Recalibration begins

My phone says 9:45 a.m. But that's Tokyo time.  We got up at 7:30 yesterday that's 26 hours.  Time to go to bed.

Almost Home

We have two and a half hours left on our last plane ride.  It has been 16 hours since we boarded the flight in Toyko.  This is a long long day of travel. We are buoyed by the knowledge that our home family and cute little dog awaits our return.  We had another scrumptious series of meals on the plane.  We also had the most delightful flight crew!  A special shout out to Cathy.  41 years of being a flight attendant and she is the best!

One last leg in Tokyo

We had one last leg in Tokyo. We stayed at the Hilton and had a fabulous dinner. It was kind of a hot pot soup thing with highly marbled thinl sliced beef, 4 kinds of mushrooms, cabbage, greens and tofu. I had my fill which means a lot. We were able to watch an American style barbecue go on outside. It was great entertainment for us to watch them all have a good time. Then the full moon came up. We could see it right outside our window. We watched it from our bed where we fast fell asleep.

Little India

On our last day we decided to zip through Little India. We went to the most fabulous temples I've ever seen. At the end of the street is a mosque. We got the see them all, great stuff!

The end to a trip of a lifetime

We get on a jet plane to head back to Florida tomorrow.   We have had so much fun - everything worked out better than we ever imagined!  Now it's time for post-vacation blues.  I cried the entire time I packed my bag.  The bright point of going home is that I get to see my family, friends, and dog!   Hollywood - here we come!

Derek and the P.S. Cafe

We are so lucky!  We stumbled upon a delightful cafe for dinner on Thursday - the P.S. Cafe.  When we walked in, a lovely fellow (Derek) greeted us with a wonderful smile.  We noticed a spectacular bouquet of lillies on the desk, and Derek was the designer!  He was so sweet and he took great care of us.  We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and the exquisite flowers.  Thanks, 

Bum boat ride on the river

We had a little difficulty getting on the bum boat. Apparently you buy your ticket anywhere you want but you only redeem it at one specific location. After 10 minutes of sweet talking, we got on the boat and headed out for big river trip. We saw the Merlion, some cute kids, a great view of the city, a lot of lights, other boats and then ended up at the Clark Quay. We had a drink on another boat that is permantly docked and then headed back towards home.

Long Pants or Short Pants What's the Deal?

During my first trip to Singapore s dozen years ago, I took a few wrong turns and by the time I found the long bar at Raffles it was 5:06 pm.  As I sat down at the long bar and ordered up a Cabernet Sauvignon the bartender said I would love to serve you a Cabernet Sauvignon however we do not serve gentleman in short pants after 5 o'clock. As a result of that I have not returned to the Raffles nor will I ever. We went to the marina bay sands bar to go to the top and have a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. You have to get a special elevator to get to the top and we were there at 6:10 Sharp. I guess you can tell where the story is going because at 6 o'clock they no longer serve gentleman in short pants. What a disappointment for them.  I guess now they're on my list of places never to return to.  It still baffles me that in a tropical climate 1 degree from the equator, short short pants are not universally accepted.

Random bits

We saw surprisingly few bugs.  But we did see a giant moth, a giant snail.  A photo shoot for a man-purse.  We also saw a vine called the cannonball vine.  It blooms year round and has fruit that looks like a six inch diameter cannonball. There are also the inevitable signs that are just a bit off. There was this crazy bungee ride.  Walking rock and roll billboards girls with balloons. I also saw a automated yakatori machine that grilled dipped and grilled again.