Boy that sake hits one quick. I realized I was really on this international flight as I sat at the gate, looking out at the JAL logo on the tip of the wing. That and the fact I was greeted on the plane by a kind Japanese stewardess.

In front of me is a lunch of sushi, bean jelly, sashimi, and I'm really actually impressed that Word knows the word sashimi. Anyway, on my second glass of Sake, now; Ozeki "Osakaya-Choubei". Quite good. A light, semi-sweet sake. I'm sitting next to a nice young ear/nose/throat doctor from Miami on his way to Hong Kong for Chinese New Years to celebrate with a friend who is leaving Singapore for the states soon.

The GPS says we are over what looks like near Mosonee, Canada. Halfway to the Arctic Circle.

Wow. What a difference good sushi is. Just had probably the worst Salmon I've had. Got spoiled by Tony and Hiro!

So, the trip started off pretty fucking horrible. My luggage is lost. Thank god Kimberly packed me. I'd never have thought to carry a change of clothes in my […]

Fucking annoying.

After typing again as much as before, Word crashed and this was all I was able to save. Sigh.

Most interesting thing of note, other than my diatribe about the food I had, was that the Japanese stewardess pronounced "Tiramisu" as "Tiramise" which just makes so much sense :)

Anyway, I'm sufficiently frustrated now to want top stop. May continue later.

--

Ok, we'll try notepad this time. Fucking Microsoft bullshit. I think I got most of

what I wanted to say about the trip so far; the JAL emblem on the wingtip, the

friendliness of the staff, the amazing amounts of food. It just kept coming! Lots of food, and even more

offers of beverage. Had to decline after awhile. One champagne, two sakes, a tea, and

a water later, here I am. Right now we're flying over the Arctic Circle. Oi. You look down, and all

you can see for miles and miles is ice. Very thin, crackled ice. The sun reflects off

the cracks nicely. It looks so close, too.

The service on this flight is incredible. I'm half tempted to see if I can arrange to

fly JAL back east.

The Arctic Circle. It just amazes me where I am. The longer we fly, the closer we get, the more

real the destination becomes.

--

We're now flying over the Bering Straits.. About to cross the date line into tomorrow very

soon. 37000 ft, 2861 miles to go. I'd like to trace this path on an actual globe.

Watched What Dreams May Come.. pretty, but still definately missing something. Periodically

looked out the window. Went from looking down at a sheet of broken ice to more and more

textured. Just tried to order a beer, but it was frozen :) Told my seat neighbor about

Hama and Jae's. Spreading the word! Just got another Kirin. Biz class is definately the

way to fly. hands down. Though, the neck still hurts :) So I used 'domo' again, and

had to look up what was said back to me. You're welcome :) This is going to be interesting.

Always having to look up a cheat sheet. Ah well.

--

We're now just south of the Kamchatka Peninsula. 3 more hours to go. So far, not a bad

trip. I had a neck ache, and took some aspirin for it. I rehearsed trying to say what

I wanted in Japanese, but said it in English anyway. I'll have enough time, I'm sure.

Now we're about to be served dinner. As we get closer to Tokyo, I have some anxiety,

mostly due to the luggage snafu. Sigh..

And now we prepare for dinner!

--

Got in around 5p, was helped by a nice young and cute Airport employee in signing the

appropriate papers to have my luggage delivered. Hopefully tomorrow. Then went out

and took the Limo to the hotel. Took forever! Talk about rush hour traffic. I must

see if I can get my Hong Kong flights booked out of and into Haneda. So, the first

commercial establishment I saw was a Mobil station. Seemed amusing. When stuck in

traffic I noticed in about 5% of the cars, a TV in the front of the car. Wonder how

many accidents *that* caused. The city itself is a sprawling mass of neon. Should prove

fun to explore. I'm on the 32nd floor of the Tokyo Hilton. Beautiful view :) Having just

failed to dial in successfully, I'm going to go outside and try to find a bite to eat.

--

Well, I just had the consummate Tokyo experience on my first night. I walked around the

small streets of Shinjuku until I got hungry and walked into a restaurant. Ordered sake

and hamachi (I've had better, though their maguro was excellent). Halfway through eating,

a couple Japanese businessmen start up conversation. They buy me a round of fugufin sake,

and some more maguro. They were in insurance, Payne Webber I believe. Exchanged my first

business cards. Question: If proper etiquette is to hold a business card with both hands,

what hand to you take the other person's card with? Anyway, figuring I owed them for the

sake and maguro, I went with them to a karaoke bar. Yep, on my first night. Sang "Yesterday"

and "Stand By Me" with a cute Japanese waitress. Oi :)

Things I've noticed about Tokyo so far; tiny streets, people drive like crazy down them,

there are just way too many mopeds on the road, stealing seems to be not as much an issue;

saw lots of mopeds and bikes on the street but not locked up. A maze of twisty little

passages..

Anyway, had fun. Walking back to the hotel I just kept laughing at the whole situation.

I think for tomorrow, I'll try to wake up early enough to shower, dress, and have breakfast

before meeting my contact. Early day.. Going to call home and go to bed.

And so starts the adventure..

--

Today was pretty positive. Woke up around 8a, took a shower. Kimberly called :)

Then went down to the lobby and had breakfast (figuring having a good supply of food in

me on my first day wouldn't be a bad idea. Had an interesting mix of Japanese and Western

food. Bacon, various bean 'slaws', lox, miso, a donut.. Met Teruto (Ishihara-san) in the

lobby at 9:45 and walked over to the office at Shinjuku Park Tower. There were 4 people

in class. Of course, I seem to have lost the paper I wrote their names down on. Sigh..

[Hideo, Fujiki, Hideaki, and Sugiyama (not the director, a different Sugi)]

Started off talking to each of them about what their previous experience was. Three of

the four had a good start, the fourth had almost no knowledge other than as a user.

Before lunch, we went over IP addressing, network masking, and basic LAN setup. After

a yummy lunch of Udon and Sukiyaki over rice, came back. Worked with the one guy to

fill in the blanks from the morning, briefly going over static routing in the process.

After that, brought the other two back in and started going over DNS. That took the rest

of the afternoon. I think I did a pretty good job. I stopped often, let them talk, and

went over things as needed.

Boy, it's going to be a long month :) I can see how people don't have energy to do any

sightseeing during mid-week. Tomorrow we go over either routing or leased lines. I'm

actually not sure how much I'm going to be able to do the week I come back. It doesn't

look like they will have connectivity before April. Itsuo (Sugiyama-san) seemed anxious

to have me come back. :) We'll see. Maybe I can even bring Kimberly & JB next time.

So anyway, I'm here waiting for Jim Prechac to show up so I can finally meet him. Then

I'll go find some food, maybe walk back to the hotel, take a dip in the hot tub, and

relax.

So, things I've noticed about Tokyo so far. On the limo from the airport, what I noticed

most about the reverse driving wasn't so much the drive on the left, but the passing

on the right. Also, walking around I noticed a few people walking down the street with

dust masks on their face. I thought it was due to the smog (do they use diesel here

or unleaded?), but it was suggested to me that perhaps it was allergies.

Also, during last night's escapade and twice today I was complimented on my use of

hashi (chopsticks). And during lunch today, I was even told I slurp well :) I would

say that's a fairly good compliment!

My Japanese is still pretty weak. I've got 'hai', and the various forms of thank you

down, and of course food :) But everything else I've got to look up. But I

shouldn't be too hard on myself; it is my first day after all :)

--

Just went out to dinner with the more English speaking engineer, Hideo. Went down to East

Shinjuku to a Yakitori restaurant. My gods the neon! Everywhere! Simply impressive.

We talked about Boston, jazz, and food mostly. More sake. I've had more to drink

in the last 36 hours than I've had in a month! Walked back to the hotel, found that

my luggage had arrived. Yay! Now going to relax and take a bath and read.

--

So, yesterday was a long day! Woke up at 5a, couldn't sleep. Jet lag hit me a day later,

it seemed. So I called home. Then, around 6:30-7, I decided to try to go to the Tsukiji

Fish market. This was the first time I had taken the train! I did very well, imho. I

figured out how the fares worked, got the appropriate fare, and got on the right train

at Nishi-Shinjuku to Ginza. At Ginza, it was difficult to find the right direction, so

I had to ask, but that was easy. Got to Tsukiji station, walked to the Fish Market. Kept

thinking I'd found it, but no one was there! It was only 7:30. All the books said that

anytime before 8a would find something, but it was empty. Alas, also found a shrine, but

it didn't open until 9a. So I walked back toward the station and past it. Walked down a

street and found a couple food vendors. Got some inari, onigiri, and a pastry. Then of

course, where to eat? After I'd eaten half the inari, I remembered the Japanese consider

it rude to eat in public. Being hungry, I actually went into a bathroom at Ginza to eat

the onigiri. My first introduction to the squat toilets, as well. Took the train back

to Nishi-Shinjuju, ate the pastry in a park. Got to work.

Tought digital circuit design yesterday. Everything from how a T1 works, to some

diagnostic tools. Very difficult! They seemed to receive it well, however. I am somewhat

worried about Hideaki; lots of difficult concepts, and he asked no questions all day. He

did come from a cell carrier before uunet, so maybe he knew the material, but I doubt it.

After a full day of teaching, we called it quits around 5p. Talked to Jim and Ishihara for

a bit, and then Hideo took me down to Akihabara. The amount of neon in Tokyo is simply

staggering. It's everywhere. And not just simple signs. Complex signs that make the

Citgo sign look quaint. Akihabar was huge! First we went through a section of many

small stalls, short ceiling, every stall a different specialty. There were stalls of

power strips, ICs, fans, shrink wrap, cell phones.. Then out onto the main "strip",

where there are stores upon stores of computers, video games (FFVIII was sold out

everywhere we walked!), cameras, more cell phones, CDs & LDs. Just everything. Found

a place that sold digital cameras. Probably good deals at around 35000 yen, but still

too expensive for me. Maybe when I come back. And latops galore! Full function

Pentium laptops that aren't much bigger than JB's Newton.

Afterwards, we went to a little bar in Akihabara. Hideo ordered, of course. We had

some sort of jaw, not hamachi, but still very good. I decided not to eat the eyeball :)

Thought one Japanese fellow saw me turning over the eyeball in my chopsticks as I

realized what it was, and laughed. We also had maguro sashimi. Yum! And a soup with

tofu, potato, & pork. Halfway through everything, the old Japanese man across from

us started talking to us. He bought us a round of sake (two, actually!) and had what

seemed like a two hour conversation (probably only an hour) where I had no idea what

he was saying! He spoke no english until saying goodbye. He would talk, Hideo would

listen and translate, occasionally I would ask Hideo to say something for me. He was

a 63 year old President of some company. I got his business card. All japanese. He

invited Hideo and I to come drinking the Monday after I get back. We'll see :) We

talked about Clinton, and the Russians (he doesn't like the Russians), and the religious

fanatic who killed many people on a Japanese train a few years ago (He wants him

executed as soon as possible). We talked about Japanese girlfriends, and the fact that

he is often mistaken for some dead Japanese comedian. It was quite the surreal experience.

He had a nice old face, a very happy face. Finally, we parted ways, and Hideo and I

staggared to the train station after having a beer each and much sake. I got to

experience much of what I had read in terms of drinking etiquette. An empty (or even

not so empty!) glass is always refilled. You never fill your own glass. When someone

is offering to fill your glass, it is proper to drink a little from it to show you

are grateful for the drink. It was kind of amusing. Towards the end, I purposedully

avoided drinking more to avoid getting *too* drunk. He'd still try to fill up my

full glass! He'd make the pouring motion, I'd have to drink to bring the level down

just a bit, and he'd top it off. So anywa, afterwards we went back to the train, and

I walked from Shinjuku station back to the hotel, and after watching some *really*

mediocre porn (even more so than the night before), crashed.

--

It's snowing now. When last I was outside, a mere 20 minutes ago, it was simply a very

light rain.

Yesterday, woke up early again. Only 7a this time. Decided to take a bath, of which

in the middle, Kimberly called. Then at around 8:45 I went down to meet Jim for

breakfast, during which I wrote the note above. After breakfast, I walked to work, and

taught Frame Relay. It was a hard day, but they got the gist. I was amazed again,

walking to work, of the homeless in Shinjuku-Chuo park. Had inari and hot soba for lunch.

After work, I walked again down to Shinjuku station. I've got the route from this hotel

to work, to Shinjuku, and back down fairly pat. At Shinjuku I went to the Odakyu deptartment

store. Is huge! Takes up two buildings, both about 9 stories tall. Not much in the

bargain department. Did get some ideas though for last minute gifts if needed. Washi and

other assorted dinnerware. Saw the Kimono section. Oi. Definately not going to be able

to afford anything nice. The difference between a $5000 Kimono and a $50 one is just

staggering. Also drooled over much lovely furniture. Tables, dressers, "shrines in a

box". All very expensive, and of course, hard to carry.

I just noticed the golden arches from my window. Too amusing. Can't escape!

Also, in the bottom two floors of Odakyu, there is a food bazaar. Everything from

teas (another gift idea), to desserts, to fish, etc.. huge! After awhile I needed

to get out of the store. Too many people, hungry, and not enough money.

So I made the now rote trek back to the hotel. Stopped at a sushi restaurant on the main

street. Proprietor spoke very little english. Also, I have never seen more fish-heads

in front of me while eating. I get the sense this place specialized in the unusual. In

fact, the "snack" this place offered seemed to be baby squid with ginger and some sort

of pickling sauce. I started eating it out of protocol, but it was actually quite good.

Still, I managed to order sake, maguro and tako. Asked for unagi, but no luck. That's

about the third time! Is it so hard to find here? The proprietor, seeing my lack of

being able to order food, started listing things. One of which was flounder fin (which

I just cannot seem to remember the name of). Was quite good! I tried to order tamago,

and was served maguro instead. No complaints. Then, he served me something on the house.

It looked like eel, said it was something that sounded like sardine. He showed it to me,

and indeed it was larger than a sardine. Very yummy! bones and all.. Tea was offered,

and there was on the TV a stage comedy involving a samurai, a kimono-clad woman, and

seemingly her husband. Looked interesting, though I wish I had understood what they

were saying! I asked for the check, and it was larger than I had intended. I was short

by about 500 yen or so. I asked for the nearest bank, but was told it was ok. I thanked

him graciously and left just as other patrons arrived.

Then back to the hotel. Feet being tired, I came up to the room, undressed, donned the

hilton yukata, and went down to the sauna. Woo. A full service lounge, massage room,

and sink area complete with razors, sanitized brushes, and blow dryers.

Then, the next room has a huge hot tub. Of course there are showers to wash oneself

with just outside. Lovely hot tub! Many many jets. You can float on the jets, in

fact, and it feels like a hundred tiny fingers massaging your back and legs. There was

also a cold plunge, but I decided not to. Then, the sauna, I could only stay in for

a minute or two it was so hot. However, even after than minute or two, the hot tub

seemed luke warm. After relaxing awhile, came back upstairs around 9:30. Tried to

get the modem on the laptop working again, and gave up, and fell asleep.

This morning, woke up early again, but decided to stay in bed. Managed successfully to

do so until about 9a. Woke up slowly, read about Mel Gibson's career, wrapped my

Omiyage gifts, and off to work. Put the engineer omiyage on the table in front of

their chairs. I decided they would appreicate the UUNET tshirts the most. Today

I taught them all about routing. Fujiki knew most of it, and was a help in trying

to explain some of the concepts. Around 2p or so, wrapped things up. Went back into

the main office to give Sugiyama his omiyage; a harvard coffee mug. He seemed pleased.

I called home, read mail, sent JB's resume to Jim and Sugi. Then left, hoping to

go be a tourist, but quickly becoming discouraged by the weather.

Walking towards Shinjuku, I realized I was hungry. And of course, I spent the last

of my yen last night. So then started a most frustrating 90 minutes or so. Wandering

around Shinjuku, very hungry, with no yen, and nothing obviously taking plastic. The

places that *did* take plastic, seemed only to serve american food, which just didn't

appeal to me.

Finally, I decide to try one of the hotels. I was also getting to the point I didn't

want to deal with a foreign menu. So I make may way underground to the Keio Plaza.

I found it amazing. At one point, I managed to get underground. At least around

Shinjuku, you can probably go for days without walking outside! All the major

office buildings and hotels, all the major stations, are all interconnected via

underground walkways. And in many places, especially right around the subway and

building entrances there are places to eat. Of course, all these places to eat

just made me hungrier. So, as I said, I finally get to Keio Plaza, and all the

restaurants except the coffee house are closed. Seemingly, most places close between

3p and 5:30p. Fuck. So, I say, I'll head back to the Hilton. If the restaurants there

are similar, I'll just go soak and write. Got to the Hilton, tried to go to the

Marble Lounge where I've had breakfast, and all they had was dessert. This was the

last straw. I decided to go up to the room and wait it out. Tonight I dine at one

of the hotel restaurants and feast. I'm damn hungry! So now, having written this,

I'm going to go have said soak. ttfn.

Back. Ahh.. Snowing much more fiercely now. I hadn't really counted on not wanting

to sight-see due to weather. Still, on this last night here it gives me a chance to

relax, look through all these books I have, take notes on what I want to do when I

get back to Hong Kong and when I come back to Tokyo. Also get a chance to read some

comics, etc.. So hey, not too bad. Saw men's room sauna etiquette in action. One

Japanese fellow did the wash-cold plunge-sauna-cold-hottub-cold-sauna-cold routine.

Outside, there were two men asleep on the provided lounge chairs, feet covered of

course.

Now I'm going to get dressed, maybe even dress up even though I'm alone, and go

downstairs and have a damn good meal.

--

Well, I don't have as much balls as I thought I did. I got dressed up; black slacks, olive

shirt, and the yellowish paisley tie. Went down to the restaurant floor to find the

average dinner seemed to be about 11,500 yen. Figuring that was a bit much, I settled

on a relatively non-Japanese restaurant. Had sake, bread, cold pumpkin soup, salmon and

mashed potatoes, espresso, and a mango streudel with ice cream. That cost UUNET

about 8600 yen. A bargain. Eating alone with no one to talk to is an experience. The

twice earlier this week, I ended up talking to the Japanese insurance men the night I

got here, and last night I talked to the sushi chef. Tonight; no one. Interestingly,

though, I got to watch a restaurant in action. I watched as a group of about 4 or 5

men came in, were seated in a seperate room with glass doors, and catered hand and foot

by several waiters throughout my own dining experience. Not to say that they were

unpleasant or neglectful of my humble self, but there was always someone, usually the

head waiter, watching through the doors to see if they needed anything. Watched a family

come in, some other businessmen, and a couple. Very good service, as well. The tables

are laid out with a proper setting. Then, depending on what is ordered, they would come

back and replace the setting with one appropriate to what was ordered. Watching the

unspoken body language among the waiters; the floor manager making sure to approach each

table every so often to make sure the patrons were happy; the efficient cleaning of

old plates before new ones put down; etc. Finally decided I'd hung around long enough

and asked for the check. This not tipping thing is actually kind of nice. Not having

to think about how much to tip is really quite a nice relief. One can enjoy one's dinner,

and simply pay for it without guilt. After dinner, wandered back up to the room,

briefly debating whether or not to go out and see the Chris Smithers thing that Will

recommended. May still.. Looked out the window and felt ashamed that I'd just had a

$86 meal when there are easily two dozen tents of homeless people in Shinjuku-Choa park.

--

Now flying over the East China Sea at 461 mph and 35000 feet on a Boeing 777. I thought

JAL was impressive in its service. Oi! Got to experience the airport lounge. My first

time! There was drink and pastry available. Tried again to dial out. Failed..

Check-in was speedy. Once on the plane, was given a paper and champagne. Once

airborne, sake. As we approached Mt. fuji, the stewardess led a couple of us up to

the cabin. Just amazingly beautiful. The captain said you could see the steps up the

side of the mountain, but I couldn't really see them myself. I hope the pictures come

out. Also got to see the cockpit. Wow. I haven't seen the cockpit of an aeroplane

since I was a child. *Much* different, now! All computerized with various digital

screens, forward-facing outside camera (that you can pull up from the seat-side tv

screen), and rear facing camera so they can check the status of the engines. Hopefully

I'll be able to go back and get a pic of the cockpit later. Lunch was served. Yum!

Various Japanese dishes, more sake. After dinner, cheese and fruit. Then ice cream

and bailey's :)

The TV interface is much better on this flight. There is a menu which you can use to

find out information about duty free, various destinations, and games. The seats are

pretty similar. Definately nice :) I'm really starting to feel, as Mike put it, in

the "big leagues". Over $1k in hotel expenses the first week, biz class travel.. All

very nice. At least this last week, I feel I earned the privilage. I taught a lot. I

think they even learned a bunch, too. Anyway, going to read up on Hong Kong for a bit.

--

Woo. Hard to believe it's been over 36 hours since last I wrote. Well, not too hard.

The modem continues to frustrate me. Had to find an Internet cafe in order to send

some mail and check addresses. So what have I done with myself since? Let's see.

Didn't do much reading up on Hong Kong. Instead I watched the beginning of Ever After

and the GPS station :) As we were landing, I was struck by the beauty of the mountains

of Lantau island, where the airport is. At the airport, customs was a joke. Just

walked right through. Exchanged some cash I had on hand; was enough to buy the bus

ticket to the hotel. Also took out some more money as well, which actually hasn't

been spent yet, surprisingly. As the bus drove, we ended up going through Kowloon.

Here, I was struck by what a worn dingy dump it looked like. Then we went through

the tunnel into Hong Kong island, and as we got closer to the hotel, it started looking

more upscale. Still, though, you go off into a side street and it's an entirely

different world. Got to the hotel, checked in. 32nd floor again, very nice, but a view

overlooking the tennis courts. Whee. And the beds were two singles. On hindsight, I

should have seen if I could have pushed them together. Anyway, came downstairs to relax

and read the Hong Kong book. Sat in the lounge, I think on table off from where I am now.

Had a cigar, some Armagnac, and read for awhile. Once it started to get dark, I decided

I didn't want to waste the night away, so I took a cab to the Peak Tram station. Took

this quaint bus-like tram up the side of Victoria Peak. At the top, it was a tourist

meccs, but the view was still amazing. From atop the Peak, Hong Kong (Central) looked

to be just a mass of skyscrapers; seemingly feet apart. In Tokyo, they were at least

somewhat spaced apart, but here they're almost on top of each other! Walked around to

the various tourist shops. Found a good gift idea for me as well as Kimberly! Chinese

silk (or faux silk) robes. As cheap as the cheap Kimonos I saw, and much better looking.

Also picked up a couple name cards for sending in the mail. Name cards of various sorts

seem to be everywhere! Saw someone hand painting them today, and more kiosks selling

the ones I'd gotten yesterday. After obtaining my bounty, wandering around some more,

I made my way to get some food. I stopped to see the most beautiful water performance

sculpture. Made the one I remember at Epcot seem novice. Different rhythms, and even

using the water against itself to make new rhythms and sounds (shooting new water up

through the falling old..) Ended up at Marche Movenpick. Woo. Actually, the beef wasn't

too bad. After dinner I was in a quandry. Still too early to retire, but not knowing

what to do. In trying to find a bus to go back down the hill, I ended up walking. It

was an interesting dark walk. Passed maybe two people. The views just kept changing;

the same skyscrapers, but slightly different angles. And the houses! My goodness..

Talk about extravagance. Halfway down the mountain, I found a major street, and also

one of the Tram stops. I hailed a cab back to the hotel. What was I thinking! Walking

down the mountain at night on my first day.. Got back to the hotel, decided it was still

too early to retire, so asked the Concierge what was open. He suggested the Red Light

district on Lockhart Rd. Went down there and just had the experience. Various tittie

bars, all in a row with "Den mothers"(?) outside beckoning folks in. Being a foreigner,

I think I was a shoe-in. Finally, on my way back down the other side of the street, I

decided to stop in on one (the mother was more forceful than most, as well.) She pointed

out 4 or 5 barmaids, saying how nice they were. One brought out a breast, holding it in

front of me. The mother asked me to buy a beer; $44 I think. Not knowing what to do

(either in terms of converting that to money I can think about or what to do *after* buying

said beer), I took my leave. Kinda depressed me actually. Walked back to the hotel, and

found that they had indeed found me another room with a queen sized bed; on the 17th floor.

The view of the tennis courts being much worse now, of course. Considering that the folks

playing said tennis can see me (they're on the 11th floor), I may ask to switch again, but

not for a few days. Unpacked a little, tried to dial in, got frustrated, went to bed,

tried to watch some porn, it was pretty wretched. Got a page from Kimberly shortly after

I walked in, returned it, and talked to her for a bit. Sleep..

This morning, I woke up around 9ish? 10ish? Not sure. Slowly got up, frustrated myself

at the computer again. I'm convinced it's because the modem believes there is a Motorola

cell phone attached. After a shower, getting dressed, and cleaning up the room a little,

I went to find some food. Ended up at the dim sum place the concierge recommended. Had

good food, but not much. Wasn't feeling ambitious enough to just point and cross my fingers,

and no one except one fellow came by my table. So I ended up having grilled tofu (actually

quite yummy), some sort of greenery (pea wa stem?), and corn soup (not as good as chou chou).

Walking back to the hotel, I stopped at an Internet cafe to log in, check mail, send mail,

and check addresses. Afterwards, stopped at the hotel and wrote cards for awhile. After

writing the cards and dropping them off at the front desk, I decided to go to Wong Tai Sin

temple. Navigating the T for the first time. Much easier than Tokyo. Their fare machines

are extremely easy to use. You simply press the button over the destination you want to

go to, up pops an amount, you insert said amount, and out comes a semi-disposable one-

use passcard. Usefully enough, said passcard has the subway map on the back. So I

finally get to the Wong Tai Sin station and walk out. My gods. What a different and

alien experience. There were hundreds of people lighting thousands of sticks of incense.

--

Where was I.. So yes, the air in and above the temple grounds was *thick* with incense

smoke. And there was praying and stick reading, and chanting.. Near as I could tell,

proper proceedure involved buying incense from one of the vendors outside, as well as

an orange or two. Then you lit the incense, some of which seemed to go into some sort

of communal urn, and some into this orange. Then you kneeled on the ground over your

incense and shook a jar of wooden sticks until one came out; presumably praying or

making a wish, or something. Then you would write down the word/phrase on the stick

and take it to one of the seers to have the meaning interpreted. There were also

pinwheel fans being sold, presumably to be moved by the incensed smoke in some meaningful

fashion. Just the sheer number of people was amazing. There was easily a thousand

people on the grounds, all participating in some part of the ritual at any given time.

I wanted to join in, but felt too much the outsider not knowing what to do, so instead

I stood and watched and occasionally photographed. Attached the the temple was a garden;

though there was no grass nor flowers. I think it may have been a water garden, as there

was a small pond that various little bridges crossed over. So, after wandering around

for a bit, wandering through the soothsayers, I decided to head towards the Lantern

Festival. I take the subway to the Admiralty stop (odd name, I think..) and walk over

to the entrance. It's basically like any travelling festival in the US; shops, stalls,

games, performances. All in Cantonese, of course. The first thing I was struck by

was the display closest the gate; a figure of a little boy, grinning, winking, and

holding his penis. I decided to try left-hand rule since I was closest to the left

side of the faire. There were people doing Chinese names in caligraphy and art. This

seems quite popular. I think I may try to get one done, or maybe a chop. Anyway,

basically wandered around for a couple hours from stall to stall. A lot of american

junk, actually. Toys, Disney items.. Also clothes (not particularly ethnic).. I did

find some nice jade chopsticks which I might get. There was fish-bobbing, ring toss,

etc. All very familiar; just slightly scewed due to the language differences. I had

some wasabi chips, and then came across a place selling wasabe ice cream. It was

actually quite good! Much better than the Baitcon version. Much more subtle, yet

still quite tasty. Also got some noodles. As it got dark, I took more pictures of

the displays and of the impressive New Years decorations on the Toshiba and NEC

buildings. They must have been a complete pain to put up! But they are very well

done, and you can see them from across the harbor! I sat down to watch one of the

performances. First there was a group of women (two of which were extremely cute) doing

the "hourglass juggling" routine. After that was a spear juggler. That was really cool

too. The guy came out kind with a goofy looking smile, and then he started his spear

spinning, and basically contact juggled it all over and around his body, the same silly

smile on his face the whole time. Next was this performance dancer. He came out

wearing some sort of mask, and then after a few minutes, he moved his hand a certain

way and the mask changed! No noticible removal/putting on of a new mask. Obviously this

was multiple layers. He did this about 3 or 4 more times, each time flawlessly and

seamlessly. I couldn't quite tell what the plot of his piece was, however, if there

was one. Finally, the last face came off to reveal his own. Then a turn or two, a bow,

and he left off stage. The final act was a balancing act. A man holding up a woman,

who then added chair after chair, up to I think 4 chairs, re-balancing on each one.

then she got down to one chair, and 2 other women came on stage, each one placing a new

chair and getting on top. Finally ended with all three women standing on their hands

on these three chairs side by side, all being held up by this guy. Then they dismounted

and the show was over. Afterwards I wandered towards the exit and deciding not to end

the night *quite* just yet, decided to head towards Central and the Star Ferry.

Arrived at the Star Ferry, bought some film (at really inflated prices) and paid my

$2.20 to ride the top deck of the ferry. The guidebook is right; for $2.20, it's a hell

of a nice ride. I got some nice pictures of the buildings on Hong Kong island. Basically,

what makes HK island interesting, is you get to look at the same buildings, but from a

variety of angles, all of which offer something different and interesting. I got to the

other side and wandered through the mostly closed Harbour Shops. I then decided to head

back, and was lucky enough to discover that from the Kowloon side, there are boats to

Wanchai as well as Central. So I opted for the Wanchai boat. Waiting for the boat,

I saw the building in Central that the lights cycle on. Very subtle; very nice. According

to Paul, on the hour, the lights go wild and do neat things. Have to be sure to watch

them sometime! So took the leisurly cruise back to Wanchai, which of course drops you

off a block from the hotel. Walked to the hotel, went to the bar, got a beer, and

relaxed for a bit. Then to the room and to bed, which I'm about to do now. Will update

today's happenings tomorrow! (Trying to not let more than a day go before making these

additions. While sending mail to Celeste tonight, I came up with the idea of putting

these notes up on the web page. Think I may do that tomorrow..)

--

A day behind, oh my! So yesterday started my training here in HK. I woke up in time to

call home and to have some breakfast. Then I walked over to the Central Plaza (the tallest

building in HK?) and we're on the 36th floor! I met and talked to the receptionist and

then talked to Bill on the phone. Neither he nor Paul were in. So I was introduced to

the engineers there; Eric and Franco. I proceeded to gather them into a conference room and

go over leased lines. It went fairly quickly; their weak points being on some of the lower

level things. At some point I left to go get something and ran into Paul. I talked with

he and our Asian cisco rep for awhile. I vaguely remember Paul from years ago, but we

talked quite a bit. He'd been in Singapore for the last two years, and is now living over

in Central for the next two. He appears to be the main network engineer for AsPac. After

awhile, we gathered back to finish the digital circuits class. Then we got together with

Paul and went out to lunch at a noodle and dumpling shop down the road. Had yummy steamed

and fried dumplings; after which we went to a Taiwanese place to get iced tea with little

jellies that you suck up through a big straw :)

Came back to the office and didn't really manage to do much more training. Started in

on Frame Relay, but then there was some form of crisis that we had to break for. During

said break, Franco took myself and the major sales rep for the DAN group to the hub for a

tour. Near as I could tell, it was on the far eastern side of Hong Kong. The hub seemed

new (Franco said the whole WCOM installation was only about a year and a half old). The

place was clean, devoid of fiber that I could see, and everything was in locked cages.

Coming back to the office, basically frittered away the rest of the afternoon. Ended up

staying late talking to Paul about a lot of sutff; mostly his experiences here in the

Far East (he grew up in Tokyo, and has lived offstates for about 12 years) and how we

are deploying our new OC48 network, and the history of Juniper, etc.. Talked until after

8 or so! Then, talked with Franco for a couple hours about various; also trying to get them

online with the various servers they need access to. Gotta remember to call the home

office tonight. Borrowed a PCMCIA modem card from one of their laptops, but of course no

cd or floppy drive so I *still* can't dial in. Lovely! This is almost getting

comical. At almost 11p, Franco and I left the office, he heading for home and I for the

hotel. Got back, and like now, typed up the previous day's events. I really enjoyed

yesterday a lot. Talking with Paul and Franco was really therapeutic for me. I really miss

being able to talk shop with co-workers. I didn't mind at all being at work until 11p. I

should be sure to give them some omiyage as well!

--

Today.. Well, woke up, got going somewhat slowly. Took a bath this morning and read the

most recent Bone compilation. A really good comic it continues to be. Got out the door

and to the office around 10a. Thus started a day of mostly networking and reading mail.

Once at the office, Franco and Eric were busy, so I started reading my mail to wait until

they were ready. During which, Todd Kibling showed up and we talked about Japan, and

his new Pilot which he was all excited about. It was odd, talking to a sales weasel, but

actually, he seems to be cooler than most. We got along fairly well. Then the other guy,

I think an employee of his, came in and we all started talking together. It was about

lunchtime, so Todd and I grabbed his emp and headed off to lunch. I touched base with

Eric and Franco who were in a meeting with Bill (their boss, and the guy who wanted me

here to train them). Told them I'd be back, re-assured Bill again that I'd make sure

they were trained (he is extremely sensitive and insecure about them getting trained. I

keep trying to reassure him. Although, with E&F being so busy, I may not get a chance to!).

The three of us went out to lunch next door at the Eagle plaza. Had eel (not quite as

good as some unagi I've had), cellophane soup, chicken, and abalone! The emp and I split

an entire one. Looked kinda like a squashed mushroom, and was quite good! Expensive,

though! Throughout lunch, we talked shop, although with a sales twist. Continued to feel

odd in a way, but it also went fairly well (I thought). After lunch, stopped in at the

bakery I found in that plaza, and back to work. E&F were still busy, so I just read

mail. At some point, I talked to Kimberly and JB online for a good long while. Finally

around 4a EST I told them to go to bed! (Must be weird for them talking to me in the

middle of the night, and I'm at work and wide awake!) Afterwards, read more mail, and

helped Eric with a customer who wanted to do load balancing over two T1s. I went into

their meeting to provide consult, and ended up talking to the guy (Charles, from I believe

VIP Calling) for awhile about touristy things. He looked through the LP guide, suggested

a couple places to shop on the Kowloon side of the bay. He also said he might be likely

to come to Boston sometime in the next 6 months, and I told him to be sure to give me a

call. I've handed out more business cards in the last week and a half than I have in

my life! I think I'm going to carry them around from now on, though. Quite useful!

Intermittantly, talked to Todd about expense reports (I *really* need to fill mine out for

Tokyo) and his PalmIII. He's convinced I need one :) Tempting! Especially given how

much use JB is getting out of his Newton. So we're waiting around until after hours (6p

or so) two do the routing change. I bring up CascadeView (thanks JB for getting Exceed

up and running!) and move the PVC. Then Eric does the BGP setup. Once setup, it's not

balancing properly. After a quick look, I discovered we were sending them full routes

when we didn't need to. Once we changed that, all balancing started happening perfectly.

A contented customer left :) Then we got to setting up the video conferencing for

tomorrow morning's call with CNS to go over some of their training. Also making sure I

can hook up the laptop to the overhead projector in the conference room. That was

a piece of cake. Had to wait until about 8p for Chris Mihilic to call to set up the

call. We went into the conf room to go to the Picturetel box. After many tries, we

finally got the conneciton up and running. Pretty impressive, actually. The setup

is basically a large TV (Sony), some sort of proprietary fairly large control box,

a TV-mounted camera with directional mike that points the camera in the direction of

the sound (ie, who is talking), and an Ascend box, as this all runs over ISDN. We have

upwards of 768k, but Fairfax only has 384k. We found that we could do pretty well at

only 224k, so we may use that. Of course, during the debugging process, I decided to

get the other laptop and hook it up to the Ascend to watch what was going on to try

to figure out the problems :) After we got it working, finding that we need to call them,

I left shortly thereafter.

Came back to the hotel, dropped my stuff, found a note saying there was a problem with

my credit card. Woo, joy. Went out to Lockhart Rd to find food, and found a nice

restaurant where I had some yummy corn soup (still not as good as chou chou), and

some of the best sizzling beef with scalions I've had. There was a large group of

what seemed to be Aussies to my left. I read the LP HK book while I ate leisurely,

and then paid the bill and left. On the way to Lockhart, I stopped on a walkway to

watch the neon tower. Indeed at the stroke of the hour, 10p I believe it was, the

lights went wild! I took a picture or two, but I think the real thing to do is find some

nice highrise to watch it from so you can see all the neon from the foot of the building

to the top.

Walking back to the hotel after dinner, ignoring the come-insides from the tittie-bar

hucksters (I hope to still go in one before I leave), discovered that the problem with

the Amex is they will only approve $7000HK and the bill is likely to be over $14000HK. Need

to call Amex. Need my corp card, dammit!

Anyway, after a day of networking and reading mail, I still hope to be able to do some work

tomorrow. I'm going to go up to the hotel room (I've been sitting here in the hotel lobby,

listening to the Jazz quartet play), call the home office, and go to bed in preparation for

an early day tomorrow (8a video conference call. The fact that we can have a video conference

a half world apart still just amazes the fuck out of me..). Good night!

Of course, now lying in bed, I neglected to mention the weird-ass dreams I had last night..

Hell, I don't even remember much about them now myself, though I know they were disturbing

involving futility, suicidal thoughts, and despair. There was another dream, too, that was

also fairly negative, but I remember even less about it. Just called Tiffany at UUNET. Was

weird to hear the receptionist at work say "Good Morning, UUNET." as I'm here about to pass

out at 12:17a. Anyway, good night again.