Ohanami and playing tour guide

May is ending here in Japan, and my first spring outside of the States was quite colorful and festive. I had my first experience of the Japanese tradition of the Ohanami, or flower-viewing get-togethers held in parks, river banks, and anywhere the Sakura(Cherry Blossom) trees were blooming. It was great to be in the company of friends, enjoying the warming weather, and seeing all the other families and parties enjoying their ohanami.



I also took the time to walk and bike around our neighborhood in Kashiba, and enjoyed the local sakuras in bloom.

I can't help but reminisce that a year ago Erin and I started our adventures in Door County with our wedding and a magical summer. Now, here we are in Japan, a year later. I think we've settled into our way of living here, day to day, but Japan is still so new and exciting to experience and share. We recently had a couple of out-of-town visitors, our first, and it was so great to show them around and share the things we've learned and seen since our arrival here last August.

Our first visitor was my buddy Mike, who came from Tokyo to experience Kansai for the first time. He's from back home, Lansing more specifically, but living and studying at Sophia Uni in Tokyo till August.
It was great fun to show him around, revisit some of the sights I haven't seen since we first got here, feed him some good food, and also create some new adventures.
We went to Osaka Castle, a Ninja Village and castle in neighboring prefecture of Mie(that's correct, a real Ninja village!!!), a little bit of Nara(where, on our way, we randomly met a great family from DC on vacation who happened to be lost and at our local train station of Goido. I played Nara tour guide to them and Mike for the afternoon, and it was a great twist of fate to have their company for a traditional Japanese lunch at a great little Okanomiyaki place our friend Elaine introduced us to), and a bit of Kyoto before he had to get back to Tokyo.






I forgot, I also had the great opportunity to meet up with kuya Rich, my cousin Corrie's husband(who we stayed with on New Years Eve in Tokyo), while he was visiting Kyoto for a day and a half with a friend. It was great to see him again, and another great chance to visit Kyoto.


And just recently, our friend Shotaro came to Kansai for yasumi(holiday) and I got to show him around and eat some really good food in Nara and Osaka. We actually met Shotaro through Rich and Corrie, he's a family friend who's from the Tokyo region as well. Haven't seen him since our first meeting around New Years Eve, so it was great to reconnect after so many months. Unfortunately, Erin was in Kobe for a JET conference, so she could not partake in the the Kansai sightseeing.

Also, this past month, there was Golden Week, which is a block of holidays at the end of April and beginning of May when many people utilize this precious time off for travel around Japan or abroad, or just relax and not have to worry about work. For us, we had the great fortune of spending a few days of Golden Week with our friends Chetan and Doug from South Africa, in the mountains of Mitsue Village, where Chetan lives. They are both JETs like Erin, and we had great fun. We actually met them up at the Ninja Village I mentioned earlier, but it was packed and late, so we just created our own ninja adventures and enjoyed the atmosphere. On this particular day there was a "Ninja Fiesta" as Erin translated from the banners, and a majority of the people, families, and patrons wore their ninja costumes. So, it was interesting to observe whole families, little toddlers, couples wearing the ancient garb of the ninja... not so sleathy when you're sportin' a pink ninja gi with a fanny pack strapped to your waist, but it's all in good fun.




This month we also met our friend Elaine's visitor, her good friend Nalini, who was coming from Dublin, Ireland to visit Elaine. We all bid her farewell at this great Okanomiyaki place in Nara(the one I later took the DC family and Mike to for lunch) that Elaine suggested. Great food and great company including Elaine, Nalini, Sarah, Jack, Erin and myself.

So that was our first Japanese Spring. I also kept quite busy playing gigs the past several months, but I'll put up another post for that news. The Sakura is definitely beautiful, and I can understand why it's been the subject of many a poem, song, and painting throughout Japanese history. The trees only bloom for a brief few weeks in the Spring, all over Japan, so it is a very special event and cause for celebration each year. I am thankful that we could experience this Japanese tradition with our new friends here.

Thailand

Just about every night since we came back, I've been dreaming of Thailand in one form or another. So, I figure that this is a sign that Thailand really made an impression on me. Whether that impression is good or bad, will be revealed as you read along.










First, I'd have to address that this was my first experience traveling to a: 1) tropical location,
2) destination that's visited by many travelers and tourists,
3) nation ruled by a king,
4) nation who's economy is largely based on tourism.
All these factors, and a few more I probably am not aware of, played a large part of dictating and coloring our time spent in Thailand. I also have to note that Erin planned this whole trip, so I really was clueless once we got on the plane. It stressed me out to not be in control and personally prepared as I usually am, but that's definitely my own fault.

It was quite hot and humid as we got off the plane and hired a taxi to take us to Bangkok to find a place to stay for the night. Our plan was to get to Bangkok, then in the morning book the rest of our trip through any one of the myriad of travel agencies in town. This advice was given to us by several friends who had already traveled to Thailand.
*Travel note: when traveling in a country that uses different currency, practice converting in your head with the most current exchange rates. It was a bit confusing to convert the Thai baht to Japanese yen to US dollars, so I decided to just think in terms of dollars. But that was still a challenge especially when you're in a time-limited situation, such as paying for something with a line behind you or just trying to haggle with a merchant, or dealing with a pushy tuk-tuk driver. Its always a good idea to internalize the exchange rate of your residing or home country to your travel country, or else you'll lose money or be really frustrated, or more than likely both.

Bangkok is a bustling mecca for street vendors of all types of merchandise from brand named and knock-off designer clothing to food. And there is an undeniable foreigner presence everywhere you look and turn in Bangkok. Actually travelers infest the city like ants at a picnic, except less organized and just as annoying! A dirty, tawdry veil hangs over Bangkok that can be exciting, challenging, scary, intimidating, claustrophobic, stifling, seductive, and real in the raw sense of the word. These aspects of the city we were not fully prepared for. I don't think you can, unless you've been there before, or are a seasoned traveler(which, we are not, but I'm very optimistic for our future travel endeavors!). If we go back to Thailand( I do hope so), I would personally like to bypass or spend as little time in Bangkok as necessary. I am learning that my interests in traveling lie not in the consumerism of tourism but in the exploration of a culture and people in the most genuine and authentic experiences. Money easily corrupts the natural state of being in many cases, and I felt this notion at work in Bangkok. With that said, if you're looking for a shopping bonanza, Bangkok is right up your alley. Other vices can easily be acquired and satiated within Bangkok as well, but that doesn't interest me personally.

As for the look of Bangkok, it's cramped, on the dirty side, but alive and constantly moving, with music everywhere. Not just literal music, by a symphony of street sounds, people singing, tuk-tuks tukking, dogs howling, and food being cooked. There's geckos on the walls or your room and bathroom, flying cockroaches, stray cats and dogs everywhere, children bathing in a basin on the street, tuk-tuk drivers hustling for your money, street food vendors are everywhere, and I even saw a cart at night being pushed through the crowds selling what I guess is a Thai delicacy, insects... for eating! No joke. Bangkok is not for those looking for a relaxing vacation, which is why we limited our stay for a night and day, just enough to get some sorta bearings and move onto our planned destination, the island of Koh Chang, a tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand, near the Cambodian border. Most of the island is actual rain forest, but it is fast growing into a tourist hot spot along the coasts.











*Travel note: I mentioned tuk-tuk, which are three wheeled taxis that zip around and through traffic in Thailand, taking passengers from A to B, often times unpredictably to random stops at shops or restaurants which have a deal with the driver to bring patrons to their establishments. We read about this tourist scam in our Lonely Planet Thailand book, but did fall trap to the tuk-tuk scam. Notch 1 for lesson learned. We also learned that these tuk-tuk drivers are actually employed by the government, and earn a regular wage, so the money you give them is really only a tip for their services. If you're ever in Thailand, remember this if a tuk-tuk driver tries to hassle you for money! The king is already paying this guy, don't be fooled.

We got the hell outta Bangkok on a night bus for a five hour ride to our ferry,
which would take us to the island of Koh Chang in the early morning sun. Yet, another adventure awaited us when the bus, having stopped at the ferry dock early, decided to head back to Bangkok or wherever it was going, with us still on it! We were just waking up to a still dark and hazy morning, when our young guide motioned it time to get off the bus. As we gathered our things, the bus started moving with us and two other travelers still on, but thankfully the driver stopped enough to yell at us and drop us off up the road to walk back to the ferry docks. Crisis averted! This was some way to wake a person up! After this little episode I made a conscious decision to stay on my toes until we reached our final destination.

At this point I'd like to pause for a moment and say that my overall experience in Thailand, warts and all, was a positive experience. In this trip I've been reminded that through mistakes and faults we can truly appreciate what we have learned from our experiences. I don't believe that's the only way to learn, but it surely cannot be ignored as a viable learning process. I believe it was James Joyce that said, "Mistakes are the portals for discovery."
Our experience in Thailand did put Joyce's insight to the test, and I'm grateful for that. This trip also helped us to appreciate Japan more, as silly as that might sound. Not that Thailand was horrible, but rather very different to the way that we have grown accustomed to living here in Japan. When we arrived at KIX airport(Osaka) in the morning and took the limo bus into Osaka, a wave of security and familiarity came over us and, in that instance, Japan became more than just a place we're living currently, it became a home. In all my life prior to that moment, I would've never imagined that I would call Japan "My Home." It was an epiphany that will forever widen my scope and perspective on the world and my place in it.

I think this experience in Thailand also gave us a tiny insight of what we might expect for our travels to the Philippines. Though, we'll have the support and guidance of having my family to show us around and take care of us, which I think will make that visit much less stressful than exploring Thailand on our own for the first time.

So, back to the ferry. Our travel agent in Bangkok, who helped us arrange the rest of our trip(she was super nice and funny, but looking back, I wonder if we got duped as well... distracted by kindness) told us from this point on we wouldn't have to worry about anything, or so we thought. Looking for the public bus to take us to our destination, we noticed pick-up truck taxis loaded up the various backpackers right off the ferry to take them to their destinations about the island. Within minutes, we were left, too late to realize there were no public buses. The remaining taxi drivers who couldn't fill their cabs with passengers pounced on our novice mistake like cats toying with a mouse. They were trying to charge us three times the amount of a normal fare, which in part I could understand because they would only be taking two passengers instead of a full load, thus making up for the loss in passengers' fares, but it was a tactless game of haggling that we surely did not want to engage in. This survival type mindset that much of Thai economy revolves is surely not how Japan runs, so naturally we were not prepared, not in the right mindset to constantly be on guard. It was this aspect of traveling in Thailand that made an otherwise beautiful and peaceful trip turn into a stressful, frustrating affair. The rest of the trip, once we got to our final destination, was much as we had intended it to be, lying about in hammocks, enjoying the sun and beach, eating, meeting nice people, and just relaxing.

The island of Koh Chang is beautiful, relatively peaceful(the further south you go), and the locals were extremely friendly and hospitable. The beach near our bungalow hut is called Lonely Beach, and the water was as warm as a bath. The beach was inhabited by almost all foreigners, a majority of the visitors here on Lonely Beach and Bailan were from Sweden, Norway, Austria, and various other European countries. We also heard a lot of Russian people like to frequent Koh Chang recently.
We also had the great fortune of having an amazing herbal sauna near our accommodations, Bailan Herbal Sauna, where we enjoyed massages and sauna treatment several times. It was my first time in a sauna, and this particular sauna was amazing inside, lit up by the outside lighting coming through glass bottle windows. The beams of light pierced through the steamy haze; these bars of light cast soft shadows like a Rembrandt painting in select areas within the sauna, as if the heat were melting any hard lines and blurring any clearly defined shapes. I know my description can't do the experience justice, but it was very memorable not only visually but great for the body as well.

We explored our area of the island some more, and one day we met a local artist, our new friend Panya, who was taking care of another resort called the Mangrove down the road from our bungalow place. He was super cool, spoke English, and very friendly telling us about the island things to do and see. He also graciously lent me a guitar for a few hours while we hung out and talked and ate lunch. Till this point, I had been in music withdrawl, and it was like godsend that Panya offered me access to a great, beat up guitar the kitchen staff keeps in the back to play and sing Thai pop songs during their breaks. I realized, too, on this trip that I will never travel anywhere without some kind of musical instrument. I totally felt incomplete without one.

Once we were able to settle from our transit from Bangkok to Koh Chang, we were able to take in the natural beauty of the island. The sunset was breath taking. Not since living in Door County last summer have I seen such a gorgeous sight. It was truly inspiring to be witness to such natural wonder. Here are some pics that Erin took with her new camera.





Overall, Thailand was a great experience. I do want to go back to explore the natural and historical wonders of Thailand, since we had a short time this trip. It was a great learning experience as well, the kinda experiences you can take with you throughout future travel endeavors or pass onto others in shared knowledge. We did have a fun and really got to relaxing at least for a few days. Traveling in Thailand is super cheap, as far as food, shelter, and shopping goes, and there is an enourmous market of knock-off brand names and "real" brand name merchandise you can buy in Bangkok. The area in Bangkok we stayed around was the famous Ko San Road, good for drinks and shopping and I'm sure just about anything else if you look hard enough.

I'd really like to go back to Koh Chang island to do the things we didn't have time to do, like check out the many waterfalls on the island, go jungle trekking, ride an elephant, and just see more of Thailand. We talked with several of the business owners on the island, both Thai and foreigners, and they voiced their concerns that Koh Chang is developing at a lightning pace, and probably withing the next five to seven years, this little, quiet island will become as bustling and overdeveloped as many other areas in Thailand. Which is a shame. This reminded me of past conversations about over development and the raping of natural resources I had shared with locals when we lived in Door County. These business owners of Koh Chang had decided to start their little ideas there because of the quietness and peacefulness of the island, but it's unfortunate that these aspects may fade with the developing tourist commerce. I hope the best of the island, the businesses, and the people.