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Turning Japanese! (Part 2)

Amanda — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:30:20 +0000

Sunday was sight-seeing – we took a train that required reservations (which we didn’t have) from the Hon-Kawaoge station, transferred to another train, and finally made it to the subway and then in to Tokyo. We started in where we visited a Buddhist temple, which was WAY cool. I bought a fortune and left it tied to a rack, which is supposed to make your good fortune even better. The little street that leads up to the temple was basically a big open air market where I got some nifty souvenirs.

From Asakusa we took the subway to the Tsukiji district which is known for its fish market. The fish market wasn’t open since it was Sunday, but we walked around a little and found a really good sushi place for lunch. SO GOOD. Have I mentioned how fantastic the food was? On the way to the fish market we walked by another Buddhist temple, but this one was built using Indian architecture. Pretty cool…

We had talked about shopping in the Harajuku district, but since I needed to visit a Hello Kitty store and had Googled the one in the Ginza shopping district, we ended up taking the subway to Ginza. We lost one of our party after the visit to Hello Kitty – he’d had enough shopping for one day, plus it was about a bajillion degrees, so he decided to leave the girls to it and head back to Kawagoe. I found lots of souvenirs for Wia and Emma, and then we walked back to the subway. We visited a couple of the high end stores, but I wasn’t in the market for $1000 handbags, and we had places to go.

The highlight of the trip was the visit to the Oedo onsen – a hot spring bath near Tokyo Bay. We took the subway, and then had to catch a bus that took us directly to the onsen, driving us over the Rainbow Bridge… officially the largest bridge I’ve ever been on. It was definitely an experience – shoes off when you get in the door, then you check in and pick out your yukata. From there you go change into it, then into the common area, and from there into the changing room before the baths. I thought I’d feel awkward, but not so much… no one was really looking at anyone else. It was… odd.

Monday was no big deal, until we went to dinner that night. A different Korean barbecue place, which was so much better than the first one. I noticed while I was sitting there that my feet were kind of hurting, but didn’t realize until I got back to the hotel room that my legs and ankles were pretty swollen. I guess walking around in the heat for two days was more than my system could handle! I’ve never been so swollen, and it was only a little better Tuesday morning. I ended up knocking off early on Tuesday so I could relax in my hotel room for a while with my legs propped up, and then I walked around the Crea Mall in Kawagoe to pick up some souvenirs. NOBODY DOES CUTE LIKE JAPAN. All of the women carry what I initially thought were umbrellas, but turned out to be parasols… I had to have one, and ended up with five. FIVE parasols! I found this little guy at one of the stores, and got a cute tote bag, a bookmark, and a pen. I could have shopped and spent tons more, but my legs needed another break, and I needed to pack for my early morning bus ride to the airport.

6:30 AM, bus ride from Kawagoe to Narita airport… even though my flight wasn’t until 11. I did some shopping, picking up Sirotan in a bunny suit, along with some other small souvenirs. The Japanese certainly do love their cellphone charms… I also got some snacks for the flight, for which, by the way, I had been upgraded to Business Class. WOOHOO! I had a giant seat that folded out into a bed, and a much better movie screen. Champagne at takeoff, and a great meal (I opted for the Japanese meal, figuring it would be my last chance in a while to eat anything even close to good Japanese food), plus ice cream whenever I wanted. I actually managed to sleep about 5 hours on the flight! Which was good, because my arrival in Chicago left me pretty well stranded.

Apparently, American Airlines routinely cancels their commuter flights to Indianapolis – but of course, they didn’t cancel it immediately. They bumped it an hour, and then two more hours before finally canceling it. I decided to rent a car to drive home, but first waited around for hours for my bags and got only one of them before I had to pick up the car or lose the reservation. GAH! No worries, they said at the baggage counter. Your bag will just be on a later flight tonight – it will probably get to Indianapolis before you do. Needless to say that was NOT the case… it was another 24 hours before it finally showed up, and I had to go pick it up, or wait yet another day for it to be delivered. American Airlines officially sucks, and I will never fly them again if I can help it. Blech.

So, that was my magical trip to the Far East. Good times, good food, good people… I’m ready to pack up and head off again!

Turning Japanese! (Part 1)

Amanda — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 02:21:07 +0000

So, I alluded in an earlier post that I might be traveling for work this year… and now I’m writing about it. I got to visit Japan at the end of July… and it is now at the top of my list of one of THE coolest places I will ever visit. I keep telling people, Asia in general has never been high on my list of places to visit, but now that I’ve been, I really want to go back.

I arrived in Tokyo on a Tuesday afternoon – I flew Japan Airlines in economy class, and have to say that it wasn’t as bad as you would think a 13-hour flight in economy might be. The plane was hot, the airport was hot, it was hot outside, and the highway bus from Tokyo to Kawagoe was hot. I very nearly lost my lunch, until I realized that part of the problem was that I hadn’t had any lunch. I downed half a granola bar, did some deep breathing, and managed to survive until I got to the hotel.

I met up Wednesday morning with two of the nicest Singaporean women I imagine I’ll ever meet. They work in the lab at our Singapore location, and just made me feel included from the start. The hotel had this great breakfast buffet that was included in the room rate… they had both Western and Japanese breakfast, but I stuck with Western food. Eggs, pancakes, yogurt, corn flakes, and the best apple juice I’ve ever had! We got the bus to work, where I managed to stick it out until the 6:45 bus. We met again around 10:30 for dinner with one of my co-workers from the US – we went to what I can only describe as a Korean barbecue just down a side street from the hotel, where we were discouraged, as foreigners, from ordering internal organs. We settled for beef heart, cheeks, and neck, none of which I’d had before. And beer. I was so tired by the end of the meal they practically had to prop me up.

Thursday and Friday weren’t remarkable, except for the food. Thursday night was ramen, with some dumplings, fried rice, and miso soup on the side. I thought it was kind of funny to have soup and… more soup, for dinner. Friday night’s dinner was more notable for the fact that we left work early enough to hit a sushi restaurant that closes earlier than most others nearby. It was a straight shot from the hotel, and it was delicious! I had eel, which I’ve never had before, and it was fantastic. An older couple came in and ate, and they seemed especially interested in us. They even bought us a small bottle of sake, which was okay. They serve it in tiny glasses, and you NEVER pour your own. Actually, I don’t think you ever pour your own anything.

Work again on Saturday, but we left after lunch. We walked to the Matoba train station and took the train to Kawagoe station, which was my first train ride of the trip. Kawagoe had set up Friday night and Saturday morning for their weekend festival, the Million Lights Summer Festival. We ate lunch at Rakeru, which I gather is sort of a Cracker Barrel in Japan. I had an omurice, which is basically an omelet stuffed with rice, covered and surrounded by some type of gravy. Most of the meals in Japan come as a set, and as always I ended up ordering a bigger set than anyone else in our party. I tried to share dessert, which was a smallish belgian waffle with ice cream, but no one seemed very excited about that idea. It was probably a huge faux pas on my part to offer, but I was the only one eating dessert, for pete’s sake! After lunch we watched the parade that kicked off the festival – I found it hilarious that the parade was kicked off by 5 or 6 high school bands, and then Boy and Girl Scout troops! It was like a little bit of America, which was weird.

We walked around old Kawagoe for several hours, stopping at a shento temple to ring a giant jingle bell and pray. It was freaking hot and humid, and thankfully the vendors were passing out free fans. After some ice cream, we decided to take a train to Asaka to see a fireworks show. Japanese fireworks are like nothing I’ve ever seen! They were absolutely spectacular, and lasted 65 minutes. By the time they were done it was about 9, and we had to walk back through a huge mass of people to the very crowded train station. I think we got back to Kawagoe about 10:30, and then we found a place to sit and eat. Shoes off! We planned Sunday’s trip into Tokyo, and I think I got to bed about 2.

I have SO much more to tell, but this post is already long enough… stay tuned.

Sick, sick, sick

Amanda — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:26:41 +0000

You know, there are advantages and disadvantages to visiting the South in early spring. Advantage: everything’s getting green and flowers are starting to bloom. Disadvantage: everything’s getting green and flowers are starting to bloom. My allergies tell me that spring has definitely come to Georgia, and boy, am I suffering. We made it to Georgia Monday night, and Tuesday was okay, but by Tuesday night I could feel it coming on. You know, that little tickle in the back of the throat that says your lymph nodes are about to swell to the size of grapefruits, and you’d better stock up on Sudafed and Kleenex? Yep. That one. Needless to say, I woke up Wednesday morning with the crud. Today I was actually able to leave the house and have lunch with my dad, but with only tomorrow left of my vacation I can honestly say that allergies SUCK. Oh, and joy of joys, I’ll get to go through it all again in a few weeks when spring finally hits Indiana! I can hardly wait.

NaBloPoMo – Day 31

Amanda — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:07:23 +0000

Or, Day 31+1. I made it to southeast Georgia after a stop in Asheville, NC to spend the day at the Biltmore Estate. Mom and I have been talking about visiting there for at least the last four years, so we decided to do it this year. It was gorgeous, but terribly overpriced. I would have liked to have taken one of the special tours, but we barely had time to do the house, eat lunch and shop a little, visit the conservatory, and end up at the winery. I think we started our day on the estate at 10am, and we didn’t leave until almost 5pm.

View the slideshow here:

I especially loved the winery… I came home with a bottle of Viognier, a bottle of Chenin Blanc (I could really taste the pineapple!), and a bottle of a special wine called Festival of Flowers. Mmm, good.

Travelers

Amanda — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:18:43 +0000

Travelers
Originally uploaded by Little Miss Magic

On the road… Headed to southeast Georgia for the week. Hope the weather gets better as we go, ’cause this rain is pretty crappy.

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