Kobe

The next stop on the agenda was Kobe.  It was Spring Festival back in Chinaland, and Kobe's well-established Chinatown promised to be busy as hell.  I had to stop here to investigate.

Japanese plastic food art, China style

After eating the most expensive cha sha bao I've ever bought, I had a craving for good ol' New Town Bakery bao back in Vancity.

Ruins of the Kobe Earthquake...a cryptic sight for the coming days in Japan after my backpacking trip. I hope Japan can bounce back after the recent events, just like they did after the Kobe earthquake.

Apparently, to be deemed worthy of being called Kobe beef, cuts have to pass a standardized criteria from a local quality check.  Something about the meat's marbled texture and appearance?

In search for a decently priced Kobe beef steak restaurant.

Found one!  And it only cost me $50.

I had my own cook because I came in fairly early to beat the crowd.

After eating the Kobe beef steak you see in this picture, I became very confused.  I don't know what's better - Albertan steak or Kobe steak?

Only places that show this sign use beef that has been checked by the local quality board.

Danger! Monkeys in the sewer!

Shanghaied (Weekend Trip)

This last weekend, the boys took a little trip to Shanghai to celebrate my colleague Mitch's bachelor party.  There were 9 of us.  Friday's flight drained the life out of us since it was 2 hours delayed.  But on Saturday, craziness ensued as of 8:00AM and ran until roughly 3:00AM.  All I'm going to say is that we started the day off by drinking beers with breakfast and ended with a few of us drinking beers at a shawarma restaurant wondering why some of us got tossed out out of CD Soho night club.  Some activities in between these two events involved a women's dress on Nanjing East Road, hockey jerseys, tough guy shots, a pillow, a bum with baijiu and an interview by local TV.  Use your imagination on how things went down.  All in all, we had an awesome time, but I can't seem to remember most of it. Whatever.  Shanghai is definitely a great city to have a stag.

Hiroshima

After Fukuoka, I took the Shinkansen up to Hiroshima. Made many friends here but also made the dumbass move of not writing down contact info.

Robots!!!

Cosplay Photo Store

A-Bomb Dome at the Peace Memorial Park

Aiaaah!! Historical erasure!!

Korean Victims of the Atomic Bomb Memorial

Black Rain

Tsukemen, a famous Hiroshima ramen-ish dish

Hiroshima-jo

The Seven Samurai

Agua

On Thursday night, without warning, the water was cut at the school.  The students and teachers living on campus couldn't take showers for Friday.  My class reeked of BO and the school washrooms (which are pretty clean) suddenly turned into Chinese public washrooms that don't flush. What's more, the water didn't turn back on until Saturday, even though maintenance said it would come back on Friday.

Not having running water really put things into perspective for me.  We Canadians are so lucky to have such good utilities and infrastructure to assure good utility.  The school area's waterworks are pretty good most of the time.  There are other places in the world that have it so much worse.  But the worst part to me was the lack of warning.  Bad waterworks, but worse communication.

Yesterday, Cathy and I brushed our teeth outside next to the only faucet that worked.  It was behind the cafeteria and next to two sewer grates.  The tap was slow and the area around it was muddy.  Cathy washed her face and I took a sponge bath, developing world-style. Didn't trust the water all that much, so when I came back inside, I took a shot of Chivas Regal 18 year old scotch whisky.

On a lighter note, I'm off to Shanghai next weekend!  My colleague Mitch is getting married and the boys are throwing him a bachelor's party on the Bund!