Balderdash

Sunday, August 10, 2008

"Ah, yes, divorce...from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet." - Robin Williams

***

Japan trip
Day 5 - 10th June - Kiyomizudera Temple, Kyoto (Part 7)

Mister Donut claims to have the best donuts. I am annoyed, since that title rightfully belongs to Krispy Kreme.

In the temple, I'd earlier met a Singapore guy with what seemed to be his Japanese girlfriend. They were there for a holiday (must be many Singaporean guys' dream, hurr hurr)

What looked like a holy forest

More stones with bibs

More Shrines

Main hall from below

Drinking freely of the spring water. Some friends who went a month after me (ie in July) said the water was Y200 a pop then. I wonder if it was a summer charge or a new permanent charge.

I had some spring water. It tasted normal. I thought of packing some to go, but figured unpurified water (even if it was Holy Healing Water) could cause a stomachache if consumed in sufficiently-large quantities.

Blurb on the spring

Ironically, considering the temple was named after the spring water ("清水寺"), the spring was last on the visitation route.

It took me a while to figure out that the UV steriliser was for the scoops and not the water. Maybe UV removes the holiness from the water.

In the fountain enclosure

2 Cantonese-speaking (probably from Hong Kong) women (one is behind a pillar) taking the water. For some reason the guy in their group wasn't dressed as a samurai.

No Japanese temple would be complete without a donations box.
There's also a sign with something about firefighting. I suspect it says: "If the temple is burning down, it's fine to use the Holy Water to put out the flames"

Stilts supporting main hall

Pond

Figurines

Very familiar-looking cream puffs ("Kiyomizuzaka"). Compare them to:

Ginkakuji syu Cream Puffs
The only difference was that the ones I had this day weren't hot (but this was probably because it was the end of the day, ie tourist cycle). Oh, and these had no sesame seeds on top.

At least the wrapper was nicer

The people outside Ginkakuji were better at merchandising: there was ice cream IIRC.

Green tea primer: Gyokuro, Sencha, Matcha, Genmaicha
"Kyoto Uji-cha. Uji district in Kyoto is the most famous Japanese tea in Japan" - I'm sure all the other districts say the same about theirs

Soy donuts

Mysterious fried shit (they turned out to be stuffed fishcakes on eating). I had a choice of Ginger, Yasai (vegetables), ???, ???, ebi (prawns) and cheese. I went for cheese.

??? dolls

As I went down the hill, just after 6, I noticed that all the restaurants were closed or closing. Presumably only tourists go up and down that hill.

Elephant taxi

One of the many Temples in Kyoto. This was on the way down the slope from Kiyomizudera to the bus stop.

Entrance to the temple

"Rice Ball Cafe - using only the purest water
& Pottery Water Filter Shop"
No, I am not eating rice balls from a shop that makes pottery water filters.

Shrine besides bus stop. If you throw a stone in Kyoto you'll hit a Shrine, Geisha or Yakuza.

Old people rummaging in dustbins must be an Asian Value

Toji, from the bus

"Curry House. Good smell, good curry"

People with kittens near my hostel

The Kyoto Foreign Language School's motto is "Pax Mundi Per Linguas" ("World Peace through Languages"). As if. The more languages you have, the less peace.

There was a 24 hour supermarket right beside my hostel, which was very convenient.

Van Houten which doesn't have palm oil in it. So it's not always shit chocolate.

Free curry with a bottle of Coke. Of all the possible free gifts...

The supermarket also had cooked food.

8 Treasures. How many can you count? I only see 4, since I doubt corn starch and MSG count.

More cooked food: tofu, takoyaki and more. I have no idea why, since fried stuff doesn't keep well.

Y208 solution to my lack of Vitamin C consumption.

Late dinner

My butt hurt, probably from all the walking, especially uphill. Gah. Besides that, I was so exhausted I took a short nap (~half an hour), which was a very bad idea since I then couldn't get to sleep, took more than an hour to doze off and slept less than 5 hours that night, and had to extend my projected waking time for the next day by an hour (which screwed it slightly).

"Cockroaches and socialites are the only things that can stay up all night and eat anything." - Herb Caen

***

Twenty-six University of Texas cheerleaders rescued from lift - "A group of 26 teenage cheerleaders from the University of Texas were trapped in a lift after trying to find out how many of them could squeeze inside... The girls, aged between 14 and17, managed to get into the lift on Tuesday night at the appropriately named Jester Residence Hall on the university campus... After taking deep breaths they managed to close the lift door and descend to the first floor"

Photo of the Day: Closed Sign | Serious Eats : Required Eating - "We will be closed the week of July 4th in remembrance of the great Greek victory in the Battle of Tabouli, where General Baba Ghannouj triumphed over the Cretan forces of Falafel Baklava. Despite being badly injured during the battle, Baba Ghannouji's wife Gyro still managed to give birth to 13 more children despite losing both her legs. Th youngest of her son's Mythos, known to his peers as Cucumber Dip, went on to set an Olympic record in the Skull Toss. A record which reminds unbroken today. Re-Open July 9."

Sexual Harassment Arbitrage - "Attractive people have a unique arbitrage opportunity. All thing being equal, they are more likely to be hired for a given position than a less attractive peer. But all things remaining equal, they are also more likely to be sexually harassed by their superiors than a less attractive comparable employee. This gives attractive people the opportunity to “double dip,” so to speak. They can gain employment and the ensuing compensation by virtue of their looks; then they can compound their returns by getting sexually harassed and filing multi-million dollar suits"

Sexual Harassment Arbitrage: A Bad Play in Russia - "Like most things requiring logic or fairness or human rights, it does not apply in Russia. There have been only 2 successful sexual harassment cases in Russia since it was the Soviet Union, and a recent suit was dismissed thusly by the ruling judge: “If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children,” the judge ruled... According to a recent survey, 100 per cent of female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 per cent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven per cent claimed to have been raped."

Dachau concentration camp memorial site - It calls my travelogue "well-illustrated & commented". Yay.

‘She was ripe for the plucking’ | Voice of Malaysian - "Both women conducted interviews with 90 convicted rapists currently detained in four prisons in Seremban, Johor Baru, Kajang and Sungai Buloh aged 20 to 72... They see rape as a sexual act rather than as a violent crime... “Some believe rape is where force was used. So having sex with the victim isn’t rape to them. They are ignorant that rape is also caused by persuasion, coercion, manipulation and relationship power between an older person and a young victim.”... I raised my voice at a 60-year-old man who took his little granddaughter into a palm oil estate and raped her. Another said, Jika makanan sudah dihidang, kalau saya tak makan, lalat akan turun. Biar saya yang makan (If food is served and I do not eat it, the flies will come. Let me be the one who consumes it). “Similarly, a 55-year-old who raped his teenage neighbour as his wife had reached menopause, stated, Nak tidur, bantal pun sampai, kita pun tidurlah (Want to sleep and the pillow is here. May as well sleep on it)... “Most said they didn’t use force to have sex,” she says. “A music composer convicted of statutory rape against his teenaged stepdaughter passionately declared, ‘I am a lover, not a killer!’. “He said his stepdaughter is a ‘hot blooded teenager who needed to be taught the right way to enjoy sex’.” Many of the men committed incest while their wives were in menopause, pregnant, or unavailable for sex. When the men couldn’t control their urges, they sought the easiest women they could find"
Interestingly enough, "persuasion, coercion, manipulation and relationship power between an older person and a young victim" also describes many instances we would not consider rape.
Incidentally, the title of this publication has a grammar mistake. Hah.

Nigerian advises against 86 wives - "Nigerian Mohammed Bello Abubakar, 84, has advised other men not to follow his example and marry 86 women... "A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them," he told the BBC... "I don't go looking for them, they come to me. I will consider the fact that God has asked me to do it and I will just marry them."... "As soon as I met him the headache was gone," says Sharifat Bello Abubakar, who was 25 at the time and Mr Bello Abubakar 74. "God told me it was time to be his wife. Praise be to God I am his wife now."... "I am now the happiest woman on earth. When you marry a man with 86 wives you know he knows how to look after them," she said... Mr Bello Abubakar and his wives do not work and he has no visible means of supporting such a large family. He refuses to say how he makes enough money to pay for the huge cost of feeding and clothing so many people... "It's all from God," he says... He refuses to allow any of his family or other devotees to take medicine and says he does not believe that malaria exists... Two of her children have died. "They were sick and we told God and God said their time has come.""

Feng shui masters turn 'wheel of fortune' in Singapore's favour - "Officials in Singapore have changed the direction of the world's biggest observation wheel because feng shui masters said it was taking good fortune away from the city, a report said on Saturday... Bollen likened the change to the "completion of a perfect movie" to give a better story, but added that it cost the company a "six figure sum," the report said."

U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: Deceased Internal Pictures. NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE – LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE - "Passenger GOMEZ was pronounced deceased at 0604hrs at the Metropolitan Hospital. Miami-Dade Homicide arrived at 0855 hrs and the medical examiner arrived at 1045 hrs. The body was transported to the medical examiner's office at 1106 hrs and arrived at the morgue at 1126 hrs. Chief Duchesne was notified at 1156 hrs and the command center at 1158 hrs. The medical examiner extracted 48 intact pellets from GOMEZ's body. An additional pellet was observed to be in poor, deteriorated condition and was believed to have resulted in a leakage in GOMEZ's body."
Even by my standards, this is sick.

"There are only two kinds of scholars; those who love ideas and those who hate them." - Emile Chartier

***

Slatkin is coming to Singapore and as usual the Esplanade site is unhelpful about the program, so in order to find out if I should stump up $60, I Googled and found his upcoming performances page.

"Thursday, October 2, 2008
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Shanghai, China
Steven Isserlis, cello
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
WALTON: Cello Concerto
ELGAR: Symphony No. 1

Sunday, October 5, 2008
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Macau, China
BERNSTEIN: Candide Overture
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
MAHLER: Symphony No. 1 in D major

Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Taipei, China
COPLAND: Appalachian Spring Suite
MAHLER: Symphony No. 1 in D major

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Taichung, China
Repertoire to be announced

Friday, October 10, 2008
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Singapore, China
WALTON: Henry V
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No. 6
ELGAR: Enigma Variations"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The programme is quite varied.

The orchestra members are either rotating or they have been having a lot of fun at rehearsals.

Candy
Is Dandy
But liquor
Is quicker.

--- Reflections on Ice-Breaking by Ogden Nash

"Computer dating is fine, if you’re a computer." - Rita Mae Brown

***

Baltics trip
Day 5 - 20th May - Klaipeda, Lithuania; Selected pictures/videos from HWMNBN and YC

Being chased by the horde of kids on the Witches Hill

Witches Hill

Lost in the Forest in the Curonian Spit
"This was taken in the depths of the Curonian Spit 3 days before their bones were found. This is the last record of 3 Asian travelers before Baba Yaga got them"