5/27 - 6/1
Yves and I did very, very little this week. We ate, drank, watched a lot of movies, picked up our visas and slept. However, we have done a few important things: eating very well and finding great bars. You may know that I have a particularly amazing skill: finding awesome places to eat and drink. Yves did his part in finding Fat Angelo's, an Italian restaurant that made their own fresh Italian dressing that was so good that I even liked it, and I hate all salad dressings (except Blue Cheese). Otherwise, he was very good at following me and indulging my whimsical quests when it seemed like a bar or restaurant didn't exist. Actually, one thing I especially liked about him in general was that he would indulge my crazy (and sometimes they get really random) whims and follow me anywhere. It made him very easy to be with.
Anyway, I don't remember exactly how I found the first place, but it was a place that specialized in Peking Duck, called...Peking Restaurant. He'd never had Peking duck before, which appalled me, and liked it. We were seated at the table with the other two foreigners (an older British couple) who took this picture for us. The duck, hoison sauce and pancakes were very good and I showed Yves how you put the sauce on a pancake then add duck, spring onion and cucumber. It would've been better if the pancakes and duck were hot, but it was still great.
We also went to a place recommended to me by my grandlittle sister, Tiffany, (from my sorority, Delta Delta Delta) whose family is from Hong Kong originally, though she's a native Californian (I know what you're thinking, and no, she couldn't get any more awesome if she tried). She recommended a dim sum restaurant, Din Tai Fung. We actually went to a different branch than the one she recommended (since it was three blocks from our place) and it was fabulous. It also had a plaque outside saying that the N.Y. Times had rated it one of the ten best restaurants in the world. Admittedly, the bronzed article was from 1993, but I was still excited. Dim sum is better with more people, but we were still able to try several fantastic plates.
We started with a plate of steamed spinach and garlic, which was very good (and surprising, since I normally dislike spinach), Spicy Shrimp Wontons (which was recommended by our waitress and was Yves' favorite and one of my favorites) which had an incredibly complex, developed flavor (do you ever wonder if I just make this tuff up by using buzzwords? Because sometimes I do.) but anyway, was really good and spicy without being grossly hot-spicy. Our third starting choice was the Steamed Pork Dumplings, their specialty (and my other favorite) which had a complicated method for eating, which always excites me. You started by picking it up with your chopsticks, then you dipped it in your sauce dish (a combination of fresh ginger threads and as much soy sauce as you wished to add) and then you transferred it to a small bowl where you put it down and poked it, releasing the broth inside which mixed with the sauce. Finally, you used a spoon to gather the dumpling, sauce and broth in a spoon and eat it. I think it probably would've been just as good without that process, but it was fun to poke it and sometimes I just like to over-complicate things unnecessarily.
Once we finished those, we ordered Special Sauce Dumplings (made with shrimp and pork) and Shrimp Fried Rice. Both were very good, but not amazing, as our first picks had been. For dessert, we decided on taro dumplings, which were just slightly sweet but, as Yves noticed as he finished his third and eyed mine, got better the more you ate. We each had tea and a Tsingtao beer with our meal and it came out to $359 HKD (about $47) for both of us, which I thought was a great deal.
At another point, we randomly walked into a sushi place and ended up with excellent salmon sashimi, which I mention because it means that we had great: Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Dim Sum and Peking Duck all in Hong Kong. Of course, we spent a bit more for this than I usually do, and in general the street food was unimpressive, but overall I mean to say that Hong Kong has wonderful food.
But, enough about the food. I want to tell you about the bars! I preferred Soho over the LKF or Wan Chi Red Light District (though a clean, fairly nice one) areas and Yves looked in his guidebook, which recommended V13. He had only to say the words "vodka bar" to describe it and and I was in. It also was on the edge of Soho, not quite in the middle, so it was a bit better, but when we got there the bartender told us it was no longer a vodka bar. They used to be, but had changed about six months ago. We decided to stay there for a drink anyway and I had a vodka-diet, while he opted for a (very good) White Russian). I had read somewhere that Thursday night was Ladies Night, so my goal for the evening was to get one free drink. The bartender told me that it was generally Wednesday night that was Ladies Night, but (I believe because he was bored as the bar was empty except for ourselves and one regular) he gave us all free tequila shots so we stayed there for most of the rest of that night and had a great time just talking to the bartender and the regular. Yves wanted a new lighter, so the bartender showed us the bars collection:
Somehow, that night, I was given a magazine for expats called Brouhaha (with NaNa from Ghana's number written on the back). I obviously ignored the number but read the magazine the next day and it recommended a secret bar (just the idea of which gets me nearly drunk with excitement) called Sense 99, which we went to that night. You went to 99 Wellington, which, due to some odd street signs is hard to find, then looked for the little buzzer button which had Sense 99 written next to it. On our way out, I noticed the unlit sign above, but you'd never know it was there or a bar otherwise. From outside, you couldn't hear any music or see any lights, but after you were buzzed in (by someone who checked that you knew what you were looking for) and went up a flight of stairs, you walked into a great little bar. The first floor had a bar which consisted of a cooler full of beers, another cooler of Coke bottles and a few scattered liquor bottles. The second floor had an outside balcony and a mini stage set up with a piano, bass, drums, guitars, rain stick, bongos, accordian and a few other instruments that were available for anyone to play. I might have tested my skills as a rock star, but while we were there, someone else was always playing, including an actual band that seemed to just coalesce out of thin air. The band was especially fun to watch because it was obvious that they were just jamming out and weren't getting paid. Each one of them just looked like they absolutely loved what they were doing and it's always nice to watch people do what they love, even if it doesn't really mean anything to you.
Yves had really liked his White Russian, so we went back to V13, which had some big party going on with a DJ, though by the time we got there, it was dying down. We went with a few people to some other club after that and called it a night (though way later).
On Tuesday, June 1st, I went alone to Macau. The weather sucked and many of the areas I saw were empty and closed. I was feeling fairly depressed about that and rather unimpressed because so much of the "Portuguese" waterfront area was refurbished, partially by casinos and partially by faux old Portuguese style so it was difficult to tell which parts were authentic and which parts had been built within the past ten years.
Macau itself was strange. It felt like Vegas in complete decline. The casinos were beautiful and glitzy but there just weren't enough people there. I went over to the more historic area: the Monte Fort and the front remains of St. Paul's Cathedral, of which just the facade and base structure was left. On my way through Senado Square I sat down and was quickly approached by a group of Hong Kong Middle School students. The group wanted to give me a brief presentation on the history of Macau and practice their English. Of course, I obliged and they were all very sweet. At the end, I filled out a survey about how well they'd done and gave them highest marks. They were so happy and excited and took pictures with me. I asked them to take a picture and here it is below. Oddly, this was the least happy they ever looked- at every other second they had these giant smiles filling their faces. After their presentation, they gave me a present. I opened it later and it was a bunch of Macau pastries. I actually didn't like them, but it was very sweet and none of the other white people accosted by the several groups of students got a present- it was just my awesome group.
I went to the cathedral remains and the fort. It was a weird feeling because it seemed so much like the areas and places in Mexico, the Caribbean and even parts of the U.S.- the forts in Florida and Puerto Rico (can we call that the U.S. yet?) and the feeling, though not the architecture, of so many of the missions in California. So Macau was very interesting, though felt quite strange.
Spending so much time on the road like this, it sometimes feels like I'm living several lives and the way people move through my life is so much faster that it feels like it just takes the core essence of relationships and misses the rest (good and bad). So, even though I know this sounds stupid and pretentious, in my opinion of myself, I can become a local in two weeks, or go through an entire relationship in that time period and have it actually matter (from the getting to know each other stage, to "dating," through the arguments, to the repetition, to the realization that you're not right for each other, all the way up to the break-up and leaving peacefully, hoping only good things for the other person and thinking they're alright, just not for you.)
More on Yves:
Yves and I moved into a single room together after two days and it's pretty hard to avoid someone you're sleeping in the same bed with. He's a good guy, though very...German. Just in general, he won't compliment me at all, even when I try to prod him by complimenting him. It took me a few days of feeling slightly ugly to get used to that but then I really realized that was just his issue, not mine and that was just the way he was. He's fairly smart and pretty funny, mostly interesting. He's also just easy to be with since this obviously isn't going anywhere and there's no pressure, and he lets me lead him anywhere I feel like (to the History Museum, the Big Buddha, two different restaurants and a bar).
Also, and don't tell anyone I admitted to this, but even though I'm obviously the person in charge when we go out to restaurants or try to figure out where we're going on the MTR (subway), it's nice to feel safe with someone. Walking with him, I can cross odd alleyways and streets, stay out later or even just leave my purse on the barstool with him when I go to the bathroom. It's simply comforting and sometimes I feel like I need a bit of stability, moving like I do.
Lastly, he spends more freely than I generally do and being a guy, eats quite a bit more and I've been somewhat imitating his habits. Terrible for my budget and thighs, but great for my happiness level.
And it sounds weird, but it felt like a real (albeit short and not super-serious) relationship to me. Neither of us was in love with each other, but enjoyed each others company and parted on great terms, like a textbook end to a relationship and I think that's the aspect I'm stuck on. Even though technically, we "broke up" (though I think he'd think it strange that I'd call him an ex-boyfriend) because I left the country (again), it was really because we just weren't right for each other, but still saw value in the other person. It was a very peaceful, mature break-up. Furthermore, I think I can call it a relationship simply because I say it is, since I'm the one considering it, and I say it is; it is, because of my saying so most of all, see?
Showing posts with label Ferry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ferry. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
From Shrines to Blade Runner in Under 3 Hours
4/18
Pretty much the only other things to see in or near Hiroshima were a castle, which had been decimated by the bomb and was a reconstruction, and the UNESCO shrine and floating torii gate on sacred Miyajima island, which is supposed to be one of Japan's "Three Great Sites." I decided to just go to the island, so I took a tram to the port, which took nearly an hour, and then a five minute ferry ride to the island.
It was a neat little island, but very touristy and somehow less impressive than I'd imagined. Deer roam free on the island because they're sacred in Shinto Buddhism, as they are messengers of the gods but they seem to just annoy and pester people. They were kind of cute and I wanted to feed one but then I remembered how I feel about tourists feeding seagulls in Morro Bay (disdainful) and imagined that the residents there probably felt the same about the deer, so I refrained. I have to admit though, that I did laugh at a man being followed mercilessly by a pack of deer because, for some strange reason, he had several loaves of bread in his backpack.
The Torii gate was kind of cool to see but it didn't particularly inspire me. It was supposed to be best at around 10 a.m. that day, due to the tide (when the bottom would be completely covered and it would appear to really float), but I still refuse to get up early unless something is actually unavailable at any other time, not just "better," so I was there around 12, when there was about a foot of grungy lichen at the base of the shrine but the rest was covered, and I felt totally comfortable with that. I don't think seeing it bobbing under one more foot of water would've been worth two extra hours.
I felt similarly impressed but uninspired at Itsukushima shrine, another UNESCO site but was lucky enough to catch part of a free Noh or Kyogen mask performance, which was actually a bit boring, but I was happy to see it anyways.
I wandered around for a bit, then went to Senjokaku, a wooden hall/shrine with some interesting paintings mounted on the beams and looked at the nearby five-storied pagoda, then walked back towards the port through the small village mostly populated by souvenir shops.
On the way, I passed the world's largest giant wooden spoon, as Miyajima is famous for this type of rice spoon, oddly enough. I also bought a warm, freshly made red bean paste momiji manju, a pastry in the shape of a maple leaf with various fillings. Red bean paste is the traditional filling, but after taking a bite of mine, and remembering that I don't really care for red bean paste, I threw that away and bought a custard filled one, which was delicious.
On my way back to the hostel to pick up my things before getting the train to Osaka, I stopped at the Memorial and dropped off a few paper cranes I'd made last night.
I decided that I didn't want to rush in my traveling so I left the hostel where I'd left my backpack at 4:30, hoping to catch a 5:15 train from the station, which I had to take the tram to. I got to the train station at about 5:10 and saw other tourists running. I didn't want to. I knew there was a good chance I'd miss it, but I'd checked previously and there was another train at 6:15 so I'd just catch that one. Walking calmly through the station, I saw that the train was still there but had trouble figuring out the gate, which I finally figured was platform 14. It was 5:14, so I gave in and ran about 50 feet but then waited calmly behind people on the escalator and walked quickly onto the train in the nearest car, after checking that the train was the one I wanted. The doors closed behind me about ten seconds later, as I was asking an attendant where the non reserved seats were. So I made it anyway, and didn't have to feel stressed. Laura: 1, Train: 0.
From the time I left my hostel in Hiroshima to the time I arrived at my hostel in Osaka, it took me just two hours and forty minutes, amazing considering they're 175 miles apart.
After settling in, I decided that, even though it was a Sunday night, I wanted to go out and have a couple of drinks. There was also a part of Osaka, Dotonbori, that was supposed to be especially cool and "Blade Runner" -esque at night so I decided I'd go there. I got ready and was at the door putting my shoes on when I heard some other people from the hostel mentioning going out. I asked them if they were going out drinking, if they were leaving soon and where they were going. "Yes, yes, we don't really know- Dotonbori," they said, so I joined them and we left. They were three other Americans; a sister, Renee, her brother, Darian, and his friend, whose name, I think, was Josh. That sounds right. They were all there for a three week vacation and said they were having a great time.
Anyway, so we got to Dotonbori and passed this building, which I really liked, and then went over to an Irish Pub.
I got an almost Snakebite; half Strongbow, half Fullers (but no blackcurrent) and fish and chips since I hadn't had any dinner. Afterwards, we walked past these, which I had to get a picture with,
and several "love hotels" (pay by the hour places that are very popular in Korea and Japan and often have themed and zany rooms, though I didn't get to see any). They really, really liked to take pictures, so I took this of Darian next to one.
We wandered through "American Village," passing a mini Statue of Liberty because we wanted to go to Absinthe Cafe (totally logical, right?). There, Josh and Darian tried absinthe fully, while Renee just had water, and I had an Absinthe Sour that was good, but a bit, well, too sour. We all split the cost of a ride back to the hostel so it came out to about $3-4 each and went to bed.
Pretty much the only other things to see in or near Hiroshima were a castle, which had been decimated by the bomb and was a reconstruction, and the UNESCO shrine and floating torii gate on sacred Miyajima island, which is supposed to be one of Japan's "Three Great Sites." I decided to just go to the island, so I took a tram to the port, which took nearly an hour, and then a five minute ferry ride to the island.
It was a neat little island, but very touristy and somehow less impressive than I'd imagined. Deer roam free on the island because they're sacred in Shinto Buddhism, as they are messengers of the gods but they seem to just annoy and pester people. They were kind of cute and I wanted to feed one but then I remembered how I feel about tourists feeding seagulls in Morro Bay (disdainful) and imagined that the residents there probably felt the same about the deer, so I refrained. I have to admit though, that I did laugh at a man being followed mercilessly by a pack of deer because, for some strange reason, he had several loaves of bread in his backpack.
The Torii gate was kind of cool to see but it didn't particularly inspire me. It was supposed to be best at around 10 a.m. that day, due to the tide (when the bottom would be completely covered and it would appear to really float), but I still refuse to get up early unless something is actually unavailable at any other time, not just "better," so I was there around 12, when there was about a foot of grungy lichen at the base of the shrine but the rest was covered, and I felt totally comfortable with that. I don't think seeing it bobbing under one more foot of water would've been worth two extra hours.
I felt similarly impressed but uninspired at Itsukushima shrine, another UNESCO site but was lucky enough to catch part of a free Noh or Kyogen mask performance, which was actually a bit boring, but I was happy to see it anyways.
I wandered around for a bit, then went to Senjokaku, a wooden hall/shrine with some interesting paintings mounted on the beams and looked at the nearby five-storied pagoda, then walked back towards the port through the small village mostly populated by souvenir shops.
On the way, I passed the world's largest giant wooden spoon, as Miyajima is famous for this type of rice spoon, oddly enough. I also bought a warm, freshly made red bean paste momiji manju, a pastry in the shape of a maple leaf with various fillings. Red bean paste is the traditional filling, but after taking a bite of mine, and remembering that I don't really care for red bean paste, I threw that away and bought a custard filled one, which was delicious.
On my way back to the hostel to pick up my things before getting the train to Osaka, I stopped at the Memorial and dropped off a few paper cranes I'd made last night.
I decided that I didn't want to rush in my traveling so I left the hostel where I'd left my backpack at 4:30, hoping to catch a 5:15 train from the station, which I had to take the tram to. I got to the train station at about 5:10 and saw other tourists running. I didn't want to. I knew there was a good chance I'd miss it, but I'd checked previously and there was another train at 6:15 so I'd just catch that one. Walking calmly through the station, I saw that the train was still there but had trouble figuring out the gate, which I finally figured was platform 14. It was 5:14, so I gave in and ran about 50 feet but then waited calmly behind people on the escalator and walked quickly onto the train in the nearest car, after checking that the train was the one I wanted. The doors closed behind me about ten seconds later, as I was asking an attendant where the non reserved seats were. So I made it anyway, and didn't have to feel stressed. Laura: 1, Train: 0.
From the time I left my hostel in Hiroshima to the time I arrived at my hostel in Osaka, it took me just two hours and forty minutes, amazing considering they're 175 miles apart.
After settling in, I decided that, even though it was a Sunday night, I wanted to go out and have a couple of drinks. There was also a part of Osaka, Dotonbori, that was supposed to be especially cool and "Blade Runner" -esque at night so I decided I'd go there. I got ready and was at the door putting my shoes on when I heard some other people from the hostel mentioning going out. I asked them if they were going out drinking, if they were leaving soon and where they were going. "Yes, yes, we don't really know- Dotonbori," they said, so I joined them and we left. They were three other Americans; a sister, Renee, her brother, Darian, and his friend, whose name, I think, was Josh. That sounds right. They were all there for a three week vacation and said they were having a great time.
Anyway, so we got to Dotonbori and passed this building, which I really liked, and then went over to an Irish Pub.
I got an almost Snakebite; half Strongbow, half Fullers (but no blackcurrent) and fish and chips since I hadn't had any dinner. Afterwards, we walked past these, which I had to get a picture with,
and several "love hotels" (pay by the hour places that are very popular in Korea and Japan and often have themed and zany rooms, though I didn't get to see any). They really, really liked to take pictures, so I took this of Darian next to one.
We wandered through "American Village," passing a mini Statue of Liberty because we wanted to go to Absinthe Cafe (totally logical, right?). There, Josh and Darian tried absinthe fully, while Renee just had water, and I had an Absinthe Sour that was good, but a bit, well, too sour. We all split the cost of a ride back to the hostel so it came out to about $3-4 each and went to bed.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Peace and Sadness in Hiroshima
4/17
I've only been in Japan for an hour and a half and already I've seen: a Japanese dwarf (which I think just seems particularly funny because I imagine they should be doing acrobatics or something stupid like that- I know, I suck), a woman dressed in a full kimono complete with socks and sandals, and a girl/young woman all Harajuku'd out in red with bows, frills and lace.
Once again, I have to try to keep these entries shorter, because I just get backlogged and then I start to feel overwhelmed and almost start to dread it when I actually really enjoy writing them.
So today, I got in by ferry to Shimonoseki, going through the lovely straits of Japan. The train station was a short walk away so I went over, remembered that I had no idea or plan as to where I was going and just walked onto a train. Once on the train, I looked at a map and decided that from there I'd go to Hiroshima for the night and since the train was still at the station while I was making up my mind, I just got up and walked off. I had to go South to get a train to go North to Hiroshima, but I got there. Since I didn't have a hostel booked and didn't have a guidebook, I needed to get online to look one up. This sounds simpler than it was.
Internet (cable or wifi) is not just available here in coffee shops or public places. They have it, of course, but you have to go to a specific Internet Cafe. These are usually quite nice; comfortable, fast internet speeds, free soda/coffee/tea, and a manga library, but it is inconvenient as I'm used to being able to pretty much pop in anywhere to get internet (even if I have to pay for it or buy something).
Still, I found one, looked up a hostel that looked decent and made it over to J-Hoppers, a hostel group in four cities here. I got a dorm room with internet access and just hung out there for a while resting.
In the late afternoon, I had to get out and do something, especially if I wanted to leave Hiroshima the next day. Plus, I was starving. I caught a train into the city center, go off at a main shopping area and found a ramen place, then walked over to the Peace Park which included several different types of memorials, burial shrines, trees still alive and marked from the blast, and a building of some importance left as skeletal as it was after the bomb was dropped.
Hiroshima was fantastically done. It really was; the Peace Park was non-judgemental, simply factual, and calming, and great.
Yet somehow, it was still terribly, horribly depressing. I started to think about it though and it's really my own fault; I'm the one who was stupid enough to go from one country known for civil war/genocide/land mines to a country known for civil war/foreign interference to a place where the worlds first atomic bomb was dropped- really what could I expect?
I've only been in Japan for an hour and a half and already I've seen: a Japanese dwarf (which I think just seems particularly funny because I imagine they should be doing acrobatics or something stupid like that- I know, I suck), a woman dressed in a full kimono complete with socks and sandals, and a girl/young woman all Harajuku'd out in red with bows, frills and lace.
Once again, I have to try to keep these entries shorter, because I just get backlogged and then I start to feel overwhelmed and almost start to dread it when I actually really enjoy writing them.
So today, I got in by ferry to Shimonoseki, going through the lovely straits of Japan. The train station was a short walk away so I went over, remembered that I had no idea or plan as to where I was going and just walked onto a train. Once on the train, I looked at a map and decided that from there I'd go to Hiroshima for the night and since the train was still at the station while I was making up my mind, I just got up and walked off. I had to go South to get a train to go North to Hiroshima, but I got there. Since I didn't have a hostel booked and didn't have a guidebook, I needed to get online to look one up. This sounds simpler than it was.
Internet (cable or wifi) is not just available here in coffee shops or public places. They have it, of course, but you have to go to a specific Internet Cafe. These are usually quite nice; comfortable, fast internet speeds, free soda/coffee/tea, and a manga library, but it is inconvenient as I'm used to being able to pretty much pop in anywhere to get internet (even if I have to pay for it or buy something).
Still, I found one, looked up a hostel that looked decent and made it over to J-Hoppers, a hostel group in four cities here. I got a dorm room with internet access and just hung out there for a while resting.
In the late afternoon, I had to get out and do something, especially if I wanted to leave Hiroshima the next day. Plus, I was starving. I caught a train into the city center, go off at a main shopping area and found a ramen place, then walked over to the Peace Park which included several different types of memorials, burial shrines, trees still alive and marked from the blast, and a building of some importance left as skeletal as it was after the bomb was dropped.
Epicenter of the bomb, though higher up in the sky
Hiroshima was fantastically done. It really was; the Peace Park was non-judgemental, simply factual, and calming, and great.
Thousand Paper Cranes Memorial
Leaving the World's 5th Largest Port
4/16
Got up and finally, after several dips in various hot tubs, left the jimjillbang. All that steam had helped and my headaches were already feeling much better. It was also, finally, a nice day in Korea, not too cold, and sunny. I realized that the dead trees I'd seen from the train actually weren't dead at all, just a very dark green and I could start to imagine that it might actually be a beautiful country.
I went to the Busan Museum, which was quite interesting, especially the section on Japanese relations with Korea in Busan, but also quite depressing, as there was a section on the Korean War at the end.
I think part of the reason I'm not all that fussed about Korea is because, even with North Korea attached, it's still very much in between. In between in that it's always been fought over by someone and so those cultures have seeped into Korean culture. It's in between China and Japan geographically, financially. This point is getting very convuluted but what I mean is that I like extremes, and South Korea is as middle of the road as it gets. Also, I'm not particularly interested in the Cold War. Even more generally, I'm not very interested in ideological conflicts because they just seem so ridiculous to me.
Practically next door was the U.N. Cemetary, which was also sad, though it was pretty. Though I still had quite a bit of time, I went over to the Ferry Terminal and waited. The ferry itself was quite impressive- almost like a small cruise ship. There was even a public bath, but I'd had enough of that for a while. The trip out of the port was quite pretty all lit up at night. My berth was another pad on the floor in a large room- still uncomfortable, and I was once again, wildly grateful for the Ambien, which is becoming a life-saver to me.
Other random thoughts or things I wrote in Korea:
It is nice to see some attractive men again. I'm not saying there aren't any, and everyone has different tastes, but I don't think I saw a single (native) attractive man in all of Southeast Asia. Fortunately, a fair amount of Korean guys are cute, and not nearly as short as people always say. Most were average, not tall, but average.
I don't have too much homesickness overall, but I do miss people, and certain things, places. It seems to work one subject at a time, and lately the category I'm missing like crazy is my friends. I had a dream the other night, and when it started, it was about a hot guy in a bar who was going to hit on me and we'd go out. Obviously I had to be in a bar for this to work, so in my dream, I walked into the bar and met with my Seattle friends and started talking to them, while the hot guy was at the bar. Somehow, my dream just turned into me chatting and laughing with them. At one point I even went up to the bar to get drinks and had a mini-conversation with the hot guy, but then just went back to my friends- I couldn't help it, I just wanted to hang out with them and talk to them more than I wanted to meet some guy- they were just more interesting. In short, I ended up having a very long, vivid dream about having a conversation with my friends in a bar and I think that was when I realized how much I miss them.
In Korea, several cultural practices are based in Confucianism. The one I noticed was balance. Sandra explained to me that drinks in bars were always accompanied by some kind of snack, and more interestingly to me, flavors in food all have to balance out. Koreans take this to mean that you have to have kimchee or something bitter with every meal. I took it to mean that after eating at any point, I had to keep the balance by having dessert.
Got up and finally, after several dips in various hot tubs, left the jimjillbang. All that steam had helped and my headaches were already feeling much better. It was also, finally, a nice day in Korea, not too cold, and sunny. I realized that the dead trees I'd seen from the train actually weren't dead at all, just a very dark green and I could start to imagine that it might actually be a beautiful country.
I went to the Busan Museum, which was quite interesting, especially the section on Japanese relations with Korea in Busan, but also quite depressing, as there was a section on the Korean War at the end.
I think part of the reason I'm not all that fussed about Korea is because, even with North Korea attached, it's still very much in between. In between in that it's always been fought over by someone and so those cultures have seeped into Korean culture. It's in between China and Japan geographically, financially. This point is getting very convuluted but what I mean is that I like extremes, and South Korea is as middle of the road as it gets. Also, I'm not particularly interested in the Cold War. Even more generally, I'm not very interested in ideological conflicts because they just seem so ridiculous to me.
Practically next door was the U.N. Cemetary, which was also sad, though it was pretty. Though I still had quite a bit of time, I went over to the Ferry Terminal and waited. The ferry itself was quite impressive- almost like a small cruise ship. There was even a public bath, but I'd had enough of that for a while. The trip out of the port was quite pretty all lit up at night. My berth was another pad on the floor in a large room- still uncomfortable, and I was once again, wildly grateful for the Ambien, which is becoming a life-saver to me.
Other random thoughts or things I wrote in Korea:
It is nice to see some attractive men again. I'm not saying there aren't any, and everyone has different tastes, but I don't think I saw a single (native) attractive man in all of Southeast Asia. Fortunately, a fair amount of Korean guys are cute, and not nearly as short as people always say. Most were average, not tall, but average.
I don't have too much homesickness overall, but I do miss people, and certain things, places. It seems to work one subject at a time, and lately the category I'm missing like crazy is my friends. I had a dream the other night, and when it started, it was about a hot guy in a bar who was going to hit on me and we'd go out. Obviously I had to be in a bar for this to work, so in my dream, I walked into the bar and met with my Seattle friends and started talking to them, while the hot guy was at the bar. Somehow, my dream just turned into me chatting and laughing with them. At one point I even went up to the bar to get drinks and had a mini-conversation with the hot guy, but then just went back to my friends- I couldn't help it, I just wanted to hang out with them and talk to them more than I wanted to meet some guy- they were just more interesting. In short, I ended up having a very long, vivid dream about having a conversation with my friends in a bar and I think that was when I realized how much I miss them.
In Korea, several cultural practices are based in Confucianism. The one I noticed was balance. Sandra explained to me that drinks in bars were always accompanied by some kind of snack, and more interestingly to me, flavors in food all have to balance out. Koreans take this to mean that you have to have kimchee or something bitter with every meal. I took it to mean that after eating at any point, I had to keep the balance by having dessert.
Busan Tower at Night
Leaving the port, quite lovely at night
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Leaving Lovely, Lazy Langkawi
3/24
Decided that I'll actually leave tomorrow, so I spent most of today writing, planning, organizing things, replying to emails, taking pictures, and a bit of beach time. I spent part of the afternoon talking to Matt because, again, he really is an interesting person to talk to. It might seem strange but I was really impressed with his knowledge of football, simply because I don't have that depth of knowledge on any topic. I get bored too easily and move onto something new so I have quite a wide breadth of knowledge, but it's fairly superficial in a way.
Anyway, I wanted a quiet night and I did not want to go to Sunbar again, so after dinner I went with Matt and a different Dutch girl, whose name I can't recall, to a fairly low key Irish bar for a pint of Guiness that tasted particularly delicious since I hadn't had one in a very long time. We were all just hanging out and convinced the bartender to play more upbeat music instead of the vaguely depressing love songs he was listening to and then Lady Gaga came on. I missed her, even though I have her album on my netbook, I hadn't played it in several days, so I was really excited when she came on. I was so excited in fact that I got the bartender to play nearly her entire album.
We all went back to the hostel to hang out with the others and the newest new arrivals, but they were all going out to Sunbar later and I was not going to go (and they were drinking some disgusting booze and playing Kings without Never Have I Ever) so I went back to the Irish bar, and, somewhat ironically, considering that I was in Malaysia, met an Irish couple who I talked to until the bar closed. It doesn't sound exciting but it was a nice, calm evening out that was exactly what I wanted then.
3/25
I finally made it off the island! Woke up, packed, got some lunch and then split a cab with another woman who was leaving from the hostel to Kuah, the town on the island the ferries depart from. I took an hour long ferry ride to Kuala Perlis, on which I spoke to a Malaysian woman, probably in her late 40s, who had studied in the U.S. She'd been in New York City and said she'd had a great time there, but didn't wear her hijab at the time, which she was wearing now. I asked if that was because she'd become more religious since returning home and she thought about it for a bit before replying that it wasn't that exactly, but that it made her more aware of (and I'm obviously paraphrasing here) who she was and standards she should live up to. I'm afraid that I'm making it sound oppressive and sinister here, but the way she described it wasn't. My understanding of it was more like something you wear to remind yourself to be a better person and remain true to yourself.
After disembarking from the ferry I had a maybe 50 minute (?) cab ride to Arau, then got on the overnight train to Bankok for RM 105 ($34 USD). It was supposed to leave at 5:30 but didn't arrive at the station until 6- it was just like being on Amtrack! Before we'd been on the train for even an hour we had to get off, go through immigration to get into Thailand, which was an absolute breeze, despite what I'd heard previously, get some food and get back on.
I'd gotten a bunk on the lower level ocean side specifically so I might see a bit of the sea as the tracks run nearby, but it got dark even earlier than I'd expected and I couldn't see anything. I spent a bit of time talking to a group of Malaysian guys who seemed quite normal, and a Malaysian woman who was very nice and interested in my Indian bead loom work (I'm just trying to finish making a belt so I can stop lugging the damn thing around,) then went to bed. The bed was fine, nothing special or impressive, fairly similar to overnight trains I'd taken in Europe. All of this is to say: I'm still not impressed. I don't know why but I think I just don't like trains. Maybe it's the lack of control or that your path is already so set. If an emergency ever happened on a bus, the driver would divert to a hospital. On a train, all they can do is stop it.
I also wanted to mention here how much I hate Islamic (squat) toilets but normally I don't complain too much or have much real trouble with them. But squat toilets on a moving train is another issue altogether. It was not fun and what made it worse was the later realization that they actually had Western toilets, just in another area of the train.
Decided that I'll actually leave tomorrow, so I spent most of today writing, planning, organizing things, replying to emails, taking pictures, and a bit of beach time. I spent part of the afternoon talking to Matt because, again, he really is an interesting person to talk to. It might seem strange but I was really impressed with his knowledge of football, simply because I don't have that depth of knowledge on any topic. I get bored too easily and move onto something new so I have quite a wide breadth of knowledge, but it's fairly superficial in a way.
Anyway, I wanted a quiet night and I did not want to go to Sunbar again, so after dinner I went with Matt and a different Dutch girl, whose name I can't recall, to a fairly low key Irish bar for a pint of Guiness that tasted particularly delicious since I hadn't had one in a very long time. We were all just hanging out and convinced the bartender to play more upbeat music instead of the vaguely depressing love songs he was listening to and then Lady Gaga came on. I missed her, even though I have her album on my netbook, I hadn't played it in several days, so I was really excited when she came on. I was so excited in fact that I got the bartender to play nearly her entire album.
We all went back to the hostel to hang out with the others and the newest new arrivals, but they were all going out to Sunbar later and I was not going to go (and they were drinking some disgusting booze and playing Kings without Never Have I Ever) so I went back to the Irish bar, and, somewhat ironically, considering that I was in Malaysia, met an Irish couple who I talked to until the bar closed. It doesn't sound exciting but it was a nice, calm evening out that was exactly what I wanted then.
3/25
I finally made it off the island! Woke up, packed, got some lunch and then split a cab with another woman who was leaving from the hostel to Kuah, the town on the island the ferries depart from. I took an hour long ferry ride to Kuala Perlis, on which I spoke to a Malaysian woman, probably in her late 40s, who had studied in the U.S. She'd been in New York City and said she'd had a great time there, but didn't wear her hijab at the time, which she was wearing now. I asked if that was because she'd become more religious since returning home and she thought about it for a bit before replying that it wasn't that exactly, but that it made her more aware of (and I'm obviously paraphrasing here) who she was and standards she should live up to. I'm afraid that I'm making it sound oppressive and sinister here, but the way she described it wasn't. My understanding of it was more like something you wear to remind yourself to be a better person and remain true to yourself.
After disembarking from the ferry I had a maybe 50 minute (?) cab ride to Arau, then got on the overnight train to Bankok for RM 105 ($34 USD). It was supposed to leave at 5:30 but didn't arrive at the station until 6- it was just like being on Amtrack! Before we'd been on the train for even an hour we had to get off, go through immigration to get into Thailand, which was an absolute breeze, despite what I'd heard previously, get some food and get back on.
I'd gotten a bunk on the lower level ocean side specifically so I might see a bit of the sea as the tracks run nearby, but it got dark even earlier than I'd expected and I couldn't see anything. I spent a bit of time talking to a group of Malaysian guys who seemed quite normal, and a Malaysian woman who was very nice and interested in my Indian bead loom work (I'm just trying to finish making a belt so I can stop lugging the damn thing around,) then went to bed. The bed was fine, nothing special or impressive, fairly similar to overnight trains I'd taken in Europe. All of this is to say: I'm still not impressed. I don't know why but I think I just don't like trains. Maybe it's the lack of control or that your path is already so set. If an emergency ever happened on a bus, the driver would divert to a hospital. On a train, all they can do is stop it.
I also wanted to mention here how much I hate Islamic (squat) toilets but normally I don't complain too much or have much real trouble with them. But squat toilets on a moving train is another issue altogether. It was not fun and what made it worse was the later realization that they actually had Western toilets, just in another area of the train.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Lovely Langkawi
3/18/2010
I had to get up super early (7 a.m.!) to get a ferry to Langkawi, another Malaysian island that sounded nice and beachy. The ferry ride took about three hours and the air conditioning was on so strongly that I had to get a long sleeved shirt out of my backpack to keep myself from freezing. I got a taxi to take me to Patai Cenang, a beach area that my guidebook said was nice and checked into a hostel- the Gecko Guesthouse, so called because there are a lot of geckos running around. The first time I saw one, I was quite excited because I thought it was an albino gecko: white/gray with reddish eyes. It turns out that's just what they look like. Anyway, I checked into the dorm and hung out at the hostel for a while, writing and chatting with a British girl named Fern who'd been living on Ko Lipe, a Thai island just north of Langkawi, who was on a visa run, which is when you leave a country because your visa is going to expire, so you just leave for a short time, then go back and get a new one.
Then I headed down to the beach with a book from the communal shelf to read. I was really happy to see how close it really was, something I hadn't been able to discern on my way there, and that it was covered in very white sand and relatively blue and clear water and sky. There were also a few scattered islands nearby that added nicely to the view.
Several hours of sunning and swimming in water that was almost the temperature of bathwater, I returned to the hostel, went for a run along the beach, seeing several women bathing in burkas along the way, and got dressed to go out. Fern and I went out for dinner (chili crab and Tiger beers) and then headed to a bar called Little Lulias which was on the beach with live music. A guy she'd met before who was obviously trying to get with her was buying us all rounds which worked out great for me. After a bit, we headed over to another bar, Sunbar. It was an interesting place. New, old style Malay architecture and decorations, with a mix of Malays and tourists. A group of British guys from our hostel were there so while Fern talked to her guy, I went dancing with one of them, Matt. After a while, I felt I was getting in the way of other people getting together, so I went home to the hostel.
I had to get up super early (7 a.m.!) to get a ferry to Langkawi, another Malaysian island that sounded nice and beachy. The ferry ride took about three hours and the air conditioning was on so strongly that I had to get a long sleeved shirt out of my backpack to keep myself from freezing. I got a taxi to take me to Patai Cenang, a beach area that my guidebook said was nice and checked into a hostel- the Gecko Guesthouse, so called because there are a lot of geckos running around. The first time I saw one, I was quite excited because I thought it was an albino gecko: white/gray with reddish eyes. It turns out that's just what they look like. Anyway, I checked into the dorm and hung out at the hostel for a while, writing and chatting with a British girl named Fern who'd been living on Ko Lipe, a Thai island just north of Langkawi, who was on a visa run, which is when you leave a country because your visa is going to expire, so you just leave for a short time, then go back and get a new one.
Then I headed down to the beach with a book from the communal shelf to read. I was really happy to see how close it really was, something I hadn't been able to discern on my way there, and that it was covered in very white sand and relatively blue and clear water and sky. There were also a few scattered islands nearby that added nicely to the view.
Several hours of sunning and swimming in water that was almost the temperature of bathwater, I returned to the hostel, went for a run along the beach, seeing several women bathing in burkas along the way, and got dressed to go out. Fern and I went out for dinner (chili crab and Tiger beers) and then headed to a bar called Little Lulias which was on the beach with live music. A guy she'd met before who was obviously trying to get with her was buying us all rounds which worked out great for me. After a bit, we headed over to another bar, Sunbar. It was an interesting place. New, old style Malay architecture and decorations, with a mix of Malays and tourists. A group of British guys from our hostel were there so while Fern talked to her guy, I went dancing with one of them, Matt. After a while, I felt I was getting in the way of other people getting together, so I went home to the hostel.
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