Category: Driving

16/2/2017 0 Comments

My First Day in Nagoya

Back in 2014 I moved to Japan and had the experience of a lifetime. I was all set to be an English teacher, and ready to move to my first big Japanese city, Nagoya. It's located in the Aichi prefecture in central Japan. I spent a hot and humid August training, teaching, and exploring in the "peaceful" city.

When I arrived in Nagoya I was dazed and confused. I had just flown 23 hours and 15 minutes through Vancouver and Taipei to finally land at my destination. I wasn't able to sleep the entire time since I had been buzzing with excitement. When it was my turn through customs, I handed over my papers and did my best to communicate with the agent. Then I picked up my baggage and was asked about the contents. I glanced at the sign and realized they were looking for dangerous items, I shook my head. He motioned around his body, and I practically shouted, "Yes, I have clothes!" We both chuckled and he let me through. I was greeted by the company representative, and taken out on to the highway.

Here we go!

The drive didn't take long, and soon enough I was introduced to my roommate and temporary apartment. Since we were both starved and looking to explore the area a bit, we headed out to look for food. We found a convenient 7-11 and a small grocery store. I wandered the aisles in awe. There were a lot of pre-made meals (thank goodness). So I picked up some sushi and karaage. When we headed back to the apartment, we met up with some other trainees and immediately found ourselves with plans for the night. We were going out for some karaoke! Trust me when I say, you can never get enough. Most of the karaoke bars in Japan offer private rooms, and nomihodai (drink all you want for "x" amount of time). Some of the most fun I had was in a karaoke bar.

Grocery store and hyaku-en shop

Sanctuary

The next day we were very lucky and managed to do some exploring before we began an arduous month of training. For the most part we just wandered around and let our senses guide us. At one point, we were so excited by the prospect of finding an arcade that we walked into a pachinko parlor. Well let me tell you - it is loud and bright and deafening and flashflashflash!!! Definitely not arcade games, and definitely filled with smoke. So we headed to re-known Osu Kannon temple. The Buddhist temple was incredibly popular, and I watched as person after person shook the large, heavy rope and rang the bell atop the steps. I eventually followed suit and felt a little lighter afterwards. We made our way back down and I discovered a man covered in pigeons. It was obvious to anyone that it brought him great joy, but I could not say the same for some of my colleagues. After that we visited a large, covered shopping district - teeming with curiosity.

DINGDINGDINGDINGDING!!!

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23/10/2012 0 Comments

The Trek to Kelowna

I'm finally back! After a week vacation and a few days in between, I'm finally back to blogging. It's been an adventure! My partner and I took a trip to Kelowna, British Columbia (BC)! We drove the whole way there. It's about 900 km or in case you don't use the (far superior) metric system, it's about 560 miles. It's quite a long way. Google Maps thought it would take about 11 hours but let's just say we made it in record time. The first photo you see on the right is a picture of the major highway between Edmonton and Calgary. It's named the QE2 (Queen Elizabeth II Highway), it used to be just the #2 before the Queen visited. . .

One of the most beautiful features about Calgary is its proximity to the mountains. You can look off into the distance and see them standing majestically. It's quite the sight. Although they may look far away, they're actually very close. It doesn't take very long before you're driving in between them and enjoying their spectacular heights up close.

As soon as we entered the mountains we encountered dense fog and thick rain. This is fairly common since the weather in the mountains is rather fickle and no matter what time of year you're bound to see some rain but this was the most rain I've ever seen. It pretty much rained the entire time. It was fairly dangerous under those conditions since you tend to encounter thick herds of traffic on narrow twisty roads. Yet it was exciting and unexpected, it's been awhile since we've taken a road trip.

Throughout the mountains there are warning signs of falling rocks. A cost effective method of preventing the rocks from hitting the road seems to be these hanging chains. They're fairly common. Every time I've been in the mountains I try to think of what they might be named. There must be a name for them, there's a name for everything. While I was calling them hanging chains my partner came up with the name, "geological lateral restraining harnesses". I laughed so hard! That's what I get for asking a civil engineer.

A memorable aspect of the journey are the tunnels. Located in Rogers Pass between Golden and Revelstoke, there are 6 tunnels. Ever since I was a child traveling through BC I would look forward to going through the tunnels. I'm not sure why but I've always enjoyed them. This still hasn't changed now that I'm older. I guess I always imagined them as portals to an unknown and mysterious land. Thank you, imagination.

    As we finally neared the resort the weather transformed into beautiful clear skies with the fading light of dusk. I love taking photos. I find that true beauty can always be found in the wonders of nature.

    The road leading to the resort was definitely one of the more frightening roads I've been on. It's all sharp corners and no passing lanes right next to a sheer drop.

At last, our room. Well, this is the part of the room where we spent the most time so it seemed like the most important photo to share. Whether it was watching a movie together or eating our daily breakfast of eggs, bacon and english muffins with salmon cream cheese. Mmm!

For the rest of the week I will be blogging about my stay in BC. Readers I say to you, come for the photos and stay for the story.

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My First Day in Nagoya

The Trek to Kelowna

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