From the category archives:

On The Move

Which Part of Japan Shall I Go?

Ever since my wife and I first talked about visiting Japan after my last trip there in 2008, the main question that came up was always, where to go and how long?

And the biggest concern was of course; the budget involved. We all knew going to Japan wouldn’t be cheap, even for budget travelers.

Should we make Tokyo our base and visit the surrounding places on a day trip?

Or go to Kyoto and Osaka and visit it’s surrounding cities on day trips?

That sounded great, but we would have to come back again in the future since we only visited one of those. The thing that makes decision making a little tricky is that we wanted to visit not only Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka but also Hiroshima and Hakone – all in this trip. I spent 7 full days going around Tokyo in 2007, so Tokyo is not really high on my list but it is for my wife as she has never been to Japan. My priorities lie more towards Kyoto and Osaka.

At the same time, we didn’t want to make a sprint kind of trip like those found in vacation tours and packages where you stay just 1-2 days in a place and move on. I wanted to have more free time in between so that there is a flexibility to explore the unknowns when needed.

With that many places to go, I think we would need at least 12 days. After some research, especially on Shinkansen ticket fares and eligibility of the Japan Rail Pass, we decided we would fly into Osaka from Kuala Lumpur and embark on a 16 days trip. The trip would take us from Osaka – Kyoto – Hiroshima – Hakone and finally Tokyo, with Nara, Nikko and Yokohama as day trips in between.
View Japan 2011 in a larger map

We would spend 4 nights in Osaka, 3 in Kyoto, 1 in Hiroshima and Hakone and the last 6 nights in Tokyo.

With the itinerary confirmed, it was now time to look for air tickets to Japan.

{ 2 comments }

A Creepy Trip Kutna Hora

When I was working in Germany back in 2008, my colleague suggested that we visit Prague during one of the long weekends. And she further suggested that since we were already in Prague, why not make a half day dash to Kutna Hora using our Eurail tickets.

I was like, What? Kutna Hora? What is there to see?

Skeletons. Lots and lots of them.

Now that sounds really creepy to me.

Seeing a skeleton is already not a good idea, what more being surrounded by thousands of them?

But anyway, we made the trip to Kutna Hora, a small town east of Prague on the same day we were supposed to go back to Germany. We planned to stop by at Kutna Hora for a short while to see the skeletons, then take the train back to Germany via Prague.

It was a 2 hour train from Prague to Kutna Hora and it costs 97Kc (about RM17). The train we took didn’t go directly to Kutna Hora, but instead we need to switch trains at a small town called Kolin.

Kutna Hora isn’t a big town. It’s more like a residential area. All the attractions (mostly churches) are within walking distance from the train station, but none of them interests me except one.

Kostnice Ossuary.

Bernard at Kostnice Ossuary - © Bernard Loke

In 1278, Henry, the abbot of Sedlec was sent to the Holy Land. On returning, he brought soil from Golgotha and sprinkled it on the ground here. As a consequence, the burial ground was considered holy and became extremely popular. In 1511 a chapel was constructed to house the bones from abolished graves. The chapel is open to the public, and contains the bones of about 40000 people, arranged by František Rint in 1870. Rint’s work includes an enormous chandelier including every bone in the body, and a crucifix style arrangement near the main altar.

It looked like other churches from the outside, but once I stepped inside, all I see was skeletons.

Bones..and bones..and bones, everywhere from the ceiling to the floor!

At first it was quiet scary actually. The more I see them, I felt it’s quite artistic and not scary. The way the different types of bones are arrange so precisely together was really unique.

It was my first time surrounded by so many dead people’s bones. But after a while it’s not so scary afterall.

Kostnice Ossuary - © Bernard Loke

Creepy isn’t it?

{ 0 comments }

An Educational Visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park

Hiroshima After the Atomic Bombing on 6th August 1945 - © Bernard Loke

I was working in a country wide project in Japan back in 2008. I was lucky enough that Hiroshima was one of the 4 stops I made. Tokyo, Sendai and Sapporo completes the list.

Hiroshima is synonymous with the 1945 atomic bomb .One of the main tourist attractions there is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

So I decided to give it visit one cloudy morning. It was not that far from downtown Hiroshima. Probably about 15 minutes tram ride.

The atomic bomb exploded right above this park. It was initially aimed at the Aioi-bashi bridge which is located at the northern tip of the park. Instead it exploded slightly towards the bridge’s east.

How did I know about it?

Visit the Peace Memorial Museum.

The Atomic Bomb Dome at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park - © Bernard Loke

A Cenotaph At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - © Bernard Loke

There were a few significant sights at the park, but I headed straight to the museum so that I’ll know more about everything in the park when I get out later.

I learned so much about WW2 and the atomic bomb that morning.

All I knew before the visit was that the atomic bomb ended WW2 and it was dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans back in 1945.

That’s as far as my history goes.

I learned the chronological order of the events lead to the bombing.

I saw pictures of the a flattened Hiroshima. Pictures of victims with their body badly burnt.

I saw stuffs like clothing, watches, hair and other personal items belonging to the victims being put on display.

There was also a scale model of Hiroshima before and after the bombing.

There were videos of the American B-29 bomber, Enola Gay heading towards Hiroshima from Guam on that fateful morning of August 6, 1945.

Enola Gay's Path Towards Hiroshima - © Bernard Loke

In fact, there were so many things on display that made my 50 yen worth every penny of it. It was such a good educational visit.

{ 0 comments }

The Many Stuffs I Bring On My Trips

I have friends who asked me what I usually bring when I travel for business and holidays.

Do I bring a lot? Or the bare minimum?

Most of the time I usually hand carry 2 bags accompanied with 1 checked in luggage.

I would check in my Samsonite suitcase bought 3 years ago. After lots and lots of abuse by the airport luggage handlers, it’s still going very strong. And it comes with 10 years warranty.

So no worries.

I’ll have one laptop bag with two 12.1″ laptops inside. One for work and one personal use. No mix between work and personal stuffs.

And then I’ll bring another camera backpack. This is the most awesome bag I ever had. Great quality and good design. It still looks like a new one after 1.5 years of heavy abuse and having been to more than 10 countries.

It’s a Thinktank Glass Taxi.

I’ll have my SLR in it, a G10, 2 lenses and a flash gun. Sometimes I’ll have my tripod inside a Thinktank Bazooka if the destination is worth bringing my 2kg tripod.

But, there are certain trips which I carry only one carry on bag, especially on Air Asia flights. Usually this is where I go for vacation or scuba diving trips overseas.

Since it’s a vacation, there’s not going to be laptop for work.

The backpack I use is a Thinktank Streetwalker Harddrive. It’s a camera and laptop backpack combo.

I’ll put my 12.1″ personal laptop inside together with my camera, underwater Fisheye FIX housing, strobes, lenses, UCLS tray system, a whole loads of batteries, camera maintenance kits and some other stuffs..

All in all, it would weigh anywhere between 8-10kg.

The Thinktank Streetwalker Harddrive is another awesome bag. In fact, I love both my Thinktanks. However, the Streetwalker Harddriver is used less frequently because of it’s bulkyness.

I know Thinktanks are above the average bag prices. But trust me, once you get hold of any Thinktank bag, you’ll never want to change it for another brand. It’s that good.

I have specific bags for specific purposes. A bag for each purpose and what’s going to be in it.

Women buy lots of handbags but they are all the same.

Guys buy lots of bags too, but for SPECIFIC purpose.

{ 0 comments }

MH704 Delayed 6 Hours

Delayed MH704 on Airbus A330 - © Bernard Loke

MH704 : KUL – MNL on 10th April 2010.

It was supposed to be departing at 1015. But once I went past the immigration, I heard the announcement that it was going to be delayed to 1130. 1.5 hours of delay. Not too bad I thought.

I could just sit down, have a Starbucks, read some newspapers, play with my iPhone and time will pass quickly.

So come 1130, everyone was on the plane. Seat belts buckled and we were all waiting for the plane to be taxi-ed out to the runway.

Then comes the captain’s announcement.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome on-board MH704. We’re currently facing some technical issues. Don’t worry. It will be fixed in the next 5 minutes.

5 minutes…YEAH RITE! More like 1.5 hours!

Salted Nuts with Juice - © Bernard Loke

I sat in the plane from 1115 to 1245 being served with kacang masin and guava juice. Then after 1.5 hours, the captain came again.

We have to disembark to plane while the technicians fix the problem. It would probably take AT LEAST 3 hours. We’re sorry for all the inconveniences caused.

Suddenly everything seems so familiar again. This is indeed MH in which through my own experience is a flight delay airline.

Previously, I sat in the plane (KUL – FRA) for 5 freaking hours before being asked to disembarked. My flight eventually took off some 26.5 hours later from the intended departure time.

That’s the worst experience I had with MH. Not forgetting too some other 3-6 hours flight delays experiences.

Thinking back, I really wonder why I chose to take MH to Manila this time. Why not SQ?

Back to the flight delay. Obviously everyone very pissed off. I am.

The captain said they needed 3 hours to fix the problem in which then the new departure time would be at least 1600. However, the ground crew said new departure time is 1500. In fact, the departure time of 1500 was shown on the screen. And it was only until 1445 that they announced the new departure time which was going to be 1630.

It was now lunch time. Surely MH has to at least compensate our lunch. Everyone got a meal voucher. But here’s the caveat – it’s only worth RM20 and can be used at either Noodles, Delifrance and Burger King.

I chose Noodles. I didn’t want to have another round of fast food at Burger King after my McD breakfast meal.

The next thing I found out at Noodles is that there’s only 1 option of food to choose from. Wantan noodle + Chinese tea. That’s RM20 gone. Good food nevertheless.

So come 1630, again everyone was on the plane. And the captain came in,

Sorry to keep you waiting ladies and gentlemen. Our plane is currently refuelling. It will take 15 minutes.

And then it was followed by a loud BOoOOo from the front to the back of the plane.

Eventually, the flight took off and I arrived in Manila at 2030, more than 6 hours from the original time.

{ 0 comments }

A Morning At Sapporo’s Nijo Market

I was browsing my travel photo collections the other night and I realized I have not written anything about my trip to Sapporo, which was back in winter of 2007. It was only a 5 days working trip. So I didn’t have much time to wander around. The cold weather there (-16C) definitely did not help.

To make things even worse, I had to work at odd hours; 10pm to 6am. So one night, after finishing my work at the customer’s place and reaching the hotel at 6.30am, I decided that I was too awake to sleep.

But, where to go or what to do so early on a winter morning when the sun rises at 9.15am?

Headed to Nijo Market which opens at 7am.

In fact, one of the only two places I visited in Sapporo was the Nijo Market (the other being the Sapporo TV tower). It’s actually a fish market located right in the middle of Sapporo town. There were about 50-60 shops in the market and they were arranged into crowded market allies with quite small walkways.

They sell anything from fresh fish and crabs to sea urchins to salmon roe. But one thing for sure, they are definitely NOT cheap.

One of my favorite are the crabs. I’ve never in my life seen such a big crab called the Red King Crab, or Tarabakani. The shell’s diameter of the smallest one would be around 4-5″ and the biggest ones can go up to 9-10″!

{ 0 comments }

Diving With Laras Casse Resort in Manado

It’s been a few weeks now since I came back from diving in Manado. I did wrote something about the trip but most of them are only photos I took with a few lines.

So I thought I’d write more about the trip.

It was actually planned mid of 2009. We planned to be there from Christmas right up to New Year’s day. At that time, I didn’t know whether I could make it or not looking at the nature of my job. Since I’m writing about it now, that means I made it to Manado.

There were 10 of us in the group. A group big enough for us to have a boat and 3 dive guides to ourselves. We stayed and dove with Laras Casse Resort in Manado. But why Laras Casse and not others?

One of the reasons is that the diving prices in Manado are almost 50% cheaper than those in Lembeh Straits. We did made it to Lembeh though on 2 days. It would take about 1.5 hours drive from Manado to the port in Bitung town. Another 1.5 hours drive back to Manado, with everyone in the van sticky and stinking like a fish.

But that’s not the main reason they chose Laras Casse Resort. It was because everyone wanted to dive with the best dive guide in that area, Noldy Rumengan. His ability to spot the tiniest critter in second to none. In 2007, he discovered a new species of seahorse while doing his safety stop in Lembeh Straits. Today, the seahorse is named after him, Kyonemichthys Rumengani.

We weren’t so lucky though. Out of 6 diving days, we only got to dive with Noldy on one day in Lembeh Straits. It was because the famous underwater photographer, William Tan was around at that time too. Noldy is his personal dive guide, so everyone has to give way.

Personally, that didn’t matter so much to me because my dive guide, Melky was good enough to spot all the critters for my camera too.