Saturday, October 31, 2015

Shark Bait

Spent a weekend in Pacific Harbor, Fiji. Known as Fiji's Adventure Center. From there you can kite surf and horseback ride, zip line or go river rafting.  You can also go shark diving which is what I'd come to do.

There are a couple outfits that do this. I chose Aqua-Trek. For 165.00 US you get two dives, snacks and water, and gear which includes a shark repellent wet suit.  By shark repellant, I mean a plain black wet suit, which sharks are attracted to.  That was the line they were feeding us anyway.  



Here's how the whole adventure works.  They take us out to a site.  All the operations meet at the same place.  We get kitted out with gear and they give us extra weights.  We plunge overboard and they lead us down to a ridge where they have sit on the bottom.  Then they lower down two bins, one of which is suspended about 20 feet off the sea floor.  As you might imagine, after years of this venture, the fish all know what's going on and they are gathered by the thousands.  It's a swirl of color. Two divers then take big fish heads out of the bins and start waving them around, and, sure enough, the sharks come.  And they are pretty big, perhaps 10 or 12 feet at the biggest. I know I saw four different kinds.  They are all perfectly content to chow down on fish heads.


Extra divers swim behind us with big sticks, sort of riding herd over us snacks, but the sharks aren't too interest in us.


We finish after 30 or 40 minutes and take a break in the boat, then head down and do it all again. This time the sharks and fish have all gotten the message and there are more of them. The divers keep pulling out fish heads and the sharks keep coming.  Then just before the end, they open up the suspended bin and 60 gallons of fishy guts spills out, causing a frenzy of activity. If you can get beyond
the thought that fish guts are drifting slowly down upon your head, it is a quiet a sight.

Overall, it was contrived spectacle.   Like monkeys dressed as dolls begging for change in Indonesia, or genital table games in Bangkok,  the shark dive doesn't really show fish in their natural environment.  

It is,though, an interesting chance to see them up close, though.  If you get a chance, I'd recommend.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Siem Reap Top Ten Tips


Here is a list of ten things to know when you head toward Angkor Wat.


10. Don't eat Mexican food, no matter how cute the servers uniforms may be.  This is my longstanding rule, but I broke it and I regret wasting a coveted meal time on such disappointment.


9. Drink, but don't eat on Pub Street.  There look to be many other nicer, quieter and more authentic choices off the main drag in Siem Reap. Amok was great! Chauncey looked promising as did Terrasse de Elephant.


8. The Palm Village Resort and Spa is a nice out of the hubbub place to stay. A few minutes ride to the temples and to town. Quiet and comfortable. Staff are super responsive. Good food can be served in their dining room, in your room or pool side. They also have the perfect rendition of a dog the world has known. Please give Kiwi a belly rub from us when you see him.


7.  The end of rainy season is a good time to go. The rains are trailing off and it is not too hot yet.  What's better, the crowds haven't come yet and if what we saw was anything to gauge by, it could feel really crowded during high season from December to May.


6.  Read up as much as you can prior to arriving. This will help give the temples some context. Reading up on modern Cambodian history would also be helpful in interacting with the locals.


5. Even if you read ahead, hire a guide for at least the first day. The can help with orientation, navigation and have a good general knowledge.  30-40 dollars well spent.


4. Speaking of dollars, take lots of them and make sure they're small bills. The Cambodians have their own currency, the riel, but you won't need it at least in this area. Everything is priced in US dollars.  There are lots of ATMs around but they, curiously only dispense 50 and 100 bills, which no one can break.  You'll look like a jerk if you bargain for a 3 dollar pair of pants and hand over a 50 dollar bill.  


3. The Floating Village Boat tour should absolutely be avoided at all costs, no matter how quaint it sounds and "Templed-out" you may feel.  It is an utter and complete tourist trap and will leave you feeling dirty, manipulated and questioning of all NGO works and previous charitable acts you've ever performed.  The 20 dollars you're not going to spend here will be much better spent even if you blow it on Mexican food that I suggested you not eat in number 10.


2.  If given a choice between a car and a tuk tuk, take the tuk tuk. Here tuk tuks are rather ornate trailers hitched to the backs of motor scooters and they are the way to get around. If you can hire one for the day (15-20 bucks) it can come in handy.

1. Go. Now.  This is a fairly cheap, laid back and fun place to spend a few days or more.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Not My Proudest Parenting Moment

It wasn’t my proudest parenting moment.

We wanted to go to a Bangkok night market. All the tour info said to go. Great bargains. Lots of interesting things to buy, they said.

So we picked the Patpong night market as it was an easy train ride away.  Sure, there was  redlight district nearby, but times, they said, were a changing, and the market was moving away from that kind of thing.  The redder lighted places were off on side streets, they said.  

We were there rather early.  Many places were still setting up.  It was all T-shirts and watches until we came upon a stall with a vast variety of sex toys and,.... toy airplane models.  Apparently an untapped niche.

Throwing stars and hi-voltage stunning flashlights were a few stalls down.

“Are these even legal to have?” I asked.

“NO!. Of course not, they for police work!”  And yet there they were.  Regulation Police Throwing Stars.  

Down the main drag at Patpong was lots of the same, but the clubs were close by and were not quite Disney.  Open doors spilled out thumps and bumps and glimpses of swim-suited girls leaning, bored, against  a forest of brass poles.

I recalled just then a Tom Robbins book I read about the shenanigans that occur in places like these with women and ping pong balls.  Just as I recalled this, touts appeared listing all the things you could see for a low low price. My daughter asked just what exactly they do with a ping pong ball and we euphemized our way around the topic.

At first the touts were discrete in just showing the cards to you.  As the evening wore on they began reciting the list from memory. Shoot ping pong ball, hold pencil, write name, hold razor blade, blow smoke, cut banana.  Wait, razor blade?  Cut banana? It was a genital circus!

And though there was a part us that were curious about such feats of skill, the evening started a conversation that lasted the rest of our trip about exploitation and what it means to be a tourist.  Where’s the boundary between Madam Ginsu and the disabled stone carver we watch at an EU sponsored workshop or between she and the fishing village that we pay 20 bucks a head to cruise through people’s lives looking for photo ops.

So, I don’t think I’d drag my kid down to Patpong again.  We went to another safer, cleaner night market the following night and had an overall much more enjoyable time, but Sarah Scissor-whatever, did provide some opportunity for parenting moments or life moments.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

In Abundance


Back to the Homeland recently for the Autumnal Equinox. Don't know about the country as a whole, but in the Midwest this means pumpkin spice latte everything!  Coffee and tea, of course. And cookies, and donuts and bagels and room freshener a and car fresheners. I swear I saw pumpkin spice latte intimate massage oil.  

Ok. That's a lie. I didn't really see that.  But if present trends continue, it should be here soon, and when it gets here, I want a cut of the profits.


I can see the advert now. "This season only. Pumpkin chai massage oils. Spicing up those cool
Autumn nights." Maybe a howling werewolf (in a smoking jacket) at the end.

Was also pleased to see the trend of of beverage size has continued.  A small beverage at Burger King is 20 oz.  This may have been this way last year, but it's a shock to see such a size after being away. The pile of medium and large size cups behind the counter looked like the cleaning supply aisle.

Was also introduced to the concept of chicken fries at Burger King. Chicken formatted into the shape of French fries, breaded and then served in a cup or a box.

Oh America, your abundance has gotten the better of you.  I hear your fears of taking in refugees and your reluctance at giving money to the poor in other countries, but a little scarcity may do you some good.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Something Fishy


One advantage of jet lag is being able to to wake up easily for things like the Tsukiji fish market tuna auctions in Tokyo. They only allow 120 people per day to watch, so, I was up at 3 am and to the market by 4 am. It is on my list of things to see.

I am both stunned and reassured by the fact that I am not the only weirdo who would be drawn to such a thing, for alas,  I was 10 minutes too late. There are at least 120 earlier birds and countless other jet lagged and disappointed Caucasians wandering around the awakening streets wondering what to do with their mornings until the rest of the city arises.

Coffee Vending Machine






I sit for a moment with my vending machine coffee and then decide to wander the streets with the other fish zombies.


I came upon a 24 hour sushi place.  This place is the Waffle house of sushi, and I mean that in only the most positive way. Three old men running the place.  Greeting the guests as they enter and cranking out fresh sushi and hot green tea all night long. Seeing that the fish was bought off the boat 100 yards away, I figured it had to be fresh and, if caught off the shores of Fukushima, maybe radioactive.

Anyway, it tasted super fresh and the chef let me take his photo.  Though I've never asked for early morning sushi, it was the best Sushi breakfast you could ask for.

Chef and Breakfast

Revived, I decided to redouble my efforts to see the auction and infiltrate the market.  This wasn’t too hard to do.  I just disguised myself as an aging Asian guy and ducked into the crowd. Though they don’t really want outsiders there until 9 AM, there is no admission or gates.  It wasn’t too hard to get in.  
First was the Fruit and Veggie market.  Wholesale crates of perfect peaches and kiwis individually wrapped.  Boxes of carrots and cabbages stacked head high. Headed to markets everywhere.

Then the intermediate fish market.  Here is where the big fish are cut down to size for distribution.  Other fish and seafood is sold as well. Snapper, squirrel fish, eels, roe, scallops, shrimp  Aisle upon aisle of it.  One wanders and may come to two conclusions.  The sea is so abundant. Or, we are raping the seas.  Or both.  

Fish on Ice
Octopus
Tuna cut down



Further in, is the tuna auction. This market is mostly just an open garage with rows of frozen tunas arrayed on the floor, like rows of torpedos. Men in boots gather round another man standing on a stool.  With a  quick shout he starts a little dance, barking out prices.  It’s all very choreographed and probably the same little dance that's been danced for hundreds of years.

It would have been nice to watch for awhile, but I got too bold and started to take photos.  That’s when the Tuna Police came and politely escorted me off the grounds.  Who knew there were such a people? 

I did manage to get a few shots.  Here’s the best of them.

Blurry Tuna Auction

After sunrise, the crowds line up for a sushi Breakfast.This place only seats about 12 people at a time.  How do you say "Eat it and beat!" it in Japanese?

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