Adventure Time

My friend and I prepare for and experience a trip of a lifetime.

[nicholascase]

Adventure Time part 6

[nicholascase]

The Blue City

The bus ride to Jodhpur was rough the entire time. It was dark and we were towards the back of the bus so I didn't get a good look at the road ahead of us. Which was probably for the best. It's hard to imagine driving here but I can't help but lean and look out the windshield being a second set of eyes or something. We arrived after 5am right as the sun was coming up in the blue city. We were too early for all the for the city streets to be filled with horns but luckily a few tuk tuk drivers were waiting for us at the bus station. They gave us a pretty high estimate to bring us to our place but it equated to 2 dollars instead of 1 and since it was early, we were tired, and they were up waiting for us, we accepted the fare just to get to sleep with minimal problems. Our hotel that was tucked deep into an alley past where a tuk tuk could fit and was difficult to find. After wandering down some random alleys, the sign jumped off the door as we were standing directly in front of it. We rolled in at about 6 and woke up the hotel manager to see if he would let us check in super early. He had an open room and would charge us a little bit more on top of what we would pay to stay there that night. The hotel is in the style of a traditional style home. An open atrium from the bottom floor where you could see the sky through and a staircase that alternated from all sides as it went up. There was one or two rooms per floor and our room was two floors up. We dropped off our bags and headed to the top to get a view of the city and decompress from our long trip. At this point the sun had risen and covered the whole city in the new days light. The sky was bright and made all the blue painted city buildings look a deeper hue. The horizon above packs of birds dipping and dodging around along with what looked like eagles and or hawks that soared above it all. Interrupting the view surprisingly close to our hotel was the Mehrangarth fort. It dominated the city skyline and was over 500 years old built on a 500 foot tall hilltop. We tried to take it all in had to get some rest before we explored it all. After a few hour nap, we got ready and headed down to leave and the staff let us know that the fort we planned on seeing was closed. Bummer. So we decided to head out to the market and see the wares for sale. We first walked into a tea shop that our hotel guy recommended and had some Marsala chai with the manager while he let us small the rest of what he had to sell. I bought some tea for home and spices Our next stop was the magic carpet shop. They had all sorts of textiles on display and we were hoping to buy our Rajasthan desert costumes but there was nothing that fit our fancies. He showed us a lot of what he had and it was obvious he was proud of his shop. I took some pictures and videos of course. We spent some time in his place and it was starting to get dark and we didn't want to get lost so we started walking back. We made it back up to the restaurant on the roof. We had ordered and was waiting for our food when all the mosques in the area came alive with their sunset prayer. All of the sounds coming from the temples scattered throughout the city were playing something different which makes them come alive with a haunting sound. We finished our meals after watching some South Park on the iPad and finished the night to wake up early the next day.

[nicholascase]

Don't look too long at the monkeys.

I woke up hot. The room we had didn't have air conditioning and while the fan was keeping me cool when I went to bed was now just recirculating old air. I walked it our door to the outside common area shared by three other rooms to get some air. Today we were going to tour inside the city walls of Jaipur. As soon as I got to the railing and breathed out my first fresh breath of the day, a tuk tuk driver down below on the street spotted me and offered me a ride. I clearly just woke up and wasn't even wearing a shirt and I was already being hassled. I just laughed and told him to wait for us after breakfast. We had a lazy morning, the laundry we handed off the night before and was all done for us now, we finished breakfast, got our train tickets and living situation figured out for our next stop Jodhpur. The original reason for me even going here was because there was someone I knew who was interested in some gems and jewelry that Jaipur was famous for but when we got there I did some research and figured out there would be no way for me to tell a fake from a real one and I didn't want to screw them over on accident. I decided it wouldn't be a smart move. We hitched up with the tuk tuk driver waiting for us all morning and made our way to the first stop, the sun temple. It was a hike to get up to it surrounded by small children offering to give us a tour for rupees and monkeys that eye balled us strangely but kept their distance. We declined the tours multiple times and tried not to prolong eye contact with the monkeys and headed up. The view was of what we conquered the day before. It looked a lot more impressive in person then on a map and it explains why we were so tired. It also overlooked much of the city in a different light as the sky was more overcast in the morning and people were in full swing of their day. I was greeted by one of the sun temples care takers. She said her father ran the temple and she helped. Before I knew it, my forehead was dotted with the red dot that people associate Indians with. She asked for a donation but there was no box and I knew she would just keep it for herself and not the temple so I said thank you and walked out to meet Patrick. He saw the dot and pulled out his phone and got a picture barely skipping a beat. I was among the many nerds we see traveling out here in the highest form. Shorts, tang top, flip flops, camera, and now the dot. The temple was small and it was filling up with other tourists so it was time for us to leave. Patrick debated with our driver who wanted to show us his favorite shops, or where all his friends work, while we were interested in the sights. The drivers are normally pretty charismatic and convincing so its tricky to walk the line of being firm but not rude and getting what we want. He convinces him to take us where we want to go for a decent price and we were off. The traffic laws in India are literally absent in the streets. There are no traffic lights or signs. Sometimes if there are lines they are ignored if no one is coming the other way to get around the rickshaws bicyclists and cows walking down the road. Sometimes there is no road. Sewage pipes that are installed through the road are just left open and you can see where the pipe is leading from the side to a manhole in the middle, but the road is not repaired leaving a sizable gutter left for traffic to navigate around or just right through. One part of the road, traffic was being guided to a dirt path that was a free for all. Potholes are deep and numerous. The cows are many and oblivious. The city center was packed. We went and saw an almost ancient observatory which was really interesting. They had giant sun dials that could tell time almost exactly to the minute. Gyroscopes measuring the distance from the equator some how, and a hundred other things that I had no idea existed or know what they do. They also had all the astrological signs there and a brief description in Hindi of course. Our next stop was the wind palace. This was built so that females could know a little better about the hustle and bustle that happens in the city without them because, of course, they're not allowed down there without a husband and a veil. The advantage of this palace was all the windows and the screens that let the women look out in privacy because it was impossible to see in. We took lots of pictures and videos here and looked like everyone else that was doing the same thing. We got our tourist on this day but it was time to leave because the palace was closing. We decided to head back, get some food and get ready to catch the sleeper train to Jodhpur.

[nicholascase]

Jaunt to Jaipur

The ride to Jaipur was really smooth. They served us tea and breakfast while we waited to arrive which was actually pretty good. I was the most impressed by the tea which was delicious. After a few hours of nodding off and BSing we made it. The temperature was in probably the lower eighties, so it was hot but not unbearable. We needed to find a driver to bring us back to our hotel and surprisingly there was one that just started a conversation with me as we stepped off the train. He was a really nice man, spoke English very well and offered us a good deal to bring us back so we were in. It was a 5 minute drive for 50 rupees, slightly less then a dollar. The place we were staying at this time was rated over 90% in more then one thousand reviews. It was more expensive relatively. Actually it was about 15 bucks a night. It was located on a quiet street which was a perk for us compared to the last place we stayed at. As we walked up, it was clear that the yard was carefully up kept. The floors were clean and the staff welcomed us as soon as we walked into their atrium. The whole building was decked out floor to ceiling in white marble with the appropriate Indian accents. Our room was on the second floor locked with a brass deadbolt that went across the two inward opening stained glass and wooden doors. The room was very clean, which sounds like it would be a no brainer, but was something we looked for after our first experience. We dropped off our bags and we headed up stairs and had lunch in the open air restaurant on the roof. We hammered out the details and headed out. Our plan was to head to Amber Fort which was located a little ways outside the city and walk our way back. We were gong to have our train station tuk tuk driver take us there but he wanted to give us a tour and bring us everywhere for a steep price but our hotel guy let us in on the gig so we were no dummies. We walked by him and all his friends to the bus and paid 15 rupees each instead of 1,500. Driving around in India is nothing like the states. There are motorcycles, scooters, tuk tuks and cars everywhere. People honk 100x more then the do back home to let the other drivers know they are there. I would say its controlled chaos but I don't even know if its that. Every man for themselves but it does seem like the drivers look out for each other if they're being over taken so there are no accidents, none that I've seen anyways. The bus rolled up and without even stopping we hopped on and it took off through the hairy mess of traffic. It was hard to notice where the stops where because people keep jumping on and off. The ticket man would be very careful in remembering who paid and who didn't. Amber Fort, our stop, came up and we had to squeeze through everyone to get out. I got stuck as Patrick got off and the bus started to speed away. I had to shove my way through and leap off with grace on to the ground that was moving at least 10 miles an hour in reference to me. After the excitement, I looked around to see where we were at. It was magical. Straight out of a movie or video game. Where we stopped it looked like some sort of guard tower that went along the wall that sat on top of the surrounding mountain range. This wall was constructed on top of the natural mountain wall surrounded the biggest, most brilliant castle type building I've ever seen, and I can say that with confidence. Across the street the light brown clay/sandstone bridge led across the man made lake and led up to the same material and colored fortress that sat nestled in the mountains. It really is difficult to put into words and I'm not sure if my camera did it justice either. We stomped it up the steps and the ramps that led us eventually to the inside which was no less impressive. They had rooms for different events and and entertainment and as we climbed up we could eventually see over the walls and to the view surrounding this place. It was just amazing. I found a new standard of that word. Amazing. There's a tunnel about a half of mile long leading out of the Amber Fort to our next stop, Jaigarh Fort. This was seen as the strongest fort of the three we would be looking at since it had the most view of everything. Also, this fort was the home of the worlds largest cannon which as one testified once and it shot over 20 miles. We walked around here and took some great shots of the Amber Fort and some surrounding areas. After this fort, our plan as just to hoof it the last fort in the list, Nahargarh Fort. Our hotel guy told us it was like a 25-30 minute walk but it ended up being over 5 miles and we took our time and it too us much longer. We stopped at an unidentified tower, by us anyways, where there was an old bum sleeping and woke up when he heard us get close. He invited us in as Patrick shook his head and went up to the top. The tower saw everything that was happening in Jaipur I'm sure of it. I got some great video and pictures. I also came close to jumping out of the tower when a peacock landed on top and it sounded like the whole thing was coming down. It scared the crap out of me. I got a video of it hoping for it to show his mug but. I was recording it took off and gracefully flew in a long loop down to the bottom, all while I was recording. We pressed on passing seemingly every form of wild life in India minus tigers. We saw wild cows peacocks, monkeys, parrots, horses and dogs. All just walking along the path or just off of it. The sun was setting as we made it to the last fort. We were pretty tired and thirsty walking around in the heat and made our way to the restaurant they had there. We sat up top open air again and as soon as we took our seats it was sunset and all the mosques in the area began tossing their prayer across the city. One at a time, each one had a Muslim chant coming from the loud speakers on their walls. And each one was different. It was haunting and gave me chills. It was just the scene seeing the pink city in its pinkest form due to the sunset. Along with the jumbled mess of prayers that I wouldn't be able to understand if it were sang one at a time, but with dozens of prayers playing at the same time, I'm not sure if anyone could understand it from where we were sitting. After finishing our beers, it was basically night as we made our way down the ridge back into the city where we could find a tuk tuk driver to bring us back. Our legs were sore from the climbing and the descent but we knew we were close. We took the path that led down following someone else heading down and matching there speed. We took a break out front of their house and chatted with them and his family as we recouped before finally making it to a tuk tuk. Back at the hotel we got some food and lazily ate it. It was a long day of traveling starting at 5:30 am and getting back at around 10pm and we were done.

[nicholascase]

Enter India

Patrick and I walked of the plane to a wall of heat as expected. After Thailand we were used to it and surprisingly this was a similar feeling which was different from what we were warned of and expected. The heat dissipated as we walked through the air conditioned airport that was largely empty. Just moving sidewalks and carpeted corridors. Customs were lax as with all of the other customs were experienced minus Japan and of course the US. We walked down into the railway system that connected the airport to New Delhi, the final stop of the surprisingly high tech train. The sun was setting as we sped to Delhi and it lit up the landscape in a way I've never seen before. I'm not sure if it was the plants that grow here or the colors of the buildings but it definitely felt like we were in a different land. We exited the metro and it let us off to the traditional style train platforms and as we escaped the tunnel the scene was familiar to Thailand but with Indians. We weren't as shocked as I've been warned and maybe without all the preparation and the familiarization with third world countries I've had it would have been more surprising. There is a lot of garbage. Piled in the streets, along the walls, in front of shops and it all smelled like it. Our vision was overcome with tuk tuks, which are small 3 wheeled, covereed in pleather and brightly painted passenger vehicles. All with drivers vying for our attention and patronage. This wasn't so bad because we knew to walk on past and politely decline. We knew where we were going. We crossed the platforms and navigated with the currents of people traffic. This was difficult enough. That, combined with horn blaring traffic that knows we'll move for our own good, it was hair raising enough to take away from the culture shock. Now in the thick of Delhi, I could taste the dirt in the air that was being kicked up by all the passing vehicles traveling way too fast over the pot hole ridden roads. There were vendors selling anything from food to cheap goods like clothing or knock off glasses. The street was full of neon signs advertising their hotels and guest houses. By this time the sun had fully gone down and we only had dim street lights and those signs paired with tuk tuk and motorcycle lights that were speeding by. Finally making it to the hotel, Patrick hadn't booked it yet and the man wouldn't agree to the terms advertised on his site. We decided to go fend for ourselves and find a cheaper one. We walked up and down dark alleys and main roads chasing the point we brought up on google maps that we luckily preloaded before getting here. Paid off so we weren't completely lost. A man approached us, and he wasn't the first one, but he asked us what we were looking for and told us he would find us a reasonably priced one and we decided just to follow. I feels like a dumb decision as I write this down but we were tired of walking around and just wanted to get into somewhere We checked in to a decently nice place for what it was and decided it was time to leave Delhi. Patrick found a route of Delhi into Jaipur, our first stop in the trip, at 5:30am and I was on board. We could see the sites in Delhi on our way out of India. I found some bed bugs that were biting me while just lying on the bed googling. I took some solace in the sleep sack I brought to avoid that and went to sleep. 5am both of us got up grabbed our bags and were out the door just as fast as we got there. We made our way to the train station and "the broker" spotted us quickly and "helped" us buy our tickets. Foreigners have to go through travel agencies to by tickets in India and this guy we were brought to wanted to book a vacation and was overcharging us in a big way. We told them we wanted to leave today and that's it. We were clearly frustrated before the broker pulled us out of there and brought us to another place that didn't BS us. Patrick and I did the best we could to keep ourselves grounded in the situation. We look like dollar signs to the locals businesses and they want to extract as much as possible because they are running a business. But we weren't to be bullshitted either. We walked to the station and another man ran up and delivered the tickets to us and the broker took off to the platform while yelling hurry and motioning us to follow. We ran down the platform, tipped him, and boarded the train to Jaipur. Delhi would be there when we got back.

[nicholascase]

Osaka Shooting to Kyoto

Monday the 24th was our last day in Osaka. We've been toying with the idea of when we would make it over to see the Osaka castle but every day has been crappy or we've slept in too long to give it the time it deserves. But Monday was different. The sun was out and we were up early because we were checking out of our hotel and traveling to Kyoto today. We put our heads together and figured out we were very close to the castle and it was two transfers to away. Exploring is always a little bit different when we have our bags with us like in this case. Obviously the extra weight but the manueverability is an issue too. I feel like I'm always bumping into someone or taking up too much room when I have it on. Even though all of our bags are much smaller then most of the travelers we've seen out here. Mine has been half the size and of some a third of a size of others and Patrick's is even smaller then mine. I can guarantee we will be on the trail longer then those guys as well. We popped out of the train station and the castle was in sight. It's pretty much in the middle of Osaka and I'm assuming people use this park like they would a Central Park in NYC judging by the amount of pele walking through. And none of tours would be complete without seeing a class of students on a field in there little uniforms and color coordinated hats telling the teachers what class the students belong to. As we approached the entrance of the castle, there was a railing before the giant moat that surrounds this castle. Yes, a moat. It was deep enough that the fall alone would probably kill someone trying to sneak in. The entrance way in was the original one that was used by the castle that made defending against enemies easier since they could concentrate forces to one point of entry. We walked over the bridge into the first section of the castle. It looked like there were living areas and maybe temple ares inside the first wall before we got to the second moat. This castle has two moats. Another single original entrance into a higher wall that led into the palace it self. I'm assuming back in the day this was a more heavily guarded gate because this is where the emperor lived. It is mind boggling to think how old this place is and the amount of man power that was needed for a fortress such as this. They didn't have cranes or bulldozers back when this was made. I didn't find the sign that went into the details of how something like this was created. We walked over the second moat past the wall and the castle was in sight. It stood in such opposition to the natural world that was around it. It felt pretty eccentric as well compared to the temples and shrines we've seen. I'm sure the emperor required the best but I don't have the history on all that. We decided not to go inside the castle because we had to pay to get in and pay to lock our stuff up and there were plenty of people inside it already so we took our time admiring it from the outside at our own pace. There's nothing that will kill the wonder faster like a line of people behind us waiting for us to get done reading and get out of the way. I took some great videos and pictures here and it was time to head out. Our next stop as Kyoto. We took the subway from the castle right to the Shinkansen platform. We took the bullet train for maybe 30-40 miles away and got there in 14 minutes. We were starting to get spoiled. We met some other travelers that had previously been to Osaka before we met them in Tokyo and they suggested Santiago guest house was the place to go. Now that's the place we were walking into and this is by far the nicest place I've stayed in the whole trip. The bottom floor was all modern and white with a cafe/bar. Upstairs the common are was large with multiple computers and friendly staff that checked us in and gave us everything we needed. He brought us up stairs to the dorm area. Our room had 8 people at least but it was very large. We had lights, a locker, and the all important outlet all in our own rack. Nana is who met several days ago and Joe, being the networker he is, had arranged for us to meet up with her again and have some dinner. She had us wait for her at the subway at maybe three different entrances until we finally found her. We were starved and we decided we wanted ramen. Ramen has a bad reputation. Everyone knows ramen as the stuff that comes in the square with the seasoning and you add hot water and now you have a crappy cheap meal. This ramen is close to the same thing but with proper incredients like real vegetables and real meat real noodles. The spices are simple and I elected for one step below spiciest possible. I was hot but so filling and perfect after traveling around eating convenient store food, a sit down meal at a quality restaurant is always welcome. We checked out some of the more popular places in town and walked up and down this small man made stream I'm assuming. It had all grown in trees and small bars and restaurants that lined either side of the stream with bridges that crossed back and forth. It was a great place to walk off the fatness. We stayed here for a while until it was time for us to head back. We wanted to have a full day tomorrow.

[nicholascase]

Deep Fry and Deer Swarms

The night after sushi Patrick and Joe stayed out pretty late but I decided I wanted to go back. Waking up super late in the day was killing me and I was falling behind in my writing. So today, the 22nd of June, I woke up at a decent hour and headed downstairs to get some writing done. It’s hard to backtrack a week plus when were experiencing so much at one time. I hate for a single memory to be lost. I brainstormed with the others and we all corroborated a story on some notes that I would be able to embellish on later and that’s saved me a lot of headache.

After I had made some headway on trying to get everything done and edited some videos the other guys were up and around. We would be meeting Manami and Nana later so we had some time to kill. So we walked around Umeda station and hit up convenient stores for some food and drinks. That’s the number one reason why were making it by in Japan without spending so much money because we moved from one conveinent store to the next. Believe it or not the food is pretty good. I’m still not sick of all the little rice triangles and coffee in a can.

We met up with the other two later in the evening and they brought us to a department store and we headed to the to level to where all the restaurants were at. I was a little thrown off at first because I didn’t want to be eating at a mall but the restaurants up top were actually pretty nice. But pretty expensive. Our tastes did not match Manami and Nana’s expensive taste. But I’m sure daddy is paying for all of it when I’m watching my bank account drop.

The place we ended up deciding on was unique. I’m not sure what it was called but basically it was a deep fry buffet. We got to pick out what we wanted to have fried and brought it back on a plate to our table. The waiter brought us breading and batter. We put the batter on the outside of the meat, cheese, fruit or whatever we wanted to fry, and then roll it around in the breadcrumbs and drop it in the fryer that is in the center of the table.

I’m positive it’s not healthy but after all the rice and fish I’ve been having lately I thought we all could afford a little fried treats and we all enjoyed it. We had tuna, pork, beef, shrimp, bacon, cheese, corn, lotus root, pineapple, all deep fried ourselves. Multiply that with 90 minutes of all you can drink beer it’s a winning combination.

Eventually we all were full, fat, and happy and it was getting later so Nana had to go back home in Kyoto so we said our goodbyes and she left. Manami still wanted to hang out so we went to a weirdly popular bar chain that’s all over in Japan called Hub. This is an English pub that served pints or drinks and had bar food for sale too. Lots of standing room and was normally pretty packed. We met lots of young Japanese people who have been there since work let out still in their suits and ties hanging out with all the other people they work with. Everytime one of them struck up conversation with us they were always excited to hear we were from the US.

I feel like I’ve been writing a lot about drinking and bars but its easy to forget that the US doesn’t have nearly the drinking culture that Koreans and Japanese do. They work all day at max capacity and then they go out all night at max capacity. It’s definitely a lot more of a normal thing out here. You could get a beer at any restaurant or just buy it at the convenience store. Japan’s DUI standards are .01 and if you’re caught over that its jail time and serious fines. They just do it with more responsibility then we do I believe in the US. There are no fights that I’ve seen. Just loud, weird Japanese people not at work and happy about it. Combine that with their mass transit system, it’s safer and they can still make it home and get to work the next day.

Manami had to catch the train before they stopped running at 12 so we said goodbye to her as well. Then it was just the three of us. We were trying to avoid the club Pure because we heard mixed reviews and its expensive. But we couldn’t find anything else to go so we checked it out.

It wasn’t impressive at all after we paid the high cover. They played a lot of music that was popular like 5-10 years ago, lots of foreigners that were pretending that they were in their element and a lot of the same as far as clubs go. Bumping into each other waiting for drinks, nasty bathrooms. I wasn’t having much fun until Patrick and I went around and pretended we were making a documentary with my camera and a microphone we found. We got everyone to sing along in the microphone and they thought it was gonna be in the video. We even had the DJs sing into it. It was hilarious.

We got back pretty early in the morning and overall it was a good time but sometimes we have to make our own fun.

Naturally getting back in the late morning time, we slept most of Sunday away. I woke up and tried to squeeze in as much writing as I could before the others came around. At this point I believe I had finished writing about Korea and was almost caught up.

Today we wanted to go to Nara but we were losing daylight fast. It wasn’t too far away and our JR pass covered it so we figured it wouldn’t hurt to go and miss out on the daylight. So far some of the temples and parks we’ve seen at night have been better then what they are during the day. They look brilliant all lit up.

We arrived and it was pretty much night time. We looked at maps that were on display to figure out where to go and noticed they were having Oktoberfest right in the middle of the park. We walked through it and saw a huge tent with tables, seats and a stage where a polka band or whatever they’re called mightve played if we showed up earlier. It was extra goofy seeing Japanese people dressed up like the stereotypical German beer makers. The area still had a lot of people enjoying their craft German beers, something Japan does not have any selection of. I bought a pint and we got some hotdogs they gave to us with a knife and fork to eat. So close, Japan. The hot dogs where good although I did not eat with a fork like the other Japanese people were doing.

We finished up there and headed to the park. There was a warning sign about the deer that are numerous inside park. From what we read on the sign, and on the Internet, is that the deer here act almost like a nuisance. They’re protected here because legend has it that one of the ancient gods rode a white deer here from heaven and that the normal deer are the protectors of this divine location. So the deer live here unchecked.

Up on the path we were following, a group of 30-40 kids lighting candles to form pictures off to the side in the grass. I gave Joe my camera and he was going to get up on the ladder nearby to get a better look but as soon as he got close one of the students moved the ladder and Joe was chasing after. I got Joe’s attention and threw him up on my shoulders to get some shots. Unfortunately at the same time I did that, they started blowing all of them out so I’m not sure what we got.

We walked by some temples and walked down to a pond with a gazebo out in the middle. It was so nicely lit up with spotlights that were on the shore. We ruined some couples happy moments as we came out there to join them while we were in mid conversation, I’m sure of it.

Once we had almost made a lap around the ponds, we came up to the second largest pagoda in Japan. I can’t remember now but I believe it’s over 700 years old and it has 5 tiers of roofing stacked into of each other. Like a layered cake. I’m glad we saw it at night all lit up.

At this point, we still haven’t seen any of these plentiful and annoying deer yet. But when Patrick spotted one all he did was stop us and say “oh shit." Joe and I were looking around trying to figure out what he was talking about when we met eyes with three deer laying next to a try right alongside the path. They looked concerned probably because we looked so scared.

As we made our way out of the park, more and more deer came and showed their faces. They all just watched us as we passed by showing no sign of fear or moving away from us which was a little intimidating. We just walked passed them without causing any fuss and headed to the train station.

We did as much as we could in the time we had, caught the train back and called it a night.

[nicholascase]

Sushi in the Rain

The three of us got ourselves a private room in an old hotel turned guesthouse in Osaka. It was nice to have somewhat of what might some consider privacy. We even had our own toilet! We had roll up mattresses, and when the three of them were laid out, they took up the space of the whole room. We did a lot of walking around when we finally got out of bed. We always did this wherever we went because it seemed like we couldn't agree on what to eat and when we did there was always a problem with it. So we kept on searching until all the qualifications were met. Finally we decided on a Korean BBQ place that the Japanese call yakiniku where you grill your own meat. I've had this before when I was stationed in Japan and it was always a favorite. Plus the place had all you can drink for an hour while we ate and we were sure to get our money's worth. It was raining in Osaka and we were mostly just wandering around and exploring. We checked out the area we would be doing tomorrow night that has bars and clubs around a busy shopping district called Namba. It wasn't too impressive but it was something to do while out in the rain. As night started to fall, we found a little restaurant that was having happy hour and served pizza and had hookah. They were playing reggae which felt right and so was the price so we ended up staying a while. The guy working behind the counter didn't have any more charcoal left at first so he gave us our hookah for half price as he threw bits and prices of what had left on top. We did more exploring in some of districts around our hotel but the rain really kept people inside. It hadn't let up a bit since we were there. We tried to make the best of it but at night it was mostly lame and wet. We decided to bring it in for the night and get a better start for tomorrow and hope for better weather. Unfortunately, in the morning the weather was still the same. Steady, light, soaking rain. We made it to a temple that was close by and still toured around and continued to make the best of it but it was kind of a buzz kill. The temple was impressive. It was the of the first ones we went into while staying in Japan. The style of Buddhism here is different then in Korea. Japanese Zen Buddhism prefer simplicity of minimalism and its very evident in the way they design their temples and surrounding areas. This is where I bought my sisters charm for her birthday. It's the same Buddha that's standing up in the main temple. Photography was not allowed but my small GoPro is so discreet I was able to get some video while I was in here. On our way back, the others were up ahead. I don't know what their plan was but they didn't want to take the subway and I had just about enough wandering around the rain. I told them the subway was nearby and we would be able to take it and stay dry and get there sooner but they pressed on so I went to the subway. I decided to take it back to the hotel and regroup so I could figure out some stuff to do on my own while they were on their own program. It was nice to split off and get some alone time as well. Not saying I needed to get away but being with each other 24/7 gets a little taxing especially when I'm used to being pretty independent. I had a loose plan put together and did some writing and relaxing as the rain fell and I got a text from Patrick saying I should meet them. They hooked up with some of Joe's friends and they wanted to take us to get some sushi. So I put their position in my phone and headed out. At least they had a plan of what to do this time. Patrick came out to meet me and introduced me to Joe's friends Manami and one of her friends. Their English wasn't so bad but they were too embarrassed to use it most of the time which was frustrating. Especially when Joe and Manami would just speak in Korean and Patrick, her other friend and I, had no idea what they were saying. Manami brought us to her favorite sushi restaurant. They were very busy and we actually had to come back in thirty minutes before they would have an open table. This place was like the others that we have been to where everyone greets us upon entering. It's a loud boisterous greeting that the waitresses and chefs all say when someone rings the bell when they come inside it's humbling and almost embarrassing! They sat us in a booth and brought us all drinks. We left all the ordering up to the girls because they have had sushi way more then we have and we told them to pick their favorites because we had no preference. Only to eat a lot. I wish I could name all the stuff we had. I know we had sea eel and tuna some squid. Everything was sushi style meaning a peice of fish on a rectangle of rice. Again no California rolls or any other rolls. That's American sushi. We also had kimchi, soups, hand rolls, more sushi. So much food. This would be the best sushi we'd have in Japan. We left full and satisfied. The bill was expensive but completely worth it.

[nicholascase]

Next Stop, Osaka

There's no better sleep then after climbing a mountain. Joe Patrick and I, woke up pretty early still because we had to check out of our hostel. We packed our stuff, put on our sweaty dirty shoes from the day before and, with bags on backs, we walked to the train station. Yesterday, as we waited for our second bus up to Mount Fuji after missing the first one, we noticed a tour bus schedule that drove around the two of the five lakes that surround the volcano. There were plenty of hot spots that we would be able to knock out in a short tour around the place before we headed to Kyoto. Several caves and hikes, all great spots to take some video. Patrick has a friend that he met in Thailand who is doing a documentary of a place along the route affectionately called suicide forest. The official name is Jukai. Apparently this is a popular spot for people who feel like they have no where to turn and/or no reason to live. The name means sea of trees because it's a super thick forest and the point of it is that it's easy to get lost once off the path. We've read that people hand cuff themselves to trees and throw away the key. Last year alone there were 70 suicides, making it into the top three locations to commit this act. Golden Gate Bridge is number one. Compasses don't work here either due to the volcanic rock and making it even more difficult to navigate and once a year surrounding villages have a fesitval where they go and find the bodies. Pretty morbid stuff. So of course we wanted to go check it out! We were on the tour bus for about 45 minutes before we got off to check out a cave formed by magma thousands of years ago. It was close to the suicide forest so we thought, why not. It was a pretty touristy area and they had us pay to go in and see it. The cave was pretty haunting looking as we had to take a short hike into the forest and the rocks just separated and some steps were put in that led down into the earth. As soon as we took the corner down into the actual cave we were met with a chilling breeze and all of us wondered why we were wearing shorts and flip flops. The cave was pretty small and obviously I had the camera out. The inside of the cave was lined with ice and the Japanese put some blue lights in there to show off the ice and so we could get a good look. I thought it was kind of corny at first but then I remembered if there was no lights down here, a cave would be completely pitch black so I got over it. A few minutes later we reached the end of cave and turned around and headed back. We were right outside the forest we were looking to see now we had our phones out trying to figure out where the entrance was. Our wifi hotspot was spotty at best so we had to resort to using signs and maps. Terrible, I know. Finding the trailhead that led into this massive forest was more difficult then we thought and we ended up getting turned around more then once. We didn't want to get lost in this forest ourselves. Once we finally got into it we were met by a suicide prevention hotline and a warning written in Japanese. We tried to translate to no avail but figured it meant "don't do it." We were barely 10 minutes on the trail before we saw a road ahead of us and then knew we were going the wrong way. We came out to the road and saw we were almost exactly where we had started. We were frustrated and wondered how it happened. We just turned around and went back in and then found a fork in the road and went right. This time we were going the right way. The forest looked like something out of a movie. Moss covered exposed rocks and and tree roots and the light of sky was almost blocked out completely. The trail itself was a lot of times on top of old lavaflows and volcanic rocks dipping up and down. I felt like I was walking around in fern gully. We continued the hike turning left and right somewhat randomly trying to head over through the longest length of the forest so we could have the full effect. I was taking photos and videos the whole way through still on the same charge from Mount Fuji before my battery died. It was unfortunate because I was lining up a shot my sister would have been proud of. We almost walked right through a spiders web with a spider inside it. I took a sip of water and sprayed it into the web and it was glowing in the light. I went to take a picture before the GoPro bit the dust. We got on the tour bus and headed back to train station. We squeezed as much sight seeing as we could before the bullet train would be leaving for Kyoto if we wanted to get there tonight. We took mostly the same route we took to get Mount Fuji back down into civilization. We connected over to Yokohama to get on our first bullet train of the trip. Some fun facts I learned about the bullet train, or Shinkansen as they're called in Japan. The first one was built in the 60's. I believe they went almost 100 mph and Japan planned on building them all over the country. Then as much of the world started building airplanes and airports, Japan decided to keep building high speed trains because of their efficiency in people moving and in energy. The models over the years have been getting faster and faster and now they're most widely used model normally travel up to 160 mph. I read that they can go faster but cause too much noise pollution when entering and exiting tunnels called tunnel boom. Acting a lot like a bullet out of a gun. Other trains in the country go past 200 mph when away from metropolitan areas. They've been testing a train that goes close to 300 mph and expect to replace older models with these in less then 10 years. Today over a million daily people use the train to commute between major cities like Osaka and Tokyo with trains leaving as many times as once every ten minutes. The train station for Shinkansen is different from the normal train station as the rails the trains ride on are made differently for rapid acceleration and in case of emercency deccelaration. This side of the train station looks like a space station. Multiple long aerodynamic white trains waxed and shiny zooming in and out as people in suits shuffle on and off. Lots of new looking signs saying which go where and when. The shiny metal railings and trim that reflect the bright lights make me wonder why the US doesn't have some sort of equivalent. It's almost embarrassing how much the US is idoled and how behind we are in almost every way. Our JR passes cover the cost of what would be close to a two hundred dollar trip to Kyoto. And with the pass were also afforded the luxury of changing our plans mid route. And we took advantage of that. Joe's friend Taka, who Patrick and I met while we were in Korea, would be in Kyoto but not until next week. So we pushed off Kyoto and decided that Osaka would probably be more exciting on the weekend and decided to go there instead. We also took advantage of our wifi hotspot and broke out our phones and went to work. Patrick rebooked out hostel to a place highly rated and cheap place in Osaka. Joe talked to friends in Osaka and arranged for us to meet up this weekend instead of later. I put in the new destinations and figured out how we'd get there and which trains to take. In a matter of minutes our entire plan had changed. Less than two hours by bullet train traveling at 160 mph, the fastest I've ever travelled on the ground, we arrived out our new destination Osaka, Japan.

[nicholascase]

[nicholascase]

Mount Fuji

Before we got to Mount Fuji, we were warned by everyone that’s been there before, and every online resource we looked up that this climb wasn’t for the weary. To make things worse we would be climbing it out of season so all the stations on the way to the top would be closed and there would be no support as far as first aid, food or water. Being in an expedition for three months and planning to do limited amount of trekking we didn’t bring hiking boots or poles or anything that was designed for extreme environments like everyone suggested. The weather changes rapidly and close you get to the top the more steep it is. We would be met with jagged volcanic rock and slippery smooth cooled lava paths and my converse sneakers kept getting further and further disqualified.

This only gave us small pause and caution before we woke up to climb it the next day.

Today the 18th was to be of our earliest rises yet. We were legitimately going out of our comfort zone and definitely safety zone. We were surrounded by people who looked like they climbed mountains for a living and were way more suited for the climb then we were. We made as many preparations as much as we could at the closest 7/11. We got 2 liters of water for each of us, plenty of bags of trail mix and some snicker bars to be snacked on when we were out of energy. I brought my bag that had the med kit compass and water filter. We also brough lighters, matches, fully charged iPhones and wifi card and after we ate our rice cakes and fried food our preparations were complete. Joe didn’t even have a long sleeved shirt that wasn’t meant to be worn while looking trendy. We googled and found out he would be able to buy a hoodie at the fifth station. We were poster boys of how not to climb a mountain.

We made it to the bus and didn’t have tickets and it left without us so we had to wait an hour until the next one would come and take us to the fifth of ten stations up to the top. Once we got it together we were on the next bus out of the train station.

We stepped out of the bus and the sinking feeling of being under prepared hit me at the same time as the much noticably cooler air did. We went over to the gear store and Joe bought the the corniest hoodie we could find that had a picture of Mount Fuji and the altitude on it. Tourists. We considered buying a hot dog on a stick before we left and decided against it and made our way up. Next stop, the top!

The road that left the station actually went down and we felt like we had already made the wrong turn but the map showed us we were going the right way. It was just sloping down because the station wasn’t exactly along the straight forward route going up. Once we took the fork that headed up there was no mistaking it. It went up. Steeply. We passed an older women mumbling us something in Japanese and pointed to her hat and poles saying we needed them. We said thank you and passed her by. At this point there was no turning back.

The air is much thinner at the altitude we were starting at which is 6,500 ft. We started higher then the top of the last mountain we climbed. This made the way up the steep passes much more taxing for a non mountain climber that is used to living at a few feet about the sea level. It’s kind of hard to wrap my mind around it but if my body is used to absorbing a percentage of oxygen per breath and now all of a sudden it’s getting much less, then my lungs have to work harder to maintain that level in my body. I guess I can just say I was out of breath much sooner then normal. Add the extra weight of the bag on my back and it’s a recipe for many breaks.

We passed multiple signs saying that the mountain was closed for climbing season and to help us realize that we were on our own. We’ve ignored every other warning about climbing here so a few ominous closed signs weren’t going to stop us. We weren’t the only ones climbing, just one of the few underprepared ones.

One thing we did have going for us is that the weather was the best since we landed in Japan. It was sunny and visibility was good. It could have easily been miserable and after looking at the forecast it was clear that at least Mother Nature was looking out for us. The view kept getting more and more fantastic. We quickly went from where the clouds blowing past us, to being over the clouds and the mountains below us. It’s a rewarding sight when we were waiting for our hearts and breathing to slow down.

There were some workers fixing up the path as we climbed and at one point we got off of it because there was a bulldozer in the way. Instead, we climbed up the path that the machine had taken to get higher up and it’s obvious that it was designed for a tractor with treads versus dummies with sneakers. Our feel sank in the ball bearing stones and every step took more effort to climb up. It was similar to climbing a giant pile of sand.

We got back on the trail and took an infinite number of switchbacks and all we could see were more. I held on to my bag straps as we marched past all of them getting to our first station. Like the signs below said, they were closed up for the year. It was like an eerie small ghost town that looked like it used to serve climbers meals and offered a place to take a break. We laid out our stuff and drank some of the precious water we brought up with us and waited until we had enough energy to keep going.

At this point the switchbacks were a distant memories when we were met with climbing the old lava flow rocks with chains to use to help get up. It was important to check our footing here because they were smooth and slippery. None of our shoes had much grip and had zero ankle support. We followed each other up in a line grabbing the chains taking huge leg ups with every step. I recorded videos along the way and turned around to check out the sights so I would have something to enjoy amidst the suffering when we got back.

We made it to another ghost town station and met up with another ill geared traveler. He said he had left his wife and daughter and wanted to see how far he could make it up because the weather was nice. He was from Singapore and spoke good English so as we got some air we chatted for a while. He had a similar plan of events like we did. Going to Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima. He joined our rag tag team on our way up.

Traveling had been going way slower then planned. We were taking a lot more time then we thought we would. We were moving at a grueling pace by our standards but we hadn’t been covering too much ground. I was determined to take it to the top but it looked like we were running out of time to catch our bus down. We had only brought enough for a day hike and even if we did bring all of our stuff to the top, we didn’t have the equipment to camp out on the side of a huge mountain through the night. I told the others if I missed the bus I’d just walk back. I don’t know what I was thinking but I was in the zone.

We just made it past the 8th station and saw some travelers making their way down, again way better equipped then we were. We joked and made the comparison to a video game and that we were way too low of a level for this zone and that we just followed all the high level guys that cleared the path for us and we could be wiped out at any moment. We kept going despite my burning thighs and rock filled shoes and general exhaustion of just not being able to breathe. We asked one of the guys heading down how much longer and we got answers from anywhere between 2-4 hours and approximately 4 kilometers. At this point our new party member already decided to head back down and I didn’t want to give up but we passed the line of stupidity a long time ago. If we got caught up on this mountain through the night I didn’t want to imagine what might happen.

We made our way further to the 8.5 station which was also closed so we stopped right below and took an extended break. We broke out the snickers and drank a good amount of the water we brought with us and took in the sights. I could only hope my GoPro was able to take in the sights we were seeing. The top of the mountain stood directly over us as we stood over the rest of Japan.

Clouds blew over the ridges we passed hours ago and we could see the tiny village we slept in the night before. The colors changed from the deep volcanic rock red brown that we were standing on to the bright green forest surrounding the small quiet town below us out to the purple mountains in the distance. This was combined by blue sky that peered through the mountains below the top layer of high white clouds. It looked like a rainbow that filled our entire vision.

Of course we took some selfies and lots of other pictures of scene we sat in. To our surprise we still had service from our wifi card so we checked Facebook and I tried to check in to Mount Fuji. We weren’t able to be located for a check in so I just had to make the claim we were up there. I thought it was pretty amazing.

We had to take in the sights faster then normal because, of course, we were on a deadline to catch bus. We packed it all in and hauled it down the mountain. We had to still be careful but had to do it with a purpose. We jumped from rock to rock careful to find a good spot to the next. Once we made it off the slippery steep cooled magma we made it to the seventh station.

Here is where we got creative. There was a barbed wire fence that blocked off the way that the bulldozer takes to get from the this station down to the bottom for trail maintenance. We hopped over to the other side railing and avoided the barbs as we climbed along the outside of the station. The drop off was pretty steep but all those years in the monkey bars paid off as we shimmied our way past the fencing.

Once the ground beneath us was a little but closer we jumped off the railing to a hard landing below. This fed our adventurous sides because we were somewhere not open to climbers, but the path was so steep we could skip along it through the slippery small stones and really make up some time rather then following the traditional path that zig zagged all the way back down. We were literally skipping down and keeping our balance everytime our feet hit the ground. But we’re probably in the air most of the time. We stopped at the turns barely as it was easy to lose control. But we had a bus to catch.

This path shot us down the mountain way faster then we had climbed it, obviously. We were going so fast we actually passed the road that went to the station. We had about 30 minutes until the bus left and we were passing some unfamiliar sights. We came down to a paved road and we were going to jog it out all the way back. I, luckily, glanced at a mostly faded sign as we ran by that had station 5 and an X over it. I yelled for Patrick as he was up ahead and told him we missed our stop. We had to climb up the path we came down and asked some other travelers that were, again luckily, nearby to make sure station 5 was up ahead. They agreed and pointed us down the path we were running down.

We didn’t keep the run up for long as we were still exhausted from the hike and the path we took on the start of our journey that led down from the station, is now leading up to the station so our hike continued. We moved a lot more quickly then before as my body ached in protest. We came around the bend and the station was in sight with about 15 minutes to go. We picked up the pace because it was still pretty far ahead.

We ran down Mount Fuji with just enough time to shake the rocks out of our shoes. Just in time to meet the last bus to bring us back to civilization.

[nicholascase]

Fuji Express

[nicholascase]

Fuji Express

We woke up Monday the June 17th pretty much at the time we had to check out and rushed to get ready and pack out our stuff. Today the plan was get to Mount Fuji and get ready to climb it the day after. We had our bags on our shoulders and raced down the stairs hoping they wouldn't charge us any extra for being late and thankfully they had some mercy. I was still feeling crumby but for the most part I could handle it and felt pretty much normal. It was a mostly sunny day and that was a relief because most of the time we've spent in Japan it was rainy and cloudy but I didn't really notice much of a difference since I was in my bed for a majority of the time. It was nice to be outside and feel the sun again. Something that I've been used to seeing being from San Diego. We sat up on the wall by the river outside of the hostel and took a selfie and headed to Tokyo station. By this time we were all better at navigating the trains and made it there no problem. We tried to get on the bullet train before we realized our JR passes we were gong to activate were just vouchers so we had to find the specific office in this giant train stations so we could finally activate them. The JR pass that I've been talking about since before we got to Japan is a huge deal for people like us looking to travel up and down the country in a relatively small amount of time. They were expensive but once we were ready to use them we would see the savings after our first few bullet trains. The deal with the pass is basically we can take any JR line that was in Japan for free. At first glance that seems pretty straightforward but in reality Japan's railway system is used by a lot of private companies. So this means one train is a JR line and we could use our pass on that but other trains, usually subways or express trains, have their own system of rail and privately owned trains that the passes were not good on. This makes our route planning a little more hectic then it would normally be because we wanted to focus on riding as many JR lines as possible while avoiding the ones we would have to pay more for. We made it down the to the office finally after getting turned around at every corner and made them active. We only have 14 days and until they expire so the timer starts now. I brought up the web app hyperdia.com and put in our route. The trains heading up to Mount Fuji stopped running earlier then they did in the cities so we had a smaller ceiling then we were expecting. The route with mostly JR trains included three transfers until we got near the bottom to take the Fuji express, a private railway. Every train station we transferred at had less then a four minute layover so we tried to plan it all out so there'd be no confusion once we left the doors to find the next one. Thankfully the google maps app is very efficient showing us where to walk and exit. The amazing amount of signs in the train station reaffirmed we were heading the right way. Half way through our route the app told us there was a disturbance at once of the stations and the screen in the train showed us we would be delayed by 5 minutes. We didn't think anything of it until we got off and went to transfer. Our train wasn't there and we were stuck at the station for about 30 minutes drafting up a new route until the next one would come by. No big deal but it pushed back our next train to Fuji even longer so it looked like we would be traveling most of the day, crushing our cushion of missing even more trains and possibly not making the last train to Mount Fuji. We made it to our last transfer before we took the railway car up to Kawaguchiko, our destination. We had to pay for this one which was 1,000 yen or about 11 bucks. The others didn't have a pasmo card and normally just bought the old fashioned tickets. I opted for getting the card that was read through my wallet so I never had to mess around at the ticket machines. All I have to do is pull out my wallet and slide it along the the gates to the train and it would deduct my fare from my account. I could actually just sit on the sensor and it could read it through there. Pretty handy and helped running from train to train. The problem was my card balance was low and I had to refill it. They bought the ticket and I fed in more yen into the refilling computer and ran back to the gate to catch the train. But this reader didn't take pasmo for some reason so I had to run back and get an actual ticket. By the time I made it back the others were no where to be found and the train had left. I was pretty frustrated that they left me but it didn't matter too much. The next train left 30 mins later and they either have to wait here with me or at the next stop so I decided to go look around outside of the station and grab something to eat. This stop was pretty small compared to all the other places we've been to so far on this trip. A quaint, quiet little village. I saw there was little bar area with some outdoor seating so I thought I'd grab a beer while I waited for the next train. The man at the counter was surprised to see me come up as he was sitting down smoking and enjoying a beer himself while he watched a tiny staticky tv. He poured me a tall one and asked me in slow Japanese if I wanted something else as well. Sadly I had no idea what he was trying to say to me until he found the English word and said whiskey. I smiled and said hai which means yes. He poured me a clear liquid in a plastic cup and came outside to join me at the table out front. He then brought out some drinking snacks that went well with the beer. I don't know exactly what it was but it tasted like pickled green onion bulbs and maybe pickled cherries that had a pit. It was a weird flavor but I liked it. Paired very nicely. He motioned me to try the whiskey, but whatever it was, it wasn't whiskey. Very strong and warm and I made a face and he laughed. After I recovered, I said oishikata meaning it was delicious and that made him chuckle. He brought out some peanuts and I broke out my translate app and we had some almost conversation. He asked me where I was from and I typed in United States and he could read it off the screen. I typed in where I was going and how long and he was excited to be able to understand me. His wife came out and we made small talk. It was fun to talk to some old locals using new technology! But speaking of technology, I looked at the clock and realized I had a few minutes before the train left. I almost missed the other train! I told the old couple I had to leave and they wanted me to stay but I couldn't keep the others waiting any longer. I said sayonara and arigato gozaimas, meaning good bye for a while and thank you very much, and I ran through the gate and got on the train right before it was leaving. This destination was familiar because I've been here before. Me and some friends from the navy had taken this exact railway to go snowboarding on Mount Fuji. I took a picture of the weird elf looking thing on the roof near the train station and put it on Facebook to see if anyone else remembered that weird thing. The others were here waiting for me and, after I called them the appropriate obscenities, we checked in to our new home for the next two days.

[nicholascase]

Otaku Search

After some heavy medication, lots of water, and rest, I woke up Sunday morning feeling a lot better. Maybe about 80%. My eye appeared to be a light pink and compared to the death red it was the day before, this was an improvement. Patrick walked by me after being up all night and went right to bed but Joe was no where to be found. I didn't think much of it as I went to take a shower and do some more writing. It was probably a few hours later that Joe came in soaking wet and his jeans covered in dirt and mud. He told me he had been climbing buildings and showing me cool pictures he had been taking from all the locations he was climbing into. I was surprised and glad to see he was ok and enjoying himself. I caught up on a weeks worth of journaling from the notes I took from when the three of us were hanging out by the river. I'm pretty sure I covered all the bases but so much stuff happens on the daily basis and it fades as the days roll on without writing. Hours later, when the other guys woke up, we made our way to a place nearby called Umeh. One of their friends suggested its a cool place to check out. There was a small temple and lots going on in the area that would keep us occupied until later. Right outside the train station there were busy streets and lots of weird shops to look at. As with most busy side streets, there were brightly colored LED lights, vendors out in front of their shops shouting their discounts to the streets luring as many people as they can into their businesses and loads of people just shopping around. We walked over to the temple area. There was a large pond out in front full of bright green lily pads. It was about 5-6 pm and the sun lit up the area and reflected off the water that wasn't covered by plant life. A walking path that led around to the temple was nice to walk leisurely because we didn't have much else planned for the day. We walked through the grounds just sight seeing and over around the other side of the pond and made our way back to the station. On the walk back we passed by several pachinko areas. I think I described what pachinko was before but basically it's a place full of yen slot machines. When the door opens from someone entering or leaving the sound is really loud and confusing from the little silver balls that are used in the game and all the sound effects coming from each machine. I'm not really sure how the game works or how you win, but if I did I would write about it. Akhibara was our next destination. Instead of taking the subway the others wanted to walk and I grudgingly followed behind. It's frustrating not taking advantage of the most advanced mass transportation in the world only just to wander down some back streets wondering if we're going the right way the whole time. We asked for some directions and got pointed in the right direction. It appeared as though we made it but it looked like any other district in Tokyo since we got there so late. The street was apparently closed down early in the day so that the otaku's, or anime fanatic (usually costume wearing, white and geeky), could show off in the street and interact with each other. Would have been a sight to be seen if we didn't drag our feet. Once we made it in the district, the are we were in was littered with sex shops. In Japan, all of there porn is blurred so you can't see any of the 'action parts'. Even after buying a DVD it would still be blurred. But, after walking in, it was clear they made it past their laws and had even more perverted things. One of the most notable was the child sex doll in the window. Really surprising. But it was a sex shop so I suppose its supposed to have what anybody might be looking for. We checked out all three floors of the place and headed out. As we walked aimlessly down the street there were women dressed in skimpy maid outfits offering us to go in to their cafes. They weren't prostitutes, just demoing their cafes were they were all wearing the same outfits and served you like an anime character. Apparently they can even feed you if you'd like. Just add it to the list of wield things in Japan I've seen. We were hungry and of course there was a beef bowl in sight so we decided to give them more of our money. This one was three floors tall but at first it looked like it didn't have any seats. Be of the workers saw us peering through the window and pointed towards the stairs motioning us to go inside and that there was more seats upstairs. Continuing our aimless walk, looking for otakus, we stopped at a convenient store to pick up some road beers. The convenient store worker actually joined outside after we bought them and struck up some conversation. He said he had been an English major and was 19 and I guessed he wanted to practice some of his English with us. We asked him about otakus, he said he hated them. We asked him what he thought of Akhibara, he said he hated it. We kept asking him questions and he responded mostly in hate. Which I thought was kind of sad and maybe he didn't understand what the word meant but Patrick reminded me that the guy was an English major so he should know. We walked back and I convinced the others to check out the arcade we were walking by. We went upstairs and there were a bunch of people playing the games it looked like they had been training their entire lives for. I didn't even want to approach them and play because I had nothing close compared to the skill they had while using these machines. It was actually pretty intimidating. We found a multiplayer side scrolling shooter the three of us decided to play. It was all in Japanese so we had to get some help starting the game. Ice we were in it was pretty cool. Lots of enemies and power ups and we just concentrated on not dying but that didn't help much. We made it to the second level before all of us were annihilated. On the top floors the most pro of the gamers were there playing a screen shooter open world multiplayer. There were over 8 machines with people duel welled weapons and destroying everything. We didn't even attempt this one because we would only be getting in the way but it was amazing to watch. The controls looked impossible. Two joy sticks and buttons on each hand gun and incredibly fierce competition. After that we had enough and decided to leave. The walk back was short. We grabbed the subway and got off right in front of our guesthouse and saw another DVD room. We thought it'd be cool to watch another movie to cap off the night and when we headed up the stairs we realized it wasn't the same as when we were in Korea. Where in Korea the DVDbang was for dates, Japan the DVD rooms were more for...solo experiences. The room was filled with porn and once we realized it and after some browsing we got out of there. Ironically, we called the family right after that for Father's Day. It was nice to catch up. We used FaceTime and with our wifi card it was free. Pretty awesome to use technology to see family face to face who are on the other side of the planet. After saying good byes, we finished the night with some spicy turkish kabobs and we crossed the bridge to get some sleep.

[nicholascase]

[nicholascase]

The Sickness

I hard a hard time sleeping because my eye was in so much pain. Also, conveniently, I got some sort of flu or cold and felt like I was drowning in my own fluids. I knew that I had to tend to it immediately before the cold went in to full swing. Luckily, I heeded my travel guide so well I came prepared. I made a whole med kit of medicines, creams bandages and some preventives I was taking and I was glad I did. I got out of my bed away from my now asking wet pillow and drank as much water as I could. I downed some Advil cold and flu along with my grape fruit extract one of my customers encouraged me to bring. I also medicated my eye with some minty eye drops I first heard of while in Japan but instead of the cooling sensation I got blinding hot pain. I wasn't doing so good and I knew it would take time before I tried to power through the sickness and see Tokyo. I drank more water, flipped my pillow and went to bed. I woke up hours later. The light still burned my eye and I could barely breathe without having to cough or wiping the now clear liquid from my face. I considered maybe going to see a doctor but I figured I would at least give it some time to heal. At this point I'm not sure if the others continued on without me but I just drank more water, took more medicine and had more grapefruit extract but I couldn't sleep anymore. What better time to write and get some work done while feeling miserable. I wrote several entries and got us caught up to right before we took the plane to Japan. I showed the other guys when they came back and also made a video. Although I still felt like crap, I felt like I made some real headway in my quest. Reaching a stopping point, I realized the other bad feeling I was feeling was hunger. I needed to get some food inside me before I completely came unravelled. We got some tharpeutic beef bowl and it really helped. I also ordered some miso soup. Smelling the broth and and the feeling of being fed helped a lot. We realized that we were right next to a large temple are and I was feeling up to getting some exploration in for the day. The temple is called Senso-Ji temple. It has the biggest lantern I've ever seen hanging right at the entrance. It was night time but the whole place was lit up. I'm assuming most people don't take the luxury of exploring these temples sat night so it felt pretty unique. There were shops we walked up through that were all closed. Approaching the main temple, there was a line of people waiting to throw some yen coins in the box in front of the main doors and did a little prayer or a well wish. It was interesting to see because it was kind of uncommon to pray at one of these temples. I got some shots with the GoPro but they didn't come out very well in the dark. We walked all through the temple fronds checking out the pagodas gardens and smaller temples that were scattered about. I was still feeling like crap, but the night air and walk was really helping. We took a seat outside of the temple and our guesthouse by the river and talked for a while. It was nice to just take a break from the constant traveling and sight seeing and enjoy each others company. But by this time it was getting pretty late and they wanted to go out to see the night life and I wanted to do the opposite. So we said our goodbyes and I headed back to the guesthouse and did some more writing before I passed out early for the night. Not before loading myself up with more medicine and eye drops.

[nicholascase]

Womb

Patrick, Joe and I got up kind of late, tired from traveling all day before, and went to Shibuya. Now that we were united with the mobile wifi hotspot we had delivered to the guest house we were staying in. Navigating Japan's complex but efficient mass transportation was easier but not with out the growing pains. I was stationed here in the past so I had an idea on how to do most of it which helped initially but I've never been in any of the stations we were going to or used any of the lines we would be using so the advantage I thought I had quickly faded. We didn't activate our unlimited JR pass that we purchased in Korea just yet because we would be spending the first few days in Tokyo and only had them for fourteen days. We were making sure we could get the most value for them and decided to save them for later. Luckily using the trains in the city never cost us more than a few bucks. Using google maps and hyperdia.com our routes were laid out for us until we noticed that easiest way to Shibuya would be just taking the subway from our stop, the second to last stop of the subway, to the other last stop of the subway which was Shibuya. It took us more time but gave us peace of mind from transferring here and there. We let out of the subway and took a bridge across the busy streets below. I was immediately taken back to when I was here before. All the lights and the people were dazzling. Everyone with a life and things to do and here I am just watching it all happen. I'm honored but I know this time I wouldn't just watch it all happen but I can record it and write about it so people who've never been here could get some of an idea of what's happening. Our goal was to make it over to Meiji-Shingu shrine. This is what one of the oldest places in Tokyo and one of the bullet points of Shibuya and since we were here we were going to definitely make a stop. First, we needed to feed ourselves. By this time I've already taken the other two to beef bowl a few times and we needed to change it up. Beef bowl by the way is one of my favorite places to eat. It's like the Japanese fast food. Thin slices of beef that looks like its boiled with onions and some sort of special sauces that's thin and coats the rice it's piled on top of. The largest of the sizes goes for about 580 yen or 6 bucks. After a few blocks walk, we were at the famous Shibuya crossing that's shown in many movies and clips when referring to Japan. It's one of the busiest intersections in the world with 10 lanes of traffic that cross each other and on top of that over a million people walk across daily. When the walk signs are green, all traffic is stopped and, during rush hour, 2,500 people cross before the walk sign turns red and the cars continue. It's definitely a sight to be seen. We went up the familiar path towards the cluster of shops and restaurants and tried to decide in what we wanted to eat because there was everything here. Since we were in Japan we wanted to get sushi. The task to find a reasonable price was next. We walked from place trying to see where we could get the best deal. We almost walked by a whale restaurant that Patrick mentioned was here and, well, it was what we were expecting! They had whale. That and combined with pro whaling propaganda saying how much fish whale eat to survive and how they contribute to the decimation of ecosystems because of all the fish they eat to survive. By that logic we should be eating humans. Finally reaching a decision, we went with a standing sushi bar. The price was right and we've never been to something like that so we checked it out. Of course there was no seating and we took the spot in the corner. The sushi chefs were welcoming and wore the traditional wear of what you would expect. There was the old guy who looked like he might own the place and the two younger guys aspiring to be him. They handed us the English menu and we ordered actual sushi since the normal American rolls weren't available. This means raw fish ontop of a rectangle of rice. We messed up proper etiquette but the chefs were forgiving and helpful. Very tasty and the bill ran us 2,100 yen or 23 bucks. Not bad. It was getting late and we headed to the Meiji Shrine. As we got closer we noticed that there was a large wooden gate right in the way we were trying to go and a closed sign hanging at the end of it. Bummer. Or stop right after we were done with the shrine was Yoyogi park so we skipped to that. We were losing sunlight fast and once we made it into the park it was basically completely dark. We strolled up the giant gravel path just looking around and talking and we heard some voices coming from the dark and decided to check it out. We read that people commonly met up here to practice plays, musicals, dance routines and just to hang out. We came up to noise and it sounded like some sort of routine with lines or just really odd sounding conversation. The voices were loud and almost meant to be heard. That or they just didn't care. We took a seat and a semi far away picnic table that felt like a stalkerish distance to listen better even though we had no idea what they were saying since it was all in Japanese. It was nice listening, all the voices sounded so animated. I knew roughly how to get to the club we were looking for but we were coming from the opposite direction I did in the past so we plugged it into google maps and went there to scope out the location. After a long and unfamiliar walk we finally got to womb, the clothing store. Not the club we were looking for. Turns out we were walking the opposite direction of where we needed to go. Disappointedly, we turned around and walked the same long road we took to get there. On our way to the real club, some people stopped us and asked Joe to take a picture. The group of people said "kimchi" or what Koreans say instead of cheese. Joe asked them if they spoke Korean, in Korean and one of the guys responded even more surprised then Joe was "YOU speak Korean??" Joe is obviously not the average looking Korean speaker. A stopped and chatted a bit and continued to our destination. The backstreets we took to get to Womb looked instantly familiar. In the past when me and my old navy friends used to come here, it always felt like we were going the wrong way but I knew that meant we were in the right area. We walked through residential areas and it felt like we were being too loud, and after we passed several westerner looking people looking for the same club, we had finally arrived to Womb. This is my favorite place to go out to at night in Japan because it was so secluded but the club is world renowned. The environment felt professional and people came here to dance and hear good music versus just trying to get drunk and hook up. We paid the high cover of 4,000 yen, or 40 bucks, but I reassured the others that it was worth it. As soon as we walk in there is a lounge area with a lesser known DJ that still played really good music. It's a good area to just hang out in and still hear each other. Really dark with most the light coming from the hanging lights and the choreographed lights from the DJ booth. We ordered our drinks and headed in to the real club. A large vault looking sound proof door opened up by one of the staff is what welcomed us in to the first and main dance floor. The music and memories overwhelmed me as I was instantly taken back to the first time I walked through the door. Large screens over the DJ that played on the opposite side of the room and in between us hundreds of people with glow stick necklaces and bracelets enjoying themselves to the music. A bar to the immediate right with an decently orderly crowd ready to refill their glasses and stairs right next to the door that led up to three more additional floors that were about 10% the size of the main floor each with their own bar, a little more exclusive. They all have windows pointing out to the main room and offer a place to sit and reel from the main event. We stayed here till about 5-6am until it was finally time to leave. The sun is the biggest buzz kill and I feel like I learn this over again every time I've come up those stairs into the light. I brought Joe and Patrick to the best solace I've found after leaving this club and that's the infamous beef bowl. Yoshinoya is an equivalent to fast food in Japan. On our way there, we met a fellow from New Jersey named Sanders on a similar quest across Japan. He was pretty young but we all dug in to our tasty beef bowls and talked. Sanders seemed like your normal 'bro' and 'dude' kind of guy but overall the conversation was pretty normal. He friended us on Facebook and we parted ways and thought we would think nothing of it. We walked to the subway and my eye began irritating me. I caught a reflection and saw it was horribly red. Probably from my contacts. Once I saw how red it was it really started to hurt. We made it home, i singed my eye with some drops and passed out immediately.