Tagata Fertility Festival

March 15, 2008

This has to be one of my most interested experiences, yet. Tagata Honen (Fertility) Festival is a Japanese tradition and was a unique experience. Villagers offer a huge Owasegata (aka "Sacred Object", aka erect penis) to the Tagata Shrine, praying for world peace and growth of all living things including rice and other crops as well as the birth of children. In the Tagata shrine, deities are represented by 'sacred objects' of all shapes and sizes. Because the ancient Japanese belief that says Mother Earth must be impregnated by Father Heaven for all things to grow and develop.

The parade begins at the male shrine, Jinmeisya. Before the procession begins, barrels of Sake are opened and handed out to the crowd. The Shinto priest then leads the parade, followed by local musicians playing ritual music on bamboo flutes. Next comes the wooden 'sacred object.' It is 2.5 meters long and weighs 400kg. It is carried through the streets by sixty men, all aged 42, which is considered to be a vulnerable age in Shinto religion. Carrying the "sacred object" is suppose to bring them good fortune. The sixty men work in alternating shifts shouting 'hoh-sho hoh-sho,' while running, stopping abruptly and turning the shrine around in circles until they reach the Tagata Shrine, or female shrine.

When the 'sacred object' reaches Tagata Shrine, rice cakes, Mochi, are then thrown into the crowd. The mochi throwing should not be taking lightly. These things are big and hard, similar to a softball being thrown at you. I managed to stay in the crowd for over half the time. After I got elbowed in the face a second time by a man trying to catch mochi, I surrendered. Colby stayed in and managed to catch one. Our friend, Sarah, caught four!!!

I have to admit, this is the most unusual thing I have ever witnessed. But, I am sure glad we went. There is no experience that will ever come close to this!

Thailand

All I can say is, WOW!!! What an amazing vacation.

We left cold and dreary Japan on February 23, 2008 and headed for our week-long holiday in Thailand. After a few flight delays, we finally landed in Phuket very late Saturday night, or was it Sunday morning? We spend the day on Sunday getting to know our hotel and surrounding area, and, oh yeah, relaxing on the beach. Our hotel was located on Kamala Beach. It was a two minute walk from our hotel room to the lounge chairs on the white sand. Kamala Beach was hit hard by the tsunami but it's making a strong comeback. It was a 20 minute car ride from Patong, (the busy, tourist city) which made our location nice and quiet day and night. But it only took $10 to get a cab ride to the city.

Day 2: Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee)

We had heard numerous praises about Phi Phi Island from quite a few of our friends. So, we booked a tour, and off we went. We took a speed boat out to the island and had a great time. Phi Phi Island is famous for the movie, "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. The water was turquoise blue and the beach was white, soft sand. Malay Beach is a small little cove surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. It real does have a fantasy feeling to it. I have never seen anything so beautiful. After swimming in the ocean for a little while, it was back on the boat to head to a snorkeling spot. The water was so clear you could see forever. We saw tons of Parrot Fish, Angel Fish and even a blue water snake. The boat took us to a few more picture worthy locations and even let us dive off the boat in some areas. It was such a great day. Even at the very end of the day we saw a big jellyfish in the marina.

Day 3: Ahhh, another relaxing day at the beach. We sat in our lounge chairs and the waters edge and drank Mai Tais, ate pineapple and severely sunburnt our legs!!!

Day 4: SCUBA! Right outside our of resort was a great little dive shop, Kamala Dive. We headed to a location just south of Phuket Island called, Rachi Yai. The wind was blowing pretty hard that day creating some rough water. The currents were a little strong, but not too bad. However, the wind did stir up the water, making it a little murky. Usually, the water is crystal clear. But, we didn't let that ruin our dives! On the second dive of the day, we saw a life-sized underwater elephant and an underwater temple. They were placed at the dive site a few years ago to attract more tourist. Even though they were man-made, they were still pretty cool!

Day 5: Off to the jungle!!! On Thursday morning, we packed our bags and said 'good-bye' to Phuket. We were heading north to spend the next three days in the jungle. We found the resort, Elephant Hill, in a newspaper article in December and just knew we had to go there. And we were defiantly not disappointed. Koh Sok jungle is an exceptionally beautiful place. It's a rain forest that has huge limestone mountains that shoot straight up into pointy, sharp peaks. Elephant Hills is right in the middle of it all. We stayed in a luxurious tent. (Yes, a tent). While it was a tent, we had a bed, and an attached bathroom with running water (hot and cold), shower, and a toilet. (Do you really think I would stay in a tent for three days without a shower?). Anyway, after our arrival we had an amazing lunch and then headed out for our afternoon adventures. First, we had a two hour long canoe ride through the jungle, stopping for tea along the way. We saw a few jungle creatures, including a tree frog and some snakes. Then, after the canoeing it was Elephant trekking time!! We met our elephant, Tam Tim (isn't she cute?)and her handler. Tam Tim is 35 years old and was handed down to current owner from his father. Elephants, because they live so long, are handed down from father to son. For only being 35 years old, she was already going a little grey. While humans get grey hair, elephants' faces turn white. We climbed on the back of Tam Tim and she took us for a 90 minute ride in the jungle. We even saw a few monkeys. It was such an incredible experience. After the ride, we thanked Tam Tim for an excellent ride with a basket of fruit. Bananas were her favorite. Then it was back to Elephant Hills for dinner.

Day 6: Another amazing day at Elephant Hills. We headed out to a huge, freshwater lake in the middle of the jungle. We went on a long tail boat ride and saw some more of the jungle wildlife. Mainly birds, including eagles and hornbills. We had a delicious lunch which included fresh fish from the lake. Then we relaxed and went swimming and kayaking the rest of the afternoon.

Day7: Our last day in Thailand. While the day was short (we had a plane to catch) we still managed to have a wonderful time. Our tour guide, Bamboo, took us for a few hours hike in the jungle. She taught us about the local vegetation and animals. We learned so much!

Sadly, our time in Thailand was over. We had such an amazing time! The people were extremely nice and helpful. Plus, everything is so incredibly cheap! We never paid more than $15 for a meal and clothing and souvenirs were quite a deal! We are already planning our next trip there!

January was busy!

This is just a short note to update everyone on my travels in January. We managed to get back to the states for Christmas. It was so great to see everyone again. Although, I must say...jet-lag is not my friend!

On January 13th, Colby and I went to Tokyo to see Bon Jovi in concert. It was an amazing concert. One of the best ever!! Honestly, I don't think you've lived until you hear 40,000 Japanese singing along to "Livin' on a Prayer!" It was great! I unfortunately have no pictures from the event for two reasons. First, you were not allowed to take pictures and there were cops everywhere enforcing this rule. Second, we forgot our camera! Oops!

Anyway, the next weekend we went skiing in Nagano! Remember the 1998 winter Olympics? Yeah, we went there. We had a fabulous time. The weather was extremely cold. The highest it ever got was 22 degrees. Brrrrr. But, the sun was out and the powder was fresh. What more could a girl want? Nagano is only a 4-5 hour drive from where we live. So, I am sure we will make many more return trips. Enjoy the pictures!

Thanksgiving in Hong Kong

Hello again!! I recently just returned from my five day adventure in Hong Kong. I left Tuesday, November 20, 2007 and returned on Sunday, November 25th. I was suppose to meet my husband at the port and have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with him. However, the Chinese government saw things a little differently...

For some reason, when the Kitty Hawk arrived in Hong Kong, the Chinese military would not let them pull into port. So, a long story short...the Kitty Hawk (KH) just decided to turn around and head home. So, that left thousands of wives and children hubandless and fatherless over the holiday weekend. China finally granted access to the port, but the KH had already been homeward bound for more than 24 hours. Quite a few wives and families decided to fly home early. My girlfriends and I decided to make the best of it and have a fun girls weekend. While we were terribly disappointed our husbands couldn't join us, we still managed to have a fabulous time!

The first day (Wed) was pretty much a wash. We really didn't leave the dock (where they guys were suppose to come in). That was a day in limbo...wondering when and if our husbands were coming. By Wednesday night it was official...no KH. So, Thursday we hit the ground running. We started the day by going to Johnny Jeweler. Johnny owns a jewelry store in Hong Kong and makes frequent trips to the military bases around Asia. So, we decided to check out his store. After some retail therapy, Johnny took us ladies out for Dim Sum for our Thanksgiving meal. It was a wonderful lunch. Even better that Johnny could explain to us what were were eating, and how to eat it. Everything was sooo good!

After lunch, us girls headed to the local flower market. Blocks and blocks were filled with vendors and their flowers. So beautiful!! Right down the street from the flower market was the Bird Garden. Around one hundred vendors line the allies with all sorts of cages, birds, and feed. We saw everything from parakeets to macaws! Then, we walked a few more blocks to the goldfish market (do you see a theme developing?). I have never seen so many fish in one place!! It was a lot of fun to walk through the stalls and see the different kinds of fish. Also, what was true in all these markets, is everything is so incredibly cheap. Huge beautiful orchids would cost only a few American dollars. I didn't price the birds, but goldfish were around $0.05 each and huge tropical fish, around $10!

We then left the local markets to head to Victoria's Peak. This is the main attraction in HK. You take a tram up a huge hill to an overlook (1,805 ft). From here you can see all of Hong Kong: the skyscrapers, the harbour and the densely packed streets. We got there just as the day was ending. So, we managed to get daytime pictures of the city and then about twenty minutes later, some great nighttime shots! After a great Thai dinner we headed back down the peak. At 8 o'clock every evening there is a laser light show in Hong Kong harbour. So, we found a restaurant with a pier side view, ordered some drinks and enjoyed the show.

On Thursday, we had booked a tour to Lantau Island. Lantau Island is west of Hong Kong Island and is twice the size (55 sq miles). Hong Kong's airport is on this island, along with Hong Kong Disneyland. Anyway, what we were going to see is the Po Lin Monastery and the world's largest outdoor Buddha. The tour started in Hong Kong at the Walk of Stars (Jackie Chen's handprints in the photo). It is where the famous Chinese actors put their hand prints in the cement. Afterwards, we took a boat ride to the island, seeing a pink dolphin on the way. Yes, a pink dolphin. For some reason, the dolphins in the China Sea are pink. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures, they were just too fast for me! Once we arrived in Lantau Island we walked around the fishing village of Tai O. This is a traditional Hong Kong town. The houses are built on stills over the water. The local vendors lined the streets selling their latest catch. Most crab and shrimp were still alive in buckets and housewives were fighting over their supper choices. While it wasn't the best smelling place in the world, it was one of the trips highlights.

After Tai O, we boarded a bus to take us to the Po Lin (Precious Lotus)Monastery and the world's largest outdoor Buddha, the Tin Tan Buddha. Buddha is over 100 feet high and weighs 275 1/2 tons. What was impressive about the Buddha is that he sits at the top of a huge hill (202 stairs to the top), so you are staring at him as you ascend. Very cool!

After our trip to Buddha, we headed to the adjacent monastery for lunch. The monks there are known for their vegetarian restaurant served in the temple refectory. Very good! I even tried fried tofu!

On Saturday, we tried to get in some souvenir shopping, but also seeing some sights along the way. We stopped by the Tin Hau Temple. They were burning so much incense in there, we could barely breath. (The picture on the right shows the spiral incense. They burn for ten days). Down the street was the Jade Market. All our guide books, said 'buyer beware' about this place. So, we just looked around. After a little more souvenir shopping, we headed to the Peninsula Hotel for high tea! It must be the 'it' thing to do in Hong Kong. We waited in line for over an hour for our table. But, we did enjoy our tea and sandwiches! What a great way to spend the afternoon!

Even though, I would have preferred Colby to be there, I still had a great time. Hong Kong is a pretty popular port for the ships. So, I have no doubt we'll be back!