It's 9:30am on Wednesday, May 14 and we are getting ready to go to the airport in Tokyo. It also ends up that at 9:30am on Wednesday, May 14 we'll be arriving in Los Angeles. We think it's only fair since we lost January 16 on our way to Fiji to get back a day on our way home. We'll do our best to make the most of our May 14s both in Japan and the States!!
We have not finished our blog, so please check back. We have some more to write about Japan and a "best of" list to be published. Also, the Travelin' Gilberts dvd will be out for release in early fall. Preorder yours today...just 3 easy payments of $19.95 plus s&h!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Videos are up and running!!!
The 3 month wait is over. We have finally uploaded all of our videos since Australia and embedded them in their proper posts. You can view them a few different ways, by reading back through the old posts and watch them in context, or by following the link below straight to our Youtube page and see them there. The link is also on the right hand column next to the picture link. Sorry it took so long, but at least we made it with a week to spare. Now all I have to do is get these panoramas done and we're all caught up!
Thanks...
Evan and Michelle
http://www.youtube.com/efgilbert
Thanks...
Evan and Michelle
http://www.youtube.com/efgilbert
Osaka, home of the best fans in baseball
Notice I didn't just say Japanese baseball.
We arrived in Osaka around rush hour and had a heck of a time finding our hostel due to some difficult signage in the metro (basically no english), but after a while we made it and settled in for the night. We considered going out and checking out the town, but thought better of it and opted instead for a quiet evening.
The next day we ate breakfast at a Japanese icon, Mister Donuts, and took the loop line to the Osaka Castle. If you ever wanted to know what a Japanese castle looks like, here you are. Osaka jo, as it's called, is surrounded by a moat and was a very important fortification for the shogun in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Instead of checking out the inside of the temple we chose to see the outside, save a few bucks, and move on to our next stop, Den Den Town otherwise known as electronic city. We checked out a bunch of stores mostly eyeing the Wii stuff, but because the Wii is region protected we were'nt looking to buy, just scout out games to look for in the US in the future. In that respect we succeeded and are really excited for a handful of new games to try over the next few months.
We killed the rest of the afternoon walking around Osaka, eating lunch at Wendys, yes we admit it, and people watching. The baseball was scheduled for 6 p.m. so we left on the trian about 4:45 to give ourselves plenty of time to take in the atmosphere.
Across Japan the Hanshin Tigers are reknowned to have the liveliest atmosphere, and they did not disappoint. We were sining and chanting for 9 innings straight, and even though the team was getting severely outplayed the whole night, the fans did not give up for a second. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures that do it justice right now, but hopefully the video will help.
The game ended with our home town Yakult Swallows from Tokyo defeating the Tigers 2-0, but it was still one of the most enjoyable games I've ever attended, and well worth the trip. It was a rush back to the hostel to grab our bags after the game and on to the bus station where we took the overnight bus back to Tokyo for 2 more weeks of fun with Masa and Tami chan.
We arrived in Osaka around rush hour and had a heck of a time finding our hostel due to some difficult signage in the metro (basically no english), but after a while we made it and settled in for the night. We considered going out and checking out the town, but thought better of it and opted instead for a quiet evening.
The next day we ate breakfast at a Japanese icon, Mister Donuts, and took the loop line to the Osaka Castle. If you ever wanted to know what a Japanese castle looks like, here you are. Osaka jo, as it's called, is surrounded by a moat and was a very important fortification for the shogun in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Instead of checking out the inside of the temple we chose to see the outside, save a few bucks, and move on to our next stop, Den Den Town otherwise known as electronic city. We checked out a bunch of stores mostly eyeing the Wii stuff, but because the Wii is region protected we were'nt looking to buy, just scout out games to look for in the US in the future. In that respect we succeeded and are really excited for a handful of new games to try over the next few months.
We killed the rest of the afternoon walking around Osaka, eating lunch at Wendys, yes we admit it, and people watching. The baseball was scheduled for 6 p.m. so we left on the trian about 4:45 to give ourselves plenty of time to take in the atmosphere.
Across Japan the Hanshin Tigers are reknowned to have the liveliest atmosphere, and they did not disappoint. We were sining and chanting for 9 innings straight, and even though the team was getting severely outplayed the whole night, the fans did not give up for a second. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures that do it justice right now, but hopefully the video will help.
The game ended with our home town Yakult Swallows from Tokyo defeating the Tigers 2-0, but it was still one of the most enjoyable games I've ever attended, and well worth the trip. It was a rush back to the hostel to grab our bags after the game and on to the bus station where we took the overnight bus back to Tokyo for 2 more weeks of fun with Masa and Tami chan.
Nara...Thank goodness Michelle is over her fear of Deer!
Following the recommendation of a few of our guesthouse mates as well as Tami chan, we set aside a day to see the main sights in Nara. Only 35 minutes from Kyoto, Nara was the capital of Japan in the 8th century and still holds many impressive sites that we were excited to see.
Skipping a proper breakfast to make our train, our first item on the agenda was getting something to eat. We were lucky to stop at a wonderful place, Okaru, for a famous regional dish, Okonomiyaki, a type of Japanese pancake. The restaurant was small and we sat typical Japanese style on mats with our legs tucked underneath. We ordered the house special, a mixture of various seafood, as well as the pumpkin and cheese and it was cooked right in front of us as we watched with great delight.
The meal was wonderful, right at the top of our favorites in Japan and the entire trip for that matter. We were stuffed and happy and ready to get out and enjoy the day.
Our first temple, Kofukuji, was right around the corner from lunch so we wasted little time in getting right into the sights. The pagoda here is a rare 5 story pagoda and is the second tallest in Japan, second only to one at the palace in Kyoto. Here's Michelle doing the traditional Japanese photography pose that she has mastered on the trip.
Here's another view of the pagoda, this time with some beautiful wisteria making an appearance.
The great thing about Nara is that the majority of the sights are located within Nara Park which takes up the eastern half of the city. Because of this we enjoyed a great stroll from the Kofukuji temple to a tranquil garden. A lovely traditional Japanese garden, this was a great place for us to relax and take in the beauty of our surroundings.
Michelle caught this cool image of the garden reflected from the window of one of the buildings...
The main attraction in Nara is undoubtedly Todai-Ji, a temple complex on which sits Daibutsuden, the Great Buddha Hall. Daibutsuden is recognized as the world's largest wooden building, even though it is only 70% as large as its original size.
Within Daibutsuden sits a gigantic buddha known as Daibutsu. This statue is 15 metres tall and was originally constructed in 743. Along with the reclining Buddha in Bangkok and the Buddha made of sandalwood in Beijing, this Buddha makes up the third member of our All-Asia Buddha statue line-up, and would be a formidable opponent in any 3 on 3.
When we mentioned we were going to Nara everyone said, look out for the deer, so we knew they would have quite the presence, but we didn't know they would be everywhere.
From the first temple to the last and everywhere in between deer are walking around and being fed by tourists who purchase cakes for them from street vendors. All these deer necessitate precautions by the authorities to make sure nothing bad happens, and this leads to some great signage...
The rest of the afternoon was spent next to another couple dozen deer in a park reading and relaxing before moving on to Osaka for the night. Nara was a perfect day trip and we would have really missed out had we not visited.
Skipping a proper breakfast to make our train, our first item on the agenda was getting something to eat. We were lucky to stop at a wonderful place, Okaru, for a famous regional dish, Okonomiyaki, a type of Japanese pancake. The restaurant was small and we sat typical Japanese style on mats with our legs tucked underneath. We ordered the house special, a mixture of various seafood, as well as the pumpkin and cheese and it was cooked right in front of us as we watched with great delight.
The meal was wonderful, right at the top of our favorites in Japan and the entire trip for that matter. We were stuffed and happy and ready to get out and enjoy the day.
Our first temple, Kofukuji, was right around the corner from lunch so we wasted little time in getting right into the sights. The pagoda here is a rare 5 story pagoda and is the second tallest in Japan, second only to one at the palace in Kyoto. Here's Michelle doing the traditional Japanese photography pose that she has mastered on the trip.
Here's another view of the pagoda, this time with some beautiful wisteria making an appearance.
The great thing about Nara is that the majority of the sights are located within Nara Park which takes up the eastern half of the city. Because of this we enjoyed a great stroll from the Kofukuji temple to a tranquil garden. A lovely traditional Japanese garden, this was a great place for us to relax and take in the beauty of our surroundings.
Michelle caught this cool image of the garden reflected from the window of one of the buildings...
The main attraction in Nara is undoubtedly Todai-Ji, a temple complex on which sits Daibutsuden, the Great Buddha Hall. Daibutsuden is recognized as the world's largest wooden building, even though it is only 70% as large as its original size.
Within Daibutsuden sits a gigantic buddha known as Daibutsu. This statue is 15 metres tall and was originally constructed in 743. Along with the reclining Buddha in Bangkok and the Buddha made of sandalwood in Beijing, this Buddha makes up the third member of our All-Asia Buddha statue line-up, and would be a formidable opponent in any 3 on 3.
When we mentioned we were going to Nara everyone said, look out for the deer, so we knew they would have quite the presence, but we didn't know they would be everywhere.
From the first temple to the last and everywhere in between deer are walking around and being fed by tourists who purchase cakes for them from street vendors. All these deer necessitate precautions by the authorities to make sure nothing bad happens, and this leads to some great signage...
The rest of the afternoon was spent next to another couple dozen deer in a park reading and relaxing before moving on to Osaka for the night. Nara was a perfect day trip and we would have really missed out had we not visited.
Kyoto...Land of the Geisha and so many temples
We arrived very early, 6am, in Kyoto after taking the bus from Tokyo and made our way straight to the hostel to get settled and see if we could check in. As it turned out, the hostel reception did not open until 10am, but we found the common room and watched the Byron Nelson playoff between Ryan Moore and Adam Scott. We were obviously pulling for Ryan, but Adam birdied the 3rd playoff hole with a 50 footer, so our hopes of seeing Ryan's first win while in Japan were dashed.
With no one to check us in for a few hours we set out to do some early morning sightseeing. Thankfully we chose to pack light and hauled everything with us down the road about 2 miles to the Kiyomizu Temple. This is a very famous temple in Kyoto, and consequently was packed even at 8:30am. Before going into the temple itself we paid a visit to its hillside cemetery which was a sight in itself.
We walked all around the temple complex and admired the shrine, the 3 story pagoda and the surrounding nature. The main shrine is built on the hillside and offers some great views of the area. Here is me with the shrine behind me...
One of the rituals that everyone was taking part in was the washing of their hands with the water falling from above. There was a long line, so we decided to take a pass ourselves.
Our next stop on the morning journey was the Kodai Ji shrine. Even though much less famous than Kiyomoizu, we enjoyed it a lot more for its serenity and design. It included a Zen rock garden as well as many fine buildings.
It also had a great trail through a bamboo forest, so much different than the bamboo we came across in Thailand. In Japan they are much larger in diameter and grow more independently of each other than in Thailand.
After walking back to the hostel and checking in we ate some lunch and continued our sightseeing at the Fushimi Inari shrine. This was probably our favorite place in Kyoto, we loved hiking all over the mountain through the thousands of orange Torii over every pathway. Here are some shots of our hiking trails...
We hiked around this area for a good 2 to 3 hours and when we had worn ourselves out we made our way towards the last spot of the day, the Sanjusangendo temple. This was a very impressive place bearing 1000 identical "thousand armed kannon" statues flanking one main deity called Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokiteśvara. Each statue doesn't really have 1000 arms, they actually have about 42, but each arm counts for 25 worlds, and therefore you get 1000, even though the math doesn't quite work out. No pictures are allowed in the temple, but if you really need to see it there are a few on Wikipedia.
Much to Michelle's delight, our hostel was located in the Gion neighborhood, ground zero for Geisha in Kyoto, and by extension all of Japan. The girl at the hostel said that if we head down between 5:30 and 6:30 we could catch them on their way to work. We decided this would be fun, little did we know though that they have a paparazzi following and we joined right in with the gawking onlookers and photogs to snap pictures and admire the Geisha in all their splendor.
That night we ate some conveyor belt sushi that doesn't come even close to what we've been eating in Shibuya, but at least it was cheap and compared to most places it was great.
Due to our limited time in Kyoto we kept up a pretty busy schedule of sightseeing and set out the next morning for Nanzenji Temple where we observed tons of painters hard at work painting this apparently famous aqueduct.
Our guidebook mentioned that the best part of the temple was way in the back up the hill, so we trekked back and found a nice, if not amazing, little spot. Devotees come to bathe under the waterfall here year round and it was a nice break from the crowds further towards the front.
On our way to the next temple we took a path called the Philosophers Walk, it runs along a canal and would surely be an amazing place to take in the cherry blossoms in bloom.
The next stop was one of my clearest memories from my previous journey to Japan, the famous Kinkaku-ji Temple. It was originally a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and constructed in 1397. The temple has been burned down numerous times since with the most recent incident occurring in 1950 courtesy of an overzealous monk.
Our final stop for the day was the Ryoan ji Zen temple. This temple contains one of the finest Zen rock gardens around. It consists of raked gravel and 15 stones, and will be more easily viewed when I get a panorama picture up for you. Until then this can give you a bit of an idea.
By the time we made it back to our hostel it was Geisha watching time again, and tonight we caught some more looks, this time in pairs!
We decided to squeeze in a daytrip to Nara the following day, so that was all we had time for in Kyoto. It was a beautiful place and somewhere you could definitely spend some serious time so long as you keep your activities varied and don't burn yourself out on temples. On to Nara for giant Buddhas and lots of deer.
With no one to check us in for a few hours we set out to do some early morning sightseeing. Thankfully we chose to pack light and hauled everything with us down the road about 2 miles to the Kiyomizu Temple. This is a very famous temple in Kyoto, and consequently was packed even at 8:30am. Before going into the temple itself we paid a visit to its hillside cemetery which was a sight in itself.
We walked all around the temple complex and admired the shrine, the 3 story pagoda and the surrounding nature. The main shrine is built on the hillside and offers some great views of the area. Here is me with the shrine behind me...
One of the rituals that everyone was taking part in was the washing of their hands with the water falling from above. There was a long line, so we decided to take a pass ourselves.
Our next stop on the morning journey was the Kodai Ji shrine. Even though much less famous than Kiyomoizu, we enjoyed it a lot more for its serenity and design. It included a Zen rock garden as well as many fine buildings.
It also had a great trail through a bamboo forest, so much different than the bamboo we came across in Thailand. In Japan they are much larger in diameter and grow more independently of each other than in Thailand.
After walking back to the hostel and checking in we ate some lunch and continued our sightseeing at the Fushimi Inari shrine. This was probably our favorite place in Kyoto, we loved hiking all over the mountain through the thousands of orange Torii over every pathway. Here are some shots of our hiking trails...
We hiked around this area for a good 2 to 3 hours and when we had worn ourselves out we made our way towards the last spot of the day, the Sanjusangendo temple. This was a very impressive place bearing 1000 identical "thousand armed kannon" statues flanking one main deity called Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokiteśvara. Each statue doesn't really have 1000 arms, they actually have about 42, but each arm counts for 25 worlds, and therefore you get 1000, even though the math doesn't quite work out. No pictures are allowed in the temple, but if you really need to see it there are a few on Wikipedia.
Much to Michelle's delight, our hostel was located in the Gion neighborhood, ground zero for Geisha in Kyoto, and by extension all of Japan. The girl at the hostel said that if we head down between 5:30 and 6:30 we could catch them on their way to work. We decided this would be fun, little did we know though that they have a paparazzi following and we joined right in with the gawking onlookers and photogs to snap pictures and admire the Geisha in all their splendor.
That night we ate some conveyor belt sushi that doesn't come even close to what we've been eating in Shibuya, but at least it was cheap and compared to most places it was great.
Due to our limited time in Kyoto we kept up a pretty busy schedule of sightseeing and set out the next morning for Nanzenji Temple where we observed tons of painters hard at work painting this apparently famous aqueduct.
Our guidebook mentioned that the best part of the temple was way in the back up the hill, so we trekked back and found a nice, if not amazing, little spot. Devotees come to bathe under the waterfall here year round and it was a nice break from the crowds further towards the front.
On our way to the next temple we took a path called the Philosophers Walk, it runs along a canal and would surely be an amazing place to take in the cherry blossoms in bloom.
The next stop was one of my clearest memories from my previous journey to Japan, the famous Kinkaku-ji Temple. It was originally a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and constructed in 1397. The temple has been burned down numerous times since with the most recent incident occurring in 1950 courtesy of an overzealous monk.
Our final stop for the day was the Ryoan ji Zen temple. This temple contains one of the finest Zen rock gardens around. It consists of raked gravel and 15 stones, and will be more easily viewed when I get a panorama picture up for you. Until then this can give you a bit of an idea.
By the time we made it back to our hostel it was Geisha watching time again, and tonight we caught some more looks, this time in pairs!
We decided to squeeze in a daytrip to Nara the following day, so that was all we had time for in Kyoto. It was a beautiful place and somewhere you could definitely spend some serious time so long as you keep your activities varied and don't burn yourself out on temples. On to Nara for giant Buddhas and lots of deer.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Earthquake
So, last night around 1am Tokyo time there was a 6.8 earthquake. We had no idea it was that strong until we received some emails this morning checking on us. We first felt the earthquake around 1am and then another one about 20 minutes later. For the epicenter to be only 100 miles away, I'm surprised it didn't feel stronger. The room shook for about 30 seconds on the first one and about a minute the second time. Definitely felt weird. I was upstairs in our guesthouse in the computer/tv room and Evan was downstairs reading in bed. A guy walked into the tv room and said, "are people having sex?" Evan was by himself and noticed something was funny, but didn't think twice about it other than the fact that he shouldn't be shaking. However, upstairs all sorts of things were rattling and it was pretty clear it was an earthquake. All is well...we'll update more in a few days as we're off to the hot springs with Masa and Tami chan.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Tokyo...week 1
So, every night we talk about how we need to update the blog, but then it gets late, we've had a few beers or wine to drink and we decide to sleep instead. So, we apologize for being slow in updating about our stay in Japan so far. It's hard to believe that we'll be home in less than 2 weeks, so we're trying to cram in as much as possible in our remaining time. This blog dates back to April 19, our arrival in Japan.
We are staying at a guesthouse, which is similar to an apartment, but we share the bathrooms, kitchen and living room with others. There are 12 rooms in the guesthouse and the majority of the rooms are filled, but it seems like it's half empty because most people have jobs and we never see them. We never have to wait for the shower, and the living room has a cable tv and free internet! Our room has a mini-fridge, hanging wardrobe, futon (not an american futon, but more like a mattress on the ground) and small tv. It's small, but it's so nice to finally be able to unpack our stuff and not have to pack up every 3 days.
We chose this place because it's only one stop away from Masa (Evan's friend from high school), and in a city of almost 15 million that's pretty amazing! On arrival, Masa hooked us up with metro cards so we don't have to buy a ticket for every ride. We really feel like we live here! Our neighborhood is called Koenji and has a really cute pedestrian street with fun boutique shops along with restaurants and grocery stores. We quickly found the 100yen store (a dollar) to buy some random stuff for our room. Tokyo isn't as pricey as we thought it would be, especially if you know where to shop.
We went to Masa's house and he introduced us to his newest find in his neighborhood...a vending machine that was programmed incorrectly to sell beer for 110yen instead of 210yen. Jackpot! We stocked up and went back to his place to meet his girlfriend, Tami chan. She doesn't speak english, and I speak no japanese, so Masa is the translator. Evan is a little rusty with his japanese, but he can usually get his point across. Tami chan was shocked by my blonde hair and kept saying sugoi (wow). She was also entertained by us speaking english and using phrases that she hears in movies.
We spent the next few days acclimating ourselves to the area, doing some grocery shopping and some clothes shopping. I bought some jeans and shirts on April 20 and I can honestly say that 16 days later, I have worn the jeans every single day. Normal clothes feel sooo good after living in travel clothes for over 3 months!
We are only about 10 minutes away from Shinjuku and our metro card gets us there for free, so we've been there a few times. Shinjuku is the busiest train station in the world with over 3.3 million passengers a day. It's a crazy busy area with tons of shops and restaurants. Evan found some golf stores that were 7 stories, so he was in heaven and this isn't even the huge golf district.
Sushi was on my mind and Masa had a great conveyor belt sushi restaurant to take us to in Shibuya. The chefs are in the middle and prepare the sushi and place it on the conveyor belt. I have never had sushi this delicious before and it was super cheap ($1 for 2 pieces)! My favorite is the tuna, and we would scout out the best tunas and hope that they would make their way around the room to us.
In Shibuya there's a statue of a dog named Hachiko. Story goes, the dog saw his owner off from their apartment and would go out and meet him at the end of the day at the train station. After his owner died, the dog returned every day to the station to wait for him and did so for the next 10 years. We both got a little sad thinking about Pacha waiting for us. It was crowded, so we didn't get a photo, but I'm sure we'll be back to Shibuya to eat more sushi.
From Shibuya we went to Cat Street and Harajuku, very trendy shopping areas. We visited Tami chan's cafe to say hello and have a drink before heading back to our place for dinner and relaxation.
On Tami chan's day off we went to Shinjuku to a governmental building with a free observation tower. It was cloudy, but we could appreciate the mass sprawl of Tokyo. On a clear day you can sometimes see Mount Fuji, so we'll have to go back when the sky is blue.
That evening (the 24th) Masa and Tami chan introduced us to the excitement of a Japanese arcade and PriClu. Priclu is the photo booth stickers which we hope to get forwarded to our email next time so everyone can see how dumb we are. Here's three of the gang after a fun night.
Shinjuku is also a major area in town for lonely ladies who could use a little companionship, male geisha style...
The following day we headed off to our first Japanese baseball game to catch the Yakult Swallows take on the Chunichi Dragons. On the way there we passed one of the many vintage clothing shops where Evan spotted a Culver Hoodie for a cool $319 USD, yep that's right, three hundred nineteen us dollars, wow!
At the game we picked up some noise makers and joined in the reverie as best we could. Yes we're goofballs, but we have a lot of fun doing it.
Masa got everything rolling by diving into a pack of fans to get a ball thrown into the stands by the right fielder, he skinned his knee, but the prize was worth it. Several innings and several stadium brews later...
...we found ourselves on the jumbotron. Michelle happened to be filming on the video camera at the time, but got a bit too excited and forgot her priorities, so we have some great footage of who knows what with all of screaming, "it's all on video" or something to that effect, in the background. In the end we had a blast, and our home town, Yakult Swallows prevailed 2-1, so everyone went home happy.
We decided to go for back to back sports days, and so we headed west of town to Ajinomoto stadium to catch Tokyo Verdy vs. Nagoya Grampas. After a lacklustre first half, Verdy came out firing in the second half and netted a 2-0 victory thanks to some cool finishing from their Brazilian import as well as a home grown player. Nice panorama to come as soon as I get off my butt and find the software for Masa's comp.
On the way home from the game we stopped in Ginza to meet up with Masa and check out the Sony building. With 4 to 5 floors of space to show off, Sony quickly sold me on the next generation of HD camcorders as well as TVs. They split a screen and had what amounted to our camera filming an object and one of their new HD cameras doing the same and there was really no comparison. Michelle is sold, so now it's just a matter of time and a kid coming along to justify the expense!
That evening we were treated to a special culinary treat from Ms. Tami chan herself, Japanese soul food. With meats, salads, rice and other treats we stuffed ourselves and had Masa continually translating our thanks for such a delicious meal. It was a great evening all around with exciting Man U. vs. Chelsea on the tube and delicious food to keep us happy.
Our final day in Tokyo before our side trip we wanted to check out Harajuku again, this time in the weekend chaos. Our first stop was Takeshita Dori, a shopping street that is too crowded for its own good, but a lot of fun to squeeze through nonetheless.
We picked up fun socks and did a ton of window shopping before grabbing a bite to eat and getting some peace and quiet over at the Meiji Jingu shrine.
The shrine itself was nice, as with many of the temples and shrines in Korea, this one was not the original, must a more recent version. Nevertheless they do a terrific job with the reconstructions and come out with a beautiful place that is just as sacred to those who come here to worship.
A curious site on the way out were these replica kegs of sake which were placed across the path from a number of barrels of French wine as some sort of cross cultural exchange with France, who knows, we liked the sake though.
Only one thing left for us and that was to make it to the bus depot and onto the right bus for Kyoto, which we did with ease and we were off for our side trip to Kansai. We can't stress how great it's been to be with Masa and Tami this week, Masa is such a great friend from so many years back that seeing him and taking part in the usual shenanigans has been quite a treat. We also can't tell you how great it is to settle down in a place like Tokyo for a month, after all the moving around, this is something we can quickly get used to.
We are staying at a guesthouse, which is similar to an apartment, but we share the bathrooms, kitchen and living room with others. There are 12 rooms in the guesthouse and the majority of the rooms are filled, but it seems like it's half empty because most people have jobs and we never see them. We never have to wait for the shower, and the living room has a cable tv and free internet! Our room has a mini-fridge, hanging wardrobe, futon (not an american futon, but more like a mattress on the ground) and small tv. It's small, but it's so nice to finally be able to unpack our stuff and not have to pack up every 3 days.
We chose this place because it's only one stop away from Masa (Evan's friend from high school), and in a city of almost 15 million that's pretty amazing! On arrival, Masa hooked us up with metro cards so we don't have to buy a ticket for every ride. We really feel like we live here! Our neighborhood is called Koenji and has a really cute pedestrian street with fun boutique shops along with restaurants and grocery stores. We quickly found the 100yen store (a dollar) to buy some random stuff for our room. Tokyo isn't as pricey as we thought it would be, especially if you know where to shop.
We went to Masa's house and he introduced us to his newest find in his neighborhood...a vending machine that was programmed incorrectly to sell beer for 110yen instead of 210yen. Jackpot! We stocked up and went back to his place to meet his girlfriend, Tami chan. She doesn't speak english, and I speak no japanese, so Masa is the translator. Evan is a little rusty with his japanese, but he can usually get his point across. Tami chan was shocked by my blonde hair and kept saying sugoi (wow). She was also entertained by us speaking english and using phrases that she hears in movies.
We spent the next few days acclimating ourselves to the area, doing some grocery shopping and some clothes shopping. I bought some jeans and shirts on April 20 and I can honestly say that 16 days later, I have worn the jeans every single day. Normal clothes feel sooo good after living in travel clothes for over 3 months!
We are only about 10 minutes away from Shinjuku and our metro card gets us there for free, so we've been there a few times. Shinjuku is the busiest train station in the world with over 3.3 million passengers a day. It's a crazy busy area with tons of shops and restaurants. Evan found some golf stores that were 7 stories, so he was in heaven and this isn't even the huge golf district.
Sushi was on my mind and Masa had a great conveyor belt sushi restaurant to take us to in Shibuya. The chefs are in the middle and prepare the sushi and place it on the conveyor belt. I have never had sushi this delicious before and it was super cheap ($1 for 2 pieces)! My favorite is the tuna, and we would scout out the best tunas and hope that they would make their way around the room to us.
In Shibuya there's a statue of a dog named Hachiko. Story goes, the dog saw his owner off from their apartment and would go out and meet him at the end of the day at the train station. After his owner died, the dog returned every day to the station to wait for him and did so for the next 10 years. We both got a little sad thinking about Pacha waiting for us. It was crowded, so we didn't get a photo, but I'm sure we'll be back to Shibuya to eat more sushi.
From Shibuya we went to Cat Street and Harajuku, very trendy shopping areas. We visited Tami chan's cafe to say hello and have a drink before heading back to our place for dinner and relaxation.
On Tami chan's day off we went to Shinjuku to a governmental building with a free observation tower. It was cloudy, but we could appreciate the mass sprawl of Tokyo. On a clear day you can sometimes see Mount Fuji, so we'll have to go back when the sky is blue.
That evening (the 24th) Masa and Tami chan introduced us to the excitement of a Japanese arcade and PriClu. Priclu is the photo booth stickers which we hope to get forwarded to our email next time so everyone can see how dumb we are. Here's three of the gang after a fun night.
Shinjuku is also a major area in town for lonely ladies who could use a little companionship, male geisha style...
The following day we headed off to our first Japanese baseball game to catch the Yakult Swallows take on the Chunichi Dragons. On the way there we passed one of the many vintage clothing shops where Evan spotted a Culver Hoodie for a cool $319 USD, yep that's right, three hundred nineteen us dollars, wow!
At the game we picked up some noise makers and joined in the reverie as best we could. Yes we're goofballs, but we have a lot of fun doing it.
Masa got everything rolling by diving into a pack of fans to get a ball thrown into the stands by the right fielder, he skinned his knee, but the prize was worth it. Several innings and several stadium brews later...
...we found ourselves on the jumbotron. Michelle happened to be filming on the video camera at the time, but got a bit too excited and forgot her priorities, so we have some great footage of who knows what with all of screaming, "it's all on video" or something to that effect, in the background. In the end we had a blast, and our home town, Yakult Swallows prevailed 2-1, so everyone went home happy.
We decided to go for back to back sports days, and so we headed west of town to Ajinomoto stadium to catch Tokyo Verdy vs. Nagoya Grampas. After a lacklustre first half, Verdy came out firing in the second half and netted a 2-0 victory thanks to some cool finishing from their Brazilian import as well as a home grown player. Nice panorama to come as soon as I get off my butt and find the software for Masa's comp.
On the way home from the game we stopped in Ginza to meet up with Masa and check out the Sony building. With 4 to 5 floors of space to show off, Sony quickly sold me on the next generation of HD camcorders as well as TVs. They split a screen and had what amounted to our camera filming an object and one of their new HD cameras doing the same and there was really no comparison. Michelle is sold, so now it's just a matter of time and a kid coming along to justify the expense!
That evening we were treated to a special culinary treat from Ms. Tami chan herself, Japanese soul food. With meats, salads, rice and other treats we stuffed ourselves and had Masa continually translating our thanks for such a delicious meal. It was a great evening all around with exciting Man U. vs. Chelsea on the tube and delicious food to keep us happy.
Our final day in Tokyo before our side trip we wanted to check out Harajuku again, this time in the weekend chaos. Our first stop was Takeshita Dori, a shopping street that is too crowded for its own good, but a lot of fun to squeeze through nonetheless.
We picked up fun socks and did a ton of window shopping before grabbing a bite to eat and getting some peace and quiet over at the Meiji Jingu shrine.
The shrine itself was nice, as with many of the temples and shrines in Korea, this one was not the original, must a more recent version. Nevertheless they do a terrific job with the reconstructions and come out with a beautiful place that is just as sacred to those who come here to worship.
A curious site on the way out were these replica kegs of sake which were placed across the path from a number of barrels of French wine as some sort of cross cultural exchange with France, who knows, we liked the sake though.
Only one thing left for us and that was to make it to the bus depot and onto the right bus for Kyoto, which we did with ease and we were off for our side trip to Kansai. We can't stress how great it's been to be with Masa and Tami this week, Masa is such a great friend from so many years back that seeing him and taking part in the usual shenanigans has been quite a treat. We also can't tell you how great it is to settle down in a place like Tokyo for a month, after all the moving around, this is something we can quickly get used to.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Masters Contest Wrap up
I just wanted to take a quick moment to announce the winners of our Masters Pick'em contest and their fantastic prizes. Michelle and I were riding on the overnight train to Beijing the night before the tourney and with the prospect of missing the Masters for the first time hanging over me I knew I had to do something to stay interested. So an email went out to a couple dozen of my golf partners, and here we are. The contest involoved picking 4 golfers, and taking the 3 low scores, it was a back and forth battle, but in the end the best golfer (with all due respect Marshall) in the bunch proved to be the savviest predictor.
Congratulations to Matt Head of Greensboro, NC on his picks of Andres Romero, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods. Matt has chosen the famed "I climbed the Great Wall Tshirt" and we think he'll be very happy with it.
Runner up went to Dave Schoepske, also of Greensboro, NC. Dave is the world's foremost 3M tape expert and taught me everything I know. He made the very enlightened pick of revolutionary playing cards. We bought an extra deck for ourselves, so I like his style.
Rounding out the top three is an old time golf partner, Nolan VanNahmen, from Tampa, Florida. After contemplating a few choices he went with another revolutionary piece of kitsch, a classic Mao and friends poster.
Thanks to everyone who participated, Alan, Bill, Steve, Cliff, Reed, Ryan, Marshall, Country and Todd, and if you didn't and wish you did make sure you let me know before next year. You can see all the prizes on our Picasa page, some pretty nice parting gifts if you ask us.
And special thanks to Michelle for helping with the tabulations every morning before we hit the road in Beijing!
By the way, I finished Last!
EG
Congratulations to Matt Head of Greensboro, NC on his picks of Andres Romero, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods. Matt has chosen the famed "I climbed the Great Wall Tshirt" and we think he'll be very happy with it.
Runner up went to Dave Schoepske, also of Greensboro, NC. Dave is the world's foremost 3M tape expert and taught me everything I know. He made the very enlightened pick of revolutionary playing cards. We bought an extra deck for ourselves, so I like his style.
Rounding out the top three is an old time golf partner, Nolan VanNahmen, from Tampa, Florida. After contemplating a few choices he went with another revolutionary piece of kitsch, a classic Mao and friends poster.
Thanks to everyone who participated, Alan, Bill, Steve, Cliff, Reed, Ryan, Marshall, Country and Todd, and if you didn't and wish you did make sure you let me know before next year. You can see all the prizes on our Picasa page, some pretty nice parting gifts if you ask us.
And special thanks to Michelle for helping with the tabulations every morning before we hit the road in Beijing!
By the way, I finished Last!
EG
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Seoul, South Korea
We were blessed to have great hosts in Seoul. We visited with Joe, one of Evan's friends from Emory, and his girlfriend, Jooyoung. They are two of the kindest people...from Jooyoung waiting for us at the bus stop on our arrival, researching a day tour of Seoul, great meals, letting us crash at his place and even giving up the bed for us! Thanks Joe and Jooyoung!
On our first day, Jooyoung took us to Joe's work neighborhood to check out the National Assembly, the river and the tail end of the cherry blossoms. After Joe finished work they quickly immersed us in Korean culture...a Korean BBQ dinner. You cook the meat yourself (we had both pork and beef) and wrap it in lettuce with other toppings. It was delicious! Here's Joe and Jooyoung enjoying their meal...
After dinner, Jooyoung headed home and Joe had something special up his sleeve. We walked around his neighborhood which is full of fun bars, restaurants and boutiques. He pointed to a bar at the top of a building and suggested that we check it out. It was called Dog Cafe Bau Haus and we could see dogs' noses pressed against the windows. The dogs are being boarded either daily or long term, and they even have a card with many of the dogs' pictures and names so you can address them by name. The dogs seemed quite well behaved until we purchased some treats for them. They were climbing all over the tables and over us to get the treats. They did know how to sit and shake to get their treats.
We were zonked after almost 2 hours in the Bau Haus, and headed home to rest for a busy following day. Joe and Jooyoung found a city bus tour where we could get on and off as we pleased, so we hit that the next morning. Our first stop was Deoksugung Palace, a former royal palace and residence for various emperors over the years. One thing that was really neat about this place, as well as all of the temples and palaces in Seoul was the proximity of the old to new and how we were standing in the middle of the city, but in a serene atmosphere. This fact is not lost on the many people of all ages who we saw strolling the grounds at all hours of the day.
This is the main hall of the palace, Junghwajeon, where Emperor Gojong conducted state affairs.
All of the halls were very intricately detailed and we were really impressed by their use of color.
The next stop on the tour was Itaweon, an area that caters to foreigners, especially military personnel stationed in Seoul. Deepa had shown us a couple jerseys he picked up when visiting Joe a few months back, so we knew (yes, we, even Michelle) that we had to check it out. We managed to score Manning and Addai jerseys. The best part about all of it was they were only $20 a pop. They do great knock off work in all of Asia, but this was the first time we had seen NFL goods, and perfect copies of Mitchell and Ness as well as Reebok official equipment, gotta love it.
We stopped by the Namsongol Traditional Village on the way to Namsan park, but didn't stay long as we didn't have a guide and that made it difficult to appreciate a lot of what was there. Namsan Park is the home of Seoul Tower and some beautiful views of the entire city and surrounds. Even though we were past peak cherry blossom time at ground level, up on the hill they were still in full bloom.
It's a tradition to bring a padlock to the top and hook it to the fence, unfortuantely we didn't know this until we arrived, so all we could do was admire.
The final stop on the tour was Insa Dong, a really cool shopping and dining street that was great for a stroll. We grabbed a bite to eat here and killed some time before meeting our hosts for an evening of soccer at the World Cup stadium to see FC Seoul take on Incheon. This stadium is world class, and definitely one of the nicest used in the 2002 World Cup. The teams battled to a scoreless draw, but we still had a blast!
Another morning of sleeping in and then off to see the sights. The first palace we tried to visit was 5x the normal price this day because you can't take a guide, go figure, so we passed and chose to visit the Gyeongbokgung Palace instead. This was a former imperial palace, originally built in the late 14th century, but destroyed during Japanese invasions in the 16th century. This was the place where Sejong the Great held court in the 15th century and also invented the Hangul language of Korea so that (according to Joe) the common people could learn to read and write much easier than the complex Chinese script.
We loved the throne room and all of the vibrant colors over every square inch of the building.
Also, we were intrigued by the adornments on the corners of each roof.
With perfect weather and flowers in full bloom we enjoyed all of the gardens tucked into every corner of the palace.
After visiting the palace, we met up with Jooyoung to check out some art galleries. Then we had dinner with Jooyoung, her sister and Joe at another great Korean restaurant where we tried octopus. We walked around some more at Insa-Dong where they don't allow signage in any language other than Korean. So, here's the Starbucks...
We also stopped at a street vendor who makes sweet treats that were famous as a royal dessert...
Our last day in Seoul was spent with Michelle relaxing and while the boys went shopping at Itaewon again and Longsan, a place to get great fake dvds. Joe found out that he got into law school, so we went out to celebrate with another great Korean BBQ meal. We had some drinks at a bar before saying goodbye and heading to the Hilton for a great night's sleep. Joe's dad used some of his points to get us a free room at the Hilton, thanks Dr. Jueng! The next morning we took off for Japan!
On our first day, Jooyoung took us to Joe's work neighborhood to check out the National Assembly, the river and the tail end of the cherry blossoms. After Joe finished work they quickly immersed us in Korean culture...a Korean BBQ dinner. You cook the meat yourself (we had both pork and beef) and wrap it in lettuce with other toppings. It was delicious! Here's Joe and Jooyoung enjoying their meal...
After dinner, Jooyoung headed home and Joe had something special up his sleeve. We walked around his neighborhood which is full of fun bars, restaurants and boutiques. He pointed to a bar at the top of a building and suggested that we check it out. It was called Dog Cafe Bau Haus and we could see dogs' noses pressed against the windows. The dogs are being boarded either daily or long term, and they even have a card with many of the dogs' pictures and names so you can address them by name. The dogs seemed quite well behaved until we purchased some treats for them. They were climbing all over the tables and over us to get the treats. They did know how to sit and shake to get their treats.
We were zonked after almost 2 hours in the Bau Haus, and headed home to rest for a busy following day. Joe and Jooyoung found a city bus tour where we could get on and off as we pleased, so we hit that the next morning. Our first stop was Deoksugung Palace, a former royal palace and residence for various emperors over the years. One thing that was really neat about this place, as well as all of the temples and palaces in Seoul was the proximity of the old to new and how we were standing in the middle of the city, but in a serene atmosphere. This fact is not lost on the many people of all ages who we saw strolling the grounds at all hours of the day.
This is the main hall of the palace, Junghwajeon, where Emperor Gojong conducted state affairs.
All of the halls were very intricately detailed and we were really impressed by their use of color.
The next stop on the tour was Itaweon, an area that caters to foreigners, especially military personnel stationed in Seoul. Deepa had shown us a couple jerseys he picked up when visiting Joe a few months back, so we knew (yes, we, even Michelle) that we had to check it out. We managed to score Manning and Addai jerseys. The best part about all of it was they were only $20 a pop. They do great knock off work in all of Asia, but this was the first time we had seen NFL goods, and perfect copies of Mitchell and Ness as well as Reebok official equipment, gotta love it.
We stopped by the Namsongol Traditional Village on the way to Namsan park, but didn't stay long as we didn't have a guide and that made it difficult to appreciate a lot of what was there. Namsan Park is the home of Seoul Tower and some beautiful views of the entire city and surrounds. Even though we were past peak cherry blossom time at ground level, up on the hill they were still in full bloom.
It's a tradition to bring a padlock to the top and hook it to the fence, unfortuantely we didn't know this until we arrived, so all we could do was admire.
The final stop on the tour was Insa Dong, a really cool shopping and dining street that was great for a stroll. We grabbed a bite to eat here and killed some time before meeting our hosts for an evening of soccer at the World Cup stadium to see FC Seoul take on Incheon. This stadium is world class, and definitely one of the nicest used in the 2002 World Cup. The teams battled to a scoreless draw, but we still had a blast!
Another morning of sleeping in and then off to see the sights. The first palace we tried to visit was 5x the normal price this day because you can't take a guide, go figure, so we passed and chose to visit the Gyeongbokgung Palace instead. This was a former imperial palace, originally built in the late 14th century, but destroyed during Japanese invasions in the 16th century. This was the place where Sejong the Great held court in the 15th century and also invented the Hangul language of Korea so that (according to Joe) the common people could learn to read and write much easier than the complex Chinese script.
We loved the throne room and all of the vibrant colors over every square inch of the building.
Also, we were intrigued by the adornments on the corners of each roof.
With perfect weather and flowers in full bloom we enjoyed all of the gardens tucked into every corner of the palace.
After visiting the palace, we met up with Jooyoung to check out some art galleries. Then we had dinner with Jooyoung, her sister and Joe at another great Korean restaurant where we tried octopus. We walked around some more at Insa-Dong where they don't allow signage in any language other than Korean. So, here's the Starbucks...
We also stopped at a street vendor who makes sweet treats that were famous as a royal dessert...
Our last day in Seoul was spent with Michelle relaxing and while the boys went shopping at Itaewon again and Longsan, a place to get great fake dvds. Joe found out that he got into law school, so we went out to celebrate with another great Korean BBQ meal. We had some drinks at a bar before saying goodbye and heading to the Hilton for a great night's sleep. Joe's dad used some of his points to get us a free room at the Hilton, thanks Dr. Jueng! The next morning we took off for Japan!
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