Still LOTS of the world to explore. Heck, we didn't even head south of the equator (although while in Kuala Lumpur we came pretty darn close).
I (Cyrus) am writing this post once again. This is not because I am a better writer then Ginette (I believe it is obvious Ginette possess some serious writing talent). I am writing this post because Ginette is busy working and supporting us, while I am busy riding my bike and spending time on the Interwebs looking for work (with the intent of working somewhere, anywhere, where I am passionate about what I do). I am forever grateful to Ginette for giving me this kind of flexibility right now. I'm left with a little bit of extra time throughout the day. Might as well squeeze in a blog post.
If there are any regular readers to this blog (aside from you mom!), I did promise to divulge some stats about our trip(s). I have a feeling I will think of more stats later; will post them as they come to mind. We intend to keep this blog going. Looking at the map above, it s easy to see we have just scratched the surface on our journey of exploring the world. Makes me excited just looking at it.
Here we go...
Countries visited in the last six months: 25 National Parks visited: 22 States we drove through: 9 Olympic host cities visited: 15 Flights taken: 30 Airlines flown: 14 Visas Required: 7 Languages we learned how to say thank you (and NO thank you!): 16 Different hotels/guest houses/hostels/campsites (paid): 37 Random overnight parking spots: 22 Oil changes for Taro the Nissan Safari: 2 Host families: 11 Metro Lines used: 16 Train trips: 14 Boat trips: 8 Taxis used: 10 (public transportation for the win!!!) Multi-hour bus trips: 19 Gondola rides: 2 Tuk-tuk rides: 3 Bicycles ridden: 12 Camels ridden: 2 Size of carbon footprint: bigger than Texas (yes, we feel guilty about it) Bubble Teas consumed in two days (Hong Kong): 6 Use of public washrooms in Hong Kong: every hour Banana shakes consumed in Thailand daily: 3 Bugs eaten (consciously): 1 Bouts of sickness: 2 Bouts of diarrhea: lets just say we got used to it Pictures and short videos taken: 8968 Friends made: dozens (thank you Facebook for making it easy to reconnect) Touts encountered: thousands (why we learned how to say no thank you in certain languages) Miles walked: too many to count Number of time G and I argued: even more than miles walked Number of times G and I resolved said arguments: same number as above Tears shed: our fair share Smiles on our faces: pretty much every single day!
First day - the whole world ahead of us!
Five months later, back in Canada. Still smiling and still the whole world ahead of us!
I wrote this while on the plane home from Muscat. I was trying to pass the time and ignore the screaming babies all around me. Not the most pleasant 20hours of flying but I made it back to Canada in one piece.
---
Overlooking old Muscat (Ruwi)
I was in Oman for ten days and I came as an unemployed engineer, trying to decide if I even wanted to entertain living the life of an expat. There is plenty of work for someone like me in the Gulf region but I’m not sure I am willing to make the sacrifice to live there. I met so many people who each provided me so many different perspectives about living in Oman. Some told me it is a great place to live; you can save tons of money: as an engineer you get a good salary, no tax, house is provided, limited expenses. Others told me Oman is beautiful, just please don’t visit in the summer. Talking to one business development manager, he was saying the first year was super tough as his wife couldn’t find appropriate work and was at home, bored to death in their housing complex until she found a good job. Seems like Oman is really a place to come and make money then move on. The only guy that had a different view on it was the owner of the one bicycle shop in Oman. Coming from the Netherlands, he worked for Shell in Oman for many years, got offered an early retirement package, took it and opened up a bike shop. He loves it there. Perhaps I should have talked to him a bit longer, maybe he would have changed my mind.
I talked a fair bit to the Asian expats (who make up 90% of the expat population) in Oman and they usually had the same response to hearing that I am from Canada: “Do you know how to immigrate to Canada?”. In my last post I said I was super lucky. I am lucky for so many reasons but one of those is that I am from Canada. On my first day in Oman I opened the newspaper to find a full page advertisement about immigrating to Canada. Why do so many people want to immigrate to Canada? After traveling around the world, I came back with the view that Canada is pretty isolated and super cold. True. I guess it took leaving for a long period time to come to that pretty simple realization. Quality of life wise though, I can’t think of another place I would want to live and have a family. It is expensive to live in Canada, no doubt but I believe it is worth the cost. And beside work, of which there are great opportunities, there are so many things to do!
Indian construction workers after a long hard day of work, waiting for their bus. Hard living.
The ten days I was in Oman were excellent and I was able to ride pretty much every day but, holy cow was that stressful. Friday, the trucks aren’t allowed to be on the roads and this is when the expats head out for their ride. Most say they rarely, if ever, ride any other day of the week. I am not sure where I read this or if it is actually true, but Oman has the highest number of traffic fatalities per-capita. After spending ten days on so many roads around the country, I totally concur. You know when you hear tires squeal to a halt and you always cringe waiting for the sound of metal on metal but 99% of the time you never hear anything? In Oman I heard metal on metal quite a few times and it was never pretty. Another reason I feel lucky is the fact that I rode for week in and around Muscat and I didn’t die. I will never look at traffic circles the same way again or complain about incompetent drivers in Canada.
The cold. Well, that is a tough one. Yes, the weather does suck a lot of the time in Canada but at least when it is cold you can put on another layer. One of the waiters at our hotel restaurant said in Oman in the summer most of the time there aren’t any layers to take off; just skin. I need to stop complaining about the weather in Canada. Plus, we have the freedom and opportunity to travel to places with more favorable weather from time to time. This is absolutely huge in my opinion.
When we were in Egypt, we kept on talking to all these guides and locals about where they have been and they kept on telling us about places within Egypt, which are spectacular of course, but never anywhere outside. For them, traveling outside of the country was not a possibility and didn’t come across their minds. Very hard to fathom, especially now – I’m optimistic that the Arab unrest and revolution will bring much needed freedoms to them and their neighbors.
One more point I wanted to bring across was how amazing people are. Everywhere we went met amazing people who were so helpful and hospitable. Whenever someone tells me that “this specific region” has the most hospitable people, I now think of everywhere around the world where we encountered hospitality. From Denmark to Dubai, Almaty to Alberta and everywhere in between, the people were always there to help. Two occasions in particular come to mind in Oman. I was out riding west of Muscat along the coast having a blast when I get a flat tire. No big deal, I am prepared: spare tube, mini pump, tire levers. I pull out a small metal spike from my tire and it’s fixed in no time. I was only an hour into my ride so I shrug it off and keep on pedaling. About 20km later, something feels off; a little squishy on the back end. Oh no, another flat! With no spare tubes, no patches, no cell phone, really no idea where I was and about $10CAD on me, I figure I was hooped. This is where Fresh comes in. Yes, I said Fresh. Fresh was my savior that day.
This is where this story gets weird. I am still kicking myself for forgetting my camera on that ride because I guarantee the pictures I would have captured would have been priceless. Fresh is a local Omani and speaks pretty good English and was more than willing to help. With my bike in the trunk of his Toyota Camry, he drives me to a “strip mall” not far from where I flatted. As it is only 2:30PM and everything is closed midday in Oman until four, I thought I was going to have to wait it out for a while. Not so. Fresh wakes up a bicycle repair shop keeper and then tries to get him to patch my now flat tube.
How do you usually find a hole in a tube? Add some air pressure and put the tube under water, look for bubbles, right? Yes, but why use water when you can use saliva? I’m not making this up, but with a little bit of air pressure in the tube, the bicycle repair man runs his tongue the along the tube until he finds the hole. Crazy! It gets even weirder when he now tells Fresh he can’t patch my tube as he has no glue. The government took away his glue as it was suspected he was using the glue as a drug. OK, no problem for Fresh.
He takes me to another shop, this time a tractor tire repair shop down the road. When I say shops here, I am not talking Kal Tire, or Bow Cycle. These are dirt floor huts with tools and bits strewn about in a haphazard way. I wish I had my camera! Luckily this shop keeper was not suspected of huffing glue and had plenty on hand. The problem though was he didn’t want to repair my tube as he claimed his patches would be too big and won’t work. After a good twenty minutes of very fast talking and what appeared to be a heated discussion, the shop keeper cut a section off his patches and proceeded to fix my tube. Success!!!
Now to pay the man. Not a chance, I pulled out my wallet ready to pay him whatever I had (4 Omani Riels I believe, which is about $10CAD) but Fresh vigorously and aggressively pushes me aside and says there is no way he is letting me pay. I keep on insisting to pay but he just gets more and more aggressive. He says “you are a guest in my country; I will not let you pay. Have a good ride!”
On our last day in Oman, we had nothing planned. By dumb luck, we were in Oman just as the Tour of Oman bicycle race was to begin. Stage one was supposed to finish not terribly far from our hotel and we figured as we were in the country, why not head out and take in the festivities. I had read in the paper that stage one was to finish by the Royal Symphony somewhere west of Muscat. That is pretty much all I knew. With that info in hand, we headed out to hail a taxi. After about maybe 30 seconds on a relatively busy street corner where we had hailed taxis before, a super nice white Mercedes Benz sedan pulls over and rolls down his passenger window. “Where are you two going, the man asks?”. In North America, I would never do this but as a testament to how safe and friendly things were in Oman, we replied and the driver then told us to get in. Abdul Aziz was a high roller. Driving around in his brand new Benz, looking pretty fly in his tan robe, matching tan flat top type hat and Ray Ban sunglasses of course.
All we knew about where the stage was to finish was it was the Royal Symphony. Abdul Aziz wasn’t exactly sure where this was but he was going to find out. With a Blackberry in one hand, I-Phone in the other, traveling 130km/hr down Medinat Sultan Qaboos, he texted and talked to his connections. About 40km down the highway, not far from where I got my flat tire, we found the finish line. Not exactly well marked (actually there were no markings or signs of a race until about 3km to go) but AA as he liked to be called got us there. This guy was awesome. He told us he usually drives a H2 Hummer but he lost it in the sea trying to help a friend get his 4x4 unstuck. No big deal. He has a H1 on order. Of course, he refused any form of compensation from us, which was amazing considering a taxi ride out there would have been upwards for $80. He said making these random connections and helping people out are what makes his day. People are amazing!
I feel incredibly lucky. You have no idea. The last six months have been absolutely mind blowing for me and to top it off by visiting two countries which weren't really on my radar screen was the icing on the cake. After G and I got back to Canada from our whirlwind round the world tour, I was still feeling the need to travel. G, not so much. She was ready for some stability (or so she tells me). Now that we have spent the better part of three weeks apart, I am so ready for some stability (or shall I say direction?) as well. I can't wait to be with her. I have said this before, but traveling without her just isn't as much fun.
When my dad and brother pitched the idea of me joining them in Kazakhstan for the Asian Winter Games, I was more then hesitant. Could I afford this? What will I do? Where will we stay? After Kazakhstan, my dad suggested that considering we were already in the general area, why not try to drum up some business opportunities with his long time connections in Oman? Sure, why not? Once the financial question was put to rest (thanks organizing committee of the Asian Winter Games in Almaty and thanks dad!), I was quickly getting things in order for visa's to central Asia.
Kazakhstan and Oman really are two completely different countries and I see very little in common between the two. Yes, they are both Islamic nationals but the extent to which this was displayed in Kazakhstan pales in comparison to Oman. It was only nine days ago that I was in Almaty but it feels like an eternity. Oman with its hot sunny days, welcoming people and workforce of migrant Indians is so different than the cold and polluted air of Almaty with towering snow capped mountains, slightly suspicious people (yet still very friendly) and a language barrier that was sometime impossible to overcome (thank you so much to our three intrepid translators: Soha, Sobkhan and Avazkhan!).
The Asian Games left me somewhat conflicted. I was there as a delegate of the Iranian ski team as my father is Iranian and my brother is in racing the Nordic sports for Iran. I believe I have a pretty good understanding of the political issues in Iran but I always viewed the regime and the people in two separate ways. The line between the two was blurred slightly on this trip and it left a sour taste in my mouth. Hopefully the current ground swell in the Arab world will bring much needed positive change to that area of the world. Asian Games aside, Kazakhstan was spectacular. Unlike any place I have visited before. So mysterious and foreign. I loved every minute I was there, especially being among the people in the poorer sections of Almaty.
Oman is still a really long way away from Kazakhstan. 8 hours of flying and here we were, back in the Gulf. G and I spent a few days in Dubai and really got a good taste of the business hub of the region. Oman is kind of like a subdued, undiscovered Dubai. Not as showy but still wealthy. The landscape out here is amazing (unlike Dubai). The mountains rise up pretty much straight out of the sea, Wadis (which I learned are simply just flash flood areas) abound with Palm trees popping out of the middle of the desert, old time forts are brilliantly restored. Oman seems to have kept a fair amount of its local heritage. I must reiterate though that it is the migrant Indians which really deserve the praise in a place like this. The other day I saw hundreds queing up after a long day on a construction jobsite, waiting for a bus. They looked absolutely shattered, hungry and exhausted. I felt for these guys. Sending every meager penny they earn back to India or Pakistan to their families. The look on their faces will stay with me for a while...
Here are a few pictures. Sorry for the lack of blog posts on this trip. I got carried away with a little bit of riding...
I made it to central Asia without much difficultly, surprising really. I have had worse trips from Calgary to the Maritimes. Visiting Kazakhstan wasn’t exactly high on the Cyrus travel to do list but new and exciting places are quite enticing to me. Also, the fact that Kazakhstan isn’t a popular Canadian travel destination, I knew very little of this place. Visiting my first “stan”. Check.
Soon after arriving in Almaty, I realized the haze in the air wasn’t lifting; it was here to stay. No offense to any locals reading this (?), but Almaty is a dirty city. The dirtiest I have visited (9th dirtiest in the world according to this list). When G and I were in Cairo, we noted how everything had a beige feel to it. By comparison, in Almaty, everything is a shade of gray. The air, the buildings, the snow, peoples clothes, the cars. Grey. Fortunately the Kazakh flag is very bright and colorful; breaks up the dull monotony of the gray. Just part of the Soviet legacy I guess.
To date, I haven’t exactly had much time to explore the city. Mostly just around the hotel and to the ski area. Hopefully in the coming days I will get a chance to venture out some more. Lately my days have been crazy busy proving support to the Iranian ski team with ski service. I am amazed at how big these Asian Games are. This is Kazakhstan’s coming out party and they are supporting these games 100%. That is not to say there haven’t been any hiccups. Getting somewhere on time is impossible and the construction of some of the facilities is still ongoing (welding railings at the ski center the day of the first race, nice). That being said, the Kazakhs are out in force to help out. Volunteers are everywhere. The small Iranian cross-country/orienteering team of six has three volunteers/translators tasked to us at all times. Although the volunteers don’t always know what is going on either, things somehow manage to work out fine every time.
Kazakhstan has two main cities, Almaty which is the cultural and financial center in the south and Astana, the new capital city. Twenty years ago, Astana wasn’t on the map but President Nazerbayev (who has been President since 1990…) didn’t like having the capital at the time (Almaty) so close to China. Therefore he chose to make a new city in the vicinity of Russia as the new capital. 15 years later, this city has been built up impressively but is so bizarre. I feel very fortunate that I got to see Almaty and Astana on this trip.
The opening ceremonies of the games were in Astana (in a massive new stadium) but all the Iranian athletes were competing in Almaty the following day. Astana is 1500km north of Almaty, no quick bus ride to get there so there was no way any of the athletes were going to take part. As the Iranian team wanted some representation in the opening ceremonies, the coaches and servicemen of the alpine and Nordic team (all four of us!) had the pleasure of flying to Astana and back to take part in the opening ceremonies. This was quite the day! I got to fly on Scat Airlines (seriously), walk into a stadium of 30,000 cheering Kazakhs, meet so many athletes from so many different countries (did you know Qatar has a hockey team??) and get a whirlwind tour of Astana. Let’s just say Astana felt like someone decided to build all these cool massive buildings in the middle of the Saskatchewan Prairies. Astana is nothing like Almaty.
We made it back to Almaty the same day very very late and I had to get down to business: time to prep the skis for my brother and the other Iranian athletes. With limited resources, these guys get by alright. So far they haven’t found a chink in the powerhouse Kazakh’s armor nor are have they been able to match the speedy Japanese but they flight right to the end and they ski with the same vigor as the fastest in the world. Very cool to see and I’m proud to say I am a small part of this team.
Tomorrow is yet another race which is awesome but I am looking forward to a day where I don’t need to wax skis so that I can explore Almaty a bit more. The volunteers have put together a list of places I need to see in the city, should be interesting. I should get out of the bubble that is the Alma-Ata Hotel; the food here is starting to get suspect. Dinner today featured soup that really was just hot water with a hard-boiled egg cut in half floating around, fried fish that was the fried batter but without any fish, penne noodles with salt and copious amounts of prunes for dessert. Yum.
I am writing to you from the Frankfurt airport in the Luftansa Business Lounge. Already, this is a very different experience then the past five months of travel Ginette and I went through. I can assure you no business lounges were enjoyed by either of us in any of the 20 or so airports we visited in our round the world trip.
So why am I in Frankfurt? I am enroute to Almaty Kazakhstan with my dad. While we were in Hong Kong, my dad and brother let us know there was a chance that I could join them in Kazakhstan for the Asian Winter Games, in which my brother is competing. With some hesitation, I eventually decided to join them.
Coming back to Canada after five months abroad, G and I spent 16 days in Calgary (freezing our butts off most of the time I might add) before I got back to the familiar setting of the airport with that now comfortable companion that is my backpack. My real travel companion, Ginette couldn't come on this trip and this makes me I feel as though I am forgetting something. Just walking through the terminal I kept looking back expecting to see her around. Feels so weird not travelling with her, feels even weirder not scanning the surroundings for women's washrooms (the letters WC are now etched into my mind). When we were traveling together I quickly learned the importance of knowing where all the women's washrooms are. Never know when she needs one!
Ginette is back in Calgary, working away while I am off to Central Asia (and eventually the persian gulf) so that means the readers of this blog are going to have to put up with my slightly less eloquent writing for the next little bit.
So how did I get into a business lounge you might ask? If anyone knows my dad, you know he loves negotiating and being incredibly persistent. Needless to say, after a few levels of Luftansa employees, I got in. Still can't believe they don't have free wifi here (using the lounges desktop)...Europe is welcoming...
A few of you are probably asking how we can afford all of this globe trotting. Two months driving around the Western US, three months backpacking around the world and now heading back to Asia. Well, the answer is...credit cards. No, no, I kid! Let me just say for the past three years, we have lived quite frugally, saving our pennies with travels in mind. This only got us so far so we traveled frugally and made our budget last. The amount of time we spent in Western Europe (mostly London actually) really put a dent in our budget but south east asia more than made up for that sortcoming.
I could go into the exact numbers (I actually kept a tally of how much we spent) but that would be cheating. Let me just say we came out alright, enough left over for me to be able to enjoy the next few weeks in Asia...
I'll continue this post soon with more details of our trip (some stats and our favorite pics) but I must go. My shower beeper notification thing is going off, time to take advantage of the lounge! I feel so guilty...
Sadly, this post is not followed by exciting pictures of the latest country we've visited. Actually there aren't any pictures at all. This is the hardest post I have ever written and not because I don't know what to write, more because I'm not really sure know how I feel.
I knew coming back would be an adjustment, some said I may have "reverse culture shock," whatever that means. Maybe I do have it and I just don't know the definition. I thought that after returning from this trip I would know so much more about myself and what I want. I feel the opposite, I feel almost lost. It's not that I haven't learned anything, I've learned so much. It's just that there's so much that I thought I knew for sure that I'm not so certain anymore. It's been 12 days since we've been back and I thought by this time I would have a better idea of what would come next. I'm still waiting for that day to come I guess.
Right now all of our "stuff" is in a storage locker in Kelowna. I thought that I would miss it, but I could honestly care less. I've learned just how much you really need to survive and those belongings are simply luxuries. I was convinced that I wanted to be in Calgary, I spent countless hours on Craigslist looking for places to live once we returned. I wanted so badly to be close to my family and thought that as soon as I was back, I would feel content to be close to them. As nice as it's been spending time with them, I feel like something is missing. Last night while lying in bed I told Cyrus that I feel like I'm living within a game. It's like I've been able to remove myself from this game called life, and I can see if from another perspective. I know it's cliche to call it the "rat race" but that's how it looks especially now that we're in the "oil working town" of Calgary.
The question is, what's next? The truth is that I really don't know. We are staying in Cyrus' brother's basement suite at the moment, refusing to take our stuff out of storage. I don't know if that's because we don't know where we want to live, or it's our subconscious way of trying to deny this "reality" of getting back to the everyday. We are trying to find the best city for us to set up camp, one day I am feeling one way and the next it's something else. Today I feel Vancouver but who knows how I'll feel tomorrow.
I am grateful to have my own business that I really enjoy and I can do almost anywhere. I am hoping that Cyrus is able to find a career that he truly enjoys and enables us to continue to travel. All I can say is we will keep you posted once we find out where we'll go next. I will conclude with my "what I know for sure" segment.
What I know for sure:
Seeing the world is such a privilege, I hope that each and every one of you are able to have a similar opportunity. It's taught me how little we need to be happy. Our skin, language, food, and homes may be different but we are all the same. We want the same things for our families, we hurt the same and we most certainly love the same.
Canada is a beautiful country but I never really realized just how big...and how cold! I guess if that's all you know growing up, you really can't imagine any different.
We are rich, and need to think globally about others. It's easy to say, "oh those poor kids in Cambodia," but once you've seen a face it's a lot harder to ignore. I want to commit to remembering their faces and actually doing something about it.
My family is important to me, and I will do everything in my power that I can to stay connected with them. But that does not mean I need to live in the same city.
Meeting someone, or seeing something can give you a whole other perspective. It can change your views in an instant, even the lifelong beliefs you were convinced to be true. Don't believe everything your told. Live your life to the fullest and let the people you meet determine what you know to be true.
I truly believe that people are generally good. We managed to make our way around the entire world without anything bad happening at all. And even if something did happen, it could never outweigh people's kindness and generosity. I think random acts kindness are always a great idea and a constant reminder that there are good people out there.
In Thailand we met some girls while on a bus to Cambodia. One of them told us about people and the way they live their lives. They explained that they only think about today, they don't worry so much about the future. I know this is exactly what I need to do, I don't have to have it all figured out. I need to do like the Thai people, stop worrying about tomorrow and just live in the moment.
The city of Tokyo is the worlds most populous metropolis and has the worlds largest metropolitan economy. With these kinds of stats, we knew we needed at least four days to see only a small fraction of what this city has to offer. Coming here, we didn't even know where to start touring, luckily Cyrus has a long time childhood friend that came to the rescue. Edwin has a girlfriend named Izumi that lives here in Tokyo, and luckily she was nice enough to volunteer to be our personal guide for our first day. Thank you Izumi!
It was so nice to have a local help us see the best spots, taste the best food and most of all help us ease into using the Tokyo subway system. We had used it to get to our hotel which was hard enough, but with the amount of areas we explored with Izumi, the connections got intense. We certainly aren't transit virgins. Having conquered cities such as New York, London and Paris, we didn't think it would be much different. Cyrus describes the subway map as "spaghetti." I couldn't agree more.
Izumi first took us to Asakusabashi which was extremely crowded since the Japanese were still celebrating New Year. We've noticed they've managed to stretch the holiday as long as possible! ;) From there we went to Akihabara where we saw Japanese Anime, I still don't know what to think of creepy guys drooling over cartoon girls. Kinda weird but whatever floats your boat. We shopped at the most intense store I've ever been to. I think it was an electronic store but it had innumerable floors that looked like utter chaos. Seeing all the signs, flashing colors and thousands of people...it was sensory overload, but at the same time it all seemed to work for them.
After some shopping it was time for lunch and ordering food is a whole other experience. There are these "vending machine" type menus that are in the entrance of the restaurant. It's written in Japanese, and thankfully there is a small image to give you an "idea" of what you'll get. Once you chose what you want, you pay at the machine which gives you a ticket that you hand to the server. Izumi coached us on what would be good, thankfully she gave us great advice and we ate some of the best ramen we've ever had.
We ended the day in Shinjuku which had some of the more typical shopping you would see elsewhere. I still can't get over how dense the population is here. What's miraculous to watch is seeing the order the people exercise. There is no pushing or shoving, people are incredibly proper or polite. You would think being in one of the busiest cities in the world, people would be in a rush to cross the street. If the "little man" is red, they won't even step off the curb! If we jay-walked we felt like everyone was watching us, we stopped doing that pretty quick. It's amazing to say this, but this is the city where we've had the hardest time finding people who speak English. I think it may be that they are too shy or embarrassed to try with us because they are so polite. But even then, that hasn't stopped them from helping us when they could. It's been so nice being in a country where when someone asks if you need help, you know they are genuinely trying to help you and not trying to sell you something.
Our second day we went for a beautiful walk around the Imperial Palace. We have been so lucky with the weather, not just here in Japan, but throughout this entire journey. Cyrus was on a mission to find a car accessory store, we managed to find one and it was as "over the top" as you would imagine. Full of every useful (and not so useful) products you could dream of, including a whole "hello kitty" department.
Here is how Cyrus got the idea to see the car shop; it lived up to Jeremy Clarkson's words:
For those of you who like Gwen Stephani, you've may have heard of "Harajuku Girls." She's an American pop star that's adopted a few of these girls to go on tour with her. I never really thought much about where they were from but now I know there's a whole district called "Harajuku," and what makes this area famous are the teens, and young adults in full Gothic-schoolgirl-costume-like attire. When we walked amongst them I realized that, "I'm way too old for this."
Couldn't find the official video but this computer animated version is the perfect fit:
We were in and out of Harajuku (and that was more than enough for me) and walked to Shibuya which I would compare to Times Square in New York, but obviously different. It's bright lights, buildings, and shoppers so it has the same kind of feel. We got so incredibly lost in the Shibuya train station. After walking around in circles and asking so many people for help, I was almost at my breaking point. Where the hell was this freaking station! That's when I realized just how complex this underground network really was. Thank you to the little old Japanese man with the surgical mask who finally showed us the way. He must have been an angel...or was he a doctor? ;)
Today we said we were going to "take it easy." Yeah right! We toured Sony headquarters, Nissan and walked all the way to the fish market. We thought we'd have some amazing sushi at the market but after seeing the prices, we decided it would be best to have sushi by our hotel which is much cheaper and pretty amazing I might add. I ordered some of the most disgusting dumplings from one of the "vending machine" restaurants but that was one of the very rare disappointments I've had here in Tokyo.
This city is the most tourist friendly place I've ever been to. The streets are pristine, there isn't even smoking allowed on the streets, no cigarette butts anywhere. Crossing the street is obviously safe and easy as well. The other thing I found astounding that you might laugh at is the fact that there are bathrooms everywhere! You may think, "who cares" but when you're a traveler, eating and drinking some funky food...you may need a toilet fast. But that being said, this is the first time in a very long time that I feel great! They don't cook with so much darn milk and grease like the rest of the world so the Japanese diet sits right with me! :)
The Japanese just seem to have it figured out. They have simple solutions to life's everyday problems, like the streets are grooved for the blind, the toilets have sprays to sanitize the seats...and there's so much more. Even though I cant understand a word they're saying, I feel so at home here. And that brings me to thinking about tomorrow...I can't believe this day has come. Cyrus keeps saying how sad he is that this is over. I won't deny that it's sad, but I have to remember that this is only a chapter in our lives. Going back to Canada will be another chapter that I need to make the best of. And "Insha'Allah" (God Willing) we will have many more chapters, and hopefully seeing a lot more of the world is a part of those pages. Thanks to all of you that have been reading part of our "book"...it's not finished yet!
