I’d have to say that, out of all my travels, my trip to Taipei has been the most gastronomical of all. About 80% of our trip comprised of visits to famous night markets, restaurants, etc., and that all just literally translates into food, food, and even more food!
Aside from famous night markets, Taiwan also has so much more to offer. We also got the chance to visit some prominent landmarks like the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, the famous Taipei 101, and much more.
Hi, everyone! Continuing on from my Nihongo Introduction Post, I’ll discuss with you the basics of hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
For those of you who have no idea what these words mean, basically, these are the three classifications of the characters by which the Japanese alphabet is divided into.
Normally, people start out by learning hiragana and katakana, as these are much simpler than kanji. This is because, with hiragana and katana, you are simply learning how to spell words with a phonetic alphabet (of relating to speech sounds). Thus, hiragana and katakana are your sound/syllable alphabet characters.
However, when it comes to kanji, you cannot simply rely on the syllabic characters to spell out a word. Kanji characters vary in meaning and strongly depend on the context by which the characters are used, which characters are placed beside each other, and much more.
I tend to forget how different it feels like to step into a place of historical significance. Though, heritage and conservation wasn’t exactly my specialty back in architecture college days (I took Environmental Management Planning as an elective), that does not go to say that I have no interest in history and culture! (In fact, I am deeply interested in it, with my love for art museums and such! hehe :p)
On a slightly rainy day, we were finally being able to visit Nagoya Castle. Once arriving, after stepping past the gate, I felt my imagination stretch a little bit and began to picture what life must have been like many years ago. I was very impressed with how they were able to preserve and maintain the place, since I noticed how the pathways were spotlessly clean and the built structures were still in very good condition.
I’ve always wondered what winter felt like in other countries. I remember the last “winter” (actually closing to spring already, so it didn’t really count?) I was last able to experience was back at Los Angeles, USA. I was still in the second grade of primary school. We were able to catch up with the last few hints of snow up towards the mountain area. It felt like such a surreal moment as a child to actually be able to experience those generic fantasies of being to build your own snowman, having snowball fights, making snow angels on the ground, and the like. Although being able to feel the snow was an enjoyable experience on its own, the main difference was that the cold in the atmosphere was not the same as that of an actual real winter. Thus, leading to this thirst to experience it one day.
Getting lost in an undersea forest can be such a captivating and sublime experience. I’ve always had this thing for sea creatures and the random mystical concepts of their existence that play in my head—ideas of mermaids, the Loch Ness monster, and the like. Being in The Lost Chambers of the Atlantis made me experience just that.
Recently, I have been getting a lot of questions from friends regarding planning a trip to Japan–questions such as, when is the best time to go?; what places should I go to?; where is the best place to stay in?; etc. Having done a lot of research about Japan, as well as having gone there a few times, I thought it best to come up with a blog entry that simplifies all those questions by providing the most direct answers.
With Tokyo being the most popular area to visit, I decided to focus on that area first by sharing some pieces of experience from my trip there during last year’s summer (Tokyo’s summer, i.e. June-August), and by also sharing whatever knowledge I have gained about it during all my research. So, let’s get down to it!
A day can never start out right without some good coffee. And being the coffee lover I am (and having a sister who is a barista in a specialty coffee shop in Manila, to boot!), we spontaneously entered any quaint-looking coffee shop that seemed to pique our interest while walking on the way to our first tourist spot that day, i.e. Meiji Jingu!
We actually started a bit late that day, since we were extra tired the day before, having just arrived from a tiring flight that day, plus immediately starting with our scheduled itinerary upon arrival. So, we kind of fueled ourselves up to start the day right by having some good specialty coffee in Tonga Coffee, Harajuku. It’s a fairly small coffee shop near the JR train tracks. It might be easy to miss, since it’s located in a slightly inconspicuous location.
For this day, we set out focusing to experience more of the traditional and cultural side of Korea. Luckily enough, the hotel we booked was located within the vicinity (Jongno-gu) of the most-visited traditional palace in Korea, i.e. the Gyeongbokgung Palace.
The Gyeongbokgung Palace has existed for over 600 years and also remains as the largest palace in the region. We were lucky enough to visit the palace during the last Wednesday of the month–it turns out that every last Wednesday of the month is free admission day!