Travel Board Meet Up

Tonight I met up with Leif, one of the people who posts on the travel board I read (Boots N All). We met in Shibuya because I figured it is an interesting place to see at night - and conveniently I was working there until 7:30ish. I actually finished work around 5:30 though due to a cancellation, so just hung out for a while.

I wandered over to Hachiko (dog statue) to meet Leif at the appointed time, and he had actually been in Shibuya for several hours walking around. He was actually pretty easy to spot, so that was good. As he had been there for a while, he had had a chance to see most of the area. I wanted to go to this nice bar that has Japanese style design but it was packed unfortunately. We went and wandered around for a bit more because the guy at the restaurant indicated there might be space available in an hour or so though.

While we were wandering around it started raining. Luckily we were near Don Quiote so I picked up another umbrella to add to my collection. At least it was only 300 yen instead of 1000. We had grabbed a drink before to have 'on the go' - Don Quiote has cheap everything! Love the open alcohol laws in Japan. Unfortunately, the bar I wanted to go to was still packed when we went back. (And what is up with the whacky rain? I think rainy season has come early - yuck).

So it was off to my local yaki-tori restaurant (grilled chicken) as a back-up plan. The owner was in fine form as usual - yelling and joking. I haven't been there for a while but everyone waved when I came in and shouted hello. For some reason we got pork stomach for free - I like the chicken meat comps better LOL. The stomach was ok though. A bit chewy. (They serve other things than just chicken). Then Leif had to rush back to the other side of the city because the place where he is staying has a curfew. Luckily someone was still there to let him in when he arrived a few minutes late.

So it was nice to finally meet someone from BNA. Erik doesn't count because I knew him from his blog rather than the BNA boards. And neither of us is a muderous lunatic, so that was good too ;)

Was I Imagining It?

So yesterday's earthquakes have not shown up on the earthquake site. Was I imagining them? Maybe it was Godzilla. The news here reported them as earthquakes though. How odd.

Anyway, apparently they were centered in Tokyo Bay so Tokyo just received a big jolt instead of a wave because we were close to the epicenter. Too close for the wave effect to be felt.

Three weird earthquakes

Tonight there were three very odd earthquakes. All of a sudden there was this big jolt and everything shifted. That was it. It was like someone jumped and made everything shake. Never felt anything like that before - and there were three of them (7:20, 7:40 and 10:00). I actually haven't felt any earthquakes in a while, so getting those three are good. Get rid of the pressure :)

Dragging myself to the gym

I had one of those everything not going right days. It culminated with the 30 minute wait to pick up Hiroshi's suit at the dry cleaners - there were four people in front of me who had each brought their entire freaking closet to be drycleaned. I kid you not. All of them had bills over US$200!

It took time for the one clerk to record and tag all the clothing. The clerk in back obviously had more important things to do than wait on customers because she never came out to help and the first clerk never called for assistance either (despite another four people who also had their full closet to be drycleaned standing behind me). The seasons have officially changed here so everyone is changing to their summer wardrobe I guess - that much drycleaning is not normal.

Needless to say, by the time I got home I was in no mood to go back out again to the gym. I did haul my butt down there though and had a good swim and was happy I went... that is until I stepped on the scale which happily told me I have gained a kg despite eating well recently and going to the gym. Grrr.

Visit to Yasukuni Shrine

After going swimming today, Hiroshi and I went to Yasukuni Shrine. This is the shrine that people from other Asian countries are all up in arms against because there are 14 war criminals buried there. (The fact that there are 2.5 million war casualties burired there is apparently irrelevant to them when they protest government visits to the shrine).

Anyway, the shrine itself is nothing special if you don't know its purpose (a memorial to those who have died in wars since the Meiji era). I do like the architecture though - the buildings have great sweeping eaves, which is what I like. It s sort of majestic architecture. A little bit different from the normal understated design you see at shrines and temples. So I enjoyed walking around for that reason. Politically and culturally it didn't do anything for me - just another shrine really. Amazing that there is so much fuss about it.

There is also a museum on site. We just wandered around the free exhibits on the first floor. There was a zero fighter and a howlitzer (big gun). On the way out, we wandered by a Noh stage and the surprise discovery - a dove coop. There were only a few wandering in and out of the coop, but you could hear them all cooing inside. Very cool.

Fun non-words

Found this link while surfing about non-words. Some of them are pretty funny.

Thai food dinner

Tonight Hiroshi's friend Yosuke came over so I made dinner for us. I got out some of the curries and things that I had bought in Thailand and cooked up a storm. I made green curry, tom yam gai (chicken coconut soup) and spring rolls. Everything was spicy, but good. I love that totally relaxed tingly feeling I get in my body after eating spicy food.

After dinner we had the cake from my students. Oh my - heaven in a box that was. I tried to steal the pieces I shared with Hiroshi and Yosuke back. They didn't buy into the "this cake is aweful, I can't let you eat it" gambit. Very, very good chocolate.

Happy Birthday to me

I had a really great birthday today - this oddly being the first year I didn't care. I got a call this morning from my office saying that one of my students had sent me flowers. Then in my last class this evening, my students grouped together and bought me a cake from Wittamer.

Then I got home and I got a beautiful pearl necklace from Hiroshi as my present (total surprise haha - I picked it out on Sunday) and we had cake from the yummy cake shop near our house. We can eat the one from my students tomorrow. He also got a nice bottle of wine, but we were both tired (I got home quite late) and decided to save it for another day. Wine and cake don't go so well together.

Overall, I had a great birthday... and yes, I'm 29... still.

Swimming

Hit the gym today and went swimming. It is an entirely new experience now that I can see. Before I didn't have my glasses (no breakable things) so I couldn't see much of anything. Now I can see the clock, other people, what's going on at the other side of the pool (i.e. I can spy on aqua classes to see if they are any good) and, not so excitingly, the gunge floating in the pool. Maybe it was better when I couldn't see floating bandaids, hair, etc. Yuck.

I did have a good swim though. My endurance sucks though. Gotta work on being able to do more continuous laps.

For those who like cats...

You can rate how cute different cats are atkittenwar.com.

Monday - super busy day

I hate Mondays. I didn't sleep well last night so I'm tired today, and Mondays my schedule is aweful. I pretty much teach all day long. It's tiring. So, off to bed early tonight.

I did make a couple of phone calls when I got home though. I forgot it was a holiday in Canada, so when I called my parents I actually reached my dad. That was nice, because he is usually out when I call, so it was nice to chat with him for a while. I also called my sister Jen (the one who is getting married) and chatted with her. Their offer on a house was accepted, so she's pretty excited about moving to a new place and the wedding plans seem to be pretty much on track.

Birthday shopping

I had good intentions of going to the gym today, and walked all the way down there only to find it was closed. Today is the one day a month that they close for the day. Shoot. Oh well.

So, I came back home to drop off my stuff and headed out to Ginza with Hiroshi. We went to Mikimoto because I want jewellery for my birthday (this week - May 26). I thought I wanted earrings but after looking around, I found a necklace that I liked better. So, that's the present that I got - but, I don't know that yet. It is supposed to be a surprise. LOL But, yippee! I have pearls... er, one pearl LOL.

Outback dinner

Tonight I went out to dinner with Cal and Mike. The service was a bit slow at Outback - why is it that Saturday's are always aweful? The worst was when Mike unfortunately found a hair in his drink (well, two actually) - at least they gave him a new one and comped all of our drinks for us. We stuffed ourselves silly and even tried to make a dent in the massive piece of cake called "Chocolate Tower". The thing is easily a dessert for 4 people. Then I waddled home and crashed.

Visit from Tokyo Gas

The gas man came today to check... something. Not sure what, I just knew that I had to be here. Apparently everything is ok, and we have no need to worry about dying from a gas leak or blowing ourselves up. I asked him about the funny smell that comes from our heater sometimes and he indicated it was probably just because it got hot inside. We're supposed to call if we get the weird smell again - when we use it again next winter I guess.

I was quite pleased with myself actually, because I understood what he said to me. This is good. I was petrified about not being able to understand something important.

Robot cat anyone?

Robot cat? Yes, you can see it here (you'll need Quicktime to view it). Is it me, or is this just freaky?

Northwest - opinion revised

All I can say is wow. I wrote Northwest customer service an e-mail the other day about the poor service I received from their US customer service center. I didn't expect to hear anything back from them. Well, I was mistaken. Today I received an apology e-mail from them as well as an airmileage credit that I am more than happy with. This was a very nice gesture on their part because the miles were a significant amount. So, I take back my Northworst comment. They have addressed my concerns and providing I don't get rude people on the phone in the future, I am once again a happy customer.

One month until I go home!

After several hassles with Northwest aka Northworst, I finally have my tickets booked home for next month. Yippee! I haven't been home in three years, so I'm looking forward to it.

I must say that Northwest has absolutely horrible customer service - I either get very rude or very incompetent people. One guy cut me off in mid-sentence and transferred me to the wrong department (a completely telephone automated one - read cannot get a real person) and some woman tried to tell me I could not use my airmiles to upgrade a US domestic flight. Ummm, yes, I can. The website tells me so. Then she said no flights were available for upgrading. Ummm, yes there are, I just checked. Unfortunately the Japanese website does not let you do upgrades online like the US one does (you can only use the US one if you have a US-addressed credit card).

Anyway, very, very sad service. I have booked airmile rewards on Air Canada and I have never, ever had a problem. They are courteous, helpful and pleasant. Guess that tells me who I should deal with in the future.

What's wrong with people

The big news in Japan today is that some guy kidnapped a 17 year old girl/woman and kept her in his house for 3 weeks (handcuffed). Apparently they met on a mobile phone dating service. Interestingly, he lived with his mother and brother... who apparently didn't notice anything suspicious?? Yeah, right. I hope they get charged to. This is right on the heels of some other guy who kidnapped a 19 year old woman last week - he kept her hostage for several weeks as well.

Sunday - another day of sleep

Another relaxing Sunday for me. Woke up this morning and called home. Talked to my dad for a while which was nice because I haven't for a while. Then I watched the last episode of Amazing Race again with Hiroshi (he hadn't seen it yet). Being lazy, after the show, we ordered sushi for lunch. I love the sushi delivery.

Then we watched a movie and afterwards had a nap. During the movie a big thunderstorm came in - surprising because it hardly ever thunders in Tokyo. And there was a minor earthquake too. Just a bit of a jolt and that was it. I didn't wake up from my nap until after 9pm. Yikes! Another day wasted with sleep. For some reason I'm really tired though. Maybe because I've been using my eye a lot over the last couple days. Basically the only things I managed to do today were put my suitcase away, throw in a load of laundry and do the dishes. Rather unproductive.

Mmm, chicken on a stick

This morning my student cancelled so I was able to spend that time figuring out my flights home to Canada. I think I have something worked out. Will know on Monday if I got seats or not. Then I had one class and my Japanese lesson. I didn't have time to study this week, so I sucked. Hopefully with a lighter work schedule now, I can spend more time on that.

Tonight I met up with Cal and we headed to Yurakucho for dinner. There are several restaurants under the tracks (I was thinking of a Thai place that a student had recommended). We ended up at a yakitori (grilled chicken) place that Cal knew about. It was good. Lots of chicken and a couple beers. Of course the second beer hit me on the way home and I had trouble walking straight. That was weird because usually two beers are not a problem. Tired maybe. Donno.

At home Hiroshi and I watched the second last episode of Amazing Race - he's behind. I've seen the ending, but it is interesting to go back and rewatch the episodes.

Dead tired

Just finsihed the second day of a two day seminar and I am zonked. Can I go on vacation again? :) Gotta work tomorrow, so guess I should head off to bed early.

Oh, and happy Friday 13th. Didn't even realize it until my colleague mentioned it today.

Eye chart conversion

No one uses the Snellen chart (20/20) in Japan for vision measurement. So, no one knows what I am talking about when I say I have 20/20 vision now. Well, I searched for a conversion chart and found one online. So basically, I went from 20/100 in my right eye and 20/63 in my left eye to 20/20. In Japanese terms, that is .2 right, .3 right and 1.0 final.

Interestingly enough, based on an eye chart that Hiroshi has on the fridge for doing eye exercises and soem online eye tests, I can see the 1.2 level which is 20/16. My left eye is still stronger and sharper than my right. Maybe because it is 20/16 and the right is 20/20 I am noticing the difference more. Who knows.

Anyway, at least I can speak in Japanese terms now when people ask how much my eyes have improved... and I won't get blank looks!

AR7 - final episode

This episode was awesome! I was on the edge of my chair yelling at the show for the whole thing. I'm glad Uchenna and Joyce won - they seem like awesome people. The plane thing was interesting. There is a lot of talk on the discussion boards about whether that was fixed or not. Very odd for the gangway to be moved back into place though. So, who knows. It was good tv though.

Apparently the next show will be the family version. That is why teams have 4 people. Not sure if that will be good or not. Do I really want to hear kids whining and parents yelling at them? I don't think so.

You look sooo different

Everyone I saw today was taken aback by how different I apparently look. I look the same to me LOL. I guess it is like when someone takes off their glasses and they look different... it takes a bit to get used to them without them I suppose. Everyone says I look good though, so that is nice.

Today was my first day back at work. I don't want to be working. I want to be doing more relaxing! It always sucks coming back from vacation. Need to think of a way to be on vacation all the time!

Thailand photos

If you want to see a few of my photos from Thailand, click here.

Back home

I had to get up way too early this morning. I was actually a bit late because I hit the snooze button one too many times. I had a quick shower and got ready to go. The porter came up to get my stuff and I went down and paid my bill. I picked up my tailoring from the concierge (it had arrived at like 2am or something) and then jumped into the car to go to the airport. Ahhh, transport in style – I got a Benz.

At the airport a porter from the hotel came over and took my bags from the driver. He then sent me to wait in the check-in line while he took my bags thru the x-ray machine. He then escorted me to the place where you pay airport tax and then as far as he could go in the airport. Ummm, can I take you with me? I swear I was made for this life of luxury. A personal porter? This is awesome! Oh, I hope I win the lottery soon, because I want to live like this forever!

The only problem with a personal porter, and having your bags delivered to your waiting car, is that you have no idea how heavy they are. That is until you suddenly have to carry them, and you are like, what the heck??! One of the problems was that I had to carry the present for my parents – I refused to check it because it was breakable. So I had this big bulky box. The lounge was also way down at the far end of the airport, so I had to lug it all the way down there. The lounge itself was totally disappointing too. No snacks, very limited drink selection, and no toilet! You had to go across and down the hall to go to the public one. Ok, I know I’m spoiled.

On the plane, I just conked out and fell asleep for the whole time. I didn’t even eat I was so tired. That was the meal I was looking forward to as well. I woke up briefly during dessert and thought about asking for the sorbet, but couldn’t muster the energy and fell back asleep again.

Before I knew it, we had landed in Taipei and I had to transfer. I swear my bags got heavier in the time that we flew from Bangkok to Taipei! At least the lounge in Taipei is nicer. I went to the gate early and asked for a seat change. They had me on the upper deck, and it was quite difficult to carry everything up the stairs, so I asked for a seat on the main level. I should have stayed where I was. They put me in the last row right beside the washroom. The seat next to me was empty, which was good, but the washroom smelled and people were constantly coming and going. Not fun when you are in the middle of eating. Yuck. The meal itself was only ok too (the one on the first flight sounded so much better!). It was beef that was rather chewy. There was pineapple cheesecake for dessert, but even that was mediocre. Oh well.

We landed at Narita and then had to wait 30 minutes on the tarmac for a gate to open for us. So we ended up arriving a bit late. As usual, it was no problem getting through customs. I wrestled my luggage onto the Narita Express – where is my porter? I had a terrible time getting my bags on by myself. Luckily Hiroshi said he could come and meet me at my stop, so that was good.

The train ride itself was a rude end to my vacation. There were two screaming children that everyone was giving dirty looks to. Well, actually they were giving dirty looks to the father who was yelling louder than the children were. This went on for the whole train ride. You know, there is something to be said about a swift smack on the bottom. Those kids were a nightmare.

Finally, I arrived at my stop and met my honey :) I missed him. We grabbed a cab home – yikes! Price shock. Here you pay US$6 for 2 km. After dropping all of my stuff in the middle of the kitchen, we went out and had noodles for dinner. Then it was home to unpack. Now I’m just thinking about going back to work on Monday. Can you hear the loud sigh I am making? Being on vacation was so much fun. I definitely do not want to go back to work!

I feel like Julia Roberts

Got up this morning and had a great breakfast. It was just like the standard 5-star buffet, but it had more deluxe foods. Things like smoked salmon. Yum! Then it was off to the lasik center for my one week check-up.

I took a taxi because the public transit system is unfamiliar and there were too many transfers that I would need to make. Taxi’s are easier! We hit a bit of traffic though. It took about half an hour just to cross the river. I ended up being about five minutes late for my appointment. As such, I went right into the exam room. I had some trouble reading the eye chart, but am still 20/20 apparently. The guy who was examining me tried to improve my sight with lenses (for nearsightedness and astigmatism) but nothing improved, so they say it is mostly due to the fact that my pupils hadn’t had a chance to get used to the dimmer light inside. I hope so. Overall my vision is a bit blurry today, but that comes and goes. It also might be because I didn’t sleep well last night and I am tired. I did ask the doctor about it when I saw her though. My left eye seems perfect, but she said the right eye would take longer to adjust because there was more correction in that eye.

So, with my check-up completed, I was off to go shopping! I had made plans to meet up with Barb (who I met in Phuket) at Big C near MBK, which is a huge mall in Bangkok. At first I thought the taxi driver was going the wrong way, but it ended up ok. I arrived a bit early, so I went to the pharmacy (Watson’s – like a Boots) to see if they had birth control pills. Last night I had looked up my pills active ingredients and wrote them down. Glad I did – my pills are branded differently here. And… oh my god! They are so cheap! Only 63B a pack! That’s less than US$2! Yes women in first world countries, you are totally being ripped off. Needless to say, I cleared the store out – I bought every pack that was on the shelf. (Yes, I did check the expiry dates). I also picked up some eye drops. Unfortunately, those weren’t quite as cheap. I hope they were they same price as what I’d pay in Japan, because they were about US$10 for a pack of them. Yikes!

I ended up finding Barb pretty easily, and we started wandering around. I bought a leather wallet, and a cotton towel because I was sweating to death (and had forgotten to bring one). I also spent a good thirty minutes bargaining for a present for my parents – which I can’t go into details about because they read this… and then it won’t be a surprise :)

We ended up at a pizza place for lunch. I couldn’t deal with anything too spicy because my stomach was a bit upset. It ended up being great because we both like root beer and pineapple on our pizza! I usually have to fight people for pineapple. Our pizza had shrimp and pineapple – it was pretty good.

After lunch, it was off to the shoe store. Compared to other places, it was expensive; however, the quality was excellent and overall the shoes were well worth the price. Everything I saw in other stores afterwards looked like total crap. I ended up getting a nice pair of strappy sandles to wear at my sister’s wedding, as well as a pair for my mom.

From there, we went down the street a bit to the underground market. I was a bit concerned about my suitcase popping open again, and I was also buying things that would definitely not fit in it, so I ended up bargaining for a new one. After much bargaining, I got a hard case, largish suitcase (one size down from the massive one I already own) for about US$50. Pretty good.

Barb’s tailor was in the same market, so we stopped in there. I ended up getting two suit jackets and one pair of pants made. I had hoped to get some jackets in bright colours, but they didn’t have any material like that. So, instead, I just got two that matched my grey pants. Since I buy my jackets separate, nothing ever really matches. They are going to deliver them to my hotel sometime in the wee hours this morning – since I am leaving tomorrow! Barb has dealt with them for years, so I trust them to deliver my stuff. I just hope everything fits, because I don’t have time for the second fitting.

From there it was time to bargain for bags! I found this beautiful leather bag. The shop clerk was one of the lady-boys. Apparently, he was wearing a bikini top yesterday. He pranced around and did the stereotypical hand flinging and hip wagging. I just joined right in and did it back to him. We had a great old time. It was the most fun I have ever had bargaining. In the end he had to go and get approval for the final price, so I know it was as low as I could get the price. All up, US$50 for a giant, leather bag. Love it.

From the underground market, we took a cab to Barb’s hotel. We, er I, had too many bags to carry! What with the suitcase and the big box that was the present for my parents, I had no arms left. And they were heavy! So, we had a drink and some hors d’oeuvres and relaxed for a bit before we headed out again.

Next on the shopping itinerary was MBK. This place is huge! We got Barb a wheel chair because her leg was swelling up (she’s not supposed to be walking on it anyway with the cast). At this point I was just looking. I did have to buy souvenirs for everyone back in Japan, but they were easy enough. I also stocked up on curries and stuff. So cheap! They only cost like 20 yen here. In Japan they are like 400 yen. Needless to say I bought enough curry to last the next year. Other than that we just went into several shoe stores. I couldn’t find any that I really liked. Nothing comfortable enough to walk around in for several hours (which I need for work), so that was the end of the shopping spree.

So, we went back to Barb’s hotel to pick up my stuff. We had to wait for about half an hour in the taxi queue to get a cab. We asked the driver to wait for me when we got to the hotel, so he could take me on to mine. I ran up and got my stuff and made my good byes. I must say that I had a really fun day. I normally do not like shopping, but with Barb it is a lot of fun – mainly because she knows where all the good stuff is!

The taxi driver took me back to my hotel. I tipped him very well – I was feeling generous. He was also young and said he was saving to go to school. A worthy endeavor, so I gave him double the fare to contribute to that, and thank him for waiting. The whole fare was only 100B so all up I paid him 200B – US$6 for an hour of driving around and waiting. He was clearly surprised and thanked me profusely.

At the hotel, the doorman opened the taxi door for me, and started to pull out my bags. He said, “I’ll have the porter bring these to your room”. Man, I love this place. I then stopped by the concierge before going up to my room. I wanted to tell them about the delivery of my tailoring. While I was there they remembered that I had ordered a car for the morning, so they reconfirmed the time. Then it was back up to my room for my last night in Bangkok. Sadness :( I want to stay here longer. I love the Peninsula. After packing and organizing all my stuff and talking to Hiroshi, I didn’t have time for one last bath either. Oh well. Guess I’ll just have to come back some time! You won't have to twist my arm either!

Luxury at the Peninsula

Back to Bangkok today - *sigh* I want to relax on the beach some more! I booked a late morning flight though so I could take advantage of the included breakfast. Good bye beautiful view!

My bags were all packed, I checked out without a problem and the car took me to the airport. I was able to upgrade to business class for a minimal fee. It was much more comfortable! The breakfast wasn’t so great – it gave me heartburn for the rest of the day (was an omelet type thing with fake crab in it). I did manage to have a little cat nap though.

At the airport I just went right over to the airport limousine counter. I still don’t understand why people queue for over an hour to save a couple dollars. I lucked out with my car too – I got the British cab! It was cool! I’ve never been in one before, so it was a novelty. It took about 40 minutes or so to get to the hotel. I have been really looking forward to this because the Peninsula is supposed to be the best hotel in Asia.

I arrived at the hotel and checked in. My bags were delivered to my room on the 22nd floor. All I can say is that my room is awesome! It has a great view of the river, and everything is done top notch. The bathroom is absolutely huge – and yes, there is a tv to watch in the tub! The glasses are crystal, the bed is like a feather pillow, the couch has down cushions, and there are electronics out the wazoo including free internet. Yippee! Of course, based on how much I spent on internet at the Banyan Tree, I could have stayed here. Shoot! This hotel is awesome!

After exploring the room, I wandered over to the Grand Palace. Unfortunately, today is Coronation Day (I forgot) so it is closed! I’m too lazy to get up really early tomorrow to come and see it too. So I went to Wat Pho instead, which is just down the street. It has the giant reclining Buddha. All I can say is that Bangkok is hot! The sun is merciless. I was only out for a bit and I could feel myself burning. I took tons of pics at Wat Pho though. Funny, because when I was in Bangkok several years ago, Wat Pho was only so-so (although the massages were amazing). Of course, this was because we had gone after we had seen the Grand Palace, which is just stunning. Well, not having the comparison this time, I can say that Wat Pho is also beautiful.

I briefly thought about going to Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), which is directly across the river, but it was just too hot. And I didn’t want to end up with a sunburn. As it is, I have fifty million freckles on my face now. So I just wandered back to the hotel and went for high tea. I was a bit disappointed though. The one in Hong Kong was just so much better. This one didn’t match it. It was still nice, but not over the top like in Hong Kong.

Back in the room I jumped into the tub and watched tv for a while. It was wonderful. I should note that this is the first time I have ever liked the shampoo and soap at a hotel. Usually they leave my hair bristly and my skin dry. The ones at the Peninsula were really nice. And then the towels. The towels were giant, fluffy beach-sized things. Oh, please can I stay longer just so I can enjoy bathing?

After drying my hair I went down to have dinner at Thiptara, which is the riverside restaurant at the hotel. It is right beside the river (I got a table right there too!) and there are torches lit for light. It was very nice and scenic. I had a delicious green curry for dinner – you can even specify how spicy you want it. I was also surprised that you could choose brown rice. I’m not one for white rice, so this was good. I also ordered the hotel’s special drink, but it was too strong and I didn’t really like it. Oh well. The food was delicious though.

Sated, it was back to the hotel and off to bed. I did read a bit on the couch. All I can say is that down cushions are a fabulous idea. I melted into that couch. Makes you not want to leave your room! The last thing I did though before hopping into bed was put my shoes into the cubby hole so they could be shined for me for tomorrow. Ahh, what service!

Good company

I met Barb down at breakfast this morning, so we had breakfast together. We decided to go to Phuket Town this afternoon. There is a relatively cheap shuttle from the hotel that drops you off and picks you up a few hours later.

So we wandered off to Robinsons to go shopping, and I tried to find shoes to wear at my sister’s wedding. In the end I only found souvenirs. I also bought another pair of sunglasses – these ones are polarized, so are better for my eyes I imagine. Didn’t find much else. Tried to find birth control in some pharmacies – it is rumoured to be cheap here. No luck on that front. Couldn’t find decent shoes either. Everything was either cheap but poorly made, or expensive PVC. No thanks.

We met the shuttle and came back to the hotel around 5ish. Then we sat in the open air lounge and had a couple beers and chatted away. Such a nice lady. She has offered to show me where to shop in Bangkok! So we’ll meet up in a couple days. That will be great because I hate shopping – especially if I don’t know where to go to get things.

That evening, the hotel had a cocktail party for long-term (ie more than 3 days) guests. We went down and met Don and Theresa, who are from Ireland. We chatted to them for a while. After the cocktail party, they invited us to join them for dinner, which was nice. I had sea bass at Don’s recommendation, and it was just lovely. Very delicious. We had a great dinner, with lots of conversation over good wine. We even met another Irish couple, but they didn’t join us. Apparently the woman is a famous folk singer that is known all over Europe and her husband was a famous radio announcer from before I was born. So I could flaunt having met famous people, but I forget their names. Haha.

After dinner it was back to my room to pack. I’m sad to go. I was having such a nice time. And I have met some really nice people. I'd like one more day so I can go and sit on the beach again. Can’t this vacation go on forever?

Packing my suitcase, nothing seemed to fit in. I can’t have more stuff. I only bought one small bag of souvenirs and that fits into my purse. I just squashed it all in and am praying it won’t pop open again on my way to Bangkok tomorrow!

Dentist - go often, there's a reason

I looked at the clock this morning at 10:00 am and rolled over and went back to sleep. I would miss breakfast, but I was tired. I was up late last night chatting with mom and Hiroshi. So, instead, I grabbed my book and went down to the restaurant for lunch. Another sailboat arrived in the bay today, so now there are two I can look at.

When I came back, they were cleaning my room. Housekeeping finally left my “daily” fruit (if daily means on the third day, we’re in doing ok). It was a huge basket with grapes, bananas, mangosteens, a giant mango and a fruit called shampoo in Thai (don't know the English name). Excellent! So, this must be like three days rolled into one. I just laid outside on the balcony and read my book while they cleaned.

Later in the afternoon, I headed out for my dentist appointment. I took one of the price gouging taxis just outside the hotel (they are the only transportation, so they pretty much charge what they want). The driver took me to the wrong dentist too! Luckily there was a woman who spoke English at this office and she helped me. She even let me use her cell phone to call Joy and straighten things out about where I was supposed to be. So I walked a half a kilometer to the real dentist… and then had to apologize profusely for being late. The guy had come in especially for me. I had gone to a satellite office – normally he works at his office in Phuket Town.

Anyway, I haven’t had my teeth cleaned in 3 years. Yes, I know that is bad. At first the doctor said he’d check my teeth and see because getting a cleaning too often was bad for your teeth. He took one look and said, “You need a cleaning”. Umm, ok, I knew that, but when you put it like that, it sounds so much worse.

Well, I now understand why people hate the dentist and why you should go every year for a cleaning. Drills. He used a drill instead of those metal picks to clean my teeth. My teeth are sensitive too, so I was wincing and tensing about every five seconds. After the cleaning was finished he did some work on a sensitive area I had pointed out near my gum line. He said the enamel was eroding (hard bristled tooth brush damage, not a cavity), so he put on some ceramic filling for me so it wouldn't be sensitive anymore. Cool.

So all up, the whole thing ended up costing 2500 baht (about US$70)… and that included the overpriced toothbrush and sensitive teeth toothpaste. (I think they added up to about 500 baht!). I must say the toothbrush is really nice and worth a bit extra cost. The bristles clean well, but are not hard. That’s the problem I have with soft bristled brushes – my teeth have never felt clean. Anyway, my own fault for not thinking about the exchange properly – he told me the prices, and I didn’t convert them into dollars or yen. A few hundred baht for toothpaste sounded cheap at the time. I did get a nice toothbrush out of the deal though.

Back at the hotel, I went down for dinner a while later. Earlier in the day I met a woman named Barb. She broke her leg on her fist day here! I invited her to join me for dinner as we were both traveling alone. She has had an amazing life. She gave me all kinds of tips on where to shop and we ended up gabbing for five hours! Very interesting lady – she’s 68 years old, and this is her 69th time to Thailand. It is nice to meet someone to gab to while I am here.

Relaxation - Day 2 and Irrational Fears

As usual, woke up and enjoyed the breakfast (mmm fresh fruit and real bacon). Then I went down to the beach for a bit. I couldn’t resist going in the water even though I am not supposed to get my eyes wet. So I waded in up to my chest. The water was still calm, so I didn’t have to worry about waves, and the beach was quiet, so I was able to get far away from any possibility of splashing people.

Now I am always a bit freaked out about going into the ocean. I’m paranoid that fish will bite me. Yes, I know this is weird. I kept on the look out for fish but didn’t see any. Later in the day, people told me I had to go further out by a set or rocks – but the water over there was too deep for me to go in without endangering my eyes. Anyway, the water was clear and as warm as the air. It was unbelievable. Actually, I would have liked it a bit colder because then it would have been refreshing. However, in terms of temperature for water activities (where you’d be in it for a while) it was great. I did get to see crabs running across the ocean floor though (little tiny ones). They were also hiding out in crevices on a big rock near the shore.

I didn’t stay in too long. Mainly because I was starting to get sun already, and having suffered a horrible sunburn there three years ago, I didn’t want to repeat that. Also, I realized I have another irrational fear to worry about – body parts. I was constantly looking at the ocean floor as I was “swimming” for fear of stepping on a femur or something. In my mind this is not irrational – the ocean will probably be spitting up bones for years. At least at this point they should be devoid of any flesh. However, it is a bit too freaky, not to mention sad, to think about that.

Anyway, I went back to my room and had a very quick shower to wash off the ocean salt and changed into my shorts. It was off to the spa! All I can say is I forgot how much waxing hurt. I waxed my lower legs, and they were like virgin skin because I haven’t waxed them in about 6 years. Pain. Over and over and over again. After all that stress, I of course needed a massage to relax. I had a nice body wrap to make my skin soft and then a good massage. I’ve decided that the pressure I like for massages is almost the same as the pressure they use to apply body wraps, so in future, I’ll just get the wrap done.

After my treatments I was chatting with the receptionist Joy and she recommended a dentist. She even said she would set up an appointment for me for tomorrow. Great! Then I went back to my room and relaxed for a bit before going out for dinner. The tsunami wiped out all of the restaurants along the beach near the hotel; however, they have rebuilt. And they have rebuilt in much nicer facilities. There is also a huge extension to this little shopping arcade. When finished, it will be a bout three times the size it was before.

The restaurant just outside the hotel was where I had dinner. The food is much more reasonably priced than inside the hotel. Well, it didn’t agree with my stomach and I spent the rest of the evening close to the toilet. So, I’ve decided, no more outside restaurants. The food in the hotel restaurant is expensive but it tastes a lot better, has beautiful presentation and I know it is prepared properly (ie I shouldn’t get sick from it).

Relaxation - Day 1

I woke up early this morning to see the sunrise, but it had already risen! So much for sunrise times. So I went back to bed to sleep some more, seeing as I didn’t sleep so well last night (bug fear), but got up shortly thereafter. Wow, up around 8 even though I’m on vacation!

After a wonderful breakfast of bacon, a small omelet and tons of fruit, I asked the front desk if I could change rooms. This morning I found another problem – through no fault of the hotel. I was in one of the newly remodeled rooms, and as part of the renovations, they outfitted all the showers with rain shower heads. I can’t get water in my eyes, and with a rain shower that is darn near impossible. So I needed to change rooms if I wanted to bathe sometime this week.

Anyway, they did find another room for me and I actually ended up in an upgraded room! Cool! More balcony space! Unfortunately, I lost my good view, but I now have a couch that I can laze around and read on. That will be nice. The shower is a normal type one with a removable handheld nozzle, so I won’t smell at least.

After getting myself resettled, I hit the restaurant for lunch with my book. I had a nice leisurely lunch watching the ocean and reading a little bit. After that, it was off to the spa to book waxing and a massage for tomorrow. Then back to my room where I watched Two Towers on HBO. Whehoo! English movies. That’s pretty much all I did for the whole day. Since I had a late lunch, I skipped dinner and just relaxed in my room.

As for my eyes, I think they are evening out. The right eye is still a bit hazy, but it seems better. The left eye has a slight halo around lights, but I had that before. So no worries there. All in all, the eyes are still great!

I can see... but do I want to?

I can see! Despite only have six teeny tiny holes in each of my bug goggles, I can make my way around and see things pretty clearly. I gingerly made my way down to breakfast – going down stairs is not fun when you have plastic things covering your eyes. I felt a bit silly sitting there with those stupid things over my eyes, but I was hungry!

After breakfast I went back to the Lasik center for my check up. I’ve got 20/20 vision in both eyes! That’s great in my book! 20/100 and 20/63 to 20/20 in both. My left eye is absolutely perfect – everything is clear and crisp (and to think I was worried about that one!). My right eye is a bit hazy… when I look at things, the edges are not sharp. The doctor said it may take a while for that to go away, but it is completely normal.

I’m not overly sensitive to light (a bit, but I always have been – seems about the same to me), I have no pain and no dry eye either (except later on the plane). So, I haven’t noticed any real side effects other than the lack of sharpness on the right side. I’m thrilled with the surgery though!

After I finished my check up, it was back to the hotel to check out and then off to the airport. I got a car to the airport from the hotel. A bit expensive, but I didn’t want to deal with scamming taxi drivers. The driver was quite friendly and we were chatting for a bit. Apparently Bangkok is opening a new airport (news to me) so that was interesting to talk about.

I checked in no problem, but when I asked about an upgrade to Business Class, I was told it was full. Well, once I got on the plane, it wasn’t. *grrr* The seats in economy class have to be the narrowest seats I have ever seen in my life. Normal sized Western people were squashing into them. And then I get the seat that for some reason has a plastic thing sticking four inches into the chair space. Luckily there was another seat I could move to – economy was packed! I’m still in shock over how narrow the seats were. In Japan, seats are often quite small, but I have never seen anything that bad.

I arrived in Phuket slightly squashed and got a car to the hotel. It took about an hour to get down to the beach my hotel is on – there was so much construction! None of it was tsunami related – they are just building all kinds of roads. As we turned onto the beach where my hotel is located, I was shocked – the water was dead calm! Rainy season hasn’t started yet! And I can’t swim! That sucks so much. The first time I’ve been here when there weren’t red flags on the beach (don’t swim) and not only that, but the waves were just lapping the shore. Darn!

At the hotel everything seemed a bit disorganized. My room is on the 8th floor – great view, but the elevator only goes to the 6th floor. Also, the room had twin beds and I had asked for a king sized one. The room was also stifling – no one had turned the a/c on. Such a difference from my first visit last year when they greeted us with cold drinks, took us to a room that was perfectly cool and had nice music playing in the background. The time on the stereo wasn’t even set this time. Oh well, the view from the balcony was absolutely stunning.

So I got myself settled into my room, and everything was great until I walked into the bathroom and heard this flick, flick, flick sound. I turned toward it and saw this absolutely huge, flying cockroach in the bathtub. I freaked – ran out of the bathroom, slammed the door and called housekeeping. They came up and of course couldn’t find it. I didn’t even want to go back into the bathroom, but called out places to check. I wasn’t going back in until it was gone! It was hiding in the towels in the end. *shudder* When it reared its ugly self from hiding I ran back into the room. Housekeeping duly killed it thankfully; however, I was on the look out for more. You know what they say about seeing one.

So a couple hours go by and there was no sign of any other cockroaches. I got myself ready for bed. I had fun taping the bug goggles back over my eyes – I have to wear them at night so I don’t inadvertently rub my eyes and move the corneal flap. I made my way to the bed, snuggled under the covers and turned out the light. Flick, flick, flick. The light immediately came back on. Peering thru my six holes per eye I tried to find the source of the sound – was it just an insect (there are tropical gardens all over the hotel, so some bugs are to be expected) or was it another horrible cockroach. I searched and searched but couldn’t find anything. So I went back to bed, straining to hear whatever it was.

Flick, flick, flick. I turned the light back on. I caught a streak of something out of the corner of my eye, but couldn’t see anything. At this point I was starting to freak a bit, because that cockroach in the bathroom had flown. Please don’t let it be another one. Light out. Flick. I waited. Suddenly, there was a flick, flick, flick right near my head and something slammed itself into my cheek. I literally jumped off and out of the bed, screamed loudly and ripped the plastic thing off my eye. Despite the pain of having three pieces of tape ripped simultaneously off my face, I didn’t feel it. What the heck just smacked into me???!!!! Light goes back on. Turns out it was a little wee tiny beetle. I hope. Needless to say, I won’t sleep well in this room. Are there any other things lurking?

The big day - Lasik surgery

Woke up early today for breakfast and then went to pay for my tickets down to Phuket. The business center automatically booked them for me without asking, so I was a bit miffed at that (couldn't check other prices), but in light of time constraints it was probably better anyway.

Then I went to the Lasik center for my eye check. My starting vision was 20/100 in my right eye and 20/63 in my left. They did fifty million tests including inspecting my retina with a small magnifying lense - like a jewellery loupe, but the doctor held it between her fingers. The whole process was very professional. The first thing that happened was they took my picture, and every different test that I did had my picture on the computer where they enterred my info. Great way to ensure there is no mix up.

I also had to watch an hour long multimedia presentation on all the side effects that I might have. I was impressed with how thorough that was. I had lots of questions and they answered them fully for me. Some of them the assistant couldn't answer, so he said I should ask my doctor. I asked her about the halos (because I have them already so was especially worried about them after the surgery). She said my pupils were on the large side of average and that is why I get the halos. She said it was a possibility for me after the surgery that they would be worse. Getting halos is only a 1% risk though, which was acceptable for me.

All the tests checked out and I was a good candidate for surgery, so they confirmed my appointment for that afternoon (originally I was supposed to go for the exam yesterday but had been rescheduled due to a conflict - so my exam and surgery were on the same day). The only thing left to do was go and get my HIV test.

I went up to the nearby hospital where they did the test and gave a discount to Lasik center patients (because of all the referrals I'm sure). All up the thing cost about US$20. Not bad. As usual, my body did not want to give up any of my blood. At least the nurse found the vein on the first prick - I had to show her where to look on my arm though (the space with all the needle scars centered in a 5mm area). She only got about 70% of the amount that the test required before nothing more came out - and that took a good 10 minutes... for one small vial. Since that was the only vein she could find, she was going to resort to butterfly clips in the hand. I begged her to check with the lab, because, pardon my language, drawing blood from your hand hurts like a bitch. Luck was with me thankfully - the lab said that that was enough blood and I was spared the agony of needles in my hand.

I was sent to go and pay the bill and wait about an hour for the results. I just had a mini-nap and watched all the people in the waiting room. I got my "negative" report and then went down the street to grab lunch. I should note that I felt very cool in my sun glasses (my eyes had been dilated during the eye exam so I was sensitive to light) until I realized NO one else was wearing any. I guess it wasn't all that bright outside. Oops.

Lunch today was green curry with shrimp, rice and a coconut smoothie. I love coconut smoothies. They work perfectly at cutting the spice in curries. The food was ok, but a bit expensive considering the type of restaurant I was in. A total of 300 Baht.

After lunch I had a bit of time before my surgery, so I headed back to the hotel to grab a nap for an hour. Then back to the Lasik center for my surgery. I must say I was a bit worried. Because of all of Hiroshi's "you'll go blind!" and my sister-in-law Keiko's "Lasik surgery is not safe!" I started to get really nervous. Especially because I was by myself.

They started me off with numbing drops, which stung. They then gave me a pill which I assumed to be valium - it matched the pills in the packet of valium they gave me for that night if I had trouble sleeping. The valium did not have any effect as far as I could tell. If it made you calm, all I can say is I don't want to know how badly I would have freaked out during the first part of the surgery.

They put in a metal ring to keep my eye open, which was also the thing they attached the cutter to. That was a bit uncomfortable because it was digging into my cheek bone. Next they put suction on your eye before they make the flap. Oh - my - god. That was excrutiating. In everything I have read online, no one has mentioned pain during suction. Everyone says "it was a bit uncomfortable... and my change in vision is aweseome!". Heh. I think this is like what happens with childbirth. Ask a woman immediately after birth how bad it was, and a week later, and you will get two totally conflicting answers. Something along the lines of "most painful thing you can imagine - never, ever in a million years will I get pregnant again" to "not so bad - I want another one". Well, let me tell you, that suction part hurts. Granted it is only for about 15 seconds, but those are pretty much the longest 15 seconds in the world. Especially when you are by yourself and there is no one there to hold your hand.

After that horrible part though, everything was fine. Or maybe the valium kicked in at that point LOL. No, the laser itself did not hurt at all. I had to look at a light for about 40 seconds while the laser worked. My right eye kept wandering on its own accord - but I was eventually able to look in one place for the right amount of time. My left eye had the same problem and she had to stop the laser at one point. I am worried that that eye will have a problem now. She said everything went fine but I am still worried.

The laser itself smells. The doctor said it was the laser and not my eye that smelled like burning. It isn't that bad. The room just smells a bit off. When the laser finished the doctor smoothed the flap back over my eye. That was weird. I couldn't see what instrument she was smoothing it with, but I could feel it. Felt like someone lightly stroking your skin actually. Not painful or uncomfortable, just odd because you don't expect that sensation in your eye.

After that they taped up my eyes with bug goggles (white plastic cups that have a grand total of six small holes in each) to protect my eyes. I had to rest for a bit, and then they escorted me to the shoe locker (everything was blurry) and down to a taxi. They even called my hotel a bit later to make sure I had arrived safely. That was great.

At the hotel you immediately have to go down a set of stairs. The concierge on duty spoke very little English and didn't understand "please help me down the stairs". A lady came running over though and helped me down the stairs and took me to my room. I immediately went to bed like I was suppposed to, and slept for about 5 hours.

At that point I could "see" - limited as I was thru mini-holes. I ordered room service because getting to a restaurant would have been a nightmare. Room service came up with my food and it was absolutely beautiful! The cart converted into a table with linen table cloth. There were even fresh flowers in a vase. I took a picture with my camera because it was a bit hard to see it completely, but what I did see was nice.

I had shrimp cakes, chicken and cashews, tom yung goon which is spicy soup (which I hadn't ordered and was charged for, but I was too out of it to complain and try to deal with it - and the soup was good anyway), and a Thai dessert. Everything was delicious except the dessert which was a rice and bean thing. Oh well, at least I tried something different.

After dinner I went back to bed again. I was sleepy and not in any pain so I didn't have to take any of the pills they had given me. Lucky, I guess, that I have no discomfort whatsoever.

Such a hard life

I didn't get to bed last night until almost 3, what with arriving at 1 am, going thru customs, getting a car to the hotel, and checking in. I actually woke up around 10ish (equivalent to noon Tokyo time) which I suppose is a testament to resting in business class. Usually I sleep forever if I get the chance!

I wandered down for breakfast and they had the standard buffet that 5 star hotels in Bangkok do - there was tons of fruit, bacon and eggs, Japanese food, Thai food and even some Chinese food. So I had bacon for the first time in years (you just can't get "real" bacon in Japan) and it was heaven. The restaurant was on the lower level of the hotel and I got a seat by these two-storey glass windows that overlooked a pond and waterfall. It was beautiful!

After breakfast I took a walk over to the Lasik center (which was relatively close) and basically sweated to death. Man, is Bangkok hot! Hitting 34C weather with 80% humidity takes its toll. I decided this was the first and last time I was walking there. I was completely exhausted by the time I got there. Not to mention drenched in sweat.

I grabbed a cab out front and went to a shopping mall that Erik had been to when he was in Bangkok - Siam Center. I just wandered around looking at stuff and picked up some things from the drug store, like lemon grass lip balm. I also got some raspberry foot lotion so I could pamper myself. I had wanted to get some books on photography while in Thailand, but the bookstores (3 of them) had a very poor English selection.

Since I am not that into shopping, I eventually got a taxi back to the hotel. The scammer. He drove me all over Bangkok. I was directing him where to go. It was actually kind of funny because I got to experience a weird phenomenon that world travellers have noted. Show someone a map and they look at it as if you handed them ancient Egyptian to decypher. I even pointed out major landmarks on the map to this guy and he still turned it around, and around and around trying to make sense out of it. I eventually made it to the hotel and grabbed the conceirge into helping me yell at the guy. I think he was feigning stupidity and drove me everywhere because I forced him to turn the meter on. He was trying to increase the fare on purpose.

I ended up just paying him because even with the hour long detour all over the city, it had only cost about 100 Baht - about US$3. I had been livid about the whole thing until I got myself to take a look at the big picture. Three bucks is not a big deal.

So, despite being over the taxi incompetence, I still had some mild tension and it was off to the hair salon! The conceirge had recommended a place in the building the hotel is connected to. For about 200 Baht, including tip, I had an hour of luxury. The hairdresser washed my hair for 20 minutes! Oh so nice! Then she spent a good 30 minutes drying my hair.. and managed to get it perfectly straight and flat! This is amazing. No one has ever accomplished this! I didn't actually like what it looked like, but the cut was decent and I can style it the way I want tomorrow.

After my haircut I had just enough time to freshen up for my spa appointment. I tell you, relaxing in Thialand is hard work. I had a facial (because I wouldn't be able to get one after my eye surgery) and a body wrap with tumeric and honey. All I can say is, it was awesome! It was so relaxing! I love facials! The body wrap was also great because the treatment specialist basically gave me a massage while putting it on. I came out with glowing cheeks and silky soft skin. It was great!

After the spa it was time to hunt down dinner. Just down the road was the Suan Lum night bazaar so I grabbed a taxi and headed out. I found some sunglasses that I liked, got some omiyage (small souvenirs for people in Japan) and went to restaurant on the outskirts for dinner. The food area in the center of the bazaar was extremely crowded. As I was sweating profusely again, I wasn't up for pushing thru throngs of people. The dinner I had was very good though - albeit more expensive than going the inner stalls I am sure.

I had these pork triangle things as an appetizer, tom yun gai soup (chicken coconut soup - my fav), shrimp red curry and a coconut smoothie. Yum, yum, yum! I hadn't had lunch so this was a big meal. I couldn't finish it all though. I was totally stuffed! All up it only cost about 400 Baht.

Stuffed and sweaty, I hailed a taxi back to the hotel. Tonight's turndown gift was this weird wood post card. I want another turtle! Those were cute! Back in the room I just hung out in the heavenly airconditioning, read the paper and rehydrated. I haven't read a paper in eons so it was nice.

All in all, a busy day. Shopping, eating and going to the spa. It's a hard life I tell you.

Off to Thailand

Yippee! I'm off on vacation! I woke up this morning and finshed packing. Then I ran some errands (like picking up Hiroshi's dry cleaning and getting some money). I grabbed a taxi to the station so I didn't have to lug my suitcase and caught the train to the airport. Pretty uneventful. I started listening to my e-book on the way.

At the airport, check in was extremely disorganized. One of the attendants took my passport to start checking me in at another counter, only he had two other people's passports as well... so when two attendants opened up, I wasn't able to check in, but had to wait while about three other people went ahead of me. Stupid.

I eventually made it through security and made my way to the lounge. I was so looking forward to the lounge, but the lounge China Airlines uses at Narita basically sucks. When I flew with Thai airlines they had sandwiches and trays of fresh fruit. This lounge had crappy cheese processed cheese and saltines. Oh well, at least I would get fed on the plane (I hadn't eaten at home because I was expecting decent things in the lounge).

I pre-boarded and got myself organized. Then I enjoyed a glass of champagne. I love business class. As I was sitting there relaxing, some airport employee boarded the plane and then came over to me to tell me that my luggage had "opened". As in the zipper had broken. I'm like, what? I had visions of my underwear being all over the tarmac. He said I had too much stuff in my suitcase so the zipper broke - which was a crock because I just pulled the lid closed and didn't have to squish it or anything. They put too much weight on top of it. Anyway, I decided not to get all stressed out about it. Nothing I could do anyway. The man said that they had taped it all up, so I'd just have to wait until Bangkok to see what had happened.

The meal on the plane was salmon gravalox as an appetizer, then pork with herb crust and veggies, and then a yummy raspberry dessert. I also had a glass of port. It was quite good. We were basically just served the meal and then we landed in Taipei.

CKS airport is rather dumpy and moldy. The business lounge is nice though - dim sum and noodles are available (I wasn't hungry though). I must say, Thai still has the best lounges though. I read some magazines and surfed the net for a bit and then it was time to board the next leg.

Got fed again on this flight. This time I had the penne with fish because I wanted something light. I also stuck with water to drink. Then I had a little nap. I was landing in Bangkok at 1am, which is 3am Tokyo time.

We landed on time and I got my luggage which really was all taped up. I went over to the baggage claim area and talked to a guy about making a claim on my luggage. He said it happened all the time. The zipper did do up still and everything seemed to be in place, so I just left it. I did get the claim form just in case though. Then I went and got an airport limousine (aka pre-paid taxi) to my hotel. You do it this way because the cars are much nicer (Corolla instead of a beat up K-car) and you don't have to wait an hour in a line to get a taxi that may drive you all over the city to increase the metered fare.

It took about half an hour to get to my hotel. Once there, I checked in and crashed in bed! Time to sleep!

Sometimes Japan is Weird

Today was supposed to be nice and sunny, but in the middle of the afternoon, this huge storm came in and it poured rain. I, of course, did not have an umbrella and got thoroughly drenched. There were even big streaks of lightening across the very black sky. You hardly ever see lightening in Japan (not sure why).
Then tonight, I was walking home from the station and some guy came up to me and started pulling at my arm. He then proceeded to stuff packages of kleenex (clean) into my purse. Ummm, ok. Thank you I guess? That was just strange.

Japanese train crash kills dozens

Got home and checked the news, to find a Japanese train crash was the top story. How horrible. The article says 50 people died. :(

Can't sleep

It is actually 2am but I have set the date to be Sunday's entry. I had planned on going to bed early. However, I have been tossing and turning since 10:30 or so. At this point I am just frustrated, so I'm surfing the net in hopes I will get tired soon. After two hours of staring at the clock I was ready to scream.

I realized tonight that I only have one more week to wear glasses - and now I'm all excited. I'm also thinking about all of the fun things I want to do in Bangkok and how I will arrange my sight-seeing around appointments with the eye doctor. In other words I'm excited about going on vacation to. So being excited about two things, means no sleep. And tomorrow is very early and very long - it is my heaviest day of the week. So, I'm off to bed again, and hopefully I can get some sleep before my alarm goes off at 6am.

Koizumi apologizes to China

The big news here recently has been the riots in China over "Japanse textbooks". I put that in quotes because I've kind of come to the opinion that all Asians hate each other, and the textbooks are just an excuse for the Chinese to lash out at the Japanese. (The racism by Asians against other Asians is mindboggling - I'm not singling out the Chinese)

Anyway Prime Minister Koizumi apologized to China - using words remarkably similar to an apology that was made 10 years ago. I'm a bit divided over the whole issue. I do think Japan needs to take more responsibility, and well, ownership, for their actions during WWII. On the other hand, as soon as they do that, they will get Koreans and Chinese coming out of the woodwork suing them. I understand why they haven't said antyhing.

Hopefully things will all settle down and there won't be more riots this weekend. All of the violence was rather disconcerting. Bottom line, I think this is more of a power struggle between China and Japan for dominance in the region, and if Japan gets a UN seat, then China will lose one of their trump cards so to speak.

Eye checkup

Hiroshi and his family are all worried about my LASIK surgery so I went to see an optometrist tonight that Keiko (my sister-in-law, who is also an optometrist) referred me to. I don't know what surgery they thought I was going to get, but the conversation with the optometrist went something like this:
optometrist: What kind of eye surgery are you getting?
me: LASIK
o: LASIK? Oh, that's perfectly safe.

So I'm not quite sure why I went there. Oh, he did tell me that I should get it done at that hospital because East Japan is the best at LASIK. Um, ok. I'll just ignore that sales pitch. I was able to ask him some questions though that Keiko had me worried about - she is all worried about glaucoma for some reason. This doctor said it wasn't anything to worry about. So all is good - assuming I'm happy with my clinic after questioning them at my initial appointment, there is only one week to go until surgery.

Cleaning up a storm

Tonight I spent 3 hours cleaning the kitchen. Seeing as my kitchen consists of about two meters worth of cupboards, sink, and stove, you know I was being picky! I cleaned the burners and underneath the stove, wiped down the cupboards and the wall, washed all of the things sitting on the ledge including the kettle and my oil atomizer, cleaned the sink and generally tidied. So it will be gleaming for about a day and a half. Next step - bedroom. Need to clear out some clothes and do general spring cleaning in there.

AR7 - Episode 9

Not sure if I like that extra long leg or not - but it must have been a total killer. They were probably going for four days before they hit the pitstop. Joyce - wow. She'S awesome. And Uchenna? That's supportive. What are they talking about when they said they thought there relationship was having trouble?? What an amazing couple. Glad to see Lynn and Alex go - hated them and their whining. I cheered out loud when they were eliminated. Hopefully Gretchen and Meredith next! She tends to grate a bit.

Clothes, wonderful clothes

I grabbed some stuff online from Land's End last week, and it arrived today. I ordered a blouse that turned out even better than I expected. It has french cuffs and a very nice herringbone design. I like it. Also got underthings as well as a few casual shirts. Time to get rid of those 10 year t-shirts that are all faded and crappy! New clothes are awesome. :)

Of course I had to go all over the place to get them. I had forgotten to get Hiroshi's dry cleaning tonight on they way home, so I went to get that (near Osaki station). Then went to the other station near my house (Gotanda station) to get my Narita Express ticket (one week until Thailand!) and over to the 24-hr post office because I wasn't home when they tried to deliver my package. Of course I arrived just after 9, and my package hadn't come back yet. I had to wait until after 10. So I grabbed a newspaper and sat in a cafe for an hour before going back. I haven't read the newspaper in ages, and now I remember why. Is there anything good happening in the world? Geesh. So with drycleaning and package in hand I walked the 2 km or whatever back home (the 24-hr post office is far from convenient). Phew!

But, everything fits, and looks good, so I'm happy.

Okinawan restaurant

Tonight we went out for dinner at an Okinawan restaurant in Koenji. This is big for me, because I tend not to stray too far from home on weekends.. anything more than three stops away is "far". It was actually kind of fun because we haven't been to Koenji in ages. Lots the same, but some things have changed.

The restaurant itself was very noisy and smokey, but the food was good. We had sea grapes, which were really nice. Refreshing, but they had a salty taste. There was also a pork dish that was to die for - super yummy. Then lots of goya which is a very bitter vegetable. I'm not overly fond of it, but the food we had was good. I had to limit myself a bit because the bitter taste wasn't clearing from my mouth. It is supposedly really healthy for you - and seeing as Okinawans have like the highest (longest?) longevity on the planet, there may be something to that. The only thing that wasn't good was a dish that was pork, but turned out to be pork intesting. Very, very yucky. Otherwise, the food was great though, and we go to try a new restaurant!

Out for the evening

I had to work this morning, but while I was in the office, I was invited to my co-worker's birthday party. Hiroshi and I had planned to go out for dinner tonight so he had joined me in going to the office, staying at the coffee shop next door while I worked. So, he tagged along to the party. I was surprised because he doesn't reallly like being around all English speakers, nor does he like sudden changes in plans. But we had a good time. He didn't have a problem with the English, and many of the people there spoke excellent Japanese (including my Japanese teacher who is my co-worker's girlfriend).

I haven't been out socializing for a while, other than a dinner here and there with individual friends, so that was fun. And, Hiroshi and I will just go out for dinner tomorrow night instead!

Lucky day off!

Today my class cancelled, so I had an unexpected day off. Hurray! I slept in late, watched some movies and cleaned the apartment. Nice relaxing day. I even had a little nap in the afternoon. Man, I love naps. I'm looking forward to my vacation (only a week and a half away!)... can't wait to just laze around in a lounge chair on my balcony overlooking the ocean, take afternoon naps every day and generally just vegetate. Vegetating is good!

Controlling my shopping tendencies

I have been thinking that I need a new hard drive to backup my computer. I think this is a want more than a need though. So, I've been spending the last few days convincing myself not to go to the electronics store. Tonight I finished work relatively early, and I'm very proud of myself... I did not go shopping despite the fact that my feet wanted to take me in that direction. No shopping! Gotta save money!

Mmmm Indian Food

Taught a seminar this morning with one of my co-workers, so we went out for lunch together afterwards. We went to an Indian restaurant which had really good lunch sets. I had the combination curry set - shrimp, mutton and vegetable curries. It was delicious! Just enough spice to give it a kick, but not so much that you would sweat to death. It came with a giant nan too. Love nan. Sure it is not that healthy for you, but it sure tastes good! Oh, I want to go to India so I can pig out on curry :)

Extra cherry blossom day!

Today I unexpectedly got to go and look at cherry blossoms again. I arrived at my older women's class this afternoon, and two of them ran in saying the blossoms were in full bloom (the class is in Saitama, the prefecture north of Tokyo) and that we should go for a walk. So, we walked along the river looking at blossoms. It started to rain a bit, but we all had umbrellas, so it was ok. There were hundreds of petals fallilng - it was like snow! So pretty. The trees were beautiful too. After our walk we headed to the mall for coffee and cake. It is hard to believe that I get paid for doing this!

Rain, rain go away

Today was absolutely freezing. Yesterday 21C, today 8C. What the heck is up with that? I was just thinking that being in Bangkok won't be so nice weather-wise compared to Tokyo. It should be liek 30+ and humid as all get out. However, if Tokyo is going to have 8C weather, I think I prefer Bangkok!
I also noticed today that it has rained every Monday for the past four or five weeks. That's sad. Makes you wanna jump right out of bed and go to work... not.

Windy Picnic

Hiroshi and I had a nice picnic today after walking along the river and enjoying the cherry blossoms. Due to weird weather, high wind and rain the blossoms won't last long this year. This weekend will probably be the only viewing time for most people.

Today the wind was incredibly strong - it was really hard to get pics of the flowers because they wouldn't stay still! Even our picnic stuff was blowing away! I did manage to get a few though.

Happy 5 Year "Anniversary"

Today marks 5 years that Hiroshi and I have been together. Can't believe it has been that long! The original plan was to go and have a picnic under the cherry blossoms - the same as when our romance bloomed. Okay, that is kinda gaggy. But really, after essentially giving up on him (he totally missed months of flirting) he came to my hanami (cherry blossom party) and things happened.

Anyway, after I finished work I arrived at the train station to find that the train was down -- and it was down for like an hour and a half. So I didn't get home until after dark, which meant the romantic cherry blossom picnic was out. So we decided to tempt death instead and go for fugu. :) Actually, Hiroshi had never had it before - big surprise to me! So it was cool. We had a really nice dinner - due to crazy work schedules we don't see too much of each other. It was good to sit down and be together and talk for a couple hours. And fugu tastes good, so it was a nice dinner.. and we didn't die. So life is good.

Stupid pachinko

On the way home from work tonight I felt lucky, so dropped into the pachinko parlour for the first time in ages. Obviously my luck meter was off, because pachinko just sucked money out of my wallet. Stupid pachinko!

They've changed all the machines to a new type - I don't like them. It is much harder to aim the balls on these ones. Bring back my old pachinko machines please. And my luck too.

Cherry blossoms are blooming

After much teasing and delays due to whacky weather, the cherry blossoms are finally blooming! Everything looks so pretty :) I love this time of year. I hope to get out this weekend and take some pics!

People are crazy

This is so sad. I can't believe that people in India and Pakistan are upset about a bus service that will reunite family members. How exactly does attacking bus passengers promote a political agenda? Stupid. I'm sure I don't understand all the politics of the situation, but trying to blow up people who just want to see family members that they haven't seen in years, well... people are crazy.

The Jehovah's Witness Quiz

This quiz is just too funny. Well, not the quiz itself, but the analysis of your answers. My person favourite comment... "this could be a problem. Other JWs wouldn't want to associate with you and you won't have any friends". I'm 33% JW btw.
Oh, and for those of you who might be wondering, yes, there are JWs in Japan. There is a woman that hangs out in Ikebukuro station and always corners me when I am up that way. She's pretty nice about it though. I figure she must have a horrible time spreading the word, since I assume she can only target non-Japanese (language barrier for one).

Artistic Reclaimed Land

Now this and this are awesome ways to use reclaimed land. Not to mention they are exciting real estate projects. The aerial photos are cool. The world is awesome but I kind of like the aesthetics of the palm tree. Wonder how much one of those islands would set you back.

Kanji Dyslexia

I've decided that I must be kanji dyslexic. (kanji= Japanese characters) I had to write my address on an envelope tonight in the Japanese sytle, which is vertical rather than horizontal. Needless to say, I wrote mirror images of some characters, had to really, really think about how to write other characters and basically wrote crap unbalanced characters in general. Why is it so much harder to write vertically than horizontally? It boggles my mind as to why it is so difficult to write in a different direction.

Great start to a 2 day weekend!

Yes, I actually have two days off. Whehoo! And I made a fine start by getting up at 11, checking my e-mail and then going back to bed. I then slept until about 8 pm. Guess I was tired! Now I'm lazing around in my jammies, surfing the net waiting for Hiroshi to come home. We're ordering in sushi for dinner. Then, we're going to watch Amazing Race. He is way behind, and I wouldn't mind seeing the episodes again. Wonder what I am going to do tomorrow to top today's excitement LOL

Happy April Fools

Did anyone get fooled? Not part of Japanese culture, so no one even tried to play a joke. Except maybe the person who set the office heat to sauna levels. (Well, that is just normal I guess - the office staff are always freezing, while all the western teachers are sweating to death. They are always putting the thermostat up to 25 or 26.) I was reading on one of my newsgroups though that someone went and changed everyone's desktop to pictures of scantily clad men (for her male coworkers). I thought that was pretty funny. Just in case anyone needs any ideas for next year.

allergies will make me broke!

I finally broke down and bought medicine for my hayfever. I now have supersonic sneezing action at home. *sigh* And being all stuffed up and sniffly makes it hard to sleep, so I hit the pharmacy. End result, this will make me broke. 2000 yen for 10 pills that will last a total of three days. Another 500 yen for 7 masks. Oh, and we can't forget the 1000 yen for eye drops that are supposed to make your eyes stop itching, only they feel like someone threw sand in your eyes and set them on fire - how that is supposed to be better than having itchy eyes I do not know.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go back to suffering. Shovelling out 5000 yen a week would suck. When will spring be over?

AR7 Ep 5/6 Rock!

Ok, now this is the AR I know and love! Suspense gallore! Foot race to the finish, accidents (thankfully no one was seriously injured), big shuffles in the rankings. Ahhhh, I'm in AR heaven. Just might have to watch those episodes all over again.

I am now cheering Joyce and Uchenna on. They're awesome. Rob and Amber... well, I know it is a race, but slowing down for 10 seconds when you can clearly see two teams (Brian & Greg and Lynn & Alex) standing there is not going to affect your standing in the race. Not stopping to even ask if everyone was ok, is definitely not cool. So, I don't like them anymore. I am glad that psycho boy was eliminated. Yippee! No more verbal abuse!

rambling

The earthquake in Indonesia last night is so sad. The news is showing people running to high ground - they all thought that there would be another tsunami. How horrible.

Today I had some new students join one of my group class... well one new student and her husband. After the class he basically insulted me and told me I sucked as a teacher. Gee thanks. I just sat there and smiled. Teaching high-level grammar to students who have trouble making sentences sometimes and only want to learn conversational English is a great idea - not. Whatever.

The pollen count today is aweful. Thought because it was rainy and crappy that it would be ok, but I'm sneezing like a mad woman ... inside. It's nuts.

No chocolate for me :(

Happy Easter everyone... I am not doing anything for the holiday. No one celebrates it here. Thus, I get no chocolate. Poor me. Ah well, I don't really need chocolate. In fact, I actually went to the gym today. And I cooked healthy food. If only I could convince myself that chocolate is healthy - it is one of the four food groups isn't it?

When Easter falls

Here's the good stuff on how to figure out when Easter will be, seeing that it has fallen quite early this year. Now I basically knew this because I remember my grandpa telling me one morning as we were making cereal for breakfast. Pretty smart grandpa :)

Lucky day off

Today all of my classes cancelled so I had an unexpected day off! Lucky me! I was able to do some cooking (so I can eat better) and dragged myself to the bank to pay for the rest of my plane ticket to Thailand (fund transfer is the usual way to make payments for travel arrangements here). Other than cooking, I just kind of lazed around. I did a bit of work, watched some tv I had downloaded and a wee bit of an afternoon nap. Feels good to have a break!

Happy 6 yr Anniversary to me

Well, today marks six years in Japan for me. Hard to believe it has been that long. It doesn't seem like 6 years. I'm still surprised almost daily by the things I learn about Japanese culture and yet I feel more comfortable here than I do in Canada - this is now my home. So here's to a great six years in Tokyo!

Laugh of the day

Ideas on how to vent your frustration in the kitchen...

Mmmm, oysters

Today my friend Cal treated me to lunch (Thanks Cal - it was awesome!). He took me to Grand Central Oyster Bar, which is modelled after the original in NY. Oysters were lovely. Definitely have to go back there. Want to try all of the different raw oysters... and get the oyster stew which Cal had (that was yummy). The menu is huge - tons of different things on it. We shared Oysters Rockerfeller and Clams Casino. Both very good. Glad I finally got to go here - last time I checked, there was a three month waiting list for dinner reservations!

Long weekend, no day off

Hi, my name is Liz and I am a work-a-holic. This was a long weekend, but silly me worked every single day. No day off :( I just keep thinking, LASIK. And nice hotels. And yummy Thai food. Soon I will be in relaxation heaven :)

The Rollover

Heh, my counter rolled over into the 10,000 range. Cool.

treasures in my pocket

Tonight after work I was trying to get myself organized and I felt something in the bottom of my coat. There is a hole in my pocket and something had obviously fallen thru into the lining of my coat. This regulary happens with my lip balm, but there seemed to be more. Well, wow! I had no idea there was so much down there. I pulled out, I kid you not, about 40 squished up used Kleenexes. Ahah! That is where they were disappearing to! I just didn't know so many had disappeared! (These were not treasures in case you were wondering)

I also found a pin from my tour at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gov't Bldg, and my missing glove! Yes, I had a glove in the lining of my coat and never knew. Hurrah! My fav fur fringe gloves are not lost. Even though I won't need them until next year, I am happy I still have both of them. I was so sad the other week when I thought one was gone forever.

I also found a candy - but it was kinda carmelized and gross from being in there so long. Think it may be time to actually sew up that hole.

watched tv for first time in ages

Tonight I watched Gladiator on tv. This is amazing, because despite owning two tvs in an apartment that is only 40 sq. m, I never watch television. I'm addicted to web surfing and downloaded stuff. It is kind of nice to laze in bed and flick channels. Oh, the power of the remote control!

After Gladiator finished, I stumbled upon a news report on the Aichi World Expo (Aichi is about halfway down the main island on the east coast in case you were wondering). Today was press day - it doesn't open until the 25th to the general public. The theme is the environment (or something), but I think the real theme is robots. Tons of them. Buses that drive without drivers. Robot shows. Robot greeters. It is a geek paradise. I'm there I tell ya.... just need to figure out when the best time (i.e. fewest crowds) is to go.

die pollen die

Pollen count is bad today. Sneezing is not fun. I scowl at the pollen - all five hundren billion particles of it floating around me whenever I go outside. Die pollen die.

hello cherry blossoms!

Today I saw the first cherry blossoms of the season! Whehoo! I love cherry blossom season in Japan. Everything is so beautiful. There is a tree near my house that gets direct sunlight, so it blooms a good week and a half to two weeks before the rest of the trees. Good sign though - at least one tree will be filled with glorious pink blossoms in a few days!

Did you see those pigs flying today?

Tonight, I ironed! Yes, I know, this is absolutely amazing. I never iron. When I lived in Canada, I used to have a friend who loved ironing (obviously he had something wrong with him). Every so often he would come to visit, and wonderful person that he was, he would do all of my 3-6 months of ironing that had piled up. Yes, that is how much I dislike ironing. I'd forego wearing things for 6 months, just so I didn't have to iron them.

I've since learnt that labels that indicate that ironing is needed mean that that item of clothing does not come home with me (that and the dry cleaning label). Hiroshi, however, has all cotton shirts. This of course means that we will be going to the store to buy new shirts that don't require ironing. Give me some good polyester blends. Otherwise I might be doing this every week! Ack!

You know the pollen count is high...,

You know the pollen count is high when there is a giant pollen cloud floating somewhere in Japan and people mistake it for smoke from a forest fire.

I'm at the point where I can't go outside without a mask. Otherwise I end up with supersonic sneezing, runny nose and throat mucous (sorry if that is TMI) that makes it hard to breathe. Oh, and the itchy eyes. Hiroshi started in with the headaches, sneezing and itchy eyes this week. Looks like he has passed the pollen threshold as well and is now a hay fever sufferer like half the rest of the population.

Guess this means he'll get to look like a doctor too whenever he goes outside LOL

Powerful Odor

Powerful Odor is the name of a new button on Japan's fandangled toilet seats. Yes, in addition to the flushing sound (to save water - Japanese women are embarrassed by the sound of peeing so flush constantly while doing thier business), heated seat, bidet, and washing functions, there is now a button that you can press that will release deodorizer for "powerful odor". I was tempted to push it just to see what it did (no, there was not a powerful odor) but was worried I'd have some toxic chemical sprayed on my butt or something. Gotta work up my courage. Maybe it sprays a nice floral scent... hopefully somewhere in the bowl rather than on the person sitting there.

Missed the last train!

One of my coworkers, Kara, is leaving Japan to go and do her PhD in Australia, so she had her sayonnara party tonight. We all met up at a restaurant in Shibuya called the Asian Kitchen. After getting our fill of food and drinks we wandered over to karaoke. I haven't been to karaoke in ages. I think the last time I went was back in October.

Anyway, I swear the last time I was in Shibuya, I got the train at 1:20 am. So tonight I wandered over to the station and arrived around 1:15... only the gates were all closed! I had missed my last train! Crap, crap, crap. So I had to get a taxi home. Geesh. 2800 yen later. Better than staying out on the street all night though or having to pay for a karaoke room. Mental note to self - verify when the train leaves instead of trusting your obviously faulty memory.

Test your movie knowledge

This site is awesome, not to mention hard! You can do quizzes where you have to guess which movie pictures are from. The catch? The actors' faces have been made invisible. It's really hard, and you'll kick yourself over the answers you missed!

AR7 - Episode 1

Ok, we're a bit behind in our AR watching - Hiroshi and I have been busy, and just got a chance to see it last night. I know - the next episode comes out tomorrow (I'm a day ahead of North America). So far, this season is looking much better. Thank heavens! I was really sad that the hillbillies got elminated. They would have been awesome fun on the show I think. For some reason, I got a better feel for the teams in this first episode. Usually I don't have much of an opinion at this point.
Lynn and Alex - stereotypical, a bit irritating so far
Ron and Kelly - umm, all American? Don't strike me as a strong team
Joyce and Uchenna - they seem pretty cool, but am reserving judgement
Ray and Deanna - hate. He is going to be this season's asshole
Mom and Son - did well, but don't like thier attitutdes. Quit whining about other teams and don't be all disappointed about 2nd in the first leg
Bianca and other (forget her name) - is it just me being a prude, or is there something more there than friendship? Other than the stupid debate about Llamas or baskets, they ran a good leg
Brothers - no opinion yet
Blonde girls - didn't even check the other sand piles. Should be eliminated for stupidity
Meredith and Gretchen - can't read him yet, she strikes me as fake and a bit weird. First senior team that I haven't really liked.

So here's hoping this season there are actual clues, and none of this bunching crap. AR, you must redeem yourself!

Interesting history link

Stumbled across this on one of the newsgroups I read - it is a link with eye witness accounts of historical events. I thought it was pretty interesting.

Whehoo! I'm going business class!

I sent in an inquiry form a week ago to a company that had an awesome business class rate on a flight to Thailand... only I never heard back from them. So I gave up and phoned the travel agent I normally deal with and the best price they could quote me was 100,000 yen for economy class. Umm... no thanks. So I hung up the phone, jumped on the internet and pulled up the cheap rate web page and found another company that was offering the same cheap business class rate as the no-response company. I gave them a ring, and not only did I get the tickets, they spoke English! Whehoo!! I can fly business class for 90,000 yen! That's cheaper than economy. Awesome.

Of course, if you are having a heart attack over those prices consider that I'm going during Golden Week when everyone leaves the country and prices skyrocket here. Usual economy price tickets are 30 - 40,000 yen to Bangkok, so that 100,000 gives you a pretty clear picture of the price gouging that goes on. My flight is not direct, I have a stop over in Taipei, but heck, that just means I can hang out in another business lounge! I'm thrilled with the tickets I got.

Life is good. I'm looking forward to a week of luxury :)

Visiting Kai

After a very long time I went to visit my friend Yasu, and his wife Eriko and son Kai. I haven't seen them for near on 9 months. Wow, I really have been busy. As you can see, Kai is as cute as a button. He's almost two, and while he has the energy of a 2 year old, he doesn't play shy. He was climbing all over me and we were playing together within minutes of my arrival.

I like this visiting cute kids option. I also called my friend Shar (who is in Germany) after not talking to her for ages (cuz I was too busy to phone) and we had a good chat about having kids and feeling the biological clock ticking, but just not wanting them right now. Freedom is good. I like my life right now. Kids will change that. Thus, visiting cute ones is a good substitute for now.

How to Fold a Shirt

So I thought this interesting science article was hard to understand until I saw this amazing thing. I of course have some sort of brain deficiency when it comes to folding, and simply do not get this. Swear to God, I've watched the darn thing about twenty times, and I still can't do it. I think it is a sign that Hiroshi should do laundry forever. He can fold shirts like this.

Not the S Word!

My student phoned my at a ridiculously early time this morning to tell me that it was snowing outside... and thus she might be late for class. Take note that she called me like 3 hours before her class started. I was still sleeping! Since she had woken me up, I peeped out the window and was greeted by this:


Yes, this is a lot of snow for Tokyo. This actually delayed train lines by hours. Oh, and everyone suddenly became retarded in this city. I swear, this is not a big deal. You can still see the pavement for crying out loud. But for some unknown reason, every one forgot how to walk. I was bumped into numerous times this morning, to the point where I was ready to haul off and punch the next person that did it. I mean, I am a large person, it is pretty hard not to see me. Where exactly is your head that you need to barrel right into me? Please pay attention. Geesh. Between that and nearly being decapitated or having my eye poked out with umbrellas by people with no clue about spacial relationships, I was not a happy camper this morning. Oh yeah, and there was all that s-word stuff on the ground too.

Hina Matsuri / Girl's Day

Today is Girl's Day in Japan. This is a picture of one of the hina dolls on display at Meguro Gajoen. (Sorry, it is a bit low-res)

Cherry Blossoms - 3/31 start!

The big news of the day is.... Cherry blossoms will start in Tokyo on March 31st. The news spent a good five minutes discussing the bloom schedule. This is important business! Last year was the earliest blooming period ever, if I remember correctly. The news said they should start at about the same time this year as well. Peak viewing time will be around April 7th. Mark your calendars! The big question for me is whether or not I should organize a party this year. Last year I was too busy, and I suspect that may be the case this year as well.

Going to Bangkok

Well I submitted a request form for my ticket to Bangkok - just waiting to hear back from the travel agent. I've decided to go and get Lasik done in Thailand. It is horribly expensive in Japan, and for the price of doing it in Canada, I can get it done in Bangkok and live like a queen for a week.

So now I need to decide where to stay while I am pampering myself. Why is choosing a hotel always such a huge deal for me? I swear, I stress to much over these things! The eye doctor (optomologist - guy who does the laser) said I could get on a plane to fly to Phuket two days after surgery, so guess where I'm going for the week between getting the surgery and my one week follow-up appointment. I already know where I'm going to stay - the same place Hiroshi and I stayed last time. Hopefully he'll be able to get some time off to join me down there.

But what to do about accommodations in Bangkok. I'm really dying to stay at The Peninsula but it is a bit pricey. It looks awesome though. And I can have afternoon tea like I did in Hong Kong (also at the Peninsula). The alternative is The Banyan Tree. The Banyan Tree is cheaper and has the whole suite thing, but The Peninsula has a tv in the bathroom... think bubble bath and a movie. Oh, decisions, decisions. The Peninsula is also top-rated and all rooms have a view of the Chao Praya river. Both of them seem to have different style than the typical hotel room - I definitely did not want that! Boring is out. (Why is it that pretty much all hotels have the same darn layout?)