Berry's SEAJ trip Day 50: Time to explore Kyoto (7/25/15)

I wake up exactly how Takao said I would, with HG poking me, then proceeding to say something and running off downstairs. I get up, go downstairs and join them for breakfast. Turns out HG wanted to wake me much earlier and Takao had to hold him off as long as he could, bless that man! After breakfast, Takao heads to work as Tomoko drops kids off at day care. They return and we head out for the day. First is the Fushimi mountain shrine, which was blocked by a train crossing that took forever to actually have the train go by. We get to the shrine and start walking up the mountain through numerous red gates and stopping at various buildings where Takao explains some of their customs/traditions regarding the shrines.

This train refused to come. It was just sitting up the way and for some reason the protectors wouldnt go up even though it wasnt moving. No bueno as it was hot and no shade.

These plaques I am assuming are from donors to the shrine. 

Made it to the temple finally. Time to explore eh Berry?

Berry learning temple traditions. 

Berry is enjoying the walk through the red gates.

Old shrine we came upon on our walk of the Fushimi grounds.

Berry making some shrine friends.

Takao and Tomoko lead the way as we climb those stairs.

The shrine map for Berry to study so we know where we are going.

Nice view of the city from an overlook up the mountain.

Takao refilling his water from the mountain spring water.. Looks good. 

Looked so good, Berry wanted to get himself some.

A little sake after the hot day of walking.

We get to a city overlook and relax there a little bit before heading down to the train to continue on to Sake central which is a few stops down. We walk around the old town before grabbing lunch (love their restaurants – their policy is the table has a buzzer to call your waiter when you want them to come by, and if there isn't one you just yell “Sui Massen” and they come. That and there is no tipping as they make a living wage. Service is great. We should overhaul our system) and touring a sake museum. After that we head back to the rail to do a sake tasting in a place situated in the arcade next to the rail stop. After that, Tomoko heads back to pick up the kids while Takao and I head to Osaka for some festival. Before we are even near the festival, I start realizing people all over are in the traditional garb (yekata) and volunteers are handing out fans that act as advertisements. As we walk around the jam-packed festival we watch some parades on land and in the water before grabbing some fair food and finding a place to watch the upcoming fireworks on a bridge.

Almost to the festivities in Osaka. I can see hordes of people, lets go see what the commotion is about. 

Holy hell the number of people. Berry is ready to go get lost so get lost we did.

BESTIES!!!!

Found the temple for the festival. 

Let the parade begin. 

These guys look like they could use a trailer hitch to get this thing to go

And the parade continues. 

Lantern people bringing up the rear. 

The parade moved into the river with drum groups pounding and rowing down the river. 

Then they take the parade to the water.

The festival's bonfire on a barge in the middle of the river. Nice view.

A close up of the fire down the way.

Our bridge for viewing the fireworks. Wonder what the weight capacity is.

Sun setting and the lights start coming on. Cool bridge for the backdrop.

So many people and none can really see the fireworks thanks to the buildings. Shame!

Got to see fireworks from the train as we left town. Ill see more later I am sure.

Little video of the fireworks.

Once the fireworks start, we realize the spots we, and many many other people picked to watch the fireworks are blocked by a giant building and we are only able to see a portion of the fireworks through a reflection on another building. We decide to just head back to Kyoto instead of trying to relocate through the masses. We walk around the city center where Takao introduces me to the ramen shops, which are cool places where you buy your order from a vending machine, and hand it to them and just wait for it to come; the food is usually really good, cheap, and quick. We then grab some beers from a nearby liquor store and have a seat next to the river where a bunch of nice restaurants have built patios out over the edge for summer seating. Really beautiful area. A place nearby is playing music so we sit there and continue to catch up while enjoying our beers before we catch a bus home to get some rest.

Back to the main area of kyoto where people just hang out by the river and drink or be romantic or just hang out and talk. We did the first and third (romance is always there right Berry?)

Chillin on the river drinking our beers and just enjoying the night. Berry approves!

Random temple (we will explore this later on) lit up at night at the end of the street from the river. 

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 75: Homeward bound (8/19/15)

Woke up and went into work with Dave. Saw his office and got to see some planes land/take-off before he escorted me to the bus that will take me to the airport. Get there and check in (Aeromexico) for my flight and have a big mac (third fast food exposure of the trip) while I wait for the departure. Watch movies on the trip to Mexico city.

Sunrise through the window. Bittersweet going home.

Once I get in, they make you fully immigrate even if you are just connecting (extremely annoying but I had 3 hours between flights – 2 after going through all this stuff). The airport is one of the worse I have seen in its cleanliness and the open WiFi only allows for like 2 or 3 20 minute sessions before it shuts you out. All and all I was not impressed with that airport. It was nice having a sense of getting back home, but did not like the airport. Go to my gate and even though it says its on-time, it is an hour after it was supposed to leave and we are still not boarding (still reads as on time). We eventually board and make our way to Houston where my dad picks me up and have a nice family dinner before heading to the house to settle in.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 49: Traveling to Japan to start a new adventure (7/24/15)

Got to the airport and checked in and get to my gate to catch my first of 2 flights on jetstar Asia, a budget airline that I would like to avoid in the future as they charge you 4$ for a bottle of water, 8$ for beer , etc. So the a la carte they have is hyper-inflated. Good to know if I ever get stuck on them in the future. Even though they don't have real customer service, they still have 4 attendants. I have no idea why or what they do during the flights. Get into Manila and grab some food/drink in the 30 minutes we have to deboard the plane before reboarding and heading out on the second leg of this flight, Manila to Osaka. Finally figured out a position to maybe get some sleep, however the lady next to me had a crying kid that would stay quiet for 20 mins max before going crazy again. Could not have gotten off that flight any sooner. Takao's address made getting through customs/immigration difficult as it was 5-6 lines long and I had to sit there and write all of it for each one. Not only that, the customs people saw I had curry and wanted to look at it, so I had to unpack my bag and show them the curry, then pack the bag up. I find the JR station and get my pass for the rail and head out to Kyoto to meet up with Takao.

Berry is happy to be in Japan! So am I to be fair.

Time to board the train. Hope this is the right train - Berry assures me this is the right one but I cant read these letters so here goes nothing.

We be traveling in luxury. Time to enjoy the train ride.

There is beautiful scenery all along the way with city/ocean/plains on one side, mountains out the other side. The train ride reminds me somewhat of Europe as the towns are these small somewhat communal towns along the rails with many people on bikes and small streets with small cars all around; obviously the impressive ancient Japanese architecture is different but just in general I see many similarities. Get into Kyoto and meet Takao. We take a bus to his place, drop off the bags, and then run some errands for him and me (buying some local beer was my errand) while we see some of his city before heading home so I could shower.

Berry, you cannot go for a swim, we dont got time for that.

Berry and us walking along the river.

View down the main river in Kyoto. 

Berry liking this view as well. I am starting to think he loves Japan (cant blame the bear).

Panoramic view of this part of the town. 

Berry loving the view. Eventually we will leave this spot but not until he is ready.

Get to a bridge walking around Kyoto. Lovely view. Berry wants a picture.

I am walking down the stairs in just my soccer shorts as Tomoko gets home with the kids and the littlest one sees me and freaks out and will not come in the house; I guess he is not used to big shirtless white dudes in his house. The older one, HG, recognizes me from a picture that he, Takao and I are in from their time in Houston, however he thinks the kid in the picture is his little brother A. After hanging out a bit, we have dinner (BBQ eel – its eel day apparently) which was delicious; I had veggies for the first time in what seemed like forever. I play with the kids for a bit before giving my sandals a good washing to try and relieve some of the smell they have accumulated over time; turns out wearing the same shoes for 2 months or so and sweating in them constantly makes them smell a little off. After that, they shower and we all prepare for bed . Some of the cool things I realized from day one: 1) toilets are all pretty much electric with a variety of functions, 2) their washer dryer was combined into one machine to save space, 3) in that same vein, their dish washer was a little bigger than most toaster ovens, 4) I have missed home cooked and balanced meals, 5) Beer in japan is pretty good both in the variety and the execution of those styles, 6) it is great to see Takao and his family as they are great people. I am looking forward to this part of the trip very much!

They make some good beer here in Japan. And their cans are beautiful.

My digs for the next week or so. Home sweet home.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 48: Last day on continental Asia (7/23/15)

Woke up and started making plans for the day, trying to coordinate plans to see everyone one last time. After making plans, I pack my bags so they are ready to get after the day is over (my flight is late tonight- ~2am).

Berry is ready to ride the waves of Singapore.  

Panoramic view from the waves. As far as we walked, I am surprised you can still see high rises.

Let the waves begin. 

Advice on wild monkey encounters. Berry is reading this sign so he is prepared.

More wave action.

Different paths to go down. Which way shall we go?

stumbled upon a restaurant on our walk. It had a nice view with a little infinity fountain. Once again had to tell Berry he couldnt get in.

Berry vs. Jeff in a game of get the ball to the middle of a maze. Pretty cool game for a playground to have. (For those wondering Berry won :) )

At the end of our walk we wound up at a big science consortium. Berry applied but there were no openings.

Head out to lunch at the harbor front where I finally have the SG staple of Chicken and Rice which is tasty and not as simple tasting as it sounds, from the nearby hawker market. We then set out to find the Henderson wave (oscillating bridge) and do some of what we thought was the tree-top walk; turns out it was something else but still a nice walk that lasted a couple hours. After finding the metro, we take it to Bugis to hit up Arab St. with Dylan.

Mosque on Arab St. Seeing buildings like this makes me want to go check out Turkey/Middle East/that area.

Berry thought I was being insensitive calling it Arab St. But that is the name.

I am Jeff's muse. Now I know what Berry feels like.

Stopped for dinner on Arab St. I made Berry take a picture for once.

Same beautiful mosque nearing sunset. Berry approves!

Grab some food and then head to the pinnacle building to drink on the rooftop (its an apartment building that you can pay a couple dollars to get on the roof – technically drinks/food are not allowed but we didn't have an issue) while enjoying some views of the city. We then head to our place where I shower and finalize my packing before getting a cab to the airport ( the cabs after a certain hour have not only the meter change as it drives but the additional charge also increases which is annoying).

The gang from the top of the tower. Dylan mean mugging!

The pinnacle building makes a giant U and you can walk along the top to get the different views. 

A view from atop the Pinnacle apartment building. Berry is loving all the lights and the big city feel of downtown Singapore.

Berry loves the installations at the Singapore Airport. 

Found another pretty installation at the airport on the way to my gate.