2008: Brighton, the seaside playground

On a sunny seaside day,
There will be no other place to play.
Brighton I come to you
When things are just too blue
Walk along the boardwalk
And your small whimsy streets.
I know time floats on a hot air balloon
Never caring about the people below.

Note: This post was more of a throwaway. I just wanted to test out my new template layout. Still working on bits and pieces (header graphic, color palette), but I think I got the gist of it.

2008: Jane, the Florence clone

This picture is of Jane the Indonesian/Australian happa I met on my Halong Bay boat trip. When I met Adam on the day I was going to Halong Bay, even he remarked upon the similarity. I don't have a clear picture of her, but this is the best one I could find. Anyways, she's a lifeguard on a beach somewhere and she is crazy about kayaking, she always insisted on going solo. Another crazy coincidence is that she is also allergic to gluten, though Florence does eat it now. Anyways, this is one of my traveling companions that I met along the way.

2008: Pho in Hanoi

Dear Bowl of Pho,

Thank you for providing the the sweet relief of satisfying my hunger during this late night in Hanoi. I had just come back from a horrible, yet interesting trip to Halong Bay. The nerve of those people to charge for clean water where the only other source of water was from the sea. Thank you for being delicious with your layers of beef, bean sprouts, herbs, and rich broth. The street outside is noisy like every other Hanoi street but never mind the noise. Thanks for being satisfying and cheap like the hooker standing on the other side of the street would be.

Yours,
Traveling Minstrel

2007: Tsukiji Fish Market

The sun hadn't risen yet this morning. It is dark outside. Below the hostel room, I see the old tilt-n-whirl. Its light dimmed after all the excitement from yesterday. My traveling companion, Adam, is in the bathroom washing up. Our other hostel roommates must have stayed out all night as their beds were empty. I trip over my suitcase and curse my drowsiness. Today is the day we are going to the Tsukiji Fish Market and we are already late. I walk slowly down the outside hallway toward the bathroom with toothbrush in tow; my feet cold from the cement. Across the railing are more rooms and below is the small hostel garden. I see Adam walking back from the bathroom and we grunt in greeting.

"We're late", I mumble.
He shrugs.

I brush up in the bathroom. Being in Japan, this bathroom was cleaner than normal. Clean white tiles on the floor. Shower stalls are well ventilated. The mirrors hung on industrial concrete walls. I hurry back to the room to put on my socks and shoes. Adam must be downstairs eating breakfast. I take the elevator down. I stare at the advertisement for a tempura restaurant inside. It has a picture of a bowl of tempura and the word happy amid a bunch of Japanese. I push my index finger against 'happy' hoping today would be just as good as the rest of this trip has been.

The elevator opens up into the lobby and dining area. Adam is chatting up the morning receptionist Yuki. He is leaning in against the counter and smiling awfully wide for this early in the morning.

"Oh, really? Harajuku... Yea I wanted to buy some toys for my brother. He is a huge Gundam fan. Not me though. I just want to eat and soak in hot springs this trip.", says Adam, grinning toothily.

Yuki smiles awkwardly and agrees, "Yes. Harajuku area good for toys and unique items.".

If I didn't know better I'd think he was flirting with the idea of dating a Japanese girlfriend.

"Hey, man. Let's get going.", I say. I smile to Yuki in greeting.

"So.. I'm going to the hot springs town tomorrow. What are you going to do for the next two days?" asks Adam.

"Probably do a day trip to this outdoor hot springs I read about online. Suppose to be pretty good. Other than that, eat my way through Tokyo. More sushi. Although, no more tempura. I don't need to have an elderly waitress giving me scornful looks." I chuckle.

"Hey! She had in for me. I bought the most expensive meal. I should have gotten a geisha serving me!"

"Dude. You paid 30,000 yen not 300,000 yen. Maybe the next trip when you come back as a millionaire." He laughs.

We walk past the adult theater behind the hostel. Being the Asakusa temple area, I found it funny that there were so many vices in this vicinity. Questionable theaters, pachinko parlors, and plenty of bars. At least it's fairly quiet and close to a subway line.

As we get on the subway, Adam turns on his ipod and pushes his cap below his eyes. I reach into my bag and start reading my Lonely Planet: Japan for the hundredth time.

******************************

Upon reaching the stop to reach Tsukiji Fish Market, the sun is already up and out. Adam forges ahead. There are cargo carriers zipping all around the warehouses. The smell of salt is pervasive. It isn't as fishy as I thought. I have my trusty camera in hand, but there hasn't been any fish yet. I reach into my pocket for my cell phone. It's 7am. We missed the auction.

"Hey, try over there. There are some lights over there." I yell to Adam. The noise is like the sound of traffic. Loud.

We pass some stalls selling knives and finally make it to the fish. There was fish everywhere. Small fish, big fish. Fish in tanks, fish on ice. There was even an octopus tank. We see a young Japanese man buying a large fish. The old lady promptly wraps it up for him. After walking past several stalls, I spot a huge tuna being carved up on my right. It's probably as big as my twin bed. It is the first time I saw a fish that big.

"Let's get some sushi. I read that there are good morning sushi stalls around here." I yell. He nods. It's too loud to really hear anything.

We make our way toward the main road and there are stalls with fish displayed proudly and patrons hunched over in enjoyment. We sit down at a stall at the end of the road and order. There is an English menu and I get the uni-tuna set. Adam picks the tuna set. The chef is recommending the fatty tuna set to Adam but Adam isn't really understanding what the chef is saying. Adam just keeps pointing at the tuna breakfast on the menu. The chef resigns himself to defeat and starts making our orders.

I get my uni-tuna set. It is the first time I will eat sushi for breakfast. Good. Very good. Melt in your mouth tuna and perfectly briny uni. A good start to another Japanese morning. I'd say so.

2005: The S-bahn

So with my sporadic blog posts, I thought that I might as well share some stories about my travels and life. The above picture is taken on the S-bahn in Stuttgart. I don't exactly remember if this was taken going to Schwabstrasse from Mitte or from Uni. Either way, I have some very exciting stories and also mundane stories aboard the S-bahn during my time in Germany.

In the beginning of the Amsterdam weekend, we all gathered to meet to take the S-bahn together to Hauptbahnhof. I remember it was fairly early on a Friday. My sister was in Stuttgart at the time and I think we were all packed. After having been in Germany for so long, I didn't even think of taking my passport out when I traveled. It just didn't occur to me since every weekend we would go somewhere in Baden Wuerttenberg or Bayern. No passport required. Anyways on the way to Schwabstrasse, someone mentioned passports and I completely freaked out because I know I don't have mine. I think it was Milos who brought it up. I got off at Schwabstrasse and called Jacek. He had my room key for some reason. I don't exactly remember. Maybe to borrow some stuff while I was on the trip. Anyways, I asked him to meet me halfway to the subway stop with my passport. I ran from the Unit station to meet. I remember I was very out of breath and tired. It was a foggy, wet autumn day. So I was wet too. I got back on the S-bahn all the way to the main train station and barely made the train with 2 minutes to spare. Very exciting to say the least.

I have also seen my share of people caught without a ticket. The way the transportation system works in Germany is based on an honor system. There are no turn stiles but you have to have a ticket to legally board the train. As a student worker, I had a monthly pass I had to buy every month. The ticket checkers aren't always there. They appear about once every two weeks. The fine back then was forty euros, which was about the price of a monthly pass. Anyways, I remember seeing two Americans without tickets or passports. Without passports they were taken into police custody. They were checked on the train from Mitte to Schwabstrasse. They had to get off with the train police at Schwabstrasse. No handcuffs though.

Another story I have about the train is throwing up in Ludwigsburg. My co-worker at Bosch invited me to the Weihnachtsmarkt there and we had Gluehwein (spiced mull wine). Anyways it didn't sit very well and I had to stop once on our trip home to throw up in the trash can. Sven was a very nice guy. I wish him all the best wherever he is.

The S-bahn was my constant source of transportation in Stuttgart. My friends and I would take it anywhere in the area. It was the way to travel longer distances within the Stuttgart metropolitan area. There was one thing that's pretty interesting about the S-bahn is that there is a first class. I would see the suit types in first class. It was basically two booths closed off by glass. Their chairs were larger but I think first class in public transportation is funny.