Category Archives: Experiences

Experiences Sights & Sounds

Updated Gallery with Hustai pictures

I’ll have 2 sets of pictures from my trip to Mongolia – one from the trip to Hustai National Park and some from around the city of Ulaanbaatar.  First up are the pictures from Hustai, below is a sample, and clicking HERE will take you to the full gallery.

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The trip to Hustai is not one I recommend for people who get carsick easily.  I’ve been on rollercoasters that bounced less than we did on the drive from Ulaanbaatar!  Thankfully I have a (relatively) strong stomach and I had a fun time bouncing all over the place. 😛

After arriving at Hustai, we opted to stay at the more distant lodging (about 11km away from the main entrance area).  I think it was a great idea since we were able to get a much better “feel” of just how expansive and beautiful the park was.  We also got more peace and quiet since there were quite a few tourists at the main area.  I stayed in a little ger on my own and I had the best/most peaceful sleep I’ve had in a long time (as opposed to the rest of my family who chose to stay in a more western-type cabin, and were kept away all night be the creaking and banging of the doors!).

The only thing that bugged me (pun intended) about Hustai was the overwhelming amount of insects.  We didn’t bring any insect repellent (not sure if that would have helped though) and were just bombarded with midges and gnats flying around, literally in clouds around us.  The only time we had any respite from them was during the early morning and late evening/night.

Despite the bugs, it was a great trip.  Mongolian nature is really amazing; sometimes a bit stark, and I can’t even begin to imagine how frigid it must get in the dead of winter, but it’s beautiful in many ways nonetheless.

Experiences Sights & Sounds

Messing around in Photoshop

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’d been to visit my family in Mongolia last month.  It was great to spend time with them and catch up (though I did come down with a stomach bug of some sort while I was there), and while we didn’t go out too much, I had a very relaxing time.  I’ll write a bit more about what we did in a later post.

One of the things I did while I was there was mess around with my youngest brother’s camera, a Nikon D40.  It was the first time I’d ever really used a DSLR and… I can’t see myself ever being content with a regular point and shoot any more.  I’m actually looking around now to see what’s available in the DSLR market, including the used/refurbished stores, but more on that later.  I personally took probably over 500-600 pictures over a period of 2-3 days (days that we went out), and though they’re not all post-worthy, I felt some were interesting enough to put up.

I’ve never been a hardcore Photoshop user, I’ve just dabbled with it in uni for an “elements of webdesign” course I once took, and for batch resizing.  But tonight, I thought I’d see what I could do to “spruce” up a few of my pictures – and I have to say I had fun with that too!  It’s amazing how one can make colors pop out and seem more vibrant.  I know that digital manipulation is no replacement for quality photography, but used in conjunction, I now feel that certainly has its benefits.  Below is what I came up with in the course of 2 hours (the one of the lavender mountain range took me almost an hour as I was figuring out what I could do with PS)

Post edit: I’ve updated the Hustai pictures and put them in a gallery HERE.

Experiences News

Driving with a GPS

Just came across this story about a woman who is suing Google for giving her “bad directions” and directing her to walk out onto a highway.   Unsurprisingly, she was hit by a car and claims to be suffering “physical” and “mental” injuries – though I don’t know that she had much in the way of brains to injure in the first place!

It’s not the only GPS-related incident I’ve come across in the past – here are a couple about people who have nearly driven over cliffs, and another of a woman who literally drove off a bridge into a river.

Being a new driver myself, I can completely understand the reliance on GPS.  It is particularly invaluable in a city like Tokyo, with so many twisting roads and small streets.  However, I do agree with  the observation my parents made when they visited, that it would be better for me to learn the roads – that depending too much on the device doesn’t help me learn anything.  Yet, it’s hard.

The sheer convenience of being able to plug in a number or address and have a route laid out for you trumps having to open up a paper map and figure a) where you are in relation to your destination and b) what is the best way to get to where you want to be.  Again, this is especially true for me in Japan since I usually go driving way out of Tokyo, typically 150+ km outside of the city.

Nonetheless, I like to think that I do try to exercise a little common sense.  Yes, I do take wrong turns from time to time, but rather than follow the GPS recalculation (which tacks on another 5-10 km), I just look for a place to pull into and turn around.

My most recent goof was just this weekend on my way back into Tokyo from a day trip to Nikko with S and her sister (pictures and a post on that will  eventually be forthcoming).  Just before reaching a fork in the road, the GPS piped up and told me to “take a left”.  However, just as I was turning, S pointed out, “hey, the sign says Tokyo is on the right!”.  By then it was too late to change lanes, so I drove around until I was headed back to the fork again.  Once more the GPS prompted me to “take a left” but I just told it shut up and headed right, whereupon it then asked me to continue going straight ahead.  So much for GPS logic.

Even though the GPS goofed, there’s no way I’m blaming it for guiding me the wrong way, particularly when the road signs were so prominent.  I should have looked at the road signs more carefully.

So… chalk it up to a learning experience.  I’m sure I will still make more mistakes in the future, but I hope I never stop trying to use common sense.  As for that woman suing Google – I hope her case gets tossed out as soon as possible so that she stops wasting everyone’s time.

Experiences

I made it! (and OW it hurts…)

I can now scratch off one of my resolutions for the year – that of completing a full marathon. 🙂

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It’s the first time I’ve EVER done this, and I’m feel pretty proud of myself (feeling pretty sore too).  My time wasn’t that great – I came in around 6hrs 41mins – and the cutoff time was 7hrs.  To be honest, I barely made it.

The primary reason it took me so long was because my bum knee kicked in at around the 12km mark.  I started off slowly, but it just started hurting again at a quarter of the way in and from that point I was forced to run/walk/run/walk the remainng 30km.  It was incredibly frustrating.

Another reason I took so long was because it took my “block” 20 minutes to even get past the start line!  With so many runners (30,000+) I guess it couldn’t be helped, but next time I hope to be placed somewhere closer to the start line so those 20 minutes aren’t lost.

The final reason I was so slow was… call of nature.  At around the 12km mark, I figured I’d stop and line up for a bathroom break, and give my knee a few minutes to rest up at the same time.  Bad idea.  I ended waiting at least 20min to use the bathroom, and that was the reason I barely crossed the 15km line before cutoff.

There were multiple cutoff points along the route – 15km had to be completed in 2hrs 38mins, and as you can see in the table below, I made it with NO time to spare.  In fact, I was the last one across that line as I dashed through just as the officials were roping off the 15km point – if I’d been 30 seconds slower, it would have been the end of race for me.

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That actually put more pressure on me, since I didn’t have any more of a “buffer” between the cutoff points, so I just kept going on – no more bathroom breaks for me!

I think the hardest period was the 25km to 30km period.  By then I was tired, legs were burning so much that I couldn’t feel the knee pain anymore (since EVERYTHING hurt), and I also started getting lighted-headed as energy levels were dropping.  I recall staring intently at every single eating spot I ran by (some of which were emitting some wonderful smells…).  Luckily I had some energy gels that my coworker had given to me, and those helped carry over that rough patch.

From 30km onwards, I knew it was in the bag.  12km is about the equivalent of 2 laps around the Imperial palace so it was just a matter of taking each kilometer as it came.   At that point, it was really a matter of willpower.  I think I even managed to speed up (from a walk to a hobble) because my legs were so dead I couldn’t feel much.  That, and the end was in sight. 🙂

Though it was bad for the runners (it was raining and very cold), the spectators probably had it just as bad as we did.  At least the runners warmed up from the physical exercise.  The spectators though, had to stand there, huddled under umbrellas, and cheer us on.  I’m really grateful to all the people who held out snacks of chocolate and crackers – particularly towards the end, those snacks gave me the last bit of energy I needed to keep going.  It was incredibly cheering to see people (including families and children) shouting “Gambare!” “Fight, fight!”.  I even pet a dog that one man was holding up. 🙂

All in all, it was an incredibly challenging experience.  Would I do it again?  Probably!  I do plan on training a little better this year though – AFTER my legs recover.  Despite the pain, it’s just something I can feel proud of doing, of pushing myself hard, and making it to the end.

For those interested, you can click on the link below and enter 6hrs 41min (as shown in the image) to see a video clip of me as I cross the finish line. 🙂

http://www.ntv.co.jp/tokyomarathon/goalmovie/

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Experiences

A brother’s visit

Postings have been few and far between lately, largely due to laziness.  The usual excuse of being busy at work does apply though (my coworker has been away on holiday for the past couple weeks), and I came down with a cough/cold.  But there’s one more  “distraction” – my youngest brother came to visit!

He’s been here in Japan on vacation since January 29th, and will stay till the 11th of Feb (2 weeks).  Unfortunately since my coworker is out of the office I haven’t been able to take off time myself, but at least we’ve had time to hang out in the evenings and weekends.  It’s mostly been a period of eating (I’mma goin’ onna diet once he leaves!), occasionally going out, and playing PS3 (particularly while I wasn’t feeling too well).

We’ve done the usual karaoke (hoping to squeeze in one more session before he leaves), and checked out Ginza, Asakusa, Tsukiji, Roppongi, and Akihabara.  Yesterday we even went for taichi, despite winds that literally almost blew us off our feet (and it was COLD to boot)!

Places we’ve been eating at are:

Between today and Wednesday, we’re going to have at least the following as well:

We have taken some photos, but not too many, simply because it’s just so doggone cold/windy.

Putting up the links above reminds (again) that I need to work on that “places to visit” in Japan section of my blog.  Will work more on that in the coming weeks!

Experiences

*gasp* *wheeze*

It looks like I’ll be tackling one of my new year resolutions sooner than expected – that of running a marathon.

One of the folks in the office was lucky enough to have friends in the right places that were able to pull some strings – all the people (who wanted to) in the company running group will be joining the Tokyo Marathon… including me! :0

Information for the Tokyo Marathon can be found here, and as you can see, entry is EXTREMELY competitive.  It looks like over 272,000 people applied – but only 32,000 spots are available.   I actually applied the “normal” way first, by submitting my application online, but didn’t win the “lottery”.  Out of the 6-7 people in the office who applied, only 1 made it.  However, thanks to “connections”, we were lucky enough to be able to apply again (shhhh) and make it in.

So… this means that I’ll have to seriously practice again since the race is in less than 2 months!  After 3+ months of slacking off on running, I’ve got my work cut out for me. (^^;

Actually – I just found out today that I had applied to (and forgotten about) a half-marathon in Shinjuku (21km).  I just got the entry card today, and after a few minutes of head-scratching I remembered that I had applied for this over 2 months ago.  That will be on the 31st of this month.  Good practice for the full marathon on February 28th!

With my weak left knee, my goal is not to win (would probably cripple myself if I tried pushing myself that hard), but rather to feel the satisfaction of actually having been able to run 42km non-stop.  Wish me luck!

Experiences

(^_^)b

Got my license!  (sorry for the blurriness of the image)

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I’m actually surprised I got it on the first go… some of the questions really had me scratching my head and I didn’t hand in my papers till about 3 minutes before the end of the test period (usually I finish the practice tests in under half the allotted time).  The questions that really irritated me involved motorcycles – for example, “it is important that you be able to do a figure-8 when looking to buy a new motorcycle, T/F?”  I was just….???

Motorcycles are covered to a very limited extent in the textbook but I never saw the point to study them since I’m trying to get a CAR license – which doesn’t allow me to ride a motorcycle anyway!  Regardless… I passed. 🙂

I was really worried because there is a fair amount of paperwork involved in the application and this had already all been taken care of for me by the Koyama Driving School.  Should I  have failed, I would have had to have tried redoing all the paperwork again on my own… something I did NOT want.  Plus, the test costs 4,200 yen a pop and given what I’ve already paid for classes and the previous test – I was not keen on shelling out any more money!

There were quite a large number of people at the test center, perhaps up to a 100 (and this just for the motorvehicle test – there were many more people there for license renewals, etc.)   I would say that at least half of testees failed the test though…  For a while, I thought I had failed myself since my number wasn’t displayed on the screen (a large screen displayed the numbers of the people who had passed – people whose numbers weren’t displayed had to leave the test room).  Turns out that it was just because my test was probably scored separately and the test proctor told me to stay.

Overall the experience wasn’t bad.  The people at the test center were brisk and efficient, but not rude or mean, like I’d sometimes heard they could be.   I’m just glad it’s over – though to be honest, I’m more than a little nervous about the idea of venturing out on the road in Tokyo now… (>_<;

P.S. The answer to the motorcycle question about is True!

Experiences

Almost there!

It’s been exactly 1 month and 1 week to the day since I first started my driving lessons, and the end is finally in sight.  I signed up for driving lessons at the Koyama Driving school in Futagotamagawa during the last week of September, and started my first lessons on October 1st.  I chose to go for the manual (or otherwise known as “stick shift”) course at Koyama for a couple of reasons despite the cost.

The primary reason I went with Koyama is because I’ve heard that they are the only school licensed by the Japanese Public Safety Commission to offer a near all-inclusive driving courses – in English.  This means that one is able to take both practical tests and one of the written tests at the school itself.  I’m not sure if Koyama DS still retains this exclusivity, but to the best of my knowledge, other driving schools in Japan that offer English assistance are only able to help you prepare for lessons at a license center, but are not able to let you actually take/pass tests at their schools.  Since I’ve heard that there is a 90% fail rate at the standard license centers, I figured it would be less stressful and overall faster to sign up for a course.

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Another reason I chose Koyama was simply because I had a good impression of the school and staff.  Koyama DS has 4 schools around Japan, and the one that I went to (in Futagotamagawa, simply because it was the closest to my office) was in a pleasant location, had nice facilities, and the staff/instructors were extremely helpful and pleasant.

I would say the only major downside to the Koyama Driving School was the exhorbitant cost.  I’m sure their Japanese lessons are competitive in terms of cost with other driving schools around Japan, and I’ve even seen them running ads for campaigns/bargains.  However, none of those apply to the English lessons. 🙁
The total cost of lessons was just under 400,000 JPY… or just under $4,000.  Nope, I haven’t accidentally popped in one too many zeroes – it is just THAT expensive.  I’ve been saving up for a while, so this was paid off with cash, no credit, but seriously – ouch.  It is definitely easier/cheaper to convert an already existing license from one’s home country… or just stick with public transport if you’re looking to save money. (^^;

Overall though, I can thoroughly recommend Koyama DS.  They are very helpful and will work with you to arrange lessons around your schedule, and as quickly/slowly as you want.  I wanted to finish the course as quickly as possible so as not to drag things out and here I am, 1 month and 1 week later, at the last step.  The instructors are all very patient and willing to answer any questions you might have.  They’re also really friendly and though personalities differ (some are more strict while others are more easy-going), I think that if you (the student) also put effort into it, there’s no way you can fail.

I think it’s important to emphasize the above – I believe that pretty any foreigner trying to take a driving test will be frustrated by the nit-picky aspect of the Japanese tests.  For example: forgot to adjust your mirror before driving?  Lose points.  Forget to turn your head so that you can look over your shoulder when reversing?  Lose points.  Forget to turn on/off your indicator?  Lose points.  Forgot to put your gear stick in the reverse position before getting out of the car at the end of a test?  Lose points.

The written tests are even worse!  For example, I find it really difficult to notice the difference between something like “when doing xxx, you must do xxx and xxx” vs. “when doing xxx, you must do xxx or xxx” – .  Another sample practice question I put down below – reading that question just made me go, “….????”

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However, as I’ve mentioned, if you put in the effort to read your books prior to class, it will make things easier for you.  Likewise, ask questions!  The instructors were always willing to answer anything I brought up.  I think for someone like me, who has no previous driving experience, such lessons are beneficial.  I would guess though, that anyone with prior driving experience might be more than a little frustrated by the minutiae present in both practical and written tests.  Using a driving school, you get to bypass a lot of said frustrations.

And here I am – I was able to take 3 of the 4 tests at Koyama Driving school.  One was a written (T/F) test needed for getting a learner’s permit, and the other two tests were the practical driving exams – one for the learner’s permit, and the other for the actual driver’s license.  The final test has to be taken a test center, but even for that I have a number of practice tests that have been provided online by Koyama DS.

It has been a long and tiring period, involving my waking up at 0530 to head to work, and after work heading to classes, finishing my day by getting home around 23:00 – even on weekends.  But the end is in sight!  My final step will be to review the online practice tests as much as possible, then go in to the test center one weekday for the final exam.  I’m thinking of going this Friday – wish me luck!

Experiences

Kindle review part 2

Yesterday was my first day to actually really make use of the Kindle since I had a book that I wanted to finish up.  Here are further impressions:

The screen is wonderfully legible.  No strain on the eyes, and can be read under various lighting conditions.  However…with the iPhone being as ubiquitous as it is, this kind of device just begs to have a touchscreen incorporated into its design.  Everyone (really, EVERYONE) I’ve shown this to has tried to swipe their finger across it, to the point that before I hand it over, I tell them, “no, it’s not a touchscreen device, use the little controller down there”.

I am pleased to say that web browsing (admittedly limited to text friendly/”mobile” sites) is free in Japan.  No fees that I can see!  True, it’s not the speediest of surfing but definitely good enough for a quick wikipedia lookup, or browsing allrecipes.com to look up the ingredients for hummus. 😉

That being said though, the Kindle is not the most ergonomic of devices.  I understand, a book is not “ergonomic” but this is a device that also supports web browsing as well as note taking.  Perhaps I’m too used to the Blackberry, but I find that the alphanumeric keys on the Kindle 2 are too widely spaced apart and too small.  Aesthetically pleasing perhaps, but the slightly curved keyboard of the Blackberry Bold is still hands down better.  At least there is not too much call for typing on this device yet.

Kindle 2 also supports text-to-speech.  However, it is under their “experimental” section, and it should probably stay there for the time being.  The voices (one can choose either male or female) are not horrible, but nothing to write home about either.  It’s the typical, somewhat monotone/robotic voice that most text-to-speech engines seem to feature.

I have not had the chance to purchase/test reading magazines or newspapers on the Kindle 2 just yet, and don’t see myself doing so anytime too soon for two reasons:

  • 1) It’s not in color!  The magazines I would subscribe to would primarily be technology-oriented, and I like to see my gadgets and gizmos they way they actually look instead of being rendered in grayscale.
  • 2) I am cheap/stingy. 😛 Let me elaborate on that though.  I could easily subscribe to, say, PC Magazine for the Kindle (which, at a $1.99 per issue is pretty cheap).  However, I have my country set to “United States” so that I can get the books for $2 cheaper than if I registered myself as anywhere else.  This however, means that wireless costs are now $1.99 per download…and I am currently not that desperate to spend $4 per month ($1.99 per magazine + $1.99 for wireless costs) for a monthly subscription.

I guess I must sound excessively grinch-like given that I am registering myself as a US user to shave $2 off books costs but hey – I buy books fairly frequently and even if I only bought 3 books a month, that’s 36 books a year (whereas I probably bought more like 50-60 books last year).  If I were charged an additional $2 dollars for 36 books, that would tack on $72, or $100 if I bought 50 books a year, etc.  That’s money that could better be spent on more books!  :p

Thus, what I currently do is have myself registered as a US user, buy books and choose to download to computer (rather than download wirelessly), and then copy it over to the Kindle.  It’s working for me so far 🙂

Right now I have to say that despite the cons, I am pretty happy with the Kindle.  I think I still need to spend more time with it to make sure I’m not still under the haze of “new gadget glee” (^^; but I can easily see myself making heavy use of this.  I do think though, that Amazon is going to have to keep on its toes – for example, there is little to no need for color when downloading/reading books, but I still think that this is one area that B&N got right with their “Nook” device – for websurfing, for magazine reading, for picture viewing… one needs color and I can only anticipate more users clamoring for this in the future.

Same goes for the touchscreen option.  Joysticks/thumb controllers are passé – touchscreen devices are definitely going to come more and more into play in the future and I’m sure that many upcoming e-readers will feature this.  For the time being though, I’m happy enough with my Kindle 2.  🙂

(I probably won’t write more about the Kindle 2 unless something new/cool is discovered or if anyone has particular questions they’d like to see answered)