Rock Climbing Wawa, Montalban/Rodriguez, Philippines October 2013 Part 1 -Travel and Directions

So we’ve been back from the Philippines for a couple of weeks now. It’s nice to be back and have power, water, a washing machine, and hot water again.  It’s also super nice to have peace and quiet in the mornings instead of barking dogs, loud tagolog conversations, screaming babies, squealing pigs, cooing chickens, roaring motorcycles, and playing children.

Somewhere over Luzon

At the end of October my gal Daisy and I packed our bags, prepared a light itinerary with a minimal amount of research, jumped on a night bus for Taipei, and took off.  It took around 5 hours to arrive to Taipei.  Fast forward through all the flights and we found ourselves on a bus from Manila airport to Cubao in Quezon city which took around 2 ½ hours.  Finding the right bus was not easy however.  We probably asked 5 people for directions to the bus pick-up point before we successfully navigated our way around all the “Taxi, Taxi, Taxi? Where are you going sir?” drivers trying to make their daily tourist rip-off quota.  I’ve played that game many a time before and wasn’t going to be fooled again.

We finally got those directions from a couple of people in a café to the left of the airport exit doors in Manila.  They told us to head down to the far left past the café all the way across the street to a parking lot where the buses pick up passengers. With the help of a local, we communicated our destination (Cubao) to the bus attendant.  With an “OK!” and a wave of his hand, he dismissed us to our seats.  A few minutes into the ride, tickets in hand, we realized we had no idea how long the bus ride would take and were totally passengers of our hope and assumption the attendant would hook us up at our destination.  Finally after 2 ½ hours of confusion and my friendly interrogation of every poor soul that decided to sit next to me, the attendant shouted “Cubao!” and pointed at us.  “We’re up,” I nodded to Daisy and we were dumped at the Cubao farmer’s market. 

Long trip

After another 2 hours of wandering up and down the streets for our bus stop and a restroom (walk into the market to find a paid yet seemingly flooded and unkept “comfort room” in the back as soon as you are dropped at the farmer’s market), we were able to sort through another swath of misinformation from fellow streetwalkers to discover we needed to head back to the farmer’s market and find an SUV or a Jeepney to take us to Montalban.  What they failed to tell us was that actually Montalban is no longer “Montalban.” The town has since been renamed “Rodriguez.” Unfortunately none of the information I found online for Wawa had mentioned this little timesaving piece of information.  The few blogs out there seemed to be a bit outdated, hence the purpose of this updated post.  So after waiting on the street for 30 minutes, we were finally able to run down a white SUV or “FX” that said Montalban in parentheses on the side next to the bold-lettered “Rodriguez.”  The driver explained this oversight to us and I shook my head as I realized how many Jeepneys we had passed up with “Rodriguez” painted on the side.

The SUV ride took about 45 minutes into Rodriguez/Montalban in the town of San Rafael where we we learned we’d need to get a tricycle into the rural, outlying village of Wawa.  After a bit of intense bargaining with different tricycle drivers due to my skepticism of their “No jeepney, no bus,” declarations, we haggled the price down to 35 PHP for two people (plus another passenger who was already on the bike).  I found the best way to get a good price is to pit them against one another since they normally try to charge 60 PHP (30 PHP each) for two passengers.  A little friendly competition never hurt anyone.  I have little doubt the locals pay anywhere near this price. There is also supposedly a Jeepney that runs up until 8 p.m. but we got there too late.  You’d just have to tell the driver where you want to get off.

Jeepney: You'll want to jump on one these bad boys in Cubao.
Make sure it says "Rodriguez" on the side. (Not my photo.)

So we jumped on the trike and he drove us ~15 min into Wawa, dropping us off on a dark street in this completely unfamiliar foreign village we’ve never visited. Thereafter, we paid and thus our walk began.  Fortunately we didn’t go far before the first dark, mysterious figure of another person came into view.  “Aling Norma’s Eatery?” we asked as we had read on existing blogs this was the place to be for climbers visiting the area about on existing blogs.  They pointed us in the right direction and we found Norma’s place without hassle.

Directions I found online

We finally met the famous Norma and asked her if she had any of her 2 rooms for rent. “No, they are all booked tonight,” came the soft-spoken reply.  One group of foreign climbers and one local family had grabbed them already. Being prepared for this, we asked if there was any place we could pitch a tent.  She took us across the street to where an outpost has been set up by the local government for a local neighborhood watch station.  It’s just a small building for town meetings and such.  She told us we could park our tent on the grass next to the building and the men who run the station all night would watch our tent to “keep us safe.”  We thanked her and after a bit of introductory chit chat with the other patrons of the eatery, we set up camp and crashed out after a long day of travel.  From Taipei to Wawa only took us around 12-14 hours though it could have been quicker if we’d been a bit more informed about where the heck we were going.  That’s part of the adventure though I suppose.  This was to be the beginning of one of the most adventurous climbing trips I’ve ever taken.

Maybe consider a company-wide name change.  @ The Manila Airport

Airline Quackery event #1 Manila, Luzon, Philippines November 2013

After another night of crashing on the beach in La Union, we were up at 4 a.m. to catch a bus back to Manila for our flight to Coron.  After a 20-minute ride to the nearest bus station, we were able to catch a 6 a.m. bus.  Inevitably we slept most of the way.

After a 7 hour trip, we arrived at the airport with just enough time to make our flight since the bus ends up taking an hour longer than we were told due to traffic.  We rushed to get checked in for our flight and paid the 50-peso baggage fee since we were well overweight with all my climbing gear.

Ummm...We were supposed to
be there an hour ago. 

Everything went fairly smoothly, despite being incredibly rushed, until we got to security.  The Manila airport security x-rayed my bag, seeing my climbing rope inside and informed me that I was not allowed to take the rope on the flight according to their "no sporting goods" policy. When I asked why it was forbidden to bring it on the flight, the response I received was “because you could die sir” which seemed to be a common theme in our trip.  Everything’s too dangerous.  So Daisy grabbed my climbing rope to go check it while I went ahead to our gate. 

Problem was, however, when I got to our boarding gate, they were doing final boarding call for missing passengers- Daisy and I.  I informed them we weren't missing, we were just having a hard time with security but Daisy was taking forever.  What could possibly be taking so long?  Finally I asked how long before the final closing of the boarding door and they said I had 4 minutes.  That’s all I needed.  

I sprinted across the airport back to security only to find Daisy with the rope bag in her hand arguing with security about what to do with it.  Apparently, the airline had told her it was too late to check the bag and we’d either have to give up the rope or miss the flight.  Now there’s a phrase in the local language besides Mandarin in Taiwan- Taiwanese.  That phrase I often find my self saying is “Zuhgga Bunsuo,” which means “This is such garbage!” And this, my friends was VERY much “bunsuo.”  There seemed to be some dispute between the security and airline employees though and I decided to exploit this tension by being even more persistent rather than backing down and getting run over.  So after a bit more persistence, the airline convinced the head security member to sign a waiver for us as he escorted us (sprinting all the way) on to the boarding gate.  Fortunately, he had a radio and thus informed the boarding gate we would be arriving.  We hastened onto the plane, fully acknowledging all the confused and annoyed stares of our fellow passengers.  I looked at Daisy and with a quick smile announced "Welcome to the Philippines!"

Paragliding Taiwan Summer 2013 PingTung

I forgot to mention, a while back, Daisy and I had the opportunity to go paragliding.  We knew a Latvian guy a little older than I who got most of his paragliding experience in Nepal.  He offered to take us out paragliding for a day down in beautiful Ping Tung in Southern Taiwan.  So we got up early, rented scooters with a couple of our friends and jumped on the bikes for the next couple of hours.

Daisy gearing up and getting her pre-flight
safety briefing.

When we arrived, our friend and one of his buddies had been gliding all morning so they knew the conditions were ripe for a fantastic day soaring over the coastline.  We met them on the beach and with a quick acknowledgment, they jumped in their van and took off up to the mountain.  What followed was pure bliss.

Now many may consider paragliding to be an extreme sport.  But as we casually drifted through the taiwan sky, riding the updrafts and flowing out of one turn into the next, I couldn't help but think otherwise.  I have little doubt that when the winds pick up, our gentle gliding could turn into a chaotic maelstrom, but this day no such disaster ever came about.  It was quite relaxing actually.  As a passenger of course, your only experience is that of floating through the sky gently riding the breeze.  You dip and climb, bank and accelerate, all the while calmly taking in the awe-inspiring scenery all around you.  No, this wasn't an adrenaline-soaked maniacal sport, it was pure enjoyment, as could be scene from the never-ending smile upon my face during the entire flight.

Waiting for wind

As I was receiving a lesson in meteorology, during my flight, I couldn't help but reflect on all the cool things I've gotten to do in the past and be grateful for them.  I would certainly recommend paragliding to anyone whose never tried it.  On a calm day, there's nothing to fear.  No stress.  Just run, jump, and float -quite different from my turbulent but amazing hang gliding experience over the Appalachian Mountains a few years ago. A good friend of mine told me a while ago after we got back from Afghanistan that "Sometimes life is just like that.  Sometimes you have to just take a deep breath and jump."  So get out there and jump!


Paraglide Taiwan has a Youtube channel and Facebook page.  You can find other videos on his Youtube channel here.

My flight!

Live another day. Surfing San Juan, La Union, Luzon, Philippines. November 2013

So this time, I find myself surfing during a 2 week trip to the Philippines for climbing, surfing, diving, and kayaking.  I was traveling with my gal Daisy and we had quite an incredible trip.  A few days into the trip, we hopped on a bus and headed to San Juan, La Union in Luzon so we could brush up on our surfing skills and see what the Philippines had to offer.

Daisy and I on the back of a Jeepney in La Union

So after surfing a couple of days in San Juan, La Union in the Philippines, I had improved my surfing ability tenfold.  I'd surfed all morning and a few hours into it, I decided I was ready for a challenge and after a severe battle thrashing through the inside breaks, I paddled outside to the overheads. These were clearly above my ability but I still wanted to give it a whack.

While I was out there, a local asked me in plain, perfect English, “if you wipe out and your leash breaks, are you going to be able to swim in?” “yeah, I think so. I’ve been swimming my whole life so I think I’ll be alright,” I meekly responded. “Because if your leash breaks you’re going to have to go in.  A lot of people wouldn’t be able to make the swim and if you can’t, you shouldn’t really be out here.” He reissued the warning.  I reassured him thanking him for his advice. He apologized for bothering me and swam off to catch the next behemoth.

The first day's waves

These waves were ripping- hard.  But I had fought tooth and nail to get outside the break and make it here.  I heeded the guy’s warning carefully and realized he was probably right.  I’d never given thought to a wave being strong enough to break my leash.  That was quite a daunting thought.  But nevertheless I paddled with all my might for the next break when I was ready.  It rose and rose and rose and I paddled ever the harder and faster despite my exhaustion. I prepped to stand up and waited for the wave to carry me.  But something wasn’t right.  I wasn’t being pushed forward.  Then I heard the thunderous crashing of the barrels breaking behind me and realized I was in the wrong spot.  Too late to do anything about it now.  The wave had already broken and I was soon to be at its mercy.  I gripped my board with what I thought was the appropriate force and made a meager attempt to standup.  But it was a wasted effort.  WHAM! I was slammed with the full, unadultered, yet beautiful force of mother nature as the wave slammed into my board and body tossing me into a washing machine on spin cycle.  Surfboard-totally out of my hands.  Leash-not broken so far.  Head- underwater. Feet-not touching bottom.  Feet-now in the air.  Hands- trashing wildly trying to stay above water.  Brain-AHHHH! DON’T PANIC! DON’T PANIC! DON’T PANIC! Head-above water a split second. TAKE A BREATH! Breath taken- too late., Mouth full of water as I plunge back into the turbulence.  This went on for about 7 seconds which is a lifetime in near-drowning adrenaline induced seconds.  I fortunately made it out of the first break and jumped on my board as fast as I could when WHAM! I got slammed again, surfboard zipped right out of my hand. Wash, rinse, repeat.  There was no swimming out of this maelstrom. 

Third time around I was determined to make it out this madness.  Mounted the board again and committed a death grip to the rails.  I was barely able to hang on as I got slammed a 3^rd time, then a 4^th,then a 5^th.  This went on over and over until the waves took me in close enough that I could walk (on the reef filled with sea urchins which I fortunately dodged) back to the shore.  That was it, no more going back out.  Were it not for sleep deprivation and sheer exhaustion from fighting for my life, I might’ve stuck to the small waves for a while, but I conceded to return the board and call it a day on the surfing.  Too rough for now.  Live another day.

03 Jun 2013. Taiwan

03 Jun 2013.  Taiwan

Kenting National Park

 So today I find myself in Taipei, Taiwan, home of the 2nd tallest building in the world, strange but delectable foods, and beautiful scenery.  The Dutch actually named this island Formosa meaning "beautiful island" and the name has since stuck.  Taiwan is located just east of China and just west of Ishigaki island which is just west of Okinawa Japan.  It used to be part of China until Chang Kai Shek helped to win independence way back in the day as I've recently learned through several memorial visits in Taipei.  Thus they speak a Taiwanese dialect of Mandarin and everything is written in Chinese characters or Hansu(I think that's right?).  Fortunately many people speak English so this makes for a slightly easier experience than one might find in mainland China as it is called here.

The past week and a half I spent in Okinawa again hanging with my brothers Zach and David and spending more time with Fe. Missing that gal.  It was great to be around people that know me so well and I had a blast hanging with them all.  I think I have resolved to attend language school in mainland Japan in July and thus I am partially here to get out of Japan so I can renew my tourist visa in a month or so. I barely made all my flights to get here due to late check in both in Okinawa and Osaka. Fortunately, the airline attendants bent the rules a bit to accommodate me.  This is likely because I had no carry-on baggage.  In Osaka the attendant even told me she could not check me in because I had not showed up an hour early and that I must now buy another ticket.  This changed when her manager came to the counter.  And just as usual I rushed rushed rushed to get through the airport only to find once again that I had plenty of time to board the flight as people were still lining up.  And inevitably, the flight left late.  Seems like the budget airlines always do but I'll bite my tongue for the price.

My skateboard- travel style

So anyway, I'm here in Taipei as I said.  I slept in the Osaka airport last night since I had a very early morning flight and I didn't feel like getting on a bus for a hostel an hour away and paying all the money just to have a bed.  So I crashed on the seats in the arrivals terminal.  Every 10 seconds there was a loud ding dong over the intercom for some reason all night so I had to sleep with headphones and music playing.  As you can imagine, it wasn't the most fulfilling sleep one can experience.  

I arrived at 9:30 and I was quite worried that I wouldn't be allowed to enter because the airline made me sign a waiver to waive their responsibility for me not having an onward ticket yet.  But when I passed through immigration, the official didn't say a word.  So my passport gained another stamp and I rolled on through, into another great unknown.  Booked a hostel near the tower, checked in and took off on my skateboard for the rest of the day.  You can certainly bet I had quite a few wipe outs and at one point my board even flew out from under me into 4 lanes of oncoming traffic.  No bueno.  Cars were honking and I had to sprint out after it into the middle of the street.  This was almost as bad as when it flew out from under me and crashed into a scooter as I threw my groceries in the air and landed full contact on my hip and shoulder.  

Taipei 101

After checking the box on seeing the tower, I decided the $20 just to take an elevator to the top (standard pretty much for any tall building in the world) wasn't worth it and bypassed in favor of hiking a mountain for a similar view instead.  So I grabbed my map and board and headed a couple of kilometers south for Elephant Mountain- one of at least 4 peaks surrounding Taipei, each named after a different animal.

When I finally arrived where the map designated the trail, I was still in the middle of Urbania with no sign for the mountain in sight.  However, there was another sign in this area pointing to a different famous trail another 1 1/2 kilos away from my position.  Since I was losing daylight very quickly, I decided to head off for this other trail.  And man was that a great decision.

En route to my trail, I picked up some of the largest, sweetest cherries I've ever had.  They were like instantaneous energy.  I pushed on faster as the sun began to drop lower.  I finally located the entrance after dodging every damn dog in the neighborhood (it was in a quiet place a bit away from the city, more suburubian) and started chugging up the stairs without a rest.  A quarter of the way up the mountain, an elder Taiwanese woman began speaking to me in Mandarin.  I smiled at her and kept walking.  Then she yelled again and I told her I didn't understand.  Without hesitation, she reverted to near perfect English.  A bit strange really.  She asked me if I spoke Chinese to which of course I responded with a no, not at all.  See my vocabulary at this point doesn't extend much further than Ni-Hao (Hello).  So she began asking me what I was doing with a skateboard in my hands when I was climbing a mountain. Quite comical actually.  I told her I had a special skateboard that could skate up stairs.  She laughed and I admitted I had just used it to get to the mountain and she was a bit surprised when she learned how far away my hostel actually was.  (Maybe 4 1/2 kilometers or so.)

Taroko Gorge

I explained to her that it was my first day in Taiwan and we chatted for a while about different things including how we both came to run into each other on this day.  She was originally from an island a bit south of Taiwan and asked me if I was familiar with it. Of course, being as new as I am to this place I'd never heard of it.  She told me about how her father had been in the Taiwanese Air Force and was now paralyzed from the waist-down because of it.  One day he was flying a bomber in mainland China I believe it was when one of the propellers went out on his plane, causing them to crash the plane into a frozen lake.  His co-pilot froze and drowned but somehow he managed to crawl out of the ice and back to the base nearby.  She said he doesn't remember the incident but his b
ack was injured because the ice had been so thick, thus causing his paralysis.  It was pretty sad to hear but was quite a story indeed.

We continued to hike for a bit more before she decided to turn back about half way up the mountain.  She did very well for herself.  The mosquitos were becoming wretched, swarming around those blood thirsty beasts they were.  So with a goodbye and nice to meet you we parted ways as I chugged on further up the mountain.

Taroko Gorge

When I reached the top I was astonished.  I was at the top of a very large graveyard leading down to a paved, windy mountain road.  I was elated.  I walked down the steps to discover the most perfect road for longboard skateboarding I've ever seen.  It doesn't get better than this I thought.  As I began to roll, the beautiful cityscape of Taipei came into view on my left and I noticed the grave I had been next to was part of an enormous graveyard covering the entire side of the mountain for at least a kilometer.  There were symbols on the various graves of Christianity, Islam, Shinto, to Buddhism.  It was really quite incredible.  So I kept rolling and rolling waiting for this road to either end or drop very steeply but it never did.  Always slightly downward, hugging the mountainside, weaving through the countryside.  It was as if the road was built for longboarding.  With a proper longboard (I'm riding a penny skateboard) I may have never needed to jump off.  Could have ridden for kilo after kilo.  It was getting darker but  I didn't care.  The only traffic was the occasional scooter and perhaps a couple of cars the whole time.  I just kept weaving and diving, dragging and kicking, scraping and cruising.  It was the most enjoyable longboard ride of my life.  I was literally surfing down the side of the mountain cruising by religious shrines and monuments all the way.  Pure, unchallenged, unlimited awesomeness.

View from the graveyard atop the skate road

  

The rest of the day was pale in comparison.  I finally found my way back to my hostel an hour or so later.  I dropped my board off and attempted to round up some people at the hostel to go to dinner but no one seemed to take very much interest in being social. thus I ventured into the night market by myself.  I walked around for 45 minutes gathering the courage to attempt to stomach all of these bizarre foods.  Duck heads, chicken feets, breaded crabs, whole fish, fish balls, pork balls, green onion pancakes, overly boiled eggs, mystery meat galore(some of it raw), entire squids, oyster noodles and omelets... It was really too much to handle.  In the end I picked and chose various street food.  I settled on some kind of spicy black mochi(rice ball) thing covered in leafy greens and some kind of sauce.  (UPDATE DEC 2013: I later came to find out this was actually coagulated pig's blood.  lol The first thing I had in Taiwan was VERY exotic.) I also had fried corn on the cob, deep fried pork balls (with bones), fresh bananas and cantaloupe (sweetest I've ever tasted), and a sausage grilled with honey in the middle and dipped in lemon juice.  Top all this off with a Tapioca Pearl Black Milk Tea that Taiwan is so notorious for and you've got a recipe for an uncontained pleasurable Taiwanese eating experience.  Perhaps next time if I have someone with me, I'll be a bit more adventurous.

Me at Taroko Gorge in Hualien

Well that's it for now.  I'm going to tour Makong in the morning then meeting up with one of my old couchsurfer friends from New Zealand.  We are going to go to a big IT e
xpo (the biggest in Asia) called Computex.  Then we'll head down to the mountains in Hualien for some sight seeing.  After that I'll be rock climbing in Long Dong, surfing on the East Coast, perhaps hiking Kenting Nat Park in the South, then I'll end the trip with Hot Springs and a crazy Rave in Taichung sometime around the 15th.  Hopefully this all goes according to plan.   Until next time- 再見

Armin Van Buren in Taipei

Taroko Gorge

17 May ２013

17 May 2013
So Im sitting on a bus heading once again for Osaka-the third time.  Tomorrow Felicia and I will fly from Osaka to Fukuoka.  Felicia is a friend I met in Okinawa through my other buds.  We caught a train up here to Kanazawa in Toyama with the intention of heading to Fukuoka.  Problem is, we came to the wrong Fukuoka.  Fukuoka is in Kysuhu way down in Southern Japan and we are near another Fukuoka in Northern Japan.  I:ll take the blame for that one as I booked the tickets.  Didn:t double check the location when I researched the travel on the iphone.  So now we are two hours North of where we stat\rted but $120 bucks plus a hotel later, we are finally heading in the right direction.  On my left are the Japanese Alps and on my right is the East China Sea.  I desperately wanted to visit the alps but after much debate, we decided it wasn:t in our best interest financially to venture into the mountains for several days in search of adventure.  I have a hankering to look down into an active volcano at Mt. Aso in Kyushu.  I:ll see them next time I:m in Japan.  This may not be a great decision in the end but I don:t really want to spend all the money to buy extra warm clothing.  There is still snow on the mountain peaks after and even here on the ground it:s quite chilly at night.At least this way I get to see them from the bus.

So, allow me to play catch up.  Last time I wrote, I beleive I was planning to visit Miyajima nd Hiroshima.  Let me say, they were incredible.  The hike up and subsequent 360 panorama of Miiayajima was absolutely amazing.  As I reached the top, I discovered there were giant boulders on the peak that stood above all else for miles around.  I therefore, after much failure, managed to scramble up upon the highest one thereby offering an unihibited perspective of the Japanese coast, the deep deep blue sea, and other surrounding islands.  It was like nothing else I had ever laid eyes upon.  I would equate the view to be similar to what I:ve seen in pictures of the Agean sea in Greece.

If the fairly rigorous hike to the summit was in preparation for the beatiful surrounding landscape, the hike down blended exquisitely with the natural beauty of the rivers and shrines that seemed to exist in perfect harmony with one another.  At one shrine deep in the woods high on the mountain, I was able to perform a bit of self meditiation left over from the short period in which I used to practice breathing yoga.  By the end of this meditation, I was so thankful to live on such a wonderful planet with such awestriking majesty.  I was happy to call the Earth my home and to be a part of this nature.  I tried to envision the hundredsw of monks who have trekked upon these very same forest trails for many many years before my very existence.  What a perspective they must have had for this life on their path to enlightenment.  I had even passed one of them cloaked in traditional orange robes on the way down the mountain.  I:m not exactly sure but I believe this place to contain a mixture of followers of both Bhuddism and Shinto.  It was said that many many years ago, a very particular mountain tried very hard to reach heaven from this mountain.  Not in the height sense, but rather by the magnificence of it.  How could such beauty be pure accident.  But then again beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there many places on this Earth with such beauty before Industrialism changed this planet forever.

Further down the mountain, I came across yet another temple.  This one seemed to be perfectly at peace with the soft river and envy-green maple leaf trees all around it.  The river created a superbly calming atmospher as did these maples-the brightest, most beautiful green I:ve ever seen.  The temple architecture was nearly ass astounding as the many relics and artwork found on its grounds.  At one point during my exploration, I noticed a room that had been carved into a mountainside appearing similar to a hobbit shire.  (Don;t tell the monks!)  I didn;t realize it at the time but it was already past closing time for the temple.  Due to my obliviousness and curiosity, I decided to enter the room in the mountain.  As I slid the door open trying very hard not to make noise, inside I saw three little Hobbitses!!!  No, actually the room was empty thankfully.  But I didn:t realize this until I sat on a bench near the door for a couple of minutes as I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.  The only light in the room came from the door and a single flame inundating the air with the smell of incense.  The room was so quiet I feared to take a single breath for fear of disturbing someone or something.  I envisioned a single monk sitting Lotus style somewhere in the room deep in a trance on his path to enlgihtenmnet.  Then I imagined him being shaken awake by the unmistakable, gut-wrenching screech of the door sliding open.  Fortunately, once I was able to make out a bit, I could see I was alone, but there were statues of former monks and curious humanoid creatures all around me.  Traditional paintings of wise old Japanese men from long ago also covered the walls in addition to manuscripts written in purely Kanji (Chinese characters used to write Japanese language).  What an amazing discovery.  I assumed this was some sort of holy place of worship and meditation for these folk so I decided it best I make my leave.  Not without snapping a couple of photos first though!

Once I finally left the temple on Miyajima, I visited the ever-so famous Itsukushima floating Shrine always seen in pictures of Japan.  It mimics a fox head as this is the particular mascot or something of that sort of this particular sect of Shintoism.  There is a lot I miss out on culturally because of the language barrier so if you are interested in checking out any of this information, its only a quick google search away.  Because this blog is primarily personal and garners few views, that research is a bit beyond its scope. The shrine is enormous but its actually not anchored to the sea floor, It floats with the tide but due to its esquisite engineering and balance, it never tips.  I was able to snap several photos \of it which can be seen below.  This was one of the main things I wante dto see in Japan so I:m tahnkful to have had the opportunity.

The next day I decided to explore Hiroshima.  I visited the atomic bomb dome where a buiilding hit by the atomic bomb  dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. in August 1946 has been preserved as it was just after the blast.  A bit eery really..  I also visited the peace memorial museum where I devoured accounts of the blast and interpretations and to my surprise, there was very little propaganda or bias to any of the reporting.  It essentially states that the Japanese began the pacific war by bombing pearl harbour while simultaneously occupying Manchuria then the U.S. did a horrible horrible thing by bombing the city ultimately killing thousands.  I;ll not offer my opinion of justification for any of these events as it:s not my place, but I rather just see the atrocity of the entire scenario.  This was war though and jsut another line of killing in the thousands of years of violent history of mankind.  I will say it was very intersting to see what the Japanese government subjected its citizens and Korean and Chinese immigrants to often forcing labor and comandeering ports, businesses, and homes.  It;s easy to point a finger but the U.S. is no better in that regard.  That:s all I:ll say to that.

After Hiroshima, I booked it to Tokyo to hang with some new and old friends.  I was able to spend a day with an old girlfriend of mine and it was great to see her again since we never really had any closure(Like every relationship I ever had in the military).  Later that night I met up with a couple of guys I met in Okinawa a few weeks ago and we went out for sushi.  This particular sushi place delivers sushi to you directly via a truck that rolls around a track at chest level next to all the tables.  You put your order in on a computer screen then a few minutes later, your plate rolls right to your table where you take the plate and push a button causing the truck/tray to go back to the kitchen.  The only human interaction you have is with other customers and when you go to pay your bill.  With text messaging and modern technology, I can:t help but think restaraunts like this will become more prevalent in the future across the developed world.

Next night, I met an old English teacher friend of mine and one of the dudes from the night before.  After parting ways with the English teacher, Polish guy and I hit the Tokyo nightlife-hard.  I:ve rarely had so much fun in a club as we did that night in Roppongi.  Beatiful women, good beer, and lots of socializing.  It was a blast.  We stayed out until 6 am before separating to take care of our personal stuff.  He to bed with a Protugese gal, and me to the internet cafe to apply for an Indian tourist visa.

The nex tday kind of started to make this trip a bust.  Felicia arrived the day before and I decided to go visit a famous flower garden a couple of hours away from Tokyo.  When we arrived, the flowers werent in full bloom and there really wasnt much to see in the city.  So since then the trip has bascially been nothing but trying to figure out what we wanted to do and taking trains, buses, and planes all over the place en route to one place or another.  We did get to tour Akhihabara and Harajuku in Tokyo(Fe went crazy here because she loves anime.  We also went to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka which was a lot of fun.

Now that I:ve come to the end of this, it:s actually been 3 days in the making. The last week has been one disaster after another but today were in a hostel 3 hours away from Mt. Aso in Kumamoto-shi.  It:s a pretty town and were in a terrific hostel with lots of traditional Japanese decor hosted by a super friendly Japanese guy.  He even picked us up at the bus stop at 11 pm last night- 2 hours after normal check in time. It:s raining today so I:m taking a day to catch up on personal business but tomorrow we will catch a bus in the a.m. to Mt. Aso which is an active volcano where you can actually look down into the volcano and see the steaming sulfur.  Excited for that.  We:ll see what we can get into.  Several more plans in the works but they are hindered a bit since Fe is unable to get a rail pass for the bullet train since she is not on a tourist visa.  That was a pretty big hindrance and we almost split ways because of it but hopefully the rest of the trip goes a bit better.  Until next time...!

time to catch up

So this week im in Kyoto, Japan with an old friend of mine/.  We arrived yesterday afternoon and planned to spend a few days exploring Kyto and Osaka. But allow me tonback uo a bit. I spent the lasst week and a half in Okinawa visitting old friends and making plenty of new ones.  I had an absoluute blast and quite frankly i wasnt ready tooo leave when i eventually did so I thtink I'll fly back in a couple of weeks or so.  I dont ever want to leave that place so long as my buds are there.  Great to see Zach and David aGAIN/  I swear those guys are my life long brothers.  We share very similar ideals and views about how the world around uys works and  i'll be very iiinterested to see where we all end up0 once they are out of the military like myself.

I also had the opportunity to explore the island and bit and visit new and old destinations.  Being there this time was a cocmpletely different experience than when i was under the rule of the military.  Wonderful to no longer have that burden.  Got to surf and hike and even do a bit of deep water soloing which was terrifying and kiind of dumb actually.

After the week had passed though,, Ihad already comitted and bought plane tickets up here top Kyoto/Osaka area to explore.  Though I severely miss Okinawa and my friends there, I am positively stoked to be inundated with Japanese languauge and culutre.  As a matter of fact, my Japanese language is improving immensely every day and it's terrific.

Last night we crashed in a hostel.

6 May

Ok so ivew been seriiously slacking on this blog but I have a long train ride ahead so I think it's due time.  I'm on my way to a train sttattion top board the "shinkansen" or bullet train as it's commonnly called.  This has been na dream of mine for several years now so it's exciting to finally nmake it happen.  I just hope I get there in time because i burned half an hhour figuring out that I was in the wrong station and needed to transfer to one on the other side of thew city.

Ok, I mnade it. On the Shi9inkqansen now after much confusion about which train to board and which car to get on as there are 16 cars and I don't have a reservd seat.  Just about everywhere I go I have to ask for directions which realistically helps my Japanese.  But it adds to a lot of confusion.  Tokoro de- Anyway...

I'm in car number three on the bullet train where sevceral people are standing but I was lucky enouygh to grab a seat after someone got off the train at one of our stos.  Hoooly cow the train is fasst.  I've never been so fast on the grounnd.  300mph and its quieter than an airplane.  Awesome.  The scenery is whizzing by uberly (yes uberly) fast.  5 minutes ago all I cdould see were skyscrapers.  Now its rice paddies and mounttains here in the inaka (countryside). In top of that, the air pressure h as changed overr aq dozen times in the last half hour.

If I haven't mentioned yet, I'm heading toward Hiroshima.  Yes Hiroshima the town obliterated by the atomic blast so many yearsYears ago.  This is also nbear the site of the framous Miyajima floating Torii gate that Japan is so famous for.  I'm jetting down to explore fofr a couple of days before booking it back to Tokyo on the 8/9th to meet friends there.  Stupid expensive.  Although I'm making a 7 hour bus trip in an hour and a half.  I'll catch the 11 hour night bus back to Tokyo in a couple days in orderr to save money.
/
Quick tangent- I dumped about 15 pounds of gear/clothing into a box at the post office today.  Good heavens my bag feels so much lighter and myy ankle doesn't quite feel like someone is beating it with a monkey wrench all day.  I hope to make gains towardx the minimalist style but I have little hope of ever truly carrying the bare minimum.

Tokoro de- OH! Enough rambling. Ok, so.

After Okinawa Rebekha and hit Kyoto and Osaka stupid hard seeing most of the famous attractions in only a couple of days.  All in all we visited The ..... Shrine with the famous walkways lined with red/orange torii gates, the Golden Pavillion, Osaka Castle, more Kyto Shrines, the Osaka Aquarium, Arashyama bamboo forest and monkey park, and Osaka University all in 3 days.  On the second day, a frienbd we made in the hostel tagged along with us and added lots of fun to the trip as she had been traveling gfor a year and had some great stories.  For her it had been a "faith walk."  Call it whatever you like though, it was a backpacking hitchiking trip.

Since its been so long since I blogged, I'll coveYears ago.  This is also nbear the site of the framous Miyajima floating Torii gate that Japan is so famous for.  I'm jetting down to explore fofr a couple of days before booking it back to Tokyo on the 8/9th to meet friends there.  Stupid expensive.  Although I'm making a 7 hour bus trip in an hour and a half.  I'll catch the 11 hour night bus back to Tokyo in a couple days in orderr to save money.
/
Quick tangent- I dumped about 15 pounds of gear/clothing into a box at the post office today.  Good heavens my bag feels so much lighter and myy ankle doesn't quite feel like someone is beating it with a monkey wrench all day.  I hope to make gains towardx the minimalist style but I have little hope of ever truly carrying the bare minimum.

Tokoro de- OH! Enough rambling. Ok, so.

After Okinawa Rebekha and hit Kyoto and Osaka stupid hard seeing most of the famous attractions in only a couple of days.  All in all we visited The ..... Shrine with the famous walkways lined with red/orange torii gates, the Golden Pavillion, Osaka Castle, more Kyto Shrines, the Osaka Aquarium, Arashyama bamboo forest and monkey park, and Osaka University all in 3 days.  On the second day, a frienbd we made in the hostel tagged along with us and added lots of fun to the trip as she had been traveling gfor a year and had some great stories.  For her it had been a "faith walk."  Call it whatever you like though, it was a backpacking hitchiking trip.

Since its been so long since I blogged, I'll Years ago.  This is also nbear the site of the framous Miyajima floating Torii gate that Japan is so famous for.  I'm jetting down to explore fofr a couple of days before booking it back to Tokyo on the 8/9th to meet friends there.  Stupid expensive.  Although I'm making a 7 hour bus trip in an hour and a half.  I'll catch the 11 hour night bus back to Tokyo in a couple days in orderr to save money.
/
Quick tangent- I dumped about 15 pounds of gear/clothing into a box at the post office today.  Good heavens my bag feels so much lighter and myy ankle doesn't quite feel like someone is beating it with a monkey wrench all day.  I hope to make gains towardx the minimalist style but I have little hope of ever truly carrying the bare minimum.

Tokoro de- OH! Enough rambling. Ok, so.

After Okinawa Rebekha and hit Kyoto and Osaka stupid hard seeing most of the famous attractions in only a couple of days.  All in all we visited The ..... Shrine with the famous walkways lined with red/orange torii gates, the Golden Pavillion, Osaka Castle, more Kyto Shrines, the Osaka Aquarium, Arashyama bamboo forest and monkey park, and Osaka University all in 3 days.  On the second day, a frienbd we made in the hostel tagged along with us and added lots of fun to the trip as she had been traveling gfor a year and had some great stories.  For her it had been a "faith walk."  Call it whatever you like though, it was a backpacking hitchiking trip.

Since its been so long since I blogged, I'll Cover a feww of rttrhe highlights since my last post.

Made lots of new friends in Okinawa.  Hiked the mopuntains in Nago and surfed with a Japanese friend.  Dont feel thatt Im done with that place yet.

Rebekha lost her phone in the aquarium so after explaining the situation to one of the assistants there, she got it back at lost and found.  So since we had left early, we decided to go through again.  Problem was, this was Golden week (a holiday in Japan where most of the country is off work for a week and travels throughout the country) and tourist descended upopn this place by the thousands.  AND we had already seen 3/4 of the exhibits.  Therefore, I ended up chasing Rebekha through the aquarium dodging Asian tourists oohing and awhing at the fish tanks.  Everrytime I would cattch up to her, she would hand me a macadamia nut.  This inadvertantly made me feel like the squirrel from the movie Ice Age.  I thought I was going to fall over with laughter when I watched Rebekha duck between a young couple.  The female had her arm in the air taking a picture and their was less than 3 feet between her and her boyfriend.  Rebekha pulled a strategic running back move and ducked under the girl's arm before flying out on the other side.  Needless to say, I was unabble to follow.

Osaka Castle/museum has been aroiund since the 1300s and its walls are as beautiful as its history is interessting.  It was once the site of many thousands of guns and a military fortress keyy to the rebufff oOf enemy advances.  We took tons of pictues at this place especially near thesurrounding moat with its beautiful stone masonry.

After a nightt in Kyto in a hostel where I made a Vietnamese friend for potential future visiting, we crashed fora  couple of nights on the floor of a college dormitory with a 20 year old Bulgarian student at Osaka University.  He was there studying Japanese politics, history, and langague but had only been in Japan for a month.  Nice guy and super helpful.  Our last night he showed us a yakitori bar where we socialized over beers with the rest of the Japanese patrons in the bar.  During our chat, I discovered that one of the guys was an acupuncture specialist who had his own clinic.  I may pay a visit.

Last night I stayed in a backpacker hotel called the Taiyo Hotel in Dobutsen-mae, very close to well-heralded Namba, Shinsaibashi, and Dotonbori.  A visit to these places reinforced their reputation.  Even on a Sunday night the streets were full of hustle and bustle and there was shoping, bars, clubs, and restaraunts everywhere you look, all illuminated with flasghin neon lights.  Of course what would any party district be without Pachinko and slot?  Pachinko places abound in Namba and one can find plentty of overwworked businessman chasing away the stress of the day 100 yen into the slot machine at a time.  And don't forget the women, Japanese women are some of the absolute most beautiful Asian women I have ever encountered but when it takes two Hours to dress yourself everyday as if you are going to the Wimbleton races, this is to be expected.  Also, such grooming begins at a very very young age and I'm often shockedd to see some of the attire these adolescent girls take on.

There are plenty more stories to share such as being asked if I was a hitchhiker twice whenn wandering down the street looking for the post office/ATM for an hour.  Or the time I met a Japanese guy in training to be a helicoiptr pilot who is also living in Okinawa.  BUt I think that will sufficiently cover this blog post.

I'm having a blast in Japan butt it's time to get off the train for Hiroshima.  Adventures abound and I'll catch up again soon.  Matta ne!