Goodbye, Japan! Hello, Singapore

So, before going to Japan, my cousin, Pauline, showed me a website that was super helpful in planning out our use of the public transportation in Tokyo.  The website (and app) is called Hyperdia and I highly recommend it.  Well, I recommend it for most things...except for one of their suggestions on how to get back to the airport.

First let me just say that I'm glad we decided to play it safe and leave Asakusa about four hours before our flight.

Okay...on with our story.

Asakusa--the Old and New Tokyo Rolled into One

Why is it that places of worship often have a huge shopping street leading towards it?  It's not just Nakamise St. on the way to Senso-ji (Asakusa Kannon Temple).  Even going as far back as biblical times, there are always vendors by temples and churches.  I'm sure there is a study somewhere as to why.

Kamogawa Ryokan

I was tired and my feet were killing me.  Once James and I arrived at the Asakusa station and oriented ourselves enough to be able to make the four minute walk to our reserved ryokan, the site of its sign was enough to fill me with joy.  Finally, I can put my feet up and rest.  Finally, I can internets.  You have no idea how much I was jonesing for some wifi access during the Hakone trip.  All I can say is, thank god I was too tired to feel the withdrawal.

Kamogawa ryokan seemed like small family ryokan.  Next to it is its very own café.  James and I actually saw the café before the ryokan and we thankfully made our way in and was greeted at the front desk by a young man who checked us in pretty quickly. 

The elevator going up to our room as well as the hallway from the elevator going into our room was...tiny.  The space was tiny.  Here's a pic of James in the hallway.  Sadly, I think we forgot to take one of the elevator.  Hrm...maybe I just think the space is small since James and I had gained some weight since the wedding....hrm...

Hakone--On Our Own!

On our own in a Japanese city for the first time.  No college buddies, no tour guides, and no known person who can  translate for us what we need said.  The only phrase I remember?  Sumimasen! Eigo wo hanase masu ka?  Yes, sad to say but several hours of the Japanese Rosetta stone ain’t gonna cut it.  So, what better way to show the natives that you at least tried than by to say “So sorry, but you do speak in English” in their native tongue?  There are words that I remember in Japanese, but it helps me so much if they can speak a little English.  And it makes the conversation go faster, because believe you me, they know more English than I do Japanese.

So, Hakone.

Yunohana Onsen

The Yunohana Onsen was our “splurge” for the Japan trip.  It is known for its open air  baths  and recommended by one of my Japanese friends as a good hotel to stay in.  Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of pictures of the exterior of the hotel as I’d forgotten to take them on our arrival or our departure.  I also do not have any pictures of the baths since I thought they may frown upon my taking pictures of their naked guests.

Anyway, on with the review. 

We were picked up by a very friendly shuttle driver from the bus stop, where we were dropped off by our tour guide.  It wasn’t a private transportation, as we had also picked up several young ladies from another stop who also seem to be checking into the hotel.  At the reception desk at the hotel, a nice young woman explained to us our room and dinner/breakfast arrangements.  I’m glad James was there as I got a bit confused with her explanation :(    Maybe I was just tired.

Racing Against the Clouds!--Mt. Fuji/Hakone through Sunrise Tour Experience

Okay...you may think this is odd, but I'd like to begin this blog with our with how our day began.  Because we had to be at the Hamamasutcho bus station at nine AM and I was trying to play it safe, we skipped breakfast at the Sawaynoya ryokan and headed out to the metro by 7:30 AM.  You might be thinking that for me, this is real early--especially given the fact that I'm on vacation!

Well, you would be correct, except these days in Japan, I had been waking up by five AM and have been unable to go back to sleep.  So, go figure.

Anime, anime, and oh wait…more anime—the Akihabara Experience!

The Akibahara (Akiba) experience started with my college roommate, Kyoko (Koko), picking us up from our ryokan.  With her help, we were shown what to expect from a Tokyo metro, as we had left using the Chiyoda line to transfer to the JR Yamanote line to get to Akiba.  If it’s your first time using the subway, take your time.  I find that for me, I needed to take a step back and stare at the fare map.  At the Nezu station (where we had started), the fare map was in Japanese and there weren’t any of those useful letter/number designations that I have on my English map.  As such, I just sorta had to play match up in order to determine our fare.

But I digress.  This blog is about Akiba!  So let’s get to it.  Our first stop in Akiba is the Yodobashi-Akiba.  This was an eight story (not counting what I saw as three levels of basement). 

My Lady, My Mistress, My Master: Feel Like the Lord of the Manor (or Lady, but really, let’s get serious, it’s catered for guys) at the @home Maid Café—the Akihabara Experience!

If Hooters didn’t have the boobs and the daisy dukes, they would be wearing a French maid outfit and working at the maid café.

We decided to finally check out one of the maid cafes we keep hearing about.  And while I’m sure pictures would do more justice to this experience, there was none to be had.  To the anime-newbie, let me first explain that the “maid” in this sense is more based on the fantasy cutesy girl from a Japanese anime who happened to be dressed up as a French maid.  Yep, a sexy French maid outfit.  Think French maid Halloween costume, but more cute than sexy—don’t get me wrong, there is a subtle hint of sexuality (or these cafes wouln’t exist), but really going more for the cute girl who calls you “Master” and “Lady.”

the Sawanoya Ryokan

The train ride from the airport to the Ueno exit was...HOT.  They had the heat blasting so hard, I felt like my legs were on fire (the heat was coming from the vents under the seats).  I was down to my T-shirt by the time we got to my exit as I had slowly peeled off layers.  It was a nice cool relief every time we hit a stop and the doors opened to let the cool air in.

Once we got off at the last stop of the Keisei Limited Express, it took awhile to get oriented.  Actually, scrap that.  We gave up on getting oriented and took a cab to get to our ryokan.  Here is a map that was made available through the ryokan's website:

Unfortunately, James and I had trouble figuring out where we were.  Even more unfortunate is the fact that it was close to ten PM at night by the time we got there and there is the possibility that the 25 min walk from the station can turn into a 2 hour one depending on how lost we get.  Hence, the decision to spend money on the cab ride.

Cab ride wasn't too bad.  We just showed the guy my map and off we went.

First impression of ryokan was at night and I didn't really get to see a lot of the outside.  But here are pictures that James took at dawn this morning:

The moment we stepped inside the Sawanoya, we were greeted by the owner, I believe, Sawa-san.  We filled out some forms regarding our stay and Sawa-san proceeded to give us a detailed map of the neighborhood, good places to eat, and orient us as to where the closest train station is.  He also gave us a map of the rail stations as well as a guide for Tokyo.  Which reminds me, I need to take a look at that sometime...

There are more pictures of the inside of the ryokan (eg lobby and public bath) on their website, but I figured I'll post some of them here as well.  These below are Hina dolls.  They've belonged to the family for generations and they are put up in celebration of Girls' Day in March.  The superstition--they have to get down right after girls' day, or it is said your daughters aren't gonna be marrying anyone in a timely manner :P

After the formalities of checking us in, Sawa-san took us to our room.  We had reserved a room that has its own private bath and toilet--call it a splurge :)  Once you enter our room, the first door to the right was the toilet.  And what a toilet it is!

I have to admit that I was a little intimidated at first.  I mean...what are those fancy buttons?  But heck...when I first sat on it...

*heavenly beam of light and angels' chorus plays*

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration.  But damn...the seat was warm and heated.  Ahhhh!  How nice!  What luxury!  I could sit there forever!  I didn't, but I so could have!  Oh, and when you flush, the sink on top of the toilet let out some water too for hand washing.  What convenience!

I didn't exactly get the nerve to start pushing the buttons until the next morning, which is actually around the time now when I'm writing this part of the blog.  There was a button for "spray" and a button for "bidet."  And then there was a knob for "water pressure."  There were two other buttons that had no translation...I assume that means that Sawanoya ryokan didn't want me touching it :P

And so, here comes the detailed description of me using the fancy toilet--may be TMI for some folks out there ;)  First I hit the spray button.  Hrm...the water pressure was so-so...and I'm beginning to think that it may not be for someone sitting down.  Perhaps that's supposed to be for boys and their plumbing?  So I hit the "stop" button and thought for awhile, before finally pushing the "bidet" button. Nice water pressure and temperature!  I still had to hit the "stop" button once I think I've had enough...but let just say say...It's a nice fresh feeling afterwards!

UPDATE: I've since been told by my ex-college roommate, Koko, that the "bidet" is to wash the front and the "spray" is to wash the back end.  The "bidet" often has a picture of a stick figure sitting down with water shooting up.  The spray has a picture of what i first thought of a a curvy "w" with water shooting up....but after this information from Koko, I guess it could be an attempt to show a butt crack.  Also, in some other public restrooms, you may see a button that has a picture of a musical note.  When you press this button, it simulates the sounds of a toilet flushing.  Apparently, this is to cover any "noises" you might make while doing your business, whether it is number one or number two.

And now I think I'm spoiled.  I may have to seriously do some amazon searches for a nice fancy bidet when I get back home.

Next up in our room description...the hallway...which James thought was our bedroom when Sawa-san first showed it to us.  I think of it more as a sitting area.  The bathroom with the bath/shower and sink is to the right while the actual bedroom is to the left.

So, onto the bathroom.  As mentioned, we booked a room with its own bath.  The proprietor says that while we do have this convenience, it would be a good idea to use the public bathrooms downstairs which he had shown us prior to our room since it is much bigger than the one we have in our room.  Unfortunately, as late as James and I had arrived these past two nights, we had both been to tired to even go through the motions of using the public bath.  The private one we had was adequate and it was a great way to soak up your feet (and whole body) after a whole day of walking around Akihabara.

And FYI, the shower itself had a pretty darn good water pressure and wonderfully hot temperature!  Just a note that you will not be able to turn on the water for the shower if you have the bath running.  So, it means you cannot fill your bath up while you shower the grunge off you.  You must do one and then the other. 

Below is a photo of our room.  I love how they have some tea leaves already for us if we wanted some tea.  They also provided us with some yukata (so, yeah, Pauline.  Check out your hotel.  You may not need to bring sleep or bedroom clothes if they provide yukata) and the origami on the futons were a nice touch. 

For me, sleeping in these futons were fine.  I just had to make sure I slept on my back, because the floors started digging into my side when I turned to my side.  I had an easy time adjusting to it, but it was actually a little to firm for James, I think.  He woke up sore the next morning :(  Unfortunately for him, all our rooms during our Japanese stay are gonna be like this.  Maybe our next place will have a thicker cushion.  The good thing about Sawanoya is they had an extra futon on the closet, so James was able to double it up.  At the time that I'm writing this blog, he is still asleep so I can't ask if it was much of an improvement from last night.

I've been waking up early these past two days (between 4:30 - 5AM), but I think it's good.  It means I'm not really crashing even in the afternoon.  On our first day in Sawanoya, we had ordered a Japanese breakfast.  It came with a couple of types of fish, a seaweed salad, pickled vegetables, tofu, miso soup, and sticky rice.

It also came with a nice traditional japanese tea.

And the miso soup came with these tiny kawaii mushrooms.

The food was delicious! I ate everything in my plate and even some from James's.  I don't know what the fish were, so I will differentate between the "big" fish serving and the smaller one.  The big fish went well with the sticky rice while the little fish came witha small dollop of strong wasabi.  They were both excellent.  It was overall a lovely culinary experience and I'm glad we had it.  My only reservation is that the fish and the tofu were cold...and I'm not sure if they were supposed to be.  Everything else was hot, so I don't know why they would be cold unless they were supposed to be.

Anyway, in terms of the drinks, I liked the traditional japanese tea, but James availed himself instead if with the bagged English breakfast tea that was free in the eating area.  The one thing he found really weird:  powdered milk.  He used them, but then...he had no choice :P

Well, I think here ends my Sawanoya ryokan review.  I've got a couple of more pictures below in case you guys are interested.

Here is our room key holder.  You leave the key with the owner if you leave the ryokan when you go out.  The ryokan front desk is locked after 11PM so you will need to get a night key from him if you expect to stay late.

Here are a couple of more pictures of the eating area.

And a couple of more pictures inside our room.

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog as we will be checking out of the Sawanoya in less than a couple of hours :)

James and I with Sawa-san

Getting There

It's been a long day.  I mean, really.  I don't even remember how many hours we flew.  I'm sure it's in my ticket somewhere.  But I'd like to write a bit about how we got here.  While I still remember it and while I can still be awake to do it.

First tip: If you are flying from LAX, and your terminal happens to be terminal B (Bradley something or the other terminal), go eat something at the food court upstairs after checking in with your airline.  You know you're there early (it's an international flight after all) so if you want some variety, eat something BEFORE going through the security check.  After the security check, you are stuck with deli sandwiches and pre-packaged muchies.  Not bad if you're not hungry, but remember...you got there early.

So we took Singapore Airlines as our international carrier.  We were able to choose our seats as soon as we reserved the tickets, so we picked exit row seats...in the upper deck. Our plane was an Airbus A380-800, and for those of you who haven't seen one, click on my link for it.  It is huge.  I never saw the main deck, but I think our bus had three sections--suites, business class, and economy.  I saw the business class (NICE!) and I of course sat on the economy class, but I never saw the suites in person.  Only in pictures.  However, after having seen the business class, those damn suites must be rockin'--in a non-literal sense.

Cool thing about the upper deck--less competition for the bathrooms.  The only sad part about this flight is the extra steps I had to take to go to the bathroom at the back.  The bathroom nearest me was for the business class only. But other than that, flying Singapore airlines in economy class was...superb.  Let me start with the food and beverages.  How cool was it that the first thing out the flight attendant's mouth when she addressed us was "beer, wine or orange juice to drink?"  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of our first meal before it got devoured.  But here's a pic of our dessert.  I decided to have wine with it.

We were served a "light meal" past midway our flight (I'm not even gonna mention the various other food stuffs that were offered in between).  Here is a mini version of our actual lunch.  The lunch had extra stuffs like salad and sushi...

As for the actual flight experience.  Restrooms were pretty decent.  Free toothbrushes and there was barely any line.  The other passengers were very respectful of your place.  My two complaints: guy hacking with lots of phlegm sitting behind me and lady who liked spending her time standing in front of us by the exit door.

Still overall a pretty nice flight experience that ended at the Narita airport.  Customs was a breeze...except for the part of me forgetting to write down (in English) the address of the ryokan we were staying at for our disembarkation stuff.  Luckily, I had a pretty detailed map of it from the website and the customs agent accepted it.  BOOYAH!

Narita airport...oh the toilets to choose!  No pic of this...I was a little distracted trying to go about my business so I didn't even noticed.  But James said the men's bathroom had four different options!  Anyway, after getting through customs, it took us awhile for our bags to get out and it took me slightly longer to communicate to someone that I was looking for luggage storage.

So, just an FYI.  Luggage storage by GPA in terminal 1 (where we landed) is past the exit that you go through after baggage claim.  Pretty much, you get your luggage, then show your papers and luggages again to someone before exiting that area.  Once you exit that area and unto where people actually meet other people who are picking them up, you will see a sign for airport information.  You can either ask them where luggage storage is, or you can turn left an walk PAST towards the sign for the railways.  In a counter to your left, you will see a sign for GPA.  They do the luggage storage in terminal 1.  It's not a coin operated locker.  I'll try to take a pic of it when we pick up our stuff.  But for James and my luggages (two mediums, two smalls), it is about 8000 yen to store for five days (and yes, the day you leave it counts, so we stored from 09Feb to 13Feb) and it counts as five days.

After that, we headed towards the signage indicating the rails and paid 1000 yen each to ride the Limited Express (90 min to Tokyo).  Here is the rail platform from terminal 1.

 And so begins our trip to Japan!

'Twas the Night Before Tokyo

And all through the house
All the creatures are stirring
Even the...James?

Hehehe.

Quite a busy night as soon as we landed in CA.  As I mentioned before, James forgot his jacket back home so he had been on the hunt for something reasonably priced to replace it.  Unfortunately, we're in Orange County, and finding a thick jacket for 30C weather over here is like--sorry for the cliche--finding a needle in a haystack.  Don't get me wrong.  We did find one.  Six stores later :P

Thank you, Leo, for driving us around!!

Dinner with the family was great.  We went to the Lazy Dog Cafe where I had my last American dinner.  I ordered the pot roast, and James really liked it.  He ordered something different, but he wants to go back next time we're here and order what I did.  Unfortunately for me, the helpings were really big and I was unable to finish my fare.

 

Still, dinner with the family is always good, especially since I don't get to see them that often.  My only regret is that my brother, Nardo, was in school so he was unable to join us.  Hopefully, I will get to see him when we next come over.

Funny thing...I think the fates are against James getting a milk shake before he leaves for Asia.  At the airport in Denver, he bought a milkshake from TCBY and he claims that it was the worst milkshake he'd ever had.  So, when we went to dinner, he got excited when he saw a Big Boy restaurant which supposedly serves decent milkshakes.  We had planned to go after dinner.  Instead, when we did go, it turns out that that particular Big Boy had closed its operations :(

And now, by the time I'm posting this, it is the morning of our flight...and we're ready!!  I think.  Just a few more packings...some travel guides from Leo and we're off.  I'll see Leo and Mom again in over a week, and I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone else as well.

I will say, though, that I will miss Lucy.  She's such a sweetie.

I hope my dogs are doing well at Michael's!

I Love Lucy

Lucy welcomes me home

California!!!!

We're here !

Chillin at the Denver International Airport

So nice to be able to amuse myself during a layover by taking pics of the hubby.

He looks so happy, huh?

And So It Begins!

First leg of the journey…traveling from NC to CA.  I cannot believe that it was cheaper for me to do this:

Raleigh-Durham to John Wayne Airport, Orange County, CA – Southwest Airlines

LAX to Tokyo – Singapore Airlines

Tokyo to Singapore – Singapore Airlines

Singapore to Manila – Singapore Airlines

Manila to LAX – Singapore Airlines

Orange County to Raleigh – Southwest Airlines

Than to book a flight coming from RDU to go to Tokyo, Singapore, the Philippines and then back through any of the usual airline/travel booking companies online.  Is it really just that much cheaper to travel internationally through LAX than any of the other east coast international airports?  I would have thought that at least that a Regan National Airport departure would warrant some money saving tips!  Anyway, as it happens, even with the extra flight of having to go to CA, James and I still saved about $500 each to book Southwest and Singapore airlines ourselves.

Southwest Airlines is one of my favorite American airlines.  Bags still fly free and there is often entertainment to be had when the flight attendants get in the mood.  I’ve been in flights where there’ve been games and singing (singing not by me, you’d be happy to know).  So whenever I do travel domestic, I try to book Southwest.  Plus their mobile app is awesome.  Okay, I’m done advertising for them J

Despite my feeling that I forgot something, I think I actually do have everything I wanted to bring for this trip.  I had to send some last minute emails and instructions…but I think I’m good.  We’ll see when we get to Japan, heh?

James did forget to bring his thick jacket for our trip to Tokyo.  Currently in the process of deciding whether it is worth it for him to buy something at Ross when we get to California.  Also need to wash a couple of his hoodies…something he forgot to do last night.  And with our washer on the fritz, it’s not something we wanted to do last minute.  We didn’t need any flooding in the house the day of the trip.  This is why I have list and why I LOVE lists.

The Sky is Falling

It's my last night in NC before I travel to CA and dive into my trip to Asia.

As luck would have it though, I feel like I'm forgetting something crucial.

I made a list.  Checked it twice.  I think I have all my appropriate paperwork.  So as I sit back in this chair and try to relax before going to bed, why do I feel as if there's something I may be missing?

The hectic day yesterday as well as today couldn't have anything to do with it...could it?

Yesterday started off normally enough.  We cleaned up a little from our get together on Saturday.  Saw a movie with a friend and had dinner with James's mom.  And all throughout the day, I've been doing some laundry because heck, I hate coming home to a pile of laundry when I already have one in my suitcase.  Everything was really normal and quite slow paced until the evening when we got home from dinner and I started packing.

First, there was the washing machine.  It decided to overflow while I was doing the doggie laundry.

James was not happy.  We couldn't figure out what was wrong and why the water was turning on at spin cycle.  Needless to say, we spent sometime troubleshooting, taking turns to lift the machine, reach through dirty, dusty, dingy water that was sitting on the pan.

And to no avail.  We couldn't figure out why it just happened to do that during that batch.  But guess what?  It fixed itself somehow.  One minute the water wasn't turning off...the next minute it was.  So James did a test load of laundry with his clothes...and it seemed to work.  Who knows what happened?  Maybe the washing machine took pity on us and decided not to break down quite yet and James got all his laundry done.  Strangely enough, James and I were just talking earlier this week about how glad we were that the washer and dryer were lasting this long...Ugh. Did we jinx ourselves?

The next looming disaster: shoes! I can't decide what to bring.  Is five pairs too much?  And while I was at it...where is that sparkly wedge shoe?  I must wear it for the wedding!  In my search for the sparkly wedge shoe, I went to the garage...and discovered a big pile of puddle.

Ugh...REALLY?  My first thought was that the leak from the washer came through from the laundry room upstairs and into the garage!  I called out in frustration to James and he came down to take a look.  Luckily, it wasn't a leak through the ceiling, but a fail safe over flow valve (that did it's job!) and released the excess water from the washing machine.  So, back to shoes...I really hope five isn't too much...

I finished most of my packing that night.  I woke up this morning feeling tired but looking forward to work.  It was my last day before vacation and I was hoping to be able to wrap everything I wanted to up :)  Unfortunately, the morning was off to a rough start.  Despite my early rise, I was greeted with dog pee by Connor.  The little brat peed his crate without warning!  He didn't even whine or anything.  And before you even mention how heavy of a sleeper I am, I assure you that James would have definitely woken up to some Connor howl.  Argh!

And guess what?  Just the night before, we were telling James's mom what a good boy Connor has been because he hasn't had an accident in his crate for a long time!  Ugh.  We really should stop voicing our good fortune.  Karma has a way of smacking us right back down.

Sadly, I think this is a ranting blog on the unexpected and unfortunate last minute things that can happen just when you'r about to leave town.

And wouldn't you know it, this evening, after James finished his laundry and we decided to do more dog laundry..the washing machine did it again...Damn...we're gonna have to have that looked at when we get back.

Anyway...it's getting late.  I should probably stop blogging and do those taxes I've been procrastinating about...

Cheers,

Sad about Luggages

I know it's been in effect for awhile, but I want to take this time to mourn the loss of the 70lbs luggage weight limit.  I mean, one of the reasons I own such a big suitcase is to cram 70 lbs worth of stuff in it.  Now, I still have that suitcase...but for the most part, it just takes up space.  I can't fill it up the way I used to, and when I do use it, I have to be careful as the contents of the luggage shift around due to the excess space.

But why am I writing about this now, you might ask?  Well mainly because of a new (new to me anyway) luggage requirement  that I saw for the airline that we are using--Singapore Airlines.

For economy class travelers (which I am! Who can afford first class these days?), the checked luggage requirements must not only weigh 23 kg each (this one I'm used to by now), but have a sum total dimension of 273 cm for BOTH luggage! That means that if I use my super huge luggage, I pretty much cannot have a second luggage :(

So what do I do?

Heheh...I borrow someone else's suitcase :)  Hopefully, nothing gets ripped or broken during the travel, but it's the cheapest way to travel without having to buy our own suitcases.  They are pretty pricey!  And since we really don't travel that often, then borrowing might be best.

Maybe.

I think.

Except I'm such a shoppaholic that I can't help but look at luggages anyway.  There are some really nice ones out there.