A new level

Recently, I have been spending all my time trip planning. I have stopped reading, cut back on cooking/baking, and even halted my Spanish lessons. But finally, our route is almost complete.

Now I am worried about two things.

• First, we are going to get robbed at knife point or have our backpack slashed on the bus. Not that I am into fear mongering; however, during my planning I would be innocently perusing travelogues for hotel recommendations or bus connections, and accounts of robberies would pop up like landmines.
• Second, I am going be debilitated by my altitude sickness. I was so pathetic in Lhasa, Tibet that I was faltering like an 80-year-old lady in poor health.
  

I must have arrived at a new level. Before, I would be concerned about finding nice rooms, hot showers, and vegetarian food. Compared to my new worries, I was so frivolous before.

Many times I have been asked and have asked myself what this ceaseless traveling is about. I now know it is not about pleasure or escape. I am seeking. But what? New experiences? I don't always know. Even when it happens, I may not recognize it. Later after some pondering, I may realize that I have come across it.

For me, travel has always been a metaphor for life. But what is life about?!

We are going on the road again

Tickets have been bought! We are finally going on our much anticipated South America trip. The Galapagos Islands was on the list for our 15th wedding anniversary, but we were living in China at the time and went to Tibet instead. 2011 will be our 20th. While checking off the Galapagos, we thought we would take a spin around the continent.

There had been much agonizing. At first we were going to fly to San Diego and start at the top of Mexico. Did I think we were on "The Amazing Race?!" Then we were going to make a big loop in South America, but I was so afraid of "City of God" spilling onto us. Cutting out Brazil clarified everything. We are leaving on September 14 to fly into Cartagena, Colombia, making our way along the West Coast: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, not sure where to start loopback, and eventually flying back from Buenos Aires in the spring.

Kiso Valley - Magome to Tsumago - Japan

This Fall, a friend will be walking the old postal road from Magome to Tsumago; so I thought I'd type up our 29 September 2007 experience.

After finishing our hike at Kamikochi in the Japan Alps, we retrieved our stored bags and hopped on the 16:40 bus to Matsumoto. The early evening ride was very scenic as we rode along the Azusa River passing several dams and going through numerous tunnels.

Arrived 15 minute late at 6:30 PM in Matsumoto due to rush hour traffic. Walked over to the nearby train station and extracted ¥40,000 from the Postal Bank ATM. Hooray! Then 3 blocks to the Matsumato Hotel 1-2-3 where we had a reservation, threw our bags down in our room, and found dinner at a nearby noodle shop: beer, noodles (big size) + extra noodles + rice for ¥2150.

Noodle Shop


Up at 7:30 on the 29th and downstairs at 7:50 for the included Japanese-style breakfast:
- Western-style green salad
- Cold cooked fish (no thanks)
- Eggs: steamed or cold
- Coffee (terrible taste - Sun-Ling could not drink it)
- Pickled veggies
- Rice
- Miso soup
- Small plastic bags of brown beans

Out the hotel door at 8:10, stopped by Lawson's and picked up ¥2131 worth of provisions (lunch and dinner for today, breakfast for tomorrow), and made the 8:40 JR Shinano 4 to Nakatsugawa Station. We pulled in to Nakatsugawa a few minutes late and barely caught the bus to Magome (540 X 2 = ¥1080).

It began to rain as the bus headed up the hills to Magome, arriving at 11:00 AM. Walked up the steep main street crowded with tourists, umbrellas, souvenir shops, and restaurants to the TI where at 500 x 2 = ¥1000 we dropped off our 2 backpacks for shipment to Tsumago. Done! In addition, the TI "stamped" my journal - cool!

A vintage postman delivers the mail in Magome.


It was till raining pretty hard, so we ducked in a restaurant and each had a cup of coffee and finally got going just before noon. At the end of town - the beginning of the walk - a sign points 7.7 km to Tsumago.

We set off at a brisk pace but after just .1 km walking saw a sheltered bench and small table, so we stopped and polished off 4 of the bento boxes from Lawson washed down with tea made that morning with the complimentary tea bags from our hotel.

Only 7.6 km to go.


So, just after 12:15 or so, we really got going and had a very pleasant uphill and downhill walk, along creeks, waterfalls, rest areas, and WC's, on rocks, gravel, sand, cobbles, roots, and stairs, past stands of bamboo, misty mountains, shrines, temples, gardens, grass, tomatoes, soy beans, villages, arrowed markers, sign posts, umbrellas, rooftops, roofs, evergreens, and graveyards, and arrived in Tsumgo just after 4PM. Not many other walkers that day - maybe because of the rain.



We picked up our bags, canceled our minshuku reservation (that's another story), found a room at another minshuku, then strolled around town as the shops were closing down at 5PM. For a so-called "tourist town" there few tourists. Good for us!

View of Tsumago


Back to the minshuku, got some hot H2O (free) and a cold beer (¥650) from the proprietor, and enjoyed more Lawson's: 2 x Nissin noodles, cheese + crackers, 2 boiled eggs, 3 big slices of bread, and an apple. Then an evening stroll, photography, and a relaxing bath in thermal waters.

The next morning we were out the door at 7:20. The landlady, as is the custom, waited at the door and bowed deeply as we left. It was still raining, but we took a few more photos of the quiet deserted streets on the walk to the bus stop. The bus pulled in right on time at 7:46 and we arrived at Nagiso Station at 7:55 and hopped on the 8:03 JR Shinano 1 to Nagano.

Tsmago in the early morning.

Japan Hotels

Here's some info about the hotels we stayed at on our September/October 2007 trip to Japan.

 Sept 22 & 23 - Fukuoka
Accord Hotel  - A 15 minute walk from the Train Station, we paid ¥11,160 total (with credit card) for 2 nights. Room 315 was small, but nice: wired Internet, fridge, desk, stool, hangars, no closet, sink, tub, shower, double bed.

Sept 24 & 25 - Kanazawa
APA Hotel - A short local bus ride from the Train Station, we paid ¥15,600 total for 2 nights. Room 932 was small, clean, and with Internet. Access to the 14th floor public onsen , where you can see the stars, is included in the rate.
Room 932 - APA Hotel


APA Hotel. The letter "P" is dark.


Sept 26 & 27- Takayama
Kuwataniya Minshuku - A short walk from the Bus Station, we paid ¥4000 per person per night plus a "hot springs" tax for a total of ¥17400. The tatami room had a small closet, TV, fridge, and table. There are 2 "hotspring common baths". Tatami rooms share a toilet. Internet was free as well as the use of their 12 bikes.

Sept 28  - Matsumoto
Matsumoto Hotel 1-2-3- This nice business hotel is 3 blocks from the train station and our "big" room had Internet, desk with chair and a view of Matsumoto Castle. We paid ¥6650for one night. The "included" breakfast is served on the 2nd floor.
Our room at the 1-2-3



Sept 29 - Tsumago
Minshuku - Don't know the name of this minshiku. We booked it on arrival and paid ¥5500 a person for a big tatami room with no meals. Interesting, that in this $100+ room, one pays for the TV and AC by feeding ¥100 coins into a slot. No other guests so we had the whole top floor to ourselves.
Tsumago Room


Sept 30  & Oct 1 - Nikko
Johsyu-ya Inn - Room #31 is big with an en-suite sink, clothes drying rack, TV, a table, and 2 chairs !!! We paid ¥15,660 for 2 nights. The inn is conveniently located just 30 meters from a bus stop.

Oct 2 - Kamakura
Komachi-so Minshuku - Great location. We paid ¥4500 x 2 persons =  ¥9000  for one night.

Oct 3 & 4- Hakone
Minshuku - No romaji sign for this minshuku in Moto-Hakone, so no romaji name, but it was very nice. We paid ¥19,500 for 2 nights. A huge tatami room, a small sitting area, fridge, low table, and a view of Lake Ashi. Bath, toilet, and sinks are shared, but we had the whole place to ourselves as there were no other guests.
Our room with view of Lake Ashi.


Oct 5 & 6 - Nagasaki
Toyoko-Inn Hotel  - Great location near TI and JR Station. We paid ¥7560 per night for a double with twin beds, included breakfast, and Internet.
Our room.

Mumbai Hotels

We arrived in Mumbai on Jan 16, 2009 just six weeks after the November 26th terrorist attacks. And since we had purchased our Yangon to Mumbai via Bangkok plane tickets at the end of December, we arrived with no hotel reservation.

Our first stop, after surviving the airport money changers (we used the ATM), the queue at the airport's train ticket window (no luck), a prepaid taxi scam (resolved in our favor), and a free tour of VT, Fort and Colaba Districts with our clueless taxi driver (got some great photos), was the Oasis Hotel, a popular backpacker joint according to Lonely Planet. Took a look at a Double for 1600 RS – way too small. Deluxe Doubles were 1800 (47RS = 1USD) but they were all full. The nearby Welcome Hotel was also full.

The Railway Hotel had a corner room for 2300 + tax = 2530 RS, over $50 US, with breakfast included. We also went by the nearby Ship Hotel which has non-AC rooms for 200 to 300 RS. Looked like a great place if you were a seaman. So we take the room at the Railway.

After snagging train tickets to Goa from the Foreigner Ticket Window at VT, we headed out in search of dinner and had a tasty evening meal at Mangalore Naaz Restaurant. Well run with friendly proprietor and waiters, and located just a few blocks south from the hotel, we ended up eating there at least once a day during our stay in Mumbai.

We were out the door the next morning at 9:00 AM with a plan to search for a cheaper/better hotel in the VT District. We noticed that while our room key fob says Railway Hotel, the room stationary and invoice say Fort Landmark Inn. Hmm. We check back at Welcome Hotel - still full and more expensive than the Railway. On to the Princess, a sister Landmark property, which is even more expensive. The Grand, The Benazeer, all were either full or too expensive or we didn’t like the “available” room(s).

After changing more money (hotels wanted cash) and enjoying a tasty McVeggie at the McDonald’s across from VT, we were headed back to the Railway resigned to spending another day there, when we spotted the Hotel Victoria right next to the Welcome Inn and we took newly renovated room #202 for 1500 RS per night. Great! And there was a Wi-Fi signal if we perched our netbook on the window sill. Awesome!

And there was a mad dash to get back to the Railway before noon to check out. Haha!

Hotel Victoria:
255 Shahid Bhagat Sing Road, 1st Floor,
Near G.P.O., V.T., Mumbai - 400001
Phone: 2261 1642 / 2265 1322

All the hotels mentioned above are within easy walking distance of Victoria Terminus (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus)

The Railway Hotel


The view from the Railway Hotel


The Hotel Victoria (left) and Welcome Hotel (right)


The Mangalore Naaz Restaurant