Ohayou gozaimasu!

Good morning! (Actually good evening for most of my readers here) We made it to Japan, safe and sound, and surprisingly without any issues. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to believe that I am actually living in Japan, as it has not completely sunk in. I think once our own belongings make it here (hopefully only one more week) and we start to turn this house into "ours" things will seem much more real.

Monday morning the kids, myself and 10 pieces of luggage left for the airport at 6:45 am. The first leg of the trip was smooth sailing and we had a few hours to play around in the Detroit airport.

We asked one of the few Americans waiting at the gate to take our picture. He had a bit of trouble trying to figure my camera out, but at least I have the moment captured.

Our flight was delayed about 30 minutes due to the cleaning crew taking their sweet time, but soon enough we boarded the airplane for Japan.


The girls sat together and Chris and I sat behind them. Initially the kids were going to switch back and forth, but in the end none of them switched seats. As the plane turned to head down the final runway I snapped a picture of my final look as a US resident for the next 3 years. As much as my stomach was turning in anticipation, I also felt excitement and a peace at the adventure we were about to embark on.


The kids did amazing on the plane. They had the flight crew wrapped around their fingers, so much that they came off the plane with a ton of free NWA items. I had to check once we landed to make sure these were really my kids and not some switch made back in Detroit.

It was so neat watching the kids press their faces against the window as they got their first glimpse of their home for the next 3 years. As Chris put it "Wow. This is nothing like I thought."

We are still adjusting to the time difference. We are 14 hours ahead of EST. It is a big adjustment, but I think we are almost there. I managed to sleep until 4 am today, Sami until 6 am, Chris until 7 am and Emily is still sleeping.

Our few days here have been full of getting the kids established for school, unpacking suitcases, getting forms filled out and slowly meeting people. Our neighbors two doors down brought us brownies and we went to dinner with the neighbors next door last night. Tonight we are going to dinner with someone from Matt's work.

The kids are loving the train and are slowly getting used to walking everywhere. Eventually we will have a car, but still the train will be the primary source for transportation.


Wednesday we had to go into Osaka to get some forms notarized at the American Consulate. Afterwards, we walked around and took in the sites and treated the kids to a Japanese lunch.


The one big adjustment and intriguing part of the culture is the food. Grocery stores are always packed. Packaging is much smaller than in the US. People tend to go to the store everyday or every other day rather than stocking up for a week. The exception is going to Costco. Yesterday Matt's boss took me to get a membership and to help stock up our freezer. Apparently chicken breast is not popular with Japanese due to it's lack of grease, so we can buy 4 lbs for $8!

Food overall tends to be more expensive than in the US, but I have already figured out some tricks (like Costco). The produce here is amazing. The fruit is so good it melts in your mouth. It is more than worth the extra few pennies we spend on them. I am sure I will be blogging alot about the food here as it is a whole adventure itself.

I did manage to cook lo mein one night. It turned out pretty good.

Drinking is pretty big here. While beer tends to be expensive, spirits are much cheaper. For example, a bottle of Absolute is $12. Many of the Japanese men like to drink and smoke. In fact in some places they have "shot bars." I am not totally sure how they work, but it was interesting seeing one in the middle of a shopping center.



The kids start school on Monday. It will be good for them to get established and start making friends. Emily already has met our neighbor, who is the same grade as her and they hit it off really well. We visited the school on Thursday and they finished some final testing and got a tour and met some of the teachers. I can't even begin to say what an awesome experience this school is going to be for them.

So there is our last few days in a nutshell. Nothing real exciting, but yet it is all exciting at the same time. Everything we do is a new experience. Now that we are here and I am able to see how the kids react to Japan, I think the Jacobs' will be just fine here.

Sayonara

My bags are packed. My passport is in my purse. And I am already checked in for my flight tomorrow. I **should** be able to get online while I am gone, so I will will try to check in. Otherwise "see" you in a week!

Planes, planes and a resort

Finally, the long anticipated blog about Thailand. It will only be a peek into the trip, but it is a start.

We left our house April 4th at 5 am. From Raleigh we took a 2 hour flight to Chicago. After a 3.5 hour layover we boarded the plane set for Singapore, via a "small" stop in Hong Kong. I have never been on a 747 airplane so I was in awe watching the 400+ people board. I took a picture of our boarding sign, however I accidentally erased it when switching camera settings. (oops)

While we were not fortunate enough to be in business class and sit on the upper level, we were in a plus section so we had extra room compared to just a regular coach seat (not that really I slept any). Originally when we booked our tickets we were told that our tickets were direct to Singapore. We then found out that we had to stop for fuel in Hong Kong. Little did we know that meant we would have to deplane for 3 hours and switch gates.

Anyways, the flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was 15.5 hours. The longest flight I have ever been on was 7 hours to Europe. This flight felt like eternity. Luckily we had 4 movies, 3 meals (one including a "noodle service") and free alcohol. It was so strange looking out the windows as it was always light out.

So finally we landed in Hong Kong where we deplaned, switched gates and wandered around for 3 hours. This was my "first meeting" with Asia. Here is a picture of the view outside the gate in Hong Kong.


I wish I had taken pictures of the food court. Hanging in some windows were whole fried/smoked ducks, parts of chickens and other mystery items. It was interesting to walk past each place just to see the different items. I decided to try a beef and broccoli in a mini-wok with some Chinese tea and it was very tasty. Two thumbs up to the Hong Kong food court (even with the hanging meat).

Back onto the plane we went for the 3.5 hour flight to Singapore. This is what Matt looks like after 24+ hours in the same pair of boxers (excuse the blurriness, I am a bit exhausted at this point).

We land in Singapore just before midnight, on Saturday, April 5. Our flight was set to leave at 7 am so we went and found the transit lounge to shower and refresh. We then wandered around the airport, drank some tea, ate some cheesecake and dozed. The Singapore airport is amazing. It is so clean and, well, sparkly.


So finally after a night in the airport (it was amazing how many people were hanging out there) we were off for a final 1.5 hour flight to Phuket, Thailand. If you add all that up it made 22.5 hours via plane and over 13 hours in airports. **yawn**

The Phuket airport is almost an hour via car from where we were staying and the main beaches. So we out into the humidity like I have never felt, got a driver (boy was it crazy with all the taxis, hired drivers, buses and people) and set off for the Hilton Resort at Karon Beach, our first hotel of the trip. I just took the drive in –– the people, the businesses, the vegetation, the landscaping. At one point I hit Matt and said "Did you see that! They were washing an elephant next to the road!" The driver just laughed. Here are just a few glimpses from the car.


Finally we went through a gated security (they took mirrors and went all around the car) to the welcome lobby of the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa. From there we loaded a tram to the main lobby. This place was huge and beautiful. The most amazing place I have ever stayed. We were told to sit down and the next thing we know a front desk person brought us cools towels with some floral scent to refresh our faces with and fresh juice. I was impressed with the service but as Matt explained to me this is the Thai culture. They do everything and anything to make sure you are happy. Their goal is to serve you. And throughout the whole vacation this was made evident.

After checking in we went to our room and once again I just had to drop my jaw. The room was huge, hardwood floors and the decorations were amazing. The bathroom had a soaker tub, a huge shower and a vanity section that was more than big enough for two people. Sort of what you would expect from a condo hotel, not a regular hotel. The room had fresh orchids and everyday they switched out fresh flowers. The towels were folded into animals. You could just see personal touches everywhere.


Our goal was to change and spend the day getting acquainted with the hotel and more importantly the pool. There were three pools so we chose the one next to the beach and with the least amount of kids.

We spent a few lazy hours by the pool, walked down the beach, took a nap and then wandered out for supper and to check out the area. We found a really good restaurant where I had a pork lo mein, a local beer and ice cream , DH had the same but with prawns, and our bill came to $6 US dollars. Then we retired for the night as we were spending the next day on a snorkeling and beach tour of the Phi Phi islands.

You can check out more pictures from our travel and of the Hilton Resort here. Stay tuned... next up is Phi Phi Islands.