Happy Holidays everyone. Well, it sounds like you have all been enjoying Brad's wit and charm online, I thought I would broadcast a quick update, as it is a rare occurrence we have internet access and Brad is not feeling so hot. Today is my birthday... the ripe ol age of 33. Last year, I would not have guessed that this is where I would be. I am sitting in a hotel in Vellore, the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu. My ears are being soothed by the sweet sound of Indian traffic.. honk honk honk in as many versions as you can imagine. The power has gone out 3 times as I have been sitting here on the computer.. likely just "switching lines", the air con is blasting and my guts are turning.
Brad arranged a special birthday night in a nice hotel. We had been looking forward to this for several days, planning on taking advantage of the laundry service, having hot showers, dining in the roof top cafe.. and maybe having a few beverages! (the garden of peace is a "dry" zone.. as many places are around here). While we did get to enjoy some of it... I came down with the flu the night before our booking. We managed to get here.. although I didn't tell Brad.. I was ready to cancel the whole thing. However... we arrived at 10:30am and I spent the entire day in bed with a fever.. and unable to eat. I did manage to enjoy a hot shower.. the first one since we left Japan and that was a true birthday gift!!! Pure luxury!! Brad ordered a special birthday cake for me a few days before... and I had a couple mouthfuls with my dry toast and clear soup for dinner. Anyway..I am feeling better today.. my actual birthday, except now Brad is down and out..and it looks like our big night out may turn into 2 nights.. as it is a wonderful place to be sick! C'est la vie...I think this is typical in India and we are lucky it is just a 24 hr thing.
Our friends from the Garden of Peace are coming to meet us for a day of shopping in the big city before we head back to our little farm. We are stocking up on the necessities (like duracell batteries and candles... ) hard items to find!! We plan on spending New Year's on a little hill behind the farm/school... observing the thousands of worshipers who have rented the land next door for the evening.. Apparently they believe the world is going to end and are all gathering to do who knows what. Creepy.
Happy New Year's Everyone!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Have a Happy Hindustan Xmas Everybody!
Mere & I have been tucked away on a permaculture farm and elementary school called Garden of Peace near the town of Vellore in Southern India.
http://maps.google.co.in/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109908084835357627514.000472c3522de12a22fd9&ll=12.812222,79.146522&spn=0.001248,0.002368&z=19
We're hoping to talk to family over Xmas but we can't call out long distance on the office phone line. But, you can call us if you let us know when you're going to. The phone number is :
0091(0)416 2917555.
We've been busy working on the farm with motley collection of other rag tag permaculture enthusiasts. We've got Matt from Britain, leading the team as volunteer coordinator, Bryan for New Jersey, writing his thesis on international trade for his Masters, Claudio, a chef from Italy that we've chained to the kitchen, and Gabriella ) and Anjin ((from Austria and Mumbai, India) and their daughter Nitja.
So we'll be slumming with these cool cats in the balmy climes of Tamil Nadu over Xmas and will stay here until New Years. Then we're off to Pondicherry and some post farm pampering before hitting a yoga/meditation retreat in the spiritual hub of Tiruvannamalai for 2 weeks. Hopefully we'll finally reach enlightenment so we can fully enjoy each moment back on beach further south in Kerala.
More stories to come, the 2 person internet "cafe" in the local village is about to close.
We're missing you all so let us know how you're doing as most of you don't maintain a blog we can check...
We're in good health, in good spirits and in good company and wish the same for all of you over the Christian Holiday Season while we're having a Happy Hindustan Xmas!
Much love,
Brad & Mere
http://maps.google.co.in/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109908084835357627514.000472c3522de12a22fd9&ll=12.812222,79.146522&spn=0.001248,0.002368&z=19
We're hoping to talk to family over Xmas but we can't call out long distance on the office phone line. But, you can call us if you let us know when you're going to. The phone number is :
0091(0)416 2917555.
We've been busy working on the farm with motley collection of other rag tag permaculture enthusiasts. We've got Matt from Britain, leading the team as volunteer coordinator, Bryan for New Jersey, writing his thesis on international trade for his Masters, Claudio, a chef from Italy that we've chained to the kitchen, and Gabriella ) and Anjin ((from Austria and Mumbai, India) and their daughter Nitja.
So we'll be slumming with these cool cats in the balmy climes of Tamil Nadu over Xmas and will stay here until New Years. Then we're off to Pondicherry and some post farm pampering before hitting a yoga/meditation retreat in the spiritual hub of Tiruvannamalai for 2 weeks. Hopefully we'll finally reach enlightenment so we can fully enjoy each moment back on beach further south in Kerala.
More stories to come, the 2 person internet "cafe" in the local village is about to close.
We're missing you all so let us know how you're doing as most of you don't maintain a blog we can check...
We're in good health, in good spirits and in good company and wish the same for all of you over the Christian Holiday Season while we're having a Happy Hindustan Xmas!
Much love,
Brad & Mere
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Mud, Banyans & Sadhus in the Jungle
"Tomorrow I will take you both to the most beautiful place in Arambol!", Sreesh says as he finishes telling us of his days adventures. Mere & I are enthusiastically fulfilling our mandate of doing as little as possible which in this moment, looks like sitting in plastic picnic chairs on the edge of the chaotic main drag of Arambol while sipping the best chai we've found at the Shri Ganesh Cafe where we've been watching the evening's bedlam of traffic roll by. We had been watching the random pedestrians (ranging from dark skinned, brightly dressed locals to pasty white, beach-punk Russian princesses in bikinis and blonde dreads) dodging the scooters, trucks and taxis bombing down the dusty one lane dirt road in both directions. Suddenly, to our surprise we'd seen a familiar face, Sreesh, who we'd met the night before around a campfire on the beach near our hut. Sreesh is from Kerala, further South down the coast of India and is travelling with his lovely French girlfriend Elodie, whom he'd while studying art in Lyon for a year. She is also an artist and was accompanying last night but this evening he is with 2 other similarly beautiful women. Indeed, our suspicions that Sreesh is flirt of the first order are becoming more and more confirmed since he is tall, dark, has long black hair in a ponytail, is well built, and we continue to see him around Arambol always talking to different, attractive, scantily clad women. Ah, these artists.
The next day we don't see Sreesh or Elodie until dusk, when we find them in the middle of sculpting a giant head of the Indian god Siva in the sand out front of a beach side restaurant. The face looks like it's emerging from the sand and we're blown away as it only took them an hour to do it as the sun set. So we agree to have dinner together which consists of very fresh local fish as Sreesh orders in Hindi for us and we select the fish from an bin of the iced catches of the day. One of the fish we pick is appropriately named "Honeymoon Fish". We pay a lot less thanks to Sreesh growing up on this coast and he knows what fish should cost when you're not an easily exploited tourista.
After a fun evening together we meet the next morning for a peeled fruit salad breakfast at their favourite stand and after polishing off a fresh coconut we head for the jungle to discover what Sreesh was referring to as "the most beautiful place in Arambol". So we go beyond the end of the beach, beyond the mediterranean styled cliffs covered in plaster buildings, vendors & restaurants, beyond the next beach which is sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the fresh water "Sweet Lake" to where we reach the edge of the jungle.
The heat of the day has been creeping up on us so it's a relief as we reach the sign that tells us the best karma can be found by not littering in the jungle ahead. As we move underneath the jungle canopy, the shade it provides is refreshingly cool and calm as the sound of pounding surf from the beach disappears.
We follow Elodie, who's been here before, as she takes us up a trail that is soon following the stream that feeds Sweet Lake. We reach some shallow pools where it's deep enough to submerge ourselves in the wonderfully cool water. And right beside the pools is mud that she tells us to smear all over our bodies and then bake in sun with. Now since Mere's no stranger to spa treatments and since I'm a big fan of not paying for one, we strip down to our bathing suits and slather the mud on. As we sit on the rocks in the sun, we're looking like we're getting ready for some kind of primal ritual and get some overly enthusiastic stares from the men of a few Indian families that hike by.
Here's Mere and me getting our mud on:
After washing off, our skin feels born again and amazingly smooth after a week of being covered in the salt and sand of the beach.
Feeling revitalized, we continue on the path deeper into the jungle where we've heard is an ancient banyan tree considered sacred since Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment while meditating under one. After following the creek bed for a while it feels very different from our familiar beach environment and we pass a few squatters camps of folks who are living in this cooler, quieter jungle. The only sounds we're hearing now that disturb the growing stillness are the occasional breeze in the branches overhead or exotic bird calls in the distance.
We climb up a slope and emerge into a small flat plateau with about 6 or 7 other travellors sitting around a small fire under a huge tangle of branches and roots that's the banyon tree we're looking for. I'm startled to find so many people here as it's so quiet and even more startled to find an older Indian man in amongst them wearing round glasses, a big smile, little body fat, a string of mala beads draped over his shoulder and not much else besides a sarong around his waist. Everyone else sounds or looks like their from Israel or Russia and a couple of them have recently shaved heads so it's all got a bit of a cult-like feel to it. But we're gestured to join the circle on some beach mats on the packed dirt floor around the fire and our apparent host, known as a Sadhu here in India, a sort of holy man, lights up an Indian cigarette known as a 'Beedie'. Hoping something stronger will be passed around, we sit down and proceed to hang out under the Banyon tree in the coolness of the jungle as the heat of the day passes.
Here's a quick snapshot of our Sadhu and the banyan tree scene:
Not much gets said. We watch the fire. We admire the banyan tree. We listen to the sounds of the jungle. We notice prayer flags and a bell in the branches of banyan trees. Mere & I spot monkeys high up in the branches. I reflect on how old the stone work is at one side of the clearing. I keep looking for suspicious behaviour but it's all pretty mellow.
I'm still wary but Sreesh looks like he's starting to do a meditatation which inspires me to do the same along with thoughts of Buddha doing this just before enlightenment was achieved. Sadly, I don't reach enlightenment but am surprised when I open my eyes. Directly in front of me a leaf of the banyan tree has been placed and the centre of it is a scoop of what looks like some kind of cooked yellow grain like cous cous. Looking around I see the Sadhu is just finishing serving similar leaves out to everyone else in the circle and my fears and suspicions dissolve as I realize he's feeding us. I'm feeling the contrast of his generosity and my paranoia and Sreesh tells us later that people usually bring gifts or offerings to him since we weren't asked to pay for our food. On our way out down the hill we also notice a stone bowl with the engraving "Take if you need to, Give if you're able to".
We eat the food we're provided slowly with our hands and I'm again surprised as it's so delicious and tasty with hints of coconut milk. Then we go back to sitting quietly, staring at the little fire, listening to the jungle.
I look up above the branches and see a large hawk swooping down into branches above. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I see something fall beside Elodie who moves away from it startled. She says a snake had just landed on the ground beside here and took off into the bush! We're reassured that it wasn't a poisonous one and once again things settle down until we hear a chorus of voices coming from the hill above us where there's no trail.
Out of the jungle appears 4 beautifully dressed young Indian women in very bright and colourful saris, each carrying in their hands bundles of flowers and speaking in Hindi very quickly.to each other. They sit down with us and Sreesh eventually translates that they've been chased off the beach by the police and ran into the jungle since they weren't supposed to be selling flowers there. They take some leaves from the banyon tree to add to their arrangements of flowers and then, wishing us namaste, take off down the trail we'd come up.
The stillness of the jungle returns and I start falling asleep until finally we decide to go as Mere's scheduled to clothes shopping with our neighbour Naomi from Colorado. Enlightenment definitely won't be reached today.
The next day we don't see Sreesh or Elodie until dusk, when we find them in the middle of sculpting a giant head of the Indian god Siva in the sand out front of a beach side restaurant. The face looks like it's emerging from the sand and we're blown away as it only took them an hour to do it as the sun set. So we agree to have dinner together which consists of very fresh local fish as Sreesh orders in Hindi for us and we select the fish from an bin of the iced catches of the day. One of the fish we pick is appropriately named "Honeymoon Fish". We pay a lot less thanks to Sreesh growing up on this coast and he knows what fish should cost when you're not an easily exploited tourista.
After a fun evening together we meet the next morning for a peeled fruit salad breakfast at their favourite stand and after polishing off a fresh coconut we head for the jungle to discover what Sreesh was referring to as "the most beautiful place in Arambol". So we go beyond the end of the beach, beyond the mediterranean styled cliffs covered in plaster buildings, vendors & restaurants, beyond the next beach which is sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the fresh water "Sweet Lake" to where we reach the edge of the jungle.
The heat of the day has been creeping up on us so it's a relief as we reach the sign that tells us the best karma can be found by not littering in the jungle ahead. As we move underneath the jungle canopy, the shade it provides is refreshingly cool and calm as the sound of pounding surf from the beach disappears.
We follow Elodie, who's been here before, as she takes us up a trail that is soon following the stream that feeds Sweet Lake. We reach some shallow pools where it's deep enough to submerge ourselves in the wonderfully cool water. And right beside the pools is mud that she tells us to smear all over our bodies and then bake in sun with. Now since Mere's no stranger to spa treatments and since I'm a big fan of not paying for one, we strip down to our bathing suits and slather the mud on. As we sit on the rocks in the sun, we're looking like we're getting ready for some kind of primal ritual and get some overly enthusiastic stares from the men of a few Indian families that hike by.
Here's Mere and me getting our mud on:
After washing off, our skin feels born again and amazingly smooth after a week of being covered in the salt and sand of the beach.
Feeling revitalized, we continue on the path deeper into the jungle where we've heard is an ancient banyan tree considered sacred since Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment while meditating under one. After following the creek bed for a while it feels very different from our familiar beach environment and we pass a few squatters camps of folks who are living in this cooler, quieter jungle. The only sounds we're hearing now that disturb the growing stillness are the occasional breeze in the branches overhead or exotic bird calls in the distance.
We climb up a slope and emerge into a small flat plateau with about 6 or 7 other travellors sitting around a small fire under a huge tangle of branches and roots that's the banyon tree we're looking for. I'm startled to find so many people here as it's so quiet and even more startled to find an older Indian man in amongst them wearing round glasses, a big smile, little body fat, a string of mala beads draped over his shoulder and not much else besides a sarong around his waist. Everyone else sounds or looks like their from Israel or Russia and a couple of them have recently shaved heads so it's all got a bit of a cult-like feel to it. But we're gestured to join the circle on some beach mats on the packed dirt floor around the fire and our apparent host, known as a Sadhu here in India, a sort of holy man, lights up an Indian cigarette known as a 'Beedie'. Hoping something stronger will be passed around, we sit down and proceed to hang out under the Banyon tree in the coolness of the jungle as the heat of the day passes.
Here's a quick snapshot of our Sadhu and the banyan tree scene:
Not much gets said. We watch the fire. We admire the banyan tree. We listen to the sounds of the jungle. We notice prayer flags and a bell in the branches of banyan trees. Mere & I spot monkeys high up in the branches. I reflect on how old the stone work is at one side of the clearing. I keep looking for suspicious behaviour but it's all pretty mellow.
I'm still wary but Sreesh looks like he's starting to do a meditatation which inspires me to do the same along with thoughts of Buddha doing this just before enlightenment was achieved. Sadly, I don't reach enlightenment but am surprised when I open my eyes. Directly in front of me a leaf of the banyan tree has been placed and the centre of it is a scoop of what looks like some kind of cooked yellow grain like cous cous. Looking around I see the Sadhu is just finishing serving similar leaves out to everyone else in the circle and my fears and suspicions dissolve as I realize he's feeding us. I'm feeling the contrast of his generosity and my paranoia and Sreesh tells us later that people usually bring gifts or offerings to him since we weren't asked to pay for our food. On our way out down the hill we also notice a stone bowl with the engraving "Take if you need to, Give if you're able to".
We eat the food we're provided slowly with our hands and I'm again surprised as it's so delicious and tasty with hints of coconut milk. Then we go back to sitting quietly, staring at the little fire, listening to the jungle.
I look up above the branches and see a large hawk swooping down into branches above. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I see something fall beside Elodie who moves away from it startled. She says a snake had just landed on the ground beside here and took off into the bush! We're reassured that it wasn't a poisonous one and once again things settle down until we hear a chorus of voices coming from the hill above us where there's no trail.
Out of the jungle appears 4 beautifully dressed young Indian women in very bright and colourful saris, each carrying in their hands bundles of flowers and speaking in Hindi very quickly.to each other. They sit down with us and Sreesh eventually translates that they've been chased off the beach by the police and ran into the jungle since they weren't supposed to be selling flowers there. They take some leaves from the banyon tree to add to their arrangements of flowers and then, wishing us namaste, take off down the trail we'd come up.
The stillness of the jungle returns and I start falling asleep until finally we decide to go as Mere's scheduled to clothes shopping with our neighbour Naomi from Colorado. Enlightenment definitely won't be reached today.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Japan in Retrospect 2 : Conveyor Belts, Tattoos, Onsens & Bullet Trains
Well it's been yet another leisurely morning consisting of yoga on the beach, an amazingly tasty & filling 120Rs (~$3Cdn) breakfast, a nap in the shade of the blistering hot Indian sun and plenty of time to write down memories of Brad & Mere's time in Japan where they rarely had time, money, or internet access to keep their blog up to date.
I humbly submit to you, our reading audience, "Conveyor Belts, Tattoos, Onsens & Bullet Trains"...
We have finally arrived in the lap of luxury. Mere and I are being very well taken of courtesy of friends Teruyo and Rodney, who I've mentioned previously as they're living in Japan(again) for a year with Teruyo's parents in their lovely home not far South of Tokyo near Shizuoka. They've picked us up from the train station and immediately leaped to our aid by helping us take care of a very overdue need for doing laundry.
After quickly meeting Teruyo's parents and seeing their 3 ever-growing kids again (Brooke, Jay, & Cady), we played taiko on their Wii and washed every dirty article of clothing we had (which was pretty much all of them). Afterwards we were treated a rare night out with Rod & Teruyo with Grandma & Grandpa babysitting.
So off the mall the four of us went because we were hitting their favourite conveyor belt sushi restaurant where we were hard pressed to not grab every delicious looking plate that rolled by. Finally, however , the plates we'd emptied were piling up and even I had to declare I was full and could eat no more.
But the highlight of our visit awaited as Teruyo had booked us in for a decadent night at the exclusive health club/spa they belong to which is like an all-inclusive members-only kind of wellness resort with gyms, onsens, massage, acupuncture and more ways to indulge yourself than we'd have time for.
On checking in, Mere and I dropped our back packs off in our room, grabbed the pajamas that all guests (almost all of them Japanese) were encouraged to lounge around the resort in, and headed down with Rod & Teruyo to hit the onsens where Teruyo's sister would join us.
Boys and girls went their separate ways and as I was staying at the resort I was given a different locker than Rod and headed off to strip naked and hit the showers with my "modesty towel" (used for covering your private parts if you need to and applying hot water to your head while soaking). So I'm heading back to where I'd left Rod and suddenly I hear a woman's voice calling out something in Japanese which, as usual, I don't understand so I just keep walking and start using my modesty towel as I'm not wearing anything else. I'm sure I'm in the men's locker room and a woman in the resort's uniform appears so I assume she's letting everyone know she's there to get towels or something. I find Rod, who's very conversant in Japanese even though he's white because he's worked in Japan several times as a academic at some universities here (and of course, his wife is Japanese). I ask him what she's saying as it now appears like she's following me and he says "She saying these lockers are for people using the onsens", and we shrug as I say, " I know" so we both shrug, he talks to her and she leaves.
So we hit the showers and I'm done before Rod and slip into my first bath of gorgeously hot water when another attendant who works there (this one male) comes over and starts telling me something in Japanese, which, as usual, I don't understand. But the attendant's not smiling politely like they normally do and he's pointing at the tattoo on my left arm, so I'm thinking something must be amiss. Fortuantely, I'm able to tell him in Japanese that I don't understand and gesture for him to follow me as we look for Rod to translate. We find him and Rod's puzzled by what the attendant is saying, translating it as "This tatoo is okay in New York, but not here". So we both shrug and the attendant leaves to find someone who works there that speaks better English.
Rod & I are thoroughly enjoying our second hot pool, this one with jets working out any tensions in my lower back, and he's explaining his work at Nagoya University to me. There he's applying his research and development work on electron microscopes to a way that he believes (and will eventually prove) will allow them to scan and diagnose soft tissue in the body (along with many other applications). This is real Star Trek stuff he's talking about but Rod's a lot smarter than your average Canadian so I'm struggling through the soothing steam and relaxing jets to keep up with his big fancy science words like "holograms" and "phase" and phrases like "measuring the atomic signature of a particle" and "using sound or laser beams to gather phase data as opposed to xrays". But as my head starts to hurt from trying to follow what he's telling me, another resort employee appears, and sure enough, he's better dressed, and fluent in English.
He explains that we are more than welcome to use the shower facilities of the onsen area (which we just did) but to avoid members complaining about "foreigners with tattoos", I wouldn't be able to use the onsens because of the tattoo on my arm. I wisely didn't bring up the one on my chest or back of my shoulder). So I tell him I understand but want to know if I would be reimbursed since we've spent a lot of money to stay there and use all the facilities. He asks if I have a room there, which we do, and he uncomfortably says that he wouldn't be able to. So I say, well how about we cover it up with my good ole modesty towel just for now as we were only there one night. Reluctantly he agrees and Rod and I awkwardly wrap a towel around my arm and head off to try out more of the onsens they have. Little did I realize though, that Mere was getting similar "customer service" over in the Ladies area and they had come to the same solution although with Mere's tatoo being on her lower back, it was more technically challenging to cover up.
Awkward and a little embarassing though it all was, we definitely got our money's worth out of the onsen and before bidding Rod & Teruyo a good night, spent some quality time in the free massage chairs where we swapped tales of tattooed gaijin persecution.
After a great sleep Mere and I woke up, threw on our resort pajamas, put bandages over our tattoos and got ourselves great massage and acupuncture treatments before hitting the onsens once more, this time with far fewer hassles but still feeling a bit self conscious.
Anyways, it was all entertaining with no harm done and Rod & Teruyo picked us up and took us to lunch at a place that served us the local specialty of "Sakura Ebi" which is "Cherry Blossom Shrimp" since it is pink when raw unlike all other shrimp which are white. Here's a shot of us outside the restaurant:
Rod was taking the Bullet train back to Nagoya and to avoid a 3-4 hour slow train epic journey back to Tokyo Mere & I decided to spend the money and take a one hour bullet train as well, but to Tokyo in the opposite direction. So Teruyo droped us all off at the station and after a hurried good-bye to Rod with our packs on, we jumped onto our train which, of course was pretty full and no else seemed to have luggage, much less monster back packs. After walking through every car on the train and having every pair of eyes staring at us as we went, Mere and I found 2 aisle seats, one in front of the other so we were somewhat together.
Fortunately, I sat next to 2 lovely middle aged women returning from Nagoya & Kyoto who I wisely offered a couple of mandarin oranges since we had plenty and offering gifts is rarely a bad idea in Japan. Of course, this got us talking and one of them could speak enough English for us to dialog. Before I knew it however, I was handed some pickled daikon radish and a bag of cocoa covered beans they'd picked up in Kyoto as "just a small gesture". To further demonstrate the lengths of their courtesy, after hearing about our honeymoon adventure, the ladies insisted on moving seats so Mere & I could sit next to each other. Anyways, it was amazing to see what you get for offering a couple of oranges!
And so it was that Mere & I returned triumphantly to Tokyo, having left 7 weeks previously. We'd been pampered, hassled a bit for being outsiders, and treated once again to the kindness of friends we hadn't met before. It was a great finishing leg of a journey that's been amazing! Big thanks go out to Rod & Teruyo for taking such great care of us during our time with them!
I humbly submit to you, our reading audience, "Conveyor Belts, Tattoos, Onsens & Bullet Trains"...
We have finally arrived in the lap of luxury. Mere and I are being very well taken of courtesy of friends Teruyo and Rodney, who I've mentioned previously as they're living in Japan(again) for a year with Teruyo's parents in their lovely home not far South of Tokyo near Shizuoka. They've picked us up from the train station and immediately leaped to our aid by helping us take care of a very overdue need for doing laundry.
After quickly meeting Teruyo's parents and seeing their 3 ever-growing kids again (Brooke, Jay, & Cady), we played taiko on their Wii and washed every dirty article of clothing we had (which was pretty much all of them). Afterwards we were treated a rare night out with Rod & Teruyo with Grandma & Grandpa babysitting.
So off the mall the four of us went because we were hitting their favourite conveyor belt sushi restaurant where we were hard pressed to not grab every delicious looking plate that rolled by. Finally, however , the plates we'd emptied were piling up and even I had to declare I was full and could eat no more.
But the highlight of our visit awaited as Teruyo had booked us in for a decadent night at the exclusive health club/spa they belong to which is like an all-inclusive members-only kind of wellness resort with gyms, onsens, massage, acupuncture and more ways to indulge yourself than we'd have time for.
On checking in, Mere and I dropped our back packs off in our room, grabbed the pajamas that all guests (almost all of them Japanese) were encouraged to lounge around the resort in, and headed down with Rod & Teruyo to hit the onsens where Teruyo's sister would join us.
Boys and girls went their separate ways and as I was staying at the resort I was given a different locker than Rod and headed off to strip naked and hit the showers with my "modesty towel" (used for covering your private parts if you need to and applying hot water to your head while soaking). So I'm heading back to where I'd left Rod and suddenly I hear a woman's voice calling out something in Japanese which, as usual, I don't understand so I just keep walking and start using my modesty towel as I'm not wearing anything else. I'm sure I'm in the men's locker room and a woman in the resort's uniform appears so I assume she's letting everyone know she's there to get towels or something. I find Rod, who's very conversant in Japanese even though he's white because he's worked in Japan several times as a academic at some universities here (and of course, his wife is Japanese). I ask him what she's saying as it now appears like she's following me and he says "She saying these lockers are for people using the onsens", and we shrug as I say, " I know" so we both shrug, he talks to her and she leaves.
So we hit the showers and I'm done before Rod and slip into my first bath of gorgeously hot water when another attendant who works there (this one male) comes over and starts telling me something in Japanese, which, as usual, I don't understand. But the attendant's not smiling politely like they normally do and he's pointing at the tattoo on my left arm, so I'm thinking something must be amiss. Fortuantely, I'm able to tell him in Japanese that I don't understand and gesture for him to follow me as we look for Rod to translate. We find him and Rod's puzzled by what the attendant is saying, translating it as "This tatoo is okay in New York, but not here". So we both shrug and the attendant leaves to find someone who works there that speaks better English.
Rod & I are thoroughly enjoying our second hot pool, this one with jets working out any tensions in my lower back, and he's explaining his work at Nagoya University to me. There he's applying his research and development work on electron microscopes to a way that he believes (and will eventually prove) will allow them to scan and diagnose soft tissue in the body (along with many other applications). This is real Star Trek stuff he's talking about but Rod's a lot smarter than your average Canadian so I'm struggling through the soothing steam and relaxing jets to keep up with his big fancy science words like "holograms" and "phase" and phrases like "measuring the atomic signature of a particle" and "using sound or laser beams to gather phase data as opposed to xrays". But as my head starts to hurt from trying to follow what he's telling me, another resort employee appears, and sure enough, he's better dressed, and fluent in English.
He explains that we are more than welcome to use the shower facilities of the onsen area (which we just did) but to avoid members complaining about "foreigners with tattoos", I wouldn't be able to use the onsens because of the tattoo on my arm. I wisely didn't bring up the one on my chest or back of my shoulder). So I tell him I understand but want to know if I would be reimbursed since we've spent a lot of money to stay there and use all the facilities. He asks if I have a room there, which we do, and he uncomfortably says that he wouldn't be able to. So I say, well how about we cover it up with my good ole modesty towel just for now as we were only there one night. Reluctantly he agrees and Rod and I awkwardly wrap a towel around my arm and head off to try out more of the onsens they have. Little did I realize though, that Mere was getting similar "customer service" over in the Ladies area and they had come to the same solution although with Mere's tatoo being on her lower back, it was more technically challenging to cover up.
Awkward and a little embarassing though it all was, we definitely got our money's worth out of the onsen and before bidding Rod & Teruyo a good night, spent some quality time in the free massage chairs where we swapped tales of tattooed gaijin persecution.
After a great sleep Mere and I woke up, threw on our resort pajamas, put bandages over our tattoos and got ourselves great massage and acupuncture treatments before hitting the onsens once more, this time with far fewer hassles but still feeling a bit self conscious.
Anyways, it was all entertaining with no harm done and Rod & Teruyo picked us up and took us to lunch at a place that served us the local specialty of "Sakura Ebi" which is "Cherry Blossom Shrimp" since it is pink when raw unlike all other shrimp which are white. Here's a shot of us outside the restaurant:
Fortunately, I sat next to 2 lovely middle aged women returning from Nagoya & Kyoto who I wisely offered a couple of mandarin oranges since we had plenty and offering gifts is rarely a bad idea in Japan. Of course, this got us talking and one of them could speak enough English for us to dialog. Before I knew it however, I was handed some pickled daikon radish and a bag of cocoa covered beans they'd picked up in Kyoto as "just a small gesture". To further demonstrate the lengths of their courtesy, after hearing about our honeymoon adventure, the ladies insisted on moving seats so Mere & I could sit next to each other. Anyways, it was amazing to see what you get for offering a couple of oranges!
And so it was that Mere & I returned triumphantly to Tokyo, having left 7 weeks previously. We'd been pampered, hassled a bit for being outsiders, and treated once again to the kindness of friends we hadn't met before. It was a great finishing leg of a journey that's been amazing! Big thanks go out to Rod & Teruyo for taking such great care of us during our time with them!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Japan in Retrospect 1 : Hana Matsuri
Since we're now in the land of cheap food, accommodation (beach side huts as low as 350 rupees = $8/night...does not include toilet paper though), and internet cafe's I thought it time to reflect back on Japan and share some promised tales of our time in old Nihon (Nihon = Japan to the Japanese)..
So as it's too hot to lounge by the surf, and to avoid getting into the habit of drinking away the heat of the day, I'd try and describe some of went on at the Hana Matsuri festival we went to the weekend before we left Japan. We ended up there as my friend Teruyo from Uminari Taiko was planning on going there as she's living in Japan for a year with her family with kids and husband Rodney who's on sabbatical from teaching at UVic.
Hope you enjoy this latest installment:
I am standing in a small crowd of about 20-30 people and the local firemen are stacking burning logs on top of a clay altar until it's taller than me. (The dark photo above shows it half built). Everything smells like smoke and ash keeps falling into my cup of sake. The sake is free, I'm assuming it's provided by the locals here, and it's going down very nicely as it's now my third or fourth cup(who's keeping track, eh?, I'm on a honeymoon!).
I'm standing beside a bonfire the firemen are pulling the burning logs out of to place on this altar-thingy. It's a cold, dark and rainy night and it's all feeling very primal up here in the mountains surrounding the little town of Toei where Mere & I arrived by train yesterday afternoon. But the fire & sake are doing a good job keeping us warm and we're all huddled together with half the crowd taking pictures and the other half talking, drinking or chekcing out the dancers and Onis (Japanese demons pronounced like 'Tony' without the 'T') that have been appearing regularly all day. The Onis here come in varying sizes from child small to full-grown but all are dressed in bright red and have big wooden faces wth bulging eyes, rounded noses,and terrible teeth.
Fortunately, we didn't get close enough to smell their breath. All of them come equipped with wooden axes and many know how to use them. Earlier in the day we saw cool dances with swords and fans by kids, locals and apprentices and members of Shidara taiko who are hosting us here.
But I'll let you in on a little known secret about the onis...The onis here are POSERS. That's right, once they apear before an audience, all they do initially is just let you bask in their glory: Of course there was no shortage of photographers on hand to capture them in action....
So as it's too hot to lounge by the surf, and to avoid getting into the habit of drinking away the heat of the day, I'd try and describe some of went on at the Hana Matsuri festival we went to the weekend before we left Japan. We ended up there as my friend Teruyo from Uminari Taiko was planning on going there as she's living in Japan for a year with her family with kids and husband Rodney who's on sabbatical from teaching at UVic.
Hope you enjoy this latest installment:
I'm standing beside a bonfire the firemen are pulling the burning logs out of to place on this altar-thingy. It's a cold, dark and rainy night and it's all feeling very primal up here in the mountains surrounding the little town of Toei where Mere & I arrived by train yesterday afternoon. But the fire & sake are doing a good job keeping us warm and we're all huddled together with half the crowd taking pictures and the other half talking, drinking or chekcing out the dancers and Onis (Japanese demons pronounced like 'Tony' without the 'T') that have been appearing regularly all day. The Onis here come in varying sizes from child small to full-grown but all are dressed in bright red and have big wooden faces wth bulging eyes, rounded noses,and terrible teeth.
But I'll let you in on a little known secret about the onis...The onis here are POSERS. That's right, once they apear before an audience, all they do initially is just let you bask in their glory: Of course there was no shortage of photographers on hand to capture them in action....
This oni in rhe photo above stood there for at least 3 minutes before doing anything interesting. But eventually, after showing itself off to everyone, the oni started doing a very slow, repetitive dance around the cauldron of water you can see in the corner of the photo above.
Now unfortunately, Teruyo, who had gotten us into this whole thing, had left early to take her kids to a tournament early the next day so we no longer had anyone who could tell us what was going on since we were the only non-Japanese in attendance and few people spoke much English, much less drunken English.
Bamboo flutes and a taiko drum from the nearby Shinto shrine are accompanying the oni and we can sense anticipation building in the crowd as someone has told us this is the biggest and strongest oni they have. The oni paparazzi is now going off but it's all a bit anti-climactic because we've been watching dancers and onis do this all day long: they come, they pose, they do a repetivie dance, the crowd cheers, they leave. But at this point I'm becoming increasingly concerned for my safety and the safety of those around me because this tower of burning logs the local firemen have built is starting to really take off in close range to everyone and the spider-sense of my inner camp counsellor is tingling. There's firemen in white helmets around but they seem oblivious of the crowd pressing in to see the oni. I'm thinking the burning log tower will soon tumble onto someone and set them on fire. Finally, the firemen move a few people out of the way as the oni's reaching the end of his dance and the flutes and drum are building up the tempo of the same song we've been hearing all day.
Suddenly, however, the oni seems to lose it and he takes his axe and starts ramming it into the tower of burning logs! I'm thinking "WTF?" as the tower starts teetering and sparks and smoke are shooting all over. But finally the oni has his way and the whole tower is knocked off it's platform onto the ground where the firemen had cleared people away from. The crowd seems excited and pleased about this and since all seems okay, I refrain from taking out the oni and grabbing a fire extinguisher.
But wait, it's not over yet as once the oni heads off, the firemen, rather than clearing people away and extinguishing the logs like you'd think they were trained to do start rebuilding the tower of burning logs AGAIN. Once again everyone moves in and more onis of different sizes suddenly appear, pose, dance and then have a go at knocking off the logs which get smaller and smaller along with the age of the onis.
"Now I get it" says the drunken Canadian to himself. To keep ash out of my cup of sake I've been having to drink from it constantly while all this has been taking place. The onis come and defeat the fire (which historically has been a huge problem in Japan since most historical buildings in Japan have been rebuilt 4 or 5 times after burning down). Then different dancers come out bearing bushels of rice stalks which I'm guessing represent the bounty of a successful harvest thanks to the help of the oni.
So now everyone's watching this new bushel carrying group of dancers who we then recognize as the veterans of the festival as we've seen many of them thoughout the day, helping the children dancers remember their moves, singing the accompanying songs the loudest, pouring beer and sake into the mouths of dancers mid-dance and surely I felt, these are some of the people who are the heartbeat of this festival. Hana Matsuri is a very old and traditional festival which is why we feel fortunate to be here as it feels very intimate and genuine. The downside however is that being gaijin (foreigners), we didn't have the opportunity to verify why the oni was knocking down the burning logs or why this new group of dancers finishes their dance by dipping their bushels of rice stalks into the cauldron of water and spraying the audience with them!.I'd been wondering why people undercover were putting rain covers over their cameras.
Anyways, Mere and I avoided getting pulled into the ensuing water fight and the festival wound down after that.
It was a definite cultural highlight to see all the dances and feel a part of that little community in the mountains. Earlier in the day the local police officer came up to me and asked me something in Japanese which, as usual, I couldn't understand and told him so. He waved me off and walked away so I jokingly told Mere that the cop had tried to shake me down. Teruyo was still there though so I asked her to translate for me and the police officer who had just been curious about where I was from. He said this was the safest place to be in Japan and that in the last 2 years there'd been no incidents he'd had to deal with. He even complimented Mere and I as a good looking couple!
The other example of being included was when 2 dancers came out wearing these very ugly masks and old maid costumes. They were also armed with rice paddles covered in miso which they proceeded to wipe on the faces of anyone in the audience they could find. They were very comical and of course, I got singled out and given a good cheekful. Apparently it means good luck...right.
Having front row seats to the festival wouldn't have been possible without the generous help of our friend Teruyo who I'd like to acknowledge and also the apprentices and members of Shidara taiko who were fabulous hosts while we were there even though they were crazy busy with performances happening simultaeously with Hana Matsuri. So we didn't get much opportunity to meet many of Shidara's members but we had a great time with the apprentices and even got to sleep with their drums (what taiko player wouldn't love that!)
The next morning, before being driven to the train, we got to help take down a lot of the festival decorations and put away everything from swords to oni masks which was also cool and a nice chance to give back.
Ever since I started playing taiko I'd been hearing about Japanese festivals since many of our songs are festival songs . So this was another highlight for me to not only be able to get to a festival while we were there but better yet, to have it be an up-close and personal one in beautiful remote mountains like Hana Matsuri.
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