Travels with Zen-Aida » Travel tips

Japan: Sapporo to Nagano on the Twilight Express sleeper

zda — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:27:28 +0000

Riding overnight trains must also be a special experience for Japanese. As I sit in the very comfortable and spacious salon car, with its linden-green upholstered sofas and oversize panoramic windows, the merchandise cart comes along. The attendant hands out a menue-like card showing all the items available, branded especially for the Twilight Express. A group of ladies practically pounce on the attendant with eager anticipation at buying a souvenir of their journey.

The luxurious dining car is being set up for dinner. The chef with his white top hat surveys his ingredients in the kitchen. The waiters stand at attention in their uniforms. Dinner is by reservation only and there is a gourmet multi-course Japanese or Western menu for 6,000 ($72 or 53 Euro) and another more elaborate one at 12,000 Yen ($143 or 106 Euro), beverages not included. I opt for a modest Bento box at 1500 Yen in the “Pub Time” after 9 p.m.

My sleeping arrangements are not as comfortable as on the Hokutosei Express. For the same sleeper fare (9450 Yen additional to the JR Railpass), I have the lower berth in a 4-berth compartment. Thankfully, I am alone. There is fresh linen, pillows, blanket and a cotton yucata (robe) but no electric plug, so I am not able to charge my laptop. There is extremely little space for any luggage - how 4 persons with luggage are supposed to get it in here is quite beyond me!

The way to go is to get an "A" class compartment: Single or double and very luxurious, even with its own shower and toilet, armchair, small desk....

Although the train attendants are forthcoming and helpful, it does not mask the fact that they barely speak any English. Thankfully, they have an FAQ list in English and Japanese, making basic communication possible.

I had boarded the Twilight Express (to Osaka) at 14:05, got off at Naoetsu at 6:25 a.m., changing for Nagano. My journey was 1139 km and took 18 hours.

The Twilight Express is not a fast train, rather, it ambles thorugh a countryside, which is no doubt very beautiful in the summer. Semi-rural, we pass small towns and villages with box-like houses, their angled roofs telling us that this is a snowy area and the houses must be well insulated. Light industrial warehouses and lots of hot houses line the tracks. I had expected more evergreen vegetation. Instead there are practically only decidious trees.

This is my second time in the 53.85 km long Seikan Tunnel connecting the island of Hokkaido to the main island of Honchu. The fact that for 23.3 km you are actually 250 meters below sea level is not felt at all, there is no change in pressure – truly an engineering feat! (Compare this with the England-France tunnel at 75 meters below sea level for 37.9 km).

See my post from Tokyo to Sapporo on the Hokutosei sleeper train.

Japan: How to get to the Snow Monkeys

zda — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:10:59 +0000

The journey to see the monkeys is half the fun, but involves some planning. Think of it as a day excursion and be sure to allow time. A snowy day is ideal because the chances of seeing many monkeys in the water are good – afer all, they want to get warm! On a nice day, they will most likely be out and about, not in the water.

The easiest way for tourists to get to the Jigokudani Monkey Park is taking the Nagaden company bus from the Nagano train station: Take the East Exit, walk downstairs to the bus terminal. The bus leaves from quay 3 or 4. It runs once an hour (10 past the hour), costs 1300 Yen one way and takes 40 minutes. Be sure to get a flyer with the return times from the driver.

If you want to go by train or car, consult your guide book, there are several options, but all seem to be longer and more of a hassle than taking this bus. All, however, involve walking the last 1.6 kilometers (about 40 minutes) to Hell’s Valley at 850 meters above sea level.

The Jigokudani Monkey Park is open throughout the year. From April to October the hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., from November to March 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tips for the excursion:

Altogether you will be gone a good 5 hours departing from Nagano (40 minute drive, 40-60 minute walk, about 60 minutes with the monkeys, about 40 minutes walk back, 40 minutes drive back to Nagano).

If you need/want to have a snack or something to drink – and haven’t brought anything along - go to the gas station next to the Kanbayashi Onsen Guchi bus stop upon arrival to get yourself something to take up. Chances are the kiosk at the monkey spa is closed.

Be sure to wear good walking boots with a non-skid sole.

At the entrance to the park – you still have those 1.6 km to go – there are some heavy-duty straw rope pieces that can be tied around your shoes to help you not to skid. These are free of charge and hang on a branch just before the steps start.

The path is not secured by rails and, while not necessarily narrow, it is not wide, either. As it was carved out of the mountain side, it drops off steeply most of the way. On the map it is euphamistically called a “promenade”!

When I visited, the small kiosk at the monkey spa was closed. The only resting area was a rustic shack selling the entry fee ( 500 Yen per adult) and faded postcards. It also housed the restrooms and – at least the ladies – had a Western-style toilet with heated seat. A very welcome feature!

If you want to eat or drink something, bring your own. Several onigri rice cakes (the triangular ones wrapped in seaweed) would be just right now: a light (weight) and nutritious snack, easy to carry and consume. No tea or coffee is sold. There is only one vending machine, which may or may not be working.

Be kind to your good DSLR camera: If it is snowing or worse, raining, bring at least a small hand towel from your hotel to wrap your camera and lens in. Moisture and electronics don’t mix.

There is a great sense of comradery amongst the visitors, sitting on the tree stumps in the hut, trying to warm-up in front of a weak electric heater and communing with the old stuffed Japanese Serow goat on show before heading out again into the cold and wet. Let’s hope it stays this way for a long time to come and does not get replaced with some glitzy mountain resort!

Japan: Tokyo to Sapporo with the Hokutosei sleeper train

zda — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:03:00 +0000

For holders of the JR Railpass, this is a good option to get from Tokyo to Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido. The Hokutosei is a tokkyu limited sleeper express and leaves at 7 p.m. from Ueno Station, arriving the next morning at 11:15 a.m. in Sapporo. That is about 17 hours, but there is no change involved, so you just get on, get comfortable and off you go. If you have the JR Railpass, you just pay the sleeper surcharge. I paid 9,240 Yen for a single “B” compartment (approx. $111 or 82 Euro). It turned out to be an upper one, which, while comfortable, had two major disadvantages: I had to take my luggage up 4 narrow steps and I couldn’t really stand straight in the about 1.5 x 2 meter compartment. I would definitely recommend the lower compartment! Light controls, 4 channels of radio, temperature control – but no electrical outlet (nor in the club or dining car), so I had to use battery power for my laptop.

Otherwise, spotlessly clean compartment, fresh linen including a cotton daycoat (yucata) and slippers, clean (Western and Japanese) toilet and sink facilities. There was a club-car with a flat screen closed circuit Japanese TV, phone booth and two showers. The comfortable dining car served Western and Japanese style dinner menues with reservations required for the evening. I had the Japanese breakfast for 1600 Yen; there was also a Western one for the same price.

The train ambles along, this is not a Shinkansen. In fact, sometimes the rumpling on the tracks jolts you awake! The only real smooth ride is in the 53.85 km Seikan tunnel connecting the main island of Honshu with Hokkaido. The fact that for 23.3 km you are actually 250 meters below sea level is not felt at all, there is no change in pressure – truly an engineering feat! (Compare this with the England-France tunnel at 75 meters below sea level for 37.9 km).

See my post on the return trip Sapporo – Nagano on the Twilight Express.

The world of cruises

zda — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:34:50 +0000

Cruise liner in Sydney Harbour

After my recently completed 257 day around the world trip, there was only one mode of transportation that I had not used: cruise ships. Simply the idea of not packing/unpacking and to be taken to a destination is utterly appealing! I think I have saved the best for last and who knows, may become a cruise junkie from here on out.

Where to start researching with so much choice? Fortunately, I found the portal for discount cruises online: Discountcruises.com offers a wide range of operators, destinations, schedules, as well as first-user friendly articles such as Gratuities 101 and Cruise Dining 101.

First off, I looked up the “exotic” category and found the 162-day “Seven-Seas-Voyager”, which basically means around the world for the sum of (gasp) US$ 89,999 per person. For a suite, mind you. Thinking about it, it is not so over the top, though, when I compare it to the overall expense of my just concluded around the world trip costing about USD$75,000. And that was not “suite” traveling, either.

The other end of the spectrum is a one-day cruise on an ocean liner from Seattle to Vancouver (or vice versa) for just US$ 29. Now that is a great birthday party idea for Pacific Northwest friends!

But back to the drawing board: A San Francisco-Hawaii-New Zealand-Australia cruise sounds truly enticing! Being offered at a 38% discount of US$2899 for an ocean view room. I think I’ll start packing!

Where did the day go?

Bangkok to Penang: 24 hour International Express Train

zda — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:28:36 +0000

Nowadays, the internet is the source of instant information and this is especially true for travel news. I forget how I found www.seat61.com but in no time, I was intrigued by the very detailed account of how to get from Bangkok to Butterworth, which is the railway station to get to Georgetown on Penang Island in Malaysia. Mr. Mark Smith, a British career railywayman, has set up this site about trains worldwide in such an easily accessible manner, that I was instantly convinced. Why not, it is only 24 hours from point A to point B? And this is not any fancy Orient Express Nostalgic Luxury train. This is the real thing, second class and all.

In Bangkok, I had therefore purposely taken a hotel in Chinatown, nearby the Hualamphong Station. Basic and clean is the simplest description I will use for the “Hotel Chinatown”, but then, it was also only 30 Euro/night. And it had air-conditioning, essential in 34 Celsius humid heat. Walking to the station in the morning to get my ticket, I passed through the recycled car parts district – if ever you wonder where the nuts, bolts and other small scrap metal ends up, well, here it is, neatly piled up in umpteen corners of little shops – and was soon standing in the large domed hall of the main train station. The benign portrait of the King of Thailand gazed upon the leisurely activity of travellers getting their provisions in the twenty or so little shops. This must be one of the few train stations where there are real orchid plants adding a touch of class to the otherwise very functional architecture of such places.

After getting the information from the internet confirmed by a pretty Thai employee speaking quite good English and told to get my ticket at the foreigner’s booth nr. 1, I happily paid 1210 Baht (about 25 Euro) for a lower berth, second class (the only direct wagons) on the International Express Train Nr. 35, leaving at 14:45 on track 5.

Punctually, the 10 wagons slowly made their way through the suburbs of Bangkok for a good hour. New, glittering skyscrapers could be seen in the distance, but we pass vast expanses of semi-industrial, half-finished constructions.

My wagon was very clean but seemed easily 30 years old. Every two seats facing each other converted into two berths – upper and lower – with space for luggage in a metal contraption on the aisle. Let us just say that the name of the designer of this layout will be lost to us in history and we will not miss him, alas.

A train steward came around, checked the ticket and proceeded to refund 20 Baht to each passenger in this wagon: We had no air-conditioning, only old-fashioned but efficient fans. In good Chinese train tradition, vendors came along selling drinks and various kinds of prepared foods. Slowly, conversations started up between the travellers – a group of three English young women finding much to share, coming from northern Thailand and going to Kuala Lumpur, a Spanish couple on their way to Borneo, a Chinese man talking endlessly on his cell phone, quiet Thais – and we all settled down.

Eventually, the train gathered speed and we start to travel through open but fairly populated countryside. Not much is cultivated yet, just tropical greenery accented by various types of palm and banana trees and, unfortunately, small waterways largely full of refuse. About two hours out of Bangkok the rice fields start and will be dominating the scenery, along with banana and palm tree plantations throughout the journey. Often I also see wild bougainvillea, frangipani and hibiscus. The houses – many huts – reflect a very modest lifestyle, poor even in parts, shanty town structures that often occur close to rail tracks everywhere in the world.

Darkness comes soon and with it, delivered to my seat, a dinner which I had ordered from the steward earlier: Chicken curry on rice, a vegetable dish and miso soup, a slice of fresh pineapple for dessert, all for 170 Baht (3.50 Euro). Freshly prepared and quite tasty. After dinner, the steward makes the berths with sheets, a pillow and a coverlet – all fresh. Blue curtains are hooked in and give a high degree of privacy and definitely a “Some like it hot” feeling. I expect Marilyn Monroe as Sugar and Tony Curtis to pop out of a top berth any minute...

By 9 p.m., the wagon is absolutely still. I am comfortably ensconced in my berth and can give myself over to the swaying clickety-clack, clackety-click as the train speeds over the surely still British-built tracks. Every now and again I peek out into the darkness and see astonishingly many lights of small villages and towns. As this train is an International Express, it has limited stops and speeds through most empty stations. The moon shows the silhouettes of palm trees and the dim lights from the train throw a ghostly shadow on the tropical countryside.

It is barely dawn at 6 a.m.. when the steward comes around with the one-choice breakfast (also ordered the evening before and delivered to the berth): two eggs sunnyside up, a small sausage, one each tomato and pineapple slice, two pieces of toast, butter and pineapple jam, a non-descript yellow juice and tea or coffee (120 Baht, approx. 2.50 Euro). It is time for a cat’s wash-up, meaning a quick moist wipe will have to do the trick this morning. By the way, the toilet facilities are well, yes, clean-ish, and there are two sinks with running water for the entire wagon.

The time between 7:30 and 9 a.m. is spent at the Hat Yia Junction station with Thailand-Malaysian border formalities, meaning that everyone has to debark with all their belongings and exit Thailand and enter Malaysia. Don’t complain, just do it.

Eight wagons go off in other directions and we continue with two wagons and a different, smoke belching locomotive. The stewards have taken the berths away and cleaned up of sorts and left. There is a new Malaysian crew and no service. Even the water supply of the wash basins is gone. There are more stops, locals disembark, others get on.

The countryside seems more cultivated: Papaya plantations and tree forestations alternate with the rice paddies. Even the palm trees are mostly in orderly rows. The green seems even more intense – we are, after all, in the wet tropics.

And then, suddenly, the end of the journey approaches: We arrive in Butterworth only 30 minutes later than scheduled. This train station is totally charmless and functional. The best thing that can be said about it is that is connected by covered track to the ferry terminal to cross over to Georgetown.

Would I have given up this journey for the comfort and speed of a flight? Never! After all the way is as much the mean as the end....

Sydney: Views at every turn

zda — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 07:01:05 +0000

At the risk of stating the obvious, Sydney really is a beautiful city. Wherever you turn, a panoramic view opens – of the harbour, a cove, a bay, an inlet, a beach, a bridge, a point, a head, a park, a dip, a summit feature, etc. etc. And from very many places – a glimpse of the iconic opera house. Couple that with many tidy residential neighborhoods full of leafy trees, trimmed lawns and Anglo-American villa-style homes (Northshore) or a more dense urban landscape (Eastern Suburbs) with smaller houses featuring fancy lace-like wrought iron balustrades, dotted with condominium highrises commanding, no doubt, spectacular harbour, sea or downtown skyline views and you have a city that rightly ranks in the top desirable lifestyle cities worldwide.

I haven’t had much time yet to see the official sights (other than the opera house), but have had the pleasure of spending a weekend with friends who have two delightful little girls, 4 and 6 years old. As a result, I’ve visited several playgrounds with lots of different equipment: monkey trees, swings, spirals, chutes and other apparatus that I wouldn’t even know how to name. Gone are the days of just a plain (mostly dirty) sandbox and a swing as the ultimate in playground equipment. Now even the ground surfaces are child-friendly, made of some sort of bouncy rubber material so that even if a child falls on it, chances are the hurt will not be as dramatic.

On this particular weekend (I was told many neighborhoods have events of this kind), Balmoral Beach hosted a Mudgee Region Promotion Festival. The Mudgee region is not far from Sydney, just a few hours drive on the other side of the Blue Mountains and home to excellent wines, vineyards, olive oils, etc. So what better occasion than a popular park / beach area to set up several dozen tents showcasing the regional products with ample wine degustation on the spot (with real wine glasses I might add, no plastics here!). Add to that a guitar/vocal duo, a petting zoo for the kids and lots of different ethnic foods, sunshine and voilà – great atmosphere!

I never expected Sydney to be so hilly – San Francisco and Seattle, eat your heart out! Although there is a grid system in place, the geography of the various hills and harbours makes it difficult to adhere to. There are endless dips, slopes, curves and cusps to maneuver. Even though Sydney has an extensive suburban train system and certainly many bus routes, it remains a car-based society. In order to cope with its approx. 5 million inhabitants moving through a bottleneck that makes up the CBD, the freeway system is sophisticated and woe unto you if you happen to land in the wrong lane – instead of a tunnel you end up on a bridge going tangentially in a different direction very easily. Toll booths have been eliminated and now an e-tag beeps everytime a toll is collected with an automatic debit system in place. The bus system, however, is in serious need of modernization and updating. Not only are the buses old-fashioned, the entire ticket system can do with a major revamp – right now it is confusing, not well signposted and generally not consumer-friendly – meaning that I had several very frustrating experiences. Even a provincial city such as Valencia was better organized, let alone Munich! My Sydney friends corrobated my comments, saying that the city is slowly working on improving the system.

All in all a delightful start to my exploration of the Australian continent!

Where did the day go?

zda — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:06:36 +0000

Crossing the date-line doesn't hurt, in fact, you don't feel it at all. It's all just on paper and in your head: taking off from Santiago de Chile at 22:50 on Monday and arriving in Auckland, New Zealand at 4 in the morning on Wednesday. Actual flying time: 13.5 hours, roughly the same as Frankfurt - San Francisco. But it feels different, like I should be getting a gift certificate to cash in for the lost day. I suppose I will get it back in increments, as I continue flying west ....

Excellent flight on LAN, by the way. I am not a jaded business-class traveller who takes these things for granted, so, boy, did I love those fold-down-to absolute-flat seats, the pilllows and duvets cased in ironed percale cotton covers and the sheer space available. I could easily have slept those 13.5 hours, except that I felt so happy, safe and comfortable lying, extended in full comfort and enjoying the smooth flight, that I barely slept a wink.

Airstream Retro Coffee open at 4 a.m.

Arriving in Auckland at that pre-dawn time, I was surprised to find many services functioning already (but then again, it is in their interest to do so, since there are several overseas flights arriving): the duty free store, at least one bank, newspaper stand and a coffee shop - located in a converted "Airstream" aluminium caravan from the 50s, on the sidewalk, where everybody waits for bus/taxi/pickup, smart business idea.

I had informed myself online, but not made any hotel reservation yet. I decided to give the Aspen House a try because of their good rating on Lonely Planet and the fact that I knew they had space as well as being smack in the center of the city. Also, they had a two nights-for-one-deal going. Arriving at Emily Place via the shuttle-bus service at about 5:30 a.m., I am greeted by the single, loud and melodious song of an invisible bird hidden in what I later see is a charming city park, with four gingko trees, several rubber and palm trees, all easily over 100 years old. Aspen House is divided into a hostel and a hotel wing.

Aspen House Hotel on Emily Place

As a lady-in-her-prime, I choose a hotel room with private bath at $NZ65 a night. The high-ceiling room is adequate and clean, painted pale gray with one rust-red wall and a small window giving onto a blind inner courtyard. There is a slight resemblance to a prison cell, but maybe this is just the newest look in post-moderne-retro décor. At any rate, the double bed is incredibly welcoming, as I sink into it for a few hours of catch-up sleep.

Waldorf Stadium Apartments on Beach Rd.

A couple of days later, I move to the Waldorf Stadium Apartments, a building just opened in January 2009 with excellently appointed serviced apartments. I chose a studio of about 40 sq. meters, with a little kitchenette fully equipped including a cute dishwasher-in-a-rollout-drawer, my own washer and dryer, high speed internet and a city view. In addition, city buses stop right outside the door and Auckland's largest 24/7 supermarket is right around the corner. The weather is rather inclement, to but it elegantly... I think I will hibernate here for a few days.