Trip with my dad

[CBL]

As some of you might know, I study in Taiwan and have done so for the past 3 years. Every summer I go back to my home country, The Netherlands to visit my family and travel across Europe visiting some old friends. Sadly this year I had to stay in Taiwan to do an internship and work on my thesis (still haven't started yet....) I've been lucky enough that my mom comes to Taiwan often for business so I see her at least twice a year, but my dad hasn't been to Taiwan since I was 16 and we came over to see my grandfather who was very sick and sadly passed away shortly after our visit, so I haven't seen him for a year.

The beginning of this summer my girlfriends father suddenly passed away. It was a HUGE shock to everyone around us and prompted three things: I started smoking A LOT more cigars (enjoy them while you can fellas!), I started working out (lost about 7 kg over the past month and a half ) but most importantly, my dad decided to come to Taiwan and visit me!

My dad is a huge electronics- and audiophile and has always wanted to go to Japan, so we decided to go there for 10 days. He has a stopover in Hong Kong and as it's one of our favorite cities to shop (my parents used to go there quite often and I try to go there at least once a year) I decided to go pick him up in Hong Kong and spend a weekend there shopping. Sadly my mom can't take that much time off from work to join us, but she'll probably be here at the end of September for work.

Anyway, I'd love to hear if you guys have any suggestions of things to do, see or buy in Japan. I already have a big list with smoking spots and cigar shops and some of the basic local snack shops as well as the major shopping districts. But perhaps you guys have some first hand insider information of things we shouldn't miss.

We'll hit:

- Osaka

- Kyoto

- Tokyo

I'll be sure to post any cigar related pictures in this topic, I have a huge shopping list with singles for when I'm in Hong Kong

Thanks,

CB

[headstand]

Can't offer any suggestions, but I can wish you the best of times with your father. Looking forward to a rare visit from my folks next weekend. Enjoy the moments.

Alan

[aes8]

I've never been to Japan but wifey and I will travel back to HK next year so I'll be waiting to read your travel tales to determine if there are any places that we should stop and take in.

Be safe and have fun.

[CBL]

Thanks! I used to have a small blog on a Dutch cigar forum called: CB's Asian Adventures In which I wrote about various shops and lounges in Taipei and Hong Kong. I'll try to revisit some of those spots when I'm there and write a little review on them. Can't really comment on tourist spots in HK as I always go there to shop, but I'll do my best to make it all an interesting cigar related read

[CBL]

Well how things can go terribly pear shaped

Hong Kong was a cigar disaster, the prices have gone WAY up due to a tax and all everybody bought up all existing boxes before the taxes went up so nothing worth buying was available. Also　one of the Cubano stores in Central was closed

Off to Japan! First night me and my dad had a great dinner and I enjoyed a cigar with my beer and sashimi!

Second day.... we got in a huge fight and my dad kicked me out of the hotel cut me off.... so now I`m in a hostel trying to see if I can get an earlier flight out of here or if I have to stick out the remaining 6 days.

Did smoke a great RA Superiores in a Japanese Garden while I was hiding from the rain though

[Ghabanos]

Well how things can go terribly pear shaped

Hong Kong was a cigar disaster, the prices have gone WAY up due to a tax and all everybody bought up all existing boxes before the taxes went up so nothing worth buying was available. Also　one of the Cubano stores in Central was closed

Off to Japan! First night me and my dad had a great dinner and I enjoyed a cigar with my beer and sashimi!

Second day.... we got in a huge fight and my dad kicked me out of the hotel cut me off.... so now I`m in a hostel trying to see if I can get an earlier flight out of here or if I have to stick out the remaining 6 days.

Did smoke a great RA Superiores in a Japanese Garden while I was hiding from the rain though

Ouch... Hang around for the last fe days and make up... Life is too short to be angry at eachother...

Then have a few more cigars

[ChanceSchmerr]

That's really too bad to hear that the Cigar situation in Hong Kong has fallen down like that. I hope you enjoyed the city though - one of my all-time favorite Port stops I've ever been to! Hopefully Japan treats you a lot better.

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

[kiwirwe]

Ouch... Hang around for the last fe days and make up... Life is too short to be angry at eachother...

Then have a few more cigars

x2 My Friend, we all fight with own dads, but at the end of the day he will be there for you as will you :-)

Have aother Good cigar, give him a call, meet for a coffee,and tell him your Shout :-)

all the best.

[CBL]

Ok, all is well between me and my dad after I left Tokyo 3 days early and picked him up at the airport in Taiwan we had a great final couple of days in Taipei.

A short recap of the trip in pictures:

Two of the best Dim Sum places I've had in Hong Kong so far:

Jade Garden is a very cleaned and polished version of Dim Sum and has a lot of mass appeal, lets compare it to Montecristo/Cohiba/RyJ in cigar terms.

This place was Dim Sum in the more classic sense, low class, bad service, terrible attitude but the BEST Dim Sum! Funny story, we arrived a little late for lunch (2pm) so most of the stuff was sold out, you have to run and grab it off carts before other customers get their hands on it, and they started cleaning up already and the lady that was mopping the floor told the people at the table next to us: "Hey! I have to clean here, get your feet off the floor!"

Like I said before Hong Kong was a little disappointing compared to previous years, but I did pick up a tiny selection of singles:

- PL Enchantos

- Bolivar Royal Corona ('09)

- Bolivar Petit Corona ('09/'10?)

- Bolivar Petit Corona ('98!!!!)

- H. Upmann Magnum 50 ('08)

Prices and availability were really scarce, but these were cigars I really wanted to try.

After a day and a half in Taipei we moved on to Osaka and my dad and I had an AMAZING first, last and only dinner in Japan together, where I enjoyed the younger Bolivar Petit Corona bought in HK (great little firecracker) during sushi, beer and sake! You gotta love old fashion smokers sections in restaurants

After "the incident" I went sight seeing by myself, tried some street food in the same food street Anthony Bourdain visited in Osaka and went to Osaka Castle:

After the Castle I went to the sight where the Expo 1990 was held to see the Japanese Garden they have there but was caught by some heavy HEAVY rain (a typhoon was passing by)

I found a cool pagoda(?) for shelter and decided this was as good a time as ever to light one up! Luckily I had a RA Superiores '11 in my backpack which proved to be great company during the rain.

The cigar.

The view.

The rain.

Off to Tokyo! After a pretty fast train ride from Osaka to Tokyo (190 minutes ON THE DOT!) and checking into a pretty decent hostel in Asakusa (Asakusa Smile for those who ever find themselves in Tokyo on a budget) I went to visit the Imperial Garden on a clear day.

I was greeted by some beautiful koi fish!

Which inspired me to light up a Diplomaticos No. 4!! Great afternoon cigar paired with a nice cold green tea.

On a sunday I decided to go to Harajuku to do some people watching but I was surprised by a Brazilian festival (apparently there's a HUGE Brazilian community in Japan)

Had some great food, drinks and heard amazing music! A true spot of luck that was the highlight of the day. No cigar (had a PL Montecarlos ready, but the damn typhoon made it rain right before I wanted to smoke it)

On my way to Harajuku I accidentally passed this sign:

But when I went down the damn shop was closed (either because it was sunday or because it was too early) so no cigar shop visits in Tokyo like I had planned

Some random Japanese quirkiness:

This Asian Gaga was walking around in Ginza posing and being filmed. No idea what it was all about but I thought it was worth turning on my camera when she was standing across me waiting for the red light to change.

The next picture was taken in a GREAT toy shop that sold everything an adolescent mind could wish to want. They had AWESOME chopsticks shaped like lightsabers with design and laser color for each character! I really wanted to buy some, but the price was ridiculous

But what I saw on the video game floor of the shop almost had me pissing my pants! Billy Blanks apparently has a Wii game and the commercial (synchronized in Japanese of course ) was playing on a loop and he was dancing with a bunch of chubby Asian kids and it just looked hilarious!

The whole video!

All in all a cool trip although I didn't enjoy as many cigars as I planned to. I guess I'll have to catch up back home

[Ghabanos]

CBL - great summary. Glad to hear the situation with the pops is a-ok...

[CanuckSARTech]

I just COULDN'T resist watching that Billy Banks commercial. Funny ****. Hell, he's starting to look like a bit of a chubby Asian kid himself!