An okay night’s sleep in Luang Prabang has me a little more positive again. I still was trying to get out of the country ASAP, but wouldn’t you know, all the flights are full until the 28th. I saved myself a few days, though — going to Bangkok then. Strangely struck by a disinterest even in lying on a beach in Rai Leh (the real spelling of what I called “Ryleh” in my last post, since nobody called me on it) and Ao Nang. Anyway, I am in Luang Prabang for a few days. Trying to decide whether to bus …
Category: TRAVELS
Luang Nam Tha, Luang Prabang Again, And Throwing in the Lao Towel
But it was a long few days in Luang Nam Tha. Actually, just outside Luang Nam Tha. Sneezing. Coughing. Wondering, is this what malaria is like? Except I knew it was just a damned cold. And still is. Ugh. But the food? Some of the best I’ve ever had, at this pricey little village place called The Boat Landing. Have the Lemon Mint Fruit Shake. And the Pumpkin Soup, which isn’t really pumpkin but instead is zucchini. The Black Tai Stew. Oh, good grief, go for a week and eat everything. Then take a bus to Huay Xai and fly …
Twenty Minutes to Boarding
The Business Lounge — where I can go, for only the second time in my life in the Incheon Airport — is the best way to spend the 40 minutes or so I had till boarding time, when I got through security and immigration. But i’s not quite as fun as it was when I was in this lounge with Lime, who was marveling at the free food, free cans and bottles of everything, and so on. I’m traveling again, this time to Laos, and it’s just under twenty minutes to boarding. I’ll be doing some vegging, some writing, and …
Meeting Mr. Lal
My first day in Sapporo, my third day in Japan, I was lucky enough to meet up with Lal, a very cool guy who’s been out there online for years — about 6 years, as he notes, of contact on the Culture List (and I think he showed up on the Brin-L too) and who happened to be in Sapporo studying. It was a great evening, though a pity there was only one chance to meet. Just before he caught the subway back to his dorm to finish packing, he asked a random passerby to take this picture. And there …
Home. One Piece.
And though WorldCon was fine — and spending time with friends there was great — I have classes sometime tomorrow so posting about it shall have to wait. Expect pictures, though none by me from the Con. I just never felt like it. But I will link to those posted by others. And I’ll photograph more when I have a lens that allows me to get enough zoom to get the shots I actually want. Now, to bed…
“Cut off a Piece of My Foot”
… sounds a little more dramatic than, “removed some very dry and hardened pieces of skin that were causing massive blisters, swelling, and pain,” but I swear, it felt like the latter. I have gauze on my foot. It was just this morning. I’m a little afraid to look. The worst thing to be told, while traveling, is “try not to walk too much.” So today is a lazy day, and I’ll just take it easy… lots of breaks and so on. I picked up a few Japanese jazz CDs at an HMV and my goodness one of them is downright amazing. Some …
Writing and Obsessions
Reading scififanatic’s blog, I came across an interesting post about writing and obsessions, actually linking back to velourmane’s post on the subject. (You can find the link there.) I personally am obsessed with all kinds of things, and also develop minor obsessions all the time, just long enough to really get into something and research it like crazy so I can write about it. (Like my obsession with Soviet Russia, which is about to commence; I have tons of books waiting now.) The obsessions that come up time and time again in my writing, as far as I can tell, …
Tokyo, and ahhhhh.
I’m in Tokyo again. Looks like I’ll be there until sometime on Wednesday evening, when I make my way to Yokohama. If there’s anyone in Tokyo who reads this blog and feels like meeting up, email me! (I’m not expecting anything, but I do get some hits from Japan — in fact, more official hits from Japanese servers than from Canadian ones! — so whatever, hey? Email me, we can do lunch or hit an izakaya or something.) My feet are much happier now now that I have some new sandals and took care of my feet a little. It’s …
… Hiroshima … Nao-shima … and now I’m Tokyo-bound…
Hiroshima. I was only there for a day. I liked it a lot, maybe more than Kyoto. Probably because my feet hurt so damned much and Kyoto involved so much walking for me. There was something about the Hiroshima vibe that was more comfortable — maybe vaguely more familiar — to me. All the monuments to the dead… it’s depressing. Yet I have to say, I’ve never seen more concentrated discussions of war and anti-war sloganing anywhere (except maybe some radicals I knew in high school). Yes, Japan has the black vans with the right-wing idiots; it has bunkhead politicians …
Yahew…
Still in Kyoto. Today was a very fruitful day in many ways. The best thing is, I found a place that has computers that aren’t crippled. This means I can back up the photos from my MP3 player on the portable hard drive I brought along. This is very good, because when you are trying to shoot as much as you can in RAW, a 20-gig MP3 player just isn’t going to hold a lot of pictures. Not that I’m shooting THAT many. I’m mostly trying to relax and enjoy traveling, enjoy standing in the middle of temples and feel …