Who Needs A Cashier? (Tokyo, Japan)

I have a partially written journal entry called “The End of Easy” waiting to be finished. It’s about how my days of “Easy” traveling are behind me, now that I have left an English speaking country. I’m not going to post it. I’ll save it for later. Maybe Indonesia.

Prior to coming to Japan I had visions of it being very expensive, harder to get around, and basically just more difficult to travel in general. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Other than getting lost for 20 minutes looking for my hotel, which could happen in any big city walking, Tokyo must be one of the most easiest cities to get around in.

The transport infrastructure - subway and above ground trains, underground walkways, and absence (Yes, absence) of cars everywhere compared to other major cities - makes getting around easy. I don’t have to look over my shoulder every second and wonder if I am going to get run over. Tokyo is almost too easy. Historically, I haven’t been crazy about big cities. I’ll say it again - it depends on the big city. While Tokyo is sprawled for as far as I could see from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metro Gov’t building it is very manageable to me.

Not only that - but there are signs in English all over the place. They even have English announcements on the train telling one when to get on and off, etc... Maybe in the not too distant past it was more difficult but certainly not now. Arriving at the airport there are many counters with brochures in English and information on low cost lodging. It compares very favorably with what I was spending in Australia. In fact one could come to Japan with no reservations and no guidebook and manage quite well if they can speak English. The only address one would need to know is the local office of the English speaking Tourist Information Center. One can get all the information they need to know there about going anywhere in Japan. I even got a listing and instructions of how to visit Industrial sites / where things are made (Production Lines Theme).

Of course...guidebooks are still good because they bring everything together. They are a timesaver too. Good for preplanning and preparation. And well..if it wasn’t for my Lonely Planet I wouldn’t have known about Godzilla!

Go for the Cheese

Tokyo is so big with so many “things to do” that even with all the brochures and guidebook recommendations I was feeling a bit lost over “what to do” first yesterday - outside of getting to to my Ryokan / lodging - which was fascinating as I walked through the small streets with all the shops (That’s something to do too – just wandering about). So I started with something I know. Godzilla! The LP guidebook mentioned a Godzilla statue near the center of the city. So I did the cheesy thing and went to visit it. As soon as I saw it my mind was grounded and centered! Now I can explore to my heart’s content. Next time I’m going to look for a statue of Ultraman. One of my childhood favorites.

And it was very rewarding indeed. As I stumbled about near the statue I came upon what looked like a hearty, affordable place to eat. 640Y / US$6 for a nice meal. As I sat down the lady in Japanese said “Money” and pointed at something. I thought it was the food board - I pointed out my selection. She said money again. I thought it was odd that I would need to pay before I received my meal but I gave her the money. Next thing I know she came out from behind the counter and walked up to a machine in the wall behind me. It immediately made sense. She was actually pointing at the machine earlier because that is how you pay and order for your meal. You insert the money, press the button and out comes your change and a ticket with your order. Who needs a cashier?

I don’t know if this is common in Japan. My gut tells me it isn’t rare, but not common either. Looking around I saw a lot of cash registers in restaurants. If you’ve been to Japan - please let me know your experience.

I’m “traveling” now.

As I mentioned before, while in Australia I didn’t feel like I had left the US at times, which translated into a feeling of am I really even traveling? (My car trip across the US notwithstanding) Well, of course I was traveling in the strict definition of the word. There were glorious moments too. My aboriginal experience being the #1. But, I could feel the change as soon as I was on the train from the Narita airport into Tokyo central. That feeling of continual traveling excitement which had been missing for long stretches during my time in Australia is back.

An older culture, richer past, more differences. And I haven’t even made it out of Tokyo into the cultural heart of Japan. Besides...where else in the world can your drink sweat (W)? –ok, if you really want to try it go to an Asian supermarket in your area - they might have it. I’ve seen it, but never tried it until now.

While the sense of “traveling” (Really - a wrong choice of word on my part) in a new world is back I did accomplish one thing during my final days in Sydney. I really joined the Circus!!

I really did join the Circus! Links to bigger picture


Swinging!

One of the instructors

The "News" and What I would buy with US $87 Billion (Campbelltown, Australia)

I remember making a few comments about the start of the recent "Iraq conflict" when I was down in Latin America. As I said then I wouldn't make many more comments about it -- I think I've been true to that pretty much. But, recent news events do make me want to open my mouth again about the subject - although briefly.

I've kept up loosely on the mainstream "news" (Again, lots of things that are news are never reported and lots of things that aren't news are reported as news) since I've left on this RTW trip. My TRIP TOOL-NEWS section has been invaluable in providing me quick access to various web news sources and perspectives to get a more complete picture and reduce the impact of bias from any one source. Some people try to escape news when they travel, fine if you're on vacation, however, I don't think that is very smart considering I will be going to so many points on the globe. (Although one could make the case than claiming ignorance is the best way, if confronted, - which I will surely use at some point)

The recent bombings in Turkey (Where I will be in May 2004) comes to mind. Of course the recent bombing at the Marriott in Jakarta comes to mind too (I'll be in Jakarta in a few weeks). Neither of these are very unsettling to me. So like I say -- Meet Me in Yemen!! I repeat the odds of getting in a car accident and being injured badly or killed are much higher when I was living in California than in having a travel incident (Knock on wood). Although I'm not sure if the statistics apply to someone traveling for this long and as wide. Robert Young Pelton's book - "The World's Most Dangerous Places" has a good overview of statistics. I'll create a digital version someday hopefully. Something about going to the source rather than reading a compilation seems to be more convincing to me - like when I provided the link for US Passport Statistics.

Anyways...before I get off track the reason I'm writing this is because my (I can't say our - because of the foreign audience) US Government recently approved $87 Billion dollars towards Iraq and related military activities. I thought about this and wondered what else one could buy with $87 billion.

Here it is:

A $100 bicycle (or tricycle) for EVERY SINGLE person in the US (0-120 years old) = $28.5 billion
$50 in related safety gear, accessories, etc = $14.25 bilion
Adjustments to city layouts for dedicated bike lanes (ala the Netherlands), aid stations (For those bad weather days), and training courses = $45 billion


The bike would be better than you think because mass production of 285 million bicycles would get the cost down real low. It would be a pretty decent helmet, etc...

Maybe if we did this we could reverse the weight gain trend in the US, reduce our dependence on oil, and have more livable communities. We could probably even figure out a way to get reduced cost electric bicycles for those people who have a few minor hills to deal with. Of course this spending bill wouldn't apply to those in heavily mountainous, hilly regions, kids under X years old, and seniors over X years old so the amount of $$ spent / resident would actually be considerably higher. Of course I am giving a gross over simplification here.....but I guess the same would hold true that using force against force will solve our problems too...

Of course riding a bicycle doesn't fit with the manly tough guy image that the automakers project.......anyways...

Maybe if we reduced our oil dependence we wouldn't need to be in Arabia. Maybe we wouldn't need to have such a strong military presence there. Maybe it wouldn't incite the flames of hatred. Maybe I wouldn't need to pay attention to the news at all.

Well Oiled Machine - Campbelltown , Australia - suburb of Sydney

As you might already know, before I left on this 1 year trip I spent a lot of time preparing and testing equipment and supplies. For the most part all the planning has paid off. Nearly every item I have brought, has or will be put to good use. I feel like a well oiled machine at times. “Effortlessly” traveling about. That is until I hit a pothole a few days ago. As I went to get cash at the ATM upon my arrival I discovered to my horror that my ATM Mastercard expired! Apparently I overlooked this minor detail. A quick check of my other cards revealed that my other Mastercard is about to expire on November 30th! Considering that a lot of places don’t accept Diner’s Club or American Express (My other cards) I was beginning to get concerned.

After a slight “concern attack” (Panic is a bit strong) I swung into action. I figured out how to get money at American Express offices (Don’t leave home without it!) - although at slightly less favorable exchange rates. I also figured out how to use my Diner’s Club as an ATM card - albeit with a 4% charge. Then I learned that my soon to expire Mastercard could be replaced at no charge. The bank will send a replacement overseas via FedEx (DHL it turns out) at no charge. Fortunately, I am in one city area long enough. As for my ATM bank they aren’t setup to send my card in an expedient manner but, fortunately the person picking up my mail has located the new one that was sent to my home and is sending it via FedEx. Whew! The machine is oiled up again. Roll on!

I’ve had some other minor equipment/supply related issues along the way but none that have as much potential to disrupt my trip than this. I have started a page that tracks my usage of equipment in the JOIN THE CIRCUS section. The link will be in that section...called something like Equipment Performance Review or some other wordy title.

Of course...this journal entry would not be complete without me mentioning some more coincidences. On one of those phone calls to my credit card companies I went into the Sydney Marriott to place the telephone call. Sydney telephone booths aren’t enclosed and it is very difficult to hear and talk! [ The Marriott wasn’t much better as there was a lot of echo from the atrium but, at least I didn’t have buses cruising by. ]

As I was talking on the phone another man walked up to the other phone. I soon realized he was having problems with a credit card too. What are the odds of this? Two people having problems with their credit cards and calling their banks at the same time. There are only two public phones in the Sydney Marriott. I ended up letting him use my calling card as he wasn’t able to collect call his Bank of America phone. His problem wasn’t an expired card but a charge limit problem. Turns out Scott is in the US Air Force and was visiting Australia on official business heading back the next day (Not quite in the same position as I). We ended up having a drink together at the hotel bar comforting each other over our respective situations.

Scott has been living in the Los Angeles area for the past few years. He is a transplant from Conneticut (This location info is important). Being that I just traveled through there, we had something more to talk about. We even decided to meet up for a drink with some of his other buddies later.

Ok...one coincidence apparently isn’t enough. While at the bar in the Sydney Rocks’ area we find out the girl bartending is from the Washington DC area. Scott takes a liking to this girl. After his buddies leave to go eat dinner we talk to her a bit more. It turns out she is from Chevy Chase, Maryland to be exact. She just says Washington DC because no one knows Chevy Chase, Maryland. No one else except Scott! And he pulls out his Maryland license to boot! Apparently being in the military one can maintain a driver’s license in any state. And since he used to live there too...

And is if I can’t beat this coincidence horse enough...I recently received an email from Meghann (The first American I met in Australia). Here it is unedited:

“hey wayne-

okay so to add to the bizarre coincidences...the night i read this message [ I sent her a copy of the list of coincidences ] from you, i met another american, from san francisco, who has a close friend from kirkland and has been there himself many times. wow the world gets smaller the longer you travel!! i'm in airlie beach, ready to embark on my whitsunday sailing adventure tomorrow. hope all is well with you!!! meghann :) ”

What does it all mean? Am I just trying too hard to see patterns? Are these “coincidences” really a big deal? After all if you consider how much time goes by where there are no coincidences then the moments of coincident are rather minuscule. Or are they like a homing beacon? Am I getting “warmer?” Am I about to learn something monumental? Time will tell...

An Interesting Day or should I say – I'm feeling a little violent! (Sydney, Australia)

(Warning - this journal is a bit long and wordy)

I suppose the title for this journal would seem rather odd on a trip around the world. For there are many interesting things. But - this day stands out in an unexpected way. For the first time on my travels (In my life?) I felt like hitting a lot of people.

- The day started off innocently enough I went to buy my Japan Rail Pass at the Japan Airlines office in Sydney downtown.

As I took the elevator up to the 14th floor I felt like clubbing the people (Building managers) who decided to put an LCD screen in the elevator with advertising. Is no place sacred? There was some advertisement for home loans I think. Fortunately there was no audio.

[ It reminded me of a Texaco gas station in my old home Aliso Viejo, CA. As soon as one would start to pump the gas a loud voice would come over the small video screen telling you to buy food or something of the sort inside. I tended to avoid this gas station until I noticed one day that the video didn’t work that often. The computer they were using had crashed. In fact in the small video screen you could tell it was Microsoft Windows. Eventually I don’t think they bothered to fix it...for I never saw the video again. Although if my memory is correct the 76 gas station down the road also had some sort of video screen ad too, but I don’t recall it being quite so annoying. ]

Hopefully I won’t get a "violent" streak in Japan - I’m expecting a lot of advertising there in various places.

- I visited a hotel above a pub as a possible place to stay in lieu of my current situation. The hostel I’m at is new, clean, and tidy but very small. How convenient - get drunk, then walk right upstairs to your room!

- I switched from a cramped 4- share dorm room to my single room at this backpacker hostel. As soon as I was getting settled the girl from the front desk came up and asked me to switch rooms. She had put me in a double room, not a single. I said ok. Another fellow brought up my new room key - but I asked him if the single room was a single bed or a bunk bed (The double bed had a single bed on top - something I’ve never seen before - so I started to wonder). I quickly learned that it was a bunk bed. This is important because at this point in my travels I’m looking for a place to work, rest, and type. I can’t do that by sitting on a bunk bed. I refused to move.

When I went downstairs I mentioned to the girl my situation. She then said to me “Couldn’t you work on the floor?” I wanted to give her a bitch slap right then and there. Work on the floor??? SLAP! I told her I might be able to find alternative accommodation the next day. Not feeling too welcome.

- I mailed my first package back to the US (Australian guidebooks I no longer need but might want as a reference - I gave one away here because of the weight).

- I went to repair the strap and put a new heel on my trusty sandals. As the man was typing up the order he asked me where I was from. As soon as he found out he launched into a series of questions and statements about president Bush, Iraq, Jews, and Osama Bin Laden. At first I thought it was harmless, but it started getting heated very quickly.

He said things like - We (who is we?) have an issue with the US government, not the people. I made the comment that a government is reflective of the people to an extent. Although with a country as large as the USA it is easy to over-generalize I repeated. He then continued - What do you think of president Bush? I hesitated for a moment to think of the right thing to say then he blurted out you can’t criticize Bush...are you afraid too? He was goading me. I’ll spare the rest of details. He was also trying to convince me that Australia only supported America in Iraq because otherwise it would get taken over by China.....ok... To defuse the conversation I placed the blame elsewhere - I made it clear that oil was the root issue. That we should be going after the reasons for oil dependency. I think a little bit of that got through his skull. By the way...he is from Lebanon.

At this point I was beginning to worry about my shoes. Would he fix them properly? After all, these are my favorite sandals. If something were to happen to them I would cry a storm that would make a Category 5 Hurricane look like a small storm.

I really wanted to sock him so he would shut up. He was very abrasive. I’m just trying to get my shoes repaired! At the same time I wanted to give our “fearless” leader (Hiding behind a lot of guns) a good ole’ 1-2 punch for causing me this trouble. The actions of my US Government will certainly make my travels more difficult in some parts of the world. I’m still going to the places on my timeline – it’s just going to be a little more sticky. I’m from China!

So I left wondering how my shoes would turn out later.

- After fruitlessly searching for another hotel I settled on the pub hotel I saw earlier. I called to request a discount for a week stay. But he decided not to give me a discount because of the Rugby World Cup - which is making reasonably priced lodging hard to find. The way he sounded over the phone was a bit arrogant/abrasive too. I decided on another strategy for lodging. I wanted to sock him for being pig headed. After all my week long stay would continue after the Rugby World Cup is over. Maybe it is just Australian brevity. Maybe it is redneckish behavior in the city. I will point out that the definition of redneck is different between the USA and Australia.

...then things started to get better......

- I went to go pick up my sandals. They are looking good now! I didn’t have time to speak to him again because of other customers in queue (What the Aussies like to say). Maybe I’ll go back and take a picture of him holding my shoes.

- I found Pringles Light potato chips (1/3 less fat) - Regular flavor at a store next to the hostel. Something I had been looking for but never saw in my 1.5 months of travelling in Australia. I ended up speaking Chinese to the storekeeper. He said he just saw them at the distributor - new item! He mentioned to me how two major Australian brands of foods were bought out by US Companies. Inferring that Americans are smart.

- I surfed the Internet and found acceptable lodging using my new strategy - which was to find something further outside the city, yet still accessibly by train.

One more thing...the entire day I wanted to club the people who work in the marketing and product group at Telstra - the major phone company in Australia. For all the payphones situated in downtown Sydney are open air - no booths. It’s not exactly easy to talk with buses gunning down the streets or crowds of people walking by. It seems to be so difficult to find a place to make a quiet phone call.

Now that I’ve gone to such excruciating detail to explain my day – a few insights and reminders came to me today...

1) World Cup Rugby in Australia is like the Super Bowl being played in a major US city. Plan ahead! Life is good when you have good lodging during a major event (Like during Carnaval in Brazil), not so fun when you don’t. I better start planning for the August 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece!

2) Don’t have political conversations with shoe repairmen. A sign of things to come in the future? Maybe I will really have to say I’m from a country other than the US in some places. Though personally I don’t like to hide.

I’m still going to Yemen!

3) In my travels in Australia I’ve occasionally been in the position to give my opinion about America. Especially since there have been so few Americans on the backpacking scene. Some have stated that they really like the US. More often the comments haven’t been glowing. Especially since the whole Iraq quagmire.

While I have plenty of criticisms for my home country one thing I have stated publicly when pushed is that I believe that Americans are the smartest people in the world. I was reminded of this during my conversation with the Chinese storekeeper. American Business ingenuity! But let me define that as only raw intelligence. Americans as a whole are notably lacking in the wisdom department in my opinion. During my travels I’ve continued to gather evidence on these ideas. Maybe it is obvious to you the reader – especially if you’ve read other parts of this website. Maybe it isn’t. Needless to say...it is something I hope to write more about.

4) The conversation with the shoe repairman reminded me of another one of my goals for this trip.

If intelligent people in the US (And other “Modern” countries) don’t question their religion and politics (Inextricably linked in Arabia) – How can we expect people with less resources and opportunity to learn the truth (In many Arab countries), to question their behavior and opinions espoused by the media they read. You can’t.

Thus my quest to help end ignorance (Both mine and others) and the ignorance brought on by religion and government propaganda will continue (Until I realize that it's a waste of my short time on this earth!). As for religion - they could all be true as far as I’m concerned - so practice and believe, but the ignorance it promotes about life in general is scary. History will testify to that.

Intelligence without wisdom mixed in with ignorance is very dangerous indeed. The flip side is true too - too much wisdom without intelligence isn’t very good either although I don’t think it to be quite so dangerous.

ok...I’m glad I got all this out of my system!

I reckon I’ll soon have the US Secret Service, Arabs, fundamentalist Christians, redneck Australians, and the Australian police hot on my tail....not bad for a day’s work.

I now return to my regularly scheduled programming. I have to rest first...typing on a bed is NOT comfortable.

Just the Opposite (Brisbane, Australia)

Strange how looking with new eyes can change your perception of a place. Before I started traveling in my mind I had always thought that Australia might be a place I would like to move to. Now I can't wait to get out of Australia! In fact I've moved up my departure to Japan a couple of times. It is now Nov.26th (Originally Dec.2). I would make it even earlier if I could.

In my HOW I TRAVEL article I discussed a Magnitude of Experience problem and how it would slow me down during traveling. Well, now I am suffering from just the opposite. A lack of unique stimulus.

I mentioned earlier on how traveling around Australia after a 2.5 month road trip in the USA wasn’t such a good idea in hindsight. For one there is no shock / “totally new” value as I was here 2 years ago for 2 weeks. While Australia is different there are enough similarities to make traveling seem like just a continuation of traveling in the USA.

The desert areas (A majority of the country) are similar to what I drived through in Southwest US and West Texas. [Thus far - nothing measures up to North Texas though.] And of course the people all speak English. The architecture is modern. The majority ethnic base is from England - which is the same as America with a big serving of Germanic and African American (Depending on the area) thrown in. The food is similar (Except for vegemite) in that there is no exceptional native cuisine - most anything of interest to the palate is imported. Australia is also very suburbanized - although there is a push to change this in some cities. A lot of US television (Which affects attitudes) is played in Australia too - something I didn’t notice 2 years ago.

Of course - the US has nearly 15x the number of people than Australia so the US has many more diverse aspects based on that alone. And the US was founded more on religion rather than convicts. And yes..everything in the US is bigger too. People, cars, homes, etc...but the shade of difference is not enough in my mind to hold my interest.

Even if the differences were enough from the US to keep me going – most of the capital cities are starting to look similar too. Brisbane is very similar looking to Melbourne when viewed from down the river. They even use the same names for some of the city areas (South Bank). Perth and Adelaide, which each have a different feel and look - do share a similar layout from the perspective of having alot of spacious park land surrounding the city and being built on rivers too and near the ocean. Actually the latter point of being built near the ocean and by a river pretty much applies to all the cities. Australia advertises its beaches a lot too. After 1.5 months I couldn’t care less about seeing another beach or bay. Even the meeting of dolphins on the shore which I thought was unique to NW Australia and the Carribbean isn’t. It can be done in SW Australia, South Australia, and on the East Coast too.

The expense of traveling in Australia certainly doesn’t help either. 2 years ago the exchange rate was 2 to 1. Now it is 1.4 to 1. That’s a 30% decline in the value of the US dollar in a little over 1.5 years. Now I know what some folks in countries with currencies declining against the US dollar must feel like.

Traveling in Australia then to me now is mostly picking up on the more subtle differences and the differences that most tourists probably don’t notice. I’ll add that the Culture Shock: Australia book that I brought along does a good job of pointing these differences out. The obvious differences - like the presence of a really old native culture, wildlife, remarkable change of seasons in Kakadu national park, breathing rocks that supposedly existed 2 billion years old (They are not that old themselves), and reefs - I’ve made sure that I got a proper experience.

Another Reason - Altitude

Another reason I had so many flights in Australia was because Australia was near the top of my list for a future home I thought I would tour all the cities and decide which one I would want to live in the most. Now I know – that feeling was based off a short trip 2 years ago under very different circumstances and mindset.

I’ve written an article that I’m due to post soon on how looking at places from a “Would I want to live there?” perspective differs from touring / visiting. The fact that I like to live in a hilly / mountainous area eliminates many of Australia’s cities right off the bat. Australia’s highest point is Mt Kosciusko at 2,228 m (7,310 ft). It drops off pretty fast from there. The next highest is Mount Bogong (1,986 m/6,516 ft). Other than mountains - areas of any notable altitude are under 1800m / 5900 ft. All these are clustered in the Southeast of Australia I believe. Every capital city (Save Hobart, Tasmania - which I did not visit) in Australia is built on pretty much flat land. Sydney is the hilliest. Brisbane has a few hills. Adelaide has scenic hills nearby but Adelaide is definitely a place I would not choose to live in. Let’s just say the host I was staying with there called it dull. I’ll leave it at that for now.

After living in Washington State with the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges in sight and in California with the Sierra Nevada Mountain range my definition of a mountain is different than some. I suppose someone living in Nepal would consider my definition of a mountain to be a bit “small” too. For reference the US Appalachian chain ranges from 460 to 2,040 m (1,500 to 6,700 ft). No wonder I don’t have a strong urge to move to the Eastern US.

If you relied on surveys alone you would find out that many of Australia’s cities are near the top of the list of being most livable. As an student from India in Adelaide mentioned to me. A check of many US livable city surveys (US News, etc...) would find many East Coast cities on the list. But - they don’t take into account natural altitudes / geography.

One man’s rock is another man’s gold.


...I'd just like to acknowledge my friendly day hosts Nic and Nancy in Brisbane whom I met through Global Freeloaders. They did offer me a place to stay but because I changed my schedule at the last moment I didn't stay with them, they did treat me to a nice lunch at a place which has a one-way mirror in the mens bathroom!

This is Lunacy (Port Douglas, Australia)

In some recent journal articles I mentioned a few coincidences that have been occurring. Well - I’ve “suffered” a whole slew of them recently. The amount of coincidences in such a short time are bordering on lunacy. Here is a quick recap:

#1) 1st American met on Australian soil is from Kirkland, WA. Where I "live" now in the US.

#2) In Darwin bumped into 2 travelers that I met on the tour bus up to NW Australia. I bumped into them on a sidewalk.

– and the most recent ones:

#3) Leaving Darwin in the morning I bumped into a German who I briefly met when we shared the same dorm room in Exmouth (NW Australia). We were on the same airport shuttle bus and flight to Cairns. We shared a room at the Cairns’ Serpent Hostel for two nights. I didn't remember until he jogged my memory when he mentioned a German player on the Seattle Supersonics basketball team.

In Cairns - while waiting for the hostel bus to pick us up and take us from the city back to the hostel

#4) We met another German waiting for the bus - which is no big deal. But, he is from the same town as the German I was rooming with (Coincidences happen to other people around me).

#5) And really improbable...while waiting..I bumped into the Italian couple from my snake and turtle hunting trip in Kakadu National Park. I knew they were going to Cairns...that is all. What are the odds? Cairns is small, but not that small! 110,000 people. They were the only other people on that trip to Kakadu with me.

as if that wasn't enough...at the hostel the following day...

#6) I bumped into 4 British girls that I played pool with at a pub in Exmouth (A really small town). We were practically the only ones in the pub that night...a couple of others - that is it. Exmouth is a long way from Cairns. On the opposite side of the country. There are ALOT of hostels (20+) in Cairns. Why we happened to be at the same one I don't know. aiieee!!! I might have bumped into them in Townsville further south if I didn't cancel that city on my list. That is where they are headed.

Some of these are more “probable.” As a traveler in a country with such few major tourist cities I would actually expect a few of these now and again....but the number right now is just outrageous!

#7 Another coincidence for others..while watching a World Cup Rugby game on TV...the Irish group sitting in front of me saw one of their friends on the television!

Now if I meet anyone from Australia in Asia I'm going to jump out of a plane and see what happens!

So...why do I mention this...other than to humor you? One of my goals my traveling is to definitively answer in my mind to 99% certainty (For me) whether there is any supernatural (For nature as we know it - maybe coincidences are a part of nature? Yeah...that’s it) force - God(s) or otherwise in this world. I used to believe there was a God, now I am on the track of not believing in anything. But, this “coincidence thing” keeps bothering me. Some people have 1or 2 coincidences in their life and their believers of whatever faith comes their way. I’m not that easy. Some have even started entire religions based on a few coincidences probably. There is even a book on coincidences and faith - though I have not read it yet. I should.

I have so many unlikely ones that maybe I’m on the wrong track again. Maybe there is something. So I’m going to use the “coincidence thing” as the answer to the question itself. I will travel to many spiritual places of many religions, and non-religious spiritual places, etc... I figure if there is such a force I will by “coincidence” meet it or know it. I don’t like the know it though. It is too easy to be fooled by feelings (Fear, etc...) and/or strange natural phenomenon with logical explanations. I am the skeptic here. So I will rely more / exclusively on the meet it. Of course this force(s) would have to demonstrate to me in some convincing fashion that it indeed was some sort of controlling powerful force. Giving me superpowers would be nice. What that demonstration is I don’t know. I’ll know it when I see / hear / touch it. If I don’t have any such “coincidence” then I will believe in nothing - end of story/theme. That is how I will live my life with no doubt unless something spectacular happens later. I will have made a serious effort at questioning it. To be clear - my definition of God does not include any of the human flesh variety!

More on this later I’m sure. Maybe I’ll write a book on this.

The Hits Keep Coming (Darwin, Australia)

I didn't have to wait long for another coincidence. Tonight, I bumped into two fellow backpackers that I met on a tour bus nearly 2 weeks ago when I was traveling from Perth to Exmouth in Western Australia. If I met them at a hostel in Darwin that would be one thing as there are only so many. ButI met them just walking on the sidewalk looking for lunch as they stepped out of a Woolworth's drug/grocery store. What are the odds? Tomorrow they are going to Kakadu National Park on a tour so I almost did not "bump" into them.

I can't even imagine what or where the next coincidence will be. I guess that is why they are coincidences...always
surprising. I could tell you about coincidences of bumping into relatives in Taipei, Taiwan (A big city!), or how my
father bumped into an old classmate while we were traveling in the Yellow Mountains - West of Shanghai in China.
But I won't right now. I'm still trying to get over this one.

On another note - the Rugby World Cup is going on in Australia right now. Before I came here I had no idea what the rules of Rugby were. Nor was I particularly interested. Now I'm actually getting excited to watch a few of the games.
I'm finding it fascinating to compare Rugby to US Football. I think it says something about our respecive
societies too. More on this in a future article.

I head to Cairns, Australia next to do some good diving hopefully. My stay in Darwin has been good - although it is a bit
hot and humid. The highlight most certainly is my experience in Kakadu with understanding the Aboriginal
culture. Highlights included eating ants and going snake and turtle hunting in the mud. I'll leave you with this picture -


Holding the live file snake that we caught earlier -- soon to be in my stomach!