#39 - To lie or not to lie

Long time ago I participated a conference in Tromsø, Norway. I was very excited; because that is the most northern part of the world I have ever visited. It was end of June and luckily the weather was extremely beautiful. I arrived at the hotel on Sunday before midday. The hotel room was not yet available for check-in and there were four hours before the conference started. I decided to dress short, t-shirt and running shoes and take a long run. There would have been a cable car taking people up to the level of 421 meters above the sea level, but I needed to run instead because I did not have any money with me. The route up to mountain was very complicated small path and it took me about two hours to get the upper station of the cable car. I continued climbing and I reached the snow level. The scenery was very beautiful. After climbing up three hours (almost 1000 meters height) I decided to return back because I was be really hungry. I was not sure if I could manage to run down two more hours because I was running out of energy. Because I did not have any money with me, I prepared myself to tell all kind of stories in order to get down to the hotel with the cable car. Luckily enough, the cable car ride down was free; at least nobody was checking tickets. After nearly four hours of running in the mountain I was back at the hotel, exhausted, but ready to check-in, take a shower and start the conference.

Tromsø city view from the mountains

The trip to north next to the Arctic Ocean was overall so beautiful that I decided to go back some day. Which I did summer 2011.

Lessons Learnt:

Problems tend to go away.

Nature in Tromsø

#38 - Japanese hospitality

Tokyo undergroung map

Tokyo style international breakfast 

Tokyo is a nice city, but the hectic bustle may get you out of breath. Couple of years ago I had an opportunity to experiment some interesting semiconductor companies, advanced universities, crowded subway, and tasty food in Tokyo. After a week I started to feel exhausted.

Luckily the next two days were reserved for a visit to an international semiconductor company located at the Awaji Island, 500 km south-west from Tokyo. Our hosts had taken good care of all the practical arrangements. A private bus took us from the Naruto airport to our hotel at Sumoto. As a positive surprise I noted that we were going to stay at a beautiful spa. All of us enjoyed hot baths (onsen) early mornings and late evenings. The hospitality at the factory was also more than friendly. Finnish and Japanese flags were welcoming us in the morning and the day was started by the group photo of the Finnish visitors with Japanese hosts. The official Japanese style dinners were delicious. Even if we worked hard in the meetings, I felt like a re-born man after those two days.

Our Spa at the Awaji island

Sneaker Traveller enjoying delicious
Kobe beef from the local farms

Authentic Awaji style breakfast table on a private room

Time run and it was time to get back to Tokyo. At the weekend Mr. E. - our half native guide -guided us on an exciting hiking tour at the Japanese mountains outside Tokyo. All that relaxation and exercise was needed to survive another hectic week in the bustle of Tokyo.

Lessons learnt:

Learn from Japanese punctuality, hospitality and ability to relax.

Profile of the hiking route

Satellite view of the hiking route. Source Google maps.

Where to hike on the steep hills?

#37 - Cheesecakes and more

I like good food, but I love excellent food. There are many excellent restaurants in the world, but normally the chain restaurants do not belong into that category. However, there is on exceptional restaurant chain that I really like, i.e. The Cheesecake Factory in the USA (http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com). I was getting familiar to the restaurant when I was visiting first time White Plains close the New York. Since then I have often used my opportunity to enjoy the famous cheesecakes while visiting in the USA. Let’s take an example.

While I enjoyed my time “beyond smoke curtain”, I visited twice The Cheesecake Factory at the Palo Alto. I felt lucky that the “smoke curtain” locked me to the USA, because I could enjoy the cheesecakes also at San Francisco; having once a dinner with my friends and another time taking a cake into a doggy bag and eating it all at the hotel room while preparing to get some sleep. Sounds grazy, but what can you do. I am eagerly waiting for the next opportunity.  I confess that I am a bit cheesecakeholic.

A peak into cheesecakes

What make me loving the restaurant? The restaurant look pretty nice and there is have plenty of good food, but the excellence comes with tens of cheesecakes you can choose from. I love cheesecakes. The slices are sweet, big and you get calories for a week. You better exercise couple of times to get into shape for the visit. Be prepared to wait for your seat, because I am not the only one who likes cheesecakes.

Lessons learnt:

Every cloud has a silver lining – even the ash cloud.

Coupe of more cheesecakes into doggybag?