Kanazawa to Kyoto, Japan

Continuing fun in Kanazawa with Kate has made me excited, and a little sad, to travel on to Kyoto. Once a great capital of Japan, Kyoto has more to see than I could possibly fit in. This will be another semi-extended stay, I can tell. Although I'm excited to move around a bit, I can't pass up the things it has to offer.
I was excited to have gone to Onsen (the public bath) with Kate. There are many tubs at different temperatures, and some benches, rocks and chairs with hot water running down them. Everybody in Japan goes to Onsen. With about 60 naked Japanese men, teenagers, and children, running around, you'd think the tubs would be crowded. But, miraculously, every tub I got into was suddenly vacated. So I often had them all to myself. That was so nice of them!
The weekend before I left, Kate, her friends and I crammed a lot in. We saw Ninja-Dera: the temple with the trap doors and escape tunnels. It was quite impressive. Many hidden rooms, attack techniques, deceiving doors, and even a tunnel from the bottom of the well that led to the castle. Sadly, because it is a temple, there were no pictures allowed.
We also saw shishiku, a museum of the dragon and lion heads used in parades, as well as some large puppets that are carried around for the fertility festival. Kate and her friends saw them in action just a few weeks ago. Men run around carrying these puppets and large fallic symbols, and get free sake and beer. There was a video at the museum of everyone dancing very drunk and loud. Looks like fun!

We saw Nata-dera, an outdoor garden temple, Daijo-ji, another, smaller temple, and walked along the Asanogawa river where the cherry blossoms are extravagant, when they bloom. There are Blue herons and Koi living wild in the river. It's a beautiful place.

Kanazawa, JAPAN

So, with very little trouble, I was able to make it to Kanazawa. Katya was at the train station waiting for me with her friend Yuko, who drove us home. She has to work everyday, but that's fine, because I have the time to see all the cool things that Kanazawa has to offer.
I got totally lost three times the first day, and found out that, although I knew where TOWN was, and how to get there, I had no idea where I was. So it was much further than I had thought. My legs are still sore. But I did manage to get into town to see the Kenroku-en garden. It's definitely Kanazawa's pride and joy for a reason. They say it's one of the 3 best garden's in all of Japan. They are setting up Yokitsuri(elaborate rope support on trees to protect them from snow) on their favorite trees now. This black pine is extremely old(planted from seed by the 13th Lord of Kaga) and has about 400 ropes on it, although they're not tied up yet.
It has become obvious to me, that if I don't learn at least a few things about the language, I won't eat, and I'll have to walk everywhere. There's some english at the heavily touristed areas, but they don't assume you are interested in anything else. I feel like I'm getting a hand on things though. I can read enough to know where the bus is going, and recognize a few meals, and things in the grocery store. And yesterday I made a yoyaku (reservation) for 3, but it was a struggle for both of us. For a few days when someone offered me a pamphlet, I responded "this" instead of "no thank-you."
I saw the Geisha district, and tomorrow, the ninja house with trap doors and hideout passages. There's a lot to see, but most things close on Wednesday, so I spent the day just walking. I saw Kanazawa-jo (the castle), a million shrines(I keep forgetting to cleanse my hands), a bunch more gardens, and a small area of the Honda museum. The best stuff is, of course, everything else. I saw the Omicho fish market in the morning(sadly, no fish throwing, but plenty of yelling). Big squid, fish, and a bunch of gross green stuff. It's snow crab season, and, like melons($10), they are given as gifts on evergreen leaves, so one can cost $250. Mushrooms in the same style, can go for $650 for about 5 'shrooms. I just bought a bouquet of orchids for Kate for $3.50.
Today, perhaps I will go to shamisen no fukushima shop(a shamisen is the traditional instrument we all think of in old japanese music) where they will let me play them.
The evenings I chat with Kate (after being nearly silent all day) and we walk around. Beer is expensive, but sake is pretty cheap....depending on what you get. I'm having a blast! Although I think small cartoon girls have to beware of shadow people at night. This is an actual sign from the bus stop.

KJ's last night in Tahoe















Monika and I in Genoa for Jonelle's bachelorette party














Chris and I at Jonell and Willy's wedding

Tahoe, CA

Keeping ourselves busy in Tahoe isn't so hard to do...

We finally got a bit of snow...and skied our booties off. And are now watching it melt away to quickly.

So we have found other things to keep us occupied...Team Fun!


Went to see the Mutaytors at the Crystal Bay Club....

SLT, CA

February already? And still no snow!!! But considering we haven't had snow in a month, the conditions are surprisingly good. Chris and I took an avalanche class last weekend, which was a lot of fun and interesting besides the fact that we didn't have much snow pack to look at. But we haven't given up hope yet...the Sierras are know for their late snow falls.

Its Superbowl Sunday! Go Bears!!! After 22 years, we're back!!! And ready to kick some Colt's ass!! Going down to Brian Polkow's house to watch the game...nothing like being around crazy Bears fans to liven up the game.

San Fransisco, CA

Had a little house warming party which included rum balls and lots of powdered sugar. Wendy was even down from Humboldt.












Last weekend, we went to visit Linda and Tom. Had a great time; saw Taj Mahal at Yoshi's (a sushi/jazz club in Oakland), cut Christmas trees with Dave (Chris' cousin) and his family, and even got to stop in Folsom to see Matt on the way back up to Tahoe.

South Lake Tahoe, CA

We moved. Can you believe it. Its nice to be able to stretch out a bit. Teo loves it. She has her own doggie door and a big back yard. So I just wanted to attach a few pixs of recent. The first is of Chris and our roommate Dave, the second our house and the third Lemmon and us in Desolation.

Napa Valley, California

In Napa for my 30th!

Tahoe, CA

So I thought that I would keep adding pixs to the blog....

This is where we have been living for the past couple of years ...I was realizing the other day that I didn't have any pixs of the house, so I took one.

Aunt Bev, Uncle Wally, and Aunt Deta on a visit to Tahoe.

On the lake with Karla and Jim, our Oklahoma friends.

Up at Angora Lake with Rashid and Aaron.

New Delhi, India to London, England to Chicago, IL to Tahoe, CA

So it has been about a month and a half since finishing our trip... and we are back to the grind.

It took us 4 nights of waiting (and getting bumped off of flights) to finally suck it up and buy a ticket out if India. Figuring we had a bit of extra time, we detoured to London and spent a couple of nights there. Did a bunch of site seeing ... Buckingham Palace, tower of London, Camden, Piccadilly and basically wandered around till our feet hurt. But the best was getting a pint of beer that wasn't yellow and tasteless.

We spent 2 weeks in Chicago. Jammed it packed with fun stuff and still didn't get to do everything. Although, we did get to get Chris to his first Cubs game (first pro ball game for that matter). The Cubs lost and we got rained on, but such is Wrigley Field. Saw Spamalot, a play based on Monty Python's Holy Grail. And did a lot of other fun stuff.

But now its back in Tahoe. Couldn't ask for a better place to have to go back to though. But of course, our next trip is in the works.

Varanasi to Delhi, India

Varanasi is an incredible, very old city with tiny, twisty little alleyways that are too small for traffic ... but motorbikes, cows, and 10 million people don't seem to care. It makes for a cramped space with lots of cow poop (most of it the runny kind that isn't fun to step in), but they offer a lot of shade from the blistering sun.

They call it Shiva's city (Shiva is the Hindu god of destruction), and it is home to the Ganges which sprouted from his hair. It's one of the holiest cities in India. There are Ghats (stairs leading down to the water from temples above) lining the river, leaving no room for anything else. The most well known of which is the "Burning Ghat" where people from all over India bring their dead to be cremated in open fires amongst many other burning piles, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Huge wood piles surround the ghat ... it takes 250kgs of wood to creamate one body. Any part that doesn't burn (mostly ladies hip bones) gets tossed into the river. People drink holy river water, next to a dead body being cleansed, next to 100 people bathing and laundry being done. It's quite a sight.

We are going home soon, so we are in full scale buying mode. Anything we might want, we tried to pick up in Varinasi so we didn't have to spend any more time in Delhi than we have to. Although, as it turns out, we are stuck in Delhi due to the flights being full. And we might even end up in London before we get to Chicago. But we should still have a couple of weeks in Chicago before we finish our trip, so their will be a couple more blog entries before the end of this travel maddness.

Delhi to Agra, India

We finally made it out of Katmandu ... ended up having to fly. The buses weren't going on the day that we left (I still don't think they are running). But, other than that, we got to Delhi with minimal hitches. Our flight got in 2 hours before my parents and after a bit of confusion we finally all met in the bar of our hotel for a well needed drink.

My parents got us a room at the hotel where they stayed ... which was quite a treat! I think Chris and I enjoyed the hot shower the most (although the flat screen TV was a close second). In Delhi, we visited the Red Fort and Dana's parents got a taste of real Indian food for the 1st time. Inevitably we ate too much. Also visited Jama Masjid a day after the bombing. A bit of a sobering experience. But make sure to keep your eyes on news ... we were all interviewed by a few different local channels asking us for comments.

The next morning, we introduced them to the wonders of the Indian railways and all of the smells that go with it. But everyone survived and we made it to Agra. We had a big day and saw Agra fort and the Taj Mahal for sunset. Dad bought a beautiful inlaid soapstone box which he used his impressive bargaining skills to obtain ... he's a natural!

We hired a car to get out to Fatehpur Sikri (an abandoned Mughal city) the next day. While not quite as impressive as the Taj, it was still very interesting and relaxing (after you are able to slip past the throngs of guides that accost you at the front gate).

After too short of a visit, they left back to Chicago. And we head on to Varanasi.

Katmandu, Nepal

Made it to Nepal after 3 mind numbing days of overnight trains and
buses. We got into Katmandu and the next day were on a 9 hour (but only
75km) butt numbing bus ride on a road that looked more like the Rubicon
Trail than a national highway. Well, we made it, and hiked into to
Langtang National Park the next day. The 2nd day we reached Kanjin,
right in the heart of the Himalayan range. The next morning we woke up
early to hike up Kanjin Ri (4500m) where we were rewarded with
spectacular views. It snowed a few inches the night before which did
wonders for the visibility (April is known to be a very hazy time).
We were pressed for time, so we did 6 days worth of hiking in 4 days...
but then Chris got sick. Not sure still what it was, but it had all the
symtoms of altitude sickness, so we were weary about heading up any
higher (although we were only at 2500m). Now we think it was those
great stomach bugs striking again. On the plus side, the family that
owned the guest house we stayed at was great. We taught the boys Go
Fish and they took Dana up to see their grandparents in a nearby
village. After a 3 day rest, he was able to continue, but we had to
cut our trip short. I guess it gives us another reason to head back to
Nepal.
We are back in Katmandu and have plans to leave tomorrow. Things here
are a bit up in the air because of the nationwide strike. No buses are
running. We were lucky to make it back to Katmandu. If it wasn't for
a few Israelies that were dead set on being in Katmandu for Passover,
we would still be in the mountains! They arranged a tourist bus with
all the proper governmental stamps and signatures allowing us access to
the closed roads. One way or the other we will be in Delhi on the 15th
to meet Dana's folks!