Dining in Hakone Japanese Style

II'm trying to stay awake right now after an amazing meal at our ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Hakone.   I started the evening with a visit to the hot springs (sorry no photos available for that part of the experience).    I made it back to our room just in time to help Wesley and LD put on their yukatas (cotton robes like kimonos).  They had to bring larger robes for L.D. and me.

Then we settled down to be served each of our courses.  For some reason, that really impressed Wesley.  I was very proud of him because he tried everything without complaining and liked it all.  I have to admit that when he asked what the sashimi was, I just said that it was fish and left out the raw part!  Menu and some action shots below.  Tonight I'll remember to take some photos of the food before we devour it

LD

Excellent Traditional Japanese dinner.  I lost track of how many courses we ate.  How do they stay so trim and fit?  Not so sure that I could get use to the public bathing idea.. Perhaps 40 years ago it would been easier while I was in football shape!  We are really enjoying this part of the trip thus far.

Final shot to give you some idea of the dimensions of the room.  L.D. does a lot of ducking.

Dinner #2

Dinner at a Japanese inn is different and good, but I wouldn't want to have it every night.  I liked the food, but I just think that eating all of this food would get boring.  I like that there is a lot of food and that you get to cook your own food sometimes.   I think that's neat!  I like how it's not all just one meal because you get different courses at different times.   My favorite thing tonight - crab.  Overall I think it's a good experience and eventually it may start hurting sitting on the floor.  (Wesley)

Favorite food - sukiyaki.  (Amanda and LD).  It was tender, delicious and tasty - LD

A look at tonight's meal before we devoured it.

Tokyo Time

DArrived on time and were met by our friends the Matsushitas who got safely on the Narita express and on a taxi to Sue's apartment.

Views from Sue's apartment

Hong Kong

True to Newby form for this trip we arrived with a typhoon -- Typhoon Mijigae, although it was just sitting to the south of Hong Kong.  It brought plenty of rain and causes us to get to Hong Kong about an hour late.  The only time that has happened this trip.  No touring today, but we had a great visit with Holly and her son, plus Holly has great views of the city from her apartment!

On the airport express train to Hong Kong station - very easy to use and fast!

Views from the apartment 

And a last shot

Cambodia -- Life around Siem Reap beyond the Temples

Thanks to Rum, we also gained some insights of life beyond the temple tour circuit..  Cambodia is a beautiful country that seems to be slowly recovering from the wars and political upheaval.  Unfortunately, I never did get my picture of a pig in a basket on a motorcycle

 The "Japanese water buffalo"

Every one needs to stay plugged in.  I thought that these were for fans or lights, but then discovered that this was how the restaurant employees were keeping their smartphones charged.

Wesley fell in love with this double swing at the wood working shop -- but too much money to buy and ship, and where would we put it?!  It was pretty neat.

Relaxing at the hotel

Breakfast of Cambodian rice soup -- delicious!

Wesley trying to recover from eating a chili pepper!

The garden at Pavillion d'Orient

Wesley and Rum relaxing after lunch.

Cambodia -- the Temple Tour

We are behind on our posts but that was because we were busy seeing interesting sights and catching up with friends.  We had a great visit to Cambodia.  Our guide Rum was super.  He did a fantastic job of keeping Wesley interested and engaged as we went to see "another temple!"  Our hotel, Pavillon d'Orient was also great (another big thanks to Rick and Lara for that recommendation).  Staff was very friendly and helpful.

Angkor Wat is still amazing, but so crowded!  When I visited it with my sister for the first time in December 1997, we were often the only group in the temple.  That is definitely not the case any longer.  We could also climb all over anywhere we wanted to go in the temple.  Now there are barriers and ropes directing "the way of the visit" and keeping you from those up close views of the carvings.  Still this should be included on everyone's bucket list.  We brought the rain with us from Thailand.  Rum said that they hadn't had enough rain this season, but it rained every day that we were there.  Fortunately, none of the rain interfered with our touring although it did mean that we didn't get a nice clear sunrise over Angkor Wat (which we got out of bed at 4:00 a.,m. to see!).

We ran down the batteries on three cameras taking photos on the day that we toured Angkor Wat!

Beng Melea -- a temple outside the main Angkor complex that has yet to be restored.

Angkor Wat (including a shot of the throngs of people who joined us to see the sunrise)

Banteay Srey -- the "Pink Lady" or the "LadyTemple," a miniature temple complex (when compared to the immense scale of Angkor Wat, the stone has a slight pinkish tone to it)

Ta Prohm -- also known as the Tomb Raider temple because part of the movie was filmed here.

Angkor Thom complex at Bayon -- known for the towers with the four faces

Plus one extra face now!