Month #1: Japan, Indonesia & Malaysia

It's hard to believe we are over one month into our trip. It seems like we just left the US last week!

Our first week in Japan was a whirlwind. We had a lot of adrenaline and were thrown into a non-English speaking country with a LOT to explore. Each day was jam-packed... We woke up as early as 2:45am and went to bed in wee hours of the morning on some days. We loved the food and we were in constant awe at how well organized the country was - Japan has thought of everything and has implemented each idea seamlessly throughout the entire country.

Next we headed to three distinct areas in Bali, Indonesia. We stayed at some resorts, ate three meals a day with our toes in the sand and relaxed, finally feeling like we were on vacation...like a honeymoon should feel! We enjoyed the food, culture, yoga-inspired hippies in the cafés and had a blast getting lost on our scooter.

Lastly, we traveled through three distinct areas of Malaysia. We didn't have many expectations for Malaysia as it's not part if the "banana pancake trail" and we didn't know anyone who had been there. The country had lovely beaches and a unique fusion of food from China, Malaysia and India. It also had an incredible array of shopping malls and modern amenities in Kuala Lumpur, the capital. We took some time to slow down a bit and even caught a couple of movies here.

We both have things we miss about America, but aside from our families and four-legged sons, we don't think about it too often. Jan misses having regular hot showers and a hair dryer ("natural" hair doesn't suit her well). We both have learned to value decent deodorant that works in sweltering humidity and we are lucky enough to have a friend bringing us more this week.

Life on the road is pretty easy. We unpack as little as possible and have gotten good at navigating through new towns. Sure, not everything has been prefect. Some of our clothes shrunk the first week on the trip (Japan's dryers are HOT!) and this week our laundry was returned to us smelling like an ashtray. The compact camera we purchased for this trip is absolute rubbish. And have you heard of Delhi-belly...well, there's also Bali-belly, Langkawi-belly, Georgetown-belly and....you get the idea. We've gotten to know each other a little too well in certain arenas. :)

We have five more months on the road. We are having a hard time articulating the experiences we are having because they are occurring non-stop. However, it's fair to say this has already been a trip that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Thanks for following along!

A Night at a Splendid Onsen Ryokan

We had one splurge planned for our time in Japan that we had been looking forward to for weeks. We had reservations at an onsen ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn with natural springs.

We hopped on the Shinkansen bullet train and rode 250 miles NE from Kyoto to Hakone, a small mountainous town just outside of Tokyo. The two hour ride there was beautiful as we passed Mt. Fuji perched majestically with its snow-capped “crown” sprawling down with almost perfect symmetry.

We were asked to take off our shoes as we arrived at Hoeiso ryokan and put on slippers in the lobby. Our room was very spacial with fully straw-matted tatami floors. It had four sections separated by sliding doors; a sleeping area, a main living area with one low table and two wooden leg-less floor chairs where we would later have dinner, an alcove we assumed was for meditating and a balcony with two tiny chairs overlooking the mountains.

A girl named Leah was assigned to us as our hostess for the evening. She had a laugh when she saw how excited we were to wear our yukatas (casual kimonos). She had to search for a larger size for Yemi. Jan also wore her haori, a short jacket worn over the yukata in winter, which looked like bat wings on her.

Bird's eye view of the appetizers

That evening Leah served a traditional 11-course kaiseki dinner. It was a culinary roller coaster experience of hot, cold, sweet and flavorful dishes. The menu included miso soup, varieties of sushi, and several dishes with pheasant, which was this ryokan's specialty and the highlight of our meal. They also gave us complimentary champagne and a whole fish as a traditional honeymoon gift.

Later we put on our betas (wooden sandals) and made our way to the open air onsen (hot natural springs) next to a river overlooking the mountains. Five minutes into it and we both had the same look on our faces that said, “this is finally feeling like a honeymoon.” By the time we got back to our room, thin mats had been pulled out for us and laid flat on the floor. No "real" beds! This is something we had gotten used to in Japan. They also provided a buckwheat-filled pillow called a makura that felt like it was filled with sand.

The following morning began with another onsen dip followed by an eight course Japanese-style breakfast before we had to check out.

Jan's dad always says you can't put a price on memories. Visiting this sure was on the "splurge" category of our travel budget at $350 for the night but it was indeed one of those priceless memories that made us love Japan.

Matcha madness!

Our gastronomical experience in Japan has been one big dopamine rush. Everything from eating the most delicious sushi creatively wrapped in world class nori by the Anthony Bourdain recommended chef, Yasuda, to experiencing a flavorful shabu shabu to a sweet savory sukiyaki to the 11-course meal at our ryokan experience. The list goes on and on.

Chef Yasuda in the background. I still can't believe we were able to land a reservation in his 8 seater sushi bar!

However, one of our favorite discoveries in Japan has been matcha: fine powdered premium green tea. It has a very uniquely rich taste that dwells long after each sip and most tea ceremonies in Japan revolve around this awesomeness.

It's loaded with antioxidants and we learned from the head priest at Shunkoin temple in Kyoto that one cup has the equivalent amount of caffeine of 2 expresso shots. I wish they served it before and not after the meditation sessions where I nodded off "zenned out", Yemi remarked. Jan likes it more sweetened, or as she would describe it, "American style."

Like that's not great enough, it is also used to make other confections - cakes, ice cream, lattes, etc. Leave it up to the Japanese to one up this already brilliant product. The green color always caught Yemi's attention. We tried and loved it all!