7/12/11 – 8/12/11 Goodbye, San Francisco, Hello New York!

So today was our last day in San Francsico. Naturally, this meant that we had to check out of our hotel, and as such, the day didn’t start until about a minute before checkout time, as we were getting everything organised to leave. After having a very pleasant conversation with the concierge (a lovely British lady who brought her very sedate dog along with her), we headed off to see the rest of San Francisco.

Firstly, we headed down to the shopping area just north of Market St. Emma spent a good hour or so looking at shoes, and much to her delight, she actually found some pairs that fit her and suited her. Apparently shoe shopping is normally a nightmare for her, but this time it seemed to be quite easy. Me, having about as much interest in shoe shopping as I do about Justin Bieber’s latest album (although I must make it clear that I’d much, MUCH prefer shoe shopping over that crap), just sat there, playing with my iPhone and working out where we were heading next.

Then, I was getting fairly hungry, so I grabbed my first hotdog of the trip. Tasty, and one of many to come. We then headed to one of my favourite places in San Francisco – the Exploratorium. As I mentioned in my previous bloggings about the USA, it is essentially a gigantic version of the science centre. This time, we headed for the areas that I didn’t get to see last time, which included a whole bunch of exhibits on sounds and how the brain interprets them. I found them all quite interesting, and even aced quite a few of the sound-based listening tests. A good thing, considering my choice of career.

After having more of a look around, it appeared as if it was already closing time. Sadly, this meant we had to leave, and so we headed out into the palace of fine arts area, just on dusk. Unlike last time when I was here when it was undergoing re-landscaping, the palace was open to the public. We had a walk through, and with the evening lights on, it made for some excellent long-exposure photography. This was my first attempt at long exposure photography, and the results were mixed, but it definitely makes me want to try it some more in the future.

We then caught a long bus ride back to Geary street. While like most bus rides, this one was quite uneventful, we did see somebody carry a Christmas tree onboard. Like, a real Christmas tree – one that has been dug out of the ground  and has to be kept in a bowl of water. One of the cool things about the holiday season in the USA, for sure.

Then, we went for some dinner at “Thai Stick”, a restaurant I had tried in my previous visit to San Francisco. The food was tasty and didn’t disappoint. A very pleasant way to end my time in San Francisco.

It was time to head back to the hotel and get our transfer to the airport. Before long, my time in San Francisco was over. Needless to say, I loved this city just as much as last time. I can’t wait to return, and I hope that one day I can afford to live in this beautiful corner of the world.

American Airlines flight AA18 SFO – JFK N320AA

Boeing 767-200

Intended Pushback: 2300

Actual Pushback: 2254

Intended Arrival: 0725

Actual Arrival: 0647

Seat: 37J

Captain Steve Manden

Wow, a flight that actually left and arrived early! I was amazed. But, that was about the only amazing thing about this flight. They call Economy class “Coach” in the US for a reason. It was like sitting on a coach for five hours. The flight attendants appeared at the start of the flight to make sure we all had our seatbelts securely fastened, and then they disappeared for the rest of the flight, unless you called them for some water. No food or drink service (aside from aforementioned cups of water) was served, and there was only some very old programming showed on the overhead monitors, which I didn’t bother to watch.

Instead, I tried to grab some sleep in these super-cramped seats, which turned out to be near on impossible. I think I spent the whole flight with my eyes shut, but I did open my eyes long enough at one stage to see Chicago as we flew over it – a golden city of lights the glittered, followed by the complete blackness of Lake Michigan. I wish I got to visit there on this trip, but it will have to wait for another time.

Before long, the torture was over, and we were beginning our approach into New York JFK. My first indication that this city was going to be cold was the fact that I could see sheets of ice sloshing around in the ocean. After deplaning and making our way out to the baggage hall, this thought was confirmed. New York is very cold. Not the coldest I’ve ever been in, but very, very close. This will also probably change as the days go on.

Our trip from the airport to our hotel let us sample another of New York’s famous attributes – its traffic. The 90 minute journey was very start and stop, with us rarely travelling faster than 40 km/hr. Still, with the breathtaking Manhattan skyline in view, it was hard not to feel excited.

Like with our hotel in San Francisco, we weren’t able to check in until later in the day. This meant that we got to spend the morning walking around our local district. This time, I chose to stay at the Distrikt Hotel, just off of Times Square, as it was one of the cheapest hotels around, and also one of the highest rated from user review. The impressions I got at check-in were all very positive, and made my look forward to my stay.

We then had our first wander around Times Square. It was just as flashy and overstimulating as I remembered. We grabbed some breakfast at the McDonalds and sat on the upper floor to do some people watching. It should be noted that the cold seems to keep the crowds down a bit when compared to summer, but it is still very busy.

We then headed to Central Park to kill some time. We sat on a great big rock and watched squirrels bound about the meadows. The squirrels also had a habit of engaging in ninja-style battles with each-other as they clamoured around the trunks of trees. This was very entertaining, as they never seemed to hurt each other, just chase each other around a lot.

We were then very tempted to take a nap in central park, but decided against it as we didn’t want to get in trouble or mugged. So we headed back to Times Square to grab some lunch. Like always, we headed to Bubba Gump’s. This time I had something different though (spicy shrimp skewers), and it was just as tasty as the other dishes that I have tried.

By this stage, we could check in, so we did so. The room was fantastic, and we were all the way up on the 26^th floor, meaning we had a brilliant view looking out towards New Jersey. We then had a nap, and awoke later in the day to get ready to go see our first Broadway play of the trip, “Sister Act”.

This was based on the film of the same name, but converted into a more musical affair. While some scenes did seem to drag a bit, on the whole it was very entertaining and it amazes me how fantastically some people can sing. I had goosebumps on multiple occasions, which is always a good sign.

One thing that was unfortunate about the performance was the seating. Not where we were seated, mind you – although we were seated on the balcony, I had a perfect view of the stage. The problem was with the legroom, or complete lack thereof. With the show going for over two and a half hours, I found myself beginning to get very uncomfortable in the last half hour or so, as my knees were stuck to the seat in front of me. It was far worse than any airline seat I had sat in, although the entertainment definitely made up for the lack of legroom.

After the performance, I helped escort Emma and the group of school students she was assisting back to their hotel, and then I headed back to my hotel. I grabbed a slice of Pizza on the way home – my first of the trip, and hopefully the first of many to come.

Tomorrow: MOAR NEW YORK!

1/12/11 - 6/12/11 - Epic USA post of my trip so Far.

01/12/11 – Hello USA, nice to see you again!

Firstly, a quick word on my previous trip to Japan. I know that I was meant to finish writing up my last post about Osaka – I know, I’m terribly slack. All I will say is that Japan is the most amazing country I’ve ever visited. Osaka and the attractions I saw there were all fantastic. I cannot recommend visiting the country enough – I can’t wait to go back.

Now, on to this trip to the United States of America.

After returning from Japan, the opportunity arose for my girlfriend, Emma, to travel to the USA in December, 2011. Naturally, I was keen to come along as well, but money was going to be the major deciding factor. Then, several Sound Design projects were dropped in my lap. These projects more or less earned me enough money to comfortably afford the trip. As such, I went ahead and booked my flights and accommodation, and waited eagerly for departure. Eventually Emma and I decided that we would visit Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York – the same places I visited with Peta in August, 2010.

As 2011 passed suspiciously quickly, before I knew it, the date of departure was upon me. Like all of my trips, it started with a trip to Brisbane Airport. Like last time, I decided to fly domestically down to Sydney before catching Qantas’ Airbus A380 across to Los Angeles. My parents were kind enough to give me a lift to the airport, but sadly Mum had to leave straight away to get to work on time. As dad parked the car, I tried to check in on Qantas’ self-check in kiosks.

I’m not sure how I feel about these. On the one hand, they work fantastically well for domestic services (wherein you just scan your booking form, weigh your luggage, collect your boarding pass and be on your merry way), but they are hopeless for domestic-international transfer flights. I did battle with the machine for a good five minutes (for some reason the touchscreen was incorrectly calibrated, and as such whenever I hit the spacebar, it hit either the “J” or “K” key), a customer service assistant came over and helped me. When he saw that I was travelling internationally after my Domestic flight, he informed me that I actually needed to see one of the check-in staff anyway as my passport needed to be visually verified. My question is, if a mandatory “human” check-in is required for Domestic – International passengers, why offer it as on option on your kiosks? Rather baffling. Kudos to the check in agent who assisted me though, he was delightfully friendly and really made me look forward to my flights ahead.

Then, Dad and I headed airside, and made our way to the small food court. I decided not to have my traditional bacon, eggs and super-salty toast, and instead opted for a croissant. After chowing down, I headed up to my gate for a quick happy snap before it was time for me to board.

Qantas Airways flight QF517 BNE – SYD

Boeing 737-800 VH-VYF “Evandale”

Captain Peter Budd

Seat: 19F

Intended Pushback: 0925

Actual Pushback: 1038

Intended Arrival: 1200

Actual Arrival: 1253

Yes, this is where the fun began. As noted in the flight details above, we went sweet f-all nowhere for over an hour. Apparently the engineers found a small dent on the aft of the aircraft. Like with anything with aviation, when something goes wrong, it needs to be checked, double checked, details faxed, verified, simulated, signed off, leaked to the media and blessed by a priest before the aircraft can take off. As much as sitting there on the tarmac sucked, I appreciate my life and I am glad that Qantas takes no chances when it comes to airline safety. Besides, I had a good three hours to connect to my international flight, so I was in no danger of missing it. When we did take off, not much happened. It was a very quick 1 hour flight down to Sydney.

After arriving in Sydney, I jumped on the terminal transfer bus, and headed over to the international terminal. I cleared immigration in about 10 minutes, and had a brisk walk around the terminal doing my plane spotting thing, and then headed to the gate.

Qantas Airways Flight QF11 SYD – LAX

Airbus A380-800 VH-OQD “Fergus McMaster”

Captain Rick Paul

Seat: 80A

Intended Pushback: 1500

Actual Pushback: 1516

Intended Arrival: 0950

Actual Arrival: 0953

This was my second time on this particular Aircraft. It is the exact same one that took me to Los Angeles last year. It was just as fantastic as last time, made even better by the fact that I managed to snag seat 80A – a window seat with no seat in front of me. This means that I got business class sized legroom at an economy priced ticket. Not bad. I also lucked out and had nice passengers seated all around me. The young woman sitting next to me, Kate, was a great seat buddy. She was heading over to Los Angeles and New York as part of a performing arts tour. Although I don’t think she’ll read this, I wish her the best of luck with her future.

Qantas’ inflight entertainment on board their A380 is the best inflight entertainment I’ve ever used. The touchscreen is responsive (as long as you use the back of your fingernail), the range of entertainment options (movies, tv series, documentaries, games and music) is second to none, and their skycam (tail-mounted camera feed of the aircraft’s flight) is always a fun distraction during the daytime portion of the flight. I watched heaps of TV shows, but only one movie, “X-Men: First Class” which to be honest I didn’t really like, but that is by no part Qantas’ fault.

Also, given my ample legroom, I managed to achieve the impossible – 6 hours of fairly restless sleep on a long haul flight. If it wasn’t for the rollercoaster-esque turbulence experienced somewhere over Hawaii, I would have slept solidly for half the flight. One thing that definitely helped with my rest was the noise level. Firstly, the A380 is the quietest aircraft flying (for cabin noise, anyway). Then I wore earplug, and on top of that, I put on noise cancelling headphones. This reduced the engine noise down to a very light hum, and the earplugs blocked out all other noises as well.

After breakfast, we began our descent into Los Angeles. Just before landing, we were hit with some major turbulence due to the high winds that have hit Southern California over the past day or so. I managed to get through immigration in about 30 minutes, and then through customs in five minutes. The customs guard was fantastic – really chatty, very cheery and incredibly welcoming. I wish all border staff were like him!

Then, a shuttle to my hotel later, and I was safely back in Hollywood, California. As I had a spare day before Emma arrived, I was at a loss as to what to do with myself. Due to the high winds of the previous day, the internet connection to my hotel was down, so I couldn’t really find out where to go. So I decided to wander aimlessly. I did a lap around the “Church of Scientology” – a great big ugly blue building. It looks as obnoxious as what people say about the religion. I’m sure they are all for the most part very peaceful people, but their church does not look inviting in the slightest.

I went for some Quiznos for lunch – a sandwich chain like Subway, for those who don’t know. It was surprisingly delicious, and also rather cheap. One thing I love about the USA is how food is about half the price that it is in Australia. That combined with the strong Aussie dollar at the moment means that I have some awesomely cheap eats ahead of me.

I then jumped on the metro subway, and had a look around Hollywood Highland – Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre, and the Hollywood walk of fame.

I don’t get the walk of fame. Yes, it has the names of famous actors, directors, musicians and other celebrities. Yes, they stood there to have their “Stars” laid. But what does this mean? Unless the celebrity is physically standing next to them when you see their star, there is nothing really connecting or “human” about the plaques.

There also seemed to be a heck of a lot of people standing around handing out demo CD’s of their music for passers-by. I guess that their philosophy is that the more people who know their music the better, but I don’t see how effective this could be in the long run, unless they luck out and give it to someone who is/knows a music producer. I didn’t take any of their CD’s, as I don’t have a CD player with me during my travels to listen to them. I figured that they’d be better off giving their copies to somebody who can actually listen to them, and save themselves the dollar or so it cost to burn the CD. Still, I wish them all the best of luck with their future careers.

Later that night, I went for some Italian food at a restaurant a few blocks north of my hotel. I had a delicious slab of Lasagne.  In true American fashion, it was a huge portion – a slab is not hyperbole. It felt strange eating alone at a restaurant, but I had a nice chat to the gentlemen at the table next to me. All in all, it was a nice evening, and a good start to my second trip to the USA.

Tomorrow, I meet up with Emma, we see Hollywood, and best of all, we’re in the audience for “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”. Can’t wait!

02/12/11

Hollywood, Craig Ferguson, and Coffee Makers

So today I tried to pack in as much Los Angeles as I could in one day. It started by me taking a walk to my local Starbucks to use their wifi, as my hotel’s wifi was still down. While I was browsing on my phone, sipping on my hot chocolate, I saw a hummingbird flitter by. I’d never seen one before in my life, so this was a pleasant start to the day.

Later on in the morning, I headed to the Hollywood/Highland area of Hollywood. I was waiting for Emma, who was going to meet up with me here. Unfortunately, her flight was delayed, and then she got stuck in major traffic, so I was waiting around for a long time. Throughout this time, the music artists I mentioned earlier tried to sell me their CD’s, but eventually after I politely told them that I wasn’t interested, we got chatting. They were mainly Jamaican R&B artists, and were very friendly. Still, I politely declined their music, as I’m not a big fan of their genre of music.

While I was waiting, I also bumped into Kate, the girl who sat next to me on the flight. Small world! Her and her performing arts troupe were about to perform at a nearby theatre. Sadly, as I was waiting for Emma, I couldn’t go watch.

Eventually, Emma did arrive. Unfortunately, she had taken a fall earlier in the day, and as such had a very sore rear end. Combine this with the fact that she is gluten intolerant, and was served food containing only gluten on her flight, and she was hungry, tired and sore. I tried to remedy the hunger problem by taking her to a “Johnny Rockets” restaurant in the nearby outdoor mall. The food was pretty average, but it would do for now.

By this stage, the day had actually gone by pretty quickly, and we had to make a beeline back to my hotel, and then on to Craig Ferguson. The downside to being in the studio audience means that you are not allowed any cell phones, cameras or electronic devices on you of any form. This meant that I had to leave my phone – a crucial timepiece and navigational aid in my room. So essentially, we were following some hastily-printed out instructions from the hotel front desk and relying on them solely to get us to CBS studios. Fortunately though, these instructions didn’t fail us, and we managed to get there just within the nick of time.

Then we were taken into CBS studios, put into lines, and led into the studio. The studio is much, much smaller than it appears on TV, as is the audience – a mere 150 people. Emma and I managed to score front row centre seats. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was we were very close to Craig, Geoff and the guests. The bad thing was that so were the gigantic video cameras they used to film the show with. This meant that Craig and the guests were always either partially or completely blocked from our view. Still, being in the audience was so much fun, and Craig seemed like a very nice and genuine guy. I know I will continue to be an avid viewer of his show, and I hope that one day I can be in his audience again.

At the end of the show, a raffle was drawn. Funnily enough, I won the raffle, and was awarded with a brand-new coffee maker. While I would normally be very appreciative of a gift like this, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it. Firstly, I don’t drink coffee. Secondly, I can’t really cart around this large box all over the USA with me. Thirdly, if I did, the voltage difference between the USA and Australia means that there is a high risk that the coffee maker could cause a house fire (if it doesn’t have a transformer in it) if I plug it in. I have no idea what I should do with it.

After heading back to my hotel, Emma and I then grabbed a light meal at a local Mediterranean restaurant. Adequate (and not unnecessarily huge) portion sizes and tasty food made this a winner.

Tomorrow, Disneyland! The least-unhappy place on earth!

03/12/11

Disneyland, and the great journey to and from it.

So Disneyland, huh? It is pretty darn cool. Getting to and from there from Los Angeles? Not so cool.

The day started at the crack of dawn as we began the great journey to Disneyland. Firstly, we had to tackle the Metro system to Union station. Unfortunately, we missed the first train, which had a massive unforseen knock-on effect.

Transferring at Los Angeles Union Station, we had to then get an Amtrak train to Anaheim. Because of us grabbing the later train previously, it meant that we missed this one by about two minutes. This then meant we had to wait 70 minutes for the next Amtrak train. These Amtrak trains are huge. They are completely double-decker, and they are very wide. Unlike the trains of Japan though, they are huge, slow and loud.

Eventually, the lumbering rolling-stock did get us to Anaheim. From there, I had read online that there were bus transfers to Disneyland. What the website omitted to mention was that the transfers only run every hour. And because of our missed train, it meant that we also missed the shuttle bus. After walking around for a little while, we decided to just take a taxi to Disneyland.

When we eventually got to Disneyland (Emma had to go to her hotel to change clothes and such), it was incredibly overwhelming. Not necessarily in a bad way, but everywhere you look is a ride to go on, a shop packed full of Disney merchandise, or a family having a very full-on day.

I won’t talk much about the rides, except that they are all very entertaining. Even the more sedate ones are still pretty fun. Special mention goes to the Indiana Jones ride and Space Mountain. They were both incredibly intense and very fast paced. Really cool. I won’t really talk about my various activities at the park, either, because to be honest, it is all a bright, colourful blur of pastels.

What I think I both loved and hated the most about Disneyland was their insistence on making sure everybody was as happy as they could be. I mean yes, the staff were very courteous, and were always smiling, which is what any form of customer-service based company should aim for. What I didn’t like is how there is often a price tag associated with this happiness. For example, I liked that in one of the stores, they had hair-dressers that can style your child’s hair like a Disney princess. While I didn’t actually check the prices for this service, the price for the accompanying costume was north of $70 USD. It’s a fantastic idea to make kids feel special, but it certainly comes with a hefty price tag. With the price of admission and the astronomical price for food in the park, I started to wonder how anybody can afford to make the experience that little bit of extra magic for their kids.

The less said about the ride back to Los Angeles, the better. I had to catch another taxi to the train station, as the bus arrives at the station two minutes *after* the last train of the night leaves. Brilliant planning, Anaheim. The complete ineptitude of Anaheim’s public transportation pretty much forces you to either drive to Disneyland, or to stay nearby. It is far too much of a hassle to get there by any other means.

4/12/11 – Back to San Francisco!

So December 4^th is my anniversary with Emma. As part of this, I planned in our holiday to go to San Francisco, as I had an amazing time in this city last time I was there.

My journey to San Francisco started far too close to the end of the end of my journey to Disneyland. A mere 4 hours separated the two of them. Three and a half of which I spent asleep. Needless to say, by the time I got to LAX, I was already dead on my feet. When I checked in, Emma and I had far too much time to kill before our flight took off. That is the downside to the Supershuttle service – they will get you to the airport and are fairly cheap, but they will get you there with many hours before your flight departs in case they hit traffic.

American Airlines Flight AA1920 LAX-SFO

Boeing 737-800 N906AN

Intended Pushback: 0700

Actual Pushback: 0729

Intended Arrival: 0815

Actual Arrival: 0853

Seat: 16A

Captain John Mitchell

I have not been having much luck with flights so far on this trip. They have all been delayed by at least 20 minutes. Apparently this time they forgot to install a seat cushion, seat cover, or actual *seat* for the co-pilot. I question how an airline can not forsee this and fix this before you get a plane full of passengers on board, waiting to get to their destination. It did help that the pilot did seem genuinely apologetic. Also, although American Airlines’ service was minimal, the times in which the flight attendants passed by, they did seem to genuinely care about you. The seats were also quite roomy, which helps.

Then, we had another horrible experience getting from the airport to the hotel. We decided to take the BART, which stands for “Bay Area Rapid Transport”. Unfortunately, somebody had obviously forgotten the “Rapid” aspect of this particular service, as we were stopping and starting and crawling along at any form of speed other than rapid. Next time, I’ll just stick to Supershuttle.

When we arrived at the Powell station, my previous navigational memory of San Francisco kicked in, and I was able to safely navigate myself and Emma to our hotel with no troubles at all. After dropping our luggage off, Emma and I headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf, where we dined at our favourite overseas chain restaurant – Bubba Gump’s. Yes, it is just as awesome as I remembered. Yes, I had the shipping container’s worth of Shrimp. Yes, I felt like my stomach was going to explode in a gigantic shrimp-firework after finishing. Yes, it was totally worth it.

We then went for a look around China Town. This town always fascinates me. Everywhere you look is an alleyway packed with shops that sell wares you can only find elsewhere in the Far East. We also visited the pet shop I went to last time. It had the same Macaw, which has apparently learned to talk in the last 18 months, and some other cockatoos as well. One of the cockatoos was so friendly, it even let me stroke it. I wanted so badly to take it home with me, but unfortunately I have reality to contend with. We also got to see chinchillas again. Emma and I decided that they are super-cute, but only when they are asleep. When they are awake, they look like they’re perpetually squished – as if they’re being pressed up against a glass wall that follows them around.

Later that evening, we went out for a nice meal at a Japanese restaurant for our anniversary. The food was fantastic. The gentlemen sitting at the table next to us though, were not. One of them took the stereotype of “Loud American” to the extreme. Every time he spoke his mouth was excreting perpetual sonic booms. Both Emma and I shot them grumpy looks, but stopped short of telling them to STFU.

5/12/11

Today we did “The Bridge” – we cycled the Golden Gate bridge. It was fantastic. Emma has a theory that whenever she travels, she takes Brisbane with her. At least the weather, anyway. The weather so far has been fantastic – clear skies and sunshine all day long. The wind definitely kept the temperature down – it seems to be perpetually cold in San Francisco. The wind on the bridge itself was incredibly chilly - it easily brought the temperature down several degrees, and it was so powerful that it blew you around forcefully.

After getting to the other side of the bridge, we rode down to Sausalito where we had a late lunch. Emma, being gluten intolerant, has found it difficult to find meals at restaurants – the USA seems to mainly serve meals with either bread or pasta in them, which is a no-no for her stomach. Fish and chips seem to suit her alright though, so we’ve been keeping an eye out for them. I had my first “cheese steak”, a sandwich filled with shredded steak, onions and melted cheese. Apparently its birthplace is California, so I felt that I was at least eating something quite authentic.

By now, we had missed one of the last ferries back to San Francisco. This meant that we needed to wait quite a while longer for the next one. As such, we spent over an hour huddled on a park bench playing UNO on Emma’s iPhone. Not the worst way to spend an hour, but the freezing cold definitely made us wish we were indoors.

We then had to find the return garage for our bicycles, which was quite confusing when most of the bicycle rental outlets were closed. Eventually, we found it, quite literally in a basement.

Then, we took a bus back down to Geary Street, and we had to walk 6 blocks to get back to our hotel. This was definitely an interesting experience. It is amazing how much a city can change over the space of six blocks. It gradually switched from very run-down buildings with shady characters outside to five star hotels with doormen on the other side of the block. I definitely squeezed Emma’s hands tight in a few moments, but there was definitely no real danger as long as we kept walking. If we were walking down this street a few hours later though, and I wouldn’t be so sure…

Finally, we had some nice takeaway for dinner. Emma grabbed some Japanese food, whereas I grabbed some Thai. We then sat on our bed, watched TV and enjoyed a nice low profile dinner in San Francisco.

6/12/11

Today we had a look around the Ferry Building, and the farmers markets nearby. Emma and I have made a pledge to try and eat food that we have never eaten before, wherever reasonably possible. As such, for breakfast/lunch, I had a Japanese-style rice triangle filled with rice, miso paste and sushi. I then tried a Tamale, a Mexican dish made with ground up corn and cheese. While the Tamale was quite bland on its own, it is more a vessel for the various sauces that you top it with. Needless to say, as it was Mexican food, with the sauces added, it turned out quite spicy, but pleasantly spicy, not lip-numbingly so.

After wandering around inside the ferry building and sampling some of the local produce, we headed to SOMA, or South of Market Street. We had a look in a local bookstore, and then headed to the Museum of Cartoon Art. Essentially, it was a museum devoted to comic strips from Newspapers. It had strips from the very early 1900’s all the way to modern days. They had a feature on “Archie”, showing how it has changed over several generations since its birth in the 1940’s.

After taking a break back at the room, we headed precisely three stores down from our hotel to a Japanese restaurant called Katana-ya. As indicated by the large line outside this cramped restaurant, the food was delicious. I had a great big bowl of Ramen with some tempura vegetables, and Emma had her standard bowl of Udon. We seem to be eating a lot of Japanese food on this trip, but that’s because it is awesome, and it plays nicely with Emma’s gluten intolerance.

Then, we headed out for some dessert. We headed to my favourite ice cream store in the forever – Swensens. Last time we ate at a Swensens, we were in Thailand, so it has been a long time coming. The ice cream was delicious, but different to the type we had eaten in Thailand. Not in a bad way, just not exactly what I was expecting. I guess it has just been franchised in Thailand, as the San Francisco store (which is actually the original shop) was just a walk-in ice cream counter, as opposed to somewhere where you could also grab drinks and food. Still, a nice way to end a very food-oriented day.

Up next: Our last day in San Francisco, and then NEW YORK!

07/04/11 - 08/04/11 Koyasan, Monks, Pocky and Osaka

These last two days have really blurred together... Probably the lack of sleep talking.

Anyhow, after our brilliant previous day in Nara, we only had a short while in the morning to enjoy some more of Nara before we headed off to our next destination. As such, after our breakfast (once again, traditional Japanese, so it was a bit of a mixed bag), we headed out to see some more of Nara park.

Today we were off to see Todai-ji Temple, and the gigantic Buddha statue that resides within it. The building that encloses this Buddha is the world's largest wooden structure, and to say that it is large is an understatement. It is gargantuan. It fills your vision from a good hundred metres away. Much like most historical buildings in Japan, the structure had been burnt down and rebuilt several times throughout its lifespan, and as such the current version of it was only about 300 years old. Remarkably, the current version is only two-thirds the size of the original! It must have been truly gobsmacking to see the original structure in its heyday.

Inside, it is just as impressive, as the hall contains a massive statue of Buddha, as well as other buddhist-related spiritual deities. Much like most of the Buddhist stuff that I have seen on my trips through Asia, words fail to encapsulate the grandness of their scale and the sense of calm one gets when in their presence.

Soon after, we headed back out into Nara park. There, the deer were waiting. We bought one last bunch of deer biscuits and gave them a feed. Now we had noticed that the deer's manners were pretty much inversely proportioned to the tourist concentration of the area. The ones that hung around the major tourist sites, such as Todai-ji, were very rude, pushy, and would actually bite you or knock their heads against you if you weren't careful. Conversely, the deer in the quieter, foresty regions of the park were far more placid, and even occasionally shyed away from deer biscuits, as Emma and I discovered when we were leaving the park through a lesser-known exit.

Then, it was off on another confusing array of trains to our next destination - this time, it way Koyasan, a mountain in southern Kansai, famous for its Buddhist temple lodgings, and the Oku-no-in graveyard. It sounds slightly creepy to head a good two hours out of the way to visit a graveyard, but when you see it, you understand why. More on this in a little while.

Anyway, after catching a train to the base of the mountain, we boarded a cable car, that took us up a *very* steep slope. It was an interesting experience for me, as it was my first cable car ride. Not to say that I didn't trust the engineering behind the vehicle, but it does make you uneasy when you are being slowly hauled along the side of a mountain at about a 75-degree angle. Then, a quick bus ride later, and we were at our temple lodging, Eko-in.

There was another group of tourists with us, who judging by their accents, were Aussies as well. Further observation led me to believe that they were in fact Queenslanders, as they had Jetstar tickets on their bags, and those flights to Japan depart from the Gold Coast or Cairns. They seemed nice enough, but they were obviously a different type of tourist to us - they had come for the alcohol and parties. Not really my scene to be honest, but if we had all gone to the pub together, I wouldn't have minded. Not that there are any pubs on Koyasan...

Anyways, back to the blog. After being shown to our room by a very friendly monk, we set out to explore Oku-no-in. This place was incredible. A 2km path lined with hundreds of thousands of lanterns, monuments and mausoleums, set within a massive cedar forest. These stone monuments varied in age from the fairly recent, with their polished granite sheen, all the way to the moss-covered, truly ancient tombstones, with some being nearly a thousand years old. The headstones varied from tombs of Samurai warriors, all the way through to shrines of pest-control companies, devoted to all of the insects they had exterminated. There were also shrines for modern-day soldiers, both Japanese and other nations. I'm not entirely sure how I felt about those. Still, the air was cool, and at most times, not a sound could be heard.

Ok, yes it is slightly creepy to think that this is a place where people's remains are scattered, but being there really was a worthwhile experience. It gave you time to ponder the fragility of life, religion, and ultimately universal tollerance and acceptance.

At the end of the path of Oku-no-in lies the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. Inside... well, as I whispered to Emma when we were standing inside "I have no idea how I am going to describe this in my blog..."

It was the most breathtaking room I had ever been in. Thousands upon thousands of lanterns hung from the roof, each projecting their faint yellow glow onto the dark timber floors below. In the center of the room, golden Buddhist monuments, with two large lamps behind them. These lamps are said to have been burning for over a thousand years. At each side of the room, monks chanted in unison. The atmosphere all of this created is indescribable. Utterly, utterly indescribable. This experience for me, was worth the whole trip to Japan.

Unfortunately, it was now getting dark, so we had to rush back to our lodging for the night. We were served dinner at exactly 5:30pm, and it was a traditional Buddhist dinner. This meant no meat, no onion and no garlic - essentially nothing that would corrupt the senses. The food wasn't actually that bad. Lots of tofu, some of which was on rival with a good dish-sponge for taste and texture, but on the whole it was pretty good.

Later, as Emma was closing the door to our outside area for the night, she slipped and put a hole in the door (it was made of paper). I laughed. She tried to fix it by dabbing it with water and trying to re-seal it. I reckon she got away with it... you could only notice it if you were looking for holes.

I then went for a chocolate run to a local store. On this run, I discovered the wonders of "Pocky" - small straw-like biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate. If you haven't eaten them before, do so. They're cheap, tasty and are fun to eat.

The next morning, at the bright and early hour of 6:30am, we attended our lodging's two ceremonies. The first was a Buddhist morning ceremony, which involved sitting in revered silence, listening to a senior monk chant from his scriptures. The second was the fire ceremony, and involved burning various pieces of wood, liquids and plants. Unfortunately, the significance of both of these services was completely lost on me, as they weren't explained in the slightest. Still, I'm sure if I could speak Japanese, that they would have explained it to me in great detail.

Now, as some of you may be aware, athletically, I'm an incredibly inflexible person. I can't touch my toes, and I have never been able to. I struggle to sit cross legged. Yes, I know I need to excersise more. Why am I mentioning this? Well, the position we had to sit in during these ceremonies was incredibly uncomfortable for me. So much so that my legs fell asleep during both of them. At the end of each ceremony, we had to stand up, walk in front of the Buddha and bow, before slowly walking off. Try doing this when you can't feel your feet. Thankfully I didn't have a Mr. Bean - style disaster where I knocked over everything and caused irreperable cultural offence, but it was a struggle on my behalf. I need to join a gym...

Emma and I then sat around in our lodging for a few hours, surfing the internet. Yes, they have internet in a Buddhist temple on top of a mountain. Moreover, the connection we were using is about eight times faster than the one I have in Australia! Internet envy...

Then, we headed back down the mountain through the complex network of buses, cable cars and trains to Osaka. It was with a heavy heart that I left the more rural areas of Japan. I had always wanted to see the amazing fields of greenery so often depicted in the Studio Ghibli films such as "My Neighbour Totoro" and "Spirited Away", and I felt so lucky to have seen them, even if they were just glimpses, as I knew that they wouldn't be around forever.

Thankfully, our hotel is actually on top of the train station where our train terminated. And boy is it fancy. It's a five star hotel and it sure means it! Everybody we saw in the lobby was dressed in business suits, carrying designer labelled luggage. To say that we stuck out like a sore thumb was an understatement! Still, the room was cheap to book, and it is very nice. Obviously where they get you is the various services the hotel offers. For example, a cup of coffee delivered to your room will cost you around $17 Aussie. Furthermore, any sort of meal will cost you in excess of $40, and they have some courses in the main restaurants which are 60,000 - 70,000 yen per person. To put that in perspective, my entire spending money for this holiday was just over 100,000 yen. Looks like we won't be getting room service...

After spending a while relaxing in our room, Emma and I headed downstairs into the massive shopping complex to have a look around. We discovered several levels down an entire level which was a market-style delicatessen. It had hundreds of different vendors, selling any food you can possibly imagine. Every ingredient for anything Japanese (and other cultures, too!), you could buy from these vendors. Emma and I spent a good hour just walking around, just baffled by the sheer range of foodstuffs on offer. The desserts section was particularly fantastic.

Then, we headed out for dinner. We decided to go to that old favourite, Bubba Gump's. Yes, we tracked one down in Osaka to dine on tasty, tasty shrimp for one last time in the forseeable future. I felt a slight twinge of guilt that somewhere in Osaka, an Udon Noodle bar was going out of business because we didn't eat there, but when presented with the opportunity to dine on my classic "firewall of shrimp", how could I say no?

And then, catching the last train of the day, we made it back to our hotel in time for some well deserved rest. I've been up since 6:30am. I'm on holiday. This isn't meant to happen. I need sleep.

06/04/11 - DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!

We started this morning bright and early, as we wanted to have a quick look around a few of Kyoto's shops before leaving. Emma finally found some clothes that were nice and that fit her, and I found a TinTin shop, which I went "squee" at everything. We also had McDonalds for breakfast. Again.

Then, it was back to the hotel to grab our bags, and off to the train station. After a quick hop on the subway, we were at the intricately massive Kyoto station to try and find our train to Nara. Now, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but to a foreigner, it seems like there are more different companies of rail travel in Japan then there are ways of serving fish.

We were given the hard task of finding the "Kintetsu" private railway system for our train to Nara. Now while most of the different companies have their various stations well signposted throughout any major "hub" station, Kintetsu did not. Their directions were confusing and vague. They even had signs that directed us down corridors that didn't actually end in their train station, but in a SHOPPING MALL. After having about as much enjoyment as one gets in watching an orphanage burn to the ground, we finally found our station.

Half an hour later, we were in Nara. A quick 10 minute walk to the hotel, and we were ready to go exploring Nara's premiere attraction, Nara koen (or park). As the title of this blog entry so aptly surmises, Nara park is famous for its deer. They're everywhere. They're tame and they're cute and they can be deceptively aggressive. Normally they're quite passive and won't go near you. That is, until you buy some deer biscuits. Then, it's every man for themselves.

The deer will catch wind of your scent of deer biscuits, which is quickly transformed into a scent of fear. First, there will be one following you, then there will be two. Then, it's like an exponential thing. Soon you have like, TWELVE deer surrounding you, trying everything they can to eat your brain- I mean, deer biscuits. They're a bit like zombies, except a whole lot cuter, and they let you pat them... sometimes. Eventually you learn if you get deer-mobbed, to throw a biscuit far away and hope that some of the pack breaks off, allowing you enough time to flee.

I'm actually giving them quite a bad rap at the moment - some of them are mean - they will bite you on the leg/butt if you don't give them their biscuits, but most will just gingerly follow you around, bobbing their heads up and down until you give them some of your precious biscuits. We found one particularly nice one which let us pat it. It even liked us patting it - even when we didn't have any biscuits. We named it Yuki (snow), because it was the only Japanese noun we knew aside from food.

We then headed away from the more populated sections of Nara park, and up into the hilly shrine area. It was beautiful through this area. Stone lanterns lined the pathway all the way up to the grand shrine, and through the forest trees, you could see deer flitting about as wild deer should.

The grand shrine was also very impressive - very big and painted in a striking tone of red, but because I didn't understand any of the religious customs associated with it, I could only really appreciate it on face value. That, and the atmosphere that the park created around it.

I decided to feed any deer that I saw in the foresty section some deer biscuits, as a congratulatory measure for being "deer that behaved like deer should". We even saw the cutest little baby deer near the Grand Shrine. He got lots of biscuits.

We then made our way past a startlingly large, almost mountain-sized, hill, and then down through the most breathtaking cherryblossom grove Emma and I had seen yet on our trip. The sun was setting as we made our way through it, which added that extra special touch to a visually stunning landscape.

Back at the hotel, we could finally check in. During the check-in process, we were sat down, and offered some delicious looking cherryblossom tea. How can I describe this heated beverage? Imagine the purest cherryblossom flowers you can (look at my blog photos for reference). Then imagine them being gently placed in a intricately detailed deer-themed teacup. Now imagine boiling hot seawater being poured over them. That's what it tasted like. Salt water and flowers. Interesting. The hotel lobby itself is a train wreck of decorations from all different cultures, but the rooms themselves are nice and ryokan-like. I sound like I'm giving the hotel a bad review, but it is actually very nice. Especially the staff, and especially Nami, who has been looking after us so far. More on her later.

After relaxing in our room for a little while, we headed up to the roof of our hotel to catch the last rays of sunlight disappearing over the horizon. A very romantic end to a highly scenic day.

Like at the other Ryokan we stayed at, dinner was in our room. This time, we were served by a delightful lady called Nami, who spoke great English. She showed us exactly what to do with all of our various dishes of food, and that made the meal infinitely more enjoyable. She even talked with us about how she travelled to Australia last year on a working holiday. She was great.

And then I sat down to write this blog. So that's pretty much as far as I've gotten so far today. Oh wait, Nami has just brought us a gift. It is post cards with our names in Kanji written on them. "Emma" means "Smile True", and "David" means "Kindness Beautiful... Pass... The Big Dipper..." My tallness translates into any language.

Oh, and I spent about 1000 yen on deer biscuits today. They're that freaking cute.

Tomorrow: Nara koen's Big Buddha, Moar deer and our next stop: Mt. Koyasan, a town of Buddhist monasteries.