Day 8&9 (November 15-16) - Last Day and Flying Back to Canada

 Saturday November 15 marked the last day of my week trip to Hong Kong (or nearly a week if you consider Monday my first day in Hong Kong). We started the morning by taking the two out for a final walk. We walked for a while down the usual path before heading to the dog park. What was noticeable this time around was a cat sitting quietly on a bench near the dog park. Our Golden Retriever back in Canada would have bolted after any cats, but her two dogs just ignored it as we went our way towards the walled garden. After spending some time there, we headed back towards her house.

Since I didn't have much to pack, I left packing till this day. With a lot of empty space (since I brought just a few clothes and no souvenirs), we packed some of the heavier items she'll eventually bring back to Canada. We also took the time to tidy up her room - such as removing the portable bed I was using and throwing away unnecessary items. After packing, we headed to the vet to get some documents prepared for her male dog (reason being is explained later on in this blog post). The vet clinic was quite busy, with most people there having either cats or small dogs. Fortunately, her male dog was pretty relaxed as we waited our turn. Once that was done, we headed back home to drop off her dog.

We headed out for lunch with her parents to a nearby restaurant. This restaurant specialized in BBQ meat or Siu Mei. They were apparently also known for cooling their milk tea with a small bowl of ice, instead of putting the ice into the drink. This, as you probably guessed, is to prevent the flavors from diluting as the ice melted. The food came out quickly and so did the milk tea. Probably since there wasn't any ice inside at all, the drink was quite strong - which ,in hindsight, probably helped me later on in the day. The various BBQ meats were great and I had literally all of the different types that I would get in Canada: duck, chicken, char siu, and I believe pork sausage. Once lunch was done, we headed back to the mall we stopped by earlier in the week for her dad to pick up his glasses. 

With some other chores completed, we headed back to her place to relax for the rest of the day. I played with her female Labrador mix for most of the day, since it may be the last time I see her sadly (11 years old). I doubt I would post about this on a later day, but we had plans of bringing her 5 year old male dog to Canada for our Golden Retriever to have a friend (and more space for him to run in comparison to Hong Kong). The details are a bit blurry, but I believe I did end up taking a power nap late afternoon.

With the evening starting to set, we ordered some congee for dinner. It was a lot more than I expected, so I was pretty stuffed by the end. There was also rice crepe donuts and steamed rice noodle rolls. We also got some bubbletea from Kung Fu Tea, though maybe it was an off day, I felt the same drink I get in Canada is a lot better. With my stomach full, I headed to rest a bit more with her dogs in her room before taking a shower. My flight was scheduled for 1 AM, Sunday morning. 

When it was time to go, I said my goodbyes to her mom and her dogs. Despite not being related, her side of the family as treated me as one of them, for which I'm grateful for when I cannot speak their language, or know all of their traditions and customs. Her dad drove us to the airport. When we arrived, he parked in an area, which allowed my girlfriend to walk me to security. I hope he gets the chance to come to Canada one day so I can return the hospitality they showed me over my past two visits! As we made it to the security check point, I said my goodbyes to my girlfriend. She'll be coming back about a week later after finishing up some more stuff she needed to do 

It was about 11 PM at this time, so I headed to a Plaza Premium lounge near the gate. This lounge, being my second lounge I ever visited, was extremely crowded and humid. It reminded me of Asia in the summer, in which I started to perspire. It also made me wish that I didn't wear a long sleeve (I was worried about being too cold on the plane). I found a spot, and went around to see what they had to offer for food. Maybe it was dinner/late, so they had more of a selection in comparison to the lounge in Calgary. I got the fish ball noodle soup that was recommended to me, which turned out to be a good eat. Not wanting to end up with an upset stomach, and since I ate a lot for dinner, I didn't end up eating much. I wanted to find a different area that was cooler, so I headed to the section with armchairs and found one with a fan nearby. I watched the first episode of Alice in Borderland 3, before seeing that it was past midnight. I got up and headed to the gate.

I was flying with Cathay Airways to Vancouver. They started the boarding process with their First Class and Business class passengers (from what I can see), with apparently no zones for the rest of passengers flying in Economy. Not sure when to get into line, I ended up joining the ever expanding queue. I must have been at least 150 m away from the gate check-in, but it went relatively smoothly when we started to move. However, I felt the lack of zones, made it messy as we were on the plane. There also seemed to be certain passengers with more than the allotted carry on baggage, which meant I saw a few disgruntled people complaining to one another. Luckily, I boarded relatively early, hence securing a spot for my bag right on top of me. The Asian couple sitting to my left (I had an aisle seat on the far left side of the plane), came in late, hence having to put their luggages way up near the front. With the carry-on "fiasco" going on, I was worried that we would be delayed, but we didn't leave too late. 

The flight was about 11 hours long. I wasn't feeling that tired, so I ended up finishing watching Alice in Borderland 3 on the flight. I took breaks in between episodes to rest my eyes, or play some Bloons TD6, I might have gotten about 1 hour of shut eye? Throughout the meal, we were served two meals. Food on Asian airlines, for me at least, tend to be far superior compared to North American airline food. I forgot to wear my compression socks this time around, so I tried drinking more fluids and getting up to go the bathroom more to compensate. With the flight coming to an end, I placed all my belongings back in the backpack I had tucked under the seat in front of me. 

With about 90 minutes before my flight to Calgary, I tried to make my way through immigrations and customs quickly. This was the first time this trip that I wasn't stopped by an officer as I made my way out. I thought I would be able to connect to the gate, but I had to go through security again. It was probably due to it being late in the evening. Either way, security went by quickly and I had about 30 minutes before boarding took place for the WestJet flight back to Calgary. I had a middle seat this time around, but since it was a short flight, I didn't mind at all. I just played some Bloons as we made our way back. Upon arrival, I was lucky that my dad was able to pick me up, despite it being close to 1 AM. I picked up our Golden Retriever from my parents house and headed back to my house. Being close to 2 AM, I didn't bother unpacking my luggage, rather leaving it by the door. I got him to go pee one more time in the backyard before heading back in. After showering and brushing my teeth, it was close to 3 AM. Fortunately I still had Sunday off before heading back to work Monday. 

Overall, this was my shortest trip yet. I didn't think I would top August Japan 2025, but this clips it by a couple of days. A week after (as in today), I still find it hard to believe that I was just in Asia a week ago. Besides travelling way back in 1998 and 2001, I never travelled outside of the summer months. Asia is definitely more tolerable in regards to the weather during this time around. The week in Hong Kong felt like it went by quite slowly, which is the best type of vacation in my books. I had a good mix of different days, with some being jampacked with events while others were more laid back. 

Though I think I had enough travel for 2025. One downside of having a dog (or two dogs now) is the guilt of travelling for a long period of time. I'm fortunate to have my parents watch over our Golden Retriever during that time, but I do constantly think of him during my trip. I guess one "positive" benefit, are shorter trips are typically a lot cheaper (not including air fare). Till 2026! Let's see what the future holds in store! Thank you again for taking the time to read my posts throughout the week. A special thanks to all of my long time readers from way back when I started this blog in 2011. I always mentioned coming back and blogging more regularly, but I doubt that's going to happen. 

   Not the clearest picture I have, but here's one of the lounge in Hong Kong. 

Day 7 (November 14) - Taking It Easy

 As slow as the week seemed to have gone by, it's hard to believe that Friday marked the second last day for my time in Hong Kong. Like the rest of the other days in Hong Kong, we started it off by walking her dogs. Instead of going down by the river, we opted for the dog park nearby. Luckily, there were no other dogs at the moment. The two of them had all the time they wanted to sniff around. 

When the two of them wanted to leave, we leashed them back up and headed back to her place. With all the major attractions/events completed over the past two days, it was nice to have it easy for the day. We waited for the rest of her family to wake up before we headed off to another district. Her mom and brother had work while her dad and us went out for breakfast nearby. I've been eating a bunch of different noodle dishes over the past week - with breakfast being a rice noodle & satay beef. I had some scrambled eggs and toast on the side. All of it was extremely good - the satay is unlike Vietnamese satay in that it wasn't as spicy. The eggs were silky smooth and the toast was flavorful. There was also some fried pork and chicken as well, which definitely made this a hearty breakfast. 

With breakfast done, we headed back to her place to relax. Her dad went out later on, while we stayed back to play with her dogs. When the afternoon hit, we went out to complete some chores of our own in the nearby shopping district. When completed, her dad came to pick us up and took us to her mom's restaurant. We arrived just before the reopened for dinner. We got a ramen to share between the two of us - a shrimp flavored soup base ramen with all the works. I had this broth two years back; I felt it was improved this time around. The shrimp wasn't overpowering the rest of the ramen, but rather blended the char siu, corn, seaweed and noodles present. We also had some fried oysters, which had the same wonderful taste. Once we finished, we headed out with intent to go back home.

But before that, we stopped by the nearby 7-11 for some ice cream. As we munched our treats, we headed to the nearest light rail station to take the train back. The light rail is very like the C-Train back home. What really tripped me up was a group of students speaking in fluent English; using the same slang that my students use back home in Calgary! I guess that's how interconnected our world is nowadays. 

Once we got off at the right station, we headed to a spot to catch a mini-bus back to her neighbourhood. That pretty much was my day! 

It looks like she's wearing a flower/plant hat!

Day 6 (November 13) - Kowloon and Hong Kong Island

 Like the past few days, we started by walking her dogs in the morning. We started a bit later than usual, but that was alright since my girlfriend planned our entire day and had everything ready. We ventured down the same path, to the same quiet area by the stream/river. Unlike last time, we went further down the path since there was still some time to kill. When we felt it was enough time, we started to head back to her place to get ready for the day. As a side note, I didn't realize it back then, but many cars around this community (especially JDM sports cars) were rocking some sort of Volk Racing wheel. I saw a bunch of TE37s, of various iterations, CE28s and ZE40s. There was even a Mugen CRZ nearby!

But back to the day - after arriving back to her place, we got ready to head down to town. Her dad was able to drop us off at the MTR station. I can't recall if this was my first time or not, but it was very reminiscent of the trains in Japan. I believe there was one transfer, before we made it into Kowloon. Our first stop was at a restaurant called PiCi. It specialized in Italian food. We arrived right when it opened, which was the right time since it was about 60-70% full in about 30 minutes. They had lunch specials, which included an appetizer, the main course and a dessert. I opted for a... cold cut appetizer with cheese, followed by a... pasta dish and a yuzu topped Panna Cotta. (I should really take pictures of the menu next time). She opted for Burrata Cheese, Tagliolini Truffle and Tiramisu (strange I can remember hers and not mine). 

As we waited, we were served a small loaf of bread. They had the traditional olive oil + balsamic vinegar for dressing. I was feeling hungry, so it wasn't nearly sufficient to whet my appetite. The appetizers came out quickly - my cold cut with cheese tasted alright, but didn't blow my mind. Once I was done, I didn't have to wait too long before getting my pasta dish. It tasted alright as well - better than Italian chain restaurants in Canada. I had to say that her Burrata Cheese and Tagliolini Truffle was miles better than what I had. Finally, the one thing I enjoyed more than hers was dessert. The Yuzu Panna Cotta was mild, but tangy. After we finished eating and paid for the bill, we headed to a nearby mall to visit. 

This is Our Place (or TOPs) mall felt catered to teens or young adults. There were various floors to check out, but we didn't spend too much time here. Our next spot was Langham Place, a more upscale mall. She had a few appointments in the office towers there. Before attending her first appointment, we explored the mall a bit. It was very grand, with a lot of floors that reminded me of TD Square/Bankers Hall here. It was odd seeing Christmas decorations, since I always travel during the summer. Instead of saying Merry Christmas, their theme was "Merry PotatoMAS". I guess they have a potato as their mascot? It was cool to see how a different country celebrates Christmas. When it was nearly time for her first appointment, we headed off to the office towers. Unlike elevators I've seen elsewhere, there's a touch screen near the base of "the hall of elevators". You punch in the floor you want to go to, and then it directs you to the elevator to go (ie: Floor 60 is Elevator B). When we entered the elevator, I noticed there were no buttons to press, besides the open, close and emergency buttons. The touch screen outside told the elevator where to go. 

The first appointment took us up to a wide open clinic. It had a wonderful view of, what I'm assuming,  was Victoria Harbour. I didn't have to wait too long before she was finished. There was about an hour before her next appointment, in a different clinic, so we went back down to the mall area to look around. When it was time, we repeated the process of going to the touch screen to pick the floor, followed by going onto the elevator the computer tells us to go. The second location wasn't as big, nor as high. It didn't matter to me since I already had a view of the scenery.

With that finished, we headed back into Kowloon to look for more snacks. We went to a place to get Napoleon tarts. It wasn't that great. Stopped buy a bubble tea shop for some milk taro tea - that was meh. We then ended up at a K11 mall. This mall had a bunch of luxury shops inside, in which we perused for a bit before heading back out to the harbor. Last time, in 2023, I was unable to go to Hong Kong Island. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to do so this time. The ferry to go across was extremely cheap - about $1 CAD. Granted, it only took about 10-15 minutes, but it was nice to see the skyscrapers scattered around the island. When we made it to the other side, we headed to the bus terminal to find a bus that will take us to Victoria Peak. Since we were first in line, waiting for the bus, we had prime seats inside. The ride itself wasn't too long; we got to see sunset as the double decker bus made its way up the mountain. There were huge condo complexes and houses with winding driveways. I can only imagine how much these places cost.

As we got to the top, we got off and went to the Sky Terrace building to walk around and take in the sights. It was a bit chilly being high up, but the views made up for it. Looking back now, it's probably one of the most beautiful night cityscapes that I've seen in my life. After walking around some more, we decided it was time to head back down to our final destination - to Central. We boarded a small mini-bus back down to near the ferry. We then walked to IFC mall, which hosted Hikiniku: a Japanese restaurant that specializes in A4 Wagyu hamburger steaks. With a reservation in hand, we didn't have to wait long when we arrived. The place was quite crowded with all sorts of people. We sat around chefs cooking the hamburger steaks. There were a variety of condiments to try with the steaks, along with unlimited rice. We both got 3 steaks each, which was more filling than I expected it to be. Really stuffed with all the food we ate, we left and headed to the MTR station to take a train back to the New Territories. 

When we arrived at our final station, her dad came to pick us up, after picking up her mom and brother from work. Overall, it was a day full of new sights and eats. Kowloon and Hong Kong Island reminded me strongly of being in Shinjuku or other busy districts in Tokyo: full of people, and seemingly most of them being tourists. The more I travel to Asia, the more I'm starting to realize I like quieter sections of the country.

Only two more days to go before I head back to Canada!

A view of Kowloon from Victoria Peak at night. 

Day 5 (November 12) - Macau!

With a long day ahead of us, we got up early to take her dogs out for an extended walk. We ended up walking by a small... river. Due to the lack of pedestrians around, we decided to let them go off leash for a while. They seemed to enjoy the freedom, as they ventured slightly ahead of us to sniff the grass growing on the side of the pavement. After walking down the stretch of road for a while, we headed back to her place to relax a bit before heading out for the day.

Like two years ago, we headed off to Macau. Going through security was immigrations was really quick, for I was able to join my girlfriend in the "HK Resident" line, instead of the visitor line. We took the same shuttle bus to Macau, though I swear it seemed a lot faster this time around. Once we arrived at Macau, we met up with her uncle that took us around two years back. We started the trip by heading to a casino to eat dim sum. Maybe I'm hungry again, but the dim sum was the best dim sum I've ever had. We went through a wide variety of dishes, ranging from your typical siu mai, har gow, and turnip cake. As a side note, the turnip cake was by far the most memorable dish for me, this time around. I was so full, that I had to sit at the table for a while. Some others went down to explore the casino for a while.

Once we were ready to leave, we headed to see my girlfriend's grandma at her nursing home. I vaguely recall what she looked like two years back. She seemed to be in good spirits, which is always nice to see! After spending some time there, we headed to, what I believe is called Coloane Village. It has a strong Portuguese influence. Of course, we had to stop by Lord Stow's to get some Portuguese tarts! After spending a few hours exploring and relaxing, it was time for dinner.

I don't recall the name of the restaurant, but I was surprised by the seemingly lack of Cantonese speaking staff. Majority of the staff members spoke English, with some having basic Cantonese. The food seemed to be Portuguese inspired, though I didn't feel it was anything special. I did get my chance "to shine" since I mostly spoke English to the servers when we needed things. With dinner out of the way, it was time to head back to the station. 

Going through immigrations again was quick due to my girlfriend being a HK resident. Surprisingly to me, I thought these lines would be more congested than the visitor lines. Once we got through, we boarded the shuttle back to Hong Kong. It was starting to rain ever so slightly as we arrived back in Hong Kong. I wanted to walk her dogs when we arrived back, but it was too wet.

There's always tomorrow!

Scenic monument near Lord Stow's.

Day 4 (November 11) - Simple Day Around Town

 Due to jetlag, I ended up waking up a lot earlier than usual. Once my girlfriend got up, we took her dogs to the nearby dog park/walled garden for a sniff walk. Due to it still being before 8 AM (and a school day/work day for others), there was no one here. Her two dogs had time to casually stroll around, sniffing the place. After a while, we headed back to her place and got dressed. Her parents were up, and thus we headed out for breakfast.

We stopped by the commercial district (I believe it was the commercial district) and found a restaurant to eat breakfast. I got an instant noodle dish, topped with a piece of lettuce. For sides, I had eggs, sausages and a pineapple bun filled with butter. The pineapple bun was the star of the show, for it was extremely crispy and the pat of butter made the centre creamy. After breakfast, we headed to a nearby mall to stop by an optometry centre.

Her dad needed a pair of glasses. As we were waiting, I got the chance to check out the store. Unlike optometry centres in Canada, it seemed like all the sample glasses had anti-reflective lenses built in. It was a nice touch, for I feel it gave potential clients an idea of what these glasses would look like when you get them. Once her dad was able to get his eyes checked, and glasses ordered, we headed off to complete some more chores.

Once everything was done, we were going to head to another district. However, due to the traffic jam, and with my girlfriend having an appointment in a few hours, her dad dropped us off at a train station so we could head back to the district we started from. With a bit of time to spare, we stopped by a Hot Star, a chain that specializes in Taiwanese fried chicken. Instead of getting chicken though, we got some sweet potatoes coated in the same seasoning they use for their chicken. It was so good that I regret not getting another batch. We then entered another mall for her appointment, but before that, stopped by a small candy store inside for some snacks. The mall itself reminded me of the New Horizon Mall we have here in Calgary - it was filled with small stores. Once we found the spot for her appointment, she sat down and got her nails done. I was able to sit and watch throughout the hour long procedure. It vaguely reminded me of detailing my own car, in that what seems to be a straightforward and quick process actually has a lot of steps involved. With her freshly done nails, it was time to head back home.

But of course, grab a snack (egg waffles filled with egg yolk) at Mammy Pancake. We were fortunate enough to get a ride from her dad, in which we stopped by a BYD dealership nearby. I never seen a BYD car before, so it was neat to see the SUVs they had on the show floor. We even got free water bottles as we strolled around the different cars. Once we saw enough, we headed back home.

I had time to lay around for a while before it was time for dinner. We went to some sort of Chinese restaurant that specialized in a certain type of chicken. We started with a appetizer of squid, which was not chewy, like most squid I've had in the past. There was some sort of bread crumb like seasoning that was extremely tasty, but extremely salty. Then the main course arrived - two roasted/bbq chicken. Unlike North America, the heads were still attached, which I think make it look more complete. The skin was crispy, as if I was eating Peking duck instead of chicken. The meat underneath was extremely tender as well. A very hearty chicken, and perhaps one of my favorite chicken dishes ever. Once we were done with the main meal, we had two more appetizers: one was, I believe, shrimp & cashews with leek. The other one was potatoes and beef. Both extremely good! As I was starting to feel quite full, we had one more plate of fried rice. I'm not sure what was in it, but it had a delicate flavor that I usually don't associate with friend rice. Feeling quite stuffed now, I had a bit of room for dessert. It was some sort of ginger milk pudding. The sugar and spiciness from the ginger was an interesting mix that warmed me up. I should mention, that despite being in a covered tent, we were technically eating outside. I believe it was around 20 degrees Celsius, but it was starting to feel a bit chilly. 

With dinner completed, we headed back home. It was time to walk her dogs, but she was busy with some tasks she needed to complete. I ended up walking them with her dad instead. He showed me a route that I wasn't familiar with, which allowed me to see another section of her neighborhood. Despite it being somewhat late, I felt relatively safe walking at night in Hong Kong. After coming back, I took a shower and crashed. Jetlag was hitting me hard.

Despite staying in one district mostly, and not seeing touristy things, it was a very productive day. Productive, yet relaxing at the same time. 

Her neighborhood had a mixture of condo units and homes. It's definitely a different sight in comparison to the neighborhoods we have here in Calgary. 
 

Day 3 (November 10) - Off to Hong Kong!

 Due to sleeping early the night, I did end up waking up just before 1 AM. I ended up getting out to brush my teeth and headed back to my room. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I turned on my iPad and continued watching the drama I was watching for a few hours. When it was around 4:00, I got out of my room to head to my luggage against the side wall. I had a flight at 8 AM to catch, so I got changed and checked out by around 4:45 AM.

There was a long line of individuals in front of me, waiting for the shuttle to take us back to Terminal 2. I was one of the last few to make it onto the crowded bus. After arriving at the airport, I headed to security to see if I could go through since my girlfriend checked me into my HK Express flight. Security wouldn't be open for about another two hours. With time to spare, I explored the airport some more, since I've never been to Terminal 2 before. If I'm not mistaken, I believe we stopped at Terminal 3 to Okinawa back in 2017. After exploring for a while, I headed to the 7-11 on the 4th floor to grab a quick breakfast. Since it was quite early, there was no one waiting at 7-11. I got a rice ball, a salad, a mandarin & whip cream sandwich, and a fibre juice. There were some chairs nearby the convenience store, so I ended up sitting there to eat breakfast. Once I was done eating, I headed back to 7-11 to grab a few snacks to bring to Hong Kong. With about an hour to go still, I decided to explore other sections of Terminal 2.

By around 6:40, I decided to go back to security to line up. There was a relatively long line, so I joined at the back of the line. I was told that HK Express was extremely strict with their carry-on weight policy - no more than 7 kg. I was wondering at this time, since I already checked in online, how they were going to check the weight of my bag (I checked it at the airport on a scale, with my bag coming in at 5ish kg). With a bunch of other travelers having a luggage tag stated it was "Cabin Approved" from HK Express, I decided to head back to the check-in desk myself to ask. It was relatively quick, and when I managed to get my luggage tag, I asked my question about checking in online and going straight to security. The answer I pretty much got was that I could do that, but if I'm interpreting this correctly, they will check my luggage at the gate. 

I went back to wait at the ever increasing line. Japan is ever so punctual with time; the security gates opened exactly at 7 AM. It took probably around 5 minutes to go through security, but with boarding apparently starting at 7:10, I hurried to the gate. I was blessed with a seat close to the front ($20 fee for sitting that close), which meant that I didn't have to travel too far down the Airbus Neo 321 when we boarded. There was no one sitting behind me for around 6 rows, but I couldn't recline my seat at all. However, the seats were quite comfortable, and better yet, there was no one sitting in the middle seat. I had the window seat while there was another traveler sitting at the aisle seat.

We took off on time. Fatigue was starting to kick in, but I wanted to stay up. My girlfriend had it planned out so I would be sitting on the right side of the plane. In about 30-40 minutes, Mount Fuji would be in view for me to see and take pictures. I haven't seen the volcano covered in snow for years, so it was a sight to behold. The flight attendants took pictures themselves of the volcano as we passed by. Soon after, I dozed off for about an hour. After waking up, and with 3 hours left, I ended up watching more dramas and playing BloonsTD6. It's been a while, but it's an addicting game.

Nearing HKG, I swapped out my physical sim for a HK sim that I got from my girlfriend (in retrospect, I should have converted my Canadian physical sim into an e-sim). I saw the entrance to the underwater tunnel leading to Macau (I believe that's what it was), before we landed at the airport. I got off, went through immigrations relatively quickly, despite the line being extremely long. Unlike going to Japan, there was no online form to fill out. As I was making my way to the exit, I got stopped by security. The security guard asked, in Cantonese, where I was heading back. I only understand a bit of Cantonese, but I definitely cannot answer back. I just mentioned that my girlfriend was here to pick me up, as I handed him my passport to see. Once satisfied, he wished me a good day and I headed off. After some time, I finally found my girlfriend waiting for me. We headed outside to a section of the airport where her dad was waiting to drive us. It's been a while since I last saw him, but he looked exactly the same. They bought me lunch, a sandwich with some eggs. I munched away, while sipping lemon tea.

After 20-30 minutes, we finally made it back to their place. I was enthusiastically greeted by her two dogs. Her younger male looked the exact same, while her senior female dog shed weight! After the greetings, I headed over to her room to do some minor cleaning, setting up my foldable bed for the week, and taking a shower. Afterwards, I ended up taking a nap. I don't recall how long I really napped, but after getting up, my girlfriend and I took a minibus to a commercial district near her place to grab a bite to eat. 

We ended up going to Tam Jai Sam Gor, a chain restaurant that specializes in Yunnan-style rice noodles. For those of you familiar with Yunshang Rice Noodle or Dagu, I believe they're the exact same style. There was a dinner set: a bowl of noodles, two chicken wings and a drink. I can't recall the price, but it was quite a bit cheaper than what you can get in Canada. Feeling full, we headed to a nearby bakery to grab some bread before heading back to her place.

Upon arrival, I was feeling tired again, so I went to bed at around 7-8 PM.

A day to relax, but much needed!

Not sure what island this is, but it was close to Hong Kong International Airport. 

Day 1&2 (November 8&9) - Overnight Stay in Japan!

 It's a first for me in that we have a week long Fall Break at my school. Last year, it was 2 days for the students (PD day was on the Tuesday after Remembrance Day). With a full week off, and great travel benefits, my girlfriend and I decided to book a trip to Asia back in September. She managed to get time off earlier, so she ended up going a week before I did. I was anxiously waiting for the break to start a few weeks back for I never travelled in autumn before.

After the last day of classes, and after dinner with some friends that Friday night, I headed home late for a restless sleep. Saturday morning came, and I started the day by teaching English to my regular student from China. I was tired from the lack of sleep, but the excitement kept me fully awake. After doing a ritual final clean before flying, I put Ollie into the car and headed off to my parent's house. I was fortunate to get a ride to the airport this time around.

After arriving at the airport, I immediately went through security and headed to the Aspire lounge. I got the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card back in the summer for the 0% foreign exchange fee. I also wanted to try out lounges, and this card came with 6 complimentary ones for an annual fee of $150 CAD. I guess I overhyped myself up with airport lounges, for they didn't seem all to special, besides complimentary food being provided to customers. It was also quite busy. I found a place to sit, left my carry on, and headed to grab some bite-sized food to eat. After about an hour or so, I headed over to another location of the lounge, since I wanted to watch some pre-loaded dramas on my iPad. After completing an episode, it was time to head to the gate and wait to board my flight.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get an upgraded seat to premium economy, but I ended up with an aisle seat in a group of middle seats. I was sitting, with what seemed to be a bunch of five university students (if I were to guess... 2nd years since the guy sitting beside me in the middle seat was doing Organic Chemistry review). Maybe I've been spoiled with premium economy, but these economy seats seemed extremely narrow. I was literally touching elbows with the student, and he was quite small himself. And this is with me leaning slightly over to the side. To make matters worse, there were two babies crying throughout the flight in close proximity to myself. One of them was shrieking throughout the entire flight, making it nigh impossible to sleep. Fortunately, my AirPods do a good job with cancelling out as much of the crying as possible. I ended up watching some more episodes of my drama on my iPad before switching over to watching Doctor X: The Final Movie (I think that's the full title) on the entertainment screen in front of me. A good end to a long lasting series! 

After what seemed an eternity, we finally made it to Japan. It was quite cloudy, with impending rain in a short bit of time. I got off, headed off to immigration and customs. Unlike previous times, I had no check-in luggage with me. Perhaps this was the reason why I was stopped before exiting the luggage area, with a security guard asking me what my plans were for Japan. After telling him that I was only in Japan for a day, before heading off to my next location, he asked to see my passport and let me go soon after. 

I found the shuttle bus that would take me to terminal 2. It was quiet inside, with a group of three Americans travelling on the bus. I was eavesdropping on their conversation as we made our way to the terminal. Two of them were lavishing the third, on how it was her third time in the country, making her an expert. I silently laughed to myself, for this was my 9th time to Japan (1998, 2001, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, Aug 2025, and Nov 2025). I did stop myself thinking how other people probably went more, or for those of them that did less travel than me, were much more knowledgeable of locations/customs/language. After humbling myself, I continued to look forward, as we finally approached Terminal 2. I got off, and headed inside the terminal to look for something to eat. I found their 4th floor dining and shopping experience, and got myself some takoyaki. After eating and exploring for a bit, I headed back to the bus stops, and looked for a shuttle that will take me to my accommodations for the night: Sora no Yu. 

Sora no Yu is a capsule hotel with an onsen attached to it. It's like Rox, but on steroids in my opinion. It was a relatively straight forward check in process, in which I headed to the capsule hotel location first to drop off my luggage. Unfortunately, I didn't read carefully, for I had troubles entering the capsule room only to find out, it was the Woman's capsules room... Luckily, no one was nearby, so I quickly scampered to the male room a meters down. The room had a lot of capsule rooms (I'm guessing at least 60 men's capsules), but it was well labelled. I managed to find my room, in which I chucked whatever I needed and headed off to the side to lock up my carry-on bag. Perhaps I'm being biased, but I felt quite safe leaving my carry-on bag attached to a thin bike lock cable (or whatever they're called). I headed to the changing room, which was located up a floor, to start relaxing in the onsen.

After washing myself, I stepped to their outside onsen. It was located on the rooftop of the hotel, with a magnificent view. Despite it being cold, the onsen was hot enough, making it quite relaxing and being able to stay inside longer than usual. Since the hotel was close to the airport, you can actually see planes quite close up. After spending a good 15 minutes or so, I headed back to the changing room to change into the shirt and shorts they lend to all guests. I was probably up for nearly 24 hours at this point (and it didn't help that I didn't sleep much on Friday), so I crashed out in my room. There were many other amenities to try out (stone sauna, regular sauna, massage chairs, manga library, the various different onsens, etc), but I ended up sleeping for a few hours, only to wake up at around 10 PM remembering that I didn't brush my teeth yet. With fatiguing sitting back in again, I ended up falling back to sleep.

That's it for the first night! 

A shot from inside my capsule room. It was relatively roomy for me (5'8"). For more pictures and information of this place, check out this link: https://soranoyu.com/en/

I would definitely come back here again, either before returning from Japan, or even during arriving in Japan. 

Day 11 (Aug 14) - One Final Exploration Before Home

 Besides crashing for eight hours when I arrived in Matsuyama, I was able to catch over 6 straight hours of sleep. Feeling somewhat refreshed, I got up, and got ready to go out. My girlfriend booked a service to have my luggage shipped from the hotel to the airport, so I brought my check in bag downstairs. It was a relatively straightforward process. I showed the email to the hotel receptionist, and he got me to fill out a small tag to put onto my bag. Once that was done, he doubled check that the information is correct, before storing it away.

I headed off to find a cafe that my girlfriend recommended for breakfast. It was nearby in the shopping arcade in Asakusa. When I found Cafe Tomorrow Asakusa, there was a small line in front of me, but I was able to enter in about 5 minutes. The cafe had a retro vibe, as I sat down facing a bookshelf of books. I took a look at the menu, and found out that I had to order via a QR code. I was hoping that there would be English when I ordered, but it turned out to be in Japanese only. Lucky for Google Translate (I topped up my eSim yesterday with another gig of data. I ran out using 3 gigs last night), I was able to take snap shots of each screen and proceeded that way. Ironically, I picked the same choice that my girlfriend did when she visited. The corn bread toast I had was relatively tasty, with the scrambled eggs being the main star in my books. Once I was done, I headed to pay via the automated computer/machine, before heading out. Luckily I made it to the cafe early, for there was a relatively long line up after I left.

I went across the street to the 7-11 to grab a few more souvenirs before heading back to the hotel. Once at the hotel, I lounged around for a couple of hours before doing one final pack in my smaller carry on sized bag. After checking out, I left my bag at the hotel. There was a shrine nearby that I travelled to, that specialized in charms for flying. It was a bit difficult to find due to the shrine being enveloped by houses in a residential area. I was able to locate it via the traditional steeped roof, poking through the mostly flatter rooves of the other houses. Due to the secluded nature of the shrine, there was literally no one there. I was able to get the attention of the shrine priest, and purchase a charm. With that done, I headed back to Rox Onsen for one final bath in Japan.

I was expecting it to be quieter on a Thursday morning, at around 11 AM. There was a number of patrons soaking in the various tubs of hot water. I made sure to wash myself before stepping into a few of the different baths. They were too hot for me, so I ended up taking a cold shower right after plunging myself in the coolest bath I could find. Either way, I felt refreshed. My parents and girlfriend were right: you should shower before going onto a flight. It just feels so much better that way.

I got a banana milk to cool down after I got changed, and headed towards the relaxation room to lay on a mat chair for a while. After perusing the internet, I got up and headed back to the change room to find the massage chairs. Earlier on, they were both busy, but I was able to get a chair. I put in my 300 yen and sat back and relaxed for the next 15 minutes. After a relaxing massage, I went back to my assigned locker to change back into my regular clothes (I was wearing their provided yukata). After paying, I left to head back to the hotel to grab my luggage.

I'm not sure why I never relied on Japan's luggage transportation service before, since it was a breeze just wheeling a small bag onto the subway, back to Narita Airport. Once I arrived at the airport (and purchased a few more goods while strolling through the Pokemon Store), I went to go pick up my big check in luggage, which arrived a few hours before I did. With about three hours before boarding, I tried my luck by checking in. Since I was first priority on the standby list, I was able to get a boarding pass. (With the airline I'm travelling with having a small presence in Japan, the staff working were the same as the ones yesterday. It was the same lady that told me to wait a few hours before coming back to check, yesterday.) I then headed off to security, which was a smooth process. After getting through, I purchased a few more items from 7-11 before heading to McDonald's to get my traditional Going-Back-Home meal. I settled for a Samurai Mac Burger set, which included a Samurai Mac (think Big Mac without the middle bun, and using yakiniku sauce instead of the Big Mac sauce), fries and a drink. The Samurai Mac wasn't anything to write home about. The fries tasted like fries back home. I ate while sitting down facing a plane that just parked by a gate. It was interesting to see the gate move towards the plane, and people taking out bags from underneath the cargo area. Once I finished my meal, I headed over to my gate to wait.

I was given an economy seat, but was told that there was a possibility to upgrade if there were some seats available. Not too long before boarding, I heard my name being called out, by the same check-in CSA. With some anticipation built up, I headed over to find out that I was upgraded to premium economy class again! After sitting back down to wait, it was finally time to board. The person to check my boarding pass, was as you guessed it, the same CSA. She laughed and mentioned something about meeting again. I was just glad that I could come back home (turned out if I wasn't able to make this flight, it would have been nearly a week before I can catch a flight back due to this route being full --> AC strike). 

The ride back to Calgary was quite smooth. We departed on time. I was fortunate enough to have a bulkhead seat, with an aisle seat. My seatmate, who had the window, pretty much slept the entire time. I'm not sure if it was just the bulkhead premium economy seats, but there was an attached footrest at the end of the leg rest that made it so much more comfortable. I ended up finishing The Intern, but I was unable to finish any other movie after that. I started Dunkirk, got bored, and swapped onto another movie that wasn't memorable. Or maybe, it was the fact I was getting tired. I stayed up to eat dinner before nodding off to sleep for a while. Upon waking up, there was still 4-5 hours left. I tried watching Night Court (a TV show featuring Melissa Rauch from The Big Bang Theory). After watching a couple of episodes, I ended up falling asleep again for about an hour, before waking up just in time for breakfast. It wasn't soon after that we landed in Calgary. I got off the plane, went through customs and grabbed my luggage. It was also the first time a customs officer pulled me aside near the luggage carousel since I was looking around. He thought I looked confused, in which I was, since I didn't know which baggage carousel would be from Narita. After being grilled, he let me go while telling me which carousel was from Narita.

After getting out, I got a ride from my girlfriend and headed back home. August Japan 2025 was by far the shortest Japan trip I had at 11 days. Despite the lack of sleep, and upset stomach, there were some good parts about visiting Shikoku. Some things I regret not doing, but I doubt I'll head back any time soon to Shikoku. As I grow older, and I think I mentioned this before, I'm starting to appreciate vacations where it's more chill. Going to a bunch of new places in one day can be quite tiring, and I feel I don't get as immersed as if I spend more time at one location. With more opportunities to travel on my own this time (on parts of August 12 and 13, and all of 14), I'm anticipating the opportunity to try a solo trip all on my own. 

As for now, I hope my 13th year of teaching goes well! I definitely need to save up money again for my next trip!

I know it's a side street near Sensoji Temple, but this area is super quiet first thing in the morning. Well I guess most places would be super quiet, first place in the morning. Thank you for taking the time to read my travel journeys this summer! Until I blog about my next adventure! 

Day 10 (Aug 13) - Meeting Relatives and Not Able to Go Back to Canada

 August 13th was supposed to be the day I fly out of Japan. I'll explain more as I blog here.

I started the morning early but getting ready to see some of my relatives. One of my cousins always makes the time to come see me whenever I land in Japan. She met me at the front of the hotel I was staying at, and took me to a nearby cafe for breakfast. There, I also met my aunt and uncle. My Japanese is extremely basic, but this was probably the first time I was able to converse with them without relying on Google Translate. Fortunately, they used simple Japanese, so I was able to understand enough to try and answer in my broken Japanese. The food was pretty good, and it was nice seeing them again. It was a short event, but till we meet again next time!

After breakfast, I headed back to the hotel. My friend and I finished packing items (fortunately he was able to hold onto some stuff for me since my luggage was full) and checked out. We made our way to a nearby pharmacy since I needed to pick up some supplements still. One thing I learned on this trip from my girlfriend is instead of looking for things at a pharmacy, try asking a sales clerk. They'll find your items extremely quickly. Apparently they're used to catering to foreigners, since Japanese supplements tend to be quite popular with them. After finding most of the items, we headed to Akihabara to check out another pharmacy. After getting all the items I needed, we headed to a nearby arcade. I got the chance to sit for a while and relax, while my friend played some games. After some time, it was time to head back to the hotel to collect our luggage and head to the airport.

Once we collected our luggage, we walked towards a subway that will take us to Tokyo Station. From there, we made our way through crowds (which wasn't the easiest to do pushing two luggage around). We eventually found the Narita Express platform, paid for tickets, and made our way through. I'm not sure how it occurred, but we somehow got the Green Car. Fortunately, it was only about $8 CAD more to ride the Green Car, though it didn't seem as special in comparison with the regular cars. The main difference were the seats are made out of leather instead of cloth. Either way, it was a comfortable ride to the airport. I think as well, it was the first time I didn't nap on the NEX, heading back. 

Since I'm flying on standby, I wasn't able to check in right away. There were 13 seats left on the flight back to Calgary, while I was 12th on the priority list. I was told to come back in a few hours to see. My friend on the other hand, had a booked seat, so he headed off through security first. Kindly, he got me some more snacks that I had to get, across security, while I was waiting to see if I could get on. I pretty much found a seat and sat there for an hour and half, while reflecting on the trip thus far. When it was nearly time to go check on the status of the flight, I got back up and headed towards the check in counter. At this time, there must have been at least 25-30 other people flying on standby. As the appointed time came and gone, we were told to wait and see. I nervously checked the app every now and then; seeing that there was 13 seats left gave me some sort of relief.

Until one individual, who tried to go through the check in line (and was asked to wait outside the line), went back in the line with her two children in tow. Unlike the last time they tried, they were allowed to check in and head off to security. With a sinking gut feeling that they probably purchased some tickets, I opened the app and saw that there was only 11 seats left. Soon after, my name was called. With renewed optimism, I headed to the counter for the Customer Service Agent to tell me that the flight is now booked, but she'll (the CSA) will check me in as 1st priority for tomorrow's flight. There was nothing I could do, and granted tickets were super cheap, so I didn't expect much. I made my way out of the check in line and decided on what to do for the night.

I pretty much had two options: book a hotel in Narita (where the airport is located), and see what I could do at night there, or make my way back to Tokyo. My girlfriend booked me a hotel ahead of time (with free cancellation fortunately), so I headed back to Asakusa. I was feeling a bit anxious, for this was really my first time on my own in Japan. I decided to take the Sky Access train back to Asakusa, though it felt super crowded this time around in comparison to just over a week ago. As the crowded train started to thin, that was when my spirits started lifting: it'll be a great opportunity to explore, truly, on my own.

I made my way back to the hotel in Asakusa, carrying my two luggage up stairs (didn't want to take the elevator). After checking in, I dropped off my luggage and started to extract a pair of socks and underwear to wash. I didn't anticipate staying an extra day, so I had to do some laundry. I ate some onigiri that I had in my bag, for the flight, while thinking of what to do. With renewed vigor, I headed back out for dinner. The nice thing about Asakusa, like I mentioned before, it's not very touristy (besides near the temple). I went back to Yakiniku Like (first visited in 2023) and had my first and only yakiniku meal. After filling up on meat, I went to a 24 hour pharmacy (Seims) to purchase some items that I wasn't able to find earlier in the morning. With my stomach full, and pretty much all shopping done, I headed back to the hotel to retire for the night.

Despite feeling anxious about not being able to fly home, it was exciting to truly travel on my own. Yes, I'm relatively familiar with Asakusa and Tokyo, and it's not truly exploring a new place by myself, but it felt somewhat liberating. I remember being able to fall asleep rather quickly, after showering, due to all the events that took place during the day.

Hopefully, I thought (and in retrospect, I was able to fly back) that I would be able to fly back tomorrow on the 14th. 

Don't mind the dirty window, but similar views to my first night in Japan! Somewhat ironic in my opinion. 

Day 9 (Aug 12) - Shopping in Tokyo

 With really only a day to shop, we got up super early to get started. I first headed off to a nearby supermarket called Peacock. There were a number of items I was told to get, and with the help of my friend, we were able to get most of them in about 30-40 minutes. We went back to our hotel to drop it off before heading to our next location.

In Akihabara, our first stop was Yodabashi. There's a subway line that connects to the front, which made it super convenient to enter. My dad was looking for a santoku knife, mentioned that Yodabashi would sell these. I always thought of Yodabashi as a giant electronic department store, but lo and behold, we were able to find the kitchen supplies section. After looking at the variety of knives they had in stock, I managed to pick up one for him, while getting myself a santoku knife as well. (Hopefully this will encourage me to cook more at home... which kinda worked so far). 

After making a few more purchases throughout the different floors, we headed back towards a Gundam store near the JR station that my brother mentioned. He was looking for a few Gundam to add to his collection. I don't recall the exact name of this store, but it was quite busy. There were a whole bunch of p-Bandai stuff (limited edition kits), which I can see why it was a huge draw for mecha fans. If I were still into building Gundam, this would be a paradise for me. I did enjoy looking at the variety of kits they had for sale, but thought either they marked up the prices by a large margin, or Gundam kits are just super expensive now.  

Once purchases were done, we then headed to a bookstore, so that my friend can purchase some books. Unlike the other regions of Akihabara, this store wasn't full of tourists. There were literally floors and floors of different books, with all sorts of genres. Once he was done with his purchases, we headed back to the station. He was off to meet a friend of his, while I had a bunch of items to look for in different parts of Tokyo.

I first headed back to the hotel to drop off all the shopping before heading back to Akihabara via the subway. This was the easiest way for me to head off to Nakano Broadway (instead of taking a bus, I opted to take the Chuo line). Nakano Broadway wasn't as busy as I recalled, but there wasn't anything that I was looking for in the various stores I checked. Slightly dejected, it was off to Odaiba. It wasn't quite rush hour yet, so I was able to find a seat on the train for the hour ride. At Odaiba, my first stop was to check out Gundam Front (the large Gundam store on the 7th floor). It's gotten to be so busy that you need a reservation to enter the store. Unfortunately, all tickets were sold out (according to the person holding an English sign). With some time to spare, I took the time to wander around Diver City (the mall which Gundam Front is located). Out of all the times I've been here, I never really gave it a good look. Nothing did catch my eye however, so I headed outside to take a picture of the full size Unicorn Gundam. I was waiting in Odaiba for a while, since I had to check in for my flight the next day. (Being a standby passenger meant the sooner I checked in, the better the chance of getting onto the flight).

With about an hour to check in, I decided to walk around the artificial island for a while before heading back into Diver City to find a spot to sit. I ended up back at the cafeteria (after getting some rice balls, since that was all I ate throughout the day) and waited to check in. When it was time, I quickly went through the steps, taking about 2 minutes to complete. I guess I was too slow, for I ended up being 12th in line for the flight back to YYC.

With everything done, I messaged my friend to meet up for dinner. Deciding to go on the Yurikamome (instead of the Rinkai line that I took to Odaiba), I walked off to Daiba station. The ride was relatively quick, and I met up my friend and his friend at Nippori station. We walked off to an Izakaya through the various streets that make up Nippori. I've never been to Nippori before, but it was relatively tourist free. Once we found an Izakaya that could fit us three, we got in and sat down. It was a tiny bar, with perhaps enough seats for 7 people. There was an inner room that could fit a few more tables, but it looked relatively cramped too. Despite the lack of room, the food was good, and I was quite satisfied (despite not eating all day). 

After dinner, which my friend's friend graciously paid for us (it was cash only and I didn't carry enough cash on me), we headed back to the hotel. Lots of travelling within Tokyo for me that wasn't as fruitful as I wanted it to be. 

I wasn't able to find what I wanted from Odaiba, but it's always a nice sight to find Unicorn Gundam. 

Day 8 (Aug 11) - Almost Didn't Make it Back to Tokyo

Our flight was scheduled at 8:30 PM; we wanted as much time as possible if we were doing the cycle, to make it to Hiroshima. With that not being an issue (with the rain), we were able to wake up later than usual. Feeling a bit hungry, I headed downstairs to grab some snacks from the vending machine, and a milk tea. After eating, we cleaned up and checked out of our room.

After leaving our luggage at the hotel, we headed to another mall that was connected to a shopping street. There was some reprieve from the rain as it lightened down a bit. After exploring the mall for a while, we stumbled across a variety of different shops like a pop up Chiikawa store, Snoopy store and various other famous characters. After spending some time purchasing some small goods, we left the mall to find lunch. After walking around for a bit, we found a curry place that wasn't a Coco Ichibanya. We entered at the right time, for people were finishing up their meals, hence we were able to grab a table. Both of us decided to settle for a katsu curry, which they prepared quite quickly. The curry was different than other Japanese curry I've had, though it was quite good. After completing our meals, we paid and left for another mall.

Like the other malls, there wasn't anything in particular that was unique, save for the top floor vending machine. We've noticed a special Tully's Fizzpresso drink. Tully is known for making coffee drinks, but this one is special. It was a carbonated espresso drink, flavoured with lime. It was as bad as it sounded.

With nothing else to do, we decided to head early to the airport. We went back to the hotel to grab our luggage and made our way towards the bus stop to catch a bus to the airport. With the rain coming back, and harder than it was in the morning, we were fortunate enough to flag down a taxi. Instead of asking to take us to the bus stop, we asked the driver to make the 1 hour drive to the airport. 

Luckily we decided to leave early. There was an insane amount of traffic everywhere. What should have taken 10-15 minutes to leave the city took over 70 minutes. As we approach the toll road that would lead us straight to the airport, it turned out that it was temporarily blocked. Further down the road, a landslide (or some other natural disaster), or maybe the possibility of one (since I'm unable to find news of a landslide that took place recently) prevented all traffic from going through, and you had to go through a longer path to reach the airport. With time running out, we had to make a decision on what to do. The taxi driver mentioned to us that it would be very difficult (muzukashii) to make it to the airport in time. If you ever hear someone say muzukashii, it literally means it's impossible. With that in mind, the only other ways I could think of to getting to Tokyo were to take a bus or the shinkansen (bullet train). Frantically, I downloaded the Shinkansen app, made an account and tried purchasing tickets. It seemed like other people were getting the same idea, for it was difficult to get tickets. Fortunately, we were able to secure two seats with luggage access on a train that was leaving in about an hour and 40 minutes. The taxi driver then took us to the station in about 30-40 minutes. All in all, for two hours in the taxi, it was only about $70 CAD. A lot better than I expected for a ride that long.

Since we had a bit of time to spare, we shopped for ekiben (train station bento) for the nearly 3 hour and 30 minute ride back to Tokyo. Despite it being difficult to book seats, the Nozomi 62 shinkansen was only about 70% full. As we made it back to Tokyo station, we got out of the station and started heading towards our last hotel for the trip. Unfortunately, there were two hotels in the area we were in (Nihombashi) that had the same name, with only the ending being different. Going to the wrong hotel, we had to take another 10 minutes to walk towards the right hotel. We finally made it after midnight. Our rooms were located in the annex building behind the main building, so we went out and walked a small distance to the door leading us to the elevator. Being Tokyo, this was by far the smallest room we had throughout this trip. It was good to finally relax. After taking a shower, I got ready for bed.

The next day will be full of shopping. Almost done! 

A Chiikawa ramen shop near the Chiikawa store. 

EDIT: I forgot to mention that they ended up delaying our plane departure time from around 8:30 PM to nearly 12 AM. If we stuck it out with the taxi, we might have been able to make it. 

Day 7 (Aug 10) - Onto Rainy Hiroshima

Before heading off, we walked to a nearby kissaten for breakfast. The atmosphere was cozy and the food was alright. After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to do a final pack before checking out. Our time was done in Shikoku so we headed back to the bus terminal/stop that was near the train station. With about 15 minutes to spare, we stood and waited for the bus. It seemed like a lot of other people were heading to Hiroshima from Imabari, for the amount of people waiting at the stop continued to increase until the bus arrived. After storing our luggage underneath the cargo hold, we boarded the bus.

Due to waking up early on a daily basis, I was getting quite sleepy. I was drifting to sleep every now and then. With the cloudy skies and eventual rain, the scenery wasn't the most pleasing. Our bus essentially took the road version of the Shimanami Kaido. There were open expanses of the Seto Inland Sea, though the lighting didn't do it justice. Can I claim that I "did" the cycle now, due to seeing most of the sights that I would have if I were able to cycle? 

After we arrived at the JR Hiroshima station, the rain was starting to really come down. Not wanting to walk or take the tram to our hotel, we opted to get a taxi to our hotel. The rain and high humidity made the glass doors all fogged up at the hotel entrance. We were able to check in and drop our luggage into our room. With limited choices, we settled on heading to a nearby mall to spend the rest of the afternoon/early evening. Fortunately, we had ponchos so we donned them on before heading out.

The mall nearby had a large supermarket on the main floor, while there were other smaller stores throughout the store. After wandering for a while, we decided to settle for dinner at the okonomiyaki restaurant on the main floor. Hiroshima has their own style of okonomiyaki where the different ingredients are layered instead of mixed. After waiting for a while, our meals came out. The okonomiyaki was decent, though a bit dry for my tastes. After eating, we headed back to the supermarket to grab some more food. A sushi platter looked quite good, thus we grabbed one and a few rice balls. I also got to try a bag of Kyushu soy sauce Calbee chips. There was also a different mint ice cream, in which you had to squeeze the cup before eating to crush the chocolate layer. 

We headed back to the hotel to eat and just chill for the rest of the evening. There was a variety show which showcased different people (really Japanese people vs foreigners) in an arm wrestling competition. That entertained us for a while, before heading off to sleep. Just a few more days to go! 

The arm wrestling tournament variety show. This was the final match between a foreigner and a Japanese guy. Turns out Bobby Ologun is a variety star in Japan. Hard to believe he's 59 years old! They kept taunting him, calling him an old guy during the tournament. 

Day 6 (Aug 9) - Staying in the tallest building in Ehime and most memorable meal!

 With our stay over in Matsuyama, it was time to set off to our next city: Imabari. Originally, we wanted to cycle the Shimanami Kaido on the 10th and 11th. However, according to the forecast and greying skies, there was going to be a whole lot of rain hitting the region. Either way, we made our way back to the JR station to catch the limited express train that will take us to Imabari.

The ride was only about an hour. Upon arrival, my initial impressions of Imabari was a quiet countryside city. As we were making our way to our hotel, we noticed a bus stop nearby that was selling tickets that we needed to head back to Honshu (since we weren't doing the cycle anymore). After getting our tickets, we continued looking for our hotel. Skies were quite overcast, and it started to rain ever so slightly. As we were navigating, it seemed we were getting further and further away from hotels. The buildings we were passing by seemed to only be a few stories high. About 400 m away, we noticed a huge tower standing, what seemed to be, in the middle of no where. It turned out that building was our hotel: Imabari Kokusai Hotel.

Normally, I would stay in a business hotel due to them being the most economically friendly. Imabari Kokusai was only about $10-20 more, so we decided to book it back in  July. I had to say I didn't expect the hotel to be that grand for only that much extra money. It certainly hits the point that the further away you stay, the more you get for your money. The main lobby was extravagant and the service was by far the best we received during the trip. After dropping off our luggage, since it was too early to check in, we headed out to look for lunch.

Our first destination was the Imabari Towel Head Store. As we walked towards the store, we stumbled across a small restaurant. Despite it being noon, there was not a single soul inside besides an elderly couple watching TV. The man seemed well into his 70-80s with hyper kyphosis (bent back), while the woman seemed to suffer a similar fate. A bit startled, the woman greeted us and led us to a table. We ordered off the menu and waited for our food. In the meanwhile, the woman came back with a bottle of freshly made cold green tea (not typical tea you get at other restaurants). Drinking the tea reminded me of all the time my dad used to brew tea at home. I took in the scenery of the restaurant, which seemed to be molded after a Japanese home. It kind of reminded me of the dining room in the homestay at Yufuin - a homey vibe unlike a commercial restaurant. The decor seemed to be based on the mid 80s or so (or more like my grandparents place in Yamanashi). 

Soon after, we received our meals. I got a regular oyakodon (mother and child rice bowl) which consists of tender chicken mixed with egg. I don't think I ever had oyakodon before, but the taste was unimaginably good. Granted, it may have been a bit of bias due to setting, pity for the elderly couple who still need to work at their age  (I'm assuming they need to work... could be they just enjoy running a business still), and hunger, but it was by far the best meal I had throughout this trip. I'm not much of a foodie; most meals I had would be classified as bad or good. However, this oyakodon evoked such emotions, with the last event being the oyster and large intestine noodles I had at the night market in Taiwan. I can't really describe it, but it tasted like a home cooked meal. (Which it was.)

After eating, paying and giving our thanks on how good the food was, we headed back on a trek to the head store. The streets were quiet, as we walked through residential areas to get to the store. When we arrived, we were greeted with at least a hundred different varieties of towels. Pricing wasn't too bad either, and I ended up getting towels for my relatives, close family and for my own house. There was a small demonstration in a glass building outside, so we went to check that out after paying. Once we got our fill, we walked across the street to the mall/arcade. We spent some time exploring, while playing some games at the arcade. The mall itself wasn't super modern inside; reminded me of the mall close to my girlfriend's house in Hong Kong with the aesthetics. After spending a few hours there to kill some time, we headed back towards our hotel to go visit the castle.

Being the third castle this trip, I didn't have high hopes for anything remarkably different. I was proven to be wrong as we entered, for they turned the entire castle (or at least the main keep) into a museum with art and artifacts. With nothing else to do, we spend time going over the various exhibits (there was also a mini science centre inside), before heading back to the hotel to check in. Our bags were brought up into our room ahead of time. Sitting down in the plush chairs, we sat and talked for a bit before thinking of what to eat for dinner. In the end, we decided to head back to the elderly couple's restaurant for dinner. As we approached, one patron left. We both ordered an omurice, in which the elderly man got to work. His wife was no where in sight, so he was left to watch the restaurant on his own. 

The omurice was good, but not as spectacular as the oyakodon from lunch. For about $5 though, it was a fulfilling meal. I say this now, but if I was living in Imabari, I would stop by more often at this restaurant. As we made our way back, we stopped by a dessert place to pick up some cake and pudding. Feeling that it wasn't "enough", we went to a nearby convenience store to purchase more monaka ice cream. 

Compared to the first and third day in Shikoku, it was a relatively laid back day. As I grow older, I'm starting to appreciate days on vacation where I don't try and fit in as many sights/sites as possible.

At Imabari castle - this reminded me of Fushimi Inari in Kyoto (the place with a 1000 Torii gates). 

Day 5 (Aug 8) - Takamatsu

We started the day by sampling the three orange jellies that were purchased the day before. Each of the jellies had a distinct taste, with one being considerably stronger than the other two. After filling up with more fluids, it was off to Takamatsu. 

There was a bit of confusion on which tram to take to the Matsuyama station, and we did end up taking the wrong one. We ended up a bit further away from the station than anticipated, but close enough for us to walk the last half. With the cloudy conditions, it was not a sweaty walk to the station. Once we arrived, we waited at the platform that would take us all the way to the east side of Shikoku. The train rails were right against the coast, but everything did appear to be gloomy outside. 

Upon arrival Takamatsu Smile station (famous for having a emoji like smile at the front... or was it called Shikoku Smile Station... can't recall), we ventured to a restaurant inside the station for lunch. Kagawa prefecture is known for sanuki udon, so we both ended up getting an udon dish. I wanted some additional protein, so I ordered a set that had tuna sashimi on the side. I didn’t anticipate it would be a sashimi rice bowl, thus eating more than I normally would eat in one meal. Fuelled by carbs, I was ready to head off to our first destination: Ritsurin garden.

I’ve been to the gardens 10 years ago, yet I was eagerly anticipating seeing it again. To date, it is my favorite garden in Japan. The sun was starting to creep out a bit, so we ensured that we were adequately covered in sunscreen after we reached the right station. The walk to the garden was reminiscent; so was the price of entrance into the museum! I couldn't recall the walk through the garden 10 years ago, so everything did feel relatively new. There was a large museum that I didn't get a chance to explore (or I don't think I did) 10 years back. Going through the museum, it explained what Ritsurin garden was all about. Right after leaving the museum, we continued along the recommended path till we reached the scenic spot known as Hirai-ho. After snapping a few pictures, it was back to the train station to head off to the next location.

We took a train that led us near Mount Yashima. For the next 10-15 minutes or so, we made our way towards Shikoku Mura - an open air museum dedicated to various buildings throughout Shikoku. If I recall correctly, the creator (and others) wanted to preserve traditional homes/buildings/small factories throughout Shikoku and relocate them onto a large plot of land. We initially thought that the 1600 yen entrance fee was steep for a Japanese museum, but we soon realized why it was so expensive. This entire area was massive! Unfortunately, we only had about two hours to venture throughout the entire 50,000 square meters meaning that we sped through the various exhibits. There were various houses, a soy sauce brewing factory (where you can actually still faintly smell the soy sauce embedded into the wooden barrels), light house, and a modern mini museum housing art. I highly doubt I'll be back in Shikoku in the near future, but I wouldn't mind spending a whole day to explore the various exhibits if I ever get the opportunity to do so. 

With Shikoku Mura complete, we headed back to Takamatsu Station so we can head to our final destination for the day: a shopping arcade. Apparently, it's the largest in all of Japan. We probably walked a good km or so, before deciding to head back near the entrance (closest to the station) to stop for dinner. Another specialty, besides sanuki udon, is their Awaodori chicken. How I think of it, whether I'm accurate or not, is their version of Kobe beef (or high end wagyu). We found a restaurant that served just Awaodori chicken, but it had a relatively long line. Not wanting to miss the last train back to Matsuyama, we ventured across the street to an udon restaurant that also served Awaodori. After sitting down and placing our orders, we eagerly awaited our food. When the chicken came out with the udon, it smelled quite good - a nice mixture of seasoning plus the chicken grease pooling at the bottom of the drumstick. The Awaodori chicken was quite tender, though I'm not sure if I can classify it as being better than a regular well done chicken. Either way, it was delicious, and something that I would get again if I'm ever in Takamatsu.

With our stomachs full, we headed back to Takamatsu station to catch the train back to Matsuyama. After arriving back in Matsuyama, we grabbed a late ice cream snack before heading back to the hotel. I have yet to find the mint chocolate ice cream that I usually get in the convenience stores, but I managed to find a popsicle styled mint chocolate ice cream. It was pretty good, though I'm not sure if it is as good as the one I usually get. With that said, I'm more than halfway through my trip to Japan this summer. (Or so I thought... but that's for another post!)

The arch bridge at Ritsurin garden. I was lucky enough to catch a boat tour!

Day 4 (Aug 7) - Exploring more of Matsuyama, including Dogo Onsen!

 After not getting proper sleep for a while, it was great to get in a full 8 hours in. With the impending rain, we swapped exploring Matsuyama with Ozu the day before. The weather forecast held true, for quite soon after I awoken, it started to rain. It didn't seem to bad, so we got dressed and headed out to see if we can grab breakfast nearby. Our room was located in the annex, meaning there was an open bridge connecting us to the main building. As we crossed the bridge, we noticed how heavy the rain has gotten. Not wanting to get drenched, we headed back to the room to wait out the rain.

Fortunately, it only was about an hour before the rain subsided enough for us to venture out. We decided to head by to the nearby Coco Ichibanya - a chain of Japanese curry restaurants. Since it just opened, we were the first customers in the door. Not wanting a regular rice curry, I opted for a curry udon. Besides the curry udon that my girlfriend cooked from time to time, the last time I had a curry udon was probably university. My bowl of curry udon (with a side of katsu on top and seasonal vegetables), along with a side salad came out quite quickly. It may be a chain restaurant, but they make a mean, and consistent curry dish. Satisfied, we headed back to the hotel for a bit before venturing out for the day. At this time, there was nearly no more rain.

Our first stop was to Matsuyama castle. To reach the castle, that was high up on a mountain, we took a cable car up. The ride was unremarkable and short. Upon reaching the top, instead of going straight to inside the castle, we decided to walk around first. We stumbled across a park/garden nearby. It didn't seem to be on the radar for most tourists, for the park/garden was quite empty. With most gardens (and parks as well) that I've been to, most of them tend to have curved sides/shapes throughout. This particular one was very angular and square/rectangular like. It gave a different vibe in comparison with the others, which was a nice sight. After getting our fill of the park/garden, we went back up to the castle. Unlike Ozu castle, there were more tourists inside exploring, but not as busy as some of the other castles like Osaka or Himeji. Once we finished exploring, we headed to refresh ourselves with some mikan shaved ice at the nearby cafeteria. I wasn't really impressed for it seems like they threw on marmalade on top of some ice. The flavor was complex enough with both the flesh and rind included. 

After eating, we headed back down the mountain. Instead of going back in the cable car, we opted to try the chair lift instead. Once we got back to the bottom, we walked to our next destination: Bansuiso. Bansuiso is a historical mansion based on French architecture. According to the official tourism site, Bansuiso is the oldest reinforced concrete building in Ehime. The rooms were mostly bare with videos set up to talk about the life of the Count who had the house built. The thing I did notice the most was the amount of black mold on the vents... which did make me a bit queasy. Luckily we didn't spend too much time before heading out and back to our hotel. We did make a quick stop at a souvenir shop between Bansuiso and the hotel so that I could buy some omiyage (souvenirs in Japanese) for some relatives. We also got different flavored orange jellies to try out later.

Once I dropped off my shopping at the hotel, we headed to the last destination for the day: Dogo Onsen. According to lore, it is the oldest onsen in Japan, especially the main building: Dogo Onsen Honkan. Being about 3000 years old meant it was super busy. I took a few pictures of the outside, but didn't get a chance to go inside. Based on the pictures I've seen online on the onsen itself (along with the rooms that you could rent), it didn't seem I was missing much. Instead, we went to another nearby souvenir shop to get more gifts and omiyage. The older I get, the more I feel like I rather spend time at souvenir shops sadly. After purchasing our goods, we headed back to the hotel on the tram, in which we started to get used to navigating. Dropping off more shopping, we headed back to Okaido to a shop that caught our eye yesterday.

Dinner was mazemen - ramen without the broth, but substituted with a whole whack of flavors and sauce. I think I prefer tsukemen over mazemen, but the mixture of different flavors hits harder than tsukemen. At times, thinking back now, it felt a bit overwhelming, but I enjoyed it all the same. I'm not sure if it is at all mazemen restaurants, but once you're done eating noodles, you can ask for some plain rice to mix with the left over sauce. Once we finished eating, we headed back to the hotel for the night. With dessert waiting, the Botchan dumplings (named after the titular character written by the famous Natsume Soseki. Botchan was a bit of a rogue child growing up, but grew up with high morale as he ventured in life) was apparently a delicacy. Maybe we bought the wrong type of Botchan dumplings, but they were mediocre at best. Apparently the three colored dango should have different flavors, but they tasted nearly identical to me. The souvenir box also contained Taruto - a roll, sponge cake containing sweet bean paste. Once again, it was mediocre. Perhaps if we gotten these fresh, and not from a souvenir store but one that specialized in making these sweets, it would be a lot better.

That marked the end of the second day in Matsuyama. One more day left in this city before moving on. 

A picture of the park/garden. You can barely make out the castle at the top. Good thing it was cloudy, but I was still sweating quite a bit from the climb down and up. 

Day 3 (Aug 6) - Off to Ehime! The last of the 4 prefectures I have to visit in Shikoku!

 Little did I know, this trip would be marked by a lack of sleep. I got in around 3 hours of sleep after managing to pass out just after 1 AM. I guess the nerves of missing my early morning flight, along with the excitement of travelling to a new city, made it difficult to fall asleep.

After getting up at 4 AM, I got ready to leave the hotel. My girlfriend helped me with some last minute packing before we said goodbye to one another. She stayed back for a few more days in Tokyo before heading back to Calgary, while I had a week left in Japan. This also was my first time travelling solo on Japanese transit. Fortunately, or so I thought, armed with Google maps, I headed with my luggage to the nearby entrance to the subway. I had about 10-15 minutes to spare before the subway made its way to my station. I wanted to contact my girlfriend telling her I made it, while also telling my friend which whom I would be meeting up soon, but I had no cellular data. I knew my esim was working the day before, but somehow, a VPN was installed onto my phone. For a split second, I was able to get a message from my friend asking which train car I would be on, but I wasn't able to respond back. Fortunately, I had a screenshot of the subway I needed to take. I boarded the train and made my way to Haneda airport.

After getting off at Haneda's subway station, I made my way up the escalator. With free wi-fi, I quickly connected and made messages I meant to make during my ride. Very soon, I met up my friend and we headed towards JAL's check in to drop off our luggage. We made it through security and had nearly an hour before our flight to Matsuyama, a city in Ehime (Shikoku). Ehime was the only prefecture that I wasn't able to visit back in 2015. Little did I know back then that I would make a trip 10 years later to say I've completed going to all the prefectures in Shikoku. We soon boarded the plane. At the entrance, they offered some hard candy. I took an apple candy and headed towards my seat. With free wi-fi available on the plane, I had some things to kept me company as we travelled, but we ended up just chatting throughout the flight. It took about 50 minutes to get to Matsuyama, for after we took off, it felt that we were getting prepared to land.

After arrival, we quickly gathered our luggage and headed straight to the nearest bus that would take us to the city. It wasn't a super long trip, but I enjoyed looking at this new city from the window. Once we arrived at the JR Matsuyama station, we went to purchase an All Shikoku pass, that would allow us to travel all throughout Shikoku (on JR lines) for the next 3 days. For about $100 CAD, it was well worth the price, especially if you plan on travelling to different prefectures. After that, it was off to find Matsuyama Eki-mae Eki. I was confused by the name, since Eki means station. I thought we were already at the station that we needed to be, in order to get to the city center. However, we soon realized (and how I forgotten) that "mae" means in front. We were looking for the Matsuyama station in front of the [Matsuyama JR] station. Once we found it, we waited for the tram to take us to the city center...

Or so we thought, but we picked the wrong one it seemed. It's hard to explain, but the tram station had 5 different lines, while some of the lines did not loop around the town while one of the lines did. After getting off at a terminal station, we had to cross the street to the other station, to catch the same train that was eventually going to where we wanted to go. As we finally made it to Okaido (relatively large shopping street), we got off and headed to our hotel to drop off our luggage. It was way too early to check in, so we headed off to the shopping street to look for a place to eat. We ended up in front of a ramen shop that specialized in tsukemen. If you never had tsukemen before, think ramen, but with the noodles separated from the broth. Noodles also tend to be cold, while the broth is typically a lot richer than regular ramen broth. What struck out to me, and I'm not being sexist, is that the entire restaurant was operated by women (or at least at that time it was all women). This is the first time I've seen a female ramen chef, in which I whole heartedly was glad to see. The tsukemen came out glistening, with the first initial bites being incredibly tasty. With the super rich broth, you could taste the pork as it coated the noodles. After finishing our meal, we headed back to the tram so that we can head back to the station. 

But on second hand, we decided to walk from Okaido station back to Matsuyama station (JR - anytime I talk about Matsuyama station, it's the JR one). It wasn't too hot yet since it was still relatively early. We saw their prefectural government building (Matsuyama should be the capital of Ehime) and walked through a park (not sure what this area is called). Once we arrived at the station, we had some time to kill before catching the train to our destination. After strolling around their souvenir store, grabbing a mikan flavored (Ehime is known for their oranges) Match drink, we stopped at their resting room. When the train nearly arrived, we headed to the platform to wait. 

The ride to Ozu wasn't terribly long. I saw online that people called Ozu a little Kyoto. As we arrived at the station, it was sweltering hot. The humidity and clear skies did not help at all. Not wanting to increase our chances of skin cancer, we lathered up on sunscreen before heading off to Ozu castle. The streets were quiet, and there weren't too many people out and about. That is one nice thing about small cities and towns. As we approach the castle, drenched with sweat to the point that it started beading on my arms, we noticed that it was notably quiet. We paid the entrance fee and took the time to explore. Like in 2019 when we visited Nagoya Castle, it was nice to take our time to see the different parts and not worrying about moving along. The stairs though, seemed awfully steeper than what I remembered from other castles. It almost felt like I was climbing a ladder instead of going up stairs. They were so steep that I had to climb down backwards, for fear of slipping down. After visiting the castle, we tried locating Ozu's Old Town, a preserved street of old architecture. Perhaps it was due to Obon, but the entire street was shut down. Not seeing much, and being dejected, we had plans to go back to the station. However, there was still a lot of time left before the train would come, so we took some time to cool off at various convenience stores along the way.

I purchased a new pair of runners (Asics Nimbus 26 that were on sale) before Japan, which really helped keep my feet comfortable as we walked back to the station. As a side note, I often had sore heels/feet (or back pain back in 2023) from walking. As we made it back to the station, I took the opportunity to capture some railway photos (which is a strange passion of mine) before boarding the train back to Matsuyama station. After heading back to Matsuyama, and taking the tram to Okaido, we stopped by a nearby food hall in a department store to stock up for dinner. With our purchases in hand, we went back to the hotel to check in and settle down for the night. Dinner included sushi and sashimi. It was also the first time I had a monaka (or so I think...) which is a ice cream dessert surrounded by wafers and had a chocolate center. Quite tasty and relatively cheap!

With the lack of sleep catching up to me, I managed to pass out the moment I laid down in my bed. 

A panorama I took outside of Ozu castle.