As you might have noticed I typically have a period of adjustment when we switch locations. My back is wrenched from travel, the bed always seems to provide a challenge and I need to find a work around. I am cognizant of this and landed here in Tokyo fully expecting to break this cycle. We have sweet accommodations for the night with, I'm sure, a stellar bed. We head out at a respectable hour in the morning by bullet train which sounds very cool. I hear the Japa...

We are packing up to leave this place. I gather my final thoughts and make note of my experiences. Westerners The first 10 days here there were NO westerners to be found. We were such an oddity that the Chinese wanted us (the kids) to pose for pictures with them like either we were movie stars or zoo animals. SO friendly, so kind, SO taken with the girls eyes. The younger Chinese are more animated than I remember from the last time I was in this part of...

Rabbit Jill wanted to watch the Chinese New Year go by safely on the couch watching the parade on TV. But Dragon Jill spat out the word LAME in fire and burned up the couch. That's right, I think of myself as both. You see I have been a dragon my whole life until last night when I read that anyone born prior to the actual February-ish date of the Chinese New Year remains actually the sign of the year prior. The sign is not ruled by the Gregorian calendar, r...

First let me THANK YOU readers for your notes back to me through comments, emails and facebook. Knowing I am not just dumping my thoughts into cyberspace is very rewarding. Some of you asked if I have found any homeless here in Hong Kong. Well, funny you should ask…. 'On the streets' doesn't make for a good start to my next sentence because downtown Central Hong Kong is a city you can traverse without ever actually touching the street level. There is a...

Problem solved. There is an Ikea here in Causeway Bay! I now have a foam mattress topper on the bed and know that life is soon to be good. Chinese New Year is approaching and we are going to venture out into it for the night parade- you have no idea what a show of bravery this involves. At the apartment the kids are doing dishes, cooking, chopping and strange but loving homemaker things they have learned from hotels gone by like putting on the sconces and turn...