The return of…

September 03, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » Baan Chinnakorn

For my flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, my boarding card contained four Ss again. Indeed, now at the gate, I was asked to step aside, but now the additional check, at the boarding gate, was superfluous. Though that was only because at the baggage check, some of my stuff had already been taken out for an extra pass through the scanner.
As opposed to the last time, I had to stand in line with five others to be rechecked. All with the four Ss on their boarding cards.

Stepping out of the airport to wait in line for a taxi, distinctive Thai food smells wafted in my direction and I couldn’t help but smile.

At the moment, Thailand is facing some political turmoil. For months, anti-government protests have been going on and the day after I arrived back from Tokyo, the government declared a state of emergency.
There had been talk of strikes and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get to Chiang Mai.

Train tickets were being sold and though the train was nearly empty, it ran nicely on time. I arrived back in Chiang Mai, tired, but content.

Within thirty minutes of my arrival, Vlekje walked in the door.

Cosplay

August 31, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Jingu bridge

On my last full day in Tokyo, I went over to Harajuku where, on Sundays, cosplayers come together to show themselves off. This specifically happens around the Jingu bridge, close to the Yoyogi park.
Although some of the players were very well dressed, overall, I was a bit disappointed. Additionally, surprisingly, quite a few of the cosplayers were not happy with their photos being taken. Sure, there were quite a lot of tourists on the lookout with their big cameras, but the whole point of these people coming together here is basically to show off.

Nearby, in Takeshita street, Japanese schoolgirls hunt for the latest fashion. Most popular? Shoes and socks. And readymade cosplay costumes. But all that is small and cute and can be sold is popular.

In art gallery Design Fiesta, artists can advertise their own art. Not surprisingly, there was some crap amongst some reasonable stuff. 80x80cm wall spaces go for 525 yen per day, around 5 dollars.

Media

Hunting for gadgets, I came across Book-off, where manga sells for 105 yen (1 dollar) per comic, which are small paperbacks. They were also pushing CDs and DVDs, and from the bargain basement, I picked up 5 CDs for 2.5 euros. All Japanese, but MC Hammer and Terence Trent D'Arby were on sale too.

Everyone loves clamshells

The Japanese love their cellphones. And they love their clamshells the most. Sliders are a tiny minority.

And the Japanese love their video game halls. Though most contain slot machines or vertical pinball machines. Odd stuff.
I didn't find too many DDR machines, although I was able to hop around on a DDR Supernova 2 machine.

New to me were the card game machines. Not poker, or something similar, but Magic The Gathering like, or simply playing soccer, with playing cards.
The machines use a flat table and a TV screen. On the TV screen, you can see the game as it progresses, which depends on where you put and move your cards. I'm thinking the cards are equipped with RFID tags to make this work.

And, finally, the photo booths. They're in Thailand too, but Japanese video arcades have floors dedicated to them. Some have desks where you can borrow outfits, wigs and other peripherals, just to make the girls look even cuter.

Oh, there's also the toilets. The more fancy toilets don't have ass showers from a hose, they've got the ass shower built in. A control panel allows you to set the heat and power of the shower. After that, it's pure enjoyment…

Carnival

August 30, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Kaminarimon

I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo during one of the three major summer festivals. The Asakusa Samba festival, right next door from my hotel, draws some 4000 participants from all over the world. Lots of pretty chicks in pretty costumes doing pretty moves. And the Japanese contingent showing that, indeed, east Asians can have hot booty too.
Unlucky for the participants, there were three major showers during the parade. In my hotel, in my pod, I’ve got my own TV, with an earpiece to not disturb my fellow podizens, and the news has been fawning over the many floodings in the Tokyo area over the last few days. It’s been raining for most of the week, but today, it really was like the sky opened up. Noah would have felt at home.

Though a few participants were of international origin, most were Japanese. And they loved the elaborate dress ups. I have a feeling that’s because the Japanese see carnival simply as another type of cosplay. Only, one accompanied by loud Latin music.

Porn

August 29, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Koma theater

Tokyoites are so starved for space, using a love hotel, even if you're a 'normal' couple, is considered reasonably standard practice. You can rent a room for, say, two hours, typically decked out in some wild setting, and then continue about your business.
That said, of course the densest clusters of love hotels are in areas where the more conventional red light district services are also on offer. There, you won't have a hard time finding your way around, if you're Japanese. 18+ only information shops give you the lowdown on what service to get where, what to pay for it and which girls to ask for. All in high tech fashion, with rows of flat panel screens giving you access to all the services available in the neighborhood.

Porn shops are not exactly everywhere, but easy to find. DVD shops have a stack of shopping baskets at the door. You pick a basket, load a stack of DVDs from the shelves into it and retreat to a private cubicle.
And everything your heart might fancy is on offer. Including stuff that would put tub girl to shame.
If you have a slightly weak heart, you might not want to click on that previous link. Unless you've got safesearch turned on in Google.

If a creepy mind ever thought of it, it's for sale in Japan's porn shops. Hello Kitty vibrators? Check! Vibrating underwear (for girls)? Check. Vending machines selling used undies? Check (though I haven't found them yet).
And in Japan, they take fleshlights (again, you might not want to click on that link) to a whole new level. And they're cheap! The cheapest ones coming in at only some 3 euros! Hmmm… Maybe I should get a few as gifts…

In the DVD stores, small screens continuously pump out Japanese porn. With the naughty bits censored. It made me wonder whether, if you buy or rent any of the DVDs, the naughty bits are also obscured.

Sights

The Shinjuku area is home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government offices, where you can go up to the 45th floor, for free, and enjoy the scenery.
It's not the only skyscraper in the area you can go up in, the Shinjuku Sumitomo Building being another example.
One that's not free, the Sompo Japan Museum of Art, on the 42nd floor of the Sompo building, has the added attraction of van Gogh's Sunflowers which was acquired in the 1980s for 5 billion yen.

Tokyo opera city is considered to be one of the world's most acoustically perfect concert halls. In the same building, there are also two art galleries. While I was there, one ran an interestingly sounding show "Trace Elements", with the subtitle "spirit and memory in Japanese and Australian photomedia", which I thought was disappointing. The other gallery had a more lowkey but seemingly more interesting show on ASADA Hiroshi. However, I found the combined ticket price too much to justify a visit.

Chicks

August 28, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Shibuya crossing

What is it that has resulted in so many Japanese having bad teeth? I noticed something similar in Thailand too and, there, it’s not uncommon for grownups to have braces. A boy at the internet cafe had such bad teeth, like a series of glass shards you sometimes see on top of a brick fence, my eyes couldn’t help but continuously linger down to his mouth every time he talked. Well, on my first visit anyway.

Thailand might be the country of the edible calves, Japan seems to be the land of edible legs. And chicks with rather hot bodies, dressed up in knee stockings, high heels and tight tops.
Like, imagine a juicy chicken drumstik, fresh of the grill. When you see one, you’d have the urge to bite into it, just to have your incissors brake the skin and get to the tender meat underneath, whiping your lips off the fat afterwards. Japan’s chicks’ edible legs are a bit like that.

Though many places, noodle bars and some museums being a few, have done away with cashiers altogether, having them replaced with machines, I presume to save space and costs, at the same time, many elevators, in warehouses and skyscrapers, are manned by girls in cute outfits. What’s more, they don’t just stand by idly, pushing the buttons for you, they have whole tales to tell and do funny moves.

Sights

Turns out the Bandai headquarters is just around the corner from my hotel in Asakusa. Big Doraemon and others puppets stand in front of the building.

I was on my way to cross the Sumida river to Sumida-ku, where the Great Kanto Earthquake Memorial Museum remembers the devastating 1923 earthquake which destroyed 70% of the city and killed more than 50.000 people. The museum, sharing a park with several war-related memorials, is a bit ‘old’.
Close to the museum is the Ryogoku Kokugikan, a large sumo stadium, and, a little bit further, the Tomioka Hachiman shrine, popular with sumo wrestlers. The shrine also holds two portable shrines, mikoshi, which can be carted off for events. Both are gold plated and encrusted with diamonds and rubies.
The important Fukugawa Fudo temple is nearby. On its second floor, a gallery depicting 88 temples on a 1400km pilgrimage route on the island of Shikoku. It’s said that offering a prayer at each alcove has the same effect as visiting each temple. I’m sure that with prayers also come some cash incentives.

Also in the same museum is the Basho museum. Matsuo Basho popularised the haiku in the late 1600s. According to a flyer available at the museum, the rules of the haiku…

1. Keep the 5-7-5 form. That is, 17 syllables in three lines.
2. Include a season word. The only explanation given is that a season word is “a word established to convey the feeling of the four seasons”.
3. Potentially use a breaking word. This seems to be a Japanese linguistic thing and can’t then apply to haikus in other languages.

Here’s my attempt at a haiku:

My computer screen
Tapping away on my skype
The rain on my window

Whaddayathink?

In the same area, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, MOT for short, had a reasonable exhibition called ‘Parallel Worlds’, highlighting French and Japanese surrealist art where the most interesting artist on show was the video artist Daniel Guyonnet.

Close to the Fukugawa Fudo temple, I had what looked like a sugary bun, but what turned out to be pure sugar, like ossified cotton candy, in the shape of a bun. The man selling them had a small fire going on which he would put a small saucepan with what looked like syrup. The syrup would start to boil, after which he’d put in a tiny sliver of something powdery in the boiling mix, stirring it around constantly, but having taken the saucepan off the fire.
Within a few seconds, the mix would become cloudy and, several seconds later, the cloudy mix hardened, quickly resulting in the hard bun-shaped extremely sweet but lightweight candy he was selling.

Next, I went to the other side of town, to Shibuya, known for the huge pedestrian crossing I’m sure you’ve seen on TV once or twice, or thrice.
The crossing, just outside Shibuya station, is close to a statue of a dog, Hachiko, who, in the 1920s, came to the station every day, for years, to welcome its owner, not knowing the owner had died on the job.

Shibuya is also known for its concentration of love hotels, short term hotels where couples with little privacy can rent themed rooms for 30 dollars for two hours.

In Shibuya, I also came across my first smoking bars, empty stores where you can smoke. The one I found in Shibuya was sponsored by Mild Seven. The place had a few internet terminals and a bunch of listening stations, where you could enjoy 10 or so new CDs. A few drinks machines, free drinks, were standing in the corner.
Later, in Akihabara, I found one with a cigarette shop inside and a girl at the entrance, handing out free cigarettes.

At Shibuya 109, a lifestyle mall for Tokyo’s girl teenagers, I learned the relevance of “Japanese Schoolgirl Watch”. Wired magazine has been carrying a regular column called “Japanese Schoolgirl Watch” for years, the reasoning being that what’s hot with Japanese schoolgirls now is set to be hot in the rest of the developed world a few months, or years, down the line. At Shibuya 109, I fully understood the relevance of this.
On the steps of the mall, lingerie producer Peach John was pushing its new lines with a model or artist called ‘Kelly’.

Gadget heaven?

August 27, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Tokyo Tower

Very surprisingly, electronics aren't all that cheap. In many cases, I've found the electronics in Thailand to be cheaper, though that might be because of the cheap Chinese knock-offs, which do make it to the shelves there.
Gaming consoles, in Japan, are affordable, though most are, price wise, on par with the US. Though the Wii is easily available here.

Of course, what's special about Japan is the breadth of different electronic gear. Hello Kitty USB sticks, dancing mini-orchestras. Communicating Tamagotchis, and whatnot.
I almost made an impulse buy of a Google Maps navigator. A bit like a rollerball mouse, it responds to pushing down, pulling up, twisting around and pushing sideways. Indeed, perfect for navigation Google Maps. And it came in at a reasonable 60 euros.
And I'm tempted to buy a wifi radio. This is a standalone unit which can play thousands (theoretically) of radio stations when having access to a wifi point.

I did get a Nintendo DS Lite. I was struggling between getting a PSP and a DS and eventually settled for a PSP. Literally moments later, I learned that Sony will come out with a new PSP model in October or November. So it had to be a DS.
Back to Akihabara, I chose the color, asking in passing if the machine was available in English. Not. So no purchase.
I ended up buying the machine at the airport, where signs advertised the 7 languages on offer. Opening the box, I turned on the machine, to find the whole interface in Japanese. I was guided, by the sales girl, through the Japanese setup and registration process, after which it was possible to set the language, all in Japanese. Now, thankfully, it's running in English.

Sights

13 meters higher than the Eiffel tower at 333 meters, the Tokyo tower is the worlds highest self supporting steel tower. The views from the top are pricey but good.
A better choice would have been to go up to the observation deck in the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills, an architectural marvel in itself. Tickets to the observation deck can be combined with a visit to the supposedly excellent Mori Art Museum, on the 52nd and 53rd floors of this tower. What's more, with this ticket, you can get free or discounted access to several other museums in town, including the excellent National Art Centre, which had a very good Chinese modern art exhibition on show.
The best piece of that exhibition was a collection of life-like old men made out of resin and wax, driving around in automatic wheelchairs. Half sleeping, bumping into each other in a large open space inside the museum.

Close to the Tokyo Tower is the Zojo temple, with in its gardens a tree planted by General Grant, the 18th president of the United States, in 1879, as well as a tree planted by George Bush (the elder) in 1982.

Enjoying the scenery for most of the day, visiting major malls like the earlier mentioned Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown, my last stop was at the Yebisu beer museum. A bit boring as a museum, but worth a stop for the cheap tasting set on sale, which allows you to try "MAJOR weiss", "Puremium YEBISU", "YEBISU The Black" and "MAJOR ale".

Food

August 26, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Yasukuni shrine

You can eat rather cheaply if you give up reasonably standard enmities such as a table. Or a chair.
'Noodle bars' are what you think they are. Designed like a bar, but serving mostly noodle based meals. If you find a bar which only allows for standing customers, you save a hundred to two hundred yen on your meal. Noodle bars are not expensive, though. A good meal in a basic noodle bar (with chairs) will cost you between three and five euros.

Then, if you want to eat in a proper restaurant and drink a beer or some wine, and assuming you pay in cash afterwards, you might just notice the difference in the weight of your wallet. Even if you pay in paper money.
Besides the evenings I joined the Tokyo hash, I ate at a 'regular' restaurant once. A 'cheap one', where my meal, including one beer, came in at 20 euros.

Surprisingly, McDonalds, as well as other fast food restaurants, are very affordable. And everywhere.
A Big Mac, though on promotion, currently only costs 1.35 euros (or about 1.80 dollars). The Japanese are certainly doing well on the Big Mac index.

Meanwhile, vending machines selling drinks (and cigarettes) are everywhere. For cigarettes, you need a special card to prove you're not underage.

Sights

I started off today by gawking at the Tokyo International Forum, half of which looks like the hull of a huge ship hanging in the sky. Then, I walked over to the Imperial Palace, off limits to lesser mortals, though the not-so-impressive Imperial Palace Outer Garden and the enjoyable Imperial Palace East Garden are open to the public.
In the nearby Kitanomaru Park, home to the Nihon Budokan, a concert hall where the Beatles once played, I spent an hour or so enjoying a large Kendo championship, for kids.

My next stop was the Yasukuni shrine, Yasukuni meaning 'For the Peace of the Country'. Well known abroad, because it's Japan's memorial shrine to the country's war dead, which, with the slightly, ahem, revisionist Yushukan museum next door, isn't all too much appreciated, particularly by neighbouring countries which suffered Japan's expansionist tendencies in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th.
The Yushukan is Japan's oldest museum, founded in 1882.

Nearby is Tokyo Dome City. The Tokyo Dome, resembling a huge egg, with the dome actually being kept in the air by the difference in air pressure between the inside and outside. The dome is home to the Yomiuri Giants, Japanese love their baseball, evidenced by the memorabilia giveaway I walked into.
But there's more. The next door La Qua Spa is Tokyo's most sophisticated onsen, hot spring, five floors with theme rooms, massage parlors, scrubbing palaces and whatnot.
And then there's the baseball hall of fame, the roller coaster ride and the huge ferris wheel.

I ended the day in Ginza, which is a rather upmarket shopping district. Ginza was one of the first areas of Tokyo to modernise during the Meiji Restoration, that is, the period during the second half of the 19th century when Japan opened up to the world, though mostly under threat of force by the Americans.
Ginza is also home to Sony Street, with the Sony Building, as well as the Hachiman Temple. The tiny temple, still at street level and not relocated because of sky high real estate values, hasn't moved because an apartment building was simply built over it.

Internet cafes

August 25, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Senso-ji

Space is so much at a premium that internet cafes offer nightly rates, comparable to the price of a night’s stay in a pod hotel. Added advantage: you can read as much manga as you like and surf the internet as much as you like.
Typically, the internet cafes have cubicles available with easy lounge chairs and a shower on hand. I remember reading a while back, perhaps in Wired, mentioning some Japanese spending the night at manga cafes. Manga, if you’ve been living in a cave for the last twenty years, are Japanese comics. My favorite subgenre, if you’re wondering, is hentai.
To help overnight stays at manga cafes, the one around the corner from my hotel even offered the possibility to take a shower.

Sights

Asakusa, the area I’m staying in, is home to a hot tourist destination, Senso-ji, a popular Shinto temple holding a small statue of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. Shinto, of course, is Japan’s national religion. Though influenced by buddhism, it’s essentially animistic.

This being an early Monday morning, the first after my arrival, I woke up, jetlagged, at 5am, it was rather quiet on the streets. Surprisingly so, for a metropolis of some 33 million people.
Also, because it was Monday, most museums were closed, meaning I missed both the Tokyo National Museum and the Tokyo Metropolitan museum of art, where currently an extensive Vermeer exhibition is on show.

Onwards to Kappabashi-dori, a shopping street famed for its sales of plastic food models (for restaurants to display in their windows), I stopped at Chingodo-ji, a temple dedicated to tanuki, basically raccons which huge nutsacks on which they can fly around. I am not kidding.

A few years back, I did projects for NIROV and Habiforum, both occupied with design of public spaces, with a focus on multiple space use. That means vertical use of available space, an example being a train station under a mall.
Easily, Tokyoites are the kings of multiple space use. Every little bit of city is used and, where possible, many times over. Subways under trams under skytrains under malls.

During my stay in Tokyo, I also visited a few cemeteries. I have a morbid fascination with cemeteries, mostly because they can be extremely picturesque. My guidebook promised me I would enjoy Yanaka cemetery, but it was only ‘alright’.
One surprise was a grave marked with a turtle carrying a monolith, a common theme in Mongolia.

From San Francisco to Tokyo

August 24, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Japan » Tokyo » Hotel Kawase

I got up Saturday morning, 7am, to catch my flight from San Francisco to Tokyo. I arrived at my hotel at 6pm on Sunday. The flight lasted only some 10 hours, but I crossed the dateline, so I moved a day forward.
Sitting in the train from the airport to downtown Tokyo, I reflected on the time spent in transit. Oddly enough, I realised I couldn’t really say, with certainty, whether my journey really only had taken half a day, or whether it was one and day and a half. The only choice I had was to rely on the clocks at my disposal.
This suggests that, without outside indicators, it seems to be very easy to ‘lose’ time.

Upon checking in at San Francisco airport, I received a boarding card with the letter ‘S’, repeated four times, in the bottom right corner. When I went through customs, a lady checking the boarding passes marked the letters S with a pink marker and called a guard over. I was allowed to jump the queue.
But only to take off my belt and shoes and empty my pockets. Then, I had to stand in a plastic box which they called ‘The Puffer’. Indeed, air was ‘puffed’ onto me and, half a minute or so later, the doors opened after a green light was shown inside the box.
Then, all my things were moved to a separate area, where two security guards took out cotton pads and started wiping them over my stuff, putting each used pad inside a machine which, seconds later, would give off a sound, supposedly indicating whether it detected anything out of the ordinary. I asked what they were looking for: “Powder… gas… anything that goes ‘boom'”.

I passed their tests and hung around the area for some ten minutes, to see if anyone else was getting the same preferential treatment. No one.

Alien

In Tokyo, things do really feel different. At the internet cafe, I’m asked if I want a smoking or none smoking seat.

In my hotel, I’ve got a ‘pod’. A bit like sleeping in a train compartment, but with my own TV inside my pod. There’s a communal bathing room, complete with sauna, which fits 3 or 4 individuals at the same time.
The pod is quite affordable, cheaper than a bunk in San Francisco, for example, coming in at a reasonable 16 euros, when booked in advance. (If you’re interested, I’m staying at the hotel Kawase and I booked through Travelhog.net.)
If you want a bit of an upgrade, a single room, for example, prices skyrocket. If you’re quick, or book well in advance, you might be able to find something for around 50 euros per night, but it’s more likely you’ll pay more than that.
Tiny apartments, one room with your own facilities, go for 700 – 1000 euros per month.

The noodle bar where I had dinner requires its customers to pay a machine, select the meal, and then give the ticket which the machine spews out to the cooks.
Upon leaving, all cooks unanimously say thanks.

The address system in Tokyo is, well, different. An address consists of the name of an area and three sets of numbers, denoting section, block, house. So my hotel is at 2-19-14 Kaminarimon.

Still, Tokyo has so far turned out to be surprisingly affordable. The pod hotel is about 16 euros per night, my noodle dinner (which actually was rice and sushi) was 3.50, internet is less than 2 euros per hour, a short metro ride is just over one euro.

To court

August 22, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » Hall of justice

Having been to prison earlier in the week, today I went to court. I attended a hearing related to 'The San Francisco 8'. The Wikipedia entry is rather short on the subject and the related website is a bit chaotic, but what seems to be the case is that in January 2007, eight individuals, many of them Black Panthers, were arrested for a series of offenses, including the killing of a police officer, more than 35 years ago. Apparently, some of the 'proof' was extracted under torture. And we know that American law enforcers know how to deploy torture. Ehm, coercion.

The hearing was surprisingly short: a simple postponement to September 8. I ended up chatting for a while with an older lady called Joan, about African politics, her having been involved in anti-apartheid activities, both in the Bay area and in Southern Africa in the late 80s and early 90s.

Afterwards, I walked over to the Anchor brewery and was lucky enough to hook on to a tour of the production facilities of one of the finer American beers, Anchor Steam. Surprisingly, they also make a few exclusive whiskeys. Unfortunately, afterwards, we only got to sample the beers.
Interesting tidbit: St. Arnold, or St. Arnoul, or St. Arnold of Soissons, is the patron saint of beer brewers (although there might be a small mix up here with Arnulf of Metz, notice the similar names).
Arnold was a proponent of drinking beer instead of water. Beer being much healthier, in the middle ages at least, due to the fact the water in beer is boiled before consumption.
But, to be a saint, you have to have a miracle ascribed to you.
After Arnold's death, the individuals carrying his body or coffin stopped by an inn and asked for a pint. The proprietor excused himself, saying he had only one beer left. The bearers took the bear, with the intention of sharing it amongst themselves. However, the mug never emptied…

Interesting note: The whole city is filled with murals.

Art and laughs

August 21, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » SFMOMA

More cycling, checking out the Golden Gate park. Covered in fog, fresh and moist, I stopped by the Japanese Tea Garden, a tourist trap on days you have to pay for getting in, which are four of the seven days a week. The AIDS memorial grove was interesting, as was the Dutch windmill. I didn’t see the bison roaming the grounds.

From Fisherman’s Wharf, where I had rented the bike, I walked to the Rincon center, where a series of large and reasonably pretty murals dominate the hall of the old post office.
Inside, the ‘Rain Column’, a fountain like a small continuous rain cloud, was surrounded by a series of small restaurants where employees were enjoying their lunches. Here’s a few things, food related, which I’ve noticed over the past few days:

+ There are not very many 7-11 supermarkets.
+ McDonalds is only lightly represented.
+ Almost every street corner seems to have a Starbucks.
+ Subway (sandwiches) is all over the place. And they only have two sauces, whereas in Chiang Mai they have eight.
+ Mexican food (and Mexicans) are everywhere.

While in Mexico City, I was disappointed with the lack of Frida Kahlo artwork on display. Little did I know there is a major Frida Kahlo exhibition currently on at the SFMOMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (I visited the New York counterpart of the museum seven and a half years ago.)
The museum is good and Kahlo’s exhibition is more than excellent. Besides her famous paintings, quite a few never seen before artworks are also on display.
After these wildly popular internationally renowned works of art, I stopped by the Cartoon Art Museum, where a reception was being held, presenting the works of upcoming comic strip artist Briana Miller. Her self-published works were for sale and good. Very evocative. She regularly produces nice one-panel shorts on her blog.

I finished with a visit to BrainWash, where Tony Sparks was hosting an open mic evening. Comic followed comic, until I realised that most of the crowd was actually either on stage before or going to be on stage later.

Where’s the love?

August 20, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » Golden Gate bridge

Back in 1999 I traveled all over Russia. Then, a few years later, I visited New York. I remember how similar Moscow and New York struck me. Not so long ago, I mentioned this to someone, but then I realised I didn’t remember anymore why they struck me as similar.

The obvious similarity is architectural. Both cities have a lot of neogothic buildings. However, now being in San Francisco for a few days, I realised what at least one other similarity must have been: the displays of abject poverty and the obvious disparity between rich and poor.
Just off the center of town, here, in the area called The Tenderloin, so many people sleep on the streets, so many people beg, practically on the doorsteps of hotels charging hundreds of dollars per night, providing valet parking for no less than 30 dollars, or more.
This what seems to be careless attitude towards the destitute, by the state, is another, related, similarity between Russia and the US.

Today, I rented a bike and cycled across the Golden Gate bridge. In summer, over the heated up ‘hinterland’, hot air rises, pulling in cold, condensing, air from the sea, resulting in many foggy summer days on the shores of the Californian coast around San Francisco.
As a result, the Golden Gate bridge often can’t be seen through the clouds, as has been the case for most of my stay, so far. Still, I can’t wait forever, so I picked up that bike and drove a it across the bridge to Sausalito, on the north side of the bay, where an icecream parlor was selling (rather mediocre) fish ‘n’ chips for 2.79 dollars (ex tax).

Some stores list their prices with tax, some list them without tax. Because everyone has to pay tax when purchasing something in-store, the tax will always have to be slapped on. Why, then, list the prices, sometimes, without tax?
It’s extremely annoying, as you almost never know whether the list price will be the price you’re going to pay.

Before hitting the bridge, I stopped by the very touching pet cemetery (no Stephen King in sight) inside the Presidio, a former military base, close to the bridge.
On the other side, in Sausolito, I stumbled upon an artsy car, put together by Heather Wilcoxon. It was an old vehicle, completely covered in toys of all sorts.

Asking the specialists

August 19, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » Berkeley » La Campanille

After missing breakfast, I headed out to Berkeley, where the University of California has more Nobel prize winners than you can shake a science curriculum at.

In Berkeley, just across the bay from San Francisco, you can also find the Cafe Mediteraneum, which claims to be the place where the cafe latte was invented in the 1950s. Whether that’s true or not, their sandwiches are very decent.
And there’s also a Revolution bookstore, where I had an interesting chat with David (“Daveed”) on the future of communism and the benefits (or not) of a communist revolution, though his and his colleague’s fascination for Stalin where a bit unhealthy.
Indeed, this chain of bookstores are, in a way, the party offices of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA.

In the evening, I headed down into SoMa (South of Market), to the Axis cafe, where Zeke Kossover did a show called Ask a scientist. A bit like doing science-based ‘magic’ tricks. The place was packed and everyone loved it, as if Zeke was a bit of a celebrity.

Do stuff and make money

August 18, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » Alcatraz

I started my day by grossly underestimating the duration of the walk from my hostel to pier 33, from where the tours leave for Alcatraz. Tickets to Alcatraz are hard to come by, typically, during summer, being sold out about a week in advance, but I had managed to get the last ticket for the first departure today.
Halfway through my walk, I started running, ending up being the very last person to board the boat.

Alcatraz, as an island, isn’t too impressive. However, the included personal audio tour is very good, with narrations by both ex-wardens and ex-inmates.

After Alcatraz, I hobbled over to the tourist trap which is Fisherman’s Wharf, where, in the Musee Mecanique, old arcades go to die. Followed by a quick stop at Ghirardelli square, the location of a former chocolate factory and now home to two Ghirardelli chocolate stores, lovingly handing out samples of their chocolate to potential customers.
Then, off to the Diego Rivera Gallery, with one very nice Diego Rivera mural. One of three by this Mexican master in San Francisco.

The rest of the day I did household chores. Moved to a hotel from the hostel, did my laundry and did some work.

I also bought a battery charger at Radioshack. They’re hiring people, using the very convincing slogan “Do stuff and make money”.

The future’s so bright…

August 17, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company

On Sunday’s one should go to church. In fact, I went to two and even tried to get into a large synagogue, but that one was closed.
The first church was Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, where pastor Donald F. Guest gave a passionate and flaming speech, supported by lots of clapping, waving, praise from the audience and, of course, a rock band.
I managed to catch the 9am service. When outside, the queues for the 11am service were filling the length of a block.

The second service I walked into was at the Cathedral of St. Mary the Assumption, which was much more timid, ‘dignified’, if you will.

Then it was off to Japantown, where I learned of the existence of ‘Manga cafes’, where you pay by the hour to read whatever Manga you like. A Bit like a library, I suppose.

On the way back, I stopped by the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company. Here, indeed, fortune cookies are made. By hand. Outside the store, a boy was practicing his moves with a wooden sword.
I picked up a bag of six fresh fortune cookies. Here are my fortunes…

You will be traveling and coming into a fortune.

An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting.

Now is the time to call loved ones at a distance. Share your news.

You will be recognized and honored as a community leader.

The smart thing is to prepare for the unexpected.

Consolidate rather than expand business projects in the near future.

Fortune cookies, incidentally, are a local invention. Created for serving in the Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate park.

An afternoon with Tony Sparks

Another half priced ticket for a show in San Francisco. And, coincidentally, in the same theater and the exact same stage as the show I attended the night before.
This one wasn’t really sold out. There were nine people in the room. Six of which were performers on the show. Indeed, there were three paying spectators.

Still, the show was quite a bit of fun. Three stand up comedians and a trio of sketch (skit) artists. The three stand up comedians, one of which being Tony Sparks, were black, the sketch artists were white.
The sketches were okay, not great, and played a bit too fast, though that could have been related to perhaps a bit of stress due to the rather small audience.
The three stand up comedians, Tony Sparks the least, all very much played up their blackness in particular and racism in general. Still quite funny and on a few occasions VERY funny, but also sad, in that, apparantly, in the US, racism is still so very much brooding just under, or perhaps just above, the surface.

Zombie flash mob

August 16, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » Union square

Took it a bit easier than on the day of my arrival. Checked out the Civic Center, which includes the modern San Francisco Public Library, United Nations plaza, where the UN charter was signed back in 1945, and City Hall, which looks like a mix of the US capitol and St. Peter’s basilica in the Vatican.
Next up was a series of murals in The Tenderloin, the raunchy part of town, then went in search for Piano wizard, stumbled upon refurbished Nintendo DS Lites and an open air music festival in the Yerba Buena garden.

Then, decidedly the most spectacular chance meeting happened. While walking over to the supposedly excellent Cartoon Art Museum, I stumbled into a zombie flash mob (what?). Serously, seriously hilarious.
And it got even better. Halfway through the ‘parade’, the flash mob bumped into a group of individuals protesting against Scientology, using V for Vendetta masks and house music.

So much to see in San Francisco

August 15, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » United States of America » San Francisco » Coit Tower

Got up at the ungodly hour of 3am to catch a 7am flight. I occasionally don't even go to bed before 3am, so the only solution I figured would work was to sample the local tequila to get a buzz going and feel sleepy quickly.
It worked, I got some sleep, and Rouzeh was so kind as to wake me up by calling me from South Africa at 10 minutes to three.

The streets were empty and, for a change, signage was manageable. It seems Hertz honored the 300USD deal they offered me for the rental of the car more than two weeks earlier and, some smooth minutes later, I was the first person to check in for my flight to San Francisco. Indeed, I could have stayed in bed one hour longer.

Foot race

San Francisco is relatively small, with only some 750.000 inhabitants and the inner city only some 10 square kilometers. Most of the sights are walkable. And it's pretty, with something of an old world feel. But where Mexico City felt decidedly European, I couldn't but help escape the feeling that San Francisco had a South African feeling. Several of the neighborhoods, with the city only being some 160 years old, are quite similar to neighborhoods in Cape Town, both with something of a faux old English set up.
Also, where in Cape Town retail employees are predominantly colored, here they seem to be predominantly immigrant, Asian and Hispanic. Then, also because streets in this tourist season are seriously overrun with tourists, it actually adds to the feeling of being in South Africa.

The one tourist attraction which disappointed on my first day in town was The Coit Tower. Built on Telegraph hill, from where incoming ships were contacted and identified, and financed by a rather eccentric lady, the views from the tower are nice, but the line with tourists was long and slow, both to get up and to get down.

With a bit of running around, I also managed to get a ticket for a tour to Alcatraz, three days later. If I would have wanted two tickets, I would have had to wait an extra three days.
Indeed, visiting Alcatraz is a popular pastime.

The only building in San Francisco by Frank Lloyd Wright (and he has designed a lot) of the New York Guggenheim, is the V. C. Morris Gift Shop, where nice but, to my eyes not unique, Asian art sells for up to 100.000 dollars.

In the Metreon, a Sony sponsored mall pushing Sony products and decently priced food, I found a large gaming hall with several DDR machines (yessss). Two guys dressed up as Star Wars jedis where playing a Star Wars video game. Clone Wars is premiering today.

I had planned on visiting a real Apple store while in The City and, after the Metreon, I accidentally bumped into a huge one. I drooled and zombied around, before the store closed at 9pm. A 32GB iPod touch at 500 dollars? That's not even 350 euros!
Meanwhile, memory card readers, which sell for around 2 euros in Thailand, change hands in Chinatown for 20 to 30 dollars.

The hostel, one of the Hosteling International family, is crowded. I managed to get three nights, but the ten days following are completely booked, as are several of the other hostels in the area.
Debating whether I should head out to LA on a long bus or car ride, I decided to stay in this city overly crowded with tourists. Though the city is very nice, I can't really enjoy the tourists too much, but two 10 hour bus rides also don't appeal to me. I managed to get a proper hotel room, though with shared facilities, at around 45 euros per night. As compared to the HI dorm room price of 36 dollars per night (32 for the bed and 4 for a locker), around 24 euros total. A slightly cheaper hotel was available, but at the airport. The hotel I booked, like the hostel, is smack in the middle of town.

At the hostel, internet access is free, however. In the lounge, on a Friday evening, some 25 tourists, surprisingly most of east Asian origin, type happily and silently away on their own laptops. So much for meeting new people.
On my second night, several of thee east Asians had brought in some food. Every single one of them was eating with his mouth open, making disgusting noises as they were chomping down their food.

Do they float?

August 14, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Mexico » Xochimilco

On Rouzeh’s last full day we headed down to the tourist trap which are the floating gardens of Xochimilco. You get to hire a boat, pushed around by a guy with a large stick and traverse some of the 180 kilometers of canals, being accosted by shops on boats, beer sellers, mariachis and whatnot.
It’s nice, but not that nice.

Then, on my last day, I went down to see both Frida Kahlo’s house, which wasn’t too bad, but had very little and not very impressive art by Frida, and Leon Trotski’s house, which also wasn’t too impressive, but does house the tomb of the great thinker.
At Trotski’s house, I was struck by how time the passing of time trivializes everything. The man was so much the subject of persecution because of his supposed risk for the Soviet Union (well, Stalin) and now, most people will not even recognize his name.

I finished off with a visit to the Spanish culture center, just behind the Zocalo, followed by a visit to El Angel, the independence column.

What’s for dinner in Mexico

August 11, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Mexico » Teotihuacan

The first time I tried Mexican food was at a Mexican restaurant in Delft, perhaps some 15 years ago. I was not impressed and have never been keen on trying Mexican food since.

Mexican food is fantastic.

Until now. Mexican food in Mexico is fantastic. Varied, rich, very tasty. From cheap street food to pricey restaurants, these people know how to prepare a meal.

Also, Sol, that well known Mexican beer, just released an interesting drink. It's a Sol beer, pre-mixed with lemon and salt. Yes, salt.
And it's tasty.

Teotihuacan

Some fifty kilometers out of Mexico City, you can find the ruins of Teotihuacan.
We drove there and struggled with the crappy signage to get there. There's a fast toll road which goes straight to the site entrance, but although the road, from our departure point in Mexico City, is supposed to be one straight road, we did do something wrong and ended up in a busy, badly signposted, industrial area. Then again, that also meant we got to see something else for a change.

According to the Lonely Planet, the Temple of the Sun at Teotihuacan is the third largest pyramid in the world, after one other pyramid in Mexico and the pyramid of Khufu in Egypt, as the largest of them all.
This, is nonsense. The temple of the sun is reported by Wikipedia to be 71.2 meters. The three pyramids of Giza, in diminishing size of Khufu (Cheops), Khefre (Khefren) and Menkaure are, according to Wikipedia, respectively 146.6, 143.5 and 103.4 meters high. Obviously this makes the Temple of the sun, at best, the fifth largest pyramid in the world.

Around the middle of the first millennium, the city had an estimated 100.000 inhabitants, making it the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas. Partially living space, partially temple, perhaps up to tens of thousands of individuals were offered to the gods, here, over the course of hundreds of years.
The name of the site, Teotihuacan, was given to it by the Aztecs, who found the site abandoned, calling it something like 'birthplace of the gods'.

The advantage of having your own transport is that you can stay as long as you like. We did and, when arriving back in Mexico City, were just minutes to late to enjoy the insides of The Basilica Of Guadalupe, named after the virgin of Guadalupe, an apparition of the virgin Mary as spotted by a Mexican peasant in the 16th century.

Traffic

August 10, 2008 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Mexico » Mexico City » Garibaldi square

If there's one thing that's truly horrible about Mexico City, it's the traffic. I rented a car at the beginning of my stay here, but only used it at very few occasions.
Although not once did I get gridlocked, movement inside the city, during the day, is so extremely slow, you would be able to play chess with your codriver on the hood of the car, without disturbing the pieces. Then there's the challenge of parking. In the evenings it's fine, but during the day even many of the public parkings are so full they regularly turn customers away.

And then there's the signage. Destinations are so badly advertised, both inside and outside the city, if you're not familiar with where you're going, you practically need a whole car full of eyes to make sure you end up where you want to go.

Public transport is good. Very frequent and reaching almost every corner of the city. But public transport, the metro system alone has 117 stations, is also more than absurdly busy during the very long morning and afternoon rush hours.
Maybe you've seen those films of people being pushed inside the Tokyo metros, it's a bit like that, but with more chaos and without pushers.

Also, although the metro nicely stops practically in front of the international airport, the metro system in no way is set up to ease the way for travelers with large bags.
Rouzeh, later in the week, had to fly as late as 11pm. However, either taking a cab, driving or going by metro, it meant having to brave the afternoon rush hour traffic. We chose to travel by metro. And it was tough. Dragging the bags up and down stairs, only occasionally having the luxury of escalators, forcing our way into overcrowded trains, sometimes without success, by the time we arrived at the checkin desk, we felt like having run two cross country marathons.

More sights

On Sunday, we headed over to a few more sights. First the overwhelming Museum of anthropology, then the nearby Museum of Modern Art, with a temporary exhibition by the interesting but not outstanding Remedios Varo, but nothing by Frida Kahlo, followed by The Diego Rivera Mural Museum. The latter is not a mural museum, but a museum of one, count 'm, Diego Rivera mural. But a pretty one.

We ended up at, and had dinner at, Garibaldi square, where the mariachis try to sell you songs and play all evening.

×