Winter Holiday 6: 名古屋 (Nagoya)

The internet has returned, and, now that I'm paying for it, the connection is actually stable!
So, without further ado, photographs from Winter Holiday continue:

I flew from Bangkok to Chubu International Airport in Nagoya and spent a couple nights with a friend from my Japan overseas study experience and his former host family. After that I spent a couple nights with my old host family. I discovered a karaoke parlor with all-you-can-eat ice cream and took a chance to wander aimlessly through the city - something I didn't do much when I had the chance a couple years ago. Dragons abound!
The baseball team here, by the way, is The Dragons. They won the Japan Series last year.

Anyway, coming back to Nagoya reminded me of just how much I really can enjoy living in Japan. I didn't do anything exciting or out of the ordinary while there, but most everything I did required a basic understanding of Japanese. Meeting with old friends and their new boyfriends (O_o), watching silly dramas with my old host family (I highly recommend Nodame), listening to an older woman telling stories her sons and husband have heard too often to notice anymore, etc, etc, etc.
Also, I probably can't go without mentioning "Meijo". Meijo is a bit of clever wordplay that, depending on the characters used to write it, could either mean "Nagoya Castle" （名城）or "Nagoya Girls"（名女）. Meijo (the girls) have a reputation for fashion and fancy hair styles that is either negative or positive (usually positive for the Meijo but synonymous with snobbery for outsiders). To be honest, I wasn't really amazed by the girls in Nagoya when I lived there, but, after living the "inaka" (countryside) for a while, well...
Nagoya, as it turns out, is sister cities with LA. There's even a small walk of fame.

Winter Holiday: a Change of Plans & a Change of Pants

So, I've been dropping hints that things didn't go as planned. While on the island Infectious Laughter seemed to be getting sick, and, on our last day there, decided to go to the clinic. Turns out that Infectious Laughter had developed Infectious Disease!


He died shortly thereafter.OK, so maybe he didn't die, and maybe it wasn't really an infectious disease. Anyway, food poisoning* led to diarrhea which led to dehydration which led to two nights in a Thai hospital and a complete suction of all his funds. After this, I didn't quite have enough time for worthwhile travel into Cambodia, and Infectious Laughter only had enough money and energy to change his flight to an early departure from Bangkok back to Japan. Thus, only German Speaker continued as planned and I returned to Bangkok to see the poor boy off and explore the capital of Thailand.


The ironic thing about it all is that Infectious Laughter was really worried about getting sick while were planning the trip. He even packed a sackful of medication for head and stomach ailments. On their first night in the country (before I arrived) German Speaker also apparently wouldn't let him eat from street vendors.
I, by contrast, frequently nibbled on such delights as these grubs which I purchased from some guy on the island. Also worthy to mention is the fact that grubs like these are the high princess' favorite type of insect snack. I have something in common with royalty!



*the food poisoning, we later discovered, was from something he ate in Japan on the night before leaving. 4 of the teachers who were at the same end of year party as him also developed similar symptoms.

Winter Holiday 5: Bangkok

So, plans changed suddenly and I found myself with several days to wander in a city I hadn't planned on seeing all too much. First and foremost, I found the Chinese food!
If I remember correctly from the Southeast Asia guidebook that Infectious Laughter loaned to me, roughly 10% of Thailand is ethnically Chinese. At any rate, there's a China Town in Bangkok, and that's where I focused most of my aimless meandering. Conveniently, China Town is near the major temples and the river.

Meandering in Bangkok is surprisingly easy. Loans from Japan enabled the city to build a very nice Metro line, and there are also a couple of lines of a "Skytrain", a raised rail system that provides a good view of the city as passengers go from place to place. There's also a river ferry that's really cheap.
The original dwellings in Bangkok were all around the river. Like Venice in Italy or Belén in Peru, the river was the main source of transportation and commerce. There's even a river marketplace.
Yeah, elephants are a pretty big deal here. Pink taxis too.
Well over 90% (95% I think) of the people in Thailand are Buddhist, and monks are given reverential treatment.
The gamer in me really liked this bus.
There were a few small cats at my hostel, and sometimes one of them exploited a hole in the screen on my window to pay me a visit. Somehow, I'm never quite alone when I travel on my own. There was a dog in Pompei (Spring Break 06) that not only followed me to the station as I was leaving but also sat next to me on the bench as I waited for my train.

Overall, Thailand was a good trip, but not so much because of anything particularly Thai. I didn't plan this trip (no personal attachment or deep interest) and things planned in it didn't even occur. Still, though, Wandering alone in Bangkok recharged me a bit. Sometimes I just need to take off on my own and wander. My next trip, however, is going to be a personal adventure.

Winter Holiday 4: Bangkok Temples

I really enjoyed wandering through the temples in Bangkok. The architecture is quite vibrant and colorful. Bangkok is a fairly recent construction, so the temples aren't very old. They are, however, really quite groovy.

The picture above is from Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn). This is where I spent the morning of New Years Day. It's the tallest temple in Bangkok, and provides a nice view over the river and surrounding buildings (the river shot up top the page was taken here)

The doorway at the end there is 2-3 times the average height of a human. This gilded Buddha is enormous. Somehow, though, building an enormous gold-plated statue would seem to me to be contradictory to the Buddha's message of simplicity and breaking away from attachments. But what do I know about religion?
While on the subject, building cathedrals over the grave of St Francis in Assisi also seems contradictory to his message of simplicity and servitude. Does anyone ever really listen to these people?

Winter Holiday 3: Koh Chang

On the evening of Christmas Day we landed on Koh Chang ("Elephant Island"), the second largest island in Thailand. The tropical foliage, laid back atmosphere and warm water made for the most relaxing days I've experienced since leaving for Japan, yet, somehow something didn't feel right. As I gazed through the palm trees into the emerald horizon the very first thought to enter my mind was,
"Kumquat. Was kumquat, perhaps, my favorite bubble tea flavor back at the Great Wall in Bloomington? What on earth am I doing in Thailand right now?"

Yes, beautiful tropical island. blah blah blah. Perhaps ten years ago it was a virgin rain forest paradise escape, but today Koh Chang (& the rest of Thailand for that matter) has many of the same problems as the United States.
And they're all fat white men.
As you can see here, Koh Chang is a true escape from modernity. The island also now features more than a dozen golf courses. Who needs a rain forest when you could have thousands of pudgy European men bringing piles and piles of fresh Euros and Pounds to spend on a relaxing weekend with their new Thai girlfriends?
Tourist catered destruction aside, the scenery is lovely. German Speaker and Infectious Laughter both seemed really touched by the sunset. I've seen my share of sunsets and, although less vocal about it all, still ended up spending most of the night this picture was taken sitting on a rock watching the form of the star change slightly at the point it met with the water's edge.

In Le Petit Prince at some point it says that people really enjoy sunsets when they're sad. Maybe we were sad for the island that night. As for me, I think I was lonely for bubble tea.
Another example of the island's authentic spirit. A North American First Nations themed Swedish restaurant!

Winter Holiday 2: Thailand Travel Buddies

Leaving Osaka on the morning of Christmas Eve with a brief layover in 香港 (Hong Kong) that, unfortunately, did not allow enough time to see any of the city, I arrived in Bangkok around 18h00 local time. A man working with the taxi service that took me from the airport to the hostel greeted me with a question that rather startled me,
"So, you speak Mandarin?"
"No, actually, I'm coming from Japan."
"Oh, so, you speak Mandarin?"

I mention this because generally people don't assume that a white boy with Scottish/Irish heritage would speak Chinese on first impression. When I was in Europe I understood and embraced the moments when my tan led people to believe I was from Spain or Italy, but, so far, such mistakes have generally been confined to countries with Romance Languages. There was one odd moment when I stopped for lunch in a Chinese place in Greensburg, Indiana (first time stopping in that town), and the waitress greeted me in Chinese and began a conversation as if I ought to have understood her. I wanted to understand, and I appreciated not being spoken to in English, but, nevertheless, I couldn't communicate as she wished. Anyway, this Chinese aside is important. The fact that Thailand greeted me asking about my knowledge of the Chinese language is also important. It'll figure in to the story of my travels later.

For now, let's talk Thailand!
A typical street in Bangkok. If you look closely you'll see an image of the king on the overpass. Last year he celebrated his 80'th birthday, and he is also currently the longest ruling monarch in the world. He has no real political power, but, having witnessed nearly 20 attempted coups against those who actually do hold political power, he has come to be an image of calm and constancy. People love the king.

Enough with royalty, let's meet the travel companions! These are a couple of fairly hep cats, so I've decided to grant them official blog nicknames. Who knows, someday they may show up here again.
German Speaker: constantly sarcastic but very dry and deadpan. It takes a bit of practice to begin to learn how to read her true wishes and intentions and even then you'll often find yourself surprised to hear, "oh, that was a joke". As a matter of coincidences, she sat next to me on the flight into Japan from Chicago in July and she went to the same high school as my last flatmate at uni.

(on a side note, in case you haven't noticed already, I've decided to employ more international English - "flatmate at uni" = "roommate at college")
The fellow relaxing on the chair is someone I'll be calling Infectious Laughter. Always ready for an obscure literary reference, elephant ride or Jerry Lewis impersonation but never too far removed from the bounce and glitter of pop culture on Thai music television programming. I could probably also label him "excitable boy" given his zealous glee about anything and everything coming along on the trip: "Oh, elephants! Oh, the ocean! Oh, a 711!"
Christmas Eve: I arrive (the travel buddies booked their flights a couple weeks before me and were on a slightly different schedule).
Christmas Day: we set out for the island of Koh Chang, boarding a bus at 8h45 that was supposed to leave at 8h00. Before exiting Bangkok, the bus parks at a petrol station and someone tells us to get off because it's too heavy. A trip that should have taken 5-6 hours took an entire day. Happy Christmas! Hope you like public transportation!

Winter Holiday 1: Osaka

新年好！

あけましておめでとう！

Bonne Année!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Happy New Year, Minasan. I'm back in Fukui now. I'll be updating about my winter holiday travels throughout the coming week or so. Things did not go as planned, but I'll let you know the details as they are relevant to each post. Let's start from the beginning - a very fine place to start.

大阪

Osaka, the third largest city in Japan, is a vibrant hub of rock 'n' roll, good eats, a characteristically non-nonchalant populace and a dialect of Japanese highly favorable to comedy. I needed to fly out of the international airport but decided to spend a day in the city before leaving the country for Thailand.

I really didn't intend to see much of anything specific. I just like wandering in big cities. This a view across the river in the park in front of Osaka Castle.
I didn't enter the castle, but, gee it sure looks pretty from outside, eh? It's actually a post-war reconstruction (Americans love the bomb), so the interior isn't much too exciting from what I've heard from others.
This is where I spent most of my afternoon. The park around the castle features some free concerts. The bands were all pretty good, but even more entertaining were the people who danced along.
They never seem to spell my name properly in this country, but, man, I sure do appreciate the effort.

In Chinese folk tales there often appear certain characters known as fox spirits. Fox spirits by nature are deceptive creatures who take various forms to trick people. A traveler gets lost on a cold night in a mountain and discovers a hut with an old man to welcome him and give him a bed only to wake up alone the next morning with no hut or kindly old man. Another man marries a wealthy woman who pays all his debts only to wake up several years later with no house or wife. Sometimes they are beneficial, sometimes harmful - but always they are deceptive.

I mention Chinese folk tales because I know that fox spirits are real and they exist today in the form of Fuji Climbing Partner. As it turns out, Fuji was in Kyoto the same time I was in Osaka (only a 20-30 minute train ride away), so we agreed to meet for dinner. We met in a very busy station with probably at least 100 different exits and an underground mall. It took me at least an hour to find the exit for the restaurant we wanted. Shortly after achieving this, the fox spirit arrived eager to help me get lost on the way to Peruvian food.

We left at the proper exit, but never found the restaurant no matter how many times we doubled back and checked side streets. So, we ate somewhere else, and afterward decided to look for the Umeda Sky Building, a tower with a good view of the city. The Umeda Sky Building is rather tall and also reportedly featured a gigantic Christmas Tree in front. I say "reportedly", of course, because we never found it.

Fuji Climbing Partner has also been known to beguile travelers in search of the very-simple-to-find Philosopher's Path in Kyoto and to silence people climbing mountains so severely that onlookers marvel at what they believe to be the austere religious devotion of her victims.


Life lesson, amigos, if you ever come to Japan, be wary of anyone who speaks Chinese. Such a person may be a fox spirit.


Anyhoo, the meandering and failed adventures in Osaka were good preparation for things to come.