What a Week!!

Let me tell ya, coming back to work from a vacation ain't no party!

We've had a busy (yet productive) week, catching up at work and starting a few new things. We also managed to get out for two short morning bike rides this week. I have to say, it's bizarre how long it takes to get in shape, and yet how quickly to get out of shape! I had to struggle on my Rig (a Single Speed, don't forget!) to get up what I usually consider a "warm-up" hill! However, the weather is acceptable (hot, hazy and humid - but not as much so as in previous Julys) and it does feel so good to be back on the bike again.

We are happy that we're back and getting into the swing of things - maybe we'll even blog more frequently again!

Two Turkey pics

We did spend a little time working on our photos. But just a little...

Though we still have a long way to go to put together a web album, here are two photos that we quite liked:

Back from Turkey

Whew! We made it back from Turkey with no troubles or travails. We got into Tokyo yesterday at about noon, and were home by about 4:30 p.m.

We had a really fantastic time in Turkey - two full days (three nights) in Istanbul, followed by eight days sailing along the Mediterranean coast.

Though we had just a short time in Istanbul, we packed our few days with plenty of activity. We were staying at the Side Hotel in the Sultanhamet area which meant we could walk to many of the sights. We spent a lot of time at the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia, which were also within sight of our hotel. Topkapi Palace was also just around the corner, so we spent about two hours there (really, you need more time there to fully appreciate its gandeur) before catching a day tour to take a trip along the Bosphorous river. We also made sure to visit the Grand Bazaar - a fascinating mini-city of shops and vendors hawking their wares. We spent a lot of time walking around in the Bazaar, but I still think we just barely scratched the surface!

Our time in the city was followed by a week of blissful cruising, where we explored a few port cities (Marmaris, Fethiye, Gocek...), swam and snorkeled in the sea, and spent some time catching up with family. I made a rough sketch of our sea journey here, in this Google Map.

We haven't had any time yet to really sort out our photos, but for now, here are just two shots from Istanbul:

Taken outside one of the little restaurants near our hotel - everything just has such a European flavour!



The Hagia Sophia - one of the most famous churches-come-mosques. Taken pre-dawn from the roof of the Side Hotel:

We're Going to Turkey

It’s Monday again, but a week has never seemed so short. That’s probably because we’re going on vacation for 12 days starting tomorrow.

We’re flying out of Narita tomorrow at about noon for a 12-hour flight to Istanbul, where we’ll spend a couple of days before heading down to Marmaris on the Aegean coast. The impetus for the trip comes from the prospect of a visit with Brian’s dad and Eileen, who are now in Turkey. We’re both really looking forward to a little exotic travel, tasty dishes and getting caught up with everyone’s news.

I've used Open Office Draw to put together a little flowchart of our travel itinerary. If anyone is interested in seeing our "path", just check out our schedule (in pdf format) here: http://www.japanrider.com/Turkey_Travel_Schedule.pdf

We’ll post from Turkey if we can, but otherwise, look for us on July 22^nd!

Riding Through Tea Fields

Living in Japan affords many delights, not the least of which is green tea. We are fortunate enough, in fact, to live in Shizuoka Prefecture, which is a major producer of the country's green tea, and though little Susono isn't a prime contributor, we still enjoy the pleasure of occasionally riding through the tea fields before the harvest.

We went for a good ride this morning, bathed in sunshine and silence, and rediscovered an old route that we hadn't taken in ages. We were presently surprised to burst out of the woods and into the clearing:

Rainy Season

It's Saturday again and we woke up this morning to the calming, gentle sounds of steadily falling rain. This bodes well for a day of enforced relaxation - but we sort of regret not going for a morning ride yesterday before work.

The rainy season, though, has been kind so far. Not much rain, and comfortable temperatures. Perhaps today can be a day to catch up on our numerous delayed projects...

Who's that kid?

My nephew found me on Facebook and added me as a friend. Naturally, I accepted, and was happy to see a few photos of him that he'd posted or tagged. Only - I wasn't sure it was him!

I visited my family, including my only niece and my only nephew, a few months ago in December.

Here's what nephew looked like on December 25th:


and here's what he looks like today, a few months later:



The difference between being 13 years old and 14, I guess:-)

(edit: Just corrected: He's actually 14; unbelievable!).

Another Update...

We want to blog about the exciting things we've been doing - except they've been mundane.

We want to blog about the novel experiences we've had - but they've been mundane.

Hence - we choose to blog about the mundane.

We had two good rides this weekend, and though going uphill was a slough on the singlespeed neither of us regrets throwing away our gears.

All is well that ends well.

Sashimi, Karage and Beer for Dinner

This week has been particularly busy and though we've always found time to ride, we haven't been so diligent about cooking. And so, yesterday (Wednesday) found us having dinner at our local izakaya called Ryoba. We opted to start healthy with this sashimi (raw fish, not on rice), which was delicious.



Our beer was enhanced by the delicate flavours...

However, it wasn't long before we caved and ordered a karage (which is deep-fried chicken):



We're really going to try to have a salad tomorrow...

Hectic but here...

We've both had a busy week, which included working on Saturday - but naturally we were also busy doing other fun things, like watching the movie Borat (hilarious), and taking pictures of Mt. Fuji.

This photo I took very just at sunrise this morning - the clouds looked fierce and dramatic before the weather turned to 100% rain!