Mopeds & Miracles

This post is dedicated to EC, to whom I promised to tell this story.  Hike Fuji! Step 1: Skip the Planning The beauty of Fuji It's one of the curious dichotomies of life that often, the harder you hold onto something, the more likely it will slip your grasp.  Hearts have been broken by this age-old rule.  Fortunes squandered.  Kingdoms lost.  Sometimes, you need to let go.  Sometimes, you need to say "to Hell with  planning"  and just let things happen. Our story today comes courtesy of yesterday.  Or yesteryear, rather.  August in the late 90's tucked somewhere between the trial of  O.J. Simpson  and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.   I was visiting my college friend John who was stationed at the U.S. Naval Base at Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.   After an interesting visit of Tokyo involving coffin hotels and irritating Yakuza at the onsen , we planned to climb Mt. Fuji on my last weekend before going home. ...

The backpacker is a curious breed of traveler. Easily insulted by the accusation that they are simply sightseers, they aspire to be more than someone on vacation. They want to experience the culture and to interact with the locals. But most of all, they want to find that Holy Grail of Backpacking... the TWING (That Which is In No Guidebook). The backpacker dreams of finding that mythical beast, the secret destination that nobody knows about.  Well friends, I'm here to tell you a tale of one such beast in the jungles of Bali. Ganesh guards the entrance It won't be a short tale.  It won't always be an exciting tale.  You will likely have to take a bathroom break somewhere in the middle.  But like the search for the mythical beast itself, the persistent reader will be rewarded. Even the grandest tales can have humble beginnings and my tale began at a humble cocktail party.  And with a guy named Samuel, who was a friend of a friend.  Between the usu...