Devistation

I find it is finally time to talk a little about the tragedy that happened in Japan on March 11, 2010. As many already know, NE Japan was hit by a 9.0 earthquake which was followed by multiple tsunami crashing into the shore taking away houses, lives, and stability for much of the region. With estimates of dead and missing somewhere around 25,000. Even cities that were not directly hit by the quake and tsunami, such as Tokyo, are feeling the aftereffects such as large "aftershocks" and rolling blackouts due to the Fukushima nuclear power plant being damaged.

Since many of you already know the situation of those effected by the quake and tsunami, I will shift my attention to what, somewhat unfortunately, the rest of the world is mainly reporting on; the Fukushima nuclear reactor. Although currently the situation caused by nature is far worse than the crisis as a result of man's technology.

I first want to criticize the western media on their sensatialization of the nuclear reactor. I understand that the Japanese media may be downplaying some of the severity of the issue in order to maintain order and not cause panic, but the western media must blow the situation up enough to keep foreign viewers watching. Viewers that really will not be affected by the radiation. In this sense, I feel the closest truth is found between these media outlets neither played down nor sensationalized. For this reason, and responsible journalism, I want to clarify the situation.

First, the situation is dire and I wish by no means to downplay it! The immediate area around the reactor has dangerously high radiation readings. The further one goes away from the reactor the lower the radiation. To put this in perspective the U.S. government has stated that U.S. citizens within 50 miles (80km) from the reactor should evacuate. This is the maximum that the U.S. deems as a safety precaution. The Japanese government is saying somewhere around 30km, which in light of recent events I feel is a little too close. Since I am not a nuclear specialist, I can only advise the farther away you are the safer. However, more than 80km and panicking is not doing anyone good. There is no real threat caused by airborne radiation at this distance. Instead watching the news and monitoring water radiation levels as well as food should be the primary concern (in Japan). However, do not panic and horde supplies since the northern regions are running out and to share some food and water will help people and without a doubt save some lives. So don't fear, but do prepare. Calmly and with wisdom!

With this being said, reports of Americans buying Iodine tablets and with some even being sold on eBay for $1000 USD is heinous! In no way will dangerous radiation hit the shores of America from Japan, this is including Hawaii. The U.S. media doesn't want to directly tell you this because it wants you to keep "tuning in" to see if you are in danger. Let's face it, most people really only care about how they are affected. American's living in America, generally don't care about Japanese people living in Japan, although I am not implying they are callus. They do care and may donate money, but they will not keep watching the news every night if there is no direct affect on their life. This is a media's wet dream. The largest earthquake to hit Japan, a devastating tsunami, and nuclear radiation. Honestly people, this opportunity may never greet a journalist again.

As far as radiation in Japan. I also want to put into perspective that Tokyo is some 290km (180 miles) from Fukushima. Radiation has been detected, but in the air it is still under 1μSv. Although higher than normal it is still very low. It is even low enough to rate as natural ambient radiation in some parts of the world. We are always exposed to radiation levels. So a little will not effect us, and radiation such as iodine only has a half life of about a week, so we won't be carrying around extra radiation with us for years. However, there are other types of radiation that have half lifes of 25 years or more. So stay informed of the type of radiation is being leaked.

Let me also remind you that radiation is orderless, invisible and tasteless. This is not to scare you, but this is to debunk silly news reports saying that there is yellow radioactive rain falling in Tokyo. FALSE! Sorry, radioactive rain looks the same as any other rain...well except that it glows in the dark (kidding). So put down your Hollywood movies and learn some science before jumping to conclusions. And SHAME on the media even reporting on this. For those interested, they yellow rain is from pollen.

Also stop saying this is another Chernobyl. It's impossible. The Chernobyl explosion happened when nuclear fission was still underway. Fission was stopped at the Fukushima reactor. A meltdown is possible if not cooled properly, but nothing on the scale of Chernobyl. Here is a breakdown by PBS. Although outdated, it does put some things into perspective without some outrageous claims made by many media sources.

There are many topics to cover, but I will leave on the issue of contamination. Many Japanese vegetables have been contaminated. Although it is at a level that if you eat it a couple times it won't effect you, however to avoid it is the best thing. Radiation is cumulative so the less you take in, the better. I am more worried about the farmers and the economic impact on them, and the long term effects on the immediate region around the reactor and the workers who are there working in extreme levels of radiation. There are reports that a type of radioactive Cesium has been released with a half life of 25 years. I pray that it won't go far because it could destroy farm land, natural habitat and tourism to the area for years. Water contamination has been an issue, even for residents living as far as Tokyo. This is a large concern for infants who are even more susceptible to radiation. However the past 3 days have shown that radiation levels in water are dropping.

And finally, as for my location in Japan. I am about 730km (450mi) away from Fukushima. I am not worried about fallout. I am safe and unaffected by the terrible things that have happened in Japan. I worry more about another earthquake than nuclear radiation coming down from Fukushima. Americans and even Koreans and Chinese should not fear the chance of radiation blowing across the ocean to your homelands. Instead, if you are lucky enough to not be in NE Japan, focus on how you can help those who are really in need.

DONATE: Japanese Red Cross

DONATE: American Red Cross

Both of these organizations are there on the ground helping the people. If you want to help, click the links.

Vietnam Photo Update

I just updated my Vietnam travel posts with some pictures. Check them out!

Blue Sky

When I looked up at the clear azul sky, I think I felt the feeling of freedom. I wouldn’t consider myself trapped or locked away, but for some reason it has been a long time since I gazed up without looking through a glass window. Sometimes work seems like a prison. Stuck in a classroom or stuck in the teacher’s room looking at a computer screen. Go home at four, gets dark at five. Continue looking at a computer screen devising ways to circumvent hypothermia. Even now, as I type this, computer screen. Usually I don’t worry, but I love my eyes and the many blue skies they have yet to see.

It’s been a long time since a lazy Saturday. I woke up late, around eleven, and spent the daytime hours in my town, a rare occurrence. I headed to the new Indian restaurant, where I frequent about once a week, for lunch. Finally there is someone my age I can talk to in town. The girl who works at the Indian restaurant is also twenty-five. She has two children, her oldest being nine. I would have been more shocked about her being a mother at sixteen, except I know in her part of the world that’s the perfect age. It’s interesting having a conversation with someone in your second language, when that language is also their second language.

I finally got a library card. It only took about a year and a half before I decided to venture into the library. I love libraries but when you’re illiterate in the local language, it’s hard to convince yourself to go. As suspected, everything is in Japanese. They do carry one English version of the Tokyo Daily Yomimuri Newspaper. It’s great to catch up on national or world news, but pretty pointless when it comes to local news. Also just pretty pointless since I read most world news on the internet. However, I can now start renting J-pop music CDs. Music that I would never buy, and surprisingly hard to download. I figure it would probably be good for Japanese listing practice.

It’s been getting warmer, still cold when riding the motor bike but not painful. It’s at that strange transition period where I still need my snowboard coat not too freeze, but then I get to my destination it’s too hot walking around. When the blue sky turns black, signaling the end of the day, icy air creeps back into my life.

Now I sit in a familiar seat on a familiar train, riding out of isolation under a night sky. I’m on my way to Osaka to meet up with a couple friends. The night calls for dancing and distilled Russian water.

SE Asia Disclaimer

I will now continue my SE Asia story, but will first write a disclaimer. It would be impossible to tell you everything with a fair amount of detail to do justice to the adventure that I embarked on without writing a full length story. If anything this is only a skeleton, a skeleton lacking calcium, of the two weeks I spent traveling through Cambodia and Vietnam. Maybe if we ever cross paths you can ask for some meat and I may tell you a few vital parts over a drink or two. Until then, read this knowing it isn’t a complete tale.

Also please read from "Myanmar Whiskey" to "Hanoi" for the correct order of events. I published the articles backwards so that you could read from the top to the bottom.

Myanmar Whiskey

My last day in Sangkhlaburi was spent riding a motor bike out to the Thai/Burmese border. Between here and there we stopped at a temple inside a cave. It was myself, my friend Dusty and each of our motorbike passengers who were the only ones to venture inside. Before the four of us climbed the warped and rotting stairs marked in unreadable Thai, crossing the large ravine below to a hole in the upper wall of the cave, I was hoping my good Karma would balance out the boards so not to fall to my death a couple hundred feet below on the limestone. Truly an adventure but not the goal of the day’s journey, for that was reached before this side adventure. What follows is what happened before.



We arrived at the Thai/Burmese border at about 10AM, known as the Three Pagoda Pass. Seemed the same as when I left it a year ago, even though a month before bullets and RPGs were being pelted across the mountainous landscape. However, one thing was noted, the Burmese flag was different; it was embroidered with only a single star.



Last year I made a friend with a whiskey and cigarette salesman from Myanmar and was given a couple capfuls of “Myanmar Whiskey” over conversation. This year, he found me before I found him. He approached me as I was walking around the market and said with a smile and a handshake, “Wow! Where have you been? I haven’t seen you.” After talking about the normal stuff he shared with me some information about the war between the National Army of Myanmar and some rebel armies. How he had to lay with his head down on the ground of his own house while bullets were fired just outside his front door. He also shared what happened in November at the Three Pagoda Pass and pointed at the nearby mountain that was hit by a RPG. Stories that send shivers down your spine.

He also explained to me, from the perspective of an average Burmese person, the correct terminology on what to call his country. Before the current regime, Myanmar was called Burma. For a select few countries, such as the U.S., it is still called Burma but recognized by the U.N. as Myanmar. However, to the Burmese, or at least the majority, it is in fact Myanmar. Myanmar is the country, and Burma is the people. So you would never say Myanmarese, which makes sense because I have never heard it. However, I have heard a few Burmese claiming they are from Burma, instead of saying Myanmar. I don’t know if this should be read politically or simply in that when they lived in Myanmar it wasn’t called Myanmar yet. I would have asked if this division had anything to do with personal political allegiance, but I knew he wasn’t comfortable expressing his feelings toward his country’s political state of affairs. All I know is he loves Myanmar and hopes that peace and prosperity will be something witnessed by the people.

I hope the man who sells whiskey is there next year.

The Boarder and Onward to Siem Reap

Only 8 hours in Bangkok after arriving from Sangkhlaburi we were on a bus to Aranyaprathet at 5:30AM. Aranyaprathet is the Thai border town with Poipet, Cambodia. About $8 and 5 hours later we were crossing by foot into Cambodia.

The boarder on the Thai side seems pretty normal. It’s just a market with a building you walk through to get your exit visa stamp. However, you will be bothered by Cambodian touts trying to sell you their services. In our case, we couldn’t get rid of ours. But he didn’t seem too invasive. Of course he said he was a Cambodian government employee, which wouldn’t mean much anyway, and the information he was telling us was definitely true, since I studied diligently about every scam that could happen at the border including those of touts. We didn’t need his services, but he wouldn’t go away. So we let him follow us around since if we had one at least we wouldn’t keep getting bothered by others.

We paid our $20 visa fee, and I paid a small bribe of $2 to grease the wheels of corruption. We entered no-man’s land. Neither Thailand or Cambodia and crossed into Cambodian immigration control. Stamped and passed. Our tout wouldn’t enter the government buildings but was always waiting outside. We then followed him to the free transport terminal and when we were about to leave in our “taxi”, he asked for a tip. He said 3000 baht ($100 USD) would be fine. I literally laughed and told him that I knew all the info he told us. We didn’t request his services and if anything, he was just following us. I gave him $5 for his trouble and to avoid any confrontation. Not to mention, he was good tout repellant since we were marked as “claimed”.

Our taxi driver pulls out of the transport terminal, and ten seconds later pulls off to the side of the road. Walks outside and pulls off the “TAXI” signs magnetically stuck to the car doors. He said, “Now, no police stop.” This was my first clue that things might not go as smooth as the freshly laid road to Siem Reap was telling me. The driver was going very slow. About 50km/hr with a speed limit of 80km/hr. I didn’t want to worry about it for two hours, so I just went with it. I thought to myself, he’s probably just trying to save gas or something. Then a phone call. Then a bathroom break on the side of the road for the driver. Then another phone call. Then another bathroom break. However, we were heading in the right direction. Maybe he has a small bladder, I thought.

Siem Reap was in sight and suddenly we pull down a small dirt ally and up to a parking lot behind a building full of tuk-tuk drivers. I heard of this scam. But before I could say anything to the driver, he literally ran out of the taxi. A man comes to the door and starts telling us that we will get into a tuk-tuk, in a non-asking tone. I’m in the front seat so I begin the negations. I tell him, we aren’t getting out of the taxi. I tell him that we paid to be taken to our guest house. He spills the usual bullshit telling us that the driver doesn’t know his way around the city. I tell him I’ve been told about the scam he is trying to pull. He gets upset and starts spitting profanity. Even making some treats about being at the bottom of a river. I keep my cool and strike a deal with this guy. He says his name is “Cobra.” I tell him I’m paying him nothing and he is taking us to our guest house. I seal the deal with a hand shake and tell him that I trust him.

In the tuk tuk he decides to ride along with us. Explaining why he is wearing a face mask. He says it’s because he has a deformity or something on his mouth. I know it is because he doesn’t want to expose his identity. Even though he pushes us to go to a different guest house and use his services, we arrive at our guest house. I give him nothing and tell him and the driver we will be taking bikes around the city tomorrow. I learn later that he is part of the mafia, according to the man running our guest house. Good bye Cobra, king of the snakes. Did I mention? I hate snakes!

Although we had a few bumps in the road along the way, we arrived in Siem Reap unscathed. The next few days in Cambodia become an unforgettable adventure, making Cambodia one of my favorite countries I’ve ever been to.

Tomb Raider: Cambodia

After checking in and having Indian curry for our first Cambodian meal. A safe bet since we were traveling with a famished vegetarian. We meet our tuk tuk driver. His name is Mean. He is actually very nice. We watch the sun set over the jungle and recharge our batteries.



Early morning. A Tuk Tuk ride. Sunrise at Angkor Wat. No, I don’t want coffee, beer, boom-boom or coconuts. I want watch the sunset over the stones of history! Why else would I be walking around Cambodia at 5AM?!!

We spend a whole day exploring the complex of Angkor Wat. The morning was packed, but it seemed many tourists went back to their five star hotels after snapping a few shots at sunrise. This was great, because exploring the ruins of an old empire are better off done without crowds. It wasn’t deserted, but it wasn’t over run.

There is not much to say about Angkor Wat though. It’s a big temple. It is surrounded by many small temples. There are a lot of stone carvings, and it is pretty magnificent. But, it isn’t a place where you can play Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. It was similar to when I went to the Great Wall and the Taj Mahal, with maybe about 1/3 less people. Maybe I’ve seen too many world wonders; although magnificent they don’t let you get lost in your own imagination. This is not to say I wouldn’t recommend a visit. Everyone should see it! It’s just that I can’t write anything that can’t already be read in a travel book or someone else’s travel blog. Instead I will leave you with a couple thousand words.

Angkor Wat in 1000 words

Stone face of the Bayon

After Angkor Wat, we went to a buffet. Actually the first and only real time I tried Khmer (Cambodian) food since our prior culinary choices consisted of Indian curry for dinner and French inspired cuisine for breakfast. Cambodian food is delicious. It resembles Thai food, with unique flavors and lower spice levels that tell you it is different somehow. While we ate, we had the opportunity to watch an Apsara Dance show.

Apsara: Then

Apsara: Now

The next day, Mean took us 3 hours by tuk tuk out to a real gem. A place that did let me feel a little like Indiana Jones. Especially when the police officer told me to watch out for snakes if I climb down into the temple, I hate snakes! But luckily, no Cobra!

What mysteries are held behind this door?

Afterwards we stopped at a floating village. We paid an exhorbant price of $20 per person ($60 for the 3 of us) to get into a half broken boat that ferried the three of us down into what looked more like a ghetto than a village. The poverty level was staggering in proportion to the price we had to pay to see the village. We were asked if we wanted to get into a small boat to be guided through the marshes, and of course for adventure sake we said yes. We quickly changed our mind when we got in and were ferried about 5 meters to another boat where a guy tried to get $10 per person from us again while being supervised by some shady cop. We told the guy we paid tons of money already, but he said it was different. He then handed me a cell phone, I think he was calling the people we bought the tickets from, but all there was was static and voices speaking no English. After picking up a dead fish and trying to scare our female travel companion, we said we’d just go back to the big boat, we don’t need the ride. When staying a night at a guest house costs $8/person, $30/person for a ghetto tour is robbery.

Our boat and it's driver

The floating village


Sometimes still beautiful

This shady almost law enforced scam, with the knowledge of knowing that about $5 of that $60 that we paid was going to the village and boat driver made me hate this place, and was really the only thing I would advise people NOT to do in Cambodia. Don’t go to a “floating village” unless you just want to look at begging children and those trying to make a quick buck off of them.


We paid enough money for 15 pairs of shoes in Cambodia.

After a great stay in Siem Reap, we boarded a bus and headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital and biggest city but only containing about 1.3 million people. Here we ate food and walked around. It was possibly here that I finally cemented my love for Cambodia. Out of the tourism industry of Siem Reap and into a real city, I had a chance to meet many Cambodians.

A common sight in Cambodia

French inspired Cambodia

When we got off the bus a tuk tuk driver was trying to have us acquire his services. Of course we first wanted to get oriented to where we were. But he kept telling us in an overly helpful manner where we were and that he could take us where we want to go. After dealing with the numerous scams you are undoubtedly going to run across in Cambodia, we weren’t quite in instant buddy mode. Because of this, he kind of complained about us not trusting him but we ended up taking his services. Turned out he was honest and even helped us find a good guest house, since the place we had booked looked like a meth lab and far from the river front where we wanted to explore. Because he turned out to be a good guy, we decided to hire him to get us to the bus station the next morning. It was a relief to find a Cambodian that realized that being honest can sometimes make you more cash than trying to scam a tourist.

Besides this, the loving nature of most Cambodians was awesome. Everyone is trying to sell you something, but if you don’t get worn out and mad, but smile widely and joke around, you realize you can become friends with anyone. Even if you don’t take their services or products, the small friendship you built doesn’t go away. It almost seemed that the happiness you shared was more important than getting money. Something that surprised me in a country that is extremely poor.

I refused this guy, but he accepted a picture!

On the surface, Cambodia seems like an empty wasteland filled with landmines, scams, crime and grime with Angkor Wat being the only reason for entering such a country. But if you dive through this layer and don’t let it cloud your vision, the country is amazing! What makes it amazing is the people. For every one guy that tries to scam you, throw a dead fish in your face or threaten to throw you in a river; there are a thousand smiles.

Much of Cambodia looks like this. Much of this is concealing land mines.