Akemi's Adventure Travels

Long winded and long awaited, but no pics yet, the internet is veeerrrryyyy slow here....

2011-09-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the following is a long-winded and rushed account of the past 6 weeks or so, I haven't had as much of a chance to refine it as I would have liked. I know I've left out some things, and maybe spent too long on others, but thought I'd get it out there while I can, as at the moment I'm staying at an ashram in India where the internet connection is sketchy and I've got long busy days of classes, both theoretical and practical.

I also won't be able to post pictures for a while, since the internet is too slow here. You'll have to check back after October, probably, for pictures! I'm actually crossing my fingers that I will even be able to post the text!

Enjoy!

After a SUPER! Adventure in Laos.

Wow!

What a great, amazing, fantabulous time.

I did exactly what I wanted to do, I pretty much stuck to the plan and very pleased it worked out pretty much as I wanted/planned/desired it to.

There was no time to really write it all down while it was happening, and there was never really the right time anyway. It was an experience that just needed to happen, to unfold and evolve by the minute. I was making last minute decisions and hopping on buses and joining people, and leaving people, just by whim. Nothing was set in stone and yet it happened exactly as I planned.

It started in Cambodia, when I got sick. I think of it as my initiation, a trial by fire, a whole-body-encompassing event. Tear-stained and sweaty. But like a rock, with a smile on my face. I went through with the day trip to the silk-weaving farm with Kate, even though I was so out of it all I did was lie on a hammock while I was there!

I sometimes think about how it would have been had I taken a different path at any point, had I stayed longer or left sooner from any place, and how different things might have been. It’s firsthand destiny! And this is how is happened, and these are the people I met along the way.

First there was Lars, the German guy who came on the silk-weaving trip. I admired him for his open-mindedness and warm-heartedness. He was kind of short and stocky, with a full head of curly blond hair, and a great smile. He was a participater, he had no qualms and engaged everyone he met. He ate a cockaroach at the bus stop. He wanted to do the cooking class, he said he liked to cook. He didn’t have an attitude, or a “too-cool” persona, he had nothing to prove and everything to learn from the world and the people he met. He was young, maybe between 19-21, I don’t remember asking him. He took advice, and we both decided to get our Laos visas in Phnomh Penh and wait another day because of it, even paying more than we should have. But he took it all in stride and never had a regret. We got stuck at the border, not because of visa issues but because the bus got stuck in the mud. Our enormous, double decker VIP bus, mired knee deep in thick sticky Laos mud. (picture) The guys were called upon to help push. We were amazed that there were no steps taken to prevent this happened despite it probably happening quite often. There was a large building under construction (according to our “bus guide” it had been under construction for 3 years!)- it was being built right across the road, so that’s why the bus had to detour around it into the mud. (picture)

Check out this link- it should link to my fb photos...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2175342697403.2120695.1061889054&l=ee727911bf

We landed in Don Dhet, of the 4,000 Islands in southern Laos. Our primary goal was to see the river rare endangered Irawaddy river dolphins. (picture!) We stayed at Ban Saphoun GH, owned by our bus guide, for I think 60,000/night, sharing a room so 30,000 each which is about $3.50. It was decent, we had an ensuite bathroom, two single beds, no mosquito net though, and relatively right on the river. We arrived on the bus with two German girls who also stayed at the same GH, and they will figure greatly into the story later.

My first thought on Don Dhet was “This place is dead!” A one-road “town”, with no one on it. Not even any interesting looking tourists. The first night we had dinner at our gh, and it was fairly decent. Lars liked it. We had some Beer Lao and went off for a wander. We found the Reggae Bar, and went in. We sat down with a bunch of Latinos, including a Chinese girl from Ecuador, pretty cool. I talk to the Chinese girl for a bit, she’s cool. I talk to a Swiss guy who strikes me as slightly odd, he asks me, “Aren’t you afraid, traveling alone? Someone could just… take you away…” He’s amazed that I would travel alone, and I wonder how he hasn’t encountered any of the multitudes of other single females also traveling alone. He tries to talk some s*** about Obama, but doesn’t have anything other than a tired argument about O being inefficient and unable to do anything. Yeah, I say, but what would you do? I’m frustrated by people not being a part of the solution. I tell him the world has enough whining mouths. We stay at the bar until we get kicked out at around midnight, they really close early around here. The owner is a pissy looking European, maybe Dutch, skinny with tattoos all over his arms, and not really friendly. I think he’s got short man’s syndrome. His assistant is a tall dorky fellow Dutchy-European, who is really nice but kind of a push-over/mini-me to the other guy. Not charming on the whole, but we do come back the next night as well, where I learn how to say “Asshole” in German and Dutch. Arschloch! Klootzak!

The next day we leave early on the same bus, me for Pakse, and Lars to transfer in Pakse and go straight on through to Vang Vieng. He wants to party before heading back home to Germany after a full year of travel adventure. The German girls are also on that bus, and we end up going to the same guesthouse. It smells like moldy mildew and my room has two beds (. My plans were that I wanted to go motor biking to Tad Lo and the waterfalls in the area, and it turns out, so do they- of course! We go together. Our adventure out to Tad Lo bonds us, we have a similar outlook on life and it’s a great time. I try to learn a few words in German, the language intrigues me, if only because I can’t understand what they are saying! We try to book a room at the fancy resort, but back out when the price quoted is around $40 per night each. Instead we head to another place further from the river where its around $2.50/night each...

Pics here!:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2181563492919.2120849.1061889054&l=71778288c9&type=1

Anyways, the rain where we stayed in Tad Lo was amazing. We watched it from the patio at the resort restaurant, eating dinner late into the night, playing “Arschloch” and drinking Beer Lao… (picture) Then driving home down the hill to our meager accomodations and having more beer there, and finally passing out in our mildewy beds under the mosquito nets. I woke up to more light rain and dogs fighting each other at like 5am. Why do dogs always fight at the crack of dawn? Everything else is usually so peaceful!

We venture out to ride elephants, which is a relatively tame experience compared to everything else that has happened this trip. They tramp up rocky hillsides and down muddy trails that would be immpassible for us. We leave on our motorbikes, roaring through the rain. Raissa had claimed this to be her first experience on motorbikes, but she took to it like a fish to water, or perhaps a bull to fighting, leading the way at 100km/hr, rampaging our way back to Pakse in 3 hrs, 2 of those through pouring rain, one hand on the bike, the other arm up shielding our faces from the stinging rain. Animal! Fera! Rwoar! Go my German girls!

They almost convince me to go to Vietnam with them, on a mission to get to the beach before they leave from Chiang Mai on the 24^th. I also just love the instant change in mind that is possible when you are traveling alone, you don’t have to consider anyone else’s sense of propriety, of promise or compromise, or sense of safety or stability. You don’t have to worry about what anybody else thinks. But instead of changing my mind last minute (this time!) I stick to my guns and remain on the path to northern Laos. (It's quite long trip to Vietnam from Laos...) My choice is to stop at Thakek on my way to Vientiane, or go straight there on the VIP overnight bus. I choose Vientiane after talking to a few people. Thakek sounded cool but without a group of people, the main attraction, a cave that goes 8 km through which you can navigate by boat, is quite expensive, as the price always goes down with more people. Plus is was said to be less accessible due to the rainy season, although I will see that rain is not much of a deterrent for many things in Laos, despite an increase in accident and injury…

All this decision making puts me the the position of running out of town rather quickly, as the bus for Thakek would leave the following day, but the VIP night bus to Vientiane leaves at 8:30 that night, with the tuk tuk pickup at 7:15 from the bus agency, and current time being 6:30. So I run back to the hotel (literally!), pack my bags, order a couple of baguette sandwiches from the baguette sandwich lady on the side of the road, and get in the tuk tuk. Which then meanders up the road, the driver gets out and does something, we drive back past my pickup point, then goes back the same direction, picks up a lady, then drives back once again past my pickup point, and picks up some English kids. I see Raissa and Annike in the restaurant and wave at them- Sad to see them go!

On the songthaew I meet some English kids, also getting on the bus to Vientiane. Well actually they are going straight past Vientiane to meet their friends in Vang Vieng, (although the girl in their group wants to come back to Vientiane, for marmite, she says. Marmite! Ha- at that point I decide to tag along with them- I really don’t know what I would do in Vientiane except for see some temples and museums, and I’m really not keen on marmite!). I want to get on with the adventure! So again I make the last-minute decision to go with them, onwards to Vang Vieng. Woo hoo!

Note about overnight buses in Laos. You have the potential to share a double bed with a stranger. A double bed that’s actually the size of a twin bed. Yikes! I was scared, but I was lucky. Bed to myself the whole way! Thank god.

Pics from Vang Vieng- they aren't too exciting as I left my camera at home most of the time, due to rain rain rain...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2187529242059.2121073.1061889054&l=a945d30527&type=1

I end up in Vang Vieng, sharing a room with Daniel Chipperfield, aka Chip. He’s a skinny bloke (his words) from south west London. They all went to school in Wales. James and Jay are a couple- James is in medical school and Jay is finishing in speech therapy. Chip was a journalism major and is carrying a small video camera. They are great people, responsible, sincere, funny and in general a good enough group to stick with for a few days, especially to do the tubing! They don’t drink excessively, and Chip is really polite, really taking care of me, which is really nice. The next day their friends show up, Rosie, a tall blond with an independent streak; little Jess, a petite brunette with a charming freaky side but so cute, and Nick her tall, large blond boyfriend who rarely makes a sound, Chris, a kind of anti-social/quiet type but not sociopathic, I decide later. And Naomi, also a medical student, earnest and mature for her age, who happens to be a lesbian.

The room is cement, painted a medicinal green, and mildewy. The view from the balcony is fantastic though, a vista equal to any Chinese landscape painting, the high karst mountains in the background, wreathed in wisps of cloud. (picture!) I’m so happy I chose not to stay in Vientiane. I think from now on the right decision is to skip the big city in favor of village or nature. Of course, when we finally go to sleep that night, Chip finds ants in his bed, and there are little grey pod bug cases on the walls, and the little worms that come out of them crawling on my bed… At least we have an ensuite bathroom and (sort of) warm water in the shower. It's the little things, right?!

The next day we go “In the tubing!” I say it that way because that’s how it’s written on the shirts, in typical bad Asian grammar, and it just sounds funny. (picture)

We take a tour actually, which will take us through some caves you can tube in, and then tubing down the river. (Too bad I don't have any pictures from this day, as I decided to leave my camera at home.) So the cave is pretty awesome, one of the highlights but nothing really bad happened, so rather tame in retrospect. It’s the cave where you start out sliding in around a corner (in the tube), then pulling yourself into the cave using a rope and pushing yourself off the ceiling, which is suddenly right over your head. It’s rather claustrophobic and Jay doesn’t like it, and backs out. We go deeper in and it’s beautiful and scary, since you start thinking that rain on the other side of the mountain could fill this cave in minutes. I’m not sure if that could really happen, but given my latter thoughts on safety in Laos, it seems entirely possible. So I tried not to think about that and the ceiling lifted and we got out of the tubes and climbed our way through some tiny crawl spaces, and then waded through chest deep water until we reached the end, a little rivlet running at our feet, and then waded/ crawled/tubed back outside Lunch was fried rice in banana leaves then in the songthaew to go in the tubing. Tubing was also relatively tame and boring, as we didn’t get completely wasted and paint ourselves and dance around at the bars, or knock ourselves in the head jumbing off rope swings, or spraining ankles on river rocks in swift current, or drown. We did however, drink a bucket (only me and Chip though, and we shared it), and played mud volleyball, and mud tug-of-war. And we went down the giant tile slide (little Jess did knock her head against the side though). We watched other drunk people jumping and sliding and contemplated the many possibilities of danger and injury. Nevertheless we arrived safely back into town and spent the next day safely at a bar watching Friends, (I still don’t like that show) and not even really drinking. Very tame. Me and Chip were going to rent motorbikes but desisted when the rain started coming down like a madman, absolutely pouring. So that was Vang Vieng.

The next day we left for Luang Prabang. It surprised me as being the adorable town I expected of it. Flowers, bouganvilleas, butterflies, temples, sidewalks. A change from the rough and ready rural style of Pakse, and the muddy shappy ramshakckle backpacker look of Vang Vieng. This was where the rich tourist flew into when they went to Laos.

This link is for pics from my walking tour of Luang Prabang...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2187603883925.2121077.1061889054&l=419305a2d0&type=1

I signed myself up for the “Chicken-run” mountain bike tour, touted as “Advanced”. I got lucky and went into the agency with the very people who I would go with, a Spanish couple , David and Viviana. David had experience biking, but Viviana didn’t, and she was mildly trepitive, but game , so we went for it. (I wouldn’t have been able to go on my own, as the price was much higher for a sinlge. It was around $26 US for the day with the two of them.)

So on the whole the trip was very exciting, starting off with a nice river crossing on a barge, another one right through the river (picture) and then a road completely washed out and watching a mini-bus getting towed through the mud on the side (picture). And us completely muddy and dirty, my favorite state!

The road was long and hot, passing through various small villages, but our guide was completely stone-faced the whole time. I got the feeling he might have been depressed, or really judgemental, or absolutely hated his job of riding a mountain bike through beautiful mountain roads with three friendly and open-minded tourists. Well maybe he was on to something, because after lunch we had a little accident, Viviana went right over her handle bars while going a little too fast down a steep and rocky hill. It could have been me, as the road was pretty bad and I remember going a little too fast at times, and thanking god that there were no big holes in my way. Well anyways she wasn’t in good shape after the fall, she stood up too fast and kind of fainted, and it was really hot, there was no shade, and to top it off the crazy guide told her not to drink any water, as in Laos if you drink water after an accident you will die. Ok, so we are in the land of eastern medicine??!! I had a little stand-off with him and agreed to disagree. We ended up walking to the next village that had a songthaew taxi that could take their bikes, and David and Viviana met us at the river bank. She couldn’t put any pressure on her wrist to ride, plus she was scared and in a lot of pain. Some people from Tiger Trail met us in a truck on the other side of the river, and the representative was drunk (it was only about 4:30pm), and there was some difficulty in getting them to just agree to take them to the hospital for x-rays. I felt bad for leaving them, as I felt I should go with them to the hospital, just for moral support and also a morbid curiosity to see how a Laos hospital would function. Also to maybe assist with diagnosis, as in I’m not sure what kind of medical beliefs they have in Laos. But I was exhausted, and figured they would be ok without me.

That night was shopping and the last dinner with the English kids (picture). We had free shots of Lao Lao with dinner and went home. I decided last minute to stay another night and spend the next day walking around Luang Prabang, spending too much money and taking lots of pictures.

The mountain bike adventure in Luang Prabang, and my last night with the Brits
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2191344457437.2121196.1061889054&l=59e240e1ac

At sunset I climbed the mountain to the temple on the hill, meeting a guy from Portugal on the way, and then some girls from Slovenia, with whom I ate banana-chocolate pancakes and did some more shopping. They were really sweet girls, open and friendly. I hope to visit them in Slovenia one day…

We all left early the next morning. I was headed for Meung Ngoi Mua- got on a mini-bus for what turned out to be a relatively pleasant ride (I’d been lucky on transportation the entire way, nothing more serious than a half hour wait for a land slide to be cleared and getting stuck in traffic due to dragon-boat festivities and a Sunday market so far.) I would have like to get out and check out the festival, it looked, well, festive! And fun! Lots of people out, tons of food and helium balloons (picture).

Anyways, there were a couple of English speakers on the minibus, an American from Santa Barbara and an Englishman from Nottingham. The girl had been teaching in Pattaya for a few months, and was now on her way to travel around for an undetermined amount of time. She had been a social worker in the US, responding to crime scene situations with the police to take care of collateral damage during domestic disputes.

We all ended up staying in Nong Khiaw- oh but let me tell you!

It was a beautiful town, surrounded on all sides by tall karst formations, and on either side of a muddy river, the Na something… Smaller than a one road town, quiet and peaceful. We got rickety bungalows overlooking the view (picture). They were in rest and recovery mode, semi-traumatized by various experiences teaching in Thailand. We went on a hike to a cave, the hike of which turned out to the be the fun part, the cave being largely unimpressive. It was the site of a refuge, used by Laos people for everyday life when the Americans were bombing the shit out Laos in the 70s. (picture).

The exciting part was crossing the little river on the way to the cave, assisted by this man employed exactly for that purpose, lucky because the current was pretty strong, and might really have carried one of us away if we had tried it on our own. (Although maybe not, as my later experiences would later prove, crossing a river may be dangerous and not recommended under normal circumstances, sometimes it’s necessary and possible, especially when accompanied by intrepid and fearless German girls!) (picture) For this favor we paid him $5000 kip, and another $5000 to enter the cave, which was guarded by another Lao guy, this one also stone faced and miserable looking, wearing an extremely dirty shirt and looking like a street kid. The older guy helping us cross the river was more personable, and had a sense of humor. The Laos culture is mysterious in this way. I’m not sure what lies behind the inscrutable expression- some seem to take the onslaught of tourism in stride, and others just have no clue on how to relate.

Another thing was how not many people in the village knew how to speak English. Even a few words, even related to their business, as in the hotel people or in the restaurants. They would get stumped at the slightest thing, and run off for someone to translate, and failing that, would just stare questioningly at you, saying something in Laos, and both of us helpless.

So I love this town, I love this place, and want to stay longer, even though it’s eating into the time I would be spending in Chiang Mai later. But it’s a big city, and my previous resolve was to spend less time in cities and more time in the backroads, places like this, where there was adventure to be had.

I slept in the next day, had a lazy breakfast (picture) and then rented a mountain bike for exercise and exploration. I left Tom and the girl (what was her name?) sleeping in their hammocks and took off down the road. It was a good ride, and on the way back I detoured onto a trail which again, just breathtaking (picture). I rented the bike from the Tiger Trail people (she gave it to me for $20,000 for the afternoon, quit reasonablw) and I enquired about treks. There was a couple going on a homestay trek the next day that I could join. Another option had also arose, when I met a guy, an Australian-Sri Lankan, who had rented a motorbike and ridden from Luang Namtha. He had seen me way out on the road on my bike, and we had dinner with him. Turns out he is an emergency worker, had lived in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, among other crisis zones. He was also carrying all his rock climbing equipment with him and was thinking about exploring some routes the next day. I thought about joining him, but as there was nothing certain about it (The Green Discovery people pretty much had taken over the routes and were charging exorbitant rates for a “guide” , and anyways, Mil didn’t seem too sure about what might happen. Mil happened to be eavesdropping and knew that the girl at the next table was the one going on the trek (such a small town, you don’t need to go far to know everyone there). So at the last minute, as I had been too lazy to go across the bridge (picture) to let the Tiger Trail people know by 8:30, I went over to the girl and asked her about it. She was so enthusiastic about me joining them, “the more the merrier!” that I felt this was the right thing to do. I showed up the next morning and surprised the Tiger Trail people, but they were accommodating and off we went. It turned out Jason, her husband, was considering medical school, and they grilled me about "going back to school", and what it was like… They had just gotten married, and were constant travelers. They have a blog, peanutbutternomads.com, and a lifestyle pretty much designed to make everyone else in the world jealous. Or me, at least. They were such a nice couple, and might even settle down in LA, long enough for Erin to go to grad school in education, and for Jason to complete his pre-reqs for med school. It would be nice to know a nice couple my age, who are active and adventurous, to hang out with in LA!

Anyways, the trek was awesome. We had lunch in a Hmong village, in a house on stilts, with a little Hmong family, the grandmother taking care of the children while the parents were working in the fields. (picture). The kids were really fun, and we had enough time to get to know their little personalities, they just loved the attention. Jason played soccer with the older boys, and Erin played hopscotch with the girls. The food too was amazing, and it was nice to sit and eat with the Hmong people, watching the 2 and a half year old grandson showing off his toys and learning about their culture.

At one point the little boy runs outside, and we see him playing with a little girl about the same age. They take off each others’ pants and compare parts. The grandmother is not phased, and they are soon running around completely naked. The little girl’s name is Bia- or Bia-Lao, as the grandmother says, laughing. She seems really nice, soft and with a friendly, smiling face, just like a grandmother should be. (picture)

As we left, and were down the road a ways, and crossing a little river, we could hear the little boys yelling “bana-naaaaa!!! Ba-na-naaaaa!!!” It was sooooo funny, it was a sweet connection.

We walked on, through beautiful views, up and down hills and valleys. We arrived at the second village in the late afternoon, and toured a bit through the village, seeing the women bathing outdoors in sarongs, at communal faucets, and visiting the school, closed for summer.

Food again was amazing, we ate well. We got to watch food preparation, and a shy little girl came up and put her little hand on my shoulder as I was going through my photos on my camera, and I went through a little slideshow for her. In fact all the children were really shy, and had maybe never really been this close to Falang people before. In fact that’s probably why my camera batteries ran out, showing her the pictures on a near empty battery…

It was a nice homestay, very well set up. We had nice beds and mosquito nets (of course a little mildew), and packed dirt floor. The toilet was clean and easily accessible (I say this in comparison to the toilet at my next homestay, where there was a treacherous and slippery slope to get to the toilet, one which I fell on a couple times and got my slippers all muddy!) and also a nice spring-fed pump for washing.

There were clean, well-lit tables to eat at and huge meal… Squash soup, something with greens, a most-fabulous pumpkin dish, the secret of which may have been the palm oil, it tasted kind of like bacon, and heavenly… Sticky rice, of course. And corn on the cob, but slow roasted or something, so the kernels were dark yellow and chewy, almost to the point of being popcorn kernels but not quite, with a popcorn-y taste and chewy texture.

Breakfast was good as well, and then we went off to the fields. We were handed scythes and set to work, chopping weeds away from the crop plants of ginger, “oil plant”, and another plant that looked like corn but wasn’t. It was fantastic! One of my best experiences in Laos, chopping weeds next to the Laos workers. Physically tiring but satisfying. Exhausting, on a beautiful hillside, sweating and bent over. I’m not sure if I should laud it as much as I do, since I don’t have to do it every day, nor does my livelihood depend on it. But I really appreciated the work, and I wish I could work in the fields with villagers more often, as a way to help them and also to get the feel of what it is like. True organic gardening. But I come from such a priviledged position to be able to make these statements, sitting as I am, typing away at my portable laptop keyboard while I sit on a deserted beach on an island in Thailand… (picture)

Of course I had gone out to the fields in flip flops, not quite realizing where we were going at first. Communication usually never clear in Laos. So on the way back I just go barefoot, as the mud sucks my shoes every time and I can’t go quickly. Barefoot in the rainforest, yet again! (But no leeches, yet!)

On the way back we stop and stare into this little hut where there is equipment making going on. A man is hammering at a scythe, after making it hot via a fire that a young boy, probably his son, uses a bellows to pump air out. A toddler is also present in the hut, with a cute little bare booty (picture). Laos safety measures? None! The kid also had marks on his face like he maybe fell down recently… But wow, what a scene! I was fascinated.

We take off soon after that, and hike a few hours to the river, and are transported by river in a long tail the rest of the way. Again, gorgeous, drop-dead scenery.

I’m reluctant to leave, but press on to Luang Namtha, another trekking town in North Laos. My trepidation is based on fear that I won’t be able to find a group to trek with again, and also that I have a flight leaving from Chiang Mai in a couple of days, and if I trek even one day longer than my schedule allows, I won’t arrive in Chiang Mai until the night before my flight, leaving me with no time to spend there at all. Plus I’m happy here in Nong Khiaw, and I’ve had really good experiences here. However, I learned from my previous experience when leaving my German friends that another amazing experience may well be just around the corner. I don’t mind skipping out on Chiang Mai as it’s a big city, and I’ll just have to take my chances with meeting up with new people to trek with.

Upon getting to the bus station… (picture)

A beautiful bus station!

I find that my new traveling companions this time are two Spanish couples from Barcelona, friendly as well, but speaking mostly in Catalan (which I cannot understand!). My friends Erin and Jason get on a songthaew heading back to Luang Prabang, where they will spend a few days before heading off to Nepal to do the Annapurna Circuit (I’m so jealous!). We get in a local bus, which is packed with people, even using little plastic stools so people can sit in the aisles. The road is in a terrible state, but we arrive at the halfway point, Oudomxai, without incident. I’m even falling asleep, my head lolling about. We are supposed to change buses here, but there doesn’t seem to be a regular service to Luang Namtha. Trekking may not happen after all- spending a night in this boring town, will cut out another day... But lo and behold, after an hour or so of exploring other options and almost leaving the bus station, a bus pulls into the LN spot, and we are waved over. Bus today! Leaving at 5:30.

We arrive in Luang Namtha at Zuela GH at 9:30pm, and take the remaining two rooms, a three bed room for the girls and a double for the boys. Tomorrow we’ll rearrange, when more rooms open up. It’s 80,000 kip for our room, and 60,000 for a double, and it’s the most beautiful GH I’ve been in since arriving in Asia… Brick walls, NO MILDEW SMELL! Clean bathroom, spotlessly clean and white, and nice hot water showers (no water pressure, but a small price to pay).

That night I check in on facebook in Luang Namtha, and a miracle happens! You see, I had wanted to trek in Luang Namtha as well, but was resigning myself to the fact that I might not be able to, or would have to go with the two couples, and they weren’t going on a trek right away, they were going to relax one day and leave the next, leaving me with just one night in CM. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sacrifice my Chiang Mai time for that. I just wasn’t sure. But an hour later guess who comments on my fb status? It’s Annike and Raissa, my German friends. They are back in Laos and coming to LN too, and will arrive tomorrow. I write back for them to come to Zuela GH, and then I wait, wondering if they would get the message, wondering what time they would arrive, and wondering if it would all work out, but in reality trusting and just being sure that it would. The next day I relaxed, rented a mountain bike and went off on a muddy, rainy, thunderstorming adventure, a 35km loop around town to a touristy waterfall and down some backroads (picture). In the evening I waited for them at the night market across from Zuela, waiting and hoping. (picture).

And lo and behold! Two tall blonde heads, I couldn’t believe it! My plan was working out perfectly. We had some beers and went to book our tour. Coming along with us would be Roni and (dude’s name) two Israelis, not a couple, but who had all just met on the bus on the way into town. We had actually expected to be able to join the two Spanish couples on their trek/kayak trip as I had originally planned, but it ended up being full. So the tour company, resourceful as always, comes up with an alternate. This tour is new, they say. The guide explaining it to us is drunk already, as the tour company is also a bar, a nice spot really. He stumbles for the right words, and me and the German girls are basically in, let’s do this! No matter what. The Israeli girl is more cautious, asking questions like, “is it safe?” “do we get insurance?” and other probably sensible questions that we know just have no good answer, deep in Laos as we are. The dude doesn’t really seem to care, he just pays the money and looks self-assured, so I assume he’ll be allright. It’s supposed to be a two day jungle trek, with a homestay. 5-6 hours walking each day. It sounds like they haven’t really done this particular trail yet, and it almost sounds like the guide is making it up as he goes, but regardless, it sounds like a great adventure!

We leave at 9 the next morning. Roni is late (she is coming from another guesthouse), and we wonder if she really wants to do this. She insists on going back to Zuela to put her bags there, and the guide is impatient. But we end up waiting for the local guide for another hour or so anyways, so I’m not sure what all the rush was for.

The local guide is there to carry our lunch, and a machete.

And so the adventure begins. We start out jubilant and happy, excited and bouncing up the trail. It’s beautiful already, and we can see rubber trees being tapped on the side of the trail. Apparently the Chinese are investing a lot in Laos for their natural resources like rubber and oil (from a plant source).

And then… The leeches. At first I’m nervous and excited, as I don’t quite know what my reaction will be. I’ve been known to have a phobic reaction to slugs, however slow and harmless they may be, and here we have slug-like creatures but with a propensity for human blood. And quick! Ok but here we go. So we see one on the trail. It’s a large one, about half the thickness of my pinky and maybe just as long. I see it standing straight up, seeking a heat source. We go quickly by it and I’m ok, intrigued but nothing else, a little freaked out as I see it start to move towards us and we walk quickly away. But our guide turns to go up this steep hill, and I fall on my ass and slide down as I try to scramble up. “Hurry up!” They say behind me, “the leeches!” So I keep scrambling, and as I go to reach for a stump, I see another leech, standing straight up and I’m about to put my hand on it, so I scramble some more and then there are leeches on me! The guide is pulling them off his feet already, he’s not even wearing any socks. I’m half sliding back down the hill, it’s completely muddy, and squirming out of my skin, he pulls a leech off my shoes and puts it on a branch, and hacks it in two. Below me, everyone else is struggling up the hill, and around me, I see the leeches, coming closer, and SO FAST! Like a stop action horror movie, they stand up and wave around, sensing heat, then start inch-worming their way, and before you know it, they are on you, gross and slimy, squirming away from your fingers, sucking onto your skin, your socks, your shoes. It’s disgusting. So we jam up this hill, everyone stopping to pull leeches off every once in a while, stomping all the while to avoid new ones from crawling up.

We stop for a rest eventually, and to wait for the guy, who is having a hard time for some reason. It turns out that he’s really not a hiking type of guy, and isn’t really in the kind of shape you need to be in to hike quickly uphill while escaping leeches. We take off our shoes, and realize that it’s a leech party in our shoes! So we pull them off, and I’m just feeling so disgusting, hyperventilating, and talking myself out of freaking out. I mean, they are not poisonous, they don’t spread disease, and in fact doctors still use them on patients. So there’s nothing wrong with them! But really, they are so disgusting.

We stop for a rest on top of a large log, and contemplate our next move while pulling leeches off. Roni starts to wonder if they can crawl up your leg, and if so, how far do they go? She looks down her waistband and sure enough, finds two leeches on her upper thigh! UGH. Luckily I don’t have them that far up.

Our guide promises that if we walk just a bit further we’ll end up at a farm, a Lao “garden” as he calls it, where he says there are no leeches. (picture) And indeed! We are so happy, and sit down for a nice lunch, eaten off banana leaves with lots of sticky rice. We wash it down with water and a few sips of Lao Lao, a homemade rice whiskey that Mac is carrying with him. (picture)

There are no leeches the rest of the way and I am SO relieved, and also dreading the next day, when Mac says we will encounter plenty more! It’s a beautiful hike through jungle and rice fields, but as we get nearer, the skies darken and it starts to rain. It even gets cold, and getting to our homestay location is a welcome respite. Roni and the guy lie down for a nap and me, the Germans and Mac go out into the village to say hello and maybe find some Beer Lao for sale.

Unfortunately there is no beer in the village as the roads are too washed out for motos to get into town to replenish supplies. Apparently once rainy season starts the villages get really isolated, and rarely venture into town. We sit around a fire, warming up and chatting with the family. It’s a one room hut with a partition for a bedroom, and apparently 11 people living there. Little children run around, shyly glancing at us then running away. There are two teenage boys who are on summer break. During the school year they live in the town to go to school, and come home on weekends to work. School is not very good in Laos. There are small schools in the villages, with varying levels of quality of teaching. After kids get older, they outgrow the village school and have to go into town for high school. After that, they have to go even further, to Luang Prabang for university, and all of it costs money. So most students work on weekends. Our guide was lucky in that his family helped finance his education by selling two buffalo. He learned English and started leading tours a few years ago. Now he teaches English during the school year and leads trekking tours in the summer, both of which are really good jobs. I realize it’s very hard for these kids to escape a village future. (picture) Not many families have the money to send their kids away, and most have to work in the fields to help with day to day living.

We return to our lonely little hut on the outskirts of the village. The cook is there and has built a fire. We sit around and build another fire in the middle to dry our clothes out and get warm. Dinner is plain but good, a cabbage dish with meat, some green veg, and sticky rice. The entire place is lit by candles and the fires, it’s dark and smoky. The beds are set up with mosquito netting, but are rickety and dusty. Our guide falls through when he stands on the bed to adjust the netting. We all slide over so no one has to sleep next to the hole. The toilet is outside, down a slippery slope, which makes your feet muddy every time you go to the loo, if not your entire backside because you fell down. It’s like a freaky slumber party, where things are not so comfortable but really not so bad either. It’s not luxury though, that’s for sure! It rains into the night, and we wake up early. Clothes are still damp, and everything smells like smoke. Our water for the day consists of water from the village that the cook boils over the stove to purify it. It tastes like smoke from the fire too. We fill up our water bottles, put on our damp clothes and prepare to face the leeches once again, sigh!

Before we go though, some of the village men come over to show us some tricks. We get to shoot a bow and arrow, and on my second try, BULLSEYE! We also play an accordion-like pipe organ type instrument, and a harmonica/flute thing.

We set off through the forest, and this time I’m more acclimated to the leeches. They really aren’t so bad this time either, instead of being everywhere, they are just occasional, and I am much more calm. We pass through some amazing scenery, but before lunch it starts to rain, so out come the ponchos and backpack covers, and we slog through the mud. Lunch is at the Banyan Tree, but there is no shelter there, and the next sheltered place is a good 2-3 hours walk. So the cook lays down a plastic tarp and on the tarp he dumps out plastic bags of food- a tomato dish, green long beans with meat, and a delicious smoked eggplant mush, of which I eat most of. Oh, and of course there is tons of sticky rice. The dude sets his umbrella up over the food, but we all sit on our haunches in the rain and eat off the tarp with our fingers. (picture)

Continuing on, we keep going and going, through tall grasses and jungle underbrush, up and down muddy hills and over and under giant logs. When finally we reach the river, we are all relieved, as the sun was out and there were no more leeches. However we had another problem, which was that the river was really high, and really fast, and we had no idea how deep the it was. I already knew from experience that the currents were deceptively strong out here. We scoped out the river for the best place to attempt a crossing. Annike is the first to cross, and she wades in, almost getting swept away but makes it. Her and Raissa have their stuff in a dry bag, and Raissa crosses next. The rest of us put all our valuables and electronics in one bag, and throw it across to the girls. Next we throw our other bags, and then walk over. The current is strong and up to my waist, but we all make it across, relieved.

Ah, but there’s more! 4 river crossings total, the last of which is supposed to have a bridge. One down. We reach the next river, and it’s worse than the first. The river looks much deeper and faster. Raissa hikes into the underbrush and emerges next to a tree growing out over the river. It bends under her weight, and she jumps in, managing to swim to the other side. Great! Now to get our things across. Annike takes the bags and lobs them over to Raissa. Mine hits the water but everything inside stayed dry. She gets better with each bag. Next I jump/swim across, and it’s actually pretty fun! Roni does the same, and so does the guy. But now we find out the guide doesn’t know how to swim and is scared of the water. We spend about half an hour convincing him to jump in, and finally, finally, with a four man bridge of hands to catch him, he jumps in and we keep going.

The next river crossing is not so bad, as there is a local family who wades across with our precious bags, and we jump and swim across with all the locals. The last river has a “bridge” consisting of a couple of logs lashed together, barely skimming the top of the rough waters. But after the previous experiences, this river crossing was a dream. The rest of the way was done fairly quickly, but still taking about an hour and a half, getting darker all the while.

Back to civilization!

It was the MOST adventure I’ve ever had, probably the most dangerous, most exciting, and most adrenaline pumping hike ever. There were definitely points at which me and Roni were discussing the phenomenon that occurs with traveling, when there are times that are maybe not so enjoyable while you’re going through them, but become the best moments of your life. This is defintitely one of those times. There was a moment at the beginning of the hike on the second day, when Mac suddenly told us that there was indeed another route that was possible to take, one that did not go through the jungle and leeches, but followed the road that the villagers normally take to town. He said it was easier and quicker, and with no leeches… But no, we all decided to push through, as we planned. I almost backed out but it is not my style to back away from a challenge.

We returned to Zuela Guesthouse and manage half a beer before passing out on the bed. Me and the German girls are leaving for the Thai border the next day, via bus to the border, a boat crossing in Houy Xai, and a mini-bus that will take me to Chiang Mai and drop off Raissa and Annike in Chiang Rai on the way. It will take about 12 hours. This time it’s really goodbye, as they are going back to Germany on Friday, so we make plans to meet again in Europe… For more adventure!

I arrive in Chiang Mai as scheduled around 9:30pm, and get a motorbike taxi to the hotel to meet up with May. It’s a happy reunion and we go for a walk to get some food and do some shopping. It’s a good time, albeit short. May is spending two weeks in Chiang Mai doing the Thai Massage course I was initially going to do, but decided to forgo in favor of more trekking and scuba. She was enjoying it though, and we were planning to meet again the following week in Bangkok for our flight to India.

So the next morning I start the journey to Ko Tao for scuba- it’s a quick flight at noon from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, about an hour on the MRT (Metro Rail Transport?) to the train station, waiting a few hours then taking the overnight train to Chumphon arriving at 4am, 1/2hr or so bus to ferry station, and ferry leaving at 7am for 2 hrs ride to Ko Tao, arriving Ko Tao at 9:30 the next day. Whew!

Along the way I meet another American girl traveling alone and we end up hanging together for the rest of my time on the islands. She was going to do her Advanced Open Water diving course, and I did my Open Water (beginner) dive course. After the courses were over we went to Ko Pha Ngan, which is where they have the full moon parties, but as this was mid-month, they were having a Black Moon party- which we didn’t go to anyways, for various reasons, among them being exhausted from diving in shitty weather for a couple of days, and also not being hyped by the crowd we encountered at the pre-party at Coral Beach Bungalows. Anyways! I really loved Ko Pha Ngan, it was a beautiful island, really not at all what I expected. It was deserted, wild and beautiful. Our bungalow was right on the sand, and we paid about $10 US/night for the two of us. (picture) I could have spent days there, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, diving more, exploring. On this trip, I decided the best way to do this island justice would be to lie in the sand and absorb the feeling. It’s definitely in my plans for the future.

Ko Tao was crowded with divers and partiers, a lively place. I dove with New Way, a smaller company, as I wanted more of a personal experience after the rushed and scary experience with Quicksilver Diving in Australia. This time around the diving was great- I really got the hang of it after playing around in the pool, practicing skills in a calm environment. I found the whole experience was what made it fun- swaying on the boat, setting up your equipment, feeling accomplished when you get out of the water. The diving itself was nice, rather unremarkable, other than a striped sea snake we didn’t see any spectacular animals or whale sharks… But it’s ok, I feel comfortable with it and will definitely go again!

My American friend, Julie, had an unfortunate experience when the dive boat she went out on broke down and they had a hard time getting another boat to come out and rescue them, including jumping from one boat to another in rocky waters. I guess that might be the downfall of diving with a small company, the boat they normally used was being repaired so they had to borrow and share with other dive companies. Also the weather wasn’t great on our 6am dive either, rather choppy, and I got a little seasick. But really, after my experiences in Laos, nothing was going to phase me anymore!

I wish I had more time to explore Ko Tao, as all I saw was the busy area around the dive shop. In fact, I need more time on the islands in general! I have to find a way to spend a couple of months being an island beach bum.

And the reason for all this hurrying is because I had to make a flight from Bangkok to Indore, India, on 31^st August. Which is where I am as we speak, in the middle of a 36 hour journey from Ko Pha Ngan in South Thailand to Indore, Madyar Pradesh, smack in the middle of India. It started yesterday with a 12:00 songthaew from the beach to the port, a 1:00 ferry to Chumphon (3 hrs), 5:30pm bus to Bangkok (7 hrs), a 7 hour wait in Suvarnabami airport, a 9:am flight to Delhi (4.5 hrs), and 6:pm flight to Indore (2.5 hrs). Including a 6 hour layover in Delhi, where I am now, conveniently using the laptop charging station so I can both write this and finish watching Kill Bill when I get back on the plane.

Whew! 14 pages later, I’m finally caught up with my adventures in Asia. A beautiful, wonderful experience. I’ll have you know that what I have published here is the "editied" version, as I certainly couldn’t post every detail, nor do I wish to share it all! There are some things that must be left to the imagination, and I most certainly hope that the details that the reader might fill in would be more exciting than what I’ve actually left out. But I’ll leave that to your imagination! ;-)

Having too much fun to post an update! :-P

2011-08-18T09:26:00.001-07:00

Soon, I promise!

I realize it's been a while, and so much has happened! Motorbike rentals, kayaking, elephant rides, in the tubing Vang Vieng, interminable bumpy bus rides, mountain bike tour, new friends, trekking, listening to geckos, trading travel stories, waking up to beautiful views, (and moldy beds), village homestay, (scything weeds in the fields on Laos hillsides!) delicious food, sticky rice, waiting hours for the food, drinking lots of beer Lao, getting really really disgustingly dirty, (and hoping the laundry actually gets clean!), exchanging movies and music on portable technology, cultural confusion and so much more...

I think it will take a while to sink in and become a story, as opposed to mere relating of events. Until then, chew on that paragraph above I just spilled out, it's pretty much how it all seems right now!

I just arrived in Luang Namtha and SO relieved to be off the bus- it was 4 hours of extreme bumpy from Nong Khiaw to Oudomxai, where we almost resigned ourselves to staying overnight but somehow a bus showed up and after packing people into all available crevices we took off, this time on a surprisingly smooth road, but another four and a half hours after not having anything other than breakfast... And me with no more Laos kip left, luckily I was traveling with a friendly group of Spainards, who spotted me the 10,000 kip for the minibus ride into LP central, and we settled in a REALLY NICE guesthouse, where we ate a huge dinner and then took a HOT shower, and am now lying in a CLEAN bed, (it even smells good!) and enjoying the luxury of a good wifi connection as I lie here!

I feel like a king. It's amazing how important the little things are. :-)

Cambodia: Angkor Wat, getting sick, and return to Phnom Penh

2011-08-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Cambodia, it sucked me in... I was originally going to stay just one week, and it turned into two, which has now stretched to two and a half. Time passes strangely when you're traveling. A few days feels like an eternity, because every day you're seeing new things, navigating new waters, figuring out your path minute by minute.

Lately my preference has been to make friends. (I guess that's always how I am though!) As a single traveler, I enjoy the freedom of choosing what I want to do, but I miss companionship, and support when I encounter difficult situations. So in part that's how I chose to structure the last few days of traveling.

The first day in Angkor Wat I shared the tuk tuk and guide with a friendly stranger from the guesthouse, and we did the "Mini tour".

Fooling around in the Tomb Raider temple

The next two days I went on my own, first to Banteay Sreay and the next day (and for sunrise) on the "Grand tour".

As Angkor Wat is pretty impressive in itself, there is nothing much else to report... aside from me forgetting my passport in Kampot and having to get it sent by bus to Siem Reap... I had to leave it when I rented the moto, and when I returned the moto I was leaving immediately for the waterfall, so completely forgot. Thank god they were able to send it, for just $5! Plus $5 for the tuk tuk to the bus station to pick it up, and two hours at night waiting for the bus in the rain in a strange restaurant with the tuk tuk driver... It was a little stressful, but really nothing bad.

In the city of Siem Reap I saw the Apsara dancers, which are featured in many carvings in the temples. It's abstract dancing, and they train their fingers and toes to bend backwards, looking very unnatural.

Real life Apsara dancers

Carved Apsara dancers.

I got a foot "massage" from Dr. Fish. The little fishes gnaw on the dead skin on your feet.

That was pretty much it. The people selling things there are pretty aggressive, offering tuk tuk, moto-bike, massage, "Lady you buy from meeee" It gets tiring and annoying but you should always be polite but firm. I guess at night the kids will pickpocket you, luckily I didn't experience any of that. Other people I met had kids grab a water bottle from out of their hand, or hitting them if they don't buy something.

Next: I got the bus back to Phnom Penh, to break up the journey to Laos. I think that's when I started feeling sick. The bus driver was going way too fast, making me nervous. Not to mention I was in the back of the bus, so went flying on every bump. On top of all the bumps from the tuk tuk rides in Angkor Wat, my head was really getting a beating.

Once in Phnom Penh I noticed a posting advertising a trip to a silk weaving farm, organized by a girl I befriended the last time I was there. I decided to stay one more day and visit the farm, where she worked.

Thank god I decided to stay because that night I didn't get any sleep. I was nauseous and uneasy when I when to bed, started puking at about midnight, and from then on it was a memory best left unremembered. Pain, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting. The room was too hot, the bed was too soft. I tried to keep drinking water. I moaned and groaned and wished I were home.

I decided to go through with the silk farm trip because I really didn't want to stay in the hostel all day, it's not the nicest place to spend your time. It was another long bumpy bus ride, but once we got there I was able to nap peacefully in a hammock in a beautiful garden. I didn't even want to see the silk making part, just lay there in the hammock. The others did a cooking class, and I had some rice and bananas.

On the way to the farm we stopped for a break and little children swarmed our bus, asking us to buy mango, pineapple, banana, and spiders…. SPIDERS?

They were harmless and very soft, with little claws that let them climb. Just strange to be so comfortable with a huge spider! I'd seen these same spiders sold at other bus stations, deep fried as a snack. One of the guys on the bus with us ate a fried cockroach, he said it didn't taste bad.

Once we got home I slept again for another hour, and dragged myself out of bed to try to arrange my onward trip. The guy who ate the cockroach (Lars) was also going to Laos, but he had to arrange his visa first. I didn't have a visa either. There was some mystery surrounding the Laos-Cambodia border crossing- can you get a visa on arrival or not? I think it would have been possible, but it would take some time (1 hour? 3 hours?) and the bus might not wait for you, so you'd have to arrange other transport from the border... I'm sure it would have been fine but I decided to get the visa here in Phnom Penh, wait another day to recover and go together with Lars, to brave the border with a friend!

Today I've found a beautiful place to relax, it's called the Blue Pumpkin. It's a foreigner restaurant, very modern inside, everything painted white and serving expensive (by Cambodian standards) food, like bread, sandwiches, ice cream & coffee, they have AC, wifi, a full bar and ambient music... I'm so happy to sit here away from the dirt, heat and noise of the street.

Next stop: Don Det & the 4,000 Islands, LAOS!

Cambodia, the land of smiles

2011-07-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Cambodia, what a trippy place.

Mekong River

Two nights in Phnom Penh, just enough. The sunset Mekong boat ride was nice, had some beers, there was a DJ, people were fun. Got home late. Woke up leisurely. Took a tuk tuk to the killing fields and genocide museum. I didn't know much about this part of Cambodia's history. Google it if you need to. But basically the story is that a psychopath (Pol Pot) managed to take over the country with his "organization" (Khmer Rouge) which justified the torture and killing of anywhere between 1-2 million Cambodian people (and some foreigners) between 1975 and 1979.

The Khmer Rouge took detailed records of all their victims. These photos are all displayed at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum.

The country is recovering from a major blow. People here tend to be nice, they are friendly and they all have a story. It's like the wild wild west, where everything is possible, and anything goes. It's a major site for any adventure.

I just came back from being on the jungle island for 3 nights...

Accessible only by boat, I hitched a ride with a fellow who just finished a gig working as boat skipper on another island (for 6 months).

He was going to see about a job on the island, and also wanted to go fishing. Perfect! I would just tag along.

I got so sunburned that first day, I literally darkened about three shades sitting out there in the sun on the boat. We didn't catch any fish. The island has a kitchen, an eating area, a lookout/conversation deck and a bar. There was one squat toilet and there were two stalls for bucket showers.

Hammocks were US$7 & treehouse bungalows were $20.

This is expensive by Cambodian standards, as a bungalow with private toilet might go for $10 or even less, and a dorm bed might be as low as $2. I'm paying $3 for a bed in a dorm-like area tonight, but there are partitions and locks so it's pseudo private. I have my own fan and mosquito net, a light and an electrical outlet with a plug I can use with my American devices. It's in a building that is a two story grass shack.

The island, it comes with food. The owner is a reclusive chef, a man who revels in cooking but has escaped to a jungle island to make do with daily grocery runs by boat and a homemade brick oven to produce bread and pizza, lasagna and ravioli.

He has cheese! Cheese in Asia! On a jungle island! Food is amazing, and also pricey at $8.50 for dinner... Dinner here on the mainland was $3.50 for a huge plate of noodles, fish and vegetables. Just to give you an idea of the price difference. It get even cheaper as you head away from the beaches. There are many backpackers who can survive on US$5-7/day. Not including alcohol. But beer is cheaper than water, at <$1/can. Today I got three draft beers for a total of US$2.25. That's the other thing about Cambodia. You can pay in dollars. You get small change in Cambodian riel, but everything else, dollars.

The second night he had fresh Kampot pepper- have you ever had fresh pepper? So fresh you eat it like a fruit, it's crunchy like an apple, but tastes like pepper, but so fresh... It's hard to explain! Later he told me to take that pepper, and mix it 50/50 with lavender buds, then take a nice cut of steak, and smother the whole thing in it, more than you might think is necessary. They you get a pan and heat it until it's so hot it's smoking. Then sear that meat with the pepper and lavender, and feed it to your lover. That's what he told me.

(Ugh, can I just say there is a HUGE BUG! that somehow got in my weird little half-room and I had to put down the mosquito net to block it out.)

Back to the island- We had some (Bug actually got in my tent and I had to get it out!). We ate well on the island, is what I'm trying to say. Yesterday one of the guys went out to hunt for fresh oysters on the half-shell, mmmm. Then the storms came. The first one prevented our afternoon departure and so added one more night to the bill. The boat couldn't make it through the rough waters. The storm on the third day didn't daunt us though, as we were already trudging through the forest to the military base on the other side of the island to use the navy boat. It did soak us through and through. We ended up taking our shoes off because the mud was sucking our flimsy flip flops right off our feet.

So there I was, walking barefoot through the jungle in pouring rain. Wow! Amazing.

The army boat was tiny, and almost sank with 10 or 12 people on it. We got across though, for more hiking out of the army base on the other side, and had a cab waiting for an hour drive back to where the rest of my stuff was.

On the island, I slept in a hammock.

Right by the ocean. With ocean waves lapping at my toes. Waking up, out onto the beach. Days of doing nothing. I finished two books, one for each storm. Salt in the air brined my skin and I still don't feel completely dry. I didn't have internet access. I contemplated my isolation while I was out there, and came to the conclusion that I liked my "real life". I thought about how far removed I was from my every day reality, and asked myself if I wouldn't mind staying. And for once the answer was yes, I would mind. I wanted to go back to the world I created for myself back in LA. Hey, you can do it anywhere- it being whatever you want. You can be angry, or you can suck it up and try. Some people here express bitterness, anger and cynicism towards the US. Towards the "system," or towards rules, or towards "typical American" behaviour. It surprises me (or maybe not) that people adopt such a dismissive attitude to an entire country. More than that, towards the country that they are from, born and raised, and would not dare persecute them for expressing their opinion. I'm suprised that they don't recognize the worth of what they have. It is an honor to be born so lucky as to have had easy access to quality education, healthcare and other "rights." It's easy to write off a government, but irresponsible not to participate.

Today I'm off to Kampot, another beachside town in Southern Cambodia.

Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia. 3 countries, one week.

2011-07-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

17 July, 2011

Singapore & Malaysia were like a blur. 4 Nights Sg, 2 nights KL. Cambodia, TBD.

Singapore: I went to meet up with May, a friend who is living there teaching yoga, and Julian, her bf, who came out to visit for her birthday. When I got there they had just gotten back from an amazing weekend in Indonesia, including posh accommodations at the Banyan Tree Bintan (check it out, honeymooners and romantics, it’s unbelievable!) and a jungle trek.

Singapore is a nice city. Clean. Lots of packaged sightseeing tours. I could list them all but you could also find them in a guidebook, complete with shiny pictures. The unexpected highlight of this trip was the Night Safari… and watching Julian find his holy grail, a Seiko watch that, in his own words, bumped him up to the next level in his watch collecting hobby…

Southern ridges walk. A nice hike through the jungle in the middle of the island. There were soaring views of the city from various lookout points, and fun exercise equipment.

It was warm and humid, and poor May still had to teach a couple of yoga classes at the end of the day.

See how we glow?

In the evenings we checked out various neighborhoods- Circular Quay, the club-hopping district. No party for us that night though, we were tired. Arab Street, where we found some Belgian beer.
The next day we went to the botanical gardens. There was a lake, and some wildlife. Pretty.
Orchard Road is the shopping district, and I stocked up on some shorts and sandals, as I was still coming out of the cold cold winter in Australia.

And best of all, the Night Safari! It’s like a zoo, but open only at night.

There’s an Indiana Jones feel to it, and for those of you who know me, I love Indiana Jones!

The animals live in open air enclosures, but kind of small. It ensures that tourists can get a good look, but rather sad for the lack of open space for the animals to enjoy.

Best of the night safari, the Mangrove walk, an enclosure where you can get up close and personal with bats! They hang from the trees nibbling fruit, and swoop around under a (rather low) canopy.

Fear, it always makes an experience memorable.

Malaysia:
It’s a big city. We arrive by bus, 6 hours from Singapore. Our hotel is called Etica Inn, it’s in Chinatown, a convenient location next to a night market and hawker stalls. It’s like a run down version of Singapore. The first night we walked around the market, had some Chinese food, and went out late, around the corner from the hotel at the Reggae Bar. No reggae there, but packed like sardines with a ragged jumble of European backpackers, seasoned locals, and young kids. Either that or I’m getting older! I swear some of them were like 10! Ok well 15. We started with drinks, and stood around, and I started to get nervous about my upcoming trip- South East Asia… I guess it always comes to that when I start something, and the demons of uncertainty, fear and anxiety come up. I started to second-guess myself, and come up with reasons for how it’s not going to work out. It’s a processing experience I guess, to know your demons, and then exorcise them.

The next day we got up and ventured out to the Batu Cave, an enormous cave and Hindu religious site.

272 stairs.

Monkeys wreaking havoc.

(Dubious) highlight: A little boy was teasing the monkeys, and one of them, fed up when the boy swiped at him one last time, screamed out and grabbed the boys arm and started biting his head. Wow! It was horrifying and shocking, and I was really hoping the monkey wasn’t serious about hurting the kid, that would have been a buzz kill. And the parents? Ha! The kid’s dad was just kind of laughing at him, as if to say, “See what you get?” I think they were Russian. Imagine that happening in the states?! Horror! That’s why it was so funny, just the contrast and shock value of the way the scene played out. Later we saw the kid throwing rocks at the pigeons. Dumb kid.

Then we went to the absolute highlight of our trip in Malaysia- The Bird Park!

I love birds!

We saw so many birds.

The peacock shook his tail feathers.

I love birds.

Then that evening we went to a second highlight, to the Sky Bar at Traders Hotel to admire the Petronas Towers at night. They were lit up like diamond jewels, beautiful!

Second tallest buildings in the world. Kuala Lumpor. The first tallest building is in Taipei. Go Asia!

Later that night we went to meet some friends May and Julian had met on their jungle trek the previous week, and had a nice chat with them in another district known for nightlife, Bintang.
And then we went to the airport. At 4am.

Cambodia: Arrival 8:35am in Phnom Penh airport. Matching flannel pajamas are all the rage amongst local women. I have to stop going to the bathroom before getting my luggage off the baggage claim because I’m always the last one to get my bag. I got my visa on arrival no problem at the airport, $25 US. Cambodia surprised me by giving me US dollars out of the ATM. I was also surprised by being greeted at the airport by a little girl, all in pink, complete with a Dora the Explorer bag, a sign with my name on it, and a cell phone, which she hands to me. It was the hostel owner, explaining for me to follow the little girl and she will take me to the hostel! Awesome Indiana Jones moment. She’s the cutest thing EVER! She’s about 7 or 8. The tuk tuk driver is there as well, and he’s really nice, and I end up at Nomads Guesthouse. It feels like it’s 3 in the afternoon, but really it’s only 9. It feels like the longest day ever. I have been up for the past 24 hours, with a small nap in between 3 & 4 am when we got home from our last (and second) night out in Malaysia and when we had to be up to meet the taxi to get to the airport for a 6:45am flight. My room isn’t ready yet. I sit there trying to figure out what I’m going to do next, and meet some nice girls who are also staying there. They give me some info about Southern Cambodia, and it sounds so nice, I think I’m going to change my plans and give it a go. Then I take a walk with one of the girls and we book tickets for a sunset mekong cruise… Here I go…

Sydney and my last week in Australia!

2011-07-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

July 10, 2011

It was windy and cold in Sydney. I arrived from Cairns, and Mariana picked me up at the airport, making my life soooo nice. She is like a bundle of energy, an instant pick-me-up! Her infectious smile and hearty laugh make me feel right at home. I’m so glad I got this chance to know her better, she’s a soul sister, from the other side of the world.

I had a really great time staying with Randwick with Mariana and her flat mates, Sammy and Jiri.

I was lucky to have Mariana the entire week, as she was supposed to have left for Brasil on the 23rd, but her flight was delayed due to volcanic ash from Chile.

What a great week! Sammy is Turkish, and also an amazing chef.

This is her stand at the Rozelle market.

She makes Turkish gozleme for the Rozelle market on Sundays. There is always a line. She's been doing this for 14 years... In her own words, she works enough for 4 days in one day, but on that one day, wow, she makes enough not to have to work the rest of the days of the week. She’s like a garden hose turned on at full blast, she’s got so much energy, and it goes in all directions, whizzling around and getting everything wet.

She made delicious soup for us this week, three different kinds. So nourishing and comforting in the fierce wind that howls at the windows all night. We ate raw turnip with the soup, it was amazing. She eats yogurt in the mornings, yogurt with almonds, fresh dill, chopped red onion, lemon and olive oil. She soaks raw almonds in water in the fridge and they swell up and take on an irresistible crunch.

She made a salad last night for dinner, with celery, leek, pomegranate, mint, dill, those almonds, and apples.

Me and Jiri went to the market today to try her gozleme. We met up with Martin, a friend of his, and we went for coffee. Martin and Jiri are from Czech, and they are also amazing. They are talkers, these two, as are Sammy and Mariana. I had a great time, talking with all of them!

Everybody that I meet in Sydney is in a transition phase in their lives, and maybe that’s why we can be so open with each other. One of my goals on this trip is to connect and learn from people as I travel. Friendships and even quick connections are the best souvenirs. Without connections I get bored very easily. That’s why I have no interest in packaged tours and rushed “experiences.”

On Friday Bali took me around Newtown, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst.

We went to Westpac and closed my bank account, we had a sausage roll at Bourke Bakery, had mulled wine at the Lounge, and pizza at Mario’s. Then we did a little disco dancing at the Columbian Hotel, and met up with his flat mate. Later, due to the wonders of facebook, I reconnected with a friend from high school who also knew Bali, what a small world!

Thursday I met up with Dulan, a mate of mine from school in Adelaide, and we took the ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay, then walked around the Botanic Gardens.

The birds were so friendly- I love the birds in Australia, they are so unusual and make the most amazing sounds. It’s like being at a bird exhibit every day. Or inside the Angry Birds app.

It was a beautiful day.

On Tuesday Mariana and Sammy took me out to see Coogee Beach, and we walked along a path that bordered the ocean.

There are swimming pools constructed at the side of most beaches, where you can lap swim in the ocean. Sydney really is a great city, I know I would love the lifestyle there. Laid-back, sporty and lots of beach and sun.

We went out salsa dancing one night. Another day Mariana took me to her capoeira class, it was really fun. Her students were great, I got into the zone and remembered more of why I love capoeira. One of her students got me to pose for a video demonstrating the correct posture for picking up a baby- stabilizing the shoulder girdle and using the legs to lift… Check it out at parentcollective.wordpress.com

Last night Mariana’s flat mates held a goodbye dinner- that delicious salad I mentioned earlier, chicken soup, a bean dish and an okra dish, plus a few bottles of red and much talking and laughing!

Jiri took me to the airport, as he really likes planes. We went out to the observation deck and he pointed out the Airbus 380- the largest plane in the world. It turned out to be the very same plane that I flew in to Australia on, as I had a photo of it from when I first landed in Sydney, way back in February. It had the same identifying numbers on the side. What a trip, to see the same plane. And now, thinking back to when I first arrived, and all that has happened... It has been a humbling and eye-opening experience. First, I’ve studied the western way, in terms of modern physiotherapy. Now, I’m going to study the eastern way, with a Thai massage course in Thailand, a yoga instructor training course in India, and a temple stay in Japan. And the entire way, trying to keep my eyes and mind open, challenging my beliefs about people and the way I think the world works. It’s wonderful, the world we live in. I’m so excited for this next phase of my journey!

Next stop: Singapore

Itinerary:
Singapore (11-14 Jul)
Kuala Lumpor (14-17 Jul)
Cambodia (17-24 Jul)
Laos (overland via Thailand) (24-13 Aug)
Chiang Mai Thailand (for Thai massage course, 14-28 Aug)
Indore, India (for yoga instructor course, 1-28 Sept)
Japan (1-10 Oct)

On leaving Adelaide, a Groovy Grape tour & uneventful Cairns

2011-07-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ah, leaving Adelaide was such a bittersweet memory.
We threw a great going away party!
(I tried to find a good group photo but I can't get it from facebook!)

It was HEAPS GOOD.
Adelaide was good, it was perfect for school. Quiet, small, beautiful. The people were the best part. I hope we all stay in touch, it's going to be so interesting to see where we all end up.
Keep in touch guys! Come visit me in LA! You will always have somewhere to stay in LA.

I also said goodbye to Soul Capoeira, to Chan and Aimee...

What a great gooup of people, my capoeira brothers and sisters from South Australia. They offered me the opportunity to teach a workshop on my last night there, and it was really fun, we even did some drumming, and I loved it! Thank you so much guys!

Next it was the Groovy Grapes tour. Adelaide to Alice Springs in 6 days. Here's a blow by blow account (edited version), for anyone who's interested...

22 - 27 June, 2011
Start time is 6:45am in front of the Parliament building on King William and North Terrace. Bus is late. I get in the front and the tour driver seems ok, I think. Everyone else is half-asleep, in a daze. We travel out of Adelaide into the dark morning, cloud cover but no rain. Cold, cold. He stops to show us the “Australian Loch Ness Monster” but none of us want to take a picture. It’s a creature made of tires, set up in a salt lake. There’s all these salt lakes around, half filled with water and salt, they turn pink in the winter. I realize I left my camera at the capoeira studio the night before. We stop for lunch. It was good and I’m getting less apprehensive.

Transition from post-grad physio personality to tour group mode. We drive and drive, the view from the front seat is fantastic and it’s not too long until we get to our campsite. We settle in at Stony Creek campsite and go off for a hike at Alligator Gorge. First thing, we get lost. The tour guide (name: Derek. Sometimes we call him D, or D-tour, or other names…) drops us off, gives us some dodgy directions and takes off. He said, ‘Go right!’ and it becomes a joke because it clearly wasn’t the right way. It doesn’t matter, we meet up with him again and go down a million stairs to the nice part of the hike, beautiful!

We walk down into a canyon surrounded by red rocks, there’s a creek at the bottom.

We take a group picture. We climb out of the canyon, and Dutch guy and Swiss guy run up the stairs with me. We see kangaroos hopping around on the way home, it’s awesome! Dinner is a three course meal with meatball appetizers, pork chops, salad and some kind of date walnut cake for dessert. It’s not bad. We play darts before dinner. After dinner we clean up, and there was talk of a campfire and dreamtime stories, I mean dreamings.

Waking up is early, like 5 or 6am and we head out for another long drive, we all sleep most of the way. Lunch is again good.

Second night is in Coober Pedy, in underground bunkers.

We take showers and tour the opal museum.

We buy opal souvenirs. We have pizza for dinner, then sit around in the kitchen having a chat. There are aborigines in the town. They walk barefoot and I want to give them some new clothes. There’s a cowboy vibe. It’s a small town based on dreams of opals. Their dreams are put into rusty machinery, into dusty holes. The people are covered in dust too, and they are proud of their choice but also desolate.

So leaving early is good, and we are heading for Ayers Rock Desert resort. Derek buys Eric a soccer ball, actually two, but one gets left behind.

At some point he also buys us ice cream, at one of the many stops along the way. We arrive around 3pm, get more supplies from the supermarket, and head out on the base hike.

It’s beautiful countryside, and Uluru is magnificent from a distance, looming red out of the desert. The hike itself is 10K, walking around. You can climb up but the aborigines don’t want us to. It’s sacred for them. D is pretty adamant about not doing it, and there are signs saying the walk is closed. It’s another strange thing, this disrespect by the white people for the wishes of the aborigines. I mean, it’s a rock, it’s there, let’s climb it! That’s how I respect the desert. Heck, peak-bagging is my thing, so why not? But it’s the situation, it’s a religious symbol. I can respect that. There are other rocks to climb. But there are a lot of people who do climb it, in blatant disregard for open statements by the aborigines NOT to climb it. This country is still young, and we are in the “wild west”, if you want to compare it to the United States. In a discussion later with one of the other people on the tour, he pointed out that mistakes were made in the past regarding oppression of native people, and we don’t have to make the same mistakes again. But still people climb the rock.

We walk around, the weather is beautiful, and it’s all good. There are sacred areas where you’re not supposed to enter or even take pictures of. Our guide prepares our swags and we make a campfire and have dinner. It’s our first night camping and it gets cold. We had Hungarian stew, it was delicious, and nice on a cold night. We sit around the campfire and anticipate the 4am wakeup call for the sunrise over Uluru.

(Swag: a sleeping bag cover made of canvas. So you sleep on the ground, but you zip yourself and your sleeping bag up into the swag, and there’s even a foam mattress in there. It’s as comfortable as it can be, and nice to sleep under the stars.)

Sunrise: It’s beautiful.

We see a wild camel on the way. Then we drive to the Olgas, where we do a 7K walk around and in between the huge mounds. We see a dingo, Derek says it’s really rare to see one, he’s pretty impressed. He said that the presence of the animals in the Olgas represents spirits of aboriginals who’ve died and ceremoniously had their ashes scattered in the area. They still perform ceremonies out there in the parklands.

We have a discussion on aboriginal culture these days. Despite preservation of tradition, there is a huge problem with alcohol, and they just sit outside all day, drinking. Eric asks, but why don’t they just get a job? It’s a good question, there are a lot of factors that go into that. I think it has to do with a sense of entitlement, and passivity. There’s resentment for sure. And lack of responsibility. It’s hard to judge, being an outsider. In my opinion, it’s not productive to blame others for your plight. But I also know that opportunity can be rare, and hard to recognize if you don’t have role models and support. Why did some cultures evolve to embrace change, while others stubbornly and to their downfall remain stuck in the past? It’s important to respect your ancestry, but surely ancestors want what’s best for their children. That’s life, you have to change. There’s the money problem, there’s the racism problem, there’s the lack of facilities, lack of schools, lack of money, lack of respect. Many aborigines now work as artists. There is aboriginal art on sale for upwards of tens of thousands of dollars. There are aboriginal cultural centres all over Alice Springs. I found a really nice gallery and almost bought a little painting that caught my eye. Now I wish I could go back and get it. But still, it’s hard to earn a living as an artist. It’s not something most parents want for their children (conservatively speaking). They want them to be doctors or lawyers, or engineers. What about an engineering school out in the outback? How to get these kids learning and empowered to believe in their ability to be successful in the “white man’s world?” You can only make a change from the top down. If you can’t beat ‘em… I’m just saying.

Anyways, the walk in the Olgas was nice, and then we went back to camp for more sitting around the campfire. This time we make a really good fire and end up melting the fire pit. Also we get some neighbors from the next camp who come by and hang out for a minute. They are just out for 3 nights, so we’re like seasoned travelers by comparison. We love each other, we’ve bonded and we’re like a little family. Their group tells us about the night before they spent in Kings Canyon with mice crawling all over them in their swags. We keep hearing stories about the mice, about how on the last tour our guide woke up with mice all over his swag, trying to get into the warmth. And, we are going there tomorrow.

That afternoon we had some free time and Eric and Stu had a jump in the pool (ICE cold), then went over to check out the camels. You can go on a camel caravan into the desert. Then we brought some beers over to watch the sunset over Uluru.

We took some pictures and went back for dinner.

So this next morning we wake up a little later (9am?) and roll groggily out of the swags. Onto the bus to Kings Canyon and the mice. We drive out of the Ayers Rock Resort and hit the road, only to stop a short ways out. Why? To pick up a hitch hiker. Ha! More craziness, but it’s all good. It’s a guy from Austria, who barely speaks English. He’s got a huge smile and just laughs and answers “Yes!” to everything you ask him. Luckily we’ve got some German speakers aboard. He’s got a Nikon D90 and a tent, and has walked from the Ayer’s Rock airport. He wants to get to Alice Springs, but he’s coming with us now, as we’ll be there in two days. Apparently he’s supposed to be in Oz for 3 months, but is already out of money and he’s only been here for 12 days. He’s a little strange. Anyways…

So the hike today was amazing, lots of cool rock formations, canyons and prehistoric ripples. At the watering hole some people jump in, I don’t know how, it’s too cold, no way!

We walk back and sniff eucalyptus leaves on the way. Tonight is the last night in the outback. Dinner is hamburgers. The Austrian helps cook and we’ve found an enormous tree trunk to use as our fire. And best of all, there were NO MICE! I don’t know why.
Arrival in Alice Springs. A small town. People only come here as a dropping off spot before heading to Uluru, the Olgas and Kings Canyon. I guess better than Coober Pedy (which means white man’s hole), but still. The same groups of aborigines walking around barefoot, needing a shower. We are instructed not to walk around alone at night, as it’s quite dangerous. It’s a different vibe here, more backpackers walking around and the aborigines don’t look at us. They ignore us, and we ignore them. I can’t help but stare out of the corner of my eye. I’m just a tourist here, and I feel like an intruder. There’s one little main drag, and he drops us off at the hostels and we meet for dinner at 7. We have one last evening together, and it was a good time.

It was a good group, a good tour, and good fun. A GREAT start to the rest of my travels!
I have two nights in Alice, and spend the next day wandering the street with Ana, a German girl from the tour. She is really excited to buy a digeridoo, and we go to a free ½ hour workshop.

It’s surprisingly fun, and I learn how to make noises that kind of resemble the sound they’re supposed to make. We walk around, buy some souvenirs and pack- off tomorrow for Cairns!

29 June- July 3, 2011

Arrival in Cairns. It’s raining! But warm. Nights in the outback got down to 1 or 2 degrees C (30’s F). Here it’s tropical and I’m looking forward to SCUBA in the Great Barrier Reef. I meet up with a few from the tour who have also come here, we go for dinner and have a chat. I go the next day for scuba, we take a big boat out to Agincourt reef, leaving from Port Douglas, it’s at the edges of the continental cliff.

The ocean is rough, it’s raining and we go airborne a few times on the way out- thank god I took my seasick pills or I’d have been green as and miserable! The crew rush around, bundle us up into lycra suits and off we go, thrown into the sea. We go down about a metre and start practicing our skills. My goggles start to fill up with water- I have to go up to the surface and exchange them for the kids size. It was awkward, slow and cumbersome, I’m not used to all this equipment. I didn’t really like it. I was aware that if something happened to my equipment I would drown down there, and it wasn’t a good feeling. Especially after the goggle incident. But I give it another chance. (There was even a girl on board who didn’t like it at all, she came right back up and decided it wasn’t for her. So I didn’t feel quite so bad about not loving it.) The next dive was nicer, warmer and brighter as it had stopped raining. I was more comfortable and knew more of what to expect. And a sea creature came up to me and made friends! A huge fish, blue and green came up and bumped into us, nudging us and swimming around, he was like a dog, wanted to be patted! It was totally awesome and I felt more comfortable. So I went for a third dive… Experimented with swimming around the way I’m used to, and tried to get closer to some other creatures in the reef. It was an overall terrific and even emotional experience, entering this other world. It was exactly as I’d imagined it, except for the fear and awkwardness… I don’t know if I’ve got the “bug” but I would do it again. The other thing was the boat was too big- everything happened so quickly and we were so rushed.

So after the diving, everything else in Cairns just paled in comparison. The hostel was nice but boring. My roommates were nice and quiet and didn’t snore, and that was good. I spent the next two days just relaxing and catching up on trip planning and calling home, and enjoying the tropical weather. I didn’t even do any more tours- everything is so packaged and artificial. I’m looking forward to Asia, and some real adventure.

And now… off to Sydney! The best part- getting picked up by a friend from the airport and staying with her for a couple of days… Friends are the best part of traveling!

Room for Rent - Mile End

2011-06-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

ROOM FOR RENT!

Mile End
(Henley Beach Road and Victoria Lane)

One bedroom in a 3 bedroom house.
$120/week

Share house with two nice housemates (who are never home)

5 minute walk to the bus stop
Take any H or J bus, just 10 minutes to town
(Or ride a bike, it's a beautiful ride!)

Room is furnished with twin bed, desk and closet.
House has one & a half bathrooms, washer, dryer and clothesline

Move-in date: June 21st

Pardon me, it's been a busy month! (or two)

2011-06-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

I haven't gotten around to posting much lately, between clinic, exams and the internet at my house being down. So here's a couple of posts I've written...

11/5/11
So, what’s it like to be living on the other side of the world? Australia was a mythical world to me before I came here, glimmering like a distant jewel in the southern hemisphere, a kind of promised land of sunshine, surf and The Great Barrier Reef, where tall, tan, laid-back people wearing broad-rimmed hats chase crocodiles and throw boomerangs around. A fellow English-speaking, “first-world” type country where the US dollar could buy more than it would in the US… What’s it like? I keep asking myself that, wondering how to figure it out. How will I remember this time in my life? What are the beliefs that have been shattered, how has my world-view changed?
For me, it’s more than just “being in Australia.” I came here for more than just holiday, and in fact I’m working very hard. The one word that’s been in my head for the past week has been “humbling.”
Humbling! More than just not having the comforts of home. It’s everything. Figuring it out in a strange country. Even though they speak English here, there’s still the odd word or way of saying something that throws the whole meaning of a sentence off for me. Like calling a wrench a spanner. A marker is a texter. Clinical placement is also known as a roster. Australians are blunt but also polite and held-back, and I’m still not really sure what that’s all about. I think it’s the British influence, which I’ve been told is stronger in Adelaide than on the east coast of Australia.
Then there’s the money thing- everything just being more expensive, so I try not to spend on frivolous things. Not to mention I don’t want to accumulate items that I will have to ship home later. So no shopping therapy… Cooking at home has become the staple, and these past couple of weeks have been challenging, trying to find the energy to shop, cook and clean.
At home I got used to the idea of being a contributing member of society, going out for dinner and drinks, driving myself around to get to work, grocery store, go hiking, visit a friend, you know, be civilized! Here I don’t even really have clothes to go out in- and more than a few times I’ve had my backpack with me when I go out because I’ve come straight from school to go somewhere, and I’m on my bike. Lucky for me Australians are so laid-back!
Most stores close around 5pm, except for Thursday nights in the suburbs, and Friday nights in town. It seems so archaic! Once I was really hungry on a Sunday afternoon, after spending all day at home studying. Around 5 I rode my bike up to Fat Chicken to get some takeout- It was closed! Whatever happened to the American dream? There’s money to be made, it’s ripe for the pickin’! Oh yeah, we’re not in America… There’s a whole new paradigm here, a whole new way of living.
Maybe it’s about enjoying life? Those folks who work at Fat Chicken get to go home and have a nice afternoon chasing crocodiles and throwing boomerangs. When you can’t go to the store after 5, other priorities pop up. You are forced to relax. RELAX?? What’s that! For me, it’s been work work work. I can always fit in one more patient. Every little bit counts.
I mean. I think it’s a generally capitalistic philosophy. If there’s money to be made, go out and make it, right? I mean, who’s out selling bacon-wrapped hot dogs on the street in front of the clubs in Hollywood every night? Who started keeping Kinko’s open all night? When I say jump, you say how high!
But here it’s different.
Instead of making waiters work for their tips, they actually pay them a living wage. So food costs more, but you don’t tip. Manual skilled labor also pays quite well here, or so I hear. They’ve got a pretty tight control over immigration, so you don’t get undocumented workers slaving away for pennies. Young people from certain countries can come here on working holiday visas and earn pretty good money working for a few months here and there in different parts of Aus.
http://www.taw.com.au/DesktopDefault.aspx
It’s been a humbling experience, to come here. Humbling and empowering at the same time.
Humbling because I came without much in the way of material items. All I could fit in a suitcase and my electronics in a carry-on. None of the comforts of home, none of my prized possessions that I’d accumulated and made me feel at “home”. I had to buy a blanket for the bed, and a towel to dry myself off. My room here is sparse and PAINTED PUKEY PINK! The chair I sit on makes my butt go numb and it’s covered in tacky, worn out fabric. I don’t have time or money to outfit my place for just a few months. The knives in the kitchen are dull, and I listen to music from the speakers on my netbook. (I’m not complaining here, I’m just painting a picture.) I ride my bike or wait for the bus. I don’t have a phone book full of friends to call, and everyone back home is asleep by the time I’m home and have time to chat. None of it is really bad, but it’s all stuff I wouldn’t have put up with back home. Come to think of it, I was really acting like a princess back there!
I ride my bike every day, in weather that’s getting colder and sometimes rainy… Although I really do enjoy that, and will miss that ride for the rest of my life! It’s really one of the most memorable moments that I’ve spent here, especially the bit from Port Road down Henley Beach on the way home, where it’s all downhill and I speed past the brilliant green of the park surrounded by eucalyptus silhouettes, beautiful any time of day or night. OMG I LOVE that part!
And here’s where we get to the empowering part. Even though it was hard initially to think about getting on the bike every morning, working my sore muscles into shape again, I now have none of that trepidation. And I feel lucky. I got to come to Australia to study manual therapy at one of the meccas in the world for physiotherapy!

2 June
Food and sleep. Two things I’m having to give up on now to get through these last two weeks at uni. I haven’t even had a chance to post the last post I wrote, much less write any more. But I’ve been inspired tonight to write. This week has been a rush, finishing the first in a barrage of assignments (staying til midnight at uni to do it), and then somehow not feeling run down, but energized… I guess I’m just excited about leaving, about travels to come… Everybody’s walking around in a daze, with tired eyes. (That’s going to be me tomorrow, even as I stubbornly sit here and write more, even after being at school for a 14 hr day…) It might have been the strangely warm weather, enough that I stopped the bike to take my jacket off halfway through and enjoyed the wind and the beautiful ride… As long as I stay on point with my assignments and continue to sacrifice certain things - it’s come down to food and sleep! But on the other hand, I’m just being dramatic. I just didn’t have time to eat dinner tonight, and I’ll make up for that tomorrow, as we go out to breakfast with our clinical educators to celebrate the last day of clinic… And sleep… well I usually get 7.5 hours, so to get by on 6 feels like less than it actually is! I really am a lucky girl, and I’m really enjoying the view down under, a life turned upside down.
Oh, a couple of things I forgot to mention.

I learned to do cervical manips!

I like to ride on the right (ie, wrong) side of the street when I’m coming home down the road to my house, and feel really sneaky when I do, but then when a car comes I go over to the left so I don't confuse them and come to an unfortunate end.

People in Adelaide are pretty respectful- I haven’t been experiencing uncomfortable moments when you walk by a construction site and guys stare and whistle as girls walk by.

I got Pri to send me Starbucks instant coffee because that’s how badly I miss coffee (I don’t normally like Starbucks!) It’s not bad at all! She also sent me lots of junk food for studying because the brain needs sugar.  Thanks Pri!

I miss home!

Things South Australians say: “Heaps good!” “Off you go” “Pop your shirt off for me” (wait, that sounds weird… Overheard in the clinic!) "Fussed"- as in, "I'm not too fussed about being on time to class tomorrow" "Stuffed"- as in, "I think I stuffed up my ankle" or "My back is stuffed!"

8 June
Today I've noticed the weather getting colder and colder, raining on me and my bike =(, not so fun to anticipate the ride home anymore! But who am I kidding, you know I love it.
We've done two exams so far, and next week some more... The stress is wearing on everyone, and as one of my classmates put it, it's interesting to see how everybody handles it differently. Most importantly we have to stick together and it's really been a great group of people here.

I'm going to miss you all!

This was from when we found time to go to the Barossa Valley for wine tasting and to see the Whispering Wall... It started raining but we had a great time anyway!

Grandma, I tried to find more photos with me in them, but I'm always the one taking them! I'll have to try to get someone else to take some for me!

This was a really cool Australian flower.

Halfway done...

2011-04-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

Two and a half months down, two and a half more to go...
First round of exams over! And now there's some time off from school. I'll be honest, I'm going to miss it- the people, the teaching, the daily routine, I love it!

Nostalgic and melancholy already, and I still can't quite believe I'm here!

Life's like that, I told myself the other night. You get here, you get used to it, you love it, then you get out while the gettin's good. It's just a quick trip, but you wish it could last forever. And you also wish you could be home, in your nice warm bed.

And then when you're home, you want to be gone.

The grass is always greener growing on the other side.

Enjoy the now, enjoy the now, enjoy the now. There is something special in every moment (Dad you have taught me well!)

And right now, I'm still coming down from the high of maximal effort fitness testing after the mental exams. I learned the joys of the beep test, and discovered I can stay in plank position for 3 whole minutes (What would David Spurrior say?) Although it was Mary (the instructor) who got me through the last 30 seconds, coming over and telling me, "Come on Akemi, show those boys up!"

This is a fine demonstration of side plank. ;-)

This is when you're done with side plank!

The after-workout stretch.

Come Dulan, you can do it!

I love that stuff!

The next day we went swimming at Water World- a beautiful pool, lovely water, but just a little cold and windy.

There were tons of parrot-y type birds flying around, it was like Angry Birds in real life!

Today it rained a ton, it was like buckets full of water being thrown on the house. I was at school all day finishing up a project, half asleep and slowly...

I'm hoping to finish it up, get a good start on my paper, and then take off next week to actually see something of the rest of Australia!

Fall back, spring forward

2011-04-03T05:15:00.000-07:00

Weather got cold, and we've got exams next week. I'm still trying to live a renaissance life by keeping in touch with the fun part of life even though the pressure is on... Back pain struck with a vengeance and made me nervous, but it's calmed down now and I've made the effort to really hit the books. Spent all weekend studying, but still managed to find some random pianos around town.

This one was in front of the Zumba class!

This one was in Chinatown. A woman was playing it really nicely...

After she left, someone else came up with sheet music and started playing some more. As she walked away, I could see that she used a cane. It gave me a sort of strange, hopeful yet melancholy feeling, to hear such beautiful music, a work of art really, and then see how she had to walk slowly and rely on a cane, a visual which brought me back to reality, as she might be somebody I might treat in a physio clinic...

Here's a moment from today's studying marathon- we were up in the classroom practicing on each other- do you remember those long days of studying in groups, when by the end of the day everybody is so tired yet slightly pleased that you've done so much work, that you get delirious and someone says something and everyone just cracks up laughing? It wasn't necessarily this shirt, it might have been the Friday video on youtube sung by Jon Stewart, but I just got a kick out of Eike's shirt...

(The grey bear's luggage says "I Love Beach")

On the way home I swung by the Botanic Gardens, something I should do more often.
I was greeted by a kookaburra bird- and he flew right up to me again as I was leaving and posed nicely for this photo before flying up to sit in a tree next to another kookie bird. He was like a cartoon bird, kind of big and heavy, with a big neck and a very human gaze, looking right at me.

And later I ran into this guy, Carolus Linnaeus

This garden felt so nice, so green, so massive with trees and foliage, quiet and peaceful. Someone was playing piano in there too, I just didn't find them. I could hear it though, it was unreal. That combined with the kookaburra bird made me feel like I walked into Alice in Wonderland.

And then when I got home, I ran into another kind of bird! ;-)
Yum.

Here's to salsa, music and dancing, and enjoying life!

2011-03-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

So, in coming to Adelaide, I was told many a time to be sure to enjoy myself, and not spend too much time studying.

By now I'm sure I've mentioned, over and over, how much time I spend at school, head crammed in the books. (And how much I love the bike ride in between!) But still, I'm really trying to structure my time so I can also ENJOY LIFE!

We were discussing this over drinks last week, myself and several classmates, about how these days there's a new kind of acronym to describe people, like yuppies (young urban professionals), or BINKs (Bilateral income, no kids): NETTELs... No Time To Enjoy Life. Bleh. How horrible. What is life for, if not to enjoy? Especially if you are lucky enough to be born into the world of comfort provided by so-called "First World" countries. Yes, it's important to work hard, but equally important to prioritize what else is important, and make time for those things, or else life keeps passing you by.

Like visiting friends, taking dance/music/capoeira classes **this is a personal blog, ;-)**! learning how to cook with the seasons, reading the newspaper.

I know, I'm very holistic, very hippie-esque, or homeopathic... But I think the key to life is to enjoy the now, because that is truly all you have.

Of course, I am the worst offender I can think of. Those who know me know that I spend hours agonizing over the slightest decisions. I weigh the pros and cons of every aspect. I become an expert on comparison shopping for any purchase I make. It gets to be ridiculous sometimes, and I get frustrated with myself. So I really try to focus on prioritizing and try not to waste time- but it's really an ongoing battle.

Anyways, this weekend was interesting in terms of productivity.

I got almost no schoolwork done. (There is a mini-Akemi inside my head running in circles and tearing her hair out, completely stressing over practical exams coming up in TWO WEEKS!!!)
But I did finish postponing my taxes and making the estimated payments (took me 5 hours to figure that one out. If anyone knows anyone who can help me figure it out when I get home, please shoot me an email!)
And we cleaned the fridge! That didn't take 5 hours but it really was a colossal job. I believe that fridge may not have been cleaned since it was brought to this house, however many years ago that was, probably in the 70s. Yuck!
So all in all, it was a productive weekend.
I just have to stay positive that I will end up studying everything I need to know and sticking it all in my head, just in time for the exams. I am POSITIVE I will be FINE!

And, we went to a salsa show! It was fantastic! I can't wait to take some salsa classes and go dancing, it looked like so much fun! I'd been a few times in the past, and when I lived in San Francisco I used to go quite a bit, but I want to start to put some effort into making dancing (of ANY sort) and MUSIC more a part of my life.

So here's some shots of us fooling around with the samba dancer headresses...

And here we are enjoying life some more- eating chocolate for dinner at the Chocolate Cafe!

And here I am, putting more music into my life! Last week there were some random pianos strewn about town.

Continuing on

2011-03-20T05:32:00.000-07:00

It's raining again now, I love the sound of the rain.
The weather is warm and tropical, humid and muggy.

We went to the Amazing Bodies exhibit today- it's the one with the plastinated real bodies. They had a lot of animals, but not a lot of humans, which is what would have been more interesting (to a bunch of physios!)

Then we went to the Farmer's Market nearby and tasted delicious cheese, olive oil, toffee, macrobiotic cake, sausage, pesto...

A peppermint chocolate macaroon for Nailah! ;-)

Bush Tucker ice cream was really really good- I tasted almost every flavor...
Kakau plum, Lilly Pilly/Wild Ginger, Rosella, Lemon Myrtle, Wattleseed, Desert Lime- and more, all native to Australia. This is exactly what I love about visiting other countries! Native flavour...

A little horse.

Time flies

2011-03-13T05:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been a week and I haven't been posting. Things have gotten pretty busy here. The reading is piling up and distant due dates are starting to materialize out of the mist. As is the imminent vacation at the end of April! I started researching trip possibilities to finally see something else of Australia instead of just Adelaide!

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice little town. Quaint.

The houses all sport a fancy little trim, which gives them a lacy, New Orleans feel.

Except for our house, which looks something like an cement block.

And this is the street. Junction Lane. Sounds different than how it looks...

There are little things that have started to grow on me. For instance, the magpies... I finally found out the name of the bird that makes synthesizer noises.

There are lots of other really cool birds here though, including the black swans. I've never been one to be a birdwatcher, but here the birds are so exciting- it feels like you're in the aviary at the zoo!

The sunsets are pretty fantastic too, although I miss them almost every day bc I'm in some exercise class or other. I've been a regular at Zumba, and I've been to a couple of the Brasilian dance classes at Soul Capoeira. Phil has caught the capoeira bug and signed up for two classes a week...

One thing that I've found to be really cool here is all the cars that have snorkels! What a random, bizarre thing, but so normal for everybody here! Kind of like the drive-through liquor stores I guess.

BWS stands for Beer, Wine and Spirits.

I love that I can ride my bike everywhere! Everywhere except for the rock climbing gym that is. After Thursday, a few of us from class went down to the Garden of Unearthly Delights to have a couple drinks. It was much needed, this program is very intense, and it was nice to get to know people outside of the classroom. I think/hope it's going to be a regular thing- social support is very important for our biopsychosocial health!
Afterwards me, Silke and Marcus went to the climbing gym and monkeyed around a bit.

Today it's been quite warm, and tomorrow we might venture out to Womad, a multicultural music festival that happens in many countries around the world, and this weekend it's in Adelaide!

Addendum: Weather turned cold and windy... And price for Womad went up- $102 for one evening??? Silke and I opted to walk around and try the view from outside the fence, then went for a pizza- delicious, I might add!

This is part of the Fringe festival, which they are taking down today.

This is the local supermarket. The logo reminds me of the Simpsons somehow, it just seems like a cartoon logo.

This is me at school!

This is another building at school. What is going on in there?

Aaand, this is me and my Barbie hairdryer. Go ahead and laugh. It really works, what can I say.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2011-03-06T04:23:00.000-08:00

Grandma is 90 on March 7th! Congratulations! Have a wonderful day!

Over here in Adelaide the weather has turned again, for the better... Beautiful, hot sunny weather! I managed to get my work out of the way early this morning and went this afternoon to check out the Garden of Unearthly Delights. It was allright... It's like a carnaval setting there are hot dogs and ice cream, and some rides that jump and spin. The main attractions were the performances taking place inside various tents. None of the acts were of any interest to us today so we passed on the shows, and just walked around in the heat and dust, which explains why I sort of got cranky halfway through. It was much nicer to ride the bikes home along the river. In fact, I really just sort of live for that ride by the river...

Hmm, another fun thing we did this weekend was to go rockclimbing outdoors with a few classmates... A beautiful location, a nice little hike in, and saw a koala by the side of the road- so exciting! It was like my first "real" Australian experience.

Ok, here are some pictures!

Here's the festival, people eating. The burgers were good!

Flying babies!

Ah, the peaceful ride home.

.

Black swans!

My bike! At the park next to the river.

My bike at Fat Chicken!

Hi Grandma! This was taken at where we went rock climbing outdoors.

This is where we go rock climbing indoors! And that's my friend Silke, from Austria.

Thrillseeker

2011-03-01T04:45:00.000-08:00

Biking around Adelaide has been a dream. There are bike lanes pretty much everywhere. And there is a beautiful path by the river that I can take to get to school. That's one of the dreams that I've had since being a kid, was to walk/bike/be human-powered to get to school or work. And to go by a beautiful, peaceful, quiet river, it's amazing! The river will go all the way to the beach if you let it. I'll probably go this weekend. But for now I go the other way, only about 7-10 minutes, to get to school. The entire commute takes about 20 minutes.
So along the river there are grassy riverbanks, and shady trees. There are many people rowing. And just to make it interesting, there are black swans.
Riding home tonight from Zumba (!) I could see the silhouette of the swans, the sun setting in the distance, just like a dream!
Later in the commute is a section of bike path that goes alongside the road on one side and a park on the other. This part is usually deserted, and I can fly, standing up on the pedals, face in the wind, downhill all the way, into the setting sun... cricket fields surrounded by trees, smooth road, its one of the best parts of my day. I'm so lucky to have found this bike!

Also, I bought a travel hairdryer today. What was I thinking!!! I was thinking, it's cheap, it's small, it folds up, it's light and I can use it to dry my hair. Well it's a laughingstock! I WILL put pictures up this weekend, I promise! Imagine Barbie in her dream house, drying her hair. Well that's me, but my hair is brown. I got to show you this thing, just so you can laugh. The best part is the fact that it is bright pink, bright Barbie pink. Anyways, I did manage to dry my hair with it, it's small, it's light, and I don't think I can return it. Well that's what traveling is all about, right? Making do with less material and going all out for the experiences.

Speaking of less material, if anyone wants to send me any warm sweatshirts or blankets, please feel free. Winter is coming!!!

Let's see, what else. Oh yeah, I saw Black Swan. It was really good. It said so much in terms of being a performer, being a girl growing into a woman, growing up, having a crazy parent... I'm not going to say my life was that crazy but movies are supposed to be larger than life, aren't they? Sometimes we are imprisoned by the demands we make on ourselves.

And I'm finally catching up on Glee! Love that show! Not only do episodes get here rather late (they are just showing the Valentine's day episode now) but the tv in this house doesn't really work. So it's all about ten.com.au. Kind of like the Australia Hulu. Which doesn't work here.

Anyways, that's about it for now. Tomorrow we're supposed to go see an Aboriginal comedy act- I'll let you know how it goes.
Good night!

Fringe

2011-02-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

Took a break from the studying and went out in Adelaide tonight! Wore heels and a dress, took the bus, went to see a comedy show. Ordered two beers each and hoped for the best.
Surprise surprise! Tommy Little, not just a pretty face! It was a good time, and we stopped by for $4 pizzas again on the way home, hooray for walking home! I had to take the heels off at a certain point and went barefoot, braving wild locusts and broken glass... In fact, the most horrible thing ever was sitting on the couch eating pizza and feeling some random crawling feelings, and ignoring it as one does, but then it really turned out to be a locust crawling on me...

Anyways, the best part about today was the BIKE! I went all the way to Para Hills (which was quite easy to get to, thanks to the train, which allows BIKES! onboard.) It was $50, including helmet, which I think was a very good deal. Almost new, very clean, just needed a bit of adjustment and a wipe with a dust rag. I'm so excited to bike to school on Monday.

The Fringe is a festival which brings a multitude of performing and visual artists to Adelaide, spicing up this quiet college/retirement town. It was nice to be out and about and walking around. I've only seen this one show so far, maybe tomorrow I'll make it out to the Garden of Unearthly Delights- that's a section of a park they've cordoned off and put up stages and ferris wheels and whatnot... There's also an outdoor stage set up nearby, with rather loud and enthusiastic amateur bands having a good old time. The show we saw was held in a large old house that I think had been abandoned in the middle of a deconstruction when Fringe producers saw the potential and put in a bid for a venue, but then ran out of incentive, so the place is rickety and dark, rife with locusts and no soundproofing... But then, such is the Fringe, I suppose!

L'Occitane

2011-02-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

I splurged yesterday and bought myself a little hand lotion/lip balm/body wash set. I love that store! Ooooh the luxury!
It's always such a justification to buy anything from there, especially now that I'm a student again...
Scrimping and saving, it's such an ingrained notion. Even when I was working, I would constantly quiz myself on how I could get by on less, make do without, or stretch a dime. I'm not really sure where it came from, as I wasn't deprived as a child, (I'm sure I felt deprived since my mom never gave in to my whining and crying at Toys R Us, but in reality, our basic needs were always met.)
It's almost like a kind of game, and you "win" when you come out with more money in your pocket.
Then I was introduced to the pleasures of shopping sprees, and nights out on the town...
A splurge here and there won't break the bank, and is always fun to look back on.
Here though, I'm struggling with another dilemma.
I'm lazily contemplating staying here in Australia for a year and completing the Master's program. It sounds great, right? When I finish, I'll have a Masters in Manual Therapy. I'll have completed the entire program, including the Sports Physiotherapy and rest of the pain science module. I'll get to do more work on research (mixed feelings on that!), and learn how to treat athletes on the field.
However, the only thing I would really look forward to would be the pain stuff. Sports physio would be second, but I don't plan on really getting into sports physio in the future- although of course, you never know. And getting to work in the clinics under supervision, that would be really valuable as well.
But the big deal is the price tag. Not only the price of completing the program here, but the student loans I racked up with my doctoral degree in the states, which, currently languishing in Sallie Mae's deferral lounge, are earnestly acccumulating interest every month. I wanted to keep paying the interest, but if I stay another 6 months I'd have to stop paying, and I'd just watch those loans grow, fattening up like Thanksgiving turkey. And I'd have to take out more loans...
They say your loan payments shouldn't be more than 10 or 15% of your expected monthly income. At this rate I'd need to be earning a little (a lot! cough cough) more than I am now. I don't know how much I can expect my salary to increase based on this degree. It's retirement, health insurance and where I'm going to live when I'm old and grey that I'm really worried about. (Sometimes I worry a bit too much as well...)
I know, I can't let money run my life. But really, if you know me, I usually don't. I'll do it if I really want to do it. I guess I don't really want to do it.
Sorry if this has been kind of a boring post, but I've been getting asked this question a lot these days, mostly by my classmates who are staying the whole year. I feel fully justified in my decision not to, but it helps to write it out.
I expect to have other opportunities for learning in the future, and I don't want to compromise my retirement or my possible enjoyment of other fun stuff (like time off and vacations!) in the future. Sigh... Decisions decisions.

Pain and the neuromatrix

2011-02-23T05:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, that's a cool title, isn't it?

It just sounds so obscure and clever and potentially interesting. Just like this class I'm taking!

It just started this week, and it's called called Anatomy and Pain Science. (Another potentially deceptive title.) It's one class, but it's really like two. I don't get how either relates to the other. Each have separate teachers, separate assistant teachers, completely different examinations and assignments.

But what the hey, I love them both!

One of them entails looking at bones and cadavers, woo hoo!
And the other is about pain. The greatest part is that our teacher, David Butler, has mastered the art of overcoming the (some might say chronic) pain of sitting in a class and learning about pain. I don't know how he's done it, but the whole class was riveted. I'm pretty sure they were at least, and everyone who I talked to about it also really liked it. It's a shame there are only 3 face to face lectures and the rest online. See??? I'm actually feeling sad that I won't be sitting in class MORE! But seriously folks, I'm really hoping and expecting to learn a lot here. I'll tell you all about the neuromatrix, as soon as I do the reading.
And then there was the anatomy lab, donning protective gear and braving the formaldehyde, today we got to revisit the Brachial Plexus, the Subclavian Artery, and the Internal Jugular Vein! So cool to see all this now, after working on patients for a couple of years, to go back and see again what it all looks like under there. Pity we don't get a whole body to look at, but you take what you can get. We stimulated all kinds of interesting discussion in there, such as, how much lateral flexion is there at the occipital-atlantic joint? IS there any lateral flexion at that joint at all? and in what direction of movement would it be coupled with? (if there were any lateral flexion at that joint...) and so on...

And after all that, capoeira class, dance class, and delicious homemade dinner of lentils with cabbage and some nice sausage. Yum!

$4 pizzas and Zumba

2011-02-22T04:35:00.000-08:00

So I tried Zumba for the first time. I'm trying anything these days, anything to get me moving. It was a bunch of random salsa/cumbia moves, interspersed with random other ethnic dances, like Bollywood and bellydance. It was like ethnic dance lite, aerobics style. It was fun though, good to move around after 9 hours of class. It really made me miss LA- Achinta's Bollywood class on Wednesday nights, and Carlos from the bay area teaching samba and Afro-Brazilian... I was kind of sad leaving class, I have to admit. There's nothing like the real thing, and I have been spoiled for dance in my lifetime.

Walking home from the dance class took me through part of the Adelaide Botanical gardens. They are so beautiful, I'm going to explore them soon. There were some birds in the trees, making noises exactly like you'd expect to hear from a jungle movie soundtrack, or in Disneyland on the Jungle Cruise ride. Loved it!

Met up with Phil on the way home, he had come into town to see a comedy show. There's a big event going on for a few weeks called the Fringe. There's all kinds of performing and visual arts throughout town right now. Walking home we stopped to check out a rockabilly band, but they needed a little more practice. Maybe this weekend I'll try to find a really good show.

Home is about 2 km from school, so it's really not a bad walk. Saves on bus tickets too. And helps burn off the calories from the $4 pizza we got for dinner because we were too tired and too late to even think of making dinner. Yeah, not the most healthy or tasty of meals I've had in Aus. I do really get a kick out of how close everything is though, and how we can walk home from town.

Steak burger

2011-02-21T04:42:00.000-08:00

So, Australia is a fun place to be. It's in the southern hemisphere, where winter is summer, and summer is winter, except for this year, when it's supposed to be summer but it's windy, wet and cold when it's supposed to be in the 90's, hot and dry. It did get pretty stifling for a few days, but now it's looking like fall is going to come early this year.

What else, oh yeah, the water is supposed to go down the toilet in the other direction. Well, honestly I never really paid that much attention in the states, so I wouldn't even know the difference. Not to mention the toilet just kind of explodes water from one end to the other here, so I don't really see any spiraling anyways.

So, in talking about differences, here's a new one! (other than the typical ones like different accents and driving on the wrong side of the street- oh yeah, and teachers cussing during lecture! haha but this is a family blog.)

So today I ordered the happy hour special, a burger and a pint for $15. The guy was like, do you want a chicken burger or a steak burger? Um, a steak burger? How about a ham-burger? Or would that end up being pork? Whatever, I was starving. I went with steak. And boy was it delicious. But it wasn't a burger at all- I was expecting some type of ground meat. It was sliced up steak, complete with bacon! Well, I wasn't going to complain, it was just what I needed, and the pint wasn't so bad either. Interesting though, I guess it might have been called some kind of hoagie or steak sandwich, but here I am splitting hairs. It was food, and it was good, and I'll definitely go back there!

Summer daze

2011-02-15T03:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a bit of an adventure, moving in. A lot of time spent buying all the stuff it turned out we needed, like bed sheets and bowls, coffee mugs and water glasses. Moving in stuff. A sleeping bag, a mobile phone, forks and knives. Wine, gotta try that South Australian wine!
Lying here in sweltering heat, the room is a mess. Got Raul Campos bumping on the netbook speakers.
Making new friends.
Australia, USA, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Austria, Spain, Germany, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia.
I walk 15 minutes to the grocery market, it's called "Foodland" and it's right out of the Simpsons cartoon. Something about the logo...
There's a dollar store across the street, and a cash converters (like a pawn shop). There's a bunch of bikes for sale in front. A Greek bakery, a Greek church. We almost rented from a sweet old Greek couple, but it was a little too far...
There's a pizza place nearby, with a stone oven, and an Indian place next to that.
The downtown area is only a 10 minute bus ride and you could walk there if you really wanted.
There's a capoeira studio I'm going to check out, and I'm going to join the school fitness center, gotta stay sane :-}
It's a little pocket of an alternate life here, building new memories. I'm going to look back on this time with nostalgia! I can't wait!
But the present moment is calling me. I'm thinking about elbow articles I am going to finish tonight, and the shoulder lecture on palpation I am going to review... (It's important to think positively and speak affirmatively about the things you know you are going to do.)
And I'm also thinking, damn it's hot! I like living in the weather, as in, without the air conditioner... it makes me feel alive. But the effect is somnolent... I'd rather lie here like a slug instead of revving up the brain again, (in this heat!).
So I wrote this little update as a warmup.
I promise to start posting a photo a day, inspired by my friend Cookie...
Here, I'll write the captions.

Birds on a wire.

The black and white warbling synthesizer bird. What is this bird? It sounds unreal.

Me at school.

Ok, that's it for now.

Superbowl Monday

2011-02-08T04:02:00.000-08:00

(Written while watching the Superbowl on Monday morning at the hostel-the internet connection was really bad, so I'm only posting it now, a couple of days later.)

So you take the current time in Adelaide, add 5 and a half, then subtract 24... That's how I figure out the time in LA. Right now it's 6pm in LA on Sunday night, and 12:30pm Monday for us here! So we're watching the Superbowl at the hostel- unfortunately they've not included the commercials :-( Come on Steelers!

So yesterday was fun, we borrowed bikes from the hostel and used them as our primary vehicle to visit places for rent. Luckily Adelaide is a small town, and daylight lasts until 8pm, because we cycled around the entire town and were out all day. I think there's no better way to get to know a city than to house-hunt in it. We even had to take the train at one point.

It was like Goldielocks- the first place was horrible, the second place was really nice, and the third place was just right. Then we cycled around to a couple of other places just for kicks and comparison. So all in all, albeit stressful due to the uncertainty of not knowing the street names or suburb names, it didn't go too badly. Weather was great and the city is very bike friendly.

The weirdest part was an apt that seemed to good to be true. We got an email back from an ad we posted. The price was unbelievable for a fully furnished 2 bedroom apt, utilities included and even maid service. The pictures looked dreamy. But upon inquiry, the owner reveals that he is overseas, in London, so we won't meet him, and we wouldn't be able to inspect the place before paying the $$$. Hmmm, suspicious, no? But the place looked so dreamy! And so close to campus, right on the main drag. We tried phoning him and after a couple of seconds "the phone went dead." He wanted a $1000 deposit + 2 weeks rent before we could even get the keys to enter the place. No building manager to let us check it out ahead of time. And he didn't seem to need any personal details from us, as in, are we students, professionals, or unemployed party people? Too good to be true. Then we got the bright idea to look up apartment rental scams online and realized we were almost fooled. OMG what a scam!

Anyways, we're going to stay with Barry, a mechanical engineer from Malaysia who came here to study a few years ago and stayed. His house is clean and basic, with all the amenities, and close enough to campus, supermarket and bank. Plus he seemed like a cool guy. So we're settled, and I start school Wednesday. It's gonna be nice to have a couple of days to relax before gettin' back to the grind.

A day in the life...

2011-02-04T01:27:00.000-08:00

The exchange rate here is pretty horrible. Prices are high as if value was low, but instead, I'm losing money when I trade in my USD! :-(
Food is outrageously expensive, but on the upside, I will probably eat healthier by preparing more food at home.
We made a beef ravioli with spinach and onions in tomato sauce, yum. The knives at the hostel are dull, like the knife Aron Ralston used to cut his arm off in that awful movie...
I went to school today to take a look around and felt like I was going back in time. I feel like I haven't seen anybody my age anywhere! Except some parents walking their kids to school this morning. I can't wait to see what this incoming class of graduate physiotherapy students looks like.
We walked around the Rundle Mall yesterday, it's a shopping street like 3rd Promenade but missing all the people... Phil reminded me that unlike the rest of the world, Australia is relatively unpopulated. Maybe it's more active on a weekend night?
There's a great Chinatown though, with Asian markets and boba tea shops, and yesterday there were Chinese dragon dancers to celebrate Chinese New Year!
That's all so far, it's a pretty quiet town. There is a square in the center of town with wide open spaces, statues and flags waving. It reminds me of Brasilia, capital of Brasil. It's 8 o'clock at night the sun is still blazing, and it's 31 degrees celcius out there...

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

2011-02-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!
It's been almost a year since I last posted, please excuse the delay. After recovery from the ankle incident I started overworking myself to pay for this next adventure...

Australia for six months! Then onward, to SE Asia and who knows where else.
So, as some of you may know, the leaving was difficult. It was a wrenching feeling- when you've successfully rooted yourself in a place, and you feel connected by an invisible web of love and friendship to these people you have made an effort to see in person on a regular basis, to do favors for and be there for.

But now it's a different trip...

A 25 hour journey through time and space and I've tumbled out, refreshed and rested, on the other side of the world!

We are currently in a hostel in Adelaide, South Australia. The next step is finding housing, and it's a beautiful sunny summer Friday!

Another beautiful day in LA

2010-05-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been about 10 weeks s/p R ankle fracture and ORIF placement.
So far so good!

It's been a nice transition back into the real world.

Staying at home all the time gave me a new appreciation for it, my home. I love it here! It's bright and sunny, it's quiet and private, I can lock everyone out and bounce off the walls, like Schrodinger's cat. Although I didn't go quite as crazy as I thought I would, I've emerged perhaps rather more sane than when I entered this state of being- as I was brought into the hospital thrashing mentally with the idea of what months of immobility and lost wages would be like. Although, my memory is probably glossing over the difficult bits, of which there were, a struggle of which I spoke of previously. It is important to know that we all struggle.

My family and friends have had a chance to step up and be there for me, and I really appreciate it. It was really nice to feel so loved and cared for. I know truly what it is like to need help, and now I know more of how to offer it and what to give.

Movement has gotten much easier now. The doctor said I would continue to see pretty dramatic improvement over the next couple of months, but probably another year until I don't have to think about it every day. My balance is back though, I can stand on one leg pretty well!

I still can't perform any side to side movement, and jumping's pretty much out of the equation right now as well. No dancing yet. (I tried it but decided the next day that I should wait a few weeks!) And physical therapy sure is painful. But I love the pain, makes me feel alive!

That's pretty much it, enjoying a beautiful day in LA!

my world in pictures

2010-02-28T00:03:00.000-08:00

The women's event started off well!

Woo hoo!

Colibri and Colibri

Brunch was a success.

Fun for everyone!

There's Buddha at the academy. Look at that face!

All the instructors. Proud to be a part of this group of Fabulous Ladies!

Hey there!

Meanwhile, back at the camp... Thank you Lia for bringing me delicious food and cute lil' mini-me to cheer me up!

Closeup of my bone-healing diet. Mmmmm, sardines!

it hurts

2010-02-26T18:18:00.002-08:00

oh, it hurts it hurts it hurts

It's so sad and hard to be in pain.

I'm going back and forth in my moods. Yesterday was bad. Today started out good, then took a turn for the worse when I realized I hadn't heard from Dr. Gerhardt's assistant to schedule surgery and it was already 5:30. I frantically called the two numbers on his card, and at best had someone else send an urgent message that she wouldn't get until Monday morning... Damn! If I don't get this Tuesday appointment-
Who knows when the next one could be?
I don't want to expect the worst, but how else can you be as well prepared? I didn't feel at all skeptical of her when she said she would call me today. I should have known, it was part of the little lies we tell in doctors' offices. Dammit! I should have been more suspicious of her promises and made a mental note to call her by 4pm. I was lulled by her straightforward manner and dependable-sounding way of speaking.
But when I step back from it, I calm down. I can laugh a little. Shoulda coulda woulda.
That's what this whole mess is about anyways, isn't it?
Accepting the things you cannot change?
One small thing and your life is changed. I mean, thank god it was nothing worse. As Mestre said, this is nothing. In the grand scheme of things, it will get better. I'll be fine. He said this trying to get me to calm down, me freaking out and crying, at the academy right after it happened. And he was right, of course. In the moment, I thought about it and realized I should stop making a scene and just bit my tongue.
Truth is, I'm still angry and I wish it hadn't happened. I can still taste how my life was supposed to be.
I mean, in general, it's ok. The big things are still intact. This is just a challenge to my infinite powers of perseverance and determination to get there, wherever I want to go. An easy challenge, just the kind of thing I love. But it's a feeling of being affronted by Justice. What have I done to deserve this? I'm going to answer that with a quote that I love to quote. "Complaining that life isn't fair because you are a good person is like telling a bull not to gore you because you are a vegetarian."
I know I'm going to enjoy the ride, and I'm really going to enjoy the new discoveries that I will uncover along the way. There are going to be some major things that happen that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't broken my ankle, and I'll be thankful for it later.
And this is life.

I read another quote that I liked the other day. (I love quotes!) "It is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful."

I really liked that quote, because it seems to refer to how something that might normally seem worthless, like empty space, is actually essential to the value of the item. I think time is kind of like empty space, and our lives are the vessel. We need to create space in our awareness for time, because time will change things. Assuming the worst (predicting the future in a negative way) denies the magical effect time has on all possibilities. Because it is very most likely that with time, there will be developments that push the end result in a positive direction. Everything will be ok. It will all work out. That's the way it has to be. That's the way it is.

Don't worry
Because every little thing,
is gonna be alright

the week crawls by

2010-02-26T10:35:00.002-08:00

Well I'm healing the best I can- trying to make sure I'm eating healthy (quinoa, kale and sardines!), drinking lots of water, not moving around as much as I can (that's difficult!)... but actually i can't heal too much just yet because surgery is next week.

I was really cranky yesterday, and it was really painful. I guess it's a part of the healing process. All together I really woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Today it's still painful but my spirits are better.

It must be the stages of loss. Shock, denial, anger, grief, acceptance. In no particular order, and parts can repeat itself.

Hopefully I'll be able to schedule surgery for Tuesday, the earliest date possible. From there on out I can just heal.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I should take the vicodin... I was able to get by without it on Wednesday- been trying to handle the pain, but after a while it gets old. Yesterday I just took one. The splint is so heavy it pulls on my foot and that makes it hurt more than anything. That combined with the rush of blood when I put the foot down.

Well soon it'll be over, just another type of adventure under my belt. I'll tell this story when I'm on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, and it'll be like a battle wound!

For now I'm just happy that I have a great little spot to hang out in, my mom comes to take care of me, and I have friends to check on me as well. I'm very happy.

Looking ahead

2010-02-20T20:41:00.002-08:00

When you have an injury, it doesn't matter how bad it is.

You still have to recover from it. You have to make do with what you've got and go from there. You can't look at it and despair. You can't imagine what the future is going to be like. You can't look away from wellwishers and reply bitterly to their hopeful predictions. You can't predict the worst, you can't even pretend to agree and inside be bitter. You have to REALLY BELIEVE that EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY.

And guess what. It will. It really will. There is no other outcome. EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY.

And once I got over that, it was ok.

I'm torn up inside, just on the border of that feeling-sorry-for-myself feeling, about to jump headfirst into the overflowing well of tears. I know what I'm about to face, but if I look up at it like its an unsurmountable wall, there will be no way I'll get over it. Once you visualize that wall, it'll never come down. There is no wall. There is just an ever flowing river of opportunity.

Fractured Fibula and Distorted Deltoid

2010-02-20T16:55:00.002-08:00

So, next in my line of adventuring...

I broke my ankle!

A physio/physical therapist trades places with her patients.

I will be having surgery next week, and then, I'll have a metal plate installed!
Orthopedic surgery.
It's going to have a whole new meaning.

For now I'm lying here on my couch, foot elevated over my head.
For at least 5 more days, until the swelling goes down.

I'm all wooooozy!

And thanks be to god, I figured out a way to position my foot inside the splint so it's not cutting off circulation and making my toes all numb and cold. What a relief!!!!

And I'm working on spreading positive vibes. Positive vibration, ye-yah! It's going to Help me Heal. I'm going to drink lots of Water and eat Quality foods. I'm going to bask in the rays of friendly well wishers who have sprung from the depths to surround me with light, Thank You Friends!

Home again... for now! With New Year's Resolutions and everything!

2010-02-09T22:30:00.004-08:00

It always surprises me (pleasant surprise!) to hear from people whom I rarely see and yet read my blog.

You know who you are! ;-)

So I've been inspired to keep writing. Because there is a void out there, one I am willing to contribute to, creating content for inner space.

Anyways, to update you all on my current events... I am rearranging things at home. Home, what an interesting concept. Home is where the heart is. I have so many hearts out here in Los Angeles. It is so wonderful to reconnect with you all. My friends = my family. And vice versa, including any and all fights, miscommunications, or temporary misgivings. And it's nice to be back among the familiar, the ones who know you, know your faults and foibles and who have been there for years...

But like I said, I am rearranging. Getting rid of the old to make way for the new. Change is inevitable, change is necessary. (I went through the closet, switched around the coffee table and the entertainment "center"... Got to get rid of all that stuff I keep but don't need!)

It's like a New Year's Resolution. Yes, that's what it is. I am going to look at the old way of doing things and try to find a new way to see them, to find new solutions for old problems, new ways that make impossible dreams more plausibly possible. I must admit, I came up with this theory while playing a video game app on my iphone *I love my iphone, yes I'm a mac!* Anyways, the app presents you with a problem and you have to find the solution. But you can get stuck in a rut trying to solve the problem in the same way every time. You can only pass the level by trying something new within the paradigm, bypassing perceived limitations and defying your natural instincts. Then all of a sudden the answer becomes clear! But only because you twisted your thinking around and challenged your assumptions.

Something else I have resolved to do is to try to maintain calmness and peace. No panic. Slow down. Stop trying to multi-task everything and make time to sit and relax. Enjoy the downtime. Efficiency is great but you gotta live life and let life happen. I love how time is that secret, savoury ingredient that deepens and mellows the flavour. (Note the use of the extra "u"!!!! hahahahhaha)

Oh! And I'm going to write about my workouts. Because that is the worst time offender of all for me. Characteristically I love to work out. But I can get a little obsessive with it all. Like freaking out if I can't get a workout in. Or trying to figure out how I can do two workouts in a day. Or staying for 2 hours to workout... (But I love the pain!) Oh right, the pain! It ain't right unless I'm sore all over, all the time! Capoeira, running, hiking, biking, rock climbing, lifting weights, core strengthening, roller blading, the list goes on.

Today I did good. I kept it under one hour, and did not do the core twisting movements with the free-cable machines that I think were what did my back in last time. But it was only because I didn't have time, because I was supposed to meet some people and I didn't want to be late. Otherwise, I could easily have found another exercise or two or three to continue with. But I did stretch when I was done, and I resolved to post some photos of my typical stretches that I do that help keep my back pain-free...

That'll be for next time. For now, I'm going to sign off and go enjoy the rest of the night!

a lazy day...

2010-01-20T06:03:00.015-08:00

Due to winter weather conditions, a certain laziness has set in.

In Ireland I lay curled up by the fire, warming up one end of my body at a time, rotating myself until I was cooked.

Here I sit in front of the computer, looking out at the "cold-grey-wintry" sky, rather pleased with myself for getting out this morning to walk the dog. He ran circles around me!

So let's see- New Year's was a blur...

We saw Avatar!

This is the bar where Phil's brother works- it's called the Standard, short for Royal Standard of London. http://www.rsoe.co.uk/

Very atmospheric!

I am amazed at the lovely selection of far out brews they have here- cask ales with names like "Old Peculiar", "Doom Bar" and "Tanglefoot"

One of my favorite things about traveling to other places is the variety of familiar items that aren't quite exactly the same as what we have back home...

and then I went off to Ireland. Winter there was acting up something fierce for that part of the world, with ice and snow slicking up the roadways... We tried to go the scenic route but ended up almost sliding backwards down the hill.

Luckily the gritters came right up behind us and that helped the car get some traction. Another time we had to get out and push the car up the little path that led up to the house.

The house was so quaint and rustic- built of stone, it was the old groom's quarters behind the main house. The path up to it was lined with a manicured garden and antique black lamposts. Covered with snow, the whole thing looked like a page out of a fairy tale! The ceilings were high, the beams were wooden, and the area surrounding it was absolutely quiet. There was a conservatory in the back, a room made of glass, freezing cold but bound to be beautiful in the summer. We were in Enfield, about 30 miles south of Dublin.

I went to Galway, all the way on the west coast of Ireland. It only took 3 hours by bus. Emma-Jane wasn't feeling well, so I went on my own.
As soon as I got to the hostel, I checked in, dropped off my stuff, and went downstairs to ask the hostelfolk for the best walk around town. Turns out I wasn't the only one with this plan- Elody and Daniel were also looking to have a breath of fresh air, so we all went off walking in the direction of Salthill.

It was beautiful!
Later we had dinner...

Then made the rounds to several pubs.

It was a great night!

The next morning I woke up early to get on a bus tour of the Cliffs of Moher. It had snowed overnight, and everyone was amazed- nobody had seen weather like this in decades...

And quite unexpectedly, the clouds cleared up in time for us to actually see the Cliffs of Moher!

It was quite a surreal landscape.

We also passed by an old abbey.

From there I hopped back on the bus for the return trip back to Galway. 18 euro roundtrip!
I did get into Dublin for a little sightseeing.

Although I didn't get a picture of it, the Charles Beatty Library turned out to be really interesting. He was a wealthy American who amassed a large number of religious manuscripts and artifacts from Judaism, Christianity, Muslim, Buddhism and Hinduism.

This is where I caught the ferry from Dublin Port to Holyhead. It had been cancelled the night I was supposed to go due to inclement weather, so I had to catch the early one the next day.

View from inside the ferry.

On the way back, I got a shot of the longest train station name in the world! "Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysilio-gogogoch" It means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave". It's in Wales.

When I got back to England, I found that it had been snowing a bit here too. I found time to visit Mestre Poncianinho's Cordao de Ouro class in London on Friday night- great class, really fun and lots of nice people! Too bad it was so out of the way- 2 hours by bus, train and tube to get there!

Well that's all the news for now! Until next time...

Merry Christmas and beating on Boxing day!

2009-12-28T04:49:00.007-08:00

Merry Christmas from abroad once more!

Arrival back in England safely, without any more snowy mishaps blocking the road. The bus took the train back, went right into the train box and rumbled on into the night, under the sea, and back onto the road, this time on the left!

And I planned it right this time, (had to wait quite a bit for the tube train) got off at Marylebone, checked the schedule for the High Wycombe stop on the National train, and rushed and bought a Cornish Pasty before jumping on for the final stop.

Christmas Eve started off at noon with the annual local pub crawl...

Then a quick visit back home to eat a delicious homemade fish pie before heading out again into Wycombe for live music and a taxi ride home... (Fish, prawns and potatoes simmered in a cream sauce with spinach and baked under a layer of mashed potatoes... yum! Btw, ever hear of Jamie Oliver?)

Christmas day was really nice, nothing out of the ordinary (except for the snow! Which I heard was quite unusual for this part of England). Woke up to a houseful of Gaspers, followed a by plenty of food and drink- organic pork from Wales plus all kinds of trimmings, roasted vegies, green beans, red cabbage, what else all I don't remember, but what I do remember is the dessert, which was a bunch of fresh berries, raisins, dried cranberries, soaked in amaretto and poured over with heavy cream, then topped by a dollop of clotted cream... and I thought that was it but I didn't realize that later we were going to have yet another meal- this time more characterized by appetizers and crunchy fried things, melted camembert, Welsh beer, and champagne... Then we got into teams and played a quiz game orchestrated by Phil's mom. (My team got second place by 1 and a half points... So much for having the Yank on your team guys!)

The best present was the Horsey Hoppers game, that Zoe got for her brothers. Quite a success, we cleared out the kitchen and took turns racing across the floor- I need to post some photos!

What else... Oh, right! the next day we went beating! In England it's called Boxing Day, from when the servants were given this day off after spending Christmas Day catering for their employers and then were sent off with boxes of leftovers...

So, what is beating you may ask? Well, this is how it goes.

The gamekeeper raises pheasants and fowl to release them into the wild for subsequent hunting. On the day of the hunt the hunters prepare themselves with guns and camoflauge clothing, and position in the field in strategic locations. Today the hunters are young lads who usually work as beaters during the year, and the beaters are an assorted bunch of volunteers, including this American girl!

Ok so, the beaters spread out surrounding an area where the fowl like to hide, usually in the underbrush and trees. We then follow directions from Andy the gamekeeper as we advance, slowly and steadily through the woods, whacking flags made from feed bags and making lots of noise. (We also spend a lot of time waiting around as everyone else gets into position.)

Andy's dogs are advancing with us, most of them well trained and at attention, minus one, by the name of Tucker, whose name we hear constantly- "Tucker!" "Tucker!" because he doesn't stay behind us and keeps going running off... Tucker is actually Zoe's dog, so in his defense, he's not really trained as a hunting dog. As we reach the end and the birds lose their cover, they start to fly up into the air. Then there is lots of shooting and pellets raining down from the sky, and, as well, birds, falling down, from the sky.

The dogs at this point are running around like crazy, and they rush off and grab birds that have fallen and bring them back.

We went out four times, going back to the barn for tea and cookies (and a nip of brandy) halfway through. It was cold and brisk out, snow on the ground and romping up and down the rolling hills of Wycombe, good fun!

I conked out after that, felled by some combination of cold weather and traveling... All in all, a really nice weekend back in England. Looking forward to seeing Avatar in 3D tonight and homemade potato leek soup!

2009-12-22T01:46:00.003-08:00

Thanks to the most snow in Holland for many many years, trains haven't been running, so I've been spending my time in Utrecht- really not a bad place to be!

I can walk to the main part of town from Sita's house. There are picturesque canals, and a huge tower, and lots of cute shops.

Her house is also really comfortable, and I've been eating WAAAAY too much!

On Sunday Sita threw out the suggestion of having a snowball fight instead of a capoeira roda... Imagine 20 or so capoeiristas running around in the plaza under the Domtower, snow flying, (and falling from the sky!) and everybody out of breath from laughing and having snow in their face. And of course we had to play a little capoeira in all the winter coats and scarves!

Then it began, the food fest. First off, hot chocolate with rum to warm up again. Then walking over to a local pub for a tapas appetizer and Christmas ale.

Next stop was next door, a sister store to the restaurant where Richard works in Amsterdam. There were multiple little dishes filled with Indonesian delectables- each one different and more delicious than the last. Walking home was beautiful that night, it was bright as day due to the reflection of the streetlamps off the snow, and it had stopped snowing...

Last night I went to the Monday night capoeira class, but it was really small, because people couldn't get to town with the trains not running and all. It was fun anyways, meeting new capoeiristas is always a good time!

and more snow...

2009-12-20T04:16:00.002-08:00

Big fat snowflakes are falling from the sky, fascinating! Wind is blowing snow off the neighboring roofs in whoofs of blurry white.

Flights have been grounded and Eurostar trains were stuck in the Chunnel Tunnel yesterday.

And we're not going to the Hague today to see the windmills. We'll stay in town and avoid the highways. Even local trains and buses are not running today.

Yesterday we went to the Van Gogh museum, went through the Heineken experience and the red light district, ate Chinese food and met up with Amr for a hot chocolate.

The Van Gogh museum was really interesting- he wrote a lot of letters to his family throughout his lifetime, and exerpts were displayed next to the paintings, which made them make so much more sense. It revealed more of his character and personality and the background behind each iconic painting. It made me want to buy a book of his letters and read them all- biographical information is so interesting to me as I face the challenge of choosing the next step along my life's path.

The Heineken experience was also more interesting than I thought, it was huge and interactive, complete with a tasting and chance to pour your own drink! I think it did taste better here than it does in the states. At any rate, it was a good look at the history of a successful international enterprise- more biographical information!

And meeting up with Amr was a pleasant surprise- he moved out to Amsterdam over a year ago... after Chinese for dinner he took us on a tour of the infamous red light district... The oldest profession. Later we met up with some of his friends at a cozy bar and drank hot chocolate spiked with Stroh... Went home to bed early (just 2am) after a long day of walking in the cold.

This morning we woke up to a light snowfall which gradually thickened, and is still going. It's nice here inside though-

Soon we'll go out to buy chocolate sprinkles and walk around Utrecht.

Snowing!!!

2009-12-18T12:30:00.003-08:00

And I'm free!

A lonely traveler once again, stepping in and out of people's lives like bread into a fondue pot.

It was snowing on the day I left Paris, and OuiFM sang me a song in french about how "it's not goodbye, when you're coming back!"

Chocolat, le chat noir, wanted to go out onto the balcony and came back in all snowy white.

The bus ride took 11 hours- I forgot why I never take day bus trips longer than 4 or 5 hours... I think the reasoning this time was that I wanted to see the scenery... I was remembering the 24 hour bus trip from Fortaleza to Salvador in Brasil, where the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and I felt that I was witness to some kind of endless panoramic IMAX vista through the windows of the bus.

This time I thought of the Chronicles of Narnia, I thought of Dersu Usala and Napolean and his army... It was snowing and blowing the whole way through, and we went about 10 miles an hour the entire time.

Sita met me at the bus station and whisked me away to Indonesian dinner followed by a Spanish bar in the basements along the canals in Utrecht. There was live music played by live volunteers from the audience, people who brought in their own instruments, who danced and sang until all hours of the night.

We ate smoked slices of meat from a cow's leg held suspended above the table, it was soooo good!

And to wrap it up we had turkish pizza wraps at a little cafe close to the house. Home to bed at 4 in the morning...

I feel comfortable in Sita's house, as if I've been here before. As if I've already climbed the steep stairway many times and looked out the bathroom window. The open stairwell with no guard rail is oddly familiar, as is the warm yellow of the knotty pine wooden floorboards in the living room.

Tomorrow we plan to storm Amsterdam, hitting up various museums and attractions as listed in the "Holland Pass, size XL"! (I finally got smart and decided to buy a discount pass, trying to save some euros here!")

On the road again!

2009-12-15T02:59:00.003-08:00

Well...

Here I am, on the road again. Sitting in my usual spot in the internet cafe. This time the ambient language is French...

Some observations:
You don't have to scoop your dog's poop on the sidewalk in France. Watch your step though!
J'ai frois! The cold is like another entity here, nudging with persistence into your fingers and toes.
French keyboards are all screwy: a is where q should be, w and z are switched, m is where ; should be and you have to press shift to get numbers or you end up with "Iùll be there qt &è:"à in the ,orning" My normal speed of -( words per minute is waaaay waaay down.
Baguettes really are better here!
Everybody drinks wine at lunch. In cute little tiny wine glasses, out of really cool ceramic pitchers.

I've spent the past day or so reorganizing my trip due to the interesting turn of events in which I find out that I have been laid off from my safe, steady, secure (albeit claustrophobic) job and have been SET FREE! in Europe! Wow! It's almost like a book, this story, my life. What excuse do I have now NOT to take advantage of the situation and continue forth on this European Adventure? Of course, pending friends to stay with, and the always entertaining process of booking future travel in the middle of the holiday season in a foreign language...

So it's worked out like this, for all those who are interested: I've cancelled the return flight and can reschedule it (for a nominal fee, of course) for some later date but I have to keep the same airports, so at some point I still have to fly to LAX from CDG (Paris). (I could also just give up that ticket and get a new one- from ANYWHERE in the world! The possibilities are endless.) I just don't have the date planned quite yet...

I'm going to Amsterdam on Thursday, where I will stay with Sita in Utrecht for about a week. Then I return to England for Christmas to spend it with Phil and the Gasper clan... (I said I'd be back, didn't I? How did I know?!) And then off to Ireland to see Emma Jane again, and then back to Paris for the return flight, mid-Jan sometime... All rights reserved, all plans subject to change.

Special thanks to CB Paris... especially OuiFM! My official french tour guide and partner in crime. And to Serali, for letting me stay at his house while he goes gallivanting off to ski in the Swiss Alps... And to Chocolat, le chat noir, who meows with high intensity all night long to let you know he exists...

Backing up:

Being in England was like a dream, finally being there...

In the fabled land of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess... The Smiths, the Cure, and everybody speaking with that fabluously sexy English accent! Driving on the left! (I got to drive!)

It was especially difficult to remember not to hit anything with the left side of the car... (Thanks Phil!) Went to Great Missendon to see the Roald Dahl museum but it was closed on Monday- I really hope they will be open when I go back! In the village where I stayed, the houses had names instead of numbers.

Ate bangers and mash.

We went to the pub and ate pies and drank ale.

Wandered to the next pub and drank more. Went to see the Wycombe Wanderers football game- did not get beat up!

It rained tons! Went to the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street and Alice in Wonderland's house in Oxford. I perfected my English accent. Went to Harrod's...

And went to the Tower of London, went ice skating and continued my education in world art and history at various museums.

It has not snowed.

And here in Paris... Le Tour Eiffel, Le Champs Elysees, Le Louvre, Montmartre. And today, after internet, Le Musee D'Orsay. Then more capoeira. Last night I went to Pimpolho's class, where everyone tried to buy with me in the roda like it was my birthday- awesome! It felt really good to get active again.

And the food! I ate crepes! Fondue! Foie gras! Pain au chocolat! Tartes de pommes! Baguettes with salami and butter, mmmmm! Chocolate filled breakfast cereal! Lebanese sandwiches! J'ai faim!

D'accord, I will leave you now and continue in the future- you know, it really feels so good to be back traveling again with that semi-insecure feeling of not knowing the exact path I will be following, but just knowing that I have time...

A six week trip is about right. Two weeks is just too much of a whirlwind, not enough time to actually BE somewhere. Although there are always those brief moments of sadness, loneliness and insecurity when I don't know where I am going or why. It's usually when I am waiting for something, late for something, or don't know what I am going to do next. (Or if I've been laid off!) And if I am hungry or cold, it's even worse. Those are the times I paranoidedly think it would be better to be home, on a steady, readily-understandable-to-the-outside-observer schedule, on a path to a comfortable future... (That's when I feel sorry for myself and start to cry...) Then I have to remember to stand up for my choices and remind myself that nobody really lives an easy, predictable life, it just looks that way.

So, voila! Welcome to my life!

The gods say, when you really want to do something, just do it. You have to go with your heart.

2009-11-08T21:18:00.004-08:00

Winter brings changes...

I cut bangs.

Funny how such an seemingly simple decision can be so monumental.
It took so long to make. Only when I decided not to cut off 10 inches to donate to the kids with cancer could I make the appointment. (Sorry kids.) Then I gave the lady at the shop a hard time when I didn't immediately like the looks of it. Not a really hard time, I just made a sad face. Then she helped me out the best she could- she straightened it with a flat iron, blew dry the rest of it, added more layers, and then curled it all up like a movie star. It looked beautiful! I am so lucky to have such beautiful hair. Maybe that's the lesson in all this. Appreciate what you have and make the most of it. Take risks.

While she was cutting, I asked her how she decided to open a beauty salon. She told me she had always wanted one, and went to beauty school for it. When she was 16, she started cutting hair out of her parents' house. She started making more money than her father did. And now, she's been the owner of Rozina's for 10 years.

She told me, "The gods say, when you really want to do something, just do it. You have to go with your heart."

Like cutting bangs, or opening your own beauty salon.

1st october

2009-10-01T09:54:00.004-07:00

The weather is changing here.

It's October first and as if on cue, the air seems drier, stretched thinner. The light is wavering between the heavy thickness of summer humidity but leaning towards the ether it becomes towards Christmas.

It's the little changes we have to savor in Los Angeles.

There's an autumn smell in the air, and the sun beats warm on my back.

I wonder what it'd be like to live in a place that actually gets cold.

Last year at this time I was packing, (at least mentally) ecstatic and rolling in golden waves of success, freshly graduated and looking forwards to the (one of many) trip of a lifetime!

Packing packing packing. Want to be packing. Want to be planning.
This year it's different.
I wonder what opportunities tomorrow will bring. Summer was grand. It's time to continue forward.

30 september

2009-09-30T18:51:00.002-07:00

It's my birthday!

It's the day that always made me hold my breath just a little bit, in expectation of what goodies lay in wait...
A day for surprises, friends, family, birthday cake and everybody singing for you!
It's the ultimate in ego-satisfying self-gratification, excusable and unashamed!

September 30th- the day I made my mom a mother, the day I waited for all year, and it was always over so quick.

It's a day of fall colors, of school beginning, it feels as much a part of my identity as my name...

And it's today!

It doesn't matter what I did, or what I'm doing... What matter is where I am and where I'm going... Does that make sense? What I mean is, I worked today, and I'm fulfilling obligations I made in accordance with my plans and beliefs, which means I am not necessarily engaging in a hedonistic release of all responsibility, just because today is my birthday. Which is to say, I am completely happy with the choices I've made, and the obligations I've chosen to saddle myself with, and to be able to perform them all on my birthday is a delicious honor. I am so lucky to have these options, to have the freedom to work, to live, and to spend EVERY day as if it were my birthday...

Anacapa Island and... Inspiration Point!

2009-08-10T20:49:00.005-07:00

So, I went on a camping trip last weekend-
It was one of those memorable times, when you meet people and have experiences that make you wish you never had to return to reality.
(Although, awesomely, reality really ISN"T so bad these days!!!)
But this was a trip that like a dream, settles in your memory like fine dust, tainting everything you do with a veil of giddy remembrances.
So what do I remember?
The boat out of Oxnard delayed 5 hours before we even left the dock... and subsequently getting to know my fellow campers over a pitcher before noon!
and then Laura falling in when we were loading the boat...
Climbing up the 150 stairs and quarter of a mile hike to the campground with two cases of 2.5 gallons of water and a cooler full of Tecate- (and some food)... Multiple times!
Accompanying my tent-mates as they carried out a midnight plan of water balloon ambushing complete with home made "3-man launching device."
Waking up at 5am to see the sunrise.
Waking up the next morning at 5am to squawking sea gulls tearing apart the trash bags and spreading trash all over the campsite!
Jumping off the cliff into the ICE-COLD FREEZING water. Woo hoo! Go adrenalin!
Never having to take a shower! Washing faces in melted ice cooler water! Squeezing into a clammy wetsuit! Spam for breakfast!

Dancing down the trail from Inspiration Point carrying my AWESOME little ipod player and rocking out to the best in classic funky 70's rock... (Plug: iMainGo- I LOVE it! This little thing definitely proved it's worth this weekend- it held up to the dance party ALLNITELONG!!!)

And- most inspiring of all- after turning my ipod to a most romantic and beautiful love song by Barry White (You're my first, my last, my everything)... looking up from the beautiful sunset to see Ben proposing to his girlfriend on one knee, ring in hand... Unbelievable to have been a part of such a special moment...

The rest of the weekend was just a blur- there were sea lions coming up to sniff our boat- we paddled through caves and even rode a mini-wave through the point (although nothing as exciting as the story Julian kept telling about how he was riding waves on the kayak LAST year ;-p

And then returning home, layered with dirt and salt...

Not having to fully unpack or put stuff away immediately- PRICELESS!!!!

the moon again

2009-08-05T21:48:00.003-07:00

the moon is full, it shines on the pacific ocean like a pathway to the santa monica pier as i drive from the palisades back home.

it steals my eyes from the road.

my body already feels light, muscles worn out and aching, because i've pushed them further than they wanted to go. but they feel happy now, whipped into shape and standing in line. tired and ready for dinner!

at home i'm packing and preparing for a camping and kayaking trip to the channel islands.

summer in the city

2009-08-04T22:23:00.004-07:00

mmmmmm...

summer is bringing breezes that cool the heat of my skin, and brighten the skies with moonlight that hurts my eyes. the clouds are mesmerizing. such an unbelievable beauty that floats right above the mundane disappointment of a tuesday night spent too late at work. it makes me so glad to be alive, summer does. it stretches my heart with aching, quiet angst. it makes me feel like i am in silence, even as i cross a busy intersection, alive with bright red and green traffic lights, headlights, and cars on agenda, quickly rushing by. i want to stop to enjoy it, to fully FEEL it. i want to stretch my imagination, my creativity, to include the beauty of this moment, to wrap it and deliver it, transformed somehow, into someone else's possibility.

the warmth of the night makes me feel as if it will never grow too late.
i can feel the branches, the leaves of the trees, stretching to enjoy the air.
fragrance wafts through the air- cut grass, flowers, garlic, asphalt.

sleep weighs my eyelids down in the afternoon. i use all my skills to maintain appearances of coherence, but when i turn to a friend, my defenses come down and a sentence comes out backwards.

and at night i revel in my free time.

i am amassing a library of books i will read. i dug out some old japanese modern lit from earl jackson's class in good old santa cruz. i ordered a book on the history of the indus river. i will finally read shantaram. i eat leftovers from my mother's kitchen, and i cook cold japanese noodles and eat them with tofu and salad.

i am going to dream of my future tonight.

Japan, continued, and more thoughts on reintegration

2009-04-06T23:51:00.005-07:00

The rest of my trip went fairly uneventfully.

Went back to Tokyo, back to the Khaosan Annex Hostel across the bridge from the Asakusa Metro station.

I walked an awful lot across the bridge, in one direction, determined in the face of crisp morning fresh-after-a-rain air that once I crossed the bridge I would enter the train station and determine smoothly where I would be going, unhesitatingly descending the stairs to the tracks, in the right place for the right train, for once. Need I say there were problems? For all the organization in Japan, the Tokyo Metro is a confusing ball of yarn. It presents a neat and intricate puzzle for those of us who had come fresh from China and had been soothed by the plethora of signage in Western languages and the overwhelming politeness of the Japanese people. It was like the wink and nudge of an inside joke, as if to say, haha you foreigners! We have tried our utmost to extend our hospitality to those of you who are not from here, but there is certain inalienable information integral to Japan which just cannot be easily extricated and delivered (smug smile). Add that to the fact that somehow, amidst a seemingly large percentage of the population who do speak English, almost none of the people working at the side of the turnstiles did. This made for an unusually exciting and anxious feeling as I neared the train station, feeling my heart beat a little faster as I anticipated the future kerflummoxing of my plans for the day. I'll spare the details and avoid going into the hows and the whys of how this smart, well-traveled and experienced young girl was confused by such a thing. Just take my word for it, and enjoy the experience.

I mean, it wasn't like I was always totally lost. I always found my way, and reveled in the vindication when I finally arrived. This is what traveling is all about! Addressing the vast unknown and emerging victorious!

On the way to the hostel, again walking over that bridge, I invariably felt exhausted. My feet felt as if they would fall off. My boots were wonderful, but even they complained after the long days spent wandering around Tokyo.
-Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where you can take an elevator to the 45th floor and see Mount Fuji (maybe, on a good day)!
-Omotesando, Shibuya, and Harajuku! (Shopping galore, and $7 cups of coffee!)
-Nikko (oh boy was that a glorious exercise in train travel and transfers!)
-Kamakura (beautiful)

I'll put some pictures up when I get around to it.

I met my cousin and her husband.

They live in Shibuya, and we walked around the neighborhood a bit, took pictures and went shopping. I picked up some totally cute fashion finds, for low low prices, believe it or not. Japan does not HAVE to be expensive! They took me out to the most delicious tonkatsu lunch I have EVER had, hands down.

I went on day trips out to Nikko and Kamakura- both of which were really cool and totally worth leaving the hectic city of Tokyo for. Except I got totally lost on the trains to Nikko and got there after all the temples were closed... It was ok though- really nice to walk around in the twilight after all the tourists had gone home.

Kamakura reminded me of Kyoto, only with the ocean. Lots of walking and beautiful temples and scenery. I love that stuff. Very philosophical, although no philosopher's path per se.

I was constantly wishing and hoping and sending warm thoughts out to the cherry trees, but blossom-time did not fully explode while I was there. A couple of trees must have heard me though, because I saw some tree in bloom, lone harbingers of the clouds of pink and white that must be so beautiful right about now...

It was ok though, because I arrived home bang on time for the wisteria above the walkway to my door to be in full blast. And they smell so good!

Now I've been home for a couple of weeks- and I'm having a really hard time adjusting.
All this in spite of the beautiful surroundings of where I live- not just the wisteria overhead but the azaleas, the beautiful sunlight, the smell of the beach in the warm spring air- all of which reminds me that I happen to be LUCKY enough to LIVE in one of the most beautiful places on earth- and STILL I feel like someone's got hot coals under my feet, like I need to get up and go, pack that backpack and leave, book a ticket, collect my belongings and don't look back.

It's culture shock, some people say.

I think I didn't give myself enough downtime before starting the job search and all- it's been overwhelming. I just want to pack my backpack and leave town! I keep looking up flight info for various places. But it's no use running. So, I'm in the midst of comparing job offers and interviewing, and going out with old friends and trying to get to sleep before 3am! night owl by nature- it'll take starting work to get me back on schedule. I hope. Discipline at bed time has never been a strong suite.

Need I say that it took me a while to even get back into the spirit of things enough to continue writing here? Something happened, and for a brief moment there, I was drawn into a deep world of traveler angst, and I swirled around in a pool of dismay.

My simple daily schedule of wake-up-and-go-somewhere-really-cool-in-some-far-off-corner-of-the-world is gone, to be replaced by a room filled with tons of stuff to be organized, trashed or neatly put away, and there this looming prospect of having to start a long-awaited and promising career. Such expectations are bound to be intimidating.

I log onto facebook at hourly intervals and chat at midnight with my friends who are in different time zones. I chat at noon with people who are staying up too late. I wish I could be always living on the edge, at the boundary, somewhere in-between the here-and-now. I still think it's possible. But maybe that's why I'm in this limbo, this hazy foggy half-world where I'm never quite awake.

I take it that the fact of being inspired to write is a good sign.

Back

2009-04-02T23:43:00.002-07:00

Back...
Back in the US.
Back to my old room, my old friends, my old life.
Thoroughly confused.
So much has changed! And yet it all looks so much the same.
Jet lag was rough.
Now I'm getting into the "soul-lag".

Old life, old patterns resurface and bob around, but find that they are swat down by reflexes quicker than conscious thought.
It's rather amusing to watch, because it's all new.
At the same time, I am stalled...
Don't want to get back on track.
I liked the track I was on- I never knew what was going to come up in the next town.
Now it's a new track.
Get used to it Akemi.

In retrospect

2009-03-23T17:50:00.002-07:00

I am passing time in broad steps. The last few days have catapulted and somersaulted, assailing each other in attempt to reach me. I am trying, I am trying to stay away from them, but they still they reach out and grab me. Sounds have become muffled, my movements are irrelevant.

I will be leaving for the airport in half an hour.

Kyoto was awesome

2009-03-18T16:12:00.005-07:00

Ah, the joys of hostel life!
Kyoto actually worked out really well.
The other 6 in the room with me turned out to be quite decent, so I had some company as I trekked around Kyoto for three days. It's nice to make friends on the road.
And Kyoto was wonderful and beautiful. Peaceful, picturesque and charming. Breathtaking even. And WARM! Able to walk around with short sleeves for the first time in a month. I had been feeling quite proud of my Californian self being able to tolerate the 0 degree weather in Beijing until the Canadian I was hanging out with told me that it was 30 below in Edmonton at the moment... 30 below celcius!
The hostel was in an ideal location. Smack in the middle of town, within walking distance to a few train stations, restaurants, Gion and some temples.
Plug: bAK pAK Gion Hostel, booked via hostelbookers.com.

So after being spoiled at my aunt's house in Osaka, I was ready to tackle the trains and trekking the trails in Kyoto. It's not as small as Nara, so what looked like a decent walking distance on the map frequently ended up being pretty far... But the exercise was good to burn off those huge meals I was eating!

The temple complexes were beautiful- many had extensive grounds and beautiful gardens. You could spend all day at one.

The bamboo groves were enchanting... Hearing the wind through the leaves, seeing the light filtering down greenly... It didn't really matter where you walked, every road had something interesting. Omoshiroi.

Philosopher's Path- leading you down beside a small creek in a quaint neighborhood, kind of reminded me of the Venice canal area in LA, but even cuter. The neighborhoods here are all so tiny- roads barely fit the cars that drive down them, the train crossings looked like toy train tracks! And the trains were always so colorful. My favorite was the green velvet seats in the Keihan Line. I would always fall asleep navigating my way home, on the heated seats.

The best was yesterday afternoon's mission- getting from the Philosopher's Path to Fushimi-Inari Ji before dusk... Walking through endless neighborhoods, passing other shrines along the way that were also totally cool- but having to pass them by because we were on a mission... Including Nazen-ji shrine, which was the breathtaking one- first glimsped through the pine trees at a distance- enormous wooden building like a silhouette at first- materializing into a fantastic scale that dwarfed the trees around it, hazy in the cooling afternoon air, which was UNSEASONABLY WARM!!!!

It gets even better. We hop on a train and make it to Fushimi-Inari as the sky is darkening- but the lanterns leading up were lit, so we kept going. This shrine is known for the thousands and thousands of torii gates that were constructed into tunnel-like pathways that traverse for miles up and around the mountain, and also by foxes. It was unbelievable. Especially at night... It got dark, and there were very few adventurous souls out hiking up through the torii gates at this time. Every so often there would be a break in the tunnel and there would be a cluster of shrines. Lit up by lanterns and streetlights, it was dramatic and mysterious. The dominating color was bright orange, the color of the torii gate. You could buy little gates and add them to the collections on various shrines. You could buy big gates too- there were tons and tons. At what we thought was the top, we sat down to rest, and were joined by a couple of badgers. Magical! Chilled up there with them for a few minutes, and then attempted to find the way down. Went another way, just to see more, realized we were going the wrong way when we ended up walking down a path with absolutely no lights, but it was lined by a musical little stream... Wow... Upon backtracking we realized that we hadn't reached the top, and were in fact nowhere near the top... Looking up from certain points you could see the lanterns highlighting the characteristic orange color high above our heads. These torii gates were truly a formidable monument.

Hiked back down just in time to reach the hostel before 9:00pm, to pick up my bags from storage, grab a quick bite from the 24 hours supermarket Fresco next door, and head out for the bus station for my 23:10 bus. Which was really not bad- utterly unremarkable in fact. Sat in seat 1A, in a ladies only row, and once I figured out how to recline the chair I was able to pass out on my inflatable neck pillow (Lifesaver, that one!). Recliner seats aren't all that comfortable, but I'd take it any day over stinky feet blanket beds. The road was nice too, no airborne moments!

7 hours later, I woke up at Tokyo Station and subwayed it back to Khaosan Asakusa Annex Hostel, where I'll be staying for the next 5 nights. The girl at check-in told me I should stay another week, because the cherry blossoms will be in full bloom by then. Right now they are just starting, a few trees here and there blossoming. I'm tempted, I'm very very tempted.

For now, I will take things as they come. Heading out to the musuem in Ueno park again... Had attempted it when I first arrived in Tokyo, but I was truly disoriented at that time. Had to recoup from China- it took me a couple of days! Feeling much better now and ready for anything.

Peace out gang, until later.

Nara and last day in Osaka

2009-03-15T07:32:00.002-07:00

Osaka has been great. I didn:t know what to expect from meeting my relatives, but was thoroughly happily surprised.

My mom:s cousin has been spoiling me rotten- baths every night, breakfast every morning, dinner every evening. Delicious every time! Classic Japanese food. In contrast to the food in China, I recognize many of the flavors here. It comes from my grandmother, faithfully serving up traditional Japanese food at all important occasions. So while I was truly surprised at many of the Chinese flavours, here in Japan it:s like coming home. Not to mention all the delicious street foods- today I had fresh mochi made in front of my eyes! And 7-11 sells all kinds of sushi fast food- nothing at all like the nasty old hot dogs and weird sandwiches they have in the US.

Last night I met my two little baby cousins, aged 2 and 5. Nina and Aina- two adorable little tornados! During the course of the evening they took every cushion off the couches, tormented the kitty, opened and closed all the doors in the house, rolled around on the floor, rode on the toy tractor and threw the wooden balls from the toy rollercoaster all over the floor. Then we had dessert and they drew pictures. Their parents were great- their mom, Aki, showed me pictures of Aina in her cheerleading outfit, and of the cutest Girl:s Day bento lunch she made with food that looked like the Girl:s Day hina dolls. Their father threw them up in the air as they screamed. It was great, being a part of this little family! My mom:s cousin had made a sushi dinner, with chirashi sushi rice topped with baby squid, and uni on the side. There was vegetable tempura, and for dessert, inside out mochi and green tea ice cream. A beautiful family moment.

Another cool thing- I learned how to spell my name! My grandmother had it written on the back of a picture, and my cousin wrote it again for me. Then I looked it up online and found that the meaning really is something like the ocean at dawn. She said it was a difficult character even for her to write.

Today I went to Nara. Took the train. Love the train. It puts me right to sleep, with the comfy heated seats and rhythmic motion.

Saw a bunch of cool temples- Toddai-ji, the biggest wooden structure in the world, with a huge Buddha inside. Nara National Museum had a bunch of Buddhas and Boddhisatvas inside, demonstrated the path of Buddhism from India through China and finally to Japan, merging and finding a place next to Shintoism. Kaisuga Taisha was a big temple complex located at the base of a hill, in the middle of a forest. By the time I wandered over there it was getting dark, so the crowds of people had gone home, and it was just me and a bunch of greedy deer. They get used to getting deer cookies which are sold everywhere. So the deer come nosing up to you, scaring the children, looking for treats. But it was really nice to be there quite alone. The paths were lined with stone lanterns and Shinto gateways. This was the traditional peaceful, restful Japan that I wanted to see. I wandered around until it got too dark to see, plus it was cold and I was hungry.

Tomorrow I:m leaving this sanctuary and heading out for Kyoto. It:s all hostels from here on out, plus one night on an overnight bus. Gotta have at least one overnight bus experience in Japan to compare with India and China, right? It almost doesn:t seem fair!

Thoughts

2009-03-13T20:02:00.003-07:00

Yeah, the trip has really changed me- introspectively, philosophically. I:m in the final stretch now, and I never could have predicted the point to which I:ve come! It took me a couple of months to leave my previous state of mind. Now I have been wrenched into another reality. Actually, another way to say it would be that I have gotten to know my self better. I look at the model of job, marriage, children, house, etc and feel like it is an ideal dream, something I more-than-half-but-not-quite-whole-heartedly aspired to but didn:t really know how to get started getting. Is it really for me? I still want security and a family, but in my style. And I can:t limit myself to waiting or hoping.
I think this marks another stage of growing up. I don:t think there:s a particular age at which people learn this- I just came to this stage later. And with much introspection. I:ve always been a late bloomer! I mean, what:s so innovative about realizing that you are unique, and that no one else is going to live life the way you do? And then taking that idea and running with it, not worrying about the way other people have lived their lives, or being sideswiped by your own expectations of how you think you should live yours. Basically, there are more things I want out of life, and I know they aren:t going to happen unless I make it happen.
Do I prefer loneliness and a path less traveled than a stable, settled family life? I:m not too into the loneliness part, but I don:t want to `settle`. I don:t think I am going to settle down in any conventional way, and now I have to figure out how I will do it.
For now I:m planning to come back to LA (I may still decide to prolong the return- not sure yet) and start working (of course). First bill comes due in May. (Unless I postpone it, which is possible).
Here:s to the world, and how small it is, and the possiblities that travel opens up, here:s to the future! Here:s to life!

Modern day roots

2009-03-12T05:44:00.004-07:00

You know you:re somewhere special when your favorite place to be is the bathroom, and not for any of the wrong reasons. Did I mention the heated toilet seats?

I:m being treated like a queen here in Osaka, it:s no joke. For the second night in a row, my aunty knocked on the door to tell me the bath was ready- internal sensors that pipe in more hot water when it starts to cool down...

Overall, I:ve had really great experiences meeting people on the road. People have been kind and hospitable, have invited me into their homes with no reservations, shared food, stories and had many a laugh. All this despite language barriers, age and cultural differences.

And now, meeting my relatives for the first time has just been unbelievable. And to get along with them so well.

They are my mother:s cousins. They took me all around Osaka today- I was the one who ended up falling asleep in the bus on the way from the castle to Namba shopping district, and again on the train on the way home. They were so gracious, so patient.

We went to the aquarium and looked at the fishes. Whale sharks and manta rays. Sea otters, penguins and jellyfish. There was a huge ferris wheel. The manta ray was pretty cool. He had another fish stuck to him. Swimming in a constant vortex, around and around. Why do the sun fish look so - unfinished? Like a glob of playdoh smushed up. And they look at you like they want to say something, blinking their eyes. They are the heaviest known bony fish in the world. They have an average adult weight of 1,000 kg.

Namba shopping district was awesome- I:ll be going back there tomorrow to check out the clothes in, ahem, greater detail. The girls here are all wearing a similar fashion- a short loose dress over tights or thigh high socks, and knee high boots. I already have the dress part...

We had famous Okinawa food for dinner- Okinoyomi. Special to the Osaka region. They bring this delicious potato mash up and it fries up in front of you on the table like in teppanyaki but way more casual. Also some smoked oyster with noodles thing and an eggy pancake with arugula and octopus to dip in ponzu sauce. Wow! Dessert was azuki bean cake and corn tea. I can:t wait for tomorrow!

Are there haunted houses in heaven or am I in Amsterdam? I mean Japan?!

2009-03-11T06:30:00.004-07:00

Japan is unreal, surreal, and everything in between.

I have returned to the motherland, to the homeland, to a land of mythical proportions. Maybe it`s always this way when you finally go to a country you are supposedly `from` and yet have never been to.
I have had expectations formed in my head about Japan as long as I can remember... What I really never considered was actually being here...
So it was totally unreal to land and actually be here... Can I repeat that yet again?! I can`t believe I`m really here!!!
In fact, it`s taken a few days to really get into it- it took me longer than I thought it would. I was in complete disbelief for the first few days, floating around in a weird kind of limbo. Beijing was just cold and weird for the last week, all alone after three weeks of constant company. In contrast, Japan was easy- convenient and very non-scary... But still new and different. And I had to make a bunch of decisions about my schedule for the next week- I wanted to have a plan to get to see and do everything I wanted before D-Day...

(And by the way, I ended up extending the trip. I will be back on the 24th instead of the 18th. Just a few more days but... I wouldn`t put it past myself to extend it even more. The temptation is too great- I know that once I get back to LA it will be hard to leave. I just want to stay gone... In my dreamy, surreal, traveler fantasyland...)

Anyways, I need to stop saying xie xie, and get used to saying arigato gozaimashita!
Sayonara, not zai jian!
No more bu yao! Nobody`s tried to sell me anything yet!
The toilet seats are heated!
Many people speak English, and they seem more concerned than annoyed when you ask them frantic questions about whether or not this is the right train stop.

So, let me back up and tell you the story of when I first arrived. (No, it`s not that interesting, but let me just tell you anyway!)

I checked into the Khaosan Asakusa Annex hostel, where I slept in the 8 bed female dorm room. It was clean, warm and cozy (with those amazing heated toilet seats!)
Got online and discovered that Gary and Jane were staying in a hotel near by, and we made plans that night to meet up for dinner. It was really nice to see them again and reminisce about the good old days- over a lovely Indian meal with some really nice red wine! They walked me back to the hostel and I bid them adieu for the billionth time...

The next day I met up with a friend of a friend, who had another friend in town from the US as well, so we all walked around Asakusa- visited a shrine, saw a ninja comedy show, and ate deep fried mochi.

Then we went to Tokyo Bay, where we encountered the BEST haunted house experience I`ve ever had- Talk about surreal! This experience now rates as one of my most favorite moments of all time. Not much really scares me, but this time, I ran out screaming!

So, it`s in the mall, this haunted house, and Dee Jae, the guy who lives in Tokyo, was like, you guys should go into this haunted house. And we were like, naw, whatever, we`ve been in haunted houses before. We`d rather save our $$ for sushi. But he was like, well, have you seen any Japanese horror movies? And I thought to myself- good point. Japanese people have really scary ghosts.

Basically, you are sent into the haunted house with a red flashlight and a mission. It`s very small, really. You have to find a table inside, put the card on it, clap three times and bow. That will stop the ghost from persecuting you. It seemed simple enough, but what a concept! We went in together, me and Jasmine, holding our red flashlight. The door swings shut behind us and all you can see is a shabby looking interior of a shack, with the occasional disembodied head or busted Japanese lantern. It was really hard to see anything, and nothing was really happening. I didn`t want to swing the light around too much in fear of seeing something I didn`t want to see, so we`re basically just walking quickly through it. Then the noises started and boxes started shaking. Then it would get quiet again... Then we would walk quickly by whatever it was, and then jump out of our skin as people popped out from behind something else. It got a little mazelike and we had to push past dead bodies hanging from nooses... Once we tried to go back, and a head popped out and said `No!` Man, we clapped so hard when we saw the table with the cards on it, and the ghosts were running up behind us, saying `Arigato! Arigato!` and we ran the heck outta there! It was awesome! Man, the psychology behind it was genius- what an adrenaline rush- tons better than a roller coaster! I don`t think writing about it here really did it any justice- it`s something you just have to experience- thank you Dee Jae!

Later that night we went to an all you can eat/ all you can drink for 90 minutes spot, and I got home quite happy. The next day I spent time at the train station planning the rest of the trip... Which brings me to the next surreal but also most awesome and wonderful Japanese experience.

Two of my friends, Jackamo and Osei, from capoeira, had been called on to work in Japan for a few weeks. I was excited that I would be there at the same time, so I resolved to meet up with them. First of all, Jack tells me they`re at Huis Ten Bosch at an amusement park in the very southern part of Japan... looking it up online was not helpful, because all I find is information in Japanese or Dutch... Dutch?! Yes, Huis Ten Bosch turned out to be a spot-on replica of Amsterdam in Japan- What!!!??? Yeah, they`ve got tulips and windmills, cobblestones, and CHEESE!!!

And of course, the Dream Circus. Jack and Osei were performing with the Kenyan Fire Limbo troupe- yes, ladies and gentlemen, Fire Limbo! Our versatile CBLA capoeiristas are capable of anything, and I have the videos to prove it! (Coming soon, I promise). Again, it was awesome! There was Mitch the clown, there was Tyler, a ten year old juggling virtuoso, there was a woman who came out with like twenty trained cats, trained CATS!!! There was a family who did the tightrope act, and people balancing on poles meters high in the air which in turn were balanced by a man holding the pole on his chin... There was so much. I got to meet the performers and hang with them offstage- lovely people. I even got a bear hug from Funtik the Russian bear- Boris had me posing for all kinds of pictures- me and Funtik! Wow!

Thank you SO MUCH to Winny and Kiyomi and the entire circus crew for being so warm and welcoming. I felt like I made a bunch of new friends, even though I was only there for a few days. It was doubly (triply-quadrupely!) great to see some old friends, good people whom I`ve known for such a long time- it really picked up my spirits and reminded me of how much I do love my life back in the states, and how special my friends are to me... And to all my friends I`ve met along the way, you are all in my life because you are special, and because we found a common bond- life is great in that way. We are all a conglomeration of the love we spread around- and what goes around comes around. I can`t wait to host my new friends when you come to visit! I love you all! sniff sniff- I get so sentimental sometimes!

Anyways, back to the story... breakfast! It had been so long since I had cereal- man, was it good! A huge breakfast buffet in the mornings- Western and Eastern, eggs, sausage, fruit and yogurt, and on the other side was fish, miso soup, rice porridge and pickles! I ate it all, it was so good.

So after seeing the show yesterday, we chilled out for bit, practicing floreios on the mats, teaching the circus kids how to do au sem mao- then we headed for town, in search of the shoe stores and carousel sushi- both of which we found. It was me, Jackamo, Osei and David (unicycler extraordinaire)- we took the train one stop into the town of Haiki. A really nice man helped us with directions, and it turned out he was a janitor at Huis Ten Bosch- super nice guy, with really good English skills. The walk towards the shoe place was peaceful and scenic. It was dusk, and the moon was almost full, starting to shine bright in the twilight. We tried to take pictures to capture the moment. Jackamo noted that taking pictures of the moon can never do it justice. We encountered a shrine along the way- watched a taxi driver stop the car with his passenger inside get out to pay homage- he did the same clapping three times and bowing thing that I was supposed to do inside the haunted house- interesting... Walking over a bridge, we saw a crane walking elegantly across the shallows- such a beautiful Japanese image.

Then... we went shopping!!! Thank god the boys I was with were also into trying on clothes, because I was like a loose cannon in there- `Mac House`- Japanese styles at fairly reasonable prices, at sizes that fit, and I finally bought some new trousers! I mean jeans! I can`t tell you how good it felt to put on some different clothes the next day, after 2 months of the same. I was jumping for joy.

I jumped around even more when we found the carousel sushi place- the only down side was they didn`t have sake, but with $1 plates, who could argue?! They had Sapporo on draft and all was good with the world. In fact, I believe they went back again tonight, while I have moved on to Osaka. I boarded the train this morning, loaded down with a couple more kilos granted by me NEW CLOTHES! Headed off to meet my Grandma`s niece, relatives I have never met. Happy and apprehensive.

Before leaving today I had a chance to catch the MC Escher 3D movie- hyper-surreal, as I see Japan is master of...

And on to Osaka. My mom`s cousin met me in the train station- I don`t know how she recognized me but I was so happy to see her! She was so nice... This story just keeps getting better and better. I didn`t know what to expect, meeting a relative I had never met before, in a country I had never been, which I was supposed to be from but don`t even speak the language. Well, we got along just fine. Her English is fine, perfect for basic communication. We took the train back to the Ashiya station, and she showed me how to get home on my own (where to catch the taxi) and we hopped in her car and zoomed off. We were greeted by George the jumping barking dog, and the meowing cat. (I think that cat might have been hungry enough to walk a tightrope for a meal!) She prepared a wonderful delicious meal of meat loaf, rice, beef stew, and brocolli and crab salad, follwed by azuki bean cake for dessert. And green tea. I was so happy and full. She showed me pictures of my sister and cousins when they came to visit years ago, and even brought out the ones of herself at 22 when she went to the states- my mom was there, my dad and my uncle! All so young- they looked like they could have been friends of mine, in authentic 50s outfits. So then, (this story is about to get better yet...) she shows me the bathroom, where there is a hot bath prepared... Oh my god- I will have to install a Japanese bathroom in my castle one day (when I get a castle ;-) Wow... Next to the bathtub is the shower area, which is bathed in warm air blasting from the ceiling. But the bathtub, the bathtub! It`s like 4 feet deep, and filled with sudsy water kept at a constant 45 degrees- temperature monitored and controlled! What luxury, what heaven!

And to top it all off, there is a laptop in my room and I can sit here typing happily away for hours and hours, free from net bars, free from fees, free from chain smoking Chinese gamers- man I told you, Japan is UNREAL! I finally feel comfortable again, my astral is rising (that`s a Portuguese term) and my faith and wonder in the world is once again, renewed.

China, zai jian!

2009-03-05T00:04:00.002-08:00

Last day in China.
What a TRIP!
Didn't think it would end up like this- China was just like every Chinatown I've ever been to, and yet NOTHING like what I expected.
I've seen more scenic mountains than I can remember. I've been pushed and shoved but got back up again. I drank memorable mushroom tea, and ate the ma-laa spice. I learned to say "I love you" and "I don't want it!" and used both terms liberally! China has succeeded in challenging my every conception of what I thought was normal. I wonder how it has changed me. I'll let you know. ;-)

In the meantime, please enjoy this sample menu:

The Shiitake Mushroom Flower Rubber Cooks the Lean Meat
Sheet Iron Eggplant Ammunition Pouch
Fish with Acid Cabbage
Green Beans Fry the Salt Fish Pig Neck Meat
Speculation Black Goat
The Clear Fighting Cock Willow Tree Explodes the Pine Mushroom
Lightly Fries Does Fragrant
Granulated Substance Nest Hyacinth Bean Silk
Hot Donkey in Pot
Intestines in Pot

Back in action

2009-03-02T00:14:00.003-08:00

So this morning I woke up all quiet and lazy.
No place to go, no one to meet.
It was nice, in the yellow room with the rainbow drapes.

I did laundry, then spent all morning in the foreign language bookstore, copying stuff out of the Japan Lonely Planet. (Foreign language- because in China, English IS a foreign language! Haha.) Noticed that on the map in the back someone had gone in and written a lowercase "t" over the uppercase "T" in Taiwan. National pride goes deep, I tell ya.

The first thing I did when I left the house (ok, hotel) was to go to that little Kodak photo shop and DOWNLOAD MY PHOTOS TO DVD!!!! It took two DVDs and 60 yuan to transfer everything- I've just about filled up the 8 gig memory card. Whew- so glad I was given this second chance NOT to be stupid.

I continued down the street on the way to the bookstore.

Was hungry, so I poked my head into this little shop that looked like it had some bowls of yogurt and muffins in the display case. Couldn't properly identify any of the bowls of stuff- it LOOKED like yogurt, and it LOOKED like it might be tasty, but most- no, I'll say pretty much EVERY taste expectation here in China has been cruelly undermined by something like salty pickle when you were expecting sweet bean, or nice big chuncks of deep fried sweet and sour pork FAT intstead of pork MEAT... (On a side note, the funniest one was the bread sandwich- yeah, it looked like there might have been meat inside, but it was just more bread! Hilarious.) There was one time in the Shanghai subway when I actually bought something that ended up being exactly what I had secretly hoped it might be.

Well anyways, I was standing there contemplating this yogurt-looking stuff, and I noticed a beautiful sound- it was coming from behind the counter- it wasn't a stereo, it was the shopkeeper, and she was singing... Like the voice of an angel, it brought tears to my eyes. It was unreal. The word "singing" is too brash a word for the sweet texture of sound that poured from her.

And she was so gracious- I was just standing there, dumbfoundedly staring at her. She smiled at me, and I told her she sounded beautiful (Language barrier be damned! But she understood me). She held herself with pride and compassion, and helped me choose something to eat. It is actually pretty rare that people have been helpful in choosing food at a restaurant, so I really felt like I was in a dream. I sat down and ate, and she kept singing, occasionally interupted by the telephone or an oblivious customer. The yogurt was strange, it had a taste kind of like old socks, but the muffin was good. I sat there mesmerized.

I was reading up on Beijing today, and it mentioned how internet access is increasingly more and more rare. There are people employed by the government to scour websites for anti-government propaganda. About 10% of all websites available online are restricted access from inside China. In addition, these net bars SUCK!!! They are not for normal people to come and check their email or update their blogs. I am sitting next to crazed young Chinese chain smokers playing online computer games for hours. It is unbelievably disgusting- the heaters are on high, it's too warm and the air is hazy from cigarette smoke. The guy next to me lights up his cigaratte and I may just as well be smoking too. Ugh. I may not be back here too much more before I leave- hopefully Japan is better. Please everybody! Boycott cigarettes! Don't allow your body to be controlled by nasty selfish perpetuators of self-pity, disease and scum. Ugh! Disgusting! I can't wait until the rest of the world catches up to the idea of forbidding indoor smoking like the US, India and England- not sure where else it is banned. I suppose China still has a ways to go. The big thing on the news these days is discussions regarding setting up a Chinese food safety comission. First things first.
Peace. I'm out before I suffocate.

MIA

2009-02-28T18:45:00.004-08:00

Yes, I have been missing. Sorry!!! I'm fine, everything is fine. Internet cafes have been scarce/nonexistent/really far from our hotel. I have had limited access via Sunny's (our intrepid tour leader-guide) computer, but I can't monopolize it and spend hours as I generally do when I write these notes. And, I've just been lazy, enjoying spending time with my new bunch of friends- (MORE rice wine!).

Onwards! Back to the blog! (The security guard at the hostel where I'm staying was nice enough to walk with me to this net bar- I never would have found it otherwise. But now I know, and I'll be able to come back and update regularly, at least until I leave for Japan on Friday.)

Let's see... The last I wrote was in Wulishan, sitting in a dark and smoky "net bar" with a bunch of Chinese gamers as they whiled away the hours as it rained outside.
That night we ate at a restaurant where they had various cut up animal pieces inside a giant display cooler- there was poultry and pig, beef and some other interesting pieces- one was a bear, it's claw and fur still on. There were live frogs and other squirmy fishy food.

The next day we went on another hike through more scenic and rainy mountains of which China has a plethora. I've seen so many scenic mountains- and rightly so- these rainy mountains were the very ones that inspired the Chinese landscape paintings that inspired this very trip to China for me!

Anyways, Shanghai was a blur- but one of the highlights was visiting Instrutor Gueirrero's (Cordao de Ouro) capoeira class, and coming with him the next day to help out with a performance at a kidnergarten! 150 little Chinese kids- they loved it! Oh, and the BEST FOOD EVER- the night after the class we ate Chinese Muslim food and ordered so much food 13 hungry capoeiristas couldn't finish it- kebabs, cucumber salad, and so many other dishes it was all a blur... And after the performance, the best Brazilian barbecue I've ever had- and I spent 7 months in Brasil- and it wasn't a result of not having any other type of food except for Chinese for a month previous. THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS!!! Rodizio-style- the meat kept coming out of the kitchen! Guarana, feijao e arroz, batata frita, pao de queijo fresh out of the oven, doce de aborbora e doce de leite... The all-you-can-eat salad bar was splendid- and so was the service, amazingly enough, an anomaly in China. And the price? 88 yuan- divide that by 6.8. About 13 USD. Damn straight, one of the best meals ever.

Then what... Xi'an and the terracotta warriors.

Speaking of service- Sunny had told us that Xi'an was not generally known for customer service. Against his advice we ate at DeFang's house of Delicious Superior Dumplings in Xi'an- how could you go wrong with a title like that? Well, the dumplings weren't bad, per se. They were ok. Just ok. It was the service that made it worse- asking for us to pay a couple of seconds after we received our warm beers, then clearing our plates before we were finished eating. That on top of the sound of meowing cats coming from the kitchen. I suppose that indicated that were no rats. Hopefully. We saw lots of rats in Wulishan.

Anyways! The terracotta warriers were everything they said they would be. Interesting, and worth the trip, but not as awe-inspiring as the Taj Mahal. Not much can top the Taj Mahal. There was an introductory video shown on a very old surround-screen style theater. Innovative, I'm sure, for a film made in 70's or 80's China. I'm sure it was very informative, but it was all in Chinese. We had fun turning around to see the events unfold in front of as well as behind us. We had a local guide who waved a flag around that we had to follow. She was very enthusiastic with her explanations about the history- we just weren't used to following a flag.
Other than that, Xi'an didn't have much. It was cold. The Muslim quarters had some pretty good street food- fried balls of persimmon dough stuffed with sweet sesame seeds, pancakes stuffed with an egg and fried, other pancakes stuffed with spicy noodles and meat with onion, and roasted chestnuts. Mostly very greasy and dripping with oil. I'm actually almost used to the oil by now. Doesn't really phase me. I just eat it. There's not much of an option as far as healthy food out here. The Swedish girls had started to opt out of many of the group dinners that we had in Chinese restaurants. They just didn't like the food, the heads on the fishes, the random live animals swimming about in tanks in the front, the bear claws or the dead rats on the floor- most of the time they ended up at McDonalds or KFC. Yeah, China is a world away...

Next stop- Beijing. Wow- I've caught up! Almost. It's cold here! We were so excited to see snow on the ground in front of the hotel, throwing snowballs at each other! Frozen fingers, leg warmers and wool socks and hat are par for the day.
Day one: Summer Palace. Quite nice- a summer resort for the emperors. The lake was frozen over and there was snow everywhere. Lots of bridges to islands with pagodas on them. We walked around for 4 hours. On the way home we went to the Olympic Center, and saw the Birdsnest and the Water Cube up close and personal. The Birdsnest was quite imposing, in a shockingly uninspiring way. It looked quite... UGLY! I guess on TV, with lighting and swooping angles, the imagination fills in the details and doesn't acknowlege how a building of such stature could fail to be at least- nice looking?! In person it looks unfinished, as if someone forgot to file down the edges, or give it a nice polish. The lines are not clean, and don't seem to make sense. I suppose it's a feat of architecture that it can remain standing, and it will certainly maintain a name for itself in history. But wow! The other buildings are really nice, actually. The water cube is also incredibly tacky, but with the blue luminescent glow at sunset, becomes a sort of larger than life amusement-park style kind of building. I became quite emotional actually, staring at it from behind the fence, imagining the Olympic athletes entering the building for the first time, all nervous excitement and anticipation. I remember that feeling from my old days of competition. I savor those moments and wish I could experience them all over again, knowing what I know now. I love competition! I didn't acknowlege that part of myself fully back then- now, I'm ready for it. Bring it!
So we bought tickets and went inside- 30 yuan just to go inside. Worth it! Got to stare at the competition pool, the dive pool, the warmup pool. All empty, shimmering glasslike surface of blue water. With an exciting echo that one hears in a swimming hall or gymnasium. It's a shame actually. I would have wished to see it full of clamouring little kids and old ladies taking swimming lessons and water aerobics. It seemed like a crystalline monument to unattainable perfection, a place to revere the athletes that passed through during the Olympics and all they worked for- which is great! But these athletes had to start somewhere, and these buildings have the potential to inable society a step up towards health and vitality. Physical activity should be accessible to everyone... Actually, I really don't know what China plans to do with these facilities. For all I know there are swimming lessons on Fridays only, or every other Monday... There's still a lot about China that really confuses me.

So let's see- the next day we went off to climb the Great Wall! One of the best highlights of the tour- 10 kilometers over a remote section of the wall, over rugged stretches of broken bricks, across snowy side-paths, trailed by incessant souvenier-sellers... Beautiful! We finished by taking a "flying fox", hooked up to a wire and sailing out over a resevoir of clear green water. What a great day. Pictures will speak for me when I get a chance to add them.

Of course we had a tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city. We saw General Mao's picture hanging up in front of the square, with the eyes painted to look like they are following you. The Forbidden City came out great in the photographs, but walking through it took forever. Endless courtyards upon courtyards. Our guide regaled us with stories of emperors, conquests, concubines and eunuchs.

Following that, we paid a visit to one of the social projects that Intrepid supports. It's a school for mentally disabled adults. They fed us lunch, then put on a performance. It was one of the best things I've seen or done this entire trip- India and Dubai included. They sang Jingle Bells, and made us all stand up and join in. They had so much enthusiasm! Fully putting their hearts into their performance, singing off key and clapping off beat, all with the utmost conviction. There was the dance with the masks, a girl and a boy huge painted face masks, doing a very strange modern sort of interpretive dance to music box music. Excellent. There were other singing performances. There was the dance of the cute girl and the silly donkey. But above all, I liked the bullfight- OMG it was the BEST! I wish I had it on film, I would watch it over and over, any time I had any doubts. About anything. It uplifted my spirits and made me cry at the same time.
Then we went inside and they gave us a calligraphy lesson. It was great. We learned how to write the Chinese characters for happiness, and I love you.
And we finished up by playing a round of kick the flying feathered hackey sack-type thing. Excellent all around! The best time ever!

For our last dinner together, we went out for Beijing Duck. The funny thing was, it was probably the best Chinese dinner we had so far, and yet the duck wasn't even that great. It was everything else. Fried pork, the eggplant/potato/pepper dish, the egg and tomato dish, um, I don't remember what else- oh, the fried banana fritters dipped in melted candy coating... The duck was ok. The beer was warm. The wine was quite good- Chinese wine, Great Wall label!

There was quite a terrible moment of awfulness a couple of days ago, when I thought I lost my camera. We had gone out to a club- (Banana Babyface) where I was taking photos and getting told not to take pictures- and that was the last I saw of the camera for the next two days. Sunny took me to the police station to file a report, (thank you Sunny) it took two hours and we were dead tired- and we tried calling the club to see if they found it- they couldn't help us. I was retracing my steps over and over in my mind, wishing I hadn't brought the camera out to the club, I was ruing the fact that I hadn't backed up any of my photos- and I was feeling SO STUPID! 8 gigs of photos from the entire trip. Well, THANK GOD! luck was with me. As Sunny was wrapping up business with the hotel staff, they simply handed him the camera. A security guard had found it and turned it it. Wow. I was overjoyed and grateful- life was right again- and I found a caribiner and have pinned that camera to me and will never let it go. And I will be backing it up later today. Ah... so happy.

And with that, so ends the story of Sunny's Intrepid Tour group. Nobody hurt, sick (majorly ;-)) or otherwise put out. We made lifelong friends and shared unforgettable moments. I was unsure at first about the wiseness of my decision to take a tour together with a bunch of strangers through a country I wasn't sure I wanted to be in anymore, at the end of a trip I was tired of taking, but in the end it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. This is one of the wonderful things about traveling. (I reiterate, I know!) Meeting other people and learning new ways to look at life. Changing and growing, adapting, learning and becoming different people. This is the life I want to lead. I am so thankful that I am able to DO and BE all these things.

I leave for Japan on Friday- still have 5 more days in Beijing. I can't believe it's March already! It seems like I looked away for just a moment, and all these things happened and time passed- I'll be home in less than a month! And I still have another country to experience- Life just keeps getting better, I swear.

Back to the mainland

2009-02-11T06:12:00.008-08:00

So, I have joined up with the Intrepid group and I am back on the mainland, and back in Yangshuo.

Here are a few thoughts, as I quickly jot them down in the lobby of a hotel.

BTW, I was drooling over those new little small computers they have now, the Fujitsu M1010, the HP mini, the Acer something... I would love to have a) constant internet access, as there are many places with free wifi but not so many places with a free computer, much less a computer that has Skype! b) a place to store my files and bookmarks, c) a place to write whenever I want- I type so much faster than I write, I'm just spoiled I guess. I could just carry the old analog journal with me :-P

Introspection-
Hong Kong was great. It was so nice to have a place where I could recoup and recover from the culture shock of mainland China- which I didn't believe would affect me as much as it did. Even now, back in mainland, I feel it. I'm glad I've had the experience already, so that I can take a theoretical step back and talk myself out of the sort of dejection and weariness I feel at not being understood, nor being able to understand, either my language or theirs... Including being taken for a whimiscal trustee of tons of money that I just don't mind spending at the slightest provocation or accident. Perhaps some of that comes from being in Yangshuo, which has been so overrun by foreign tourists that reality is a little twisted. Since the Chinese people don't understand (nor how could they be expected to) much of the random mix of foreign culture that ends up here, they interpret foreign behavior to their advantage. So unscrupulous vendors end up with this smiling, confident attitude- have you heard of the adage "Act as if"? For example- act as if you will win this race, act as if you already have the job, etc, when you are entering a stressful situation. So these shop vendors act as if you will be buying their product, as if you will be buying loads of their product, and at ridiculously high prices, and not even noticing that there is a rip in the seam, and the pieces are not all intact. The fruit may be bruised, and how did he manage to weigh the laundry without putting it on the scale? Anyways, I am not complaining. I just told him to put it on the scale! This has happened to me everywhere there are buyers and sellers. Fortunately, every so often there is someone who understands the value of their work, who does not try to rip you off, and shopping becomes a very pleasant exchange of money for an object of worth.
In those other situations however, I have found myself a bit buggered. (I learned a new word from my Australian roomie.) Tensions may run a little high, and I notice that I am mounting a defense between myself and an unfamiliar "other". It's happened when I was traveling alone, and with friends, and even now. It's happened when I'm with all Chinese people, and also when I'm the only American amongst a bunch of westerners of other types. It's even happened when I'm with a bunch of Americans. The issue is not always buying and selling. I've developed the following way to deal with it- it's to notice the defense, then intentionally drop it. I use my words and actions to demonstrate that I do not mean a defense, that I intend to extend my humanity towards understanding the "other". And usually, it works. This, folks, must be what they call civilization! Being civil towards one another during moments of misunderstanding.

Anyways, what helped was the glittering glitz and glamour on the streets of Hong Kong. The familiar hustle and bustle of many people of many cultures walking about under neon lights, dodging cabs, in front of glamorous storefront displays. Tiffany's, Louis Vitton, Giorgio Armani. It reminded me of New York. There was still quite a Chinese presence in Hong Kong, there were still many Chinese stores and Chinese babies, old men on bicycles and storefronts filled with hanging meats and roots and herbs. But this all seemed quite normal to me, and I felt very at home. I could speak English to just about anybody, including bus drivers and servers at restaurants. The best part was staying with a friend of a friend, who became a friend. She had a lot of insight into many areas of life and the world in general that I am interested in, and we talked nonstop for the entire time. One of the best parts of traveling are the people you meet along the way.

I also had a nice time visiting the Capoeira Brasil Hong Kong group. Professor Chumbinho and his students welcomed me- we had a roda in his beautiful new studio in Kowloon.

I could have stayed longer, however, I was due to meet with the Intrepid Travels group on Sunday evening. The hotel was very nice, much nicer than any hotels I had chosen for myself along the way. I was really getting used to roughing it. This hotel, in Hong Kong, had toothbrushes and cups in the bathroom, a TV and disposable slippers. And hence began the trip...

With the change in travel arrangements- that is, I don't make any travel arrangements because they are all taken care of by our fearless leader Sunny- I finally can feel that the trip is coming to an end, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! I have about 5 weeks left of the entire trip! 2 1/2 weeks left of this tour, 1 more week in Beijing, and 13 days in Japan. The only caveat is if I like Japan so much I decide to stay a week or so longer. And provided I find lodging that is affordable... We will see, we will see. I would like to see the Cherry Blossom Festival- it all depends on the weather. And if global warming continues as it has been, I may be able to see it with no change to the itinerary. But since I'm all the way out here already... I'm really looking forward to Japan. But that's a side note.

What makes the mainland so different from Hong Kong? There is a subtle change- maybe not so subtle at the same time- I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's the they look at you when you enter a store, when you walk down the street. You feel slightly off, like you are not doing something quite right, even though you are doing it the same way you always do. Things look normal, but on closer examination, things are quite different. Supermarkets look similar, with rows of items for sale, etc, but once you are in line, people cut to the front of the line, and nobody blinks an eye. Sometimes there are store monitors in place to keep the order, but not always. This happens in bathrooms, on airplanes, anywhere people queue up. Mothers squat their children on the sidewalk to do their business, in broad daylight and in front of passing traffic. People burp, spit, cough, and hack up a lung, right out in front of everyone. Then they stare at YOU! But the staring here is really nothing compared to India. I should feel used to it now, right? But no... Motor scooters motor by with two to three, sometimes four passengers- they could be families, or two businessmen in suits. There was even a guy out working the fields in his suit. Talk about another day at the office. A guy on a bike rode by with a dog strapped to the back. Not a live dog. Yeah so, it's different here...! And that's what traveling is all about!

Yangshuo is still a really fun place to rock climb. I did the same routes I did the first time, and this time got some better pics! And definitely felt stronger. Met a girl who climbs in Beijing, we made plans to meet up and climb in a few weeks.
We did a bike ride around the surrounding countryside today, into some backwoodsy trails and bumpy roads. Very picturesque and a fun workout as well.
We hiked 800 steps up Moon Hill, with some great views. Love to sweat it out and beat everyone else to the top!
Dinner tonight was uninspiring. It can be hard to order food when trying to satisfy several different appetites. Chinese food can really be delicious when you get over the fear factor theme...

The town has several night clubs, and they all blast their music out the front doors, I suppose in advertisement of good times to be had inside. Walking by, you can see black lights and disco balls, illumnating... empty dance floors, save for one or two Chinese dudes with spiky hairdos, bopping their heads. Sometimes they bop their heads outside in front and try to get you to go inside. Each club is so loud that walking down the street is a cacophony. It's usually either Chinese pop or Snoop from a few years back. This town is dead though- a dearth of travelers due to poor economy, I suppose, in combination with winter season here. It doesn't stop foreign tourists from drinking heavily in some bars though- a few members of our group were up 'til 4am last night...

So our crew is made up of some English folk, a couple of Australians, two Swedish girls, Sunny, our tour leader who is Chinese from Harbin (north of Beijing), and me, the sole American representative. So far so good. We all get along, and it's nice not having to do all the planning.

Language- getting easier. It felt impossible to remember at the beginning, but now I find that I actually do know some stuff... I feel that I am getting into the swing of the country, understanding it more. It's a big place, and I felt a little lost at first. I still miss India, but I appreciate being here- being here for so long is forcing me to face the many different facets of China. What a great experience. I am looking forward to going north. Tomorrow we fly to the east coast, to a city called Xiamen in the Fujian province.
Looking forward to writing more, looking forward to Japan, looking forward to LIFE!

Zai jian - Bye bye!

Hong Kong...

2009-02-07T08:34:00.003-08:00

Hong Kong has been great!
What a nice place to come to after the trials and tribulations of southern China. Not to say that it had been anything less than a wonderful addition to the large collection of adventures I've been having, but daily travel, a new language barrier, crazy food experiences and bone-chilling cold had wrapped themselves up into a many layered case of culture shock.
Hong Kong- warm weather and sun, delicious food on every corner (actually, it's still quite different here, but I've been accustomed now...) and meeting new friends.
I've been staying here with a friend of a friend, a fellow female-Asian (Shanghainese) capoeirista- she relocated to Hong Kong last year from New York, and will be getting her yoga teacher certification in Thailand next month before moving back to the states. It's been so nice to be here- she has demonstrated what I'm learning is a very Chinese or perhaps just Asian- wonderfully warm and generous hospitality.

I sleep on the futon in the living room which overlooks the ocean, we're on the 23rd floor.
Last night I spent some time with the Capoeira Brasil Hong Kong group, led by Professor Chumbinho of Australia. He lives at the studio with his girlfriend Bale, who incidently, also teaches ballet! I led the warm-up, then Chumbinho took over, then there was a roda. Good times! Everyone was very welcoming.

This morning Jessica made pancakes before we went to Lantau to see the world's largest outdoor seated Buddha. It's 85 feet high.
We met up with Peter, another Chinese-American-now-living-and-working-in-Hong-Kong, and Mona, his friend from New Jersey who is going on a backpacking tour of southeast Asia next week.

We took a swinging cable car up over the mountains to visit this little man-made village- I say man-made because it is not really home to any indigenous minority groups. It was built solely to sell tchokes and trinkets to the hordes of tourists that flood Hong Kong and are looking for some culture amidst all the high-end shopping. Not to mention the outlet stores that hit you right before you get there. There is a monastery there, which is still functioning.

We went on the Wisdom Walk, which winds it's way around a figure eight path under towering wood panels upon which is written the heart sutra. Then we ate fish ball siu mai and sweet tofu soup before going back down in the cable car.
Then we all got massages...
And then we went for sushi...
Ah, this is the life man, now I am ready for bed!

Guiyang, translation: "Precious Sun"

2009-02-02T00:08:00.000-08:00

In front of Tanque's apartment

Street scenes in Guiyang

So now I'm chillin' in weather that compares to Nepal, only here it doesn't even get warm during the day, and it drizzles. Hence the name Precious Sun. It gets down below 10C at night, and luckily there are heaters in Tanque's apartment. It's very nice here. I have my own room, and my own heater! I got to wash clothes. (Yes, laundry is KEY sometimes!!! Especially because I sent back the majority of my clothes because I wanted to lighten up my pack. I left my clothes to wash in Xishuangbanna at the hostel, and they just threw everything in the washer, sprinkled some soap on top and turned it on- half the clothes stayed dry, the other half turned pink! I do a much better job with a bucket and some body wash soap!)

So I've been staying inside on the computer all day, hibernating until I go to HK and start my tour. The cold slows down every process and makes me completely content to just sit in one spot, huddled up in all my jackets.

I did get out a little bit though. We met up with some other expats over dinner the other night. They made Mexican food, using tortillas brought fresh from Orange County, USA by another visitor- let me tell you, after weeks of just Chinese food, the different flavors really make a world of difference! And there were brownies for dessert- so good! The flavors in food here in China are really different, for lack of a better word. Starkly different. Shockingly different. My mouth has been numbed like at the dentist by a little berry that shows up quite often in sauces unexpectedly. I have spent minutes at a time chewing on awkwardly textured "meat". I have eaten stomach lining and intestine, tendons and cartilage. I have not eaten chicken feet! The Chinese believe that whatever parts of the animal you eat will be beneficial to those parts of your body. There was a restaurant in a little village in Xishuangbanna... we ordered a meat dish, a fish dish, and a vegetable. The meat was some kind of intestine- I had a couple of pieces but didn't really fill up on it. The fish was all right, I didn't really like the sauce though. The vegetable was really good though, and we ordered more. Anyways, I go to the restroom after eating, and the outhouse is just a little hut built over a pond with a hole in the floor! Yeah, you go right in the water! No smell- amazing. Well anyways, upon closer inspection you may notice all the fish in the water... Uh, the fish?! Yeah, we ordered fish. Anyways...! Oh, and Guiyang is known for it's dog meat dishes. No, I haven't eaten dog. And somehow there are lots of oysters available here at the night food stands- even though we are miles and miles from the nearest ocean!

There is a plethora of delicious baked goods though. Papparoti's is a little storefront chain that just produces fresh hot baked buns with a crusty coffee-flavored crust, filled inside with melted butter. We bought buns that were filled with a beef mixture, with a salty crispy crunchy coating. The supermarket sells lots of baked goods, and I bought a bunch to try- some were better than others...

Los Angeles is amazing for the variety of foods that are available at the most fickle whim. Except for dog...

Here is a picture of the expat crew and the apple pie that we made- quite a feat here in Guiyang!

I went with Tanque to do a demo capoeira class at this break-dance studio...

It was a beautiful studio, with wood floors and floor to ceiling mirrors- there were classes for popping, and locking, breaking and now, maybe, capoeira!!! About 5 people actually participated in the class, the rest were giggling. It was really fun, and the kids loved it.
Of course we went to eat afterwards- Guiyang style hot pot!

I just also wanted to mention the supermarkets here- I don't usually love them in the US, or even in India. But here I can spend hours wandering the aisles, of even the smallest liquor store. The goods are all cleanly aligned on the shelves, sparkling and well-lit. They look familiar, brand names and colors with only a couple letters off. I fantasize about the houses within which they eventually end up. Is this what they call retail therapy? I have found bins of flour, raisins and green tea. Shampoo and face lotion. Buckets of squirming eels and hanging dried animal carcasses. Rows and rows of toothpaste. Apples, oranges, loquats, dragonfruit and asian pears. Nescafe. Toilet paper. Cookies. Slippers, socks and underwear. I just don't understand what bringing the AM back means for China though.

K, I'm going to try to attach some photos to this blog now. Peace.
It's nice to just rest a bit without traveling frenetically every single day!

Addendum:
This is the coffeeshop run by Susu- the modest rock climber...
She took us to the little tiny rock climbing studio, recently built, with funds pooled by this little rock climbing crew, in a room barely bigger than my bedroom at home. It's geared for bouldering- tough bouldering- all walls were vertically inclined or less!

Notice my hiking boots- they weren't equipped with rentals, so I borrowed some shoes for a minute, but they were really too small.

All those little particles in the air are the reflection of the flash off the chalk particles...

Mangosteens, bicycles and more food!

2009-01-30T00:10:00.000-08:00

So, last I spoke I was still in Xishuangbanna...
We had just arrived in town. Spent a couple of days just relaxing, taking naps and eating lots of crazy Chinese food. Recovering from the week of traveling everyday and showering even less!

Mangosteens- a purple round fruit that is like a tennis ball in size and weight, with four green leaves on top. It's dee-licious! you crack it open with your thumbs, which stains them purple and leaves you sticky. The rind is thick, and inside is white, segmented like an orange, but with a texture more like a peach. There is a big seed inside one or two segments.

Eating barbeque at an open air restaurant where we sat crowded with a million other Chinese eating out on a pleasant New Year's evening.
On the menu? Anything that can be strung up on a stick and roasted... Miscellaneous meat parts that couldn't be identified rightly by sight, and others that could... skinned frogs, bits of octopus, whole little chickens and fish, pig brains (those were in a tray, I don't think they would hold up on a stick), immature chicken eggs, and banana leaf packets of herbs and tendons.

It was the banana leaf packet that did it- I was fishing out the herby minty lemony green bits that tasted so good- and suddenly I noticed it was getting hot, like really hot. And I figured, it'll pass, it always does. I love hot foods! But no, this was heat to end all heat- I was hyperventilating, guzzling beer and pulling my hair out silently until the others noticed me. I couldn't even talk it hurt so much! Man, I will never forget that night! It lasted a good 15 minutes until I felt reasonably normal again, and my tongue felt traumatized the rest of the night! Anyways, we finished it off with a bowl of pineapple rice, glutinous rice made inside the pineapple itself, not bad, but our friends said they'd had better. Our friends were San San and David, a couple of young Chinese kids who ran the hostel where we stayed. We took them out to dinner for the advantage of being able to order more food, and therefore taste more dishes! They were so cool we ended up out with them twice, and each time the food was amazing. San San spoke English, and was very patient with teaching me some Chinese phrases. I'm still terrible at getting the pronunciation- and when I finally get it right, I sound to myself like someone completely different. Chinese is something else entirely. It's very interesting that I've met many westerners who live in China and have learned to speak Chinese. There are some who have been here for years, living and working here. Others seem to have picked it up in just a few months. I feel like the only one who has to speak in sign language, hopelessly repeating a few words in English to see if anyone can recognize what I'm requesting. I haven't been very good at picking up even the basics. We'll see- I still have about 4 and a half weeks left here.

I'm a little over half-way done with my trip! I'm so excited. I've been having a great time, but I do kind of miss the steady routine of being home and sleeping in my own bed. I know I'm going to miss this when I get back though- it's hard to believe that the grass is just as green as it needs to be right where you are now!

The next thing we did was go on a bicycle riding adventure out to a Dai village.
The Dai are what's called an ethnic minority. They are indigenous group of non-Han Chinese- there are over 55 ethnic minorities classified by the People's Republic of China. This group lives about 27 kilometers down the Mekong River- a beautiful bike ride, it took about 2 hours to get there. Once there, we entered the "park", a section of the village that has been cordoned off in order to charge admission (100 RMB). This section of the park has a bunch of temples and houses, which the Dai people have conveniently set up as restaurants and guesthouses (their homes, not the temples.) (The temples are manned by sleepy young Buddhist monks wearing orange robes. They all seem sleepy while they are manning their posts by the temples, but then you see them tearing up the roads on their scooters (in their orange robes) around town. Kids these days!)

It was nice to ride around and wave to the villages, who practiced their English by yelling out "Hello!"
We stayed the night at a home overlooking the river. They served us homemade rice wine with dinner, and I drank a little bit much. :-( It really didn't seem so strong going down!
Showers the next morning were ice-cold, being a solar shower. The bike ride back was quite painful as well, the right side of the road going home being more bumpy than the right side on the way there- either that or my rear-end was a bit more stiff!
But all in all, quite a satisfying and enjoyable trip.
Back in Jinghong (the capital of Xishuangbanna), we boarded the bus that night for an overnight ride to Kunming, and from there straight to the airport for a noon flight to Guiyang, Guizhou, where Tanque is living.
The weather here is a cool 59-44 F/15-7 C. Brrr... (No central heating- no heating at all, in fact!) But it's nice to be in a home for once, where I can wash clothes and take hot showers at will. Pictures coming soon!

Oh yes- I forgot to mention the other park we went to- the one with all the wild animals... A bear on a leash who had no teeth, who stole a coke out of this lady's hands and glugged it all down, just like the polar bear commercials...

The man riding an ostrich around in a little pen...

The guy in a yellow suit who looked kind of like Elvis, carrying around a matching little yellow monkey...
Don't worry, I have pictures of all of this! We had expected a quiet, peaceful, jungle hiking sort of park and instead we rode on a zip line and watched little kids get their picture taken with tame peacocks.

So much for living in harmony with Mother Nature...

Happy New Year in Xishuangbanna!

2009-01-26T07:42:00.001-08:00

The Chinese invented fireworks.
And on the lunar new year they reclaim that title with wild abandon!
Even the foreigners were getting in on the action, getting stupid drunk and pointing firecracker sticks at each other.
We walked over to the bridge and watched the entire city go crazy- kind of like the fourth of July, but instead of there being a central place to watch the show, fireworks were coming from every house and street corner.
It was loud and chaotic, walking down the street, jumping out of the way when loud cracks exploded under your feet. I fell off a curb and sprained my ankle- not too bad, thank god! At midnight it rose in intensity, and you could see birds flying in clouds to get out of the city.
Happy New Year!

So I met up with Tanque to travel this next phase of my trip. He's an old friend from CBLA- it was nice to meet up with an old friend and catch up! He's living in China now, working in alternative energy development in Guiyang, Guizhou, where it was snowing last week. He's got a couple of days off to spend here in warm, tropical Xishuangbanna. Then I'll go back with him to his town for a couple of days, check out the scene up in the c-c-c-cold, and then head off of Hong Kong to meet up with the capoeira brasil folk over there. Then I leave on my Intrepid Travels tour group on Feb 8th.

Oh, and good news! Tanque says he'll help me with downloading pics from my camera- so I'll be able to add some visual excitement for y'all! I can't wait!

Tiger Leaping Gorge

2009-01-26T06:20:00.000-08:00

Let's see... Several days have passed since I last wrote, which means I've traveled through at least several cities...
I realized that I've spent the night in a different place every night last week.
I think the last I wrote was the night we couldn't watch Obama's speech-
That night we went to Lijiang.
Cute, picturesque town. A little stream flowed through the streets, so to enter the stores you crossed a little bridge. There were red lanterns lit up at night. Just the typical type of architecture you'd expect of China- but you only find this architecture in little tourist towns like this one, because the big cities are filled with huge grey boxes that act as buildings. The Chinese minority that live in the area are called the Naxi.
The next day, I left to go on a trek in the nearby mountains, in Tiger Leaping Gorge.

I was to hike for the day, stay in a guesthouse along the way, then keep hiking to a point where the trail meets the road and take a bus back to town. The gorge is created by the beginning of the Yangtze river, which cuts through huge mountains. The trail is carved into the side of the mountain, and passes by little clusters of houses where the Naxi people farm and raise goats.

There are guesthouses set up by the Naxi people who take in the foreigners who trek the trail and feed them and put them up for the night. I went on my own, as Pri decided to do the one day hike instead of the two day hike. The other tourists who I ended up trekking with were cool peeps, and we had a great time... We hiked over 7 hours the first day, stopping for lunch right before we tackled the infamous "28 bends"- going straight up the mountain!

The Naxi people would amble by from time to time on little ponies, offering rides to anyone who couldn't take it anymore. Dinner was well-deserved, and we passed out after taking a brief look at the night sky, where you could see so many stars the sky looked cloudy! There was the milky way, so immense, and every star twinkling- what a moment.
We started out the next morning rather late- after a lazy breakfast, and watching them slaughter the pig... yes, this is life! The pig was probably well over 300 lbs, and took 6 men to hold it down. They poured boiling water over it to scrape off the hair... And we took off on the next leg of the hike.

I left my hiking partners behind at lunch, because I had to reach the road before 4 or 5pm. They were going to spend another night up in the mountains- so lucky! Pri and I had to catch an overnight bus back to Kunming so she could fly to Hong Kong and I could meet up with Tanque and fly to Xishuangbanna the next day... More travel with stinky feet blankets, ugh.
The final leg of my hike was glorious- I didn't encounter a single person. At one point I thought I heard voices yelling... but it turned out to be the goats bleating. The trail wound around windy precarious rocky pathways, high above the river. I saw a waterfall from afar, and as I approached I realized I actually had to walk through it! There was a temple up there too. Nepalese flags flew above the trail, leading up a stone stairway to a red door set in a stone wall. The door was shut but not locked, and I opened it, feeling like I was trespassing, but I knew that temples are usually open to everybody. Inside were larger than lifesize statues of gods- I'm not really sure which ones. There was incense, and cushions to kneel on. There were pots and kitchen stuff too- it looked like people might cook up there from time to time as well. Water trickled from a pipe, making a nice trickling sound. It was surreal, especially me being alone. I couldn't stay long, because I wasn't really sure what time that bus left.
It turned out that I missed the bus! By 10 minutes! I had to comission a mini-bus to take me back- at least there was one available and the driver was cool- she bought me a coke and drove very safely.
Once I got back to the hostel, Mama Naxi gave me and Pri little necklaces, a bag of oranges, kissed us on both cheeks and sent us off to the bus station.
Whew! No time to breathe!
We arrived in Kunming at maybe 6 in the morning, but nobody woke us up until like 8- everybody on the bus was still in the bus sleeping! Luckily it didn't smell as bad as the last one, probably because it was less than half full- thank god!

So, we met up with Tanque, and bade farewell to Pri- she was off to Hong Kong, and we left for Xishuangbanna, where the weather was supposed to be in the upper 20s...

OBAMA is finally president!!

2009-01-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

China has been a whirlwind, a tornado! We've stayed at four places in 5 days, and are moving on again tonight.

This kind of traveling is exhausting- but we're on a mission. Once we reach Lijiang (tomorrow morning 6am after an overnight bus) we will stay put- for a whole three days! Pri's gotta be back in India soon, so we gotta stick to a schedule. Man, I miss the lazy days in Pushkar. There are pros and cons to everything though, and I am thoroughly enjoying this trip. A little slower, perhaps, would have been ideal, but I'm not complaining. In fact, I am grateful- I have so much! And now, Barack Obama is officially president. Watching the inauguration ceremony last night, on a computer in the lobby of the hostel where we had just arrived on a plane from Guilin, standing up and sharing earphones with another American girl, we all had glows on our faces that matched the glow from the computer. Even though the computer froze up as soon as he started speaking, the feeling emanating from the thousands of people on the screen in DC was palpable in the air- Wow, I wish I could have been there!
Everyone I've been talking to about the new president is in agreement that although he is up against a huge machine, he is a definite change for the better. There is a new spirit of HOPE everywhere that I've been, and people have a positive impression of the new presidency. Barack has a chance to foster a sense of RESPECT from the international commmunity for the US that no other presidential candidate could have had the potential to create. He has already fostered hope- I hope it filters down to every last one of us, members of humankind, not just the US- to believe in ourselves to live our lives up to our own individual unique highest potential.

Ok, back to the blog! I love spending time here, on the computer, communicating with the world- it makes me feel connected, and that is somehow fulfilling- but I have to be aware of the time, and know that I also have to get out into the world that I am physically in to experience it MORE!

Kunming

Overnight bus rides with stinky feet blankets.

Guilin caves... So touristy but pretty cool regardless... Especially the cave turtle...

This was at the foot of the Solitary Peak.

Mmmm, dragon fruit

Yangshuo

I went rock climbing in Yangshuo yesterday, climbing up steep karst cliff
faces- I just had time to do a half day- it was beautiful.
My guide was great, very safe. I belayed him as he climbed up, lead roping
to put the rope through at the top for me to top rope. It was just the
two of us in the morning, but more people showed up towards noon.
I did 5 climbs in about 3 and a half hours, each one consecutively
more difficult- starting at a 5.8 and ending at a 5.10c- wow! Only
sheer willpower and my guide holding steady at the bottom got me up
the last one. It was a great challenge...

This was my climbing guide Paul- he's been climbing since it came to China ten years ago. He set up a little iPod speaker at the foot of the cliff and we grooved to some reggae tunes- he told me he cut off his dreads a few months back.

While I did that, Pri took a scooter around with another friendly traveler, and hiked up Moon rock, she said it was beautiful! She said there were two elderly women who also hiked up with them, but carrying coolers filled with drinks- that they were expected to buy from at the top! Of course they did...

You can also go mountain biking, hiking, bamboo river rafting (peaceful rafting, not whitewater ;-) take tai chi classes or just shopping- Yangshuo is a picturesque little Chinese town, filled with foreigners on vaction, as well as visiting Chinese tourists. It's totally walkable and pleasant. I will be returning on the tour for a few more days, and I'm really looking forward to it.

We flew to Kunming last night and are sort of mellow today, catching up on email and resting before we take off on a sleeper bus to Lijiang tonight... (oh, I think I already mentioned it...) We might head out right now to do some shopping and walking around and stuff.

More updates later!

It's freezing here in China!

2009-01-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

We are freezing out here in Yangshuo- but it's so awesome...
I wish I could spend more time here. It's been easier than I thought to do things out here-
at the moments when nobody speaks english, and both of you are staring at each other blankly, someone steps in out of the blue who can help- somehow we've gotten from the airport to the hostel, mailed out another parcel to the US, rode the subway and booked bus tickets, no problem.

So, we landed first in Guangzhou, which is in south east mainland China, near Hong Kong.
The signs were hilarious- I wish I was downloading photos, because I took some pictures-
Like I said, it was pretty easy to find our hostel from the airport via bus, subway, and foot- although we walked this way and that trying to find the exact location after someone had written the wrong chinese character name for our hotel after going back and forth for about an hour- it took us a little while to figure it out!
Next we took an overnight bus to Guilin, which was a big city, although there were a few fun tourist sights to look at, like Solitary Peak and Reed Flute Cave. I bought a glow-in-the-dark rock for 10 yuan, and we saw the babies wearing the booty-less onsies! (Yeah, the babies here wear pants with no booty! Some of them wear diapers underneath, and some just let it all hang out! Cute little baby booties everywhere! We're not really sure how it works out when nature calls at random hours, although we did see a mom posted up in the park holding her baby in a convenient position so she didn't have to change any diaper...!)
We worked out at a playground with fun workout equipment that was just like an eliptical, stairmaster, and a new one that went sideways and worked shoulder stabilizers, triceps and oblique abdominals.
We saw the show, "Dreamlike Lijiang" last night, with Chinese acrobats and ballet dancers. It was really good- Roots of Cirque du Soleil.
Today we took the boat ride down the Li River to Yangshuo, the backpacker's paradise, nutella pancakes and all. We rented bicycles and found a Tai Chi school down the road from the town and took a class- great class! We learned a basic form. On the way home we picked some kumquats from a tree- so delicious! I could stay here for weeks.
There's mountain biking, and rock climbing... Tomorrow morning I'm doing a half day rock climb- Yangshuo is up and coming, just now appearing on the international rock climbing circuit. The karst mountain faces are perfect- wall faces rising straight up from the ground, it's unreal.
This is the landscape that I came to China for- imagine Chinese landscape faces of misty mountain-tops and winding rivers... The only problem is that this winter there has been a drought, with no rains to wash away the combined mix of pollution and haze that drapes over everything and drabs it out. You'll see (or rather, you won't!) when I finally post some pics.
Not to mention the DRAGON BEARD CANDY that I finally found- mmmmmmm! So delicious! It's like pulled strings of candy wrapped around a peanut and sesame seed filling.
On the whole, China has been much nicer than I imagined, and much easier. I'm almost regretting my decision to go with a tour in Feb- I do like my independence- but I suppose it will be easier to let someone else do the planning for a while- I start the tour on Feb 8th, and it ends Feb 28, so it's not even a tour for that long. This is a lesson in patience- and taking one thing at a time.

They say that when one is traveling you learn as much about yourself as you do about the rest of the world. I must learn that there is time to do everything, no need for anxiety. All good things in time. Haste makes waste. A stich in time saves nine. If I could save time in a bottle...! Time is another dimension, after all, and if you step back and take it all in, a lifetime is a long time... So anyways, I gotta go! It's time for bed!

Signing off, until next time!

PS. I wish I could be in the states for Tuesday Jan 20th, 2009!!!!
I am so excited, the whole world is anticipating it- even though we can't expect miracles immediately (well, shoot, let's expect them anyways! and let's make them happen!) everybody knows it's a change for the better.
I'll be watching it on TV wherever I am!!! Enjoy! Celebrate! I'll be back in March!

Catching up... Dubai

2009-01-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

Dubai was...

From All of it

...modern, and seemed to be constantly denying its culture and history. Billboards proclaiming the advantages of living in the latest luxury penthouse suites. Malls everywhere. Construction everywhere.

...a little too much, too over the top. Global village, at Dubailand! Energy conference Jan 16-19! Swim with the dolphins at the Atlantic Hotel! Ski indoors at the Mall of the Emirates! Shop, spend, buy!

From All of it

...reminiscent of the middle east- men and women wearing traditional outfits. Mosques. The call to prayer five times a day.

From All of it

...full of Indians, here for work.

The food was great!

From All of it

We went on a package tour which included a camel ride (all two minutes of a photo opportunity!) and a dinner outside at a Bedouin emcampment with a belly dancer... Dinner was good, and so was the belly dancer- (Roxy, you still take the cake though! ;-) But the craziest part was the sand dune bashing- (warning Mom, don't read this part!) now THAT is the kind of activity that SUVs were made for... (While destroying the desert at the same time...) No waivers, no explanations, just watching while the driver let the air out of the tires, and noting the fact that there were roll bars in the car... We raced up and down the dunes, I was sure we were going to go tumbling down the hills- TERRIFIED!!! Guys, you would have loved it. Me, I would have preferred seeing a little more of the culture, seeing more of the differences between life there and my life... But no such luck.

From All of it

Dubai was like Disneyland, albeit mostly under construction. They had a huge aquarium, the mall where you could ski indoors, and the tallest skyscraper in the world. We tried to hustle our way into the 7-star hotel, but all our leads fizzled out. You had to book a reservation just to enter the grounds- coffee, cocktails, breakfast, lunch or dinner... Dinner was $850 dirham (at 3.65 to the dollar, that's about $230 USD). For coffee or a drink, it was $300 dirham- about $85... So I'll wait until my next trip to splurge on the Burj!

From All of it

We took a day trip to Abu Dhabi, which was like a smaller, but cuter, version of Dubai. The modern buildings there were original and creative. I found myself with a new appreciation for this type of art after reading the Fountainhead... It seemed as if architects had unbridled freedom to create buildings that fit the city with unlimited creativity. There were also beautiful mosques and palaces that we saw along the way. The landscape was fantastic- the sky was clearing after raining all night, yellow sands against a bright blue sky with billowy white clouds.

From All of it

Raining? Yes raining! We had thunderstorms the night before last. I guess it does rain in the desert- count us lucky to have experienced that! Lightning was cracking across the sky while we walked home from dinner at a delicious Lebanese restaurant.

The malls were pretty nice too- there was Rodeo Drive style shopping- Gucci, Prada, Marc Jacobs... There was the Body Shop, and a food court, and many stores similar to those in LA, along with scores of beautiful people. The nicest was the mall we went to on the city tour- it was, as our German tour guide explained, "like a mall, but different!" Basically, it was filled with only the finest of the fine, Persian rugs, silk sarees, gold-trimmed furniture, marble inlaid with precious stones, diamond jewelry, carved wooden vases inlaid with marble... I imagined that one day I would furnish my home with a few choice pieces. Now at least I know where to come to find what I want!

From All of it

And for those of us who just need some functional pieces at a functional price- well there was an IKEA store as well!

We went to a hotel which had a huge aquarium.

From All of it

The biggest difference between India and Dubai was on the roads- traffic was beautiful! Well coordinated, drivers stopped and gave pedestrians the right of way. Nobody honked unless it was necessary. And people drove all kinds of new and large vehicles- I realized that it has been a while since I saw people driving Hummers in LA. Not so in Dubai! Hummers, Mercedes, Lexus, all well-represented.

And I'd like to give a special thanks out to P.S. Rao Uncle, who graciously hosted us in the hotel-apartment that we shared with him in the absence of cousins Madhu and Bindhu, who were to have spent this time with us there in Dubai, but were unable to make it due to Bindhu having a fever, so they remained in India.

We landed in Guangzhou, China, today, and are in the midst of planning out the next couple of weeks before Pri and I part ways. I've already contacted Tanque, whom those of you in the capoeira community know of, and we'll probably meet up at some point before I head off to Hong Kong for some capoeira before I leave on my guided tour up the east coast of China. Whew! What a trip! The days are blurring together, and I hardly have time to keep up with this blog. But I do it because I like keeping in touch, and it makes me feel closer to home.

Love you all!
Akemi

Left India this morning

2009-01-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

Pri and I left India this morning at 6:00am, and are now here in Dubai!
Just a 5 day stopover before China.
(We are leaving on the 16th Jan for Guangzhou...)
Some family friends of hers have a hotel/apartment here where they stay on business, which they have so kindly offered for us to stay for a few days.
We'll go on a desert safari and city tours, go to Abu Dhabi and to the beach!

Leaving India was kind of sad- I felt that I didn't see all that I wished I could have.

Rajasthan was magnificent and beautiful, wild and ragged. Dusty but natural. The holy lakes, magestic architecture, fighting cows and great friends I met. I will try to pursue silvermaking when I get back to LA.

Delhi was old and mysterious, I definitely could spend more time there. There's a book called City of Djinns, one year in Delhi, by William Dalrymple that I want to read.

Rishikesh, Amritsar, Kashmir- places I didn't go, but would go back for!

Agra- The Taj Mahal, one of mankind's greatest achievements...

Varanasi, so dirty, so contradictory and strange, I wasn't there long enough for the magic to take hold. I could have stayed to take some tabla lessons, I think that would have done it for me. Didn't have time though, the earth keeps spinning forward!

Kolkata, even dirtier. From there I would have gone north, and visited Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bihar, Bangladesh, Burma, Myanmar... There's just so much!

Hyderabad- from New Year's Eve at the Telagu Film Awards to sari shopping with Pri and her mom, and delicious homemade food every day, this was a great place to clean up and recharge.

Kerala- another delicious experience, the best when Sabith took us to meet all her co-sisters and each one fed us and sat with us and asked questions about our lives...

All in all, I am satisfied with my trip. These memories will mellow in my head like mixing rice with curry with my hand- once the gravy incorporates with the rice, it becomes a different flavor altogether. For now, the flavors are still sharp and distinct, and it is hard to write them all down in a way that will convey the feeling of the time, the accurate sensation of "being there". In fact, that much accuracy is often not appropriate to a description of an event. The stories will tumble out, and after a few repetitions they will start to make sense.

For now, the stories will continue!
Dubai is already fascinating- The middle east is another facet of our wonderful world history...
Goodnight!

Varkala...

2009-01-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

A beautiful beach town, built up on the edges of sandstone cliffs.
Totally built for foreign tourists.
Great shopping!
Pri and I got the regular class train to get here- I thought we would have a chance to see the countryside through the open windows, interact with the locals... Well, basically the locals sat in our laps as we sweated it out in 90 degree weather, struggled with the steel "windows" and giggled and laughed because, well, there was just no other choice! And luckily we got a spot on the ladies car (after spending an uncomfortable 20 minutes standing at the end of a co-ed car, because we couldn't find our seats and didn't know which way on the train to go to find them...)
What else...
Dinner tonight to an Indian classical music band, they were excellent, and really got into their music- smiling passionately at each other, hands moving faster than lightening...
No philosophical musings tonight, I'm rushed, this place closes in 5 minutes!