a new trip : Chile and Argentina

Well, after my aborted Japan trip, and everything that had to be done in last 6 months in dealing with my mother´s estate, in addition to being very busy at work, it is time for a long overdue vacation. This time Celene and I are travelling together. It´s the first international trip we´ve done together in quite a few years.

We decided on Chile and Argentina partly for the weather in November, and for something that neither of us had seen before.

I just realized that this is my first time south of the Equator. I can´t wait to see water going down the drain in the opposite direction:)

We arrived today in Santiago, Chile. It was a long flight: 5 hours to Toronto, layover in Toronto, then 10 hours to Chile. The view of the mountains during landing was spectacular. The landscape looks drier than I expected. Right now we´re getting some sleep in the hotel. Our hotel is very centrally located so I´m going to walk around a bit.

Santiago will be our only stop in Chile. After a few days here we fly to Argentina, where the stops will be Mendoza, Buenos Aires, and the southern tip of the continent.

bad news - trip is over

I received a phone call yesterday that my mother has just died.

Ive arranged for a flight back to Vancouver tomorrow.

Mt. Hiei

First thing this morning, several of us went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. On the way back to the inn, I met a group of school children who were here on a field trip to a major temple across the street. Their teacher approached me and asked if they could practice their English. They had prepared sheets of questions like "where are you from" and "how do you like Kyoto". Then we took pictures. A classic moment of being in Japan.

Today was a day trip for the group to Mt. Hiei, an historically important temple complex dating from about the 700s. Many of the important people in the various sects of Buddhism in Japan did their initial training as monks here. Its about an hour by bus out of Kyoto. The temple buildings are in clusters covering a large area on the mountain, and we went to one called Enryakuji.

For lunch we went to a modern building in the temple complex, and had a meal that consisted of vegetarian specialties that monks eat on special occasions. There were vegetables related to potato and daikon, and sesame tofu, and a type of dried been and tempura with a matcha-salt over it. And in true Japanese style, the presentation was amazing.

On the way back into Kyoto we stopped at a garden called Shisen-do, that dates back to the 1500s. It was very hot today and we had done a lot of walking on Mt. Hiei, and this was a very peacefull setting to hang out and relax for a while before heading back to the inn.

First day in Kyoto

I arrived　in　Ｋｙｏｔｏ　ｌａｓｔ　night after a long but uneventful flight from Vancouver to Beijing, two hours layover in Beijing, ｆlight to Osaka, and bus ride to Kyoto. At breakfast this morning many of the group had already arrived. This was a free day, and people broke into groups to explore different parts of the city. I took the time to walk around the central part on my own, getting the feel for the place, and in general just having that freedom to just go any where that interested me in the moment. This is one of my favourite things of arriving in a new city when travelling.

Its been over twenty years since I was in Japan, but it immediately felt familiar. The whole experience has a distinctive quality to it. The style of the buildings with the ornate roofs and classic square pattern, the look and mannerisms of the people that seems colorful and reserved at the same time. Even the smell has a unique character, like a kind of spicy mix of tatami mat and incense.

I walked along the river to a major market area. It was Sunday morning so people were out walking and jogging. Once in market area, I walked up and down the Nishiki Food Market, where you can sample, for sample, a little snack consisting of a tiny octopus with its head stuffed with quail egg - Im not kidding! It seems to be the place where even Japanese come to try something different.

The rest of the market has an assortment of stores for clothing, accessories, etc. Lots of young people. And every once in a while, tucked in an alley behind the main market, a temple or shrine which is always busy. There are some simple rituals that people perform at a shrine, like washing wands in a well, ringing a bell, and there are charms you can by. I find it interesting that young people and groups of friends partake in these, perhaps mostly just for fun.

After the market area I walked to the other side of the river to an old area of Kyoto called Gion, where there were quite a few girls in traditional dress.

I spent quite a bit of time at a very old temple called Kenninji. There were several buildings in the temple complex with beautiful gardens and fantastic artwork. Maybe because it was Sunday, there were many people hanging out in the large tatami mat rooms overlooking the gardens.

By then it was getting close to dinner time and so I walked back to the market area to a Ninji Restaurant I had seen earlier. Instead of one room with tables, it was a large dark lambrynth and every table was in its own little cave. A ninja guide put on a show taking you to your table through secret passageways. And during dinner someone came to do magic tricks. Campy but fun.

getting ready for Japan trip

Another trip starts tomorrow. This time to Japan, where I'll be for a month. Everything is ready to go, just the last minute packing.

The idea for this trip started a couple of years ago, when Kate and Michael of the Mountain Rain Zen Community suggested a trip. They had recently accompanied Norman Fischer on  a trip to Japan for a Zen teacher ceremony, and thought our local group would be interested in going some time.

I fly into Osaka, and head straight to Kyoto where I'll meet with the zen group. The first two and a half weeks of the trip will be with the group, mainly around Kyoto where there are a lot of significant temples. This will include a 4 day meditation retreat at a temple between Kyoto and Tokyo, called Rinso-in. This is the temple where Shunryo Suzuki, author of Zen_Mind, Beginner's_Mind and founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, is from. We will also spend a couple of days at Koya San, a very picturesque temple complex outside of Osaka.

The last 12 days are on my own. I'll spend a couple of days in Tokyo, and then take the train to Hokkaido, the northern-most island. I'll spend a few days at a hotspring town called Noboribetsu, and then a couple of days in Sapporo. After that I'll start going south again, spending a few days on the northern tip of the main island where there are more parks and hotsprings. Then the train all the way to Osaka, where I'll spend a couple of days before flying home.

Yellowknife

For the first week of February, 2012, Celene and I went to Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. I joked that we wanted to get away from the Vancouver weather. (Most people go south to get away from the rain, we went north). Our friend there, Christine, had our trip all planned. The first evening she showed us around 'Old Town' , which is down the hill from the main 'downtown', beside the lake. There are several house boats frozen into the lake. The winter is spent building a giant ice castle on the lake, which in March is home to a huge party.

The next day, we did the touristy dog-sledding thing. The main surprise here was that the dogs seemed small and short-haired - not like Huskies at all, more like muts. Despite that, it was a neat experience. I got a feeling for how quiet it would be to travel a distance by dog-sled.

The next two days were a cross-country ski trip to a cabin of the Yellowknife outdoor club. About 14 of us did the ski in. We had a amazing luck with the weather, as it was only about -5 degrees C, compared to the -20 C that would have been normal for that time of year. Not only that, but the skies were clear as well, which is very unusual when the weather is warm, so we could see the Northern Lights. This was a highlight for me, as it is one of the reasons I wanted to go to the north in winter.

In the cabin, we stayed up to 2 or 3 am playing games, and the next day skiied out in fine weather. On our last full day there, we tried a bit of ice fishing. That means we drilled holes in the ice - which was over a metre thick - and built a fire and hung out without any real expectation of catching anything. This day had more normal temperatures of -20 or -25 degrees C, so we got a taste of things.

Overall, a fantastic trip. I've always been fascinated by the Arctic, and I hope there will be more trips there.

Mustang video

I made a short video out of some videos and photos I took during the trek in Mustang, and put it on YouTube. You can see it be clicking here.