When traveling in Tokyo don't forget to try Soba noodle

by Charles Roring

Ask your travel agency about interesting places to visit in Japan. They might suggest that you visit the shopping centers, underground farming and even entertainment centers whose workers are mostly you men.

But it is not what I want to tell you here. An interesting feature which is good for traveler to see is Japanese foods. One of them is Soba noodle. It is made of Soba grains. It is also delicious. Japanese restaurants offer unique experience for travelers who want to enjoy not only various kinds of cuisines of Soba noodles but also the process of making them.

After eating a bowl of Soba noodle you can ask the restaurant owner if they also have or offer a special course on noodle making for travelers or tourists like you. If he does not have one, he might tell you where to go. Making Soba noodles is a laborious job especially for tourist. You have registered in a Soba noodle making course, you can begin practicing how to make it. First the noodle master will ask you to wash Soba grains. Then you will need to dry them. After that you have to grind them using milling stone. It is quite heavy. From it you will get Soba flour. Then you will need to mix it with some water. The next step is kneading the dough. It is similar to making bread. Then you have to flatten the dough using roller. The last process is cutting the flattened dough into noodles. When the noodles are ready, you can use them to cook any kind of dish that you like.

So, when you travel to Japan, don't forget to have Soba noodle for your lunch or attend Soba noodle making course.

Traveling in Japan can be fascinating if you try something different from the usual travel destinations offered in travel deals by tour agencies. If you have just arrived in Narita international airport or are about to leave for your home country try to walk around an amusement park located near the airport. It is similar to Disneyland where travelers can see traditional Japanese village built and operated according to the Edo period where electricity does not exist. You can try anything that they offer.

During this financial crisis, Japanese government is trying to promote its tourism industry. Many travel deals are promoted by tour and travel company in affordable cost. So, when you plan to travel abroad this year, Japan can be your next choice.
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Sharing A Bicycle

In European cities like Paris, and Rome, people can rent bicycles in the downtown if they want to travel around the cities by bicycles. The rental fee can be some euros a day. These bikes are also equiped with GPS devices which can trace the bicycles if they have gone beyond the restricted area.

Providing bicycles for rental in big cities, is one of the city programs in reducing air pollution and preventing traffic jams.

When we were young, we like riding around with our own bicycles. We rode around the neighborhood, schools, and towns. Sometimes we rode further away to the beaches, and foothills. We took for granted for the bicycles we had.

But in other part of the world, even a small bike is a luxurious thing. In Manokwari, a small town of Papua island, not all family can afford to buy a bike for their children.

Children who have bicycles sometimes have to share them with their friends. A few days ago I took a picture of children with a bicycle. A child who has the bike charge 5,000 rupiahs (around 50 cents USD) an hour as rental fee on his friends.

Such amount is considered expensive by these little children whose parents are not wealthy enough to buy bike. So, if they want to rent their friend's bike, they have to work as car or motorcycle washer. For every motor cycle they wash, they can obtain between 2,000 and 5,000 rupiahs.

Next time when we ride bicycles again, we can remember that there are thousands of children around the world whose daily night dream is having or riding their own bicycles.

view of Manokwari town, West Papua

If you are interested in taking a holiday in Manokwari town. You can stay in Kagum Inn. It is an affordable choice for budget travellers. The inn has 11 rooms where each room costs 180 US dollar per night. The room can accomodate 2 to 4 travellers.
The inn is located in Jalan Brawijaya (formerly known as Panorama weg) near SD Negeri 1 (formerly known as Klim en Daal). For futher information on the availability of the rooms, you can call the inn's manager: Miss. Ivana Roring.
She can be contacted at her mobile: +62 81 283 07 331. It is better to book in advance to ensure the availability of the rooms. Sometimes groups of 30 to 50 people stay and occupy all the 11 rooms of the inn. On the average the travelers stay for three to one week in the inn.

Sweep the floor

by Leo Charles Roring

How do you clean your house? This is a simple question that I ask of you. Some of you will say, "Well, I clean my house using some cleaning devices, such as brush for the toilet, abrasive pad for the sink, and vacuum cleaner for the floor. If I want to mop the floor I will use electric mopping machine."

Whatever the tools you use, you have to make sure that you don't spend much electrical energy. More electrical energy we spend, indirectly, more fossil fuel we burn. Most of the power plant in the world run on fossil fuel i.e. diesel fuel.

So, if you really care about the environment, please don't use more machines for cleaning your house. You can still clean the floor with a broom instead of vacuum cleaner. You can wipe the window pane with a peace of wet cloth but please do not apply chemical liquids. Just use water. The dust will be wiped away with wet cloth. You can brush your bathroom tiles and rinse them with water. Don't use acid liquid as it may be harmful for the environment. If you are diligent enough in cleaning your house manually without using cleaning machines, your house will still be clean. Unfortunately, if the floor is covered with thick carpet, you will still need a vacuum cleaner. Well, you can still clean it without vacuum cleaner but it takes time and hard work. I used to clean my carpet by hanging it on the clothes line and beating it repeatedly. The dust would fly everywhere. This way is not practical.

When you go to a shop, you can see many kinds of broom and brush there. If you are interested in buying a broom, please choose the one that is not made of plastic. The broom that you choose has to be made of material such as wood, palm fiber or animal hair.

Sweeping the floor with a broom is not enough. You must use a broom that is made of natural material as I mentioned above. Don't use a broom whose brush is plastic. Most plastic material is made of oil. Use a natural one.

Maybe most of you will say that the manual cleaning a house is a laborious job. If we are serious in fighting global warming, it is worthy. Any single act that we do everyday has to be environmental friendly. In addition, cleaning your house with your own hands will be good for your health. It will burn fat stored under your skin so that you will look slim and healthy.

Flatten your casual clothes with your bed

by Leo Charles Roring

Reducing fuel oil consumption is not an easy task for everyone. Fuel has become an “addiction” to modern people. I believe that if all people around the world are willing to take time and reconsider their living habit and start changing it, we can make a big difference to this earth.
Yesterday, I talked about bike to work lifestyle following the Dutch habit and Cuban experience. Maybe some of you will say, “Well, I am willing to bike to work but the distance between my home and my office is 45 kilometers and I have to take a train everyday.
If it is your case, definitely I cannot force you. But there are some other ways where you can reduce your fuel consumption. Consider that you iron your clothes everyday to make them neat so that you can wear them when going to work or office confidently. It is okay if you iron your office clothes for that purpose. How about other casual ones like t-shirts, shorts, and jeans? You don’t have to iron them to make them neat. You can still make them neat using other ways which are friendly to the environment.
The heat that we apply to our clothes comes from electricity. The electrical energy is generated by power plants which consume oil or gas. The combustion of oil and gas in the power plants emits carbon dioxide. More CO2 is produced, more heat is created. The less heat we use in ironing our clothes, the less fuel we burn.
So, I want to suggest you one alternative which I hope you can consider it. If you have a bed, you can use it flatten your jeans. Before leaving for work or school, put a pair of jeans between your mattress and the bed. It will stay there for hours during the day until you return home. When you return home, lift the mattress again and take the jeans. Have they been flattened already? The answer is definitely yes! By doing so, you have reduced fuel consumption. More people around the world should do the same. It is a peaceful way of preventing global warming.