mukumama

It was April 28th a year ago that Yasuko and I left San Francisco and began our long journey.

Although we have not been moving around or updating in the last few months, the journey still continues. And in my mind I am often revisiting scenes from our European adventures, particularly with the friends we made in Spain.

We made a special little trip to commemorate the one year anniversary of leaving San Francisco, it was a very short trip, just 8 train stations and one transfer away, but a most important one. It is a special story, so indulge me and let me tell you about it later.

I think I am going to keep updating mukumama. In my heart, I am still travelling–still going. Nothing is settled, and each day as I walk to work or take a bus or a train, I still get the feeling that I may not come back… that I may just keep going. It is the spirit of possibility that I love about travel, and which I hope to preserve in my day to day life, when my travels are constant and short and repeated.

A week ago we made the final leg of our long trip.

We had been staying at yasuko’s mom’s place in northwest Tokyo since late summer. In September we travelled to Vietnam and Seoul. Arriving back in Tokyo in October, we spent the month relaxing and going to various events: a couple technology trade shows, conferences, some museums, etc. By the end of October, though, I knew I needed to get going on finding a job. We decided to try to stay in Tokyo for the moment.

I interviewed in November and finally found a company that I think is going to be a great fit. With the job lined up, it was time to go apartment hunting. Although we looked at several apartments, the place we wound up taking was the first apartment we looked at. Ten days after we first looked at the place, we signed papers and got the keys. And last Friday we left Yasuko’s mom’s place for the last time.

We took the train to Ikebukuro, transferred to the Yamanote line that encrcles Tokyo, and switched trains at Meguro. A couple stations later, we were in our new neighborhood.

The apartment was basically empty, but we were awaiting delivery of the basics: a refrigerator, a washing machine, a tv; the gas company guy came to turn on our service, and finally–a mattress.

The mattress didn’t get delivered until late; I was almost certain that I would be sleeping on the floor that night–but at 1030pm the doorbell rang and a wrapped mattress appeared at the door.  Just in time–we were exhausted.

In the past week, we’ve made multiple trips to IKEA, assembled furniture,  started stocking the basics: toilet paper, toothpaste, garbage bags, a couple mugs, chopsticks. Internet got installed a few days ago.
But that’s just settling in. I’ve got a place to sleep of my own, after selling my stuff and moving out of my apartment in SF last April. No more hostels or hotels, red eye flights or overnight trains for the near future.

I’ll miss traveling, especially the people I met. I will do more travelling again.

But for now, it feels great to finally arrive.

Back at home.

A new home, but home all the same.

We arrived in Seoul via the red-eye from Saigon, and we were very tired. We took the bus into town (1 hour) and checked into our hotel in the Shinchon district. I promptly fell asleep.

When we woke up we met our friend Annie, who I know from SF. It’s always great to see friends in a new place, and I was especially pleased to see Annie again. She’s fun, is a fantastic host and a great tour guide.

Annie took us out to dinner and drinks on the first night. Seoul was more interesting and comfortable at night–there’s a great energy to the city the flows when the neon comes on.

The next day we walked around a bit, to see my mom’s alma mater, which was nearby. In the evening Annie took us to the Han River for “a very Korean experience”. We strolled along the river for awhile until we found a little stand that sells beer and drinks and snacks, and then Annie got on the phone and ordered fried chicken, delivered to the riverside. Apparently in Seoul, they’ll deliver anywhere, so long as you describe where you are. That was a fun evening.

(again, I have a lot of video that is not yet processed… but here are some photos to tide you over.)

(Why the photo of the gold vinyl toilet seat? Because it reminds me of the decor of the Korean restaurants and homes of my youth. And, it was in the airport. After you travel through so many airports, you’re glad of something that lets you know exactly where you are.)

We flew to Nha Trang, a short 55 minute flight from HCMC, on Sunday to begin a week of sailing. We had chartered a yacht for a week from Sunsail, who had takened great care of us a couple years ago when I went to Koh Samui, Thailand. The base manager here, Morgan, had moved up from Thailand, so it felt very familiar. And Nathan, Akiko, Duane and myself were returning as crew members. This was Yasuko’s first boat trip.

The boat this time was a bit bigger than last, a 43 foot yacht. It was a big boat, lots of room and conveniences. Ensuite bathrooms! An oven, which we didn’t use. A grill, which we did. Two wheel wells, and a pretty well thought out layout. No complaints from me.

When you sail, you hope for good weather. This time, it was overcast, not much wind, and occasionally rainy. So we didn’t do a lot of actually sailing, but it was fun to be on the boat, your day made up of very simple decisions: is there wind? is there weather? where do we go? what do we eat?

The yacht tows a small dinghy with a 5hp motor, it’s useful for getting ashore. The beach at Nha Trang, our base, had a strangely steep dropoff, so getting ashore without grinding sand with the propeller was a bit tricky, especially when there were waves hitting the beach. I got soaked the first time, so thereafer I always wore swimming trunks when going ashore in Nha Trang–since I figured I’d always get wet.

Mid-week, we were up at the north end of the cruising area, at Whale Island. It was a beautiful spot, and we wound up staying there for a few days.

We had an accident midweek in the dinghy. Duane popped his shoulder out of socket while entering the dinghy from the water after snorkelling. Ouch. He needed to get this treated right away so the kind people at the resort helped us get him back to Nha Trang via a taxi that evening. In Nha Trang Morgan and Mr. An from Sunsail met us and took care of everything–we were fortunate to have them there. I went with him, so I got to see the hospital and the doctors. Just being in a Vietnamese hospital was pretty interesting. The doctors were busy that night, but D. had his x-rays within 10 minute of walking into the hospital. Anyways, after a wait to get the right size sling, D. went up onto a metal table, and they pulled his arm back into place. It looked painful, but he did get a local anesthetic before they started tugging.

Duane decided he would stay in Nha Trang at the hotel, as it would really be impossible to be functional on a swaying boat with his arm as tender as it was. I headed back up via a van to the boat the next morning. (He’s going to be fine, but have a lot of inconvenience and discomfort for a few weeks.)

Still, sailing is fun. I like waking up and jumping straight off the back of the boat to swim. I like eating on the boat, fruit and bread and cereal in the mornings. It’s very much bachelor style cooking: canned tuna, pasta, canned fruit, peanut butter, nutella, water, potato chips, crackers, cheese, cokes, beer. I like taking a shower in the rain. I like watching a big lightning storm. I like falling asleep tired.

Here are some more photos. Sorry that they are of not-great quality. This trip I got a waterproof video camera, so I took lots of (crappy) video and not so many photos.

Since I havent been writing lately, I figure I should at least gets some photos up.

We flew to Ho Chi Minh City on Sept 13th, where we stayed for a few days before meeting friends and flying to Nha Trang for a week on a sailboat.

I liked Saigon (the name HCMC is just slightly ridiculous). It was clean, cheap, and the vietnamese food was delicious. I had the weird experience of thinking… “this food tastes just as good as the vietnamese in San Francisco”.

More later. I thought I’d get some photos up for now, though. Enjoy.

A quick note.

Yes, I’m long overdue for a full update. But  quick note will have to do.

Since we arrived in Japan in late July, we have:

• been hanging out with friends in Tokyo
• gone to Osaka and Kobe for a few days to explore
• visited friends at their hometown in Gujo to join in on the folk dancing festival for the o-bon holiday
• sweated out the hot hot muggy summer in Tokyo
• watched a lot of the summer high school baseball tournament on TV.
• had a friend from SF visit in early September

Okay, and now we are heading to the airport, for a short Asian leg of the trip. We are going to Vietnam, staying a few days in Ho Chi Minh City, the to Nha Trang, for a week on a sailboat. Should be a lot of fun. On the way back to Japan, we will stop for a couple nights in Seoul to visit my friend Annie.

So, more updates when we get back, at the end of September. Keep those cards and letters coming.

August: Man, what a month.

August was the month we flew from Poland to St. Petersburg, toured the Hermitage, took a overnight train from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and took an amazing 12 day journey on the Trans-Siberian railway, stopping in Ekaterinaberg and Irktusk, sailed Lake Baikal, camped in a gert in Mongolia, and arrived in sweltering Beijing at the height of the summer and construction for next year’s Olympics.

Shared compartment, shared food: fish and vodka.

Mongolian Train - towards Ulaan-Baatar

Mongolian Girl and her brother.

Or, that was what was supposed to happen. But we never got train tickets in Moscow. We didn’t make our flight from Warsaw to St. Petersburg. We didn’t even make it to Poland. (Read on.)

Read more »

Posted by mobile phone:

cant sleep because of jet lag, so some snacking is in order.

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midnight snack

Posted by mobile phone:

this chain bakery is in many metro stations and sells mini croissants and little bites of pasteries for cheap.

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Budapest Princess bakeries