Monday, November 28, 2005

Rising Sun [Nagoya and Shiga 21/11 - 26/11]

Day 1

The cold winter air of Nagoya greeted us as we stepped out of the airport. It is a cold Monday morning of 6 degrees Celsius. We have just arrived at the new Nagoya airport built entirely on reclaimed land by the sea.


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Our Japanese colleague cheerfully welcomed us to Japan. The journey to Komaki was uneventful; agricultural plots line the landscape with industrial buildings dotting the side of the high way occasionally. My nihongo sensei mentioned that there is nothing much in Nagoya and that is quite true indeed. The toll charges for the 1 hour journey came up to 3000 Yen in all; exorbitant by international standards. Upon arriving in Komaki, we got down to business right away.

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The sun started to recede from the sky line as early as 4pm (Japanese time). A few snapshots were taken against the backdrop of the Shinkansen line.

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We arrived at Shiga 2 hours later into the bitter cold of the evening at 6pm. It is totally dark by then. Our second treat to Japanese fare for the day in the dormitory. A standard Japanese meal 3 times a day consists of rice, tofu, miso soup and fish. Though there are occasions where we can opt for curry rice instead of the plain Japanese rice.


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The dorm room is small but serves its purpose of providing a night’s rest. There were little distractions from television (which has nothing on it and all the channels except one is in Japanese) and there is also no internet. Upon opening my fridge, viola!! A beer can is presented to the current occupant of the room. I’m not entirely keen on emptying its content, so it is left in the same place as it is for the next 4 days.

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Day 2

Here we are back in the morning cold with Japanese fare for breakfast.

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The journey to work takes around 10 minutes in all. A high school is situated next to our dorm; and thus schools of adolescent tend to travel in the direction opposite to where we are going every morning. It is observed that most of the students actually cycle to school. There will be a teacher dressed in business suit keeping a lookout for traffic and greeting every student at the entrance to the school.


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I have noticed a Torii gate at the entrance to the workplace and decided to take a quick snap of it. The Japanese culture is steeped in its unique Shinto-Buddhism conglomerate. I guess behind the Torii gate is their Shinto shrine, similar to the one I have seen in the Komaki office.

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Day 3

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Japan with a sizable population enjoying their holiday away from work. Though there are always people who return back to office on this day. We are one group of them who have to be back in office.

As the main canteen is closed in our workplace, we have to journey out for our lunch. We stopped by a Raimein house which dispenses food coupons from a vending machine. Most of the transactions in Japan go by the vending machine. The same is true for the smart card used in our company’s canteen.

We had the opportunity to do some light shopping in the evening at the nearest departmental store which is 30 minutes by car away. Japanese electronics are expensive as compared to Singapore electronics. But the undisputed king of bargains is in Taiwan. The Japanese have their 100 Yen shop where everything in it cost a 100 Yen. It is an ideal place for the purchase of snacks, cup noodles and other miscellaneous stuff.

Fruits are not part of the main Japanese diets as they are expensive. Almost all of their fruits are imported, with bananas coming in from the Philippines. I bought a bundle of bananas and a bag of oranges and it comes up to 700 Yen.

Day 4
We left the office extremely late in the evening, way past the designated timing for the dormitory dinner. Our fellow Japanese colleague decided to bring us to a local Okunomiyagi house. It is a small cozy, pleasant food house by the road which serves Teppanyaki and other Japanese food.

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A few glasses of cold beer helped smooth our weary bodies and warmth the heart. Thereafter the food feast begins. First come a mix of Japanese vegetables and seafood followed by the main highlight of the day – Okunomiyaki [Japanese Pizza]. The one above is Okunomiyaki prepared Hiroshima style, which is largely noodles dipped in bbq sauce. The meal rounded off with Fried noodles, Japanese style.



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Day 5

Today is officially our last active day in Japan with the next day flying off from Komaki airport. Some photos from Shiga:


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The samurai above is placed in the middle of an enchanting Japanese garden. There is also this unique structure which we are not sure what it is when we travel between our workplace. Some more pictures from the garden, it is actually coming to the close of autumn now and the leaves are dropping:

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This is how a typical Japanese office looks like below where there are minimal barriers between the fellow workers. It helps build a strong communal spirit amongst all of them:

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We traveled back to the Komaki office for dinner with our fellow Japanese colleagues. It is another food feast for the night. We were treated to a vast cuisine of Japanese delicacy with one of them being raw Tako (octopus) and raw fish. There is also the deep sea fish which they mentioned, and so on…

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Thereafter we were brought to the nearest Eki (station) where we make our final journey in Japan to our accommodations. Our journey on the Densha cost 1210 Yen per person from Inuyama to Nagoya Airport:

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We checked into the airport hotel where a warm room with high speed Internet access greeted us at last:

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One other noteworthy observation is that Japanese toilet seats are always warm. No matter how cold the surroundings are, the seat will always remain warm, courtesy of Japanese ingenuity. They also have a remarkable system where toilet users need not use toilet paper at all and a machine takes care of all that like the one below.


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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Welcome to Vincent's Travel Journal

Dear all,

Welcome to Vincent's Travel Journal. This blog will document all my travel experiences starting from today and if time permits, will share with all the travel experiences I have in the previous years from my hand-written journal.

From this blog, you all will know that one of my main interests is in travelling. Exploring other cultures, religions and languages; appreciating the wide diversity the world has to offer. So join me in the adventure ahead!

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Taipei Overview [Taipei 26/06 - 30/07]

I went to Taipei 6 times during the 2 months period when I was based in Taiwan. They are as follows:

1) 26th June 2005 - Taipei Recce
2) 2nd July 2005 - Visit Taipei again + Dan Shui with Kent
3) 17th July 2005 - It is typhoon day and I visited Taipei 101 with Jachong and Lam
4) 23rd July 2005 - Visited Dan Shui for sunset with Lam, Howard and Albert
5) 24th July 2005 - Visit Yang Ming mountain with Lam, Albert and his girlfriend
6) 30th July 2005 - Visit Taipei and be a tour guide for my brother and Serene



Here is the view in front of the train station.


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Just a short walk away is a street with lots of bookshops. I spent quite a bit of time here searching for some books.

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The main government office of Taipei.

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The famous Long San temple in Taipei.

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Here is Jachong and Lam in front of the temple during typhoon day.

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And me browsing through some books in the temple.

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We at the top of Taipei 101.

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There are two main memorial halls in Taipei, one for Chiang Kai-shek and the other for Sun Zhong San. The one below is Sun Zhong san memorial hall.

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This is the famous gateway to the Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall.

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The national theatres falk both side of the memorial hall.

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The main memorial hall.

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Mr Chiang Kai-shek below.

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Here I am against the backdrop of Taipei city and 101.

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The visit to Yang Ming mountain.

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There are many sulplur pools in the mountain.

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The mountain grassland of Yang Ming. Many people are just basking in the afternoon sun.

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The market street leading to Dan Shui.

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They call this mountain Guan Yin mountain.

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The bridge connecting Dan Shui.

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Beautiful sunset at Dan shui.

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The famous Shi Lin night market.

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Visiting Taipei can never be complete without trying out their famous smelly Dofu.

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The night life of Shimenting.

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On my way back from Taoyuan one day, we stumble upon this Taiwan singer.

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Sunday, June 12, 2005

Taoyuan Friendship [Taoyuan 12/06 - 03/08]

桃园结义

Part 1 – Around the Hotel

The trip to Taiwan is the first such overseas posting I have with my company. As all flights to Taipei CKS international airport is fully booked (by virtue of the June holiday season), we have to transit twice at Bangkok international airport and Hong Kong international airport. The whole journey took 10 hours in all, 4 hours more than the normal flight time.

Our company contracted taxi service picked us up from the airport and drove us to the hotel at Taoyuan (桃园). One of the first observations along the way is that it is left-drive in this country, thus overtaking comes in from the left. With the traffic smooth running, the whole journey is 30 minutes long. We checked in to
Chuto Hotel (住都大饭店) which is a 5-star hotel fully equipped with spa, gym and swimming pool. The room and bed looks large and spacious.

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The hotel offers a wide variety of breakfast servings, ranging from western, traditional Chinese to Japanese.

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Here is a sneak peak into the daily buffet breakfast we will have. My breakfast normally consists of large portions which explain the 3-kg weight gain over 1 month. It is especially noticeable when I went back a month later for my convocation photo shot.

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Every morning, we took the hotel chartered service to Long Tan (龙潭) town which is 30 minutes away.

Below is a view of the street right in front of our hotel. The busiest part of the street is 5 minutes away from our hotel. It is considered quite a distance away as there is no pedestrian walkway and walking along the road requires lots of ducking and dodging. Crossing roads in Taiwan requires lots of guts and agility. It is who dares win!!


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Part 2 – Visit to Taoyuan City central

I spent the first weekend in Taiwan visiting Taoyuan City central. It is just a 10 minutes taxi ride from the hotel, costing 100 Yuan (S$5). The central is considered quite huge, so we will normally indicate the shopping mall right smack in the middle of all the action, called Tong Lin Bai Huo (统领百货).


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Overall the weekends, there are frequent stage shows all over the city centre. Below is just one of it in front of Tong Lin Bao Huo. They invited a mandarin pop artiste for some performance. Not really sure who he is as I’m not into mandopop.

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Scooter riding is quite a norm in Taiwan with almost every Taiwanese owning a scooter or a car. The younger generation who can’t afford a car will definitely have a scooter which helps in their mobility.

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Here is another stage show in front of another large shopping mall just next to Taoyuan train station.

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While shopping around, came upon this fascinating cold-hot pack. Do you all know what it is?

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Part 3 – Visit to Taoyuan City temple

The next regular visit to Taoyuan central came during my second trip to Taiwan. As I was assigned to night shift duties, I normally have lots of time to stroll around the central towards the late afternoon. Here is a scene from the busy shopping street branching off the central.


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We stumbled upon a popular meal stall just 5 minutes walk from Taoyuan central with its large signboard depicting “Zhou Shifu”. We savour its fishballs and noodles; quite a palatable meal.

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Next we journeyed down the street and came upon Taoyuan city temple. It is located right in the middle of the road where the branch roads have to detour around it. I heard from the locals that the people have a strong respect for their local deity and it is considered to be taboo to remove a place of worship from the land. Thus the roads can go around but not the temple.

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Within the temple is a gold-plated dragon. It is protected with a circular barricade, preventing visitors and worshippers from coming into contact with it.

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The taxis in Taiwan are quite advanced. With TV on the move, convertible enabled features, high end cars, just to name a few. The drivers have the option of selecting and modifying their own cars and still be able to registered as a taxi driver, provided they paint their exterior yellow.

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