Naka meguro

Today Tokyo had some heavy rain and wind that I was afraid would bring all the cherry flowers down from the trees. After work we went to Naka meguro to have a look and the scenery was still very nice. Naka meguro is a favourite spot in Tokyo and the area along the river is just fantastic this season. For exactly two years ago Maki and I spent my very last night in Tokyo here watching cherry blossoms so it was a good feeling to be back.

The lights along the river really makes a different after the sun has set.

Allt Gott

Outside the restaurant Allt Gott in Kichijyoji in the west of Tokyo. We took Maki's parents there for a Swedish inspired dinner tonight. If you ever feel like eating Jansson's frestelse or meatballs with lingonberry jam it could be worth a visit. If you just want to know how to mix a swedish snaps you can read outside their window.

Hanami BBQ

Today we had a very nice BBQ lunch under the cherry trees by the river in Ogikubo. The new portable grill, with the suitable name Son of Hibachi, from www.enbraaffar.se was just as good as it looked like it would be. If you are after a portable grill you should check it out.

Sakura

The season that everybody has been waiting for is here, the cherry blossom season. This means that for about a week-ten days the cherry trees will be in bloom and crowds will be sitting under the trees enjoying the scenery (and having a party). After jogging tonite we got some really nice views in the area close to the emperial palace but the mobile phone just couldn't capture anything but a close up in the dark. Still pretty nice.

Furano

Had to post a photo of one of the many "keep out" signs in Furano. Sometimes it's so properly closed off outside the pist that you start wondering if they've also booby trapped the area inside the ropes. Besides closing off all the nature for skiing Furano is a nice small skiing resort (and let us be honest, they close off with ropes and not concrete walls). Maybe not really big enough to spend four whole days skiing there but definitely good for a weekend. The 3h bus ride pays off in less crowded slopes and not many tourists at all this time of year. If you would go to Furano make sure to visit Yama no dokuson, a small restaurant that serves well cooked food together with its own breewed beer. The dark one is great. Soh's bar is also a cousy place but don't go there hungry as their food is not that good at all. I think that would pretty much sum it up for this time.

Haru ski

Also now on the last day here in Furano the sun kept shining. We've had four days with fantastic weather and even if the skiing hasn't been just as good it's still been typical spring skiing and that's not too bad either. And when the slopes get too soft and messy in the afternoon it's pretty nice to relax and enjoy the sun. In a few hours it's time to leave Hokkaido for this time and I hope and think we'll be back next winter.

Muscle pain

I've almost forgot how tired one can be after a few days of skiing and on the third day here in Furano our muscles just didn't want to ski as much as we did. Looking around for other things to do Maki found this snowmobile.

Morning glory

Today we woke up to a clear blue sky and almost empty slopes. No snow has fallen during the night but guess you can't get it all!

Moon light skiing

The first half day skiing in Hokkaido didn't offer any of the well known dry powder snow but instead a very nice weather with first sun shine and later in the evening moon light. In fact it's not much snow at all, apparently it has been raining a lot lately so most snow has disappeared and now it's pretty normal condition for the spring with soft slopes. With a bit of luck it will snow while we are and even without snow if the weather just stays the same we can't complain.

Warm welcome

The welcome committee was ready as we arrived. Though they obviously not waiting for us it was fun to see some swedish flags waving.

Sapporo - not only a beer

Thursday morning and the rain is pouring down in Tokyo. Feels good to take the flight to a hopefully snowy Hokkaido for a few days. After a few hours transfer from Sapporo later today we'll have time for a couple of hours nightskiing.

Teepee in Tokyo

Today we found this cousy restaurant in our neighbourhood. They had built an indian style teepee with a fire place inside on the small inner yard.

Sun and more skiing

Today we had what felt like the first summer day with around 18 degrees and sun. Before relaxing and eating ice cream we spent the day getting Maki skiing equipment with skies and boots and the whole thing. Last week we booked a trip to Furano on Hokkaido for next weekend. Thursday is a national holiday and I took Friday off from work so we'll have four nice days skiing.

Old friends

Before leaving Kyoto we had time to catch up with some old friends. They said not much has happend during the two years since we last met. They asked me to send their regards to Ulfu.

Made it

With about 7min left of the 2h time limit we crossed the finishing line. Except for Maki almost over heating in the middle of the race it was no big problems. Now we are going for a well deserved lunch and after that just enjoy walking around Kyoto for the rest of the day before going back to Tokyo later tonite.

Time to go

In front of the huge temple gate where the start will be in less than 40min. Sun is shining and it's not too cold, will be fun I hope! Time to go.

Golden shoes

Nervous about the time limit constraint and the lack of training I went back to the start area and the sports exhebition and bought myself a pair of new shoes for tomorrow. 10% lighter than the old shoes they should cut the finishing time by the same I hope. Someone else could argue that it might not be the smartest idea to get new shoes the night before a race without wearing them in. The one who dares wins right?

Bicycle diaries

We took the morning train to Kyoto to spend the weekend with friends. After dropping off the bags at the hotel we rented some bikes, everyone got a chicken yellow lady bike if size somewhere between small and medium. Must say it was a wonderful way to spend a day cruising around Kyoto on a bike and stopping by some of the really nice temples. Not having had chance to ride a bike in a very long time just getting up on the bike was good fun. Before getting back to the hotel we picked up our numbers, tomorrow 09.00 is the start of the half marathon race we have to finish within the 2h time limit.

Beijing

As I had problems updating the blog directly from Beijing here is a short summary.

After an intensive but good day in the office with meetings from 09.00 to 17.30 I met up with Johan Nilsson who's working in Beijing for a couple of months. As I wanted to buy some silk for Maki Johan said he would take me to silk market in Beijing. It was an interesting taxi ride when the taxi driver suddenly started shouting in chinese and Johan trying to explain in english that he actually had a map that the taxi driver could look at but that didn't seem to help and I couldn't help laughing at the situation. Finally Johan found the address written in chinese and the taxi driver calmed down and took us there.

One of the really cool buildings they are working on in Beijing seen from a distance. All around Beijing they were working on buildings and the whole way from the hotel to the office was like a large construction site. Guess they are really keen on imroving the view of the city in time for the Olympics.

Inside silk market. Don't know why it's called silk market when only a small section is for silk. The rest of the five storage building contains small booths where they sell everything from Ipol (looking identical to the somewhat more well known product Ipod but that must surely be a coincidence) to fake Breitling watches and Gucci bags. "Can't understand who buy that fake stuff" I thought when I proudly walked out from the place with my 11 meters of what must be 100% pure silk to the best price in China.

After the cultural shock in the silk market with people pulling your arm shouting "mista, mista, buy something nice for your wife! good price just for you!..." it was good to round off the day with something more familiar. So a quiet mexican restaurant that servered burritos and corona felt like a dream. And after that we met up with Mats, long gone Kista colleague that has been working in Beijing for 3 years. A couple of hours chatting at a jazz bar made a good end for the first and extremely short Beijing trip. Wouldn't mind to go back soon for a bit longer stay and then I would like to see the forbidden city. This time it just couldn't compete with the mexican restaurant.

Landed in Beijing

Just landed in Beijing and after a very smoth passage through the airport I'm now in what has to be the oldest and slowest taxi in China. We're doing around 65-70 on the freeway and get passed by just about everyone on the road and most of them honking the horn at us. Just hope the car doesn't brake down before we get to Beijing. Anyway, it will be fun to hopefully get a glimpse of the Olympic city before I leave in a bit less than 48 hours.

Table delivery

This morning we got the egg shaped walnut dining table that we ordered a couple of weeks ago (bigger than it looks on this picture, 140cm long). Now we just need to find some chairs to go with it as the chairs on the picture are rental and will be returned together with the rest of the temporary furnitures we have on Friday when we get our shipped stuff. Ideas are welcome, I'm pretty keen on getting Eames wire chairs but unfortenately they don't come for free!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Where do one go to buy wood in Tokyo? After being mostly inside during the weekend trying to get rid of a cold I suddenly felt like building something. Not that there is much space for building things in small apartments but I remembered thinking about making a wood floor for the balcony. But where do they sell wood in the middle of Tokyo? Soon after I knew, Maki took me to Tokyo Hands, the department stoore that apparently has everything one need and then some more. So we got ourself 30m of wood and some oil so now we are all set, except for the tools that will arrive together with the rest of our furnitures and kitchen ware this Friday. This week I will go for a business trip to Beijing and next weekend we are off to Kyoto for the half marathon.