Re: ASRNippon

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 23:55:02 GMT, "Peter H. Coffin"
<hellsop@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 23:41:22 +0100, Robert Sneddon wrote:
Long shot perhaps but I'm heading for some Recovery in Japan in a
couple of weeks time. Anyone in the area fancy a meetup, some booze and
a curry? I'm going to be down south (Kure to visit the Yamato Museum,
Onomichi, Hiroshima then up to Tokyo for Comiket on the 17th through
19th August, Yokosuka to visit the Mikasa, Miura peninsula then back to
Yokohama for the Worldcon and finally Tokyo for Akiba and Jimboucho
early September).

I'm in possession of a 14-day JR pass and willing to burn a day or
two's travelling to a more remote location (Hokkaido, Kyushu) if
necessary.

*envy*

'nuff said.

Ahh, the mysterious Orient. I've been to China a couple of times. I
did the usual touristy things like The Great Wall, [1] The Forbidden
City, [2] Tiennaman Square, [3] the Lao She Tea House. [4]

I even brought back the best souvenir anyone could ever have.

http://home.comcast.net/~evilned/images/w25.jpg

For all the pix, including me doing Karaoke, (And the only way I would
do that was the 10 hours of drinking that day)

http://home.comcast.net/~evilned/main1.htm

The picture of me with a friend is badly lit. The guy who took it
didn't know how to use the flash on my camera. He was feeling no pain
either. 8)

I will say that after the first trip over it was a good 6 months
before I was able to stomach what passes for Chinese food here. [5]

1) Pictures do not do it justice.

2) The scale is incredible. I may disagree with the government there,
but they are working hard to restore all the old imperial buildings,
and ripping up the old communist garbage as well. [6]

3) Yes I did look for the tank tracks. Besides that, it was filled
with people flying kites, walking around, just enjoying the day. There
was a bit of a line at Mao's Tomb, but I had no interest in seeing
that.

4) The tea looked and tasted like the cut the lawn and used the
clippings. Oh well. At least I liked the show even if I couldn't
understand the words. I really liked the two comedians doing the
"Learning English" bit. I didn't need to understand. :)

5) I stayed out of the tourist places. I went with my friend to lots
of little places. In some cases I was the first westerner that had
ever been there. I'm still not to sure that I didn't have an order of
Fido with a side of Fluffy though. ;)

6) When I got back from my last trip there was a thing on about the
Olympic village being constructed. I remember seeing the cranes, but I
didn't see any of the actual buildings. I'm kicking myself on that
one. Next time I'll take a left when I leave Tiennaman instead of a
right. [7]

7) No, that wasn't a political pun. The Olympic village is being built
behind the Congress building and if you leave the square, you have to
go to the left and head down that road to see it.
--
"If these people only had a clue, they might only be... stupid."
.

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