Ailie in Wonderland 3

Again, a summary of small matters in life:

• The comic “midnight eatery” (Shinya Shokudo) becomes my cookbook recently, and on non-working days I will try to explore some laymen Japanese tastes in my kitchen.
• The hot wet days make me not feeling good.
• Try practising Tabata protocol, at least a few days a week.
• Smartphone is a device that may draw you away from blogging, or make you a CD-ROM (read-only and not writeable)
• Really want to turn off my brain when not working (I know this is not good).
• Realize that you don’t have to tell the world EVERYTHING about you and in your mind (OK I know that well, but recently just have a re-think about this, as a response to the social media culture).
• Sis Bo came around with son L, and had a good time with the little kid around (OK he had some nasty moments too)
• Thinking about my next holiday.
• Addicted to all these preserving, marinating, and brewing practices.
• Had some good time with friends exploring grassroot locations in Hong Kong.

Had a dinner with PT when travelling in Beijing last week.  Lots of talks about the friends we know, and the cultural scene here.

Then he said, “hey just write if you want to.  This is a good time in our life to do some writing.”

I remember same time last year, Yoi-san gave me the same advice.

Maybe I should think about this seriously.

Wunsche euch einen guten Rutsch!!!  Alles Gute!

AC xxx

Merry Christmas and everyone should try the best to keep the world in one piece in 2012!

祝大家聖誕快樂，在2012盡力讓世界不要 (因為一些愚蠢的理由而突然) 完結！

Wunsche euch Frohes Weihnachten, und in 2012 mussen wir (noch) die Welt von Katastrophen retten!!!

(Photo taken in Hsieh’s residence, Tainan, 2011)

This day we went to Kazagashira-yama to see the remains of Kameyama Sachu, the first company in Japan.  A lot of members of company finally became sucessful businessmen or politicians after restoration.

The man behind all these: Sakamoto Ryoma

The hill offers a perfect view of Nagasaki city

A bronze made steering wheels and the “boots of Ryoma” (yes, he wore boots instead of sandals)

Then we walked down the hill and back to the downtown.  The famous magane-bashi “spectacle bridge”

And right at the end of the bridge you may try the local specialty “chang-chang ice”

Nagasaki China Town

And lunch: local specialty “Champon-men”

… and that’s the end of the trip…

Day three we went to north to see the area once affected by atmoic bombing that ended WWII.

Right near the station there was the monument and museum of 26 Martyrs in Nishizaka.

The Nishizaki park right next to the museum is a cat’s paradise …

Then we moved to the atmoic bombing memorial park… this is the remains of the Uekami church, and the original location was some 500m from the hypocenter.

The shimonokawa was where many people rushed to for water, and many people died right away afterwards…

After the bombing the US military believed that nothing would grow in this area for 75 years due to radiation.  But if you come to this place you can see all the greens and big trees… so the nature just tells us that there is no desperation.

The statue of peace, built 10 years after the bombing

Paper cranes made by students all over Japan, a symbol of best wishes

The rebuilt Urakami church

Dinner: in traditional Japanese restaurant “Yossou”, famous for steam eggs

My second dinner: Yakitori “Ryoma”, with Oden and a “Ryoma beer” as starter

In day two we hung around the European residence area in the south of the city.  Nagasaki was one of the ports opened to foreigners during the period of Tokugawa times from 16 centries, and you can find as many churches as shrine and temples.  It was also the stage for people advocating political reform at the end of 18 centuries, including swordsmen, traders, foreigners, and politicians.

We started our visit in the Oura church…

… then into the Glover Garden, which consists a number of western-styled houses from the traders.  Now the area is owned by the city government and open to public.

Some houses offers a spectacular view to the Nagasaki harbour (here one can see the Mitsubishi shipyard on the other side)

A nice a pleasant day with autumn colours!

In the middle we had a nice tea time in Chiyu-te (pavailion of freedom), one of the first western-style restaurants in Japan, and enjoyed the famous “castella” cake :)

In the evening we went to a seafood place nearby, and apart from sushi rice, I enjoyed the fresh grilled oyster… yummmm

JS told me that he has almost no sympathy about the suffering of people in Japan during the war, because his grandfather suffered as POW during the Pacific War.

Sometimes this is the cruelty of war, and therefore we should try our best to stop this kind of humanitarian disaster.  There is no justice in war.  Every party is a loser in war.

OK back to the issue.  I went to Nagasaki with Jenn this month - because 1) we needed to take all annual leave left before end of the year; 2) there was a special offer with tickets to Japan between mid-Nov to mid-Dec; 3) Japan is calling me (maybe this sounds too romantik… haa haa).

We arrived Fukuoka in the evening, then checked out the next day, and had a Hakata ramen as lunch…

Then took the “Kagome” (Seagull) train to Nagasaki.  When we opened the door of hotel room, we found that this is the biggest budget hotel room we ever been (OK it’s not as big as a president’s suite, but considering this is Japan and we paid some 7,500 yen/ HKD750/ 75 EUR per room per night, with breakfast and WiFi and free water/coffee, this is a really good deal…)

After settling down, we started our walk from the station and this is Christmas time (not in a religious sense, but like “this is the end of the year”), they set up some lightings everywhere.

In the downtown we tried the mini-gyoza from a small eatery, which was freshly made, and the whole atmosphere looked *exactly* like in some Japanese drama…

Oh and I took this picture after finishing this very tasty fried egg with chives…

… and I knew since then that I my goals (relax, and have some good food) will be accomplished :)

This is the first time travelling to this side of Taiwan.

But… right before my journey my C-2020 (age 10) refuse to read the memory card, which means certified dead.  So all I could use is my cellphone plus the roidizer software.

In the midway we stopped at Miaoli to see fields of flowers…

Instead of staying in hotels, we stayed in some lodges, which are converted from some old houses and quite “hip” in Taiwan now.

The owners of these lodges are good at creating a nice atmosphere for travellers…

… and this one has an ambassdor.

In another one the owner told us the story of everything in the house, which reflect the history of his family and the city of Tainan…

Tainan was the capital of Taiwan before end of the WWII, and was a city with colourful culture.

Here is the salt trading house during Japanese ruling era…

Salt mounds…

Typical street scene

Not counting the business trip,  this is the year I travel most frequently.

BKK in April

Sofa tour in July

Tainan  in November

Fukuoka/ Nagasaki in December

Then I can close my year without complain. :)

Sis K will spend Christmas in Toronto with Sis A and family, and JS will go home for Christmas too; AK probably spend Christmas with gf, so I have to think about what to do during the break… maybe just finish my DVD collection.

***Some irrelevant stuff***

That day I went to Torihana for a ramen again.  When the staff put the ramen on the table, suddenly I saw a face smiling at me…

Yes things could look different from another angle!