Bali, Indonesia

Bali!! I arrived in the evening of the 25th of November and left early morning on the 27th; the total of 1.5 day weekend trip. And the special part of this trip is… it’s for leisure, not for work!

I have been to Jakarta, but this is the first time for me in Bali. Compared to Jakarta, Bali is much more developed. It is not so crowded and has very nice atmospheres including people. According to my tour guide, Bali’s economy totally relies on tourists. Without tourist, there is almost no job in Bali. 90% of people work for business some what related to tourists. Therefore, after year 2002 and 2005, Bali was really really quiet for a long time. Finally, the economy has been coming back he says. I thought that tourist related business is only hotels, but like actual sightseeing locations (temples etc), taxis, airlines and more are heavily related. I did not realize.

The picture looks like sunset, but actually it is 5:30 in the morning. The pink before the sun rises.

This is after the sunrise. It is mooi (beautiful)!

Sydney, Australia II

The last morning in Sydney, I decided to take a walk in the neighborhood of my hotel. It was a beautiful day again. The sun was shining and it was perfect temperature. Everybody is in a short sleeves and a pair of short pants. Because it was Saturday, there was a market right out of the hotel; there were not so much of interesting stuff, but mainly for tourists.

The picture is a view of Sydney downtown from the harbor. Lots of people use these ferries for their commutes. Some people takes this ferry for thirty minutes from Manley or some come from about ten minutes away. Anyhow, there are so many destinations, so the port is always busy. It is almost impossible to take a picture of Opera House without a ferry in it. That’s how often they go back and forth.

On the way to the Opera house, I saw Aborigine street performers. I am not sure if I should called those two guys performers because in front of them, there was a chair. And when tourists come by, they let him/her sit on the chair, and his/her friend takes a picture while those performers take a pose like any cheesy characters. I rather tip the guy playing music right next to them with a traditional music instrument; it looks like a long branch with a whole. It makes interesting sound. My colleague in NL has one in the office. It was funny to see bunch of those at the market as I always wonder what it was. Anyways, those Aborigines stand out on the street, not because they are among white people but because they are almost naked and put some white stuff on their faces, hair and bodies. I wanted to take a picture of them, too but they were just too scary.

What surprised me when I walk on the street in Sydney is a fly. They fly around you even if you don’t have any food. I thought it was only me, but it happens all the time. It reminded me of India, but flies didn’t come to me.

The bridge. Okay, I do not know why this bridge is famous. Perhaps, I should look it up on Wikipedia. I actually had this kind of bridge in my neighborhood in New York, but my bridge was not famous at all. I wonder…

The postcards with Kangaroos on them are exactly the same ones that I bought ten years ago when I was here. It was shocking to see the same cards again, so I had to get them. I even forgot about those until I saw them. I guess the design of postcards don’t change for at least ten years. The boomerang is a gift from my client. I usually don’t buy any local items when I travel, but because I’m all the way to Australia, I was thinking about getting something, so I was very excited to get one as a gift. Aborigines were catching kangaroos with this by hitting in their heads. If they miss, the boomerang comes back to where you stand. It’s a well designed item which should be awarded for some kind of prize.

On the way to the airport, this taxi driver talked a lot. As soon as I told him that I was Japanese, he started talking his Japanese experiences when he was there a couple years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the conversations with a taxi driver as long as it is not 6 in the morning. When I think about it, the driver on the way from the airport a few days ago also was talking a lot! This guy was talking to me even in Japanese about when he was living there for six years as a student. Anyways, I don’t think it is only taxi drivers that I met but Australians in general are very friendly. Because it is so much fun to listen to their accent, I let them talk as much as they want.

Bye-bye, Sydney!

Sydney, Australia

Sydney! 24hour trip from Amsterdam. The first flight took 12 hours to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and then another 8 hour flight to Sydney. Including the layover time, it was a 24hour trip. If I count the time difference, it took a day and a half. I arrived on the 21st of November, and I am going to leave on the 25th in the morning. It is only three day (actual) trip, but I’m happy to be here!

The hotel I am staying at is located the opposite side from Opera House. I love seeing this view on the way to work every morning. Of course, it is almost summer in Australia. It is very strange. It was 38 degree (100F) yesterday, and the air condition in the building was not properly working, so we were sweating at work. It seems January is the mid summer here.

The decorations are already Christmassy (no Thanksgiving here) everywhere, and it is hilarious to see people walking by in short sleeves and short pants. I love it! Since I was a child, I was very curious about this country having the opposite seasons compared to our standard ones. To actually be in the situation is pretty cool, especially, this Christmas season; “Santa clause on a surf board” kind.

Today, when I went to Starbucks, my latte came in a red Christmas cup. But once I step outside, it’s totally summer; a gorgeous sunny day. It is hard to describe, but you would feel something is not right.

I’ve been to Australia ten years ago. Sydney was one of the cities that I visited. I was still a student, and I had no English speaking ability. So, now that I speak English, I can enjoy the stay here like for the first time. It is certainly a totally different feeling to be here. Especially, to be able to hear Australian accent is a bonus for me now. It is an interesting accent. To me, it sounds more like British accent, but Australians don’t think so, or at least that’s what the people who I work with claim. When I told this person that I’d been here ten years ago, he goes “so you must have been eye-t.” I had no idea what he just said. I was going through my “translation” dictionary between Australian-American English and realized that he meant “eight (8)”. Oh man, it is hard! Anyways, I answered, “No, I was four back then.”

The first night, I was taken to this Australian BBQ place. They have a grill outside, so you pick meat or fish from showcase, and then place it on the grill by yourself. It is totally up to you how you want to cook it. There is a cheat guide by the grill that describes how long you should leave the meat on the grill depending on how you like it. It was something that is new to me, and I really enjoyed being around the grill with people chatting while my steak is cooking! Of course, guys started talking about their home BBQ grills even after we sat down to enjoy our lovely steaks.

Ljubljana, Slovenia II

I decided to go home earlier than originally planned. I was going to stay an extra day here, but because of off season, I realized that the tours are not running anymore. I could still go on my own taking a buss to different tourist places, but I’d rather go home and relax before the next long trip.

Last night, I went to this restaurant where they server Slovenian traditional food. I was not sure what to order, so I let the waiter pick one for me. He recommended the deer steak. Ok. I haven’t had a deer dish before, so why not. I ordered. Hm… the dish was great with cherry sauce with lots of cherries. But I felt bad or sorry for deer. I have no problem having beef steaks, but deer steaks. When I think about it, deer is much cuter than a cow. They are totally different animals, just the way they are input in my brain. Sorry cows, you are not that cute but tasty.

the atomosphere in Ljubljana is similar to Italy. I’ve been to Austria only once, but Ljubljana has similar architecture to Austria (Ok, I’ve been to only Salzburg). It makes sense though because Slovenia is right next to Italy and Austria. At night, the walk along the river is pretty nice with lights. It kind of reminded me of Amsterdam, but the difference is that Amsterdam has orange or yellowish lights where as in Ljubljana has white lights; Small difference, but it does make some difference as a whole.

A chandelier hanging down from sky in the middle of a square. It lights up at night, too. It’s pretty neat!

One of the things I liked about Slovenia is the people. They treat guests very formally. I cannot speak for the service in restaurants, but certainly at work, I got treated very well. For example, I was asked often if I wanted another cup of coffee. I think it’s pretty nice.

Bye-bye Slovenia. I don’t think I will be back other than for work.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

I came to a country called Slovenia. Okay, I admit. I didn’t even know the existence of this country. I am here from November 12th through the 19th. Slovenia became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991. It is located in the Northeast of Italy with a population of 2 million people. It is not many, but they have their own language, Slovenian. It is amazing that they can go to Venice by car in one hour or so. I was pretty excited when I heard that people go for shopping on the weekend to Italy! It sounds fantastic!

Currently, their local currency is Toler (SIT), but as of January 2007, they will start using Euros. And it seems there are going to be only two months to keep both currencies after January 1st. It is kind of amazing that people lose the “money” they’ve lived with in only a couple of months! I cannot imagine losing Japanese Yen like that! I lived with it! Anyhow, it seems there are coins with Toler, but people don’t use them. So most of the machines like ATM or vending machines are not made for coins, only for paper bills. However, Euros are full of coins, so there are major changes in those machines right now. Also, all the savings in bank accounts will be automatically converted to Euros over night. That’s serious programming. I would not want to be responsible for that! Anyways, I always thought that converting local currency to Euros are quite convenient, but I didn’t even think about all the troubles that come with it!

Tonight, I went out for dinner by myself for the first time in months. There had been many trips, but it seems I did not go out for dinner on my own. I didn’t even realize it until tonight. It has been a little different from when I was in the united states making trips. When I travel now, I usually have someone with me or the people who I work with take me out for dinner. Probably that is because I go abroad, usually pretty far away. So, it was a bit lonely to have dinner by myself tonight. I’m used to be alone, but certainly it is much better if I have someone to have conversation with over meal; especially when I go out to eat.

Family Day

Family Day; an event from work held on the 11th of Nov. All of my colleagues were invited with their family. All together, we were more than thirty people, including 15+ kids. It was like a zoo to be honest.
We got together at noon, and we had Middle Eastern lunch. And then, we went to this place where we had a two hour workshop for African music (picture).

Kids were also learning how to use this African music instrument.

After the music workshop, there was this African dance lesson. It was supposed to be for kids only, but somehow, we all ended up dancing together. This picture was taken by my colleague who did NOT join for the dancing part, but contributing to the music part (yeah, right). This picture makes us look like we are doing Tai Chi, doesn’t it? It actually looks pretty funny. But this African dance was very fast beat, and we all were sweating in the end, or at least I was.

At the end of the day, we went out for Ethiopian dinner. The food was pretty interesting. It came out in a very large plate for about four people’s food. The way to eat it is that you take a piece of the pancake, and take some of the "stuff" and eat it by hand. (We didn't know what they were.) This pancakes were too sour that most people didn’t like that much. We ended up stealing kids’ meals which were French fries, nuggets and some other fried stuff. So the food was not people's favorite. I don’t think I will go there again either.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Red Light District.

When my colleague from Sweden came to visit, I took him to the Red Light District. I took this picture then. For the people who are not familiar with this, I would call it “a prostitute vending machine.” You walk around to pick the best suitable for your needs, and you negotiate with the girl by the door and then disappear into the room. That’s when the curtain on the door is shut so you know the girl is busy “working.” Amazing.

As you can see, there is a group of guys staring at the lady in the shopping window. It looks so sad, doesn’t it? But just like any women to be exact. We do browse shopping, touch but no buy (that easily).

Philadelphia, US

Philly cheese steak.

The trip to the US was from the 21st of October until the 29th for 9days. I was in Philadelphia for 5 days, but I got to “see” Philadelphia only for a day. Josh had a conference in DC, so we got together in Philly on the weekend. We went to touristy places, and at the end of the day, we had to hit this Philly cheese steak place on South street! Okay, it was supposed to be the best in Philly, but I did not think it was that special. In other words, it was not as good as I expected. It was good, but not as good to meet my high expectations.

Other than cheese steak, I did jogging with my colleagues to Art Museum 6:30 in the morning one day. We jogged up on the stairs and looked down the view of Philadelphia! Some guys were screaming like Rocky! That was pretty cool.

New York, US

A trip to New York City. Actually, I had a conference in Philadelphia, but I became a tour guide for my colleagues and client in NYC on the weekend. It was one day trip from Philadelphia, and I put in lots of sites in the plan, so everyone was very tired at the end of the day. But hey, how often do we get to come to NYC?

This was the first time back to the states after I left for Amsterdam in April. What surprised me was that I actually like Amsterdam better than New York! I certainly miss NY, no doubt about that, but I did not feel like I was back home. I guess Amsterdam is my home now, especially when I smell Marijuana in my neighborhood after a long trip, that's when I feel I'm home nowadays. It's scary.