I’ve had some experiences with subways in Chicago, New York and the very limited Rio de Janeiro subway but Tokyo has its own unique differences that can easily throw off a first time traveler to Tokyo. There are rules, guidelines, pre-purchased fares and manners that you must adhere to. It is true that as a foreigner you will be forgiven for your ignorance of the Japanese transit system – but it is always to come a bit prepared.  (more…)

Dim Sum Lunch by ilovememphis, on Dec 12, 2011 on Flickr via Creative Commons

A trip to Hong Kong means that you’ll be embarking on a culinary adventure that will leave its mark on you for years to come. Hong Kong is already famous for its modern cityscape; high skyscrapers and high-tech everything. However, one of its greatest attractions is its gastronomic Cantonese heritage, which owes its renown to a little something called dim sum. Literally translating as “touch your heart”, dim sum is sure to impress you. What is dim sum, you ask? It’s a way of eating breakfast and dinner, once typically involving unique and separate dishes being carted around the place. Dishes are individually prepared and they come in portions of 3 or 4 and you order as many as you can eat! It’s the best way to pick at food and enjoy Hong Kong days and nights. Finding Hong Kong hostel and check out these top places.

The restaurant known as City Hall is among the most well-known of the Cantonese dim sum establishments in the city. You’ll simply love this place. Although dim sum was once served on carts, most restaurants have retired the practice. Not City Hall! This is one of the last places you’ll be able to call a cart over and pick off whatever dish catches your eye.

Cuisine Cuisine is another dim sum joint that exists among the best of them, offerings clients some exquisite dim sum dishes in scene that is anything but traditional. The restaurant makes its home in one of the city’s towering modern skyscrapers. Its modern design presents a truly enjoyable clash with the ancient dim sum dishes that they serve up. Just get ready to spend a bit more for the feeling of luxury.

dim sum by killrbeez, on May 21, 2005 on Flickr via Creative Commons

If you’re more interested in the traditional, then head over to the Tsui Hang Village restaurant. This place is the complete opposite of Cuisine Cuisine. Here, the staff don traditional Cantonese dress and serve dim sum among traditional Chinese décor. The food is just as good as at the previously mentioned places, but here you’ll be able to save a little more cash, which is always in your best interests!

A cheaper and delectable dim sum joint to consider is at the Western Market building. This place speaks more to the traditional than to modernity, which is made even better as you sit to your dim sum dishes and watch a traditional tea dance!

One last place to check out in Hong Kong before checking out is the San Hing restaurant. They say that this place is your best choice if ending a long night on the town. In fact, San Hing opens after midnight and people pack the place to near overflowing!

Dim sum is one of the best things you can experience in Hong Kong. Typically you’ll find barbeque pork, egg tarts, prawn and pork dumplings included in a dim sum menu. The best thing about it is of course the wide range of choices you have.

Meet the Author: Madeleine Wilson Madeleine is a travel writer and currently the editor of the HostelBookers blog. Her articles have been featured on Lonely Planet and The Huffington Post.

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伏見稲荷大社

This is a photo from my trip to Japan last year, when we visited Kyoto. Kyoto is full of amazing sites, many also happen to charge for your viewing pleasure. This wonderful shrine is free, although I did give the typical admittance fee to the monk standing near the entrance. There are various shrines  of various sizes throughout the area and are linked by a criss crossed pathway that is lined with hundreds of Torii, the orange gateways.  To see more check out my video of Japan.

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If ever there was a heartfelt story of love, friendship and loyalty that needed to be shared, it was that of Hachiko. This is a story between a man and his dog that is known throughout Japan and to some Richard Gere fans.

While visiting in Japan, my wife and I would meet up with her cousin at the Shibuya train station. Shibuya is known as a busy bustling station, both in the station and the large crosswalk near it that leads to shops, side streets, business and much much more. In order for us to find one another when meeting outside of Shibuya, we would meet near the statue of Hachiko. Now I knew that the Akita is a popular breed of dog, native to Japan but what I didn’t know was what made this specific Akita so special.

It was around the 1920′s in Japan. A man by the name of Ueno, a professor at the University of Tokyo, would ride home from work each day where he would be met by his loving pet Hachiko. Hachiko knew exactly what time his master would arrive, and would thus show up to Shibuya at the same time each day to meet his friend.

One day at work, the professor suddenly died. Hachiko non-the-wiser showed up at his master’s regular return time and waited. Days passed with no sign of Professor Ueno, yet there sat Hachiko waiting. Hachiko would return to the station and wait each day for his master’s return for nine years until finally Hachiko passed away of old age.

Each day thousands of people pass through Shibuya, zipping by in their busy lives. Through all the growth and development of Tokyo, and through all the hustle and bustle Hachiko will forever wait for his master. A testament of friendship and loyalty that still resonates with me nearly 1 year since we were in Japan.

Click on my video from Japan which shows Shibuya and much more.

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Map of Sendai Earthquake 2011. This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

March 12, 2011

6:50 - I took the day off, it’s the end of my school’s spring break so it’ll be a quiet Friday anyways. We laid in bed waiting for the time to tick by when we would get up; my fiancé to get ready for work, me to drop her off and head to a coffee shop to study for my grad class.

6:55 - Light was starting to shine through the window, it’s snowing again. I just wish it would get warm at least warm enough for our wedding. I check the weather on my phone, still says cloudy with a small chance of rain. I hope it clears up.

7:01 -My phone rings, it’s my mom. “A major earthquake has hit Japan and Tokyo has suffered damage.”  What?! I run downstairs and turn on the TV, my fiancé is in the bathroom getting ready, I need to check how serious this is first, before I worry her. Besides, Japan has had earthquakes in the past and no one was ever hurt. Right?

Pictures of fallen buildings flash across the screen only cut off when they turn to video clips of the tsunami roll across land, blanketing the earth in a layer of mud, water and debris. “Is her sister OK?” What? I’m still on the phone. I don’t know.

My soon to be father-in-law stands next to me, I must have said something to him, but I don’t recall. He simply looks at me and then turns back to the TV. Somewhere in there is his family, my family, our family.

I hang up the phone and run to the stairs to tell my fiancé the news, her legs bow as if they are about to go out from under her and there is nothing I can do. She rushes down the stairs and can do nothing but sit there and watch the TV screen. Ruth!?

Shit! Work. No time to let it sit, before we know it we are out the door and on our way to normalcy, to work as if nothing just happened.

The snow pelts the windshield and sloshes beneath our tires. I hand my pocket notebook to my fiancé, she thumbs through it looking for her sister and cousin’s telephone numbers. She passes up the page over and over again unable to find what she is looking for, the tears well up in her eyes.

I pull into her work and we both rush in, her to check her email for any notifications from her sister, me to start up the computer and buy some Skype credit so we can call Japan. “She’s Ok.” An email has been sent out, she is alive, she is OK but everything is not OK.

What happened:

Sister-in-laws Earthquake Survival Kit

The earthquake hit, shutting down power, phones and the subway system. Her sister walked around Shibuya, a large busy hub, searching for her husband who works in the same area and luckily found him. Their daughter was able to be picked up from daycare by a neighbor, they weren’t going to make it home tonight its an hour train ride home, too far to walk. Instead they walk 4 hours to the house of a cousin, communicating via email to let everyone know they were OK. Powerful aftershocks every 10 to 20 minutes racking their nerves preventing anyone from getting a good night’s sleep.

Kanagawa wasn’t hit as bad but was still overall affected. They were able to make it home, and stores remained open but supplies wouldn’t last long. By the end of the weekend all food and water was gone. Their daughters school and daycare has been closed and the ground around her work building is cracked and crumbled. Do you go to work, sit on the 15th floor and act like everything is OK, that everything is normal?

I can’t tell you where things will go from here for them, but it is an odd sort of thing to sit in my office on a Monday morning, to talk about my upcoming wedding, which will take place in 3 days or even just go about my normal routine when so much has happened. Things that are far off and tragic,  hit closer then ever before. This is a place I just visited, these victims are my family. Where do we go from here?

The American Red Cross is accepting donations to help with relief efforts. Please click the link below and give to a good cause.

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