Madurai

Madurai is near the southern extent of India, tucked in the foothills where the eastern and western ranges meet. It was also the ancient meeting place of the scholars of Hinduism and is now home of the famous Sri Meenakshi Temple. The temple covers six hectares, or about four city blocks, and is surrounded by walls with an entrance in each cardinal direction that sit beneath impressive Dravidian towers up to 150 feet tall covered in ornate and colorful depictions of Hindu gods and goddesses. Inside there are eight more towers in the same style of various heights. Unfortunately, I was visiting at the wrong time of the wrong year, because they are all covered in scaffolding and banana leaves for repainting, which is done every 12-15 years (depending on which guide you speak to). At any rate, they will be uncovered in may as part of a large celebration which will bring pilgrims from around the world to this holy site. I was fortunate not to have huge throngs of pilgrims, and visited in the cool of the morning before the crowds of tourist arrived as well. Within the walls of the temple complex is a labyrinth of halls, statues and honoring many of the millions of Hindu gods and goddesses as well as a museum in the hall of one thousand columns... however there are actually only 985. I don't know what happened to the other fifteen, possibly budget cuts or the fall of dynasties cut the hall short. Today the museum is also under renovation so I was unable to explore all of its depths. One of the best views is from the Pool of the Lotus, where pilgrims once bathed before entering the main temples.

Madurai is also home of the Gandhi museum, which is ironically located in a palace built in Western styles of the era of British control, from which Gandhi had spent his life trying to gain India's Independence. The museum provided a good summary of the events, during British rule, that led up to and included Gandhi's lifework for the people of India and his death by assassination from the very people he committed his life to serve. His plight, methods and ability to motivate the population was similar to Martin Luther Kings, however he had to influence the international arena to free India from British rule as well as the population of India at large to change some of the laws of caste that divided the nation. It is an amazing testament to the selfless commitment to a cause for the greater good of of man kind.

Mamallapuram

Today, Mamallapuram is a small fishing village on India's eastern shores just south of Chennai. It also has a decent sized tourist population due to its history as a trading port from the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram. During the peak of their dynasty, 400-700AD, they carved many sculptures and temples into the rock faces that protected the town from an land invasions from the west. In addition to these amazing carvings the town also has a beautiful beach and Shore Temple that has been rescued from the seas that threatened to devour it, a fate shared by several other temples that lie under the crashing waves today.

For me Mamallapuram was a refreshing break from the crowds and grunge of the city in Chennai. The first thing we visited was the shore temple, which showed evidence of years of abuse from the crashing waves of the Bay of Bengal. It is now a UNESCO world heritage sight and is protected from the sea by a large rock embankment. While visiting the temple, we were swarmed by a group of kids on a field trip to visit the temple, who all wanted to introduce themselves, find out where we were from and excitedly posed for large group photos and swarmed around the tiny digital screen to see the final product.

Next we headed for the Five Rathas, which is a series of temples designed to look like chariots and was left unfinished as the dynasty collapsed. It was carved from a single stone and was covered by sand until it was excavated by the British only 200 years ago when the East India Company controlled the country. It is an impressive collection of carvings and temples and I can't imagine how long they were chipping away at the stone to create the collection. Among the other cliffs there are many other carvings and other points where it looks as though temples or structures had been started but now are nothing more than scars of a by-gone era, that leave you wondering what could have been. At the highest point on the rocks behind town there is a temple or guard shack that has a commanding view of the seas to the east and the plains to the west, that sits astride a more modern lighthouse that warns the ships of today that they are off the shores of a great port of yesterday.

The day flew by and I could have easily spent a week in this town. The beggars and street merchants are still constant theme, but here even they seem to be a little more laid back, and quicker to give up the sale for some banter about where you are from and wish you a good stay in their country.

Though the day was short the night was long and changed my opinion of the mosquitoes. Before, thought they were lazy vagabonds, drifting on the breeze waiting for a victim to run into them. Almost to lazy to even go to the trouble of sucking blood. Now I know that this deceiving show is really the result of gorging themselves into a lazy stupor during the night. Our hotel did not have A/C, so we had opened the windows in hopes of a cool evening breeze off the ocean. Instead, we were robbed of blood by thieves on the breeze, which mockingly buzzed a 'thank you' in my ear a hundred times as they fled. I wrapped myself in a sheet for protection but left my face defenseless. They left it feeling swollen with bites, to include a 'goodnight kiss' that had left my upper lip swollen. When they weren't biting me I was slapping phantoms from my face like a madman possessed by demons. I was glad to see the morning light and welcomed the all day train ride to Madurai that awaited group.

First impressions of India

I will have to come back to Seoul, but wanted to get my first impressions of India down while they are fresh on my mind. I arrived into Mumbai Airport initially and had to catch a plane to Chennai about four hours after I arrived. I spoke with a man on the plane about the layover and he said things are slower here. When we arrived everyone crowded the isle like America but once they were moving they sauntered along like there was no hurry at all, and I thought the man was on to something.
The first thing to hit me when I stepped off the plane was the smell of burning trash that was reminiscent of Iraq. The airport seemed to be wrapped in smog from the fires and when I left for Chennai, it seemed to cover the earth below like a thin film leaving everything in the dawn light looking brown and out of focus.
The next thing was my first beggars of the trip, the mosquitoes, looking for an ounce from my veins. I haven't seen mosquitoes through my winter travel, but I guess never have an off season here. I guess it is the lack of season that makes them a little more lazy here. They seemed quite passive and did more floating around waiting for a victim to run into them, rather than seeking you out. One even drifted into my backpack when I opened it briefly apparently to lazy to even fly and trying to catch a free ride wherever I was going.
After my reshuffling through buses and security to the domestic terminal waiting area, we then filed out the door to catch a bus to our aircraft at the same spot we were dropped off at the domestic terminal. The system was a little chaotic as they had passengers for about five different flights crowding the curb and small signs for where you should stand to catch a bus for your respective flight. The sign for my flight was at the end of the curb and once we were on the bus, it pulled forward about 20 yards, and turned left so we could get off the bus at the plane that was directly across from the door to the waiting area we just left. The walk to the plane was probably a shorter walk than it was to the bus pick-up point. It was amusing, but it seems they have many small jobs that the system could due without, but they help the overall population and economy by keeping people employed. I saw similar efforts in Japan where we watched a team of three men direct traffic into a parking garage, and the light and arrow on the street would surely have done just as effective of a job.
Anyway, I arrived in Chennai at about 8:00 am, and I could tell it was warmer and more humid by the way the planes wing began to sweat as soon as we landed. I retrieved my bags and began dealing with the barrage of friendly Indians all trying to help me for a price. The first were the taxi pre-pay booth personnel that wanted to get me a ride and then wanted to exchange my money but when I asked for an ATM they became very short and cold and shooed me off in the proper direction. Then I got outside and began working my way through the crowd of Rickshaw and taxi drivers to get to the ATM. One persistent Rickshaw driver was persistent and led me to the ATM and waited for me outside. He charged as much as a taxi, but claimed to be giving me a deal. I figured since it was my first 'took took'- three wheeled rickshaw- experience I might as well just take him up on the offer. He then walks me about two blocks past dozens of waiting taxis and rickshaws telling them all my destination, which sounds a lot like he is bragging about a trophy fair, before we finally get to his rickshaw. Along the way I kid and ask him if we were going to walk to my hotel or if he was giving me a ride, at which point he quickly flags down another rickshaw to drive us to his rickshaw. I pass and tell him I'm kidding. I get an hour tour of India traffic with a free stop at a gas station, where he takes my fair to fill his tank, plus breathe in enough early morning exhaust fumes to trim my life by a year, before we arrive at my hotel.
After checking in I meet my roommate, Ross, who had arrived about three that morning and we took off to see some of the local sites. We started walking for downtown, but soon gave up and took a left to the beach, which looked much closer. Along the route we were propositioned by every passing and parked rickshaw driver to give us a ride and we finally gave it at the beach were we had pulled out our map to determine where we were, and found this is equivalent to waving a 'rickshaw please' flag. Several drivers had offered to give us a tour of popular sights for about 150 rupees each and we haggled this driver down to 100 for the two of us (about $2). He then gets on the phone with a friend and pulls us around to pick up his friend before we start our tour, so it is now an even two on two 'fight'. The friend is our 'translator' and begins by telling us how he is in college and makes it a point to inform us that he is a Christian and 'loves Jesus', which I'm not sure of the relevancy but we go on with introductions as we drive. He then notices Ross is smoking a cigarette he had rolled himself and asks if we want marijuana, and that Chennai has the best marijuana. We pass on this and then he asks if we like Indian girls, which we also tell him we are not in the market for them either.
Our first stop is St Thomas Basilica, where St Thomas had reportedly built a church when he came to India spreading the word, and he is also reportedly buried below the church. It was an impressive church and they had a museum and pictures of Pope John Paul II, visit to the church along with other memorabilia in the small museum. Next our driver and translator took us to Kapaleeswarar Temple, the most popular Hindu Shrine in Chennai. It was interesting, but we were barraged with beggars and more friendly locals offering to give us tours of the area, for a price. From here the tour turned into a 'driver benefit tour,' which was apparent as it developed and we later read about in Ross' Lonely Planet guide.
We went to antique and jewelery shops, that were 'the best in town.' And then they brought us to a good restaurant for lunch. They of course joined us, but when the bill was requested, only one was requested; and when we asked how we were splitting it, they suddenly could not understand our English. We picked up the tab and the meal cost about double, per person, what it would cost at any comparable restaurant. After lunch we need to stop at an ATM and then we wanted to go back to the hotel, but our guides wanted to show us two more shops. We told them we had no interest in buying souvenirs, but would look around if it would help them out, which is when they explained they got gas coupons from the businesses for bringing in tourists.
We finally arrived back at our hotel and ended up paying 100 rupees per person, rather than total. We also came full circle with all the 'translators' talk of college, tests, his broke down rickshaw... he wanted us to give him money to help pay for his upcoming college tests. 'Not much, just ten dollars each' (500 rupees). We declined and reminded him we paid double the agreed fair and bought him lunch, and went to all the shops we had no interest in, which he blew off as the past and offered us a deal, five dollars each. It seemed nothing mattered, but what we could do for them next.
During the first half of the tour we ran into another pair of travellers at 4 of the same stops and were sure there were many more suckers out there just like us and wished we could compare notes with them at the end to see how each of us had fared and what the various nuances of each experience were. In the Lonely Planet guide we read that the Rickshaw drivers often get a commission from the places they bring you and that the prices are always inflated. Plus at some hotel restaurants they won't even allow the drivers in because they apparently will demand commissions, if they are not already established.
Finally, to add insult to injury, we discovered the temple and basillica we had visited where literally right around the corner from our hotel, and our Intrepid tour guide was going to take us to see them the following night on our first walk around the area.
And this is India, the land of the kindest fleecings in the world. Where your are robbed in front of your face, thanked for it with a smile, and then asked for a little more. However, as you walk down the road and see people sleeping the the gutter next to another man pissing in the same gutter, you cannot help but feel for them and applaud their efforts to get by, even if it means a few extra dollars on top of your fair and a free lunch among new 'friends.'

Niseko

Niseko is known by some as 'Little Australia,' due to the large amount of Australians that travel here for the great powder and have bought property in the last few years. I talked to a guy from the UK that has lived in Tokyo the last 12 years and he said the price of property has gone up to nearly 30 times the values of 10 years ago, but has receded with the recent global market woes. While another guy told me he had Japanese friends who could order dinner at a local restaurant because the waiter didn't speak Japanese! I went to a pizza place that looked like it was transplanted from Australia's Gold Coast and was complete with a Surfboard on the wall and a Japanese musician singing English tunes.

I, however, stayed on the south, Annapuri, side of the mountain, which is much less crowded with tourists and my hostel, Niseko-Kogen, was more of a traditional style Japanese accommodation. The owners were great and always on the move. The wife treated you like you were one of her grand children and took care of all the cooking and booking, while the husband was in charge of running guests to and from the train station and ski lifts. He was also a notable accordion player from what I could gather from the awards and newspaper clippings on the walls. Another couple staying there told me the place was Lonely Planet's top pick and that some guests are treated with some accordion playing during their stay, but I was not so lucky. They also told me that the building was an old school.

Every morning the wife would have a great breakfast prepared and on the table by seven and the husband would be rattling the windows as he plowed the snow in the parking lot with a little bulldozer, which I guess is a required piece of equipment due to the shear volume of snow they get in a typical winter. However, this winter has been far from typical and I was told it was actually some of the worst snow conditions for skiers in 14 years. That was depressing enough, but what made it the worse conditions I have ever experienced was the rain on day two. The night before it had snowed quite heavily so I was pumped to get out on the slopes in the morning. Unfortunately, as we were driving to the slopes it began to grow foggy with a light mist and by the time I got up the hill for my first run it was a light rain. I got to the bottom, completely soaked and called it quits. Fortunately, I had a nice fireplace back at the hostel to sit by and sip coffee while I caught up on Blogging about Tokyo and Sapporo.

The pictures are of the fresh powder covering the train track just before I left and the hostel also surrounded with the powder I missed out on. The area is beautifully set between the mountain that the resorts are on and a volcano that looks like a mini Fuji. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture the first day when it was visible and the rest of the time it was concealed by clouds, rain or snow.

Trying to fly out of Hokkaido

So my timing was slightly off on my trip to Hokkaido. I was able to see the snow festivals, which was great, but I wanted to sample their world famous powder and missed it. Actually, I did get a little snow for my last day of boarding, but the majority fell as a was leaving the mountains and as I was waiting for my plane. In fact, so much fell that my flight was delayed about 8 hours. So, I got to read my book and catch up on some journal writing. Despite the delay, I must say Japan has a much better way of handling delays than America. Instead of piling us on board and waiting hours on the plane, they kept us in the waiting area, and gave us 500 yen ($5) in credit at the local food kiosk to buy something to eat and drink. That was pretty impressive, but what was more impressive is the folks at the kiosk told me about the credit when I tried to buy a drink rather than just taking my cash an not saying anything. And the airline had some folks walking around the waiting area to inform tourists like myself, who probably didn't understand the announcements in Japanese.
I was one of the first people in the waiting area, so it was pretty empty and quiet when I arrived but as more and more flights were cancelled or delayed the place soon became a pretty hectic and crowded scene with the main attraction at the windows in front of me where the ballet of snow plows, plane de-icers and other trucks and ground crew were clamouring between flurries to prepare the aircraft and runway before the next storm hit. The visibility was fluctuating from about 200 meters to several miles and sunny skies, when you had enough time to see the next storm rolling in like a sandstorm. It was quite a show and at times I couldn't even see it because the crowds of travellers at the window, with cameras in hand, often blocked the view completely. Meanwhile, behind me there was a second crowd at the small food kiosk stripping the shelves as they stocked up on food rations with their 500 yen credit. And a third, but smallest crowd was killing time in the duty free shop, where I had spent the last of my yen just before the throngs of stranded tourist filled the waiting area.
My 2 o'clock flight finally got off the ground just before 9, and I made it to Seoul at midnight to find the airport was largely shut down for the night and I couldn't get any cash or a bus until six in the morning, so I slept on a bench for an couple hours and one more on the bus before getting started with my site seeing in Seoul.

For the sign lovers out there, I have also included a sign that was on the back of the toilet in Japan. I don't read Japanese, but I think it says something about not making your wife angry by leaving the toilet seat up.

Otaru

Otaru is a 'small' town of just shy of 200,000 people. It is beautifully set on a bay with hills to its back large enough to support a ski slope and has the feel of a struggling fishing village on the verge of discovery by the touring masses. It is sold as the Venice of Japan, but only has one major canal that parallels the bay. I had one person recommend it to me because the loved the snow gleaming festival, while I read another review that said skip it unless you are a die hard fan of canals, blown glass or music boxes, for which they are also famous. So, I went into the town tentative about what to expect but the longer I wondered the streets the more I fell in love with its small town charm.
My first stop was to drop off my bags at the Morinoki hostel, which had more of a bed and breakfast feel. The owner was very friendly, and the house was cozy with traditional Japanese architecture. My second stop was for lunch because I hadn't eaten all day. My map recommended Sushiya Street, which is known for its sushi restaurants. I stumbled on one and the staff were friendly as well and made and effort to strike up some conversation with me despite our language barrier. I even chatted with the couple sitting next to me who were travelling from Tokyo and had a similar itinerary to me. We had trouble with the language barrier but compared photos on our cameras of the Snow Festival in Sapporo and they had pictures of all the lanterns from the Snow Gleaming Festival in Otaru they had taken the night before. And I had a few people on the street and in festival booths say hello and ask me about where I was from, all of which added to the small town feel.
Along the canal there is a mix of charming old buildings, fancy new hotels and run down fishing industry boats and buildings. However, at night, under the glow of candle-lit lanterns that lined the sidewalks, bridges, and strung across the canal, it all melted into an inviting and romantic atmosphere. I wondered down the canal to view the various lanterns and other creations all made of snow and lit up by candles. Then wondered up the road away from the bay and canal in search of some dinner and stumbled upon the old railway, which is now a trail/park and was filled with more candle-lit snow creations. Ice slides, tunnels, alters, and even an Ice Bar that was a small building made completely of ice blocks to include the tables, bar and even a small fire place mantle with a digital picture frame above it playing images of Otaru in the four seasons. I stopped in for a glass of hot wine and watched the seasons pass in the digital picture frame , which only encouraged another visit in spring for the cherry blossoms and summer for surfing (although I saw some die hards surfing while it was snowing as I crawled along the coast in the train).

After wondering the city for about another hour, I determined I had seen the majority of the festivities and headed back to the hostel to join some of my fellow travellers in the living room for a movie and some journal writing before bed. In the morning I was off for Niseko for snowboarding.

Sapporo

Sapporo is a small town compared to Tokyo, but is still quite large. It is the capital city of Hokkaido, the northern island and province of Japan. I was there for the 60th Anniversary Snow Festival and it was awesome. I arrived on a Monday night and, after checking into my hostel, I linked up with a fellow traveller from Vienna to wonder through Odori Park to see some of the Snow Sculptures. They were similar to the pictures I had seen of previous festivals but much more impressive in person. The crowd was decent, but not huge as I had expected and we were able to see about half of the sculptures before they began shutting the lights off around ten to indicate we should head home.
The next day I went to see the rest of the snow sculptures in Odori park, which stretches about eight city blocks and is tucked between two one way roads like a highway median. I think the sculptures we had missed the first night were more impressive the the ones I had seen, and largest sculpture was easily four stories tall. Then I went a few blocks south to see the ice sculptures which were much smaller but still pretty impressive. The most interesting ones had fish and crabs frozen into the blocks of ice advertising a fish market I imagine and another that was a bar complete with stools and a stock of local whiskey bottles frozen in the cabinets.
To finish off the ice festival I took an hour bus ride to the last site where they had various slides built of ice and snow that kids and adults were going down on tubes or their butts. There was also an area where kids were trying their luck on little bamboo skis about the length of their feet and most of them were ending up on their backs in short order. It was fun to watch the crowd, but not really worth the bus ride. Inside the stadium there was a small train ride for kids and I think the look of shear defeat and boredom on the 'conductors' face really summed up the anti-climatic scene for the adult audience. On the way out to the site, I sat next to a young American couple on the bus with two little kids of their own. The youngest was probably two and she began to cry as soon as the bus started moving and didn't stop until just before we arrived. Despite the attractions for kids at the park, I would imagine they didn't think it was worth the trip either.
After lunch I headed for the Sapporo Brewery and Museum, where I met several Australians on holiday that I travelled with the rest of the day. We probably spend more time in the Museum Bar, than the Museum display section, and although this was a beer museum, I think more museums should have bars. After the Museum we headed for Ramen Alley which is an alley two blocks long and no wider than a household hallway. It is lined with Ramen shops and packed with tourists and locals peering through steam covered windows for open seats to stop for a bite to eat. On the way there, several giddy school girls were convinced that one of the Aussie girls was Nicole Kidman and were giggling, chatting amongst themselves and telling her she was beautiful in broken English. It was quite amuzing and I was flattered to be in the company of such notariety.
My second full day I went to a Japanese bath, which are popular in Hokkaido and Sapporo. It was both enjoyable and relaxing. However, I spent more time traveling and waiting/looking for transportation than I did in the bath. I had heard rumors that they destroy the sculptures on the last night of the festival, which sounded unfortunate since they had to take days to construct, but I wasn't going to miss the show. I headed for Odori park once I got back from the Bathes and found they weren't destroying them, but their was a huge crowd and lots of shows going on in front of the various sculptures, so I was glad I stopped in.
That evening I spent my first night at Jesi's, my couchsurfing host. She has been hosting various friends and surfers throughout the snow festival and still had a fellow English teacher staying with her for the night. Fortunately for me, her friend was heading toward Otaru in the morning, and she gave me a lift and dropped me off at a train station two stops away from Otaru.
One of the things that stuck me about Sapporo, which I was warned about before my arrival was the women's willingness to sacrifice good sense for good fashion. There we women running around the icy streets in high heels and skirts in the wind and snow. And they were literally running at times. I guess the spiked heels could serve duel purpose in the ice for traction, but it is still a site to behold. Some at least wore stockings to keep their legs warm but others had nothing to protect them from the cold and wind, which I'm sure was an added incentive to run.

Tokyo

Wow, Tokyo is an amazing city. I will compare Tokyo to New York, but the comparison is not a very good one. I would say you could multiply NYC by ten to begin to get a feel for the scale of the city. However, you would also have to divide the diversity of the population by ten as well. It has multiple train/subway junctions that remind me a places in Manhattan. For instance, Shubuya is a lot like Times Square, but each of the junctions represents a ward that is easily the size of Manhattan and Tokyo is made of up 23 wards, like NYC's boroughs. Each of the stations is a virtual community unto itself, often tied to skyscrapers and packed with shops and restaurants between the train platforms. It is an important harbor, business and finance center and is split by a river like NYC as well. However, there is no Chinatown, Little Italy, or other districts that make NYC such an interesting and diverse city.
Here a few highlights from the wards I visited:
Asakusa is home to one of the largest and most popular budist temples in Tokyo. From the first gate you walk about two blocks along a strip of small shops selling cakes, drinks and souvenirs. Then you come to a second gate and beyond that are the temple grounds with a few small buildings before the main temple. On the perimiter there are additional temples, a school, and a Shinto Shrine. The whole area is quite crowded and lively with locals and tourists alike.
Shubuya is a shopping and entertainment center and is crowded with high end stores and huge signs and electronic displays. The intersection outside the station is amazing for the shear and continuous volume of pedestrians that build along the sidewalks and side streets like water behind a dam and flood into the streets between the green lights for traffic.
Akihabara is also known as Electric City for all of the Electronic stores in the district. I had been told to visit there my first time to Tokyo and again on this trip, so I decided I'd check it out. However, after being to Shubuya it was unimpressive and almost felt like a ghost town when comparing the crowds to Shubuya.
Shinjuku has the largest and busiest train/metro junction and even employs 'pushers' during rush hour. Like their name suggests, these guys are responsible for packing people onto the train by pushing them on with large devises similar to riot shields. Shinjuku is also home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Governance buildings, which are quite impressive and, I learned after the fact, offer a free viewing platform on there upper levels.
Ueno Park is one of several large parks in Tokyo, and it has several of the major museums around its perimeter. In hinesight, I should have visited a few of the museums but I was trying to see the city instead. Within the park there are several shrines and temples as well but they are smaller than some of the more popular ones in the city. The parks have also become home to many of the growing homeless population in Tokyo and that was noticeable in Ueno.
Yoyogi Park is home to one of the largest and most popular Shinto Shrines in the city. Unlike the temple in Asakusa, the long trail up to the temple has very little built around it and is instead surrounded by trees that canopy the trail which is as wide as a four lane road. The number of visitors is pretty large but the area feels peacefull and uncrowded. Also popular in Yoyogi park, outside the area of the shrine, are the street performers. There were a bunch of guys who looked like a mix between a biker gang and Elvis impersonators with huge hair that danced to oldies all day. There was another group who looked like a mix between renosance actors and emo kids. And then there were a bunch of high school/college age kids that were carrying signs, and giving away, free hugs.
Palace grounds are in the middle of the city and are quite large. The whole complex is surrounded by a moat and grand walls made of huge stones. About two thirds of the complex is gaurded with no public access but a third is a large public garden with some of the old gaurd towers and living areas still standing. The public gardens themselves cover an area that is probably about the same size as central park in Manhattan.
Repongi is the international district crowded with embassies and is also known as the international party district and it has a bunch of pubs and clubs radiating out from the central station and intersection. I explored the area on my first visit to Tokyo years ago, but this time I only hit up a Ramen Shop for lunch and the Repongi Hills to visit the City Viewing level of the skyrises.
Despite the cities size, I was struck by the immensity of Mt Fuji towering over the city, which is a rare site from Tokyo, due to clouds and smog. The first time I was able to see it was from the plane and it made the twisted tangle of commerce and communication below look insignificant. The second time I saw it was from the top of the City View Deck of one of the buildings in the Repongi Hills area of down town Tokyo. From this closer to ground level view the peak still dominated the horizon even though it was far away. Unlike Mt Rainier in Seattle, Mt Fuji is a giant among much lesser foothills, rather than a peak among peaks, which also adds to its grandeur.

Salt Lake to Seattle

I have begun my journey and have been able to visit a few friends on my way out of the country. In Salt Lake I visited my best friend, Alberto, and his wife Erin. We had a great time at the Tavernacle, a Piano Bar in downtown Salt Lake. You can check out some pictures from the evening on his blog at: http://albertoanderin.blogspot.com
Then I caught a flight out to Seattle where I caught up with my roommate, Dean, who I lived with while I was in Arizona. He is now in Tacoma, which is just south of Seattle and a beautiful area. Of course, I may be a little bias, because I always manage to visit the Seattle area when the weather is unusually dry and mostly sunny.
While in Seattle I visited the Seattle Library, which is a fairly impressive industrial style building with lots of steel, glass and florescent colors. It is ten stories tall and built like a I-beam woven basket in the shape of a C... if you can picture that. If not, I'll try to post photos for my first time. I saw a slide show about libraries around the world the day before I flew out here, which highlighted about ten libraries to include Seattle's. A comment on the article/slide show was from a person that obviously was not a fan. They said the industrial architecture was cold and uninviting and the only good reason for it would be to discourage bums from hanging out. However, I am a bum now, and I hung out quite a while. Plus I noticed other bums and vagabonds wondering the stacks like tourists as well, so I guess not everyone finds the place cold and uninviting.
For film buffs I have included a picture of a school that played a prominent role in the movie "Ten Things I Hate About You."
Tomorrow, I fly out to Japan and spend four days in Tokyo before traveling north to Hokkaido.

Cheers