Lost In Translation

Almaty, Kazakhstan Day Two

I was really impressed with what you get for $48 for your hotel in Almaty. It was new, modern near the central area-walking distance to several attractions, the water pressure was strong, and the water heated up quickly, there was a strong internet signal in the room, the bed was soft, and it included a great breakfast buffet. I conveniently found a craft beer venue two minutes walk away.

It was another stellar day for weather as I waited for my ride to a day trip attraction.

I managed to make it to my destination, Big Almaty Lake, but some poor planning made it take longer than expected. I should have booked it before breakfast and checking out. The driver said it would take 20-30 minutes to get to the hotel but arrived closer to 50 minutes later. Then he stopped for gas and charged me the road fee even though I was paying above the average price. When booking i asked to be dropped off at he Almaty Botanical Gardens and he took me back to the hotel instead-losing more time for the next attraction (I was flying out at 111:00 pm and hoping to get some decent sightseeing in before going to the airport). So goes travel, the best laid plans of mice and men...

Primitive outhouse up there...

So it took me forever to find a cab to take me to the Botanical gardens and once I did there was some trouble with directions. I arrived only to find that it was closed for repairs-nothing on Google Maps or online suggested that this would be the case-in fact Google Maps suggested it would be very busy at my arrival.

Flowers on the street in front of the closed Botanical Gardens.

So now it was 5:30 and too late to visit my third option the Central Museum, so I found a pub a 20 minute walk away that I thought I would regroup at and then get a cab back to my hotel to chill and then pick up my other bag and go the airport.

The streets in Almaty are all lined with trees and other vegetation giving it a pleasant feel even if things are significantly spread out.

I arrived at The Old Bridge Pub only to find it closed for a private birthday party, however, the kind staff let me have a beer and called a cab for me.

Lots of cafes and restaurants with alfresco dinning in Almaty-it's so much cheaper than Japan. I'm feeling like a king. Despite the troubles encountered on the second day I'm pretty sure if when I return to Kyrgyzstan for a conference I will explore more of Kazakhstan, perhaps a couple of days in the capital Astra.

Russian craft beer labels in the bathroom of Hoper's, a craft beer joint just a few minutes walk from my hotel.

Almaty, Kazakhstan Day One

I did a tour of Almaty, Kazakhstan on a one night layover with two new friends I met in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan during the conference, Noriko and Jeff from Kumamoto. Here they are in front of Zenko Cathedral. It is located in the impressive Panfilov Park. Some overall impressions of the city, of which we saw just the city center, was that it was more modern and developed than Bishkek. It is a bigger and better planned city, but still lush with trees and dotted with well-kept parks populated with flowers. The houses look bigger and in better condition. There is a stronger western economic influence-in Bishkek I only saw KFC and Nathan's Hot Dogs franchises-Almaty has Burger King, McDonald's, Starbuck's, Papa John's Pizza and many western luxury brand shops throughout the city. You seem to get much more for your money at hotels and everything from axis to food and drink are equally as affordable as in Bishkek.

Outside the Green Market-a visually stunning market bazaar.

Some local style fried noodles with beef and vegetables.

Central (Gorky) Park

With spectacular views above the city was the attraction Kok Tobe.

Republic Square

Preparing for a concert in front of the Central Library.

Walking Street.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 2019

The Avenue hotel downtown Bishkek. Kyrgyzstan-our base of operations-not chosen by me-it fulfills a need, not sure I can recommend it though. I thought it would be better to be with the base of operations for comings and going as well as better for social opportunities after the seminars. Since this was my third time in Bishkek, I didn't plan to do any specific sightseeing trips. I am planning on exploring Almaty on my return instead.

Breakfast.

Public school 96, site of the September 10th FORUM Conference, it is only two years old.

Mountains in the distance.

Opening ceremony with Roger Palmer.

Kyrgyz hospitality.

Students in my workshop.

Dinner at Pur-Pur, an excellent Georgina restaurant in Bishkek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the delegates gathered with our fixer at an ew bar/club, Mongol.

 

 

 

 

Outside Bishkek State University (formerly Bishkek Humanities University), site of my day two of the conference.

 

 

 

 

Michael tries a virtual reality game ride at the mall.

 

 

 

The "national mountain"-site of the post conference dinner hosted by Bishkek State University.

 

 

 

 

Lentil soup.

 

 

Manty (dumplings).

 

 

A platter of meat and vegetables.

 

 

Plov (aka rice pilaf), the signature dish of central Asia.

Seoul 2019: Part Two

Because of the impending typhoon I stayed close to home in Itaewon.

I did venture out to check out  Magpie Brewing Company for a while. Here I'm drinking a Pale Ale with mozzarella sticks-not very Korean, but quite delicious. After a few hours of napping and watching some episodes of the Italian crime series season four of Gomorrah, I ventured out into the entertainment district that was very active despite the rain and wind.

Bar Dresser has become a regular stopping off point for a night cap,a gin tonic is pictured here, before going home. It is run by a couple of young women who make craft cocktails and bake desserts. One, Clara, used to live in Vancouver, Canada for 10 years. Oddly enough it looks like they do not have a web presence, perhaps relying on word of mouth-there were always other customers there.

Lion in front of the famous Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon.

The Leeum Samsung Museum was located about twenty minutes walking from Itaewon, so I walked there on a mostly clear Sunday late morning. The museum was pretty impressive with works from famous western artists like Alberto Giacometti, Francis Bacon, Mark Rothko, Joseph Beuys, and Andy Warhol to established contemporary artists, including Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Andreas Gursky. There were also permanent collections of traditional Korean art.

Namsangol Hanok Village is a traditional style village museum that is somewhat over run with signage, which detracts a bit from the charm.

Here are some spam family packs for sale-a popular food product much like other places that had American military bases such as Okinawa and Hawaii.

I was looking for a light lunch since most Korean food is best eaten family style sharing a number of dishes so I went with dumplings here. However, they were much larger than expected-I should have went with the spicy tofu mussel soup which look like a smaller portion. Live and learn.

One of my favorite Korean dishes is bibimbap so I found a place on the main strip, Busan Galbi, in Itaewon that served it. Yakiniku (Korean BBQ) is too much for one person-it's a meal better shared with others. This really hit the spot, however, the kimchi wasn't very hot, but the broth was nice and garlicky.

Last night I forgot to get photos in the main entertainment district, so here are some photos on a much less busy Sunday night.

So back to the first bar I went to on this trip as my last bar, but I can't read the name of the bar...

It has a nice view and I decided that I was bloated from dinner and beer-so soju (15% alcohol usually made from rice or potatoes) was the drink of choice.

Then again the convenience store below has the same view for a much lower price...

Seoul 2019: Part One

Even though its only two and half hours from Tokyo my journey was kind of brutal with the 90 minutes to Narita Airport, a two hour wait, then another hour plus in immigration after the flight and then a hour plus ride on the trains (I just managed to get the last one) to get into town from Inchon airport. I had a hard time believing that Sea Tac Airport was only 25 minutes from North Seattle on my last trip-I'm so used to airports being so far outside cities.

In the photo above is the view from my Air BnB rooftop rental in the Itaewon area of Seoul, unfortunately my arrival coincided with that of Typhoon "Lingling," so I haven't had the chance to use that balcony much and won't be likely to.

Itaewon is something like Roppongi in Tokyo used to be-an area with lots of restaurants and bars where young people congregate on weekends not far from Seoul station. Mural outside a bar.

Another uniquely named bar.

I got up earlier than expected and found a popular breakfast place, The Original Pancake House, that has been around since the 50s. The servings were massive and often come with a side of pancakes. I got scrambled eggs (only three thank god) with ham and also got served a short stack of pancakes unbeknownst to me. My first pancakes in some time. Anyway, I noticed that many Korean groups also ordered salad-Japanese people often eat salad for breakfast as well.

 

There was a little rain and today there's been a lot of wind but nothing major, nonetheless some attractions such as Changdeokgung Palace. I also noticed that some place in Itaewon-like the Nashville Chicken place down the street have decided to take the day off as well. 

However, Tapgol Park was opened. I was being bombarded with branches and debris from the trees in the park though due to the strong winds. It's also very humid on top of that.

I was headed to Insadong, which is supposed to have a street fair every weekend-except when there's a typhoon blowing through.

An old teahouse.

A temple nearby Insadong.

I've been reading Graham Holiday's book, Eating Korea, and he mentioned eating a modern Korean restaurant in Seoul called Congdu that is still around. I saw that they were open for lunch so I ventured out in the typhoon for a little fine dining.

I got a set menu, for W39,800 ($33.50) that started out with a green salad with jelly and a sesame dressing.

The next dish was a cold black bean soup with gingseng.

The main dish was braised short rib in a house special galbi sauce simmered for six days with noodles and assorted vegetables. It was served with four types of kimchi-there were some original tastes among those as well.

Korean wafers served with green tea ice cream and a glass of Jejeu tangerine orange juice to round out the meal. I think ti was interesting take on Korean and reasonably priced.

Summer 2019 Asia: Seoul, Almaty, & Bishkek

This summer I have decided to attend the 2019 Teachers Helping Teachers (THT) Conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. This will be my third visit to this particular conference. There are several reasons why I chose this one again: it's during the summer-so it doesn't interfere with my classes, I am friends with with the two delegate leaders Brent and Roger, and it is inexpensive-I have to pay hotel and incidentals out of pocket at my current university. Since I have already been to this region twice before I decided to add a couple private vacation spots. First off, since I am flying on Asiana Airlines (a Korean airline) I will have a three day layover in Seoul, Korea since I haven't been there for about 15 years-I plan to eat lots of good Korean food especially Korean BBQ. I will transit in Almaty, Kazakhstan as well and will stay there overnight on the way back to Japan, this will be my first visit to Kazakhstan and 42nd country visited.

Seattle Summer 2019

A mural in Ravenna.

My first visit to Ravenna Brewing Company.

After about two weeks in the US I need some Asian food-some spicy Vietnamese meatballs here from Ba Bar in U Village.

Another mural.

Broccoli at The Westy on Roosevelt.

With Audrey and Jon.

Excellent view of the U District from The Mountaineering Club.

My brother scored me tickets to the first Huskies game, a victory against EWU.

Drinks with my hosts for the weekend in Ballard-Jennifer and Mike behind the camera.

Mike and Jennifer's view from the living room.

Austin, Texas: Day Three

A historic house located near my Air BnB off South Congress Street.

Yesterday La Barbecue was closed so I came and only had to wait for about 20-30 minutes for some of Texas' best barbecue.

I got a local IPA potato salad, beef brisket, a jalapeno sausage, and a beef rib. It was too much I couldn't finish the beef rib and gave it to a couple of guys sitting behind me. It all lived up to the hype, though.

Some more repulsive public art outside the beautiful Austin Central Library-seriously, who green lights these things?

Bat Shit Hazy IPA at Central District Brewing.

Would you believe downtown Austin?

St. Elmo’s Carl Kolsch with pretzel at Easy Tiger.

Tamales on a stick at Iron Cactus.

Tito's Texas Tini made with craft vodka distilled in Austin-Tito's Vodka.

Last but not least a margarita at Guero's Taco Bar before heading home-early flight in the morning.

Austin, Texas: Day Two

Got my morning joe at Bennu Coffee, 24 hours and excellent coffee.

The Blanton Museum Of Art

I was originally going to wait the three hours in line for Franklin's BBQ, but then decided to hit a lower ranked place La Barbecue-only to find that it was closed on Tuesdays as was the next closet place recommended by the guy at La Barbecue. However, near the museum was another highly ranked venue, Stubb's Bar-B-Q.

2 meats and 2 sides-Angus beef brisket and pork spare ribs with potato salad and mac and cheese. The brisket was a little dry, but the ribs were amazing.

I spent most of the day hanging out at the impressive Austin Central Library, by Lake / Flato Architects.

The view from the rooftop garden.

Dinner at Hopdody Burger Bar, I go the Llano Poblano-angus beef, Hickory smoked bacon, tillamook pepper jack, seared poblanos, chipotle aioli, lettuce, tomato, and onion.

A tile mosaic of "Mookie" from Do the Right Thing at Home Pizza Slice.

I am staying near one of the best known live venues in Austin, The Continental Club-The Gallery. Tuesday nights singer/songwriter, James McMurtry, son of the novelist Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove), performs. I watched some videos on YouTube and preferred his solo acoustic sets to eh the band arrangements-it's easier to hear his story-like lyrics. This IS how I like to see music-in an intimate space about the size of someone's living room for only $10.

Austin, Texas: Day One

Not in Spokane anymore. It was 102 degrees on the 26th, a string of more than 30 days according to one of my Lyft drivers. There's some humidity as well, but doesn't feel as oppressive as the Tokyo heat. That being said Austin is greener than I imagined, but I think my image of Texas is that of West Texas. Austin is booming, massive gentrification and several large scale massive tower construction taking place as well. Lots of rainbow flags and signs expressing iclusivity all around downtown. Pretty slow going on a Monday. But it seems the U of Texas students are back this week for classes.

I quickly stumbled onto one of my researched restaurant destinations-Guero's Taco Bar.

South Congress Street.

The Driskill Hotel

Mexic-Arte Museum

Texas Chili Parlor

Original Red taster with jalapenos and onions.

Craft Pride, on Rainey Street, my introduction to the Texas craft beer scene.

Pinthouse Pizza Electric Jellyfish, New England IPA.