Category: Travel

Travel Journal: Antarctica

December 30, 2011 by admin·1 Comment

Antarctica. The continent and the cruise were better than I could have ever imagined. Here is a recap for your reading enjoyment.

Day 1
Course: Ushuaia, through the Beagle Channel, then into Drake Passage
Waters: calm.
Morale: very high.

We’re on a boat! The cruise that motivated this whole trip has finally arrived. This will be our home for the next 10 days, after it pulled into port after just having returned from — where else — Antarctica.

While not a luxury cruise ship, it’s still awesome, with a very spacious lounge and ample deck space. Our room is one level from the bottom and has one window. After a lengthy orientation, we participated in an emergency drill where we waited for an alarm, rushed to put on our life vests, and then congregated in the lounge to learn how to properly board the life rafts.

This feels like the start of a whole new trip. Also, everyone is a little anxious about passing through the Drake Passage which has very choppy waters, but mostly we’re all excited.

One of the guides mentioned a quote, “Life without penguins is definitely possible, but it is senseless.” I’m looking forward to appreciating this.

Day 2
Course: All Drake Passage, all the time.
Waters: mildly choppy
Morale: pretty high

We have now entered the Drake Passage, which is where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet. Typically it has some of the world’s choppiest water, but forecasts for the next few days call for calm conditions. So far, it’s actually been so calm that the crew is calling it the Drake Lake.

Activities of daily living such as sleeping and showering are much harder on a rocking boat. The first time I peed in the toilet was in the middle of the night, when I got up but forgot I was on a boat. I stood there half-asleep with both hands holding down my pants when the boat rocked so violently that the toilet lid fell shut as I was peeing on it, and then I was thrown backwards into the wall. I don’t get up in the middle of the night anymore.

Finally, it’s a very strange view to see only water but absolutely no land. It’s even stranger that we’re at the very bottom of the earth and yet none of us have fallen off.

Day 3
Course: Shetland Islands
Waters: Choppier than yesterday, but tolerable.
Morale: Getting slightly bored.

We entered the Antarctic Convergence this morning, but I’m not quite sure what that means. Temperatures dropped to 1 degree C. That’s not warm. In the early afternoon we saw our first icebergs…finally, something to look at other than water. Soon thereafter we arrived at the Shetland Islands and had our first zodiac ride. (Zodiacs are large, study inflatable rafts that shuttle us from the ship to shore.) And what did we see on land? Penguins!

These little guys waddle and look a lot like people, flip flopping from side to side on their feet. We saw hundreds of them, sleeping, walking, feeding their chicks, pecking one another, and avoiding us. And there’s no escaping penguin poop.

Funny, I never knew where the Shetland Islands were and now I’ve been on them. (And somehow I still don’t know where they are!) And technically we were on Antarctica today since the Shetlands are part of it, but I won’t count it until we step foot on the mainland continent.

Day 4

“Gooood morning, good morning to everybody!”

That’s how our daily overhead morning announcements all start (although it is spoken very quickly and with a strong Argentinian accent.) Today’s went on to say it was -2 degrees C, which is even less warm than yesterday.

We hopped on a zodiac to our first landing, the Cuverville Islands, which are a small group of islands next to the mainland, where we hiked up a small mountain. The view at the start was spectacular and ranks among the most memorable I’ve ever experienced. We couldn’t have asked for sunnier or better weather, and our guides say this has been the best weather of this season.

Penguins everywhere, of course.

Later in the day we set out for our first landing on mainland Antarctica. Here we approach our site, which has an abandoned base.

We finally set food on the continent…it’s Antarctica, baby!

Upon returning to our ship, the staff had a BBQ on the deck that served tasty choripan sandwiches with chimichurri sauce, which hit the spot so perfectly. This was truly an amazing day.

Day 5

We woke up as our ship was trying to pass through the Lemaire Channel, a very narrow passageway filled with icebergs. For the last two days, other ships have have tried to pass but were not successful. Unfortunately, we too had to turn around because of the conditions. Regardless, the view of the icy channel was beautiful.

Plan B was to visit Port Lockroy, which is a small former scientific station turned museum that is manned by several women from the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust. They live there for five months of the year restoring the place, educating visitors like us, and running the museum and post office. There’s also a gift shop, which is the only place in Antarctica where you can buy something.

Our afternoon landing was at the nearby Danco Island. Here I am on this very Antarctic day standing next to a whale skeleton.

Penguins are very polite, and apparently they bow to one another before they mate. I decided to give it a shot and see where it got me. Oh hello Mrs. Penguin!

Back on the ship were treated to a great Christmas Eve dinner of roast duck (but between you and me, I think it was penguin. There are lots of them around.) A fun night of celebration and music and drinking soon followed in the lounge. Then suddenly we went from Antarctica to MANtarctica:

Oh, and Wilkie found a husband.

Day 6: Christmas Day

“Gooood morning, good morning to um…ok”. Click.

Our morning announcement took multiple tries as our expedition leader may have been a little hung over from the previous night’s partying…as were most passengers. The dining hall was half empty at breakfast, and Wilkie didn’t even get up for our first landing. Here I am high on a cliff overlooking the glacier surrounding Neko Bay, with our ship in the distance and me wishing you all a Merry Christmas.

When I got back at noon Wilkie was finally awake, and we exchanged Christmas gifts. I got him a season of the Big Bang Theory on DVD…and he got me this.

In the afternoon we went for iceberg tours on the zodiacs. Mine was one of the first to return to the ship, and once we were back up on deck, we were told to look down as there were two Minke whales playing with some of the remaining zodiacs. Minke whales are the smallest of the whales, typically no more than 10 meters long (yeah, metric system, son). They are very playful and were circling the zodiacs for at least ten minutes.

We got yet another Christmas treat after dinner when a group of humpback whales appeared near our ship and gave us a show for almost an hour. Normally I’m not into whales, but these guys were great.

Merry Christmas!

Day 7

Pull up a chair. Let me educate you, peoples. Not all penguins are the same, even though it might appear that way at first glance. There are three species of penguin in the region of Antarctica we’re visiting. There are the Adelie and Chinstrap penguins (it’s pretty obvious why the Chinstrap is so named):

Those two are not very common. The most common one, and by far my favorite, is the Gentoo penguin:

Anyway, our first landing of the day was at the Hydrurga Rocks, a small landing at the entrance of the Gerlache Strait. We got to see both Adelie and Chinstrap penguins here. Our second landing was at the Mikkleson Harbor, which is a small bay in the southern side of Trinity Island. There are lots of Gentoos here, and sadly, this will be the last time we’ll see them on this trip. These penguins were so entertaining to watch and were definitely the highlight of my trip. Goodbye friends.

They didn’t even bother looking for the photo.

In other news, I’m getting a litle tired of the cold. The daytime temperatures aren’t too extreme (typically right around 0 degrees C) but with the wind chill it’s much worse. Although, being an American might be making me a wimp. I was talking with a Russian guy here on a particularly snowy and freezing day, commenting how cold it was. He replied “Dees? Dees is warm. I veel go for walk now without hat.”

Day 8

Time for our cruise to start returning back to South America. First, though, we stopped by Deception Island, which is the top of an old volcano that filled with water. But because waters were choppy, we moved to Half Moon Island for our final landing of the trip. We saw more ice, water, penguins, and seals…but more importantly we did this:

The water was 1 degree C.

Remember all those gifts we received earlier this trip — the calm Drake Lake, our beautiful sunny first day, all the great whale sightings? Well it’s now time for payback. Forecasts call for very windy conditions through the Drake Passage, and thus very choppy waters. Upon hearing this, many passengers freaked out and got quite dramatic.

A few of us, however, put a more positive spin on it … because when life gives you lemons, you make the lemons vomit. We started a bet where you chip in one dollar, don’t take any seasickness pills, and the person who didn’t vomit at the end of the trip won all the money. I got permission from the captain and announced it on the overhead PA system. People loved the idea, and about 25 joined. I even made a big sign for our lounge room, with people crossing off their names as they dropped out. Guess who was the first one out, just ten minutes into the game?

Turns out I get seasick!

Day 9

Waters: Choppy
Morale: Medium

Things aren’t looking good, peoples.

Large waves (8 meters high) are thrashing this boat every few seconds.

It’s an effort just sitting upright. Walking and eating are even harder. Few people are showing up for meals, and sick bags are being used up all around the boat.

And yup, people are dropping out of the Great Drake Challenge.

Day 10

Last night was the worst night of sleep this entire trip for everybody. We were all thrown around like rag dolls. Thankfully we had railings on the side of our bed, otherwise everyone would have ended up on the floor.

They say we should be out of the Drake Passage later today.

That’s good because morale is dropping quickly.

Day 11

“An Antarctic expedition is the worst way to have the best time of your life.”

We are back in South America, safe and sound.

This experience has been one of a kind. Getting there is no small feat, the weather is oftentimes unbearable, and many places are simply dangerous … but once you’re there, you’ll be rewarded with sights and animals and scenery you won’t find anywhere else on earth. Anyone with an interest in travel, photography, or cold weather should seriously consider doing this trip once in their life. It is worth every minute and every penny to earn this passport stamp:

Thanks for following along, everyone!

Post-Antarctica Thoughts

February 1, 2012 by admin·0 Comment

Antarctica advice

It is certainly not cheap to visit this continent, and people should expect to pay at least a few thousand US dollars for the cruise alone, in addition to any airfare getting to/from Ushuaia, Argentina.

However, I quickly discovered from other passengers that cruise prices can vary dramatically. I paid slightly over $6000, while I met many who paid closer to $4000. My booking company, Polar Cruises, was a great company with excellent customer service (especially when our original cruise was cancelled), but I would encourage people to look around for the best prices.

But the best advice I learned is that for the lowest prices, be flexible. Because of work obligations, my travel dates were essentially fixed. If you do have flexibility — meaning you have a few days or weeks of wiggle room — fly to Ushuaia and look for deals there. There are great deals to be found at the countless travel agencies there, especially on last-minute deals. And there are lots of these deals. Most of those tickets were between $3000-$4000. Not bad.

Travel Insurance

Get it. After my cruise was cancelled, I was lucky that the replacement cruise had almost the same dates as my original one. But they were still off by two days, and so I had to book a few new flights. Not having bought travel insurance, I had to eat the cost myself. Luckily again, these new tickets cost me only $300, but some people had to pay as high as $2000 for changing around their (international) flights.

There is much uncertainty with trips like this that deal with very harsh weather conditions, so play it safe and purchase travel insurance.

Anti-American sentiment

People really have a dim view of the US. While most non-American travellers are very polite and do like the American people, they think we know nothing about the world or its geography. OK fine, they may be right, but still.

Case in point, there was a really annoying Scottish passenger on the ship who only talked to me about how obnoxious and narrow-minded Americans are. At one point she was squawking about how I probably thought no country in South America was important. I replied “South America?? I thought we were in Mexico.” Finally … I then got some silence out of her.

…

OK people, until next time, goodbye.

ACC Chicago 2012

March 24, 2012 by admin·0 Comment

Your boy is back in Chicago! Unlike the last time I was here, when my goal was to attend the AHA meeting and find the start of historic Route 66, the purpose of my trip this time is threefold, to: (1) attend the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), (2) formally accept my ACC/Merck award, and (3) be awesome. This is Chicago at night:

The moment I arrived I went to Topman, a cool British clothing store that only has stores in New York and Chicago. I have been waiting to buy myself a new suit, and I definitely did that. (Goal 3: check.)

Afterwards I went to a reception by the Merck Foundation that honored us four new awardees. It was a very enjoyable reception, and it was very flattering that they honored us with one. This board listed all current/previous awardees

And here I am:

There were lots of Merck and ACC bigwigs, and here we are with ACC president Jack Lewin.

Then we went to eat at the Publican. The array of lights on the ceiling looked really cool, even though this picture doesn’t do it justice.

Publican was a great gastropub that specializes in foods featuring pig or fish. We ate tasty cioppino, pork belly, and porchetta (not sure what that was, but it sure tasted good.)

The next morning, Sunday, I woke up early to attend the Late Breaking Clinical Trials session. I watched a stimulating talk on the use of rivaroxaban for treating PEs as well as the 2-year outcomes of the PARTNER trial. So stimulating I fell asleep a few times. (Goal 1: check.)

Poster time. The abstract I submitted for this conference is just a teaser of the big news that we’ll unleash in May at Heart Rhythm Society. But here I am with Dr. Narayan, trying to change the world … one rotor at a time.

I snuck away at lunch time to try the deep dish pizza that Chicago is so known for. We ended up at Gino’s East and shared this awesome (and huge) pizza.

And finally, on Monday night, came time for the Convocation Ceremony. This is where we would formally be acknowledged for our award. It was a very grand ceremony in the main tent, where all the current and former ACC leadership were present. Everyone, including us, were dressed up in graduation gowns, and we got to sit on the front stage looking out at the crowd. When the ceremony began, the lights dimmed, weird music played, and someone dressed in funny clothes presented the ACC president with a weird sceptor/rod. It was a little weird initially, but the rest was fine. (Goal 2: check.)

Overall, a great trip.

Introducing Australia

October 10, 2012 by admin·0 Comment

Welcome back! It’s time for another trip, and this time I will be going to Australia. This will be a special trip as it will mean I have visited all seven continents. But more on that when (if?) I make it through that 15-hour flight.

This won’t be a very long trip but still promises to be exciting. We fly into Sydney and spend a few days there, where I hope to explore the city and hopefully reunite with a few friends from my recent Antarctica trip. From there we head north to the city of Cairns to get on a boat for a 3-day liveaboard diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef — this should be the highlight of the trip. We then backtrack, making our way back through Cairns and Sydney.

I will be traveling this time with Shiho, who is the sister of a friend I met in Antarctica (see, traveling does bring people together!) She just completed her PhD and so this is a celebratory trip for her before she goes off to bigger and better things.

Finally, I got a new toy for this trip…the GoPro video camera. This rugged little bad boy has become extremely popular with adventurers who want to videotape themselves surfing, biking, motorcycling, and snowboarding. I’m excited because I bought a specialized dive housing so I can bring it with me underwater when I dive the barrier reef. I’m more excited because I can then consider myself an “adventurer”.

That’s it…see you on the other side.

Travel Journal: Sydney

October 13, 2012 by admin·2 Comments

G’day from down under!

Seven!
I’ve done it…I have now stepped foot onto all 7 continents. This is an exciting day and a few years ago I never thought I’d be able to do it. What did I do upon reaching this new country? I got a drink at Starbucks, bought something at the Apple store, and withdrew money from a Citibank.

Here I am in front of the well known Sydney Opera house.

Medical emergency at 30000 feet
Excitement, peoples! About thee hours into my Sydney flight as I was half asleep, I was woken up by the overhead speakers which were announcing that there was a passenger in need of medical attention and asked if anyone with medical training could come help out. I jumped up with excitement and walked quickly to the rear of the plane since it wasn’t too far from where I was sitting, hoping it was something legitimate (unlike a few bogus ones I’ve been involved with in the past.)

The small crowd of flight attendants told me a lady had just passed out. Nice…finally something right up my alley. I saw the woman and asked her a few questions but she didn’t respond. Not good. I gave her a mild sternal rub and she barely opened here eyes. Even less good. I then sat down and tried to feel her pulse, and was having a hard time feeling it. At this point a bunch of other passengers lined up behind me saying “I’m a doctor I’m a doctor, I can help”. Sorry suckers, Dr. Amir got here first.

I finally felt a pulse but it was very slow, so we laid her down on the row of seats. After about ten minutes of taking her vitals, getting more information from her husband, and then re-evaluating her, it became pretty clear she had had a vasovagal episode (a simple faint). She soon felt better and all appeared well, so I started walking back…but not before the flight attendants wanted my name so they could give me something. I refused multiple times but they wouldn’t accept that, and in the end I got a generous voucher for future travel. Mid-air excitement, a generous airline, and one happy customer/passenger…not bad.

Antarctic reunion
I met some great people one year ago on my trip to Antarctica, and interestingly most of them live in Australia. We met up with them for a great mini reunion, reminiscing both on the better parts of the trip as well as people we all found annoying.

From left to right: Kelvin, me, Mayumi Jr. (aka Shiho), Grant, and Nisha.

We were having a drink at the Altitude Restaurant, a bar on the 36th floor of the Shangri La building. It was sunset and there a great view of the Opera House.

In other news, my iPad does a terrible job of downsizing photos, which is why they’re blurry.

Travel Journal: Cairns

October 16, 2012 by admin·1 Comment

It seems most countries have a coat of arms, usually with animals or shapes or other weird imagery that have alleged historical significance. Anyway, when most people visit a new country, they respect that coat of arms…me, however, I eat their coat of arms.

(Kangaroo on the left, emu on the right.)

Australia is home to many animals not seen in the US, and Cairns has several restaurants that serve their meat. So our first order of business in this city was to find a place serving such modern Australian cuisine, which brought us to the elegant Ochre Restaurant. Here we ate kangaroo, emu, and then crocodile to finish it off.

From L to R: sampler plate with thinly-sliced raw emu (bottom right of plate), spicy peppered crocodile with prawns, and kangaroo sirloins with bok choy.

How was it? Kangaroo meat was almost indistinguishable from beef. Emu, on the other hand, was a very lean red meat with a gamey taste, which seemed pretty unusual for a bird. And crocodile tasted just like a thick, chewy white fish. Everything tasted great, and I’d definitely come back for the crocodile. The most surprising learning point of the evening? Learning that the emu is not like a cow (what I originally thought), but rather a bird.

Travel Journal: Great Barrier Reef

October 18, 2012 by admin·0 Comment

This entire trip was built around diving the Great Barrier Reef and that time has come. Early Tuesday morning we boarded a boat for the Reef where we would stay at sea for two nights and three days doing almost nothing but diving.

Getting there was easier said than done. For the first 15 minutes, the captain of the ship navigated us adeptly through the port. He then fled, and from that point on Windows 98 drove us to our destination thirty miles away into the South Pacific…and she drives terribly. Autopilot plus choppy waters equals one miserable boat ride. This was even worse than the Drake Passage! Everyone looked ill, and your loyal host didn’t do too well either. Raisin Bran tastes good going down the mouth…not out the nose. (Latest scoreboard: Ocean 2, Amir 0).

Once we arrived it was amazing. At our first dive site we learned there is a big chunky wrasse who hangs out around the boat waiting for divers to come play with him. They named him Wally and he is particularly fond of having his lips rubbed. Here I am wrestling with Wally.

And here he is looking sideways at Shiho, who is looking the same way right back at him.

Of course you can’t dive the Barrier Reef without trying to find Nemo or his relatives. What do you know…I found him.

The Reef is the well-known home of many fish and coral, and it was really impressive to see it first hand. Unfortunately my camera couldn’t get a good photo of them (definitely the camera’s fault) although my videos turned out much better, so I’ll be putting those together when I return home. Here is a small school of fish.

But without a doubt, the most memorable dive of the trip was my night dive. I’ve always shied away from diving at nighttime mostly be I was too scared but also because I didn’t think there’d be anything interesting to see at night. Most importantly I’m way too afraid of sharks, which come out at night just to eat people. But I finally gathered enough courage and decided to do it…although that was before I saw this:

What you see is a view from the back of the boat, with tons of fish and sharks circling around. The boat’s lights attract the fish, which attract the sharks. And I had to jump into that.

But I did and it was amazing. The moment I started my descent and turned on my flashlight, the very first thing I lit up was a pair of green eyes, of a shark. Of course. If I hadn’t just gone to the bathroom I would have completely soiled my wetsuit.

The rest of the dive went perfectly, and I saw lots of interesting sea life unique to nighttime. And, I didn’t get attacked by a shark! It actually turns out they don’t attack unprovoked, although I still believe what I heard a few years ago which is that sharks leave us alone because they’re afraid of bubbles. That’s the truth and I’m sticking to it.

Travel Journal: Sydney 2

October 19, 2012 by admin·0 Comment

Back from the reef, safe and sound and sickness-free. (I prepared for the return boat ride best I could by taking a bunch of phenergan, fasting for three hours beforehand, and then staying horizontal the entire ride back…there’s no way Mother Nature was gonna squeeze anything out of me!). Time now to learn about Sydney.

Bridge climb
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a beautiful steel arch bridge that spans the Sydney Harbour and is almost as well known as the Opera House; the two are often in the same photo especially for firewourks (in other news, I now use British spelling).

You can legally climb the arch by by starting at the southern end and walking your way up to the top, after a 134 meter (440 feet) vertical rise. This 3 1/2 hour event starts with a breathalyzer test to make sure you’re sober, walking through a metal detector, putting on a one piece jumpsuit, and finally strapping yourself with a cable to the bridge…and then up you climb! It was definitely scary other way up but you get accustomed to it pretty quickly. Here we are near the top, with Shiho flashing the scuba “ok” sign and yours truly showing you where the Opera House is. I think I look good in a jumpsuit.

Sydney Fish Market
This huge fish market ships over 15 million kilos of seafood a year, and is the second largest fish market in the world, after the one in Tokyo. There is an incredible array of very fresh seafood here, and you can simply point to anything you see and it’ll be prepared for you.

After exploring awhile, we relaxed from our morning bridge climb by having a freshly prepared salmon roll and local beer.

Night Noodle Market
We were lucky enough to catch the Sydney International Food Festival that took place most of this month. Its last night was tonight and the theme was a night noodle market. Hyde Park was filled with stand after stand of Asian restaurants serving up tasty food long into the night. And, we got admission to the VIP area, simply by saying we were Citibank customers…are we or aren’t we? I guess they’ll never find out.

Great Barrier Reef Video

October 21, 2012 by admin·0 Comment

This short film features the highlights of my 9 dives, filmed with a GoPro Hero2 camera and edited with iMovie for the iPad. It was so easy to use that I was able to do all this on my flight back home; the downside is that I was forced to use that dopey theme and music.

Introducing Japan (and South Korea)

March 14, 2013 by admin·2 Comments

Welcome back. It’s that time of year again, and this year’s journey will take us to Japan, with a quick hop to South Korea.

My motivation for this trip is worth discussing. My original plan actually involved going to Africa for wildlife and safaris, but around Christmas time I watched a movie called “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” and immediately my plans changed. The movie documents the life of Jiro, a Japanese chef who’s considered to be the best sushi chef in Japan. He is an 80-something year man who has been working since he was 9, who only takes off work for national holidays (or when he had a heart attack), and who, despite already being known as the best, just wants to “make better sushi”. His commitment to constantly improving himself, despite already being the world’s best, was truly inspiring.

And there began my interest in Japan. What better way to combine traveling and food than to visit Tokyo to taste the world’s greatest sushi? Time was of the essence, though, since Jiro is in his mid 80s after all, and the poor man might not be around much longer to make this legendary sushi.

Easier said than done. Reservations are required months in advance, only via phones from local Japanese numbers. No long distance phone calls allowed here, especially since no one speaks English there. I had my friend Hiro ask his sister living in Tokyo to try to get me a seat at this tiny 10-seat restaurant, and after several days of calling she finally succeeded: lunch, on a random Monday. April Fools’s Day, no less.

Preparations 1
It’s hard to travel when you don’t know the local time. I’ve long wanted a Casio G-Shock and so I finally bought this fancy one from their Aviation series.

Two things: 1) my arm may provide clues as to the missing link between apes and humans, and 2) I have no clue how to set the time on this thing. It was noon when I took that photo.

Preparations 2
In anticipation of dining at Sushi Jiro, which will likely require being comfortable with a pair of chopsticks, I bought some and have been practicing with them for the last month. The last thing I need is to drop pieces of sushi in front of the legendary Jiro. So I started by practicing with the foods I’d most likely encounter frequently in Japan:

But to improve my skills, I also tried eating trickier foods:

Finally, to get to the advanced level, I incorporated chopsticks into my daily life:

Will all this training be worth it? Will Jiro’s sushi live up to its hype? Who knows…but as always, dear readers, I will keep you updated in real-time. Stay tuned.

Travel Journal: Tokyo

March 27, 2013 by admin·3 Comments

Konichiwa from Tokyo! I arrived here safely and effortlessly, and finally got to fly aboard the monstrous Airbus A380, the jumbo airplane with two levels of seating. The exciting news is that I was seated on the upper deck; the less exciting news is that I was in the last row, right next to the toilet. It was not quiet. And for in-flight entertainment I had hundreds of movies to choose from, but for some reason I chose a bad one called Pitch Perfect, which was like 2 hours of Glee meets Bring It On. I can’t believe I watched it. Actually, I can’t believe I watched it three times.

The Tokyo airport, as expected, was very clean and efficient. Even passing though Customs was a breeze…although I found it odd that they asked if I was traveling with any swords.

Ramen
While sushi is the main purpose of my trip, a close second is eating ramen. Ramen dishes are big bowls of thin noodles in hot broth, and Tokyo is filled with delicious ramen houses. Most of them are very casual places with a single counter filled with people hunched over their bowls, slurping away. There is usually a long line of people waiting to get inside. It’s both a tasty meal and a fun experience.

And this is what we ate for our first meal. More importantly, it was finally time to put all my weeks of chopsticks training to use. I reached down to gently lift the chopsticks off their holder…and everything fell. Off the table. With a loud and embarrassing crash. It was literally the first moment I touched a pair of chopsticks in Japan, and of course I made a scene. I disgraced myself, the restaurant, and the chef I’m sure. And knowing how tradition-rich this culture is, I probably offended somebody’s ancestors too. Strong work.

(I’m not begging for food…I’m just reaching for my bowl!)

Cherry Blossoms
Springtime in Japan is when the famous cherry blossoms bloom. Hundreds of cherry trees open up their flowers for only one or two weeks, and they draw out all the locals. We got extremely lucky and visited at the perfect time to view the sakura (cherry blossoms). We were also very lucky because our local friend, Yukiko, took us to one of the best spots to view them. Here we are at the Chidorigafuchi walk near the imperial palace, where people can take small boats onto the moat that surrounds the palace.

Tsukiji Fish Market
On my last trip to Sydney, Australia I visited the second largest fish market in the world. Not to be outdone (by myself), this morning we visited the largest fish market in the world, the Tsukiji fish market. This place was the mother of all markets…it was huge. If it lives in the ocean, it’s probably sold here.

But by far the most exciting part of the visit was the infamous tuna auction, where at 5am every morning all the latest catch are auctioned off to middlemen (who then sell to other retailers). Their visitor’s office opens at 430am and they only allow two groups of 60 each to view the auction. We woke up at 330am and arrived there promptly at 4am…and still only made it into the second group. It was a loud, crazy, and definitely unique experience.

After seeing the auction and exploring the market, we went to one of the sushi restaurants just a few steps away and ate what was may have the freshest sushi anywhere in the world. While the long line for sushi at 7am was a little unusual, the quality of fish was worth it.

—–
In other news, apparently Japan loves bidets. I, however, do not. Last time I encountered them (in Iran) bidets were a separate unit so their use was optional. But here they’re built-in and therefore must be used…no way around it. So my plan is to avoid using a toilet altogether, for the entire trip. I’ll just hold it in. I can do it.

Travel Journal: Kyoto

March 31, 2013 by admin·4 Comments

Trains
I don’t have strong opinions on most things in this world. For example, politics. Don’t care much. Sports. Eh. Human interaction. Take it or leave it.

But trains? I love me some trains. Whether it’s because they’re a rarity in the US, or such an easy way to travel long distances, or the clickity-clack of the wheels are relaxing, trains are my favorite mode of transportation.

Japan has no shortage of trains between their expansive metro, railway system, and most famously, their bullet train (or, Shinkansen). Their speediest car is the Nozomi 700. These odd-looking yet slender bad boys run surprisingly silently at speeds approaching 275 mph and yet you barely feel any movement. (Yes, physics geeks, at constant speed it’s impossible to feel anything; but even when speeding up/slowing down, this train feels remarkably motionless.)

We took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto for the weekend, and for the entire 2-hour journey I was like a kid in a candy store. (A candy store that smelled like seaweed and fish, mind you.)

Just call me Sheldon.

Traditional Japan
Kyoto is the city to visit for a glimpse of ancient Japan. As the former capital, Kyoto is likely what people imagine when they think of the cultural side of this country, and it is filled with ancient temples and shrines and beautiful gardens. This city is also the perfect place to get a taste of how Japanese people used to live, by staying in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn.

Here, everything is taken care of for you by people waiting on your every need. You simply lounge around in robes and drink tea, sleep on tatami mats, and enjoy hot spring baths (public though, where no underwear was allowed…ok, so only private baths for me then.)

Most impressively, you are treated to elegant Japanese haute cuisine (kaiseki) for dinner. However, what is haute cuisine for some is unusual cuisine for others. Colorful and perfectly prepared as each dish was of this 10-course meal, it appeared they were made only with raw fish parts. Each time a course was placed in front of us, we eagerly opened the little box hoping to find something familiar, but it never happened. Just cold, raw, unidentifiable pieces of something squishy that was just snatched from the ocean. Some were so fresh that a skilled veterinarian could have probably revived them. It was a very beautiful-looking and masterfully-prepared meal…but unfortunately, for us, not a tasty one.

Temple of 1000 Gates
We took a day hike at Fushimi Inari, one of the most popular shrines in Japan where the 4 km path up a mountainous forest was lined with thousands of bright red gates.

Geisha
Kyoto is home to Japan’s famous entertainment and geisha district. Before this trip I really had no idea what a geisha was…I just thought they were Japanese women who put on lots of makeup, wear kimonos, and write memoirs. I now finally learned who they really are.

First of all, they are not prostitutes. And they don’t sleep with their customers (a shame, because that immediately ruined many of my plans.) They are well-trained and very talented entertainers who liven up social situations. They dance, play games, offer witty conversation, and are skilled at playing Japanese musical instruments. Also, it takes years of training to become one.

Gion is the geisha district in Kyoto where they can often be spotted in the evenings walking on the streets, usually to or from an event. Tourists often hang out in this district at night trying to spot geishas, and we too went geisha hunting while we were here. One night we saw a taxi filled with them, their distinct hair style visible in the back seats. The second night we saw two young ones walking around, but they were probably maiko, geisha in training. We also went to a traditional dance performance, but were fooled…instead of a geisha we got a maiko.

I don’t know what was on her mind, but she sure looked angry the entire time. (Maybe she saw me accidentally (sort of) push over a large Eastern European woman so I could get myself a good seat. Oops.)

Travel Journal: Tokyo 2

April 5, 2013 by admin·2 Comments

Sushi Jiro
The time has come to eat at the famous Sukiyabashi Jiro, or more commonly, Sushi Jiro. Not only was the reservation hard to get, so was finding the restaurant. As usual in this city, locating the restaurant was a painful struggle…we rode the metro, went up skyscrapers, crossed overpasses, and asked directions multiple times, but we finally found the nearly unmarked restaurant. Unfortunately Jiro himself wasn’t there that day, but his son, who I immediately recognized from the movie, was. Close enough.

Inside the restaurant was very quiet but surprisingly the mood was relaxed. We were shown to our seats at the short counter, behind which stood Jiro, Jr. and his one helper, both busy toiling away in silence.

After months of anticipation I was finally here…and super nervous. But a few shots of sake later I was warmed up and ready for the show. Over the next hour and a half they proceeded to bring out piece after piece of meticulously prepared seafood. Fish comprised only about half the menu; the rest was other sea life such as scallops, octopus, eel, and clam. The sushi was…amazing. Fish were sliced just right, perfectly seasoned, tender, and without any tough bits. The rice was perfectly cooked and formed, dense enough to hold its shape but still light. Every piece was fresh and brightly colored and appetizing. Every piece also exceeded my expectations.

Equally impressive as the food was the impeccable service. We were watched the entire time, in front by Jiro, Jr. and helper, and from the back by the hostess. There was never a need to ask for anything, as they anticipated or knew our every need. If sauce spilled or sake was empty, they would quickly and quietly swoop in and take care of it without being asked. At one point my iPhone dropped to the floor and the hostess immediately rushed to pick it up…unfortunately, that delayed her a few seconds from seeing new customers at the door, which earned her a mouthful of scolding from the boss.

The only imperfection lay with one small component of the menu. I enjoyed every piece of sushi put in front of me except for one: sea urchin, or uni. Pictured below (bottom right), this squishy yellow blob had the consistency of curdled milk and the taste of fish guts. I faced the wall and spent several minutes chewing in silence, since I dared not look over at Jiro (who would have thrown me out) or my brother (who would have made me laugh and spit it up). In the end I finally swallowed but not without a few suppressed gag reflexes. I’m sure the urchin was of the highest quality and that it couldn’t have been better prepared, but even Jiro can’t make this disgusting sea creature taste good.

(The one other flaw was two guys sitting next to us who were brown-nosing Jiro the entire time. Back home I’d call them douchebags. Here in Tokyo…well, they’re still douchebags.)

Finally, my chopstick skills? On the ball. At one point I performed an elaborate move bringing a shrimp to my mouth then gracefully tearing off its tail right at the moment I put it in my mouth. Forget Jiro, they should make a documentary about me. (Just kidding Jiro, please let me eat there again.)

This was an amazing meal and experience, and worth all the hassle and effort (and money) to make it reality. Hopefully I’ll be back again in the future.

Ramen
While Japan’s sushi has been great, the dish that’s really surprised me here is ramen. Little did I expect these seemingly simple bowls of thin noodles to be so tasty and addictive. As I often do while traveling, I eat four meals a day. However, unlike other trips where this extra meal occurs spontaneously when I’d see an appetizing dish as I roam the streets, here I actively schedule an afternoon ramen into my daily meal plan. And I can’t wait long either…after lunch #1, I can only last about 30 minutes before I’m hunting for lunch #2.

After sampling multiple ramen houses, my favorite quickly became one named Ichiran. This chain has a unique feature whereby their counter is filled with vertical dividers separating every customer. Their intent is for you to focus on your food…and only on your food. Such solitary eating is certainly unusual, especially for Americans. Focus you will do, but it’s very anti-social. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t know why I’m complaining. (Which also makes me think, perhaps I finally should join Facebook…after all, I support anything that reduces human contact!)

The Ichiran experience starts with you paying for your meal beforehand at a machine, then specifying various aspects of your ramen (e.g. broth richness, noodle tenderness, spiciness, etc.), taking a seat in your stall, and then awaiting your bowl of personalized noodles to slurp.

Yes, your boy can read Japanese. Just kidding. I’ve eaten here so much that I’ve memorized the words on that card.

Hakone
We took a day trip to Hakone, a small city in the beautiful mountainside just outside of Tokyo. The region is filled with domestic and international visitors who want to escape bustling city life and enjoy one of the many hot springs there. Mt. Fuji is also visible in the distance, although we didn’t have time for it as our train was stuck for an extra hour because someone jumped onto the tracks (leave it to one person to ruin it for everyone.) But we did enjoy a nice meal…and, awkward as it was, we took a short dip in the hot springs. Unfortunately I was forced to abide by their rules, which meant no underwear while in the water.

So basically, I travelled four hours to eat a bowl of noodles and sit naked with some men.

Travel Journal: Seoul

April 6, 2013 by admin·1 Comment

Welcome to Korea. It is dark and bleak today, as it is everyday. The entire country is shrouded by the blanket of harsh communist rule, where the government seizes your possessions and kills the Internet. Winter is cold and lasts all year long. The sky is grey but so is everyone’s clothes. The air is smoggy, and it smells of oppression and old potatoes. People never smile; they just wait in line for days to get a loaf of stale bread. And all meals taste like boiled cabbage. In the distance you hear someone dying.

Wait, that’s North Korea. I’m in South Korea…and having a great time! I’m sitting here in a restaurant, half-drunk on something called makgeolli, watching porn on my Samsung Galaxy phone. (Totally kidding about that last one. Everyone knows I only buy Apple products.)

Seoul is an extremely modern and hi-tech city, even more so than Tokyo. From its airport to subway system to taxis, everything here is computerized and extremely easy to use. (But really, the technology of both cities is streets ahead of the USA.)

Palaces
Seoul has many very old palaces but all were burned down by the Japanese during the invasion several centuries ago, so everything was recently rebuilt. Their most well-known one is Gwanghwamun, where they have a changing of the guards every hour. Pssht, I could do their job.

Tea, Gangnam Style
Apparently last year, a chubby young Korean guy made a song video about a neighborhood called Gangnam and put it on the international worldwide webs, and then lots of people watched it. I decided to check out this upscale neighborhood. There were plenty of elegant high rises but nothing overly flashy. I had me some fancy tea at the top of the Park Hyatt Seoul and got a nice view of the area.

And in case you’re wondering, no I never saw Psy.

Travel Journal: DMZ

April 7, 2013 by admin·1 Comment

Sit back, relax, and read about the wildest part of my trip. You’ll learn some fascinating history too.

The demilitarized zone refers to the border between North and South Korea. When the Korea War ended in 1953, an agreement between North Korea and the UN created a buffer zone around the border between the North and South. This buffer extends 2km north of the line and 2km south of the line, and is known as the demilitarized zone, or DMZ. Thus, the DMZ is a 4km-wide strip of land along the entire length of the border that was set up to prevent the two sides from directly interacting with one another, possible causing them to enter into war again.

Despite the fact that it’s “demilitarized”, the military at the edges makes the DMZ the most heavily militarized border in the world.

I went on a tour of the DMZ, offered by the local USO, which is based at Camp Kim here in Seoul. Our tour was given in part by civilian South Korean tour guides and also active-duty US Army military police. Per their very strict dress code, I wore the blandest most boring clothes I had; didn’t want Kim Jung Un getting jealous of my style and overreacting.

The ~40 of us were taken by bus to Camp Bonifas, a base near the DMZ run by American, South Korean, and UN military. There we were met by the US Army who gave us an overview of the area and then made us sign our life away with paperwork. Pretty much, it said we could die…and they wouldn’t care. They gave us an excellent slideshow overview of the area, and we also learned some of the region’s history, including notable areas with charming names such as Freedom Village, Propaganda Village, the Bridge of No Return, and the Point of Axe Murder (details below.) Then we got to visit it all.

Joint Security Area
From there, a bus took us into the Joint Security Area (JSA, on map below), a very small section of land that actually straddles the border (aka the Military Demarcation Line), where North and South Korea each have a few buildings.

Here, at the section of the border inside the JSA, the North and South Korean military stand…each side constantly facing their enemy every minute of the day. Blue buildings belong to the South, and grey the North. The South Korean soldiers stand half-shielded by buildings, just in case. This photo, and all photos inside the JSA, are looking north, as we weren’t allowed to take pictures behind us of the south. We were also told very explicitly when we could and could not take photos.

Me in the front, decades of hostility and tension in the back. In all seriousness it was very tense here. We were under constant watch by the North Korean soldiers, and weren’t allowed to point, gesture, or wave to them as any such act might have been construed as hostile, or possibly even used later as propaganda.

The blue building partially covered by my head is the UN Command Conference Room, and this building itself straddles the border too. Since 1953 this is where both sides come for face to face negotiations. Let’s go inside.

There are two soldiers in there, one to the left of the table with flag and one at the opposite end of the room (not visible in the photo). They are always standing in that tae kwon do stance. Interestingly, that table with the flag also sits on top of the border…so I took this photo standing in the South, but at the far end of the room lies North Korea.

Here I am in South Korea. Look at the bad-ass. And look at the soldier.

And here I am in North Korea. (Two-thirds of the Axis of Evil in attendance!)

At first I thought the soldiers were called “rock” soldiers because of their statuesque like pose, but then I realized it’s actually ROK soldier…for Republic of Korea. Also if you got too close to them, they would move you.

Freedom Village and Propaganda Village
We left the JSA and went to an outdoor area for the view. You can see a small blue building near a bridge, a tall pole (to our right) and a taller pole in the distance (left). The closer pole is a South Korean flagpole, at 100m high. Not to be outdone, the North then built their own taller flagpole, at 160m; at the time, it was the tallest flagpole in the world but now it’s only the third tallest. Its flag alone weighs 600 pounds.

At the base of the South Korean flagpole is Freedom Village, one of two villages in the DMZ. At the base of the North’s flagpole is Propaganda Village, as loud announcements used to constantly play praising Kim Jong Il. Nobody ever listened so they ended up taking down the speakers and replacing them with cameras that keep an eye on the South.

Bridge of No Return
There is a bridge near that small blue building. At one point the UN released their 82,000 POWs and North Korea/China released their 13,000 POWs near the bridge, and they could cross to the country of their choosing. The only restriction was that once they crossed, they could never return to the other side.

Axe Murder Incident
The blue building above, Checkpoint 3, used to have a large poplar tree next to it (look very closely at the picture above, just to the left of the leftmost dark tree, where a small statue marks where the tree used to be.) Here is that statue up close today.

That poplar tree prevented the soldiers at neighboring Checkpoint 4 to keep an eye on their buddies, so one day in 1976 they went to chop it down with axes. The North didn’t like that and ambushed them as they chopped away. The North greatly outnumbered them and brutally killed many of the South using those same axes.

Dorason Station
In what ended up being a surprisingly interesting end to the tour, we were taken to Dorason station, a train station that was built and completed in 2002 with hopes that it would connect to the trans-European and trans-Siberian railroads. Then-president Bush was present on opening day. The railway would need go through North Korea, but with poor relations between the countries this very modern station is not used at all.

—–
Our Army guides did say that during the last few weeks, there has been some irregular activity by the North within the DMZ. They have been doing unusual and new training exercises, and they’ve been firing their weapons more often (into where, though, I have no idea!)

Interestingly, back in Seoul, most people don’t seem to care about the recent increased rhetoric by the North….apparently they know it’s just that, rhetoric. Apparently some international news sources are having a hard time finding any South Koreans in a panic. I guess no good news story for CNN.

All in all, a very fascinating day.

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