Entertaining Guests

Wow, 4 updates in one week eh? Maybe with this one I’ll finally be caught up… until Monday again that is. So I got back Sunday, right in the thick of Summer Holidays at school. I went to work on Monday, as per my contract, even though I would have no work to do for the next 2 weeks. This way they try to get us to use more of the holidays that we have, but I like to sprinkle them out into trips around the year.

So I went to work, and I actually wore one of those funny facemasks, as I was still sick. I had one of those nagging thoughts in the back of my head concerning the whole swine flu thing. When I landed they gave you a paper: “if you have or develop any of these symptoms…” kinda thing. The funny thing was I had every symptom on the paper, but I just wanted to go home and lay down. The thermal camera didn’t pick me up, so I must be ok right? Those symptoms were so general it could have been anything anyways: “cough, stuffy nose…” etc. Are you serious?

Anyways, Kasuga-sensei is a great guy, and took me to the hospital. There we waited for over an hour while they tested me for the swine flu, then when it came back negative, I got to see the doctor. All I had to do was open my mouth, he saw the swollen red, and I was done; almost 2 hours of waiting for a 2 minute visit. Oh well, I’ve waiting longer for less back home. Maybe I was cranky because I really wasn’t well and wanted to be in bed. At least it wasn’t strept throat; I got that a lot in Canada.

The rest of the week was kinda weird. I got medicine, and in Japan it’s weird! You know how we use gel capsules to hold powder in right? In Japan you just get the powder, then you gag on it while you drink water, trying to get this crap into your stomach. A different experience, but oh well. I went in to work a couple times, but the door was locked so I just went home again and played video games. I could have still been in Australia or Thailand but oh well, I was sick anyways so I’m not too bitter.

Noboru came to visit me too. He went to Russia and had a great time, but now that it was August he was homeless for a couple days until he went home. He stayed over and it was funny because he tried talking with me a couple times but I was so out of it with my flu I’m sure my sentences were a jumbled mess. After a while he left me alone to being a zombie in front of my games. It was so hot out.

On Tuesday morning at 5 we were awakened to a cool earthquake too. It started off small, and usually they stop in seconds. This one got stronger after about 10 seconds and kept going for 20 more maybe. When it stopped we went back to sleep, but apparently a highway was destroyed near Tokyo.

On Thursday, despite being sick still and in Ina, I drove the hour for my Japanese lesson. I was dressed all grubby and didn’t shave, but it was just class right? I guess I forgot, but before I left on holidays I made plans with my teacher to go see the huge Japanese Drums festival in town (Taiko). Because it was a festival, you had your standard Japanese festival assortment of tasty foods, but I also tried the fishing game for the first time.

You get a hoop and it has a sheet of rice paper over it. You use it to fish out as many, or as big of a fish as you can into your bowl. I of course failed right away; if you know rice paper then giving them water isn’t a very good idea. It was still fun to finally try it though; you see it in anime all the time.

The drum festival itself was quite impressive. I wasn’t sure if I was up for 2 and a half hours of drumming action, but it went by fast. Apparently this is the biggest festival of its kind in Japan; over 300 drummers were up on stage. The monstrous one in the center was 2 meters in diameter. It was good times; my teacher Kayo is really cool. I declined to join in the later festivals though, on Friday there was another Taiko show and on Saturday they had the famous fireworks display.

Friday the 14th I was starting to get better, finally after 2 weeks, and ordered Pizza at home for supper. Because it was Obon holiday, a lot of Japan is shut down as families gather and visit family graveyards (families will get one plot to put many urns inside). Because I live near graveyards they were quite lively, and now the tombstones are all clean and shiny, as per tradition. Anyways it took over 2 hours for the pizza to come because of the holiday, but I didn’t mind. What was cool though, my friend Yuri messaged me saying she was in town and wanted to meet.

We only had a couple hours, but we had a great supper of okonomiyaki at a new restaurant for me. That’s like a Japanese pancake that is famous down in the kansai area of Japan. We had a great talk and she loved my new look; I guess the shopping paid off. After we went back to my place where I gave her a cute present from Australia. I taught her how to play a video game (she killed zombies like a pro!), and later we looked over my Australia photos. She went there herself for ½ a year to study for those who maybe don’t remember her.

She left in the afternoon, and I was expecting to see Noboru before he took off, but things got crazy and he went straight to catch his bus to get back to America. I don’t remember what I did that night, I think I relaxed at home again. That night there were crazy fireworks at Suwa lake, but I didn’t go and later I was glad I stayed home like a nerd because boy did it rain hard that night. Just like last year when I went…

It’s so nostalgic and relaxing to be alone with my video games again <3 oh how rare those times have become. I beat one game, and almost beat another, but as of this writing in the last 2 weeks I haven’t found a spare hour to complete it. Well… atleast this blog is getting finished! Haha what a life… no wonder I’m crazy :)

My mom has a friend at work, and her daughter, Janelle, was visiting Japan. We had been in touch because of this, and on Sunday she came to visit. I wasn’t quite sure what we could do around my little place in Japan, but I had a couple ideas. Luckily she’s a pretty relaxed girl and we had fun with whatever we were doing. We started with some delicious sushi train, and then bugged my friend Miharu in the mall beside the restaurant for ideas. She laughed, but she gave us the great idea of going to see the Miharashi farm nearby.

I had been there before briefly, but still got lost. When we arrived, we were able to pick and eat blue berries for an hour in a little field. It was a great time I thought; we ate although we were still full of sushi, talked, and enjoyed the beautiful weather and surroundings. I found out she has never done Onsen either, so I knew I’d have to give her the experience much like I’ve done with my mom, sister and Christine before her.

At the farms there is a really big and nice Onsen. We got a discount for already having paid for the blueberry experience. I took my time in the bathhouse for an hour, enjoying all the many offerings like sauna, bubble jets, outside lounge and so on. There was an old dude in the middle of the floor doing butt flexes or something; thrusting his taint into the air. Disturbing times! Haha almost as bad as that one dude washing and splashing his balls about in a bucket; but I guess this is a bathhouse after all.

Although I took an hour, Janelle took maybe two. I didn’t mind; I fell asleep on a chair while waiting. She came back and had made new friends, as they took us out for supper and invited us over to their second home. Every month they go down to Ina for a bit, but they’re from Yokohama. They were really fun; we had a great time and incidentally gave Janelle a unique Japan experience. The best stuff you just can’t plan right?

Speaking of which, a similar thing happened that Monday. We went to my school so she could get an idea of how things work here as she teaches back in Canada. The school was mostly shut down for the holidays still, but she got the idea. We watched the archery club, and they had us join them! It was great; I love my kids, they’re so fun. She was shocked at just how different they were here compared to back home and how I joked around with them. Then later we sat on edge as the group practiced shooting, and there were kids down at the other end that weren’t really protected in anyway from a stray arrow… nervous times indeed!

Clubs wrapped up around lunch due to the heat, giving the students some time to, you know, go out and enjoy their summer holidays. They’re given so much homework over the summer, and the first days back they’re given tests to make sure they studied during that time. We used this time to get in my car and drive in a very indirect route to Matsumoto. Nagano is quite the beautiful place, if my frequent pictures of the countryside haven’t convinced you yet.

Along the way we stopped at that crazy “bull dog” store where I accidentally bough my brother a sex toy for Christmas and gandered over the amusing offerings. Before we left I bought “Hello Kitty” bed sheets for my bed at home. They’re a strong red, and kitty-chan is all over the place! They’re so awesome… that’s a good sign that I’ve lived here too long though, as I’d get beat up for that back home. That didn’t stop Janelle from being jealous though. They were for sale in “Japan only” and they fit futons, not queen size mattresses. She said she’d look for some on the Internet later.

We made it to the castle, but had to be fast on our tour as it closed at 6. After we met up with Neal, who moved to Matsumoto now for his new job. Incidentally, Ashley and Chris were meeting up with him later, and we had a big party. First we went to an amazing burger restaurant that I was shocked existed in Japan, then to a bar, then to Neal’s place, where we drank and partied until 5:30 in the morning.

Sure it was Monday night and we “worked” the next day, but I was “responsible” by choosing to cut my fun off at 4:00 in the morning so I could drive us back in the morning; better known as “3 hours later.” We played drinking games over some of the many boxes that were strung around, as he’s still very much just moving in. We later played the “never have I ever”, and although some tried to turn the game sexual, I found the best conversations came from unique offerings: for example “never have I ever skydived” or “been to London” and so on. What an amazing conversation game! Great stories came out from everyone.

Anyways, we didn’t have time to eat, just enough time to get home, pack, put my new Hello Kitty bed sheets on to evoke jealousy, then get Janelle to the bus so she could get home. I think I did pretty well for my first time! If you’re reading this Janelle, thanks for coming out! It was fun!

I spent the rest of the day in some weird limbo, not even bothered to check if the school was locked. Somewhat hung over, not really asleep or awake on my new Hello Kitty sheets in my house baking in the blistering heat. The next day, Wednesday, Neal was in town to clean up the final loose ends, and I got to meet the new guy replacing him. We ran various errands, then that night I went to Neal’s 18^th going away party; I guess he made lots of friends in his 3 years here! Haha

On Thursday the 20^th I went to Tatsuno where I spent the entire day writing blog entries, then went to my Japanese lesson. The weekend was back before I knew it and I had to think hard to figure out where my entire week had gone.

That Friday my friend from Kyoto, Noriko, came up to visit me. I went to visit her in June, and now it was my turn to return the favour. I got good practice from showing Janelle around, and having left work early, I went to the bus stop to meet her. She didn’t feel right staying over like Janelle did, so we got her checked in to a hotel then went for lunch. She hasn’t had Brazillian food before, so it was a great opportunity to try.

I think she liked it, and during lunch we made a bit of a game plan for her weekend. Matsui-sensei that sits beside me at work is a good friend now, and gave me some great ideas for things to do. Many of them didn’t resonate too much, so we had more of a relaxing day seeing the city.

We walked to the park and stuff, and then later went to the culture hall near my school. I was shocked! Inside, was a Planetarium. I couldn’t believe it when I read the katakana; I quickly ran upstairs to see what its deal was. That night it was sold out, but I’ll definitely need to come back later for a show. And to think, it’s a 5-minute walk from my house.

We made our way back to my place where we watched a movie, played video games and looked at pictures. She’s a nice girl, but she’s a bit shy with her English I think. I ended up talking too much for the both of us, but it gets tiring. Inadvertently, I tried out a lot of my Japanese and she answered a bunch of questions I had. We called it an early night and I took her back to the hotel; we both wanted to be rested for Matsumoto the next day.

I picked her up in the morning, and upon asking a convenience store for some directions, discovered there wasn’t a single restaurant open for breakfast in Ina until 11. That’s very typical for Japan though; everything is closed until the afternoon almost. I ended up cooking a quick breakfast for us, and we started a 4-hour car ride to Matsumoto. Usually it takes 90 minutes, but this was one hell of a detour, up and over mountains, around the lake and so on. It was really beautiful.

We got to the castle, but I opted to wait outside for her to go around because I paid to go inside the week before. It was a bit of a pity though, as the place was packed it was slow going; and it was a killer hot day. I was in the shade eating ice cream but I was still suffering, I’d hate to think how it was inside that castle with hundreds of people.

After we drove around for a while, we looked at maybe going into a couple museums, but we both didn’t really care too much to go in. We were tired and hot. I ended up calling Neal again, and we all met up for supper. We went for Mexican food, which is really rare in Japan! It was great and after we went to a nearby Matsumoto festival that we didn’t know existed until we walked past.

It was something of a German beer festival, with tall glasses of amazing brew and home made sausage alongside the standard Japanese festival fare. I, of course, had the worst luck in the world because I was driving. Neal told me to just smell one of his beers and I was ready to cry. I knew I’d have to go back before the festival was over. We enjoyed the evening with many people, and made many new friends as drinking parties and festivals like that is a great way to meet people.

On Sunday the 23^rd, we were back in Ina, and Brett had announced a big BBQ party at the party last Wednesday. We went and it was a crazy experience. Not only was an amazing nature park/campground near where I live, but also the food was superb. Standard Japanese BBQ fare again of yakiniku and vegetables, but also others like tangerine chicken and burgers that Brett brought along. At first we were BBQing normal hamburgers, but then the Japanese cooking habits took over and they turned out more like meatballs. They still prepared them in an amazing way though, that you had to fall in love with them.

Later we tried something new: a noodles slide. I guess it’s traditional in Japan. We set up some bamboo slides, and slid somen noodles down them. You try to catch it with your chopsticks, dip it in sauce and eat it. It was really cool! Not to mention tasty. Later, they rolled tomatoes down the slide and if you could catch one with your chopsticks then you got a prize.

I didn’t think we’d be there as long as we were, but we ate, drank and partied for almost 5 hours. Before we got to crack the watermelon with a bat the traditional Japanese way, Noriko and I had to get going so she could catch her bus. It was a good thing we tried to leave early, as after the goodbyes and the pictures it took almost ½ and hour. She made a lot of friends, and many want to visit her in Kyoto. It was great to have her come up and visit me; I had a lot of fun.

I can’t remember how I spent the rest of the day, but that doesn’t matter compared to the fact that I’m finally caught up! Yay! Now I can take a break… until Monday.

"If you want love and abundance in your life, give it away." -Unknown

tnoy

Back in Bangkok

Like an idiot, I watched a movie on the plane instead of trying to get all the sleep that I could. After the movie I went to sleep, and shortly after they finally announced the “welcome aboard” speech for 10 minutes. Why would they wait for the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping to do that? One or two hours later they woke us up again to give us breakfast. I couldn’t catch a break; there was quite a bit of turbulence too.

At least when I arrived I wasn’t thoroughly searched like I was in Australia. They specially carded me there, and went painstakingly over every single item I had on my person, asking very awkward questions that I had trouble answering; given I had been in transit for almost 24 hours. I later realized there was quite a tricky, sneaky architecture to them, and it just pays to tell the truth like I do. I was happy the pants didn’t come off nor did the rubber gloves come out. That was unfortunate; maybe I fit a bad profile. In Thailand I don’t think I even handed in anything for a customs declaration. That was such a nice change of pace.

 

The flight landed an hour early at like, 5 in the morning, so my friend Anna wasn’t there to meet me yet. I drifted listlessly in and out of consciousness on an awkward airport chair for a while, lamenting the fact that I ran out of cold medicine yesterday. Well, as long as I wasn’t quarantined right? That would have been a crappy trip. Good thing my temperature wasn’t high or those cameras would have singled me out right away.

 

When I stopped through last week on the way to Sydney I called Lily and Anna to tell them about my layover. I was delighted Lily remembered me right away, and she got right into her tour guide mode right away asking if I needed a hotel or anything. She unfortunately doesn’t really understand computers and emails though, where I had sent some to Anna every now and then. She had a good, cheap place that her friends recommended ready for me. It was less than half the price a night than what I spent when I first came here, and that place had weird bugs everywhere. Mind you it was still only like $40 a night.

So ya, it was nice of her to find a good place for me, and picking me up to help keep me safe from the vultures at the airport. I could check in early too, as I needed the sleep. We met later at the nearby mall for lunch. While I like eating food out in street vendors, it was interesting hearing from a local like her how those places are dirty, and being inside like this was better.

 

The prices and selection were great either way I thought, and the A/C didn’t hurt. I had some fried rice and some kind of noodle dish. I didn’t realize how much I missed Thai food until I had a bit to eat. You can tell it’s more authentic too when there isn’t a scratch of English to be found in the place. You bought coupons from a counter, and exchanged those with various vendors around the place.

After lunch we walked around the mall for a bit, where I saw dragon fruit being sold for pennies, and told her you could buy it in Japan for $70. Her English isn’t the greatest, but it was still a lot of fun; I have been complemented on my tuned charades skills before. We found a video game machine and had some fun playing it. It takes your pictures first, then if you do well in the game they have something of a “top 10” list. It was not unlike the “purikura” in Japan where you can draw funny shapes into the picture and add goofy stuff. One game we got 3^rd place, and another we got first. I went to town, over saturating the picture with gaudy graffiti; it was fun.

We went to the theater after, but they didn’t have much playing other than GI Joe, which we both didn’t want to see. I was a bit disappointed as I remember how legendary the theaters are in Thailand; I guess it was just bad timing. I was pretty beat at this point and hoped a movie would be good to relax. Oh well. I went back to take a nap again while she went home for a while. I was supposed to call her later when I was awake to go for supper.

I guess I overslept, as I got a knock on my door rather late. 9 maybe? Anna had brought me some supper and medicine. I didn’t think I was well enough to eat, but it was good that I did. After the first ½ hour of stomach pains I was feeling a bit better. Or maybe that was the Tylenol I put back; I think that stuff is illegal in Japan.

The cough syrup helped too, as throughout the night I was up every couple hours coughing. Upon retrospect, it was maybe because the room had A/C on, something I didn’t have to worry about in Australia. Having cold air blowing against your throat is never a good thing; maybe I should start wearing a scarf more.

Either way it was good to be drugged up again, as a slight bit of vitality came back to me to tackle the next day. I had hoped to go to the beach this day, but my condition had me consider otherwise again. Fortunately, Anna wanted to show me some famous temples she likes to go to, and I hadn’t seen them before. The first one was really far away, and I got to experience a boat taxi/bus/ferry. It was much faster and cheaper than the taxi equivalent, and quite cool!

It was funny riding it, as I couldn’t help but think of how many problems this efficient and convenient system would have back home. People are so inept and willing to sue, that this sort of thing would never work. Here you just got on the boat like a normal person. No problem. The dudes hung off the side of the boat’s ropes and reached in gathering fares, and jumped off at each dock to quickly secure it for about 10 seconds for people to transfer. There were even pulleys to pull up a tarp to keep yourself dry while cruising down the river. Really fast, really effective. Back home you’d have a million safety checks, then the time and expense involved would sky rocket.

We got to the temple and it was nice, peaceful change. It had a great overlook of the city. I guess Anna goes here every now and then, and then showed me out the window the different temples she visits regularly. I need to understand more about Buddhism maybe, is this like a monthly pilgrimage maybe?

It was cool to see how people prayed, rang bells, and so on. Then it was unfortunate to see how some of the tourists act. One jerk had like 3 separate flashes on one camera, and took over fifty pictures of people and statues and stuff. That’s incredibly rude, can you imagine how you’d feel if people took close-up pictures of you while listening to a sermon in church on Sunday? Or whatever your religion is :)

We went down, but it was quite hot so we got some ice cream sandwiches. Now I do mean sandwiches: they opened a roll not unlike what you can get at KFC and put a number of spoonfuls inside along with sweet beans and other stuff. It was really good; I don’t think I’ve had bread and ice cream together before. There were many food stalls, but again I was reluctant to put stuff in my stomach.

A dude just walked up to me and started talking; he was really cool. He thought I was in the military or something with my composure and went on what a handsome guy I was. Maybe he was just practicing his English, I don’t know, but it’s neat to have people walk up to you and have a friendly conversation with them.

Although at this point, it’s getting a repetitive trying to explain where to find Regina on a map and failing. Maybe I should start carrying a map with me, or taking control of the conversation and changing it earlier. If I weren’t so lazy I’d have more pictures of my family in my wallet. All I have right now is Patty, and she’s a huge hit every time I pull her out. (Which isn’t too often, don’t worry Patty :P) I guess we look a lot alike, and then I joke about how I have nicer hair :)

We walked around some more, and she showed me a really popular road, near Susie Walking Street (good thing I take pictures so I know these weird names), that turns into one big party at night. There were bars and tattoo parlors everywhere. I found it funny, the number of shops set up selling many different fake IDs. Anna herself got a small tattoo here, but I still don’t think I’ll ever go under the needle. Unless I got a cool “Volleyball Canada” tattoo like that one teacher in high school, Mr. Delorme; two of my favourite things together.

Getting dizzy and ready to puke, we ducked into a subway restaurant for over an hour to escape the heat. I was excited I found root beer :) Because I was dying, we started heading back. It was lucky I had my computer with me, as I could share pictures and other stuff. It’s always fun teaching someone to play video games for the first time, as there is a lot of fun to be had. It ended up being an early night, even if I didn’t sleep well with all that coughing.

She showed me some of her pictures too, then proceeded to tell me about her friends in one photo: this one was married to an American, this one a Dutch dude, this one an Australian, and so on. What was strange though, was that all of them still live here in Thailand while the husbands come in periodically to visit. That reminded me of Richard telling me about those 2 Canadians he met on his airplane flight visiting Thailand to see their wives. Crazy world.

I was hoping I’d be healthy when I got to see Lily again. Alas I had one day left in Bangkok; my plane left at midnight. I called her up and made plans to meet later. I was hoping to make it to the beach on this trip, but I’ll have to go back again sometime when I’m feeling better and finally learn to surf. I made up for it though, by asking around where I could find a swimming pool. Anna helped me find one, and we went to the mall where it was.

This mall was really cool; I wish we had more time to spend here. They had open buffets and all kinds of different treats to munch on. On the roof they had an amazing amusement park like area, complete with water slides and other fun stuff. You need to wear a cap in pools here to hold your hair; but I was obviously exempted from this. I wanted to do more of course, but knew my limits and had fun floating/splashing around for what it was worth. There were big pools, kiddy pools, and a long, circular pool that had a current going around; that was great to float down.

It was a bit strange though; they closed the pool for ½ hour so they could check the water or something. We used that time to get a quick bite to eat: some delicious, cheap, wonderful Thai food. We didn’t stay much longer after it re-opened though, I was at my limits again and I needed to go see Lily in a couple hours.

I was reeling in and out of conscience in the car, thinking of excuses to not go and just pass out instead. It took about an hour to get there thanks to downtown traffic, but I’m so glad I made the journey and got to see her again. We talked for about an hour or so, and I saw Peter again; the cool dude that sent me to the ping-pong show on my first night. They are doing well, and I got after Lily to check her email more. As of this writing I still haven’t heard back, I’ll try again later.

It was a really good time of joking around and so on. Peter asked me if I remembered the ping-pong show then accused Lily of taking part. She played along and said she did an “apple show” instead. Mortified, we all laughed still. I love their humor, it fits me well. Because of my new hair, Lily doesn’t think I’m a lady-boy anymore. She was also a bit sick and gave me one of her facemasks, but it looked used so I kinda put it in my pocket, smiling and saying thanks.

I appreciated the gesture but that seemed a bit gross. I remember not being able to find a new mask one time on the farm when I needed to do some work inside a bin, so I used a mask my dad had used before. Ya, those things aren’t meant to be used more than once; I don’t think I lasted long before I gave up. Ah farm memories.

The coughing and fatigue caught up to me though, and Lily and Peter urged me to take a nap before having to catch my plane. I obliged and was happy I woke up with time to spare to get the plane. Anna helped me catch a taxi there and I got home ok. I arrived in Nagoya really early and for some dumb reason they wouldn’t help me find a train to Ina, so I went to the main city and found a bus to go the rest of the way. Maybe it’s better that way, in some weird twist of fate it’s often cheaper and faster to take a bus than the train. I spent the rest of that Sunday in bed I think.

This entry was a challenge to write as I didn’t want to describe all the various and strange symptoms I suffered during these three days. For what it’s worth I still enjoyed myself, but there were regrets; I never learnt to surf. Next time beach, you’re mine!

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

tnoy

My Outstanding Odyssey to Oz, Part 4: Melbourne

I got to Melbourne around 7 Monday morning. Because I hadn’t been riding an airplane / watching movies all night, I had energy to get stuff done this day unlike my first day in Sydney, although I needed to keep it light thanks to the flu and cold medicine sapping my spark. After checking in, I went downtown and walked around. One of my first trips ended up being to a large tower overlooking the city, not unlike Sydney tower. It’s funny how they advertised it as the largest tower in “The Southern Hemisphere.” I saw that proclamation for a couple of things later; I guess you need to be the best at something.

The first thing I noticed up there was that the city didn’t seem to be as big as Sydney. Sydney’s downtown has a weird bay/peninsula shape about it, while Melbourne is literally one big rectangle; but that’s still cool too because it has a free streetcar circling the whole place. I never had time to use it though during my 3 days there.

The fares for public transport were quite different here. In Sydney, like Japan, the further you go the more you pay. In Melbourne you pay for time; like a 2-hour pass, all day pass, etc. So when I first got on a charming streetcar to go downtown I looked all over for where I could buy a ticket. There was a machine, but as I was told later it doesn’t read bills because of bouncing around all over the place, it only took change. Australian money is cool and the bills are colourful; the 2-dollar coin is one of the smallest in contrast to the Canadian setup, and the 50-cent coin is a monster. Oh and there are no pennies! They just round up or down your total to the nearest 5-cent denomination. Mad world. Wasn’t Canada debating the same thing recently?

So anyways there I was, a silly tourist, on this charming streetcar trying to figure the thing out. It only took coins, but it seems like it wanted like 8 dollars for a pass. I didn’t really understand, and who carries 10 dollars of spare change on them anyways? Luckily the driver was really cool, and when we got downtown he told me where to buy a pass for next time; so I got my first ride for free. It seems to be largely on an honor system, as it’s up to you to verify you own pass when you board and it doesn’t seem like people check. The pass I needed was actually cheaper, but since it was time based I didn’t buy one until I was ready to go back for the day.

Anyways it was quite cool up that tower. They had some tourist stuff like going out into a window box so it looks like you’re floating over the city and stuff like that. I didn’t enjoy a beer like last time, but I did dawdle for a while. When I made my way down, there was a riverboat tour that looked fun. Instead of riding a full trip, I got it to drop me off at the Science Works museum along the way.

The tide was in, so the clearance under some of the many bridges was very tight. As such, we had to walk a bit to get on the tour boat in the first place. It was ok I guess, a bit pricey for essentially a slow taxi ride. But it did get me to an otherwise difficult to reach place. I had a couple hours to check the place out before the boat was back to pick me up. Once inside I discovered not only a science museum, but also a planetarium and the Star Wars exhibit that moved from Sydney. Melbourne seems to get stuff after Sydney, as a number of things I saw were a “coming attractions” like that Shakespeare play I saw the week before. I wanted to see “Wicked” too, a play on the wicked witches in OZ, but alas it was not to be.

I went to the Planetarium show, which had a special movie on looking for life in other galaxies and was narrated by Harrison Ford. It was unfortunate there were so many little brats inside, as they wouldn’t shut up no matter how much the parents shushed them. After the short movie, there was a presentation on the night sky and things to see like constellations and such this time of year.

She pointed out an odd body of stars and asked what they were. I had no idea, but all the kids chimed in “Southern Cross” or something. “That’s right, just like on the flag.” Oh, I see! That’s why your flag has stars on it, and it sort of helps explain New Zealand’s one too. I can only imagine the back story of finding these new and strange lands; I know we’ve heard and learnt a lot about the “North Star” and how essential is was for navigation back in the days of lore.

I didn’t have time for the Science Center, as I got a rather expensive ticket for the Star Wars exhibit instead. It was ok I guess, seeing props and stuff from the movies, but it was still expensive for a little room exhibit. The most famous props were missing too; probably auctioned off to ultra nerds to be hung on their wall, like Luke’s light saber or Han’s blaster. It was still neat though, seeing Darth Vader’s helmet open, or the different spaceships used in the series.

Anyways I browsed, and then left, the over priced and gimmicky gift shop, took the boat back downtown, and checked the nearby theaters for shows/musicals/whatever playing. Surprisingly things are quite limited during the winter season, and there isn’t even snow on the ground. That being said there wasn’t really anything to see in terms of shows during my 3 days. I later made my way to a huge information tourist center near the main station and explored my options for the remaining 2 days. Again, winter options limited some stuff, but I did book a full day tour the next day to see “The Great Ocean Road.”

I got a sub for supper and went back to my hostel to eat it and get some sleep, hoping I would get better. I then met my roommates that seemed all right, except for the fact they were all quiet; and somewhat hiding from a sweet little old lady in the center of the room.

She was… something different. A first for me; I’ve never really met someone who could talk for hours on end without really saying anything. She could be the best politician ever! But ya, it was impossible to end conversations because she just wouldn’t stop. I managed to end the first one by running to another room to eat, but when I came back, the jerk on the couch asked where I was from. I call him a jerk, because after I said ‘Canada’ the little old lady started up again, and he instinctively jumped right back onto his laptop the moment she opened her mouth, eyes glued to the screen; he knew what was coming.

She talked and talked. After about 20 minutes, I said something back. The dude on the couch (it was a big room) was so shocked he actually looked up from his computer: “He’s actually talking with this lady?” he must have been thinking, before he came back to his senses and forced his attention back onto the computer. I have no hard feelings towards her, like I said it was kind of remarkable seeing her talk in circles all by herself.

She was retired, single, (and probably lonely), so she stays at hostels to meet people. She kept her luggage on her bed… for some reason… so she was left to sleeping upright on her chair. She spent time in Canada, met interesting people, told me the same stories a dozen times each but in slightly different ways, and a number of other stories of her life and growing up. I maybe said 20 or 30 words in 2 hours. Hell, I was coughing up my lungs more than I was talking. That being said: I was suffering, and literally had to stop her mid-sentence with an “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m sick and really need some sleep.”

This only made her change gears though, so one looping story jumped to another and I had to interrupt her again, this time being a bit less polite. Eventually I was lying in bed, with my eyes closed, and after a bit she got the hint and stopped talking. Or I fell asleep; I don’t know which came first. I still think it was fascinating.

I got up early and got on the bus for the tour. It was one of the best tours I have ever been on. We stopped many times, the dude was interesting with the stories, and the sights were breathtaking. We saw surfers, koalas, parrots, rainbows, crazy rock formations, beautiful beaches and more. Apparently there is a huge road along the ocean in America, and this road got its inspiration for construction from that. Many times along the road were signs proclaiming “Remember, Australia drives on the left!” probably because a million tourist rent cars, drive on the wrong side, and get in horrible accidents; personal speculation of course.

It was such a great day out. Later on near “The 12 apostles”, 12 large rock formations in the water of which only 8 remain, we were given the option of riding a helicopter to see the coast. Normally I’d scoff at such an obvious tourist trap… but something was different this time. I’d never rode in a helicopter before, and $70 isn’t exactly breaking your balls; I’ve spent more doing less fun things before. What the heck eh?

I got into this tiny helicopter, and surprisingly didn’t freak out when we took off. There were 2 Koreans with us, and when asked who wanted the front seat they were quiet so I snatched it up. It looked extremely easy to pilot. We went over some fields, inadvertently chasing sheep and cows below. Then we went over the cliffs and were amazed. In the 10 minutes or so in the air I took many photos and video. The pilot was giving a small explanation and giving out questions, but I was too speechless. It simply was just a magical experience.

We saw more, and part of our tour went through something of a rain forest, and another for the parrots and koalas. The parrots were crazy, landing on people’s heads and stuff, but the koalas lost any sliver of ‘cute’ they may have had in our hearts. People mostly see them during the day when they’re sleeping like a ball of fur, but most don’t hear the horrible noises they make. Pigs sound pretty compared to these squealing boars. The tour guy was telling us about how they get kinky at night, and make horrible sex grunts/squeals for hours. Poor locals.

At one of the many beaches we saw, we were told penguins show up at night when it’s safer. Apparently they’re the smallest breed known, and they got their own separate day tour if I wanted to see them. I didn’t have time though; only one day left in Australia and I had some friends to catch up with. I managed to sneak into my room while the lady was sleeping upright in her chair and got some much-needed sleep.

I wish I were well enough to go out and try more of the beers there. There’s no shortage of selection, but I didn’t find one I fell in love with. The one I picked out for gifts was “Victoria Bitter”, which reminded me of Pilsner back home with some honey mixed in. Not bad. My friend said to avoid it like the plague though, and when I asked about it later, it was more because of the name having Victoria in it. Gotta’ love petty rivalries; like my one friend that will never stop cracking “Alberta is better than Saskatchewan” tired jokes over and over whenever I see her. :) “Banjo-Bowl” anyone? :D (Sask inside joke)

I managed to sneak out of my room again, and check out in the morning. She rustled, but I was safe. I felt a bit bad doing that, not saying goodbye, but I didn’t have more time for those stories. I felt I was being ruder by stopping her mid sentence and leaving so I guess it works out. I put my luggage in a locker at the bus center, got my ticket for the airport, and then I was free for the day.

I like to prepare somewhat, as last minute nail-biters aren’t fun. I went to a grocery store and bought a bunch of vegemite as gifts. For those who don’t know, vegemite is loved by Australians, and almost universally hated by everyone else. It is made, by scraping the sludge off the bottom of brewery tanks; so it’s salty, has lots of yeast and is healthy somehow.

Recently they’ve made a new type with cream cheese mixed in. Of course purists are crying foul, but maybe it’s to help take the “edge” off this otherwise “sharp” tasting spread to help it expand its markets. I wanted to take back some meat pies too, but they said it would go bad without refrigeration so I was sad. I left, and not even 2 stores down from the supermarket was an adult peep show.

What the heck! Was this like a red light district or something? I found out later these things are scattered in unlikely places throughout the downtown core. I, of course, went in to find out more, and it was interesting if it wasn’t disturbing. You could pay like $15 to stay for the day, watching movies and “live acts”, or you could go into a tiny booth where a bunch of tissues were readily available and pay for a peep show: $2 for 40 seconds. They seemed proud sex work was legal in Australia, as a sign advertised countries like Australia suffer 30% less sex crimes.

I put $2 in, laughed for a bit at the “show” inside, and then left. All the while being careful not to touch anything. Now I can say I’ve seen a peep show, and not waste my money next time :) They have them in Japan, but they screen you by race before you can go in: “Japanese only.” There is some weird conception among some that only foreigners have STDs, and as such the AIDs rate in Japan is spiking faster than many other countries; but that's enough about that.

I walked around for a while, checking out the cool architecture, and met up with my buddy Matt. I haven’t seen him in a long time, so we caught up for a bit. We had some beer, then some “Melbourne” food in a pleasant little crepe cafe. I had a crepe with vegemite in it. It was quite salty; I should have got the lasagna crepe. I found out Melbourne was made of a number of small side roads, and as such the locals know where to find the cool stuff while avoiding the touristy stuff.

A dude asked me which city I thought to be better, Sydney or Melbourne? These questions are never fair because everyplace is different, but I could honestly say I didn’t have enough time in either place to form an opinion. Even a week in Sydney was too short. With all the small side roads, he was telling me you could spend months exploring Melbourne, but I’m not much of a shopper so advice like that is all relative; “what is it you’re interested in?” I could care less about shops, but Matt needed a new pair of shoes so I was tagging along looking at stuff.

One thing led to another, and I was exchanging a lot of money to go shopping. Apparently Matt charges $200 an hour for fashion advice, and he canceled his next appointment to help me out for the afternoon. Apparently black and white goes well on me, and I got one of those cool hats that I can’t describe. I bought a fair amount; it was definitely a spur of the moment adventure. Many of the shops didn’t have my size, and it was later explained to me those sizes were more for skinny gay guys. Well, good thing I’m a ‘plus sized’ dude? I don’t know. I refer to my story of shopping with my sister Patty and how I should never shop alone.

I ended up having to cut the adventure short; as I had another friend I was meeting up with for supper. This time I saw Audrey, a former teacher. We had trouble finding a coffee shop that was open now that people were leaving work for the day, but we had a great time catching up. She gave me some good advice, like (honestly) having a plan when you leave Japan.

Now that many people have left again this year, that’s more evident than ever. Once the initial high of being home wears down, reverse culture shock seems to be a horrible thing. I know a couple of people who are planning their trip back to Japan already, but really they just need more time to calm down and mold their present reality. I know I’d probably go nuts too if I were to move back to Regina, but who can say for sure yet. Some people just aren’t that good with change, and maybe being back home would feel like a step backwards in life after all they’ve done here. Audrey is a Canadian, and after a while moved to Australia; I was shocked to find that out when I emailed my other friend/former teacher. Incidentally she just changed cities too.

Well I’m no psychologist on human behavior so I’ll leave it at that. I got to the airport all right and flew all night to Bangkok where I spent the next 3 days. While it sucks I was sick, I’m happy I wasn’t so sick to keep me from doing anything. Traveling during ‘winter’ isn’t so bad, as the heat from Bangkok was about to teach me.

"You can't base your life on other people's expectations." -Stevie Wonder

tnoy

My Outstanding Odyssey to Oz, Part 3: People

I love my blue Kokanee beer hat. It’s simple, but some people will recognize it, and it becomes a great Ice Breaker. So when I got off the bus the first time for tea and biscuits, and the guy sitting behind me confirmed I was a Canadian that liked my beer, I wasn’t too surprised. We hit it off and throughout the trip talked quite a bit. His name is Sung and I quoted him in Part 1. He’s from California, but has a Korean background. Not only did we have really good talks about all kinds of things, but we decided to meet up that night for pizza and beer as well.

We talked for hours and it was really cool, he has been a lot of places and had lots of interesting insight. During our conversation I stopped myself and apologized, as it seems like I am able to talk more about Japan than I am about Canada. Whenever you meet people and talk with them, the vast majority of them don’t know much beyond Vancouver and/or Toronto. If they know more, then they know about Banff, Niagara Falls, and Montreal. Anything else is extremely rare. I can’t count the number of times I awkwardly, and sometimes unsuccessfully, tried to explain where to find Saskatchewan on a map.

It surprisingly hard to talk with, and relate to, many tourists’ Canadian stories given my background and experience. You talk about what you know right? Beer, hockey, etc. I really need to see more of Canada already :( At least I’ve got many cool Japanese stories and perspectives to give now.

After the tasty pizza and beers, we were near my hostel at Kings Cross, the red light district. We asked a bouncer where a good strip club was (when in Rome right?) and he confirmed with us if we wanted *only* a strip club. It was then I started noticing the tell tale signs of shady dealings, like the upper floors of the clubs had their windows boarded up and painted over. Many of the places were actually brothels.

Getting back to the “you can do it, but you can’t advertise it,” it seemed to make a lot of sense. We said we just wanted a place without the dirty dealings, and he gave us a recommendation down the way. We went in and enjoyed ourselves somewhat. I can honestly say I had more fun in Regina with my brother. We made the most of it though, telling stories still (like ping pong in Thailand) and experiencing what Sydney had to offer.

We grew bored of the dancing though, and we were incredibly annoyed of the waitresses asking literally every 2-3 minutes if we wanted more drinks. I tried talking with some of them, but many beyond being able to order drinks had such thick accents I just couldn’t understand them, even with my internal accent translator.

That was a common theme I was discovering around the country: the huge influx of foreign workers. I thought it was strange at first when searching for a hostel, the plethora of options that were available. Some of the comments would tip off too about how the majority of the people staying there were just looking for work, and as such, there was a depressing atmosphere about the place. That was certainly true of the people I met at the hostels, the vast majority were foreign workers; including the people running the hostel! I guess how the visa works in Australia is that you can work for 6 months at a time, but then you have to change jobs and cities if you want to stay.

So you are left with the strange situation of people working, moving to another city every 5 months or so, then coming back. They had their own weird rotations and underground society, but it works well for them. My friend Neal said some of his own family members had a bit of a tough time when they moved in during the 80’s, but luckily it seems to have worked out since then. Aussies are cool people.

Saturday’s adventure was a bus trip to Port Stevens at Nelson Bay, maybe 3 hours north. This trip was a bit more expensive than the rest, but the biggest reason I signed on was for the whale watching. The trip up was nice; now that I know what these crazy eucalypti trees look like I saw them everywhere. We crossed over the famous bridge and saw all kinds of neat things like highways carved out of the Sandstone Mountains and so on. Much of what was excavated was used for the beautiful architecture.

To break up the 3-hour trip, we stopped at a Reptilian Museum along the way. Everyone went straight to the koalas to get pictures with them, so I went and checked out other stuff instead; I’m not one for waiting in line. There were cool things here, like Tasmanian Devils and Emus.

Inside, a worker was extracting venom from some kind of ‘spinner’ spiders; apparently the most lethal in the world. I guess how they made vaccines to save people who are bit and poisoned from these monsters, is they give it to rabbits in small doses in a lab. The rabbit builds up immunity over time, and the antibodies are harvested to save lives. Apparently anti-venom is really new! I was surprised; I thought it had been around for quite a while. Good on them for saving lives.

I saw this and that, including bright blue frogs and stuff, but ultimately I didn’t care too much. Maybe it’s not a bad thing I missed out on the huge zoos and stuff. Maybe I just try and do too much and burn out, or maybe I shouldn’t book two day long tours like this in a row anymore as this feeling carried over for most of the day.

It’s unfortunate these trips will drop you off at tourist traps where everything is over priced, but I guess I’m fortunate I’m a bit cheap, and will walk further to find stuff. Fish and Chips were plentiful and reasonable here. Also, you know it’s good when they wrap it up in paper. Nostalgia makes it taste better ;) After lunch I got on a huge boat, and we proceeded to go cruise around for 90 minutes looking for whales.

The first part was quite disappointing, and a boat zipping past with para-sailing people made me think of things I’d rather be doing. Namely para-sailing. I guess the place was still beautiful enough, and at the end we did get to see 2 dolphins splashing around near where we started. Another boat was nearby completely filled with Japanese tourists, as every time a dolphin went up for air, the exact chorus of “eeeh! Sugoi!” (wow, amazing!) was chimed. They really need more words to describe stuff in Japanese. I’m lucky I have a Thesaurus built into this Mac so you don’t have to hear me say *only* “amazing” over and over (astonishing, remarkable, phenomenal, etc)

I pondered Japanese tourists and people. They’re great, but extremely hard to meet or get to know. When they travel, the vast majority of them clump together and never venture out from their tour group; from which their entire trip and experience is taught to them and never really learnt. For example you can be given answers, but when you find them for yourself it’s more meaningful and varied.

But then sure you do meet some that stray from the group and take an English tour. These people are more adventurous, but I’ve learnt something unpleasant about them at the same time. I’ve met Australians, Chinese people, Vietnamese, European (various) and with all of them if you send an email the majority will respond. With Japanese people you will never hear from them again. At least in my experience and travels; I think I’m batting a 0% average so far, and I’ve met more than a handful already. I guess I’ve had more than similar experiences trying to date girls here, but I digress.

Having said that, I wasn’t surprised when the nice Japanese girls I met never did write me back, but the nice Chinese girl did. She’s studying in Australia and we got along well watching the dolphins and then later went 4x4ing. I was expecting something epic and cool in this mean machine, but it was more of a method to drive you straight from the bus to a sand hill. This beach was epic in size and beauty, and there were many kilometers of sand.

My new Chinese friend, Jackie and I rode down the sand hills a couple times. It was fun, but quite messy. I ended up getting sand in my camera, so I was shocked and scared when it started grinding when I turned it on and frequently gave me “lens error” messages. I dropped it on my trip too, almost popped it open. I hope it’s mostly ok now, but its days are numbered. I’ve had it for a year and took over 8000 photos already haha

Well this is when my awesome trip took a turn for the unfortunate. On the trip back many of us took naps as it was getting dark now, but when I woke up all the muscles in my face cried out in pain. I’ve never felt that before, nor have I realized how many individual muscles a face has, but it was a bad omen. I soon discovered most of my muscles were stiff and sore and my head was starting to throb.

That night there was a Aussie Rules Rugby game going on at Olympic Stadium. I was starting to feel quite bad and the game was one hour over by the time I got back, but I forced a “no regrets” mindset and struggled through it. At the main train station, there were about 24 different tracks, and all of them poorly marked beyond what number they were. “Where does this one go?” and “What time?” were mysteries.

One of the many station dudes was kept hopping, answering easy questions of “how do I get to …” with long and complicated answers. When I asked how to get to Olympic park, I had to go 100 meters or so just to find my tracks. Once there, I asked another dude if this train went to Olympic stadium: “get off at (blah blah) and take a bus at (blah blah) to the stadium”

Are you serious? You have an OLYMPIC stadium and no train access despite a couple dozen tracks in service? Not only that, but the next train would come in ½ hour.

I did the math: 3hr football games in Canada = X(time seeing game) – 1hr late – ½ hr train wait – ½ hr messing with a bus nonsense – ½ hr tickets, seating, walking, etc. + my head felt like a banana peel popping open. I cut my losses, earned the regret, and went back to my hostel. I spent the next 12 hours in bed covered in a cold sweat, plagued with funky dreams that the flu give you.

Actually this dream was kinda cool I thought: I was a director/screen writer/actor that was charged with making a comedy using my older brother John’s childhood for material. It was quite epic, as I said I was in a sweaty coma for 12 hours and not sure how much of that was spent dreaming. I went with a teenaged era theme to fit in as many crazy John stories as I could from when he was younger and older while having a coherent story.

There were epic paintball battles against my cousin Jerry in slow motion while matrix-style balls ripped holes into time and space, or crazy plays he made while playing football. Of course as his younger brother I had a role, but it was mostly him beating me up and being evil/hilarious; not to mention my sisters. Like how he tried to sell me dead batteries for $2, or got me into trouble nightly in our shared room until the parents broke us up and made me walk down the terrifying dark hallway to the parents’ room. Or burn everything he barbequed so that I had to cook almost every night while he played video games instead of me. Well maybe that part of the movie wasn’t as funny, but there are always ways to add a small twist to writing to make it more charming.

Anyways, my Sunday was suppose to be pretty cool with a trip to a huge zoo and taking Surfing lessons, but after a late start and going to the chemist (Aussie for “pharmacy”) for some cold medicine, I mostly just saw 2 movies in the theater. I laughed so hard at “Bruno” I was crying at one point. I was sick, but still able to move and do a little which was fortunate.

Although I checked out around 10, the dude saw I was suffering and offered to let me rest in bed until I was feeling better. I thought that was really nice of him, but I wanted to get something done while I was on holidays. That night I took a 12-hour overnight bus to Melbourne. I was fortunate the seat beside me was empty and that I did get some sleep.

"Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working." -Pablo Picasso

tnoy

My Outstanding Odyssey to Oz, Part 2: In and About Sydney

I started the day off right with a hearty Aussie Brekky. That’s what they call a breakfast for those wondering. In fact at tourist shops you can buy a whole book full of Aussie slang, like how a BBQ is a “Barbie” and so on. In this brekky was practically a loaf of break the toast was so thick, beans, hash browns, poached eggs, fried tomato, bacon, sausage, butter, orange juice and coffee.

There wasn’t much variety for the eggs like back home, and it seems like ketchup isn’t too popular there. The one time I did ask for ketchup to go with my Australian burger, they charged me like 30 cents extra. Australian burgers are cool too, they have beet (that purple vegetable) in the middle, and egg. But egg isn’t so strange to me on a burger anymore after all those delicious Brazilian burgers I’ve munched on in Japan.

I couldn’t finish the brekky thanks to my Japan-sized stomach and made my way downtown. I took the train there, and was somewhat unimpressed with it compared to other countries thus far. It was quite expensive (over $3 to save a 15 min walk), and the cops walking around everywhere coupled with warning signs and “night safe spot” being clearly marked on the ground didn’t make me feel very safe (although it’s suppose to have the opposite effect right?) One time I was waiting for the train, and it simply didn’t come, and everyone had to wait for the next one; it took about ½ hour. Well, more on the trains later.

I may have had plans again, but threw them out on the whim of doing other stuff. I went up the Sydney tower that morning while it was still cool and clear outside for optimal viewing. Before we went in, you could take a “virtual tour” of Australia in a theater with those hydraulic chairs meant to toss you around so you feel like you’re in the video. It was neat I suppose, with the aerial views and things you saw, but what caught my attention was a “space race” show being advertised. I knew I’d have to make a special detour to see that attraction, and got all excited, imagining the cool CG close-ups of planets and crazy celestial adventures it would take you on.

Luckily (?) the second part of the Virtual Australia Tour wasn’t working, so to make up for it they showed us the space race for free! I was excited, even if everyone in the theater couldn’t understand the announcer’s thick Asian accent explaining how the next ride would be a lot rougher. My finely tuned accent-understander made the most of it and I helped out others around me who didn’t know what the hell the guy in the front was saying to us all.

That aside, I got all excited when we loaded up into our future space craft, blasted off to the stars, got sucked into a wormhole… then somehow got stuck in this stupid space nascar track. My heart sank. So this was the space “race”. Such potential… ruined. The pilot suddenly seemed to degrade to a redneck nascar announcer, and I suffered through some annoying and pointless “racing” while the chairs angrily bounced us around. As angry and upset as I was, I found solace in that at least I didn’t go out of my way, wasting my time and paying good money to see this bile on the screen.

Disgusted, I couldn’t leave the theater fast enough when we predictably won the race (yay) and it was all over (thank god). I went up the tower after that, and basked in the beautiful surroundings. I’m not a fan of heights, but I love being up high for spectacular sights like this. That would explain why I always get window seats on the airplane and then proceed to take around a hundred photos each and every time. I should become a pilot maybe.

I was up there about an hour maybe. I lazily walked around, soaking up the surroundings. I just can’t do this city justice by saying it’s beautiful; there are no words for how I feel for what I saw. Later I bought an Aussie beer to compliment my relaxing on a chair, staring out onto the astounding world below me.

Since it was nearby, I made my way down to the IMAX. It has been years since I’ve been there, and I was hoping to see a movie. The Internet’s show listings were less than helpful, but I found a confusing schedule inside to help clear it up somewhat. Since I slept in, I missed an awesome movie documenting the space station, but there were still some cool shows playing. I ended up going to see “Under the Sea 3D”. All my experiences with 3D thus far have been poor attempts to scare you, and I hated those shows. Although skeptical, and was happily surprised when I went in, and it was definitely worth the $18 or so I paid for the hour.

I was sad I forgot my scuba license at home, but this easily made up for it. I can’t believe how awesome it was and how much potential 3D movies have. The fish were as large as buses and you felt you could touch them they were so close to you. They had volume, and schools of fish had dimensions. The only thing off, was if you tried to move your head to see different views of these incredible things coming out at you. Then the immersion was ruined because you were still staring at the same 3D picture. I ended up bracing my head, and grinned like a maniac for practically and hour I was so blown away. It was so good, and it didn’t do anything dumb to try and scare you and wreck the experience.

I wanted to see another show after, “The Alps” played, but I don’t think anything could top that 3D underwater adventure I just had. It followed some guy climbing some mountain; a near vertical cliff one mile straight up where his dad died when he was younger and took over 3 days to scale. It was kind of interesting I guess for the visuals alone, but I still think they’re a bunch of crazy idiots risking their life over something so small and trivial just to be able to say to their friends that they’ve done it. If there was some purpose to it, let’s say exploring new worlds, then I could support them.

But no, once you’re finished foolishly risking your life, the only thing left to do is go back down. Their over 3 days of climbing was so boring apparently, they only showed 10 minutes of footage of it: the “stress time” which included a slight slip of one foot and some snow that fell down. You know if something bad truly was going to happen, then the movie would get axed, so you kind of roll your eyes when they try to build tension. But everyone’s a critic. At least the visuals were good like I said, showing Swiss countryside from a helicopter and wonder waterfalls and so on. What a beautiful country.

It seemed most museums and stuff closed at 5, so I rushed on down to the Observatory near the center of the huge metropolis (odd to put it there when you consider the light pollution; but it is quite old and awesome) The view from the hill where it was perched was quite cool, as the picture can attest.

It wasn’t quite what I expected: a small/free museum, although there were movies showing. I was just in time and got in, and got my own private screening since I was alone. I got talking with the dude running the place, and we got into some awesome discussions about space and the exploration there of. Unfortunately the talks turned a bit political and he was happy I wasn’t American for that part: criticizing how people get angry with NASA for spending “too much money” when they hardly get a fraction of the defense budget for example.

Since I had taken an Astrology class and knew the basics that seem to get repeated over and over no matter where you go and try to do, he showed me some of the cooler videos like how space robotics are manufactured and the harsh extraterrestrial conditions they are forced to endure. Then there was another one trying to put into perspective just how big the universe is. I don’t think any human mind can fully comprehend it, no matter how good and startling these videos are made. It was still cool though. He then took me to the observatory.

Although the sun was shining, the telescope was strong enough to pierce the blue sky. I ended up seeing a close up of the sun, moon, Jupiter, and our closest neighbor: Alpha Centauri. I didn’t know it was a strange binary star system; that kind of kills the chances of planets being out there, with all the funky gravity stuff going on. Who knows though right? It was cool how he just punched into a keypad what he wanted to see, and the telescope automatically moved around to find it. If I have a ton of money and build my own house some day, it will definitely have an observatory.

I don’t remember what I did that night, and I don’t have pictures. I think I had a submarine sandwich and took it easy as I had a big tour the next day. Maybe this was the night the hostel had a party I wanted to go to, so I waited for it, but the departure time kept getting pushed back until I gave up and fell asleep. In retrospect it’s good that it was “cold” outside given how many kilometers I traversed. There is no way I could have done or seen as much if it was hot out; not to mention how much less I would have seen if I had spent some time on some of those famous beaches. Australia is a destination I definitely need to return to someday.

The next day, Friday the 31^st, I went on a daylong tour outside of the city to see the Blue Mountains. Apparently there was a mountain range out there that I didn’t know about, and it was really pretty, with some amazing history. Sydney was expanding but didn’t have the needed farmland. These mountainous cliffs proved to be impassable for decades, until finally an exploration group learnt from the natives what they did, and they offered some 60 convicts freedom if they could construct a road through them in 6 months. Australia was a nation built on convicts exported from Britain after all. Oh and they look blue because of something in the air. I didn’t notice it too much when I was there, but there is a strong tint on my pictures that turned out of the area.

Our tour guide was a cool Aussie and a Biologist, so he had all kinds of cool insight for us. But the best part was they tried to give us a real experience, and pointed out the tourist traps and their tricks. For example when we got to massive, colossal gorge, he pointed out a couple rock formations called “the 3 sisters” or something, and the tourist-trap park behind them.

First we went down into the valley to have tea and biscuits while watching wild Kangaroos bounce by. This was my first time to see them in the wild; they’re such peaceful creatures. Their legs are freakishly huge and out of proportion with their bodies, but they’re cute and friendly enough to overlook that. We saw two adults and a joey. And watched them gracefully and quietly bounce and graze.

Our tour split into two shortly after. There was something of an “advanced” and “easy” hike offered. One was a 3-hour hike through the valley, and the other had the bus ferry you around to points of interest for 10-minute stints. I went on the advanced tour and enjoyed an amazing nature hike.

There was surprisingly little wild life on the path that we took, but we enjoyed the foliage and the experience immensely. He talked a lot about the many eucalypti trees and how they populate the continent. They’re the only things Koalas will eat, and incidentally makes their meat somewhat toxic, as Koala’s spend a lot of their time sleeping and being high on drugs. When Australia was first discovered by Captain Cook, the whole continent seemed to be on fire, as the natives would make controlled fires regularly so that they wouldn’t get caught up in a big one and die.

These trees love fire. It’s so odd; I never would have thought that of flammable organisms, or anything living for that matter. They grow their bark so it’s thick, dry and flammable, and the major way for them to spread their seeds is during a fire, when their huge acorn pod things retract from the heat, opening so the seeds can fly out. We were shown multiple patches where fires came through and sure enough the trees were all very much alive, even if they were heavily scarred by black ashes. Talk about having an evil neighbor; these things were everywhere.

We learnt about community fire halls and how they bring people together. It’s somewhat ironic huge communities grow together through something so horrible, but nice at the same time to share such a deep bond. Massive deadly fires are a big part of the Australian culture I have learnt.

While walking through the cavern, it was really beautiful. I of course took too many photos, but I couldn’t help it. Many parts had fantastic stone staircases, and one crevice was spotted with circular scars. What would happen, was rocks would fall down into the deep crack, where it would stir and stir in the water between the two walls; incidentally carving these large round holes. The mountains are mostly sandstone, so it’s not too strong, and lets water filter through it like a sponge. When you see cross sections that have broken away, you could tell the paths that water would take with a flurry of colours and designs as the water would be filtered in the sandstone; leaving its sediment and whatever behind.

Because we were a young, strong group, the tour guide was able to push us even further until we got to see a lovely little waterfall built into the enclave. It was a real treat having him show us around. To finish, we went to the tourist trap spot and like I said, many of us rolled our eyes at what some other people were unfortunate to pay money to see, and thanked him for the experience we all shared.

I love going on little tour groups like this now. Sure there is a lot to take away when you travel by yourself, but it’s also nice to have a van pick you up and take you an hour or two out of the city for a guided tour of something interesting and then take you back that night. You can do it yourself but maybe you won’t learn as much and the hassle and transportation involved to make the trip out yourself there almost costs as much as the guided tour.

Not to mention you meet an eclectic group of people whom are all traveling just like you. You can spot the couples immediately, and many of them unfortunately shun the rest of the group on many occasions. There is value in traveling alone, and you can spot those people right away. They’re friendly, ready to talk, and ready to share life stories with you while you experience something new and fun together.

"The problem in my life and other people's lives is not the absence of knowing what to do, but the absence of doing it." -Peter Drucker

tnoy