My Geneva Polo Bike Setup

Some of you might have already known but I am going to Geneva (Switzerland) very soon. In like, 3 days. This time I am flying there for a specific purpose, to experience the world class bike polo. Bike Polo is the sports I have been getting into and having played for 3 years, by now I have been lucky enough to play in a wildcard slot of  The World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship 2012 (WHBPC2012)!! I will be in a team called "The Drop Bears" with Colin from Adelaide and Alastair from London. So check us out!

Day to fly to Geneva is getting closer to closer and the day for the WHBPC2012 (Wildcard to start with,,,) and the world largest polo tournament, London Open 2012, which I will be playing (Team name: Better with Vodka, with Rob from Melbourne and Sabrina from Warsaw) is getting closer and closer.

So to maximise my performance and to avoid nasty technical issues while I will be away, I have been working on upgrading my bike and my polo mallets. I would like to share what is the current setup for my polo bike. Last time I did this was when I first build my polo bike (see a post, Ready to Roll). I am still using the same frame and wheel sets and so on but some parts have been replaced with more polo friendly components. Here we go:

My Bike Polo Bike

Excessive Brake Cable will be chopped

A New Wheel Cover (No more rising sun)

Fishnet Wheel cover is still there

Specifications 
Bike 

Compornents	Details
Frame:	track, fixed gear frame set 700CX52CM
Forks	track, fixed gear frame set 700CX52CM
Handlebars:	Crappy BMX Kids Handlebar
Handlebar Grips:	Some random BMX Kids Handlebar Grip
Stem:	Kore Stems - MTB B-52 K34 Stem 2011 Black - 80mm x 31.8mm 1.1/8"
Headset:	Came with the frame
Wheel (Front):	Halo Wheels Factory Road Aerorage Track Front Wheel White 700c
Wheel (Rear):	Halo Wheels Factory Road Aerorage Track Rear Wheel White 700c Fixed/Freewheel
Brake (Front):	Dia-Compe BRS-101 43-57mm Silver
Brake(Rear):	Campagnolo Brakes - Road Centaur Dual Pivot Brakeset 2011 Pair - Black
Brakeshoes:	Shimano Ultegra Brake Shoes 6700
Break Leavers:	Dual Breakes
Tyers:	Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard Tyre 700 x 28c Wire Black
Saddles:	Selle San Marco Rolls Saddle with Steel Rails (White)
Seat Post:	Shimano something
Bottom Bracket:	Eastern Bottom Brackets - BMX Euro Bottom Bracket 19mm - Matte Gold
Cranks:	Ruption Cranksets - BMX Tubular Cranks w/Sealed Mid BB
Chain Ring:	Sputnic Chainrings - BMX Icon BMX Sprocket 25t Red
Rear Sprocket:	Shimano Wheels Hubs Spares Single Speed Freewheel 16t
Chain:	Gusset Chains - BMX Slink Half-Link BMX Chain 1/8" - Silver
Pedals:	Primo BMX Pedals Stricker Plastic BMX Pedals Clear
Toe Clips:	Brisbane Outdoor Gears, V2 FRS Strap Ons

Specifications - Mallets Mallet 1 The Main One
Shaft: Fixcraft Black Head: Mattie's Special Head, One Side Capped (Hand Made by Mattie in Perth)
Mallet 2 - Full Cream Milk Mallet
Shaft: "Creamy" Mallet Shaft Head: Milk S 1.0, Uncapped
Mallet 3 - Smart Low-tech Mallet
Shaft: "Creamy" Mallet Shaft Head: DOM BT MALLET, Both Sides Capped

There are still a lot to work on to make the bike better but this is best I can do with the time and money I can afford. Comments, suggestions, criticism (not many please) are welcome!

Oh yeah, got a polo helmet as well (got it from ebay for 13 bucks!!)

Birthday Pyjama Party

Dear friends,

Cake Cutting Ceremony in Samurai Style : Photo taken by Shan

Thanks all for coming down to my Birthday Party last night.

It was trully awesome to catch up with you all in pyjamas and especially for those I haven't seen for many months. It was great to see you again!

Hope you all had a good time and enjoyed food and drinks (especially cocktails...) we prepared.

Also, thank you for your special contribution to my fundraising.

We've raised $320(!!!) through the night:) Hooray!

Your contribution will be recorded as honourable doners on my fundraising page.

For those interested in knowing my fundraising challenge, here are the details:

Money raised benefits the Westwen Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR), Western Australia's premier adult medical institute. The fund will be used to help research and identify specific genetic defects in cancer cells, and the environmental factors which cause the disease.


Therefore, for this cause, I am aiming to raise $2,500 dollars by this October. 


Upon (hopefully,) reaching the goal amount by October, I am participating an epic 200km ride form Perth to Mandurah over 2 days, October 20-21, 2012.


Your extra contributions will be greatly appreciated as well. Donation can be made any time on my fundraising page.

Anyway, This Birthday Pyjama Party was a great first major successful step towards my fundraising goal. Thanks again for coming down and hope to see you soon.

Special thanks to the followings:

Juraj and Iin for helping me organising this fun party and being great chefs, preparing beautifully presented magnificent food, which we all loved.

Lita for making (or getting?) me a birthday cake.

Brad for letting me use the massive esky.

and everyone for being a great company :)



Cheers,

Yohei

Kyoto Hike

Something Experimental to do; Today’ Sound for you: Bing Crosby Louis Armstrong' Now youhas Jazz' 

Let’s start with this today: I am generally not fond of doing what average tourists do. In the other words, I prefer not to go only ‘must-go’ places where tourism brochures and guidebooks recommend us to visit or do (well, it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t visit Taj Mahal if I got to Agra of India). I would rather do something like trying local resident’s everyday walking course. That’s the concept of the trip for today.

Hello!

Kyoto

A bit of background about Kyoto for you: Kyoto is generally known as the ancient capital of Japan, according to Wikipedia (sorry for being lazy), the city was the capital of Japan over 1000 years (four consecutive eras from 795A.D. to 1867A.D.)  up until the capital city was moved to Tokyo. Kyoto literally means Kyo(京) – Prince and To(都) - Capital. Thus, it means the capital city of prince is Kyoto. Interestingly, Tokyo literally means To (東) – East and Kyo(京) – Kyoto. Therefore it means East of Kyoto.

Considering the fact that the city has a great and well preserved cultural significance, the entire city is inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List as ‘Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto’, making one of the best visited tourist destinations for both domestic and international tourists. This medium sized city with some of 1.5million residents hosted 4.5 million visiting tourists (Japan View, 2007). Consequently, the major attraction of Kyoto is visiting temples and shrines, learning a history of this ancient capital. 

Daimonjiyama Mountain Hike

Feel the earth!

Daimonjiyama Mountain(466m) is one of the mountains around the Kyoto Basin (yes, Kyoto is surrounded by mountains ranging from those little ones to about 1000m ones). Daimonjiyama (Mt. Daimonoji) is one of the local’s favourite Hiking rounte, with its easy to medium 45 min walk return.

Walking map of Mt. Daimonji

 My suggested route starts from just off the Ginkakuji Temple  (Silver Pavilion). It’s a fairly enjoyable walk which could be done with high heels on for girls (but not certainly recommended). Anyway, it’s a good walk. This mountain gets a bit busy on 'Gozan No Okuribi', every 16 August, the day when the mountain is decorated by the word '大','dai' which means big or giant, created by fire but otherwise, it a pretty quite trek to do. 

Mt Daimonji (Normal)

Mt Daimonji (with the fire decoration on) Picture Source

On the top you can get one of the best views of Kyoto City (personally, it is much better view than the view from Kyoto Tower, which you have to pay to get in). You can end up the walk at Honenin Temple, which is one of my heavily visited temple, as I like the style of this beautifully yet sophisticated temple.

The view of Kyoto, The top of Mt. Daimonji

The view of Kyoto, The top of Mt. Daimonji 2

Honenin Temple

Honenin Temple is one of my favourite temples in the world (well, I’ve visited temples in Indonesia and India before too). 

The Gate of Honenin Temple

It is not a massive temple like Kiyomizudera Temple, it is rather one of the smallest ones but because its small scale it has a full attention to the details of the set up of the temple (video-graphic image of the Temple). The generous dedication to perfection is seen from every single angle of this temple. The way the temple preserve is the harmony with the nature.  It means, the temple apparently looks like very wild and untouched, but it’s been highly sophisticatedly well considered for its design mixing different types of trees, flowers, moss and even roots of trees are integral parts of this attractive design of the temple.

Sand Garden

A bit of colour added

Beautiful mix of different trees and vegetation

   

Roots of trees are also the parts of the package

My journey still continues slowly for a little while.

にほんブログ村

にほんブログ村

Fantastic Cycling and Rejuvenating Paradise, Oita

Dear beloved readers,

A happy new year! Thank you very much for reading my bolg for the past year even though my updates had been fairly infrequent. But, it has also been great writing things. Hope I can enjoy keep writing the world I see this year too. Thinking those things, I have been eating Persimmons and mandarins at home.

Believed or not over 4000 access has been made since the establishment of the blog. Persistence pays off. I will keep going, providing maybe-useful information for you.

Get back to the journey

Leaving Hiroshima in the morning, I caught a train towards west. To get to the half point, Yamaguchi prefecture, the train stopped some 47 stops. I like going slow as always.

Of course, passed USA to get to Oita

Oita Specialties

Oita has it all for me, well, as being a not so hard-core chilling cyclist.

Superb onsen (hot springs)

As well as Beppu, one of the most popular hot spring districts in the country, Oita has got a great range of hot springs, known as onsen in Japanese, there are number of hot springs and they are all pumped up from underground. Besides, different hot springs has different textures such as smooth ones as silk or refreshing ones as lemon, lime and bitters, and therefore, depends what you after, you could choose what you want every day. But one thing in common in this area is the fact that the hot water in the springs is generally GOT DAMN HOT (especially the one called Takegawara Onsen), referred from Joe, my friend in Oita.

Beppu, one of the most well know onsen districts in Japan. Beppu is neighbour town of Oita 2 stops by train. 

The interior of Takegawara Onsen, Beppu

In Japan, hot springs are generally divided into 2 parts; one is for males and one for females as you need to be completely necked to be in one of them. (Oh well, probably to avoid something from happening…..) However, there are ones called ’Konyoku-buro’, which is a hot spring with only one part. Yes, it is, literary, a nudist hot spring. Unfortunately, I did not have chance to go to one of them but in this particular occasion. Apparently, here in Oita is one of the areas you could find one for real authentic experience in country Japan. The admission prices for hot springs are generally very friendly to your wallet from free (!) to 390 yen (4 AUD) (of course there are very expensive ones too.) I found a video which gives you a visual explanation of hot springs in Oita (and Beppu).

I would describe hot springs in oita to be not only refreshing and relaxing, but also rejuvenating! It's a must do experience in Japan.

  

Still not convinced? Check it out with your own body.

Leg monsters

Thanks to the hot springs around the girls here are (apparently) famous for its well maintained beautiful long legs. These legs are making Oita’s biggest industry of leg bars.(half jork and half true). Note* The word, leg monster, is first coined by Joe.

Great Pubs

You would find this kind of stuff too

To my surprise, there are great pubs around Oita especially in Miyakomachi area. Those pubs are making the area fairly entertaining and multicultural. This is partly due to the establishment of an international university nearby. One my most recommended pub in this area is P.E.I. The pub has a great range of cocktails, spirits and beer (and they do a great turkey on Christmas eves) and most importantly, very friendly bartenders and people enjoying their time. If you come for the second time, you definitely see one of your friends there. Consequently speaking, where drinking places there are wicked bottle shops are. There are heaps of great bottle shops too. Further explanation not needed.

Cyclist Paradise, Oita

Joe on his bike

And most importantly (well, believe or not and at least for me), Oita and surroundings are one of the most fantastic destinations in the country for cyclists from very beginners to full on advanced riders give you a great beautiful and scenic rides. Mountains, rivers, coasts, quiet roads. Nice challenging and quiet hills beautiful sceneries. As Joe runs a cycle tour company, Japan Bike and Hike, he knows the area very well. He kindly took on the wheel me around the area of Oita. Its just beautiful and challenging area to ride around. I’ve attached some of photos below but I would say I saw 100+ times more beautiful places that the photos below.

Mountains, mountains!

Bamboos, Bamboos!

A lot of hilly rides

At the top of a mountain!

Easy, cruisy  coastal ride

An island

A temple

A pretty damn looking good view

Time has passed very very quickly. It’s already time to go back to my hometown again.

Today's Route

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にほんブログ村

にほんブログ村

Spontaneous Acts (Journey to Hiroshima)

One beautiful morning, it was 11am. I, spontaneously, wanted to go somewhere.

I occasionally have this feeling but I always force myself to ignore due to other priorities such as study and work. But I am on holiday (and single!) at the moment so I decided to go with it. :)

Since I am not fond of cold weather, heading west was appeared to be a favorable option.

Departure Point - Kyoto

Seishun Juhachi Kippu (Yourth 18 Ticket)
I bought a Seishun Juhachi Kippu, This is also referred as 'Youth 18 ticket' (Japan-Guide.com, 2011). It contains separable 5 daily unlimited nationwide local train railway tickets, which can be used for any railway lines of Japan Railways (JR).

Japanese Old Train - very tasteful

This ticket is sold only the during holiday periods and cannot be used for express trains such as shinkansen, bullet trains,  so there are few limitations but is a very cheap option for travelling around the country (The ticket costs 11,500yen therefore only 2,300yen per day for unlimited travel.). Despite its confusing name, there is no age restriction for the purchase and use of this ticket.

Train interior view 

Holding the Youth 18 Ticket, I caught a train heading west.

Encounter with a Madam
At Himeji train station, one madam (obachan) was sitting next to me.

She was also travelling alone using a Youth 18 Ticket. Japanese are very shy people so it is very rear to talk to strangers in normal situation. But as we spend 5 hours on rail sitting next to each other, we talked about many things, such as the criticism of current Japanese politicians, the earthquake,  good fishing spots, the difficulty (almost impossibility) of forming successful inter-religious relationship, and tourism hot spots in Japan etc.

With the Youth 18 ticket, train runs very slowly and stops every single station. Time consuming but there is nothing to miss on the way. I have captured many local beauties.

A scenery from the train window

A scenery from the train window

A scenery from the train window

A scenery from the train window

Labour Intensive Japanese Trains
Japanese trains are very labour intensive as for example there are four officers in a four carriage train between Himeji and Hiroshima (about 5 hour journey). It is definitely not cost effective operation from the management point of view (as opposed to the ones in Australia, for example, which normally carries one officer (i.e. train driver) per train but gives you a unique experience of a train journey (and you are not the one paying the wage for them anyway!).

The reason why there are so many officers are because they still doing many things manually and heavily service oriented. For example, the announcement for the coming stations are made manually for every stop. Besides, in addition to informing the next stop they tell us the following information:

1. Local attractions and events information (if any)
2. The manner of mobile use (no talking, mobile need to be switched off on priority seats and area around them.)
3. Possible danger in a train (e.g use of emergency bottom)
4. The side of the door which will open at the next stop
5. Transfer (if any)
6. Apology and details for delay (even 1 minute late)
7. And, finally, appreciation on board

Plus, the officers walk through the carriages every 30 minutes or so, so if you have any inquiries they can help you promptly. Therefore, from my observation, they are busy somehow and that’s why they are so many officers in a train Japan.

Busy officer

Hiroshima and Backpackers Hostel

Finally - Hiroshima

Thinking those things, I am already here in Hiroshima. Hiroshima is one of the two places where an atomic-bomb was dropped upon in the long human history. The city was once completely destroyed and over 200,000 people are killed by just one bomb on 6 August, 1946. Now, Hiroshima has reborn with a Hiroshima Heiwa Koen (Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park) as a peaceful symbol of Japan, being one of the most visited destinations in Japan.

The A-bomb Dorm - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

More information on A-bomb Dorm (click the image to enlarge)

Hiroshima  Peace Memorial Park

Rest in Peace - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

The city itself is very flat and trams are running conveniently across the entire city. Therefore, in my opinion, it is quiet similar to place like Melbourne.

Tram - Hiroshima

Tram Station - Hiroshima

I stayed in a backpackers hostel in Japan for the first time. The place I stayed is called J-Hoppers, probably one of the first backpackers hostel in Japan. This place is not only friendly, clean, comfortable and cheap (I paid only 2,300 yen (26 AUS) for a dorm night) accommodation, they keep entertain tourists in many interesting ways.

J-Hoppers - Entrance

For example, when I was there, local university students were holding a party with the guests at the hostel. I found it was very wise, creating a win-win situation.
The party gives opportunity for the students to learn English (there are many guests from places like Canada and Australia), and guest can have a cheap meal, mingle with local (young) boys and girls and learn about the Japanese culture. And hostel sells beer, which brings additional revenue to the hostel, plus this whole thing would contribute to the healthy globalisation of the community and deepen the understanding between local people and tourists.

So, I am really enjoying my spontaneous acts.

Today's Route

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Next, I am slowly heading even east, cannot wait for getting to the next destination.

にほんブログ村

にほんブログ村