Santa Monica Sunset ends the Trip:

And so it all comes to an end in Sunny Santa Monica, with the seagulls and the waves and the weirdos on the public bus...

Flight in from Tokyo was long, but uneventful, the Crowne Plaza hotel at LAX was pretty good since they upgraded my room and as luck would have it, the "Big Blue Bus" station was a short walk away, so off I toodled on the bus to Santa Monica pier.

 Tall palms set the scene for L.A.

 But the pier itself, scene of many movies was really quite tacky - what a disappointment ! LOL! Not sure what I expected but... here is a seagull watching the Walmart hordes going for a hot dog on the pier ;)

 The stand of palms along the beach is Venice Beach boardwalk. If I had more time I would have gone inland into Venice proper. The houses on the canals are meant to be sweet!

As night closed in, walking along Lincoln Blvd, I had to find a CVS pharmacy to get some cookies (and I only found 3 packets, one of which Shelly and Wendy scoffed as soon as I got home!) and I stopped at a Burger King for a late supper - as fast food mixes well with trashy L.A.

They said for one cent more I could have a large fries, which at first I wasn't going to do because I am fat enough, but I had walked passed a homeless persons' collection of boxes and bags... So I got them and took them back toward the bus station for the homeless guy...

I called out that I had some extra fresh fries and there was no answer, I could see a a tarp moving with the breathing underneath so I said I would leave them there in case he wanted a snack. Within seconds, a woman's head popped up, a middle aged woman who in very fine English told me that it was late, I had woken her up and no thank you, she didn't need to eat fries. I apologized and moved on...

Lost her home in the 2009 meltdown? Who knows, she had a huge collection of bags and was was not what I expected at all. Riding the bus with the locals late that night had been EXACTLY as I expected, one guy air punching, lots of lower income groups that fit into every stereotype you can imagine, which is an interesting study in itself... Then there's me sitting with the backpack and a bag of CVS cookies!

But it brings to an end a rather peculiar trip, fascinating creatures the highlight in all their varied forms.

Tomorrow I leave for Calgary for a quick bite with Wyatt, Brent and Kathy... and while it will be great fun it will be too short.

So another trip is needed!  :)

Arctic Circle Iceland begins April 12th. La Famigilia es Todo, never forget that, you are my famiglia now! Hasta la proxima ves.

Tokyo!

Well just as I suspected it is hard to leave Tokyo airport when your luggage is already in the system, not only would immigration have to agree, I am told I have to get it in writing from the airline too… (like what the heck?) - Anyway that is fine. I am now the foremost English speaking expert on Terminal 1 at Narita. I have been in every single Star Alliance lounge (that isn't exclusive to suite passengers) and I can give a few tips to anyone that cares to listen. There are are only 2 Star airlines with lounges here, United has an enormous club lounge, and ANA has a half dozen. Of those, only the windowless one by gate 47 has Lindt chocolate miniatures - and the large windowed one at the 50s gates has an awesome take off view of passing planes. I also had a shower at the 47 gate one and these are awesome facilities, because we're in Japan even the toilet seats are heated :) What a wonderful country this is… they have thought of everything anyone needs!

A damp arrival in much colder Tokyo:

As my plane taxied in at sunrise, you could see lines of parked 787s on the tarmac - so I guess that debacle isn't over - and I was the first one here in the lounge this morning when it opened! WEEEEEEE! All mine. And time to relax after a rather bumpy flight - I tell you something the size of an A380 shouldn't be bumping around so much and the tell tale ground speeds on departing Japan were over 1250KM/h (?) !! We're going faster than the speed of sound?

Actually it's due to the massive tail wind, the 'groundspeed' calculation is a little misleading, the plane is still cruising under 1000 KM/h, it's just that the air around it is already travelling at nearly 400 KM/h... From the ground we would appear to be going faster than sound, but the reality of it is that the plane itself is not... 

That said I am now a captive, partially against my own will, and I really can't bore you all to death with 15 pictures of FaSoLa duty free shops and the good food at the ANA lounges. I have shown you all pictures of Japan's toilet seat scene in years gone by… so enough to say I stuffed my face, slept a while and updated the blog on the internet all at All Nippon Airway's expense. I did have some cornflakes and a coffee at the United lounge but the place is worn out, full of North Americans (this afternoon, was deathly quiet earlier)  and distinctly lacks class - like heated loo seats. They both have beer on tap, but the sake selection is better on the Nipponese side. The shops have some neat gadgetry too :)

OK, I am rambling… so believe it or not that's it for Tokyo. No earthquakes felt, the Tokai did not come today, I didn't run into town for a few hours like I had hoped to, just to have lunch and shout "I love Tokyo" from the rooftops, but this is what you got instead. I did get myself a rather fine tee shirt though - which is awesome.

I have promised myself a quick trip to Japan later in the year to make up for this botch-job, so if anyone wanted anything from here, later in the year it can happen. Oh and, Christine, no Lemon and Coca-Cola Kit-Kats here this time, they have blueberry cheesecake, sakura, green tea and strawberry ones. Not sure if any will remain by the time I get home.

Sayonara from Tokyo, next stop LAX! Remember I go back in time tonight flying over the dateline, so when I arrive in Los Angeles it will be a few hours before I took off. So two posts on one day! Time travel is great fun, hopefully some wrinkles will vanish with it.

Hard to believe it's all coming to an end… and I have to leave Japan… in one of my previous lives I was an Emperor here, no doubt about it… sigh… VIVA NIHON!  And all the little sushi eating Nihongans too! E VIVA NIHONGO!

And More Singapore!

Well in between the Thai food and looking for air conditioners, The Sunday program was the new "Gardens on The Bay" built behind the huge Sands Casino complex that faces downtown.

There are the Avatar like Supertrees here and two big eco domes.

 This is the back of the Sands hotel with the big 'Sky Park' on the top.

 And these are the SuperTrees. As they evolve the panels of greenery will mature and they generate their own power, heat is radiated from the top and cooler air brought to the bottom, the whole area has it's own rain basin - there's enough thermal and solar energy to power the two big glass domes...

 In the distance is Marina Bay.

 There's a walk way among them and a restaurant in the biggest one.

 Don't be fooled by the pics there are more than 3.

 These Papua masks and Vanuatu ones too are scattered in the park.

 This is the cloud forest dome, cooler than outside and because it is sealed off, it has it's own humidity making machinery.

 The plant growth is lush and it is refreshingly cooler than outside :) The higher you go up the fake 'mountain' the cooler it gets!

 Down through the mist to the peons below. Perhaps coming here on a Sunday wasn't clever - lots of people :(

 Inside of the mountain has those limestone rocks that the Chinese love, always looking for shapes and meaning in the erosion they suffer.

 The scale of these things is hard to show.

 The spider like walk way sprays mist all over.

 The second dome is devoted to plants from many different climate zones... desert to Mediterranean though, no northern forests :)

 Bottle trees like in Sydney!

 As ever with Singapore, flooded with orchids and even orange trees for the year of the snake.

 Quite the park, I spent about 6 hours walking around, very nice :)

 More sushi for dinner, and a walk through Chinatown - which is essentially where the trip began. This fellow has a huge audience singing old Chinese tunes. I could have bought a CD but my hearing couldn't take it.

 Oh another out of place shot - thanks Blogger.

 Durian Pancakes! For someone I work with, Chinatown was full of the smell of Durian and 3 Thai Mangoes is 10 Singapore dollars.

 The building below has coloured plant pots on the sides!

 No Durian allowed in store!  ;) Sorry Christine!

 And back to the Subway to get my bags at the hotel and ataxi to the airport. I fly at midnight for Tokyo.

 Tokyo... not sure if i will be able to leave the airport as my bags will be checked right through - I am no longer staying there. I will try though - I have a 12 hour layover... eugh! On the way to the airport the taxi driver was bemoaning immigration of recent years and he dropped me off at the wrong terminal, so off I went to get the monorail to the correct one...

And we sped off in the spookily quiet A380 headed up over Manila and on to Tokyo. Even at Narita airport though they have good sushi :) so whatever happens I should be fine... Happy Travels!