THE EXORCISM OF BALI 2023

In December 2023, a travel authority was tucked in 2 of what were supposed to be 3 luggages to fill the void created by an unexpected death in the family before Christmas, a haunting that lingered for almost three years begging to be exorcised. 

The dispossession of that sad memory finally occured in the 2nd week of May 2026 with a silent prayer to the deities of the Mehru Towers at Pura Taman Ayun requesting them to sanctify a procession through the beaches of Bali that culminated at the Gate of Heaven and the giant swings of Ubud.   

Pura Taman Ayun is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site that was first built in the 17th century "to worship the ancestral spirits of kings" of the Mengwi Kingdom. 

Being our first destination in 2023, it naturally was the first step of our own cleansing rite prior to the convening of a final preparatory meeting for the Bali Assembly. 

Our 2023 Bali holiday started with a walk to the Legian Beach, and concluded with beer, coconuts, and a setting sun at Kuta Beach before our return flight to Manila.

Thus in 2026, we revisited the chaotic maze of surf boards and a parade of g-string bikinis at Kuta and Legian that culminated in a debriefing of beer and coonuts in small tables with red plastic chairs as the sun burned off the waters of Seminyak Beach.  

The haunting of 2023 was fully exorcised at the Gate of Heaven --- the candi bentar that represents the boundary between the physical and spiritual realms.

That was the pinnacle of the ritual that reversed a 2023 exclusion and invoked the protection of the guardian of the east from its sanctuary in the Island of Gods, a catharsis that burnished grief with happy moments at the giant swings of Ubod. 

Bali is of course the land of babi guling, hot and spicy like that of Pak Malen's in Seminyak, subtle and mild like Ibu Oka's in Ubud. 

It is also about padang dinners at Sarimande Natrabu and Sanur Nusantara minus the happy hour cocktails and a firedance.  

So it was done.

The haunting of 2023 has been buried in the documentation of a stocktaking in preparation for annual reporting, the review and polishing of annual plans, and possible post-project scenarios. 

THE WEEKEND BETWEEN BALI

Then we got robbed, a surreal mid-air experience aboard PR 538 that stole the flavor of a complimentary champagne, a supernatural incident that the nubile servers and vocalist of Poblacion failed to banish. 

The palate did came through after walking through Ayala Avenue's car-free Sunday for a lonnganisa platter at the Legazpi Sunday Market that were presented in the luxurious buffet tables of the Vikings. 

As anticipated, the runaround strategy was applied by Philippine Airlines but the autogates of the I Gusta Ngurah Rai International Airport finally worked. 

FUJISAN

In our Japan itinerary, an encounter with Mt. Fuji up close and personal has been strongly insinuated by the wife.

That we consider as the bidding of the Cherry Princess, the godess of Mt. Fuji itself, so we scratched Kobe (we can have Kobe beef somewhere else) and mined Google on where it will be best to view Japan's holy mountain.

Our research indicated that Mt. Fuji will be visible in the morning of May 3  in Fujinomiya which is 219 kilomters away from Nagoya.

Thus, we started walking to the Nagoya Station at 4:30 am for a fast but expensive Shinkansen ride to Shizuka where we took a regular train to the Fuji Station.

It was on the last train ride to Fujinomiya when Mt. Fuji slowly revealed itself in an almost striptease way. 

Outside the Fujinomiya Station, the mountain is fully visible, framed with medium rise buildings.

Some 750 meters from there is the Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre, a symbolic representation of a "mountain of water" that was opened in 2017 to celebrate the listing of Mt. Fuji as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a complex cooled by water from the mountain's springs that empties into a reflection pool. 

Nearby is the ancient Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, the cnter of worship for Mt. Fuji that is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

But being a Sunday within a Japanese Golden Week which is the equivalent of a Filiino long weekend, Fujinomiya is deserted.

We found a small teppanyaki shop with an "open" sign, its door ajar but no one inside. 

That's when we decided to return to Nagoya, relying on a liquid diet from vendo machines for breakfast and lunch, counting stops and train changes as we endured a 4-hour trip until finally, a table at a popular yakiniku shop we booked the previous day. 

We smelled of grilled pork skirt, wagyu steak, chicken cartilage, beef tendon, thinly slice beef tongue, and marinated pork intestines after being smoked for 2 hours but it was the best way to conclude the first of our Japan adventures. 

I had a highball and Sapporo beer, and we have a 5-year visa to Japan. 

NAGOYA REDUX

My lasting memory of Nagoya Castle are two Japanese ladies clad in the sexy Joshi Kosei mode (JK Style) that were actually the main subject of a photo I took of the edifice.

But we came too early this year and there is none of that, yet.

We did encounter a number of these Lolita-influenced fashion as we traveled through 3 train lines to Nagoya, our biobatteries charged with a ramen brunch at the Kyoto Station that enabled us to lug our bags through the streets of Nagoya to a superb dinner of the city's famous tebasaki, must try oroshi karaage, cochin oyakodon, a specialty tamagoyaki, and tonkatsu at the Nagoya Maruhachi Shokudo. 

I had a highball and a Morita Kinshachi Craft Beer.

That was our prelude to a 360-degrees view of the Nagoya Castle that we captured in several frames by walkng around and killing time, before breaking our fast at one of the breakfast trucks parked just after its entrance gate.

Someday, I too will build have a a teahouse within my own Japanese garden where I can drink shots of sake while watching a monkey do a lap dance. 

At the Osu Kannon Temple, we offered prayers to the Buddha of Compassion.

I tried recalling the flea market spot where I was sold a fake katana and the small shop where I had a lunch of ramen topped with raw egg 20 years ago.

Instead, buntings of the Philippine flag at the Osu Shopping Streets led us to a lunch of gyutan, a Wagyu steak, pork donburi, and mackerel.

I had a highball and Yebisu Beer. 

At the Atsuta Shrine, we clapped our hands twice before and after our prayers to commune with the deities, to heal us of our sickness, and to request for a graceful exit into the sunset.

This ancient Shinto shrine is home to the  Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Heavenly Sword of Gathering Cluds) which is one of Japan's three sacred treasures and imperial regalia, and honors Amaterasu-Omikami, the supreme sun god, and all other deities that is connected with the sacred sword. 

I rode a bike to the Atsuta Shrine from the JICA Chubu, maybe once or twice 20 years ago.

I once had  a 1993 Toyota Corolla for company use. 

Just recently, my mother-in-law bought a Toyota Hiace Commuter De Luxe van for Bulan

It was then inevitable for us to visit the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya that showcased the company's evolution as the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works into its incorporation as the Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937.

We saw models of its Model A1 passenger car that it frst produced and the Toyopet Crown that apparently broke the market for Japanese cars, and were serenaded with a crappy violin concerto by Toyota's Partner Robot.  

Then it was dinner, a meal we failed to find at Sakae's red light district where once upon a time, I desperately scrounge for a bottle of San Miguel Beer that will be used for our commencement ceremony in lieu of our flags.

The options around the vicinity of the Nagoya Station turned out to be beyond what we are wiling to spend so we walked until stumbling into what seemed to be a newly opened and empty shop between rows of full izacayas.

We were prepared to be surprised and that's how it turned out with the superb ramen and and donburi nbowls we happily found out to have ordered.

I had a Kirin beer.  

OUR KYOTO SONG (My Second Actually)

I've been to the cultural treasures of Kyoto except for the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest that I visited for the first time. 

For this second coming, I don't have to cheat on the fare adjustment from Nagoya, had a seafood lunch instead of the cold packed leftover breakfast I had 20 years ago, paid all the entrance tickets and got stamped, and brought along a happy wife.   

Not sure why I missed the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest the first time I was in Kyoto since it's been there since 794. 

It indeed has a legitimate claim of being picturesque spot for a thousand years and on Day 3 of our 2026 Tour of Japan, the wife had her 3rd dongo at the forest gates while Balong opted for a fried mochi. 

Kinkaku-ji or the Temple of the Giolden Pavilion is a Zen Buddhist temple that was first built in 1399 and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I got in free 20 years ago by skipping through a distracted ticket seller but paid this time to appease Balong's tantums. 

There's not much I can recall from my first encounter with the Ginkaku-ji, another Zen temple popularly known as the Tample of the Silver Pavilion that was first built in 1482.

Yes, there was a rock garden that is still there but a revelation is the wife who had a lobectomy several months back in 2025 and yet gamely took on the uphill hike for a panoranic view of the temple complex and the Kyoto skyline.

Our lunch at the crowded Nishiki Market, a seafood spread of tempura, sashimi rice bowl, oysters, a crab leg, and okonomiyaki --- remains to be our most expensive meal in Japan so far at 14,000 yen.

I had a highball and a Suntory beer before before indulging in a sake-tasting spree.

The wife had sweet potato chips.

The Nijo Castle's nighttingale floors are security devices to alert against the presence of intruders,

At least that's what has been explained 20 years ago as I tagged along an English-speaking guided tour but this time, the story is different according to Bulan who heard it from a current day English-speaking guided tour, that the sound is created "from the movement of nails against clumps in the floor caused by wear and tear over the years". 

Another new discovery is that the castle actually has a massive garden where we got lost trying to find the exit and the eki stamp stand. 

Finally, the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, a wooden temple built without nails that traces its history to 805 and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site where once upon a time, I had a dinner of ramen with a jar of sake.

The wife again showed her climbing prowess as we manevered through steep stairs and streets.

But what turned out to be our most challenging hike was greeted with a "Closed" sign because of the holidays in Japan.

So I peed on a manicured garden.

We walked (and took the bus) through Kyoto under a soft rain the whole day.

We were tired and I smelled of pee.

We craved for a hot dinner and went straight into an oden shop with the hope that we don't get lost in translation.

The recommended radish, meatballs, beef, and tomato were excellent; the pork and cabbage super; the potato salad exceptional; and the ice cream nuggets amazing.

I had my highball and Suntory beer... 

...and finally encountered Anthony Burdain's favority egg salad sandwich from Lawson.