The past two months have been hard. 4 summer classes are so not a good idea. But I can do it. I know I can do it. Just 2 more weeks, 2 paper/projects more and one more final. I'm almost done with the paper due tomorrow.
I'll get through this, it's just a matter of how sane I'll be at the end of it.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Friday, August 22, 2008
I had such wonderful plans today
I was going to get up. I set my alarm for 12, I was going to get up, mess around a bit, and then go running. No plan with the running, just run. Probably north, towards Marietta square. I seem to remember sidewalks going that way. So I set my alarm and was ready to go. But my bowels had ideas of their own.
I haven't put food into my system since about 11 last night. I haven't put water into my system since 7 am. When my alarm went off at 12, I went to the bathroom, stayed in the bathroom, and then decided that my bowels didn't really want me moving too much, so I went and laid back down. I've been laying here since, with periodic trips Back to the bathroom. It's after 4 now. I've been in bed 14 hours and still, I'm scared to eat, I'm scared to drink. And I feel cold. It's not cold here, but I feel cold.
I hate being sick.
So, here. Have a happy write up of the rest of our Taiwan Adventour.
Monday August 4th.
Relocated to Taichung. Had ISSUES finding the hotel, thanks to the Great Idea that Lonely Planet seems to have by giving us maps in our guide book in English (or Pinying), but not in the native writing system. But we got there, and it reeked of the 70s, but they were very friendly and took care of us, and had a laundry service, which was a godsend.
After settling in for a bit, we got ourselves up and buses back to the station, so that we could bus to the 1st Big Buddha. This one was all gold (although he needed a bit of work) and was the biggest laughing-style buddha in Taiwan. He was 22 meters high and completely tucked in around this neighborhood. Just right there amidst other random buildings. Other people have made comments that this takes away from the Buddha pilgrimage experience. I disagree. To me, that seemed like Taiwan written all over it. I mean, the temples themselves here are just tucked into the middle of the strip mall style sidewalks. Shoes, Clothing, Bags, Temple, Tea Shop, Stamp Shop--that's the norm. So having a giant Buddha tucked between old apartment buildings, normal.
We walked most of the way back to the hotel, caught a cab, rested, and then went out to dinner at this awesome noddle house, but still couldn't really read the menu, so we had noodles with beef again. But Oh! the beef was divine.
Tuesday August 5th.
We decided to forgo the bus that morning and took a taxi to the train station (by about this time in the trip actually remembering what "train station" was in horribly wrong Chinese), got a train to Chung Hua (about 15 minutes), and then a bus to the big buddha there. This one had a whole park around it, lovely place for walking, biking, doing taichi (we saw people doing it), fountains, and then on the top(ish) of the mountain, was the Buddha. He was pretty cool. And we could go inside and see all of the different stages of Buddha's life, in kinda creepy statues. That was pretty neat.
Then it was back down the mountain, back to the train station-ish, a brief stop in McDonald's for lunch, then across the street to catch a bus to take us to Lukang, where we couldn't find a single taxi until we were almost to the temple. The map we had was WRONG (like the roads didn't actually DO that dood), it started to pour down rain, and it was just not really cool until we found the temple, built in the 1600s which almost made it worth the trip. Although I think I disagree that it's "totally worth the side trip." Things like, "there are no taxis in this town" would have been good to know ahead of time. Stupid book.
But the day was saved when Chris was reading the signs and found a bus that would take us directly back to Taichung for about the same price as the buses and train back to Taichung through Chung Hua. Go Chris. And we found more bubble tea, which always makes it better.
For dinner we tried to go to the Japanese restaurant, but failed as the menu started around $30 (USD) so we went across the street to a place that a lot of locals seemed to like, nearly cried over the incomprehensible menu for about 15 minutes, then went up to the counter, and (thank god) found a woman who spoke english who could understand that all we wanted was something with rice, and veg, no meat. They asked if we were vegetarian, and I said no, but I didn't have the mental capacity to explain that we were just sick of only ordering beef. What they came out with was wonderful and perfect, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't actually on the menu. It was awesome.
Wednesday August 6th
Taxi to station, train to Taipei. We had the trains down. We knew the procedure and had it all fixed.
We got out, went back to the cheap hotel we got the first night in Taipei (they were actually There this time), got our same room where the a/c seemed to have broken in the last week, but whatever. We had icecream and pita from this wonderful pita place in the train station, and all was right with the world.
Thursday, August 7th
Every day we woke up in Taipei we had pitas for breakfast. I'm not gonna keep saying it.
We took the subway and a bus up to see the National Palace museum, and thank God that we missed the English tour. When they say that they have a TON of artifacts stolen from China, and that what they're displaying is only a small portion of the real collection, I live in FEAR of the storage costs. We ran into the English tour. Around about 2pm, the English tour started at 10am. I feel so sorry for those people. By the third floor, Curi and I were just glancing at things and only really looking at the stuff that caught our eyes, there was just that much of it.
Dinner that night was some lovely pastries from a Japanese bakery, which we had to get totally lost in the underbelly of the Taipei Main Station to find, but we did.
Friday, August 8th
This day we looked at each other and said no. We were suppose to go out to the tea gardens and drink tea in this awesome senery and lovely atmosphere, and just no. We couldn't do it. We found a movie theature (which was a bit of an adventour in and of itself, but really just asking about 6 people where the dang thing was) and watched Brendon Fraiser in the Mummy 3. Which was an awesome Mummy movie, you just have to have your expectations in the right place. They actually said it themselves in the very beginning, they'd contracted for 3, so this was it. Don't expect much. And with expectations low, it was pretty good.
This was also the day that I bought my jade buddha bead. it's got a small hole in the top of it, so it can be set in a necklace pretty easily. I would have been kicking myself if I hadn't bought one, so I'm glad.
Saturday, August 9th.
Breakfast again, then bus to the airport. The flight was pretty nice, we got into Tokyo on time, even after being delayed a bit, and found long term storage for our heavy heavy bags, which was just AWESOME. Much less encombered we FINALLY met up with Marnie, got dinner, and crashed.
Sunday - Wednesday, August 10th through 13th.
I don't really remember these days very well. I know we went to Harujuku to a specialty lunch shop (which was AWESOME), and I bought a new bag (which I love), I know we went to Shinjuku to be blessed by Marnie's favorite monk (that felt awesome, TONS of good juju), we went to Asakusa and got my DS, games, and some cds, we had to go back to Asakusa because of issues, but that was okay. And other than that, I can't really remember right now what we did. I *think* that was it, but if the other two remember something I didn't, let me know.
I know we cut off our phones like around 5 on Tuesday, and we hadn't heard from Jyn by that time, so I assumed that she was stuck studying, we didn't get a chance to meet up with her, which kinda sucked. Didn't get a chance to meet up with Tiffany either.
Then, on Wednesday, we got up early, got ourselves to Tokyo to go back to Narita, to collect both of our bags, check in, get really upset at the lady at the counter because the system had our seats wrong, but we ended up together, with barely enough down time to go to the gate, and buy supplies for the flight before boarding. Then the 12 hour flight. Fun times. We watched Iron Man, read a bunch, I watched Spiderwyck, played video games, had one of the rudest stewardesses ever, and stayed up the entire time.
We deplaned, had fun with the Atlanta security of stupidity, were met by our loving families (with signs and balloons :D ), found ALL of our luggage 8D, and were taken home to showers before going out to see Dark Knight (NOBODY SPOILED ME!!! WOOOOOO!!!! I MADE IT!!!!!), which was . . . I need to see it again when I haven't been up for 26 hours to decide. By the end of it I was awake for 29 hours straight, and then crashed. I think that was my record. Ever.
So, there you go. I'll get pictures up. Sometime. I'd prefer not to do uploading on wireless, and that's all I got on the laptop right now.
Cheers.
Oh, but have some stats.
Since leaving the United States, I was gone for one year, two weeks, and six days. During that time I read, in completion, 112 books, 9 of which were in the last two and a half weeks since I'd left Miyako. Go me. I hit over one hundred.
I haven't put food into my system since about 11 last night. I haven't put water into my system since 7 am. When my alarm went off at 12, I went to the bathroom, stayed in the bathroom, and then decided that my bowels didn't really want me moving too much, so I went and laid back down. I've been laying here since, with periodic trips Back to the bathroom. It's after 4 now. I've been in bed 14 hours and still, I'm scared to eat, I'm scared to drink. And I feel cold. It's not cold here, but I feel cold.
I hate being sick.
So, here. Have a happy write up of the rest of our Taiwan Adventour.
Monday August 4th.
Relocated to Taichung. Had ISSUES finding the hotel, thanks to the Great Idea that Lonely Planet seems to have by giving us maps in our guide book in English (or Pinying), but not in the native writing system. But we got there, and it reeked of the 70s, but they were very friendly and took care of us, and had a laundry service, which was a godsend.
After settling in for a bit, we got ourselves up and buses back to the station, so that we could bus to the 1st Big Buddha. This one was all gold (although he needed a bit of work) and was the biggest laughing-style buddha in Taiwan. He was 22 meters high and completely tucked in around this neighborhood. Just right there amidst other random buildings. Other people have made comments that this takes away from the Buddha pilgrimage experience. I disagree. To me, that seemed like Taiwan written all over it. I mean, the temples themselves here are just tucked into the middle of the strip mall style sidewalks. Shoes, Clothing, Bags, Temple, Tea Shop, Stamp Shop--that's the norm. So having a giant Buddha tucked between old apartment buildings, normal.
We walked most of the way back to the hotel, caught a cab, rested, and then went out to dinner at this awesome noddle house, but still couldn't really read the menu, so we had noodles with beef again. But Oh! the beef was divine.
Tuesday August 5th.
We decided to forgo the bus that morning and took a taxi to the train station (by about this time in the trip actually remembering what "train station" was in horribly wrong Chinese), got a train to Chung Hua (about 15 minutes), and then a bus to the big buddha there. This one had a whole park around it, lovely place for walking, biking, doing taichi (we saw people doing it), fountains, and then on the top(ish) of the mountain, was the Buddha. He was pretty cool. And we could go inside and see all of the different stages of Buddha's life, in kinda creepy statues. That was pretty neat.
Then it was back down the mountain, back to the train station-ish, a brief stop in McDonald's for lunch, then across the street to catch a bus to take us to Lukang, where we couldn't find a single taxi until we were almost to the temple. The map we had was WRONG (like the roads didn't actually DO that dood), it started to pour down rain, and it was just not really cool until we found the temple, built in the 1600s which almost made it worth the trip. Although I think I disagree that it's "totally worth the side trip." Things like, "there are no taxis in this town" would have been good to know ahead of time. Stupid book.
But the day was saved when Chris was reading the signs and found a bus that would take us directly back to Taichung for about the same price as the buses and train back to Taichung through Chung Hua. Go Chris. And we found more bubble tea, which always makes it better.
For dinner we tried to go to the Japanese restaurant, but failed as the menu started around $30 (USD) so we went across the street to a place that a lot of locals seemed to like, nearly cried over the incomprehensible menu for about 15 minutes, then went up to the counter, and (thank god) found a woman who spoke english who could understand that all we wanted was something with rice, and veg, no meat. They asked if we were vegetarian, and I said no, but I didn't have the mental capacity to explain that we were just sick of only ordering beef. What they came out with was wonderful and perfect, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't actually on the menu. It was awesome.
Wednesday August 6th
Taxi to station, train to Taipei. We had the trains down. We knew the procedure and had it all fixed.
We got out, went back to the cheap hotel we got the first night in Taipei (they were actually There this time), got our same room where the a/c seemed to have broken in the last week, but whatever. We had icecream and pita from this wonderful pita place in the train station, and all was right with the world.
Thursday, August 7th
Every day we woke up in Taipei we had pitas for breakfast. I'm not gonna keep saying it.
We took the subway and a bus up to see the National Palace museum, and thank God that we missed the English tour. When they say that they have a TON of artifacts stolen from China, and that what they're displaying is only a small portion of the real collection, I live in FEAR of the storage costs. We ran into the English tour. Around about 2pm, the English tour started at 10am. I feel so sorry for those people. By the third floor, Curi and I were just glancing at things and only really looking at the stuff that caught our eyes, there was just that much of it.
Dinner that night was some lovely pastries from a Japanese bakery, which we had to get totally lost in the underbelly of the Taipei Main Station to find, but we did.
Friday, August 8th
This day we looked at each other and said no. We were suppose to go out to the tea gardens and drink tea in this awesome senery and lovely atmosphere, and just no. We couldn't do it. We found a movie theature (which was a bit of an adventour in and of itself, but really just asking about 6 people where the dang thing was) and watched Brendon Fraiser in the Mummy 3. Which was an awesome Mummy movie, you just have to have your expectations in the right place. They actually said it themselves in the very beginning, they'd contracted for 3, so this was it. Don't expect much. And with expectations low, it was pretty good.
This was also the day that I bought my jade buddha bead. it's got a small hole in the top of it, so it can be set in a necklace pretty easily. I would have been kicking myself if I hadn't bought one, so I'm glad.
Saturday, August 9th.
Breakfast again, then bus to the airport. The flight was pretty nice, we got into Tokyo on time, even after being delayed a bit, and found long term storage for our heavy heavy bags, which was just AWESOME. Much less encombered we FINALLY met up with Marnie, got dinner, and crashed.
Sunday - Wednesday, August 10th through 13th.
I don't really remember these days very well. I know we went to Harujuku to a specialty lunch shop (which was AWESOME), and I bought a new bag (which I love), I know we went to Shinjuku to be blessed by Marnie's favorite monk (that felt awesome, TONS of good juju), we went to Asakusa and got my DS, games, and some cds, we had to go back to Asakusa because of issues, but that was okay. And other than that, I can't really remember right now what we did. I *think* that was it, but if the other two remember something I didn't, let me know.
I know we cut off our phones like around 5 on Tuesday, and we hadn't heard from Jyn by that time, so I assumed that she was stuck studying, we didn't get a chance to meet up with her, which kinda sucked. Didn't get a chance to meet up with Tiffany either.
Then, on Wednesday, we got up early, got ourselves to Tokyo to go back to Narita, to collect both of our bags, check in, get really upset at the lady at the counter because the system had our seats wrong, but we ended up together, with barely enough down time to go to the gate, and buy supplies for the flight before boarding. Then the 12 hour flight. Fun times. We watched Iron Man, read a bunch, I watched Spiderwyck, played video games, had one of the rudest stewardesses ever, and stayed up the entire time.
We deplaned, had fun with the Atlanta security of stupidity, were met by our loving families (with signs and balloons :D ), found ALL of our luggage 8D, and were taken home to showers before going out to see Dark Knight (NOBODY SPOILED ME!!! WOOOOOO!!!! I MADE IT!!!!!), which was . . . I need to see it again when I haven't been up for 26 hours to decide. By the end of it I was awake for 29 hours straight, and then crashed. I think that was my record. Ever.
So, there you go. I'll get pictures up. Sometime. I'd prefer not to do uploading on wireless, and that's all I got on the laptop right now.
Cheers.
Oh, but have some stats.
Since leaving the United States, I was gone for one year, two weeks, and six days. During that time I read, in completion, 112 books, 9 of which were in the last two and a half weeks since I'd left Miyako. Go me. I hit over one hundred.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Adventour in Taiwan!!!!
I has a bit of internet right now, so thought I'd upload what I've been doing. I pretty much have access to internet (intermittently). If there's anything you think I should definitely know about, please email it to me? This username at the gmails. I'm also in the process of uploading photos. We'll see how far I get. I already filled up the gig card . . .
Kim and Curi’s Adventour in Taiwan!!!!
Monday, July 28th.
Kim and Curi’s Mini-Adventour in Japan!
That morning was kinda harrowing. I was suppose to wake up at 7:30 to get last minute things (like getting dressed) done before the power guy came to cut everything off. I woke up at 6:50 and was Up, so I packed up my bed, got everything last thing taken care of and headed to the airport.
Upon check in I was told that the plane I was waiting on was coming from Naha, stopping in Miyako, and traveling on to Tokyo. Because of the typhoon and bad winds, it might not come, it might be canceled. That was a fun way to start my morning.
Jason showed up, saying that Erika was upset that she couldn’t come because of work. And then Erika called me to say bye and that she was sorry she couldn’t come. That was awesome. I like Erika, and Jason.
They were shortly followed by Juliane, Justin, Teresa and her family (who were visiting in Miyako), Sam (big! surprise. Sam had meetings on Irabu, so she said she wouldn’t be able to come, but then the ferries were canceled because of the typhoon, so she could show up :D We had fun conversations about how the ferries weren’t running and weither my plane would be able to go or not), Kirsty (didn’t expect her), Noriko, Noriko, K*** (I can’t remember her name right now), Wakayama, David (!!!!!!!), and Jeff. It was a good send off. Noriko gave me a little parting gift that was awesome, the Japanese ladies were very interested in my pillow case (it’s all shiny satin, I’ve had it for YEARS), everyone was really nice and all. I didn’t cry, but I think that was more because it still doesn’t feel real, like I'm still planning to go back there after a little vacation or something.
Anywho. The flights before me and after me were canceled, but my flight got off with just a little delay, that they made up in the air :).
I got to Haneda airport in Tokyo, asked how was I suppose to get to Narita airport (all in Japanese! During the first of my stay here, I was always asking if they spoke English first, but now I’m confident enough to just ask in Japanese from the get go!) and was told that the next bus left in 2 minutes. So I bought my ticket (3000yen just for an hour bus ride XP) and got on, mailing Curi that I was On My Way!
When I got to Narita, Curi picked me up and we were off on our Mini Adventour! in our rented car. We picked up some conbini lunch and drove the 45 minutes to the second largest Buddha in the car. The Ushiku Daibutsu was awesome. And about twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. You could ride up an elevator inside it and look out these neat holes in his chest. It was pretty cool.
Then we drove back to the hotel (getting horribly lost trying to find the rental car place, eating some nice noodles for dinner, and stopping by Jusco for some last minute travel items) for a nice stay in a shwank hotel that cost too much.
In the morning we were off to Taiwan!
Tuesday, July 29th
Our flight was delayed. And then further delayed. Now I’d been worrying about the typhoon being the reason we were delayed or the flight was canceled, but no, there was a thunder storm over Tokyo.
We get on. Had a nice 3 and a half hour flight with some nasty in flight fish (they ran out of beef) and landed without much incident (I finished Witch Week on the plane). We got to Taiwan. Had a little mix up at customs, but no problems, and got on a bus for Taipei. We landed about 4:30-5, but we didn’t get to the hotel until about 8. It was kinda ridiculous. And when we get there, (first we couldn’t FIND the hotel, but then we did after asking about 3 people) there was a sign on reception that said to knock VERY loudly, and if there wasn’t anyone there, to go up to the 5th floor and wait. Need I mention the lack of elevator? So we lugged all of our bags up the 5 flights, figured out how to use the phone, called the manager, and were told to wait another 20 minutes while they finish dinner (I’ve been having to REALLY pee for about 30 minutes at this point, and no, there wasn’t a bathroom in the waiting area) and that we were so late that they almost gave our room away (way to make me NOT stress out!). We finally got in, were told that where the bus dropped us off was the train station, and we went back, checked the train schedules to Taroko, and had dinner there. Nice nice pita place. Curi had falafel and I had eggplant and hummus. Made of win. We go back to the hotel, have an interesting shower experience, and go to bed.
Wednesday, July 30th
We both wake up Uber early and decide to just leave.
We catch the 7:25 train to Hualin and meet some nice people who help us with our oversized luggage. This is the first time that our beloved Lonely Planet led us astray. We get off at the station before Hualin, because that’s where the book says we can get a bus ride into Taroko. The book lied. But we met a really nice park ranger that offered to take us up into Taroko and we thought, great. This is also the first time we figured out exactly how HUGE this Gorge is. Taroko (the city) is at the beginning of Taroko National Park. Our hotel was in Tian Siang. This is about an hour bus ride from Taroko. Who knew.
We wait around the park station for about 2 hours, taking in the scenic beauty and some really tasty lunch before hopping on the city bus to Tian Siang.
At Tian Siang we walk up the hill, with all of our stuff, to our hotel, and no body was there. Nobody, no sign, no nothing. And we don’t have cellphones or anything. So we wait.
We are met by a nice dog and 2 cats who really just want the love, but no people. The dog was just all kinds of awesome. At first she was really nervous of us. In that kinda aggressive nervous way. Like she was all wary of us, and when one of the cats came out and wanted to say hi to us, she tried to herd the black kitty away from us, trying to tell her that we’re strangers and not to be trusted. But the cat was stubborn and came over anyway. And after a while of us sitting down and writing postcards without being any kind of problem, the dog came over as well. First she nuzzeled and licked my knee. Then, after I broke down and started loving on the kitties, getting down on their level, she came up to me and was all ten kinds of lovey, but would only come over when I was kneeling, she didn’t like it when I stood up.
The owner came back after about an hour, and she spoke nicely broken Japanese. We got checked in, and then wandered over to the temple right next to Tian Siang. Hsing-te Temple. Large Buddha, temple, tower, really nice. Apparently they had a bunch of natural disasters not too long ago and needed lots of money and volunteers for the reconstruction of the temple (and the monks are all female). We met a nice young monk in the gift shop who talked to us a bit and told us some information. (I finally found a necklace of my personal Buddha!)
After walking around the temple for a while we came back to the hotel to just chill for a bit before dinner. Apparently the only restaurant in Tian Siang that caters to non-Taiwanese is the restaurant in the resort (RESORT!) and it was kinda pricey, but good. We met a German guy named Robert (does NOT sound American) and dined with him, and talked a bunch. Good times.
After dinner we met this nice Taiwanese guy (who’s dad apparently lives in Canada, and that’s why his English was so good) who’s family had worked on the construction of many of the roads in Taiwan and he took us around an exhibit in the hotel that showed pictures of Then and Now about the war and the roads and the Gorge. He also gave us some travel advice for when we go to visit China. Really neat.
We came back to a mostly cold shower, and then chilled out and read until we went to bed, a bit early.
Thursday, July 31st
12 hours later, we woke up :P We had a bit of a light meal for breakfast and walked to the information center. We were told that there aren’t buses that just go from one stop in the gorge to the others, that if we wanted to see more of the gorge we should have rented a car, rented a taxi (from Hualin), or gotten on a tour bus (from Hualin), and we were just kinda stuck. So we walked from Tian Siang to the next stop over, Lyu Shui, which was nice to walk so slowly and get pictures.
In Lyu Shui we found a restaurant that was closed, and a visitor’s center that wasn’t and showed us how Taiwan was made and rocks and stuff. There was also a video that they played just for us (because there weren’t a whole lot of visitors today, I guess). We were also told that all but one of the trails were closed, and one of the volunteers was going on it and did we want to join her. We said we did and she showed us the Lyushui trail (2km) which was pretty awesome. And then we walked back to Lyu Shui and she helped us hitchhike back up to Tian Siang. Yes, I have officially hitchhiked in a foreign country.
We had a fantabulous lunch of ice cream and instant noodles and are now chilling in the hotel again, our legs aching. Yay!
Friday, August 1st
We woke early enough to catch the 9:05 bus to Hualin, which took about 2 hours to get there. We got off at Hualin station, and were told to jump back on the same bus to go to the train station (I bet the driver thought we were crazy—speaking of the driver, he was just kinda awesome, cursing at everyone else on the road, but beeping his horn and waving to his friends). We had about a 2 hour wait for our train, and we spent it just sitting there, eating a whole bunch of conbini food, in preparation for our VERY long train ride to Tainan.
I’d like to take this moment to point out that I love the fact that I know a bit of Japanese. And that day was the day that it really hit home how great it was. See Japan kinda ganked the Chinese writing system a few hundred years ago, and while things have changed a bit, some of the words are still written the same, and in Japanese there are usually 2 or more readings for any particular character, and one of those readings is usually from Chinese. So as we were passing Taipei on our 7 and a half hour train ride, we knew where we were because we were passing tai = 台 (the kanji that is Taiwan’s tai) and pei = 北 (north) Or the big city of North Taiwan. Cuz I can read that. Go me. I can also read 台中 (Taichung, Japanese = Taiwan’s tai + chuu, middle), 台南 (tai + south), among most of the other station names, or at the very least, as soon as I saw them, I could usually figure out where we were on the map. It was the awesome.
Like I said, 7 and a half hours later, we get to Tainan, a nice lady with a colorful backpack helps us know where our hotel is and that it’s waaaaaay to far to want to walk, so we catch a cab, which was fun, cuz he didn’t know exactly where our hotel was either. But it’s okay, because we found 2! nice couples who showed us to our hotel :D
We check in, kinda cringe at the bill, but love the fact that it’s a “hostel” with an actual “hotel” feel. And we get breakfast vouchers, so it’s not so bad. We go out in search of dinner, and don’t find anything for a ways, as everything seems to close about 9pm. We found 1 ramen place still open, and negotiate in Japanese for him to just pick whatever kind of ramen he wants to cook for us (seeing how we can’t really read the menu), but for Curi to not have any actual pork meat in hers.
Saturday, August 2nd – Death and Cake Day
We started out the day with some Death. Well, actually we started out the day with our complementary breakfast, but then we went to Dongyue Temple (Top 10 in Taiwan, #10) which was a whole bunch of Death, which was just kinda awesome. Then we walked towards the Alter of Heaven, good for dispelling bad luck, and on to the Official God of War Temple (Sacrificial Rites Temple) which is dedicated to a Han dynasty general deified as the war god (woo!). Next door was the Matsu Temple (Top 10 #3), which use to be a palace, and we even saw the ceiling beams where the king’s wives hung themselves (followed along with the Death theme very nicely). We walked back to our hotel much earlier than I though we would and on our way found a nice lady who talked at us in Chinese, but helped us to FINALLY find us some bubble tea!!!! We then went to the super across the street from the hotel and got some meat buns and cake and enjoyed some of the nice A/C for the rest of the night.
Sunday, August 3rd
We would have gone on a bus to see another Top Ten temple (#9), but decided that we were really tired and wanted to take it really easy today. So we did. It’s been awesome. So far we went walking around a little bit, got our tickets for tomorrow, and mostly read and played video games. Like I said, pretty awesome. Tomorrow we take our train to Taichung and to the BIG Buddhas.
Kim and Curi’s Adventour in Taiwan!!!!
Monday, July 28th.
Kim and Curi’s Mini-Adventour in Japan!
That morning was kinda harrowing. I was suppose to wake up at 7:30 to get last minute things (like getting dressed) done before the power guy came to cut everything off. I woke up at 6:50 and was Up, so I packed up my bed, got everything last thing taken care of and headed to the airport.
Upon check in I was told that the plane I was waiting on was coming from Naha, stopping in Miyako, and traveling on to Tokyo. Because of the typhoon and bad winds, it might not come, it might be canceled. That was a fun way to start my morning.
Jason showed up, saying that Erika was upset that she couldn’t come because of work. And then Erika called me to say bye and that she was sorry she couldn’t come. That was awesome. I like Erika, and Jason.
They were shortly followed by Juliane, Justin, Teresa and her family (who were visiting in Miyako), Sam (big! surprise. Sam had meetings on Irabu, so she said she wouldn’t be able to come, but then the ferries were canceled because of the typhoon, so she could show up :D We had fun conversations about how the ferries weren’t running and weither my plane would be able to go or not), Kirsty (didn’t expect her), Noriko, Noriko, K*** (I can’t remember her name right now), Wakayama, David (!!!!!!!), and Jeff. It was a good send off. Noriko gave me a little parting gift that was awesome, the Japanese ladies were very interested in my pillow case (it’s all shiny satin, I’ve had it for YEARS), everyone was really nice and all. I didn’t cry, but I think that was more because it still doesn’t feel real, like I'm still planning to go back there after a little vacation or something.
Anywho. The flights before me and after me were canceled, but my flight got off with just a little delay, that they made up in the air :).
I got to Haneda airport in Tokyo, asked how was I suppose to get to Narita airport (all in Japanese! During the first of my stay here, I was always asking if they spoke English first, but now I’m confident enough to just ask in Japanese from the get go!) and was told that the next bus left in 2 minutes. So I bought my ticket (3000yen just for an hour bus ride XP) and got on, mailing Curi that I was On My Way!
When I got to Narita, Curi picked me up and we were off on our Mini Adventour! in our rented car. We picked up some conbini lunch and drove the 45 minutes to the second largest Buddha in the car. The Ushiku Daibutsu was awesome. And about twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. You could ride up an elevator inside it and look out these neat holes in his chest. It was pretty cool.
Then we drove back to the hotel (getting horribly lost trying to find the rental car place, eating some nice noodles for dinner, and stopping by Jusco for some last minute travel items) for a nice stay in a shwank hotel that cost too much.
In the morning we were off to Taiwan!
Tuesday, July 29th
Our flight was delayed. And then further delayed. Now I’d been worrying about the typhoon being the reason we were delayed or the flight was canceled, but no, there was a thunder storm over Tokyo.
We get on. Had a nice 3 and a half hour flight with some nasty in flight fish (they ran out of beef) and landed without much incident (I finished Witch Week on the plane). We got to Taiwan. Had a little mix up at customs, but no problems, and got on a bus for Taipei. We landed about 4:30-5, but we didn’t get to the hotel until about 8. It was kinda ridiculous. And when we get there, (first we couldn’t FIND the hotel, but then we did after asking about 3 people) there was a sign on reception that said to knock VERY loudly, and if there wasn’t anyone there, to go up to the 5th floor and wait. Need I mention the lack of elevator? So we lugged all of our bags up the 5 flights, figured out how to use the phone, called the manager, and were told to wait another 20 minutes while they finish dinner (I’ve been having to REALLY pee for about 30 minutes at this point, and no, there wasn’t a bathroom in the waiting area) and that we were so late that they almost gave our room away (way to make me NOT stress out!). We finally got in, were told that where the bus dropped us off was the train station, and we went back, checked the train schedules to Taroko, and had dinner there. Nice nice pita place. Curi had falafel and I had eggplant and hummus. Made of win. We go back to the hotel, have an interesting shower experience, and go to bed.
Wednesday, July 30th
We both wake up Uber early and decide to just leave.
We catch the 7:25 train to Hualin and meet some nice people who help us with our oversized luggage. This is the first time that our beloved Lonely Planet led us astray. We get off at the station before Hualin, because that’s where the book says we can get a bus ride into Taroko. The book lied. But we met a really nice park ranger that offered to take us up into Taroko and we thought, great. This is also the first time we figured out exactly how HUGE this Gorge is. Taroko (the city) is at the beginning of Taroko National Park. Our hotel was in Tian Siang. This is about an hour bus ride from Taroko. Who knew.
We wait around the park station for about 2 hours, taking in the scenic beauty and some really tasty lunch before hopping on the city bus to Tian Siang.
At Tian Siang we walk up the hill, with all of our stuff, to our hotel, and no body was there. Nobody, no sign, no nothing. And we don’t have cellphones or anything. So we wait.
We are met by a nice dog and 2 cats who really just want the love, but no people. The dog was just all kinds of awesome. At first she was really nervous of us. In that kinda aggressive nervous way. Like she was all wary of us, and when one of the cats came out and wanted to say hi to us, she tried to herd the black kitty away from us, trying to tell her that we’re strangers and not to be trusted. But the cat was stubborn and came over anyway. And after a while of us sitting down and writing postcards without being any kind of problem, the dog came over as well. First she nuzzeled and licked my knee. Then, after I broke down and started loving on the kitties, getting down on their level, she came up to me and was all ten kinds of lovey, but would only come over when I was kneeling, she didn’t like it when I stood up.
The owner came back after about an hour, and she spoke nicely broken Japanese. We got checked in, and then wandered over to the temple right next to Tian Siang. Hsing-te Temple. Large Buddha, temple, tower, really nice. Apparently they had a bunch of natural disasters not too long ago and needed lots of money and volunteers for the reconstruction of the temple (and the monks are all female). We met a nice young monk in the gift shop who talked to us a bit and told us some information. (I finally found a necklace of my personal Buddha!)
After walking around the temple for a while we came back to the hotel to just chill for a bit before dinner. Apparently the only restaurant in Tian Siang that caters to non-Taiwanese is the restaurant in the resort (RESORT!) and it was kinda pricey, but good. We met a German guy named Robert (does NOT sound American) and dined with him, and talked a bunch. Good times.
After dinner we met this nice Taiwanese guy (who’s dad apparently lives in Canada, and that’s why his English was so good) who’s family had worked on the construction of many of the roads in Taiwan and he took us around an exhibit in the hotel that showed pictures of Then and Now about the war and the roads and the Gorge. He also gave us some travel advice for when we go to visit China. Really neat.
We came back to a mostly cold shower, and then chilled out and read until we went to bed, a bit early.
Thursday, July 31st
12 hours later, we woke up :P We had a bit of a light meal for breakfast and walked to the information center. We were told that there aren’t buses that just go from one stop in the gorge to the others, that if we wanted to see more of the gorge we should have rented a car, rented a taxi (from Hualin), or gotten on a tour bus (from Hualin), and we were just kinda stuck. So we walked from Tian Siang to the next stop over, Lyu Shui, which was nice to walk so slowly and get pictures.
In Lyu Shui we found a restaurant that was closed, and a visitor’s center that wasn’t and showed us how Taiwan was made and rocks and stuff. There was also a video that they played just for us (because there weren’t a whole lot of visitors today, I guess). We were also told that all but one of the trails were closed, and one of the volunteers was going on it and did we want to join her. We said we did and she showed us the Lyushui trail (2km) which was pretty awesome. And then we walked back to Lyu Shui and she helped us hitchhike back up to Tian Siang. Yes, I have officially hitchhiked in a foreign country.
We had a fantabulous lunch of ice cream and instant noodles and are now chilling in the hotel again, our legs aching. Yay!
Friday, August 1st
We woke early enough to catch the 9:05 bus to Hualin, which took about 2 hours to get there. We got off at Hualin station, and were told to jump back on the same bus to go to the train station (I bet the driver thought we were crazy—speaking of the driver, he was just kinda awesome, cursing at everyone else on the road, but beeping his horn and waving to his friends). We had about a 2 hour wait for our train, and we spent it just sitting there, eating a whole bunch of conbini food, in preparation for our VERY long train ride to Tainan.
I’d like to take this moment to point out that I love the fact that I know a bit of Japanese. And that day was the day that it really hit home how great it was. See Japan kinda ganked the Chinese writing system a few hundred years ago, and while things have changed a bit, some of the words are still written the same, and in Japanese there are usually 2 or more readings for any particular character, and one of those readings is usually from Chinese. So as we were passing Taipei on our 7 and a half hour train ride, we knew where we were because we were passing tai = 台 (the kanji that is Taiwan’s tai) and pei = 北 (north) Or the big city of North Taiwan. Cuz I can read that. Go me. I can also read 台中 (Taichung, Japanese = Taiwan’s tai + chuu, middle), 台南 (tai + south), among most of the other station names, or at the very least, as soon as I saw them, I could usually figure out where we were on the map. It was the awesome.
Like I said, 7 and a half hours later, we get to Tainan, a nice lady with a colorful backpack helps us know where our hotel is and that it’s waaaaaay to far to want to walk, so we catch a cab, which was fun, cuz he didn’t know exactly where our hotel was either. But it’s okay, because we found 2! nice couples who showed us to our hotel :D
We check in, kinda cringe at the bill, but love the fact that it’s a “hostel” with an actual “hotel” feel. And we get breakfast vouchers, so it’s not so bad. We go out in search of dinner, and don’t find anything for a ways, as everything seems to close about 9pm. We found 1 ramen place still open, and negotiate in Japanese for him to just pick whatever kind of ramen he wants to cook for us (seeing how we can’t really read the menu), but for Curi to not have any actual pork meat in hers.
Saturday, August 2nd – Death and Cake Day
We started out the day with some Death. Well, actually we started out the day with our complementary breakfast, but then we went to Dongyue Temple (Top 10 in Taiwan, #10) which was a whole bunch of Death, which was just kinda awesome. Then we walked towards the Alter of Heaven, good for dispelling bad luck, and on to the Official God of War Temple (Sacrificial Rites Temple) which is dedicated to a Han dynasty general deified as the war god (woo!). Next door was the Matsu Temple (Top 10 #3), which use to be a palace, and we even saw the ceiling beams where the king’s wives hung themselves (followed along with the Death theme very nicely). We walked back to our hotel much earlier than I though we would and on our way found a nice lady who talked at us in Chinese, but helped us to FINALLY find us some bubble tea!!!! We then went to the super across the street from the hotel and got some meat buns and cake and enjoyed some of the nice A/C for the rest of the night.
Sunday, August 3rd
We would have gone on a bus to see another Top Ten temple (#9), but decided that we were really tired and wanted to take it really easy today. So we did. It’s been awesome. So far we went walking around a little bit, got our tickets for tomorrow, and mostly read and played video games. Like I said, pretty awesome. Tomorrow we take our train to Taichung and to the BIG Buddhas.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Look at me, I still has the internets!
But for how longs? O.o
This is what my neighborhood looks like right now. I haven't opened the windows yet to see how bad the winds are, but it's not currently raining, and with 22mph winds, I'm thinking not only snorkeling, but also beach is out. Which sucks. I wanted to go on my last day.
However, I'd be much more happy if I can go to Taiwan without problems. The prediction map looks good for me. This is what I want it to do. Go further and faster west so that it'll hit China by the 29th and not be over Taiwan AT ALL. It's already changed a lot since yesterday, doing exactly what I want it to. Let's all keep on pushing it a bit more?
This is what my neighborhood looks like right now. I haven't opened the windows yet to see how bad the winds are, but it's not currently raining, and with 22mph winds, I'm thinking not only snorkeling, but also beach is out. Which sucks. I wanted to go on my last day.
However, I'd be much more happy if I can go to Taiwan without problems. The prediction map looks good for me. This is what I want it to do. Go further and faster west so that it'll hit China by the 29th and not be over Taiwan AT ALL. It's already changed a lot since yesterday, doing exactly what I want it to. Let's all keep on pushing it a bit more?
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Read at least the beginning? It's long, so key words in bold.
Okay, I need your help again. I'm flying to Taiwan from Tokyo on July 29th. I need the typhoon to not still be over Taiwan at that point. Here's the typhoon right now. The first number, that's what day they predict that the center of the storm will be somewhere in that big circle. I need it to go FASTER. I need it to go WEST. This time not pushing it out of the way, but pushing it faster west so that it passes over Taiwan quicker and will be on it's way to China by Tuesday. So, please think about the typhoon going faster west. Further West. This will also be a good thing because the less time it hangs out over the ocean, the less chance it has to get stronger, the weaker it is, the less damage it'll do.
Now for an update. Yesterday was awesome. I got just about everything I need to do done and all that's left is my bed appointment at 11am tomorrow. And then packing up the last few things. And then going. Woo.
I also went for my run yesterday. Now, this was suppose to be my w1d3 run after my 30 minute run. The wind was KILLER. Like, on the way over the bridge it was fine, strong, but nice. On the way back it was pushing me sooooo hard. The final hill, it literally felt like I was trying to run through water. I gave up, about 2 minutes from the end of my 30 minutes and started to speedwalk, and I went FASTER. It was rediculous.
So then, I do my 5 minute recovery walk and start on w1d3. Now I've had two minds about this week. I've found the 1 minute interval too easy. But I leave for Tokyo then Taiwan on Monday, and I didn't want to push myself so hard that I got to a point that I'd be pushing myself during my trip. I don't expect to be able to run every other day, and I expect that my progress, due to inactivity, will slow down considerably. I don't want to be pushing myself hard before I leave only to find that the level I make it to while I'm on my trip kills me because I'm running after sightseeing all day. If that makes sense.
But yesterday, I was just sick of it. I accidentally over ran the 60 seconds for the 2nd time that day, and I just said to myself, fine. How far can you do? So after 4 of the minute intervals, I did a 2 minute interval (and felt a bit winded, but good), walked for 90 secons, did a 3 minute interval (felt a bit more like I did at the very beginning of the program, rather winded and happy that I could walk again), walked for 90 seconds, and then did a 3rd longer interval, but lost track of the time, and was comfortable to run until the end of the 20 minutes, so around 4 minutes. I followed the day with a cool down walk. It was good. I think, I don't know. I think I'll just have to try and see what feels comfortable for me during my trip. I think that if I need to I'll stick with week 2 after my 30 minute run, but I'll forgive myself if all I do is the 30 minute run and a 30 minute walk, if that's how tired I feel. Or less, if I find that I don't have time after seeing everything I want to see. I can exercise any day, I can walk around Takoro Gorge probably once in my life.
Afterwards I hung out on the beach for a bit with Juliane ("YOU lee AHN eh" she's German) before driving back, catching a shower, and walking around Miyako Matsuri for a bit. All of the other girls were all dressed up in yukata, but mine's all packed away :( But it was fun, and we got some cotton candy before heading to pizza where the whole old skool crew was there, it took us about an hour to get our pizza, another 45 minutes to another hour to get our salads, but good company, and I've finally met the infamous Owen-sensei, who's on Miyako for the summer with his wife and his 1 year old.
We didn't quite leave before they started otori, but left before too long. Milton's wife, Tomoko, wrote me a beautiful good bye letter in English (which she doesn't speak very well, so it showed extra effort), I really need to keep in contact with them.
Then we headed to Anchan and Ryu's new restraunt that doesn't open until the 1st, but they had Hiroko's birthday party there. Good atmosphere, good location, good people, good fun, dangerous floor. I fell down a step I didn't see and didn't hurt my ankle! I had a choice, in that second of falling. Recover and possibly really hurt my ankle again, or just fall. So I just fell. I have a hugenormous, beautiful bruise on my right knee. About 3 inches long ;)
After, sleep and waking up too early for the final bill with the gas man. Because of my deposit, I only had to pay about 17 bucks for the last two months ;D
Then, with the typhoon in the area, things were girigiri today about weither we could go snorkeling or not. (They're pretty much muri tomorrow, but we may try to go anyway). But me, Juliane, and Jason tried anyway out at Arugusuku. It was windy. And the waves were ROUGH. But it was awesome. I swear, about half of the fish I saw, it was my first time seeing that species. Soooo good. And for a while, me and Juliane were swimming INSIDE this school of fish (about 6-7 different species) but they were swimming in front of, surrounding, behind us. Literally getting within a few inches of our bodies. It was like they were uber curious about us! not the other way around. We also saw this HUGE fish, about a foot and a half long, about a foot tall, fat, that just chilled out, looking at us. And you could tell, it was checking us out. We'd watch it, it'd watch us right back. I figure it figured we were the only things in the area that were big enough to eat it, so it was being cautious.
Then, or rather, from the beginning, Juliane's mask was just Not Working Right and she just gave up, and went back towards shore, keeping an eye on me from there. I went around a bit by myself and saw a long skinny fish, about 2 feet long, silvery, with a long snout, and an eye bigger than the old silver dollars (the Old ones, like Ryam has), with a body about only 3 inches in diameter. It was funky. I also saw a school of about a hundred zebra striped fish, but yellow, not white, and a I think you call 'em sea slugs? The pretty little brightly colored things? This one was orange. A ton of sea urchins and anemones, and a couple nemos. I gave up about an hour fifteen and went back towards shore, where it turns out Juliane and I have the same foot size, so she borrowed my fins and mask and went back out for another 40 minutes or so while I watched her from the shore.
Jason was out spearfishing this whole time, but didn't see anything big enough to catch. He said he saw a small octopus though. Groovy for him. I'm glad it was small and he didn't kill it. At least he's the kind of fisherman who takes only what he'll eat.
The waves and the current were really strong, but the viability was good and we saw a bunch of stuff. I'm gonna call it a good day.
After I dropped them off, I did a shower and an errand and went to Mitchan's for lunch. Where he gave me an awesome book on the fundementals of Buddhism (and I got his email, he wants to know what I think of it), and a present for Leo for his birthday. We had a really good conversation, going every where from linguistics to religion to experiences, to temperature, and beyond. He said that his new lesson for the day was that in degrees Fahrenheit water freezes at 32 degrees. He didn't know that previously, or the formula for converting it (degrees C x 1.8 + 32, I love the internet), and that that would have been something that he think would have been interesting to learn in school, as it has real world implications (ie: you travel to America and you need to know weither to bring sunblock or a sweater).
Then, on his suggestion, I went to San-e to get a caligraphy pen, and because I was there I poked around the clothing. I had a faint idea to buy Leo (or myself) a junbei, but I didn't see one I liked enough for the price they wanted, but I did find a sale on exercise pants, dry fit, and as the ones that I've been using for school have started to wear thin in the crotch (10 buck pants, I wore them for about 6 months, totally worth it), and they're starting to get tight around the thighs, I figured getting two more pairs of capris that fit better and a new pair of shorts would be worth it (21 bucks, 3 new dry fit pants ;) ). The thigh problem is not because I'm gaining weight, mind. It's because of the running. My thigh muscles are getting more fit, and a little bit bigger, so all of my pants have become a bit tight around the thighs. I don't mind it, I think they look better. They're no longer sticks with a bit of fat round the buttocks, but actually neatly proportioned legs, with nice calves and good thigh curvature, before getting to my now a little higher and firmer, but seemingly just as squishy badunkadunk. Yes, you may in fact see me in spandex at dragon con this year.
In a little bit the second day of Miyako Matsuri starts where they're crowing Miss Miyako and the have a giant tug-a-war, which they'll cut up and give out for good luck. I'm gonna go, but I need to finish my crunches first (I've used this as a rest time between my push ups). I'm still pushing myself too hard on my push ups, doing w3c3, but I think it's good. I'm still going up in numbers, even if I'm not going any higher than the max. And this is after snorkeling in rough waters this morning, so I still feel good about it.
I think they cut of my internet later tonight, so I probably won't be updating much in the next few weeks. But I'll have my computer with me, so maybe I'll try to write up a bit about my trip and then post it late.
Now for an update. Yesterday was awesome. I got just about everything I need to do done and all that's left is my bed appointment at 11am tomorrow. And then packing up the last few things. And then going. Woo.
I also went for my run yesterday. Now, this was suppose to be my w1d3 run after my 30 minute run. The wind was KILLER. Like, on the way over the bridge it was fine, strong, but nice. On the way back it was pushing me sooooo hard. The final hill, it literally felt like I was trying to run through water. I gave up, about 2 minutes from the end of my 30 minutes and started to speedwalk, and I went FASTER. It was rediculous.
So then, I do my 5 minute recovery walk and start on w1d3. Now I've had two minds about this week. I've found the 1 minute interval too easy. But I leave for Tokyo then Taiwan on Monday, and I didn't want to push myself so hard that I got to a point that I'd be pushing myself during my trip. I don't expect to be able to run every other day, and I expect that my progress, due to inactivity, will slow down considerably. I don't want to be pushing myself hard before I leave only to find that the level I make it to while I'm on my trip kills me because I'm running after sightseeing all day. If that makes sense.
But yesterday, I was just sick of it. I accidentally over ran the 60 seconds for the 2nd time that day, and I just said to myself, fine. How far can you do? So after 4 of the minute intervals, I did a 2 minute interval (and felt a bit winded, but good), walked for 90 secons, did a 3 minute interval (felt a bit more like I did at the very beginning of the program, rather winded and happy that I could walk again), walked for 90 seconds, and then did a 3rd longer interval, but lost track of the time, and was comfortable to run until the end of the 20 minutes, so around 4 minutes. I followed the day with a cool down walk. It was good. I think, I don't know. I think I'll just have to try and see what feels comfortable for me during my trip. I think that if I need to I'll stick with week 2 after my 30 minute run, but I'll forgive myself if all I do is the 30 minute run and a 30 minute walk, if that's how tired I feel. Or less, if I find that I don't have time after seeing everything I want to see. I can exercise any day, I can walk around Takoro Gorge probably once in my life.
Afterwards I hung out on the beach for a bit with Juliane ("YOU lee AHN eh" she's German) before driving back, catching a shower, and walking around Miyako Matsuri for a bit. All of the other girls were all dressed up in yukata, but mine's all packed away :( But it was fun, and we got some cotton candy before heading to pizza where the whole old skool crew was there, it took us about an hour to get our pizza, another 45 minutes to another hour to get our salads, but good company, and I've finally met the infamous Owen-sensei, who's on Miyako for the summer with his wife and his 1 year old.
We didn't quite leave before they started otori, but left before too long. Milton's wife, Tomoko, wrote me a beautiful good bye letter in English (which she doesn't speak very well, so it showed extra effort), I really need to keep in contact with them.
Then we headed to Anchan and Ryu's new restraunt that doesn't open until the 1st, but they had Hiroko's birthday party there. Good atmosphere, good location, good people, good fun, dangerous floor. I fell down a step I didn't see and didn't hurt my ankle! I had a choice, in that second of falling. Recover and possibly really hurt my ankle again, or just fall. So I just fell. I have a hugenormous, beautiful bruise on my right knee. About 3 inches long ;)
After, sleep and waking up too early for the final bill with the gas man. Because of my deposit, I only had to pay about 17 bucks for the last two months ;D
Then, with the typhoon in the area, things were girigiri today about weither we could go snorkeling or not. (They're pretty much muri tomorrow, but we may try to go anyway). But me, Juliane, and Jason tried anyway out at Arugusuku. It was windy. And the waves were ROUGH. But it was awesome. I swear, about half of the fish I saw, it was my first time seeing that species. Soooo good. And for a while, me and Juliane were swimming INSIDE this school of fish (about 6-7 different species) but they were swimming in front of, surrounding, behind us. Literally getting within a few inches of our bodies. It was like they were uber curious about us! not the other way around. We also saw this HUGE fish, about a foot and a half long, about a foot tall, fat, that just chilled out, looking at us. And you could tell, it was checking us out. We'd watch it, it'd watch us right back. I figure it figured we were the only things in the area that were big enough to eat it, so it was being cautious.
Then, or rather, from the beginning, Juliane's mask was just Not Working Right and she just gave up, and went back towards shore, keeping an eye on me from there. I went around a bit by myself and saw a long skinny fish, about 2 feet long, silvery, with a long snout, and an eye bigger than the old silver dollars (the Old ones, like Ryam has), with a body about only 3 inches in diameter. It was funky. I also saw a school of about a hundred zebra striped fish, but yellow, not white, and a I think you call 'em sea slugs? The pretty little brightly colored things? This one was orange. A ton of sea urchins and anemones, and a couple nemos. I gave up about an hour fifteen and went back towards shore, where it turns out Juliane and I have the same foot size, so she borrowed my fins and mask and went back out for another 40 minutes or so while I watched her from the shore.
Jason was out spearfishing this whole time, but didn't see anything big enough to catch. He said he saw a small octopus though. Groovy for him. I'm glad it was small and he didn't kill it. At least he's the kind of fisherman who takes only what he'll eat.
The waves and the current were really strong, but the viability was good and we saw a bunch of stuff. I'm gonna call it a good day.
After I dropped them off, I did a shower and an errand and went to Mitchan's for lunch. Where he gave me an awesome book on the fundementals of Buddhism (and I got his email, he wants to know what I think of it), and a present for Leo for his birthday. We had a really good conversation, going every where from linguistics to religion to experiences, to temperature, and beyond. He said that his new lesson for the day was that in degrees Fahrenheit water freezes at 32 degrees. He didn't know that previously, or the formula for converting it (degrees C x 1.8 + 32, I love the internet), and that that would have been something that he think would have been interesting to learn in school, as it has real world implications (ie: you travel to America and you need to know weither to bring sunblock or a sweater).
Then, on his suggestion, I went to San-e to get a caligraphy pen, and because I was there I poked around the clothing. I had a faint idea to buy Leo (or myself) a junbei, but I didn't see one I liked enough for the price they wanted, but I did find a sale on exercise pants, dry fit, and as the ones that I've been using for school have started to wear thin in the crotch (10 buck pants, I wore them for about 6 months, totally worth it), and they're starting to get tight around the thighs, I figured getting two more pairs of capris that fit better and a new pair of shorts would be worth it (21 bucks, 3 new dry fit pants ;) ). The thigh problem is not because I'm gaining weight, mind. It's because of the running. My thigh muscles are getting more fit, and a little bit bigger, so all of my pants have become a bit tight around the thighs. I don't mind it, I think they look better. They're no longer sticks with a bit of fat round the buttocks, but actually neatly proportioned legs, with nice calves and good thigh curvature, before getting to my now a little higher and firmer, but seemingly just as squishy badunkadunk. Yes, you may in fact see me in spandex at dragon con this year.
In a little bit the second day of Miyako Matsuri starts where they're crowing Miss Miyako and the have a giant tug-a-war, which they'll cut up and give out for good luck. I'm gonna go, but I need to finish my crunches first (I've used this as a rest time between my push ups). I'm still pushing myself too hard on my push ups, doing w3c3, but I think it's good. I'm still going up in numbers, even if I'm not going any higher than the max. And this is after snorkeling in rough waters this morning, so I still feel good about it.
I think they cut of my internet later tonight, so I probably won't be updating much in the next few weeks. But I'll have my computer with me, so maybe I'll try to write up a bit about my trip and then post it late.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Couch to 5k
I'm playing around with google documents and I rewrote the couch to 5k plan because I don't like the spacing on their website. And google has a publish to blog button. So I'm trying it out. Anyway, this is the program that I just finished and am doing again :P
| Week | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 |
| 1 | 5 minute walk 20 minute intervals 60 seconds running 90 seconds walking 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 20 minute intervals 60 seconds running 90 seconds walking 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 20 minute intervals 60 seconds running 90 seconds walking 5 minute walk |
| 2 | 5 minute walk 20 minute intervals 90 seconds running 2 minutes walking 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 20 minute intervals 90 seconds running 2 minutes walking 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 20 minute intervals 90 seconds running 2 minutes walking 5 minute walk |
| 3 | 5 minute walk 2 repetitions: 90 seconds running 90 seconds walking 3 minutes running 3 minutes walking | 5 minute walk 2 repetitions: 90 seconds running 90 seconds walking 3 minutes running 3 minutes walking | 5 minute walk 2 repetitions: 90 seconds running 90 seconds walking 3 minutes running 3 minutes walking |
| 4 | 5 minute walk 3 minutes running 90 seconds walking 5 minutes running 2.5 minutes walking 3 minutes running 90 seconds walking 5 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 3 minutes running 90 seconds walking 5 minutes running 2.5 minutes walking 3 minutes running 90 seconds walking 5 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 3 minutes running 90 seconds walking 5 minutes running 2.5 minutes walking 3 minutes running 90 seconds walking 5 minutes running 5 minute walk |
| 5 | 5 minute walk 5 minutes running 3 minutes walking 5 minutes running 3 minutes walking 5 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 8 minutes running 5 minutes walking 8 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 20 minutes running |
| 6 | 5 minute walk 5 minutes running 3 minutes walking 8 minutes running 3 minutes walking 5 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 10 minutes running 3 minutes walking 10 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 25 minutes running 5 minute walk |
| 7 | 5 minute walk 25 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 25 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 25 minutes running 5 minute walk |
| 8 | 5 minute walk 28 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 28 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 28 minutes running 5 minute walk |
| 9 | 5 minute walk 30 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 30 minutes running 5 minute walk | 5 minute walk 30 minutes running 5 minute walk |
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Now that they're gone . . .
So yeah, bowling last night was awesome. Or, I didn't do badly, and *I* won a game (everyone else did dismally). Then I went out drinking with Ikemura-san, and Justin, and some other bowling peeps. And I got home late, rather . . . drinked, and decided to go ahead and take that last day of nenkyuu I had today. Good plans.
I slept until about 9:30. I got up, got dressed and started to clean. And oh! the cleaning that had to be done, and I had an appointment at 5 for them to come and do the final check on the apartment. So I start cleaning, and then at 10am someone knocks on my door. It's the apartment people.
. . .
*sigh*
I freak out and tell them that they can't come in now because my appointment was at 5 and the apartment wasn't ready yet.
And that scared me enough to really dig in and start cleaning after they'd gone.
So yeah, today I cleaned, I packed, I set aside everything that's going with me, everything that's getting shipped to Narita to meet me at the airport, made lists of everything that I can't pack yet (computer, shampoo, etc). I feel all 10 kinds of accomplished. And I'm really glad I took today off, because if I hadn't there's no way in all of God's creation that I would have gotten it done, even to just the point I did, by 5. Just check out my list and how much of it is all struck through :)
They just came, and we had long and engrossing conversations about stuff I'd already cleared like 3 times, I'd already explained and had explained. *sigh* But it's over, and they gave me 4820 just for the pleasure of living with them for a year. And then the boss asked if I'd had any problems this last year, and the main problem I'd had was standing there in my kitchen with me, so I didn't say anything. Except the termites. But again, that's over.
Now tomorrow I get to go into work, give them that copy of the tickets, print out information from the hotels in Taiwan so I know where I'm going and have a phone number if I don't. Oh, the train information too. Then I get to (hopefully) cut out early to deal with signing over the name of my scooter to Jeff and Mike. And then I get to go to the post office and become a poor woman. Fun fun. And I need to go ahead and get the Narita suitcase ALL packed up and I think I'm going to go ahead and send it, if I can. Or go down, get it weighed, do everything but give them the money, and then make Jeff do it after I'm gone. And I need to find a box for my computer (that'd be so much simpler if I just felt comfortable with taking the dang thing with me to Taiwan. Maybe I just should. I mean, I'm sending my harddrive and all my electrics in my suitcase to Narita, but my computer I was planning to mail to Marnie to meet me in Tokyo, but . . . I really just don't want to deal with any of this. Oh, and I need to go to the used shop tomorrow to see what I can sell.
And, since the post office is closed (at 5, so that appointment screwed up all my plans for the rest of the day, too) I don't have anywhere to be. I don't have anything to pack. I don't have anything to clean. I need to run in a bit, but I think I'm going to wait until full on sunset to do that so I don't have to bother with sunscreen. And I'm doing my push ups as we speak (or I'm writing between sets as my arms feel like wet noodles), and I'm not sure how well it's doing. I've bumped up my max a whole bunch, and now I'm really struggling to keep up. I mean, the first set nearly killed me and now my arms are shaking through the middle of the 2nd and 3rd sets. I'm taking them REALLY slow. I might have to cut down to column two.
I did my crunches last night before bowling. That went well enough. They still start to get really hard towards the end of em, but I'm still moving up. Woo.
I did really want to get both the crunches and push ups done yesterday, so I'd be on an alternating day with my running, seeing how I'm not bowling anymore, but the drinked. Also, I was invited to a turnament on Sunday, so I don't know what's going to happen with my workout. Maybe if I get up and do them first thing on Saturday, right before the gas guy comes, but either way, I'm going to have to not do them or do them two days in a row somewhere. Which is not good. I don't want to just give up. But I won't get a chance to do them on Monday, and then I'm traveling, so who knows when I'm going to be doing them over the next 3 weeks . . .
That last set of push ups *really* hurt. It was HARD. I barely, barely did the min max. I really hope that I don't crap out on day 2. If I push myself, I *should* be able to do them. I *should be able to finish this week and move on. Again, it goes with the being able to continue while on vacation . . . Oh, I need to print out the program tomorrow as well . . .
Oh, and color me distracted. I had another fangirl moment (similar to my Warren Ellis Moment). Yeah, you know how I was pimping The Guild? If you haven't gone and watched it, you should. It's funny, and doesn't take a whole bunch of time. And it stars Felicia Day. Who commented on my blog. Yep, she somehow bewitched the interwebs and found out that I'd made the link to her website. (Thanks, by the way, for the original heads up.) And she came back to my blog, and commented. It's just a little thing. Just a few moments of her time. But dood, that's cool. That she would take her time and do that. I mean, yeah, it's self advertising, but it made me feel all appreciated and stuff. And now I think I am gonna actually buy The Guild on DVD when it comes out, because it is funny, and I think I'd like to support her endeavors. Because she's a cool person. Because she took time out of her day and commented on my blog.
Again with the whole argument that we're all people living in the same world and why shouldn't we talk to each other.
I slept until about 9:30. I got up, got dressed and started to clean. And oh! the cleaning that had to be done, and I had an appointment at 5 for them to come and do the final check on the apartment. So I start cleaning, and then at 10am someone knocks on my door. It's the apartment people.
. . .
*sigh*
I freak out and tell them that they can't come in now because my appointment was at 5 and the apartment wasn't ready yet.
And that scared me enough to really dig in and start cleaning after they'd gone.
So yeah, today I cleaned, I packed, I set aside everything that's going with me, everything that's getting shipped to Narita to meet me at the airport, made lists of everything that I can't pack yet (computer, shampoo, etc). I feel all 10 kinds of accomplished. And I'm really glad I took today off, because if I hadn't there's no way in all of God's creation that I would have gotten it done, even to just the point I did, by 5. Just check out my list and how much of it is all struck through :)
They just came, and we had long and engrossing conversations about stuff I'd already cleared like 3 times, I'd already explained and had explained. *sigh* But it's over, and they gave me 4820 just for the pleasure of living with them for a year. And then the boss asked if I'd had any problems this last year, and the main problem I'd had was standing there in my kitchen with me, so I didn't say anything. Except the termites. But again, that's over.
Now tomorrow I get to go into work, give them that copy of the tickets, print out information from the hotels in Taiwan so I know where I'm going and have a phone number if I don't. Oh, the train information too. Then I get to (hopefully) cut out early to deal with signing over the name of my scooter to Jeff and Mike. And then I get to go to the post office and become a poor woman. Fun fun. And I need to go ahead and get the Narita suitcase ALL packed up and I think I'm going to go ahead and send it, if I can. Or go down, get it weighed, do everything but give them the money, and then make Jeff do it after I'm gone. And I need to find a box for my computer (that'd be so much simpler if I just felt comfortable with taking the dang thing with me to Taiwan. Maybe I just should. I mean, I'm sending my harddrive and all my electrics in my suitcase to Narita, but my computer I was planning to mail to Marnie to meet me in Tokyo, but . . . I really just don't want to deal with any of this. Oh, and I need to go to the used shop tomorrow to see what I can sell.
And, since the post office is closed (at 5, so that appointment screwed up all my plans for the rest of the day, too) I don't have anywhere to be. I don't have anything to pack. I don't have anything to clean. I need to run in a bit, but I think I'm going to wait until full on sunset to do that so I don't have to bother with sunscreen. And I'm doing my push ups as we speak (or I'm writing between sets as my arms feel like wet noodles), and I'm not sure how well it's doing. I've bumped up my max a whole bunch, and now I'm really struggling to keep up. I mean, the first set nearly killed me and now my arms are shaking through the middle of the 2nd and 3rd sets. I'm taking them REALLY slow. I might have to cut down to column two.
I did my crunches last night before bowling. That went well enough. They still start to get really hard towards the end of em, but I'm still moving up. Woo.
I did really want to get both the crunches and push ups done yesterday, so I'd be on an alternating day with my running, seeing how I'm not bowling anymore, but the drinked. Also, I was invited to a turnament on Sunday, so I don't know what's going to happen with my workout. Maybe if I get up and do them first thing on Saturday, right before the gas guy comes, but either way, I'm going to have to not do them or do them two days in a row somewhere. Which is not good. I don't want to just give up. But I won't get a chance to do them on Monday, and then I'm traveling, so who knows when I'm going to be doing them over the next 3 weeks . . .
That last set of push ups *really* hurt. It was HARD. I barely, barely did the min max. I really hope that I don't crap out on day 2. If I push myself, I *should* be able to do them. I *should be able to finish this week and move on. Again, it goes with the being able to continue while on vacation . . . Oh, I need to print out the program tomorrow as well . . .
Oh, and color me distracted. I had another fangirl moment (similar to my Warren Ellis Moment). Yeah, you know how I was pimping The Guild? If you haven't gone and watched it, you should. It's funny, and doesn't take a whole bunch of time. And it stars Felicia Day. Who commented on my blog. Yep, she somehow bewitched the interwebs and found out that I'd made the link to her website. (Thanks, by the way,
Again with the whole argument that we're all people living in the same world and why shouldn't we talk to each other.
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