The Alaska Adventure - Part I

Day 1

So because some of my classes break in August, and Brandon is away for training, I decided to take a little trip.  I was homesick for Mexican food and English and bookstores, a little stir-crazy, and ready for a break from a suffocating, muggy Japanese summer filled with the constant drone of cicadas.  Last year, I had spent a couple weeks with my husband in Alaska and fallen in love.  I had done a lot, seen a lot, but was by no means done with it.  Flying north for the summer was perfect.  And two of my friends were up for it.  Sadly, only one could make it because our departure date was unexpectedly shifted.  A space-A flight was docketed to leave in a couple days.  About a week earlier than planned, but still.  We got excited, started making plans. 

Then, pretty late that night, we learned that the flight had been rescheduled for 4 AM the following morning.  I biked home immediately, slightly buzzed from Wine Wednesday.  

Somehow, we both managed to pack our things and to show up at the terminal on time, and with a couple hours of sleep to boot. One flight for Elmendorf, Alaska.  We were thrilled.  It was happening!  We checked luggage, got tickets, and were getting ready to board.  Then an announcement came on.

This plane is not going to Alaska.  It’s going to Seattle.

The other passengers made small efforts for our sake to hide their excitement at this unexpected change.  We’ll wait for the next one, I said.  Bound to be something else going out soon.  We started the process of getting back our luggage. Disappointment started to creep in.  We watched the others who were buzzing with excitement, ready to depart, to take flight.  My friend and I exchanged glances. 

I’ve never been to Seattle, she said. 

I’ve wanted to go back, I said. 

And then we were running back to the counter, asking could you please let us back on the plane?  We want to go!

The flight was 9 hours of hurry up and wait, with no way of knowing where to stay or how to get around once we landed, which happened to be in the earliest hours of the morning in Seattle.

No lodging on or around base had vacancies.  But, there was an airport shuttle coming for its last pickup.  The terminal would be locking its doors behind us. 

An irritable old man who drove the shuttle informed us that we were in luck- there were two no-shows for the ride to SEA-TAC.  We went to the USO, which I have never stopped by before now, feeling awkwardly undeserving of their services.  We were able to get a shower, store our luggage, and use their computers to book a room at a Motel 6 for a couple nights.  We would have to wait for e very cheap fare to Anchorage to pop up, but that gave us a few days to explore Seattle. 

Everyone at the USO was incredibly kind and helpful. It is definitely a much- needed service for all the families trying to get on the rotator out to Japan or Korea, and it is staffed with sweet old veterans who had some interesting local stories to share, as well as directions and advice. 

After laying out a plan for the next couple of days, we decided to head downtown and enjoy the day since we were wired from the flight and had several hours until check-in.  We were able to browse around Pike Place market, which was infinitely more peaceful and quaint in the quiet early morning hours when many merchants were still setting up. 

We walked over to the Space Needle, decided against going up in it and were walking to the EMP museum when something strange happened.  A one-legged monk clad in orange robes hobbled over to us on crutches.  He grabbed our hands without warning and began chattering away in Thai mixed with a few English words, and it seemed that he was praying.  He slipped bracelets onto our hands.  Right on cue, he then produced a booklet and started plying us for donations.

Now I’ve seen plenty of monks travelling through Asia, and this is not how they behave.  I was too stunned, confused, and wary of knocking the old hobbling man over to pull away quickly, but I did not see any other monks with him, which was strange.  Just then a man in a uniform started shouting.

Hey!  You! Get out of here!  Girls, don’t give him any money.  A radio squawked in his hand.  The fake monk is back.  Yep, the one on the crutches.  Hey, we already 86’d you, you need to leave!

The security guard later explained that there were a whole pack of them, who the local Bhuddist temples had claimed no association with, going around pick-pocketing tourists and panhandling.  He would’ve had a hard time getting anything off of us, luckily, but he limped off so quickly he left the beaded bracelets on our wrists, my favorite souvenir from Seattle. 

But back to the EMP museum.  A perfect distraction for our jetlagged, sleepless state, the museum featured exhibits in music, sci-fi, and pop-culture.  They had original props and costumes from several of the biggest franchises and movies in fantasy, horror, and sci-fi.  An entire, sprawling exhibit was dedicated to Star Trek.  There was a gallery showing the evolution of the guitar, and hand- scrawled lyrics from Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana.  A special exhibit showcased wearable art, which had several mannequins sporting fantastical and totally impractical ‘clothes’.

Yep, those are bras.

 They even had a room for indie games, which Seattle has been a hotspot for.  Several systems were set up to allow visitors to play a wide array of the newest, quirkiest independently developed video games. 

I’ve been to a few futuristic and interactive events at the Emerging Sciences museum in Tokyo, but the EMP is by far one of the coolest museums I’ve been to. 

After that we stopped by the Chihuly glass museum.  I’m not really that nuts about glass, but the large displays are impressive, and the gardens would’ve been beautiful to visit at night. 

Totally burnt out at this point, we wandered back to the Motel 6 and, after an epic battle of wills with Bon Qui Qui, who manned the front desk, were able to check in and sleep. 

Day 2

The next day, we rented a cheap car and took off for Olympic National Park.  Now, it is recommended that to see the highlights of the park you need at least a 1 night stay.  We did it in one very long, determined day. 

Not for the faint of heart

First stop was Port Angeles, to get a map from the visitor’s center there.  From there it’s a straightforward drive up to Hurricane Ridge, with great mountain views.  

Then you head out to Lake Crescent, although there’s a bit of a shortcut off the main highway that can save miles and time. 

The water is very blue and clear

We made a quick stop to hike in to Sol Duc Falls, in an old-growth forest that pictures just don’t do justice. 

Then we hurried on to the Hoh Rain Forest, but to get there you have to pass through Forks.

My 13 year-old self would have freaked out

I was actually surprised that the Twilight hype seems to have died down to reasonable levels around there.

We had time to do the Hall of Mosses, and not much more.  But it was a dreamy walk. 

It's an Ent!

Back up to Forks, we decided to take a risk and see if we could make it to Rialto Beach with time to spare.  The beach is on the Quileute reservation, and there were a couple cheeky signs that referenced the books I’m sure they’re sick to death of hearing about.  

I’m so glad that we took the detour to Rialto beach.  It was so different than any other scenery that day.  What had been a warm, clear, sunny day changed immediately to fog, cold winds, and a mysterious beach with the color drained right out of it.  It was beautiful. 

The rental car was due at 11:30 PM, and we rolled in at 11:15.  After more haggling with Bon Qui Qui, we got our shuttle to pick us up and take us back to the Motel 6, to sleep.  Or at least pretend to sleep after passing some very high, creepy people in the halls and listening to what sounded like violent tap dance in the room above us. 

 
Day 3

We had a late flight out, so in the morning we enjoyed some famous Seattle coffee, and took one of the Underground tours, which is really interesting.  We checked out a couple adorable shops and bookstores around Pioneer Square, and killed some time in the free Gold Rush museum.  Apparently a lot of people stopped in Seattle to outfit their gold mining parties and book passage to Alaska, so it seemed oddly appropriate that we read up on some of that history.  We stopped by Pike’s Place once more to ogle the array fresh veggies and flowers, had lunch on the pier, then headed to the airport again. 

Once we landed in Anchorage, very late, we took a cab to the Arctic Adventure Hostel, which was clean, reasonably close to downtown, and cheap, and was a great place for us to hit the ground in Anchorage and plan our next steps.  It had taken 3 days, but we had made it to Alaska!  


To be continued.

- Brooke

Voodoo Bayou / New Orleans Halloween

I thought I’d make an actual blog post of this year’s Halloween party, because last year I didn’t take any pictures, mostly because of the low light conditions, and this year I had a lot of fun with the theme and learned a bit in the process. 

Our little voodoo altar

 

nothing sinister going on here...

I wanted to make a tree for our ‘bayou’ area and was pretty inspired by a pin of a creepy tree made with a cement form and celluclay.  So I got one cylinder cement form, sawed in half, and made it so it could be unstacked and stored easily with a cardboard inner connector- thing. I didn’t have any celluclay and I wanted a slightly more gnarled look for my tree, so I (and a very helpful friend!) used a couple bottles of expanding foam (Great Stuff in the states) and some crumpled up newspaper to make roots, extra mass, and something for the foam to grab onto.  The surface of the cement forms does not like the foam, so a coat of primer on that might also work.  After it dried, on went the brown, then grey spray paint.  If I had more room and I wasn’t so impatient I may have primed it, and then applied the foam all over in sections with the cylinder on its side. That would probably look good as well. 

It didn’t really look so hot until some moss was slapped on there.   Cheapest place online was SaveOnCrafts, but their Spanish moss left much to be desired.  A big box of the fresh stuff wasn’t as accessible here, unfortunately.  For the branches I wanted something lightweight, cheap, and quick – and pool noodles were on sale! They were hung from the ceiling, and this method would have worked much better if not for my shitty drop ceiling. 

I intended to make more sprawling, beautiful branches, but, real life, dangit.    

After searching around for camo netting in vain, I broke down and bought one of those cheap fake hedges.  I took some cheesecloth and dyed it with food coloring and coffee and draped it around for a swampy effect, and got some greens and vines from the Daiso.  At this point I was getting a little stingy but with as dark as it was I think it sufficed.

I couldn’t do a New Orleans theme without trying to replicate a beautiful mausoleum.

This project was a learning process. 

I learned that I hate Styrofoam.  I hate cutting it, cleaning it up, soldering pretty lines into it, making a downright spectacle of myself trying to fit it into my tiny car, and most especially, I hate painting it.

After it ate one can of spray paint, I tried to apply it to its textured surface with several different brushed and sponges, in a tedious, infuriating process.  I actually made two of these tombs, but after painting one I decided to save the other for next year. 

 

Saving up lots of expletives for next year.

The sign is based closely on a real one in New Orleans.  And the voodoo dolls were based on authentic ones (more creepy than cute).

I turned our tub into a mini swamp complete with a corpse (again, coffee and food coloring).

On the menu we had southern fare like jambalaya, gumbo, cornbread, voodoo doll cookies, and plenty of hurricanes (It was a potluck and lots of other things too).

I had a blast and despite the work and having absolutely no idea what I’m doing, I really enjoyed making all of this, especially when I can enjoy it coming together with a group of fabulously lunatic friends but I seriously need to start in July from now on.  I didn’t get inspired until late August and that is not soon enough!  But next year, fingers crossed, we will be able to drive ten minutes to Home Depot where everything is in English and then it’s game on.

I’ll make a separate post for the costume I made; it’s still not 100% finished, and I definitely need to make repairs before Shibuya. 

Cambodia

We were long overdue for a getaway, so this February we finally made it out to Cambodia!

Getting to Cambodia was fairly easy.  It was a seven hour flight to Singapore (free!), and a 2 hour cheap flight the next morning.  Our stopovers in Singapore were the bookends of our trip, and though our time there was very limited, it’s an impressive destination in itself and I’m sure we will be passing through again in the future.  We took a romantic late night stroll through the botanic gardens, which was somewhat illuminated. But most of our time en route was spent in Changi Airport. 

Oh, Changi Airport.

How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways. 

Swimming pool, check.  Nap area with reclined seating, check.  Plenty of outlets, short immigration and security lines, touchscreen rating systems, movie screenings, check! 

But that’s not all ---there's a butterfly garden!!

Yes, people actually build those, and this one was amazing.  And I probably would have missed out on that, and the fun social tree, if a friend hadn't clued me into it.  (thanks!  J)

But anyways, moving on. 

Siem Reap

Entry to Siem Reap was a little slow, if you have the time I recommend doing the online tourist visa ahead of time so you can get out of the airport quicker.  As far as trip details, 4 nights in Siem Reap felt adequate, though we were reluctant to leave and could have happily stayed much longer.  We stayed in a gorgeous hotel, Golden Temple Residence, which was in a good location. They also had nightly performances of traditional dance, which was great.  Mostly we stayed there because my better half is a bit of a hotel snob, but I’d like to try one of those $8 guesthouses sometime.  February was a good time to go, weather is starting to get a bit hot, but it’s still the dry season.

Around Town

I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tank tops, tie pants, and other touristy goods for sale along the streets.  Our favorite area to shop was the Noon Night Market, that’s a little walk from Pub Street.  The vendors here were much easier to barter with and friendlier, than what we experienced in Thailand and even Bali.  I’m a little disappointed we didn’t make it home with a whole stuffed crocodile, but there are a lot of fun things to buy here.  Our favorite was a cobra eating a scorpion in a jar.  The husband and I make a pretty damn good haggling team.  Guess which is the bad cop and which is the good cop?  :)   The Sombai shop is even worth checking out, even though asking prices are a little steep.    They sell infused rice-liquors that are pretty tasty. 

Pub Street and the surrounding area was a blast, we loved the decidedly relaxed standards of dress and the throngs of young people milling about, tuk-tuk drivers vying for attention, traditional music playing in the streets, fish pedicure tanks and massage parlors lining the road.  A few carts that sold fried tarantulas, grubs, and giant locusts drew small crowds that would linger for a moment and then think better of it. 

Our favorite bar was by far Asana, which is in an alley called The Lane, between 7 and Pub Street.  It’s in an old wooden house and is a very chill place to hang out, and the original cocktails use very regional ingredients like tamarind, sugar cane juice, and ginger.  We also liked the more upscale Miss Wong’s, and enjoyed people-watching on Pub Street at the outward-facing Temple Bar.       

Out and About

On our first morning there, we rose early and watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat.  That was one of the highlights of the trip, mostly because of the perpetual haze that seemed to cover the sky in Cambodia.  We spent the rest of the day walking around the Angkor area, until we were beat.  Ta Phrom was, of course, another amazingly beautiful set of ruins, overrun with strangler figs.  Popularized in the Tomb Raider movie years ago, it was a crowded stop on the route, but did not disappoint.  It was surreal to visit a location that I’d seen on TV as a kid and been like, “Whoa where IS that???”

Ta Phrom strangler figs

The next morning we took a break from temples and took an ATV tour out in the countryside.  We took a 4 hour tour, which was a wonderful way to spend the morning, with great views of rice paddies and rural life in the surrounding villages.  Everywhere we went, kids would run out from their houses, which were often on stilts, to wave to us or try to get as close to touching the quads as possible, trying to beat out their siblings.  We occasionally saw kids as young as 3 wandering about the fields with no adult as far as the eye could see.  Some of the houses had scarecrows posted out in front, pointing an arm down the road, which apparently people put out to misdirect bad spirits.  By the end of the day we were covered in the fine red dust of the roads, but we had a great morning.

The ATV tour is a must-do.  I didn’t see much advertising for dirt bike tours, but the quality of the roads and the traffic is good enough that I would encourage anyone to give it a try, if you can find a dirt bike rental place.  

We also stopped by a local market, where the locals go for food, and looked around a bit, tried some curry.  How we didn’t end up with food poisoning, I’ll never know.

On our last full day, we took a bit of a day trip out to Koh Ker and Beng Melea, opting to skip some of the more local temples.  Beng Melea was a bit of a tourist spot, but Koh Ker was mercifully deserted.  Sometimes we had ruins all to ourselves.  They were both excellent spots to visit, and I’m glad we got away from the Angkor area hordes for a day, but in my opinion, Koh Ker stood out, though it is very underrated, and we got some of our favorite shots in that area. 

One of the coolest stops in the Koh Ker area

In front of Beng Melea

After this day, we were officially templed-out.

Phnom Penh

Finally, it was time to catch our short hop down to Phnom Penh, which I think both of us had been sort of dreading.  We knew we were on our way to learn more about Cambodia’s dark and very recent past, and to pay our respects to the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, and though it was important to both of us, we still wanted to linger in sunny Siem Reap a little longer. 

We spent two nights at Phnom Penh, which was totally adequate for us.  An ambitious person could even see the highlights in two days, and one night.  And by highlights, I mean things that will mostly depress the hell out of you. 

On the first morning we visited the Choung Ek Killing Field and museum, and after that headed to the S21 Tuol Sleng genocide museum.  As hard as it was to come face to face with something that horrible without breaking down in public, I think they are both places that anyone visiting the country should go.  Everything about these places was heartbreaking, and they really deserve their own post, so perhaps more on that another time. Also I’m afraid my keyboard will get water damage typing about it.  If I had to do it over, I would probably visit S21 and then Choung Ek, because S21 deserves a lot of time to fully appreciate, and it would also match the path that some of the Khmer Rouge’s victims would have taken. 

Royal Palace area

The other noteworthy things in Phnom Penh are in the Riverside area, which is a nice place to take a stroll or find a bite to eat.  You can spend about an hour touring the grounds of the Royal Palace, and the nearby National Museum, which has beautiful gardens, deserves a couple of hours of time as well. 

Good Eats

While in town, we made sure to visit Friends, a tapas spot near the National Museum, and Romdeng, a restaurant run by the same organization near the Royal Palace.  These places and their branches in Siem Reap and Sihanoukville train at-risk youth as waiters and chefs at their establishments.  It’s a good cause, and some serious good eats, well worth the money.  At Romdeng, you can even order tarantulas, but we opted for the less frightening tree ant stir-fry. 

Wrapping up the Trip

We didn’t have much time in Singapore on our return, but we still managed to make it to the Marina Bay Sands area to watch the laser show and admire the skyline.  It was a nice note to end the trip on.  I realized how incredibly lucky we were to be watching Singapore at night, after an amazing trip in Cambodia, on our way home to Japan.  I never imagined I’d get these kinds of opportunities to see the world without taking the backpacking option.  Singapore reminded me so much of clean, futuristic Tokyo, and yet, the main language was English, the beautiful variety of people was reminiscent of California, and people seemed a lot more talkative and relaxed on the train.  I’d be excited to revisit this city with such diverse cultural influences. 

If you've been, what was your impression of Singapore?  What about Cambodia?  I’d like to hear from you if you've been to these places too!

Kyoto

Back in April, the husband's parents and brother came out to visit us, *yay!* and I'm just getting around to writing about it...It was a memorable couple of weeks and it was so special that we got to share this Japan experience in a very real way with family.  We showed them around Tokyo a bit and towards the end of his parent’s stay we took a trip down to Kyoto.  We purchased a package from our local ITT office which included the shinkansen (bullet train) tickets and our hotel reservations.  The shinkansen ride was about as cool as I’d hoped it would be.  We started pretty early, so by the time we got checked in it was still early afternoon.

I had sort of mapped out a travel route using the city bus system, which was fine, but the next time we visit we might opt for a taxi to cut back on travel time.  The bus wasn't all bad, really.  They had a day pass you could buy on the bus that was convenient and the bus stops had routes that were easy to understand.  But the ubiquitous tourist maps of the city aren't really drawn to scale; after riding around the first day we started to really get how spread out some of the main attractions are. 

 

Here it looks so tiny and manageable.

We started off our afternoon at Kiyomizudera Temple, an UNESCO World Heritage site.  Before visiting, I had asked many of my students and acquaintances what their favorite temple in Kyoto was and a clear majority had chosen Kiyomizudera, a Buddhist temple set on a dramatic hillside stage which offers sweeping views of the city.  I had heard the Japanese saying “To jump off the stage at Kiyomizu,” but it wasn’t until much later that I learned its meaning; it refers to an Edo-period tradition of people actually jumping off this stage, because it was said that if you survived the fall, you would have a wish granted.  Apparently most survived. 

The only off-putting factor was the very crowded walk up the hill to Kiyomizudera, lined with what ended up being just too many souvenir shops.  This street was actually listed as a popular attraction on Tripadvisor.  In reality it was a shuffling human funnel that was really touristy and the wares were not authentic and many of them seemed non-essential.  Except the sweet shops; they can stay.  I don’t have anything against sweets! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the food here. 

Also, fun fact: there was not a single nail used in the building of this temple. 

Next we wandered on over to Sanjusangen-do, or Hall of the Lotus King, although the name is literally referring to the extravagant length of this Buddhist temple.  It houses 1,000 Kannon statues, which look identical, in neat little rows.  The front row consists of statues of Hindu deities, and I probably could have spent a little more time on reading the mythology information on each one, but that would have made for a long stay.  There was no photography inside the temple, and everyone was very quiet and respectful while walking through the hall.  Out of the lot that I’ve visited, this one felt the most temple-ish.  You could really feel the age of the place and despite being a tourist attraction the atmosphere was a lot more solemn. And if you go, please remember to bring socks, because shoes are not allowed.  (I forgot, I know, eww.)

The last major stop on our list for the day was Ginkaku-ji, also known as the Silver Pavillion, another World Heritage site.  No, unfortunately, it’s not covered in silver.  But it did have beautiful grounds and a very prominent sand garden.  We shut it down and took the bus back to the Gion district, which was near our hotel, and decided to take a scenic walk back, stopping briefly at Yasaka shrine, which was nice, but ultimately skippable. We strolled through the cobblestone streets of Gion, which was lined with what mostly looked like expensive Japanese restaurants.  I caught a glimpse of what must have been a geisha ducking into a fine-looking establishment, but there was literally a throng of people swarming to that door to try and get a picture of her, so I contented myself with a glimpse.  By then it was dark and we had had a full day.  

The next day we started early again, trying to beat the crowds to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion, yet another World Heritage site. It is ridiculous how many this city can claim! 17!  Seriously!

But it was crowded at opening time, with no surprise: it’s one of Japan’s most iconic sights, and even though it was difficult getting a snapshot without including 200 other people who were there to see the same thing, it was a must-see.

From there we went downhill to Ryoan-ji, The Temple of The Dragon at Peace, (and, yup, World Heritage site) which is famous for its rock garden.  There has been much speculation over this zen garden and its layout, as to what it symbolizes, or why that arrangement was chosen, but it’s primary purpose seems to be to incite meditation.  And the other gardens surrounding the temple are very pleasant. To my surprise I was very fond of this one, as it was not crowded, had a very peaceful atmosphere, and had beautiful painted paper screens that looked ancient.  Sitting on the veranda contemplating a real-life rock garden (like, the only real one I've seen outside of Pier 1) is also highly underrated. 

A short walk downhill we did see the entrance to Ninna-ji Temple, which was massive, but I had made a small error on the bus route situation so we decided to not go inside and instead head back to the hotel so that we could catch our midday train to Hiroshima on time.

 The trip was a success, in my book, especially since we had two half-days to explore the city and I feel like everything we saw was worth it.  My only disappointment was missing Fushimi Inari Shrine, which I think warrants another trip sometime in the next year.