This is a video from a Chinese lantern festival we went to in Yokohama. The dragon dances in front of all the shops that give it money. The bigger the donation the louder the music.

Quinn wanted me to take this picture for all of you motorcycle enthusiasts in the states. Here in Japan, scooters are the rides you want to pimp out. I can see a new reality tv show already.

Here is a pic of our friends at the lantern festival. Just wanted to add some faces to the names you all hear about. Heidi and Felix are standing next to me. They are married and their collective nickname is Helix. Rob is behind me and his wife Chelsea is to the right. Their collective nickname is Chob. I did not make up these nicknames. These are courtesy of our neighbors Julie and Kyle who I call Jyles or Kulie. I bet you can guess what our nickname is....Quisten. We obviously have a lot of time on our hands over here There is one other couple that you saw in the previous video and that is Candice and Drew (Drandice). That pretty much makes up the core group of people we spend most of our weekends with. There is also Steve who you will see later in Halloween pictures. His name is just Steve. There is no one else like Steve

This is kind of dark but it is a picture from when we went to the middle eastern restaurant with Japanese belly dancers.

In Japan, when you take your food home it is still called a doggy bag. Here is our doggy bag.

More beautiful flowers.

Halloween is a big thing here on the base. They let Americans sponsor about 5-10 Japanese kids onto the base for trick or treating. This picture was taken 2 hours before they are allowed to come in and already the line was getting long. I sponsored on two of our friends Ayumi and Stephen. She is Japanese and he is British. Quinn runs with Stephen sometimes. We just recently met them and they have been a lot of fun.

Onto the Halloween costumes. This is our neighbor/friend Matt and he was a hot dog vendor.

Candice was a jelly fish.

Felix was Dr. Oz and Mary was Stitch.

This is Chelsea and our friend who teaches Taiko drumming (I can't recall her name right now). They were Greek goddesses and had attended a Japanese costume parade earlier in the day.

Steve was Zohan and completely crazy all night shouting "disco disco."

The girls

Drew won best costume....although no one could agree on exactly what he was.

The boys

I was a combination Harajuku girl and little bo peep.

Kyle's family was visiting and they had a combination costume to go with Kyle's beloved Mini Cooper.

Quite a fun Halloween party this year over at Kyle's. Where in the world where we be next year?

Miss you all. Send me an e-mail or Skype me. Yes, I am talking to YOU!

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For those of you who heard about the typhoon, it was a big bust. (Typhoon is basically a hurricane that spins backwards) We got the day off of work and it rained and there was a little wind until about 10 am and then it was beautiful the rest of the day. It was nice to have a day off mid week to sit around and relax.

It was Oktoberfest again two weekends ago down in Yokohama. We got a really big group together this time and went down to Yokohama. The night before we went out and partied in downtown Yokohama. We went to a middle eastern restaurant and they had a Japanese belly dancer show. Of course, Quinn was the first one to get pulled up onto stage. Then we went and did Karaoke. Japanese Karaoke is funny because you don't do it in a bar. You go into your own personal Karaoke room for you and your friends and you have a personal television and sound system to sing your songs.

Last weekend was full of races. We watched a University race down at Showa Park. There were about 20 Universities represented there and it was the most I had ever heard the Japanese scream and cheer. Apparently, Japanese running is the equivalent of college football. Very lively. Then Quinn ran a 20K on Sunday.

Quinn leaves tomorrow for his training in Mississippi. He will be gone for an entire month. So I will probably be pretty lonely here. Feel free to send me e-mails or Skype me.

For those of you who have been asking, we finally booked our tickets for our Christmas trip. We will be going to Taiwan for 5 days and then to Central and Northern Thailand for 7 days. We didn't feel like we really saw a lot of Thailand on our last trip since we went to that Peninsula in the south and spent most of our time in a beach town. So, we hope to get more of a taste of the culture this time around.

Countries still on the list of things to visit: China, Borneo, Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand. Don't know how we will fit it all in, but hopefully it will work out!

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Here are what we thought to be some type of tomato which we later discovered is a decorative plant. Good thing we asked someone what is was before we tasted it. It is now decorating our kitchen countertop until we can figure out what the heck to do with it.

This was a cute little corner garden of someone's house.

They had a bunch of little decorative baskets filled with ornamental gourds.

Here we are in front of some of the fairy dusters.

They planted about 4 acres worth of these flowers in this forest area that follows along the river.

They had another area planted with these wild flowers.

If you recall, I hiked Mt Mitake in the first month or so that I was here. It is a very steep incline the whole way up. There are many beautiful hikes when you get to the top but last time I was too tired to do any of them because of the hike up the hill. So this time, we decided to take the cable car up to the top and then hike around the mountain. There is a small village at the top of the mountain as well as a shrine. This was one of the buildings at the top with a traditional thatched roof. The village was very dog friendly and we brought Ethan along. He was allowed to sit next to our table in the restaurant where we ate.

There were two waterfalls that we hiked to and a beautiful natural rock garden along the way. Everything was covered with moss and we hiked next to a stream the whole way. There were many hikers out but it was not too crowded.

This gum vending machine cracked me up. It was 100 yen for 9 pieces of gum. That is about a dollar. They had many different flavors including: blueberry, black black, caramel and green tea.

You may be wondering how we got to Mt. Mitake with the dog. You can bring your dog on the train but they have to be in a little carrying case or bag. So, Ethan has been learning to ride in a bag and he is not thrilled about it. He does however like to go on adventures so I think he is beginning to realize that the trade off works to his advantage. He is a big hit among the Japanese people and a real conversation starter. People are constantly saying how cute he is and asking what type of dog he is. Sometimes people just start talking to me in Japanese and it is quite embarrassing to tell them I don't understand.

Last weekend we went to another Japanese baseball game. This time we went to the stadium that is really close to our house. Sometimes Quinn and I ride our bikes up and around the stadium and back home. It is a beautiful ride and the stadium is a dome that is open around the middle. Kind of hard to explain. If you go to this link it will show you some good pictures of it http://www.seibu-group.co.jp/rec/dome/index.html. The game was an exciting one and the score final score was 10 to 6. This time we were smart and brought our own snacks and drinks so we didn't need to buy anything. We made friends with the people around us by giving them "American snacks." This is always a big hit among the Japanese. Now we have another week of work until more exploring. Hope you all have a great week.

That's it for now. Miss you all. Send some emails. I would love to hear from you!

Chichibu flower festival and Mitake remains copyright of the author trackers, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It has been a long time since I completed a blog entry. I will give you a synopsis of the last month. I spent the last few weeks of summer lounging around and being a "house wife." Wow is that a great job! I have decided that working is overrated and I would like to be a house wife forever. It is fabulous. But enough about that.

We have been going out many birthday parties and dinners out in Tokyo. We have been to Spanish Tapas, Brazilian all you can eat meat, and Japanese Karoke. Have put on a few pounds in the last few months but I am working on that at the moment.

We recently went to a Brazilian Carnival down in Tokyo. Both Japanese and Brazilian women were dressed up in the typical Brazillian Carnival outfits. (if you can call a few pieces of cloth and a ton of feathers outfits) It was really fun but there were so many people we ended up in a bottle neck of people and almost got trampled. It was a very unJapanese situation. Normally, in big crowds people will just shuffle along but someone must have gotten aggresive and all of the suddden everyone was pushing. Don't worry, we are both okay and Quinn even managed to pick up some elderly people and children along the way.

School has started again and that means work has started again. This year is going well so far and I am already planning our next trip. We are deciding between New Zealand, the Philippines, or Malaysian Borneo. If you have any input on these countries please send me an e-mail. Part of the decision will depend on price of tickets.

We also had our one year anniversary of living in Japan. So that means, some of the annual events are cycling through again. We went to the friendship festival again this year and had a different perspective by knowing a bit more about Japanese culture. We saw a lot of cool planes this year including the F22 and people parachuting from planes. We also took Ethan to the pool again for dog days of summer. He enjoys playing the pool but he likes the river better. Ehtan is still doing well for those of you wondering about him. He has turned into quite the cuddle bug and is now allowed to sleep in the bed.

Here we have some pictures of a neat event we went to a few weekends ago. Here is some background information: a yukata is a type of Japanese robe that in the past was traditionally worn around the home and at Japanese Inns to go to the onsens (Japanese bath). In recenet years the Yukata has been worn outside the home for different Japanese events. The Japanese continue to embrace their history and culture while being forward thinking on technology and development. Hence the idea of a Yukata boat cruise. This is an event where for $30 per person you take a cruise around Tokyo bay (viewing all the light up skyscrapers) and have all you can drink alcohol while wearing a Yukata. Additionally the people working on the boat are wearing hats that have megaphone and microphones attached to give directions and whatnot. It was kind of like being on a floating night club. It was great.

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We kicked off the trip with a visit to Yoyogi Park. We were racing against the clouds and lost. Unfortunately we weren't able to bounce on the sea of clouds but we did have a joyous 20 minute walk in the rain. It was warm outside so no one minded being drenched by the time we got to the car.

We spent the next day at Joyful Honda buying goodies and eating in the food court. No picture for the blog on this one.

Andrea arrived that night and was tired and ready for bed. I think she slept most of the way on the bus and was not to thrilled to have her picture taken.

We drove to Downtown Tokyo the next day to spend the night at a hotel in the area. This was my first time driving to Tokyo and it was quite hectic. The lanes are very small and there are many turns off he highway but Dave was a good navigator.

We ate lunch in Shibuya and wandered the streets causing trouble. I introduced the group to Chu-Hi and that became our staple drink for the next few days.

Here we are ordering our Ramen noodles from a machine

Beloved Chu-Hi.

Us in the noodle shop. Apparently they don't care if you bring in your own drink ( I asked)

Shibuya Crossing was not that busy today.

We hung out in Yoyogi Park for a couple of hours doing some people watching and letting Evan run around. Gotta love Yoyogi Park. The following picture of Hydrangeas is for Andrea's mom who loves them. We have been seeing them everywhere for the last few months and Quinn is really tired of hearing me say, "Andrea's mom would love this."

The next morning, Andrea and I woke up early to check out the Tsukijii fish market. I am always impressed by how many types of sea creature exist that I have never seen before.

Then we wnet to Asakasa to see Sensoji temple. This is a replica since the original one was bombed during the war.

Any one know what this building is? It is in Asakasa and is very large but we have no clue what it is about.

We met up with Jenny, Dave and Evan in the afternoon to check out the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings. This is a must do for all visitors. Therefore, I have been up in this thing about 8 times by now. It is still awe-inspiring.

We attempted to cover Evan up so that he would fall asleep but we just created an awesome hide and go seek game instead.

The cicadas during the summer are LOUD and HUGE.

This is a little Japanese style garden in the Roppongi area. Great spot for a little photo shoot.

We ate lunch in Roppongi at my favorite Chinese food spot. All our visitors come to Japan and we take them out for so many different types of food available in Japan. We have to remember to bring them to Japanese restaurants too.

Our favorite restaurant near hour house is called Bistro Muku. It is a French restaurant with Japanese infusion and the cutest chef you have ever seen. He bows at least 8-9 times every time we leave and they even walk you to the door to see you out. I love it here.

We spent a girls morning along the Tama River near Mitake. It was so hot that we went for a swim with our clothes on. Thanks Dave for watching Evan and giving us some girls time. It was a really nice day. We saw people fishing, kayaking, and painting. We had a little picnic lunch and meandered along the path and sometimes off the path.

That night we went out to Korean style BBQ and grilled up our food. We had quite the group and it took two grills to cook all of our food.

The next day we made another trip to Joyful Honda to show Andrea and to buy some gifts. Plus, Evan had to slurp down a few more Udon noodles.

Friday night was our last night with Jenny, Dave and Evan and it also happened to be the night of my friend Drew's Birthday party. His wife, Candice, planned a surprise Karaoke birthday party. In Japan you don't Karaoke in front of people you don't know like in a restaurant or bar. You rent your own Karaoke room for you and your friends. We had an exceptionally large room this time since there were about 20 people or so at the event. We all had such an awesome time. I can't wait to go back.

Jenny, Dave, and Evan went up to Nagano the next day for the their friend's wedding and we were sad that our time had gone by so quickly. Thanks for coming!

Mt Fuji is the largest volcano and highest point in Japan and stands at 3776 meters tall. Climbing season is from July to August and it is said to be the most climbed mountain in the world. Andrea and Quinn decided that they would like to do this hike and I was happy to stay home! The started the hike at 11pm and it took 6 hours to summit. This was mostly due to the mass amounts of foot traffic and being unable to pass in many areas. Apparently, there are a lot of bottlenecks and one is forced to wait in line as the hords of slow climbers slowly inch their way to the top. Quinn and Andrea are confident they could have made this hike in under 4 hours had they not had to wait in line. The saw the sunrise on the mountain top and proceeded to get rained on the entire climb down. They had a blast and neither of them wants to do it again.

After a day of rest we decided that we would do an easy walking tour of Yokohama. We rode the big ferris wheel, walked around China town, and saw the district where foreigners first settled when the port of Yokohama was first opened 150 years ago.

We stopped at the Red Brick Warehouses to have a snack and drink some wine. Gotta love a sushi roll with Kobe beef! The restaurant is inside the restored brick warehouses seen below.

We are sitting on beds which are the "tables" for the restaurant.

Us walking along the waterfront.

A lot of pigeons.

Really cute shopping street.

Shrine in China Town.

The next day we set out for Hakone. This is a big trip and we decided to stay overnight in a campground I found online. I was worried we wouldn't be able to find it but it is conveniently located near the bus station right along lake Ashinoko. Here we are in Gora Park in Hakone

This is a really weird flower.

As I showed in earlier posts, Hakone is known for its various modes of transportation. Here Andrea and I took the ropeway to the sulfurous area.

Hakone is known for boiling eggs in the sulfur water which turns them black. We ate the black eggs of course but the smell of the sulfur from the mountain was worse than I remember.

Here people are hiking to the top of the mountain to see the sulfurous pools

Here they are sending the black eggs down the mountain so people can buy them, eat them, and extend their life by seven years.

This is the view from the edge of the campground. It is literally right on the lake. At night they had a fireworks show that was great. They have fireworks all around Japan in the months of July and August. Some of the shows have 12,000 fireworks and last more than an hour. There were ships out on the water all lit up and there were people playing Taiko drums to accompany the fireworks display. Awesome.

Our campsite.

In front of the pirate ship that took us across the lake.

Our walk amongst the cedar trees.

We made it back from Hakone and were absolutely exhausted. We at pizza the night before Andrea left and I was sad that Andrea would be leaving the next day.

Thanks for coming friends....we miss you already!

Jenny, Dave, Evan, and Andrea visit Japan remains copyright of the author trackers, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Day 8: We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia around 12:00. We had lunch and checked into the hotel. This was the least exciting hotel that we stayed at throughout our trip. Then we went swimming in the pool because it was so incredible hot. At night we wandered around the city a little had saw the Petronas Towers. These were the tallest towers in the world for about 5 years or so until someone else built something bigger.

Day 9: The next day we were tired of wandering around cities so we decided to go to a water park. This water park/theme park was attached to the most giant mall I have ever seen. We also went shopping. I don't have any pictures of the water park but it was one of the most interesting cultural experiences I have had. Malaysia is predominately a muslim country and many of the women wear long pants, long sleeved shirts and keep their head covered. This is nothing new, as we see it quite often in the states. What surprised me was that women wearing Burkas (covered from head to toe with nothing but their eyes showing) were in the wave pool and in the lazy river with all of that clothing on. Officially this was not allowed in the park and there were signs showing what you could and could not wear and Burkas were not allowed. All of that fabric must be difficult to swim in and be a risk for drowing. But the women still went in and ignored the life guards' whistling and gesturing to leave the water. I found it inspiring that they would break the rules to enjoy the wave pool while staying true to their beliefs. I wish I had a picture to prove it but it was too wet to carry around the camera. That night we took an overnight bus to Thailand. These buses are "luxury" buses and have fully reclinging seats, individual tvs with movies, shows, and games, and air conditioning. They are better than any bus I have seen in the states. The bus ride from KL to Hat Yai took 7 hours and then we took another bus for 3 hours to Krabi. After that we took a boat transfer (30 minutes) to Rai Lei. It was a LONG journey and at that moment we decided to fly back to Singapore on the way back.

Day 10: Here is a sampling of the beautiful Karst formations that we saw on the ride into Rai Lei. This area is a peninsula but you can only reach it by boat because the formation block the ability to create a road. There were few tourists this time of year so the hotels were fiercely in competition for our business. We wheeled and dealed and finally found a place for less than half of what they usually get for these rooms.

Our room had its own private courtyard with a coy pond and a jacuzzi tub. We spent the first day lounging around the beach, pool, eating and exploring.

Day 11: We booked a rock climbing tour for the morning but it was raining so we swithced to the afternoon. We sat and had breakfast overlooking the beach and the pouring down rain. This was the only day we had any significant period of rain (about 4 hours). Then it cleared up and we went rock climbing. We are so out of shape for rock climbing so that was disappointing but it rekindled my addiction for this sport. It is SO fun.

View from the top

Our rock climbing guide

To get back, we hiked through a cave and came out at a high opening and had to rappel down. That was really cool. View from the cave hole.

Another view from the cave to the beach

Me rappelling

Basically our own private beach

One funny thing about this area is there are many islands around it that have been the setting for movies such as James Bond and the Beach. They have tours that go to these islands for day trips or to spend the night. But there were so few toursists where we were staying because it is low season, the economy, and the issues in Bangkok that we didn't need to take a day trip anywhere. We basically had the whole place to ourselves.

The most delicious dinner we had in all of Thailand at a restaurant called "the Rock"

Day 12: View from the breakfast table at our hotel. Life can't get much better than this.

Today we booked a Kayaking trip though a national park and mangrove forest in the area. It was a really great trip though limestone caves and we learned all about the history of the Sea Gypsies that inhabited this area 1000s of years ago. Most of the islands in this area have been cleared for the growing of Palm Oil and Rubber trees. It used to be rain forest with bears, tigers, and all kinds of other animals. It makes me sad to think one day animals will only be in Zoos and travellers will go to other countries to see where animals used to live. There will probably be only mastered planned communities in those area We saw a lot of subdivisions in KL and some in Thailand that were just rows and rows of identical houses. I am glad to see the standard of living is improving in those countries but it will suck if they look just the same as any suburban area in the US does.

Here is a monkey hanging out in the mangrove trees looking to steal food from our boat, I'm sure.

That afternoon we took a cooking class to learn to make Thai food. Our teacher/owner was awesome. She went to school to become a lawyer and decided that she didn't like it so she apprenticed with her cousin at her cooking school and then opened her own in Rai Ley. We learned to make Penang curry, Tom Yon Goon (soup), spring rolls, Pad Thai, and coconut milk banana dessert. I have the recipes and will attempt to recreate them as soon as I can find all of the ingredients. Anyone know where I can get curry paste, golongol, and lemongrass?

Penang Curry

We ate so much we had to take home the left overs.

Day 13: We had only bargained for 3 nights at the first hotel and they wanted to really increase the price for an exrta night so we changed hotels to a brand new hotel that had just opened up in April. They didn't even have all of the rooms finished yet so they gave us a REALLY good price of 115 per night. The hotel will cost between 350-1500 a night when it opens depending on what type of room you get. We were the ONLY guests staying at the hotel. Quinn and I spent the day lounging around the beach and the hotel. Not many pictures of this day....we had a great time.

The hotel had an amazing pool and spa. The spa treatments were buy one get one free so Sam and I did Spa journeys for a fraction of the cost of what we would pay in the States. They had all the fancy equipment and things too. We had a four hour spa journey which included: soaking in a tub full of flowers, getting a mango body scrub (pictured below) where they wrap you up and stick you in a piping hot heating pad bag thing, an oil massage, and a facial. It was awesome!

Day 14: We finally had to leave Rai Lay. It was great. We took a private van transfer (organized by our awesome hotel) to Surin beach which is near Phuket. We found yet another great hotel. We spent the day at the pool and on the beach. We spent the night at the pool bar.

Day 15: We went shopping in Phuket town and were sorely disappointed. No treasures here. Good thing we stocked up in Cambodia. They have amazing stuff there. Another afternoon at the beach watching the sunset.

Day 16: We got up early for our trip back to Singapore. We spent the day wandering around Singapore shopping and the night at an art festival that was going on. It was a cool event and we watched break dancers for quite a while. We stayed up most of the night because I was a little sick. We had to be up at 4:30 to get to the airport for our trip home.

Day 17: We flew back to Narita Airport and went back home. Ethan was so happy to see us he was making all kinds of noises we had never heard before. We missed him. It was a wonderful trip.

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Day one: We flew from Narita to Singapore and arrived at night.

Day two: We went to breakfast at a swanky coffee shop. This is the bridge we crossed to get there and here are the couches in the coffee shop and our awesome breakfast. This was a twist on eggs benedict. One of the muffins was filled with some sweet stuff.

Singapore is a very clean modern city with many attractions that suit families. There are theme parks, malls, and lots of night life. We decided to go to the botanical gardens and we only saw a fraction of it in 3 hours. It is HUGE. They had a separate orchid garden with the most amazing orchids I have ever seen. Here are a sampling of pictures.

This picture is for my mom who loves birds of paradise.

Quinn and Sam in front of a giant frond (not sure if this is the right word)

We were very surprised to see many males holding hands. The females hold hands also. But you do not see males and females holding hands. Very different then what we are used to in the west. It is very common type of behavior and does not hold the same connotation as it does for us.

Another picture for my mom. I knew we would have good luck on this trip after seeing such a beautiful pineapple.

This is the national flower of Singapore.

Here is a pitcher plant. It is carnivorous and there were a couple of flies in one.

After the gardens we went to little India and Arab street. We ate at a hawker center which is little food stalls selling dishes for 2-4 dollars. Here was a sign indicating spice level.

Day 3: We had breakfast at an open air cafe. Then we went to Sentosa Island. This is a giant tourist TRAP. It is terrible. Never go if you can avoid it. The only cool thing was this fountain. All the beaches here are man made and look out on all the cargo ships coming into port.

Sentosa island was a bust but we did not let that deter us. We went out to an Arabic restaurant and had awesome food. Everyone was smoking hooka but we did not partake. We took an overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur (5 hours) took at one hour taxi ride to the air port and and flew out to Cambodia just as the sun was coming up. We stayed at an awesome hotel called the Golden Banana. It is gay friendly and all the people who worked at the hotel looked like pool boys dressed in tanktops and baggy pants. Everyone bought a pair of the pants and Quinn threatens to wear them every day for the rest of his life. Up on the balconies there are private jacuzzi tubs and showers in addition to the indoor shower.

Day 4: We spent most of the day lounging around the pool and going to the market to do a little shopping. We went to dinner but the best restaurant in Siem Reap was right at the Golden Banana. They brought the food to us whever we were in the hotel. Poolside, in the louging area, in the room.

Day 5: We went through a tour company called spice roads to see the Angkor Wat temple compex. It was a 3 day fully van supported cycling trip with a temple guide, cycling guide, and driver/bike mechanic. There were six of us in the group. On the first day we set out to the temple complex. I cannot remember the names of all the temples but I will try to recall some of the facts that we learned. Our guide was very knowledgeable. For those of you who are not familiar with Siem Reap and the surrounding temple area, these temples were built in the 11th and 12th century by various kings when the Khmer Rouge empire was at its height. After the empire fell the jungle overtook the temples and they were rediscovered by the French in between 1910-1920 at which time the French cleared the forest, pilfered the gems and what was left and took some of the stone sculptures. Much of the stone has been given back and is now on display in various museums around the world. The whole experience was awe inspiring. Much of the temples are made of sandstone and have intricate carvings that can still be seen. It is amazing to think that these have only been rediscovered in the last 100 years. I couldn't believe there weren't more tourists there. It was like having a personal tour of the past.

Many of the temples are a mix of Buddhism and Hinduism. These kings were smart and covered all of their bases. Each of the temple compounds has four entrances one to the north, south, east and west. There are also four faces carved into each of the entrances facing North, south, east and west. Here you can see at least 3 of the faces.

Many of the Budda statues are replacements or their heads have been replaced as they have been damaged or stolen.

Here is a close up of an Apsara. These dancers are pictured throughout all of the temples.

This temple is famous because the trees are growing in and around the temple. During restoration they left the trees and roots as they had fused with much of the structure. You can't really get a sense of the perspective in these pictures but most of the roots were thicker than two or three people put together.

We didn't go in this temple but saw it as we were cycling by.

This was another entrance into the compound. Cars drove through here. Lining the road were people statues with missing heads.

This temple has 32 different towers. Each one represents a different province within the empire at that time. They were built in relation to the size of the province. The more people living there, the bigger the tower.

Each of the towers has a face carved into it on the N, S, E, W. You can see at least 3 faces in this one.

This is the biggest temple in the area: Angkor Wat. It is the biggest temple in the world. There are two bridges to the temple called the rainbow bridge. The first is from the underworld to earth and the second is from Earth to Heaven. This is part of the Hindu religion. There are also Budda statues in the temple. Monks lived in this temple up until less than 50 years ago.

Day 6: This day we went through countryside prior to seeing the temples. We passed people carrying pigs both alive and dead on their motor bikes. These little piglets had not met their ultimate fate yet.

Kids loved to wave and say hello just as they did in Vietnam. The people in Cambodia were overwhelmingly friendly. They call Thailand the land of smiles but Cambodia had even more smiles. People were so helpful and interested in learning more English. I absolutely loved the people of Cambodia. We are already planning a trip back.

This temple is more well preserved because it was made of a harder type of sandstone. It was so hot that we didn't take many pictures but the detail of the carvings were awesome. The red color of the sandstone was also very impressive.

We didn't have room on the way back so the two guides sat together! They were great.

We went on a hike up a mountain to see some carvings. On the way back we had a torrential downpour and were half walking and half sliding down the mountain.

That night we treated ourselves to $7 massages. We all were in one room together for a Thai/Cambodian massage. It was more funny than relaxing. We just made jokes the whole time and chatted with the massage girls. It was fun.

It was still raining when we left so we rode in a tuk tuk. It nearly overturned into a giant puddle!

Day 7: Another day of amazing temples. This one is dedicated to the King's family. If you look at the fourth picture there are monks sitting in front of the temple. They are chopping down the tree for firewood.

This was an orphanage where the kids were trained in leatherworking and English. They sell the leather artwork to support the orphanage. Here are the kids that made the artwork that we bought. The boy on the left was given a bad vaccination and his legs are no longer functional. He was unable to walk.

The lotus flower is everywhere in Cambodia and they use these to decorate the hotels and restaurants and everywhere else there might be a tourist. Here is a pond full of lotus flowers.

Tonle Sap Lake is the biggest lake in southeast Asia. There are many Vietnamese people living on the lake because they cannot own land in Cambodia.

This little girl and her brother drove up on a speed boat and the little girl jumped onto our boat to sell us drinks. It was an amazing feat. She was an adorable vietnamese 7 or 8 year old.

This is a floating school. There were 3 schools on the lake.

The next day we left for Malaysia. This will be continued in another entry.

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The next morning we went to the Yamabashi area which is known for growing grapes, cherries, peaches, and plums. It is currently cherry season so we went cherry picking. I think I have stated more than once on this blog how expensive fruit is. To go pick cherries for 40 minutes it was $20 per person. The cost of a small container of cherries in Japan is about $10. Yamabashi is gorgeous and to my surprise has many wineries and vinyards. We will definitely be going for more wine tasting in the future. On the way there was also a garden. They were selling different jams, soaps, and trinkets.

Different pics around the garden. These Coy were so used to people feeding them that they would come up and try to bite your finger.

Us picking and enjoying cherries.

That night we met Kyle and Julie out in Harajuku which is in downtown Tokyo to go to an all you can eat Brazillian restaurant. The meats kept on coming as well as the drinks. Then we spent some time out in the city watching the Japan night life. The below pictures include Kyle and Julie who live across the grass from us. Our dogs are best friends and we kind of like Kyle and Julie too Just kidding they are awesome friends and we would be very lonely without them.

They are drinking Chu-HI in this picture. It is kind of like Mike's Hard Lemonade but much better. They are a little bit dangerous.

The next day we went to Kamakura which is known for having a giant Budda statue. We took a train that goes along the coast line for part of the way (through Enoshima) and I got my first glimpse of a Japanese beach town. Here is a really cool hoese that was close to the water. Even though Japan is an island there are not many close beaches. The coastline is mostly rocky. This area had a small beach and is about a 2 1/2 train ride from our house. The whole vibe in this area was different than the city. It felt like a real beach town.

This is the area around the Budda statue. There were beautiful gardens and a cave with small statues inside for people who have lost young children.

Quinn had to work on Monday so Mitzie, Cullen, and I went to the zoo. This time we road on the lion bus that goes through the lion enclosure. They put little pieces of meat on the sides of the bus so that the lions eat them off and they put bones on the platforms so that the lions sit there and chew on them as you drive by. I have never been that close to a lion before!

The Rhino was happier this time than the last time we were there.

That night we went to a traditional Japanese restaurant. There were eight courses and they brough about 3 plates with each course. About 70% of the food was identifiable. And about 80% of it was delicious. I couldn't stomach eating the whole mini crab.

The next day we went to an aquarium in Yokohama. It was a really cool place and we got to touch a Beluga whale. That night we went to a baseball game and it POURED. We were very wet. Here Mitzie and I are having a great time.

Quinn and Cullen wanted to try blowfish which is called Fugu. For those of you who don't know, it Fugu is not prepared properly then it can kill you as it secrets some type of poison. People like the thrill of eating it. Quinn and Cullen were not impressed. Quinn thought it was too rubbery. I didn't try it.

Our next side trip was to the Fuji area. We had some delicious meals overlooking on of the Fuji five lakes.

We went to a lavender festival and they had some little beatles for sale.

This is the best burger I have ever eaten.

We also went to the Hakone Open Air museum. They had some really cool exhibits. They also had some interactive art for the kids.

This is a giant playground that kids can play on.

A honeycomb of fun for the kids.

We soaked our feet in a mini onsen. There was fruit floating in the water too.

We had a great trip and saw a lot of new things and tried new food. It was a great wayt to start the summer!

We have the cutest dog in the world.

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The winery and surrounding area were beautiful. For a second I thought I was in Europe. We bought some plum wine here....just waiting for a special occasion to open it up.

The desserts were absolutely gorgeous and they came to chat us up to figure out what to write on our dessert plate. They even gave my jacket a special chair (it was obviously very fancy).

We ate a lot of Japanese food that Quinn and I hadn't tried yet. It is amazing how a whole country can stay so thin when so much of their food is fried. Here we are eating Korean BBQ at the cabin. It was great going to the grocery store and having Brent and Dave finally tell us what everything is. We have just been guessing and eating whatever for the last 9 months.

For those of you we haven't told, we bought a car a few months ago. We needed one for guests and when the weather is terrible. Quinn was really disappointed that we bought one because he was making it a personal challenge not to have one, but it has really come in handy. Anyway, here is a picture. It is tiny and barely fits four people and their luggage for a weekend trip. It is super cute. Its called a Nissan March. Not approved for the US crash standards. People here drive much slower because of the traffic and narrow roads. I don't think we ever go much over 40 miles per hour.

Last weekend we went to a ballet called Trockadero. It is an all male ballet group that performs in drag with point shoes. It is a comedy act and really funny. Couldn't take any pictures because of the rules but you can check out their website www.trockadero.org. They travel the whole world.

The Striders running club held their annual Ekiden (Japanese for relay race) and there were over 1000 teams participating. It was really busy.

We also went to Joyful Honda (crazy Japanese mega store) to buy some flower to decorate our patio. Went with a French theme so here are some pics. They have so many beautiful flowers at Joyful Honda it was hard to decide which ones to buy.

Quinn's mom and brother arrive this Friday so I am sure I will have more pics and stories after their trip.

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Just kidding. Don't worry PETA no animals have been hurt in the making of this photograph. Ethan just loves his rawhide so much he can't let it go even when his belly is getting rubbed.

This weekend we went down to Tokyo to hit up a Thai food festival. There were about 50 or so venders of Thai food that reperesented the various Thai restaurants in the greater Tokyo area. Quinn and I tried many dishes.

We also got a sneak peek of some of the cultural things we might see this summer on our trip. Here they are playing a hacky sak style game with a woven ball and the other picture is of women with some type of traditional head piece. Hopefully we will learn more about that on our trip. (For those of you we haven't told...we are going to Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand this summer on our two week vacation and our AWESOME friends Sam and Dave are coming along!)

After we gorged ourselves on curry we went to Yoyogi Koen which is kind of like central park (I have talked about this in previous blogs) and observed the local tokyoites at play. This person was walking a bunny on a leash. Yes, it is wearing an outfit!

There are beautiful rose gardens in the area as well.

Here was a man making giant bubbles.

This was a wedding reception at the park and the groom had a heart shape shaved on his head!

These pictures are for Rossy. I know how he loves houses that don't look like houses. Well here is a mall that didn't look like a mall. It went from a wide section to a point and both sides had escalators going up or you could just go round and round to the top. It was really incredible!

After we wandered around Tokyo for a while we hit up the baseball game. There are 12 baseball teams in Japan. Two are in Tokyo and one is for the area near our house. We saw the Hanshin Tigers versus the Tokyo Swallows. The Tigers fans are known for being a rambunctious type. They separate the stadium into two sides depending on which team you are rooting for but the Tigers had more fans and were all throughout the stadium. You can bring your own alcohol and food into the stadium. The food at the concession stand was not your typical American baseball food. No peanuts and beer here. Sake and edamame were the snacks of choice!

Quinn had a great time chatting up the guy next to us. Of course, he spoke English as it seems all Japanese people do. And he wanted to chat with Quinn to make sure we were enjoying ourselves.

This is the most amazing part. Each player has their own theme song and the crowd sings this song every time they are up to bat. Fans also bring in trumpets so they can play the theme song along with the crowd's singing. Additionally, each players song has a dance that goes with it. This video is a little hard to see but all the way up at the top there is a crowd of people doing said dance. They danced the ENTIRE game with the same amount of zeal you see in the video. Take that Richard Simmons.

Also, each team has their own little gimmick when their team scores or during a certain part of the game. The Swallows hold up miniature umbrellas (parasols) when their team scores and all of the sudden we saw thousands of umbrellas in the air signifying to the other team that it was time to hit the showers. The tigers let off balloons with whistles after they sing a song at the top of the 7th.

It was a great time!

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I can't believe I let a month go by without writing. I am terrible. Part of the problem is that we have forgotten to take the camera for a couple of weekends and I feel like the blogs are rather lame without pictures. But you will have to excuse me for this one. It is a little light on the photography.

April 25 we discovered Tama Hills recreation area. This is a recreation area for those of us living on bases throughout Japan. They have camping, horseback riding, miniature golf, archery, and more for a very low cost. They have cabins there but they are always booked so we decided to camp. Here are some pictures of the campsite and our friends who just couldn't figure out how to get their tent up.

Nothing is better than mini chickens on a beer can!

We had so much fun that we decided to go again the next weekend. But alas, it rained and the fire pit became a pool for Ethan.

So the next day we went down to Yokohama and I thought there was a street performer festival going on. It turns out that the festival was the weekend before. Instead, there was a classic car show. I was devastated and Quinn was thrilled. Here are 1/100 th of the pictures that Quinn took.

You could just walk right up to the cars. It wasn't like in the US where they are all roped off. Quinn said some of them were worth 250,000 and up.

They were also having a gardening exhibition and they had different flower beds with various designs. I think it might have been a competition because there were about 30 flower beds with all different kinds of designs and patterns.

They also had an art exhibit with dried flower inside. It was "interesting."

This is where the pictures stop. The next weekend we went on a 42 mile bike ride to watch a mountain bike race. We got to see the top Olympic Japanese mountain biker. And then we met our friends for a picnic at Showa park. My butt hurt by the end of the day. But now I know I can ride 42 miles.

That brings us to last weekend. Our friends Kyle and Julie had a brunch and the "MEN" played croquette on the lawn and became quite competative. The girls sat and watched and drank Chu Hi. Chi Hi is a canned alcoholic beverage that is 6% alcohol and if you get Chu Hi strong it is 8% alcohol. It is sweet and delicious and dangerous because it is like drinking lemonade. On Sunday Quinn and I went for a hike and went to the Nipara Caves which have some stalagcites and stalagmites. I wish I had brought my camera to show you all, but I forgot it. We will do some more hiking out there so I will be sure to bring it along next time.

Well, that brings you all up to speed.

We are very excited for summer and I am doing a countdown for the number of days left in the school year. Today is 22. We have some visitors coming this summer and we can't wait. Mitzie (Quinn's mom) and Cullen (Quinn's brother), Jenny and Dave and Evan, and Andrea! YEAH! Looking forward to it.

Miss you all.

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One night about a month ago, Quinn and I created a travel itinerary for my Mom and Bob's trip to Japan. Little did we know that they would research every detail of those places and know more about them than us! This week is my spring break so we were able to do quite a bit of traveling. I will attempt to recount the events.

Japan is filled with cherry blossom trees and they only bloom one time per year and the blooms last about 2 weeks. My Mom and Bob were lucky enough to arrive in Japan during one of those two weeks. On the day they arrived Quinn and I went to a cherry blossom festival near the Tama river (river by our house). My Mom and Bob arrived later in the day. Here are some pics of the trees.

Close up view.

People love to picnic under the blossoms.

Of course, the Japanese girl scouts were there for our entertainment. Here they are performing yet another Disney classic.

++++++++++insert video here.

This is a different kind of flower along the river. Quinn claims it is a peony.

Here is another pick of people having a grand picnic down under the trees. They carried all of those bamboo cups and plates and what not down there. It was extravagant.

Once more pics of the flower

They arrived that evening and here they are getting of the bus.

Day one (Sunday):

Mom wasted no time fiting right in with the Japanese and slept on the train.

We went to a fertility festival. This event goes against all I know about Japan's modesty. People were eating penis popsicles and carving various items into penises. They carried 3 giant penis statues through the streets. There was an entire group in drag. Quinn got pulled into the parade to carry part of the statue for a little while. Warning: the pictures that follow are not for everyone.

Here they are carving giant radishes into penises.

We had a great lunch and a TON of yaki soba noodes. No English menu here, so they just brought us food. It was all tasty. I think the cook described some of it as "tempura grass."

People were also dressed in traditional costumes with short shirts and underwear-esque bottoms.

It was wild.

Day two (Monday):

We took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. This train goes up to 200 miles per hour. This video gives you a taste of what that is like. When I looked out of the window for too long I started to feel a little sick.

++++insert video here

Kyoto is the former capitol of Japan and is very historic and traditional. There are many shrines, castles, and all the things you think of as being traditionally Japanese. There are so many things to see there you could spend two weeks and not see all the shrines. We were told it was easy to get "shrined out." So we tried to mix it up and see a variety of sights.

They are so crazy here about cherry blossoms that they put fake ones on the trains.

First we went to a Zen rock garden XXXXXX. It was neat. We have our own rock garden back in Phoenix. I am thinking of making it more Zen like and charging an entrance fee. This shrine had beautiful grounds and lakes. Couldn't get enough of the those cherry blossoms.

Here are some traditional Japanese Chiuhauhas. People push their dogs around in strollers and dress them up.

Then we had another great lunch with gorgeous food. There are so many cute restaurants throughout Japan. Many restaurants only have 5 or 6 tables but they have the best ambience and style.

Quinn loves these guys!

The feel of Kyoto is very different from Tokyo. The streets feel more cozy. You never know what you will find....maybe a tiny garage? How does this person get out of their car???

Next we saw the Golden Pavillion. It is decorated in gold leaf. Gorgeous.

Here is another great idea for my Zen rock garden in AZ. I will put a small bowl and a couple of statues around it and people with throw money in my yard! The Japanese are so smart!

Next we went to the Botanical Gardens. I am a huge fan of botanical gardens and Quinn and I go to them frequently when we travel. This was by far the BEST botanical gardens I have ever been to. There was a such a variety of plants and flowers. And of course, those popular cherry blossoms. The Japanese are pretty crazy about these cherry blossoms. It is quite the event, since they are only around for 2 weeks before they get blown off by the wind. Everyone was out in full force having their picnics.

What is up with this? Another fertility festival? Not sure.

Then we ate at another cute restaurant without a menu in English. We kept going off the beaten path to eat and having to do all kinds of charades to settle on a meal. This place they brought us all kinds of dishes and they were fabulous. They were surprised when we ordered Sake and they kept making sure we didn't want water instead. One guy even pretended to be drunk to make sure that is what we really wanted. The Japanese are so helpful and go out of their way to make sure you get what you want to eat. I can't say enough good things about the customer service.

Day 3 (Tuesday):

Next we went to Nijo castle. This was the castle for the Sho-gun. It was a HUGE complex. It has a nightingale floor that squeaks when you walk on it to alert you of intruders. Very tricky.

And of course, more beautiful grounds.

Next we went to a Geisha show. I was able to get tickets last minute for a Geisha dance performance. This was an amazing chance opportunity because they only perform two times per year. They perform for four weeks in April and two weeks in the fall. We got the last four seats in the house and they were in the front row! Luck was with us on this one. I guess they had a cancellation. I couldn't take any pictures but we were so close that we could see where the Geisha's had on hair pieces. The make-up, dancing, costumes, and music cannot be described. It was awesome.

Then we went to a park with a festival going on for the cherry blossoms. There were street performers and people hanging around enjoying the great weather. Here a crane and a turtle enjoy the sunshine.

We went to another shrine that is full of thousands of Tori gates. They are donated by business men in hopes of success in business. There are little stone foxes all around that are thought to represent good business due to its cunning and sly nature.

Then we went to Nishiki market which is a large fish and pickled products market. There are also home goods there. It was a covered outdoor market with tons to offer. Never thought I would see a pickled eggplant.

This is a picture of the Kyoto train station that we left from. Apparently it was controversial because it is very modern in style and Kyoto is known for being the traditional city in Japan. It was an incredible building.

The next 2 days were spent in Tokyo. Here my Mom and Bob check out the skyline with buildings as far as the eye can see.

This picture is from Roppongi. This is an area where people live, work, and play all in a series of interconnecting buildings. It is kind of like a master planned community in an urban environment. It was designed by a famous Japanese architect. Great restaurants and shopping here.

Next we relaxed in Yoyogi Koen. It is the Tokyo equivalent of central park. Lots of people enjoying the outdoors. Bob finally got a chance to take a picture with the locals.

My mom and Bob went to the tsukiji fish market Friday morning and then waited in line for an outdoor Sumo competition. We got front row seats!!!! I could have reached out to touch the sumo wrestlers. AWESOME!

+++++++insert video here

This is a judge. They were all very young. They rotate judges and singers every 5-6 matches.

Or course we took them out for Yakiniku where you cook your own meat on a grill.

Mom and Bob at Sunrise bakery along the flight line.

Enjoying the countryside in Ome. This is where people go to Kayak, boulder, fish, camp, and BBQ.

Then came the inevitable. Time for Mom and Bob to return to Florida. We miss you guys!

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I am trying out a new thing called Twitter. Many of you probably know what this is. Basically it is a way for my to make short entries about things going on here in Tokyo. You can check out the site by going to the following link. You can sign up for the entires to be sent to your phone as text messages or email or you can just go to the site periodically. This will not take the place of the blog but will be in addition to the blog. Let me know what you think.

http://twitter.com/globalnada

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Quinn ran a 30k (18.64 miles) race a couple of weekends ago and rocked! There were about 20,000 runners and Quinn came in 32nd. His time was 1 hour 43 minutes. I am very proud of him. I was greedy and tried to see him in a couple of different spots by taking the train and ended up missing him in both the middle and the end. I was VERY frustrated. But it was a good lesson learned for the Tokyo Marathon. I will not be too over zealous in my Quinn sightings for that race. The race took place along the Ohme river which is close to our house and only about 3 train stops away. It is a relatively rural area and this was the backup on the train platform as people tried to pass through the ticket stalls. It took 15 minutes just to get off the platform. They had to stop the trains because there wasn't enough room for people to get off!

Here is Quinn at the start.

Last weekeend our friends and neighbors, Kyle and Julie, had a few people over for a brunch and Kyle made a cheese souffle. It was great. As you can see, Quinn was very excited to eat it. Quinn made custom order smoothies for everyone.

Here is a cute video of Ethan after I spilled tomato soup on his head. Don't worry PETA, no animals were hurt in the making of this video.

Here is a pizza that we bought at Costco today. It was delicious.

Many people have requested pictures of our apartment, so here they are. The kitchen and dining room are connected via a little pass through and the living room is separate. We just painted a mural of a tree on the wall this weekend. These are not the greatest pictures, but if you want the real deal you are welcome to come out and visit. Haven't heard from many of you lately. Please drop me an email and let me know how you are doing. We miss you all!

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After we got back from Vietnam we went to see Cirque du Soleil resident show in Tokyo. It is called Zed. Here is a pic of the outside of the theater they built just for this show. The show was incredible, as usual for Cirque du Soleil. No pictures of tehe show, of course.

The next weekend we volunteered the entire weekend at the Frostbite run. This is a race that the Yokota running club puts on for the Japanese running community. There were about 8,000 runners plus all of their families on base for this event. It was BUSY.

We also went to a festival at Tokyo dome. It was the most crowded place I have been yet since moving here. Imagine a football stadium completely full of people with people all over the field. You couldn't even move. We spent longer waiting in line to get in than participating in the festival. It was just too much.

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but the Japanese are crazy about melons. Some melons in the regular grocery store sell for 50-75 DOLLARS. We are talking about honey dew type melons. These apparently are high class melons. They come in a special box. Haven't had the chance to taste one of these and I don't think that will happen before we leave.

So, I am sure you all are wondering what the big surprise is. I couldn't possibly go on and on about melons and lines and shows any longer. The big surprise is that Quinn got a job! He is going to be a community planner! We are very excited and will keep you all updated as we know more.

That's it for now.

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For the last part of the trip we flew to Hanoi, took an overnight train for 7 hours from Hanoi to Lao Cai and then took a 1/ 1/2 hour van ride through the clouds to SaPa. This was the gem of the trip. The area here is at 7,000 feet and full of beautiful terraced hillsides where they grow rice. They harvest the fields using water buffalos and plant the fields by hand. They only have two crops per year because the elevation is much higher and it is colder but the rest of Vietnam in the Mekong area has 3-4 crops per year.

The small ethnic minority tribes are named for the color of clothing they wear. The two main groups that inhabit this area are the Red Dao the Black Hmong. The Red Dao wear red head pieces but their clothing are dyed using indigo an they dry it on their fences. They make clothing and crafts to sell to the tourists so there was lots of fabric everywhere in various phases.

We walked through a village and saw some kids playing with tops and this little guy was really excited to have his picture taken. I took a little video too. The little kids here don't wear pants very often. Some local charity groups once donated a bunch of pants and jackets to the families but they never wore any of the pants!

In the video they are hitting little tops with some string to keep them going.

We walked through such amazing terrain and beautiful little villages. The life here is simple, the people are happy and friendly, and the families are close. The age of marriage is very young usually around 16 for girls and 18-20 for boys. Lots of little kids everywhere. They have had a problem with mudslides and there was a lot of construction to help correct the problem.

They had some real prize roosters running around. This is a picture for Grandma Doris.

Here is a shot of the Red Dao women hawking their wares. They are super friendly and their sales pitch goes like this: Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have any kids? I have ____ kids. Will you buy from me? They love to chat with you and will literally start running with you if you try to run away.

Here the women are all running up to a tourist bus to try and sell their hand stitched fabrics. They actually scared the tourists because they went running up to it and some of the tourists were scared to get off the bus.

Here is the house that we stayed in with our Red Dao host family. The mother has 5 children and three still live at home. Two are married with children and she is a grandmother. They also took in a little boy about 6 or 7 because his parents could not afford to feed him any more. They had quite a large house and farm. They had pigs, chickens, cats, dogs, and a lot of terraced rice fields.

This is the view from their house. The lived at the top of a hill.

The host family we were staying with were helping another family cook for their wedding that evening and one of the daughters was invited to go. Here is the traditional headdress that the married women wear and that they wear to special occasions.

They let me try on some of their traditional clothing and I posed with the sister going to the wedding.

Here is the other sister that hung out with us while we stayed there. She was busy working most of the time and did not let us help very much (being that we were the guests and all) The headpiece she is wearing are for the unmarried girls

The family here was very close with one another. They spend a lot of time around the fire and working together in the fields.

Our host mother sewed me a headress in less than one hour and gave it to us as a gift. The best momento of the trip!

We did some more hiking to get back to the town of SaPa and saw more beautiful terraced rice fields.

We saw a performance in SaPa that highlighted all the dances of the regional ethnic minority groups. Here is some of the dancing and in the second video Quinn got involved in the performance.

Here is a yummy hot pot that we ate in SaPa. Thank goodness for our waiter because we didn't know how to cook or eat it.

More hiking.

On the way back we saw a bunch of Red Dao men working on building a house. Community spirit at work!

Back in Hanoi we saw more of the craziness....people load way things than possible onto a trailer pulled by a moped.

Here is some randomness in Hanoi. Lots stores, garbage, and a new years celebration.

A dragon made of flowers for the New Year.

A bike vendor selling popcorn.

Here are some streetside restaurants.

I could use the end of this blog to get philosophical about my thoughts on Vietnam but while I learned a lot about Vietnam I still don't feel educated enough to make comments on their way of life, their economy, governemnt, or social structure. As an outsider looking in, the cities were dirty, loud and busy. The countryside was beautiful and peacefull. Overall, it was a good trip.

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Here are some buildings along the river bank. Not sure if they are houses or shops but they all looked like they were going to slide right into the river.

Here are the types of boats we saw in the floating market.

This woman was selling home (boat) cooked meals. You could see a little gas burner in the bottom of her boat to cook up some local vietnamese delicacies. We didn't partake.

After that, we said bye bye to the countryside and went back to the bustling city of Saigon. We were getting pretty worn down of Saigon by this point, as it takes so much focus to even cross the street. So, we treated ourselves to some ice cream. Here is a shot of one of the four ice creams we ate. Why not? We're on vacation.

We ate dinner in one of the many tent restaurants along the street. This one was excpetionally busy and had enough chairs to seat about 100 people. This woman is the cashier and had quite the system going. She looked like she was playing some kind of crazy video game trying to juggle all of those tickets and keep about 15 servers on track. She kept looking up at us and smiling because our eyes were as wide as sand dollars.

All the lights in Saigon were beautiful. They closed off the street this night because it was Christmas eve. The traffic became so bad that it was actually completely stopped and we had to climb over motorbikes just to get home. The traffic was worse because Vietnam beat Thailand in soccer and everyone was celebrating by riding their motorbikes and waving the Vietnam flag.

The next couple of shots are of the round about in the near middle of the city with a big display they had set up. It had lights and sound and there was a performance about every 30 minutes. You can see many Santa look a likes in the photos below.

Off to Cat Tien National Park, but first a little laundry in the room. For whatever reason, the hotels charge a fortune to wash clothing. We calculated it would have been about $75 for our two loads. Instead, we washed the clothes in the bathtub. It was too much work to go out and find a laundry mat. Especially with fighting the traffic.

Our guide described Cat Tien Park as a communist park. He was not the biggest fan of the government. The accomodations in the this park were absolutely disgusting. We had to wear our shoes in the bathroom because the floor was always wet from the toilet tank leaking and the toilet bowl seat was nearly black from mold and dirt. It was HORRIBLE. I cannot stress this enough. But the national park was pretty and we learned a lot about the local tribes and their culture from our second local guide. She told us that in her Ethnic Minority group the women get married at about age 14-16 and the ment 18-20. They begin having children shortly after that and they have many children. I think they are mostly farmers. Anyway, she took us on a trip through the forest and told us all the uses of plants including medicinal and practical. This is the plant from which they make the famed conical hats that you have seen in many of the pictures.

This is a barkless tree. It molts or sheds in order to grow into a bigger tree. It was very smoth and many of them were HUGE.

These are local mushrooms that are inedible but very pretty.

Here are two more giant barkless trees.

This is a picture of Quinn trying to use a flower whistle. You take out the middle of the flower and you can make a bird whistle with it. He was not successful.

This is a utilitarian bike used in the jungle area to transport items. Spare parts are obviously hard to come by in this neck of the woods.

Part 3: Floating Market and Cat Tien Nat'l Park remains copyright of the author trackers, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The next day we set off into the Mekong Delta for two days of cycling (actually it was 3 days of cycling crammed into 2 days). We cycled about 50 kilometers on mostly dirt and some paved surfaces. Not even 2 minutes into the trip, there was a bridge missing and we had to take a ferry across. There turned out to be many river crossings with ferries instead of bridges. Each ferry ride costs about 5 cents per person. The fare increases with the size of the river. I think the most expensive one was 5 dollars and that included getting the van and all four of us across the river (me, quinn, guide, driver).

The ride through the Mekong was in an area full of orchards. Fresh fruit is plentiful and we stopped and tried many of the local fruits. Nobody in this country should ever go hungry. We usually just grabbed the fruit off someones tree, and they didn't seem to mind (or maybe they didn't notice. We counted tasting at least 8 new fruits that we had never seen before. These women are picking dragon eyes. It is a fruit that has a hard shell that needs to picked off, and then inside is a fruit that tastes very similar to a grape, and has a large seed that I would not suggest trying to chew.

There were houses on either side, buried in the vegetation, or built on top of water and we took a variety of pictures. Most of the houses are open to the living room and they don't really close the door. I'm not even sure that some had doors. The locals were all super friendly and would yell hello from every single possible location. I think they had some sort of system to alert the neighbors that we were coming because people would be screaming hello when we were still really far away. People were in boats, in trees, in their houses. They all wanted to greet us and give us a smile and a strange stare. It is not rude to stare in Vietnam and we often felt like zoo animals because we were quite the sight for them. Only poor people ride bikes so they think it is very odd that tourists are riding bikes through their neighborhood just to see a bunch of fruit. At least that is what the guide told us. Here is just a small selection of the houses that we saw while biking:

Here is a pretty typical elementary school.

This was our second ferry crossing of the day. This one is just a little bit bigger than the last one, because the river is just a little bit bigger.

Here is a woman loading wood onto her boat. We saw a lot of this type of wood being loaded on boats. It is a Vietnamese local type of mangrove. It is used for any application where something needs to be hoisted out of the water, often times for stilts on a house. Our guide was funny because whenever he doesn't know the name of something he would call it a local Vietnamese (insert name). It was pretty funny.

This boat was operating as a saw mill. There was a large sliding saw on board that was used for making building lumber. It was really quite impressive. Even the guys on this boat however still took the necessary break to yell hello across the river and stare dumbfounded at the alien form (Quinn) taking their picture.

The people in the Mekong seem to be exceptionally poor, because almost everyone here rode bikes instead of motorbikes, and they are able to carry almost anything on a bicycle. This woman was carrying large bags of rice, and that was just the beginning of what we would see throughout the trip. The poverty however doesn't affect the quality of life. Everyone seems so happy and spends a lot of time together. It is nice to see.

Our first day of biking terminated in one of the numerous little towns that we rode through. We had a lovely lunch where they served up spring rolls again. We quickly learned that every meal in Viet Nam starts with spring rolls. It is something like French fries with fast food. There is a lot of meat and rice, or meat and noodles served for lunch and dinner. Quinn was happy because they brought out large quantities of food for every meal. It turns out that it is possible to eat too much at every sitting. He was quite miserable after a few of the meals. We had to take some time lying in the hammock after this specific meal. Biking and eating really tire a person out.

Even the dogs here are really tired.

In another room in the restaurant there was two walls worth of beds lined up. We couldn't figure out if this was a hotel of sorts, or if they just cater to a lot of weary travellers. Quite the setup they had though. This is one of the biggest restaurants that we ate at on the trip.

We finished off the afternoon by taking a boat ride down the canals. There was a beautiful boat waiting to take us on a private cruise through the canals. The boat was gorgeous and they had fresh fruit waiting and we got to drink from fresh coconuts.

The fruits on the basket include dragon eyes (the small round brown ones) dragon fruit (the pink one with the rough looking edges), and longin apple (the red pear shaped thing), and some other unnamed fruit.

Then we transfered to a sampam (smaller boat) and were rowed down the canals. It was great.

We spent the night in a guest house and they served us fish (again). We were getting pretty sick of fish at this point and told them not to give us fish anymore. Quinn made the best of it and tried to imitate his food.

The next day we headed out to the coconut growing areas and then to the all famous rice patties. We drove to the cycling start point and had some pretty tight bridge crossings. I enjoyed the ferries more than the bridges because I felt that my life was more in danger on the bridges than on the ferrries.

Here are was a casket show room in the Mekong. We saw a lot of little stores like this where you could buy caskets. And here is another little store for lumber.

Here are some pics of us cycling through the jungle and towns. We said hello about 200 times per day to all of the locals. It was really cool. Everyone was so friendly and eager to welcome you to their village. Quinn even got into a a race with two boys on a bicycle. They were both pedaling extra hard to beat him.

The rice patties were all that you could hope they would be. It was beautiful. I wish we could have cycled through them all day long. They grow rice here almost all year long because of the ideal weather conditions but we were here during downtime so there weren't that many workers in the field. Hope you can get a taste of it from these shots.

Here are some bridges in the area. They range from the modern to the more classic style.

This picture is for worm. He is an electrician we knew he would approve of this type of workmanship.

Who needs 4 wheel drive and a V8 engine? You can haul anything with a bike or at most for a really heavy load, a motorbike.

And with that image...I will leave you waiting for part 3.

Part 2 of Vietnam: Cycling through Mekong Delta remains copyright of the author trackers, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Part 1:

We decided to go to Vietnam for winter break because those were the cheapest tickets online and we want to see as much of southeast Asia as possible so it doesn't really matter where we started. We used a tour company to make an itinerary and provide us with transportation, lodging and a personal guide. It was just Quinn and I on the tour so we felt pretty spoiled. We flew into Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and were immediately shocked and awed by the traffic, pollution, confusion, electrical lines, and trash. Living in Japan, we are spoiled by the cleanliness of the city areas and Saigon is the complete opposite. People throw trash and pee wherever and whenever they feel like it. Don' get me wrong though, the people are very welcoming, friendly, polite, and open. A typical conversation goes something like this: hello, where are you from, how long will you be traveling in Vietnam, how old are you, is that your husband or brother? Yet another complete opposite from Japan where they hardly EVER ask you a personal question even after you have met them 5 or 6 times let alone 5 or 6 seconds. Saigon is colorful, loud, and pungent. I was exhausted just trying to walk around the streets. It was AMAZING.

Here is a video of the traffic. It is like this all the time. I couldn't cross the street by myself. I was too scared. Luckily for me, Quinn could just put his head down and step out. We never got hit

They love Christmas in Vietnam. The population is predominately Buddhist but they enjoy the lights and gift giving, pretty much just like most people in America.

Here are some power lines. This is how all the powerlines are in Saigon.

So, there is a welcome to Saigon and it wouldn't be complete without a picture of food. Quinn's first meal came in a pineapple. Cool.

The second day we drove to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were used by the vietnamese to hide during the war. On the way we saw some rubber trees (seen below) which is one of the top 5 exports from Vietnam including: coffee, rice, and some other stuff I can't remember. Hey 3 out of 5 is pretty good. They come and slice the tree in the morning and then the rubber oozes into a cut coconut shell and they come and collect it in the afternoon. Traveling with a private guide is awesome but it is hard to remember everything they tell you. We really appreciated everything so much more and learned a lot more traveling with a guide. If only we were rich and could do that all the time!

Here is Quinn going into one of the Cu Chi Tunnels and hiding from the enemy. The propaganda filled video we watched prior to seeing the tunnels included calling Americans "devils" and other such endearing terms. Wow! We are not in Kansas anymore toto.

Snake wine is very popular in Vietnam and is considered an aphrodesiac. Here it is. There are lot of other types of wines here including: rice, bird, gecko. All of them have the real animal inside.

There is a lot of Chinese influence in Vietnam. We went to a Chinese temple in the city and our guide bought us a wish. They attach it to an incense ring and put it on the ceiling with the others. Here was a wish for our trip.

Here is some more yummy food. And Quinn in front of the restaurant.

Good Morning Vietnam! remains copyright of the author trackers, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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