Japan Part 2: Final Day of our Big Adventure

As with the initial leg of our trip, our flight returning to the US also included an all day layover in Tokyo, allowing some Japanese bonus adventure. The overnight flight from Bangkok to Tokyo lost 2 hours traveling east across time zones, and the 3 hours of sleep we got on the plane might have been enough at the beginning of the trip, but not near the end. So we promptly crashed for 2 more hours of rest in the Tokyo terminal before heading out for our second, and final, day of Japanese sightseeing.

The first day of our trip was spent in Tokyo; for this last day of our trip we elected to head out of the city, to the Hakone National Park area. It’s about 90 minutes out of the city by train, and within view of Mt. Fuji. Arriving in the town of Hakone, we got lunch before switching trains. We decided to save money on this meal, and picked up prepared microwaveable meals in the 7-11 there. It was good though, mine was with shrimp. And yes, they have 7-11s all over Japan and Thailand, maybe the most common business we saw! Then we caught a little train that zigzagged up the mountains until we got to the little town of Gora. From there we took an incline railway about a mile up to Sounzan, and the views were getting really nice. At Sounzan, we switched to a gondola lift that takes its passengers up and over the exploded remains of the Hakone Volcano Kamiyama. Steam continually escapes the ragged cavity at the top of the mountain.

Then the gondola crests the far side of the mountain top, and Mt. Fuji comes into view in the distance. The top was ringed by clouds at our first view, and the gondola took us down to Lake Ashinoko, a crater lake 4 miles long, formed along the caldera wall of the volcano. The tour boats that traverse the lake are replicas of seventeenth century man-of-war pirate ships! They seem kind of out of place, and the Japanese kid aboard in a pirate costume really didn’t look quite right, but it all added a fun aspect to things.

At the far end of the lake we chose to walk a section less than a mile long before catching a bus. Along the way we walked the path of the old Tokaido highway from the 1600’s, built in the Edo period (photo below). It was lined by Cedar trees, and those same cedars still line the road today. Reportedly, the road appears today just as it did in the 1600’s . . . though the trees would have been shorter the first few decades!

Finally caught the bus, then the train, and returned to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport with a couple of hours to relax, eat, and get online before boarding our overnight flight back to LAX and home.

Our whole trip has been a great adventure. But then international trips always are. :)

(Accessing the internet at Haneda Airport, with our airplane and jetway in the background)

Final Day in Bangkok

Our overnight train from Laos brought us back to Bangkok at about 8 in the morning on Thursday. Some of the people we met/saw on the trains: a young American/Thai/Lao family of four going back to visit relatives, an older German man who talked incessantly, a middle-aged German who lives in Laos and treats the locals with typically German disrespect, an American from Hawaii, a group of Irish 30-something women who drank and stayed up late, a number of other western backpackers, and various Thais and Laos.

Ying picked us up at the Bangkok train station, along with her friend Soda (or Da, for short). They took us around on some final sightseeing, first to an old military ship in a park near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, where it opens into the Gulf of Thailand. We were free to meander through the whole ship.

Leaving the park, we spotted a big reptile on the side of the little road and stopped to take pictures. Daniel classified it as a monitor lizard. Its length was 4-5 feet.

Next, Ying and Da took us to a spot to catch a ferry across the wide mouth of the Chao Phraya to a market area. Loads of fresh seafood, some dried, some still breathing and jumping out of their displays onto the surrounding floor space, where they were quickly picked up and returned to their displays. In addition to the seafood, other meats, also lots of produce of kinds both familiar and exotic, and the spices that give the flavor to the Thai dishes we’ve been enjoying. A few pictures here, more in a Facebook album labeled Final Day in Bangkok.

The four of us then stopped at a little sidewalk restaurant for lunch, good food as always. After lunch we headed back to Jai and Ying’s home, and Jai and I were able to have a very good and meaningful conversation about some of the things I wrote about earlier.

As evening approached, Daniel and I were invited along with Jai and Ying to the home of another couple from the church there, for supper. Like Jai’s house, theirs was also a fairly large home with nice features, but I noticed there was almost no furniture visible. Nearly all of it was still upstairs, where they had moved it in preparation for the flooding that recently plagued central Thailand. Their home didn’t suffer, but there was no way to be sure ahead of time how bad the flooding would get in any particular area.

Finally, we departed, Jai and Ying driving us out to the airport for our late-night, overnight flight to Tokyo. We would still have the following day in Japan, but at this point we felt our trip beginning to come to a close. In the airport we changed our Thai baht into dollars and yen, and said goodbye to our new Thai friends Jai and Ying.

(some of the spices that give so much flavor to Thai cooking)

A Few Little Tokens

There will still be another post for a broad general audience, but this one is for my nieces in particular.

I picked up 7 jade bracelets in the market at Yangon Myanmar, one for each of you, including my newest niece, in Odessa. Since I won't see you all together for quite some time, the first one to check my blog gets first choice! I'll have a private entry on my facebook page, visible to family only, where you can stake your claim. :)

By the way, for some reason A and C look darker and duller than they actually are.

Click pic to enlarge.



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Laos for Lunch

Well, the side trip to Laos just kept getting shorter and shorter. (photo: Mekong River; Laos on near side, Thailand on far side) We had intended to spend a night or even two in and around Vientiane, Laos’s capitol city. Spend some time in town, and some time in the area out and away from town. But trains and buses have a very limited schedule (3 trains per day, but all within a couple hours of each other, in the evening; all overnight trains), and things kept us from leaving until Tuesday night; and our flight out of Bangkok to Tokyo on Thursday evening precludes us from staying in Laos Wednesday night. Additionally, we had to choose the earliest return train the following evening, as tickets were sold out on the others. So, we would arrive at 8 a.m. next to the Laotian border, then cross and find ourselves in Vientiane, and we would have to meet the early return train at 6:20 pm. So at least we would have 9 hours or so.

Alas, it was not to be. Our train left Bangkok quite late, and then lost more time en route to the border. Our overnight train ended up arriving at the border area after 10 am instead of 8 am. So essentially, we ran around a little in Vientiane, ate lunch, ran around a little more, paid a fine to a police officer that will never reach the books, and headed back for the train station.

The running around was fun though. Right after enjoying mango slushies at the first little stop we made in Vientiane (and they were much better than ordinary slushies), we rented motorbikes. We’d been seeing hordes of motorbikes everywhere we went, and seeing how advantageously they weave through stopped or slow traffic, so at $6 apiece for several hours of use, we took the chance to rent them and have some fun. We explored upriver a couple miles along the Mekong, which separates Laos and Thailand. There we found the Kong View restaurant. Pricey by local standards ($23 total for the two of us), but the food was great. I had Fresh Mekong River Fish, fried, served with a spicy sauce and a sweet and sour sauce, and also a plate of 4 spring rolls stuffed with pork and shrimp. And they had internet access so I could post my Sunday/Monday entry.

Then it was back on the motorbikes exploring somewhat blindly through town, and eventually it was time we figured out how to get back to where we had rented them. Lots of one-way streets in the area. Making a u-turn just before reaching an intersection, I wondered if this were a one-way street. But then, we had seen PLENTY of motorbikes going the wrong way or on the wrong side in each country we’ve visited – they seem to have a universal exemption. So I wasn’t that worried. But then all those others weren’t Americans, who are ripe targets for extortion. As it happened, we found out quickly that it was indeed one-way, and NOT the way we were now progressing. Our progress was stopped short by a couple of uniforms on foot who said we would have to go to court the next day. Of course that was not in the cards for us, as we MUST be in Bangkok tomorrow for our evening flight to Tokyo and then to home. So they eventually said we could just pay them on the spot (which I’m sure they had in mind from the start), 80,000 Kip each ($10 US). We knew this was not an official transaction, so we also knew it was negotiable. We started out requesting 80,000 both together, and they eventually came down to 100,000 together. But we didn’t have enough Kip, so we figured that was close enough to $10 US, offered it, and after their own consultation, they accepted the $10 bill and gave us our passports back.

Finally it was back to the motorbike rental place, then to a taxi, then to the border, then across the border and to the Nong Khai train station where we caught our train back to Bangkok. It’s a dirty old train (same kind as last night), but it has sleeper cars (as last night), so we like it. Against any expectation, Daniel spotted an electrical outlet between the seats, so I’m plugged in and typing this up as we ride back toward Bangkok.

Sunday and Monday in Bangkok

I’d been looking forward to this leg of the trip for different reasons than for the other areas on the itinerary, as there is a church here in Bangkok. A young Thai Christian is attending boarding school in Pennsylvania, and attends the assemblies of the church where my brother Jeff is, and so I had been put in contact with this young man’s father, Jai. He is a deacon in the church here in Bangkok. Jai in fact invited me to preach, and that turned out to be an invitation to preach in their morning assembly, teach their Bible class for English speaking members, and then preach again in the evening.

Our initial face to face meeting came at the Bangkok airport, when Jai and his wife Ying picked up Daniel and me, to spend the night in their home. They are a very kind, hospitable, and welcoming couple – Ying had snacks for us as soon as we got in the car – and they are eminently likeable! (speaking of Jai and Ying, not the snacks! -although the snacks weren't bad)

Activities on Sunday with the brethren consume the whole day, though we took absence part of the time and explored the market areas near the meeting place, buying some street food to satisfy our hunger. The church here engages in some things I can’t conscientiously participate in, and that led to some awkwardness, and also a bit of regret on both sides, but it was a very enjoyable day otherwise.

In the morning assembly, I preached about the secularization of churches – that they miss their God-given mission when they adopt secular activities not authorized; I also briefly outlined my approach to determining what the mission of the church is.

The English speaking class was made up of an American who lives here, several Phillippinos, a Liberian who’s on a soccer team here, a girl also of African descent though I missed what country she is from, and a few others of unknown nationality, plus Daniel and me. Instead of just teaching my own topic of some kind, I asked if they perhaps had questions they would like to discuss. The first concerned non-Christians partaking of the Lord’s Supper – the questioner said he had observed a lack of teaching about this in the church here in regard to long-term visitors. The second question was from a Phillippino girl who is dating a Muslim: “Is it sinful to marry a non-Christian?” There was much good discussion about this question with really good comments from several people, and I think the girl involved decided not to make any commitments too quickly. That discussion then led into a discussion of divorce and remarriage: another good discussion, in which some learned that a person might legitimately remarry if they put away their spouse for adultery. It was a good class.

In the evening, I preached from Philippians, talking about personal conflict (Euodia and Syntoche), and all the aspects of the epistle which relate to that personal conflict. It’s a study of the letter that I really enjoy, and only discovered about 4 years ago. And it’s applicable in any church where interpersonal problems might occur . . . which, I think, means any church, period.

A final word about preaching that day: my translator was a young man who has just returned to Bangkok after studying at the Sunset School of Preaching. His English was very good, but he was also very good at conveying my tone: gestures and emphasis were carried very well in the translation – not that I noticed it, as I was focused more on what I was saying, not what he was saying. But Daniel relayed that report to me. It’s great to work with a great translator (which I also enjoy with Andres back in Long Beach).

By the evening assembly, a young just-married coupled had returned from their wedding in the States – she’s American, he’s Thai. In the announcements, it was revealed to everyone that her maiden name is the same as my last name, Smelser! The translation through headphones was a little slow, so the first I knew of this was as the new husband got up and stepped back to our pew (they were sitting right in front of us), asking whether my last name were indeed Smelser. I replied yes, and he said his wife’s name was also! Quite a surprise.

Jai and I both want to discuss my matters of conscience before I leave, but the opportune time to do that (Tuesday evening, right now as I am writing) turned out to be a time he was not available after all. He was going to be traveling with us right now, but then it turned out he needed to stay home. I don’t want to leave without talking with him more in depth about those things.

More about the street food: Bangkok is famous for it! Stalls and carts occupy the sidewalks, and food is cooked on the spot: shrimp, pork, chicken, squid, fish, fried bananas, and vegetables as well. Fresh fruit is sold in cut pieces: watermelon, mango, pineapple, etc. Whole meals over noodles or rice are also available in some of these areas. One can spend more money than planned, walking along these sidewalks!

On Monday, we went and toured , a canal area with floating markets. Shops line either side of the canal, with food also being prepared, cooked, and sold on the narrow boats. Really cool area. We chartered a boat for $5, bought food from another boat (photo), and ate as we were taken out into the nearby river. Upriver maybe a mile, we disembarked to explore an old fort, where there was (of course) another Buddhist structure with another Buddha inside. There were also animals at this location: goats, a mongoose, a porcupine of some sort, pheasants (our kind and an Asian kind), monkeys, a black bear, Asian deer, etc. On the way back we stopped at yet another Buddha site – this time with an incredibly carved wooden interior. It was truly intricate and magnificent work.
The wooden floor planks were 3-4 feet wide, and ran 30 to 40 feet long, solid, the length of the building. Came from some big trees.

On the way back into Bangkok, although it was getting dark, we stopped by a little spot where monkeys in the wild are known to live. Sure enough, as we pulled off the road, we immediately saw their shadowy figures up on the power lines. Walking closer we heard them jumping around in the trees and making their excited calls. A little peninsula of land went out between a small river on the right and a little marshy area on the left, and the monkeys began to appear everywhere. It was great. Having never been around wild monkeys, it was also a little intimidating walking within feet of them as they ran around and across this little peninsula in the near darkness, knowing they can make nasty bites if they wish, but I did reach out and stroke one on its back as it passed. He glanced back but seemed undisturbed. Later, as one was sizing up Daniel, and stepping away from me, I reached out a little too quickly, prompting him to turn and make a somewhat threatening motion toward me! Another swiped angrily at Daniel when he got a little too close. Others sat more calmly, letting us photograph them, though good photos were few.

Today, Tuesday, was a fairly slow day. We got a late start, and walked around Bangkok for a while, seeing more centers of Buddha worship. The ornateness of these places amazes us both, though gaudy is sometimes the better word.

Now it’s Tuesday night, and Daniel and I are onboard an overnight train to Nong Khai, just across the border from Vientiane, the capital of Loas. We will arrive there in the morning, and cross into Laos for the day. We had hoped to spend longer in Laos, but didn’t quite have time to make the train that left last night. Not sure when I’ll next have access to post this!

Yangon Layover

Bidding farewell to Kalaw, we stepped into the minivan taxi Alex had specifically arranged to take us the hour drive to Heho, whence we would fly to Yangon. The road to traverse is only about 20 miles, but the hour time estimate is accurate. It sounded like that old minivan was going to fall to pieces on that rough road. He got us there on time, though, and we flew to Yangon.

In Yangon we had about 6 hours before our flight to Bangkok, so we went to leave our packs at the left luggage department. That department consisted of a 5 foot long desk backed up nearly to the window wall of the main terminal. Between the desk and the window a couple of employees sat waiting for any business. They charged us $1 per pack, we said we’d be back in about 4 hours, and they placed our packs under the desk – no claim check. At some points the desk wasn’t even manned, but the packs were undisturbed. Regarding this and security as well, I think the descriptive term for habits at the airports in Myanmar is “airport casual.”

Outside, we arranged for a taxi driver to take us into the center of Yangon for a few hours, to the main market area, and to a couple of Buddhist pagodas, and return to the airport, for $25. Yangon is a large city, but retains the third world feel. In the center the streets were full and we parked a block away from a little footbridge up, over, and down again – walking over it we arrived in the market. We explored the part that took up a complete city block under one roof. Innumerable little shops selling antiques, clothing, jade, sandalwood carvings, trinkets, paintings, jewelry, food (both hot and in grocery form), tourist junk, and a dozen other things. Going through the hot food section was intense. Tables line the main path through, and farther to the left and right are the cooking stations. Immediately upon starting through the main path, I realized gauntlet was a better word for it. Two at a time from opposite sides of the path men and women were insistently entreating us, pointing to their tables, their menus, and their food prep areas. As our steps took us farther, more from tables farther along began barking at us, while the former ones continued. We were planning to eat at the same café across from the airport as previously, so we could simultaneously use their wireless, and managed to escape this part of the market unscathed.

Our taxi driver then took us to a Buddhist pagoda, particularly, the “reclining Buddha.” Under an open air roof lay a giant Buddha, over 200 feet long (notice actual people at bottom right of photo for scale). The robes are overlaid with gold leaf. Still, it looked comically foolish, and unworthy of the reverence being given to it by the worshippers present. But then, any man-made thing is.

Next was the Shwedagon Pagoda. Incredible complex, which I will allow the photos to describe. People there were separately touring, chanting in unison, lying around, taking photos, and pouring ceremonial water for purposes unknown to me. In the words of Forrest Gump, “and that’s all I have to say about that.”









Then it was back to the airport. I retrieved my laptop from the the Left Luggage Department and we went across the street to the café where we had eaten and wifi’d on the way into Myanmar. We ordered, and requested the key for wireless. Finally a woman came out and said I would have to pay 15,000 Kyat ($15) for a wireless card for all-day access. We said that wasn’t necessary when we had been there a few days before; we had been able to pay $1 for one hour. Her English was minimal, so we couldn’t tell if she was denying that was a possibility, or just ignoring what they had previously allowed us, or if she didn’t really understand what we were saying. The back and forth went on longer than was comfortable, but finally she went away and came back with the code and we had our dollar per hour service again.

A couple of hours later, we retrieved our luggage and boarded our flight back to Bangkok.

Trekking Through Tribal Villages Near Kalaw

After the delayed flight from Yangon to Heho – allowing us to eat at the restaurant mentioned in the previous post – we took a taxi from Heho to our final Myanmar destination, the mountain town of Kalaw (kah-LAW), population 20,000. Here we would meet Alex (Pho Kyaw) who would guide us trekking through the mountain tribal villages in the surroundings of Kalaw.

Alex greeted us as soon as we stepped out of the taxi at Hotel Parami. Since our arrival there had been delayed we were not able to start trekking that day. Instead we took a room in Hotel Parami ($8 per night, per person, including breakfast and sporadically hot water), and then Alex walked us up a small mountain at the edge of town, topped by a Buddhist structure. The three of us sat at the top, and talked about the trek to begin on the next day, about politics and the past and future of Myanmar, and about religion. It had already been my impression, but it became obvious now that Alex is a thinking kind of man and I looked forward even more to the 2 days the three of us would be walking across the countryside together.

Coming down from the mountain, we three walked a block past the hotel and got a late supper at “The Everest.” Then Daniel and I settled in for a good night’s sleep, to wake at 7, breakfast at 7:30 (Daniel got scrambled eggs, I chose the omelet – but the omelet was just eggs, so they didn’t actually look much different!), and start the trek at 8. With our approval, Alex had accepted a third party to join us for the first of our two days. She was a physical trainer from San Francisco, former fundamentalist and currently “more of a Buddhist.” The trekking was up and down over the mountains, with packs carrying warm clothes for the night, lightweight sleeping bags, and bottled water. The scenery was beautiful, with lush growth in uncultivated sections, and various crops of the tribal peoples in the valleys and the on mountainsides (tea, oranges, cauliflower, garlic, chilis, bananas, rice, carrots, mustard, tobbaco, coriander, chiote, pumpkin, and I’m sure I’m forgetting others). Along the way Alex told us all about the various plants, wild and domesticated, and how the peoples harvest them and make use of them, both for food and medicinally. The paths we took were mostly single track footpaths, but some were wide enough that they would accommodate a car (though none are back there in the mountains), and a couple of times we went along railroad tracks.

The first day’s trek took us through a handful of tribal villages, where we saw chickens, pigs, and water buffalo, as well as the people drying tea leaves, boiling ginger root, putting rice through a process removing the husks, etc. The harvest of tea leaves is a communal affair. You pick the fresh tea leaves off the plants in your field every five days. You bring them home and lay them out to dry in the sun, turning them to completely dry. On the days waiting for that 5th day to roll around when fresh leaves will be present, you help others pick their fresh tea leaves, and of course you have their help on your 5th day. The homes in the villages were more substantial than I expected, but that is only because I was expecting straw huts or the like.

Ten miles later, and around 5:00, we arrived at the bamboo forest at the edge of a village where we would spend the night in the home of a teacher who had moved there to teach in the village school. It happened to be the largest home in the village, perhaps 20x30, divided into 4 rooms. There was no furniture, save for the small, low table in the kitchen, and 3 very small stools, about 4” off the floor. In the largest room, there were two thick pallets of layered blankets laid out on the floor next to each other for both Daniel and me. An assistant of Alex had gotten there early, per Alex’s instructions, and begun the food preparation for our supper: pumpkin soup, rice, green beans with egg, mixed vegetables and a couple other dishes as well. Upon our arrival that same assistant took the San Francisco “more of a Buddhist” a couple of hours further to where she would catch a taxi back to Kalaw. Alex and the teacher finished the meal prep and Daniel, Alex and I sat on the tiny stools around the little table to eat. EXCELLENT meal. The teacher ate separately after we were done.

In the large room afterward, Alex played some of his music from his mp3 player for us, and then Daniel and I set about to think of some games we could play without cards or anything. Daniel came up with paper football, and set to making the ball. As he and Alex played the first game, using the pattern on the vinyl flooring (that was a surprise) for goal lines and boundary lines, a couple of villagers came by to visit: a man in his 40’s or 50’s, and a boy about 10 years old. So as I played Alex, Daniel made another ball and we had two games going side by side. They took to it quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it. We hope to hear of paper football being played all through the tribal villages in a year or so! Later we spun coins to see whose coin would stay up spinning the longest, and noticed the boy’s method of spinning, using only one hand and not using a finger to flick the coin, but spinning the whole set of fingers to set the coin spinning. Next he used a different method, spinning his fingers in the air that way and letting the coin fly out to land and continue spinning. We were impressed!

We slept well, and woke to a breakfast of rice with a chili soy sprinkle, fried chiote prepared similarly to fried green tomatoes, and some more things Daniel and I don’t recall at the moment, but it was all good. Started the day’s trek and within 20-25 minutes arrived at a train station among the villages. Produce was being set up for sale along the tracks for all those passing through, and shops were open as well. We stopped in one where Alex ordered Lassies for us. No real idea how that should be spelled, but that’s what it sounds like. It was a yogurt drink, cold, but with a taste completely foreign to me and not entirely good. Daniel loved it. For me, the best part was the undissolved sugar at the bottom of the glass.

In a couple of later villages Alex introduced us to a couple of old ladies. The first was 88, and not in great health. She was sleeping on the porch of their little house when we arrived, but woke up after a few minutes. She had fallen in recent months and isn’t getting around well; she was also quite hard of hearing. In another village a little farther along our route, we met a woman of 102 (in photo). She was strong and vibrant, rising easily from a seated position on the floor to greet us. Neither of these women had any answer to the question, “how many descendants do you have,” as many had married in other villages and lived there.

We finally made our return to our base town of Kalaw, and Alex took us to his bamboo home he built himself about 5 years ago. There we had a dinner made by his wife, and afterward his wife’s sister and brother came by to visit with us, as well as her parents. Her brother and mother also showed up the next morning at the hotel, at 7.40 a.m., just to see us off as we left Kalaw. This was merely the final of many examples of the tremendous warmth and friendliness of the people of Myanmar.

(There are so many more photos I would have liked to include here, but space and time do not permit. Look for them as a Facebook album in the next day or so).

On the Ground in Myanmar (Burma)

Landed here Wednesday morning at about 8:30, coming here from Bangkok Thailand. First order of business was changing money at the airport. I got enough to cover my flight ($100), and to pay for meals, lodging, and a guide for the next three days ($70), and then another $100 in case of emergency, which hopefully I’ll still have and can revert that amount back to dollars. Converted into Myanmarese currency, I received about 330,000 Kyat. All in denominations of 1000. So that’s 330 bills. Daniel and I both feel pretty rich right now, carrying around such wads of cash. ;)

Next we went to check in for our flight to the central region of the country, Heho, where we’ll find some kind of way to the mountain town of Kalaw, and meet our guide, Pho Kyaw (aka Alex). At check in we were informed that our flight had been given to another airline, and it wouldn’t leave until 4 hours later. Check in, by the way, was a rude little corner of makeshift countertops in what was fortunately a wide little hall leading to the next area of the terminal. Anyway, after much changing of paperwork and struggling with various arrangements, all was accomplished by a young lady who was pretty good at what she does. We pulled out our wads of cash and paid for the tickets which had been previously reserved.

Then we went looking for internet access so I could publish my earlier post on Impressions of the Japanese. I was skeptical the ‘net would be available at all in this airport, but was told there is a spot we can connect, though I have to “purchase a set.” On the way to inquire the details of that, a man began asking if we needed a taxi. No. If we needed a hotel. No. Where we were going, where we were coming from. I began ignoring him at this point as I was headed for an information desk. I must have finally mentioned our search for internet service, and he quickly told me about a restaurant/café across the road where he regularly connects with his cell phone. Fantastic! As we headed that way Daniel told me had already recognized that this guy wasn’t just a hawker of assistance, but almost certainly an airport employee. Which later made me realize that if I had continued ignoring him and walked to the information desk, he would have stepped behind it and been the one to answer my question! That would have been an awkward moment!

We made our way across the road to the café. Big long establishment, in old simple construction. A dump, if you saw it in your town in the US, but served us well. We sat at a little outside table in the shade of a roof with insulation as the lower surface. Perhaps 7 or 8 yellow polo shirted teens employed to sit around and watch the foreigners, cut up with one another, answer any questions we had, and jump to our assistance when we needed service. Another 4 or 5 in green t-shirts who cleaned up tables. And one white shirted guy in his 20’s who seemed to be above them all and to whom they all deferred.

After verifying that they had wifi, I ordered “Fish layer with oyster” and Daniel ordered “Chicken with lemon” – we hadn’t eaten all day and it was 11am, and each meal was only $2 US. And it was GOOD. Daniel also had a very spicy pasta based salad, and I added another dish, “Pork with lime.” All very good. The guys were friendly. But after ordering, when I began trying to connect it became clear there was a fee (which really was fine), but that means there is a security key. One of the guys went to retrieve the key, there was a little discussion and delay, and then he came back and apologetically, with a bit of embarrassment but also humor, said in his broken English that “nobody knows it.” Oh well, at least we’re getting food! But then a couple minutes later a 30ish lady came out and had the key for me. Success!

We’ve been killing time since then, walking around the area near the airport, and now writing this entry. Nearly time to board, I’ll see if I can get this posted.

(This was written on Wednesday midday, but now on Saturday is my first chance to post. Wednesday evening through this morning was spent in and trekking around Kalaw. Next post will tell those stories and there will be plenty of photos!)

Impressions of the Japanese

I’m in the air over Thailand, on the way from Bangkok to Myanmar. Although I don’t yet know when I’ll have internet access again, I thought I’d put finger to key and record a few thoughts about the Japanese.

First, they know how to run an airline! Smiles all around, and very helpful. Eager to answer any question, provide any assistance. Even Southwest doesn’t come close to the standard set by All Nippon Airlines. With the meal, metal utensils. Other nice little touches during the flight. And departures run right on time. A friend remarked the other day that flying used to be an experience, and no longer is. Well, maybe not on most airlines.

But that leads into another impression, and I say up front that this next impression is based on WAY too little experience with the Japanese – but it’s the impression that came to mind for both of us. The friendliness seems to lack true warmth, as if it’s forced, as if it’s done because they’ve been trained to do so, whether by parents or employers, or the culture at large. As if they’re thinking in their heads, “smile now” and “continue smiling.” There’s a sameness among them in the friendliness, both in this cheerfulness and in clothing as well. It all seemed to have a somewhat mechanical aspect. If you’ve seen The Matrix, life in the matrix had a sterile appearance. Hearing my comparison along that line, Daniel concurred that it seemed “programmed.”

Having said that, a few other thoughts are important to note. We both saw exceptions to this impression. The people doing business in the fish market, or the guy who helped us at our lunch restaurant. The latter was especially friendly, in an obviously real way. He even gave us his email address so we could contact him later if we got lost in Tokyo or had other questions. We also saw them relating to one another in obviously warm ways.

Another contributor to this impression may be the Japanese compulsion to succeed in any effort. They are reported in my travel materials to be shy toward foreigners, since they don’t want to fail in communicating in a foreign language, and also reported to be hard to relate to on a personal level because of these kinds of things.

And the other thought I need to note is that trained cheerfulness is not necessarily a bad thing. Some of us have trouble opening up and being friendly. I have one friend who has told me that she was very reserved and shy, and finally one day realized she must change. She is now one of the most warm and friendly people I know, and there is no doubt that it is real. Some might respond to the possibility of programmed friendliness by saying no one should be trained to be friendly. That would be a faulty conclusion.

Another impression: The city of Tokyo was clean. I mean CLEAN. C-l-e-a-n Clean. We did see one wall along the monorail and a highway that had some graffiti – and even the graffiti was nice and orderly! This cleanliness may have also contributed to the sense that things are programmed Matrix-style, but if so, I think that’s only a commentary on the dirtiness of our own culture.

Still another: They have a sense of style. The don’t clutter the streets with lazy attempts at clothing themselves. They look sharp and appoint themselves well. It’s a nice aspect.

Finally a couple of surprises. There were almost no westerners in Tokyo. In the Bangkok airport, and on the flight to Myanmar, we saw more Americans than we saw all day in Tokyo and its airport. Several times more. Also, we found it surprising that we found precious few in Tokyo that knew enough English to share a few sentences, and only one that made conversation somewhat easy.

On to Myanmar!

The Southeast Asia Trip Begins!

A 19 hour layover in Tokyo gives us a bonus destination, in addition to SE Asia. We arrived in Tokyo at 4:50 Tuesday morning. Having left LAX just after midnight Sunday night on a 12 hour flight, Daniel and I both got some half-decent sleep on the plane, over perhaps a 7 hour period – although half-decent is the correct term for it!

There are a number of high vantage points to overlook Tokyo, one gives a nod to the French: Tokyo Tower. A light rain was falling around 4 or 5 pm when we ascended it, but it still gave great views over Tokyo. It’s only after seeing the city from above that size of Tokyo really sinks in. Or at least so it was for me.



Going back to our first adventure in the city Tuesday morning, we took the Tokyo Monorail in from Haneda Airport, connectied to the Metro system (subway), and arrived at our first destination: the Tsujiki Fish Market, where the restaurant owners go to buy their seafood for the day. The place is VAST. Narrow aisle after narrow aisle of sellers displaying every kind of thing that lives in the sea. The place was just incredible.
From there we aimed for the Imperial Palace, but had a bit of an awkward situation on the way. Boarding the metro with a crowd of others, a metro employee on the platform was excitedly calling out what Daniel and I both distinctly heard as “Uma oni! Uma oni!” She came to the door where we had just entered, repeating this line, but we had managed to crowd in, had no clue what her excitement was about, and the doors closed. As one does in a crowded metro car, I glanced around at the faces around me . . . and noticed that there were precious few men there. Next I realized that every single person I could see – besides Daniel – was female. Then I remembered reading a few weeks ago that at rush hour, there are a few cars that are “women only,” a shelter from the groping in crowded metro cars (it has been a problem in this society where women were viewed with less honor). The employee, in a VERY poor attempt at English, had been telling us “Women only! Women only!” Until we switched cars at the next stop, I tried very hard not to touch anyone around me . . . which wasn’t easy as we were crammed in like sardines.

With that comic episode behind us we made our way to the grounds of the Imperial Palace – a preserve in the middle of the city with moats and gardens covering a huge area. A few structures from several hundred years ago remain, but the palace itself is more modern, the old palace having been destroyed.



We left the palace grounds in the direction of Akihabara, an area where nearly every shop sells electric and electronic products and supplies, from circuit boards and light bulbs to laptops and camera pens. We needed and found an alarm clock.

Then at lunch time we found a rustic place and ordered mackerel, butter fish, and chicken. All were good, but the chicken was the best. Great flavor and seasoning. And one of the employees working there was particularly friendly and helpful to us - friendly in a way that seemed more real than how some others seemed (see next post for further thoughts).

Next was Senso-ji, a Buddhist temple, and the market areas around it. A pedestrian avenue leads straight up to the temple, passing through two gates and of similar old Japanese architecture as the temple, lined with little shops of food items, leather goods, etc. At the temple, visitors could pull out drawers with fortunes in them, or waft smoke from a burning altar over themselves for healing. There was the occasional older person who bowed and put hands together as if in prayer, but mostly I got the sense that this site is merely a tourist spot to most everyone – and most were Japanese rather than international tourists. There was the kind of levity and activity that you see anywhere else tourists go rather than any evidence of awe or devotion.



Next was the Tokyo Tower, and then visits to Shinjuku and Shibuya, a couple of spots surrounded by lights and giant video screens, where crowds of shoppers fill the streets. Ate a rather skimpy and overpriced supper at a restaurant overlooking Shibuya, and then made it back to the airport for our midnight flight to Bangkok.

We're having a great time. :)

Next up: Upon arrival in Bangkok tomorrow morning, we’ll immediately travel to Myanmar where we’ll meet up with Pho Kyaw aka Alex, who will guide us through the countryside and tribal villages of his area. I highly doubt I’ll be able to post for the next few days. Look for more on Sunday or Monday.