Yokohama/Tokyo III, Japan (12/16/2009-12/20/2009)

Ah Yokohama, the third largest city in Japan, yet its proximity to Tokyo meant that I've overlooked it in my past two trips. This time I would get to see it in its full glory thanks to my attending SIGGRAPH Asia 2009. This also marks my first time in Japan for business purposes. Having my company's fledgling budget in mind, I decided to stay at one of Yokohama's "famous" business hotels - before and after pictures attached :).

These 4 brief nights were quite action packed both within the conference and outside.  At SIGGRAPH I was exposed to a great number of new 3D technologies, graphics techniques, and yes, even robots. I suppose part of this was due to 'augmented reality' being the buzz-word of the year. I met people from companies we all know and love, made some good in and out-licensing contacts, snatched a few neat pieces of swag, and got to meet both an android and a JPop star & actress in the process. Not surprisingly a few of my old demoscene friends attended as well, and we got a chance to catch up after [for some] 15 years.

Aside from the conference, Yokohama is famous for its port, parks, museums and scenic Chinatown - so I had to see all four. I finally managed to catch one of these elusive cosplay events that we all hear about, and the concept still baffles me, but it made for some good pictures.

I also had a quick chance to sneak away to Tokyo for one evening where I met up with a few old friends from school and other parts. Encountered my first 'theme' restaurant, held on a 'lunar penal colony' in 2999 with alien zombies. Great fun!

Can't wait to come back soon (but I still love Taipei more).

Bejing IV, China (11/16/2009-11/23/2009)

My first time in Beijing was for athletics. My second was for sightseeing. The third time was for studying, and finally here I was in Beijing for business.  Ultimately, what it really meant, is that I ate better than the previous 3 times :).  And no pics of any touristly places (other than Houhai, which BL told me to go to and a girl from the office kindly took me to). On a more serious note, the opportunities here are staggeringly bright and I can't express enough how lucky I am to have met some of the people you'll see here, and if anything more comes of it, then that is sheer icing on the cake (although that icing would likely be made of diamonds IF anything more comes from it).  I also can't express how frustrating it is not being able to speak Mandarin fluently when I know that I really really need to these days and I could have done so much more here if I could!

PS - Ivey folks should see some familiar faces :).

Seoul III, Korea (10/31/2009-11/3/2009)

I came to Korea this time, not for tourism, but to see people - consequently, I'm going to break my own rule (perhaps just this once) of not showing too many people on this blog. David's wedding, friends from U of T days, and Mina. Also had a neat chance to plug into the nascent TEDx Seoul group. Consequently, there's not much to say about the sights and sounds (as there wasn't much different from what I saw 2 years ago). I have to say this time I had a chance to sample a lot of good Korean food, including Suwon kalbi (apparently Suwon beef is considered to be Korea's equivalent of Kobe beef) - which was quite outstanding. I had a really good time seeing people that mean so much in my life and wish I had more time. I also had a nice visit to David's workplace and got to meet the team behind his "latest and greatest" product. I'm in Taipei now, and I think that I will start a new blog for this chapter of my life given it's not so much about travel to new places, rather more about living in one.