Similan Island Dive Excursion!

70 kilometers off the coast of Khao Lak, Thailand, a small group of 9 islands sit peacefully in the Andaman sea - the Similans. Our family spent 2 1/2 days on a small boat, touring the islands, diving, snorkeling and exploring the beaches. It was a wonderful adventure!
We charted the Nangnuan with the Dragon dive center in Khao Lak. After steaming for 4 1/2 hours to our first dive site, we got on our gear and went for our first dive. It was awesome to be diving in one of the world's top dive destinations, in spite of the rain.

G R E A S E ! ! !

Our home has been filled with the music of the 50's for the past two months as Allie Rae has played Jan in the ASIJ Spring Musical - GREASE. The last show was yesterday, and Rae was sad to see it end, but the cast and crew pulled off a truly amazing show.

One of the best songs of the show was "Moonin'," sung by "Jan" and "Roger."



Here are some photos of the closing night - Congratulations ASIJ Grease Cast and Crew!

Day 8

Well, words can't express how great it was to have Amber, Abbey and Tait with us for the week - it meant so much to us for them to breath our air for a few days and come to appreciate this place Tokyo we call home.

Crab Finale

Inakaya is a restaurant in the Robatayaki, or "hearth cooking" cuisine style. Two chefs sit opposite the customer counter, and in front of several varieties of fresh fish, meat and vegetables. The food is grilled and passed to the patrons using what look like paddles with long handles as you can see here:


The food is only the freshest and best quality available - Japanese beef, fresh fish and vegetables, etc. One of the more unusual dishes, however, is the Sawagani, or fresh water crabs. Don't mistake these little Japanese river crabs for garnish or toys. They are meant to be eaten whole, shell and all. The fresh-water crabs live in most parts of Japan in clear-water streams. They average about 3/4 inch in diameter when mature. Deep-fried until they are crisp, then lightly salted, think of the Sawagani as an eight legged potato chip.


Oooooohhh Nooooo ! ! ! I'm going to be eeeeaaatenn!!!



Well, one of the most entertaining things I have seen in a long time was Savannah, Taite, Savannah, Amber, Allie Rae and finally Erika, each taking their turn to gobble down one of these tasty critters. Words can hardly do it justice, so I created a special slide show just to commemorate the occasion.

Asakusa

Friday morning we jumped on the Yamanote train line for Hamamatsu-cho station and then on to the Asakusa water bus headed for Asakusa. Go here to read about Asakusa - this is a famous part of Tokyo.

As the boat was leaving the Hinode pier, one or two Black Legged Kittiwakes were bobbing in the water behind the boat. We were sitting on the aft deck, munching cheese curls and pockys, so I tossed a cheese curl to one of the gulls, and within seconds, dozens of them congregated and followed us down the river.



I caught this one just hovering and waiting for another bite of cheese curls...



It was really quite impressive - all these birds flocking around our boat as we cruised down the river...



There are a lot of things to see and do in Asakusa - mainly sightseeing and shopping, which we covered amply.

Here is Amber, Abbey and Tait in front of the Asahi Beer building - the building on the left represents a glass of beer. The other building, designed by Philippe Starck, is an architectural representation of the Asahi Flame, although the gold shape on top has been compared to less savory objects.



Going back several hundred years, the Kaminarimon is one of Asakusa's most well known sites. The giant red lantern that hangs from the gate is 4 meters tall and there is another one at the other end of the long merchant street that separates the two massive gates - here are shots of both.





Amber, Abbey and Tait at Ho-zo-mon, Asakusa.



Of course, the sakura were in full bloom at Asakusa also, which made the trip all the more scenic.

Kickin' in Kamakura ! ! !

We spent a truly spectacular day in Kamakura, the old capital of Japan. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, the sky was blue and, well, we couldn't have wished for a more perfect day.

Erika planned our tour which started at Hase Temple, or "Hasedera." This is an 8th century Buddist temple that houses the largest (9.18 meters) wooden statue in Japan - Kannon, which is said to be one of two statures carved from the same camphor tree at the behest of Priest Tokudo (656-735). The gardens and outer buildings of the temple were also very beautiful.

Jizo-do:



The Bell Tower:



Zeniarai Benten Shrine ("coin washing" shrine) is one of the more unusual shrines in Japan. Dedicated to the goddess of good fortune, worshippers believe that if you wash your money in the spring water found in a cave at the shrine, your wealth, however paltry, will return to you double or triple-fold. Well, who can pass up the chance at 200 or 300 percent return? We got right after it...



As at any shrine or temple in Japan, the local staff sell talismans or "Omamori" - they come in a wide variety of applications, from traffic safety to health and happiness to adacemic success. After you pay for your Omamori at Zeniarai (with freshly washed money, of course), the staff purify the Omamori using a flint and steel, striking sparks above the Omamori. I didn't get a video or picture of this unusual practice, but here is Amber's reenactment...you get the idea...



No excursion in Japan would be complete without the refreshing taste of Ramune (rah mu nay). First timers are sure to find Ramune one of the tastier beverages around...



The most famous site in Kamakura is the Big Buddha or "Dai Butsu". 13.5 meters tall, it is just over one meter shorter than the Dai Butsu at To-dai ji in Nara.

This photo shows how big this guy is...



Sam and Tait working on their buddha impersonation here - can you spot the real buddha?



The last stop of the day was the beautiful Hongakuji Temple. There really isn't a more quintessentially Japananese scene than this:



Okay, these dudes aren't so Japanese...



As you can see from this picture of the ride back to Tokyo, we had a great day walking the quaint streets of Kamakura...

Stylin' in Shinjuku ! ! !

Well, Erika read somewhere that Shinjuku is the #1 tourist attraction in Japan, so obviously, we felt the need to go see what it is all about...even though I work in Shinjuku EVERY DAY at the i-Land Tower, which was our first stop. Here are a couple of Shinjuku babes chillin' at the i-Land Tower...



We stopped by the Shinjuku Central Park to check out the cherry blossoms. Amber arrived at the optimum time for cherry blossom viewing - one of Japan's most important cultural pastimes.



We found a couple of the park's permanent residents enjoying a friendly game of chess underneath the cherry blossoms...



By this time, we were famished! We jumped...



to Misono, the orginal teppanyaki restaurant of Tokyo, located on the 51st floor of the Sumitomo building.



Yes, that is garlic underneath the steaks...



Mr. Ono - Head Chef at Misono...



Here we all are at the Shinjuku LOVE statue, which is a replica of the famous LOVE statue in Pennsylvania, designed by Robert Indiana.



Well, after all that, the children were tired, but Erika and Amber were up for more, so after a couple of meetings at work, I circled back to the apartment and picked up the ladies to take them to one of Tokyo's most popular restaurants, Nobu Tokyo. Amber and Erika both savored one of my favorite appetizers - sashimi yellowtail with jalepeno - I got it on film if you can't believe it yourself:



We had a great time - excellent food and great company!

Rainy Days and Mondays...but nobody down!

After a rainy morning, hanging out at the apartment, we all piled into the car and headed for Roppongi Hills to catch a movie - Enchanted.

We took a second before running to dinner to get a picture in front of the famous "Spider" sculpture. by Louise Bourgeois.



Check out Tait and Sam in front of Starbucks - just chillin' before pounding a triple vanilla frapacchino...these two buddies are having a lot of fun tearing around Tokyo.



We finished up with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Fujimamas - Erika and Amber are having fun catching up. Tate showed off his chopsticks skills!