Camp Fuji

This past week our unit went up to Camp Fuji, a marine base at the bottom of Mt. Fuji, for a field training excercise. This was a great excerices where we learned the basics of what our role is in the field as members of the medical field. We had 5 days of excellent training and only two days of good weather. The first three were rainy, foggy, cold and misreable. It definitely challenged us to keep our focus on the tasks as the rain came ouring down. Other days it wasn't the rain but the fog that hindered, but did not stop, our training. I also got to meet several people from our unit who are scattered all over Japan. I finally got to put faces to the names I hear about in reports and emails.

The last two days were awesome as the clouds finally moved away from the mountain and gave a beautiful backdrop for the field. On several occasions I had to stop and take pictures during our road marches to admire the beauty of the mountain from a distance. These pictures along with when I climbed it are a great total package.



The cheesy shot while standing in front of Mt. Fuji




Road Marching around the base of Mt. Fuji



The 'Red Dawn' Picture

Bangkok, Thailand

To save on a ridiculouly early wake up time our last night in Pattaya we decided to stay one night in Bangkok and see what that had to offer. After getting to our hotel and checking in we had a few hours to play around with and right across the street was the self proclaimed 'World's Largest Shopping Mall'. I don't know if it's true or not, but that place was huge. Five stories of shops and two more with restaurants and arcades. The very top included a water park and a roller coaster. Unfortuantely it was closed at the time. You can see the red track in the picture.







We then went out to dinner and found the Hard Rock Cafe. This one was one of the biggest I had been in and we met several Americans either travelling or living in Thailand full time. After dinner a live band took the stage and played several songs as well as most cover bands in the states. It was a great way to end the trip.





After dinner we were told to visit the night markets if we were looking for some last minute souvenirs. The big city didn't have the truck cabs like Pattaya but did have a little more exotic mode of transportation. One of these tree wheeled scooters zipped us to the market area in no time while scaring the daylights out of us. Sharp corners and busy streets weren't something I was expecting when I jumped into this seatbelt-less ride. The ride ended with some kids runing up to us as we got out and soaked us in honor of the Songkran Festival. Ahhhh Thailand.......

Just My Luck

As my luck would have it the day I put aside for gold and the beach included the most rain I have seen come down in a long time. We started the day out with some mini golf while the rest of the city was waking up. Throughout the game it kept looking like a promising day, it was getting hotter and I was looking forward to the beach. We finished up and packed for the beach and headed out. We weren't there for more than an hour when the clouds began moving in. So much for a tan! I kept thinking it was going to pass, but it landed right on top of us and it rained and rained. It wasn't so bad because we were already wet from the ocean, but it did damper my golfing plans for the afternoon. The contingency plan wasn't so bad as we went shopping at one of the local indoor markets and malls. I also decided to take advantage of the low prices of everything and got a hand tailored (to my exact measurements) suit for only 110$. Pretty good deal not to pass up, and I figured every man needs at least one suit right?




Before Shot From The Hotel





Same shot during rain storm

The Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm

We went here the second full day of our trip but ended up being the best day. This park housed alot of petrified wood and fossilized rock formations that were scattered throughout the park. Along with beautiful flowers and shrubs this part of the park was awesome for pictures.









But if you all know me the flowers didn't make this the best day, oh no.....what caught our attention for this place was the photos escaping the park with people next to animals, specifically tigers. After finding the times for the crocodile shows we wanderd over to the zoo area. There waiting for us was a giant tiger just chained to a pedestal, no bars or fences holding it back, just a chain. For a small price (I would of paid alot more) we were able to get our picture taken sitting next to her and her cub (at least I think it was hers). This was what made the trip worth it.











Not wanting to leave the area we ventured on through the rest of the park. The park's second main attraction were the crocodiles. There were over 1,000 there in several shapes and sizes. There were cages for the babies, children and obviously the full grown ones. One pond gave us the opportunity 'go fishing' for some. It was amazing to see how far they could jump out of the water with nothing to push off of. After biting I tried reeling him in but didn't have much luck.








Fishing made us hungry so we went to the diner there and sure enough the main course was crocodile. I didn't know you could cook croc in all the different ways they did. I went basic and just had the steaks and was excited about my first eating of a crocodile. I'd like to say the flavor was exotic but old addage of 'everything tastes like chicken' came true.



And finally we attended the last crocodile show of the day. It was all spoken in Thai but you didn't really need a translator to see they were nuts. The crocs here were really well trained and I guess they had to be for the trainers to stick any extremity in their mouth, including their head. They would have the crocs open their mouth and they would keep it open for about 10 minutes while the trainers were running up to them and sliding their head right into the mouths. Crazy, but good none the less.

The Pattaya Elephant Village

The elephant village was more than what the title suggests, but indeed there were alot of elephants. It was a place opend about 30 years ago for former working elephants, kind of like a sanctuary where they could live out the rest of their lives.

One of the things I definetly wanted to achieve was getting to ride one of these bad boys. I've been to several zoos and the closest I'd come to one was having one grab a piece of fruit out of my hand, so being afforded the opportunity to touch one as well as ride on one was one opportunity I couldn't pass. We loaded up the two person basket on top of one with a good supply of water (it was HOT!) and fuel for the elephants (bananas) and headed out through the local forest. I was hoping it was going to be like when Indian Jones rode the elephant in 'Temple of Doom' with his legs straddling the neck but that seat was take by the driver. As we started out though we walked through a river that came up to the elephants neck, almost to the point where we could touch it. We crossed several groves of sugar cane, jackfruit and pineapples seeing where they used to work. I was hoping it was going to be like when Indian Jones rode the elephant in 'Temple of Doom' but that seat was take by the driver. The rest of the trip took us over much of the farmland and local jungle in the area.


Standing next to my transportation, I named her Bertha.






Our package included more than the elephants, so the next step was trek through the jungle. Before hand though they introduced us to their pets: Three domesticated gibbons. Now like the elephants I had never got to hold a primate that was unanesthitized, (the three years working with contagious Rhesus Macaques at Walter Reed), and not counting that time I jumped the fence at the zoo back home to grab one of the gorilla's fingers sticking through the fence. (shhh) Anyways so here I was totally amazed at how close I was getting to these monkeys. As we walked through the jungle they would swing through the trees, then jump and land on our backs, rest for a few moments and then take off again. Truly only a Thailand thing.




The two younger ones.



The vet tech in me couldn't help but give him a physical as he laid there.



They liked to perch



Walking through the Jungle with a little extra load.

Songkran Festival

Little did we know that we booked our trip right at the beginning of the Songkran Festival, the traditional Thai New Year (my Third New Years Celebration this year!!) Here the elders usually spend this time with relatives, doing good deeds, and spring cleaning their houses. It is also the time to show respect to their parents as people go home and spend time with their families.

Songkran's international fame comes from the children (and the non-natives) dousing everybody with water as they drive or walk by. But it doesn't stop there, we saw several trucks on the streets of Pattaya with water tanks and a load of kids. They would pull up by the curb and just pour buckets of water on people. Whether they wanted it or not. If you ventured on to the streets you were likely to get wet.






Sidewalk shooters getting the truck in front



I remember one such instance where a girl all done up in makeup and nice clothes was walking into a mall, she didn't quite make it all the way in as a truck pulled up and soaked everybody on the steps, her included.

What helps this out is the taxis there (songthaew) are basically pickup trucks with a cage around the bed. They weren't the best modes of transportation, but for the US equilvalent of 40 cents you could pretty much go anywhere in downtown Pattaya. A dollar would take you up to 10 kilometers.






In the Taxis we were pretty much sitting ducks, especially at stop lights.



It was fun the day we went to the beach and were already pretty wet, so we didnt mind it. We even got into the act by throwing what little water we had left over at just anybody on the streets. But at night when we went out for dinner, it got a little annoying as we tried to stay dry until we ate.....no such luck.....Happy Thai New Year!

Iwakuni VTF

Like Sasebo there is only one military technician working at the vet clinic. Since he's gone to a development course, they have been getting behind in some of their surgeries. CPT Hinton asked if I could come up for a few days to try and help out. Well not really ask, told would be more like it. With my upcoming trip to Thailand I was only to help him out on one day.

Getting up there we went through Iwakuni's Cherry Blossom Festival. It is alot nicer than Sasebo in that the trees are more strategically placed rather than the 'scatter' pattern that the ones down here are in. We even stopped at the Kintai Bridge (shown below). It's unique as it is the only 5 span wooden bridge of its type in the world, the cherry blossoms blooming around it were a bonus.

Work wise we got about 6 surgeries knocked out and I got to work in a bigger OR for a change. It was weird working with different equipment but the vet's techniques were the same so it was easy to overcome the strange place. I wished I could of stayed longer, but my vacation starts tommorow and I've been waiting for that for a long time.

9 APRIL 2007

Moving On Up

Not to the east side, but more of the west.

I finally decided to move out of the barracks and in to an apartment out in town. I figured I had a year left and decided that moving would be a wise choice financially and personally.

That's kind of why I haven't been writing much, I have been very busy trying to move all my stuff from the barracks to here. You never realize how much junk you have until you actually move. With last weeks trip to Okinawa, busy work weeks, and pouring down rain on the few weekend days I've gotten, it's taken me about 3 weeks to move out completely to where I have everything I need to spend the night here.

It's a three bedroom and is nestled inside one of the more American-is-the-majority areas. I had to get all new stuff to try and fill the vast amount of space I had but I think I did so rather well, even with a little splurging as a present to myself for my recent promotion (TV). It has a great view of the base / harbor area and faily quiet all day.


It's got some work to do still as I need to add some pictures / wall hangings to make it feel more like a house, but that'll come. I got my internet working thanks to the neighbors so I can get back on track with writing on here.


The view:






The living room (not quite complete):

Opening Day (Night) 2007

Finally softball has started back up. Finally I'll have something constructive to do on Monday, Wednesday and Friday again. Finally I'll get to see if all the gym time will pay off.

We started the season against the team with the next best record last year, the fire department. They didn't miss a beat because the 3rd, 4th and 5th batters all hit homeruns. We only mustered up one run in the bottom of the first. I got my first chance and wouldn't you know the second pitch I put it over the fence. I don't think my team knew what to say because I didn't hit a single one all last year, and here I was the first at bat of this year putting one out. Whatever they were feeling it jump started them and we jumped out to a 8-3 lead.

The fire department wasn't going away though as they tied it twice more before taking us into extra innings. In the extra frame they got two runs in the top and we were down to our last out when our right fielder sent one to the outfield. The ball was tracked down but by two teammates as they collided into one another, allowing the ball to drop to the ground. It was a bad way to win, but we'll take it.

We ended the night with one more game against the USS Guardian. They had lost a bunch of their starters and just barely fielded a team. Our bats remained hot as we jumped out quick and never looked back. In the fourth they tried a little run but we had already had too much and this one ended quickly by the 10 run mercy rule in the 5th inning.



2007 Season Record: 2-0