Japanese baseball! Go Hiroshima Carp!

On my last day in Japan, we went to Hiroshima -- thinking we would explore the city and a park/garden we hadn't been to yet. But, as soon as we got off the bullet train, we guessed the Hiroshima Carp were in town playing at the local Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium. Yes, that's what the stadium is really called. The baseball jerseys were everywhere. So, we decided to check it out and see if we could score tickets. And, luckily, there were tickets available and we got to see a Japanese major league baseball game for the first time. A previously big TO DO on my list.

SO MUCH FUN. The Japanese only really cheer and get excited when their team is up to bat; otherwise they're quiet and let the opposing fans have their turn when the home team is out in the field. But wow, do the Japanese cheer. I mean, there's a unique cheer/song/dance routine/trumpet score for each player. We couldn't understand any of it, but it's just fun to get caught up in it. The beer girls have kegs for backpacks, every fan (and that meant us) had miniature bats and banged them together for the entire game, and the fans tried (unsuccessfully) to do the YMCA but managed (successfully) to simultaneously let off hundreds of phallic pink balloons in the seventh inning.

In the end, the Hiroshima Carp got crushed. Apparently, they're last in the division. Ah well.

Cherry Blossoms

April was Cherry Blossom season, which the Japanese celebrate by lots of outdoor drinking underneath the trees. No drinking pics here -- I was busy licking cherry blossom-flavored soft serve ice cream or eating octopus balls (the Japanese LOVE their soft serve ice cream, especially the green tea flavor).

A few generic pictures of me and cherry blossom trees just for the heck of it.

Guam

Activities done in Guam-
beach. snorkeling. waterslides. more beach. more waterslides. Guam beer. eating at outback steakhouse. even more beach. swimming away from triggerfish. watching Japanese people get married. dried mango.

Conversations had in Guam-
Person from Guam: Where are you from?

Me: New York

Person from Guam: Why did you come HERE?

Me: I was visiting Japan.

Person from Guam: Ahhh.

Apparently, Americans from the mainland do not visit often. Well, I'll say this -- for sheer beach value, water quality, and landscape, Tumon Bay in Guam rivals Waikiki in Honolulu.

Monkeys, Bamboo in Kyoto

The first weekend in my recent visit to Japan kicked off on a high note in the Arashiyama section of Kyoto. Free-roaming Japanese monkeys, bamboo, and geishas...all in their natural habitat. I'm nervous about photographing geishas -- afraid that their pimps will come after me and destroy my camera. Geisha-spotting in the Gion district at night while they're making house calls in neighborhoods that feel 500 years old is a great way to spend an evening. But, alas, I have no pics of this, so you'll have to settle for free-roaming monkeys and tall bamboo groves. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Bangkok Canals

A week before Christmas, we headed to Bangkok for 4 days. Michael wanted "Gold Status" on Star Alliance so we flew Thai Air, and 6,000 miles later, he gets priority check-in and free upgrades on any Star Alliance airline for the next year; while I'm slumming it with "Elite Silver." He's Jerry and I'm Elaine in that Seinfeld episode on a plane. Needless to say, getting gold (aka 50,000 miles in one year) is one of my New Year's resolutions.

We arrived in Bangkok and I got to revisit Thai boxing, mango sticky rice, reclining buddhas, Singha beer, and 90 degree sunshine. While NYC was shoveling out of a blizzard, we were poolside :)

The best part of my second visit to Bangkok was taking a private longboat ride in the canals around the city for the first time. The canal water is gross, but it was a nice escape from the craziness of the city streets. We met an old man selling beers, bread, flowers, and who-knows-what-else on his boat; $20 bucks later we floated away with a little bit of everything. When we tossed bread into the water, one million fish surfaced and fought to the death for a bite (well, maybe not a million- that's what it looked like).

The neighborhoods were practically underwater. Replace streets with rivers; swap bus stops for boat stops; remove sidewalks and add piers...and you have a suburban neighborhood in Bangkok.

The Hells of Beppu

One weekend we took the glorious bullet train ("shinkansen") and traveled 200 mph south to the small town of Beppu - famous for its hot springs.

Beppu has the largest volume of hot water in the world apart from Yellowstone in the US. Once we arrived, we got off the train and got on a local bus to go to the "nine hells of Beppu." The nine hells are nine boiling pools of different colored water and mud. As we approached the hells, you saw the hillside bathing in smoke. Pretty cool.

And in between hells, we saw a random hippo chewing on potatoes.

Lost in Translation

Signs that amused me.