Favorite Shots From Singapore, Jakarta & Puncak

Click title for link to photos

In Japan most people live in small houses/apartments - which we call "mansions" - yes, a truly overstatement. It is indeed an indulgent for us to spend our rare holiday in a traditional spacious hotel like the Sentosa Resort, where you can enjoy the garden and its wildlife. Others who loves city life and nightlife, may prefer a more modern hotel, with a breathtaking view, like the Marina Bays Sand Hotel.

From Singapore, we flied to Jakarta and spent two days on the mountain side. A nice reasonable hotel with view of nature is Yasmin Resort Puncak, located just two hours drive from Jakarta. However, you have to be really fit as to get ready to shower in a rather cold water or to swim in an unheated swimming pool.

In Jakarta you can see many (perhaps too many) three wheelers and "becak", a tricycle pedaled by a man at the back, what now has become rare. Both are popular means of transportation. I personally think that the three wheelers (bajaj, apparently originally came from India) cause air pollution and that "becak" is a much healthier transportation system than "bajaj".

http://picasaweb.google.com/daisy.tjandra/NiteDay?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPL6abHjOi4TQ#

International Airports In Japan

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/

http://www.haneda-airport.jp/inter/en/

Travelling overseas used to be a hassle for Japanese, because Narita International Airport is located far away from the central city. However, from October 21st this year, an additional airport, Haneda International Airport is officially open. It is located just a few minutes from Tokyo, a much shorter distance compared to Narita, which is about 1.5 hours by express train.

Unfortunately, there are still many limitations of Haneda, which at this stage it only covers 17 major cities around the world, while Narita covers more than 40 cities.

Scenic Photos of Kyushu

Takachiho-Gorge @ Miyazaki Prefecture - beautiful in one word

The best way to enjoy the waterfall is to take a short ride on a boat

The only challenge here is not the rowing part, but you have to queue for many hours - especially during peak holiday season like the Golden Week. Off peak season is during winter.

Shirakawa Mineral Water @Kumamoto Prefecture

Around Mt Aso there are various spots where you can drink fresh mineral water as it comes out from the source, from between the rocks like a waterfall or from below the earth creating a natural pond of pure mineral water.

Scenic Photos of Kyushu - Kumamoto Prefecture

Mt Aso caldera is apparently one of the biggest active volcanoes in the world... unfortunately it is difficult to capture the size of it from these photos. Concrete shelter houses were built around the caldera for safety purposes in case of unexpected eruption..... frankly, i wonder how effective they really are considering the size of this volcano.

For more information about Mt. Aso, go to : http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/kumamoto/aso.html

Scenic Photos of Kyushu - Oita Prefecture

Beppu's Five Famous "Hell-like" Hot Springs, known as the Blood red hot springs, the Ocean, the Stone-goblin, the Hot pot and the Mountain hot springs . The water temperature is more than 99 degrees Celcius. For English map, click http://www.beppu-jigoku.com/images/English.pdf

Along the scenic drive of Yamanami Highway, you can see green pastures where horses and cows lay resting in the sun or busy eating grass.

Unless you are allergic to eggs (like me), you can enjoy a freshly "hot springs" boiled egg, which supposedly contains a lot of minerals.

People of all ages stroll along the road of local towns, Beppu and Yufuin, where you can find various shops, from pottery to home-made roll cakes. Those who prefer not to walk can take a rickshaw or a horse wagon ride.

Scenery of Kyushu

Kyushu is an island located in the southern west part of Japan. You can drive from Tokyo to Kyushu, but it will take many hours or you can fly from Haneda Aiport and arrive at the local airport, such as Kumamoto, Oita, or other cities in Kyushu.

This time, we took a four days trip down to Kyushu, by air then rented a car to enjoy the scenic drive of Yamanami Highway, to visit Japan's "hot springs" city, Beppu and Yufuin (Oita Province), then a walk along the famous Takachiho Gorge.

During the four days we managed to cover the best part of Oita, Kumamoto and Miyazaki. These places are popular spots for tourists from Korea, Taiwan and China, naturally since geographically they are near. There are only a few travelers from US and Europe, therefore at public places we see many signs translated into Chinese and Korean but not English.

For more information about the provinces:

http://www.pref.oita.jp/english/

http://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/english/list.html

http://www.kanko-miyazaki.jp/Language/english/index.htm

Okinawa In Winter

Those who do not like the cold winter of Japan, can take a two hour flight from Tokyo to Okinawa or other islands located in far south of Japan. What to see and do in Okinawa?

1. Fishing or just take a boat ride

2. Diving or snorkeling or other marine sports

3. Play on the beach in a pleasant day

4. Enjoy Okinawa delicacies

5. Visiting rare castles or temples and watching Okinawa dances

or go to the Sea World and play with dolphins or take a walk in the wildlife forests and caves.

Okinawa delicacies are very much similar to Asian food, the popular ones are:

Sweet pork cooked in soya, goyah campur, pickled seaweed, papaya salad, sweet tofu, ladies finger salad, aloe vera salad, various fish dishes ... and many other tropical vegetables arranged raw in salad with peanut dressing.

Does Travel Manners Matter To You?

Source: http://sankei.jp.msn.com/world/europe/090710/erp0907100945003-n1.htm

The world largest online travel company, Expedia, conducted a research at hotels in various countries, interviewing hotel staff and managers about how they rate travelers from different countries. The research was conducted last year among 4500 people working at hotels, in 27 different countries. They were asked to rate travelers in terms of 9 elements among which are attitude, behavior/manners and generosity (in tipping).

Top 5 nationalities on overall score are Japanese, English, Canadians, Dutch and Swiss. The most surprising result was that the French was rated the second worst in terms of manners and attitude and the worst in terms of generosity. Spanish and Greek were also rated poorly on overall evaluation.

I found the results unbelievable, since i am actually quite fond of its art, culture and history. It is rather difficult to comprehend why, France being recognized by many as a first class country in terms of art and culture, but the French can be considered the worst in manners and attitude as travelers. Doesn't culture and history of a country influence people's attitude and behavior? Or perhaps too much pride in oneself bring a negative effect in one's attitude and behavior towards others? (... this sounds rather familiar, perhaps, in our life :)

And finally, perhaps for a fair view, the research should also have been conducted among travelers - how do other international travelers view the French attitude and behavior in general?

I hope this can be a good input for us travelers.

Fun In The Snow

I spent the first 15 years of my life growing up in a tropical country, where it was warm all year round. So to me the word winter means cold. I was 25 when i saw snow fall for the first time and at the best timing of the year, it was on Christmas eve. It was a breathtaking view and emotionally moving ... perhaps it was more about the Christmas than it was the snow. But to this day, gentle snow falls (not the one with blizzard) always give me a sense of peace ... i can almost hear the sound of every drop.

Thirteen years has passed, i have evolved from just watching snow falling to love being a part of the picture and actually having fun in it. Compared to Canada, the US or Swiss where they have more ski resorts with larger capacity and variety, Japan has moderate size resorts which is just good enough for beginner skiers (like me :)

What i like about skiing in Japan is that popular resorts usually have natural hot springs facility. What can be better than a dip in the hot spring after a long day playing in the snow :)

One point advise for ski trip in Japan: avoid public holidays and long weekends, since you will expect crowds.

For references on how to have fun in Japan snow this season:

http://www.skijapanguide.com/index.php

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/prefecturedata.php?prefecture=Hokkaido

For ski resort with hot spring, suitable for nite-skiers, located near Tokyo:

http://www.g-jmt.com/norn/eng/

with recommended hotel (Japanese homepage only): http://www.matsunoi.com/

For telemark skiing, lessons, day trips, suitable for beginners:

Makino Kogen, Saga Prefecture (contact: sarc-kuga@telemarkers.com)

Minami, Gumma Prefecture (contact: info@pension-mokuba.com)

A little far but has got everything i like (well, almost everything):

http://www.grandeco.com/english/grandeco.html