Bridge crossing complete

Into the UP

The Weather Rock

It's the house from My Neighbor Totoro!

Out at the back of the Aichi Expo grounds.

Visit to the JR Railway Park

Happy Sakura Season!

Blossoms at Kiyomizu

Still a little early for cherry, but plum are in full swing! The other
trees are mostly maple, so the place also has a reputation for fall
foliage.

About that trip to Hong Kong...

Here are photos from it!
https://plus.google.com/photos/111012416162387816811/albums/5856150117697064721

It was absurdly foggy the whole time we were there, but we were lucky that didn't really translate into actual rain. Those conditions are basically the norm for spring, but I think I'd much rather be there then rather than during the uncomfortably warmer months when it might be clearer.

If you have the slightest inclination to go I highly recommend you make the trip. I've never seen an urban area so densely populated and so international. It was as if in walking a block you'd pass restaurants specializing in cuisine from every continent.

If, on the other hand, you have no intention of ever setting foot on Chinese soil, I encourage you to visit the photos and live vicariously. 

One of Big Buddha's guardians

A visit to Nara

Riding the Gondola

A directed us on a round about way to the peak, via ferry and then bus. It worked out brilliantly since it turned out there was a line several hours long at the bottom. It also meant few people were retuning, so we had the gondola to ourselves - a $3000 value! (Hong Kong Dollars)

Oh the humanity!

Why did they give the buildings laser-beams?!

Retro Ferry

Hungry for a tiny pie?

Why not pay a visit to the Pie & Tart Specialists? These folks aren't playing around, they're pie professionals.

Another cloudy day

Taking a break after the Warhol exhibit at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Visiting the Night Markets

I think in most people's minds Hong Kong is synonymous with pirate goods: fakes, reproductions, and knock-offs. Based on what we saw tonight I'd say that's not entirely accurate. You MIGHT be able to get a watch or bag by following a hawker off the street and into a backroom or alley, but that sounds like a recipe for disaster. The fakes are just as grey here as they are at home, so the only things you'll find out in the open seem to be watches that look like they belong at Walmart and bags that look like craft projects.

Then again, we're probably just in the wrong places. I may not have the hookup for the copyrighted goods, but if you're looking for a styrofoam crate of crabs on a Friday night, I'm your man.

High-rise apartments

Clouded view from Victoria Peak

Soooo cloudy today, although luckily no rain.

A note on Mobile Data

Having mobile data while traveling is kind of amazing. On the advice of a random person on the internet, we hit up the 1010 kiosk (At the end of row F in the airline departure counters) to buy a local sim card and cheapo service. A week of unlimited mobile data (HSPA+) plus text messages and some volume of phone minutes I won't use cost $88HKD, which comes in under $12US. Google and GPS for only $12?! SOLD.

I'm sporting the entirely unlocked Nexus 4 which makes slapping in new sim cards a snap, but the real victory was managing to get A's iPhone 4S working with the service too. That thing is locked to the carrier Softbank in Japan, so a little working around (Thanks, 'GPP sim') was required to get it to play nice. When everything just works the way you expect it to it feels like you're living in the future! Having this city as a setting helps too - totally sci-fi.

We have arrived!

Hong Kong is a crazy city. The back of that bus reads "Drug Driving May Be Your Journey To Death". Remember kids, winners don't drive drugs.

Cathay Airlines

Our plane is sporting Rolls Royce engines; I know because it has the
logos on the side. I don't think I've ever seen a plane with any logos
that don't belong to the carrier before!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Our first and second choice restaurants had lines this evening, so we
ended up at Chinese. It just so happened they had crazy discounts for
the New Years celebrations and our huge dinner ended up being only
about $12 total.

On the bus home

Ski trip was a big success! Really exciting to be up in the mountains
here, unique and SNOWY.

This bus we're on is very Japanese: short seat pitch (distance between
seats) and ash trays (which thankfully nobody in our group is using).

Stars of this show

Through the woods

We have a piper down!

Such a nice day for skiing!

The monkeys...

I am totally going to rock the key.

Sweet Potato Truck

If we are lucky, on the weekends, we hear the music of the sweet potato truck driving through the neighborhood.

The Case of the Abandoned Beer

While walking to the train station last week, my brother noticed an unopened beer can sitting on a low wall. I took the opportunity to explain how Japanese people generally don't touch things that don't belong to them. For example, there's a rusty, partially dismantled bicycle on the a nearby street corner that's been there for over a month, with no sign of it disappearing. A broken bike not going anywhere is one thing, after all, who would want that? On the other hand, I would expect a full, unopened can of beer to be quite the hot commodity. It's been there for over 5 days at this point! I'm very curious to see how long it will last.

Can you guess...

...what the specialty of this restaurant is?

Year of the Snake

All the New Years items available for sale in the shrines and temples
include this year's zodiac mascot, the snake.

Kinkaku-ji - 'Gold Temple'

That's ice in the water. It's cold here!

'They're running three wide...'

Shinkansen tracks at Tokyo Station. The two on the left are 700 Series
(lights in the middle under the cockpit), while the one on the right
is an updated N700. (Lights on the lower sides of the nose)

Akihabara after dark

It was COLD outside. Even the girls promoting the 'host clubs' were
bundled up. The electronics stores are all so crowded, it's almost as
if shopping online doesn't exist here.

Mt. Fuji in passing

The buildings aren't really slanted, it's just the train is moving so
fast it highlights the rolling shutter on the iPhone camera.

Crowded Shinkansen

Standing room only on the Nozomi Super Express this morning.

Heiwa Park

Happy New Year from Atsuta Shrine