It's the circle of life!!

Congratulations to John and Eva who just welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world back at home. Welcome to the world Eve!!! I really don't know any more details but I just found out and I can't wait to go home to meet this little bundle of joy!

In other news, its our last day in Japan today and we're off to Hong Kong bright and early tomorrow. We're definitely going to miss Japan and most of all Kyle!!

Stay tuned for more updates!!

Shake, Shake, Shake...

Those of you who keep up with the news may have heard that there was an earthquake in Japan early this morning. We just wanted to let everyone know that we're fine.

We were actually awake in Kyle's apartment when it happened--sometime after midnight--and the walls started to shake all of a sudden. Sitting on the floor, Lydia and I gave each other "What the hell?" looks, but Kyle, unconcerned, just said, "So yeah, this is an earthquake."

We ended up just sitting on the floor waiting it out for the next few seconds, which in retrospect was pretty dumb, since all the survival guides say to stand under a doorway. Fortunately, it was relatively small in our area (we found out after surfing the net that it was much worse to the north of us). Nothing fell, nothing broke, just a little shaking.

Ha ha! This is Kyle terrorizing Althea and Lydia's blog for the moment. Serves them right for leaving their blog alone on my laptop!

I'm going to advertise my own travel blog here wee!

http://karoo-o.blogspot.com

Back in Tokyo!

Quick update. Lydia and I just arrived back at Kyle's place after a crazy 2 week whirlwind tour of Japan.

Stay tuned for reports about Kyoto, Takayama, and Nagoya...AND SUMO!

The Postcard Request Post

Lydia started writing some postcards to a few of her friends and I thought that was an awesome idea in a cute, old school, pre-Internet sort of way. Unfortunately, the only address I have in my memory bank is my own, so I decided to create a postcard request post.

Basically, if you want a postcard from Japan (or Hong Kong or Thailand) then reply with your address. Or alternatively, if you are all anal about putting your address on the public innertubes, then e-mail us at twogirlsonetrip@yahoo.com.

Posting Comments: A Tutorial for N00bs

So apparently some people (mom) have been having difficulties posting comments. In response, I have decided to create a tutorial to help some people out. Remember everyone, I love comments. So post, dammit, post!

Step 1.
Click the link at the bottom of the post you wish to respond to. It says POST COMMENT. Stay with me, it gets more complicated from here.


Step 2.
A little window like this should pop up.

If no window pops up, your browser is probably blocking pop-ups. This means you need to unblock them. Thats a whole other tutorial, so if you dont know how to do this, go find a teenager to help you.

Step 3.
Write your comment. Make it flattering.


Step 4.
Now you need to do the word verification thing. Just read the leters in the picture and copy them into the text box.

In this case, its nisitda. Do it carefully because if you get the letters wrong, your comment wont post and I will be sad.

Step 5.
Now you have to choose your identity.

I think this is where people are having trouble. The default choice asks you to input your Blogger account info. But you do not, I repeat, do not need an account. You just have to select a different identity.

You have two options here. First, you can click Anonymous and leave a comment without your name. But thats creepy, so dont do that. Instead, click on the option that says Name/URL. New text boxes will appear.


Step 6.
Enter your name.


Step 7.
Hit the button that says PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT and youre done.


Easy peasy Japanesey! Now post away!!!

Matsuri time!!

This post is brought to you from a cubicle at the internet cafe Rounge in Nagoya. For reasons unknown, but probably due to our lack of Japanese comprehension, Althea and I are forced to share a computer in one cubicle. We've read that in recent years, these internet cafes have actually become temporary homes for homeless businessmen who lost their jobs. In any case, we get free unlimited drinks and a little cubicle to ourselves for however long we want it (as long as we pay of course). My only distraction is Althea, who is listening to music on headphones while I type, asking me to change songs for her every few minutes.

Anyway we did so much in our week in Kyoto but never got the time to post so lets get right to it! Throughout the whole month of July of every year, a huge festival takes place in Kyoto called the Gion Matsuri. On July 17th, a huge parade occurs on several of the main streets in downtown where dozens of men push around 30 plus floats around. The floats are made of wood and only held together by rope and several of them are about 20-30m in height.

The float is so tall that it doesn't really fit into the frame

Omigod the people!

It takes about 30 or 40 men just to pull the float.

The entire parade lasts about 4 hours but we didn't stay for the whole thing because it was 35 degrees out and it seemed like all the people of Kyoto had gathered onto the same street we did. Luckily, we went to the street where the parade would end and actually got to see the floats 'dock' back at the place where they started the parade.

The great thing about the Matsuri is that in the 2 or 3 nights before the actual parade, they have a huge street festival where they closed down 2 of the major downtown streets at night and set up food and game stalls. I liken it to the 'Taste of the Danforth' back in T.O. except with ten times more people. The first time we went with Kyle, we had already had dinner so we didn't eat anything but Althea and I decided that we would return the next night just to eat. Although most of the stalls had similar foods (there were really only 7 or 8 different types of food in all), each stall was packed with people all the same.

Smell Ya Later, Kyoto

After 8 days and 8 nights, Lydia and I are just about to leave Kyoto and continue on to Takayama. We've actually done quite a bit this week, but we've been terrible bloggers. When internet access costs 100 yen for 20 minutes, the last thing you want to do is upload pictures and compose posts, especially when there are so many youtube videos of So You Think You Can Dance waiting to be watched.

We'll post our pictures of Kyoto eventually (fingers crossed!), so stay tuned. Some highlights include:

+ our stay at a Zen Buddhist temple

+ the Gion matsuri

+ temples...lots and lots and lots and lots of them

And no, unfortunately we did not see any geishas despite our many hours of geisha hunting. That, I think, will be my greatest regret. I possibly may have seen one during the matsuri, but she might have been a fake.

Anyway, as I said, Lydia and I are headed to Takayama, a small-ish village known for its Edo period architecture. I'm actually really excited to take it slow these next couple of days since I think that all the uber touristy sightseeing has left me and Lyds burnt out.

We're going to be staying at a traditional inn, where--listen to this--there are only communal bathing rooms. That means in a couple of days, we will either be incredibly comfortable with public nudity or we will be incredibly smelly. We'll see...

Osaka and Kyoto

So after Hiroshima, Althea and I headed off to Osaka. Now I may be horribly misinformed but some of the friends I've spoken to who visited Osaka told me that there wasn't very many interesting spots there and from my research it didn't seem very interesting either so I admit that I didn't really plan to do anything there. Our main attraction for Osaka was the capsule hotel that we were staying in. The only other capsule hotel that I know of that also takes women guests is in Tokyo so we were very excited. For those who don't know what a capsule hotel is, it is basically an accomodation service originally designed for businessmen who, after a night of work or drinking, don't want to go all the way home (since they have to get back to work early the next morning) and need a place to relax. Instead of rooms, they offer you a capsule to sleep in which resembles, for the lack of a better word, a coffin.

An entire room of capsules

Its actually quite roomy once you get inside but then again I'm 5 foot 6 and a girl. I've talked to some guys who are taller than 6 feet and they find it quite cramped. Inside the capsule, there is a mirror, a clock radio, a light and a tv. There is also a little coin box beside the tv which is the magical box that turns on the porn channels for the low, low cost of 100 yen. Needless to say, I totally didn't use that box. There's also a screen at the opening of the capsule that you can pull down for a little privacy but you can totally hear anyone who is walking past your capsule. As I said, the whole capsule hotel concept was designed for people who just don't want to make the long trek home but still want a place to rest or take a shower so most of the clientele there only have a purse and the clothes off their back to put in their lockers. This was why it was slightly embarassing when Althea and I had to unpack most of our suitcases just to fit it into the tiny lockers they provide you. Nonetheless, our night spent at the capsule hotel was a memorable one and the beds were surprisingly comfortable which provided us some much needed sleep to get us ready for Kyoto.

Once we got to Kyoto which was only about half an hour away, we immediately checked in to our hostel to drop off our luggage. The hostel that we're staying at is actually really cool because it has a huge common area where people can mingle, eat or use the computer. We were really lucky because we met a great group of people who were bunked together in one room. They came all over Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the U.S. We hung out with them that night and exchanged travel stories and recommendations on where to eat or where to stay. Althea and I had been really looking forward to speaking to fellow travellers so needless to say, we had a blast. Unfortunately we all had to go our separate ways the next morning but it was amazing just to meet such a great group of people.

A Post to Depress You

When Lydia and I were in Hiroshima a few days ago, we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a collection devoted to the atomic bomb attacks in 1945. If you are a huge nerd, as we both are, then I highly recommend it. Even if you're not a nerd, I recommend it, but either way, put your learning cap on and don't forget to bring some Kleenex.

I had read that visiting the museum is an intense experience and I agree, which really says something when you consider that Lydia and I both have hearts of stone. The heaviest part was near the end, where there were displays of clothing, possessions and remains of A-Bomb victims. If you ever wanted to know what 50+ year old pieces of hair, skin and nails look like (you creepy, sick person), you can find it there.

One thing I was really impressed with was how balanced the displays were. I never felt like they were painting the Japanese out to be victims; in fact, it seemed like they were taking responsiblity for all the events that led up to the attack.

At first, I thought it might be somewhat disrespectful to take pictures, but then I saw some tourists shooting photos....with flash. How rude. So I thought I could at least be less Gaijin than that and I snapped away.

The museum

Hiroshima before...

...and after

A globe showing the distribution of nuclear arms around the world...Guess who has the most?

Upclose you can see the skin melting off their hands

Peace Memorial Hall

The fountain clock in the middle reads 8:15, the moment the bomb dropped

Don't worry, we're still alive!

Sorry for the lack of posts! Althea and I are travelling around Kyoto with Will and Kyle who had a few days off from work. Internet access is kind of limited since we're staying at a Zen temple (!!) at the moment but Althea and I will definitely post in a day or 2 when we get back to our awesome hostel in Kyoto. And for those who are curious, we have yet to see a geisha...

Lost in translation?

After Althea and I got off the ferryboat from Miyajima, she suddenly looked at me and suggested that we climb up to the Peace Pagoda on the mountain behind Hiroshima Station. We had read that we can get an amazing view of all of Hiroshima once we get up there and Althea was really intent on taking a panoramic shot of the view. What we failed to realise was that we were both terribly out of shape, a condition aided by the fact that we've had a daily serving of ice cream since we arrived in Japan a week ago. By the time we realised that the climb was more strenuous than we thought, we were already halfway up the mountain and we were determined to make it to the top. As we got closer to the pagoda, the road got steeper and we were both drenched in sweat but before long, we finally saw a plateau in the road where the trees cleared and we were sure we were finally there.

The light at the end of the tunnel!

As soon as we walked up the steps leading to the pagoda, we were met by an older, extremely tan Japanese man who took one look at our sweaty faces panting for air and smiled and gave us the thumbs up. We came to realise that he was somewhat of a groundskeeper of the pagoda as he immediately started to speak to us in Japanese and gesturing towards the pagoda. We, of course, had no idea what he was saying so we just looked at what he was gesturing and guessed that he was telling us to climb the pagoda to get a better view. The pagoda itself was a circular building with three different levels. We climbed up the first level but weren't tall enough (or strong enough) to hoist ourselves to the second level. The man soon returned and motioned for me to follow him to the back of the pagoda where he showed me a door (all the while speaking Japanese while I just nodded and used one of the 5 or 6 Japanese phrases I knew). He took out a set of keys and opened the door to show us a dark staircase leading into the pagoda itself. He then gestured to the top of the pagoda so I took it to mean that we can go inside and climb up to the top. Althea and I took one look at each other, another look at the dark abyss the staircase lead into and told the guy that we were fine with staying outside. He closed the door and gestured that I could give myself a boost up to the second level by stepping onto the sunken handle of the door.

View of Hiroshima on the Peace Pagoda

Once we got up there, Althea went back to taking pictures while I 'talked' to the man since my camera batteries had died earlier. Now when I say 'talk', I mean he talked animatedly while I tried to interpret what he was saying by his hand motions. Somehow we managed to convey that we were from Canada and I didn't understand Japanese and he in turn said something about America and Hawaii. He didn't seem to mind that I didn't understand and he continued to talk. I think that because he spent so much time alone on the mountain, he was content with just having someone to talk to. He gestured for the two of us to walk over to a golden statue of a buddha and pray.

Peace Pagoda with Golden Buddha
He brought out some incense and a string of beads and started chanting something in Japanese in what I think was a sort of blessing ritual. After we were done we asked him if we could get a picture of him, a question which took him for surprise.

The picture of him that we took actually didn't capture his essence because he was actually smiling and laughing the whole time we talked with him, he was smiling. He gestured to his short ponytail and then pretended to take a sword out of a hilt on his side and then started to make swinging motions with an imaginary sword to which Althea excitedly exclaimed "Samurai!" and he laughed while continuing to swing his pretend sword. We then left him with a handshake and our thanks and made our way back down the mountain which was unsurprisingly a much easier and shorter journey.

Day Trippin' at Miyajima

On Wednesday, Lydia and I visited Miyajima, a touristy island known for the floating torii gates. I, on the other hand, firmly believe that the island's coolest feature is something else: the deer.



Now, when I say that Miyajima is filled with deer, I don't mean that they live in the woods and if you're lucky, you'll see one peeking out from behind the brush. No, these deer are strolling about the street, lounging around in the shade and mingling with the townsfolk. As soon as we stepped off the ferry, I saw this man on a bench shooting the breeze with a few of them.



You do have to be careful though--not because they'll attack you but because if you have any paper in your hands (a ticket, for instance) they will rush towards you and eat it. We watched in hilarity as one Asian tourist walked up to one and it mercilessly devoured his guide map. But apparently, there was no ill will between the two of them be cause he got down on one knee beside the deer and snapped some one-handed Facebook-style pictures with his new friend.

Lydia and I were nervous to approach the deer at first, but soon we warmed up tot hem and by the time we left, we were all good buddies. Mom, Dad, when I get home, I am buying a pet deer.



We did other stuff, too. Like...

visit the Itsukushima Shrine...



look at the floating torii gates and and take some obligatory gate pictures...



and attempt to steal the world's largest rice scoop.



We also climbed halfway up a mountain to visit the Daishoin temple. Lydia and I are both relatively out of shape for 22-year-old women, so this was a big deal. It was worth it, though; the mountain was crazy beautiful.



There were also lots and lots and lots of Buddha statues everywhere that eerily resembled garden gnomes. This one was my favourite:



We ended our day at Miyajima by sampling the local specialty: momiji manjū, little maple leaf shaped cakes filled with various flavours. Ours were chocolate and custard. The maple leaves reminded me of home.

Hiroshima

*Disclaimer: Please excuse the poor punctution and typos as I am writing this post on a messed up Japanese keyboard and I can"t figure out where the friggin" apostrophe is...

Lydia and I arrived in Hiroshima this afternoon and started our sightseeing right away. After all, time is money, the early bird gets the worm, and so on and so forth.

Our hostel is conveniently located near Peace Memorial Park and other A-Bomb sights, so we decided to go for a little stroll. Hiroshima (or at least the small part we've seen so far) seems to be a lot more laid-back than Tokyo. Walking through the park was very relaxing, but also humbling when you think about what happened there. Among all the statues and monuments that we saw, peace seemed to be a recurring theme, for obvious reasons.

We stumbled upon what I assumed was a peace demonstration. I couldn"t understand a word that man was saying, but there were a bunch of people wearing shirts that said "No to War."

The Aioi Bridge. This is what the pilots used as a target when they dropped the bomb.

Children"s Peace Memorial. In the middle is a statue of Sadako whose claim to fame involves a thousand paper cranes. I loved this story as child. If you haven't heard of it, please read it and prepare to bawl your eyes out.

Some of many, many, many paper cranes that have been left in front of various statues in the park.

A mound of ashes from the victims of the bombing

And now, in an attempt to end this post on a lighter note, here is a pcitures of me and Lydia enjoying the first piece of fruit (close enough anyway) that we've had since arriving in Japan. Oh Vitamin C, how we have missed you.

Posting Comments: Me No Internet So Good

So I'm not sure how many people actually read this blog, but if any of you were hoping to post a comment (which you definitely should do, by the way--make your presence known, you creepy lurkers) but were not able to without having a Blogger account, I apologize.

We fixed it and now you can post comments as guests, so go ahead, post away!

Tokyo: Old crosses new

Althea and I headed over to Asakusa, most famous for its temple Senso-ji with its distinctive red lantern at its gates. We were told that it was a very busy tourist area and this was confirmed by the fact that most of the people there were either speaking english or chinese. I have been noticing a lot of chinese tourists on this trip and I keep pointing it out because it feels like I'm back in T.O.

Kaminarimon gate with long corridor of shops

Happy tourists!

Later we headed over to Shibuya which for those who have not been there, is usually the clips or photos you see when people are trying to describe the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. As soon as we stepped out of the subway, we were left momentarily breathless with the sheer amount of people! Turns out, we had just exited right at the corner of the famous Shibuya crossing. This crossing has a special light that is only for pedestrians so that every few minutes, the cars stop and a rush of people is released from all four corners of the intersection. Althea and I just watched in awe for a few minutes before actually crossing ourselves. This proved to be harder than it seemed mostly because the people walking are looking at each other, at their cellphone or at the big television screens on the buildings but definitely not at the road in front of them. We were told later that Shibuya wasn't even considered crowded that day so we plan on going back on a weekend.

Throngs of people at Shibuya

We walked around the shops of Shibuya for the rest of the evening. Shibuya is very popular with young people because of their cool, hip clothes. What we discovered though is that this is also the place where Japanese girls with nasally, faux-cutesy voices congregate. Once I pointed it out to Althea that this kind of cute personality is very popular in Japan and Taiwan and all girls try to talk like they have a perennial cold, she couldn't stop noticing it. It was kind of amusing to look over at her and see her physically cringe when she heard the girls working at the shops shout out the latest deals in that voice.

Fish Market of Death

On Tuesday, Lydia, Kyle and I woke up at an ungodly hour and hopped on a train to Ginza. Our mission: the Tsukiji fish market.

Tsukiji market is a big wholesale seafood market (the largest in the world, at least according to Wikpedia) meant for people who need to buy large amounts of fish, like restaurant owners and people with pet whales. A sign outside the property says that visitors are allowed in as long as they stay the hell out of the way and try not to get killed, which is actually much harder than it sounds.

The market is intense. And also dangerous. Very dangerous. Inside the covered building, there are rows and rows of vendors showcasing an array of seafood, a lot of which was unrecognizable to me. Every which way there are guys cleaning, gutting, and hacking away at giant fish using what look like samurai swords. It would have been a great photo op except that if you try to stand still for even a second, you run the risk of being run over by one of the mini-forklifts that were traveling way too fast along paths that were way too narrow. Every so often, Lydia would grab my arm and pull me back as one of these vehicles zoomed right past me.




A guy, who unlike us, actually belonged in the market

One of the guys who tried to run us over with his ta-ray
The four of us (now joined by Will) wandered the market for about half an hour before deciding that it was no longer wise to tempt fate like this. We managed to escape the market unscathed, with all our limbs more or less intact. Our next mission: a sushi breakfast.

After a bit of searching, we found a restaurant around the market that actually had some affordable sushi. We ordered and watched the sushi chef prepare our dishes for us. When they arrived at our table...I just stared at it. Unfortunately, the nausea I had been feeling all morning (presumably from waking up at an ungodly hour) had finally caught up with me and the only thing I wanted to do at that moment was throw up. I felt all sorts of guilty for not eating it, especially when they chef asked Kyle if his food disgusted me or something. I thought I had offended him. Kyle said that no, he probably just felt as though he had failed me and was disappointed in himself. This did not make me feel better.

The sushi breakfast that I didn't eat
As it turns out, it was actually a good idea that I didn't try to force feed myself the sushi since ten minutes later, on a busy street corner in Ginza, I vomited into a plastic bag. As bad as I felt about not eating the sushi, it would have been much worse if I had eaten it, and then threw it right back up all over the counter.