Contextless Quotes

I recently came across my old travel journal from my nine-month backpacking trip through Japan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, India, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon. Reading through it left me very, very amused. From it, here are some quotes for your enjoyment, taken completely out of their original context:

‘I’ve got the shits and I’m tired of traveling: Why I’m not cut out for this’

‘That was a terrible, terrible idea.’

‘My hotel (read: rooftop littered with rubbish costing a whopping $10 to lay a mattress on) is a dump but it’s all I could find.’

‘She was driving me crazy. Hopefully that thought will be a comfort once the solitude starts getting to me.’

‘The highlight of the night was probably me trying to say in Arabic, “My dear, you are so beautiful!” Instead, I managed to say, “My dear, you are so beautiful and big!” Ktiir vs. Kbiir. God…’

‘Loon was our raft captain who seemed either perplexed or offended when I tried to explain that he shares his name with our state bird.’

‘I’ll write more later about the moral conundrum going through my head at that moment.’

‘I met an 82 year old woman today who has been a Peace Corps volunteer three times – all after retirement. At one point she was the oldest current volunteer on the planet.’

“I just had a psychosomatic stress reaction to the Lao music coming from the bungalow next to mine.’

“Phnom Penh’s been great – almost too much fun, seeing as how a large part of our time was spent at a genocide museum.’

‘The hammock: I believe I’ve found my soulmate.’

‘I asked the weird Chinese girl in our hostel if she still had the tarantulas in the plastic bag up in her room. “Uh, I think so!” was her response.’

‘Suddenly serious, she told me, “Walking this path made me believe in God for the first time. It’s too beautiful, too incredible.”‘

‘I woke up at 4:30am to the sound of an explosion muffled by earplugs and a quick shake of the building.’

‘We danced to horrible techno music and took a “hard man” shot (snort salt, take tequila shot, squeeze lime into your eye).’

‘There’s something profoundly tragic about a people fighting justly to get back what was stolen from them even as there is little to no hope of success…It saddened me immensely, that rally. I walked away with a heavy heart and a bruised faith.’

‘”Are those nunchucks you got there?” I said absentmindedly toward, but not to, a rather pudgy but bulldoggish man on a sidewalk near Beirut’s waterfront. His posture snapped up immediately, as if he had been strolling along, just daring some ignorant fool to comment on his ‘chuks. “Yes,” he said. “Because I am master.”‘

‘I’m so lucky to be doing what I’m doing. It’s amazing, really.’

All the Photos Fit to Post So Far

Back in Bangkok after a truly horrible 13 hour night bus experience, I’ve got a few hours and cheap internet to post photos that a lack of time kept me from posting before. I won’t complain about it anymore after this, but suffice it to say that it wasn’t fun to spend 13 hours in a cramped, nonreclining seat with an Irish fartsack next to me blaring his death metal so loud that I could hear it even with my ipod on. I think I’ll stick with sleeper trains from now on.

Anyway, on to some photos:

Don't let the pretty scenery fool you; Ko Phi Phi, while beautiful, is an island to be avoided at all costs unless you want to meet the worst kinds of tourists imaginable and a lot of jaded Thais.

Hanging over a cave I found during my hike to a dissapointing waterfall on Ko Lanta, this tree amazed me with its root system, which even broke through the rock roof of the cave to reach the dirt below.

Elephants graze near the beginning of my hike to the waterfall. A local family does 'elephant trekking' to the waterfall.

A tree sits atop a tiny bay on Ko Lanta.

Rocky outcrop at the bottom of the cliff my bungalow sat on.

Me looking like a doofus as I watch the sunset from my bungalow's restaurant.

This vain monkey preened himself in front of the mirror like this for about 10 minutes.

The first of many monkey visits on Ko Lanta.

Claire and I reeeeally enjoyed the ice cream at this place.

Back to Japan, this is one of my favorite photos from the Tsukiji fish market. Yummm!

Handpainted kimono textiles on display, Kyoto.

Slightly blurry shot of Miwa, my friend and Tokyo guide for two days, and me.

That’s it for now. There’ll be more to come as my adventure continues!

Kyoto in 36 Hours

My whirlwind tour of Kyoto began at 5:30am on Thursday morning, when I arrived at Kyoto Station to completely deserted and freezing cold streets. After a quick walk around the massive station, I found Nakayama coffee shop and got a cup of joe and some cheese toast. I didn`t have a guidebook nor any idea of what to do or where to go in Kyoto (a mistake I quickly realized), so I killed time by people watching as the station quickly woke up, waiting for the tourist information office to open. They gave me a few options for hostels and I chose K`s House Kyoto (a great choice by the way). After dropping off my stuff there, I walked around the city for about seven hours, exploring all sorts of Shinto and Buddhist shrines and temples, art galleries, and local textile shops. When I could finally check in and get to my room, I collapsed into a very effective nap.

 

The next day I came to my senses and rented a bike for the day from my hostel (only $5!).  What ensued was probably the best biking experience I`ve ever had. The (approximately) 11 mile route I followed took me past a 15th century castle, numerous temples and shrines, the Kyoto International Manga Museum, a surprisingly fascinating textile center, and an entire neighborhod lit by traditional paper lanterns at dusk. The ride back wasn`t quite as exciting. I hadn`t realized I went as far as I did until about 6pm. It wasn`t a big deal; the bike had a front light and I took out my headlamp set to flashing to clip onto my back for safety. There were  hundreds of others out on bikes as well – I didn`t know Japan had such a pervasive bike culture.

 

I made it back fine, just exhausted. Needless to say, I slept well on the seven hour ride back to Tokyo.

 

I`m off to Bangkok tomorrow night!

 

 

 

Prayers written on ema (wooden tablets) at Shinto Shrine, Kyoto

Noji castle complex with Kyoto skyline in the background.

Across the pond from the famous Zen garden, Ryoan-Ji.

Sunset over Kyoto.

Paper lantern, Arayashima, Kyoto.

Tokyo!

I arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday night after a 17 hour travel day. I immediately met up with my friend Miwa, who is Japanese but grew up in Minnesota and went to college with me.  It was great having Miwa there to introduce me to the city.

 

I woke up terribly early the next day thanks to jet lag so I got out around 7am to explore the area aorund my hostel.  I went to Senso-Ji, one of Tokyo`s most famous Buddhist temples, and met up with Miwa again to see Tokyo from the top floor of its municipal building. It was a fantastic view of this truly massive city and best of all it was free to get there.

 

I took a night bus to Kyoto my second night in Japan. I don`t remember much of the seven hour trip thanks to Tylenol PM.   I took the night bus back to Tokyo after two phenomenally tiring days in Kyoto, which I`ll write about in another post.

 

Returning to Tokyo at about 6:30am, I took the metro to the Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo`s gargantuan fish forum. A Japanese city of 28 million eats a lot of fish. Tsukiji is the main port through which mass quantities of fish and produce arrive from sea and are distributed to Tokyoites.  I wish I could effectively convey how huge the market is. It may suffice to say that it`s unequivically the largest wholesale fish market in the world, handling over 2000 metric tons of fish every day.

After the fish market, I napped on a bench in the foyer of the Tokyo-Edo museum, which, after visiting post-nap, I found definitely skippable (although I should say it`s probably fascinating if you read Japanese).

 

I`m currently at the computer in the Khaosan Annex hostel in a neighborhood called Asakusa. I`m relaxing this afternoon and probably going out later to see Akihabara, or as it`s known to myriad guidebooks, Electric Town.  Tomorrow evening I fly to Bangkok!

Big Tuna

Octupus, Tsukiji Fish Market

Tokyo Skyline

Senso-Ji Buddhist Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo

Statue next to Senso-Ji temple

Meiji Garden

Meiji-Jingu Shinto Temple

Fresh sushi from Tsukiji Fish Market