Musings

There’s no pleasing Ling sometimes. When I showed her my draft itinerary for a possible Japan trip in December to the Kansai region, she gave the sort of look that said it all “But I want to go to Hokkaido, darling… :(”

Problem is that given the timeframe of the trip – in December – the sort of spectacular sights in snowy winter is different than in say September. And unfortunately, after our skiing snafu in South Korea during our Honeymoon in 2006 – I tripped too many times and upon return back home suffered through an excruciating period of back pain – won’t really be participating in snow-centric activities. OK, so there’re still sights like dancing cranes at Tsurumidai or Ryuhyo Drift Ice Cruises so it won’t be a total loss – but still…

In any case, a colleague of mine at work was showing me his Blurb book on his Hokkaido trip, and he remarked that the SGD10K he spent on the trip was worth every cent. So, it’s back to the drawing board: created a new tab on the spreadsheet to see if I could work out another 10 day itinerary for a December-Hokkaido trip, and still keep it under budget!

Or just for kicks – I’ll also cook up an equivalent itinerary for Egypt. Just for fun.:)

One of the most useful sites that I look at is Wikitravel, the Wikipedia equivalent for travelers. The information there is peer-contributed and edited, and it serves as a useful amalgamation or as a start point to get key pointers before you branch into country-specific sites for more details.

Just for fun: I took a look also at what’s generally regarded as some of the world’s most dangerous cities, and to see what Wikitravel has to advise for travelers to those places. Not that I intend to go there, ever, of course – but it’s still humorous to read what they have to say, and they certainly don’t mince words. All quotations from Wikitravel.:)

Somalia

“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the easiest method for staying safe in Somalia is not to go in the first place, as it is a dangerous country. Kidnappings and warlordism are all common in this country.”

Chechnya

“As of 2007, independent analysts said were no more than 2,000 separatist combatants still fighting. By traveling to Chechnya you are taking a serious risk. Kidnappings and unexploded mines and munitions are widespread, while terrorist activity and shootings still occur on a lesser scale. Throughout the region, local criminal gangs routinely kidnap foreigners, including Americans, Canadians, and UK nationals, for ransom.”

Just for comparison’s sake, even nearby Jakarta gets a warning. I certainly don’t regard the country as nearly as dangerous as the first two, and this is what Wikitravel says.

Jakarta

“The high-profile terrorist bomb blasts at the JW Marriott in 2003, the Australian Embassy in 2004 and the JW Marriott (again) & Ritz-Carlton in 2009 mean that security in Jakarta tends to be heavy, with car trunk checks, metal detectors and bag searches at most major buildings. Statistically, though, you’re far more likely to be killed in the traffic.”

—

How about Singapore? Wikitravel says:

“Singapore is one of the safest major cities in the world by virtually any measure. Most people, including single female travellers, will not face any problems walking along the streets alone at night. But as the local police say, “low crime does not mean no crime” — beware of pickpockets in crowded areas and don’t forget your common sense entirely.”

So far so good – though the next bit perhaps explains exactly how that reputation is reached:

“Singapore’s squeaky cleanliness is achieved in part by strict rules against activities that are tolerated in other countries. For example, jay-walking, spitting, littering, and drinking and eating on public transport are prohibited (even forgetting to flush the toilet will subject you to a great fine). Locals joke about Singapore being a fine city because heavy fines are levied if one is caught committing an offence.”

All too true, though I can’t remember when was the last time someone got fined for not flushing a toilet.:)

Continued from the previous post.:)

Planning for vacations is also a lot easier than ever before too. There are web sites that assist in every imaginable aspect of traveling – including searching for lowest airfares, checking of customs and Visa requirements, getting the best rates for Hotels and accommodations, figuring out the local transportation networks, and deciding on the best places to visit at each location. And there’re even travel advisory portals that put all those aspects together on the same web site.

Funnily, while the best web site-based information is possibly more current since it’d be peer-edited and generated and often freely available, nothing still beats the feel of picking up a printed travel guide of the place you want to visit, and getting all that information in a handy volume. There’re a couple of well-known travel guide publishers out there, each with their fans and critics. There’s the Insight Guides, Lonely Planet, Frommer’s, and The Rough Guides. My favorite remains the DK Eyewitness Guides though, and largely for their amazing illustrations and cutaway maps and diagrams for all the touristy spots.

These guides don’t come cheap, and they usually retail for between SGD36 to SGD50, though with the right membership discounts, the prices become nearer to what you’d pay for through online retailers like Amazon.

Either way, I just placed another order with Amazon UK for three travel books of the places I’m/we’re likely going to visit in the next few years: one DK Eyewitness Guide for New England and another for Japan, and an Insight Guide for Taiwan. The latter two guides are for the leisure vacations for Ling and myself, while the first guide is for the possible Boston trip – to which this time I’m determined to use as much of my free time during the nine weekends to see the entire state.:)

Singaporeans are a pretty lucky lot when it comes to opportunities for vacation traveling. We’ve got a major aviation hub, and like a fellow Singaporean staff from another Polytechnic remarked when I was in Kumamoto – if an airplane landing at Changi airport overshoots the runway, it’d immediately have left Singapore and arrived in another country! There’s also the relatively strong Singapore dollar compared to currencies of other South-East Asian countries that makes travel a real possibility to this region for many of us.

Funnily and as hard as it might be to believe, I wasn’t really fond of traveling prior to getting married. Believe it or not: I spent 3 years in Western Australia and went on vacation just twice, and once of which not even out of the state (the other time was to Copenhagen to present two of my papers). I can think of lots of excuses: e.g. that I’d already been to Australia several times prior to 2003 and visited several of the major cities, and as a Ph.D student I was super prudent with money.

But I think the more important reasons were that I just didn’t find traveling alone terrifically fun, and that at that point in my life (up till 35 years old LOL), I already had a lot of interesting things going on in life and didn’t feel the impulse to get out of town to see and do something different.

Fast forward to current times; things certainly have turn round. These days, I can’t wait to travel and get out of the country, even if a couple of times now travel plans get shelved because of resources (paying off housing loan takes priority) or timing (Hannah). I’m pretty blessed at the institution I work at for its numerous opportunities to travel, even if they’re invariably for work reasons: like the GDC trip to San Francisco, and teaching trip to Japan last year.

And there’s still a host of other overseas opportunities that I haven’t availed myself of yet, and they come up very often: including extended work attachment stints, community development projects, and the upcoming 9 week long summer program in Boston in which there’s a good likelihood I’ll be going to either this or next year and if other arrangements pan out.

Continued in the next post.:)

Well, I think Ling will be thrilled to hear this: but after writing up an itinerary for a 10 day vacation to Taiwan (she chose Taiwan ahead of Boracay and Sabah), I decided to see if I could work out something similar… but for Japan. I cooked up an initial itinerary for also a 10 day trip to around the Osaka – Kobe – Nara – Kyoto belt. And it just might be possible and still within budget, though we won’t be staying in posh hotels and luxury accommodation for certain, and only if certain promotional airfares run during the period of travel.

More to come soon.:)

A couple of months ago last year I started thinking about our year-end 2010 vacation, what with Ling haven’t been out of the country for a while now since becoming pregnant. June looks likely to be out as the coming 9 week long trip to Boston is increasingly likely. Hannah will also be 1.5 years old by the end of the year, and hopefully old enough to be watched after by grandparents without too much fuss.

Initially, I was thinking about Taiwan since Ling hasn’t been there before. But two more locations have come into radar – and both very different experiences from the winter experience we’d be expecting if we hit Taiwan. One’s Boracay island in the Philippines, and the other is Sabah.

Boracay is a small island that’s accessible from Manila International Airport via a 1 hr domestic flight + ferry, and is reputed to feature pristine beaches that rival the best in coastal Malaysia and the Caribbean. Oh, if we wanted to beaches again we could check out Redang or the Perhentian Islands; but it’d be nice to check out beaches from a place other than Malaysia for a change.

[Image source here]

There’s also Sabah, and that’s come by way of interest in (maybe) climbing Mt. Kinabalu. Ling I think has scaled its heights at least a few times now, but me I’ll probably go for the beginner and kiddie-version of the climb. And there’s a host of tidy packages for a long stay at the country, e.g. a 10 day one here, that would include wilderness treks, island hopping, and visits to ethnic villages.

Either way, several options now. Decisions to make soon.:)

There are little observations I’ve made too throughout my 9 day stay.

Service standards are incredible. I never met a single customer service person who failed to display the highest levels of courtesy, whether that person is a taxi driver (whom I nearly had to wrestle against just to let me carry my own luggage – he was an elderly gentlemen and I didn’t want to impose), the very sweet wait staff at Restaurant Matsuri whom I think got used to seeing this obviously non-Japanese guy carrying a D300 into the restaurant every evening to take pictures of what they placed on the table, or the train operator who jogs from the back to the front of the train during track switches.

The MRT train operators walk at a leisurely pace by comparison, which as my old NS recruit Platoon Sergeant would swear, “You walk SOMEMORE!!! No f******* sense of urgency!!!”

Being greeted both by colleagues, students and strangers everywhere. At the end of each day, the students all stood at attention, bowed and thanked me for my lectures. And they were not children: they were 19 to 20 year olds. In Singapore, the students of similar age are all rushing to get out of the class and back to their MP3 players, notebooks and DOTA, PSPs and what nots.

Precious little honking and impatient drivers. I did hear honking here and there: but they were invariably light taps to give a thank-you when the other driver gives way.

No crazy people around. Or maybe I just didn’t run into them. I’m thinking of San Francisco, and the wandering city vagrants, or those guys with big placards proclaiming the end of the world.

High levels of cleanliness everywhere. The city wasn’t state of the art, with the tallest building maybe stopping at 20 levels high. There were portions of the city, especially in the suburban areas where my college was located at, which were abandoned, derelict and so on. But the city had no issues with litter. No one spitted, no one tossed tissue paper, and on early mornings when heading to work I sure didn’t see stacks of unfinished Nasi Lemak or 7-11 drinks on the pavement.

And the Japanese sure dress very well! Every morning and evening, the transportation system and road networks would be congested by people going to and returning from work. Their dressing was splendid, with the school-going individuals, and up till year 4 of college, in smart uniforms, accessorized by winter apparel, including scarves, gloves and so on. Attire among staff at the college was more varied, with some of the older staff dressed in suits while others were in smart-casual.

There’s a last picture I’m posting here:

This large framed photo sat right in front of the hotel lift lobby, and showed a Japanese bride and bridegroom with Kumamoto Castle in the backdrop. I passed by this picture everyday in and out of the hotel.

It’s not just that the picture’s beautifully taken. Rather, it shows the juxtaposition between what’s traditional in Japan, and what they’ve taken from the West since Commodore Matthew Percy of the strutted into Edo bay with four US Navy warships in 1853. And despite that transformation from 150 years ago, the Japanese have not lost their distinctiveness or identity.

So well, I guess the next time I’m heading here will be to Hokkaido (likely) or Tokyo (less likely). I’ve staved off Ling’s expectations each time on account that it’d cost a bomb and in the vicinity of at least $6-7K for the both of us for a long-enough period of stay worth the travel. But now that all the pictures have been posted up, it’s even harder to use this excuse now LOL.

Matt and I were having an MSN chat the other day while I was still in Kumamoto, and one part of it went like this:

Matt: “It is a shame you won’t get to see Nagasaki, though.”

Me: “Yeah. But Ling is now determined to visit Hokkaido. I think she feels it’s crazily unfair I’m in Japan and she’s in Singapore.:)

Matt: “Haha, you think? Duh! : ) Frankly, I think it’s unfair you’re in Japan and I’m in the US!”

The visit and exchange program to Kumamoto has been an incredibly enriching experience. It’s not merely this whole thing about visiting another country and a culture you read about so much in media, and so pervasive among youth in Singapore even.

Rather, living and teaching in Kumamoto for an intensive winter program has let me intently interact with my Japanese counterparts and students on their own home ground.

Moreover, I’m glad that my first visit to Japan has not been to a place like Tokyo or Hokkaido. Kumamoto isn’t a tourist prefecture, with the number of tourist-y ‘sights’ amounting to less fingers than you’ve got on one hand. And throughout my 9 day stay, the number of Caucasians I saw numbered about 2 – maybe – altogether.

But what I saw and experienced I think is an accurate representation of what life in Japan is like for the average Japanese, or as much as I could experience from a 9 day stay. It’s a taste of the country: not artificial and intended only for tourist consumption, as would be inevitably the case to some degree in the tourist-y cities of Japan. One of the most telling signs was the near absence of English translations everywhere: including restaurant menus, maps and street sign posts. Kumamoto City just isn’t regarded as a city for travelers from outside Japan. Heck. Even English communication with their frontline reception staff in the hotel and embedded restaurants was crazily difficult. It just goes to show how unaccustomed was the city to non-Japanese travelers.

And aside from the amazing business-class dinners I had everyday, I walked and commuted by train to work, returned during peak hour traffic, and walked some more back home (hotel) every night like the average Japanese Joe. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was obviously under-dressed for winter with just thin long pants, a short-sleeved shirt and my Karri Valley Resort windbreaker, I would have looked almost like a local – until I was spoken to in Japanese and my pathetic response would be “I’m so sorry but I don’t understand!”

Continued in the next post!

The flight to Kumamoto City on the 12 December was packed with Japanese high-school girls. From what my Japanese counterpart remarked when I was at their college, at about this time of the year, as many as 20,000 of their students will be in this region for vacation, a safe holiday, and to escape from winter and to enjoy the strong Yen currency versus Asian currencies.

The flight back to Singapore 9 days after that date was quite the contrast: it was an at-most one third filled flight, with mostly Singaporeans comprising the passengers with just a small number of Japanese travelers. Fukoaka Airport is more a transit point for persons visiting other spots in Japan (if any), and also for business travelers. So, I had the row of seats to myself, which made it possible to take my last series of pictures on the flight back itself.

Like the one above: the Japanese ground crew actually wave to departing airplanes! Just like what you saw in those old World War II films.

Our plane was fourth in the airport pattern: three planes landed in sequence before we were cleared for immediate take-off.

Just a couple of seconds after wheels-up, and before the plane did a 180 degree turn to head south towards Singapore. It was a late morning flight at about 1030, but the weather was still really murky.

There was an interesting cluster of super-high rise office blocks in what looked like a spot of reclaimed land. The place looked like a business park of some kind, and still under construction.

And lastly, Kyushu from about 5000 feet I think. Huge urban sprawl and the many hills on the island.

There’re several other pictures taken but of clouds, and on landing approach passing over Indonesia. Quite a stunning view, and the pictures are here.:)

And the last stack of HDR compositions: of Kyu-Hosokawa Gyobutei. These were the hardest HDR exposures I’ve done so far: they’re all handheld shots taken indoors.

Well, that’s a wrap for all the pictures taken of my stay in Kumamoto, Japan. Next up are the HD video files I shot – but I’ll do those later; maybe early next year or something.:)