A Better Penguin Parade

We had previously, in 2018, had a tour to Phillip Island to catch the nightly Penguin Parade.

It was a "once in a lifetime experience"! That's what I say whenever I have an experience, and then say, "never again! Once in this lifetime is enough!"

The Penguin Parade of Phillip Island is a once in a lifetime event. 

If you're lucky or smart, you might even manage to skip it in this lifetime.

If the point is to get a really good view of penguins, the Penguin Parade at Asahiyama Zoo would be more satisfying!

Seven Wonders of Singapore I - Seven Tourist Icons

Ask any Singaporean what is there to do or see in Singapore, and you are likely to get the jaded reply that Singapore is a boring place, with nothing to do or see.

And... in a sense they are right. For them.

But what would a tourist seeing Singapore for the first time be intrigued, if not impressed by?

Here are Singapore's, Seven Tourist Icons (Instagrammable!)

(my opinion).

Western Australia - Naturally. Or not.

[Note: This was from a trip in July 2014. I never "published" it. Might as well do so now.]

I started titling this blog piece as "flora and fauna of Western Australia" - like I was an expert. I was just going to post some pictures of flowers and wildlife.

And the caption would go along the lines of "here's a blue wildflower." And "here's a small yellow one. I don't know their names."

Helpful huh?

So if you stumbled on this while Googling for "flora and fauna of Western Australia - the definitive guide", this is not it.

Back to Hokkaido

The plan is to fly to Tokyo (Haneda or Narita). Stay a day or so at Narita.

There is a Unagi Restaurant we're trying to find. If we can't, well, there are other things to look for in Narita.

Then we fly to Asahikawa.

I should have checked if there were a train link to Asahikawa Airport.

There is none.

There is a shuttle bus from the Airport to Asahikawa Train Station. And there is always taxis to fall back on. But we plan to try with the bus.

We will stay a few days in Asahikawa, and visit Asahiyama Zoo. The last time we came, the zoo was closed for the season.

This time, it will be spring, so it should be fine.

We hope.

Tips for visiting Singapore

This is a good video tip.

I can find no issues in terms of accuracy or bias.

One of the better videos, I believe.

Omoshiroyama-kogen Pictorial

As you begin your hike/trek down to Omoshiroyama, this is the view

This is the first waterfall. You get this view even if you turn back now.

Then you see the first "stairs" and the first bridge, across a dam "waterfall. The bridge is about 1 m wide and with no handrails. Do you turn back?

If you do, you miss this view of the waterfall from the other side.

And this view of the way ahead.

Up ahead, you see the 2nd and 3rd bridges. They look sturdy. And even have handrails!
That's not too bad now is it?

If you don't look too closely at the worn wooden planks...
And those gapingly HUGE holes (okay, they are NOT that huge).
Pull yourself together!

Just in time to see this: Yes. You're going to have to walk through that. Yes, it is a waterfall.
Yes, it's washing through the path you have to take. Do you turn back now?

Of course not! You walk right through it! Barefoot if necessary!
(to keep your shoes dry.)

And then you wonder why you bother, because the path just "dissolves" into the river,
and you now have to walk through the water, anyway.
It's as if whoever was marking out the path, just suddenly gave up and said,
"OK that's it. I give up. Just walk in the water."

And when you get through the water to the other side, you find a bridge.
It's a sort of suspension bridge. It sways as you cross.
And the gaps between the planks seems yawningly WIDE.
(But it's not. It's safe. I made it, remember?)

Then you look up and is rewarded with one of the many spectacular views of Omoshiroyama in Autumn.

Then you look down, and see this narrow trail you will have to walk. With the just a rope handhold to keep you from plunging into the icy cold river (yes, it's icy cold. I stepped into it remember?) You notice rather worriedly, that one of the pitons has come off the rock. Did someone cling desperately to the rope as he (or she) dangled perilously over the water?
Or is your over-active imagination painting things more dramatically than it is?

Before you can answer that, you are faced with a fast flowing - practically a small waterfall, really
- stream washing across your path. Yes, we have to cross this too.

And cross it you do!

The occasional manmade object are the only reminders
that you are not lost in the woods.

Then another waterfall. It is seen only by those who care to venture into the valley, as you have.
It is nature revealing her secret, her intimate self to you. And you feel a little privileged to share this... "intimacy".

The 5th bridge has a warning. "Danger" it says. But you can't read the rest of the Japanese script. So what do you do? You've been trekking for almost an hour. Or more. Do you go back? Of course not! We're not wimps!

So onwards we go...

You descend what seem like temporary stairs that lead
into the water,  apparently.

When you look back to see how far you have come, you see this:

As in life, you can't always see how far you have come. If you have fallen far, you may see where you had started. If you have climbed high, you might see what depths you had wallowed in. But often, all you can see is where you have most recently been. And things in the distant past, remain a distant memory.

Ahead, you see the final (6th) bridge), and one more waterfall to reward your trek.

The last bridge you cross is another suspension-type bridge. It sways.

A series of stairs take you up along the side of the waterfall, up to the road.

At the top of the stairs, you find a road. You turn right to walk down toward Yamadera. About 4.7km.
If you turn left, you walk towards Omoshiroyama-kogen station. About 2 km.
If you look to the hills across the valley you just climbed out of, you will see, if it is the right time of the year, the colours of autumn in the wooded hills.

As you trek down towards Yamadera, the road is narrow and almost apologetic, as it winds,
as unobtrusively as possible, between the trees. The trees seem to part generously to accommodate
the intruding road.

The accompanying blog post to this pictorial is here.

Food! Glorious Food!

As my brother-in-law said, "I can't remember ever having a bad meal in Japan".

Our first Ekiben from Abashiri Station. It was about Y840, and I got an onigiri for another Y100.











In the bento was rice, and spicy yaki soba (almost like mee goreng! It seemed to be spiced with curry spices). There was a whole assortment of food. There was a thick slice of omelette, a slice of fried fish, a prawn tempura, a fried spring roll, a siew mai, squid or octopus, and an assortment of pickles, including the pink ginger. In the middle of the rice was a pickled plum or something really really sour. Nice!








I had mentioned the Izakaya dinner we had in another post. So I won't repeat myself. Just adding a picture of the Yaki Onigiri with the yellow takuan pickles. In the middle of the onigiri was plum paste if I recall.

Yakitori

Spicy gyoza!

Our next Ekiben was from Asahikawa. PL got the ZooBen which was like a sampler of 9 different dishes.













My ekiben was a simple beef or pork with half a hard boiled egg. I think it was some kinda stew or braised pork. 

At Sapporo PL got the "Spring" Ekiben, while I got the Furano Beef Ekiben.

The Spring Ekiben was again a riot of little samplers. Different types of rice roll like sushi maki, pickles, and jelly, I think.

The Furano beef was tender. Loved the pumpkin and green pepper.

The second night at Hakodate, we explored the town on tram and ended up having dinner at this shabu shabu place (Wai Wai Tei)... And overdosed on beef! Nice beef, but just too much!

On our way from Hakodate to Kwaguchiko, we stopped at Shinjuku to transfer trains, and decided to buy our ekiben there. This was one of the last two boxes of what I called the "Dragon" ekiben. Rice in little mouth size pieces (like sushi rolls), siew mai, eggs, prawns, pickles. The box was made from real soft wood. Natural, but not durable enough to re-use.

Boiled Crab

Crab Tempura (and veggies)

Crab Gratin

The Queen Crab Keiseki we had in Kyoto had crab in every course. I like the crab gratin best, though it was probably not very traditional.

Ekiben from Kyoto on the way to Tokyo. A pork cutlet, breaded with rice.

Private single dining booth converted from barrels.

 At Shinjuku, we found this dark foreboding restaurant with HUGE barrels converted into dining booths. And in the lift we saw this ghastly silhouette. 

The food was quite nice though! PL ordered the chicken or pork set, and I tried to order some yakitori... and got pork fat! Among other things. The others were chicken and pork. I think. (Hope!) Finished everything, except the pork fat.

Mapo Tofu Set. Y500 only.

At Ginza, we looked for a place to eat, but it was the downtown office area and all the eateries were full of "salarymen" trying to get fed during their lunch hour, and I was feeling a little intrusive to be occupying their precious lunch space. But we found a restaurant with a short and disappearing queue and join in at the back.

Unfortunately, the lady did not speak English, the menu was all in Japanese... but we could understand that the special of the day was "mapo tofu", so we got two sets. It came with a bowl of rice drowned in mapo tofu, pickles, and a bowl of miso soup.

The total cost: Y1000 for 2 sets, making it the cheapest full meal we had in Japan!