| Author | Message | ||
     X1glider |
I got lucky this morning and am able to log on while the server is being maintained, otherwise my net access is completely restricted. Let's see if I can finish this before they block me. Most of you know I've been here since the turn of the new year and you've probably realized you've been getting more accurate advice in my absence! I've missed BWB! And I've been missing out on a few things from a scan of the topics. But no matter, I'm having a good time 15 hours away. I've finally gotten past working the long hours getting accustomed to the way things are done. The language barrier isn't bad either. There's no shortage of people who can manage "some" English, which is more than I can say about Houston! I generally am able to find someone to share my lunch with and make small talk. Despite America's decline in popularity, the S. Koreans are still curious about us and are willing to be friendly and chat for fun. We're all just people after all. Let the goverments be assholes if they want, but leave us out of it. I gave up on the idea of picking up a cheap motorcycle because of licensing and insurance problems, so I picked up a mountain bike to get around. Been finding trails scattered around the outskirts of the city on the weekends. But generally it's been helping me explore the city's offering rather quickly. I've found all the parks and "safe" night spots. But I have come across the bad sections too, luckily only in the day. I'll still probably end up renting a motorcycle in the future to get out to the countryside. I've just joined a rugby team of 20-40 something transplants, mostly from the Commonwealth. Right now, we're still in practice mode, and we're looking forward to game 1 so we can drink and sing with the opposition. So far this has been the only group of people I've made friends with, and that's only been 2 weeks so far. Up til then the loneliness was getting to me. Things are getting better. Been going out most weekends and checking out the music. Plenty that I like but the singing is horrible! Also there are formal rules of engagement when meeting people in clubs. I've been doing the wallflower act and letting others approach me. The ones that do are generally just curious about me and why I'm there. And damn, the drinks are pricy! Or maybe they're just suckering me! Regardless of the cold and wet for the past couple weeks, the view over the Sea of Japan out of my 4th floor apartment is spectacular in the morning and evening. The windows are frequently open and the salty air elicts comforting memories of my days spent on the Jersey shore! Plently of nautical activity to keep me amused. But I won't admit to actually knowing what's up. I could get day or 2 old papers from LA or NYC, but somehow, being oblivious is less stressful. Got a couple of cuties on my floor too. No English tho. Maybe they won't care! I won't be back once a month like I thought, I'm way too busy. But most likely I'll comehome in the late summer for a bit. It's not a bad thing tho. I've got plenty of activities to occupy my time and new friends, finally. I've been taking tourist trips, seeing the sights, exploring on my own. It's been fun so far. In March, I'll be in Japan for 4 days. It's my plan the go abroad every 2 months. Let's see, I've visited 52 different countries in my life and this makes the 4th that I've lived in. Of all the places I've been to, I still believe I can't say I've been to al 52. I can only say that if I've lived there and immersed myself in the culture for a significant peopiod of time. Those short trips have been nothing more than an expensive coffee table book. This, here and now, is traveling! I don't know when and if I'll be able to log back on in the future. But at least I have e-mail. CJMBlast has been my BWB chat buddy for the duration of my trip. She's learned more about me than she ever wanted to know, all the dirt included! Thanks for keeping me sane. Everyone, be safe, don't ride in the snow without your chains, and I'll talk to you later. Bob | ||
| Cjmblast |
X1 good to see you posting !! Hope you get another chance soon, especially to catch up on the news !! Seeing as you have the dirt on me, I won't be sharing any I know about you !! Beside's, I'm waaaayyyy badder than you ! (is that even good english? CJM  | ||
| Road_Thing |
X1G: Glad to hear from you! Is your profile e-mail address still valid? (CJMB, feel free to chime in here in case Bob's locked out). r-t | ||
| Cjmblast |
RT - Yep, still valid !! I'd add it to my contact list though, typing it in each and every time will be a bi---!! CJM | ||
| X1glider |
Wow! Lucky twice in a row! A few pics of my surroundings: lets see if I can remember how... The view from my balcony. ok it's not really spectacular. But it beats the hell out of Galveston bay!  view of city from pusan tower 120m high  the market place: Phillyblast: you owe me cheese steaks for the carb. Please send quickly, I'm starving to death!  | ||
| X1glider |
Kwanganli Beach, a couple minutes wark from my pad.  Beomosa: a Budhist temple nearby   | ||
| X1glider |
L-T: Yes, e-mair in plofire stirr good. See how I've picked up the ranguage? ok, runch time is ovel. | ||
| Blake |
Great to hear from you Bob! Will be going after all the Jap 600's this Saturday at Oak Hill Raceway. Will be thinking of ya. There was a guy on an XB9R taking the new racer school last week. Don't know if he intends to race it or not. | ||
| Phillyblast |
bob, virtual cheesesteaks are in the mail - hehe carb is still in the box btw, 2 feet of snow on the ground, more falling. thinking about getting a couple thousand sheetmetal screws and making some of those ice-racing tires for the Blast. no mustang (buried, won't go in this stuff anyway), no S2, damn I really wish the deal on the jeep hadn't fallen through. I own a summertime car and a 2 motorcycles, and live on a hill  beautiful pics, btw. | ||
| Whatever |
What ?!?! CJ has been holding out on me ??? I thought we told each other everything... I just was thinking about you the other day BOB.... Glad you are healthy and experiencing life to the fullest !!! Stay away from the cheap wine and cheap women... Char | ||
| Road_Thing |
Yeah, Bob, the expensive women are worth the $$$... r-t | ||
| Redstripe |
Bob; Great to hear from You! Thanks again for that marvellous Valentines mail You sent me! LOL I even see You're converted to the metric system now, posting height in metres. Great!  Will update You in the near future over recent happenings. Off on my dinner date for now, Jilles. | ||
| Cjmblast |
Well I may be easy, but I sure ain't cheap !!! LOL CJM  | ||
| Rocketman |
Nuthin' wong with cheap chicks Bob just double rubber!!! AND KEEP YER HEAD DOWN Rocket  | ||
| Cjmblast |
Rocketman, your sick !!!!! At least RT has class !!! LOL CJM | ||
| Newfie_Buell |
Just got to love the humor of the Brits. Coffee on the keyboard once again. | ||
| Rocketman |
Well I always find the expensive chicks leave make-up on the pillow...... WHOOOHA Rocket | ||
| Cjmblast |
rocketman, that would be the "trashy" chicks that leave make-up !! CJM | ||
| Phillyblast |
no, the trashy chicks don't leave makeup on the *pillow* | ||
| X1glider |
I finally got to take my first trip abroad from abraod. I landed in Narita (New Tokyo International) 60 km east of Tokyo on Thursday March 13 then took the train into town to the hotel, about 1 hour. I stayed in the Clarion for the weekend and just mosied around on foot, subway and train for the hell of it. I really wanted to take a bullet train ride but didn't find one at the stations I wandered into. There is one called the Asahi (like the beer) that goes back to the airport but I couldn't get the schedule. Next time. The hotel clerks pointed me in the appropriate directions each day. First stop was the imperial palace since it was only a couple minutes walk from the hotel. In the early afternoon, it was onto wandering around. I just headed in a direction and browsed, taking in the sights and sounds, observing the residents. It's like an ant colony. Everyone has a purpose and they're damn quick going about it. In and out of the subways and trains all day long. It was like being back in London for me, only harder to read the maps. I found Ginza, kind of like a subcity or ward, where the upper echelon shop. Reminds me plenty of certain USA metropoli (is that a word?). Friday, another direction took me to Nakano (another ward) to see the Philosophical Palace and Meijei for a tour. Browsed the city and shopped some more. What a fantastically modern city in parts. I guess that's what happens when a city is destroyed in wartime and needs to be rebuilt. That and they probably tear the old stuff down to make way for the new and improved since growing outward isn't and option like in the USA burbs. Saturday, I found Tokyo tower only to find no one could go up that day. Same thing happened to me at the Eiffel, well I got to go halfway up that one at least. This is supposed to be 30 meters taller. Took a cruise on the Sumidagawa for a different perspective. That was a couple of hours of rest for the feet and the aquisition of a few ideas for the rest of my stay. Had to go out for the night. Love the neon and huge video displays. I'm disappointed to say I never found the "Fuk Yu" and Fuk Mi" twins. That would have made my trip. Perhaps the anime schoolgirl look is only a western teenager fantasy. Sunday, had brunch before the train ride from Tokyo station back to the airport. Blah, back to Pusan after a pretty pleasant, scheduleless, agendaless weekend. At least I ate well for a change, at the Clarion! | ||
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| Newfie_Buell |
Cool Pictures Bob, Keep em up. Come up here before the 20th and I will screech ya in as an honarary Newfie and make ya kiss a cod. Will take a pic too but not a nice as some of those sights. | ||
| Blake |
Thanks for sharing Bob. Brings back some good memories for me. FYI, Narita, yes right there next to the airport, has one of the best temples and parks to visit and a great restaurant. The rates at the Narita Radisson at least compared to those in Tokyo, are very reasonable. It is surrounded by groves of azaelias, absolutely gorgeous in Springtime. If you can make it back in another three weeks you can catch the Cherry blossoms. If you would like a guided tour, I have some good friends there (natives) that would be happy to spend a day showing you the sites. Be sure to try natto, food of the Samurai. The cute little school girls can be found in the commuter trains all around the city and outlying areas. | ||
| Newfie_Buell |
Looking at the shots again, must be one beautiful place to visit. Keep em comming. | ||
| Aaron |
Tokyo is an amazing city. 29 million people, it's just mind boggling how big that city is. And it's so dense. Next time you head over, here's my suggestion of places to visit: 1) Ueno ... several square miles of MOTORCYCLE shops! 2) Akihabara (close to Ueno) ... electronics city 3) Asakusa (also close to Ueno) ... temples and outdoor shopping of arts & crafts kinds of stuff. 4) Shibuya-ku ... Young people's town. Kinda like central Ginza with the huge intersection and gargantuan screen TV's looking down over the bazillions of people. But it's all under 25. Happening place. There's a Harley Dealer there, directly across the street from Tokyo Hands, a shopping center. Just ask someone "sumimasen, Tokyo Hands dokadeska?" 5) Harajaku, next train stop down from Shibuya on the Yamanote line (the Yamanote line is great, it goes in a big circle around the city and has stops at all the best places). Walk down Takeshita street. 6) Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. Free observation area on I believe the 45th floor. The best day I ever had in Tokyo though I made it my mission to go to as many Buell dealers as possible. At each one, I got directions for how to get to the next one. At almost every one, the people were really happy to see an American and gave me little trinkets, like pins and so forth. The last one I went to I'll never forget. It was called "Pit in Higuchi", in Ohmiya. Walking to the shop from the train station I walked right past the Arai factory. Anyway, I get there, it's this itty bitty little shop. The guy has got this absolutely perfect Knucklehead on the floor. He doesn't speak a lick of English, but we manage. He's a young guy, maybe mid 20's, and I figure out that his father had died recently and left the shop to him, I can see he's very sad as he explains this to me. Eventually he warms up to me a little bit more and takes me upstairs, where he's got a HUGE collection of classic bikes, everything from Harleys to old Enfields and Triumphs. Then he takes me back in his shop, there are 4 other guys back there and one of them speaks a little bit of English. I gather that they're going to Sukuba the next day to race the road race Sportster that's sitting there. They offer me coffee and we sit around for a few minutes talking about bikes, they were really curious about what it's like to go to Sturgis and that sort of thing. Finally, the owner of the place relays that he wants me to wait, and he hops on his M2 and leaves for a few minutes. When he comes back, he gives me a genuine "Pit-in-Higuchi" T-shirt, which I still have. It was pretty cool. Guess you had to be there. | ||
| Whatever |
Hey Bob, 1. I heard a rumor that maybe you will join us (Newfie and me) on the Great Lakes Adventure ? I think this would be most excellent, seeing as Newfie needs constant supervision and I am not up for the dominatrix act, I will be too busy riding. 2. Newfie sent me some photos of the latest fashion over there, and I bet he got them from you ? If you would pick me up one of those skirts I would pay you for it !!! Hee hee hee. Would need to invest in some 'butt floss' though. 3. If you are not heading north with the Newf and me at least make the 20th... as it seems like it is turning into some kind of convergence with contingents from Cali, Florida and of course Butt-f-Nowhere Canada. I also hear CJM wants you to share a room with us.  I can bring earplugs if I need to and cheaper cost for the hotel is definitely better. Keep us posted on your progress. How long will you be over there for ? Charlotte | ||
| Captpete |
Good to hear from you, Roberto. What's the latest reading on your gieger counter? |
