More Tokyo

On the list of places we ended up visiting was the Yebisu beer museum. To be honest, it was a bit of a letdown in that (a) the "museum" was in fact a room of pictures on the wall, and (b) the beer tasting was not free! Free beer is the real motivation to go to a brewery! But we enjoyed it anyways and paid for a few beers. 

Beer tasting room.

One thing that was a consistent problem when I lived in Tokyo was eating in restaurants. I speak just enough Japanese to get around in touristy areas and be polite when asking for beers and the location of bathrooms- but thats it- and I know virtually no kanji characters. So this makes ordering from a menu a little tricky. Luckily the Japanese love to put plastic pretend food in their display cases, so its often possible, albeit embarrassing, to resort to the pointing method. Although we stayed in a pretty touristy area, we still had occasional difficulty find places to eat and subsequently ordering. The first night we hit the lost in translation jackpot when we happened upon a place that unbeknown to us had a set menu which included free flowing beer. We wondered why they were being so aggressive about refilling our beers- but seriously, who is going to complain about never empty beer glasses? With my Singapore mentality, I was getting a little nervous about the damage that the beer free for all was going to cause to our bill- but was pleasantly surprise to realize when the bill came that the beer was FREE. This was true luck. 

On our last night we set out to eat a sukiyake/shabu shabu restaurant- food so good it would be a crime to leave Japan with out eating it. We finally found the place, and were the only ones there! They kindly kept open just for us and we had the BEST meal ever. 

For those of you who are not familiar with sukiyaki, it involves very thinly sliced beef, lightly grilled at your table in a soy sauce and then dipped in raw egg. The raw egg part may seem a little creepy, but its sooooo good. Sometimes they leave you to your own devices on the cooking, but we had a lovely little old lady doing the cooking for us and delivering the perfect bites to our egg bowls. 

A happy man. 

It was a big hit. 

On our last day we took our to explore Odiaba- something I remember being very cool when I lived in Tokyo. I forgot to look what time things opened, so we ended up there a little on the early time with some time to kill- but thanks to the global domination of Starbucks, we were not with out a place to wait out the morning. 

The big Odiaba plan was to end up taking a boat along the Sumida- ending up back at Asakusa for some last minute shopping in the market. When I did this very thing four years ago, I ended up on a totally normal looking little flat boat- nothing particularly exciting about it. This is the boat we got to ride:

The Jetsons boat. 

Dave on the Jetsons boat. There would be more pictures, but true to my nature, the gentle motion of the boat put me to sleep. No big loss- I'd already seen it once. 

An American Past time in Japan

The main purpose of our big Japan trip was BASEBALL! Poor Dave is in serious baseball withdrawal so we jumped at the chance to take in a trip while we were meeting up with the Curtiss family in Tokyo.

I waited too long to get tickets to the Tokyo Giants at the Tokyo Dome- the Yankees of Japan- so we headed out to Chiba to see the Marines.

Sweet Duck mascot. Duck? Seagull? Hard to say. 

Had to check out the museum- with replicas of the stadium. 

Put us in.

This broke the hearts of several smallish Japanese boys who had been trying unsuccessfully for quite a while to jump and touch the top. 

Baseballllllll! Nice cool day to be outside. Plenty of beer but no hotdogs. 

The downside of good seats is having to watch through the net. 

Taking in the game- not exactly a sold out event. 

Beer girls in ridiculous uniforms with Kegs strapped to their back- something they should TOTALLY start up in the states. 

The coordinated release of long white squealing balloons. A tradition I am fine leaving to Japan. 

Pitcher gets a lift to the mound. 

The lineup. 

4 Curtiss's in Chiba! Check the Yankees gear. 

Tokyo Trip!

Just a little over four years since I first went to Tokyo as a summer associate working for a wonderful Japanese law firm, I was so excited to return! When Dave's parents decided to come visit them- we turned their layover on the way in to Singapore in to a long weekend get-away. Dave has been missing live baseball so it was the perfect way to take in a game- and who could turn down the chance to spend a few more days in a city as awesome as Tokyo. 

In planning our little 4 day mini trip to Tokyo- I tried to make sure we hit all the highlights- which is hard in a city as big as Tokyo- there is so much to do! 

Dave, checking out the shrines in Ueno park. Good thing he is not much taller.

Dave and his mom at Senso-ji

Introducing the Curtiss family to conveyor belt sushi. 

Blackberry time, this is how we spend our vacations. 

The Curtiss men entering the temple.

Dave thinks this lantern is in a bag because its new. Couldn't believe it might be to protect it from rain. 

A few last Thai Snapshots

Thailand was so pretty- and our resort was filled with so many pretty flowers- and I had a lot of time on my hands- so I ended up with a lot of pictures. Thought I would share just a few more!

Elephants!

OK- it may be a little childish- but I LOVE elephants- love them. And its not often in the US that you get a chance to ride one around in the jungle- so when I saw adverts for exactly that opportunity in Krabi- I knew I had to do it. Its fair to say that Dave and Ben were a little bit less enthusiastic about the adventure than I was- but it was my birthday, and dammnit, if I wanted to ride elephants- we were going to.

Here are the elephants getting all saddled up with the special chairs for us tourists. It was amazing- the elephants all but saddled themselves, smart animals.

Ben getting settled on his elephant. 

Elephant butt. 

We managed a little mid-elephant ride camera switch so we wouldn't just have 100 pictures of Ben and his elephant's rear end. Unfortunately, it is difficult to take a steady picture on a moving pachyderm, so Ben's shots of us are a little wobbly.

If I look anxious here its either that I don't trust Ben with my camera (likely) or my clever elephant has its sights on running my legs straight in to a tree or bush while it takes a leisurely scratch. These elephants looooved their scratches on nearby trees, rocks, anything- it was pretty funny. But hey- if my skin looked like that I would be itchy too! 

Or snacks, they stopped for those too. 

At the end of the ride, the elephants were rewarded for their efforts with some tasty pineapple. 

Belated Thailand

About a month late- wanted to share some more pictures from our weekend in Krabi. We had such a good time. It is technically the rainy season on the west coast of Thailand, so we were prepared for iffy weather- and did have some rain- but overall it was gorgeous and the cooler weather was a very welcome break from the Singapore sauna. Krabi, as compared to some of its more rambunctious neighbors like Phuket, is pleasantly quite and laid back. The Sheraton was off the beaten path on a stretch of beach with very few other inhabitants and only a few cute stores and restaurants nearby. Perfect for a relaxing few days. I think Ben was hoping for a little more activity (ie: girls and bars) but for us old folks, it was just what we needed.

There is not much story to tell here- we consumed as much pad thai and fresh sea food as possible, walked on the beach, lounged by the pool, explored the town one night, and drank a lot of local beer. 

One thing I did love were these crazy quasi-transparent sand crabs. We harnessed our inner 5-year-old and chased these little fellows relentlessly across the beach, day and night. The beach was so empty that we were often the only people in sight and the crabs would be unpleasantly surprised by our intrusion in to their sand. I think this particular crab was stunned from the repeated bursts of my flash trying to take a picture. He finally sat still for a proper portrait.

The other notable sea life we encountered were this large squishy jelly fish that were washed up all over the beach. I first thought they were really cool... I thought they were less cool when I realized while we were ocean kayaking that the presence of so many of them on the beach should have given me pause about getting the water. Understandably our time in the ocean was limited. We tried to go on a squid fishing trip (why not- nothing else to do!) sponsored by the hotel- but were told that there were too many jelly fish! Hopefully this is a transient problem as I'd really like to come back again and swim in the ocean!

No beach vacay is complete with out drinking directly from a coconut. 

We're Back... to blogging

June was a crazy busy month and we let our blogging slip- we didn't realize anyone would notice or mind, but my Grandma has let me know that she misses our blog and she has a few friends who also read it- so I am going to do my best to be better at posting regularly again. I have to admit that I am pretty in awe of my friends who manage to post multiple times a week- kudos to not choosing sleep over communicating, as I often have done in the past month.

So here is a quick wrap up of June:

Ben came to Singapore. We promptly took a very jet lagged and generally-tired-from-Graduation-Ben to Thailand for some R&R. Besides his jet leg resulting in some very bizarre sleeping habits for all of us, we had a great time. Spent some time exploring the town, more time at the pool, drank the obligatory tropical drink directly from a coconut, ate seafood that had been swimming mere hours before it met our tummies, the usual beach vacay business. I'll post some more pictures later. I turned 27 whilst in Thailand and for my birthday got to ride an elephant, which as a few of you know- has been a goal for quite some time (the elephant riding in Thailand, not the getting old part). I had big plans to ride an elephant in Thailand 4 years ago while Team Duke and I were living in Asia for the summer- but drinking followed by walking in high heels down a steep incline and the resulting broken leg crushed my elephant related hopes and dreams. The Curtiss boys were kind enough to indulge me on my birthday and let me have my long awaited elephant ride. And it did not disappoint- it was quite the experience and my only regret is that Ben got to ride on the elephants head and I didn't. Now I know what it is like to have siblings and hate them a little bit when they get things you wanted =) Oh well- maybe next time.

The rest of the time Ben was in Singapore was full of World Cup watching in the middle of the night at various drinking establishments in Singapore and then finally solidifying a serious relationship with O'Bama's Irish Bar, where we have been spending a lot of time. That's right- the local Irish pub in our hood is called O'Bama's and its motto is "Change you can drink to." Dave got a members only discount card which he now counts amongst his favourite possessions.

We managed to show Ben around town as best we could- it was good to have an excuse to explore some parts of town we hadn't checked out yet- and even managed to have our first Singapore Chili Crab- which was tasty. The best Ben related story is how he managed to miss his flight. But I will save the full details for a subsequent post. We were sad to see him go- but now the Curtiss's are visiting- so we were not long with out company!

While he was here I had nasal-sinus surgery- it was loads of fun. No further details are going to be provided because the full description is unpleasant at best. My only advice is that unless totally necessary, septoplasty and turbinoplasty should be avoided at all costs. Still hoping to be able to breathe out of my nose in the near future.

We just got back from a long weekend in Tokyo where we met up with Dave's parent's on their way here- and I got to show everyone around my former home. We also took in a baseball game- which helped ease some of Dave's serious baseball and live-sports related withdrawal. I sense that we will be back in the near future for another fix.

So that is life in a nutshell. When we do not have the pleasure of entertaining people we are pretty amazingly boring- which leads to a lack of blogging- but we will spend some time putting up pictures from the last few weeks and try to do a better job of keeping this thing updated!

A belated Happy 4th of July to all of our friends and family back home- Yay America.

Xo- Erin

Thailand I

Ben drives the Elephant. 

We had a lovely time in Krabi- more later!

On the Jersey Shore

When we first arrived in Singapore- MTV was in the midst of a massive marketing campaign for the release of the Jersey Shore to the Asian MTV markets. Humorous as this show may be- and I can admit to watching it faithfully when it was out in the US, (it was like a car wreck, you don't want to look- but you have to) I was unsure that Singapore was ready for Snookie and team.

Since we are currently sans cable, we haven't been channel surfing past MTV Asia to see the show repeated in its full glory, although it would have been interesting to see what if anything they censored for the Asian market. I had almost forgotten entirely about the show until a conversation with my co-worker today.

I have recently decorated my office with one of my lovely wedding photos and she popped by to admire it. She politely asked where the beach scene was and I responded truthfully and with out hesitation that it was in New Jersey. To which she almost fell over and shrieked- YOU GOT MARRIED ON THE JERSEY SHORE???? Cringing I realized that this lovely British girl living in SE Asia had been MTV'd.

A mere year ago I could have innocently discussed the whereabouts of my nuptials with out iliticting near hysterics from strangers. But no, thanks to the antics of America's, and now the world's, favorite "guidos" I now have to add the modifier, "but not in the Jersey shore like the show- a much nicer, different town." To which I recieve awkward, doubting and sympathetic nods. She did note that the beach in my pictures looked nicer than the beach on the shows. Thankfully.

My co-worker and I proceeded to have a lively conversation about the show- and the towns and she asked such insightful questions as "why are the towns so shitty?" "why are they always fighting?" "why do they dance like that" "what is a juice-head?" I answered as best as I could, with shame welling up deep inside for knowing some of the answers, but the saddest part was that I couldn't deny that this is actually what parts of the Jersey shore are like. She was in disbelief when I told her that "sadly, you cannot make shit like that up." She also didn't understand my americanism- but that is a different story. She admitted she watched the show- and the reunion- and liked it- but I knew her view of the US had changed forever. And along with that- her view of me had changed forever. Now somewhere, deep in her mind- she is going to associate me with the Jersey Shore- and this is clearly not something I am comfortable with. On the upside, Dave and I have considered dressing up as the Shore kiddies for Halloween- and its reassuring to know that while it obviously would have been a big hit (and a popular concept no doubt) in NY- it will probably go over equally as well hear. Guess people everywhere enjoy the guilty pleasure of trashy reality TV.

http://www.mtvasia.com/Onair/Shows/JerseyShore/