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...(long!) typed from written records...!
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March 30th - In Malaysian airport
Me and Yusuke woke up early, pulled sleep out of our eyes and forced ourselves to get on the train that would take us to the airport. Recently, I have lost all hope of being a morning person and so I was lost in a sleepy haze. We got through customs fairly quickly, and then up, up, up and away. Airplanes never stop feeling weird to me. Tons of people stuffed in a bottle thats hurtling through the air. We were flying on Malaysian Airlines, and I was surprised how nice they were to us. They had those TVs on the back of every seat, showing movies or allowing you to play Nintendo games. We tried to sleep while hung against the sky, but at least I had a hard time falling asleep... too many in flight snacks, and too many entertainment options. As we approached our first lay-over in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) I noticed several things. In the "arrival card" I wrote "Japan" in the "country of residence" box, which had some sort of effect on me, even more so because I am moving to Korea next year. After that, Yusuke opened the window shade and we could see the most beautiful cloud-forest I have ever seen. Huge, fluffy, columns, that somehow reminded me of exploding mushrooms. Our airplane slide slowly into this massive white forest, and any other words cant really explain the serenity of those moments. This serenity was separated by the quiet realization of flying into a new country when the co-pilot made an announcement, "I'd like to remind you that brining illegal substances into Malaysia is a serious offense, which is punished by a mandatory death sentence." I didnt have any drugs, but this was a strong enough warning that I would wonder why anyone would bring any. At the moment of writing this me and Yusuke are sitting down waiting for our connecting flight to New Zealand.... Only one more hour until it gets here!
March 31
Flying into Auckland was another amazing cloud experience. Rows of cabbage-shaped clouds quickly moving over the crystal teal-blue oceans and softly rolling hills. Then later, as we approached the city, a million houses topped with tile-roofs. It took awhile to get through customs, longer than I expected anyway. Afterwards we just stood in the main airport entrance, the wonderful fall weather shinning in on us. We could smel the new country. Since I was 14 or 15 I have had a pen pal in New Zealand named Annabelle. She'll be going to England soon, to be with her boyfriend, but since she was still in Auckland we arranged to meet for lunch. (She was working that day, so lunch was the only time possible.) After I figured out the local pay phone, I gave her a call and we arranged to meet "downtown." I had no idea where downtown was, but it seemed findable. Me and Yusuke got on a bus to the city, but it turned out to be an unlucky bus... it ran out of gas and had a lot of problems, and the driver would get out of his seat and talk to the passengers at red lights. Culture difference? Eventually, we got to what seemed like "downtown" Auckland with a lot of artsy shops and a giant phallus-symbol tower (think: Seattle space needle). We called Annabelle again and turned out to be calling from only about a block from where she was working. We met for lunch at a hip little restraint on K street, and also saw a friend of hers. It was good seeing someone who had existed mainly in letters grow, morph, into a real flesh and blood person imprinted on my memory. After lunch, Anna led us back downtown, through a beautiful park. Me and Yusuke decided to take a bus out of Auckland, to a smaller city called Hamilton... about 2 hours away. So we said goodbye to Anna and walked down to the bay, were the buses stop. We got tickets from a burly man and then sat down at the edge of the bay, sunshine streaming down and warming our cheeks. We were so tired by the time we got on the bus we fell asleep, on and off; endless green hills, and sandy tropical clumps, streaming past the windows. We got to Hamilton as light was fading from the sky. We found a local bus, with another insane driver (hed open the entrance door while driving) in order to get to a youth hostel. The hostel was on "stop 5" so we asked the driver to tell us when we got there. We sat on the bus for a long time, wondering what was taking so long. Eventually, the bus driver turned off his inside lights and looked back surprised. He said he "forgot" about us, and that hed finished his route. I told him we were new to the area, and didnt have any idea were it was. He felt bad I guess, because he dropped us off infront of "stop 5" on his way to the bus parking lot. We stayed at the Flying Hedgehog Backpackers Inn, sharing a room with two other guys. One guy was from Scotland, the other one from Australia.
April 1
The next day we were walking to the inter-city bus station again, and stopped at an intersection. While we were waiting at the light a sports car with a young guy pulled up. He rolled down his window, flipped his middle finger at us and shouted "Go home!" When I was a student in the states, I used to go on walks with friends from other countries, sometimes dorks would yell similar things at us, so this New Zealand kid didnt bother me at all. We decided to take the bus to Taupo. Once again countless green hills, pushed past the window, although this time we also cut through a beautiful pine forest. We got to Taupo about 2 o'lock, and walked to the lake. It was massive, soft translucent water stretching to the horizons. Me and Yusuke sat down on the moss-gross near the edge of the water, and soaked in the sun like two toads on a log. It was so relaxing to just lounge there under the massive clouds and sprawling tree branches. After awhile we walked along the pebbled beach, causing ducks to quack and slowly scuttle into the water. As we walked around, literal thick sun beams visibly streamed down from clumped clouds, they looked something like a UFO beam shooting down to earth. We decided to look for a hostel we had seen earlier and ended up walking through the town forever. Eventually, we stopped at a public pay toilet, called super loo, and after Yusuke paid NZ 20 cents to use it, asked directions. We found the place, checked in, and went to a local Chinese take-out (or "take-away" as its called here) and took away full boxes of various Chinese food, paying another 20 cents for the chopsticks. Right now, we cant decide where to go tomorrow. And while I was writing this a third hostel guest (me and Yusuke were the first and second in this room, which fits up to eight) came in. After a brief conversation, I guessed he was Australian, he learned I came in from Japan, and he said that his brother had lived there for 2 years. So I said that Japan is a nice place, and asked why his brother left, and he said that his brother "had to get back to reality." Which surprised me and made me begin thinking about how we humans divide "Real" from "Unreal" and about why we sometimes think foreign things are not real. Are foreign people in Japan living inside a dream? Which side of reality are Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc, in when they are inside their own home countries? Is this way foreigners in Japan sometimes do such crazy things?
April 2
We decided we had enough free time, so we stood outs beside the road for a long time, trying to hitch hike. Eventually, it started to rain so we decided to just take a bus instead. The bus ended up taking almost the same route as when we came to Taupo, so a lot of things looked similar. Although this bus was driving at night which felt a lot different to me. I would sit the watching the shadows of trees, bushes, and sometimes houses, float past the window, amazed that even in the dark I could sense that this wasnt Japan or the States. I looked to the right, and I could see the upside down moon appearing to be pulled along by our bus. Thin, wispy, grey clouds filtered over the its surface and a dark night, with visible stars. The stars, of course, looked different than my expectations. Tomorrow, we plan to go to an island near Auckland named Waiheke. Tonight, we went to a restraint called "Masato Sushi & Kebabs" and then after checking in at the youth hostel, we went to Auckland's large Korea Town and used a cheap PCBAN.
April 3
We got to the island in about 35 minutes. The water was so clear, and the island looked really tropical, green trees clinging to hills sharpened by cliffs. Once we landed we decided to rent a car to check out the island. Yusuke brought his international drivers license, so he was the driver. Shortly after getting on the maze of roads threaded through the island, we noticed that most of the roads were tiny one lane paths that wound around steep valleys and twisted atop tall cliffs. Lets just say that driving was a bit risky. We drove for awhile, and eventually stopped at a beach somewhere. The small bay was surrounded by old lava-rock flows, and the water, although a little cold, was vibrant. We wandered around the beach, collecting cool shells, and walking on the old lava rocks. Yusuke shouted into the wind (in Japanese) "this is so beautiful!" and accidentally disturbed a topless sunbather we hadnt noticed. We continued driving, winding through the island, and eventually decided to look for the hostel. Awhile later, we found it, but they were full. They told us about another one, on the other side of the island, so we took off looking for it. We drove for awhile, but couldnt find it. We stopped at a small general store, and asked directions, but they directed us to one that was closed. We asked a local old man, his accent was thick, but we tried to understand. We continued along tiny spider-web sized local roads until we finally got to the hostel. They didnt have any rooms left either. They offered us a tent setup in the back yard, and we accepted because we heard it would rain that night (so sleeping on the beach or something wouldnt really work). We returned the car, went back to "downtown" (a few restraints and another general store) and ate a very good pizza for dinner. We went back to the hostel (without the car of course) as it became darker and cooler. The bumpy ground of the tent was my bed.
April 4
We couldnt help but wake up early, because the tent was a bit cold. I hadnt slept so well, mainly because a couple next to us decided to consummate their love for each other, vocally, for a good part of the night. (or in rougher terms, they were jumping on each other all night long yo!) As we woke up, we examined our mosquito bites, and decided to take the bus back to the ferry terminal. We walked to a remote bus stop, and waited. Eventually a completely crowded bus came, and drove for a distance and stopped at the beach. We asked the bus driver why the bus wasnt going to the ferry terminal and he laughed, the side of his scared face shaking. Apparently we had taken the wrong bus. He said, "Enjoy the picnic boys, I dont leave for the terminal for another 30 minutes." So we walked over to the beach. We were just in time for some local festival. Locals were vending home-made food (we ate steak and onion sandwiches) and a few minutes after we got there they had a cool horse race across the beach. The sun was sparkling off the wet sand and you could hear the horses thundering past. Eventually, we got on the ferry back to Auckland. The wind was blowing against us, and we could see the multi-colored sea (teal in splotches mixed with splotches of dark blue). When we got to Auckland, we walked around downtown for a few hours then went to the hostel. We planned to meet Anna after her work, but Yusuke said he needed a shower and he'd meet us a few hours later in the park. I met Anna and we just got tea and walked around. Talking about whatever (New Zealand, the weather, stamps, her boyfriend, shoes, anything) and then we went to the park to meet Yusuke, but he wasnt there. We waited for a half hour, eventually we decided to walk down the road looking for him. We found him in a different park, he had been waiting and talking to a Maori man who was also in the park. It was late, and Anna was tired, so we said our goodbyes, and she headed home. I felt bad Yusuke had missed hanging out but walking back towards the hostel he excitedly told me about his conversation with the Maori man. It sounded like he had a really good talk, so maybe it worked out ok for him. We decided to go to Auckland's huge Korea-town again before going back to sleep. There were a lot of cool Korean restaurants, and when we finally ate at one, it was really good. (The old lady waitress just laughed and shrugged when Yusuke tried to use English, correctly, in the store, so I used my broken Korean skills, and got our beers and food.) After that we went to an Irish pub further downtown, and then came back to the hostel. Right now everyone in this room is snoring loudly, will I be able to sleep? I hope so! Tomorrow is Malaysia!
April 5
I barely slept at all. The snoring was so loud, and random, I never closed my eyes for long. In the morning, we took a bus to the airport, and were jetting into the sky before we knew it. The next 12 hours were spent watching movies (ohmygod! Was I the only one to think Pay Check was dull and predictable?) and playing videogames on the little screen the airplane provided. We got to Malaysia at about 8:40 in the evening. Customs was really easy, compared to New Zealand, and then we took the "Sentral Ekspres" (spelled that way because of the Malay alphabet) to what we thought was downtown. It wasnt really, but we walked around for awhile anyway, trying to find a youth hostel. We didnt find one, so we stopped by a hotel to check the prices. The cheapest room was listed as costing about Malaysian 90, but the manager said hed give it to us for 60, which is very cheap (I guess about US$20 or something). After we checked in, we went on a walk through the local streets, pulling more stares than I even get in Tokyo. It was dark, and we both felt really foreign. We didnt really know any local culture, didnt know the area, or much of the language (I speak some Indonesian, and Malay is similar so I could read some signs). It was cool to be surrounded by such a different culture, before returning home to Japan.
A little news about now, after my trip:
The other day I was bored on a train and wondered how long my cellphone calendar would work. I started flipping the months and years up, 2010, 2034, 2057... I started to have visions of setting alarms for the far distant future so that people in 3040 could read my advice on world affairs, written in 21st century Japanese, but then it stopped at December 31, 2099. Theoretically I could outlive my cellphone. That sucks. Also, Kayo's little sister gave me a Super Famicon (think "Super Nintendo") that I have been wanting for a long time. I dont really like video games that much, compared to some of my friends (you know who you are!) but I am really interested in old technology and how technology changes so as soon as I get the AC adaptors setup and find some game cartridges, I'm going to be happy. (If your wondering, Im not sure, because I never owned one, but I think the Japanese version looks a lot different than the American version.) The last piece of information is this took forever to type and now my internet cafe bill is going to be super expensive...ughhhh... oh well. oh yeah, you can see a quick preview of three NZ vacation pictures in my "anything else" photo album, but most of my photos (and videos) are on my Korean page because I dont have enough space here....! BELIVE IN PEACE! SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI !!
