Asia in the summer can be rough. I try to avoid the summer months – not for any cultural reason – just because it is hot. True, one can pack fewer things – no winter coat, for example. But the heat and humidity can be soul-crushing. And when it rains it can be worse.
Heat aside, I have been practicing ways to address jet lag. It is easier heading west, but still brutal. I got great advice about avoiding caffeine, alcohol, and airplane food. Once in country, it can be hard to find something to eat that is filling and sits well in my stomach – particularly if my body is still not sure what time it is. My go-to breakfast has become miso soup, coffee and a banana. I choose to take caffeine at breakfast while traveling since it helps jump start getting my body on the correct time. Miso soup has necessary protein and is simple – although the sodium can be a killer. And bananas have potassium and other magic ingredients. Since they are peeled, they feel less prone to issues like pesticides that may be on the surface of other fruits. As much as I crave other things, these three ingredients (plus lots of water …OK, so “four” ingredients) help me adjust at breakfast.
Another novelty that I tried was an oxygen bar. The idea is that you can replenish your body after all of the bad air you were inhaling on your flight. The airport at Narita has one conveniently located that was worth a try. I am not sure if I left fully rejuvenated but it was worthwhile on a number of fronts:
- It was a (pretty cheap) refuge. For a few dollars, they wrapped you in a blanket, gave you something to drink, and set up a partition so you were insulated from the airport chaos.
- It had a built-in wake-up call. It can be exhausting finding yourself in Narita after one long flight and about to board another. I am afraid to fall asleep and miss my flight. The staff at the oxygen bar will kindly but firmly make sure you do not oversleep beyond your allotted time.
- It might actually work. Who knows?
This trip’s superlative was a visit to the tallest building in Tokyo (made famous lyrically by the poet Pitbull) – the Tokyo Skytree. The weather was stunning when I arrived and, fortunately, held out until I left. Showing up early has other advantages: fewer lines. I learned from a trip to the Empire State Building that express passes are the thing – if there is an opportunity to move ahead of the crowd, purchase it. Armed with that perspective, it took a number of patient Skytree employees to convince me that there was no crowd to move ahead of. Fair enough.
Another good thing to know about the Skytree is that your ticket only gets you to the Tembo Deck (350m). To get to the Tembo Galleria – the higher floor at 450m) – that is an additional ticket at a cost of 50% atop the original ticket. The advantage is that if the weather is lousy, you don’t need to pay the extra to watch clouds from a higher vantage point. Either way, if you really want to report live from the tallest building in Tokyo, you need to pay more to get to floor 450.
The hard part is that there are not a lot of big landmarks in the Tokyo skyline. Viewed from atop one of the signature items of said skyline, it is a carpet of concrete and steel buildings. Short of a kaiju sauntering up from Yokohama, there is nothing really distinctive – although there is the red-and-white Eiffel Tower replica, the Tokyo Tower.
That said, the Skytree is worth seeing. I enjoy visiting tall buildings in each big city because it provides a solid destination that one can accomplish whilst jet-lagged (see how I brought all this together!). Getting there provides an opportunity to get oriented and familiar with the local transit system and is good entertainment for a sleep-deprived brain.
You know you have traveled in Asia enough when an eight-hour flight between destinations can be viewed as a short flight. Flying to Bangkok – and later flying back with a connection in Japan – I found solace by reminding myself it was only eight hours. Either way, it felt like a long distance for a short stay.
I had been in Bangkok almost twenty years earlier as part of a larger trip through Southeast Asia. There wasn’t going to be the time to see a lot of things so I revisited some of the places we had been before: the Royal Palace and the night market on Khao San Road.
Dear reader, I admit I did not give the tour of the Royal Palace the attention it deserves. It was hot and I was on a self-guided tour, which left many details and nuance unrevealed. On our initial trip many moons ago, our guide through the palace was nervous and anxious – we were her first group, ever. Pat, as she identified herself, was not comfortable with her English skills and that led her to doubt her knowledge (to be honest, her English was far better than my Thai). Some in our group skittered away until all that remained were a couple of her close friends offering encouragement and Anna and I. In time, she relaxed and found her voice. Her enthusiasm followed – so much so that tour members that abandoned her earlier stealthily rejoined our group.
Alas, this time there was no “Pat”. I wandered the forest of pastel-hued buildings, trees decoratively trimmed into lollipop shapes, and golden needles piercing the skies unaware of the significance of many of the structures. I recalled some of her teachings – like the ornately crafted ballast stones used to weigh down ships empty of cargo – and sought out sites like the Angkor Wat replica. A tour or guide is a solid investment at the Royal Palace. If you see Pat, you can tell her I sent you.
My last night I took a cab to show me around the temples all lit up – and wander the Khao San Road night market. The market itself is entertaining and seems to be the backpacker hub it was decades ago – only I have gotten older.
To appeal (or perhaps, intrigue) foreign visitors, “delicacies” like deep-fried tarantulas, grub worms, and scorpions are available for purchase – presumably for consumption. Being clever entrepreneurs, they charge the same price to purchase an arachnid snack as to photograph it. I was content with the picture only, thank you very much. It gave me pause, however. If I were interested in eating such a treat, how fresh was it? I shudder to think how many days it had been carted around the market as Instagram-bait before some peckish individual purchased it. Do they have “sell-by” dates?
