Taiwan for the First Time

My parents have been visiting us in Japan every spring the past few years. The ironic thing is that they are not the type to travel just to see the cherry blossoms, and they are baffled by the crowds. Since we just visited the U.S. a few months ago, my parents came to us and we decided on Taiwan as a place to visit together. 

Flying into Taipei

Traveling with three generations is no easy feat. As the middle generation, H and I require the least attention. My mom is another matter - picker than the kids (by a long shot) and not a fan of spending one more second outdoors than necessary. We couldn't be more different. The thing about Taiwan that we hoped would united everyone is the excellent food. 

After some research on good places to eat and the necessary reservations, I realized that eateries are tightly concentrated and don't require reservations unless it's relatively formal. Living in Japan has left me with an instinctual need to make reservations in advance. Tired from work and looking for a casual family place to eat on a Friday night? Forget it unless you've anticipated this moment by making reservations days in advance. Japan is reservations for everyone for everything. Yes it promotes order and predictability, but it really is exhausting having "plan" all the time. 

This was one of the things I really appreciated about eating in Taiwan. There are lots of casual eateries but there are also some nice casual restaurants that set aside a good number of walk-in seats. You will not miss out on good food for lack of a reservations.  

We arrived on a Friday night. By the time we had checked into our hotel, it was peak dinnertime. I look up a couple of restaurants that are part of a nearby shopping complex not expecting much. The restaurant we went was so so good - far exceeding my expectations. Chinese food that is well-seasoned, not too oily, incredibly flavorful, and with lots of options. The place had different variations of rice - black and white mixed, quinoa rice, and red mixed rice. Unfortunately we were too hungry to take photos. Here are a few photos of other delicious things we ate. 

Taiwan is known for its breakfast foods. They are for people who love carbs and savory breakfasts. There are breakfast joints literally everywhere, but the most well-known ones are Fuhang Soy Milk, Sihai Soy Milk, Ding Yuan Soy Milk. We had every intention of trying all of these. Instead, we went to a small scale neighborhood place our first morning in Taipei and ended up going there every morning thereafter. My typical order was cold slightly sweetened soy milk (you can take it hot or savory) with shaobing filled with egg. We also tried the steamed buns (with either vegetables or sweet adzuki bean paste) and a breakfast burrito-thing made with rice instead of tortilla. 

One note about eating out in Taipei - it is incredibly easy, even for big groups. Restaurants tend to be small, but they are so highly concentrated that it was never difficult to find a place that could accomodate a party of 6 during mealtimes. In Tokyo, it would be a big challenge to find a decent place to eat without reservations. This more laid-back dining culture really suited us and our needs. I could go on and on about the food, but we didn't just eat. 

Taiwan is not a big country, but we wanted the trip to be slow-paced, so we made Taipei home base and stayed close with only a couple of day trips out of the city. 

Taipei Zoo/Maokong Gondola

Taipei Zoo has some of the nicest animal enclosures. Despite also being an island with a sizeable population, Taipei feels open and spacious compared to Japan, and this is true of the zoo as well. At Ueno Zoo in central Tokyo, you could easily wait for an hour to catch a glimpse of the pandas. We were lucky to see numerous pandas in action - running, climbing, eating, playing. I've really never seen so many active pandas anywhere. 

We rode the scenic Maokong Gondola from the zoo to a village called Maokong. What is in Maokong? Cats, we heard. There wasn't much there. Maybe we were just tired, but it was a bit underwhelming (lots of tourists, not many traffic lights or sidewalks). 

Dihua old street 

This was one of my favorites. It's an old neighborhood where you can see some colonial style Japanese architecture in the low, red brick fashion - architecture that is now rare even in Japan. We went on a hot day, but the line of shops are all covered, so it wasn't bad at all. 

I bought the most souvenirs here - dried fruits (mangoes, Chinese dates), nuts, pineapple cakes, tea, postcards, and other nicknacks. Some of the shops are repetitive. For instance, there are a lot of dried fruit/traditional Chinese medicine shops. But there are also unique shops selling artisan goods and cafes/restaurants. The culture center itself had some lovely exhibits, not to mention one of the few toilets in the area. 

Raohe Night Market

We could not leave Taipei without going to one of its famed night markets. But which one? We went for one of the most well-known: Raohe. Even though we arrived just an hour after opening, it was already quite crowded and got more so as the night wore on. The food was exceptional. We left the kids at home and were very happy we did so with the crowds, smoke, and lack of places to sit. We also shared almost everything, though the portions weren't big; we just wanted to try as many different stands as possible. 

Beitou

On our last full day, we took another day trip to Beitou, only half an hour away from Taipei by public transport. Beitou is known for its hot springs and Japanese-style public bathhouses, as well as its history. We visited the Beitou Museum, a restored historic bathhouse, which presented Beitou's storied history under and after Japanese rule. 

Beitou had some lovely parks and stunning views. 

Hot and sulfury all along this path.

It seems people used to be able to sit along the banks and dip their feet in the spring water, but sadly no more

The museum, originally built as a hotel in 1921 under Japanese rule

The beautiful inside. After falling into a state of dilapidation, it wasn't fully restored until 2008

Despite it being April, it already got pretty hot midday with the sun. That did not stop our kids from playing at a local park for hours in Beitou. These spacious parks had such nice structures - swings, slides, climbing towers, even a zip line. 

We really enjoyed our time in Taipei. It's a city with lots of nature and space. The people are warm, and the food is excellent. We never had the time to get that last bubble tea we promised, so now we've promised our kids "next time we go." 

There and Back: Part 2

I fully meant to finish writing about our summer trip, and now six months has flown by. It's 2025 - happy new year! 

One of our main missions during the August trip was to sort out our driver's license issues. I never thought it would be easy - trips to the DMV rarely are - but the problems began even before our prescheduled appointments. Rolling into the parking lot, we see a big crowd of people looking frustrated. Not a good sign. The beleaguered DMV employee tell us that there is no electricity and so all appointments for the day are canceled until further notice. We will be notified by text if and when appointments resume, by noon she assures us. 

This and most locations are by appointment only and all appointments are filled up for the next few days while we are in town. What to do? Nothing except wait. We go home, eat lunch, and wait for the text update. Noon comes and goes. No text, no update. We drive back to the DMV to find that appointments have indeed resumed. Few experiences are more quintessentially American than a trip to the DMV. 

Our kids loved the Children's Museum Houston the best. The museum has several sections for a wide range of ages. One of their favorites was the "kidtropolis" area, complete with a bank, vet, hospital, post office, bicycle store, art factory, among others where kids can engage in different roles and earn money. There are even toy ATMs that allow withdrawal and deposits of "money." Another favorite was the climbing tower, a vertical maze of nets. 

In Japan it would have been "DO NOT wear shoes in the Tower"!

There was a short performance of a musical about mad scientist and AI gone rogue - this was my favorite. The quality of the performance way exceeded my expectations for a children's museum production. I also liked that there were very local touches to the exhibits that paid homage to Mexican culture, which is such a significant part of Texan culture. 

During our three and a half years (almost four!) in Japan, I've become strangely attached to the idea of buying a few things that I can, in fact, buy in Japan. Some things I've found acceptable substitutes for while for others I've found even better counterparts. But for these few - it's just not the same. I've always liked to travel light but to satiate my "need" to bring back these items, we do not travel light on the return. 

On my must bring back list: a tub of Cerave lotion; deodorant; bandages; adult and kid toothpaste; floss;  hypoallergenic, oderless, and highly concentrated laundry detergent; kosher salt; tampons; tomato paste; English books and games. 

On my would be nice to bring back list: peanut butter; dried fruits snacks; pretzels; random TJ snacks; teddy grahams; dried beans (black beans, cannellini beans, kidney beans); candy canes and other holiday-specific goods; spices; Funfetti cake mix. Lots of food-related items basically. 

Of course with all that extra luggage space, we bring a few things from Japan too! On the top of my list are skin care items for my mom (lotion, hydrating face masks, facial sunscreen), eye warmers; snacks; seasoning; dishware; dried noodles; chopsticks. It is funny how it is ingrained in human nature to covet what we don't have. 

Until next time. It"s been real. And big. 

It is time for us to return all too quickly.  

There and Back: Part 1

In July, we returned to the U.S. the first time in three years. But in a sense we did not return at all, because we went to Texas, a place I've never lived but where my parents now live. It's a place where an exaggeration of American stereotypes can be found. A place that will deliver if you want to immerse yourself in reverse culture shock. 

E and I left Tokyo first and were joined by dad H and sister M a week later. It was my first time traveling alone with either kid. I was lucky though, because E is a great traveler and loves riding airplanes - it's the time/place vacuum in which there's free-flowing juice, Häagen-Dazs (we fly ANA, and it's their thing to serve that ice cream), endless televisions, crafting, and whatever else she wants to do. On the twelve-hour flight, she fell asleep during our descent singing along to Disney's Wish and stayed asleep for exactly 22 minutes. After barely sleeping for 24 hours, she slept 14 hours on the first day. What a travel companion!

Arrival in Texas

The thing I had forgotten about the U.S. is how wastefully cold it is indoors during the summer. First thing to greet us was the artic blast of air conditioning. Half the plane being Japanese, you could hear echoes of "Samui, samui!" as the passengers made their way to immigration. 

The second thing was how large the toilet seats are. This may sounds fussy, but the Japanese are singularly particular about the toilets. So the big toilets, the confounding seat gap,  the startlingly loud flush - these mundane elements of public toilet life jumped out in stark contrast. American toilets are unique too. 

As we made our way to my parent's house, speeding along more than 20 lanes of highway, the third and scariest thing of all was the driving. Vehicles are absolutely massive and drivers zip past at breathtaking speeds. And most terrifying of all, you will find a good number of drivers with one hand on the steering and the other holding their mobile, glancing down every so often. This was a thrill ride no one wants to be on. I don't remember driving in the Midwest to be so scary. 

Ballet class, a mall, and plenty of good food

One of the reasons for our trip was a summer ballet program for E. Ballet culture in Japan is pretty different. Her school was very choreography-focused, very corps de ballet, and I thought she would enjoy the more creative aspects of ballet and benefit from more individual attention. And the program was indeed good. It rekindled her excitement for dance, and she made a few friends too. 

On our second day, we went to a mall to escape the heat. The crowds, the food court, anxiety-inducing open spaces - nothing nostalgic here. Maybe it's an age thing? One's capacity to enjoy malls may be inversely correlated with age. This seemed to be true for E, who enjoyed it quite a bit. She was tickled at how friendly the sales clerks were (Americans are so nice!), the eye-glazing smells from Annie's Pretzels (It smells soooo good!), and of course, the indoor skating rink. The girl could have skated all day long. It wasn't crowded at all by Japanese standards, which was true of most places we went and what I enjoyed most about being back in the States.

You hear all sorts of interesting stories about memory and how strange and unpredictable it can be. After three years of working myself up over the idea of Five Guys burgers, Chipotle, etc., I can confirm that my memory of these things warped so to barely resemble the thing itself. My taste buds confirmed that they tasted as I knew they always did but my mind was surprised that they weren't as delicious as my memories kept suggesting.

Bur we did eat some very delicious food that we had been missing a lot in Japan. Some things must be served in hearty portions for the full experience.

Lebanese food - our hearty appetizer sampler. I have dreamt of platters of hummus and pita. 

Tex-Mex. It's the whole package - chips, salsa, fajitas, music, portions. The girls were enchanted by this meal. 

Few things beat a big warm bowl of pho. Did you know that Texas as some of the largest Vietnamese communities?

Abundance has an odd effect on me. For instance, I will crave berries, but if presented with an abundance of berries, my craving will dissipate. Faced with an abundance of food, my appetite plummets. Hence, I cannot eat at buffets. Give me morsels! Ration my servings! 

That's it for now from the land of the free and the big portions. We had an incredible time at the Children's Museum and a mental roller coaster ride at the local DMV. I've dedicated the next post to these two divergent experiences. 

Visiting Ishigaki and Taketomi

The Japanese have a certain attachment to the idea of Hawaii. While others share this infatuation, I think the Japanese feel a unique kinship as also people of an island nation. There are obvious differences, but the Hawaiian islands - and its perceived lifestyle - represents an idealized version of island life, a counterpoint to the industrialized Japanese islands. 

It is unsurprising then that Okinawa is often packaged and sold as a domestic alternative to Hawaii. Especially on Okinawa's main island, luxury hotels enshroud you in a Hawaiian-like atmosphere, even with hula dances and live Hawaiian music. This was our experience a couple of years ago when we visited Okinawa Honto, the main island. 

Okinawa is also comprised of many islands and is itself part of the Ryukyu Islands, which did not become a part of Japan until the 19th century. We decided to visit Ishigaki, one of the southern islands popular to visit despite its relative distance to Tokyo. 

On our shuttle from the airport to the hotel

We chose a hotel on the beachfront for convenience - the kids could play all day in the sand and water, they offer a shuttle directly from the airport, and on-site food options were good. While it is beautiful with parts that are very much curated, you could still tell that Ishigaki has a wild quality to it. It's dense with jungly vegetation and the sand is very coarse (and quite painful) being made of broken coral. I couldn't walk bare feet on the beach - it hurt. Bring your water shoes along if you visit! I have heard from other people that the quality of the sand changes depending on which side of the island you are on, but we didn't move around much so all the beaches we saw were similar. 

Ryukuyan lion dogs call Shisa, derived from Chinese guardian lions

A cute cafe near our hotel where we ate Okinawan noodles - like ramen but thicker and crinkly with more meat. 

A nearby factory. The area outside our hotel (or I should say, resort, sat in stark contrast to the resort itself)

Ramen vending machine! The white one dispenses Okinawan desserts

Last time we went to the main Okinawan island, we went sea kayaking and snorkeling. It was such a fun experience that we decided to do it again. That time, we kayaked to a tiny uninhabited island and snorkeled in the middle of the ocean. Even though we were far from shore, it was a shallow and flat area where the waters ran clear and you could see the ocean floor. 

This time, we were shuttled to a beach on the other side of Ishigaki and waded from shore directly into the ocean. It was inauspicious from the beginning. M, who loved snorkeling last time, had a lot of trepidation this time and not minutes after starting, threw up. Back to shore she went with grandma, who seemed a little relieved to return to land. 

As we advanced, we could see the ocean floor drop away into its depths. The depth took my breath away. It was beautiful, but also overwhelming. Despite being a decent swimmer, I found myself flailing a bit - the vastness of the ocean made me feel completely vulnerable. Scuba diving is definitely not in my future. After half an hour and two steep drops in the ocean floor, I started feeling seasick, sicker than I have been in a long time.

Around the same time, our guide alerted us to sea turtles swimming around us. E likes sea turtles but I guess not physical contact with them, because she got scared when she thought they were touching her (it was my leg). After calming her down, we decided it was time to return to shore. The return trip was  rough because of my seasickness. Then, as we were making our way back to shore, H sprained his ankle on one of the corals near shore. 

It was a disaster, though it will be a memorable one. As it turns out, snorkeling can be quite different depending on where you do it. 

The infamous sea turtle.

Our excursion to Taketomi was probably the most fun. Taketomi is an even smaller island accessible by a mere 15 minute ferry ride. Its beaches are beautiful - though mostly unswimmable due to strong currents - and its houses characteristically Okinawan with their red tiled roofs. The streets are lined with stone walls that, if you look closely, are actually made of coral. 

Taketomi has a permanent population in the low hundreds, but many many more tourists and probably people from Ishigaki who work the tourism in Taketomi during the week. My cursory research of Taketomi history didn't yield much except the somewhat obvious fact that the island was historically isolated. So much so that it remained in the stone age until the 17th century. Agricultural productivity was therefore low and warfare seemingly rare. 

Walls of coral and red-tiled roofs

The island is small, and the best way to get around is by bicycle, so we rented a few for the whole family. They even had bicycles with a child seat in the rear and electric assist bicycles. The roads were mostly flat, though sandy, which called for a bit more effort for riding. We went with regular bicycles and were able to see most of the island this way in just a few hours. 

Water buffalo pulling tourists

Taketomi has lots of natural beauty to offer but with only a few hundred locals largely overshadowed by rampant tourism from Ishigaki and elsewhere, it's hard to get a feel for the local culture. While I saw tons of tourists like us, I saw only a small handful of locals. 

Back in Ishigaki, the clouds moved in on our last day. Despite temperatures in the low 80s, it felt cool, even a bit too cool to swim. So we relented and spent most of the day shuffling between the heated indoor pool and the outdoor pool with the massive slide, which the kids went down again and again. 

Ishigaki was good for a family vacation with small kids. Everyday was slow, and the hotel breakfast alone was a two hour affair. Just the sand and the sea (and the heated indoor pool), which, fueled with aforementioned breakfast, is all our kids needed to entertain themselves all day long. 

Munich and Paris with Kids

I wanted to write this three months ago when it was all fresh. But you know how it is after a trip: it's unpack now or never, everyone's drop-dead tired and jet-lagged, and - since it was summer - time to set a new routine in motion. Summer was eventful for us, with a couple of important guests, but I wanted to write in chronological order presuming that my memory also fades in chronological order. 

Munich

I was last in Munich fifteen years ago during study abroad in college. It was January, and I was flying in from relatively balmy Barcelona and underdressed for winter in Germany. My roommate and I stayed with her Spanish cousin, who lived and worked in the city for one of the German auto manufacturers. We hit all the major tourists sites in less than three days. 

That was a different time and place. This summer, while we flew into Munich, we spent most of our time in a town west of the city. The day of our arrival the fire brigade was holding their annual safety demonstration, which sounds dry but was something like a festival. The kids got to climb onto fire trucks and operate hoses. M was most interested in endlessly throwing small sticks into a brook. There was of course lots of Leberkässemmel, the traditional Bavarian sandwich made with a ground meat loaf (leberkäse) on a roll (semmel). 

The beer garden was the highlight of the town. It's one of the oldest in Germany, and besides the nice relaxed ambience you might expect, the food was good - definitely not just sausages and pretzels. The kids playground was the best thing. There were a lot of families with kids, who flitted between the playground and their parents for a bite here and there. A warm summer's evening spent outdoors drinking and eating with friends while the kids play - there is no better way to spend summer. 

Most of our time in Germany was spent outdoors. Summer weather can be fickle in Middle Europe, but we were lucky with only one day of rain. We picked strawberries (last of the season!), went to the zoo, walked in the forest, visited the neighbor's new German Shepard puppy, went to a neighborhood barbecue, and hiked (more like "walked," as we took a lift more than halfway up) in the Alps. It was all truly as wonderful as I had hoped it would be. 

Paris

Paris was a different story. I knew Paris would be a challenge for a three-year old. While M has not been in diapers for over year, the time you have to find a toilet once she realizes she has to go might be 15 minutes...or it might be 5 minutes. And Paris is not the best city for public toilets. M is also at an age where she can go around without a stroller in daily life, but she cannot walk an entire day exploring a city. Husband did not want to travel with a stroller; I could not envision surviving a day without one. I mean, it's Paris. If nothing else, you go there to eat pastries and walk. We ended up borrowing and bringing my friend's supremely compact stroller. Turns out, even the six-year old could use it at times. The stroller was rarely left vacant. 

I have to digress here to comment on how different stroller culture is in the U.S. and Japan. I've written about this in my post about childhood in Japan. Here you almost never see a toddler over the age of two in a stroller. If they can walk, they will walk. My Japanese friend once joked that American kids go from riding in a stroller straight to driving a car. I guess I fall somewhere in between while the husband falls squarely in the Japanese way of thinking, thus our contrasting opinions about bringing a stroller to Paris. But even he would admit in hindsight that the stroller was well-appreciated by both the kids an adults. 

I will only say that the first half day was a struggle and that it was uphill from there. It just took some time to get used to navigating Paris with kids. We had lots of picnics, went to a lot of parks, took the metro everywhere. We couldn't afford to chase widely acclaimed restaurants all over the city, so we ate at places we knew and loved and places close to us. If there ever was a city where you can do this and still be dazzled, it would be Paris. We didn't go to all that many places, but spent a lot of time in each place we visited.

Off to breakfast in the city of croissants light

The place that topped them all was the Jardin d'Acclimatation. It is one of the oldest amusement parks in France. It was established by Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie and has a storied past, but was recently renovated. The rides were perfect for my kids. There are also playgrounds and wide open spaces with peacocks inexplicably roaming around. The lines were at most five minutes long. I do wish that we had bought more food at the neighborhood Monoprix to have sustained us a little longer. There were not many food stands and restaurants, and kids are ravenous when they play! 

My precocious E wanted to see a performance at the Paris Opera, but we weren't able to make that work. Instead we headed to the Centre Pompidou, where we visited the works of some artists that E had been studying at school (the modern curriculum is so multidimensional!). We also took a boat tour of the Seine, opting for that instead of squeezing in all the iconic sites. 

In the end, I didn't regret taking the kids to Paris. 3-4 rural days for every urban day was just about the perfect combination of city stimulation (with lots of planning) and easy country living (little to no planning). And there is no replacing the Paris bistro experience! Even my toddler, who leans more towards Japanese flavors than any of us, proclaimed the meal delicious. 

Goodbye, Paris. Goodbye, Munich. See you in a few years when we are stroller-free. 

Flying from Japan to Germany

Happy first of September! I wrote this on our flight to Munich, thinking I would post in a day or two. That turned into a couple of months. The temperatures still feel like summer, but school has begun. Reading this now takes me back to July, in all the best ways.

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If your international flight departs from Haneda airport in Tokyo, I have a few tips for you. It is smaller than Narita and more crowded. The international departure is not as organized (few signs, unclear signs). If you have little kids, you automatically qualify for priority security check. At the customs area for exiting Japan, Japanese passport holders and non-Japanese ones split into two groups. However, the Japanese group gets facial recognition scans and exit through an automatic gate. Little kids are deemed incapable of going through this properly and so must stand in the foreign passports line regardless of whether or not they are Japanese citizens. 

The nicest thing about Haneda is the flight observatory. It’s a nice rooftop area where you can see planes take off and land. Plus, there are plenty of nice restaurants and cafes. Terminal 3, where we left, has a drugstore that sells things beyond what your would expect  – cool eco bags, artisan goods, interesting toys even. For everyday essentials, there is a slight markup, but nothing as criminal as what your would find at U.S. airports. No bottles of water for $5 when you are desperately thirsty. For souvenirs, the price is comparable to what you find anywhere else. Japanese airports are the best for souvenirs. 

As our habit, we boarded last to minimize time sitting on the plane and allow for last minute toilet runs. Our plane was a 3-3-3 formation. H offered to sit with the kids in the middle aisle for as long as his sanity would allow. I sat next to them across the aisle. 

E"s professed hunger. She was really excited about her economy meal...until she started eating it. Food on Lufthansa economy is not a highlight, though the service is excellent!

Taken by E

The passengers are mostly German and Japanese. The Japanese crowd on the plane are a bit less well-coifed than your average Tokyoite, and more casually dressed. I wonder what their stories are and why they are going to Germany. Also on our flight is a couple sitting in front of the wall panel at the center of the plane. They have a baby, and I guess that they are there to take advantage of the bassinet that can be attached to that wall. We did the same thing (five years ago now!) when we traveled to Japan and Greece with E. The joy of discovering that an in-flight bassinet existed! It felt like a free seat, or a free upgrade, though we still envied everyone else who did not have a baby on their hands. I nostalgically observe this couple whilst thinking about how difficult it was then, and how time can so drastically change your perspective. After a couple of hours, the dad is up with a baby bottle in hand, searching for hot water. 

Our flight is over 14 hours. It is perhaps the longest flight I have ever taken, because we now have to fly around Russia. I think fleetingly how it now seems easier to manage an infant than two little kids; the grass is truly always greener on the other side. But I remind myself that we may one day be traveling without kids, and that that might seem difficult in its own way with 14 hours stretching on endlessly with no demands and no live entertainment. 

Calm times 

Leaving for a Trip

A trip to Munich! This was our first trip outside of Japan since we arrived two and a half years ago. When we lived in America, it seemed so easy to fly here, fly there, and most of the world felt so accessible. I didn’t think living in Japan would feel any different. A flight is a flight, whether you fly over sea or land, right? But in fact it has felt more like living on an island than I could have imagined – both physically and culturally. Not to mention that the yen has been very weak. The biggest challenge is that my spouse doesn’t have many vacation days. Then I started working, and of course E has school. It becomes very complicated. 

I reached a point where my desire to travel outweighed these challenges. If we wait for the perfect time: low tourist season, good weather, strong currency in our favor, and all our schedules aligned, we would be waiting for a long time. E is now also old enough to remember trips. I find that we are beginning to enjoy things together, rather than me enjoying things through her. All the trips I took whenI was a child have stayed with me and become a part of me in a way that no other trips have. After three years of no international travel – except for that one international move of course – it was time to leave again.  

This morning, with one big suitcase, one small one, two backpacks, two purses, and a stroller, we set off for our flight to Munich. We will be visiting family friends there. I have been once during study abroad in college, and H has been multiple times. But neither of us has been there since 2008. 

I was really rusty at packing for a trip for a family of four this far from home: brought the water bottles, toothbrushes, emergency medicine for the kids; forgot the water bottle straps, toothpaste, and melatonin gummies for the adults. How much to feed the kids before getting on the taxi in the morning? An empty stomach can exacerbate motion sickness, but a full tummy doesn’t necessarily ward it off, and it could be even more disastrous. Should we bring a stroller? We live in a city where both kids are used to lots of daily walking. For Munich, maybe not. We plan to spend most of our time picking berries and sitting at beer gardens. For Paris, maybe. It may make our lives better, or it may make it worse – that is the risk and adventure of traveling with little kids.  

After months of pining to leave the country, I start getting prematurely wistful at the airport. Goodbye, pristine toilet. Goodbye, convenience store where you can find anything you forgot for a reasonable price. Goodbye, rice. This is what travel does to you, right? It gives you perspective, even before it has officially begun. Now all the things to look forward to – cooler weather, less air conditioning, the forest, the Alps, summer fruits, and the best breads. Next post from the airplane/Munich. 

From Kyoto to Tokyo (With Kids) Part III

When traveling in Japan, don't take for granted that website information is accurate. It's often not, and it's just a fact of living in a country that stubbornly refuses to become primarily web-based even when it has the capacity to do so. Besides the occasional bout of frustration, this is actually a little charming. It takes away the frenzied pace of life and work that I felt in the U.S., where everything online is updated to the minute and response time is measured in minutes, not hours or days. 

So anyways, I woke up on our third and final day in Kyoto with a mission to squeeze in Kinkaku-ji (the famous gold temple), the Fushimi Inari Shrine (iconic torii gates), and souvenir shopping at Kyoto Station. The mission was entirely mine, as the goal was to lead my family through these three activities before our 5pm departure without making them feel rushed. But my plan was thrown off track first thing in the morning when the breakfast place I had chosen near Kinkaku-ji was randomly closed. The problem was that neighborhood didn't have any alternatives. Luckily, it is easy to find snacks here and there at nearly every tourist site in Japan, so we nibbled on what we could and headed to the entrance of Kinkaku-ji. 

The real wonder wasn't the temple but the number of visitors waiting for it to open. Without stopping for breakfast, we were early, though apparently not early enough. We waited in line for a few minutes before realizing that it was a line designated for group visitors. Everyone realized at the same moment, leading to a mass exodus from that line to another. This is also life in Japan: waiting in line is never as straightforward as one might think. 

The scene inside the gate was one of hundreds of people lined around the pond, snapping photos of the temple. It was comically touristy. But it was a site that we would have regretted not visiting. 

The Fushimi Inari Shrine was located between Kinkaku-ji and our hotel, closer to the latter. The plan was to see its Torii gates, have lunch in the area, and return to the hotel to gather our things. By metro, the shrine was 30-40 minutes away from the temple (in case you are wondering - shrines are part of the Shinto religion while temples are Buddhist). On the way there, we ran into two families from E's school, which had a half-term holiday not aligned with local school holidays, making for a great time to travel. 

The Fushimi Inari shrine is iconic for its thousands of red torii gates. It is dedicated to the Shinto god of rice Inari and predates Kyoto's time as Japan's capital. You will see statues of foxes, who are Inari"s messengers. The path that leads up into Mount Inari alternates between stairs and smooth paths. At 233 meters, it is not a difficult climb, but not an easy one with a toddler and a stroller. As an important shrine and a major tourist attraction, there are plenty of rest points with snacks and souvenirs huts on the way up. The kids enjoyed these mini pit stops. However, we didn't make it all the way up on account of carrying the stroller, my parents' flagging energy, and the increasingly pressing concern of lunch. 

There are many restaurants and shops around the shrine's base. It is a bustling area. My research didn't account for this last lunch, as I wasn't sure where the morning would land us. The restaurants here all looked more or less the same, so we chose one somewhat randomly. It was decent. They served primarily soba, fish rolls, and rice bowls. One note about soba in Kyoto: although it was still early in the season and got warm during the day, all soba served was hot. My mother-in-law posited that since Kyoto is famous for dashi, Kyoto-ites like to showcase dashi in this way. Cold soba, on the other hand, is eaten with a dipping broth with a soy sauce base, which is more prevalent in Tokyo. 

We arrived in Kyoto Station in the early afternoon with a couple of hours to spare. M was conveniently asleep in her stroller by then. It was the perfect time to enjoy a break at a matcha cafe, which my parents loved. We then went shopping for both souvenirs and for bentos to eat on the Shinkansen (it's the best part of riding the Shinkansen!). 

Returning home always feels shorter somehow. The return journey was a blur of bentos, naps, and a taxi ride. Then a slurry of unpacking (I won't unpack for weeks if I don't do it immediately), showers, tuck-ins, and finally, a good night's sleep after a great trip. 

Traveling to Kyoto (With Kids) Part II

    My husband thinks that there is nothing better than waking to a hotel breakfast, but I don't know. On the one hand, it is definitely convenient, especially with kids. On the other, you can't help wondering if there is something out there that is better and more interesting (there usually is). Since I planned this particular trip, we ended up having breakfast across the city. This takes a fair amount of planning, because it takes at least half an hour to get everyone ready and the travel time, even by taxi, was about 45 minutes. That's over an hour of being awake with no food for two young children. The longer this goes on, the worse the mood. 

    So we woke up to a couple of small pastries I had bought the night before and headed to the Arashimaya area for breakfast. Most of the major sites we wanted to visit were located in this area far from the hotel. The plan was to spend the entire day to there. This cafe has a Tokyo location, which bears no resemblance to the Kyoto one we visited. 

I forgot to take photos inside. It was all tatami seating. It felt like what a cafe would have been like a hundred years ago if there had been cafes like this. The overall style is traditional but the details and ambience are definitely modern. Most importantly, the food was really good. We ordered a few egg sandwich sets, which come with coffee and bits of this and that on the side. Before I could protest, E moved quickly to order a french toast set, which turned out to be incredibly good. How glad I was to have chosen this over the hotel breakfast. 

After breakfast, we walked to Tenryu-ji, the famous 14th century temple belonging to the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. Like so many temples and shrines in Kyoto, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was  Friday, and the crowd was still thin. On the temple grounds, the path changed from smooth to gravel with stairs interspersed. We ditched the stroller early on. Anyways, both kids were fascinated with their new surroundings - particularly the pebbles for some reason.  

A beautiful day for temple-going.

The temple's exit feeds into the iconic Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. Even having seen it once before in person and hundreds of times in photographs, the cool serenity is still striking. We walked through the forest path, which led us back to the banks of the Hozu River, where my pick for lunch was located. 

Now it was only 11am. Having known how much there was to see in this one area, and wanting to take my time in each location, I had herded everyone out of the hotel early (early for us, with kids, which is 8:30 am). Living in Japan has taught me that you have to think two steps ahead, especially when it comes to eating out. The price you pay for not doing so is a one hour queue at best and a missed opportunity at worst. So 11am was actually the perfect time to find lunch.  

The lunch spot was inside an old house repurposed as a restaurant (I think). It served traditional Japanese food - tempura, soba noodles, rice bowls with various toppings. The second floor had semi-private seating, and since it was early, we had the entire room to ourselves. As with so many Kyoto establishments - and much to my parents' bewilderment - they had only floor seating. But floor seating is convenient for little kids, and we had a stunning view of the river. The restaurant had a nostalgic air about it, transporting you back to the 70s or 80s of the Showa era. 

Our afternoon itinerary included the Arashiyama Monkey Park and the Sagano Scenic Railway. The park is perched on top of a mountain, big enough to get your heart rate up but small enough for M to make her way up on her own. Inside the park, the monkeys are just chilling in an open space. They don't mind the humans, and in return, human visitors are strictly prohibited to bother the monkeys. Our kids were rewarded for their climbing efforts by a few play structures and a panoramic view of the city. 

The climb up to and down from the monkey park took two and a half hours, and by then, the kids were ready to be refueled. At the foot of the mountain is a rather touristy area filled with small shops and cafes. It was the perfect time and place for a snack. Despite the cool temperatures, it got warm around midday, especially with the climbing. We bought an ice cream and took a little break before boarding the Sagano Scenic Train. 

The train ride was a perfect conclusion to an active day. I bought tickets in advance, because it can get crowded - even on a weekday. Dinner was in Gion, but I won't bore you with the nitty gritty. It was recommended by the hotel and tasty enough but not memorable. The next and final installation will be short and sweet, because that is what our last day was. It was our only weekend day and for that reason and others, it was a little different.