Day 15 and 16 - Kauai

It was our last full day in Kauai as we were to fly home the next afternoon.  In the morning, we headed to Wailua Falls, reported at 80 feet tall.  The authors of the guidebook we bought said they didn't buy that, though, so they dropped a fishing line over the edge and measured almost twice that (if my memory serves me correctly.)  In the afternoon, Rebecca and I had a surfing lesson.  We both caught some waves, had some great wipeouts, and had a great time.

That night, we went to the requisite luau at the Smith Family Plantation.  The grounds there are quite beautiful, the food was good, the show was good, but the whole thing lacked a real coherent feel, like the last one we went to.

The morning of day 16, we went on a quest.  A final quest for shave ice.  These are similar, but unlike snow cones, which are made by taking small ice cubes and pouring super-sweet liquid over them, leaving you with essentially a cup of  small, barely flavored ice cubes and a cup of cold, super-sweet liquid.  Shave ice is much finer, which makes the liquid integrate better.  Some places serve it over ice cream.  The best place on the island is in Waimea.  Two days earlier, when we went to Waimea Canyon, we passed it and saw it was open.  We then went for dinner, saving room for shave ice.  When we returned, the place was closed.  We tried several other places, all of which were either closed, or don't serve it after 4pm.  On this last day we found one that was open and had it over ice cream.  It was very good and we could finally see why it was so popular there.  I'd like to have a truck at the Ithaca Festival next year.

That afternoon, we began the long journey home, ending our extended trip to Japan and Kauai.  We had a great time and some wonderful experiences.  I hope you've enjoyed reading about it.

Day 13 and 14 - Kauai

On Day 13 we did a little exploring and snorkeling.  This was our relax and just enjoy being in Hawaii day.  No running around trying to pack in sightseeing, just enjoying the sun without the humidity of Japan.  It was Rebecca's first real experience with snorkeling.  We went to a great place for beginner snorkellers that was right next to our hotel called Lydgate Park.  It took us a while to find out where the fish were congregating.  By then, Rebecca had only seen 3 fish, but had had enough and promptly said she had no further inclination to go snorkeling again.  Ever.  No pictures of this day.

On Day 14 we got up early and went back to Lydgate Park to use our rented snorkeling equipment (from Snorkel Bob's) one last time before we returned it.  We finally cajolled Rebecca into trying it one more time.  Even Linda, who didn't really want to go again, could resist the lure of seeing more beautiful fish.  This time, however, we went straight to where we knew the fish were and Rebecca had a much better experience.  We may have turned snorkelling around for her.   That afternoon we drove to the Southern and Western part of the island, heading up Waimea Canyon.  It's sometimes called the Grand Canyon of Hawaii.  I've been to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, which is pretty, but nothing like the one in Arizona.  If you look at some of the enclosed pictures, you'll see that this one actually is closer to the Arizona canyon.  Quite large and dramatic.

Further along the road, we reached overlooks of the beautiful NaPali Coast.  I've also included a picture of some of the chickens of Kauai.  They're everywhere; apparently set free during a hurricane in 1992, just after our last visit to Hawaii.  The roosters there cockadoodledoo all day long, beginning at 5AM, before sunrise.  At times, they can be heard dueling like banjos.  They were our least favorite part of the trip.

Day 12 - Driving around Kauai

Our second day in Kauai, after a good night's sleep, we went on a driving tour around the Eastern part of the island.  I climbed up some steps to find an old graveyard with a nice view.  We met a few locals who were using a net on a very long pole to grab some mangoes from the trees.  I chatted with them to find out what they were doing and they gave me two fresh mangoes.  I cut them up the next morning and they were delicious.

Our tour then took us to Waipo'o Falls and then a native Hawaiian village, before then heading to some beaches and a lighthouse, which was closed, naturally, just before we got there.

Day 11 - Kauai

Saturday 2

We left Japan on Saturday afternoon, July 30th.  We got to Kauai on Saturday morning, July 30th.  That's the beauty of crossing the international dateline.  Most of this day was spend waiting for our hotel room to be ready so we could take a darn nap!  We go to the hotel around 11:30, but the room wasn't ready until 2:45.  Dexter, the front desk person was very cheerful, but not very helpful in getting anything done.  I wanted to smack him.  All I wanted was a bed as I hadn't slept at all on my first Saturday night.  We finally got in a 3 hour nap, then got some dinner, went swimming in the pool, and went to be for real.

Day 10 - Kyoto, Osaka

Saturday 1

Our biggest problem in Kyoto was getting some morning coffee in our hotel room.  In Nagoya there was a Starbucks a few doors down from our hotel.  In Tokyo, you could make coffee in your room using a small pack of filtered coffee over a cup ($2.80 per cup).  In Kyoto, there was neither option close by.  Well you gotta have your coffee, so we did what the natives do - we bought cans of brewed coffee.  However, we bought them the night before and heated it up in the water heater that most people use to make tea.  It's actually not as bad as you might think and it was better than not having coffee.  Our next trip, we'll either make sure that there's always a coffee shop next door or we'll bring our own coffee and coffee maker or french press.

Our last day in Japan, we got up early to see Nijo castle, a short walk from the hotel.  We walked down and entered a huge set of buildings on huge grounds.  The sheer size of some of these rooms was amazing.  Some had 100 tatami - rice mats measuring 1 x 2 meters.  We found a real estate book with Kyoto apartments, where the bigger bedrooms would have 6 tatami and the smaller would have 4, if that gives you an idea of how big the Shogun's rooms were compared to what most people live in.  Besides that, the coolest part of the building were the hallways.  The Shogun was so paranoid that he had them built with "Nightengale floors."  These weren't just your ordinary squeeky floorboards like you'd find in my house.  These were wide plank floors that would "sing" from the sides of the hallway, so the sound wasn't coming from under your feet, but a few feet away.  Really cool sounding and a really cool concept.

I wanted to go to a noodle shop for our last real meal in Japan and it turned out to be both one of the best meals we had and one of the cheapest, too.  Linda and Rebecca both got some pork dishes, while I got a bowl of Udon noodles with tempura.  And for once, we got enough food by ordering the sets.

We caught a cab to Kyoto station, then got on a bus to go to Kansai airport in Osaka (about 30 miles away, but the ride took an hour and 40 minutes as the max speed on the "highway" is 80 kilometers per hour, or about 48 miles an hour.)  While we were in line at the airport security, we started talking to a nice guy in front of us who is a marine serving in Okinawa.  It turns out that not only was his last name Cleveland, but that he was from Cleveland.  Even more strange, he and Linda went to high school together, graduating in the same year, but they didn't know or at least remember each other.  The guy right behind us saw Rebecca's Ithaca Festival t-shirt and it turns out that he teaches here at Cornell.  Naturally, we meet these guys halfway around the world.

Day 9 - Kyoto

We got up, got some breakfast, then hit the road again on the bus toward Ryoanji Temple, home of the world famous rock garden.  You're supposed to sit, contemplate the rocks, the raked stones, and the scene in general, and meditate.  Since we couldn't get Rebecca up the many steps, I just went up to have a look around and didn't have time to sit and meditate.  When I got back, I told Rebecca and Linda about it and showed them the picture.  Linda asked, in her own inimitable style why we had even come here.  Obviously not her thing.

Next, we headed to Kinkaku-ji Temple - the Temple of the Golden Pavilion.  You'll never guess how it got its name.  Wrong.  It's actually covered in real gold.  What?  That's what you'd actually guessed?  OK, sure you did.

After that we were hungry so we wandered in search of food.  To my surprise, Linda found and Indian restaurant and wanted to go in!  This is somewhat surprising as Linda doesn't like spicy food or curry.  She tried a bit of Tandoori Chicken and we promptly put in and order for two more.  Later, we just walked around town a bit before returning to the hotel to cool off before dinner.

For our last dinner, we headed out to find a place called Agatha, recommended by Frommers, which sounded great.  We got to the street it's supposed to be on and couldn't find it.  So we ended up in this other place which was only fair and as usual, didn't order enough food (the plate of food you get in most places are more like a tapas place, you need to order a bunch of dishes to get enough.)

Day 8 - Kyoto

We ventured into Kyoto with Rebecca in a wheelchair.  Somehow, she twisted her knee a little bit, felt something pop, and couldn't walk very well.  So, we borrowed a wheelchair with semi-flat tires and went out to do the town anyway.  In Tokyo the subway is the way to get around town.  In Kyoto the buses are king.  They have a subway system, but the buses are so well laid out that we used them exclusively.  The hotel gave us a map and we planned our day using it.  It's very pictorially laid out (as opposed to most subway maps), so you can either just look at the map and find a bus that went from the hotel to the destination or use their handy bus-finder grid that would tell you the bus you wanted.  There was a bus stop right by the hotel, so we just walked out and hopped on the next one that rolled by.

Our first stop was Sanjusangendo Temple.  This place is amazing (unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside so here's a link to a page that contains some:  http://www.taleofgenji.org/sanjusangendo.html).  Imagine a hall filled with 1001 carved buddhas, 100 rows, 10 deep, and one giant one in the middle.  In front are 33 carvings of these other special "gods" who have special jobs.  Truly awe inspiring.

We spent the rest of the day at the Kyoto Handicraft Center.  We kept calling it the Kyoto Handicapped Center just to drive Rebecca crazy as she was riding in the wheelchair all day.  On the way, we stopped at this small, pretty temple.  At the Center, we did some shopping for gifts and souvenirs, while Rebecca got a lesson in cloisonne (http://www.khc-kyoto.jp/taiken/taiken-e.html#cloisonne).

Day 6 and 7 - Tokyo

On Day 6, we were going to do some things downtown.  It was a rainy day, so we decided to try to catch some Kabuki.  We caught act 2 of Twelfth Night, but it was all in Japanese and we didn't rent the English headsets.  The sets were beautiful and it was really cool, but we couldn't understand a word.  It was a neat experience anyway.  That afternoon we headed the to world headquarters of Judo, the Kodokan, where Rebecca and I were going to practice.  When we got there, there was a sign on the door saying that they were closing at 4pm (when our practices were supposed to start) due to the coming Typhoon, which sometimes causes the subway and other trains to shut down.  It was our only chance to train and it was cancelled - crap.  Rebecca and I were extremely dissappointed and even Linda, who didn't want to be there, felt bad for us.

The next day, we headed for the Tsukiji fish market for our last morning in Tokyo.  We got up early and headed over to one of the largest fish markets there is (they move almost all the fish for Tokyo).  As we got off the subway at 9AM, we saw a sign on the platform - "The Tsukiji fish market is closed today."  Our hearts dropped.  It never occurred to us that nobody would go fishing in a typhoon so there wouldn't be any fresh fish coming in.  Rebecca and I had sushi for breakfast anyway.  The two pictures for this day are the view out of our hotel room.  In the foreground is the Prince's Palace, in the background is Mount Fuji.

That afternoon, we headed back to Tokyo station to catch the shinkansen to Kyoto.  We checked into the New Kyoto Hotel (not very nice) and headed out to find what turned out to be the world's smallest laundromat - 6 washers and 3 dryers in a room about 10 x 8 feet.  To wash and dry 2 large loads cost us about $14, but that was way cheaper than using a hotel laundry service, where they wanted $3 to do one pair of underwear.

Day 5 - Kamakura

On Day 5, we took a local train down to Kamakura.  We liked the smaller town feel and more relaxed vibe down there.  We visited a nice temple in the morning and had great Chinese food for lunch.  On the way to catch a bus, we stopped into the Totoro store.  Then we saw the Great Buddha and the really cool Hase Kannon temple in the afternoon.

 

Day 3 and 4 - Tokyo

On Day 3, we packed up and travelled via Shinkansen (the bullet train) to Tokyo.  We checked into the Hotel New Otani, a monstrous hotel with dozens (literally) of restaurants (most of them with astronomical prices, how about the Trader Vic's with most entrees at around $80!) and a huge garden in the back.  Our first afternoon there, we were sitting on a bench in the hotel garden when everything started shaking.  It turns out that it was an earthquake at 6.1 Richter, the largest in Tokyo in 13 years!  The last time I was in Tokyo was 1988 (I think) and I experienced a 5.1.  I guess I attract them.

Day 4 - We met up with Shu, an old Judo student of mine, who lives in Tokyo and goes to law school at Sophia University, right next to our hotel.  Shu brought along his friendly, tolerant, and lovely girlfriend, Kaio (sp?).  In the morning, we went to the Edo-Tokyo museum, a very cool museum documenting the history of the city, with life-size bridges, houses, a whole Kabuki stage, and lots of other stuff.  We got a guide who spoke English to show us all around the place.

After the museum, we got some lunch.  We all ordered the chanku, a bowl of miso soup, with veggies, chicken, and ground chicken, which you cook yourself with a little sterno-like heat source.  It was the first meal Linda really enjoyed.

After lunch, we wandered past the Sumo gym in Tokyo to meet a few of the guys (see the picture).  On my far right is Takanohana, the last grand champion.  To my left is Asashoryu, the current grand champion.  Then we took a boat down the river to Asakusa to see a huge Temple.

All in all, a fun day.  It was cool to hang out with Shu and Kaio, too.

Day 2 - Nagoya World Expo 2005

On day 2, we ventured to the 2005 World expo.  It took about 40 minutes of trains to get there, but it wasn't too bad.  Once there it was, once again, boiling outside.  We'd go from one country exhibit to another, often in search of an air-conditioned building looking for some respite from the heat.  We had fun, though.  At the end of the day, we walked through the gardens to see Satsuki and Mei's house - a life-size recreation of the house in "My Neighbor Totoro".  A few days later, in Kamakura, we found a store devoted to the movie and got lots of Totoro memorabilia.

Day 1 - Nagoya

After flying, sitting, and generally travelling for over 29 hours straight, we got some sleep and went out into the heat and humidity to see Nagoya.  Why Nagoya?  Two reasons: the summer sumo basho and the 2005 World Expo.  We started the day by going to Nagoya Castle.  It had two main buildings, one with exhibits, and beautiful gardens.  In the afternoon, we headed to the Aichi Prefectural Gym to watch the Sumo basho (tournament).  We saw some good matches, but the last one, when Asashoryu threw his opponent off the ground was the best.