Singapore. Where did the money go?

We made it to our flight. We arrived 2 hours early and got a hearty breakfast of soba (buckwheat) noodles in soup, fried rice, and fried bean curd paste around sushi rice. Mmm. Delish!

Nothing special on our 7 hour flight to Singapore, but we did get exit rows. All Nippon is the way to fly! Individual tvs for each chair, decent food, and small servings of Haagan Daz ice cream. They do need to work on the movie selection. It was on demand, but consisted of such new films as Dirty Harry, the Matrix, and Thelma and Louise. If anyone knows how Thelma and Louise or The Majestic end, please feel free to send it along.

I did not get yelled at in Changi airport in Singapore. The temperature scanner as we went down the escalator was interesting- they are very worried about good ole swine flu here. People young and old wear face masks all the time. We've seen someone hitting on a girl in one, and another driving his car by himself wearing a mask. This was in Japan- not as bad in Singapore- but we are not sure this isn't something that goes on regardless of swine flu.

We took a Mercedes taxi to our hotel (wait- I mean Chris Rogers' apartment on Orchard Road). The ride was beautiful, minus the dark clouds that quickly swept over the island. Our taxi driver gave us a full run down and we got to the Paterson Residence without incident. After tracking down the key and getting instructions on how to use it (i.e. open the door), we entered what we will call 'The Palace.' The Palace is amazing. It has 3 bedrooms, four baths, and a built-in espresso machine. The views of the city are amazing- we almost didn't leave today. We even have tv with... wait for it... wait for it... English speaking channels! Woohoo! (author change) The building itself has a fountain and outdoor lounge chairs in the entrance driveway, a normal pool with built-in lounge chairs, 2 smaller pools and a bar area. Thanks Chris!

After we settled in, we of course pulled a Carrie and Dave. We went out to dinner. Cab to mall - $7.00. Realized we didn't want to eat at mall. Cab to Newton Hawker center - $5. For those not familiar with Hawker centers here, the government, in order to regulate the street vendors, organized them into eating centers where you can go and get almost everything. Yes moms, read between the lines. We ate street food last night. After walking around and getting asked by every stall there to eat at theirs, we finally settled on stall 70. She roped us in when she pulled an enormous prawn and broke down it's anatomy to us. Yum Yum.

We ordered the grilled prawns, black peppered beef and fried rice. Everything was delicious, especially my coconut juice in a real coconut! Dave ordered a Tsing Tao for dinner, but didn't realize it would come in a 40 ounce bottle. Nice. Supposedly, you can eat at these places for $6, so what damage did we have? $60 of course. Who knew that the $8 for the grilled prawns was actually $8 per 100 grams. Oh well, live and learn. Plus, it was totally worth it. May even go back.

Cab to Orchard Road- $5. Walked around a bit and when exhaustion hit, headed home (cab $6) for some Conan. Ahh - English TV.

Woke up this morning and had to wait 1.5 hours for our clothes to dry in the dryer (thanks again Chris for the use of your machine!). We finally headed out, made our way to the train station and headed to Little India ($1 - trains are much better). Got side tracked on the first street an ended up eating at the Banana Leaf Apollo (recommended by Lonely planet and the guy trying to sell Dave a tailored suit for only $450). We ordered Butter chicken, Chana masala, rice, butter naan, garlic naan, raita. Your plate is an actual banana leaf. Was one of the most amazing Indian meals we have ever had (Sorry Ina, we know this puts alot of pressure on you now :)

Now, we are here and see internet is no longer free ($2/hour - we need to save money for our prawns) we are going to go. I'm trying to convince Dave that silk pillow cases from India are a good thing, if only I can convince Cody of that too.

Pictures will be added at a different time. Until then, reach back to your childhood and use your imagination!

Off to Singapore

Flight at 11 am JP time. And we are going to be early...! Wow!

Tokyo Day 2 +General Impressions

Let's start with the general impressions. How bout a top 10 (or 9 or 11- we'll see).
1. It is nice that the Japanese don't just do what we do when a foreign person doesn't understand us. We shout it louder and slower. We don't understand them and appreciate the fact that they don't make a big deal of it. Of course, they could be making a big deal of it and we wouldn't know it.

2. Conveyor belt sushi is the easiest way to eat. You don't need to talk to anyone. *you get the check by standing up. If you sit there and wait, it makes for long meals.

3. The operators of the DC metro system should come hire the Tokyo guys. It is amazing. Of course, since each line has its own ticket, foreigners occassionaly purchase 2 or 3 tickets before they find the right machine. Oops.

4. Vending machines are cool. Especially when they have 100's of choices and lots of canned type coffee. However, not when you realize that virtually all of them are bottled by Coke or Pepsi it is not as fun.

5. Tokyo must be safe. We have seen only 2 locked bikes since we have been here, and we have seen ALOT of bikes. If you want to get rich, move here and start a Japanese bike lock company. Just hire some bike theives to build you up a market.

6. People in Tokyo are good looking. Everyone- don't know how they do it.

7. There is a certain freedom to travelling in Asia. We already look like tourists, so if we dress bad, walk around with our tour books, or take pictures of our food it is already expected.

8. Picture menus are vital for survival.

Hmm. Only got 8. I guess that is cause the blogs have been so long. Maybe tonight's breakdown will be shorter. ***Please comment on the blog if you would like. We will likely be printing it out and getting it bound for memories***

Today started off with a trip to a shrine. Of course, that trip started with what has come to be the norm on this trip- an hour long journey to find food on the way. First we walk up a street, then we walk back, then around it, then through it, over it, under it. Eventually we settle on something that has other people in it and, as previously mentioned, a picture menu. On todays journey, however, we walked virtually around our intended target. Had we walked to our target, we would have stumbled upon a number of acceptable places. Instead, we settled for a coffee shop with no one in it, and no picture menu. At least it had English menus- who's up for seafood fried rice for breakfast!

After we went to a Buddhist temple- Senso-ji. Under construction, but still amazing. We saw monks chanting, people inhaling incense for good health, people making offerings, and a good-luck buddha! Take a look at the incense. You may notice a something familiar that has been used as a peace symbal for thousands of years.





Then we went to the Nakamise-dori. This was a very long street of souvenier shops. It was most notable for the fried dough with bean paste. Also notable for the gifts purchased (yes Maddie, you may get one or two things).

On our way to lunch we walked by the street Kokusai-dori. This street is known for having anything and everything kitchenware you could ever want. In addition, they are known for their plastic foods. As I (Carrie) promised earlier, a little discussion on Japanese restaurants (at least the budget ones) and how they advertise food. Many restaurants have large boards in front of their stores displaying what types of foods they have. When you go into these restaurants, usually you just point to what you want and hopefully that is what you get. There are also the restaurants that have a small vending-type machine inside. You put in your money and then the selections which are all listed above, light up based on their prices. Once the selection you want lights up, you push a button, a receipt comes out and the waitress takes it from you. My favorite type of restaurant though, are the ones that have the plastic replicas in the window. These can be anything, a bowl of noodles, spaghetti with sauce, even fruits. My favorite though are the sushi pieces. The shops that sell the plastic pieces were really amazing and for the most part, you couldn't tell they were fake.

After a quick stop at our hotel to drop off our packages, we headed out for another hour long
walk to find some place to eat. We finally ended up at the first restuarant we walked by (only on our second loop around) and had conveyor-belt sushi. This place far surpassed the first conveyor-belt place we had gone to. The selection was great and the sushi was fantastic. Plus, at this point, we actually knew and understood the process, so that helped a lot. By the end, we had 13 plates stacked up and we were both very satisfied. What a way to celebrate a birthday! 1600 Yen and we were out.

A quick stop at the vending machine and of course another stop at Starbucks
for that long awaited Jelly(jello) Coffee latte (Dave would recommend it, but only in the smaller size) and we were off to Ueno Park to go to the Tokyo National museum. The museum was terrific. It was a huge building and there wasn't an overwhelming amount of artifacts, but what was there was really exceptional. It included Kimonos, Kibuki costumes, scrolls and works of art, and Dave's favorite, Samurai swords and armor. Very cool indeed. (author change)





Hmm. What to do on your birthday (maybe) when you are in Japan. Buy flowers? No. Shop for kimonos. No chance. Go browse electronics that have menus you don't understand, labeled with signs you can't read, and being offered help by people who don't speak your language (except for the phrase- 12.1 megapixels). Sounds like a plan. The electronics market is called Akihabara. It, like much of Tokyo, is filled with bright lights, loud sounds, and tons of people. But, as a guy who is self-indulgent with electronics, I didn't need anything they had. There are no hoverboards, no robots, no holograms. Just an enormous selection. The only thing I possibly needed was a new camera, since mine is currently displaying Lens Error 2. However, my camera made a plea to live- I haven't seen the error since I pulled it out to take a picture of Akihabara.

After that, we came back to shower and great ready for dinner. I won't go to much into that experience- you know it by now. Walk around, get scared of places, etc. We ended up with Tempura (thought of you Dad) and Carrie tried Saki. A trip to Mister Donut for my birthday donut, and then this blog.

So, we are off to bed. FYI, I just swallowed that beef from last night. Thank goodness.