we have arrived in order

after several flights - for me, from PHX->LAX->Narita (Tokyo)->Itami (Osaka) - and just under and hour sweating it out looking for haynes and the hotel, I arrived.

and I was the last one in, so we have arrived.

haynes waited the longest, avoiding a brief downpour by ducking into a dubious basement, down some wet stairs into a tiny bar—Mystery Trip Bar (a Beatles' themed bar) and drank a Carlsberg from Denmark (their only beer on tap). after 5 minutes of sitting silently, he announced his presence with a question asking for dinner suggestions. the statuette, yet chatty, folks and bartender began to communicate as best they could in English about local restaurant names and traditional Osaka food. in walked a woman who spoke the best English, with a Aussie accent, and after 45 minutes of conversation haynes felt comfortable enough in asking the bartender for a glass of Buffalo Trace, discovering that it was hands-off, as it was the bartender's personal stash. then he returned to the hotel and dean and loryn showed up 5 minutes later - a half hour before me (at the airport) but an hour 15 before me (at the hotel).

after all this advice of places to eat, I arrived, showered and haynes decided to bring us on a journey to a location that the NYTimes had profiled - a failed search (probably because of our pronounciation) but a good tour of Osakan nightlife, to include the debauchary and (lower)half-nakedness of a man-filled "whiskey bar," the Shel Silverstien-esque statues of mustachioed-men (the unverified location of the place) and everyone's favorite, the Glico Running Man advertisement near the Ebisubashi bridge.


no photos up yet, but soon some will appear (except for the naked men) at http://www.flickr.com/photos/haynesriley/

i can't believe it's been three years

this blog site was intentionally titled "hunter immanuel around the globe" over three years ago as to lay the tracks in place for writing and photos from international travels.

not knowing where life would take me, there haven't been any international jaunts since then (except for two visits to the foreign land of Canada).

but, i am happy to say, that ends tomorrow. thanks to the support of the Pat Tillman Foundation (yes, you Marie Tillman, Chris Hart, Marcy Wojtulewicz and Suzanne Reddie), i am heading off on a 5+ week Asian adventure - and they are even allowing me to come back to work when i return.

so, for those of you who follow this blog (Mom, Erin, Kelsey and all my other female relatives), i'm back!

at 6:45 AM (i think, i better check - yes, flights do leave without me on occasion), i'm off across the international date line and heading to Japan to travel Asia (and Australia) with my younger sister Erin and twin brother Haynes (not to mention sections of the trip with our older brother Zachary and friends Emily Crow, Dean and Loryn). here we come Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Sydney.

on a final note, the title of this blog site was "Kickin' It In Cameroon" over the past 3+ years (as you can tell by all of the previous blog posts, i was playing soccer in Cameroon). with the addition of this upcoming adventure and to stick with keeping the title relevant to the now, that has changed.

welcome to "Ass Kicking in Asia" (sorry Mom - i'm just joking)...welcome to "Asian't Going To Miss Me?" (nope)...

how about...

welcome to "Ella - that's Spanish for her, but sounds like Asia with the castellano 'zh' sound"

okay, not that either, but i'll keep trying and maybe Haynes and Erin can help me find an appropriate title next week.

until then, sayonara