Tourists

You certainly meet all sorts of people traveling. And it's easy to generalize about them. I'm not saying these are my observations necessarily, but Americans are often seen as being naive, loud, and badly educated in world affairs. These stereotypes I have to say do have a ring of truth to them...but then, that's how they came to be the stereotype. I'll also say Americans are usually always fun and easy-going, have money to spend and are willing to spend it.

Argentines are seen as being self-absorbed and preoccupied with sex. Germans: unfriendly and uptight. The Japanese...well, huge groups of them will seem to move as one organism oftentimes. But then it's inevitable that the Japanese are going to be a little more difficult to approach and shy when their language is so different from the Western languages...they just can't communicate with us oftentimes so they stick together in those tightly knit groups. Find a Japanese that speaks English and you can be sure that they'll be happy to talk to you. The French are viewed as being snobs and unfriendly to Americans, though I've never experienced this and have always enjoyed hanging out with French people, both in France and in other parts of the world. Australians: big drinkers, gregarious, and knowledgable about the world.

There a quite a large number of Israelis traveling down here. In fact, I meet far more Israelis than Americans on the road. A lot of them spend some time traveling after completing their obligatory military service. A couple of the hostels I have stayed at have been almost exclusively Israeli...they do seem to stick together, and those hostels were pretty good deals I have to say. Can´t say I find them especially fun or engaging (not to generalize an entire nation or anything) but I have learned quite a bit about Israel from them.

At any rate, I could go on and on about stereotypes and my observations of the people I've seen and met. I will say that I almost always have good experiences with the other tourists I meet. My view is that the attitude you give others is often reflected back at you. If you're cool with them, most all people are going to be cool with you, whether their French, Argentine, German, whatever.

Adios Argentina

I am outta here. Off to Chile today and not going to be returning to Argentina this time. Guess that means I need to waste the 20 pesos I still have in my pocket. Had a pretty good time here in Bariloche, it is quite the Alpine oasis in the middle of nowhere, although can´t say the rafting was as good as in West Virginia, though the people I met were pretty good. The longer I travel the less I care about what I actually do and the more I care about what kind of people I stumble across.

This means I am officially leaving Patagonia as well.... I had considered taking a plane to skip through the desolation...but ended up taking a bus the whole way. Didn´t want to cheat with a plane...I reckon riding the bus and seeing the continent is part of the experience, so I will continue with buses until I reach Peru. Can´t say the scenery in Patagonia affected me the way it has many writers over the years (if I should dare call myself a writer)...but then it´s basically an empty desert wasteland and I have actually seen a few such places...the Iraq-Syria border, West Texas, the Outback, and 29 Palms come to mind.

Feliz Navidad

Well, cannot say i am happy to spend another Xmas away from home, especially here in this little backward town in Patagonia, but that is how it goes I guess....

Comodoro Rivadavia is my current location. Had lunch at the local Petrobras gas station, which is about the only place open in this town. I asked for tacos off of the ¨Mexican menu¨and ended up getting fajitas. I asked two different waitresses (yes, there where waitresses in this gas station...) if my meal was the tacos and they both said yes. Just because the all speak Spanish certainly doesn´t give them the same concept when it comes to food.

Speaking of food, actually, one of the things I am going to miss most about Argentina is the asado or barbecue. When the Argentines go to have an asado they basically grill up a ton of meat, add a little salad and bread, and along with some red wine go to town. No potatoes or other extras that you don´t want or need. Mostly just a lot of good meat.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Cities_of_Tierra_del_Fuego.png

Perito Moreno

The Perito Moreno Glacier is indeed quite an impressive sight. Glad I took the 5 hour bus ride to view it for an hour. It is about 5km wide, 15km long, and 40m high. I had expected a glacier to be very smooth on top but it was quite jagged, not sure how anyone can take a walk on it, but they do have walks you can do on the glacier. The glacier moves about 2m a day, which is much more than I though glaciers moved...but it does not gain or lose ground as the ice that accumulates in the mountains evenly replaces the ice that the glacier loses daily to calving. Once again, the sounds and sights of the ice falling were impressive...but did not get to see any large scale ice shedding from the glacier. PM is one of the few glaciers around that is not receding, which was nice to hear....

After the glacier I ended up riding to the next town with the tour guide. I asked her afterward the tour about bus schedules and she told me there were no more buses that day and that since I was headed the same way she and her husband were I would just have to ride with them. I was like...¨ok...sure...great!¨ Worked out well and got down there to Rio Gallegos in time to catch a night bus northwards to Comodoro Rivadavia where I spent Xmas day. Conversation in the car was not all I could have hoped for but can´t complain. At the end I thanked them and mentioned that if they ever needed anything in the STates or came to visit to let me know and she responded that she was too scared to visit the States after what happened to the Twin Towers. I reckon therein lies the reason they live in such an out of the way part of the world.

Glaciers

We disembarked the boat everyday at least once. We would take zodiacs into the shore and go from there. One day we did a nice little hike to the top of a ridgeline (nothing too strenuous keeping in mind the expenses of the trip, this was an older more coddled crowd). Cannot really remember the point of that hike other than to view the spectacular scenery around the bay we were in...oh yeah, that was the point.

Probably the best excursion was the trip to see a couple glaciers close up. I was very much impressed at the time, especially with the sound the glacier makes when it calves and drops ice into the lake. Much louder than you might expect. Anyway, after having seen the Perito Moreno Glacier (entry to be added later), my memories of the glacier trip with the cruise have been superseded a bit. But it was cool to be out out there on the water experiencing the cold and rain. That must sound rather weak...no, this was not a scary, super adventure of glacier viewing...but it was cool...I swear it was.

My first cruise

Ok, so I took a 3 day cruise on the Mare Austalis. The cruise ended several days back, but I am just now getting some time on the computer to type this up.

So my first cruise...well, first of all, this was a very nice boat. The cruise cost me $1300 for 3 days so no comfort issue existed. That price did include everything, including drinks which was a pleasant surprise. There were probably about 110 passengers from 21 different countries with the States having the most of any one country with 19. Everything on board was done in English and Spanish. The first day I decided to eat my meals at an English speaking table. Since these turned out to be the people I spent the most time with, this was an important decision. Wound not say I regret the decision, but the group I was with was not the most interesting group...4 other Americans, a British girl, and an older South African couple. Could not really hear a word of what the South African couple said in 3 days so that nullified much of what would have been interesting about them. At one point I ended up alone at the table with the S Africans and got to talk about S Africa and the Marines and all that. They ended up wondering why I do not go back into the Marines as they said the last thing I should want would be to end up like the others at my table whose lives are essentially meaningless in the sense that their lives have no effect on anything or anyone than themselves...these words coming from a mild mannered man who looked like a leprechaun. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised to hear such a frank opinion, but glad for it as people with forceful opinions are certainly more interesting than people who do nothing but agree with you all the time. I´m sure living in S Africa is pretty interesting these days and that older couple has certainly seen many changes in their lives.

So the ship was decent size, about 70 meters long...but it certainly rocked and rolled quite a bit when we rounded Cape Horn. The vast majority of the trip we were in the Straits around Tierra del Fuego, but since we had good weather the capitan decided to take her out into the ocean to round the Cape. The Cape is actually just the southernmost island considered a part of the continente. We disembarked on the island before sailing around it. The island is pretty small...you could probably walk the perimeter in an hour or so...and the only inhabitants are a Chilean sailor and his family who do a year long tour in a lighthouse. Now that is what I would call hardship duty.

Anyway, I suffered a little bit of seasickness at times but nothing serious at all. There were people on the trip that had a bit more of a problem though.

and a little more

Thinking about blogs though, I guess a big reason I didn´t want to do one earlier was for fear that it would be boring since it´s bound to be longer and contain more mundane topics than the letters and emails i sent out before...those were intended to be concentrated information that would be entertaining and readable. With this format though, my readers will be able to determine their own level of involvement since I won´t be sending them anything at all.

So, here I am in the hostel using the free computer. Been in this place for a few days now. Usually don´t stay in hostels where I´ll have to share a room with strangers anymore, but this town tends to be a bit expensive so I´m doing it. Generally, I don´t sleep well with other people around, but this place has been different. I think partially because it´s nice and cold here...always sleep better in the cold...something about being warm in the cold... Given how far south we are though, it´s really not too cold...highs of about 55 during the day. I had read that there was some sort of ozone layer problem down here that causes sunburns easily; I´ve found that to be true as I really haven´t been outside that much today but still have a red face even with complete cloud cover. Incidentally, Dad if you´re reading this I think I´m ready for that propecia if you can get some...my fair seems to be thinning at the cyclic rate these days. As for the hostel...you certainly hear quite a few languages being bandied about. In fact, I´ve yet to encounter an American in this place. I´m sure there are Americans about...I believe most of my fellow countrymen tend to inhabit more posh places to stay than the bare-bones $12 a night hostel.

As for yesterday, I went hiking up toward a glacier. I wasn´t really sure what to expect as for the hike up there. The glacier is located about 1000 meters above sea level up on a mountain. I had heard there was a chairlift that would take you up there...but it only took me up to about 600 meters above sea level. I hiked up another 200 meters or so I would guess before turning around due to the ice and snow coverage. My sneakers just weren´t suitable to continue heading up. There were some people up there though. I had a nice time sliding on my back headfirst down the mountain. What I wouldn´t have given for some skis, but it was pretty fun sliding down on my brand new gortex jacket. With the walk out to the mountain and back, the hike ended up taking the whole day...which was good since I needed the exercise for sure. I certainly do get more aches and pains afterward these days. Tendinitis in both Achilles, hips aching (these achy hips are a new thing), ingrown toenails throbbing as my toes bang against the ends of the shoes as I was walking down hill. But I´m fine today.

Ushuaia

Ushuaia...I am indeed at the end of the world. The southernmost ¨city¨ in the world. Roughly 70,000 inhabitants here apparently. The scenery rather reminds of Vancouver or Iceland with the mountains and bays. Quite spectacular...but that didn´t stop my scuba guide from calling this place the asshole of the world. Being so far south the sun sets around 2300. Been down here a few days now. I´m waiting for my cruise to begin. I had wanted to go to Antarctica but those cruises were running a minimum of 5K even with the ¨last minute¨ price I had hoped would save me $$, so I decided to take a shorter and much cheaper cruise through the Straits of Magellan to Punta Arenas in Chile. Still not a cheap cruise by any means, but supposedly it´s worth the price. I will of course tell all about it when it´s over...for now all I know is that we´ll see a lot of...nature. But I know there´s no internet on board...3 days without internet, don´t know how i´ll survive...maybe it will encourage me to get out and live a little more.

I have indeed been getting out a fair amount though, although today I took a day off from outdoor activities and spent the day in the library working on my spanish by reading ¨choose your own adventure¨ stories in spanish. I never was any good at those things...I always end up dead by a stupid decision...I´ll chalk my failures up to my suspect reading skills...but then my reading skills in spanish really aren´t bad at all anymore. Anyway, I apologize if the writing here isn´t the best. I suppose I`m going to do this blog as more of a stream of consciousness type writing as opposed to serious, edited writing...if you´d call what I did before serious. So, the scuba, yeah, decided to check that out. Only other time i scuba dove was in Vietnam back in June. Enjoyed that experience thoroughly so thought i´d give it another whirl, this time in the cold waters. Of course, you use a dry-suit in the 10 degree water...I had thought a dry-suit meant the suit would be dry...completely dry. Not so, although not much water gets in except through the gloves. Almost all of your body is covered...the parts of your face that aren´t quite covered do get painfully cold when you first get in...but thankfully my body acclimated quickly enough. Didn´t see a whole lot other than king crab nesting grounds but it was good. I was more interested in the technical aspects of diving than seeing stuff anyway. I did it on a Sunday so I was the only student; the other 4 guys were the instructor and 3 of his friends, which definitely helped make it more of an authentic experience for me since we spoke spanish the whole day. Carlos, the instructor, actually invited me back to his place for lunch with his family afterward. Ended spending most of the day there. All in all, a great day...always good when you really get to know local people.

Buenos Aires

Funny how when you live someplace, you don´t do a lot of the things a place has to offer. No sense of urgency I guess. I´m pretty much on a fixed weekly schedule and don´t have a lot of interesting things to report. I live in a house in the middle of town with another American student, a local woman named Cristina, and one of her sons. Cristina has five kids in all - three daughters named Marie and two sons named Juan. Not surprisingly the kids go by their middle names. Pretty nice family, but not nearly as warm and helpful as the one I stayed with in Ecuador. The people in general in here are not what I would call friendly...a bit snobbish on the whole. Anyway, it´s not a bad living situation overall, but with no AC I´m probably going to hit the road as the weather gets hotter. I think I´ll be ready to leave after two months anyway.
I haven´t found the people here to be especially warm and engaging. I had lunch with a local girl who asked me how I like the people here. As I was attempting to explain that I like the people just fine she told me she can´t stand the people here. That was a bit surprising to hear, but then not really I guess. I guess the honesty was the surprising part. I´ve met plenty of good people in bars and other venues though. Speaking the language halfway-decently gets some appreciation from certain people...but then there are always those that will laugh at my fumbling attempts. Can´t let that bother you though or you´ll never make any progress.

Yeah, the Spanish...it seems to ebb and flow. I´ll have my days when I just can´t seem to do it, but then suddenly I´ll have a good day when I understand and speak pretty well. A lot depends on the person I´m talking to. If they´re willing to speak a little slower, forgo the slang and enunciate then we can communicate. At any rate, it´s always amusing try to communicate with people with my 4-year old´s vocabulary and grammatical skills. Now that I´m thinking a little bit in Spanish, rather than trying to think of something to say in English and then translating it to Spanish word for word, I find myself using much simpler phrases. For instance, when questioned by Cristina about a girl I was seeing I wouldn´t attempt to say this type of thing in Spanish ´´yeah she was okay but wasn´t that cute and anyway I met someone else that I like better and I really couldn´t understand the girl anyway because she speaks so damn fast never mind the fact that she didn´t thank me for the dinner I paid for and now she´s sending nasty text messages´´. Instead I just said ´´ella se volvió loca´´ (she went crazy), and that gets the point across. Of course, when you talk with catch phrases like that people shake their head and laugh...anyway, they seem as entertained by it as I am.

Found a really good Spanish tutor that I work with for about 5 hours a week and my volunteer job gives me the opportunity to speak quite a bit. I haven´t watched this much tv in years - it helps quite a bit with my Spanish. I prefer tv over reading books in Spanish as I need to work on my listening skills much more than my reading skills. The Simpsons is not the same in Spanish but it´s still entertaining. I watch the History Channel for probably 2 or 3 hours a day...all those visual cues make it easier to follow. Spanish with the people on the street is quite a bit different, but I can usually decipher one or two words in every sentence and with the context conjecture what the hell´s going on. I´d say the best resource for learning a language though has to be a girlfriend. I´m working on that one, but nothing of substance to report in that area.... I´ve laid some groundwork that I hope will bear fruit though.

I´m volunteering in a soup kitchen teaching computer classes. Pretty basic stuff, many of my students didn´t know how to turn on a computer when we began. My students are middle-aged women for the most part. I´ve enjoyed it but I´ve learned about all the new vocabulary I´m going to learn for computers so I´m ready to try something else. Sometimes I help out in the kitchen with the cooking and other odd jobs. I spend about 4 hours a day there. I´ve come to the conclusion that these soup kitchens are political centers as much as anything else. I helped translate some interviews of the workers the other day; you´d be amazed at the leftist claptrap that can come out of the mouth of a 3rd-grade educated potato peeler.

Went to a soccer game one weekend. I always regretted not going to a soccer game when I was over in London so made sure to do that. Shockingly, the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The fans are indeed enthusiastic about their futbol...so much so that the visiting team´s fans have their own portion of the stadium segregated from the home team fans in order to protect them. When the game was over we had to wait about 30 minutes before we could leave so the visiting team´s fans could get cleared of the area. A guy got beaten to death after one of the games earlier this year. This place probably could be a bit dangerous, but like most of places I´ve seen in Latin America security is all over the streets, day and night. The traffic is probably the most dangerous part. I read that 20 people die in vehicle accidents everyday in BA. The more places I visit worldwide the more appreciative I get of traffic law enforcement.

Looked in the mirror one day and realized the toothpicks hanging off my shoulders were actually my arms. Thus, I decided to join a gym. Tried a jiu-jitsu gym first. Brazilian jiu-jitsu brought back memories of my one year of high school wrestling...that familiar neckache after practice. It´s basically the same thing except you don´t try to pin the guy for a 3 count, but instead try to get him to submit with a choke or arm/leg lock of some sort. I took some beatings but I learned quite a bit in the 6 times or so that I went. I decided to quit when the owner decided I would have to pay 3 times as much as the locals since I´m an American. Our currency is worth three times theirs (the two were pegged equal until 2000 or so) so I reckon that was his justification. It still wasn´t that expensive but I´ve got my principles. I´m using a regular gym now, complete with forgotten ´80s American tunes blaring and the 2 or 3 guys that every gym seems to have that are always in there and think b-c they´re a little bit big they own the place. The difference here is the ´big´ guys aren´t really very big.

Haven´t actually travelled outside the city since I got here other than a weekend trip to Uruguay with my roommate and some others. Uruguay is only an hour across the river. Had a nice time in a little touristy town where we rented mini-dune buggies and took them onto the beach. Unfortunately, the only times we got stuck were when I wasn´t driving (coincidence? I think not!) so I spent a good deal of time pushing and digging. Took a 3 hour bus ride over to Montevideo that evening.

Montevideo, was a bit of a shithole...literally...I´ve never seen so much dog crap. Buenos Aires is like that too; people have no qualms about walking their dogs and letting them crap whereever, but at least in BA most of the shop owners hose off their sidewalks every morning. No such cleaning seems to happen in Montevideo. I wonder how much fecal matter you need in the streets to pose a health hazard...? I´d say the most interesting part of that weekend was the people I had dinner with in the hostel: a 36 year-old American traveling South America selling mp3 players (tech items tend to be expensive here), an Israeli in town for 3 days having flown in as a bone marrow courier (these jobs exist?), and a retired Norwegian engineer looking for real estate (real estate my ass, he seemed a little perverted...lol). I asked the American if he wanted to go out drinking and he responded by telling me he had no money...so much for that business model I guess.

My plan is to fly south in a few weeks down to the edge of the continent and then bus up the west coast to Peru. The Andes seem like a nice place to spend the summer.

Ecuador

Flew into Quito initially. The guy from the Spanish school (Agustin) I was to attend in Quito was not at the airport to pick me up like he was supposed to be and his cellphone was disconnected. This gave me a bit of a pause, but luckily the backup plan to meet him at a hotel in town worked out. Evidently, his car broke down and he had lost his cellphone days earlier. Agustin turned out to be a very good guy and had a blast with him out on that Friday night....

Well, once Agustin and I linked up he took me to my host family, which consisted of a 50ish year old woman and her 25 year old son. They turned out to be really nice and helped me immensely with my Spanish. They put me in a little sidehouse outside the main house. It wasn´t too bad of a place, but then it wasn´t real great either. No hot water to speak of and could barely squeeze myself thru the bed and dresser to get to the bathroom. At least I had privacy out there, but then privacy wasn´t really was I was looking for given that I´m here to speak to people.

My first day began with me heading downtown to check out the 16th century churches and other sights. Headed over to the bus stop and waited while 2 fully packed buses stopped and continued, hoping to find one where I´d have some breathing room. The third bus showed up fully packed; after a moment´s deliberation I decided to hop on...I was a bit late though and the doors closed on my foot. These aren´t your typical bus doors by the way, they´re more like what you´d see on a subway, although they do close by swinging not sliding.... Anyway, thankfully I was able to slip out of my shoe before my foot was mangled. I then said something in Spanish to the effect of ¨my foot hurts¨ to the crowd of onlookers at the back of the bus who´d watched the scene. They exchanged bemused glances about the big dumb gringo and I retrieved my shoe at the next stop.

Headed downtown and saw a bunch of 16th century churches. Hard to believe they were built so long ago. The churches had all sorts of Incan symbolism in them, like of carvings of the sun and so forth - an interesting mix of Catholicism and Incan beliefs. My tour of the churches ended with an argument with the old man who gave me the tour over how much his help was worth. He got a fair price - a third of what he asked.

Next day took a bus trip to the equator. There are several museums and a monument to mark the spot, although apparently the monument is off by 200 meters. One of the museums was pretty cool though...in addition to a shrunken head smaller than a fist and a blowgun shooting range they also had all sorts of equator-related tricks: pools of water that go down in different directions (or straight down) depending on which side of the equator they are on; a trick where you walk on the equator with your hands out and your arms get pulled like crazy by the opposing sides of the globe and you can´t walk straight; standing an egg on a nailhead, a scale where I lost 5 lbs on the equator, etc. Not sure how they did it but their games really seemed to prove we were on the equator and the equator causes some strange things, or maybe the equator really causes all those things and I´m just a skeptic, I don´t know.

The next day I took a cable car to near the top of the mountains surrounding Quito. The car gets you up to about 4000 meters. Had an incomprehensible conversation with a cute local girl on the way up. I hiked up to 4200 meters before calling it quits. I hadn´t really planned on hiking much so I really didn´t have much in the way of warm clothing, and I was getting up into the clouds at that point. Even a small incline can be tough at that altitude. I felt decrepit taking such pathetically small steps. Heck, my first couple nights in the city (elevation: 2800 meters) I woke up in the middle of the night breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating, but by the end of a week I´d gotten fairly used to it. Never did really get used to the cold though, as the temperature is usually between 50 and 70, which isn´t bad, except the buildings don´t have any sort of climate control so it´s always a little chilly for me inside.

Hit a club on Friday night. I was the tallest person in the place excepting the black doorman (the Ecuadorians seem shorter even than the SE Asians, but not quite as slight). The ladies had their own separate bar and dance floor until midnight with free drinks. You couldn´t pay cash for anything; you had to use a piece of paper they give your group when you come in, and heaven help anyone that tries to leave without his paper. They mark the card as you buy stuff. Cash won´t cut it, I tried. Not sure of the motivation behind such a system, perhaps to reduce bartender skimming?...and tipping is not customary here anyway.

As for the main objective of this trip, the Spanish, it´s going ok. The lessons in Quito are really cheap, $6 per hour for private lessons. The teachers speak almost no English so that´s good. I picked up quite a bit those first few days. The progress seems to have slowed of late, probably because I´m in this touristy town and speaking too much English, but I´m sure I´m learning more than I think I am. The homestay in Quito helped a lot because the family and I talked a lot. She had some great stories about prior students ranging from 15 to 70 years old. She also tended to serve popcorn and chocalate with almost every meal. Why not?

After Quito, I headed to a small, aforementioned touristy town on the coast called Montañita. This involved a shorft flight to Manta, where sits a US airbase used to spy on the Colombian cocaine makers. Had to take a bus from there to Montañita. The bus ride kind of reminded me of Chevy Chase and Dan Akyroyd taking that bus in Afghanistan or wherever it was in ¨Spies Like Us¨. The bus was covered in mud and packed to the gills with people, animals in cages, and smoke. The busdriver insisted on driving the bus like a sports car over roads that had potholes the size of small cars. I´m still debating with myself whether I felt more fear riding in that bus or riding around the towns in Iraq. The bus was a local bus, meaning it stopped about 60 times while I was on it. And after each stop the bus driver floored it just as soon as the last passenger set foot on the aisleway, which oftentimes sent the new passengers catapulting toward the back of the bus. Thankfully, the bus was standing room only, so you really couldn´t be thrown too far. I had the pleasure of sharing a seat with all sorts of people, including a wizened old lady with no teeth who I couldn´t understand a word she said to a girl that looked barely out of puberty toting around a baby girl. At any rate, I made it to Montañita after four hours on the bus no worse for wear.

Montañita´s quite the little Bohemiam enclave, with all the surfers and college-age kids running about. I´ve seen a number of people urinate on the main drag and the smell of marijuana wafting down from the balconies is commonplace. Haven´t seen a cop yet actually. A part of me wishes I´d brought a USMC t-shirt with me to wear down the main drag just to see what looks I´d get. As for the surfing, it´s going along. Not surprisingly, the two hour lesson I took was a big help. I was instructed to pop off the board to my feet ¨como un gato¨ (like a cat) and that mindset has worked well for me. I can get to my feet and stay there pretty easily now after about 8 hours in the water. Just need to work on wave selection and timing. The motrin helps.
Just finished eating dinner at the ¨Happy Donkey House¨...thankfully, no donkeys on the premises, but the food was excellent ($4 for a swordfish dinner, yes, they use dollars down here. If you were wondering where all those golden Sacajawea dollars went I can answer you...here. ), and I was treated to free dogfights right out in front of the shop.

The highlight of the Ecuador trip had to be the bike down Chimborazo volcano. There´s company that drives you with your bike 4800 meters up Chimborazo, which is a 6300 meter volcano (inactive). The top of Chimborazo is regarded as the highest point on Earth from the Earth´s center...the effect of the Earth´s somewhat oblong shape. We hiked up another 200 meters just to say we´d been to 5000 and then mountain biked down the trails back to near the town of Riobamba. Between all the stops to see wildlife (alpacas, llamas, etc.) and other things of note (old Incan worship spots) it turned out to last all day. Well worth the $35.

...and the rest

Not much of note after South Dakota. We pretty much got through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana as quickly as possible. Drove around Omaha a bit looking to eat an Omaha steak...ended up in some two-bit bar, but the steak was pretty good. As for Omaha - found it to be utterly characterless but typical of too many American cities...full of highways leading to shopping centers that all look alike. Small-town Nebraska was refreshing though...my car has no CD player or anything so we listened to a lot of radio; in some such small town we got the local news which included bulletins such as - ¨Josephine Davis backed her car into a wall at the car wash on Tuesday. No injuries reported. $1300 in damage to the vehicle¨ and ¨Jerry Thompson got a speeding ticket on Monday. Court date set for next week¨ and other such trivialities. Nice sense of community and all but I think I´d trade it for a bit of anonymity.

It was good to get home. Rolled up quite a few more miles on my old Camry. 300,000 is just around the corner....

http://maps.google.es/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=es&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=11053709540083...

South Dakota

After Yellowstone, we pretty much just hightailed it on out of Wyoming. Cody has the Wild Bill Museum but we bypassed it and Devil´s Tower later on down the road. Northern Wyoming is pretty...I heard other opinions about southern Wyoming from a developer on a plane trip once. At any rate, managed to get across Wyoming over to western S. Dakota in time to see Mount Rushmore that same day. I didn´t realize you can walk a circuit up near the mountain to get different views of the memorial itself. Shame that the better two, Lincoln and Roosevelt, of the the four presidents up there aren´t quite as prominently displayed as the venal Jefferson and especially vain and pompous Washington...but I guess Washington will always hold preeminent position.

We´d hoped to get over to the Badlands before nightfall but that hope was dashed when we got hit by a wicked hail and rainstorm. That slowed us down a bit, which was fortuitous because we ended up stopping at the exit wherein lies Wall Drug.

Wall Drug is the 3rd grand attraction of South Dakota, after Rushmore and the Badlands (only slightly tongue-in-cheek do I write that). We´d seen what must have been hundreds of signs on the interstate directing us to visit Wall Drug. Not an exaggeration on the number of signs. They were all over the place, like billboards on I-75 in Florida, except Wall Drug´s signs were of various sizes and a bit more tastefully done. The signs extolled the many virtues of Wall Drug, from the free coffee for vets to the Old West memorabilia. At first I was annoyed at all the signs littering the landscape, but in the end there were so many signs of so many varieties that we just laughed and had to check it out.

I guess I should mention that Wall Drug is not really a drug store. I would call it a giant repository of Americana. My only regret is that I didn´t get a bumper sticker....

As for the Badlands, they´re worth a gander as you´re driving on your way out of the state, but I wouldn´t plan my trip around them. Do it fast, the sandstone they´re made of diminishes an inch a year.

Lakota

After the Badlands we decided to head south for Nebraska. This would take us past the site of the Massacre of Wounded Knee where many Lakota Indians were killed, one of the final ´battles´ during the conflicts with the Native Americans. Not sure what I expected to see there, but there´s not much. No museum or building to mark the spot...just a wooden sign with a brief story and an old women selling native paraphernalia and some used paper pamphlets mark the spot. Another Lakota descendant gave us a very brief orientation on what took place where and that was pretty much it. Pretty depressing...the story and current situation.

Continued our drive on through the reservation toward Nebraska...coming into a town I neglected to slow down fast enough and was pulled over by a young Tribal police officer. He was nice enough to ask about my Florida license plate which gave me the perfect segue into that perfect get-out-of-jail-free line...¨On my way home...I just got out of the Marines, sir.¨ Little strange for me to call a 20 year-old sir, but gotta do it, and of course, he let me go.

The reservation itself, as well as the people and their appurtenances, was pretty dilapidated. Not sure how I feel about the whole reservation system and whether it is really working for anyone (never mind the whole Indian gaming fiasco that continues to spread nationwide) but I guess that´s the law and how it will remain.

The other thing in the area of note regarding the Lakota is the Crazy Horse Memorial near Rushmore...I had no idea it existed. Crazy Horse is being carved out of a mountain much like the presidents at Rushmore, although he´s going to be a bit bigger...the biggest sculpture in the world. We didn´t feel compelled to go see it since it´s not yet finished...but then the project started 60 years ago and is nowhere near finished so perhaps we should have taken what we could have gotten.

Yellowstone NP

Yellowstone NP is kind of like a one-stop shop for nature...geysers, lakes, wildlife, canyons, waterfalls, mountains, you name it. Quite fitting for it to be the world´s first national park. Much of the park itself actually lies within a volcano...one of the world´s largest. We only spent a day there but squeezed in a lot...watched Old Faithful blow some steam (she´s still pretty regular), did a couple short hikes, drove by Lake Yellowstone, saw a grizzly and cubs from a distance, saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, walked by the beautiful geothermal pools, had the car stopped several times by herds of buffalo...everything you would want in a day at Yellowstone. Would love to have seen some of the more rare wildlife like mountain lions, wolverines, or wolves...but then that would probably require a bit more time than we were willing to spend.

I´d like to go back in the winter sometime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NFhd5kmeNw

Western Canada and Montana

So we headed out from Vancouver, deciding to head eastward and drive through Canada toward Calgary. Lots of national parks along the route between the two cities...while we didn´t get out and hike much in them, the scenery was incredible. British Columbia has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I read a very interesting book once (see http://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-Revised/dp/0140178244/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206401485&sr=8-) that mentioned BC has a tenth of the world´s fresh water. I hope they´ll let us have some when the West runs dry.

Scenery does change quite a bit as you drop into Alberta...goes very flat...much like the terrain in Colorado as you drive east from Denver....same mountain range...same plains. We´d planned on staying a night in Calgary to see what the city had to offer but unfortunately the Calgary Stampede (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_stampede) was going on at the time. I envisioned the Stampede to be like a gigantic rodeo of sorts...at any rate, we didn´t want to pay $200 plus for a crappy hotel so we drove on a couple of hours after Calgary, getting to somewhere close to the border.

Crossed the border back into the States near Glacier National Park in Montana. Yes, the glaciers are receding...but they´re still there...for now. Again, great scenery...hard to put it into words...well worth seeing. We didn´t end up driving across Montana east to west but rather north to south. I can see why the state holds an allure for people looking to get away...the Big Sky State is pretty, and more importantly, fairly wide open. It´s a bit flatter than I might have thought though, and a bit treeless in many areas.

On the southern border with Wyoming we arrived at the highlight of the trip - Yellowstone.

Pacific NW

Got off the plane from Tokyo around mid-day June 30, having left Tokyo in the evening that same day. I was pretty tired as my body was telling it was time for sleep, but I was also excited to be back in the States and starting a roadtrip. My initial destination was Seattle, where I was going to pick up my dad to start a trip back to Louisville together.


The drive up through Northern California was pretty cool. It was my first time north of San Francisco on the west coast. Took a few pictures of Mount Shasta as I was driving. Lake Shasta looked beautiful from the interstate as well. I remember a friend in college telling me stories about a houseboat party weekend on Lake Shasta. It sounded amazing, but then that guy was one of the best story/joke tellers I´ve met so maybe it´s only great, not amazing.

Stopped to refuel at a gas station in Oregon...the people I saw there were definitely not like what you´ll see in California...more like what you´d see at a truck stop in Arkansas. Actually went ahead and changed a tire there as a tire-check revealed to me that the rubber was getting dangerously thin on one tire. I neglected to thoroughly check the spare...something that would have an effect the next day.


It was dark by the time I got to Portland so I decided to stay there for the night. My intent was to stay in a Motel-6 that I saw from the freeway, but I couldn´t figure out how to get there so I went to the Best Western instead. After hearing the high price, I went back out to my car and headed off in search of the Motel-6 again. Again I could not figure out how to get to it. I could see it the freeway but couldn´t get over there. Literally, 30 minutes I tried before throwing in the towel and going back into the Best Western with my tail between my legs. Now, I know I was tired after not really sleeping for a day and a half, but I have to say the roads in Portland (that area at least) are pretty confusing. There are exits that exist northbound but not southbound and vice versa, lots of divided highways with no spots to turn around, no signs, and just generally not coherent road structure. Anyway, that´s my opinion.


So got up and headed across the Columbia to Washington. My awesome spare tire blew out on me while I was chatting on the phone with someone just as I was coming into the Seattle area. Luckily, I got over to the emergency lane without incident and got the original tire back on there in under 5 minutes. My own one-man pit crew. When I went to get two new tires the next day the tire-man informed me my blown spare was from 1992...and that even if it hadn´t blown it would be a crime for him to put it on my car again with that much age.


Seattle...incredible in July - awesome weather, beautiful bay and islands. Picked up Dad at the airport. We spent a few days in Seattle - checked out the aviation museum, which is well worth a day (or more) of time. Did the Underground Tour...still not sure of the exact process of how a town rebuilds itself above its former self, thereby creating Underground tours for us tourists years later. Guess I should have paid better attention. Seattle also has the Klondike Gold Rush Museum right there in the middle of town...it´s run by the National Parks Service, which is a little strange to see Park Rangers in a buidling in the middle of Seattle, but the museum is really pretty cool.


We headed over to Vancouver to see what that was like...maybe 3 hours up the road. There was quite a long line to get into Canada. As if anyone pays enough attention to Canada that they have legitimate security risks, thereby creating long lines at Immigration.... As I was switching lanes to get into the faster moving lane at Immigration, I got lectured by some guy (talking out his car window) about how it was wrong to change lanes like that. Canadians.


Vancouver was very pretty...although it was a bit sterile for my taste. The town certainly is full of gays and Asians, and Asian gays. We stayed at the Pan Pacific since I knew a guy who worked there, having met him in Kyoto on a day tour a couple months previously. 4 and 5 star hotels are nice and all, but I really get bothered over how they nickel and dime you...they tried to charge me $10 to use the gym. I told them no way I was paying that, that I would only be 30 minutes, and just walked right in without them stopping me or saying anything. Between Canada´s high taxes and our dollar doing so badly on the world markets, Canada is generally pretty expensive these days. All the more reason to rush home.

Saigon, et al

Saigon was a bigtime city, completely unlike the others in Vietnam. Much wider roads and more cars. Less of a motorbike culture. We had a few $7 drinks on the top-floor of the ritzy Caravelle Hotel where the wait staff was dressed in tuxedos...but what did I notice them watching on the television set...? American 'professional' wrestling....

Cambodia is a much poorer country than the others we went to; even Laos doesn't seem to have such poverty. Lots of naked kids in the streets. The people were really friendly though. Everywhere you go around SE Asia people will try to hawk their wares to you, be it motorbike or taxi rides or postcards, food, or whatever. The Thais and Vietnamese were pretty aggressive about it. The Cambodians were easygoing though - I'd just shake my head and smile and they'd get the picture without hassling me too much more. Went to one of the famous prisons and the "Killing Fields" where many many people were killed during Pol Pot's days. Our tour guide said something to the effect that none of it would have ever occurred if America hadn't been tired of war and intervention after what happened in Vietnam; not to mention the credibility we'd lost in Cambodia by dropping some bombs on Cambodia's part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was just interesting to me the implication that this Cambodian man saw America as the only one that could've stopped it. Of course, had we tried and been moderately successful, I'm sure we'd have been given hell from the rest of the world and many of our own compatriots. Better to do nothing than intervene and do a job less than perfectly, right?

Saw the famous temples at Angkor, which were so huge, numerous, and beautiful that it shocked me to find out they were "lost" for 500 years or so as they were covered in jungle.

Probably the funniest part of the Cambodia bit was the bus ride out of back to Bangkok. The roads were really really bad; about like the trails we drove on in Iraq but with more potholes and bumps that our driver used as ramps. I was sitting in the back and getting thrown all over the place. The driver didn't feel compelled to slow down much. I laughed and told everyone the roads are so bad b/c the Americans must've bombed them... (there still exists plenty of propaganda over here blaming us for everthing).... I'm surprised no one got sick since we were all up till 4AM drinking on our last night out together.... Took us abouit an hour to get through customs on the border with Thailand. For a country so dependent on tourism, the Thais don't go out of their way for tourists. They had two passport control agents for Thais and one for everyone else. The line for foreigners extended out the door with not a single Thai national in the other lines. But no, those passport control agents did not help to reduce the longer line.

Back in Bangkok, I realized what a civilized city it is compared with the others we'd seen. My first time there I thought Bangkok was the most polluted, chaotic place on earth, but it's really pretty tame next to Hanoi. The group went out together one more time, this time we went to a 'ladyboy' show. Ladyboys are what you would think they'd be - men being women, and quite convincingly in many cases. The show was alright, I suppose, although live stage entertainment isn't really my thing. I had ended up sitting in the aisle seat which I knew put me in a position of danger in case the 'girls' wanted to incorporate me into their act, and, of course, I ended up getting pulled onstage (despite my desperate pleas to the girl from the group sitting next to me to jump on my lap or kiss me in case the ladyboys tried to get me up there) to dance with them for a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't have a drop of alcohol in my system so I don't think I moved very well. Mercifully, no one in the group got any good pictures....

Said goodbye to the tour group there in Bangkok. It was sad to see the group go. I think I'll be in touch at least periodically with many of them for a long time to come.

I was lucky enough to have a friend of a friend who lives down in KL so that made my stay there much better than I reckon it would've been otherwise. Kuala Lumpur is quite the party town despite what you might read about it being a conservative Muslim country in the tour books. Well, I'm sure some of Muslims are conservative, but the Chinese are a different story; they certainly know how to have a good time. Actually, scratch that about the Muslims being always conservative, as we ended up partying with several until the wee hours. While it is almost a bit embarrassing to see American wrestling abroad, it gives me strange sense of pride to see a bunch of ethnic Chinese, Malays, and Indians singing along to American rap artists in the clubs. KL is probably the most modern city I've seen in SE Asia, outside of Singapore. Most every young person I met spoke English and the food in the street stalls was awesome, although it did bring on a bit of an episode with my stomach. I can see why many westerners are retiring there.

Decided to take the bus from Singapore from KL since it was only 4 hours and the airport in KL is 1.5 hours outside of town - wouldn't have saved me any time to fly. Anyway, the ride was very nice - $15 on an "executive bus". Very comfortable, with a dinner, and pirated American movies on the tv. Can't beat it. We need more services like that one here for when you need to travel short distances.

Got myself back to Japan after a night in Singapore. Wanted to climb Mt Fuji but apparently it does not open for season until July 1. You can go before that but you won't have any support from the vending stalls, etc. I decided not to do it. The only real thing of note from my second swing through Japan was the night I sang karaoke with a bunch of Japanese. I suppose that seems a bit cliche, Japanese and karaoke, but it really happened and it was indeed quite fun. I was actually searching a bar for someone I was supposed to meet there, when I opened a door on a private party full of Japanese singing karaoke. They grabbed me, pulled me in, and asked me what my favorite band was. I said something to the effect that I'd grown up on Guns N' Roses. And thus I ended up singing "Used to Love Her" with a couple Japanese guys. I stayed with them for quite awhile and had a great time.

Got the military flight back to America June 30, my last day eligible to fly for free. Got the car started and started my cross-country drive....

Singapore/Thailand

Not a whole lot to say about Singapore. Everyone speaks English well. They kind of have to, as the Chinese, Malays, and Tamils that make up Singapore couldn't communicate with each other without it. I stayed in the red-light district area of town. It was pretty seedy, but didn't seem dangerous. I was surprised how seedy it was, given what I'd heard about Singapore before arriving, with the strict laws and outrageous fines...on the customs form coming into the country I had to sign off that I didn't have any chewing gum amongst my possessions.


Spent 3 days in Singapore, which was plenty. Got up to Bangkok a couple days before meeting up with my tour group. Stayed initially in a backpacker area, where you had a bunch of 20-somethings bumming around. Kind of reminded me of some of the dorm complexes as Eckerd where you had bongo drums being hit at all hours of the night and a bunch of long-haired, unshaven drunks buying beads and trinkets. Had a decent enough time there though. Watched the Champions League final till 4 AM with a bunch of Englishmen. Too bad Milan won it.

I, of course, got the Thai massage while in Bangkok...and Singapore, and probably most other places where we'll stop. An hour massage runs about $6, I paid more to have my laundry done. The two massages I've had have been the best two massages I've ever had, by far. These girls are strong, and they use many different parts of their body to mash on you: feet, elbows, knees. The Thai girls are certainly more 'friendly' than the Japanese. They're always talking to you trying to sell you something, anything. I didn't find them particularly attractive; the girls I've seen here in Laos, on the other hand, are beautiful. It took me three days here in Laos to realize we were driving on the right side of the road again, unlike everywhere else I've been. I figured I'd see a lot of bikes in this part of the world, but you really don't...you seen a ton of scooters though. Everyone rides them, 10 year olds, old ladies you name it. I've seen a family of four rolling down the street on one. A motorcycle is a true family car...


Anyway, backing up a bit, met up with my tour group in Bangkok. There are 10 of us, 7 girls and 3 guys. Everyone is pretty cool. I'm about in the middle of the group age-wise, with the oldest being 41 and youngest 18. The 41 year old is an Australian native of Fiji. We tested out the local whiskey last night. I will not make the mistake of trying to keep up with him again....

Being a part of a tour group has made things easy, though it does take some of the adventure out the experience. Don't have to spend so much time organizing and figuring out the logistics of how to get around the countryside, so it's been a pretty stress-free trip. It's also nice to have people to hang out with when you want to. I met some cool people traveling on my own, including a crazy Brazilian guy I met at the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok that I ended up drinking with until 6 AM one night, but I spent a fair amount of time on my own too.


The tour has organized some pretty cool activities including bamboo rafting in a torrential downpour, elephant riding, floating down the Mekong on a longboat for a couple days, and a Thai boxing match. The Thai boxing kind of caught me off guard when the first weight class was 66 lbs. Those little kids really beat the hell out of each other though. We had ringside seats right next to the gambling corner where the locals were.


The bad English I've seen has been a neverending source of amusement: 'Happiness is living a joyful life' or 'Buy banana to make friendly with elephant'.

Vietnam driving

Today I wanted to take a look at the old Ho Chi Minh Trail, so a buddy and I took a scooter ride out to see some of it. No, we didn't drive ourselves, we rode on the back of scooters while some locals drove them. I realize how weak that sounds, but I have my reasons for not renting my own, namely the absolutely chaotic nature of the traffic out here and the fact that I would have had no idea where I was going.


Anyway, we got a bit more than we bargained for though as we ended up riding over 300km on the back of 100cc scooters - a painful experience given the cramped conditions, hard seat, and blistering weather. Gave me plenty of opportunity to continue my study of Vietnamese driving though....


I'll start by mentioning that everyone out here has a scooter. Hanoi apparently has 2 million scooters for 3.5 million residents. You do see some cars but not many. And nobody walks anywhere, except for the old ladies carrying bucketfuls of rice hanging from the bar across their shoulders. Incidentally, can I digress and mention how tough these people are? You see 75 lb 80-year old women covered head to toe in denim using the aforementioned apparatus to carry huge rice bags around in the middle of the day. And they're not getting bowed down by it, hell, they're doing like a trot-shuffle with it, and I don't think I've seen a one of our tour guides break a sweat yet, including the old man that took me for a hike on back trails in his flip flops. I could hardly keep up with him.


Anyway, walking in the towns is a risky proposition as you're apt to get runover since crosswalks hardly even exist and where you do find one it certainly will be ignored just like the street lights. You could stay on the sidewalk to get where you're going, but the sidewalks aren't really meant for pedestrians - sidewalks are used as parking lots for the scooters and by street vendors selling everything under the sun.


And as for motorcycles, yes, there are a few, but not many. I think the reason for this is a motorcycle requires you to use that left hand to work the clutch; the scooters you shift by easing off the gas and kicking the pedal - no clutch. Give a Vietnamese person a free hand and he or she is going to use it, generally for holding something like a cell phone, cigarette, strips of rebar, 2x4s, infants, jerry cans, a window pane, a television set, small tree, or driveshaft, never mind all the other crap they've got bungee corded to the frame.


If the Vietnamese are not using their left hand to hold something while their driving, then their left thumb is on the horn button. I'm not exaggerating when I say the average Vietnamese driver uses the horn more in one day than I have in my life. I mean, at home when I hear a horn go off while I'm driving, I'm usually surprised and try to look around to figure out what's going on. I almost consider it rude to use the horn except in an emergency. But here the horns are used constantly as a warning saying, "I'm coming thru, move out of the way!". Driving around a blind curve and want to warn people to get out of the way? Just blast the horn and hope for the best. Trucks will come down the main drag in the towns and lay on the horn the entire time - 15 second long bursts. Anyone comes near the roadside when you're going by, blast the horn. Dog, cat, pig, water buffalo in the vicinity of the road? They know what the hom means, give it to them. Want to drive on the wrong side of the road and force the oncoming traffic onto the shoulder while you pass that slow bicycle gang clogging up your lane? No problem, just stay on the horn and you're good. Old lady riding two-up with her daughter on a bicycle (they'll both pedal on the same pedals at the same time) swerves a bit in front of you, then blast the horn to wake her up. After today I'm pretty good at distinguishing between horn sounds. The bigger the noise, the bigger the vehicle. The buses and trucks certainly have a way hammering you back into reality as you try to enjoy the views.


And as for the actual driving itself - chaos. Everywhere I've been in SE Asia is a lot crazier than what we're used to as far as traffic goes, but Vietnam is over the top. If there's an opening you take it. There is no concept of right-of-way, at least not the way we would look at it, like the law says I can go now so I'll go; the bigger vehicle has the right-of-way and that's it. And if you want to turn right onto a highway or city street, then just turn onto the road, don't bother stopping and definitely don't bother looking to see if there's anyone coming; no worries, it's the job of the oncoming traffic to swerve out of the way to accommodate you into the flow. Traffic generally flows on the right side of the road, but I've seen this switch as a large group of motorists decided to turn left in front of the oncoming traffic, so the oncoming switched to the left side of the road for awhile, and this was in Hanoi not a village. It's not uncommon for the shoulders of the road to have another lane going the opposite direction of the traffic on that side. And, of course, everyone drives about a foot or less away from you. I've only seen one accident though and it looked pretty minor.


It's no wonder the Vietnamese are fearless though as every kid is perched right behind the handlebars while Mom drives from the first time they're out of their crib, near as I can determine. Mom will doll them up with sunglasses, a hat, and mini-facemask (most of the women also wear something to cover their face while driving) so the kids look like little bandit hood ornaments coming at you. I've seen a mother and 6 kids on a scooter stacked up like a cheerleading pyramid, and a family of four on one is standard practice.


Anyway, I think I've beaten that subject to death. As for the Ho Chi Minh Trail, it's mostly paved over and was nothing to write home about. The mountains and greenery were impressive though. And as for the other sights in Vietnam, well, they've been pretty good I guess. The museums have the sort of propaganda you would expect from one of the 5 remaining Communist countries, i.e, 'American imperialists' and 'S. Vietnamese American puppet government', etc. From what I can gather from the museums, the Vietnamese hold more of a grudge against the French than the US though. But then the French were here about 100 years longer than we were so I suppose that explains how they were able to actually make an impact, negative or otherwise. And you do still see the big signs around the countryside with smiling workers and I'm sure some platitude written about a bumper harvest being produced by hard work of the socialistic masses or whatever.


I'll be ready to get back home soon. The food here doesn't always agree with my system and the weather can really kick your ass. The late nights at the bar and early wake-up calls don't help either.

Japan

I have been in Japan for about a week now...spent a few days in Tokyo and then moved on to Kyoto and now I am in Hiroshima getting ready to go to a baseball game. The uniforms for the team here in Hiroshima look just like Cincinnati Reds uniforms. Their mascot is the Carp. I know they like their fish here but I didn´t realize they liked it enough to make it a team name.


When you visit a country like Japan where the language and culture are so different it´s hard not to feel like you´re on the outside looking in, but the Japanese people do their best to make you feel at home and get something out of the experience by being incredibly helpful and polite. It´s almost embarrassing how polite they are. A businessman on the bullet train gave me his lunch when he saw I didn´t have one. He then got off the train with me to show me where the information bureau was. Even gave me change for the telephone. We talked quite a bit...I was sorry to hear that his wife had died a few years ago (he was probably about 80 years old), but then he managed to marry a 45 year old Ukrainian so he´s not too bad off. I guess we Americans aren´t the only importers of Slavic women. Anyway, on the politeness thing, I went to a library earlier today to kill some time before the ballgame and use the internet; the internet was down but the librarian drew me a detailed map of 3 different places to use the internet nearby, with the prices they charge. So the people have certainly made it easier to travel. The language barrier can be a problem but many Japanese speak some English...although I wouldn´t depend on finding an English speaker everywhere...I had a heck of a time finding my hotel in Tokyo and couldn´t find anyone on the street to help me for quite awhile.


Kyoto is known for the many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in the city. It was spared from bombing in WWII as a result...the city is quite well preserved. The temples and shrines typically date from long ago - some over 1000 years ago - but given their wood construction the present buildings are usually no more than 500 years old. The two religions live comfortably side by side. The Japanese have a practical approach to religion...they turn to Shintoism for the good times and Buddhism to help deal with the tougher times.


As for Tokyo...I did all the normal tourist stuff...visited the famous fish market, museums, pictures of the Imperial Palace, and of course the nightlife in Roppongi. Didn´t quite realize how much of the city was destroyed in WWII...most of it. Spent a lot of time in museums including a really cool science museum full of schoolkids...they take their science seriously over here.


Went to an American style bar last night. Upon entering the bartender asked me (in broken Japanglish) if I was "military staff". I was like, well, no, not really. He then said he couldn´t have a bunch of Marines in the bar as they are too crazy. It took me a minute to put it together that there is a Marine base, Iwakuni, about an hour from here. I guess the Marines, shockingly haven´t been good patrons. I said I was on vacation and he apologized profusely and gave me a couple free drinks...at least he told me they were free but the bill I got a couple hours later was a little painful. The bar had some bizarre bits of Americana - a framed, signed baseball card from Jody Wyatt (?) and a life-size mannequin of a black man in a 49ers uniform wearing number 80. I´m guessing that was supposed to be Jerry Rice but it looked nothing like him.


The girls here seem very classy, well-dressed and have a sophisticated aire about them. That being said, I haven´t had a lot of luck talking to them with my 10 words of Japanese. Not sure what that says about me, but I expected more atttention, especially since my 10 words are is probably 6 more words than most tourists can speak here. The younger schoolgirls do seem to get a kick out of me though. I cause quite a spectacle when I walk by. Left Hiroshima and got back to Tokyo 3 hours before my flight to Singapore, which game me time to grab a 3 hour nap in the base hotel before heading onward.