Taking the Bullet to Kyoto

Kyoto - its not just a place where presidents from Texas deny global warming. Its a place where there are tons of ancient Buddhist shrines. Took the bullet train from Nagoya to go do a walking tour - very fast and cool.



Here's a couple of shots from the shrines.





If you've ever wondered where calamari comes from - I learned that its made in a machine like this...simply feed the squid in at the top, and down the chute comes delicous tubes and tentacles, ready to eat
Maybe the worlds cutest little cement truck. Everybody in our group thought it was real funny to get a picture of the big guy next to the little truck. I guess it needs to be this small since the streets are pretty narrow, but it seems like you'd be pouring your sidewalk all weekend long

Here's the Japanese cemetary I mentioned in an earlier post. It was a pretty cool view - and reaffirms that high density living in Japan doesn't just apply to those with a pulse

Shinto Shrine in Ise

Since we were in Ise, Japan visiting an equipment vendor for work, it wasn't hard to find time to visit Jingu, which is located in Ise, and is one of the holiest sites in the Shinto religion. Apparently the place dates back to 4 BC, and part of the belief requires that portions of the shrine are torn down and reconstructed every 20 years. There's a pretty good writeup on the place on wikipedia. My main impression was that the place was beautiful and reminded me at times of old growth forests I've hiked here in Oregon. Like everything in Japan, the place was spotless, neatly organized, and full of polite people

Downtown Nagoya

The Nagoya Marriott is located in the upper floors of a high rise in the middle of town. The lower levels are a swanky mall, and converging in the basement are dozens of of train tracks connecting from all over Japan. At street level there was a huge open plaza, offering some of the most interesting people-watching ever. At any given moment you could look through the crowds of bustling commuters and see about a hundred people all in the same pose, expectantly holding their cell phone out at arms length, waiting for their hook-up to text them.

I ended up with a killer view out my hotel window. Here it is both at day and night.

Factory Construction Progress

The construction crews are cranking along, and at least the structural pieces of the campus seem to be coming up remarkably fast. As always, we got to do a site walk and check the progress, and compare the real life building to the drawings we've been planning to. I thought this perspective below, looking down between the factory and the support building with the city in the background was kind of cool

Shanghai Cricket Market

On previous trips we've walked around the bird market...really more of an narrow city alley functioning as a pet store. Not much tourist traffic here, mostly all locals, and we've gotten some "what are you doing here" looks from the animal dealers as we've walked around. This time there was a change of merchandise - not a lot of birds, because we hit right in the middle of cricket season. Even on the sidewalks surrounding the market, dozens of guys were laying out tarps and setting out the rows of little tuna-cans of crickets for sale, as well as the associated accessories that no cricket should be without, including tiny little porcelain food and water dishes for them

These cricket's destiny is to be more than just a pet though...these are fighting crickets, and crowds would gather around shopkeepers who would use a piece of straw to tickle the back feelers on these tiny brawlers to get them agitated.

I never really saw a cricket fight, and I can't imagine that they can do much damage to each other. What could they do except maybe hop all over each other? Probably a lot of trash talk and posturing, and not a lot of legitimate action...like pro wrestling for insects

Getting Around Shanghai: August

Shanghai is a great place to walk around, and with a population of >20mil, there's lots of opportunities for people watching. There are also lots of creative forms of transportation, including:



The Motorcycle Family Transporter

The Bicycle Family Transporter

The Motorcycle taxi that doubles as a hammock

And my personal favorite, the KFC delivery bikes...thus allowing the Colonel's secret 11 herbs and spices to speed right to you door unencumbered by traffic

Besides a little taxi and subway action, we mostly walked while we were there. While walking I tried to grab a picture of a unique view of the old and the new...the hanging laundry down the street with the new skyscrapers in the background

We visited a Buddhist Shrine that weekend too. I forgot to write down the historical significance of this place, but this cool looking structure was off limits for tourists...locals said it was from the 1600s. There was a pretty good crowd of worshippers there too, and the monks doing their thing in the traditional robes and stuff.

Signs in China and Japan

Hungry for a little seafood? How about a little crab? Just head for this Japanese storefront that sells seafood...you'll recognize it right away because its got grandma's head - on the body of a crab. I thought that this was really bizarre at first, which is why I took the picture. But the I gave it some more thought, and realized its not so different from similar American icons. Consider Mayor McCheese....he's got the body of a man and a delicious head, and we don't even think twice
















Right in the heart of Kyoto we came across a cemetery. Japanese cemeteries are very different than traditional American ones. Very densely packed, and marked with little granite spires for each family. And fortunately, they sell them right outside the entrance, so you don't have to haul it far. They also have signs outside the entrance reminding families to keep their grave markers clean and straight. You can see from the sign, that a clean gravestone is a happy gravestone

In the Shanghai airport there was a gorgeous fountain - a huge stone wall with water running down its face into a large pool. Although I was dying for a little dabble, I was glad I read the sign first
Even the Great Leap Forward started with a few small steps. This sign below was posted above the urinals in a Buddhist temple compound in Shanghai. I felt a little self conscious whipping out the camera while standing there in the bathroom, lest somebody think I was some kind of a weirdo, but it was too funny to pass up.
Unfortunately, China could use a whole lot more of these signs. For some reason every Chinese man considers himself a volunteer fireman and stands way too far back, with the predictable results. At the Intel factory in Pudong I witnessed a similar sign that actually specified a 30cm dimension between the urinator and his target.
Check out Mini-Mini - fearless crusader of the Japanese convenience store. Not sure what his powers are, but they probably include speeds faster than a bullet train, and the ability to leap tall displays of kippered octopus in a single bound.


I've never seen a lot of dogs when I've been in Asia...in China, I just chalked this up to the fact that they're edible. In Japan, I'm not sure, although this sign made me wonder that they might all be in jail because of bodily indiscretions.

Speaking of things we never saw, there must be a bunch of Amish people somewhere in Ise, Japan. At least enough that they get their own crosswalks and associated signs

Summer In Oregon

Got lucky this summer and didn't have to do a lot of travel. Which is good, because anyone from Oregon knows that enduring the long grey winter here and then skipping the summer is like eating the dry edge of a cinnamon roll and feeding the buttery center to the dog. Plus I think the kids would have led an insurrection if we hadn't gone camping enough this summer, again (like last year, where for fun we build a deck instead of take a summer vacation). So here's a couple of shots of our summer destinations

Part 1: Daddy and Abbi Go Camping

For weeks we made plans for a daddy-daughter campout where Abbi would have her first experience backpacking, which she was very excited about. Ironically, the very day we planned to go, it hit 104 in Portland, and she picked up a nice sunburn on her shoulders from trying to cool off at the lake. So instead we headed to the coast to Mt. Hebo with Cade Meier and his girls. We ended up in a huge meadow on top of the mountain with the whole place to ourselves, and were treated to an incredible sunset while the fog rolled in over the coastal foothills.

The girls played, Dads had manly conversation, and in the morning we went for a hike, hit a fish hatchery on the way down, and played at the beach before the obligatory Oregon coast ice cream cone. It never fails to amaze me what an amazing place we live, where I can go from 100+ in the valley to a coastal mountain top with patches of snow remaining in less than an hour, and then go another 30 minutes an be at the beach. Where it looks like this


Part 2: 4th of July in Bend

After having such a good time there at spring break, we decided to head back to Sunriver for a few days on the long weekend. Lots of good times riding bikes on the trails, playing tennis, and hiking along the Deschutes river.



And tons of wildlife to be seen both large and small. On the small side, Zack became obsessed with trying to excavate an ant lion and take it home as a pet that he could feed ants too. It was not to be, but not for lack of effort. Those things can dig fast.


Part 3: Scout Camp at the Beach

Now that Zack is 11, he's old enough to graduate from cub scouts to boy scouts, and go to scout camp. But not without his dad for the first year. It was good times, good beach weather, and sub par food. Zack cranked out 8 merit badges in a week, and had an awesome time hanging with his buddies. Here's a shot of the boys working on their swimming merit badge in some very chilly water





And we had a ridiculously nice view of the beach from our campsite up on the bluff. I'm sure this real estate would be worth gazillions to some developer...luckily its been in the scouts hands for 60+ years, hopefully for many more





Part 4: Rafting the White Salmon River

Growing up in Oregon, I thought I had done rafting before. My experience on the Rogue and the Deschutes consisted of going to the river outfitters with a few buddies, grabbing some rafts or big inner tubes, throwing them in the water and going for it. This time was different. 40 degree water. Full wet suits and helmets. And guide in every raft. And a wild enough ride that I didn't get out the camera for any pictures during the run.

But I did take a couple of shots of Mt. Adams. There happened to be a forest fire at the time, and since the fire was up higher than we were, it made for unique view.




Along the way, we passed several tent cities of fire fighters, camped right by the side of the road.

Shots out the window

Made several trips to the Southwest in April and May this year. I always find myself conflicted when choosing a seat - even though my body demands the aisle, I love looking out the window and checking out the scenery. Flying over the Grand Canyon I got lucky a couple of times and got a clear shot or two







There was still some snow in the Sierras as well.

Cancun Vacation

Once Joanna had tax season wrapped up, we took a well deserved escape to Cancun for a week, far and away the longest we’ve ever left the kids. Fortunately they were in the capable hands of Aunt Beth. We had an incredible time snorkeling, visiting the Mayan ruins, eating good food, and laying on the beach.

Out the window of our hotel was the biggest flag and flagpole I’ve ever seen. I took a picture of it while flying, but against the sky without any size reference to compare to, it wasn’t that impressive. Luckily, the army guys took it down for a few days and then came back to hang it up early one morning. Check out how many dudes it takes to carry this thing

And here it is getting run up the pole


While I didn’t catch any good pictures of the fish while snorkeling, I did get a shot of a bunch of shipwrecks stuck on the reef we were swimming around…casualties of a couple recent hurricanes



We decided that although the water seemed slightly chillier than Hawaii, the sea life was more spectacular and diverse. Besides the colorful fish, we saw an octopus, lobsters, barracuda, and lots of different types of coral.

The Mayan ruins were awesome. We drove our rental car out to Tulum and did a self guided tour there…its up on a cliff above the ocean, with a spectacular beach down below… and enjoyed some time in the water since the sun was blindingly hot that day



We also went to Chichen Itza, and had the guided tour on this one…decided we didn’t want to drive ourselves 3 hours out into the jungle so we took the bus. We passed through some towns that were much more traditional Mexico than touristy Cancun, including this little Mayan town that consisted mostly of a single town square where women sold traditional handicrafts



The ruins at Chichen Itza were amazing, and went on for ever. Here’s the main temple that you've probably heard of, the one thats perfectly aligned with the sun at the summer and winter solstice



Here's temple to the rain god, Chac-mool. At the very top, between the two pillars, is a statue of ol' Chac laying on his back, with a platter on his belly. That's where the officiating priest placed the freshly plucked heart of the sacrifice victim as an offering

And just down the way is the ball court, where two teams of warriors would battle it out to get a little ball through the stone hoops that are about 25 feet off the ground. No hands allowed, just feet, hips, and elbows. Our tourguide said it was unclear whether the winning or losing team captain got sacrificed. It would make for an interesting fourth quarter if you knew somebody was paying a visit to the Chacster after the clock ran out

Finally, we picked up some Luchedor masks for Zack and Abbi while we were there…they put them to good use on the trampoline back home – Nacho Libre style