Meri Kurisumasu

That's Merry Christmas in Japanese. At least it is if the Internet can be trusted. We can always trust the Internet, right?

Grand Hyatt Tokyo

An-y-way-Merry Christmas! Let's talk about Tokyo because I still need to wrap up my recent travels and there's nothing else that needs doing in December, is there? For anyone interested, small and slow is my holiday mantra this year.

Tokyo.

We spent a few days in this fabulous city on our way out of Asia because it's a favorite of the hubs and he wanted me to experience it. In a funny coincidence this summer we met the couple building a house just a few up from ours on the lake. We spent an evening together in our home and as it turns out they currently live guess where? Tokyo! They invited us to connect with them when we were in town and we did.

They offered to pick us up at the airport and as we stepped out of Immigration we were greeted with a big 'hey y'all!' So nice to hear after nearly a month away. They pointed out a lot of the city sites as we drove to the hotel and offered all sorts of helpful tips for exploring this place they call home.

Not gonna lie. Mostly we're about the food.
But also the sites and we did manage to squeeze a lot in to a few days.

We had the most fabulous hotel room with a three sided view of downtown Tokyo and, if the weather cooperated (which it did on Day 1), Mt. Fuji.

Thursday was in fact a picture perfect day weather wise so hubs and I taxied to the Imperial Palace to see the stone walls, moat, and gardens.

This is the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan so you don't go inside and you really can't see much of the buildings themselves, but the grounds are beautiful.

As an aside, hubs and I did ride the 'metro' (subway) systems in both Seoul and Tokyo and both were easy to use and so clean. The city of Tokyo is enormous and seems almost spotless. You notice.

We also like to walk when we can and ride taxis on occasion because you see more of the city that way.

We left the palace grounds and made our way to the area around Senso-ji Temple which sits in the middle of a busy commercial and entertainment district.

There were throngs of people checking out the vendor stalls lining the walkway into the temple and throngs of people in and all around the temple too.

We sampled a green tea rice cake as we walked and you can forget about the styrofoam-like rice cakes we buy here...

This was dense and creamy and rich...

We wandered around the temple grounds and then had a delicious lunch in a restaurant nearby, chosen for us by the gentleman waving us in from the doorway. I had soba noodles (the more I ate the more they seemed to grow) and tempura veggies which were scrumptious.

Hubs had soba noodles and sushi and we are fans of the food here. Also the presentation. Nobody slings a plate down in front of you, sloshes tea into a saucer so it drips while you sip, or rolls their eyes waiting on you to decide what you'd like to order.

Lunch cost some amount?

There was an area hubs wanted me to see that he knew I would enjoy. It's called Kappabashi and is the fake food capital of the world. Maybe not officially, but it could be. Everything you would ever need or think you might need or didn't even know you'd need to open and run your own restaurant is available in this little section of town.

There are shops filled with nothing but 'fake food', the kind the restaurants use to entice you to come in and sample their version of the real thing. Besides the fake food there's store after store filled with every sort of pot, pan, and cooking utensil you can imagine. I loved it!

After leaving Kappabashi we took a fairly long taxi ride across the city to the most famous 'scramble junction' in Japan. You have to experience this for yourself y'all. Holy moly! I read a half million people might use this junction beside Shibuya Station in a single day, and as many as 3000 people might cross here on one green light. One!

Essentially it is a multi-sided cross walk through mega traffic in this super trendy part of Tokyo. All vehicle traffic is stopped at the same time allowing people to cross in multiple directions at the same time. The area around the crossing feels a bit like Times Square with all the lights, electronic billboards, and people except there's no scrambled cross walk like this one in the Big Apple.

Ka-razy! but so much fun to see in person.

We'd run out of steam by late afternoon so we made our way back to the hotel for a cup of tea in the main lobby restaurant. The little touches here are impossible to describe or even remember except to say you leave feeling less stressed than when you arrived. There's an art to that and they've mastered it here.

We were in the Grand Hyatt (highly recommend) and people come from all around the city to dine in one of their many restaurants. We had dinner in the steakhouse our first night there and it was superb.

This isn't the steak. It's dessert (raspberry pavlova) and so yummy I had to snap a picture.

Friday morning we awoke to drizzly skies so made a plan to see one of the many museums we'd read about online. We decided on the Edo-Tokyo Museum which did not disappoint. Lock and leave your umbrella here which is so sensible.

The museum features models of Edo and Tokyo between 1590 and 1964.

That's a lot of history. A lot a lot. There's also a life-size replica of the Nihonbashi (bridge) and we really enjoyed our visit.

We had dinner plans with our neighbors that evening, so after lunch spent some time napping and just soaking up the view from our room.

Our neighbors took us to dinner at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel which featured seasonal Japanese cuisine.

Every morsel was beautiful and delicious. We told them we'd treat them to some Carolina BBQ in our backyard once they're back stateside.

Hey now! That's fabulous in its own way too.

We were flying out later the next day but not before we met up once more for guess what? Another meal! Probably our favorite of all the meals we had the entire month we were away.

We dined in the hotel tepanyaki restaurant where lunch was cooked right before our eyes. This was not like the 'cook at your table' type of restaurant you may have tried elsewhere because this is Tokyo. Think depth of flavor, stunning presentation, a comfortable elegance that leaves you wanting more. No detail overlooked and your meal a literal feast for the senses.

I could write a whole post about this lunch but here's a peek, minus the flaming dessert that refused to load here-

After lunch we snapped a picture in the hotel lobby then boarded the shuttle to the airport for the long flight home.

What a privilege to see this part of the world. To experience the foods and customs and beauty of a place I'd never been. To taste and see and savor the sights and sounds of somewhere new. To spend time with precious family, dear old friends, kind strangers, and brand new neighbors...

To be reminded once more it's a small world after all.

A Little More Seoul

Our third morning in Seoul found me still coughing. So much so that after pantomiming my symptoms to a very helpful shopkeeper in a tiny store called something like CVS (trademarking is loose here) I purchased some sort of S. Korean cold medicine. There was not a word of English on the box so I took it to our very helpful hotel desk clerk who translated the dosage for me, and if that doesn't deserve a five star rating I don't know what does.

We had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel then headed out for an area of the city called Bukchon Hanok Village. Hanok is the word for the traditional wooden houses that once covered Korea, but have now mostly been replaced with more modern architecture.

We took a taxi because we were a bit unclear as to how to enter the village. Our driver dropped us off at the end of a road and pointed vigorously, which we took to mean mean walk in that general direction, so we did and eventually landed in the right place. 

This area y'all!

So charming! Old world meets new all over this city, but maybe nowhere more so than this little neighborhood.

The steep, winding, narrow streets and beautiful design-

Gorgeous front doors and beautiful gardens peeking over the fences. People live here and there are a number of signs posted regarding quiet hours (visit before 5 PM and not on Sundays) which visitors seemed to respect.

We saw so many people dressed in the traditional Korean dress known as hanbok.  I believe it is designed to be worn as semi-formal or formal attire during festivals, celebrations, and ceremonies but we saw people everywhere we went in the dress taking lots and lots of photographs.

Hanbok is colorful and beautiful and all five palaces in Seoul waive the entry fee if you're wearing this traditional dress. You can also rent outfits around the city but as a visitor I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that, although apparently many do.

After leaving the village we browsed a shopping area known as Insadong, then made our way to Seoul's most prominent temple, Jogyesa, headquarters for Korea's main Buddhist sect.

The temple sits in the heart of the city and the design is stunning.

By this point our feet were aching so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Well hubs got ready for dinner and I put on my pjs, drank my ?cough syrup? and went to bed.

Hubs used to travel to this part of the world fairly often so while I slept he was able to meet up with a dear Korean friend for conversation, catching up on work and family, and of course traditional barbecue (I was sorry to miss that). I was so happy this worked out as his friend had just returned home after several days out of town, then had to fight traffic to make this dinner happen.

Sunday we took the train back to our daughter's home for another week with the grandest grandboys I know. We're soaking up all the minutes, trying not to count down the days or calculate how many months old this precious newborn will be the next time we see him in person or when's the next time big brother will snuggle up beside us asking to read 'Noah and the Whale' because that kind of thinking steals the joy from today, and we definitely don't want to do that.

Life is always teaching us something, isn't it?

About Those Mysterious Ways

Sixteen years ago we moved to England. We spent six mostly glorious, sometimes challenging, oftentimes edifying, ever so memorable years living in a small village not far from London.

People moved in and out of the country on a regular basis which meant every single year you were forced to bid tearful goodbyes to once-upon-a-time strangers who had quickly become dear friends. And every single year you learned to re-open your heart and home and welcome the new strangers who in the blink of an eye would also become cherished friends.

For five years I hosted a women's bible study in my home, and the women who walked in and out of my great big front door, the one with no handle and the old fashioned bell, were some of the most extraordinary women I've ever had the privilege to know.

One of those women I'll call K. Her husband was in the Air Force so they left the UK around the same time we did and have moved several times since because that's the nature of the Air Force. We've also moved several times because that's just what we do. ahem I haven't seen my friend K since we left England ten years ago.

On Saturday night my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson had dinner in her home.

In South Korea.

Because she too is currently residing there with her family, and because God is so incredibly good to remind us He goes before us in the hard things. The not so hard things too but maybe we look for Him a little more in the hard.

I can never get over the smallness of this great big world.

The 'kids' are doing great as they settle in to their new life on the other side of the globe, but knowing someone is there to 'welcome the new strangers' is such a gift, and one for which I feel tremendous gratitude.

When I started this blog we lived across the pond and I had this verse in my header-

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:9-10

It was a verse I took great comfort in and one that came to the top of my brain as my daughter talked about having dinner in their home.

Even on the far side of the sea He remembers us.
He guides us.
He holds us fast.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

It's Friday, which means today's word prompt is posted the day of, and we set our timers for five minutes of unedited writing for sheer love of the written word.  For more five minute posts on today's prompt visit Kate at Heading Home. Here we go-

Day 16- green

It's Fall y'all. And it's my favorite. I love the color and the light and the coolness in the air. I love jeans and fleece jackets and the way the earth yields to God's grand design. Hubs and I enjoy hiking and we're excited to explore the many parks and trails around our new home state. I wrote about our visit to Pretty Place here, and yesterday we headed back up the mountain for a hike to Raven Cliff Falls.

I know, more Dramamine, but we do what we must.
Plus this weather is sheer perfection.

We stopped first at the Visitor Center at Caesar's Head State Park, and took in the magnificent view from the overlook there.

Talk about green. That's Table Rock in the distance, and it's on our list too. As hubs says every time we see it in the distance, 'I've got to get over there. It looks high and dangerous.' And of course I say 'Me too. I love me some high danger.' Ha!

We've had an abundance of rain in the Upstate this fall, so I don't think the colors are going to be as vibrant as they might be otherwise.

Still lovely though.

I'd read in our handy hiking handbook that the hike to the falls was about 2 miles in and 2 miles out, and rated not strenuous, but that's if you take the guidebook with you and read the directions. We left the guidebook in the car, because it seemed simple enough...cross the road, hop on the trail, hike two miles in, see beautiful falls.

There were a few problems with this plan. The short version is pretty much my modus operandi whenever I go hiking in the woods with hubs. I leave the car park feeling jubilant, energized, ready to take on the world. At some point we realize we're either a) not on the right trail or b) taking the long way round instead of the direct route we intended, and I end up on the verge of frustrated tears.

Sometimes I might even fall right on over the verge.

The gentleman at the visitor's center said yes, cross the road, hop on the trail to the left and follow it around. It will take about an hour. So that's what we did. Except we were first supposed to drive down the road another mile, park there, cross that road, and hop on that trail to the left.

Bother.

What's an extra four miles on a beautiful autumn afternoon? Well it might just be the thing that sends me over the verge. Also, it was steep aka strenuous. Whatever. I got over myself, we found the right entry point, and off we went feeling almost jubilant again.

The trail was lovely and high and so serene. We were anxious to reach the falls because we'd read they're the most visited falls in the state of South Carolina.

We hiked a while before coming to this-

Hmmm....looks like police tape. Danger. Do Not Enter. Which is exactly what it was. Apparently there are a series of bridges you need to cross to get to the falls and with all the recent storms one of the bridges made the route impossible.

Unless you want to hike an additional four hours around them, but do not attempt it without food, water, and plenty of daylight.

He is seriously thinking about it y'all.

I was not.

We carried on anyway, along the un-waterfall trail, because we'd read there was an overlook that would allow you a glimpse of them. I'm zoomed in, and if you look hard you'll see there's a fabulous waterfall waaaaay across the valley.

I read the falls plunge over four hundred feet, so we definitely didn't get to appreciate the full effect, and we'll want to come back another time.

As hubs and I are standing alone on this wooden platform about three miles into the woods in the middle of nowhere admiring the far off falls, a group of seven or eight college boys hiked in. They were so polite, and really friendly, and we chatted for a bit. Turns out one of them went to high school with my brother-in-law's niece and nephew.

Oh don't you just love this big small beautiful world?