Travel to Live. Live to Travel

One of the more fun/frustrating things about traveling in SE Asia is the need to haggle for things like transportation. There’s always rumors about the so-called “Tuk-Tuk Mafia” that supposedly do everything from price fixing to making sure tourists can’t rent motorcycles, but those have always been brushed off as rumors by locals. However, here in Phuket it has been confirmed to us by a local who offered to take us to our destination, as long as we promised to make the transaction seem as non-taxi-like as possible or else he’d face the wrath of this mafia. We paid by slipping money in the a cupholder, and we waved him off like he was a friend showing us around the island. In a country with so many unlicensed cabs, it was a bizarre experience.

Tuk-tuks are the predominant form of tourist transportation in Thailand. They vary in form depending on the country, but here they’re more or less golf-carts on steroids. You tell your driver your destination, he gives you a price, you offer a counter-price, and then settle wherever it makes you happy. You accept that you’ll probably never get the Thai-price, but you are satisfied with something 10%-50% higher (NOT 2x-5x higher).

Except of course here in Phuket. A 2 mile journey costs more than a New York City cab ride, and hey–at least in a cab you get to be fully enclosed and have a pretty decent chance of survival in the unfortunate case of an accident. I am simply baffled at the $25 charge for a 5-mile journey up the island. This would be crazy in America, but this is absolutely ridiculous in Thailand where you can take a bus 300 miles to Chiang Mai for the same price. BTW, I’m not advocating being a jerk and haggling over everything. But there’s a difference between being overcharged 10cents or even a dollar, than being overcharged $15.

The problem is multi-fold and obviously the local government has a lot to answer for, but since I can do pretty much nothing about that, I’ll blame the people I have a smidgen of a chance of influencing. That would be us, the tourists and travelers. Now, I understand how it is–you walk out of your resort, a tuk-tuk driver tells you it costs $10 to go up the beach. You figure that’s not so bad, and besides–you don’t like haggling and you don’t really want to bother. But here’s the rub: everyone I’ve met in Thailand complains about scams and crazy prices–but it didn’t get this way because Thai people are thieving jerks, it got this way because someone just throws money around and doesn’t care if he’s getting scammed (or he does but just whines about it later.) So don’t be the cause of it! If someone’s quoting you a price more than London or New York, you laugh and walk away. 9 out of 10 the driver will chase you and discount his price. You don’t even have to walk away, just standing there often brings you a discount or the very tricky, “What price do YOU want?” This is Thailand, there isn’t even a meter!

You never to tell a tuk-tuk (or anything without a meter) that you are going to an expensive hotel, even if you are. Tell them you’re going to a nearby cheap hostel and your price suddenly drops. Once we got pretty mad at a shared-truck driver for charging us 5x the local price to our destination, he got pretty embarassed and then admitted to us he only did it because we told him we were going somewhere expensive, therefore, would pay it. On many other occasions, after asking the driver for his price, he went, “uhhh….” and looked us up and down before pulling a number out of the air. We’ve caught people changing their prices mid-haggle because they deemed us dumber/smarter than they originally thought.

Furthermore, we were told by a local that this group of drivers has not only fixed prices to an insane level, but they’ve also set up these signs to make themselves look official. The prices, for what it’s worth, is not based on distance–it’s based on a mix of where you want to go, where you are leaving from, and how much competition there is. We found that the most expensive place to get a tuk-tuk was, surprise surprise, around the resort hotels. One driver had the nerve to ask for about $45 for a 20 minute trip–more than the cost of the airport which was 60 minutes away.  But this is where I blame tourists…where on earth did that number come from? There must have been someone out there who thought that price was reasonable. =P

But hell, if some sucker/lazy holidaymaker is willing to pay 10x the local price for something, why not?  But let’s remember, just because you don’t want to deal with haggling on your once-a-year vacation doesn’t mean life ends here once you’ve left. You accept a stupidly inflated price and all that does is make it worse and worse for everyone other tourist, and yourself when you come back. This has come to a head in Vientiane (Laos) and here in Phuket where the prices are more expensive than anywhere else in Thailand. When you try and tell a driver that his price is 10x the Bangkok price, they say, “But this is Phuket!” Dude, it’s still Thailand.

I’d personally like to know how much money they need to pay the mafia or whatever, because the way the prices are–if they just took 2 or 3 fares then they’d be making more money than I did in Japan. And no matter what the drivers say, it’s STILL Thailand.

Since we enjoyed our last caving experience, we decided to go kayaking and caving today… and our inexperience mixed with the relative difficulty of it and a guide more interested in asking questions about English proved to be a little trickier and nerve-wracking than before. This time we were taken to the biggest cave in Vang Vieng, which might have been awesome…except for the fact we had to climb in and out of the cave with a CANDLE. A candle! What the hell?! Not like, ooh look at me and my awesome candle-stick and candle-holder…I mean, a birthday candle (photos later.)

Well, we’re not dead…but Laos has never scored high on the whole health and safety standards thing. I mean, the fact that I have to plug my computer into a bamboo pole should say something. Everytime I type I get electrocuted. =P

Anyways, we’re off tomorrow for Phonsavan and the mysterious Plain of Jars… so long Vang Vieng, it’s been awesome.

We traveled from Kenting to Tainan yesterday, and the oddest thing happened. Right as we got off the train, we noticed there was an air raid siren going off. I thought maybe it was a firedrill or something. We only realized something was wrong when we noticed all the exits were sealed off.

A friendly local expat explained what was going on. It seems they fairly regularly have drills to practice what to do if they ever declare independence, since China has stated they’d blow Taiwan out of the water if something like that ever happened. We waited inside the station for about 30 minutes until all the metal guarders opened. I saw thousands of people pour out of the buildings they were stuck in.

I’m sure most Taiwanese people don’t live their lives wondering what China will do, but at the same time it was a pretty odd experience and a reminder of what a tricky political situation Taiwan is in.

Walking around with Hugh today was like walking around with a celebrity. During our tour of the area with the boys we met yesterday, we happened to cross paths with lots and lots of high schoolers on some sort of field trip. Every time we passed a group of girls they would stare at Hugh, giggle, squeal, and then try and take his picture. When we passed guys, they would shout “hello!” though one group went, “Oooh! Handsome boy!”

At one point, one girl even came up to us and asked if she could take a picture with us. She politely waited while she took a picture with me, then with Hugh. I’m pretty sure she promptly deleted the picture with me.

One of the funnier things that happened was I was walking with the group of guys from HK who we were touring with, when these three girls spotted Hugh. I watched them try and shove the prettiest girl towards hi whispering things I imagine were like, “say hello to him!” and stuff, but she did nothing as they passed by. As we walked by, Hugh grabbed my hand and I heard them squeal “NooooO!” LOL, high school girls.

It’s funny, but even funnier because it kind of weirds Hugh out. I know lots of expat guys who love the attention and use it to their advantage (and sleep with tons of girls), I also know more expat guys who thought it was a little weird and annoying to be treated like a zoo animal. Hugh seems to take it in stride by doing things like scratching his nose (and blocking his face) nonchalantly when people try and take his picture. I mean, it’s all fun and games when the cute high school girls do it, but it’s annoying when the old man gets in your face and tries to take a picture of you eating, right? Same shit, different name.

We went clubbing yesterday (actually, shall I say, this morning?) and it was full of amusement. Last time I was in Taiwan, I went clubbing with friends at a famous place in Taipei. I was immediately struck by how much more it was like clubbing in America than it was in Japan. People could dance, for one. This time, I had even more observations to make.

When we arrived the club was PACKED. Thankfully, a friend of a friend let us in for free and got us a VIP table. That definitely made the night.

There were sexy go-go dancers for us to oogle, but other than that, very few females in the club on this particular day. However, of the females that WERE there, about half of them had some article of clothing off by the end of the night. I’ve never seen so much butt-cheek in my life outside of a beach or pool. Though, honestly, we Asians know that most Asian girls aren’t really sporting big backsides so it really wasn’t buttcheek as much as….thigh? Annnyyyways, if it wasn’t that, then girls were taking off their tops and dancing around in bras. Not the sort of thing I have EVER seen in a club in Japan (let alone dancing), or hell in America even. But then again, Taiwan is not Japan despite my odd tendency to think it is.

The next point of amusement was Kevin’s stalker. While Hugh and I were dancing, he told me some girl was staring at him. Like a non-moving ghost through an undulating crowd. Later, after we came back from a bathroom break the same girl was sitting on the couch trying to talk to Kevin. Imagine this girl: a face like a 15 year old. Her long crimped hair, in messy, uneven pigtails. She’s wearing a miniskirt that says Budweiser down the sides, a black bra, and a hoodie zipped to just above the navel. Her eyes have that unmistakable glassiness that only a psycho can have. She doesn’t really look like a lolita, but the way she pouts purposefully and shamelessly makes you think of an adult trying to do a grotesque impersonation of a child.

And so, the girl sat next to Kevin for about 1 hr… making pouty faces, puppy dog eyes, at one point she started french kissing the air. It was WEIRD…and hilarious…and sad. Even after we repeatedly asked her nicely that he wasn’t interested. Even after a Taiwanese guy told her more rudely to piss off. Even after Kevin pretended to introduce her to his fake fiancee…she just sat on the floor, chin on the couch, staring up at poor Kev. Eventually she pouted as far as her lower lip would go and stomped off. I saw her later listlessly dancing with a Taiwanese guy, eyes staring at some spot on the wall. I have no idea what was going on in her head, but anyone who can sit while 6 people gesture at her and go “wtf is going on?” probably isn’t thinking clearly.

We left the club around 4 am, had breakfast and McDonald’s (the Taiwanese places weren’t open yet, unfortunately) and stumbled home around 5am…the first time I’ve done that in a non-video gaming context for years.

I feel like a kid again.

I know it’s not the same because the Japanese language doesn’t exactly have naughty words the same way we have naughty words (though don’t be fooled, there’s plenty of shit you never say in polite company), but I will never ever get over hearing 3rd graders in elementary school screaming the following:

“Oppai!!” (Tits!)
“Chikubi!!” (Nipples!)
“Boku okama da!!” (I’m a tranny!)
“‘Chinko’ eigo de nan to iu no?” (How do you say penis in English)

Maybe more so than the fact the kids say it is the fact the teachers smile and laugh. I can’t help it, I’m a prudish American. I have a mouth like a drunken sailor, but I still cringe when I hear kids saying stuff like that.

Then again, I also cringe when people ask me things like, “Oshiri ga itai no?” (Does your butt hurt?) Let’s not talk about my butt, your butt, or anyone else’s butt. Japanese people are always really shocked when I tell them we don’t discuss breasts and butts in polite company, they always reply with “but…but…American TV is nothing but showing that stuff, why can’t you talk about it?”

Touche.

You know how a last month I posted saying that people were asking me if I was pregnant? Well, yesterday I got a step-up on that: I was congratulated on my baby.

PEOPLE. WHAT?

A lady from one of the schools I visit was all, “ooh and we were all wondering who should congratulate you on your baby,” Wait, wait, back the hell up woman, what baby?

“I’m not pregnant!” I admonished,

“Oh really….oooh where did we hear it from? Someone said you were….”

“Why did you think I was pregnant?” I asked in my most polite voice. Just be honest and say it’s cause I’ve gotten tubby around my middle, I thought darkly, while my face showed a friendly smile and the finest in Japanese tatemae.

“Oh, I don’t know…your face seemed glowing and full, like the face of pregnancy!”

At this point I bit down my tongue and held back the urge to say, “So you mean cause I have a fat face?” Instead, I countered with this gem:

“But, but… I’m not even married!” I said shyly.

“Oh, well, you know… we thought you were being a modern woman and were going to hang in there and have one anyways.”

I give up, Japan. I get it, you think I’m fat. Yes, I will start going on an even stricter diet and start working out now. Thank you, just when I thought I was making progress with my weight.
…
Wait, wait…hold the phone! They thought I had HAD a baby already, so that must mean I AM making progress with my weight. Well, hot damn! Apparently my perfect body weight was when I was 85lbs and had twig-legs, back then all the Japanese girls complimented me on my tiny face and skinny legs. I think I’ll just stick to my bigger boobs, fuller thighs, and ghetto booty. I like it better, my boyfriend likes it better–leave me alone, Japan!

Recently the Hiroshima High Court reversed a life-sentence on a man convicted of killing and raping a woman and straggling her baby. The judge slapped the death penalty on the man instead full story.

The case is interesting because the man was 18 at the time, a minor according to Japanese law, so people believe this was done to send a message to would-be youth criminals. Recently, there’s been a rash of violence committed by young people in Japan. The numbers aren’t that high comparatively, but in the US we have guns. Any idiot can kill someone with a gun, usually much to their chagrin. A knife takes some nerve, let alone skill, to hack a body to bits.

In recent news:
- a British girl was hacked to bits, her body found in a tub full of sand on the balcony.
- A young man who ran through a station with a knife stabbing people randomly
- An 18 year old who pushed another man off a train platform onto a platform
- 23 year old man buries a student alive
- Random old ladies being stabbed in Fukuoka
- Random youth picks up a child and throws him off a pedestrian walkway onto incoming traffic

You may have noticed many of these are not crimes of passion, they are random acts of violence. When asked their motive, killers have answered, “I just wanted to try killing someone.” This scares Japanese people, and rightfully so. I don’t really know what percentage of crimes are actually random, but I read a poll last year that something like 90% of Japanese people feared an attack by a random stranger. So because of all of this (and a lot of other things) Japanese people are asking, “why?” Naturally, there’s the blame on video games (the random station stabber liked ninja games, apparently), broken families, etc. The usual suspects. But we all know this stuff is not the cause, so what’s the real issues here?

I would say part of the blame is the general lack of psychology/psychiatry in Japan (though this is changing, and thank god). There are plenty of people who need serious psychiatric help out there who have nothing but the intarwebz to ruminate on. You think we have psychos in America? Try having psychos in a country where people (up till now) didn’t believe in psychos, just poor parenting.

I also think in Japan there’s a lowered empathy for other humans (stay with me here), which I don’t blame on the Japanese themselves. It’s not a cultural thing, just an aspect of modern society. Take the view towards women: no one seems to care that 50 year old men lust after pre-pubescent girls, unless of course that girl gets raped (but if she just gets felt-up in a train or dates her teacher, that’s okay). But she’s going to need to prove she wasn’t asking for it. At convenience stores little boys can see magazines of anime girls tied up with semen dripping off their breasts, they know their fathers go to strip clubs and sex clubs while their mothers cook dinner, they can watch TV shows where men stare at young girls and measure their breasts and ask them to jump up and down (we have that too, but in America it’s generally considered chauvinist). What are women other than objects then? It’s said the reason that it took until the 1990s for the birth-control pill to come to Japan is because doctors didn’t want to lose their main source of income (abortions). The bullying problem is notorious and shocking here that elementary school children threaten and commit suicide. Kids come to school obviously physically abused at home, but people just turn the other way because they don’t want to get involved. Japanese people care about what other people think of them, but a lot of people don’t really think about what other people feel.

A lot of Japanese commentators and academics see the same problems, but instead of doing anything about it they just yell at young people on tv (Hosoki Kazuko, anyone?) which makes for quality programming, but not quality society. One of my host fathers complained that Japanese young people don’t know how to empathize anymore (actually, he said that their hearts don’t feel anymore–eesh), he pointed at lack of keigo (polite language) as a surface sign–I don’t know about that, but clearly there’s something out there people are worried about.

I’ve been told by older Japanese people it’s all the fault of us god-awful young people and our lack of morals, but who teaches the morals? No one. Exactly. So many parents tell me they’re worried for the future of Japan and kids are too spoiled and bratty these days, but they do nothing to discipline their children. So for me, I blame the older generation. Nowadays, elementary schools have morality class (which they never needed before–so what changed? discipline, mostly) and the stuff they teach sounds a whole lot like Common Sense 101: “if you hit someone, it hurts them!” Teachers like to ask me, “how do Americans learn to be moral?”

Um, church? Fear of eternal damnation and being poked by goblins in hell? I’m agnostic (functionally an atheist), but I will say a *little* spirituality isn’t always such a bad thing. Is what keeps you from sleeping with a 12 year old the law, or is it the inherent belief somewhere that doing so is morally wrong? I used to believe in moral relativity and boo on religion and boo on spirituality…but after living in an extremely secular place and befriending so many people from very secular places I guess I will say that it’s made me change my mind on the importance of a strong moral compass based in SOMETHING (vegetarianism, Buddhism, Xenu–whatever).

Or maybe this is all just fear tactics? I’m fairly certain most advanced countries have a, “oh life was so much better in the 1960s!” wave of nostalgia.

Our global generation of degenerate slackers is doomed! Or maybe we’ll all be fine. I’m going to go lock the door now, anyway.

 

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Originally uploaded by Janelle (Himene).

Yum?

Over the weekend I went to Kyushu in southern Japan with my friends. It was certainly a weekend of bravery and firsts.

The first wacky thing we all did: ate raw horse meat (a Kumamoto Prefecture specialty).

The second feat of bravery: we entered a mixed bath together

Before I continue, I must explain what an onsen is to those who have no idea. If you already know what it is, then skip this paragraph. Onsen is Japanese for hot springs and, in my opinion, is one of the hallmarks of their culture. Every town, no matter how tiny, has an onsen–or at least a sento, which is a public bath. In the past, mixed bathing was fairly normal and no one thought anything of it. That has since changed and most onsen now seperate the men from the women. Most foreigners, obviously, are nervous the first time they go…but everyone does it and everyone enjoys it. It’s one thing to go topless at a beach when not everyone else is. In an onsen, everyone is naked. Little babies, old grannies, you, your friends. Yeah, you are naked, but so is everyone else. Westerns find onsens to be liberating, relaxing, and a wonderful bonding experience.

Anyways, so my friends and I are all onsen ‘experts’ so we decided to go to Kurokawa Onsen which is a town famous in Japan for its hot springs. It’s a beautiful, scenic town and very traditional. In fact, so traditional that almost every onsen still has mixed bathing. At all the places, women still got their own private sections, meanwhile the mens area was actually the mixed bathing area.

We adventurous females decided we would try it. First, we took advantage of the family bath that came with our room reservation. Yes, it was 3 girls and 1 guy (who is my boyfriend) and no, it did not turn into an orgy. Yes, folks, believe it or not a mixed group of people CAN be naked together AND have it not be sexual in the slightest. We sat in the water and discussed life, Japan, and how hot the water was. No one looked at anyone’s naughty bits (well, for long). It was friends bathing.

the part where things did start getting weird and sexual, thanks to a kinky Japanese couple…

I teach periodically at elementary schools and while there I am obligated to eat the school lunch with the children.

Today my lunch consisted of a small salad, soup, bread, and a few pieces of fried meat. I assumed it was fish, since it didn’t look like any meat I had seen before; however, on tasting it I figured it was perhaps pork. A few thoughts entered my head while eating it:
“Wonder what meat this is?”
“This meat is awfully dark for pork…”
“This shit is awesome.”

So while chit-chatting with the students, one girl gleefully proclaims, “Do you know what this is? It’s whale!”

I ate whale.

Now, I try to be as environmentally conscious as possible, I’m hardly a role model, but I try. I have always, always, stood firm on not eating whale, at least willingly. Alas, it has been done. I’m a bit bothered by it, but I am viewing this experience positively. At least now when a Japanese person defensively asks, “Have you ever eaten it?” I can say, “Yeah, it was delicious–but that doesn’t mean we should eat it.” (The subject of whether or not to eat whale is a pretty delicate thing to try and discuss in Japan.)

But then I wonder, why not? Is it just that they’re endangered? What if they suddenly where to become not endangered (this is all hypothetical.) Would we be bothered then because it was cute or cuddly? But people eat rabbit and deer, which are pretty cute to me. Maybe it’s because whales are smart, which is fair enough, I don’t like the idea of eating smart things either. However, pigs are also known to be very smart.

So anyways, if you’ve ever wondered what whale tasted like–I had it deep fried, and it tasted like a tender, magical blend between beef and pork. And yes, it did taste really good. Even for a school lunch. No, I will never eat it again now that I know what it looks like, but don’t ask me why not–I don’t think I have a real reason.

Spent the weekend cleaning up my old apartment, going to the beach, and melting in the sun. Cleaning the old apartment was a bit of a mess as my predecessor left shitloads of stuff that needed to be properly seperated and disposed of. In my part of Japan, garbage is separated into burnable and non-burnable trash. Hugh and I watched in utter flabbergastation (new word) as it was announced that yes, styrofoam is burnable garbage. STYROFOAM? This is the country that supposedly cares so much about the environment and we’re burning styrofoam?

What was even more priceless was the way one of my supervisors sort of cocked her head to the side when we facetiously asked if a bit of wood was also burnable garbage. “Maybe,” she answered, to which Hugh said (in Japanese), “I think this is probably the most burnable garbage of all burnable garbages.” Since it was sarcasm, she didn’t understand and nodded in agreement, but it made ME laugh. I think we easily threw out an entire garbage truck worth of trash.

P.S. I wish I had the Internet at my new apartment. I need the escape.

On Saturday we drove to Okayama prefecture to check out the Naked Man Festival. A bunch of the JET guys in Shimane were participating and it required them to run around a shrine complex dressed in nothing but a fundoshi (loin cloth), jump into an icy pool of water, run around some more, and then go up into a shrine complex with thousands of other naked, wet men, smash into each other, and then finally fight for the shingi, or lucky stick.

Oh good old Japan! I went because, well, it’s almost obligatory to attend a “crazy Japan” event (it wasn’t really that crazy).

We got there and it was a festive air, there were food stalls and festival games (and a totally awesome Turkish kebab stall). Me and Sara wandered around, briefly hit on a Japanese guy selling cute erasers, ate some kebabs, and walked around more. Then we heard this strange sound  samba music, and a line of Brazilian samba girls walked by. It was definitely a random moment. We followed them around for awhile and watched the fireworks a bit. Then we went to the stands where we had bought tickets for a good view of the show. I found out there was a place we could stand so people could see down on the pool of water people jumped into.  I got some nice photos of the fellow Shimane group then went back to the other people to watch the masses crowding up on the shrine.

Welll…it was kind of cold, and a bit boring, and anticlimatic. At midnight they turned off the lights and threw the sticks and there was mass chaos as people fought for them (they bring good luck, and you get a money prize, they say.) Then, after 5 hours of waiting around, it was over just like that. We spent a lot of time staring and going, “Wow, boys are stupid.” It was about 30degrees Fahrenheit, they were wet, drunk, and smashed up against 100 other guys. It was like a Hieronymus Bosch painting. I don’t mean that in a good way.

I have had bronchitis for over two and a half weeks. During this time I’ve missed two weeks straight of work. Do you know absurd that is to a Japanese person? I mean, it’s absurd to an American, but to a Japanese person it’s totally insanity. And part of the problem was honest to goodness the medicines they gave me. I’ve been on all manner of stuff, all of them with side effects that are worse than the bronchitis. There was day long nausea, vomiting, palpitations, and days when I cannot remember a single thing that happened. One of the things given to me was a sleeping pill, which my mother worriedly informed me, was generally not used in the U.S. any longer due to the fact that it regularly gives people nightmares, has caused suicidal tendencies, and I believe in one cause made someone go on a homicidal rampage. Nice. I’m also on medicine that according to websites is highly addictive and suddenly stopping the dosage can cause withdrawl symptoms. Right. Okay.

I’ve decided not to recontract. I’m unhappy with a multitude of things here, and it’s all sort of causing this general depression I’ve had since maybe late October. I’m sure the medicines I’ve been on haven’t helped, but a few days ago I was on the verge of a mental break down and spent the whole day crying my eyes out and nearly decided to just pack up and go home right then and there. Of course the next day after the drugs were out of my system I felt 1000x better and realised the affair the day before had been largely drug induced, but it really doesn’t change the fact I’m quite unhappy here. Kenneth thinks it’s because being a CIR had been such a long time dream, then to have it realised and see it was NOTHING like I expected (even knowing what I did know) can be devastating. I guess that’s true. I’d wanted to be a CIR since I was 14. I guess when you hold on to a dream for 10 years and find it to be nothing like you hoped, then you sort of…yeah. Well anyways, rather than whining about how I hate stuff, I’m just going to move on. If I can’t find work in Tokyo, then I’m considering going back to school to get some classes or maybe another degree in business. My mom is really pushing me to New York, don’t quite know why, but she is.

Oh well, when everything is said and done I have the support from the people who love me so I really don’t have much to worry about. My mom suggested I see a psychiatrist here or something since I have sort of a history of depression that doesn’t seem to be getting better…unfortunately, Japanese people don’t believe in mental health or doctor-patient privilege. Once again, wtf?