Infinity, suspended

The past few days have been refreshingly uneventful, spent lounging on the beach, reading, eating curry, playing chess (Nate: 7, Nicole:1), snorkeling and going to our favorite local beach bar, Babaloo, for some fire dancing shows. But alas, we said goodbye to our beloved beach today. That's why Nate looks so morose in the picture.

After 13 beaches, 8 islands, 4 terrifying taxi rides, 2 mustaches and countless Singhas and mosquito bites, we are coming home. We have at least 49 hours of traveling ahead of us, but at least we'll be rewarded with hot showers when we get home. I'm thankful for Arizona's mild climate, especially since Nate will be returning to an 80% chance of "ice pellets" in flip flops and board shorts.

I expect the rest of the trip will be dreadfully uneventful, but stay tuned for the next installment of NATE AND NICOLE'S INFINITE TRAVELS: South America.

Half-Moon Festival, Middle of the Jungle, Ko Phangan, Thailand, Earth

Beached

It’s certainly been a while since we’ve rapped at ya, but our vacation has been interrupted by a call to arms, a call to fight with the brave Thai rebels of the People's Alliance for Democracy, taking to task a corrupt puppet government by stopping the tourist industry at the source, Bangkok International Airport.

JK x 3, we’ve been at the beach every day.

At first we didn’t care for Koh Lanta, because it isn't possible to get around the island on foot. Then we rented a motorbike and things were looking up as new beaches became accessible. Then, well, I “crashed” the bike inching down a steep, muddy hill at about 3 km per hour. It slipped to the right and the muffler stung Nicole’s leg for an instant, which was one instant too many. One nasty burn later, and Koh Lanta is fine, but Nicole hates motorbikes.

Caring for the burn and coping with the pain (let’s not forget about my crippling guilt) has taken up a great deal of time and energy since the incident. Nicole started her trip by learning a bit of Japanese pharmacy and has been ending it by familiarizing herself with, at least, the basic layout of retail Thai pharmacies.

But since she’s a “trooper”, we’ve still been beaching and playing like mad. We moved on from Koh Lanta to Railay, and stayed in a specific nook called Ton Sai, packed with rock climbers from around the world (but mostly Canada) there to traverse the unique and abundant cliffs which border the beaches and…pretty much everything on the island. They also have a couple of great beaches on other parts of Railay, and, best of all, no motorbikes needed. Everything was a short walk away.

Even though Nicole didn’t want to get her wound wet, we still tanned and swam and ate corn on the beaches for a couple days while we enjoyed our first hours of true sunshine since the beginning of Koh Tao. We also figured out a way for me to lift Nicole into the water and keep her leg elevated so she can have relaxing, albeit restricted, dips. It's kind of like she's a baby.

We also saw a huge clan of monkeys eating corn and bananas served by fat, rich Europeans.

On our third day in Ton Sai, Nicole got up early and had a rock-climbing lesson. I slept till 11. Nicole got back and was all jazzed on climbing, so we stayed one more day and did some Deep Water Soloing, which is basically climbing unharnessed on cliffs above deep water so you can either A) climb until you fall, B) climb until you're too scared to go higher and want to jump. Nicole made it further and higher than everyone but the most experienced climbing douches, I mean, studs.

With Nicole’s new favorite hobby secured (or is it SCUBA?), we traveled back across the mainland to the island of Koh Pangnan, which is about thirty minutes from Koh Tao. They have massive moon parties here, with the full moon varieties sometimes attracting more than 10,000 people and all styles of obnoxious electronic music (Psych-trance, anyone?) for dancing that lasts until way past Snoop Dogg goes to bed.

The half-moon party is in two days, and it takes place in the jungle, drawing about 2,000 people. We're going to paint our bodies in fluorescent pinks and greens, take a bunch of ecstacy and relive our (non-existent) raving days of the early 90s.

The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)

We spent three rainy nights at Moondance Bungalows (above and below), and one rainy day spent inside our hut with no electricity watching episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", hoping the laptop wouldn't die. Despite the weather, we loved everything about the place; super chill, great food, friendly people, fun local bar. We wanted to stay there forever, but the monsoon season is in full force and there isn't much chance of it letting up anytime soon. It was a difficult decision, but we decided to cross over to the west coast in search of some sunshine.

Our plan is to explore the west coast for a few days, then head back over to the east coast when the weather might be a little better. We traveled for a day and a half before arriving at Koh Lanta. Sadly, it rained here all afernoon.

We've got a cozy bungalow for the night (with wi-fi amazingly), but we're not really impressed with the island, which was supposed to have outstanding beaches but...doesn't. We'll probably head to another island tomorrow, chasing the sun for as long as it takes.

Right now, we're off in search of Thanksgiving dinner. There's a place next door called Mr. Wee's Pizzeria, which sounds promising.

We wish all of you the best and hope your Thanksgiving presents are expensive and new bicycles. Nate said that if he could teleport back home for only one meal, this would totally be it.

Koh Tao Dive Adventure Action!

Nicole and I are now PADI-certified SCUBA divers! Technically, I was already certified, but the nuances of breathing underwater without dying get a little hazy when you haven't dived since middle school. So I am re-certified. It's like when you renew your marriage vows after you forget you love your spouse.

We did two dives on both Friday and Saturday and had ridiculous amounts of fun. The "viz" - which is short for underwater visibility to us dive vets - isn't the best right now because of some serious rainstorms, but it was still totes exciting when you can have imaginary Planet Earth narration playing in your head as you study the reefs. We plan to do some more diving as soon as possible, perhaps on the west coast of Thailand where the "viz" is bettter right now.

The night after the final dives, our fellow students and Danish dive instructor, Kristian, went out for pizza and drinks. We hit a couple awesome bars on the beach, highlights being the fire twirling (see above and below), giant couches and shore dancing.

We planned to check out Sunday morning and spend one more day on another part of the island, before heading to neighboring island Ko Phangan. The area we had been staying on Koh Tao, Sairee Beach, was nice enough, but lacking any significant streches of actual beach and pretty crowded with tourists and generic English pubs. We decided to explore the southeast part of the island, which can only be reached by foot after a certain point and has but a few secluded bungalows.

Needless to say, our plans to leave today have evaporated. We've found the perfect stretch of paradise on June Juea Beach at Moondance Bungalows. It costs $9 a night. There are like five other people milling about. A solitary restaurant where we can enjoy all our meals.

The bungalows, themselves, are out of this world. Each of the six are built with a living palm tree supporting one corner, classic thatched roof, coconut shower heads, bamboo bathroom "wall" divider and elevated bed with mosquito net. Surprisingly, this is all tastefully done, and dare I say Roark-esque? We have no photos yet but are working on it. We might be here for a while, weather permitting, so there will be time to give the place justice with some snaps.

We are going to go snorkeling now to check out the "viz". Hang ten.

One night in Bangkok

As soon as we arrived in Bangkok, we wanted to leave. It's like Las Vegas/4 times Rocky Point to the infinity power. Our first mistake was to head to Khao San road, where all the kids hang out. Although the accommodation was cheap and the street food outstanding, the shirtless frat boys, Jamaican music and endless string of bars offering buckets of whiskey for less than $3 made it an insufferable place. We determined there was nothing worthwhile there, so we headed to Chinatown for a stroll, then headed to the red light district. The girls were alright, but boys' town was much more interesting. We grabbed a front row table at one of the bars and spent the evening watching the action, mainly involving middle-aged white men and young thai boys flirting over drinks (Nate got a backrub).

The following day, we headed to the travel agency only to find out the next bus to southern Thailand didn't leave until late evening. Faced with another day in Bangkok, we headed to Siam Square, a huge, air conditioned shopping mall not unlike Scottsdale Fashion Square. We spent the entire day there, bowling a couple of games, then watching Quantum of Solace (review forthcoming).

The bus ride was long - 8 hours - followed by a 2 hour boat ride to Koh Tao. It's lovely here, the air is fresh and the water is warm. Except in our room, because we don't have hot water. We will be here for a few days, getting our diving certification. More on that later.

We hung out with a cool Italian couple last night and Nate is trying all the panang curries he can find. Wi-fi is slow and not at our hotel. So shutup about the lack of posts.

Tomorrow we hit the open water for our first couple dives and the following day is dives three and four. More on that later. More on a lot later. Nate is free-handing some future posts as we speak. Life is so tough in the Third World when you can't remember how to make a cursive 'Q'.

Tokyo Mega Post!

Tokyo is exhausting. With my limited knowledge of strictly American cities, I would say that Tokyo = (New York X 3) + Las Vegas, although I'm sure if you've been to Hong Kong or anceint Egypt or the like, you could come up with a more accurate equation.

Anyway, Tokyo is exhausting. The days have been just packed.

We arrived Wednesday night after a long day of train riding and went for an expensive whiskey at the Park Hyatt's New York Bar, which was featured prominently in Lost in Translation (we are not original!). There were other Americans at a table next to us, one even a fellow University of Arizona student, and we overheard them make a joke about the red-headed lounge singer having the night off. We judged them harshly, although I had made a similar barb to Nicole on the elevator ride up (ironically, I swear). The bar's amazing view from the 52nd floor provided a nice introduction to the vastness of Tokyo, as well as a reminder of how difficult it would be to explore it in a few short days and nights.

Our first full day got off to a rocky start as we got lost in Shibuya (one of Tokyo's 23 neighborhoods) on our way to the Parasite Museum. (Overall, we got lost a good number of times, although not as many as a glimpse at the insanity of the subway map might insinuate.) We then window shopped around Shibuya (a main shopping district) and would up in the famed fashion centre, Harajuku. We grabbed a couple drinks at Office, a supposedly happenin' but suspiciously empty bar that was lightly decorated in the style of your typical white-collar office. As far as I could tell, the decor consisted of a broken fax machine.

Friday, we traveled to Nakano Mall for more window shopping, this time of the manga/anime variety. Five floors of toys, comics and oddities. Nicole liked the creepy dolls. We decided to go back to Harajuku for lunch and some more afternoon shopping, though. We checked out the cool Design Festa art gallery, I got a sweatshirt and Nicole bought four dresses at the Wonder Rocket boutique. Then, we went to get dinner in the seedy underbelly known as Korea Town, but ended up being dissatisfied with the offerings and got drunk back in Shinjuku.

The next morning, we hit up the nerd hub of Akihabara, known affectionately by said nerds as "Electric Town", to find a cool Maid Cafe, and we did, although they wouldn't let us take pictures, so, "what is the point of doing anything if we can't post the pictures of it on our blog?" we asked, but, alas, they didn't speak English... We shopped for electronics before heading to Tokyo's biggest public park in Ueno (Ueno Park = (Central Park/fun) - 4).

Today, we got up early to take full advantage and went with our new Swiss friends on our third trip to Harajuku. Apparently, the cosplayers parade in the early afternoon, but the weather was unfavorable and we had to leave a bit too early, so we didn't see too many eccentrics. Luckily, the weather was perfect in the Tokyo Dome! Yes, there was baseball happening in Tokyo. Yes, of course, we had to go.

Luckily, today was the championship game of the Asia Series, which pits the winners of the Chinese, Chinese-Taipei, Korean and Japanese professional leagues against each other. The Japanese were represented by the Seibu Lions, who we had watched on TV during the previous couple weeks win the Nippon Series over the Tokyo Giants. They, along with the Uni-President 7-11 Lions (from Korea), rolled through the previous rounds over the weak Chinese teams.

So this was it. Lions v. Lions. For Asian bragging rights, and possibly a thorn pulled from a metaphorical paw.

The winner? Lions. Loser? Lions. What up? Shut up. Go JAPAN! I shaved!

We are back at our hostel now. Some things have been thrown away. Some sent back to America. We washed our clothes and stuffed our packs. We travel to the airport in five hours.

We will soon be in Bangkok and that's about all we know. Expect blogging to continue, no matter what. It is our first priority, obvs.

(Please note that I didn't really write about food in this post. That's because the Tokyo dining experiences deserve their own separate post, coming up ASAP. Suffice it to say...things have been yumm-O.)

"The good news is, the whiskey works."

Seahorse Sea Hell

After roughing it in Yakushima, we headed to the hot spring mecca of Beppu. Our first night was spent in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. Upon arriving, we immediately changed into our robes and headed down to dinner, which was quite a feast. Nate had to loosen his yukata by the end of it.


After dinner, we enjoyed a soak in a private, open-air, hot spring bath. The water was ridiculously hot and it was gloriously relaxing. There wasn't any wifi at the ryokan, so we spent most of the night catching up on Dexter (!) and watching a couple episodes of My So Called Life. It was an exciting evening.

Beppu revolves around its hot springs. Everywhere you turn there is steam escaping from some crack in the pavement. Its main tourist attractions are the nine "hells", which are hot springs too hot to bathe in, so they rope them off and charge you 400 yen to see them. We only visited two: the "Sea Hell" and the "Mud Hell". The "Sea Hell" was the more interesting one, with hot, perfectly blue water and steam billowing from the surface. The water is hot enough to cook eggs. The "Mud Hell" was pretty much just bubbling mud.


In the afternoon we found a cheesy sex museum. The place was filled with ancient and "sacred" phalli of all sizes and shapes, as well as some traditional Japanese art, and, of course, some straight up porn.

The next day we headed to Fukuoka, a main hub in Kyushu. We made a few friends, went out for some delicious ramen, then drank some whiskey with a couple of German dudes back at the hostel. They were a riot.

This morning we left Fukuoka and made the six hour journey to Tokyo. I think we saw Mt. Fuji from the train, but it was pretty cloudy, plus we were moving at like 175mph, so the photos are terrible. Don't even click on that link, it's just there for completeness.

We'll be living out of this tiny hallway for the next five nights.

Mustache Update

A lot of you are probably wondering how Nate's facial hair is doing, so here's a quick update.

As you can see, it looks pretty OK from the front. The hope is that what he lacks in density he will make up in length.

He gets into a little trouble here on the sides and underneath, but overall it's looking good, kinda.

The Japanese aren't really known for having bushy, Al Borland-esque whiskers. In fact, I'd say Nate's facial hair abilities are slightly better than those of the Japanese. So Nate draws a lot of stares from strangers on the subway. And I'm pretty sure he frightened a little school girl when he said "konnichiwa" to her the other day.

But Nate's dad has a wicked beard, so we've got high hopes.

Coming soon: pics of my armpit hair

Wonderland

We left Osaka after an occasionally delicious chicken dinner with some friends of Nicole's host professor, Sari. (We ate several "joints" of chicken I didn't know were suitable for consumption, some of them raw.) Three trains, one boat and nine hours later, we arrived on the sub-tropical island of Yakushima.

"Ooooh, Yakushima. You are rich," one of our dinner hosts said the night prior. No one I talked to about traveling in Japan had ever been to Yakushima, and only two of the countless people Nicole has spoken with since coming here have explored its mysterious woods. Apparently, this place is most frequented by an older, Japanese resort crowd, but when you find a youth hostel and have an unlimited rail pass, Yakushima is possible for even poor saps like us. One of the things that caught my eye when researching for our trip was that Yakushima's forests serve as the inspiration for anime legend Hayao Mayazaki's Princess Mononoke (trailer). Also, there were said to be monkeys roaming the streets and deer frolicking amongst the trees.

All in all, we felt like this was a very special place and was by far the most anticipated of our voyage.

It did not disappoint. We sampled amazing food without using a single English menu! (editor's note- Nicole deserves all credit for communication with Japanese people), stood humbly in the presence of 4,000-year-old Sugi (cedar) trees, hiked through the greenest forests this side of Kauai and relaxed at the bargain-basement hostel on the water.

Our six-hour hike (a propensity for exploring beyond the trail made it twice as long as it had to be) through the Shiaratani Unsuikyo was simply mesmerizing. The mist idling, waterfalls big and small sprayed around every corner and each arboreal growth uniquely fascinated.

Living in New York, I often feel disconnected from the natural wonders of this world. No amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Central Park could ever recreate the effect of this ancient forest speaking to me and moving me in ways that I thought were reserved for those far more spiritual than myself.

A man reading an important book on his way to work

An American Election in Osaka

As I sat in SF Intl. Airport last Wednesday awaiting my flight to Osaka, a wave of emotion came over me. Although America always lives in my heart (with Ken Griffey Jr. and the remains of a lifetime of fast food), the realization (long ago acknowledged but never truly accepted) that I was not going to physically be in my country for the culmination of the election season brought me to tears.

I didn't fear the outcome or think I needed to help Obama pull out the victory with last minute get-out-the-vote efforts (thank you Jasper, Jessica and especially Celeste). I just wanted to be in the streets of New York, with America on every side of me, for the day and the night that our country turned a corner.

Luckily, I knew I would be with at least one fellow American no matter what...and close to gmail and iChat.

Nicole made sure there was more for us than those meager digital connections by finding a Democrats Abroad party in Osaka to hit at 10 a.m., Nov. 5 (7 p.m. EST, Nov. 4). We started with $10 Guinesses and a peace offering of Trollbäck Obama buttons to our fellow cast aways (about 10 to start, 30 at the peak for Obama's victory speech). We drank a lot (switched to happy hour Sapporo), ate our fill (Shepard's Pie, fish and chips) and happily talked (politics, Japan, NY restaurants) with people from all over America (including a couple awesome fellow Brooklynites).

Good news came pouring in all night (morning for us), and the room was in a constant state of jubilation.

I cried again in the early afternoon, but it wasn't related to homesickness.

I should have known Obama's victory would ring throughout the world. America is everywhere again.

Kobe to Kyoto

It's November 4th here in Osaka, so Nate and I already know who wins the election. We won't spoil it for you, but let's just say you can put your money on black.

We left Kobe on Sunday. Our last day there was kind of a bust. We met with a couple of my friends, Mika and Nanaho, for lunch. We had omrice, which is like an omelette's stuffed with rice only it's not as good as it sounds. We supplied the girls with Obama pins, spreadin' a little hope/change.

Although it's unclear weather they really supported Obama or just thought the pins were cute.

In the afternoon, we went to a fashion museum shaped like a spaceship, again, less cool than it sounds. Dinner was a debacle. After walking the streets for an hour searching for English menus, we found a restaurant who claimed to have English menus, then didn't. So we haphazardly ordered some things based on pictures and ended up with some mediocre sashimi and random chicken organs. We ordered Domino's when we got back to the hotel. It was Delicious. (The American Special - pepperoni pizza!)

We arrived in Kyoto on Sunday afternoon and met with my friend Yoshie and her boyfriend, Naoki. Yoshie's English is poor, but darling. Her favorite phrase is "Are you kidding?!" which she uses both frequently and inappropriately. But we were able to communicate using a combination of broken English, phrasebooks, electronic dictionary and gestures.

We visited a lovely temple on the west side of Kyoto, then went out for a fabulous Japanese dinner (with no English menus!). It was a treat to eat with native speakers and not have to worry about mystery organ meats. The sake and beer were freely flowing at dinner, so we topped off the night with a little karaoke. Naoki had explained that he liked "rock and roll, like Mary J. Blige and Boyz II Men" so Nate and I were a little concerned but we all rocked out to Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Celine Dion. Highlights were Nate's Eminem raps, their J-Pop duets and us braving the very difficult "Across the Sea" (Nate note: We told them this is the only song we know about Japan).

Yesterday, we went to Sanjusangendo, an impressive temple with 1001 life-sized Buddha statues. Unfortunately, no photos allowed inside cause it's sacred or whatever.

We then visited the Heian Shrine which has an incredible Japanese garden.

In Japan, November 3rd is a national holiday called "Culture Day", so the Manga Museum had free admission. It was more of a manga library than a museum, so there were walls and walls of manga and the place was packed with adults and kids reading in every corner, hallway and stairwell. Nate managed to find a baseball themed series featuring Ichiro in a showdown with the Japanese Barry Bonds.

In the evening we got some beer and strolled down by the river, where all the kids hang out. The place was littered with giggling Japanese girls, jugglers and musicians, including an aspiring Japanese John Mayer. Dinner was unremarkable, yet expensive.

We moved to Osaka this morning and we will be here for two nights. The election coverage will be happening during the day tomorrow, so we have no other plans all day. I found a group called Democrats Abroad that is holding an "election watch" tomorrow at an Irish pub in Osaka. According to the email I just got, "at least 12 democrats" will be attending. Should be wild.

Sleepy with spotty wi-fi

New photos, explanations forthcoming...

Chinatown, Harborland and the House of Amusements

Yesterday, we walked Kobe.

I woke up uncharacteristically early and had to wait for Nicole to join me. I watched the new "30 Rock" and, since it was late in the afternoon in the U.S., caught up on the day of American politics.

We ventured out around 10 a.m. and walked along a shady, Rocky Point-esque shopping path (used video games, possibly-stolen electronics and loads of porn with Reggaeton music in the background) that lies under the Japan Rail line to Sannomiya, a thriving hub of Kobe. Nicole took me into a department store even though I was hungry. Little did I know that in the basement of all department stores in Japan lies a stocked market with all kinds of food counters. Seafood, butchers, cake shops and bakeries, this was better than Whole Foods. Canuevenbelieveit?

We picked an assortment of delicious pastries and walked over to do more eating in Chinatown. Packed with children of various ages who seemed too young to be left to scavenge for their lunches, Chinatown consisted of rows of many similar looking food stands (but all looked delicious). Water dumplings, pineapple and curly fries on a stick (how adventurous of me!).

We shopped around and explored the area until we found Round 1, a bowling and "Amusement" house, 12-stories high. Rhythm games, Mario Kart and purikura (insanely fun photo-sticker booths designed for Japanese girls).

In the evening, we went to Harborland, a modern dining-center on the bay with over 30 disparate restaurants, amusement park and a multi-plex. It's where the young suburbanites go on date night in Kobe. We surveyed the restaurant choices and rode the giant ferris wheel before deciding that we had to eat Kobe Beef at least once in Kobe. We cooked the delicious, thin strips ourselves on a small grill in the middle of our table. "Yum-O!"

Photos of the day.

Nate arrives in Kobe

After a long day of traveling, Nicole met me at the airport in Osaka, and took me by boat, by train and by foot to our hotel in Kobe. We had dinner at Royal Host, which looks like the Japanese Denny's.

Nicole's been stationed out of Kobe thus far on her trip, so I expect good things from our three days here.

Today is Halloween. Yesterday we saw a lot of Jack-O-Lantern action in storefronts, but we will be on the lookout for some madness tonight.

I haven't really done anything yet so there's not much for me to write about, but take a look at some of Nicole's adventures from the last six weeks.