offpeakfang

Japan Rail Pass My week in Japan was the part of my trip that I most looked forward to. Having arrived at Shimonoseki station off the ferry from Busan, South Korea, my first task was to collect my Japan Rail Pass. The rail pass could easily have been delivered digitally, like how InterRail passes in Europe can now be instantly delivered as a QR code on an app, but instead the purchase process was: Buy the pass online through an online travel agent (charging its own commission) A few days later, receive a physical paper voucher with a reference code on it through (compulsory extra-paid) international post Bring the voucher with me to Japan Go to one of a small subset (!) of Japanese rail ticket offices to have my passport photocopied (onto paper, with other paper forms that the ticket office bloke had to spend a while filling in and stapling) to then exchange the voucher for a physical ticket.  Even if it needed a foreign ID, I don't see any good reason why there can't ...

Fanar Mosque, Doha Having returned from Tokyo to Hong Kong and having spent a day hiking around Hong Kong's Lantau Island with local friends, it was time to return to the UK. When I booked my plane tickets, I had a choice of either a 2 hour transfer or a full day in Doha, Qatar. Of course I chose to spend a full day in a new country.  HND-HKG: UO629, 0220-0600 HKG-DOH: QR815, 0025-0405 I spent almost the entire 8h40 flight from Hong Kong sleeping and so was reasonably rested when I arrived in Doha, albeit at a very early local time. Doha Hamad Airport is enormous but assumes that you only want to transit through, and there are only a relatively small number of people who were leaving the airport. By the time I went through immigration and customs control, it was still a bit too early to do anything or even get into the city and so I spent some more time in the nicely air-conditioned airport.  As I arrived on a Friday, everything was closed in the morning: after all, this is on...

Hamayuu of Kampu Ferry, docked in Busan Port next to the passenger terminal   There seem to be plenty of travelogues showing the Busan to Fukuoka fast ferry, but there's very little information on Kampu Ferry's overnight service from Busan to Shimonoseki. I do much prefer overnight journeys like this to save on a night of accommodation and arrive in the morning in a much more time-efficient way. So, here's my attempt to add some detail to what the journey is like. Check-in at Busan Port International Passenger Terminal   The Busan Port International Passenger Terminal is a short walk from Busan railway station along some enormous elevated walkways, just like lots of other ferry terminals. Check-in was from 1730-1850 for the 2100 departure, at the Pukwan Ferry window (seems like Kampu Ferry and Pukwan Ferry are different-language names for the same company). I was handed some forms to fill in, and was then given a boarding pass after I handed those in. This is also where pa...

Naengmyeon , Hamhung style: a classic north Korean noodle dish of iced buckwheat noodles Having spent a few days in South Korea, mostly looking at historic architecture and eating a lot of food and particularly containing gochujang and all the sides of pickles traditional to Korean meals, I had several observations.  Heungnyemun Gate, Gyeoungbokgung Palace, Seoul Gyeoungbokgung Palace , the old Korean royal palace, is one of the main tourist attractions of South Korea. I visited on the 3rd October 2023, which happened to be National Foundation Day , marking the legendary formation of the first Korean state of Gojoseon in 2333 BC. Hence my disappointment when the internet claimed that the palace closes on national holidays. Well, even if the inside were closed, I could still have a look at the outside. But instead, closed turned out to mean free entry for the day . Fantastic.  The entire complex took a few hours to finish visiting, with its many pavilions and gardens and mini...