Girls Festival

On Feb. 21, we went to our Japanese teacher Mami's house to see her dolls set up for the the Hinamatsuri (Girls' Festival) which occurs on March 3rd. Most homes in Japan that have a daughter have a display of dolls for the month of February in order to pray for young girls' growth and happiness. After March 3rd, the doll display must be taken down or else they believe it will bring bad luck and the daughter may not get married. The picture on the left is of Mami's house. The one on the right is Mami and her husband in front of their doll display.

On March 3rd, the girls wear kimonos and eat hina-arale, which are rice crackers for the Girls Festival (picture below). We were able to try some and they tasted pretty good...a lot like Kix cereal. They also drink non-alcoholic sake (rice wine).

The size of the doll shrine depends on the family. Mami, our Japanese teacher, has 2 daughters and a really beautiful doll display with 7 steps. She explained to us the importance of each step. On the top step, there is an empress and an emperor. On the second step there are three women servants holding Japanese rice cakes. On the third step there are five musicians holding traditional Japanese instruments and on the 4th step there are two ministers. The 5th step are the men servants. On the last 2 steps there are pieces of furniture and household items, including mirrors, a dresser, tea cups and dishes.

Mami and her husband taught us a song that is sung for the Girls Festival. It was really fun learning it! This is a video of us singing the song in Japanese.

The song is called "Ureshii Hinamatsuri" which translates to "Happy Girls Festival Day." The song's English translation is something like this:
"Turn on the light. Let's decorate the flowers, peach flowers. Five musicians with whistles and drums. Today is a joyful girls festival day."

Reminders of Home!

We always get excited when we see a place that reminds us of home. Here are the places we've seen in Japan that we also have in America!
McDonald's: There is a McDonald's a couple of miles away from our apartment. We often go here when we get sick of Japanese food and need a taste from home. It's almost just like the McDonald's we're used to but with a Japanese twist!

The menu is a little different. This is a picture of the shrimp burger that's only in Japan.

Also, throwing away your trash is very confusing if you're not used to the 4 different compartments to throw away your trash...you have to separate the plastics (straws & lids), pour your extra ice and drink in a hole, put your combustibles (paper items) in another bin, and if you smoke then you pour your ashes in a hole and set your ashtray in a bin (smoking is still aloud in restaurants here.)


Denny's: We recently ate breakfast at Denny's for the first time. They have both Western and Japanese breakfasts to choose from. We ordered a Western style: scrambled eggs- Japanese people like them runny, toast- bread is very thick here, which makes for good toast, sausage- which is actually a small hot dog, bacon- same, salad- breakfasts in Japan always include a small garden salad...which is strange for us! We also had coffee that had unlimited refills...something VERY rare in Japan. The Japanese style breakfasts include white rice with a raw egg to mix in the rice, miso soup, salad, and fish. Sounds appetising, huh?


KFC: Unfortunately, they don't have mashed potatoes here (which is the best part of KFC). The chicken tastes the same, but it's pretty expensive...around 1,000 Yen for a value meal ($8.30). We weren't here for Christmas day, but supposedly most Japanese people go to KFC for a bucket of chicken.






Starbucks: Our true love in Japan is Starbucks. Whenever we have the chance, we always stop in and get a coffee. It is almost exactly what we're used to. The menu is in both English and Japanese. The only difference is that they serve green tea and green tea frappachinos here. We've actually began a collection of Starbucks travel mugs from all the different cities and countries we've visited in Asia!


Other Restaurants: Subway, Outback, Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, and Domino's
Shopping: All the major fashion designers (Louis Vuitton, Coach, etc.)
Gap/Gap Kids, Virgin Records, The Body Shop, Claire's, Sports Authority, and Toys-R-Us

Gas Stations/
Convenience Stores:
Gas stations are always separate here from convenience stores. The gas stations here are much different than in America. 90% of the time they are full service stations, so someone is always waiting to pump your gas for you. Also, the pumps often come from the ceiling (as seen in the picture). When you pull up to the gas station, someone will come to your window and give you a damp towel for you to wipe down the inside of your car. While you're waiting, they also clean your windshield and side mirrors. Gas is expensive here...about $5 a gallon!
Gas Stations: Shell and Citgo
Convenience Stores: 711 and Circle K
Amusement Parks: Disney's Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios

Melissa's Birthday!

On Jan. 11, I turned 27....which is way too close to the big 30! I had a great birthday this year! Everyone here really went out of their way to make me feel special. When I went to work that morning, I found my desk decorated with balloons and a "Happy Birthday" banner (which they later informed me was very hard to find in English). Around lunch time, I found out that Frank had invited everyone from work to our apartment that night for dinner! We had a great time...Frank made spaghetti and everyone brought a dish to share. Zelie brought some paper necklaces for everyone to wear.

The next night, Frank took me to dinner at a restaurant in Nagoya, which is a large city 20 minutes away by train from where we live. The restaurant was on the 52nd floor of the train station. It had a great atmosphere and a nice view of the city. The singer was really amusing to us...she sang all English songs! She sang everything from Bette Midler's "The Rose" to "Amazing Grace!" In between songs, she spoke to the audience in Japanese. At one point, I heard "blah blah blah Merissa San blah blah blah." At this point, everyone turned to me with HUGE smiles and sang "Happy Birthday" to me! In Japan, there is no "l" in their alphabet, so they all pronounce my name with an "r." They even misspelled my name on the cake! This will definitely be a birthday I will never forget!

Frank climbs Mt. Ibuki!

In December, Frank hiked up Mt. Ibuki, which is the second highest mountain in Gifu Prefecture. He left with Steve and Taka around 5:00am and drove an hour to the mountain. It took them about 2 hours to hike to the top, where they found a few Japanese statues and a small shrine, there wasn't really a good view of anything because of the snow storm. Taka came prepared with a small gas burner that he used to make hot ramen noodles for lunch! The hike down took about half the time...Frank was actually so excited he ran down half the mountain!

Thailand Village Video

This is a video of some adorable kids we saw during our trek in Thailand. Spending our first night in this village was one of the highlights of our trip!

Thailand Part III: Bangkok

In addition to travelling in the north and south of Thailand, we also spent a few days in the capital city Bangkok. We visited Bangkok for a day and a half at the beginning of our vacation and then another day and a half at the end.

Our first night:
Chelsea's college roommates, sisters (Jennifer and Tracy) who are from Thailand, happened to be visiting their parents the day we arrived. They picked us up from the airport and took us out to dinner at a very nice Thai restaurant. They and were able to give us some useful insight into the Thai culture and recommended a few good places to visit. It was really a great way to start the trip!

After checking into our hotel, we walked around the streets outside our hotel. We were a little overwhelmed by the city. Bangkok is very large and is very developed, but it is also very poverty stricken. We often felt like we were in a third-world country as we walked through the streets near our hotel. There were many vendors selling meats and fruits and trash was everywhere. At the same time, though, there were many upscale malls and restaurants throughout the city.

Boat Ride

One morning we went on an hour boat ride on the river in Bangkok. We were able to see many houses and temples along the way. A few women on small row boats came up to us and sold us some souvenirs.

The Grand Palace

We really enjoyed walking around the Grand Palace, which also contains the Wat Pho. It took a few hours to see everything and was very crowded. Once inside the thick, white walls of the palace, we were really impressed with the beauty and intricacy of the buildings and statues.

The Royal Family

The Thai people have a very strong devotion to their King and Queen. Pictures of the Royal Family are seen everywhere around the country; their faces appear in almost every restaurant, business, and along the streets. After visiting a museum about the Royal Family's history and talking with the people we met there, we became very impressed and envious of the unity the country feels toward their leader. The first picture below is at our hotel in Bangkok, in the background you can see huge pictures of the king and queen displayed. The next picture is at the airport. The kings picture was displayed on each terminal.

The 2 weeks we spent in Thailand is an experience we will never forget. We feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit this great country.

Thailand Part II: The Beach in the South

After trekking and visiting the north of Thailand, we were very excited to have a change of pace relaxing on the beach for a week.

Ko Samui- New Year's Eve

We began by flying from Chiang Mai to Ko Samui on December 31. We had a really memorable New Year's Eve this year! It began by eating a buffet dinner at our hotel.

After dinner, we went to get foot massages near the beach. Everything is extremely cheap in Thailand. We got a few hour massages while we were here, usually costing around $6!

Next, relaxed from our massages, we headed to the beach where we walked around for a while. A man with a pet monkey came up to Chelsea and gave her the monkey to hold. As she took the monkey, it went to the bathroom all over her hand...which we found very funny (Chelsea thought otherwise)!

After walking down the beach for a while, we found a large patio lounge outside and we decided to sit and watch a few New Year's Eve performances, one of which Chelsea and Melissa went on stage to put lays on the dancers.

As midnight was soon approaching, we went back out onto the beach to light a paper balloon lantern. These lanterns are a Thai tradition and we could see hundreds of them floating in the sky, which was very beautiful! We lit and released ours right at midnight.

Ferry to Ko Phangan!

After spending a day at Ko Samui, we were ready to head to a more secluded and less touristy island. We took a 30 minute ferry to Ko Phangan where we spent 6 days on the beach!

We stayed at the Thong Nai Pan Beach Resort, which was really nice. We had our own little hut with a cute front porch that was less than a minute walk to the beach.

Everyday we basically did the same thing: eat breakfast at the hotel, lay on the beach and read for a few hours, swim and play frisbee, eat lunch at a restaurant on the beach, read a little more, then shower and go out to dinner. It was so relaxing and fun! The weather was in the high 80's during the day and got down into the 70's at night.

The beach was BEAUTIFUL! It was very secluded with mountains and rocks all around it. There were only about 5 beach resorts total in the bay, so it wasn't very crowded either. The water was really calm and the sand was very soft with only a few shells.

Sunrise and Sunset on the Beach

Kayaking

One day we went kayaking to another beach. We had a good time getting to see another part of the island. At one point we saw dozens of large sea crabs on some rocks.

Massages on the Beach

A couple of mornings we got full body Thai massages at our hotel right on the beach. It was really nice to be outside and hear the ocean, though we were in quite a bit of pain during the massage! Thai massages focus on pushing on pressure points, especially on your legs and feet. They also twist and turn your body in all different ways. At one point Melissa's leg was literally around her head with a large Thai woman pressing on her thigh with all her weight!

Thai Food

The food in Thailand was delicious! We ate a lot of Pad Thai noodles and Thai Curry...which was all really spicy and flavorful! We also ate a lot of sliced mangoes with sticky rice covered with coconut milk for dessert. We really enjoyed having a break from all the fish we eat here in Japan, but one night we did order shark and it turned out to be really good. We were able to watch them slice it and then cook it on the grill.

Stray Dogs

Thailand is a beautiful country, but it's also very poor. It was very strange to see such poverty in such a pretty setting. One thing that we could not get over was the amount of stray dogs running around everywhere...it was unbelievable! There would be groups of dogs all over the place, even inside restaurants and stores. Most of them seemed somewhat friendly, but we didn't get too close.

Goodbye Ko Samui!

After a week of relaxing, we flew from Ko Samui to Bangkok. The Ko Samui Airport was very different than your standard airport. It consisted of straw huts outside and had a great tropical feel!