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HEARSAY‘ THE COMMUNIQUÉ

THE TRIP SEASON IS BACK!ANNOUNCING THE AUTUMN EDITION OF OUR EUROPE AND JAPAN SOUTH TRIPSFrom The Captain’s Desk

Greetings Trippers! We are glad to come with our first issue of Hearsay, the communique bulletin for all Trippers. Get latest updates and offers from us for upcoming trips, crazy stories from recent trips and just-for-laugh sharing from you trippers! Hearsay will be the right forum for you to Hear something from us and Say what you want about us, before you actually embark (or again) with us.

Autumn is always an ultimately exciting season for us! After another memorable springtime trip to the north of Japan, a super-fun Shanghai+ Trip in the summer, now it is our utmost pleasure to

announce that our annual Europe trip and the popular Japan South trips will depart this November - both with exciting, brand-new, carefully designed itineraries.

The Europe trip will highlight the ever-spectacular Venice Biennale for Architecture, which will boast Sejima as its chief curator. Along with 8 other cities, the trip promises a fortnight-long excitement in romantic European autumn. We are also bringing back our popular Japan South trip - Yes, we will never be bored with Japan! - to the trip-ing scene this year, after a 1.5-year absence. New projects keep popping up the

amazing country’s contemporary architecture scene at a rate impossible to catch up with. The more often we go there, the more we realize that we can never stop coming back to Japan and search for more. More of everything - architecture, art, culture, sakura-drops, ramen, sushi - you name it, they have it!

In fact, we are not going to stop taking you in your search for more. Anywhere. Anytime. On Atrip.

A typical scene in a Kyoto park sometimes in late autumn

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Try locating this little town on your map, somewhere in the south of Japan and count how long you take to find that little dot. Nakatsu is never a fancy downtown where stylish teenagers stroll by the street, nor it is a bustling-hip metropole with blinding neons by the night. A short hop on the train from the famous seaside onsen town of Beppu is Nakatsu, a humble town where you don’t see too many people and cars around, where you see rice fields, blue sky and statued trees all posing for a surreal panorama.

Right within this contemplative ambience is an equally silent architectural masterpiece by Fumihiko Maki. Kaze-No-Oka Crematorium is an definite must-go for those seeking answers to their search of meaningful spaces. There are no glitters in this architecture, not even a try. Forms and lights almost

poetically intertwine to create a scene of contemplation, writing verses of an elegy. Sitting there, watching the stillness of day and the dramatic shadows, makes you forget you are inside a crematorium - for some, the eerie word makes them shiver. Before you even have the time to say something about it, you will find yourself walking in a peace of mind, down a road that solemnly cuts through the serene surrounding. Down to a little noodle-stall with friendly elderly couples making fabulous soups for their soba! There we shall wait for our bus, helplessly hoping for it to come a little later for a little more time in this town. Nakatsu, and THAT building there, is an honest testimony that the most wonderful sound of all, is indeed the sound of silence.

For us, it probably is.

NAKATSU, HERE WE COME AGAIN!WE INSIST THAT FUMIHIKO MAKI’S EVER GRACIOUS MASTERPIECE IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST-SEEStill From The Captain’s Desk

Sitting there, watching the stillness of day and the dramatic shadows, makes you forget you are inside a crematorium - for some, the eerie word makes them shiver.

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I boarded the train from Rome’s filthy Tiburtina Station without much expectation and imagination about our next destination, Venice. All I knew was that I would arrive in the wee hours and getting to our hotels would be a hassle, but I couldn’t care less. I would be in the island already anyway. So I quickly went into my two-bedded cabin, lights off. Sleep.

With a complimentary cup of hot cappuccino still on my hand, I alighted at Mestre Station at 5.30. I caught a ride on the island’s efficient waterbus, cutting through the foggy (misty) early morning, and at one time cruising under Senor Calatrava’s new skeleton’s bridge, to the infamous Piazza San Marco.

As I stepped out of the boat, I was nothing but awestruck. That was it. We had only just arrived! Arriving at this majestic city just before sunrise, you’ll be silenced by the surreal scene you’re walking into. Ageless architecture, The legendary Grand Canal, the mist, kissing birds, the churches’ ringing bells and almost no one else but you. That was Venice in a glorious morning. 15 degrees and perfect! Can’t wait for my panini breakfast.

Well, I’m not sure if you really need a teaser like the first three paragraph above to lure you to this island. Venice is not only about the majestic San Marco, intimate alleys, little canal bridges, romantic small courtyards and old churches, but also a home for art

and architecture. Last year we had a go at the Biennale for Art and was left speechlessly impressed. This year, The International Architecture Exhibition is in its 12th edition, and will feature SANAA’s Kazuyo Sejima as its chief curator, among other big names. I and, I’m sure many others who have been there, have only one line to say, Come and See It Yourself! I guess that sums up everything about it.

If you’d like to know my best private moment in Venice, I’ll tell you now : Waking up before 7 in the cold morning, walk to a little square beside an old church by a misty canal, sitting down on a lonely park bench right under a yellowing oak tree whose leaves were getting dry and falling, with my kretek cigarette and an SLR, watching kids walk their way to school.

La Vita e Bella...

Arriving at this majestic city just before sunrise, you’ll be silenced by the surreal scene you’re walking into. Ageless architecture, The legendary Grand Canal, the mist, kissing birds, the churches’ ringing bells and almost no one else but you.

BUONGIORNO VENEZIA !VENICE BIENNALE : THE 12TH INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITIONBy Sandhi

MORNING GLORY6AM. Near PiazzaSan Marco, Venice

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JAPAN SOUTH THE AUTUMN EDITION 2010

DAY 01 FRIDAY 26/11/2010 Depart to Fukuoka via Singapore (Singapore Airlines)

DAY 02 SATURDAY 27/11/2010 Nagasaki Prefectural Museum of Art (Kengo Kuma) Garden Terrace Hotel (Kengo Kuma)

DAY 03 SUNDAY 28/11/2010Shimonoseki Kawatana Onsen Information Ctr (Kengo Kuma)

DAY 04 MONDAY 29/11/2010Kaze-No-Oka Crematorium (Fumihiko Maki)

DAY 05 TUESDAY 30/11/2010 Miyanoura Port (SANAA) Chichu Art Museum (Tadao Ando) Teshima Art Museum (Ryue Nishizawa)

DAY 06 WEDNESDAY 01/12/2010 Glass Temple (Takashi Yamaguchi) Kyoto Garden of Fine Art (Tadao Ando) Kyoto University of Art and Design Campus (Kengo Kuma) COCON Karasuma (Kengo Kuma) 9Hours Capsule Hotel (Fumie Shibata)

DAY 07 THURSDAY 02/12/2010 Osanbashi International Passenger Terminal (FOA) Tokyo International Forum (Rafael Vinolly) Muji HQ

DAY 08 FRIDAY 03/12/2010Iwaki Picture Book Museum (Tadao Ando) Saruga-ku (Akihisa Hirata) & Daikanyama Area

DAY 09 SATURDAY 04/12/2010 21_21 Design Sight (Tadao Ando) Tokyo Midtown (SOM) Roppongi Hills (KPF) & Tsutaya Bookstore RoppongiGinza Area (Dior, Maison Hermes, Armani) Nicholas G. Hayek Center (Shigeru Ban)

DAY 10 SUNDAY 05/12/2010 Nezu Art Museum (Kengo Kuma)Collezione (Tadao Ando) Omotesando Hills (Tadao Ando) Omotesando Street (Dior, Tods, Nike, GYRE by MVRDV)

DAY 11 MONDAY 06/12/2010Tokyo Free & Easy Day

DAY 12 TUESDAY 07/12/2010 Depart to Jakarta via Singapore (Singapore Airlines)

COCO CURRY The higly addictive crispy skin chicken curry rice. Simply irresistible!

HEARSAY30, Manyar III, Bintaro Jaya Sektor 1, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia 12330

RSVPatrip.info@gmail.com

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RIP

PRICEJPY 268,000 / person / twin-sharing

Economy class airfare on Singapore Airlines, customized local tour, accomodation, breakfast, lunch, all local transportation, guide’s tips, tour programme, all entrance tickets to visited destinations wherever applicaple.

BOOKING FEE JPY 68,000 or USD 800 / person

For confirmation of reservation, applies as a non-refundable downpayment. if payment is to be made in USD, the remainder of the payment must be paid in JPY in the amount of JPY 200,000.

Registration open until 26 OCTOBER 2010 or when the number of confirmed trippers reaches 16 person.