Hello Japan Friends!

With Nick out of town for two weeks of conferences in Hawaii, I decided to leave my calendar wide open in the off chance a flight opened up on Space-A for me to meet up with him. As luck would have it, a Friday afternoon flight was heading straight there, so I packed up my bathing suits and sundresses, closed up the house, and drove to the terminal crossing my fingers.

I arrived to find out that the flight was no longer traveling east and instead was heading west to Okinawa, Japan. Bummer! My dreams of spending the weekend at the Ko Olina resort were quickly squashed. Luckily I have played the Space-A game before, so I was not at all surprised and only mildly disappointed.

Coronado neighbor turned traveling buddy!

With a whole unscheduled week ahead of me, I sat down in the terminal to check out some options. I had a Facebook message from my friend Kristi, my former neighbor in Coronado who now lives in Japan. She was writing to tell me how excited she is that we are both going to be on the East Coast in a few months. I replied on a whim and said something like, "Hey, can I come visit you... like tomorrow?"

A few hours later when I got home, I lugged my disappointing Hawaii bags back into the house and checked for her reply, which was simply, "Come on!!" I was going to be sensible and fly out two days later, but was met with the news that Kristi had already lined up a babysitter for Sunday night to go to a lantern festival in Tokyo. Yeah, I need to go to that, I thought. So at 10pm I booked a flight to leave the next morning. I repacked my bags, found a last-minute ride to the airport, and just like that was off to Japan!

First Japan visit in 2010!

While this trip wasn't technically on the calendar, it wasn't a completely whimsical decision to go either. I went to visit my friends Mary and Kristi back in September 2010 when I first moved to Guam (a trip that was also booked with less than a week's notice... sorry Japan friends!). Nick was away on his first long work trip, and my friends in Japan were smack in the middle of their first foreign deployment. The unexpected visitor (me!) was a welcome distraction while their husbands were away, and I got to see Japan, my first glimpse of Asia.

Japan's very own Tofu Fox!

Looking back, I remember that the nuances of traveling there were completely overwhelming at the time. Despite being a comfortable traveler (or so I thought), I had no concept how my friend Mary was navigating the crazy, confusing network of trains in a language that didn't even use a recognizable alphabet. Everything from the food to the transportation to the customs seemed so foreign.

As our overseas tour is coming to a close, it has been on my radar to slip in one final visit there to see my friends and to do a few more exciting things in Japan (which, conveniently is only a three-hour flight and one time zone change away!). My friend Mary has been blogging about her adventures and discoveries for the past few months as the Tofu Fox. It made me realize that there was a lot I missed on my first trip simply from being in a fog of misunderstanding. I wanted to visit Japan within the context of the many other fascinating countries I have traveled to so I could better appreciate how truly unique and extraordinary of a place it is.

Two years later, I had a very different experience in Japan. I felt like I could actually get around the city on my own if I needed to, and rather than spend the moments in my brain fretting over the city's complexities, I now had the space to focus on its captivating intricacies. Everything there is so beautifully decorated and delicately presented. A small part of me is envious that my friends have been able to live somewhere so different, so elegant for their overseas tour... while I was sloshing around in a muddy jungle.

And with that, here are some pictures from my first couple of days in Japan!

Lantern festival in Tokyo

 

 I wish I knew what the lanterns are for aside from beautiful beach decor.

Have some crazy architecture

And some really awkward train signs! 

Like Singapore, Tokyo loves its order and its signs.

Hi friends!! Meeting up with Mary and Annika and kiddos on Omotesando-dori 

for a day of shopping and lunching and shrines!

Japan has lots of fun surprises... like an energy drink that shoots out of a cooler. 

Nice catch Kristi!

So great to see this little guy... I have known Will since he was three months old. Now (somehow) he is about to start second grade!

And last time I saw Bean he was six months old. Now he is covered in ice cream and wants to get out of his stroller :)

Sights along the gorgeous wooded stroll to Meiji Shrine

We arrived during a wedding procession! What luck!!

I love the sea of tourists that formed a little paparazzi pod on the left, including Mary :) She got much better pictures than I did with her fancy camera and front row seat. See them and read more about the weddings we saw that day and the shrine on Mary's post here.

Entrance way at Meiji Shrine

Hi friends! So great to see everyone!

We unknowingly went to this area on a very eventful Monday. It was a school holiday, and there was a massive protest as the nuclear power plants began reopening in the previous weeks. We later learned there were over 170,000 people present for the protest. It was hands down the most polite and orderly protest I have ever seen (that's Japan!).

A few people crossing the street

The fabulous outfits were everywhere. The Japanese are always dressed to the nines, but this particular ensemble caught my eye. So chic!

And, oh yes, there was Zara :)

The same Zara we stopped by almost two years ago... 

 look how much Annika-chan has grown!

I think it's safe to say we've all grown quite a bit in these past two years abroad. My friends in Japan are also wrapping up their overseas tours, and I'm crossing my fingers that Mary's family will join Kristi's in being our neighbors on that side of the world too. So grateful for Kristi and Mary for hosting me during two wonderful trips to Japan. Definitely goes to show that you never know where the friendships of this small Navy world will take you... and if you're lucky, maybe even twice.

Soaking up Socal

 

I had a phenomenal visit to California. The wedding was most definitely the highlight, but everything else I did was so rich and meaningful, and every visit was so intentional and fulfilling. Perhaps it's because this is likely my last visit to San Diego for a while. My last visit to California from Guam. Crazy...

 

My mom couldn't pass up the opportunity to sneak in one last visit to San Diego, either! So she flew out and joined me. We went to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, which are simply breathtaking. 

  I stayed with my dear friend Liz in Coronado. We spent the weekend hanging out, working out, meeting friends for coffee, staying up way too late, and mostly just catching up.

The last time I was in San Diego in January and saw Ann, she was in labor! She had her baby Asher later that night, so three months later, this was my first chance to meet him! Ann and her family will be moving to our next duty station two months before we will. Hooray for West Coast friends moving east!


And it was awesome to see Tracy! She and I were youth leaders together and were in the same Bible study. I went to our church with her Sunday morning and was tickled to go down into the old youth den and see our benediction verse still written in Laura's handwriting on the chalkboard wall we put up. I was also very envious of the amazing space that church built to house their teenagers. We had it so good!

I also took the opportunity to say hi to some Guam friends who just moved back to the States! It was really interesting to hear how their transition has been. The most surprising thing to me was what they said about how the people in San Diego have not been very nice or welcoming to them. They both very much miss island life, which I was somewhat surprised to hear from one of them who couldn't wait to leave. There are definitely some simple pleasures on Guam that can't be replicated.

One of the highlights of any San Diego stopover is getting to see these faces! 

Nick's little twin cousins Jack and Drew are now one year old, and they have got to be the most joyful babies ever!

They look right into your eyes... or the camera... and give you their biggest smile. Beyond cute!

And it's always great to hang out with their big sister Madison. We all had a wonderful dinner together and spent the evening catching up. Still, the visit was way too short, as it always tends to be. I will just have to come back. Soon, I hope.

After some awesome visits in San Diego, my mom and I met up with April, who picked us up and drove us to LA so we could take care of some very important business. April is going to join the Guam Club! She is coming all the way out to see me next month, and we are going on an adventure together... to China! We took advantage of the proximity to the Chinese Consulate office in LA and got our visas taken care of.

We used the rest of the day to see LA, since my mom had never been to any of the sights before. If you look closely, you can see the Hollywood sign in the background from our lunch stop at Hollywood & Highland. Then we moved on to ... 

We did some serious window shopping.

And saw some fancy cars. It cracked me up to see all the guys drooling and taking pictures!

You really do see the strangest things in LA

Luckily some awesome people live there... SO great to see Jen! Yes, this is Jen from Guam... and Thailand and Korea. Jen hasn't been getting much sleep lately...

Because Jen got a puppy! Nice to meet you, Norma Jean!

All in all, a busy and fun stopover in LA, one of my least favorite cities in the entire world :)

Introducing my new travel buddy

Look who got upgraded... oh the perks of platinum!

In the last 15 months out here, we’ve assembled somewhat of a routine whenever Nick travels west, which has been fairly frequently until recently. Regardless of his ultimate destination, he always leaves on the 7pm flight to Manila. So ahead of that, I always prepare a hearty non-Asian themed meal (usually Mexican since chances are he won’t eat that in Sri Lanka), which we eat around 4:30 so we can be heading to the airport just after 5. Then I make the hour-long roundtrip to drop him off at the airport, and return home to a quiet, empty house with a kitchen full of dishes from the dinner we just ate together and a week or so by myself on Guam. Laaaaame!

Last Monday, the most amazing thing happened. We ate our 4:30 meatloaf and got in the car to head to the airport, like always. But this time, instead of driving home to an empty house, I too got out of the car, luggage in hand, and headed with Nick into the terminal. For once I got an opportunity to travel with him on one of his work trips. The destination wasn’t so important to me, but the fact that it was to somewhere awesome like Singapore was an added bonus!

The diverse people of Singapore (?)

It’s hard to believe that the country of Singapore is roughly the same size as Guam, yet boasts about 5 million people. The island is entirely urban sprawl and has to be one of the most diverse places on the planet. The train cars, city streets, and shopping malls are full of people from all over Asia and the Middle East. Unlike Japan or Korea, where you can narrow in on the facial features that make someone Japanese vs. Korean, everyone here just looks… brown... Asian. Singapore is essentially the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula but also butts up to Indonesia (a 45-minute ferry ride to the south). The hotel where we stayed was actually only 950m to Malaysia (we contemplated going there for lunch on our last day but instead chose to sleep in and work out… boring, right?).

I must back up a bit… because before we got to Singapore we had an overnight stopover in Manila, which wouldn’t be much to speak of except that my friends there who helped coordinate our mission trip over the summer came to our hotel to meet us! It was great to catch up with Sean and Deling, especially since we may have some other service trips to the orphanage in the works for the future, and nothing quite beats meeting in person to catch up.

Wednesday, my first day in Singapore, I headed into the city by myself using the extremely efficient and easy train system. The forecast for rain was seconded by the heavy clouds, so I opted for an easy first day of shopping. If there’s one thing Singapore knows how to do, it’s shopping malls. There were malls absolutely everywhere… at every train station, every attraction. And then there was Orchard Road, a main city street lined with mall after massive mall, all connected through underground tunnels and overpass walkways, so you never needed to step foot outside! I spent about four hours wandering from shop to fabulous shop, many of them places (like Bershka and Stradivarius) I had not set foot in since studying abroad in Spain in 2003.

And of course, there was Zara, though the fall/winter lines struck again, making it hard to find something I could possibly wear in eternal summer once I get back home. In fact, I had very little to show for myself after four hours of shopping, but I nevertheless enjoyed having an entire day to browse aimlessly in shopping heaven. I've now been to Zaras in 8 different countries in 12 months! That's not obsessive...

Shopping shopping everywhere! Perfect for a rainy day.

One of the signature byproducts of Singapore’s cultural diversity is its incredible selection of foods from all over Asia. There are good restaurants, for sure, but even more than that, Singapore is known for its great food courts, food stalls, and what are known as hawker centers, where food vendors line the sides of a building and the choices are seemingly endless... and cheap! In my first few minutes wandering a mall, I ran into this place. It was only 11 a.m. and I wasn’t even hungry, but this fabulous display before my eyes just had to be consumed. I could have eaten every meal here for a week if give the chance. This plate amounted to about $3.50 U.S. and it was delish.

That afternoon as I was walking “home” to meet Nick (side note: we stayed in a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom suite near his conference... this place was bigger than our house in Guam!), I was taken aback by a rustle in the trees from which a monkey emerged on the road in front of me… and started heading steadily towards me, only stopping when he was about four feet away. I was pretty surprised and not quite sure what to do. So naturally, I took out my camera. And every time I’d raise it up to take a picture, Mr. Monkey would take a few steps back. Pretty sure he wanted the pineapple in my bag. And so did his friends. Which is why I started walking a little faster when EIGHT more monkeys jumped out the tree and started to follow me home. Luckily it was trash day, so they got distracted by the trash cans lining the side of the road, tipping each one of them over looking for goodies. Apparently it’s a $5,000 fine to feed the monkeys. Glad I had a hunch not to!

That night for dinner, we walked to a nearby food court (at a mall by the train station). We got our fill of Asian food favorites and also tried a few new things. Nick had his eye on this Filipino man’s desert, so he went to sneak a bite. Just kidding! That’s Sal, the guy from Nick’s command who also came for the conference. He had a knack for ordering the craziest stuff, and this dessert called “ice kachang” was no exception. Each colorful syrup is flavored, but also tastes like corn. And there are corn pieces atop the shaved ice. And at the bottom of the whole dessert is a super secret surprise… beans! No really, beans. All week long, we found ourselves trying crazy foods (jack fruit chips, durian pancakes) and drinks (sour plum & lime juice, aloe vera water). For every good find, there was a serious disappointment, but win or lose, it was fun to try such distinctly new flavors. 

Ice kachang gets a close up... so you can see the corn... 

the beans are hiding... you can't make this stuff up!

Aloe vera water... this was labeled simply as "Healthy drink" on the menu.

Street vendor making me a durian pancake.

Durian are spiky tangy fruit that grow on trees all over the region.

Colorful Singapore

Day 2, the sun was out, so I trekked back to the trains (via bike… I felt like such a local!) heading to Chinatown for more shopping and eating. My day started with a walk along the Singapore River then wrapped around past several, you got it, shopping malls. I must say, Singapore really takes care in its presentation of buildings and public spaces. 

Singapore's Chinatown 

Once I got to Chinatown, I found myself in one of the cleanest and nicest outdoor markets I’ve been to in Asia. The people weren’t too pushy, there wasn’t a lot of trash on the ground, and there was a good mix of things to buy. And yet I still bought nothing! Okay, so, jaded traveler that I am, all of the Asian markets are starting to look the same (I saw some of the EXACT same clothes here as the Bangkok market). The shopping got to the point where there was so much stuff I could buy, I found myself not wanting any of it. Total backfire. On the other hand, gotta appreciate knowing I have everything I need. And that certainly does not include more junk made in China.

That evening, I met back up with Nick to take him into the city (we were staying on the north end of the island, away from all the action, though convenient to his conference). We started out at the classic Singapore tourist stop, the Raffles Hotel. This is essentially the Hotel Del Coronado of Singapore... iconic, historic, gorgeous. We took our picture and went about our merry way in search of food.

 

 Definitely not in Guam anymore

My favorite travel buddy! (Sorry Jen...)

Tired of the food court scene, we went off in search of a sit-down restaurant that served something that did not come with rice. As we walked down the street (past another dozen shopping malls), I was reminded why I love traveling with Nick. Oh the randomness! It dawned on me that we hadn't traveled together since way back in April when we went to Australia. All these trips we've been taking have been apart. And they're fun, always great to see new places (and I've been lucky to have some awesome travel buddies), but still nothing replaces going to interesting places and trying new things with your number one. I felt extra grateful all week to be here experiencing this place with Nick instead of him reading about it here after the fact.

After harassing more Singapore artsy structures, we found ourselves at another shopping mall (shocking) and asked the concierge if there was a restaurant where we could get meat (surely she gets asked that constantly?). She directed us to an Australian chain called Hippopotamus, where we got rack of lamb (delish!), and I ordered the signature drink, the Singapore Sling (invented at the Raffles Hotel), which my guide book likened to cough syrup, though it was much better than that. About the time our appetizer arrived, I suddenly realized, "Holy crap! We are on a date!" Yes, people, it's been a while. Guam's logistics don't favor going out to eat, certainly not just the two of us, just because. Here we had to come all the way to Singapore to go out on a date. Well worth the trip! And I still have some more trip to go (writing this from the Manila airport), so I'm going to post and head back to Guam, and I'll fill you in on the rest when I get home. Cheers!