Camera bag, that is. I'd been looking for one before leaving on our honeymoon because the one I had at that time could not hold a guide book in addition to my Nikon D40. As I hunted around, I realized I also really wanted it to be big enough to fit my flash, Gorillapod, a ball head for the Gorillapod, and a bottle of water, yet still be small and light.
After a few false starts, I finally discovered the Tamrac Messenger 4, which met all my criterias. After traveling with it for the past two months, I've been more than happy with the way it's performed. It's even survived a soaking when I got caught outdoors in a flash thunderstorm.
We're finally back home after our month-long honeymoon, and I have to say it feels good to sleep in our own bed again. Not that I would have said no to traveling for another month or two, mind you, but it's good to be home.
The biggest surprise for me was how comfortable I felt in France. I've always known that I liked France after my last trip there in 2001, but after having traveled so much, to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Greece recently, I've come to realize just how "right" France (and Paris in particular) feels to me.
The wife had planned our time in France, and she'd originally thought to spend the whole week in Paris, but changed things around when I said that was just too much time since we'd both been in Paris before. I was wrong. Nevertheless, I couldn't have been happier with her final itinerary, since that would mean we would never have gone to Troisgois.
After 2 days of gray, overcast skies, the clouds have finally parted and allowed the sun to come out and play, and it's been glorious.
We drove down from Paris to Roanne, and we're staying at Troisgros tonight; a boutique hotel and restaurant with a Michelin three star rating. As you would expect, dinner was amazing, and the main course, a beef dish, was nothing short of mind-blowing. Normally, I'd reserve that for meat that's so tender that it just melts in your mouth like butter. And while this dish had a little of that, what made it so amazing was the texture and how it was just a joy to chew. It had the perfect resistance for chewing, and every bite just delicious. I don't know how else to describe it.
I'd mention how well appointed the room is, but I'm honestly just too satiated to write any more.
Just finished Judas Unchained, the sequel (and finale) to Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton, and I can't recommend them highly enough. It's space opera at its best. The first book starts with dozens of major characters, each with their own thread that slowly but surely links up with one another until they all meet in book two in a tremendous climax that doesn't disappoint.
I spent yesterday volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in San Jose. This was my first time with them, and all in all it was a pretty fun time. I floated around for most of the morning as there were more volunteers than work, and got to learn a little about plumbing and putting up siding. In the afternoon, I found myself on the roof again as I worked on nailing tar paper to the roof.
Had a rather infuriating visitor tonight. Answered a knock at the door around 8pm and found some girl who identified herself as a Sierra Club member looking for signatures and donations. I figured I'd give her a chance since I'm a fan of the Sierra Club's work, so I listened to her spiel about global warming and Sierra Club's effort to pass S.309 in the Senate. I offered to sign her petition, but declined to donate.
As much as I'd like to support all efforts to combat global warming, and as much as I appreciate the grass roots efforts to raise awareness of the Issue, I definitely do not appreciate being guilt tripped/insulted because I'm not willing to donate. Accusing me of lying about my beliefs is just not acceptable.
WTF, Sierra Club? Please train the people you send out a little bit better. Personally, I don't like giving money to people who come to my door. When I donate, I'd like to make sure it goes directly to the organization I'm donating to. This experience has definitely given me a negative impression of the Sierra Club.
On my last day in Kyoto, with only a few hours before I had to catch the shinkansen back to Tokyo, I was hoping to see both Nijo Castle, the Tokugawa shogun's Kyoto home as well as walk around Gion. Alas, I ran out of time and only managed the former, with just enough time to stop at Unkai for lunch.
The next day, I decided to check out Ginkaku-ji (the Temple of the Silver Pavilion). It was built in 1492 as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, and meant to be coated with silver (like Kinkakuji). Unfortunately, he died before this could happen, so it's just a simple two-story wood structure. What I liked best about this place was it's moss collection. At least, that's what I think it was, since I can't read Japanese.
From there, I walked down Philosopher's Pathway to Nanzen-ji, a Rinzai zen temple set amid a grove of spruce. I have to admit though that the primary reason I took the walk was because of Nanzenji's proximity to Okutan, supposedly one of Kyoto's oldest and most authentic tofu restaurants. Lunch there was pretty amazing, although I'd pretty much reached my tofu limit by the time I was done (which I wouldn't have thought possible before).
After lunch, I headed to Heian Shrine, a huge orange and green structure commemorating the 1,100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto. I wasn't terribly impressed and decided to skip its gardens (supposedly the highlight of the shrine) and headed to Sanjusangendo Hall. Now this place is just stunning. The hall itself is almost 400 feet long, the longest wooden building in Japan, and houses 1,000 life-sized statues of the thousand-handed Kannon, 500 on each side of the central 11 feet high statue of Kannon. The hall is so long they used to have archery competitions in the corridor behind the statues. Definitely a must see.
Unfortunately, it had started to rain while I was in Sanjusangendo Hall, so I got nice and wet as I waited for the bus to Kiyomizu Temple. Fortunately for me, the street from the bus stop up to the temple was lined with stores, most of them with umbrellas for sale, and I'm now the owner of a green transparent umbrella.
Kiyomizu Temple was one of three highlights in Kyoto for me, despite the rain. It's built on Mount Otowa and has some great views. There's also a spring here on which it's name is based: kiyomizu translates as "pure water", which it certainly is. There's a line to drink the water as gushes from three fountains, and I can only imagine how refreshing it must be when it's hot.
It was dusk by the time I left Kiyomizu and caught the bus to Gion. The rain pretty much dissuaded me from doing any exploring though, so I went to the Yasaka Shrine instead. It's open 24 hours, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it lit with lanterns at night.
From there, I made my way to Minako for dinner. Their specialty: kobe beef, teppanyaki style. I've never had kobe beef before, and since I've been to Japan about five times now, I figured it was time I gave it a shot. I had a piece of sirloin, and it was good. I actually find it a little hard to describe. You know it's definitely beef, but it just doesn't taste like any beef I've ever had before. The difference is in the texture, and the only word that comes to mind is that it's "springier", somehow lighter than regular beef.
After checking into my hotel to drop my gear off around 2pm on Sunday, my first stop was Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu constructed in the 1390's. It's claim to fame is a three-story pavilion covered in gold leaf. This is not a small building, and is dazzling when the sun is out.
Ryoanji Temple was next, and is one of my three favorite sites in Kyoto. The main structure houses a famous Zen rock garden, but what I liked most about the place was the architecture and the temple grounds (with its large 1,000 year old pond). Very peaceful.
By the time I left Ryoanji it was already past 5pm, and all the other sites were closed so I just caught a bus downtown to Shijo-Kawaramachi and walked about Pantocho until I found a place to have dinner. Since not much else appeared to be open, I just called it a night.
Whoo! Took the Hikari super express shinkansen to Kyoto and back. It's fast (135-188mph) and extremely smooth, so there's very little feedback to clue you in on how fast you're going. It's misleading even when you're looking out at the countryside because of the distance to any point of reference. It only becomes obvious when there's a fence or something else running along side the tracks, which whips by faster than the eye can follow.
I had about 48 hours in Kyoto, barely enough time to see the major attractions. After being spoiled by the Tokyo subway system, it's a shock to try getting around without it. Kyoto's subway isn't as developed, and you mainly have to rely on buses to get everywhere. The problem, of course, is the fact that they are totally unpredictable because of the traffic. Not a problem when you have the time, but very challenging when you're on a tight schedule. It felt like I spent 40% of my time either waiting for or riding on a bus. My one recommendation to anyone else visiting Kyoto is to get a bus route map, which is an absolute must have.
The good news is that Kyoto's relatively small compared to Tokyo. Better yet, it's laid out on a grid so things are easy to find.
Sadly, one thing you won't find in Kyoto is an onsen. At least, not in Kyoto proper. You'd have to go out to the suburbs to find one.
I'm in Tokyo again for the PML conference and repeating my standard jet-lag recovery procedure: hitting an onsen.
The conference doesn't start till next Wednesday, but I figured I'd come early and do some sightseeing. This time, I'll be going to Kyoto. I'm pretty excited about getting to ride the shinkansen tomorrow.
It's way past time for me to replace my motorcycle helmet, and while I've been keeping an eye out, I haven't found anything that works for me. Shoei no longer makes the model I have, and their replacement models don't even come close to fitting me as well as my current one.
While looking for a replacement, I've been doing some research on helmet standards as well. Apparently there's a big controversy over what constitutes a "good" helmet. This article at Motorcyclist Online covers the issue fairly well, and offers an independent analysis of the situation. My take-away message from it is that you should avoid Snell certified helmets if possible because it doesn't provide enough cushioning. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a problem because most helmet makers view Snell certification as a nice marketing check point, and there are fewer and fewer new helmets that are not both DOT and Snell certified.
Another interesting thing I've learned is that helmet makers pretty much certify their helmets themselves. The NHTSA only does spot checks to make sure that their certification claims are true. And the scary bit? There are quite a few that don't pass these checks. Results for these checks can be found here. I was surprised to find that they found an Arai that failed in 2006.
So what's a guy looking to buy a new helmet to do?
Best Doctor Who episode ever: Blink.
It was absolutely perfect from start to finish, with fantastic writing and great pacing. It also has the dubious honor of being the episode with the least amount of screen time for the Doctor (at least, of all the episodes that I've seen). If you've never watched Doctor Who before, this is the one to start with.
I never used to be a fan of Barefoot's Element 114 blend, but they've recently tweaked the formula, and now it rocks! Definitely check it out if you ever get a chance.
I've been playing a bunch of new games lately, and thought I'd do a quick write-up of them.
On the PC, the new Civilization IV expansion, Beyond the Sword, is definitely a worthy addition to the original classic. The addition of corporations and espionage really adds a new dimension to the game.
On the DS, I've been wasting more than a few minutes with Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, which is basically Bejeweled in a yummy RPG wrapping.
On the Wii, I've been infected with Alien Syndrome. It may not be the most original or amazing game, but it's still entertaining nonetheless. Part Diablo, part Gauntlets, it's 100% fun and has a great control system.
Finally, on the table top, we've just discovered Caylus. For now, it has replaced Goa as my game of choice because of the bewildering array of possible strategies for it. Every game so far has been vastly different from the previous ones.
It boggles the mind, but China's just released regulations banning Tibetan monks from reincarnating without permission...
Seriously? Is this actually going to have any effect other than to galvanize opinion against China?
Oh so true. I've never forgiven Orson Scott Card for Xenocide, although I can't say I think Speaker for the Dead was all that great either.
