Where and when: Ryoguku Kokugikan sumo hall, Tokyo, circa May 2018 What got me wondering if a tournament was in town was when one morning, I was walking around and I saw a sumo wrestler (rikishi) in a kimono, cycling in a hurry somewhere. (I wish I had been quick enough to snap a picture…
Summary of Japan 2018
I didn’t know what route I was going to take when I visited Japan. All I knew was my journey in Japan would begin on May 13, 2018 in Tokyo. I had planned to catch several sporting events in the country (baseball and soccer especially but I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo when…
Back home from my 2018 travels
It has been a month since I’ve been back. I wanted to immediately start writing about the whole journey while many memories were still fresh but I couldn’t, maybe because I was still sad that it was over. Now that some time has passed and my emotions have settled down a little, I can take…
Sri Lanka
Note: This journey was done in March 2018. When I was a kid, I read about “Ceylon” in an encyclopedia I had. The illustration that accompanied that entry was of elephants bathing. In my teen years. I read about the Tamil Tigers in the news. At the time, I didn’t know they were a terrorist…
New Zealand
Note: This journey was done in Jan/Feb 2018. I flew into Auckland from Sydney, which took about 3.5 hours. There wasn’t very much in Auckland itself, being a small city. There was a harbor which had several massive cruise ships parked and its passengers alighting for a day off their vessels. During one of the…
RIP Anthony Bourdain
I first got exposed to Anthony Bourdain when I was channel surfing and came across a show called “A Cook’s Tour”. I was wondering who that cool-looking ear-ringed aloof show host was. I looked up the show online and came across the name; Anthony Bourdain. I didn’t watch many episodes of “A Cook’s Tour” because…
Australia
Note: This journey was done in Jan 2018. As I write from the perspective of someone who’s grown up and lived in the USA, there isn’t much to say about Australia other than it is very similar to home. Sure, there are several differences; store names, slang terms, and work-life balance philosophy come to mind….
White Space
I haven’t written in a while. A lot has happened in the last few months with regard to travel and my personal life. I haven’t found any inspiration to write. It wasn’t because everything I saw during my travels so far was boring but I reckoned with the internet and how so many of us…
One time, one meeting
“One time, one meeting.” I was watching Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown this past weekend, specifically, the episode where Tony goes to visit Japan with the head chef and owner of Masa (from NYC), Masayoshi Takayama. (Not that it matters to this story but Masa is supposedly the most expensive restaurant in the USA where meals…
Tashi And The Monk
My first experience with an orphanage happened when I was very little, maybe 4-5 years in age. My family went to visit this orphanage because my cousin was there. Why was my cousin there? He was mentally challenged. At least that’s what my parents told me. He wasn’t born to my uncle and aunt. He…