Category: Travel

Related to traveling throughout different parts of the United States and the rest of the world.

Posted on

Japan Trip – Day 5 – Koyasan

Day Five

From Wednesday, November 16th, 2005: This is day 5 of my November trip to Japan. This morning, we were awoken by a ringing of a bell at 5:30am. We shuffled off to the services area and sat quietly while the monks performed their morning prayers. It was cold, peaceful, and humbling.

The remainder of the day was spent walking through the stone paths of Koyasan and checking out the old buildings. We ended the day by traveling back to Osaka, which I will post pictures of later.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Posted on

Japan Trip – Day 4b – Kung-Fu Ryokan

Day Four B

From Tuesday, November 15th, 2005: The Ryokan room, and the Yukatta Battle between Fred and Chris. Do not miss this episode. I had to break the arrival at Shojoshin-in into a separate video feed. We basically got into the room and spent the whole day just chilling out. We were both pretty beat after the day of traveling and battling Kung-fu style!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Posted on

Japan Trip – Day 4 – Ride to Koyasan

Day Four

From Tuesday, November 15th, 2005: On our way to Koyasan to visit some monks and keep in a traditional Japanese Ryokan. The entire day was spent traveling to Koyasan. First, JR Loop line from Shinjuku to Tokyo Station. Bullet train to Shin-Osaka. Loop line to Shin-Imamiya. Nankai Koya Line to Gokurakubashi. Cable car to Koyasan. Bus to Ryokan. Fun!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Posted on

Japan Trip – Day 3 – Train Riding

Japan Trip Day Three

From Monday, November 14th, 2005: Welcome to Day 3 of the Japan Trip. Our first real big day of formal sight-seeing. I was finally feeling back to normal after recovering from the jet lag and the nice cold I caught. We managed to figure out the trains well enough to make it to the Imperial Palace, the Meiji Shrine, and meet up with our friend Saya-san in Shimbashi in the evening. Unfortunately, I didn’t take too much video except on the trains themselves. There’s a quick bit about navigating the trains and what you see inside of them but that’s about all. The rest is pictures that you can also see in Flickr.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Posted on

Japan Trip – Day 2 – Shinjuku

Japan Trip Day Two

From Sunday, November 13th, 2005: Lots to see and lots to do in grand ol’ Tokyo. This day, we started it off right by visiting the Shinjuku Center, Sumitomo, and NS buildings for some high flying sight seeing. It was pretty amazing to be able to see metro spread for so far. We walked from downtown Shinjuku through Yoyogi, discovering vending machines, weird looking buildings, video games and pachinko parlors, and finally found the Sapporo beer museum in Ebisu.

We finished off the night by sitting in downtown Shinjuku totally wiped out and still not over our jetlag. It was somewhat surreal towards the end of the night and hence the weird music. I think it really captures the theme even though I totally ripped it off from “Lost in Translation”. Enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Posted on

Japan Trip – Day 1 – Arrival

Day One Title

From Saturday, November 12th, 2005: We arrived in Tokyo on Saturday November 12th, completely exhausted and tired from the 2 hour connecting flights, the 14 hour flight to Narita, the 1 hour long train ride to Shinjuku from Narita Airport, and the 1 hour jaunt to find our hotel. Needless to say, getting to Shinjuku is a multi-stage journey.

Upon arrival, it was a bit overwhelming, but really exciting. After the final leg of the journey, I was feeling a bit punchy. My only regret … I wish I took more video footage so this first installment is a little thin. Hope you enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Posted on

Going to Japan!

Its official. By this time next month I will finally be in Japan … well, at least for a bit. The tickets are bought, the hotels are booked, and I’ll be experiencing the longest birthday ever as I cross the dateline in reverse on my way home on 11/20. Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka are all in the running for some visits.

I plan on taking tons of pictures, videos, and taking orders for things Japan. More to come. If anyone has any recommendations on where to go, what to do, who to see, and how to see it … please let me know.

Posted on

Iceland at Night

Where have you been?! Do you not know that Iceland is the party capital of the world? If you like partying until the wee-hours of the night, you must go to Reykjavik Iceland. And if you do, beware and be forewarned. Icelanders are the most friendly, rambunctious, and crazy people you will ever meet. Here’s some living proof. This fellow decided to take his dissatisfaction of not being let into a trendy bar out by displaying his goods to the very patrons he whose mingling with he was refused. Sit back and enjoy!

Click here to view

Posted on

Shadow Robots on Hallgrimskirkju

I just started playing around with Flickr, and I used this as a test photo. On my last trip to Iceland, my friend Fred and I took some pictures up by Hallgrimskirkju – a rather large nordic looking concrete church on top of a large hill in the old city portion of Reyjavik, Iceland. I was able to create some shadow robots with some creative body positioning. Not sure why the shadow doesn’t look like me though.