We’re talkin’ baseball…

Posted on October 14, 2012 by John

Many expat Americans, including several families of American baseball players that bounce between Japanese teams and the majors back home, live in the same condo complex as our friends the Injays.  Trish happened to mention that we’d be visiting to one of her “baseball buddies” and was given 4 players tickets to see the Hanshin Tigers, Kobe’s “hometown” club, on the Friday night before we left Japan for Malaysia.  Naturally, we jumped at the chance to take in the game.

Although baseball is considered America’s favorite past time, the Japanese people take their baseball very seriously.  And, in the many years that pro teams have been playing baseball in Japan (their first pro league was formed in the 1930′s – I had no idea!), the Japanese have transformed a familiar American experience into something distinctively their own.  And it’s awesome.

  

The best thing about Japanese baseball is the fans and the atmosphere that they create at the game.  Completely different than an American game, where you might fall asleep between plays.  Not so in Japan.  It’s like what I imagine being at a European football game to be like.  Check it out:

Screaming, chanting, trumpets, flags…  The fans don’t stop the entire time their team is up at the plate.  Just electric in the stadium.  Couldn’t have been more fun.  And, did you notice the beer vendors with mini-kegs on their backs?

We scored some sweet thunder sticks at the souvenir shop to help cheer on the home team.  They were like Hanshin Tiger nunchucks: hard, hollow, plastic bats with a chain connecting the two.   The Japanese fans were very polite with these “weapons,” using them only for their intended purpose.  But, I think if they were to sell these thunder sticks at American ballparks, riots might ensue.

Between innings, the groundskeepers would bring out the infield zambonies to keep it nice.  The Japanese always keep it nice.

  

Food options at the stadium are notably Japanese.  Sushi, various kinds of meat on a stick, tempura…  Shelley went for one of the most popular options, fried octopus balls in brown sauce.  I went with the tuna roti.  Seemed like it would be easier to eat in our small stadium seats (they’re built for smaller Japanese people!).

  

By far my favorite experience of the night was the 7th inning stretch.  The Japanese have their own take on it using balloons.  I’ll let the video speak for itself, one of the best I’ve taken on this trip, I think.

Needless to say we had an amazing time at the game.  The home team sealed the win when #6, Kanemoto, went yard in the 8th.  On our way out of the stadium, we were thanked for coming by no less than 5 different ticket takers/ushers standing in line at the exit.  Bows all around.  We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to our refreshing and uplifting time in Japan.

The next morning, we were off to Malaysia!

Posted in Adventure 2012, Culture, Food, Recreation | 2 Comments

Hiroshima and Miyajima

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Shelley

A few days after we’d gotten to Kobe, once we’d gotten our energy back, we headed west on the shinkansen–Japan’s bullet train–for an overnight trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima. From the time we’d started planning our trip to Japan, we both knew we wanted to make it a priority to visit Hiroshima. It was an emotional day there, but also very moving.

From the Hiroshima train station, we took the local trolley to the Peace Memorial Park and made our way to the building that’s now called the A-Bomb Dome. It was originally built in 1914 as an exhibition hall, but by the time of WWII, the government was using it to house the local public works administration. When the bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, it exploded almost directly over the building. You’d think that would mean the building would have been decimated, but although I’m a little shaky on the science behind it, it seems that the energy released by the bomb pressed down on the building instead of blasting it apart, so that while fire ravaged it, the walls weren’t knocked down (i.e., pushed apart) by the blast. In the end, it was the only building left standing near the center of the bomb blast. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

A few years after the war ended, the Japanese parliament declared Hiroshima a “city of peace,” and since that time, Hiroshima has worked to promote peace while also advocating for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. The Peace Memorial Museum, on the grounds of the Peace Memorial Park, opened in 1955 to tell the story of Japan’s involvement in WWII, including its aggression in East and Southeast Asia, and how the U.S. was drawn into the war through the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and ultimately the history of the development of the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and how and why those sites were chosen. We learned a great deal about the Asia-Pacific side of WWII, and of the horror of the bomb.

After leaving the museum we lightened things up by heading off in search of a traditional Hiroshima lunch–okonomiyaki–a layered dish of crepe-like batter, cabbage, noodles, egg and pork that’s cooked on a griddle and then smothered in a tangy barbecue-like sauce. You eat it right off the griddle surface using a small spatula.

Then it was time to catch the ferry to Miyajima, a small island off the coast of Hiroshima where we’d be staying for the night. To Shinto believers, it’s considered a sacred island, and it’s famous for its Itsukushima Shrine and the orange Torii Gate that marks the entrance to the shrine from the sea. It’s a quiet and beautiful place, and we spent the night in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn with tatami floors, sliding doors, and thin mattresses on the floor to sleep on. For some reason the layout of the room reminded me of a cabin on a cruise ship, but then it kind of felt like a sleepover party to spend the night on our side-by-side mattresses on the floor.

In the morning we visited the shrine and then took the cable car up to Mount Misen, the highest point on the island. The cable car leaves you with just a 30-minute hike to the top (as opposed to a 3-hour hike if you started from the bottom of the mountain), but, as usual on this trip, it was HOT and HUMID outside. John and I were already sweating through our clothes when we exited the cable car, even before we started the 30-minute hike. Meanwhile, the Japanese ladies that we saw on the trail were sweat-free, in full make-up, dresses, and high heels. I don’t know quite how the Japanese ladies do it, but they always manage to look totally put together. It was a beautiful day, and the views from the top of Mount Misen over the Inland Sea were pretty spectacular, with islands dotting the water. It looked just like the Japan you see in paintings.

Then it was time to make our way back to Hiroshima and board the bullet train bound for Kobe. We arrived back at the Injays’ place just in time for a taco dinner–yum! Next up…John’s favorite experience of the trip!

Posted in Adventure 2012, Awareness, Food, Places | 2 Comments

Life with the Injays: Refreshing and Uplifting

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Shelley

After a few days in Tokyo, we headed south to Kobe to visit our good friends Trish and Mike Injaychock and their adorable kiddos.  We arrived to find Trish fully outfitted in a yukata, a summer kimono.  There was a festival on Rokko Island that evening and she and the kids were getting all decked out in Japanese attire for it.  It was awesome–my tall, red-headed American friend making a life with her family in Japan and even wearing a kimono!

As mentioned in an earlier post, by the time we arrived in Kobe, we were pretty worn out.  We’d had two extremely early mornings back to back–the first to get to the airport in Hong Kong for our flight to Tokyo and the second to get up in time for the tuna auction–and combining that with John’s stomach bug, we were beat.  So we showed up in Kobe on a Saturday afternoon feeling pretty bedraggled, and then Trish showed us into their beautiful, you-could-be-in-America apartment and right away we felt ourselves start to relax.  We’d originally had big plans for day trips while we were in Kobe–we’d go to Kyoto and Nara and Osaka and Hiroshima and Miyajima and on and on and on–but once we got to Kobe, we were so happy to be there and so happy to have the chance to slow down and relax that in the end we only took one brief overnight to Hiroshima and Miyajima.  More on that to come in the next post.  What made that so great was that we got to spend a lot more time with the Injays that way, just seeing what their expat life is like and how they’ve adapted to living in Japan with two little kiddos.  As we recuperated at the Injays’ place, we laughed that our time with them was refreshing and uplifting, which is the slogan on Japanese cans of Coca-Cola.  (By the way, Japanese Coke is the best we’ve ever tasted–I don’t know what they put in it, but it just tastes way better than American Coke or even Coke we’ve had in other countries where–like in Japan–they make it with real sugar instead of corn syrup.  We’d like to start a business importing Japanese Coke–we think if Americans could taste what they’re missing out on, there might be a revolt!)

It truly was refreshing and uplifting being with the Injays–it was a break we sorely needed and we greatly appreciated it.  And getting off the tourist trail in Kobe was fun–it felt like we got much more of a chance to see what daily life is like in Japan, for both the Japanese and for expats.  Here’s a picture of us on our first night with Trish and Mike, when they took us to a tiny, hidden restaurant for a delicious Kobe beef teppanyaki dinner (photo courtesy of Trish!).  Thanks again to the Injays for showing us a fantastic, restful, relaxing, and fun time in Kobe!!

 

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Sushi at Sunrise

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Shelley

We were told we should leave the hotel by 4am, so when our alarm went off at 3:30, we crawled out of bed, pulled on our clothes, and brushed our teeth.  Bleary-eyed, we climbed into a taxi, but all we had to say to the driver was just one word, “Tsukiji.”  He smiled and we headed off.

We were on our way to the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, the largest fish and seafood market in the world, to wait in line for a chance to watch the tuna auction that takes place every morning starting at 5am.  Because the auction is the real deal and isn’t really set up for tourists, visitors to the auction are capped at 120 each day and are admitted in two groups of 60–the first at 5:25am and the second at 5:50am.  Our taxi dropped us off at the main entrance to the market, but the registration area for the auction was a few blocks away.  We consulted the map briefly and then took off.  I kind of felt like we were on the Amazing Race.  Three Spanish girls crossed paths with us and asked if we knew where the registration area was.  We said we weren’t sure but that we thought it was in the direction we were headed, but they continued on the other way.  A couple of blocks later, after a wrong turn and then a helpful point in the right direction from a fish vendor, two couples raced by us in their flip flops hoping to secure a place in line.  It was 4:25am and I was panicked that we might miss out on getting a spot.  I started running, too, and then we saw the line and we dashed to the end of it.  The men who manage the line handed each of us a piece of paper with a number on it–the golden ticket–we’d made it!  Hooray!  (In case you’re wondering, the Spanish girls made it in time, too.)

We were late enough to have been placed in the second group, so we waited in line and watched the sun rise over Tokyo until 5:50am, when we were marched, single-file, and wearing our designated fluorescent mesh vests identifying us as admitted observers, into the tuna auction viewing area.  I think we both expected it to be noisy (although now I’m not sure why–we were in polite and refined Japan after all), but it was quiet, with men in galoshes milling around and inspecting huge, whole tuna resting on wooden pallets.  There was also an area off to the side where small, thin strips of tuna were laid out on a table, which the men in galoshes (yes, it was only men in there) would examine with a flashlight by holding the tuna up and letting the light shine through it.  I wish I knew what exactly they were looking for.

   

A few minutes later the actual auction process began.  The auctioneer stood on a small wooden platform placed near one of the clusters of the whole tuna and rattled off in Japanese to a group gathered around the tuna cluster.  Individuals from the group silently raised their hands to bid.  As the auctioneer continued talking, the group of men thinned until in the end a final bid was offered and accepted.  Then the whole process started over, with the group reconvening around another cluster of tuna.  We snapped pictures and filmed video throughout our allotted 25 minutes of viewing time–here’s a short clip of the highlights:

After being escorted out of the auction viewing area, we continued on, on our own, to explore the parts of the market open to the general public.  By this time it was 6:15am, we’d been up for almost three hours, and we were feeling hungry.  We wandered around looking for a place where we might get some sushi (definitely not our typical breakfast, but we were at a fish market), and we came across a small place, still within the market area, that had a long line out front.  There were a few westerners in the line, but it was mostly Japanese, and although we didn’t know what the place was, we figured if this many people were waiting in line for it at 6:15am on a Thursday morning, it must be good.  So we got in line and waited and waited and waited.  Finally, at 8:30am, we were called in to take our seats at the end of the sushi bar.  The whole place sat just thirteen people, and there were three sushi chefs behind the counter.  We ordered the omakase menu and then resumed snapping pictures as we watched the chefs in action.  We were excited–me probably more than John, considering the stomach issues he was fighting at the time–as we looked forward to the freshest sushi we’ll probably ever eat.  Each of us was served ten pieces of sushi, plus a traditional roll, miso soup, and tamago, and then we were given the choice of one extra piece–John chose the toro and I went for the uni.  It all tasted great, and we were excited to participate in what felt like a truly Japanese experience.  Here are some pictures of the sushi bar and some of our pieces of sushi:

    

   

Of course, then I practically ruined it all by offending the main sushi chef just as we were getting ready to leave.  “What is this place?” I asked him.  “What’s the name of this restaurant?”  The chef looked at me in complete astonishment as he responded, “You don’t know?”  Umm, no, actually.  Ooops!  Maybe he figured we wouldn’t have found it without knowing what we were looking for.  Not helping matters, I replied, “Well we just saw the line outside and figured it must be really good…and it was!”  Oh boy.  The sushi chef handed us the card for the restaurant and we beat a path out of there, with John shaking his head and laughing at me.  Sushi Dai.  That’s the place.  And it was delicious and definitely worth the wait!  Just know the name before you go!

Posted in Adventure 2012, Culture, Food, Places | 1 Comment

The Money Trail – Hong Kong

Posted on September 27, 2012 by John

Next up on the money trail, the Hong Kong Dollar.

The Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) is certainly the most colorful currency we’ve encountered to date.  Perhaps more interesting is that commercial banks, under license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, issue bank notes for use in Hong Kong.  As you can see in the picture, HSBC was prominently displayed on the bills we used.  This was a bit strange to see at first, since it’s more typical to see money issued directly from a central government authority.

This picture was taken on the middle back seat of a taxi on the way to the Hong Kong Airport.  Since we typically exchange money in the airport when moving between countries, this is starting to become the norm for my Money Trail shots…

1 USD ~= 8 HKD

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Just Say No

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Shelley

Over our first month of travel, I realized that I wished I had packed somewhat different clothing. The long dresses I brought felt dirty since they would get really hot and stretch out and drag on the ground. I had opted for dresses and skirts instead of shorts, thinking that they might be more culturally appropriate. But women have been wearing shorts everywhere we’ve been, and with lots of shopping opportunities in Hong Kong, we headed out while we were there to find me some shorts and send my more uncomfortable clothes home. Yay!

Once at the mall, we learned that customer service while shopping is a little different in Hong Kong. What’s considered the best service involves the sales ladies following behind customers, hot on their heels, to suggest and pull many things for them to try on. For someone like me who has trouble saying no, this kind of customer service can result in, well, a fashion show. In a store where I ultimately did find some shorts to buy, the sales ladies enthusiastically found me as many things to try on as possible, and John laughed to himself (and at me) as I struggled to turn away all of the options. Although I didn’t have the budget or space in my bag to buy anything besides shorts, I found it impossible to “disappoint” the sales ladies by refusing to try on the things they brought to me. I guess I believed that it would be easier to try on all of the clothes that they were bringing me and then turn them down rather than just politely decline what was offered. This rationale resulted in me trying on this totally awesome outfit (which would be more than a little stifling in Hong Kong summer weather of 90 degrees and 10,000 percent humidity): skinny jeans, a white sequined and studded t-shirt reading “I like my sneakers,” and a pink pleather motorcycle jacket. John, getting a huge kick out of the spectacle, snapped a picture of my ridiculousness.

I almost caved to buying the t-shirt, but fortunately, in the end, I walked out of the store with two pairs of shorts and nothing else. And next time I’ll do my best to buck up and just say no to all of the things I’m not interested in trying on. But, well, trying on clothes is fun, and that jacket was pretty fantastic!

Posted in Adventure 2012, Culture | 3 Comments

At Home in Hong Kong with Sarah and Joey

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Shelley

As our plane touched down in Hong Kong, we noticed that it seemed unusually windy outside, but we didn’t think much of it for the moment.  We’d been delayed leaving Shanghai, without much explanation offered, and we were tired and ready to get off the plane.  I sent a text to my lovely friend Sarah who we were going to be staying with to let her know that we’d landed.  We were planning to take the train into central Hong Kong to meet up with Sarah and her husband Joey (who it was wonderful to meet!), when Sarah texted back, “There may be a typhoon declared in the next hour which means it may be easier to get a cab from the airport.”  Hmmm, now we understood the delay and the wind.

Sure enough, a signal 8 typhoon (a middle of the road typhoon, we learned–not the least severe but not the most severe, either) was declared, and we exited the airport into intense humidity and wind.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a very short taxi line and within a few minutes we were on our way to Sarah and Joey’s flat.  The roads were completely deserted and our taxi driver flew over the highway.  I think he was anxious to drop us off and head home himself.  Forty-five minutes later Sarah and Joey welcomed us into the coziness of their flat with some peanut butter and jelly toast (it never tasted better) and we caught up for a bit before it was time to head to bed.  We were so happy to be there!

We woke up the next morning to blue skies and sunshine–the typhoon had passed and the air was clear.  From Sarah and Joey’s flat we enjoyed spectacular views of Hong Kong and the surrounding islands–we snapped some pictures from sunset at their place.

  

It was SO nice to kick back and relax after a month on the road, and over the next few days John and I loved being able to sleep in and then stumble into the kitchen still in our PJs for coffee and breakfast.  We were also very happy to use the washing machine and get all of our clothes washed–they really, really needed it after a week of HOT days in China!

But we didn’t just stay at the flat–we got out and about to enjoy city life in Hong Kong and see what it’s like for our expat friends to make their lives there.  Together with Sarah and Joey, we had drinks at Sevva with a great close-up view of Central’s nightly light show, made the requisite visit to Shelley Street, ate yummy food of all kinds–Indonesian, European cheese, dim sum, Vietnamese, and some comforting and delicious home-cooking–and headed out for some shopping and wandering.

  

We also made a sweaty hike up to the Peak to enjoy the views.  Sarah snapped a picture of John and me right as we arrived at the summit–you can see I was trying to dodge John’s sweaty hug!  It was a little hazy, but the views were still great.

      

We also enjoyed being the first passengers in Sarah and Joey’s new car–driving through Hong Kong’s streets felt kind of like a roller coaster with all of the ups and downs and twists and turns and we had fun laughing from the back seat as they learned to navigate the crazy roads.  Being with Sarah and Joey and staying at their place felt like being at home, which was really comforting, and we enjoyed every minute of it.  Thank you, Sarah and Joey!

(Above photo courtesy of Sarah’s Facebook page, since shamefully we didn’t get any pictures of all of us together!)

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Shanghai in Pictures

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Shelley

As John mentioned in his previous post, Shanghai is a huge, modern city that offered a western-style familiarity that felt very comforting after our adventures in Datong.  We loved the fresh juice and fresh salads at Wagas (salad can be a little risky to eat in most of the places we’ve been visiting, and we do miss it dearly), and I’ll confess that I buckled and had Starbucks coffee and muffins during each of our three mornings in Shanghai (it was conveniently located at the base of our hotel building, after all).  Since Shanghai lacks the historical sights that Beijing has, we took a pretty relaxed approach to our days there and then spent our evenings wandering Nanjing Road, the pedestrian shopping street running right past our hotel and down to The Bund.  Here are some photo highlights from our time in Shanghai…

We toured the Shanghai Museum to view exhibits on Chinese furniture, jade, painting, and calligraphy.  The museum is designed in the shape of an ancient Chinese bronze cooking vessel–looks like you could just pick it up!

We cooled off at a Haagen Dazs cafe.  As you can see, John was pretty excited about his first sit-down-and-place-your-order Haagen Dazs experience.  Sadly, they did not have chocolate midnight cookies, so we opted for a sundae that turned out to involve a rather peculiar mix of flavors.

  

We spent an afternoon wandering the alleyways of Tianzifang, in the former French Concession.

We had a delicious pizza lunch at a place called New York Pizza…yum!  Like a taste of home, but with Chinese cheese.

  

We watched the city light up for its nightly light show while walking along The Bund at sunset.

  

  

We sampled Shanghai’s famous soup dumplings at Jia Jia.

  

In a moment that reminded me of Us Weekly’s “Stars!  They’re Just Like Us!” we watched Chinese women waiting for the subway and thought to ourselves, “Chinese People!  They’re Just Like Us!”  They’re on their smart phones all the time.  We watched Chinese soap operas over their shoulders during the ride.

Now on to Hong Kong, where we landed just as a signal 8 typhoon was blowing in!

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Back to Civilization

Posted on September 19, 2012 by John

After some wrangling at the Datong airport (ask us about it sometime…), we boarded our flight back to Beijing to continue our journey through China.  From Beijing, we caught our first bullet train, bound for Shanghai.  I have to say, travelling by train is much more comfortable than travelling by air.

Neither of us slept much in Datong (the bed in our hotel was like a rock!), so we both crashed out for a while on the train.  And, we both independently decided to take blackmail photos of the other one sleeping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shanghai was the first leg of our journey where my Starwood Points came in handy.  To defer the costs of expensive hotels in Shanghai, we booked 3 free, reward nights at the Royal Meridien, right on the pedestrian street in the heart of the city.  The staff there didn’t quite know what to make of us, showing up to their fancy hotel fresh off the subway, sweaty with backpacks on.  But, in true Starwood style, they were welcoming and even gave us an upgrade to a beautiful room with a river view.  Nice!

 

BTW – Shelley and I have had the chance to compare hotel points on this trip, and all rewards programs are not created equal.  Starwood, by far, gives you the most bang for your buck when it comes to hotel rewards and we are always treated incredibly well at their properties.  Starwood customers for life.

That night, we went out to a restaurant off the pedestrian street that served salad.  It was awesome, as it felt like we hadn’t eaten anything fresh, green and leafy for weeks.  And after a 16 hour day of travelling from Datong to Shanghai, that’s pretty much all the energy we had left.  But, we were back in civilization.

 

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Dinner in Datong

Posted on September 17, 2012 by John

After our day touring the Hanging Monastery and Yungang Grottoes, Shelley and I ventured out to a restaurant in downtown Datong that was suggested to us by our wonderful tour guide, Nancy.  This was a bit more complicated than it sounds because without Nancy by our side, there was a serious language barrier for us in Datong.  Besides Nancy, who spoke very good English, and the hotel reception, whose English was sufficient, there was not an English speaker in sight.  It was similar in Beijing, but with Datong being so much more remote, venturing out solo here was the first time on our trip where Shelley and I really felt like we were all on our own.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were seated inside of a nearly empty dining room.  It was clear that they didn’t get many western customers – we could feel that all eyes were focused on us.  We were attended to by 2 waitresses who were obviously very fascinated by us.  One other young, Chinese woman, who appeared to be the manager, watched intently from the corner.

We tried to order drinks from the waitresses, but nothing we said or did would work.  Even our attempts to order a Tsingtao beer, which we thought we could pronounce, fell on deaf ears (we must have gotten the tone wrong).  Just friendly, awkward smiles and quizzical faces all around.  Even the manager came over to try and lend a hand, but it just wasn’t happening.  Luckily, I remembered that my smart wife had downloaded a “point it” dictionary to her iPhone before we left Texas just for this very occasion.  So, we busted that out, found a picture of a beer and a bottle of water, and after about two minutes of pointing and nodding, our waitresses went off to fetch our beverages.  We did it!

While our drinks were being served, Shelley and I opened up the large menus placed before us and began taking a look.  What we weren’t expecting was the Chinese waitress to patiently and politely hover over us as we made our decision.  As if we needed the added pressure!  We, of course, tried to tell her that we needed a few minutes, but the “point it” dictionary wasn’t any help for that one!  Instead, we opened our menus and began awkwardly searching for something to eat while our waitress stood by and the other staff continued to watch us intently from afar.

Luckily for us, there were pictures for everything in the menu and underneath each picture was an English translation for the dish.  You’d think this would have made things easier.  Instead, it was all we could do to keep our composure.  The English translations were hysterical:

Braised Fish Head Hot Cakes Demolition

Ling Mushroom Wine Beef Explosion

Fried Balls

And our personal favorite…

Miscellaneous Ass Fight

It was so hard for us not to laugh!  But, the waitress was standing right there waiting for our order and everybody else was staring at us.  We were trapped in one of the most awkward moments of our lives!  Somehow we managed to pull ourselves together and order some food.

After all was said and done, Shelley and I had a very nice dinner – soup, fried rice, and some of the tastiest fried chicken we’ve ever had.  You just had to overlook the deep fried chicken head staring back at you at the top of the plate.

 

Posted in Adventure 2012, Food | 1 Comment