No nearing?
This was taken in the Forbidden City…
I really do enjoy seeing the unusual signs while on holiday. Even in a bigger context next to some minor work that was occurring it still made no sense.
Nameless Knight
Air China over China
This proves we made it on the plane. The journey was pretty uneventful (apart from the turbulence for around an hour..ug). Checking in was a long queue for nearly an hour, where a number of people where repacking their cases in the middle of the floor. Thankfully I can say I pack neatly compared to a number of people on that flight!
Thank-you to the person who mentioned the nose cone camera view available on the in-flight movie system. Apart from that entertaining viewing at night time, I occupied my time by watching Over the hedge, the Bee Movie, and Lost in Translation, and reading one of the manga novels purchased in Sydney. Top films available on Air China! Sleeping, well that was optional, as it always is on long flights. Food was good – decided to go the Chinese option for breakfast, which was a rice dish, with mince pork.
Challenges
We’ve received our first challenges!!!
This first one is REALLY easy – Helen was given some Yen to have a shopping spree in ITOYA. Last year we may have spent more than a few hours exploring this massive shop! If you were really lucky you received an ITOYA pen.
The second challenge builds on this theme. After hours and hours in a office supply shop one needs some recuperation. Of course we’ve been request to attend “Office” a fine bar on the fifth floor of a building in Gaienmae Tokyo. It is themed like a rather fine office.
If you find somewhere close to the spots we’re visiting, check out the itinerary page, that you would like us to check out then set us a challenge. Leave a comment on this post or leave a message on the guest book. We will endeavour to visit and of course take and post photos here.
Goodwill Guides
Today I’ve sent out a bunch of e-mails to voluntary goodwill guides in Japan. They are a great way to get a better idea about local cultural life. You can find out more here http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/guideservice.html
We’re hoping to have goodwill guides for Sendai and Kyoto. Last year we met a guide in Tokyo and were shown places we would have never otherwise seen. I’d also recommend Big Apple Greeters in New York…
We’ve looked around for goodwill guides in China. No luck yet.
Looking forward to high tech toilets.
One of the highlights of a vist to Japan are the toilets, they are heated and have all sorts of buttons that do all sorts of things. I was pleased to see the Economist acknlowedge this in their article Flush with Ambition.
I love this snippet from the article – “True, high-tech lavatories are energy hogs, accounting for 4% of household energy consumption in Japan—more than clothes dryers or dishwasher”
Perhaps you’ll get a TOTO at your next bathroom upgrade.
Twitter and all that.
You can keep up to date with our movements no matter what technology you use.
For all you oldies who love e-mail, you can subscribe to us by e-mail. Other people who have moved on to RSS readers can subscribe to our feed. The subscription links are the top right of this screen.
But if you are tweeting about your wheaties then you’ll be pleased to know that this blog is twitter enabled. Follow k_d_t and/or Helen_kw and you’ll be notified in real time.
Setting up the site.
I have been slowly setting up this site. I’ve added an Itinerary Page with links to all of our accommodation. I’ve also created a bit of a wish list for China and Japan. Here we will keep adding links to places we’d like to visit. Check out the list for Japan and China.
If you find some you’d like us to do then leave a note on our Guestbook (on the right hand side or the full page), all suggestions will be considered.
You can always check out our latest photos by clicking on the New Photos page. It shows the latest 25 photos from both Helen and I.
Itinerary and Travel Gods
Yes the Obon Festival finishes on 16 August 2009. This just happens to be the same day we wanted to get a train from Tokyo to Saporro… that’s just bad luck. Even though we had a good travel agent in Japan trying to get us a ticket when they were released for sale today. Special people, perhaps stockholders or JR staff, had snapped up all the berths before they went on sale!! Rude eh?
Anyway, we’ve got a flight arranged, but I am sure Helen is praying to the travel gods.
I’ve uploaded our itinerary you can see it on the Itinerary Page.
Japan Rail
Japan Rail offers very convenient and fast services throughout Japan. The JR Pass is also great value. Trying to book a JR Sleeper train on the other hand is quite difficult. You need to find a person or travel agent in Japan to book it for you. It can only be booked one month before hand, so it makes it somewhat difficult to plan an itinerary. For those who are inters ted JR East does offer Shinkansen and and some limited express bookings online.
We are trying to book the Cassiopeia, Japan’s dream journey from Ueno to Sapporo. So please cross your fingers and hope we can get our booking on 16 July 2009.
