Whirlwind Weeks

I know I haven't posted in ages - I think I have to go on another business trip to recover from the hectic couple of weeks we've had:-)

After I returned from Hamamatsu, before even going home, I met Brian and a couple of folks at a local izakaya for a few too many beers. We got home late, slept, then got up to trek to Shizuoka for o-hanami (cherry blossom viewing) party. Then out for Mexican food. Then home and I finally had a chance to unpack...

Well, the rest of the week, both at work and out of work, played out kind of the same, and so, while I had plenty of activity in my life, I had very little time to sit back and savour it.

Toward the end of last week, I managed to go for two short but invigorating bike rides on my custom single speed, and this past weekend we both enjoyed some down time and some long runs in preparation for our race at the end of May.

Anyway - we got pics to prove we were busy:-)

Saturday in Shimada

We went to a drinking party near Shimada on Friday night (I'll post photos soon - I'm working backward in time), then spent the night at our favourite hotel in Shimada. A new co-worker joined us, and together we enjoyed Saturday running along the Oigawa where there's a great path, and then taking a walk over the famous Horaibashi (longest pedestrian wooden bridge, measuring 897 metres).

Goofing Around with my D90 on a Gorillapod, with remote control:

Turkey Photos

Well, two months late, but finally put up a web album at the Japan Rider site - you can find the album here - http://www.japanrider.com/galleries/Turkey_Gallery/ .

I have to admit that we were procrastinating - an unhealthy and unproductive habit that creeps up on us occasionally. In our defense, I say that we had to sort through more than a thousand photos, throwing away the poor ones and keeping the ones we liked. We then selected the Creme de la Creme for posting - but of course we had to then make minor (or significant) adjustments in Photoshop Elements (5.0).

Please let me know if the album page loads too slowly - I'm still trying to find the right (best) style of photo album.

Tame Tuesday

The heat and humidity that we usually expect for summer has finally arrived. Yesterday (Tuesday), we didn't have any big plans for the day and our legs and other muscles were still achy from the Fuji climb, so we turned on the fans, opened some windows and doors, and did some house cleaning! Not exciting, but a good way to recover from our hike.

In the afternoon, we went with a couple of friends up to our favourite beer hall for an early dinner followed by a beer in the garden. It was pleasant, as usual, but I think I really shouldn't eat that much in one day, let alone one meal!


After getting home, the summer sky was remarkably free of its usual haze, and we were able to clearly see the rest stations dotting the trails up Mt. Fuji.



Very cool to see our various stops right from our doorstep!

Today we're heading out to Shizunami Beach, which is not too far from here, but far enough that we've made reservations at a little minshuku there. We're both looking forward to lying on the beach, reading books and relaxing.

富士山のご来光 －Goraiko: Watching the Sunrise from the Top of Japan

Yesterday, Brian and I spent some quality time with our cars in the morning, then headed to the hills for some R&R in the P.M. We had tentatively planned to summit Mt. Fuji that Sunday night with some friends (first timers!) whose plan it was to ascend.

By 1:30 p.m., as we savoured some quietude in the mountains of Susono, we'd pretty much figured that there was no way we'd be able to follow through on the Fuji plan. Turns out, we could!

We hurried home, threw a few necessities in our backpacks (headlamps, many warm layers of clothing, water and snacks), and met our friends at Susono station for the 4:03 p.m. train. The plan was to ascend via the Fujinomiya route, and descend via the Gotemba route.

Routes to the summit. We went up Fujinomiya and came down Gotemba. Click image for a larger view.



Getting to Fujinomiya City's Shin-Go-Gome* by public transport was a royal pain in the ass. We're used to driving in general, and we occasionally drive to the Shin-Go-Gome just to take pictures, etc... so spending 3 hours just to get there was dispiriting. So why, then, didn't we drive? Because we wanted to climb and descend by different routes, and it would not have done us a lot of good to have our car parked at one trail head, just to come down from another.

We began our climb from the new fifth station at 8:40 p.m. We climbed in good spirits, taking our time and chatting with the many other climbers on their way to the summit.

Less than half way up the mountain, my mostly-new (old but unworn) hiking boots balked at the climb and one (ironically the right one) decided to lose its sole in the process...some ingenuity on Brian's part and preparedness on a companion's part resulted in a quick fix that got me to the top and bottom of Mt. Fuji!


At about 2:45 a.m., we stopped at the Ninth Station, where we had some instant ramen (cup noodle) for a rather reasonable 600 yen, and a can of Kirin Lager Beer for a very unreasonable 800 yen. However - it was warming and much enjoyed!

Brian at the 9th station - the last before the summit - with a cold beer and cold snow/frost falling.



Mid to late August is the peak season for climbing Mt. Fuji, and as we got nearer the summit we found we were following a slow-moving line to the top, and for a moment or two, I feared we'd miss the actual sunrise from the summit - ご来光 -, but we made it!!




Me, with limp-linguine hair, at the summit:


We were so lucky - not only did we get clear skies, stars, meteors, topped by a great sunrise - we also got magical views on the descent.

Brian and friend going down the mountain, but still well above the cloud line:




I have to say, that though this is my second time climbing and Brian's third, this was our best. The weather was fantastic, and as an extra bonus on the way up, not only did we get to see bright, shining stars, but we were also treated to a meteor shower. How fabulous is that?? A meteor shower from the slopes of the tallest mountain in Japan...The only thing is, we climbed overnight, all night long, and descended for most of the morning. None of us had had any sleep - we'd chosen not to stay at one of the mountain accommodations, and though we could have slept comfortably under the stars, we'd not really left time for that; so, we got home this afternoon dusty, sweaty, hungry and exhausted. After a couple of hot showers, a 2-hour nap, and pizza and wine for dinner we're about ready to call it a day:-)

*Shin-Go-Gome= the New Fifth Station. On Mt. Fuji, there are "way stations", which sell food, have bathrooms, and sometimes offer accommodation.

O-Bon Summer Holiday

This morning marks the beginning of our O-Bon ( お盆) holiday.

O-Bon is a Buddhist "holiday" period when families gather and invite the spirits of their ancestors into their homes by hanging lanterns outside their doors. At the end of the holiday they set floating lanterns into a river to lead the spirits back to the other world.

How many families continue this tradition I'm not sure, but these days O-Bon is a time for the living relatives to get together and spend some time catching up, or just relaxing, or, of course, travelling and going to resorts and other hot spots. The dates of O-Bon celebrations vary in different parts of Japan, with Tokyo (and therefore many other places) being in August. Hence, August is the most crowded and expensive time to travel either domestically or internationally.

Like many other places, our company is closed for the week and we are on holiday. Though it seems like we only just returned from a vacation we are already sorely in need of some R&R! We usually go camping or travelling around Japan during O-Bon, but this year we're sticking close to home; we'll go for a few long bike rides, probably do a day of hiking or so, and we were lucky enough to get some last minute reservations at a quaint minshuku (simple Japanese inn) at Shizunami Beach later this week. Just what the doctor ordered!

Two Turkey pics

We did spend a little time working on our photos. But just a little...

Though we still have a long way to go to put together a web album, here are two photos that we quite liked:

Back from Turkey

Whew! We made it back from Turkey with no troubles or travails. We got into Tokyo yesterday at about noon, and were home by about 4:30 p.m.

We had a really fantastic time in Turkey - two full days (three nights) in Istanbul, followed by eight days sailing along the Mediterranean coast.

Though we had just a short time in Istanbul, we packed our few days with plenty of activity. We were staying at the Side Hotel in the Sultanhamet area which meant we could walk to many of the sights. We spent a lot of time at the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia, which were also within sight of our hotel. Topkapi Palace was also just around the corner, so we spent about two hours there (really, you need more time there to fully appreciate its gandeur) before catching a day tour to take a trip along the Bosphorous river. We also made sure to visit the Grand Bazaar - a fascinating mini-city of shops and vendors hawking their wares. We spent a lot of time walking around in the Bazaar, but I still think we just barely scratched the surface!

Our time in the city was followed by a week of blissful cruising, where we explored a few port cities (Marmaris, Fethiye, Gocek...), swam and snorkeled in the sea, and spent some time catching up with family. I made a rough sketch of our sea journey here, in this Google Map.

We haven't had any time yet to really sort out our photos, but for now, here are just two shots from Istanbul:

Taken outside one of the little restaurants near our hotel - everything just has such a European flavour!



The Hagia Sophia - one of the most famous churches-come-mosques. Taken pre-dawn from the roof of the Side Hotel:

We're Going to Turkey

It’s Monday again, but a week has never seemed so short. That’s probably because we’re going on vacation for 12 days starting tomorrow.

We’re flying out of Narita tomorrow at about noon for a 12-hour flight to Istanbul, where we’ll spend a couple of days before heading down to Marmaris on the Aegean coast. The impetus for the trip comes from the prospect of a visit with Brian’s dad and Eileen, who are now in Turkey. We’re both really looking forward to a little exotic travel, tasty dishes and getting caught up with everyone’s news.

I've used Open Office Draw to put together a little flowchart of our travel itinerary. If anyone is interested in seeing our "path", just check out our schedule (in pdf format) here: http://www.japanrider.com/Turkey_Travel_Schedule.pdf

We’ll post from Turkey if we can, but otherwise, look for us on July 22^nd!

We're Home

Well, we're back from our lovely, long trip to Thailand. We spent our first week on Ko Lanta, in Krabi province in the south of Thailand. We spent our days lazing on the beach and motorbiking around the small island on our rental motorcycles. We experimented with different beaches, ate in different towns, did a lot of good reading, and even enjoyed an elephant ride in the "jungle" (um...more of a tree-lined path...).

Our main motivation for our trip to Thailand, actually, was to get comprehensive check-ups at the renowned Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok. We were both overdue for a real check-up (overdue by several years, in fact). We made our appointments about a month ago and were scheduled for Tuesday, March 27 in the morning; we were then to pick up our reports on Wednesday morning. So - we left the beach to fly back to Bangkok the Sunday before our appointments.

Our adventures in Bangkok began before we even left Krabi - a superstitious person might suspect that missing our flight back to Bangkok was the first of "bad things" to come. Our ferry was later than expected, and we were cutting it pretty close to begin with, so by the time we arrived at Krabi airport, it was too late to board the plane. We did manage to catch a Thai Airways flight, though, so that worked out o.k. Bangkok was on the whole great - but there we found out that somebody had been shopping on Brian's credit card (though he still had it in his wallet!), and we got totally (aggressively) pick-pocketed while exploring the Patpong area of downtown. Bad things come in threes - and that was our third. Phew - let's all breathe a sigh of relief!

As for our health checks, all is well. Although I have a few minor things to follow-up on, we are both in good health and both had a very good experience with the Bumrungrad Hospital, its doctors and staff.

Of course, much more info, reviews and photos to come!

Counting Down...

We will be leaving here in about 3 hours to head to the airport (which is so far away it's unbelievable!). Our last weather update said that it was 39 Celsius in Bangkok - I hope that weather holds at least until we get there!

We're not bringing a laptop and will not have easy internet access during our trip - however, we will blog when can and check email whenever possible, too!

We'll be back home on March 31st, hopefully with photos and tales to tell:-)

Going to Thailand

I'm happy to hear that not everyone thinks we've been dull:-)However, we have been photoless bloggers(much to my mother's disappointment!) - but hopefully that will all change this coming weekend when we find ourselves (and our cameras) in the beautiful country of Thailand. We're flying to Bangkok on Friday evening and from there we're catching a little plane to Krabi, down near the Andaman coast. We plan to spend some time on the beach, and some time hiking around the small island of Koh Lanta before heading back for a few days in Bangkok, savoring the sights and sounds of the city.

But until then...