COLO - MAGIC HOUR

Need-to-Know Principal / Oirase Gorge, Japan

Oirase Night Tour

Oirase Snow Walk Tour

Wild Grape Tree in Winter

I visited Hong Hong for the New Year’s holiday. Because it was the dry season, the weather was perfect. I had a really wonderful time enjoying dim sum and bars. That said, I do believe winter is a time to enjoy the cold, so I would like to visit a snowy region.

Last year, I skipped the snowshoe trekking at Goshougake Onsen and went to Mt. Moriyoshi to see the snow monster instead. I figured I should definitely go to Goshougake this year, but when I asked my wife where she wished to go, she said she wanted to visit Oirase Gorge.

There are many things in life that are better left unknown. So, I intentionally not asked her why, but I suspected there was a high possibility that she was not interested in snowshoe trekking.

When I visited Oirase a few years ago, I stayed at Hoshino Resorts. Maybe because I handle cost management at work, I am actually not a fan of the Hoshino Resorts where I feel everything is well managed in terms of cost and efficiency, but I wanted to see the fireplace designed by Taro Okamoto.

I am strict with the company’s finances but pretty lax with my own. Even someone like me was able to know staying at the Hoshino Resorts right after returning from Hong Kong would cause a cost management issue to myself. Since I have been to Oirase several times, I have a sense of the area. This time, I decided to stay at a local hot spring inn and join a public bus tour.

Last time, I booked an airline award ticket to Misawa Airport and headed to Oirase via Towada City by buses, but I could not find benefits other than getting a free flight. While it certainly helped my cash flow, the travel time was fragmented by too many bus and flight sectors which left me exhausted. In fact, I found the itinerary had more downsides than upsides.

Cost management is not simply about reducing expenses; it is about ensuring that spending yields the most efficient results. As I keep lax on my own finances, I tend to be lenient when it comes to weighing the pros and cons on my own. Despite I was able to find award ticket this year too, taking the Shinkansen would be financially acceptable even right after returning from Hong Kong. On the Shinkansen, I can sleep for two or three hours after boarding, making the trip a lot easier. This is to say that I would have more efficient trip.

If I stay at the Hoshino Resorts, they will arrange all activities. However, I had to check and book the activities by myself for this trip. After looking into it, I found that in addition to a famous bus tour to see the winter scenery illuminated at night, there were various other activities available.

I had assumed I would have to take some local buses to get to Oirase, but there was a daytime bus tour. By taking this tour, I could see the winter scenery of Oirase Gorge and then head to a hot spring inn. Even more, there were snowshoe trekking tours available in Oirase. Since there were two snowshoe trekking courses, I decided to sign up for both.

Since I did not intentionally ask my wife, I did not know why we did not go to Goshougake Onsen at the first place. Therefore, I did not foresee any issues if I scheduled the snowshoe trekking. I suppose.

I simply did not know the fact. Ignorance is knowledge and power. Importance of information management is in here.

While I have different finance management standards for work and personal life, when it comes to information management, I adopt the “need-to-know principle” in my personal life just like at work.

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Oirase Gorge

Times listed are at the time of visit.

Day 1

Ueno 07:38 (Hayabusa 3) > Shichinohe-Towada 10:37

Shichinohe-Towada Station 12:30 (Tour Bus) > Oirase Gorge Onsen 16:23

・Oirase Gorge Night Tour

Accommodation: Nonohana Yakeyama-so

Day 1 Tips
・At Yakeyama-so, if you are participating the Night Tour, they will serve dinner at 17:30 instead of their regular 18:00 or after.

Day 2

・Snowshoe Walk Frozen Waterfall
・Winter Oirase Snowshoe Walk
・Oirase Gorge Night Tour

Day 2 Tips
・I hoped that if I joined Night Tour twice, it would have good weather at least once, but it snowed both times.

Day 3

Oirase Gorge Onsen 08:57 (Local Bus) > Towada Art Center 09:47

・Towada Art Center

Towada Are Center 11:42 (Local Bus) > Shichinohe-Towada 12:20
Shichinohe-Towada 12:54 (Hayabusa 20) > Omiya 15:40

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Hong Kong & Macau

Sunset in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Skyline from Star Ferry

Macau Wet Market

Day 1

Tokyo Haneda 11:00 (All Nippon Airways ANA965) > Shenzhen 15:20
Shenzhen Airport around 16:10 (Bus) > Tsim Sha Tsui (China Hong Kong City) around 18:45

Accommodation: Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong

Day 1 Tips
・After clearing immigration at Shenzhen Airport, I headed to the ground transportation area and purchased a bus ticket to Hong Kong. There seemed to be two companies, I ended up buying a ticket from Eternal East Bus (永東巴士) to Tsim Sha Tsui. A minivan takes you from the airport to immigration, then walk to Hong Kong side. From there, you take another bus into downtown Hong Kong. A sticker is attached to your clothes, so even if you do not speak Chinese, the company staff will guide you.
・Since this was the peak season during the New Year holidays, I calculated the airfare difference based on the cost per hour of extra travel time. It was clearly more than my salary, so I thought traveling via Shenzhen was a reasonable option. In my case, I wanted to give it a try anyway.

Day 2

Sheung Wan Macau Ferry Terminal 07:30 (TurboJet) > Macau Outer Harbor 08:30

・Dim Sum at Lung Wah Tea House
・Red Market
・Ruins of St. Paul’s
・Ying Kee Bakery (Snoopy-themed store)
・Senado Square

Macau Outer Harbour 14:00 (TurboJet) > Sheung Wan 15:00

・Tim Ho Wan
・Mandarin Oriental Hotel “Bar Chinnery”

Day 2 Tips
・I visited the bar on the second floor of the Mandarin. It was wonderful to see that the gentle, elderly bartender was still there.

Day 3

・Dim Sum at Lin Heung Tea House
・Chun Yeung Street (Market street where the tram runs)
・Mandarin Hotel Bar Chinnery

Day 3 Tips
・I had heard that Lin Heung Tea House had closed down. It was reopened at a new location, so I got up early to check it out. It was as lively and fun as before. After breakfast, I went back to the hotel for a nap.
・For dinner that night, I had fish and chips with Guinness Beer at the Mandarin’s bar. It was probably the most expensive fish and chips in Asia. The Guinness comes in Mandarin’s original beer mug, which looks like made of tin, and I almost gave in to the temptation to take it home. The only reason I resisted was that I knew I would get caught — it definitely was not because of my strong sense of morality.

Day 4

・Dim Sum at Luk Yu Tea House

香港の老舗「陸羽茶室」で本場のレトロ飲茶を堪能しよう

・North River Street Market

Mong Kok 12:00 (Bus) > Shenzhen Airport around 14:30
Shenzhen 17:25 (All Nippon Airways ANA966) > Tokyo Haneda 22:20

Day 4 Tips
・I had picked up a timetable from Eternal East Bus, the first bus from Tsim Sha Tsui to Shenzhen Airport departed at 1:10 pm. Since that seemed a little too late, I took the bus from Mong Kok. While entering China was relatively smooth, it appears there is no set schedule for the minivan from the immigration to the airport. Considering the time and hassle, riding a high-speed train to Guangzhou East Station then take to subway or taxi to Guangzhou Airport might have been a better option.
・Of course, the best option is not Shenzhen Airport nor Guangzhou Airport. If you take the Airport Express, you can get from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Int’l Airport in about 40 minutes. While it is true that “everything in life is an experience,” there are no need to experience some of the things you do not have to.

I Am Who I Am / Hong Kong

Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui

Star Ferry at Twilight

A Symphony of Lights

Star Ferry Arrival

When it comes to cities in East Asia, the ones that come to my mind are Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, and Busan. The reason they rank higher than Shanghai, Taipei, and Seoul is probably because they are port cities. Among these, Hong Kong stands out above the rest because of Star Ferry.

I do not consider myself so naive as to think Hong Kong has not fundamentally changed over the past few years. Still, the places I visit via the unchanging Star Ferry have not changed much either.

Those places are two dim sum restaurants and a bar at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Strictly speaking, one of the dim sum restaurants had closed once but ex-staffs reopened at a different location; the other one is apparently deserted due to price hikes. Besides, the Mandarin Oriental has been renovated and made more stylish. Even so, both the dim sum restaurants and the bar still retain the charm of old-fashioned Hong Kong.

I think it is wonderful to keep going to places that have not changed much for about 15 years in the city where is changing so rapidly. Since all the places are in Central, I suppose I could just stay on Hong Kong Island, but I am deliberately staying at a hotel in Kowloon so I can ride the Star Ferry.

Since I am planning my trip focusing on the Star Ferry to ride it, the mistaken hotel booking that I discovered upon arrival really backfired. It was farther from the ferry terminal than I expected, and walking endlessly along the crowded seaside promenade was a hassle. Since I go out at dusk to photograph the Star Ferry, I rarely get a chance to see the ocean from the hotel anyway.

While I was taking photos of the Star Ferry against the Hong Kong’s evening skyline, a beautiful woman from mainland China struck up a conversation with me. I thought she was hitting on me, but that did not seem to be the case.

I used a translation app to figure out what she was saying, and it turned out that she was asking me how much I would charge to take her photo. There were many photographers targeting tourists in the area. Since their prices were probably exorbitant, she likely chose someone who might be willing to undercut them.

I remembered that I was also asked by a beautiful woman to take photo for a fee in Guanajuato, Mexico. It was an early morning on a hilltop and there were no other photographers around, so it was highly likely I was able to set my own price.

There is a Japanese saying, “there is nothing more expensive than free (that means nothing costs so much as what is given us),” but it is also true that “there is nothing cheaper than free.” If it is free, I do not have to haggle over the price, I do not have to put up with complaints if the quality is poor, and I do not have to pull out my wallet in front of strangers. She may be a beauty, but it was Mexico. It is best to avoid exchanging cash carelessly. I took a few shots with her iPhone and she seemed satisfied.

I had gotten up early in Guanajuato to photograph the sunrise, and during the magic hour, the color of the light changes rapidly. Besides, I am not good at taking portraits. Even a middle-aged guy like me has moments when I would rather be ignored by a beautiful woman.

The same situation arose during this sunset shoot. I did not feel the need to turn her down, but I wanted her to leave as soon as possible. When I tried to take her iPhone, she asked me to take the photo with my camera instead. On top of that, she started taking off her coat and handed me her handbag. For someone like me who did have a flash, this was too much to handle. After the shoot, we exchanged contact info on WeChat and she left.

I did not understand it since I am not comfortable having my own photo taken. Even if she is a beauty, why she would go that far. Maybe it was a massive honey trap. However, when I sent the photos late at night, I receive a thank-you reply but I was not “coincidentally” summoned to the bar where she was staying.

Come to think of it, I undercut the airfare to Hong Kong by choosing the Shenzhen route and I was undercut in Hong Kong. In other words, a middle-aged guy who flies to Hong Kong via Shenzhen just to save on airfare is not the kind of big guy who would lure into a honey trap. Rather, I am a kind of the person who would be trapped by “there is nothing cheaper than free,” so no need to worry about “there is nothing more expensive than free.”

Right at the start of the New Year, I was forced to realize that I am nothing more than a cheap, harmless middle-aged guy.