After 5.5 hours on the plane overnight from Bangkok to Osaka, Japan,
I used my 10 hour layover to go hike along a gorgeous forested creek
in Japan's foothills to a 1300 year old temple next to a sacred
waterfall...wow. Standing in the cold stream water, I washed my
tired feet, lower legs, arms, and face and contemplated the changing
nature of the universe as the water poured and tumbled over the
rocks into the pool and the streambed below. I'm not consciously in
Nibbana yet, but I can see how sitting by a river all day could get
me there eventually.
I took a bus and a train back to the airport (public transportation
is so plentiful it's confusing where I visited! but it was $8 each
way for a 45 minute trip...Japan is not cheap...) to find our plane
was delayed by 2 hours, so I took 5 minutes of a $5 15-minute shower
(worth every penny!), got some authentic Japanese sushi from the
little convenience store-- $7 for two rolls and some rice
balls(yummie! and about half-price compared to the airport
restaurant), stared at the island's gorgeous green mountains, and
read about buddhism while waiting to board.
Once they'd loaded us all onto the 95% full double-decker 747, we
took off from the strange island of KIX (not sure if it's landfill
or floating somehow, or what, but the whole airport
complex--multiple runways, terminal buildings, and a road/train
bridge connection to to mailand--is out in the middle of the ocean!
it's about a 6 minute train ride to the nearest mainland train
station...very strange to see from the air--the sea appears to come
right up to the edge of the pavement. Tsunami hazards and earthquake
liquifaction come to mind...but I guess Japan is so mountainous and
flat developable land is so valuable, paving an airport on the
island proper was out of the question) and flew for 10.5 hours to
LAX. The Japanese woman next to me spoke pretty good english and was
very friendly and positive. I really enjoyed sitting next to her. It
was funny though, when my raw vegetarian breakfast came (who knew
they had raw vegetarian as a menu choice??? It was awesome! The best
plane meal I've ever had), she peered over at my plate and gasped in
surprise as if some mistake had been made: "but there's no meat on
your plate!" "Nope, I'm vegetarian." "Why isn't there any meat on
your plate? Why don't you eat meat?" The shock in her voice took me
by surprise. It seemed she'd never even heard of vegetarianism, let
alone met one before. Reasons not to eat meat abound and I select
the few I feel like sharing today: "I don't like the way the animals
are treated and I don't like growth hormones and antibiotics in my
food..." She turns back to her own plate with a small shrug in
disbelief. We part amicably in LA, having arrived 5 hours BEFORE we
left Japan(?!?) and only 12 hours after departure from Bangkok...no
wonder my body feels so confused and my mind is infused with
molasses.
just letting y'all know I'm here in one piece and getting my
bearings. The return to LA has not been too emotionally painful, so
I'm greatful for that. Cleaning out storage is also easier than I
expected so far. Hopefully, I will wake up tomorrow more than
half-conscious and get some more business done before heading to
Vegas to visit my grandparents for 3 days. :) Next week is hanging
out in SoCal week...
