Weekly Mansion Ikebukuro-kita Itabashi

... flowers can be admired, as well as a replica of a chinese tea house. We were lucky to attend a traditional wedding procession when visiting the Meiji shrine. First was the priest (check the pictures for his Dutch-looking clogs), followed by alter girls with very long braids, the bride and groom protected by an umbrella and the rest of the close family, with older women wearing kimonos. We started chatting to an old Japanese woman who told us the bride was not wearing ...

... night we decided to go out and discover the night in the big city, a "must" in Tokyo. Also my friend Attila joined us (a German that I met in Arequipa and that came to Tokyo to work) . And ut was so funny and great! we went to one of the most famous clubs in the world (Womb) and we danced until the following morning. Before going back we ate ramen and had a siesta in the train (japanese style). I felt a little like at home and I' sad to leave this country I loved...

... garden designed and built by Marshall Yamagata Aritome, a senior official at the turn of the twentieth century. Heading south you reach the east side of Gion and Maruyama-koen, a large park with a number of large temples. After a chance meeting with Dad heading in the opposite direction, I climb up the Sannen-zaka (three year slope) and Ninen-zaka (two year slope) to the hilltop temple of Kiyomizu-dera. This has been a key religious site in Kyoto since 778 AD ...

... Chomeiji, the temple of long life and the home of Benten, the only female of the 7 lucky gods. Benten is the deity of music and fine arts. She is not of Chinese origin, but harks back to an Indian water sprite. Chomeiji also has a link with water and there is a sacred spring on the grounds. It is purported that the water from this spring cured Iemitsu, who was the third Tokugawa Shogun (war lord) of a stomach ailment. Yep, we drank the ...

Vandaag hebben wij geconstateerd dat de toesnellende Jappanners om ons heen zijn verdwenen. Dit betekent waarschijnlijk dat wij in de letterlijke zin `minder hulpeloos` zijn geworden. (hiermee voel ik mij minder hopeloos waardoor minder hulpbehoevendheid wordt uitgestraald). Deze stad begint al behoorlijk te wennen. We zijn nog nooit verdwaald en dat stralen we uit. Een goede ontwikkeling, zo een van de laatste dagen voordat wij hier vertrekken. Vandaag is ...

... Filipino taxi ride with. On the way I stopped a hilarious billboard of a toilet bowl and beneath it was printed "Amanda". I pointed it out to Rick and we laughed about it together. If only I could've snapped a quick picture!! At the airport, I stood in line for nearly an hour; quicker than last year! After check-in, however, it was a quick wait prior to boarding; one in which I used the time to journal. It was a 2.5-hour flight to ...

... We went walking in our area, and found a crazy 100 Yen store/cheap convenience store a little ways out there. It had tons of silly trinkets, and dicey food. Amy found Vinegar after a hysterical conversation/ sign language with another shopper. Well... we think it's vinegar. It's either that or some form of lighter fluid, based on the conversation I saw. We then found a bento-box take-out Restaurant. This was the first of it's kind that I had ...

... of a tour group, we've both been assigned roommates. Neither had arrived yet, so, having dodged a rather heavy thunderstorm that did nothing to alleviate the hot, humid temperature, we headed out again to check out a nearby temple, before grabbing some sleep to try and get over the 9 hour time difference.

We met up with our tour leader and the rest of our tour group for dinner. Everyone seems lovely, but sadly we couldn't sit together because of the way the seating worked at the ...

... in Khorat. Its a smaller town but seems bigger then Ayutthya. We stayed at Tokyo Mansion hotel which was 321 baht for a nice twin A/C room with TV. I could have used this sort of thing all over Thailand. Accomodations in the north-east seem cheaper and the people are much more helpfull and not always trying to rip you off. I think if I had not traveled to this area ...