Merii Kurisumasu and Akemashite Omedetou

Merii Kurisumasu!  Merry Christmas from Japan!  Akemashite Omedetou!  Happy New Year!  The 2016 holiday season is upon us.  Here are a few snapshots of our holiday in the East.Merry Christmas from Minoh!  This is Yuzuru, our Minoh City mascot, all lit up for the holiday.  This display is right outside of the Minoh Train Station.  He looks pretty cute. Merry Christmas from Bali!  The tree at left is on display in the reception area of a fancy hotel somewhere in the north part of Bali near Ubud.  We were taken here for lunch after our bike tour across the interior.  The tree at right is on display at a restaurant called Matahari in Jimbaran Beach.  The restaurant sits on the…

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Changing Our Style – Bali Part 2

Monday, December 19 is officially the start of the kids’ winter break.  Everyone wanted to lay low today so we booked our driver for an excursion tomorrow and spent the day in Seminyak Square.  Our villa is nicely located about a 15 minute walk to the lively “downtown” area.  We are far enough away that it is very quiet, but close enough for a quick walk to eat and shop.  We just discovered the concept of the “escape room” games while we were in KL but didn’t have enough time to try it while there. So when we discovered an escape room game in Seminyak we added it to our to-do list.  The place we found is called Totem Room…

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Holiday in Bali – Part 1

On Saturday, December 17 we got up early in the morning and made the trek to Kansai International Airport.  John learned from our Thanksgiving trip to KL that he wasn’t going to take any advice from me on what time we should leave for the airport.  He led the charge and we left an hour and a half earlier than before.  We had already dropped the cats off at the pet hotel on Friday night so we didn’t have to worry about them.  We flew Garuda Indonesia Airlines and landed at Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport, the most beautiful airport I’ve ever seen, in the evening. This was our first time flying on a nice Asian airline and I think…

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Two Special Japanese Dinners

It has already been nearly three weeks since we’ve been back from Malaysia and a lot seems to have happened in that time.  Including I got a very bad cold and I wasn’t able to do much but lay around and think about all the things I felt I should be doing.  It’s almost Christmas and I have shopping, wrapping and shipping to do.  But I was so tired and achy I couldn’t even write much, let alone get up and shop.  So I’m catching up again. We returned from Malaysia on Sunday, November, 27.  The following Sunday, December 4, we had plans to take the Shinkansen (that’s the speedy Japanese bullet train) down south to Hiroshima prefecture to a…

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Petronas Pewter & Hard Rock Caves

Our last full day in Malaysia is Saturday, November 26. After the long and exhausting day we had yesterday we all decided to sleep in. But then we kind of had to rush around for the rest of the day to fit in everything. I don’t think we got back to the apartment from our adventure at Inside Scoop until around 10:30pm. We all needed to pull the covers up over our eyes when the sun came up.  This photo is sadly the only one I took of our 3-bedroom apartment at the Nomad Bangsar Serviced Residences.  It was a good value for the rate and in a safe area. When we were all up and dressed we decided to…

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In the Waterfall in the Jungle

Here we are, cooling off IN the waterfall! Our second day in Malaysia, Friday, November 25, was the best adventure ever.   While searching through Trip Advisor for off-the-beaten-path activities, I found Open Sky Unlimited (openskyunlimited.com), the outfit that we hired to take us into the Malay jungle.  Amos, our amazing guide, started this company when he realized that working in a bank was not for him.  Now he and his buddy lead guests on challenging hikes in the jungle.  But it’s not just a hike.  He picked us up at our apartment lobby at 6am, drove us an hour to a small colonial town locally known as KKB (Kuala Kubu Baru), took us to a restaurant for an amazing…

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Thanksgiving Malaysia-Style

It’s our Thanksgiving/Fall trimester break.  Who knew we’d have several days off around Thanksgiving just like in America?  We thought a lot about what to do/where to go.  John really wanted to go to Hong Kong.  He also wants to go to Seoul, South Korea.  I started researching Hong Kong but I just couldn’t put together a travel plan that I wanted to move forward with.  A very good friend of mine from my graduate school and television days is from Malaysia and I’d heard lots of stories about Kuala Lumpur and her family back there.  I started to look into Malaysia and it looked like a great place to bring the kids.  There are so many things to interest…

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Thoughts from the road

We have now been in Japan a solid 3 months.  We arrived on August 14 and today is Wednesday, November 23. (Okay it’s actually Nov. 30 now.  I’m so behind.)  I am typing this on the airplane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  The kids have a Fall break before the next trimester begins.  They are off school from today, Wednesday, and do not return until Tuesday, November 29.  This coincides with Thanksgiving break back in the US.  I was hoping someone from abroad would come visit during this time since the Fall tree colors are so beautiful but no one could make it.  So we are flying out instead. We took the cats to a pet hotel (in Japanese it’s peh-toe…

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Kuromon Ichiba Market

Kuromon Ichiba Market is in downtown Osaka, off of the Namba station exit.  We found out by trial and error that this is a daytime market, not a nighttime street affair.  It is fascinating!  The narrow alleys are crowded with stalls and people and the sights and colors are all vibrant shades that pop out.  The smells wafting out from each stall let you know if something is being cooked for the crowd.  Fresh, premium fish can be found here.  Wagyu and Kobe beef are cut here in generous strips and grilled on the spot.  Thick pieces of fatty sushi sit atop little pieces of rice.  Huge crabs, whole or cut up, are on sale.  Fresh fruit and vegetables are…

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Birthday Japan Style

We survived birthday week!  Lots to celebrate.  On Sunday, November 6 Halyard turned 15 years old and Avalon turned 10 years old!  On Monday, November 7 I turned ???  Right in the middle of forty-something.  We decided to have our special birthday breakfast on Saturday the 5th because Avalon had plans to have a girls’ night sleepover at her friend Aimi’s (pronounced eye-mi) house from the 5th-6th.  So Avalon wasn’t even going to wake up with us on her birthday morning.  The special birthday breakfast menu highlights were pancakes, bacon, fruit and apple juice. After breakfast we convinced all three kids to hike up to Minoh Falls to see the autumn leaves.  I made sure to pack plenty of water…

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