Ecuador or China?

Dobro jutro, 2013!!

That's right, some of you know who I'm talking to.  I'm coming for you later this year!

This is Day 2 of my attempted weekend getaway to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi, Ecuador.  Each of the flights out of PDX have been too oversold to accept standby passengers.  China is my backup plan.

Climbing Mt. Cotopaxi is my first choice, but mountain biking through the volcanic national park might be a good fallback if I run out of weekend in Ecuador.  Although I plan my own tours, thanks to http://mundo-nativo.ch for this photo!

En route to the actual South American adventure, I could use my Galaxy Tab to knock out so many projects during the plane/bus/van rides:  my three full-length sermons for February, the student ministry teaching for next week, a few more credentialing book reports, and a Warner Pacific Alumni Council meeting agenda for Homecoming weekend.
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Yet another flight has departed this morning without open seats.  Beijing, China is looking more and more appealing.  There are open Business Elite seats on our Tokyo flight, tonight's connection to Beijing, and the return trip on Tuesday or Thursday.  My pre-approved "emergency" Delta vacation days (a backup for getting stuck in Quito, Ecuador this weekend) could stay on the books.  Since the additional days fall on Kathy's and my scheduled workweek, childcare for baby Lena is already covered.

The unknowns about Beijing:  Conflicting information about the January 1st kickoff of China's new 72 hour visa waiver program... and pretty much everything else.  I accidentally fell asleep last night without doing a lick of research on Beijing, so I'd better start downloading some free maps and guidebook samples to my tablet ASAP!

10:22 a.m. update:

My original itinerary to Ecuador has been scrubbed.  I'm now listed for today's flight to Beijing, via Tokyo.  Clarification on that 72 hour visa for China still needs to happen, though.  Even when improvising, breaking international law is never on the agenda.


The list of travel time busywork (above) excluded the biggest thing of interest to our readers:  new BlogSpot posts for 2013!  Blogging about some of my unmentioned 2012 overseas trips should keep me busy for a while.

Whatever happens on my trip this weekend, I'll make sure to publish a post or two next week to kick off a new year of Garth's Blog!

10 Most Popular Posts of 2012

Note:  Photos and blog links will be added to this post tomorrow evening, January 1 [Update: photos added, with links in blue].  Tonight we're heading downtown to get our New Year’s Eve on!

All good things must come to an end.  Parting with 2012 is such sweet sorrow.  A bird in hand… well, enough of the clichés.  2012 was our best year so far!

The overseas journeys (some of which were not even mentioned here on Garth’s Blog), the growth and development of Baby Lena, the unforgettable time spent with God, family, ministry partners, and amazing friends… 2012 has been a banner year.  Thus, I’m taking a different approach to choosing the year’s highlights.

It has been humbling to see the readership (aka, page hits) of “Garth’s Blog” grow exponentially this past year.  In honor of both our loyal and newly discovered BlogSpot audience, it seemed best to let you, the readers, pick the highlights of 2012.  In order of page rankings, here are the most popular “Garth’s Blog” posts of 2012 (links are in blue): 

Runner-up:  Twitterfied

A reluctant blogger’s leap aboard the Twitter bandwagon

10.  The Face of Fear

 A silly throwaway teaser for my upcoming skydiving post, which has yet to see the light of day.  Early 2013, anyone?

9.  (TIE) Tokyo Drifting, Part 1

This post from Japan fared slightly better than my sequels:  Tokyo Drifting 2: Senso-Ji Temple, Tokyo Drifting 3: Fleeing Sumida, and an educational encounter with a Japanese toilet.

This was just one of my many brief overseas trips to sample the Japanese (and many other countries') nightlife in 2012.  In early 2013, I'll try to blog about some of my other previously unmentioned 2012 international trips.

9.  (TIE) Thankful for Lena

 A Thanksgiving-themed update on Baby Lena, brimming with photos

8.  Tomato Battle: Portland

Portland’s biggest, rowdiest, messiest food fight

7.  Happy Halloween from Delta Airlines

Absurd, nonpartisan nonsense from failed VP nominee Paul Ryan and the A-Team

6.  Coldplay Put a Smile Upon My Face

  A taste of Para...Para...Paradise from Coldplay’s final Portland show before announcing their three year hiatus

5.  Belgium- Spring Break in 

the Low Countries, Day 3

  The most popular of my Benelux countries travel series with my dad, which also included stops in Amsterdam, Luxembourg, and EuroRail purgatory

4.  Backpacking Elk Meadows

An example of the many types of outdoor adventures that we provide for our students

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Before we reveal the top 3 “Garth’s Blog” posts of 2012, here are the two other most highly read E.P.I.C. student ministry updates from this past year:

International Youth Convention: Denver

 A rare appearance by guest blogger Kathy, who puts to shame my earlier post about this year’s IYC trip with high schoolers

E.P.I.C. Student Ministry Update- Feb 2012

 Serving the homeless, worshiping God, boating, camping, and shaving cream fights

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And now,

the Top 3 most popular posts of 2012:

3.  Intermission: Banks Lake Wakeboarding

 This was the Hamilton family's annual Banks Lake camping trip in eastern Washington, a.k.a. an excuse for a week of wakeboarding, waterskiing, kneeboarding, and white-knuckled tube riding.  Lots of great action photos in this post!

2.  Behind the Scenes in L.A., Pt. 2

 Decisively trumping March’s blog post about Lena’s first ever plane ride to Los Angeles, this 2^nd chapter of the making of our “Delta Wanderland” holiday video focused on the music video shoot itself.  Part 1, technically #8 on this 10 Most Popular countdown, shared the blood, sweat, and tears (okay, maybe just the sweat) that we dancers shed at the International Dance Academy on Hollywood Boulevard.

I milked the video shoot’s ridiculously lax policy (compared to the countless other film sets where I've been shot) on cell phone cameras for all it’s worth, and these posts are the result.  A brief, professionally made behind the scenes video was also added here last week, including some all-too-brief clips of our Soul Train dance-off.

1.  Lena’s First Christmas

 Was there ever any doubt?  Lena starred in the first “Garth’s Blog” post of 2012 and also tops your year-end Top 10 list!

Sadly, that cute little 15 ½ month old is currently ill for the first time in her life.  The promised Christmas 2012 update will be rolled into a Lena retrospective, and it’s coming in early 2013.

So there you have it.  Some of my personal favorites didn’t come close to making the Top 10, but that’s life.  Note that this list excludes those oft-viewed posts from years past which refuse to die:  Touring London, Kathy’s baby announcement, Banks Lake, randomly popular ministry updates, the Black Crowes, and boogie boarding.

Addio, 2012!  It’s been another riveting year!!

Japanese Potty Training

Now that we have Tokyo Drifting 1, 2, 3, and some summery fresh updates from IYC Denver and wave riding in Banks Lake WA (links) behind us, I have a small clarification:  

In my first “Tokyo Drifting” blog post, I had mentioned the utter lack of English signage in my Tokyo neighborhood.  That wasn’t completely true.  The more touristy shops and restaurants in the area sprinkled their Kanji displays with a Yankee phrase or two, and English instructions were ubiquitous throughout the Hostel Kawase Tokyo and Capsule. 

In fact, my capsule/hostel went the extra mile and added a helpful illustration to their posted English instructions for using their Japanese toilet:

Don’t laugh.  Odds are, countless American college backpackers have welcomed said instructions as they opened the WC stall door and found themselves staring down at this:

You just got learned.

Coming this Tuesday night on BlogSpot… Photos and tales from the trenches of Portland’s biggest ever food fight:

TOMATO BATTLE PDX!!!

Tokyo Drifting 3: Fleeing Sumida

CameraZOOM-20120612123724889_orig_1_Salomon.jpg, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

The Tokyo tokkyū limited express train is a splurge. Good thing I’m made out of Yen, right?


At last… I present the breathless (for me, anyway) final hours of last month’s quick trip to Tokyo. Will this live up to the melodramatic teaser ending from my previous Tokyo Drifting 2: Senso-ji Temple post? Let’s pretend it will.



A friend from the journey recommended that I seek a peaceful contrast to my previous evening of Tokyo nightlife craziness. Sumida Park fit the bill.

In about four hours, my flight home to Portland would depart from Narita airport. Being mindful of the time, I followed up my tour of Senso-ji Temple with a walk down to the Sumida River. The nature park that stretched alongside the river banks would be a relaxing place to unwind before beginning my train connections to the airport.



A young Japanese gal rode up to me on her bicycle as I gazed at the flowers growing along the footpaths of Sumida Park. She must have assumed I was interested in the bike-friendly aspects of the area. We walked over to the specialized bicycle tire grooves carved into the stairway of a nearby underpass, and she enthusiastically demonstrated for me the ways of a seasoned recreational bicycler.


At some point, it finally dawned on me how long I had been standing there, struggling to understand her. In less than 10 minutes, my train was scheduled to depart from Asakusa Station. The problem: Ever since I left my capsule/hostel that morning, I had been walking AWAY from the direction of the train station.

I abruptly excused myself and began to run as though my life (or at least my job back home at Delta Airlines) depended on it. The beautiful scenery of the park blurred past as I frantically sprinted through it for several minutes. No way would I catch that train.



I leaped down the stairs of Asakusa station, clutching my small backpack and gasping for air. There was still time to catch a number of local trains to my next stop, but I had blown my connections to Narita airport. Painfully resisting my budget backpacker traveling sensibilities, I slapped down the big Yen at the kippu jidō hanbaiki kiosk to purchase a premium express train ticket, direct to Narita Airport.

The tokkyū limited express train [photo at top] sped to Narita Airport in just under an hour, which put me back on schedule.


My friend Kevin, flying home on standby from the Philippines, was waiting at the airport gate when I checked in for the nearly full flight. His boarding priority dwarfed mine. Despite shrewdly (or foolishly) using one of my S-3 low priority seating requests I was assigned one of the last seats in the Business Elite cabin before the flight doors closed, with Kevin and I onboard.

After nearly 3 days overseas with virtually no sleep, I flew home from Tokyo in Delta's Business Elite cabin. Somehow the traditional Japanese meal course that I ordered on the flight home managed to be even better (Fresher ingredients from Japan? More irradiated?) than the one I ate on the flight over to Tokyo.

With a belly full of French caviar, crab, scallop quenelle, grilled chicken, cod roe, wasabi tofu, and marinated tuna… I slept.


Bonus pic:
On Kathy's birthday, Lena plays with the Japanese toy I bought for her in Tokyo’s Nakamise-dori street fair. I hope that Lena will come along with me for my next visit to Asia this year.


Lena can pick out her own souvenir toy next time!

Intermission: Banks Lake, WA Wakeboarding (from the road)

DSC_0807_edited-1.JPG, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

Catching a little air with my wakeboard at Banks Lake, WA.

Sorry for the delay, folks. The conclusion to my “Tokyo Drifting” blog miniseries will be posted after one last on-location interruption. I’ll add more pics from Japan on Sunday (or Monday)-- I promise!

From last Tuesday: Another year, another annual family boating/ camping trip to Banks Lake, Washington (link). Spread out over the last six days, this vacation is coming to a close as my mom gives me a ride back to my Jeep in Beaverton.


The Hamilton and Sorensen families have had a roller coaster ride of wild weather this week in Coulee City, but hot sunshine/wind/rain/lightning are all par for the course during any extended weekend in Eastern Washington. My solo ride over to Banks Lake was no less tumultuous:


Portland: A series of unrelated mishaps on the Portland MAX rails delayed me so much that I had to sprint across Chinatown to just barely catch my train to…

Seattle: During my train layover at Zeitgeist Coffee, I received some tragic news regarding the drowning of my friend Shawn's son, Caleb. I was so distraught that, back at the train station, I apparently blocked out the final boarding announcement for my train (it left Seattle 10 minutes ahead of schedule) to Ephrata. Out of options, I schemed with a couple of girls who also missed the train about bumming a car ride with three complete strangers to race the train to…

Everett: By recklessly weaving our way through Seattle’s rush hour traffic, my new friends and I managed to beat the train to Everett by eight minutes and climb onboard. My train car was the wildest, most out of control frat party on rails I’ve seen since our “Sound of Music” tour in Salzburg, Austria.

Ephrata: My brother-in-law Mike graciously picked me up that night and drove me the rest of the way to...

Coulee City:  The fam vacation was already in progress!

Sadly, I had to say goodbye to Kathy, Lena, Mike, and Summer when they left Coulee City on Sunday afternoon. It was also unfortunate that we had to miss our annual visit to the local First Presbyterian Church. One Sunday each year, we’ve always looked forward to mixing it up with the locals and hearing an inspired sermon from local Pastor Clifford Bresee. We’ll catch you guys next year!


Before most of the gang left us on Sunday, our 10 month old Lena had a couple of lifetime firsts:

Lena looked stiff as a board (and oddly disabled, in some of the other shots from that day) when trying on her very first life jacket.


Lena giggled uncontrollably as she played on a swing set for the very first time.



Summer had a few good runs on the wakeboard before heading home with most of the gang...… leaving me the water toys all to myself for the rest of the vacation.  My dad drove the boat, my mom spotted from the back seat, and I played.




I wakeboarded to my heart’s content.



I went old school with the slalom waterski.



I even dusted off the old knee board!

Miles of glassy smooth lake water, solitude, hot temperatures, and the friendly community of Coulee City all add up to make each Banks Lake vacation worth the long, dusty drive.

Let’s do it again next year!

Tokyo Drifting 2: Senso-ji Temple

CameraZOOM-20120612110132714_orig_1.jpg, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

The Grand Kaminarimon Gate to Senso-ji Temple (Asakusa Kannon Temple), in Tokyo's Asakusa district

My on-location attempt to upload this BlogSpot post directly from the Hostel Kawase Tokyo and Capsule failed miserably.  Just BEFORE at the 10 A.M. checkout time, I heard the Japanese woman from the front desk stomping up the stairs towards my floor. She all but beat me with her broom when she caught me loitering in the hallway, sucking up their WiFi to post a draft to my blog.

I hastily piled up a small armful of my things and hurried down the stairs with my bag, with the lady in pursuit.  She loudly offered some stern Japanese phrases in my general direction as I apologized my way out the door and onto the street.  I confess, this wasn’t my first run-in with the hostel management.  As a favor to my fab capsule mates before we went out the night before, I was happy to take one (or two) for the team whenever things got out of hand.  That’s what friends are for.  But I’d like to think that my endless supply of easy-going friendliness smoothed things over a bit with this lady.  Or not.

After collecting the remaining sidewalk-strewn clothes back into my bag, I dusted off my pride and ducked into a nearby café for a funky Japanese-curry hybrid brunch.

Before we go any further, a reader commented yesterday about the Tokyo capsule bed that I mentioned in my previous post.  This is how it looked:

 My capsule was worn down, but it was much roomier than I expected.  A personal TV, radio, reading light, and full sized locker were all part of the deal. 

Back to our story... There were still a couple of hours to kill before my train left the Asakusa district for my connections to Narita airport.  I jogged up the street and veered into the nearby Senso-ji Temple, considered by many to be the spiritual center of Tokyo.

The main hall of Senso-ji Temple itself, near the Shinto Asakusajinja Shrine that contains the Shaden structure, is the centerpiece.  


Other sites also dot the temple grounds:

The Grand Kaminarimon Gate [see photo at the top of this blog post], with its huge paper lantern honoring their god of thunder, is definitely the most impressive of the entrances to the temple complex.





The Nakamise-dori street fair stretches from the Kaminarimon Gate to the Hozomon Gate, with around 90 stores dating from the Edo era.  Those gifts and souvenirs I brought home to the U.S.A. for family and friends?  I grabbed them all here.

Further in, a shrine was erected on Senso-ji Temple grounds for Kume Heinai Do, a Samurai from the Edo period.





The Five-Storied Pagoda stands next to the main hall of Senso-ji Temple.

Video:  Poke the “Play” button above with an incense stick to brave this shaky cell phone video that I shot in front of the main hall.

Buddhists at Tokyo's Senso-ji Temple gather around the incense burner to breathe in and wave smoke over themselves as part of a purification ritual, for good luck.

And finally…

 Inside the Senso-ji Temple, Buddhists bow down and worship near the inner sanctuary.

I found it interesting that a predominately Shinto and Buddhist nation such as Japan would have 84% of respondents claim “no personal religion” in response to a census questionnaire.  Over half reportedly don’t even believe in God, or in Buddha.

If those numbers are accurate, why would so many people bother to make the journey to worship at a temple like this?  During my visit, the only answer I heard was “good luck.”  A good Buddhist friend of mine in the U.S.A. simply told me, “tradition.”

Religious traditions aren’t necessarily bad.  But if we’re talking about sincere spirituality, does it matter to whom or what we pray to and worship?  As a Christian, I believe it does.  I’m not preaching here, or making self-superiority claims… just keeping the dialog open.  I’m only asking questions.

Coming up on BlogSpot, whenever I reach the next reliable WiFI signal (or when I get a spare second-- I’m kinda rural at the moment)… the action heats up again as I seek a brief time of peace and quiet in Tokyo’s beautiful Sumida Park. 

It did not end so peacefully for me.

Intermission: IYC Denver (from the road)

We’re all in Denver through this weekend, but check back here next weekend for the conclusion of my Tokyo travelogue.  I’ll throw in some pics from the touristy part of my quick visit to Japan.

We made it!  Since Monday, a small group from our E.P.I.C. student ministry has been breathing mile-high air here in Denver, Colorado.  International Youth Convention 2012 officially kicked off last night, but we flew in a couple days early for a little fun.

A wet and wild day at Elitch Gardens water/theme park got our adrenaline pumping on Tuesday.  Aggressive water slides like the mind-scrambling Tube Top and the various speed slides kept us cool for most of the day.

That evening, our bravery was tested on the rickety wooden roller coaster Twister 2 (seen in the background of the photo above, which, if you look closely, features me and Will hanging on for dear life in the 6^th car)… and especially on the up-down-forward-backward-upside down-sideways G-forces of the notorious Boomerang.  I lost all feeling in my face.  Is it possible for internal organs to liquefy?

The opening session of International Youth Convention was last night.  Thousands of teenagers sang along with Matt Papa’s passionate worship set, followed by a message from skater/boarder/surfer Zane Black. My conversation with Zane after the late night Group 1 Crew concert convinced me that he is a man of authentic faith who has truly been called to speak into the lives of teenagers.

Zane’s message led into an intimate time of reflection, response, and sharing with our students outside of the auditorium last night.

This morning, our students selected various breakout sessions to attend while the adult leaders were encouraged by energetic former Denver Bronco defensive back Steve Fitzhugh at the Youth Ministry Institute conference.  The IYC High School Band led an unbelievably gifted time of worship before the session!

In a few minutes, we’ll be leaving the convention center for our Impact: Denver service project.  Partnering with some other youth groups from across the U.S.A., we’ll be restoring and beautifying an inner city playground and public park.  It’s time to do some good!

Tokyo Drifting, Part 1

CameraZOOM-20120611215548260_Hagrid.jpg, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

The 2,080 foot high Tokyo Skytree in Sumida, Japan’s tallest tower and the 2nd tallest structure in the world, was just opened to the public in May. The Azuma bridge stretches across the Sumida river in the foreground.

From last month’s Tokyo travelogue:


The late night scene is frenetically colorful here in Tokyo, even on a weeknight. I was out WAY too long last night, but no regrets! I’m finishing up this blog entry from the hallway outside my capsule bed in the Hostel Kawase Tokyo and Capsule. Checkout is any time now, so I’ll be brief. Check back soon for the pics that I’ll upload from the U.S. when I fly home [Photos added 7/3/12].


Here’s how it all began:


Anyone quick enough to catch my earlier “Sumo Pipe Dream” blog post (on another platform, before I took it down) knows about my trashed plans to catch the Sumo wrestling championships here in Tokyo a couple weeks back. Basically, I left church on that Sunday morning too late to catch my flight from Portland to Tokyo.

This time around, I took matters into my own hands. Immediately before I flew out yesterday morning, I worked late at Delta and then stayed awake until sunrise to preach at Aloha Church of God for Pastor Tim (on Sabbatical for the month of June). Since I planned the worship service, missing another flight due to a church service that ran into overtime… would’ve left me with no one to blame but myself. Clever, eh?

The nine hour flight to Tokyo in Delta’s Business Elite cabin would have been the perfect opportunity to make up for more than a week’s worth of extreme sleep deprivation… if only the food, service, and comfort weren’t so extravagant!


 I landed in Japan at Tokyo’s Narita airport/train station with nothing but a small backpack and my 7” Samsung Galaxy Tab containing a few Tokyo club listings that I had downloaded before my plane departed from Portland.


For the entirety of the 70 minute Keisei train ride from Narita to Tokyo, my face was buried in a couple of city maps that I had snagged at the airport. I’ve visited Tokyo a few times before, but this was the first time that I had made even the slightest effort to find my way around without asking for directions.


My plan of attack for the visit was mostly developed before I even made my first connection in Aoto, off of the Keisei Main Line. I ultimately hopped off the Oshiage Line at the Asakusa district… ...and checked in at the Hostel Kawase Tokyo and Capsule with a Fistful of Yen-- if you didn’t get that reference, then you are a much better person that I am.


Would I find any unsuspecting souls to join me on my quest for the best live music and dancing in Tokyo? Not yet. It was early evening, and my hostel was still a ghost town.

Stalling, I killed an hour or two roaming the streets of Asakusa.My first act was to get booted out of a poorly visible, deep underground restaurant [Photo removed] that I discovered off the main strip. Apparently, they only cater to the menacing looking, well dressed Yakuza gangster crowd. 


I kid. Please refrain from marking me for death.


 
The more mainstream Japanese diner Watami accepted me with open arms and served up a steaming dish of extra spicy goodness, by request. The only thing missing from the menu, or from most of the neighborhood for that matter, was a single word of English.


Back at the hostel, I ran into a couple of college guys from SoCal (whom shall remain faceless and nameless, for the sake of their relationships back in the States- I feel so dirty now). I convinced them that heading out beats hanging out. They were less enthusiastic about the Japanese reggae/funk band that I planned to see, so we compromised and started talking non-live venues. I whipped out my nightlife breakdown from the train ride into Tokyo, and we narrowed our options down to a few of the most popular clubs.

The nightlife dense Shibuya district was a straight shot from a nearby train station. The unmarked, well hidden club would have been nearly impossible to find without my directions and my friends’ GPS iDevice thingy. The floor was packed solid, though, with a diverse crowd bouncing along to beats from an allegedly internationally famous DJ with an unpronounceable stage name.

Much later, we all parted ways (with different, ahem, opinions about an appropriate ending to a non-single guy’s night out in Tokyo) way too late for me to catch the last train back to Asakusa. As usual, I improvised.

I have yet to see either of those guys return to their capsule beds this morning.