As a tip for the future, don't fly Japan Airlines if you're over 6 foot. With my butt all the way back in the seat, my knees were literally up against the seat in front of me. Luckily, she didn't decide to lean back. However, once we got off the plane, things got much better.

While we don't have anything to compare it to, Lub D seems amazing for a hostel. It is like a hybrid hostel/hotel/ikea. They have a bank of computers and a hangout area downstairs, and they are really nice and new. They also have several lounge areas where you can hang out and meet people, where we've already met some people from Australia. As it turns out, The Simpsons was correct: the ultimate punishment isn't the death penalty, rather a kicking with a GIANT boot!

In the morning we went to the "Yellow Donute Cafe", which is basically a big yellow, well, donut, and you go up to it and pay 80 thai baht, about 2.50 and they give you this huge breakfast, an egg, 2 pieces of toast, a croisant, a piece of fruit, milk, juice, and coffee. You can sit in the little dining area and they bring it to you, we were also able to grab some lunch for 1.50 for the both of us. It is so CHEAP! However, Dave almost burned his mouth off. It took a large thing of chocolate milk to cool it down.

We went to the Travel agent this morning to pick up our tickets for our trip to Chaing Mai and Ayutthaya. We also looked into flying to Cambodia instead of taking the train, it was 350 round trip so we decided to opt out of that. We took a tuk-tuk to the travel agents, which is basically a motorcycle with a backseat, and a con-artist driving it. He wouldnt give us a flat rate, he asked us what we wanted to pay, and then tried to con us some more. He also tried to take us to this tailor who i guess he gets a kick back from and it was all kinds of crazy. Moral of the story, no more tuk-tuks.

Then we went to the tailor, Raja's, which came highly recommended. Dave got a great deal on some custom-made suits, shirts, and pants. If you're interested, let either of us know, as he comes to visit the US twice a year.

Then we went for a 2 hour massage, for 15 bucks a piece. Though at points we thought it was the most painful experience of our lives, we think we should be feeling great tomorrow. We found the experience to be overall great.

After hanging around the lobby and meeting the Australians, we went out for dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant. For $10, we got 2 giant beers, 3 main dishes, rice, and dessert. We had the BEST chicken (possibly rotisserie?) that we've ever had (no offense moms!). Molly ate something she thought was a green bean. Instead, it was the hottest thing ever. Though she didn't have chocolate milk, coconut ice cream with green beans and pink specks served over rice really did the trick.

So far, Thailand is amazing. We can't recommend it any more highly.

Now that we're caught up on blogging (with a few picture updates to come), we're off to bed.

Stay tuned for further adventures from the world of tomorrow...tomorrow!

Sayonara Japan!

On our last day in Japan, August 18, our flight didn't take off till 4 in the afternoon, so we decided to take the morning to do a walking tour of Asakusa, the historical district that we were staying in. We got a chance to walk through their street markets, which we hadn't had a chance to see in other parts of Tokyo. We got an early start, so we were able to see all of the shops just opening up. Everything there was pretty similar to other street markets that you see in other countries, but it was interesting none the less to actually see them operate.

After the market, we made our way over to the Sensoji shrine, which is the oldest and biggest shrine in Tokyo. We took the opportunity to check out some of the really cool Buddhist rituals. There was a large incense burner right when you walked in, and you were supposed to rub the smoke all over you, concentrating in any area that you felt ill, and it was supposed to help lead to a speedy recovery.

We were lucky enough to go when they were leading services of some sort, even though they were behind a gated area, the beautiful singing permeated the entire temple. Molly decided to partake in a ritual, where for 100 yen you shake a can with a small hole filled with numbered bamboo sticks, and whichever stick falls out, corresponds to a numbered drawer, which you go to and pull out your fortune. Unfortunately, her stick contained a very bad fortune, saying she would be unhappy in employment, marriage and life. Luckily there was a way to negate the fortune by tying it to a special rack of strings outside the temple, unfortunately, Molly tore her fortune on the rack, so who knows what will happen.

After that, we picked up our bags for the trip to Narita. Luckily, we got there easily and in plenty of time. Dave was excited to learn that McDonald's Asia has a DOUBLE BIG MAC! Though we didn't eat there, he is excited to come back and try it.

Stay tuned for our exciting adventures in Thailand. Will we adopt a Thai baby? Will we find Blackbeard's gold? Anything could happen, except those two things...

Turning Japanese-a Part Ni

After arriving back from our Kyoto adventure on the 16th, we went to find our bags in the Tokyo train station, only to find that we had no clue where they were. We remembered what it looked like, but unfortunately, as no one spoke english, we had a hard time trying to find where they were. Eventually after a little while of looking, we found someone that could help us find what we were looking for, and we got our back packs back.

After trying to navigate the Japanese metro system (we had one "Simple transfer" that had us walk almost a mile and climb up and down over 10 flights of stairs), we arrived at the capsule hotel, which we had been looking really forward to. Unfortunately, the owner spoke no english, the hotel was disgusting, and the guests were even worse, we promptly checked back out and found a hotel across the street. It was small and it was ugly, but after the capsule, we thought it to be heaven. We were staying in Asakusa, the historical district of Tokyo, which was really different than the Shinjuku district we had stayed in our first night there. It was much less glamourous, the first time we saw homeless people in Tokyo, and much more working class.

We woke up refreshed on the 17, and ready to start anew. We went to Ueno, which is like their version of the Smithsonian. We only had time to go into a few of the museums but they were great. We were able to check out some ancient buddhist artifacts, and we learned a lot about the development of buddhism and buddhist art in Japan. We were also able to see some other cultural artifacts, but none that we found quite as interesting as those.

In the early afternoon, we went to the Harajuku district, and saw all the crazy school girls that you imagine when you think of Japan. We took a really cool walking tour, and while some of us may have enjoyed the "sights" a little more than the others, we both thought that it was really cool and interesting. We went into a couple of stores, one that was completely dedicated to toys, but novelty items, such as an entire hello kitty floor. We also went to one that was called Chicago, that only sold used American clothing, including a "Kiss my Grits" stocking cap for 20 dollars, and a wide array of Confederate flag memorabilia. There was also some sort of dancing festival going on in the big square, which we watched for a while. Unfortunately it was rainy so there weren't as many "Harajuku Girls" out.

In the evening, we went to ginza, which is like their version of Times Square. By this point we had the train system mastered, and they even let Dave drive one of them. We came home and got packed up, and got ready to come to Thailand the next day. More of our adventure continues in the next post....

Moshi Moshi from Kyoto!

Kyoto was Dave's favorite part of Japan. We took the Bullet train (Shinkansen) there and man it does go quick! We missed Mt Fuji on the way there, but we were able to catch it on the way home. We went to a lot of really cool historical sights. On August 15, our first day there, we went to the golden pavillion, which was beautiful, and we went to gion, which is the geisha district, and then a park behind gion, which is some sort of a massive shrine. There are something like 1600 shrines in Kyoto. We didnt plan on how little english there really is there, and have been had a bit of a hard time navigating, but we have managed to find our way thanks to the kindness of strangers.

We took a cab to the Golden pavillion, and you wouldnt believe how nice they are here, the drivers wear suits and keep their cabs immaculate, and they think that tipping is considered offensive! Its like Dave's dream come true! Our driver loved America, and was telling us how he loved Clint Eastwood, Bing Crosby and Dorris Day, and lets not forget Rambo. He sang White Christmas for us.

The food was really REALLY terrible, but we have been really adventurous in trying a lot of different things. You have no idea how unnerving it is to eat things that you have ABSOLUTELY no idea what they are. We went for a traditional Japanese dinner in Kyoto. The setup was beautiful, but the food was so icky. The shrimps still had heads, which was disturbing when Molly went to take a bite out of it. We ate something that turned out to be eel, which wasnt too bad, and a lot of things that were so gross, we didnt even eat a quarter of what they served. They even ruined white rice but putting what we think were worms on it.

On the 16, we saw the gold pavillions cousin, the silver pavillion. It was equally, if not more impressive! Dave thought that it was much more impressive. We were able to see these impressive sand sculptures, as well as some Buddhist artifacts. We also went on a little hike to see the grounds from a hill above, it was pretty incredible. We took a little stroll through the market, and then headed towards the philosophers walk, at which point we realized that we didnt have enough money to get home. We started a search for an ATM, but found out quickly that there were none to be had. After begging a cab driver to take a credit card we finally got back to the main part of town, and then had to try and find an ATM that spoke english.

We finally found an ATM that both spoke english and accepted non Japanese issued cards, and Molly literally fell to the ground and threw her arms around the machiene. When Dave said, "Are you kissing the machiene?" I replied, "Don't be silly, I'm hugging it. We were able to get money in time to get to the Bullet train, but we had more adventures to come... read on to find out what!

Konichi Wa Tokyo! (Japan, Pt. 1)

We spent a whirlwhind four and one half days in Japan, split between one day in Kyoto, and the rest in Tokyo. Overall experience: Amazing. Sight-seeing: Unbelievable. Food: To die for from.

After flying with the sun for 11 hours, we arrived in Tokyo on the afternoon of the 14th. After getting checked into the hotel, we spent some time walking around Shinjuku, a young and trendy area, seeing a TON of young Japanese enjoying a pleasant Thursday night.

We hit an internet cafe/comicbook cafe/(sleeping cubicle?). It was very weird, each computer was in a tiny cubicle that had a comfortable seat, with a pair of slippers and a locker. In addition, there was a shower in case you had a REALLY epic WoW game.

After grabbing a quick bite (still not sure what we ordered), that we could hardly eat, we headed back to the hotel and conked out around 10.