The Mountainous Beauty of Shikoku Island
Friday, December 28, 2007
Shikoku island is the fourth largest, but the least visited of Japan’s main islands. A more rural character than that found in much of Honshu is the thing that Shikoku offers. Shikoku renowned domestically for its large numbers for its 88-temple circuit –Hachiju-hakkasho, but unfortunately it sees fewer foreign tourists than any other region of Japan.
The name Shikoku itself stems from the four historic provinces of Tosa, Sanuki, Iyo, and Awa, who have their modern inheritors in the prefectures of Kochi, Ehime, Kagawa, and Tokushima respectively. The principal cities of the region which also serve as convenient tourist centers: Takamatsu, Kochi, Matsuyama, and Tokushima, are the prefectural capitals. Other cities like Marugame, Uwajima, and Kotohira have their own attractions for tourists, but the charm thing which the island offers is in the mountainous countryside.
If you seek an extended stay, the 88-temple pilgrimage is probably the island’s greatest attraction. In the older days, pilgrimage naturally is most properly pursued on foot, for which one should allow for one to two months. But nowadays, some modern pilgrims often choose to go by bicycle or car, because they tend not to spend such an extensive time in the region. They may choose to base themselves in the cities, which have more option to have occasion to jaunt the surrounding areas.
Many of the island’s rural attractions are best visited with private transportation, although train service runs to most cities. You can visit one of them such like the Iya Valley which located west of Tokushima. It’s well-known for the traditional folk architecture and vine bridges. Despite the mountainous terrain, Shikoku is considered one of Japan’s best areas for cycling.
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posted by Daniy @ 7:09 AM,
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Guangzhou Travel Overview
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Guangzhou is the provincial capital of Guangdong. Situated between the Baiyun Hill in the north and the Zhujiang (Pearl River) Delta Plain in the south, Guangzhou is one of the largest and most prosperous city in southern China. The city is 125 kilometers northwest of Hong Kong on the Pearl River.
Guangzhou is one of the 24 cities which are the first to have been announced as famous cities of historic and cultural interest in China. Many places of historic interest and scenic beauty has left behind as the city has built since 2,200 years ago.
In the 9th century B.C, people there built Chuting together with the Chu people on the middle reaches of the Yangtse River. They established Nanhai Prefecture in the Qin Dynasty, and Nanyue Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty then. The starting point of the Silk Road on the Sea which links China with the Arabian and Western countries in trading located in Guangzhou. Before the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou was China’s only foreign trade port at sea. Among the international trade port cities in the world, Guangzhou has the longest history. Silk, porcelain and tea are the three main foreign trade commodities in Guangzhou in past times.
The spoken language of Guangzhou "Cantonese" is incomprehensible to northern Chinese, who typically speak Mandarin. Instead of the four tones in the Mandarin dialect, Cantonese has nine tones (The area around Guangzhou was overcrowded even 200 years ago, and many peasants from the region emigrated to Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe; as a result, Cantonese is the most common dialect among early overseas Chinese.)
Guangzhou has superior geographical and regional advantages. In terms of distance, Guangzhou is located in the geometrical center of the economic circle of Southeast Asia and therefore it is equidistant from Japan and Southeast Asian countries within a flight voyage of 3 to 4 hours in general.
Guangzhou is an open coastal city neighboring Hong Kong and Macao, and the economic, political, and cultural center. Guangzhou also becomes the commercial center, which combines manufacturing, transportation, commerce, finance, information, education and human resources as a whole. It is located in the center of the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic and flourishing areas in China. Guangzhou exerts an impact on China, East Asia and even the world with its economic capacity and radiation.
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posted by Daniy @ 6:39 AM,
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Books, Gadgets, Shops, and Crowds: Shinjuku Has It All
Shinjuku is one of the most busiest city in Japan. But if we discover, we may found that there are differences between Shinjuku west of the station and Shinjuku east of the station. Probably more like Berlin in the early days when the great walls separated the country. The west side called Nishi is full of skyscrapers and many other high rise buildings which looks immensely like big forest of steel from afar. Meanwhile, the east side of the station is the lively quarter, where the activity begin to rise at midnight.
For visitors, it's advisable that you shouldn't travel there on rush hour. It's the busiest station on the planet.Photographers addict and digital gadget can stumbled them self on Sakuraya, Bic Camera and Yodobashi Cameras.
Places to shop abound in this popular area. Sbove the Seibu train line Shinjuku station, a huge 100Yen shop can be found on the 7th floor of the department store . Booklovers and bookworms will love large collection of foreign language books at Kinokuniya store. Just head for Takashimaya department store, walk through Tokyu Hands and accross the above the street walkway from (possibly) level 5 of Tokyu Hands to Level 6 of Kinokuniya book store.
Kinokuniya has a fabulous selection of books on Japan, including english anime. Tokyu Hands offers an array of quirky products, you can even get your own Japanese name stamp made for you, taking only one hour and about 600Yen.
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posted by Daniy @ 6:04 AM,
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Lombok Place of Interests
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Looking for nice places to visit in Lombok? Some friends say that we can travel all around Lombok in just 2 (two) days. Really? Of course, but the hike to mount Rinjani and Gili Trawangan island overnight stay are excluded.
But, here I want to show you some places in Lombok which worths to try. Check it out!
- Suranadi You'll find an ancient hindu temple located 17 kilometers from mataram city. Quite leisure lodgings can be easily found in Suranadi which offers tennis court and swimming pool
- Lingsar A temple with a sacred holy fish inside, located 9 kilometers from mataram city
- Narmada Locates 12 kilometers from Mataram city, this place is haven for Lombok flora.
- Batu Bolong Like Tanah Lot, the temple in here located on a hill over the coast. Located 8 kilometers from Mataram city. If you're lucky, then you'll be able to see mount Agung in Bali from here.
- Senggigi Beach It's another beach heaven. Be sure you don't miss the sunrise and sunset moment on this beach!
- Sire Beach An exotic beach with corals and cute fishes swims across, not a good choice for you to miss.
- Gili Air, Gili meno, Gili Trawangan Lombok's island of heaven, surrounded by waterparks which are almost available for diving experience. As the region develop, there's a lot of lodgings you can find here which offers various class of service. You can reach the island by using motor boats.
- Sukarare The weaving village. Find how the locals make their traditional sheets. If you're quite interested, you might have it at a reasonable price.
- Rambitan/Sade The Lombok's native village. You'll see traditional Sasak houses are still preserved in here. 50 kilometers from Mataram city.
The trip to Mataram can be arranged by airplanes from Jakarta for about 1.5 hours. The duration would get a little longer whenever you're not on a direct flight to Mataram, instead of transit in Surabaya or Jogja
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posted by Daniy @ 9:52 PM,
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Water Sports in Tanjung Benoa, Bali
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
A daily tour is an effective way for you to discover various places in Bali. With a quick planned tour program, you are available to visit from 3 to 6 places in a day. Try to book several days program, and you'll get more chances to see more places with competitive prices. But, if you want to experience Bali on its beaches, then water sports in Tanjung Benoa can be a worthy chance to go. Parasailing, Banana Boats, Canoeing, Diving, Dkiing, and Flying Fish are among the famous experience featured in Tanjung Benoa.
Tanjung Benoa is located at the north of Nusa Dua. From Kuta, you can reach it by driving to Simpang Siur [Planet Hollywood Bali], take the right turn to Ngurah Rai airport and follow the path to the south to Nusa Dua.
According to the words [para + sail] Parasailing is a water attractions by using speed boats and a parachute. You'll be tighten with a couple of harnace from a speedboat on the other side. Imagine the adrenaline rush while you're being pulled at a 100 mph speed. Sure it would be different when you experienced it by yourself. Children are safe to experience this water sport, but it'd be better for you to accompany them since it supports tandem. Vector logo download.
Flying Fish is another kind of adrenaline sports. You'll have the chance to ride on a triple banana boats which pulled by a speedboat. At the 100 mph speed, the boat would fly up to 10 meters high. An instructor will take himself at the center of the boat to control the flying fish to 'fly' properly. Sometimes the wind pushes from the left and right side, thus the instructor will take control the balance of the flying fish to avoid the boat from rollover.
A Banana Boat is less tempting than the two previous, but also offer a cool experience. Unlike Parasailing and Flying Fish, you can ride this Banana Boat with other 5 mates. A speedboat is also contribute to this ride, where you'll be pulled over to the open sea and suddenly the speedboat will take a hard turn which will rollover the Banana Boat.
A water motorcycle which is famous all over the world: Jet Ski. David Hasselhoff used to ride them to save lives on Baywatch series. Try to experience it here.
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posted by Daniy @ 5:04 PM,
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