Eating Okonomiyaki at the station in Hiroshima - Yummy
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Shinkansen Trip - Mark's perspective
Shinkansen - back to Tokyo - 27 September, 2008 - 14:25
Ladies in Pink waiting to clean out Shinkansen (Bullet Train)
Last day of our Japan rail passes, and we're heading back from Beppu, on the southern tip of the south island, to Tokyo, and finally to Kisarazu, where Satomi likes.
Beppu was excellent, despite my swollen foot, which made walking a chore, to say the least.
I think I actually got a bite when I was saoking my feet in the river in Kyoto. We had stopped at this great point in the river, after cycling all day from one end of the city to the other. We'd gone to the Golden Temple in the afternoon, and by the time we got there we were all tired and hot and not really interested in a gold temple, despite the fact that it was covered in real gold. Big wup.
In front of Kyoto Temple
Geisha in training at the temple
We had crossed a river on the way, and that looked quite inviting. Artemis suggested we ditch the temple and do the river, but we persevered, and went to the temple. She was right of course. So on the way back we stopped at the river, which was magical: right in the middle of the city, a beatiful river, shallow, and not too fast running; cool and clear. Our student guide assured us it was clean. There were stones enabling people to cross from one side to the other. The stones were either very large rectangular blocks, or where in the shape of a turtle. We hopped about, splashing and playing. I sat and soaked my feet, taking in the sites of Kyoto from this spot. School kids played in the water with nets. I dunked my head, and the Artemis frolicked. Caleb read and Lianna strolled. As my foot soaked I thought I felt something on it, and raised it out of the water. Nothing there. The next day on the train to Hiroshima my seond and third toes hurt. I thought I'd ovedone it in the hot tub the night before, as I'd done some stretching to loosen up. Lianna gave me one of her special massages on the train, to no avail. We walked around Hiroshima, and by evening the foot felt sore, but no worse. At one point Lianna asked me if it was painful. it wasn't. But moments later it was. Lianna and I shared a tiny bed, and my foot seemed to hurt more and more. It kept getting more swollen over the next two days. By the end of the first day in Beppu, the spa town, it was almost unbearable to walk.
Mark's foot
We all had a bit of a meltdown in Beppu. Either it was the reality of the train finally hitting us, or just fatigue we don't know, but we all were feeling kind of bored and tired and out of sorts. We had a talk that evening, and all agreed we wanted to fine-tune the trip. The next day was great, as we went to a monkey reserve in the mountains. They are endemic to the area, and live in this reserve, completely free to come and go as they please.
My foot was really sore at this point, so we took the monorail up, which we thought was a huge thing circling the park, but which turned out to be a short 3 minute ride up the hill. The doors opened and there outside were hordes of monkeys, all just mulling about. We all hesitated at the doorway. There were way more of them than us, and nothing stopping them from just coming up to us and attacking us.
There were somne very young children in our monorail, so we let them go first, as our personal sacrificial lambs. They seemed to be OK, so we followed them, hoping the monkeys would see them as easier prey than us.
Turned out the monkeys really coulndn't give a hoot about us. They went about their day, lyeing around, grooming each other and eating the bugs they found. Little ones ran around what we later learned was the nursery, where they spent the day, only to be picked up by their mothers at around 2!
From the monkey reserve we headed to the natural hot springs, for which the area is famous. Except we had one problem: I hadn't brought enough cash, and for some stupid reason, had left all our travbellers cheques at Satomi's! Our debit cards do not really work, and for some reason no one took credit cards in this town. Faced with a long bus ride, we really wanted to take a cab, but had not cash. The monkey reserve was quite remote, and there were exactly two cabs there wating. Japanese cabs are amazingly great: they all wear shirts and ties, and usually snazzy hats and white gloves. They have automatic doors to open for you, and usually run around to get your bags. And I do mean run. When you get in they remove their hat and bow their heads, letting loose a string of welcomes (I think) and proclaiming, or so it sounds, their service to you. They then drive in and out of traffic, missing other cars by millimetres, but missing them. There's no tipping, and they know where they're going and get you there fast.
So our cabbie took us to the hot spring area, and took our credit card, and we were happy.
At the hot springs they did not take credit cards, and we paid twelve bucks to look at a steaming pool. By now our funds were low, we were tired and hungry. unfortunately it was 2:45, and in between lunch and dinner. My foot was swollen, it was hot, and we were really hungry. Luckily the convenience store we happened upon had a full complement of foodstuffs for lunch. We drove the lady there crazy, as we used the wrong containers for the wrong food, picked up things with the tongs and put them back, left food on the counter as we waited for each other, and then I picked up one item and began eating right then and there before paying for it, which almost had here turn inside out. We finally paid and got out of there, eating our lunch at the bus stop. It was adequate, and better than you'd get at one of our convenience stores. So on we went, walking along some windy road looking for the hotsprings we were going to go to, and which I really needed at this point, as my foot was killing me, my back hurt from walking funny, and we were all generally tired. We stopped at one point and I asked Lianna to ask an old lady where it was. Sure enough we'd stopped a the exact street. We meandered along some tiny back alley passage, passing pipes with steam pouring out every which way at every turn, until we came to this little door. We went in and there we were!
This place had hot sand baths, as well as indoor and outdoor hot springs in natural stone settings, small tile pools of hot water, as well as wooden onsen. There was also a showering and washing area, which is standard in all Japanese public baths. Women and men were separate, except for the hot sand, which is where you wear a yukata, or light bathrobe type thing. The whole thing was 18 bucks for the four of us, including bathrobes and lockers.
We all met in the hot sand baths, which you do first. They were hot! you bascially bury yourself in sand, which is heated from the steam of the springs. We lay there for a little over 10 minutes. I sweated my brains out, and the rest of the fam was pretty hot too.
then we went our separate boys and girls ways. Caleb and I hung out in the outdoor springs mostly, but Caleb tried them all, including the shower springs, where the hot water was pouring from spouts. Because my foot was really sensitive, I didn't submerge it, as it burned somewhat when I did. So I hobbled about, lazing in the outdoor rock area with my foot sticking out of the water, resting on a rock.
We all came out pretty much at the same time, and took the bus back to our fun little hostel room, where we were all relaxed, but hungry! We hunted this funny little tourist town for a place that took visa, as we had very little money for the next day home. There was a really cool Japanese bar/sushi yakatori bar, but they were all booked up, so we went to a Japanese-type Denny's, or so it seemed, called Royal Host. the menus were very large and colourful with everything from steak to ramen. Caleb had a great time ordering a four course Italian dinner, which was fantastic. Lianna had the same thing, whith a choice of appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert. Artemis had a burger and fries, Japanese style, which was excellent as well. We had a fine time, ate our fill, and paid happily by Visa!!
Then home for a mellow evening of reading.
The final day of our pass we are back on the Shinansen, or bullet train, heading back to Tokyo.
We were all in better spirits, having recovered from the low of the other day. We had contemplated leaving Japan early, but it looks like we will not. Satomi has reserved a hotel for us at Mount Fuji, and Lianna still has a lot of visiting to do. Also, it's a big holiday in early October in China, and may not be a great time to go there.
Satomi at her house
Chill'in at Satomis
So we will stay here for a little while longer. On the way back we got our first train at 9:22, and arrived in Kisarazu by 8 p.m. For lunch we all dug out all our change from every pocket we had, and came up with about 9 bucks each, enough for a Ramen and snack. Thankfully there were also some great bakeries here in Japan, and we had some excellent baked goods for breakie.IN Beppu we also found a tiny (5 seats capacity) gyoza place that was down a small alley which we went right by about 4 times before finding it. All they sold was beer - 6 bucks, or a set of 15 gyoza - 6 bucks. And yes, they were the best gyoza I'd ever eaten. Actually getting hankerings for noodles when I go more than 6 or 7 hours without them.
Mark
Monday, September 29, 2008
Travelling around Japan
on the train
Hiroshima to Beppu to Mt.Fuji and back
Puchasing the Japan Rail pass before coming to Japan we felt we had to get our moneys worth and see as much as possible, so after spending a few days in Hiroshima which is near the bottom half of the main island of Japan , we journied to Kyushu, the most southern island. It is a spa town surrounded by mountains right near the ocean. Yes it was on the ocean front however the ocean front was surrounded by heavy industry which was a major eye sore, one can't even imagine going in the water or near it for that matter.
Mark was bitten on the foot by something, a bug of some sort. The pharmacist said it was a "small mosquitos like insect" which I later looked up to find that it was a "knat". So his foot was red and swollen and he couldn't walk very fast. So the kids and I went for a walk the first day to explore the ocean front. There were these huge ugly looking cockroach like things crawling around the mounds of hidden garbage (I say hidden because there is a large cement wall along the ocean front and you can only see the garbage if you look over). Artemis screamed her head off and refused to go near the area. End of walk.
So where is the spa part of this equation? After having explored a bit the first day in the blistering high humidity, and it was only minimal exploration as everyone was knocked out by the heat and the travelling to the location and the fact Mark could not walk and generally we were all feeling a bit under the weather (talk about this later), the next day we woke with much renewed energy. Although everyone else slept like a bunch of logs on a beach, I was awoken several times by the incredible show of heavy torential rains, ongoing thunder storm battles and vibriant lightening displays. Needless to say when we all get up the next morning, the air was fresh and cool and we were ready to explore the area.
Artemis was keen on seeing the monkey habitat close to the town, famous in the area. I was reluctant as I dislike zoos of any sort but we found out that the monkeys were from the the area and that they were not caged in any way. So off we went. All of us were very pleasantly surprised as we walked amongst thousands of Japan Macaque Macaca Fuscata. Babies, teenagers, parents, elderly monkeys all roaming freely on their habitat of Mt.Takasaki, now a protected area and a huge tourist attraction. Of course a major high way runs along the bottom of the mountain so monkeys do not travel to the water often anymore. They are residents of the mountain coming and going in a park like area where tourists can ohh and ahh about how cute and intellegent and human like they are.
Posing with the Boss
Next off to find the hot springs in the mountains above the town. We choose a one location which had multiply experiences, starting with a hot sand spa. Its like being on a hot beach and burying oneself in sand, very relaxing. Boys and Girls were split for the bathing area where one could walk around in their birthday suite exploring differnt hot pools indoors and outdoors. After an hour or so we all met in the common area completely renewed and relaxed. Even Caleb enjoyed the pampering.
Took a day to get back to Kisarazu where we are staying with my girlfriend Satomi. She wanted to spend a few days away with us so the next day we hopped into her car to drive to Mt.Fuji. Satomi has had some problems with her eyes, operation that did not work so having to do it again next month, which gives her problem seeing while driving so Mark took the wheel. He did a fantastic job making his way around the crazy streets of Japan and driving on the opposite side. We were very spoiled at Mt.Fuji staying at a lovely hotel which to Artemisis delight supplies Japanese bathrobe, slippers, towels and all other toiletries your would possibly need. The dinner was really the high light for everyone. Very Japanese style, dressed in our bathrobes
Mt.Fuji feast - delicious.
Japanese bathrobes
Turning Japanese
The beginning of October brings us back to Satomis for more visiting of old friends. I will not be able to see everyone while we are here, just too many people. It is also tiring for the rest while I reminisce with friends in Japanese. Oh well, they are learning some language, culture, eating lots of great food and really becoming comfortable in Japan. Kids will write soon about their impressions.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Kyoto
September 23
The first week of our journey has past. It seems like we have been travelling forever in one sense and completely have no idea what we are doing in another. Being the impatient person that I have been, because I am working on patience and slowing down, I expected everything to fall into place easily and smoothly. However it has only been ONE WEEK. So I am saying that we are doing extremely well. Working on the computer has been a challenge that we will learn to adjust to as we move from city to city. The challenge being inability to connect to the Internet so that Caleb can get started in his schooling and to check any email. Challenge to organize ourselves from day to day. We have entered into the journey with no plans, purposely. When I am able to let go and allow things to flow as we desire, things go well. As soon as I get stressed out about any issue, things do not seem to go as well. We arrived in Kyoto a few days ago. To all my Japanese friends amazement we arrived in Kyoto without a hotel room. Both of us had spent some time on the Internet while in Tokyo trying to find a room but could not locate anything suitablely priced or easy to book. So we just decided to feel what it is we wanted and to allow it to happen. We wanted a comfortable, reasonably priced, well located place. Arriving in Kyoto we went straight to the Tourist Information. She proceeded to show us the ONE place she had available. There is nothing else she said. Mark felt uneasy about booking it as it left us with little choice. So we headed to the place we had initially wanted to go, Kyoto informaton centre located on the 9th floor of the station building. Here we found a very friendly information officer who found an inexpensive, well located, comfortable room to stay in. While we were booking the hotel, the kids were anxious to find an English bookstore as both of them had read the 2 books they brought with them - so we sent then on their way, alone, to some unkown bookstore. Once done booking we went to locate them, assuming there would be a big bookstore we would easily find. Instead, we found ourselves in giant shopping maze with thousands of people, and no sign of a bookstore. A slight feeling of panic went through both of us. Had we gone too far? Been to free? The Kyoto train station is immense. We asked a girl at a kiosk where the bookstore was, and she was not sure, but thought there was a small one somewhere at the end of the maze. Hmmm... not the news we wanted to hear. We walked around for a bit, but saw nothing. A little more panic set in. We asked someone else, who knew of the large bookstore we were told about at the information booth. We took an elevator up, turned the corner, and there they were, our two kids waiting for us. The kids had searched the store, went back upstairs to information booth, and not finding us, they went back downstairs to wait at the bookstore. They're brilliant!
We realized we had better make some back-up plans and emergency procedures for the future but more importantly we realized that we have to trust each other and just know that we are connected at all times.
We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon just before the rain started to come down in buckets. There was no shower in the room so we proceeded to the public bath for a wash up. This may sound bizarre, however the public bath was lovely. There is one for men and one for women. It is a large comfortable open tiled room with shampoos, creams, shavers, towels. There are separate little stalls for each person to wash up. After cleaning yourself you proceed to the large hot bath to luxuriate and relax. Upon returnig from this experience you are both invigorated and relaxed. We all just loved it.
Lots to do and see in Kyoto, hundreds of temples, monuments etc. After exploring one temple for 3 hours, the largest in Kyoto, the kids and Mark had had enough. Spent the day riding around on bicycles with a volunteer student from the local university, leading the way, and after the temple tour and lunch, we headed to the cool river running through the centre of the city. There were large stepping stones placed across the river, some in the shape of turtles. Kids and Mark splashed, walked around and even dunk their heads. Was the water clean? A major river running through the middle of this massive metropolitan city? Yes said the student, just dont drink the water... Everyone bathed once we returned to the hotel but it seems that the splashing in the river was the hi-light.
Lianna
The first week of our journey has past. It seems like we have been travelling forever in one sense and completely have no idea what we are doing in another. Being the impatient person that I have been, because I am working on patience and slowing down, I expected everything to fall into place easily and smoothly. However it has only been ONE WEEK. So I am saying that we are doing extremely well. Working on the computer has been a challenge that we will learn to adjust to as we move from city to city. The challenge being inability to connect to the Internet so that Caleb can get started in his schooling and to check any email. Challenge to organize ourselves from day to day. We have entered into the journey with no plans, purposely. When I am able to let go and allow things to flow as we desire, things go well. As soon as I get stressed out about any issue, things do not seem to go as well. We arrived in Kyoto a few days ago. To all my Japanese friends amazement we arrived in Kyoto without a hotel room. Both of us had spent some time on the Internet while in Tokyo trying to find a room but could not locate anything suitablely priced or easy to book. So we just decided to feel what it is we wanted and to allow it to happen. We wanted a comfortable, reasonably priced, well located place. Arriving in Kyoto we went straight to the Tourist Information. She proceeded to show us the ONE place she had available. There is nothing else she said. Mark felt uneasy about booking it as it left us with little choice. So we headed to the place we had initially wanted to go, Kyoto informaton centre located on the 9th floor of the station building. Here we found a very friendly information officer who found an inexpensive, well located, comfortable room to stay in. While we were booking the hotel, the kids were anxious to find an English bookstore as both of them had read the 2 books they brought with them - so we sent then on their way, alone, to some unkown bookstore. Once done booking we went to locate them, assuming there would be a big bookstore we would easily find. Instead, we found ourselves in giant shopping maze with thousands of people, and no sign of a bookstore. A slight feeling of panic went through both of us. Had we gone too far? Been to free? The Kyoto train station is immense. We asked a girl at a kiosk where the bookstore was, and she was not sure, but thought there was a small one somewhere at the end of the maze. Hmmm... not the news we wanted to hear. We walked around for a bit, but saw nothing. A little more panic set in. We asked someone else, who knew of the large bookstore we were told about at the information booth. We took an elevator up, turned the corner, and there they were, our two kids waiting for us. The kids had searched the store, went back upstairs to information booth, and not finding us, they went back downstairs to wait at the bookstore. They're brilliant!
We realized we had better make some back-up plans and emergency procedures for the future but more importantly we realized that we have to trust each other and just know that we are connected at all times.
We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon just before the rain started to come down in buckets. There was no shower in the room so we proceeded to the public bath for a wash up. This may sound bizarre, however the public bath was lovely. There is one for men and one for women. It is a large comfortable open tiled room with shampoos, creams, shavers, towels. There are separate little stalls for each person to wash up. After cleaning yourself you proceed to the large hot bath to luxuriate and relax. Upon returnig from this experience you are both invigorated and relaxed. We all just loved it.
Lots to do and see in Kyoto, hundreds of temples, monuments etc. After exploring one temple for 3 hours, the largest in Kyoto, the kids and Mark had had enough. Spent the day riding around on bicycles with a volunteer student from the local university, leading the way, and after the temple tour and lunch, we headed to the cool river running through the centre of the city. There were large stepping stones placed across the river, some in the shape of turtles. Kids and Mark splashed, walked around and even dunk their heads. Was the water clean? A major river running through the middle of this massive metropolitan city? Yes said the student, just dont drink the water... Everyone bathed once we returned to the hotel but it seems that the splashing in the river was the hi-light.
Lianna
Kyoto
September 23
The first week of our journey has past. It seems like we have been travelling forever in one sense and completely have no idea what we are doing in another. Being the impatient person that I have been, because I am working on patience and slowing down, I expected everything to fall into place easily and smoothly. However it has only been ONE WEEK. So I am saying that we are doing extremely well. Working on the computer has been a challenge that we will learn to adjust to as we move from city to city. The challenge being inability to connect to the Internet so that Caleb can get started in his schooling and to check any email. Challenge to organize ourselves from day to day. We have entered into the journey with no plans, purposely. When I am able to let go and allow things to flow as we desire, things go well. As soon as I get stressed out about any issue, things do not seem to go as well. We arrived in Kyoto a few days ago. To all my Japanese friends amazement we arrived in Kyoto without a hotel room. Both of us had spent some time on the Internet while in Tokyo trying to find a room but could not locate anything suitablely priced or easy to book. So we just decided to feel what it is we wanted and to allow it to happen. We wanted a comfortable, reasonably priced, well located place. Arriving in Kyoto we went straight to the Tourist Information. She proceeded to show us the ONE place she had available. There is nothing else she said. Mark felt uneasy about booking it as it left us with little choice. So we headed to the place we had initially wanted to go, Kyoto informaton centre located on the 9th floor of the station building. Here we found a very friendly information officer who found an inexpensive, well located, comfortable room to stay in. While we were booking the hotel, the kids were anxious to find an English bookstore as both of them had read the 2 books they brought with them - so we sent then on their way, alone, to some unkown bookstore. Once done booking we went to locate them, assuming there would be a big bookstore we would easily find. Instead, we found ourselves in giant shopping maze with thousands of people, and no sign of a bookstore. A slight feeling of panic went through both of us. Had we gone too far? Been to free? The Kyoto train station is immense. We asked a girl at a kiosk where the bookstore was, and she was not sure, but thought there was a small one somewhere at the end of the maze. Hmmm... not the news we wanted to hear. We walked around for a bit, but saw nothing. A little more panic set in. We asked someone else, who knew of the large bookstore we were told about at the information booth. We took an elevator up, turned the corner, and there they were, our two kids waiting for us. The kids had searched the store, went back upstairs to information booth, and not finding us, they went back downstairs to wait at the bookstore. They're brilliant!
We realized we had better make some back-up plans and emergency procedures for the future but more importantly we realized that we have to trust each other and just know that we are connected at all times.
We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon just before the rain started to come down in buckets. There was no shower in the room so we proceeded to the public bath for a wash up. This may sound bizarre, however the public bath was lovely. There is one for men and one for women. It is a large comfortable open tiled room with shampoos, creams, shavers, towels. There are separate little stalls for each person to wash up. After cleaning yourself you proceed to the large hot bath to luxuriate and relax. Upon returnig from this experience you are both invigorated and relaxed. We all just loved it.
Lots to do and see in Kyoto, hundreds of temples, monuments etc. After exploring one temple for 3 hours, the largest in Kyoto, the kids and Mark had had enough. Spent the day riding around on bicycles with a volunteer student from the local university, leading the way, and after the temple tour and lunch, we headed to the cool river running through the centre of the city. There were large stepping stones placed across the river, some in the shape of turtles. Kids and Mark splashed, walked around and even dunk their heads. Was the water clean? A major river running through the middle of this massive metropolitan city? Yes said the student, just dont drink the water... Everyone bathed once we returned to the hotel but it seems that the splashing in the river was the hi-light.
Lianna
The first week of our journey has past. It seems like we have been travelling forever in one sense and completely have no idea what we are doing in another. Being the impatient person that I have been, because I am working on patience and slowing down, I expected everything to fall into place easily and smoothly. However it has only been ONE WEEK. So I am saying that we are doing extremely well. Working on the computer has been a challenge that we will learn to adjust to as we move from city to city. The challenge being inability to connect to the Internet so that Caleb can get started in his schooling and to check any email. Challenge to organize ourselves from day to day. We have entered into the journey with no plans, purposely. When I am able to let go and allow things to flow as we desire, things go well. As soon as I get stressed out about any issue, things do not seem to go as well. We arrived in Kyoto a few days ago. To all my Japanese friends amazement we arrived in Kyoto without a hotel room. Both of us had spent some time on the Internet while in Tokyo trying to find a room but could not locate anything suitablely priced or easy to book. So we just decided to feel what it is we wanted and to allow it to happen. We wanted a comfortable, reasonably priced, well located place. Arriving in Kyoto we went straight to the Tourist Information. She proceeded to show us the ONE place she had available. There is nothing else she said. Mark felt uneasy about booking it as it left us with little choice. So we headed to the place we had initially wanted to go, Kyoto informaton centre located on the 9th floor of the station building. Here we found a very friendly information officer who found an inexpensive, well located, comfortable room to stay in. While we were booking the hotel, the kids were anxious to find an English bookstore as both of them had read the 2 books they brought with them - so we sent then on their way, alone, to some unkown bookstore. Once done booking we went to locate them, assuming there would be a big bookstore we would easily find. Instead, we found ourselves in giant shopping maze with thousands of people, and no sign of a bookstore. A slight feeling of panic went through both of us. Had we gone too far? Been to free? The Kyoto train station is immense. We asked a girl at a kiosk where the bookstore was, and she was not sure, but thought there was a small one somewhere at the end of the maze. Hmmm... not the news we wanted to hear. We walked around for a bit, but saw nothing. A little more panic set in. We asked someone else, who knew of the large bookstore we were told about at the information booth. We took an elevator up, turned the corner, and there they were, our two kids waiting for us. The kids had searched the store, went back upstairs to information booth, and not finding us, they went back downstairs to wait at the bookstore. They're brilliant!
We realized we had better make some back-up plans and emergency procedures for the future but more importantly we realized that we have to trust each other and just know that we are connected at all times.
We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon just before the rain started to come down in buckets. There was no shower in the room so we proceeded to the public bath for a wash up. This may sound bizarre, however the public bath was lovely. There is one for men and one for women. It is a large comfortable open tiled room with shampoos, creams, shavers, towels. There are separate little stalls for each person to wash up. After cleaning yourself you proceed to the large hot bath to luxuriate and relax. Upon returnig from this experience you are both invigorated and relaxed. We all just loved it.
Lots to do and see in Kyoto, hundreds of temples, monuments etc. After exploring one temple for 3 hours, the largest in Kyoto, the kids and Mark had had enough. Spent the day riding around on bicycles with a volunteer student from the local university, leading the way, and after the temple tour and lunch, we headed to the cool river running through the centre of the city. There were large stepping stones placed across the river, some in the shape of turtles. Kids and Mark splashed, walked around and even dunk their heads. Was the water clean? A major river running through the middle of this massive metropolitan city? Yes said the student, just dont drink the water... Everyone bathed once we returned to the hotel but it seems that the splashing in the river was the hi-light.
Lianna
Friday, September 19, 2008
Posting pictures and sending email
We are having problems accessing our email so pleaase write to us on this blog or at travellallplanes@yahoo.com and we are presently not able to upload pictures! Very frustrating. I guess this hotel restricts it somehow.
Love ya
Lianna
Love ya
Lianna
First Week in Japan
20 Sept, '08
Quick update: now in Tokyo, and leaving for Kyoto tomorrow. Staying at the Dormy Inn, and there are amazing baths, etc. in the hotel: they have lotions and potions and hot and cold, indoor and outdoor public baths for guest. And it's not an upscale place ($180 for the night in Tokyo, which is good).
We were all very excited to be in a typhoon today, but it looks as though it has passed up by!
Yesterday we went to a Summo match!!!!! It was amazing. Met Eriko for dinner (an old friend) at a very cool Tokyo restaurant. Ran around the Tokyo train system yesterday - no crushing crowds as the day before (read below), thankfully.
Weather is warm, humid, and comfortable.
Today we will bang around Tokyo and do some shopping and eating.
Internet access is not going to be steady, so please be patient with these posts.
We are all doing great!
18 Sept, '08
Thursday morning, around 9.
Went to Tokyo yesterday. We are at Satomi's house in Kisarazu, which is about an hour outside of Tokyo, in the countryside. Getting to Tokyo was easy by train, and took us about 80 minutes, as we did not feel like paying the extra money to take the express train.
The train ride was enjoyable and comfortable, although quite long by the time you get into Tokyo, as there are many stops, and it gets increasingly crowded the closer you get to the city.
We got out at Tokyo station, which is in the centre of the city and the centre of the business district. We walked from there. It was hot humid and sunny, but quite pleasant. We got in around 11 a.m., so there were not that many people in the streets.
Hungry, we stopped at one of the thousands of tiny noodle shops. There are photos of the various dishes they make. When you have decided what you want, you go to a small vending machine, select your dish and pay for it. Most were around 3 - 5 dollars. Once you pay you take the ticket which is dispensed from the machine and give it to the cook. He then prepares your dish. There are a few places to stand and eat, or a small downstairs, which was like a fridge, with small tables. It was all very delicious and fun.
After that we headed out. There are drink vending machines almost every step of the way through the city, with cold drinks for about 1.20 Canadian. The drinks are water, coke, other types of soft drinks, and many many kinds of ice coffee in cans, and ice tea in bottles. All yummy. We had lots of them throughout the day.
Whether the Canadian dollar is strong now, or the Yen weak, or both, I'm not sure (there are 100 Yen to the dollar), but I have a news flash: Japan is no longer very very very expensive. Actually, the prices are pretty much the same as in Vancouver: 5 Gyoza for 3.50; a big bowl of Ramen for 6 - 8 bucks, etc.
We walked around the Japan central bank area, where there were many businessmen in dark suits and white shirts, and many little alleyways with cute noodle shops, sock shops (must be a big thing to get new socks), 7-11s etc. Went into a very high-end department store, with formally dressed greaters. Inside, little shops like Tiffanys, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, etc. Very nice, but couldn't find anything I liked.
Our main goal at that point was to walk to the Akihabara, which is ground zero for the electronics and gaming world. Lots of big big big stores with many floors all selling electronics. Everything from small parts to duty-free computers. But not many deals. Caleb was in heaven, as there were many multi-story video game malls, where you pay a buck and play very cool video games.
After that we took the train to Harajuku, which is the funky fashion area. This was amazing! Very cool clothing and styles, with many people walking around in absolutley outrageous outfits! There were girls dressed up as Anime characters, although I'm not sure which came first: the girls dressing like that and the animators copying them, or vice versa. Hats are very popular, and very funky, with big fur hats and Uggs and Ugg-like boots being very in right now, despite the heat. Also black socks pulled up over the knee with high boots or high heels. All just very bizzare and very cool. We had a blast there, and avoided the temptation of the many crepe sellers. We gave Lotteria a try, which is a Japanese burger chain. It was great! From there we walked to the designer street, around the corner, which is all about Chanel, Lauren, Dior, etc. We went to Kiddyland, which is 6 stories of cutesy stuff like Hello Kitty, anime characters, a whole floor of Charlie Brown stuff, and much much more.
We walked around until we ended up at the famous --- square, where hordes of people cross the 5 cornered street at the same time, with people walking every which way for about a minute, only to clear out just in time for the cars to zoom by. There is a Starbucks right there, and we went to the second floor for a bird's eye view of it all. By this time it was dark, and the fabulous lights of Tokyo lit up, with the sounds and crowds continuing.
Hungry, tired, and wilted, we went to the train station, not realizing we were going to get caught in a classic Japanese tradition of being squeezed onto a commuter train. No time to get food, we all ran to a kiosk, with the locals, and quickly plucked some stuff from the shelves. I had a onigiri, which is basically a triangular blob of rice, with some stuff in the centre, and seaweed around it, which was enought to last till we got back.
We stood in line for the train, and squeezed on at our stop. Not too bad we thought, although we couldn't really move our arms, and Caleb was stuck behind Artemis's hair and kept trying to blow it out of his face. She was laughing hysterically, which was not good in the crush of it all, and the heat, as it was very hot, but thankfully the air con kept the temperature bearable - but just. Next stop, there were lines of people wating to get on. "Not this train" I thought, remembering all the buses which passed me by in Vancouver as I waited in the rain to get home. Wrong I was. People just face their back to the crowd on the train, and PUSH! They all got on, and we all squeezed even more. Everyone was very quiet, almost as if holding their breath. It was not possible to move your arms or legs, but just hold on and wait for the next stop. Cell phone conversations are not allowed on the trains at any time, but people check their email and play games constantly on the highspeed Japanese phone network, which allows for easy Internet access. However there was no room to do even that. The next stop came and the doors opened, and suddenly there was a great wave of people leaving the train. We had to hold on to avoid being swept off. Relieved, we thought the crush was over, but not quite. Another horde got on, and we were squeezed again for another few stops, until the crowd thinned out enough to breathe. It was a pretty intense experience, and we were all happy to have had it.
When we got back to Kisarazu Satomi came to pick us up. It was 9, and we were all sweaty and hot. We went to MaxValu, the local grocery store (many things here are written in English, but pronounced in a Japanese way. All store names are written in English, with the most bizarre names. We ran around MaxValu buying sushi, gyoza, drinks, Japanese bread, which is a small loaf of squishy white bread cut into super thick pieces, so there are only 4 pieces to the loaf! Everything is highly packaged, and the entire store is filled with brightly coloured miniature food items. So an entire bag of crackers, with a box inside, with an individually packaged cracker inside that.
All in all, it was a great day, and we all finally slept pretty much through the night.
16 September, 2008
Japan, Cheeba Prefecture
We finally left North America yesterday (sort of, having crossed the international day line, it was really two days ago!), Sunday, 14 September, after celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of two very special guys, Jesse and Noah on Saturday. It was a wonderful affair, and we are all very happy to have attended.
Our JAL flight was on a 747, and we were on the top deck! A great flight: great food, excellent seats, and fun interactive gaming center which included a dozen or so movies, video games, music, etc. The 9 hour flight went by pretty quickly and comfortably.
We arrived in Tokyo at 4 p.m. the next day and were greeted at the airport by Lianna's high school friend Satomi and her family. Japanese immigration was very fast and easy.
The weather here is warm and humid, and it's all very different! Went to a Japanese food store yesterday afternoon, and it was filled with these fun and colourful Japanese products.
Satomi's house is about an hour from the airport. It's quite a good size, and we have a bedroom for the four of us. Satomi made a great dinner, and we all fell asleep around 8 p.m. local time. Unfortunately we were all up at 3 a.m! We all fell back asleep at some point, except Caleb, who stayed up to finish off a video game on his PSP.
Today we are taking it easy and have not yet ventured from the house. We'll go out for lunch at some point and walk around a bit.
Observations to date:
- they have lots of cool cars with many many more models shapes and styles than we have
-
For those who had lost track of our travels, here is the timeline for the past few days:
After Lianna and I returned to Sutton from travelling to Ottawa (to get our Chinese visas), New Brunswick (to visit Catherine), and then Quebec (to travel and take it easy) we went to visit Myrna and Brahm in St. Donat.
We then spent a few final days in Sutton, and left Montreal to return to Vancouver on Thursday, 11 Sept
in Montreal we ran around, meeting Myrna Brahm Mel Farla Ellie for lunch at Snowden Deli
Got some French books for the kids
Went to the Westmount lookout - on the way spotted Mel and Farla taking uncle Sam for a walk in the park! Stopped there and said hello. Have not seen Sam, who is 98, in about 4 years. He looked good!
Almost missed our flight, as there was a huge traffic jam getting on to Decarie (what else is new)
In Vancouver we went to Monty and Betty's house (Lianna's brother and sister-in-law), as they are out of town (thanks guys!)
Couldn't find a place open to eat at 9 a.m!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but thought of many we would like to have gone to in Montreal - and they were open!
Spent Friday getting the kids' school books for the year, and making the necessary arrangements with their on-line teachers, getting traveller's cheques, etc.
Met Ir and Ray for dinner. Went to Hon's, and were fortunate to have had a great meal, as it was our last in Vancouver!
Saturday was the Bar Mitzvah at Or Shalom. A beautiful affair. Then went home, packed, and finished with the party in the evening.
Stay tuned, more to come!
Quick update: now in Tokyo, and leaving for Kyoto tomorrow. Staying at the Dormy Inn, and there are amazing baths, etc. in the hotel: they have lotions and potions and hot and cold, indoor and outdoor public baths for guest. And it's not an upscale place ($180 for the night in Tokyo, which is good).
We were all very excited to be in a typhoon today, but it looks as though it has passed up by!
Yesterday we went to a Summo match!!!!! It was amazing. Met Eriko for dinner (an old friend) at a very cool Tokyo restaurant. Ran around the Tokyo train system yesterday - no crushing crowds as the day before (read below), thankfully.
Weather is warm, humid, and comfortable.
Today we will bang around Tokyo and do some shopping and eating.
Internet access is not going to be steady, so please be patient with these posts.
We are all doing great!
18 Sept, '08
Thursday morning, around 9.
Went to Tokyo yesterday. We are at Satomi's house in Kisarazu, which is about an hour outside of Tokyo, in the countryside. Getting to Tokyo was easy by train, and took us about 80 minutes, as we did not feel like paying the extra money to take the express train.
The train ride was enjoyable and comfortable, although quite long by the time you get into Tokyo, as there are many stops, and it gets increasingly crowded the closer you get to the city.
We got out at Tokyo station, which is in the centre of the city and the centre of the business district. We walked from there. It was hot humid and sunny, but quite pleasant. We got in around 11 a.m., so there were not that many people in the streets.
Hungry, we stopped at one of the thousands of tiny noodle shops. There are photos of the various dishes they make. When you have decided what you want, you go to a small vending machine, select your dish and pay for it. Most were around 3 - 5 dollars. Once you pay you take the ticket which is dispensed from the machine and give it to the cook. He then prepares your dish. There are a few places to stand and eat, or a small downstairs, which was like a fridge, with small tables. It was all very delicious and fun.
After that we headed out. There are drink vending machines almost every step of the way through the city, with cold drinks for about 1.20 Canadian. The drinks are water, coke, other types of soft drinks, and many many kinds of ice coffee in cans, and ice tea in bottles. All yummy. We had lots of them throughout the day.
Whether the Canadian dollar is strong now, or the Yen weak, or both, I'm not sure (there are 100 Yen to the dollar), but I have a news flash: Japan is no longer very very very expensive. Actually, the prices are pretty much the same as in Vancouver: 5 Gyoza for 3.50; a big bowl of Ramen for 6 - 8 bucks, etc.
We walked around the Japan central bank area, where there were many businessmen in dark suits and white shirts, and many little alleyways with cute noodle shops, sock shops (must be a big thing to get new socks), 7-11s etc. Went into a very high-end department store, with formally dressed greaters. Inside, little shops like Tiffanys, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, etc. Very nice, but couldn't find anything I liked.
Our main goal at that point was to walk to the Akihabara, which is ground zero for the electronics and gaming world. Lots of big big big stores with many floors all selling electronics. Everything from small parts to duty-free computers. But not many deals. Caleb was in heaven, as there were many multi-story video game malls, where you pay a buck and play very cool video games.
After that we took the train to Harajuku, which is the funky fashion area. This was amazing! Very cool clothing and styles, with many people walking around in absolutley outrageous outfits! There were girls dressed up as Anime characters, although I'm not sure which came first: the girls dressing like that and the animators copying them, or vice versa. Hats are very popular, and very funky, with big fur hats and Uggs and Ugg-like boots being very in right now, despite the heat. Also black socks pulled up over the knee with high boots or high heels. All just very bizzare and very cool. We had a blast there, and avoided the temptation of the many crepe sellers. We gave Lotteria a try, which is a Japanese burger chain. It was great! From there we walked to the designer street, around the corner, which is all about Chanel, Lauren, Dior, etc. We went to Kiddyland, which is 6 stories of cutesy stuff like Hello Kitty, anime characters, a whole floor of Charlie Brown stuff, and much much more.
We walked around until we ended up at the famous --- square, where hordes of people cross the 5 cornered street at the same time, with people walking every which way for about a minute, only to clear out just in time for the cars to zoom by. There is a Starbucks right there, and we went to the second floor for a bird's eye view of it all. By this time it was dark, and the fabulous lights of Tokyo lit up, with the sounds and crowds continuing.
Hungry, tired, and wilted, we went to the train station, not realizing we were going to get caught in a classic Japanese tradition of being squeezed onto a commuter train. No time to get food, we all ran to a kiosk, with the locals, and quickly plucked some stuff from the shelves. I had a onigiri, which is basically a triangular blob of rice, with some stuff in the centre, and seaweed around it, which was enought to last till we got back.
We stood in line for the train, and squeezed on at our stop. Not too bad we thought, although we couldn't really move our arms, and Caleb was stuck behind Artemis's hair and kept trying to blow it out of his face. She was laughing hysterically, which was not good in the crush of it all, and the heat, as it was very hot, but thankfully the air con kept the temperature bearable - but just. Next stop, there were lines of people wating to get on. "Not this train" I thought, remembering all the buses which passed me by in Vancouver as I waited in the rain to get home. Wrong I was. People just face their back to the crowd on the train, and PUSH! They all got on, and we all squeezed even more. Everyone was very quiet, almost as if holding their breath. It was not possible to move your arms or legs, but just hold on and wait for the next stop. Cell phone conversations are not allowed on the trains at any time, but people check their email and play games constantly on the highspeed Japanese phone network, which allows for easy Internet access. However there was no room to do even that. The next stop came and the doors opened, and suddenly there was a great wave of people leaving the train. We had to hold on to avoid being swept off. Relieved, we thought the crush was over, but not quite. Another horde got on, and we were squeezed again for another few stops, until the crowd thinned out enough to breathe. It was a pretty intense experience, and we were all happy to have had it.
When we got back to Kisarazu Satomi came to pick us up. It was 9, and we were all sweaty and hot. We went to MaxValu, the local grocery store (many things here are written in English, but pronounced in a Japanese way. All store names are written in English, with the most bizarre names. We ran around MaxValu buying sushi, gyoza, drinks, Japanese bread, which is a small loaf of squishy white bread cut into super thick pieces, so there are only 4 pieces to the loaf! Everything is highly packaged, and the entire store is filled with brightly coloured miniature food items. So an entire bag of crackers, with a box inside, with an individually packaged cracker inside that.
All in all, it was a great day, and we all finally slept pretty much through the night.
16 September, 2008
Japan, Cheeba Prefecture
We finally left North America yesterday (sort of, having crossed the international day line, it was really two days ago!), Sunday, 14 September, after celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of two very special guys, Jesse and Noah on Saturday. It was a wonderful affair, and we are all very happy to have attended.
Our JAL flight was on a 747, and we were on the top deck! A great flight: great food, excellent seats, and fun interactive gaming center which included a dozen or so movies, video games, music, etc. The 9 hour flight went by pretty quickly and comfortably.
We arrived in Tokyo at 4 p.m. the next day and were greeted at the airport by Lianna's high school friend Satomi and her family. Japanese immigration was very fast and easy.
The weather here is warm and humid, and it's all very different! Went to a Japanese food store yesterday afternoon, and it was filled with these fun and colourful Japanese products.
Satomi's house is about an hour from the airport. It's quite a good size, and we have a bedroom for the four of us. Satomi made a great dinner, and we all fell asleep around 8 p.m. local time. Unfortunately we were all up at 3 a.m! We all fell back asleep at some point, except Caleb, who stayed up to finish off a video game on his PSP.
Today we are taking it easy and have not yet ventured from the house. We'll go out for lunch at some point and walk around a bit.
Observations to date:
- they have lots of cool cars with many many more models shapes and styles than we have
-
For those who had lost track of our travels, here is the timeline for the past few days:
After Lianna and I returned to Sutton from travelling to Ottawa (to get our Chinese visas), New Brunswick (to visit Catherine), and then Quebec (to travel and take it easy) we went to visit Myrna and Brahm in St. Donat.
We then spent a few final days in Sutton, and left Montreal to return to Vancouver on Thursday, 11 Sept
in Montreal we ran around, meeting Myrna Brahm Mel Farla Ellie for lunch at Snowden Deli
Got some French books for the kids
Went to the Westmount lookout - on the way spotted Mel and Farla taking uncle Sam for a walk in the park! Stopped there and said hello. Have not seen Sam, who is 98, in about 4 years. He looked good!
Almost missed our flight, as there was a huge traffic jam getting on to Decarie (what else is new)
In Vancouver we went to Monty and Betty's house (Lianna's brother and sister-in-law), as they are out of town (thanks guys!)
Couldn't find a place open to eat at 9 a.m!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but thought of many we would like to have gone to in Montreal - and they were open!
Spent Friday getting the kids' school books for the year, and making the necessary arrangements with their on-line teachers, getting traveller's cheques, etc.
Met Ir and Ray for dinner. Went to Hon's, and were fortunate to have had a great meal, as it was our last in Vancouver!
Saturday was the Bar Mitzvah at Or Shalom. A beautiful affair. Then went home, packed, and finished with the party in the evening.
Stay tuned, more to come!
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