South East Asia Trip

We have so many fun pictures and stories to share with you from our trip that it's been hard to get started.  How about a fun map with arrows to begin with?

1st Stop: Tokyo

Our trip stalled a little at the beginning.  Yokota Air Base, outside of Tokyo, has 3 flights a week to Singapore to carry official government travelers and usually has 20-30 seats open for space-available hitch-hikers like us.  We flew to Tokyo on Thanksgiving day hoping to fly to Singapore the following day, but due to a flight cancellation, we didn't get out until Monday.  The troubles with being stuck in Tokyo were that we only had one set of semi-warm clothing and Tokyo's incredibly expensive.

On Saturday we rode the train and monorail to Sanrio Puroland, a kid's paradise that like the 'Disneyland' of Hello-Kitty and other Japanese kid's characters.  Here you can see Michelle and the girls shivering in the rain just before we entered.

Here's a peek of the colorful fun inside.  The girls were really in their element - colorful cats around each corner, lots of little kids their size running everywhere, catchy music playing constantly, and lots of hands-on activities.

The sun came out on Sunday and helped us stay a few degrees warmer.  The trees were in full color, and on our walk around base the girls decided to decorate this bush like a birthday cake.

2nd Stop: Singapore

Singapore: a city-state on the tip of Malaysia, about 3x the size of Washington D.C., 5 million people.  They like to call themselves the "Garden City", and they've earned as you can't drive or walk anywhere without lush green vegetation and colorful flowers around you.  It left an impression on us as an extremely clean, green, and welcoming city.  It was so exciting to see all the signs in English.  Singapore was a British port a long time ago, and everyone there speaks English in addition to Malay and other languages.  Michelle was especially thrilled to listen to English hits on the taxi radios.  

Here we are walking from the subway station through the Arab district of Singapore.  Note the humidity affecting the camera lens, and yes that is Helen holding a barf bag. Traveling with kids is not for the faint of heart.

Singapore is only slightly less terribly expensive than Tokyo, and Michelle found us a great deal in a hostel on a 8ft x 10ft room with double bunk beds.  It was just right for 5 tired travelers.