Taking the Road Less Traveled

Nigeria Wrap-Up

2009-01-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

So I'm back in the US and I have some thoughts on Nigeria. Before I start, let me go over the final days of the trip. Once I was back in Abuja, we went to a Chinese food restaurant that was playing country western music. That was quite odd. The food was really good, though.

After getting back to London, the 4 of us (me, my mom, Uchenna and his gf) went to this really nice restaurant in the Mayfair area to celebrate the New Year. We didn't see the fireworks, but it was alright. We've seen fireworks in so many places (most impressively in Sydney), that I'm ok with not having seen them.

Ok, so about Nigeria. I was talking about this with Uchenna, and he has a very interesting theory about Nigerians in general and the problems they have in their country. It's very interesting and I can see where he gets it from. In short, he thinks that they hold themselves in too high a regard and they can't really extend their thinking to include big picture items like working for the good of the country or things like that. These are of course generalizations, but I think that they are fairly accurate. There are numerous examples of this that we saw over the trip, like the terrible conditions of some of the NATIONAL and STATE highways, the complete lack of maintenance on any number of other utilities and infrastructure, the fact that there's nowhere in the country with 24/7 power (seriously, how can this country sitting on all that oil have power problems??), etc etc.

This isn't to say that there isn't a sense of community. At the town and village level, it's remarkable (something that my brother mentioned, too). But people's thinking rarely goes up to state level and almost never goes up to a national level. It's just a bunch of people in pockets of areas that are only loosely associated with each other. My brother thinks that all of it is a symptom of the tropical climate and the overabundance of resources.

In any case, I'm glad that I got to know my family, but I'm still not a fan of the country. There's a lot that they need to do and it definitely won't be easy. A lot of Nigerians (including my dad) say that they need an "Obama" president of their own to change the thinking of the people in the country as a whole. I agree, but I think that the it's such a deep-seated problem that that person, whoever it is, will probably have to be even better than Obama at inspiring people.

Nigeria - Back to Civilization

2008-12-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

Oh my god. I’m back in Abuja, and all I’m going to say is that I’m glad to be back in a modern city. It’s still kind of ridiculous that the satellite TV in the village was better, but everything else is better (such as power being on being more the rule than the exception as it was in the village). I’ve been talking with the family (or more, listening to them talk), and I’ve got some wrap up thoughts on Nigeria, but I have to form them and I’ll get back to it in a later entry. Also, I should wait till the Nigeria part is over before that, haha.

Nigeria - Last Day in Obeledu

2008-12-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I’m going to be heading back to Abuja tomorrow. Church was as long as I expected, but not as boring as I expected. There was a fundraising event halfway through (during the time set aside for the Homily, if you know Catholic tradition) that was pretty interesting. Both of my parents donated quite a bit of money to the Church. My dad had me and my bro go up and “donate” money, too, but he’s going to actually donate it.

After that we came home for a bit and ate lunch, and I took a nap, after which, we went to a Bazaar, which was another donation event for the church – a charity auction, actually. It was pretty cool at first. Then boring. Then cool again, when I walked around and talked with my brother and cousin (technically, first cousin, once removed). Then boring again. I will say, though, that the image of my dad as the rich dude around town was very striking. He was seriously like the Don Corleone (sp?) of the town (without the illegal activities, hehe). There are also a couple of other big, famous families around town. I have a picture of my dad and guys from the other two families sitting next to each other and it really looks like we’re looking at a triumvirate of mafia heads or something. It was crazy. Yeah, my dad is rich.

Oh, I told this to my brother earlier today, but an interesting thing out here is that everyone greets everyone all the time. And very proper-like. “Good Evening, Sir.” “You are very welcome here!” Stuff like that. It’s kinda cool because it’s gotten me talking to people and being polite and stuff. 8^D

As this part of the trip with my family draws to a close, though, I can say that I’m really glad I came. Not saying I’m going to come out here all the time, but for the first time, I really feel connected to my culture and my family over here. It’s a good feeling.

Nigeria - Off the Beaten Path

2008-12-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Church, church and more church. I went to church the day before yesterday for Christmas (Merry Christmas, btw!) and went around to visit some family (including seeing Josephine, one of my favorite cousins over here, the other being her twin, Ngozi). I went back to church yesterday and will probably go again on Sunday. *SIGH*A very religious people, the Nigerians, hehe.

So what else happened? Oh yes, there was a festival the day before yesterday that I went to went the family. Well, “danced down the street to with a troupe of drummers, family and friends” is more accurate. It was a big town-wide thing, but among the activities, my dad was given yet another chieftaincy title. So apparently, I’m a prince of some sort? Weird. After that (which went on for quite a while), there was a Gala Night. It was supposed to be like a party for young people. There was a live band which was good in parts and super boring in other parts. My bro and I went out with 3 of my cousins. It was pretty good overall.

Today was mostly a chillout day. I just hung out at the house most of the day and played with the dog. He’s pretty bite-y in the way he plays, btw. In any case, after having breakfast, we went out to buy some bread that my mom likes, after which we went to see the Agulu-Nanka Erosion, a giant valley made purely from crazy erosion from the torrential rains here in Nigeria. It was really amazing. To get there, we first went down like 3 back roads and asked around a half dozen people for directions. We finally had to have a local kid from the town we found ourselves in guide us after driving down this crazy downhill grade to where it ended at someone’s house. He walked us into the forest (on a fairly lightly traveled footpath, so not QUITE off the beaten path – but still, it keeps with the spirit of this blog, hehe). After a bit of walking, the gorge/erosion opened up in front of me. My mom didn’t walk out there because she’s afraid of animals or something, so she stayed with the driver, but I was really glad I did. It was totally worth it.

I’ve been having this feeling for a little bit, but this is the first time that I feel like I’m really experiencing Nigeria.

Nigeria - More about Obeledu

2008-12-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

This morning, I was woken up by the sound of a rooster crowing and goats bleating. Yeah, countryside.

So yeah, my dad has a dog. His name is Prince and he’s very unruly. Well, he’s still young and wants to play all the time, even when he’s covered in dirt and mud. He ruined 2 shirts of mine in about a 30 minute span. I like him and all, but stupid dog.

Oh, right. The flight out here was pretty interesting. I should be used to it from the couple times that I’ve done it, but it’s still pretty crazy to me. The terminal building was very manual. Signs hanging from the ceiling showed the flights. There were no screens or LEDs or anything like that. I guess I just thinking of airports as requiring a minimum amount of technology in them, but when there are only maybe a handful of flights in and out any given day, I guess it works. Needless to say, there aren’t any gates so to speak, only a door out to the field and the mobile stairs they put out next to the planes. Also, the baggage claim in Enugu (the airport that we arrived in) was a trip. Think tractor pulling trailer of bags into a room where the bags are put on a desk.

Oh, I didn’t mention this before, but right now it’s the season called Harmattan in Nigeria. That’s when desert wind picks up sand from the Sahara and covers the country in a blanket of haze and absolute dryness. It’s hazy everywhere, all the time. Thankfully, it’s also relatively cool (“cool” meaning in the high 80’s, low 90’s during the day with no humidity).

So what happened today? I watched my dad’s helper guy split up the meat from a cow that they had slaughtered this morning. The meat was split in order to give to my dad’s siblings’ and friends’ families. It was pretty crazy watching him cut everything up. But thankfully, I didn’t see the slaughter itself. That might have been too much. Oh, and apparently, they squeeze the feces out of the intestines with their hands while preparing the meat. Nice.

There was more heading around and visiting family and friends. Tomorrow is when the crazy celebration and stuff starts.

Nigeria - Obeledu

2008-12-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

So I did some calculating, and I haven’t been here in the village in a whole decade! I was last here in 1998 for my dad’s knighting or chieftaincy ceremony or something. Yeah, I was in high school then. Crazy. Anyway, I saw some relatives and friends of the family today. There will be much more of that to come in the next few days.

So my dad is pretty well off, but I don’t think that I really understood the scope of that. Before coming out to Obeledu, we went to go see all the properties that he owns, and I realized just how crazy well off he is. He owns like a dozen houses, apartment buildings and plots of land. He was talking about the cost of building them and of renovating them, and how much he would be selling them for and he was throwing around numbers like millions of Naira this, millions of Naira that (125 Naira = $1). @_@.

In any case, back to Obeledu. Being around here, I’m really struck – again – by how contradictory (or at least, counterintuitive) this country is. Power isn’t on 24/7 anywhere in the country (stupid NEPA!), and it’s worse in the countryside (it’ll be off maybe 3-4 hrs at a time in Abuja, whereas it’s occasionally off for whole weeks out here). And yet I still get cell service. I was singing the praises of satellite TV at the house in Abuja in the earlier post, but one TV’s satellite controls the channels that all the TV’s in the house will show. Here in Obeledu, every TV can watch a different satellite channel all modern-like (oh, and btw, half of the channels are evangelical and about half the rest are in French). What’s next, a free WiFi network that I can sign onto, lol?

Anyway, the power just went out again, so I’ll call it a night here. I’ll give a description of my domestic flight out here later. Oh, and I didn’t mention that my dad has a dog now! More to come.

Nigeria - Arrival in Abuja

2008-12-22T02:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I just arrived in Abuja. What’s happened so far? I stopped over in London Heathrow. British Airways just completed most of their new terminal, Terminal 5, and holy crap that is one big terminal. It’s just for one airline, too. It’s honestly amazing. The stopover was SO LONG, though. I got in at about noon or so and the flight out to Abuja left at 9:30pm. BLECH.

Since arriving in Abuja, I’m reminded of a lot of stuff. There’s the same sorta stark difference between the rich and the poor, but I’m beginning to see more of what makes the “middle class” here. It’s getting better from what I can tell. More traffic lights, more highways, more infrastructure in general. Power still doesn’t run 24/7, though. Stupid NEPA. Hmm, my phone works and gets 3G of all things. I’m pretty surprised at that, but I guess that’s the benefit of GSM. I’m still not keeping AT&T, though. It’s just too annoying while I’m in the US and this phone is a bit unstable for my liking.

Internet is a rare commodity here, so I’ve only been able to check email once this whole time. I’m having withdrawal pains here. HOOK IT TO MY VEINS! This would be the ideal location to get WiMax rolled out, honestly. But that would require that the government get its act together and actually work earnestly towards bettering the lives of its citizens, which is a tall order. If it wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg, I would use my phone, but alas, I can’t. At least I have the lifeline of CNN.

I will be heading to my dad’s village of Obeledu tomorrow. This part of the trip should be interesting. I haven’t been back there in a LONG time.

more photos from Japan

2007-03-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

The photos that I posted about before were the ones that I selected as representative photos. I just posted all 400+ on my personal photo page. To see them, go here:

http://mastercko.myphotos.cc/gallery/v/international/japanwinter07/

Please note that this is running off my personal computer so be patient if it's slow.

Trip to Seattle

2007-03-04T02:34:00.001-08:00

So I just finished up a trip to Seattle for my work. It was not too bad. Here's a description.

Day 1
I was supposed to leave from SJC at around 5:30pm (I was enthused becuz I would have gotten to the hotel in time to watch the NBC Thursday "Comedy Night Done Right"). HOWEVER, there was a weird problem with the plane that no one knew how to handle, so the flight was initially just delayed, then cancelled. I could have changed to a flight the following day, but I opted for being taken to OAK to board a flight from there (Alaska Airlines paid for the ride). This kinda sucks for me since I had to cancel plans that I had for Thursday night because of this flight. Turns out in the end that I could've kept the plans. But oh well, I had no way of knowing things would work out this way. Anyway, got into SEA at about midnight, so I just went to bed when I got to the hotel.

Day 2
Woke up and headed out to the conference. I drove at first, but it was like only 5 blocks away, and I would have had to pay for parking, so I just went back to the hotel, parked there again and walked. There was a bit of a snafu with my admission into the conference (compounded on by a bitchy person who was "helping" me), but after calling in to my job and talking to a different, friendlier person, it worked out. There's nothing of note of the conference.

After the conference was over, I chilled in my room for a while, cuz I was dead tired. I contacted my friend Fred who works at Amazon and we went out for food and drinks with a few of his work buds. Actually, one of the guys used to work with me at Meyer way back when. It was cool. Good times.

Day 3
Went back to the conference for a bit, and talked to a few more people, but for some reason, it was a lot less productive than the first day. I think that it had to do with the fact that a lot of the companies that I hadn't talked to already were REALLY big and had PR firms/in-house development for the kind of things that the company I was representing does. Oh well. So I finished up a bit early (I had to check out anyway), drove around the Space Needle area (there's a Science Fiction Museum in the area!!!) and then headed back to SeaTac airport.

Overall, not a terrible trip, but I can't wait to get home.

Pictures

2007-03-03T01:19:00.000-08:00

I finally uploaded pics from my trip to Japan. To view them, visit

http://picasaweb.google.com/mastercko

Or, you can look through previous entries here in my travel-blogue and read the context of the pictures along with looking at them.

Enjoy!

1+1=Tsushima

2007-02-11T23:01:00.001-08:00

Sorry about the dorky name, but I couldn't think of anything more exciting. Haha. Anyway, onto the final installment of my trip to Japan entries.

Day 1 (pictures)
I left Mie and got on the bullet train to go to Hakata (博多) and from there Tsuhima (対馬) by boat. On the way over, I saw this huge bldg called the the Sanyo Solar Ark. It was ginormous! I was so stunned that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it, but you can see one here. You don't get a sense of how HUGE this thing is from that picture though.

Anyway, I got to Hakata and waited to board the jetfoil into Tsushima. It was a very cool and fast ride. I then met up with Ev at the terminal in Tsushima. It was great to see her. Immediately, I was struck by how she was the same ol'd Ev. haha. That night I had dinner with this teacher that Ev knows and his family. Apparently, he's taken her in and shown her the ropes and all that. He's a very funny guy.

Day 2 (pictures)
I met this woman who is apparently a big name around the island and she took me around showing me all kind of sights around the island. I took a ton of pictures. Let's see if I can remember any of the places. Actually, no, I can't. When I put up the pictures, then you'll see. They're way too numerous to list.

Day 3
I just hung around doing nothing this day. When Ev came back, we went to the market that was a bit away from where she lived -- which is a small 2 story place, btw -- then she made yakisoba. It was REALLY good. I think that this was the day that I also met the other ALTs on Ev's island. They were awesome.

Day 4 (pictures)
I met up with the same influential woman as before and went around to more places around the island. Again, way too many places to name, but I climbed (ie: hiked) this mountain near town and went to this museum, among other places. After this, I went to dinner with Ev to a Chinese food place, then met up with her teacher mentor guy again and went for beer and kushiyaki (cooked skewers). Delicious, delicious. The waitress was a good friend of the teacher guy, too, so she was pretty fun to talk to.

Day 5 (pictures)
I headed back to Tokyo on this day. Actually, on the ferry over to Hakata, I met these students from Tsushima High going to the mainland for an entrance exam. It was cool sitting there and talking to them in English. When I told them that I could speak Japanese, they were super surprised.

I headed back to Tokyo (me and Shinkansen were good friends by then). I met up with Atsuko again for dinner at the Bubba Gump restaurant at the Tokyo Dome. It was good food. I think that it's funny that I haven't eaten there before at all the ones nearer to me before I got to this one in Japan. Anyway, it was good times.

Day 6
On this day, I had an interview set up for a headhunting company in Tokyo. The job would actually be at the headhunting company itself, not at one of their clients. I think that the interview went well, but I haven't heard from them in a while, so I don't know. Plus, do I really want to do that as a job?? *shrug*

After this, I rushed over to Tokyo Station and met up with Atsuko again. We took a train over to the airport. It was nice just chilling out with her. We had a bit of a snack at the airport, and then I boarded the plane. It was a great trip, but I couldn't wait to get back to my motorcycle, guitar and stuff.

Epilogue
And so ends my recollection of the trip to Japan. Soon, I'll put my pics up on Picasa.

Mie, Myself and I

2007-01-27T15:35:00.001-08:00

So, I've been back to the States for a while, and I've been a bit lazy, but I still have the rest of my trip to explain, so here goes.

Day 1 (pictures)
So I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagoya and from there, I got on local trains from there to Naka-komono (中菰野), this tiny station in Mie (三重) Prefecture. The whole ride was nice enough with cool scenery. Anyway, once on the local trains, I met this guy who all of a sudden asked me if I like beer. I said, yeah, kinda, so he offered to give me a can. He had bought too many and was already really drunk apparently, so he gave me one. He then went on to say that he really liked my hands. He said that they were the hands of someone who works for a living and lives life or something like that. He complained that he had inherited his work from his father and was the ５代 (Fifth Generation) at it. I was curious becuz salary men don't describe themselves as fifth gen or having inherited their work. Anyway, turns out he's a Noh actor! I was super amazed. It was quite a surreal experience.

After this I eventually made it to the station and met up with Chris. An event-filled journey.

Day 2
I kinda chilled out for the first part of the day, then walked for half an hour to an electronics store and a bookstore. It was cold. That's about it.

Day 3
More hanging around. I did some online errands and sent in more apps for jobs. Later that night, I met Chris' token Japanese friend (Chris' words, not mine), Hiroko, when she came over to Chris' apt.

Day 4 (pictures)
On this day, I did laundry. It was a great day for that. It was sunny and windy (but still cold), so it made great drying weather. After this, I went with Chris to eat at this random Italian restaurant by the train station. It was actually pretty good. I was surprised. After this, I went to Nagoya to just walk around and see the area. I went to a huge electronics store, a bookstore, and just some walking. I didn't really feel like going around the city, so I just hovered around the Nagoya station. I also reserved seats for the Shinkansen to Hakata that I would ride in a couple of days. That's all for this day.

Day 5
I was going to try to head out to Ise Shrine at this point, but I didn't really want to pay the money, plus Chris was busy with stuff, so I decided not to. I just looked up all the info that I would need to get to Tsushima and packed and that's about it.

And that was my time in Mie. It was pretty low key, with lots of just hanging out and doing nothing, which I appreciated. Next time, the final third of the trip. To Tsushima, and Beyond!!

Tokyo Days, part 2

2007-01-12T02:52:00.001-08:00

Before I start, let me say that I somehow have gotten used to the cold here. It's weird. It's like today, I hit some kinda turning point where it doesn't bother me as much. Odd. Ok, on to the rest of the Tokyo portion of the trip.

Day 4 (pictures)
Now, where was I? Oh, ok. On this day, I went to Asakusa with Atsuko and a friend of hers named Kazumi. This was the first time that I met Kazumi face to face, but I've talked to her on the phone before. And apparently, she's given me the nickname "Bob" after seeing a picture of me. Why, I don't know, but that's the way it is. Anyway, Asakusa was cool. We went to the temple there, and I took some pics. It's been a while since I've done the whole visiting a temple thing. It was cool. And I drew an omikuji which is like a fortune for the coming year. Mine was kyou, 凶, the worst one (or so I'm told). Needless to say, I was saddened by this; all of the things it said were so negative. So in traditional style, I tied it to this lattice to prevent the things in it from coming true. By the way, both Atsuko and Kazumi got kichi, 吉, the second best one.

After walking around the temple a bit and watching a cool street performer with a monkey (see the pics), we walked around all the shops in the area. And let me tell you, there are a LOT of little shops around Asakusa. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, except I wanted to try to see if I could find tabi socks that would fit me. Somewhat obviously, there wasn't any. Damn me and my gargantuan feet (15 in the US, 33 in Japan -- every time someone over here hears that number, their eyes almost pop out of their head).

After that, we went to a famous monjayaki and okonomiyaki restaurant in the area called Kondou, I think. It was SO GOOD! Oh man. I never really liked monjayaki before, but now, I really like the stuff. Oh man, so good.

After this, I parted with Atsuko and Kazumi and went to have coffee with a couple of friends from Stanford, Jonathan and Shiho. It was cool meeting up and talking with them.

Day 5
This was my last day in Tokyo. I wanted to have lunch with Atsuko, but it didn't work out (I woke up too late and wouldn't have been able to catch my train), but oh well. I ended up having lunch with Yosuke and played a bit of Mario Kart for the N64. Wow, that was nostalgic. And fun!

Btw, I'm glad that I put all my stuff in a duffel bag that can actually stand up by itself (last time, one of the legs on my luggage broke in the middle of the trip -- that was quite annoying). It made life so much easier to go from place to place.

Anyway, I got on the Shinkansen and off I went to the next stage of trip!

Next time: What mystery and adventure awaits our hero in Mie Prefecture?!

EDIT: Added photos! See above for links in context or visit http://picasaweb.google.com/mastercko for the whole thing.

Tokyo Days, part 1

2007-01-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I haven't been keeping this thing up to date for Tokyo, but (ironically) I wasn't around an internet connection that I could use for more than 5 mins. So, let me preface this by saying that it's cold. Very cold. Anyway, here goes...

Day 1 (pictures)
On the first day (of Christmas ♪♪, har har, just kidding), after getting into Narita at around 4:30 or 5, I met up with my Japanese friend Atsuko. We went went to have dinner at this yakiniku place called Toraji in Shinjuku (it's a chain of restaurants). It was EXCELLENT. Seriously, some of the best yakiniku that I've ever eaten. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Anyway, after that, we went to grab some cake and coffee, then I went to the house of my other friend, Yousuke, cuz that's where I was staying.

Day 2 (pictures)
The next day, I woke up to go have lunch with another friend, Shiho, but she had to move it to another day because of work, so I just went around a bit, exchanged money, got my JR pass, that kind of stuff. I then went to grab a late lunch with Atsuko. We meandered around Shinjuku, mostly underground and in buildings cuz it was pouring rain.

After that, we went to Odaiba. A very cool place. If you haven't heard of it, it's got a giant Ferris Wheel and a theme park and the very cool FujiTV building. I didn't want to spend too much money and it was raining, so we didn't ride the Ferris Wheel or anything like that. Instead, we went into the FujiTV building. It had a gift shop. Also, if you haven't seen it (I'll post pics), it's got a huge gold ball at the highest part of the building. I didn't know that you could go into that. Well, you can; it's an observation deck. It's a pretty awesome view. After hanging around in there for a bit, we went to a lower floor which had all these mini-sets for TV shows that are filmed in the FujiTV studios. After that we had some sweet sake (which is a seasonal drink, I think), and had dinner at a Hawaiian Hamburger restaurant in the area, then we went back.

Day 3 (pictures)
I met up again with Atsuko and this time we met her friend, Sayaka. Actually, I had met Sayaka before because the two of them came to visit me in Cali back when I was at Stanford. It was cool seeing her again. Anyway, we went to this park named Rikugien. It's actually got some cultural significance, but I don't remember what exactly (hah), but it was a really beautiful park. After that we went to Akihabara to do some shopping.

Oh, before I continue, I should say that I've been looking to buy a DS Lite or a PSP for a little while (since my friend Tim came back from his vacation with a DS Lite, that is), and while the PSP was readily available (and cheaper than in the US) and it has some pretty good games, Tim has a DS with an awesome game that I wanted to play and that I wanted to play against him in, so I decided to get the DS, the only problem being that the DS is sold out EVERYWHERE. To solve this, Atsuko talked to her friend who works at Nintendo and one is on order now (w00t!) Anyway, while at Akiba, I picked up some DS games, including the cool fighting one that Tim has and a couple of ones used to study/improve Japanese, and some accessories. I got it all Duty Free, so that was nice. Also, it was really windy that day.

The last thing that happened that day is that I went to a mini-party for participants in SJEC (Stanford Japan Exchange Club). Now, I've been involved in the club for something like 6 years, so it was nice to see a bunch of people who I hadn't seen for a long time, people from both Japan and Stanford. One of them was Misako, who was hilarious! Oh my god, she tells the best stories.

Ok, I have some errands to do, so I'm going to leave off of the story for now and take care of them. Stay tuned for the rest of the Tokyo part of the trip and the Mie Prefecture chapter. 8^)

EDIT: I added the photos. See above for the links to the individual albums in context. For the general album, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/mastercko

hello

2007-01-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

So this is going to be my travel blog. Hopefully, I'll keep it updated for the next couple of weeks while I'm in Japan and looking forward, I'll probably use it for whenever I go travelling. YAY!