Ok, so I am aware that summer was a good 2 months ago... regardless I have one more video to share with everyone before this blog can successively move on.
In this third and final installment of "I Know What You Did Lats Summer because I'm You and and I was There," we travel to Singapore. Now you may not know this but Singapore is pretty awesome. It has great people, architecture, and food. It was an awesome way to end my summer vacation. The only problem was not having enough time to spend there. While we were there we got to go to a lot of awesome places including Gardens by the Bay. GBTB is an awesome botanical garden full of all sort of cool things to see. The video below details our trip there, enjoy.
Hello and welcome. If this is your first time reading this blog, welcome to the awesome and you picked a great place to start. Also if you like it, be sure to do so on Facebook and please share it with your friends. That's how we all become awesome.
This is the first part in a four part series entitled, "I Know What You Did Last Summer... Because I'm You and You Where There (copy write pending)." It is meant as a comprehensive guide on how to have and amazing summer vacation.
I'm on a Boat
Step one in this full proof plan is AMF. "What is AMF?" well I'm glad you asked. "AMF" stands for Asian Mission Forum. It is a gathering of people from all over Asia and beyond who share a similar love for Christ. I heard about this opportunity through Joel Osborne, the full time missionary at Mito Church.
Joel Osborne, Ladies and Gentlemen!
He told me a lot about it (Where it would be, What it was, Who it involved) but, honestly, I was in it from the word Borneo. It had been a place I always wanted to visit ever since I watched that one National Geographic special in elementary school. Don't think it sounds awesome? Well you aren't thinking about the secluded beaches...
or the exotic wildlife...
or the awesome food...
In case that does absolutely nothing for you, then simply say the name: BOR...NE...O. Doesn't that feel awesome rolling of your tongue? I was privileged to spend a little over a week on this beautiful Malaysian island and during my stay I got to see all the previous things mentioned and more.
On of these things is not like the other
So to recap, the first step to having a GREAT summer vacation. Go to AMF and/or visit Borneo. As mentioned there was a lot to see and do. This post will cover our time spent in a Malaysian cultural village. So please enjoy the video...
So, Japan can be weird sometimes. Anyone who has watched Japanese television can attest to this. To me, weird doesn't necessarily mean bad. In fact, it's often the quirky weird things about Japan that lift my spirits when I miss home or am having an off day.
Calpis is, like the bottle says, "Happy Refresh"
Whether it is going to my favorite curry restaurant and watching strange Indian music videos on their television or noticing a man walking down the street wearing hot pink pants, I have found the little things some of the most enjoyable... or at least interesting.
Sometimes I do things on a whim...Especially if I have been feeling stagnant for a bit. Usually my times of whimsy occur after I have spent prolonged periods of time alone in my apartment. This is a post about one such time.
At this point in my adventure I had been in Japan for about 3 months. I had gone to many different places and seen some pretty awesome things. But despite my time spent traveling there was one place that I had not yet seen. It was like an elephant in the room, a place I knew i needed to go to, a place I really wanted to go to... Tokyo.
Tokyo is a must see for any foreigner in Japan. Simply put, don't come to Japan and skip Tokyo.
Escalators acceding a giant mirrored hallway
A large marketplace in Asakusa
I was told before I came that Tokyo (especially the train system) was like a maze. In a previous post I described Mito that way, but after seeing Tokyo, Mito seemed like a country hamlet. In fact, I'm sure without a friend of mine that I met in Tokyo, I would have barely found my way home.
Just a fraction of the underground system we walked.
There were so many things to see and do that I only saw a fraction of what the Big City had to offer. I could drone on for hours about all I got to see and do but that, I fear, would bore you to death. Instead please enjoy the video.
For the Annual AET Retreat all of us crazy kids took a trip to the scenic little town of Nikko. There they have temples, shops, temples, waterfalls, temples, fog, temples, restaurants, and finally... more temples. As I mentioned a long time back Nikko has a few temples and thanks to my tenacious friend Heather Perry we where able to see most all of them.
The first temple we went to see was being renovated on the outside. In Japan renovating a building means covering it completely up. We were still allowed inside but sadly were not permitted to take any pictures.
Behold the beauty!
There is a saying I heard a while back, "Once you have seen one temple you have seen them all." Well I tend to disagree with most blanket statements including this one. I will agree that most temples do look similar and some are just as boring as the next, but there are a few that stand out. The first temple I mentioned contained not one, not two, but three giant golden Buddha statues.
The second temple we visited was actually the birthplace of the Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil monkeys. It is definitely a must see for any would be travelers.
Blending In
There where also a few other cool temples surrounding that one. All of various shapes and sizes and all pretty cool.
Exhibit A: Cool Temple
The one pictured above is actually just a small part of an even bigger temple. All of the white things around the door way are tiny intricately carved sculptures.
Exhibit B: Tiny Intricately Caved Sculptures
Finally the last temple on our tour was one that we named "The Hidden Temple" and rightfully so. It was no where near the other temples and required climbing a ton of stairs in order to reach it. But climb we did and, after recreating a scene from Rocky, We got to see my favorite temple. It had no giant golden Buddhas, legendary monkeys, or masterful carvings; but it did have character. It was secluded (most likely due to the stairs), Small, and simple. I guess I'm just a man of simple tastes.
Pictured: The last flight of stairs
After seeing all of the temples, we were decently tired and decided to return to our accommodations located way out in the boonies. There was more fun to be had (After all, it was not a one day retreat), but I think I will let the video tell those stories.
The following contains events that happened a decent amount of time ago. Viewer discretion is advised.
So a while back my school had their yearly Undokai. For those not familiar while random Japanese school events, an Undokai is a sports festival. It is here that the children display their athletic prowess and their spirit of sportsmanship. At my school, every grade from kindergarten to sixth is involved in sporting events consisting of relays to tug of war matches (of which yours truly was on the winning team).
My favorite game to watch involved a group of four kids hoisting another kid onto their shoulders. Their were two teams consisting of about six of these groups. At the sound of the staring gun, the teams would run at each other yelling. The person on the shoulders would then try and take the hat off of the other teams shoulder child. When asking one of my teachers about this game, they said it dates back to samurai warfare where two samurai would ride horses at one another and try and lop of the other's head. Fortunately, no heads were lost during our event.
All in all, it was a lot of fun and I even got to learn a new Japanese word... Hiyake (日焼け). It means Sunburn.
