Back in Bangkok

Earlier this month, I was back in Bangkok - but this time with Greg and Cynthia, their first time to Thailand. We spent our first few days around the city doing some shopping, getting massages, and visiting all the famous temples.

Our first stops were Wat Po, The Grand Palace, and Wat Arun.

The temples from afar look pretty, but it's not until you get up close that you can see exactly how much detail and work went into building them.

Inside the temples can be equally as impressive with buddha statues - big and small, gold leaf and jade - sorry no photos are allowed of the famous jade buddha.

The reclining buddha is absolutely massive and it is practically impossible to take a full body photo, but the crowds of pushing tourists trying to also get the exact same photo make it even more challenging. 

Greg and Cynthia also did some shopping at Patpong night market. 

We took a day tour to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. On the drive outside the city we hit some scattered rain showers but by the time we arrived at our long tail boat the weather had cleared up - for a bit anyways. 

The first thing we did upon arriving at the market was to get some coconut pancakes. This was my first time to try them and they were so good - so good that I got seconds later! The lady had a large gas griddle on her boat and a long bamboo pole with a basket on the end to transfer the pancakes to her customers' boats and collect their money. 

After we had our coconut pancakes, the rain started up again. As the next thing to do was to take a boat ride along the canal in an open top paddle boat, we decided to do some shopping first in hopes that the rain would stop.

After the rain died down a bit, we got into a paddle boat so that we could visit the canal stores. Most of the booths along the canals were lined with tourist souvenirs. Something caught Cynthia's eye, so we pulled the boat over for a closer look.

After touring the market we had a traditional Thai lunch. Greg had his staple Thai dish - sticky rice with mango. Our tour guide always takes her tour groups to this particular stall. I mentioned to the tour guide that the ingredients were very fresh and before we knew it, we were being invited to check out the owner's personal garden where most of her vegetables and chilies come from.

We were given the option of taking a detour on the way back to Bangkok to see the train tracks market. Having seen it online but never in person, I jumped at the opportunity. The local market is set up along the train tracks and when the train comes (twice a day), the vendors have to quickly move all of their wares that are in danger of getting hit and damaged by the passing train. However, some things were left in place as the train passed by above them - missing them by mere inches.

This was a true local Thai market, they even had frogs for sale - with and without skin. I don't think even a Coke would help wash that down!

Just before the train came, an alarm sounds giving the vendors warning.

Passing just above the fruits and vegetables.

Our Quest to See Mt. Fuji

We took a day tour to Mt Fuji and as it is a bit outside of the city, we got started very early. After almost 2 hours we finally made it to our first destination -  Mt. Fuji's 5th Station, the highest point you can drive up to by car - after that you have to walk. The weather was not cooperating so it was cold and cloudy which unfortunately prevented us from seeing the summit. 

On the way down, we stopped at Lake Kawaguchiko for some lunch then we were off to Lake Ashi for a cruise.

The view from the water of all of the trees changing color was beautiful!

Then, we took the Hakone Komagatake Ropeway (gondola ride) which gave great views of Lake Ashinoko and the surrounding mountains. We also got a better view of Mt. Fuji.

That is Mt. Fji on the far fight, the clouds still covering the top.

 There were plenty of walking trails all over the place.

We got the last gondola back down to the base that day and then started our long trek back to Tokyo... However, the return trip was 1 hour shorter because...

.....we opted to take the famous bullet train back to Tokyo. We were not in the fastest bullet train because that particular one stops only at the largest train stations,  but our train was very smooth and very very fast. We were very impressed! Until next time, Tokyo!

Konnichiwa Tokyo

We arrived in Tokyo early in the morning. After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we headed straight to the subway to start exploring the famous city!  Tokyo's subway system is so large that it has several subway companies operating lines which means that you have to buy separate tickets when transiting between lines of different companies. We figured it out eventually but it almost doubled the cost of traveling on the subway (their subway system makes Hong Kong's look like child's play!) 

Tokyo Station is one of the largest subway stations in the city. It is a beautiful building and again looks more like something you would find in Europe. 

 

We signed up for Tokyo's version of the hop on hop off bus. Our first stop was the Tokyo Skytree Tower to check out the view of the city from up there. After locating the line for tickets, we were a little discouraged as the line was very long - but it was moving. When we were finally able to even see the ticket counter we thought we were getting close, but the line just swept to the back of that room too.




It took us over 1.5 hours just to purchase our tickets and then we had to wait in yet another line for the elevator to take us up to the top.

Finally, we made it to the top, but it was just as crowded up there. It took a bit of waiting and a little pushing but we finally got some window space. The views were incredible! Tokyo is absolutely massive! In certain directions you could see all the way to the horizon, but towards downtown it was covered in a layer of smog.

Like most tourist hotspots there were several groups of young kids with their English classes asking questions to foreigners. We were stopped at least 5 times - guess we look pretty approachable - that or they knew just by looking at us that we were American and not European (native English speakers). In exchange for our participation in their assignment, the kids gave us cute origami cranes that they had made. We now have a small collection...

The Japanese are really into Halloween - people dressing up and intricate decorations throughout the city that would rival the Christmas decorations in most malls in the US. McDonald's was advertising this special burger for the occasion... egg yolk, squid ink sauce, set in a black bun.. yep pretty scary! No thank you! 

We passed a Turkish gyro stand which had Turkish icecream.. If you have never tried it, you must! It is creamy and amazing...we love it! 

After dinner, we saw the Tokyo Tower lit up and thought it looked close so we started walking towards it. With a tower that big, the distance was very deceiving... but we finally made it. Melissa's activity tracker said we walked 8.6 miles that day - I believe it!

The Tokyo Tower is not as tall as the Skytree, but the night views were very nice.Tokyo Tower is synonymous with Tokyo and until 2012 when Skytree opened, it was the only tower in the city. Supposedly, the older Japanese prefer Tokyo Tower (which was built in the 1950s) and the younger Japanese prefer Skytree.

We really wanted to go to the tuna auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market but after talking with the concierge at the hotel we decided against it. Only a small number of tickets are given out each day (less than 150) and you have to get to the market at 2:30 am to attempt to secure your spot. It's a very popular tourist activity so the lines start early - over 2 hours before the auction starts!

With that being said, we decided to just walk through the market  by ourselves. Japan's huge coastline and landmass gives it access to fish that swim in warm and cold currents. There were so many different types of fish and shellfish, many of which we have never seen before. Most of the people shopping there seemed to be shopping for sushi restaurants.

Around the fish market there are small sushi restaurants which we wanted to try, but the lines were like all the other ones in Japan..LONG...

Our time in Japan was slowly drawing to a close and I still had not had the Japanese pork cutlet yet, so we sought it out instead. It was good, but not overwhelming.

If you have been to Waikiki, Hawaii you have no doubt seen it - the strange wax food most Japanese restaurants showcase in their front windows to draw in customers. We always got a chuckle out of it when we saw it (nothing in wax really looks appetizing), but MOST restaurants in Japan have this. We later found out it was supposedly for non Japanese speakers, but I don't buy it as there is not one word in English on the displays. When something is coated and deep fried it is really hard to tell what type of meat it is, unless you see the shrimp tail.

Tokyo Imperial Palace is a beautiful green space in the middle of central Tokyo. We took advantage of the nice weather and followed the locals by having a seat on the Palace park for a bit of a rest.

Beautiful tree lined pedestrian street infront of Tokyo station.

One evening we took the hop on bus which gave a completely different perspective of the city with all the famous neon signs.