Finally...some sushi for Carl!

Carl is such a huge sushi fan and I think one of the driving reasons to visit us in Japan was to try out some true, authentic Japanese sushi. He's been here for two weeks and I just now took him out for his first sushi outing. I know, I know...I'm a horrible sister! It wasn't intentional though- we just somehow never got around to it until today. We went to a nice sushi place in the Daei mall, near the base. Even though I'm not a big sushi fan, I still found a couple things to eat. And it helped that this particular sushi place had an English translation of their menu--very, very helpful. Some Japanese restaurants have picture menus for the non-Japanese speaking folks, but sometimes I just need to know exactly WHAT it is. It may look delectable in the picture, but who knows what I'll be actually eating?

Carl enjoyed his sushi experience. When I asked him if it was any better than what he gets back home, he said, "It's pretty much the same." Go figure! And that's spoken by a true sushi connoisseur.

Keeping Cool in Kyoto...

With my brother, Carl, visiting for a few weeks, we wanted to be sure to see some of Japan's most recognized places for his sake, and of course, for ours too. We picked Kyoto because we'd heard it's one of those places that blends modern with old-world Japanese style. It truly is beautiful there...but we picked the absolute hottest weekend to visit! Every daytime outing turned into a search for a shady place to rest or a very, very rare airconditioned building. I thought I could handle the heat being from the Philippines and all, but the P.I. is nothing compared to the heat we endured in Kyoto. I'm amazed and quite envious of how lovely and fresh the Japanese women looked while wearing pants, long-sleeved shirts, and sometimes even sweaters, while here I was wearing as little clothing as possible to keep cool and still far from looking fresh or lovely.

Our friends, Colin and Lynn, also traveled to Kyoto with us. We started our trip with a two and a half hour bullet train ride, much to Mike's delight. I'm still surprised at how much fun he gets with anything train related. As soon as we arrived, we checked our baggage with the hotel service at the train station and headed to what I think of whenever I hear about Kyoto, the Golden Pavilion. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed into the Pavilion, but it was still a stunning sight to see.















Next on our itinerary, created by Mike with the help of our handy-dandy Fodor's guide to Japan, was the Gion district. This is a popular place for shopping and supposedly a good place to spot real-life geishas. Mike was on the lookout for a pretty parasol that's been on my wish list. Parasols are a big thing with Japanese women here. I've been using a plain, black, standard-issue umbrella as my parasol, but I've been really wanting a pretty lace, embroidered one like the Japanese women carry. This is in hopes to make me feel as fresh as the Japanese women look in this unbearable summer heat. No luck on the parasol hunt though. We're beginning to wonder whether parasols are sold in Japanese stores where tourists are not allowed. However, we were successful in some geisha spottings! It was surreal to see them walking around. They are so beautiful in their intricate kimonos and fancy hair styles. Too bad we didn't get any pictures of them. The one that we did take turned out too blurry to be worth posting. But here's a picture of Carl in the middle of one of the side streets of Gion so you can see just how old-world Japanese it still is.
















Here's Mike and me sitting on a little bridge in Gion.





For dinner that night, we decided to eat at an all-you-can-eat place that served Shabu-Shabu. First of all, all-you-can-eatplaces are really rare in Japan, so we were pretty excited to find one. Secondly, Shabu-Shabu is basically thinly sliced beef that you cook yourself in a boiling pot of broth. Think Melting Pot, Japanese-style. We were given a private room and our waiter gave us a remote control button to push when we needed more food. At first, we were kind of embarassed to ring the bell because we realized that when the button was pushed, the whole restaurant could hear it. Every ring of the bell announced that the Americans needed more food yet again, but eventually we were having so much fun that even the fear of being thought of as fat and gluttonous didn't bother us.

The next day, we went to check out Nijo Castle. We were allowed to go into the castle, but we couldn't take any pictures while we were in there. Inside, there are gorgeous murals painted on the walls and ceilings. I wish we could've taken pictures to show you! But here are a few outside shots to show you how grand this place was.

Here's the entrance gate leading to the castle.




Just a small part of the vast garden on the castle grounds.




Behind Mike is the castle and the rest of the property.



The last destination on our sight-seeing itinerary was Kiyomizu-dera which is a breathtaking temple because of it's mountain setting. It is literally built into a steep hillside. When you're standing at the temple, you can see Kyoto below.




















Kyoto was a wonderful place to visit and I would highly recommend it as a must-see if you're ever in Japan. I just hope that the weather will be cooler for you than it was for us.

Conquering Fuji-san! (a.k.a. Mt Fuji)

Legend has it that if you go to Japan, and don't climb Mt Fuji, you'll eventually be back to Japan. Since now is the time to enjoy the most out of my time here, I figure I'd check off that block sooner then later!



These two pics show the view from the 5th station, or the starting point of the climb. As you can see, once you're at the starting point, you're already above clouds. The view up looks as if there's not much mountain left to climb. Trust me, there's plenty of mountain left. Plenty.


Here Cicely and I are before I started the climb. The stick I'm holding is the obligatory Fuji walking stick, which will be stamped at each station along the climb, denoting how far you've made it up.


While I started the climb, Cicely and her brother, Carl (visiting from the States) took a tour of the local Fuji area.






Here is the 6th Station. It's about an hour from the 5th Station (the beginning of the hike) and the first place to get a stamp on the stick - and more importantly, a well needed rest while waiting in line. This is where the first inklings of a lack of oxygen start to hit you.


Here is the first [of many] stamps getting burned into my stick.


At this point, the hike got exponentially more difficult. It may be hard to tell from the picture, so you may have to click on and enlarge it. The trail became a jagged, hand piercing, ankle twisting old lava flow - almost coral like. The vertical aspect of the climb also became much more pronounced.




And the air just kept getting thinner...


You know what they say if you're afraid of heights..."just don't look down" ;o)


FINALLY!!! After six and a half hours, I made it to the summit - FYI, it was freezing! Luckily, they had a little ramen place where I was able to get a piping hot bowl of noodles. Then I passed out for an hour or so after lunch - whether on a ship, or on the top of a mountain, I'll take a nooner anywhere, anytime!


Time to head back down...







...almost looks like oblivion, doesn't it???




Take note of the awesome tan line on my face. I didn't bother using sunscreen, or a hat. Although the sun is a bazillion miles away, that extra two miles closer I got by getting to the top of the mountain apparently made all the difference in the world when it came to UV rays. Not only are my leg muscles sore, but they are sunburned as well - I've never been burned on my legs until now. The combination of both types of pain at once is something you just have to experience for yourself to get an appreciation for it.

Now that I've checked this block on life's 'things to do' list, I must yet again refer to an old Japanese saying; "A wise man climbs Mt Fuji...once."

Our 1st Anniversary - In Hong Kong!

So with our newlywed year coming to a close, we thought what better way to celebrate our 1st Anniversary than with an unforgettable trip to the most recognized metropolitan city in this hemisphere - Hong Kong!


Our anniversary, June 30th, fell on a Saturday this year, and Hong Kong is only a 4 hour flight from Tokyo (via Taipei, Taiwan), so it was a relatively easy weekend getaway! We got there on Friday night, so soon after checking into our Hotel on the Kowloon Peninsula (the north side of Hong Kong), we decided to head out to the waterfront and catch the skyline view at night. Little did we know that every night, both sides of the city put on a laser light show; according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it's the largest single laser light show in the world - almost every building takes part! And to top it off, on Fridays, it's choreographed to music. We really lucked out with our timing!
Saturday consisted of the usual sightseeing, starting with the Star Ferry ride across Victoria Harbor to the Hong Kong side of the city, from Kowloon. The weather was rainy on and off, so we intended on going to the Stanley Market, thinking it was a closed shopping area, then to Victoria's Peak to get the famous view of the city.
Here is Cicely at Stanley's Market. So much for staying out of the rain. As it turned out, the market was nothing more then an open air Chinatown type place. On the plus side, it was a lot cheaper then the 5th Avenue type upscale stores in the city. We found a couple of souvenirs and decided to head out so that we wouldn't miss our dinner reservations. It may seem like we didn't do much during the day, but much of it was spent in transit; although Hong Kong is easy [and cheap] to travel around (whether by bus, taxi, subway or ferry), it's touristy spots are always on opposite ends of the island, so you need to factor in travel time with your plans.


Based on a recommendation from our Frommer's travel Guide, we made dinner reservations at a restaraunt called Petrus. It's a hoity-toity French place on the 56th floor of the Island Shangri-La Hotel on the Hong Kong Side of the city. Let me say that we definitely paid for the view. This picture was taken after our dinner, and although the service was impeccable, the atmosphere was not the pizza shop atmosphere Cicely and I are accustomed to. The portions were tiny, and the food was, well, French. One more reason for me to not like France. I will say this, it was very romantic. Which is why Frommer's recommended it. As for pricing, well, we could've gone to Ruth's Chris for a nice juicy steak. Three times. Both of us. Live and learn!
The dessert on the left is what we had at Petrus, the ice cream on the right was a surprise from our waiter at dinner the night before, at the aforementioned Ruth's Chris.

Here we are in the lobby of our hotel, the Langham Hotel Kowloon. It was a very nice 5 star hotel.










On Sunday, we headed back across the water to get to the tram that takes you up to Victoria's Peak for the famous view of the entire city. It's the steepest tram in the world, and if you can tell from the picture on the right, we're almost vertical on that thing.



At first, we thought that the overcast day would ruin our view, but the clouds add a certain surreal effect to the pictures. Don't ya think?


We decided to take the bus back down the mountain instead of the tram. The combination of a double decker bus, and a narrow winding wet road, made for an almost roller coaster of a ride! As we got back down to the city, we ran into a parade starting.

Remember that good timing I mentioned earlier? Well, we didn't realize when we booked our tickets for the weekend, but July 1st was the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return back to China from Great Britain in 1997 - which explained why the city was all decked out that weekend.



We then headed to the marina district to hop on a ferry to Jumbo, the world's largest floating restaraunt.


After a quick snack of Dim Sum at Jumbo, we headed back to our hotel to beat the crowds that were sure to form for the 10th Anniversary fireworks.

We did get right in the middle of the crowded streets of Kowloon for the fireworks, and stayed for the beginning - much like the light show, every building in Hong Kong was shooting fireworks from their roof!

The picture on the left was taken from the crowd outside; we then wised up and realized that the view from our room was just as good, but more comfortable! (picture on the right)

For our final hurrah in Hong Kong, we decided to take advantage of our hotel's amentities, so we checked out the rooftop pool....we should've gone the first day we checked in - in fact, we realized we could've enjoyed the fireworks from the pool! Oh well, maybe for Hong Kong's 20th anniversary....