Tag Archives: explore
Waterfalls, Cliff jumping, and the GoPro “Hero”
Down on the Gold Coast, away from the high-rises of Surfers paridise and off the path of public transportation, is Killarney Glen. The area is winding roads and farmland, and we would have probably missed the trail head if not for the line of cars parked hundreds of meters on either side of the local attraction. A swimming hole, known as the Killarney Glen waterfall, is a heart-shaped pool fed by a 6 meter waterfall, lined with spectators on a warm summer Saturday afternoon.
Spectators gathered as timid individuals gathered courage for their leap, while those who frequent the pools tried their hand at flips, all aiming for the deep water. Just off of the “jumping area” is a small grotto, which accumulated jumpers to spectate from a view they achieved from their jump. Families, twenty-somethings, teens on easter break, lined the top of the cliff faces either to watch, or when waved forward from the other side of the canyon, to jump.
I’m afraid of heights. I’ve never been graceful, and feel that standing on something tall makes me ‘kinetic energy’. In high school I would jump with my friends in Colorado into the Arkansas river. Not high, still terrifying. I would swing from our boat into the water in the Bahamas. It took me about 5 minutes of looking out 2 meters below me before I could make the jump. And to this day, as silly as it feels, I hold my nose.
Fastforward, I am standing in a dried up wash-out that juts out over the ‘deep water’, 4-5 meters below me. GoPro strapped to my wrist, though my hands were flat on the rock on either side of me for stability. The girl behind me, no more than 10 years old, comments on my shaking. Her older sister, about 12, wants to help me out by giving me a count down. At first I didn’t notice, since all I could think was ‘S#!t, this is high.’ I try to get in the zone during the second countdown, but psych myself out somewhere between “…3…” and “…2…”. Seconds later I pull myself together, ask her for one last count, and at “…1”, step off the cliff.
(Taken with a Nikon and Sigma Wide-angle lens, uploaded with eye-fi.)
I felt the rush of wind then cold water, then the feel of the strap of my GoPro slide over my small wrist. I surface and accept that the camera may have been claimed by the river gods, and briefly remember a youtube video of a GoPro that fell in a river and was found a couple years later. Oh, well.
I swim to the mermaid grotto, and attempt to slide onto the surrounding rocks, helped by a new friend, and mentioned that the camera went the way of the waterfall. The next jumper, a young blond guy was about to swim past when we asked “is there any chance of finding a GoPro over there where I jumped?” “GoPro?” The kid smiled, turned around, and dove. He surfaced seconds later to applause, with my camera in hand.
I tried to find him after to thank him, and couldn’t. He had one green eye, and one blue eye, and was kind enough to fetch a strangers camera. To you sir, if you are reading, THANK YOU!
(Screenshot from the GoPro of the good samaritan)
Update: added video March 27. Keep an eye out at ~2:30.
SE Asia in a Nutshell: Part 2
Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon
Saigon snapped me back into the mode of car dodging. The bustling city and flash night life was starting to draw on me, and the more active days with calm nights was a relief. Our first day of exploring took us into the Mekong Delta where we saw islands that were dedicated to different productions. One for coconut, one for honey, another for crafts. We were able to try fresh coconut candy, and were offered snake wine.
Snake wine, as some may know, is a harsh liquor that resembles cheap whisky. The triangular bottle houses bits of ginger root and a snake with a scorpion in its mouth. And it tastes exactly like what it sounds like. Sharp, spicy and strong.
Continuing on, we went to another island where we were paddled down a river in the small traditional wooden Can Tho small boats. We were making our way through the bamboo lined river when we noticed that all of the boats that were passing us in the opposite direction were waving at us and pointing to folded dong (the currency) in their hand. It took us a few boats to realise that they were signalling that we were supposed to tip our driver. If there is one thing I learned in Vietnam, nothing is free. Thankfully it’s all very cheap.
Cambodia – Phnom Penh
We drove for about 8 hours the next day, which included the boarder crossing into Cambodia. The crossing was new for me, since we were coming in by coach and everyone on the bus had to give their passports to the bus driver who would give them to the customs official when we stopped. We had to take our valuable items off the bus and went into a large concrete ware-house looking building with the customs desks at the far end. We waited patiently as the customs official handed our passports back to our tour guide, who would call us forward and direct us to the bus that had moved forward to the buildings’ exit. I was nervous, as would anyone would be who has grown up knowing that it’s not the safest to part with your passport, especially in another country. Tom Tom, our guide, did a great job of reassuring us and definitely made the border crossing experience a quick and easy one. In Phnom Penh, we spent a day at the S21 prison and Killing fields.
Warning: the following may not be suitable for children to read. It was tough to visit. It was tough to write.
The bloody history of the Kumar Rouge regime is an unpublicised holocaust. The regime had gone around to the neighbouring areas and ‘recruited’ anyone who had a skill other than farming, knowing they would be a threat to the power of the Kumar Rouge. Trades people, and especially doctors and teachers, all brought to the prison under false pretence of jobs and a better life. Extending their reach, they decided to take whole families. After all a child could grow up to seek revenge. After being relocated to the S21 prison that was converted out of an old high school when the city of Phnom Penh had been deserted, the few remaining locals were resettled in neighbourhoods away from the school, and the screams. Millions of people were killed in that era. There were only eleven survivors; seven prisoners of the S21 prison, and four additional children who were smuggled and hiding in the kitchen. The others that were in the prison were executed quickly once the Kumar Rouge realised they were going to loose power, and took many of their prisoners the ten minute drive to the killing fields. The prison is renovated in some areas to show what it looked like before. Another area was converted to a museum area. And the last was left just as it was found, down to the occasional bloodstain. If the holocaust museum was built at Auschwitz, I imagine the tone would be close.
The killing fields, which are still not fully excavated, reveal bone and clothes after forty years. While walking along the raised boardwalk that winds through the fields, bones and bullets can be found within a foot on either side. In the middle of the field is a large memorial, where the skulls are displayed on shelves that create an encased pillar in the middle of the room, about 10X10 feet (3X3 meters).
I studied physical anthropology in my undergrad and we were able to work with bones of mummies that had been donated to the university. We learned how to determine gender, age, and certain causes of death that could be seen in bones. By the second panel of bones in the killing fields, I didn’t need to read the plaque. Adult, 25- 30, female, shot in the middle of her forehead. The next side of the pillar – children and under 20’s, some with their skulls not completely fused. After all, that only happens if you get the chance to grow up.
The history is dark, and for a few hours you feel any happiness sucked from you. Because of this repetition of history, I think if you are passing through Cambodia, you need to visit. Not because I want you to feel helpless to the carnage of the past, but because I really want people to remember, and not do insane atrocities again. At the least, the museum area has photos that the Kumar rouge had taken for records, which were the last many of the people had while they were alive. Personally, I like to learn about them so that they are not forgotten.
Me with one of the 7 survivors of S21, Chum Mey, selling autographed copies of his book “survivor”.
Siem Reap
Right. Back to the fun, not-so-depressing stuff!
We drove in a small private bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, stopping for a brief break at a roadside stand that specialized in a wide selection of deep fried creepy-crawlies. Of course, this is where my adventurous palette and I stepped up to the plate and ordered a tarantula and a few crickets. I have to say it – the tarantula tasted like chicken. It’s true. Like over fried, a little dry, crispy-breaded chicken. The crickets? Well, they just tasted like cricket. Not exciting in flavour other than the spices that it was cooked with. Just remember to take off the legs and wings, or you might find yourself with a cricket getting caught in your throat half-way down.
The next two days were spent at the Angkor Wat temple complex.
The first day we left the hotel at 4 am, clambering into the bus to go get our ticket and venture to the temple to watch the sunrise. As we made our way through the dark, I couldn’t even see the faint outline of any buildings. The new moon left the sky pitch black, with only a blanket of stars and plants to tell where – approximately – the sky ended and the horizon began. As the sun came up, the sky turned a faint pink, and the reflection created a magnificent silhouette of temple and palm trees against the dark plum of the cool morning sky.
Inside the temple walls we watched the sun rise, reflected in the small ponds that were originally built as water throughs for elephants. (Transport for the elite.)
The main temple was originally constructed with a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist architecture, and was meant as a communal worshiping place for both religions. There are monks that still practice here too.
The next temple we went to was the Bayon, also known as the face a temple. Each of the many rooftops has one face per a side, built to face the four directions. In the temple you can explore the maze of ruins, taking photos in the windows and has fewer visitors. The faces in the tops of the towers are kind of fun too.
We next visited the “Tomb Raider” temple, where the film was mainly shot, but between the heat and fighting a large crowd of people to get any photos, within an hour we were ready to move on.
The last temple we visited was “the hospital”, which was on an island that could only be reached by walking along a narrow wooden boardwalk above a bog. In Ancient times, they believed that the body ran off the four elements; fire, earth, wind, and water. The ‘hospital’ was five intricately carved stone pools, four on the outside and one large one in the middle. When you were sick, a medicine man would determine which of your elements was ‘missing’ and you would be ritually bathed in the coordinating pool to make you healthy again. If you were really close to death, you would be considered missing most of your elements and would be bathed in the large pool in the canter.
Our last night in Siem Reap, as part of our tour, we were taken to dinner at the New Hope restaurant. The New Hope Restaurant was created to give women working in sex work the opportunity to learn new skills and create a new life for themselves. The foundation grew and built a school that teaches English, a required skill for all the hospitality jobs. This was something that was organised as part of our GAdventures trip, and was amazing to be able to support.
Fun fact: The elephant ponds at the main temple of the Angkor Wat complex were converted temporarily into a ‘fishing village’ in 2001 for the movie Tomb Raider. Restaurants in town still have their menus tagged with dishes that Angelina Jolie ordered when they were filming in Cambodia. The temple where they did most of the filming, the one with the trees growing into and around the buildings, is actually very small and very crowded. Be ready to have to fight your way through a crowd at any of the major temple sites.
The smaller “face temple”, or the Bayon, is massively underrated, and really worth a visit.
Thiland – Bangkok
Bangkok provided us with our amazing race experience to the Wat Pho, the 600 foot Buddha statue.
We thought it closed to the public at 5 pm. We arrived at our hotel by bus at 4, so four of us girls ran down and grabbed a tuk tuk. The guy said that he couldn’t get there because of construction and we would need to take a boat. He brought us to the ferry terminal and the boat man (who obviously knew him) waves us over and tries charging us $40 for a boat ride that we knew should have been $3 each at most. We talk him down to $7 each and then instead of taking the water bus, he flags down a “water taxi” which is one of the long skinny traditional boats. Note: It doesn’t do well on waves and every time we hit a wake I thought the boat was going to break in two. When we pull up to the dock and there is a lengthy line for the water bus that we had originally planed on. We realized that the little boat may have been the best option, as now it is 4:45 and Wat Pho closes at 5 PM, we had to hurry. There was a dock hand that was helping the long skinny boats dock then you had to pay a “docking fee” which was just another way to rip off tourists. We paid it just wanting to get out of there and get to the Wat before it closed and took off in the general direction. We made it to the main crossroads by a government building, and start to question our sense of direction. Thankfully many of the buildings in the cities are guarded by armed guards and we figured “Lets ask the men with the machine guns for directions”. They smiled and told us that it was just around the block “down and to the left”, so we took off in that direction. We reached the next corner where once again we couldn’t find Wat pho, so we ask another set of armed guards. They also tell us “Down and to the left”, so we continue on to the opposite corner of the complex from where we started, but arrived at 4:55. Frantic, we tried finding an entrance where we can get a couple pictures before getting kicked out, and I saw the open sign that displayed “hours 8am to 6pm”. We had a whole hour before it closed.
Inside the complex, there were several structures covered in a tile mosaics that made me think of something out of Willy Wonka. The big temple that houses the reclining Buddha is MASSIVE. The outside is stark white, while inside is reds and gold leaf decoration. The statue itself was gold, and hard to take in at any one location in the temple.
We wondered around the complex, and a group of the monks were just ending their prayers for the day and wondering around as well. When it was time to go we walked out the front door, and there was a tuk tuk that was able to bring us back to the door of our hotel… no construction to cause delays.
Chiang Mai
In Bangkok our groups parted ways. My ticket home was booked out of Chiang Mai, and I had no choice but to go look around. Still hesitant about traveling alone, I found that one of my fantastic new friends from the tour was also headed north to Chiang Mai, and we were going to meet a few days later.
While traveling through Cambodia, I discovered that Tom Tom, our guide, was from Chiang Mai and asked her for any advice about doing things and getting out on some adventures. She told me about an Elephant riding outfit that she recommended because they take care of their elephants, saying there are cheaper programs, but she wont vouch for the treatment of the elephants. (Elephants are the SE Asian equivalent to work horses, there is still much debate about the ethics in riding them. Not to worry, there are a number of tour companies in Chiang Mai that offer elephant programs where you don’t ride the elephant, and still get to feed, bathe and pet it.) I was also advised that riding bareback is easiest on the elephants rather than riding with “saddles”, much easier for the elephants to handle and get used to, and can be trained through rewards. (FYI, They love bananas.) The program we went on took us hiking to a waterfall, where we were given samples of edible plants along the way. When the guide, had a large ant trying to bite his thumb, I pointed it out, and he shrugged casually and said “Its an ant.” And ate it. We stopped for a more substantial meal after the waterfall and had a local lunch of a yellow chicken curry on rice. Another part of the tour was to visit the Hilltribe people. They are part of the same overarching tribe as the long necks, though the practice of waring rings on their neck is dyeing out.
Originally there was the belief that members of the tribe born during a full moon would be more likely to be attacked by a tiger, and since tigers will attack the throat, tribes people originally wrapped their necks in rattan. As rattan is easy for teeth to get through, the tribes people switched to copper rings, which would offer more protection against tiger attacks. The practice is fading out because of the dwindling tiger populations, and the fading of superstition that your chances of being attacked coordinate with the lunar cycle you were born under.
If you want to guarantee seeing the long neck tribes people, there are settlements that the Thai government established for tourism.
We continued into the forest to a farm where we rode elephants bareback for about an hour around the property. We walked down to the small creek where we were the elephants could swim, and then back to the farm. Before leaving our elephants we spent some time just walking with them, feeding them bananas as treats. Finishing off the day, we did some bamboo rafting down a river that was cool, and quiet.
Another aspect of what I have found to be deemed “questionable tourism” is tiger photos. I have heard of the Tiger Temple, which is notorious for drugging and abusing its tigers. So I researched, did some asking around and homework, and found another outfit – Tiger Kingdom – which is more popular for its cub photos, because they have a lot of restrictions on who is allowed to take photos with the larger tigers. Given the size and nature, and the lack of information surrounding the larger tigers, there is speculation as to if the tigers are drugged. The cubs however, were jumping and playing and each had 2 handlers on standby, with all of our moves guided by the handlers of what to do and when. Since this was a bucket list item, I brought my camera and got to spend a bit of time playing with some tiger cubs. When my travel buddy and I left the enclosure, we just looked at each other and asked “did that really just happen?”
Singapore
When traveling to and to and from the field school/Chiang Mai I flew in and out of Singapore. With a 9-hour layover on the way to Vietnam, I had booked a hostel in the city, and decided I was going to use my time wisely sight-seeing.
I was sitting at my gate in the Brisbane airport when I hear a familiar voice call my name. It was one of my classmates that, I admit, I didn’t hang out with very much outside of class. She and I discover that we were on the same flights, and I invited her to join me at my hostel if she was up for the adventure. She agreed and we navigated out of customs, (thankfully for both US and Australian passports, you do not need to apply for a tourist visa,) grabbed some fast food, and caught the bus that was hostel bound.
We checked in, dropped our stuff, and hailed a taxi to the Gardens by the Bay. The gardens have large greenhouse pavilions and a walkway through the manmade industrial trees, but they both close at 8 pm. We ventured along the walkways, finding an outdoor aquarium, and vantage points of the clusters of large plant-like structures. Lit in a neon blue, the structures resembled giant trees that mushroomed at the top, greenery growing up the sides, and white spots of light doted the tops like stars. A few hours of wondering around the gardens and it was time to attempt a few hours sleep before our morning flight to Vietnam.
On the way back from Thailand, again I had a lengthy layover. This time seven hours. Singapore airport has won multiple awards as the “Best airport in the world”. I took the time to wonder around and find what the hype was about.
The airport has a hotel, public pool, two movie theatres, a game centre, free Internet, free massage chairs, and so much more. Gym? Yup. Butterfly garden with a waterfall? You bet. I find myself wondering if I can book an international flight back just to visit the airport.
SE Asia in a Nutshell: Part 1
Studying in Australia gives a few unique opportunities. For me, it included the chance to do field school through Vietnam, where we were privileged to work with some amazing people learning how the museum ‘does-what-it-does’.
However, outside of class I wasn’t expecting to see or do much, as my mental preparation had my mind thinking “business trip” rather than “vacation”. Those who know how I travel know that every moment I’m not trying to be a good student is spent exploring. (After all, I use academia as my excuse to go far away for long periods of time.) As South East Asia is in the news frequently for tourists getting in accidents, trafficking, or other not-so-pleasurable happenings, I didn’t think I would go there on my own, no matter how much solo experience I have. Two of my classmates who were also going to Vietnam agreed and the three of us decided to book a tour and continue through Cambodia and Thailand after our studies.
Vietnam – Hanoi
We started our two-week field school in Hanoi. The old quarter burst with life, vendors, pedestrians, and mopeds. Oh-so-many mopeds. The air was thick from humidity and exhaust in the narrow streets. The buildings, with their un-kept paint and traditional wood trimmings, towered multiple stories on either side. The ground floor housed open-front shops and restaurants with smiling and eager staff trying to wave you in for business.
Walking along the streets, also be careful of taking pictures. We dubbed the women with the carrying baskets the “banana ladies” and developed the motto “beware of the banana ladies”. Within an hour of arriving in Hanoi I experienced my first of the photo cons. We were making our way to our hotel when a banana lady saw me taking photos and before I could get away, put her carrying stick on my shoulder and traditional hat on my head and kept pressing for me to take a picture. Me in my travellers hope that she just wanted to share her culture (after all that’s been my experience in most other third worlds) I passed my camera to my mate and had her snap the photo. As soon as the shutter snapped Banana Lady took back her gear and I thanked her and started to walk on now that she was, what I thought was obviously, done with me. That’s when she started yelling at me that I owed her 2 dollars. Ah hah! The next two weeks we had to deal with ladies following us down the street trying to put their carrying sticks on us as we would wiggle out from under them and continue on. Beware of the banana ladies.
Each street in Hanoi is delegated to different wares – tin, copper, glass, etc – and if there is something in particular you need, you can find shops competing on the same street.
Food alley, while more expensive than the other shops that reside on another street, offers a multitude of options. In the heart of the city, the favourite of the field school was the Lantern Lounge, which could be identified easily at night by the plethora of lanterns that ornamented the face of the building. Once inside, you take of your shoes and sit traditional style at a table that is lit by many more paper lanterns draped across the ceiling. With free wifi and delicious vegetarian options in an English menu, we decided it was worth multiple visits. (When I travel I try to eat more vegetarian friendly because meat is usually harder to come by, and not always guaranteed fresh. So my rule of thumb is if you can’t read the local menu, don’t order anything unless you know what it is. I like to eat seafood in coastal towns, but since seafood can be temperamental I stay away from it if I have travelled more than two hours away from the shore.)
Another Hanoi specialty I highly recommend is the Egg coffee. It is the superhero of cappuccinos. A thickly whipped, sweet egg white topping layered on a cup coffee. That is a dissert in itself.
The Adventure to see Uncle Ho
While in Hanoi, morbid curiosity came over a few of my fellow classmates and I to visit the man we had learned so much about through our museum visits. After all, most of the museums in Vietnam display Ho Chi Minh as a larger than life demigod rather than the ruler of a country. His mausoleum is in Hanoi, and free to the public. Just remember the standard temple rule, dress modest, don’t lug giant bags in, and add that they don’t like you to take photos. That’s fine with me, I’m not too keen on photographing corpses, but the balmy heatwave in north Vietnam meant that one of my classmates and myself had worn shorts, which would have prevented us from getting past the many guards that were on the lookout for tourists that may be there to disrespect their highly regarded leader.
Once at the back of the 3 block line, we left our fellow classmates to find something to throw on over our shorts. The first shop we came across sold us a scarf to wear as a sarong and a pair of flow-y pants. We re-joined our classmates and continued through the line and past the video screens playing videos and testimony to “Uncle Ho”. When entering the mausoleum, you walk up stairs through small winding passages, designed to keep the climate-controlled room cool. Once in the room the whole experience felt surreal. The man in the open crypt in the middle of the room was stark white – no doubt due to multiple trips to be embalmed – and what interested me more than the marble looking man was the visitors that shuffled their way through with us. One older lady in front of us had streams of tears as she looked at him, and was offered tissues by who I assume was her grown daughter. Another man looked on in awe. I thought it was strange. It was strange to see how someone who has been long dead was displayed for the sake of his memory, and even stranger seeing the reactions to it. It was strange all around, but then, I’m not visiting embalmed leaders of countries every day.
Ha Long Bay
Though we stayed at a hotel for the duration of our field school, the trip I took to Ha Long Bay I booked a side trip through the FlipSIde Hostel. They were very friendly and if I were to do it again, I would stay there rather than our hotel. Options for Ha Long bay tours vary, but there is one for those who are just “passing through” and want a day trip to Ha Long Bay.
We left the hostel at 8 am, taking a small private bus about 4 hours to the bay, with a quick stop at a craft shop where all the craftwork is made by disabled locals. Once at the bay, we boarded a small motorised wooden cruise launch. A lunch spread of fresh seafood from the bay, with other additions, was provided for us to enjoy while leaving the harbour. In the bay, the sea cliffs rise straight out of the water, creating a maze of scenery.
Fun fact: James Bond “Tomorrow Never Dies” was filmed here.
Fun fact: Ha Long means ‘descending dragon in Vietnamese
Our boat pulled into a little fishing village where we kayaked in a small bay area that connects to a couple saltwater pools via caves. After half an hour of paddling around, we made our way back to the dock in time to board the big boat again and go around the bay to a cave system that has been altered to hike through. The cave system is dressed with bright coloured lights that were put in to help show the contrast of the many layers of stalagmites and stalactites. One addition included a fountain in an existing pool. It was fun, beautiful, interesting, and no extraneous training was required to visit. But the complaint I heard most was it “looked like Ariels grotto at Disney world”, a bit cartoonish, and not authentic. In my opinion, it was an amazing day trip for less than $50. I would recommend it.
Da Nang
After Hanoi, we travelled to Da Nang. Da Nang has a slower pace than either Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City /Saigon. With a beautiful river walk that exhibits local sculptures in a permanent art display, and the “dragon” bridge that shoots fire out of its mouth on the weekends, Da Nang is an amazing modern city to visit.
Hue
A day trip from Da Nang can land you in Hue (pronounced “way”), a wonderfully small tourist town. If you ever thought about getting something tailor made, this is the place to do it. The town is seaside, so the local specialty is oysters, and the seafood in the area is fresh from the boat.
After Da Nang, the field school was over. It was time to part ways with most of our classmates. My two companions and I went south to Saigon where we started our tour through the south of South East Asia with GAdventures.
12 hour Tokyo
Tokyo, where the future comes from. If it is cartoonish or technological, obscure modern fashion or traditional culture, you can find it in Tokyo. But what if your time to explore Tokyo is limited? what can you see/do that will result in the full Tokyo experience?
1. Tokyo tower
The red Eiffel-tower-looking structure in the heart of the city is a must, day or night. During the daylight hours you can take an elevator to the primary viewing platform which can see out over all of Tokyo (and on a good day, see Mt. Fuji). for an extra 700 yen (adult price) you can go up to the highest viewing platform.
Im not sure if you can take the elevator down, (im sure you can if you have a disability,) but I decided to put my young legs to work. Did you know that there are 600 stairs to come down from the main viewing platform. You need to go through the two layers of the 3 story platform, which house cafes and souvenir shops, and down a zigzagging red tunnel of stairs.
In the daytime, the tower is noticed soaring 333 meters (1,092 ft) above the surrounding buildings, and when coming from the JR train station or Dimon subway station, it can be seen accenting an old temple and gate that welcome you to the tower park area. At night, the tower is lit up like a constant firework, seen throughout most of the city.
2. The Hie Shrine
This underrated shrine doesn’t make it to a lot of guide books, and even many of my Japanese teachers hadn’t heard of it. about a thirty minute walk from Tokyo tower, the Hie shrine sits atop a hill in the middle of the city. The main gate and temple, which are ornately decorated and worth a visit themselves, block from view a photographers dream. The shrine, which cosists of many consecutive shrines that turn a stairway into a tunnel, was surprisingly not crowded. It is hard to that that “perfect picture” though, as many people do stick their head in on the opposite side of the tunnel to get a photo themselves. communication here is pretty universal, with waving to the other person then stepping out of the line of sight, and taking turns.
3. Tokyo Sky Tree
So you were impressed with Tokyo tower, but feel that you werent high enough? well then, there is the Tokyo Sky tree, which is 634 meters (2080 ft) tall and towers over even the tallest office buildings in Tokyo. To go to the viewing platform is 2,000 yen (~20 usd).
4 . Asakusa Temple/Senso-ji
Fairly close to the sky tree is the Asakusa temple, or Senso-ji, which is the temple for the Buddhist goddess of mercy.
5. Capsule Hotel
You’re in Tokyo for 12 hours. Maybe you are spending the night, maybe you want some place to crash between flights. Try out the futuristic Capsule hotels. Sorry ladies, there are very few that cater to women, since the idea started as a cheap accommodation for businessmen traveling into Tokyo. With it being the 21st centery and all, but the number that have sections for women are growing.
6. The owl restaurant
This I haven’t been to personally, but was made aware of by a friend who had traveled in to Tokyo for a weekend of fun and exploration. The owl restaurant requires that you sign up ahead of time for a one hour time ut where you get to hang out with an owl. It opens at 10 and spots fill up fast.
Episode MMXV: Return of the Gypsy
With a month left before I journey back to the land down under, my busy schedule hasn’t allowed for much video editing. So here it is: TravelGypsea’s Japan, Episode 2. Im doing this one a bit different with an article to narrate, and instead of photos, a video to accompany.
At the end of last year my Japanese class that I have been taking arranged a small Christmas party and had a Christmas lunch of Mexican food for me on Christmas morning. At the Christmas party, many more students who attend the Thursday night class came. The girls from Singapore serenaded us with carols, and some of the ladies dawned their Hawaiian dresses for a hula which then taught to us. (Yes, I did ware a big poofy-skirt and lei. It was wonderful.)
About a week later, I had the opportunity to go to Nagano for a couple days to ski and see the snow monkeys. (I wrote a previous blog on the adventure.)
Last week my Japanese sensei’s surprised me again with arranging for a tea ceremony master/teacher to come in and perform a tea ceremony for us. Not only did I learn how the ceremony is conducted, but she taught me how to do it!
My adventures have continued with a wonderful photographic tour with a good friend and her little brother who both speak English. We went to two temples around the Takasaki area, and a wonderful lake. The recent snow that had detoured people from the outdoor sights created some breathtaking views and a magical photographers playground.
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Nagano Adventures
After a rush of work, I wanted to make the most out of my winter vacation. Thanks to some new friends, I was given the opportunity to make it over to Nagano for a mini-vacation.
The spectacular drive from Gunma to Nagano was wonderfully scenic. The winding mountian road was flanked by misty, fog-covered mountians.
Once in Nagao, we stopped by Zenko-ji Temple, which houses one of the first wooden Buddha statues in Japan. Along the walkway to the temple, the pedestrian street is lined with souvenir stalls and small restaurants. Past these and through the Ah-um, the massive statues that protect the temple, is a large brass vessel, protected by a lion statue. This is used for ceremonial incense and for the price of 100 yen (~$1 USD), you can get a bundle of incense to put into the vessel, and use the smoke to heal any ailments you may have. Inside the temple, there are prayer areas, a statue of Buddha’s student of medicine (which you can rub for the healing of aches and pains), and what I call the “Labyrinth of darkness”. For 500 yen you can wonder the basement labyrinth of the temple. I put my shoes into the plastic bag they gave me, and made my way to the stairs. Instructed by the pamphlet that said to keep my belongings in my left hand and my right hand on the wall, I ventured into the darkness with my two new comrades and delved into the pitch black. I used to work at a planetarium, so darkness doesn’t scare me, but even at the darkest in the planetarium there were small lights that you could use for guidance. The darkness came in ‘levels’ that could guide you to where you were or needed to be. Not here. In the basement was nothing to guide me but the cold wood that trailed under my fingers as I wondered through the blackness. I noticed after bumping into my friend ahead of me a few times, even my sense of sound was off from the echoing of the wrinkling of plastic bags, the voices of people behind me and the indiscernible footsteps. But alas, I rounded the last corner to the the faint trickle of light coming down the stairs of the exit.
When leaving the temples we stopped briefly for some Soba noodles, which I flavored with the pepper spices that are the signature cuisine of Nagano.
After the temple we made our way north to Nakano, which is famous for its Snow Monkey Park. The clan of 160 Japanese snow Macaques are unique for primates, as they are the only ones (other than Humans) that live at this latitude, bath in hot springs, and make snowballs to throw for fun. The Macaques have had 14 ‘bosses’, or alpha males since this clan started being observed and recoded for the park. The pictures of them can be found in the small gift shop/museum/place-to-warm-up near the onsen pools. The snow monkey park has an entrance fee of 500 yen, and it is recommended to go in winter, when the monkeys visit the pool to escape the cool air. We went in the late afternoon/early evening just before feeding time, and one of the park attendants was helping tourists take pictures with a macaque, using a call to get them to look at the camera. The first thing he said as I handed him my point-and-soot was “don’t look at him in the eye”. As an anthropologist, it think ‘duh’, but then I realize that many people probably haven’t read up on Diane Fossey and Jane Goodall, so here it is: Looking at a primate in the eye can be taken as a sign of aggression. If you challenge the wrong member of the group, it could get very dangerous very fast. With that safety tip out of the way, I highly recommend visiting this park, where it monkeys and humans walk amongst one another so easily and without fear.
At the end of the day, we checked into our share house (Guest House in Sazuka, http://www.ghkura.com) which is very reasonably priced, very clean, and was wonderful to experience a traditional Japanese house. They offer free Wifi, a Cafe, Bike rental, parking, and a big garden for barbequing and tent camping. Dorm beds start at 3,000 yen and is well located for both the Zenkoji Temple and the Monkey Park. When we arrived, we were greeting by a very nice English speaking staff, and they had complementary tea waiting for us. They able to give us some good recommendation for dinner, and I had my first experience with a sushi restaurant that the sushi is served via a conveyor belt that runs by the table, and a train that comes direct from the kitchen.
The next morning, we had a traditional breakfast at the guesthouse (300 yen) and then went to hit the slopes. In Sugadaria Kogen, the ski area of Nippon Davos (which is 3 smaller ski areas, Pine Break, Davos-Taro, and Davos) are located on the slopes of Mt. Neko-Dake (2,207m, or ~7,241 feet). A lift ticket (4,800 yen/full day) is good for all three areas, and offers an array of difficulty marked similarly to the states for easy, intermediate and difficult (green, red instead of blue, and black runs). Once we had our ski/snowboard rentals (3,800 yen/day) and all our gear to keep us warm (3,000 yen/day) we made our way to the lifts for some amazing powder, short lift lines and small crowds. To a ski junky, it was heaven.
A quick look at a future project
Its those small towns you have to watch for; My first month in Japan
It seems like yesterday I was taking the clunking, grumbling train from Tokyo out into the countryside. The bright blue sky and rolling green hills that meet with the blue grey silhouettes of the humidity shrouded mountains welcomed me across the interchanging fields and clusters of houses. For being part of the small school, my co-workers took me in to show me the local sights, and tell me of a few places to explore.
Every Friday night after work, the crew gets together and we would go out to the local sushi restaurant. The small wooden paneled room opens by a thin sliding door to the small sushi bar displaying the catch for wanting customers. In the adjacent portion of the room is an elevated wood platform, where as custom requires, we take off our shoes to sit on the floor around the low table. The man who runs the shop is nearly always smiling, and excited to try his English on us as a captive audience. It doesn’t take long for the place to get under your skin. As my co-worker said, the crowd there had developed the feeling of Cheers.
August through October is Festival season, which provides an excellent time to see the culture at its richest. Tomioka, Takasaki are two of the more popular towns for parades, fire works, dancing and street food.
Being mid-late summer, there is plenty to see and do in the surrounding area of the stat of Gunma. Known for hosting the 1998 winter Olympics, the mountains that offer skiing in the winter also offer exceptional trails for the summer. (And as a Colorado native, I’m picky with my trails.) The only disappointment that I encountered was that I didn’t get to see one of the indigenous primates – the Japanese Macaque. (I will just have to go find one at the famous monkey park this winter, which supplies hot springs specifically for the monkeys, where they swarm to bath in the masses during the snowy months.) Additionally in the area, mid summer offers sunflowers in full bloom. The fields, which are back-dropped by the luscious green mountains and sometimes blue sky offer a breath-taking photo to send home to make the friends jealous.
As far as the language barrier, most towns offer free Japanese lessons at the community centers or town halls. If you are planning on coming over to improve your Japanese (no-matter how much or little you know), these lessons could be bennificial.
Stay tuned as I check out the towns recently UNESCO world heritage site listed Silk Mill.
Culture shocked and lots of squiggly lines; Reasons I need to learn a new language.
I was checking onto my flight, mentally reducing the weight of my bag, and hoping it was under the weight limit. Since I had shoved the last few items in that morning, I figured it HAD to be over weight. I gave the ticket lady my passport and start through the pocket of my bag for the itinerary printout when I hear a mildly shocked “you’re kidding”. I stop the hunt for the paper and a million scenarios run through my mind. Is my bag that over weight? What if its my passport? Please don’t let there be something wrong with my passport. Maybe their computer is having trouble reading it. In the 1.5 seconds it takes for all of this to stream through my thoughts, she follows it up with ‘you have my name’. Tilting my head in genuine curiosity, all those scenarios disappear in a cartoon cloud of dust. We proceed to chitchat about how strange that I happened to end up in her line, when she looks back at my passport, then to me and starts to laugh. Tilting my head in question again, she clarifies ‘and we have the same birthday. Not the same year, but the same day and month’.
Once on the plane to Japan, knowing very little of the native language and with big plans to travel and sight see, I start to question how prepared I was. It turns out though, I wasn’t the only one on the plane with the “let’s wing it” view of language. With a sparse plane, I had a row to myself. Forehead pressed to the plane window, sprawled across two seats, looking down on the turquoise water of what I told myself was an uncharted island, I had my playlist for traveling drifting me into a whole story of castaways on that island. My fantasy was interrupted by a quick tap on my shoulder. Venesa, an Aussie taking a few weeks of her school break to go visit Japan, was in the row directly behind me, and thought that I looked to be a bit adventurous, and wanted to see what I had plan for my excursions. An hour later she had taken photos of my tablet and notebooks on her iPhone, and we were discussing the Mayan ruins she visited. We bonded a bit over the fact that neither of us knew that much Japanese. I downloaded a number of programs, and have picked up the very basics to get around town. (Your standard Hi/Bye, Please/Thank you/Excuse me,) and thanks to Naomi, learned to count to ten. (I owe you one Naomi, since that will come in very handy when finding train platforms.)
I had my first “crash course” today, going into the massive 7and i, (a 7eleven that rivals super Wal-Marts and is more like a 3+ story mall,) in search of food for the week and a notebook for my upcoming teacher training. It was somewhere in the rice isle that I started to panic. What was I doing!? I have no idea if that is a cooking sauce or a whole meal in the packet with the cartoon yellow rabbit smiling at me. And how do I find something that I know how to cook? I start to laugh (since really when I’m starting to have anxiety, what can you do about the situation but laugh it off,) and decide to put on my big-girl-adventurer pants and do what I can to find food, and pull it together and be willing to try something new. I decide on the minute noodles with the shrimp on the picture, and go in search of the other items on my list, agreeing to settle for the cultural equivalent. With the help of free WiFi and Google translate, I decided to stuff my pride and ask for help. The lady stocking shelves was very nice as I gesture to my phone with the translation of one of the items on my list, and am whisked off into the middle of the store. Once all my items had been gathered, I aim for the checkout. Turns out there are a lot of questions at a checkout counter that we take for granted when they are in our language. There was a question about getting a bag, and a surcharge for using a credit card. I can only hope that what I was understanding and agreeing to was what I thought it was.
My second challenge was the notebook. This I was a little better prepared for, but had to wonder around the store none the less. Saying the equivalent of “excuse me, notebook, where?” while miming writing on my hand I was directed from one store to another, with one girl knowing enough English to help me out. Before long I was in the stationary store.
My adventures of the day were successes and I learned about a dozen more words. I have high hopes for this adventure.
Update: I would like to recommend Byki Express for a free language learning program. If you need to learn it fast and be able to get the basics to get around, its the best program I’ve found.
TravelGypsea 