Emirates A-380 Toronto to Dubai; pretty smooth...First impressions of the area...

A buddy of mine, who I will secretly refer to as "Ross," used to love boasting about his old minivan and the "sweet ride" it provided. As great as it was, I suspect he'd be even more impressed with a trip on the Emirates A-380 that flies from Toronto to Dubai three times a week.

Yikes.

It was my first time on the plane last night (Wednesday), and it was something else. How on earth anything that big takes off is beyond me, first of all. I mean, take a look at that thing sometime, then add the weight of nearly 500 passengers and all that food and drinks and the water for the showers and it simply defies the laws of physics, Captain.

I bought a full-fare ticket and was lucky enough to get an upgrade to business class to see how the other half lives. Yeah, it's not bad. There's the usual pod-style seating area, where the seats tilt back and make into a flat bed. Similar to Air Canada in that sense. But they take things to a whole different level on Emirates, with a sleeping pad that you can put on top of your seat for a comfier rest, plus much more storage area than most biz class setups. There was a large shelf to my left, with a mini-bar (no alcohol) with two small cans of pop, a mango juice, plus fresh water and Perrier.

That was quite nice. The food was good, and they served alcohol to folks who wanted it. I had a couple glasses of Bordeaux, but wish they'd had a slightly larger selection. Four is fine, but I would've thought they'd have six or eight varieties. The TV/entertainment centre set-up was amazing; a huge screen with   spectacular colour and a couple hundred movies to choose from, not to mention a whole whack of TV shows, documentaries and a ridiculous supply of music; classic albums such as Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and Harvest from our own Neil Young, great playlists for everyone from Sinatra and classical artists Tom Petty to U2 to the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Radiohead, Coldplay and Abba, and more.

It's a great way to pass the time. But what's really cool is the lounge at the back of the biz section. It's got curved benches on each side of the plane to sit about six people in all, and in the middle is a wide-open spot for folks to stand and mingle and then a curved bar with olives, sandwiches, snacks and a full bar. It was quite impressive, but it would be nice to see a bottle of Canadian whiskey on board a flight from Toronto.

I didn't get to use it, but the folks were nice enough to show me the first class section, which features even larger televisions, more storage space, a small desk and lamp and sliding panels so you can be almost entirely enclosed and private. It's quite something. But not as cool as the shower, which is about the size of a small Tokyo apartment; maybe 12 feet by five, with a full shower. Folks in first class get a half hour in the washroom per passenger, and five minutes of running water for the shower. And how great would that be at the end of a 10-hour flight?

My tour guide also pointed out how, when it's time for sleep on the plane as a whole, they turn down the regular moodlighting and put on lights that cast the shape of small stars on a deep blue background on the ceiling. Emirates has a dozen A-380's operating now and should have 15 by year-end. They have another 90 on order.

Right now they're stuck at three flights a week from Canada to Dubai. They'd like to go daily, but their entreaties to the Stephen Harper government have falled on deaf ears; Harper being more interested in protecting Canada's airlines, and their deep-pocketed owners, than he is in providing more choice for Canadian consumers. At least that's how I see it.

I got a charge out of the music on offer, including a bit where you can play all the #1 hits from the UK charts for all years starting with 1955 or so. Lots of Elvis and the Beatles, of course, but also some weird bits. Wandrin' Star, which Lee Marvin sang/mumbled for the movie Paint Your Wagon with Clint Eastwood, was a #1 hit in the UK for three weeks in 1970. Also making number one was I"ll Never Fall in Love Again, but not the Dionne Warwick version. This one was by Bobby Gentry, which was a surprise to me. Also weird that both Michelle and Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da made number one as cover tunes of the Beatles, but they weren't Beatles singles so didn't make the charts.

Anyway, thanks to Emirates for the sweet ride.

ARRIVING IN DUBAI

I was prepared, I think, for the Burj Al Arab and such, but I didn't for some reason think much about the   Dubai airport before I stepped into it. Wow. All kinds of gleaming white and silver columns in a huge arrivals area that had to have 50-foot ceilings, plus mirrors and palm trees and fancy lighting.

Really, really awesome. Best part? Out in the covered parking lot/taxi area they have spraying fountains and fake waterfalls. In a parking lot. I can only imagine what the rest of the city looks like.

We passed a bunch of nice hotels on the way into town, including the Fairmont. Sadly, we also passed a Chili's, an Applebee's, a Tony Roma's, a Pizza Hut and two Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets. If you didn't see the Arabic signs and the Turkish restaurants you might have thought you were in Miami.

I'm staying the night at the Madinat Jumeirah's Mina Salam Hotel, just a few feet from the Burj Al Arab. The lobby is stunning, with Arabic arches and lovely wooden furnishings, as well as a small fountain filled with red rose petals and floating candles. Quite beautiful. The rooms are enormous, with a lovely wooden desk   I'm typing at now, a dark, polished dresser, a huge TV and a large sitting area with a very good-sized bathroom that features colourful Arabic tiles.

The guy at the front desk told me there are 42 restaurants in the complex, which features two hotels and a giant lagoon where they ferry you by boat from one part to another. Geez. I wandered about for a while and figured I really wanted a view. I stopped at a place called The Agency and had a glass of wine on the terrace. I asked for an antipasto platter, which had good cheese and olives and an eggplant spread but no meat. I also ordered a beef yakitori dish that was inedible, but they charged me for it anyway. I thought about arguing but I wanted to make the point that it's poor service to charge someone for something they wouldn't eat. So I guess I just did.

Anyway, it was warm (about 30 degrees) with a slight breeze and watching small boats ferry folks about in the lagoon in the shadow of the Burj Al Arab is not a bad way to spend a Thursday night. There were plenty of folks in Arab headresses and conservative clothing, but also a lot of European/North American girls in low-cut tops and tight dresses. That took me by surprise, although not in a bad way. I guess I thought that even tourists over here would dress a tad conservatively given the nature of the beast. Maybe they do when they're out in the city, but in a tourist enclave like this it seems like it's about the same as Toronto or New York or Bangkok.

 I'll have something more on the hotel tomorrow when I can see it in the daylight. I'm also headed to a Jumeirah desert resort for one night just to get some sense of Dubai outside the city.

 

Cool Tokyo shopping, Japanese airport security and cold red wine with noodles

TOKYO - My last morning in Tokyo, and I hit the jackpot.

On my way to Roppongi the other night I had passed through an area of Tokyo called Harajuku, then past the Omotesando Hills shopping mall and down through the plush stores of Aoyama. I didn't quite know I was staying that close to the area, nor had I realized how posh it was, so when I got up and had some time to kill before heading to the airport I grabbed a cab for the Harajuku metro/train station. It's a lovely, brick and wood affair on the edge of a park, and it's quite the spot on Sundays when Tokyo teens show up in wild costumes.

This was a weekday, so there was only a hint of crazy couture, but there was plenty to look at, including, if you look closely, two adorable young girls in matching purple outfits with cute hats. I wasn't quite sure where to go when I got out of the cab, my Tokyo maps being hard to read and my knowledge of Japanese at zero. I was struggling to figure things out when I heard a guy yell, "Hey, you need some help?"

My rescuer was (and is) a great guy named Darrell Green, who moved to Tokyo 17 years ago. We got to talking and I said I was from Toronto and he said he grew up in Philadelphia and moved here the year the Jays beat the Phillies to win the World Series. I don't think that's why he moved to Japan, but I didn't ask.

Green sells umbrellas across the street from the Harajuku station, and he was mad the other morning because it had rained overnight and not during the morning commute when he needs to make his money. The drizzle was starting, however, so he was optimistic.

Anyway, he told me how to find the Omotesando shopping centre, but said I'd be wise to skip it. I told him I'd heard that the streets in and around the shopping centre were fun.

"Exactly," he said. "If you want Beverly Hills, go to Omotesando. If you want to see Japan, get off the main street."

Good advice for any tourist in almost any major city, really. and particularly excellent in this case. Not that the streets around Omotesando are filled with everyday Tokyoites; it's too expensive a neighborhood. But there were small homes and small, independent shops - one was called Crack Unit - and even a couple homes with single-car garages, and I can only imagine what those cost in a nice part of central Tokyo. I saw some beautiful Rolls Royces and Beamers, but mostly I saw ordinary things like small gardens and mailboxes and neighborhood cats and kids lining up for the school bus; great stuff. There also was a small memorial in the window of one shop with a note that read, I believe I have the name right but I couldn't quite tell, "Christopher Kenneth, God Bless You." If you notice, there's a small can of Kirin beer at the bottom of the photo.

Thanks for the tips, Darrell, and may the daytime rain continue.

NARITA AIRPORT, AND GOODBYE

It didn't take as long as I thought to get from Shinjuku to the Narita airport; only about 50 minutes from the last hotel on my pickup route, the Hilton. But I found it weird that when we arrived at the edge of the airport, the bus stopped so security folks could get on board and check everyone's passport. Then again, I realize not everyone has the luxury of relatively lax security that we take for granted in Canada. And it was certainly no big deal; just interesting.

I was lucky enough to get an upgrade from the good folks at Air Canada - always handy on a long flight, particularly when I'm headed to Dubai in a few hours, and I mean a few hours. Anyway, that allowed me to get some work done in the ANA lounge prior to boarding. It's a nice lounge, with plenty of food and a hot noodle station.

I don't really like the buckwheat soba noodles so much, so I opted for udon with tempura and fish paste. As iI got my bowl from the cook and said my obligatory "arigato, arigato," I noticed a small bowl filled with what looked like cayenne pepper and other spices.

I reached over and got a small spoonful, and the noodle cook started gesturing at me and laughing, as if I was about to commit some serious damage upon my mouth and intestinal system. I reduced my serving portion a little bit and tossed it on my soup, and he kept smiling and laughing quietly. It wasn't really so spicy, and it might have been one of the best bowls of soup I've ever had.

They had plenty to drink in the lounge, including serve yourself draft Kirin beer. I opted to relax with a glass of some interesting-looking red wine from the Ardeche region of France. It's a beautiful part of south-central France, and I'd never had any wine from the area, so I thought I'd give it a try. Lo and behold, the wine was not only resting on a bed of ice but was shockingly cold.

It was the second time in three days I'd seen red wine chilled to the bone. And I gotta say, I love Japan, but someone has to stop this immediately. Ice wine from Canada in the fridge, of course. Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay or Riesling or Champagne, yessir. But frosty red wine doesn't cut it, guys.

Anyway, I departed in a good mood, with a lot of wonderful memories and the tune of Bruce Cockburn's Tokyo rumbling through my head..."Oh, Tokyo, I never could sleep in your arms. Mind, keeps on, ringing like a fire   alarm. Me and all these other dice, bouncing around in the cup. Did you have to show me that accident scene didn't I get enough shaking up? Still, I'm gonna miss...you...."

To the noodle cook at the ANA lounge, to the Park Hyatt and the Palace Hotel in Tokyo, to the wonderful Hoshinoya Kyoto hotel staff, to my tour guides in Tokyo, Kyoto and at the Tsukiji fish market, and to the cab driver in Kyoto who insisted on taking my picture at the boat station for Hoshinoya (see photo), I say, "Arigato gozaimasu."

See you again sometime.

A Beatles band in Tokyo, wild Shinjuku and the amazing Tsukiji Fish Market

TOKYO - I spent part of Monday wandering around the crazy shops of Shinjuku, which has a series of cool alleyways/narrow streets in addition to the high-rise, electronic-advertisement postered stuff I expected. Mind you, there was plenty of that. I got lost a couple times but ended up finding a nice shopping area that included a Top Shop and some other nice stores.

The barrage of lights and sounds, however, is quite something. I stepped into a pachinko parlour for just a minute and felt like I was living inside a 747 engine. I don't know how anyone can stand the noise, but they were lined up in front of most of the machines and didn't seem to take notice. I also must say I don't at all get the anime thing. Those strange-looking little girls with the westernized faces and big eyes give me the creeps. Still, it makes for a fascinating stroll, and if I wanted to have everything be like home I could simply have stayed in Toronto and gone for a walk in  Leslieville or something.

The best part of the day was a 5:30 a.m. (yikes) trip to the Tsukiji Fish Market on the edge of downtown. It's the largest in the world, and words cannot  describe the chaos and the sound and the action that goes in that place. Tiny forklifts dashing here and there with the latest batch of snapper or shrimp, the cacophony of the live tuna auction (it's not open to the public any longer as it got too crazy, but they snuck me in for a brief peek). The massive tuna'heads were what really grabbed me; just incredible. There were hundreds if not thousands of them lying all over the place, and you could look down and see that afternoon's sushi almost ready to go.

I got to taste some snapper that had just been caught a few hours before, and while I'm not usually one for sashimi at 7 a.m. I gave it a go. I also spotted large hunks of balleen whale on ice, something the PETA people would NOT be happy about.  There also were wriggling fish I couldn't name, sea cucumbers, slippery eels, mackerel and more tuna. Outside, you can get a glimpse of the place where they dry small bonito, then smoke then and slice the pieces into bonito flakes, which are used for making stock the way we would use chicken broth and such. Fascinating to watch.

The vegetable market is more open to the public than the tuna auction, and it's almost as impressive. There were spears of asparagus as wide as the bottom of a baseball bat, as well as two-foot-long green onions, luscious pears and tiny limes that are quite prized in these parts.

I watched a man package some enormous, purple grapes with a care and style most of us wouldn't dream of. Heck, I wouldn't spend that kind of time or effort wrapping my wife's anniversay present. But these grapes were lovingly wrapped in pink tissue paper then placed in a beautiful box. The Japanese love presentation, not to perpetuate a stereotype, and a lovely bunch of grapes is just as much a piece of art to them as a painting. And good on them, I say.

Following the tour, my guide, provided nicely by the folks at the very chic Park Hyatt Hotel in the Shinjuku area of town, insisted I try some fresh sushi. I love the stuff, but usually not at 8 a.m. Still, I was game. I didn't expect eight pieces and six rolls and miso soup three hours after downing some croissants and toast and coffee for my first breakfast of the day, but there you go. I wasn't hungry again until nearly 5 p.m. But I couldn't have had sushi for dinner if you'd paid me.

SHE LOVES YOU HAI, HAI, HAI

With nothing big scheduled for my last night in Tokyo, and not feeling up to anything late, I took in a Beatles replica band in the Roppongi District. The bar is called The Cavern Club, one of the Beatles first live concert sites in Liverpool, and I think the band carries the same name. It was a fairly quiet night in Tokyo, with perhaps 20 or 30 people in the audience. It costs a decent amount of money, about $30, to get in, and there's a one-drink minimum with beers costing about $9.

There actually are two such bars in Roppongi, the Cavern Club and Abbey Road, but I opted for this one as it seemed manageable to find on a map. And that's not easy in a city like Tokyo. Anyway, I was a touch skeptical, and it threw me when they did some John Lennon solo stuff for the first couple songs. Nice jobs on both Starting Over and Beautiful Boy, but it wasn't what I came for. Pretty soon, however, they were boogeying to Don't Let Me Down and Strawberry Fields Forever, which had some killer drum work. They absolutely nailed Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight and I was really into it by then.

The four guys in the band speak little English, but they've got the words for the Beatles catalogue down pat, and the main singer does a very credible Lennon impersonation. They don't look like the Beatles, of course, and they wisely don't try to dress the part. They also have a keyboard player instead of three guitar players, but it helps with tunes like Strawberry Fields, and the keyboard player also did a jazzy riff before the guitar solos in Carry That Weight.

Overall, I can see it as a great spot to hang out with English-speaking friends or to feel a little bit at home when you're on the road. Quite enjoyable. Next time, Abbey Road!

 

Kyoto's temples, both mainstream and not...Hoshinoya Kyoto hotel a wonder

KYOTO, Japan - It's funny. You go into a place with a certain idea about a place and have it turned on its ear. But you still like it. I don't know why, but I always pictured this city as fairly small and quaint, dotted with temples and fairly tranquil. Then I took the bullet train in from Tokyo on Friday and was greeted by...a big city. Not Tokyo big, but big, with large high-rises and a furiously busy train station (they all are, I bet, in this country).

I didn't quite know what to make of it, but over dinner - with a geisha, no less - I was told not to worry, I'd find everything I was looking for. I did. And a bit less. But also a lot more. I quite liked some of the neighborhoods, where I found a cool-looking cafe called the Pied de Chat, not far from the wonderful smells of the Quatre Saisons Boulangerie.

It was fun strolling the sidewalks and checking out the local shops, although I had to constantly watch for cyclists. Bikes are big in Kyoto, but most cyclists use the sidewalk and not the street, and they're not shy about taking up space. Also interesting was I was in town on a school day and walked past a schoolyard littered with hundreds of bikes. They sat there row upon row, about 15 feet from the sidewalk, and as far as I could tell not a single one was locked. Amazing.

The temples were beautiful, but more crowded than I expected. By the time we got to the last of six on my full-day tour, it was like a huge wave of tourists from around the world had all descended on Kyoto this one day. Still, it was pretty spectacular stuff. I'll do more later in the pages of Star Travel, but here a couple highlights:

- Sanjusangen-do: There are 1001 Buddha statues in a single hall; an overpowering experience. There are about 10 rows rising from the ground level up the side of some steps, as in an arena, and about 100 Buddhas in a row in a temple that's about as long as a football field. Tremendously impressive. They also have Hindu deities, such as gods of thunder and rain, and a single, 3.56 meter-tall Buddha in the middle. I'd never heard of the place, but it's a must-see, and the current building dates back to 1266.

- Nijo Castle. This former shogun's palace has lovely gardens and cool architecture, but the best part I thought was the floors. They were built in such a way that a careless walker makes a loud squeaking noise, which in the old days would've alerted guards to an intruder. A teen's worst nightmare, too. They call them Nightingale floors as the sound is like a bird.

- Kiyumizu-dera is, I think, pretty insane. How touristy is this place? When we got out of our bus and started walking up the hill, past the teeming throngs of visitors, our tour guide told us it would be easy to get lost coming back down. "Just look up and turn left at the giant coffee cup, and when you see the
large, inflatable Spiderman, turn right for the parking lot." Hilarious. There were girls in kimonos, Aussie and Canadians and Euros all basking in the warm sun and listening to the touts calling out for restaurants or green bean pastry and green ice cream, which I forgot to try.

- My personal favourite was a small shrine at the top of a hill near the Hoshinoya Kyoto hotel/ryokan. It's probably not on any organized tours due to its
 somewhat remote location, and it's a terribly
ramshackle affair, but I absolutely loved it. It's called the Daihikaku Senkoji Temple, and you can only reach it by walking up the hill about ten minutes
from the luscious Hoshinoya Kyoto hotel/ryokan, or by walking about 20 minutes from the edge of the village of Arashiyama and then taking the hike.

It was built by Suminokura Ryoi in the early 17th century and it's clearly in need of some TLC. A wonderful sign at the bottom of the hill, in fact, warns visitors that there's a  "great view" but that the "temple is broken."
When you reach the top of the hill, there's a large bell you can ring for free, and a small building that looks like the Swiss Family Robinson Japan, perched out over the forest with tremendous views of Kyoto and of the Hozugawa or Oigawa River below. The view alone is worth the hike and the $5 admission charge, but equally pleasing is the small shrine to Ryoi, a wealthy merchant who traded with the Vietnamese and helped open the rivers below to navigation. There's a small shrine on one wall, while the other is littered with various missives and political statements, including some of the teachings of Gandhi. There are several pairs of binoculars provided, although a wonderfully kind Japanese man kept insisting I use his modern, expensive ones even though I couldn't adjust
them to my eyes. Outside, there's a bunch of beat-up looking lean-to's and sheds with an old abacus, stacks of incense sticks and a shirne to Ryoi, who looks stern and very much a task-master.

It's a lovely hike and the place has more atmosphere than some of the polished, highly visited spots in town.
Best part of Kyoto to me was the Hoshinoya. I'd never stayed in anything resembling a ryokan so it was a huge treat. Mind you, this ain't your mama-san's ryokan but a reinvention that's right on the river, with the feel of European/North American modern hotel grafted onto the look of a traditional Japanese Inn. You can take a small car on a tiny road at night, but most guests arrive on a small, covered boat that motors slowly up the river. Romantic as hell.

The rooms feel very Japanese, with use of tatami mats and occasional rice paper screens or even a rectangular, wooden bathtub, but they also have Internet, CD's (no Tv's, thankfully), comfortable beds and a wonderful restaurant, as well as 24-hour room service. No forcing you out of bed at 7 a.m. to roll up the futon here, folks.

They teach Japanese cultural classes, including music and the incense ceremony, where I was kind of pathetic in building my ash cone but managed to get the job done. On weekends they add to the atmosphere by having a fellow in traditional costume play the shamisen, like a Japanese violin. Wonderful. Look for more later in Star Travel, but suffice to say it's a magical property and one of the top places I've stayed anywhere in the world.

Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace, and Tommy Lee Jones..Oh, and a geisha dinner

TOKYO - That's quite the day, starting with an early morning tour of this buzzing metropolis and finishing with a boat ride to the most beautiful hotel setting I've ever seen. Not to mention dinner with a geisha.

I'll fill you in more some day in Star Travel, but suffice to say it was a crazy day in Japan. I had a morning

tour that included the Tokyo Tower, which offers some really cool views; especially since the rain stopped

just a couple hours before the tour began, and thanks very much for that. We later toured the temples of Asakusa, which was another first for me and a really wonderful experience. Not to mention some

driving aboutin  Tokyo, where it was great simply to look out the window of the bus and snap photographs of weird things. We've all heard about Hollywood types endorsing products in Japan that they wouldn't necessarily endorse at home, a la Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. So on the way to Asakusa I had to snap this phot of Tommy Lee Jones endorsing Boss. And he IS the Boss, notwithstanding my favourite singer from new Jersey.

Anyway, that was good. But the temples were the best part of the day; watching older folks bow gracefully to the gods (my tour guide said there are 8 million gods in the Shinto religion, and that's a handful) and waving purifying smoke on their foreheads or offering coins in one of the temples. Of course, it makes for great people-watching, including school kids and attractive women in mini-skirts and expensive boots and older folks on bikes and everything in between.

My tour guide laughed when we got to the Imperial Palace to snap a few photos; from a polite distance of course. "It's 1,140,000 square meters, and only two people live there," he said. "Most people in Japan have an apartment that averages 70 square meters."

He didn't seem upset about that, but I couldn't help but detect a little cynicism when he said that the average member of Japan's Parliament makes 10 times the salary of the average citizen.

Later, I heard the same figure bandied about for geishas. I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto in the afternoon and a nice tempura dinner that came complete with a performance from a Meiko, a geisha in training. She was lovely, just 19, and did a couple dances for us and answered some of our questions. Look for more later in the Star, but suffice to say she was lovely and personable and quite wonderful to chat with about the life of geishas, which is a lot tougher than you might think.

I checked in later at a remarkable, and I mean remarkable, hotel or ryokan called the Hoshinoya in Kyoto. My cab driver had a helluva time finding the place. When I finally got there, I found I was only at the reception area and had to take a 15-minute boat ride up the most peaceful river you've ever seen.

Wow. The rooms is very Japanese in style and it's got to be 600 square feet; with several rooms that include a waiting room, a huge bath with a rectangular, wooden tub and special bath salts, a huge work room that I"m using now and a generous bedroom with a sitting area overlooking the river. It's all done in natural woods abut with wireless Internet and a radio. Thankfully, no TV. It's dark now and I can't see the property, but I can see the lights of the ferry boat that brought me up the river reflected in the still water and I can see the high, forested hills that rise up both sides of the water. I absolutely can't wait to see it in the morning light.

It's appropo of nothing, really, but our tour guide in Tokyo warned us a couple of times we couldn't smoke anywhere in public in Tokyo. But he said we could grab a beer from a vending machine any time we wanted. I find that odd.

Better yet was a sign I spotted on the wall outside a sex shop (on our bus tour). It said, well, you can see by the photo what it said. Isn't that great? Foreigners and couples are great, but no drunks in the sex shop. One, I suppose, can only imagine.

I also like the phrasing "Drunkard is not welcomed." Not that I speak Japanese a whit, or any language other than English, but it's always fun to look at translations that just a little bit off. One hotel I spotted in Kyoto this afternoon had a map of the lobby and the various restaurants on the main floor and had the words "The guidance of breakfast" printed across the top. Sounds like a good name for a pop band, I think.

More Monday on my day in Kyoto and on a weekend visit to Shinjuku and Roppongi in Tokyo. I'm also checking out the Park Hyatt, made famous by Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation; a true classic.

An embarrassing incident in Tokyo...The Ginza...Chicken Cartilage on a Stick

TOKYO - An interesting first impression, followed by an international incident. Almost.

I left Toronto on an Air Canada flight around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, flying due north over Lake Muskoka - awesome - and over the roof of Canada and then past Kamchatka to Japan. I had an upgrade certificate from flying sooften and noticed the biz class washroom had a window. You get to pee and look down at the world at the same time, and that's pretty cool on a really sophomoric level.

Dozed and read and watched Robin Hood (corny but a great airplane movie) before landing on what I thought was a Tim Burton set. It rained heavily in Tokyo during the day Thursday (we're 13 hours ahead of Toronto) and I rode into the city on an airport bus (called a limousine, but really a bus) that was all lit up inside with a slightly garish blue light. It made the rice fields near Narita Airport look rather mysterious, not to mention the giant blue-green Ferris Wheel we passed on the way in, and all the high-rises and small canals and rivers we drove past. Looking down at the motionless, glittering water and seeing the high-rises for some reason made me think of the Batman sets; kind of eerie and other-worldly.

Before I forget, I loved that when the workers at the airport were finished loading suitcases and getting passengers onto the right bus, that they all bowed in unison toward the bus driver. Kinda like a city politician bowing to the TTC union leader, I think.

Anyway, I got a very nice room at the Imperial Hotel, just across from Hibiya Park and a five-minute walk from the Ginza. I had hoped to try some grilled chicken bits in what's called Yakitori Alley, down under the bustling train tracks at the Yurakucho station (see top photo for the area near the station). Alas, Thursday was a national holiday of some kind in Japan and they were shuttered closed.

I managed to find a decent yakitori spot outside the actual alley that's famous for it, and it wasn't bad. For 160 yen, about two dollars Canadian, you get a small skewer with three pieces of grilled chicken or chicken and leeks or meatballs or chicken heart or gizzards or liver or even chicken skin or chicken cartilage. Wow. Where I stopped, you get either salt flavour or bbq sauce flavour, so I got one of each. Nothing to write home about but a nice snack and a cool, local atmosphere.

A local Suntory beer cost a whopping $7.25, and it was a small-ish glass. And you thought Canada was a ripoff.

The Ginza's pretty cool at night, even when you're huddled under an umbrella trying to keep your camera dry. But most of the stores were closed, including the giant department store I had hoped to wander through. Still, it's a nice way to spend an hour and soak up the atmosphere.

Before the yakitori is when I think I really caused a stir. I was sitting at a small sushi place and had just been given a lesson on how to fetch one's own green tea by taking a cup, shaking some green powder into it and then pressing on a dispenser that shoots out hot water. I was more or less minding my own business when I suddenly reached into my pocket to find a tissue, being all stuffed up much of the time.

"Honk."

I let out a good nose-blowing shout, and I think the entire restaurant went dead still. A half-second later I remembered reading in my tour book that it's considered "disgusting" to blow your nose in public in Japan.

Yikes.

I wanted to crawl out the door, but I figured maybe they'd cut an ignorant foreigner some slack. Nobody said anything, of course, but I still felt foolish. I could, however, breathe a lot better. I've got a tour of the Imperial Palace and a shrine or two tomorrow before taking an afternoon train to Kyoto, so I'll have to brush up on my manners.

Porter riding higher as airlines recover...Aeroplan choices widen...Tokyo bound!

That's quite the increase in traffic for Toronto-based Porter.

As outlined today in the Star's business section by reporter Dana Flavelle, Porter in August reported a "load factor" of 63.9 per cent. That's up from 52.5 per cent a year ago, and far, far ahead of the 47 per cent occupancy rate, if you will, they had in the first quarter of this year.

Porter says it has a break-even load factor of just 49 per cent, given its costs and economies of scale at the Island Airport, so they should be starting to make some real money after quite some time in the red. Whether it's enough to get that long-rumoured IPO going in the market, we'll have to see.

Interesting to see Air Canada's business continue to improve, as well, with a load factor of 86.8 per cent in August. That's a very good number, and a fair bit higher than the 82.2 per cent figure that WestJet was reporting.

You wouldn't know it by looking at U.S. President Barack Obama's polling numbers, but the worldwide economy has certainly rebounded when it comes to air travel. The International Air Transport Association had been forecasting a $2.5 billion (U.S.) profit for airlines this year, compared to a loss of about $26 billion last year. Now, however, the IATA is talking about a profit for this year of $8.9 billion.

AEROPLAN CHOICES...FROM COOKING TO CUBA

Star reporter Adam Bisby had a chance to check out some of Aeroplan's latest offerings to loyalty customers the other day, and found out a lot more than just the chance to book sun trips to Havana. Here's his report:

Members of the media got a sneak peak at the Aeroplan loyalty program’s latest rewards last week, when the Montreal-based company hosted its “Pre-Holiday Shopping Party” at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York hotel.

While the products on offer have become increasingly diverse since Air Canada launched the program 26 years ago — now ranging from the practical (Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses for 14,500 miles) to the stylish (Swarovski crystal cufflinks for 10,500 miles) to the extravagant (a Panasonic 3-D TV package for 462,000 miles) — Aeroplan seems to be embracing its frequent-flyer roots with a wider range of travel-oriented, “experiential” items.

Ontario experiences include bike and van outings with Niagara Wine Tours International (13,000 to 19,500 miles), and admission to Collingwood’s Nordic-style Spa Scandinave (14,500 to 19,500 miles, with other locations in Montreal, Whistler, B.C., and Mont Tremblant, Que.). Further afield, Aeroplan members can rack up calories with Miss Cupcake Montreal’s cupcake decorating parties (21,500 miles), or burn them off with B.C.’s Bella Coola Heli Skiing & Flyfishing (117,500 to 126,000 miles). South of the border, Cirque du Soleil’s seven Las Vegas shows are packaging tickets and merchandise (7,500 to 32,500 miles), while GoCar Tours is offering satellite-guided, narrated excursions of San Francisco, San Diego and Miami in its unique miniature racing coupes (18,500 miles).

For more information: www.aeroplan.com

NEXT STOP JAPAN

Off today for Tokyo. I have a day in the city, then a day and-a-half in Kyoto, then two more days in Tokyo. I have a long list of things to see and not enough time, but I'm looking forward to seeing Japan for only the second time in my life.

 

Canadian honeymooners loving it in Aruba … and a Curacao wrap up

Star Travel writer Adrian Brijbassi continues his tour of the Caribb

 

PALM BEACH, Aruba — Next year will mark the 25^th anniversary of Aruba’s secession from the Netherlands Antilles — and an amazing quarter-century it has been for the 34-kilometre-long island.

Aruba has quickly become a vacation mecca with immaculate golf courses, resorts from lavish to stately, a dozen casinos, high-end shopping and fantastic beaches. More than 1.4 million tourists a year visit the island and Canadians make up about 10 per cent of the tourism market, according to Aruba Tourism Authority public relations coordinator Ricardo Croes. Among the Canucks on the island right now are a group of honeymooners celebrating their nuptials.

Toronto’s Richard Kovacs and his wife chose Aruba for their honeymoon because they’d had a good experience in St. Maarten and wanted to explore more of the Caribbean islands tied to Holland. Chris Laperle of Ottawa (pictured here with his bride, Jennifer) chose Aruba because of recommendations from friends and family.

“No hurricanes and it’s just great weather,” he said were the other reasons for pick.

The weather has been great the past couple of days — but not in the way you’d expect. Although Aruba isn’t in the hurricane belt, it is being affected by the two recent hurricanes in the Atlantic. The tail of a hurricane will suck the air away from the Caribbean Sea, leaving the islands humid and muggy, and there are dramatic effects too. On Saturday, the waves went wickedly high on Palm Beach, which is in the island’s north end, home to the Hard Rock Café and several of the Aruba’s top resorts. Those of us testing the waters got jostled around pretty good. And on Sunday night there was a lightning show that provided amazing entertainment. For two hours the sky lit up went black then lit up again then crackled with booming thunder and bolts from sky to sea. Over and over again. An awesome sight. 

 

Beaches a big charm of Curacao

Many Canadians and Americans would only recognize Curacao as the name of a liqueur. But this island has a ton to see and a real nice mix of things to do. There are about 35 beaches, which means there’s loads of space on the sand and you don’t have to worry about staking out a spot for your beach towel. The water changes colour from beach to beach, depending on the cloud cover and amount of sunlight. The west side of the island, which is about 60 kilometres from the capital of Willemstad, is remote, uncommercialized and about as tranquil a place as you’ll find in the Caribbean.

On my visit to Kenepa Grande (or Big Knip) beach, the turquoise water was so clear you could see several feet to the bottom. Jeremi Beach was a winner: a small, cup-shaped cove bracketed by cliffs on either side, perfect for intimate meetups. Santa Cruz beach is another beautiful spot that’s also home to one of the most eccentric characters I’ve ever met. You’ll read about the man called Captain Good Life and more about Curacao and Aruba in the coming weeks in the Star Travel pages.

 

Niagara Wine and Food Festival...tons of fun in St. Catharines

ST. CATHARINES – Had a chance to check out the Niagara Wine (and food) Festival in downtown St. Kitts on Saturday, and I came away fairly impressed.

They could’ve used a few more signs pointing the way to Montebello Park, which I read somewhere was designed by Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted, and that's pretty impressive. It’s a lovely spot, and organizers did a nice job of mixing things up for adults and kids.

There were plenty of climbing castles and jumping trampoline thingy’s for little ones, and there was a steady parade of pretty people and guys with tattoos, all wandering about tasting everything from venison hot dogs and plates of pasta with meatballs to Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. You can get a small bite to eat for a token, which costs $3. One token also gets you a small glass of wine; plenty for tasting and sipping.

 

I had some pretty decent wine, but none that could approach the Cabernet-Merlot from Niagara's Tawse. It had none of the green pepper/vegetal taste that I tend to find in many Ontario wines; a taste I find to be a real turn-off. Smooth and flavourful and mellow, it’s definitely worth looking for.

 

They had plenty of live music, including a nine-piece rock/blues/pop band called, I think, Groove Hammers. They covered everything from Springsteen’s Tenth Avenue Freeze Out to Soul Man, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg and Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4, which they absolutely nailed with a sax, trumpet and trombone, not to mention a silky lead guitar player. Very, very good stuff on a warm sunny day, especially when you can sit on a lawn in Southern Ontario and openly sip a glass of wine

The festival goes on through next weekend, so check it out.

 

I stayed the night in Niagara Falls at the bustling Fallsview Marriott. The views aren’t quite as good as they are from the fallsview rooms at the Hilton down the street, but they’re still excellent. And the lobby isn’t quite so crazy as the Hilton, which I found to be something of a zoo when I was there in summer.

 

I thought about having dinner at the Marriott’s dining room, which they say “overlooks nothing but the falls.” A nice line, but mostly it overlooks a series of trees and the Niagara River and only a very small sliver of the falls themselves.

 

I opted for dinner a block away at Milestone’s, situated in the Sheraton Hotel. The Ontario Tire Dealers’ Association commandeered most of the restaurant for a dinner, which featured a speech from Ontario’s head tire guy. I couldn’t resist clapping when he finished his talk, feeling silly but seeing another person with no connection to the convention doing likewise and grinning as stupidly as I was.

 

I put in $5 in a slot machine in the Fallsview Casino and actually got a little bit back, although not much. My wife won almost $5 on her first spin on the machine next to me, and we wisely packed it in after four minutes and a grand total of 75 cents in winnings. Big-time.

 

I got up Sunday morning and walked along the lovely parks they’ve built behind the Fallsview Casino. Very impressive; with benches and little paths and thousands of mounds of towering impatiens and nice views of the falls

 

The falls were as lovely as always. The sheer power and drama of Niagara Falls never ceases to amaze me. But as I stood along the precipice, not more than 10 feet from the rushing water plunging downward, I kept thinking, “How in hell did they build this platform so close to one of the most powerful, death-inducing waterfalls in the world?” I’m sure there’s an explanation, but I sure as heck don’t get how they managed it….

 

Star Travel guy in Curacao...New York crime down...Air Canada Vacations up

Star travel guy Adrian Brijbassi is down in the Caribbean, checking things out for future Star travel stories. Here's his report from Curacao, where he found some interesting candy and some folks thrilled to see more Canucks in town....

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao — Yflen Florentina says, “You’re from America, right?”

When I tell her she’s wrong, her face lights up. “Oh, I like Canadians. They are such lively people! You are all so joyful.”

Yflen is a guide at Kura Hulanda, a museum devoted to the history of slavery on Curacao. Willemstad, the capital, was the main port used for the slave trade for the Dutch West Indies Company. Today, tourism is the island’s primary source of revenue. Located 65 kilometres from Venezuela, it’s a hot spot for scuba diving in the Caribbean Sea and a stop for cruise ships.

Many Canadians are on those cruises, but the island is eager to get Canucks to come for longer than a few hours.

“We cater to sophisticated travellers, so we’re putting more and more of our efforts into attracting the Canadian and Scandinavian markets,” says Nina Dahmen (photographed here), a sales coordinator at the Avila Hotel, a grand place that has hosted Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and will host members of her family in October.

That’s when big changes come to the island. On October 10, Curacao will officially become its own country, separating from the other four islands that make up the Netherlands Antilles. Currently, Willemstad is the seat of government for Curacao as well as Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Maarten. Aruba, which is a half-hour flight from Curacao, separated from the Netherlands Antilles’ government years ago. It will remain part of the Dutch kingdom.

In Willemstad, there will be a ceremony on October 10 with members of the Dutch royal family present.

Eveline van Arkel, a tour guide from the Netherlands who has lived in Curacao for 26 years, says the change is a step toward true autonomy from the Dutch. Like Yflen and Nina, she also had kind words about Canada; in particular, Toronto, where she visited often in her previous work in the airline industry.

“Canadians are a lot like the Dutch. Polite, welcoming,” she says. “We would like to see more of them down here.”

With Americans cash-strapped from their recession that never ends, the tourism industry here (like other places) is starting to realize Canadians could help pick up the slack for their businesses.

 

Like just about everywhere in the Caribbean, the beaches are beautiful and the colours are warm and lively. The people are friendly and the cultural mix is unique, with Dutch, native Caribbean, British, Spanish and American influences. There are three flights daily from Amsterdam and the Dutch are the main visitors to the island. Even after Curacao becomes its own country that’s not likely to change.

 

But there’s no doubt the calling is out to Canada. In the floating market, which sells produce brought in from Venezuela, one of the most popular items is a chocolate-covered candy with a nut centre. It’s a Nestle product and the name is Toronto.

NEW YORK CRIME DROPS...CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITIES RISE

U.S. FBI stats show that New York City’s major crime rate fell 5.1 percent in 2009, and that its 471 murders represented an annual decline of 9.9 percent compared with the national average of 7.2 percent.

FBI crime data showed that of the 25 largest U.S. cities New York recorded 2,242 “index crimes” of murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft for every 100,000 residents, the mayor’s office said in a news release. San Jose, California, was ranked second with 2,746 such crimes per 100,000, and San Diego third, with 2,903 per 100,000.

Among 266 U.S. cities with populations larger than 100,000 the city’s crime rate placed it 248th, between Garden Grove, California and Sunnyvale, California. No other city with more than 262,000 people was deemed safer than New York, according to the office of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

There's good news there for California, too, I guess, and they could sure use it given the fiscal crisis in the state. I keep reading horror stories about the tuition costs for university students and how the system is in such bad shape, but that world university report that came out the other day lists FOUR California universities in the top 11 in the world (including, he said with a bit of surprise, my alma mater, UCLA, at #11).

Several thoughts come to mind: I adore UCLA and I absolutely loved my time there (a while ago, yes), but I  find it hard to believe I was given a degree from a school that's better than all but 10 universities IN THE WORLD. I'm not that smart.

I also think this report is far too America-centric. And I don't see how they came up with their Canadian rankings, dropping Western and Queen's so far down the list of schools in Canada. I have a bias in that three of my kids went to or current attend Queen's, but still...

My final thought on the matter is that I'd gladly have UCLA drop to, say, #23 in the world in exchange for a couple wins for the embarrassingly bad football team.

While we're on the subject (well, we were a minute ago) of New York, I saw the other day that the website tripadvisor.com was listing FOUR different HKHotels as its readers four favourite hotels in the entire city. That's pretty remarkable. I checked today and, indeed, the top four hotels in the city according to tripadvisor are all HKHotels: Casablanca Hotel The Library, Hotel Giraffe and Hotel Elysee. Pretty amazing.

You might want to know that HKHotels is the group that's supposed to manage the new hotel at Exhibition Place, so that's probably good news for Toronto visitors.

AIR CANADA VACATIONS ON THE RISE

Air Canada Vacations has boosted its non-stop flights to sun destinations for this winter, and it feels like it's just in time given the nip in the air of late.

Air Canada and ACV are offering seven new, non-stop routings and 48 more flights a week to the U.S., Caribbean, Mexico and Costa Rica. Check www.aircanada.com or www.aircanadavacations.com for more information.