Oh, and...

Matt Lauer's in Cape Town. Aha! And thanks to all of you who wound up at my blog yesterday looking for the answer...when all I had was the clue.

Backblogging: Japan, day 8

Sun 12/22/02, Tokyo 11:38 p.m.

The rain has stopped, but the snot has not. Hopped up on various cold medicines, Jason and I went to the Imperial Palace this morning and saw what was open of it. Tomorrow is the Emperor's birthday, and there were getting ready to open all the grounds. Lunch at Takashimaya. I was feeling rought, so I rode the Yamanote loop all around the city while Jason did more shopping. We met back up at the hotel and had dinner at a Japanese restaurant there. Afterwards, more pachinko and games in Shinjuku. Luckily, Jason bought the drum game so we won't be without it at home.

I cannot emphasize how snotted out I was. The SARS thing didn't start until a couple of months late, but I was so, so conjested that I was certain that if the panic had started while we were in Asia, I was sure I wouldn't be allowed back into the U.S.

Paris Je T'Aime

Back when I had "real" job, this movie caused a lot of fuss when it was in production. It's funny, I've been wanting to see this for 18 months...and hey! It's finally out today! (Seriously, I'm way more excited about this than Spider-Man, and I like comic book movies.) It's18 short films shot in, and about, the different arrondissements in Paris. Stephen Holden gives it a meh review, saying that a bunch of little stories isn't totally satisfying, and none hit it out of the park. Sounds fussy, I say, like he wanted to see a traditional feature.

Paris Je T'Aime

Blogstalker: Viva Las Aguas

Yep, it's fairly well documented that I'll read travel blogs of people I don't know if they're in any way entertaining. These ladies certainly are - two thirtysomething art directors from San Francisco who chucked it to travel Central America. Amen.

Viva Las Aguas

Where to flee: Hanoi

Why Hanoi? Because it's time for some authentic Vietnamese food. We'll just ignore that entire needing-to-get a visa thing.

China Airlines Flight 5 leaves LAX at 3:15 p.m., arriving in Taipei, Taiwan at 8:10 p.m. There's a 12 hour, 15 minute layover, then at 8:25 a.m. you'd leave again on China Airlines, flight 683, to Hanoi, arriving at 10:35 a.m. Total time? 29 hours and 20 minutes. On the plus side, it's only $687. I don't think I could fly to Chicago today for $687.

The photo is from Flickr user Edog1382.

Travelbox on Slate: meh!

The ads for TravelBox over at Slate have become kind of an assault every time you go to the page - it's a travel advertising supplement sponsored by Lufthansa. I have nothing against advertising supplements per se - except that, of course, they're never going to say anything bad about the sponsor - but TravelBox is kind of weak. They aren't using their bloggers effectively, there's no photos except for a little gallery, and the great travel writing that regularly occurs on Slate have kind of been shunted to the side. (Take this recent article, in which Tim Wu used only Wikitravel to guide him through Thailand. Didn't work, so much.)

What I'm not watching, but still intrigued by...

So I can't quite bring myself to watch the Today Show - television news, in general, gives me a migraine - but I do get a kick out of the "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" torment/travelogue. And msnbc has a decent website that's tracking his travels. Today he's in Dubai. And here's the clue as to where he's going tomorrow: "To the West, it is 10 degrees colder. To the East, there is warmth in the air. To the North, there's a seat at the table. To the South, there's a formal affair." He's hit the U.S. Ireland, and Bhutan so far....so South America, maybe? This clue makes zero sense to me.

Backblogging: Japan, Day 7

Tokyo, 12-21-02, 4:31 p.m.

Woke up yesterday morning to the pouring rain and something of a head cold. We went to a toy store in Ginza in the morning, where we continued our Christmas shopping. After that, we decided it was car day and went to the Honda showroom in Aoyama and the Toyota one in Ikeburkuro. I'm please to say the Toyota one was much more impressive - 5 floores. We played games at an arcade - Japanese folks seemed amused by Americans playing shoot 'em up games. Ugh. Then it was back to the hotel for room service dinner and a very early bedtime.

Yeah, I still own a Toyota.

AIA: Yup, they've done it again...

I present to you the brochure from the Archaeological Institute of America tours I got yesterday: Retracing the Odyssey and the Aeneid through the ancient Mediterranean. Yeah, I'll take this one, too, please. It's from Septermber 11-24, 2007 aboard the "All-Suite 57=Cabin Corinthian II." Yeees. Excellent. Here's the itinerary: Athens to Troy to Delos, Greece, to Corinth to Ithaca to Syracuse to Lipari Island to Salenro to Trapani to Tunis To Malta. Yeah, that totally sucks. All yours, starting at $7,995.

Must play lottery to win lottery.

What I'm reading - books

I picked up Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser for two reasons: I liked the movie by Sofia Coppola, and I've been to both places that feature prominently: Schonbrunn and Vienna. I'm really close to finishing it; I'm a fairly fast reader, but I must whine for a minute...when you publish a book with dense (but interesting) historical facts that's close to 500 pages long, must you print it in eyebleed print? I'm 31, and I thought the print was too small. Yikes.

In any case, it is great to read about the very different kinds of formality that reigned here:


versus here:




Schonbrunn was pretty much ruled with an iron fist by Antoinette's mother, the Empress Maria Theresa, while Versailles was more of a free for all with courtiers vying for favor. The public could just wander through Versailles - which is amazing, since that's EXACTLY what it's like now. Nice to see that herd tourism has been going on for a while.

Backblogging - Japan Day 6

Tokyo, 11:39 p.m. Friday, 12/20/02

Kazuko met us at the hotel room just after 9 a.m. - We went to Asakusa, the big Buddhist temple, where after three tries I got a fortune I was happy with. We walked to Kappabashidori, the restaurant supply district, and I got a plastic beern. We at lunch at the Matsuya Department sotre, then when to Shibuya, which is the area exactly like you imagine Tokyo: packed and crazy. We had dessert, saw the love hotels, played video games and did karaoke. For dinner we ate kobe beef shabu shabu at the Parco department sotre. Yoshiko, sadly, had to work but it was great fun ahving Kazuko as our translator.

Honestly, I think having a native speaker there made all the difference. Of all the people I know who have been to Japan, those who have enjoyed it the most have someone with them who is fluent in Japanese.

I spy...

This site is kind of fun: Earthcam - it links to webcams all over the world. My favorite? Chicago but only in mid-February, to remind myself why I left. Today it actually looks kind of lovely.

Fly in a place nicer than your home...

This is from Gridskipper , which highlights a verrrry nice way that Jet Airways is allowing you to fly around the globe. Basically, you get your own private suite, nice dinnerware, and a flat screen TV for the flight from London to Delhi. All for 4,000 pounds. Yeah! I scored a free upgrade into business class from New York to Frankfurt, and, frankly, it ain't worth it. You'd be spending thousands more to sleep on a glorified cot instead of a chair..

Link

Backblogging: Japan Day Five

Tokyo, Dec. 19, 2002, Thurs. 9:59 p.m.

We slept in this morning, then went to Sanrio Purland out in the Tokyo suburbs. It was cute, for very little kids, though. THere was a Hello Kitty Buddhist shrine, a boat ride, a tour of Hello Kitty's house and a couple of rides. Jason, naturally, was in hell, but I thought it was kind of sweet. At 4 p.m. Kazuko met us in the lobby of the hotel. We went to Shinjuku to tea and cake and then she translated for Jason's cash-in at pachinko. We met her sister at 7 p.m. and she took us to a Japanese restaurant in the Park Hyatt Hotel. It was kind of like tapas - good stuff, a bit of fish, beef, veggies, chicken.

Yep, this was the day Jason was pretty much wanted to flee. Seriously, he was such a good sport being dragged to Hello Kitty Land.

Prison break? Literally?

During the more hectic periods in college, we had a joke that we wished we'd get convicted for something minor, and sentenced to jail - just because it would be a nice break.

As the New York Times reports - it's actually something you can do. Sort of. Check out the link for how California has a pay-to-incarcerate system for non-violent criminals. I like the line about how the prisoners loan out shampoo. It's not exactly like Prison Break - the show - then.

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Delta out of bankruptcy

Well, this is interesting. Even out of bankruptcy, I wonder if Delta can compete with the dheapie carriers without suffering in service? United seems to be as much as a nightmare as ever to fly...

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