Shugster

My last night in Spain will also be my last night in Europe. Yes my friends, I'm making a run for the border =). I have spent the last 2 days in Granada. The city is a mere 3 hour bus ride from Seville, yet it's a whole different world here. I noticed the difference when my very altitude sensitive ears popped in the middle of the bus ride, I looked up, and in the distance is snow-capped Sierra Nevada, against a bright blue sky and behind a endless land of green green grassland. Small orchards dot the landscape, with occasional sheeps and horses wandering around. I'm in a different part of Andalusia for sure. I checked into a small Pension, as per recommendation of a very sweet and very unhelpful tourist information clerk. The place ... read more

So, I am finally in Spain. The bus ride from Faro to Seville was painless, except for some asshole pickpocketing me and stole my camcorder. I'm still very upset about that... In any case, that was just a taste of things to come. So I arrived in Seville around 8:30 PM, got on a cab, and was driven to my humble hostel, Pension Vegara , which was actually a 15th century convent. Very awesome. And very cheap too, only 18 euros per night. alas, it's a very very small room, i feel like i was sleeping in the attic, with a very small window looking onto... a blank wall. but still, very awesome. So i settled in and immediately walked out to explore the city, and i walked about 30 feet along the narrow Ximenez de ... read more

I know... Cheesy title. Anyway, so I left Lisbon and took a train to algarve, the southern coast of Portugal, to the town of faro. The trip from my hotel to the train station was somewhat comical. I hopped on a cab and told the driver I want to goto the oriente train station (garre oriente). He asked another cab driver and verified he knew where this place is, and then we took off! And immediately got stuck in traffic. It was shocking to me because I didn't get the sense that there were alot of cars in Lisbon. Apparently it was shocking to my driver as well, as he proceeded to apologize to me nonstop for the entire 5 minutes we spent stuck in a jam, in portuguese no less! Nevermind that I didn't understand ... read more

I started my day with some grilled cuttle fish. It was unexpectedly sunny, warm, and Lisbon looked like a completely different place from the misty city the night before. I strolled down to praca do comercio, a huge square by the water. The size and openness of which is a testament to the golden age of seafaring Portugal. I took some pics and hopped on a tram, hoping it'd take me to belem. Not knowing which stop to get off at, I'm reminded of my little adventure in Sapporo, Japan where I set out to look for the beer garden with no more information than look for the big Sapporo star. So this time I'm looking for the mosteiro dos jeronimos and torres de belem, neither of which I've seen before, and I rode the tram ... read more

The West Side Story is playing next door of my hotel. :) Anyhow so I woke up at 2pm local time and walked out into the street famished... Primary concern of course was where am I gonna find a restaurant and how am I gonna order? Then right across the street I see "traditional Portuguese cuisine" written in 7 different languages (including Chinese!). Awesome. I sat down and ordered fish soup and suckling pig with a small bottle of wine, and started my meal. I took my sweet time and finished my meal about an hour and a half later. Judging from the other guests in the restaurant, the Portuguese eat at the same speed as I do, which is to say very very slowly. Finally! I no longer have to feel rushed when I eat! ... read more

This is my first time blogging from my iPhone. Good thing my hotel room has free wifi :) It is raining in Lisbon. After a month in micu, a day of frantic packing, I started my journey by hopping on the supershuttle for Newark airport. Except the van broke down just before entering Lincoln tunnel, and I had to be "rescued.". Something about the alternator being broken... I guess it's not much better here in NYC than Bolivian highlands ;) When I eventually did get to the airport (thanks to Yuki for keeping my spirit up) I tried to upgrade my ticket to first class since I am a silver member, but no go, all first class seats are taken. But the check in clerk did ensure that I have an entire row of 4 seats ... read more

Ok, so Susan's last day in Kyoto was somewhat of a disappointment, as it rained all day long. Pouring, from morning til night. Being as that it was raining, we abandoned our original plan of visiting the Golden Pavilion and spent the day shopping around Gion. Turns out that shopping took us an entire day, and by the time we were done, we were both exhausted. It was a nice stroll through the city though, and we definitely needed the time to get souvenirs. We spotted a few Geishas as well walking around Gion. After Susan left the following day, I learned that the last train from Kyoto to KIX was 10PM, and the first train out of Kyoto was 5AM. My flight is at 7AM out of KIX to Narita, so turns out that I ... read more

So after rushing through the multitudes of Onsens in Beppu, a "relaxing" stop in the trip left me more tired than before. We left Amit in Beppu left by 11AM, heading for Hiroshima. Our ultimate destination is Miyajima, the sacred island off the coast of Hiroshima in the Japan Inland Sea and said to be one of the top 3 scenic sights in Japan. Hiroshima was basically what I thought it would be, a depressing memorial park beautifully built. The A-Bomb dome is the remnant of the building closest to where the bomb exploded. The Bomb was aimed at a t-shaped bridge, which remarkably survived the blast. There was also a memorial for a little girl who got Leukemia after the bomb. Story goes that after diagnosed with Leukemia she started to fold paper cranes, hoping ... read more