Dutch Queen's Birthday

The BBQ's best fan.

I didn’t do much today other than study the rescue diver manual. Studying actually went well because this was the second time I went through the manual. The rest of the day I was planning on going to Alona Beach to check internet and to go to a party celebrating the Dutch Queen’s birthday (there’s a good number of Dutch people here).

Jake, Paul and I enjoy a round of that Joss drink.

I went to Trendi’s to check internet and surprisingly checked all I wanted to in 20 minutes. For dinner, I went to Oops and tried their bbq pork belly. It was quite delicious actually. At Oops, I met two guys from the US - Jake and Paul - who were aviation government consultants. They didn’t talk much about it and I assume what they did was pretty secretive. They turned out to be good to talk to and introduced me to a drink one of them created using vodka, soda water, and Joss - a fruity energy drink. The drink was good, it tasted like a popsicle.

Instructor Mike grins under light.

Nic is happy to drink a San Miguel beer.

Sara talks amongst the Dutch.

After Oops, Jake, Paul and I went to Trendi’s for the Queen’s birthday celebration. Anyone who wore orange (Dutch color) got a free drink. Sara, Martine (who are Dutch) and Mike were there already wearing their orange. There was dancing but overall the place was mellow. A good crowd actually.


- jason

Wanted - Tips on calling numbers

View from Coco Vida

I need to book a domestic flight from Tagbilaran to Manila to eventually make my way to Puerto Galera for the IDC. In order to do that, I need to get the phone number for Philippine Airlines to call because I have an open ticket that can only be scheduled via phone. I got a reservation phone number off their website and tried to call on my cell phone but I couldn’t connect for various reasons. It’s confusing here to dial phone numbers because how you dial depends on if you’re dialing to a cell phone or land line, and what carrier (Globe or Smart) you and the receiver use. I asked several people how I can dial the number including people at Genesis and native Filipinos. No body knew how to dial the number.

Anita from Coco Vida

Throughout the day I hung out at Coco Vida and eventually Oops bar. At Oops, I met Jim, Mark, and Jason who were in Alona for a wedding. Ronnie, an Englishman living in Philippines for 15 years and one of the persons who helped create Alona Beach, joined me at the bar. I asked him if he knew how to dial the Philippine Airlines phone number I had and he told me not to ask him about dialing numbers because he was confused about the system. Even he didn’t know how to do it!

Resident dog of Oops Bar - Oopsie

I gave up on trying to figure out how to call Philippine Airlines and decided to just have a local travel agent schedule my open ticket. I went to Sunshine Travel on Alona Beach and told them what I wanted to do. The girl helping me told me that she needed a booking reference number from my ticket in order to make the reservation. I asked if she could just call Philippine Airlines and have them look up my name. For some reason, she was hesitant and I found it odd that it never occurred to her to try this option -- again, another example of not thinking of other possible solutions to try to solve a problem and help a customer. Nobody at the Philippine Airlines answered the phone she said. Just my luck.


- jason

Study all day

Gecko live all around the house, eating a lot of the small insects.

I stayed home all day today to focus on studying for the IDC. There is a lot of reading and reviewing I need to do and wanted to get as much a head start as possible. The most intimidating areas of study are physics and physiology.

My fried rice adobo attempt

For lunch, I cooked my version of pork adobo and garlic rice. The knives in my kitchen are so dull that had to cut up the pork with my pocket combat knife. It was a slightly barbaric way to cut up the meat which made me feel like I was camping in my kitchen. The nice thing about cooking at home is that you really save a lot of money compared to eating out. I made 3 meals worth of food which costed about 140 pesos ($3.50 USD).

- jason

EFR training and Yoeri's party

It rained quite hard in the morning today and I didn’t want to drive in the rain but had to meet up in Alona Beach at 9 AM for an Emergency First Response (EFR) class. I had to refresh my CPR/EFR training for the PADI Instructor course I was enrolled in. Sara was in my class and Eric taught it via Genesis Divers. Surprisingly, CPR techniques have changed within the last couple years so it was good to get a refresh. The class was fun, Eric was very knowledgeable, and it was shorter than both Sara and I thought - we thought it was a two day course but we finished at 4 PM.

Yoeri, a Swiss videographer on the island, texted me to invite me to his house (next door to my house) for a party in the evening. Sara, her friend Mike, and I went to the party. At the party we ate lechon (bbq pig), salad, and various other things. Most of the people at the party were European expats living in the Philippines. Yoeri talked with me suggesting I purchase a video camera with housing and go out with him filming people’s dives. Its very tempting, but I don’t have a lot of experience filming underwater nor do I want to spend more money after just paying for my instructor course. He encouraged me to finish my instructor course and see what happens afterwards. Its very encouraging having a multimedia based option.


- jason

Adventures in paying

Today I went to Tagbilaran to deposit my payment for the Instructor Development Course (IDC). As usual, doing so wasn’t as straight forward as it should have been. I was planning on paying using my credit card which Western Union’s website stated as an option. The lady at the Western Union office said that I needed to pay cash. Since the amount I needed to transfer was more than what was allowed to withdraw in one day at the ATM, I had to get another cash advance.

I went to the bank I used before for a cash advance which was easy enough to do since I’ve done it before. After getting the cash, I went back to Western Union and deposited the money for transfer. To make my trip to Tagbilaran more worthwhile, I decided to see the new Jet Li and Jackie Chan movie “Forbidden Kingdom”. I was up for some good senseless action.

I got my ticket and was ushered into the theater 15 minutes before my showing started. To my surprise, the last showing was still running and was showing the ending of the film. Huh? I don’t want to see the ending and spoiling the movie. What’s the point of sending me inside while the movie is still running and people are still seated? Since I didn’t want to see the end of the film’s ending I waited in the hallway until it ended.

This gently illustrates the lack of forethought and good customer service I’m finding fairly common in the Philippines. I’m not saying Filipinos are stupid, just that, they are used to doing things their way which is different from how most modern societies are structured. However, as a foreigner from a modernized country, this can become annoying and even stressful. Though this instance isn’t a big deal, its frequent occurrence is starting to become annoying.


- jason

Finding the internet

Cutting mangos with dull knives isn't recommended

This morning I tried eating a mango I bought recently at the local market. Surprisingly, it was quite challenging cutting the mango with the dull knives from the kitchen. I think I could have cut the mango easier with a brick. Today my goal was to find out the best way to pay for my Instructor Development Course (IDC). I was disappointed to find out that I couldn’t directly transfer money from both my bank accounts in the US to the dive center’s bank account.

Sander previously mentioned that I could try using Western Union to transfer money. I’ve never used Western Union before. Looking at their website, it looked quite promising. The easiest would be to do it all online but I couldn’t because there’s a $999 limit which wasn’t enough. Damn, just my luck. I guess I had to do it in person, which meant I would have to go to Tagbilaran to do it. First though, I had to find out if Asia Divers, the dive center I was going to do my IDC with, would accept Western Union as a payment method.

I had already asked Asia Divers if it was okay to use Western Union and needed to check my email for a response. I don’t have much time to pay because the course director graciously extended their early bird discount of 10% off tuition if paid in full one month prior to the start of class. As with my luck, all 3 internet cafes I visited didn’t have internet - internet was down on the whole island. Damn.

I decided to just hang around Alona Beach where I hung out with Sander at Genesis. Several hours later, I tried checking internet again at a local internet cafe and on the way I saw Bob from Oops bar! It was good to see him and find out where he went after he left Oops bar while I was in Japan. The internet was online and Asia Divers emailed me back saying it was okay to use Western Union. This made my life a lot easier.


- jason

Doing something - exploring

Road leading from my house to the water

I woke up at 6:15 AM which is usually early for me. I’m somewhat stuck in a cycle where I get tired by 9 PM, sleep, and wake up at 6 or 7 AM. It’s kind of nice actually waking up early. I feel more productive. I spent the morning studying for the IDC - in particular, diving physics. Most of the reading involves pressure and physical properties of water (heat transmission, light, and sound). It’s not to hard to understand but there’s a lot of memorization.

I took a break around lunch time, made lunch (pork and beans, ground beef, and rice). For food, I’m going back to the basics similar to how I ate in college; as opposed to how I ate before I came to the Philippines which was a lot of wine and steaks. I don’t mind, and frankly, it tastes good to me. While eating, I turned on the television which is rare for me to do since I don’t watch a lot of TV. I thought I only had a few stations but I actually have cable with 40 channels including Discovery, National Geographic, HBO, and Cinemax.

Watching TV was okay at first, but then it got boring because I couldn’t find anything interesting on any channels. I was stuck in a viscous cycle of flipping through channels hoping to find something interesting. I went through all the channels several times not settling on one of them. It was depressing. Thinking back to Steve Job’s inspirational commencement speech “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do
what I am about to do today?” No.

I decided to get out of the house and explore around my neighborhood. I heard there was a beach nearby and so I set out to look for it. The road that passes my house continues towards the water and so I followed it. It was a dirt road lined with brush and on one side there was a lagoon with mangroves. I could hear lots of animals in the brush which was a little scary. A bird I’ve never seen before ran across my path. When I came to the water I was a little disappointed to just find rocks and no white sand beach I was hoping. I turned around and walked back towards my house. Along the way, a large monitor lizard crossed my path. Wow, that was cool.

It was hot so I decided to take advantage of my landlord’s swimming pool. It’s a freshwater pool filed with purified mineral and rain water. Heated by the sun, it was a refreshing comfortable temperature. After the swim, I dried off and decided to explore more. I got on my motorbike and went to the local town Panglao.

Mangos at the local market

In the town, there’s a central market, a gas station, internet cafe, and several small convenient type stores. Unfortunately, none of the stores sell meat -- mainly grains, vegetables, and fruit. I ended up buying 6 eggs, 4 mangos, 3 garlic cloves, ice cream, and a large water. I was happy to be able to buy things I thought I could only get in the city of Tagbilaran.

The rest of the day I hung out at Alona Beach. I went to Coco Vida for internet where Sander eventually joined me. I talked with a guy that was from Spain traveling the world. He was in his late 40s and regretted not traveling more when he was younger. He was very nice and very inspirational to what I’m doing. Later in the evening, I went to Oops bar where I showed the Oops girls pictures on my laptop from Vilma’s birthday celebration. They loved it and so did one of the owners of Oops. He liked it so much he gave me a few complementary drinks.


- jason

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

At Genesis, Noel moves in to make fun of Arlene

Today I really thought about my future plans. It’s time I need to make some decisions and take a direction to where I want to go and what to do. A dive instructor friend of mine in Germany suggested that I don’t pursue the PADI Instructor course because of the time and money requirements to do it. This had me thinking and even doubting my previous decisions.

To help find my direction, I re-read an inspiring college commencement speech (video) by Steve Jobs - founder of Apple, NeXt, and Pixar Studios. It basically says to find what you love to do, what you see as great work, and to pursue it. Don’t settle for something else and don’t waste your life living someone else’s life. It may be hard at first to see how everything will work out, which, you might only see looking back -- “...you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.” Pursue what you love, trust in yourself, and everything will be okay. Interestingly, no where in the speech does he mention anything about making money.

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice” - Steve Jobs

I made up my mind. I’m going to pursue becoming a PADI dive Instructor. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for some time and will give me more options in what I can do.

After eating some BBQ chicken and rice for lunch, I went to Genesis Divers to hang out, eat a beer stick, and borrow some diving books I needed to study with. I then went to Coco Vida to use their internet to do more research on different IDCs (Instructor Development Course) and to journal. Around dinnertime, I went home and cooked some spaghetti with ground beef.

- jason

Vilma's birthday celebration

Mae takes control of the banca.

Woke up at 6:30 AM today getting only maybe 4 hours of sleep because the bartenders at Oops wanted me to join to going to Pungtud Island to celebrate Vilmas birthday.

From Alona, we practically drove to Vilma’s aunt’s house which was only a few minutes drive from where I live. We were there for at least an hour before we went in a boat towards Pungtud Island. While waiting, Jolie, Joanne, and I ate a sweet Chinese style tapioca tasting dessert dish for breakfast, for only 5 pesos a bowl, which was tasty. I had two bowls.

The crammed boat ride didn't affect our happiness

For the boat ride to Pungtud Island, all of us crammed into two small banca boats where -- six people were in ours. I was surprised we could float. At first it was a little painful but after moving somethings around I was fine. The island is supposedly inhabited but nobody pay attention to the no trespassing sign. The beach is only maybe 15 feet wide but the water and sand was shallow and nice though. I avoided going on land because there were a lot of sand flies biting people. I hate sand flies.

Me holding mini Mae out of the water. Note, I'm on my knees.

Oops girls jump for joy

We stayed a few hours, ate chicken, fish, and played “Tag” in the water. It was fun and refreshing to swimming around. After about 4 hours, we went back and on the way we stopped by a seaweed farming place. The complex is built on wood pillars in the middle of the ocean. There the men laid out seaweed on the deck to dry.

Approaching the seaweed farmer structure in the distance

Back home, I just cleaned up a little around the house, took a nap, and did some laundry myself. I’m having an ant problem with my trash and have to clean up the occasional gecko poo; I don’t mind because they eat all the insects in my place. Too bad they don’t eat ants.

I used the kitchen for the first time today. I needed to first clean a bunch of dishes because I didn’t know if they were clean or not. I managed to make some rice (out of a pot) and heat up some chicken with no problem. It’s barely considered cooking but you got to start off slow and easy.

For the past four days, I’ve been getting a lot of text messages from a number I didn’t recognize. A lot of them simply said “hi” or asking if I can be their friend. Since I didn’t know who it was, I never responded or agreed to a friendship. Then, tonight, I got a text from the person giving me advice on how to get into the complex if the gate is locked. Huh? The maid?

- jason

NIN Ghosts

NIN Ghosts I-IV

I spent the entire day at Coco vida catching up on things, but mainly downloading the new Nine Inch Nails (NIN) album “Ghosts I-IV”. It took 7 hours to download but I was really excited to get the album because it was so unique and I like NIN a lot. Since NIN got rid of their record label, they are now independent, which gives them a lot more freedom to distribute and do whatever they want with their music - DRM free, high quality download ($5). There’s no one to tell them what to do, what’s right, or wrong.

“This music arrived unexpectedly as the result of an experiment. The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as... something... We began improvising and let the music decide the direction. Eyes were closed, hands played instruments and it began.” - Trent Reznor

By around 7 PM the album downloaded but didn’t get to listen to it because I didn’t have headphones. Since I didn’t want to drive home, clean up, and come back to Oops for disco night, I just stayed and left my laptop behind the Oops bar.

Disco night was really slow, and the music sucked at first. I was about to get my bill at 11:15 PM but then I saw Sander, Sara, and Martina at Oops. I guess I will stay for a drink. Chatted with Sara a lot which was nice. Things picked up on the dance floor by 11:45 PM. I didn’t dance, but, it was fun socializing as I was sick being on the computer all day.

Mae is dwarfed by my helmet

Girls at Oops invited me to join them the next day to celebrate Vilma’s birthday. They wanted to leave at 7 AM from Oops bar! I thought they were crazy especially since I know the bar wouldn’t close til at least 3 or 4 AM. I agreed though.

Sara, Martina, and I hang at the Oops disco

I left the bar by 2 AM and slept around 2:30 AM.

- jason

Getting money a third time

I left for BQ mall by 8:30 AM to get there when they open and also because Rubi wanted to go to a fiesta at 11 AM -- In the months of April and May, different towns have “fiestas” where households invite other people and host big meals. I wanted to go the bank early so there wouldn’t be any issues.

There was a long line waiting at the bank and no way of knowing who was next in line. I had to wait to see one of the two banking agents. One thing I noticed about the people and service of the bank was that nobody really cared for other people’s privacy (I’ve noticed this in general in the Philippines). There were two seats per agent and other people would sit in the seat next to another and do their banking. Often there are four transactions going on at the same time with only two banking agents.

Of course, with my luck, my ATM card was denied the cash advance I needed to pay for my diving. I had to use my credit card which had a higher limit in order to withdraw enough cash. I was so happy, I finally, after three tries, got my money in order to pay for my diving and stay at Genesis. After I got my money, I went back to my house in Doljo. Since it took so long to get my money, I texted Rubi to go ahead and go to her fiesta.

I wanted to go to Alona and Eilaine needed a ride. I tried driving her to Alona Beach but after seeing my driving, she ended up driving me to Alona Beach. There we met up with Rubi and Mae who were still waiting around. Since they still wanted to go to the fiesta, I told them I’ll go with them. There were four people but just one motorbike. Mae for some reason just left without telling people where she was going. Eilaine drove Rubi and I to Rubi’s aunts house for lunch.

We started off eating a really good sweet pastry that was supposedly a delicacy. Following that, we had pork adobo and something else tasty. Mae eventually joined us on some motorbike she got. After a good hardy lunch, we all went back to Alona because Mae, Rubi, and Eilaine had to work at Coco Vida. Eilaine forgot her laundry and so I had to drive her back to Doljo, and then back to Alona Beach. At Coco Vida, I gave Ren and Mae their souvenirs I bought them in Japan. They were very thankful but then a bunch of other Coco Vida girls were wondering where their souvenirs were. Oh well.

- jason

Service sucks

Police were ticketing people for not having proper vehicle registration. Apparently, it's really interesting.

I woke up today and didn’t recognize my surroundings--“where was I?”. I ended up sleeping pretty well in my new room. It’s a little hot but I do have an air conditioning unit I can use. For a few hours in the morning, I went through my photos from Japan to see how they were. While doing this, there was a loud knock at my door--it was Eilaine and her sister! It was a pleasant but odd surprise because I only vaguely told her where I lived and she had to pass through a locked gate to get to me.

It was her birthday so I ended up giving her present which was a shirt she wanted from Japan. After chatting a little bit, we walked over to her place where she lives; she only lives a few houses down from me. After hanging out at Eilaine’s place, I cautiously drove out towards Tagbilaran.

I wasn’t 100% sure how to get there but that’s part of the adventure. I needed to get gas and so had to ask a few people where to get gas. One can get gas at either some local small stores (measured by the liter in Coke bottles) or at a gas station with pumps. It’s not clear which small stores sell gas though. I got gas at a Petron station where for 93 octane it was 48 p/liter.

I actually managed to make it to BQ mall in Tabilaran without getting lost. I was hungry so I ate at Pizza Hut. I realized I needed to rush and make it to the bank by 3 pm because that’s when they close. I needed to get a lot of cash in order to pay for my stay and diving at Genesis. I ate quickly (for me anyway), paid, and made it out to the bank by 2:45 pm.

The teller told me that I couldn’t withdraw cash because the machine they use to do it runs only until 2:30 pm. And she said, it was “already 3.” What the hell! I was 15 minutes after the fact and even then why does it close early? The teller wouldn’t make an exception even after I pleaded with her. I was so disappointed because this was my second time trying to get money, and driving to Tagbilaran is at least a 40 minute drive. I had to withdraw money from this bank because it was the only one where you can withdraw a large sum with just an ATM card. I left frustrated from the lack of service and wasting my time.

I went to BQ department store to return a duffle bag I bought before my trip to Japan that I didn’t use. I bought it 10 days prior. A security guard told me to take it to the cashier. The cashier looked at the item and the receipt and told me they can’t give me a refund but I can exchange it for something. I had to find enough things to total or exceed the cost of the bag (460 pesos). I didn’t really find anything I needed at the mall so I spent at least an hour looking for things -- sunglasses, towels, etc. It was a pain because there are 4 floors with registers on each floor where you’re supposed to purchase the items on their corresponding floor. This makes it hard to collect all the items I needed to add up to the exchange amount. I eventually took everything I had to another cashier to do my exchange.

At the cashier they told me that I couldn’t do the exchange because its was too long since I bought the item and that their return policy is one day. I was frustrated because the other cashier said I could exchange and shopped for at least an hour. After arguing with them, they eventually agreed to do the exchange. They totaled up how much I had to buy in exchange and it came out to 10 pesos short. They wouldn’t just give me the 10 pesos, I had to go back out to find something to buy. I found some scissors for 30 pesos. Obviously, customer service is not their thing.

I went down to the BQ grocery store and bought a nice motorbike helmet. It was $60 USD and seemed like it was up to standards. I also bought a lot of bath and cleaning things I needed for my house. Time to disinfect!

Finding my way out of the city was half successful. I was almost out of the town and then I took a wrong turn somewhere and got lost. Eventually I went the correct direction but took the road back to Alona instead of Doljo. Oops, well, I need to drop by anyways.

I went to the ATM and pulled out cash to pay Rubi what I owe her for renting her bike. I hung out at Coco Vida and had a mango shake then visited the girls at Oops. It was happy hour but I didn’t order any drinks because I was going to drive the bike (I think this bike will actually make me drink less!).

Eilaine (right), her two cousins, and sister (left)

I left, picked up a BBQ chicken (Lechon Minok), and drove back to my house. After dinner, I walked to Eilaine’s place to celebrate her 18th birthday. We ate cake and ice cream and hung out and talked. I met a lot of her relatives which were all nice.

- jason

Move'n in

The pool on the complex and my house in the back

My flight to Tagbilaran was painless. The only thing I lacked was sleep. I decided to move in a day early to the house I was renting, straight from Tagbilaran to Doljo. I accidentally told my landlord that I was to move in April 17, tomorrow -- I read the time wrong when I would be back and thought i would be back tomorrow instead. I had to call my landlord to see it if was okay. I wanted to just take a tricycle straight to the house instead of first taking one to Alona, then to the house.

My kitchen

Back at my newly rented place, things were a bit in disarray because they expected me the next day. The bathroom was filthy and there were various things around. It seemed messier than when I first looked at it. I think they had someone stay when I was gone.

My living room

I took a short nap because I was exhausted from all the traveling. It was hot in the house as the windows have been closed for a while. After the nap, I wanted to go to Alona Beach to visit all my friends and to see if Rubi can lend me her motorbike.

I hung out at Genesis to say “hi” to everyone and pick up some things I left in storage there. It’s weird, it felt like I’ve been gone for years and missed so much at Alona but not much has changed though. I gave the kitchen girls at Genesis red-bean filled cakes from Japan and Giso a box of cookies. I think the girls liked the cakes.

After Genesis, I took a swim and then went to Coco Vida to hang out there briefly. I saw Mae briefly and Ren was having her day off. I met with Rubi and she gave me the keys to her motorbike which I now need to rent. I was planning on practicing on it while it was still daylight but I saw her too late (she works at 5). I was concerned about driving it at night.

I drove back to my house no problem; it was actually becoming fun to do. I hung out at my house for a little bit cleaning things up a sorting through things. I always find it fun to decorate and set up my living space. I finally realized that this is actually my first time living without a roommate. It’s also my first time living abroad.

Around 9 pm, I decided to drive back to Alona and visit my friends at Oops bar. I gave them a box of red bean filled cakes from Japan and they were all thankful for it. They seemed to really like it a lot. It turns out bartender Charlene and bar manager Bob had left Oops! So much has changed in just a week. I ended up eating dinner too and hanging for a bit. Eventually, I slowly but surely drove back to my house.

- jason

The long way back

Just before takeoff from Narita Japan.

My flight itinerary back to Manila made no sense and most people who saw it agreed. I was scheduled to leave Narita Japan to Guam, then from Guam to Nagoya Japan, and then lastly from Nagoya to Manila -- the flight path was a jigsaw. Total time with connections was scheduled for 14 hours compared to a direct flight that takes 4 hours. Why? It was the cheapest flight package I could find by far.

I got to my bus just fine in the morning but realized I didn’t save enough cash to pay for it. I had to charge it. My bus left at 6 AM which would give me ample time to make it to the airport for my 9:45 AM flight. What I didn’t know though was that the bus had to make two stops on the way to pick up people. This made me very concerned if I could make my flight. I ended up making it just fine and even had time to eat a McDonald’s breakfast.

In line at McDonald’s, I met two flight attendants that were going on the same flight as me. One in particular was really friendly. On the flight we joked around which was nice to see the more personal side of a flight attendant. For some reason we boarded my flight 30 minutes before it was scheduled to on my boarding pass. On the ground and in the plane, the pilot said that they were having a hard time starting engine #2. We waited for at least 40 minutes.

In Guam, I was to connect and fly back to Japan. The Northwest Airlines crew had a little confusion over my tickets. I was paged to the counter at the gate where they had a boarding pass for me even though I already had my boarding pass. They just changed my seat. This wasn’t the first time I was called to the gate. In flight, everything was great -- a good dinner, the flight attendant serving me was friendly (and attractive), and I listened to several podcasts I didn’t know I had.

One podcast in particular really changed the way I think about traveling. It was a National Geographic Adventure podcast interviewing Tim Cahill, a travel writer for the Geo. He’s traveled to over a 100 different countries and so has had his share of mishaps and adventure. The interesting thing he said was that the best stories of adventure come about when you get lost. You can take the safe route that all the tourists take and is reliable but there’s no adventure or stories there.

“Getting lost is the essence of exploring... getting lost results in adventure.” -- Tim Cahill, travel writer

This really hit the spot for me because I always seem to worry about getting lost and not making it somewhere on time. It’s also completely true from what I’ve experienced in my travels. Now I can travel with a little less stress and almost look forward to the unexpected; as long as I and others don’t get hurt.

After my flight landed in Japan again, I felt that the rest of my travels would be straight forward and stress free. I was wrong. As I was getting off the plane, an airline worker held up a sign that said “Paging Mr. Jason Jue.” That’s me! The worker gestured to me to wait on the side and so I waited next to the flight attendant that was serving me. We chatted and I found out she was going to be on my flight back to Manila. It turns out that because our flight landed late, we had very little time to make it to our connecting flight to Manila.

As we ran through the airport, the NWA worker personally escorted us through everywhere we needed to go. For me, I wasn’t stressed because I knew we would make the flight because the NWA person was with us. Plus, I didn’t have to figure out where to go at the airport. I actually felt like a VIP. The flight attendant and I went through our own private security checkpoint and then to the gate. A worker at the gate asked me why I went to Guam. I said, “I don’t know.”

View of my day room at Manila airport

The plane to Manila was a large 400 passenger plane that was packed and noisy. There were a lot of Filipinos onboard. My second new flight attendant friend didn’t serve my area but we said “hi” a couple times. The flight was good and I ended up having a second dinner. I arrived in Manila at around 11 PM and did the usual immigrations and baggage claim. Though, I still needed to figure out what to do until my domestic flight to Tagbilaran at 5:45 AM. I preferred not to leave the airport and found out that the airport has a day room I can rent for one night (in my case, 4 hours). The room was small but good enough.

- jason

Out to Kamakura

Packing up. Packing the train to its fullest at the expense of comfort.

Today was my big exciting day to actually venture 50 km south of Tokyo to the city of Kamakura. Shawn helped me find the right train that went down to Kamakura. I thought I fully figured out the trains in Tokyo but I thought wrong. The train that went directly to Kamakura infrequently departed once every hour. I waited on the wrong train platform and missed my train. I decided to take the longer route which required me to transfer to another train.

I was at the tail end of rush hour and had to unfortunately experience the pain of being in an overcrowded train. I first tried to observe what the etiquette was for packing myself into the crowded train. If you’re in the train but near a door, when the door opens, you get out and then go back in when the people leaving the train exit. This puts you in the middle or back of the crowd. The feeling of being here is like being in a mosh pit at a rock concert. You tend to sway and squish with the crowd. For me, my face was against a pole which made riding a little more painful.

Some people recommend you ride these crowded trains for the experience. While it is an experience, you can get a similar experience by laying face first on a metal pole and having your friends (strangers would make it a more genuine) jump on top of you.

The train I transferred to for the rest of the way to Kamakura was more normal and a lot less crowded. I actually accidentally sat in the 1st class area for a little until I was escorted out. Upon arriving at Kamakura station, I went to the Tourist Info Center to get maps and directions. I wanted to go to an old style soba restaurant that was off the beaten path but it was too far out and I didn’t want to risk wasting time getting lost. From Kamakura station, I took a bus to the Great Buddha (Diabutsu).

Diabutsu -- Great Buddha

Diabutsu was more impressive than I thought. I thought my interests in temples, shrines, and statues waned but not after seeing Diabutsu. The statue was made in 1252 and was housed in a temple until a tidal wave destroyed the wooden temple. The buddha and its foundation is all that remains. My next stop was to Hase Kannon Temple which was a short walk down a small street lined with little boutiques.

The garden at Hase Kannon Temple

A man was making freshly grilled seaweed crackers in his little shop and I had to stop for a snack. I’ve only had mass produced versions of these crackers sealed in plastic. The fresh cracker I ate was still warm and very delicious. Hase Kannon Temple was the most beautiful temple I’ve visited in Japan. The gardens were nicely done, there is a cave with Buddhist statues, and the temple itself is nicely laid out against the surrounding vegetation.

Jizo statues representing the souls of miscarried, stillborn or aborted children.

Small figures in the cave of Bentenkutsu.

I splurged and had a nice lunch (soba, beer, and red-bean dessert) at a soba restaurant on temple grounds that had a nice view of the town and harbor below. After lunch I headed off to the Hase train station to transfer to and explore around Kamakura station and the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine built by Yorimoto.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine

The shrine was nice but not too big. There is a 1,000 year old gingko tree at the temple which is interesting. I like to see the temples and shrines outside of Tokyo because they’re not spoiled by the high rises and buildings of the city. Kamakura is unique because it has a small town suburban feel that’s not too touristy. Coming out to Kamakura was definitely worth it.

I had to get back to Ebisu station by 8 PM to meet up with Taeko for dinner. I took a direct train to Ebisu this time and arrived at the station about an hour early. I rewarded myself for making it back by having a “black and tan” (Guiness and a light Japanese beer combined).

Happy Taeko during yakiniku. Food + Taeko = Happy Taeko.

Taeko met up with me and said we were going to eat some yakiniku. I was so excited because I love yakiniku in the US (Gyu-Kaku) and wanted to compare it with Japan. We went to a small, fairly famous, yakiniku restaurant Taeko used to go to and even some Japanese celebrities go to.

Harami beef yakiniku. Yum!

The food was awesome and I think I expressed that to Taeko by eating a lot of it. Beef tongue, raw beef, and harami beef coupled with cold beer was the perfect combination. A great last dinner for my travels to Japan.

Afterwards, we met up with Shawn and went to the Irish pub near his place. We only got to get one drink before Taeko had to make the last train back. It was sad to see her go but inevitable. Back at Shawn’s place I packed and said my goodbyes early because my bus left at 6 AM the next day.

- jason

Costumes, shopping, shabu

Shawn

One cuisine I haven’t eaten in a while (yes Mexican, but I don’t crave it) that I wanted was Chinese dim sum. Shawn took me at 11 AM to a pretty good dim sum place near where he lives. It was perfect for a Sunday where I just wanted to take it easy after all the late night partying we’ve done.

After dim sum, Shawn went back to his place while I ventured off the the area of Harajuku -- known for shopping and an area where youngsters dress up in odd outfits on Sundays. I had to see this part of the Japanese culture. I took the train to Harajuku station and conveniently just around the corner from the station there was an area where the dressed up teens hung out.

Japanese dress up

Too be honest, I was a little disappointed by the whole situation because it didn’t feel genuine. There were a ton of tourist around taking pictures like paparazzi. It seemed like the only reason people dressed up was to have their picture taken. The worst was that there were non-Japanese people hanging around the area dressed up too -- there was a couple dressed in goth and a two girls who looked like they were from remote mountains in Switzerland. Why were they here? This isn’t their cultural thing. They’re just were wannabes. I refused to take pictures of them for that would only fuel their lameness.

Prayer at the Meiji Jingu Shrine

After taking a few pictures, I took a longer than expected walk to the Meiji Jingu Shrine. It was a really nice, large shrine but there were a lot of tourists there. By this time, I’m also getting a little bored seeing temples and shrines. There was a traditional Japanese wedding taking place at the shrine which made it a little more interesting.

That's a train

I walked back towards the station and shopped on and around Takeshita Street. The stores here are more for the trendy, urban type, which interests me more than the glamor shops. My primary gift to buy was a shirt for a girl’s birthday back in Philippines. I generally don’t like shopping for others because I’m indecisive and uncreative when buying gifts. Luckily though, I found a small boutique that had a nice women’s shirt for only 500 yen ($5 USD). It was medium sized, but my friend said she wears small. Eh, she can grow into it.

Shibuya at night

Shawn mentioned that I should at least walk around Shibuya area to check it out. Shibuya is another area that is concentrated on shopping but has more upscale stores than Harajuku. Since I’m a computer geek and didn’t really care to buy any clothes, I tried to look for the Apple Store supposedly in the area. Because the addressing system in Japan is so bad, I wasn’t able to find it. I ended up going to a big FrancFranc type store called Loft.

Loft sold a lot of household items but the design of things and the quality of the goods weren’t as nice as FrancFranc. Regardless, I bought a travel soapbox and a dentist pick. After Loft, I walked around a little more and then went back to the station to meet Shawn and Taeko at Ebisu station.

Shabu + Taeko = Happy Taeko

We met up and Shawn decided to go eat at a shabu-shabu place in Shibuya. Back on the train, Shawn, Taeko and I went to Shibuya. The shabu-shabu restaurant was off the main area in a small alleyway that no tourist would likely find. Inside was nice in a retro way. The shabu-shabu was all you can eat and I ate quite a bit along with some sake. Compared to the shabu-shabu I’m used to eating in the US, the shabu-shabu in Japan is a lot more fatty and the goma sauce is a lot thinner.

After a large dinner and a high energy weekend, I went back to Shawn’s and just relaxed.

- jason

Sushi, shopping and DJ Ozawa

Sushi-Dai at 6 AM. Hi!

I’ve never eaten sushi at 6 AM in the morning, nor have I ever eaten sushi at a fish market. At Tsukiji fish market, workers drive their little electric carts all over the place but in an ironic flow similar to watching schools of fish swim underwater amongst each other. We got to the small Sushi-Dai restaurant by 5:15 AM and there already was a large line. Their competitor, only two stalls down, had a similar line. Taeko wasn’t feeling really good and we encouraged her to go home. After an hour and a half, we were finally seated.

Yes, it was as good as it looks

I’ve wanted to each sushi here even before I thought of planning my trip to Japan. The first sushi I ate was the fatty tuna which really did just dissolve in my mouth -- it was so tender and fresh. Not only did all the sushi taste good, they also looked good. I was concerned at first that I wouldn’t have enough (11 pieces), but by the end, I was quite content. Was it worth it? Well, not if all you’re doing is eating sushi here; though, it’s definitely worth the experience and is some of the best sushi deals in Tokyo.

After breakfast, Shawn and I got a taxi back to his place. I fell passed out within a few minutes of sitting in the cab and didn’t wake up until I got to Shawn’s place. Before I didn’t feel sleepy but I guess I really was! To no surprise, back at Shawn’s place, we both immediately fell asleep from being awake at least 20 hours.

Chef prepares a plate for curry

Around 3:30 PM, we went out to eat Japanese curry for lunch. I’ve eaten Japanese curry several times in the US and have a feeling for what that tastes like there. By far, the pork cutlet curry dish I had in Japan was far better than any of the times I had that dish in the US. The best part of the dish was the breading on the cutlets -- light but with a delicate taste. In fact, thinking of it makes me want some right now!

After lunch Shawn drove us to Shibuya to a department store because he needed an ironing board. The ironing board he bought had the shape of a human torso as the board. Why aren’t they all like that? After the department store, shawn asked me what I wanted to do. I didn’t really know.

Rainbow bridge

He felt bad for not doing anything on a Saturday so we drove out to Odaiba via the Rainbow Bridge. From all the pictures I’ve seen of the Rainbow Bridge, it shows it colorfully lit. When we crossed it, I didn’t even realize we were crossing it. From a far, it reminded me of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Odaiba is a fairly new area with lots of shopping. It was perfect because something I needed to do is to buy souvenirs for friends back in Alona.

Mannequins in store window

There were a ton of little souvenir gimmick shops and some pretty unique shops as well. You learn though all the souvenir gimmick shops sell the same things and get boring after a while. I ended up buying only one little Japanese folding fan. The most interesting shop though was FrancFranc which sells well designed household items. I found a nice travel toothbrush holder that I’ve looked for my whole time abroad. At around 8 PM, we decided to head back to Shawn’s and find a place to eat dinner.

We walked from Shawn’s to a nice little Italian tapas type place. It was a nice change of pace as we had a few glasses of wine and several nice little dishes. One of my favorites was a fish carpaccio. After dinner we decided to find a club somewhere to experience a little more Japanese nightlife.

We went to Shabuya at around midnight to check out some clubs Shawn had in mind. One of the two clubs in mind had a really long line and the other one had no line (Club Atom). Should we stay? We had a hard time deciding if we should go to Roppongi but eventually decided to go to Club Atom. Cover charge was expensive -- $35 USD -- so you really couldn’t shop around for the right club.

Dancing to the beats of DJ Ozawa

Inside, there were several rooms with different music in each. We settled in the House music room which was a little slow at first. It took a few weak drinks of Jack and Coke to loosen up. One DJ though, DJ Ozawa, really got the crowd moving and had this “I am cool worship me” mentality about him. When another DJ replaced him though, the crowd slowed down and Shawn and I went to the main room of the venue. In the main room, DJ Ozawa was mixing to his church of followers which were really into his trance. By 3:30 AM, we were tired and took a taxi back to Shawn’s.

- jason

Eat, bar, sushi

Waiting for the next train

Early this morning I didn’t know where I wanted to explore today. I had a hard time deciding between Ueno or Kamakura which is a little far away. Since it was already late in the morning, I decided to explore the area of Ueno mainly for the park and highly recommended Tokyo National Museum. I took the train to Ueno station.

Ueno park is an interesting mix of tourists, Japanese families, historic monuments, and the homeless. I saw the Statue of Takamori Saigo, tombs of the Shogitai Soldiers (who actually opposed Takamori), Kiyomizu Kannon-do temple, and the Toshigu shrine. I couldn’t find the Ueno Seiyoken Grill which opened in 1876. Well, maybe I did, I found a restaurant but everything was in Japanese and the host didn’t even bother to try to help me out. I walked for probably a half hour and gave up because I couldn’t find it. I ended up at a small ramen stand which wasn’t that good.

Bowl at Tokyo National Museum

The Tokyo National Museum was very large, modern, and nice. I only had time to visit the main building with two large floors of various Japanese cultural artifacts and another special exhibit showing the National Treasures from Yakushi-ji Temple. In the permanent exhibits, I was impressed by the sculptures and the documentary drawings of animals. At the latter exhibit, there were two very impressive Buddist statues. I spent a few hours at the museum and it was time to go.

Drawing of fish at Tokyo National Museum

Drawing of monkey at Tokyo National Museum

I was having a hard time trying to decide what to do next. There’s restaurant, Izu’ ei, that I walked to and really wanted to try because they’ve served eel since the Edo period (1600-1867) and they specially get their charcoal they use to cook in some remote mountain location. The only problem was that in two hours I was to meet my friends Shawn and Taeko for dinner. I ended up skipping the restaurant and going back to Shawn’s place in Ebisu.

Koji (left) and Shawn (right) joke around

My Japanese friend Chie back in the US introduced me via email to her friend Koji she has known many years. I’ve been trying to coordinate meeting up with him and we finally agreed to meet up for dinner, along with Shawn and Taeko. We all met at a restaurant which was nice. None of us have ever met Koji but we’ve all met Chie before. I guess it was like a Chie fan club meeting or something.

Earlier, we all planned on going out to a club or bar later in the night. In fact, Taeko, Shawn, and I planned on staying up all night in order to go to the Tsukiji fish market at 5 AM to eat some of the best sushi around. Koji wanted to drive home and change before going out and planned on calling Shawn when he was ready to meet up again. We all planned on meeting in the Goruden Gai area in Shinjuku.

In Goruden Gai, there’s a lot of small alleyways lined with tiny bars with only usually a half dozen seats. Shawn, Taeko, and I found one which had the ambience of being in a fishing town or something. Whatever the feeling, it had a lot of charm and the bartender was friendly. Despite that, we were falling asleep and needed to find a venue with more energy. We decided to take a taxi to Roppongi -- with nightlife favoring younger crowds and foreigners.

The first bar we went to was very crowded and energetic. Seemed like there were a lot of foreigners there. Right off the bat, we ordered cocktails and a round of tequila. I have to admit it was a little refreshing drinking something other than rum and coke. After about an hour or so and watching a bar fight, we went to another place which had more dancing.

Shawn noticed that Koji called him and was at Goruden Gai area -- oops. It had been a couple hours since he called and I felt really bad for not getting a hold of him. Especially since he drove home, changed, and drove to Goruden Gai. The next club was a different vibe and at one point we couldn’t find little Taeko. We eventually did find her, and by around 5 AM we hailed a taxi to go to the Tsukiji fish market for some sushi...

- jason