Great American Beer Festival

Last year a friend of mine from high school living in Denver asked me whether I was coming out to the Great American Beer Festival. Unfortunately at the time I had a project at work and just couldn't take the time. Now I have two midterms next week at school and shouldn't take the time but on the other hand I can drink the best of American beer one ounce at a time...slam dunkel.

The Ale High City

Fortunately we got our tickets online ahead of time because the convention center was sold out for people walking up. There are several "sessions" for the festival. The best for beer geeks being the "Members-only" (formerly Connoisseur's Tasting) where only members of the American Homebrew Association are able to buy tickets (rest assured you can buy your membership simultaneously) and you can be among the first to try award winning beers. Gold, Silver and Bronze are awarded for 75 categories of beer.

My friend Joe and I headed out around 11:45 by taxi driven by Borat the mere 1.5 miles to the convention center. Will call was a cinch and we waited in a line that stretched about half a mile with fellow beer enthusiasts. One had a rockies purple beehive wig, another, an oversized conehead style hop, and guy who made a cowboy hat out of a Keystone Light 12 pack box. We we can only hope was done for irony.

As you walk in the door they check your ID and hand you a 3 ounce sampler pilsner style glass. One of the more distinguished traditions of the convention is to applaud and groan when someone breaks their glass and no sooner did we walk in did we here the familiar shatter followed by the despondent cries for a souvenir that hadn't experienced the even the slightest lacing of the nectar of the gods.

With 1600 beers to try at one ounce per beer, that's 100 pints, 12.5 gallons or roughly 47.25 Oktoberfest/Hofbrauhaus style mugs full of wonderful beautiful beer. A lofty and admirable goal but for four hours a little impractical. I made a mental list of about 10 beers I wanted to try, everything else was gravy.

We started with one of two disappointing beers on the day. Floppin crappie. Yeah I know I what you are thinking. With so many excellent beers I'll just list of the standouts/interesting ones:

Belgian Dark - 21st Amendment Brewery
Rasberry Tart - New Glarus Brewery (only distributed in WI and probably for that reason, had the longest line)
Smoked Hefeweizen - Minneapolis Hall Brewery
Celis Grand Cru- Michigan Brewery
Alleviator and Cassis - Allentown Brew Works (the brewery went home empty handed...wow..)
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - Brooklyn Brewery (poured by the head of the company Garett Oliver!)
Ruination - Stone Brewing (I should have tasted this one last, as I couldn't taste any other beer for at least 15 minutes the hoppiest beer I have ever had...ever)
Fort - Dogfish Head (these guys are always making some interesting brews)
Imperial Chocolate Stout - Ommegang
Farmhouse Saison - Ommegang
George's Fault - Noddinghead
Dreadnaught IPA - Three Floyds
Blackilicious Stout - Redfish Fish (I think it is a brewpub)
Doppelbock - Flying Dog (part of the opensource beer project)

After a fair amount of tasting we headed over to get some pizza and see the innovations in beer and beer accessories. For example, a bottle opener that fits on your cap, that has a magnetized opener so the cap doesn't fall, or how about a keg that can fit in a backpack with a spare tap for passer's by. In the free category was a neck clip that would hold your drinking glass giving you two hands free to do whatever you need to (such as write down all the beers one is trying).

Joe and I happened to find a couple of Bulls fans (which honestly looked kind of familiar to me) who informed me of their huge win over UCF 64-12. Wow...






We gave them our camera to take a picture of Joe and me...then...



How did that happen?

Well apparently the neck holder was not tested for this scenario...



Joe ended up getting a plastic cup which was marked more clearly at 2 ounces than one so he got the benefit of the doubt on subsequent pours. Note to self, break taster...

I got to see a few allstars in the beer world like Garett Oliver head of Brooklyn Brewery, Greg Koch the head of Stone (nice guy... told me that FL was not in the distribution plans until at least next year), and Jim Koch the head of the Boston Beer Company (aka Samuel Adams).

Before leaving we headed over to the Breathalyzer booth and Joe and I blew a 0.1 and a 0.06 respectively (earlier I had gotten to 0.8). Higher altitudes make you much more sensitive to alcohol, I don't care what experts say. Fortunately the layout of Denver is highly walkable so we headed over to the 16th street mall (which reminds me a lot of Munich's pedestrian mall) and over to Wynkoop for a free beer for GABF attendees and to watch the end of LSU Kentucky.

We took the lightrail and bus back to Joe's place and crashed for a few hours. The plan was to go to a Zombie Beer party (yeah I have no idea either) at Flying Dog Brewery but by the time we got out it would have been close on time so we just shot some pool and crashed again.

The next morning the weather continued to not cooperate so we canceled our disc golf plans, went to a barbershop and then headed out to Casa Bonita, a local favorite among people who want TexMex in a festive atmosphere.


Inside there are cliff divers, blackbeard's cave (currently a haunted house) arcades for the kids and more. The place is actually massive, in addition to the hundreds of seats in the main lobby area, there are "tunnels" where you can scarf down your food.

Feeling pretty full of burritos and sopapillas we called it a night. 12 hours later I was on a plane back to Tampa. Awesome weekend! Thanks Joe!

--Joey

Edit: Bilingual beer puns await you in the comments if you are a polyglotten for punishment ;)

Camping eh?

I have been posting to an awesome travel messageboard for the past two years (one year with significant regularity) and for the 2nd year in a row, they decided to hold an annual campout. Last year was in Seattle, this year in Algonquin (roughly 300km North of Tronto). Sign me up!
Kevin and I were the out of towners, while Teri, Laura and Carolyn are native to Toronto.

After we squared our plans I booked a flight into Buffalo from Tampa, which is a scenic way to get there. With Dad in Mississauga at the time, he offered to come get me. On the way there we made a Niagara Falls detour. It was a bit shorter that I envisioned but a whole lot more water than I imagined. It never ceases to amaze me how idiotic parents can be. I saw at least three 5-6 year olds standing on the railing. I was so tense watching them I could barely enjoy my Tim Horton's lunch.

From Niagara, we made a pitstop in picturesque Oakville (ironically I took no photos ;) ) to check out the lake and the Tronto skyline in the background. Back at the hotel I just crashed until I would meetup at Teri's (coincidentally only about 10 minutes away) with Laura and Carolyn that night.

So they came to get me and I got to see the inside of my first Canadian house. Teri is renting the basement of her stepfather's house. He lives upstairs along with 2-3 Newfies that don't hold sobriety or pants in particularly high esteem. The neighboUrhood reminds me a lot of Washington DC only without the need for kevlar. After chitchatting we headed to the back yard to enjoy the 20 degree weather, but Teri was adamant about us just walking through not making eye contact.

I didn't listen closely enough because one of them stopped me to find out where I was from and he wanted me to stay and talk. I found out later that he was up stairs singing Yankee Doodle Dandy just after I left.

Departure day...

Our trip started with Kevin bashing his Jeep's secondary headlights in order to make room for a cooler. Three hours later we arrived at Algonquin where Carolyn and Laura had already setup camp and starting on some spaghetti. We foraged for some kindling (against the policies of Algonquin--whoops!) and before long had a decent fire going.

Our campsite was just one 1k from "the beach". Somehow a lake and beach just don't quite go together in my Floridian mind. Around 3am after several hours of pounding back Keith's IPAs (which were actually just highly drinkable lagers), we made the stroll down. The air temperature dipped down to about 50 degrees but the water was a "warm" 68. The fog that developed was so serene and was probably one of my top travel moments ever. It became our home away from campsite the following nights.

The next morning the plan was to head to the beach for a swim, draw our our messageboard logo in the sand and then go on an 11k nature trail. The water was either the coldest or second coldest water I had ever been submersed in without a wetsuit. As soon the water hit mid bathing suit I was an honorary Tdot girl.

"Now eventually you might have nature on your nature trail right? :breathes on lens:"

The last time I walked 11k straight was...never. I figured we would have plenty of time to stop and photograph all the nature which would prolong the trip thus making it easier me to catch my breath. Turns out they could have made a better nature trail at our campsite. Fat racoons, black squirrels, and even a bear made an appearance tentside whereas the dedicated trail offered up a chipmunk or two. Not that it mattered, the trail was really beautiful and easy to follow (with the exception of a beaver who flooded it temporarily) and we finished in just over 3 hours.

We got back to our site and started on the chicken and veggies.

The next day we did some canoing and I found that I never exercise canoing muscles...ever. Our three person boat was going in circles so for the way back, Kevin, Carolyn took the three person one and Laura and Teri took the other. Apparently it was not entirely my fault that we were slowing down. Score! In your face Teri and Laura ;)

We headed out the next day after one more trip on the lake. Algonquin rocks and it was a perfect place for my first "real" camping trip :)

Okay this blog is only a few months late...meh.. (actually almost ALL of it was written in October I just forgot to post it)


--Joey

My first dive in Crystal River

Not sure the last time I woke up at 5:30 but I remember why I don't like it. I gathered all my things for my first scuba dive ever in (what I remember being) the clear waters of Crystal River, FL.

The water we jumped into was pretty murky but we were told that it would get better at the bottom. Maybe if we were in the first group of divers to go down but as the silt was stirred up the visibility dropped to mere feet. Being identically dressed in black wetsuits made it tough to find your dive buddy below. Since this was a skills exercise we had to do a few things besides just look around.

Our first dive tested removing the regulator, half flooding our mask, and sharing air. The regulator clearing is becoming second nature, but the mask clearing still makes me a little nervous. You have to create a pressure in your nose while breathing in, otherwise you will inhale some water along with air. Not good. At 25-30 ft deep, you have to do that with a bit more concentration, and whatever you do, don't panic. So as I cleared my mask I got a little bit of water in my nose...not much but a little. So I remembered Doug Adam's memorable advice as I calmly smashed the mask on my forehead, then tiled it up while exhaling though my nose. From that point I could definitely feel my heart beating a little faster. So I took a few breaths before going on to the next activity. Our out of air scenario worked out pretty well and we ended up surfacing without any problems.

We hung out up there for a bit before going back down for a full mask flood and a tour of a "cavern". We swam into a cave and then from the bottom you can see the exit on the other side. Very safe.

I met up with a college buddy who lives in the Crystal River area and his family for lunch before heading back home.

Devil's Den Dive

To be certified by NAUI (and probably for all the other certifications as well) you need to do five "open water dives". I did three in CR, and had to do two in Devil's Den in Williston, Florida. Apparently the spring got its name from when it was discovered during the winter and the "steam" would be rising of the 72 degree water out of the ground.

We arrived around 10am and did a walk around the surface opening and got briefed on the dive to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. While all this is going on we are putting our tanks on, getting our weights and the like so I got a little sweat going...not so great for putting on a wet suit. When I finally greased myself into the thing I went from being slightly hot to candidate for heatstroke in about two minutes.

The actual entrance to Devil's Den is narrow and short, which often leads to jams with everyone geared up. To add to this the wooden stair case is meant for one diver at a time, so the pace down is quite slow. At the bottom of the stairs I saw some minnows milling around which was a welcome change from algae covered rocks the week before. That 72 degree water was very refreshing.

As a group we swam over to a tethered ball to start our exercises. Seeing the bubbles rushing past me and people both going down and up I got a little disoriented and thought I was falling downard to quickly. I actually never left the surface. When I finally got down to where everyone was the much vaunted visibility turned out to be pretty bad add to that it was a little dark and the environment stunk. The full mask flood went well (something I was definitely nervous about even though I practiced it a LOT in the pool) and then we did some neutral buoyancy tests before swimming a lap around the perimeter.

When we surfaced we decided to break up into two groups to complete the last exercise since the visibility was so bad and we were all jammed in there. The finally check was a mask removal (as in you take off your mask and hold it out to the side). What makes it a little worrying is that you have to take about two breaths without anything covering your nose. Again, no problems. Another lap around and it was time to surface. I gave myself one kick and I saw another girl pass me which made me feel like I was falling again. So just as I am pumping in a little more air, I break the surface.

--Joey

A look ahead...

My tentative schedule for the coming year is starting to materialize a bit...

August - Longboat Key and Toronto trip
September - Toronto and Auburn road trip
October - Denver Great American Beer Festival
November - Staying local
December - Staying put, or possibly road-tripping a Bulls road game

Now for 2008

January - Spain
February - Spain
March - Spain
April - Spain
May - Spain, Italy and "?"
June - Germany
July - Germany - Turkey - UAE
August - China and Japan
September - Japan
October - Japan
November - Japan
December - Japan and then Home Sweet Home

Sometime between January and May I will cross over into Portugal.

This could look pretty different from reality so I wanted to get it down. Oh btw, I am trying to update the blog at least once a month.

--Joey

Youth Hostel Supplement

In keeping with my tradition of listing my accommodations...

Sakura Youth Hostel (Tokyo) - Great way to arrive in Tokyo (man that feels like it was a long time ago, way more than two months!). Clean, friendly place in the "old" part of town, Asakusa. Great atmosphere in the common area. Only downside is that it is difficult to find your first time there. 2940 yen.

Backpacker's K House at Mount Fuji (Kawaguchiko) - Possibly the best hostel I have EVER stayed in...ever! Mellow place, lots of "long term" guests, full kitchen, nice common area with large HD LCD. Seriously a wonderful place to be (it is very new) and as luck would have it, right next to a quality (and cheap!) onsen. 2700 yen.

Warakuan Guest House (Kyoto) - Very cool traditional place that will give you the Ryokan experience in this cultural center for a decent price. The rooms are 3 or 6 people on tatami mats. Centrally located (although, since we only spent one full day there, I never got a feel for Kyoto's layout) 2500 yen.

Asakusa Capsule Hotel (Tokyo) - Across from the Asakusa metro entrance, this capsule hotel may not be exactly representative of a Shibuya or Shinjuku capsule hotel but it was fun none the less. The clientele appeared to be more of an older men, smoking watching sumo wrestling demo than the young drunk salaryman who missed the last train. Not exactly great but it worked for the night (not available to book online...4000 yen)

I'll have to work up my favorite hostels all told a little later.

Next up: Probably Toronto. I am meeting a few folks for a camp out in Algonquin national forest.

--Joey

Things that surprised me about my trip:

1.) The 13 hours flight didn't feel that long and I didn't sleep that much. So if you can somehow sleep (a mask and ear plugs help) you can probably really feel like it is nothing. My metric is flying NY to Amsterdam. It is usually about 7 hours and you are definitely ready to leave at the end of it. While I was ready to jump into Tokyo, it wasn't twice as bad.

2.) The Japanese aren't short. The idea we have of them being short goes back to when they were malnourished. Kids my age were about an inch shorter on average than the average American. What they are, though, is very thin. The older generations are very short.

3.) Tokyo is surprisingly affordable. Our hostel was about 25 bucks, and in London a 6 person hostel is about 40. 7-11 Bento Boxes (if we only had these here...) were about 4 bucks. A trip on the metro was never more than 2 bucks and cost 8 for a city wide day pass.

4.) Sushi is not as common as I thought. Sure you had lots of them but you have lots of everything. I would say Sushi is about as common as a Bennigans/TGIF/Applebees type family restaurant.

5.) Not really a surprise exactly, but I found a city to knock Rome off my list of cities I would be least likely to drive in.

6.) Mount Fuji is a lot bigger in person. It was so big, Em didn't see it (yeah figure that one out) on first approach.

7.) The Japanese are excessively polite. From them asking you if they can go through your bags at security checkpoints to the baseball players ending the game with a bow to the audience, you really feel like everything you are doing is probably rude.

8.) The English spoken is not even close to being on par with Europe. I figured Japan would be like Italy in terms of English proficiency. They are more than willing to try if they have anything at all but often they smile and say Hanasemasen (I don't speak [English])

9.) Despite Tokyo having three main train systems (JR East, Metro, Toei Metro) all owned by different companies, it isn't that difficult to navigate...once you get used to them. The three work really well.

10.) Shibuya was smaller than I thought...sort of. It was crazier than I pictured but I really thought that cross walk from "Lost in Translation" with the Brontosaurus' on the jumbotron was longer. The heights of the buildings seemed about the same.

11.) Getting used to not tipping and bowing was not as hard as I thought it would be.

12.) The vending machines rule (and we didn't even see the cooler ones with odd things for sale). On the ones inside the subway stations you can use your prepaid Metro hard to buy a drink by waving it past the sensor. How cool is that?

13.) Stitch was more popular than Mickey at Disney. The whole setup of the parks was like a dream sequence where you take a familiar place and then change it around a little.

14.) Teaching English is very easy. At one point, a guy meeting someone to finalize teaching plans offered to introduce me to his boss who was desperately seeking a few native English speakers.

15.) Kyoto was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Even though I knew better I kind of pictured Florence when I thought of Kyoto. Large city but the area of general interest is small. It is more spreadout but still beautiful (and we saw it on a crummy day) and a definite highlight of Japan.

16.) Americans in Hiroshima don't get the slightest harassment. Even the museum points out problems with Japan during the war. Yet Nanking is at times referred to as an incident. (Never saw that, I am just passing along gossip and 2nd hand information)

17.) Japanese of all ages read manga.

More to come...

Just plane dumb

So after a surprisingly decent night in my very own morgue, I got up around 7 and headed to Sakura to pick up Em, shower and update my blog (I was finishing up my Hiroshima post). By 9:30 I began to wonder and had the front desk call her room (yes, Sakura has phones in the room... not bad for a hostel). Apparently the alarm clock decided to run out of juice around 1am.

So like yesterday we were getting a late start. On the list of to dos were to visit Akihabara to look for Joe's requests (maracas and toy) and Dad's souvenir. With our flight at 4p, we backed out two hours for checking in, and an hour for the train to the airport. If my math serves that is 1p.

That leaves two hours to do all of this. Hmm...well worst comes to worst, we probably can squeeze down the two hours a little. From experience I knew that the international flights at times will shutdown the baggage conveyor around 45 minutes before takeoff. So it would be wise not to push it.

Akihabara is fairly easy to get to, just take the Ginza to Ginza the Hibya to Akihabara. If any place would have Maracas controllers for Dreamcast this would be it. Interestingly, every shop knew EXACTLY what this Samba de Amigo maracas were only no one knew where to buy it. We finally settled on the 10 story electronics haven known as Yodabashi Camera. Still no maracas but they did have a toy section. Apparently there is a fairly famous Japanese tv show with a fairly famous character with the unfortunate name of harudogei (pronounced Hardo Gay). Each person on the toy floor knew about this also "Ahh yesss hardoo gay no it does not exist here". Sorry, Joe, we tried.

So with time ticking away we were at the 1:15 mark. Later than I had hoped but still doing okay. It was time to book it to the hostel again. It took about 30 minutes to get back due to the lunch rush hour. Back to backwards math. 4p - 20 minutes to get to and from the hostel minus an hour train minus 30 minutes and we are looking at the current time, meaning in order to beat that 45 minute cutoff we would have to run, to beat an hour cutoff we would have to pray.

Having never been in a hurry during the day I underestimated how long it would take to navigate the souvenir shops stretching from Kaminarmon gate to Sensoji. We knocked into half of Tokyo on the way to the subway while we yelled "Sumimasen!"constantly. We even bumped into a French woman on the train who gave us a fairly disgusted look and asked us where we were from. Em and I in unison said "Canada". I added in "Tranta" for a little something extra.

Em and I nearly threw up from running with packs on and by the time we caught the metro to Ueno, bought our ticket and walked the long corridor to the Keisei line our only hope was for a delayed flight or to fly some other way. Japanese punctuality was offset by their cleanliness obsession as that prevented us from taking off early. We took the 2:40 train putting us at check in 5 minutes before take off. At this point I was resigned to missing the flight but was not looking forward to the inevitable question "Why, again did you miss the flight?" "::sigh:: we were looking for a Hardo Gay toy"

Unfortunately for us the flight was on time. Very fortunate for us there was a flight in 25 minutes to Newark...that had also stopped check in.

Continental rocks. If you ever have a choice in airline and the price is pretty close, pick em. The lady reopens the baggage line and tags our packs while throwing out requests to other employees to help us find our gate. We were literally walked from the counter the gate to make sure we would make the flight all with no extra charge for the new tickets. As in Amsterdam a year earlier, Em and I heard our names over the intercom for the final boarding call. The security check was a bit haphazard and again the staff asked us if they could check our baggage. We may have lost our aisle seats for that flight but we felt very happy to have made it aboard. The 11 hour flight mostly zipped by and before we knew it we were touching down in the big apple. At customs we were greeted with this New York accent yelling, ¨Hey YOU! You... you get ova´here."

I missed Japan already.

We had some time to kill in Newark (5 hour layover), so we found a bar serving Brooklyn Breweries' line up (I found the IPA to be just ok) and a Borders mini where I looked at some guidebooks for my next trip to China next year.

Having been up for about 30 hours we got 8 hours sleep in some very comfortable beds.

I will post a few more pictures, a wrapup, and a youth hostel supplement over the next few days.

Until next time,

Joey

Rising sun

After Disney we settled called it a night with the intention of waking up early. That we did, about 0430. Our roommate (a Swedish girl) was out hanging with a couple of English guys when she decides to head back to the hostel. She was apparently quite drunk when she hailed a cab in Akihabara. That should be a short ride (30 minutes at most). She said he drove her around for almost two hours not letting her out and demanded 10000 yen when she finally got out otherwise he would have called the police. It shows you bad stuff can happen to you when you are drunk, female and alone... even in Japan. We thought she should have called his bluff, not paid him anything and allowed the police to arrive. He would be in a lot of trouble. Although since she was mispronouncing the name of the area as Asah-Koo-sa instead of Asock-sah he may have thought she was trying to go to Akasasa which could take that amount of time. It would also have taken her through Roppongi the "unsafe" area of Tokyo. Of course all of that doesn't explain why he was touching her leg.

SumoMasen

With that craziness the night before we didn't get up until about noon. We woke up and began arranging our Sunday night's stay. The hotel was in Narita so we would probably have to leave around 4p to beat nightfall. As we started talking we found out that we could probably reclaim the points to have another night in Tokyo. Capsule hotel here I come. With that same late start we weren't able to buy Sumo wrestling tickets but we did see some of the participants outside.

Em suggested we head to the Tokyo tower in Roppongi which is featured heavily in Anime. It began the start of our Japanized European Icons tour of the night.

The Tokyo Tower, stands 13m, or roughly one nanny-nanny-boo-boo, taller than its Parisian counterpart.



In Shinjuku, they have a skyscraper clock looking just slightly like Big Ben.



Of course in Asakusa you have the Tourist board Seiko Glockenspiel.


Em wanted the extra night to go to a Jpop club. Should be easy enough right? I mean this is Tokyo. Our guide book (Let's Go) suggested the Jpop cafe. Perfect! The directions led us a bit astray as it uses landmarks rather than streets for guiding you in. We arrived a full 30 minutes before it closed. I think. Upstairs it was entirely empty save for two Japanese girls smoking in a dimly lit room.

Hard to call Shibuya a bust that night. We found a bizarre store specializing in unusual condoms, a Tshirt store that has an "if-it-is-in-English-we'll-sell-it-regardless-of-how -nonsensical-it-is" attitude, and an arcade with a video game that is best described as a drum version of Dance Dance Revolution.

We took the 2nd to last train from Shibuya up the Ginza to Asakusa. Capsule hotels for the uninitiated are places for drunk business men to fall asleep when they miss their last train out for the night. At roughly 25 bucks a night, they don't come that cheap but are frequently an indication of a helluva good evening. Since most are segregated based on sex and Em's tendancy towards claustrophobia, I was on my own. It was surprisingly comfortable considering I was essentially sleeping in a decent sized refrigerator.

--Joey

Stitch; Not in time, saves nine...bucks


We were running late on our second day back in Tokyo (shocking I know) and headed out to Tokyo Disneyland via Tokyo Station. At Mahaima station you get off and walk 20 feet to the entrance. Having spent roughly two months of our childhood at Disneyworld, Em and I know the parks like the back of our hands which made us question whether we really should visit them or not. Two words: absolutely.

The first thing Disney World visitors will spot is the insane obsession with Stitch (of Lilo and Stitch) We think we came up with an explanation. Tokyo to Honolulu is only 7 hours. This means a lot of Japanese think of kawaii Hawaii when they think of the US. So given that many Japanese travel there the Hawaiian themed movie holds a more personal appeal than it does to North American audiences who consider Hawaii to practically be another country.

Running late can have its advantages. by arriving precisely at 3 we were able to buy a reduced fare ticket saving us about nine bucks. Inside we headed immediately for some food. Our favorite Disneyworld place to grab a bite is Cosmic Rays Starlight cafe. As kids we used to like the ridiculous jokes and musical parodies by Sonny Eclipse an anamatronic lounge singer/entertainer.

Not to be out done in the weirdness category, Japan gives you Tony Solaroni an Italian accented alien in charge of the automated pizza maker. The language swaps between English and Japanese (the other language being captioned) with a healthy dose of Italian songs from Japanese chefs.

Stomachs not so full, (like ski resort trails, the portion sizes are very much relative to resort) we walked to the newly "relaunched" Space Mountain. Apparently the inside stars changed... that was about it. Having so little room for expansion, *NEW*ness comes in the form of renovations. Em was a little worried about the ride given the Japanese love for real thrill rides that she was worried what this coaster might have different from its Orlando counterpart 8000 miles away. It was very different. This was barely a roller coaster. Our flight's turbulence had better drops then this thing.

In Fantasy land they have a Pinnochio ride that piqued our interest simply because it was not in the Magic Kingdom. Then it was on to Pecos Bill Cafe (hoping for some Mexican food...only churros) and on to the Haunted Mansion which was an exact replica of the one we know and love (it seemed like the hitchhiking ghosts may have been shorter...) only with a "scary" narration in Japanese.

As we exited we caught the tail end of the Night Parade which has the same music, similar floats, and even white stars for the main characters (minor characters were always Japanese).


For..relaxing times..make it...Suntory time

Hiroshima and Miyajima

Em and I left our Tokyo pseudo-Ryokan for Hiroshima. This was destined to be a fairly long day since we were headed back to Tokyo that night. The shink can make some distant sites remarkably achievable daytrips.

We arrived, threw our packs in the locker and were out. If you didn't know any better, you would not know there was ever a single bomb that fell on Hiroshima. It looks like Tokyo, Kyoto or any other decent sized city. In fact the only sign of the attack was a government building left in its partially destroyed state.

Across from the A bomb dome (seriously, this is what they call it) you have the field where the Hiroshima Carps play and on the other side of the river, the Hiroshima peace park. They commemorate the attacks every morning with a bell at 0815. They also have a before and after section within the official museum which doesn't so much blame the US for what happened but simply calls for peace and uses Hiroshima as an example of the costs of war. They wisely choose not to throw stones from their duct taped pyrex shack.


I am sure some people would think that Americans would be personas non grata in this town but we didn't find that at all. In fact, as we walked through the peace park groups of Japanese children would walk up to us say hello and then, if they were girls, giggle.

Whether you agree with dropping the bomb in Hiroshima or not (I being in the camp of the former) the photos and memorials show you that just because because a decision was right and necessary doesn't make it good. Inside the museum I came so close to blocking a few cameras. They have signs everywhere that say "No photography" in several languages. Yet here were some Nigerian military taking photos in plain site with full flash and everything. Not only was that incredibly disrespectful but the photos won't come out behind glass!

With time quickly disappearing we cut our visit to the musem short and headed to the sacred island of Miyajima. Its most famous attraction is the floating torii (considered one of the top three views in Japan; similar to wonders of the ancient world). The island is really beautiful and I wish we could have camped out there. After a few pictures we had to jump back on the shink to Tokyo. Given Japanese punctuality that makes Germany seem like Spain, when the train to Hiroshima was two minutes late we started worrying a bit.

With 10 minutes between us and our last train out we ran everywhere from the train to the lockers to the platform and made it with a few minutes to spare. Exhaustion makes for decent sleep. Around 2330 we pulled in to Tokyo station where we got the sardine treatment on the way to Ueno and ultimately to Asakusa via the Ginza line. We were actually double booked with accomodations at an Akihabara capsule hotel and the Sakura hostel and when we arrived at Sakura at midnight, I was glad I didnt have to go wandering for my accomodation.


--Joey

Tokyotokyoto

I want to start this blog by giving a big thanks to Henry Stimson.

We arrived in Kyoto via Shinkansen from Mishima just outside of Kawaguchiko (Mt Fuji). The bullet trains earn their reputation! We arrived at night because Em and I decide to grab a quick lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant (feel folded under a ridiculous table) which made us miss our train. Kontatsu rocks.

So later, we arrive in Kyoto to look for our bus but trying to find the stop is difficult. They are announced in English and in Japanese but softly (like everything in Japan) and the bus is loud. Rough combination. I asked the woman in front of us about our stop, Kumano Jinja Mae and no sooner did I get those words out of my mouth did the announcement say that. Woohoo! We jumped off and got to the main interesection.

Following our hostel instructions was pretty easy...once we figured out where East was. After crossing the street I paced off 70m per the directions and told Em it should be somewhere around....here. Immediately to my left was our guest house Warakuan.

Uhuh Grampa...Lilly..

It is set up like a traditional Ryokan but at a much better price (25 bucks a night vs 150 and up). The place is quaint but certainly not build for Westerners (or the young Japanese). I felt a bit like Gandalf in the shire.

One thing that jumps out at you about Kyoto (and Japan in general) is how clean it is. Aside from the occasional cigarette there is very little on the streets. I believe this is due to the culture and strict littering laws which vary based on where you are from. Indian and Chinese tourists can litter a lot more than the Japanese and other westerners ;)

So today we got a moderately late (9:30) start and headed to the Kiyomizudera temple. Or at least that is what we thought it was. The complete lack of English should have tipped us off. The approach is really nice and the temple is beautiful, I just don't know what the heck it was! Ill have to look it up on Wikipedia later.

As we strolled around we stumbled upon, for lack of a better word along with time to look it up, a Buddhist mass. So we finally got our bearings at went back to the Kiyomizudera which did not disappoint. As you may know there is currently a world wide vote to select the 7 new wonders of the world. This is on that list.

The approach is up hill and surrounded by dense forests a great place to get lost (in a good way) in. On the way in we saw Geisha girls! We bought our ticket and headed in when we were stopped by a group of uniformed Japanese kids asking if they could talk to us in English and if they could get a picture of some Americans visiting one of their temples. We chatted for a little while in English, Pantomime, and Japanese. We owe them a photo.

From atop the temple there are some great views...of the temple. It is fairly big so from one edge you can look back at the worlds largest tree house.

After a few hours of walking it was definitely time for some food so we got some money at the bank and headed for the train station.　Two minutes from the train station itself there is a delicious Kaiten Sushi restaurant. I had some tuna, salmon, egg, squid, fatty bellied tuna, unakyu (which against my better judgement ordered for Emily. I asked the hostess if that was considered rude to ask for something rather than just eat what is out and she said "yes a little" but that we should not worry it was not taken like that...gaijin can get away with murder), and shrimp nigiri...all for about 18 bucks US. Wow! Em was a good sport so, Mom and Dad, we may have to stop at Don Pablos on the way back to the house on Monday.

Inside the station we found a delicious bakery and had some desert before wandering over to a cyber cafe (solar powered) and checked our email. We met up with Gail for dinner at a trendy mixed genre restaurant. Sort of a Japanese view of Florida kitsch.

We said goodbye to Gail and headed back to the guesthouse. So for now we are headed to Tokyo via Hiroshima.

Oh and Henry Stimpson.. he made the decision to strike Kyoto from the potential atom bomb target list allowing future generations to enjoy this amazing city as it was and not as a reconstruction. It would have been easy to have a "let's sock it to those damn Japs" attitude. Three cheers for cooler heads prevailing.

--Joey

Mount Fuji's killing us softly

Today was a great day in ol' Japan. We started by heading to the kitchen for a bowl of ramen noodles and a plan to bike to the base of Fuji.

Along the way we saw this really wacky looking coaster at the Fuji Q highlands amusement park. Japanese themeparks are a little like how Disney World used to be. You pay an entrance fee and then a fee per ride with the option of a day pass for all rides. So Gail, Em and I plunked down 1200 yen to get in and 1000 to ride. Em passed on this ride and when you hear the description you won't blame her.

You start on the ride going backwards up the incline...on your back. Then just before the moment of truth, it flips you upside down so you are diving head first at the ground. From there it tosses you into multiple loops (it has the world record for most upside down turns on a roller coaster) where you end up seeing only ground, not the car and not the track. At every flip it feels like you are falling sometimes vertically sometimes backward but definitely falling.



After that, we headed out to the Sengen Jinja which is the base of the trail to Mount Fuji. It turned out that it was tougher than we thought to find so we stopped off for a dinner at Coco's which Gail told us was actually a US west coast chain. Kontatsu and an assortment of rice, miso soup and more. Delicious! Ironically, you are expected to get your own drink but not your food. They have a drink bar where you can do the unlimited refill bit of Coke, Sprite, Orange Juice, Calpis etc.

Yes, Calpis.

Full of food and carbonated beverages we headed toward the shrine entrance. It is beautiful and if Shibuya was Coruscant's entertainment district, then this was the forest moon of Endor. The tall trees filter most light except for parts here and there which add an Indiana Jones esque quality to the place.

Not wanting to miss out on Fuji and sunset we trucked on. With a slightly hazy sky, it was really difficult to photograph the mountain. We ended up settling on these, but they just don't do it justice. Mount Fuji truly fills the frame even at quite a distance.

By the time we sketched the scene in our respective journals it was time to go. The ride back was pretty nice but there were some parts of the ride (since we went a different more direct route) that had very little in the way of a sidewalk so we just walked slowly and flashed our LEDs.

To cap off this great day we all headed to a neighboring Onsen or "hot spring". The warm water was just the ticket to send us off to sleep (which I am doing as I am writing this). All in all not bad for a day's "work"

--Joey and Emily

Emi-chan Takes Over 5/6/07

Hey everyone! I arrived in Tokyo this afternoon and my brother picked me up at the airport (thank goodness because I would have inevitably gotten lost and probably cried). The city is very crowded and confusing. I did learn and identified a few kanji characters: "stop", "exit", and "yen". Joey's Japanese is better than he says. He was able to ask directions, buy tickets and talk to people. We went to Starbucks in Narita Airport where I tried out my Japanese for the first time. I predictably ordered my chocolate milk over ice and the barista understood me! That was pretty exciting.

After dropping our bags at the Sakura youth hostel, we headed out to explore this lively and very overwhelming city. (Above　is a picture I took a little ways outside our hostel. Look at the tree: there is a prayer pinned to the trunk.) It is very crowded but clean. The streets are colorful with advertisements and neon lighting that illuminates buildings. Everything is smushed together. There are pagoda style homes that are about a foot apart. The people are overly accomodating. When asking where places were, people would actually walk us to our destination.Joey took me to Shibuya for a little while...Wow! Above is a picture of an arcade in Shibuya.

I'm exhausted so I will wrap this up. Japan is awesome. Enough said.

5/7/07

Emily writes again:

I'm really tired so I will make this quick: Joey and I are at a hostel near the base of Mt. Fuji with our new best friend, Gail. She was staying at the Sakura hostel the same time we were and she will be traveling to Kyoto with us as well. We had to take our shoes off before entering the hostel :-D and they have Japanese toilets! (I'm not gonna lie, there was a bit of an incident lol). More on everything later...night night! Love yall!

P.S. To Amy, I will try to find a charm for you.
Since today is a school day, we saw a bunch of kids in uniforms around town and on the subway. They were adorable!

More photos to come...

Much to see and Edo in Tokyo

So Day 2 in Nippon started with me arranging my baseball game plans. Originally I thought I would have to travel to Yokohama to see the game, but the Yomiuri Giants (the Yankees of Japan) play their intracity rivals the Yakult Swallows.

The subway is getting more comfortable to navigate but it can still be plenty confusing. Part of the problem is that their are three means of transport, Toei lines, Metro Lines and JR lines all of which require their own passes. It is hard to argue with the results though, the trains are astoundingly punctual, clean, comfortable (if at times a little hot).

So as I was asking the front desk about the tickets, a girl from Minnesota, Gale, asked me if I was planning on going still and that she was also going to give it a try so we went out together to the Big Egg.

Tokyo Dome is a very cool area. There is a futuristic amusement park, dome, shopping and eating center that all become intertwined do to the land prices in this crazy city. At the stadium we learned all that was left was standing room (1000 yen). I stood through ballet in Vienna, I can certainly stand through a baseball game.

Gale had to meet a WWOOF (organic farming rep) in Shinjuku, so I tagged along and toured the area until she was done. We agreed to meet at 1415 for a 1500 game at the station. I toured the business district and went to McDonald's for a shrimp burger combo. Oishii desu!

I got back to the station on time (mostly) and by 1430 I decided to leave because I thought it was possible that I had already missed her. In fact, I was starting to doubt whether we agree on quarter til 2 rather than quarter after.

At security, I unlocked my bag and the man asked me something in Japanese that I didn't understand. Checku? He was asking me with my bag open, if he could look at the inside of it. Unfailing politeness at every turn. Perhaps that is why Japanese families cycle everyone through the photography process, they don't want to impose on the other person to take a photo.

At the Stadium I took a pass just to see if I could see her. Having screaming blond hair is quite the advantage in Tokyo. An hour after getting there we met up and went to our "seats". Inside, there are bento boxes for sale, noodle dishes, and hot-to dog-os.

The atmosphere in Japanese baseball is intense and, again, polite. When a questionable call is made, you hear no booing but just a muffled mmmuh. The Gabbit (Giant Rabbit) is the mascot and is everywhere.

So after walking all day and standing for three hours, I was quite ready to hit the sack and take the load off my blistered feet.

I'll end the entry with some of the wackiness I have come across.

Which is my favorite type of pie...

Well, I got to admit it works, I didn't see one elephant!

Just think of what Leno's "Headlines" would be like in this country

さよなら,

Joey

This is a quick blog so you can check out Shibuya. Eventually I will probably delete this post and move the video to another one. Hope it works

Sayonara,

Joey

I am far too tired for anything interesting so here comes to firehose for today.

I landed in Houston and was among the first to present my passport to the lady behind the desk. This turned out to be a very good move because she had an exit row seat for me, so I could extend my legs 90 degrees and touch nothing but sweet sweet air.

The flight was long, so long in fact, that it feels like it has been a few days since I left Tampa even though it is just now 24 hours. This is partly due to me only having had 4 hours of sleep the night before take off and two hours of sleep on the plane.

Tokyo is mind blowing. There are no words (or no words in this state of sleep depravity) to describe how large, crowded and insane this city is. Everything is different. The streets are not named at all from what I have been able to tell.

Okay back to landing. My luggage arrived quickly, and I preceded to getting some yen which was given at an excellent rate. 118 yen per dollar (they are scraping off a yen to yen and a half)Getting to Sakura Hostel was not that bad. I took the limited express to Aoto station, changed and took the Asakusa line to Asakusa station. That whole area was once considered the entertainment district. My hostel is overlooking a permanent carnival. Once there I chatted with a few of my roomates, all Canadian including one who met a high school alum coincidentally in the lobby.

Today was get adjusted and try not to die of exhaustion day (sleeping at 4 means more lag later) so I am getting ready to hit it (2030 here)

Here are a few photos , Ill try to clean it up in the morning.

Sayonara,

Joey

PS My Japanese, STINKS.

I am far too tired for anything interesting so here comes to firehose for today.

I landed in Houston and was among the first to present my passport to the lady behind the desk. This turned out to be a very good move because she had an exit row seat for me, so I could extend my legs 90 degrees and touch nothing but sweet sweet air.

The flight was long, so long in fact, that it feels like it has been a few days since I left Tampa even though it is just now 24 hours. This is partly due to me only having had 4 hours of sleep the night before take off and two hours of sleep on the plane.

Tokyo is mind blowing. There are no words (or no words in this state of sleep depravity) to describe how large, crowded and insane this city is. Everything is different. The streets are not named at all from what I have been able to tell.

Okay back to landing. My luggage arrived quickly, and I preceded to getting some yen which was given at an excellent rate. 118 yen per dollar (they are scraping off a yen to yen and a half)So getting to Sakura Hostel was not that bad. I took the limited express to Aoto station, changed and took the Asakusa line to Asakusa station. That whole area was once considered the entertainment district. My hostel is overlooking a permanent carnival. Once there I chatted with a few of my roomates, all Canadian including one who met a high school alum coincidentally in the lobby.

Today was get adjusted and try not to die of exhaustion day (sleeping at 4 means more lag later) so I am getting ready to hit it (2030 here)

Here are a few photos , Ill try to clean it up in the morning

Four days until take off!

I started taking a look at the rail pass brochure and I just am a bit puzzled that the Tourism Board, Yokoso Japan (Welcome Japan!) would choose, er this as the cover.



--Joey

7 days - 7am - 7000 miles

Departure is next Thursday. My rail pass (exchange order) arrived today, I walked out of the airport with a cool 27000 Yen today (yeah the rates stink but you need some starter cash), Em's backpack got here yesterday, so we are just waiting on a few flag patches and a Japan here we come.




--Joey

It is official, I am headed to Japan!

Here is the infamous itinerary post which gets turned upside down and barely resembles itself at the end of the trip (this backpacking break needs to be a little more structured than my previous ones since I only have 12 days)

Day 1 (May 3rd) - Celebrate my course being over and fly from Tampa to Houston to Tokyo on Continental
Day 2 (May 4th) - Arrive in Tokyo around 2:20p, find my hostel, walk around crash
Day 3 (May 5th) - Spend the day in Tokyo (maybe Yokohama) try to catch a Baseball game
Day 4 (May 6th) - Em arrives, allow her crash if need be walk around Tokyo
Day 5 (May 7th) - Train to Kyoto, if there is time tour Kiyomizu-dera (if not, then the next day)
Day 6 (May 8th) - Stay in Kyoto and make a day trip to Amanohashidate
Day 7 (May 9th) - Travel to Mount Fuji
Day 8 (May 10th) - ???
Day 9 (May 11th) - ???
Day 10 (May 12th) - ??? have to end up in Tokyo (Capsule hotel?)
Day 11 (May 13rd) - Tokyo Disneyland
Day 12 (May 14th) - Narita then Tokyo-Houston-Tampa

The "???"'s are up for grabs. I am debating a few ideas (not sure when I can see Kamazakura but that looks pretty cool and would add a bit of old Japan) but am open for suggestions :)

Sayonara (or さよなら)

--Joey

Happy Pi Day everyone...

Stay tuned to the brog.

Sayonara,

--Joey