Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Posted by Tootsie & TwoLively
Today was our last day in Vietnam. Since our flight didn't leave until 11:55 PM, we planned to hang around our hotel until noon, then head to Grandma's house for the rest of the day. The Travel Agent reminded us to eat lunch before we headed over. Unfortunately, we were so busy doing nothing (sleeping in, Skyping, blogging, hanging out) that we ran out of time to walk across the bridge in search of lunch (TwoLively: Ok--I admit it's my fault! I realize I often run Mormon-Standard-Time--LATE!--and, yes, MarcoPolo reminded me multiple times that we'd run out of time. Oooh. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.) Since we ran out of time, the only option was to eat lunch at the Nasty Restaurant across from our hotel--which really wasn't an option at all! So, Tootsie headed back to her room to enjoy a delicious SlimFast Bar...and Monte, TwoLively and MarcoPolo scrounged up the last of our emergency rations: a can of tuna and crackers, and a can of chicken and crackers. We sat at our hotel's we-only-serve-breakfast-and-kem-at-night empty restaurant...enjoyed the balcony view...and pretended those crackers were waaay more delicious and far more heartier than they really were!
At noon, Taxi Drivin' Uncle picked us up, and drove us to Grandma's house. Oz, Glinda, Tootsie, and TwoLively decided to walk the short distance out of the neighborhood, and back into the town. TwoLively was searching for the mysterious candied roses we had sampled at New Years...but, unfortunately, we did not find them (we later found they are sold exclusively for New Years.) We DID find a meat vendor, with all sorts of fly buzzin', meaty carcases rotting in the sun. Tootsie was especially grossed out by a skinned goat head for sale. TwoLively saw a duck nestled with a few chickens, and thought it was particularly cute the way the different species were snuggled together...until she realized their feet were tied together, and it was a forced snuggle!
Believe it or not, we found our way back to Grandma's house! We had a delicious lunch of Chicken Mushroom Soup, and as we ate, we told The Travel Agent about our walk. She told us that earlier in the morning, she and her Aunt visited those vendors. In fact, she helped pick out the very chicken we were eating in our soup! Talk about fresh...and TMI!
We spent a good deal of time outside on the porch, rearranging, repacking, and weighing our suitcases. We tried to pare down on the non-essentials, so The Family was gifted our Costco-sized bottles of Tums, Immodium, Handi-Wipes, etc. All that packing tuckered us out...which Uncle noticed. He swept off the floor, then brought us kiddy-sized princess pillows, so we could nap on the floor. We shamelessly sprawled out all over the living room floor. The cool tile felt so cool and refreshing. We now understand why dogs sprawl out on the tile!
Travel Agent's Aunty-in-Law (a wife by marriage--her husband is Grandma's son) is a weaver, so we asked to see her wares. She showed us her supplies (huge bolts of plastic, cut about an inch wide), then she showed us a storage room full of finished handbags. She generously invited us to pick out some totes for ourselves! We chatted, and learned that she's been weaving for about ten years. She visited a relative, saw them weaving, and asked to learn. At first, she worked as a subcontractor, and sold bags to the wholeseller. Today, she is the wholeseller, and she has subcontractors working under her! The bags we chose were handle-less, so we watched in awe as she expertly braided plastic into handles. Then she did a series of knots, which secured the handle to the handbag. Tootsie and Glinda tried their hand at handle-adding (but not TwoLively--she wanted her tote done right! ha ha) The Aunt makes up to 15 bags per day. Small bags sell for 20,000 -- medium sized ones, for 30,000 (with double-stripes) or 75,000 (with triple-stripes.) We found out that the bags we'd previously seen on our walk into town were her bags--very cool! We wondered how she even made the bags. She graciously demonstrated how to make a bag from start-to-finish. In the video, watch how her hands fly! It was fascinating to watch!
Meanwhile, Grandma demonstrated for the guys how to weave hats. She is 71 years old, and she weaves about 10 hats per day, about 5,000 each. She sells the untrimmed hats to a wholeseller, who machine-cuts a circle around the brim, and machine-fold and sews the edge down. Grandma gets the reeds for her hat from a neighbor, who dries them out, and machine presses them until they are flat (we walked by him on our walk, and he gestured to show us what he was doing.) These type of handcraft skills are amazing to watch, and important to preserve.
Before we left, Uncle removed the fruit from the altar, and presented it to us. We were told by The Travel Agent that it was a sign of deep respect for us. We were very touched, of course. We are their wacky American family (complete with our I-Love-Lucy moments.) Sometimes ya gotta just wonder if they think we're commitable. It was a great experience to travel to Vietnam to meet The Travel Agent's family. We all agreed that we'd love to have Brother and Sister come visit us!
All-too-soon, it was 5:00 PM, and time to head to Ho Chi Minh. Due to our excessive, clunky luggage, a mini bus was hired to transport us to the airport. With all the extra space available, there was room for our Goodbye Committee: Brother, The Travel Agent, and Monte to ride with us. During the 1 1/2 hour ride, the driver blared a musical--LOUD--but thankfully, he kept his eyes on the road, and didn't watch the video! Our Goodbye Committee walked us as close as they could, outside the main doors, by the fan club area (which was packed and crazy.) They pointed the way inside, and tried to give us last-minute instructions. After we walked inside, we stood in a group huddle, trying to figure out our next move. None of the signs were in English...and which counter was ours? We looked back and saw our Goodbye Committee standing outside the glass windows. The anxious look on their faces read, "They have no freakin' clue..."
Fortunately, the airport was fairly empty inside. We'd arrived at the airport 4 hours early, which was far too early for counter to be open. So we parked our Great Wall of Luggage next to us and sat...and waited...and waited...and waited. Then we waited some more. When midnight rolled around, we boarded the plane for Leg One of our journey home: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Narita, Japan.
36 Hours...and Counting!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Posted by Tootsie & TwoLively
Leg One: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Narita, Japan (7 hours -- left Vietnam night of 01/26)
Leg Two: Narita, Japan to Seattle (12 hours -- left Japan night of 01/26)
Leg Three: Seattle to Phoenix (4 hours -- arrived in USA late afternoon of 01/26)
We chased the moon all the way home, and had TWO solid days of January 26th! It started to feel like Groundhog Day!
When you are planning a trip and have never done 24 hours of flight/travel, a 9 hour layover sounds like an excellent idea! When you're exhausted from traveling, walking a lot of the time, being on the move, and having to constantly think about what the next move will be, a 9 hour layover sounds like it could be 9 hours of needless time between you and home. However, we happily (yet sleepily) found that the 9 hour layover gave us just enough time to do a teeny bit of sightseeing in Japan.
Luckily, since our last few days were spent leisurely visiting with The Travel Agent's family, we had time to research what we could fit into our 9 hour layover in Japan. Most of the group (most being everyone but Oz and TwoLively, clearly our daring travel Evel Knievels) were conservative and did not think that venturing into downtown Tokyo would fit into our schedule (about 1 1/2 hours by train OR 41 minutes by Skyliner bullet train)...or budget (¥250 [approx $3.26] one-way train ride vs. ¥2,400 [approx $31.30] one-way Skyliner bullet train.) We visited a few travel forums and found that we could easily get to Naritasan Shinsyoji Temple via the Keisei train.
(FYI: some people in the forums say travelers do not have time to leave the airport--but if you have a US passport, and you have a layover of 4 hours or more, you have PLENTY of time to leave the airport and venture into the city of Narita. Just head straight to Immigration--instead of the line for Connecting Flights--and tell Immigration you want to visit Narita. They'll issue a free day-pass, attached to your Visa. Then follow the signs for the baggage storage service, money exchange, and the train.)
It is fairly easy to navigate inside the Narita airport. All the signs are in Japanese and English, plus a fair amount of airport employees speak English, and are very hospitable. The airport offers a baggage storage service (¥200 [approx. $3.00] per small bag...i.e. laptop, duffel bag, etc.), so we were able to rid ourselves of our carry-on bags. We were able to change some of our US Dollars to Japanese Yen (the ¥1000 featured Noguchi Hideyo and the other bills have other people on them--NOT Ho Chi Minh as did EVERY Vietnamese bill of EVERY denomination!). We were saddened to realize that we didn't get as much Yen per US Dollar as we did Dong per US Dollar. We were quite literally millionaires in Vietnamese Dong, but only "thousandaires" in Japanese Yen--and those thousands slip between your fingers really, really quickly.
After finding out we were no longer as rich as we had felt the previous two weeks, we found our way to the Keisei Train. The train is located underneath the airport. As previously mentioned, it cost ¥250 (approx $3.26) per person, each way, and was well worth it! It looked similar to an NYC subway train, except it was CLEAN! No gum on the ground, no graffiti, no weird stains or mysterious smells. The velvety seats had heaters under them to keep your feet, legs, and bootay's nice and toasty.
After about a 15 minute train ride (two-stops), we got off and ventured forth. The first thing we found out was that it was COLD! in Japan! Since Monte and The Travel Agent had recently spent the night in Narita (Remember their flight fiasco? They had a 19 hour layover in Narita, on their way to Vietnam), we figured they would be good judges of the weather there. We're not totally inept and do recognize that just because it was tropical in Vietnam, it was still winter in many other parts of the world, including Japan. Well, Monte said that it was so mild in Japan that "all you need is a light jacket"--so we took him for his word. After we packed our belongings and had decided on what to carry on the planes (Jacket or no jacket? Long pants or comfy capris?) The Travel Agent did say (to her credit) that it was cold enough to see your breath when they took a taxi from the hotel back to the airport. We considered this--but it was more effort to unpack and repack everything--so we went with Monte's previous judgement of Japanese weather being "mild."
Well, as we got off the train, we felt the frigidness envelope around us, and immediately Tootsie (wearing lightweight cotton capris and flip-flops) cursed Monte: "I'm going to kick his butt for his lies!" At least Tootsie, TwoLively, Oz, and Glinda had sort-of-considered the "just in case," and had jackets to wear. MarcoPolo, on the other hand, decided to pack his jacket--and the poor thing just about froze to death walking the streets of Narita!
The golden arches of McDonald's were a sight for sore eyes, and since the group was hungry, we stopped in for a quick bite. Aside from the "Big America" menu including burgers named after the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, and Broadway, the menu was surprisingly similar to the ones found here in the good ole USA. (Just for fun, look at this spoof of Japan's "Big America" menu.)
After a quick bite to eat, we continued walking down the street to the Temple. There were plenty of shops that caught our eye along the way.
If we had walked directly from the train station without stopping, the Temple would've been about a ten minute walk.
Insert info about temple.....
people drinking "foot water"
purifying with smoke from fire
heard gongs, monks led procession, saw the Goma (Sacred Fire Rite)Temple Pictures
Earlier, TwoLively had noted how friendly everyone was, and challenged us to find a rude Japanese person--on the belief that maybe rude Japanese did not even exist. Tootsie had to use the facilities and found the only "Western" toilet in the WC. She no sooner got in the stall than she heard--and felt--someone pushing against the door. This would have been fine if it had been once (you know, someone didn't realize it was occupied--but then stops and waits politely after realizing the stall is full), but this person kept on doing it! When Tootsie came out of the stall, she was greeted by three elderly Japanese ladies who scowled at her, and likely said something about the rude American using the only western-toilet. Tootsie wanted to tell them that it wasn't her fault all the other stalls were squat toilets; it was their country's idea of a good way to relieve one's self--not her's--but she kept her mouth shut, and got out of their way.
On our walk back to the train station, we stopped and gawked at an Eel Restaurant. On one side of the restaurant, the workers grabbed live eels from buckets, nailed their heads to the wooden table, and then in one quick motion, filleted them with a sharp knife. Our daring duo, MarcoPolo and Oz, decided to share an order of the tantalizing and expensive eel (¥2,000 approx. $26.00).
eel pics
We walked past a wooden fence, and Oz noticed the gate was cracked open a few inches. It was a cemetery. We weren't sure if we were allowed to go in--was it open to the public? While we debated, Oz boldly went in, and we followed after him for a quick looksie.
cemetery pics
We stopped at a drugstore, because Oz was searching for trading cards. TwoLively saw--she kids you not--Mickey Mouse Kotex. Wouldn't that have made a great White Elephant gift?
Back at the airport, TwoLively couldn't go thru the metal detectors, due to her ICD (pacemaker.) So, she had a pat-down...an extra special frisk. She had to stand on a wooden box about a foot high. It was a typical pat-down...until the worker pantomimed that she should unbutton her pants. To her shock, the worker proceeded to peek--then reach--down her pants! TwoLively desperately tried to make eye-contact with the group--but they were chatting away, completely oblivious to her molestation! “Candy bar, oooohhhhh candybar-candybar-CANDYBAR!"
Glinda and Oz were on a different flight, so we parted ways. The remaining trio--Tootsie, TwoLively and MarcoPolo--headed to their gate, and noticed a tucked back area, where people were painting. They walked over and were invited to participate. This was a new feature at the Airport; a goodwill gesture to make travelers feel relaxed and happy. We were given a wooden Ema (a prayer/lucky charm) that was pre-printed with an embossed design. The paint stayed within the grooved areas, and we had a cheat-sheet that showed us the sequence of colors to paint. It was so simple, but a lot of fun!
After relaxing, we realized it was dinner time, so we searched for something to eat. Airport prices are crazy--but $35.00 for a single-serving of rice OR noodles is beyond crazy! Tootsie settled for a $20 Subway sandwich, complete with pesto mayo, tempura french fries (of various flavors), and a weird neon green drink. TwoLively and MarcoPolo visited the Golden Arches: $8 per BigMac...2 BigMacs, 2 fries, 1 drink...$26.00.
As we sat and waited for our flight to depart, we watched the sunset. MarcoPolo cleverly dubbed the moment, "Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun."
We agreed that we loved our 9-hour layover in Japan. We were very happy that we didn't pansy out and rent a day room (however tempting resting in a bed and taking a shower seemed...) We can now say we've been to Japan ;) We found Japan was extremely clean, and very beautiful...but due to expense, it's probably not a future travel destination.
picture of flight
picture of Seattle mountain
Posted by Tootsie & TwoLively
Leg One: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Narita, Japan (7 hours -- left Vietnam night of 01/26)
Leg Two: Narita, Japan to Seattle (12 hours -- left Japan night of 01/26)
Leg Three: Seattle to Phoenix (4 hours -- arrived in USA late afternoon of 01/26)
We chased the moon all the way home, and had TWO solid days of January 26th! It started to feel like Groundhog Day!
When you are planning a trip and have never done 24 hours of flight/travel, a 9 hour layover sounds like an excellent idea! When you're exhausted from traveling, walking a lot of the time, being on the move, and having to constantly think about what the next move will be, a 9 hour layover sounds like it could be 9 hours of needless time between you and home. However, we happily (yet sleepily) found that the 9 hour layover gave us just enough time to do a teeny bit of sightseeing in Japan.
Luckily, since our last few days were spent leisurely visiting with The Travel Agent's family, we had time to research what we could fit into our 9 hour layover in Japan. Most of the group (most being everyone but Oz and TwoLively, clearly our daring travel Evel Knievels) were conservative and did not think that venturing into downtown Tokyo would fit into our schedule (about 1 1/2 hours by train OR 41 minutes by Skyliner bullet train)...or budget (¥250 [approx $3.26] one-way train ride vs. ¥2,400 [approx $31.30] one-way Skyliner bullet train.) We visited a few travel forums and found that we could easily get to Naritasan Shinsyoji Temple via the Keisei train.
 |
| The train attendant told us to buy our tickets directly from the kiosk -- using the Pink machine. |
It is fairly easy to navigate inside the Narita airport. All the signs are in Japanese and English, plus a fair amount of airport employees speak English, and are very hospitable. The airport offers a baggage storage service (¥200 [approx. $3.00] per small bag...i.e. laptop, duffel bag, etc.), so we were able to rid ourselves of our carry-on bags. We were able to change some of our US Dollars to Japanese Yen (the ¥1000 featured Noguchi Hideyo and the other bills have other people on them--NOT Ho Chi Minh as did EVERY Vietnamese bill of EVERY denomination!). We were saddened to realize that we didn't get as much Yen per US Dollar as we did Dong per US Dollar. We were quite literally millionaires in Vietnamese Dong, but only "thousandaires" in Japanese Yen--and those thousands slip between your fingers really, really quickly.
After finding out we were no longer as rich as we had felt the previous two weeks, we found our way to the Keisei Train. The train is located underneath the airport. As previously mentioned, it cost ¥250 (approx $3.26) per person, each way, and was well worth it! It looked similar to an NYC subway train, except it was CLEAN! No gum on the ground, no graffiti, no weird stains or mysterious smells. The velvety seats had heaters under them to keep your feet, legs, and bootay's nice and toasty.
 |
| MarcoPolo actually read the map...Look at the clean velvet seats! |
Well, as we got off the train, we felt the frigidness envelope around us, and immediately Tootsie (wearing lightweight cotton capris and flip-flops) cursed Monte: "I'm going to kick his butt for his lies!" At least Tootsie, TwoLively, Oz, and Glinda had sort-of-considered the "just in case," and had jackets to wear. MarcoPolo, on the other hand, decided to pack his jacket--and the poor thing just about froze to death walking the streets of Narita!
 |
| MarcoPolo: obviously chilled, and pictured BEFORE hypothermia truly started setting in... |
 |
| The Golden Arches...Tootsie is thrilled with her meal! |
 |
| Glinda and Oz walk down the street of shops in Narita |
The first shop we entered had a very friendly attendant who spoke English very well. We told her we were trying to find the Temple, and she confirmed that we were in fact on the correct route. She told us to continue down the road. She mentioned that it had snowed the previous day, and noticed our lack of warm-weather clothes. Feeling pity on the poor freezing Americans, she gave us free hand warmer-type things to put on our skin (TwoLively: Ok. They looked like extra-wide Kotex--white with an adhesive strip backing--so-much-so, that MarcoPolo risked hypothermia, rather than stick the femine protect-esque warmer to his body!) Tootsie put hers on her chest, and her warmer was the only one that actually got warm. Even though the others were kind of duds, we did appreciate the storekeeper's kindness. She also provided us with free English brochures about the Temple.
 |
| TwoLively displays her Kimberly-Clark feminine hand warmer... |
As we walked, our capri-lovin', non-sneaker wearin' travelers, Glinda and Tootsie, couldn't take the cold on their exposed legs/feet. So, they broke down and bought some foot socks...which were more like mittens for feet (the big toe was separated from the other toes. Perfect for wearin' flip-flops!) They both said they didn't care how they looked--staying warm was more important!
 |
| Mitten socks! |
Insert info about temple.....
people drinking "foot water"
purifying with smoke from fire
heard gongs, monks led procession, saw the Goma (Sacred Fire Rite)Temple Pictures
Earlier, TwoLively had noted how friendly everyone was, and challenged us to find a rude Japanese person--on the belief that maybe rude Japanese did not even exist. Tootsie had to use the facilities and found the only "Western" toilet in the WC. She no sooner got in the stall than she heard--and felt--someone pushing against the door. This would have been fine if it had been once (you know, someone didn't realize it was occupied--but then stops and waits politely after realizing the stall is full), but this person kept on doing it! When Tootsie came out of the stall, she was greeted by three elderly Japanese ladies who scowled at her, and likely said something about the rude American using the only western-toilet. Tootsie wanted to tell them that it wasn't her fault all the other stalls were squat toilets; it was their country's idea of a good way to relieve one's self--not her's--but she kept her mouth shut, and got out of their way.
On our walk back to the train station, we stopped and gawked at an Eel Restaurant. On one side of the restaurant, the workers grabbed live eels from buckets, nailed their heads to the wooden table, and then in one quick motion, filleted them with a sharp knife. Our daring duo, MarcoPolo and Oz, decided to share an order of the tantalizing and expensive eel (¥2,000 approx. $26.00).
eel pics
We walked past a wooden fence, and Oz noticed the gate was cracked open a few inches. It was a cemetery. We weren't sure if we were allowed to go in--was it open to the public? While we debated, Oz boldly went in, and we followed after him for a quick looksie.
cemetery pics
We stopped at a drugstore, because Oz was searching for trading cards. TwoLively saw--she kids you not--Mickey Mouse Kotex. Wouldn't that have made a great White Elephant gift?
Back at the airport, TwoLively couldn't go thru the metal detectors, due to her ICD (pacemaker.) So, she had a pat-down...an extra special frisk. She had to stand on a wooden box about a foot high. It was a typical pat-down...until the worker pantomimed that she should unbutton her pants. To her shock, the worker proceeded to peek--then reach--down her pants! TwoLively desperately tried to make eye-contact with the group--but they were chatting away, completely oblivious to her molestation! “Candy bar, oooohhhhh candybar-candybar-CANDYBAR!"
Glinda and Oz were on a different flight, so we parted ways. The remaining trio--Tootsie, TwoLively and MarcoPolo--headed to their gate, and noticed a tucked back area, where people were painting. They walked over and were invited to participate. This was a new feature at the Airport; a goodwill gesture to make travelers feel relaxed and happy. We were given a wooden Ema (a prayer/lucky charm) that was pre-printed with an embossed design. The paint stayed within the grooved areas, and we had a cheat-sheet that showed us the sequence of colors to paint. It was so simple, but a lot of fun!
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| Arts & Crafts at the Airport... |
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| Subway!...Neon drink?...McDonalds! |
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| January 26th finally draws to a close...or does it? |
picture of flight
picture of Seattle mountain
The Japanese Toilet
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Posted by: Tootsie, not Tootie (insert flushing sound here):
Since apparently I--the one cursed with a tender tummy--have become the family spokesperson on using the toilet while traveling abroad, I thought I should include a short essay on The Japanese Toilet.
I first met up with The Japanese Toilet during our 5 second layover in Narita on the way to Vietnam. As you may remember, an airport employee was waiting for us when we got off the plane from Seattle--and what we thought would be a 3 hour layover had been changed (or perhaps was confused because of the time change/difference??) and we now had about 10 minutes before our flight to Vietnam took off. While MarcoPolo and TwoLively waited for the 4 super-efficient workers to make sure we got on the next flight, I, of course, had to use the bathroom!
I ran to the nearest restroom (not because I was in a rush to use the toilet this time, but because of the general rush to get on the plane...) and was startled to find that not only were each of the stalls extremely private (none of the big gaping cracks like we have in US public restrooms- you know the kind that while you are sitting there you can actually see the person washing their hands in the sink across from your stall's entire outfit- hair to toenail polish) but they offered a variety of toilets to choose from! I was caught off guard when I opened the first door and found what I like to call "The Amazing Japanese Toilet from the Future/and/or Outer Space."
There were waaaay too many buttons on that one--and I was in a hurry--so I backed out of that stall and went into the second stall. The second also startled me because it was a squat toilet (little did I know that THIS squat toilet was a lot nicer than the ones I would come to know shortly in Vietnam.)
The third door held the most familiar and straightforward option: a "Western" toilet. You sit down in an obvious direction, you do your business, the paperwork, and flush. That's it! Easy-said and easy-done. I made a mental note that I would have to further investigate the awesome selection of toilets during our long layover on the way home.
I remember this, and even before we left the airport for our Narita adventure, I had to try out "The Amazing Japanese Toilet from the Future/and/or Outer Space." I tried it all: bidet, shower, heated-seat, adjustable water temperature and pressure, flushing sounds, deodorizing spray...you name it...if it was on the control panel, I tried it. And before you go judging me saying, "EWWWW a bidet???" just remember: "Don't knock it 'til you try it!" And I say TRY IT! It was like having a video game installed on the side of your toilet.
So if there is some "Amazing Japanese Toilet from the Future/and/or Outer Space" company that wants me to try out their product--in the comfort of my own home--and blog about it every day: I'll do it! Don't underestimate the power of the bidet to provide a clean and happy bootay. And, as we all know, a clean bootay makes for a happier, healthier you!
Posted by: Tootsie, not Tootie (insert flushing sound here):
Since apparently I--the one cursed with a tender tummy--have become the family spokesperson on using the toilet while traveling abroad, I thought I should include a short essay on The Japanese Toilet.
I first met up with The Japanese Toilet during our 5 second layover in Narita on the way to Vietnam. As you may remember, an airport employee was waiting for us when we got off the plane from Seattle--and what we thought would be a 3 hour layover had been changed (or perhaps was confused because of the time change/difference??) and we now had about 10 minutes before our flight to Vietnam took off. While MarcoPolo and TwoLively waited for the 4 super-efficient workers to make sure we got on the next flight, I, of course, had to use the bathroom!
I ran to the nearest restroom (not because I was in a rush to use the toilet this time, but because of the general rush to get on the plane...) and was startled to find that not only were each of the stalls extremely private (none of the big gaping cracks like we have in US public restrooms- you know the kind that while you are sitting there you can actually see the person washing their hands in the sink across from your stall's entire outfit- hair to toenail polish) but they offered a variety of toilets to choose from! I was caught off guard when I opened the first door and found what I like to call "The Amazing Japanese Toilet from the Future/and/or Outer Space."
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| Look at everything it can do! Just a little intimidating at first... |
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| I didn't know which direction you were to face... Is it different if you are a boy or girl?? Who knew? I sure didn't! |
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| Too bad the Narita Airport didn't have a how-to plaque like this! |
I remember this, and even before we left the airport for our Narita adventure, I had to try out "The Amazing Japanese Toilet from the Future/and/or Outer Space." I tried it all: bidet, shower, heated-seat, adjustable water temperature and pressure, flushing sounds, deodorizing spray...you name it...if it was on the control panel, I tried it. And before you go judging me saying, "EWWWW a bidet???" just remember: "Don't knock it 'til you try it!" And I say TRY IT! It was like having a video game installed on the side of your toilet.
So if there is some "Amazing Japanese Toilet from the Future/and/or Outer Space" company that wants me to try out their product--in the comfort of my own home--and blog about it every day: I'll do it! Don't underestimate the power of the bidet to provide a clean and happy bootay. And, as we all know, a clean bootay makes for a happier, healthier you!
Back in the US of A!
We're back...recovering from jet-lag...catching up on non-healthy 'merican food.
We have converted some of the videos (Coaster Bob, etc.) and loaded them to the blog. We'll be going back, and changing pictures to match the blog content. We'll be adding content from the last few days, too.
God bless the USA!
We have converted some of the videos (Coaster Bob, etc.) and loaded them to the blog. We'll be going back, and changing pictures to match the blog content. We'll be adding content from the last few days, too.
********************************************************
Wait...there's more!
Check back, 'cuz we'll update this blog with EVEN MORE stuff, including...
The Debriefing (After the trip: what we did right...and wrong)
The Trip Preparation (The Notebook, immunizations, etc.)
Shout-out to our #1 stalker, KWM
Check back, 'cuz we'll update this blog with EVEN MORE stuff, including...
The Debriefing (After the trip: what we did right...and wrong)
The Trip Preparation (The Notebook, immunizations, etc.)
Shout-out to our #1 stalker, KWM
********************************************************
God bless the USA!
Getting Ready For The Trip
Believe it or not, somehow we managed to do a few things right:
Tootsie happens to work at a hospital, and knows an infectious disease doctor. He took the time to give some advice to Tootsie and referred her to his website: www.travelhealthadvisor.com. From this website, the group got some great information about immunizations and other medications and diseases to be aware of while traveling the world.
Fry's Minute Clinic:
shots
prescription antibiotic for diarrhea
Malaria pills (make sure they are specific for your travel region)
TwoLively and MarcoPolo soaked their jeans in Permethrin, and were not bitten by mosquitos.
We were told to take crisp, clean, basically brand new $100 bills to pay for everything on the trip. ATM machines are few and very far between in Vietnam and we didn't want to incur any extra fees by using them. If you need a substantial amount of money in certain denominations, call your bank or credit union first. Most banks/credit unions can order new bills for you if you give them a few days notice. Even though we didn't do that, we were able to get what we needed. MarcoPolo had to go to a few branches of his credit union to get his bills.
Carrying around all that money can make you feel really nervous. Some of us used money belts or clips while others just kept their wallets basically at their fingertips at all times.
Set up blog account on Blogger.com
It's a pain-in-the-neck to add pictures to Blogger, so we downloaded PhotoScape (a free program for creating picture collages) We never saw any instructions--so good thing it's a fairly intuitive program. Open the program, click on the "Combine" tab, then start dropping pictures in! The settings we adjusted: select the "Checker" tab, outer margin: 25 (black edge around photos), intervals: 25 (black lines between photos), columns: 3 (to display 3 pictures across), slide preview zoom down to 10% (so you can see the photo montage) -- then Save. To quickly delete the pictures and start over, hi-lite all the pictures, then hit "delete." Voila!
SKYPE
Skype was a great way to keep in touch with the family members that didn't come with us on the trip. It was great to see familiar faces and show them "live" pictures of us and what we were doing. The Griffith patriarch and matriarch even learned how to Skype (and even though it was just a few days before we came home...they actually figured out the time difference and didn't call us at 3:00am, We were all impressed that they could answer/initiate video calls all by themselves!)
Big Kudos to the Travel Agent and her family for planning everything for us. We had enough time to do A LOT of things and no time to be bored. The hotels were central to the things we wanted to see and do and we got a great deal on pretty much everything. Having local contacts is a huge bonus. We managed okay the few days we were on our own, but being with our "local family" made things much more accessible and easy for us.
Tootsie happens to work at a hospital, and knows an infectious disease doctor. He took the time to give some advice to Tootsie and referred her to his website: www.travelhealthadvisor.com. From this website, the group got some great information about immunizations and other medications and diseases to be aware of while traveling the world.
Fry's Minute Clinic:
shots
prescription antibiotic for diarrhea
Malaria pills (make sure they are specific for your travel region)
TwoLively and MarcoPolo soaked their jeans in Permethrin, and were not bitten by mosquitos.
We were told to take crisp, clean, basically brand new $100 bills to pay for everything on the trip. ATM machines are few and very far between in Vietnam and we didn't want to incur any extra fees by using them. If you need a substantial amount of money in certain denominations, call your bank or credit union first. Most banks/credit unions can order new bills for you if you give them a few days notice. Even though we didn't do that, we were able to get what we needed. MarcoPolo had to go to a few branches of his credit union to get his bills.
Carrying around all that money can make you feel really nervous. Some of us used money belts or clips while others just kept their wallets basically at their fingertips at all times.
Set up blog account on Blogger.com
It's a pain-in-the-neck to add pictures to Blogger, so we downloaded PhotoScape (a free program for creating picture collages) We never saw any instructions--so good thing it's a fairly intuitive program. Open the program, click on the "Combine" tab, then start dropping pictures in! The settings we adjusted: select the "Checker" tab, outer margin: 25 (black edge around photos), intervals: 25 (black lines between photos), columns: 3 (to display 3 pictures across), slide preview zoom down to 10% (so you can see the photo montage) -- then Save. To quickly delete the pictures and start over, hi-lite all the pictures, then hit "delete." Voila!
SKYPE
Skype was a great way to keep in touch with the family members that didn't come with us on the trip. It was great to see familiar faces and show them "live" pictures of us and what we were doing. The Griffith patriarch and matriarch even learned how to Skype (and even though it was just a few days before we came home...they actually figured out the time difference and didn't call us at 3:00am, We were all impressed that they could answer/initiate video calls all by themselves!)
Big Kudos to the Travel Agent and her family for planning everything for us. We had enough time to do A LOT of things and no time to be bored. The hotels were central to the things we wanted to see and do and we got a great deal on pretty much everything. Having local contacts is a huge bonus. We managed okay the few days we were on our own, but being with our "local family" made things much more accessible and easy for us.
Things We Should've Packed
With hind-sight, here are a few things we'd do differently:
I believe Glinda mentioned she wished she had dry shampoo.
- pack GasEx
- pack Dramamine (to knock Tootsie out during the flights!)
- pack toilet paper (so Tootsie wouldn't have to scramble when nature called)
- NOT bought ginormous Costco-size bottle of Tums, Immodium, etc. (too big to fit in a purse)
- bought single-wrap Wet Wipes (like Glinda) -- not a cylinder of Wet Wipes (hard to fit in purse)
- Carried a back-pack like Tootsie
- packed more ready-to-eat foods (granola bars, tuna and chicken w/ crackers, canned chicken/tuna, etc.)
- bought a laptop battery (so I could've blogged enroute on the bus)
- bought Permethrin pump bottle instead of aerosol bottle (nozzle broke)
- remembered the list I tediously compiled stating Vietnamese food by names (self-explanatory: ordering off Vietnamese menu would've been easier!)
I believe Glinda mentioned she wished she had dry shampoo.
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