Where Globe-Trotting meets Beach-Combing
To be quite truthful, I had high expectations for this trip to Thailand—high expectations in the way of seeing people in unusual hats going about their daily business. As such, the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market a couple hours west of Bangkok was a complete success, even if ‘going about their daily business’ includes selling other…
I’m not sure what to say about Pattaya’s Walking Street. I’d heard the city was a little rough, and I’ve reported on my share of stories about sex trafficking and rape. But to see the realities of what seemed like an entire nation prostituting out it’s own girls was sickening. Usually in port I see…
One of my favorite things we did in Thailand was ride an elephant across a river and through some jungle. When I was in high school at the ridiculous Texas Renaissance Festival there was a small circuit where you could pay $5 and ride an elephant or camel. I really wanted to…but it seemed so…
Now I’ll start at the beginning. I left my house around 5:30am and took a train to Yokohama, where I caught the express train for Narita Airport, then took off for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I stocked up on my favorite Origin’s face scrub and wandered through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Jungle Boardwalk, then realized…
Chris and I found each other in Thailand for too few days—just one night in Bangkok. We wandered through the markets near our hotel, sifting through teak, carved wooden elephants and yards of silk. Ultimately we ended up at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. About $12 USD bought us a gyro (Chris), green chicken Thai…
“If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.” ~Japanese ProverbToday’s chado lesson began with folding the fukusa, or silk cloth used to ritually purify the tea utensils. We also learned how to fold the white chakin and clean the tea bowl. We stoically poured water from the…
Just a few hours into the Autumnal Equinox a cool front rolled in. Temperatures plunged from 95 degrees Fahrenheit to 66 degrees; cold rain marched across the Kanto Plain. Japan celebrates September’s full moon—the harvest moon—as the symbol of fall, along with ginkgo and maple leaves, grape vines, decorative grasses and bunnies (instead of the…
