Japan: Temple to GT-R Ratio Seems Off
Posted December 31, 2008 – 2:52 am in: Japan, Travel
So far this is my third trip to Japan for 2008 and it’s the first one I’ve spent this year doing tourist things.
We’re in Kyoto for a week to checkout the sites as we always missed it since we were here in Kyoto in 2004 for the first time.
Checked out the temples of Rouanji, Kinkakuji and Tennrouji. Checked out the fish mongers down at Nishikiichiba, went shopping at the giant covered mall and topped it off with another night in Gion eating. We missed out the biggest most obvious temple here (Higashi-honganji) as we’d seen it quite a lot previously.
I recommend all these stops as well as a thourough investigation of the Kyoto Station building itself. It’s a truly massive thing which needs at least half a day to explore the restaurants and levels.
I also recommend being as cheap ass as you can and catching the city buses and subways and using their 1-day and 2-day multipasses to save money.
Subway + City bus full day passes for unlimited rides are just 1,200 yen and you can get damn far on them.
My camera’s been busy but I’ve not fully gone through all our photos yet. Tina has a new Nikon D60 and is figuring it out with good results but it means 2x the photos to sort through.
Back to Tokyo tomorrow for New Years Eve! Happy new year!!
Souvenirs From Nismo Festival: A How To…
Posted December 21, 2008 – 1:29 am in: Japan, Travel
This is the most logical way to bring your souvenirs back from Nismo Festival guys. That’s right, buy one giant souvenir and pack all your smaller ones inside it. The thing wrapped in cardboard and brown paper you see before you is a forged aluminium 18×12″ wheel off a Japanese SuperGT GT500 car. Inside is a huge amount of room so I packed it with all my t-shirts, model cars, catalogues, stickers, etc etc.
Highly recommended!
Tokyo for Nismo Festival: Eating First
Posted December 10, 2008 – 1:51 pm in: Beer, Food, Japan, Travel
Too bad I can’t live in Japan. I’d probably eat myself silly at this restaurant. I’m not sure on the pronunciation of the name of the place but its called 英鮨 and the particular one I go to is the second Shibuya store 渋谷第二道玄坂店. The fish is fresh from Tskiji every day and the chefs are good and friendly.
Menu is way over my head to read so I ask what I want or resort to pointing if I don’t know. Sometimes we ask for everything on the specials board if we’re feeling adventurous.
This time I had a few various different fish. Tuna, Salmon, some fish they get locally in Tokyo Bay. Also had the grilled fin dish and some tamago sashimi as usual. All top quality washed down with some Sapporo on tap.
Highly recommend this place if you can find it, it’s tucked away behind Mark City and down a side street.
Link: 英鮨 @ 渋谷第二道玄坂店
NOT Taiwan Beer
Posted September 5, 2008 – 8:59 pm in: Beer, Taiwan
I got a problem with this drink however… I don’t really think you should be messing with tea in this way but I’m yet to crack this open and find out. I picked this up off the shelf at 7/11 (which is massive in Taiwan btw) and purchased it like it was nothing out of the ordinary. WTF. Trip report due later when I’m drunk enough to try it out.
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Posted September 5, 2008 – 7:54 pm in: Taiwan
The beer here’s good. Taiwan beer is cheap and has a clean crisp taste which makes it easily drinkable. I have a small problem with how it’s served in many of the more ‘local’ establishments. Since fridge space is at a premium when your kitchen is on the roadside the beer is not kept refrigerated and is instead served with ice. It’s something you get used to.
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Posted September 5, 2008 – 6:42 pm in: Taiwan
Always wanted to have a travel blog to post up the little things I find when traveling around. This is my third time to Taiwan the homeland of my fiance Tina and we’re back here again for some serious wedding preparations and pre-wedding occasions.
This time I’m here by myself for the first 2 days while Tina is away in Hong Kong for work. So I’m trying to get out and do something while she’s not here.
I don’t speak too much Mandarin/Hokkien so we’ll see how successful that is.
Taiwan is a great place to visit and one a lot of people never really consider unless you know someone there already. I recommend it for a few reasons. Firstly the people are friendly as and many will make a good effort to speak English for you.
Secondly, the food is amazing. Take all the best parts of Chinese and Japanese food and add Taiwans own unique flavours and you have some of the best food world wide.
Third, the country is beautiful, driving through the central mountain range I’m reminded of New Zealand’s southern island but with the upside of being warmer more of the time.
One more thing to note on this list is that it’s a bargain traveller’s goldmine. You can get by on a relatively small amount of cash here as long as you are prepared to eat outside your fancy hotel and point and nod at foods you like a lot. Taipei, the capital city, is the most expensive place to be but heading south on the new HSR bullet train to Taichung will see prices fall overall for basic foods etc.
If you’re into photography Taiwan is a great place to shop, Taipei has a district entirely devoted to cameras and their accessories, both film and digital.
Anyway i’ll save some more of this rant for later. Til then check out this nice video of shots of Taiwan that I didn’t take.
1 Comment | Tags: Taiwan, Travel