I don’t usually enjoy the transportation part of travel. Despite my efforts to the contrary, my tendency is to treat getting to my destination as a means to an end, especially when I’m standing in lines at airports, rushing through security, or sitting on a plane for half a day. But I’ve had such a positive experience with China Airlines that I had to post something about it here.

It’s a long way from Hawaii to Malaysia. To save money, we split our journey into three legs. Our first leg was a 9 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan, with a 90 minute layover, followed by a 4 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan with an overnight stay at a very nice hotel paid for by China Airlines, which I’ll talk about later. The next day, we had another 4 hour flight to our final destination of Penang, Malaysia.

Because we’re traveling with an infant, we requested to sit in a bulkhead seat (front row of a section) so we could use the baby bassinet they have available after takeoff. They put us in the middle four seats of an exit row, which was perfect for us, allowed us all to sit together, gave us lots of leg room, and of course a place for the baby to sleep. The meals were great, and they even brought toys for the kids to play with, and supplies of food and diapers for the baby. If this is coach, I wonder what first class is like! Interestingly, because we had kids, they let us board at the same time as the first class passengers.

On the plane to Japan

The flight attendants were immaculately dressed and groomed, with perfect posture and warm smiles, and were so helpful with everything from lifting baggage into the overhead bins, to providing toys for the kids, and baby supplies (like food and diapers) for the baby, all without me asking.

In both Japan and Taiwan, we were amazed at the constant smiles we received, and conversations we had with those we were travelling with and those who attended us. Of course, it probably helped a lot that we’re traveling with a beautiful 5-month old baby. Little Aysia was doted on at every turn, always receiving smiles, and on more than one occasion being mobbed by groups of women (and sometimes men) who wanted to adore her and get her to smile more. I couldn’t help but grin as I again and again saw these sweet people melt in the presence of our little one. Maybe it will get old soon, but for now, it’s kind of fun, and helps open doors to get to know people.

Melty Kiss Japanese chocolate

While in Japan, I bought a few treats that I remember enjoying when I used to live there. One treat, a delicious chocolate candy called “Melty Kiss,” sounds seductively appetizing, while the other, a drink called Pocari Sweat doesn’t have an appealing ring to westerners, but is a surprisingly refreshing beverage nonetheless. Both were delicious.

We were pretty tired when we finally arrived in Taiwan. The girls were especially exhausted and ornery, which I expected after 15 hours straight on a plane and in airports. But we were able to find the shuttle stop to our hotel (everyone spoke English). China Air paid for us to stay at Novotel, a modern, elegant, and hip hotel right by the Taipei airport. They had some cool features in the room, like magic glass in the shower, an anti-fog mirror in the bathroom, universal electric outlets, and they even brought us a baby bathtub. But the best part was the free breakfast the next morning, which had so many different types of foods, from Chinese dumplings and several noodle dishes, to loads of pastries, soups, fruits, yogurts, and cereals, to lots of things I’d never seen before. It could easily have been a complete lunch or dinner buffet. We enjoyed trying some new foods and had a delicious (and free) breakfast — thanks China Airlines!

Novotel breakfast

After breakfast, we caught our flight to Penang, Malaysia, and have begun our new life here. I’ll be writing about our first impressions in my next post.

Also, for those of you with an 11″ Macbook Air, I just now realized that they’re small enough that you don’t need to take them out of your bag when going through airport security! I wish I would have known that several months ago. It would have saved us some headache and time in the lines.

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Byoudouin. 1000-year old temple

On Friday, I left for Japan with my dad, one other chaperon, and six students from ages 14-18. It was a lot of fun being back in Japan, smelling the familiar smells, and hearing the familiar sounds. In fact, it’s so familiar to me now, that it lacks some of the excitement and newness it once held for me, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. As is typical for me, I fell in love with the Japanese gardens and trees once again.

It was also nice being with my dad, who taught us a lot about the culture and history as we went from temple to shrine to garden. Much of these sights I’d seen on previous trips to Japan, but there were some places I’d never been such as Byoudouin and Ryouanji, which I really liked.

We stayed in two different hotels – one in Tokyo and one in Kyoto. Both were simple, but very nice. The Kyoto hotel was a traditional wooden Ryoukan with tatami floors, where we slept on futons. The Tokyo hotel was more modern, with beds. Both had showers and heated, squirting toilets! Near the Kyoto hotel was a sento (public bath house), where we went once to relax after a long day of walking.

It was very hot in Kyoto – 90° (F) and extremely humid! Being outside walking all day was not easy. I was glad when I finally purchased a sweat rag, as I used it constantly. Some days were more shady, though, which helped a lot.

The food was excellent. We ate at restaurants every meal, except for a few times when we got our breakfast or lunch from a convenient store and ate it on the train or bus. We had all my favorites: katsudon (pork cutlets & eggs over rice), curry rice (I forgot how good this was), gyouza (pot stickets), omu rice (omelette rice), sushi, and ramen (not “Top ramen” – real ramen). Oh, and I can’t forget all the vending machine drinks: Pocari Sweat, Kirin Lemon, Calpis, etc. We were also treated to shabu-shabu (cooked pork or beef and vegetables) by the city officials of Yuzawa City, where we would have done homestay if it weren’t for the swine flu scare. That was a nice meal as well, and I enjoyed visiting with them.

It looks like there’s no longer a huge technology gap between Japan and the U.S. like there was ten years ago. Japan doesn’t seem to be any further ahead with small electronics, cell phones, or computers – in fact, we might even have a leg up on them! I only saw one person with an iPhone the entire time I was there (and I saw thousands of people with phones). I talked to one guy on the train about it (who works as an engineer designing Canon printers), and he said few people in Japan have iPhones because they’re so expensive. Understandable. The electronics stores were still fun to walk through, though, because they’re so different, colorful, and noisy, compared to stores here.

Brandon meditating at the zen garden

I think my favorite part of the trip was the zen rock garden at Ryouanji. This was my first time there, and I didn’t think I would care for it much – it’s just rocks and gravel. But sitting there meditating and staring at the jagged rocks and raked, gray-colored gravel, was really very peaceful. It was a quiet place, except for the occasional sound of wind or birds in the trees just outside the walls (and the whispering or footsteps of the other people there). As my eyes stared at the gravel, I thought I saw bright colors and strange shapes appearing within the gravel, kind of like looking at one of those 3D books where the shapes appear if you can get your eyes to focus correctly, or like one of those optical illusions where your eyes play tricks on you. Kind of fun. Anyway, there was a really relaxing feeling in that place, and I liked it. I feel like I could have spent hours there. As a side note, we saw Richard Gere meditating there as well.

I sure missed my family during this trip, and was very ready to come home and see them again. Also, after eating Japanese food for a week, as much as I love it, I am ready for a pizza or some other Italian or Mexican food for a change of palette. I’m still getting over a bit of jet lag, but was glad we had a non-stop flight from Tokyo to Salt Lake City, rather than transfers and waiting in an airport.

I do love Japan and am grateful I had the chance to go. The students were all really good. It was fun to talk with them and get to know them, and to hear their first impressions of Japan. I’m looking forward to the next trip. Thanks Dad, and everyone who made this amazing trip possible!

Here are the rest of the good pictures. (See my previous post for earlier pictures).

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I have to say how impressed I am with my dad’s travel planning skills. Not only did he plan an excellent itinerary, making sure we had enough time for food and travel in between all the activities he planned, but he also took the time to include cultural and historical information about each of places we’re visiting. This is going to be a great educational trip for the kids, as well as for me. Check out the itinerary below (he prepared a lot more detailed info than this – this is just the summary):

Japan Culture Tour.pdf

I’m really excited to see these places, even though it will be the second time for most of them. I’m hoping to brush up on my Japanese language skills there a bit, too. I’m bringing my trusty “Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar” book to read on the 11-hour flight – which is now non-stop, thanks to Delta. I don’t know how much time I’ll get to blog or check e-mail while I’m there, but I’ll try to post a few updates with pictures if I get the chance.

I will sure miss my family, but was glad we got to spend a couple days in Park City as part of our anniversary trip (been married for seven years now!). We had loads of fun and did a lot of activities (the girls got to ride horses, go on the alpine slide, merry-go-round, swimming, etc.) We don’t usually take the kids on our anniversary trips, but they really did help make it fun. There was a day care center we put them in for a few hours while we went shopping on our own. They had a lot more fun there than they would have with us. :) It will be hard leaving them all for a week.

Well, here I go!

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It was going to be a two week trip, with a home stay opportunity in Yuzawa, but unfortunately, the Japanese officials got a little paranoid about all the swine flu stories they’ve been hearing, so they cancelled the program for this year (there seems to be a real scare about it in Japan – airport security has been extremely tight, etc.). For a while, it looked as though the whole trip might be cancelled, but fortunately, we were still able to arrange a stay in Tokyo, and will now even get to spend some time in Kyoto! (I love the gardens there!) Hooray!

I’ll be leaving the first part of July! I love Japan, and am so excited to go, especially with my dad there! And the kids seem really great as well. Although I will probably be gone for my 7th wedding anniversary. Oops! Sorry, Jen! I’ll make it up to you somehow!

Nihon ni Ikimasu!

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