Slow Aim to Asia

Pictures and Videos

2008-07-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

I've added a few videos from Vietnam so if you're interested be sure to check on those (specifically, it's videos of Vietnam traffic and of the water puppet show).
My photos are all uploaded on kodakgallery.com so if I didn't send you the link and you'd like to see them, please email me (or comment on this entry - just be sure to sign it so I know who you are).

Layover Heaven

2008-07-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we've made it back to Japan. We're trying to stay awake as much as possible today. Thao is currently walking around to prevent herself from sleeping. I had a cup of coffee and am fairing a little better. She managed to sleep about 5 hours and I about 4. Now we're waiting for 6pm (more or less) to arrive so that we can catch our next flight. FYI, it's 8:52am right now.
Both Thao and I have enjoyed our trip but we're both ready to go home. We're both craving Jamba Juice. Yum (I think it's been too much hot and humid weather). I'm also wanting a hamburger and what I REALLY want is cereal. I haven't had cereal since leaving the U.S. and turns out I have a cereal addiction. Who knew? I'll probably have dreams tonight on the flight about cereal. Ah, cereal.
Okay, enough perseveration on cereal... maybe I am tired...
Here in the Tokyo airport there are showers for ~$5 for 1/2 hour so we think we're going to shower on our crazy long layover.
Take care and come back in a few days as I'll be posting a few pictures. I've finally decided how I'm going to do this: I'm going to add them on each day's blog and then reference with a number or letter. That way both Thao and I can add photos and just stick them onto the blog.
Homeward bound...

Last Day

2008-07-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today we leave for Tokyo before returning to the U.S. It's been a long trip but one I have enjoyed. Thao said last night that we tried to do too much and I agree. Good thing we didn't follow the trip's original itinerary!
Yesterday I didn't do much. In fact I was extremely tired and took an afternoon nap. Thao met up with some friends and relatives she hadn't seen in a while.
Today we're just taking it easy in anticipation of our flights home. We leave Vietnam at 11:35pm and arrive in Tokyo in the morning. Then we both don't leave until about 6pm to head back to the U.S.
We'll write more from the internet cafe at Tokyo's airport if we're able.

Last day in Nha Trang

2008-07-25T01:09:00.000-07:00

Today we head back to Ho Chi Minh City for 2 days before heading to Tokyo and home. Our flight isn't until evening though so we had some time to kill.
How did we spend it one might ask? We rented a taxi to drive us around for a few sights. The concierge desk tried to get us to rent a private car/driver for the day for almost twice as much (I'm starting not to trust concierges). Nevertheless, we went to these this beautiful temple (can you tell I don't have my guidebook on me) which looked like Angor Wat (which we're both sad we didn't have time to visit and were tempted to tell everyone that what was the picture was). The taxi driver said while we were there that he knew of this other temple about 20km away which was bigger and nice. Hmm... So first, as planned, we went to Hon Choung bay which Thao has loved since she was younger and we walked and hiked over giant boulders. There is one huge boulder which has this strange hand-like indentation which is said to be the hand print of a giant. The bay was a beautiful sight. The only downside is that it's REALLY hot today (hotter than I think it's been on this trip which is saying a lot).
Afterwards, we went to this temple which the taxi driver said was big and nice. (He also promised us that the ride would be about 1/2-2/3 of what the price actually was). The temple was OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! It is apparently a very busy temple during a particular festival in March but we were nearly the only ones there (and most certainly the ONLY tourists there). It was at the top of a giant hill (a hill with 175 stairs to be exact - Thao counted). The views of the valley were nice but the temple was the least exciting we've seen on the entire trip. The taxi driver's "village of weavers" that we stopped by on the way back to the hotel consisted of 2 houses in the slums. Still it was half the price of the private car though...
Now we're back at our hotel (which we checked out of earlier in the day) awaiting the taxi to take us to the airport (which for those who know what I'm talking about reminds me of a smaller version of St. Croix's airport).
I don't know when we'll have a chance to write again as tomorrow we'll be back in Ho Chi Minh City and are again at the mercy of Thao's family's neighbors (who were so kind to let us write on their computer previously). I think that we might try to take a day trip from the city out to the countryside to see the underground tunnels used during the Vietnam War.
Take care and if I don't write back soon it's because we don't have the internet (but we should at the Tokyo airport at which we'll be spending something like 10 blissful hours).

Vinpearl Land

2008-07-23T22:59:00.000-07:00

This morning we decided to spend some time on one of the many islands off the coast of Nha Trang. Thao had heard of Vinpearl Land and it was recommended to us by the hotel concierge so we went.
For around $19 we took a tram over the ocean (apparently the world's longest transocean tram) to the island. Vinpearl Land is an amusement park. http://www.vinpearlland.com/default.aspx?lang=en-GB We walked around taking pictures of the campy statues and then went to the aquarium. The aquarium was actually very good. It had one of those underwater tunnels (complete with moving walkway - I've never felt like luggage so much in my life). The tanks were big and the animals all looked happy (except for one dead frog which was being eaten by a lizard or something - the frog was thrown in dead as food).
There was also an indoor area with a 4D ride (one of those rides where the seats move, the screen is in 3D, and they spray water and air on you). It was pretty good. We also had a very good time on the bumper cars (followed by ice cream).
It's lunch time now (can you tell we have free internet at our hotel?) and we're off to grab some food. I think this afternoon is going to consist of either pool or beach time.
Tomorrow afternoon we fly back to Ho Chi Minh City but think we're going to spend the morning visit a temple not far from here. Until later...

Nha Trang

2008-07-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

We're all settle into the beach town of Nha Trang.
We arrived here this afternoon. It's beautiful. I imagine this is what the Caribbean or Southern California looked like before tons and tons of tourists arrived. It's got quite a few high rise buildings but nothing like Waikiki. The beach seems nice as well.
We haven't decided what we're going to do tomorrow, go to the beach or maybe take a boat trip. Who knows?
Our hotel here is $40/night (five dollars less per night than our hotel in Hanoi) and is a lot nicer. In the Hanoi hotel room, the tub was so high off the ground that I was afraid we were going to slip and fall and break something (yes, I spend my time with old people so these are things about which I think). We do have a beautiful view of a wall outside our room here. Thao and I are very content looking at a wall in exchange for good old fashioned cleanliness.
Since I don't have much to write about today I thought I'd take a moment to discuss the things that we've experienced abroad which we think should be imported into the U.S. such as in Vietnamese airports any package or odd thing one would like to be checked in as baggage can be wrapped in clear plastic "cling wrap" for about 3 dollars, all meals in Japan and Vietnam start with moistened handy wipes, the trash (even the bins on the street) in Japan is separated by types, e.g. cans, bottles, "combustibles", and "others," Vietnam has a universal helmet law, 1.5 liter bottles of water have a handy handle built in, and I'm sure there are others but I can't remember them right now. If I remember more I'll write them down.
Good night (it's about 7:30pm here).

Sightseeing the Hanoi Way

2008-07-22T03:33:00.000-07:00

We've taken it easy today. We took a taxi this morning and then have been lounging around part of the afternoon (watching cartoons on the Disney Channel no less). But that's now...
This morning started with a leisurely breakfast in our hotel and then a taxi ride to the northwestern part of Hanoi. There we stood in line with hundreds of other people (tourists and locals alike) to view Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body in his mausoleum. It was kind of creapy and anticlimatic. I was told to change out of my skirt (which was knee length) into pants before leaving the hotel and Thao was told that her sleeveless shirt was okay. When we got to the mausoleum she was told that she could either buy a new scarf for about $3.50 to cover herself up with or "rent" for free dirty shirts to wear over. She bought the scarf.
Afterwards I walked over to the house in which Ho Chi Minh lived (it's a little house on stilts) and walked through the gardens.
Then in direct opposition to our previous activities we visited a Buddhist Temple called the One Pillar Temple because it's built on, yes, you guessed it, one pillar. It was very simple and quite lovely.
We then walked to the Temple of Literature which is actually a temple complex. It's large and has been in that spot since 1070. Parts of it have been rebuilt and added onto since that time. There are beautiful stone "stele" or tablets which date from the 15-18th centuries.
Afterwards we visited the Hoa Loa Prison Museum (better known to most Americans as "Hanoi Hilton.") Only part of the prison remains as most of the complex was torn down to build a fancy, Western style high rise (in which we ate lunch). The prison is absolutely moving though. Inside was John McCain's flight suit which he was wearing when he was captured and pictures of him smiling at the physicians taking care of his wounds. There was definitely a slant to the museum with a distinctive "look how good we took care of the American pilots while they were here" message.
Now we're back at the hotel and pondered visiting the market to buy more souvenirs but I think we're both tired and a tired of being in the sun so we're spending the afternoon inside.
Tomorrow we head to Nha Trang (a beach destination) for 2 days of fun in the sun before we return to Ho Chi Minh City.

Halong Bay

2008-07-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we walked into Hanoi's city center and bought tickets to the water puppet show (it was all sold out except for the 8pm performance). We killed the time between ~4 and the show going to the Hoan Kiem Lake and the Den Ngoc Son (or Jade Mountain Temple) which sits on a lovely little island to which one has to walk across a beautiful red foot bridge.
After watching a man publically urinate we grabbed dinner at a Korean restaurant (at which they didn't give us the Korean type food menu) where we ordered non-Korean food (which wasn't that good). We literally sat around for 2 hours and then went to the puppet show. It was short but fantastic. The theater is called Thang Long Water Puppet Theater and I recommend that you either google or go to www.en.wikipedia.org to look it up.
We were going to wander around and sightsee in Hanoi today but we consulted our guide book which said that many sights were closed because it was a Monday. Instead we took tomorrow's planned trip to Halong Bay today.
The morning started out rushed as the minibus arrived 15-45 minutes early (they gave us a window of 8-8:30 and it arrived at 7:45). It was a 3 hour drive to Halong Bay (that doesn't include the time it took to pick up all the other guests at their hotels around the city). The drive was nice though and while Thao slept I took photos of the countryside.
We caught up with another minibus owned by the same company in Halong City and all boarded a "tourist junk" to cruise the bay. We're not certain but we think that the tour operator had to find a boat that would take us when we arrived on the docks (like everyday he finds a new boat to take his passengers on?). We actually also had to walk through one boat to get to our boat because the boats were parked 2 deep!
The tour started out EXTREMELY slow while lunch was served (not too bad, pretty tasty in fact, too little). While we were going slow we could use the fans inside the boat but once the boat started going faster they had to be turned off "to make the boat go." Okay. We stopped at an island called Dau Go and visited two caves, Hang Dau Go and Hang Thien Cung. The latter was only found in the 1990's and is lit with pink, green, and blue floodlights.
After the caves, we got back on the boat and toured around for about 3 hours (the last ~45 minutes was going extremely slow again).
We then got back to the minibus and drove the repeat 3 hours. Arriving starved in Hanoi, Thao and I just returned from eating dinner. The best part of the tour and boat (lunch inclusive) was that it was only $27!
We're now off to shower and go to bed. Tomorrow is Hanoi's sites...

Water Puppets

2008-07-20T01:18:00.000-07:00

We've made it to Hanoi! It's been a relatively quick and easy trip. We left Ho Chi Minh City this morning and took a short 2 hour flight (strangely enough - it provided a hot lunch) and arrived in Hanoi.
We're staying at a place called Bonjour Vietnam Hotel within the city. The hotel was recommended by Thao's cousin. It's small but seems quiet and clean (and cheap).
We've been making arrangements for the next couple of days. This evening we'll be attending the water puppetry show (which is world famous - be sure to google it). Tomorrow we're going to sightsee within the city and then on the 22nd we'll be going to Halong Bay. It's a full day trip (8am to 8:30pm) but only costs $27. Wow, the prices here aren't bad.
We're off to walk to the theater to buy our tickets and then grab some dinner. Maybe, yes, I'll have pho (it's a noodle dish).

Greetings from Ho Chi Minh City

2008-07-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Vietnam late last night without complications. Thao's cousin was at the airport, by taxi, to pick us up. We're staying last night and tonight at Thao's aunt's house in Ho Chi Minh City. It's a big and spacious room with TWO unit air conditioners a shower, toilet, and sink. The shower is only cold water but that's not a problem in 90 degree weather.
We got up this morning (Thao a lot earlier than I - she didn't sleep well) and 2 of Thao's cousins (both EXTREMELY pregnant, one due in 2-3 days) took us out to breakfast. They all had pho and I had eggs, bread, and bacon.
Afterwards we took a ~ $6 taxi into the city center and walked around the Dong Khoi neighborhood which is where the Notre Dame Cathedra, General Post Office, and City Hall are located. It is also the home of the Rex Hotel which is where according to my guide book the "Five O'Clock Follies" (or daily news briefings from the Vietnam War) were held.
We did a little shopping at the Ben Thanh Market in the center of town as well. I bought souvenirs for ~ $3 and Thao bought a pajama set for ~ $9. Everything was very cheap. Don't worry again everyone, I bought a few trinkets for you too!
Afterwards we walked by an ice cream shop that Thao used to eat at when she was a little girl and we indulged (only in the name of memories of course).
We walked quite a long way to the Jade Emperor Pagoda which is a tiny little temple that is amazingly vivid.
It was back to Thao's family's house after that where we rested for a little while. Now we're at her neighbor's house using his internet (THANKS strangers) and are about to get some dinner. We skipped lunch in favor of ice cream (see, it's okay, Ikuo).
There are a lot of differences between Japan and here though. I keep getting heckled all the time (I think it has to due with my complexion). Things are cheap and a little overwhelming. The traffic is INSANE and almost beyond imagination. One simply has to walk into a street confidently and with a steady pace to make it to the other side. Cars, motorcyles, and mopeds be damned!
Tomorrow morning we leave by plane to Hanoi where we'll spend 3 days. We'll try to write more then!

On our way to Vietnam

2008-07-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

We are at the Narita airport waiting to board our plane to Vietnam. We found duty free shops and also many expensive shops in the are called "Narita's 5th avenue." It has this wonderful and free Yahoo internet cafe, where I am writing one of my few contributions to the blog. Japan has been good, all the Japanese people that we have met have been really nice and courteous, including a couple who we met on our walk to Kiyomizu-dera Temple who gave Jessica a fan. Moving on to Vietnam, both Jessica and I will miss the safe and clean water of Japan, we might not be able to have shaved ice again until we return to the US. Sure Jessica stocked up on Ciprofloxacin but we wouldn't want to chance it. Jessica already read up on the history of Vietnam and has a few places and things that she would like to do. I think that we'll bee seeing less temples and shrines in Vietnam, hopefully the beauty of Vietnam will outshine its problems as a developing country.

Here is a prelimary itinery that we have
7/18 arrive in vietnam - we will stay at my grandfather's house, my cousin will pick us up at the airport
7/19 We'll be in Ho Chi Minh City
7/20 - 7/22
We'll fly to Ho Chi Minh City --> Hanoi (stay at hotel, go to Ha Long's bay and then explore on our own or go on local tours), Jessica read about water puppets show, which I didn't know existed in Vietnam. We will go see that in Ha Noi.
7/23 - 7/24 Ha Noi --> Nha Trang (this is a beach resort town), we'll stay at one of the resort there.
7/25 - Nha Trang --> Ho Chi Minh City (we'll stay at a hotel in the center of the city)
7/26 - Ho Chi Minh City
7/27- fly back to the US 23:35

On the road again...

2008-07-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

We're off this morning again...
We'll be heading to Tokyo Station on the bullet train (it's about 3 hours) and then changing for the express train to Narita Airport (in Tokyo). We then have a 6 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where Thao's cousin will pick us up.
We'll be in contact soon.
Adios from Japan!

Shrines, temples, and castles

2008-07-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

We tried to blog last night but our dinner ran late and the concierge desk was already closed (that's where the computers are in the hotel) so now I'll update you on the last 2 days.
Yesterday morning we started the day off with a short train ride into northwest Kyoto to see the Kinkaku-ji or Golden Pavilion. It's a beautiful temple with real gold leaf covering the entirety of the outside. Thao and I both said that even if we didn't see anything else, this temple was beautiful enough to keep us happy for the rest of the trip. It was full of tourists (from all over) who had been bused in to see it.
Afterwards we walked to Nijo Castle to see the amazing paintings and "nightingale floors" which were made to rub and squeak gently when someone walked on them so as to alert the occupants of intruders.
Yesterday was our coolest day yet here in Japan and I think it probably only got to around 85 degrees. Nevertheless we aren't drinking enough and it's become a running joke that neither of us ever has to go to the bathroom during the day. Don't worry everyone, we're working on it.
Off that side note, Nijo Castle was beautiful and huge! We especially got a good appreciation of its size when we walked around the ENTIRE outside (surrounded by a moat no less) only to discover that the entrance gait was near where we had started. Ah, irony!
For lunch yesterday we ate at this manic restaurant where there was one man working the entire dining section and I think doing some of the cooking as well. The reason he could do so much was that the front counter (where you order and pay) is a vending machine. One simply looks at the screen above the vending machine and then punches the corresponding number. You plunk in the money and out shoots a ticket which you give to the worker. Shear brilliancy!
We then walked over the the Imperial Park which is kind of like Central Park if there was a castle in the middle of it. By that time, we were both exhausted and headed back to the hotel.
Dinner last night was in the mall beneath the station (a place called Porta) where we had those Osakan pancake thingies (come on Ikuo, what's their name?). Yum. We also did a little shopping as well, specifically we bought socks and finished up souvenir shopping.
This morning we walked to the famous Gion district where we watched about an hour of a 3 hour parade celebrating the Gion Festival. The parade floats were all pulled by hand which was impressive because each one probably held 15 men and was ~ 60 feet high. There were non-rotating wheels on the floats so to turn a corner the wheels had to be placed on logs/sticks and turned with sheer muscle force. It took 3-4 turns to get a float moved around a corner. Every time a turn was made the crowd cheered. It was truly impressive.
This afternoon consisted of going to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It was up near the top of a giant hill on the Eastern section of town. The views of Kyoto were magnificent. My favorite part was the large "veranda" which was made completely nail-less. The temple is actually a compound of temples with 3 story pagodas, large central temples, and little side buildings. There is also a lot of running water with streams from natural springs.
We then walked back to the hotel (where we write this) and have been enjoying keeping our feet up (they're a little sore).
We're off to Vietnam tomorrow by way of bullet train to Tokyo and then a plane to Ho Chi Minh City. We probably won't be able to write again until Saturday so see you then!

Kyoto

2008-07-15T02:37:00.000-07:00

Hello again!
We've made it to Kyoto! It was a simple trip actually. The train is very fast (not surprisingly since it's called a bullet train), clean, and spacious. We lounged and read and Thao slept.
We arrived in Kyoto around 2pm and took a local train to the western part where our hostel was. We ended up taking a taxi because we couldn't get good directions and then upon arriving at the hostel it was decided that we wouldn't stay there. Oh well. We walked the ~1 mile back to the train station and came back to Kyoto station. Strange how now a 1 mile walk seems like a short little jaunt. We managed to find a room at the hotel within the main Kyoto train station. It's on "special" due to the festival here and wasn't too expensive.
We just finished eating noodles and chicken (and shave ice, which we found very common here) and are likely heading back to our room soon.
Tomorrow we'll sight see and enjoy all of the history, temples, and shrines that Kyoto has to offer.

Still in Tokyo

2008-07-14T16:27:00.001-07:00

We were going to get up this morning and go to the fish market but since we couldn:t quite coordinate meeting Takenori to get back into the apartment last night we decided not to chance missing our train to Kyoto this morning.
So we:re having a leisurely morning in his apartment (enjoying air conditioning and such). We are going to make our way to the train station early so that we can reserve our seats from Kyoto to the airport on the 18th (and likely get some breakfast).
Our meals have been good but dinner keeps getting left behind. We haven't had a real dinner yet (I don:t think that the crepe last late afternoon counts). It:s okay though as we:ve been walking between 4 and 6 miles a day.
Sorry for the crazy puncutation as I'm typing on a half Japanese and half English keyboard.
We'll write more as soon as we're able. We're off to Kyto in less than 3 hours and though we have reservations at a hostel I think we'll likely be in a hotel (Thao is getting more uncertain about the hostel idea as we get closer to it).
Take care!

Hello from Japan

2008-07-14T03:26:00.000-07:00

Today is our first day with email and internet but our 3rd day in Japan.
We arrived in Tokyo on the 12th and found each other pretty quickly. We even managed to find the train station and get on the right train (with a little help from a few strangers).
Thao and I ventured on the Narita Express train to Shinagawa station to meet up with Noby`s brother in law, Takenori. We called him (successfully managing the telephones) and met him at the station. We spent the first 2 nights in a guest apartment in his apartment building (which was interesting because it was full of instructions in Japanese, none of which we understood). The apartment was very nice and as soon as Thao figured out the air conditioner very pleasant. It had a fancy, heated, spray optional toilet and a shower/tub combination (not your American style kind either).
The first full day here Takenori and his ｆｒｉｅｎｄ took us sightseeing. We went to the Sony Showroom (very fancy) and the Ginza District (also very fancy and full of designer shops). We had arrived in to the Sony Showroom before it opened so we spent an hour at a coffee shop first (in the famous San`ai Building).
They then took us to the Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment Office Building where we went to the observation deck at the top of the South Tower. It had amazing views but was quite hazy. On a clear day, apparently, one can see Mt. Fuji.
We ate lunch in a Japanese only speaking seafood restaurant in the Sumitomo Building next door.
Afterwards we took the train to Mejii Shrine and the Harajuku District.
We were in bed by 8pm and awake by were in bed by 8pm and awake by 7am just like good little girls.
We were going to go to the Tsukiji Fish Market but just couldn:t get out of bed. Maybe tomorrow...
Today, we took the train (by ourselves, but with the help of a stranger giving us directions) to Sensoji Temple and then Ueno Park. Don:t worry everyone, we bought souveniors/gifts on the way to the Temple.
Afterwards, we went to the 333m Tokyo Tower (which looks just like a red and white Eiffel Tower). Originally we couldn:t go up because apparently there was an earthquake today (we had no idea and didn`t feel it). We eventually did get to the observation deck where the haziness obscurred our view.
I have learned a lot ａｂｏｕｔ Japanese culture while we:re here though, such as, women always look extremely nice and always have heels on (no matter how far they have to walk) and there doesn`:t seem to be any trash (definetly no trash cans at least).
Well, it`s almost 8 and is nearly our bedtime (we:re old and it:s bad jetlab). Tomorrow we:re going to try for the extremely early fish market (goal arrival time is between 5 and 6 in the (goal arrival time is between 5 and 6 in the morning) and then take an 11am train to Kyoto.
Thanks again to Noby, Sako, and Takenori for help in planning and providing us a place to stay!!!
Thao also wanted to add that she can:t wait to stay in the Kyoto hostel (it will be her first time in a hostel).
Take care everyone and we miss you all!!!

Bon Voyage!

2008-07-11T11:45:00.001-07:00

The day has finally come! Thao and I are leaving today (and arriving tomorrow) on our trip to Asia. We'll be blogging regularly (provided there is not too much computer craziness) so please keep following us. Take care and see you all soon!

Love, Jessica and Thao

More Plans

2008-06-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

I had a little down time today at the VA. I'd been a little remiss about making the rest of the reservations... So I went online today to make reservations for Kyoto. EVERY HOTEL IN KYOTO WAS BOOKED FOR JULY 16th!!! I called Noby-san who told me that it is because that's when the BIGGEST festival in Japan is occurring: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gion_Matsuri for details. In a near panic, I booked two of the only four beds available in the city. Thao and I will be staying at a hostel in Kyoto in an 18 bed dorm. On the good side, it's cheap and it's available. The reviews online were actually pretty good even.

So, the plan as it stands currently: arrive in Tokyo, Japan on July 12th, stay in Tokyo from the 12-15th, travel from Tokyo to Kyoto on July 15th, stay in Kyoto July 15-July 18th, take the train from Kyoto to Tokyo on the 18th, and fly out to Vietnam the same day.

Bullet Train

2008-06-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

I bought the train passes for when we're in Japan. It looks like our current plan is: 3 nights in Tokyo (in Sako's brother's apartment - Thanks!!!) and then 3 nights in Kyoto.

I also finally bought up to date guide books on Japan and Vietnam. (They cost $85 - yikes). I'm starting to get really excited!!!

More Plans...

2008-06-15T23:42:00.000-07:00

Well we finally got our Vietnam visas finished! They're letting us into the country!!!
We've also made some more decisions. It looks like we're going to spend the first 3 days in Tokyo and then go to Kyoto. We decided that only 2 cities was do-able in 6 days.
Actually, we decided today to divide the itinerary planning between the two of us. I've been awarded planning all of the Japan part and Thao will take the Vietnam part (fittingly).

TICKETS!

2008-04-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

We've finally bought our tickets so now it's official. WE'RE GOING TO ASIA! I'm going to put a little plug in for the nice travel agent who helped us out today, Vinson Chan at Vietnam City International Travel, thanks! I had become concerned about how much the airline tickets were going to be (online in my searches it's been around $2200) but Vinson got us tickets for under $1200!!! We've scaled the trip back a bit but how it finally shaped up is:
July 11th: I leave Honolulu and Thao leaves San Francisco
July 12th: We arrive within 5 minutes of each other in Tokyo, Japan (if everything goes according to plan)
July 18th: We fly to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
July 27th: We fly back to Tokyo and then after an 11 hour layover we fly back to the U.S.
July 28th: We arrive back to Honolulu and San Francisco (as appropriate)
We also tried to buy train passes for Japan but it has to be within 3 months of travel so I'm going to go back and buy them in a couple of weeks. Keep checking in on the blog though, plans are forming!

Week and a half

2008-03-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Thao and Sheen will be here in a week and a half! I've taken two days off (one is set aside for a job interview but still there is one free). I'm not sure what we'll be doing other than Thao and I will be buying airline tickets for our Asia trip.

Thanks again to Noby and Sako for arranging a free place for us to stay when we're in Tokyo! That's going to be a huge help on our pocketbooks!

Newspaper's travel tipsheet

2008-03-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

I recently came across a travel tipsheet in the san Jose Mercury news that talked about must-sees in Tokyo and Kyoto. So I think at least we must see some of them.

Tokyo: Sensoji temple and Asakura Shrine, the Imperial Palace and gardens

Kyoto: Kinkakuji (Beautiful Golden Temple) and Kiyomizu-dera Temple

they also have a website www.jnto.go.jp for the Japan National Tourist Organization

2008-01-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

I felt that I hadn't written in the blog for a while and I needed to add something. Thao will be visiting in early April and I can't wait. I'm going to be on a relatively "light" rotation at the time so I hopefully should have a lot of time to spend with Thao and Sheen. Thao and Sheen haven't told me yet what exactly is on their "I have to see/do this when I'm in Hawaii" list but I'm looking forward to showing them around the island (oh yeah, and we're going to plan and make reservations for our Asian trip).

Yeah! Hawaii then Asia... :-)

2007-12-23T02:03:00.000-08:00

I finally booked my ticket to Hawaii. Reserved for the conference there and also asked for time off from work. I'll be there in April. The time off from work is actually going under educational leave, but it's an excuse for me to visit Hawaii. I am hoping that Jessica and I will be able to finalize our very "slow planning for asia" during this trip. Of course, we will have a lot of fun when I'm there too. Sheen is also coming. It's looking good!

TickTock

2007-12-15T00:22:00.000-08:00

I'm begnning to worry that 3 weeks aren't going to be enough time for all that Thao and I want to do. What should we cut out or minimize? I'm starting to think that Thailand (sorry Korsin) may have to pay. Maybe if someone can finance our trip and get us all the time off we want (and keep our jobs happy) we won't have to sacrifice anything . Any takers?

Vietnam

2007-12-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

Sad to say that even though I'm Vietnamese I don't know it so well. Being from South Vietnam, North and Central Vietnam are very mysterious to me. So today, I was reading a NY Times article online - "53 places to Go in 2008," Vietnam is including in the list. So I ended up reading more about it. Here is what I came up with

HANOI - must see Lake Hoan Kiem just before before sunrise, Old Quarter, massages at the Shiseido Qui Spa, to stay: De Syloia or Metropole

HOI AN - New Space Gallery

Ha Long Bay

HUE - Forbidden City, La Residence

SAIGON - Panorama, the markets, temples

We'll have to narrow the list down more but I will need to ask my friends in Vietnam.

With so many places to see, I'm afraid that we might have to run the entire trip.

Newest stuff...

2007-12-09T21:16:00.000-08:00

So neither Thao nor I have written anything in the last few weeks and the blog is looking a little thin. I haven't done anything on our trip plan except I went to Chinatown last week and went into a travel agent's office. I even got his card. I know, you're impressed now. How about you Thao, how's your planning going?

Speaking of Thao, we just found out that our other friend, Sheen will also be visiting Hawaii in April. It'll be like a Brown reunion.

Woo Hoo

2007-11-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

Thao will be coming to Oahu in April! We'll be able to plan this trip together (in person). Okay, this posting is just an excuse to say how excited I am that Thao is coming to visit! Yea!

Thailand ideas

2007-11-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

I spoke with my friend and fellow fellow Korsin (who is from Thailand) about places to see and a possible itinerary.
He suggests:
1-2 days in Bangkok - recommends staying near the train station (which is the center for citywide travel), seeing the Wat Phra Kaew (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha) - thinks the wikitravel itinerary for Bangkok is "not good"
Water market (about 1 hour drive from Bangkok)
A bus trip to Ayuttaya
Fly from Bangkok to Phuket
Stay in Phuket for a few days
Take a bus trip Krabi Providence
then take boat trip to Phi Phi island
He says not to go further south than Krabi for safety reasons
He says we should be overpriced for tours, buses, hotels, tuktuks, and souvenirs.
He thinks the cabs and food shouldn't be overpriced. He also suggests to take only metered taxis.
He also suggests flying the local airline NokAir (http://www.nokair.com/) for cheaper flights
Okay, now we have some good Thailand suggestions.

A Decision

2007-11-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

We've made our first decision. Thao will be traveling to Hawaii and then we're going to start our trip together from here. I'm planning on going to a travel agent in Chinatown to make all of our reservations. If anyone has any suggestions on a good travel agent in Chinatown (in Honolulu) or a travel agent anywhere else who specializes in Asia travel, please let us know.

Belated First Post

2007-11-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

I am also very excited about this trip, I never traveled "around the world" with friends before. It took a lot of efforts and dreams to reach this planning stage. I am glad to be traveling with Jessica, her bubbly personality and genuine enthusiasm will make this trip more fun. I am glad Jessica is thinking about more practical stuffs, like renting a cell phone. As for me, I recently had a perm, I am still not use to it and wishing that this trip would come sooner so that I can go to a Japanese hair salon and get my perm straightened. :-)

Keeping in touch

2007-11-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

So, I've given up on Thao writing the second entry. I guess it's my turn again. :)

In my research for traveling to Asia, I found a company who rents cell phones which will work all over Asia (except Japan - you need a special phone for that). I'll probably end up renting a cell phone when we go so that I can keep up my incessant need to blab (all text messages are $0.75 and incoming calls are free).

First Entry

2007-11-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I'm excited to be beginning this blog because other getting time off for vacation this is the first step to this trip! I hope that everyone will visit regularly as the adventure comes together and will stop by even more often when we're in Asia. My hope is that blog will be an up to date portal into this trip.

What we know right now is that we're going to be going to Asia in July 2008 and will be visiting 4 countries, Japan, China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Maybe this is where I should also ask for corporate (or private) sponsorship to help finance (okay, just kidding).

-Jessica