Just a sea of people…

So Rowan ended up choosing Tokyo Disney, and in the beginning we were all for it. My mom lives near Orlando Disney and we go there every year. Rowan has a great time and it would be neat to see how they would make it different in Japan, right? Every Japanese person we told that we were going to Tokyo Disney was concerned and delighted at the same time. They all thought it was a great place, but they made sure to emphasize that it was very crowded. Look, I have been to The Magic Kingdom countless times and stood in 30 – 45 minute lines in 120 degree weather (okay maybe not 120 degrees – but HOT).  I am aware of how busy it can be, okay? Or at least that was my thinking whenever anyone would try and be helpful by telling us that it was going to be VERY busy.

At some point I started to get a bit nervous. I started googling the best times to go to Tokyo Disney and any information about how to beat the crowds. There is not as much info in English as I would have liked, but they were all very clear in the fact that there are NO good times to go. Expect crowds. Expect 2+ hour wait times. What????? I googled some more because clearly that is ridiculous. Who in their right mind would go to this place with 2+ hour wait times. Not to mention it is a Disney park so it isn’t cheap. Were we really going to go there?

At this point I realized this was going to be a huge disaster. The day before we were supposed to go I decided to change tactics. I sat Rowan down and told her that Tokyo Disney was going to be really crowded and we wouldn’t get to ride a lot of rides and we might want to consider doing something else. I suggested a “Rowan Day” (my invention). Instead of a crowded Disney Park, why don’t we go see Harry Potter and get lunch where Rowan wants to and go to the playground and get ice cream, and – here is the kicker – we can go to the Disney Store in Shibuya and she can buy whatever she wants! She had been eyeing a Princess Cape and I knew this was going to be a tough choice for her, but I thought I had sweetened the pot enough that she would surely go for it. At this point Jason came into the conversation and said, “We promised her Tokyo Disney and we are going to give her Tokyo Disney”. I could have shot him right there. He has this thing where he doesn’t trust my googling abilities. It think it has to do with the fact that I am directionally challenged and can get lost in my own neighborhood, but I can research on the internet with the best of them. So he proceeds to tell me that HE will go home and find out the best times to go but that we are NOT going to disappoint Rowan.

So we go to Tokyo Disney the next day. It wasn’t so bad getting there. 3 trains and about 45 minutes. Everyone takes the train and it is a little spooky because they have a giant empty parking lot that you have to walk through to get to the front gates. It was a bit deceiving for us though. We saw this huge empty parking lot and thought it must be a slow day. Hahahahaha. I think I even mentioned it as we walked to the gates.

We didn’t really know we were in trouble at first. We bought our tickets and there was hardly no line (we didn’t get there until after noon), and we walked into the entrance it was busy, sure, but manageable. Great! Rowan wanted to ride the roller coaster first. So we head over to the Thunder Mountain ride. As we are walking through the park it becomes obvious that something is wrong. It is like being in the most crowded Tokyo train station you can imagine – people shoulder to shoulder – and just everywhere is a sea of people. I will admit that I am usually not one for saying I told you so, but at this point I turned to Jason and said, “I just want it on record that I wanted to go see Harry Potter today”.   As we were walking up towards Thunder Mountain we saw this line of people randomly snaking along the pathway.  I thought maybe they were standing in line waiting to take a picture with Mickey or something.  As we got closer to Thunder Mountain we realized that was part of the line for the ride.  The whole section in front of Thunder Mountain that is designated for THE line was full and so it had continued out into the park.  I didn’t even see the wait time, but I didn’t need to because I knew there was no way were were standing in line for THAT.

We ask Rowan to pick her second choice for a ride and she picks Haunted Mansion.  Okay we head over to Haunted Mansion.  When we get there it is the same thing.  Then I see that little sign that lets you know how long your wait will be – 110 Minutes.  Yup.  Jason saw the sign too, but decided that they were all going to be like this, we came all this way, we need to ride one ride at least.  So we get in line and wait.   At some point the afternoon parade comes through and Rowan REALLY wanted to see it but we were neck deep in our line so Jason tried to hold her up a bit so she could see the top of it.  When we finally got to the ride it was fun.  All 5 minutes of it.  When we stepped out of the ride and back into the sea of people Jason and I just looked at each other wearily and told Rowan that we were going home.  We just could not spend anymore time there without going crazy.  We promised to make it up to her by going to see Harry Potter another day, and on the way out Jason bought her ice cream.

Tokyo Musings

So we have been here for over a week now, and you might be wondering what in the world we have been doing. Well, not much.  We are a pretty mellow bunch of travelers. We are not mega-tourists who like to power through all there is to see . We like to stroll through the neighborhoods, stop at cafes, and basically just hang out. We are pretty easy to please.
However, we do have a bit of a schedule here because of Jason’s teaching and it goes a little something like this:
Jason and I get up around 5:30 and have our tea/coffee and check our email. Jason leaves around 6:30 to head the the studio. I get Rowan up and feed her and then she and I leave the house around 7:30 to head the studio. I practice from 8 – 10 and Rowan plays while I am doing this. Then we all head to a cafe or to get something to eat. We might have tea with other yogis. Then we might walk around one of the many cool neighborhoods around here and just check stuff out. At some point we trek back to the house to shower and rest. Jason practices from 4 -6 and during that time Rowan and I have been doing her school work. Then we all walk to the market to buy food for dinner, come home and cook it and maybe watch a cartoon. We are really into Avatar – The Last Airbender right now.
Today Rowan and I went to a local neighborhood playground for a bit and then walked around our neighborhood in search of toe socks. We didn’t find ones we liked but we did buy some bath balls. They are pretty awesome – you drop them in the water and they get all fizzy like alkaseltzer and then when all the bath fizzy stuff is gone there is a toy inside.  Rowan of course loves them.
Rowan basically loves Tokyo.  She loves walking around Tokyo – thank goodness! – because we do a LOT of walking.  She loves eating here – inari being her favorite.  And she loves all the stuff – cute, little stuff.

The only thing that Rowan does not like about being here is her hair.  Yes, I said her hair.  Rowan has always had an issue with her hair.  She has naturally wavy/curly hair and of course she wants perfectly smooth/straight hair.  She has become obsessed with how her hair looks when we leave the house each day.  The other day she told me her hair doesn’t fit in Tokyo because it is poufy and Japanese women have perfectly straight hair.  Oh come on!  Do I really have to have these conversations with a six year old?   Yes, apparently I do.  So, she loves Tokyo but it is also giving her a hair complex.

Other Tokyo musings:

There are no trash cans.  It seems like such a small thing, but everything is so overly packages and you end up with a ton of trash but no where to put it.  So you carry around all your coffee cups and food packages and banana peels in your bag until you get home.

The trains are super efficient and very quiet.  No one ever talks on their phone on the train.  There are signs all over that remind you to set it to silent mode when you are on the train as well.  No one talks loudly, no music playing – just quiet.  It is kind of like being in a library.  I feel like I need to constantly shush Rowan for talking so loud.

The heated toilet seats are my new favorite thing.  I want one.  Really badly.

I want a kitchen bigger than my big toe to work in.  It is like cooking in a doll house.  Granted it is a high tech doll house, but still it is SMALL.

And I know there is more but it is almost dinner time and I can’t concentrate anymore.  All this walking makes me constantly hungry.  So off to the market for FOOD.

Rowan’s bribe

So we are fans of bribery. It can be useful and when used appropriately it can work wonders. People are always so amazed that we can bring Rowan to any yoga class anywhere in the world and she can easily entertain herself for 2 hours. Well, we trained her like you would a puppy for years starting at around 2 1/2. I would bring her to yoga with me and set her up on a mat next to me with a bag of toys and crayons and tell her that she had to play by herself and not talk to mommy while I was doing yoga. And then I would give the bribe – if you can do this then we will go to a cafe afterwards and you can have a treat. At first she could go for maybe 30 -45 minutes without disruption and then she would slowly make her way onto my mat and then the talking would start. But overtime she was able to spend more and more time on her own mat quietly until she eventually can do a whole 2 hour block of Mysore. Over time I also started weaning out the bribes too.

Now I use bribes for bigger things. Like Tokyo. Rowan has to do a lot of things on this trip that are not her idea of fun. She has to go with me to yoga every morning – which also involved a 10-15 minute walk to the train station – and she will often have to accompany us on different outings with yoga students or things that she would rather not do. Before the trip I told her that if she could get through the parts of the trip she doesn’t particularly want to do without any whining or negativity then at the end of the trip we would take her to either Tokyo Disney OR Sanrio Puro Land (Hello Kitty Land). Yes, bribery also means that sometimes you have to suffer a bit as well. Jason in particular is not relishing being hit over the head with the cute-stick at Hello Kitty Land again, nor is he looking forward to all that awaits him at the Magic Kingdom.   At this moment in time I think Rowan is leaning towards Tokyo Disney, but if you know Rowan you know that she always has decision regret and will change her mind 50 times before we go.

So far the bribe is working.  Rowan is motivated.  She also is pretty easy at this age for the most part.  So the likelihood that we will be at one or the other is pretty high.  Cuteness awaits us – just not sure where, but I will keep you posted.

11 hours on a plane, 1 1/2 hours on a train, and a short walk to the apartment…

We made it to Tokyo! The nice thing about living in Portland is the direct flight on Delta from Portland to Tokyo. 11 hours there and 9 on the way back. No layovers. Definitely worth it when traveling with a kid. Rowan was great on the flight, but on all other overseas flights we have taken each seat has its own personal monitor you can pick movies/shows/games on. It is a lifesaver for a kid who is old enough to know of those things (Rowan is), but on this flight we didn’t have those things. There was just the overhead monitors that played 4 movies over the duration of the flight. Lame. My ticket wasn’t any cheaper this time but not as many amenaties on the flight. Go figure. Also, they give earbuds to you instead of headphones now – these do not work for kids. Rowans ears are too small and they fall out continuously. She was so frustrated by it that she stopped watching the only kids movies they played – Toy Story 3 – have way through. Other than that we had a fine flight. Rowan played endlessly with Barbies and talked to me about I don’t even remember what. She only fell asleep for the last 2 hours but she was pretty hard to get up when we landed. That would have been almost midnight Portland time. She was a trooper.

After the flight we had to take a train into Tokyo to meet Jason. This was the tricky part because those of you who know me well are aware that I am directionally challenged. I was very nervous about procuring tickets and getting on the right train all by myself. We did get lost once and Rowan kept reminding me that she wished daddy was here because he would know where things were. I had to finally go up to a random stranger and ask if I could use his phone to call Jason. He finally found us though and we made it to the apartment around 8pm Tokyo time. Just in time for bed. I was so tired I thought I would fall asleep walking to the apartment. Rowan was just getting her second or third wind and was ready to party. We made her go to sleep though and she was fine until 3am when she woke up and made it so no one else could sleep with her constant sighing and kicking (she is sleeping on the floor next to our bed). Did I mention that Tokyo apartments are small and compact?

Today Rowan and I went to yoga practice at Studio Yoggy.  The Mysore class is from 7 – 10.  We arrived around 8 and the room was packed.  Jason said there were 61 people today.  I had to wait a few minutes before a spot opened.  It was a great practice and I was completely drenched by the end.  There is a great big lobby that Rowan hung out in while I practice.  We brought her backpack and she colored and played Barbies the whole time.  She is amazingly good at keeping herself occupied.  I had at least 3 students ask me if pink was her favorite color.   And on the train on the way there this morning Rowan was the only person on the train not wearing black, gray, or navy blue.  She definitely stood out in her pink Hello Kitty shirt and pink skirt.

After practice we had tea and yummy pumpkin scones with 3 of the yoga students.  Two were Japanese and one is a visiting student from Norway named Lars.  He has been here for a few months studying Aikido with a 75 year old master and living at the Aikido studio he is practicing at.  Oh, and he is also a concert pianist.  Yeah – random and cool at the same time.  Jason is going to go to a beginners class with him this weekend.

Later we walked around Tarik’s neighborhood and looked in some cool stores and had some yakitori chicken.   Now we are all back at the apartment and Jason is practicing yoga downstairs while Rowan and I are upstairs in the bedroom doing her schoolwork.   She has been really into the idea that she will be “home schooled” while in Japan.  Hey, whatever makes her excited about doing her work!  When Jason is finished we will go to the market for dinner and come home for BED.  My goal is stay awake until 8pm tonight 🙂

Okay – that is a long update on our day.  Next blog entry will be more interesting I hope.  I have included some pictures from our day – click on them to see a bigger version.

Here we go again!

Okay, so I will be dusting off my trusty blog for those of you who would like to know about our travels. I try and focus on traveling with children – but it is also a good way to keep up with what we are doing on our travels. We are heading out to Japan again in one week. Rowan and I will be traveling solo – Jason will already be there. It should be fun and Rowan can’t wait to eat Inari and go back to Sanrio Puro Land (Hello Kitty Land). More posts and pics to come!

Trip update

So things are going great.  We have been so busy it seems that we leave the house early in the morning and get back in the later afternoon and we are all exhausted.  I have walked more here than I have at any time in my life – and that is saying a lot since many of you know I am a BIG fan of walking and do it a lot at home.

We have been hitting different neighborhoods and checking them out.  Shopping is fun and exhausting at the same time.  My favorite has been Kiddy Land – a giant toy store with a whole floor of Hello Kitty stuff *gush*.  My 8 year old self just about died.  Of course the actual kid, Rowan, also loved it.  

Eating has also been challenging.  Jason has his paleo diet and we also don’t want to overload on the multitude of bread items.  Plus – you have no idea what most stuff is.  It has been fun though.  I had a seafood gumbo the other day that had things with heads in it.  Interesting indeed…

Jacob has been babysitting a lot for us and Rowan is loving that.  Jason and I have been able to go out a few nights and have dinner alone – nice.   Jacob has finally found some people to hang out with too and so he doesn’t feel beholden to us at all times.  He leaves tomorrow to go home.  Then it is back to just the family.   Rowan will going with me to yoga the next couple of days once Jacob leaves.  She is pretty good and entertains herself while I practice.   

Things to do before we leave:  Hello Kitty land on Tuesday :); go to the local sento (bathhouse); hang with the man since he won’t be home for a couple of more weeks.

Here is a link to my pictures so far.  I was getting too many to post on this site.  

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Acs27Fy5atWIy

When we were planning our trip to Tokyo I called my brother to tell him and found out that he was also randomly planning his own trip to Tokyo at the same time to see the Tokyo International Film Festival.  We decided to combine trips in a way – he is staying with us sleeping on the living room couch and in exchange he is our personal babysitter.  It works for both of us 🙂  

Rowan LOVES her uncle and he is getting smothered under her attentions, but is hanging in there quite well.  For those of you who don’t know my brother – he is quite a bit younger than me at a youthful 21 years old!  I feel kind of bad for him because we are so laid back and go to bed early and wake up at the crack of dawn.  He took a crazy flight here with 3 layovers and a total of 30 something hours travel time and stayed awake for the whole thing!  He is a champ though and was able to sleep through the night on his first night here.  Of course Rowan woke him up at 6 am.  He is a musician for a living and couldn’t believe that it was 6 o’clock in the morning – in his words “this is not an hour that I am familiar with”.  

Last night – Friday night – he was determined to hit the town.  He was solo though because Jason and I rarely see it past 10 o’clock.  When we got up this morning he told us all about his night out.  Apparantly he spent over $100 on 4 drinks.  Needless to say he is quite bummed and won’t be hitting the town for the rest of his time here.  Looks like he is stuck hanging out with the family…

Here are some pics of the past couple of days – at a temple/shrine we visited; going out to eat; and one is of Jacob on his first night here.  We went and got some food from some vendors and sat in Shibuya square eating and checking it all out.  He kept giggling.  We also had tea with some yoga students after class one day and there is a picture of that too.  There is a mother /daughter here who practiced with our teacher in Encinitas a bit and they have been super nice and sweet with Rowan.  Also, a woman from Mexico who brought her tablas and wants to have some kind of jam session with my brother in a park.  Wonder what the Japanese will think of that?

We have arrived

So we made it to Tokyo.  Jetlag has not been so bad.  The first 3 nights Rowan would knock out at 5:30 and wake up by 4am, but now we have her back on schedule and she is going to bed at 8pm and gets up around 6:30 or so.  

We got here on a Friday afternoon and Jason did not have to teach that weekend and the studio he teaches at in the mornings was closed on Monday – so basically we had a nice long weekend to just hang out and get settled in.  We have done a lot of walking around – thanks Nicole for the use of the stroller because I can’t imagine doing as much getting around as we’ve done without it!.  Once again I can’t stress enough the use of a sturdy umbrella stroller when traveling with small children.  Although Rowan does do quite a bit of walking on her own and in those instances the stroller sort of becomes like a pack horse for us.  Today it carried both mine and Jason’s bags, yoga mats, sundry food items we had picked up on the way, and jackets.  Nice.

Japan – clean, orderly, quite.  India is an assault of the auditory and olfactory senses.  Japan is an assault of the visual senses.  Lots to look at and see.  One thing that has surprised me is the lack of attention to Rowan.  In India we can’t walk two feet without people touching her, talking to her, picking her up and walking off with her to show their friends or family.  But here people almost go out of their way to ignore her on the streets.  However, she has been going to the yoga studio with me the past few days and the students there have been really great with her.  She is a real trooper – she gets up very early with us, makes the trek down there and then amuses herself for 2 hours while I do yoga (okay I do bring a laptop with a movie and she has toys and stuff, but still she keeps herself busy).  

What else?   I like the neighborhood that Tarik lives in which is where we are staying.  We get out and walk around a lot every day.  We go to the market to get groceries for the evening meal and their is a small playground across the street from his house that Rowan likes.  She LOVES the uniforms that the kids have to wear to school here and has been BEGGING me and Jason to send her to a school that has uniforms.  If only she knew…

The yoga has been great so far.  Rowan started school this year so it has been challenging for my practice to find times to do it around her schedule and then there was that whole injury thing that wrecked half my year 🙂 but it has been really nice to practice every morning in the studio with everybody.  There is a really nice energy and it gets freakin’ hot and sweaty in there.  Eka Pada Sirsasana is back!  I’m not pushing Dwi Pada though.  Patience is a virtue, right?  My brother arrives tomorrow and since he will be my personal babysitter while he is here I can leave Rowan at home to sleep in and take a leisurely practice if I want 🙂

Well, I will leave you with some pictures I have taken so far.  Most are of the family tooling around the hood – I like the one of Rowan standing with Colonel Sanders which means that, yes, there is KFC here.  

 

Kawaii = cute

Jason will be teaching in Tokyo for 6 weeks for Tarik and Rowan and I will be joining him for 3 weeks of that.  Jason has spent some time in Japan and absolutely loves it and wants to share all of his favorites with the kid and I.  Should be interesting, plus we are going to Hello Kitty Land! Anyone seen the BBC show Japanarama?  That is what I imagine Japan to be like 🙂

You can take direct flights to Tokyo from Portland – how awsome is that?  We will get on ONE plane in Portland and only eight hours later we will depart in Tokyo.  The flight was just as cheap as all the other flights I looked at except that one flight on some random asian airline that had 2 layovers and a total of 23 hours travel time.  It was a few hundred dollars cheaper, but for the FIRST TIME in my life I chose convenience over price when purchasing a ticket.  I feel so grown-up.

Rowan started school this year which is why we are staying less time than Jason, but we are looking forward to it and I am excited to practice at Tarik’s studio.  I hear many good things about the Japanese students and can’t wait to do some hanging out.  If you are in Japan, get ready for some awsomeness in the form of the Steins.

Here is a pic from Rowan’s birthday in August – she just turned four!

Last week in Goa

Okay, so since I have last posted we have moved to another place to stay.  You can see Jason’s blog for reasons why (rats).  We are staying at an Indian resort, and things are going much better since we moved.  In India, the word “resort” after or before a name does not mean what you might think.  It still has many of the defining characteristics of an Indian lodging – marble everywhere, hard beds and pillows, scratchy sheets, shower/toilet combo (which I absolutely don’t get by the way), power goes out all throughout the day.  But it does have a pool – which is a luxery – and Rowan and I have been using it daily.

Just so you don’t think we are living it up in some westerner travel lodge – I think we are the only westerners staying here.   This is a “resort” that Indians come to on vacation.   What does that mean?  Groups of men openly stare at me.  I try to move through quickly to get to my room.  They leave their hotel doors open and televisions on full blast and talk at high volume all the time.  It is like being on an Indian street but in a resort.  Everyone calls out to Rowan “Hey baby” and wants to take her picture on their cell phone.  No matter what it says they have on the menu in the restaurant they only have about half of it.  For example – last night we called to get some food, “Can we get the paneer tika?”  “Not possible” was the response.  We asked for a few other things and they were not possible.  So then we just ask what they have, they tell us, we take it.  That is the way it works 🙂

Other than our new digs, not much else has been going on.  We go to yoga, eat breakfast for hours :), go back to the room and nap or swim, eat lunch, ride around a bit, do internet maybe, eat dinner, go to bed.  There is alot of talk about what we are eating, when, and where to get it.

More later.  We have to go and get the kid from her last day at her nursery school.  We only have 2 more days in Goa, then we go to Mumbai for 1 1/2 days, and then home!  Yeah!