Home life

Its been couple weeks since we've arrived back home and our acclimation hasn't been too bad, it's almost as if we never left. While we are still getting over not using hand charades and speaking in broken English. We've moved into our new apartment, Jason has started back at work (blahh..), and Jenny will start graduate school in the fall. We have had so many wonderful experiences and some not so wonderful, but we've learned a lot about life. We've gotten all kinds of questions about our journey so we've decided to share some or our fav's and not so fav's as well as complete random trivia about our trip. Enjoy!

Top Things taken for Granted:
-Drinkable Tap Water
-Washing Machines
-Free Refills

Favorite Places:
-Beaches of Thailand (Similan Islands & Ko Phi Phi)
-South Island of New Zealand
-Kruger National Park of South Africa
-Scuba diving in Malaysia and Thailand
-Temples of Angkor in Cambodia
-Sichuan and Guangxi province in China


Least Favorite Experiences:
-Riding the Metro with our packs in Manila, Philippines (extreme security/ruthless passengers)
-Trying to check into a hotel in Hurghada, Egypt
-Sharing the bathroom after getting food poisoning in Pnomh Penh, Cambodia
-Keeping away from scams and touts in Egypt and India.
-Packed into the engine room for 8 hours on the boat to Lang Prabang, Laos

Best Food:
-Cheesecake in Rome
-Pad thai and Chicken basil in Thailand
-Sushi in Japan
-Chicken Snitzel in Germany
-Gelato in Italy
-Pho breakfast in Vietnam

Most Embarrassing:
-Jason dumps green tea into his soy sauce thinking it was wasabi in Japan.
-Jenny asks for a train ticket in September when its November in China.
-Standing confused in front of the metro doors waiting for them to open in Germany.
-Jenny tries to give a kid gummy bears during Ramadan in Egypt.
-Trying to print off our boarding passes with the wrong airline office in India.

Weirdiest Food/Drink:
-Jellyfish
-Scorpion
-Centipede
-Bees
-Silk worm
-Sea snake
-Cobra
-Whole Squid and Octopus
-Fried Frog
-Kangaroo Burger
-Ostrich Jerky
-Century Egg
-Snake Wine
-Cobra blood 'n vodka
-Various mystery meats

By the Numbers:
-Countries: 22
-Flights: 31
-Days Travelled: 271
-Pictures Taken: 31,000+

Most Expensive:
-New Zealand (due to campervan and activities)

Least Expensive:
-Laos

Causulties of the Road:
-Jenny's ipod cracked
-Computer charger fried
-Jason's sandals fell apart slowly

Useful items
-Hanging bathroom bag
-Splitter for ipod/computer
-Power Strip
-Rope to hang laundry
-Ear plugs
-Money belt

Useless items
-Wireless mouse
-Inflatable neck rest
-Waterproof matches
-SCUBA Mask

Lets do the time warp again......

And so it ends as it begun with canceled flights and multiple modes of transportation. At least this time we were a little better prepared. We take the metro to the airport, wait around at the counter till they figure out how to reset our departure flight (as the previous flight had been canceled), board 4 flights, and drive across a border crossing.

Jason had the longest birthday ever as he turned 27 for 37 hours. He had birthday cake for breakfast in Tokyo, lunch in Mexico City, a snack in Tijuana and dinner in San Diego; now that's an international buffet!
Finally we were welcomed back to the states by the "friendly" flight counter lady who informed us that she could not print our tickets at the ticket counter, but after questioning the main purpose of a ticket counter our boarding passes magically appeared. However, we later realized that we were the lucky winners of the back row lavatory seats that don't recline ^.^


But after almost 40 hours of flights, layovers, and ground transportation we made it home. We were greeted by our much missed family and enjoyed an exhausted IHOP breakfast, or dinner, not knowing what time schedule we were on anymore.

It's good to be home!

Weird Japan

We have traveled around the world and there is no place more bizarre than Japan. While we’re sure not everything in our society makes sense, Japan has some of the oddest, and usually humorous, ways of life.


- ATMs are not 24hours (except at 7-11)

- Almost every restaurant has plastic food outside as a menu display (some even look real)


- Gas pumps hang upside down



- “Osaka Bang”

Special only to Osaka, this activity occurs when someone pretends to shot or stab you, and you, “the victim,” play along and pretend to die. Everyone there knows about it and plays along in Osaka. Skeptical, a couple people from Tokyo filmed their “Osaka Bang” experience and their outcomes will leave you in tears. I only believed it was real when my sister went to Osaka and tried it herself.


- Manners:

It is socially acceptable to pick your nose in public but it is not ok to blow your nose in public.

It is frowned upon to walk while eating and drinking.

In the Japanese language, it is considered rude to say the word "no" directly.

Gas station attendants bow as a car leaves the station and train conductors bow after they enter and before they leave the car.


- Toilets:

Japanese toilets are the true kings of the commodes with their heated seats, pulsing bidets, and rump driers. Some are even operated with a remote control while others have a spiget over the lid so one can wash their hands and conserve water.

Another bathroom oddity is the Sound Princess. Many Japanese women are uncomfortable with bodily noises in public bathrooms and in an attempt to cover up they flush the toilet continually. This water flushing noise machine has since been installed in many female public restrooms and it is estimated that it saves 20 L of water per use.

While the Sound Princess may have caught on the female urinal never did. Some where added in the train stations during the 1964 Olympics to accommodate foreigners.



- Vending machines:

There are vending machines on every corner in Japan and they sell more than just your average soft drinks.

- Engrish/Lost in Translation:




- Funny signs:

Japan Photo Album

Click here to view our Japan Photo Album

Tune in Tokyo!

Tokyo is the world’s largest metropolitan economy and you don’t have to wander very far to understand why. Business suits congest the subways, electronic shops pulse along the street, and glamorous shopping malls are plentiful. But there is so much more to the buzzing city that makes it the heart of this bizarre, larger than life, country.

Starting at about 3 am the chaos that is the Tsukiji Fish Market begins as seafood shipments are sorted and unloaded. It’s the world’s biggest wholesale fish and seafood market and handles over 400 types of seafood, from dried sardines to frozen 600 lb tuna. While the famous tuna auction was off limits to visitors the hustle of the venue was still impressive. After dodging motor carts and navigating the covered stalls we enjoy a fresh sushi breakfast at Daiwa. A pretty inconspicuous place, other than the mass of people queuing for an hour outside the door, has some of the best sushi for the cost.

We discovered that Japan had erected a Godzilla statue in ’95 after the mighty reptile was slain in the movie, Godzilla vs. Destroyer. So after our fishy breakfast we went on a search to find the 3 foot tall monster.

Thoroughly amused we made our way back for our karaoke debut. Beer was drunk and black mail videos were taken, however your delicate ears will not be harmed. We didn’t know what to think of 2 person karaoke, as most joints are set up in personal booths, but we had a blast belting out the hits.

Shopping was inevitable, so we headed to Shibuya where we could witness one of the busiest cross walks in Tokyo. We found some entertaining items while shopping, including Hello Kitty water, a random Darth Vader, and $ 170 chopsticks! But our spree was cut short when it started to pour and at that point we decided short people shouldn’t be allowed to use umbrellas.

Tokyo has taken themed businesses to new levels. My sister first told us about Maid cafes where the waitresses wear, well, maid costumes. Decided this truly Japanese dining experience shouldn’t be missed we checked one out. Exiting the Akihabara station we found the maids along the street handing out fliers to their restaurants. We were greeted by the “welcome home master” in Japanese and cheesy mansion decorations with classical music and anime playing in the background. The maids put a magical spell on the food forcing you to sing along (in Japanese) and if you order the omelet they draw things in ketchup over it.

Another night we ate at Alcatraz E.R., a medical prison themed restaurant. Truly an unique experience. The wait staff are dressed as doctors and nurses that escort you in handcuffs, your table is in a prison cell which you have to bang on when you want service, and the food and drinks are served in very interesting ways.

Along with the restaurants, hotels too have turned to themes. “Love hotels” have since become popular as housing is expensive for the younger crowd and paper doors don’t quite cut it. While some of the stranger themes like Hello Kitty are being replaced with gaudy Venetian decor and neon lights they are still easy to spot along the back alleys.

Takayama

Another scenic journey takes us to the town of Takayama, where we curse the drizzle that’s seems to have been falling since we left Osaka.

Still we walk the old village streets admiring the traditional architecture, sampling things on sticks, and perusing the plentiful shops.

But we grow tired of the rain and dreary scenery (which surely would be lovely in the summer) and found a sake brewery which had been around for 170 years. “Sake” is actually a general term for alcohol in Japanese, the appropriate term for the rice alcohol is Nihonshu. Apparently warn out from cheap western tourist you had to pay for the sampling, however, the helpings were hearty and we were soon in a lighter mood.

After purchasing a bottle for later we scouted out all the bizarre wood cut outs displayed around the city. While I was a menacing dwarf wizard Jason was an enlightened albino Buddha. The Japanese do love their cut outs.

Takayama is known for their Hida beef, while the fancy stuff was a bit out of our budget, we did have an amazing beef curry at the Jakson Restaurant. Red faceless dolls called Sarubobo are also quite present throughout the city. Supposedly shaped like a young monkey they are given to children by their mothers for a happy marriage in the future.

Our last day we decided to check out the Hida Folk Village. The village is actually an open air museum displaying mountainous farm homes from the area. Deciding to skip the hour wait for the bus we started walking in hopes that the signs would lead us the way. Only a 30 minute walked turned into 2 hours as we passed the sign “Hida No Sato” and got wrong directions along the way but we eventually made it to the folk village.