Singawho? Singawhat?

Singapore was, honestly, disappointing. The name conjures up images of an exotic, tropic place teeming with people and energy brought together by the seas to do business of all kinds, but what it actually looks like is one big shopping mall surrounded by government funded high rises. Like if Dave & Buster decided to plan a city.

Singapore does not look like this.

Nor does it look like this.

I think the highlight of our trip was the first family we couch surfed with. They had just moved there from the Philippines because of Jeff's (the dad's) job. They were young, really nice, and had the most amazing 2 year old daughter. She spoke Tagalog, a Filipino language, and two weeks before we got there had just started learning English. You would think she had been speaking it all her life - she could almost have a full conversation with us in English. She was constantly performing, singing, dancing, anything for attention. And that girl had moves. Her parent's would occasionally start singing "Low," and she would just start breaking it down. I think by the time she's 4 she will be able to rival Beyonce, no joke.

With no extra money for shopping or restaurants, we were basically excluded from Singapore's two main recommended activities (though we managed to scrounge funds for some excellent curry in Little India...twice). We did go to the Kranji War Memorial, an old prison that served as a POW camp during WWII, which was very interesting. We also went to the Singapore Zoo, the other recommended tourist activity (it was a very good zoo, as zoos go). And in our spare time, we took photos of the various fines strictly imposed by the Singapore government.
*Note: a durian (above) very smelly fruit...highly illegal.

Scientifically proven...to do what??

Thai Tattoos for Traveling Tourists

After Bangkok (and a less-than-wonderful overnight stay on the island of Ko Phangan, which is very boring if it isn't a full moon) we headed to Khao Lak, a small area north of Phuket, where our friend Daniel, who used to teach in Toyama, is living and teaching English. The area was beautiful, right on the coast, and very relaxed and friendly. It was a very welcome change after the bustle of Bangkok. We basically spent 4 days relaxing, going to the beach, eating seafood, listening to live music, and getting Thai massages (rough life, I know).

Daniel, Nat & I

Woman at the restaurant next to Daniel's apartment who cooked us a delicious seafood dinner. Preparation cost? about $1.

Really cool Thai instrument I wish I could remember the name of.

On the second day we decided to rent motos. Daniel has one, but cramming three people onto it each time we wanted to go somewhere was getting a little old, so Nat and I decided to each get our own. I had driven my own before in Hungary, when Ethan and I went from Berlin. It had been an experience I might describe as...harrowing. I spent most of the time trying to keep up with him as he zigged and zagged through crazy Budapest traffic, and ended up falling off it twice, leading to a bruised and bloodied left side of my body and some very dirty clothes. (Note, Ethan is not a crazy driver, we just fall on opposite sides of the Conservative Moto Driver Line.)

I thought this time would be different. Wrong. We managed to drive about 20 minutes north on a super busy road, and the whole time I was well behind Nat and Daniel thinking "one weird bump and I'm dead, one hand slips and I'm dead, oh God there are so many cars around me." I tried to push those thoughts aside, and once we got onto smaller roads I started to feel more comfortable. We arrived at our destination, a beautiful beach, and hung out swimming and eating papaya salad (spicy! spicy! spicy!). On our way out, Nat and Daniel were once again way ahead of me within the first 3 minutes, and thus didn't notice when I turned a corner and totally wiped out in the middle of the road. A man stopped to help me, though he mostly seemed angry, maybe he felt obliged to stop but didn't actually want to. So when I finally caught up with the other two I looked much worse for wear - I was bleeding from my leg and forearm and my whole right side was covered in dust.
Oh well, what do we do when we fall off the horse?

We get back on.

("I'm not a gymnast, Maury.")

So I pulled myself together, hopped back on and headed back out towards the busy busy road, trying to silence the voices in my head which had now moved past reasonable worry to panicky terror. Slowly but surely, I made it back into town. We went past Daniel's house and further on to a tattoo parlor, as Natalie was thinking of getting a tattoo and wanted to do some research. I stopped, prepared to make the right turn across traffic into the parking lot (they drive on the left in Thailand, too, who knew), and then went....but managed to wipe out once more as soon as I entered the parking lot. Awesome.
This time it was actually worse, I think, because so many people were watching. All the store owners ran out of their shops to help me up, each one acting concerned for me while at the same time laughing at what a bad driver I am ("stupid foreigner can't ride a moto" - I swear I could read their minds and that's what they were saying). The owner of the tattoo parlor and his girlfriend rushed me into their bathroom, washed me up and covered my wounds in antiseptic.

So there I had it, my "Thai tattoo" (arm wound from moto). At that moment, as I was being attended to in the back of a tattoo shop in the middle of Thailand, I made a pact with myself which I plan to adhere to:

Never again will I attempt to drive a moto.
Ride on the back, okay. But drive, never.

Moto = No Go

We ended up going back to the tattoo parlor the next day so Nat could get her tattoo. She had been planning it for months, and essentially designed it herself - frangipani (or plumeria, as we call the flower) on her foot. It is a pretty big tattoo and thus took a few hours, and so I spent the day hanging out in the shop, buying things at the convenience store for Nat (like gummi bears for her to chew on when the pain was too bad), reading, and speaking with a German tourist who came in to hang out and talk about graffiti art with Top, the tattoo guy. After Nat was finished, Top's girlfriend Nim brought out a delicious salad and Top brought out some whiskey (and taught us how to tell if the bottles are faked - yes, they even fake alcohol in Thailand), Daniel showed up, and we all sat around talking, eating, drinking, and listening to Top and his friend play the guitar. They gave us homemade honey for Natalie's cough, and two kinds of leaves they had picked, one to make you sleepy, and one they called "amphetamine leaf" to wake you up (we left that one alone). It was probably the best tattoo experience Nat (and I, the bystander) could have asked for.

Art is Pain

Top Demonstrates Fun with Crickets

Post Tattoo Sing-a-Long
(my second favorite Thai song, after Wood's - miss you Wood!)

One Night (or two) In Bangkok

Bangkok has some beautiful temples and lovely historic sights.





These are some of them.






Unfortunately, I did not see any of those things. My view of Bangkok looked more like this:

Welcome to Thailand - Now Into The Jungle!

Internet hasn't been the cheapest or most reliable thing since leaving Japan, so I apologize for the delay in postings. I arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand after 22 hours of travel, with a stop in Seoul and Bangkok - and luckily I made it right through right before protesters closed the airport. Nat and Lindzy picked me up from the Airport in a Tuk Tuk and we went to the guesthouse where they were staying, repacked a smaller bag, and then headed right out again for a 3 day trek into the jungle!


After 3 hours in the bed of a truck up bumpy dirt roads, we started out on our journey. Our guide was Wood, an ex-Thai army Muay Thai boxer who grew up in the jungle and knew every plant and animal we came across. On one hand we knew he could kill any of us (or any dangerous animal) in a second, but he was also as goofy as a little kid.

The first day was an easy 2 hour hike, stopping every 50 feet so Wood could explain different plants to us and/or make us eat them. We reached our camp for the evening, which was a cluster of wooden huts and a fire pit. There were a few old Thai people hanging out, by the morning they were gone and new ones had come in - I think the place is used as a communal camp by anyone making their way through the jungle. We all set about cutting up vegetables, and Wood made us a huge dinner of vegetable curries and rice. Delicious. After dinner he played Thai songs on the guitar for us around the fire, under a sky with stars like I had never seen before in my life. It was pretty amazing.

Some of those mountains are Burma!

The next day was our long day, I think almost 7 hours in total. It was such a beautiful hike, really amazing. At one point we had to repel ourselves down two steep faces, using just a rope, no harnesses - badass! We stopped midday and Wood cooked us an amazing lunch (he can do incredible things with instant noodles) at the highest point of our trek. We used leaves as plates and bamboo as chopsticks, maybe the most biodegradable lunch I've had. Leaves make great hats, too!


As it got to be evening we arrived to our destination for that night, a tiny village of Burmese refugees. There were dogs, pigs and chicken running around everywhere (the chicken especially became pretty annoying as soon as we went to sleep). The villagers have one communal toilet (actually a glorified hole in the ground) and one shower (a raised pipe that emits freezing cold mountain water) in a little hut outside for everyone to use. Wood made us another delicious dinner and we ate outside next to one family's hut. After eating, Wood broke out the guitar and played for us again, and soon after was joined by the father of the family as well as his tiny son, maybe 2 or 3. The father and son (who, like everyone else we encountered on the trek, spoke no English) sang for us, all Christian songs translated into Thai. It was beautiful.

Village Huts

Village Kids

In the morning we woke up and brought out the candy we had bought before leaving to give to the children in the village. They were so freaking cute. After that we headed out on our way, just about 3 hours (and 9 mountains!) to where the driver would pick us up for a long, bumpy ride back to the guesthouse. After some showers, a few drinks, and a little rest, we were up the next day for one more outing with Wood - tiger park!

Goodbye, Japan

I miss you!

Maybe I've Been In Asia Too Long...

...or are fanny packs really back?

If anyone could help me out with this, please, I could really use some answers.

No Time To Write More, But...

...I just want to let it be known that I'm safe, despite the political situation in Thailand at the moment. Luckily I made it out of Bangkok by plane just hours before the closed the airport, and I'm currently chilling at a quiet beach town in the south. And my next flight is from Phuket, so unless things really really escalate, it shouldn't be a problem. As Natalie would say, no worries!

I Meant To Post This A While Ago...

...it proves that both the Japanese and my dad can sleep absolutely anywhere.

Itinerary

So my time in Japan is winding down really, really quickly. I've moved out of my apartment and into a hotel for the last week, and I'm training my replacement teacher - very surreal, all of it. To answer the many questions I'm getting about where I'm going and when I'll be home, here it is, my schedule for the next few months:

November 24th - fly to Chaing Mai, Thailand
ride some elephants and hang out on the beach

December 6th - fly from Phuket, Thailand, to Singapore
do anything other than spit or litter

December 10th - Singapore to Perth, Australia
meet all of Natalie's friends from high school, perhaps throw another shrimp on the barbie?

December 23rd - Perth to Brisbane, Australia
meet Natalie's family, go to the beach for Christmas

January/February (undetermined end point) - Daintree Rainforest, Australia
stay with Natalie's dad, get a backpacker's job picking fruit or something
eat bananas all day and sit on the beach at night

At some point, yes, I will make my way home. Natalie will go back to school at the end of February, at which point I will most likely go see Sydney and fly home from there - more updates on that will come. At the moment, though, I have a hotel breakfast to eat and a lot of goodbye cards to write : (

Bouncy Parks Are For Kids...And Foreigners

This might not look like much, but this park may be the happiest place in Japan. It's like a the combination of a Moon Bounce and a trampoline - smiles guaranteed all around.

Keeping It Professional

Every once in a while I am asked to help my boss interview a prospective new teacher. This is mildly interesting and only takes about 20 minutes of my time, but can end up being incredibly stressful and, at times, aggravating.

First, I always feel a little awkward because the only reason I am qualified to do this is because I can speak English fluently. And the other person can't. I also feel awkward because my boss sits in the corner and watches....judging. No smiles.

Before each interview, my boss, Chuckles, likes to come into my classroom, close the door, and tell me in broken English her fist impressions of the interviewee. And her "first impressions" are actually just reasons why she doesn't like the person - and why I shouldn't like them either.
[To clarify, my boss is also the person who voices her disappointment each year when she receives information about the incoming foreign teacher and they aren't blonde. And straight up doesn't like non-Japanese Asians.]

So before the last interview Chuckles cornered me alone in the office and tells me, "He is a man."

Yes, this is her opening statement. I am supposed to infer that the "he" in question is the person I will later interview.

"...Oh really?"

"I have never hired a man."

"...Oh really?"

"Yes!" she says proudly. Short pause, then she adds, "I don't like him."

"Because he's a man?"

"Ahahahahaha. No!"

End of conversation. Like most with her, I am not sure what to take away from it, other than I think she doesn't want me to say his English is good. Later, my Japanese co-workers come into the office and we begin discussing the situation. The both tell me that Chuckles told them he smells funny, and so she doesn't want to hire him.

For a woman over 50 she has really mastered the art of sounding like a girl in junior high school.

So I go into the interview and talk for 20 minutes with a really nice man who did not smell funny at all and had perfect grammar, but was so nervous he constantly had to pause mid-sentence to stop shaking. He asked me great questions, and was obviously eager to be a teacher. At the end I shook his hand, said good job, and went back into the office.

Chuckles comes in with a disdainful look on her face. She starts speaking Japanese to my co-worker and in there I hear, "blah blah blah Leah-sensei 'Good Job' AHAHAHAHA!"

"What? I wasn't supposed to say good job? He was trying so hard!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She's laughing too hard to respond to me now.

Thanks boss.

She looks at me and manages to say between bouts of laughter, "Don't recommend."

So there it was, my decision was made for me, by the worst English speaker in the whole school and (I can't help but feel like) for all the wrong reasons. But then, such is business in Japan.

Part 3

I was lucky enough last month to see Ethan, who I usually see once a year if we're lucky, not once but twice. He made Japan the first stop on his trans-Asiatic tour, and it was absolutely wonderful to see him. And as usual when we are traveling together, things never quite went as planned, we didn't see the conventional sights, but we had a GREAT time.

We started in Kyoto, where we bypassed the temples to check out the Astroboy Museum. We got a photo with him, and got to watch a sweet anime film that we didn't understand a word of.

Shortly after we hopped on the train to Osaka to meet Shohei, who we stayed with. The one thing we wanted to see in Osaka was the Cup Noodle Museum, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that Shohei not only "LOVES NOODLES!" and works at a ramen shop, but that he had never been to the museum and really wanted to go. So at the crack of noon the next day we made our way through the beautiful outskirts of Osaka to the place where it all began (or at least the place commemorating the place where it all began).

Tunnel of Ramen

I learned many things that day. One, Instant Ramen has been around since 1958, and Cup Noodle since 1971; two, astronauts eat Cup Noodle in space; and three:
Three reasons to eat Cup Noodle:
1. cheap
2. safe
3. delicious!!

Then, glory of glories, we made our own.

Designing

Anything (Dried) Our Hearts Desired

Shrink-wrapped for Freshness

After that excitement we hung out in Osaka, ate, drank, and sang karaoke.


We ran into this guy and his girlfriend at an arcade. The guy had spent months and over $500 on this one machine in order to win this stuffed animal. Talk about priorities.

Ethan almost missed his flight, but we managed to make time for Purikura.

Oh My GOD!

I know this isn't the greatest video ever taken, but....these boys are are the best. Absolutely the best.

After this, they decided to draw a huge scene on the board:

...it's the three of us in "our house." Mine is the big head in the middle.

Part 2

Miss you, little chans.

Las Ketchup, Part 1

Unfortunately, I have not really been what you would call "on top of things" lately, blogging being one of those things. I apologize.

Since last writing, some pretty big things have happened, namely:

1. my family came to visit for 10 days
2. my two closest friends in Toyama left (for good)
3. my friend Ethan came to visit

I'm going to start in chronological order, so here goes.

It was absolutely wonderful having my family in Japan. We had so much fun together, and we got to see a lot of different and really cool sights, most of which were new to me as well. They first came to Toyama to see my life here, and from there we went on to Kyoto and Nara, where we got to see two beautiful festivals. Next we took a ferry to the beautiful island of Shikoku, "the Tibet of Japan." We rented a car and drove along tiny, winding roads on the sides of beautiful green mountains that lead down into steep, steep ravines. The riding got a little stressful at times, with the roads being one lane switchbacks and cars driving on the left (slight tension in the car, especially when lost), but the scenery was gorgeous.

After two nights in a cabin in a national park on the center of the island, we made our way across Shikoku and off to Miyajima, a small island famous for the large Torii gate in the water, and for deer wandering around everywhere. It was very peaceful (some might say too peaceful), and we had a nice hike up to the top of one of the mountains. We were hoping to see the monkeys that live there, but unfortunately they weren't around. We stopped in Hiroshima on the way back, which was incredibly moving. All in all we couldn't have asked for a better trip. We had so much fun together, and I'm so happy they were able to come and see my life here and that we could experience Japan together.

Torii Gate and Temple at Miyajima

The deer love eating paper. And this was in the women's bathroom.

We look so good in the morning.

Top of the Mountain on Miyajima

A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima

Tokyo Giants vs. Hiroshima Carp @ the Tokyo Dome

1 Girl, 1 Keg

Go Carp!