Globetrotting

Yesterday Melissa and I accompanied Ken into Tokyo to get a few provisions for the lodge.
The drive was nice. It takes about two hours, which is the longest we had been in a car since the states. The Japanese driving experience is so different. When Melissa and I had to get rid of some ingested green tea Ken quickly pulled off the road to what at first seemed like a rest stop. It was directly off the freeway and had a large parking lot. Once we stepped out of the car we realized it was more like a mall, with many restaurants, shops, and even a digital traffic display, letting drivers know about hold ups real-time. Crazy shit. Leaving Nikko the scenery, and temperatures, change drastically. The mountains cascade into rice fields, which stretch their way up to a see of apartment buildings. The residential complexes crash right into complicated mix of train lines and skyscrapers. It was nice to be back in the city. Now we were the people driving through the crowds. As we tried to find a parking place in Akihabara people literally brushed across our vehicle like cattle in the field. I couldn’t imagine the stress of driving in what seems like a crowded outdoor shopping mall.

Our next stop was Costco, which Melissa and I had never been to (apparently they’re in the states too). It was a giant warehouse, like Sam’s, and the only place in Japan to get allot of American goods. They had all the same crap from home but it’s the little things that make it exciting. We were amazed to see Evian water…IN A SPRAY CAN. Yes an aerosol can full of the famous French glacier water for those hot days on the trains. Melissa was able to find a cheap “hair ripper outer” which should cut down on future razor expense.

Once we filled our basket and paid for our “stuff” we made way to the escalator for grocery carts, to get to the gigantic parking garage. Before hitting the road for the two-hour drive we filled up. Even the gas stations make me smile. They are completely spotless. I mean the concrete that cars fuel up on is cleaner than most American dining facilities. I loved the telescoping windshield washer handle too.

I thought the trains were expensive but a road trip in Japan is out of this world pricey. First of all we must have went through about five toll ways. Ranging from $5 to $30, each, just one-way. We filled up twice, and Ken put about $4 dollars in a parking meter. I’ll never bitch about the 25cents per 90 minutes again.

What a week!

We learned to make udon noodles, from scratch, from official udon masters.

First you have to mash a bag of the flour, yeast and sake until it’s as soft as you ear lobe. Once the mixture ferments for a couple days your ready to get your udon on. We made sure to prepare our noodles before class. Creating the noodles requires as much concentration as it does man/woman-power. Rolling the dough flat to the sensei’s satisfaction can take over half an hour, and is quite vigorous. Once it’s flat you get to do another cool rolling technique, where you wrap the dough around the roller and make it really thin.

Alas we got to play with the cool Japanese udon knives. Slicing the blob of dough you begin to realize how yummy it’s going to be. It sounds simple but as with all Japanese processes there is a million “crucial” steps, and specific ways one must attack the task at hand. Putting so much thought into it really adds a bit of yourself to the noodles, and makes them that much more nourishing!

The other day there was a beautiful ring around the Sun. Similar to a rainbow but not quite so colorful. It was amazing! James, a fellow wwoofer from Canada, said they are common with the seasonal change, but several of us had never seen this natural phenomenon before.

It’s official. We’re going to Thailand! We leave from Tokyo/Narita on July 26th and return on August 9th. I don’t think two weeks will be enough, but considering we know absolutely no Thai (language), and don’t know a soul in the country I think it will be just right. Enough to get our feet wet at least.

For those of you geographically challenged Thailand is a country in mainland Asia. It has a very long peninsula; it’s next to Cambodia, and rather close to Laos and Vietnam. Not to be confused with Taiwan, a small (yet very awesome) island off the coast of China. Thailand has a lot of cultural influence from India as well as China, and was a really happening place (it still is) in ancient, ancient, ancient times.

We’re really excited to say the least. We love Thai food, don’t know much about Thai culture, and it’s dirt-cheap. I mean dirty, dirty cheap. I’ve read one can buy a custom fit Versace suit for about $10 US. We will be spending our one-year wedding anniversary there so we will be able to live it up in a fancy hotel in Bangkok for a few days.

The monk has returned to Nikko Park Lodge. Our mornings now consist of yoga and Zen meditation lessons from Zenryu. He has been a monk/yoga teacher/VEGAN for over 20 years! He enjoys mountain climbing, and I think we won him over with our story about Mt. Nyohou.

Oh…and I now have dreadlocks (at least the framework) thanks to Melissa’s everlasting patience and natural dreading talent. Thanks sweetheart, XOXOX!!! Best wife ever!

One day four wwoofers sat around a kitchen counter, sipping on some drinks. They decided to climb a mountain and this is what happened…(more or less) Nikko, Japan June 11th 2007 650m- We woke up at the lodge. There was only one breakfast ... [Continue reading this entry]

Today Ken took Jacob, Lalya, Melissa and I to the shrine area of Nikko. We had gone once before, but there is much more than a days worth of ancient Japanese relics waiting to be viewed. We didn’t really ... [Continue reading this entry]

Yesterday Melissa and I decided to go for a walk during our downtime, between check out and check in. We packed a lunch a headed north for Kirifuri falls. The road lead us to the entrance about 3 Km away ... [Continue reading this entry]

It happens to be that just down the road, through the woods, and up the mountain a bit, lays the best beer in Japan (that I have tasted so far). It is a great little brewery called, Nikko Beer. The ... [Continue reading this entry]

...ROCKS! We came upon an awesome WWOOF host. It's a small "budget lodge" in old town Nikko. I say old town because Nikko has recently expanded, due to the growing tourist industry. Nikko is an ancient mountain area, about 2 ... [Continue reading this entry]