I believe I left off at Guam. From Guam we transited over to Japan. Okinawa to be exact. Okinawa is an island, one of the southern most in Japan's chain of islands. It is very hot and humid there and is a very tropical place. The waters surrounding the island are beautiful and there is alot of sea life to be seen. We got a chance to go snorkeling one day and the water was awesome. We saw plenty of fish, jelly fish and snails. Evidentally most of what we saw can be potentially dangerous to humans, so we kept our hands off!
Japan is a very interesting place. There aren't really any convenience stores, but there are vending machines everywhere you go. You can buy sodas, juice, and coffee in just about every one of the million machines around town. The coffee comes in cans and can be purchased hot or cold. There are so many different variations of coffee that I don't think I tried them all. You can get regular black, cafe latte, espresso, etc. Needless to say, I drank my fair share of coffee! The juices were also pretty tasty. One of the juices shown in my pictures tastes just like skittles (just like you were drinking the whole bag!).
Okinawa had great Japanese food too, although they probably just refer to it as food.... We got sushi on a number of occasions. We went to one sushi place that had a big conveyor belt in the middle of the room. You just park yourself on a bench around the moving food and pick what you want! What more could a guy ask for. It really is a great system though. The plates are all color coded according to price and you simply stack them up as you finish. At the end of the meal a waiter comes and scans all the plates and gives you a ticket. I stuffed my face with like 8 plates of sushi and paid only like $20 US. What a steal! I will say that Olena (a female pilot on our det) housed like 12 plates.... Just saying... Okinawa also had an "American town" where we went a couple of times. They had some americanized places that you see in the US like Starbucks and Baskin Robbins. It seems that places like these are popular all over the world as I have seen them in a number of the countries we have been to. It is always nice to be able to grab a meal that reminds you of home. On Kadena Air Base, the Air Force base we worked out of, there was a Chilis, Burger King, Popeyes, Subway and a Taco Bell. That is pretty common in terms of American Bases around the world as well. Another thing about Okinawa / Japan. Evidentally there are these really poisonous snakes called Habu Vipers. I never saw any, which I am glad to say, but the Japanese will brew sake and then bottle it with a Habu snake inside and they call it Habu Sake. Sounds good right? I took a picture of Ben with it, so check it out. FYI, I didn't try any because it just looks nasty!
Some things in Japan are different, a big thing for me especially, was the driving. It is on the opposite side of the road as we Americans are used to. I constantly had to stop and think about what I was doing. Somebody told me, "big right, little left". That was probably the hardest thing to remember, well, that and not turning on your windshield wipers when you want to use your blinkers, haha. Did that a few times. But it really was a hard adaptation. Now that I am back in a place where we drive on the "right" (pun intended) side of the road, I had to adapt back. It was sort of weird, but it is nice and familiar! Talking about driving though, Japanese cars are all very small. They have these little Vans all over the place. They are so tiny that they don't look like you could fit much in them, but everybody drives them. There are also parking garages where your car is put on an elevator, taken up, and put into a little spot. It is like a little locker for your car. That is definitely something we don't have in the US. Another thing about the cars is that most of them are Toyotas, similar to the ones we have in the US, but not quite. Many of the Japanese toyotas resemble what would be Lexus in the US, but are called "Aristo". Some of the Toyotas they have, which have the Toyota emblem on them, are nicer than Lexus. Anyways, that is just something I thought was peculiar. I am thinking about calling Toyota so I can get to the bottom of this debacle.... I simply need to know, haha!
The Japanese people are very nice and accommodating and if they don't know what you are saying they just politely grin and nod. Most of the signs around town are translated into english, and many people speak english, but the barrier is still there. It really is quite hard to be somewhere where the letters look nothing like you are accustomed to. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, much of that is lost, but I can at least get by with the basics. When I look at Japanese writing I really couldn't be more lost. That might be something worth looking into... But I managed to get by with no big problems. Konichiwa!
That is about it for Japan. I really enjoyed it and it would be nice to go back sometime. I think I want to go to Tokyo though and see the big lights!
Now for the rest of the places listed in the title!
We got the pleasure of flying into several of southeastern Asia's countries: Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Singapore. Although we didn't spend anymore time there than taking off and landing (except Kuala Lumpur where we had a port visit), I did get to see some sights from the air. Jakarta looked the most "third world" although I am not sure that it is. It was very hazy there and I think it was due to pollution. The houses were all dilapidated and piled right on top of one another. That was near the airport, pretty much all that I saw, so maybe I missed some other nicer places. Singapore was pretty neat. It is a pristine country. You can get arrested if you spit on the street and chewing gum is pretty much illegal. They are very punctual people and were spot on (and sometimes sticklers) when we dealt with their air traffic controllers. In Singapore there are high rises as far as the eye can see and they all look new and organized. It was very impressive and hopefully I will get a chance to see more of it before I come home (but I am ready to come home!). Finally, we got a port visit into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I really didn't know what to expect from this place. Just the name itself seems like some far off distant land, something you only hear about, but it was really quite nice. The city is very modernized and hosts the largest twin towers in the world, the Petronas Towers. They are spectacular to see in person and a great sight to see at night. I didn't get a chance to go to the top, but there was a great shopping mall at the bottom with all sorts of familiar stores and restaurants. Honestly I didn't get to do a whole lot in Malaysia, which sort of stinks, because I had to go back and forth to the ship each day were were there to try and get my passport stamped (because I had to go in advance to our next det site). It really was a hassle because the ship was parked in port which was about an hours bus ride from the city itself. Needless to say, it hampered my visit, but I am glad to have gotten to see Malaysia. On a funny note though, Olena, the same girl who housed all that sushi back in Japan, was on a sight seeing trip out in a jungle and was bitten by a monkey.... I guess that really isn't funny, but she had these two mokey fang marks in her elbow. When she got back aboard the ship she had to start a series of Rabies shots just incase... She has gotten some nicknames around the ship like "monkey lunch" and "monkey bite". I think I am going to call her "frothie" just incase she caught rabies and starts foaming a the mouth.
Ok, I think that sums up the last 2 months of my life. Alot has transpired and I regret that I have not updated my blog sooner because I am sure that I have left something out. But I think you guys have the idea. So, until the next time, please enjoy the pictures that I have put on! Adios!
No comments:
Post a Comment