Chi-Chia's blog

A spontaneous family stay at Fame Hall Garden Hotel in Longtan, Taoyuan, covering the room, the Toddler's Playroom, dinner at Parents Restaurant, breakfast, fish feeding, and how the hotel felt after another return visit.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the Kamakura period: the Hokuriku front of the Jōkyū War of 1221 and the Nagoe shugo line, the layers of tradition behind the Ataka barrier and Kanjinchō, Kamakura-period artifacts of Tateyama worship, and Shinran's Jōdo Shinshū in later Hokuriku history.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the Heian period: the founding of Kaga Province in 823, a governor's working visit recorded in the Tamefusa-kyō-ki, the rise of Hakusan and Tateyama worship, and the 1183 Battle of Kurikara Pass that pushed the Hokuriku road onto the national stage.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the Nara period: the Etchū provincial capital and Ōtomo no Yakamochi's Man'yō poems, the Tōdai-ji estate maps, Bohai envoys on the Japan Sea coast, and why the written record differs so much across the three areas.

The final day of our Fukuoka family trip: we flew home from Fukuoka Airport, with some closing reflections on traveling with our daughter—how she did with eating and with walking on her own.

Day 4 of our Fukuoka family trip: a private charter day touring the Kyushu Natural Animal Park (African Safari), where we rode the Jungle Bus to feed lions, elephants and camels up close, then visited Lake Kinrin and the old streets of Yufuin in the afternoon.

Day 3 of our Fukuoka family trip: we visited Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, touched the sacred ox and drew a daikichi fortune, tried the famous umegae mochi, then headed back to Tenjin to browse LOFT and enjoy the evening illuminations and German Christmas markets.

Day 2 of our Fukuoka family trip: we took the JR and Shinkansen to Mojiko, strolled the retro station, climbed an observation deck overlooking the Kanmon Strait, visited the Former Moji Customs House and a banana auction, then rode the mini trains at the Kyushu Railway History Museum and had Hakata motsunabe for dinner.

Day 1 of our Fukuoka family trip: we flew Tigerair from Taoyuan to Fukuoka, checked into Mitsui Garden Hotel Fukuoka Nakasu, took our daughter to the Fukuoka Anpanman Children's Museum in Mall, and in the evening visited LaLaport Fukuoka to see the life-sized ν Gundam and shop for warm clothes.

On the final day of our Tokyo family trip, we checked out of Shinagawa Prince Hotel, visited Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa for the dolphin performance, otters, penguins, and jellyfish, then headed from Shinagawa Station to Haneda Airport and flew back to Taiwan after a delayed flight.

On the second-to-last day of our Tokyo family trip, we took the Yamanote Line from Shinagawa to Shibuya, walked through MIYASHITA PARK, had cake at HARBS Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs Store, and ended up seeing the night view from the twelfth floor because SHIBUYA SKY tickets were sold out for the day.

After checking out of Tobu Hotel Levant Tokyo, we took the Sumida River cruise from Asakusa to Hamarikyu Gardens, met friends for dinner in Mita, walked over to Tokyo Tower, and ended the day at Shinagawa Prince Hotel, where the room's age and lingering smell were a letdown.

Getting sick made my progress fall even further behind, so I got up early for work and walked to the office from Daikanyama through the cool, quiet streets. Setting up Flask-OAuthlib went badly all day, lunch was a satisfying steak meal with coworkers, and by afternoon I was still lagging far behind.

After the typhoon passed, Tokyo's sky turned brilliantly blue, but halfway through breakfast a migraine hit and I had no choice but to take the day off and stay in bed. Chills, cold sweats, vomiting, and dizziness came in waves, and even when I briefly got up in the afternoon, I still had no strength and could only worry about my progress before falling asleep again.

I had already planned to stay home and rest. After getting up near noon, I did some laundry and made lunch, then spent most of the day loafing around. I had meant to look at some programming-related things, but did not get much done. I just hoped the weather would calm down by tomorrow so I would not have to go to work with an umbrella.

On the second day of the first holiday weekend after starting work, I forced myself out the door and took the train from Shinjuku to Enoshima and Kamakura. I spent the day sightseeing on a tight budget, taking photos and collecting station stamps, unexpectedly wandered into Kodama Shrine to see a poem monument by Goto Shinpei, drifted all the way to Gokurakuji, and did not make it home until ten at night.

We went to Ueno Zoo that day, but our daughter got sleepy and cranky in the crowd, so we headed back to the hotel to rest before returning to Ueno for dinner with friends, picking up HARBS cake, and then visiting another friend who was expecting.

After leaving Tokyo Disney, we transferred to Tokyo Skytree in Oshiage. Our daughter got completely absorbed in Chikyunoniwa Kids Garden at Solamachi, and we ended the day at Tobu Hotel Levant Tokyo with a room facing the tower.

On the first weekend after starting work, I went to Ueno Zoo and stopped by a nationwide pottery fair on the way, where I bought a blue owl mug. The zoo was packed, and the elephants and hippos were impressive, but the red pandas were a letdown compared with Maruyama Zoo. After that I visited Toshogu Shrine, ate dorayaki at Usagiya, stopped at Yushima Tenmangu Shrine, then kept going through Ameyoko and Akihabara before finally dragging myself home exhausted.

Breakfast was rice, seaweed, and natto; during the day I got completely bogged down trying to deploy Flask on Google App Engine and work with Google Open Connect, while also having to start preparing for a presentation. At lunch I ate and had coffee with Ito-san, and in the evening I walked to Tsutaya Books Daikanyama to listen to music before making my way home along deserted nighttime streets.