"This Is How We Do It"

The day and venue of V and Alex's wedding was epic! Trisara is a secluded 5-star resort with breathtaking views of the ocean. When we were driving up the hill and caught the first glimpse of the ocean, I literally gasped. It was so beautiful. I couldn't believe we were there. We were among the first guests and immediately started taking pictures. The groom was there greeting us as we sipped on ginger tea and took in the surroundings. I kinda told Alex I would cry for 2 reasons: tears of happiness for the beautiful wedding and tears of sorrow that our vacation and trip would be over! Maybe not the classiest thing to say but it was the truth. Although we went halfway around the world to see our friend get married, they picked paradise and none of us could complain. In fact, it was quite the privilege (as always!) to be friends with V!

The ceremony was performed by the groom's older sister and she was phenomenal! More on that later. Orchids were everywhere but they really couldn't compete with the water and trees all over. The bridal party was a great looking bunch! The girls wore fuschia (?) cocktail dresses in different styles. And Addison the little flower girl was adorable as always!

  

We knew V would come out in style but we did not anticipate how dramatic of an entrance she would make. While the rest of the wedding party entered from the lounge, V and her father came out from the second floor of one of the towers on the right, crossed a bridge above the manmade waterfall and took the stairs down. Relatives (i think cousins?) played pachelbel's canon in d on violin and piano. T & I were tearing up at the sight. The gown was custom-made by designer seamstresses in Singapore. I should have asked about the shoes because they were awesome. Anyway, the tears didn't end there.

When the ceremony began, Alex's sister enlightened us with the rigorous credentials needed to become ordained. It basically only required checking a box in a free online form. Despite her inexperience "marrying people," she did a great job capturing what is so special about V and Alex as individuals but also as a couple the last 4 years. She mentioned that she was Alex's legal guardian at some point during school and that he never crossed boundaries with her and was just a great example for the entire family then and now. I looked to T and we were both in tears. When he brought V home for Thanksgiving, they knew she could hang because she is cool and can handle lots of food and football. I think it is truly remarkable that V and Alex made the early days of their relationship work, while she was in NY and he was in Singapore. It's so great to see that all of that was culminating into this great event celebrating all they've been through to get their lives together. Everyone felt the love the entire night!

The cocktail hour served passion fruit margaritas and some chili moon martini (?) drink as well as Singha and wine. We dined on awesome hors d'oeuvres and signed the guest book, which involved lots of people taking silly pics. When cocktail hour ended, it started pouring; guests had to be escorted with umbrellas to the reception area. When we got to our seats, we welcomed the bride and groom to their first dance. It was a Chinese version of Prince's (and Sinead O'Connor's) "nothing compares 2 u"!!!!! So good. Other highlights of the reception were: Alex singing a song to V (!!! Surprise!!!), V's awesome Chinese dress, the DJ, the DJ falling on the floor, all the 90's pop music (including K singing "this is how we do it" to the amusement of T and the girls singing "shoop" before the DJ cuts it off abruptly) and lighting up lanterns to the sky... What an amazing night! Hope this honeymoon feeling never ends for all of us!

 

Pre-Wedding Prep

We found a spa within walking distance from our villa called Chada Sai. The 3 girls opted for 10am massage and nail appointments anticipating that we'd be done around noon. Jamie and Dave checked out of the villa and into the Dusit Thani so we didn't see them again until wedding festivities began. Matt & K just chilled in the villa to swim, check email and watch TV.

When we got to the spa, we were greeted by chilled tea and very soothing scents. I got a pedicure/manicure first (with "scratch") then had a 1-hour coconut and Thai herb/black sesame scrub. T&M got an intense 1-hour Thai massage and then a pedicure with scratch. There are no words to describe that thai massage experience. You just have to see T and M gyrate to demonstrate. They put on pajama-looking hammer pants and laid in beds next to each other while these tiny but strong thai women mounted them from behind to achieve maximum stretch. It was also raining during some of our treatment, so that added some calming noises to the madness.

Anyway, by the time we were done, it was already 1pm! Were we really there for 3 hours?! We could have stayed all day. I asked my masseuse where we could get lunch and she recommended a Mexican place across the street... Seriously?! It was called Gitano's and it was a Mexican-Thai restaurant. We were skeptical but it was POURING and we had to eat. We also didn't have much time to eat, get ready and get to Dusit Thani for the 3:30 shuttle. I sent K an iMessage that we were getting lunch and he said "I'll be there in 10!" The menu was great, it was just as described but good lunch portions, prices and selection! T had a watermelon ginger juice and I had a Thai iced tea. M got a coca cola of course.

K met us right as we were about to order food. He got a fried chicken curry, I got a crab curry with brown rice vermicelli, T had a pineapple fried rice and M got some spicy glass noodles. We shared some stir fried morning glory on the side. Everything was less than $5 a plate!

We rushed back to get ready for V's big day! We probably only had a half hour but we made it!!!

Island Hopping at Koh Phi Phi

V arranged a group island hopping adventure that began at her hotel lobby at 8:15am. Anticipating this early start, I took orders for breakfast sandwiches and all but one of us made the trip out to pick up. There were 11 sandwiches ordered between 7 Americans! The guys each had 2 sausage egg mcmuffins. The English muffins here are a bit more fluffy and less bitter than the American version. However, that dog was there again. This time, the larger group witnessed him as he followed us up to the gate of our villa. He was marking trees along the way and digging the mud so that it would hit us. We didn't know whether to be flattered or disgusted.

We crammed into one SUV and got to the Dusit Thani just in time. After some pill popping to prevent seasickness, we hopped onto the boat to begin our day around Koh Phi Phi. Our tour guide's name was Mack and he took us around the islands. First stop was at a coral reef to do some snorkeling but we had some amazing views on the way like Camel Island above. M and I made some dough balls out of bread for fish food and rented some swim fins, which was a good call since the reefs roughed up K's feet! We snorkeled for about an hour, feeding fishies some bread and banana. We saw many fish, huge clam-like things, and sea urchin. We then swam up to the beach to relax and take pics like the one below entitled "the full Johnson."

After lunch, we continued hopping from island to island until about 4pm. By the last stop, many of us just wanted a cool cocktail so we picked up some Mai Tai's served in a pineapple and piña coladas served in a baby coconut. Yum! M&I snorkeled for a little bit longer but the water was just too murky and filled with tourists.

We got back from the outing around 4:30pm, picked up some spare booze from Lindsay, the maid of honor, and proceeded to return to our villa to make dinner plans for tonight and spa plans for tomorrow. I called one spa that happened to be booked up, but instead of saying "no availability" or "no" to my question, the lady responded "cannot massage." We even made a trip to Tesco (my fave) for snacks and more beverages.

We met the others in our group around 8 at Pla Seafood (Thai-Austrian restaurant) in Surin Beach. We had some yummy Thai food and drinks. Between T, K and I, we ordered shrimp spring rolls, papaya salad, shrimp pad thai, grilled squid and fried fish red curry. :)

We then went down the street to Catch Beach Club. I was so tired, though, that I had to call it quits while everyone else except for K stayed around. The saxophonist and fire breather were just not enough.

Our Phuket Triathlon or the Bank of K&S

Good morning from Phuket! We are staying at the Residence Resort and Spa Villas with 3 other guys from our bschool class: Dave, Jamie and Matt, although none of them get here until tonight at V's welcome reception. Oh yes, we are here for our great friend and Bali travel partner's wedding and we cannot wait! She is having it at one of the premier resorts in Phuket called Trisara. Even though our accommodations aren't 5-star by any means, we are still living the life, waking up to this...  

Anyway, M snuck into the villa after V's bachelorette party around 2am. Trannies, dancing and whips were involved! But T&I stayed in and woke up early to get to Tesco at 8am to pick up some fruit and drinks for our villa. We also ran into the DOG that followed us all the way home the night before. He waited for us to leave McDonald's where we had breakfast and picked up sandwiches for K and M. T and I named him after a classmate that lurked around girls... About the second half of the title, we can talk about it now since we exhausted almost all the funds, but Karl and I had a brain fart the day before on our marathon travel day. We added a zero next to the amount of cash we wanted to take out. We anticipated 6,000 baht because that would be about $200 and we knew the island hopping trip would be about 2,000 baht. Anyway, adding a zero by accident (we were probably still in that yen mindset), we tried to take out 60,000 baht, however the machine only lets you take out 20,000 max. This didn't raise any alarms to us, so BOTH of us said "I guess I'll take the max." What a dumb moment. T exchanged her yen and USD so she was fine. Anyway, we realized we were each walking around Thailand with $600 in our wallets. Not cool. But it was fine because K&I owed M money for the Japan hotels so I ended up giving her half because she didn't have enough after the bachelorette party and K gave some $$ to our friends A (also from the Bali trip) and Andrew who hadn't been to an ATM yet. 

After breakfast, we checked out the beach nearby. We could see the hotel where other friends including the bride and groom are staying, so we decided that we would walk there to get to the welcome dinner later at 7pm. When we got back "home" we swam in our private pool (the swimming portion of the triathlon) and took in some sun before heading out again. We had a lunch appointment at Taste at Surin Beach with friends plus the maid of honor. I had a beer and a nice lunch of soft shell crab sandwich while others ordered tacos. I know (especially with McD's in the morning), not quite Thai food but there will be lots of that later. 

T made a 3:30 pm bike tour for us so we had to go back to the villa. With our tour leader decked out in Livestrong apparel, it was definitely the best way to explore our area. We saw Fish spas where baby fish eat your dead skin, locals, interesting neighborhoods, crazy traffic (confirmed that I cannot drive in Japan or Thailand simply because turning is way too confusing from the other side of he road. Don't even get me started on driving from the right side of the car), and a Muay Thai ring and practice.

We then biked to Laguna and we saw elephants! We met 2 at Laguna named Cindy (after cindy crawford allegedly) and her daughter Lucky. See how cute lucky is? She sneak attacked K by kissing him on the cheek. We spent a lot of time with these oh so charming and friendly animals! When we got back to the bikes, out bike tour leader had gone out to purchase waters for us! Sweet! Oh, here's Lucky doing a head stand. Yoga elephant!

After cleaning up from our amazing bike tour (but still sore from it), we got pretty to make our beachside walk to V's welcome dinner. We were hungry but energized. The sun had just set so the sky was pink and there were few people out besides a small European family with a flashlight. Who knew this would be the longest walk ever? We were using the hotel as the landmark to judge whether we were getting any closer and it never seemed like we made any progress for about 3/4 of the 45-minute trip. There were also a ton of tiny crabs out that you could see as the waves receded back into the ocean. T kept shrieking as they crossed her path! It would have been completely dark in some parts, were it not for the kid with a flashlight behind us. We were exhausted, sweaty and hungry when we saw a figure say M's name in the darkness. It was Jamie! Surely we were close to the venue! It was great to see more familiar faces. V had put together some Thai cooking stations, where noodles, papaya salad, Tom Yum soup, green curry and plenty of BBQ meats were presented. We ate lots and drank Singha beer while catching up with the bride, groom, and classmates. I think we are now getting used to the idea of eating on the beach for every meal.

A Long Trek to Thailand

Who booked these flights?! I suppose we are to blame that our total travel time was about 16 hours from our hotel in Shinjuku to our villa in Phuket. The 4-hour layover seemed to be a good idea at the time and the extra time kind of did help. Oh well. We got onto the Narita express which took us to the airport from shinjuku station in about 2 hours. The end of our Japanese era was near, as the toilets at the airport entrance were ominously labeled "western style" as if we were slowly weaning ourselves away from Japanese refined culture. And that is certainly the truth from now on! After eating some katsudon and soba for breakfast and doing some light window shopping, we got on our flight to Bangkok. We flew ANA (all nihon airways) and it was a pleasure! The flight attendants were amazing and the amenities (Except in-flight entertainment) were definitely a step up from united or any other American airline. However, the passengers on the flight were very peculiar. Mostly older businessmen. And when I got up to use the rest room, these old men were saying "ni hao" to me. I think they were Japanese. This one old, red-faced man's head was following my every move back there, which is very strange considering that most Japanese don't even make eye contact with you, let alone stare. Creep! There just seems to be a lot of shady looking people heading down to Thailand for "business"...

When we got to Bangkok after a 7+ hour flight, we noticed the tremendous diversity right away. It was in stark contrast to Japan. We kind of got used to blending in among the Japanese! We also saw this Ronald McDonald making the thai greeting. We had a 4-hour layover so we took our sweet time with things. We even went through customs there instead of Phuket, our final destination because T&K had their bags going to Bangkok instead of Phuket. Taking it easy, I had some pandan tea at the Bangkok Airways lounge... Yum!

When we finally got to Phuket, we were just so exhausted from traveling that all we wanted to do was shower and sleep. A van was waiting for us, although it took awhile for us to find him ("Huntiley"). Our villa was pretty sweet so we took some time to get familiar with it. Because we had a full kitchen, we decided to go to the Tesco about a half mile away to get some water and basic stuff for the fridge. The resort staff told us it closed at 11 but it actually closes at 10 and it was about 10:45 :( we had to make the dark walk back as cars and bikes buzzed by, but also with a stray dog following us the entire way. We could not shake off this mut! It ended up being ok but he followed us all the way to our door. As long as he was guarding us, that's cool, but after being attacked by a monkey in Bali last year, I usually don't like to take my chances with wild animals! We were so beat that we couldn't make it to the bachelorette party in old Phuket. The restaurant is a must-do here but we were just so dirty and tired and our hair was blowing up in the humidity. Did I mention I showered in the presence of a frog (sorry, M!) and probably other critters? We should be different people now after some beauty sleep :)

Last Day in Japan: Shinjuku Gyoen & Harajuku

Our days in Japan have basically consisted of eating, napping, getting up, getting on some public transportation and starting all over again. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to M this morning, who is getting to Phuket early. T, K and I got up at the late hour of 9am so we could go to the Shinjuku Gyoen, which was right around the corner from our hotel. Even though the walk was short, we of course had some strange encounters. The first of which was at a fancy Japanese bakery where you could purchase gift items like tea cakes. However, we couldn't understand the staff. They kept pointing to the date on the package, which was a couple of days or weeks into the future. Then for some reason, we interpreted that the Japanese salespeople were telling us that you could only eat the cakes on those dates, when we really wanted something to eat now. Maybe it was some sort of ritual? No. It was just the expiration date, which we realized at Isetan, which is a department store downtown because the salesperson could understand us better. Oops. We also spotted an interesting Curry & Naan restaurant, which sold plates of curry with rice and sometimes a fried egg. However, as we were looking at the menu, the owner came out and shut the door on us because they weren't open for another hour. It wasn't the the typical hospitality we had been seeing everywhere else!

Anyway, skipping breakfast for once, we got to Shinjuku Gyoen and it was such a relaxing experience. We planned to get there so we could enjoy some tea in the morning. We got to the first tea house and it was closed (sad face). But the second one was open and the old lady at the counter was so sweet! T asked for a hot tea and K & I opted for coffee. The lady took out an aluminum bottle from what looked like a fridge and T kept repeating "hot, hot." I just said, "you just have to take what you can get." To our surprise, it was hot green tea! Those Japanese even know how to innovate beverage packaging! We picked up some mung bean cakes and sat and watched the people in the sun. The school children were the most interesting. They wore crazy clothes (like the "hot biscuit" pink tshirt, shorts in the winter and crazy sock patterns) like their parents probably. Oh yeah, Japanese girls love wearing tights with shorts in the winter. The kids were so cute and well-behaved, too. T&I spotted a boy who looked half-black, half-Japanese. He was the first stranger in the country who actually made eye contact with us. He was also a head taller than all the other children in his class.  

After our relaxing stroll through a Japanese Garden in the middle of the city, we got on the train to Harajuku, so that we could observe the crazy fashion at Takeshita Dori and do some shopping. M had mentioned the dollar store (Daiso) was an experience and they had a pretty large store in Harajuku. We also wanted to visit Kiddy Land, a toy store, and do some souvenir shopping. When we got there, we were greeted by a World AIDS Day sign that said "'AIDS' goes on." It was hard to tell if that was a good or bad thing. We had a fruit smoothie, which was good but unlike our own Jamba Juice in the good old USA, the smoothie shops in Japan don't seem to use ice in their smoothies. No big deal, just different. Anyway, since the curry encounter in the morning, we were kind of craving curry. Japan loves curry so we ended up at a place called "curry up." It was very cute and pretty good. T got the shrimp curry, K got the spicy beef curry and I had a combo of veggie and chicken keema curry. I was so happy to have vegetables on my plate. K's curry was so hot and spicy that he started sweating! The waiter warned him, but it was delicious anyway.  

After several hours wandering the streets and shops, we got back to the hotel and decided we wanted sushi for dinner. The front desk recommended a place nearby so we decided to try it later. We had to mentally prepare that it was not going to be as good as Daiwa, which of course it wasn't. I accidentally ended up taking a power nap before we went out. It was the first day that I wasn't planning on napping during the day, after all. Anyway, after sushi we went to a local bar called Red bar. We were the only customers but they had nihonshu on the menu. The staff was watching Japanese tv, which was cool but when we sat down, they turned on a live Beyonce DVD! This was kind of weird at first but we enjoyed the performances, even the notoriously terrible songs (ring the alarm!!!). The bartender let us try a bunch of different sakes that night and they were just great to us, probably because we were the only ones there. After eating some fried chicken and several rounds of nihonshu, we decided to go back so we could get a good nights sleep before we board the 7:06am Narita Express. By the next blog, we will be in the tropics of Phuket! See you there :)

Sushiwa doco des'ka?

We were ambitious today. All our minds and our bellies were intent on making those ambitions come true. We headed out at 4:50am to go to the Tsukiji fish market to witness the tuna auctions, the wholesale market itself and eat sushi for breakfast. When we got there, however, at around 6am, we find out that the auction is over and it had sold out around 4am anyway! There were industrial vehicles and fish vendors buzzing around everywhere outside, and it was dangerous to just stand around (precisely what we were doing). Even though we weren't in the visitors group, we decided to take our chances and walk our ignorant asses into the fish market anyway. What a scene! We were speechless. So much tuna, fish eggs, shellfish of every shape and size, octopus, crab, lobsters, eel... We could go on. I even spotted the vendor from the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"! I was so excited. I definitely consider it a "celebrity" sighting. I didn't have a chance to ask for a picture because a. I don't know how to ask in Japanese, and b. we were about to be (politely) ushered out by the cops! He handed us a flier about all the rules in the market: regular people aren't allowed to enter until 9, visitors otherwise must get tickets in advance, no pictures, etc. We realized we broke pretty much all the rules to be there (except no strollers) and almost got hit by small trucks & people movers a bunch of times, but it was so worth it!

We got out of there around 6:45am and decided we needed to get sushi nearby before we go. For ¥3500 per person, we waited on line at Daiwa Zushi. The meal is supposed to be 7 pieces of sushi, plus 1 roll and miso soup (ours had cockles in it). The restaurant 2 doors down had a line around the block but that may be because they serve more for ¥4000. While on line, T bought some geisha socks to go with her flip flops. It took maybe a half hour to get seated and we split up in order to eat sooner. Wow. The sushi here was amazing. I even enjoyed the egg and I never enjoy the sweet egg. However, there were some LOUD American dudes sitting near us. They were obnoxious on line and carried that over into the restaurant. We have definitely had our loud moments but these guys just seemed like preppy d-bags who had no interesting conversation to offer at all. Plus, they probably had no idea how to eat sushi like the woman next to me (she was putting her sushi in the soy sauce rice side down... Rookie!). When we were done, T was going crazy over the eel. We also noticed we got a few bonus pieces. We left feeling soooooo relaxed, like we got a massage... Seriously! It was the most refreshing, delicious and relaxing meal we could remember. Yup, the food just gets better here.

We got back to the hotel to nap before our next adventure: Biqlo, a department store consisting of Bic Camera and Uniqlo.  We literally spent 2 hours here and all our other plans were pretty much shot. OMG, I am Japanese-sized. All the dresses here are the perfect length. It's just such a rare feeling to put something on and see it fit so well. M and T were going crazy over heattech shirts and K (since he is not Japanese sized) opted for nano blocks and other toys. After a rough morning of sushi, shopping and napping, we proceeded to Lumine Est to have a "small" lunch of udon soup. Of course, the portions were huge. How do japanese people stay so tiny?! I had a bowl with chicken, egg and green onion. K had one with duck. T had hers with mushroom and vegetables. And M had donburi.

We then used some free time between lunch and dinner to get our Narita Express tickets (boo!) since M was leaving in the morning and get a nap in there, since we only had small bursts of sleep since we got here. We met M's friend Toki in Ebisu. We weren't very hungry but the soba meal was so appetizing, we finished every last drop. Toki is a food designer. She showed us pictures of her amazing work. She had just been in NYC (during the hurricane, no less) where she picked up visual inspiration from Whole Foods and Crate and Barrel. Thank you, Toki for a wonderful meal and conversation!

  

We proceeded to Roppongi to meet Emmanuel, a friend of a friend. He took us to Gonpachi, the restaurant that inspired the set of the big fight scene in Kill Bill. Very cool! We then walked around the downtown area, which was described as being very seedy. There were a lot of African men hired to get people into the bars. What was that all about? We also went to Geronimo, a Native American themed bar. When we got there, Emmanuel asked me if I was black? Flattered, but no I am not black. No one has ever mistaken me for such. He asked T, "but she looks black, right?" T was speechless but laughing. He asked K and he said "uh, yes" not to be funny, but because he thought we were talking about T! Emmanuel then proceeded to compare my look to Raven Simone. T&I kind of lost it then. We got home to the hotel and started googling pics of Raven. Not to mention we could not stop laughing on the ride back. Poor taxi driver. What a ridiculous end to the night :)

Sayonara, Maruyama :( Hello, Tokyo!

After a 3-hour bus ride from the coastal countryside to the city, we were eager to check-into our hotel: Citadines Shinjuku! We got into Tokyo around 6pm and spotted our first Starbucks and first-in-Tokyo (of many) 7-11. Too bad none of the convenience stores or Japanese banks accepted our debit cards here either :( we can pay for a hotel room but not ramen :( We took the subway to Shibuya to meet M's friend Yuki. The subway was eerily quiet. And everyone was on their cell phones. Did I mention clean, too? I bet the toilets are nice. The best are the posters that tell you what to do and not do when someone falls into the tracks.  All observations = opposite of everywhere in the US!

When we got to Shibuya, we tried a few more banks with Yuki. We got to a Citi and finally we were able to get yen! We had been in Japan for over 24 hours without any money and no one seems to take credit cards! Finally, we could eat on our own dime and not like ruuuude people.

After we got cash, we tried to get a table at Uoshin Shibuya, which is supposed to be one of the best izakaya. There was a 30-minute wait so we did some exploring in between. We decided to use our time to do a Purikura session! Purikura at Club Sega was a revelation! It's like a fancy photo booth that costs ¥400 per session and makes your eyes wider like anime and your skin lighter. It was ridiculously fun. Girls around us were taking it so seriously, too. 

Uoshins izakaya restaurant was very cool. And it proved wise to go with a local because the real menu was only in Japanese. We had some beautiful sashimi. The remnants of a sweet shrimp is below. We also took part in some boiled clams, sushi, and karaage, which is Japanese fried chicken. Of course we had nihonshu with our meal, but also a cocktail with grapefruit juice. Some locals who were seated next to us started asking Yuki where we were from and one kept saying he was in the mafia and the other said he knew daft punk. Strange conversation that may have turned out differently if we werent with a dude. But K was again falling asleep at the table.

We went home a bit early (around midnight) so that Yuki could catch her train and we could catch some sleep. We are planning on heading to the tuna auction at Tsukiji fish market at 5am! Good night friends!

The Day American Food Died

Before we get into the start of this amazing meal in the mountains, let's talk about how our day started. We woke up for "western style breakfast." Thank goodness it was not quite so. When we got to the dining hall, the waitress was waiting for our arrival and the staff had arranged these cooking stations on our table with eggs, sausage, ham and broccoli, waiting to be cooked in individual portions via sterno.  We got some bread, salad (potato kind and some mixed greens) and beverages and waited for the meal to cook. Too bad we didn't bring our cameras. We just thought it'd be normal! The hospitality in Japan is amazing so far.  We left around 9:30. Noriko, a former colleague of M, picked us up to take us to M's former school where she taught English for 3 years. It was a massive, state-of-the art school that was also constructed to be energy efficient. It was so nice and kids that M used to teach came out to say "hi." Even though it was a Sunday, there was some sort of occasion that required all the staff and students to report. It was great to meet teachers that used to work with M; they all obviously LOVE her. We then met with the former principal in his very traditional Japanese home, where his wife prepared tea, sandwiches and snacks for us. It would have been rude to say no!

Noriko then drove us up the mountains to a hidden treasure of a restaurant called Tenzen. It was amazing. It was owned by the same family as Unajin but the food we had seemed much different. I wish I could post all the pics, but look at the following beauties, including the one up top...

Super oishi! After that filling meal that seemed to be 20 courses, we still did not have cash. We felt so bad but none of the ATM's in the small town took our debit cards and banks were closed on Sunday. We felt like the worst guests ever. 3000 yen per person for a great feast. We were about to wash dishes but our hosts gladly paid and offered us pocket money. We already had our bus tickets reserved for Tokyo so as long as we made it there, we should be able to find an open bank for cash, right?!... Anyway, we said our goodbyes to maruyama and stopped at Minako's farm so that M could say goodbye to her host. It was such a short but memorable time; but after hanging out and eating with local farmers in such a serene setting, we really got to experience and appreciate the pride, centuries of knowledge and artistry in the best food ever, Japanese food.

Chasing the Sun to Japan!

According to foursquare, I haven't checked in with T for a year, which is so hard to believe! I was so happy to see her Thursday night at EWR. She helped me pack. I packed soooo much and somehow she was able to get me to consolidate. K's sister Liz picked us up in the morning to get back to the airport. After a terrible egg breakfast at Ruby's Diner (don't go!!!) we got on our 14-hour flight to Narita!

Too bad we had the rudest and loudest flight attendants! This was definitely not Singapore Airlines. Where are the hot, calm stewardesses?! We just got a bunch of cranky ones. Anyway, we got our complimentary Nobu sake despite them (it was eh) and watched a lot of classics on the way there. Picked up some Japanese (oishi!) or nihongo and arrived at Narita before sundown. Great views of Alaska on the way to mark half of the trip. And it's also worth noting that all 14 hours were spent in daylight as if we were chasing the sun.

After a 2-hour car ride, we get to our hotel the LANI Rosemary Shiosai in a small town called Maruyama. We had a traditional room, which meant we would sleep on the floor, and have to bathe in a shared shower. Yup, shared shower. I had to shower next to a Japanese woman on a stool with a bucket next to a hot bath. 

But we had a toilet ensuite and this toilet has changed our perspective on America. America has such boring toilets! At the airport they had fancy toilets and we were so happy to have it in our room. Bidet (2 settings plus one where you can choose intensity) plus seat warmer. It was just missing some noise making capabilities. We decided this was the way to live. For the first time in our travels, going to public restrooms became a delight!

Minako had taken us from the airport to the hotel. She is so sweet because she arranged dinner, too, with many of M's former colleagues. We were rushing so we didn't hit the ATM at the airport. However, by the time we got to Unajin restaurant, food had arrived and there were about 10 other people waiting for us! We had to do formal introductions at the end and K was falling asleep at the table. We also started noticing that K and my names were difficult for the Japanese to say and T's name was so easy! That became one of our favorite things about introductions. When we got back to the hotel, some of our hosts felt compelled to make our beds/mats for us "traditional Japanese style." Wait, they paid for a massive welcome dinner and made our beds?! Way too kind!! We would have insisted no to both but we had no yen and we were just so tired from the travel, the bed situation would have been a mess. After an incredible meal of salads, yakitori, tofu, yams (oishi) and more, we fell asleep with our bellies very full.

Japan & Thailand 2012

New post! I hate that google and apple compete with each other. It's 2012 and there still isn't a decent solution for Blogger on iPad! But the real reason I am posting is to announce this year's Johnson Honeymooners vacation. Tokyo, Japan to Phuket, Thailand to Bangkok, Thailand! M, T and I (S) reunite for our third international adventure to celebrate V's wedding!! So excited for sushi, shopping, partying and seeing all my bschool friends again. This time, my bf/f-bomb "K" will be joining us. Here he is... being super excited! :-p

It seems as if I'll have to toggle between the app and the website to be able to post & format pics from my iPad. Otherwise I have to pay for an app just to do that... Or bring multiple devices like last time. Is there a better solution?! Anyway, we are leaving Friday so I should probably start packing...

V's wedding is in 2 weeks!  Here are some flowers from my friend Stephanie's beautiful wedding that just happened on Friday to get us all in that mood. :)