I just finished uploading hundreds of photos of my trip to Langkawi, Malaysia, to my flickr page . Feel free to zoom through the 9 sets of photos there if you are interested in seeing how gorgeous this island is. http://www.flickr.com/photos/camswitzer

Langkawi Club Mangrove Kayak tour was awesome! The photos and video will come ... eventually. Heading back to Japan tomorrow so packing up tonight. Only here to check in. See you in steamy Japan again.

Wednesday in Langkawi

Yesterday Megumi and I rented a car and traveled around the island. First we drove into the jungle to look for a geocache. We found it. BUT the location had some family dogs running around that absolutely terrified her. So much so that 1. she burst into tears to release the stress in the car, 2. she got extremely sleepy as her body kicked in to deal with the shock, and 3. she pretty much didn't talk for the rest of the entire day. I, however got down on one knee, chatted with the dogs, and they wagged their tails like good little girls and boys and where happy to lick the sweat off my arms and legs. Very nice dogs!

Then we drove around to the next earthcache, up the mountain, found it, enjoyed the history, the geology, the scenery (!). We went to the top of the mountain (850m) and there is a resort there with a tower. We went up the tower and had a 360 degree view of the entire island (and coffee).

Following that we drove back down, enjoying all the monkeys carrying their babies all over kingdom come, and kept driving around the island to the final earthcache destination. This place is designated a special geopark location, that is important for geologists around the world. A part of land has become an island due to the erosion of the rock in the area. Wonderful place. We logged that, swam around in the very warm sea, washed off with one tiny bottle of water between the two of us, then on to the next spot: cable car!

The cablecar takes one up 700 metres of steep mountain to two sightseeing platforms where you can see the entire island from yet another gorgeous angle. We even saw an "elephant woman"! The suspension bridge was really cool, and the scenery of the sea, the jungle and the mountains, stunning.

We drove home, filled the car up with gas, then had dinner at a restaurant that offered Turkish food (toilet smells funny today). Good food.

I'm waiting in the lobby right now for Megumi so that we can go and have breakfast. I'm a tad hungry after the carbs last night.

Let's see how the day goes.

I love you!
Cam

At the risk of getting harangued, I HAVE to say it: Here in Langkawi there are a bazillion different colours of people ranging from white Canucks, through crispy red lobster Aussies, Arabs in an amazing array of colours (and black, black, black), the Malays, the Chinese, Japanese Koreans... and the blacks. Whites are... well, white. But to see so many different hues and shades of brown on the black people is just wonderful. It's mesmerizing! There are really light brown people, the dark black Africans, and the gorgeous chocolate mocha colour of people with skin just like Jen's. Since we don't have a lot of Arabs and black people in Japan, it is really noticeable for one, but the colours of the black skin are simply gorgeous! I love seeing the men and women walk by with different hair lengths, colours, styles, and their skin, glowing under the sun. Just wow!

Futon Boy 2, or The adventure continues: http://youtu.be/VsOuKSabaOM

Futon Boy, Part 1: http://youtu.be/uqthdgCT6aA

IAM: Waking up with Futon Boy

Mitch felt his first earthquake last night. I'll let him try to describe it when he gets the time. I woke up at 1am when I felt it and he was up. When I woke up to leg cramps at 5am and went to get some water, Futon Boy was up and sitting on the bed. It may have been a bit too warm for him to sleep last night as he came from highs of 17C to a place that is still 31C at 8pm.

This morning I played househusband and whipped him up a whopper of a VEGETARIAN breakfast consisting of the following:

vegetable korokke (croquette)
Hokkaido mini potatoes
onsen tamago (hotspring steamed egg)
mushroom tempura
ume okayu (plum rice congee)
deep fried tofu
pickled cabbage
steamed broccoli
miso soup
and iced cafe latte.

We caught my usual 7:38 train and met my new morning train-friend nurse, Hiroko who was able to squeeze her way over to us. She chatted a bit in English with Mitch (first time to learn she speaks English). Very friendly is Hiroko (single, too). And she is a nurse so she knows well how to communicate with people and use eye contact. She also isn't afraid of body contact which is good. Hiroko got off at her regular station and we went on to Shinjuku.

I took Mitch to the two Geocaches at Shinjuku South and let him find them. Maybe I hooked him. Then I bought him coffee at Starbucks and we sat and talked about all the scenery. I took him to his platform after we bought his ticket and hugged him sayonara. He is off to the Ghibli Museum today, then to Osaka for huge hugs plus alpha from his woman.

Ah yes... last night he arrived at my station at 8pm and I took him to a Chinese place. We found some stuff with no meat.He had a shower at my place to get rid of the "flight funk", checked his mail, we chatted a bit and about 11pm called it a night. He awoke a few times during the night.

Another Successful IAM Meeting! I love Globalized Love!

And I love you!
Cam

Futon Boy and My Amazon

I gotta get home. The chances are fairly high that Mitch, AKA Futon Boy, is lounging outside my station, awaiting my imminent arrival. That is, if he found my station. You see, Futon Boy is coming to Japan today and when I shipped him a futon a couple of years ago I also promished him dinner and coffee if he ever made it to Japan.

He was set to arrive at Narita today about 5pm and I offered my lodgings and a hot VEGETARIAN breakfast. He accepted. The only catch is that as my home is on the way into Tokyo from Narita, he had to find his way home. With excellent instructions from me of course. On a jet lagged brain, that is. His.

Segue----

I finished my weekly meeting with UK at 6pm as usual and then hightailed it outta there as quickly as I could. Well who should I bump into standing at the same spot I usually stand but that extremely taal modelicious woman I mentioned in a previous post. In high heels and a short summer black one piece. With her hair up in an "I dream of Jeannie" ponytail. Typing on her iPhone.

So I walked right up to her and stood beside her, tall and proud. Then I turned to her and said,"the last time I first saw you I didn't have a chance to compliment you on your wonderfu height!" She looked shocked that some unknown person would just talk to her out of the blue (I was expecting that) and she covered her phone (I was expecting that too). Then she said to me, "Have we met before?" (I've always wanted a woman to use that line on me).

And I replied with my face alight and my blue eyes shining at her, "Not officially but if you recall last week I passed you in the hall to the sation platform and you went and stood over there." She laughed, relaxed and smiled. "I don't think I've ever met someone as tall as you here in Japan," I said to her with truth and genuine delight. Her responding laugh was like the sound of crystal chimes on a summer afternoon. "Thank you."

Our train arrived and we sat on the same bench, but I gave her some space as I didn't want to be overbearing. She continued with her phone and I finished my book. After a few stops two men got on and both wanted to sit on either side of me where I had a half space each. Fortunately for me the guy on the other side squeezed in and I scooched over next to My Amazon.

The train stopped at her station (I knew which it was as I saw her walk pas my car the last time) and I was prepared. We looked at each other and though we were side by side we gave each other a big smile and a big wave and said goodbye!

I'll be seeing her again if my timing is right.

Oh. My station. Time to go and find Scruffy Futpn Boy and entertain his jetlagged ass for the evening. It will be a balst to meet another Internet Axe Murderer!

Excuse the typos; Im in a hurry typing this on the train...

I love you!
Cam

Wow. Watch: http://www.flixxy.com/japanese-tsunami-viewed-from-a-car.htm

Saturday: http://youtu.be/hX7AIc4NSMc

Sunday: http://youtu.be/7hC99QWoT9U

Meet Yoko

Yoko lives in Nagasaka but she's from Tokyo. She's done a lot of traveling, has three children (youngest is 30) and has been divorced for 7 years. I smiled at her on the train from Nagasaka and well that was the start of a non-stop conversation about everything! She's cool. And boy is she a talker. She has a mean handshake, too. Yoko alighted at Hachioji. Nice to meet you Yoko!

Love chatting up strangers. Life is about community and communication after all.

1/3 Water Division DNF . Yatsugatake PA TFTC!

I spent a good two hours rooting around the 1/3 Water Division Cache location at Ground Zero but came up with a big fat DNF. It is a great place in the cool mountain woods to be sticking my arm up to my shoulder in unknown crevices and wondering if the poisonous centipedes are going to get me or not.

The water coming out of the ground there is cold! I washed my hands and they went numb. A long time ago that water was fought over so the people of the area built an aquifer that splits it into three streams and takes it to everyone needing it for their fields. It is impressive.

I then had some of the local soba (so my tummy is swollen like a pufferfish) and took the ikm downhill ride at top speed until I fount Yatsugatake Parking Area om the Chuo Expressway. I was on the To Tokyo side so had to find a tunnel going under the expressway to get to the To Nagano side. I rode uphill, parked my bike and went in search of the cache here. I found it pretty quickly, logged it, left a superball, stealthily replaced it, and just finished a coffee.

Now it is time to figure out how to get back to Nagasaka Stn and then wait for a train to Shinjuku.

A great weekend all in all!

Shuppatsu!

Yesterday was good.

I unfolded my bike and rode the up-down road to where Honoka is having her gallery. Then I visited an African art museum and after that pedaled over to an interesting outdoor gallery of which I showed you the thumb. An artist of yore bought the land and using the mountains, sky, forest converted the entire area into art. In the very middle of the place is an interesting round building of brick that is apparently a replica of an old winery in France.

I rode back to Honoka's gallery at 1715 but they had closed for the day. However she had her eyes peeled from above and called out to me from her friend's house a bit up the mountain when she saw me at the gallery. We borrowed her friend's car, tossed my bike in and drove up to this JazzBar Chandra where I made a booking to stay. It was a good 30 minutes to get here.

Both of us were hungry so we wandered to a restaurant in the surrounding woods and had a quick dinner, then came back for the Jazz. It was ... not interesting but our conversation was compelling and we probably annoyed the other guests by talking the entire time. Honoka went home about 10:30 and I had a shower and hit the sack about 11pm. As Honoka doesn't live in Japan (Bali, Columbia, NYC) I don't know when Ill see her next but I'm sure she will let me know when she is in the country again.

I'm just enjoying coffee now and then I must be off. I have to ride about 8km to the first geocaching spot. See if you can find Sanbu-ichi, Yamanashi Prefecture on google to get an idea where I am and what I'm doing. It is kind of a famous spot as there were water wars here in the past.

I love you!
Cam

Off on a mini adventure to the mountains (taking my GPS, of course!) It's going to be a culture, wining & dining, musical, mountainous, folding mini-bike, geocaching adventure.

TV Stars @ 17:50

Today I finished work @ 17:30, and left about 20 to. I decided that even though I didn't bring my GPS with me I would give "TV Stars" another shot.So I walked down to the shrine, located the stone carvings of Doraemon, Pikachu and a few other TV stars, and followed their gaze.

The cache was right at the end of their sight, totally in plain view. It makes me wonder how it can still be there. Because it sits exposed to the elements, the log paper is wet, the pen is rusted, the ziplock bags are rotting and the mosquitoes are still ferocious and unrelenting (almost as bad as Winnipeg mosquitoes, and that's saying something!)

I stealthily gathered everything up and took it to a spot where I could open it up and log it. I added a button, wrapped it up as best I could and headed back to the spot. This time when I re-hid it, I added some more cammo to keep the muggles away as long as possible.

When I get home tonight and after I have logged it I'll submit a "needs maintenance" ticket so that the owner knows to go and do something about it.

I'm on my way to the gym but I'm starving... and dead tired.

And I'm happy! TFTC!

Put another notch in my GPS!

I love you!
Cam

80s Retro iPhone

Wow! Here's an awesome idea for all you retro lovers: an 80s-style cell phone cover for the iPhone! And they only cost about $20!

If you want to see more photos, check out this site:
http://www.news-gate.jp/2011/0803/18/photo00.html

Brad, here's your chance
to carry around a hightec phone in a form that is in harmony with the computers you have at work! Go for it. You'll be the talk of East St. Paul.

I love you!
Cam

No Comment

I'm conducting a somewhat interesting (to me) experiment. I have often been heard to say (or read to write?) that Japanese seem not to have an opinion on current events, be they local or global. I don't hear people discussing current events at work, nor do they seem to have formed an opinion of any sort if I ask them about their opinion in either English class (in English), or during work. Now of course their English skill level may not be (IS NOT) high enough to express what they are thinking beyond a very rudimentary response, which is why I often attempt to engage them in their own native tongue.

One woman at work (she is in a different building now, so I never see her anymore) studied in England, loves England, and speaks English very well with no Japanese accent. She told me that when she first went to study, she was amazed how all the other non-Japanese foreigners nearly killed each other to get the chance to try and express themselves whenever the teacher would ask "What do you think?" Even though they could barely speak English, it didn't matter. The thing was that they ALL seemed to have their own opinion about topics and news. All but the Japanese students, that is, who sat there quietly. It was at that time that my coworker decided that she needed to start to form her own opinions about world events.

As I said, I have noted a very similar occurrence during my 20 years here. And so, these past two months, since I am much busier at my new job and don't have a quiet (private) spot to access news, have barely had the chance to look at what is going on. This is where the experiment comes in. I believe that were I anywhere else but Japan, global (and local) topics of importance would come to me via other people looking for my thoughts and/or opinions on the events. 

But guess what? Right! That doesn't happen here. It didn't happen in my old office, either. 

Let me give you a good example, or two.

Runner Up Example: I had no idea of the torrential flooding that occurred in Japan due to this most recent bicycle-speed typhoon that passed through until Charles posted a few articles and photos on his Facebook. Nobody talked about it. "Thousands stranded after typhoon; death toll at 41, over 50 missing"

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/thousands-stranded-after-typhoon-death-toll-at-41-over-50-missing

First prize: I just happened to have a free minute yesterday and turned to the japantoday.com site to quickly skim the topics and see what had happened over the past few days. And guess what? I found out that we now have a NEW Prime Minister, and his popularity rating is 63%! Can you believe it? Not one single person in my office, or even in my building of probably over 500 people has even mentioned this BIG event! Total silence. Absolute and utter silence on this topic.

"Japan's new leadership wins solid backing in more polls"
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/japans-new-leadership-wins-solid-backing-in-more-polls

Blows me away.

I will continue with this experiment for a while because, in truth, not knowing the news really isn't going to kill me, though knowing it allows one to have some world knowledge, and have interesting conversations when one gets tired about talking about how hot it is, or how humid it is, or (soon to be) how cold it is. Usually.

I love you!
Cam

P.S. 
"Apple’s iOS 5 to adopt earthquake early warning function"
http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/apple%E2%80%99s-ios-5-to-adopt-earthquake-early-warning-function

Geocaching Five For Five, the Video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkd1AckCAgA

Five for Five

With the typhoon gone over to the Fukui side of the island, Megumi and I went out to ride our bikes and do some geocaching. 

Two weeks ago you may remember I went out to do some caching across the Edogawa River in Chiba. I only found one: 1st Saizeriya. The other several I tried I couldn't get. This time, things were different and well... we found five for five today! Yes!! 

The Edogawa near my place is really high from the heavy rains up river, so it was quite dirty and fast, but we crossed over with no difficulty. First of all we went to "Where Am I?" which has an old train on display in a kids playground. My GPS was going haywire the last time, but this time... well, I sat down "on the waves", and thought a bit, trusted the coordinates, reached, and there it was. Pretty simple. 

Next we rode a little further to "Earth, Peace, Futuer" (Misspelled by owner), and saw this little bronze girl standing in a tiny park (concrete) in the corner of a big intersection. I immediately found the cache. Megumi was a bit pissed because as she was getting her gps up and running, I just walked to where I thought it would be, and there it was.

After that we rode to the "Animal in Stone" location, and I showed her the animal. Just to make sure I wasn't wrong, and this wasn't some deviant stone carving of a traditional thing (as can happen here in Japan for reasons unknown to me) that is actually something else, I asked the owner of the carving (who owns a tobacco shop on the corner), if it was really what I thought it was (maneki neko). He said yes. So I put in the coordinates for the next location (this is called a multi-cache, where you go to one place, answer a question, and based on the answer get new coordinates for the next location, which might lead you to a next, and a next, and a so on... ) and we went there (155m away). 

Actually it was right where I was searching last time and couldn't find anything. BUT this time, I recalled where "1st Saizeriya" was hidden, and since the same person hid this one, I knew exactly where to look. But instead of just grabbing it, I gave Megumi some hints and she reached out... and her eyes bulged as she pulled out her first cache! "Cam!! How did you know?!?!?!?" (think like a geocache...) So, we took photos, logged it, added a sticker, and stealthily put it back. There was a lot of people and traffic so I made a bit of a diversion for her, and she slipped it back.

Then I took her to "1st Saizeriya" because she was again a bit miffed that I just found three absolutely by myself. So I gave her the same hint that is on the log page, and reminded her that it was hidden by the same person who hid the "Animal in stone". I told her to look for a similar location. 

I also told her that in the description they say "near the parking lot". So once she saw the parking lot, and recalled what I told her, she found it right away! No old lady in the too expensive (but fresh... for Tokyo) veggie store across the street to stare at us this time. We stealthily put it back and headed on.

After that we went to "Thousand Ginkgo" ... and this shrine is AMAZING! There is a 22m ginkgo tree there that is 10m in diameter, and over 1,200 years old. Yes, that is TWELVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD! It is huge! And gorgeous. She was fiddling with her GPS, and I turned mine on, wandered behind the tree, and realized that the directions were pointing over the high stone fence to another area. So I told her it was over there. We went over to that gorgeous area, and found even more small shrines with lots of trees. 

Very nice! I recalled what the hint said, and remembered what everyone wrote ("took me five minutes to get out..." very hard to find"... etc.) and immediately knew where to look. There were two places. I took one, and Megumi the other. It was in Megumi's spot (whew!). BUT she couldn't get it out. So I told her how to get it out, and we did. This was the best cache so far. It was a "small" cache, and not micro so there was lots of stuff in it. 

There was even a "travel bug" which is a stuffed toy with a dog tag on it that has a number. You can take the bug if you want, then log it, and have to plant it in some other place. This bug has been to the following places: Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, Washington, Germany, The Netherlands, India,  and Japan. We are going to take it to... Malaysia and drop it off there in a cache on our holiday (IF we can find a big enough cache to put it in). Keep an eye on the photos attached, as well as the video you may see in a bit. 

After putting this one back, and feeling very happy, we headed toward home, but there was another one on the way. So we went to "Osu Disaster Prevention Park" and ... well, I found it right away. Megumi was having trouble with her GPS, but it was pointing in the same direction as mine. We did a bit of triangulation, I felt behind a place, and then realized it wouldn't be there because it would be too easy for the ton of muggles and muggle kids playing in this park. Then I reached somewhere else... and there it was! We photographed it, logged it, and hid it again. 

And then we went for home, and on the way stopped for some dinner because Megumi was so hungry she was feeling sick. She was rather grumpy and had to force the food down, but once we got on the road again, and by the time we got back home, she was OK. 

And that was the geocaching adventure for the day!

I love you.
Cam

Terrible Typhoon or ... Wind?

There is a typhoon slowly creeping over the island, so the humidity is up at 100%. Sleeping last night was a nightmare, as the temps don't go down when the typhoons come through. 

The funny thing is, everyone in Tokyo talks about "it's a big one! Danger! Danger!!!" They are all going to talk about it at work today, and probably some people will suggest going home early. Down at the other end of the country (Kagoshima, and the islands down there), a typhoon usually really is bad, as it causes much damage and flooding. But up here in Tokyo we get strong winds and some rain. 

Oh my god! Rain! That's another thing the Tokyoites complain about: rain. The thing is, this is the dry side, so they don't like the rain. I, on the other hand, come from Fukui where it usually rains about 3-4 days a week during the dry season, so rain in Tokyo is a blessing to me. 

However, when it does rain, those stinky Japanese men get even worse on the trains because the trains turn into a "cool sauna"... Imagine cold air blasting in the trains, and sweat running down your back, and soaking your armpits, and the nape of your neck. Then imagine the bodies of 100% of the 499 other people crammed into your train doing the same thing, but NOT wearing anti perspirant...