BaroqueW

Asakusa Vista Hotel, Tokyo

The hotel was very well situated for our needs. It was close to the subway station, and in a quiet neighbourhood, aside from the strange consistency of one lone ambulance every night around 2am. The blanket was oddly plastic-like, but the bed was very comfortable as were the pillows. The air conditioning was efficient and not too loud, and the bathtub was clean even if it was oddly square in the Japanese style. Everything was very clean and kept clean by the cleaning service (they even covered a cup of tea to keep dust out of it… oddly enough). As an extra bonus, the toilet wasn’t just a toilet, it was a Gadget! Wee!
Don’t bother trying to use the restaurant in the hotel though. The times are listed differently on every sign and the personnel pretends to want to help you with your order but then informs you a few minutes later that the restaurant is, in fact, closed.

Rikiya, Kyoto

First, a warning: absolutely do NOT stay here if you have an allergy or sensitivity to mould or dust. Asthmatic problems for instance. If you can get past that, it’s an absolutely beautiful ryokan, and our room even had a small sitting room with glass doors leading out to a small garden filled with tiny frog statues. The room itself gives an impression of age, with it’s statue from the city of Kyushu and decorations. The futon was comfortable but really the tatami matted floor was so comfortable we managed to roll off the bed and onto the floor without noticing.

Another warning is that the map is of practically no use at all. It’s more of a suggestion than any usefulness, other than to take a taxi and point at the ryokan on it.

The personnel is a bit difficult to classify because two of them seemed quite pleasant and nice, always smiling and helpful. And another one of the older women working there seemed almost vicious. I guess the bad makes you appreciate the good all the more, right?

We also experienced taking a Japanese style bath for the first (last and only) time in this ryokan. It’s so hot it’s like being boiled alive. I’m not sure that’s unusual but do take your time getting into the bath, and take as many breaks from the water as you need to adjust to the sensation of being cooked alive. The experience reminds me of the story I was told as a kid. I was told that you could boil a frog alive if you just kept turning the heat up only a small amount, because they wouldn’t jump out if the temperature changed slowly enough. We took that to mean that a frog was a bit stupid. But how stupid are humans who throw themselves into boiling hot water to “relax”? (And the water was at least 45C, according to the temperature readings I’ve read at the other Japanese style baths).

The neighbourhood is classic old Kyoto and while there’s no lack of temples in Kyoto, you certainly get a good starting point for seeing some of the largest when you stay here. It’s a lovely place to take a walk, and situated close to the river which is also a picturesque area for walking.

Carpe Diem, Osaka

We had the… pleasure… of staying both in the hostel room area and the tea room. The difference between these two rooms is like night vs. day. The ryokan isn’t too far away from the subway station, and if you’re good with maps they do provide very good instructions on how to walk there. Look out for insanely swerving bike lanes.

It’s a family run operation, which makes it lose some business efficiency. I’m sure they mean well, but being told repeatedly that you were wrong to come to the ryokan before 3pm, even when all you want to do is leave your luggage, isn’t the nicest way to start your stay.

They provide a communal kitchen, bath/shower room (with a sign-up sheet for taking a bath) and western style toilet in a separate house from the rooms. The hostel rooms have a mould filled sink for washing clothes in, apparently, a small normal sink for washing your hands, a urinal and a hole-in-the-floor style toilet. The tea room has an immaculate large sink with space for toiletries, as well as a western style toilet with all the fun Japanese bidet features. The hostel room is bare of any decoration, and is merely functional at the best. The tea room was much more relaxing and home-like. The tea room is actually three separate areas with a room with a table, a small room with screens for a bedroom, and the sink and toilet area. It’s all contained within sliding glass doors, with a walkway, and then sliding rice paper doors. It feels very private and relaxing, especially compared to the hostel room area where only a thin paper sliding door kept us separate from a group of five French tourists returning to the ryokan at 4am. But it’s nice that you’re given a key to the outer doors and can come back when you wish without a curfew.

If you can overlook a hostile welcome, the garden alone makes the ryokan a nice place to stay. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the ponds have tiny kois. There is the problem of the Japanese cicadas waking up sometime around 5-6am and being so loud it’s a wonder you can hear the alarm clock… but it’s all part of the charm of staying in a foreign country, right?

September 2nd, 2007 | Tags: housing, Japan, Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo, Voyage / Travel |

Category: Articles in English, Japon / Japan, Voyage / Travel | Comments (3)

Sénanque Abbey

France is a lovely place to be. No, really, it is. Well, I can only speak for southern France, but so far I’m pleased to be able to report that it’s lovely both for the scenery and the people. I’ve visited the gorgeous ancient Sénanque Abbey surrounded by lavender. (A tip for future female visitors, learn to pee standing up because even in the women’s bathroom, the toilets more closely resemble urinals, as there is nothing between you and porcelain.)

Fairy Chimney

I’ve visited ancient Roman aqueduct/bridges (Pont d’Avignon which only half exists and Pont du Gard which is magnificent), and I’ve been to the famous outdoor Sunday market of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. I’ve visited La Fontaine de Vaucluse and even seen the ocre tinted Chimney of Fairies (Cheminée des Fées) and the so-called Sahara in Rustrel.

Today, however, I took a more active route to sightseeing. I went kayaking down the Sorgue River! With BaroqueW and Madame and Monsieur BaroqueW (his parents).

Our instructor informed us that doubling in a kayak is a test of a relationship, because you have to work together in complicated ways to get things to go in the right direction. We nearly mowed down a duck. Several times. What does that say about us?

It was organized chaos, and incredibly fun. Our group had the coherency of a message board run by rabid Nazis who enjoy dressing as nuns and visiting Disneyland in their free time. People swerved around randomly, zigzagging from one side of the river to the other. One boy jumped from his kayak and landed with the grace of a paraplegic antelope in the water to retrieve a lost paddle. Did I mention this “tour” is listed as being good for beginners? It’s 8km long and takes approximately 2 hours to complete. We had two small man-made dams to climb over and pull our kayaks after us, both managed without mishap. We did manage to get stranded on rocks twice, but with 32˚C(90˚F) weather, the chilly 13˚C(55˚F) water felt refreshingly wonderful so I didn’t mind jumping out to get us free.

We got to glide under an aqueduct and past the famous water wheels of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. As I previously mentioned, there were ducks trying to eat lunch, with their tiny baby ducklings in tow. We managed not to mush any, but it was a close call.

It was also a workout as we desperately paddled to try to avoid trees or whirls of water, but at the same time it was very relaxing and peaceful. You can listen to the cicadas and the birds while admiring gorgeous dark blue dragonflies that come to rest on your boat. We even floated past a few donkeys that came down to the riverbank for refreshment. If you’re ever passing through the region, I strongly recommend giving “canoë-kayak”ing a try.

June 29th, 2007 | Tags: France, Provence, Voyage / Travel |

Category: Articles in English, Voyage / Travel | Comments (2)

I have very little (read null) interest in politics. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by an offer to visit the Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen) and have a free tour. I let myself be lured in, while swearing I wouldn’t turn to the dark side and become a politics fanatic.

BaroqueW and I showed up early on Saturday (the 5th of May, although it shames me to say I’ve put off writing this article that long) outside of the building in Gamla Stan. Typical of Sweden, there was construction going on so it was a bit messy and confusing. According to the building entrance, we were in the right place – main entrance. There was also a small entrance to one side that was nearly a funnel with construction creating a narrow tunnel with rough wooden planks to carry us “safely” over ditches. That entrance was supposed to be for guided tours, but it was small, cramped and no one was there. So we decided to camp out on the steps like hobos and surreptitiously check out other students who showed up for the tour.

Once in a while people would surge to the left, in the discovery of the secondary entrance… like sheep being led to the slaughter. It was extremely amusing. 8 people trapped in a tunnel because the last person can’t hear that the first person is saying that it’s a locked door never fails to amuse.

Eventually the woman who had sent us the email making the offer showed up, and complained that we should have been twice as many people. But I’m glad that we weren’t, because some of the rooms we were shown were quite small and I don’t think 30 people would have been able to comfortably view them. Like this lovely picture shows, of a committee room where apparently the “real” decisions are made.

Parliament

That leads us to the actual tour, which was actually quite fascinating. Important things to know: Sweden is a democracy, and not the Russian kind of democracy but an actual democracy with voting and all that entails. Swedes are also extremely fanatic about all things being a matter of public record, so when you vote for someone or for a political party, you can see what THEY in turn vote for when they’re in office. Every member sits at a special assigned desk where they press buttons to vote on issues. The vote shows up both immediately on the wall in the room, and is recorded as well for the public records. No one can say that they’ll vote one way and then do something else without everyone knowing it. There is a special section to the back of the room for the media to stand in, as well as two glass walled rooms to each side for reporters and with balconies for photographers to stand on. Big brother is being watched.

There are 349 individuals elected every four years, which is a throw back from the days when there were two parties in constant clash with each other. So the original 350 created the possibility of 175 members from each party who were in permanent discord with each other who, just on the principle of the thing, refused to agree with each other which made getting anything done impossible.

Each constituency’s number of fixed representatives is calculated on the population within the constituency. Unlike many other parliaments, they aren’t seated according to their political ideology but rather by their constituency. It leaves everyone very mixed up and a left-wing member can easily be sitting next to a right-wing member. The party members are also required to spend 3 days a week in Stockholm, and 4 within their constituency. The people who live more than 50km from Stockholm
are entitled to 7000sek in addition to their basic salary of 49,200sek (before tax.. yes, they pay tax) – per month – to make up for their needing to stay overnight in Stockholm for those 3 days.

It’s a cushy job with cushy seats.

That’s about as deeply interested as I got in that lecture. But you could get more information and details from Riksdagen’s Webpage.

The building itself looked quite nice. We had it entirely to ourselves.

They didn’t even have us followed by security guards. You’d never see 10 foreign students walking with only one small tour guide through an empty government building in USA or France. The only concession to security was the requirement that we store our bags in lockers before we started the tour. The only security guards we saw were in the lobby and actually drinking coffee and eating donuts (or something in the gist of the Swedish “fika”) in the best of stereotyped Hollywood tradition. They paid very little attention to us except perhaps a node and a smile.

The upper floor made from steel and glass was in stark contrast to the original parts of the building. They have a beautiful view of Stockholm as well as a clean fresh look. The painting hanging in the main chamber looks a little faded, but is meant to be a fantasy picture that all members of Riksdag can relate to. It’s representative of an older Sweden that strived to blend in and be as unobtrusive as possible. But modern day Sweden is starting to be learn to be proud of it’s heritage, and our guide seemed particularly proud to tell us that newly formed government of Belarus sent a delegation to Sweden in order to mirror their own parliament after Sweden’s organization.

I probably learned more about Swedish politics and the political system on this day than I learned total through conversation, media, and my various Swedish classes.

I’ve maintained my political isolation and still have no interest in becoming a member in a political party, even if they do have cushy seats.

May 17th, 2007 | Tags: Riksdag, Stockholm, Sweden |

Category: Articles in English, Voyage / Travel | Comments (3)

Staring at the pilot’s seat in front of me, with its back unattached, unscrewed, and shredded, I wondered what in the world had convinced me this would be a good idea.

I was strapped into a tiny airplane that had space for just three passengers and the pilot, that would soon (supposedly) be taking off to

fly over Stockholm and the archipelago. I’d seen it take off before… It would probably be successful again… right?

But I’m getting ahead of myself; let’s start at the beginning where a lovely offer arrived in the email - just 200kr per person to have an amazing flight over Stockholm, an amazingly cheap offer supposedly because it was being operated by a non-profit organization. All we had to do was book a time, and show up. There would be food, drinks, and airplanes on display.

When something sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Genesis: The Beginning

Gathering up in our little group, we set out on our adventure. One bus, one subway, one more bus, and then yet another bus and we found ourselves… in the middle of no-where. Also known as “Ekerö”. Nothing ahead of us… nothing behind us… nothing to the left… (Can you guess?) Nothing to the right! The returning bus only came every two hours.

Our fellow vict… I mean… travellers… milled around us and eventually began wandering up the road. No one knew where we

were, or where we were supposed to go. Wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of… airfield? People? Something? Ah.. a small badly written cardboard sign… It was like a scene out of Hostel where you scream at the characters, GO BACK!

Eventually we ended up at a dead end, with a barbed wire fence. But we were not to be deterred. With some effort, and an amazing amount of clothing not getting ripped, we managed to navigate the fence, and make our way towards what seemed to be airplanes and a tiny shack. We were, in fact, in the right place.

Purgatory: The Wait

Upon our arrival, the first thing we learned was that they were behind schedule. At first it seemed like a small thing. We were there at noon, and had booked a time for 1pm. But it seems that they weren’t just behind schedule… they had no schedule. The schedule was completely redundant and of absolute no worth. The non-profit organization was, in fact, a club related to students at KTH.

They dubbed us “the French group”, despite the fact that only one out of the four of us was actually French, and told us we could go up after the German group… or maybe the Chinese group (who were speaking Swedish to each other. Yes, I’m easily amused and distracted.) Soon anyway… as soon as possible. Meanwhile, want some burned sausages and diet pop that will make your stomach hurt and give you a headache?

And so, we waited. And slowly felt our extremities go numb… well, actually, didn’t feel it. Which is kind of the point. It was a chilly and windy day, despite the sun shining. Lying in the grass, under the sun, was actually warmer than being inside the shack. The time for the bus’s arrival came, and went. We watched in bitter silence as the planes took a 60-minute break for some unfathomable reason between trips. The pilots had some sort of negative sense of humour. Anything they said to try to be funny was as automatically empty and valueless as their promises of “soon”.

Ascension: Take-off

And now we’re back to where I started. Sitting in the rickety plane, with tattered seats, wondering – why?

The pilot was explaining the rules to us, and making the front seat passenger open and close the emergency door… our last chance to escape. Then we put on our headphones, which were about as good for hearing each other as using two cups with attached strings, when the strings have been cut.

Down the runway we went, as the flat empty countryside rolled past. I tried to focus on my breathing so I wouldn’t trigger an asthma attack, when suddenly the bottom dropped out of my stomach and we were airborne! Higher and higher, until houses were tiny little toys and there was a just blue sky all around.

Nirvana: Flight

It was absolutely utterly breathtakingly amazing. The city spread out beneath us was a surrealistic picture, with all of the landmarks turned

into tiny toy versions of themselves. The sun glistened on the water, and the plane dipped and turned on it’s wingtips as if it was in some sort of ballet. The archipelago’s smattering of islands resembled a trail of cookie crumbs, breaking away from the mainland.

We were still locked in a tiny little metal cabin, and I still had to clutch BaroqueW’s knee to keep semi-calm, but at the same time it was as if I couldn’t feel the plane as an object surrounding me anymore. I moved with the plane, so when it turned, so did I. It was more like riding a 4-wheeler (or ATV as non-rednecks tend to call them, note from the editor), only through the sky instead of on the ground. Which may sound odd to people who haven’t been on one but, compared to commercial airlines, it’s a very valid metaphor. It was much more personal and intense.

It was wonderful, beautiful, and worth every penny. Or krona.
Although I’m not sure the 4 hour wait was.

My thanks to Grégoire for taking the pics, and to BaroqueW for posting them!

April 26th, 2007 | Tags: plane, Stockholm, Sweden |

Category: Articles in English, Voyage / Travel | Comments (7)