Sumo Time

Going to watch a sumo wrestling match is not something I had honestly thought I would ever do. However after Loney Planet recommended a visit to the Ryogoku, and a bit of research showed that our visit to Tokyo coincided with one of six tournaments held during the year, it seemed like an experience that would be uniquely Japanese and shouldn't be missed.

Sumo matches start at 8:30 am and last until dinner time. We decided to arrive around 2:30, when the wrestlers who were considered to be professional sumos started their matches. I thought I may get tired of watching hours of sumo, but I found myself getting quite involved. Watching these two huge guys try to trip each other was very intense and when one went down it was like the high I get from watching figure skaters fall, but maybe even better.

The point of sumo is to either force your opponent to step out of the ring or to cause any part of your opponent's body to touch the ground (besides his feet). There is no weight classes in sumo, so it really is a case of bigger is better. Each match has a lot of lead up, with opponents staring each other down, throwing salt to purify the ring, and doing the ever-popular feet stomp to attract the attention of the gods.



The matches were punctuated by speeches and traditional ceremonies. The head of the sumo association spoke, flanked by the highest ranked fighters. There was also a ceremony where the fighters wore traditional aprons.





Overall, I would say it was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone travelling through Japan at the right time. The yakatori (chicken on a stick) was delicious and I came away with some great souvenirs (including a magnet with a picture of my favourite sumo). Who knows, maybe I'll even become a sumo buff and start following the matches back home.

Japanese Train Food

So far, everything I've eaten in Japan tastes like the best meal I've ever had. Luckily, our food on the train today was no exception.

Normally if I bought a meal from a cart I would expect, at most, a sandwich. But for lunch today I bought a coke in an aluminum bottle (genius!!! I like canned coke best because its colder, but I always wished I could seal it up and take it with me) and a boxed rice meal. This is how the meal looked in the box: two plastic dishes of rice and the standard chop sticks and moist cloth.



Mmmm...this is what it looked like when I opened it. Looking out the window of our train there was the mountains to one side and the ocean to the other, so it seemed appropriate that one bowl was food from the sea and the other was food from the mountains. I didn't even think I liked mushrooms...



This was my friend Satoko's meal. My first North American reaction to this was "Fish on a train! Gross!". But I tried a piece and it was really fresh and delicious. This is what the meal looked like in the package.



This dish was basically a sushi pizza with the salmon in thin layers on the top and rice on the bottom. This is what it looked like unwrapped.



For dessert, we had a treat that Satoko's father brought for us. It was sweet and gelatinous inside and had savoury soy bean powder outside. It came with syrup to pour over the top and a little wooden knife to eat it with.

Sunny San Diego

Two and a half years ago I bought a Frommer's guide to California. I felt like I had won the friend jackpot when Evan moved to Pasadena and was all too happy to travel there for reading week. Little did I know that I would be lucky enough to plan our two year anniversary trip from the same book.

When we decided to go on an anniversary trip, San Diego seemed like a natural choice since it was only a couple of hours from LA and we could get there easily without a car. Trains run a few times a day from LA to San Diego, but we settled on taking the bus since it was half the price and the difference would cover the cost of a nice dinner.

When we got to the San Diego bus station, we stashed our weekend bags in the terminal lockers and went to explore the downtown region. The first stop was the embarcadero where all of the cruises depart from and where all the freight ships unload their cargo. After admiring the high density of power walkers and tropical shirt wearers, we spent a long time watching a Dole freight ship unload bananas. We moved on to the Gaslamp Quarter which was a funky district full of restaurants.



Fortunately it was lunch time. With all of the choices we had in the area, it was unfortunate that we chose the Gaslamp Tavern. We were initially drawn in by the vast amount of beer taps and the good people-watching location but the food was pretty disappointing. I ordered a Cobb salad, Evan ordered the hamburger, and I'm pretty sure both plates went back to the kitchen almost full.

After lunch we headed to the Horton Plaza. I didn't particularly want to shop, but I love the idea of open air malls and seeing the architecture of the plaza was worth the detour. It looked like it could be out of a Dr. Seuss book. Maybe the inspiration for Horton Hears a Who (or, the other way around)?





Our final stop of the afternoon was Seaport Village. This district was a bit touristy, but was great for people watching. Seaport Village is full of little specialty shops from wind chime boutiques to a beer enthusiast shop to a store that sells only candles. We spent less time shopping and more time watching the street performers, including a guy who balanced large rocks on top of each other. I didn't take a picture because then I would have to pay him, but I did snap this pic of lots of kites.



After a full afternoon we headed to Little Italy for a fantastic meal of pasta and good wine. The bus was definitely worth it.

The next day was the highlight of the trip: the ZOO!!! I woke up with the O'Sullivan zoo song stuck in my head. I always thought that my Dad had made it up until Evan found it on youtube while I was getting ready. I dare you to not sing it every time you go to the zoo from now on. This place was as amazing as I had hoped. There are only about 40 pandas outside of China and this zoo has three of them. I won't bore you with any more text, but here are a few blurry animal photos.

Flamingos!

A Tapir!

A Panda!

A Meerkat!

The pictures probably don't do it justice, but it suffices to say that this zoo is definitely not overrated and is worth the visit.

Overall, I loved the vibe of the city. The sun never stopped shining and there was so much to do and see. That, combined with being there for a romantic getaway with a very romantic guy, made it a weekend to remember.

Summertime Reading

I'll admit that during the school year I rarely, if ever, crack open a novel. By the time I've finished my research for the day, marked first year labs, and tried to do the homework from my own classes, my brain can barely process the content of my US Weekly. But the summertime is different. After the monotony of being in the lab all day, its great to come home and escape to a world where the main character isn't looking for a leak in her nitrogen line all day or resoldering her signal leads back to her photomultiplier tube.

Here are a few of my favourite reads so far this summer!



This book follows Sean as he travels North America for a year, taking one week job contracts in the hopes that he can find a job he wants to make a career out of. I brought this on vacation with me and it ended up being a nice and quick poolside read. The chapters were only a few pages at most and I appreciated being able to pick it up and put it down easily. Some parts of the book are a bit cheesy (when Sean realizes that his project was part of a bigger picture and he feels like he is a role model for youth everywhere) and whiny (we get it, travelling around every week is tiring), but overall the interesting premise kept the pages turning.



I love love LOVED The Time Travellor's Wife. So when I heard that Niffenegger had written a new book, I put it on my must-read list. It got some mixed reviews, but I'll say after reading it that it gets two thumbs up from me. It has the same romantic central theme as TTW, but with a paranormal twist. The first third made me cry, in the middle third I was hanging on to every word, and the ending was very disturbing. But any book that can make me feel that range of emotions must be very well crafted.



This is cheating a bit since I tried to start this book in the winter, but most of it was read after exams finished. This book follows Pete as he travels Ireland, stopping in at the bars that bare his name. I couldn't read this book in public because I laughed out loud too often. Also, a quick google search while I was reading the book showed that the author died only a couple of years after the book was published, so it added an extra dimension of appreciating the small moments in life while you still can.

Next up on my reading list is The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Hopefully it will measure up to the other books I've read this summer!

Wolfe Island

Wolfe Island is one of my favourite places around Kingston, especially in the summer. The ferry dock is a five minute walk from my apartment and its FREE. And a tip for all you Kingstonians-take the 9 pm ferry on Wednesday nights in July for a great view of the Fort Henry fireworks.

I think the reason I love being on the island so much is that it is like a little piece of the country so close to the city. There are no chain stores allowed so walking through the "town" feels a bit like stepping back in time when businesses were run by local families. A must-stop location is the Wolfe Island Bakery, which is a bit of a legend in Kingston, for cinnamon buns and lemon tarts. Wolfe Island has also recently become a large scale wind farm, which was a big adjustment for the Islanders.

A couple of weekends ago, Evan and I packed a picnic and headed out for an Island stroll.

View of the Kingston harbour from the ferry

Windmills on the island

My dream home

A bit blurry, but this was our yummy potato salad from our picnic (see recipe below)

Nothing but blue skies and farm fields (and windmills)

Livestock

Wolfe Island Potato Salad (modified from the Roasted Potato Bacon Salad recipe from the Best of Chef at Home cookbook)

Boil 20 or so baby red potatoes until tender, set aside.
Cook 4 or 5 slices of bacon.
Toss the cooked potatoes and bacon with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a handful of parsley, a few pickles (diced small), 1 tablespoon of grainy mustard, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, and a splash of red wine vinegar.
Mix well and leave in the fridge overnight.

Egypt: Around the Nile

For the last entry on my Egypt trip, I wanted to post some general pictures from the places I visited in the southern part of the country.

Aswan
After our Cairo adventure, we headed to Aswan on an overnight train. I think the concept of "first class" is a bit different in Egypt but at least we had a bed to sleep in. Southern Egypt was incredibly hot, which seemed to be the theme of the trip, with most days being over 50 degrees Celsius.

First stop off the train was the unfinished obelisk. Workers were halfway through constructing this obelisk for one of the pharaohs when it split. Bummer.



Next was the Aswan dam. This was the southern tip of the Nile and led to the construction of the world's largest man made lake (Lake Nasser).

River Side

Lake Side

Monument built by the Egyptian and the...Russians?

Next we boarded our three night cruise of the Nile on the M.S. Medea. The buffets were awesome and the room had a big window with a great Nile view.



We spent the night docked in Aswan and went to a bazaar. I bought my Mom a necklace for her birthday and I have to say I was quite impressed with my haggling skills.




Cruising

The next three days were spent visiting Temples and occasionally cruising (I was surprised by how little time our cruise actually spent sailing). Between the sites it was nice to lounge in the room and watch the Nile go by...









Luxor

When we reached Luxor, we visited one of the most popular tourist sites in Egypt: The Valley of the Kings. Here, thousands of tombs (including the famous ones like King Tut's) are constructed in the desert and many of them have yet to be uncovered. There were no cameras allowed, but I did snap a shot of the valley from afar at sunset.



In the evening we got to go on a donkey ride and explore a "traditional Egyptian village". I was a bit skeptical on the authenticity of this since I'm pretty sure this village had seen Contiki travellers go through every week for the past few years. But the donkey ride (and in one case, race) was pretty fun and just seeing the layout of the village was neat.









Overall, my trip to Egypt was well worth the travel. It was difficult in many ways (including the heat, not being able to eat many foods or drink tap water and being stared at leerishly by Egyptian men) but this was far outweighed by the beauty of the country. If you are thinking about travelling here, do it!

Egypt: Temples

While in Egypt we explored many temples and even though they all had a similar feel, I never got over the awe at how elaborate these sites were. Luckily since this is low season for Egyptian tourism, we got to see many of these sites without a huge crowd.



Kom Ombo

The temple in Kom Ombo was built during the Ptolemaic dynasty and construction began around 180 BC. This temple was unique because it was built to honour two different gods: Sobek (the crocodile) and Horus (the falcon). They actually had a pit for crocodiles to live beside the temple (although for safety reasons this is no longer in use). This was one of the more recent Egyptian temples and was a place where Cleopatra worshiped.

This is of Cleopatra's kartush!

Edfu

This was a temple which was built to worship Horus (exclusively this time) and was also built during the Ptolemaic period. The walls have carvings depicting the scenes that inspired the Egyptian themed opera called Horus where the falcon god is trying to kill his uncle (the crocodile) to avenge the death of his father.











Karnak

Karnak Temple, which is located in Luxor, was constructed by Ramses II beginning in 1391–1351 BC. This was the largest temple we visited. Outside of the temple is the avenue of the Sphinxes which was 2 km long and used to connect Karnak temple to Luxor temple. Unfortunately the people of Luxor built their homes over the Sphinxes that ran through the middle of the city and there is a big relocation effort now underway to allow the city to dig under the houses and uncover the Sphinxes.









Luxor

This temple was also mainly built by Ramses II. This temple had a great atmosphere, maybe because we visited at dusk and had the call to prayer from a nearby mosque as a background soundtrack.

Here is the other segment of the Avenue of the Sphinxes

The matching obelisk (which used to sit beside the female on the right) was given to France as a gift for helping to build the Suez Canal.