25min ride to Himeji.

Our first time checking out the unreserved cars, we got in line but did not realise that we had gotten in line for the Smoking carriage! Arghh!!

The ride was only 25-minutes but it felt like hours and probably took 3 years off my life. We literally sat in a blue haze, coughing, sputtering and choking as the air turned greyish-blue with passengers lighting up all around!

Lesson learned the hard way - look for RIGHT train car before we start queuing! Usually there would be at least one car for smoking and the rest are non-smoking. Just our stupid luck we got on the wrong one.

From Himeji JR, it was easy to hop on practically any bus to go up the 1-km long avenue to Himeji castle. There was actually a designated tourist bus for this purpose but we got on a city bus and it was not a problem.

Himeji is worth seeing because it is the only intact castle left in Japan that still stands despite the years of war, WW2 bombing, industrialisation and so on. Its not called the white crane castle for nothing, with its white walls and stone fan walls curving gracefully upwards, it is a very elegant structure. Crossing the first moat, you would come to a wide expanse of land (see picture on the left).

This used to be the site of the samurai enclave, now long gone. Imagine if you will, the town of Himeji encircled by concentric canals and moats. The outermost ring of houses and buildings taken by the farmers, then merchants and traders and crossing the main moat, the samurai and finally, right at the heart, Himeji itself. Designed to repel invaders by a series of corridors and passages and moats, Himeji never saw any warfare.

The day looked a bit gloomy at first but soon brightened up. There were no English guides available that day but it was alright - the brochure and the signages were excellent. No problem finding our way around. Picture on the left is the water gate. The size of the gate was deliberately kept a tad smaller than the norm to make it difficult for large armies to squeeze through, slowing their advance to the main donjon.

We liked the West Bailey building which included the famous long corrider and cosmetic tower where Princess Sen lived for many happy years. We also saw, to our amazement, winter sakura! Himeji is well-known for its cherry blossoms in springtime when thousands of trees burst into pale pink and white bloom. So I guess for us, having missed that gorgeous spectacle, the next best thing was to chance upon a small grove of winter sakura. See below - aren't they pretty?

After passing through many buildings, passageways and gates, we finally come to the main keep itself. The view from the lawn in front of the castle was fantastic. Climbing up and up into the higher floors of the main castle was challenging because it got steeper and steeper. Right at the end you're just hauling yourself up almost vertically. At the very top is a shrine and marvellous views of the surrounding city and suburbs.

Highlights of the rest of Himeji include the harakiri-maru, a small building with a well in the courtyard. This was meant, rather gruesomely, for ritual suicides. If the lord had ordered someone to commit seppuku or ritual suicide, he would be sent to this courtyard for his fate. The well was there to wash the corpse and the severed head. However, since Himeji never saw any battle action, the harakiri maru also never saw any suicides taking place. The kids were also fascinated by Okiku's well. In one corner of the grounds, there is a well which was supposedly haunted by the ghost of a maid who died after being thrown into the well after being severely tortured as punishment for a trumped up charge of breaking one of the daimyo's dishes.

From Himeji, it was another easy shinkansen ride to Hiroshima. It was late in the afternoon by the time we got to Hiroshima. We left our bags in the hotel and took a tram to Hiroshima's key sight - the Peace Park.

The twisted metal and skeletal dome of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall stood across the road from the tram stop. It was left standing as a reminder - for peace. It was hard to believe that more than 50 years ago, this area was devastated by a single bomb. The scene before us looked so idyllic in the evening - people strolling by the river banks, the autumn hues in full glory, couples sitting by the riverbank. Hard to believe it was all gone, flattened by the force of the bomb so many years ago.

One of the most moving sights was the Children's Peace Monument, and the display of many millions of colourful paper cranes folded by school children all over Japan. The story of Sadako Sasaki is well-known and I won't repeat it here. I had heard that every year, hundreds of new colourful cranes are sent to the park. I wonder if the children are told the full picture of the war. They should. I hope they are making the cranes not as a perfunctory exercise for a long-dead girl, but in understanding that war is a terrible thing and the worst casualties are the innocent children.

In Hiroshima, many of the dead and injured were children who had left school to work in the factories to contribute to the war effort. Most of those who died that day suffered severe burns as they stared into the sky, fascinated by the light of the bomb. Sadako was only two then. But the shadows of war are long and she died anyway, years later, barely making it out of childhood.

Okay, this is not a political blog and I am not a historian or political commentator. I come from a place which also suffered at the hands of the Japanese many years ago. I still recall stories from my grandmother about the atrocities that were committed in Singapore and Malaya then, and of course, who can forget the horror of what happened in Nanking. But being here in Hiroshima, wandering through the sad exhibits of the excellent Peace Memorial Museum, helps me see a different perspective and understand a little more. It's always easy to villify a race or a people for the sins of the fathers, but harder to understand and accept that the people on the ground were not all like that, that they had families as well, and these families also suffered from the ravages of war, that life cannot be simply squared off about who owes the greater debt.

War is war. People die. It is horrific. It is never fair no matter whose side you're on. What is scarier for me is to know that today, bombs more than 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima exists. And we are all vulnerable at the mercy of those who can press the red button. And these days, they need not be war-mongering politicians but terrorists.

We all think that our generation is past the horrors of the previous generations, that we are more sanguine and better able to forget. Or maybe not even care anymore. But interestingly enough, everytime (and I mean everytime) I spoke to someone to share what I saw in Hiroshima, there would always be this dismissive tone, as if to say: "well they started it, they deserved it." Not in so many words but it is what I sense in the tone of their voices, the raising of eyebrows and a shrug or two. But the truth is, when you see the horrors of Hiroshima, the blackened ruins of Oradour Sur Glane in France, the thin slick of oil floating in the waters of Pearl Harbour, as I have, then you know that nothing squares up in life and nobody really "deserves it."

The walk through the park was a nice one. The place was serene and the autumn leaves were beautiful. While everywhere there were memorials, monuments, even a large burial mound that contained the ashes of 70,000 who died that first day, the mood was not depressing or mournful. Rather, it was hopeful. These things were placed there for us to remember and reflect.

The highlight of the park for me was the excellent museum with very good explanatory notes for every exhibit. Many of the exhibits were heartrending - the bloodied and torn clothes of a child, the mangled remains of tricycle, a shadow burned into the steps of a bank, the small pathetic possessions of the dead – smashed glasses, melted coins, toys, exercise books and school bags that were singed, burned and so on. For those who did not die instantaneously in the blast, some children actually managed to walk home, bodies blistered and skin peeling off, only to die in agony hours later. And then of course, there were those who died months, years later, like Sadako.

It was horrific, gruesome and probably over-excessive in parts but also very, very sad. For me as a mother to read about the children who died, it was very painful. Even the older kids were moved. Gillian and Cait wrote their condolences and comments in a visitor book. Isaac was mostly silent as he moved around to read the different accounts. Trin of course was oblivious and Owain was more goggly-eyed about “Little Boy” (the name of the bomb) than the fallout and the tragedy that ensued.

But amidst the sombre faces, we did have a really good laugh when we saw that the first test site of the atomic bomb was a place called Trinity! And the highly radioactive greenish-blue bits of glassy stones left after the explosion is called Trinitite! Now that is so fitting! God sure has a sense of humour in letting me name my firecracker of a kid Trinity.

Hiroshima is a small town than Osaka and Tokyo and its central shopping area showed it. The place seemed to be quieter and more shops closed early. KH and I closed the night doing laundry! Which was a big mistake. We had to do multiple loads with the dryer and I had to work it with the clothes press since it turned out that the hotel’s dryer was a real lemon! It dried VERY little and very slowly. But when you have a full load, that could really take a while. We finally collapsed at 2am with damp socks, underwear, tees and jeans strewn around us and draped over furniture.

Day 11 Koyasan and Osaka

2010-01-12T22:48:00.014+08:00

It was dark when I woke up, stumbling over sleeping bodies on the futon to shiver while getting dressed. While staying in a temple, it was only polite and respectful to try to participate in some form of temple life, particularly in their prayer time or ceremonies. In Koyasan, some temples conduct fire ceremonies in the morning but here in Shojoshinin, it was just simply morning prayers.

But even that meant getting up at 5.45am to make it for morning prayers in the big hall. I was the earliest to arrive, after a few wrong turns in the darkened and quiet corridors.

I met the tall monk who checked us in from the day before and he smilingly showed me the way. I took my place on a bench at the back of the hall. Kerosene heaters were ablaze and creating a quiet buzzing in the early morning silence. One by one, other bleary-eyed travellers came in and sat at the back with me. We said little to each other beyond a smile and 'good morning'. Probably it was too early or the hushed atmosphere which just required silence.

I thought I would be bored, but surprisingly, I was not. It was interesting to hear the monks chanting, the occasional clash of cymbals or the deep resonating 'dong' of the bell. There was a soothing rhythm to the chants, like a pleasant, meandering humming river. In the semi-darkness with only the light of candles, sitting with strangers and listening to monks' chanting in the early hours of the morning, it was an experience well worth waking up early for!

It was almost 7am by the time the ceremony was over and time for breakfast. The kids were up by the time I went back to the hanare. Everyone was excited - there was frost on the leaves! It was the first time we had ever seen frost. The night before had been still but deeply cold but yet it was a nice surprise for all of us to actually see the silver-rimmed leaves and branches in the morning!

Breakfast was again strictly vegetarian fare. But it was good! I enjoyed the stewed spinach (in the middle of the tray) and happily accepted everybody else's offer of it since most of the kids did not like their veg. Isaac surprised me this trip by really being very enthusiastic about his food - in particular the kaiseki meal at Kokuya and the shojin ryori at Shojoshinin.

Breakfast over, we regretfully checked out of the hanare. I think all of us wished we had that little house for longer. But it was more practical to check out since we were going to Okunoin and we would not be able to make it back in time for the official check-out time.

Okunoin was vast, sprawling, spreading over hectares filled with towering ancient cedars, mossy stones, red-bibbed Jizos and the tantalisingly lure of legends. There was the tiny well which was said to be able to foretell your long life or predict death. If you could see your reflection in the waters below, you would be assured of a decent lifespan. If you could not, expect to say sayonara in two to three years!

Then there is this one on the right - a tiny stone post commemorating a nun who died several hundred years ago. It was said that if you listened hard enough, you could hear the sounds of hell echoing from below. Yes my kids just HAD to try this even though they were nervously giggling away! For the record, they heard nothing.

Okunoin was fascinating. There were small tombs belonging to individuals, names eroded by time and covered in moss, there were large tombs bought by corporate big names like Panasonic or UCC Coffee for their employees... everyone just wants a share of the land nearest Kobo Daishi in the afterlife! There was even a largish tomb shaped like a space rocket and another that had a jet airplane. These were found in the newer section of the cemetery when we walked back to catch the bus.

After almost 45minutes, we got closer to the heart of Okunoin - the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi. The path opened out into a clearing with a big hall. This is where you can make your offerings, get your temple stamp and calligraphy, purchase omamori and so on. This is also the place where temple staff prepare meals for Kobo Daishi. They believe he is still alive and hence will still faithfully prepare meals for him. This is also where eight significant statues are, among them six Jizos. Pilgrims are encouraged to drench the statues with water to provide succour and relief for the Jizos when they descend to the netherworld to do their job - protect and give relief to the souls of the tiny babies who have died, been aborted or miscarried, or children who have died in childhood. It is said that when these babies die, their souls go to a netherworld where they do hard labour. It is a cold, friendless stony place which is often dry and hot. Jizo would descend to help the babies and protet them against the nasty demons who are ever ready to torment them. Drenching the Jizo can be compared to fire-fighters who pour water over themselves before running in to fight a deadly blaze.

Just next to the row of statues is the bridge running over the Tamagawa stream, called Gobyo-no hashi. Embedded in the stream bed are a line of wooden stakes called sotoba, memorials to the drowned and miscarried babies. Once acrosss the bridge, photography is not allowed. But in the background, you can see the steps leading up to the Hall of Lanterns, or Torodo. Kobo Daishi's tomb is behind this hall. It is said we have to cross the bridge with a pure mind and a pure heart. I'm not sure if i filled this criteria but heck, we crossed anyway!

Just beyond the bridge are more tombs, in one corner, the tombs of emperors. Among them is a small building, about the size of a phone booth, with lattice wooden walls. Within is the Miroku-ishi rock. This is a rock, I think about 3 kg heavy, like a black oval oversized egg. The legend is that you've got to move the rock from its resting place to a ledge above. If you can do that, you have a pure heart and you're probably a good person since the stone is supposed to feel light to the good and heavy to those who are evil. The catch is, you can only use one hand to do lift it since there is only a small window, enough for one arm to go through.

Okay, pity pictures were not allowed because we all tried our best to lift it amidst much pained expressions, red faces, loud grunts and popping joints from arm sockets. Some of us came close but none succeeded. Except for KH. It seemed almost effortless to him. So now you know who has the purest heart among all of us!

With the exception of Trin, who had a mini tantrum, there seemed to be a solemn air pervading the Torodo and understandably so. Within the hall are thousands of bronze lanterns kept alight continuously. These are donated by devotees. Out of these, in the back of the hall, are two that have been kept alight for more than 1000 years. One was donated by an emperor and the other by an old woman who sold everything she had to buy the lantern.

Just behind the Torodo, shrouded in circling mists of incense and flowers, is Kobo Daishi's mausoleum. You could offer a lit candle here, or a lit joss. But we chose to just stand in silence as a mark of respect, contemplating the legend of the man and the whole trail of tombs that have led us here, to the heart of Okunoin. Another family was there. They had a man in his 50s with them and from the sound of it, he might have been suffering from Tourette's syndrome. Every once in a while, the silence would be broken by a sudden shout or agitated yell in Japanese. It was startling and rather disconcerting. The kids glanced curiously at him and asked why he was yelling like this. I said he could not help it, he wasn't trying to be rude but it was a condition he suffered from.

It took us more than 45min just to walk one way to the Torodo and about another 40min to walk back. En route, I got my henro from the Gokusho, the Hall of Offerings. We passed the memorial tomb of the famous 47 ronin and their master Asano. We took the path that led through the newer wing of the cemetery where tombs were clearly built sometime in the middle of the last century. Along the way, we passed tombs marked with icons of rockets and aeroplanes!

It was almost 2pm by the time we got the bus back to Shojoshinin, collected our bags, walked to the heart of town, got the next bus down to the bus station for our ride all the way back down to Gokurabashi and to Osaka. Lunch was in a little cafe perched on a hillside, next to the funicular station. It had great valley views and tasty meals. The kids loved the niku udon and the beef curry.

In Osaka, we had no problem finding our hotel since it was just almost outside the Nankai station. We just had to find the right exit, climb the stairs and right at the top, at street level, is the entrance to Hotel Ichiei! Convenient! Especially when you're tired from a lot of travelling.

I liked Ichiei for its interesting rooms and spacious layout - generous by business hotel standards. The kids had a full tatami-mat Japanese room with futon bedding while KH, Trin and I had a semi-western/Japanese style room. Both were tastefully done up and I liked the fact that they had internet connections but I was not very comfortable with the lack of security. Anyone could come up from street level right into the room floors without passing the front desk. But the price was certainly good value for the rooms we got and it was in the heart of Minami, easy access to nightlife, food and shopping.

It was raining but because the Namba area had such a warren of underground walkways, stations and shopping malls, we could easily walk from our hotel to the main shopping drag without getting wet. Once above ground, there were covered arcades with a bewildering array of food choices. We all pigged out on 100yen conveyor belt sushi for dinner. Cheap, not the best grade of fish and cuts, but satisfying. We had grand plans initially, to walk around the Dotombori area, but I think we were all a bit tired from the journey. With the rain pouring down, it just seemed easier to head back and crash for an early night. The next day was going to be day packed with 5-star sights and lots of travelling!

Day 10 Koyasan

2010-01-07T19:28:00.019+08:00

We left K's House early to get breakfast at this little ramen joint near Kyoto station. This was very near the bridge where I thought I had left my book the day before. It was not far to walk from K's House. The little shop was bustling with locals coming in and out for the yummy ramen. It was so small that there was no place to queue and anyone coming in just stood awkwardly against the door and waited for someone to finish. Obviously so, we had to leave our bulky backpacks at the entrance, taking up even more space in the already packed-to-the-gills shop.

Everything was in Japanese. See the prices on the wall. So we had no idea what we were ordering. We just said with big smiles "Ramen!" and held up our fingers to indicate how many bowls. But just as we were blur, the guy serving us was just as blur! So we were really communicating like chicken and duck! To his credit, each time the frustration got to him, he just took a deep breath, excused himself with a "Chotto!" and went off serving someone else. So we just had to be really patient and wait. Eventually, we got all our orders - much later than the other customers because of the communication difficulty. But the soup was thick and flavourful and the ramen nicely al dente - a great breakfast all round.

From Kyoto station, we took a shinkansen to Shin Osaka. It was easy-peasy to do with our JR Pass. Just hop on the train but be careful not to take the Nozomi which the JR Pass does not cover. Reservations not needed, we just made sure we were in line early enough in the designated queue for the non-reserved cars. From Kyoto to Osaka, it was only about 15min by shinkansen. Picture on the left shows us on the shinkansen platform at Kyoto station.

Once at Shin-Osaka, it was also very easy to just head for the basement directly below the JR station to catch the subway south to Namba where we had to take the train to Koya-san. Namba station is the heart and soul of Osaka's Minami district where the restaurants, nightlife etc are. The place is vibrant day and night both above, and below ground. A network warren of malls connect the Namba subway station with the Nankai station. Nankai station is a privately owned line and the Koya line takes us all the way to Koya-san, one of Japan's most sacred places.

We decided not to cart all our backpacks to Koya-san since we were only spending a night there and returning to Osaka the next day. So we had arranged enough of our stuff to go into one daypack and the rest of the big packs were stored in the left luggage section of Nankai station. It would have been better to get one of the big lockers but they were all booked out. Note that there are limited large lockers in Nankai Namba station, but if you had no choice - like us - you could easily just put them with the left luggage counter. Its pretty costly though - 600yen per bag per day. So with two backpacks, it cost us 2400yen just to store luggage!

Getting to Koya-san is really half the fun of the whole experience. The train, more like a commuter train, first cuts through the concrete urban jungle of Osaka. Then it leaves the wires and telephone poles and grey cement behind for green fields, tiny crop holdings, small townships. As the train gradually empties out, it chugs higher into the hills, clinging to hillsides of bamboo and cedar, stopping at isolated stations perched precariously on ledges overlooking rushing streams and forest. Who really lives here? Surely there must be people living nearby or a station would not have been built here. But apart from the lone wooden single-storey station building, there were no other houses immediately in the vicinity that we could see. The views spanned from valleys, hillsides bronzed in green gold from the afternoon sun, darkened into tunnels and opened out into blue, shadowed stations.

Koyasan is all about mist, legend, reverence and faith. The temples, the village that grew around it and the large rambling grounds of Okunoin, Japan's largest cemetery all grew out of faith and devotion to Kukai the monk, the founder of Shingon Buddhism, otherwise known as Kobo Daishi the saint who is even now believed to be not dead, but in deep eternal meditation in his incense-shrouded mausoleum.

As a Catholic, I have visited several Catholic shrines in Europe. This time, though not a Buddhist, I approach this visit to Koyasan with the same reverie and contemplation that comes with visiting a very holy place. But as with all pilgrimages, getting to a holy place is never easy or straightforward - in both the physical and spiritual sense. In Koyasan's case, getting to Koyasan for us entailed taking three trains, one funicular ropeway and one bus!

We arrived at Gokurabashi, the terminal station, where a red lacquered bridge spanned a rushing river and a red-bibbed Jizo sat tranquilly at one end. From Gokurabashi, we took the funicular up the steep hillside to the bus terminal.

From the bus terminal, no one is permitted to walk the last stretch to Koyasan village because it was a winding road meant only for vehicles. Our tickets from Namba Nankai covered the whole trip - train, funicular and bus-ride. But this was not included in the JR pass.

Koyasan village has one main street flanked by shops and temples. I had chosen to stay at Shojoshinin right at the end of Koyasan village because it was right next to the entrance to Okunoin which would be handy for late night strolls. We arrived under blue skies and golden late afternoon sun. Despite the long journey, we were all excited to finally be here. And as if in response to our great mood, we saw a shooting star cross the late afternoon sky, its tail trailing bright white against the blue. First time in my life I ever saw one and it happened here in Koyasan. Does it have any significance? We found our way to Shojoshinin with no problem. The bus-stop was right across the road. This is the side gate of Shojoshinin.

All seemed quiet but we bumped into a tall monk who spoke some English. He welcomed us warmly and checked us in, briefing us on the dos and don'ts before showing us to our room, or more correctly, our house! Yes, we got a private residence, called a hanare, all to ourselves!

Set apart from the main temple buildings, the hanare is a standalone house surrounded by gardens. From the picture above, the hanare stands out of sight in the greenery on the right of the gate as you enter.

Kids enjoying the kotatsu!

Like all Japanese houses, we removed our shoes before stepping up the steps into the house. There was a living area which came complete with a kotatsu! A kotatsu is a heated table with a blanket. People sit at the table with their feet beneath the blanket, warmed by the heat there. Very useful for cold nights.

There were three sleeping areas, easily demarcated into rooms with gilded sliding shoji screen doors. Futons were already laid out in readiness. The toilets (one western with a heated seat and the other a traditional Japanese squat type) was outside the living/sleeping area, along one side of the house. There was a traditional deep tub made of cedar for Japanese style bathing. A glass enclosed veranda ran all around the house's perimeter. Steps led from the veranda down to the little garden in front of the house.

All we could say was: Wow!

We had some time before dinner - which was served early at 5.30pm. Initially we wanted to walk Okunoin that evening but because dinner was so early, we abandoned that plan. Instead, we explored the first 300m of the cemetery and then made a u-turn to return to the temple.

What's so special about Okunoin, you might ask? And why do the creepy thing by walking through a cemetery? Well, Okunoin is fascinating. When Kobo Daishi passed away more than 1200 years ago, his body was interred in a mausoleum in Okunoin and since then, hundreds of thousands of Buddhist faithfuls have sought to have their remains buried near him. From emperors to shoguns, witches and monks, poets and even today's corporate warriors, anybody who was ever somebody in Japan, everyone wants to get in on the action when Kobo Daishi (as they believe) rises again because he's the only guy who can interpret what the Miroku Buddha says, so there is much jockeying to get into pole position among the dead.

Big corporations like Panasonic and UCC Coffee reserve lots here for their faithful employees' ashes. If you can't be bodily interred here, even a lock of hair, a fingernail clipping would do.

And as for walking through the cemetery at night, we just wanted to experience the atmosphere at night. It is said that Okunoin by night is especially atmospheric.

Walking through it at dusk with the kids, it was not scary at all. We 'purified' ourselves by washing our hands with water from the purification fount just before the bridge at the entrance. There were others also walking the path. The graves were old and mossy but the paths were kept in good condition. We didn't go far because we didn't have time. The stone lanterns, flanking the path, were just lit and the light falling as we turned back to go for dinner.

Dinner was served in a large communal hall. There were other guests there as well but we were separated from each other by screens. The monks served us dinner with a shy smile and then left.

Dinner was vegetarian - shojin ryori - no meat, no onions, no garlic. We ate sitting on cushions bent over red lacquered trays.

KH the neanderthal suffered for the lack of meat! But I thought dinner was great and very flavourful. I could not get enough of the softly fluffy rice with stewed beans or vegetables. The tempura veggies were also light, crisp and delicious with the dipping sauce and some daikon. The tofu, Koya tofu, was different from the usual tofu, being stickier and a bit more pasty. It took some getting used to, but it was good. The younger kids had the cream of veggie soup in addition to their servings.

After dinner, the children indulged in their favourite Japanese activity - bathing! After soaking in the hot bath, they huddled under the kotatsu and watched tv while KH and I wore our yukatas and tanzen and headed off for a night walk through Okunoin. We had a tiny torch but did not need to use it. The path was lit by occasional streetlamps and the orange light from the stone lanterns. We could barely see the graves on either side of the path.

I did not get any eerie feelings. The only time I felt a bit nervous was a swath of path that was not lit by any streetlamp. We used the torch and that was the only time I felt like hurrying.

We didn't go far because it was a 45-minute walk all the way into the inner sanctuary of Okunoin. So we turned back.

The night was cold and very still. There was no wind, no movement in the air, just a deep chill. I felt a nice sense of peace sitting out on the veranda after the walk. There was a cemetery, more than a thousand years old, right next door, darkness was all around, but the lights from the hanare were warm and comforting and the stars in the night sky sparkled brightly. I had never seen so many stars. It occurred to me that dressed in my yukata, hair pulled up in a knot, sitting on the veranda of a Japanese house, that I could not be more "in the moment". Perhaps hundreds of years ago, there could well be another woman dressed like me, sitting the same way and staring out at the same timeless stars. I liked the sense of parallelism.

Japan trip picture gallery

2010-01-06T23:47:00.002+08:00

Okay, I am interrupting the trip reports on Japan to say that if you would like to see more pictures of our time in Japan, you can do so at my public gallery in Picasa.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chongbrood

The pictures of our trip in 2007 are also posted there, so be careful you don't get mixed up when you browse the pictures. Note that not all the pictures are uploaded as yet - yes I know I am very slow, blame it on the festive period, new school terms and being mom to five kids! So please check in from time to time to see new albums.

I am doing it like this because it is just too time-consuming to post many pictures with every blog entry. The system is really crawling and for some weird reason, spacing is always affected, making my entries look a bit untidy - which gets on my anal retentive nerves. Also, we just have too many pictures to put them all on the blog. And some are just too nice to leave out.

I will still post some pictures but it might not be as many. Hopefully with this move, I will be able to post the rest of the trip reports more efficiently and a lot faster! KH - slave driver - always grumbles that I am taking too long. It chafes at me too - especially since my backlog has grown with the recent Malaysia trip and I'd like to add hotel and trip reports on that too.

Day 9 Kyoto

2010-01-06T19:25:00.016+08:00

Let me say upfront that this is one of the worst days of the trip for me. At least, it ended like that.
The day started out bright and sunny as we made our way via subway and bus to Daitokuji. This sprawling temple complex is in the northwestern corner of Kyoto, far from the main tourist drags of Higashiyama. We expected it to be quieter and so it was.

The first of the temples we visited was Korin-in, built between 1521 and 1533. It was quiet enough that we could enjoy the pared down karesansui, the dry landscape garden. We sat there for a while to reflect and listen to each other's interpretation on what the design was all about. Someone said it looked like islands in the sea. I don't know, but it was peaceful just sitting there and thinking for a bit. A nice comma in the midst of all the travel.

We chose Korin-in because I wanted the children to visit at least one Zen rock garden. After all, sand and stone are not exactly what comes to mind when the word garden is mentioned. Yet the starkness of the karesansui is precisely what lends it open to interpretation and in my opinion, any garden that engages the senses and pleases the eye would have done what it was designed to do. In the sand and the stones and their careful placement, one can find meaning if one pauses to think yet it can also be enjoyed for its clean, spare and austere lines.

The obvious choice for most visitors would be to visit the iconic but very crowded Ryoanji - also in the northwestern corner of Kyoto. But that would mean battling crowds again and from all the write-ups I've seen, this means the noise factor, the crowds etc will all detract from giving us the space and serenity needed to contemplate the garden. Hence we decided on Korin-in. Less well-known, quieter but also intriguing.

Korin-in also had a lovely mossy garden running along its sides. The reds, not at their peak, were not showy, but the pale green and orange-red blends to a very soothing combination.

From the gravel and rock Zen garden of Korin-in, we walked past various other temples and sub-temples. Daitokuji was large but most ofthe other temples, hidden behind ochre walls and bamboo, were closed to the public.

It didn't really matter to us because we were heading, along with a growing steady stream of visitors, to the small but very pretty Koto-in.

Koto-in is built by a famous samurai known to be an expert in the tea ceremony. Sansai, who built this temple, is known to be one of the seven best pupils of the tea ceremony master Senno Rikyu. Well, I don't know much about the tea ceremony, but the gardens are really pretty. We were not the only ones. The place was pretty crowded but it was not the sort of people crush you would otherwise get at Higashiyama. In certain parts of the garden, the trees and foliage are at full autumn bloom and the reds get so intense that they seem almost luminescent and unreal. You almost feel as if someone did a Photoshop on these colours.

We left Koto-in while Trin had a meltdown. While trying to calm her as we carried her down one of the lanes leaving the Daitokuji complex, a cheerful voice said: "Little baby, why are you crying?" You could hear the big smile in the voice as we turned to find a monk, quite colourfully and regally garbed, complete with headgear, beaming at Trin as he patted her on the head and went on his way.

It was a fleeting encounter but it left a nice warm feeling with us. Outside Daitokuji, we paused for a quick lunch. As usual, we raided the combini nearby. But this time, we ate at the bus-stop, attracting some curious stares from passengers in buses that stopped there. It was very cold!

Negotiating the city buses was not difficult. The bus guide was useful. We had no difficulty finding our way to our next stop - Kinkakuji - the golden pavilion. The crowd at the Kinkakuji bus-stop left us in doubt which was the right stop to alight at!

The approach to the temple was beautiful with maples and gingkoes in full spectacular bloom. It was crowded as befitted a star attraction like Kinkakuji, but because the grounds are big, we never felt hemmed in.

Kinkakuji literally glowed. Even as the skies were grey and a fine drizzle misted the air, the building seemed to have a luminous sheen to it. This is not original of course, but a reproduction, since the original was burned to the ground by a monk about 50 years ago. Still, the scene of Kinkakuji reflected in the still waters of the pond is a classic sight, eponymous with Japan.

From Kinkakuji, we debated where to go. It had started to rain, not drizzle. We decided to join the throngs at the bus-stop and head for Kyoto station for an early dinner, giving Ryoanji a miss, since it was already about 4pm and getting dark. As usual, the bus was PACKED. Even though it was supposed to be an 'express' bus, it still took us the better part of an hour to get to Kyoto station. We were standing all the way, with the exception of Trin who demanded to sit. She sat in the midst of a bunch of Vietnamese tourists who were generally friendly and curious about Trin and about where we came from. The group was bunch of guys and girls who looked like they were in their early 20s with the girls perching on the guys' laps and encroaching into the next passenger's personal space - mine and Trin's. Okay, I was grumpy at having to stand, being jostled in what seemed like an unending journey. But they were friendly and they tried to be nice.

They offered her a mint and silently I was going: No-oooo!! I knew what would happen - Trin would happily accept, hold it in her mouth until the sweetness left and coolness started, whereupon she would shake her head and gesture to spit out. We were in a moving bus. It was so packed that I could barely get one hand into my bag. So NOT a good idea to give the baby mints! Resignedly, I could only watch as all that unfolded.

We reached Kyoto station with the windows fogged up from the breath and body heat of many packed into a tight, small space, like cattle. The bus driver was still unfailingly polite: Arigato gozaimasushita, he went, for every passenger. Owain asked why he had to keep saying that to everyone. I wondered if it was all on auto-pilot.

I was grumpy for another reason - I had lost my Lonely Planet and that was a library book. I racked my brains to recall where I had left it and the most logical place was a ledge on a bridge about 300m from Kyoto station where we had passed through earlier that morning. So I deposited KH and the kids at a ramen joint in the basement of Kyoto station and made my way, in the growing dark and in the rain, back to the bridge.

I didn't find it.

The bridge handrail was too thin for anything to rest on, so I could not have left it there. Back I went to Kyoto station, asking at the bus counter where they helpfully called the Kitaoji bus terminal to check - nada. Resigned to its loss, I went back to the ramen joint where everyone had eaten. A bit tired of ramen, I had something else - Japanese pasta in cream sauce with mentaiko, seaweed and a raw yolk - yummy! Even more yummy was the fact that I savoured my alone-ness for that brief period, as if I was alone in Japan and enjoying a nice meal at a counter in a pasta joint. Pity it didn't last long.

When I finished, we decided to head back to K's House. We decided to take a bus which would bring us closest to K's House. That would save us a walk in the rain and it would only take less than 10min by bus. Easy right? Wrong. I got the bus number right. But the direction was wrong. Instead of heading towards Shichijo-dori on the east, it turned west. Mind you, it was night by then and the rain was steadily falling. We tried counting the bus-stops and getting landmarks but in the dark and rain, everything looked different. We got off the bus and tried to figure out where we were and where the nearest bus-stop was. Logically, it was simple right? Just cross the road and take the next bus back to Kyoto station. Except that it wasn't.

First, the bus-stop was not "just across the road". It was down 150m, across a busy intersection and we didn't know which direction it was - north or south. There was only ONE bus heading back to Kyoto station and that would take another 40min to arrive.

While we waited, huddled under a shopfront's tiny awning - the bus-stop had no shelter - another bus trundled by. We saw the sign - Kyoto Station - and flagged it down. It was not crowded but only after getting on did we realise we could not use our Kyoto transport pass. By then, we didn't really care - we were just tired after a whole day of walking, tired of being lost and tired of the incessant rain and the cold.

Again logical thing to do was to stay on board until the bus reached Kyoto station right? Wrong! KH got antsy at the long line of vehicles turning into Kyoto station and fretted that it would be "faster to get down and walk back to K's House". Looking at the map, it did not look far.

What to do? Maps can be so frustratingly deceiving! And my dear husband can be so exasperatingly stubborn that its just not funny anymore! First, the rain was really coming down. So I said, let's stop and put on our raincoats. No, went he - no need, its not a lot of rain, too much hassle etc etc. But looking at the rain, I had had enough and I put my foot down. Raincoats out! I buttoned everyone up, hands shaking and teeth chattering. Lucky for us I did.

Did we reach K's House? Yes. Eventually. After trudging more than a kilometre in the rain, the cold etc, trying to recognise landmarks. I had half a mind to just hail a cab but Mr Stiff-Upper-Lip did not see the need to. So we trudged. Or straggled. I seethed. By the time we got back to K's House, what would have just taken us just 10min from Kyoto station, took more than an hour. The raincoats were dripping (so much for "Its not so much rain!"), our shoes were wet and we were all tired from our impromptu walk.

The hot water showers were blissful! Meanwhile, Mr Anti-Social KH had succeeded in burning out a hair dryer as he attempted to dry his shoes. A pungent burn smell combined with wet shoe smell permeated the corridors. When I came out to use the hairdryer, it didn't work. And the nice American lady I met the night before said: "I could smell the burning wire from my room. Someone must have burned the hairdryer." I knew who it was of course...

Thankfully, it was movie night so KH and the kids stayed in the TV room while I spaced out in my bunk. I needed the space. I was still annoyed. On top of all his bad decisions that night, what made me stew was his smug assertion that it was the "Italian factor" that was responsible for our lemon experience.

What was the "Italian factor"? Let me explain. Many years ago, we visited Italy and fell in love. We loved it so much we went back again the second time. But second time was not so lucky - the weather was bad, and somehow, the places we went to had lost its charm. So the trick, he always said, is NEVER go back to a country which you liked when you travelled there previously. Things will always go wrong and your experience would be lousy.

This time, he had issued the usual doom-and-gloom warnings about returning to Japan. The "Italian factor" he reminded me darkly. And this night's experience seemed to match all his dire warnings. The "I told you so" really stung. So I was in my bunk brooding and licking my wounds.

Kyoto, I feel, has no chemistry with us. The last time we were here, the same thing happened - bad weather, drama at Tofukuji, same bad bus ride experience and so on. But I disagreed with KH about the "Italian factor". I still enjoyed the other parts of Japan and I was still madly in love. True, the first flush of love is not there, but Japan is still fresh enough for me to provide some unexpected delightful surprises.

Its just... Kyoto. Or me?

Everyone inevitably gushes about Kyoto so I really feel like some kind of oddball, or cultural neanderthal to not fall in love with it as everyone else does. I tried, I really did. Two experiences with Kyoto and both have left me cold. I just find it hard to make a positive, emotional connection with the place. By and large, I find the people not as warm as Tokyo-ites (with the exception of a handful), the weather always sucky in general (grey, gloomy, cold and wet!) and the bus service really really needs an overhaul! I feel bad complaining about SBS and SMRT when I'm in Kyoto! We really have it much better here at home.

Ah well, just chalk it down to bad luck and no chemistry I guess.

As a footnote, I realised that I had left the Lonely Planet in K's House after all - thank God! Someone found it and returned it to the reception counter. But being happy about the book just made me madder that I had to trudge all the way back to the bridge and back to look for it! Grr...

Day 8 Kyoto

2009-12-29T12:38:00.026+08:00

We took the Thunderbird from Kanazawa station to Kyoto in the morning. Skimming past the shores of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, the morning sun in my eyes, the lake was an endless stretch of silver water rimmed by hills and small towns. As we pulled into Kyoto station, a sense of familiarity and excitement set in as we recognised landmarks.

From Kyoto station it was a 10-minute walk to K's House Kyoto. I wanted to experience different types of accomodation on this trip and K's House provided the hostel experience. The building (painted in yellow) and its extension, was modern and clean. Our room was an 8-bedded dorm. Because of the size of our group, we paid to have the whole dorm to ourselves. Toilets and bathrooms are communal and just next door.

We dropped the bags off at the hostel's luggage room and zoomed out for sight-seeing. In autumn night falls early at 5pm and we didn't want to miss any daylight sightseeing hours, especially since it already took us the better part of the morning just to get to Kyoto from Kanazawa.

It was a short 150m walk down Shichijo-dori and across the Kamo-gawa to take the bus to our first stop - Kiyomizudera. I had bought the 2-day city bus and subway pass (which I felt was a bit pricey at 2000yen per adult) and so armed with a bus map, we took the public bus. As usual, the bus was packed with people! My bus experience in Kyoto has never been good and this was no exception.

This picture shows the kids at the Kamo gawa. In the background, you can see a short white buidling, that's the entrance to the Keihan Shichijo station. The Kamo-gawa was wide but not deep and in places near the banks, I think you could even wade in and play in the summer. But for now, no, not in this cold!

It was not far to Higashiyama from the hostel, barely 4 or 5 stops but the traffic was bad and the bus was crowded so it took a while. We'd been to Kiyomizudera (or, Clear Water Temple) before but wanted to go again because the last time we went, it was drizzly and getting dark and we totally missed the Jishu Jinja, the small shrine for love and marriage. We also missed the Tainai Meguri the last time.

To get to Kiyomizudera, you have to climb a steepish hill, flanked with shops. Its really commercialised and touristy and every other shop either sells souvenirs or pricey drinks/snacks. I have to give Trin credit for walking like the rest of us, for most of the way. Its not easy going uphill and being smooshed on all sides by the thick crowd.

Made it! At the entrance to Kiyomizudera at last!

Just before you enter the temple proper, on the left side of the grounds, there is a small building. This has the usual store that sells the omamori, the charms etc. You can also try your luck at the omikuji (fortune slips) here. But far more interesting and less noticed by the hordes of visitors to the temple, is the Tainai Meguri. This is probably one of the strangest places to visit but pretty fun for everyone!

The Tainai Meguri is said to be the womb of Daizuigu Bosatsu. The last time we went, we completely missed this despite also doing the omikuji routine at the same place! But this time, having read the Lonely Planet about the Tainai and given that there were now temple workers who explained what it was all about, it was easy to find. You pay 100yen, take off your shoes and descend down into a dark cave where you follow a beaded wooden handrail which leads in a loopy fashion to a huge stone. The English translation from the Kiyomizudera website says something like: "Return to the womb of great merciful mother. When you find a light in the dark you will realize you are newborn again. There is a Sanskrit character that symbolized Daizuigu Bosatsu on the stone. Turn the stone and make a wish."

Not much different from our experience in Zenkoji, but this one less atmospheric because it was more crowded and it was not entirely pitch dark - which KH was fervently grateful for. At the point where the big stone was, there was a shaft of light. We all stood around the stone and turned it, making our (rather noisy!) wishes! The kids enjoyed it tremendously though and thought it was a great deal of fun!

Fresh from our 'rebirth' , the kids pestered to do the omikuji. It was simple - shake the box, a numbered stick will fall out, present to the lady behind the counter with 100yen and she will issue you with the fortune slip. The kids all took turns to do this. I was the go-to girl for interpreting the fortune slips. Let me say that I can't read Japanese so the best I can do is tell you whether the fortune is good or bad, but forget about translating the details!
Here's Gillian and Owain getting the omikuji. Owain is so independent that he did it all by himself - shaking the box, getting the money and the stick to the lady. I think other kids, even other adults, might be a bit intimidated about doing this without knowing a scrap of Japanese but Owain just went right ahead while the rest of us were busy looking at each other's fortune slips.

As usual, most of us had good or exceptionally good fortune while KH and Gillian once again, drew slips which were not so good. To discard the bad fortune, all you had to do was tie them to the racks conveniently provided.

Kiyomizudera was super crowded. On hindsight, I realised that we must have ended up in Kyoto over a long weekend again. It was a marvel how the wooden platforms, so iconic of Kiyomizudera, did not collapse under the weight of the massive crowd, especially since they must be several hundreds of years old!

Yep, it's a steep drop and a lo-ong way down. Trin looks rather precariously perched there doesn't she? Centuries ago, it was said that whoever jumps from this point and lives will get his wish come true. Well, sure! If you can jump from here and still live, heck, life - even a shitty one - will start to look real good to you! Luckily some common sense prevailed and no one does it any more!

And finally, here we are at the Jishu jinja shrine. Its a quaint place atop a small hill. The shrine is dedicated to love and marriage. So the charms sold here are mostly those dedicated to success in love, although the usual ones for examinations, good luck, health, wealth, longevity, traffic safety etc are still there.

The interesting bit about this place is the pair of 'love stones'. These are two small boulders set about 18m apart. It is said that if you close your eyes, and call or think about, the name of your loved one, and can walk from one stone to the next succesfully - without assistance, you will find success in love. If you can't, well, time to get a new partner.

Because KH, Gillian and Caitlin had rushed off to the toilet with Trin who badly needed to pee, only the boys and I went to the Jishu shrine. The two of them had a lot of fun up there. Both attempted to close their eyes and walk (without cheating!) from one stone to the other.

Did they make it from one stone to the other while closing their eyes? Not by a mile! Despite bumping into amused passers-by, the boys failed in their mission. Owain, our would-be Romeo, was chagrined to miss and kept insisting he wanted to try again until he got it!
Owain and his effort for 'love'!

Isaac and I also tried this interesting activity where you literally 'dissolve' your troubles away. You simply write down all your woes, your troubles and problems on a piece of paper and then dissolve it in a bucket of water from the shrine.

Does it work? Well, I wrote about my impending move down to another office and how I disliked the tight space and lack of privacy. Today, I was told I'd have to move in two days!! So you tell me...

Such a lovely day eh? Skies were blue and trees ablaze. I soaked in this scene for all of 10 minutes before my phone rang and an irate KH demanded that we come out to the main entrance again. He and the girls had difficulty in finding the restroom for Trin who was frantic to pee. They ended up in a desperate rush right out of the temple grounds (quite some distance away) and even then, not making it in time. Trin ended up peeing her pants.

By the time I got there, Trin was sitting primly on the stone step, looking solemn. The daddy was fuming mad and the two girls tried to fill in the blanks. So with this scenario, the rest of Kiyomizudera was shot. We never made it back in and down to the little grotto to 'take the waters' for longevity, health and wisdom. So our second visit to Kiyomizudera also ended abruptly like this.

It all went downhill from here. Literally.

We battled the crowds downhill, looking for the turn-off to Ninnenzaka and Sannenzaka (two of Kyoto's most picturesque streets, with restored wooden houses, cobblestoned streets). Chalk it down to physical discomfort (who would like to walk in pee-soaked pants right?), fatigue and no nap-time. A fatal combination for Trin who spotted an ice-cream stand and when denied it, screamed blue murder. She wailed and screamed in the crowd so piercingly that we had disapproving looks shot at us. On top of that, we had to carefully negotiate the steep stone steps downwards, all the time being pushed and pulled by the crowd.

Kyoto's prettiest streets? I never saw 'em. I was too busy smouldering, angry, embarrassed and grimly carrying a banshee howling right in my ears. Nothing would appease her. We offered to get her an ice-cream down the street as we walked - no go. She wanted THAT ice-cream and THAT only. KH had to backtrack up the hill, leaving us at the foot of the steps, Trin still screaming away, to get the monster her ice-cream. Once the cone was in her hand - instant peace. Honestly, I could have strangled her and I am not joking. This was a constant recurring scene throughout Japan. All the other kids wanted to kill her at some point or other. We were busy fantasising about the many different ways we could do this. It kept us sane.

By the time of this meltdown in the streets of Kyoto, the other kids had grown immune to this. Previously, they would all look at her aghast and horrified at the screaming. Some would be trying to comfort her or distract her or scold her. But this time, the other kids just rolled their eyes and played among themselves. It was no longer a biggie to them.

Look at that face. You'd never know it, looking at her, but the amount of noise that can come out of that cute little face can rival a jet. Under that perky exterior, lurks the tantrum monster.

Travelling is hard on everyone but especially for someone so young who needs some form of daily routine to feel stable and when you travel, this is near impossible since there are schedules to be kept to, places to go, trains and buses to catch etc. So while I am really furious over her tantrums, there is a part of me that can understand why she acts up. Still, that does not prevent the rest of us from getting upset with her. We all feel angry and resentful because we're kept hostage to her moods. This trip, we gave in a lot to her because we just needed to have the quiet back and to move on with the itinerary. But that also added to our resentment because she kept getting her way. Thankfully now that we're home, she has fewer outbursts (which proves my point about travel stress on young children) and even when she does, its easier to manage without the constant giving in. We've learned to evade, ignore, distract - tools we learned the hard way in Japan. So this trip has been a real learning journey for all of us, in more ways than one.

So tantrum over, emotionally exhausted (me - not her. Tantrums really do take a lot out of everyone, me in particular and I always need time to wind down from the tension), we sat for a whole and then moved on, heading towards Yasaka jinja. We paused along the way to admire the sunset from the hillock housing Kodaiji and for the kids to run their hands round the sutras rings for luck and for me to get a lovely piece of calligraphy from the temple. But with admission charges of 800yen per adult, ominous dark skies, light drizzle and Trin's stinky wet pants, we decided against exploring the temple further. Pity because Kodaiji has one of Kyoto's loveliest gardens and its autumn foliage was near its peak.

We moved on to Yasaka jinja. It's a bustling place even though the grounds seem huge. I got my calligraphy done again and we had some takoyaki - whereupon Cait choked on a piece of octopus and threw up. Sigh, the drama that accompanies me when I travel with kids!

The best part of Yasaka jinja was not so much the shrine itself - although when it was all lit up at dusk, it was truly beautiful - but the food! This guy (below) was selling some of the best steak I'd ever had - on a stick! We were actually about to leave Yasaka when the smell caught and held us back - grilled beef! He was doing a very brisk trade with a sizeable queue. Thick slabs of tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef, marinaded in red wine. My gosh, it was sheer heaven! I have never had such tender soft flavourful beef - even good steak houses here do not offer beef this good.

Everyone clamoured for more and KH had to queue up several times before we were all contented. And even then, we had to stop because it was quite pricey for a street snack at 400yen a stick. The taste of the beef, hot steam rising from the stick, amid the cold air and the colour of the shrine - these stay in my memory today.

We wandered from Yasaka through the crowded streets of Gion, down Pontocho. We saw geishas hurrying off to their appointments. One gave me a quiet smile as she disappeared down a dimly lit alley dotted with lanterns. It seemed almost surreal that amid the crowds and the chatter, these enigmatic women dressed in brocaded finery appear and then just as quickly, fade away.

Bread from a bakery, kyoto sushi rolls in a window, we stopped to look and to taste before we decided the day had gone as long as it had for us and it was time to head back. Plus Trin was still in stinky pants!

Dinner was McDonalds across the Keihan Shichijo station and then it was back to the hostel. The children were surprised that they had to make their own beds! Isaac said he was not surprised, but the look on his face belied that. Hah, have to say that KH made most of the beds including mine - it was army training - he made beds with sheets so taut coins could bounce off!

So there were eight bunks in the room and each of us had our own. The shower was clean and the water was hot, the pressure was good. The washing machine and dryer worked great so we did a laundry load. KH explored the place while I stayed in to plan the next day's sightseeing. The lounge was full of other fellow travellers, many with laptops, or using the hostel computers. It seemed like a jolly place.

I met a nice American lady in her 60s who had travelled to Singapore before and we spent some time chatting in front of the shower room. She had spent two to three days here and was full of praise for the country's "cleanliness" and "efficiency". But other than that encounter, I was not very sociable - wrong type of person to stay in a hostel like K's.

Day 7 Kanazawa

2009-12-23T13:46:00.028+08:00

Bright and early we left the hotel for Kanazawa's, or indeed one of Japan's, star sights - Kenrokoen. This large sprawling garden is one of Japan's top 3 gardens. This early in the morning, Kenrokoen was free of crowds. The morning light also made photography a delight.

From the hotel, we took the Kanazawa Loop Bus. We'd bought the full-day pass (500yen per adult, half price for kids) which entitled us to hop on and off the Loop Bus as well as any other city bus. The Loop Bus is a quaint, gaily painted mini bus that takes visitors round to 19 attractions around Kanazawa, beginning and ending at the Kanazawa station. This early in the morning though, the Loop Bus hadn't even begun running yet, so we took a city bus, packed with locals and school-children beginning their day.

Just outside Kenrokoen, a voice coming over loud-hailers split the early morning calm. Elections! I don't know what office they are running for, perhaps a city council seat or municipal seat, but it was interesting to see this. Obviously we don't get much of this where I come from given all the walkovers by the PAP!

Trin had also gotten into an early morning tantrum so we left her at the bus-stop with KH to deal with her while the others and I walked ahead to get the tickets to the park. Between her ear-splitting screams of rage and the loud-hailers across the street, I think it was probably a tie.

Up the hill, we detoured to the bridge and plaza leading to Kanazawa castle's entrance. The weather was lovely with deep blue skies. The reds of Owain's and Gillian's jackets glowed in that kind of light. Here you can see the castle walls in the background. Unlike most castles, this was not built upwards but spread out in a low-rise configuration. We didn't go in because we were eager to visit Kenrokoen across the road.

To pacify a still-raging Trin, I let her touch the mossy ground and explained a bit about the moss and why it grew so abundantly here. Then we had some 'breakfast' at a teahouse near the entrance. They only had dango, balls of rice flour in various flavours, some with red bean fillings. Hot green tea was complimentary. Still, the kids liked the dango and it was gone in no time!

Our aim was to find the famous two-legged lantern in the garden's lake. The scene of the Kotoji-toro can be found on many a promo brochure on Kanazawa and Japan. We thought we'd have to walk a long way, but barely 30m from the tea house, there it was. One foot in the lake and the other perched on land, a reddening maple fanning out its branches above it.

To be honest, after all the hype, I was a bit disappointed to see it. I don't know what I was expecting, but the scene is not one of showy beauty but a restful one. As we stood around, taking pictures, it grew on me and I think it is a quietly beautiful scene, one that invites contemplation amidst all the admiration.

Isn't it pretty? I really like the colours, although I think the maples were not 100% at peak red yet. But there's just something about the mossy greens, the texture of stone and the red of the maples, the water and the sky that comes together so nicely. Below is another picture of that scene.

A nice Japanese gentleman offered to take a picture of us as a family on the stone bridge in front of the kotoji-toro. I don't know if he was a professional guide, but quite coincidentally, the group he was with had some Singaporeans there. They had gone to Nagoya for a conference and detoured to Kanazawa for a flying visit before leaving.

I don't know about you but whenever I meet Singaporeans while I'm overseas, I get a nice thrill of pleasure. It's so nice to hear a familiar accent and meet someone from the same tiny dot that I hail from. How small is the world anyway right? But back home, catch me in a traffic jam, a crowded MRT train, or any incident that brings out the usual 'lovable' Singaporean traits and I'd be scoffing and rolling my eyes away at my fellow Singaporeans. Love-hate relationship. That, or I am just borderline pyschotic.

We chatted with the Singaporeans briefly before going our separate ways. We saw another emblematic scene of Kanazawa - the Karasaki pines with their familiar umbrellas of rope to break the heavy snowfall and prevent damage to the centuries-old pines.

We saw workmen putting up the ropes over a cherry tree which had lost most of its leaves. We wondered why until we read the sign. The trees were a rare species of cherry which produces 300 petals per flower when in bloom in spring. Must be a lovely sight to behold!

Adjacent to the park is the entrance to a simple-looking two storey wooden villa built by the daimyo for his mother. Seisonkaku Villa was a retirement home for the daimyo's mother when she returned from Edo. Typical of Japanese design, it had wrap-around verandas which opened out pretty garden scenes. The admission fee was pricey at 700yen per adult but we went in anyway.

Seisonkaku was undergoing some restoration work but the lovely gardens could still be seen. Mossy ground, pines, a small stream, blushing maples, stone urns. Its so carefully put together but so pretty. As with major tourist attractions, Seisonkaku had stamps as well, so I gleefully stamped my little notebook!

Down the road from Kenrokoen is the very unusual and interesting 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. Its a circular building set amid grassy lawns. Here, you see the children sitting around - family meeting. There were other outdoor art installations scattered on the grounds. The kids had a lot of fun scampering on those. While Kenrokoen was a stately and beautiful park to stroll in, it was also nice for the kids to be able to run around freely and release some energy in the large lawns around the museum.

Inside the museum, it was equally interesting. Pity we didn't have much time to really linger and browse the exhibits. The kids got to 'drive' these interesting and colourful vehicles for a while at least. These 'vehicles' are actually art pieces by an Italian artist.

Caitlin was fascinated with the design of the sinks and so was I. It had two nozzles for soap and water and on the other side, a slot for hot air so it works as a hand-dryer as well. Minimises drip issues on the toilet floor.

Earth calling Mars?

Next stop was not Mars but Myoryuji, also known as Ninjadera, or the Ninja Temple.

Built on the south bank of the Asano river, in the Teramachi district which is full of temples, Myoryuji looks deceptively like any other temple there, a simple wooden building with small grounds. But go within and you'll discover that this temple is not like the others.

First a bit of background. Kanazawa was built in such a way that it is ringed by temples. The Teramachi district is just one of the outlying areas of Kanazawa that has several temples. In the past, while the daimyo or lord, could not build forts to protect his turf (it was deemed as aggressive and ambitious behavior that the shogun would not condone), the daimyo of Kanazawa decided to build a ring of temples instead. While these are really legit places of worship, they were also places where he could leave some soldiers or men, who could sound early warnings if the city was about to be invaded and pose the first line of defence.

However, Myoryuji is unique. It was constructed to defend and so within the innocuous wooden walls, is a warren of traps, cunning hidey-holes, hidden staircases, secret rooms and even a tunnel which was rumoured to go all the way to Kanazawa castle across the river. While no ninjas trained here, the place is called ninjadera because of the maze of tricks that were part of its construction. Incidentally though, the temple was never used in defence or in battle at all. The Maeda clan, who ruled Kanazawa for centuries, played a far shrewder game of political alliances and they were so good at it, the clan and the city was highly prosperous for many centuries, staying well within the shogun's favour.

It was quite a hike from the Loop Bus stop across the river to Myoryuji. Children below the age of 6 were not allowed to join the tour. Admission and tour cost about 800yen per adult. The tour is entirely in Japanese but we were given an excellent English language translation in a file, complete with numbered sights and photographs. Isaac, Cait and I went first while the rest went for lunch. I was fascinated with the place and I think the kids were too.

How the Japanese maximise space and utilise it is a real art. You see it in their homes today (tiny and compact but they manage). And apparently not a recent architectural skill either if you go by how Myoryuji was designed. It looks like a two-storey building from the outside. But inside, there are actually six levels! There's even a small windowless room for seppuku (suicide by ritual disembowellment) whose door once closed cannot be opened from the inside. Gruesome but the kids' eyes lit up!

The rest of the day was spent with a ramen lunch, visit to the Nagamachi district where old samurai houses still stand, the Oyama shrine where the first lord of the Maeda clan is enshrined and ending off with seafood shopping at Omicho market and then gorging ourselves silly on sushi and sashimi - to the point of gagging!

The old Nagamachi district is the former samurai quarter. The little lanes and the ochre walls surrounding the compounds still stand. We didn't really visit any house but stepped into one of the gardens for a look.

From there it was a short walk to the commercial Korinbo district and the Oyama shrine. Went the wrong way and ended up going in from the back entrance. But it was a good thing for it led us to the small wooded area and garden which had the look of being once cultivated but now forgotten and left uncared for, thus growing a bit wild. The kids loved the pond, the wooden plank bridges, the stepping stones. While horsing around, despite repeated warnings not to, the inevitable happened and Owain's jacket fell into the pond. KH was fuming mad.

Its been a long day but we still had one more stop - dinner! We took the Loop Bus down to Omicho market where the kids eyes goggled at the massive crabs and salivated over the juicy cuts of salmon and maguro and roe. We ended up buying and buying. And as if it were not enough, we returned to the supermarket at the train station and bought some more! I must have been mad. Or greedy. Likely both!

We ate our haul around the small table as we did the night before. I was hauling out tray after tray and it still seemed never-ending. Got to a point when even Gillian gave up on the minced negi-toro and I found myself, for the first time in my life, pushing myself to finish sushi. It was just too much. But gosh, it was dang good and if I ever had to die of a sushi overdose, this would have been a good time.

Party over, we cleared up and KH did the laundry, dropping Owain's jacket in the wash. Excellent washer and dryer. Everything worked well. Long day and we were really exhausted but it would be past midnight when I finally dropped into my comfy bed. Next: Kyoto!

Day 6 Shibu Onsen & Kanazawa

2009-12-09T00:32:00.023+08:00

Manhole drain cover in Shibu Onsen. Cute huh?

It was very early morning when we woke up. I spent 20min luxuriating in the lovely outdoor bath before heading out to explore the neighbourhood and collect the 9 stamps of each bathhouse. Maybe because I had an empty stomach, or because of my high blood pressure but the 20min in the bath left me feeling slightly light-headed.

KH and the kids came with me. Isaac stayed in the room to enjoy his time in the bath alone.

In the early morning, Shibu Onsen was still very quiet. It was so cold we could see our breath misting the air when we spoke. Steam from the hot waters running from the pipes outside the bathhouses rose into the streets. We only saw shopkeepers opening up their shops for the day, school children going to school and the occasional tourist who took pictures of us in our yukatas and getas! Perhaps they thought we were really Japanese?

We walked around the narrow streets to visit the 9 bathhouses. Or at least, I did. The children retreated to the warmth of the ryokan after visiting the second bathhouse! It was just too cold!

We ventured in to see what a bathhousewas like. They all looked similar and after opening the first few bathhouses to have a look, we did not open the rest. To be honest, it looked a bit grotty and I would not want to take a bath in there. With Kokuya having 6 or more baths for its guests, you'd already have to stay submerged pretty much the whole day to experience all of them.

The big wooden plaque is attached to the key to the bathhouse. Guests of the ryokans use the bathhouse for free but have to bring the big key along. Had a lot of fun walking to each bath house to collect the different stamps.

Around the neighbourhood in the early morning, a fresh produce grocer. The hills surrounding the town were flecked with a light dusting of snow.

Almost next to Kokuya is the main bath with a temple just above it. The temple also has a hot spring footbath which anyone can use, free of charge. I can't read Japanese but would presume some of the kanji (chinese characters) have similar meaning. So I have to stress that I am GUESSING here. The tiny temple apparently, is the place to pray for good loving relationships for husband and wife. This stone carving, calcified by the minerals from the hot spring water trickling down on it for years, is of a man and his wife. Both KH and I touched the water trickling down and said a silent wish that we would be thus blessed as well.

Just outside the ryokan, hot spring water runs over a basket of eggs. These are known as onsen tamago and they are lovely half-boiled egges thanks to the heat of the water. Just drop 50yen into the box if you want one. The money goes towards community-building needs in Shibu Onsen. We were served onsen tamago as part of breakfast.

By the time we returned, we were famished. Cold really does something to the appetite. Breakfast is held in the same big dining hall. Everything was already nicely laid out by the time we came in. We had (from left clockwise): simmered tofu in vegetable broth, boiled salmon, salad, seaweed, onsen tamago served with a light soya broth, simmered veg, pickles and rice. After breakfast, in the midst of packing, the kids and KH found time to have one last soak in their tubs. KH and Owain are seen here soaking in the outdoor bath in my room, Sakura. The outdoor area shown here is part of the veranda in Ayame, the children's room. You can see the corner of the wooden tub. The kids liked hanging out here, some in the tub, some playing Monopoly Deal!

All too soon, it was time to go. When we went down to the lobby, our shoes were neatly arranged all ready for us.

The hotel arranged transport for us to Yudanaka station and everything was timed just right so that we did not have to wait long. It was just enough time to get to the station, buy our tickets and get on board.

This was a place we wish we could have stayed longer. Maybe two nghts in the area might have done it more justice. Seemed like a pity that we could not explore the area more, maybe gone up into the hills or into Shiga Kogen or even explored the temple at the top of the hill. What a memorable experience this has been!

The hostess, the staff at the ryokan all exemplified the excellent, quiet, understated service that Japan is renowned for. There was nothing sloppy in the service at all. For a day and a night, we were pampered and lived like royalty. This has been a great first ryokan experience. I just wonder if we would be so spoiled by this that nothing else might come close.

Here's a last look at the pastoral scenes around Yudanaka:

Back into the real world we hurtled on the Dentetsu train. We were headed for Nagano once again. We had some time to kill before catching our next train so we stocked up with drinks and food. We're beginning to get the hang of combini shopping. Owain has even learned how to scope out the stores for different types of soft candy and the mentaiko-onigiri gang has learned how to differentiate among the different onigiri packaging for the right mentaiko filling. We enjoy experimenting with different sort of drinks (different teas!) from the combini. On this trip, I bought a pretty-looking bottle of earl grey flavoured tea, but in general, the kids have settled on Ice Lemon Tea as their favourite - its the only tea with sugar or any flavouring in it! So if anyone asks if we did any shopping in Japan, I'd say yes - at the combinis in stations across Japan!

There was a McDonalds at the station and that, as far as Trin was concerned, is pretty much her staple diet for the trip. So we bought some nuggets and fries for the fussy one. While waiting, I noticed that McDonalds had these nifty little carrels for road warriors and their laptops. It was free wifi so all you had to do was plug your laptop to a LAN cable to the point provided and you could surf, perched on a tall stool and slurping your McFlurry. Power points were also provided for AC cables. The carrel was designed in such a way that there was even a small step where you can leave your bag or rest your legs. Now why can't McDonalds Singapore implement something like this? I like noticing little design details like this but KH thinks I am silly to take pictures of stuff like this.

Today was a day of travelling, just getting from point A to point B. We were headed for Kanazawa on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The train journey from Nagano entailed a change of train at Naoetsu but apart from that, it was a straight train journey which passed pretty valleys as the track hugged hillsides of cedar, past farms, small villages, distant mountain ranges and snow as the following pictures will show!

Our train with the wide windows for a panoramic view.

The first half of the train journey to Naoetsu was lovely. It was sunny and the skies were blue. Because it was a local train, it was not very crowded and we had pretty much almost the whole compartment to ourselves. The kids, Trinity especially, did not demand for much attention so I even had the luxury to jot a few notes into my journal, look at the passing scenery, snap a few shots.

The pretty scenery lasted until we reached Naoetsu. From Naoetsu to Kanazawa, the train hugged the coast at times but often veered inland and the scenery was one of industry, grey towns, rice fields, some unfinished construction, glimpses of gun-metal grey sea and the feel was generally gloomy. The rainy dark grey skies contributed to this and followed us all the way to Kanazawa.

We arrived at Kanazawa after dark. It was wet, rainy and very cold. Luckily, our hotel is just across the road from the station. I knew that it would have been aggravating to arrive late after a full day's travel and still have to take a bus, find our way around etc in the dark, so I deliberately chose a place which was very near the station and also near the bus-stop for the Loop Bus which would take us around the key sights of Kanazawa.

The Dormy Inn Kanazawa is a new hotel, just across from the station. It is classified as a business hotel but unlike most business hotels, the rooms are spacious. The generosity of space is a rarity in Japanese business hotels which are usually so small they only have room for a bed and barely anything else! In Dormy Inn, the rooms were very generously-sized.

We took two rooms - each had twin beds and a tatami mat seating area which allowed for two futons. Each room had a small entry-way or foyer with a sliding door before accessing the tatami-mat seating area. The hotel prided itself on being ecologically sound, so lights can be controlled by motion sensors, air fresheners use negative ions, soap and shampoo are biodegradable green-friendly.

On the right, Trin is watching sumo on the flat-screen TV in the room. This is the tatami mat area. The beds are in the foreground (see left picture).

In the interest of space-saving functionality, the fridge, sink, kettle etc are placed in a nook just at the entrance. The shower and toilet is behind the door on the left. Love Japanese showers - piping hot, solid good spray and hand-held shower heads which are useful for bathing small children. Rain showers and all may sound lovely and relaxing but parents of young children on holiday will know how important it is to have hand-held shower heads!

And while I am on the subject of toilets - I will say here that I have grown to be very fond of heated toilet seats. And the Japanese, bless them, have toilet seats that are heated so warm that I would sit on them even if I didn't have to go. This is not a luxury but a necessity when you live in a cold country like Japan. It is no fun making a midnight run to the loo and facing icy cold toilet seats. So those oh-so-warm toilet seats in Japan, they warm not just my bum but the very cockles of my heart!

I loved the fluffy duvets, the free internet connection in the room (LAN cable provided), the laundry room - very effective dryer! Some hotels, like the Chisun Hotel in Hiroshima, had lemons for dryers - more on that later, but the Dormy Inn dryer - fantastic. I believe either the washing machine or the dryer was free so it was not expensive to do laundry there. The Dormy Inn also had rooftop public baths for both men and women, but we did not use these. As with any business hotel (in fact, all hotels and ryokans in Japan except for hostels), they offered the full range of toiletries, down to slippers and night clothes! Even the kids had PJs. KH loved their lilac and grey PJs so much he swiped them.

We ended the night with a sushi feast in our room, bought from the supermarket in the JR station annex. Past 8.30pm and everything was at least 30 to 50% marked down! I asked for the maguro and salmon fish slabs to be sliced and for 100yen, they would slice, sit the fish nicely on ribbons of daikon, adorn it with a perilla leaf and flower, add shoyu and wasabi on the side. The chef took such great care you'd think he was creating art instead of a cheap sashimi platter that costs only 400yen! Well worth it. We bought an assortment of sushi, sashimi, ikura (salmon roe), negi toro (finely minced tuna belly with spring onions) and others. What a great feast we had that night, chopsticks reaching for fresh yummy fish over the small round table!

I looked out over the Kanazawa skyline and lightning flashed in the distance. Rain spattered against the window but inside, we were safe, warm, dry and full. My children were chattering away watching Japanese cartoons, Japanese dramas and Japanese game shows, comfortable in that element. TV was TV - never mind the language. So far they look like they have been enjoying the trip. I guess if I were to be honest, it does not matter to them - if its Thursday its Kanazawa (or Kyoto) - they lose track of time and place but they have each other and KH and I and I suppose, that's what matters to them, even if they don't know it.

Day 5 Nagano & Shibu Onsen part 2

2009-12-08T17:27:00.033+08:00

I don't know if I will ever have as great an experience in a ryokan as I had in Kokuya, in Shibu Onsen. That sounds sweeping, but the experience we had in Kokuya and in Shibu Onsen was so fantastic, I don't see how any other ryokan right now will top this. For now at least.

Let me say that I am writing this now, two weeks after my trip, back home and looking at the pictures, visiting the Kokuya website, I honestly wish I were back there and not here.

This is the Dentetsu train which winds its ways into the valleys and hills outside Nagano. It is a 50 minute journey to the last stop at Yudanaka.

The train was not packed and we passed by lovely scenery in the sunset. We zoomed past backyards, tiny farms, schools, apple orchards with trees laden with fruit, persimmon trees and their bare branches, sweeping vistas of rivers, hillsides of colour and in the distance, snow-capped mountains.

It was almost 5pm and near dark by the time we arrived in Yudanaka station. And cold! In the surrounding hills, snow had fallen and lightly dusted the trees. It was beautiful. I believe it was the first snowfall of the year for the area.

Yudanaka is actually one of the districts of Yamanouchi town, population 17,000. While Yudanaka also has its share of onsen ryokans, Shibu Onsen, further up the road, is quieter, less 'commercial' and still retains the air of an old genteel Japanese spa town, where narrow lanes wind up into the hills and lamplights turn the nights into a sepia-toned scene.

It is for this reason that I chose Shibu Onsen over Yudanaka. I was intrigued by the old-world feel. That, and the lure of Kokuya, a 400-year-old ryokan which has been in the same family for generations.

Kokuya had sent a van and a driver to meet us at the station. We wended through some very narrow streets, past a gushing river and in quick time, the warm lights of Kokuya welcomed us.

Slippers were laid out for us already. We slipped out of our shoes and put them on. Quietly and unobtrusively, someone else had magicked our shoes away. In the lobby, we were thrilled to see our names written on a board to welcome us! So were the names of the other guests for the night.

Unlike other conventional hotels, check-in is not at the front desk in the lobby but in the comfort of your room. We were led through corridors, up and down stairs to finally arrive at our room. The room's name is Ayame. Clicking on the link will show you pictures of the room and the layout.

The hostess graciously told us that they have kindly upgraded our room from a standard room to a room with a private bath. I was polite and grateful like a real adult, thanking the hostess for her generosity, but inside, I was squealing like a teenager in glee! The room was large, a 12 tatami-mat room, with attached toilet and the star attraction - our personal outdoor bath!!

We sat down at the table for the hostess to orientate us and finish the check-in process. Sweets were already on the table and the hostess prepared green tea. Midway through, Zeno came by to say hello. Can I say how grateful I am to him right now in this blog? He helped secure this reservation at Kokuya at a very special rate and not only did we get a very, very good rate, the room was upgraded!

The hostess asked if we needed another room since there were 7 of us and it might be a bit tight in the room. I hesitated to impose but Gillian was giving me urgent frantic nods which the hostess read. She smiled and conferred with Zeno. Next thing we knew, she had given us another room. I thought it would be the usual standard room but no, it was a few steps down the corridor and it turned out to be another lovely room with our very own personal outdoor bath. Here's where I squealed internally with joy again! The room is called Sakura. Click and see how lovely it is!

Before leaving, the hostess checked with us when we would like to have dinner and then left us to our own devices. The kids did the usual bargaining - who is to use which room. In the end, the four older kids took Ayame while KH, Trin and I took Sakura. Once that was done, we hit the baths! We barely had an hour to spare but we really wanted to try out the baths and the ryokan had at least 6 public baths for us to sample!

Quickly changed into our yukatas. Kokuya had also thoughtfully provided yukatas even for the small ones! The boys went their way and the girls went theirs. The baths change over at 9pm so that both sexes can try out the different baths at some point.

The girls tried Issa, the outdoor bath but it was so hot they had to gingerly go in. Meanwhile, Trin refused to try any, crying that it was too hot. But she agreed to sit by and watch me get in. While Gillian and Cait tried Issa, I went next door to Fukuroku where there are 6 different wooden tubs of different types of hot spring water and heat intensity.

The boys tried Kassei but did not have time to try any other baths because they took so long to get in! Owain really loves the onsen but always takes such a long time getting in!

All too soon, it was dinner and we were all the more famished due to the journey and the baths! We were shown to a large private dining area where we sat at the table instead of the usual way, on the floor. Once again, our names were written on a sign outside the door indicating the room.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, for the food!

We had a full 9-course kaiseki meal with fresh ingredients from the mountains, the orchards and the rivers. I had worried that my children would not be able to appreciate the kaiseki, but I need not have worried. Isaac still says this is the best meal he had in the whole trip. To my surprise, the kids were also adventurous enough to try new stuff!

They had given Trin and Owain a slightly differently menu, but the portions are so generous and huge the kids had difficulty in finishing them all. Here is the menu:

I think it would be an understatement to say that we ate very, very well that night.

Japanese food always looks so prettily presented in tiny portions and on small plates, bowls and saucers. They look so exquisitely dainty that one always wonders how this can fill one up. But when you have course after course of tiny delicacies coming your way, each more tempting than the last, you'd feel stuffed to the brim.

Every mouthful left me wondering: how did they do this? How did they cook this? And then, what's next and how can they top this one? But the thought never stayed too long because I was just too busy in wonder at the procession of taste, colour and presentation.

I looked over at Isaac and wondered at his intense concentration on the food. I never thought he would enjoy food to this extent that he would focus so intensely on the food. He later told me he finished everything! There wasn't a single dish (okay, except for the pickles perhaps) that he did not like. Even till today, he sighs wistfully that the food was SO good...

The children had pasta, salad, soup and steak. Yes, steak - done to a nice medium-rare perfection!

Every meal also ended with rice - gohan. Did I mention that Japanese short-grain was soft and fragrant? A very nice change from the usual Jasmine rice we have at home. Dessert was a gorgeous wine-infused apple with cream. Yummy! No pictures because we were already halfway through the dessert before we realised we had forgotten to take a picture of it!

Here we are at dinner:

While we were at dinner, someone had laid out the futons nicely in our rooms. The kids were content to sprawl around watching TV and snuggled under the futons. The diehard tub enthusiasts were keen to have another go - this time, in their private tub. Gosh, the kids really knew how to live it up - soaking themselves in the hot waters of the gushing spring, under the stars, AND watching TV while in the tub - yes, there was a TV set outdoors too.

Meanwhile, while the kids are esconsced in their room, KH and I decided to take a night walk on the streets outside. It was cold so we put on the tanzen - a dark blue robe - on top of the yukata, and with our getas clacking noisily, we went out.

We saw some other guests from other ryokans, all dressed in their yukatas (and some in track suits!) walking around as well. Armed with the key with the wooden plaque, a towel and a water bottle, they were checking out the nine public sentos that Shibu Onsen has. Few residents actually use these sentos today, but to 'take' the waters of all nine baths is said to be good for health and for luck.

It was freezing cold out there but atmospheric. Hardly anyone was out but we enjoyed the brief walk we took to the end of the street. Just up the hill across the ryokan, steep steps lead up to a shrine or temple. At the far end of the street, there is an onsen temple with a faded torii. Lamps light up the broad steps but we did not go further.

Near Kokuya and descending slightly below street level is the main bath of the nine sentos in Shibu Onsen. There is a small shrine accompanying it. Tied to a wire frame are the usual unfavourable omikuji, or fortune slips of paper.

It was getting colder so we did not linger. Right next to entrance, sitting on a small shelf was the inkpad and stamps for the sento. Every sento had one. I looked forward to visiting every sento the next morning for my stamps!

Meanwhile the futons were calling - warm, inviting and cosy.

It had been a long day and I was eager for the soft warmth of my futon. I fell asleep, the glass door to the balcony slightly ajar, listening to the gurgle of the water gushing from the spout into the bath.

Day 5 Nagano & Shibu Onsen part 1

2009-12-06T21:12:00.017+08:00

This is how we travel. Backpacks on our backs. This trip, we packed three big backpacks for everyone. We used compression bags, one per child, each clearly labelled. We brought extra bags for laundry. KH, Gillian and Isaac each took one backpack. Caitlin took a smaller backpack. I was in charge of all the travel documents, hotel reservations, train reservations, the JR passes, money and all admin duties. You see above on the left, Gillian in red, holding Trin's hand while Owain, in his red hoodie trails behind. In the right picture is KH, Isaac and Caitlin in orange far in front.

Just a note to readers: from this point on, all my posts will be very looong because there is just so much to say and to show. So much so that I may split each day's details into two posts - such as this one. I will focus on Nagano and Zenkoji here and devote the next full post to Shibu Onsen.

Today, we'd be travelling to Tokyo, then taking the shinkansen to Nagano, high in the Japanese Alps, and then move on to Shibu Onsen where we have reservations at a lovely onsen ryokan.

I'd say that from this point on, this is where our journey really began. From the time we arrived and throughout our Disney experiences, it had all been familiar and 'safe' but from here on out, we would travel an unfamiliar path so I was really keyed up and excited about it.

We left Family Fifty's later than expected that morning and as a result, although we huffed and puffed in a brisk 15min walk to the station, we missed the train. But at 8am in the morning, this was Tokyo rush hour in all its glory and we watched in fascination as people literally shoved themselves into the trains.

The trains heading into Tokyo were packed solid. Just when you think there is really no more space, someone comes along and crams himself into the tiny toespace left before the doors close. When it came to our turn, we took down our packs so that we'd be better able to squeeze in. We also waited at different doors giving us all a better chance at all getting on. Somehow, we managed to do this - squeeeeeze into the train compartment. There is no such thing as personal space. Everyone was up against each other's body so tightly that there was no need to hold on for support, we just all swayed as one with the train's momentum!

Could not help thinking about SMRT measuring our trains' capacity and people ratio or the Singaporeans who complain about 'no space' on the MRT trains during rush hour. These guys should just come see the real definition of rush hour in Tokyo!

We provided a burst of colour in the train with our jackets and packs. Everybody seemed to have the same 'uniform' - dark suits - even the ladies. For someone like me who works in the suburbs and who is easily impressed with Shenton Way's brisk energy, seeing the waves of dark-suited salarymen and OLs making their way to work is really like something out of a movie. It all added to the thrill of knowing: we ain't in Singapore anymore!

We arrived at Tokyo station too late to catch the shinkansen where I had reserved seats. This being my first time actually using the pass and making seat reservations, I did the kiasu thing by changing my seat reservations to a later train. Only much later in the trip did I actually relax enough to forget about reservations and just take the unreserved seats.

Don't these kids look homeless to you? Its very embarrassing to note that while I was making my seat reservations on the Asama shinkansen for Nagano, my uncouth family was sprawled all over the floor in a corner of Tokyo station. Once again, my neanderthal husband's idea to just sit down, not giving a hoot where they are.

Since we still had time to kill before our shinkansen left, we headed for the nearest convenience store to buy food. Here's where I fell in love - with onigiri! To be specific, mentaiko onigiri! Onigiri is a triangle of rice, wrapped by seaweed with assorted fillings inside. I loved the mentaiko onigiri which had mentaiko (spicy cod roe) as a filling inside. Very very yummy!

We also bought drinks (the first of many bottled 'teas' - typically green tea or barley tea which was sugar-free and in some cases, tasted like stale coffee mixed with dishwater - ugh!) and a couple of bento sets.

This is the zero km marker on the shinkansen platform. From this point, our journey radiates out from Tokyo.

On the shinkansen platform, we found the right queue for the right door and compartment. The Japanese have train travel down to such a fine detail that queue lines for the respective compartments and doors are clearly drawn on the floor. Being newbies to all this, we managed to find the right door and the right compartment and the right queue. The train was there but its doors were closed. It was about 5min before the train was scheduled to depart.

Two businessmen stood in front of us in the queue. To be sure we were in the right place, we showed them our reservations and they confirmed it. But just then, the train slowly started to move. Next thing I know, KH panicked and ran forward and banged his fists on the door, shouting for it to stop!! He assumed this was our train and thought we'd missed it. The businessmen gaped at the Neanderthal until I found my voice and said: It's not this one! Ours is the next one!!

That. Was. So. Embarrassing.

Businessmen didn't know where to look and there was an awkward discomfort in the air. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry but I think I laughed. It was just too funny. In the next couple of minutes, the correct train pulled up and sheepishly, we got on. We should have had more faith in Japanese punctuality. Trains are never there waiting. They pull up right on time and they will leave punctually too and a minute is about all you've got to make it. So if you need to catch one, better be early or right on time or you will miss that brief window to board it.

Here we all are on the shinkansen. Finally. On our way to Nagano!

My food on the shinkansen. Dish-water tasting barley tea (which grows on you after a while) and sandwiches. Let me say that the sandwiches sold at the combini really are hands-down among the best sandwiches I've ever had. It's always fresh, crustless and the combination of fillings are always tasty. My onigiri is not the picture cos I already chomped on it.

The first leg of the journey passes through Tokyo's sprawling suburban area but towards the end, as we near Nagano, you could see snow-capped mountains and whole hillsides swathed in brown, yellow and orange as the trees have turned colour. It was beautiful.

We arrived at Nagano in one hour and 40 min. The weather was clear so far with a temperature a frigid 6 deg Celcius!

TI (Tourist Information) at Nagano station was very helpful. I think I must have asked impossible to answer questions like: Is it snowing at Shiga Kogen today? because all I got was a hesitant look and carefully crafted "I am not sure." Anyway, it did not seem likely so we shelved the plan to go to Shiga Kogen. I also think it would have been difficult to manage and not worth the time or effort since that would mean taking a bus-ride of more than an hour, heading up there. Also, we were not sure where to go and did not have much information on Shiga Kogen. With so much uncertainty, we ditched the idea. We were a bit early to go to Shibu Onsen so we decided to store our bags in the lockers and visit Zenkoji instead - Nagano's main star attraction.

The very reliable Japan Meteorological Agency had predicted snow for the day with highs of 6 deg and lows of 3 deg. But here in Nagano, while the skies looked dark and swollen, the air seemed still and there was no sign of snow.

Cute eh? This is a fire hydrant cover. If you look carefully enough, there are interesting manhole covers throughout Japan. Will post one from Shibu Onsen later. I thought I took a picture of one in Ameyoko in Tokyo, but disappointingly, it did not come out.

It was easy to get to Zenkoji. We took a public bus (100yen per adult), but there's actually a designated Zenkoji bus. We didn't see this so we took the public bus, which made a few stops before getting to Zenkoji. But just as the ox led the old woman to Zenkoji (as the legend goes), so does practically every bus stop at Zenkoji - just look for the chinese characters "善光寺" on the top. (see picture on the right)

Zenkoji is an important Buddhist temple which was built in the 6th century. In fact, Nagano was a village that sprang up around the temple to cater to the pilgrims. Today, it is still a pilgrimage site.

The sign you see on the right is on the huge Sanmon that leads to the temple compound. Do you see the 'doves' in the chinese calligraphy? Visitors enjoy standing below the sign to try to spot the five hidden doves in the lettering. The kids and I did the same.

Okay, getting ahead of myself here. Before you actually get to the main temple, you walk through a 'shopping street' (as is the case with many major temples in Japan - Sensoji in Tokyo, Kiyomizudera in Kyoto). Then you get to the Niomon. In Zenkoji's case, the Niomon's two giant deities guarding the gate and the temple compound are carved out of wood. These are huge statues but magnificent in their workmanship. See the curves and the grain of the wood. The lines are so fluid and organic, they were awe-inspiring and beautiful.

Once past the Niomon, you get to a 'bridge' - okay, more like a drain to me, but symbolically a bridge and this is the - I kid you not - 'buck off' bridge. Here is where the visiting shogun fell off his horse while crossing the bridge and it was decided from then on, regardless of one's stature in life, whether emperor or shogun or citizen, the approach to Zenkoji should only be made on foot.

Picture at the bottom shows us trying to count the doves on the Zenkoji lettering on the Sanmon roof. Importantly, it also shows us tasting snow! We were trying to count the doves when we saw tiny dots gently falling. At first we thought it was rain. But it wasn't - too irregular to be rain. It was snow! Tiny snowflakes falling! What a lovely experience to have, to stand at the Sanmon, faces upturned to see snowflakes twirling and falling towards us. The kids were thrilled to see some snow, even if it was not a lot! So again, JMA is spot on in their predictions!

Once past the huge two-storey Sanmon, the vista opens up to Zenko-ji's honden (main hall). Under grey skies, the golden details on the roof still glistens and shines. Zenkoji is not a showpiece temple but a working temple and a busy one too. The grounds were quite crowded with people - largely pilgrims. Zenkoji receives about 8 million visitors a year so you can imagine that it gets crowded.

As when I visited Meiji Jingu two years ago, I headed for the shop. First, I bought a pilgrim's book or a shuin-chou or noukyou-chou with the intention of collecting stamps (henro) from every temple or attraction I visited. The Japanese are big fans of stamps and at every tourist attraction, or shrine or temple, you could find these unique stamps. It was traditional for pilgrims to visit temples and collect these stamps and this has extended to even tourist attractions where visitors can collect these stamps as a souvenir. Stamping is usually free but temples also do beautiful calligraphy with the stamps (shuin). These usually cost about 300yen. I thought that getting a shuin-chou and collecting stamps would be a nice souvenir of my travel in Japan. These books have accordian-fold pages so that on every page, you can have a temple stamp and calligraphy done.

I kickstarted mine at Zenkoji. Here you see the nice lady at the counter writing in my brand new shuin-chou. She was very sweet and even though we had a language barrier, she made conversation by asking me where I was from, where I plan to go in Japan etc.

I also bought an ema - votive tablet. Wrote on it, wishing for good health, good grades (hah! That's the Singaporean in me coming out!), love prosperity and happiness (sounds like the pledge!) for all of us. The ema could be hanged at designated racks. On certain days, the priests of the temple will collect the ema and burn them in a ceremony. Trin threw a tantrum insisting on writing (no way!) and finally was appeased when I let her help me hang the ema.

The forecourt of Zenkoji was crowded with people and pigeons. A man was feeding pigeons and was kind enough to give handfuls of rice to Owain and Trin so that they could feed the birds too. As with Venice, I thought this was nice but at the back of my mind, my mommy-brain worried about bird flu!

Tradition also has it that you waft the incense smoke towards you for good luck and good health and here is KH, doing the same that he did in Sensoji. Note the marvellous lion and ball detail on the incense burner.

In Zenkoji, pilgrims usually line up early in the morning to get a blessing from the head priest or priestess (they take turns apparently to head the temple on different years). We were very lucky that for some reason this time, the high priestess came out at around 2pm for the blessing - perhaps this explains the big crowd of pilgrims who had gathered in the forecourt. There was a flurry of excitement and I quickly called KH to go over. He managed to kneel just in time, with Trin and Owain beside. The high priestess touched his head with her rosary beads. I told him he was very very lucky to have this blessing since most blessings actually take place in the morning and not in the middle of the afternoon!

Inside Zenkoji is a well-worn wooden statue of Binzuru, a Buddhist Arhat well-known for healing. Pilgrims and visitors rub Binzuru for good health and healing so most statues of Binzuru in the temples are usually very well-worn. In Rome, do as the Romans do, so we gave Binzuru a good rub as well!

On the right side of the inner hall, there is a narrow staircase that leads to a pitch dark tunnel where visitors try to find the "key to enlightenment". You have to pay money to find the key okay! So we dutifully paid up and took our shoes off before going in. Because Trin didn't want to go, KH stayed with her while I went with the older kids.

There were no other visitors trying this at the time. Single file with me leading the way, we descended. The light at our backs grew less and less as I felt my way along the wall on my right. The 'key' is said to be something metallic hung on the wall.

We groped our way through. It was REALLY pitch blackness. You can't even see your fingers if you held your hand up. Lots of nervous chuckles from the kids but everyone was generally subdued and feeling their way around, holding on to each other's shirts.

It took a while but my hand finally grasped something cold and metallic. Had to be the key. So I've touched the "key to enlightenment"! The kids were excited and everyone touched it in turn. Pretty soon, we reached the end of the tunnel and emerged into light.

"That was COOL!!" Owain crowed as we came out. "Can we go again? Please? Please? Pretty please?"

Then it was daddy's turn. KH went in, followed by a gaggle of schoolkids on excursion. How scary can it be when there are so many people in the tunnel with you right? Wrong. First time I ever saw my husband so fervently and gladly hug each of us in turn, so happy to see us after he came out!

KH has a deep-rooted fear of darkness and is a bit claustrophobic. The experience affected him deeply. I think it also affected me and made me think. People say it is the key to enlightenment. What are we enlightened about. I think if we stop to think about it, the experience gives us an insight into how we handle life and its uncertainty, and ultimately death and what comes after.

For me, knowing that there is a key to look out for, I was confident I would find it. Yes, the way was dark and I have no way of knowing if I am going in the right direction. I can only follow the wall, feel my way and hope to find the key. But I was confident I could. I found myself concentrating on my footsteps, the feel of the smooth wall and just moving on. There was no fear, no second-guessing, just calm and serenity. Similarly in life, I trust in God and I know what awaits me on the other side. I believe in the afterlife and in God's promises. Also, funnily enough, I thought I could see white light in my peripheral vision. I can't explain it because the place was absolute blackness. But this peripheral 'light' calmed me and I did not feel nervous or afraid.

But for KH, the fear was overwhelming. He said he did not know for sure if he was in the right tunnel, he wondered if there was a branch-off which he missed. He fretted about making the right decisions. So many unseen questions unsettling him and growing his fear. When he finally found it, sweet relief! Even sweeter was the light that he walked towards. As I pointed out to him later, so it was for him in real life too. So many worries if he is walking the right path, wondering if he could have taken a different one... Sometimes you just have to let go and trust God, that the path you are on, is the right path. When you live in the present and just feel the wall and your footsteps for the moment, you are centred and grounded.

It was a good experience and exercise. Made all of us reflect a bit. Have to say here that I am Catholic and yet we participate in these Buddhist 'rituals'. Some may wonder why. I would chalk this down to a combination of respect and curiosity and the deep-seated belief that all religions have the righteous and the good in common. I believe all religions have something to teach the other and in this trip, I have learned a bit more about Buddhism and Buddhism, in its own way, has broadened my spiritual vistas. I guess that is what travel is all about. Unexpected lessons in a dark tunnel. And if that is not some form of enlightenment, then I don't know what enlightenment is!

We spent the rest of our time in Zenkoji, still affected by our experience in the tunnel. KH was still deeply affected. We wandered Zenkoji's small garden and sub-temples.

Here you can see a bride and groom in glorious colourful wedding finery and little red riding hood oblivious to the wonderful vision moving behind him.

There were lots more that we saw whose pictures are not in this entry. For instance, there were two stone pillars next to the sutra repository. The pillars each had a heavy stone wheel inserted within. Turning this wheel would save some suffering in the world and relieve the afflicted. Sounded kinda like what we Catholics believe in when we say praying the rosary soothes the souls in purgatory. Both are wheels, cycles, circles in their own way. Either way, sounds good to me and the kids and I spent some time turning the wheels!

We had an unexpectedly lovely and thought-provoking visit to Zenkoji. I came away with more than I thought I'd get. A temple is a temple is a temple right? Nope. Not in this case for me.

It was almost late afternoon when we left Zenkoji for Nagano station. We had to take the Dentetsu electric railway to Yudanaka.

We bought our tickets 1230yen one way per adult and this can't be covered by the JR pass since it is a private railway line.

But first, growly stomachs called for food! We did not have a lot of time to sit in a restaurant and eat. In the station, as in many train stations in Japan, there was a stand-up noodle stall. No seats, everyone just stood and slurped their noodles. But with children, how to stand and eat? Some were clearly not tall enough but too tall to 'sit' on the counter. Trin could do it because she was 'baby-like' to perch on the counter, share my food and get away with it. But not Owain - so the poor guy literally ate OFF the floor. I have a picture of this but it looks so appalling that I will not post this here.

The soba was hot and welcoming and we slurped it up in good time, just right to hop to the turnstiles and get on the train for the next leg of our journey - to Shibu Onsen.

Day 4 Rain does not mean washed out

2009-12-05T17:42:00.010+08:00

I have a great deal of respect for the Japan Meteorological Agency. Their weather predictions are 100% spot on. Typical of the Japanese. If you can set your watches by the punctuality of their trains, you can certainly rely on the Japanese weathermen to deliver accurate forecasts. I tracked this everyday in Japan, and have never found them to miss-predict.

So it was with much trepidation and dismay when we realised that they were once again right on the money - it would rain. And rain. And rain... and rain pretty much the whole day we were in Tokyo DisneySea.

As a result, I don't have that many pictures to show since we were hardly outdoors but busy scampering from attraction to shelter to attraction to dodge the rain. A pity since Tokyo Disneysea, one of its kind in the world, is really beautifully, immaculately themed. The amount of detail that went into the rides, the landscaping, the facades etc, is remarkable.

Tokyo DisneySea, is not a water theme park, but a park centred around the use of waterways and lakes and lagoons. A really nice thing to do, if it had not been raining cats and dogs, would have been to traverse the park using the different modes of water transport, a gondola, a steamboat etc.

So it was wet from the get-go. I thought we would get a fine drizzle, but no, when they say rain, they mean rain! It was grey skies, freezing cold temps, very wet, especially with the wind chill factor and just really foul, misery-inducing weather.

Here we are in the Disney monorail. To walk from Maihama to the DisneySea entrance is possible - in fine weather. In this sort of rain, we decided to take the monorail. At 250yen per person, it was not cheap, but the warmth emitting from the heaters beneath the chairs more than made this worthwhile. Check out the cute Mickey windows too.

Once in the park, we realised we would not get far without more rain-proof gear, so we ended up buying raincoats. At 500yen each, for all of us, we basically spent about more than S$50 just on plastic raincoats. Painful but necessary. While the raincoats kept us dry - more or less - the cold was what made things miserable.

First stop was the Indiana Jones attraction. We had to take turns because Trin did not meet the height requirement. Note that for DisneySea, there are more rides with height restrictions than Disneyland. So unless you have really BIG toddlers, parents with kids younger than age 7 might be better off in Disneyland than DisneySea.

The Indiana Jones adventure was fun. I waited with Owain and Trin while KH and the bigger kids went for it. They came out, faces shining and called for me to go with them for another round while daddy baby-sat. We didn't wait long, there was no queue to speak off. So we bypassed all the lines and within 3minutes, were seated and ready to roll. I think Disneyland in Anaheim has a similar ride which I'd taken before so I was prepared for the drop when it came, but this one was also pretty fun, especially when you have your kids whooping it up beside you.

Next came Raging Spirits. Loved the Mayan theming. The puffs of flame on water were really cool. Raging Spirts is a coaster, which I avoid. So the kids and KH went while I waited with Owain and Trin in the cafe next door, taking shelter from the rain and the cold.

It was cold so I ordered a cup of soup. Bacon and vegetable cream soup. Wow it was so good that even veg-hating Owain asked for his own cuppa soup! I think a cup was about 280yen or thereabouts. It was rare to see Owain eat anything that had veg in it that when he asked for his own cup, I was happy to oblige!

The kids took their time with Raging Spirits. It was a coaster that had a 360deg loop which they loved. So they went on about 3 or 4 times. The good thing about the rain was that it kept the queues away. This was our experience the whole day. We could take the same ride as many times as we wanted because there was no queue!

As I said, we were largely plotting our route around the park depending on the nearest place we could seek shelter from the rain. From the Lost River Delta, the nearest Sinbad's Storybook Voyage. Like their Small World counterpart from Disneyland, this was an indoor boat ride. It was so lulling that I actually cat-napped during the ride.

Lunch was beef curry - which was surprisingly good! I am usually chary of Japanese curry, which tends to be more bland and sweeter than the familiar Indian or Malay or Nonya curries I love. But chalk it down to cold or hunger or both, but the beef curry was quite flavourful! Even the children liked it.

The rain slowed to a drizzle after lunch, enough for us have a few rounds of the kiddie roller coaster in Mermaid Lagoon. This is a pretty, dimly-lit cavernous playground for the tots.

Trin wanted to go on the Whirlpool but both KH and I could not and would not do it - we were both prone to motion-sickness. One adult was needed to go on the ride with her and neither of us could do it. As she wailed away, one of the ride assistants came forward and through a combination of sign language and lots of smiles, she offered to ride with Trin. The one in the orange hood is Cait and sitting across from her, looking like a long-haired lady, is actually Isaac with his hood on - which makes him look like a dementor on the loose sometimes.

To me, the highlight of DisneySea is its theming details and nothing came closer to this than Mystery Island. The smoking hulk of a volcano (yes it actually does smoke!) dominates the scene. So realistic was the theming that even the 'mountain sides' of rock and soil layers look genuine in their colour, tone and texture. The centrepiece of Mystery Island is the lagoon where you look down into mysterious futuristic looking vessel that seems to rise from its dark green depths.

This section of the park contains two rides, both based on Jules Verne's fiction: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. In 20,000 Leagues, you have to walk down a central spiral walkway (see below) to access the ride, which is a submarine ride down to the depths of the sea. I won't spoil it but the ride really got my vote. You feel and sometimes wonder if you were really down underwater or not and then if not, how on earth they did it. It felt so real that my kids were also asking if we were actually underwater. Had it not been for Trin's objections, I would have gone for a second round, as it were, the kids and KH did.

In Journey, the ride is thrill-based and had a steep drop - which naturally, cowardly custard me begged off. In any case, it had height restrictions so Owain and Trin also could not go. From the picture below, you can't quite see it but the carriage for the ride literally shoots out of the volcano and from where we stood, taking this picture, you could hear the screams!

By the time the kids finished their ride, it was dark, still wet and drizzly. We took the electric railway to American Waterfront but energy levels were flagging all round. Tower of Terror looked intriguing but when KH and I saw the vertical drop, we both begged off. The kids, without us going for this, were reluctant to go ahead.

So in light of the rain, the cold and our general fatigue, we called it a day. But gosh, the way back to the hotel, just one stop away from Maihaima, seemed exhaustingly endless thanks to the weather. Trin had fallen asleep and KH was carrying her so it must have been doubly tiring for him. I wanted to linger and explore the Mediterranean waterfront with its Italian town theme, but this just was not the right time. Though from what I could see of it, and having been to Italy, it did look authentic, right down to the wrought-iron lampwork and balustrades, bridges, arches, stonework and arcades.

By the time we arrived at Kasai Rinkai Koen, we were so exhausted that we settled for dinner at McDonalds - right at the base of the station. I could not contemplate a bus ride to the sushi joint a few stops away from the hotel, eating and then trudging back to the hotel. Just cannot. So McDonalds it was. Even then, eating at McDonalds is interesting because I like to check out the packaging, design etc. The quarter-pounder came in a box that said "Its Mighty Simple" while the double cheese quarter-pounder's box said: "Twice as Mighty".

Finally, their disposal methods were also interesting. See how neatly categorised everything is? Clearly paper products to the left and plastic to the right. Food waste went into the circular steel opening on top. Now why can't we do the same back home? Proves my point that recycling need not be a hassle as long as we make a bit of effort and tweak designs. And by the way, there wasn't a single McDonalds aunty or uncle in sight to clear tables and trays okay?

Day 3 the happiest place on earth - Disneyland!

2009-11-30T16:45:00.011+08:00

Rise and shine cos today is Disney day! As usual, no problem getting the kids up and going that morning because they all know we're headed for Disneyland. Unlike the first time, we took our time getting ready and getting there. Maybe the excitement factor has waned a bit since this is the second time.

After a good brekkie at Family Fifty's (I still love their simple salads with soya sauce dressing and big hard-boiled eggs with orange yolks!), we took the bus to the station and got on the next train to Maihama. We were late getting there and the hordes had already stormed the gates. We bought a 2-day passport for 10000yen per adult with the second day allocated to Disneysea. Once through the gates, as usual, there were lines galore for picture-taking with Mickey and his pals.

Now, the wise - no, sane - strategy would be to AVOID these lines and just stand about a metre or so away and just snap a picture or go for the less popular characters since Mickey and Minnie et al have lines that stretch past 50m! But because yours truly was so caught up with Disney fever, I insisted that we should have have a picture properly posed with at least ONE character. So I made a beeline for the three pigs who did not seem to have as many people crowding around them.

Well, after my porky experience, let the record show that I've now officially put the three pigs on my personal hate list. Pork will be big on my menu from now!

There I was, tugging Trin alone, swinging her here and there to try to get to ONE pig. They don't have lines but they do have people milling about them. If there was a line, it must have been an invisible one because I patiently waited, and waited... and waited and those bloody pigs (whom I mentally made into 24 types of sausages already) did not give us the time of day. Whenever I went up to one, they would turn away and face someone else, or wave at me but sign another girl's autograph books (who knew pigs could sign autographs?! Can their little trotters actually hold pens?) and so on it went. The last straw came when a protective pig minder came and gestured for me to give way to a disabled kid in a wheelchair. I have as much compassion as the next guy when it comes to people with disabilities but dammit I have been waiting for that stupid pig to take a picture and by God, I WILL take a dang picture even if it kills me!

Long and short of it was, the pigs won and I gave up. The last picture I have of that darn pig is this:

Kena scolded by a pig!

We finally made it into the park but all the fast passes for the new Monsters Inc attraction were gone and the line wound on and on for several hundred metres. Waiting time? 240min. Forget it. We had other stuff to do.

Finally in the park!

We were a little overwhelmed and this time, less ready with a clear strategy. The idea was to spend a bit more time in Tomorrowland since we usually miss this area. So we ended up taking a fast pass for the Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blaster attraction and went off to do something else while waiting for our FP time slot. This was everyone's favourite because it was interactive - you could shoot Zorgs and tote up your score at the end. Heh, for the record, Isaac later scored the highest while daddy, to his dismay, ended up near the bottom of the table. And as for me, hah! Zorgs fear me!!

We picked the attraction with the shortest queue and ended up with the Microadventure - a 3D ride with glasses. Here's how cool we all looked in our glasses. Or at least, how cute Owain looks:

Microadventure was okay, but not great. Was never a fan of the 3D or 4D rides. We spent the rest of the morning at Toontown, in the Go'coaster and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. Happy to say that roller-coaster phobic me survived the ride. Can see the kids eyes' rolling now at their wimpy mom.

Lunch was Mickey Mouse pizza. We took great delight in chomping his famous ears off. Really loved the packaging that Disney has. Not exactly environment-friendly in that they do not use recyclable plastic trays to transport your stuff to your table, they use nicely printed paper cup and food holders instead. But then again, the concept is nice and at the end of the meal, the left-overs and waste are carefully sorted out into bins for food waste, paper waste, ice etc. You'd never see this at McDonalds here.

For some reason, the park was really crowded that day. The last time we were here, it was not as bad. The queue for Monsters Inc never got better, even as the day waned. By the time we left - around 8pm, the queue was still stretching for at least 2hours!! Regretfully, we just had to leave it for another day.

We watched the parades (from afar. We have many quasi-parade shots with lots of other people's heads in the frame which will never be published in this blog) and went on our favourites - Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and checked out some new ones - Star Tours, Grand Race Circuitway, Peter Pan, Pooh's Hunny Hunt, the Western River Railroad and a couple more - generally those we never covered the first time we were here two years ago. We also made time to eat - the smoked turkey leg was as ginormous and just as delicious as I remembered.

Some tips to enjoy Disney:

1) Make use of parades. The Japanese love parades and would stake out their spots well in advance of the actual parade. So when people are watching the parades, go for the rides. I tugged Trin over to the lovely Pooh's Hunny Hunt and it was empty - queue time only 10min. The minute the parade ended, we tried to go for the same ride with the rest of the kids (who were busy watching the parade) and wait time had swelled to 70min!

2) Use the FastPass wisely. Once you take the FastPass, you can only get your next FP after a certain time has lapsed. We got ours for Buzz Lightyear ride but then could not get a FP until hours later when we finally got another one for Haunted Mansion.

3) When the night falls, people start to leave and the place is far less crowded. So by 4.30pm when it got dark, biological clocks start chiming for dinner and exits so the place thinned out. We could get a ride for the Grand Circuit Raceway for a wait time of only 25min. We also got a ride on the carousel for a 10-min wait time.

4) Queue, queue and queue. Even for photo ops and toilet stalls. The Japanese are too polite to tell you off if you potong jalan, but icy looks can prevail. I did the Japanese thing and queued even for a photo op with the Monsters Inc car for Trin! And even then, no matter how long you take, no one actually chases you to hurry up with it. Maybe because of all the queueing, people feel entitled to take their time.

5) Strollers are very useful for sleepy and cranky tots and tired moms. While I do not relish dragging a stroller through Japan, I think renting one in Disney has a great deal of merit.

6) Don't dismiss the 'easy' rides. In all our visits to all the Disney parks, KH and I have never taken the Jungle Railroad, believing it to be just a joyride round the park. But this time, because the queue was non-existent, we checked it out and had a good time. Disney's impeccable theming again, works to create a realistic yet fun ride into the wild west.

Because we'd been to Disney already, and pretty much seen/done what we wanted, we left the park early - around 8pm. Trin was sleepy, cranky and a deadweight - in no particular order. So we left and had dinner at the same ramen joint we dined at the night before. Just across the road from the hotel.

Fukurou was a simple set-up but churned out great food. Kids loved the ramen and I loved mentaiko rice! The ramen also came with a bowl of rice which I had no difficulty polishing off accompanied by the yummy condiments on the table - preserved veg (like kiam chye buay) and a kimchi-like chilli dish of koo chye. Very nice.

Trin slept through the meal, too tired to rouse and eat. The kids gobbled everything in sight and had seconds. I wrestled with the vending machine but triumphed thanks to the very kind waiter/chef whom we discovered, came from Malaysia - Ipoh to be precise! The young man had come to Japan to study but because the economy back home was not that promising, he had stayed on. Its been 10 years already and he's gone native, marrying a Japanese woman and having a 3-year-old daughter with her.

I found it a bit disconcerting that the guy would get a degree but end up serving tables in an obscure ramen joint in a Tokyo suburb. But I think it can't be easy for him to get a salary-man type of job in Japan since he is a foreigner and the Japanese are notorious for closing ranks against foreigners. I don't think though, that he would ever go back to Malaysia (although I think his prospects can't be as bad as he thinks) now that he has a family here. It would take too much effort for his wife and child to settle down there in an unfamiliar climate and amid unfamiliar customs.

It was a nice conversation we had and although we'd been in Tokyo only less than a week, it sure felt good to hear a familiar accent! He could not speak English that well but his Mandarin was delightfully Malaysian! I think I felt a bit sad at leaving the restaurant and breaking the nice connection we had made. A bit like leaving home behind again.

Day 2 Tokyo... we think?

2009-11-30T00:47:00.010+08:00

We arrived at Narita at 7.04am, Tokyo time. Everyone was quite zombie-like due to lack of sleep, but generally cheerful and excited - hey, we're in Tokyo, people!

First stop, JR counter in the basement of Terminal 2. We had to exchange our JR pass vouchers for the actual passes. I also made seat reservations. Note that while it may be easy and convenient to hop on and off trains because of the JR pass, certain segments might be worth making seat reservations since they are likely to be full and you don't want to have to stand or have to sit in a smoking carriage.

Even then, when I tried to make the reservations for the last leg of our journey from Okayama to Tokyo on the shinkansen, I was told it was all fully booked and I had to content myself with reservations in the smoking car.

While I was busy with the paperwork, the kids (see left picture) sat on the ground, drank the first of many drinks from the ubiquitous vending machines, argued, played hand games, chased each other around the place and generally left me feeling nervy. I didn't think Japanese kids behaved like this and did NOT want disapproving looks shot at me. But despite me reading them the usual sermon, the peace never lasted for long.
It was a bright and sunny autumn day we arrived. The Narita Express or NEX cut through green rice fields set beneath a deeply azure sky. Here and there, you could see the occasional Jizo shrine along the country roads. It reminded me that I was well and truly back in Japan. The hillsides were still largely green although there were already some trees which had turned colour.

But we were so zonked out from the flight we just could not stay awake and pretty soon, we were all snoozing to the gentle rocking of the train.

We arrived at Tokyo station, found coin lockers easily, stuffed our bags in and took a train on the Yamanote line to Ueno. But before that we grabbed a quick but expensive lunch of pasta and pizza in one of the restaurants in Tokyo station.

It felt good to be back. Things looked and felt the same and yet different. While I enjoyed the familiarity - being able to navigate my way around a bit more easily this time, I still thrilled to the fact that I was finally in Japan again. The little details still bring a big grin to my face. Check out these Crocs for instance. We were in Ameyoko market and a shop was selling these original Crocs lined with fleece and they looked so comfy I wish I wear one right now.

Ameyoko was packed with people. 'Ame' being a close abbreviation of America and 'yoko' being alley, Ameyoko was born out of a thriving black market during the American occupation of Tokyo in the post-war years. Today, it is still a market - with all manner of fish, dried foods, clothes and food stalls. Its very noisy, colourful and teeming with people.

We saw a stall selling sashimi and sushi don on the cheap - prices hovered around 500 to 700yen a bowl - and salivated at the variety - they had a good range of tekkadon, chirashi-don, negitoro don and so on. Really regretted the earlier pizza and pasta. People were sitting on stools, gobbling down the fish and rice, coming and going like a fast food joint.

Following Ameyoko, we took a subway to Asakusa and headed for the Sumida-gawa and Sensoji. We didn't go far. The cherry trees there had already lost most of their leaves. Can imagine the spectacular sight in autumn though. Lots of people lining up to board the river cruises and the line stretched for more than 100m! Philippe Starck's controversial golden flame, or beer froth or er, turd (depending on your interpretation!) gleamed across the river. Caught sight of the futuristic looking suijo bus on the river. Owain wished he could get a ride.

Sensoji was as crowded as ever, and as smoky too. As per tradition, we stood at the giant joss urn and wafted the incense smoke over for good luck and good health. I took an omikuji (fortune telling slip) and mine said, among other things: "...the patient will recover..." Which I hope would happen for dad. Happy to say that, writing this 15 days later after the trip and with dad still in the High Dependency ward when I left, it was a good portent because dad looks so much better today when I saw him. We have had nothing but good news since and I think he's pretty much out of the woods.

This is smoky and crowded Sensoji.

I really liked this detail - this is the underside of the huge lantern hanging in the Kaminarimon gate. While everyone usually takes a shot of the huge lantern and then passes by beneath it through the gate, no one really looks up to see the beautiful wooden details of the lantern base.

We all gave the Nade Botokesan Buddha a nice massage as we passed. He is renowned as a doctor and is said to be the patron saint of healing and good health. You can see where the bronze statue is rubbed to a nice shine by the many thousands who must have rubbed him for some luck! This journey seems to have a great deal of significance when it comes to health, for obvious reasons!

Note that not all of Sensoji and its environs are busy and crowded. We wandered off into some of the backlanes and found serene little green patches and tiny peaceful shrines which seem forlorn and forgotten by most in favour of the bigger stars at Sensoji.

But this is precisely what I like about Japan. You get the big blockbuster sights but tiny quiet surprises are still around the corner. If you wander off the mainstream, you never know what you will find.

By this time in the early afternoon, we were really just sleep-walking. Despite wanting to carry on, and our initial plan was to move on to Shibuya for the nightscape, we threw in the towel and headed for our hotel in Maihaima. Poor Owain was so tired that he literally slept standing up in the train to Kasai Rinkai Koen! And by the way, the weather that day? Hot! We were ready for temps of 15deg or so, but got 18deg and that was great for strolling around in tees but in our jackets etc... we were really perspiring!

Day 1Japan here we come!

2009-11-30T00:24:00.001+08:00

We had a long day that Saturday. In the morning, we had Owain's graduation concert to attend and some last minute packing to do. The MAS web check-in had failed the night before, which left me a bit antsy about not getting good seats on both legs to Tokyo.

True enough, we did not manage to secure good seats and the second leg of the journey from KL to Tokyo saw all of us separated - Gillian and Isaac sitting individually by themselves further away from us. The younger kids, KH and I managed to sit quite close together, separated by the aisle.

At Changi airport, taking advantage of the free internet access. Kids were thrilled to have free internet and used the time to play games - even Trinity!

We took the shuttle flight to KL and then changed planes with barely half an hour to spare. The kids, with the exception of Trin, were thrilled to have inflight movies and games. By the time the plane took off for Tokyo at around 11pm, I was completely zonked. I think I pretty much slept through the flight, not even waking for meals, until Trin started crying/whining. That should have warned me about the days to come, but fuzzy from sleep, it just didn't clue me in. Despite repeated warnings, the older kids did NOT sleep until around 4am when we shut down the system for them. But by then, it was a case of too much game-time, too little shut-eye and too late since we would be landing by 7am.

Japan back on track... for now

2009-10-27T10:28:00.003+08:00

Dad seems to be stable. He will need surgery at some point but for now, things are pretty much status quo. Japan plans for now, will go back on track. In the event that things change suddenly, well, can't be helped. But if dad remains in a stable condition, I think we will go ahead with the trip.

That said, I made some adjustments to the accommodations, making early cancellations for Vi and mom since for now, Vi and mom will be staying put and not travelling with us. But if anything changes and they come along, well, I think it would not be an issue making additional arrangements.

Briefly, I have gone on to make reservations for Hiroshima and cancelled my reservation for Miyajima at the Forest Villa. In Hiroshima, we will stay at the Chisun Hotel. This is conveniently located with a tram stop right in front of the hotel. Walking distance to the Peace Park too.

In Miyajima, we will stay at the Auberge Watanabe.

I think I might have gone a bit numb about the cost since Auberge Watanabe is far costlier than Forest Villa (though better value - meals provided, including a 9-course kaiseki feast and overall better 'atmosphere'). I am just throwing caution to the wind and splurging. Its that sort of devil-may-care reckless mood that gleefully tells me to just go ahead and spend, kinda like why people fly planes and race cars. You know you might die but you'll die doing what makes you happy. That's the kind of number-numbness I have right now. One day when I wake from my travel-induced stupor (when the credit card bills come) I'm sure all this will come back and bite me where it hurts most.

But until then, ah what the heck...

Osaka hotel confirmed

2009-10-09T10:43:00.004+08:00

Booked the hotel for the one and only night we will spend in Osaka. Initially I was considering the Namba Oriental Hotel but a last minute check on Tripadvisor pulled me towards Hotel Ichiei instead.

Their semi-western Japanese rooms look interesting. I booked one of those which can sleep three and another Japanese room which sleeps five. For 5000yen a night per adult and 4500yen per child, I think its reasonable.

The hotel is right on top of the Namba Nankai station, a mere 2min walk away. This places us right in the heart of downtown Osaka, near Dotonbori. We plan to spend the day either going up to the Minka koen in northern Osaka or just hanging around the downtown area. Having been to the Tempozan area and the aquarium the last time, we don't want to revisit. Another option is to try Universal Studios but I am not keen since many of the rides are 3D or 4D rides (a big no-no for me since I am prone to motion sickness) and quite a number would have height restrictions.

Osaka would also be a good time for us to split up for an afternoon if we really want to. After more than a week of being in each other's hair, it would be good to go off on separate adventures for a while to recoup some lost space!

Looking forward to the neon zones, food and street life of Dotonbori and after that, a good night's rest at Ichiei!

Getting under the Japanese skin

2009-10-01T11:30:00.003+08:00

Someone commented that going to Japan is like seeing Singapore from a different perspective. I thought I caught a whiff of a sneer in that comment. It did make me think though, why I was so fascinated with the place.

Well, first I think the comment is not invalid or unfair. I think Japan had a big influence on Singapore when we were growing ourselves into an economic miracle. The whole 'productivity' and 'courtesy' campaigns we had in the early days certainly had some root in Japanese work ethic and culture. Our efficiency, while still at very high levels, is not honed to an art which the Japanese have - the way they run their trains and the way we run ours is testimony!

The Japanese view of the end being more than justified the means is also not dissimilar as well - witness our ruthlessly relentless pursuit of new and modern and 'better' at the cost of sacrificing the 'older' or 'shabbier' eg our approach to building conservation (case in point the sacrifice of the old brick National Library building for a road tunnel that cuts travel time by less than 3min!). Practicality wins over sentiment most of the time. In Japan too, there has been a price to pay for relentless modernization, for endlessly building and building and this is discussed in Alex Kerr's book Dogs and Demons. In many places, the Japanese landscape has changed beyond recognition thanks to over-enthusiastic construction work and almost everywhere, some degree of environmental degradation has set in.

But yet, there is a lot more to the picture. I am fascinated by their mindset of community before self. Despite the flamboyance of the geisha and the cosplayers in Harajuku, the sense of individuality is very much subdued. I read somewhere (in "Lost Japan" I think!)that while the cosplay kids revel in the attention they get, once its sunset, they pack up, change into their ordinary clothes and ride the train back home to their usual lives. And while expressions of fashion like this is tolerated and indulged, you will find that most, once out of school and wearing the mantle of adulthood, will just conform to the usual social order and social norms. In this sense again, I wonder how different we are from the Japanese.

The Japanese code of bushido, or the way of the warrior, is another fascination. The sense of honour (and shame) that they have, in the old days to commit seppuku and today, to resign in face of disappointment or scandal, is interesting to read about.

I am no Japanese scholar and I am probably scratching the skin of the surface only and can never hope to do justice to this topic. But I remain a curious bystander and observer of these issues. When I go to Japan, the things I read - good, bad and ugly - all help to give a deeper depth and breadth to my travel experiences. So while I can appreciate the architecture of a gassho-zukuri house or a machiya, I can equally lament the loss of a changing landscape in preference for 'modernity' and efficiency.

Hence to me, when I research a destination, its not just about where to go and which train to catch and what to see. I like to go beyond the travel guidebooks to books that try to penetrate the Japanese skin. Alex Kerr's books "Dogs and Demons" and "Lost Japan" are staples on my bookshelf. Right now, the bio of Saigo Takamori gives insight into the mindset of the last samurai and the way of the warrior. "Hitching A Ride with Buddha" sketches caricatures and portraits of the average Japanese in his Honda picking up a hitchhiker and letting him glimpse a peek into their lives. Lafcadio Hearn's writing on Japanese supernatural tales give shivery insight into one aspect of Japanese folklore.

All these books are but pieces of a gigantic puzzle I am trying to piece together. Bits and pieces of clues to a larger picture. I don't think I can ever get there, but it sure is fun to try!

Finetuning Kyoto

2009-10-01T11:01:00.002+08:00

Now that the main skeleton of the itinerary is done, all that is left is to fill in the spaces and fatten it up a bit with details.

In Kyoto, we only have one and a half days. It is certainly not enough to cover everything. In fact, I think even if we had stayed in Kyoto for months, it would not be enough to cover everything! Wise ones who visit and stay in Kyoto have said that the city offers so many tiny fascinating little nooks and crannies that it would be hard to discover them all even if you stay for a lifetime.

Well, I don't have a lifetime to spend in Kyoto (unfortunately!) and since we have been there before, and I want to cover more ground in the rest of Japan, we'll just have to make do with one and a half days. I console myself that this means I just have to keep coming back!

My options are:

1) half day in Kibune and Kurama. As Janice suggested, take the Eizan rail line from Demachiyanagi (only 30min ride) to Kurama. Kurama is known for its onsen and Kuramadera while Kibune's shrine is known for its waters with healing powers. Apparently its known as the 'Lourdes of Japan'! Well, having been to the original Lourdes, it is certainly tempting to head for this one. The deity there is also known for granting wishes pertaining to marriage. It sounds so very interesting to me - especially since KH works in the water industry! I think Kibune and Kurama is off the beaten track but will still have lovely autumn foliage to show off. Janice recommends an evening visit where the maples are lit up. Lovely!

2) Exploring the Northwest sector of Kyoto. We have not been here and covered the main sights of Ryoanji and Kinkakuji. Now how could any traveller worth his salt, come to Kyoto and not see these iconic sights? Yet I feel that coming here would be to jostle with crowds and just ticking off the sights as if on some checklist - which is not the way I like to travel. Still, seeing Kinkakuji with the phoenix all aglow on top against fiery autumn leaves would be a treat. My beef also is that the transport connections to the northwest are not fantastic and I would hate to have a long commute by bus! Recently though, I 'discovered' the highly under-rated Koto-in and Obai-ji, all part of the Daitokuji complex. Literally a warren of lanes in a 'temple village' where so many sub-temples congregate, Daitokuji sounds like an interesting place to visit. I could probably combine this with Ryoanji and Kinkakuji - making it a full day trip.

3) Sticking to the tried but true eastern hills of Kyoto - Higashiyama. We covered it in bits and pieces the last time and I think we did not do justice to the place. Last trip, we barely made inroads into Nanzen-ji, we skipped Eikando and barely made it 10min into the Philosopher's Walk before we gave up, headed downhill for ramen and bussed down to Chawanzaka and up to Kiyomizudera. Boy was that a long walk uphill! Even at Kiyomizudera, we missed a lot of stuff since it was near dark and closing time, wet and drizzly. We saw the beautiful stage, but missed the Jishu jinja the 'love shrine'. Because it as cold/wet, we went quickly downhill after that and did not walk around the older lanes of Ninnenzaka etc. We also missed Gion, Yasaka Jinja etc. So this time, I am thinking of revisiting Kiyomizudera and covering more ground in the area.

4) Visit the Toji flea market (which we also missed the last time) for nice 2nd hand kimono buys, and then heading to Nara for half a day. We don't intend to go to Horyuji, but just to Todaiji, Kasuga shrine and the general area of Nara park. The kids would enjoy feeding the heavenly messangers of the gods I'm sure! But KH said, we get the heavenly messangers at Miyajima too! A deer is a deer is a deer right?

So I'm really in a fixed. Over the past few days, I have narrowed down my options to these 4 combinations. I'd really love to do them all but its just not possible. The only thing to do is to get in from Kanazawa as early as possible so that we'd have as much daylight time in Kyoto on the first day, leaving us more time to cover more ground in the second day.

Decisions, decisions - such fun to ponder these dilemma.

Our JR passes are here!

2009-09-20T22:25:00.000+08:00

Its past 10pm and I'm just home from Ion after picking up my JR passes. Very excited to now have this in hand and I feel like the trip is one step closer! We bought the 14-day JR Pass at SGD$673 per adult or 45100yen, after a 5% discount. All in, our passes cost (including Vivian's) SGD$4039. Funnily I thought I'd wince at the amount but I am not - guess the excitement factor overrules all else at the moment!

Dormy Inn Kanazawa

2009-09-02T10:38:00.002+08:00

Finally managed to get two nights in this business hotel near the railway station at Kanazawa.

After weeks of trawling hotel search engines and reading reviews, I came to the conclusion that Kanazawa lacks hotels with the X-factor for me. Yes, they have ryokans, inns, the usual cookie-cutter array of business hotels and the expensive tourist hotel groups. But these lack the oomph and personality I am looking for.

I checked out some ryokans but they left me feeling 'meh' and the reviews were lukewarm at best, ranging from the usual superlatives to criticisms on hygiene and cleanliness. The photographs also did not give me much to look forward to.

Given that the night before Kanazawa would be spent in Shibu Onsen, a hard act to follow, anything in Kanazawa would be less than exciting. So I made the decision to keep the budget tighter and head for a business hotel. The hotel that garnered the best reviews came from Dormy Inn Kanazawa, near the railway station. It was value-for-money for a hotel in its class, had a big public bath on the rooftop and the rooms looked far better, more spacious and more pleasantly fitted than any of its equivalents such as the Toyoko Inn range.

Still, once I settled on Dormy Inn I had a hard time making reservations - I just could not find an English site to do this and Rakuten, for some reason, had shut me out of making any reservations on its website. So I was dawdling on any decision on Kanazawa until sometime last week. I did one last check and found that Rakuten was again accepting reservations for Dormy Inn, with new offerings for the coming autumn/winter season.

Happily, I managed to book two rooms for two nights - one is a Japanese room for five and the other a semi-Western room for four. Best part was that kids below 12 sleep free.

We will come in late on the first night, travelling from Yudanaka (Shibu Onsen) to Nagano, and from there to Naoetsu, changing trains to Kanazawa. If time permits (though I think this is near impossible given that night comes much earlier in late autumn and travel hours are already high at 3.5hrs for the whole trip) we might sneak part of the journey through the magnificent Kurobe Gorge. Was told that we might see early snowfall and the scenery on a single-gauge track is said to be very nice! Given time (how many times have I said this!) the journey through Kurobe Gorge is worth breaking a night since there are numerous onsen ryokans lining the route, some of whom have rotemburos with stunning gorge/river views. Paradise for soakers like me. Ah well, next time...

But I digress. Back to Kanazawa. First night we'll come in late and so I imagine we will sink gratefully into our futons at Dormy Inn, a mere 3-min walk away from the station. The short distance from the station was another big 'pull' factor for me since I can't imagine persuading a bunch of tired kids plus my mother and my cold-averse sister to lug their luggage, change bus, walk great distances etc to get to a hotel.

The next day we will cover at least Kenrokoen early in the morning (I feel like a weird mix of boot camp sergeant, shepherd and baby-sitter here!) and then in no order, Seisonkaku villa in Kenrokoen, the Nogura samurai house in the Nagamachi district, popping over to Ninja-dera or more correctly, Myoruji (which is said to be lots of fun with all its Ninja trick walls, hidden rooms, escape hatches and so on) and perhaps by evening, walk through the Higashi Chaiya district, full of old wooden geisha houses and tea houses.

Kokuya Ryokan, Shibu Onsen

2009-08-21T16:15:00.002+08:00

Okay, I just have to blog this. I am SO excited right now. If you can see me, I am simultaneously hopping in my seat and grinning from ear to ear. If I were alone, I would be screaming in glee!!

Our Japan itinerary is slowly but surely taking shape. I have confirmed accomodation in various places already. But nothing has gotten me more excited than my recent (read less than 10min ago!) confirmation from the gorgeous Kokuya Ryokan in Shibu Onsen!!

Kokuya is lovely - it comes with several in-house baths with different types of waters and in various configurations - outdoor rotemburo and indoor baths, to satisfy the hardcore soaker in me. Lovely spacious rooms, 9-course kaiseki dinners arranged to miniature perfection and its right in the heart of Shibu Onsen's quaint onsen streets. I am going to be wrinkled as a prune by the time I get through all of Shibu Onsen's nine public sentos AND Kokuya's 6 to 8 baths, but I can't wait!

Initially, looking at Kokuya's rates (18,000yen per person per night in a standard room), I felt that this was beyond our budget. The other places in Shibu did not look as appetising and reluctantly, I was going to give Shibu a miss. As KH smirked: "Nothing but the best eh? Either you get Kokuya or nothing, right?"

But this afternoon, I went through Zeno's guide again, wistfully looking at the pictures and for the heck of it, decided to just write to him to ask if he could recommend a similar property at slightly lower prices. My budget was about 13,000yen per person. Shibu looked too good to pass up after all.

To my surprise, he was very quick and wrote back immediately. We bounced emails like a hard and fast game of ping-pong and bingo, he'd gotten us great rates at Kokuya - 14000yen per person with children paying 70% and 50% less. This is great news and far better than I expected. Needless to say, I confirmed this immediately.

I am SO SO SO looking forward to this, I can just burst with excitement!

Already, I am seeing us in our yukatas and getas, clacking through the narrow lantern-lit streets of Shibu, going from bathhouse to bathhouse, stamping on our tegatas (souvenir towels - each bathhouse has a stamp so after each bath, we stamp the tegata, with the aim to collect all nine stamps!) and then settling in with a fantastic kaiseki dinner, then snuggle in our deep comfy futons for a night. Can't wait!

I promised myself that this trip, I want a full ryokan experience and I am so glad to be getting this in Shibu Onsen. It will be our one ryokan splurge for the trip and I'm sure the experience will be worth it.

To keep the blog up to date, other accomodation I've booked todate include a wide range - a highly-rated hostel in Kyoto, our usual Family Fifty accomodation in Maihama near Tokyo Disney, a three-bedroom HOUSE - yes, you read that right - on the beautiful island of Miyajima, and a night stay in a shukubo (temple lodging) on the very spiritual Koyasan. So it looks like a good mix - we have nights in cheaper lodging and nights where we luxuriate a little. I think in travel, its good to have this mix so that we don't end up with travel fatigue brought on by too much stinging! It will be interesting to stay in a hostel with my mom, sister and family in one big room (all bunk beds!).

I am also looking forward to our shukubo on Koyasan - where Nov night time temps are likely to go as low as 0 deg celcius! Our shukubo is at the Shojoshoin temple complex, which is near to Okunoin - so very handy for a stroll at dusk to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum.

This is all shaping up very nicely and I look forward to posting pictures and sharing the trip details in this blog!

An almost final itinerary...

2009-08-02T21:29:00.002+08:00

After numerous versions, ruthlessly pruning here and there, I've drafted this almost confirmed itinerary to Japan. Takayama and the Kiso Valley is out - with great regret from me and relief from KH who was reluctantly contemplating the 3-hour hike on the Nakasendo! Never mind, just gives me one more reason to go back!

So here goes:

Day 1
Arrive in Tokyo. Leave bags in lockers in Tokyo station. Visit Sensoji, maybe Sengakuji near Shinagawa, Shibuya (definitely). Collect bags and check into hotel after nightfall. Looks very likely that we will stay at the Family Fifty Inn again - because of its proximity to Tokyo Disney Resort. And also because for the price, it offers good value with a decent brekkie spread. Think big boiled eggs with orange centred yolks, free flow of juice, coffee, tea and salad with my favourite goma sauce. Far better than any continental brekkie spread I've had in Europe!

Day 2
Disneyland. We'll buy a two-day passport but our strategy remains the same - grab the good fastpasses EARLY and that means, an early start. So looks like we'll get to see the surreal sight of petite Japanese girls in whalebone corsets, laced up boots and heels and big Pooh Bear hats making a dash for it once the gates open at 8.30 sharp! I will leave it to mom and the sister if they wish to come with us, otherwise, they're free to explore Tokyo on their own.

Day 3
DisneySea.

Day 4
Take the 0948am shinkansen to Nagano. We'll arrive around 1116am, (by the way, all these times are taken from the super rail-trip planning tool Hyperdia which calls up ALL train connections in Japan in seconds! The marvels of the internet!) which means we have time to walk up to Zenko-Ji and grope our way to the path of eternal life (or something like that) before taking another train, one-hour, to Yudanaka Station. Aim to arrive by 1500pm or so. Which gives us time to leave our bags, change into our yukatas and hit the baths! We'll have all night to make the circuit of 9 sentos in the area, but must also make room for a nice kaiseki dinner in the ryokan. This is where I think I might splurge a bit on better accomodation in a good ryokan with the works.

Day 5
This will be a day of hard travelling. We will leave Shibu Onsen early to catch the 0920am train to Nagano. From there, we will take the train up to the coast of the Sea of Japan, changing trains at Naoetsu. We will pass through mountain scenery en route down to the coast. From Naoetsu, we might stop at Kurobe for a short trip down the scenic Kurobe gorge, if we have time. If not, then its all the way to Kanazawa, the rain capital of Japan! We'll probably not have time to do much except check-in but that's good, because we need a break from all the travelling and trains.

Day 6
This is where we wander around Kanazawa. Top of the list at 8am when its gates open is the top-rated Kenrokoen! Said to be Japan's loveliest garden. We must get there early to beat the crowds of tour groups. Other places to see if we have the time: Omayajinja, Myoryu-ji or aka the Ninja temple! Also nice to visit the Samurai quarter, see Nomura House, which is a samurai house now open to the public. We might also visit Higashi Chaiya, the old geisha quarter. Kanazawa is a big town, but its old quarters are left intact because it was not bombed in WW2, hence the preservation of many pockets of old houses and buildings which are worth wandering and getting lost in.

Day 7
Leave Kanazawa on the 0904am train to arrive at Kyoto 1109am. Leave bags in the hotel and then sightsee. Likely to go to Kinkakuji and Ryoanji in the northwest of Kyoto. If we have the energy, Nanzenji is likely to be nicely lit up during the autumn season. Its open till 2100pm I think, so we should have some time to explore.

Day 8
A full day's sightseeing in Nara, feeding deer in the deer park, the gi-normous bronze Buddha in Todaiji and the world's oldest surviving wooden structure - Horyuji. Back to Kyoto for the night.

Day 9
Leave bags in hotel but pack smaller bags for the next couple of nights. Head for Koyasan. Overnight in a shukubo on Koyasan. Walk through the ancient cemetery of Okunoin at dusk.

Day 10
Leave Koyasan and head for Osaka. We should have the second half of the day left in Osaka. Time to do a bit of shopping or visit the Umeda Sky Building and the floating garden observatory? Or go a bit further to the outdoor museum of old Japanese houses (Ryokuchi Koen), since we're giving the Hida area a miss and won't see the gassho zukuri of the Shirakawago region. Whatever our plan, we'll keep it free and easy so nothing is really planned for the second half of the day.

Day 11
We could either spend the day in Universal Studios. Or move on to Himeji for the morning and then finishing it (it takes about 1.5hrs to finish Himeji castle on a tour), move on to Hiroshima and Miyajima for the night. We are likely to reach Miyajima by 3pm if we leave Himeji by 1pm latest. So this will allow us time to see Itsukushima at its quietest. At night, when the crowds are gone and the lanterns on the gallery lit, Itsukushima looks elegantly beautiful. We might splurge again on a ryokan here in Miyajima.

Day 12, 13 and 14
Walk around Momijidani to see the autumn colours, take the ropeway up to Mt Misen and down. Leave Miyajima by noon to Hiroshima, where we will spend the afternoon at the Peace Park. We can leave Hiroshima late, taking the shinkansen down to Kyoto for the night. This is where I am not very sure about the itinerary and will tweak it a bit more.

Option 1 - If we spend a day in Osaka at Universal Studios, then the subsequent days get pushed backwards. Which means we will not have one more day in Kyoto but will have to take the overnight train back to Tokyo, arriving in the morning of the 28th at 0708am. In time for a sushi brekkie at Tsukiji and then hopping on the Narita Express to the airport to catch our flight back to KL and Singapore. This also means we will take our bags with us and not leave them in the hotel in Kyoto as said earlier.

Option 2 - We go as planned to Himeji etc but on day 12, we spend the day in Hiroshima, returning late to Kyoto for the night. On Day 13, we spend the day sightseeing in Kyoto and on Day 14, take the early Hikari Shinkansen, zooming back to Tokyo in time to make the 10.30am N'EX to Narita. I'm just worried that we might be cutting it a bit thin here and it does seems like a hard day of travelling considering that we would be spending about 3 to 4 hours on a train, followed by 7hours on a plane and then in transit for another 2hrs or so before flying an hour again. Does seem like a really long day, and I can expect grouchy kids, which would NOT be fun on long connections.

The night train option looks increasingly interesting since the experience will also be a novel one for the kids - to sleep on couchettes in a moving train. Price-wise, we'll have to pay a supplement for the couchettes and this should be more expensive than paying for accomodation. But might be worth it for the time saved and the experience.

So how does this look?

Japan draft itinerary Ver 2

2009-07-22T11:29:00.003+08:00

Looks like I can't cram as much as I want to see in Japan in all of 13 days. With 5 kids, one senior citizen and another who swells up like a big red balloon in the cold, it might be safer to stick to a less ambitious itinerary. sigh.

Toss the dice.

Do I ditch the Kiso Valley? Do I forgo Shibu Onsen? Or Koyasan? Or Miyajima?

Logically when you look at a map and see the places I have earmarked, Miyajima and Hiroshima seem out of the general loop. We would have to make a trip all the way out there and then all the way back to Kyoto before heading back into the Central Honshu area. But to cut Miyajima and Hiroshima is painful.

KH, who has been to Hiroshima, say there is nothing much to see in the Peace Park. But I know my mother would be interested to see a different side of the war, get a different perspective. So would I. And Miyajima is widely touted to be Japan's most beautiful spot for autumn foliage. Wouldn't it be a shame to miss that? Problem also is that Miyajima's accomodation is said to be pricey. With budgetary concerns, I would rather save up for a good one in Shibu Onsen.

Then there's the Kiso Valley. Old post towns that have stood still in time. A picture that I hold in my heart is one of a street of wooden houses with soaring green hills behind. Taking a trip to the Kiso is taking a trip back in time - no cars, no streetlamps, no ugly wires and telephone poles. But then I worry - would the kids be antsy. The highlight of visiting the Kiso Valley is a three-hour walk between Tsumago and Magome. Can the kids do it? Would they be whiny?

And Shibu Onsen. Newly discovered for me - a tiny onsen village in the mountains, nine public baths and images of us clattering down narrow, winding empty streets in our yukatas and getas, aglow from our time in the onsen and heading towards the next. En route back to Nagano, we could stop at Zenko-ji.

To further distress me in the choices I have to make, to chop or not, see this pretty ryokan in Shibu Onsen I found online.

Kokuya Ryokan at Shibu Onsen: http://www.ichizaemon.com/en/2/rooms_rates.html (Check out the rooms with the outdoor baths!!) Pricey but so mouthwateringly tempting...

So to make things easier, let's just stick to the facts:

Comparing Japan Guide user ratings, the highest rating went to Shibu Onsen. Lowest is Takayama. So the way I figure it, since we are heading to the highlands in Shibu already, kill Takayama?

One thing for sure, from the posted itinerary in my last post, I think I can safely kill Kobe and Arima Onsen and return to Kyoto as a base instead after Koyasan. From there, visit Himeiji and Hiroshima/Miyajima.

Okay, still a work in progress.

Where to in Japan?

2009-07-20T11:43:00.003+08:00

So we're heading to Japan. Plane tickets bought so no turning back.

We're heading for 14 days in the peak of autumn. Question is, where to go? I feel like a kid in a candy shop - and my head is swirling with questions and possibilities. I've decided to use this blog to document an itinerary that is slowly taking shape.

For now, the itinerary looks like this:

Day 1 Arrive in Narita at 0740am. Spend the rest of the day in Tokyo city after checking in. If we're staying at the Family Fifties again, then we'll just stow luggage in the lockers at the train stations (either Ueno or Tokyo) and then start the sightseeing buzz. But if we're staying in town, then its not a problem to offload the luggage and head out.

Day 2 Tokyo Disney Resort - Disneyland

Day 3 Tokyo Disney Resort - DisneySea

Day 4 Run for the earliest shinkansen to Kyoto again. Arrive Kyoto in the mid-morning. Stow bags in hotel and head out to northern Kyoto to Kinkakuji, Ryoanji and then cross over to Higashiyama to check out Eikando by night. It gets dark by 4pm in autumn, and since its peak time, Eikando and several other temples in Kyoto have night light-ups. Which should be very pretty!

Day 5 Nara. Which means, the world's largest wooden structure/temple, the big Buddha, the gap to eternity and lots of voracious deer. And deer biscuits!

Day 6 Koyasan. Overnight in a temple. Wandering through the vastness of Okunoin in the dark and mist with several thousand lanterns lit to guide the way to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum is an unforgettable experience.

Day 7 Off to Kobe. If time permits, visit Arima Onsen for a soak in the hotsprings there.

Day 8 Himeji in the morning, Hiroshima and the Peace Park in the afternoon. Miyajima for the night. In the morning, visit the Itsukushima shrine and Momijidani-koen, widely known as one of the most beautiful autumn foliage spots in Japan. Leave Miyajima by noon and travel across Honshu by train, stopping over in Kyoto to change trains. A total journey time of 4 hours, to reach the Japan Sea and the city of Kanazawa.

Day 9 Kenroku-en - Japan's most beautiful garden. 21st century museum of modern art. Wander through the old preserved streets of the samurai district, laced with old houses, running streams and tea houses. Myoryu-ji - the ninja temple.

Day 10 Leave Kanazawa and arrive in Takayama by the afternoon. Overnight in Takayama

Day 11 Early morning market in Takayama, Hida folk village. Visit Furukawa, a pretty canal town nearby.

Day 12 Leave Takayama to Nagoya (2hrs) and then up to the Kiso Valley (1hr). Forward baggage from Magome to Tsumago. Walk the old road from Magome to Tsumago. Overnight in atmospheric Tsumago, old wooden houses, lanterns and nary a streetlamp, cars or electric wires in sight.

Day 13 Depart Kiso Valley to Tokyo via Nagano. Stop in Nagano to visit Zenko-ji. Shinkansen to Tokyo. Arrive Tokyo's Ueno station at night.

Day 14 Keisei skyliner at 1000am, reach Narita at 1100am and depart Tokyo at 1330pm.

Likely to buy the 7D JR Pass (28,300yen) as well as the 3D Kansai Area Thru Pass (5000yen) as well as the JapanICan shinkansen package that we took the last time.

Well, for now, that seems to be it. Will revisit and finetune this as I go along.

Trekking the wilderness that is Melaka Zoo

2009-06-26T11:49:00.003+08:00

So our Penang travel plans were scuppered. Thanks to KH's last-minute mega project, we could not go all the way to Penang (it would take too long). So we did the next best thing and headed for the familiar - Melaka.

This trip, we decided to pop in to the Melaka Zoo - something we said we would do for years, and we've been coming to Melaka for more than 10 years now, but just never got round to.

t was a humid and hot Sunday afternoon when we got there. The place was crowded with mostly Malay families.

Entry fee was RM7 for adults and I think half price for kids. Which delighted my stingy-poker of a husband no end since he kept gloating gleefully that this was less than half the price of entry to the Singapore Zoo.

It was hot, I was sleepy and lethargic after a big dim sum brunch and in no mood to tackle the Melaka Zoo. Plus I was wearing my battered look with the left side of my face puffy, red and full of pus.

So I was less than enthusiastic when KH - and the kids - pestered me to go to the Zoo. "After all," he reasoned "we are almost out of places to go in Melaka already!" That man even wanted to try the Ayer Keroh Recreational Park first but I put my foot down. The heat!

Let me say that the Melaka Zoo is sprawling. I did not know this. Had I known just how big the place is, I would have dug my heels in and said no.

We walked. And walked. And walked the whole loop, which I later discovered to be more than 5km in length! In the heat!

The zoo looked familiar - Singapore Zoo in the 70s and 80s! The enclosures were simple, no frills and there was none of the carefully cultivated landscapes you see in the Singapore Zoo but nonetheless, it was very green and leafy. And while I moaned about it initially, the walk was rather pleasant. The Zoo had an impressive range of animals - no lions but lots of tigers! Caught fresh from the neighbourhood maybe?

The highlight were the rides. In Singapore, we stay away from the rides - at a cut-throat price of $5 per head, this can easily add up. When you have five kids and all hankering for rides on an assortment of four-legged critters, the money easily adds up very quickly. This time though, with the elephant ride costing RM2 per head, the kids happily had a gala time.

Unlike the Singapore Zoo, wisely or unwisely depending on your perspective, the elephant ride trail was not bordered by fence or shrubbery so you could literally get really up close to the animal. So we had good shots - even a bonus National Geographic moment as the elephant stopped in mid-walk and emptied the contents of his cavernous bowel and bladder - AT THE SAME TIME. I used to think that only I could do that. With the path now nicely watered with gallons of elephant pee - and I kid you not, it's exactly like turning on a tap full blast, none of the polite tinkle-tinkle thank you! - the big guy hitched up and carried on with his saunter round the track.

Feeling generous with the RM2 per head elephant ride, we gallantly offered the kids what was previously forbidden fruit - the pony rides. But the heat and the suspicion that we had a long way more to walk drove even the kids to forgo the rides and to trudge on.

Passed the antelopes and 23 different types of deer, lazy buffalo, rhino (with a cat - yes, street cat - gingerly staking out a corner of the enclosure!) an assortment of primates, tiny furry mammals with big eyes that all look alike after a while, birds (yes, it was a 2 for 1 deal - bird park + zoo! Which drove stingy poker of a husband into greater ecstasies since he discovered what great value the Melaka zoo was proving to be) , flamingoes, tortoises, comatose crocs and big cats, we finally came to end. Phew! At which time I discovered the gradual burning heat I was experiencing was not because of sunstroke but because I was nursing a fever of 38.7deg!

So now you know. We went so you don't have to. But if you run out of places to go in Melaka, fancy a walk among beasts, don't mind the heat, and like any good kiamsiap Singaporean who loves a good bargain and want to fulfil your deepseated but thus far denied fantasies of multiple animal rides, the Melaka Zoo is really not a bad place to start.

Favourite Malacca food spots

2009-06-26T10:29:00.002+08:00

I don't know if I have documented this, but here goes a list of our favourite places to eat in Malacca. Many do not have addresses, so I'll just give directions and landmarks.

Chicken rice balls at Chung Wah coffee shop, corner of Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Jalan Hang Jebat. This is the crowded, a bit grimy coffee shop just after the bridge. Parking lot next to it. Love the softness and flavourful rice balls - a bit on the mashy side but generous with the chicken stock flavour. Not expensive, but its been selling chicken rice balls for decades before the flashy imposters down the street came along. Go early by 11am or go on weekdays or risk standing in line outside under the hot sun. The queue moves pretty fast though but its still easily a half-hour wait for a table.

Our favourite wanton mee at the following:

Hawker centre at Jalan Tun Sri Lanang, less than 100m away from St Peter's Church. Springy noodles and hot chilli in a Cantonese-style light but tasty sauce. Generous helpings for only RM2.50. The hawker centre sells many other delicious food - see below for my favourite cze-cha stall.

Also on Jalan Tun Sri Lanang but slightly further down, before you get to this hawker centre, look for a row of shophouses. Sandwiched in between the shophouses is a hawker cart in front of a single story building that sells only wanton mee or fishball/yong tau foo noodles. The chef is a thin man with a chef hat who works frenetically amid a blur of arm action, stacked up bowls of noodles and steaming vats of soup. The wanton noodles here come in a slick black sauce base. The noodles are slippery and smooth and the chilli is relatively mild but contributes nicely to the overall punch of the whole dish. Accompany with a bowl of fishballs and yong tau foo. The stall only operates from 7.30pm till late. This is usually our first stop in Malacca after a long night drive and even at midnight, the place is buzzing with people patiently waiting for their wanton mee fix. My son thinks an altar should be built here to worship at the best wanton mee stall in Malaysia. (and trust me he's eaten his way through many a wanton mee staff all over the peninsula). Prices start at RM2.50 per plate.

Another great place for wanton mee is the corner coffeeshop at Lorong Bendahara and Jalan Bunga Raya, just next to Renaissance hotel. Open only in the mornings. This is not the usual black sauce Malaysia version, but the pale Cantonese version. They only give black sauce for the non-chilli plates. As with the usual Cantonese versions, the chilli is mild and this comes with shredded chicken. Starts at RM2.50 a plate.

Seafood is good at Restoran Lee (Jalan Bendahara across the road from St Peter's Church. But this place is a bit pricey and service can be slow and distracted if the place is packed. Good crabs though.

Also, I like the milk crabs at Madam Fatso. The milk crabs come in a sweet-savoury milky gravy that has green chilli padi in it for kick. A bit pricey, she used to have a stall at the gluttons corner in front of Mahkota Parade before they kicked all the stall holders out to build the spanking new and totally unnecessary Dataran Pahlawan shopping mall. Yes, just what all World Heritage Cities need - another mall! Madam Fatso was recently re-discovered to have moved to Jalan Melaka Raya 30, right next to a bank of mangroves and water so I suppose extra points given for 'atmosphere'. I don't know if their standards have declined since I last ate, so but they did used to be good, so buyer beware here.

For cze-cha fare (cook-fry outlets where various seafood and meat dishes are ordered with rice and noodles) we enjoy Ji Xiang at Jalan Portugis and Lorong Masjid. Its always packed with local families eating off metal tables and chairs under the night sky. Great frogs' legs, venison, beef cooked with ginger and spring onions. The horfun is smooth with good charred wok hei flavour. Prices are reasonable and we usually spend about RM70 for the whole family (and there are 7 of us).

My favourite cze-cha place though, is the humble tiny stall at the Jalan Tun Sri Lanang hawker centre which also features the good wanton mee stall. This cze-cha stall is run by an Eurasian woman of Indian-Portugeuse descent. She offers razor clams, bamboo clams, and other shellfish, squid and veggie cooked in any way you like. Her razor clams in a simple belachan-sambal sauce is to die for. Paired with a plate of steaming hot white rice, that is pure satisfaction. Simple home-cooked fare but absolutely mouth-wateringly good. A plate of clams with rice is about RM7 I think?

Next door to the cze-cha stall is the steamed soup stall which sells goodness in a porcelain bowl. Piping hot pork innards soup, pig brains soup, and any other piggy permutation you can think of. Further down the same row of stalls is the braised duck stall which also sells a whole ikan tenggiri crispily fried. Mix and match these stalls for a cheap but deliciously satisfying dinner in Malacca. The wanton mee stall I wrote about earlier is also in the same row. The hawker centre is a U-shaped building. These stalls are on the right side of the U, same side as the stall selling bootleg DVDs.

If you're into airconditioned pricey cze-cha, try Bei Zhan Restaurant which has moved to Jalan Syed Abdul Aziz, a new major coastal road. From Mahkota Parade, just take the road with the flyover. Bei Zhan is in a new building at the corner of the road turning off towards Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. A bit pricey and service rushed but food is pretty good.

For Nonya food - Ole Sayang is not bad. Not great and like all good Nonyas, I don't think the food is up to my mother's standards. Decent but a bit pricey. I would go only if I really, really badly wanted to try Nonya food, but otherwise, I think there are much better options around.

Some guidebooks and websites suggest the Portugeuse Settlement for dinner. I would say, treat it like an adventure which you'd do only once. As I did. The row of seafood 'restaurants' is on my hygiene suspect list and with touts pushing for their own restaurants, its really a hit or miss affair. Dining on wooden platforms jutting out to sea with twinkly lights overhead might sound romantic - except that you really have the stench of stale seawater beneath and lots of cans and other debris floating around. Also, I ended up with a very bad case of the runs after one meal there. I don't know if this is a one-off thing but if I do get the craving for clams and ikan bakar, I'd rather head to the Jalan Tun Sri Lanang hawker centre than risk another visit to the Portugeuse Settlement.

Having said that, a visit in the day is nice because I enjoyed walking around the houses in the settlement - like a tiny Catholic village. Another friend who went also enjoyed the visit in the day, when he met with friendly local ladies who kindly spent time chatting and telling him stories and the history of the place. So while I wouldn't eat there, but I wouldn't mind visiting for a different perspective.

Other places we like - prawn noodles done spicy penang style at Jalan Bunga Raya near the Hotel Majestic, dim sum breakfast at the forme Hotel Bentona at Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho, fishball noodles at Jalan Laksamana 5, in the residential area behind Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and mee siam, chendol, taukwa rojak and home-made chicken curry at Donald & Lily's, also behind Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock.

Finally, if you enjoy cooking mee swa at home, buy hand-made mee swa from Lorong Jambatan, on the fringes of the heritage area. The shop has been making hand-made mee swa for generations. Unlike the factory-made counterparts, the mee swa here is not floury and does not break easily when soft.

Malaysia - hotel reviews IV

2009-01-05T10:40:00.002+08:00

Penang

The Gurney Hotel and Residences

We'd stayed at the Gurney before and liked it there. The two-bedroom suites are generously large in size and came with a jacuzzi tub with a view to die for. Generous windows open up to a view of the waterfront, the mainland in the distance, fishing boats out on the water and lots of blue sky.

This time however, we came without a prior reservation, and found all the two-bedroom suites had been booked out. We took two interconnecting Studio Suites instead. The walk-in rates for the Studio Suite are at RM265 per room per night. But because KH comes to Penang often on business, his company maintains a corporate account at The Gurney so we were able to get lower rates at RM190 per room per night for a Studio Suite.

We were given a high floor on the 18th floor with panoramic views of Penang Hill, a general city view, and of the Gurney stretch of hotels and condominiums, the harbour and a hazy mainland outline. At nights, when the city lights came on, the view looked like pretty twinkling Christmas lights. On our last morning, we even spotted a sea eagle soaring and dipping over the sea and perching on the fringes of the swaying casuarinas below the hotel.

With a King-sized bed in each suite, it was pretty comfortable for us - although a bit of a squeeze for the 4 kids in one bed. Lucky they are mostly small-sized kids!

But what thrilled the kids most was the large jacuzzi tub which had a 'window' into the bedroom. The highlight for them was tub time everynight!

The hotel also had two generous sized pools, one with a slide and the other, an infinity pool. But the drawback was, the water was so cold that the kids barely spent 10min in there before giving up, shivering away. The hotel also offered breakfast with a higher room rate. We chose not to have that - Penang has such a wealth of good food that it seemed a sin to have the standard hotel buffet brekkie.

The location of the hotel is excellent since it is not far from the Ferry Terminal, allowing us to take the coastal road, avoiding traffic congestion in and around Komtar and the centre of Georgetown. Being on Gurney Drive also means easy access to the good food. An excellent small hawker centre about 100m down is well-known for the char koey teow and the roasted chicken wings. Further down the road, within walking distance, is Gurney Plaza where we watch movies and do our shopping. The hotel is also very near the good food places - Pulau Tikus, Jalan Burmah, Lor Selamat, Jalan McAllister, and the Chinese Recreation Club. Also not too far away from Georgetown proper with the sights of the Esplanade, Chinatown, Love Lane etc barely a 10min drive away.

Overall rating: 8 out of 1o. I give it this rating because of the comfy bed, the great views and overall, it is good value for the price we paid! We spent 2 nights here and it seemed better value for money than the upper-crust Parkroyal. The Gurney's location is convenient and excellent. Amid the hustle and bustle of Penang, this allows you to take in the sights easily, look for good food right on the doorstep and still come back to a haven.

Malaysia - hotel reviews III

2009-01-05T09:38:00.002+08:00

Penang

Parkroyal Penang at Batu Ferringhi

We had stayed at the Parkroyal several years ago and had a good time. But because its rates kept going up, we could not stay there everytime we went. This vacation however, I wanted to give the kids a treat, so I booked 2 rooms for a one night stay at the Parkroyal. The hotel had a promotion at RM345nett per room per night which included a free upgrade.

The rooms we were given were on the first floor, facing a tennis court and carpark which made me doubt whether they had actually upgraded us or not, but we gave the hotel the benefit of the doubt. The rooms (we had interconnecting rooms) were generously sized. One room had a King-sized bed with a single bed. The other room had three singles. Despite the fact that we'd been there almost 4 years ago, the decor still remained fresh and up-to-date and the beds, as generous as we remembered.

We had a swim in the lovely pool, tried walking on the beach but were terrorised by the parasailers, jet skis and odd pony. The pool, however, was very nice - a freeform pool prettily landscaped with palm trees and 'islands'. The second pool had a well-utilised slide with a lifeguard watching over the users, and a netted area where ball games could be played. The hotel looked to be quite full and the pools were pretty crowded.

After the swim, we headed out for dinner, remembering that there was an open air food centre down the road. But here's where the comedy began. After walking for about 10, 15min and probably about 1km or so, we still had not come to the hawker centre. The narrow pavements were further occupied by the permanent pasar malam stalls and clogged with pedestrians and hawkers. Not easy walking through that with loud music blaring from speakers, heavy 3-year-old who refused to walk and wanted us to carry, antsy 13-year-old who got distracted at every bootleg dvd stand and straggling smaller kids like Cait and Owain to keep up. We began to wonder if we were mistaken, if the hawker centre had been pulled down etc. So KH decided to walk back to the hotel to get the car. We waited at the side for the next 15min. When he came, we hopped in and drove off, only to find the elusive hawker centre merely about 20m away from where we had waited! So the poor guy had to do a u-turn, drop us off, had a nasty face-off with an older caucasian man who still thought penang belonged to the colonial masters, and then drive back to the hotel and walk up to the hawker centre. I felt so bad that he had to walk that distance 3 times!

Thankfully we were lucky in getting a table, the food was pretty good (or maybe we were hungry!) and all hungry kids gobbled their food in record time!

We made our back to the hotel where another problem awaited. By about 10pm, we realised that the airconditioning in one of the rooms was not working. Called maintenance who came, tried to fix the problem with no success. The guy told us that it can't be fixed, that this was not the first time that room 158 had experienced this problem, that he had told the management this already but looks like nothing was done. So KH called the front desk. Front desk hemmed and hawed. There was no offer to change room. They insisted on sending a maintenance guy. The same guy came back and told us that front desk had told him off for being so honest with us about the inherent aircon flaw. We were pretty pissed to learn about that. Nevertheless, the aircon can't be fixed. So called the front desk again. Then came offer to change ONE room. We said no because we needed interconnecting rooms for the children. Front desk said they were full that night - hemmed and hawed again. After some to-ing and fro-ing, a bit of KH frothing at the mouth, they agreed to change our rooms and said it was an upgrade - magnanimous of them!

So around 10.30pm, all kids in their PJs, we hastily packed up and moved up to the third floor. The rooms were nicer - facing the sea, with a balcony, a bathtub instead of a shower stall, and with more beds. One came with a King and a Queen while the other had two King-sized beds. Plenty of room.

We turned on the aircon and found to our dismay that this was happening again - aircon faulty. KH frowned at the thought of calling the front desk again, so we called maintenance. The guy tried to fix it and this time, it worked. But once the right valves were opened, in wafted this damp, musty smell of long clogged pipes! It was so strong it lasted till morning! But by then, it was past 11pm and we were in no mood to tussle with the front desk or change rooms again, so we made do with the stench.

My woes are not done because at the bedhead of the Kingsized bed I was occupying with Trin, an irritating mozzie was buzzing about. Despite my best attempts, I could not swipe it. In the middle of the night, I could see Trin scratching and tossing restlessly. The next morning, the evidence was there - 8 bites on her face and 5 or 6 on her arms. And because our friend was eczemic, the bites quickly swelled up, turned red and inflammatory.

Breakfast was chaotic and the place was super-packed. Lots of middle-eastern, arab guests. Good spread though with a nice penang char kway teow section, comprehensive selection of freshly squeezed juices, the usual egg station and a good salad section with alfalfa sprouts (usually not included in many spreads). But because the place was so full and so crowded, the staff appeared distracted and were very busy zooming off here and there.

Kids made the most of the pool and went for a post-brekkie swim. When we checked out, I told the receptionist about the mozzies, the stench etc. I even plonked Trin on the counter to show her the bites. She made cooing noises of sympathy but did not apologise, or make any proactive offers.

Overall, I'd say the place is posh, luxely done up, generously sized rooms and the better rooms had nice touches like bathrobes, balconies etc. But they have to do something about the airconditioning and the mozzies. Its only a basic requirement of any hotel, let alone a five-star one like this, to have adequate airconditioning. Its all about maintenance. No point having a swish facade but crap internal systems that fail. The hotel also has to up its service quality. The service here, particularly at the front desk, seems to have overtones of efficient snootiness. Yes, they are polite, but the smiles are perfunctory, the lines are brisk and rehearsed. The service recovery is poor. There was no concern shown, no acknowledgement or apology that the hotel has lapsed in service. Pity, because these little things have a nasty habit of snowballing. In today's internet age, accounts of poor service can spread very quickly. Keep this up and the hotel's reputation will be subtly eroded over time.

Overall rating: 4.5 out of 10

P/s: When I came home to Singapore, I wrote to the VP of the parent Parkroyal group, cc'ed to the larger UOL group. Within a day, I had a reply from the General Manager of the Penang Parkroyal. He apologised for the lapses, assured me that follow-up work will be done with the Chief Engineer and the Front Desk, and as a gesture of goodwill, offered me two nights' stay at the hotel. Which I promptly thanked him for, and accepted.

This speedy response gains the hotel brownie points and my overall rating for the hotel is cranked up to 6 out of 10. In my opinion, still not good enough for a 5-star hotel and the prices they command, but let's see how things go with my next stay there in June this year. I will post another review in June and hopefully, my overall rating will go up.

Malaysia - hotel reviews II

2008-12-31T09:04:00.002+08:00

Ipoh and Pangkor

Ritz Garden Hotel

Can't afford the 'Carlton' in the Ritz so we settled for next best - the 'Garden'. Located in the heart of the newer section of Ipoh town at Jalan Yang Kalsom, the Ritz Garden has been our favourite base in Ipoh for some time.

Our first visit to Ipoh saw us staying at the Seri Malaysia chain's Ipoh branch. The condition of the hotel was really bad - damp carpets, bathroom doors suffering from rot, smell of stale durian in the fridge and it had a really spooky air about it. The other places in Ipoh either looked sleazy, were over-priced or inconveniently located. We thought we would actually skip Ipoh as a night-stop until we found the Ritz Garden. Since then, its been our preferred base in Ipoh.

This is a small 2-star hotel with smart and newly refurbished rooms that are clean and comfortable. At RM145 (low floors) or RM165 (higher floor - actually not much of a difference since the hotel only has about 7 floors with the 8th and 9th taken up by penthouse suites) for a Super Deluxe, this was really value for money.

The rooms are compact and come with either king or twin beds. We usually take inter-connecting rooms for our brood. Views from the upper floors show a scene of rooftops from old shophouses, school fields, schools, churches and in the distance, a bluish hazy outline of the limestone outcrops that surround Ipoh.

On our recent visit though, the room we had a pungent smell of hair oil. We asked if something could be done and the housekeeping section sent a guy with a deodoriser which he enthusiastically sprayed and it was only then that we realised that THAT was the smell - help! We had to air out both rooms in the end by opening up the windows. I would like to think this was isolated though, because we've never experienced that during our previous stays. Other than that, the rooms are sparkling clean.

Breakfast spread in the morning was modest and nothing fancy, usually nasi lemak and condiments as a main course, but the staff were helpful and did not bat an eyelid for our requests for 10 half boiled eggs, 7 empty bowls, soya sauce etc. It might not seem like much but we do get disbelieving looks at other places we've stayed at.

Because the hotel is located in the heart of the new town, it provides easy access to good food. Two traffic lights away north on Jalan Yang Kalsom, past the big central police station, turn left and you'll come to the intersection where three famous names for Ipoh hor fun vie for your attention.

Ipoh also has an interesting old town where many pre-war buildings are left pretty much intact, so much so that Lee Ang chose to film Lust Caution here in the old town as old Hong Kong. Here in the heart of the old town, there's an iconic coffee shop that sells slurpily yummy Ipoh hor fun in the day. Cross the Kinta river and you'll come to what I think is the grandest building in Ipoh, the lovely St Michael's Institution with its soaring gables, graceful verandas and large fields. How I wish we had schools like this in Singapore - so much character, history and charm. Across from that is the old padang and with it, the quintessential club that comes with every 'padang' from KL to Singapore. In Ipoh's case, it is the Royal Ipoh Club. Round the corner, the FMS bar still stands. In the old days, planters would congregate here for their stengahs and some camaraderie on weekends. Today, it still functions as a bar and restaurant, albeit a bit faded around the edges and it is believed to be Malaysia's oldest functioning bar!

We also visited the old railway station, now converted to a hotel. While the facade looked like it was recently whitewashed, the interior looks disappointing. The ground floor has been partitioned off into sleazy small 'massage parlours'. Upstairs, a generous veranda fronts the building. The flooring and fixtures still look original, but the rooms are a real gloomy letdown - low ceilings, musty, cramped, dark with only one tiny window opening up to a grim view of half-abandoned corridors in the other wing. The bathroom retains much of the original fixtures, from the porcelain tubs right down to the flooring. I think the place is actually quite charming and its just a real pity that it is not better restored and maintained. Given the history, the architecture and the location, this place could really work as a lovely boutique hotel.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10. Excellent value!

Swiss Garden Golf Resort and Spa, Damai Laut

The last time we went to Pangkor, we could not get any rooms on the island, so we settled for a rundown place in Lumut which gave me a spooky night experience. This time, we thought we'd be better prepared and book a stay at the Swiss Garden. Lumut accomodation, by the way, is generally limited to very run-down places that are not really worth the money or the time. So we thought we'd pay a bit more and stay at a better place.

From the map given by the resort, Lumut looked deceptively near, so we thought it would be no problem commuting to Lumut if we had to. We thought wrong of course. From the turn-off on Route 5, the main road from Ipoh to Lumut, we followed signs to the Swiss Garden. It took us well over half an hour from Route 5 to the resort. So much so that we wondered if we were actually lost, muttering to ourselves, that the resort can't be that far! It took us past industrial plants, river mouths spanned by three bridges, and seemingly, further and further away from Lumut. Finally we drove down a narrow plantation road, flanked by mangroves and a pineapple and dragon fruit plantation before finally seeing the resort gateway. From the gate, it was another five minutes drive to the resort proper - passing the condo, the golf course, assorted bungalows etc. Geez the place is really really remote!

Because its so remote, most guests are really held captive there because it takes too long to go anywhere else. Under these circumstances, it was no surprise that everything cost a bomb in the hotel. The ferry ride to Pangkor was a whopping RM35 per adult, RM23 per kid. In contrast, the ride from Lumut was just RM10 per adult! Initially, our plan was to arrive early, park the bags at the hotel and take the hotel ferry across. Instead, because it was just so exorbitant, we decided to shelve our Pangkor plan for the next day instead and just spend the day at the resort.

So what to do at a resort? The hotel had a 'recreation centre' which claimed to organise treks etc. But when we checked with them, they said "no treks today because this is rainy season and there are leeches" then in the same breath, they added, "but tomorrow morning you can check with us and see, we may still do a small trek if you really want!" Huh? Got leech or no leech? Er, you mean the leeches disappear overnight? Hmm...

The resort had a beach, but the 'sand' was really loads of coral skeletons. The coarse sand was 'white' but dig deeper and you reach darker soil which made me wonder if this was really a natural beach or an artificial one. The water was not family-friendly because about 5 to 10m out, there is a steep drop-off so you'd really have to watch the smaller kids if they get into the water.

What fascinated me was the ikan bilis! Loads of ikan bilis swimming by me (unnerving at first!), and then beaching and killing themselves. The kids had a good time picking up and counting the dead ikan bilis - there were thousands. There were also free kayaks so KH and the older kids went kayaking.

The pool was nice with an infinity element. We had a lovely moment as a family, all 7 of us, swimming to the infinity wall, perching there to admire the pretty sunset over Pangkor island which we could see over the bay.

The hotel seemed quite full. Because we were basically quite stuck there, we had little choice when it came to food. The kids were happy to have pizza and TV in the room. So KH and I went looking for food in the various restaurants. The Chinese steamboat/noodle place was packed to the gills, so we headed for the main coffeehouse. KH wanted just an ala carte dish but they were not serving ala carte. No choice but to take the buffet which was RM40 per person!! The main dishes on the buffet were all hot and chilli-spicy, which posed a problem for Trin.

The room itself was comfortable but worn about the edges but this is a bit more forgiveable than the Zon because this is a resort and there is a more laidback atmosphere. Note though, that it is not as slick as the website or brochures would have you believe. However, the ick factor for me was a pungent stench of urine in the bathroom. The kids denied having any accidents in the bathroom. When I looked closer at the toilet bowl, I realised that there was a layer of yellow pee on the floor behind the toilet bowl - yeech!! I tried hosing down the place with water but no use, the smell remained.

The next day at breakfast, we were given a table in a corner that was seemingly infested with flies. You couldn't eat without waving or flapping something at those annoying bugs. There was also that strong antiseptic smell of Dettol! What is it with me and with smells this trip?? I keep sniffing out these really strong, awful smells and it really bothers me. The 'Dettol' smell was there in the hotel's public loos, and we checked - we were not sitting near a toilet - but the smell was still there. So I don't know, little things like this matter to me. Just gives me the icky feeling and made me doubt that the hotel's cleanliness standards are up to par.

Again, its the little things that count - coffee and tea in the breakfast buffet is neither served by the wait-staff nor are they prepared in glass pots and left on the heater on the counter. Rather, they have a hot-water dispenser and sachets where you DIY. I guess I am being nit-picky about this, but its about presentation I suppose and as with the Zon hotel in KL, the little details that are lacking really show how much heart the management puts into running a resort/hotel - are they genuinely out to provide good service and a memorable stay or do they see it as just a job, out to make a fast buck and then run the place with boredom and indifference? With the Swiss Garden and with the Zon in KL, looks like its the latter.

Overall rating: 4 out of 10. We would not come here again, nor would we recommend our family and friends to this place either. It is too remote, and the remoteness means we are held hostage at the resort to ridiculous prices. The cleanliness is suspect and the food quite blah. At RM230++ per night per room, er, this is not money well spent. If we ever do go to Pangkor again, we will just make it a day trip from Ipoh itself. Our stay at the tiny 2-star Ritz Garden was a lot more comfortable than at this overpriced 5-star resort!

Malaysia - hotel reviews

2008-12-30T08:18:00.002+08:00

This trip, we moved around quite a bit and stayed at various places. These are too long for one post, so I am splitting them up according to cities and destinations.

Kuala Lumpur

Royale Bintang at The Curve, Damansara
This is a smallish hotel that caters to people on business and to shoppers. We took a Family Suite at RM483 a night. Space-wise, its a little small for a suite and more like two connecting rooms that came with a seating area. Our balcony looked out onto Ikano Power-station which was right across the road. The Suite came with a King-sized bed and two twin beds, one bathroom which was connected to both rooms. Keeping the children happy was their own flat-screen in one room and another in the master bedroom. Astro had the works - Disney channel, Discovery, HBO, NHK etc. I liked the NHK channel since anything about Japan fascinates me at the moment. Bathroom was a good size with a bathtub and a separate shower stall.

Being a new hotel, it was quite luxe in its fittings, all dark wood and cream. We generally felt really comfortable there. Breakfast the next morning was also decent in terms of the spread.

The location, being right in the heart of shopping heaven in Damansara, was also a joy. We spent time in Ikano Power station (Ikea is ever the draw, even if you're not looking to buy furniture and even though everything pretty much looks the same as in Singapore) and in The Curve. Being just a stone's throw away from the hotel, we caught a movie at the new Cineleisure complex too. Basically if you're looking for nothing more than retail therapy, the Royale Bintang makes a good pit-stop.

Getting to the heart of KL City would be a problem if you did not have a car, or if you had a car but didn't know the confusing curves of the KL highway system. For us, this was not the case since we were happy to stay here just for retail therapy and didn't fancy moving to KL City. Getting in from the NS Highway was easy-peasy - just take the Federal Highway, look out for signs to Damansara and the new toll Sprint Highway. Follow signage to TTDI and you're set. Can be hair-raising if you're trying this for the first time since the turn-offs could be confusing, but with a good map (pick up from most NS Highway rest-stops), an open mind and a willingness or patience to do detours, u-turns and generally getting lost, you'll be fine.

While we had no problem getting there, getting out to get to Ipoh on the northern end of the NS Highway was difficult. Yes, even we, who have been to KL many, many times, still end up getting lost in traffic. We ended up driving for about an hour in the wrong direction, having taken the Damansara Puchong Highway - big mistake. Would be easier to take the Penchala Link to Mont Kiara and then off to Sungei Buloh which would have taken all of 15min tops. So near and yet so far. In the end, we got back on the Federal Highway, took the Sprint Highway and followed signs north to Ipoh.

Overall rating: I'd say 7.5 out of 10 points

The Zon Hotel

Okay, I've got lots to say about this place. And none of it good! We stayed here on the return leg of our trip, coming back from the northern end of Malaysia.

I'd bought a 3D2N package for a two-bedroom suite at a travel fair in Singapore at RM680. I guess warning bells should have rung loudly when a week after my purchase, no one from the hotel had contacted me to confirm my booking. This was in October. It was only in late November, near our departure that I thought I'd better confirm the booking. They promptly replied and confirmed that I had paid 50% and my booking was confirmed.

The night we arrived, we arrived a bit late - around 8pm. The hotel was located quite centrally, on Jalan Ampang, couple of blocks away from KLCC. We had no difficulty finding it, except we took the 'scenic' route in from Jalan Ipoh which left us wondering for a while if we were lost. Spotting the twin towers lighting like a beacon in the night told us we were not, just taking the long way in.

The hotel lobby looked small, but decent enough, chandeliers, marble everywhere etc. But warning bells started to tinkle when we walked towards our room. Wooden panelling looked worn and in the lift, which was small, the wooden panels were chipped, dented and scratched. The lift opened to a teeny lobby. The marble vanished and the ceramic floors began.

The minute we opened the door, the smell hit us. Musty like an old cupboard. My mood became more grim as I walked through the 'suite'. The place looked like it had not been upgraded in at least 15 years. Dated, tired furniture, wooden wardrobe fixtures with broken slats that looked like something from the 80s. Hey, I like retro, but this is not what I expected from a hotel like this in KL. KH, sitting on the tatty fabric armchair, developed a rash very quickly. The beds had no comforters, just thin sheets pulled over a blanket. The TV in the main sitting area had poor reception, fuzzy images, but the one in the bedroom was worse - it was a teensy 14-inch which had clearly seen better days. I don't know when was the last time I had seen one of these tiny TVs in a hotel room.

I was NOT a happy camper. Called the reception and the girl was all flustered, passing the phone to a Mr Shah. I told them what I thought of the room and that this was not value for money. Had I not paid a 50% deposit, we would have just walked out.

To his credit, Mr Shah seemed very helpful. He apologised and offered to show us a better room - a 'show room' as he put it. KH and I walked over to have a look. It was similar to the one we had - largely the same fixtures and furnishing, but it was a tad better. It was late, the kids were hungry and we'd paid the 50%, so we grudgingly took it. The hotel gave us an extra bed gratis. After we had dinner, settled in, I took a shower and before I had even lathered any soap on, the swirl of water at my feet already had soapy residue! Ugh, where did this come from? Had the tub not been washed since the last occupant? Or was the washing incompletely rinsed? Either way, I made short work of the shower and told everyone - showers only and no tub use please.

At breakfast, the spread was good. But the standards of cleanliness left a great deal to be desired. We took two tables which were previously occupied. The waiter proceeded to wipe down the placemats (which incidentally were made of PAPER and not plastic), wipe the table top and then wanted to reuse the paper placemats. Ugh! Even McDonalds' paper tray mats are discarded and here we're talking about a 4 star hotel! I stopped him and said no, thank you, we'd go without the placemats. He didn't look pleased. Then he proceeded to lay the table. One of the table had an unused setting. The waiter took away the unclean, used cutlery, but wanted to re-use the other unused table cutlery for us. Again, I said no, fresh cutlery please and the guy did not look happy. Breakfast the next morning (yes we stayed another night!) was not much better - they wanted to place us right at the back near the bar counter because it was the only large table left. But the area was so dark and dimly lit you could hardly see your food. I had to ask them to join two smaller tables near the front. They did not look pleased. But argh, good grief, where was the proactive service?! This is not rocket science after all.

Am I being very uber-critical? I think this experience has left me thinking hard about service standards. I believe its the little things that count. The maintenance that showed if your panels are well-maintained, not chipped, dented etc, the standards of cleanliness in how you maintain the rooms, right down to setting the tables for your customers, being helpful and proactive in giving your customers what is important to them, not what is easiest to you, the service provider. When the little things are lacking, the client or customer just perceives one thing - that they don't matter.

When it came to checking out, another glitch. This time, they wanted to charge us for the full amount despite us producing receipts and credit card transaction slips that say we paid half. The attitudes at reception were hostile, wary and not very friendly. They finally told us that when we paid half at the fair in Singapore, the card transaction was declined. We did not know it then because they had used the old-fashioned slide and swipe methods to get the card imprint. KH had to call his bank in Singapore to double-check if this was true etc and that no charges were claimed by the hotel earlier. It was inexplicable since the card we used had no other problems getting through at other hotels and other places.

The whole experience left me uneasy and uncomfortable. Why didn't they email us to let us know the card was declined and hence the 50% deposit was not paid? Why did the marketing people who transacted that sale not inform us when I emailed them to confirm my booking? And had we known of this, we would never have stayed even that first night.

What I took away from the Zon Hotel was that this was a fading hotel trying to make a fast buck. Their brochures showed bright, sparkling new rooms. The reality is a far cry. Its sheer misrepresentation. I felt deceived and I said so to Mr Shah the night before. This is a pity because this hotel has a great location. We just had to cross the road to access the KLCC park, Aquaria, and KLCC itself, which was about a 10min walk away. The KL subway was almost right at the doorstep too. So the location is fantastic. Pity the rooms look like a time warped, musty, faded 80s hotel room and the standards - in cleanliness, maintenance etc are really lacking. All they needed was a facelift, a re-training of their staff and they could do really well.

So overall rating for this hotel is: 3.5 out of 10. Any points given is really due more to location of the hotel and to service recovery on the first night when they offered the extra bed. Everything else really went to the dogs.

The road less travelled is more fun!

2008-09-29T15:35:00.004+08:00

What do people get out of travelling?

See the world, meet people, make friends, have good sex, find love, learn something new, buy something you don't need, buy something you DO need. I guess for me, its all of the above. But more importantly its a chance to get out of my own skin, to be in a place which is different, to see, touch, do what I don't usually do or see.

And to do that, I do like either visiting a place that is very different (one day, I will visit Africa!) or peek into a culture that is unfathomable and intriguing (Japan), or travel in a different way (train as opposed to flight).

Fundamentally, it means I can never travel in a herd. I feel extremely chafed and constrained just thinking about it! When I see groups herded by disinterested tour guides, or hear stories about the kings' ransom in tips these tourists have to pay their guides, I shudder. And I wonder if these tourists really get to see the heart of the places they visit?

Case in point - Venice. By day, the place is packed to the gills with pigeons and assorted tour groups. Everyone congregates in St Marks Square. They see the Grand Canal, they see St Mark's Basilica, they see the Doges Palace and maybe they walk a bit and see the Rialto Bridge.

Then they all pile into their tour buses and go home. But what do they miss?

They miss the quiet snaking lanes that lie far from St Marks. They miss walking on the silent bridges that criss cross the city. They miss the stumbling upon an ancient stone church in a tiny piazza where boys play football while black-dressed mamas go and pray. They miss the transformation of St Marks Square into a huge ballroom by night as the orchestras of the famed cafes take turns to play, warm light streaming from the restaurants onto the great dance floor. They miss sitting down and watching the moors strike the clock while nursing a gelato. And gondolas swaying with the tide at night look very different. Venice by night is pure magic. Tourists miss all this. Travellers don't. Travellers who stay on the island, travel by train or car, are free to wander the narrow streets, saunter beneath lines of laundry in places where Venetians live and tourists do not venture.

I've always travelled alone, independently and each time, my experiences tell me this is the right way to travel. From the first time I took a plane on my own to visit my aunt in Melbourne, I was hooked. I was on my own and the exhilaration of being "on my own" was mind-blowing.

In contrast, my uncle once told me that he hates getting lost, hates the hassle of finding his way around, "negotiating with the locals" and grappling with the language, struggling with backpacks and luggage etc. Hence he would just prefer to take a tour or hire a guide, stay in a posh hotel, have his meals catered, travel in airconditioned limousine comfort. His guide brings him to point A and B and so on, and if he didn't like what he saw, he would just tell the guide to bring him somewhere else. No offence, but I think him would get more kicks out of a National Geographic documentary on TV and save his money that way.

This uncle was the same one who gave me a blank look when I enthused about the culture, the dichotomy of the Japanese personality etc as I tried to sell him on travelling in Japan. His eyes glazed over and when I finished, he asked: So, what is there to SEE?

Sigh.

But for me, and I hope, for my kids, I hope that they would love travelling. There are no extremes, but I think if you travel solo, without a group tour, you'd be able to experience so much more. Touring in a herd tends to insulate because one tends to seek comfort in the familiar, in the tried and true, and stick to the group. But travelling on your own brings up a whole lot of new opportunities and experiences.

Yeah its no fun getting lost when you're really lost and its getting dark and you're tired, hungry and cranky. But the experience will be worth it.

For instance, I will never forget travelling in Tasmania, arriving on a cold, rainy night in Hobart with no accomodation, a scenario worthy of great horror stories. KH and I ended up with a flat in the historic district of Battery Point just by knocking on doors. Little did we expect that flat to be seriously haunted! Our stay there was hair-raising but so memorable!

In a similar scenario on the Big Island of Hawaii - cold, wet, misty and drizzly, no prior accomodation bookings and we ended up following a fern-lined road in the mist to a wooden farmhouse which later turned out to be more than 100 years old. We stood at the door knocking, shivering and hoping for accomodation and who should open the door but Santa Claus himself! Or his twin brother! The man was white-bearded, glasses perched on his nose, twinkly blue eyes and he had an Akita dog the size of a small horse. They were such a welcome sight! We got a room in his attic, and the chance to bathe in the first cedarwood tub we ever saw. Again, memorable. But we'd never have known if we never tried, if we'd never travelled independently.

There will be adventures galore like this, and this is all part of the fun, the excitement of travelling. In my life, I hope I will never be a tourist, but always a traveller. I hope my children will be the same. Life can only be richer this way. The road less travelled may seem rougher, with few assurances and less of the creature comforts, but it will almost always be richer in the long run.