Vietnam is a country? I thought it was just a war.

I was talking to George a few weeks ago about my upcoming trip. I told her I was thinking about putting up a map of Southeast Asia on my blog because some people don't know where all the countries are that I'm going to. Her reply: "When you say 'some people', do you mean me?"

Later, when I mentioned taking a train from the north to the south of Vietnam she said, "How can you go there? I didn't know Vietnam was a place. I thought it was just a war." I'm so glad George is a math teacher and not a geography teacher.

So, for all of you that don't know where Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are located, here is a map just for you!

I want this bike.

The land of the rising sun...

Sayonara old friend...

My desk was falling apart. It was held together by a bungee cord.


Action had to be taken. I bought a new one (that looked almost identical to the previous one--not because I particularly loved the style, but it was cheap).


I had to put it together myself. I was very proud. I love putting things together.

Old desk, New desk...it's the circle of life in desk form.

Please resume the regularly scheduled comments

Ok, so I lost the picture at the top, but I'm slowly getting over it. I'll work on the layout again later, but for now, simplicity is bliss...and now you can comment. Or continue not commenting. Whatever suits you...

Comments on the frizz

Ok, so I realized recently that my comments aren't working. I know most of you never comment anyway, but I'm sorry to those of you that have tried to do so and failed. For now, if you have a comment, just email me. I'll try and work on the comment problem, but I honestly don't have the slightest idea why it's not working. Any HTML guru reading this and know how to fix it?

Kyoto-the capital of the west

Kyoto was formerly the imperial capital of Japan. It is one of the most visited spots for tourist in Japan, therefore, I wasn't in a hurry to get there. Yes, there is a ton of culture and some pretty amazing things to see there, but knowing it's a top tourist spot, usually makes it unappealing to me. I hate being around foriegners here--especially the ones just here to visit. Anyway, not the point of my post...I digress.

Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavillion) is the best known temple in Kyoto, and probably in Japan.




Kiyomizu-dera--this place is up for one of the 'new 7 wonders of the world' Do I think it should win? No, but against the statue of liberty, yes--it should.






No, these aren't real geishas. They just do this for the tourist--and we were suckers and took pictures of them.




The view of Kyoto looking out from Kiyomizu-dera




Ryōan-ji is a zen garden. This place was pretty cool, but there were a lot of people there so it was difficult to become enlightened.

The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder.



And I saved the best for last...
Fushimi Inari-taisha, a Shinto shrine, was my favorite spot in Kyoto.







In true Japanese form, there is a vending machine in the middle of this incredible place.

Keitai are the coolest

So, Maureen gets bored at school. I have to give her projects. These are her 2 latest masterpieces.

She based Cory's motif on all I've told her about him. I think she got it right.


The title of Lindsey's picture is "Waterworld sans Kevin Costner".

It's guy love between two guys...

Even if you don't watch Scrubs, you'll be singing along to the chorus by the time this ends...and if you don't watch Scrubs, you should.

It's safe, only the landmines...

My friend Maureen and I are planning a pretty awesome trip to Southeast Asia for spring break. We've got 3 weeks to travel, and we're going to use every bit of it.

When we first started planning, we both had places we wanted to go. I wanted to go to Thailand and she wanted to go to Vietnam, so those countries were on the list of places to go for sure.

After that, we weren't sure where we wanted to go, because there were so many places that sounded good. However, we went to lonelyplanet.com and soon found out many places we wanted to explore were in political unrest and maybe not the safest places for 2 white girls to go alone. We have finalized our list now, but when we were still debating, one bullet point on our list said this:
*Cambodia--it's safe, only the landmines.

Are we going to Cambodia? Well, I'm up for it still, because they say the landmines are just on the unbeaten path so we could try and stay on a very beaten path, right?
Yeah well, Maureen says no...and just in case, I now have to walk in front of her everywhere we go.

Our decided destinations: We'll start out in Singapore, make our way to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and then fly to Chiang Mai (Thailand) from there. We'll probably take a day trip up to the northern border at Myanmar (Burma) from there. After Thailand, we'll fly to Hanoi (Vietnam) and make our way down to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) before returning to Singapore for our flight home.

Am I a little excited? Yes, I am.

"The greatest though often most elusive benefits of travel are, after all, friendship, romance and a first-hand understanding of the rest of the world. Our times are admittedly troubled, so we could do with a lot more of all of these, which might lead to something called wisdom, an attribute lacking in both government announcements and media reports. So browse the warnings before you go, but go."--Jeffrey Taylor

Justin's not bring sexy back, you are!

We saw John Mayer in concert at a small venue in Tokyo and it was incredible. He had a lot of musicians up there jamming with him and all the jazz/bluesy stuff he's been doing is great.
And yes, during the concert I did happen to say, "Justin's not bringing sexy back, you are!"
I also held up a sign that said "I love you" but I probably should have kept that part to myself.

Osaka-jo Castle

This is the most famous place to visit in Osaka, so of course we had to go. It was really beautiful because the leaves were a billion different colors.



The empty moat--and a ladder to make it easy to break in, if necessary




Maureen and I being dorks

Shinkansen

Shinkansen=Bullet train
We prefer to call it 'The Shink'.

Who can resist a giant wheel?

Not me.

We rode not one, but TWO giant wheels (ferris wheel, for those of you thinking, "What is she talking about?") while in Osaka. Japanese people actually love them, therefore, every big city has a giant wheel or two. They're usually placed on top of buildings, or they are just massive, allowing you to see the city from up above.

Giant wheel #1

Osaka at night


Giant wheel #2