Where is this place anyway?

Surprisingly - or maybe not - many people don't know exactly where Burma is. Basically, it's a country about the size of Texas located between Thailand and India.

In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many colonial-era names, including the name of the country to 'Myanmar' and the name of the largest city from Rangoon to Yangon. While some of these name changes are closer to their original Burmese pronunciations, many opposition groups and countries oppose their use because they recognize neither the legitimacy of the ruling military government nor its authority to rename the country or its towns.

So I have chosen to continue to use the name "Burma."

I'm leaving in three more days. I just got back from the bank, where I had to withdraw new, clean, unmarked US dollars as there are no ATMs or credit cards in Burma and only new bills in pristine condition are accepted. Bills starting with the serial number 'CB' also need to be avoided as merchants are suspicious they may be counterfeit. But this is a paranoid country - in 2005 the military began secretly constructing a new capital 200 miles north of Rangoon and moved the government there...at the advice of a fortune teller.

Kyoto Part Two

Last night I saw three real-live actual fully made-up geishas.

The first one was standing at an intersection, apparently waiting for a ride. She was surrounded by about 30 tourists with their cameras (yes, myself included, I'm sad to say), circling her like vultures closing in on their prey. I think she was pretending to herself that they just weren't there. And there was something quite sad about it.

About thirty minutes later, I was walking down a deserted Gion street. The streets in this district are paved with stone, so I noticed the footsteps approaching but didn't really think about it until they got closer and I realized they were the sound of those heavy wooden sandals the geishas wear.

Sort of like a small two-footed horse...

I just stood and watched her pass, I didn't have the heart to whip out my camera on the poor thing.

A few minutes later, I turned a corner and came face-to-painted-white-face with a third geisha. And again I just watched her as she passed by clomping.

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Kyoto has something like several thousand temples, and I've seen quite a few of them in four days. I was really getting temple burnout today. But it was raining, and I didn't want to spend money shopping for useless souveniers (Like I really need a ceramic tea bowl...)

"Oh what the heck, one more temple," I thought.

It was either karmic irony or just very good luck - I saved the most incredible temple for last. Sanjusangen-do is a 700-year old Buddhist temple in southwestern Kyoto. Inside the main hall are 1,000 life-sized sculptures of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. They fill the entire length of the long hall, for as far as you can see.

It was an unexpected and incredibly moving thing to see - especially after the zen austerity of the interiors of most other temples here. I wanted to cry, but I'm not really sure why.

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Other Random Thoughts:

• I never realized before how heavily influenced Frank Lloyd Wright was by Japanese design

• I am loving green tea and mochi, those sweet bean desserts.

• I wanted the sushi here to be way way better than sushi in the U.S. But oddly, it's almost exactly the same.

• Of every Asian city I've been to, I think Kyoto is the one I could live in most easily.

• When you enter any shop or restaurant here, you'll be warmly greeted with "ashamasay!" (welcome!) by every staff person. This even happens in a 7-11. Now think for a moment... when was the last time was that you were greeted by anything other than an annoyed scowl in a 7-11 in the U.S.?
  

• I was riding on a Kyoto city bus. At the next stop, the driver was finished with his shift and a new driver was waiting to board. But before leaving the bus, the first driver turned and humbly bowed to all the passengers. Like, "Thank you for letting me serve you, it was an honor."

Now think for a moment...

Oh never mind, none of you even ride busses anyway.

Japan Photos

some photos from Japan are online here:

Why did I eat that?

Sashimi topped with raw egg.
Slimy, yet satisfying.

Okay, I was really hungry.

Kyoto

The thing about Tokyo for me was that the "big" sites - the Imperial Palace, Tokyo Tower, Tsukiji Fish Market, Ginza, Shibuya - are just not on the same level as the "big" sites in so many other major cities (London, Paris, Bangkok, Hong Kong, New York).

Enough said...I've already been pushing it with the germ thing, I don't want to insult 20 million Japanese, most of whom I'm sure read my blog on a regular basis.

But Kyoto, on the other hand, is wonderful. If Tokyo is neon, glass and steel, Kyoto is wood and stone and leaves.

A quiet tree-lined path along a small canal leads to a nine hundred year-old Zen temple. Stone-paved lanes filled with local craft shops and cafes lead uphill towards the giant cedar gate of a Shinto shrine.

The former capital of Japan is also famous for geishas and tea ceremonies. According to my Kyoto guidebook geishas are "female professional entertainers whose knowledge of traditional arts, skill at verbal repartee, and ability to keep secrets win them the respect and sometimes love of their well-heeled and influential male clients."

Ummm...sure.

I've seen just one fully made up geisha here. I tried to grab for my camera to get a photo, but wherever this chick was headed, she was in a very big hurry. Must be keeping quite the secret...

Well there's more to the story - my story that is, I know nothing else of this fleet-footed geisha. There always is more. Although it may not seem so to those who don't know me, I occasionally do things other than writing this blog and wandering around photographing temples.

I'll leave it at this: Haagen Daas ice cream, a fashion designer, yakitori, and the phrase "have a safe journey" are all prominently involved.

to be continued...

Who Was That Masked Man??

When my flight arrived at Narita Airport, we were delayed at the gate for about 30 minutes while a crew of about 15 medical personnel in white hazmat uniforms (seriously) entered the aircraft and proceeded to take each passenger's temperature.

They passed up and down the aisles with handheld high tech thermal scanners, aiming them ominously at each of us.

The flight attendants had been through this routine before and they were clearly over it. They cranked up the a/c about 15 minutes before landing and announced (only half jokingly) "alright no coughing, sneezing or sniffling while these guys are on board and we should be outta here in half an hour."

American Airlines is so classy!

Each day I think more and more germ-aphobic Japanese are wearing those protective surgical masks. Because the GERMS ARE COMING!!! No wait, they're already here! They're everywhere! That's why you're given a moist towelette to wipe your hands before every meal...even if it's just a Starbucks coffee. That's why you must place your money into the tray next to the cash register, never directly into the shopkeeper's hands. That's why you must remove your germy shoes and wear special germ-free slippers when entering a bathroom. And I guess that's why even a simple apple from the supermarket is nestled in protective foam, and then wrapped in plastic and inserted into another even larger plastic bag when purchased.

Coffee to go? Your cup will be placed into a cardboard cupholder, which is then inserted into a small paper shopping bag. Then the whole package is neatly tucked into an even larger plastic handle bag. Moist towelette included.

Ironically, there is a prominent sign in my hotel room that says:

The Ecological Movement.
We protect the natural environment by decreasing the times of changing sheets and reducing emissions of CO2 by less use of detergent and water for laundry. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

The sign is printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink.
And then laminated in thick plastic.

I'm sure the maids spray it down with sanitizer every day, too.

Wierd Sign of the Day

Spaghetti and Cake -
my favorite combo!!

Okay I lied. It was an eleven-hour flight

I imagined when I arrived in Tokyo it would be as if I'd suddenly been dropped down on another planet. I'd find myself in a very foreign place where everything looked, smelled and sounded strange. Where no one understood me and I understood no one. Where I was always lost. In translation. HAHA. Let's get that cliched reference out of the way right now.

But I wanted that.

I love that feeling of suddenly being in a place that makes me think, "We're not in Kansas anymore."

Tokyo, after four days, is surprisingly not that place. Tokyo is clean and civilized and polite. Almost all directional signs are in Japanese and English. The notoriously "difficult" Tokyo subway system is actually quite similar to that of New York - and possibly easier to use because everything is color-coded and numbered, so even an illiterate, unless he suffered from color-blindness, could easily find his way around.

And everywhere you notice how clean it is. Ironically, I walked for ten blocks today with an empty coffee cup before I finally saw a trash receptacle. Where do they put their trash? This is really a mystery to me.

It's not that I don't like it here. The narrow streets around Shinjuku are very atmospheric. The two major Shinto temples, Meiji-jingu and Senso-ji, are amazing - and so different from Southeast Asian buddhist temples... so much wood and symmetry. Japanese men can be strikingly beautiful. The food is excellent, and it's also familiar: sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, tempura, yakitori, udon, soba.

And people generally seem quite happy. I've seen lots of smiles. I'm suspecting this could be related to the perky ice-cream truck jingle that plays each time the subway doors open. Can you imagine how something like that would go over in New York??

But I don't want to see another Starbucks or Banana Republic (Ever. Anywhere). I'm just wanting to be more... excited, I guess. And maybe moved.