The longest day that never was...

We spent Wed. morning at the Edo-Tokyo museum which was a really cool mix of artifacts and model replicas of buildings towns and artifacts, including several life-size buildings. The museum was right next door to the sumo stadium which was unfortunately not hosting any matches (apparently they are only 4 times a year) but the museum was open so it was cool to look around. We then collected our backpacks and took the train to the airport. It was cool to see the city gradually fade to more residencial and a little rural scenery. As a tease I saw one cherry tree that had just started to bloom. Yes, we ended up just missing the cherry blossoms in Tokyo...one week later and...we'll just have to go back.

We left Tokyo at 5pm on March 18th, watched the sun set, moon rise and the sun rise from the plane. We ate dinner and then breakfast, living our day in reverse and arriving in Edmonton at 3pm on March 18th! For those of you who have scene the movie Groundhogs day...we have lived it :) All told I was up for well over 30 hours on a day that never was.

The trip was amazing and we all agreed, when we saw the snow as we were landing, that we wanted to go to ABH (anywhere but here). Thought you guys were supposed to have spring ready for us?!

Melanie and I will get the last of our pictures up so you can see everything. For me Hong Kong was the easiest city to get around in, Tokyo the hardest (that map Melanie posted is actually only one set of trains, there is another company that has just as many trains in the same area!), Cambodia had the amazing ruins and amazing people, Vietnam had the craziest traffic, best "hotel", great coffee and Hoi An (in Vietnam) the best food. We only scratched the surface of Asia and I can't wait to travel more.

K

Crappers of Asia

I am kicking myself now for not having taken pictures of the extreme variety of bathrooms that we have seen over the last three weeks. It started with Hong Kong.... if you were lucky you got a mix of regular and squat toilets. I was so surprised to see squat toilets because HK seems so regal but we figured that it related to the whole sanitary issue of not actually touching anything while in the bathroom. We lucked out most of the time and were able to find western bathrooms (and always had a supply of tissue with us) but one night I had to "live the destination" and was lucky to come out alive.

Once we hit Vietnam we did ok. We didn't encounter any squat toilets but due to the overall heat some of the bathrooms were a little sketchy. All in all, it was survivable.

The most traumatizing bathroom we hit was in Cambodia at the Dead Fish Tower restaurant. Keep in mind that it is 35 degrees there and incredibly dusty and dirty. I headed down from the second floor to the bathroom down a dirty and poorly lit hallway to a bathroom that absolutely reeked. I switched on the light fully expecting a rat to scurry into the corner. I did my best to hover over the seat and managed to catch my underwear on the toilet seat wrecking all chance of keeping sanitary. The piece de resistance was when I washed my hands... only to have all of the water empty out onto my feet because the drain pipe wasn't connected to anything. ahhhh

Tokyo has been the complete opposite. Not only is the toilet a toilet, it is a bidet, an air dryer and a noise machine... seriously, you can press a button that plays a flushing sound so as not to offend anyone if you make an inappropriate noise while in the bathroom. At first the heated seat is a little unnerving because at home, if the seat is warm, that means the last guy was in for too long. You get pretty used to it here and it is a nice surprise every time. The only thing we don't understand is the cold water to wash your hands and the lack of paper towel to dry. Still researching that one.....

M

Konnichiwa

We arrived in Tokyo on Saturday morning luckily at the end of the torrential down poor (didn't make for a great landing). It took a bit for us to find the hotel because I forgot to print the directions and it is surprisingly hard to find internet in Tokyo (everyone uses their phones). We had a bit of a nap and then headed out to Shinjuku for dinner. We have certainly gone from being able to buy ten items for a dollar to strictly window shopping. The huge department stores are full of designer brands and boutiques. Yesterday we headed to Harajuku, Meiji Temple, Shibuya, and Roppongi. Harajuku was insane with crazy costume stores and clothing shops. The temple was beautiful and we were able to see a traditional wedding procession. Shibuya was another mass of people and more high end shopping. Roppongi Hills is a huge complex that includes high end housing, shopping, restaurants and galleries.

Today we got up early and hit the infamous fish market. It was amazing to see aisles and aisles of fresh (some still squirming) fish being sold off. Of course we went for sushi next (it was 9am). From the market we walked up to Ginza to hit the Hello Kitty stores:) From there we walked to the Imperial Palace only to find out that it is closed on Mondays. The grounds are beautiful and we are thinking of heading back on Wednesday. Our last stop was Akihabara which is considered the "number one electric town". It is hilarious, guys stand outside of their shops screaming into a megaphone about their products and there is usually some guy next door screaming even louder.

Tomorrow we are hopping on the train to Yokohama to see the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love M

P.S. The map above is the Tokyo rail map that we have been using:)

The most fashionable dog in the world

If I could have figured out how to get this dog home with me, she would be in my carry on.

Kitty Cam

So both Kristi and Jeremy have digital cameras and it is their duty on the trip to capture everything cool that we see. I just have a camera in my phone so I have designated it as the "kitty cam". I have received quite a few weird looks when I go into shops to take pictures of the animals.

Here are the top two kitties so far:

Break in Case of Emergancy

You know those magic pills that your doctor gives you when you travel, "just in case"...

All I will say is they work very well :) I went from thinking that I was going to die and be quarantined once we arrived in Tokyo to eating sushi tonight.

Yesterday we hung out with Caleb and Lori in Ho Chi Minh and picked up the cool prescription glasses that we had ordered (the mark up on frames here is next to nothing). Kevin joined us for dinner and then we had to say goodbye to everyone one last time. We had an incredible visit; Kevin and Lori are amazing hosts and "travel agents", their house is an oasis of calm in the manic craziness of Vietnam (having our own private bedrooms with en suites was pretty rough!) and we were spoiled by Miss Chau, who did our laundry, and Mr. Phong, who drove us everywhere including the airport a million times. THANKS you guys! Oh yeah, there might have been a pretty cute baby that Melanie tried to take with us! See you soon Kevin, Lori and Caleb!!!!!!!

K

PS I think Melanie put up more pictures in the album.

Night Watchman

Jeremy protecting our bags at the airport while we wait for our flight to Tokyo last night.