Jungle cruises and other rainforest stuff

Why on earth am I such a freak?? Today we went on a Jungle cruise from Taman Negara (the rainforest national park to Terjulet...which is merely a place we are sleeping before catching a 2 AM train to the Malaysian Islands.) Anyhow, the whole time I was on the jungle cruise I kept thinking about the Disneyland Jungle cruise, and how I really wanted to see Hippos with wiggling ears....I don't really think that I should have been thinking so much about Disneyland or about their jungle cruise as there wasn't much to compare...which I guess is what makes me a bit of a freak.

Anyhow, that said, I did enjoy the boat ride (which was about 2.5 hours) we saw tons of beautiful birds, monkeys (my most favorite) and water buffalo. We even hit a few rapids, which was crazy because our boat was basically a super long canoe with a canopy and motor (I don't really know how else to describe it.)

Before taking the jungle cruise we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the park...my only real complaint was that the bugs are HUGE in the rainforest. We did a bit of trekking and saw a swarm (how else would you describe millions and millions of bugs in one place) of termites, giant Ants (at least 2 inches long), spiders (the size of my hand) and butterflies (the size of birds...although not very scary they are still bugs.)

The trekking was great...although really wet (humidity takes on new meaning inside rainforests)..Kiwi-boy and I both completely soaked our clothing in sweat...and it didn't even feel that hot. We also walked over a 1km Suspended bridge that hung over the tree canopy(over 100 meters up)...that was really awesome..albeit scary, as the whole thing was held together with fishing net, ropes, and a metal ladder with boards (I didn't see any steel reinforcement cables)...luckily there were no accidents while we were there.

We also did a night safari, which was a bit of a joke, but nonetheless fun. Basically we were driven around in a bunch of trucks with 4 wheel drive..we did a bit of off-roading in the Palm/coconut plantations and saw an assortment of wildlife (dogs, cats, cattle)...After an hour we got a bit more lucky, and were able to see some snakes, owls and baby boars...Also one of the trucks in our group had a break-down, so we were actually fortunate enough to hang out in the jungle for about an hour in the darkness. I kind of enjoyed that unplanned adventure the most, as we were able to really enjoy the stars and all of the crazy jungle sounds (oh my goodness the jungle is loud!!!)

Well, as of 2 AM tomorrow morning Kiwi-boy and I will be heading off to our next destination (the Perhetian Islands)...we have to do the Jungle Train once again to get there (but this time it is an express...so hopefully it will have aircon??) This will be the last stop for Kiwi-boy. (sadly, he has to return to Japan)...In a couple of days, I will be traveling to Kuala Lumpur, where I will meet up with my mom then head to Hanoi.

Random thoughts about Malaysian toilets...

What is the deal with Malaysian toilets?? None of them have toilet paper, and for the most part...a toilet in general is impossible to find. I feel like it should have said somewhere in my guidebook that it is part of the tradition here to wash one's bum instead of wiping when going to the loo....that way i wouldn't have spent 3 days wondering what's the deal with all of the water hoses in the bathrooms...I was beginning to believe that Malaysians were obsessed with enemas..

Cameron Highlands to Taman Negara national park

Well we got out of the $3 hotel and promptly moved over to a $12 establishment....it wasn't perfect, but the sewage system seemed to be working, so who were we to complain. I did find it a bit strange though that Kiwi-boy and I were the obvious minorities...it seemed we had checked int an all Muslim hotel. Nothing really wrong with that, it was just glaringly obvious to everyone that we passed in the halls that we were the crazy backpackers who had somehow managed to get reservations at their hotel...I think they probably were laughing at us poor schmucks, because staying at that hotel as backpackers, obviously meant all of the cheap places were booked.

Anyhow, we enjoyed our stay in the cameron highlands...we checked out the boh tea plantation, the strawberry farms, the butterfly farms (complete with GIANT Rhino beetles...my kids in Japan would flip out if they saw the pics)the cactus farm (the obsession with cacti is strange as it isnt really the desert) and ate tons and tons of Indian food from our favorite resturant, Kumar's....i befriended the owner's wife (she thought i was an indian girl), so we kept going their because their service was so good...and I kind of liked the owner's wife.


Today we took the famous jungle train thru about 3 hours of jungle...OH MY GOD!!! It is so hot! THe train did not have airconditioning...merely open windows. We sat on the train and proceeded to lose about 20 lbs of water weight. It was at that point that Kiwi-boy and I discussed the fact that although the jungle was awesome, both of us were dreaming of time at the beach...so I believe we will now be cutting our time at the park short by a day, and heading to the Perhetian Islands tomorrow....

Oh yeah, FYI: Taman Negara is Malaysia's oldest national park, and one of the world's oldest, untouched rainforests...the forest is over 160 million years old (holy cow that's old) and because of strict deforestation laws, the park has barely been touched....unfortunatly, because of poachers the animal life has dwindled considerably over the past couple of decades....the Malaysian government estimates that there are only about 200 tigers left in the wild...I guess that means our chances of seeing elephants, tigers, and water buffalo are pretty limited...but I will keep you posted.

what its like to stay in a $3 hotel

Kiwi-boy and I are now in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia...its one of the coolest areas of malaysia (literally!!..it rarely gets above 21 degrees here.) anyhow, because we were flying around Penang and had no time to spare before catching our bus to the highlands yesterday, we didnt get a room reserved for the night...so when we showed up, we were sadly informed (after making the trek to a couple of hostels) that there were no rooms at the inn...and we would have to go to the dreaded Daniel's guesthouse...which to quote lonely planet, "some people reported bedbugs and found the staff to be unhelpful." Believe me it was the last place we would have even considered going...but we saw the room (stark, but kind of clean...although there were blood stains on one of the pillows...I had them replace it)...and the place is supposedly under new management...(they have a petition to lonely planet to come back and change their review.) Anyhow, we signed on for the night...and at $3 each, the place was a bargain....

But then we went into the communal bathroom/shower...if you have ever been to korea you are probably familiar with the bathroom setup, where people shower in the same space that the toilet is in...well that is basically what it is like here...except in all of my travels to korea, I never actually flushed a toilet and saw the water leak out over the bathroom floor...followed by the water in the sink....basically there was no drainage system for the sink and toilet and they shared a communal drain within the stall....When i realized this, I made a pledge to myself, to never shower in these conditions...

And the bed...well the linens were a bit dodgy...I mean there was a dead ant under the "clean" pillow (the one with no blood)...and that clean pillow did have a rather noxious smell coming off of it....At this point, I would like to give a special thank you to Thai Airways, for allowing me to "borrow" a blanket from the plane...because that is what I slept on...wrapped up like a little burrito..praying that I wouldnt catch any sort of diseases from the bedding.

Tomorrow night, I plan on staying at a nicer place (maybe a $6 hotel??)...oh and I think the big lesson that was learned here, involves checking the sheets and the bathroom before signing off on a room.

My final goodbyes to my little town

I am writing this from Kyoto now...My journey began 2 days ago...and everything so far has been great!!! I am so happy that my final days in Japan will be spent in one of my favorite cities. I love everything about this place (except the heat;)

Leaving my town ended up being harder then I thought it would be...I think for awhile I had a grand ol *fuck you* scenario pictured...but in the end, opted for a more graceful and dignified approach. What i didn:t expect was to be so touched and sorry to leave the great friends I had made over the past year.

At my favorite elementary school, the entire school had a farewell ceremony for me (okay actually I had a farewell ceremony at every single school I taught at ...but this one was way more special) The kids played games that I had taught them over the year (Simon says and a few random ones), then gave speeches...and finally presented me with one of my most cherished souvenirs of the past year...a photo album of me with all of my students:teaching, eating lunch, goofing off....It was really beautiful, and the teachers worked really hard to get it all scrapbooked for me.

My closest gaijin friends (those who make up wednesday Foreign Food night) also had a dinner for me, at a fantastic Thai resturant. We had a great time...and of course I cried and cried (I am terrible at goodbyes...I think it might actually be more dignified and graceful of me to leave and not actually say goodbye...) and the group also gave me a beautiful photo album of our time together....I will really miss all of them, and cant believe that it will be ages until I see them next. (although we are planning a trip for next april...so hopefully, right?)...so honestly, I believe our paths will cross many times in the future.

And finally my tutor...who has been trully the best friend a girl could ever ask for..I think of all the people, I will miss him the most (Mainly, because I am not sure when or if I will ever see him again.)... He had me and N over for dinner with his wife...it was such a great night, because he tried to teach N tai　chi and we spent a lot of time laughing!!! I adore him and his wife probably the most of all the people in my town.

When the time actually came to leave...I thought I could sneak out of town, quietly...I planned on catching an early train with N...so we could catch some sights before she had to fly back to LA...but at the train station, there was a crew of 12 people there all waiting to see me off. And at my apartment, my neighbors had gotten up early to say their last goodbyes. I guess in the end, there was no quiet way of leaving my town. And even though, I was often left feeling frustrated by the things that happened, at the end of it all...I realized the Japanese really know how to leave a last great impression.

So as I wander around, spending my last few hours in Kyoto, I kind of think that maybe I might return to Japan again.....someday.

Leaving for a new journey

The day has finally come when i can leave my little town. As of 5 minutes from now (after this entry) I will be pulling the plug on my modem...shipping it back to the modem place...packing my bags and embarking on a 6 week tour of South East asia...I hope to keep you all updated on my blog ... but who knows how things will work out!!!

The past year has definatly had its ups and downs...but in the end, I am glad I did it. I think that my life in Japan has taught me so much about patience, what it is like to be a minority, what it feels like to be illiterate and the understand with compassion the life of a immigrant. By no means, have I been treated as poorly as many of the foreigners in this country are treated (e.g. Koreans, chinese, Philipinnos) but I definatly have felt the ugliness of ignorance. I hope that all of the lessons I have learned (for better and for worse) will be incorporated into my next thing...whatever that may be.

For now, I am looking forward to one last visit to Kyoto and Osaka...then on Wednesday it is off to Malaysia with Kiwi-boy.

Take care...

The Okinawin and the Russian Prostitute

My friend N is visiting me now. We are having a really great time, and I am so happy she came. I am not sure, how happy she is that she came to the inaka (the super-rural area, aka where I live) as she is getting so much attention about her height. She literally towers over most of the people that we meet...which i think is great (it's easier to find her in a crowd!!;) People keep whispering to me (in loud stage whispers no less..."that girl is so tall...so tall!!!") Nobody seems to be able to fathom that there are people out there over 5'9" (I think she might be about 5'11)...

Anyhow, the 2 of us where at Saty (which is a department store/grocery store) the other day...and the store people were offering food samples. So I needed to do some shopping, and somewhere between picking up icecream and shrimp, I admit, I indulged in a few soda and pizza samples. Then after checking out, N and I were talking about how tasty the pizza samples were, and how neither of us had even thought about Lunch yet (it was after 3 pm) we thought it might be a good idea to do a bit more wandering around the store and check out the other samples....Man, I felt like I was a little kid again, because when I was little I LOVED trying all the samples at my local SuperValu....Okay, so the first sample we saw was for gyoza (chinese dumplings) and the lady was holding a try, filled with them. So I saunter over to her getting ready to get my tasty treat...and she walks away from me!!! What!? okay, maybe she didn't see me....So, N and I walk up to her stand and I say, "Hai, I'd like one." and she (cranky old lady!!) looks from me to N and says..."NO, NO, NO!!!!" Then turns her back on us and walks over to another customer and offers them a sample....Oh my god...by now, I am used to this....I swear anyone in this area who looks at me and sees my partial okinawin-ness...or maybe my gaijin-ness (foreigner) tends to act like this to me....but to my friend? What??? So I look over at the lady who is offering samples of Pocari Sweat (ew!!!) and she has a look of horror on her face...like what is wrong with the crotchety old sample lady? So she motions for us to come to her. Seriously, if she hadn't done that...I may have called the mean lady "stupid"...as that is the only insult (well, besides "you have a small penis"...) that I know.

When I was telling my friends about this later that night...my friend H explained that N looks russian (which she is) and that the lady probably mistook her for one of the Russian girls that works at the hostess bars....Man oh man, even my friends can't catch a break in the inaka.

This week's picks for best Engrish

I finally figured out how to post pictures. I know, I am so lame!!! Anyhow, enjoy.....

Since I am getting lots of emails about not actually being able to read the english, i thought i would write it here:

The comic graffiti sign: Oh my lovely drug! May I please use your amazing power?

The spray can (which is men's deodorant): Man's Ban Zero. Urban Woody Note (I believe that is the scent), Anti-perspirent, sterilization, deodorant

Extensive public appearances

I am exactly 2 weeks from the end of my contract. Then Kiwi-boy and I are going to Malaysia for a few days (well Kiwi-boy will only be there for a few days...) I will be there for about 15 days. Then going to Vietnam with my Mom and to Bali with my friend A. I can hardly wait to get out of here. Before leaving, my friend N from LA decided to come out and visit. This is by no means an inconvience. In fact, I have been looking forward to seeing her for ages.,..I even took vacation time for the days that she is here. And those days that I requested off...were approved, no problem. However, now that I am only a few days from leaving, I have suddenly found myself being forced to make a slew of mandatory appearances. Some I don't mind (e.g. the farewell party hosted by the middle school) some I am cringing at the thought of attending (e.g. a scheduled audience with the town council and mayor) and some I really just don't want to be bothered with (e.g. hanging with the people who have taken a sudden interest in me now that I am leaving.)

Today, was one of those fabulous scheduled appearance days: I had to meet with the governor of my prefecture. Its actually the 2nd or maybe the 3rd meeting I have had with him, so whatever right? Well unlike all of the other times I saw him, this time I actually had to do a speech in Japanese. It was only 20 seconds long, but since it had to be in formal Japanese, I was a bit nervous....and saying "watashi wa lani des, yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Arrigato goziamashita" (my name is lani nice to meet you. Thank you very much.) is not considered appropriate...bummer, as that was exactly what I had planned on saying. So I struggled thru the content of my formal speech...tried really hard to seem charismatic and gracious (which is difficult when you are stuttering words). Did my photo op (see attached pic) and was done in less then an hour. I spent the rest of the day seeking out individual gifts for all of the teachers who bought me gifts (japanese tradition...for every gift you recieve, you must give a gift in return for equal amount of money.)

Next week, I have between 8-10 appearances scheduled (and by those, I mean showing up at places where the media has been invited to take pictures and document that I actually attended said function, or met with said person.....)
It's all pretty wierd, but I wonder if I will miss this weird version of celebrity when I return to the normal world?

how to make popcorn

I was prepping to teach the 6th graders the other day, and had a whole lesson centered around how to make cookies. The plans were pretty well set, and I had all of the teachers excited about it (or so I thought). I even told the kids about it in the lesson beforehand. Problem is, sometimes my teachers don't understand everything I say or do, but they are too afraid to confront me about it at the time that I mention it. Instead they wait until the last minute when there is no time to salvage things nor, argue that my idea may be better.....

So the night before my class, as I am walking out the door to catch a bus and meet my friends, I get a call from the teacher saying, "(teeth sucking sounds) Oh Ms. Lani, I have heard that cookie making is very difficult. So I think we should make popcorn for tomorrow instead."

Me: (in my head) "You HEARD, or you can't be bothered getting the ingredients?"
Me: (out loud) "Oh, okay...but that really is pretty easy and doesn't take much time...what would we do for the other 45 minutes?"

teacher: "I think that popcorn making is fun and the children will really enjoy it. Can you make up a recipe with popcorn words in it so the children can learn the vocabulary?"

Me: (in my head) " Are these kids from mars, why is popcorn making so enjoyable? It pops, you eat, the end...there is no chocolate, no batter, no delicious cookies...and I now have to come up with 45 minutes of filler."
Me: (out loud): Yeah okay. You're the boss, whatever you think is best.

The next day, I show up with instructions on how to make a)Microwave popcorn b)airpopper popcorn c) popcorn in a kettle. The teacher opted for popcorn in a kettle (who knew that Japan doesn't have Microwave popcorn?) I made the kids microwave kettle korn, while they slaved over a stove with burnt popcorn. Strangely, all the kids ate all of the popcorn...even the crisp black bits!!! yuck!!!

I still think cookies would have been better...but at least I managed to fill my time with an extensive lesson on different ways to pop popcorn.

bioluminescents....

For the last few weeks my friend A has been asking me if I had a chance to check out the bioluminescents in the sea...She kept telling me how awesome and bright they are. So after hearing this for a few weeks, I finally wander down to the beach and was so disappointed, because I didn't see anything. The thing is, I didn't know you had to agitate the water to be able to see it. So when I finally figured that out (thanks to the help of some of my other friends) I wandered to the beach a 2nd time, and lo and behold, it was spectacular. I am not really into the science of how it all works...but basically the phosperessence is caused by a particular algae that surfaces when the water gets warmer. Then when you walk thru the water at night, you can see a ton of little lights shooting thru your wake. It's like glowbugs underwater...but too tiny to actually see their forms.

My only regret is that the Inland sea doesn't have waves...because I have been told that the bioluminescents are even more spectacular when they are caught in the waves....like a mini firework show as the tide comes in.

Tanabata

Today is Tanabata in Japan, this is when kids decorate bamboo trees with paper chains, dolls, and write wishes on pieces of colored paper that they tie to the trees. The idea is that every year on July 7th (here we go again with exact scheduling...) two stars in the milkway cross paths for the day, then continue on with their journeys for another year. The Japanese call these two stars lovers, who have a scheduled date every year on the 7th. And little kids send out their wishes to these "star-crossed" lovers in hopes that they will help make them come true.

no rain in the rainy season

To be honest I thought it was a bit of a joke when someone told me 2 weeks ago, “on Saturday it will probably rain, because that is the first day of the rainy season.” I thought, how can one schedule rain? It was explained to me that even the seasons in Japan run on a pretty strict schedule…Which explains the Hanami (Cherry blossom) forecasts that began appearing on the news about a month and a half before spring.

Thing is, it didn’t rain on that Saturday. So, when I returned to school on Monday, I was like. “Hahahahah your system failed, see you can’t control weather.” To this, the teacher responded by saying, “Well, obviously we are now in a drought.” I had no idea what to say to this, I thought the person talking to me must be nuts. I mean, everything is completely green outside, the rice paddies are flooded with water, and other then the ridiculously hot and humid weather (which I am told is normal), nothing seems out of sorts. So I am like, okay the rain didn’t come on schedule, so now we are in a drought? Where is the proof? Has it been reported on the news? I mean, I come from a place where everything is dry and brown when there is a draught….stuff doesn't grow. Produce and water prices go up…and a drought isn’t randomly declared 2 days after the rains don't show up.

Well, that was 2 weeks ago…and yes it has sprinkled a bit. But there have not been any heavy downpours. Having to ride my bike everywhere, I know that I have insensitively told Japanese people that I am happy the rainy season hasn’t been too rainy…So with that in mind, I am sure they would have really appreciated my reaction to the phone call I got last night. K the other American in town called me to say, “Hey Lani, I don’t know if you have heard or not, but we are now in a drought and it’s pretty serious. I was just told that the town is going to start shutting off the town’s water supply from 9pm-6am every day.” What? How? Can they do that? (that was my response.)…So after my rather shameful freak out (as far as freak outs go, it was defiantly a mild one) I realized that I was getting forced into a slight life-style change…one that would make more like the other townies in my little hamlet…I would have to start going to bed at 10ish…eat dinner early…shower before 9pm…No more cleaning my apartment at odd hours…painting at 2 in the morning…baking cookies at 11pm for class the next day. I am going to have to be organized, I am going to have to be non-ADD…I am going to become like the other people in my town….

I never thought it would happen, but it appears that in the end, my town has figured out a way to make me conform…

Pray for rain!!!