We are in Juneau, Alaska!! I'm sitting at the Imperial Saloon with Jeremy as we upload pictures and enjoy the most breathtaking views of snow capped mountains. It's surprisingly sunny and warm here though. Juneau reminds me so much of my hometown Bend, Oregon so I LOVE it. And guess what family? Their most popular beer here is the Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Ale which they have on draft!!! (That's a beer from the local Bend brewery). I don't like beer but if I did I would be pretty excited.
So...check facebook and picassa today because there will be a lot of new pictures! I have to say, I am so happy to be back in the good ole' US of A. I love traveling but I really don't think I could live in another country. Even though I can see that Alaska is like none of the other states, I still had a feeling of relief as I stepped off the boat into America.
Tonight we are eating dinner at the world famous Tracy's Crab Shack. Ironically, after my last blog, "The Deadliest Catch" drops crabs here :) It's the most famous crab shack in Alaska so I'm pretty excited!
So while we're in Alaska, I can call and text with my regular cell plan. However, as soon as we leave port and sail back into the ocean, I'll have to put my phone on Airplane mode so we don't pay any roaming charges. I'll send our weekly schedule with the times we're in port so you know when to call and text :)
Love you all so much!!
J & J
Friday, May 20, 2011
Pacific Crossing
Well, it's been about 10 days since I've blogged and since I've been off the ship. We had one more Russian port before our Pacific crossing but staff and crew weren't allowed to leave. Then, our little MS Volendam sailed into the Bering Sea. Now, for those of you who have seen the show "The Deadliest Catch," it's filmed in the Bering Sea. There's a reason why it's called the deadliest catch. There's a reason most cruise ships don't go through the Bering Sea. There's a reason why all of the sea sick pills were emptied out within a day...our 3 days through the Bering Sea were the rockiest any of us had ever felt, including staff members who have lived on ships for years. I would be lying if I said it was anything but miserable. I knew we were never in any real danger, but dishes were falling off shelves, food was sliding off the Lido Buffet, all of our costumes fell off the racks, all daytime activities were cancelled and we almost cancelled our shows. Instead, what we did was a radio style show so we sat in chairs and sang with no choreography or movement. It was impossible to stand still or walk in a straight line for about 3 days straight. In fact, in our radio version of "Dinner Belles," one of our cast member's chairs started to slide across the stage with her in it!! Now looking back it's almost laughable but I never want to experience that again. The Bering Sea is obviously known for rocky waters and we were chasing a storm. We definitely won't hit any waters like that again with our upcoming itinerary.
Truthfully, the Pacific crossing is kind-of a blur because it's nearly impossible to sleep with the ocean forcing your tossing and turning. So, when we got through the thick of it, I slept as often as I could for about 3 days. I have nothing else really to report on. The storm was all consuming.
Now we are on our first 7 day cruise to Alaska! We went to Kodiak and Sitka, Alaska but again we weren't able to leave the ship because they were both tender ports. The views from the ship were breathtaking though and since we'll be in Alaska all summer, I didn't mind not being able to get off. Even though we'll be busier with shows more often, I'm very excited to be on a regular schedule and routine. Since we will visit the same 4 ports for three months, there isn't as much pressure to see everything in one day. My top priorities are whale watching, hiking and if at all possible, taking an Alaskan helicopter ride!
Yesterday I was in the gym on the top deck of the ship - where there are floor to ceiling windows with a crystal clear view of the bow and the ocean - and about 100 dolphins started jumping right in front of me!!!! I squealed out loud as I watched dolphins surround the ship, playing and jumping as far as the eye could see. For everyone who knows that I used to send my 4th grade allowance to Greenpeace to help save the dolphins, and that I used to want to be a marine biologist, you can imagine how excited I was admiring these beautiful creatures.
Tomorrow we'll be in Juneau, Alaska with free Internet. We can finally upload a months worth of pictures!!! Love you,
J & J
Truthfully, the Pacific crossing is kind-of a blur because it's nearly impossible to sleep with the ocean forcing your tossing and turning. So, when we got through the thick of it, I slept as often as I could for about 3 days. I have nothing else really to report on. The storm was all consuming.
Now we are on our first 7 day cruise to Alaska! We went to Kodiak and Sitka, Alaska but again we weren't able to leave the ship because they were both tender ports. The views from the ship were breathtaking though and since we'll be in Alaska all summer, I didn't mind not being able to get off. Even though we'll be busier with shows more often, I'm very excited to be on a regular schedule and routine. Since we will visit the same 4 ports for three months, there isn't as much pressure to see everything in one day. My top priorities are whale watching, hiking and if at all possible, taking an Alaskan helicopter ride!
Yesterday I was in the gym on the top deck of the ship - where there are floor to ceiling windows with a crystal clear view of the bow and the ocean - and about 100 dolphins started jumping right in front of me!!!! I squealed out loud as I watched dolphins surround the ship, playing and jumping as far as the eye could see. For everyone who knows that I used to send my 4th grade allowance to Greenpeace to help save the dolphins, and that I used to want to be a marine biologist, you can imagine how excited I was admiring these beautiful creatures.
Tomorrow we'll be in Juneau, Alaska with free Internet. We can finally upload a months worth of pictures!!! Love you,
J & J
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Mother Russia!
Blog #9 Mother Russia
First of all, Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother, the most selfless, kind and generous woman I know, and also to my new mother who I am absolutely thrilled and honored to call mom! I love you so much.
Here is the latest blog...
It's currently May 6, 2011 and I'm sitting in the ship's Piano Bar listening to the solo guitarist, Zach. Outside is a view of overcast, cold and dark Vladivostok, Russia. We just returned and the first thing I did was drink some Earl Grey tea in an attempt to warm the bone-chilling cold. This morning we had a crew life raft drill and had to stand outside for about 20 minutes. After sailing near the equator and being in such warm and humid climates, this morning was quite a shock and i was not definitely not prepared. I would say it was about 35 degrees but with the wind chill it felt more like 20 degrees. When we left for the city with coats, scarves, gloves and hats, I have to admit that even though I was still freezing, the cold added to the Russian experience. It was pretty cool walking off the ship and seeing the Russian immigration officers in the traditional Russian hats and furs.
Vladivostok is the Eastern-most stop on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and the train station was right where the ship docked. Had we hopped on the train, it would take 7 days and only $150 US Dollars to get to Moscow. Too bad we couldn't get on the train...what an experience that would be!
There is one word for Vladivostok besides cold: dark. I wish I could adequately describe the contrast between Russia and colorful Japan and Korea. Everything had a greyish, brownish or bluish tone and the entire city felt almost abandoned. The sidewalks and streets were extremely tattered and none of the buildings looked like they had been painted for 20 years. The architecture was exactly what I was expecting and I have to admit that coming from my American bias of Russians being the nemesis red coats, the people also met my expectations. I tried smiling at fellow pedestrians and not one of them smiled back. Either they wouldn't make eye contact at all or they would just look away if they caught me smiling. It must be a cultural thing.
Vladivostok is certainly not a tourist destination, so there wasn't a whole lot to do without venturing a far distance into the city. Because of our life raft drill this morning, we didn't have very much time so we wandered around what was in walking distance of the port. We stumbled upon a beautiful park right on the water with a Russian Orthodoxy church. We took a few pictures and then Jeremy discovered a Russian submarine museum. For $100 Rouble, or about $3 dollars, we ducked inside the submarine. Unbelievable. Dad - you would've LOVED seeing this. Not many people can say they've been inside a Russian sub and in the past, that wouldn't have been a positive thing! Two chilling moments - seeing the framed picture of Stalin in the captain's quarters and walking through the sailor's quarters with their cots parallel to enormous torpedoes.
We tried to find a restaurant but didn't see anything worthwhile. There were no flashy neon signs and very few pictures or symbols to indicate what certain businesses were. We probably passed numerous restaurants and shops without knowing it. I enjoyed seeing Vladivostok and I'm happy to say vie been to Russia, but I wouldn't want to return unless it were a short historical tour in Moscow or St. Petersburg. The culture, colors, mentality and overall vibe of Russia is just so different than the USA. I'm proud to be an American.
Last night was the first repeat of our show "Back to Broadway." This Asian cruise leg is 35 days but it was broken up into an 18 day and a 17 day cruise. A lot of guests booked for all 35 days, but some of them left in Kobe and we got new passengers for the last 17 days. Because of this, and because we only have 7 production shows, we will be repeating all of our shows. For half of the guests they'll be brand new, for the other half...well, I hope they liked them enough to come again! I am happy to report that every guest I've talked to has said that our cast is the best cast they've ever seen on a Holland America ship. A lot of the crew has seconded that so we feel appreciated :)
We have three sea days until the next Russian port and unfortunately we won't be able to leave the ship because it's a tender port. Tendering means that the Volendam is too large to pull up to the dock so they drop the anchor and ship the guests ashore on tender boats. Sometimes the staff and crew aren't allowed to go ashore because there isn't enough time to tender everyone. After this next Russian city Petropavlovsk, we are headed to Alaska!
Love you!
Happy Mother's Day!!
J & J
First of all, Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother, the most selfless, kind and generous woman I know, and also to my new mother who I am absolutely thrilled and honored to call mom! I love you so much.
Here is the latest blog...
It's currently May 6, 2011 and I'm sitting in the ship's Piano Bar listening to the solo guitarist, Zach. Outside is a view of overcast, cold and dark Vladivostok, Russia. We just returned and the first thing I did was drink some Earl Grey tea in an attempt to warm the bone-chilling cold. This morning we had a crew life raft drill and had to stand outside for about 20 minutes. After sailing near the equator and being in such warm and humid climates, this morning was quite a shock and i was not definitely not prepared. I would say it was about 35 degrees but with the wind chill it felt more like 20 degrees. When we left for the city with coats, scarves, gloves and hats, I have to admit that even though I was still freezing, the cold added to the Russian experience. It was pretty cool walking off the ship and seeing the Russian immigration officers in the traditional Russian hats and furs.
Vladivostok is the Eastern-most stop on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and the train station was right where the ship docked. Had we hopped on the train, it would take 7 days and only $150 US Dollars to get to Moscow. Too bad we couldn't get on the train...what an experience that would be!
There is one word for Vladivostok besides cold: dark. I wish I could adequately describe the contrast between Russia and colorful Japan and Korea. Everything had a greyish, brownish or bluish tone and the entire city felt almost abandoned. The sidewalks and streets were extremely tattered and none of the buildings looked like they had been painted for 20 years. The architecture was exactly what I was expecting and I have to admit that coming from my American bias of Russians being the nemesis red coats, the people also met my expectations. I tried smiling at fellow pedestrians and not one of them smiled back. Either they wouldn't make eye contact at all or they would just look away if they caught me smiling. It must be a cultural thing.
Vladivostok is certainly not a tourist destination, so there wasn't a whole lot to do without venturing a far distance into the city. Because of our life raft drill this morning, we didn't have very much time so we wandered around what was in walking distance of the port. We stumbled upon a beautiful park right on the water with a Russian Orthodoxy church. We took a few pictures and then Jeremy discovered a Russian submarine museum. For $100 Rouble, or about $3 dollars, we ducked inside the submarine. Unbelievable. Dad - you would've LOVED seeing this. Not many people can say they've been inside a Russian sub and in the past, that wouldn't have been a positive thing! Two chilling moments - seeing the framed picture of Stalin in the captain's quarters and walking through the sailor's quarters with their cots parallel to enormous torpedoes.
We tried to find a restaurant but didn't see anything worthwhile. There were no flashy neon signs and very few pictures or symbols to indicate what certain businesses were. We probably passed numerous restaurants and shops without knowing it. I enjoyed seeing Vladivostok and I'm happy to say vie been to Russia, but I wouldn't want to return unless it were a short historical tour in Moscow or St. Petersburg. The culture, colors, mentality and overall vibe of Russia is just so different than the USA. I'm proud to be an American.
Last night was the first repeat of our show "Back to Broadway." This Asian cruise leg is 35 days but it was broken up into an 18 day and a 17 day cruise. A lot of guests booked for all 35 days, but some of them left in Kobe and we got new passengers for the last 17 days. Because of this, and because we only have 7 production shows, we will be repeating all of our shows. For half of the guests they'll be brand new, for the other half...well, I hope they liked them enough to come again! I am happy to report that every guest I've talked to has said that our cast is the best cast they've ever seen on a Holland America ship. A lot of the crew has seconded that so we feel appreciated :)
We have three sea days until the next Russian port and unfortunately we won't be able to leave the ship because it's a tender port. Tendering means that the Volendam is too large to pull up to the dock so they drop the anchor and ship the guests ashore on tender boats. Sometimes the staff and crew aren't allowed to go ashore because there isn't enough time to tender everyone. After this next Russian city Petropavlovsk, we are headed to Alaska!
Love you!
Happy Mother's Day!!
J & J
Close to, but safe from King Jong Il...
May 4 - Busan/Pusan, South Korea. Wow. Korea? Really? All I can do is give thanks to the Lord in all humility for this incredible journey. If we had had more time in Busan, I would've visited one of the large Christian churches there. Busan, interchangeable with Pusan, is the second largest city in South Korea, Seoul being the largest. We only had about four hours in the city so we took a shuttle from the port into the downtown area. I took a few pictures of long alleyways filled with street vendors and especially food vendors. Being in Asia, most of the food wasn't too appetizing, like dried octopus and fried squid paste cakes.
We opted for a Korean BBQ restaurant. The menu was limited because Korean BBQ is similar to Benihanas where they cook the food in front of you. At our table were two gas powered hot plates and the only entree options were bean sprouts with your choice of protein. We chose pork and bean sprouts, and I also tried a popular Korean drink, plum wine. They brought our food on large metal trays that sit on the hot plates. Judging by the bright red color, we knew it would be spicy, but we were not prepared for just how spicy! Most Asian food that I've had is either flavored with soy sauce, seafood, curry or garlic. This flavor was pure chili. Red hot chilis-the spiciest food I've ever had. Amazing to think that our food was probably considered mild to the Koreans. Well, with sweat on our foreheads and scorched taste buds what did we see but a Coldstone Creamery across the street! I'm learning more and more that America is everywhere. I had to try the Earl Grey Coldstone ice cream (I took a picture of the Earl Grey ice cream label for you Miriam!) It truly was frozen Earl Grey tea, otherwise known as heaven in a cone :). When we get home I'm going to march into my local Coldstone and demand that it be added to the menu.
After lunch, we walked around the international market which consisted of souvenirs cheap in quality but expensive in price. Note to self and readers, if you're looking for Asian souvenirs, get them in Thailand, Vietnam or mainland China. Hong Kong and China are very expensive, Cambodia doesn't really have anything worth buying and Busan was too pricey for the quality. However, we wanted some sort of memento, so Jeremy got a Korea t-shirt and I got a Korea sweatshirt.
I wish we weren't so limited on our time in Busan but we made the most of our few hours. I would love to visit Seoul after this experience. One thing I love about traveling is learning about and handling all of the foreign currency. For instance, the Vietnamese Dong is only a paper currency, no coins, and as I learned all too well, they will only accept pristine paper. The Korean Won has about the same exchange rate as the Japanese Yen, 1000 to $1. The Thai Baht is about 30 Baht to $1. The Cambodian Riel is the most inflated currency at a rate of 4,000 Riel to $1. I'm writing this because I want to look back in 20 years and compare :)
I'm very excited to see our next port of call...Russia! I never had any intention of taking a trip to Russia and probably won't be back unless it's on another cruise ship. To be given the chance to step on Soviet soil is exhilarating. I have a lot of expectations and predictions so we'll see if they are accurate!
Love you,
J & J
We opted for a Korean BBQ restaurant. The menu was limited because Korean BBQ is similar to Benihanas where they cook the food in front of you. At our table were two gas powered hot plates and the only entree options were bean sprouts with your choice of protein. We chose pork and bean sprouts, and I also tried a popular Korean drink, plum wine. They brought our food on large metal trays that sit on the hot plates. Judging by the bright red color, we knew it would be spicy, but we were not prepared for just how spicy! Most Asian food that I've had is either flavored with soy sauce, seafood, curry or garlic. This flavor was pure chili. Red hot chilis-the spiciest food I've ever had. Amazing to think that our food was probably considered mild to the Koreans. Well, with sweat on our foreheads and scorched taste buds what did we see but a Coldstone Creamery across the street! I'm learning more and more that America is everywhere. I had to try the Earl Grey Coldstone ice cream (I took a picture of the Earl Grey ice cream label for you Miriam!) It truly was frozen Earl Grey tea, otherwise known as heaven in a cone :). When we get home I'm going to march into my local Coldstone and demand that it be added to the menu.
After lunch, we walked around the international market which consisted of souvenirs cheap in quality but expensive in price. Note to self and readers, if you're looking for Asian souvenirs, get them in Thailand, Vietnam or mainland China. Hong Kong and China are very expensive, Cambodia doesn't really have anything worth buying and Busan was too pricey for the quality. However, we wanted some sort of memento, so Jeremy got a Korea t-shirt and I got a Korea sweatshirt.
I wish we weren't so limited on our time in Busan but we made the most of our few hours. I would love to visit Seoul after this experience. One thing I love about traveling is learning about and handling all of the foreign currency. For instance, the Vietnamese Dong is only a paper currency, no coins, and as I learned all too well, they will only accept pristine paper. The Korean Won has about the same exchange rate as the Japanese Yen, 1000 to $1. The Thai Baht is about 30 Baht to $1. The Cambodian Riel is the most inflated currency at a rate of 4,000 Riel to $1. I'm writing this because I want to look back in 20 years and compare :)
I'm very excited to see our next port of call...Russia! I never had any intention of taking a trip to Russia and probably won't be back unless it's on another cruise ship. To be given the chance to step on Soviet soil is exhilarating. I have a lot of expectations and predictions so we'll see if they are accurate!
Love you,
J & J
Nipon
The Japanese are some of the most helpful and friendly people I've encountered in my Asian travels. On April 30th, we entered Nagasaki and were immediately greeted with gracious and welcoming locals. It took only a small detour on the tram, which is more of a streetcar, and we figured out the public transportation system. I wasn't expecting to see very much English in Nagasaki so I was surprised to see that almost every street sign, map, menu, etc had English in addition to Japanese. However, very few people speak English so we quickly became practiced in the art of pointing.
Our first stop in Nagasaki was none other than the atomic bomb memorial and museum. I can't begin to describe the overwhelming emotion of standing at the hypocenter of that horrific bomb. The area is called Matsuyama-Machi and a large black obilisk stands at the hypocenter surrounded by concentric concrete circles, symbolizing the atomic cloud of radiation. Jeremy and I just stood there for about 30 minutes while reading the sobering statistics of the aftermath of August 9, 1945. With a total population of only 240,000, the immediate death toll was 74,000, with 75,000 critically injured and 120,000 left homeless. We eventually entered the museum and were confronted with an array of tragic pictures, videos, stories and artifacts.
My first observation of Nagasaki was that it seemed very run-down with poor infrastructure - especially for the advanced Japanese society. But upon seeing the pictures of the beautiful temples, cathedrals, city buildings and homes that were completely demolished, I realized that this entire city had to be re-built with limited resources in the tumultuous war-torn Japan.
After being thoroughly convinced that all nuclear weapons should be destroyed, we ventured into downtown Nagasaki for some food. One would think that most restaurants and vendors in Nagasaki would take VISA, but one would be wrong. One would also think that ATM machines would be easily accessible and dispense YEN with any major debit card, but yet again, one would be wrong. We wandered around for a 1/2 hour trying to find a working ATM because not a single restaurant would take VISA. Jeremy and I had exchanged dollars for Yen, but our fellow cast mates only had their cards. Even the McDonalds wouldn't take a VISA. And, none of the ATMs would accept our debit cards. Nagasaki is no Tokyo! We finally found a post office with an international ATM.
With Yen in hand, we were hoping to find some sushi, but another weird quirk of Nagasaki is that most of the restaurants were closed at 3:30pm on Saturday. I guess we were in-between lunch and dinner and apparently restaurants take a break. We finally found a small hole in the wall Japanese noodle house. I had some delicious shrimp Udon and green tea. No sushi, but I had lobster mango rolls while in Hong Kong a few days ago, and honestly I don't think they could've been topped, so I was very happy with my Udon :)
We shopped around a bit at the insanely crowded and gaudy neon-strewn streets before heading back to the ship on the #5 green line tram. Our timing was perfect too because right as we stepped into the port, rain came pouring down typhoon-style. It was beautiful to watch - would not have been fun to be stuck in!
May 2nd was our port day in Kobe, Japan. It's amazing the difference between Kobe and Nagasaki - Kobe was definitely more of what I was expecting from Japan: very colorful, crowded, clean, technological and yet still green and beautiful. As you can imagine, all of us wanted real Kobe beef. However, as I'm sure you can also imagine, it was SO expensive since the beef is the city's main claim to fame. For a small steak, the cheapest price we saw was 60,000 yen...that's about $60 US dollars! The prices went up from there, with a large steak costing 140,000 yen, or $140 dollars. We did not have Kobe beef. But we did have dinner at a little Japanese restaurant with pictures as our only guide to what we were eating. The food was delicious. I thought it was interesting that we had to take our shoes off before sitting in our private booth. I also had to take my shoes off before trying clothes on in a Japanese clothing store called Uni-Qlo. (Laura or Amy - have you heard of that store before? I guess they are only in Japan and New York)
So besides having authentic Japanese food, even if it wasn't Kobe beef, what else did we think of while in Japan? An actual Japanese garden of course :). We visited a beautiful garden within walking distance of downtown. It was called Sekouran Gardens and we spent about 2 hours there. It was tranquil, peaceful and exhilarating all at the same time. Kobe had a very interesting mix of old and new. Also within walking distance was the Ikuta Shrine. Right in the middle of the chaotic city was this ancient shrine. Upon walking outside the gate, we were again swept up in the Ikuta district of shops, restaurants and hoards of people.
I have to say that of all the Asian countries and cities we've visited, Hong Kong is still my favorite. Because of the Japanese earthquakes and nuclear scares, we were re-routed to South Korea and Russia rather than continuing through Northern Japan. I hope to someday visit Tokyo - it might compete with Hong Kong - but until then Hong Kong remains the most dynamic, interesting, unique, and livable Asian city.
Up next - South Korea and Russia! Love you,
J & J
Our first stop in Nagasaki was none other than the atomic bomb memorial and museum. I can't begin to describe the overwhelming emotion of standing at the hypocenter of that horrific bomb. The area is called Matsuyama-Machi and a large black obilisk stands at the hypocenter surrounded by concentric concrete circles, symbolizing the atomic cloud of radiation. Jeremy and I just stood there for about 30 minutes while reading the sobering statistics of the aftermath of August 9, 1945. With a total population of only 240,000, the immediate death toll was 74,000, with 75,000 critically injured and 120,000 left homeless. We eventually entered the museum and were confronted with an array of tragic pictures, videos, stories and artifacts.
My first observation of Nagasaki was that it seemed very run-down with poor infrastructure - especially for the advanced Japanese society. But upon seeing the pictures of the beautiful temples, cathedrals, city buildings and homes that were completely demolished, I realized that this entire city had to be re-built with limited resources in the tumultuous war-torn Japan.
After being thoroughly convinced that all nuclear weapons should be destroyed, we ventured into downtown Nagasaki for some food. One would think that most restaurants and vendors in Nagasaki would take VISA, but one would be wrong. One would also think that ATM machines would be easily accessible and dispense YEN with any major debit card, but yet again, one would be wrong. We wandered around for a 1/2 hour trying to find a working ATM because not a single restaurant would take VISA. Jeremy and I had exchanged dollars for Yen, but our fellow cast mates only had their cards. Even the McDonalds wouldn't take a VISA. And, none of the ATMs would accept our debit cards. Nagasaki is no Tokyo! We finally found a post office with an international ATM.
With Yen in hand, we were hoping to find some sushi, but another weird quirk of Nagasaki is that most of the restaurants were closed at 3:30pm on Saturday. I guess we were in-between lunch and dinner and apparently restaurants take a break. We finally found a small hole in the wall Japanese noodle house. I had some delicious shrimp Udon and green tea. No sushi, but I had lobster mango rolls while in Hong Kong a few days ago, and honestly I don't think they could've been topped, so I was very happy with my Udon :)
We shopped around a bit at the insanely crowded and gaudy neon-strewn streets before heading back to the ship on the #5 green line tram. Our timing was perfect too because right as we stepped into the port, rain came pouring down typhoon-style. It was beautiful to watch - would not have been fun to be stuck in!
May 2nd was our port day in Kobe, Japan. It's amazing the difference between Kobe and Nagasaki - Kobe was definitely more of what I was expecting from Japan: very colorful, crowded, clean, technological and yet still green and beautiful. As you can imagine, all of us wanted real Kobe beef. However, as I'm sure you can also imagine, it was SO expensive since the beef is the city's main claim to fame. For a small steak, the cheapest price we saw was 60,000 yen...that's about $60 US dollars! The prices went up from there, with a large steak costing 140,000 yen, or $140 dollars. We did not have Kobe beef. But we did have dinner at a little Japanese restaurant with pictures as our only guide to what we were eating. The food was delicious. I thought it was interesting that we had to take our shoes off before sitting in our private booth. I also had to take my shoes off before trying clothes on in a Japanese clothing store called Uni-Qlo. (Laura or Amy - have you heard of that store before? I guess they are only in Japan and New York)
So besides having authentic Japanese food, even if it wasn't Kobe beef, what else did we think of while in Japan? An actual Japanese garden of course :). We visited a beautiful garden within walking distance of downtown. It was called Sekouran Gardens and we spent about 2 hours there. It was tranquil, peaceful and exhilarating all at the same time. Kobe had a very interesting mix of old and new. Also within walking distance was the Ikuta Shrine. Right in the middle of the chaotic city was this ancient shrine. Upon walking outside the gate, we were again swept up in the Ikuta district of shops, restaurants and hoards of people.
I have to say that of all the Asian countries and cities we've visited, Hong Kong is still my favorite. Because of the Japanese earthquakes and nuclear scares, we were re-routed to South Korea and Russia rather than continuing through Northern Japan. I hope to someday visit Tokyo - it might compete with Hong Kong - but until then Hong Kong remains the most dynamic, interesting, unique, and livable Asian city.
Up next - South Korea and Russia! Love you,
J & J
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