On our way to Vietnam

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...

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

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

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

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

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!

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