Zsup~!

When I first saw my beef stew though, my heart sank a bit. Stew, to me, means a healthy helping of soupish portions. The splatter on a plate hardly sufficed. And it was a flat plate, at that, rather than a deep dish... However, the first taste just blew my doubts out of the water. We could hardly believe that the meat in the dish was beef - it was fatty and soft, more like ter bak than gu bak. The taste was all COW though. Tender and just enough to chew on so the teeth can squeeze the tasty juices out into the rest of the mouth. At 1000yen with rice on the side, I felt pain for my wallet, but this was worth forgoing dinner and supper and tomorrow's breakfast for.

Of course, with the restaurant being named as it was, I could hardly pass up the opportunity to try their unfiltered ale. It went very nicely with the stew, although I can't really say it would be good with the noodles. Pilsener for that, perhaps?

Thumbs up to the Kitami TIC for the great recommendation. This was a clear winner - in our two hours there we saw a constant stream of people coming in for the shio yakisoba and beer, though most left before us (we attribute this to their inability to down multiple helpings of salad/dessert/soup/tea/coffee). All Japanese, incidentally... Kitami is a little bit off the main tourist map, I believe?

Anyway, if anyone is traipsing around Hokkaido in future and doesn't mind a little detour for some fantastic food, The Beer Factory in Kitami is the place to be!

Woohoo! The site is up and taking clicks again... so feel free to contribute anytime! Just remember, one click per person... or per IP address, really. So if you are using the same network as your friend/classmate/family/village, the website is only going to take one vote!

Thanks everyone for your support and Many Thanks to Joel M. and the Agion team for their efforts to get the bugs fixed :)

VOTE FOR ME HERE!

A sort of quickie note to those who have been helping me test out the link:

Thanks much for your dedication, ladies and gentlemen. I really appreciate your support and I have to admit that I very much would have liked to get that prize ;D

Alas, it seems that the link isn't going to be fixed anytime soon and the competition is swiftly catching up. It is kind of sianz, especially after everyone put in the effort and helped to spread the word, but I guess what will be will be?

In any case, I just wanted to thank you for clicking for me. I still hold faint hopes that they might fix it, but figure it also might not happen. Ah well.

----EDIT---

Yayness! A miracle breakthrough! We are back in business again :)

http://zsup.blogspot.com/2010/04/update-on-agion-website.html

We've been in Tokyo two days and I have to say that it has been quite an experience being here! It feels like Sendai and Yokohama and Osaka all rolled together, and yet somehow a world apart.

Our highlights so far include:

1. Discovery of the Most Amazing Taito Clawgrab place ever
We are staying right next to it, and have been making off with Gloomy cloaks, MonHun Pig towels, Gloomy Claws and random keychains which have cost us an average of 200 yen. The staff there are very helpful, cheerfully resetting the machines on request and all. Not to mention that for once, the machines are actually playable!

2. Freshly Baked Melon Pan

After visiting Sensoji Temple early in the morning, we hung around a store nearby awaiting its opening. We scoped out the place the night before, and the displays of melon breads was just too tempting. The moment it opened, we made our orders and were rewarded with the freshest toasty melon bread ever! It was not too sweet, with a crunchy texture to the top crust while the interior was downy soft... we nearly squashed the bread trying to pull it out of the paper wrapping!

3. DisneySea
Well, it's Tokyo, and it's Disney. What else can I say? While we had to deal with the sad disappointments of having the night's fireworks extravaganza cancelled due to bad weather (just a very cloudy sky) and some key thrill rides not being open, it was still a good experience just going through the various themed areas. I have to say, Disney isn't much for thrill, just flashy over the top showiness mostly. I really liked the obvious effort put into the background stories of the rides and areas, but felt there was too much storytelling and wanted more ZOOOOOOM. I shall have to make up for the lack of real excitement elsewhere.

4. 3D Movie Outing to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Though here it should be more rightly called Johnny Depp's Alice in Wonderland. The cinema was chock full of memorabilia and merchandise featuring his very prominent orange do. It was an interesting experience, being in a cinema in Japan. For one thing, the audience was SILENT. Like if you so much as rustled in your seat, you would be the only source of sound not from the screen. Such a lovely change from the Singaporean movie watching scene! Secondly, the lights in the cinema don't come on till the credits are over. While this isn't great news for those waiting to use the toilet at the end, I think it shows due respect for all the people who put in the effort create the movie. Even if those people aren't there to see it. It does show just how much dedication to respect there is in this society. I must say though, that it was during the end credits that people started putting on jackets and folding up lap blankets. As quietly as possible, of course ;D

Well. This isn't an exhaustive list of the things that we actually did... I mean, we also visited Akihabara and Ueno, and waltzed through Shibuya as well, but they are the things that made my day in Tokyo so far!

One more day left, I wonder what tales I will have to tell after?

We visited Sensoji Temple after ditching our bags after, and will be returning tomorrow morning for daytime shots!

So after some exposure to nice clean water and a little sunshine... (Ok, we really did get around to washing machine, detergent and a dryer cycle) the shirt was subjected to a little more stress!

We spent the last couple of days in Kagoshima, the furthest south we have been in Japan. This meant that the ambient temperature became quite a bit warmer than we have been used to so far, so the Agion tee got promoted to base layer. For the most part, it was actually the only layer - first time on this trip I actually got to run around wearing just tee and berms! It did mean that the shirt got a good workout right after it was washed though, and I have to say that the shirt seems to be working better now.

I hesitate to say it is completely back to normal, though, because while the treated side registers a noticeable degree of difference from the untreated side, it seems that it has not completely recovered from its unwashed ordeal. The treated side used to be practically smell proof for days! Now it is working hard enough for a day's climb, but I think more regular washing is needed to get things back to what it was before.

So remember, ladies and gentlemen, treat your equipment well and it will love you back! :D

At Yunohira Lookout Point on Sakurajima - the nearest anyone can get to the volcano without working for the Met agency. 1/2 shirt straining but still smelling all right for 2 hours uphill slog!

We are back to 3 layers weather, but the Agion tee is going to the Takayama Spring Festival as base layer next for some more hard work. I really want to see if having the really thin thermal layer I was wearing before was helping the tee to do its job all along ;D

EDIT: Forecast of snow showers at Takayama today, with 1 deg temp at the lowest. No freaking way to wear the Agion as base. Maybe in warmer climes...

Also, the chemicals seem to have kicked in while I slept in it overnight... half the shirt now smells nice and clean while the other half smells like... well, like I slept in it! I think the earlier sniff test was probably when the sweat hadn't quite cleared out yet.

Morning bath to the rescue! ;D

p.s. Don't forget to cast your vote for me, if you haven't done so yet, k? If you have already voted, thanks a million!!! ;D

Vote for me here! (Click the word under the vote count)

Ah, the belated blogpost, made possible only by the honesty of the Internet Cafe in Himeji that returned my memory card :)　 http://www.icafe-maganet.com/

So back to the story... we arrived in JR Himeji station, to see this very prominent signboard...

Day time was one thing. But we were lucky enough to hit the first day of the hanami festival light up! That very evening, Nishinomaru Garden was to be open to the public for free enjoyment, complete with pretty lights and all.

So we returned after dinner, to find this sight going on!

They were giving out sticky transparencies to mostly children, for them to draw pictures themed on either the castle, sakura, or flower viewing. Coloured markers and all that were provided. And afterward, the transparencies were stuck onto lanterns that were provided and displayed along the street (for the period of the light up festival).

Hearing our foreign accents, the ever-obliging volunteers whipped out a couple of these blank transparencies at us and encouraged us to join in. So we did our best, and had our handiwork shining out there on the street beside all the others! The Japanese are terribly polite, and I really appreciated this when they accepted our kindergarten-standard pictures with grace and didn't even sneak a laugh.

Here is ZsupCreator's work of art... mine is a tad too ugly to put up... but as you can see, he accidentally set the castle on fire...

There were also lots of people trying to capture photographs like these, with a reflection of the pretty flowers in the pond. Actually, there was a signboard saying that it was for putting out fires, but hey, water is water and at night, pretty is fantastically gorgeous, especially in a setting like this!

Our evening was rounded off with a performance by this Chinese ensemble, or at least Chinese-styled. They played a lot of Chinese springtime classics, and ZsupCreator and I had a great time just sitting there listening to them. Mind you, I paid a lot less attention to such music when I was subject to those school assemblies and etc. But again, the backdrop was White Heron Castle, and the spirit of spring was truly in the air. Perfect.

Himeji Castle has a deserved reputation for its beauty, and I do count us lucky, that we managed to see it before it gets closed for renovation.

Starting from April 12th, the main keep will be closed to all visitors until 2011 at least, and then there will be limited access and ugly looking scaffolding all over until 2014 when the freshly restored castle will be open properly once more. I think I would like to return to see it after 2014... we shall see?

No kidding. The net connection from the place I am currently in is not bad, but the computers are laggy as all hells, so I will have to make this blogpost text-only, and (relatively) short. BUT.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY! Actually, 2 of them

1. I am once again impressed by Japan's excellence in being, well... human. I thought I lost my memory card for good when I left it behind in Himeji a while back, at the internet cafe I was staying overnight in. Lo and behold, today we happened to pass through so I thought I'd pop by and check, just in case... IT WAS STILL THERE!

This is something that would never happen in Singapore. Leave your phone behind... *pouf* Leave your keys behind, change your lock. Leave your snazzy bicycle outdoors... still a high chance of disappearing. Leave your memory card out of your camera? Forget about seeing it again.

I will definitely post more about the amazing place once I get on better computers. Now that my entire set of photos are back, I can do the extravaganza I planned for the amazing Himeji Castle outing!


2. I have BUSTED my Agion Tee!

Well, not exactly, it still looks like a T-shirt and all. But in the latest cycle of wearing it down, after a mere 8 days of non-washing, both sides are smelling exactly the same. Of course, this might have to do with the fact that I haven't really bathed properly in a while (plus minus dunking in raging river waters), but I think this still counts for something. When the trip began, the treated side of the shirt was holding its own against my personal pong for longer than.

We are currently considering if I have actually just overwhelmed the chemicals with the sheer extent of personal nonhygiene I have been subjecting it to. Will be giving it a good wash and then updating again in a bit.

So, apologies to all for the half-dead blog, we do have loads of backlog to catch up on, really!

We had a brilliant time along the Yoshino River with our HappyRaft guides, Teru (who incidentally also owns the HappyRaft Guesthouse) and Kobu. Sadly, the weather didn't allow us to wear our Agion Tees, because we were kitted out in double wetsuit layers. But, the tees might yet go rafting later...

We arrived at Tosa-Iwahara station two nights ago on the last train from Naruto. Having been warned that there would be nothing around for miles, we had stocked up plenty of bread type food, but were still floored by the abject darkness when we stepped out of the scruffy little train station. Good thing we had superb directions from Terry (?) and swung rightwards with faith, soon finding the Parking sign we were supposed to look out for. For the blur stumblers, please note that this sign is unlit. So if you arrive like us, just walk to find it. Directions in the daylight provided later in this post!

We soon settled in under a blooming sakura tree for the night, thanks to lovely Sachi-san, who showed us where we wouldn't get run over by a car in the morning ^.^

So afterwards I went to cook dinner. And that was pretty much it for the day! We spent another night there, since camping was free and the river ride singed our pathetic budget a little (TOTALLY WORTH IT THOUGH!).

Here are some more photos for those of you who want to check out the place... First up, the directions:

1. Take the train to Tosa-Iwahara Station

2. Turn right as you exit the station... see the nearest red sloped roof? That's the place! Start walking...

3. You will pass this shop along the way... it is place-to-buy-all-things-dinner run by very nice aunty! We got extra half cabbage from her when we went to get pork and noodles for dinner!

4. Tada! Front Entrance!

But there is more...!

Washing area, on B1!

Also on B1, the gear stores, changing rooms, kit distribution area, gathering area and etc.

This is what the shop complex looks like, from our campsite! Double storey building on ground level from up top, B1 with all the stuff and B2, where the canoes are parked and us, too!

We also like the non-humans at the shop... we met three of them, wonder if that is all or are there more?

First one, not so small and not quite grown... a little scared, but still very much after affection. Completely prancing around at the chance of walking, and barks only when indoors at night O.o We met this lovely when we got in the first night, and didn't dare to do anything because of the valiant noisy guard.

Second barky critter! But very cute when drinking water from the hand... which it willingly does if approached even though she/he starts out barkybarkybarky... Unfortunately this photo was taken after an attempt to get a snack from us failed. No chocolate for doggies unless they have Raksu-type constitution!

Last but not least, the cute-to-the-max puppy! More barky than the rest combined, still a little afraid of people, but obviously enjoys scratching and pets and wants lots of hugs!

All in all, it was a very satisfactory trip, and we do hope to return because we heard that there is a competition coming up in May that customers get to take part in if they want, mostly for fun! We must build up shoulders and arms for that, and hope we have the budget when the time comes!

So we end this post with a fun vid... Enjoy!