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Bob's Photographs and Stories from Abroad....
Bob in Japan
–February 1, 2008
Continued from News page:
And then unbeknownst to Suzanne
I had a really great meeting of the minds with Werner Wachter, the
owner along with his wife Coral, of Edelweiss Bike Travel and we
both agreed that we were overdue to ask our customers to join us
on our first Bob's BMW-Edelweiss Adventure and have some really
great FUN in the Alps. I'm 100% sure that Suzanne was not fully
onboard at the start considering what we had just cancelled and
it took months of begging, cajoling and pleading to get her to read
the Edelweiss catalog from cover to cover. Once she did that and
then met several of the great people who would be joining us she
got very excited. Werner and I selected a tour we could modify a
bit, adding a few stops, a tour of the BMW factory and a visit to
BMW's Zentrum (the main dealership) in Munich and we were partners.
My target was for 30 participants on that tour even though Werner
wanted about 15-20. He reasoned that no dealer or individual had
ever brought him that many clients for one tour in the past even
though many had said they would. One big difference: I wanted to
have FUN with our customers and others were just looking for a free
trip and I was willing to be a paying customer and by doing so was
able to convince them to provide additional services, extra guides
and so much more to make it a really special tour.
Near the end of our registration period Werner confided in me that
we sent him scrambling for bikes because we actually did get 31
people signed on and he was simply not prepared for this but by
June of 2007 he was able to borrow numerous new bikes from the BMW
AG Press pool. A handful of very lucky customers were the very first
ones to ride the new K1200RS as BMWAG and Edelweiss upgraded them
from the K1100RS they'd signed up for; plus they got to do this
in the Alps in five different countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria,
Italy and Lichtenstein. Several of us even went exploring in France
as well!
I could go on and on but I'll cease with the travelogue. It was
a fantastic adventure and numerous long term friendships began as
a result. So now I had a real case of wanting to travel everywhere
on BMW motorcycles.
We began to talk about the next destination while we were all still
in Europe. Heck I could hear my own wife singing tunes from the
Sound of Music on the back of the R1100RS we were riding on the
very first day in the
passes. Since then we have enjoyed hosting customers, friends and
a several new clients that have become part of the extended Bob's
BMW family on these adventures in Italy, Spain (2 trips), Ireland
(the 1st to ever do this), Germany, Arizona (we will do this again!),
New Zealand and most recently Japan.
Japan came to be because every once in a while Edelweiss offers
up what they call a Scouting Tour to a very small group of past
customers, the ones they know are just a little more adventurous,
the ones that can roll with just about any issue that might arise
along the way and the ones that just won't complain if a meal, a
hotel or something else is not quite up to the usual high standards
Edelweiss tries to insure are part of every tour they operate. These
come to be because like Bob's people tell Werner they'd enjoy going
to a particular country. When he gets enough people providing that
feedback and he and coral agree that it might a good destination
they go and do some initial exploring---and our customers think
I have a tough job! If that goes as planned they do some more routing,
inspecting of hotels, restaurants, coffee stops, places of interest,
roads and even gas stations and then they announce a date for this
Scouting Tour during which they will
get constant feedback about what's right, what works and what should
possibly be changed.
About two years back they hosted one to Morocco and I really wanted
to go but my schedule simply would not allow for it and then there
was the budget since we were already taking deposits to head to
New Zealand and that was a more costly adventure due to airfare
and the length of the two week motorcycle portion of this tour.
I had to decline that invite; but when the communication came about
Japan even though I had just returned from an incredible adventure
in New Zealand I begged my wife Suzanne for extra time off (yes
I too have a boss) and she agreed that I should go.
As to if I or our customers as an organized tour through Bob's BMW
will go back to Japan again I can only say perhaps we will one day;
but for now there are so many great places we have not been that
those are simply higher up on the list. I promise I'll get around
to telling everyone that reads our website more about the fantastic
adventure that Japan turned out to be but for now I hope visitors
will enjoy the images as we post them and stay tuned for some more
words aside from the brief captions. And while they are enjoying
what we are sharing perhaps some of the more adventurous will start
thinking about joining me and those who have already signed on for
our 2008 Bob's BMW-Edelweiss Tour this fall when we head to Austria,
Hungary and
Slovenia for a 10 day riding route and a 13 day vacation beginning
on August 15th. Those interested should simple email me directly
at bob@bobsbmw.com or call
me at the dealership. I'll be delighted to help get them enthused
and answer any questions they might have!
The photographs start in Oregona and end up in Japan.
I went to see Cabaret for the
first time at this very cool theatre in a restored Armory. This
was the lobby. I'd kill to have a space like this for Bob's
BMW. A great show with a fantastic cast.
In the lobby was this old time
looking viewer that is a replica of the Armory. Each button
allowed the viewer to watch a 1-2 minute history lesson on the
Armory space and Portland in general.
The International Airport near
Tokyo. There are no airports actually close to the big cities.
It was a 90 minute bus ride into Tokyo. Bus transportation being
a very efficient operation is an understatement. In the course
of 20 minutes (or less) that I waited for my bus to pull up
four other busses arrived, unloaded passengers and luggage,
loaded passengers and luggage and pulled out. It was all handled
by courteous people in uniforms that never tossed anything and
in fact cared for each piece as if it was their own and a family
heirloom. each luggage compartment had a pull out tray so they
could fill or unload from the back with amazing speed and little
strain on anyone's back while doing so.
wooohoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tokyo at night, my first night as a matter of fact.
I walked for several hours taking in the sights, the people,
the ....well everything.
New York on Steroids in many respects.
Who says fast food can't be
healthy?
While this was not the only option, it was quite common to see
some of our American standards changed slightly to be more palatable
to the Japanese diet.
Yes, it was very tasty.
The Japanese are the Construction
Guru's of the world. Every job site we saw, big or small, in
little towns and the largest cities were immaculate. They were
orderly, safe in appearance and usually at least one person
was around to literally guide a pedestrian or a vehicle through
to insure everyone got where they were going. Workers were in
uniforms, never ragged blue jeans or sloppy t-shirts. Everyone
wore hard hats. All vehicles that came and went from small pick
up trucks to full sized concrete trucks were always clean. Debris,
stones, dirt, etc never left the construction site and thus
no one ever had a windshield damaged by thrown items. I was
most impressed with these automatic guards that waved and blinked
that were at many longer zones as a friendly reminder. Even
cones or barriers were always neatly laid out if not actually
treated as a display of their ability to manage this work and
construction process and avoid impacting others any more than
absolutely necessary.
They simply have the coolest
most innovative parking garages I've ever seen. Nothing takes
up much of a a foot print beyond what is needed to support a
10-20 story structure and a turn table and elevator system.
(click on image to see full format)
Despite how crowed the living
conditions are they squeeze in beautiful parks in many locations
so everyone gets to enjoy nature and tranquility.
Every single park, large or small was always manicured to perfection.
Never trash or debris of any kind.
Very often rocks were cemented in place to insure they stayed
where the designer wished them to and all these were!
I saw this nice artwork on
many garage and commercial roll up doors all over the place.
Just another example of a society and its people taking the
mundane if not ugly and turning it into a thing of beauty or
at least far more decorative than it usually is in the United
States and other countries.
This one appeared to simply where supplies were loaded into
a restaurant/neighborhood grocery so they did not have to go
through the door customers used.
