Please Wait Slightly

 The sign outside the hotel restaurant at the airport.  It made me laugh, and then I decided I might do well to "Please wait slightly," especially when thinking I needed to speak.

 Before our train ride to Nikko, we went to the basement of a department store where they have many different food counters.  We bought lots of meat on sticks, and various breads.

 Replica of an ancient bridge in Nikko.

 A cemetery for monks -- very serene.  We were the only people there, though Garvin wanted to know if he could ring the enormous gong!  We said no.

I'm curious if these statues always have the caps, or once summer comes if they're taken off.  This is a mountain town, with peaks just behind us -- it's almost 1700 feet here, so while not the Rockies, it is cooler than in Tokyo.  We've seen some patches of snow.

The first of many dragons I'm sure we'll see.

 We did not eat the beef tendon stew, or any pork guts, that we know of!  The yen is about 80 to the dollar.

Our dinner on the floor with huge bowls of noodles and lots of cabbage.  Tasty, but not quite as filling as we'd hoped.

So, of course, Craig tried the ice cream.  You insert a plastic container filled with the "ice cream" and out it comes.  Tasted a bit watery compared to what we're used to.  We ate it all though.  I then tried one which was the color of grass, in fact Craig said the photo showed grass, which Garvin took to mean marijuana.  It was green tea, but did have a grass-like flavor -- the lawn variety, not marijuana -- not that I would know : )

This was breakfast because there was nothing open this morning.  They apparently don't have breakfast places.  This is a deep fried dumpling with a red bean paste, and a specialty of the area.  A sweet/salty combo which is quite yummy.  I have an odd expression because I took a bite right before Craig took the picture, and had red bean paste on my teeth.

Breakfast #2 just a few minutes later.  We made our way toward the shuttle bus for Edo Wonderland, and Craig spotted this shop.  Craig loved his "sub" with deep fried ham and cheese.  I had something we couldn't identify (back left corner).  Possibly pureed potato with other vegetables, and then deep fried.  It was ok.  Garvin picked a croissant and the raspberry yummy.  Just typing this is making me feel a little queasy and not interested in anything tempura for awhile.

After the ninja show at Edo Wonderland, which I'm calling Edo Waste of Moneyland.  Big disappointment, sadly.  Over priced, cheesy.  I'm a bit crabby about it frankly and intend to write a negative review on the site where people raved about this place.  Oh well, it's just money, and 6 hours we'll never get back.  It wasn't all bad, but it wasn't very good.

We think these are sweet rice paste balls.  Kids were lining up to get them.  The shiny, gelatinous look of them was completely unappealing to us, but we were definitely in the minority on that one.

One of the buildings of replicated Edo.  The park literature says in its heyday, centuries ago, Edo was the most populated metropolitan area on Earth.  Hard to believe, but that's what it said.  You can't see it but there are snow capped mountains in the background.

Almost ready to go, again!

Hello Dear Readers,

I hope this finds you all well.  When I last posted, we had postponed our China trip because Craig's sales reps made other plans.  At the time we were disappointed, but resigned to making the prudent decision.  And, as with so many things in life, it seems it all worked out for the best.

Now we're in countdown mode -- we'll drive to Denver on March 26th, and fly out the next morning.

The plan:  Five days in and around Tokyo, nine days in Viet Nam, about two weeks in Thailand, and then we arrive in Hong Kong for a trade show on April 25.  We'll head inland around May 1, and make our way south to north to various spots in China with a very loose agenda, arriving home on July 12.

More to come -- I'm very curious and excited to see what fills these blog pages over the coming months!