Inca Highlands Day 3 - Arrival in Cusco

The morning began with a 5am wakeup call. This wasn't organised by me, it was organised by the tour guide - and it came as a bit of a shock. For a minute there I thought that work was calling me up, wanting to discuss an issue! Not only was the wakeup call totally unexpected, it was half in Spanish. Did the job though. The reason for the call was due to the fact that we had a 7:20am flight to Cusco to catch. After showering and packing the bags it was down for breakfast. Breakfast was the same breakfast as the morning I arrived in Lima - scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, juice.

A transfer bus to Lima airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez) was arranged by the tour, we arrived at the airport with no incident. Everyone on the bus was in high spirits, considering that it was still early in the morning. At the airport we were handed our e-tickets and proceeded to check-in. Nothing too special so far - except for the fact that the Gate number that I had on my ticket differed from others in the tour. Turns out that they just print any old number when they haven't assigned a gate to a flight. I must say, it would have been much easier to print nothing and tell us to monitor the departure boards!

Whilst the scheduled departure time of the Lima to Cusco flight was 7:20am, we didn't depart on time. The plane (Peru Airlines) set out for our next destination at 8:00am instead. The journey only took an hour, I slept. I woke up fairly tired - that could have been due to the early morning start or the impact of altitude... as Cusco is roughly 3300m above sea level. We were met by our guide, Belge, after we picked up our bags and left the terminal building. There was only time for a quick hello before we were whisked away to our accomodation.

The hotel in Cusco was pretty good. The room was clean, the bathroom was nice, and the shower did it's job. What more could you ask for? As for the negatives - the room was a bit cold and the key to the room did not snugly fit the lock. Getting into the room always took a few tries. All good.

The first day in Cusco was quite light - as we were all supposed to acclimatise to the higher altitude. We were given free time until after lunch and were given a few recommendations on where to eat. Given that we didn't know much of the place, we took up one of the recommendations - a little cafe that was effectively down the road.

Once we were done with lunch we commenced our walking tour of Cusco, led by our tour guide, Belge. The tour was only brief, then again Cusco isn't exactly the largest of towns. The focus of the tour was the Plaza de Armas and surrounds. I was actually impressed by the plaza, as I wasn't expecting much - it was quite a pleasant place to just sit and relax. Once the walking tour finished, some of us headed back to the Plaza de Armas and chilled out in a cafe. The cafe, funnily enough, was called Cafe Bagdad. No idea where the name came from, and I didn't ask.

One thing that i'll mention about Cusco is that it is quite polluted. I don't mean that there is litter on the ground and that it's a gubby place to be, I was referring to the air quality. I originally thought that the air in and around Lima was bad, but Cusco was horrendous. Just about every car on the road would be spewing noxious clouds out the back of their mufflers.

The tour had its first organised dinner at a local restaurant. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, but it was more on the higher end of what was available. The food here was great!  I ordered a chilly chicken dish that was akin to curry. Yum, yum. I also tried small portions of what some of the others were eating as well, with one of the more exotic dishes that I tried being alpaca. Guinea pig was on offer as well, but that was ordered by another table. Many made a mental note to give it a try at a later stage.

After dinner had concluded it was time to head back to the hotel for some rest. A big day ahead was planned for us, a tour of the Sacred Valley. It was still early on in the tour, so everyone signed up. A wise decision as we'd be back for another free day post-Inca trail.

Inca Highlands Day 2 - Lima - To Rimac and Back!

The second day of the Inca Highlnds tour ensured that I saw much more of Lima and surrounds. The day saw me visit both the rough end of Lima as well as the more pituresque, the hustle and bustle in the heart of town as well as secluded views looking over the town. The day in isolation would have been a good one, if it wasn't for other groups telling us what we could have done in the day. More on that a little later on.

The morning was supposed to be an early one, with several people aiming to wake up really early (5:30am) to see the celebrations in the main square outside the Presidential Palace (Plaza de Armas). The event was the Procession of the Lord of Miracles - where purple could be seen everywhere, banners are hung off balconies and people dress up in as much purple garb that they can find. I set an alarm for 5:30am, found that I was just too tired, and went back to sleep. I reawoke at 8:30am.

Heading down for breakfast, I met up with those that left earlier in the morning to see the Procession of the Lord of Miracles. They had just come back for breakfast. Good timing. There were a few others in the room for breakfast and we discussed what we could do for the remainder of the morning (as the half-day tour of Lima would be beginning in the afternoon). I didn't really have much of an idea, as I hadn't done any research on what to do in Lima - as I had assumed the tour had it all covered. I was happy to go for a stroll, as were the others in the know. We set off shortly after breakfast had concluded.

I'm not exactly where the target destination was for the morning but we first made it to Plaza de Armas where, as expected, the area was bathed in purple. Even though the speeches and the main procession had passed there were hundreds of people milling about. Perhaps the locals were staying out and enjoying the sunshine, as it was a lovely day outside.

After cutting through the Plaza de Armas the aim was to cross the bridge behind the Presidential Palace. We headed up towards the river towards the Library with the aim of cutting back behind the presidential palace. The road was blocked off by the military. Standing at the blockade we watched as the side gate of the palace opened up. Several military men milled about before an artillery piece was rolled out of the gate. The men carted the artillery piece down the road, and that was that.

As the bridge behind the palace was closed off, we went to cross north of the river via the main arterial road, Abancay. As we crossed the road it seemed as though we had crossed into another world. The feeling of complete safety evaporated as the integrity of the buildings in view deteriorated. As we turned left and walked down Via de Evitamiento, abandoned and burnt out buildings also came into view! Digital cameras that were in plain view promptly made their way into the concealed security of backpacks. We had arrived in Rimac.

Rimac happens to be one of the most run-down areas of Lima, and this was confirmed with conversations later on in the day with local guides. Without this knowledge we forged onwards, passing through a small market. One thing that was of particular note was that there were several stalls selling Chinese food. Bizzare, especially in a place like Peru.

Our stay in Rimac was not an extensive one. A currency exchange person stopped to talk to me, whilst some of the others continued. He gestured to me that we should not continue - I imagine that he was saying the exact same thing. The shaking of the head followed by pointing ahead of us wasn't really the set of gestures that I really wanted to see. I nodded and thanked the exchange person and called out to some of the others. Some of the group ahead were much further on. I didn't have to do too much as some military men had stopped the lead elements of the group and started talking to them, apparently they were strongly told to head back. So turn back we did.

The way back was much more direct as the bridges behind the palace seemed to have opened up. As it was lunchtime, and not too far away from the start time of the tour we dispersed. Three of us decided to have something quick and ate at a chicken shop on the Plaza des Armas (Roccos?). Nothin too special about the meal except for the fact that I tried some Inca Cola. I just had to try Inca Cola as I saw the advertisment for it everywhere!

At 2pm we all gathered in the hall at the hotel to set off for our half-day Lima tour, organised by the local tour leader. Two minibuses were provided for us and we split up accordingly. After a short drive through downtown Lima, we were out onto one of the highways - where there was an accident on the side of the road. As we approached the accident zone, we slowed to a crawl. Looking to the left as we passed by it didn't look good at all. An overturned sedan sat on the side of the road, just shy of the median strip down the centre. It looked as though the car had hit the median strip, which was actually demarked by a raised slab of concrete along the centre of the highway, and rolled over. Glass shards and shrapnel were everywhere. Approximately a dozen people were milling about the car, some trying to assist the driver out of the car, and some just watching. Quite the chaotic scene.

The journey past the accident was incident free, and in a short space of time we were in the district of Miraflores - the playground of the more affluent in Lima. We were taken to a local park in the area and were permitted to walk around. The park was reasonably large and was distinctively green. Water isn't the most readily available resource in Lima and therefore its use to ensure the health of the park emphasised the affluence of the area. So we were told, anyway. In the park we were given some basic information about Lima - it's population, size, number of districts, and the city's demographics.

Huaca Pucllana was the next stop after the stroll through the park.Whilst we didn't enter the Huaca Pucllana site, we did get a good view of the structures within from outside of the enslosure walls. The intriguing thing about the series of structures is that it's made up entirely of little mud slabs, that surprisingly hasn't totally decayed away after all this time. Probably better that way, as i'm not too sure how many people were in the mood to spend extra dosh. There was a bloke out the front trying to sell books about Huaca Pucllana, yet nobody was interested. It was at this point we got a bit of a primer on ancient pre-Inca cultures - the Lima and Wari cultures.

We must have only been there for about 20 or so minutes before we were back in the mini-bus. The next stop was the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido, in Chorillos - an area to the south west of Lima. The moument was located at the top of a windy road overlooking Lima as well as the Pacific Ocean. The monument, located not too far away from a stack of communications towers, was to commemorate the persistance of the Peruvian armed forces during the Chilean occupation of Lima. All news to me.


One thing about the area in which the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido resides is that it's not exactly well to do. From the platform you could see the run down houses down below - blocks and blocks of brown sprawled out as far as the eye could see. Having said that, there was a reasonbly nice football (soccer) stadium nearby. I guess that goes to show how important football is in South America!

There was one last stop to the tour after the Monumeno al Soladado Desconocido - the Lovers Statue back in Miraflores. However, there were two minor disruptions on the way down. We were first stopped by a man who was holding a rope taught, where the rope was connected to the rockface on the opposite side of the road. We were warned about this as we set off from the top of the road, obviously this came true. The driver gave the man one sol and we were off again. The second disruption was a pair of sleeping dogs on the road, as we approached the dogs continued to lie there. We stopped in front of them, the dogs continued to lie there. The driver beeped the horn, the dogs poked their heads up and continued to lie there. We ended up driving around them.

The final stop of the tour was the lovers statue in Lima, which provided more ocean views as the sun began to set. As expected there were couples milling about enjoying the sunset. Unexpectedly it was also the place where you could go paragliding. Some people seemed interested in paragliding but it was far too late to do so, and we were already committed to the tour. Once the sun had set we hopped back into our transports and were taken back to our hotel.


Back at the hotel we had a chance to freshen up and prepare for a group dinner at a local restaurant. At this point we were notified of our plan for the next morning - an early breakfast to be served at 5am so that we could be at the airport in time for a 7:30am flight. One of what was to be many early starts.

Dinner was fairly simple chicken dish with chips, as recommended by the guide for the day. No alcohol and no strange food this evening. What I did try though was the local chilli, aji - loved it. I do know that there are lots of types of chilli, but whatever it was... it was fantastic. I loaded up, by adding the chilli to both the chicken and the chips!

Anyway, as there was an early morning ahead of us we all left the restaurant not too long after 9. Sleep promptly followed..

Lazy First Day in Lima - South America awaits...

The replacement 1am Iberia flight passed by issue free - even managed a couple of hours of sleep! A busy drama filled day ensured that I was tired enough to fall asleep. The plane landed at approximately 6am in the morning, and it was off to immigration.

The wait at immigration was brief, although it was longer than it should have been thanks to my luck in picking queues. The slowest queue of the lot was, once again, the one that I chose. Great. Whilst waiting in line a young German tourist started talking to me, wondering what I was doing in South America. We had a brief chat and swapped stories, I was to do Maccu Piccu and she was to stay in Peru for serveral months with no specific plans. There's a contrast.

Our conversation ended when I passed through immigration and waited for my luggage. Luggage was being unloaded painfully slowly so I proceeded to the money exchange booth nearby, then went back to waiting. One thing that I always find a tad annoying about baggage collection is how everyone hovers around the conveyer belt. It doesn't matter where in the world I end up, people seem to always act the same way.

As soon as all of the passengers make their way from the plane to the corresponding luggage conveyer belt people line up right against the conveyer belt - restricting both vision and other people's access to the belt even if their luggage were to appear. Terribly frustrating. It would make much more sense if everyone stayed back a couple of meters then more people would be able to see the bags on the belt as they rolled through, and people would be able to collect their bags if they saw them. Simple!

Being the honest broker that I am I was stopped at the customs gate. The customs declaration form for Peru states that people are able to bring along 2 memory sticks for cameras for personal use. I brought three. At the end of the day it would be much easier just to say that there was nothing to declare, but I wrote in that I had 3 memory sticks. After a quick confirmation by the customs officer, I was waved through.

The taxi ride in from the airport to Hotel Maury was brief and only cost 45 soles, which equates to almost 18 dollars or so. Not the cheapest, though I didn't have anyone with me to share the cost of the cab. I managed to get to the hotel not too long after 7, and proceeded to have breakfast. I may not have arrived in time to check-in the evening before - but I was able to eat the scrambled eggs, toast, and jam breakfast that I was entitled to. Woo!

After waiting around with Jo for the others to wake up 7 of us set off to explore Lima. We only made it as far as a block or so before we all stopped. A shady looking money exhange vendor provided a decent rate and the money changing began. A group of tourists huddled around a dodgy money changer. Quite the sight. After a few trades the exchanger ran out of local money to exchange - he was willing to get more, but we decided to call it quits and move on.

We made it another block before we were interrupted by a street procession. The procession was lead by a lifesize figure pair of a woman and a baby child on a platform adorned with flowers, which was being carried down the street that we were walking down. We stopped to watch the procession, as did many locals.

The parade was a colourful and lively one, heading away from the central plaza. Perhaps it is preparation for a large event! We stopped to observe for approximately half an hour before deciding to move along to the Palace square - which was only a few streets away.

The sqaure itself was nice, although not fantastic. There were plenty of people in and around the square, particularly in front of the palace - where a parade was taking place. Obviously we took a look. Nothing too special. The most interesting component of the parade, was one of the guards on our side of the palace gates. A soldier with dark glasses armed with what looked to be an AK-47. Intense!

We watched the parade for about 15 minutes, at which point the parade ended. The crowd began to disperse. We decided to head off towards the Convento de Santo Domingo and proceeded to exit the area of the palace. Standing by the wall at the edge of the plaza was a column of police. The police saw the swarm of asians with cameras and beckoned one of the girls over, photo time. Apparently the girls didn't ask for a photo with the cops, but the cops did. Two of the girls in the group joined the column for the photo and one of them was lucky enough to have a cop drape his entire arm over her. Hillarious. The race for which girl could pique more interest was on! The photo detour didn't take too long, line up, snap, and we were away.

Downtown Lima isn't all that large, most touristy things are in a several block area. In no time we were outside of Convento de Santo Domingo. The group split into two groups, one to investigate the Convento de Santo Domingo, and the other group... wander around Lima, with a lunchtime meeting place of Convento de San Francisco. I was with the wander around Lima group.

Lunchtime provided much entertainment. The meeting place for everyone was to be at Convento de Santo Domingo, arguably the most important religious complex in Lima. In the courtyard some locals were selling food - an interesting assortment of local dishes. Not quite knowing what to get, we had a look at what was on offer and what seemed to be popular. One of the ladies that worked on the food stall sprung to action, visibly excited that some Chinese people had stopped by.

I don't really understand the total fascination with Chinese people by local Peruvians, but it's definitely there. The lady at the food stall eagerly assisted us in selecting our meals. She didn't speak English and we didn't speak Spanish, so it was an entertaining exchange. After we sat down at a nearby table the lady at the food stall was keen to continue conversing, so she called up her son - who could speak Mandarin. She passed her mobile to one of the girls and a brief conversation followed. A match made in heaven, so the rest of us joked!

There wasn't just the one phone call to the son over the course of lunch, there were several. Which was helpful, yet odd at the same time. The lady at the food stall was helpful to the point of giving us free drinks, a wonderfully refreshing maize drink (that was purple) was offered! Once we had finished lunch she helped us get started with the Convento tour with a peek into the temple, she then lead us to the starting point of an English speaking tour. So very helpful, we were very lucky.

The tour through the Convento de San Francisco was informative and it actually surprised me. I wouldn't have expected there to be a vast library in Lima. Not wanting to be offensive, I just didn't expect it. The library of Convento de San Francisco contained massive prayer books and held thousands of dated texts, quite amazing. One of the more entertaining moments was when we were asked if we had any questions about the library - one member of the tour asked "Are these books original?", classic!

The highlight of the tour of the Convento de San Francisco was a visit down to the catacombs. The catacombs was one of the few places that locals were buried in a younger Lima. A severely limited view of the chapel was available though one of the roof grills on the top floor. Furthermore, the catacombs had several levels and the level in which you were buried depended on status. The members of the convent would be buried on the top level and the poorest of society at the bottom. Tens of thousands of people have been buried there! The odd thing about the whole setup is that the bones have been arranged in a decorative manner by the archaeologists that discovered the catacombs. Having said that, it probably looks much better than a mess of bones!


The visit to the Convento de San Francisco capped off a busy day, i've written too much already! Not many more things of note happened in the afternoon before returning to the hotel. Quickly zooming through the rest of the day - back at the hotel we all had our rooms re-assigned in preparation for the tour, all of the members of the tour had an opportunity meet eachother and we were briefed on the tour ahead. Two important events for the next day: early morning festivities in the palace square, and a guided tour of Lima in the afternoon.

London to Lima... the journey that almost wasn't to be

Ok, so it's all a little late but I did make notes of my holiday as it progressed. So i'll start from the top. I'll consolidate all of the links into the one page once I get enough written up. Now, it's time to rewind to the very start of my journey way back on the morning of Saturday the 16th of October 2010!

I woke up in the morning at approximately 4:30am, for a 7:25am flight departing from Heathrow Airport. It all seemed like a very good idea at the time, given that I only had a few minor things left to pack. I finalised the packing, double checked what I had packed, hopped into the shower and got myself ready. Once I was all done, I grabbed all my gear and headed on down to the London Underground - Kings Cross Station, Picadilly line, all the way to Heathrow Airport.

Now, I wasn't checking the time through all of the stages of getting ready. Not ideal. As soon as I rolled out of bed I just assumed I had enough time. Really bad. Usually i'm quite early for flights, although that may be hard to believe after this particular fail. I was at Kings Cross Station at a quarter to 6. Considering that I really needed to be at the airport two hours prior to departure, this was not good. I must have had a brain snap when setting the alarm, as I must have been preparing to be at the airport by 7:25, instead of 5:25. Excuses, excuses.

As soon as I hopped onto a plane bound for Heathrow I began to worry. Checkin would definitely close by the 60 minute to-go mark, meaning that i'd need to traverse through 24 train stops inside of 40 minutes. Not likely. As soon as I started counting the train stops that were remaining, I realised the abject totality of my failure. Whilst the train ambled along to Heathrow I began to look at alternatives to get to South America... the mobile phone searches were not promising. An extra 5 minute stop at Earls Court did not help to settle my nerves.

The train finally made its stop at Heathrow (Terminals 1,2,3) and I dashed towards the Iberia counter. At 6:45am I just knew that it was already game over with respect to check-in. Hope and luck was all I really had left. Just having a sit and a cry wasn't really an option. As was expected I was not allowed to board - I told them my situation, apologised profusely and handed in my travel itinerary. The people at the counter, one male and one female, proceeded to check alternative flights. The flight later in the evening... sold out.... the flights for the next day... sold out. Searching for the next available flight turned up something, yet not the answer that I was looking for. The next available flight out to Lima was next Friday. OMG.

After hearing that the next available flight was to be in a weeks time the lady at the desk attempted once more to get me onto the plane. By this stage it was 7:00, only 25 minutes to go before scheduled departure. Thankfully this time, after some pleading by the helpful lady at the desk, I was given the green light. I ran to a nearby check-in desk that was suddenly manned, dumped the bags and was instructed to run to the gate. Thank you Iberia! With lady luck on my side nothing else could have gone wrong - or so I thought.

I sprinted to the gate to ensure that I was not to be denied a second time. I did get a few curious glances as I steamed along to Gate 23, I didn't care. A few short minutes later, I was standing in the queue (of 4) to get into the waiting area of Gate 23, puffing and panting. I handed over my passport and boarding pass, and walked into the waiting area pumping my fists in the air. Within two minutes of my sitting down a communique went out to the passengers of Gate 23: due to French strike action, boarding was to be delayed until further notice.

Delays in flights wouldn't usually be a problem, if the flights were direct. In this particular case, the plane that I was waiting to board was bound for Madrid. Furthermore, the transit time between the connecting flight to Lima was two hours. Not the healthiest of margins, that's for sure. People were initially quite calm, but as time progressed people in the waiting area were starting to worry. It turns out that I wasn't the only one who had a connecting flight, there were a total of 40 people who were, like me, bound for Lima. There were also others who were connecting over to the once-a-week flight bound for Guatemala.

After the one hour late mark we were given the go-ahead to board the plane, to the relief of those heading for Lima. Unfortunately it was all too late for those bound for Guatemala, who had only a mere one hour transit time planned for their journey. Relief once again swayed back to worry for the Lima bound passengers, including me, as the in-plane announcement by the captain mentioned that there would be another 40 odd minute delay whilst something was being done about the impact of the French strike action. Sigh.

At 9:20am the captain finally announced that we were departing, which was met with cheering and clapping in the passenger cabin. Assuming that Iberia were to hold the connecting flight to Lima, all would be good and I would be in South America by the evening. Relatively speaking, the flight to Madrid itself was quite uneventful. I dozed.

Upon landing in Madrid (Barajas) a special announcement was made by the captain for those bound to Lima. We were instructed to disembark via the back of the plane, as there was a passenger bus waiting for us to help us on our way. Things were definitely looking up. Why else would they give us a bus if there wasn't a plane waiting? The Lima 40 quickly made it onto the bus and the mood was jovial, overall. The bus passed under the tarmac into a series of tunnels and popped up on the other side after a short drive. Upon disembarking we were told to make our way upstairs to the main terminal area.

Madrid (Barajas) airport is a nice airport overall, but it does seem to have plenty of twists and turns. There seems to be escalators and elevators going up and down all over the place. Somehow it all works, but it's a bit of a mess to the first-time visitor. Back to the main story, there was an airport worker in uniform waiting for us up on the main foyer. He waited for us to all gather and quieten down before making his big announcement. The plane bound for Lima had already left. Before he could finish what he had to say, people began to interject, and interject quite rudely... meaning that he had to repeat himself several times. I caught the gist of it and moved off to be one of the first to get sorted out - go to the Iberia service desk, and they'll arrange for alternative plans.

I jogged up to the check-in area and moved to the first customer service desk that I could find. It was busy, I lined up and waited. After a few minutes, an Iberia staff member wandered over and mentioned that I could use the nearby Business Class service desk. Woo! First time i've dealt with Business Class staff. The lady at the counter was quite helpful and told me that Iberia would provide a hotel for my duration in Madrid and that they've scheduled a 1am flight to Lima (as opposed to the midday flight that I was originally supposed to be on). Better late than never!

By the time I was issued new tickets and was given a hotel voucher for the 4-star Tryp Alameda Aeropuerto hodel (Sol Melia Group) it was approximately 2pm. With the remainder of my time left in Madrid I decided to check-in to the hotel, have lunch there, and make a quick dash around the city.

As for Madrid - I was only able to see the Palace from the outside, visit the Plasa Espana, and take a quick stroll on the Via Grande before calling it a day - making the journey all the way back to the airport accomodation. For reference, the airport is at the far edge of the Madrid metro system, with a 45 minute journey each way.

As opposed to the morning, there were no issues with the transfer to the hotel and the 1am flight bound for Lima. Finally, my South America trip was about to begin - the journey that almost wasn't to be.

Singapore's 45th Birthday

On the morning of the 9th of August I departed for Singapore, a stopover before beginning work in the UK. Little did I know that I would arrive on the day of Singapore's 45th birthday. Talk about good timing! As a result of the celebrations, I didn't really get all that far... not that it was bad thing.

I rolled out of bed at a quarter to 5 on Monday morning. Early. Had a quick shower, double checked what I packed and then headed out the door. On the way to the airport! No breakfast required as the 8am Singapore Airlines flight has breakfast included.

Flying economy only allows you to check in 20kg of luggage. I had more, given that I was relocating to the UK for work. Thankfully I was only really several kilos over, they let that pass... after I did a reshuffle from check-in luggage to hand luggage, of course. After a few teary goodbyes it was onto the plane and off to Singapore - A380 style.

Landed in Singapore mid-afternoon, and it was hot. 31 degrees Celcius. Typical Singapore, I was told. I opted to stay over in Singapore as opposed to fly direct to London. I didn't think i'd be able to deal with such a long transit time, and I thought that it'd be a good way to check out the new hotel - Marina Bay Sands.

Marina Bay Sands is a decent place - much of it isn't quite complete yet, but it's getting there. The SkyPark and the Hotels are complete, but some of the boutique restaurants and shops are yet to be filled out. Not quite the Venetian in Macau with respect to the overall package, but it's aiming to get there.

Upon arrival the place was packed. There were people everywhere. Since it was quite warm I decided that i'd go for a bit of a splash in the Infinity Pool and check out the Skypark (aka roof). Whilst lining up to get to Level 57, I found out two things - 1, entry to the top is granted by being a hotel guest or paying for an admission ticket. 2, it was Singapore's National Day holiday. Clearly point 2 is the reason why there were so many people strolling about at Marina Bay Sands.

I heard rumors of a spectacle, so I decided that I was going to camp out up on the roof. After about 45 minutes of waiting, I finally made it up to the top floor (the volume of people wanting to head up to the Skypark was just crazy!). Since it took so long to get up to the top, the decision to stay for a while was made easy. Quickly moving on: the atmosphere and the views of Singapore were great!

Marina Bay Sands - Roof

Marina Bay Sands - Roof view of Singapore

Perhaps waiting around for the celebrations to start (I ended up being on the roof for 3+ hours) wasn't the best of ideas, but since it took so long for me to get to the top... and since it was a national holiday - there wasn't really much of a choice. Watching the celebrations was entertaining, though... so it wasn't a total waste. Some of the displays on offer included parachute landings into one of the stadiums below, choppers flying around carring the Singaporean flag, newly purchased fighter jets (F-15s) performing aerial maneuvers (inc. a shackle), and fireworks!

National Day Celebrations - Aerial Shows

National Dy Celebrations - Aerial Shows

Could write more, but that's probably enough for now. Quick bullet points to finish off:

• Ate on the cheap - pork bun and cha sieu wonton noodles for dinner, and a chicken bun for breakfast.
• Airport, checkin, A380 to London
• Watched 1 film per leg: Kick As$ and Iron Man 2.

More to come about the UK soon!

Queenstown - the week that was

It's Wednesday and i'm back from a week in Queenstown, New Zealand. Fantastic place, and fun times! It's a real shame that i've had to come home so soon. Snowboarding and exploring was the name of the game for this trip! This week is also my last week in Sydney, the countdown to adventure begins!

5 of us departed for New Zealand on a gloomy Monday evening. Several hours later, 1am local time, we were at Christchurch Airport. With half of the airport closed off and the need to stay overnight we settled by the yellow arrivals wall for some rest. Sleeping by the yellow wall sucks... it's cold and the ground is uncomfortably hard. Shouldn't expect any less really. Didn't get much rest by the wall.

With my jacket over my head, there was more than just the cold and the solid ground to contend with. I struggled to sleep as there was gunfire (arcade gunfire) chattering through the terminal. After a while I decided to wander out and a pair of tards were playing Time Crisis 4. They were clearly in for the long haul as they had a mound of coins on the ground next to them. The benefit of not being able to sleep was that I got to explore the recently opened-up sections of the airport!

Now if you're going to sleep at Christchurch airport, try the soft benches in front of the International Departures section. Part 2 of the Christchurch sleepover was much more comfortable... but even this location is not ideal. I awoke approximately an hour and a half later with a pair of elderly people sharing my "bed". Awkward. I then proceeded to search for another resting place.

As the idiom goes, third time lucky, and this is what it was like with the search for a peaceful rest. Upstairs in the cafe area (on the way to the obeservation deck) is the best pace to sleep. Up in the cafeteria area there are some comfortable long soft seats, a dream to sleep on. If you manage to get up there, sleep there. Simple. Strange start to the post... but thought i'd share this little tidbit! Once 9am hit, I was on a plane to Queenstown.

Queenstown is a lovely place, and accomodation wise... the closer the better. That's the way I see it anyhow. I stayed at the Four Seasons Motel. The accom was clean, close, toasty... and not overly expensive. A decent place to stay. No complaints from me.

Day 1 in Queenstown wasn't a full one, so we decided to go Clayshooting. Now this was good fun! Didn't know what to expect but the instructor, Blake?, was a really down-to-earth guy who took us for a bit of a tour in his van before taking us down to blow clay disks out of the sky. Now I wasn't the best at this, and one of the girls came out on top - but this is a must do in Queenstown in my opinion.

Obviously shooting clay wasn't really the main aim of the holiday. One of the main aims was to get some more experience with snowboarding. I've only ever been once before, so trying to master the S-turns was something that I wanted to do. Reasonably successful, but at a price. Spent plenty of time on my backside and knees. One stack was so severe that my beanie, goggles, and glasses went flying!

Spent one day on each of the nearby ski fields around Queenstown. First up was Cadrona, then the Remarkables, and then Coronet Peak. Each had it's advantage - best runs go to Cadrona runs, best view is from the Remarkables, and Coronet Peak has the best food/organisation. Since i'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to boarding I didn't quite get to all of the runs across the different snow fields... but as always, the newbie areas are the worst. People everywhere, and many of them without any semblance of control. As soon as you learn the basics, my tip is to head out and practice in some less crowded (albeit harder) areas. No pain, no gain!

After a few days of boarding it was time to chill out, and we decided to go and visit the Onsen Hotpools. Apparently this is the thing to do after a few solid days in the snow! I would recommend it, as it's not too expensive... and much cheaper than a massage. We went in the evening (the last session was at 10pm), and it was a treat. You get to sit in a hot pool (a little too hot at times), muck around with the roof so that the stars can be seen, turn on the pressure jets, and get sprayed in the face with cold water. Entertaining. Oh, and I also got addicted to the Apple and Guava (organic) fruit juice.

The following day was wet and gloomy, so didn't really do all that much. We quickly found out that there isn't all that much to do on a rainy day in Queenstown. Funnily enough we ventured down to watch Inception. I thought that this was a great film... thrilling and thought provoking albeit with a predictable twist at the end.

The final day in New Zealand was a treat. Rented a car from Apex, a Subaru Legacy, and took a cruise out to Glenarchy, to do a bit of trailwalking. This has to be New Zealand at its best. The drive out to Glenarchy was amazing - snow capped mountains draped with puffy clouds, windy roads following the shoreline, and the pristine blue waters of Lake Wakatipu. Unfortunately we had a limited amount of time and was only really able to do the Lake Sylvan trail walk. Some of the most fun i've had on that track - wet, boggy, and full of adventure. Great times! A great way to finish up in New Zealand.

Back on the home front. Things are quickly coming together. I've booked the short term accomodation in London - a couple of blocks out from work. Furthermore, i've managed to successfully create a UK bank account (fairly painless), and suspend health insurance cover. Only a few days to go... how exciting!

Transit to Hokkaido - Day 4

On the way to Niseko, Hokkaido. Most of the day was spent in transit, still there is something to mention here. The modes of transportation used to get to Niseko (and our home for the next 9-odd days) included: monorail, train, coach, van. Quite the spectrum of travel!

Hauling around luggage sucks. I should have packed less. It didn't really seem like much back in Sydney but 12-odd kilos packed into a suitcase whose wheels don't work is a real pain in the ass! Bit of an off-topic rant, but it needed to make its way into the journal somehow.

Checked out of the Shiba Park Hotel quite early. The hotel probably isn't the best place room-wise but the staff, the foyet, and the business-work area are great! Maybe we just got cheap-ass rooms. One of the biggest plusses of the Shiba Park Hotel is that it is quite central and easy to get to via train (3 trainstations inside a 10 minute walk).

The first mode of transportation was the monorail. We dragged our luggage across to the JR Station, Hanamatsucho, and caught the monorail all the way to the airport. At least there were no transfers this time! Getting onto the monorail at peak hour was intense. The Japanese call their train/monorails sushi-cars - and I can see why... we were packed in. I mean packed in. What really didn't help was the fact that we were travelling with our luggage. I spent an age jammed against the door with no hand-holds. An experience.

One of the wierdest things of note was a pair of school girls (private school based on the fact that they were wearing a uniform) catching the monorail all the way to the airport. Must be a field trip, otherwise the daily commute to school would be an expensive one.

The flight from Haneda Airport to New Chitose Airport was hassle free. I actually slept on the flight - so all was good. The commute is only an hour and a bit. Not only is it a short trip - it is a popular trip. Apparently the Handea - New Chitose link is the busiest air link in the world. Interseting, no?

Once we disembarked from the place we hung around at New Chitose Airport. There wasn't any real reason other than waiting for a Ski Japan representative to show up. None showed up. Somewhat disappointing given that everything in Japan is so efficient. We even trekked down to the Ski Japan booth at the far end of the airport terminal - still nobody. Arg. Eventually some Ski Japan people rocked up - it was easy to see why... they weren't Japanese - they were Aussies! Damn inefficient Aussies :D.

The trip from New Chitose Airport to Niseko Ski Resort (Niseko United) took approximately 2 and a half hours - with a brief stop-over in a little place called Forest. Ski Japan then managed to drop us off at Pension Grand Papa without too much fuss. I spent the majority of the trip asleep. So there isn't too much to comment on there!

Once we arrived at the Pension we headed up to the reception area. It was there where we first met two of the staff - the owner Yoko-san, and a young Japanese girl named Miyuki. We were lead to our rooms and were told of a few simple house rules. The house rules were quite liberal, but the common area was to be closed at 11pm each night.

The first order of the afternoon after checking into the pension was to hire our ski gear. We were recommended to hire our gear from the Australian-run store NBS by Ski Japan (Niseko Base Sports). We hired skis, boots, and ski-pants and I don't believe that we got a good deal... lack of research! Oh well. The service was somewhat sub-par, yet I guess that I was expecting something exceptional (more in line with Japanese standards).

A fairly lazy day today, though. Ate dinner at approximately 6:30pm at a restaurant on the corner of the main road (opposite the convenience store "Seicomart"). The restaurant was a sushi restaurant, quite a good choice and reasonably priced. What did we order? Well, it was a fairly predictable "sushi set". I don't believe that it was just for the foreigners though, as the Japanese on the table next to us were happily munching away on the same thing!

Back at the lodge we killed some time by bumming around in the Common Room. It was empty tonight. The common room is quite cosy at night - quite possibly due to the open fire in the fireplace. The night was made even more interesting as Miyuki came down for a chat. Dave and I tried to converse, and it was actually quite fun. Wish I knew a bit of Japanese. Points to note is that she is to begin learning English at Sapporo University this year. Wish I learnt languages at Uni... too late now.

Early night tonight - as the slopes awaited in the morning.



Seicomart


Exterior of the Grand Papa


Welcome to Grand Papa Manual

Mount Fuji and Hakone - Day 3

Day 3 and we embarked on another tour - this time we headed outside of Tokyo and made tracks for Mount Fuji and Hakone. Note: two different areas. Yesterday we headed out with a tour group called Grey Line Tours, this time it was with Sunrise Tours. The reason for the difference was solely because we got back to the hotel too late to sign up for the Grey Line Tours version of Fuji and Hakone.

The trip to Mt.Fuji was a somewhat more unusual and complicated one. We were picked up at the hotel and shuttled to a bus terminal. Once we were at the bus terminal we needed to check-in and board a coach. Once there, the real trip began! Our tour guide for the day was a middle-aged male, his name was Hari.

The first leg of the trip (out to Mt.Fuji) was fairly interesting. The trip out to Mt.Fuji wasn't the quickest but Hari ensured that we weren't too bored. Actually, I found the trip quite interesting! Hari gave us some trivia about Japan in general, outlined Japanese history, taught us some Japanese, and even explained why snow falls on Japan!

Driving down to Mt.Fuji on the Chuo highway also provided some humour. Hari was speaking about the Chuo highway and where it lead, suddenly he said the following:
"We are currently heading up towards the mountains. The speed limit is... 60 kilometers an hour ... and we are currently travelling at... 90."
Classic. He was so calm and blazze about the obvious fact that we were speeding. Furthermore, it wasn't as though we were overtaking other vehicles either! Everyone on the road was travelling at roughly the same speed - it was quite the experience. You had to be there, I guess.

Our first stop for the morning was the Mt.Fuji visitors centre. It was there we managed to get a few happy snaps of Mt.Fuji (aka Fuji-san). The visitors centre isn't too flash - but it is a toilet break before the long journey up the mountain. The visitors centre is a treasure trove of information... and there's also food and souveniers to buy as well.

There are four levels of Mt.Fuji - the visitors centre close to the base, a checkpoint at approximately 1km up the mountain, a checkpoint at approximately 2km, another at about 2.5km, and then there is the summit at 3337m. Due to the weather conditions we were only allowed to head up to the checkpoint at 2020m - not close enough to the summit... oh well.

After our little sojuourn to Fuji-san we headed back towards the base for lunch. Hari told us that on past tours the food that was served was Western and that after a survey was conducted the tourists preferred a Japanese-style lunch. Given the quality of the lunch that we had... I would heartily disagree! Given that we ate well over the last two nights the lunch here was an absolute shocker. It probably didn't help that we were eating Japanese food in a Chinese restaurant.

The next stop on the tour was a place called Hakone. Let me tell you, this place is absolutely beautiful. Pristine water and a landscape that is clearly postcard-worthy! Seeing nature in all its glory is a marvellous sight. Even more surprising is it's proximity to the megalopolis that is Toyko.

Once we got to Hakone we boarded a slow ferry which did a small circuit around Lake Ashi. This is definitely a place to go for relaxation purposes. This area has withstood the test of time... and modern man. The most striking facet of the trip across Lake Ashi was the stillness of its waters.

The experience was only going to get better as we took a gondola up to the top of Mt.Komagatake. The experience up at the top of Mt.Komagatake was just as serene as when we were at sea level. I'm not really a master of descriptive language, so it's probably easier to look at photos.

The tour ended up at approximately 7pm and we were dropped off at Shinjuku - apparently the hang-out place for the younger generations. Once getting there this seemed to be quite true. Furthermore, there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of girls than guys. Not that i'm complaining or anything.

The search for dinner was on almost straight away - as the lunch itself was totally rubbish! Shinjuku was one packed place and I don't think i'd be able to find my way back if I had my time again. We settled with this place called Ducky Duck. From memory there were only 3 guys in the cafe/restaurant, Dave and I counted as 2. Totally bizzare. Maybe it isn't so bizzare in the end as girls do enjoy hanging out at cafes and such back in Sydney.

To close this entry off- a strange phenomenon as we were paying whilst exiting Ducky Duck. The attentive look that I got from the shop assistant girl at the front as we paid for our meals. I'm not saying that she was attracted to me, but the look/stare that she gave was intense - there was eye contact for a few seconds. Yep, intense. She had blue-tinted contacts. Ahh... I bet she wasn't interested... such is life. I guess I can dream a little :).

I really need to take more photos of people...



Mount Fuji


Lake Ashi


Panaoramic from Mt.Komagatake


Shrine atop Mt.Komagatake

The Asakusa Grab - Day 2

The afternoon tour began (for those that were on the morning tour continuing onwards) in Ginza shortly after lunch had ended. The new tour guide's name was Reiko. The morning tour was one of enlightenment, however the funniest moment (and strangest) of the day was in the afternoon tour. This leads me to the first stop for the afternoon - the Asakusa Temple, a Buddhist temple.

To get to Asakusa shrine we had to catch a ferry. I don't quite remember the name of the wharf that we travelled to, however our destination was clear - Asakusa. The trip wasn't the shortest, 40 minutes, but it was quite the cruisy trip. I wasn't really paying too much attention to the announcements over the intercom, however it appeared to me that many of the bridges that we passed under are imitations of bridges that exist (or have existed) around the world. Odd, but whatever works.

We were greeted by a seriously packed temple after walking from the wharf. There were people everywhere! Dozens of tiny stalls lined the main walkway to the Temple building itself. True hustle and bustle style. After moving past the stalls Reiko stopped us and started to explain the story behind the temple and the pagoda, but the best part of the afternoon is to come.

On the way to the temple itself we came across a tiny little structure which had incense in it. I asked Reiko what this was for and she mentioned the incense smoke is meant to purify the body (wash away badness).

Classic moment here at the incense structure. As I was breathing in the incense and wafting the air around me a young Japanese couple caught my eye. They really only caught my eye because they were directly opposite me. I then started to observe their behaviour. The girl was closer to the incense and the boyfriend was close behind. He started to waft some incense her way and she breathed it in. Seemed like a fair enough thing to do. Next, something that I wouldn't have ever expected. The boyfriend stopped wafting incense and slowly moved his hand down and... grabbed her breast! Obviously, she gave him a playful slap and they walked away. Tell you what, it was hillarious to watch. As I said, classic moment. (Apologies if I have offended anyone).

On that note, i'll leave it there. Did end up going to Akibahara and Roppongi Hills as well as eat at a sushi/sashimi restaurant.




Ginza Shopping District


The Asakusa Grab



Roppongi Hills at Night

Touchdown In Tokyo - Day 1, Part 2

So... the rest of Day 1. Dinner. We ended up wandering around for about half an hour before heading back towards the hotel and we spotted a neat little side stall with some Ramen plastic imitations out the front. It looked like a neat little place to eat, so we headed in. Trouble greeted us as we sat down - the menu in front of us (if you can call it a menu) was only in Japanese. Furthermore, the staff also only spoke Japanese. Arg. We did manage to order though - as we pointed to what we wanted to order (the imitations out the front). In the end it was quite a good feed, and it was also reasonably priced.

I've been told by almost everyone that everything in Tokyo is expensive. I don't really believe that this is the case, although it's really only Day 1. The ramen meal that I ate was 900 yen, which is roughly 9 Aussie dollars. Not too mch different than eating noodles back home. Will definitely have to see how it all pans out as the trip progresses.

One really odd part of the dinner experience was the lack of Japanese people around. For some reason this little Ramen shop on the main street seemed to be a bit of a foreigner's haven (although not foreigners in the blond hair and blue eyes sense). There seemed to be some people who spoke both Cantonese and Mandarin wandering into the store as we were sitting there. Strange. There were Japanese people inside though, but only a few.

So after dinner it was time to walk around for a little bit. It's always good to have a bit of a walk around after eating... well I guess it's always a good time to have a bit of a walk. Anyway, we walked this wide circuit out eastward gradually making our way back to the hotel. A few interesting points to mention whilst bumbling about town.

Petrol stations. Yep, petrol stations. Maybe it was the chilly night messing with my brain, or maybe it was something else - but I was thoroughly impressed with one of the Japanese petrol stations that we passed. The photo can be seen below. The fuel pumps come from the ceiling - quality. Furthermore, the price / amount of fuel is displayed on this electronic board above the entrance of the shop. I wish there was a Dr. Drive in Sydney. Classic. Actually, really don't know why I got excited about this... Japanese technology is great!

Respect. The Japanese seem to be big on respect, and this was quite true on the stroll around town. Being a big urban behemoth, Tokyo has quite a bit of construction work about the place. We passed by one of these contstruction sites and there were people assisting with the flow of traffic (both pedestrian and cars). As we were passing by one of the construction sites, one of the gentlemen there bowed to us. Impressive. Of course, a return bow was given :).

Finally, a little bit of humour - at the vending machine. Shenanigans at the vending machine - seriously funny. Got some video of this, but Blogger doesn't accept video as far as I can tell. If I can be bothered, maybe i'll whack it on You-Tube or something. So given that there are thousands of these vending machines about we thought we'd give it a try by purchasing some Hot Chocolate. It should have been easy - but it wasn't. Dave had a crack at the vending machine first - 120 yen required. Dave puts in a sucession of coins... all rejected. He gives the machine another look and tries again. Failure. Would have been highly embarrasing if anyone were to watch. So I then have a go. The money is accepted, I press the button for Hot Chocolate (as well as the funky one with the rabbit) and out it comes. Classic. In built discrimination! After I got my drink, Dave managed to get his. Quite the funny way to end the day.




Tokyo Tower at Night


Dr.Drive Petrol Station


Vending Machine Shenanigans

Touchdown in Tokyo - Day 1, Part 1

Day 1 was quite the adventure, things are great here overall plus i've started to keep a travel diary which is completely separate from the blog. I think the format for the future will be that blog entries will be summaries of the travel diary - although there's no guarantee that i'll be doing either. Planes, public transport, and bumbling around the city was the order of the day. Much to laugh about.

First i'll start off with planes and technology. I've always mentioned that there should be external cameras on commercial planes, but it appears that Japan airlines is way ahead of me. Obviously i've been watching too much Air Crash Investigation. Anyway, all off the passengers aboard the flight (Sydney - Tokyo) had access to two external cameras - one facing forward and one facing below. Novel!

Takeoff was quite the thrill, considering that there was more to see. Not only did I have a partial view out the window (just forward of the right wing), there were also the external cameras to look at. Flying has become that much better. Truly. I would highly recommend that other carriers provide the same external camera service for their passengers - it would also lessen the appeal of a window seat. Slightly.

Take off was 10:50am Sydney time and touchdown was 6:00pm Tokyo time. Slightly ahead of schedule. After touching down at Narita International Airport we had to make our way to the hotel via train - which leads me to my second point, public transport.

Getting around in Tokyo is quite simple, everything is in English as well as in Japanese! Even though there are masses of train/subway lines cris-crossing Tokyo it's still dead easy to get around... and quickly too. Everything is intuitive, and it is difficult to remian lost for long. A plethora of signs leading to stations, graphical displays of upcoming stations with approximate timings on the stations, and status indicators on the trains themselves (along with automated voice confirmations) makes travelling around in Tokyo a real treat. Truly a standard for City Rail should adopt, or attempt to adopt.

Sitting on the train also leads me to my little Lonely Planet joke. Although it sounds much worse written down (I promise). It's one of those random comments that seem to come out of my mouth from time to time. The situation is that i'm reading through some phrases out of the Lonely Planet book helpfully donated to me by Kieu... common phrases such as "Arigato gozaimasu", meaning "Thank you, sir/madam". Suddenly I flick the page and spot some odd phrases and start to laugh. This page contains the Japanese translation for the phrase - "I have diarrhoea". Seriously, I can see why it can be a Lonely Planet - with people using phrases like that I can see why it would be hard to make friends!

I've split this entry up into two, as there's lots to read and you probably want to see some photos!

-- Apologies for the poor use of past and present tense (if there are any errors), i'm sitting in the business centre of the Shiba Park Hotel but some retard is playing really annoying dance music... trying to concentrate damn it!!!

The Royal Sydney and Flying Away

Two themes over the past couple of days in the lead-up to the weekend - with them being Golf and Travel. It looks like i'm well on my way to getting some of my New Years resolutions ticked off for the year! Things are looking up indeed (although I still haven't done my review on 2006... meh).

So lets talk about Golf. I didn't play golf, but watched golf. Sounds kind of weak, but it was a good day out! So how did this happen? Well Eva and Georgie managed to get some free tickets to the Australian Women's Golf tourney (Day 4) and so they invited me along (plus Matt). Now, i've only really gotten into Golfing recently, so I won't profess to know much about the personalities of Women's Golf. The only person that I knew off the top of my head was Carrie Webb, who won the tourney comprehensively.

It was a great day out, truly was. Out and about on a nice sunny day, not being terribly active, plus hanging out with friends - what more could you ask for on a weekend? The day wasn't without it's interesting moments. First story will have to be the Fisher and Paykel model.

A few minutes after walking into the grounds of the Royal Sydney we walked under the grandstand of the 18th Hole. As we walked past I noticed this extremely attractive young lady, and consequently almost walked straight into a bunch of people. She was holding a bottle of wine, and a white t-shirt with some advertising on it.

After watching Carrie Webb have a few practice putts in front of the big scoreboard we headed over to the company tents. Lo and behold the attractive young lady that I spotted was standing at the Fisher and Paykel company tent. We hovered for a little while and she called out to us "Do you want to win a dishwasher?". I stalled, but Eva and Georgie did not. I was promptly grabbed and Eva called out - "Sure! Mark wants to win one... don't you Mark?". Trapped - although I wasn't complaining.

To win a dishwasher we had to fill out a piece of paper with personal details and 25 words or less on why I think Fisher and Paykel's washing machine is worth having, or something like that. I was stuck, had no idea. Plus I kept being distracted by the model, who was hovering about. After a couple of minutes the 25 words were written for me - here is the extract:

I know nothing about washing machines but the girl at the booth is hot. PS: Call me!

Hillarious! We had to submit the entries into a glass case (one of those revolving things) and even more embarrasing for me is that mine was placed outward so all of the text could be read.
I don't know if the model saw what was written straight away, but unfortunately it's all in the past for me. That was the first adventure - I spent the next few minutes disappointed in not getting a photo with her. Prime opportunity. As we left, she said she'd call me if I won - suffice to say... I haven't been called. Aww...

The next most noteworthy part of the day was following a few golfers around. We really didn't know much about the players themselves so we started to watch some ladies that looked interesting. It didn't take us too long to stop by Sarah Kemp (Australian) and Marta Prieto (Spain - I think). Why was it interesting? Well I guess we were drawn to the fashionable gear that Marta was wearing - yellow hat, yellow top, and knee high yellow socks. Quite the outfit and hard to miss! I must say, it's quite a fashionable place this Women's Golf thing. Didn't realise... Golf has become that much more interesting!

This blog entry is dragging on a bit so i'll quickly mention travel. I'm locked in for a trip overseas and i'm heading up to the Land of the Rising Sun - Japan... for some skiing. Haha! I've got the e-tickets and i'm ready to go! I'll try and keep the blog updated as I hop around Honshu and Hokkaido! Note: i'm proud of myself for getting some yen at 93.17! woohoo!

I'm in a security buggy

Following Kemp and Prieto

I'm in this photo - to the left of the stairs!
(Source: http://www.iseekgolf.com/images/womensaustralianopen_2007/r4/source/webb_adp0219.htm)