Back in Tokyo – tasting its haute cuisine with gusto!

It was farewell to the quiet backwater of Hokkaido, and hello to the world’s largest city (by population) – Tokyo! Time to get some work done!…

Alas, we were so busy we had zero time for tourisms. It was literally all work, work, work – strictly formal too: I wore a suit! Meetings, handshakes, discussions, and the inevitable low bows. Doing business in Japan these days for us is really tricky – but we don’t never give up! Despite the geopoliticalisms that we’ve zero control over, there’s still plenty of demand here for the world’s supreme quality cybersecurity.

Back at the hotel after sundown – I managed a few photos out the window but, like I say, 0 tourism (…

…And the next morning – what a beautiful day! ->

Read on…

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Hi Hokkaido!

Hokkaido – the northernmost of Japan’s main islands – had always been a curious mystery to me. I’d been so close yet so far a few times before on my trips to and around the Kuril Islands next-door – but never had I set foot there. Until the other week…

Hokkaido – meaning ~Northern Sea Circuit, is unsurprisingly just as volcanistic as the Kurils, as you can see in the above pic. It also features nice little houses, like these ->

Read on…

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Our trek up Mount Rinjani – pt. 2.

Hi folks!

Here we are with the second (and final) installment of my tales-and-pics from our titanically toilsome trek up Mount Rinjani.

I left you last time with us getting ready to descend down (600m – vertically) to a base camp. The plan was to take in some hot springs, and then to climb the opposite wall of the caldera. But no – we couldn’t, or at least wouldn’t. We were here to enjoy ourselves at a steady pace, not half-kill ourselves with over-exertion. So we quickly changed our plans: our three-day trek would become a four-day one. And that was sooo the right decision…

So we had an “easy” descent down to the lake that features the hot springs, and on the shore of which is the base camp. But… easy? You’d think most any descent in the world might be easy but… that sure doesn’t apply to Rinjani (or Table Mountain above cape Town, South Africa!). Again – it was more rubble on the double, often with us having to engage “all-wheel drive” down the steeper stretches. There were steps in places, but these had been fairly mangled from previous earthquakes. There were handrails and ropes for some sections to keep hold of to stay upright, which sure helped, but, still – handrails and ropes and 4×4? Where was our easy stroll downward?!!

It was so difficult and unpleasant – and hot and sticky – that none (0) of us took any photos. We were too busy grappling between rocks and hard places to think of extracting our cameras out of our backpacks.

But all things must come to pass – including bad things. We finally make it down to our camp with our tents already set up by our porters. And locals in nearby tents were selling… beer! Hurray!

Read on…

Indonesia’s Mount Rinjani: my toughest volcano-climb yet – pt. 1.

Hi folks!

Though, as you know, I love my volcanoes, I’ve only investigated Indonesian ones just the once – at New Year 2018: my second further from the center experience (the first came two years earlier – New Year 2016: Kilimanjaro (Tanzania); the third – New Year 2019: Ecuador). Yet Indonesia boasts more volcanoes active since the year 1800 (and since 1950) than anywhere else in the world. Clearly I had some Indonesian-volcanism catch-up too do…

But it’s not just the great many volcanoes in Indonesia that are the attraction. There are also plenty of business prospects there (which we’re actively pursuing) + a great many historical objects + a great many beautiful natural must-sees: not just catch-up needed, but ASAP-catch-up at that!…

And that ASAP catch-up came in the form of a trek up to the top of the active volcano Mount Rinjani.

First – brief backgrounder:

  • Mount Rinjani is situated on the small Indonesian island of Lombok.
  • It’s one of the most beautiful and meditative-contemplative (for the viewer) volcanoes I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes – including from its highest peak:

Read on…

African vacation – ver. 2023: Oceanic decompression, then home!

And finally, as per tradition, it was time finish off our typically active vacation – this time our Kenya safari – with a spot of decompression: to take it easy after all the dashing about and tourism-till-you-drop and getting up early every morning to fit everything in; also, to make sure the return to the reality of everyday life doesn’t take place too quickly for the mind (or is it spirit, or even soul?!) to cope

And since our tour of Kenya’s national parks took us, slowly but surely, eastward – from Nairobi over to the east-African coast along the Indian Ocean – the perfect setting for decompression was deemed to be Diani Beach, just south of Mombasa. Why? Because “it has been voted Africa’s leading beach destination for the fifth time running since 2015” (– Wikipedia, 2020). And I can see why: not busy at all, super-fine sand on the beach, and refreshingly cool water (too cool for comfort actually, neoprene advised)…

Not that we resorted to the neoprene; we were here to take it easy: no active anything – including watersports. Instead – inactive everything; e.g., beach + Bombay Sapphire, and sun + Scotch – on the rocks sand!

Read on…

African vacation, ver. 2023: Amboseli – elephant-land.

After the brief Bali-interlude, we’re back in Kenya…

First – recap:

Pre-safari Nairobi – done.
Ol Pejeta reservation – done.
Lakes Naivasha and Nakuru – done.
Maasai Mara – done.

Next up, Amboseli National Parkhere. Amboseli is more of the same wonderful wildlife but with the accent firmly on elephants – and with none other than  Mount Kilimanjaro in the background…

Read on…

Brilliant Bali!

Herewith, another brief interlude to my ongoing tales from the safari side. Where from? Bali!

So, what was I doing in Indonesia? You’d think it’d be for the volcanoes, since there are a great many of them here, and you know about my love affair with them. Yes – we did get some volcanism in, but that wasn’t the principal reason. I was here mainly for our new press event for the APAC region. As per the template, it just had to be in a warm, sunny, sandy, beachy location, which, being Asia-Pacific, meant we had plenty of options, but in the end we went for Bali, because… why not Bali?! ->

More than 30 journalists attended the event from nine countries. All day it was presentations (me telling it as it is regarding the cyberthreats of today and tomorrow), interviews, handshakes, and all that. The guests all appeared to be extremely pleased, so we’re looking forward to some good press soon!…

Read on…