What the??!!?? August

Nara - Festival of Lights

I was lucky enough to be invited to go to Nara for the Festival of Lights by a Japanese friend Mayumi and her friend. She also invited the two new teachers to Shirasagi Residence Heather, from Arizona, and Suvanya, from South Africa.

We were picked up in the early afternoon and set out on the 2.5 hour drive to Nara. Nara was a buzz with many people dressed in yukatas (as they like to do for festivals) and the first place we visited was Big Buddha. Before we entered the temple Mayumi showed us how to wash our hands and rinse our mouths using the fountain outside. This was the first time for me to do this, being shown what to do by a Japanese person made me feel more comfortable. Big Buds was still there as big as ever and both Heather and Suvanya were impressed at his size. Around the back of the Buddha both of them crawled through the hole in the pillar, so are blessed with good luck and fortune.

Next we stopped in to have some tea. First was a cold barley tea (which was a welcome relief from the heat), followed by a jelly type sweet topped in sweet bean dust and sitting in a dark, sweet sauce. Last of all came the green tea (yep, a 3-course tea). Heather and Suvanya were quite excited about being in the traditional style tea house and can't wait to attend a tea ceremony as they had a crash course in drinking it.

After wandering around for a little while we noticed that the festivities (candles) were being set up all around the town...white cylinders half-filled with water with a floating candle. They would be lit when the sun went down. We then had dinner at a vegetarian curry restaurant, a really small nook down a few crannies. The meal was delicious and consisted of a salad, lentil soup, curry vegetables, saffron rice, a poppadom and fruit and yoghurt. Thankfully when we left the restaurant the temperature had dropped a bit, and so had the sun...candle time!

There were candles just about everywhere...lining the pond...paths...the streets and throughout the parks. Once the sun was down we were surrounded by beautiful candlelight. It was magical. We visited the 5-storey pergoda and then made our way to the park. The three of us bought a lantern which had a candle inside, glowing along with the many thousands of others around. There is just something special about candlelight...

Creature Comforts

After living in Japan for 7 months (wow, has it really been that long?) we have finally got ourselves a TV and microwave! This is very exciting and I'm sure that very soon we will wonder how we lasted so long without them. These are many thanks to Chelsea (our American friend who is returning to America). Ahh, the memories...walking down the stairs with frozen meat in hand to visit anyone who was home and had a microwave so we could cook our dinner...ahh, the memories of one of us being bored out of our mind as the other was using the computer (just about our only source of entertainment because you can only read for so long)...Here's to Japanese TV and defrosted meat!!!!!! Compai (Cheers)!

Like a bridge over troubled water...

Well, thankfully no crappy song, the original or the Australian idol copy, but a trip out to see the bridge over the river Kwai. The purpose of this site is not to be educational, at least on my behalf, so if you don't know the significance of the bridge, watch the movie. Actually, that's not very nice on my behalf so I'll tell you what I know. This area of Thailand was a key section for the Japanese to move across Thailand to get to other countries, (I think maybe Burma) forgive me if I'm wrong. The story we were told was that Thailand was not really wanted for any other reason than it connected to lots of other places. It was also a key site for a really large prisoner of war camp, where many of our Aussie forefathers were held, along with British, Dutch and Thai soldiers.

So, the day started at 6.30am... guess who wasn't thrilled by that early start... yep, you got it, Jodi... I was bright as a spark! Only one of those things is a lie! So, we headed out of Bangkok until we reached one of the major war cemeteries. I didn't realise how many Aussies went down there... Having seen war memorials, I found this the most moving thing I have been to... It wasn't just plaques commemorating sacrifices made for the benefit of the country, these were real graves. The number of deaths under 23 were horrific. The saddest part was the graves that simply mentioned the country they fought for. Bought back memories of that old Steve Grace song, "The Unknown Hero". One of my favorite recent Aussie songs is the Herd's version of "I was only 19". Puts it in a whole new perspective!

Having been sobered by the cemetery, we headed to the bridge by boat. A lighter moment was a westerner who "forgot" to close his river doors while he changed. I didn't think it was that cold... but anyway... We visited the museum. The story is really sad. Realising the bridge really needed to go the allies sent in bombers. Unfortunately, the Japanese knew they were coming so they sent the POW's out onto the bridge to try and stop them. Unfortunately, this didn't stop them and the bridge and everything on it were obliterated! Not really a nice thought!

After this we headed to the "death railway". This was built by the POW's. I think some 20,000 people died whilst building the bridge, hence the name. It would have been some sort of building expedition, as some of the cliff faces are extraordinarily tight. You would definitely need an even spread of people on both sides of the carriage! The scenery was unbelievable!

I can't say that a good time was had by all. Unless Harry Kewell or Lleyton Hewitt are involved I'm not usually too patriotic. The sight of Howard in the wallabies tracksuit makes me positively sick. But it did inspire some of those "Johhny loves OZ" feelings, and made me want to learn more about what went on all those years ago. Maybe we shouldn't throw jaffas at Cornesy when he goes around in the motorcade. Actually I have never done that, nor seen anybody else. It also made me understand views that our older generation have and why they have them. I can't stand the Italian soccer team and all they did was take a dive in a game of soccer. Pretty petty really! But if a game of soccer can make me that disappointed I can only begin to imagine the feelings when real countries and real people were involved.

Siam Niramit - Dinner and Show

Siam Niramit was a stage show that came highly recommended by our tour guide and it sounded great, so we went along.

The night started with a buffet Thai dinner. The food was really yummy and we tried lots of different dishes and weird looking fruits.

On our way from the restaurant to the theatre we came across some people in costume and an elephant who was picking people up off the ground with its trunk! This girl obviously wasn't phased by it all as she had time to pose!

On entry to the theatre we had to surrender our cameras (damn, no sneaky shots of this show) and took our seats. The stage was massive and even included a pool along the front.

ACT 1 took us on a journey back through history and included 4 different scenes:

1) Religious Faith...Ancient Kingdom of Lanna.

2) The South Sea...Trade from overseas.

3) Issan...Heritage of the Khmer Civilisation.

4) The Mighty Capital, Ayutthaya.

ACT 2 took us through a journey beyond imagination through the three realms:

1) Fiery Hell

2) Mystical Himapaan Forest

3) Blissful Heaven

The costumes were colourful and sparkly, the props and lighting were very impressive (it even rained on stage and boats cruised along the river) and the many actors, including animals such as chickens, goats and elephants, were of many different ages who danced, did sword fights and even flew in the air. There was lots of interaction with the crowd, actors appearing from no where and dancing in the aisles as well as pulling one poor guy up on stage to join in a band. Jono had his hands washed with 'holy water'. It was all very cleverly done and a lot of fun to watch.

What the??!! Thailand Ed.

Transport in Thailand

There are many ways to get around in Thailand...

-bus (with natural air conditioning and sometimes not even a door that opens and shuts to let you on and off!)

-taxi (some with running meters and some with drivers that charge you a random amount, often way too high)

-tuk tuk (a vehicle similar to a 3 wheeled motorbike with a roof)

-car (remember, the lines on the roads are simply for decorational purposes! Drive wherever you want as long as you don't mind being cut off. BEWARE...the Bangkok traffic jam)

-motorbike (you don't have to wear a helmet and you can ever drive where ever you like including the footpath!)

-river taxi (a really old boat which has a roof, natural air conditioning and have 1/4 capacity of seating so you end up having to stand and hold on to the rails. I think these old boats pollute the atmosphere more than the cars).

-sky train (really easy and convenient. Stalls at the stations sell the best fresh juices)

-rickshaw (yep, they still had a few of these around)

-Walk...I think Thai people just don't understand that sometimes you just want to walk. So we were always telling "No thanks" to drivers of taxis and tuk tuks who would either call out "hello" or beep at us wanting our business. Our favourite line from our holiday..."We walk for FREE!"