Monday, March 19, 2012

Tokyo yesterday, Perth today, Calgary tomorrow...

Sorry, no pictures in this post....

There is a flower called 'Yesterday, today, and tomorrow'...

The rationale for the name purportedly derives from the fact that the flower starts blooming with 'soft purple, changing to a pastel lilac and finally turning to a near-white before fading away'....(Source)

While not exactly yesterday, yours truly had the privilege of visiting Meiji University at Tokyo two Fridays days ago to attend a symposium...

Spent a night at a business hotel near Haneda Airport...

While having breakfast the next morning, sitting by the window watching the Tokyo Monorail zoomed by, snow fell... oooh, mid March is supposed to be spring season if we go by the calendar, but in reality, it is still very much winter...

At 4:00 AM last Wednesday, the alarm beeped as instructed...
My sweeto haato sweetly murumured 'ohayo' and I responded with a sleepy 'o...haaa...yo...'

Had to crawl out of my warm futon at that rather unholy hour...

Yes, I had to hit the road again... this time, it was to Perth to visit the University of Western Australia...

As with habit, did all the t-things like gargling and 'rinsing the eyeballs' (with water soaked in used teabags from the day before)... and of course, 'sitting on the throne' to clear the system for the new day...

Been doing this routine for as long as I can remember...

At 4:40, my sweeto haato got up to bid me a 'Have a safe trip' hug and kiss... the three-quartered moon was hanging on quite beautifully at the southern sky, and I was ready to mount the faithful Grasshopper...

But poor Grasshopper appeared to have 'cataracts'... her windscreen was laced with a thin layer of ice...

I poured water from a bucket but no cigar... the cold water had no effect on the cataracts... I got back to the house and asked my suweeto haato for some warm water...

Now, Kansai International is about four hours from Takamatsu Station... for many an occasion during our overseas trips, we used to park our car in the university, catch a cab to Takamatsu Station to take the limusine bus to Kansai International...

But I have decided to drive to a bus stop on the bus route, which is about 30 kilometers from our house, park the car there and take the same limusine bus to the airport... saves a lot of time and bus fare too...

Driving so early in the morning means absolutely no traffic... almost all the traffic lights blink amber or sometimes red, but it is smooth sailing all the way...
 
Reached the bus stop at 5:25 am... it was still dark... I shivered as my upper oriface emitted 'smoke'...

Perth being in the southern hemisphere, is experiencing some pretty extreme temperatures... just days ago, she had temperatures hovering around 40 degrees... imagine, we are having temperatures around freezing point in the mornings...

After the stint at Perth, I shall return to Takamatsu on 21 March... I get to sleep in my cosy, familiar futon, hug my love-bolster for three nights, and then, I am due to hit the road again, this time to Calgary, Canada, where I hope the temperatures won't be too punishing...

Update: Wrote the piece above while flying in midair but did not get the opportunity to post it. The internet connection in Perth is ridiculously expensive. Luckily, the Perth City Information Center offers free wifi.

Anyway, Perth is a really beautiful city... the majestic Swan River... the breath-taking night scene from South Perth of the northern city sky line... the meticulously maintained beautiful parks...the clean streets, the convenience of the CAT buses, the pretty colonial buildings... the magnificent churches... all in all, a very livable city...

Prices however, are extremely expensive, the food, in particular. I'd even venture to say that from my little experiences, I can eat better just as well for less in Tokyo. Hotel rates are also very expensive. Very, very expensive... While visiting Meiji University, I stayed at a business hotel, new, large room, very comfortable and one minute from the train station, decent breakfast, free wifi.... and the rate? 6500 yen.... Here in Perth, a three star hotel room will set you back by about 150 Aussie dollars... approximately 15,000 yen or 130 US dollars... and that, without free wifi... to me it is unimaginable that hotels these days do not offer free wifi... it is almost a given, I'd say...

15 comments:

  1. You sure are a jest-setter. xD

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    1. Part of the job, Lina... and I try to enjoy the traveling even though it is quite exhaustive sometimes...

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  2. Anonymous3/20/2012

    I'm with you about the wifi...a lovely incentive for staying at a hotel these days, you'd thing it would be free with the price of the room!

    You've been very very busy...in the air, flying all around the planet, well perhaps half of the planet ;-) Safe travels!

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    1. Extremely busy, I must say... sometimes it boggles my mind...

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  3. Wow you are a real jetsetter! What did you do that for, conference about what? I love the way you wrote this post now, informative, light, and funny. My former roommate when i was writing my last thesis had her PhD in Perth, but i haven't heard much about the environment, nor the prices. I guess she was just not very particular about that, but mostly her laboratory and the mall. haha!

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    1. Thanks Andrea, for your comments... :-)
      Am now transiting in Singapore... was in UWA to discuss a new program that we are thinking of launching...

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  4. I got tired just reading about your travels. I guess I'm just getting to be too old for that life. The extreme variations in temperatures between your home and Australia must have been unsettling. Hopefully Canada's weather will be a little more moderate.

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    1. My apologies George... I know I should not write such a long post... it is quite a burden to read so much prose as I sometimes experience myself with some blogs...
      Anyway, I should b careful not to fall sick in there travels...

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  5. look like you had a tight schedule..

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  6. Your schedule has me tired, but I'm sure you will sneak in some times to take photos of those wonderful places! Safe travel..

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  7. Wow,I bet you can't help but be a seasoned traveller! I agree about the the free wifi. We have just returned from North India - Delhi, Amritsar, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur and Mumbai and we stayed in hotels except in Mumbai.there was no free wifi and our rooms were rm 500+/night. Even in rural parts in Sichuan during the previous holiday, wifi was available, at least in the lobby.

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    1. Whoa, 500+ ringgit per night is quite steep... but I think you had a pretty good time there...

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  8. What's the reason for rinsing your eyes in weak tea? Is that green tea, or Ceylon tea, or ...?

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    1. The reason is just to cleanse the eyes... I normally do it twice a day... the first in the morning after waking up and the second, after coming back home from work or town... the tea is Ceylon tea...

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  9. Anonymous3/31/2012

    Nice to read your wonderful trips. Your descriptions made me Laugh.. hahaha..

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