Turning Japanese

Konnichiwa! Well, we have arrived in Tokyo. Overall, I'd say the trip went very smoothly. It began with us saying goodbye to our Alexandria apartment before heading to National Airport. We managed to confine our packing to two small wheeled bags and two large backpacks, and it was validating when a United Airlines attendant complimented us on our efficiency!

A brief layover in Chicago allowed for last phone calls and pizza, then we were on our way. We were surprised at how many nationalities were represented on the flight and decided Tokyo must be a big hub for flights going to eastern Europe. The flight was fairly uneventful, though, and even touched down in Narita about 30 minutes early. We breezed through customs, where they take electronic finger prints and a picture of each individual, and managed to withdraw some Yen and purchase tickets for the train into the city. Opting for the cheaper, local train allowed us to see a glimpse of rush hour in the Tokyo suburbs. There were plenty of people who looked to be coming from work (both men and women), as well as many children in uniforms, but for the entire hour-plus journey, we were the only non-Japanese that we saw on the crowded cars. The pattern continued on the busy subway we took once within the city limits to the station nearest our Japanese-style hotel, or ryokan.

It wasn't until we emerged from the subway that we hit our first snag. We knew from the guidebook that the streets in Tokyo are not really named or labeled as they are in the United States, but we didn't realize how clueless this would render us. We stared at a busy 5-way intersection clutching our directions we had carefully printed from Google maps ahead of time, but no matter how we looked at it we simply could not do any better than guess at which way to go. Ben asked a man near the station, who pondered carefully and then gave us definitive directions, which turned out to be wrong. Another man even pulled out a pocket magnifying glass to help study our map, but no dice. With dark clouds looming, we jumped at the chance when a taxi happened to pull down our side street. Even the driver struggled to find Andon Ryokan on his GPS, but we made it just in time for the rain to start.

The ryokan is very cool, a modern interpretation of this Japanese tradition. After a rejuvenating shower we hit the streets again to find dinner, which proved much easier with the kind hotel manager's map and instructions (we really are very close to the subway, too). Dinner proved another challenge, though this we had expected. We muddled our way through at a tiny sushi bar with the animated owners and another diner who knew some broken English. We were able to order vegetarian tempura (including bright orange regional squash and breaded egg yolks) and some fish with sushi rice. The owners threw in some delicious miso soup with egg and daikon radish, possibly because our Japanese is so pitiful! In any case, we are learning constantly and excited to become more comfortable with the customs, language, and food.

Tomorrow we wake up early to climb Mt. Fuji...so now it's off to bed!

Travel Map

Click on the map for a full view


Here is our Plan:

We start in Tokyo, head throughout Japan, including visits to Hakone, Kyoto, probably day trips to Osaka and Nara, before departing from Hiroshima.

From there, we get on a flight to Bangkok, but before we get out of the airport, we turn around on another flight to Siem Reap and Ankgor Wat in Cambodia for a couple days.

Then its back to Bangkok for a while and an overnight train up to Chiang Mai (in northern Thailand) to end our trip.

We leave in one week and return August 14th...Should be fun.

At 2 years, on the cusp of another adventure!

Well well well. It certainly has been quite a while since we've used this blog. It's been three years, almost to the day. Oy, I forgot how hard it is to figure out this blogging interface and actually get some thoughts down in a comprehensive way. Anyway, here's to shaking off some of the rust and getting pumped for our next adventure.

Let's see. What has happened in the last three years? Too hard for a first post...but here are some of the major events in our relationship. We got engaged almost as soon as we got back from Europe. In fact, today is Betsy's and my 2nd anniversary! We are going to go out to celebrate at Geranio, one of our favorite spots in Old Town. We have had weddings, funerals, births and graduations in the family. (I guess three years is a long time.) Also, I am now an Architecture Master and have less than one year left on my internship before I can get my stamp.

So now that I am on my way, it was time to follow Betsy as she goes back to school. I have to take a minute to brag about her here. She applied to 15 Psychology Doctorate programs all across the country,  and got in to almost all of them, something that is just unheard of (I mean her incoming class is 7 students of the hundreds that applied!)...So she will be going her first choice, Duquesne. We could have ended up in Chicago, Berkeley, Indianapolis, NYC, Philly or even Detroit. Alas, as fate has it, we will be returning to the beautiful Golden Triangle, the Steel City, our homeland, the Burgh!

But before we do that, we decided to quit our jobs a month early and head out East in hope of rediscovering some of the magic we found abroad three years ago. We figure that this will be the last big life transition we share before having kids--crazy--so why not make the most of it? The itinerary this time: Japan, Thailand and Cambodia!

For those of you who remember, Betsy is a huge Anglofile, but if her passion for the English is eclipsed by anything, it's probably the Japanese. And me? I'm just so excited to be out on the road in a new and unfamiliar place again. The estrangement and excitement just can't be matched any other way. So this should be a good trip. Thanks everyone for following our travels. We look forward to keeping you in the loop and using this blog to decompress and comprehend all of our new experiences.