tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-112641752012-02-16T20:05:11.800+09:00Periodic musings and tales from my 7 years of wandering in the lands west of the Pacific. <a href="http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/m/monkey.htm"> The Journey West</a>Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-64832176456089206672007-03-19T18:02:00.002+09:002010-02-11T07:13:17.701+09:00

My first encounter with child beggars came during my travels through Cambodia. At first, I wanted to help and would give money. This would of course inevitably bring the swarm of other children and it wasn't too long before I also noticed that many of the children had a well-fed and well dressed adults standing in the shadows waiting for them to report back. According to our Guide Books, these

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1134239334741494182005-12-11T02:47:00.000+09:002006-04-08T08:53:30.146+09:00

It has been a few weeks now since my journeys came to an official end (according to my travel insurance provider). After leaving India, I stopped off briefly in Kuala Lumpur, visited my BFAM (Brutha From Anutha Mutha) Hiro and his family and then continued on to Japan. In Japan, I spent a couple of weeks visiting classes at various universities to talk about my travels. It was good to see folks

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1130768756597822362005-10-31T23:16:00.000+09:002006-04-08T08:54:16.313+09:00

Well folks, it's time for Monkey Man to say goodbye to Mother India. It's been great, but it is time indeed to leave.So it's off to Kuala Lumpur from here where I need to line up a ticket to get me back to Nippon for the wrap up before my grand and much anticipated return to the US. At some point, when I get some time to sit down with a decent connection to the net, I'll share some interesting

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1137552576850160112005-10-12T11:47:00.000+09:002006-04-08T08:53:53.953+09:00

(The following is the text I entered into the LAFTI site shortly after arriving at LAFTI)Two nights ago, I arrived at the LAFTI headquarters here in Kuthur. After a night’s rest, I accompanied Amma (Krishnamal) and some of the staff out to a village where LAFTI had erected new homes for people and is helping with the acquisition and distribution of fertilizer. We then traveled to another village

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1128922961237668262005-10-10T14:35:00.000+09:002005-10-10T14:42:41.236+09:00

For those of you who are interested in going through the pictures I have taken thus far on my journey, you may find the following two links useful:http://www.flickr.com/photos/67916188@N00/tags/andhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/26952510@N00/tags/ These links lead to the tag directories of my two photo album accounts on flickr. Please do feel free to make comments on the pictures but please keep

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1128922237312312642005-10-10T14:20:00.000+09:002005-10-10T14:30:37.330+09:00

At long last, the holding pattern I was in as I awaited clearance from LAFTI to head on out there has come to an end. Today, I will hop on the bus out to the small village of Kuthur, where LAFTI is based. I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing when I get there, but my first goal is to try to stay out from underfoot of everybody else. My second goal is to make myself useful as

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1128921099085486022005-10-10T13:49:00.000+09:002005-10-10T14:15:05.160+09:00

As most of you doubtless already know, a terrible earthquake struck the Kashmir region of North India/Pakistan a couple of days ago. The casualty numbers coming out of there are truly horrific. Yesterday, the estimate was roughly 2000 dead. Today, the estimate has made the incredible leap to over 30,000 dead and the number is only expected to keep rising. The UN says 2.5 million are now

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1128874760179821692005-10-10T00:47:00.000+09:002005-10-10T14:17:31.196+09:00

This'll be a quick post because the mosquitoes in this internet cafe are tearing up my feet right now. You know, as I was leaving my room I thought to myself, "maybe I should bring my repellant...naaaaaah." Smart. Really smart.So back to the story. Upon reaching Ernakulum, I caught a moto over to the bus terminal and purchased a ticket for a seat on the overnight "superfast" bus service to

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1128688877194736322005-10-07T20:35:00.000+09:002006-01-20T04:22:50.843+09:00

This morning I woke up after a solid nights sleep and started packing up. After a few days of getting myself recharged on good food and quiet surroundings, I find myself wanting to get back out and experience the rush of life over here again.I walked down to the waterfront and thought to myself, 'I've been here long enough. Surely I should be able to handle eating food from a street hawker.'

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1128494455769647802005-10-05T15:19:00.000+09:002006-01-20T04:21:24.513+09:00

After a few days of sitting around in the ashram eating mushy food and watching devoted from around the world go about their daily solemn meditation and yoga and all that good stuff, I decided it was time to move on. All of that silence, deep thought, people clad in white atmosphere, people going on in bliss about "Did you see her?!!" was for some reason getting me into a funk. That and reading

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1128269649726306372005-10-03T00:27:00.000+09:002006-01-20T04:57:38.746+09:00

Set out from Madurai at the beginning of last week to visit a Buddhist monk friend of Sekar's. The monk, Ishitani-ji, is originally from Hokkaido and first came to India back in the late 1960s when he was about my age now. At the time, the Vietnam War was raging. Fed up with the Japanese government and society in general, Ishitani-ji left to travel the world. His first stop was India. And

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1127840075462763892005-09-28T01:53:00.000+09:002006-04-08T08:54:43.406+09:00

Today, I caught the bus outside of town to Alagar Koyil ('koyil' means 'temple'). The busride was long and crowded; most of the passengers on the bus were pilgrims heading out to the temple as well. The bus stopped at the base of mountain road leading up to the temple. I hopped out ahead of the crowd to begin the ascent upwards. The sun beat down ferociously from above so I tied my Khmer

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1127818544778932452005-09-27T19:55:00.000+09:002005-09-28T01:53:16.620+09:00

Madurai- My Fancy Room Originally uploaded by Tatsu2. Just in case any of you are interested, this is a picture of the room I've been staying in for the past few days here in Madurai. Hooray for backpacker high living.

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1127718846842025772005-09-26T16:14:00.000+09:002005-09-28T02:46:04.650+09:00

Natham Market - Betel Nut Merchant I'm absolutely loving it here in Madurai. I got down here a few days back and since arriving have been privileged to have Sekar, Prof. Willis's "brother," showing me around and plugging me into life here. Yesterday, he rang me up in the morning and invited me to head out on a ride with him.The day was sunny and beautiful as we drove north beyond the edges of

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1127842661721196732005-09-25T11:37:00.000+09:002005-09-28T02:42:42.413+09:00

Got up early this morning and walked down the street to finally check out Sri Meenakshi Temple, the most sacred place to visit in south India for Hindus. The famous gates were spectacular, massive and covered with hundreds upon hundreds of statues of various Hindu deities. Inside the labyrinthine complex itself, I was reminded of Angkor Wat, only here, the temple is still very much alive, a

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1127833460027842102005-09-24T22:04:00.000+09:002005-09-28T02:44:35.263+09:00

Today I joined Sekar and his students on a field trip out to Teddy Exports, an operation set up by an Irish woman named Amanda Murphy in the 1990s that weds globalized business with community development.At Teddy Exports, workers make a variety of products - from wooden massage rollers to shoulder bags to Christmas potpurri sacks - which are purchased by a number of major global retailers, its

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1127320115077779432005-09-22T01:02:00.000+09:002005-09-24T03:03:20.760+09:00

Well, earlier today, I sat down and started to write my first blog entry in over a month. And then, the computer connection went down, taking along with all of the wonderful things I had written.Such is life. Of the many wonderful things that I have gotten out this trip thus far, one is the understanding that (at least on the road) things rarely worked out as planned but things will work out

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1125501423225717702005-08-31T23:07:00.000+09:002005-09-22T03:57:20.493+09:00

I received mail recently from a good friend saying how pleased he was to see that my blog entries were becoming shorter and ever-more infrequent. He sees it as an indication that I am finally getting into my travels properly. I thank him and all of you who have been kind enough to view my lapses in reporting in such a favorable light.I would like to think that the analysis is good one.

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1125064564079422852005-08-26T22:56:00.000+09:002005-09-28T02:13:54.746+09:00

Lost City of Preah Khan Originally uploaded by monkeymagictatsu.I am at the end of 3 days here in Siem Reap exploring Angkor Wat and its surrounding ruins. Sitting here, I keep typing and erasing sentences because I don't know how to even begin to convey how amazing this place is. Even the hundreds of photos that I took do not even come close to conveying the experience. I must simply hope

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1124188908963758672005-08-16T19:30:00.000+09:002005-08-18T00:21:39.020+09:00

After a blissful two weeks traveling through the pastoral lands of Laos, I have returned once more to the land of properly paved roads, 7-11s and other trappings of the more "developed" world. This time, however, I know better than to go to Bangkok (unless I absolutely have to) and have thus chosen to drop my bags here in the bustling northern metropolis of Chiang Mai.I just arrived here

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1122610585459273652005-07-29T13:13:00.000+09:002005-07-29T13:16:25.460+09:00

Just a brief note to let folks know that I am catching the train out of Bankgok later tonight and heading north to Udon Thani (where my parents used to live before I was born) and then onwards to Nong Kai to make the border crossing over to Laos. Hope all is well with all of you out there reading. Will post again next time I'm able to find a place to connect.

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1121952894886101912005-07-21T21:52:00.000+09:002005-07-21T22:54:47.106+09:00

In Thai, the word farang is something equivalent to the word gaijin in Japanese. Gaijin literally means "person from outside" while farang I believe originally was meant to refer to the French. In any case, both words, despite their literal meaning, are generally used to refer to Westerners...more specifically, caucasian Westerners, preferably with blonde hair and blue eyes.Here in Krabi, I am

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1121949604684763062005-07-21T21:40:00.000+09:002005-07-21T21:40:04.690+09:00

Recess at Krabi Elementary Originally uploaded by Tatsu2. On the taxi ride into the town of Krabi, Luce pointed out the local elementary school to me. I guess all those years of teaching really did something to me because the pull was irresistable. The next day, I was up at the school, armed with the few documents I brought along proving my background as a teacher, speaking with the

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1121426538941041382005-07-15T20:07:00.000+09:002005-07-21T20:06:55.480+09:00

Just spent a couple of days out on the peninsula/almost island of Hat Railay where I took my first trip out rock climbing (and discovered I have the gripping strength of a little girl). Rock-climbing was great and the beach on the nice side of Railay was beautiful and virtually deserted as it is low season.I have now made my way out on longtail boat to the famous tropical paradise of Ko Phi Phi (

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1120712365955449172005-07-07T12:40:00.000+09:002005-07-07T15:36:52.473+09:00

So I've been here in Bangkok now since Sunday night and have basically done a whole lot of nothing...or at least, that's what it feels like.An inordinate amount of my time here thus far has been spent in this internet center, catching up on old e-mails, uploading photos and chatting with various folks when they come on MSN Messenger. Somebody come kick my butt, please.The positive side of this

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1120376958405553292005-07-03T16:49:00.000+09:002005-07-03T16:49:18.426+09:00

South Peak and Me (Mt. Kinabalu Summit Plateau) Originally uploaded by monkeymagictatsu.Well, I really have a lot of updating to do here, but internet access has not been what I had hoped it to be. In any case, I've uploaded photos from the past few weeks to my flickr account (access by clicking on the photo) and added comments that should provide a bit of an idea of how I've spent my time here

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1119026754371460242005-06-18T01:34:00.000+09:002005-06-18T01:56:34.786+09:00

Today, spent the day in the diveshop doing the classroom portion of the scuba diving course. Tomorrow morning, we head out to do our first dives. After another day of diving after that, I'll be certified to dive in open water. The course I'm enrolled in is apparently the cheapest diving certification course in the world - 540 RM ($1 US = 3.8 RM). Apparently, a lot of folks from Japan come out

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118943752181951352005-06-17T02:17:00.000+09:002005-06-17T02:42:32.186+09:00

I got out of the house a bit late this afternoon and was a bit worried that I wouldn't make it in time to catch my flight. Outside of Hiro's apartment, there were three taxi drivers gathered and chatting with each other. As I approached, one of them looked over at me and asked where I was going."KL Postal Center and then KL Sentral," I replied.The driver looked at me in disgust and waved his

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118894726521767842005-06-16T12:40:00.000+09:002005-06-17T02:17:19.083+09:00

I've really gotta learn to stop being so ambitious with these posts because I spend all of my time thinking about how I'm going to make the perfect post and then I end up not writing anything at all.Well, last few days have been nice. Back from the rainforest in KL recuperating and truly appreciating what a luxury air conditioning is... My old friend from college, Julie, and her beau took me out

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118332194666364392005-06-10T00:15:00.000+09:002005-06-14T03:11:43.816+09:00

Having a wonderful time here at the edge of the jungle. Rode into the park entrance area this morning on a slow boat ride that took roughly 3 hours. I was fortunate enough to have a very friendly gentleman seated behind me who was taking his wife and 5 children to the park. As he had been speaking in Cantonese with his family for the first half of the trip, I was pleasantly surprised when he

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118102331685469112005-06-07T07:41:00.000+09:002005-06-07T13:57:14.983+09:00

Hm, I'm not doing so good with this blog thing. For now, I've dumped a bunch of photos from the past week or so (unfortunately, lost a bunch of photos from my first week) onto the site and if I ever find the time, will try to go back and supplement the photos with the journal entries I've made on old fashioned paper...but folks, don't hold your breath. Seriously.Anyway, as you can see from the

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118040263890492502005-06-04T23:37:00.000+09:002005-06-07T09:01:51.296+09:00

One of the many colorful trishas you will find around the Town Square (aka Dutch Square). Hop in and Indian pop music will magically start to blare out of onboard speakers.View from inside the ruins of St. Paul's Church situated atop Bukit St. Paul in Malacca's old town.An older gentleman taking a smoke-break on Jonker Street.A nice little cafe on Jonker Street to stop off for cool refreshing

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118036161326933072005-05-29T03:36:00.000+09:002005-06-07T00:49:39.956+09:00

During my time here in Malaysia, I've grown quite fond of this dish, chicken rice. The best chicken rice that I've had thus far was at a Chinese restaurant near Hiro's place here in Mont Kiara. This whole meal was a bit on the expensive side -- 15RM/person (roughly $4 US); 3 times what I would normally pay for a plate of chicken rice from street vendors -- but boy was it worth it.close up shot of

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118036222874090162005-05-29T01:37:00.000+09:002005-06-06T17:00:49.166+09:00

Standing in a park in downtown KL with the Petronas Towers rising in the backgroundView of the Petronas Towers from outside of the KLCC

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118043515052784692005-05-28T16:38:00.000+09:002005-06-06T16:58:35.380+09:00

With minarets stretching up 142.3m high (the tallest in the world) the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque (or as it is more commonly referred to, "The Blue Mosque") is Malaysia's largest mosque and fourth largest mosque in the world.Up until now, everytime Hiro has brought a guest to see the mosque, for some reason or another, he and the guest(s) were never allowed to enter. Today, we got

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118051775290788022005-05-28T14:30:00.000+09:002005-06-06T19:28:47.920+09:00

After visiting Hiro's office during the morning, Hiro took me with him over to the main office to introduce me around. His co-workers were extremely friendly and immediately proposed we go out to eat Bak Ku Teh.

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118036257746772392005-05-28T10:13:00.000+09:002005-06-06T15:47:39.153+09:00

Hiro hard at work during the day while I'm wandering around the city or lounging by the pool at his condo.

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118038666039566592005-05-22T21:14:00.000+09:002005-06-06T15:47:13.803+09:00

The morning view of the KL skyline from my bedroom window here in Mont Kiara

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1118038723151187302005-05-21T21:18:00.000+09:002005-06-06T16:03:22.960+09:00

Buying fruits at rest-stop on the highway heading up to Penang. So much variety, so many colors...and for a guy used to paying close to couple of bucks for an apple in Japan, mind-blowingly cheap. I found the rest-area to be quite interesting. Aside from the various fruitstands, restrooms, and fast food restaurants at this highway rest area was a place for washing up and doing ones daily

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116642073752934602005-05-21T11:09:00.000+09:002005-05-21T11:21:14.500+09:00

I got into Kuala Lumpur safely last night. My friend Hiro had a driver from his company come out to pick me up at the airport. We had a bit of trouble finding each other because the driver had nothing but my name to go by and therefore was apparently looking for an older (white hair) Japanese businessman in a sports coat; NOT a young (well, relatively) Blackanese kid with an afro-poof toting a

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116526779237942842005-05-20T03:08:00.000+09:002005-07-21T20:41:47.896+09:00

Despite not having all of my packing done, I spent my evening attending my first baseball (or yakyu as it is called here) game in Japan. Nearly 7 years here and I can't believe I waited until my final night here to discover how incredibly fun it is to watch a ballgame here in Japan...especially if you go to see a Hanshin Tigers game in Japan's most famous ballpark, Koshien Stadium.The Tigers are

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116336173497523462005-05-17T22:20:00.000+09:002005-05-17T22:27:51.166+09:00

Ananda just sent me a link to this lil' gem of a music video (or as we call them here "puromoshon bideo") that shows some of the highlights of living in da 'pon as seen through the eyes of us here fouruhners.

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116307731483312982005-05-17T14:23:00.000+09:002005-05-17T14:28:51.486+09:00

No more goofing around. Been spending the past few days tying up the loose ends I've left hanging around all this time. Spent this morning tweaking the LAFTI blog page and uploading pictures to the site to make it a bit easier on the eyes but still have a lot of work that is left to be done on it. I suppose I'll have to take care of some of it once I'm on the road...but boy oh boy do I wish I

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116092690921302862005-05-15T01:19:00.000+09:002005-06-06T17:09:27.216+09:00

So, yes, Monkey has not been very good about keeping the blog updated over these past few weeks. He's been rather busy hopping around from here to there and everywhere on his SAYONARA JAPAN VICTORY TOUR 2005 and partying even more after returning here to Kobe. Highlights from the past few weeks include a triumphant return to Tokyo; a visit to my friend who lives at the base of Mt. Fuji (if you

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116090963490111302005-05-14T16:16:00.000+09:002005-06-06T17:12:30.586+09:00

Mmmmmm...random samba dancer during the Kobe Festival. Because I was the only one smiling and dancing along to the music in the crowd around me, she rewarded me by coming up and dancing special, just for me...complete with turnin' around and giving me the old bootie shake shake shake shake move. Yes folks, it pays to be an appreciative audience member.Mmmmm, samba dancing...fruit baskets? Uh..

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1115333157779329252005-05-06T07:39:00.000+09:002005-05-06T09:20:11.686+09:00

A good friend just sent me the link to this hilarious site (click title above) maintained by a brutha' teaching English over in Kyoto. If you find yourself curious at all about some of what I experienced during my 6 and half of years of working in the public school system here in Japan, do check this site out.Pee-your-pants-rating: 4 starsAdmittedly, there are some entries that disturb the

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116090401634570692005-05-05T02:06:00.000+09:002005-05-15T02:52:48.100+09:00

After arriving in Osaka, I hopped on the train up to Takatsuki to visit my friend Lisa and her husband. After spending the day out at a nearby park enjoying the sun and beautiful lush greens of the grass and the trees, we headed downtown to check out the second night of the free jazz festival occuring throughout the area. Countless acts, amateurs and professionals all mingling together and

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1116094254400409222005-05-03T19:10:00.000+09:002005-05-15T03:12:24.726+09:00

A shot of Mt. Fuji from the bus-stop on my way back from Fujiyoshida

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1114418716477777002005-04-25T17:36:00.000+09:002005-04-25T17:48:15.260+09:00

Horrific images coming in on the TV right now about a terrible accident that happened this morning not too far away from here. A Japan Railways train jumped its tracks and smashed into an apartment building. According to what the newscaster on FNN just said, there are 50 confirmed dead and over 400 others injured. This is the worst train accident in Japan since the horrible head-on collision

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1114229750971599122005-04-21T22:26:00.000+09:002005-04-25T16:53:22.290+09:00

Today, Prof. W took me along with him to his classes at Konan Women's College.Driving into the campus of Konan in the morning, we passed by several young men standing outside of the entrance gates, handing out fliers for something. There they were, at the gates, but they could go no further. Prof. W was my ticket to going where those young men could not -- through the gates, past the guards and

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1113788520354334682005-04-15T21:32:00.000+09:002005-04-24T14:04:32.980+09:00

Shortly after arriving here in Kobe and unloading my stuff, Prof. W took me hiking up to the top of a mountain overlooking the city. The path leading up was lined in the soft pink and greens of cherry blossom trees heading towards the end of their short-lived blooming period.Hokura Shrine, which sits atop the mountain, is surrounded by an array of ancient trees. According to Prof. W, this

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1114222047468155612005-04-15T17:37:00.000+09:002005-04-24T11:52:42.973+09:00

I finally managed to make the move down to Prof. W's place down here in Kobe, where I'll be staying until I finish putting together my final preparations to launch out from Japan.Pictured here is the sum total of pretty much everything I own in the world after a month of leisurely packing in March and then a frenzied last minute culling of possessions and paperwork (in which I actually

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1114222094853114462005-04-15T02:08:00.000+09:002005-04-24T14:08:13.936+09:00

Every year on April 14th, the shrine at the bottom of Hachiman Mountain here in Omihachiman is host to an ancient fire festival with a history stretching back over 1300 years. It is one of the largest of its kind. Giant taimatsu, columns of bamboo and reeds from the surrounding areas, are built/carried to Himurei Hachiman Shrine and then set ablaze.It is truly amazing to experience first hand -

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1113787453974119152005-04-11T10:24:00.000+09:002006-01-18T12:17:08.823+09:00

I have spent the past few days here in Omihachiman chillin' at my brother-from-another-mother's house. His family has been kind enough to take me in and allow me to turn their home into a disaster area as I continue to try to go through papers and possessions to reduce what I have to as little as possible. It's amazing how much junk you can accumulate in 6 years.It has been great being able to

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1112579211805192512005-04-04T10:35:00.000+09:002005-04-24T11:58:25.176+09:00

10:37am. My successor is somewhere over the Pacific Ocean right now, enroute for Kansai International Airport. Bless him for choosing to live here in the apartment that I've occupied for the past three years. His choice afforded me 4 extra days to finish up my packing (and even still, it's all very down to the wire). So I guess Dean Lieber was wrong - there are extensions in the real world

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1112361143819687512005-04-01T19:40:00.000+09:002005-04-24T12:01:22.483+09:00

Last night, I went to bed as a gainfully employed, upstanding member of this mid-sized city, respected for my teaching abilities and talent for making a fool of myself in front of large audiences. And then I woke up this morning. Unemployed. Soon to be without a place to call to my own. Awwwww yeah.In Japan, lazy good for nothings without a job (like myself) are referred to as puutaro. At

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1111865459910631322005-03-27T02:49:00.000+09:002005-04-24T12:02:43.586+09:00

Tonight, I went to my final practice with the Capoeira group I've been training with for the past 5 years. I've had a lot of good times with the group and feel a great deal of affection for the instructor, Kenji, and his family. Kenji came to Japan from Brazil roughly around the same time I came from America. When I first started training with him, he wasn't teaching a proper class...it was just

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1111494510199001092005-03-22T01:28:00.000+09:002005-04-24T12:03:39.580+09:00

After a long day of tearful goodbyes and many many glasses of Kirin Lager and Sake One-Cup, what better way to cap things off than by going bowling...furyou style. J (background) is thoroughly lit up off of many One-Cups and bowling fever. TJ (foreground), however, is keeping it frosty with the always classic Asian-poop squat decked out in his finest furyou gear: Nika-poka Pants by Toraichi (

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1111015608947974912005-03-17T07:18:00.000+09:002007-04-13T12:57:00.221+09:00

The King of Salem has many faces and many forms. Yesterday, he took on the form of a 60 year old gentleman working here in my office as temporary staff until the end of this month. I figured out it was him as we rode the bus ride to our office farewell party in Mie."So Yamato-kun, what are you doing after this? You headed home?," he asked from the seat behind me, his voice loud and friendly in a

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1110292666770254652005-03-14T19:15:00.000+09:002005-04-24T12:09:21.556+09:00

18 days left in my contract as Coordinator of International Relations for this town. 18 days left in which I have an apartment to live in. You would think that at this point, I would have my packing completed, plane tickets to Thailand reserved and fundamental itinerary through Asia sketched out to a fair degree of detail, right?That is, of course, unless you actually know me.Back in my college

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1111495985470472682005-03-04T12:53:00.000+09:002005-04-24T12:44:49.316+09:00

Today was the last class of the Capoeira for Kids class I've been teaching here in Koka for the past two years. I started the class when a number of my kids expressed the desire to learn following a visit from my Capoeira teacher who was kind enough to come to my schools to share about Brazil and teach the basics of Capoeira. At the time, I was really wanting to improve my skills and figured

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11264175.post-1110105927932100742005-03-03T18:13:00.000+09:002005-04-24T12:44:14.820+09:00

Ever since my family and I moved from Japan to the United States back when I was four, it had been a dream of mine to one day return to Japan. Ultimately, fifteen years would pass before I finally made it back to Japan as a US delegate to the Japan America Student Conference (JASC). The conference was held at locales throughout the country (Kyoto, Sendai, Hiroshima, Tokyo, etc.), and for me, it

Trip Master Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17899849252187945277noreply@blogger.com0