Natasha's experience in Japan - Part 1 (First Impression)

The journey started the day we arrived, how packed was the airport, how efficient the shuttle bus system was and of course, how fast the Japanese can walk, all these tiny little things printed in my mind. Apparently this is not new to me as I kinda knew this thru the readings and Japanese movie.

I remember there’s a dry garden nearby right after the bus moving. In Japan, the dry garden has nothing to do with flowers or grasses, not even a tree. I started to notice, the dry garden is actually consists of rocks and sand. The rocks are placed in the way of a picture to represent mountain and sea. This is something new to me.


I don’t know about others, but to me, Japanese Kanji are somehow look familiar to myself as if I knew them long time ago. Although I don’t have a clue how it supposed to pronounce, common sense does tell a lot. Duncan always gives me a clue and pronounces the wordings which I really have no idea to recognize at. As known, most of the Japanese Kanji are real closed to Chinese wordings. Unless it spells in Chinese wordings, otherwise I will usually prefer approaching the passer-by for a correct direction.




To be frank, I was worried to have this trip all alone by myself during day time most of the day when Duncan was still on his work schedule. How to recognize Shinkansen station, which direction to follow when you have all the Japanese sign boards right in front of you, how to ask simple question to a Japanese, how to order food and of course how to get back to your hotel. I have all doubts that if I manage to handle all these.





People in Japan like walking very much. No matter how far the destination is, to them, walking is like daily activity. Unless the destination is miles away, most of the time, you will see busy street with busy people. At the zebra-crossing, most of the time it can be a whole bunch of people came from nowhere, waiting to cross the street. Once the light turns green, that is the most impressive scene I’ve ever seen :)


Japanese people usually wake up early. Most of them rushing to catch an early train, but some of them do catch the right timing to get to the office. It’s not surprised to have no way to squeeze in between the line when you’re in the crowd. I don’t understand why all these people rushing to work at the same time, squeezing in between at the same time. No doubts, I hardly walked in between them as I was heading the station and these people were heading to the office instead. I remembered it was 8 o’clock in the morning.

The most important thing in Japan is “Punctuality”. As known, Japanese is the most punctual creature amongst others. You won’t be surprised you’re at the wrong train with only a few seconds difference from the train schedule. We experienced once. That was in Nikko. After a tiring trip in Nikko, initially we planned to go to Onsen (bath) before we left to Tokyo. Due to the destination is quite a distance from Nikko, we had to make sure we were at the station earlier before the train departs. We got to the station 2 minutes earlier and saw the train was already waiting. We got into the train and ended up we're at the wrong station after an hour. This is ridiculous but taught us a good lesson too. However, there’s another couple from Korea made the same mistake. So, we had to call off our plan and head back to Tokyo.



Streets in Japan are clean. You can hardly find a piece of paper on the streets in Japan. Not only how systematic the traffic is but the cleanliness of the environment did impress me a lot. I also noticed that beautiful decorations, graphics or statues are everywhere when you walked along the streets.






(From left to right)
Ground Decoration along the way to Nagoya Castle. It explains how the four seasons in Nagoya.
Giant Fish Memorial & Museum in Kobe
Giant Spider - Landmark in Roppongi Hill
Bronze Statue along the way to Oasis 21, Nagoya

Back to Natasha's Experience in Japan (Main)

To be continued....

Baksheesh

“Baksheesh” means tip in Egypt. Some Egyptian accustomed to ask for Baksheesh for whatever reason. Asking the direction of train platform, reading some texts from the museum exhibit room, passing toilet paper in washroom and whatever reason they can think of.

I personally dislike the statement of “$$ LE is nothing to you but this is lots of thing to us”. Definitely $$ is something to everyone, money will not drop directly from the sky. Everyone needs to work hard to earn the money and Baksheesh is not free!

They can ask for baksheesh, but we can choose to pay or not. The baksheesh should be paid base on the service provided and they shouldn’t demand for it. Furthermore they shouldn’t ask for how much we should pay for it. Sometimes they take Baksheesh for granted, they have predetermined a minimum amount of Baksheesh base on some actions they did. If the amount given is not up to the limit set, they will start nagging. We have been rejected by someone by giving 10 LE. We can remember clearly, the guy told us do not treat him like beggar when we gave 10 LE as Baksheesh.

How ridiculous is this? Even 10 LE is a big deal. In our country, some people need to work around 4 hours in the fast food chains to earn 10 LE.

Of course, those people that we met during our travel in Egypt are mainly surrounded in tourist business. We cannot stereotype that every Egyptian have the same behavior against Baksheesh. We truly believe those people that we met are only minority in the country but this is definitely carried some bad impression to the country as a traveler.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria

After Alexander the Great death, his commander and successor in Egypt - Ptomlemy Soter establish his administrative capital in Alexandria. Due to the dangerous sailing conditions and flat coastline in Alexandria harbor, Ptolemy Soter decided to construct a lighthouse.

Why the Lighthouse was chosen as one of the Wonders? It was believed that the Lighthouse was the only Wonder that have practical use with its impressive architecture.

Base on the description from Arabian scholar on the Lighthouse:

• The lowest section was square with 55.9 m height
• The middle section was octagonal with 27.45 m height
• The top section was circular with a statue of Poseidon stood in the summit of 7.30 m height

The statue of Poseidon - God of Ocean in Trevi Fountain - Rome, Italy

The total height of the building including the foundation base was about 117 m, it was the second tallest man made building (after the great pyramid) in the ancient world. Another fascination about the Lighthouse was the reflection of its mirror which could be seen more than 56 km off shore. During the daytime, the bronze mirror at the top stage reflected sunlight while fire was used during night time for guiding the shipping traffic.

The Lighthouse guided ship into the city harbor for 1,500 years. After going through few earthquakes from AD1303 to 1323, the Lighthouse was finally collapsed. In AD 1480, Egyptian Sultan Qaitbay decided built a fort to fortify Alexandria's defense on the same location where the Lighthouse once stood by using the fallen stone and marble remained from the Lighthouse.

In October 2006, we visited Fort Qaitbay. It is very difficult for us to relate the fort with the Lighthouse from its structure or size. We can only try to imagine which part of the fort was built by the remains of Lighthouse but we have very limited clue about it. Surprisingly, within the area of Fort Qaitbay, there isn't any particular sign to indicate the fort was built in the original site of the Lighthouse. We can’t find any miniature model or picture that depicts of the wonder. Without learning this information from tour guide or guidebook, it is very difficult for any visitor to imagine that.

The Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid is the only surviving wonder of the seven ancient wonders. You don’t need to rely on document or remaining sculpture to imagine how great the structure is. You can physically see it up close and personal.

The great pyramid was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty around the year 2560 BC (Imaging this, 2560 years before Christ was born...) to serve as a tomb when he dies. When it was built, the Great pyramid was 145.75m high. Over the years, it lost approximate 10m off its top. It ranked as the tallest structure on Earth for more than 43 centuries, only to be surpassed in height in the nineteenth century AD by Eiffel Tower in Paris. The structure consists of approximately 2 million blocks of stone, each weighing more than two tons.

Natasha and I visited this gorgeous pyramid in Giza Plateau in October 2006. These 2 photos show the size of each block of stone that constructed the Great Pyramid. A block of stone can be easily reached the height of an adult.

The Great Pyramid is very impressive not just because of the structure. The Great Pyramid left a number of mysteries and unanswered questions to the world. Until today, nobody can actually explain how the Great Pyramid was built? What is the actual purpose of the Pyramid?

Amongst mysteries related to the Great Pyramid that we gather from some books or websites, we have listed some that we think interesting as below:

• The Great Pyramid as built by species from outer space.
• The Great Pyramid is that it has the power to stop the rotting of flesh.
• The alignment of the three pyramids to Orion’s belt.

The Colossus of Rhodes

The giant bronze statue of Sun God Helios stood at the entrance of the harbor entrance. With both of his leg straddle at the each side of the harbor entrance and hold the torch with his hand. The statue was believed with its height as 120 feet oversee the harbor of Rhodes in Aegean seas. Some scholars believe it will be impossible and technical infeasibility to have the 120 feet bronze status straddle of the entrance of the harbor. With the weight and the size, it won’t be able to support the statues if the leg being straddle. The statue should be just stood at a side of the harbor with his leg standing close instead of straddle like current statue of Liberty in America. (Some scholar believe Statue of Liberty was inspired by the Colossus of Rhodes) However, we don’t have the same opinion. Just that no one can fully explain how those ancient structures were built like Pyramid, Stonehenge or Moai statues in Easter Island.

The study believes the construction of the Colossus took 12 years and was finished in 282 years before Christ born. The statue was stand still on the entrance of harbor until damaged by a strong earthquake in about 226 BC. The city was badly damaged and the Colossus was collapsed.

In August, 2004, Natasha and I visited to the beautiful harbor of Rhodes. We didn’t see any remain of the colossus that can remind us this is the original place for one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There are only 2 columns built that reminisce the glory of the world wonder in the past. These 2 columns is stood in each side of the harbor entrance. There is a bronze deer statue is at the top of each of the column that represent the state of Rhodes. Again, you need to make use of your imagination to picture how spectacular the statue was in the past.

The reconstructed columns aren't too high but if you image the distance between these two columns at the entrance of the harbor as the leg of the statue straddle across, it is very impressive!

There are a lot of souvenir stall in Rhodes selling the Colossus of Rhodes. The people in Rhodes are still believed the Colossus of Rhodes is straddle at the harbor entrance. You can also see a ship sail through underneath the thigh of the Colossus.

By looking at these statues, will it remind you of the famous Status of Liberty?

The Mausoleum of Halirarnassus

When Persian expanded their kingdom and conquered countries surrounding its country included Asia Minor. King of Persian elected Satrap (Governor) to rule some provinces where far apart from the kingdom. One of Satrap whom rules the Caria province called king Maussollos. This Satrap might not have any great contribution that can be remembered however he became more famous than other Satraps or Persian King to the world later.

The story begins 377 years before Christ born. This king decided to build a very impressive tomb to himself. Maybe because of building the tomb, most of his time and money invested in his tomb construction and he didn’t have much contribution towards his kingdom. The poor king Maussollos didn’t manage to see the completion of his impressive tomb and the tomb only completed three years after the king death. This tomb is so impressive and known as one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the wonder and the name of the king is used to designate the large tomb today as Mausoleum.

Why the Mausoleum has been renowned as one of the ancient wonder? The structure of Mausoleum was rectangular and comprises 4 different tiers. This is quite similar to the Buddhist Pagoda with different tiers in present.

The dimension of the base is around 40 m by 30 m with 4 tiers:

• The stepped podium (20 m)
• Colonnade (12 m)
• Pyramid Roof (7 m)
• A Statue of Chariot (6 m)

Total height of the tomb was 45 m. (Around 10 times the height of standard basketball post)
On the top of the tomb, there was a statue of Chariot pulled by 4 horses. The second tier was a pyramid as the roof of third tier - Colonnade. The Colonnade was surrounded by Ionic columns and sculptures. The lower tier of Mausoleum was formed by stepped podium. Each side of the stepped podium was decorated with statues. There were statues of people, warriors, lions, horses and other animals. Mausoleum was the special structure during that period of time as those statues was dedicated to a human but was not dedicated to the gods of Ancient Greece.

The Mausoleum was destroyed by an earthquake caused some damage to colonnade and the roof. In the early fifteenth century, the Knight of St. John from Malta invaded Halirarnassus and torn down remains of Mausoleum to built their castle.

Before Natasha and I visited the ruin of Mausoleum, we know that we cannot expect any spectacular sculpture remained. As we know most important sculptures and statues found during excavation have been sent to British Museum. The ruin of Mausoleum is located at Bodrum, Turkey. When we entered in to the ruin in August, 2004, we proved that our thoughts are right. Some fragment of columns, stones, debris are scattered around the ruin. This is not easy for us to image this place was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in the past. We don’t have any clue on which part of the ruin was the colonnade, where was the stepped podium or any sight of the infamous chariot on the top of the tomb. The only sight that visible to us is the base of the Mausoleum.

The impressive of Mausoleum can be imagined with the miniature model in the exhibit room at the ruin of Mausoleum. With the visual aid of the Mausoleum model in the exhibit room and look at the size of the base, we try to imagine how each part of the Mausoleum model was built in the actual site of ruin.

Some debris remained showed some war scenes. This debris is believed at the lower tier or second tier. Archer fight with warrior on horse (Right) and 2 warriors on horse fighting (Left).



Besides Mausolean’s ruin, some pre Mausolean remains are impressive. There is a Pre Mausolean stairway lead to the tomb chamber. The stairway was constructed with pieces of stone and arranged in the orderly pattern. Don’t expect to see any sarcophagus of the King nor any treasure remains in the tomb chamber. There are only some wall with marble columns remained.



Today, the castle built by Knight of St. John from Malta still stands in Bodrum. The stone and marble blocks of the Mausoleum can be seen in the walls of the castle.

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

About 550 years before Christ was born, a King from Lydian (Western Asia Minor) name Croesus built a temple to workship Artemis (Goddess of Fertility). The foundation of the temple was rectangular and the dimension of this temple was approximately 80 m by 130 m which is around the size of a football pitch. The temple was built with marble and supported by 127 ionic columns and each column was 20 m high (5 times the height of a standard basketball post) and decorated with some figures at the base. The Temple of Artemis is believed twice as large as Parthenon Temple in Athen. (The Dimension of Parthenon is only 31 m by 70 m and each column is only approximately 10 m high).

The temple stood gloriously for few decades until the temple was destroyed by fire during 356 BC. The temple was reconstructed when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor. Unfortunately, the temple was destroyed by fire when Goth invaded to Asia Minor after few centuries rebuilt. The demand of reconstruction was not widely accepted as the temple lost her importance due most of people in Ephesus converted to Christianity. The epilogue of Artemis Temple was when Christian Missionary torn down the remains of temple to build St. John Basilica in Ephesus.

It is very sad that the magnificence of this temple is only remained a column in present.

The Temple of Artemis was excavated in late nineteenth century and a column of the temple has been re-erected in the original site of Selcuk, Turkey. Some impressive artifacts found are now exhibited in British Museum and only remain very little debris show in Ephesus Museum.

Natasha and I visited the ruin in August, 2004. These photos showed both of us try to measure the high and width of the remaining column.

In this picture, you can see the remaining column re-erected in the ruin and St John’s Basilica at the right of the picture. The Artemis temple was torn down to build the St John’s Basilica and later some parts of the basilica was torn down to build the Isa Bey Mosque in the middle of the picture when Islamic domination in Ephesus.

Being in the ruin won't able to provide much help to imagine how glorious the temple was in the past. The closer thing that you can only see is the reconstructed miniature model in Ephesus Museum at Selcuk, Turkey.

There are some impressive Artemis Statues found are also exhibited in Ephesus Museum. This Goddess of Fertility is showed as the goddess with rows of egg-like breasts. We learned from some guidebooks later this egg-like breasts are in fact testicles that imply for fertility.

Ancient and New Seven Wonders of the World

In the past, a Greek traveler called Philon from Athens travelled around the area of Mediterranean seas. When he come back from his travel, he selected 7 man-made monuments as 7 Wonders of the World amongst those stunning sites that he had seen during travel.

No one knows why he has only selected 7...
Probably he didn't manage to find further?
OR the geographical area that he travelled was very limited?
OR the number 7 brought any significant meaning to him?

Well, this is the list of 7 Ancient Wonders of the World:

• The Pyramids of Giza (Visited in Oct, 2006)
• The Lighthouse of Alexandria (Visited in Oct, 2006)
• The Temple of Artemis (Visited in Aug, 2004)
• The Statue of Zeus
• The Colossus of Rhodes (Visited in Aug,2004)
• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Visited in Aug, 2004)

In present, Bernard Weber spent 7 years campaigning for 7 New Wonders of the World. In July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07 he has casted the vote and announced for the 7 New Wonders of the world. The selection of the 7 wonders of the World is no longer based on a single man while the election is based on the majority vote across the globe. According to the founder of the 7 new Wonders of the world, his website received 100 million votes from every corner in the world.

The new 7 Wonders of the World:

• The Chichen Itza of Mexico
• The Christ Redeemer of Brazil
• The Colosseum of Rome (Visited in Mar, 2003)
• The Great Wall of China
• The Machu Picchu of Peru
• The Petra of Jordan
• The Taj Mahal of India

Our first post.

Well, this is our first post. We have been thinking to have a blog to jot down our travelogue, inspiration, story, life, gossip, nonsense and etc. We believe it will take sometimes for us to publish all of those into our blog but at least we take the first step now.

8 years ago, on 20th of May, was the day. Things happened and things passed, the ups and downs brought us together. With the technology, we hope we can keep our memories in somewhere. A place that we could share to our family, friends and probably our offsprings. Maybe this could be a place to recall back our memories regardless sweet or bitter....

Well, it took us approximately 30 minutes to write this first post. We guess it won't be easy to translate all we want to express in line of words. Again, we will try.