Osaka, Japan

From a plane window above Holland. I really think this is a very typical Dutch view to see from a plane. I have seen many different countries from a plane, but this one is really unique. All the fields are made out of four straight lines (rectangles), and they are divided by water paths. So if it is an animal field for cows or sheep, it is very convenient because they cannot go to the neighbor’s field. The water path is kind of locking them inside of the field.

Lucky me. I got upgraded on the way to Japan. I was just so happy to see fresh strawberries with whipped cream as a desert in a plane. Look! These are all real dishes and utensils. No plastic stuff! The upgrade for a 12-hour flight is really appreciated!

There is another reason for me to come back to Japan once other than to see my family and friends. There is a place that I have to go, no matter what during my stay in Japan. It is a sushi restaurant. I have to lay all the sushi pictures here.

	Uni - Sea urchin.
	Anago – Eel from salt water.
	Kanpachi – Yellow tail(?).

And… of course, Toro.
This trip to Japan was very sudden and short, but I am really glad that I made it happen. (Note: Not because of the great sushi.)

Stockholm, Sweden II

The reason I visited Stockholm (my first time, by the way) was to attend my friend’s wedding. He got married at the church in the picture, the one in the back. It seems Swedish price gets married at this church. Basically, it is “the” church in Sweden. But anyone could get married here without any fee because they pay tax (very high tax, just in case you forgot about it). However, what I’ve also heard was that no one thinks of getting married at this church. Once again, it is the church used by the Royal family. (This church stands right behind the Royal Palace.)

What was interesting was that when we were getting into the church for my friend’s wedding, there were so many tourists looking at us, like “What’s going on here?” “Why is the church closed?”
Coming out of the church was even better after the wedding. Guests were all standing outside waiting for the groom and bride to come out. Tourists were very curious to see who just got married and was coming out. I’m sure they were waiting for someone very famous! They were all holding a camera in hand!!

Lunch time. It seems this is a typical Swedish snack (surprise! I've had this in IKEA.), and everyone likes it.

An area called Old City (It has a Swedish name).

Swedish sweet (like a cinnamon bun) with café latte.

And of course, Swedish candies. This is from Seven Eleven store. It is unbelievable how many kids there are. I think they are all same price, so you can pick any of your favorites mixed in a bag and pay by weight.

Because it was raining the first three days, I was so happy to see the “real” Stockholm the last day. The water was so beautiful everywhere with clear blue sky! Summer in Stockholm is really beautiful!

Stockholm, Sweden

Midsummer in Sweden. I visited Stockholm from the 21st of June through the 24th. The picture is from Midsummer dance after traditional midsummer-lunch party. Neighbors got together by water and did the traditional midsummer dance!

I think this dance is supposed to be for kids, but I could see that adults also enjoy the dance. They looked like they became to be kids again. The typical traditional dance is “duck dance”; dancers imitate ducks, but somehow they were also doing elephant and other animals. Girls were so pretty in white dress and flowers on their head.

	After lunch, neighbors got together on a street and walked all together to the water. A lot of people! I really like the atmosphere that everybody was getting together and looking forward to the traditional dances!
	Only one part of Midsummer dishes. We were more than 20 adults and kids. Everybody was supposed to bring a dish. Of course, the main is herring. Believe or not, what you see in the middle white dish is herring cake! It is not sweet. It is a herring dish shaped like a cake. It is not baked.
	Someone made these strawberry-banana cake. They brought this to eat by the water, and they used a baby carriage for the ride from home! Perfect pick!

My first Midsummer party was fantastic. I really enjoy the company and food. It was amazing to see Swedish people carrying their traditional event as is from hundreds of years ago. I believe it is very important to carry traditions to the next generations. I wish Japan was like Sweden, too. Japanese have been dropping lots of traditions; Japanese New Year is not like how it was when I was a child any more.

Dubai, U.A.E. III

At night, we were brought to this fancy hotel area. This is the famous seven-star hotel, The Burj Al-Arab. As far as I know, it costs about 1000 dollars to stay for the cheapest room. Depending on the room, you could stay at this hotel for 25,000 dollars. The top round platform is a tennis court.

The hotel we stopped by is called, The Palace, and this is also a rich hotel. When I went in, I saw a group of Japanese tourists. It seemed they were staying here. Those hotels are targeting those rich tourists, but not me! This hotel also costs about 1000 dollars for the cheapest hotel room.

This was a little decoration pool with pink rose petals. It was very beautiful with the candle lights!

For the first time, I smoked water tobacco. Because I had never smoked before, I couldn’t tell how much I was supposed to inhale. I didn’t cough which I would have expected to do, so probably I didn’t do it right. It tasted more mint than the fruity taste I was supposed to taste.

	Menu in Arabic. You read from the right to the left.
	No worries. There is an English menu, too.

Because Dubai is a very international city, everything is in Arabic and English even street signs. In restaurants, because workers are all foreigners, you don’t order in Arabic, but rather in English. This culture is really convenient for tourists.
The building that is going to be the tallest building in the world is still under construction. It looks like a residential building.

In Dubai, it seems everything has to be the first in the world, like the tallest, the richest, the biggest etc. Also, there is no such a thing as budget for building something new here. If they need more money during the construction, then they add more money.

Lots of more buildings are under construction. Can you see all the cranes?

The city center of Dubai at 5 in the morning from a taxi on the way to the airport. This trip was only for five days, but I really enjoyed it. I feel like I was there for longer time somehow. I guess there are going to be more buildings if I visit here next time. I wonder if there is such a thing as a completion date of Dubai.

Dubai, U.A.E. II

Driving in Internet City. Many IT companies are here. This city was made about five years ago, and not that many people knew about this area back then. Well, ten years ago, the word “internet” was not spread out in public that much, so from the naming of this city still carries the “new” atmosphere in that sense.

Lunch. There are three different kinds (chicken, lamb and beef) Kababs and Quesadilla-looking pizza with rice. Oh boy. This was good!

	Constructions are everywhere. From what I see, there are more and more residential buildings, but also office buildings and hotels. About fifty percent of world-wide cranes are collected here. They try to bring in as many as cranes as possible to accelerate the constructions of the whole city.
I saw some Japanese cranes also. Japanese names in Japanese were still on the cranes. I am not sure if Japanese companies are here to build buildings or local companies here purchased those “left-over” cranes from Japan. If it is the latter, for sure they didn’t bother taking the Japanese name off the crane.
	Most of the construction workers are from Philippines and India. I think there are more Indians than Pilipino though. This is their commuting bus.

It seems workers are given a place (shelter?) to sleep, and busses like this or even bigger ones like Greyhound buses bring them back and forth between their construction site and the shelter.
I can’t imagine how it is like to work from early morning to evening in 100 degree Fahrenheit.

Because of the extreme changes in Dubai, it seems their rent now costs three times more compared to three years ago. However, their wage did not increase that much, so most of the foreign people were forced to leave the country. Local Arabian residents are only ten percent of the population, and most of them have their own business and very rich. The rest of population is immigrants.

Another view. I can’t tell where I was, but somewhere in Dubai.

Rich people have their driver, but a lot of people seem to use this public transportation. This is like a water bus.

This crazy city has something crazy like this. In the middle, you can see the ski slope. When outside is 100F (40c), you can enjoy ski. Can you imagine the cost of cooling system for this place?

From the inside. Can you see the real ski lift?

This ski slope is attached to a huge shopping mall, so you can have dinner by watching the skiers. As a matter of fact, I also had dinner in a restaurant where I could see the ski slope. It was strange to enjoy sushi in the desert right next to ski slope.

Dubai, U.A.E.

From the 9th of June until the 14th, I went to Dubai. The first day, I arrived very early on Sunday, so I had a chance to take a Safari Tour out to the desert. This view continues for miles and miles away.

The sun is very close! HOT HOT HOT! like 100F (40C)!

6 jeeps go one after another, just to make sure that every jeep is running fine. If one of the jeeps get stuck in the sand, then others are there to help.

This is a really bumpy ride. I felt like we were going down on 60 degree angle hills all the time. When the jeep goes down sideways like this, it is almost like snowboarding. It is half sliding down the slope side ways. The scary part is that I felt like the jeep would almost roll over. You can see that the sands from the wheels are coming up pretty high. You can also see the jeep tracks on the hills.

This is when the jeep is going straight down the hill. You can see the ground right up on the fron window. That is how steep some hills are. One time, our driver went really fast, and the jeep hit the ground really hard at the front. I couldn't breath for a second. After that, the driver was more careful driving hills.

Wild Camels! We passed by them. They were hand-cuffed on their front feet not to go too far or run fast. Are they really wild then?
After the bumpy choking ride, we came to this camping area where we enjoyed the local culture like...

	Camel Riding.
	Bird on your warm or/and dress Arabic local clothes.
	and of course, Kabab BBQ!!

... and Belly Dancing! I didn't know this, but a real belly dancer is supposed to have a little bit of belly, not super-slim. This dancer was really great!

I got some henna on my arm and my leg! This lady did my leg in a couple of minutes! Really fast! I had to wait for 30mins for it to dry, and wash it off.

This is how it looks like after 5 days. This is supposed to last for 20days or so.

This was a great trip! The desert is just one side of Dubai. The known part is, of course, the rich part. Stay tuned!

Queen's Day, The Netherlands

April 30th is Queen's Day (Koninginnedag) in the Netherlands. This is the craziest day in the year. People are partying all day long. Look how many boats are on the canal; absolutely too many. Can you see the people on the bridge watching boats going by in the back? Lots of tourists visit Amsterdam on this day.

When I went out to check out the neighborhood, it was already going nuts. There was bungee jump going on the street (not above water!), and it is just full of people everywhere.

I decided walking towards Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square), and on the way there I saw these beautiful ladies serving beers!

Once I stepped into Rembrandtplein, I told myself "What a mistake!" I just couldn't move. Too many people!

I looked back and see if it was easier to go back. I didn't think so. I just followed the crowd and got out of the mess after 20mins or so which usually takes 3 minutes to go across the square. People are dancing, drinking and ... just everything including smoking, of course!

People are in orange on Queen's Day. What's coming out of the boat on the left is bubbles!

After walking around the neighborhood for about an hour, I came back to my apartment. The party is still going on outside. Boats are still going back and forth on the canal. Don't get me wrong. I love my apartment facing the canal and enjoy the view, but not this particular day. Boats don't just pass by, but they have very loud speakers!! When I felt I had enough of Queen's Day, I shut my windows, plucked earphones and watched a movie at home. That was my first Queen's Day.

(Lucky me. A boat with loud speakers was parked right in front of my apartment until 11pm... I'm not kidding.)