happy new year – make a wish!

wishing you all the best for a happy new year. 2008 promises to be a lucky year – afterall it contains the number 8 for luck in chinese culture, and for those of us “rats” in the chinese zodiac, it is also year of the rat.  i did a bit of math – this auspicious combination of 8 appearing in the calendar year coinciding with year of the rat will not recur in our lifetime, so make the best of this year.  but whatever your belief, make this year a great one. buy a daruma doll (pictured above), and in the tradition of japan, make a wish and fill one eye, and when it comes true fill in the other eye and burn the doll….

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R

the shinkansen, more than a train ride

 top:        shinkansen passes by mt fuji
bottom:  a shinkansen lineup in tokyo

if you’re thinking of going to japan, do not leave home without a japanrail (jr) pass. passes come in 7, 14 and 21 day versions, and provide the holder with unlimited rail travel on the entire japan rail network. passes are only available outside of japan, and only for non japanese nationals. i love travel by rail, and japan seems to have perfected the science, making it a smooth and exciting exprience. schedules are flawlessly synchronized, on time, and well organized. navigating some of the train stations, however, like tokyo station, can be more than overwhelming for the uninitiated – allow some time when you get to the train station to find your platform. top on my train list, is riding the shinkansen, otherwise referred to as the bullet train. it may not be the fastest train in the world, but the entire rail network is the most sophisticated in the world. and if you are a train junkie like me, you will get hooked on the shinkansen, especially the fastest one, the nozomi. on one of my trips, i bought a 7 day pass, and got more than my money’s worth – i went north to hot springs in akita, then back down to osaka and kyoto, then back to tokyo. you’ll get hooked on the entire experience: fast dining in the train station, the bells and seeming chaos, the speed, the buzz.

for more on jr passes: http://www.japanrail.com/JR_japanrailpass.html
for more on shinkanse: http://www.japanrail.com/JR_shinkansen.html

tonki for the best tonkatsu

 a must stop on my annual pilgrimage to tokyo – a city that i could claim twice as my home – is a favorite eatery called tonki.  i have been going there since 2000. like many japanese dining establishements, tonki specializes in one dish: the traditional tonkatsu, a deep friend pork cutlet. it is not unusual to have to wait close to an hour for a seat at the counter. the restaurant is family owned and run. on entry you are greeted by an often smiling family members who immediately asks for your order and makes a mental note of when you arrived. when your turn comes, you will be signaled to your seat at the counter where you will be served first with the miso soup (traditional soy bean paste soup), followed by the main dish which is made up of the deep friend pork cutlets, rice, and shredded cabbage. best time to go is in the winter – make sure you ask for warm sake to start. oh, i forgot to mention, pace yourself eating the pork cutlets, your meal price includes unlimited helping of the miso soup, rice and cabbage.

tonki 1-1-2 shimo-meguro, meguro-ku, tokyo, Japan 

phone +81.3.3491.9928

diving…go south!

scuba diving has been my activity of choice during the holiday season.  i got my diving license in the cayman islands a few years back.  but having been on a sea safari in egypt off the red sea coast of the deep south, i noted that the reef formations there are far superior to those of the caymans. there were seven of us on a brand new 8-cabin boat – i had a cabin to myself. we spent a few days sailing, setting anchor at otherwise unnoticeable locations in the middle of the red sea between the coasts of egypt and saudi arabia, and indulging in our chef’s culinary creations three times a day. at US$120 inclusive of room, board, diving gear and all the diving you can do, this is a great bargain.  if you scuba dive, i highly recommend the deep south on the red sea coast in egypt – avoid the more popular sharm el sheikh altogether.  there may be better dives in sharm but its popularity has made the dive sites overrun with divers which defeats the whole purpose, for me at least, of finding serenity and tranquility under water.

kyoto temples in winter

singapore airlines could not confirm my return seat from perth where I had planned to spend new year’s with friends sailing in the ocean. so i find myself in dubai for new year’s reflecting on some of the more interesting winter destinations i have been to over the years. by far one of my favorites is visiting the temples in kyoto.  with snow on the ground and on the trees, the scenes are nearly as magical as when all of japan is in full bloom during the cherry blossom season in early april.  especially spectacular is the ginkaku-ji, or temple of the silver pavilion.  my favorite, however, is sanjusangendo, “the temple hall with 33 bays” – 33 being a sacred number in buddhism which houses 1,001 statues of kannon, the goddess of mercy.  Caution: don’t do this in winter; a walk around the interior -100 meters of it – barefoot on the wooden plank floors left my feet painfully numb from the cold.