21-Jan & 22-Jan
Train ¥190, 380, 740
Breakfast ¥1365
Camera strap ¥500
Locker ¥300
Chicken kabob ¥100
Hasedera Admission ¥300
Postcards ¥300
Donations ¥22
Gift ¥1680
Admission ¥200
Dinner ¥1880
Coffee ¥210
Hotel ¥4450
Subtotal ¥29,432 (US$245)
23-Jan
Internet cafe ¥125
Sandwich & coffee ¥480
Train ¥800, 260
Breakfast & water ¥520
Gift ¥2000
Hanoke Freepass ¥3010
Lunch ¥1540
Hostel ¥2940
Laundry powder ¥50
Washer ¥100
Subtotal ¥41,257 (US$343)
24-Jan & 25-Jan
Drier ¥100
Breakfast ¥315
Hostel ¥2940
Ferry ¥760
Pineapple juice ¥350
Ferris Wheel ¥900
Burger ¥420
Water ¥120
Train ¥470, 300, 1060
Dinner ¥1740
Beers ¥1200
Locker ¥100
Drinks ¥1338
Concession to exchange USD ¥1000
Breakfast ¥750
Subtotal ¥65,120 (US$542)
Bus card HK$200
Room HK$150
Subtotal HK$350 (US$46)
26-Jan Today we got an early start - which we damn well should have, considering we slept for about thirteen hours regardless. Yesterday when we laid down in our tiny guest house room for a two-hour nap, we never woke up again. I guess missing the last train home, staying out all night and then taking a five-hour plane trip will do that to you.
On a whim, I checked for Internet access from random, unsecured wireless access points. Sure enough, there were about a dozen to choose from - which makes sense because we are staying in arguably one of the highest population-density ghettos in the world. I saw that I received an email reply from the Hong Kong Hostel about room availability. HK Hostel was actually in the next building over and quoted us a rate of HK$202 per night, which was HK$98 cheaper than Mr. Yung's guest house. And we've found great value in this trip of being around other backpackers, so that was the primary drive for us to pack up and switch houses.
When we arrived at HK Hostel - a grueling trip of going down one elevator, about twenty meters down the street to 47 Paterson St, and then up another elevator - we encountered the classic bait-and-switch. The desk rate was about HK$350 for a private room with two beds and a shared bathroom. When I showed the desk woman the email from the manager quoting HK$202 for the double private shared and HK$260 for the double private ensuite (private bathroom), I was all but ignored. I think she went to the bathroom, ate some food and maybe even read the newspaper while I was waiting at the desk to straighten this out. In the end, we settled on a rate of HK$250 per night, which Scott and I felt was the bottom line since we were entrusting these people to not only (a) give us a clean room, but also to (b) not steal our kidneys while we slept or (c) sell our backpacks on the black market while we were out being tourists.
I lost my lens cap in Hakone and needed a new one immediately. Luckily there was an authorized Nikon retailer on the corner of Paterson Street, so I stopped in there. He had the coveted Nikon 18-200 VR lens that is all-but-impossible to find in the USA. The lens has an MSRP of US$699 but sells for over US$1000 when you can find it. This shop was asking the equivalent of US$850, which was too much for my blood. I might pick it up if he will go below US$750. He also has the 70-300G lens for US$280, which is ridiculous because that is a discontinued lens that should go for about US$120. I ended up bargaining on a UV filter and cap for my 18-55G kit lens for US$30 cash.
We asked the cameraman for the best local dim sum place - a dish which Hong Kong is famous for. We ended up just down the street, back across from our hostel, at the Causeway Bay Fung Shing Restaurant (36 Paterson St G/F, 2F). The only people inside were middle-aged and elderly "Hong Kong people," as they call themselves, so we knew this place must be good! At the very least, it had better match the food quality of K&W Cafeteria in the USA since it matches the clientele. We ordered a dish with pork, another with shrimp and a third of classic spring rolls. All the dishes were excellent and we've passed along the name of this restaurant to other travelers in our hostel.
After breakfast, we decided to spend the day touring Lamma Island - an excellent choice. Lamma Island is a short, 30-minute ferry ride away from the piers at Central and a much slower pace. There was supposed to be good hiking and very nice open-air seafood restaurants. When we got off the ferry, I knew this was the Asia I was looking for. Life was more basic, I was being heckled by street vendors and the ocean was just a stone's throw away. Scott and I asked about rooms on the island and found out that they can be had for HK$150 per night or HK$300 per night with a balcony and ocean view. Being from the Washington, DC, area, I consider that a great deal for a beach front hotel room only a 30-minute ferry's ride away from downtown.
The walk across Lamma Island was pleasant and took about 90 minutes. It was paved the entire way and wound through the hillside, constantly in view of the ocean. Unfortunately, this meant it was also frequently in view of the huge LNG power plant which looked to have been recently built on the island - but these are the trade-offs of industrialization, I suppose.
At the end of the hike, we ended up in Sok Kwu Wan and had lunch at one of the dozen open-air seafood restaurants. My table was actually on the dock and the workers were unloading various creatures of the deep as we were eating. We had a set lunch, which was a multiple course meal including lobster with cheese sauce and scallops. We chose the cheapest restaurant with the best view - which may have been a mistake, since they charged us HK$10 for an extra bowl of sauce and clearly served less food than their competitors. On the way to the boat, another restaurateur dragged us in for an order of squid and a 500ml Tsing Tao for HK$55. The bowl of squid was quite plentiful here and definitely delicious - so much so that we sat a bit long and had to sprint to the ferry and had them lower the gangplank to let us on just before they left.
Room HK$125
Lens cap & filter HK$228
Dim sum for breakfast HK$45
Water HK$5
Ferry HK$16
Lunch HK$103
Squid HK$22
Food HK$75
Subtotal HK$619 (US$81)
27-Jan
Hotel HK$125
Jeans HK$350
Drinks HK$14.40
Lunch HK$45
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Karma Returns In Our Favor
18-Jan At the last minute, I decided to bring my laptop with me. This ended up being rather ironic, as Scott and I managed to convince each other to do exactly what neither of us did. Originally, he advocated bringing a laptop. I advocated shipping our computers to Australia so we wouldn't have to carry them through Asia on our backs. I also recommended bringing a sleeping bag in case we needed one.
As it turns out, Scott left his laptop at home and brought a sleeping bag while I brought my laptop and left my sleeping bag. I found my silk sleeping bag liner at the last minute and thought it was a better match for the weather in Asia at the time.
The upside to this is that I'll be able to download pictures off of my camera as needed and keep a blog of the trip. I'm not sure if this will be a positive thing for shocking the tech dependence out of me. We'll see.
Getting up and getting to the airport was no problem. Final weight on my backpack on the airport scale was 29.0 pounds - very reasonable, I think. The American Airlines rep at the counter was very interested in my passport - apparently it is one of the new ones and they're still kind of rare. Colorful and bizarre, just like the new dollar bills were a few years ago. He also gave security passes to our parents so they could come to the gate with us - something which the American call center rep said was just not possible as of last night. Just goes to show that anything is possible if you run into the right people.
Of course there was the obligatory crying by the Moms when it was time to board the plane. But hey - we were going to be gone for seven months, so it was completely expected. Once Scott and I rounded the corner of that boarding tunnel, though, it was a completely different emotion that washed over us: surprise. Neither of us could believe that the trip was really happening. Booking the tickets was one level of commitment, but boarding the plane was the Point of No Return.
We really lucked out on the flight to Tokyo - I guess I built up my karma points yesterday with the snowy truck drive to New Jersey - as our Boeing 777 had about 30 seats full and 140 seats empty when we checked in! With so few people on the plane, everyone got at least a couple of seats to themselves - sometimes a whole center aisle (5 seats) to lay down and sleep. The flight attendants were cheerful and helpful with the low work load and gave Scott and I double meals throughout the flight. We arrived about ten minutes late; baggage and Customs were painless. The money exchange in the airport was the lowest we've seen at Y118 to $1 (we've seen as high as Y125 to $1, not a big difference). There was a tourist information booth in the airport that went over hostel options for us and booked one - the Sakura Hostel in the Asakusa neighborhood - for us at Y2960/night/person.
We had a heck of a time being sure of the right train to take. The language barrier here in Tokyo is horrendous. Almost no one speaks (or admits to speaking) English. Those that do speak it poorly and are very upset when they cannot fully help us. We've had two people leave their family or workplace and walk us several minutes down the road to our destination because they couldn't describe it verbally.
We've spent just under $50 per day so far. We ran out of yen today, which was a problem because it was Sunday and around 6 PM by the time we realized what we had done. Exchanging money or finding an internationally networked ATM in Japan is even harder than communicating! We spent about four hours trying to get some currency; we went to the Akihabara neighborhood, where all the electronics stores are, and tried one of the world's largest camera stores, all the area banks, the only local hotel, two Japan Post Office locations (JPO is also a bank and one of the world's largest), individuals and many street merchants. Some other Westerners were trying to change money too but wondered why we were walking so far - when they found out we didn't even have the Y190 train fare home, they gave it to us! We happened upon a helpful young greeter for one of the electronics boutiques in Akihabara, Laox, who spoke about six languages fluently. She told us to go inside and buy the cheapest item (a box of cookies for Y100) with US dollars and we would get change in Yen. Both Scott and I were able to exchange about $40 at the bank rate by doing this twice. That situation really tired me out and was resolved through sheer luck, though Scott had a couple of potentially workable ideas we were about to try.
Our hostel is apparently as nice as they come and, while not the cheapest, cheaper than most. I am in the lounge right now on my laptop using the free wireless Internet. There's a kitchen, laundry room, copier, large plasma TV and about half a dozen computers in the lounge as well. The room is a dormitory room with eight beds crammed in rather tight, but it is like new and there is only one other person in our room. The bathrooms are sparkling clean, Western-style and have private toilets and showers. The only downside is the location, as the Tokyo subway stops running at 12:30 AM so you can't be in another part of the city past around 11:30 PM.
We have met a lot of people and they have all been great. Because of the language barrier, whenever we see a Westerner or hear someone speaking English, we will start up a conversation with them. Scott will talk to anyone, which is a great trait on a trip like this. Last night we met two Aussie guys, two Welsh girls and a Canadian guy. We ended up singing karaoke, which took some persuading for me to get into. Today we met a German and Austrian couple on the subway and got some good tips from them. Our French roommate is approachable as well.
We are getting up early in the morning (about two hours from now) to see the tuna and seafood auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market. After that, we're going to take an hour train ride down to Kamakura. We're going to spend the day there seeing all the temples and then spend the night at Odawara. In the morning, we're going to make our way to Hakone through a variety of connecting transportation options like a scenic railroad, cable tram and lake ferry. From Hakone, we will apparently get a good view of Fuji and have a variety of things to do in the park itself. We'll be back in Tokyo by the night after tomorrow.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson US$8.40
Drinks on plane US$15
Train ¥1060, ¥160, ¥260, ¥130
Bar ¥5400
Beer ¥300
Street tip US$1
Dessert ¥50
Food ¥500, ¥480
Museum ¥400
Hostel ¥5,880
Coke ¥100
Lunch ¥1350
Coke ¥120
Sake ¥300
Junk bought to exchange USD ¥205
Subtotal ¥16,695 & US$24.40 (US$164)
As it turns out, Scott left his laptop at home and brought a sleeping bag while I brought my laptop and left my sleeping bag. I found my silk sleeping bag liner at the last minute and thought it was a better match for the weather in Asia at the time.
The upside to this is that I'll be able to download pictures off of my camera as needed and keep a blog of the trip. I'm not sure if this will be a positive thing for shocking the tech dependence out of me. We'll see.
Getting up and getting to the airport was no problem. Final weight on my backpack on the airport scale was 29.0 pounds - very reasonable, I think. The American Airlines rep at the counter was very interested in my passport - apparently it is one of the new ones and they're still kind of rare. Colorful and bizarre, just like the new dollar bills were a few years ago. He also gave security passes to our parents so they could come to the gate with us - something which the American call center rep said was just not possible as of last night. Just goes to show that anything is possible if you run into the right people.
Of course there was the obligatory crying by the Moms when it was time to board the plane. But hey - we were going to be gone for seven months, so it was completely expected. Once Scott and I rounded the corner of that boarding tunnel, though, it was a completely different emotion that washed over us: surprise. Neither of us could believe that the trip was really happening. Booking the tickets was one level of commitment, but boarding the plane was the Point of No Return.
We really lucked out on the flight to Tokyo - I guess I built up my karma points yesterday with the snowy truck drive to New Jersey - as our Boeing 777 had about 30 seats full and 140 seats empty when we checked in! With so few people on the plane, everyone got at least a couple of seats to themselves - sometimes a whole center aisle (5 seats) to lay down and sleep. The flight attendants were cheerful and helpful with the low work load and gave Scott and I double meals throughout the flight. We arrived about ten minutes late; baggage and Customs were painless. The money exchange in the airport was the lowest we've seen at Y118 to $1 (we've seen as high as Y125 to $1, not a big difference). There was a tourist information booth in the airport that went over hostel options for us and booked one - the Sakura Hostel in the Asakusa neighborhood - for us at Y2960/night/person.
We had a heck of a time being sure of the right train to take. The language barrier here in Tokyo is horrendous. Almost no one speaks (or admits to speaking) English. Those that do speak it poorly and are very upset when they cannot fully help us. We've had two people leave their family or workplace and walk us several minutes down the road to our destination because they couldn't describe it verbally.
We've spent just under $50 per day so far. We ran out of yen today, which was a problem because it was Sunday and around 6 PM by the time we realized what we had done. Exchanging money or finding an internationally networked ATM in Japan is even harder than communicating! We spent about four hours trying to get some currency; we went to the Akihabara neighborhood, where all the electronics stores are, and tried one of the world's largest camera stores, all the area banks, the only local hotel, two Japan Post Office locations (JPO is also a bank and one of the world's largest), individuals and many street merchants. Some other Westerners were trying to change money too but wondered why we were walking so far - when they found out we didn't even have the Y190 train fare home, they gave it to us! We happened upon a helpful young greeter for one of the electronics boutiques in Akihabara, Laox, who spoke about six languages fluently. She told us to go inside and buy the cheapest item (a box of cookies for Y100) with US dollars and we would get change in Yen. Both Scott and I were able to exchange about $40 at the bank rate by doing this twice. That situation really tired me out and was resolved through sheer luck, though Scott had a couple of potentially workable ideas we were about to try.
Our hostel is apparently as nice as they come and, while not the cheapest, cheaper than most. I am in the lounge right now on my laptop using the free wireless Internet. There's a kitchen, laundry room, copier, large plasma TV and about half a dozen computers in the lounge as well. The room is a dormitory room with eight beds crammed in rather tight, but it is like new and there is only one other person in our room. The bathrooms are sparkling clean, Western-style and have private toilets and showers. The only downside is the location, as the Tokyo subway stops running at 12:30 AM so you can't be in another part of the city past around 11:30 PM.
We have met a lot of people and they have all been great. Because of the language barrier, whenever we see a Westerner or hear someone speaking English, we will start up a conversation with them. Scott will talk to anyone, which is a great trait on a trip like this. Last night we met two Aussie guys, two Welsh girls and a Canadian guy. We ended up singing karaoke, which took some persuading for me to get into. Today we met a German and Austrian couple on the subway and got some good tips from them. Our French roommate is approachable as well.
We are getting up early in the morning (about two hours from now) to see the tuna and seafood auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market. After that, we're going to take an hour train ride down to Kamakura. We're going to spend the day there seeing all the temples and then spend the night at Odawara. In the morning, we're going to make our way to Hakone through a variety of connecting transportation options like a scenic railroad, cable tram and lake ferry. From Hakone, we will apparently get a good view of Fuji and have a variety of things to do in the park itself. We'll be back in Tokyo by the night after tomorrow.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson US$8.40
Drinks on plane US$15
Train ¥1060, ¥160, ¥260, ¥130
Bar ¥5400
Beer ¥300
Street tip US$1
Dessert ¥50
Food ¥500, ¥480
Museum ¥400
Hostel ¥5,880
Coke ¥100
Lunch ¥1350
Coke ¥120
Sake ¥300
Junk bought to exchange USD ¥205
Subtotal ¥16,695 & US$24.40 (US$164)
Friday, January 26, 2007
Forboding Signs
17-Jan We drove up to New York City today to prepare for the flight tomorrow. We're flying out of JFK Airport in Queens, New York City, to Narita Airport near Tokyo, Japan. Our flight leaves at 11:30 AM tomorrow - a wholly reasonable time until you consider the two-hour pre-departure check-in requirement and the fact that I live in Maryland.
I booked Scott and I's flights out of JFK Airport in Queens, NYC, to save money - but when you add up the travel costs to get there and spend the night before the flight, it was definitely a wash.
The saving grace of going out of NYC was that I ended up selling my motorcycle right before the trip. I had listed the bike for sale on Craigslist a couple times with minimal interest. I'm not sure what I changed the last time I listed it, but I got about seven offers within a week from a posting in the Washington, DC-area Craigslist section. I ended up finding a buyer who paid my asking price two days before I was set to leave. He happened to be in New Jersey and offered $200 extra to deliver the bike to him on the way up. So, of course, this seemed like no problem at all to me and I agreed.
Then it started to snow on the drive to Jersey. It hasn't snowed all year - in fact, it has been one of the mildest winters I can remember in the mid-Atlantic region. But while I'm driving to New York, motorcycle and backpack in the bed of our two-wheel-drive pickup truck, it starts to snow. Great. Is this a sign of things to come? Alas, I can drive in the snow fine - the real question is how am I going to take this bike off of the truck and get it into the buyer's truck if everything is slick with snow? It was enough of an adventure getting it into our truck last night with a dry ramp!
We got to New Jersey around 3:30 PM after leaving Maryland at 11:30 AM. The buyer for the bike happened to be an exceptionally normal guy (for someone who uses Craigslist, in my experience) and the deal went smoothly. His friend rode the bike home in the snow - which is about the mentality I'd expect from a Craigslister - so loading it into a pickup bed in the falling snow was not a problem. We got to the Doubletree Hotel JFK around 7:00 PM and were all exhausted. I ate my last burger from the States - for $15 from the hotel restaurant - repacked my bag a final time like any proper first-time backpacker and finally made it to bed around 1:30 AM.
Airfare $2,850
Tolls to NYC $40
Gas to NYC $40
Costs to Date US$2,930
I booked Scott and I's flights out of JFK Airport in Queens, NYC, to save money - but when you add up the travel costs to get there and spend the night before the flight, it was definitely a wash.
The saving grace of going out of NYC was that I ended up selling my motorcycle right before the trip. I had listed the bike for sale on Craigslist a couple times with minimal interest. I'm not sure what I changed the last time I listed it, but I got about seven offers within a week from a posting in the Washington, DC-area Craigslist section. I ended up finding a buyer who paid my asking price two days before I was set to leave. He happened to be in New Jersey and offered $200 extra to deliver the bike to him on the way up. So, of course, this seemed like no problem at all to me and I agreed.
Then it started to snow on the drive to Jersey. It hasn't snowed all year - in fact, it has been one of the mildest winters I can remember in the mid-Atlantic region. But while I'm driving to New York, motorcycle and backpack in the bed of our two-wheel-drive pickup truck, it starts to snow. Great. Is this a sign of things to come? Alas, I can drive in the snow fine - the real question is how am I going to take this bike off of the truck and get it into the buyer's truck if everything is slick with snow? It was enough of an adventure getting it into our truck last night with a dry ramp!
We got to New Jersey around 3:30 PM after leaving Maryland at 11:30 AM. The buyer for the bike happened to be an exceptionally normal guy (for someone who uses Craigslist, in my experience) and the deal went smoothly. His friend rode the bike home in the snow - which is about the mentality I'd expect from a Craigslister - so loading it into a pickup bed in the falling snow was not a problem. We got to the Doubletree Hotel JFK around 7:00 PM and were all exhausted. I ate my last burger from the States - for $15 from the hotel restaurant - repacked my bag a final time like any proper first-time backpacker and finally made it to bed around 1:30 AM.
Airfare $2,850
Tolls to NYC $40
Gas to NYC $40
Costs to Date US$2,930
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