Tohoku - North of Japan

The last days we headed north of Japan to enjoy the mountains there and to hike. So to reach the north from Tokyo we had to take our first Shinkansen train. Shinkansens are the fast trains from Japan and they were the first fast trains of the world. The fastest Shinkansen is riding 300 km/h and when it want to stop it needs 5 km to come to a full stop. All Japanese are very proud of their Shinkansens and their are the symbol of perfect Japanese technology. So we really looked forward to our first ride and it was amazing. It took us only 3 hours for 600 km from Tokyo to Morioka. And not only the the comfortable train at its speed amazed us also the punctuality of the train. All Shinkansens arrive exactly at the time in the timetable and it also leaved exactly to the minute no to the second when it is supposed to leave. This is Japanese correctness and way of living here. Everything has its order and exact way how to do it.

In Morioka we went hiking but unfortunately the weather wasn't so good. But we took a short hike to a 1400 meter peak. There the leaves of the trees already had nice colours. The color changing of the trees is a big event here and all Japanese go to see the color changing.

After the hike we could enjoy a nice bath in the Onsen of our Hotel. A Onsen is a traditional Japanese bath. Most Onsens take their hot water from volcanic activities and they contain sulfur and other good for your body chemicals. To go to an Onsen is a celebration as well. First you have to wear the provided Kimono. In the Kimono you go then to the Onsen. Onsens are men and women separately because you have to bath completely naked and no tattoos are allowed. In front of the Onsen you have to leave your shoes then go into the changing area where you take of your Kimono and make you naked. Then you go to the bath area where you first have to wash yourself with soap. You have to make sure that you wash yourself very good and that no soap is left on your body before you enter the hot bath. Then finally you can go into the hot bath which is either inside or outside. The water is boiling hot and you go into it very slowly but when your in it is very relaxing. After you have too hot you have to leave the bath, wash yourself again and dress back to your Kimono. After that you feel ready to go to sleep. I definitely enjoyed my first Onsen and it wont be my last.

Roastbeef, eating contests and a surprise

One reason Evelyne and I chose Japan as the first country to visit is the fame of the japanese cuisine. After our first japanese burger at McDonalds we decided to get a bit more daring.

The first lunch was with a Japanese business man, that I still knew from past projects. We met up with him in Tokyo and thought: now we are going to head for real japanese food. Well he brang us to a great place serving the best roastbeef we ever tasted: delicously tender and exciting every single taste bud.

But we had to top this and I read about a contest, that waitresses and guests fight against each other in Morioka, a city in northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. I took Evelyne to this type of dinner called "Wanko Soba" without telling her what was going to happen. She looked a bit surprised, when she saw all these empty wooden cups on the table and waitresses just putting more and more of soba (a type of noodles we would call spaghetti) onto the guests bowl. We than tried to order, which was not so easy... after quite a bit of discussion we managed to get the same as everyone else in the place. So we sat there on the floor on the mini tables and waited for the soba. All of a sudden the waitress came with 20 cups of it and poured the first and the second cup into Evelynes and my bowl. The second we finished our bowl, she poured the 3rd and the 4th cup of soba noodles into our bowl and so on... after 20 cups we got a quick break, since the waitress had to run into the kitchen to fetch another 20 cups. And there she was again: refilling our bowls one after the other. We ate and ate and ate, but after 41 (49 respectively) bowls Evelyne and me were full. Luckily we could communicate this to the waitress, since she did not look, like she wanted to stop serving. Before we left the place, we asked, what the record was. Apparently one guy ate 352 of these cups of soba. We do not want to know, how he felt after this meal...



The next evening we decided to try out one of these small restaurants in a dark alley, just to get the real authentic japanese feeling. Being in the tiny place (it sat around 15 guests) we obviously were very quickly spotted as the strangers and got help from a (presumably) local guy, let us call him Kaizen. In his broken english, Kaizen asked us, what type of food we have in Switzerland. Evelyne told him about cheese, potatoes and beef not thinking much about it. However, when we then tried to order something, the waiter was confused and did not want to take our order. Well... then WE were confused as well until we figured out that Kaizen ordered already for us. Actually, we didnt figure it out until we had potatos on our plates, and then cheese, and then beef... Indeed, the Japanese version of Swiss food tasted delicous. Thanks to Kaizen!

Finally on the road - First stop Japan

We finally started our trip. After a long flight we arrived in Tokio. This city is amazing and the japaneese culture so different.

It is a real adventure because we can`t read anything and speaking with someone is also nearly impossible. To buy the train tickets took us a while but in the end we sat in out train to Hakone a nice mountain area from where you have a nice view to Mount Fuji or Fujisan (how the Japanese call him). The mountain is very impressive with his shape and hight. Unfortunately we couldn`t climb it because the climbing season is off now. What we learnd in Hakone is that Japanese like to travel with different mode of transportation. In one day you can take there a train, ropeways, cabelcar, pirate ship, bus and what was funny after taking all this transports you stand on top of a mountain where you have the nice view to Mt. Fuji and on the way there the St. Moritz Cafe with original St. Moritz poster and Swiss cow bells made us feel like home again...



However, when we tried to find our Hotel, we felt a bit less at home: we got of the bus in Hakone-machi and thought we have a 5min walk to the hotel (as mentioned in our Hotel voucher...) Well there was nothing at the bus stop. Luckily, Ralph found a nice lady in a shop and asked her where the hotel was. She looked puzzled at him and realized quickly that we were not even close to the hotel. Communicating with our hand and feet she managed to get the hotel on the phone and we could talk to the hotel manager, who spoke a little english. GREAT, so now we knew we had to take the bus back and change to another bus before we got to our hotel. We arrived quite a bit exhausted, but finally had a bed.

Today we are back to Tokio and tonight we will sleep in a Ryokan for the first time. This is a traditional Japanese hotel basically without a bed but a futon instead. To get to the room is a whole ceremony (by the way Japanese love ceremonies for everything). You have to take of your shoes fist outside. Then you have to get in into the nearly empty room and wear your house shoes. When you have to go to the toilet you have to change to the toilet shoes which you are only allowed to wear there. After you took your bath in the hot onsen the "house elves" spread your futon on the floor and your "bed" is ready for sleeping. So we now go back and try it out if we can sleep the Japanese way.

... but where to go?!

Evelyne and myself thought a lot about where we could spend some time travelling and we are still not fully sure what we are about to do. Hoverver, many of you asked us where we will head during the next couple of months and here the current status:

1. Flight from ZRH via Munich to Tokyo

2. Four weeks of sushi and onsens (hot baths) in Japan

3. One week of bustling Shanghai in mid October

4. Test of Asian airlines with a flight from Hangzhou to Bali via Kuala Lumpur

5. Surfing the waves of the pacific ocean in Lombok until early November

6. Climbing the volcanos of Indonesia

7. Checking out the botanical garden and night zoo in Singapore

8. Trying to travel through Malaysia by train early December

9. Hopefully having figured out what to do next by then...

Of course, any tips/hints or whatever from your side are truly appriciated!

But for now it's time to say "Goodbye Switzerland..."