Jacobcav

Our last day in Bangkok (until we return in 2 weeks...) Went for a quick long walk to the street coffee shop, again. Taxied to the airport. Missed out on the security pat-down this time, but there's still a few flights to go. Uneventful flight with some interesting sandwiches. We picked up the rental car from Chiang Mai airport and quickly discovered the joy that is driving in Thailand with Chris' expert driving skills. Road rules here are non-existent, lane markings are for decoration only. Red lights are optional and what would stand for road rules in Australia are merely suggestions here for staying alive. Viang Bua Mansion - clean, safe and friendly. Cheap! and adequate if you enjoy sleeping on plywood covered titanium bricks covered with a sheet. We discovered the Spirit House restuarant across ... read more

Our first full day in Bangkok started with filling up on breakfast at our Ascott hotel (after i finally woke up after sleeping in while Sam and Chris went for a swim). Tropical fruits in syrup and yoghurt, omelette, green curry, pancakes, stir fry, juice and coffee, and noodles and soup and jelly and chocolate truffles and fruity jelly something. We walked across the sky train walkway to sukhumvit rd, and spent most of the day at the MBK and othershops. Found some impressive outdoor Christmas displays, then Sam and Chris took us to a fancy supermarket and food court. We had yummy coffee at Black Canyon where Melly had a Mexican coffee in a glass boot! Lots of market shopping for "genuine fakes!" and treated ourselves to a multi-national smorgasboard at the food loft for ... read more

Not just another excuse for shinkansen and bento, we ventured north to Sendai and Matsushima Bay (thanks Hugh and Judy for the recommendation!!) We changed at Sendai to a local train to Hon-Shiogama station and then walked to the ferry terminal for a sightseeing cruise of Matsushima Bay. Before boarding we had a look around the local shops which included seafood stalls with oysters and scallops, crabs and huge whole fish. We got a pre-cruise drink of giant cans of mountain dew and white soda pop from the vending machines. It was hard work, but we managed to photograph most of the 260 islands that make up the bay (but Melly says there’s more like 255 rocks sticking out of the water and 5 islands). The bay is one of the 3 great sights of Japan ... read more

So as not to break tradition, we decided to go to Andersens for breakfast. We wandered around Tokyo station for a bit where we found a shop selling mochi creams, the most beautiful delicacy on the planet. That's what mel says anyway. Mochi cream is a soft ball of pounded sticky rice which is flavoured with an ice cream filling. They are sold frozen and are best enjoyed thawed for 30 minutes. They weren't melted, but this lets the rice layer soften, making it a chewy texture on the outside with a soft creamy centre. So good. Mel had sakura flavour (cherry blossom) and I had matcha (green tea). Our rail trip to Harajuku was conveniently 30 minutes long, so we stood outside the train station and enjoyed our mochi creams before tackling the shops. If ... read more

Monorail!!!! Took the monorail to Odaiba, home of Muscle Park, Sega Joypolis (biggest indoor amusement park), Toyota Showroom for new vehicles and technologies, and best of all, Lego clickbrick store!!! We got off at PaletteTown and went to Maccas for breakfast, being the only thing open at 10.45am. (After getting in trouble from wifey for making us late, then discovering the place doesn't open until 11am) We had cinnamon melts and mini pancakes with apple and cream. I had a white grape juice drink. Interesting and delicious. We wandered across the bridge, past the Tokyo Teleport station and stumbled upon what appeared to be a Baskin Robbins grand opening...there were balloons, Baskin Robbins bigwigs everywhere and a general feeling of excitement. We spent up big at the shoe shop before continuing to Muscle Park. This was ... read more