48 hours in Tokyo

Long time no see blog! Tokyo was a WHIRLWIND. I am sitting back at the Narita Airport just 48 hours later and am amazed at all I have seen in such little time. Amazed at how 2 days in a new country can change your perspective and make the world a little more understandable. The Japanese people are awesome. The friendliest, most organized, people I have met. A wonderful scene for a type A – stay in your lane – people type of person like me. People obey all walk signs, stay on the correct side of the escalator (yes, I’m talking to you DC tourist), and even form lines to get on the subway. Plus, the whole bowing and “how can I help you” thing is a treat (I will admit, I have no idea what they are saying when the bow, but I have to assume its something along those lines). I also approve of the beer goes with everything attitude. What I do not approve of is the lack of English (I know I know, shut up American) and how everything costs so much. But it’s a challenge to order food from pictures (what was that meat in my soup?) and to look at a subway map consisting entirely of Japanese (more on that experience later). So I arrived 2 days ago in the late afternoon and took a shuttle bus into Tokyo (about 1-2 hours from the airport depending on traffic). I probably could have taken the bullet train but after a 14 hour flight with only 3 hours of sleep, the convenience of the bus won me over. Unfortunately, said bus dropped me at the biggest train station in Tokyo (“only a 10-minute walk to your hotel” says the ticket lady). I emerge, its dark out, and the only direction I have is from Lonely Planet, which tells me my hotel is southwest of the terminal. So of course I take out my iphone compass and starting walking southwest. I quickly realize this is not going to work. So I acquiesce and turn on my data package and use my google map / GPS to guide me home. Amazeballs. I am there in no time and definitely had been going in the wrong direction. Thank you Mr. Jobs.

Side bar: On the way, I stop at an ATM to pull out some Yen (at a 7-11 no less, which are everywhere in Tokyo). Now, you all know I have never been an expert in math, but my calculations on this evening went very, very wrong. Instead of pulling out 5,000 Yen, about $70, I pulled out 50,000 Yen, oh that’s about $650. I did not realize this until the next day, at which point I made another error. I thought I would be brilliant and go ahead and turn my Yen into Pilipino pesos, the Yen is so strong right?? Wrong. I should have converted all the extra back into dollars and then exchanged in Manila. After converting some back to US dollars and some to pesos, I have now calculated the whole debacle cost me $50 due to bad exchange rates and commissions from the western union. Not the end of the world, but lesson learned. The hotel was good, tiny room but certainly adequate (and the Japanese have a great invention - a bathroom mirror that leaves on square of it "unsteamed" when you shower so you can see yourself after!). I went straight down to the hotel bar for dinner, knowing that if I stopped to shower I would be a goner and knowing I did not have the energy to venture out. My first meal of shrimp with garlic and mushrooms and an avocado salad was a safe bet and delish! The goal was to stay up until 10pm. I made it until 9:30. I woke up at 6:30am ready to take on Tokyo- after all, I only had 1 day. I decided to start with a jog to a nearby park I had read about in my guidebook. I found my way there only to be turned away by the guard - twice (I later learned this area is in fact a beautiful park that includes some temples) and after some miscommunication and hand gestures, me turning away and then going back to try again, I realized he was saying “no joggers.” He directed me to another park close by. I finally found my way there, and this time the guard actually spoke English “no joggers” again. So I decided a little walking was in order and it was so lovely. Amazing paths (very well kept, of course) and so gorgeous in the morning. I actually found my way back to the hotel right around 8am as the Tokyo rush hour began. Imagine me, white girl in a Cardinals hat, running opposite hundreds of Japanese men, all dressed the same. It was quite hilarious. As was my trip to starbucks in the office building next to my hotel, nothing like a little home away from home. Although these ladies were much nicer then my baristas in DC.

After breakfast (I ventured and tried porridge (rice) and salad, but drew the line at fish. No can do) I had about 3 hours before needing to be at a hotel in my area to join an afternoon tour I had booked. I started just wondering around the area (Shinjuki, famous for tall buildings and where Lost in Translation was filmed). A Japanese friend had suggested going to the main electronics area, now known more for animation. I knew the subway stop, I knew the line, I can do this. So I tentatively walked into the station, made it through the HORDES of people, looked at the 8 maps, 12 kinds of ticket machines, and quickly made my exit (click here to have a look at what we are dealing with). Not for me, too much. I kept walking around and with nothing open yet (apparently stores do not open until 11am), I decided I must tackle the train. I’ve survived rickshaws in India, boats on rivers in Thailand, crazy cabbies in Uganda, gosh darn it – I can decipher this mode of transportation. So I go back in, again stare at the map completely in Japanese and decide the only way through this was with help. Luckily even my guidebook suggests using the information desk. I show the nice lady where I want to go by pointing to my map and she says “track 13”. Yay! Ticket? 160 Yen. I can totally do this. So I get my ticket and proceed to track 13. Once on the train, it is everything I had heard. Clean. Quiet. No one talking. Awesome. I find my destination on the map and then realize I am quite a bit away. All this adventure has eaten up a great deal of time and I’m not sure I have enough time or energy to get off at the new neighborhood, explore, and tackle the system all over again. So I do what any silly American would do. I ride a couple stops, get off and walk directly to the other side of the platform and wait for the train to take me back where I doth come from. Yep, I did that. While to many this little excursion may seem like a wasted hour, I should have just kept exploring on foot, but not to me. This was victory. I tackled the Tokyo train system and I survived, I counted this as a big win in my book of “I am single woman traveler, hear me roar.” So next on the list was find the meeting place and find lunch. I managed to do both, and sneak in a ride to the top of the Tokyo Government Building (45th Floor) for a spectacular view of the city. I ordered some sort of delicious noodle soup from a menu picture (unknown meat, guessing beef) and looked around at my neighbors to figure out how to eat it (they supply a bib, very helpful due to all the slurping).

The tour was great. Another great view from a totally different side of Tokyo, a visit to the gardens of the Imperial Palace, followed by the Asakasa area. Famous for its temples and shopping street (which happens to be filled with amazing snacks – green tea ice cream sandwich? Yes please). It was beautiful and as typical of the Buddhists (as I learned in Thailand), if you are willing to pay, you can get some good luck. I was healed by incense smoke, washed my hands with holy water, made a wish at the shrine, and got my fortune told – conveniently, if you get a bad one, you can tie it up on a rack provided and not worry about it. I got a “half fortune” which was startlingly accurate and told of things to come so I decided to keep it. Part of it said: “You should wait for a chance with patience until the time comes. Marriage and employment will be well at last.” Yay! Glad that is settled). Then a boat ride down some body of water and the tour was over. After a good hour of traffic, the bus brought my back to my area and by the time I made it back to my hotel I had a good 20 minutes to rest and recuperate before a Japanese friend (old colleague who I first met while in India) was picking me up for dinner. And what a dinner it was. For sure a once in a lifetime experience. It was definitely outside the main Tokyo bustle and we sat in a little room with just us (shoes off, door closed, bend down to get in, lovely ambiance). Tomo said it was the place you go for a business meeting, a special occasion, or on a first date. What proceeded was 14 courses of authentic Japanese fare, in addition to yuba (a type of soy milk that cooks in front of you on a hot plate and every 10 minutes or so you take off the top layer and eat it throughout the meal with lime and a bit of soy). Yuba was the centerpiece of most dishes (and by dish, I mean more like taste, these were not big plates). Tomo assured me the entire meal was within a reasonable caloric intake, not sure that is the case but I tried everything and liked a good portion of it – amazing rock fish sashimi, Japanese beef (which I cooked on my own hot stone), and lots of various types of soy product (did not like the soy flan-like cube or fishy fish). There was also a wheat dish – oh what was it called? Yes, gluten! Straight gluten chewy thing topped with miso sauce. My stomach was overjoyed. Actually everything has gone okay. The meal ended with a little rice, soup, and then a scoop of soy milk ice cream! The whole affair was over 2 hours and what an experience! While I was full, it was certainly not the full you would get after say, a meal at the Cheesecake factory. Tomo so desperately wanted to drive me around Tokyo and show me some sights, but it was after 11pm at this point and all I could say was please take me home, must sleep. I woke up this morning and headed back to the original park and decided to walk in and see the shrine and I am so glad I did. It was truly peaceful and a wonderful experience – amazing to find this quiet in the middle of Tokyo. After checking out I had about 2 hours before my shuttle back to the airport. I decided to experience one of Tokyo’s famed department stores. A-MAZING. Similar to Harrods in London. it’s full of little shopping areas and then 2 floors of restaurants. I have forgotten to mention that every Japanese woman dresses like she is a fashion model (speaking of, I saw a woman wearing boots, with the front cutout so you could see her toes. Weird. I hope this is not coming to the US). Since I’m in a no-shopping-allowed phase of my life, the browsing brought little joy but I did see some amazing clothes, purses, and shoes (I won’t even tackle the issue that all the women are about 5 feet and 90 pounds). But since looking at clothes and having sales people bow and greet me in Japanese was no fun, I made my way to lunch at one of the restaurants there to try Japanese Chinese, which Tomo had said was really good. Again I ordered from a picture, but was happy with my choice of steamed vegetables and rice, a good note to end on! So here I sit, at Narita Airport, about an hour from boarding my flight to Manila for the next adventure.

Lazy Man's Yoga...

After my last meeting yesterday, I decided to walk home (which turned out to be a long walk once I realized I was going the wrong direction and had to turn back...). It became longer when I ducked into a mall for some A/C since I was dripping sweat...and longer still when it started pouring and I ducked into a coffee shop. And then very long when I decided to get a traditional thai massage.

"Lazy man's yoga"is what many nickname traditional thai massage. Thai massage "generally takes place on a large padded mat on the floor. Therapists use a mix of massage, yoga, acupressure and stretching to open the body physically and energetically. Unlike other forms of massage, you wear comfortable, loose fitting clothes and although you're relaxed, you're fully involved during a treatment, breathing and communicating with the therapist [OR WOULD BE IF THEY SPOKE ENGLISH] as they gently [um...depending on your definition of gentlye...] contort and knead your body."


This picture is definitely something they did yesterday. But actually, it was great. I chose a spa connected with a thai massage school so as not to end up anywhere sketchy. I told them soft-to-normal pressure since it was my first time. Parts definitely hurt and were tough but I enjoyed it and certainly counted it as my workout for the day :) 1 hour, all for 400 bhat (about $15 USD).

Unfortunately the weather delayed my getting home even more. It was raining (okay pouring rain and lightening) and no taxi's would take me because my hotel was on the other side of the big street and there was no way to get there on the road without going miles out of the way (whoever designed this main street did not do a good job). As I walking down a side street I kept ducking into places and looking for somewhere to stop. I happened upon a bar, saw that it was all white men and Thai women so kept going. Then I came to an alley with a wood bar, a few stools, with the name "cheap charlies" Perfect. Grabbed a stool and bought a cheap beer which came in a koozie (even better). Started chatting with a British woman who was in Thailand teaching at an international school and we waited out the storm. (You might be wondering why I did not stop and buy an umbrella...I thought about it but since I was leaving so soon it just seemed like a waste of money...and much too practical).

So, bags are packed and we are heading out for our last night in Bangkok. Flight leaves at 7am...6 hours to Tokyo, 13 hours to Chicago, 2 hours to DC. Big question is how much to sleep tonight before getting up at 4:30am...little to none most likely so as to hopefully sleep a lot on the trip.

Will post remaining pics of Bangkok once I get homes.

Thanks for reading during the whirlwind month (time flies!)

Until next time...

Yum

The main activities is Kuala Lumpur are shopping and eating...because Chanel, Gucci, Hermes, etc. are not really places I frequent these days, we spent most of our free time walking around and tasting the tastes of KL. Malaysia is interesting because its a mix of people, which makes it a mix of food as well. Chinese (thanks to commerce), Indians (thanks to the British colonization), and Malay (the ethnic population) all make up Malaysia. They have a chinatown, little india. It was so great seeing so many Indians and made me miss India!! This mix of cultures means there is great food of each of these populations, in addition to neighboring countries (Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, etc.). The city, according to my colleague, is a lot like Toronto. Its totally modern with lots of buildings...but not so many people. The Twin Towers (below) are the big attraction in the skyline.






The Food...my favorite is this malaysian dessert that is really just a mound of ice, ice cream, some sugar, corn, and I'm not sure what else...





We went to the KL Birdpark which is the biggest in the world I think - it was neat to see birds so close up, but I had preferred if they were flying out in the world :)







The rest of KL. I had a cold last week which zonked me out and I was sneezing constantly, so that was not fun at all - probably not helped by our hotel being right next to a popular street of nightclubs, which meant I heard club music despite being on the 23rd floor! It rained everyday at exactly 3pm. Work...the Malaysian government is not the most forthcoming, they have a law that says everything is secret until the government says otherwise. After meetings with our embassy, meetings with their government, we are on our way to getting what we need (fingers crossed). Their government complex is quite amazing, really beautiful buildings.

Below are some more pics, including a cool nightspot that was a bar with a pool overlooking the Towers. I'm fairly certain patrons must fall in this pool every night after a few drinks.







We are back at home sweet JW Marriott. I'm currently in the club lounge with what seems to be a large population of US Army dudes or some branch of the military. As well as BP and Chevron execs who met in our hotel today...we thought about crashing the meeting with picket signs but decided against it. Things are winding down here as we finish up a last meetings in Bangkok!

Went to the Mall for Lunch Today...

Which is were Malaysians go because there are the most amazing food courts ever, this one has stalls with food from Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, China, and um...Subway.

When we walked in we saw a stage and lots of purses and pictures of Paris Hilton everywhere.

Apparently she was supposed to be there...except when Japan turned that poor girl away she canceled her trip. Darn, because I really love Paris Hilton.

Welcome to Malaysia

Truly Asia, as their motto goes...

Viet Nam Food Diary

Dedicated to Jenna and other foodies out there (most of these are from the cruise)



Delish Fish



I'm pretty sure these are mussels...big juicy ones



Shrimp cocktail...and no those are not real flowers, actually its carrots, cucumber, and onion



Squid, so good. The boat fit in well with my "vegetarianism" in Vietnam.


Vietnamese Iced Coffee with Milk...so yummmy

Viet Nam

We finished up meetings in Hanoi, all of which were fairly productive. Some pictures of Hanoi below...












THEN...because we had all our meetings early in the week, we decided to take advantage of our location and do a "junk tour" of Halong Bay, which is about 3 hours from Hanoi. Halong Bay has about 2,000 limestone islands and we had heard, absolutely beautiful. Its a big tourist thing, and there are tons of boats ("junks") that you can take with all basically the same itinerary. That is our ship in the picture, called "Oriental Sails." You get there around noon, board your boat, have lunch while crusing, go see some of the caves, go kayaking, swimming, have dinner, sleep on the boat, and visit a "floating" village in the morning before returning. The floating villages are pretty unique, they have been there for generations and are obviously very poor. The people are usually fisherman and go into land to sell fish and then get needed supplies, like food and water. They have a floating school but it only is elementary school. There were also dogs, which I did not quite understand in terms of the bathroom situation...

Its a quick trip but SO beautiful, the pictures do not do it justice and I'm so glad we got to squeeze this in. The food was AMAZING, see next post.