A New Adventure

It's been seven months since my last blog. I realized it's about time to update the world on my latest adventures. There have been quite a few since March, but I might have to start with the most recent: The Middle East.

The story begins in the middle of a desert....

The plane touched down in Jeddah, a city on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, an expansive city on the Red Sea. Me and the other female recruiters in our tour group had just had a frenzy of quickly dressing in our abayas before the plane taxied to the gate and wrapping our head scarfs around our shoulders, ready to pull it over our heads at a moment's notice. In Saudi Arabia, women must wear the abaya, which is a long black robe with long sleeves. Some are like a cloak, which you can just fasten over your clothes, others (like mine) are a full-cover abaya, which you pull over your head like a dress. It is also required for females to cover their heads with a scarf. Basically, this means being covered from head to toe in black cloth -- in 102 degree heat. We didn't fully embrace the reality of that until later that evening.

The word "expansive" was the first thing that came to mind when we drove from the airport to our hotel in Jeddah. It reminded me a lot of Dallas, Texas. "Everything's bigger in Texas....and Jeddah." Every car dealership and lighting store between the airport and the hotel was the size of a triple-story Costco.

We arrived at the hotel somewhat late and decided to meet around 10:45 PM to find something to eat. All I knew was that someone said something about "really good chicken." So, the adventure begins. Me and two other females from our tour group had to be in full garb, since we were venturing out onto the street (see photo). We thought being fully covered would divert some of the stares we get as foreigners; however, it didn't really seem to work that well on this evening. The 3 of us women, along with 3 other males, decided we'd like to find a place that supposedly serves incredible chicken. Apparently, this chicken has been eaten by the likes of a Mr. Anthony Bourdain. I found out about 30 minutes into our walk along a very busy street, that this elusive chicken place is called Al Baik. We also found out, about the same time, that this particular Al Baik was virtually impossible to get to. Although we could see the restaurant on the other side of the street, the road leading to it was diverted about a mile out of the way. Our adventure was quickly taking a turn for the worst.

After some quick thinking, one of the males decided to hail some cabs. We jumped in and drove the 2 miles down and back in order to get to the Al Baik which was right across the street. After pulling up to the restaurant, our stomachs growling and mouths salivating with the thought of spice-injected deep fried chicken, we stopped just short of the front door. One of our male friends broke the bad news to us that the restaurant, unfortunately, did not have a family section. This meant that basically the restaurant was for males only. Although we technically could have eaten in the restaurant, the stares would have probably bored holes in our heads. And we already felt them, simply by standing outside of the restaurant trying to figure out what to do next.

So, we came up with a plan that the women, escorted by a male, would head back to the hotel, while the other males would get the chicken to go. We would meet back at the hotel and enjoy this infamous chicken together.

I must admit that the story ended well. My evening ended after being fully satisfied by a couple of incredible pieces of spicy Al Baik chicken, french fries and garlic dipping sauce....all from the comfort of my spacious hotel suite (I had been upgraded to a suite, since they were out of non-smoking rooms), which I graciously shared with my colleagues. We feasted on our chicken together in the hotel room, enjoying every last morsel.

And this was just my first evening in Saudi Arabia.....

Itadakimasu....and other fun Japanese words

It's been 50 days since my last post. Yet another confession. I do admit that I am not the best blogger in the world, but I still haven't found a lot to blog about when I'm not traveling....or not traveling somewhere exotic!

But, alas I am in my next exotic locale -- Japan! It is a fun country, to say the least. I arrived at Narita airport, after sitting on a plane for 10 hours in flight, preceded by 2 hours at the gate waiting for them to fix a jumpseat for one of the flight attendants. Needless to say, everyone aboard was pretty anxious by the time we departed. Conversations started and I found myself chatting with two US military guys who are currently stationed in Japan. They had both been in Tokyo for a while, so they had a lot of recommendations. I decided to follow them via Narita Express into Tokyo, so I at least had to get that far then part ways so I could go on to Kawasaki and they to the US Navy base. We quickly figured out that we had missed the Narita express by just a few minutes, so I decided to go it on my own using a different route through Nippori airport. Thank goodness for my friend Yuuka, who outlined every possible route I could take to get to Kawasaki from Narita. I said goodbye to the military boys and went on my way. Surprisingly enough, I made it to my hotel in just under 2 hours, which is actually very timely.

The next day, I met my friend Yuuka, who I've known since my college days in Seattle. She attended the English language school where I worked while I was a student at Seattle Pacific. We've kept in touch somewhat, writing emails every couple of years, but of course, going right back to where we left off when we last saw each other. Yuuka, who is not originally from Tokyo, but rather from Osaka, was still a wonderful guide! We saw the beautiful Kaminarimon gate, which leads to Senso-Ji temple. Yuuka showed me how you throw a small coin (about $.10) into the coffer before entering the temple...for good luck. She said it ranges in how much you throw in, but the more you give, the better your luck! :)

After walking around Nakamise-dori, the shopping street near the temple, we hit up a local joint for lunch. We had a little bit of everything, including niboshi dashi, edamame, some kind of dish of beef entrails (which was amazingly delicious) and yakitori (fried chicken) -- literally, it translates as yaki=fried, tori=chicken. So...yakisoba = fried noodles! Pretty easy, actually once you get the hang of it! We also had Sapporo, the most popular beer in Japan. Yuuka told me it's not common to have beer with lunch on a weekday. The "salarymen" as they call them save their drinking for after work, where they get their fill at happy hour. But since it was a Sunday, we indulged. We also followed up with a small bottle of Japanese sake, which was very sweet. I found out that there are other kinds of sake, as well, that are not made with rice. They call it something else, but it can be made with wheat or grain.

After lunch, we went to Meiji shrine, which sort of makes you forget that you're in Tokyo. After a long walk down a tree-lined gravel road, you come upon a beautiful wood shrine. We were fortunate to go on a Sunday, because we actually got to see two wedding parties getting their wedding photos done in the shrine. They were both traditional Japanese brides, with the large white hat over their pinned up hair. Yuuka told me they refer to these hats as "what covers the horns." I found this entertaining....just wait until after the wedding day when the horns come out! :)

Near Meiji shrine is a square where teenagers stand around dressed in very "interesting" outfits. Some are goth-looking with heavy makeup and dark clothing, others are more "anime-looking" with bright-colored, bold clothing. Others still are dressed in cartoon-looking Victorian dresses. According to the Lonely Planet, these "Harajuku girls" are the shy ones at school or even those who are bullied, but they use this sort of dress-up as a way of finding freedom. It's common for tourists and onlookers to stand around and take photos of the girls (and some boys), which Yuuka and I found ourselves doing.

We then walked around Ginzu, which is the incredibly expensive shopping area -- from Gucci to Prada and everything in between. We obviously just window shopped and used the fancy public restrooms! One new thing I learned about Japan is that most toilets, especially in public restrooms, have an automatic stream of water that flows into the toilet as you sit down on the toilet seat. This is apparently a new feature on toilets to help out those who are shy when it comes to using public toilets! Not exactly the most environmentally smart thing to do!

Our next-to-last top of the day was Tokyo Tower, which is the largest free-standing metal tower in the world -- it's about 13 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower...and also a 3,000 tons lighter, because of the type of metal used -- according to the guide. I can understand this might come in handy if it ever needs to be moved???!! Tokyo Tower provided a beautiful 360 degree view of Tokyo. We went up around sunset, which was incredible and provided us the benefit of seeing Tokyo in both the daylight and in the night sky.

After a bit of a wait to go back down the in the elevator, we made our way to Ebisu, which is known for its monja, which is a sort of "do-it-yourself" stuffed pancake. Each table has its own frying surface, where you pour the toppings and the fish-based batter onto and let it cook down. Yuuka admitted to never having cooked it herself before, so we had our server do us the honors. We were each given our own mini spatula, which we then scraped off small portions of the monja, smooshed it onto the spatula, then ate it right off of the spatula. It was tasty. But nothing compared to our next dish, which was okonomiyaki. This is a dish I've actually had the pleasure of trying before, since Yuuka made it for us several times back in Seattle. It's an egg-based batter with cabbage, mountain potato, and other ingredients. It's poured onto the hot surface and cooked just like a big pancake. After it's done cooking, you top it with a sweet teriyaki-type sauce, mayonnaise and dried fish flakes. It is simply delicious! We accompanied this delicious dinner with sake-mixed drinks.

Well, now that I've worked my way through the last couple of days in Japan, I'll bid you farewell without promising when the next post will be!

Butterflies and Waterfalls

So, it's been a while since my last post....sounds kind of like a confession. But I am happy to announce that I now have something interesting to post! I am in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the moment and enjoying every minute. The first day I arrived, I had a meal of the most delicious steak I have had in a long time. The Argentinians are known for their steak. They have endless flat lands where the cows munch on grass and live a happy life...until they end up on my plate, of course. And I have had my fair share of cow here in Argentina, let me tell you!

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, with European-style architecture, friendly people and amazing restaurants. In the first couple of days, we saw where Evita is buried in the national cemetery, green parks spread throughout the city and the beautiful plazas where people sit and enjoy the sunshine.

The third day of my trip, we took off on a road trip headed towards Iguazu Falls. This is normally an 18-hour bus ride. We figured we could drive it a bit quicker by renting a car and driving ourselves.

That would have been the case if we didn't have a broken-down car 3 hours outside of Buenos Aires. So, the first night we stopped in Concordia, a small quaint town. We had dinner at a parilla (pronounced "pair-ee-zha" in Argentina). This is their barbecue/steak house. The boys enjoyed a bit of a mixed grill, which consisted of various barbecued animal parts (kidney, intestines, blood sausage, etc.). I tried a few and surprisingly it was pretty good.

We continued on towards Iguazu Falls the next day -- got into Puerto Iguazu that night and had dinner at a local fish house. I had a meal of suburi, a fish caught in the river between Brazil and Argentina.

The next day, we set out for the park. We spent about 6 hours walking around the park, which wanders around the 275 falls. There are walkways skirting the falls and ones that are set almost immediately on top of the falls. It's very hard to describe such an amazing place in words, but I really believe these falls should be one of the great wonders of the world. Being in a rain forest, there was some beautiful wildlife between the falls....and the butterflies were everywhere!

Straight after seeing the falls, we headed out on the road again for our 15-hour journey back to Buenos Aires. We ended up driving through the night so that we arrived back in the city around 7:00 in the morning. More to come about the driving here in Argentina.....