So it is that time of year again when the Japanese Marketing department at the university where I teach likes to take a photo of all the foreign teachers. I liken it to being a mannequin in a shopping window. Anyways, I took this photo and thought about it and came up with the following question.

How many Japanese people does it take to take a photo?

Since I was leaving, Nick and I decided to go all out at no expense and do something that we have really never done! That is...until now. Yes we did in fact do the splurge and order PIZZA!

Now pizza in Japan is like fine Italian cuisine at an expensive Italian eatery in New York. Ok, not exactly, but you're going to pay the same. It's crazy how expensive pizza is from Dominos, Pizza Hut or where we ordered from Pizza La.

We got two medium pizzas and a measly box of popcorn shrimp for the a whopping $50! Yes that's right 16 pieces of pie and 5 shrimps for $50! Was it worth it? Well, the pizza was pretty delicous and we got to sit back watch a movie and celebrate our 2 years here in Japan with a bottle of Champagne the Nick's dad gave us...so yes it was worth the splurge.

Here are some pics of our gourmet delivery. Oh and you should've seen the face of the delivery guy when Nick told him to keep the change (about $3). Usually this is not customary to tip anyone in Japan and actually from what I heard they find it rude if you try to. Usually they won't except it and will try to give it back. Nick tried to explain in Australia, we tip, here..take it....it's just $3!

Our favorite sushi restaurant in Japan has been a place called Kappa Kappa Sushi. It's a sushi train where you can pick off the conveyer belt the sushi you want until you stuff yourself silly. The best part, while it might not be the top notch sushi being served in Tokyo, is that it's cheap! About a dollar a plate. This is something I will miss back in the US, where sushi costs much more than just a $1 :) We visited one last time with fellow Kanda teachers Al, Tara and Julie. Farewell Kappa Kappa Sushi

On Saturday Nick and I headed in to Akihabara to check out some skype phones, but all we found was the following picture of men taking pictures of girls dressed up in their maid costumes, pretty typical for this area of Tokyo. But this one was different as it was a group of Gaijin! Otherwise known as foreigners and we swear they were like 12 years olds. Nonetheless, they were creating quite a crowd taking pictures of them




After Akihabara we headed to Ueno which was packed! This was the big weekend for cherry blossom viewing and hanami parties. Plenty of Japanese people pack Ueno Park, bring a picnic and what appeared to be plenty of alcohol! Now contrary to popular belief that Japanese are quiet and polite people....they sure can let loose when the Sakura trees are blooming. here's some pics and a movie for our last trip into Tokyo for me (Jen)

Bangkok should only be a stopover point and should never exceed a day. Unfortunately, we stayed there for two nights before we headed off for Cambodia, two nights when we came back from Cambodia, and two nights at the end of our trip after Malaysia.
We did the obligatory walk around the Royal Palace, the walk down Sukumvit Road - the diplomat area - and of course down at Pat Pong with all the Ping Pong clubs.
To us, Bangkok dragged on a little long, there wasn't that much to see and do. It's also a dirty place, lots of pollution in the air, land and waterways. If you haven't been to Bangkok, they use taxis and small tricycle vehicle called a tuk tuk with two seats in the back for passengers. I honestly would never want to jump in one of them cause you have no protection from the elements nor in the event of an accident. They just increase the intensity of Bangkok and add on noise pollution as they are constantly honking. I am pretty sure it is just a honk to indicate "I'm here, don't change lanes", but coming from a society where a honk is a sign of aggression, it is hard to tell.
Now, coming from Jen...there's a lot to do in Bangkok, okay maybe not a lot of variety, but one thing in particular, there is a lot...a ton of shopping! Almost every street has a night market, every corner is a shopping mall and almost every three shops is a jeweler or tailor. While, we will return for two final nights and most likely hang out at one of the cafes catching up with our journal and reading, I at least am looking forward to doing some last minute shopping with or without Nick :) Although to be honest, I have had my fair share and going to a night market in Malaysia reconfirmed both of our notions that perhaps the excitements of the markets have worn off more than a little bit. But we do agree out of all of them in Asia, Beijing has by far been the best for shopping...Bangkok comes in 2nd.

Yep...uh huh...the excitement has worn off -Nick

Oh yeah, here's the view out of one of our rooms. Classy!


And the mandatory Tuk Tuk photo + Pad Thai photo.


You can buy fake student cards, journalist cards, press cards, drivers licence, just about everything! There was a sign "No Photos" so Jen slyly stole this pic.


Finally, a cultural photo of these Thai ladies who walk around trying to sell these items. We didn't see anyone buy anything...

Our good friends from Japan, Angel and Clive, recently had their first baby son, Asher. We travelled from Krabi, Thailand to Penang, Malaysia and stayed with them for four days. We did absolutely nothing of interest to write here on our blog so we'll just say that both mother and son are doing well, Clive on the other hand is suffering from an anxiety disorder and needs a couple of serious chill out pills three times a day after a meal.



Above are a few photos, the one with Angel and Clive was taken on Asher's first time to the shopping center. Check more out here.

We traveled to Phi Phi Island for three nights for some more fun in the sun. The main village on Phi Phi Island sits in the middle of two headlands. If the village wasn't a maze of shops, you could walk from one beach to the other in less than 5 minutes. In 2004, the Tsunami came from one side and swept anything in it's path out the other side. The ocean and marine life are both slowing healing, there's now some coral coming back to life. People are rebuilding, mid priced hotels were rennovated to become high end hotels and more budget accommodation was built. This was done quickly to ensure the survival of pretty much the only industry on Phi Phi; tourism. There doesn't seem to be too much tsunami damage lfet but both Jen and I felt that neglect and laziness to properly dispose of rubbish is setting in. There is so much waste lying around, household garbage, food scraps from restaurants and construction materials. All just lying around. It's a shame.

We also saw the other side, the beautiful beaches, the great snorkeling, the colorful fish... It was just amazing.


the culture seems to be a lot more hippie-ish with lots of bob marley styled restaurants and even some fire twirling. We got into it by purchasing ourselves a paddle ball set. Groovy!


Check out more photos here.

We were having some fun with our underwater camera. We took this sequence of photos.






And these...

We eventually made it to Krabi where we lived it up like Royalty in a mediterranean styled hotel for three nights. Some pictures are below. It was the best hotel we've stayed at in my opinion. Tiled, elegant, a rustic feel.


Krabi was one of the better places on our trip. We went to the white sandy beaches of Railay by a longtail boat. It was the bluest water of all, the sun felt the strongest and it was the darn prettiest place we've seen.



We also went rock climbing on the limestone cliffs. It was a fun day but honestly, indoor rock climbing doesn't prepare your body for the strain, nor your hands for the course and sharp edges that you need to grip. There are no and I repeat NO smooth large hand grips to use here. The Thai organizer of the rock climbing adventure wasn't the most attentive; at times he would be talking on the phone or changing his music whilst he was meant to be watching us and belaying us. (Apparently that is the term to be at the bottom supporting and holding the rope just in case there's a fall.) I was watching Jen and she was half way up. I looked at the ant that was biting my foot and when I looked back up, Jen was upside down trying to get the right way up again. She had fallen, the guy wasn't paying attention, she had fallen a little too far and when he stopped the rope from feeding through, she twisted and bounced upside down. She was alright ten seconds later.

More photos to come...

Check out more photos here.

Hi all,
We were trying to catch up with our blogs but we posted them in the wrong order. So here is our brief itinerary:

Feb 20 @ 13.47 - Catch the train to Narita Airport.
Feb 20 @ 14.53 - Arrive Narita Airport.

... just kidding

Bangkok
Cambodia - Phnom Penh and Siem Reap
Bangkok
Koh Samui
Krabi
Phi Phi Islands
Malaysia - Penang
Bangkok

so... right now (March 5) we are in Koh Samui and it's raining...

We made it to Siem Reap today, thankfully we flew and it was only 50 minutes. We were going to do the whole backpacking style and take a boat, then a bus back to Bangkok from here, but we decided to splurge. We spent our first two nights in Bangkok and I got fitted for a custom tailored suit, dress, trousers and 3 business shirts for $270 US thought that was pretty good for custom made clothing. I will go to the place for a first fitting, they need three and then each time we are back in Bangkok until they are perfect.

There are tons of little stalls selling everything to eat and wear in Bangkok, markets galore, but we have actually found that Malaysia is cheaper and China even cheaper for this sort of stuff.

After 2 nights in Bangkok we flew to Phnom Penh on Saturday and what an eye opener, visiting one of the poorest countries in the world. Of course we spent a month in China, but there was mix between rich and poor. Here in Cambodia, it's tough not to want to give a dollar to all the kids on the street begging. Granted, they say that people stop working their own jobs because they can get paid more by begging and they recommend not giving them anything, but giving the local charities money for the youth programs, etc.

The traffic is quite crazy here, everyone rides motor bikes or tuk tuks. We hired a tuk tuk to drive us around all day for $12. On some of these small motorbikes you see 5 people on one bike! Crazy! You'll see a whole family mother, father and two children under the age of 5, very scary. They come from all over the place, drive onto oncoming traffic, etc. Thankfully our tuk tuk driver was very safe and wore his helmet.

We visited the sites in Phnom Penh, the Royal Palace was very beautiful with lots of gold and intricate details all around. We went to a school the was turned into a prison during the Cambodian Genocide era which was a bit disturbing, after we took our tuk tuk to the killing fields where many of those who opposed the Khemer regime were killed...again disturbing.

Nick presented at his conference on Saturday and had a great turn out of both Cambodian and foreigners.

While he was at the conference, Tara and I went to a market and I got 2 dresses made, I picked them up today and they're great! She offered to make me some dresses as I browsed through the stalls and had them ready 48 hours later for about $15/each.

Tomorrow we're off to see the sites of Angkor. We've already booked our tuk tuk and will probably get templed out by the end of the day. Siem Reap has a street (just like Phnom Penh) with lots of restaurants that cater to foreigners for meals ranging about $3, drinks from $1...all pretty cheap.

We're almost two weeks into our month long vacation and time is flying by way too quickly. We arrived in Koh Samui, Thailand 2 days ago and unfortunately the weather hasn't been the sunny and clear blue skies that we had immagined. Today we were caught in a full out storm riding our scooter back to our Hotel from lunch.



It's been great, but the water just doesn't shine like it should with cloudy skies. We're here for another 2 days and moving to the other side of the island where we'll do a day tour snorkelling and kayaking some of the outer islands and then just hanging out at the popular Chaweng Beach. The sun is really strong here in Thailand, even with the clouds and sunscreen we're getting pretty red...eventually it will turn nice and tan :)

We have been definitely putting our tastebuds to the test with Thai food! Thai food is really spicy and can be a little to much if you decide that we're going to eat like locals and eat dinner at a market where there is soups, curries already made...those are way too hot! We've enjoyed the yellow...green...red curries as long as they are mild, pad thai, spring rolls, pancakes...all of which has been eaten for less than $2 from small street shops or carts, really it's not as daring as it sounds, many people do it. Cross our fingers, neither of us have gotten sick yet. We're looking into splurge a bit for a couple meals in the next few days, there are some beautiful restaurants/resorts on this island and we found a seafood one on the beach (describes most of them though) that is highly recommended.




We arrived here in Samui via Bangkok, where we spent another two nights. We checked out the Royal Palace which was beutiful, covered in Gold, quite amazing. Then visited a few other temples. One had something like a 30 meter long lying Buddah, absolutely massive.

I also had my first and second fitting for my custom tailored suit/pants/dress/shirts. They measured me then when I showed up they had the suit jacket with no arms, pants and rough shirt to try on. They pinned me all over to get a good fit. You don't have too many chances to get things tailored for you at a price that your willing to pay, so this has been a pretty neat experience. Unfortunately with the 2nd fitting I have learned that my entire left leg is quite larger than my right leg. So much so that the pants they have made fit my right leg, but can barely make it past my left thigh....how sad. Anyways, they have made marks and will make my left leg bigger. We'll be back in Bangkok at the end of the month to get the last fitting and make any final adjustments. I am pretty sure that they'll get it all right and it will hopefully look great!