Monday, March 15, 2010
Inaugural Asian Tour Pt.2
Sunday morning at 6:30am and the Nagoya subway is already more crowded than the New York City transit at mid-afternoon on a weekday. The platform at the Nagoya JR station was packed with race fans, but fortunately our first class rail passes came in handy again, we were in the front car of a very cool sightseeing train with a virtual all glass surround and huge comfy seats. Well Steve and I were, we could only get 2 first class seats and 1 in regular, very graciously the lads said I should take one of the first class seats as I had organized everything and they drew straws for the other, Dave lost.
As this was a special train and regular traffic had preference on the single track, a relatively short journey took over an hour, we got to Suzuka circuit around 8:30 which was fine with us as the race was not scheduled to start until 2pm. There was a tremendous carnival atmosphere about the place and it seemed virtually everyone had either Honda or Toyota colours on, and they were buying more by the armful. A barra bhoys (a London market trader) dream.
Our seats were located at the entrance to turn one, just at the end of the pit exit line, a superb spot and one of the best overtaking parts of the track. Naturally we had a celebratory beer to mark the occasion and then split up to explore the circuit.
A fantastic wave of aromas sweep over you as you wander around, small stalls everywhere offering tempting morsels of whose origin I had no idea, but what the hell, they were all 3 to 400 yen ($3.50-$4) so I tried everything. When I got back to the seats around noon I was totally full. Steve then starts telling me about an amazing dish he just had of noodles, veggies and fried egg but there was no way I could squeeze one in.
It was a very hot day, which was totally unexpected, fortunately I had brought a hat but Dave hadn’t and it was costing him dearly. When we split up to explore I told him to get a hat but he delayed and now his head looked like a volcano interior.
We were the only westerners in our grandstand, we had seen others while wandering around, but they must have all been sitting in the main stands, probably having bought their tickets through F1 Tours. I had purchased ours directly from the track, which had been quite a challenge, but now so worth it.
Everyone around us were so optimistic of a Japanese victory, what with Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota on pole, Jensen Button’s BAR- Honda second and local hero Takuma Sato’s BAR-Honda in fifth, but unfortunately it all started to unravel right from the get go. Ralf got off to a flyer but Sato was forced wide at the start in turn one and had to pit immediately, then on lap ten he forced Trulli’s Toyota off the track ending his day. Ralf got passed in the pits on lap 26 and finished eighth, Button could only manage fifth. Sato did finish last of the runners but was later disqualified for the incident with Trulli.
Although all the locals were very disappointed this was one of the greatest races ever and the high point happened right in front of us. Kimi Raikkonen pulled off the most astonishing win of his young career, starting from seventeenth on the grid, due to an engine change on Friday, and abysmal rain conditions during Saturday qualifying, he stormed through the field to overtake Giancarlo Fisichella going into turn one on the final lap to take the win and kept McLaren’s constructors title chances alive until the final race of the season, next week in Shanghai, which Dave and I were traveling on to. Steve was not joining us as the American Advantage miles program could not do the routing and the cost of an extra ticket between Tokyo and Shanghai was prohibitive.
We were unable to secure return tickets on a special train and therefore had to make a run for the station as soon as Kimi crossed the finish line. There was a long line when we got to the station but when the first train pulled out we were in position to make the second and luckily did so, Dave was about to pass out from sun-stroke. Unfortunately for Dave like the morning train this one also got stopped a lot and took over an hour to reach Nagoya.
When we got back to the hotel we were all pretty knackered, Dave was done for the day, I had to write my column for Home & Away and Steve was left to his own devices.
Around 9:30 I was almost finished my column and went out to the 711 to grab a snack and bumped into Steve at the traffic light, he was heading to an Aussie bar that someone had tipped him off about. So I joined him and it was a quiet last night in Nagoya.
For the next couple of days we had no set plans so we decided to make Osaka our base, it was only an hour away on the Shinkansen, from there we could visit Hakara, Hiroshima and Kyoto I had looked on the internet and there appeared to be plenty of hotels near Shin Osaka station so we hopped on the nine o’clock train, Dave was feeling a lot better and on the way to Osaka we decided to spend the rest of the day riding the rails after we found a hotel, we figured we could make it down to Hakara with a stop in Hiroshima and back in 8 hours but what we had not figured was that Monday was a national holiday and all the seats on the Shinkansen were reserved.
For once we came out the right side of the station and I spotted the New Osaka Hotel, it was right across the street and they had 3 rooms @ Y8,000 ($69) per night, pretty good for a walk up rate. Asiarooms.com had quoted $65 online.
So with all the south bound trains booked we decided to head for Kyoto as it was only fifteen minutes on the Shinkansen. At the tourist information booth we picked up a map and the agent outlined all the major shrines and temples, although there were signs pointing towards a sightseeing tour bus we were unable to find it, so we headed for the subway to figure out which sites were accessible. Kyoto Imperial Palace was only 3 stops and then Heian-Jingu shrine was a 15/20-minute walk from there, so off we went. Kyoto is a beautiful clean city as befits the ancient capital.
The Imperial Palace was very disappointing but the gardens at the Heian-Jingu shrine were a harmonious blend of stone and plant allotments, sculpted evergreen trees, all interwoven between Lilly ponds with stepping stones from bank to bank.
Upon our return to Osaka we headed downtown and decided to check out the local ex pat bars, first we looked for Murphy’s, but could not find it, so we went looking for the Pig & Whistle, which we found courtesy of a large Union Jack. After a few beers we consulted another pub guide and it showed Murphy’s on a better map, we had been right beside it but did not look-up high enough, it was on the seventh floor which is typical in Japanese cities. We decided to give it another shot and thank god we did as Michael the manager/bartender sent us to a great restaurant for dinner.
Michael was from Foxrock, south Dublin and had gone to Australia six years ago to visit his sister who is married to a Japanese man there. After a few months he decided to head home but wanted to go via Japan so naturally asked his new brother-in-law for some advice. Turns out his brother-in-law owns the bar and made Michael the manager, he has been there ever since.
We had noticed that every bar we had been in Japan so far had Guinness on draft, so we asked Michael about it and he said it was very good, but not until at least 4 or 5 pints had been pulled. Dave and I were up for it but Michael had only pulled 2 pints so far, it was a holiday Monday! Anyway we were getting hungry so we asked for some local recommendations and Michael sent us to his favorite place, at which he explained they spoke no English, hell we were getting used to that.
Well we found it easily enough and of course they wanted to take us downstairs to the traditional style room where you sit cross legged on tatami mats, I showed them that my leg did not bend and they took us back upstairs, everybody saving face. We ordered some sake and three different meat/noodles/broth dishes and they were superb and so cheap Y7800 about $67 for the lot.
After dinner we walked around to get a better look at downtown Osaka and then had to find a subway before they closed.
As this was a special train and regular traffic had preference on the single track, a relatively short journey took over an hour, we got to Suzuka circuit around 8:30 which was fine with us as the race was not scheduled to start until 2pm. There was a tremendous carnival atmosphere about the place and it seemed virtually everyone had either Honda or Toyota colours on, and they were buying more by the armful. A barra bhoys (a London market trader) dream.
Our seats were located at the entrance to turn one, just at the end of the pit exit line, a superb spot and one of the best overtaking parts of the track. Naturally we had a celebratory beer to mark the occasion and then split up to explore the circuit.
A fantastic wave of aromas sweep over you as you wander around, small stalls everywhere offering tempting morsels of whose origin I had no idea, but what the hell, they were all 3 to 400 yen ($3.50-$4) so I tried everything. When I got back to the seats around noon I was totally full. Steve then starts telling me about an amazing dish he just had of noodles, veggies and fried egg but there was no way I could squeeze one in.
It was a very hot day, which was totally unexpected, fortunately I had brought a hat but Dave hadn’t and it was costing him dearly. When we split up to explore I told him to get a hat but he delayed and now his head looked like a volcano interior.
We were the only westerners in our grandstand, we had seen others while wandering around, but they must have all been sitting in the main stands, probably having bought their tickets through F1 Tours. I had purchased ours directly from the track, which had been quite a challenge, but now so worth it.
Everyone around us were so optimistic of a Japanese victory, what with Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota on pole, Jensen Button’s BAR- Honda second and local hero Takuma Sato’s BAR-Honda in fifth, but unfortunately it all started to unravel right from the get go. Ralf got off to a flyer but Sato was forced wide at the start in turn one and had to pit immediately, then on lap ten he forced Trulli’s Toyota off the track ending his day. Ralf got passed in the pits on lap 26 and finished eighth, Button could only manage fifth. Sato did finish last of the runners but was later disqualified for the incident with Trulli.
Although all the locals were very disappointed this was one of the greatest races ever and the high point happened right in front of us. Kimi Raikkonen pulled off the most astonishing win of his young career, starting from seventeenth on the grid, due to an engine change on Friday, and abysmal rain conditions during Saturday qualifying, he stormed through the field to overtake Giancarlo Fisichella going into turn one on the final lap to take the win and kept McLaren’s constructors title chances alive until the final race of the season, next week in Shanghai, which Dave and I were traveling on to. Steve was not joining us as the American Advantage miles program could not do the routing and the cost of an extra ticket between Tokyo and Shanghai was prohibitive.
We were unable to secure return tickets on a special train and therefore had to make a run for the station as soon as Kimi crossed the finish line. There was a long line when we got to the station but when the first train pulled out we were in position to make the second and luckily did so, Dave was about to pass out from sun-stroke. Unfortunately for Dave like the morning train this one also got stopped a lot and took over an hour to reach Nagoya.
When we got back to the hotel we were all pretty knackered, Dave was done for the day, I had to write my column for Home & Away and Steve was left to his own devices.
Around 9:30 I was almost finished my column and went out to the 711 to grab a snack and bumped into Steve at the traffic light, he was heading to an Aussie bar that someone had tipped him off about. So I joined him and it was a quiet last night in Nagoya.
For the next couple of days we had no set plans so we decided to make Osaka our base, it was only an hour away on the Shinkansen, from there we could visit Hakara, Hiroshima and Kyoto I had looked on the internet and there appeared to be plenty of hotels near Shin Osaka station so we hopped on the nine o’clock train, Dave was feeling a lot better and on the way to Osaka we decided to spend the rest of the day riding the rails after we found a hotel, we figured we could make it down to Hakara with a stop in Hiroshima and back in 8 hours but what we had not figured was that Monday was a national holiday and all the seats on the Shinkansen were reserved.
For once we came out the right side of the station and I spotted the New Osaka Hotel, it was right across the street and they had 3 rooms @ Y8,000 ($69) per night, pretty good for a walk up rate. Asiarooms.com had quoted $65 online.
So with all the south bound trains booked we decided to head for Kyoto as it was only fifteen minutes on the Shinkansen. At the tourist information booth we picked up a map and the agent outlined all the major shrines and temples, although there were signs pointing towards a sightseeing tour bus we were unable to find it, so we headed for the subway to figure out which sites were accessible. Kyoto Imperial Palace was only 3 stops and then Heian-Jingu shrine was a 15/20-minute walk from there, so off we went. Kyoto is a beautiful clean city as befits the ancient capital.
The Imperial Palace was very disappointing but the gardens at the Heian-Jingu shrine were a harmonious blend of stone and plant allotments, sculpted evergreen trees, all interwoven between Lilly ponds with stepping stones from bank to bank.
Upon our return to Osaka we headed downtown and decided to check out the local ex pat bars, first we looked for Murphy’s, but could not find it, so we went looking for the Pig & Whistle, which we found courtesy of a large Union Jack. After a few beers we consulted another pub guide and it showed Murphy’s on a better map, we had been right beside it but did not look-up high enough, it was on the seventh floor which is typical in Japanese cities. We decided to give it another shot and thank god we did as Michael the manager/bartender sent us to a great restaurant for dinner.
Michael was from Foxrock, south Dublin and had gone to Australia six years ago to visit his sister who is married to a Japanese man there. After a few months he decided to head home but wanted to go via Japan so naturally asked his new brother-in-law for some advice. Turns out his brother-in-law owns the bar and made Michael the manager, he has been there ever since.
We had noticed that every bar we had been in Japan so far had Guinness on draft, so we asked Michael about it and he said it was very good, but not until at least 4 or 5 pints had been pulled. Dave and I were up for it but Michael had only pulled 2 pints so far, it was a holiday Monday! Anyway we were getting hungry so we asked for some local recommendations and Michael sent us to his favorite place, at which he explained they spoke no English, hell we were getting used to that.
Well we found it easily enough and of course they wanted to take us downstairs to the traditional style room where you sit cross legged on tatami mats, I showed them that my leg did not bend and they took us back upstairs, everybody saving face. We ordered some sake and three different meat/noodles/broth dishes and they were superb and so cheap Y7800 about $67 for the lot.
After dinner we walked around to get a better look at downtown Osaka and then had to find a subway before they closed.
