First of all I want to apologize that this post won’t read as well as the one Amelia writes, but in her absence I thought I’d give it a try and let you know what I did during the weeks Amelia was in Switzerland.
The minute Amelia departed, I decided to go on an Olympic City Tour. Since Tokyo will be hosting the Summer Olympics in 2020, that one was already done. I decided continue in Sapporo (where the winter games of 1972 took place) on the northern island of Hokkaido, enjoying the scenic nature. Since I still had a valid Japan Rail Pass, it didn’t cost a cent to take the 10+ hour train ride. Taking the Hayabusa Shinkansen, I eventually arrived in Aomori. Although all Shinkansen trains are high speed trains, there are three trains which are even faster: the Nozomi and Mizuho trains are not covered by the Rail Pass, but the Hayabusa is is the fastest of them all with a top speed of 320 km/h. Coming from Switzerland, there are few countries in the world that can deliver such high levels of service and efficiency in their train network – Japan certainly is one of them. Big time! Like with everything in Japan, trains are efficient, the people friendly, and it seems like those working do it with a passion.
After arriving in Aomori, I changed to another SuperExpress, and was ready to take the ferry to Hokkaido. Unfortunately, there was none! As I was moving ahead in the train, I saw on a sticker in front of my seat that we would be passing through a 54km tunnel under water (the channel tunnel between France and the UK is “only” 50.5km). The lowest point the tunnel went was 140m below sea level, and at its thinnest, the tunnel was separated from water by 100m. For a short moment I thought about earthquakes, only to remember where I was… if the Japanese built it, it should hold 😉
Getting to Sapporo after over 10 hours travel had left me extremely hungry, so I headed straight to a restaurant to get some Hokkaido Ramen (yes, they are a little different from the ramen soup you get all over Japan). Chef/Author Anthony Bourdain had made the perfect suggestion. It was an awesome Ramen soup! After being in so many large cities, I was hoping to do some hiking in beautiful Hokkaido. The weather however was so bad I ended up being stuck in rain for almost 3 days straight. I ended up staying in the hostel, enjoying good food, and working a little more than usual. My impression of Sapporo was that of a more open laid back city than many other places in Japan. I also had the feeling that more people spoke English. But then again, I didn’t really see all that much.
After getting back to Tokyo and spending two days there I was off to Seoul, South Korea, where the Summer Olympics of 1988 took place. Always fascinated by the country’s claim of having the fastest and most widely available internet connectivity, this was definitely a place I had to go to. As far as I could tell, the claim was right on. Their 4G/LTE network was super fast, something I felt in particular during my VoiP conference calls and while surfing the web. Needless to say, it was really cheap.
I was living in Itaewon, the western part of town, and was not expecting what I came across there. So many cool bars (many of them rooftop), many restaurants and clubs… made me wonder why Seoul is not mentioned more often as a crazy party town.The food (as always in Asia) was great, especially the Korean BBQ *yummy*. It didn’t feel nearly as crowded as Tokyo, although it is supposedly one of the most densely populated cities in the world (right after Monaco).
So after four days in Seoul I finally made it to the US. Since I got a little confused with the timezones, I landed in San Francisco a day earlier than anticipanted. Our friends (and SF hosts) Robin & Kevin were ever the awesome hosts though, and Kevin even managed to pick me up at the airport and drive me to their apartment in San Bruno. I spent the days that followed working at the the Workshop Cafe, a really cool concept for nomadic workers such as ourselves. The timezone on the West Coast unfortunately is impossible to deal with if you have to also be in touch with Swiss companies, so after meeting up with Amelia we decided that we would cut our time short and head to the East Coast as soon as possible.
