Dead Sea

Remember those Dead Sea shots? Here are the ones we couldn't upload. See the white stuff on the rocks, it's salt. Imagine all the rocks on the bottom of the sea coated with a 1/2 inch of the stuff

So after slipping and floating at the public beach, we walked ( well some of us sort of cruised) south for a few minutes till we came to a hole out of which Australian Males were scooping out vast quantities of mud, covering themselves and then running apelike back into the water.


We scooped, covered but refrained from the extra antics.

Another Singapore Moment

Here are shots off the blackberry fromt he first couple days - most from the bus tour we took of the downtown area.

HOME

We're back - got in 2 hours before we left and that's why I screwed up Sarah's Birthday. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We'll try to get the rest of the pictures and the Japan stuff up this weekend. Off to lalaland.

Oh yes, the poll - the cake was from Beth at the reception desk at the hotel. She was so excited because she had the same as Melanie.

Yup, But the cake was good.

Finding the Bullet train

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Bullet train and Misuzu

The impetus for our stop in Japan was to visit Melanie`s friend from graduate school - Misuzu who lived with her husband in Kobe, were she is a nursing professor.
So at this point our next tast was to get our JAL voucher converted into a Japan Rail Pass. We found the JAL office and waited in line till we found we needed the next office. There we were promplty assisted. After issuing our our Rail Pass we told her what we needed to do next and she turned an made our reservations and printed our tickets. She had us booked on the 5:12 train. I looked at the clock as we gathered our bags and it said 5:04.
Weel, if she wasn:t worried why should I be. We made the train with no problem and headed off to Tokyo and our connection to Kobe. The trick was leting Misuzu know when we would arrive so she could pick us up. I won`t bore your here with the details, but let it be known - not everyone speaks English, the phones don`t use cash, and thank goodness for the food cart guy.
Call was made we sat back and prayed we didn`t miss our stop. Four hours late we arrived in Kobe within 2 minutes of the scheduled time, climbed off the train and with a lost look in our eye`s were delighted to see Misuzu and Paul on the other side of the exit.]
Figuring out how to get there was our next adventure.

arrival in Japan

It was a seven hour flight to Tokyo and we started flying over Japan four hours into it. Another whole in my geographic literacy exposed. Who knew the country was so big. Well better 40 years late than never at all.
We landed in Narita (about an hour by train from Tokyo) and I was struck by the amount of farmland I saw all around the area. Apparantly the farmers have been fighting expansion of the airport for 10 years or so, but I guess have lost and will have to move their farms over the next 10 years.
Through passort control and customs and then the final step - and yes, here we were fingerprinted and photographed - (not just us) This was a little creapy.

now we truly are leaving - actually we left 2 days ago

Friday morning we left the hotel at 6:15 for the 15 minute ride to the airport and met the first person that seemed negative on his country. He said `it is a great place for a holiday but not good to live here. You don`t feel free.` (and yes I know how to use punctuation , but on this computer be thankful you are not reading はしとちてすすくはしこはそょ).
At the airport, after getting through control we went hunting for breakfast. \this is a modern airport with only international flights (country is tool small). There are tons of duty free shops and a food court. Didn`t find a Mcd but did find Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, and oh yes, a place that advertised Irish Sandwiches. I wonder if or when American fast food will squash the eating habits of this part of the world. We know it certainly has changed their consumption of meat and processed sugar and that their bodies are paying the price for it.
Anyway, these different (from western) food palets are an important form of diversity that I am just beginning to appreciate.