Crazy Japan Trip - Part 1

The highly anticipated Japan trip has started! It took a few back and forths to figure out what which rail pass we wanted to buy. My friend in Japan has all variations of the rail pass and a group of people are going on a Hokkaido trip. Apparently this week is Golden Week in Japan where a few public holidays line up to form a nearly week long holiday. But my roommate wasn't so thrilled at the this whole city hoping business (and actually neither was I at first) so we ended up deciding to split up. I got the national Japan Rail Pass while my roommate and her boyfriend got only the Kansai Area Pass.

We still went to the HK airport together. I was trying to finish up some work and got back with just enough time to shower and eat something before we headed out. I packed a few days ago and managed to fit 6 days' worth of clothes and other essentials into a backpack. We checked in at Terminal 2 but actually flew out of a gate in Terminal 1. It was nice that they actually got a gate instead of one of those shuttle bus things. But maybe it's because the flight is late at night. We left at nearly 1am. As consistent with any other discount airlines, legroom was lacking and no food was served. They left the cabin lights on the whole time, which was unexpected for a red eye flight and didn't help with sleeping.

The obligatory photo

We got to the Kansai airport and got out at their Terminal 2. The structure of this terminal looked extremely temporary, with sheet piles as roofing. When we got out, it seems like Peach, the discount airline, was the only one using the terminal. I wonder if any other airlines will move into the space. This really goes to show that a discount airline does not necessarily mean the company has no money; they just want to make money off of being a discount airline. This is supposed to be the first discount airline in Japan. They have a lot of domestic routes so I guess they are trying to compete with the rail network too.

We took the shuttle bus to the real terminal (Terminal 1) and activated our rail passes. The best train to Kyoto gets into the city after 9am, which meant that it would be too late to meet up with my friend. We had planned to meet up at the station at 8am, before his 9am class. This also meant that I had to somehow contact him so that he wouldn't be waiting for me forever. The Japan Rail (JR) office that we were standing outside of advertised free WiFi. So I connected only to find that I needed to scan a QR code. But since I wanted to connect on my phone and the only device I had was my phone, this was a problem. It was a good thing that I was traveling with other people because I scanned off of my friend's phone. But the code wanted me to email something which was also a problem. I mean, if I can email, I really don't need to connect to their wireless network, right? Anyway, I realized at some point that we could just walk to the actual airport terminal to find free WiFi and we were successful. I ended up being able to get on the JR West WiFi network andade other plans to meet up with my friend right before leaving for Tokyo.

It wasn't until I was on the train to Kyoto that I realized I could have had a leisurely breakfast before rushing off on this 1.5 hr train ride that didn't seem to have a snack cart. So I was really hungry by the time I got to Kyoto station where I ate at a cafe inside the station. Then I still had 2 hrs before meeting up with my friend so I went to the Imperial Palace. It was the biggest thing on the tourist map but it turned out to be not very interesting. I got back to the train station and bought some rice balls and pastry for lunch. I waited around for people and they arrived in a panic about 20 minutes before the train left. So there was actually no need to panic. But anyway, at the platform, I realized that the rest of the group (with the exception of my friend) are undergrads from Stanford on a study abroad. Now it all makes sense why they wanted to do this all island trip. It's something that I definitely woke have wanted to do when I was an undergrad. Now I feel a bit old for this. Anyway, the group is pretty cool and people generally agree on things. I'm always wary of traveling in large groups since it's hard to make everyone happy. The group comprises of 8 people total, including me.

Tomagachi Store!

We got to Tokyo and wandered around the underground shopping area inside the station where there is lots of food and cute little shops. Two of the people in the group arrived late so we waited around in the station for them. We camped out at McDonald's for a while after we were all tired from walking. After we were finally together as a group, we went in search of our hotel. It was a good thing I printed out directions to the hotel because no one else had and trying to navigate using someone's phone is not so great, as we would find out on the next day. After we finally got there, I showered immediately and then we went in search of dinner. We found an Italian Japanese restaurant that had really cheap options. The food was decent. Some people wanted to do kareoke but places were closed and the neighborhood with all the night life is over an hour away by subway. So we toured the supermarket instead and went back to the hotel. I was really tired and went to sleep pretty much right away. Other people stayed up and made plans for the next day.

Really big vending machine

Day 2 was a whirlwind tour if Tokyo. We started the day with another round at the supermarket and ate in someone's room. I was surprised at how punctual everyone was. Anyway, after eating, we went to Tokyo Station and stuffed our bags into a locker and headed off to a department store that has a Kit Kat counter that sold special Kit Kat flavors. They sell different flavors everyday and apparently sells out pretty fast. You can get flavors that you don't get anywhere else. They're pretty pricey for what it is but weeks make really cool gifts. They have flavors like sakura green tea, cream cheese, chilly, and extra dark. I didn't get any because it's pretty hot out any I didn't think they could survive the trip. After that we headed to go find a sushi place that serves sushi from the famous fish market. We had decided the night before that we didn't want to get up that early up go see the auction. But we failed to find the restaurant but still had a pretty good sushi meal at another restaurant. It was a conveyor belt place but we orders off of the iPad menu because we were at the end of the conveyor. It was a good meal and I paid $15 USD for some really good stuff. Traveling with students definitely makes this a budget trip.

Sushi lunch!

We walked around the akihabari area after eating where it is supposed to be the center of anime and gaming. We really didn't know what we were supposed to see and waked into random arcades. We saw one where they have these capsules where you sit inside a pod with screens on 3 sides and team up with other people to fight virtually. They looked pretty cool. Some of the other shops had sketchy stuff though and we were generally unimpressed.

We headed back to the Tokyo station after this to get our stuff and to get ready for the long journey north. We had some confused moments after getting to the station of trying to find the lockers we left our bags in and the platform the train should be on. We made it to the right platform well in advance of our train and settled in for a 3hr ride to the tip of Honshu (the long island). Our overnight train journey started at the conclusion of this train ride.

We basically got to the station where our overnight train would depart 3 hours early. The reason that our trip is so well planned is that one member of the group is very into planning things ahead of time. This works well with being able to reserve seats and such but unfortunately for this important leg of our trip, the reserved seats were all booked out. So we basically had to fend for ourselves in the nonreservable seats. This is why we ended up at the platform 3 hours early. One member of our group basically planned the entire trip and is someone who gets really anxious about things. She ran ahead to the platform and put our stuff in line to wait for the train even though we were 3 hrs early and there was no one else around.

The train leaves from the town of Aomori but from the old station. Our shinkansen from Tokyo arrived at the new station where there where things were much nicer. Since it would be kind of dumb to go back, we gave up on the idea of finding showers and just went around the station for food. My friend and I went to a Yoshinoya after being unsuccessful at finding anything for more than an hour. Places seemed to all close as we walk up to them. So we finally ate at the Yoshinoya even though it's something that I can get everyday at work. It's much nicer though and we ate while talking about how old we are compared to these youngsters.

When we got back to the station, all members of the party had arrived and were joking around loudly about how we weren't going to let anyone else through, be they babies, elderly, or disable. They had separated the group into 2 so that we took up north doors of a train car. The plan was that we would coverage in the middle and take up 8 seats together. The plan worked, mostly because the other people waiting on the platform became scared of us and put a "no man's land" between us and the rest of the train. That space got filled up though. The ride was very loud and bumpy, not smooth like the shinkansen at all. I didn't get very good sleep and was awake for a lot of the ride.

The overnight train

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai has been a really great trip. We did, ate, and bought a lot more than I expected. I got flights for this trip about 6 months ago after my aunt, uncle, and cousin moved here. I wanted this to be a longer trip (more than 4 days) so I booked it for the Easter holiday. But then they moved to China in January so I asked around to see if anyone else wanted to go. One of my college friends, Diana, is working in India and wanted to come too. One of her friends from church was also in the area so she showed us around for a few days. This was awesome since she knows the city and can speak Thai.

I went to work Wednesday morning and left for the airport slightly before lunch. It is a pain going to the airport from work via MTR since I have to transfer so many times. The flight was slightly early. They served a large snack. One of the choices was dim sum! Wish I took a picture of it.

The Chiang Mai airport is pretty small. There are a couple of booths with taxi service and you just tell them where you want to go and they call a taxi for you. No harassment or haggling with taxi drivers.

We started at the Eco Resort which is a cheap resort with a mix of dorm rooms, shared bathrooms, and single rooms. We got a double with shared bathroom. There is a really nice pool right outside our room, which is where I found my friend and her friend when I got to the hotel. I swam with them for a little bit and then we ate some snacks (mango sticky rice and papaya salad) that they got earlier in the day. After this, we went to the night market where we tried the feet cleaning fish, looked at a ton of trinkets, had fruit juice, got a full body Thai massage, and ate more food.

The 2nd day we got off to a slow start. I got up, went swimming, had breakfast, and chilled by the pool. Then we went for noodles, another market, followed by more shopping, ice skating at a fancy mall, and ate some really good roadside food.

Friday, we went on a road trip to a nearby park with a waterfall. There were 5 of us and we drove 3 motorbikes to the park, stopping on the way to get food. We picnicked after we got there. The three other girls have been in Chiang Mai for a while and they said that when they first started coming to this place, there were maybe 2 or 3 other Thai families. Now they have people manning the gates and trails. There wasn't a lot of water at the waterfall and we climbed up and down the rocks. There were a lot of other people and even some tourists. We all got soaked. I didn't bring my phone so will upload pictures later when I get photos from my friend. After this we rested and then had a BBQ buffet for dinner followed my karaoke. The karaoke rooms all had different themes. We chose the Ant Room.

On Saturday, we went to do a cooking class. The class was even more in depth than the one I did in Guilin. We got to choose from different dishes. I made green curry paste, green curry with chicken, pad thai, papaya salad, tom yum soup, and banana in coconut milk. We made and ate the pad thai and papaya salad first. Afterwards we were extremely full. The class was a lot of fun and the food was great. We even got a small cookbook with the recipes after. These cooking classes are really fun.

After that, we walked around the old city and found three Saturday walking street, which is another market. We ended the day with a trip out to a mall with a Big C, which is like a Walmart. We missed an over/underpass on the way back and went really far before getting off the highway and going back again.

On Sunday, we went to a 3D art museum, which is like the Alive museum we went to in Seoul, except that it is a lot bigger. Then we tried to find the Sunday walking street, which is yet another market but found out that it starts later in the day. So my friend went back to the hotel while I walked around the city some more. We finally tried the little place near our hotel that does pad thai for dinner.

We didn't much Monday morning and I got to the airport early to see my friend off. Trying to catch up on blogging! Will do the Seoul ones soon.

In Chiang Mai

Seoul, Part 1

Back from my first trip to South Korea. Seoul is a very modern city. I'll start by writing about my flight. I left on a Wednesday afternoon on Ethiopian Airlines. I spent the whole time at the airport being conflicted about whether or not I should eat a meal at the airport. Every time I go, I want to eat at fried chicken at Popeye's. But I usually end up gawking at the prices and walk away. I ended up getting a drink and muffin at Starbucks because I was worried that there wouldn't be food on the plane. I noticed the large amount of Hong Kong and Korean people at the waiting area when I finally got to the terminal. There even seemed to be a tour group. And indeed, the flight wasn't very full when we got on. In fact, I don't even think the first class/business class area was ever occupied. Anyway, everything was normal and they even served a meal.

I got to Seoul at around 8pm and walked around the airport and got money, something to drink, and found my way to the subway station. They had two different trains, one of which is an express train. This express train was not part of the research I did on how to get to the airport so I didn't take it. There weren't a lot of people around on a weekday night so it took me a while to figure out if I was entering the right gate. The train from the airport was really fancy and had blinking lights that show you where you are along the line. I had to transfer to another line and this second one was much busier and definitely not as new as the airport line. By the time I got to the station where Yalu and friends where staying, it was around 10pm. I saw a Dunkin Donuts as I was getting out of the station and they had the cutest donuts! I got this bear one.

I got to the hotel and the hotel guy was just showing me where the huge bunch of MIT kids went for dinner when I saw Mike coming down the street. So I had a nice Korean BBQ dinner with them where they basically took up the entire restaurant. The restaurant stayed open late for them because their flight was late.

The next day, they went on tours and I went around Seoul on my own. I was pretty lazy and didn't managed to get up until 10am. This is happens every time I travel on my own. I had a nice breakfast at a cafe across the street that roasts their own coffee. You can basically expect free wifi at every cafe.

Then I took the subway near this big park where the N Seoul Tower is. There is a cable car where you can take it to the top of the hill where the tower is located. But the cable car is kind of big and it didn't seem like you would have very good views if you were crammed in with other people. There weren't a lot of people when I went but I chose to hike up instead. There are many very well kept trails within the park. Many of them have concrete and stone stairs. Trees and flowers are starting to bloom.

View of the city:

N Seoul Tower:

Art pieces using cans and other recyclable material:

On the way down I took a small trail and it took me forever to find the nearest subway station after getting out of the park.

I was pretty tired after walking around all day and got back to the hotel just as the MIT gang was leaving for dinner. I found dinner around the area and read a book for the rest of the night. 

More travel plans!

Updated my sidebar with my upcoming travel plans! I just booked a ticket to go to Taipei for a long weekend. Another friend will be in the area and it just so happens that it is a holiday weekend. It's more expensive to fly but at least I won't have to take any time off. Just realized earlier today that May 30th is the day of the HKIE Annual Seminar. I was all worried earlier about leaving the office too early. Guess if I'm leaving the conference a bit earlier, it won't be too bad. I think my supervisor is speaking at the conference though so hopefully I won't miss that.

Getting ready for vacation

Going to Seoul next week! Really excited to start my string of vacations. The really awesome thing about these upcoming vacations is that not only will I be going somewhere new, I'll get to meet up with friends! I'll get to explore Seoul with Yalu and Mike + other friends. Really looking forward to this trip. I really don't know much about Korea but there are so many Korean things here, cosmetics, food, snacks, electronics. I actually really want to walk around a Korean supermarket. I think it would be really fun. Anyway, now I'm looking for a Taiwan flight so that I can meet up with another friend who will be in Asia in June.

March is here

It got cold enough again to wear thicker jackets outside. I really prefer this weather to the hot summer. Hoping that summer can come later this year. I haven't really done very much running this year. I kind of stopped after that 10k in January. I feel like I got bluetooth earphones and haven't put them to use. 

Spent 3 (or 4?) hours skyping with Yalu yesterday and we planned out our Seoul trip. I think we did a pretty good job! I feel like I still need to do some work on that one day where I'm just hanging out by myself. But I'm always really lazy when I travel by myself so I'll probably just wake up late, walk around, eat, sip coffee at a cafe, repeat. No clue how I would communicate with anyone. Guess I would have to use my sign language and observation skills again. I get a bit nervous looking at Hangul characters. It's not like languages with romanization. They all look alike... Oh wells, can't really get lost in a city with so many subway stations.

Work is the same old business. New guy is still not being very productive. I feel like I finally forced something out of him today. At least I have an end product, sort of. 

I joined a board level committee that's part of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering after the Paris conference last September. The committee that I"m a part of focuses on young people and their involvement in the society. There are 3 representatives for each region. But I feel like we haven't really done much. We've had two Skype calls, elected people to be Vice Chair and Secretary, and signed up for task forces. But I really feel like none of the task forces have done anything. I'm chairing a task force to fix up the website. I've tried and failed to set up a meeting, encouraged people for suggestions, and have even set up a Google Sites website as a test page. I really think the Google Site is a good idea since people can write and change things without making a mess on the real website. But so far no one has done anything. These committees have a long term outlook since each term is at least 2 years. But unless you do something every week, there's going to be no progress. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I kind of wanted to be Vice Chair so that I could poke around to see how the other task forces are doing. But I really feel like they haven't done much. I signed up for 2 out of 4 task forces and both of those have had some emails fly back and forth due to my prompting. Need to figure out ways to motivate the motivators.

Found this really nice cafe that's literally across the street from where I live. There is a little sitting area that leads to a dead end street. I've peeked down this street several times but never gone down it because it didn't look interesting. Turns out, it's a mix of auto body shops and small restaurants. There is the cafe (been there twice already!), a western-Asian place, dim sum place, and a ramen shop. The dim sum place looks popular too. Might try that out next time.