A Trip to Koyosan

Many of our friends have travelled to Koyasan, and we've tried to book the easy two hour trip away, but we've always tried to do it last minute, and failed to book our stay at the Koyasan Guesthouse Kokuu.

First, before I go further with our visit to Koyasan, this little guesthouse deserve some props.  It is the first time we've stayed in a hostel like place since 2000 when John and I backpacked around Europe.  Koyasan Guesthouse is simple, but super well designed for visitors.  We stayed in "capsule" style rooms (one of us each with a kid).  There were also 3 family rooms.  They had a good, fresh breakfast of eggs, fresh bread, yogurt and fruit.  They also had a bar where we able to have a couple drinks before dinner.  They had curry for dinner every night, but we opted to eat at a local restaurant (Shunsai Kameya - 100 meters to the left of the hotel), which was really good!

Now, let me share our opinion of Koyosan with kids.  I would say that I wouldn't go with kids any younger than ours (8 &5 ), although we've had friends that did and survived.  There was a lot of walking for the kids and not a lot of exciting things for them to do.  (When asked what their favorite parts of the trip were - they both answered, staying in the capsule room).

They were troopers as we took long walks through the town and the cemetary and even did a night cemetary walk with us.

Koyosan was serene and a quaint town.  We stayed less than 24 hours there, so we did miss a few things.  Many people go and stay at the temples to learn more about the buddhist culture and experience shojin ryori cuisine.

Our favorite part was walking through Okunoin cemetery with over 200,000 memorials.  It was beautiful and so peaceful.  Moss and tree roots actively reclaiming some of the older markers and memorials.

Jizo - Protector of Children

Laos - Best Trip Ever with Kids

As we were having a beer watching the sun set over the Mekong River, I looked over to John and said,

I think this is our best vacation, ever, with kids

And it was.  Laos is an amazing country, but also on top of that, our kids are now at an age, where we are not lugging strollers or diapers or special snacks or worrying about naptime or finding food that they can eat.  And it was glorious.

We started our trip in Vientiane.

Well, actually let me back up a bit... this trip seemed like it was doomed the week before we left. Five days before we were to fly, Lola got a big case of the chicken pox.  They had just crusted over, so we were able to fly, with our polka-dotted girl:

Then, the night before we left, I realized that I didn't have my AR (Alien Registration) card which I need to get in and out of the country, and am supposed to have on hand all the time.  Luckily, 3000¥ ($27USD) later, and a dozen "Gomenasei" (sorrys), I was released from the immigration office and able to join the rest of the Lemley crew to get on our flight.

Back to Vientiane...  as soon as we arrived at the airport, time slowed down.  The airport was small and calm.  No one was yelling "taxi" or really paying any attention to us at all.  We got taxis to the Ibis Hotel  - where we luckily scored a family room which was perfect - queen for us and bunkbeds in a joining room for the kids.

Vientiane was great - we stayed right on the strip, so we could easily walk to many cafes and restaurants.  And we could walk to the night market and Mekong River within minutes.

We headed off to the Buddha Park for a morning with the kids which was great and our other highlight of Vientiane was meeting up with a friend who teaches there.  It was great to catch up and she took us to a fantastic restaurant Lao Kitchen, which we wouldn't have found on our own, and our love for LAAB began.

We ate it many times in Lao, but was always too excited
 and forgot to take pictures when it came to the table.
Image Credit: wikipedia.com

After two nights in Vientiane, we rented a van and headed up to Vang Vieng.  It was lovely!  We stayed at Riverside Boutique Resort and had a lovely view.  The hotel wasn't the most child friendly place - we felt like we had to keep the kids quiet at the pool, but it was central and nice.

They arranged two kayaking trips for us, which were fantastic.  Our friends also arranged a ziplining day with their older kids and they said it was amazing. The food was great in Vang Vieng with cheap, delicious street food and many western options as well - we had falafel and hummus (which is not always easy to find in Kobe) twice and Mexican (Amigos) to mix it up one night.

After a few days in Vang Vieng, we headed up to Luang Prabang.  We stayed out of the city at Villa Santi Resort & Spa, (they also had a hotel in the city) which was good for the kids, because we could spend the afternoon at the pool.

Luang Prabang was great - there were many excursions outside of the city (Waterfall trips, Elephant Sanctuary), but we had already done a lot of outside adventures in Vang Vieng, so we stuck to the city and did shopping, eating, and templing.  The highlights of Luang Prabang was Living Land Farm, which was an interactive experience where we went through the process of rice.

John and the guys went on a day motorcycle excursion with MotoLao and they had a fantastic time. The night market was fantastic (much better than the one in Vientiane) as well as the artisan and small boutique shops on the main street.

Laos is a beautiful country.  The Lao people we interacted with were kind and welcoming.  We always felt safe in Lao and never felt taken advantage of and bargaining was minimal.  We were rarely hassled or asked to buy anything.  The food was fantastic (although in Luang Prabang we didn't find as many gems as we did in Vang Vieng and Vientiane).

Laos is a country we definitely want to explore again!

Kop Chai Deu

Kop Chai Lai Lai

What They Want to Be When They Grow Up - 2015

Quotes...

"Um, Mom, do you know where soap comes from? [pause] Starfish blood."  - Lola

"Mom, I love you more when you are away." - Maximo 

[after I came back from two nights away, I hope it's his take on 'absence makes the heart grow fonder']

What We're Up to These Days

I love blogging and I hate that I am not blogging more here.  I am blogging a lot professionally and always sharing through social media, but I like the sharing of this space...

The sharing of our family, our life as expats...  I have hopes to write in this space more frequently... and I hope to make it happen soon.

For now, here are to little snapshots of life for us right now with Mo and Lo.

Little Lola is Four!

We've had an action packed day that started with family gifts  - continued with a party with her friends - and is ending with a smorgasboard of leftovers and a playing with all of her new toys.

It was a great day and she's really gotten so big.  I still remember being in Rokko Island Hospital like it was yesterday.

Maximo's First Presentation - Family Book

Maximo has a presentation tomorrow.  He brought his notes home to practice this weekend.  I think this may be the first oral presentation he has ever really done... and it's in Japanese.

Saturday Night Dance Fever

We just put on a little music, sit back and watch them move.

7-5-3 Ceremony

Shichi-go-san: 7-5-3

This year, we went to the Ikuta Shrine for the 7-5-3 Ceremony.  七五三 is a traditional rite of passage in Japan for three- and seven-year-old girls and three- and five-year-old boys, held annually on November 15 to celebrate the growth and well-being of young children. (Source: Wikipedia).  Read more about the history here.

We tried to do this our second fall here, but 3 year old Maximo would not cooperate.  We even resorted to bribery with lollipops, but he wouldn't even put the kimono on.  It was beautiful with a big dragon on the back... after about 45 minutes of begging, we finally looked at each other and figured the distress was not worth it and left to find a taxi home.  I was 7 1/2 month pregnant with Lola, so it was a fairly easy decision, as I was not really supposed to be moving around tons.

I was scarred by this event, so we stayed away from the ceremony when Maximo was 5, but figured this year would be perfect since Maximo was 7 and Lola was 3 for a few more months.

It was a beautiful fall day.  The kids were great, especially with the amount of sitting around time between the "dressing" and the actual ceremony.

Maximo is 7!

Maximo's Birthday dinner at the sushi go round.

We've had a busy 3 weeks back in Japan.

The first week was spent getting over jetlag.

The second week was spent going back to work.

This week was the first full week we had with students... and Maximo's 7th birthday.

Maximo's First Day of 1st Grade & Lola's first day of Pre-K3.

Here are pictures of his birthday party at the bowling alley...  and I've started a new album on the right - our autumn folder.

Maximo is 7 - Birthday Bowling Bash

Two Fun Videos

It's that time of year, full of events, meetings, writing comments and trying to get outside because it's beautiful!

We are counting down (4 weeks!) until we fly to SAV.

Here are two videos.

The first one of Lola singing her Onigiri (Japanese rice ball and her favorite lunch) Song.

The second one is the 7 inning stretch at a Hanshin Tigers Baseball game!  So much fun.  Lola was a bit sad about not getting her balloon back, though.

The Kids

Another lazy post... but we're trying to take more videos of the kids because we don't want to forget these little voices and these cute little personalities.

John and Maximo went skiing yesterday:

A little bit of Lola:

An (LONG) interview with Max:

And the beginnings of our SPRING Photo Album:

Spring 2014