On the Road

Jack Kerouac I am not but I am traveling this month and away from my cubbyhole in Tokyo suburbia. As such, I will pause on my reprints of Japan Times humor columns and run "a few" photos of other moments when I have been away.

Some notes:

1. I am a crummy photographer. Yet, the Japanese have a proverb on this: "Even a dog will bump into a pole." It kind of means everyone gets lucky sometimes. That said, all shots here are mine, or were at least taken with my camera, unless otherwise noted.

   
   

2. The order is scrambled on purpose. A proverb of my own: "Chaos is more fun than form."

   
   

3. These pics are all from the digital age. I have albums of the other kind stuck in a box somewhere in one of our closets. Perhaps the oldest shot here is from around 2000. The most recent is from 2024.

   
   

4. I am not a globetrotter and have spent most of my adult life either in front of a blackboard or a computer screen. But I also had a span when I wrote features for the inflight mag of All Nippon Airways and they were kind enough to send me hither and thither. (I recommend thither. Quite the place.) I am envious of those who travel more than I do -- which means I am probably envious of you.

Now some photos while on the road.

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At Parc Guel in Barcelona

At a riverside in Queensland.

At Little Big Horn

A fishing port in Thailand.

The traditional dwellings at Shirakawa-Go, a World Heritage spot in central Japan.

At Halong Bay, north of Hanoi.

Near Bayeux in Normandy

Not far from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

Sunset over the Indian Ocean, viewed from Bali.

Everyone has sunset shots.

Here are two of mine.

Sunset over a lotus field near Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia

Sailboats on the St. Lawrence in Quebec

A Shinto Torii facing Japan's Inland Sea from Naoshima.

Pointing at dolphins in the South Pacific somewhere out from Aukland

Legend says that in 1866 Mark Twain planted a monkey pod tree on Hawai's Big Island and when it fell in a storm, about a century later, a local artist carved this bust, which now rests in museum storage in Hilo. The curator was nice enough to dig it out and let me pose with it. Photo credit goes to the one and only Rudi van Starrex.

With buddy Mark in a far different location, in Dubuque, Iowa, and many years later. But the same shirt!

Continuing the Twain theme, here are Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer in Hannibal.

An illuminated parade float in the Nebuta Museum in Aomori.

Parrots at a park near Cairns. I loved that cap, but lost it on a windy day while whale watching a year later. Note the shirt.

A mangrove forest on Amami Oshima, a tropical island sort of near Okinawa. I lost that cap near here.

Statues in profile. Here is George Washington in the Black Hills and along side are faces from Angkor Watt.

Our boat guide in a glow worm cave in New Zealand. Too good to be my pic. Maybe a glow worm took it.

A pair of guards at the Royal Palace in Bangkok.

Beartooth Lake, not far from Yellowstone

Mont-Saint-Michel

Ah, the old shot-from-a-stone-window trick. One is from Mont-Saint-Michel and the other from a Spanish fort on Guam.

Guam

Hobbiton, home of Bilbo, Frodo and friends

Part of the chewing gum street near Pike's Place in Seattle

Some Travel Food

That's kishimen from Nagoya on the left, sanuki udon from Takamatsu at the top, Ise udon on the right and miso ramen from northern Hokkaido at the bottom.

Which is best? Let me misquote Princess Ann in Roman Holiday, when asked to compare European capitals:

"Each is in its own way unforgettable... But ramen! By all means ramen!"

Toledo (I resisted the adjective.)

A shoe shopper in Holland

On back of a truck, somewhere in Cambodia during my short-lived bearded period. That's an Augustana College cap on my head. Note the shirt.

Not just any beach. This is Omaha at high tide,

Travel types will no doubt recognize this airport, but I am willing to bet you any amount of money (up to a dime) that you will never ever be able to guess my gate number.

Two tourists somewhere north of Chang Mai. Yes, that is a Packers cap on my head. Yes, that is the same shirt. Yes, that is an elephant.

Blurry, but so is my life. Here, my hero, waves good-bye.

© Thomas Noah Wood

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