edandmel_travel

JAPAN - September 2007 - Last Day!

2010-02-22T03:20:22Z

Unlike some of our other trips, checking out of Japan was pretty quiet and relaxing. We said goodbye to the Oak Hotel

It's a cheap, quiet, clean, and wonderful place. I look forward to going back.

We took a quick walk through Ueno and had some sandwiches at a coffee shop, before getting back on the skyliner to Narita

Narita, one of those airports that has become familiar to us.

Home of the $15 bowl of ramen. What.
Back on the plane, another ridiculously long flight

But the food was OK back then.
Heading home.

So that was our Japan trip! In a way, I'm kinda glad that the original blog got deleted, because I had the chance to go through all this again and remember all this. And, we'll be back! Ed and I are planning on heading back to Japan for our 5-year wedding anniversary - we want to see more of the country, and re-visit Tokyo. And someday I hope we can live in Ueno, maybe for just a year. Who knows.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Thirteen

2010-02-22T03:05:08Z

We spent our last full day in Japan taking care of a few little things we hadn't gotten to. It was actually a relaxing day - we realized that we had pretty much seen what we came to see and done what we came to do. Naturally we realized we wanted to return to Japan and do much more, but for this first trip we were feeling very satisfied with what we had accomplished.

The morning was spent around Asakusa, passing through the kitchenware district for souvieniers and gifts. Gift shopping near the Asakusa temple is excellent.

One of the things we realized we would have to come back to do - visit the Asahi Brewery. No time today.. next time!

After gift shopping, we went back to Shinjuku - where at long last I found myself in a Japanese craft store.

If you don't know, I am big into Japanese crochet (amigurumi) as it's sort of what pays the bills around here ( no really ). So this was pretty huge and fun and interesting. I bought some stuff:

Yarn shopping makes me hungry, so we went outside to find something resembling "street food". We wound up eating 4 of these:

Pancakes filled with cheese. And boy do they sit like a rock.
Clutching our suddenly heavy guts, we headed back to Ueno. We wanted to go to the zoo again. Unfortunately, because of the public holiday, both the zoo and the art museum were closed. Boo. So we went back to the hotel where Ed got his first Suntory Boss coffee drink (also on our list of things to do)

And then we wandered around the streets of Ueno. As you know, we enjoy going through the quiet residential districts and peeking into alleys and stuff, so it was a good time.
We also looked at the shrine closest to our hotel and this is what the sign says:

It was closed, so we planned to come back the next day and have a look around before we left.
Eventually we made our way back (again) to the toy store down the street one last time.

Seven floors! Seven floors of awesome!
After buying a little more Ghibli crap, we drifted through Ueno for a while, looking for dinner

We decided to try the little chankonabe place we passed every day on the way to the hostel

Ordering the food was a mild gamble, we just pointed at a picture that looked good.

I think all meals should start with pickles.

Soon, a small gas grill was brought out, along with a bowl of raw chicken and vegetables. Pour a little water in, and cook it yourself.

The chicken (and the chicken fat) is so flavorful. A little ground sesame at the bottom of the bowl makes it perfect.

Even after our 2 beers and pot o' sumo food we still felt a little hungry so we headed down a few blocks to the yakitori place

My favorite is the chicken with fat and leeks.

We ate a few of those and then I made Ed stop at the *other* yakitori place down closer to the hotel and we got a few more

Then, a quick stop at the local grocery store for

grapes and beer! yes.
Back in the room we dug out and went through everything we bought in the last 2 weeks. We're pretty happy with our little stash

our favorites are probably all these Tanuki figures

I sat around and packed up the suitcases, and we ate the last of the grapes

So expensive but so worth it.
Finally, we went down to the lounge to work on the travel blog, and get a little internetting in

Not a bad last day.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Twelve

2010-02-16T19:47:01Z

This morning we headed right out on the JR line to Kamakura, which in total from Ueno takes maybe about an hour and a half. Once in Kamakura, we hopped on a local bus

Which was a lot nicer than our other bus experience, and we got there pretty quickly.

It's the second largest bronze buddah in japan. Unlike the largest one (in Nara), this one here has no shelter. Being directly out in the elements gives it a whole different feeling from the buddahs that live in giant structures. PLUS, for 20 yen (less than 20 cents) you can go inside of it.

Which is actually a little boring and pointless.

But I guess once you go in you can say "hey i went inside the big buddah in kamakura."
Anyway, it's a very elegant statue and I like it.

After spending the morning around the statue, we walked through the small town to find lunch.

One of the reasons we keep eating this stuff is because we just find it so interesting (besides delicious, cheap, and filling). Each shop has its own type of gyoza and their own distinct broth. I know, I've babbled about broth and asian noodle soup here before, but hey - we love this stuff. It tastes different everywhere we go, and we're always comparing and contrasting and saying things like "hey, remember that broth in Mitaka?".

After lunch we walked to see the Hase Kannon Temple. Getting around Kamakura is simple as town maps are inlaid right into the sidewalk.

The temple is lovely, and we enjoyed the gardens.

You cant take pictures of the Kannon statue, but we bought some postcards of it. It's big and pretty and gold. There's also a great amida buddha statue, and a tiny cave.

The Jizo statues are fascinating

Then, back through town to the bus and the train

And back to Tokyo, where we went quickly to Akihabara to find camera stores - we were completely out of memory space for all the digital photos and had to buy more memory cards.

In Akihabara we went into a few toy stores to try to find Full Metal Panic and Cromartie stuff, but nobody had anything (I guess we like strange anime) so we decided to have a cup of coffee there and then make a quick stop at the toy store in Ueno. We bought more Cromartie High School junk and some very neat Ghibli toys (the Ueno toy store has a totally different selection for Ghibli merchandise than the Ghibli museum...).
Then we hopped back on the train back to Shinjuku for more of the same delicious sushi we had the night before

After dinner we wandered around Shinjuku a little while

Which is fun because of all the lights and everything. And then we stopped in this bar:

which I really did not care for because it reminded me too much of Jimmy's Grill in Naperville. That, and nobody there was really talkative - so we left and headed back to Ueno

where we bought some snacks and beer at the corner Sunkust and made plans for the next day - our last full one in Japan.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Eleven

2010-01-12T00:22:58Z

This morning we awoke to 'grandmother's' gentle tapping on the door, promptly at 7am, letting us know it was time to eat some more.

we had a beautiful kaiseki meal in our room

before checking out. this ryokan is very pretty, a little oasis in a modern residential neighborhood of kyoto.

Then we got a ride to the Shinkansen from the inn-keeper's husband (very nice!) and we were off to Tokyo!

japanese public transportation. SO easy. love it.

Back in Ueno, we ran down the street to where we ate the first night, to fill up on some salty ramen

back on the train, to Harajuku again!

Harajuku is more than a little crowded.

It was good to go back and see some of the stuff we missed the first time

Like the rockabilly guys. Psychobilly? Cromartie High Rejects?

I am happy to say that one of our big goals for Tokyo was met -

Take Funny Pictures in a Harajuku Photobooth

They're little tiny stickers. Score.

After that it was off to Shinjuku

Where we had some beers on the street

...and we *finally* sat down to a nice good sushi dinner.

It was great, we ate a ton. We liked it so much we decided we had to come back the next night.

Good Stuff.

tokyo!

After dinner we hopped back on the train to Ueno, where we finished the evening here:

I could do an entire blog post about this store. If you are into any sort of toys, whether obscure or popular or anything, you must stop here. It is right across the street from Ueno Station, and it is no less than SEVEN FLOORS of plasticy, plushy, cutesy, obscure goodness.

Any toy you ever want, they have it. Old vintage stuff, new Juxtapose stuff, and everything in the middle. And, bubble vending machines on every floor.
But in the end this was all that mattered:

We were starting to think that we'd never find anything Cromartie-related, and then there it was, this little box. Mission Accomplished! We have Cromartie High School junk!! WOOOOOOO!!!!

We bought four! Whatever could they be?

The Pohs, a Mechazawa, and Freddie and his horse!!!
OK, sorry, we're geeks, but we're happy geeks. To this day, this is still my favorite japanese animation. And the live-action version is so bad it's great. Amazing. Someday I'll own all the manga, and the box sets of the dvds. Someday.

But for the moment, we had bellies full of sushi and geeky blind-box toys, so we went happily to sleep.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Ten

2010-01-08T03:37:41Z

On Day Ten, we slept in! Which was OK, because we were off to our next hotel, which was in fact a ryokan, which was actually about 2 blocks away from K's House - so we didn't even have to drag
our luggage that far. We checked out of K's House

and walked down the street to the ryokan

We dropped off the bags, and then went for coffee and toast at a nearby cafe. The toast here is huge and fluffy and full of butter and like a whole meal.

This coffee shop on the corner doesn't look like much, but when you go in the tables overlook a gigantic basement cement cistern-thing that's loaded with giant koy. Woa.

After coffee we went to Nijo Castle, which was gorgeous - the nightingale floors are awesome and I really liked the paintings inside. No pictures are allowed inside, so I bought postcards of some of the paintings.

I am wearing long sleeves in this picture because Kyoto is so freaking hot and sunny that I started getting a wierd sun/heat rash thing. I was fine again after a while, I stayed out of the sun and it went away. Bleh.
And then we stopped for snacks in the gift cafe of the castle - where we became addicted to japanese crunchy potato sticks.

Anyway, the walk from Nijo castle to the Imperial Palace just happens to go past this place:

We had to see this! The manga museum is very interesting. Lots of displays of old old old manga, the gigantic wall of manga, and demonstrations...

OK, then we walked to the Imperial Palace, and didn't see much but it was a nice walk.

We were pretty beat so we headed back to our Ryokan, but it wasn't time to go in yet, so we went to the Seven & i-Holdings and got some green-tea ice cream treats

After a short wait, it was time to go to our room, where we were given some nice green tea on the balcony that overlooked the garden,

and then had our first onsen-style bath - great after the walking walking walking.
Then up to the room to rest before dinner

Dinner was another Kaiseki feast, and we ate everything. That Ed ate everything amazes me still - when we first met he wouldn't eat sushi and now he eats anything that's put in front of him.
We started with some nice sake

Before (gracefully) digging in

The seafood again was great. We had mackerel, and shrimps, and tons of other stuff, it was a 2 hour meal with many many courses. This is the rice and soup course.

Fresh and crispy tempura

Soup and pickled veggies and final bites

And finally some green tea and sweet pear and a wonderful grape

Our hangovers and all the walking in the sun and all that food made us so sleepy, so we went right up and crashed on our futons for the night

We enjoyed Kyoto so much, but we were actually pretty excited to be heading back to Tokyo the next day.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Nine

2010-01-03T20:48:02Z

On day nine, we woke up early and walked to the train station for breakfast

inexpensive but extremely delicious sandwiches.
On the other side of the train station, and a short walk away, is the flea market! It was amazing. I loved all of it! We kept trying to leave but I kept seeing things I liked. Nothing too big though, we only had a small backpack's worth of space to fill, so we kept it small. And cheap. Good deals on the things we like. I bought a few more Tanuki statues, a pincushion, and some gifts. We didn't pay more than $3.00 for a single item.

tanuki!

The flea market is in a temple which makes it even more appealing. It's about a 15 minute walk from the Kyoto train station and it's every 21st of every month.

After the flea market we stashed our goodies in the train station lockers and went off to Nara.

follow the signs

through the streets of nara
First we had lunch here - and it was sooooooo delicious.

This place is right on the main drag to the temples after the train station.

Very recommended. Very small. Very tasty.

Continue on through town

a little construction going on while we were there

Once you get through town,you have to feed the deer

Because it's fun and they like it. i got headbutted by a few big bucks several times, which explains why they trim the racks on the big guys.

You buy snacks from roadside vendors to feed the deer

They're cute

video!

Then we just sat around with the deer for a while. They aren't really in a park or anything, just all over the middle of the town

Then a little more walking to get to the temple we wanted to see. This place is one of my favorites that we've been to. It's Todaiji Temple

Where there is a giant buddah

No really, it's big

huge!

After that it was back into the streets for green tea ice cream

it's crowded

and the deer want your ice cream.

We bought some wierd deer trinkets, and then walking walking walking.

We headed back to Kyoto, and the hostel, where we had some beer and did laundry for a while.
After that, it was back to the yakitori place for one more night of delicious things-on-sticks,

And after dinner we decided to try and figure out the train to Gion

We really, really like Gion

We wandered around the alleys again, trying to re-trace our steps to the bar we had seen the night before. Not easy at all, but at least the wandering and getting lost was interesting.

After about an hour and a half of going in circles and winding around, we saw the sign again

And happily went in to get a beer.
Inside, there was the bartender and two locals drinking. The first few moments after we walked in were very uncomfortable, we weren't sure if we would be welcome there, we had obviously interrupted some conversation. After about 5 minutes of silence and sipping of beers, one of the men drinking turned to us, and asked "where you from..?" We said, "Chicago", and then his eyes lit up and he yelled "AL CAPONE!" and started making motions like he had a machine gun. Almost immediately following, we were laughing with the 3 guys - we really had the best time. We hung out and bought each other drinks for maybe 3 hours, until we were all giggling - it's amazing how easy it is to work past any language barrier here - "mind and body speak" as one of the guys said that night. Late in the evening our two friends left and then it was just us with the bartender for a while.

This is a painting I did of the bartender and the bar, shortly after we got home.

Then, the bar closed and we said goodbye and thanks, and we headed out into the streets to try and find our way home. We got lost again, but we did get some directions from some helpful travelers we met by the river.

And eventually, by following the river and keeping Kyoto Tower in view, we made it back to K's House and back to bed.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Eight

2010-01-02T18:48:23Z

This morning we got up to go to the flea market, only to get there and find that it's tomorrow! Bah! Oh well, it was a good morning walk. Then it was back to the train station...

(there's an amazing cake store in the kyoto train station)
... and at the train station we caught a very crowded and noisy and bumpy bus to Kinkakuji temple, or The Golden Pavilion as it's called.

It's very pretty (of course, it's covered in real gold!) and the surrounding gardens are also very nice. The pavilion is a lot smaller than we thought, but that didn't take anything away from it - it's gorgeous in the sunlight.

outside the temple we had to stop to get more green tea ice cream

From there it was a 20 minute walk through Kyoto to Ryoanji

Ryoanji was something I was very excited to see.

It's amazing!

I could have sat there for hours - but it was a little crowded and we had other things to see.
Like the surrounding gardens!

I really enjoy being in the japanese gardens. They are full of the greenest, most beautiful moss. The landscaping is amazingly clean - armies of little old ladies spend hours picking every little stray twig and leaf out of the moss. The boulders and trees are arranged in the moss perfectly. I feel very relaxed and happy in these places.

Even the soba at Ryoanji is gorgeous.

Moving on, we didn't like the bus so much, so we decided to walk to the nearest JR station. That was a very interesting walk through some small neighborhoods and through the Myoshinji Temple.

We got to the JR station and took the train back to Kyoto Station, where we hopped on the Nara line to Inari to see the fox shrine.

This place is amazing. Thousands and thousands of torii gates in lots of rows.

I wish we had more time to spend here as there looks like there is a lot of walking through the gates around the grounds that you can do.

We went through about half and then started making our way back to the hostel.
We also did some good shopping around town, and picked up some cute trinkets, a present for Tiny, a wonderful little woodblock print, and of course we bought one of these Tanukis:

You see these guys all over town and they always make us laugh.

Back at the hostel we washed up and rested a little before dinner, and then headed out. It's about a 45-minute walk (stroll really) from the hostel to Gion, so out we went, and we had a blast.
We ate club sammiches (needed a noodle break)

After dinner, we drank a little coffee, and from our table on the corner we watched many a (modern) geisha go running by.

Then we walked around the streets a bit.

Some of the streets are quiet and are full of the feeling that you are someplace very expensive and reserved, and Not For You.

Other streets are blaring pachinko and shopping, and "Escorts" (the modern-modern geisha) are flying by with cell phones and 6" heels: either alone or in flocks of 3-4, or with a few clients. After we left the restaurant we saw maybe 10 geisha, but probably 100 Escorts. Also a lot of clubs, some brothels, etc.

I didn't take too many photos, we were just walking around enjoying ourselves. The tiny alleys of Gion are great to get lost and drink in.

We stopped at a german bar for a couple beers.
On our way out of the German bar, we walked past this sign:

We were on our way back to the hostel, so we didn't want to stop - but we decided to try and find our way back the next night. We kept walking, getting a little lost in the twisting alleys and small streets, but we bought a bunch of grapes (expensive!) to munch as we wandered

Back to the hostel and back to bed, we were getting up earlyearly the next morning! Three words:
Japanese. Flea. Market.
!

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Seven

2010-01-01T17:22:33Z

Guess what we did this day?!

that's right!

monkey mountain!!!!!!! this picture is the first time ed saw a wild monkey, ever!

We spent about 4 hours just wandering around the top of the hill. It was another climb for us - but the mountain hiking the day before kinda got us ready for it. Plus we knew there were monkeys at the top so that was good motivation.

trying to avoid monkey-fights

this picture. i don't even know. it's hilarious though, isn't it??

We were able to feed the monkeys apples and things - they have weird little hands and they get really aggressive - so you have to go in a little house and feed them through the fence.

video!

we spent the whole morning on the mountain, we were so excited to be around wild monkeys for the first time.

eventually we walked down the mountain and checked out the area - it's on the outskirts of kyoto in Arashiyama, which is a pretty and kinda touristy district. Lots of ice cream shops and people hanging out.

we stopped for some soba

and some ice cream

(we ate so much green tea ice cream on this trip...)

and then walked to the nearby Tenryuji Temple, which has a gorgeous zen garden

It's really hard to capture how gorgeous this was on a camera because you really need to see the mountains in the background, the whole pond, the detail in the boulders, the moss, the smell, the huge pavilion behind us... it was beautiful.

from there, it's a short walk to the bamboo forest

It was very peaceful and beautiful, and when the wind blew the trees made the best noises. We also saw the biggest, weirdest, hairiest moth flying by.

We walked around the town some more and bought some little things - some very cute fabric dolls from the chiri-men craft museum and some little ceramic frogs.

Then we went back to K's House to freshen up and rest and internet before dinner

K's House is a great hostel, if you're looking for someplace to stay in kyoto. It's very close to the train station, in a quiet neighborhood, and affordable. The bathrooms are communal, but super clean and still private - kinda like a dorm. The only weird thing is the rooms all have metal "locker" doors, and not the best ventilation. But, for what it is, it's great. The laundry room and beer vending and kitchen and lounge are also bonus.

For dinner we walked down to the yakitori place we ate at the night before

Where we sat and ate for a long time. The meal was a little pricey ($50), but after eating so many noodles it was definitely worth it. The scallops wrapped in bacon were the best.

The eggplant was pretty tasty too. Everything was good.

After dinner we bought some Kirin out of the vending machine in the hostel (cheaper than on the street) and watched weird Japanese game shows while we planned out the next few days in Kyoto.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Six

2009-12-31T21:15:02Z

The rain had stopped and the sun was shining the morning that we woke up in Miyajima.

Our room was very pretty! The ryoken is in the middle of the woods and surrounded by maples

I liked the tatami mats in the room. The maple leaf is a big symbol in Miyajima.

we ate a light breakfast (i can't believe i don't have any photos of breakfast.), and then started walking down the hill to town.

there are a lot of tame deer in the woods, and all over the island

the maple trees here are amazing

Once in town we headed right for the main shrine and the beach, since the tide was out and we'd be able to walk out a little. The sun was making everything that was painted vermilion look amazing

yay!

And all around the shrine and the town there are little deer

and they're super cute! kawaii!

Ed's arm didn't hurt really but it was all swollen from falling the night before.

we walked all over town, and bought some cute souvieners. the covered streets were nice, out of the sun.

what? I'm on vacation.

the deer are actually pretty aggressive, and will take whatever you have without asking. back off my fruity orange!!

this is the street our ryoken is on.

this is our ryoken in the sunlight

which we checked out of, and said goodbye to grandmother

We stashed the luggage at the ferry dock, and headed back into town to catch a cable car to the top of Mt. Misen

cable cars are fun, but i think they're a little scary

we had heard that there were monkeys at the cable car station at the top, but the monkeys weren't around that day

But we knew that they were up there somewhere because their little footprints were in the concrete. We decided to take the footpath through the woods to see if we could see some out there.

And we eventually just wound up climbing the mountain. This is where we learned that vacation is always going to be full of hard stone stairs going up to somewhere.

It took us a little while, but we finally got to the top

The view was great! ^look at the little tiny torii gate!

On the way back down we stopped at this place I had really wanted to see - it's the Reika-do Eternal Flame - where the fire has (supposedly) been burning steadily for 1200+ years. It was pretty smoky inside.

And then we were back in town and it was time for lunch!

Outside the restaurant that we ate at they served fresh oysters , but we didn't get any - we had already eaten a lot of good seafood the night before, and these were kind of expensive. looked tasty though.

then we wandered around town a little more

And then back on the ferry - goodbye Miyajima! If you're going to Japan, go to Miyajima! It was so amazing. The town is so quiet and hilly and small, and the food is fantastic, and it's very pretty and the mountains and the water and everything. Ok. We took the ferry to the train and the train to the shinkansen

We rode the shinkansen to Kyoto..

(we like riding on the bullet train)

And once in Kyoto we checked into K's House Hostel, where the rooms are small but clean and cheap

And then we ate here:

for some ramen and yakitori

which was amazing.
and after the late meal, it was back to the hostel, where there is a beer vending machine (!) and some crazy japanese tv before bed.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Five

2009-12-31T00:25:17Z

Off we go! We woke up early this day and hopped on the shinkansen for the first time

we got two really good bento boxes from the train station to eat on the way

The views from the shinkansen were fast but interesting

Then we were in Hiroshima where it was quiet and hot and humid and somber and completely different from Tokyo

But it's definitely something everybody who can see should see

I don't have a lot of photos of Hiroshima. We came into town and stashed our luggage in the train station, and then went to the atomic bomb dome, saw the museum, wandered around a bit, learned a lot, and then gave into the extreme heat and humidity going on that day. We took the cable car back to the train station and got our luggage, and headed to the ferry.
At which point it started to rain, a lot.
So we ran through the streets to get to the ferry, and in the process Ed fell down a staircase and banged his arm pretty good.
After our day in Hiroshima, by the time we got to the ferry we were wet and sad and bruised.

This is Ed's "I fell down the stairs and it's raining" face

but then we saw the island, and its tori gate, and we started to feel better

we arrived in the rain and asked a woman at the boat dock how to get to where we were staying, and she said "oh! a van will come to get you"
we went outside to wait for the van, and met our first deer - wet and standing in the street in the rain.

soon the van came

which was great, because walking up the steep hills in the rain would have been no fun.

And we got the ryoken and while we settled in, we were served the best green tea we've ever had.

So, when you stay at a ryoken, that's What You Are Doing that evening. You rest and refresh and eat, in a beautiful place, and that's all. It's great.
After our tea we took hot baths, and dressed in our yukatas, and rested a while - there is a koy pond right outside the window

For dinner, we sat down to a Kaiseki meal.

if ed looks troubled here, it's because we were both a little worried. we were concerned that this might be the whole meal.

delicious? absolutely. filling? no.

Of course, we discovered there were many more courses - and they were all fresh and amazing. The shellfish pulled from the water that morning, right down the hill, were the best.

the beef course was great

especially tasty were the hiroshima cream grapes, which we still dream about. big as plums, with a texture and sweetness you can't imagine. there's a reason they only give you 3 grapes for desert.

After dinner grandmother showed us how to properly tie our robes, and then we were off to bed!

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Four

2009-12-29T19:04:01Z

This morning Ed and I took some dumplings and headed out, just the two of us, to Mitaka to see the Ghibli museum. That's the art and animation museum of world-favorite japanese cartoons/movies and the artist/director Hayao Miyazaki.

we had to take the JR line instead of the subway - whee!

once in Mitaka you can either take the private cat-bus, or walk to the museum. We walked because it's an easy stroll through suburban tokyo, which is the sort of thing we find very interesting.

We went past a very pretty animal preserve with statues in it

Mitaka!

here we are. you can't take photos inside the museum so we only got these two shots really. this one above^

and then on the roof ^

the museum is very pretty and strange though

i did buy the museum book, so i can show you some neat things like this enourmous plush cat-bus that kids can actually sit inside of and play around.

and of course there was lots of art and sketches and neat animation stuff to look at

but this thing was my favorite. it's a huge model with figures from Totoro, and it spins and they hit it with a strobe light and it becomes animated and all sorts of neat things happen, like the girls jump rope and totoro jumps around and the little white totoros run and bop and the catbus runs through the air, and it looks perfect when it's going! it's very neat. it's interesting to see animation done with 3-d characters instead of drawings.

and then of course was the gift shop! i didn't buy nearly as much as we thought i would. we got 2 beers that were tasty and came in souvenier bottles, and then i got a bunch of little stuff. not bad.
we also got to watch a short film at the museum, and spent a long time just exploring everything there. even if you're not familiar with the work of Miyazaki, you would have a great time here.

After the museum, we hopped the cat-bus back into town and then had lunch in mitaka - ramen and gyoza! this was some of the best ramen we had our entire trip to japan.

this is also where i discovered japanese pickles, and my life has never been the same.
(at least in regard to pickles.)

after lunch we got back on the train and met Sam and Ade at the Ueno station, and then we all went to Harajuku!!

oh, harajuku...

Oh! before I forget. Ravens! Everywhere! They are as big as ducks. they make the wierdest sounds. We like them.

next to where the Silly Kids of harajuku hang out there is a gigantic shinto temple that we went to.

The walk down the path is very long - at least a mile or more. but it's through the woods, through big big big gates, and it's pretty. once there we rinsed/purified our hands and mouths again

the temple is pretty

and inside there were 2 weddings going on

it would have been wierd i guess if a bunch of japanese people showed up at my wedding and took pictures...
there were tons of westerners snapping photos of this bride.

also in the temple you can buy a Votive Board and write wishes/prayers on it, and then hang it by this tree, and the monks then offer up your prayers later.

and then more harajuku

there were lots of tourists there though, and a lot of fashion magazine people and photographers

but there was also this guy, so it's OK

After that we said goodbye to Sam and Ade, and even though we had just met, it was actually kinda sad! We really had a lot of fun with them and hoped to see them again at some point. As I mentioned before, we did keep in touch, and they came to visit us last year and stayed with us for a few days on their first trip to america.
(here's us in chicago last year!)

I'm really looking forward to visiting them in their home in Madrid next year, they're super excited we're moving to Europe - we'll be able to travel more together.

Anyway. So, then Ed and I went to Shibuya Crossing to see the people

it was super crowded - and in the middle of it there was this ceremony parade thing going through that we followed for a while

this is us in the crossing. it's hard to photograph just how many people are here. it's a lot. ed's saying "hey don't take pictures there's too many people here!"

And then, back to the cozy Oak Hotel and our room, where we had dumplings for dinner with beers - bought from the sunkust quick mart down the street.

And of course some watching of the super-strange japanese tv programs

And then to sleep. The next day we get up very early to catch the Shinkasen to Hiroshima, where we hoped our pace would slow down a little - We're beat and our feet hurt! We're having the best time ever, but our feet feel like mashed potatoes.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Three

2009-12-28T22:35:35Z

The next morning we were up early, with Sam and Ade, and off to Asakusa Temple - which was high up on my Things To Do list.

first we bathed in smoke

and washed our hands and rinsed our mouths out

and then up into the temple to get our fortunes

bad fortunes get tied to this thing so you dont take them with you

after a couple attempts we both got good fortunes

then we wandered around the area a little and looked at things

more fugu!

we then headed back through ueno to the ueno zoo, and i was able to snap this photo of the panda there (now gone) before my camera battery died. we spent a while at the zoo, where there were many cute kawaii fluffy things, and it was SO hot. we were not prepared for how hot it would be in japan during our time there.

and then after the zoo, and the camera battery charged, it was time for ...

sumo!

sumo!!

sumo!!!

BEER AND YAKITORI!!!!!!

SUMO!

i really enjoyed the sumo matches

it was nice to sit an watch the bouts for a few hours out of the heat and drink beers and relax

watching them leave

after the match it was dark, so we went over to roppongi to see that area

we saw tokyo tower for the first time

and then up to the observation deck of roppongi hills (very classy establishment) where you get a 360 of tokyo. the view is incredible and we spent a while up here just walking around.

they also had a spectacular aquarium display set up on that floor, which was gorgeous.

we are very tired

but we had a fun day!

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day Two

2009-12-28T00:42:05Z

On our first full day in Japan, Ed came downstairs to the smoking room in the hotel at 5am, and met a guy from Madrid named Sam, who was also up and about at the time. Ed was waiting for me to get ready to go to the fish market, and Sam was waiting for Ade to get ready for the same thing. They started chatting (we actually didn't learn each other's names until several hours later) and decided that since we're all going the same place, we should go together. And that's how we met Sam and Ade.

Early morning walking to the fish market

the camera was brand new at the time, and i wasn't so good with it

we hunt around the restaurants surrounding the market, and find a noodle place for the four of us to tuck into. Hi, it's 7am, i'm jet-lagging and chowing on ramen again.

like so many others, my love of market photos started in tsukiji

fishy

fugu!!! don't eat it or you will die. hahaha.

yummy

after the fish market we hopped the subway to ginza and walked around but not much was open. so we had a little coffee and then hopped the subway again to the electronics district

ed and sam on the subway

we went into a scary-huge electronics store and i putzed about with some very neat tablets and computers. interesting, but i think i'll stick with my pencils and brushes and paper.

yay electronics!

sam and adea were camera shopping, so we split up so we could put some serious work into finding obscure anime toys.

our pocket change has pretty much become dedicated to these little toy vending things.

they are super cheap and sell stuff we can't resist, like this little seal with a frog on his head. why? we have no idea.

back on the street there was a little of this

and a little of this.

we popped back on the subway to ginza so our friends could buy the camera they wanted at the sony buliding, and ed and i played with the new computers and gadgets there.

then we decided that we needed lunch and beer, so back on the subway to Ueno (ginza is way to expensive to eat in - it's very much Michigan Ave.)

conveyer belt sushi. never again.

laughing and eating disgusting sushi.

Ueno has a cute shopping district that we then walked around

and where we first became infatuated with Tanuki

we like ueno

we had a shower and a little rest and then off to dinner. this yakitori was a delicious snack.

we found a great little tempura place for dinner. i would have enjoyed this more if I had not been focusing so much on Not Barfing Up Mushy Tuna Roll :( but everything here was delicious

and then back to the hotel - sam and ade just got in the day before as well, and with all the walking the four of us did + jet lag, we hung around the common room downstairs and drank rum & cokes and talked - we also met some of the other guests too and we all hung out and laughed a while.

we walked all over, and looked and talked and laughed more than we took photos - the city is very comfortable and everyone is very friendly. a lot of the places in the city remind me of chicago, which i thought was strange at the time. it was very clean and it was not as crowded as we thought it would be.

and two years later, we're friends with sam and ade and keep in touch - so that was really one of the best parts of our first day in tokyo.

JAPAN - September 2007 - Day One

2009-12-28T00:11:26Z

OK. I kept saying I was going to do this, and tonight seems like a good night to start.

As a refresher, I'm going to be RE-BLOGGING our trip to Japan. This trip was originally covered real-time on a different blog, which was deleted accidentally. This trip was our honeymoon, in September 2007, and was our first trip to asia.

I'll be posting this as usual from beginning to end, without lj-cuts, and adding little tidbits that weren't in the original blog.

Here we go!

Ed at Ohare! This is our first LONG flight out of the country, we're not sure what we're in for.

We flew JAL, and were very happy with it. Food on JAL was better 2 years ago, letmetellyou.

we also got to watch ghibli movies on board, and i thought that was amazing. porco rosso 3 times.

once in Tokyo, we ride the skyliner from the airport and head to Ueno. Look at us traveling with a giant red suitcase. that's adorable.

it took us FOREVER to find our hotel. we're at the Oak Hotel in Ueno. it was night, we had 2 rolling suitcases, a shitty map, no sense of direction, and have never been in an asian country before. after fearfully wandering around for over an hour, a nice old man on a bike personally escorted us to the hotel from the train station.

after checking in, we wandered out into Ueno.

our first meal in japan - we'd eat here a few more times, it's tasty and so close to the hotel.

So, after making it to tokyo, finding our hotel, and eating some ramen, we were beat. We had an early wake up call to get to the fish market the next morning!

Switzerland... remember?

2009-11-04T03:00:16Z

I just got some good international mail - a cd of photos that Roli took during our day together in June. (click here to see that day)

my pictures were all of roli..

naturally, most of his photos wound up being of me...

wierd, since i'm usually the one behind the camera on these trips.

anyway, wanna see?

raindrops keep falling in my eye

it's damp here

stopping for tea

have i mentioned today that i'm moving here soon?

o_O

squeeze every last second out of it

2009-10-18T05:03:42Z

Ok! It's our last day. We've got sixteen hours before our flight leaves Saigon. We're in the Mekong Delta. We are very much still on vacation.

In the morning I enjoyed a very light and simple breakfast of bread and brothy soup - free at our hotel.

after breakfast we walked down to the boat dock

and got on a little boat to go see the floating market

we float through a sunny Can Tho morning
and approach the floating market

before we get there, we're stopped by somone selling fruits, so we buy some to snack on

they are sweet and taste great

then we go 'into' the market. I think at this point it's safe to say that Ed and I have been to lots of different markets - but we've never before seen a floating one - so this is great.

at first we're confused as to how all this works - then they explain that the big sticks on the fronts of all the boats are the "signs" that show what the boat has for sale that day

setting up shop

the vendors just live out here in their boats until the stock is gone. the back of the boats is where the laundry is done and the cooking and the eating

it's a market, so of course there are women selling noodles. their noodle shops have simply adapted

larger boats full of tourists are also rolling by

I'm too busy being fascinated by peeking into all the little nooks and crannies of the boats and around seeing what all is going on

soon we buy a little watermelon to share on board

everyone else is buying their groceries and going about their business

a little later, we buy a pineapple to munch on

lady, you have got a lot of pineapples on that boat there.

this is a wonderful way to spend a sunny morning in the delta

floating around, nibbling on snacks, the breeze off the river and the smells of food and fruit coming from the boats, and on the shore we get glimpses into the life on the flooded and flooding banks of the mekong

we ride back to town, and hang out in can tho for a while

we get some coffee and call our hotel in saigon and rest a little before going to pack up the rooms and check out

back to the bus terminal. i think i'm collecting pictures of ed blinking and holding the laptop in front of busses and bus stations now.

it's a four hour ride back to saigon, and looking out the window i start to notice the little things that i'll miss seeing every day

Mien bought a different type of sticky rice thing to eat on the ride back

They were pretty good - there's only a little bite inside those big banana leaves

we get back to saigon and check out of the indochine - we are super late but Mien helps us at the desk and we don't get double charged or any problems.

next we take the bags and get a taxi back to the house of Van's parents. we leave the bags there and head out around that neighborhood, because believe it or not there is one VERY important thing we have not done yet.

BIA HOI!

C'mon, did you think we'd get out of Vietnam without getting in at least 2 liters of this stuff?
Mien and Van also didn't want us to be hungry and eating airplane food, so they ordered a huge spread - chicken, beef, noodles, veggies, and these things:

something else we had on our "things to try list" - Century Eggs.
we were not crazy about them. Ok, i didnt really like them. but we would both try them again and give it another shot.
May I recommend that you read this when you get a chance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

After dinner and bia hoi, we went back to Van's family house and shared a moon cake

We were hanging out when Van said that we would have to call the taxi and leave early, because the river was coming up. I was trying to make sense of that, since i didn't think we were anywhere near the banks of the river, when we all went and had a peek outside at the street

the river was coming up through the sewers. quickly. there was already about six inches in the street.

SO. Called a taxi and said goodbye to our friends. Taxi back through Saigon, at night. The motos speeding all around and the lights and the smells and the open store-fronts, full of eating and drinking and small night markets, the big Canon building with its signs all glowing neon letting you know that you're at the airport, and then check-in. A few last 333's at the airport bar. Sleep through the entire flight to Narita. In Narita, ramen and beers, shopping and checking out japanese gadgets, talking about when we'll be in tokyo again. the long flight home after that.

I never know what to say to wrap these things up. As always, we're very grateful to have our friends in southeast asia take us out and home and travelling with them. You can't beat the home-cooking or the nights out we have with them. I'm also very happy for and proud of my brother, and I think that was some of the most fun we ever had.

Whats Next?

Well, I think between now and the end of the year I will very slowly enter the Japan trip into this blog, like I keep promising to do.

And in 2010, this little travel-blog of ours should be getting a little more active, as we are planning our move to europe, next spring.

Stay tuned,
Mot Hai Ba, YO!

No Regrets

2009-10-17T18:27:59Z

On October 8 Mien and Van came to get us around 5 or 6 am, and we went down to the bus station. We had planned a sort of last-minute-spontaneous trip to Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta area. Ed and I have never been to the delta area, and we heard they had some interesting cuisine down there, so we were all for it. Because our hotel in Saigon was cheap, we kept the reservation there to hold most of our luggage, and then repacked my smaller backpack with stuff we'd need for the overnight in Can Tho.

We sat in the bus ticket place and watched strange chinese drama shows until the van came

the van took us from the ticketing location in saigon to the bus terminal further out. then we got on a nice big coach bus and headed to the delta

we had an early lunch/breakfast? at your typical run-of-the-mill bus stop restaurant

good noodles and 'russian roulette' iced coffee

and mien bought us some sweet sticky rice treats - they're thick rice flavored with banana and coconut and wrapped in a thin layer of plastic and then wrapped again in banana leaves.

seen from the bus - these things are big, meaty oranges - they are super good - we had one with bobby in thailand

ogod the ferries

i really, really hate being on a bus on a ferry on the mekong in the rain. that's pretty up there on the list of things i do not like at all.

once in town, we went down to where Mien used to work and waited for a friend of his to join us.

hangin' out at the tile store

once all together, the five of us went to this restaurant in town

it's a very nice place - you sit in your own private little hut, with a big table, a full crate of Saigon Red at your disposal and a big ice bucket. The other little huts were all full of lunching businessmen, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes and eating huge meals.

let's check out the menu, shall we?

yes kids, this is what you have been waiting for.

Here was the first course

but really, you have to watch the video to get the full effect

we are taught how to eat them

so then ed gives it a go

on his second try he gets it. This video cracks me up because he totally makes an andrew zimmern face after eating the worm (funny for me because we both hate zimmern so, so much.)

my turn

alright, that's enough of that. let's move on.
Hot Vit Lon

More palm worms, this time dead and deep fried

(these were really gross)

A river fish hot pot with lots of fresh veggies and flowers. You could really tell by the taste that this fish had come right out of the mekong.

Now, at this point, I stop eating. I get suddenly very, very sick, and spend about 45 minutes in the bathroom re-experiencing my palm worm appetizer. Luckily, Van had brought a ton of pills and things with her, as she also has a lot of stomach problems with eating, and she had some packets of medicine that I was able to take 2 of and that calmed down the puking enough for me to get back to the table and sip water and see what else the boys were eating.
I should also mention that I'm seriously peeved that I wasn't able to eat anything else, because it all looked and smelled really good.

One venomous and one non-venomous snake, cooked up and served whole

Mekong Delta Rat

Let's get a closer look at that

So, we sat at this place for 3 or 4 hours, laughing and hanging out. I had some water and started to feel better, so after lunch we went out to see about getting a boat to a nearby island

ed and the boat lady
We got a nice little one to take us out, and we cruised around the river

that smaller boat ^ is a taxi - they're all over and they just shuttle people from one side to the other

we arrive at the island

it's like a strange, deserted theme park. because of the rain, there's no one here and all the attractions are closed.

it's kinda creepy and strange but we have fun

right about here, i start feeling my palm worm again, and it's not good. a handful of immodiums and another packet of Van's medicine, and somehow they get me back to the hotel without incident. we decide to take a break - and i spend an awful 2 hours in the hotel room.
by the time dinner rolls around, i'm not sure if i can make it out - ed is feeling great and ready to go. we talk about it, and decide that since our hotel room is so old and creepy:

it'd be better to be sick on the street with friends in vietnam, then be sick alone in a creepy old overlook hotel type place. i steal a roll of toilet paper from the hotel to stuff in my purse, suck in my stomach cramps, and off we go.

dinner was a great (so they tell me) grilled goat meat feast.
we also had brought the leftover rat from lunch, and grilled that up too

mien's friend was awesome and ordered a baguette so i could eat at least a little something

the boys share a bottle of "medicine" - it's un-named alcohol (probably rice wine/whiskey) mixed with goat scrotum and blood, kept in an old vodka hanoi bottle. we also brought our bottle of lao-lao moonshine we bought in Luang Prabang

after dinner we go to the river and catch a little boat that will take us to the big karaoke bar cruiser

more cruising around the mekong

hanging out on the top deck in the night air, listening to crazy karaoke and drinking beer, we finish the bottle of laolao and have a good time. we're joined by another one of Mien's friends and her husband, so we're a happy group.

after the boat ride, we go to a local discotheque where there's loud music and games

i feel better, or at least what i call "immodium-better", and we have some beer inside the dance hall and watch the english tourists bop around under the crazy strobe lights and laser show

a fun way to spend our last night in asia

i'm so bummed this photo didn't turn out, but oh well

when we left around midnight, it was raining a little and everyone was (somehow) hungry - so we went to one of the last noodle stands that was still open on the street - squatted into our tiny plastic tables and chairs, and enjoyed big bowls of noodle soup.

we made plans to meet up in the morning for some sight-seeing, and everyone headed off to sleep.

limbo

2009-10-17T05:22:02Z

October 7 was spent doing ...not much.

we woke up and ate pancakes by the river

they were stuffed with fresh bananas and honey.

then we packed out of Oui's Guesthouse, tuk-tuked to the airport, sat in the airport, and then flew to Hanoi. Then we sat in Hanoi for a while. Then we flew to Saigon. Then we took a taxi to the hotel.

Basically, it took a day to get out of Luang Prabang, Laos and back to Saigon, Vietnam.

but it's good to be back in the city. And after everything we've seen and done, we don't mind the day-in-transit.
we checked in, checked some internets, talked to Mien about our plans, and then went down for 2 beers at Hein and Bobs.

Mien was coming to get us really early, so we went right to bed.

And that was October 7.

Sleepy Day

2009-10-17T04:19:12Z

On October 6 we woke up early and headed down to the river to catch our 8am boat

The river was full of washed-up lanterns from the night before, that never quite made it out of town

Boat rides on the mekong are fun

When I retire, I'm going to live in that big blue houseboat on the mekong and float around southeast asia all year

Apart from the occasional passing boat, it's very quiet and peaceful

After a little while, we pull up to the "lao-lao whiskey village"

guess what they make here?

mmm, moonshine. er, whiskey. whatever.

pick your poison

they're also drying a ton of chilis here next to the distilling shack

we bought a small bottle of lao-lao 'whiskey' for about a dollar - with no scorpions or snakes or anything in it. before you buy, they let you take a bunch of shots of all the different flavors and strengths to see what you like. there's something nice about doing a lot of shots of lao moonshine on the banks of the mekong river at 8:30 in the morning. we bought just a plain bottle of "the strong stuff". we did find on closer inspection that it had a tiny green dead spider in it. oh well.

back to the boat!

after another while, we arrive at our destination

the pak ou caves

big caves on the river full of buddah images

not a thrill-a-minute sight seeing, but a nice relaxing way to spend a sleepy morning after festival

as always, it's just not vacation if we are not climbing a huge flight of stone steps going somewhere unknown

these lead to the upper cave

which is super dark inside!

ok, back in the boat. i took a little video of the ride but i used the wrong speed on the camera... sometimes the wheels on my G9 (camera) slip and it makes me mad. i am going to try and save up for the G11 (ELEVEN! I didn't even get a chance to see a 10.) asap.

it is super hard to stay awake on this boat. we both keep dropping off and nodding

we get back to luang prabang

those trees on the river are really huge

on shore, we went to one of these restaurants and ate by the river again

curry wasn't bad.

although we were distracted from our meal by the little friend who came jumping on our table to join us

AAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhh!
ok, he crawled away after a little while. eee. like i said, eating next to the river gets you a little more exposed to these critters. but the food is way better and way cheaper. pretty fair trade-off.
the bathroom of the restaurant also had some interesting things in it....

why do they keep this stuff in the toilet?

after eating, we went back to the streets. the town was almost completely deserted - we're guessing everyone is burned out from the late party

the dogs are still running around though

ed liked this guy a lot

not a lot going on, and that's fine with us

after a little more street-wandering, we went back to the hotel to rest and pack up and check some internets and hang out on the balcony. we never relax on vacation - so this is new and fun for us.
then, it's dinner time

we went back to the same restaurant as the night before and had the laap again (amazing!) and i tried a new soup. this restaurant has mastered broth, this is the good stuff you dream about when going out for southeast asian soup.

because we're eating on the river, we have extra guests.
this giant guy

and then sneaking past our table just as we're finishing, is THIS:
(it's really dark)

ok, yea, we're by the river, but we're way up a steep, forested bank, so we are not expecting to see this fellow.
trying to video crabs and avoid cockroaches:

after dinner i didn't take so many photos, we were just relaxing and bumming around. we went to the night market and bought some things and gifts, and then went to have a few beerlaos in town. and on the way back to the hotel, we stop for a couple more big sweet crepes

sleepy good day.

the best night in laos

2009-10-16T03:29:23Z

on the night of October 5, as we walked towards the temple in Luang Prabang, the dark streets began to fill with people, motos, smoke, and fireworks

we made our way to the temple stairs that lead right down into the wide mekong river

we were still a little early, so there wasn't much of a crowd
we walked back up the second set of stairs, into the temple itself

the monks had lit up their large lotus shaped boat and it was the brightest thing in the area

we explored the grounds of the temple

this is one of our favorites that we've been to. it's really beautiful and very lived-in. unlike the big flashy ones in thailand, or some of the more tourist-oriented ones you'll visit in other places, this one really feels used and loved and alive

all around is smoke and the noise of fireworks. cops were chasing some small boys around for lighting fireworks off behind the temple...
we know who was really lighting the fireworks though...

hahahaha

back on the street more boats are lit, and there are dozens of impromptu booths set up selling floating lanterns made of flowers

when you see how many there are, you think that there can't be enough people in this town to release so many into the river. however, as we sat down nearby to have a beer and some spring rolls snack, we watched hundreds already floating down the dark river

it can't really be photographed, at least not by me - the soft glow and smokiness of everything, contrasting with the harsh and loud explosions going on all around, it's beautiful

all over town, tiny candles are lit and stuck on every surface

after our beers we walk back to the temple stairs again

by now a good crowd is starting to gather

everyone is taking their lanterns down the stairs to the river

boys with long bottle rockets are everywhere. and little dynamite sticks. and roman candles. and huge ones, like fourth of july. fireworks are everywhere, they're huge, and they're cheap. and firing them into large crowds seems completely normal, and everyone is laughing

huge paper lanterns are released into the sky

i'm amused at the hundreds of cell phone lights waving around amidst all the candles and flames, adding to the scene

the crowd grows to a complete mob, and it's time

one by one, the large boats from the wats are brought down to be placed into the river. this takes a long time, and lots of men and boys to do the carrying. there's lots of music and yelling and cheers and fireworks. it's an excellent party.

the festival has totally exceeded our expectations, it's great

fireworks dragons lanterns flames smoke river

it takes a while to get these giant things launched into the river, so there's often little backlogs

watch this:

we are only mildly concerned at our crazy close proximity to giant flaming constructions of kerosene, wood, and crepe paper

the large boats are lit by filling old energy-drink bottles with kerosene and wicks

the whole time, hundreds and hundreds of flower lanterns are floating slowly down the mekong

the last float to come down is the giant lotus from the temple

after the big one floats away

the crowd thins a little, but dozens of people are still walking down the stairs to put their lanterns in the river

on the streets fireworks are lit off everywhere

we have a couple more beerlaos to watch the lanterns float down the river, and the fireworks, until it gets to about curfew time. the streets empty as everyone goes home, but as we walk back, lots of little local "bars" have popped up for the local kids - all of whom are drunk and happy and yelling karaoke loudly into the streets. it's a long walk back to the hotel, and we have to dodge a few fireworks, but everyone was laughing and it was great time.

flashes of orange

2009-10-15T03:56:53Z

I don't suppose you can go to Laos without seeing what we saw on October 5. The difference is in how you go about seeing it. Everyone starts out the same way: wake up at 5am, head to the main drag in Luang Prabang. Wait.
Then, decide what you are going to do next. 1) stand on the far side of the street quietly and take the occasional photo, and enjoy. 2) do this:

Anyway. There's already a lot of internet chatter about the behavior of tourists at the morning alms-collecting in Luang Prabang, and I'm not going to add any more of my two cents about it here. I'm just saying: hey, be respectful. It's not 'feeding time at the laos zoo', or a cute photo-op for westerners.

Moving on. We got up at 5, and headed down to the street to watch

hangin' out on the opposite side of the street

girls sell flowers to tourists who've come in to take part in the passing of rice

the walk begins

it was actually really beautiful to watch, even if we felt oddly out of place.

after the walk we headed back to the hotel, passing all the dogs in town making their morning rounds as well

had a little breakfast at the hotel (Oui's Guesthouse)

there's a monastery across the river from the hotel, and monks were walking around and working

after breakfast we walked back into town to buy our airline tickets to get out of laos, and use the free internet at the ticket sales place

then out into the streets to explore the nooks and crannies of luang prabang

all around town, people are working on making their big paper and wood boats for the festival

we find the riverside restaurants, and stop for lunch

the only problem with eating by the river is that you are way more exposed to the elements than you are back in town. for example, ants kept falling out of the huge trees around us, and into my soup

watching the ferries

it's not so hot here, so we spend a good deal of time wandering around all the little side streets and alleys

boats everywhere

for an afternoon snack, we go back to the river for beerlao and spring rolls

checking out the stuff drying in the sun

peels and veggies and big rice things

lots of rice things

back to the hotel for a quick rest in the afternoon

the shower is all-in-one, meaning there is no shower stall, just a shower head over the toilet

a monastery right by the hotel dries robes in the sun

it's a pretty town, we start to really like it here.

if you stay away from the overpriced cafes on the main street, you can pretty much avoid the tourists all day and night

the afternoon wears down, and after booking some tickets for a boat ride tomorrow, we head back to the river for dinner

we found the best little restaurant

that soup was *the best*. so spicy, and such a great flavor, and full of wonderful delicious fresh vegetables

i ordered the laap, which was also very spicy, but also extremely delicious.
after dinner we sit by the river and drink beerlao and watch the sun go down over the misty mekong

now, the sun goes down
we get very excited, because all over town, things are beginning to very, very slowly
pick up

i had really tried to time the vacation so that we could be here in this city on this night

as it gets dark, all over the small town, people come out and start to light the dozens and dozens of boats that have been going up all day

... I'll tell you what happened that night next time! Stay tuned :)

through the mountains

2009-10-14T04:52:18Z

October 4 was another early morning - we packed out of the hotel and caught a tuk tuk to the bus station. At the station we bought a big bottle of water and a big, crusty fresh baked baguette, and got on the bus

sleepy ed and bread
the bus rolled out and slowly headed north on the tiny highway to luang prabang

one bridge we had to go over was so small that it was one way, and only one truck or bus could go over at a time.

i didn't really have a good seat for taking photos. we took the vip bus, which was nice because there is a cargo spot for the bags (as opposed to just having them strapped on the top of the bus), and it's air conditioned, and you get water. that's not to say there wasn't a basket full of ducks on the bus, or a cardboard box full of roosters, or that we didnt stop at a wierd driveway and pick up a large shipment of huge mechanical gears and parts...
there were two toilet stops and one lunch stop on the ride (8 or 9 hours long). one stop was here

where the toilet costs 1000 kip, and there's snacks to buy

ed and our vip bus

back on the road, the bus enters the mountains. we go very slowly around the switchbacks and up and down through the tiny, tiny villages and really feel like we are right in the very middle of nowhere

this is how you roll through laos, yo.

lunch at your typical lunch-stop place. what was nice was that our lunch was also included in the cost of our tickets.

what was not nice was me accidentally spilling a whole jug of chili powder all over ed. whooooops.

crappy bus window photos

this was the second toilet stop. there was nothing here, just a clearing and some weeds. but the view was excellent.

once in Luang Prabang, we dropped the bags at the guesthouse and ran down the main drag to get something to eat. walking into town from our hotel, we passed a ton of super flashy looking restaurants and wine bars...? so dodging those, we just stopped in the first restaurant we saw that looked ok

later, we would discover eating on the river. for now though, this was pretty good.
with full bellies, we went to see the night market

the festival is going on, and gearing up, and we're excited because this is the town that we wanted to be in while it was going on

a dozen or so other western girls stopped in front of these umbrellas and took this exact same picture.

leaving the market, we walked back through town to find a beer lao

the whole time we are thinking, holy hoi an, there are a TON of western tourists here. like hoi an, the town seems to have been redesigned for them, with pizza places and wine tastings. maybe it's a unesco thing? we are mildly discouraged. but, we are totally willing to give it a few more beer laos and see what happens when the sun comes up.
we found a nice bar - that was serving up 'lao lao'. lao-lao is the local home-made whiskey (it's moonshine.)

it's a little rough, even when classed-up in the fancy glass

this town shuts down early (there's a curfew here, that basically says everyone indoors at midnight), and on our way back to the hotel we found one late-night street vendor catching the last-call drinkers

a woman sitting on the side of the road serving up unbelievably good crepes

our hotel was at the very end of the peninsula, away from the main drag

it gets dark here
the view from our balcony

so, to bed. the midnight curfew is probably a good thing, because in this town you get up very early in the morning...

it's hot here

2009-10-13T23:23:03Z

On October 3 we woke up to a pretty quiet Vientiane morning

walking down the streets to the river, we went in search of more Things on Sticks

find the smoke, and you've found breakfast. we got a few chicken bits and parts, and nibbled on them as we wandered around (we later discovered one of our favorites was grilled chicken butts)

all sorts of market stuff set up by the river. let's get a closer look at that big bucket of meat...

mmm.
then we walked around to the market area, but didnt see much we liked or found interesting

so we hopped in a tuk tuk and headed to the bus station to get our tickets for the next day

tuk-tuk-ing has become pretty normal for us i guess, but we still like it a lot
back in town again, with our bus tickets, we stop to visit one of the many wats around. but first!

grilled bananas! so tasty. gotta get 'em hot.
then, ok, into the temple

(it's starting to get very, very hot out)

tourists!

does anyone know why all these people are picking the flowers?

back on the street we run into a bunch of kids who approach us and ask if we'll help them with their english homework. of course! they have to interview forigners and then get proof by taking a photo with them

after wandering around the big festival area some more, we start to give in to the heat. it's hot. so very hot. so we pull into the first bar we see and get a beer in the shade

beer lao dark ain't bad

after resting there a bit, we get another tuk tuk and head off to That Luang

being the national symbol, and most important religious monument in Laos, it draws a bit of tourism.

at this point we're drinking water bottles two at a time, to keep hydrated and to try to stay cool. we killed a lot of water bottles this day.
we spent some time here wandering around and looking at everything. walking back through the big bus parking lot to our tuk tuk, we almost died in the heat. time for some food

fried noodles and sausage and beer

at this point, we decided we really needed to wait for the sun to go down and for the town to cool off. it was already late afternoon, so no big deal. we went up to the big balcony of the hotel bar to sit in front of fans and drink cold beer.

the night vendors began to set up

all the smoke from the giant grills came wafting up into the bar balcony, and we sat and smelled the chickens and drank a few beers.

aaaaaand that was pretty much it for that day. we took a quick trip to the room to freshen up, and found that we were both totally exhausted and really pretty sick and not feeling good at all and so we collapsed in dizzy states of heat exhaustion and slept the whole rest of the evening. hah.

anyway. here's a video of the street vendors. the next day was better!

heading into the unknown

2009-10-13T02:28:48Z

October 2 was a travel day. We all sort of slept in a little, then went to a brunch of very very spicy soup

then back to the house to pack up and relax

said goodbye to the puppies

and headed back to the little chiang rai airport. we sat there for awhile with bobby and the pastor, eating pineapple and jackfruit, drinking good chinese tea

bobby then had to go pack, as he was also flying out that day (back to LA). our flight to bangkok was good, and we had a little layover in the airport to eat some more and get some beer

from bangkok we then flew into vientiane. because the festival was going on (why we're here), our cab couldn't take us very far so we had to walk a ways through the crowd to our hotel

we checked into the Lao Orchid, which was nice if very impersonal, and checked out the great view from our balcony

the dark mekong river, and the smoke of grilling food and the sounds of a good party below
we head into the streets in search of the local beer, the only beer

i believe you can get other beer in laos, but you don't. you drink beer lao, and you drink lots of it. it's cheap, it's delicious, and it's everywhere. it's got to be owned by the government or something. they might even use it to water the crops. we've sampled many asian beers, and really, this is one of the best.
after beer, hungry again, we stop for a snack

things on sticks! yes!

we take our chicken feet, wings, and other unknown bits and parts back to the hotel bar

shamelessly gnawing chicken feet in the nice hotel bar

so, after 2 airplane rides and with a belly full of beer lao and chicken parts, we headed to bed to get ready for our first full day in Laos.

bobby bo like woa

2009-10-12T23:52:25Z

On Thursday, Oct, 1, we got up at 3am and packed up and headed out and caught a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai. We were met at the airport by my younger brother, Bobby Bo! and his Pastor that he stays with here. Me and Ed and Bobby dumped the backpacks at Bobby's house and headed out to breakfast

tasty noodles to start the day.
Then back to the house, to meet the puppies

and then a quick walk to the school where Bobby teaches english

the kids are all super excited to see bobby, and sad that he's going back to the states for a few weeks, and generally giggly and cute and shy. but you can tell they really like bobby a lot

one girl kept telling bobby that he needs to buy her new socks in america

after meeting the kids and a couple teachers, we went back to the house for moto-riding lessons for ed

serious stuff.

once ed had that down, we headed off into chiang rai to see the town

and stop at a cafe to use the internet

we stopped at another one of bobby's schools and met some teachers, hung out a little, and then went out to find lunch at one of bobby's favorite places

then, back out on the road through chiang rai traffic

to see the white temple outside of town

the white temple is modern, and very, very cool. interesting. beautiful. inspiring.

it's not quite done yet, this is definitely something i'd like to come back and see in a few years when it's complete.

even the toilets are classy

after that, we headed back onto the road

to rest and hang out a little with bobby before dinner at the pastor's house
the pastor lives in the dormitory of the school

the dorm is for all the hilltribe kids, their parents send them to live at the school for the term, and then during break they go back to their tribes

ed pulls in

dinner was really good, it was nice of the pastor to have us over

tom kha and rice and chicken and veggies, all very tasty
after dinner we headed to the chiang rai night market

which was clean, quiet, and so strange after all the markets we've been in. it was more like a giant, well-organized sidewalk sale. there was even 'cultural dancing'

in the past couple months bobby has gotten really good at speaking thai, and it's fun to listen to him

eventually we made our way over to the food stalls, which again, were oddly clean and organized.

and with bobby's friend sila, we sat down to some papaya salad and sticky rice

super spicy!
after all that, and our 3 am wake-up call, it was really time to head home. we had left the motos at the dorm and taken a car to the market, so after dropping ed off at the house, i was able to ride one of the motos back from the dorm to the house by myself, in the dark through the rice paddies, and it was great. back at the house, we hung out and chatted for a while, and then to bed.