Memoirs from Kyoto

If you have ever watched Memoirs
of a Geisha, this is where
part of it was filmed

Jesse and I are back in the good ol’ USA, but before leaving Asia we found the perfect way to end our Asian vacation.  We went to the old capital city of Japan, Kyoto. 

In front of our Ryoken

There have more than once been moments in our travels where things just seem too good to be true (like your just waiting for something bad to happen, but it doesn’t…because God is just that good).  Like when we stayed at a mountain resort in the middle of China for the price of a super 8 …our pizza picnic sitting under the Eiffel Tower…the moment we flew into Cambodia and looked below us to see a floating village… when we got to feed and bath Thai elephants in the middle of the jungle!   Well, our Ryoken (traditional Japanese lodging) was one of those moments. 

Our Japanese garden

We found a good Ryoken off of trip advisor with good reviews and a VERY fair price for the area.  We booked a traditional Japanese room with a shared kitchen and bath area (the way a typical hostel is set up). When we arrived and checked in the kind staff showed us to not only our private room, but private kitchen, dining, and bamboo bath!  The mini house was decorated both on the inside and outside with an authentic Japanese feel…including the garden.  After she left us the key, our mouths dropped open and asked each other “Is this for real?  There must be a mistake?”  We looked around our wonderful Japanese home and discovered another room in our quarters that could have lodged 6 more people.  “Well, that explains it!  We will just have to wait for the others to check in.”  BUT, they never did.  The touristy city of Kyoto, where you need to book months in advance to get a room, happened to have an empty room two nights in a row right next to us.  Thanks God!  We appreciated it!

So this blog is suppose to be about Kyoto, but our highlight was the Ryoken.  We dressed up in our yukatas (robes), brought dinner home each night from 7 eleven instead of eating out, and took lots of hot baths. 

The day before our flights left, we loaded the baskets on our rented bikes full of food, and rode around the city and river visiting temples and shrines.  We even saw a Geisha and Sumo wrestler on Gion Street!  Kyoto was wonderful and relaxing… a perfect way to end our stay.   We couldn’t have had a better time.

We have been so blessed by the amount of traveling we have been

able to do both as singles and now married.  The more places we travel, the desire to see more continues to grow.  We will be excited for our next adventure overseas, but for now it seems like we have more adventures awaiting us in the States.  Jesse is now a seasonal park ranger in New Mexico for the spring and it looks like we will be heading to Yellowstone this summer!  Maybe someday soon God can continue our adventure in a more permanent setting so we can have a place to call home, but for know I can choose to be thankful for all we have gotten to see and do and continue to see and do!

Monkeying Around

As if visiting Mount Fuji, exploring Tokyo, and hanging out with Kate in Asia again weren’t already good enough to consider this vacation an amazing one…we got to have one of our top traveling experiences of a lifetime…VISITING THE JAPANESE MACAQUES!

We kept trying to get this little guy
to look at the camera, but he
was too interested in us

Kate, Jo (Kate’s co-worker), Jesse, and I all made our way to Nagano this last weekend to see the adorable, fluffy, playful, and at times a little frightening Japanese snow monkeys.  Jesse and I rode on an overnight bus and arrived at Nagano very early (4:30am) Saturday morning.  We hung out in the train station waiting for the sun to begin rising before we headed to a Zenkoji Temple.   We listened to the monks greet the new day by ringing bells, chanting, and bopping the visiting Buddhists on the head with a beaded necklace.  Who knows what exactly was going on, but it reminded me of something out of an Indiana Jones movie with all the chanting and smoke rising from all the incenses.  Not our style, but still neat to see and experience.   

No Jesse, you can't take a
Monkey home with us!

However, the best part of the day was getting on an early bus to head an hour outside of Nagano to visit the monkeys.  The trail was gorgeous and looked like a scene from a movie as we traversed our way up the mountain to get to the park.  Once at the park, the monkeys immediately greeted us and were ready for their pictures to be taken.  The park itself is very touristy, but it was the best tourist trap I have ever been to! 

Jesse and I spent the whole day chilling with the monkeys.  Taking turns using our camera or warming up in the main building by the wood burning stove.  We enjoyed watching the monkeys play around, roll/ fall down the steep mountain side, and sit in the hot spring. 

After we were done at the park, we headed back on the once peaceful and tranquil trail only to find it had turned into a death trap.  The beautiful snow covered trees that had captivated us were now dropping mini avalanches of snow from 40-50 feet in the air.  It was a little terrifying walking back and running every time you heard the branches begin to crack!  Thankfully we only got a light dusting of snow on our heads at times nor did we witness anyone getting hit and knocked out J 

It was another lovely weekend in Japan.  Our vacation is coming to an end, but we are happy with the way it has turned out and will continue to enjoy our last few days here in Asia. 

Mnt. Fuji-san

Last weekend, Jesse, Kate, and I ventured off towards the 5 lakes region near Mount Fuji.  It was a great weekend full of udon noodles, onigiri, sight-seeing, and fun!

 

Saturday:

1:00- Arrived at lake Kawaguchiko

1:00-3:00- Ate onigiri (Japanese rice balls) by the lake and wandered around trying to find Mnt. Fuji

3:00- Checked into our Ryoken and discovered a partial view of Fuji hidden by clouds

4:30- Jesse wandered off to attempt some sunset pictures (still no Mountain) while Kate and I wandered around looking for a good place to eat Udon noodles (fat noodles famous in the fuji area) and drank some hot lemon tea instead

6:30- Dinner at the train station!  For Jesse, Udon Noodles with horse meat.   For Kate and I, Udon Noodles with veggies.

8:00- Firework display over the lake including never before seen (by us) fireworks in the shape of cats, frogs, smiley faces, flowers, ghosts (?), and hearts.

Sunday:

6:00-  Jesse gets up for some sunrise pics (success! Clear skies)

7:00- Teresa gets up to try and find Jesse and ends up on a nice long, cold, walk around the lake with perfect views of Fuji

9:00-  All 3 of us travel to Lake Saiko by bus for more great views of Fuji and some spelunking

10:00-  Spelunking in an ice cave.  Pretty impressive and great price with our discount thanks to the fujigoko enjoy ticket!

11:30-  Arrived in an old traditional village with more awesome views of Fuji.  J and K explored, while I sat and sketched

12:45ish- Attempt #1 getting on the bus to head back to Lake Kawaguchiko… (no show)

1:15ish-  Attempt #2  to board the bus…(still no show)

1:30- Gave up waiting at the bus stop and walked towards a tour bus / large group of Asians taking pictures around the corner in the most BREATH TAKING, GORGEOUS, STUNNING, view of the Mountain we had seen yet.  Definitely worth 2 busses not showing up on schedule J

2:00- finished eating our snack/lunch on the shore of the lake and headed back to the bus stop for Attempt #3…  success! 

3:00-  Arrived back at the train/bus station with enough time to grab some more food at the 7 eleven and wait for our 4:00 departure back to Tokyo.

 

So what are the things that go into making a great weekend?

Getting to spend time with Kate and my husband: check.   

Getting to see Mnt. Fuji on a clear day: check

Capturing some great mountain shots:  check 

Going caving in yet another country: check

Once in a lifetime experience:  check!

Taste of Tokyo

 

 

We have been in Tokyo for close to a week and in that week we have discovered a few things…

 1. Japanese people are much different than Koreans.  Not a bad thing, but a lot more quiet and reserved

Eating WHALE!!

2.  Even though the culture tends to be reserved, individuals still find unique and weird ways of expressing themselves through their clothing (If I didn’t know any better, I would think it was Halloween everyday in certain parks/streets!) 

3.  The dogs in Tokyo dress just as strange as the people.  What is even stranger, is the dogs seem to enjoy wearing their sweater vests, leggings, and even sunglasses J

4.  Tokyo is busy…but not as busy as you would think for being the largest city in the world.  It is spread out far but not really built upward (because of earthquakes) that you can either find yourself in the world’s busiest intersection (been there and done that) or the only one in a peaceful back alley street. 

5.  Japanese food is WONDERFUL!  We never cared much for all the Korean creations they were put before us at meal times, but here in Japan they know what they are doing.

Last week Kate took us to one of her favorite restaurants in Shibuya, a sushi bar.  We never knew all the different ways sushi could be made!  Jesse nearly fell off his chair when he discovered the whale sushi on the menu.  We ordered our selection via a touch screen and then a toy train brought our food right up to our table- how is that for service?! 

 

Tokyo, we have been pleased so far with everything.  We are excited for what else is in store! 

Third Times the Charm...



stopping to eat lunch in an unknown location after
 getting lost in Kate's neighborhood

Well, we finally made it to Tokyo!  We weren’t sure we would make it, but we landed safely at Narita airport, navigated our way to Yoyogi Uehara subway station, and met up with our friend Kate Staples at the nearby Starbucks. 

We are enjoying Asia and in lots of ways it just feels like coming home to something familiar.  No culture shock.  No worrying about getting lost (been there and done that…we always manage to find our way).  And no frustration about the language barrier/lack of English (you just learn to go with the flow).

Honestly, the most anxiety we have had so far was still in America when I (Teresa) stupidly walked through a gate at the seattle airport, cutting me off from Jesse and our connecting flight to Tokyo.  Forget about the guard standing by the gate or all the “do not enter/ exit” signs.  Nooo, why would I pay any attention to those?  I was too concerned about finding the snack bar!  I am sure I looked pretty silly jumping up and down, waving my arms and trying to yell through the sound proof glass to let me husband know I had made a terrible mistake and couldn’t get back through.  I pleaded with the guard a little but to no avail I still needed to restart the process of checking into the airport, and going through all of security.  Thankfully the line wasn’t terrible long and we still had a good hour before boarding time, so all was well and we even made it to the united club in time to grab some snacks for the 10 hr. flight. 

So far so good!  I am feeling better (got sick Saturday morning).  Jesse has not gotten sick (phew!)  And it has been great catching up with the wonderful Kate Staples.  We are all 3 looking forward to continuing our adventures in Asia over the next few weeks J 

Hey Ranger!

At last...the long awaited glamour shots of us in our volunteer ranger uniforms....

Teresa high atop El Morro, examining some
 petroglyphs with Ranger Lee

 

The brave rangers out on patrol

 

Working the Register



 

And possibly the most exciting news since we've arrived.... Jesse will soon be trading in his Volunteer uniform for the REAL THING! Starting next February Jesse will be a National Park Ranger here at El Morro.

National Parks of the Southwest

Good news everyone!  We have been able to start volunteering (oh, New Mexico, you were worth us packing our bags once again and moving).  Perhaps even better news is that we have been able to visit two National Parks in the last two weeks J 

Grand Canyon Sunset

First stop Grand Canyon.  We visited the park right before the government reopened and it was being run by the State.  Thank you governor of Arizona - we appreciated your decision.  We spent close to 3 days camping, taking pictures, hiking the rim, and a very steep hike to the bottom of the canyon and back up.  Even though our legs didn’t appreciate the trip, we had a wonderful time! 

Lunch at the bottom of the Canyon



We just got back from a trip to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  The park is famous for its ancient cliff dwellings…which we got to hike right up to!  It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has some of the most amazing ruins we have ever seen in our travels.  One of our favorite ruins was Spruce Tree House that has a wonderful canyon trail linked to it.  Once we hiked to the bottom of the canyon in became apparent we weren’t the only ones who enjoyed this trail.  Yes folks, we saw so much bear scat that we lost count after 2 wet, fresh, piles of poo and a paw print. 

Mesa Verde

The Southwest has treated us well so far and we hope to continue to fill our weekends with wonderful outings.

By the way, check our blog soon for pictures of us sporting our new volunteer ranger outfits!