Awesome Japanese Sink

Midland Square Theater, across from Nagoya Station has these amazing 3-in-one sinks. Kudos to you Japan and your excessive awesomeness. Take a look:

Paella: Delivered

Among the restaurants that deliver food in Japan: pizza and Italian food, curry, sushi and recently paella. We got seafood paella delivered to our front door, and it was pretty good! A little on the pricey side at about $30 for a large, but they do put a nice amount of seafood on it though. Check out the video:

Maple Syrup Kit Kat

Talk about following a tough act--it may not be as exciting at seahorses on a stick, but it sure did taste better. Here's a taste test we did of Maple Syrup Kit Kat:

Seahorse Taste Test

The food in Beijing was a combination exciting, beautiful, gross, delicious, and just wrong at times. Don't get me wrong, we thoroughly enjoyed eating our way through the city, and took advantage of short stay and basically ate everything we saw...well, almost. The night market in Wanfujing is among the most famous spots in the city because of it's strange variety of snacks. You'll see more in the video later to come, but just for starters here's one weird thing we were brave enough to try: deep fried seahorses. Check it out:

Rocky III

Here's the latest video of our puppy, Rocky.

Gargling in Public

Gargling is a daily part of many Japanese people's lives--many do it as soon as they get home as to prevent themselves from getting sick. But, has gargling at this particular water fountain really become so much of a nuisance that someone had to go to the trouble of making a sign to ask people to knock it off? Among the list of things that are cool to do in public, gargling isn't on mine. I'm with the sign.

Strange Shop Names: Unrelish

I don't get it, but by the looks of Marlow's face, he might. According to my dictionary, this isn't even a real word.

Best Salon Name Yet: Hair Unevenness

We were in Osaka last week and we came across this gem of a name for a hair salon: Hair Unevenness. Really? C'mon guys.

New Rocky Pics

He's about 4 kilos now, with up to 2 kilos left to go.

Beijing 2010

Just got back from our vacation in Beijing. More pictures and videos to come. Overall we had a great time! Here's a quick breakdown of the best, and worst parts of our trip:

Awesome:
*The Great Wall
Mutianyu section is great because it's not as crowded as the more famous Badaling section AND you can toboggan down from the wall!
Drawbacks:it's not as easy to reach as Badaling, but well worth the trouble.
*Peking Duck
Da Dong Restaurant has a super-lean version that was just fantastic.
Drawbacks: Was on the pricier side compared to other restaurants- 99 Yuan for half a duck.
*The Forbidden City
Very cool. Spend the money, and go for the Palace Museum tickets, there's a lot to see beyond the gates.
Drawbacks: Very crowded during peak seasons and it's also huge! Be sure to allow plenty of time to look around (at least 2 hours).
*Night Market at Wanfujing
Ate scorpions and seahorses. For real. You can check out all kinds of crazy foods alongside awesome traditional dishes, like dumplings and noodles.


Not Cool:
*Chinese toilets
You're in for a surprise. Toilets are the squatting kind that are flush with the ground, but often dirty. At one point, the public toilet was literally a row of holes in the ground in a open room. That's it. Western toilets were few and far between.
*Pollution and/or yellow sand
A haze covers the city, part pollution part yellow sand that blows all over the city making it quite dusty. Your nose will need a good cleaning daily.
*Rude people
This is purely culture shock, as we now live in one of the politest societies in the world, and have grown quite accustomed to it. The people of China can seem outright rude at times, especially to the sensitive, but there is a line between those that really are douches and those that are just a product of their culture though it can be hard to distinguish.
* Visas
For Americans, it's really expensive. We paid about $200 per person! This price may have been higher as ours were arranged through a travel agent. Americans have a much higher price than the rest of the world, it's about double.