And I'm Spent

Literally. I'm back in the states now, so this is the end. If I go back to Asia this summer, I'll post some more. Thanks for reading!

Kickboxing 101

Kickboxing is the national sport of Thailand. As a spectator sport, it's fantastic. Betting is done live, and the stands resemble the floor of a major stock exchange. Crowds celebrate each knee kick by their chosen fighter with shouts of "EEE!". Or something which sounds like that.

There is no food in the stadium, instead you go outside to the street. Beers are a buck outside, and may be brought into the stadium in plastic cups, but very few people were drinking. I guess they need their wits for the betting.

Before the match begins, fighters engage in an elaborate stretching/intimidation session for a good 5 minutes. This is kind of like getting a good look at your pony before the horse races. Anyway, these guys were two of the better intimidators we saw...

Jumping Fire Rope

Thailand likes fire twirling, fire limbo, and fire jump rope. They entice bar patrons to give it a try by offering a free bucket of booze. It's possible that this practice is questionable from a safety perspective.

The key is to commit to it. This is my buddy, whose commitment is not in question, but balance is.

Stampy Jr

Stampy Jr. was was very friendly, I didn't even have any food. I think they said he was 2 years old. They like it if you rub the underside of their trunks.

Share the Road!

When riding elephants, it is important to obey all traffic laws.

We weren't on the road very long--these guys were fording rivers and climbing steep hills through the jungle. Definitely one of the cooler things I've ever done. I named our ride Stampy, because I couldn't remember his Thai name.

Thanks a pantload, Leo

This is how you get to the Beach, where they filmed The Beach. Up the ladder, along a path through the jungle, and out onto a spectacular beach. Since Leo's movie, though, the beach has become a major tourist attraction and lost much of it's appeal. The diving off Phi Phi Le is still nice, though.

Iron Chefs, Thailand

Southern Thai food is SPICY. We took a cooking class in Koh Phi Phi to learn how to make things "Thai Spicy", then proceeded to eat our masterpieces with our noses running, sweating like crazy, and downing about 9 pitchers of water.

Double Parking, Thai Style

At the Phuket Airport, people park their cars in nuetral, and park two deep. When you're parked in, you push the car other back, pull yours out, and push the other car back in. Unclear what happens if they park on a hill. I'll look into it.

Roughing It

Backpacker's haven--then Fairmont, Singapore.

A continent of germaphobes

This add pretty much sums up the whole of SE Asia. They're scared stupid of germs. Everyone wears masks on planes, buses, trains, etc. I figure if everyone else has a mask on, I don't need one.

Upon landing in Tokyo our plane was swarmed by a legion of hazmat-clad health inspectors who looked each person over looking for pig flu symptoms. I thought of bringing a pig-snout mask to wear but couldn't find it. In Singapore our temperature was taken by heat sensors as we came down the escalator into customs!

Chili Crab

Singapore has amazing food. They take the best of Malay, Chinese, and former occupier England's high prices to make some ridiculous stuff.

The best is chili crab. We went to a place called Jumbos in the East Coast seafood district. The crab is swimming in sweet chili sauce, and is served kind of broken up, but with much work remaining before eating the delicous meat. There are limited utencils--mostly use your hands. And there are not really napkins, just a bowl of lemon water. I obviously made a mess, but it was excellent.

Another top notch dish was bamboo clams, which grow in the long, thin shape of bamboo. I'm not sure how they do it, but I hear they are from Sri Lanka. Anyway, they're then covered with delicious noodles and onion type things and a sweet, delicious sauce.

Come to think about it, Singaporean food is all about the sauce.

Family dinner 2

Peejays extended family, who have shown us around Manila. They are the best....

Halo-halo

A Filipino desert. The ingredients I was able to isolate are:

Ice
Corn flakes
Sweet corn
Cubes of 2 kinds of jello
Cherry
Milk, possibly sweetened
Beans
Rice noodles
Lavender ice cream

Comes with packets of sugar (pictured) to up the sweetness. I'm not
going to say I'd order this on my own. For starters I can never
remember the name. But it's worth trying.

Sent from my iPhone

Baracay

Were in boracay during rainy season. While we've been here the locals
have been building 30 foot bamboo walls to shield the beach from the
storms that are coming. BUT, we have had great weather an amazing
sunsets like this one.

Cebu Pacific Airlines

As a paying (barely) passenger, I am afforded only 10kg of checked luggage for my flight from Osaka to Manila. Any overage carries a 1000 yen per kilogram charge, cash only. I have no yen remaining.

After some clever switching, Im now sitting in the terminal wearing my heaviest clothes, my checked bag weighs 9.9 kgs, and my carry-on weights about 50 pounds. Barry 1 Cebu 0. Im hot.

Japanese Food, Part 2

Its over. Forget about it. The absolute best japanese food has been discovered. At some restaurants, they serve mochi that has been fried with cheese, or alternatively mochi and cheese are wrapped in bacan and grilled. Needless to say, its incredible. Staggering. Best of Japanese Cuisine.

Also, I had Japanese pizza. American Pizza has nothing to worry about. Mine had squid, cabbage like stuff inside a calzone-imposter type dish.

Deer Season in Nara

These guys would be easy pickings in deer season.

A final trip to the bathroom

If you have tired of toilet humor, well, skip this post. I think we can learn a lot from the Japanese bathroom.

The most sophisticated toilets yet have been located. Their features include:

1. Heated seat, with 7 settings.

2. A button which makes a fake flushing sound to cover any embarrassing emanations from your stall. The flush lasts for about 25 seconds, though, which totally gives it away to others what you are doing. On the other hand, it last for 25 seconds, so no need to blow out an O-ring.

3. An assortment of bidet options. These can be dropped for the U.S. model.

4. A Powerful Deodorizer button which packs a serious punch.

In related news, Cyndy found a bathroom where the toilet lid raises automatically when you walk in. Said toilet was not available for a photo.

How to look fierce in a Bathrobe

Check. These are fine for wearing around the hostel, but wear shorts underneath, they are made for smaller people.

Photos of a Geisha

This has to be one of my more favorite pictures of all time. An honest-to-god Geisha. We met her on a deserted street in Gion, one of two districts in Kyoto known for Geishas. Apprantely we lucked out because we learned later that they hardly ever agree to photos like that.

Japanese food

Ok. So far I've not really commented on Japanese food. Here's what
food in japan is like.

Breakfast:

Breakfast in Japan is goofy. So far I have had
1. A whole fish, 6 inches long, formed into an s-shape and covered in a sweet sauce.
2. Rice.
3. A double sausage AND bacon mcmuffin from mcdonalds. So much promise...ruined by ketchup. Taro says I can't special order it without ketchup, but by god I'm going to try.
4. salad
5. Eggplant
6. Miso soup. Not bad. Good for a hang over.
7. A hot dog. It said sausage, but I know a hot dog when I taste one.
8. Dennys. Japanese dennys is pretty solid. The waitresses must go to training in the U.S., though, because the service is sorry.
9. Cold egg loaf with tofu. No explanation required.

Lunch
1. Udon noodles are the best. Doughy and delicious, and perfect if it's cold. eggplant, onion, Ginger, cabbage may be added. Add tempura shrimp, and you have successfully combined fried food with soup. Add spice for a little heat. In a classy joint you combine the ingredients with the broth yourself, at an amusement park it comes ready to eat.
2. Soba. Not my favorite. Noodles made from buck wheat. They're sometimes cold, and served without any redeeming qualities. In magome and tsumago, the only restaurants in town served only soba noodles. I survived on happy time snacks and fanta grape.
3. Unidentified spherical doughy omelete type things. Comes with your choice of toppings, like mayo, cheese, curry. Filled with enough vegetables and things to keep it interesting. Jury is still out on this one.

Dinner
1. Sushi in japan is different. They don't go in for fancy caterpillar rolls with 7 ingredients. They like rolls with 1, maybe 2 ingredients. Locals are amazed if you can use chopsticks, and might
just stare at you throughout anyway. Fish quality is about what you'd expect stateside.
2. Raw horse. I had it. It's pretty good.
3. Chicken gizzard. Eat it before you know what it is. Best with spring onion
4. Carpaccio with raw egg. Have 3 beers first. It's rich and tasty.
5. Unagi. A bowl of rice and a filet of eel, covered in delicious sweet eel sauce. Thumbs up.
6. Cow tongue. With some Chinese mustard, devine.

Snacks/desserts
1. Dried squid. Salty and slightly fishy. I like. It's like buying a bag of cheetos.
2. Pickled anything. Japanese pickle the crap out of things that should not be pickled. Avoid radish, kimchi, and anything else pickled.
3. Mochi. I think this was described as sweetened bean paste. As bad as that sounds, it's good.
4. Yatsuhashi. This is the best. Swetened rice noodle type dough filled with delicious stuffing such as chocolate. Available only in Kyoto.
5. Apricot water. Slightly flavored japanese apricot water is awesome. Mix with shochu and you have a delicious if slightly feminine beverage.

Sent from my iPhone

Twinkle race

We went and saw the Japanese ponies today. When they post a race instead of the familiar bugle number they play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the loud speakers. Apparently my ponies were put to sleep by said song, because I didn`t win a race.

103 Inches of Plasma

This is the biggest tv I`ve ever seen--103 inches, and a sticker price of about $70,000. I am not sure where in Tokyo anyone has a wall capable of fitting a 103 inch tv, but someone must. Maybe Ichiro`s house. Also, funny to see that they use inches to measure TVs, but metric system for everything else.

Amused at Amusement Park

The business to get into is selling raincoats to Japanese about to ride water rides at amusement parks.  According to Taro, there is no reason to get wet on water rides.  

Baseball in Japan

My 6th baseball game in 8th days was a little different. College baseball in Japan is more similar to college football in the U.S than MLB.   Before and after the game, both teams bow to one another.  The student section stands and sings the entire game.  Prior to the game, each side will sing for a while, then graciously thank the opposing team`s fans for showing up.  At which time the opposing teams fans will acknowledge the gesture with some golf clapping.  

Besides the student section, no one stands during the game at any time.  No one brings mitts, and if a foul ball comes, most people duck and cover rather than trying to catch it.  Not real sure of the logic on that one.

My Japanese Friends

I got to revisit Taros relatives--nicest people.  Can you guess which one I am?

Step 3: Another trip to the bathroom

Shoes are left in the entry way to restaurants, but who wants to go in socks into the bathroom?  Slip on a loaner pair of sandals and you`re good to go.

Step 2: A trip to the bathroom

Wash your hands in the water that then fills the toilet.  Duh.

Step 1: Ordering a drink

Apparently bartenders in american style, stand-up, bars have enough to do making drinks and delicious little bits of food to handle money. So you order from this machine, pay, get a ticket, and redeem for your drink. Unclear if jukebox songs can be ordered directly from the bartender. Taro tells me this style ordering is rare.

Because I can, I'm going to go check out Asia again.  I'm hoping to be confused with an NBA player just once.  I'd settle for shouts of "Balla balla" as I walk down the road.  Here's to hoping. 

My itinerary roughly.

5/28-6/3 Tokyo

6/3 Kiso Valley

6/4-6/8 Kyoto

6/8 Nara 

6/9 Osaka->Manila

6/9-6/15 Philippines 

6/15/6/17 Singapore

6/17-6/23 Thailand beaches

6/23-6/25 Bangkok

6/25 Bangkok to Columbus Ohio.  Yes, Colombus Ohio.