"My Cow"

Even with my last few updates, I am still a week behind in my regular posts :( The Saturday after we got back from Japan, Shad, Ryan and I traipsed (quite literally) all over Macau after our trusty Hong Kong tour guides, Deanna and Alex. Our journey started bright and early as we caught the 9am turbojet from the Shun Tak Ferry Terminal. You'd think that after living in Hong Kong for two years, we would have made the short trip there by now. But no, this was our first time visiting Macau and we were very excited about it because we knew that with Dee and Alex, we would be guaranteed lots of amazing food!

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On the ferry with Uncle Alex to "My Cow" (as Ryan calls it)


After two full days of unending Disney rides, poor Uncle Alex was elected to be Ryan's amusement ride chaperone for the day by Mama and Daddy.

Watch for the women drivers

"Eerr Aunty Dee, are you gonna eat that??" (first food stop of the day - a sugar fix at our favourite ice-creamery, New Zealand Ice-cream)

A walk down the Fisherman's Wharf promenade - which turned into an upper-body work out for Alex and Dee

Our food expedition began at Fernando's in Coloane Island, a small beachfront shack serving up fantastic Macanese fare. This little place is so popular that there is always a queue of people outside waiting for a table. We got to the restaurant half an hour before it opened, but even then we were 20th in line. We ate our way through a big portion of a suckling pig, a clam stew, prawns cooked in two different ways, a grilled fish, a huge fresh garden salad and lots of freshly baked bread. Delicious! From there we made our way to Lord Stow's Bakery for some of the island's best portugese egg tarts.

These little piggies went into the oven....


These little piggies came out...yummm...


Macanese clam stew


Macanese style prawns, tasty!

A wild, streaking 2.5 year old (he decided that pouring sand all over his head was a great idea so we had to stick his head under a shower)

St Francis Xavier Chapel on Coloane Island

Moped city

With our big bulging tummies, we then slowly moved in the direction of Macau's second (the first was closed, much to our disappointment) most famous "chi pa pau" (pork chop bun) hole-in-the-wall cafe. Next stop was afternoon tea at Lady Margaret's (who so happens to be Lord Stow's wife!) for still more egg tarts. And finally, dinner at Restorante Litoral, "arguably the best Macanese restaurant on the peninsula" (quoting the Lonely Planet). Well, you'll definitely have no arguments from us on this! Unfortunately, by this time, all of us were so tired from a full day of walking and eating that none of us remembered to take any photos of our delicious dinner. Good food, great company, what better way to spend the weekend. Of course in between we did some sightseeing too!

Romantic newly-weds (remember when you used to feed me deep fried pork rolls dear?)

A close up of the famous "chi pa pau"

Walking down "souvenier lane" (this street was lined with shops selling their famous Macau almond cookies and dried roasted meats)

In front of the water fountain at the Wynn Casino (a Belaggio rip off)

Lady Margaret's creamy Portugese egg tart

An alley way near The Fascade (what is it? See below)

The Fascade - ruins of the St Johns church, now a major tourist attraction

Going for 10 hours straight and still in good cheer

Happy trio with the lavish and garish Lisboa Hotel in the background

Inside the Venetian Hotel - just like Vegas. Notice that the clear aqua blue water bears no resemblance to the actual water in Venice!

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* Just a note to those of you who might have been trying to leave a comment but have not been able to do so because of the password verification. I have changed the security setting so now those of you without a google account can also leave comments (just click on "post a comment", go to "choose an identity" and select Name/URL and type in your name). I would love to hear from all of you.

Mickey-san's House

We've finally come to the last of our four-part Japan holiday series. What better way to end our holiday than with a visit to Mickey Mouse's house (Disneyland in Ryan-speak)? Compared to Hong Kong, Tokyo Disney Resort is massive. There was DisneySea which had attractions based on movies like Waterworld, Little Mermaid and Aladdin, then of course there was Disneyland. (I'm running low on caption ideas so this week's photo captions are complimetary of Shad!)

Posing with Australia

Beautiful mediterranean twilight vista (fake Disney style of course)

DisneySea at night - yes that is a large fake volcano

Round and round on the skuttle (from Little Mermaid) ride


Ryan with Prince Eric in Ariel's secret grotto

Ryan overcoming his childhood fear of life size Disney characters - he jumped out of his pram and asked for a photo with Mini Mouse


The Ngams in front of a Toon Town house


Waiting for our turn on the kiddies roller coaster. We were worried that Ryan might be afraid but the little monkey giggled his way through the whole ride.


Lunch was of course served on Mickey Mouse shaped plates


Once again confronting his Disney character phobia - he had to fight his way to get to Pooh Bear - note the girl clinging to Pooh's arm


Mama is clearly more freaked out on this ride


Retro-styled Disney buses to transport us around the park

Trains, Cablecars and Pirate Ships

We'd heard so many wonderful things about Hakone from friends who have been there that we decided to include it in our itinerary. Our plan was to take the bullet train to Odawara and from there hop onto the local train to Hakone-Yumoto where we would base ourselves for the next couple of days before spending the last night at a ryokan. The Hakone region is known for its hot springs so we were really looking forward to our first "onsen" experience. As for Ryan, we knew that he would just love the different modes of transportation that would take us around the area.

Planning our route for the day ... "Mama, so we take the train here then change lines and go there..."

We decided to make our way straight to Lake Ashi on the first day so with our Hakone Free Passes in hand, we hopped onto the Hakone Tozan Railway from the Hakone-Yumoto station to Gora. The train wound its way through a densely wooded valley going over several bridges and tunnels giving us an amazing view of the surrounding area. But the most interesting thing about this ride was the numerous switchbacks the train did as we made our way up the steep slope. The train actually stops and changes direction zigzagging its way up. Ryan couldn't quite understand why the driver kept running in and out of the driver's seat!

Start of our journey through Hakone

A pensive Ryan deep in his own thoughts

At Gora we took a short ride on the Souzan Cablecar to Souzan then changed to the Hakone Ropeway as we made our way to Togendai which is the located at the shores of Lake Ashi. From there we boarded a ship for a cruise across the lake. Just to confuse people, what the Japanese call the Souzan Cablecar isn't actually a cablecar, it is a small train while the Hakone Ropeway is the actual cablecar. This trip was a dream come true for Ryan. Each time we hopped off a train, we immediately climbed into yet another one, then it was the cablecar and finally a ship, and a pirate ship at that too!

Passing over the sulfuric crater at Owakudani. The wind was so strong that at certain parts of the ride, the cablecar kept swinging from side to side. Scary!

Touristy gimmick...the pirate ship cruise across Lake Ashi

Stand back, these hostages are mine!

Walking around Hakonemachi with the beautiful mountains as the backdrop

Poor little guy was so tired from all the excitement that he fell asleep on our laps in the bus. He didn't even move when we transferred him to the pram!

Enjoying the "ume" (plum) blossoms at the Odawara Castle


Dried salted fish for sale along the Hakone-Yumoto main street


I had no idea what I was standing in line for. We were walking down the mainstreet in Hakone-Yumoto and we saw all these people queuing at this shop. So I figured it had to be for something good! Must be the "kiasu" side of me coming through.


Shopping for a "Mei-mei" (aka Teagan) lookalike

The following three photos were taken at the Hakone Open-Air Musuem. The museum was amazing, with a huge number of sculptures displayed in the open against a natural backdrop of the beautiful Hakone mountains and valleys.

Soaking our tired feet in the extremely hot "ashiyu" (foot bath)

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We stayed at the Taiseikan Hanakajika, a traditional style ryokan in Miyonoshita on our last night. This lovely ryokan was located right at the bottom of a valley within the Hakone-Dougashima Spa area. When we got to the ryokan (which turned out to be the reception point only), we were ushered down a short flight of stairs into a private cablecar. After a quick ten minute ride down the lush green valley, we were led along a garden path and across a bridge to the actual ryokan. The surroundings were absolutely gorgeous, beautiful waterfalls, tall trees, and a stream running through the property.

"Heavenly" is the only way I can describe our hot springs experience. The family onsen was a rockpool out in the open air surrounded by the trees and waterfalls overlooking a gushing stream. As for the food, I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

View from our room

Father and son enjoying a hot bath out in the cool winter air


Karate kid stance or geisha dance move???

First course of our "kaiseki" dinner. We were so busy stuffing ourselves that we totally forgot about photos after this!


Even Ryan was too busy to talk, tucking into his yummy tempura udon dinner


Breakfast the following morning, yet another wonderful spread


A weird combination, cheerios and fried anchovies??

One final soak before we went on our way (that water was pretty darn hot, see those curled up little toes!)


Waiting for the cablecar to take us back up to the top


We finally got a glimpse of the elusive Mount Fuji from the train on our way back to Tokyo