Niigata Prefecture

"You want us to do what?  Are you serious?"  Now, I know we have spent three years avoiding this.  What everyone entreated us to do.  "It's the REAL Japanese experience" they say or "How can you come to Japan and NOT do this?" they say.

Well to be frank, I could have happily left after three years here without sleeping on a tatami mat on the floor with only paper between me and the person in the next room, eating fish for breakfast but ........

Saturday 26th May saw us boarding a train heading north west of Tokyo to a place called Tsubemesanjo - one stop short, as it transpired, of Niigata City itself.  I say "it transpired" because for a whole month I had been told we were going to Niigata.  My friend Kumi was in charge and she, being Japanese, knew where we were going, right?   So very wrong.  The day after I bought the shinkansen tickets to Niigata (not cheap, green car) I received a call from Kumi that I could not take.  I was on a bus and it is frowned upon to receive a call on a bus.  So I switched her off only to read a text message flying through - TRYSH CALL ME NOW!!!  It looked just like that.  Looked urgent so I called her.  She was very sorry, it was all her fault.........

Anyway, tickets duly amended we boarded the train for Tsubemesanjo and not Niigata, note.  Two and bit hours later we had passed through mountains and passed by paddy fields and arrived at a very small station in the middle of a large flat area surrounded by paddy fields and mountains.  There to greet us was such a welcoming committee - there was Miyuki and Hitoshie (whose house we would be staying in), Atsu and Yoichi and their daughter Hiroko, and finally the lovely Kumi.  All beaming and waving - to be honest I felt like Royalty!!

We were introduced to those we had not met before and whisked off for a lovely lunch in the sunshine - sunshine definitely, Bit of a stiff breeze though coming straight off the sea of Japan. Glorious view and almost deserted.  Unbelievable after the turmoil of Tokyo, left only two hours ago.

Paddy Fields

The Gang

The Sea of Japan in the distance

The background to this is that Miyuki is Kumi's friend.  We have been out for lunches together and she is a lovely lady.  She wanted to show us her family's mountain house in Niigata Prefecture.  The house has been there for over 200 years and about 30 years ago it was refurbished and rebuilt in parts with old wood from other structures.  That it is all authentic, I have no doubt.  It is truly stunning and totally replicates the old style homes of the past with bare wooden floors, tatami mats and rice paper doors.  It is huge with a gorgeous old style Japanese garden with frogs and birds and butterflies and lanterns.  The colours are all neutral, the furniture functional and minimalist.  There is a nicely placed pot here, a striking antique cabinet there and a room especially for the tea ceremony.  Gorgeous.

The front garden

Our bedroom

View from the Futon

On the front porch

We were treated to Matcha - the green tea as part of the tea ceremony and little cakes (they call sweets).  We visited a nearby Yahiko shrine (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/niigata/yahikosan.html) - the most famous in the area and we climbed Mount Yahiko and saw the most incredible view from the top, looking out across the Sea of Japan to Korea and China in one direction and across paddy fields in the other. We were feted with a gorgeous kaiseki meal in a local restaurant - the chefs have michellin stars but choose to work in this area of Japan instead of Tokyo.  The seasonal food when we went?  Conga Eel.  It is such a delicacy that chefs need a particular certificate to be able to prepare and serve it.  The eel has so many bones that it takes years of skill and a very sharp knife to be able to prepare it properly.  It ends up looking like cauliflower but of course tastes like anyting but, being a lot like eating thistles! It was delicious and probably something we will never eat again.  We were then driven home in our own cars by the staff at the restaurant - what service!

The girls

The boys plus poodle Taro!

View from the top

The hghest point

Atsu and Yoichi heading into the distance where the paddy fields lie

Making the futons (Kumi and Atsu) - what fun!

The evening ended with drinks and chats around the table and then the making up of the futons.  I was encouraged by my hostess to take a bath and as I was staying with Japanes hosts, I took it the Japanese way - much to their delight on discovering this!  The Japanese way is to run the bath (already done for me) and then to sit on a stool with a shower and wash every inch of your body using a rough towel to exfoliate at the same time.  You shower off all the soap and then, only then, do you sit in the bath, calmly and quietly, soothing the day's cares away.  I had forgotten to pack a yukata so had to get dressed again after my bath which was sad really as I felt I couldn't hang out with everyone who was variously flopped on futons, listening to ipods or reading books.  Yoichi was preparing for his lecture the next day - on Physics in NY!!

Anyway - exhausted by the whole day we turned in for the night not knowing quite what to expect.  The night was probably the best I have spent anywhere.  When I did wake up in the dark, the light from the lanterns outside in the garden was shining through the paper walls, reflecting the shadows of 250 year old trees across them.  It was simply magical. 

The morning dawned bright and sunny and we spent it relaxing in the garden, watching others search (very successfully) for bamboo shoots in the old forest behind the house.  Packing up and getting ready to leave was organised and co-ordinated.

We had a fabulous time and, although not top of  our list of things to do, it should have been; it was without question the most important memory we will take away with us.  The sheer privilege of being invited into a  Japanese family home and to experience the cultures and traditions that sit so easily alongside the modern and hectic way of life here in Tokyo is truly to have seen both sides of Japan.

Penang

Imagine, if you will, a tropical beach with palm trees fringing the turquoise sea and white sand, temperatures in the low 30'sC and a tiny, six week old baby girl in a carry cot, sleeping happily while her parents enjoyed the beach with their dear friends Phil and Frieda.  The hotel behind them, the Rasa Sayang in Batu Ferringhi, was a two storey building built in colonial style, painted white to reflect the sun's rays.  Servants in white outfits carrying trays of cooling fresh lime juice and ice ran to do your every bidding and the huge ceiling fans stirred the humid air in the pretence of cooling.  It is 1957 at the height of the Malysian Emergency.

Fast forward 55 years and this is the very same spot where a woman in her fifites and her husband came to relax and spend some time in the sun.  After checking into the beautiful five star hotel, The Rasa Sayang in Batu Ferringhi, now on four floors and very much larger than previously, they sauntered down to the Club lounge where servants in grey outfits carrried trays of champagne and sauvignon blanc, ready to fulfill your every request and the fierce airconditioning made it all so cold that sometimes one needed a pashmina. 

The baby and the woman are the same person and they are me.  It was truly magical to return to such a beautiful place and to recognise it all from the black and white photos that my mother has in her dimly lit home in the UK in her own twilight years.  The beach, now renewed and reclaimed from the ravages of the tsunami in 2004 just a little bit narrower than before as the hotel grounds had spread to encroach on it, to ensure ample space for the guests to lounge in the gardens and eat at the beach bar.

We had the most magnificent time being stunned to discover that we had, by some great fortune, been chosen for an upgrade to the Presidential Suite.  A room so large that it could host a dinner for twelve and provide ample seating for just as many.  The view from both balcomies was all you could hope for with sea and the sunset accessible to us.

We spent our time revelling in the privacy of the Club swimming pool - no small children allowed in there and it was akin to sitting in the library.  We gathered every day to sit in the tranquillity afforded by the exclusivity.  Reading, listening to ipods, summoning coffee, lime juice, water with the wave of a hand or a quick conversation with the man with the towels. We sat surrounded by the scent of jasmine flowers and frangipani trees and dozed our way between one meal and the next.

The sheer bliss of sliding into water and luxuriating in its warmth and silkiness took me straight back to my childhood and the life I had led growing up in Singapore in the late 60's and early 70's.  What a charmed life it seemed from this distance; how pampered and spoilt our family was with its servants and gardeners and drivers;  it's seeminigly never ending sunshine with perfumed air.

It is true to say that we barely left the confines of the hotel.  I did not want to revisit places last seen as a teenager lest the memories became confused.  I wanted to remember Penang as I had known it.  Real, authentic, unspoilt by tourists who, at that time, had yet to discover the joys of this tropical paradise.  The Snake Temple with its very doped snakes entwined around the altar to Buddah, the colonial syle of Georgetown - unforgettable.

We ate in the village a couple of times - a real Indian curry one night and the most delightful asian fusion the next time we ventured forth.  Most of the time we ate at the hotel which had an excellent restaurant right there on the second floor - the Ferringhi Grill.  We were well looked after and treated like royalty.  Our eighth wedding anniversary dinner was prepared for us and we had a very special table with lace and candelabra. The staff had made us a chocolate cake to celebrate with and delayed its arrival as they were not happy with the size of the strawberry on top and summoned a larger one!

Dave indulged himself in a rare pedicure as the rain poured down one evening and the delightful massage he had at the hotel, having had a really unpleasant experience in the local massage place - no stunning beauties there for his delight!

This was a true trip down memory lane for me - they were not specifically my memories but rather those of my parents who had told me the stories and shown me the photographs and smiled warmly and fondly at the great time they had there.  How lucky was I to be able to revisit that place and realise for myself what a special place in the world it is.

View from the balcony

Dave ironing in the lounge area!

The gorgeous pool

The beach

The Bath

Dining Area

Beach looking south

Our daily space!!

Hong Kong

February saw us boarding yet another plane and heading south this time.  It was time, we felt, for another visit to HK - last seen in 2007 before my Chinese adventures began and just few weeks after Dave's 'interesting' start to the job there.

So, this time we chose HK Island, just a short trip on the Star Ferry to Kowloon.  The Grand Hyatt, Hon Kong is an amazing place and living and dining well over 30 floors up ensured the very best of views across Victoria Harbour to the hustle and bustle of Kowloon.

We arrived with a few plans, lunch with Dave's tailor and dinner with some lovely friends who had recently left Japan.  The rest was down to us and we made the most of it all.

The first day we wandered around a very smart shopping mall and then hopped in a taxi to Mid Levels where we found an interesting array of shops, stall and restaurants - just the spot for lunch.  We indulged ourselves with duck pancakes (of course!) and filled up with rice and chicken.  Yum yum.

The second day we took the Star Ferry across to Kowloon and wandered around in the heat of Nathan Road and areas off, followed by lunch with the tailor ....  bad news....  the clothes weren't ready;  they were to be sent to the hotel later!  Anyway we had a great lunch in the Shangri La Italian Restaurant and enjoyed the view from there too.  Vinod gave us a recommendation for dinner, made the reservation and told us where to go.  We were really looking forward to a sumptuous Vietnamese meal in a busy part of town.

Busy part of town it was.  The restaurant?  Well, we could hear lots of fun going on somewhere above us buton the floor that we were put there were two other couples who left soon after we started and we had the whole place to ourselves!  It lacked atmosphere!!!!  The food was OK - not the best we had eaten by some way, but good enough.

Our final day dawned rather dismally.  Grey, misty and with a lot of pollution coming in from mainland China.  So we headed away from the city to the other side of HK Island - to place called Stanley which in its heyday had been a bustling little town with a market full of tourists.  It still had the market but numbers were most definitely down.  We sauntered around the the market, stopping to buy a few souvenirs then ambled along the sea front to a museum we decided not to go in though as it was full of school children!!!! 

Ah, what to do now?  Er... there's a pub over there.....had to be tried really so we tootled along and got prime position looking over the sea, looking at the board walk.  Sipping our beers, I spotted a little girl on  a scooter....  my friend's little girl...  so I ran out of the pub, across the road and along the front grabbing Gaby as I went.  What a lovely surprise for us both.  The fact that we were meeting later that evening was not a problem!

We had such a wonderful evening with Gary and Gaby in Hong Kong - it was lovely to see them both and to spend so much time with them. 

We loved Hong Kong.  We loved the hotel which was grand and luxurious - sigh......  I have no doubt we will return especially as there is no Chinese Visa to secure before we go!!  Another huge plus point if you have read my earlier blog!