Thursday, February 6, 2025

Kyushu 2024 - Part 1

We departed SFO on Nov 23rd, 2024 by Eva BR017. It was a late night flight. We rented a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to go to the airport. It has been more than 10 years since I have driven a Mitsubishi I think. I don't think I have seen this model on the street much. This particular one has a Ralliart trim and it looked pretty nice outside. But internal wise I don't think it's too exciting, The Hybrid system looks similar to the Nissan we were going to drive when we arrived in Japan.

We have premium economy seats during our SFO - TPE leg. Since it was late at night and I haven't had enough sleep for many days in a row, I was able to get a good sleep after finishing dinner. Service and food were good as usual.

We had a transit at TPE and we were able to get a shower at the EVA business class lounge since our next leg to FUK was in business class. It was nice to get a shower because we were going to have a full day after arriving in Japan.

We had many things planned upon arriving at Fukuoka, However the line at the immigration was very long and it took us more than an hour before we were able to walk out past custom. Then we went down to the first floor, and walked towards to left side where we called the Nissan rental company to come and pick us up. We had to walk back up to the arrival floor and to the right to wait for the shuttle. It took a while before they came but we were the only customer. It seems Nissan wasn't as popular as Toyota, Nippon or Budget. The lady drive did not talk much to us at all and took us to a small office on the other side of the airport. I believe it is closer to the domestic terminal. At the office, there were only two employees, the lady driver and another guy. The guy speaks good English so I did not have to use any Japanese. I believe the car we got was a Nissan X-Trail E-power. It is a kind of Hybrid and the interface looks very similar to the Mitsubishi we rented at SJC. However, I don't think it can be charged. The car was not as clean as it should be, or compare to the Corolla we rented in Hokkaido earlier in the year. However, I liked the car right away, mostly because it support Android Auto and Apple Car Play. If I remember correctly I used Android Auto for most of my trip with my Pixel 9 Pro since I was going to use Google map anyway, and I could leave the phone plugged in to get it charged too. I believe the car did support wireless Car Play, and maybe wireless Android Auto too.

Driving in the city did took me some time to get use to. Driving on the different side of the street is one thing, but more than that the traffic lights situation. I remember running into another situation at Nagasaki and also when returning the car at downtown Fukuoka which I hope to write about later.

So once we got the car, we slowly make our way on to the highway toward our first destination. It is already about 2 hours later than what I hoped it would be.

Blogging in 2025

 While looking at my old Safari bookmarks on my Mac, I stumbled upon a blogger post. However she is no longer writing. Then from there I came upon my own posts from more than 10 years ago. Though I have not written much back then, there is at least an article about Rotterdam that I glad I have written. I don't really remember much about my visit back in 2011 without looking at photos, and I don't know if I could still find the photos. But reaching the post motivated me to start writing again, especially about my most recent trips. I hope I can keep it but who knows. After writing a few, I may stop for another few more years. Also I am glad and thankful Google has kept Blogger.com around!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

The state of Arsenal in 2013/2014

This season marks the 10th Anniversary of the invincible year of Arsenal 2003/2004. It was the year I adopted Arsenal as my EPL team. Since then watching Arsenal every weekend, and often during midweek has been something I looked forward too. It doesn't matter if the team wins or looses, the experience has mostly been entertaining ones.

The other team I watch as much as Arsenal is Barcelona. I must admit I often fall asleep watching Barcelona though they plays really good football. However, they are so consistence you can't tell the difference match in match out, unless they are facing the two Madrid teams, on plays in the Champions League.

After watching Arsenal this morning for about 50 minutes, I ended up pressing the 30-minute skip button on my remote over and over again, hoping they would break zero. At the end, that never happen and they gave away 2 more goals. A team that could not change to adapt, without fighting spirit; a couch that almost never put in a sub before the hour mark, that has no idea to recover from a bad situation does not deserve any more attention.

For the rest of the season, I hope my childhood team will move on and win the league. Go Merseyside Red!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Exhilarating, breathtaking, astonishing.

I can't find word in any language to describe the return leg of FC Barcalona and AC Milan today. Thanks to DVR and being in the US (where soccer results won't bombard you), though I had to watch it delayed, it was no less excitement then watching it in real time.



"What a privilege it is to watch such an incredibly talented player" as one of the commentator praise in awe. It is so true. The best player by miles, since the sport was professionally played with proper rules. Messi ruled this game, and the 10 defenders could not close him down.

It is humbling when you think of it. Everyday history is being written in front of your eyes. Things you can actually tell to your future generation. It's not just statistic. You can't relive it by watching a few games here and there, or through clips. I am actually living in it. That's the mind blowing part. It is awesome.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Englisher Garten

The Englisher Garten (English Garden) in Munich is one of the most beautiful park I have visited. Right next to the own city center of Munich, it is easily reachable.

What impresses me most is the lake at the North East end. During our visit, we stopped by the Seehaus beer garden next to the lake. After getting our 1 Little mug of beer, we were able to find a table right next to the lake. When I say right next to, it is literary one step away from the lake.


We have geese and swans begging for food next to us. What impressed me most is the crystal clear water. I have been to many similar size lakes in public parks in the States but never have I seen anything so clean.


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

刚把垃圾拿到外边去倒了,回到带脑前,看看有没有email。没什么。想了想,打开Pinterest,结果发现到现在只pin过一个照片。还有什么?Facebook?没什么兴趣。IM上也没人可谈的。

11:59 了。难得有几分钟时间可以静下来。洗个澡又要开始忙了。今天大概又要熬倒 3 am了。

Friday, June 1, 2012

Napa wine train

The most anticipated itinerary of our perfect day at Napa valley was the dinner Napa wine train ride. After taking a couple of quick stops at two wineries, we headed to the train station near downtown Napa, right across the street from the Westin. We arrived at 5.15pm and shortly after at 5.30 the is an introduction given by a company staff about our journey. There is a gift and wine shop at the station which stock many of Napa's selections. The prices are reasonable. At least for a few wine we had seen at wineries earlier in the day, they were sold cheaper here then at the winery.

We have purchased ticket for the vista dome car, which is the more expensive of the the two available in the evening. The boarding started shortly after 5.50pm. Even though the vista dome car was fully booked, we find there is no rush to board since all seating were preassigned.

We felt like we were in a high end restaurant when we got up the vista dome section which is on the second floor of the particular car. We were very excited. Shortly after we were seated, a gentlemen came and introduced us the menu and special for the night. The soup and seafood en-tree were not printed on the menu. our waitress Chrystal came and introduce herself. A photographer followed and offered to take our picture.

Shortly after that, crystal came and took our dinner order. The dinner menu look attractive. For our dov there were a choice of sear scallop and scrimp or fois guar. For starter, there were the choice of apple salad or asparagus soup. For dinner entree,there was pork loin, lamp chop, seared ahi tuna, beef and a vegetarian dish. Unfortunately since my mom doesn't eat beef, lamb nor raw items, the only choose for her was pork tenderloain which is the least attractive of the vegetarian menu.

The train left the station on time at 6.30pm. I had wished for a seat on the west side of the train but I forgot to mention it while making the reservation. We we seated on the east to my disappointment. The train traveled at a mere 18miles/hr speed. However perhaps because we were at a higher central of gravity, we feel the heavy swinging very often. That prove to be a problem because after about 30 minutes into the journey my mom started having motion sickness and basically they took away her appetite.

We have driven on sy.Helena why (rt 29) a few times in the last two days and sitting on east side turned out to be less then desired. We were basically on the west side of the road and we have seen most of the scenery while driving by. Whereas o. The west side, we were able go see many areas which we couldnt see from the road. We also miss the chance to see the sunset.

After finishing our entry, we have aout 45 mins to roam around the train before dessert was served. We walked from one end to the other. We realized even though we may have paid for me, we may have received a lesser experience. We found many of the louce cars empty and sine the windows are not tinted, the view was brighter and the seats were much more confortable. Because of our dinner arrNgemeng we were advice to not leave our seat before the entree was served. S we ended up only having the short amount of time to stay in the lounge or at the ends of the train. And when we were back to eur seats ,we found we found we couldn,t see much because of the tinted window even thought it was still quite bright out there.