Here's the link to all of the pictures we've taken on the trip. They are divided up by location... so no fear of being bombarded by hundreds of pictures at once. You'll need to enter a password to view the pictures, which is posted on my Facebook page. You can also e-mail me and I'll give it to you... just trying to keep the whole world wide web away from them all! :) Sorry for the hassle. Once you're on the album, the photos are divided into "sub albums," and found on the right hand column. Don't be fooled if it tell you "no photos." Look to the bottom right!
Hope you enjoy :)
http://photobucket.com/risingsunadventure
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sea Adventures!
Boy, does it feel good to have had a hot shower and 10 hours of sleep!
After essentially backpacking through Western Japan (we decided that sleeping on buses and cafeterias constituted of such an adventurous title) we are back on the 'grind' per se in Tsukuba. Well, Ray is.
I'm still on lounge time for another 11 days.
We took the 8 hour overnight bus ride in style- Ray slept and I got lost in the rest stop. Talk about scary. We stopped about 4:30 am somewhere off a Japanese highway (since the bus didn't have a restroom!) and I decided to give it a try.
Side note: Japanese bathrooms are even cleaner than the metro. It's like using your own in your room!
In my sleep-deprived state I failed to note where our bus was parked. I got on no less than 12 buses before I found Ray standing outside of ours calling my name because the bus was leaving and I was not on it. Wouldn't that have been an adventure..
We arrived in Tokyo around 6:30 am, just in time for the sun to rise and it still be freezing cold. To say I was sore from the ride was an understatement. I didn't sleep a wink.
We headed towards the train station to get tickets for the day's adventure: Tokyo Sea Life Park, home of four different types of penguins!
After stumbling around the area to store our luggage and buy tickets, we had plenty of time to kill so hunted (literally) for some breakfast.
The Japanese idea of breakfast is nonexistent, and very few things are open before 8 am. So, we posted up at the doorway of Gusto Cafe and were the first ones in the door. The server must have thought that all people in Japan speak Japanese, because she just started rattling off questions and directions in her language, and didn't take a hint when I stared blankly at her during pauses.
In my defense, I was tired and starving, and an hour and half post-bus ride I still had little feeling in my knees and shoulders. The question WWJD doesn't apply here, because he can obviously speak Japanese.
Either she was really oblivious or really trying to piss me off, because after taking our order (which I had to use hand gestures for!) she brought me a newspaper... completely in Japanese.
Women.
After the tiniest breakfast ever we headed to the aquarium, went on a mile-long adventure hike to see the bay (totally unplanned) and finally made it to the entrance.
The aquarium was built inside of a sphere in an earthquake-proof building built into the ground. You entered on the top floor and worked your way down. I had never seen two of the four types of penguins that lived at the zoo, so it was a real treat. Along with the surprise green turtle and green turtle babies!
(I LOVE sea turtles & penguins...)
They divided the aquariums by oceans, so each section was another ocean, more or less. Apparently, the custom here is that when someone thinks you've stared at a particular tank long enough, they start ramming you with their stroller.
True story.
It was really packed, and people were quite rude, but I managed to refrain from assaulting anyone (or shoving the stroller back at them!) and eventually the crowds spanned out through the complex.
There were quite a few things we saw, and if it weren't for the pictures we took I may not have even remembered we saw them. Packing as much into five days as we have, and on such little sleep, I had a hard time remembering where I was most of the time.
But there were a great deal of things we had never seen before. (Rather than upload a whole bunch and make this page huge, I have created a photo web site and will post info for it soon.. so keep checking back to the blog!)
Aside from the penguins and sea turtles, which would obviously be my favorites, Ray & I agreed the coolest animal was a mudskipper-type fish. They live outside of the water and jump around to get from place to place. They're basically amphibians.. but fish.. they're cool.
Like most things in Japan, they easily get lost in translation. They call the fish something different in Japanese, which literally means "jumping Japanese fish," but I can't find the name that the guide kept using. I'll keep looking.
The cooks forgot to take the heads off of my lunch, with made for an interesting experience. I also will expand on my previous observation that the Japanese will fry anything: as a side to my lunch, I had some kind of fried crab chowder. It was good, but seriously? I'm going to need angioplasty by the time I leave here.
I also managed to fall asleep on the cafeteria table for about an hour... that must have been funny to watch.
I got up the courage to pet the sharks and rays in the petting tank.. and I got Ray to do it, too! One of them was like my personal pet for the few minutes we were there... he came up and just sat in front of me waiting for me to pet him.
I secretly named him Sharkey.
We hadn't intended to stay 6 hours in the park, but we did and ended up catching the penguin feeding.. which made me kind of angry. In the US (well, at least at all the US penguin exhibits I've been to, which is probably more than I care to admit) the penguin "trainers" keep a record of how many fish each penguin eats to ensure that each is getting adequate nutrition and vitamins (which they hide in the fish.) Here the trainer was like "here fish" and dumped buckets of fish right on top of all the penguins and let them fight over it.
I hope that all of them get enough to eat... sounds like a great way for the little ones to starve and the big ones to get fatter. It's not even like they're replicating the wild, since there penguins chase a large amount of fish rather than a set amount of dead ones in a cage.
It was disappointing not getting my new favorite meal of soy ramen with pork, but I attempted yet again to make tonkatsu.. and failed epically.
I think that if I attempt to make it a third time I will do much better. In our sleep-deprived state we managed to purchase bacon instead of pork cutlets. In our defense, they were grouped to be the size of cutlets and there's only one word we know: pork. It was clearly printed on the package.
Apparently, I tried to write this post from my bed after dinner, but by the time Ray finished the e-mail he was writing and handed me the computer, I fell asleep. My goal for today is to sort through the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of pictures we've taken and upload them to my computer. Our stupid camera doesn't organize them, so there's pictures from May mixed in with our Japan shots.. so annoying!
At least our trip will be well documented.
Most of the excitement is over with for the trip, save another trip to Tokyo on Wednesday and some Tsukuba sights we haven't yet seen. I'm definitely bummed that I'll be leaving in just a short week, without Ray. Pray his research goes well so he doesn't have to stay even longer!
The next couple of days, at least for me, get to be wake up, stay in pj's all day, change into workout clothes, change, shower, go back into pj's, sleep, repeat. My kind of vacation, for sure.
After essentially backpacking through Western Japan (we decided that sleeping on buses and cafeterias constituted of such an adventurous title) we are back on the 'grind' per se in Tsukuba. Well, Ray is.
I'm still on lounge time for another 11 days.
We took the 8 hour overnight bus ride in style- Ray slept and I got lost in the rest stop. Talk about scary. We stopped about 4:30 am somewhere off a Japanese highway (since the bus didn't have a restroom!) and I decided to give it a try.
Side note: Japanese bathrooms are even cleaner than the metro. It's like using your own in your room!
In my sleep-deprived state I failed to note where our bus was parked. I got on no less than 12 buses before I found Ray standing outside of ours calling my name because the bus was leaving and I was not on it. Wouldn't that have been an adventure..
We arrived in Tokyo around 6:30 am, just in time for the sun to rise and it still be freezing cold. To say I was sore from the ride was an understatement. I didn't sleep a wink.
We headed towards the train station to get tickets for the day's adventure: Tokyo Sea Life Park, home of four different types of penguins!
After stumbling around the area to store our luggage and buy tickets, we had plenty of time to kill so hunted (literally) for some breakfast.
The Japanese idea of breakfast is nonexistent, and very few things are open before 8 am. So, we posted up at the doorway of Gusto Cafe and were the first ones in the door. The server must have thought that all people in Japan speak Japanese, because she just started rattling off questions and directions in her language, and didn't take a hint when I stared blankly at her during pauses.
In my defense, I was tired and starving, and an hour and half post-bus ride I still had little feeling in my knees and shoulders. The question WWJD doesn't apply here, because he can obviously speak Japanese.
Either she was really oblivious or really trying to piss me off, because after taking our order (which I had to use hand gestures for!) she brought me a newspaper... completely in Japanese.
Women.
After the tiniest breakfast ever we headed to the aquarium, went on a mile-long adventure hike to see the bay (totally unplanned) and finally made it to the entrance.
The aquarium was built inside of a sphere in an earthquake-proof building built into the ground. You entered on the top floor and worked your way down. I had never seen two of the four types of penguins that lived at the zoo, so it was a real treat. Along with the surprise green turtle and green turtle babies!
(I LOVE sea turtles & penguins...)
They divided the aquariums by oceans, so each section was another ocean, more or less. Apparently, the custom here is that when someone thinks you've stared at a particular tank long enough, they start ramming you with their stroller.
True story.
It was really packed, and people were quite rude, but I managed to refrain from assaulting anyone (or shoving the stroller back at them!) and eventually the crowds spanned out through the complex.
There were quite a few things we saw, and if it weren't for the pictures we took I may not have even remembered we saw them. Packing as much into five days as we have, and on such little sleep, I had a hard time remembering where I was most of the time.
But there were a great deal of things we had never seen before. (Rather than upload a whole bunch and make this page huge, I have created a photo web site and will post info for it soon.. so keep checking back to the blog!)
Aside from the penguins and sea turtles, which would obviously be my favorites, Ray & I agreed the coolest animal was a mudskipper-type fish. They live outside of the water and jump around to get from place to place. They're basically amphibians.. but fish.. they're cool.
The cooks forgot to take the heads off of my lunch, with made for an interesting experience. I also will expand on my previous observation that the Japanese will fry anything: as a side to my lunch, I had some kind of fried crab chowder. It was good, but seriously? I'm going to need angioplasty by the time I leave here.
I also managed to fall asleep on the cafeteria table for about an hour... that must have been funny to watch.
I got up the courage to pet the sharks and rays in the petting tank.. and I got Ray to do it, too! One of them was like my personal pet for the few minutes we were there... he came up and just sat in front of me waiting for me to pet him.
I secretly named him Sharkey.
We hadn't intended to stay 6 hours in the park, but we did and ended up catching the penguin feeding.. which made me kind of angry. In the US (well, at least at all the US penguin exhibits I've been to, which is probably more than I care to admit) the penguin "trainers" keep a record of how many fish each penguin eats to ensure that each is getting adequate nutrition and vitamins (which they hide in the fish.) Here the trainer was like "here fish" and dumped buckets of fish right on top of all the penguins and let them fight over it.
I hope that all of them get enough to eat... sounds like a great way for the little ones to starve and the big ones to get fatter. It's not even like they're replicating the wild, since there penguins chase a large amount of fish rather than a set amount of dead ones in a cage.
It was disappointing not getting my new favorite meal of soy ramen with pork, but I attempted yet again to make tonkatsu.. and failed epically.
I think that if I attempt to make it a third time I will do much better. In our sleep-deprived state we managed to purchase bacon instead of pork cutlets. In our defense, they were grouped to be the size of cutlets and there's only one word we know: pork. It was clearly printed on the package.
Apparently, I tried to write this post from my bed after dinner, but by the time Ray finished the e-mail he was writing and handed me the computer, I fell asleep. My goal for today is to sort through the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of pictures we've taken and upload them to my computer. Our stupid camera doesn't organize them, so there's pictures from May mixed in with our Japan shots.. so annoying!
At least our trip will be well documented.
Most of the excitement is over with for the trip, save another trip to Tokyo on Wednesday and some Tsukuba sights we haven't yet seen. I'm definitely bummed that I'll be leaving in just a short week, without Ray. Pray his research goes well so he doesn't have to stay even longer!
The next couple of days, at least for me, get to be wake up, stay in pj's all day, change into workout clothes, change, shower, go back into pj's, sleep, repeat. My kind of vacation, for sure.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
351 Pictures of Kyoto
Actual trip dates: 1/5/12 & 1/6/12
Foreign languages frustrate me.
Sorry, just had to get that out.
We somehow managed to sleep through almost half of our time in Kyoto, which seems to be a re-occurring theme in our lives. We've seen so much in the past couple of days it's all running together, and I keep finding more pictures and having that "ah-ha" moment when I remember something about the trip.
Needless to say, this post will continue to expand as I sort through the 351 pictures we took while exploring the city.
No, that is not a typo.
Thursday and Friday of our "trip within a trip" was spent at "home" in Kyoto, hitting as many "must-see" places as we could in two days. Well, in the late mornings and afternoons.
Most guide sources recommend spending 10 days in the former Japanese capital, and they say four is the bare minimum to dedicate.
That just wasn't possible, so we did what we could.
Thursday, we bought a one-day bus pass and spent the day in the northern and western areas of Kyoto.
The first stop was a highly anticipated western-style birthday breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs and granola with a side of toast. Scratch that. In Japan, you get toast with a side of eggs, bacon and granola cereal.
Seriously, that was how the menu read.
From there, we headed to the Golden Palace, a gold-plates structure that sits on a lake in the mountain foothills. It was shiny.
We stopped at a few more shrines and castles in the area, including "the" zen garden of the world (the one that all other zen gardens are compared to.)
We then attempted to hop a bus for a bamboo forest and instead followed the guide book's suggestion and got lost in Kyoto.
We were the only tourists who saw this petrified rock pile.
The bamboo forest was worth the trip.
I tried three times to type out a description for the road to get to the forest, but I settled for posting the following picture. "Beautiful" just sounded too cliche.
The bamboo forest trail meandered through a dense thicket of towering trees, temples and tombstones. In some places, you couldn't see through the bamboo stalks.
We did some shopping in the village area, got lost again, and finally made it home.
Ok, for slight elaboration on that second detour: Ray didn't know that I had slipped the camera into his backpack on the bus, which resulted in me sprinting four blocks after the bus until he found it.
I'm pretty sure I knocked someone over. Maybe more.
We (let me clarify: not me) failed to recalibrate our position after the chase and wound up a good km east of our hotel.
All's well that ends well.
For dinner, we had our new favorite Kyoto cuisine: ramen with shumei and fried chicken. The chefs remembered us from earlier in the week, and they have become quite fond of us. One gave me free rice, and they didn't laugh at us nearly as much as they did on our first visit.
We conched out shortly after arriving home; I can seem to get enough sleep no matter how hard I try. Ten hours of sleep and I'm still fighting to keep my eyes open.
That's part of the reason I had to eat crap for breakfast.
Ok, it wasn't literal crap but it might as well have been: donuts from 7-11 were the only recognizable thing I could get my hands on, so I did the dirty deed and boy did they taste good. Yes, they have 7-11's here.
We had a tour of the Imperial Palace at 10 am (which I thought was 10:30) and after ignoring the alarm for an hour and packing up the room, we were scurrying in with just enough time to spare.
You have to book tickets well in advance for the Imperial tours, because you have to get "permission" to enter. I say that like we're so important, but I imagine they let just about anyone in there and it's really just for show.
The grounds were immaculate and the tour was extremely informative. It never ceases to amaze me how closely blended everything is in these towns.
We were standing in the emperor's tea garden, where some of the most famous tea ceremonies occur, and you can hear the intersection alerts signify it's time to cross the street.
There were some places in the castle that were off limits, and we were under the watchful eye of an Imperial guard the entire time, but you can't shake a fist at a free tour of an emperor's palace.
Well, you can try to shake a fist at the guard, but I don't recommend it.
We found a cute cafe near our next stop, some kind of ninja-proof palace a few miles from the Imperial Palace. Ray finally got his curry and rice, and I found out that the Japanese will fry just about anything in tempura batter.
Next, we saw Nijo-jo, a castle built by a shogun with the explicit intention of out-doing the Imperial Palace. It was built with nightingale floors, built intentionally by the residing shogun to creak with each step taken. This was done to prevent sneak attacks by ninjas and samurai.
Naturally, I was able to walk across the floor making no sound whatsoever. NOT NINJA PROOF!
JK.
We had a great view of Kyoto and the mountains from the castle walls, and we took a 'bonus' tour of an art gallery as well.
Most of the ancient structures we've seen have been decorated with painted sliding doors, and the gallery displayed the artwork that originated inside the shogun's private dwelling inside the ninja-proof castle. Since that area of the castle was off limits, it gets dubbed "bonus."
As at the Imperial Palace, the ground crew constantly performs maintenance and upkeep. The tour guide told us that some projects just continuously roll; they finish one task throughout the grounds, like re-thatch the roof, then no sooner have they finished than they go right back to the beginning because it's just that time again.
I assumed it was because the grounds were so immense that the projects just took so much energy, and I was right. When you cut the grass of a 5-square-km palace with a knife, you're bound to go a bit slow... Like this guy.
From the ninja palace, as I have dubbed it, we visited a large collection of shrines, temples and forest in a central area of Kyoto. We meandered through zen gardens and peeked into ornate gates that housed more gardens and ancient structures.
We stumbled upon another bamboo forest in that area, and could hear a lot of monkeys. We didn't see any, but the forest was still interesting.
With six hours to kill until our overnight bus ride "home," we headed to east Kyoto, which is a popular night life area.
Our guide book told us it might be possible to spot geisha, who usually try to remain unseen, so we set out to stalk down and spot as many as we could.
This may sound creepy and a complete waste of time, but when you have hours to kill and nowhere to spend it, stalking famed and mysterious locals doesn't seem like the worst pastime in the world.
We spotted 13 geisha in about an hour's time, which is pretty profound since a good portion of that was spent inside shops looking at goods.
Ray made me sit outside a liquor store and pretend to be on my phone so I could sneak pictures of one geisha. I'm lucky I didn't get stabbed.
We ate one last time at the ramen shop near our hotel, and found out exactly what it means to be a "regular." The lofty chef who initially laughed at our food selections came out to greet us at the door and tried his best to speak as much english as he could.
He even snuck me some extra pork.
I wish I knew how to say, "We won't be back" in Japanese, because they probably expect us back tomorrow.
Unfortunately (for our bellies, not our adventures) we'll be in Tsukuba in our cozy apartment; that's if this 8-hour overnight bus gets us to Tokyo as planned.
The bus reeks of Japanese snacks and cigarettes, and none of the 50-plus occupants speak English. Im at the point where everything I eat makes me sick, probably from the lack of sleep and constant stress of traveling, not to mention I'm having to eat way out of my GI's comfort zone.
The swaying bus isn't helping matters.
Tomorrow, we hope to take advantage of being in Tokyo early. We'll try to catch some fish market action before it closes down and sneak some time at the aquarium to see penguins!!
Ray's already asleep, which means it's just me and my PC for the next 2:28 minutes of battery life. Hopefully I can catch up on some writing assignments and get a head start on client programs while I can!
Sleeping upright has never been a strong point of mine.
Until next time, thanks for reading! While I'm doing this to keep a memory of all the places we're seeing, it's nice to know others are benefitting from reading it, so thanks for sharing :)
Foreign languages frustrate me.
Sorry, just had to get that out.
We somehow managed to sleep through almost half of our time in Kyoto, which seems to be a re-occurring theme in our lives. We've seen so much in the past couple of days it's all running together, and I keep finding more pictures and having that "ah-ha" moment when I remember something about the trip.
Needless to say, this post will continue to expand as I sort through the 351 pictures we took while exploring the city.
No, that is not a typo.
Thursday and Friday of our "trip within a trip" was spent at "home" in Kyoto, hitting as many "must-see" places as we could in two days. Well, in the late mornings and afternoons.
Most guide sources recommend spending 10 days in the former Japanese capital, and they say four is the bare minimum to dedicate.
That just wasn't possible, so we did what we could.
Thursday, we bought a one-day bus pass and spent the day in the northern and western areas of Kyoto.
The first stop was a highly anticipated western-style birthday breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs and granola with a side of toast. Scratch that. In Japan, you get toast with a side of eggs, bacon and granola cereal.
Seriously, that was how the menu read.
From there, we headed to the Golden Palace, a gold-plates structure that sits on a lake in the mountain foothills. It was shiny.
We stopped at a few more shrines and castles in the area, including "the" zen garden of the world (the one that all other zen gardens are compared to.)
We then attempted to hop a bus for a bamboo forest and instead followed the guide book's suggestion and got lost in Kyoto.
We were the only tourists who saw this petrified rock pile.
The bamboo forest was worth the trip.
I tried three times to type out a description for the road to get to the forest, but I settled for posting the following picture. "Beautiful" just sounded too cliche.
The bamboo forest trail meandered through a dense thicket of towering trees, temples and tombstones. In some places, you couldn't see through the bamboo stalks.
We did some shopping in the village area, got lost again, and finally made it home.
Ok, for slight elaboration on that second detour: Ray didn't know that I had slipped the camera into his backpack on the bus, which resulted in me sprinting four blocks after the bus until he found it.
I'm pretty sure I knocked someone over. Maybe more.
We (let me clarify: not me) failed to recalibrate our position after the chase and wound up a good km east of our hotel.
All's well that ends well.
For dinner, we had our new favorite Kyoto cuisine: ramen with shumei and fried chicken. The chefs remembered us from earlier in the week, and they have become quite fond of us. One gave me free rice, and they didn't laugh at us nearly as much as they did on our first visit.
We conched out shortly after arriving home; I can seem to get enough sleep no matter how hard I try. Ten hours of sleep and I'm still fighting to keep my eyes open.
That's part of the reason I had to eat crap for breakfast.
Ok, it wasn't literal crap but it might as well have been: donuts from 7-11 were the only recognizable thing I could get my hands on, so I did the dirty deed and boy did they taste good. Yes, they have 7-11's here.
We had a tour of the Imperial Palace at 10 am (which I thought was 10:30) and after ignoring the alarm for an hour and packing up the room, we were scurrying in with just enough time to spare.
You have to book tickets well in advance for the Imperial tours, because you have to get "permission" to enter. I say that like we're so important, but I imagine they let just about anyone in there and it's really just for show.
The grounds were immaculate and the tour was extremely informative. It never ceases to amaze me how closely blended everything is in these towns.
We were standing in the emperor's tea garden, where some of the most famous tea ceremonies occur, and you can hear the intersection alerts signify it's time to cross the street.
There were some places in the castle that were off limits, and we were under the watchful eye of an Imperial guard the entire time, but you can't shake a fist at a free tour of an emperor's palace.
Well, you can try to shake a fist at the guard, but I don't recommend it.
We found a cute cafe near our next stop, some kind of ninja-proof palace a few miles from the Imperial Palace. Ray finally got his curry and rice, and I found out that the Japanese will fry just about anything in tempura batter.
Next, we saw Nijo-jo, a castle built by a shogun with the explicit intention of out-doing the Imperial Palace. It was built with nightingale floors, built intentionally by the residing shogun to creak with each step taken. This was done to prevent sneak attacks by ninjas and samurai.
Naturally, I was able to walk across the floor making no sound whatsoever. NOT NINJA PROOF!
JK.
We had a great view of Kyoto and the mountains from the castle walls, and we took a 'bonus' tour of an art gallery as well.
Most of the ancient structures we've seen have been decorated with painted sliding doors, and the gallery displayed the artwork that originated inside the shogun's private dwelling inside the ninja-proof castle. Since that area of the castle was off limits, it gets dubbed "bonus."
As at the Imperial Palace, the ground crew constantly performs maintenance and upkeep. The tour guide told us that some projects just continuously roll; they finish one task throughout the grounds, like re-thatch the roof, then no sooner have they finished than they go right back to the beginning because it's just that time again.
I assumed it was because the grounds were so immense that the projects just took so much energy, and I was right. When you cut the grass of a 5-square-km palace with a knife, you're bound to go a bit slow... Like this guy.
We stumbled upon another bamboo forest in that area, and could hear a lot of monkeys. We didn't see any, but the forest was still interesting.
With six hours to kill until our overnight bus ride "home," we headed to east Kyoto, which is a popular night life area.
Our guide book told us it might be possible to spot geisha, who usually try to remain unseen, so we set out to stalk down and spot as many as we could.
This may sound creepy and a complete waste of time, but when you have hours to kill and nowhere to spend it, stalking famed and mysterious locals doesn't seem like the worst pastime in the world.
We spotted 13 geisha in about an hour's time, which is pretty profound since a good portion of that was spent inside shops looking at goods.
Ray made me sit outside a liquor store and pretend to be on my phone so I could sneak pictures of one geisha. I'm lucky I didn't get stabbed.
We ate one last time at the ramen shop near our hotel, and found out exactly what it means to be a "regular." The lofty chef who initially laughed at our food selections came out to greet us at the door and tried his best to speak as much english as he could.
He even snuck me some extra pork.
I wish I knew how to say, "We won't be back" in Japanese, because they probably expect us back tomorrow.
Unfortunately (for our bellies, not our adventures) we'll be in Tsukuba in our cozy apartment; that's if this 8-hour overnight bus gets us to Tokyo as planned.
The bus reeks of Japanese snacks and cigarettes, and none of the 50-plus occupants speak English. Im at the point where everything I eat makes me sick, probably from the lack of sleep and constant stress of traveling, not to mention I'm having to eat way out of my GI's comfort zone.
The swaying bus isn't helping matters.
Tomorrow, we hope to take advantage of being in Tokyo early. We'll try to catch some fish market action before it closes down and sneak some time at the aquarium to see penguins!!
Ray's already asleep, which means it's just me and my PC for the next 2:28 minutes of battery life. Hopefully I can catch up on some writing assignments and get a head start on client programs while I can!
Sleeping upright has never been a strong point of mine.
Until next time, thanks for reading! While I'm doing this to keep a memory of all the places we're seeing, it's nice to know others are benefitting from reading it, so thanks for sharing :)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Osaka
Actual date of trip: 1/4/12
It snowed today!!!
Ok, it flurried. But for this Florida girl, flurries somehow confirm that my five layers aren't for nothing.
It snowed today!!!
Ok, it flurried. But for this Florida girl, flurries somehow confirm that my five layers aren't for nothing.
And it happened twice!
We visited Osaka today in the bitter cold, blazing snow (flurries) and 32 km/h wind (see- metric system blows everything out of proportion!) It's only a 30-minute train ride from Kyoto to Osaka, which was nice since we slept until almost noon and lost half of our day. I woke up feeling very sick, and that feeling lingered most of the morning.
We visited Osaka today in the bitter cold, blazing snow (flurries) and 32 km/h wind (see- metric system blows everything out of proportion!) It's only a 30-minute train ride from Kyoto to Osaka, which was nice since we slept until almost noon and lost half of our day. I woke up feeling very sick, and that feeling lingered most of the morning.
Breakfast in the train station didn't help.
The ride to Osaka was similar to the other train rides we’ve taken through the countryside, but it seemed to be more densely populated. Villages were tucked into the mountains and valleys with little room to share. Houses and graveyards and farmland seemed to fight for the same plots of land.
In one spot, tombstones overflowed from a fenced yard and flooded into yards and gardens, a testament to the enormity that is the Japanese population.
Once in Osaka, we took some pictures of the Umeda Sky Building and walked around the gardens, then headed to the Osaka Castle, where we spent most of the day. The castle is an 8-story (after interior refurbishing) that is separated from modern-day Osaka by multiple walls and two moats.
It makes quite a statement.
Once in Osaka, we took some pictures of the Umeda Sky Building and walked around the gardens, then headed to the Osaka Castle, where we spent most of the day. The castle is an 8-story (after interior refurbishing) that is separated from modern-day Osaka by multiple walls and two moats.
The top floor has an observatory with a wrap-around deck for viewing the Osaka area. It was there, of all places, we met our first American, who happened to be from DeLand (60 minutes south from our hometown.) Small world.
It started snowing while we were on top of the castle. Nothing stuck on the ground, and I don’t know that it actually snowed on the ground, but being so high up was to my advantage… for once.
We spent a lot of time going through the rest of the castle, which has been turned into a museum dedicated to the history of the area and the many families that ruled (and fought over) the area. It was very interesting and informative. One of the most interesting things was how tiny (and this is NOT a racial stab!) the people were from that era. The suits of the warriors were 5 feet at most, and the full-scale replica of the tea room used by one of the rulers would not have allowed me to stand up straight.
We had planned to head to the Osaka Aquarium, one of the largest in the world, after the castle to see penguins and a whale shark, among other things. Unfortunately, we spent so long in the castle and had such a late start that by the time we got there we only had an hour to spend, and there was no way we would have gotten our 40,000 yen’s worth.
There will be more penguins on Saturday in Tokyo.
Instead, we walked around the pier near the aquarium and ate dinner, and became the center of attention when we thought the jazz music was meant for dancing in the park... apparently, they don't dance here. The largest Ferris wheel is located in Osaka, so we took pictures and contemplated taking a ride, but it was so windy (and so high!) that we decided against it and headed home… back to Kyoto and more snow!
Yes, it snowed (well, heavily flurried) all the way home. It melted almost as soon as it hit the ground, but there was a lot of snow falling… especially for being 36 degrees! We’ll stay in Kyoto for the next two days and return to Tokyo for a side trip Saturday then Tsukuba for the weekend.
We still plan to see Fuji at some point and next Wednesday in Tokyo, where we’ll tour the botanical gardens of the Imperial Palace and see a Sumo wrestling tournament. I was hoping to take dip in an onsen (hot spring) during my stay, but that may not be possible—apparently, tattoos are associated with gang activity and subsequently banned. My sea turtle clearly screams “danger!” It’s bittersweet, since you go naked with a bunch of other people into an onsen. Call me old fashioned, but there are certain things I like to keep to myself (and keep from myself, if you know what I mean.)
We’ll find out for sure when we visit Fuji.
I can’t believe I’ve been here two whole weeks, with just over a week left. Officially, it’s my birthday in Japan in 45 minutes—I’m possibly the youngest 25 year old (since I’ve lost 14 hours on my year). I plan to celebrate through the end of my birthday EST, so it could be the longest birthday ever. Not a bad way to have a quarter-life crisis.
I wonder how they celebrate birthdays in Japan?
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Nara is not where narwhals come from.
Actual trip date: 1/3/12
I finally got the taste of the busy Japanese culture my trip has been missing.
We started Tuesday morning at 4:30 am, after going to bed well after 1:30, and hopped on a Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kyoto.
We got a late start and arrived in Tokyo about 30 minutes behind schedule, but that allowed us to take a "rapid" service that got us to Kyoto 30 minutes faster.
When you're traveling at 300 kmh, and God is on your side, things like that work out.
We grabbed a breakfast of cold tonkatsu and rice on the platform and ate while we traveled. I had tried to grab Starbucks, but they don't open here before 7 am. Can you imagine??
I fought to keep my eyes open and take in the Japanese countryside, but I gave in to fatigue once we passed Fuji, and I missed out.
What I did see was gorgeous. Small villages and mountains and valleys, gardens planted on hillsides leading up to homes, and did I mention mountains?
Once in Kyoto, we dumped our bags at our hotel and headed back to the train station bound for Nara, the original Japanese capital.
Kyoto will be our "base" this week as we see this side of the island country. We're staying in a hotel that is a cross between a roykin and a hostel in a cute residential area.
The owner spent time backpacking in Europe and saw a need for accommodating young travelers on a budget. He worked as an insurance agent for several years until he could save the capital to start Tour Club, and it's not nearly as shabby as it sounds.
We have a private bedroom and bathroom with a small balcony that looks into the next buildings walls. In a densely populated area such as Kyoto, that view is a treasure.
The bed is twice the size as ours in Tsukuba (this bed is actually made for two) and just as comfortable, which means I still wake up feeling like I'm 80 and in need of a back replacement.
The room is warm, the water pressure is great and it's in spitting distance to the train station. I've stayed in places in the States for twice the equivalent price and eight times as shabby.
We were originally booked for a Japanese-style room, but when we discovered the only difference was sleeping on the floor for an extra fee, we opted for the Western accommodations.
I can do that at home for free.
The ride to Nara was beautiful, like the rest of the Japanese countryside. It recently snowed, so everything is white and winterland-ish.
Nara itself was freezing. The wind made it much colder than the weather predicted. (We failed to look at the "feels like" temperature.)
The main area of shrines and temples sits on a 5 km circle through a forest and is quite pretty. It's a couple mile walk from the train station to the forest, but that hike takes a bit longer when you spend an hour wandering the streets looking for food.
We finally settled on a hole-in-the-wall, not-on-the-map establishment that (luckily) had food models of everything they served.
I'm really a fan at eating at off-the-map places. They're turning out to be excellent.
I had yuckatori and gohan (cooked rice) and Ray had tonkatsu. I'm finally learning to order double portions, which just seem to barely fill me up.
From the restaurant, we tried to see a botanical garden. It turned out to be closed so we headed for the mountain (on which the forest and shrines sit). The big thing there is deer.
They're everywhere.
People feed them deer biscuits, and the deer literally molest people and stick their heads into bags looking for the treats.
We saw the Tōdai-ji, a temple complex in Nara. It's home to the largest Daibutsu in the word, and its Great Buddah Hall is the largest wooden building in the world. It was here, of all places, that I got molested by a monk. True story. Ray would love to tell you about it.
From there, we toured through the other areas of the temple loop and climbed to the top of one shrine to see all of Nara and the surrounding area, which was breathtaking!
Being the New Year holiday, the shrines were packed. As part of Buddhist tradition, the New Year is the time to visit the shrines to pray and ask for favor in the new year.
We were two among tens of thousands who visited that day. It was quite overwhelming.
We made it down the mountain just in time to see the five-story pagoda before the sun set. This pagoda is the second largest in Japan.
The temperature had dropped significantly with the sun, and we were eager to get back to Kyoto.
Once there, we tried to grab some dinner, which proved to be a surprisingly overwhelming experience.
The Kyoto train station is built below an 11-story mall, which has a slew of restaurants on the top floors. There was nearly a 30-person wait at each restaurant, and there were no menus in English. The small, crowded hallways proved to be no match for our hunger, so we retreated to our hotel to finish check-in and get a recommendation for some local grub.
It's no coincidence the mall's name is Setan. (Pronounced: Satan.)
When you're in a foreign country, you can't help but think of what you miss back home, especially when it comes to food. I've caught myself wishing for a donut for breakfast, followed by a cheeseburger and fries (maybe one at NON!) or a pizza. (things I very rarely eat at home!)
But what my system really craves is a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast followed by a heaping portion of black beans, brown rice, grilled chicken and some leafy greens.
When you factor in the stress of travel, a shot of whiskey wouldn't be bad, either.
But, you won't find any of that here. It's noodles, noodles, noodles and meat that's breaded or baked.
My system isn't happy.
The hotel recommended a nearby ramen shop, so we headed a block north to a tiny 9-bar stool restaurant that had 11 menu options. (8 of them were small and large versions of the same thing.)
The cooks made fun of us for our selections... Well, they laughed at us for something and we just assume it was for our selections.
One bowl of soy-based ramen each, shumai for me and a double order of fried chicken for Ray. Not exactly things that go together, and it's a ton of food for two by Japanese standards.
It was warm, and, best of all, tasted great. All the seats were at a bar around the kitchen, so we could watch everything as the chefs prepared it.
I'm pretty sure I watched one of the guys prepare Ray's fried chicken then run his hands through a serving of noodles. Luckily, they weren't mine. Nearly 24 hours later as I write this blog I'm still alive and symptom free, so I assume I did fine.
The days are starting to run together, which is how it goes on vacation when you're trying to stuff 10 pounds of fun into a 5-pound bag.
Ray is a fantastic tour guide, mapping out places to see and finding the most scenic ways to get there. Hopefully his machines get repaired quickly so he doesn't have to stay here even longer. (Since I already have to go back without him.)
He's learned more than 50 kanji, and he can read hiragana and katakana- which is invaluable when you're in Japan! Ive been here two weeks and all I can say is "excuse me" and "thank you."
At least I can be polite.
By far, this is my favorite picture of the day. Totally candid, as I thought he was looking at the camera when I snapped it, then caught him off guard. Love him, and am so happy to be spending this adventure with him!!
I finally got the taste of the busy Japanese culture my trip has been missing.
We started Tuesday morning at 4:30 am, after going to bed well after 1:30, and hopped on a Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kyoto.
We got a late start and arrived in Tokyo about 30 minutes behind schedule, but that allowed us to take a "rapid" service that got us to Kyoto 30 minutes faster.
When you're traveling at 300 kmh, and God is on your side, things like that work out.
We grabbed a breakfast of cold tonkatsu and rice on the platform and ate while we traveled. I had tried to grab Starbucks, but they don't open here before 7 am. Can you imagine??
I fought to keep my eyes open and take in the Japanese countryside, but I gave in to fatigue once we passed Fuji, and I missed out.
What I did see was gorgeous. Small villages and mountains and valleys, gardens planted on hillsides leading up to homes, and did I mention mountains?
Once in Kyoto, we dumped our bags at our hotel and headed back to the train station bound for Nara, the original Japanese capital.
Kyoto will be our "base" this week as we see this side of the island country. We're staying in a hotel that is a cross between a roykin and a hostel in a cute residential area.
The owner spent time backpacking in Europe and saw a need for accommodating young travelers on a budget. He worked as an insurance agent for several years until he could save the capital to start Tour Club, and it's not nearly as shabby as it sounds.
We have a private bedroom and bathroom with a small balcony that looks into the next buildings walls. In a densely populated area such as Kyoto, that view is a treasure.
The bed is twice the size as ours in Tsukuba (this bed is actually made for two) and just as comfortable, which means I still wake up feeling like I'm 80 and in need of a back replacement.
The room is warm, the water pressure is great and it's in spitting distance to the train station. I've stayed in places in the States for twice the equivalent price and eight times as shabby.
We were originally booked for a Japanese-style room, but when we discovered the only difference was sleeping on the floor for an extra fee, we opted for the Western accommodations.
I can do that at home for free.
The ride to Nara was beautiful, like the rest of the Japanese countryside. It recently snowed, so everything is white and winterland-ish.
Nara itself was freezing. The wind made it much colder than the weather predicted. (We failed to look at the "feels like" temperature.)
The main area of shrines and temples sits on a 5 km circle through a forest and is quite pretty. It's a couple mile walk from the train station to the forest, but that hike takes a bit longer when you spend an hour wandering the streets looking for food.
We finally settled on a hole-in-the-wall, not-on-the-map establishment that (luckily) had food models of everything they served.
I'm really a fan at eating at off-the-map places. They're turning out to be excellent.
I had yuckatori and gohan (cooked rice) and Ray had tonkatsu. I'm finally learning to order double portions, which just seem to barely fill me up.
From the restaurant, we tried to see a botanical garden. It turned out to be closed so we headed for the mountain (on which the forest and shrines sit). The big thing there is deer.They're everywhere.
People feed them deer biscuits, and the deer literally molest people and stick their heads into bags looking for the treats.
We saw the Tōdai-ji, a temple complex in Nara. It's home to the largest Daibutsu in the word, and its Great Buddah Hall is the largest wooden building in the world. It was here, of all places, that I got molested by a monk. True story. Ray would love to tell you about it.
From there, we toured through the other areas of the temple loop and climbed to the top of one shrine to see all of Nara and the surrounding area, which was breathtaking!
Being the New Year holiday, the shrines were packed. As part of Buddhist tradition, the New Year is the time to visit the shrines to pray and ask for favor in the new year.
We were two among tens of thousands who visited that day. It was quite overwhelming.We made it down the mountain just in time to see the five-story pagoda before the sun set. This pagoda is the second largest in Japan.
The temperature had dropped significantly with the sun, and we were eager to get back to Kyoto.
Once there, we tried to grab some dinner, which proved to be a surprisingly overwhelming experience.
The Kyoto train station is built below an 11-story mall, which has a slew of restaurants on the top floors. There was nearly a 30-person wait at each restaurant, and there were no menus in English. The small, crowded hallways proved to be no match for our hunger, so we retreated to our hotel to finish check-in and get a recommendation for some local grub.
It's no coincidence the mall's name is Setan. (Pronounced: Satan.)
When you're in a foreign country, you can't help but think of what you miss back home, especially when it comes to food. I've caught myself wishing for a donut for breakfast, followed by a cheeseburger and fries (maybe one at NON!) or a pizza. (things I very rarely eat at home!)
But what my system really craves is a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast followed by a heaping portion of black beans, brown rice, grilled chicken and some leafy greens.
When you factor in the stress of travel, a shot of whiskey wouldn't be bad, either.
But, you won't find any of that here. It's noodles, noodles, noodles and meat that's breaded or baked.
My system isn't happy.
The hotel recommended a nearby ramen shop, so we headed a block north to a tiny 9-bar stool restaurant that had 11 menu options. (8 of them were small and large versions of the same thing.)
The cooks made fun of us for our selections... Well, they laughed at us for something and we just assume it was for our selections.
One bowl of soy-based ramen each, shumai for me and a double order of fried chicken for Ray. Not exactly things that go together, and it's a ton of food for two by Japanese standards.
It was warm, and, best of all, tasted great. All the seats were at a bar around the kitchen, so we could watch everything as the chefs prepared it.
I'm pretty sure I watched one of the guys prepare Ray's fried chicken then run his hands through a serving of noodles. Luckily, they weren't mine. Nearly 24 hours later as I write this blog I'm still alive and symptom free, so I assume I did fine.
The days are starting to run together, which is how it goes on vacation when you're trying to stuff 10 pounds of fun into a 5-pound bag.
Ray is a fantastic tour guide, mapping out places to see and finding the most scenic ways to get there. Hopefully his machines get repaired quickly so he doesn't have to stay here even longer. (Since I already have to go back without him.)
He's learned more than 50 kanji, and he can read hiragana and katakana- which is invaluable when you're in Japan! Ive been here two weeks and all I can say is "excuse me" and "thank you."
At least I can be polite.
By far, this is my favorite picture of the day. Totally candid, as I thought he was looking at the camera when I snapped it, then caught him off guard. Love him, and am so happy to be spending this adventure with him!!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Tokyo Adventures
Walking through the streets of Tokyo, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that I could be anywhere—Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta; the large buildings casting shadows, the tropical breeze from the metro station stairs, the street vendors with the latest product you just can’t live without—it’s the same just about everywhere.
Aside from the foreign language on the billboards, the cars driving on the left hand side and being the ethnic minority, we could have been in almost any other city.
But, as with people, the bones don’t make the city what it is.
Barring defect, we all have ten carpals, two femurs and a mandible in common, but it’s hardly the skeletal system that defines us as individuals. It’s the personality that lies within that makes me different from you, and it’s the same that makes Tokyo different from anything I’ve ever experienced.
It’s a one-hour “rapid” train ride south from our city of residence. I caught myself reading my latest addiction about five minutes into the trip and immediately snapped it shut.
The book will be there tomorrow (or later, when it’s dark) but the Japanese countryside will certainly not.
The farther we got from “civilization” (a term I use loosely because Japan is quite the civilized area) the more incredible the homes became. Acres and acres of farmland separate tiny neighborhoods of five to eight homes cuddled together inside a protective wall.
But as Tokyo approached, space became a relative term.
Houses stack on top of each other and the skyline became rugged with structure. A quarter of the country’s population resides in the greater Tokyo area, making it (by far) the largest metropolitan area in the world.
Over 35 million residents live in a 5,200 square-mile radius. That’s 6,800 people per square mile in an area about three-fourths the size of New York City.
The train stopped in Akihabara, the “electrical city” of Tokyo. It’s the area in town to purchase your tech dream, but it was the Starbucks and a human Denny’s ad that immediately caught my eye—a reminder that you’re never too far from home.
We walked through the city as if the only survivors of a civilization-ending plague. Being New Year’s Day—which is the Japanese equivalent of combining Christmas and Thanksgiving and 4th of July and Easter—the vast majority of people were celebrating with their families and visiting shrines in keeping with Japanese tradition.
From now on, I will strive to always visit countries during their most popular holidays.
We made our way from Akihabara south to the Nihonbashi Bridge then turned west toward the Imperial Palace, a 3-mile walk lined with empty restaurants and darkened show rooms.
We meandered through the streets, admiring the bold yellow of the winter foliage, unusual architecture and the interesting city layout. Roads are built as bridges that travel the length of rivers, presumably to save space.
I also couldn’t help but be that eccentric American taking advantage of my anonymity in a foreign land.
There’s a Japanese credit card company that uses a penguin as its mascot, and it places inflatable penguins in stores to remind you that if you had its credit card, you wouldn’t have to pay with cash. (Unlike in America, plastic payment isn’t the norm.)
Seeing this penguin from the street, I boldly walked into the empty convenient store and had Ray take a picture of me with the inflatable creature. (To those who don’t know me: I love penguins.)
The woman behind the counter stared with the condescending eye most foreigners get in the States, and she probably had a good laugh over a few beers that night telling her friends about the crazy Americans who are obsessed with penguins.
By the time we arrived at the Imperial Grounds, I wished I had stopped along the way for food. Three miles in the cold can work up an appetite… or maybe I’m just obsessed with eating.
I digress.
The Imperial Grounds are immaculate and beautiful. Imagine the White House, with sprawling gardens, stone walls and a moat in the center of downtown New York. Multiply its size by three and you nearly have a mental image of Tokyo’s Imperial Palace.
We plan to return to Tokyo later in our stay to take a tour of the botanical gardens that surround the palace, but we still spent some time walking the outskirts of the palace grounds. Basically, all you can see is a moat and a wall and some gates.
The palace is closed 363 days of the year, save the emperor’s birthday (December 23) and January 2. On those days, people are allowed to enter the royal compound and see the royal family as they come out onto the balcony.
The keisatsu (police) were busy making preparations for the swarm of crowds, which must range in the millions based on the looks of the setup. Think Best Buy on Black Friday, only there’s one Best Buy that everyone must visit to purchase their toys.
From the Imperial Palace, we headed west to the area of Harajuku. My guide book told us that this was the area to see at Christmas time because the decorations were fabulous, and they were.
From the Imperial Palace, we headed west to the area of Harajuku. My guide book told us that this was the area to see at Christmas time because the decorations were fabulous, and they were.
We took the metro to save time, which merits a paragraph or two on its own.
If you’ve never been on a metro in the States, let me tell you this: they’re disgusting. I would rather risk injury or death by standing unsupported than touch anything in those cabins.
But it’s very different in Japan.
Here, people take pride in their work, their things and their surroundings. Unlike in the States, where people live with the attitude, “Someone else will clean up after me,” the Japanese take the responsibility on themselves as individuals to maintain and improve the things with which they’re entrusted.
In schools, the students spend time everyday cleaning the campus.
In Tokyo, I watched a woman sweep the sidewalk, not for trash (which is nonexistent—you don’t see litter anywhere) but for leaves and twigs that had fallen from the trees.
I saw an officer deep cleaning the metro ticket turnstiles (faceplates removed and everything).
As for the cars—they’re immaculate.
Let’s put it this way: if I dropped a piece of buttered toast face down in one of these metro cars, I would have few reservations about picking it up and eating it.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have buttered toast to still my growling stomach, which turned out to be okay.
Once in Harajuku, we ate at a hole-in-the-wall ramen shop (the name of which I’m not even sure) on a whim and lucked out. The guide book recommended a gyoza shop in that area, and we wandered up and down a few streets before throwing in the towel at our stomach’s demand.
And we were glad we did.
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The dish was miso-based and served with pork, bamboo shoots (as I like to call them), noodles and some seaweed. I’m still not a fan of the weed itself, but it adds a nice flavor.
The consistency of the broth told me that I was not going to enjoy it. But unlike that fourteenth marshmallow that causes your belly to scream, “Uncle!” the broth held it’s own with my palate.
Harajuku is a major fashion/shopping district, and it was there we saw the most people of all other areas in the city combined. We explored the side streets, filled with tiny street vendors and shops hailing their praises through bullhorns, then headed south to see one of the busiest intersections in the world: the neighborhood of Shibuya.
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| Harajuku |
From the second floor of the Shibuya Crossing Starbucks you can see the bustle of the area. The four-way intersection has three lanes in each direction and is so large that a diagonal crosswalk bisects it to save transit time.
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| Shibuya Crossing |
A big advertising medium here seems to be driving billboards, which is crazy with gas being 145 yen-per-liter, or around $7.12 a gallon. The large semi trucks drive from one large intersection to another in circular fashion (the two we kept noticing “followed” us from Harajuku to Shibuya) blasting music and bright lights to gain attention.
We caught another metro from Shibuya Crossing to Toranomon, in the Roppongi district, and walked south to see Tokyo Tower, in a round-about sort of way. For future reference, walking towards a 333-meter-tall tower doesn’t necessarily get you to the tower.
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| Tokyo Tower |
Modeled from the Eiffel Tower, Tokyo Tower is a communications hub that makes its money selling tours to visitors and its airspace to cell phone and television companies.
You can go up as high as 250 meters, but since it was night and hazy we stopped at the 150-meter mark.
This is where I tell you how much I hate heights.
I boldly bought tickets and stepped into the elevator without thinking for a second just how high 150 meters really is. The glass elevator really did me in.
The metric system, by the way, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Cold temperatures seem colder, warm temperatures don’t seem as cozy and distance is misleading, causing you to step foot into one of the highest buildings in the world without giving it a second thought.
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| Overlooking Tokyo |
There’s a lookout window in the floor on the level beneath the main observatory. Being separated from a nearly 500-foot drop by a piece of glass is enough to make one vomit. Or, in my case, dry heave. But when in Rome, or, in this case Tokyo, you have to just do things because you’ve been given the opportunity. Plus, I’m not one to let my fears stop me from experiencing life.
It took Ray four times before we finally got the camera to take a picture of me with the brain-splattering ground below. I was dizzy and almost threw up from sitting on the lookout window for 60 seconds. Pathetic, I know.
But I did it!!
After leaving the tower, we tried to see the Zōjō-ji Shrine, which is tucked just behind Tokyo Tower and reportedly beautiful at night with the glowing tower overhead.
Unfortunately, we made it too late and all the lights were off, making it too dark to get any pictures. We’ll return to the spot when we visit again next week and hopefully get some shots.
Tokyo’s character makes it stand out more than any other area I’ve visited, and I look forward to making it back at least once more during my stay. Although my travels have been anything but extensive, I’d like to think I can recognize rarities when I see them.
Upon further investigation, I’m convinced even the city’s metacarpals are structured differently from the bones of rival towns. It’s defined by more than just what meets the eye.
We arrived home in Tsukuba well after midnight, but the excitement of the day wasn’t drowned by fatigue, which had set in long before we boarded the train. A 12-hour nap and relaxing day today separate us from another big trip within a trip.
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| The walk home from Tsukuba Station |
It’s off to Kyoto tomorrow to see the historic area along with Osaka and Nara. There’s more adventures to see, and I can’t wait!
Oh... and of course... GO GATORS :) Beat OSU!!
Oh... and of course... GO GATORS :) Beat OSU!!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Definition: Vacation
I hurriedly write as we get ready to head to Tokyo for New Year's Day.
Yes, it's 9pm Florida time, but 2012 here! Happy New Year!
I failed to peek out the window Thursday morning and notice that the cloud coverage and wind was enough to keep me curled up in bed with a good book and perch, rather than climb Tsukubasan.
Which is just about exactly what I've done the last two days, more or less.
I was told, by my loving hubby, that this, in fact, is exactly what vacation is. And I'm kind of hooked.
We did walk through Tsukuba on Friday, taking the scenic pathway that runs straight through the town from top to bottom. It's beautiful. (For you Gainesville-ians, think Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. For you MC'ers, think Saint Lucie Boulevard... you know, the one that goes to Sandsprit Park.) It was gorgeous
The trail is littered with numerous parks, these adorable little (and big!) squares with playgrounds and grassy hills. The bigger ones have entire lakes and creeks, and trails for a little bit of "exploring."
The largest of the larger parks is set in front of an expo center, and has a Japanese rocket in the middle (pictured below.) It overlooks like large lake-type area (think Lincoln Memorial in DC) with ducks and those pesky, lazy fish that you could reach out and grab.. if you wanted.
Tsukuba planners saved the cutest park for the end of the trail. It has this large tower that you can climb up and see, I assume, the entire town. It was closed for the "holiday," so we'll have to climb it when things re-open later in the week.
We also got to see a Japanese-style bathroom... luckily I didn't have to experience it.
Speaking of toilets, I attempted to add a new dish to my cuisine toolbox: Tonkatsu. We resolved it wasn't the worst thing I've ever made (that record belongs to the fried rice debacle of 2010... Ray still shudders.) Ray says he liked it. He's either being completely honest or he's trying to boost my morale, but he wins extra hubby points either way.
The first one is mine, the second from a restaurant.
I think that it shows promise.
Saturday was another "vacation" day, which I'm growing so very fond of. We puttered around all morning, finally going for a run in the afternoon. When you have this to run through, how could you say no?
It was a great way to ring in the New Year. Ray made dinner and we played cards and waited for midnight, at which time I got to see firsthand (on TV) how the Japanese ring in the New Year. Think Backstreet Boys, NKOTB, Nsync and more all on one stage, one after the other. It was like a machine gun of J-Pop, but nothing like in the States where it takes forever between sets.
At midnight, I decided I wanted to watch our traditional NYE movie: It's A Wonderful Life.
I love that movie.
No Chinese food this year to accompany, but I think we'll manage.
Like I said before, we're headed to Tokyo today (a surprising 50 degrees- about 15 degrees warmer than Tsukuba, and only 38 miles south!) Tomorrow we leave for Kyoto, and we'll spend the week on that side of the country seeing Nara and Osaka, as well.
So, my posts may be infrequent, but I'll log it all along the way and post when I can.
I wish you all a very happy New Year full of blessings and prosperity!
Yes, it's 9pm Florida time, but 2012 here! Happy New Year!
I failed to peek out the window Thursday morning and notice that the cloud coverage and wind was enough to keep me curled up in bed with a good book and perch, rather than climb Tsukubasan.
Which is just about exactly what I've done the last two days, more or less.
I was told, by my loving hubby, that this, in fact, is exactly what vacation is. And I'm kind of hooked.
We did walk through Tsukuba on Friday, taking the scenic pathway that runs straight through the town from top to bottom. It's beautiful. (For you Gainesville-ians, think Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. For you MC'ers, think Saint Lucie Boulevard... you know, the one that goes to Sandsprit Park.) It was gorgeous
The trail is littered with numerous parks, these adorable little (and big!) squares with playgrounds and grassy hills. The bigger ones have entire lakes and creeks, and trails for a little bit of "exploring."
Speaking of toilets, I attempted to add a new dish to my cuisine toolbox: Tonkatsu. We resolved it wasn't the worst thing I've ever made (that record belongs to the fried rice debacle of 2010... Ray still shudders.) Ray says he liked it. He's either being completely honest or he's trying to boost my morale, but he wins extra hubby points either way.
The first one is mine, the second from a restaurant.
I think that it shows promise.
Saturday was another "vacation" day, which I'm growing so very fond of. We puttered around all morning, finally going for a run in the afternoon. When you have this to run through, how could you say no?
At midnight, I decided I wanted to watch our traditional NYE movie: It's A Wonderful Life.
I love that movie.
No Chinese food this year to accompany, but I think we'll manage.
Like I said before, we're headed to Tokyo today (a surprising 50 degrees- about 15 degrees warmer than Tsukuba, and only 38 miles south!) Tomorrow we leave for Kyoto, and we'll spend the week on that side of the country seeing Nara and Osaka, as well.
So, my posts may be infrequent, but I'll log it all along the way and post when I can.
I wish you all a very happy New Year full of blessings and prosperity!
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