Categories
travel

Kyoto, Tokyo and Matsumoto, Japan — March 2004

Since posting this entry I have split the photos on Flickr into multiple sets by location. Click here to see the sets: Kyoto [flickr.com], Nikko [flickr.com], Nagano & Matsumoto [flickr.com], Nara [flickr.com] and Tokyo [flickr.com].

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I realized today that I have a number more photo sets uploaded to flickr [flickr.com] than I do here on my own site. (n.b. my flickr account is here [flickr.com]) So now I will attempt to fix that.

I’ll start by posting my oldest set of digital picture goodness—Japan! Japan, was the first place I went to with my 10D, in fact it was the reason for getting the 10D in the first place. J███████, S██████ and I made the 15 day… I mean hour trip back in March of 2004. There we joined Jim for two weeks of early mornings, late nights, temples, shrines, more temples, more shrines, Nijojojojojojojo jo, sake, more sake and ‘oh my god Jim, they’re all Japanese!

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Needless to say it was fun. So much fun in fact that I hope to do it again before Jim is no longer Jim-in-Japan. We traveled around Tokyo with Jim, and sometimes N—— — J–‘s personal guide (if you catch my drift) to Japan for some time. After that we ventured out and explored Kyoto, Nagano, Matsumoto, Nara, Neko and Yokohama before finally departing Tokyo for what turned into a nightmare 30 hours of delayed and missed flights before returning to the world that is not Japan—NoVa.

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I just realized that even though I have posted the pictures of Japan before, and taken them down and posted them again, and taken them down again, I have never actually written about the Japan trip. The closest I got to it was this entry [confusion.cc] make just after returning from Japan. I guess I must have had some sort of premonition or something when I wrote:

When I get a chance to catch my breath and collect my thoughts I will attempt to distill two weeks of Gai-jin fumbling into a coherent narrative. Or maybe I’ll just try to make it interesting rather than dull and lifeless. Yes that’s what I’ll do. I’ll attempt to entertain rather than just report. Maybe it’ll never happen. I may start and never finish—like most things in this journal

as I never did do a proper write up, though I refer to it several times. I guess it doesn’t matter the only people who read this site already know the details, and anyone who does not can email me and demand a full accounting of the (mis)adventures J███████, S██████, Jim and I had in the island nation. Anyway, enjoy the pictures, hopefully this will be the last time I post them.

Categories
photography

Singapore Botanical Gardens

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I actually went to the Singapore Botanical Gardens [wikipedia.org] way back in January but and just now getting my lazy ass around to posting the pictures. They are not the most artistic pictures I’ve ever taken but if you like flowers take a look. 90% or so of the pictures are actually of orchids, but there are a few other plants, bromeliads and a Venus flytrap [wikipedia.org] even.

I used to know a guy who grew 15 or more species in his house in C’ville. He had orchids in the bathroom, orchids on the steps, orchids everywhere. Of course this guy was a transmission mechanic by trade, a molecular biologist by education, and a founding member of the Elvis Grotto caving society. Strangest thing was the large black and while profile of the king himself that was spray painted on the hood of this guys 1971 Land Rover. Very strange. He used to go to ‘orchid society’ conventions and little old ladies from around the world whom he had only met briefly in Vegas or New York while at these conventions would call him at all hours to ask about growing this or that orchid. Very strange indeed.

Categories
ranting

96 hours in Beijing

Last weekend (actually Thursday evening through Tuesday morning) Candice and I went to Beijing. It was a quick trip, literally only 96 hours from the time we landed in Beijing to the time we took off again. But in that time we did a lot, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall, Hutongs, etc. More info coming when I get the pictures cleaned up—all 7 gigabytes of them!

Categories
ranting

A year on

A year ago today—September 1, 2004 I made my way down to National Airport outside DC and spent the next 24 hours alternately sitting in airport terminals and sitting on airplanes.

When it was all done—just after midnight on the morning of September second, arrived in Singapore and I made my way out of the airport, into a cab and down the East Cost Parkway to the Gallery Hotel.

That was the beginning of my time here in Singapore and except for two months back in the US—in October last year and again in June this year—I have lived in Singapore rather then just visited. I spent some time working to get assigned over seas for work. It would have been hard to get here without work. And while Singapore would not have been my first choice of places to go I am having fun. So here’s to living another year of fun in a foreign land. I hope the coming days are as good as those past.