Irodorikoyo Komono-cho

... noodles in broth. I am usually a big oyster fan, but I was not a fan of these deep fried things. They were not very nice. Although the noodles were pretty good. At any rate, it was a cheap dinner which I topped off with a McDonald's sundae.

Tomorrow I head to Okazaki, where I will enrol in my course & meet my host family. I am looking forward to it & hope that Okazaki holds more charm than it's ugly neighbour.

... go back and explore it more. Upon arrival, they take your photograph and fingerprints and their is a sense of seriousness. It makes one stand a little taller and straighten your jacket. The Japanese are not people you want to mess with, and everything is done very orderly and seriously. The people of Japan were so kind, polite and considerate- quite a drastic change from Korea. And there was a sense of peace, calm and serenity. I am fascinated by such an ancient ...

... images of Auf Wiedersehen Pet to mind, and I found it strange how I had met two Asians with German connections in the space of a few weeks!

I spent Friday mooching around Nagoya, in particularly the nightlife area around Sakae. The weather was dismal but for once this made me feel happy as it provided the perfect excuse for some karaoke action! I spotted a huge Big Echo building and immediately ventured inside, emerging three hours later with a sore throat ...

... co miało opóźnić spotkanie z zaproszonymi gośćmi. Wcześniej, podczas spaceru w Pitlane, pytaliśmy dziewczynę z BMW Sauber czy jest szansa na spotkanie z Robertem, ale oficjalnie nie było tego w planach, więc nic nie mogła obiecać. Na koniec dnia oprowadzono nas po garażu BMW Sauber, również w miejscach, które nie są widoczne od strony toru, czyli zaplecze gdzie siedzą inżynierowie, skł ...

... glorious. But no latter than 5 minutes, he was sitting next to us, muttering rude comments about Gaijin (which, if you haven't figured out by now, means Foreigner in Japanese; a crude word), and then preceded to throw up all over the place. His friends took good care of him, and I just sort of felt sad for what was going to be a really ****** night for him, and probably ******* for his friends.
So a few drinks later, most people took off. I guess they weren't really in for it ...

... 11 heads and 40 arms - each one has an eye in the middle and serves 25 worlds and so are considered 1000 eyed and armed Kannons) including a giant central one and 28 statues of various buddhist deities which are classified national treasures. Photos were not allowed as is an active place of worship and morning prayer was actaully going on while we were there so brought a book of pics but again they do it no justice whatsoever.

... I have to admit it was a bit difficult to get into the work mode after having virtually no responsibilities for five months!

Galapagos is a great place to have some free time! Just walking around near the water, we have seen a turtle, tonnes of bright red crabs, sleepy sea lions, various sizes of lizards and iguanas, and huge flying pelicans. I love to go down to the water where large groups of awkwardly moving sea lions are sprawled ...

************************************ Update - November 2007 ************************************** Check out my second visit to Kyoto, part of my ill-fated Honeymoon. Whoops. ************************************ Update - November 2007 ************************************** Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe - Anatole France How Much?! And so we had to give back the yukata we had ...

... was looking less and less likely. After a brief pow-wow, we decided it would be better to save the Pavilion as an excuse to come back to Japan again sometime soon. We opted instead to head back into Kyoto, clean up, let Wai recover from his assault at the paws of a monkey, then head out for a nice dinner. We chose a steakhouse near Kyoto Station at random. Dai Shogun. Seemed acceptable enough. It was very much like the place Ellie and I frequented in New York, Yakiniku West in ...

... they may be, inside the buildings. Like Ginkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera is a balance of maintained garden and natural beauty. Originally constructed in 798 A.D., which means it was around during the early days of the Byzantine Empire in Eastern Europe, the temple was devoted to Juichi-men, an eleven-headed god. As things tend to be, much of the original temple was destroyed throughout the years, and what now stands are reconstructions commissioned in 1633 by Iemitsu, the third shogun of the ...