Across the sea to Korea

Wednesday was a travel day. First, a taxi from the hotel to the subway station, then a train to Nippori to catch the airport Skyliner. We were surprised at the bustle at the airport since it was an early morning flight. It took us almost 90 minutes to find the JAL check-in counter, get through security and immigration and find our departure lounge. An unremarkable three hour flight, except for the Japanese box lunch, and we begin the process in reverse in Korea. After clearing immigration, we picked up our luggage, breezed through customs, and bought our bus tickets. It took almost ninety minutes to reach the Sofitel Hotel where we caught a cab for the final sprint to the Hyundai Residence. This place is so tucked away that the cab driver had to call for directions on how to get here and still had to pull a U-turn. Traffic is horrendous. Another place I won’t be driving.
After checking in and unpacking, we explored the neighbourhood. Found a very interesting local market (Jungba Market) just down the street. Lots of food for sale–it would be nice to know what. The early morning rise called for an early evening bedtime so we’ll start on Seoul tomorrow.
We met up with Melissa the next morning and she took us to walk a bit of the Cheonggyecheon Stream Trail. From there, we took a cab to Itaewon and found a bank ATM. We had lunch at a Thai place–The Buddha Belly–and, wouldn’t you know it, they accepted credit cards. Melissa had to go to work at 2:30 so we decide to walk a bit before heading back to our hotel. We walked up to the War Memorial, a very dramatic display with some interesting sculptures, and watched a squad of soldiers practice their routines–think cheerleaders with guns. There is a serious military presence in this country and they seem to be looking nervously to the north all the time. Who can blame them?
The subway ride back was easy but it took almost 15 minutes to walk out of the station. The system here is as impressive as Tokyo’s. Overall, the city has a different feel–it’s a little grimier and people seem to have a little less elegance. But, at the same time, people seem to be more open and to be enjoying their lives. They are definitely more Westernized. In our area, business is conducted on the sidewalk. No matter what business–office furniture, lighting fixtures, building supplies, etc.–it’s all out on the sidewalk so you have to skirt around the merchandise. Stores seem to group themselves by product. For example, there’ll be a couple of blocks of furniture stores, followed by a block of plumbing, followed by .... We even passed an auto body shop where the guy was repairing the bumper of a car on the sidewalk and another where a worker was doing welding repairs.
You also have to dodge motorcycles as you walk. In Tokyo, there were lots of pedal bikes but, here, the delivery guys ride their cycles on the sidewalk more than on the street. It’s a little disconcerting to be standing at the corner, waiting for a ‘Walk’ light and be surrounded by motorcycles waiting to use the same cross-walk. As a side note, we did get to try one of the diagonal cross-walks (without any cycles).
Rome and San Francisco may have hills but Seoul has mountains. Not just near the city but in the city. Friday morning we decided to do the Inwangsan Shamanist Hillside Walk. The guidebook had said that it was an uphill walk but neglected to say how steep the slope was. It was an interesting walk until we got to the “Zen rocks” and lost the trail. From there we scrambled up the mountainside and finally found another, different trail. We followed this one to the top of Inwang Mountain. That last 0.3 km was about the hardest climb I’ve ever done (or maybe I’m just too old for this). Thank God for the ropes to hang onto. The views from the top were great though the pictures aren’t (too much smog). It’s impossible to see all of Seoul because Inwang isn’t the only mountain around which the city has developed. We followed a different route on the way down and managed to reach the bottom without any serious health problems, other than jelly legs.
After lunch (and a rest break), we headed across the river to check out the Noryangjin Fish Market. What an incredible place. A huge structure with rows of tanks containing all manner of marine life. I saw the biggest shrimp I’ve ever seen (two would make a meal) and the biggest octopi. We watched one customer buying fish and the fish was still wriggling as it lay on the scale.
We took the subway back to Dandemon Stadium station which is just down the street from our hotel (the same station where we had met Melissa the day before and the same station from which we had set out for the fish market). Only Dandemon Stadium station is the nexus for three subway lines and there are about twelve exit gates. We knew we needed either 6 or 7 and we tried to follow the signs and maps as we wandered through the maze. The map seemed to indicate that exits 6 and 7 were just beyond exit 5 but, when we arrived at exit 5, we were faced with a flight of stairs up to the exit and a blank wall. Faced with the prospect of retracing our steps to try to discover where we’d gone wrong, we chose instead to use exit 5. Bad move.
Above ground, we were in an unfamiliar part of town and didn’t recognize and buildings or landmarks. We didn’t even know in which direction to start walking. What should have been a 10 minute walk from the train to our hotel took us almost an hour. We did finally stumble upon some familiar buildings (“I’ve seen that from our window”) and we survived. However, we have decided to get off at a smaller station the next time as there’s one on the other side of us about as close as Dandemon and it only has two exits. Live and learn.

A clash of cultures

As the sherif said in “Hud”, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” We really didn’t understand how the Japanese handle day-to-day transactions. We tend to travel on our plastic, using credit cards for most purchases, with US dollar travelers cheques for back-up and a minimum amount of local currency. If we run short, we have our bank cards to withdraw additional cash. That doesn’t fly well here in Tokyo. Credit cards seem to be a real rarity and most places want to be paid in yen. We went to the bank to use the ATM and were told it wouldn’t work because the card was not from a Japanese bank. We did manage to cash some TC’s at the bank and later found an ATM at a 7/11 that would accept our card. So at least we have enough money to finish up our few days in Japan.
We went to the Tsukiji fish market on Tuesday morning around 8 o’clock, well after the initial frenzy but still a very active scene. It was organized chaos with people and machines (especially the ‘Mighty cars’) going every which way. I wonder how many accidents/collisions there are in the run of a normal week or month or year. It was great to wander around, trying to keep out of the way of the workers scrambling to complete their tasks.
After about 90 minutes we left the market and walked up to Ginza Street. Early morning traffic was still very light and none of the stores were yet open so Doreen did not get to browse merchandise that we couldn’t afford. We made our way through the Ginza district and headed off to the Imperial Palace grounds. We hadn’t arranged an audience with the Emperor (wrong time of year) so we had to be content with taking pictures of the Nijubashi Bridge, the guarded entranceway and the grounds of the East Garden.
After lunch, we took the train to Shinjuku and went searching for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Foot traffic on the street has really picked up since this morning. The views from the observation deck were good but somewhat obscured by afternoon smog. Forget seeing all the way to Mount Fuji. We couldn’t even see Yokohama. Hey, the views of downtown Tokyo were great and it’s free. I’m really impressed by this city. It has a vibrancy I haven’t seen or felt elsewhere. Very different from Toronto or New York. Maybe it’s all the waving, colorful banners. I’m also blown away by their transit system with everything built in layers (up and down). At one point we went down three levels to reach our subway line and I don’t think we were at the bottom level then. Besides which, everything is so clean–the trains, the stations, even the streets.

Mount Fuji is awesome

And so is Tokyo. We spent our first day in Japan on a bus. We took the Sunrise Tour to Mount Fuji and the Hakone area with a side trip for a brief cruise on Lake Ashi. Since it was a Sunday, traffic conditions were light and the drive to Mount Fuji went quickly. As we drove, the weather improved considerably. By the time we sighted Mount Fuji, the sun was shining brightly from a gorgeous, virtually cloudless, blue sky. This isn’t winter as we knew it in southern Ontario.
But it was still winter on the mountain with lots of snow and the road remained closed beyond the first station. So, it was look but don’t touch and no time to climb. It wasn’t quite the same spiritual feel as Uluru in Australia but more pervasive than Mount Taranaki in New Zealand. Fuji certainly dominates the surrounding countryside. Since the day remained clear and bright, we got many different views as we drove over the mountains to Hakone. Every time the road curved, there was Mount Fuji. I’m sure the guide got tired saying, “On your left ...”, “On your right ...” and “You’re very lucky today”.
We stopped for lunch at a Chinese restaurant that didn’t look very Chinese to us or to our table companions, an English couple living and working in Shanghai. The meal was a typical Japanese lunch with a little bit of a lot of different things and surprisingly tasty and filling. Or maybe it was just a feeling of accomplishment at getting some food into our mouths with chopsticks. I have no idea what we ate but there have been no ill effects.
After lunch, we bussed off to Lake Ashi for a short (very short) cruise on the ferry boat with still more views of Mount Fuji. The lake was a busy place with lots of locals engaged in various aquatic activities. We were supposed to take a gondola ride from the lake to the hills above but they told us the lift was closed because of the fog. No one in the tour group could see the fog because of the blinding sunlight so they told us they were taking us to a better gondola ride. I don’t know about the one we missed but the one we took was worth it. We got a close-up look at some hot springs and still more gorgeous views of Mount Fuji. All-in-all the day was worth enduring the long bus ride back to Tokyo and the mini-traffic jam that was Sunday afternoon. So ended our one excursion.
Now we’re on our own to explore Tokyo. This morning we walked from the hotel to Shiba Park. We were quite impressed with the Zojoji Temple and its environs, especially since it wasn’t mentioned in our guide book. One thing that surprised us on the walk was how late things start moving in Tokyo. At nine o’clock the streets were still virtually empty. I think everybody is still in/on the transit system on the way to work. The transit system is amazing, by the way.
Our next venture was the Sumida River cruise from Hinode pier. Not a great trip because the boat isn’t really built for sight-seeing (poor sight lines) and the commentary mainly involved naming the bridges we passed under but it did get us to Asakusa. From there, we browsed through Nakamise Avenue and explored the Sensoji shrine. After lunch at Ueno Station and a stroll through Ueno Park, we took the train to Nippori so Doreen could do some shopping in ‘Fabric Town’. She found some fabric for herself and some that Stacy wanted so it was a successful outing.
The only thing is that walking on a treadmill does not prepare you for a full day of traipsing around a big city. Or maybe, we’re really getting old. At any rate, we’re beat. And we get to do this again tomorrow. I love it when things work out as planned.

We're in Asia

We’re in Asia

I started this blog when we visited Hawaii last fall and my initial entry was sarcastically entitled “Getting there is half the fun”. Who was it who said, “It’s deja vu all over again.”? (I know it wasn’t Yogi Berra.) This trip got off on the same left foot.
Again, the initial flight from Toronto to Los Angeles was fine but things started to go wrong as soon as we landed in LA. We wanted to break up our travel so we had booked an overnight stay at the Travel Lodge LAX South. We chose that hotel because it was close to the airport (only a five minute ride) and they provided a shuttle service (or so they said). Of course, since they didn’t answer their phone, we never did get the shuttle pick-up. Tack another $24 onto the room rate for a cab ride to the hotel. They did get us back to the airport the next morning but very early since their shuttle runs only every 1 ½ hours.
Checking through security at LAX brought another snag. Somewhere between Toronto’s security check and LA’s, my carry-on had picked up suspicious traces. So, once again, it was a full body pat-down and a thorough inspection of everything in my carry-on bag. Same no results. As I said to Doreen, it must be the peppermint knobs–all that sugar.
We’re flying American to Tokyo (not Air Canada) so we don’t anticipate any problems. Things go smoothly with the boarding but then the pilot announces that we’re just waiting for the maintenance crew to sign off on a few things so there will be a short delay. Twenty minutes later we’re good to go–for about 100 metres. Then it’s back to the gate. Seems the maintenance crew had been working on a fuel pump and the cockpit gauges were showing it wasn’t working. The captain was understandably reluctant to begin a trans-Pacific flight without being sure he could get gas to the jet engines.
We finally departed LA at 2 p.m. on Friday some two hours behind schedule so our eleven-hour flight suddenly became a thirteen-hour ordeal. Landing at Narita airport shortly after 5 o’clock on Saturday afternoon, we’re still a long ways from Tokyo. But all it takes is a train ride from Narita to Nippori Station, a subway ride from Nippori to Hamamatsucho Station and a taxi from there to the Shiba Park Hotel. Piece of cake even with the luggage and the Japanese signs–lots of helpful natives.
The hotel looks gorgeous but we’re too tired to really appreciate it yet. We finally climb into bed around 5 a.m. LA time. It’s been a long day but we’re here. Now, on to Mount Fuji.

Getting ready for the next adventure

We’re off on Thursday for our first visit to Asia. We have a few days of sightseeing in Tokyo and Seoul before we go south for some warmer weather and some snorkeling. This will be our first real experience where the language, culture and even the alphabet (or lack thereof) will be completely alien. We’re going with a great deal of trepidation, hoping not to get too frustrated and, above all, not to act like ‘the ugly, barbarian tourist’.
We’ve had some small exposure to this before, particularly while touring in Moorea and visiting Ile des Pins in New Caledonia. We struggled with our minimal grasp of the local language (high school French, anyone) but at least the alphabet was recognizable and signs and maps could be deciphered (albeit slowly). This will be a whole new world. Add to the equation the size of Tokyo and the pace of life in a big city and things get interesting. At least in Seoul, we’ll have some guidance from Melissa. Should be a very unique experience. Hopefully, we’ll survive it and emerge as better travelers.
When we head down to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines, we’ll be spending most of out time in tourist areas where the same problems should not present themselves. We’ll be passing through some large cities (Bangkok, Singapore, Manila) but not spending any significant amount of time in the urban environments. Plus it will be warmer. It’s always easier to deal with problems and frustrations when you’re not freezing.
It will be cold in Tokyo and Seoul but, hopefully, we will escape the snow that has dominated southern Ontario for the past few months. The media are really focused on the fact that we’re on the cusp of setting a new record for snowfall, breaking the old mark set back in 1939. (Mind you, the record of 207.4 cm pales when compared to St. John’s and its mark of 648.4 cm) But there’s still nowhere to put any more snow.

Belated reflections on an early Christmas

Now that we’re on the cusp of our next trip, it behooves me to finally write a little about our December trip to Atlanta and Virginia Beach. This is procrastination to the nth degree. I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought about doing this (both during the holiday season and after we returned home) but it just never got done.
We drove down to Atlanta to celebrate an early Christmas with our grandchildren (and son and daughter-in-law) before their family trip to Newfoundland. Stacy flew in for the weekend so we had all four of us together for the first Christmas in several years. Even without snow, it was wonderful. Of course, it was also much too brief but, such is life with adult offspring.
Since we weren’t going to Newfoundland this year, we had decided to spend Christmas and New Year’s with Doreen’s sister (and brother-in-law) in Virginia Beach. It’s usually a very simple day’s drive from Atlanta to Virginia Beach but that last Friday before the festive season had an inordinate amount of traffic. There were several slow-down areas and we were running late when we finally got off the Interstate in Virginia. Combine that with the short days of winter and we were driving at a bad time of day.
About an hour outside Virginia Beach, our luck ran out and we had a close encounter with one of Bambi’s (or Rudolph’s) relatives. We were luckier than the deer. Though the car sustained significant damage to the front end, it was driveable--the air bags didn’t even go off and the lights and engine were still working. After filling out the police report, we limped on into Virginia Beach. The car looked even worse the next morning sitting forlornly in Bonnie’s driveway.
Of course, it was a great time to go looking for a body shop with Christmas Day just around the corner. We also had to negotiate the international hurdles of an insurance company in Canada authorizing repairs in the United States. As it turned out, when I finally got into a repair facility on Boxing Day, they wouldn’t be able to do the work unless we stayed in Virginia Beach for an extra week or so. So they did the next best thing–taped the car together with clear duct tape so that we could drive back to Canada after the New Year. Sometimes it helps to be in NASCAR country.
We took our time on the trip back home, kept the speed under 100 k/h and overnighted in Pennsylvania. No problems. The guy at the border didn’t even blink at a car held together with duct tape. The same couldn’t be said for the guy at the repair facility in Burlington. He took one look at the car and declared it undriveable. He said he’d have to call the insurance company right away and couldn’t let me drive away in it. The drive from Virginia didn’t sway him at all so I left there in a rental.
Now we’re back to normal. We still have to find time to trade up to a new vehicle but that will wait until we get back from Asia. With the way winter has been dragging on here in Ontario, I’m ready for a break. Hard to believe that it’s less than two months since we were in snow-less country. I know time seems to fly as we get older but time must also creep slowly when the temperature is below freezing. Don’t even think about wind-chill.

Halloween in Atlanta

Our packing skills (or lack thereof) are getting a workout. We got back from Hawaii on Tuesday and Doreen took off on Friday morning for a weekend in cottage country with her quilt group. She was back on Sunday and we left Monday morning for the drive to Atlanta. We’re going to spend Halloween with the grandkids again. We really enjoyed the experience last year and it should be even better this time as they’re a year older and more aware of ‘trick-or-treat’.
It’s a leisurely two-day drive to Atlanta, mostly Interstates. This time the border crossing was a piece of cake, not even a ten-minute wait. We overnight at a little motel in Dobson, North Carolina where there’s a lovely eatery (the Surry Diner) that always seems to be crowded with locals. We’re off the road early and the next day is a short jaunt to Atlanta so we arrive early afternoon and avoid the rush-hour traffic.
Having grown up in Newfoundland, we remember Halloweens as a series of cold, wet (sometimes snowy) evenings–which didn’t deter from the fun. The joke about wearing your snowsuit under your costume isn’t completely wrong but we were young then and, as kids will, could focus on the important things–treats (or equally, the opportunity for pranks). Strolling around the neighbourhood in shorts and sandals as the kids rush door-to-door is easy to take. I’m also impressed at the efforts made by this community to ensure that the kids have a good experience. Many of the houses are elaborately decorated and large numbers of the adults join their young children on the streets, including many in costume.
This was just a short trip–four days on the road in transition and five days in Atlanta–but it was well worth it. Kids grow up so quickly so it’s always nice to spend some time with them to really appreciate their uniqueness. It’s great to be able to keep up through e-mails and web cams but nothing beats personal contacts.
The drive back was a reminder that winter is on the horizon. Lake-effect snow put in an appearance as we drove through upstate Pennsylvania and New York but we managed to stay on the highway and keep moving at a reasonable speed. Again, the border crossing was easy.
Now it’s a matter of catching up on all the mundane tasks that have been put on hold since mid-September. Where’s my Quicken file? Of course, there are lots of pictures to process through Photoshop Elements and lots of new toys to set up and play with. And, rumor has it that there’s some holiday time coming up next month. What’s on your Christmas wish list?