Out of Japan, on to Singapore - 29 Nov - 03 Dec 2005

As I write, I'm sitting on the upper deck of a United Airlines 747 on my way back from Singapore.  The flight so far has gone from Singapore to Narita (Tokyo) then on to LAX.  Time starts to have no meaning after you've been sitting a plane for 18 hours or so.  I promised pictures from Singapore... so far I have not had any time to post any (obviously).  I have to admit that Singapore was a great city to visit and work in.  I spent more money than is allowed, but am bringing back some great tailored suits, lots of gifts, and a new cell phone that will work everywhere that I will be traveling.  If you are interested, look up the Nokia 6680.  It's a great phone that you can't buy in the US.  The US version, 6682 is a sad excuse for a phone that looks neat but won't work in Japan or about 1/2 of the rest of the world.

I guess I should get back to updating the team's progress... ala Amazing Race.  After splitting into two factions for Thanksgiving, the end of November found our teams reuniting in Yokosuka for the start of a whirl-wind three weeks of fun, adventure, pain, stress, and much hard work.  After a week of long days full of productive meetings, several nights searching for some real food in Japan, and more than my share of near accidents with Japanese on bikes, I headed to Tokyo.  A guest star on our show, Danielle, had arranged for some of the team to spend a night at the Navy's hotel in Tokyo, the New Sanno Hotel.  Compared to the New Yokosuka, the New Sanno is a four-star hotel!  As you may notice, the Japanese are very fond of adjectives.  They don't necessarily need to go with things, for example, an old hotel might get a face lift and be called the "New Yokosuka Hotel".  Anyway, the hotel is pretty close to Roppongi.  Best described by William Gibson as a part of Tokyo that was new 30 years ago.  It now has the warn gritty feel of over-used, acid-washed concrete mixed with loud bars and crowds of people milling from place to place.  As our small band of misfits (Danielle, Matt, Erin, and I) wandered the streets of Roppongi, we found a number of interesting bars and clubs with such unique names as "The Gaspanic Bar".  We were also harassed by many of the local bar owners who would constantly beg us to come in.  During our experience, one of our merry band (to be left unnamed) discovered the bizarre effects of a distilled beverage known as Absinth.  I personally had heard of Absinth while in Prague.  It has a long history of causing blindness and death in those that drink too much.  Although it smells like licorice (or anise) it apparently tastes like a mixture of battery acid, sugar, and the carbon dust that comes out of some diesel engines.  The effect takes a few minutes but gives the imbiber a feeling of euphoria and mellow happiness.  For the next few hours, for them, everything was "cool". 

I seem to have gotten out of the habit of keeping score while in Japan, so here's a new list:

• $6 bottles of water purchased in Roppongi: 4
• Number of times the absinth drinker said "cool": 42
• Japanese women with Jennifer Aniston haircuts: 17
• Strange Cuban men named Lazlo who accidentally showed us his butt: 1
• Pictures of above mentioned butt that Danielle took: 2
• Number of strange men on the street in Roppongi asking to "hug" Danielle: 2

The next day (actually later the same day... we got back to the hotel around 4:00a) Matt and I were headed to the airport where we met up with Neetu.  We all flew to Singapore where the adventure continued.  I think it took about three days to get the smell of Roppongi off my clothes.

 

The Singapore Team, as they will now be known, arrived into Changi Airport in Singapore at a few minutes before midnight.  After wandering around cluelessly for about 20 minutes, they found the exit.  Their task for the night was to find a cab and get to the Hilton as quickly as possible.  Upon securing what looked to be a very old Toyota Crown taxi cab, the crew loaded their luggage into the trunk.  As I may have mentioned, we don't travel light... fortunately, the driver had some bungee cords to secure the trunk lid.

 

More on Singapore in the next post....

 

 

Ahhh... the green glow of Absinth

Singapore - Week 2

Hey,

Just thought I'd drop a quick post for you. I've been in Singapore for about 10 days. The temperature is about 88 each day with 80% or more humidity. We had a tropical rain here a few days ago. I have lots of pictures to post and plenty of stories about the strange things I've seen here. I've been busy working, shopping, and eating, so have not had time to post. I'm sitting in the Terror Club after lunch, so had a few minutes.

See most of you at Christmas!

hello out west

I completely forgot about this blog. So how is everyone? How is the western side of the US?
Nothing much new here. School as usual takes up my life as does Master Chorale. This year as my second year in the group, they asked me to be section leader of the sopranos which means that I take notes at rehearsals and send emails to sopranos telling them what they need to fix. I also get to hear the reauditions and decide if people can stay in the group each year. It's a big responsibility. They also asked me to be in a smaller chamber group that is singing a Mozart Opera with the National Symphony Orchestra in February. Now we have wedding planning to add to the list but we are mostly done there. I just need to find a cake that doesn't have milk in it (!) and flowers. And deciding music is driving us bonkers...something that is so important to me is awfully hard to choose. We have a wedding webpage, and I'll send the link out as soon as it is finished. We need to put a few more pictures up.

We are going down to Sarasota for Christmas because Jeff stayed here for Thanksgiving. Next year we'll stay here for Christmas. Other than that, not much news. I hope that you all are doing well.


Meredith

Japan - Week 2 (Nov 19) - Escape from Japan

After about two weeks in Japan, our team has split into two factions... one group (Andrew and Erin) have chosen to stay in Japan while the remainder of the team heads for home to spend Thanksgiving with their families.

Neetu, Phil, Chip, Trey, and Steve left from Yokosuka around 10:00a on Saturday to catch the train to the airport. After an interesting pit stop in Zushi, we all boarded the train for the Airport. Having learned from our trip down, we took seats in the "Green Car". These are the more comfortable seats in a more quiet car. It costs about $9 more, but is definately worth it.

Roughly 2 hours later, we arrived at Terminal 2 of Narita Airport. Phil, Chip, and I were supposed to get off there, unfortunately, the doors closed so quickly that only Trey managed to get off the train. The rest of us rode up to Terminal 1. We all went to the United check-in to find out that Trey and Neetu were suppposed to check in there, while the rest of us were supposed to be in Terminal 2 checking in at the All Nippon Airways (ANA) ticket counter. So... the rest of us headed over to Terminal 2... on the way, we ran into Trey who had found his way by bus to Terminal 1. (Confused yet???) Once we reached Terminal 2, we discovered that it was the busiest of the two terminals and was definately the most crowded. In true Japanese fashion, the terminal was kept at a constant 95 degrees. By the time we finally got our tickets, we were all sweating like crazy. We eventually made it through the ticketing mess and got a bite to eat at a resturant called "Pause". It was about as exciting as eating a pile of stale syrofoam peanuts. After another exciting lunch, we made our way through security and took a short break in the ANA lounge. We boarded the plane at about 4:30p... the boarding reminded me of a cross between Friday night at the fights and herding cattle. Basically a woman would walk through the crowd with a large sign that read "Economy boarding soon" while we all stood there sweating. Then, all of the sudden, they started pushing us toward the gate and onto the plane... not exactly a friendly process in my opinion.

The flight was uneventful.. the service was good and the food was good. The seats were okay... if I had a choice, I would not fly ANA again though.

We all arrived in SFO around 8:30a (on Saturday). Trey caught his flight back to San Diego while Neetu discovered that her flight back to DC had been cancelled. She ended up having to stay in SFO until 2:00, catch a flight to Denver, then back to DC. Fun times!! Anyway, Chip and I flew back to Colorado and arrived around 2:30p. Basically 2 1/2 hours before we left...

It's good to be home... even if only for a short time. I'll be headed back to Japan in just over a week. So, count on more details of the fun.

Some of the important things we've learned while in Japan:

• Make sure to look both ways before crossing the street! The Japanese usually take a red light to mean speed up.


• Don't order anything off the menu unless you know exactly what it is


• Always, and I do mean always, check your underwear for staples after having them laundered at the hotel


• The Japanese really know how to make good mochas!!

Next Stop... Tokyo

North of Tokyo... River crossing

Japan - Week 1 (12 Nov) - Kamakura, Pt 2

Welcome back... after several weeks of delays, part 2 is finally being posted.

After traveling to by train to Kamakura and walking about 5 miles from the train station to Hasedera temple, the team walked down the street to the Great Buddha. This statue is the second largest Buddha in Japan and weighs in at 121 tons and is about 40 feet tall. The temple that enclosed the statue was destroyed by a giant tidal wave in the 15th century.

For 20 Yen (about 15 cents), you can go inside the statue. The inside basically looks like the inside of a huge statue... You can see the original welds used to hold the bronze sections together and the more recent repairs made to strengthen the statue's neck. The Japanese are very mindful of earthquakes in all of their construction.

The gardens behind the statue are neat to see. Our neighbor from Fort Irwin was actually in Kamakura the next day and was able to get a private tour of the gardens. Her father-in-law is friends with someone at the temple and was able to arrange a private tour. (I guess I need to hang around with them more!!)

Anyway, after our own personal tour of the temple grounds, we headed out from the temple. We stopped for lunch at a small Chinese restaurant where we had an interesting lunch. I played it safe with some noodles. Andrew was unfortunate enough to order some of the famous Japanese rubber. The menu said "shrimp balls"... what came out reminded me of a nerf ping pong ball fried in tempura batter. Andrew was unable to eat his pile of foam so helped everyone else with their sweet and sour chicken (the most popular dish in Japan for our team).

Anyway, after our delectable lunch, we walked up the street and stopped at some of the shops. We stopped and sampled some local ice cream. We weren't able to determine the flavors, so I sampled a couple... the "green" flavor tasted like smoked gym socks... so I went with the only obvious flavor (as did everyone else) chocolate.

We then made our way back to the train station where we caught the train back to Yokosuka. We were all pretty beat after a long day of walking. For most of us, Sunday would be a day of rest.

Until next time....

---

For more information, go to http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3100.html

The Great Buddha in Kamakura

The team in front of the Great Buddha

Japan - Week 1 (12 Nov) - Kamakura, Pt 1

On Saturday our band of merry travelers set out for Kamakura. We walked from our hotel up to the train station (with a pit stop at the local Tully's coffee shop... which is my favorite from Seattle).

After our extremely long day of travel, a short train ride was welcomed. It took about 15 minutes by train from Yokosuka to Kamakura. Once there, we exited the station and wandered around the shopping district. Eventually (and mostly by accident), we found the Hasedera Temple. This temple contains a statue of the eleven-headed Goddess Kannon. Legend has it that two statues were carved in 721 AD. One statue was enshrined in Hasedera while one was thrown into the sea with a prayer that it would reappear to save the people. Sixteen years later, the second statue drifed to Nagai beach off Miura sending out rays of light as it drifted ashore. The statue was then transported to Kamakura and enshrined. This is believed to be the beginning of the Hasadera temple.

We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the statue, but it was very impressive... it is about 30 feet tall and covered in gold.

You can get more details about the Hasedera at:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3101.html


Statues at Hasedera (Hase Kannon Temple)


Hasedera Temple


Trey trys to figure out where we are...

Japan - Week 1 (07 Nov - 10 Nov) - Planes, trains, and automobiles

This project reminds me of the TV show "The Amazing Race". Given that, I will attempt to emulate the style... on this week's show, our team set out for Yokosuka Japan. With team members traveling from Colorado, San Diego, Massachusetts, Virginia, and San Francisco, we all made our way to San Francisco Airport (SFO) and met in the international terminal. Our team members include Trey (a farm boy turned computer jockey), Andrew (a programmer from JMU turned professional beer taster), Phil (a communications expert who used to live in the subway tunnels of the bay area), Neetu (another JMU graduate trying to accumulate as many stamps in her passport in the next 6 months), Chip (a former Air Force pilot turned desk jockey), and Erin (a real rocket scientist who plans to eat all the sushi in Japan).

Once the team reached SFO, they made a mad dash for their plane (actually a leisurely walk, but that doesn't sound as exciting). The team spread out around the plane and made themselves comfortable for the 10 1/2 hour flight to Narita Airport in Japan. About 3 hours into their journey, they gathered for a team meeting... once they calmed down the rest of the passengers (it's frightening to have 7 consultants gathered in any one spot on an airplane flying at 36000 ft!!!)

We arrived into Tokyo's Narita airport at 5:00p local time. The first thing I noticed was that the jet way was by far the cleanest I'd ever seen... it looked brand new. The walk through the airport only continued to impress me with the extreme cleanliness. Every walkway was clean and there weren't any burned out light bulbs anywhere. Very impressive.

After spending over an hour waiting in line to get to immigration, we made our way to baggage and then through customs. We boarded the 7:00p train to Yokosuka... it made 33 stops between the airport and the end of the line where we got off. Once off the train, we wandered out of the station... we finally decided to take a cab. It was a very scary 5 minute cab ride to the hotel.

We all survived and finally made it to the hotel and got checked in by about 11:00p.

I quickly discovered that the rumors of tiny hotels in Japan were true...


The bedroom... dreamy isn't it!


Tiny bathroom - Bidet included at no extra charge

Japan - Week 1 (07 Nov-08 Nov) - Arrival

As many of you know, I am again on the road. I left for Japan on Monday 07 Nov. I arrived at 5:00p on the 8th. From the airport, it was a 2 hour and 45 minute train ride to Yokosuka. I am traveling with a group of 6 other people... none of us speak Japanese. We checked into our hotel and discovered how small the rooms really are. My guess is around 120 sq. ft. I will eventually take a picture, but it's tough to be in the room and get my camera out at the same time... :)

Anyway, the next day we started work at about 730a. We got a tour of the area and were shown the gym that we can use (it's extremely nice!!) The view from the top floor is below.

I'm planning on posting more to the blog over the next few days... I've had to get all of my software set up again so that I can post pictures. I have plenty to tell and share, so check back often!!

Take care!
Steve


Mount Fuji... as seen from the gym in Yokosuka, Japan

Hello out there...

I guess there's nothing going on in the world of Bolish. Russ bought a house... Laurie got a new job in Co Springs... They moved Loki to Colorado... hmmm... nothing much.

I think it's time someone posted something interesting!

The joys of landscaping

We have about a half acre of dirt and weeds. Last week we had about 22 tons of river rock, 15 yds of mulch, and 13 yards of soil delivered. Tomorrow I'll be getting a small Bobcat to move everything around. Hopefully I can also use it to start digging out for the retaining wall. Eventually I'll get some pictures posted of our messy yard.