the legend of "legian"

a journey to find vegan food for laurel when we are traveling is always an adventure. sometimes frustrating, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes successful and sometimes not so successful, but there's never a dull moment looking for vegan food especially when you don't speak the language very well. the latest adventure has to be the most inspired one in quite some time. 

it was on our second night in kanazawa, japan, where there are few vegetarian options, let alone vegan ones. laurel has found an indonesian restaurant called "legian" through our travel guide. it is not a vegetarian restaurant, but apparently they are very accommodating for all sorts of diets, including vegetarian and vegan ones. we hope this is the case. 

so, we mark it on our map and make our way towards the area around dinner time... a few strolls up and down and around the alley way where the restaurant is suppose to be and we are out of luck. its either not here or there is no english sign. after some more time wandering, i decide to find food for myself and we spot this interesting looking restaurant. they had no english menu, but we decided to stay anyways. they sit us at the back bench, facing the kitchen (very common seating in japanese style restaurants) and there is this huge shellacked deer leg (complete from thigh to hoof) displayed on the counter top right in front of us. yes, this grosses laurel out just a little bit. we ask to move and sit somewhere else away from the hoofed display. there was some written story about the significance behind the deer leg, but we couldn't understand it. anyways, i manage to get some food and beer and we settle up our bill and head out. on our way out a restaurant staff member (the only one who speaks a little english) follows us out and chats with us a little about where we're from, tell us about some interesting sites to see, etc. so, at this point i decide to ask him if he knew where this "legian" restaurant was. after about a minute or so, we are confident that we are both speaking of the same "legian" indonesian restaurant. yes, there is hope yet! the letter "L" in japan is commonly pronounced as an "R", so we have now determined the restaurant should be pronounced "regian". he points our way on the map and it is in the other direction of the alley way section we had been walking on. doh! confident now, we say domo arrigato gozaimasu to our new friend and head off in the "other" direction. 

30 weary minutes later, our hopes fade and we are at a loss again. no "legian" anywhere to be found on this side either?? dejected and tired, laurel decides to call it quits and head back to the hotel to cook some noodles we had bought earlier at the grocery store... but, before i completely throw in the towel, i run upstairs to a restaurant that looked like they might have an idea!! yes, thats what it looked like to me. anyways, the lady at the bar looked like she was going to turn us away before we even said anything, but when i asked her if she had heard of this indonesian restaurant called "regian", she developed a puzzled look and started to ask around to the other staff members. no one seemed to know, but then i saw a light bulb shine above her head and she said "ahhh! regian" and waved us to follow her out the door, back down the stairs and to the street. there, she walked us a little down the street and then she pointed us back in the direction of the alley we had come from early and showed us the area on the map where we had walked over many times earlier that evening. but the confidence in her "ahhh!" instills a ray of hope in us once again and we decide to make our way back to alley 1 and look one last time for "legian".

tired, but not discouraged we wander the same alley way, pass the same signs for the 4th or 5th time and check the same side alleys and back streets, but still no sign of the restaurant known as "legian". is it time for us to finally head back to the hotel? standing on a dark back street thinking, looking, we spot what looks like a restaurant with a couple of workers inside. we decide this will be the last people was ask for help and i stroll through the door and somewhat startle the chef who is the only one still in the room (we realized later that this was actually the back entrance for the restaurant). i ask him in my limited japanese if he knew where this restaurant called "legian" was? and he like the lady, gave me a puzzled look or curiosity. as we wait, he inquires with his co-workers and they look on our map and scratch their heads and call someone else over. we follow them around to the "front" of the restaurant which is actually on alley 1 and we had passed it many times before. they say "chotto matte" (wait a minute) as one of the other staff members gets on his phone. 

after some time, we hear him say "gaijin" and "Legian" on the phone, and he seems happy with his situation. we stand by waiting curiously with the chef still looking at our map. he hangs up, hands his apron to chef and waves us to follow him. we start to walk back towards alley 2. he makes small talk in our 5 minute walk, asking where we're from, etc. and when we reach the main intersection where alley 1 crosses over to alley 2. we stop and he makes a call on his phone and begins to look across the street. at this point we had realized that he had actually called "legian" and that someone from the restaurant was actually coming to meet us to walk us to the restaurant! can you believe that?!! sugoi!! a young fellow appears talking on his cell phone and they make contact and we are passed on to our new escort. we follow him down alley 2 passed all the places we walked by earlier, then turn down a side street by "pole pole"; a reggae bar which we walked by earlier, to an entrance way just behind the bar on the back street. at last we found "legian"!!! 

after all that, we knew the rest would be anti-climatic. we managed to communicate laurel's dietary needs and at last, she finally got to eat a nice vegan dinner! the food was good, but nothing as spectacular as being passed from one restaurant's worker to another restaurant's worker!!

there is a point to this story, other than the shear unbelievable extent of people's generosity with their time and effort, for what amounted to an $18.00 meal. all the effort that went into helping 2 strangers who cannot speak their language, find a little restaurant, and without ever asking why?, or saying "why not eat at our restaurant?". just because that is the way it is here. we encounter it everyday with almost everything, the need for people to give their utmost attention, patience and effort no matter how menial the task or job at hand and without any thought for compensation or reward. we have had many experiences like this on our journey so far, but this one we felt compelled to share. these little things speak volumes when you are in a land where communication can be so minimal or even nil, yet the impact on you can be so great.