Travellin' Penguin

(I have sent this already to a couple of family members and close friends so apology for the repeat here.)

Excuse typos. Not much time to proofread.

I don’t know how much time I’ll have to write but today is free so thought I’d try. I awoke at 3 am yesterday morning. At 4 am I had an Uber at the door. A lovely Pakistani man who chatted all the way to the airport. He told me all about his tiny camera he took to the beach with his family. We then discussed the future of technology re cameras, glasses you wear that translate foreign languages and on it went. Yes, 4 a.m. Made me laugh to see such energy at that hour. He was so kind and helpful. 

Thankfully the plane was on time and Hobart airport’s new security system was a breeze. Don’t have to take off shoes or take out laptops any more. Lovely. Plane on time. 

Got to Sydney and we were in a holding pattern for an extra 20 min to land. When we landed I had 1 hr 20 to get to the international terminal  that is a 10 min bus ride away, through security and find the gate. I didn’t stress but I sure thought about stressing. 

Luckily the bus was accessible by Gate 15 and we disembarked right next to it. The bus was waiting and I hopped on. Then I tried not to stress thinking will my luggage make it. My lovely small pink bag. Another surprise was Sydney now has a security line just for business passengers of which I thankfully was and no one ahead of me. With all my camera gear, etc I was sure they’d stop me. Many cords throughout for all my technology. I’m sure they were looking for the attached stick of dynamite. But, no, not a problem and off I went. The gate was a four minute walk. I knew this as there was a sign that told me. Another surprise. 

Then a 45 min wait to catch my breath. There must be an easier way to carry kgs of camera gear and heavy purse with all my old lady meds, iPad, Kindle, etc. 

Once on I settled into my cubby house towards the pointy end of the plane. The toilets were next to the entrance of the cockpit so happy I didn’t confuse the two signs. COCKPIT, toilet. I was on Japanese airlines now and all the announcements were in very speedy Japanese language and even speedier English language, none of which I could hear or understand.

During the next 9.5 hours I first checked to make sure the seat would totally recline. I had only had 2 hrs sleep the night before because who sleeps waiting for a 3 am alarm. I could never be a commercial baker. 

A meal was served almost immediately because it was only about 10 am and they had to make us believe it was 10 pm. I had had an omelette and a couple of really good sausages which I hardly ever eat on the Hobart to Sydney flight. Not heart healthy food but it tasted good. So by the time my Japanese entree came at 10 am I was not that hungry. The menu I received was extensive. I settled for a sampler Japanese plate and water. I received 6 tiny tasting dishes on a white tableclothed table the flight attendant whipped out of nowhere behind a secret panel. I was wondering where it was. There was a hidden panel. The little dishes had an assortment of foods. The Japanese do little dishes like the contestants of master chef. There was one dish that had little bits of roe (cavier) on it, which I love but eating cavier eggs with chopsticks was an achievement that I was proud of. One egg at a time. I’ll be looking to catch a blowfly mid air this coming summer with our chopsticks at home. 

Next stress was wondering what immigration would be like. Would my bag make the transfer? 

When you get off the plane you head towards immigration. Immigration is like a large Australian sheep station. Millions of sheep with coloured lines drawn all over the floor and a hundred or so staff `right there directing everyone. It is so nice to see a business that’s open with enough staff to help you. Kind of like the old days. 

I got slotted in line A. I had filled in my arrival card online when waiting in Hobart to depart. When you answer all the questions about going to jail if you have a piece of meat or a plant in your bag. I was happy about that. Once finished a qr code is emailed to you which I saved like gold. So back in Line A.. You pass through various cameras that are everywhere. You come across a station and there is one place to put your passport, one place to lie your phone down with qr code and one place to put both index fingers of your right and left hand to get finger printed. Then you look up and your picture gets taken. Made me wonder what they do when one gets arrested and is being processed down at the station. 

Then off to the baggage carousel. I couldn’t check on my phone for my apple air tags to see where my pink bag might have been as it would not connect until I got out of the terminal. So it was a surprise when I saw it coming up the livestock chute . 

Then as I turned, another staff member rushed over to tell me to go to another lane A. Nothing to declare. Others got assigned to B, C, D and E. Makes you wonder what line E involves. They intuitively seemed to recognise a tired Aussie tourist. 

Did I mention as you leave the customs area of the airport you walk up to a full length mirror? As you look at the length of your entire body it fires off a large flash and your whole body has just been photographed. Makes you wonder where all the photos go. It would be fun to see all those portraits. Face expressions, outfits. Maybe the dark web? Who knows. 

Next livestock lane was the taxi line. A long line with a longer line of taxis. When my turn came; the lines move fast; I was asked if it was just one person. I said, Yes, and immediately got moved from line B to line A. A smaller taxi arrived. I showed the older driver my paperwork for hotel name. He typed a few things in his phone from his guard like enclosure of the front seat and off we went. About 45 minutes later I was at my hotel and bags were on the footpath. 

It was now after 8 pm Japanese time. We are 2 hours behind Hobart time. We had to wait almost 30 min in our plane once we had landed around 5:20 for airplane to find a parking place. Isn’t that always the case finding a place to park. 

Maybe it was closer to 7:30 pm. I got checked into my very lovely but very small hotel room on the 6th floor. Dumped everything on the adjoining bed. Hit the bathroom then the shower. Japanese showers and toilets are another story. 

The toilet seat is heated, there are buttons to push if you want a squirt of water sprayed at you up the old clacker, and music can be played to cover any noises you might want. I just had a big wee and as I turned around to flush, the toilet flushed itself automatically. Made me jump. Then into the shower room . That had a few things I cannot even begin to describe. Had a quick shower then couldn’t find a big towel anywhere so used a hand towel to dry. Then found the big bath towel tucked under the sink. Another secret compartment. 

By then I needed fresh air and food. Went out to front of hotel and blinded by all the beautiful lights and fresh air. Probably around 13C / 56F.

There is a very large arcade like structure next to hotel. You can walk down different hallways and lots of restaurants. Mostly small and filled with staff and customers. I saw a single table setting next to a wall and braved my being slightly nervous and sat down. Didn’t need to be. Friendly staff treat you like royalty. I had a hot bit of gas plate built into the table top. I was brought a couple of very small utensils that were shaped like Michigan snow shovels. A wet towel and a menu. It was in both languages. 

I ordered ramen noodles and pork and a Sapporo beer. The beer came cold and in a very tall bottle. But flying is very dry and hydration is always needed. I’m not much of a drinker but a cold beer after the day I had was enough to make a person drool. 

Next thing an older man from the kitchen came out from the kitchen and threw a plate of ramen noodles, chopped onion and very thin pieces of pork onto the big burner in my table. It started sizzling and I grabbed the tiny snow shovel and started to flip everything around. I was in cooking mode. Then another waiter appeared and leaned under the table and turned off the gas. I was relieved as I wasn’t sure how long I was going to have to move my food around before it burned. I then put it on my little plate and began to eat it. It was so good. My chopstick skills were improving. Eating long noodles with chopsticks was fun and I finally got the knack of doubling up the noodles. You really don’t want noodles draped across your chest. I was starting to get my second wind.

Hit the bed at 10 pm and was asleep immediately. Woke up at 5:30 for a drink of water and a wee. Knew that toilet was going to jump at me again and this time waited for it. Back to bed. Up at 7:30. Hit the elevator for the 3rd floor breakfast at 8:30.

First up was the coffee machine. I saw a picture of a coffee with milk and pushed the button. A plateful of pineapple and grapes with a big spoon of yogurt over it hit the spot. The coffee is quite bitter. Not like any coffee I’ve had before but it was hot. 

It is now 9:52 am. It is raining out. I think I’ll go out on the street and through the arcade and get some street photos. I realised I packed the wrong cord to my iPhone so need to find another one so I can at least take some photos for instagram. Being the influencer I feel I ought to be for older people, I need a few selfies with the victory sign in the air. Lol. Need to find a cute dog or cat to pose with. Many dogs in Japan get pushed around in prams with an assortment of outfits. Ollie and Peannie would fit right in. Those of you with bigger dogs maybe not so much. 

Well I hope you have enjoyed the trials and victories of Day 1 in Japan.

I will try to ipdate you as we go but no more posts this long as our photo leader Luke will have us running circles with the camera. He is already been talking of night sky, landscape, temples, macro, street photography and I’m sure he will think of more things. Tomorrow we meet just before 3 pm in reception where the six ducklings will meet up with Luke. We’ll all have our cameras. We have a dinner in a restaurant across the strret around 6. The next day we get the bullet train up the east coast. Pretty much to the top of this big island we are on. After that it is anyone’s guess what happens. The six photographers and Luke are communicating through WhatsApp. Luke is already excited telling us the mountains towards the north have snow.  I wondered why he told us to bring thermals, polar fleece and beanies. 

I’m saying goodbye now and hope to keep you posted. Writing helps me sort my feelings so hope you don’t mind. Love to you all. Pam🌻

My first souvenir. It is smaller than it looks. They come with so many outfits but I liked this one. I don’t buy many , if any souvenirs, unless it’s a journal or a pen, so this may be it. It seems to be the IN thing to hang a Miss Kitty from all your bags.

The Japanese word for thank you sounds like aligoto. I’m so afraid I’m going to say affogato as I am not great with languages.

Hobart at night time.

I’m going to be away for about three weeks so don’t know if I’ll have much time to write posts. I embarking on a 9 day photography workshop in northern Japan with a professional photographer, his Japanese wife and six of us “duckling photographers”. All participants are from mainland Australia except me. We’ll be in Tokyo where we begin, then off to small towns, coastlines and national parks. I’m very much looking forward to it.

I’ll try to put up some phone pics as I go on Instagram (travellin_penguin) but won’t be downloading any photos from my ‘big camera’ until I return home.

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What’s been happening the past two weeks? Well I am almost finished reading the book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Curry. 

Good Reads describes it as:

Kafka, frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, “time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.”

Kafka is one of 161 minds who describe their daily rituals to get their work done, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks. Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up in the kitchen, the top of the refrigerator as his desk, dreamily fondling his “male configurations”…. Jean-Paul Sartre chewed on Corydrane tablets (a mix of amphetamine and aspirin), ingesting ten times the recommended dose each day … Descartes liked to linger in bed, his mind wandering in sleep through woods, gardens, and enchanted palaces where he experienced “every pleasure imaginable.”

Here are: Anthony Trollope, who demanded of himself that each morning he write three thousand words (250 words every fifteen minutes for three hours) before going off to his job at the postal service, which he kept for thirty-three years during the writing of more than two dozen books … Karl Marx … Woody Allen … Agatha Christie … George Balanchine, who did most of his work while ironing … Leo Tolstoy … Charles Dickens … Pablo Picasso … George Gershwin, who, said his brother Ira, worked for twelve hours a day from late morning to midnight, composing at the piano in pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers….

Here also are the daily rituals of Charles Darwin, Andy Warhol, John Updike, Twyla Tharp, Benjamin Franklin, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, and Igor Stravinsky (he was never able to compose unless he was sure no one could hear him and, when blocked, stood on his head to “clear the brain”).

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I am surprised by how much alcohol, drug use, insomnia and other very weird habits are involved with so many artists and writers. The book is very interesting. It is often laugh out loud funny too.

I think it is a book people might just dip into for fun but I wanted to finish it before I went away and I should do so by this weekend. I’ll take my kindle on the plane to Japan as I need to read the book The Names by Florence Knapp for our November book group. I am looking forward to a more serious book than some of the ones I’ve been just puttering around with lately.

Airplanes are great places to read. Especially with noise cancelling headphones on which I just would not travel without. 

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Something else that was very interesting that I attended this past week was a session at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).

The museum received two very large 1800s portraits in frames as a donation. The portraits are wonderful but need a lot of work with some repair and quite a bit of cleaning.

The session went for 90 minutes in the members lounge. We had a 30 minute power point presentation discussing the history of the portraits and describing the work needed and how it happens by the scientists involved. Everything from x-rays to chemical solutions to just plain elbow grease with a lot of Q tips. 

After the presentation we went upstairs to their lab and saw the portraits. The woman’s was on an easel and the man’s was laid out on a large table as it is under investigation and restoring. The three women who work on it described him as ‘their patient’ as he lies on the table.

They showed us the work they are doing close up. We asked questions and we all laughed at the work around the man who made the frame. He lived in Hobart in the early to mid 1800s and his name was Robin Hood. He learned the trade from his father, Robin Hood, Senior.  It was interesting and fun to get out with others learning about something entirely different than what I usually get up to.

The last half hour was spent downstairs having a very lovely morning tea. Sandwiches, fruit and yummy cake, with tea and coffee.

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I came down with a very bad cold this past week so didn’t do as much as was planned. I rested a lot as I don’t want to spend hours in an airplane with a cold. I’m happy to say it is almost gone by today.

Thursday night Mr. P, two of our friends and I went to the playhouse theatre to see the Agatha Christie play, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Three of us had read the book so knew the ending but our fourth member didn’t have any idea. It is a very good story and our local Hobart actor who played Hercule Poirot did an excellent job. He had both the accent and the moustache.

Well that finishes up a very bookish and arty week. For the next two weeks everything will be Japanese food, new friends and lots of photography in that order. 

Peanut says, “Have a good week everyone.”

We have had shocking rain and strong winds here and I’m very tired of it. We finally had a break for a day so I decided I needed a little project. I grabbed my camera, jumped onto the bus to town and photographed a bit of Tasmania as if I was new to town.

The bus dropped me near the general post office in the middle of town.

I then crossed the street and walked through Franklin Square in my 10 min walk to the waterfront.

I got distracted by the Daci and Daci cafe that has the best pastries and decided to sit outdoors. I had a lovely Pain Chocolat Croissant and ate it before thinking of photographing it. 😀

Then I finished my walk down the street to see one of the two new Bass Strait ferries that will one day transport people between Tasmania and the mainland. Our wonderful government bought two of these boats before working out they don’t fit the port in Tasmania so are now rebuilding the port which could take two years before the ships can be used. Yup! That’s all I’ll say.

Off to historic Salamanca. A long street of sandstone buildings with cafes and shops. The buildings are from the 1800s.

Of course I had to stop and admire this lovely dog. He was incredibly laid back.

Next a peek into the Hobart Book Shop. I don’t get to it often as parking is a nuisance and I only drop in when on foot. Besides Fullers is my go to book shop.

Then I looked at the selection of 2026 calendars in the basket out front.

I always stop and look at these statues by an artist I don’t remember but these guys appear in several countries in various positions.

There is a games and puzzle shop that tracks people of all ages. It used to be called Platos then they may have changed hands or names but it is now called Socrates. This is their Halloween window. Yes, Australia is following America with more Halloween activities than in the past.

Next we have the laundry mat cafe. Sit outside while washing and tumble drying your clothes inside. I haven’t sat there for quite awhile butthe coffee was always good.

I decided to walk a circle from Salamanca Square that is behind the old buildings to the front of the buildings. I sat outdoors at long time running cafe called Retro. It is a good place to sit and people watch. My waiter was happy for a photo but I told him to look away and please don’t pose.

Then onto Norman and Dann, a premiere chocolate shop. They have many coffee beans too and other wonderful little food stuffs. I bought a small container of dark chocolate/chai powder to try at home. It looks quite decadent. I chatted to the woman running the shop and left when a bunch of “Other” tourists arrived.

Time to head home so a short cut across Parliament House lawns was in order. I stopped briefly to see a small meeting of a Greens Member of Parliament and some anti salmon farming protestors. Our salmon in Tasmania are crowded in pens off shore and are full of disease and anti biotics. Change is needed and many work on that change. Again our government is blind to what the people want. Sound familiar. Even the chefs in the restaurants in this tourist district won’t put salmon on the menu at the moment.

But never mind – I’m relaxing today. I’ve had a brilliant spring day and needed to get the bus home. Here I am back at Franklin Square at the stop.

Home Sweet Home. The bus stop is half a block from our front door.

As I write this now, there is yet another severe weather warning out for us and more rain. Typical Tassie spring weather. When you think there is no land mass between us and Antarctica to the south and South Africa to the west you can see why our weather gets so wild and wooly at times.

Have a good week and let me know something fun you’ve done or are planning this week.