Almost There! Buying JR Pass

or rather, buying the Exchange Order in Malaysia and exchanging it (hence the name) to JR Pass once we get to Japan.

The past few years, we bought our JR Pass over at JAL office in Jalan Ampang as we usually bought our flight ticket from JAL. This year though, we had to buy it elsewhere as we are flying to Japan using AirAsia instead. That, and the fact that JAL office in KL has moved from Jalan Ampang to KLIA. Such a hassle to go there to buy our JR Pass, right?

Total damage for a 7-day JR Pass (28,300yen per adult and 14,150yen for child) = RM2,900++ and we can have unlimited travel through the length and breadth of Japan on JR trains.

Japan - here we come!

OLA: Putting Georgia on My Mind (Attractions)

a little portion of the massive oil painting at the Cyclorama

‘Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness… Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime’, Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad. This quote came to my mind when Bill and I took a 2-day trip to Atlanta, Georgia, only 2 hours from our campground. Our travels finally brought us to a hotbed of the great prejudice of the past and it is a chance to confront whatever remaining prejudice, if any, we may still have
.

Stone Mountain from across the other side of the lake in the Park

 It has been a long road from the time slavery became commonplace in the American South to help landlords run their plantations. Georgia was the fifth of eleven states to secede from the Union in January 1861 on the eve of the sure election of Lincoln, an abolitionist, as president.  Today, Atlanta is still largely black, 54% in the 2010 census versus 38% white, 5% Asian, and 3% Hispanic. As we went around, I found out that this demographic and slice of history shaped the city’s top attractions.

The ‘Battle of Atlanta’ Cyclorama

the entrance facade of the Cyclorama 

Our first stop in Atlanta was the incredible Cyclorama. The painting is the largest oil painting in the world. If unrolled, it would measure 42 feet high by 358 feet long. Cheapskate Carol first thought the admission fee too high for one painting but this convinced me to temporarily abandon Budgeting 101! We viewed the cylindrical painting from the inside where we were seated on a cylinder that rotates slowly affording a 360 degree view, including the diorama which has been seamlessly built around it.

The painting brings to life the fierce fighting as Confederate defenders of Atlanta staged an unsuccessful counterattack on the Union army on July 22, 1864. Commissioned after the end of the war, it opened to display in Detroit, Michigan, in 1887, going around until the circus that owned it went bankrupt. Finally, the Atlanta Civil War Museum was built in 1921 to house it and, after a period of neglect, the painting and building were restored in the 1980s. In the end, I was glad that my frugality did not stand in the way of this unique experience! We had already missed the smaller one in Gettysburg!

the Confederate Carving bas-relief on Stone Mountain

The Stone Mountain Park

Just 45 minutes east of Atlanta is the Stone Mountain in the town of the same name. Much like Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, it is an igneous intrusion. A dome of quartz monzonite, 1,686 feet at its summit and more than five miles in circumference at its base, it has been erroneously dubbed as “the largest exposed piece of granite in the world". It is well-known not only for its geology, but also for the largest bas-relief (3 acres, 3 football fields) in the world depicting the three pillars of the Confederate States of America: Generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee and President Jefferson Davis.

the 732-bell Carillon at Stone Mountain Park

I felt the Confederate Carving, however, fails in comparison to the grandeur of Mt. Rushmore whose very sculptor, Borglum, resigned from this project. Disappointed , we spent the time driving around the perimeter road. We were rewarded with awesome sights: the view of the mountain from the golf course across the lake, the 732-bell Carillon off a promontory into the lake (the music that was playing when we arrived was Ave Maria), the grist mill tucked away almost hidden by the blazing trees, and all the trails and winding roads with the muted fall colors of the southeast in full regalia. The Park such a neatly ‘landscaped’ piece of nature. .

And we didn’t have enough time to meander around its museums, plantations, playgrounds, and marina, camp at its campground, and dine at its hotels, all imprinted with Confederate memories.

The Underground Atlanta

Bill did business in Atlanta before. He was nostalgic about a historic downtown area of about 6 blocks where he had many a good evening of entertainment (wonder with whom?)!

Underground Atlanta today

Underground Atlanta grew from the Zero Milepost of the railroad built to connect Atlanta and Chattanooga in 1836. Many significant architectural features survived from original storefronts, including ornate marble, granite archways, cast iron pilasters, decorative brickwork, and hand-carved wood posts and panels. The construction of the MARTA rapid transit line in 1980 led to its closing.  21 years later, at a cost of $142 million, through a joint venture between the City of Atlanta and private industry, it reopened.

the stairs going down to the first level of the Underground

 It is sad that their investment has not brought back the bustling area it once probably was. Today it is largely a gathering area for African-Americans. But Bill treated me to dinner there, a fine way to end our day. He was the only Caucasian and I was the only Asian in the Georgia Peaches Restaurant at the bottom level, the entertainment level.

Andersonville National Historic Site

Andersonville National Cemetery

On our day trip to Americus, Georgia, we passed the town of Andersonville where the Confederacy had a large Civil War Prison and Cemetery. Called Camp Sumter, in existence for 14 months, the prison held 45,000 Union soldiers, almost 13,000 of whom died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, and exposure to the elements. The largest number held at any one time was more than 32,000 in August of 1864. The National Prisoner of War Museum at the National Historic Site is dedicated to the American men and women who have suffered as POWs. The cemetery is now a National Cemetery, continuing to serve as a honored burial place for modern-day veterans.

I am so glad we travel. Little by little, we see that remaining vestiges of prejudice is being erased all around, even within, us.

Next Post: Keeping Georgia on My Mind: Great Institutions, Great Men

Holiday Scarves for Gift Giving

These scarves are 13" x 60" long, made of satin strip Polyester in Korea. We purchase directly from the importer in  the garment district in New York City.  They are all listed in eBay.  We offer combined shipping and will send a free one with the purchase of 5 scarves. Our eBay scarf listings

Fall leaves Greens and Gold

Thanksgiving Pilgrims and Natives at table with Turkey

Snowmen on a green background. We have many different Christmas and holiday scarves.

Valentine hearts

Irish St. Patrick's (Patty's) Day.  Also with the black background

Easter Baskets

And for all those Patriotic Holidays we have 3 different USA flag scarves.

These are great gifts individually or as a collection for a teacher, day care worker, a senior or a senior care giver or for anyone else who likes to celebrate the holidays and make others smile.  

Check out our scarf clips that compliment these scarves too. 

eBay Listings link

It's Halloween Time!

Any plans trick-or-treating tonight with the kids? Or painting the town red in your costumes? Then again, Japanese doesn't need Halloween to go out in costumes if you take into account those cosplayers. ;)

From what I observed, stores in Japan sure embraced the Halloween wholeheartedly with all the Halloween merchandise being sold.

Even Ultraman isn't spared, as can be seen at the M78 shop (official Ultraman shop).

1 More Month

Just one more month (one month three days to be exact) for our Son to meet his heroes and celebrate his birthday with them.

Nuff said. *^-^*

The Power of the Wind - Door County, WI 9/29/11

After Chicago we drove up to Door County, Wisconsin.  We went on a tour on 10/1 and the tour guide told us that on the previous Friday a front was gong through and there were some strong winds.  (See our blog on the wind in Chicago and Lake Michigan).

Over 1000 trees were knocked down and many, many more branches.  The orchard where we took the tour from have many cherry trees topples over.


He told us that many roads had been impassable and there were electric companies from around the area there to help restore electric,.  One resort lost there water storage tank, so there was no water for the guests.  Alot of the hotels in Sturgeon Bay were sold out because many of the tent campers were forced indoors.  


Here are just a few photos of what we saw but there was alot!

It was so sad to see big, old Maple trees broken off and laying on their sides, uprooted or with huge branches broken off

A beautiful Juniper bush tree still standing ....

... but his partner was not as lucky.  These are in the parking lot at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant, Sister Bay, WI

Looks like it was just pushed over   I find the grass interesting - how it looks like a blanket over the root ball. 

The tour guide took us thru a golf course and on the way out he stopped and started to say look at the trees over there, with their leaves turning color.  He stammered and said they were there last  Thursday and now on Sunday 4 huge old trees were completely gone.  There was only 1 pile of cut logs stacked in the middle of the green area he was pointing too.  He was so shocked and we were all sad too!!

Yes, The Rooms Can Be Small

Someone asked me whether it is true that hotel rooms in Japan are small. Yes, they are. OK, we've stayed in spacious rooms in international brand hotels but we paid a premium for them. And well, small rooms are more prevalent in big cities than in rural towns.

I don't mind staying in minuscule rooms because we don't exactly plan to spend the bulk of our vacation in our hotel rooms!

Small room with equally tiny bathroom at Toyoko Inn. The plus point of staying at this hotel chain for us is, the corresponding cheap rates they offer.

Tiny rooms at Nikko Hotel, Ginza and a compact room at Nikko Hotel, Kawasaki. The only reason we stayed here was because we had JAL vouchers we received redeeming our JAL mileage. The wardrobe in Ginza was just a tad taller than 8 year old Raimie!@.@

You think we want to waste 20,000yen a night staying in Ginza when we can just spend 7,000yen for a night in Toyoko Inn somewhere in Asakusa? I might as well save some $$$ and use it to buy a pair of shoes! Hohoho

And at least the rooms we stayed in are not as claustrophobic as sleeping in a capsule hotel! Though I wish I tried to sleep there at least once.

I may not be fussy about the rooms, but I draw the line at staying in a dorm. I've lived in a dormitory since I was 13 up to college so no more dorm nights for me, thanks! I need my privacy now.

Fall Colors & Snow Colorado Springs CO 10/25 & 10/26/11

Snow storms in late Oct are not uncommon in Colorado.  We live at 6500 feet above sea level but are not in the mountains.

 

Pikes Peak is less than 30 miles west of us and protects us from real bad storms.  The western slope is where all the ski areas are.

Brussel Sprout plants

They are close to the fence.  There is no wind so the snow is just staying on the wires of the deer protection fence.

 

Maple Tree.  We are worried about the weight of the wet snow on the tree that still has leaves.  We lost several branches during a similar storm in 2008.

1 of 2 of our 70' Colorado Blue Spruce trees in the front yard.  Yellow framing it is another maple tree.

Pretty huh!?

WOW: Cooking (and Eating!) in an RV

Bill likes to eat out!

The draws of campgrounds are many: activities, amenities, nearby attractions. For the Southern Trails Resort where we now are staying in Georgia, the focus is FOOD! Every Tuesday to Saturday morning we can have free all-you-can-eat fluffy pancakes for breakfast! Every Monday they rotate the following all free and all-you-can-eat treats for lunch: cheese platter and wine, sinful funnel cakes, spicy soft tacos, and fresh crisp pizzas. Every other Saturday lunch is potluck! The alternate Saturdays are free all-you-can-eat sherbet ice cream! Shared food certainly makes for a fun family atmosphere!

a Saturday lunch potluck@ Southern Trails

Challenges in RV Cooking and Eating

Thus, I am inspired and compelled to write about RV cooking and eating in this post! At 67 (Bill) and 63 (yes, we admit that we are sexygenaians), our digestive systems and metabolic rates are not quite as efficient or as high as they used to be. We are retired and, although there are a lot of fun things to do around camp, sometimes it is only food that can feed my boredom.  But we are watchful that it does not become an obsession for the consequences are, by experience and observation, usually difficult to shed!

Cooking in an RV can also be very challenging because there is naturally limited space (trust me, the microwave and oven combined in one unit can be a source of disasters and unplanned starvation!), the food supply is constantly changing (grocery outlets stock very differently across the country), and there are minimal utensils to use (you can’t really afford to keep that crepe pan, ice cream scooper, or iced tea maker!). The issues are plenty for a ‘young’ wife trying to make her man happy through his stomach! 

our spacious RV kitchen!

We have to balance healthfulness, taste, freshness, economy, convenience, and variety, all hallmark values for good nourishment.  For healthfulness, we try to reduce salt, fats, and sugar and increase fiber and manage portions. Comfort foods are increasingly becoming our favorites. However, it is quite difficult to achieve this for a couple from Kansas and the Philippines! For economy, we buy bulk to get best values but not so much as to decrease our mpg! We also watch out for farmers’ markets. So to get variety we have compiled a list of favorite dishes and divided them into two categories.

Favorite Foods

Everyday foods are those that are the easiest to prepare but are also healthy. For breakfast, our selection includes: American standards like oatmeal, cereals, grits, bagels, oatmeal cookies, oatmeal muffins, toast, banana bread, egg cups, and Filipino treats like champorado and congee.  For lunches and dinners, we choose from this list: American dishes like grilled dogs and burgers, chicken noodle soup, chicken rice, chicken n dumplings, chicken tortilla soup, chicken macaroni soup, parmesan fish, baked fish fillets, fish poached in white wine, and Filipino/Asian meals like chicken ramen soup, chicken tinola, chicken nilaga, chicken adobo, arroz caldo, Hongkong steamed fish, and fish pinangat.

our dining room...always with a view!

For company foods mean dishes for weekends, holidays, special occasions and, obviously, when we have company! Special breakfast items include hot browns, biscuits and gravy, pancakes (or waffles) and bacon, French toast, scrambled eggs or omelettes. Lunch and dinner choices are: American regulars like beef stew, pot roast, spaghetti, shepherd’s pie, roast chicken, mustard chicken, oven-baked fried chicken, roast pork, grilled pork, and pork barbeque, and Filipino/Asian selections such as bulalo, mechado, kaldereta, Hainanese chicken, chicken afritada, chicken inasal, chicken asado, and chicken teriyaki.

Side dishes for these entrees, whether every day or for company, are any of the following: baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, whole wheat tortillas or bread, or whole corn. Of course, steamed brown rice is always available. Veggies can simply be steamed broccoli, green beans, or asparagus, succotash of green peas, carrots, and whole kernel corn, or simple romaine lettuce greens with an apple cider vinegar with honey and a little mayonnaise dressing.

You will notice that there is enough variety for a 2 ½ week menu without repetition! I have a terrible time dealing with monotony (just ask Bill!). We try to limit each meal to at most 4 ounces of meat with 1 cup of steamed rice or a medium potato or a small corn or 2 slices of bread or 2 tortillas, and as much veggies as possible per person. But when there is free food like we often do here in Southern Trails, we are invited to parties, or when we visit family and friends, we eat with mucho gusto! The sad part is that we pay for it dearly after! But soon we are able to wake up and get back to reality!

he view!

10 Commandments of RV Cooking and Eating

After 2 ½ years of RVing, we have compiled the following 10 Commandments of RV Cooking and Eating: 1) cook for two meals at a time, once left-over is ok, 2) stock up on staples to get best values but just store them in very light but air tight plastic containers, 3) buy from farmers’ markets for fresh in-season produce, 4) learn about spices (plus Better-than-Bouillon) and how they can make food taste better and different but healthy, 5) prepare everything from scratch as much as possible, 6) eat small quantities but frequently , 7) use applesauce or mashed bananas instead of butter or oil for baking, 8) boil, steam, grill, or bake only, 9) drink lots of water or non-caffeine herbal teas, and 10) have the best in ambiance, outdoors when the weather is great or with a great picture window when you have to eat inside!

Hopefully there are some ideas that you can find useful from this! And, remember, don’t ever forget to have loads of fun planning meals and hunting for ingredients, to enjoy cooking and eating with your loved one, to keep healthy and sexy, and to live long and well!

Next: Keeping Georgia on My Mind! 

Almost There! Keeping The Boy Occupied

We are guilty of letting our son have a go at his Nintendo DSi every time we are on long train journeys in Japan. That's the only way to keep him from the need to run around or bother other commuters. Raimie can be such a nosy boy when nobody is paying attention to him. Though once you, a stranger talked to him, he'll clam up and hide behind his Mom!

But he is still not allowed to play it while we were put sight-seeing or while walking around! Only on trains or while in long queues so that he won't get too bored or fidgety. I totally wonder why some parents let their children be occupied with whatever handheld games they have while walking around. It's better to sightsee or just be aware of the crowd than being engrossed in your own world, right?

I wish he would want to read books once in a while, but oh well. No such luck yet!

What's your secret to keeping your child/children happy while on a vacation?

Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant, Sister Bay, Door County, WI

My daughter and I visited Door County many years ago and I wanted to be sure to visit this restaurant - known the world over for the goats on the grass roof.  The day we were there there were 3 goats up there.

I guess there is plenty of grass up there - this guy is pretty chubby.  LOL

There are 2 in this photo!

Bread plate.  The slice in front was a thin version of zwieback with cinnamon and sugar, assorted breads and flat breads and a dish of lingonberries.

My lunch - Pickled beets, cottage cheese, assorted cheeses, tomatoes and best of all pickled herring. There was so much herring we saved it in our cooler and had it for lunch the next 2 days. 

Gene's lunch - Eggs, Swedish meatballs and Swedish Pancakes. 

 Fantastic food, great decor and a view of Green Bay out the front window.  It was so nice being there in the off season, but not cold yet!!! Life was good and we really recommend this restaurant.