Homecoming (part two)

For all four us, the journey home began in Kyoto.  We woke up at our capsule hotel, visited one last temple in the sweltering heat and humidity (an amazing zen garden), and then officially ended our last sightseeing activity with an enormous sushi lunch.  I believe it was at that lunch that Oscar announced that he was actually glad to have gone on the sabbatical (a huge admission, and welcome even though it came at the very end).  He also confirmed that he was not really on board with the trip until we were a few weeks into it.  He certainly grew a lot (physically and otherwise) during those 8 months between Cuenca, Ecuador and Kyoto, Japan, and I'm proud of him for getting out of his comfort zone.

Post-sushi feed, we took the Kyoto subway, bullet train, and then local Tokyo bus to the Narita Sheraton Hotel, where, miraculously, the luggage we had forwarded awaited us.  Our first jolt of culture shock occurred at the hotel, which was filled with Americans (flight crews and tourists).  The hotel restaurant featured photos of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the fitness room was filled with grim faced runners, and a pushy compatriot yelled at Neil for walking on the left in a crowded hallway according to Japanese custom (that guy was going to have an ugly surprise in the subway).

Flying to LA on an American airline was the worst -- terrible service, cramped seats, and lame movies. Our next flight to Salt Lake City had multiple gate changes and delays, confirming that domestic air travel in the US is horrible both on its own terms and relative to other countries.

It was wonderful to see our old friend Suju in LA, visit Ping and Chris in Salt Lake City, and then see tons of family at our reunion in Park City.  It was all a happy blur.  On some level, we were all a bit distracted, thinking of home.

Finally, a week later, we landed at JFK.  Sitting between Ruby and Oscar as we flew in over Queens, I was overcome with a mixture of happy excitement and melancholy nostalgia for our trip.  Then, Oscar turned to me and said, "I thought this day would never come."  Ruby seemed to be levitating in her seat.  I began to realize I was more happy than sad.

Now that we've been home for two weeks, we've seen family and friends, gotten through our mail, and started getting organized for a busy fall of school and work.  At first, both Neil and I were waking up disoriented, thinking we were still in Japan.  Then, I went through a few days of utter, deep fatigue. Now, I'm starting to feel back to normal, but still marvel a bit at the bountifulness of American life (drugstores, in particular, overwhelm me).  Everything is orderly and clean, kind of like Chile!

The four of us talk about what it feels like to be home.  Somedays, we hardly think about our epic sabbatical.  Other times, we reminisce a lot ("Remember when Ruby was the first to rappel down the cliff?"  "Remember when mom threw the passports at dad in the bus terminal near Ilha Grande?" "Remember when Oscar took a tuk tuk home by himself and stranded Neil and (Ni)sid in a downpour?"  "Remember when dad disappeared for hours, barefoot in the foothills of Chimborazo?").  I won't miss the bathroom smells or long waits at restaurants, but I already miss the intense time we had together.

It will take us a long time to process what this trip meant to us.  Even if we don't talk about it much, it was unforgettable and life changing.

My highlights:

• Being in and around the Andes for 6 months
• Learning Spanish and getting to know our wonderful tutors in Ecuador and Peru
• Visiting relatives in Hunan, China
• Rafting the Futalefeu in Patagonia
• Getting my Book 7 Suzuki Teacher certification in Buenos Aires
• Seeing animals in Kruger National Park, the Galapagos, and the Oriente (jungle)
• Checking out the world's largest and highest salt flat, the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
• Pigging out in Southeast Asia and Japan

What I won't forget about returning home to NYC:

• The humid smell of Brooklyn that hit us as soon as we exited the terminal at JFK.
• The kids reflexively commenting on every airport hotel as our car service took us home ("that one looks like a prison" "that one looks like the Santiago airport hotel" "that one might be as nice as the Guayaquil Hilton")
• The long moment we all hugged on our stoop before opening the front door.
• The forgotten sounds of home that greeted us (a familiar creak to the powder room door, the clatter of kids running up or down the front stairs)
• How walking down 9th St. or 7th Ave. contains its own muscle memory.  
• The relief I felt at picking up the phone without having to look up any vocabulary words and knowing I could communicate 100% with the person on the other end.  

What I'm most happy about now that I'm home:

• Seeing friends, family, and neighbors
• Exercising again (finally!!)
• Cooking with familiar ingredients and tools
• Playing my own violin again & getting ready to teach my students 
• Being able to enjoy the wonders of Prospect Park and the Hudson Valley

What I didn't miss:

• Any of my stuff (except my violin)
• Looking for parking
• The level of stress that permeates daily life in NYC.  
• How busy everyone is

Thanks for reading.  I'll miss blogging, but I don't think anyone will be interested in hearing about what I'm making for dinner or what dental work I need.  If you told me I had to leave again in a month or so, I'd gladly pack my bag in a heartbeat.  Although that clearly is not happening, I do hope to hit the road again with Neil (maybe with O&R if it makes sense for them) in a few years -- perhaps not another 8 month round the world trip, but I have my eye on some sweet rentals in Ollantaytambo, Peru and Luang Prabang, Laos.  I look forward to returning to places we've been, and there are so many new places to explore.  Stay tuned.  

You know you're in America when...

You can rent a fully automatic assault rifle with no training or background check.

Happy Birthday shooting trip for cousin Max!

Homecoming (part one)

How ironic.  After so long on the road in some dicey places, and maintaining our health, we arrived in Park City, Utah to our family reunion and ...  the norovirus.  

Such bad luck.  We are 47 people, ages 4 to 93.  Some came from Beijing and Taipei.  Others from all over the US.  It is our largest reunion so far and it is truly wonderful to be together.  We are celebrating my mom's cousin's 80th birthday tonight!

So far, 7 of us (including Ruby) have succumbed.  Some had to go to the ER, others got off more lightly.  It's been hardest for the youngest kids, who had so looked forward to being together, but instead, have been quarantined.  We are trying our best to keep the older generation healthy.  We are armed with wipes, bleach, gloves, and anti-nausea medication.

It's challenging, as we are self-catering breakfast and lunch.  As with any respectable Chinese family, every meal includes ample amounts of Chinese and Western food.  

Just for example, today's breakfast: 

French toast casserole, crepes (with berries, Nutella, whipped cream, maple syrup), toast, yogurt, granola, bacon, sausage, peach cobbler, peach pie, cold noodles with cucumber (with hot sauce), rice gruel (with ginger sauce), shredded chicken and scallions, sliced cold beef, tea eggs, coffee, and juice.  I'm sure I left a few things out.

Fingers crossed that we four will make our red eye tomorrow night to NYC.  We are SO ready to be home.  

Party in the USA

Although we won’t be home in Brooklyn for another few days, yesterday was a homecoming of sorts.  Like Miley Cyrus, we hopped off at LAX and had our own enthusiastic Party in the USA.

After a trip that started with a shuttle bus from the Narita Radisson at 1pm, then continued with a redeye to LA, we arrived some 24 hours later in Salt Lake City, to see Ping and Chris, and stay for a few days of Wu Family reunion in Park City. 

We were fortunate to be able to break up the trip and spend some time with our old friend Suju, who picked us up at LA and took us to lunch and the beach in Venice before our flight to Salt Lake.  A sunny summer day at the beach, and real American food (burgers, salads, grilled cheese and chocolate chip cookies) were the perfect way to re-enter the USA after 8 months.

It’s nice to be back.

Japanese efficiency

As everyone knows, Japan is home to bullet trains and complicated toilets.  But coming here gave me a deeper sense of Japan's order, efficiency and cleanliness.  

It stands to reason that in a country where space is at a premium, there are rules about where to put your body.  Whether it was the subway, waiting for a ride at Joypolis, or watching an outdoor concert at Kyoto station, we were constantly being corrected on where to stand.  I'm not talking about us being totally clueless and not knowing you had to line up.  We were just politely guided each time to adjust our position ever so slightly.  I think Japanese people just like really neat lines, and if there are footprints painted on the ground, you really better stand on them.

Above all, Japan is all about smooth logistics.  Navigating Tokyo and Kyoto by subway and bus, we encountered polite, pleasant employees ready to help clueless tourists.  Tokyo's subway and commuter rail system was by far the most complicated we have encountered, yet it was the most pleasant.  

Our ranking of subway systems in terms of overall comfort (best to worst):

Tokyo

Kyoto

Taipei

Bangkok

Beijing

Hong Kong

Santiago

New York City

Buenos Aires

The biggest coup of our trip was managing to forward our luggage from Tokyo Station to our airport hotel so we could travel light to Kyoto.  I gather it's a fairly common practice, as luggage space is at a premium on those bullet trains.  It could not have been easier and was very affordable.  

I have to mention vending machines too.  All manner of sodas, waters, teas and coffees are dispensed on practically every street corner.  Even restaurants make creative use of vending machines. Hole in the wall places that cater to commuters sell tickets by machine for a plethora of ramen and soba combos, which you pick up inside minutes later.  Genius.

Attention to cleanliness is also ubiquitous.  In restaurants where shoes are not worn, bathroom slippers are provided.  Hand sanitizers are conveniently located in train stations, hotel lobbies, and restaurant waiting areas.  The pool bathroom at our hotel has a separate sink for eye washing, and one for gargling.  Blowing your nose in public is considered disgusting.  

Japan's orderliness reminds me a bit of Chile.  But the latter's was more grimly enforced.  Japan's politeness is like Cambodia and Laos, but our SE Asian sojourn was not marked by orderly logistics, to say the least.  China can approach Japan's efficiency in a certain mass organized way, but it needs a major attitude adjustment.  Hmmmm....is Japan the perfect country?  Possibly, especially if you value courtesy and smoothly functioning logistics.  

Sleeping Capsules

I had always been both curious and a bit scared by those sleeping capsule hotels in Japan. On one hand - how cool, it's just like being in a spaceship. On the other - I'm a tiny bit claustrophobic, and the thought of being packed in a box with little wiggle room terrifies me.

Checking in

Despite my curiously, I never gave much thought to staying in one, at least on this trip. Most of them are for men only, and they have a reputation for catering mostly to a hard-drinking crowd. 

But when we heard about 9hours, a high-design, co-ed capsule hotel in Kyoto, Yo insisted we cancel our luxe room at the Westin to give it a try.

Men's corridor

Cool experience overall - more comfortable, and roomier, than I imagined. The biggest surprise was that you aren't actually sealed into your capsule. There's just a privacy curtain separating you from the corridor. So not quite as cool as space travel, but much less scary. And there was a lot of room to move around. It was sort of like a luxury, and private bunk bed in a dorm. Business class hostel?

Oscar in his pod

Pod selfie

A Packed Few Days

Farewell Tokyo, home of the $160 watermelon cube.  (For bargain hunters, the same store sold two mangos for $60 and 12 lychees for $86.)

I think they grow them in boxes and turn them.

We managed to make the most of our four days in Tokyo.  Our activities fell into three categories:

1. Eating.  Tempura, ramen, soba, and sushi (from the early morning fish market to high tech delivery systems to our local gourmet supermarket), we tried it all.  Restaurants tend to specialize in one type of food, and it was a fun challenge to seek out to best of each.

Desserts hewed to the West.  Artisanal raw milk ice cream, crepes with ice cream and whipped cream, frozen macaroons, and good old Baskin Robbins.  High end malls in Tokyo are filled with luxury European and American food outlets, so we also managed to get our hands on delicious baguettes and croissants for breakfast.

Crepe heaven

Macaroon Ice Cream Sandwiches

2.  Gaming.  How could we come to the birthplace of videogames and not partake?  Gaming arcades dot the city and serve a diverse clientele.  We got kicked out of one in Shibuya only because you have to be over 16 after 6 pm.  Family favorites?  The dancing zombie school girl first person shooter game, Mario Cart, and Air Hockey.  The helicopter shooter game requires some understanding of Japanese.  The drumming and dance games were just okay.  

After a few days of regular gaming, we upped the ante and went to Sega's Joypolis.  Yes, it was pure joy for those of us under the age of 14.  As for me, I learned that there is no language barrier for fear when murderous Japanese dolls are on the loose.

3. Shopping.  After so many months of traveling without much souvenir shopping, arriving in Tokyo was like entering the Mecca of weird and interesting retail.  No surprise, Muji and Uniqlo are ubiquitous.  But there also was Bicqlo, the marriage of Uniqlo and Bic Camera.  

Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Omote Sands, Midtown Tokyo, we did it all.  Kiddyland (5 story toy store), Tokyu Hands (DIY taken to a new level), Pokemon Center, the list goes on.  We were psyched to check out the Prada store designed by award-winning architects Herzog & DeMeuron.

Prada in Tokyo

What about temples and museums?  Well, we did visit Meiji Jingu and the Ghibli Studio Museum.  The latter reminded me of visiting Pablo Neruda's houses in Chile.  So fascinating to see the home studios of, and far-ranging influences on, these artists -- a Japanese animator and a Chilean poet.  Both are considered national treasures and visiting their respective museums has a feel of pilgrimage about it.  

School kids at the Ghibli Museum

There's no denying the fact that we didn't emphasize culture or history on this visit.  Hope to remedy that a bit with this upcoming weekend in Kyoto.  

Japan's most famous monster, near our apartment in Roppongi

Joypolis . . .

... is an indoor amusement park/game arcade on an island in Tokyo Harbor.  It was a great place to spend our last afternoon in Tokyo, escaping the heat and humidity.  

The rafting, jungle and flying rides were just like a recap of our South America adventures.  I was scared witless in a Japanese doll haunted house.  Neil and the kids did a zombie shooting upside down roller coaster.  

But the highlight of my day was the photo booth.