It's Organic!

I finally get an adventure I am excited about!

Good destinations- check

Good people traveling with me- double check

Decent layovers- semi-check

Good time- crosscheck and secured!

On our first leg of the adventure, we start out in Miami and end up on the island of Oahu, staying at a hotel on Waikiki Beach.

I am happy to finally get “lei’d” in Hawaii. I got a beautiful lei made of orchids (my favourite flowers) and some other type of really fragrant flower that was so proud of its fragrance, it wanted anyone within 50 feet to smell it! Thank god for this flower, because after spending close to 12 hours on a plane, I’m sure I didn’t smell all that fresh!

We stayed in a fairy decent hotel, I think I would be stretching to say it was nice... but the beds were clean, and the toilets were clean. That to me counts as a decent hotel. I am glad I only had a short time there the hotel was EXTREMELY loud. We were right above the ‘party’ district and probably until 4-5 in the morning, all you heard was shouting, yelling, puking, fights, hookers, police sirens, ambulance sirens, you name it, I heard it.

Before trying to settle to bed, I went out with a group of friends. We walked over to the “International Mall” (so they say). It was mostly touristy stuff, nothing really worth buying. Myself and an actually friend (not just a work friend) went and got crabs together. Not from the hookers!! Surprisingly they were pretty cheap (the crabs, not the hookers) we paid like $14 for 2 HUGE clusters of snow crab, with some rice, corn, grilled pineapple. So we split that.

Afterwards- back to the hotel.

Of course in order to get into the hotel, we had to fight and kick our way through a line of 6 deep hookers standing out front of our hotel. I guess they heard that the “International Pimp” was staying there, and they all wanted to come work for me! (Ok, so I live in a state of insanity, but let me tell you, it’s the best state in the nation of craziness!)

While showering, I realized that I am glad I didn’t get sun burnt. The showerhead at this hotel was part pressure washer, and I couldn’t help but imagine how it would have felt on sun burnt flesh!

From my general impression of Honolulu (Waikiki in specific)-: way too many tourists.

The people were nice, but almost fake nice. I can get that in Florida!

I heard from other people that the other islands are much nicer, cleaner, and the people are genuinely friendly. I guess next time I’ll have to explore a little deeper.

The following morning I flew to the Marshall Islands. A group of islands just south of the Tropic of Cancer in the south Pacific. Flying into these islands was an amazing experience. The water was so many shades of blue. In fact it went all the way from white to almost black. Tiny tiny islands. We landed there only for a short bit, but enough time to walk around and ‘explore’ a wee bit. The people here were friendly, and very enthusiastic to get us to their “shops”, which consisted of one shop, that sold potato chips!

We loaded up and flew to our next stop of Guam.

Now this island is a hidden treasure. The last time I was here was several years back, and I do not remember it being so nice. Truly a hidden paradise.

My hotel was partially overlooking the city, and the other part was the beautiful lagoon. The people of the hotel were amazingly nice. The hotel staff greeted us with a private room for us to fill out our hotel cards.
Side note: a lot of hotel in other countries (yes, I know Guam is a US territory, but its still “another country”) have you fill out a long slip of paper with your passport number, home address, etc. Now back to my story.
They said they knew we had been traveling for most of the day, and wanted us to be comfortable when we filled these out. They also brought out beer and bottled water for us as well.

I tried my first Filipino beer San Miguel. Really good!!

We all went up to our rooms, and decided we were going to meet up downstairs for a drink and then go get dinner together.

We met down by the pool, and I started to talk to 2 guys that worked there. I wanted to see where the local ate. I don’t believe in traveling to the other side of the world to eat something I can eat in my own backyard.

I think the best tip I can ever give anyone on traveling internationally, or even domestically is to do what my mother always says to do.

Yes, pack a lot of clean underwear, but that’s not the tip…..

Talk to the natives!

Find out where they eat, what is the local cuisine?

You’d be surprised how much you can learn about the culture just by seeing/experiencing their foods. Besides, if it is a place where locals eat, chances are, it will be much tastier, and mega-ton much cheaper.

So our Samoan transplant, and Palauan transplant recommends this place called Proas. They tell us it’s only about a 10-minute walk from the hotel!

Of course what they failed to tell us is… you need a reservation!

So the 10-minute walk turned into a group of cranky people. Myself was not included in that group. I don’t let little miniscule things like that upset my travels!

We ended up settling on this Vietnamese place. I love Vietnamese food. How can you get bad food…. Well, let me tell you…. You CAN!!!

After sitting down at this huge circular table (complete with a lazy susan in the center) the funky smell crept into my nostrils.

I usually try not to let that cloud my judgment. After all, I have had some great food from the stankiest restaurants!

The waitress was clueless from the get jump. (Bless her lil heart)

We all ordered our food.

We wait…..

Wait….

Wait some more….

Finally, ONE dish comes out….

Wait…

A little more….

TWO dishes come out!

By this time, I feel like the Count from Sesame Street… One, ONE plate of food… ah ah!
Eventually, all the food (not the appetizers that were ordered, the FOOD) comes out… well all except ONE persons.

She waits….

One person slides some food off their plate onto hers…

She waits some more….

Wha… Wait… there’s a plate coming… OH NOOOOOOO, it’s not hers, its an appetizer.

She waits….

Another person gives her some food.

She waits…

By this time, the table is pretty much all disappointed with the food. Well all but one person, but he was feeling so good from his beer, I think he would have ate dog crap and thought it was good!

She gets up and tells the waitress to just forget about the meal.

We order the checks… and they bring out the checks…..Then…

This is the kicker…

Her food comes out….

I know, it’s not funny, but we couldn’t help but laugh afterwards.

We get back to the hotel, and pretty much, nothing exciting happens.

The following day we fly into Vietnam. Da Nang to be exact.

Flying into this country was beautiful. I never realized how mountainous this country was. Very pretty from the sky.

We land and it is hot.

Like a microwave in HELL kinda hot!

We park next to a HUGE military plane. I love planes!

Thirty minutes after we arrive, I am able to watch a repatrization ceremony. They (our military) had found the remains of 3 US Soldiers, and they were bringing them back to the States.

The ceremony was a little eerie. There were no words spoken. No music.

There were 3 black boxes.

A member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines were there in their dress uniforms.

They had a certain group of steps and salutes they did, carried the box over to a coffin, placed it in, and then marched the coffin into the military plane.

It was very moving in a strange kind of way.

It was probably 99 (thousand) degrees, plus standing on that concrete made it hotter. The sun was reflecting off the ground, and I didn’t have my sunglasses.

It was a cool thing to have witnessed.

I love the fact that I get to travel to places some people never imagine traveling to, and witnessing things that most people will NEVER witness.

After we fly back to Guam, we are there 30 some odd hours.

I had planned with my friends some activities to do while we were there.

Yeah- that didn’t happen.

It rained...

And rained…

Then rained some more…

I need to back up a little bit. I forgot to mention that our hotel in Guam did not have internet.

But for some reason, I was able to get it from my room!
I was on the 8th floor, and the 9th floor was the “executive” level, and I was right below their business centre which had free internet. So my room became know as “The Bootleg Internet Café”

Everyone was coming to my room.

Back to the story…

Since it was raining, needless to say, we didn’t really do anything.

We sat and talked.

About 11:30 that night, the World Cup Game between USA and Algeria was on.

We agreed to meet in my room.

I feel sorry for anyone who was around my room. We were WAY too loud!

But oh well- we won… that’s all that matters! (even if our team really doesn’t play that well)

The following day we flew to Japan to catch our connection back to the US.

Let’s just say that people in the Narita airport are some of the rudest people I have ever encountered anywhere in the world. People talk about Parisians or New Yorkers being rude (I still have yet to encounter that) Hands down the Japanese were the epidmy of rude!

I was shocked. Whenever you think of Japan, you always think of manners, and polite people. How they have us fooled!

No one wanted to help us. Everyone was “no no too busy, come back rater” or “someone erse come to herp, not my job”. It literally took us 3 hours to get seat assignments! SERIOUSLY??

So we get on our flight from Tokyo/Narita to San Francisco. Were all a little flustered because of the crap service.

Of COURSE, I have the VERY last row in the plane. Thank god it reclines a tiny bit.

Suddenly I look up.

Like an angel sent from heaven, a flight attendant has a silver tray, filled with mimosas for all of us. Not just one… but, 2!

Meal came through, and another flight attendant pours a glass of wine from her open carton, and then puts an unopened carton on my meal tray… like an adult juice box!

The flight pretty much continued on like this across the pond. Drink after drink after drink after drink.

By the time we get to San Francisco, I am PLASTERED. I passed out probably an hour before landing.

Remember kids, one drink in the air is equivalent to two on the ground!

I arrive at customs, and thank god the customs officer had a good sense of humour. When he asked me if I had anything to declare, I said “yes”.. he said “what do you have to declare” I said – “I have to declare, that I… :::hiccup::: am drunk!” He laughed and then I was serious and told him that I had nothing, blah blah blah.

We get to the hotel “Diva” in San Francisco. (Can you tell our travel department for work is a little strange)
It’s a nice modernized 1930’s style building. TINY hotel rooms (at least mine was, apparently some other colleagues got suites… not me, NOOOO)

The staff is extremely nice.

I am really excited (well, after I wake up with a hang-over)

This is where my favourite Chinese restaurant ANYWHERE is. Hang Ah Tea Room on Sacremento (I think that’s the name of the street). All I know is its behind the Willie Woo Woo Playground .

So I get up…

Fall back asleep.

Get up again…

Fall back asleep AGAIN…

Bascially this happens a few times until my friend calls and says “You need to get the F up I’m STARVING”

I managed to get up, shower, and head downstairs.

The location of the Hotel Diva is incredible, walking distance to pretty much everything you would want to see in San Fran.

We walk to Chinatown.

I am ready to HURT this food. Visions of the food and how tastey it is are tap dancing on my tongue. I’m practically doing a Chinese jig (ok, I know it’s Irish, relax) because I’m so excited about this food.

We walk up this steep ass hill.

Past Willie Woo Woo…

It’s in sight!

My tastebuds are watering so much, I look like a rabid wallaby!

I get to the door….

OH I CANT WAIT!!

:::Locked:::

Seriously?

I pull it again…. Yep, its locked. I read the hours of operation… sure enough, they should be opened.

I, like a retard, pull on the door again.

:::locked:::

I’m so sad! I mean literally almost to the point of tears.

So I walk away. Head hung low in sadness. My friend I am with is sad as well. She understands that I know good food, and she saw the disappointment in my eyes.

We walk up and down the streets of Chinatown looking for a restaurant that calls out to me. Though nothing will compare to Hang-Ah Tearoom.

A little old Chinese lady approaches us and hands us a flyer.

By this time, we are so hungry, I was ready to eat the lady that approached us. We walk over to this Chinese restaurant.

Go up stairs (as if walking up and down the hills of San Fran wasn’t enough).

We are seated and a LOUD lady comes over “WHA YU WAAN TU JRINK?”

Need I remind you, I am REALLY hung over.

They bring me my hot tea and water, and then we place our order.

They then bring out our free potstickers (that was the coupon).

Cold…

I should have known that this was not going to be a good experience when I look and you have to order your rice separately. NO meals came with rice. What the freak kind of Asian restaurant does not include rice with your food…. I digress….

The food arrives….

COLD…

I start to eat…

It’s really not that good.

I try my friends. I feel the same, in fact, hers is really terrible.

Suddenly I take a closer look at my food.

What the FUCK is that?

I pick it up with my chopsticks. “What does that look like to you?” I ask my friend sitting there with me.

“An onion maybe from the rings”…

I place it on my place, and cut it open with my chopstick (a skill learned through much training)

Sure enough, it was NOT an onion. Unless onions now have guts and insides.

I almost throw up. Let’s back up again to remind you, I have a bad hang over. From WINE. If you have ever had a hang over from wine, you know that your stomach is really sensitive.

Normally this would have not bothered me. In fact, I have eaten some crazy stuff overseas. OVERSEAS! OVER-SEAS! As in, NOT the USA. I live in a country where I do NOT have to eat these things to survive, so I choose NOT to eat these things.

I call for the manager.

Ms Loudness comes back “WHA IS QUESTION”…

“Not a question there Ms Fortune teller, there is a WORM in my food”…

“OKAY?”…

So… here I am truly stumped. If I owned a restaurant, and I hope one day to have an establishment that serves food, I would have been so apologetic and embarrassed at this point.

“SO WHA IS QUESTION”

Now, am I on glue or did she just brush this off like its not a problem.

“Worms… in my CHICKEN….?” I really am confused at this point.

“IT’S ORGANIC”. Ok, now the bitch has overdone it.

“I know, but so is crude oil, it doesn’t mean that I want to drink it”

“IT’S ORGANIC, FRUM VESHEBUL”. (This bitch REALLY wants me to stab her in her nostril with my chopstick)

“I understand that, but I ordered CHICKEN, NOT WORMS”.

She still doesn’t get it. She really does not see a problem with this.

“Well I’m not paying for this”

“YOU WAN SUMFING DIFFWEN?”

“YES!! I want to get the hell up out of this place!”

So we leave… feeling twice as sick as when we went in there… and STILL hungry. Although, I really can not fathom eating anything else because I am so scared to eat now.

We get back to the hotel, and literally spend the next 4-5 hours just chillin in the lobby talking to the front desk people. The music was really chill, and the chairs were really comfortable.

The front desk guy recommended we try this place 2 doors down from the hotel. It is a ramen place.

We eventually went to see what the fuss was all about.

Apprently this place is the SHIZ-NIT! There are people LINED up outside. In fact, they make you read the menu and decide what you want before they even seat you.

Unlike the other place, it is FULL of Asian people. This to me says GOOD food!

After assuring they were not going to feed us worms, we put our name on the waiting list and eventually sit down and order our soups.

I got the Tempura Udon. Udon noodles in an awesome broth with some tempura vegetables. The staff was extremely friendly, and the soup was exactly what I needed for my stomach!

The rest of the trip was quick. We flew to Minneapolis, and then back to Miami.

The trip was a memorable one. I haven’t had a trip like this in a long time.

The month of July will probably be slow for me. Pretty much I will go to and from Cuba several times, so the blogs will probably be really short.

Towards the end of the month, my mom is turning 65, and we (my siblings and I) are going to be doing a road trip (I’m the one driving mom) up to Tennessee and we are taking her Zorbing. (More about that later)

“A man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore” ~ Andre Gide (1869-1951)