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 ...

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...

The New Golden Bridge VII ferry at Weihai, China, before its crossing to Incheon, South Korea.  There is precious little English-language information online about how to get from China to South Korea by ferry: there are several ferry links, some of which have been mentioned on various English-language travel websites, but no information post-pandemic. For that matter, it seems there's only one company (Weidong Ferry) that has useable information even on the Chinese-language internet. So, here's my experience: I believe this will be the only English-language post-pandemic information on this ferry link on the internet as of publication.  First, the schedule: ferries run Qingdao-Incheon or Weihai-Incheon on alternate days: the ferry runs from Qingdao at 1900 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, arriving in Incheon at 1100 the following morning. They also run from Weihai at 2100 on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Sundays, arriving at 1000 the next morning. From Weihai, passenger check...

Arrival at Beijing West railway station In the space of 10 years, China went from having no high speed rail at all to then having more than the rest of the world combined. Like many things in the country, it's all at enormous scale: having a billion people in a country the size of Europe tends to do that.  KCR clock tower, next to the Kowloon waterfront One of Hong Kong's symbols is the clock tower of the former 1910-built Kowloon station of the Kowloon - Canton Railway, closed and demolished in 1975. It's a shame, especially given how it's right next to the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island.  Star Ferry approaching from Hong Kong Island The Star Ferry is a HK institution in its own right and is such a scenic way of arriving at Hong Kong Island. It reminded me of the Mersey Ferry in Liverpool, a similar crossing on similar-era boats.  View from Victoria Peak One of the classic views of the city is from Victoria Peak, accessible from the Peak Tram. Circumnavigating the peak...