Happy Birthday to Nic...

... well, in Japan at least. It's still 5pm the day before back home!

We're off for a fun filled birthday day for Nic in Kyoto, having arrived here last night. The plan:
1) lazy morning and non-Japanese breakfast (i.e. no fish, fish products, or anything that grew or came out of the sea)
2) Meander through the outskirts of Kyoto in it's older district to downtown
3) Indian curries for lunch
4) Afternoon at the downtown market
5) Pre-dinner: seeing a Geisha dancers show
6) Dinner: Pizza?
7) Post-dinner: a few beveys at Kyoto's finest establishments! ;)

Since part of Nic's lazy morning has her still in the shower, it's probably as good a time as ever to reminisce on the last 1+ weeks here...

Although we're only been here for 10 days so far, we've covered lots of ground! We started off in Tokyo, staying and visiting with Venita and JF. I think we were spoiled to have a home base, somewhere to cook and get things ready, etc.

We spent the first couple days getting used to the time change . Using our early morning wakefulness, we headed off to the fish market at 4am to see the tuna auctions, dodge crazy cart drivers and point questioningly at the odd things neither of us new existed or could come out of the ocean.

Having studied the language a bit leading up to this trip, we were off to a nearby market to get some breakfast. Unfortunately, I met my first (and so far only) grumpy Japanese man who didn't want to have anything to do with a gaijin and had no interest in selling me fruit. Ba humbug.

Things went up from there. I have found my most useful Japanese learnings are: "Do you speak english?", "Sorry, I only understand a little Japanese", "Excuse me" and "Good morning". All good. :)

The rest of Japan was taken up with meandering the streets with Venita, going to see a sumo wrestling tournament (SO cool! Big men with wedging stomping away the evil spirits and madly lunging at each other!), cooking dinner with Venny... and... well... Nic and I decided to head out for a day at Tokyo Disneyland. Who knew Indian Jones AND Mickey Mouse could speak Japanese!

Having had enough of big cities, we took to the hills... litterally! We were off to the Japan Alps. First, a day at Nikko. Temples, temples and more temples. Oh ya. And some shrines. A did manage a walk out to a wood carving center, being startled by wild deers en route.

Nagano. The olympic city. Other than a few sewer main covers that proudly displayed the olympic logo, I didn't see much to indicate this town was once the center of the world's attention. The hostel that confirmed our reservation for the night was closed , but our homeless wandering turned up a delightful little Ryokan (Japanese style in).

We weren't expecting our first real Japanese experience quite so soon. Lots of first... and faux pauxs. Mainly to do with slippers:
1) We took off our shoes, but then didn't put on our slippers. Tut tut. They ran after us with slippers and insisted we slip them on.
2) Going up the stairs, not being used to the slippers, I lost one! Lots of laughs from the Japanese entourage behind us!
3) Getting to our room, we then walked across the tatami mats with our slippers on. They gasped, pointed and then began to chuckle. The "Excuse me" phrase came in handy here.

Our room was fantastic! Little mats on the ground to sleep on, pillows for chairs by a table that was 1 foot off the ground, robes to wear down to the common bath... oh ya... the common bath. THIS was an experience... walking in naked to a common room, to sit at tap, wash, and then slip into a hot tub of sorts with a few other ladies. Not TOO many stares at us whities! ha ha.

Nagano's highlights included an early morning service we were allowed to sit in at, at a buddist temple, wandering the temple grounds and a day trip out to see monkeys in their natural habitat, complete with their own onsen (Japanese hotspring bath)! The moms with their babies were the best. I was super lucky to have one come plunk down right beside me, offering up the chance for some up close photos. Nic, did reasonably well, considering her phobia of monkeys and having dozens running around her while I was off snapping photos.

Deeper into the Alps, we made our way to Kamikochi. This place was amazingly beautiful and the gateway to week long treks. I wish we had another week or two (don't you always!). We stayed in a little bungalow there... when we checked in, we were given a basket: sheets, a key and a flashlight.

Yikes... running out of time! Nic's out of the shower!

Okay. The last few days in a nut shell...
- Had a blast wandering through rivers and mountains near Kamikochi
- LOVED the bus trip to get to/from Kamikochi... tunnels, steep cliffs, dams, etc.
- Takayama: beautiful old buildings, hill sides, etc. Amazing markets.

Now... Kyoto. And, we're off!