I'm on a Boat

I'm on a Boat!

At some point, I'll writ e my reflections on Japan. I want to quickly mention my trip to China. I opted for a sea voyage since it saved me around $700. I was a bit apprehensive for the voyage since I imagined myself cramped in a small room with three smoking Chinese guys. That probably would have been the case if the boast wasn't almost empty. There were about fifty passengers-naturally I was the only white person. I believe this gave me an air of mystique. This was clear just ten minutes in. I was strolling on the deck when two offish looking Chinese men came up to me and asked for a picture. I was familiar with this phenomenon from my previous three weeks being assaulted (at times) by Japanese school girls. But never by grown men. Clear, I would be cooler in China that I could ever dream of in Japan. I'm sure I was noticed by all on the boat. The twenty or so men occupied their day by constantly smoking, slamming cards on the table and howling lik e monkeys. But for the smoke, I woul d have joined them. But alas, I'm a whimpy californian at heart, and smoke is icky.

There was one young woman who took pity on my situation/saw an awesome opportunity to speak to an American. We had a broken conversation in English, I got her to teach m ea coupl e o f words in Mandarin. Of course, I mispronounce everything. But I figure it's a start. There was a brie karaoke session at night. But everyone was singing these overly romantic Chinese love ballads and since I would mispronounce ever words, I chose to not participate. I spent the 27 hour journey switching between sleeping, reading, chatting with a cheese girl. Who at the end of the trip told me tha t I looked like a terrorist and that my beard was very sexy. Huh?!

Welcome to China

So or course, at the small border/customs check they asked to search my bags. There were 50 Chinese nationals on the boat and me. Clearly, I stuck out. Four soldiers proceeded to watch as I unpacke d my bag. Didn't I get search in Japan,? I was asked. Of course not, why would they search me?! I answered. The guards seems more interested in my pictures on my camera than anything else. i had to show them how to page through more quickly through my pictures, otherwise they would probably be looking at this moment as well. The questions flipped back and forth from asking why am I in China (plenty of reasons I told them) to why am I in China for so short a time (I want a longer visa). I showed them the ten pictures or so I brought from home. They were very impressed by my parents pool.

The soldiers were particularly excited to hear that I would be traveling for a year or so. I know, I said, they should all quit the army and join me. I was just lucky, must be rich an d happened to be very handsome. Huh?! I thought for sure with a comment like that I could get one of them (preferably the one with the best English) to show me around the city. No dice. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with the next soldiers I meet.

last days in Japan

This was sent by AVI from China. Since he cannot post to blogs or Facebook..I am sending for him. Excuse all the typos..I am sure the keyboard must have been bad. I am supposed to edit/spellcheck. However I do not have time for this right now.
HIS MOM

Final Days in Japan

It's a bit hard to write about my finals days in Japan seeing how I just arrived in China and I'm being assaulted with differences. As a matter of note, I can't actually get into my blog (or facebook), which is a pain!

After Kyoto, I left for Okayama, I thought it would provide me with a more relaxed pace than Kyoto and it was halfway to Hiroshima (my next destination) and provided close access to Himeji-jo. Himeji is the oldest, best preserved castle in Japan. That's probably not accurate, let's call it the most impressive, old castle. Unfortunately, I was visiting in the middle of a nice day holiday. It seeme d lik e much o fJapan was traveling durin g this time, an d many of them chose the castle on this day. After an hour cure (I showed up fairly early too), I found a complimentary english guide. Joinin g me on the tour were three travelers from Hong Kong (obviously I pumped them for info re China). The cast is a great site, but the numbe r of people was a bi toverwhelming. What was supposed to take two hours was stretched into five. At one point, I was just waiting in a cue that would be more appropriate at Space mountain. I figure a day like that needed to be followed up with a couple drinks, which I found at a local Aussie bar. We watched Bruno, it's still funny the second time.

The short trip to Hiroshim ahad me arriving in the midst of a storm. Half an hour later (and with my pants fully soaked) I was in my hostel and off to start the day. Hiroshima is of course the site of the a bomb drop. I think it give the city a kin dof spooky feel. I should talk about the museum and the memorial, but I won't, save for two points. (1) The downstairs had what I thougth was the most interesting and touching exhibits-drawings and painting of survivors. For some reason, the mass of travelers left these rooms vacant, which made appreciating the exhibit possible. (2) What I also thought was interest was the Japanese explanation on why the bomb was dropped- to justify the US military expenditure on the research and production of the bomb.

For it's sad history, I felt Hiroshima was like the other Japanese cities i had visited, hoards of shops (I never knew the Japanese were such consumers) arcades, offic e buildings, fashionable people, etc. So I took this time to enjoy some o f my favorite things in Japan. I grabbed some people form the hoste ate great sushi and follwed this up with puti-cura (sp?) those little pictures taht only school kids are supposed to do. The next days was sadly my last sight-seeing day in Japan, which I chose to spend on the island of Miyajima. This is a perfect day trip from Hiroshima. You can see shrines in the morning, follow that up with a hot, sticky ascent to the top of teh island, enjoy the view and some monkeys. Cool off for a bit and catch a cable car down in time to see the sunset. I have some nice pictures and once I figure out how to upload again, I hope to share them with you. I should mention that I also walked through the shrine which means I will be granted enlightenment (as if there was any doubt!).

Better than the sceary are the pics from later that night. I met an Irish traveler named Warren a couple days earlier in Kyoto. We discussed meeting in Hiroshima to go out to Kareoke with a french girl that happend to be living there (we also met her in Kyoto). The french girl ditched us (no suprise) but in her place we were joined by an english gal named Kirsty (she was much cooler than the disaffected Frenchie) whom I spend teh day with at Miyajima. After showing up and polishing off 2 liters of sake we were good to go. I would say that the three of us were pretty god rock starts that night. We sang, danced on tables, spilled our beers, I even have a war wound (somehoe I cut my finger while playing the tamboreen). Too much fun. We rolled in around 5, and I'm happy to say that I remember teh whole night and without a hangover.

Come to Kyoto, please enjoy a temple of 2000

From the mountains, I went to Kyoto to experience traditional Japan in what some would call Japan`s true capital (not sure that I would agree). The amazing, yet scary thing about Kyoto is the quantity of temples. There are Buddhist temples, Shinto temples, Imperial shrines and even a temple dedicated to crazy Japanese haircuts, the central statue here has a feathered mullet, in case you were wondering. If you like temples, this is the place for you. Fortunately, I`m open to being inspired by a temple or two now and gain and I receive a cheat sheet listing the 10-15 temples I should visit.

I tried to take my time and pace myself at a rate of two to three per day, but at the end of the week, I was saturated and fairly templed out. I had my favorites. In truth, with a couple of exceptions, each of the temples would easily stand out on its own. The proximity to all the other great sites makes comparison easy and rather unfortunate. Invariably, my favorite temples were the ones experienced in proper conditions- not surrounded by tourists or overwhelmed with distractions.

Tori Tori Tori
One of my favorite places in Kyoto was the Fushimi Inari shrine in the SE part of the city. It certainly wasn`t the nicest temples, others were more elegant, dramatic and thoughtfully constructed. This shrine had a rather blunt approach. Build as many toris (red gates) as possible along a mountain path. It seemed to work just fine for me. I planned to arrive at dusk and the shrine was nearly deserted, which meant I was free to prance along the mountain paths undisturbed.

As I walked up the path, lit only by lanterns, I could hear crickets, cicadas, the flow of a stream and even my own breath. Climbing up this dark path had an almost spooky feel to it, as the shrine was filled with very traditional cemeteries. Then out of nowhere, perhaps out of the rising mist, I heard loud, really bad Spanish pop music. Stupid Spanish kids from Majorca-it seemed they were half expecting a club at the summit. I quickly ditched them and then I was back to crickets, spirits and ghost. The next time I have a date in Kyoto we`re going here. I just have to be sure to remind her not to wear heels.

Sometimes it`s the journey that matters most, and that`s true of this shrine. At the top, after all your hard work climbing up, you are rewarded with..... more toris and cemeteries. Each tori has an inscription written in Kanji (also known as intelligible character). While I`m not exactly sure what they say, I`m pretty sure the inscriptions are names of people who miraculously disappeared at the shrine or at the very least sacrificed monks to appeased the mountain spirits. I`m sure the shrines can be visited and enjoyed during the day, but the seclusion and the quiet are really what made this place special.

Nara, by Deer
Nara, about a 45 train from Kyoto is a strange place. It has what must be one of the nicest temples in all of Japan-Todai-ji, complete with a wonderfully transcendent Buddha. But the town is also filled with over 1,000 deer. I`m not talking about cute little bambis, these deer are some of the mangiest, domesticated, rudest deer you will ever meet. The locals claim the spirits of the deer protect the temples. I guess that`s possible, but I only noticed the constant smell of shit.

At Todai-ji there were hoards of kids, tour groups and deer. Vendors were selling special deer treats, which delighted both tourist and deer alike. As you approach the temple you hear laughter, exclamations of joy and shouts of fear as the deer get a little bit too friendly. But once you cross the main gate the focus is only on the temple. The two story gate itself is a sight to see, as its a magnificent wooden structure. Of course, few people notice the structure, most are concerned only with the smelly deer. I won`t bore you with details about this impressive temple of the fantastic Buddha within. Believe when I say it`s worth a visit.

As in the Byodin temple in Uji-about twenty min from Kyoto. Maybe I was just buttered up by the other temples I had seen up to this point, but I was particularly struck by this temple. Built as a conduit to the afterlife and as a place for reincarnation, which of course would be necessary after the expected apocalypse (don`t worry, I think they were planning for some 13th century apocalypse, so I think we`re in the clear), this templed is designed to resemble a phoenix. It has a nice Buddha and a modern museum on its grounds. If all the temples in Kyoto were presented with such elegance, and equally free from the ever present crowds, the temple experiences would have been even that much more powerful.

Takayama

After five days of hectic Tokyo, it was my plan to visit the countryside in the Japanese Alps- Takayama, for a change of pace. I figured this was a good opportunity to stay at a traditional Japanese Ryokan. The place I picked was perfect for what I was looking for. It was located in the center of town, had a lovely old lady as a host and best of all it was on a river, so i could hear the gentle flow of water at all times. I had the pleasure of sleeping on a tatami mat, wear a yukata, but best of all were my two meals a day, served in my room of course. Each evening I received something like 15 dishes of different goodness including; pickled veggies, steamed tofu, sashimi, salted fish, tempura and much more. Some of the dishes were delicious, others less so, but everything was different and fun to try. I twas a real feast.

On the way to Takayma, I hooked up with a young (18) year old Finish fellow traveling for the on his own. This was a his first solo trip, so as you can imagine he was quite excited. This enthusiasm was heightened by his experience in Tokyo where he picked up/or was picked up by a Japanese girl (and an older one at that!). Apparently, his mother was so shocked by the new that she didn't write to him for several days and when the response came, she simply asked, 'are we to understand that you have a girlfriend now?' Girlfriend, Ha!

I pulled my Fin away from staring at the women and we spent the next day strolling through town. Takayma is extremely charming, with historical houses and a very pleasant country feel to it. I've heard much about the natural host spring in Japan (onsen) and I decided to dip my toes it. We took a short train to an onsen town called Gero, which i believe translates to vomit. We then stumbled into the nearest onsen and after stripping down (totally) we confidently strode into the baths, holding only a small towel-big enough for the front, the back but not both. There were warm baths, hot baths, jacuzzi baths, cold baths and even a little sauna box. This place was heaven. My feet were finally happy and while i'm sure they still don't understand what they did to warrant the constant abuse, I think we've reached an understanding for the time being. Aside from soaking in the waters, I was also amused at the reaction from several children. I'm sure they repeatedly asked their fathers about teh funny looking white man, and why he has hair on his chest. Since this experience, i've been to several other public baths. They are always enjoyable, and despite the nakedness, i don't feel at all uncomfortable. There are time, like yesterday, where i catch Japanese guys staring at my junk (I can promise you it's nothing that interesting) and I don't don't really care. I've seen more naked Japanese men then i was expecting (the expectation for this trip was 1- surely a random crazy) and I hope to see more!

What's a Momosexual?

The Fin and I decided to meet up for drinks that nigh and rock the tow, as best we could before our respective curfews. The first place we went was a bizarre western bar, filed with photos of Hollywood in the 50's and blasting crappy western music. One drink and we were out, resolving to find a cooler place.

After wandering the street for 10 minutes, two random guys took pity on us/took advantage of finding two awesome companions for the night. Both were about forty, one spoke pretty good english, his name was Momo. Momo as in momosexual. I never caught the other guys' name since his english skills were weak, let's just call him Dave.

Momo quickly learned that were were clueless foreigners and had never even tried Qudo. What's qudo you ask? it's Japanese archery, old school, think sumurai style with a three foot bow and everything. momo insisted we try at his expense. I think the last time I shot a bow and arrow was about 20 years ago at camp. My goal here was three fold, not to get shot by the beginner next to me, not shoot anyone and not embarrass myself. Success on all accounts!The target was only about 20 feet away but the bow tension was pretty taught and i didn't know how to aim. The first round (10 arrows?) was a progression and everyone went nuts when I hit the target- high fives all around. By the second round, I was almost read to go pro, I got more than half the arrows on target, it makes a very nice twamp sound, and i even got a bulls eye. Clear, I advance quickly in my samurai training. Step two I believe is enslaving a village.

After shooting we went to grab a drink, isn't it usually the other way around? Naturally this went together with karaoke and since Momo is a total clown, it was fun singing with him. The best song of the night, was 'We are the World' (clearly his request). Momo and I are struggling through the lyrics and when we finally got to the chorus, Dave just erupts in full voice. Very funny, and a fun night for sure.

I've actually just finished my time in Kyoto and I'll be headed to Okayama today. Next time I sit down at a computer, I'll pull my thoughts together.

Happy Tokyo Good Time

For my last night in Tokyo, Melissa arranged for us to go out at one of her favorite restaurants-Kagayawa. It's difficult to describe, but the best that I can say is that it was an experience and I laughed a lot. If ever you are in Tokyo, you should go. I promise you will go home happy with a beaming smile across your face. I came prepared for a fun evening rocking a soft mohican (Japanese slang for a faux hawk), this was made easier by my rapidly plunging hairline (I prefer to say plunging rather than receding, since plunging sounds sexy...you never hear of receding necklines do you?).

The evening started with a robot in the form of an anime character bringing us warm towels while asking us our names. The proprietor- Marksan vividly described the drink menu by pantomiming an acting out the various options. i chose sake and was rewarded with a jug filled to the brim, with the spot being a penis (naturally). After that, Mark brought out the one menu with the front cover being a flower. He then proceeded to pretend that the opening of the menu was in fact an extremely graphic sex act between his fingers and the excited flower. As if this weren't enough, the flower was constantly calling out my name (I guess the fingers were my representatives). The best line came mid-coitus- 'oh Avi, you are sexual technician.' That's right ladies, not only am I qualified where it counts, but I can push your buttons like a machine. What did I go to school for this? You'll never know. This was followed later in the evening by a monkey had puppet diving headfirst into my crotch. On the one hand, I am pleased to report my first sexual activity on the trip, then again, it did come from the hands of this very bizarre man. The food was pretty good, but the act is what really made this a great place to dine.

Ka Ka Karaoke

From there we went to sing karaoke at Hayato's bar. I can't sing and if was only at Melissa's prodding did I step to the mic for the very first time. Even though it was only the three of us, I was petrified- the result being that I howled like a wounded dog. Melissa's encouragement put me in good spirits and after bringing sexyback we ended the singing with a spot on version of Joy to the World.

At this point, it was getting a bit late and my hosts had to work in the morning. We made one final stop at an arcade in Roppongi to take these mini pictures called putikara (sp?). These pocket size prints are geared towards high school girls making peace signs and couples in love. When foreigners enter the booth (at least when I've seen my friends pics) all bets are off and comedy ensues. The three of us pretended to be Godzilla, be butt biting bugs (I'll post a link later so you know what I'm talking about) and giz in our pants (naturally). It was a great night, a great day and a great almost week in Tokyo.

I really enjoyed Tokyo, I wonder how much of it has to do with two factors. Melissa's amazing hospitality and the comfort associated with that, and my current affect. I'm in a really good state of mind right now and open to pretty much anything. Tokyo has tons to offer. It's made me very excited to see what's to come.

Ice-creamwa dokko?

So I've landed in this strange and distant land. There's nothing much interesting to say about the travel except that for some reason I have not (yet?) experienced jet lag. Maybe it's because I didn't sleep on the plane and stayed up until 12 the first night. I'm not complaining, but until it hits me, I'm assuming I lucked out and it missed me. Let's hope the swine flu does the same.

I have the fortune of actually knowing someone in Tokyo, so after unceremoniously inviting myself over, I have a place to stay in Roppongi. My wonderful hosts Melissa and Hayato have been immensely helpful, and I think their warm hospitality is a large factor in my lack of culture shock/jet lag.

My first day here, Sunday, was World Hoop Day, and since Melissa is a hooper extraordinaire we headed out to the park. Melissa ensured me that hula hooping would help me overcome the jet lag- I think it has something to do with the swaying of the hips and movement of the humors in the lower intestinal tract. Like I said, I think it worked and with this empirical evidence, I believe the theory to be sound. Yoyogi is best known for it's Sunday scene, i.e. rock n roll guys and girls dressed up like dolls. But on this particular day we were actually part of the spectacle as Mellissa's friends were hula hooping in full force and certainly attracted a crowd. I bet I'm in the background of some tourist's photo, ha! Next we went to Chibuya where I was struck not just by the mass of humanity but by the fact that on this particular Sunday afternoon, everyone was under 30. It's strange enough to see so many people, but to see so many people of one demographic was odd indeed.

I wandered about yesterday, with the highlight being going to the Tsukiji fish market. I got up in time (5) to see some of the live auction, but just wandering the stalls in the early morning was quite the experience. This was faster paced, larger, crazier than any market I had seen. Mounds of odd sea life, fish butchers doin there thing, little motorized carts which threatened my safety. It was great to see. I loved the vibe, and surprisingly enough, I didn't stink like fish. I walked around the rest of the day through Tokyo and saw about four different neighborhoods, which were all very different. From my limited experience, I'm becoming a big fan of the city. Very intense, lots to offer, what other city's should aspire to.

About the food...I have had mixed results so far. My first night here we went to a tofu restaurant where they had many different ways of preparing the tofu and it was great. I went to a sushi place right outside the fish market and the fish was unbelievably fresh (I think i could feel in still writhing). But the costs are so high here, I'm a bit reluctant to try to find fine eats at every meal. For example my dinner last night consisted of a prepared salad from the local grocery (three bucks), my sushi breakfast yesterday where I had just enough to fill me up was about 35 dollars. So I'm trying to balance. There is one thing that I've fallen head of heals in love with and that's the apple pears. They're not cheap ~1-2 dollars but so refreshing that I can't help but buy myself one everyday.

My Japanese vocabulary is exploding, unfortunately this is a relative statement and I'm still totally clueless. Thanks to my hosts I've learned some very important phrases, not the least of which is 'ice-creamwa dokko?' I'll let you guess what exactly that means. (here's a hint it has to do with ice-cream and where it is). For some reason as I've asked locals girls to join me at the nearest love hotel, I don't seem to be getting a response. I think it has something to do with my pronunciation. Hopefully, I'll be able to fix that by the time I leave town.

I've started posting pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/avinagel/Japan# I hope you enjoy

To goal or not to goal

In the past when I've embarked on a new adventure, prior to the trip, I usually wrote several goals of what I hoped to accomplish. For example, I wanted to be a starter on my college basketball team, I tried my hardest not to use hair gel in Israel and of course I wanted to see local Peruvians doing coke during sunrise at a lame disco club. Check, check and check.

So, I've had some successes in the past, but what exactly am I looking to do with my time in Asia? It's really too broad a question, one that I expect to be asked constantly and if not explicitly by people I meet, it's certainly something I'll be thinking about. Let me ruminate awhile and maybe I'll have an answer in the future.

In the meantime, a couple thoughts on the matter:

• there are a handful of places I'm excited to see, the Great Wall in China, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia to name a couple
• I want to sample the 'local flavor' of where I'm staying- take that to mean what you want
• I want to get my scuba certification
• Hopefully learn some new and improve on existing skills, cooking, massage, the art of sleeping on a bus, drunken boxing.

I think that's a good start. Nothing too ambitious. I don't expect to unleash some magical princess or have some profoundly, introspective, personal journey. Just simple stuff. Also, I want to write more (one of the reasons for this blog).

So I'm off tomorrow. Not sure how well I'll be sleeping tonight considering wake up time is a matter of hours away. I'm very excited, this is going to be great!

I hope you have all had a great summer. I am about to embark on my Asian adventure, I leave this coming Friday to Japan. It’s all very exciting.

Life outside the labor force has been pretty good. After finishing up in Chicago, I drove back to California with my brother Ori. We spent three weeks on the road, stopping at eight national parks; lots of beautiful places. (One piece of advice, skip Rushmore and spend that time in the Badlands, you will not regret it). I’ve spent the past month hanging out by the pool, reading books and going up to San Francisco to see friends. As you can imagine, it has been very tough.

I’m not sure how much I’ll write or blog. It seems I do all my good thinking at times when I’m away from a pen or computer- car rides, showers, hikes, so I’ll just have to force it out somehow. The plan is to periodically send out emails (maybe once a month) and to update the travel blog as often as possible, which you can find at http://www.aviadventure.blogspot.com/ . I promise to start adding content in the coming days.

My tentative travel plan is to spend three weeks in Japan, take a twenty seven hour boat to China (sounds like fun, huh?) spend however long there I find enjoyable and then move overland into SE Asia where I’ll be testing the efficacy of my malaria pills. I have no idea how long I’ll be gone. It could be three months or much longer….we’ll just have to see.

A number of people have asked, why Asia? It’s different, the culture is varied and interesting, lots of great history, cool ancient sites, good weather, it will be quite a challenge (definitely a motivating factor), and it’s cheap. There are a lot of good reasons to go out East.

After reading a number of travel books this summer, I worry that I’ll fall into a similar type of analysis. It seems every travel book I’ve read follows the same general arc.
1. Travel to foreign land
2. Wow, these foreigners sure have some _ (bizarre, inspiring, primitive, etc.) ways
3. Upon further contemplation there is so much in common between our two countries/people
4. We are all beautiful humans

I’ll do my best to stray from such trite remarks. Instead, I’ll regale you with stories such as the time I defended myself from would be muggers using only King Fu acquired from Shaolin monks, or riding on the backs of dolphins in search of Atlantis and of course the time I united the yin and yang in a moment of transcendental bliss. None of which has happened yet, but I’m certain, it is all just several months away.

I look forward to periodically hearing from all of you and hope my journey serves as a small reprieve from the normal hustle and bustle. Any contacts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated (I think I have Japan pretty much figured out, but China right now is a blur) and in the event you feel like a little adventure, come and join me!