DamnKorean

Impressions
I had forgotten how peaceful and relaxing it is at the Meji Shrine.  The temple feels like a “real” temple.   It was pretty empty there when we went so that probably added to the feeling there.   Unlike the Senso-Ji Temple in Asakusa, the Meji Shrine area feels a lot less commercial.

The nicer weather convinced us to visit Harajiku again.  Well more because it’s right next to the Meji Shrine.  I’ve never seen so many combination of fashionable outfits.  Every single person there was expressing their own fashion statement, although some made me question their tastes.  One thing I didn’t notice last time was people coloring their faces in the name of fashion.  My favorite outfit was a combination of a french maid and Little Bo Peep outfit.

Itinerary
Train to Kawagoe Ichibangai but was canceled cbecause of train problem due to hurricane
Train to Ikebukuro
Pasta and pizza lunch at Ikebukuro
Food market at Seibu Department Store
Train to Meji Shrine
Walkthrough Harajuku
Train to Ginza
Walk through Sony Building, Mitsukoshi, Matsuya, Matsuzakaya
Train to Ikebukuro
Walk to Tokyu Hands
Walk to Sunshrine City and Namja Town
Train to E-Hotel Higashi Shinjuku

Impressions
The Ghibli Museum is amazing.  The museum takes a lot of the scenes from several Ghibli films and recreates them to give you a nice “maze” of tunnels, stairs and bridges.  Another big plus about the museum is that you get to see one of the Miyazaki short films exclusive to the Ghibli Museum. We saw Monmon the Water Spider, and it was brilliant and “kawaii” (cute).

Itinerary
Breakfast (Café)
Train to Mitaka
Bus to Ghibli Museum and Cafe
Bus to Mitaka
Train to Suwayama Kichijoji
Lunch at Satou Steak Shop
Train to E-Hotel Higashi Shinjuku
Train to Meji Shrine but closed
Walk through Harajiku
walk to Shibuya
Dinner at Sushi Nomidori at Shibuya
Train to Roppongi Hills
Train to E-Hotel Higashi Shinjuku

Impressions
We went to the Tsujiki Fish Market, something I did not do in my previous visits to Tokyo.  That was an incredible experience.   I’ve never seen so many people selling and buying fish.  They even had an auction for tuna.

Afterward, we went to Sushidai for lunch.  It’s a popular place according to the guide book, and the line to get in is suppose to be extremely long.   Luckily for us, the line not terribly bad because of the rain.  Was it worth the 30 minute wait?  In a word, YES.  I normally don’t like uni (sea urchin) and giant clam, but it tasted so good and fresh there.  Very different from the good sushi places i’ve eaten in NYC.  My giant clam was still alive and moving when the chef served it to me.   I never thought i would like giant clams this much.

Itinerary
Train to Tsukiji Fish Market
Walk to Sushidai for sushi
Walk through Tsujiki Outer Market
Train to Asakusa
Walk through Nakamise-dori Asakusa to Senso-Ji Temple
Tempura lunch at Asakusa
Train to Ueno Station
walk through Uenokoen Park to Tokyo National Museum
Walk to Ueno Area
Train to Akihabara Electronics Town
Walk through area and check out electronics and anime stuff
Train to Tsukishima for Kobe Beef but was Closed
Train to Daiba Aqua Mall and Ramen dinner
Walk over to Odaiba Little Hong Kong (Food Theme Park) & Ichiban shopping street
Train to E-Hotel Higashi Shinjuku

Impressions
We landed in Tokyo today.  Unfortunately, we landed while there is a hurricane nearby so it rained a lot.  At least the great food semi makes up for it.   We went to a local restaurant for breakfast where you by tickets from a vending machine before getting the food.  I didn’t know what to expect from the food, but it was delicious.   We also had a wonderful crab dinner with crab prepared in several different ways.  The hardest part of our trip will be having enough stomach space to eat all the different foods here.

Itinerary
Land in Haneda Airport
Trains to Shinjuku Station
Walk to E-Hotel Higashi Shinjuku and drop of bags
Breakfast at Ticket machine meal set
Walk to Shinjuku station
Train to Chiyoda
Walk to Imperial Palace
Walk to Hibiya Park
Walk to Tokyo Station
Snacks at Red Bean Place
Walk through Ichiban Cartoon Street
Walk through market in Daimaru Dept Store
Train to E-Hotel Higashi Shinjuku and check in
Dinner at Shibuya Crab Meal Shinjuku
Walk through Kabukicho Red Light District
Crepes Snack
See Games and Pachinko
Walk to E-Hotel Higashi Shinjuku

Impressions
I had forgotten the one thing I liked about Hong Kong:  all the good food here.  We spent the whole day walking around Hong Kong eating and snacking on different types of food.  I still like the fish balls in curry sauce on a stick the best here but everything tastes so good.

Itinerary
Breakfast at Mei Sun & McDonald
Shopping
Swing by Hong Thai for tour group info
Get guide books for Tokyo & Taiwan
Shopping
Try fish balls, satay, soup & drinks
Lunch at Fairwood
Shopping
Street food dinner
Bus to HK Chek Lap Kok airport

Impressions
We landed in Hong Kong today to start our vacation.  Kathy and I went to her old hometown in Tsuen Wan.  As we walked through the area, I realized that a lot of Hong Kong really does look the same.  Even though we’re at the New Territories location, I keep thinking this place looks like TST.

Itinerary
Land in HK Chek Lap Kok airport
Bus to Tusen Wan
Rest and late night snack
Walk back to Tsuen King

The NY subway systems are horrible. I know that people say we have the oldest subway system and its hard to maintain, but that still doesn’t justify how bad it is. I’m used to routes being changed on weekeneds and stuff like that, but it should not take over 40 minutes to go 5 stops when it normally takes less than 10 minutes.

NYC should take an example from Asia. Their systems are much for efficient and cleaner. Its definitely less frustrating than the NY system.

How come people can’t plan things out? It seems like people always wait until the last minute to do anything at work. People, you have a whole day at work. Do your stuff early and let people leave on time instead of procrastinating and causing people to stay late after work. Arrgggh. Ok I’m done ranting.

I went to North Fork Wine Trails in Long Island yesterday with my girlfriend. We went to a couple of wineries to sample what they had.

At one of the inexpensive wineries, I overheard this fellow talking. He siad that $35 for a bottle of wine is too expensive. Now there is nothing wrong with that if he doesn’t like wine, but the guy was talking like he was some wine expert. He was trying to sound all sophisticate while sipping his inexpensive wine and talking about how amazing the wine is.

This amused me quite a bit. I’m no wine expert, but I was able to taste the difference between the expensive wines and the inexpensive wines (without looking at the prices, in case your thinking prices affected my perception of the wine). So either this guy has really bad tastes, he’s the and cheapest wanna be I’ve ever seen, or more likely both.

People act so funny when they try to be something they’re not.

I now some people are frugal, but today I saw something that just makes me go “wow.”

I went to the NYC Japan day fair and then walked around the “regular” street fairs. One of the booths was for kettle corn, and they were giving out free samples for all of their varieties of kettle corn. Most New Yorkers take a handful to taste, and most don’t buy. It’s free so why not try some right? Nothing wrong with that.

Well this one old lady comes there with a shopping bag, takes a sample container and starts pouring as much as she can into her shopping bag. Seriously, how cheep do are you to do that? If you like it, buy it. I could not believe that this old lady was that cheap. Of couse the vendor saw her do this and stopped her, but not before she got a decent amount of kettle corn in her bag.

I would just be plain embarrassed if I was caught doing that but I guess some pople have no shame.