GlobalHopper Travels

Freedom in London

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:56:37 -0800

Great news for Londoners, McD's has not yet stolen the right to deep fried apple pie. I guess this shouldn't be surprising since they are the home of a lot of famous deep fried goodies like Fish and Chips, Deep fried Mars bars and best of all Deep fried frozen pizza.

The Ramen Master

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:07:35 -0800

Before coming to Tokyo Shimpei had mentioned a new Ramen place had opened about a block away from his station and it was really good taste. We headed off for dinner with the typical Japanese style directions, "from the station cross the tracks, then walk to the 7-11 and hang a left and after a bit you'll know when your there". It was very easy to find with a long line of people and a simple sign "eat ramen here".

The Deadly Poisonous Killer Japanese PufferFish

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:59:17 -0800

Yes... Challenging life, death or worse! Fugu paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious. There have been tales of people being taken to the hospital and put in the morgue and wake up at some point later if they don't die from that whole not breathing thing.

First Ramen of the Trip

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:37:41 -0800

There are few traditions in Japan that revolve around New Year, one of these it to do house repairs and yearly house tasks. For us this means changing all the batteries in the clocks, clean and repair all the light fixtures and what ever needs renewal. So, we needed to head off to one of the main stations to replace a gas hose for the cooking stove. There is a good ramen place up the hill in Minami-Senri, and they serve a good bowl of spicy tonkotsu ramen with really nice chashu (roasted pork).

The Land of Tanuki (Part 1)

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:53:04 -0800

You know you're headed off to a distant land when the final train in the journey is a single car, it's even better when it has a picture of the thing that represents the area that your headed off to.... TANUKI.... Ok, lets start form the beginning, a long time ago when Christen was still living in the valley she took it as her responsibility to make sure I had a correct understanding of Japanese culture despite Mikiko's objections. And it went something like;

Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa, Kaze mo nai no ni, Bura bura
(English) - Tan-tan-tanuki's testicles, there isn't any wind but still go swing swing

Welcome to Shigaraki, home of Tanuki-chon...

Freedom is an Apple Pie

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:36:28 -0800

I think we need to start a rebellion in America, we have become so politically correct that we have lost all our freedom, and in this case freedom come in the McDonald's deep fired Apple pie. Some time in the early eighties in California and then later accost the country we were robbed of the choice of baked vs fried Apple pies, and I'm betting there was some prude PC PTA group behind the loss.

Hot Springs in every house

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:58:25 -0800

Japanese style bath tubs (ofuro) are requirement in Japanese culture, but you have to take a shower and get clean before you can get in the tub. It's not about becoming clean, it's about soaking in very hot water and relaxing. In most households the tub is fulled and stays warn, then in order by household rank everyone takes a turn starting with guests, elders, father, kids then wife. Yes, if you stay late in at someone's house you might be invited to soak and relax and you might even get a few kids thrown in.

Back to Lilliputian Land

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:22:19 -0800

Another day starts with the alarm clock going off, and me heading off to LAX to jump on some airplane heading to a hotel in a far away land. The difference this time, Mikiko is not dropping me at the bus stop and leaving, we are dropped by my mom and headed home to Japan instead of a hotel, wow... home... For a first in my life I'm head off on this mysterious thing I've only heard others remark off-handedly about, vacation...

Kushikatsu

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 07:32:42 -0800

Kushikatsu is a style of food from the Konsi area of Japan (Osaka, Nara, Kobe, Kyoto, Suita). In a few respects it is like going to a sushi bar, the food itself is an art form of flavors and textures. There are also different levels of taste and quality, from sticks you can buy at the local market, stands on the train platform to high quality restaurants.

Japanese Lunch

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 22:36:56 -0800

After we unpacked and got the house in order Miki and her Mom made a nice lunch of Sesame bread, hand made sausages, Chinese Shumai dumplings with hot Japanese mustard and a salad made from seaweed, onions, cucumber and tomatoes. Nice strong Japanese style coffee, we are set.... The sausages taste similar to ones that our Uncle Sam and Elva used to get made from pigs they raised, the traveling butcher that serviced their area was something special ( and if you ever have a full sized pig rendered into meat products you will have more then you can store yourself and will end up just like Sam and Elva giving sausages to every family member, neighbor, friend and a few strangers).

Japanese Breakfast

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:39:20 -0800

After only getting a few hours of sleep, Okason made a normal Japanese style breakfast for us. It was a bowl of rice, bowl of Miso soup, a bit of Tofu and a plate of little fish to share. Nice typical breakfast in Japan.

The Road to Osaka

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:16:36 -0800

Once we survived the flight with only our asses damaged, it was time to take the train from Narita Airport and meet Shimpei for the drive to Osaka (the distance from LA to San Francisco) about a 6 hours.

Cheap United Flight

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:37:52 -0800

A few months ago Miki and I went down to the Torrance area to get the hard top installed on the Geo Tracker, after the install we headed to the Japanese market, while walking about we found JTB was selling round trip to Japan for $299 each. After enquiring at travel desk we confirmed the rate and found there was also about $200 in taxes, fuel surcharges and airport use fees... Still round trip to Japan for $500 was hard to pass up.... We jumped.....

Fishing is fun

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:21:31 -0800

Last year, we had a really good time fishing here in Yosemite. Water was nice and clean, trees gave cool shades, beautiful scenery and small creatures. It was almost therapeutic just to be in such a wonderful nature. So fishing at Tuolumne river was one of my main reasons why I wanted to come to Yosemite.

Yesterday evening, I had sudden urge to go fishing. It was already getting dark outside, but I had to go. Keath and Kodiak agreed to come with me. We packed fishing tools quickly and started walking towards the dam. Walked around the pond and entered the trail, we realized the level of water was really really low. Even at the dam, water level was almost 3 feet lower than the edge of dam, not like last year with full of water and the width of the river is almost 1/3 of its full width. Instead of water, there's huge sand bar in the middle. Keath checked the shallow stream and noticed some fish still there. If there is fish, we have to try, don't we?

As the result, Keath got a baby (about 6 inches long). Too small to bring home. Say good-bye to the kid and release him back to the stream. See you next year! It's really dark and cold already. I was really disappointed, almost sad to see the changes of the river, no catch and too cold as I forgot to grab jacket. I wish I could come here a couple weeks ago when the river was still full of water and fish.

During Kodiak's walk this evening, we decided to check the other parts of the same river. One section was shallow, but still has nice flow and, and, and FISH! Yey yey yey yey! Sorry Kodiak. We need to go back to RV and get the fishing tools.

I heard it before that "the fish you can see is the fish you cannot catch". I don't remember when and where I heard about this, well, it's true. We can see lots of trout swimming, chasing each other, or making splash right in front of our eyes. But, nobody wants to play with our lure or yummy bites. Smart fish.

After trying different methods, Miki caught 1 good size trout. Clean up and bring it back to home. There must be hundreds of good recipe to cook trout. As fish-eater Japanese, I'd rather cook it simple to enjoy its freshness. Means – salt the fish and gill it on BBQ. I wish we could have wood campfire and grill these fish… It must be the best way to eat fresh fresh-water fish. Unfortunately, the fire danger level is really high in Yosemite and no wood campfire now. (I bought marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers… Sad)

Kodiak is also fish-eater Japanese (dog). He was stirring at our main dish during the dinner. Sorry Kodiak. We can't share this with you because you have very sensitive stomach. Trust me, this is tough love. LOL

Blackberry and turkeys

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:06:50 -0800

Yesterday, we found blackberry bushes while out walking Kodi. The whole area is covered with blackberry bushes, which are all full of berries. We tasted some and it was really good. So this morning, my main job is – to pick some blackberries! (Not those blackberry device addicts! (CrackBerrys?))

Make sure to wear long pant since blackberry vine has thorns like roses. Tiny, but sharp thorns give your hands and legs nice itchy scratch. Grab a container and my good body Sony CyberShot and go!

At the beginning, I was more playing with thorns than blackberries. Man, such a friendly thorns! It really wants me. After few scratches, I started learning where and how to pick berries. Once I get used to it, I was hopping from this vine to other vine like honeybee. Shortly after, I filled the whole container with blackberries and headed back home.

Keath was impressed how much I picked and decided to weigh it. 10 oz! Wow! That's a lot! hhhmmmm… How are we gonna eat… Muffin? Sounds good. Pancake or Belgian Waffles? Then need whipped cream. It will be nice to throw some in yogurt. O! Blackberry salad dressing will be Nouvelle Cuisine a la Yosemite. LOL

Keath, Kodiak and I went to Jamestown and Sonora in the afternoon. While cruising in Sonora, we saw a sign said "Turkey Ranch". That sounds much more fun than walking around the old downtown area. Let's go check the big ugly birds.

Well, turkey ranch was filled with turkey. Look around you and all you see is turkey. And they are watching you, too. For some reason, Watching the farm instead of something like petting zoo I expected to see, I was overwhelmed by hundreds of turkeys and their smell. Take some pictures and drive back to the town.

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