From Days 9~11 we made a trip to Okinawa. It was mine and J’s second time to visit and E’s first. J found a really nice package that included a car rental, hotel with breakfasts + 1 lunch and a dolphin experience. Although it was still a little chilly for my liking, it was a great time and good to get away from the buzz of Tokyo life for a few days.
Now we are back in the cooler Tokyo temps with just a couple more days left before I have to return to reality. π
-T
It has been a busy few days!
Friday (Day 8) was spent chillaxing at home for a few hours and then heading out for lunch with J.
We walked around in Tokyo (Omotesando) a bit, reminiscing of the old days when we would go out for a massage or drinks. We had a shocking experience at a Japanese souvenir shop, which rendered J miraculously speechless! Finally, we headed to pick up E from school.
We had a relaxing afternoon with a surprise delivery of a tasty beverage before my former Kanda student came over for dinner. It was so nice to catch up with her and surprise her with the fact that I speak Japanese. π
-T π
Back in Tokyo and brought rain with me….WHAT?!
So, I had the morning to myself and managed to actually do some work. I know, shocking! π After a couple of hours of that, I went for a visit to the drugstore. Oh my gosh have I missed them?! I can spend so much time there wandering the aisles looking at what is possible. However, I must admit that going all natural and organic sort of takes away some of the joy….
Despite the rain, I did stop to enjoy the cherry blossoms, briefly.
In the afternoon, I meet up with J and we did some shopping after a lovely lunch. We went to pick up E at school and hit the grocery store. I saw these amazingly humongo breads!
Dinner was oden, which I haven’t had in ages, so it was all delish! Followed up by a gab session over a bottle of wine. Ahhhh, life is goood. π
-T π
As part of my Japan visit, I decided to take the short two-hour flight over to Seoul to see my long-time adoptee friend, K. The last time I met up with her or had been to Korea was just before I moved to Abu Dhabi; thus it had been just over five years.
As always, we picked right up where we left off and reminisced on days of old when we were young campers at Holt Adoption Camp. It is amazing to think that we have been friends for almost thirty years!!!
I also did a bit of shopping and got to eat my favorite snack/treat of Hottok. I remembered eating them the first time I went to Korea in the middle of freezing winter. It was the one thing that gave me great joy at the end of the work day walking back to our hotel in the cold. π
When I first went to Korea in 2002(?), I stayed in the Insadong area, which is where I returned to do some shopping. One of the cool things about Insadong is the Starbucks sign. Back then I was a bit obsessed with Starbucks and loved the fact that this sign was in Korean since there had been some struggle regarding the fact it was in Korean. Apparently, Insadong wanted to preserve it’s traditional feel, but also have the draw of the coffee shop for all the tourists that come through. At the time, (maybe still?) it was the only Starbucks to not have its name in English.
The rest of my trip consisted of a whole lot of eating and drinking!
A big thanks to K and J for their hosting!
-T π
Today was a day of relaxation and eating! π
The morning kicked off with some Ethan-time looking at his programs created using Scratch – game software. It looked pretty cool.
After relaxing and actually doing some work, we headed out to lunch – ramen!!
It was delish!
Then, J and I ventured into Tokyo for our massage and relaxation. It was a beautiful place that completely put me out! Afterwards, we did some shopping in the Ginza area and then headed back toward ‘home’ for dinner with the gents. I hit a second favorite of my Japanese food list – tonkatsu & kaki-fry (oyster fry)! YUM!
All in all, it was a wonderful day and even the rainy weather couldn’t spoil my mood. Tomorrow, I’m off to Seoul!
-T π
Spring break has begun! Without wasting any time, I was on a plane to Japan to catch up with my BFF. π
P joined me for the flight over as she is on her own tour of Japan and we had the first night to hang out. J had everything prepared for me to relax and settle in before we whirled out to Roppongi for dinner and some night-time cherry blossom viewing.
Yesterday, we had a mini Willamette/TIUA reunion BBQ, which was a lot of fun. We hadn’t seen each other in years!
Although it’s been a busy two days; it has been like being ‘home’ again. My heart is full!
-T π
Aside from going out to see the famous islands around Phuket, there is not a lot to see on the island itself. However, there are a number of main sights and we finally saw the last ‘big’ one the other day.
Up on the mountain overlooking the cities of Phuket is a big white Buddha. At night it is lit up and during the sunny days it shines atop the mountain. It’s kind of cool to look up at when admiring the green mountains and blue skies.
So, we decided to try to head up the mountain to see it on our little scooter. It took about a half hour and the ride was not too bad as we got to see some lovely scenery, views and cute elephants. π
It was a good short trip on the scooter and nice to complete our Phuket island sights. Of course, we have not actually gone out to see the famous islands and probably won’t on this trip, but we can now say that we’ve seen Phuket in its entirety. π
In the scooter parking lot, there was this:
Most scooters can hold an entire family and there are baby seats or sometimes used for the family dog…. π
-T
Today was the last of our tour-type activities.
We had the same start as yesterday including the bus ride over the sea and back again to first visit the Spice Bazaar, which was quite interesting and colorful to see. There wasn’t just spices there,but souvenir items, scarves, jewelry, etc.
After that, we got on a boat for our half-day Bosphorus cruise, which means about 1.5 hours on the boat. Sadly, the weather was not great – in fact, the worst we have had since we arrived that we had to be out in. So, although the cruise could have been quite beautiful, it was just okay.
Our tour ended with a drop off near the Grand Bazaar since it was closed yesterday.So, after a quick warm-up coffee at Starbucks, we explored the bazaar. For some reason,I expected it to be very chaotic and with stalls everywhere, but in fact, there are lots of small shops and it was fairly organized. People weren’t even that aggressive to try to sell us things, so that was a surprise.
After a few quick purchases, we had lunch at one of the shops and then meandered our way back to the hotel.
I had a Turkish hammam treatment and massage, which I had been dying to have since we got here. It was rather expensive for what it was, but it was still relaxing and a nice change. I need to have another one when I get back….
We went back to Istiklal Street for dinner at The House Cafe. We road the tram again and then got on the second oldest and shortest ‘subway’ ever.It was quite fun for an experience. π
Now, we are back for an early night in to relax. Tomorrow is a free day, so we will relax and return to explore Istiklal street more in the daytime. π
I am actually looking forward to going home in a day as the weather is starting to get to me and I need to just relax in my own space….
– T π
Upon arriving at our hotel yesterday, we had thought that someone from the tour would have contacted us to confirm a pick-up time for this morning; however, we just went off of what our itinerary said. It was very trusting of us and of the tour company to assume we would pay attention to it. π
So, it was nice to be free to sleep in a bit, but I was still awake at 4:30…why? Who knows….
Anyway, we made it to the lobby in time and waited in hopes that someone would show up. A bus arrived and we piled in with a random collection of people. The bus took us across the sea to a meeting point, where it was a rather crazed Chinese-fire-drill like activity of moving people to different buses based on their activity for the day and language of the tour. When our English-speaking bus was put together for the Old CIty tour, we headed back across the sea towards our original location to visit the sights in the area.
Strangely, we were on a bus for the tour, but most of it could have been walked in about half the time…No mind…we had a very entertaining tour guide for the day, which was a stark contrast to our guide the previous eight days. π
Our first stop was to the Blue Mosque or otherwise known as the Sultan Ahmet Mosque. It was quite impressive inside.
Next came a quick walk through the old Hippodrome of Constantinople where chariot races like in Ben Hur were held. Now, it’s a long walkway with obelisks in the middle. From there we walked over to the Hagia (aya) Sophia. It was originally a basilica, then became a mosque and is now a very impressive looking museum.
Sadly, the Grand Bazaar was closed today – being Sunday – so we had to make do with a tourist trap shopping center (mall as it was called). We had some ‘fun’ looking at jewelry, but didn’t buy anything as I have caught on to their schemes of marking up pieces… π
We headed to lunch, but it was another sad showing of food to which we are starting to rebel against…. After lunch, we stopped at the Rustem Pasha Mosque, which is “more blue than the blue mosque” according to our guide. It is true, there were a ton of Iznik tiles of blue.
Our last stop was the Topkapi Palace, which is right next to our hotel, so we were free to head home whenever we finished. The palace was not overly impressive, but their collection of jewels and the third (?) largest diamond was definitely the envy of many a diamond-loving-woman who passed by!
After a bit of a rest in the hotel we headed out again to check out a bit Iskilal Street on the other side of the sea and the more central part of Istanbul that is away from the touristy area. We found a good place for dinner and then stopped at the famous chain, House Cafe, for dessert and coffee. It was sooooo wonderful to be away from the tourists and people harassing tourists and just act like a ‘local’ for a while. We are going to go back again on our free day to shop and enjoy it more again.
Thus ended our second evening in Istanbul! π
-T π
We had a very early rise again (5am) to be ready to leave on a ferry across the Marmara sea to Gallipoli.
Gallipoli is famous from the war for the Australian and New Zealand forces coming to the aid of the British in an attempt to control the waterways and ultimately Istanbul. It was a rather brutal fighting ground where many, including Turks, lost their lives.There is an Australian film about this, I think. So, it was interesting and both sad and sweet to read the tombstones of both young and older men who sacrificed their lives in war.
From Gallipoli, we stopped for lunch on our way to Istanbul. We got a bit of a taste of the horrible traffic that is well-known in the city. Luckily, we still got to our hotel early enough in the evening to go out and explore Sultanhamet more.
We walked around after finding a decent restaurant to eat dinner at. It was nice to finally have some real food. I think that my stomach has revolted from all of the crappy food we have been eating the past week and very little exercise. So, after dinner, we walked up near the Topkapi castle, which also faces Hagia (Haya) Sophia. It was lovely. The area is very touristy as R had warned me and so many store workers were trying to get our attention –
“Ladies, may I ask you a question?” “Can I talk to you just for a minute? – No? – Why not?” “You’re so beautiful and sexy.” “Don’t talk this guy because he’s very horny.” (This is my favorite one). “Excuse me, I am not dangerous. I own that store over there…” “Girls, you dropped something…”
The tactics are creative and persistent. Some more annoying than others…. π
So passed our first night back in Istanbul’s Old City area. We will be touring it more tomorrow at a more decent hour of the morning!
-T π
