In and Around Tokyo

Some of the best sushi of my life near Tsukiji Fish Market...

A fresh chunk of tuna was delivered while we ate.

In Shibamata

In Shibuya...

Shibuya Crossing

Views from Tokyo Tower...

Manhole cover in Kichijoji...

Seafood ramen...

Stained glass of the Deer God at the Studio Ghibli museum

In Kichijoji

Shibamata

Leaving Narita

Summer Gardening in Jamaica Plain

 Planting beans in Marie's garden

Garlic grown in Trina's community garden spot

Fresh arugula

Food in Luang Prabang

Green Papaya Salad. See this article for the difference between the Thai Som Tam and the Lao version...


Strange-textured veggie condiments for the above salad


Pork thingy steamed in banana leaf


Bananas and bamboo shoots


River eels


Hot peppers in the market


Rice in the market




Lao-style BBQ with some friendly Europeans. Over hot coals in the middle of the table, you cook the meat on top of this pan and mix with broth, veggies, noodles, spices and eggs that are cooked in the side of the pan.

Visiting Marië in Tokyo

The evening I arrived in Tokyo, Marië and her parents prepared a sumptuous feast of fresh fish. This was the first of many meals to sweep me off my feet.

At a train station...Toyko has the most extensive subway network in the world. There are a mind-boggling number of subway and train lines crisscrossing through the city and they travel very fast. Some of the lines are owned by the state, some are owned by the city and some are private. And, of course, stylish haircuts are everywhere.

In the shopping district of Ginza

Shinjuku

Old barrels of sake

In Asakusa...I was very impressed with Toyko. Despite being one of the larger cities of the world, the streets are relatively quiet and there seems to be very little air pollution. Since everyone rides the trains, there's not an immense amount of traffic in most areas of the city. Coming up from the subway, you might feel like you're in a small town except that when you look up there are skyscrapers towering overhead. There are, of course, some exceptionally busy areas of the city, but in general, Tokyo feels neither noisy nor congested with cars. In Tokyo, I often felt like I had taken a trip through time into the Future. The way folks dressed, the immaculate condition of the streets and the efficiency of the trains all contributed to this feeling... (as well as having spent five months in India). And on top of this, I was amazed at how respectful and considerate the Japanese are. You don't hear their cell phone ringers and if speaking on their phones in public they put their hands over their mouth so as to minimize the disturbance to others. Once in a shoulder to shoulder crowd to enter a station, everyone politely waited their turn in line and I didn't even get bumped in the slightest way. I don't think I met a rude person in Japan. Sometimes, being in Japan made me feel like I come from a country of barbarians.

Many Japanese dress in extreme ways, taking fashion fads to the next level. From goth maids to 1950's greaser outfits, there's a bit of everything. Here an adult seems to be dressed as a child.

24-hour private karaoke room seen from the outside. Marië, Gabe and I rented a room here for a few hours and sang some classics while waited for morning so that we could catch the fish market at sunrise.

Fresh tuna at the Tsukiji Fish Market, the world's biggest seafood market...

Discarded boxes at market

Gabe, who happened to be on vacation with his family in Japan at the same time that I was there, enjoys hot miso soup before 7am. Adjacent to the fish market are several sushi restaurants that serve up some of the freshest fish in the world. We arrived as early as possible to avoid lines.

Sea urchin/uni

Marië took me to her uncle's beautiful vegetable garden outside Yokohama not far from the Tokyo metropolis. Above her father weeds the sweet potatoes. After helping in the garden, we soaked in a hot spring spa perched above a shopping mall that pipes its hot water from 1500 meters below the ground.

Marië and I took the train down the coast to the sleepy town of Yuguwara, where we stayed at a lovely hotel with hot springs on site. Pictured here is the amazing meal that was served in our room.

Amee Doyer's Farm in Northwest Thailand

At this farm producing rice, rubber and fruit a few hours northwest of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, I worked alongside Ashi, a refugee from Burma. Together we helped prepare the paddy for planting rice and although he doesn't speak English and I don't speak Lisu, his hill tribe language, we communicated with gestures and smiles.

The paddies were first plowed and then flooded to kill off the grass and weeds.

Main house where I stayed. It was a bit strange showing up to this farm and realizing that no one there had expected my arrival. I had been in communication with a Canadian guy who runs the farm with his Thai/Burmese brother-in-law, but he had left for other hemispheres and failed to mention my arrival to others on the farm. However, even though it took the main boss about week to get around to asking my name, the farm was used to receiving WWOOF volunteers and they were well-prepared to feed me and put me to work.

Jackfruit was consumed almost daily.

Lunch...we usually had pork and rice three times a day but pictured here are noodles.

An unidentifiable inedible fruit. There were several fruits on the farm whose names I was never able to figure out.

Some of the cuter swine...there were over 100 pigs living on the farm, so it was no wonder that we ate pork for most of the meals.

One day this pig was killed by one of its own and so the workers slaughtered it and cooked it up...

Intestines!

Alea posed with a snake killed by one of his workers in the fields. He cooked it up with a red curry, which was spicy and delicious. Despite all the bones, it was some of the nicest and leanest meat I have eaten.

A view of some of the rice paddies.

A patch of rice to be transplanted around to all the other areas.

Here you can see corn in the foreground (grown to feed the pigs), rice and several coconut trees.

Even on an organic farm, the chemicals are often not far away. Here an adjacent field gets sprayed.