Tokyo 2008, part 3

Friday was the final full day in Tokyo – Ray and Traci started by having breakfast at yet a different breakfast coupon restaurant. Songoku is another buffet featuring combinations of Western, Chinese and Japanese food – kind of like mini Hapuna with a few dim sum items. Ray took interest in the tiny dwarf bananas and found his soft boiled egg really soft – in general, all of the restaurants make their eggs runny! Traci liked her humbows in addition to the really sweet grapefruit. After breakfast, Ray and Traci headed to the Tokyo Dome (JR train to Akihabara, then Subway Chuo line to Suibashi) where they purchased many souvenirs at the Japanese baseball store. While at the dome, Ray noticed that an Ichiro Mariners Jersey goes for over $200 (unsigned) – perhaps there is an underground Ebay business to be started. From Suibashi, they continued on the subway to Shinjuku and caught the JR train to Harajuku to visit the Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine. This shrine was built in 1920 to honor the Emperor and continues to be a spiritual center today. While visiting, Ray purchased a 500 yen ($5) wooden votive tablet. This time, Ray made an earnest request regarding the location of a certain American cultural event led off by a guy named Ichiro which occurs in October and has never been in Seattle.

After leaving the shrine, Ray and Traci finished their souvenir shopping in Harajuku – first stopping at Kiddyland, a store with 6 floors of toys, and then the Oriental Bazaar – two places close to the JR train station with many great souvenir ideas at fair prices. Ray and Traci returned to the Prince Hotel with Traci enjoying a rice curry take out dish and Ray munching on McDonald’s French Fries awaiting a return journey to Harajuku for dinner. Traci and family met one of her Seattle friends who works in the financial industry in Japan at a restaurant called Fujimama’s. Everyone enjoyed a “party platter” of great food including spicy chicken wings, a salad dish, calamari, swordfish, chicken with pineapple, and fried rice. Fujimama’s is located two blocks from the Harajuku JR station and is very foreign tourist friendly – many employees speak English, for instance Ray’s cousin who coincidently works as a chef at Fujimama’s but had the night off. Ray and Traci stopped at McDonald’s on the way home for another Kit Kat McFlurry and a hot fudge sundae.

On Saturday, Ray again ventured out to run – it was again partly cloudy but more humid. He encountered a work crew repaving a sidewalk. Even though they had electric arrow signs and a coned off path in the street, no less than 4 guys in blue uniforms directed pedestrians like him into the coned off path at 6AM on a weekend! – and each worker bowed as he passed. This brings up the issue of personal service – Japan prides itself on the great service: People are paid to stand next to the elevators and bow to hotel guests as they walk by. Both of these examples could represent excess and inefficiency especially in an economy with a net loss of workers due to declining birth rates. Perhaps economic reality and worker shortages as the population ages will force more “efficiencies” into the economy (much like America....). After the run, Ray and Traci joined her parents for a final breakfast at the tasty Hapuna buffet. Upon completion of their last Japanese meal, Ray and Traci made a quick visit to the main Tokyo JR station. Housed in 1918 building, the station’s façade is undergoing renovation. Construction has not seemed to decrease traffic as even on a late Saturday morning the station was packed. On the way home, Ray and Traci did encounter some excitement as a plain clothed police man stopped them in the Shinagawa station. While it still remains mysterious why he stopped Ray and Traci, he seemed satisfied after Ray showed him his hotel room key. Both initially thought it was some sort of scam on tourists but that may be a typical American reaction. In any case, Ray and Traci made it back to the hotel for checkout and rode the Narita express train to the airport without incident before an eight and a half hour journey back to Seattle.


Tips for visiting Japan:
1. Stay in a hotel near a train station with a large department store – Big food courts are found in the basements, and especially for non-Japanese speakers, the easiest place to get a great (and cheap) meal to go is in these places. Unfortunately Shinagawa does not have any big department stores although “Wing Takanawa”, a shopping center located at Shinagawa station, does have a grocery/food court.
2. Japan has always been a cash economy but this is changing with the “Suica” Cards which are basically preloaded gift cards. The difference is these cards are used in many if not most vending machines, almost all of the Tokyo subway stations, and many vendors. Trains and subways in Tokyo are often operated by different companies even if they share a station (For Seattle visitors think Metro Transit and Amtrak) – the easiest way to navigate the different lines is to use a Suica pass.
3. You can get a Suica card by taking advantage of the Narita Express package – 3500 yen gets you a ride from Narita into a Tokyo station, and a Suica card with 1500 yen pre-loaded on the card. This is quite a savings as the ride to Narita costs 3000 yen alone. Only people with foreign passports can take advantage of this offer at the JR ticket station in Narita.
4. You don’t need power converters, but you do need an adapter if you use appliances (i.e. laptops) with 3 prong AC adapters as Japanese outlets have only two prongs (no ground). Bring one as hotel gift shops will sell you one at many times the price found at Target or Walmart.
5. If you want to stay at the Shinagawa Prince (or other Prince Hotel) sign up for the Prince Club International (free) and make a club reservation to get free internet and free daily breakfast coupons. The breakfast buffets are 2000 Yen per person, and Internet access is 1050 yen if you don’t have a club room.
6. At the time of our visit 1 US dollar = 106 yen, so prices are often quoted in straight dollars – after paying the currency exchange fee, it is close to 1 = 100.
7. Since train stations are so massive in Japan, it pays to know which exit (N/S/W/E) to take when trying to reach an attraction. It is also helpful to have a compass when interpreting maps since Japanese streets can be confusing.

Tokyo 2008, part 2.

The next day, Ray and Traci woke up early (not difficult since both weren’t adjusted to Tokyo time) and joined Traci's father on an early morning journey (JR train + subway transfer) to Tsukiji Fish Market. One of the world’s largest seafood markets, Tokyo’s seafood is brought by fisherman to be sold for Tokyo consumption. Like their previous visit 5 years ago, the travelers were astounded by the variety and sheer volume of fish moved thru this enormous place. While tourists are now not allowed to watch the actual tuna auctions held early in the morning (4am), the incredible variety of seafood and the hustle and bustle that bring seafood to Tokyo is a sight not to be missed.

Think of a Pike Place Market (Seattle) that only sold seafood in a place the size of an aircraft hanger! The downside is you get to see where your sushi comes from – you know the old adage about sausage lovers should stay away from the sausage factory!

In addition, small shops selling everything from T-shirts to lunch are found just across from the actual seafood market. After returning from Tsukiji, Ray and Traci enjoyed the Hapuna hotel breakfast buffet and then met Traci’s family for a journey to Asakusa, the home of Sensoji temple. From Shinagawa station, the Toei Asakusa subway stops at Asakusa where Tokyo’s oldest temple (circa 628) rests.

Impressive gates guard the famous temple where visitors can both be blessed by a smoke pit and a water fountain, fed and shopped by 100 yards of covered but open air small shops, and granted wishes in the temple for a mere 100 yen ($1). Ray could not pass up this opportunity. While wishes must remain confidential for them to be realized, Ray simply states that participants in Overlake’s 2009 Golf Invitational better watch out. Also at the site is 150 year old amusement park. From Asakusa, Ray and Traci went to Ginza, Japan’s famed shopping district. Traci was ecstatic about finding Manneken, also known as waffle heaven, and shared a maple syrup waffle with Ray. They were quite satisfied with the heavenly treat. Both wandered around Ginza, tried to find the Nissan Motors Auto Salon (never did find it), but did see the famed Sony Showroom in Ginza (8 floors of lots of cool stuff but nothing earthshaking) and returned on the JR train to the Prince Hotel. The group had dinner at an “authentic” Japanese restaurant Sangendou chosen by Traci’s father – no English menus. Ray, Traci and Traci’s mother ended up having less adventurous meals - $8 Shrimp Tempura with Soba Noodles. To complete the authentic Japanese experience, Traci had a $1 vanilla cone from McDonald’s while Ray had the more exotic $3 McFlurry with Kit Kat Bar mix-in.

Thursday morning brought cooler temperatures and less humidity. Ray started the morning with a 5AM run north along street next to the JR rail tracks (so no cross traffic would interrupt the run). On his way north, he passed a BMW Tokyo dealership and a few blocks further encountered a homeless man sleeping in a storefront (no society is perfect…). He decided to go west and got pictures of the Tokyo tower (which is probably not a Frenchman’s favorite tourist attraction in Japan).

After the run, Ray and Traci tried out the Café Restaurant 24 in the hotel which also accepted the breakfast coupons – not a buffet, but a simple and complete breakfast including ham, bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, muffin, salad, juice, fruit and tea or coffee. After this nourishment, Ray and Traci went with Traci’s dad to Edo Museum – a huge and quite educational museum about Tokyo.

The name Edo was changed to Tokyo in the late 1800s when Tokyo became the capital of Japan – the city has a rich history from ancient times to repeated destruction to earthquakes in 1891 and 1923 followed by near total incineration during the 1945 air bombing. It is amazing that total reconstruction with hosting of the Olympics in 1964 took place. The museum contains models and antiques of various Tokyo eras and is extremely well done – a definite highlight of the trip. Ray and Traci next went to Akihabara (“Electric Town”) where the second Manneken location was the reason both travelers got to enjoy waffles again. Ray also tried to win a stuffed animal prize at one of the many arcades but Traci cut off the funds for this unsuccessful endeavor at $6.00. Akihabara is full over electronic shops selling all sorts of gizmos but prices do not appear to be much better than what you can get on the internet. One vendor had live Penguins swimming in a storefront aquarium – it half worked, Traci and Ray stopped to look at the Penguins but didn’t buy anything.

From Akihabara, the travelers went to the shopping area in Shinjuku. Traci bought some souvenirs at the “creative life store” Tokyu Hands – basically the world’s most complete store for home products. Ray visited the 8 floor Victoria Golf where he found his current favorite club – the Taylor Tour Burner driver for $200 more than the US price. To complete the day, Ray and Traci headed to Roppongi Hills and paid $15 each to view Tokyo from its highest point – the 54th floor (248 meter) skydeck. As noted from the previous trip, one can go to the Tokyo Metro Government building observation deck for free (48 floors) but the Mori tower in Roppongi Hills has no wait and allows an outdoor viewing platform in exchange for a fee.

After taking pictures of Tokyo, Traci joined a few members of her family for authentic yakitori in Ginza (at a “shop” underneath subway tracks complete with drunk natives) while Ray decided to venture to the Gotanda train station and have a solo dinner at that great Japanese food establishment, KFC. Ray found the chicken quite good and greasy, just like the Colonel would make. American fast food franchises are found everywhere in Tokyo. What are in short supply is garbage cans. It is against local etiquette to walk down the street while eating, yet many shops sell food which can only be eaten on the street. Despite the plethora of vending machines and fast food with a shortage of garbage cans, the city remains remarkably clean by American standards. Litter is not found on the streets, no graffiti is visible on trains, ubiquitous billboards and signs are not defaced.

Tokyo 2008, part 1.

Traci’s extended family has an intergenerational reunion every few years, and the 2008 one was scheduled for Japan. Unfortunately, due to Ray’s professional golf commitments, they were unable to attend the reunion but did join Traci’s family afterwards to enjoy a July week in Tokyo.

Traveling from Seattle to Tokyo on a United 777 was quite pleasant even with a 1 hour flight delay as the plane from Tokyo to Sea-Tac arrived late. It takes about 10 hours to fly non-stop from Seattle. Surprisingly it took less than 25 minutes to get off the plane, walk thru immigration, get the luggage, and exit customs although traveling on a Sunday in July probably helped. Ray and Traci then bought a ticket for the Narita Express Train which takes them to Shinagawa Station, their home for the week.

Waiting for the train was interesting – when the train arrived in Terminal 1 (the turnaround point), cleaning people got onboard and emptied/vacuumed the train. The seats also magically (automatically) turned around so passengers would be facing forward. When those tasks were completed the train left precisely on schedule (something that always happens in Japan), and went on a 1 hour journey eventually reaching Shinagawa Station. Once outside the train, the sauna that is Tokyo hit – high 80s and very humid, fortunately it was cloudy and late in the day so no direct sunshine was present. Ray and Traci found the correct exit in the rush hour crowd and crossed the street to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel.

On their first visit to Japan, Ray and Traci stayed at one of the nicest hotels either had ever seen – the Tokyo Westin. That hotel is located at Ebisu which is a few subway stops away from Shinagawa and isn’t quite the transit “hub” that Shinagawa is. At the Prince, Ray booked a deluxe double “club” room for 21000 Yen (about $200/night) that included daily breakfasts and free internet. You can join the Prince International “club” for free on the internet and then take advantage of rates which include breakfast, free internet, nicer rooms, and late checkout. While the hotel is quite a destination on its own complete with a small version of Seaworld (aquarium) and bowling alley, it lacks a gym and the small indoor/outdoor pools are usable only for a $11 fee.

Unfortunately, Ray and Traci’s top floor remodeled room was much smaller than their previous room at the Tokyo Westin. The 37th floor room was quite elegant and modern with a flat screen TV and small fridge but the floor space, dresser space, and closet space all had much to be desired. The bath was well furnished. Other than the small size, Ray’s other complaint was the a/c system while adequate would not make the room really cool especially with the window shades open. Perhaps being on a very high floor with the very large ceiling to floor window with a nice view of the Tokyo skyline had something do with the heat.

While exhausted, Ray and Traci wandered around looking for food before finding a small Ramen shop near the train station. As noted on previous visits, Tokyo is famous for having either pictures of food or models of food in their windows/on their menus and taking orders based on numbers (or letters, in this case). It is relatively easy to order food in the city just by pointing at it. Most of the small shops had basic entrees for the equivalent of $7-$10, even the fancy places had $20-40 entrees US, which certainly wouldn’t be out of line for Seattle much less New York. Calculating the time difference in Tokyo it is easy if you think of Wall Street – When the stock market opens in New York (9:30 AM EDT, 6:30 AM PDT) it is 10:30 at night in Tokyo). When the NYSE closes (4:00pm EDT, 1:00pm PDT) it is 5AM in Tokyo.

On Tuesday morning, Ray and Traci started the day by using their breakfast coupons at the Hapuna Buffet in the lobby of their hotel. Both were overwhelmed by the wide variety of western as well as Japanese breakfast/brunch foods – breads, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, French toast, fruit were supplemented with rice, udon, fish, miso soup, salads. Even spaghetti with marinara sauce was served. The restaurant offers buffets 3 times a day and provides a spread that Las Vegas casinos would be envious of. After engorging themselves for the day, Ray and Traci joined their family for a trip to “Sunshine City.”

After getting on the JR Yamanote Line (which is the circular above ground train that is the main way of getting around Tokyo), they got off at Ikebukuro station and walked a few blocks to Sunshine City, a shopping/entertainment destination. At Sunshine City, a character named "Ultraman" (the Japanese are so practical with their superhero names).

Inside the Sunshine City mall is Namjatown, the Japanese company Namco’s theme park containing attractions catering to young children as well as a huge variety of foods. Not to be missed in Namjatown, is the Ice Cream City with multiple shops offering a wide variety of frozen delicacies including one shop with rows and rows of coolers containing an amazing amount of different flavored packaged ice cream cups. Also check out Gyoza Stadium which houses several gyoza shops serving a variety of gyoza including grilled, boiled, bite-size, and fried. After leaving Namjatown, Ray and Traci went to another amazing place – a Toyota Salon.

While Lexus, Mercedes and BMW may have impressive dealerships in the US, nobody can compare with Toyota – 5 stories of Toyota cars and themed education/games. Toyota had a version of the Playstation’s Grand Turismo played by multiple drivers in fancy cockpits. In addition, Ray got into one of the safety simulators and raced in very slippery conditions while crashing several times despite Toyota’s enhanced safety technologies. Besides the games, Toyota had displays about their successes in Formula 1 racing, their great technologies and interesting new concept cars. On other floors, actual marketed cars were seen complete with pricing and personnel to take orders. The salon was staffed with uniformed people who immediately wiped down each car after people touched it. The whole environment was topped off by an automatic grand piano playing music just like Nordstrom. After looking at all of the small cars Toyota currently markets in Japan, one can only see bad things ahead for their US competitors in an environment with skyrocketing gasoline prices. Gasoline is about $6.50 a gallon in Japan when regular unleaded is selling for $4.25 in Seattle.

Across the street from Sunshine City is a 6 story Sega gaming metroplex. What is especially interesting besides the state of the art videogames, were the adults only floor containing actual Las Vegas slot machines, video poker machines, Mah Jong machines, simulated horse race games and Pachinko machines. Pachinko is like vertical pinball with balls being shot upward in a glass case and falling into various targets. For years, Pachinko palaces would operate with players winning trays and trays of the balls and trading them in for cash (with a wink from government which officially outlaws gambling). They get around this by giving you a “ticket” for the balls you win, then you take the ticket across the street to get money for the ticket. Now it appears, you can win tokens from slot machines and video poker with the same mechanism to get actual cash. Ray also found machines where you lower a toy crane’s grappling hook to snag prizes – America has similar games, but what was unique about Japan was the type of prizes you win. Sega had games where you win Haagan-Daaz ice cream bars and boxes of Ritz crackers.

Why anyone would pay $1 for a chance to win an ice cream or Ritz Crackers tests the imagination. Other similar machines had players try to grab difficult objects to win a Nintendo DS. From Sega World, Ray and Traci met up with their relatives and everyone went to Café du Monde. The first interesting story was how they found the Café – supposedly near the Ikebukuro Station west exit. The group went to the exit and saw no Café du Monde. After asking an employee at a coffee shop next to the station exit for directions, she took it upon herself to walk us over to the competing establishment which was 2 blocks from the station. Service is really amazing in Japan! Café du Monde is a world famous restaurant from New Orleans that features beignettes, a tasty pastry. The group enjoyed the afternoon treat before venturing back to the hotel.

For dinner, Traci’s entire family got together (12 people) but needed to split up to get into a restaurant. Ray and Traci ate at a place called Transfer which has a New York Subway décor (signage and a copy of a passenger car). Ray had a steak/pasta/salad combination and Traci had a seafood stew. Ray thought all things considered ($17 price) that the meal was quite satisfactory while Traci thought the best part of her meal was the rice. The group finished the night off by having gelato sold near the entrance to the Shinagawa Prince.

A Farewell to Yankee Stadium

Baseball fans Ray and Traci decided to visit some of the most hallowed grounds in the sport before Yankee Stadium is replaced in 2009. In their ongoing tour of Major League Ballparks, neither had visited Yankee Stadium although they had a great time at Shea Stadium watching the Mets play the Mariners in 2003. Unfortunately scheduling conflicts prevented a simultaneous visit with their beloved but troubled home team so an interleague matinee with the Padres was chosen.

In contrast to their previous 3 visits to the Big Apple, Ray and Traci used Alaska Airlines miles to get free tickets on American Airlines non-stop flight from Seattle to JFK. Despite the horror stories of flying into JFK, their flight arrived 25 minutes early on a Tuesday late afternoon. Not wanting to fight rush hour traffic in a taxi or car service, they rode the Airtrain from the American Terminal 8 to the Jamaica stop, paid $5 to exit the Airtrain terminal and jumped on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) for a 20 minute $10 ride into Manhattan’s Penn Station. After a nice walk, they arrived at the Times Square Marriott Marquis in just over an hour despite rush hour traffic. Travelers familiar with rush hour traffic in NYC know about the long delays and frequent horn honking associated with trips in and out of Manhattan.

The Marriott Marquis is a much nicer hotel than the Sheraton NYC hotels where Ray and Traci had not so good experiences. It has an impressive lobby, and fast glass elevators which can easily scare those fearful of heights. One interesting feature is that the elevators do not have floor controls on them – riders have to key in a floor number outside the elevator lobby and the computer selects an elevator for them to ride. While more efficient, you don’t have a chance to change your mind. After checking in on the 8th floor sky lobby, Ray and Traci went to their 25th floor room and were very surprised at their spacious accommodations – unlike the Sheraton closet that passed for a room on their Christmas visit to NYC. The Marriott had a large room complete with full sized desk, love seat, and easy chair/foot stool. The room also had a nice bath and a 42 inch LCD HD TV. The dresser was also large with many drawers – only deficiency was no refrigerator. Interestingly enough, the Marriott didn’t try to make money off an overpriced mini bar. Further surprises awaited as the hotel had an amazing gym – with a great selection of cardio equipment and at least for this visit, no shortages for exercising guests.

After perusing their new home, Ray and Traci went to the Rockerfeller Center for a light dinner. Traci decided to get a roast pork loin sandwich at Tom Colicchio’s ‘Wichcraft. Tom is the head judge of Top Chef, a reality show watched by both travelers. Traci liked the sandwich although noted that it was very thin on pork loin – perhaps Tom put his cooks on a very meager budget like he does during some of the reality show challenges. Ray decided to get a tossed Caesar salad at “Hale & Hearty” – a chain of soup and sandwich shops. Although they ran out of chicken, Ray thought his custom bacon and roasted turkey Caesar salad was quite good. Before returning home, Ray and Traci walked toward Central Park, first stopping at the amazing St. Patrick’s Cathedral to admire the ornate statues and stain glass windows.




Once in Central Park, Ray and Traci encountered many runners enjoying an evening run thru the park – so many that one would think a marathon race was taking place! Before retiring to the hotel, Ray and Traci encountered a martial arts class, a beach volleyball game, and a small “Fun Forest” like area complete with carnival rides.

Ray began Day 2 with a run thru central Park – he tried to run around the Jackie Onassis Kennedy Reservoir but somehow ended up going in circles due to the roads that cut thru the park. Ray and Traci then left the Marriott to go to the Whitney Museum of Modern American Art – a museum not visited on previous trips. After seeing the Whitney, Ray wondered if 50 years from now an artwork consisting of vacuum cleaners sitting on fluorescent light bulbs really will be considered art like Picasso or Rembrandt. Some of the work at that museum really strains the definition of art. Perhaps one can say the same thing about today’s rap music – will it stand the time like Mozart or the Beatles? News magazines have done stories showing creations by young children and placing them side by side with modern art works to embarrass modern art “experts” when they can’t tell the difference. Perhaps some of the Whitney’s artists just have good agents to get their name out there – once someone has a name, anything they make becomes a collectable. In any case, the Whitney isn’t something recommended to those with classic art tastes. From the Whitney, Ray and Traci travelled back to Times Square and had lunch at Duke’s Café – It is a multiethnic food court all in one establishment – you can have ramen, custom salads, deli meats, soups, hot food buffet foods, and sushi all in one place. It is an extremely well run place with most people taking their food out.

After lunch, Ray and Traci attended a Wednesday afternoon matinee of “Young Frankenstein,” Mel Brook’s updated musical rendition of the classic story. The musical performances were well done and the production enjoyable, although Traci thought they could have had better humor. For dinner, Ray and Traci took the subway to Lombardi’s, one of New York’s most famous pizza establishments. In 1905 Lombardi’s started making pizza in coal fired ovens – which continues today. Lombardi’s is technically the first pizza parlor in America although it went out of business in a while back and was reincarnated with the same oven at the current location. Although Ray is a deep dish Chicago style pizza fan, he enjoyed Lombardi’s thin crispy crust as did Traci. After dinner, the travelers wandered around Central Park where they ran into a Mister Softie Ice Cream Truck virtually on every block – Ray took it as some sort of sign from a higher power and decided to have a chocolate covered soft vanilla cone which was covered with multicolored sprinkles. Unfortunately the chocolate did not make a hard shell like Dairy Queen’s dipped cones.

Thursday was baseball day – Ray started the day by successfully finding the reservoir by following the streets that parallel the park and then running around it.

Getting to Central Park can be a challenge on a workday – traffic around Times Square really follows the laws of the jungle. Pedestrians don’t follow traffic lights, and drivers have to be really aggressive to move anyway. It is impossible to walk a block without hearing someone honking their horn. Traffic lights are almost optional in downtown NYC. After successfully surviving the NYC jungle, Ray and Traci headed to Yankee stadium on the subway – one great thing about NY baseball parks is their easy access via subway. Upon emerging from the 161st Street station in the Bronx, historic Yankee stadium is seen side by side with its newly constructed replacement. Yankee stadium is long on legend but quite short on character or amenities – in fact, it is difficult to figure out what stadium you are in from the seating area – only the “26 World Championships” banner below the press box gives you an obvious clue. If any city had a dire need for a new stadium, it would be New York.

After watching New York win a close pitcher’s duel over the visiting San Diego Padres, Ray and Traci returned to Manhattan on the subway and had dinner at McCormick’s and Schmick. The large chain of seafood and steak restaurants can be found in many cities. Ray enjoyed a Rib Eye steak while Traci was quite happy to discover a good tasting Chilean Sea Bass. From dinner, Ray and Traci headed back to the theatre district to see another musical, Xanadu. Taking a horrible 80’s movie and turning it into a musical was certainly an unorthodox approach to Broadway production, but Xanadu is an entertaining and fun show along the lines of Mamma Mia. When it comes to Broadway shows, Ray likes ones with simple plots and familiar music, so his favorites include Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys and Xanadu.

On Friday, Ray and Traci started out by heading to the Chelsea Market – the home of the food network. Ray had a chicken noodle soup from Friedman’s Delicatessen while Traci enjoyed their fruit salad. Ray also had a strawberry gelato from L’Arte del Gelato. After leaving Chelsea, Ray and Traci wandered around the East Village pausing to sample some French fries from Frites Pommes – while you expect the fries to be good since that is all they sell, Ray wasn’t that impressed. After a long morning of walking around and a free evening awaiting, Ray decided to try the well known TKTS service to get tickets to another show. Fortunately, the TKTS booth is located at the Marriott so Ray went to the long line 30 minutes before the window opened and emerged 40 minutes later scoring 2 decent tickets to Hairspray. TKTS is a great place to get tickets if you want to save 50% and are flexible about the show – but if you are traveling from far away like we were, I’d recommend just buying good seats well in advance. Traci found a Japanese restaurant called Menchoanko-Tei to eat at which was full of local appearing Asians – a good sign. Hairspray turned out to be a good show, although the main character’s voice (Tracy Turnblad) was kind of annoying and she wasn’t a very good dancer considering the whole show is about winning an American Bandstand like dancing contest for social change.

Saturday was getaway day – Ray and Traci spent the morning in the Marriott’s excellent gym, and then met up with Ray’s cousin David to enjoy a brunch at the Eatery. Traci enjoyed a tasty French Toast dish while Ray and David had omelets that were well prepared. After brunch, Ray and Traci decided to reverse their original commute rather than trust the Saturday afternoon traffic patterns in a cab. By taking a short cab ride to Penn Station, the Long Island Railroad to the Jamaica station and then the Airtrain to the terminal, Ray and Traci had a 1:45 hotel room to gate travel time. On a Saturday, a cab ride would probably save some time and due to flat rate pricing wouldn’t cost significantly more but during rush hour, the train would be an option worth considering.

A Second Visit to Waikiki Beach

After a 3 night stay at Kauai, Ray and Traci travelled to Honolulu so Ray could attend the 2008 Pediatric Academic Societies national meeting held at the Honolulu convention center. With 10,000 pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists invading paradise, Waikiki became an especially busy location. The flight from Kauai was not even 30 minutes in length, and this time Hertz had a Subaru Impreza waiting – a car Ray was much happier with. Using the invaluable Garmin Nuvi, Ray and Traci found their way to the Hyatt Regency Waikiki – kind of far from the convention center, but since they already stayed 3 nights at the Kauai Hyatt, he got a special package price which included an upgrade to an ocean view “club room.”
A Second Visit to Waikiki Beach

After a 3 night stay at Kauai, Ray and Traci travelled to Honolulu so Ray could attend the 2008 Pediatric Academic Societies national meeting held at the Honolulu convention center. With 10,000 pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists invading paradise, Waikiki became an especially busy location. The flight from Kauai was not even 30 minutes in length, and this time Hertz had a Subaru Impreza waiting – a car Ray was much happier with. Using the invaluable Garmin Nuvi, Ray and Traci found their way to the Hyatt Regency Waikiki – kind of far from the convention center, but since they already stayed 3 nights at the Kauai Hyatt, he got a special package price which included an upgrade to an ocean view “club room.”
Hanuma Bay is a very famous snorkeling spot created in an old volcano crater with a largely protected reef. Despite being a very windy day, snorkeling inside the bay was fairly easy. The wind made the ambient temperatures seem quite low and both Ray and Traci became cold after looking at fish. Ray thought fish were less abundant than a previous visit, although this visit occurred at low tide. He did come face to face with a 6 foot eel. Hanauma Bay is no Molokini (the offshore reef on Maui where a 1 hour boat ride gets you up close and personal with schools of fish) but it is much more convenient – beware, the park is closed on Tuesdays and the parking lots fill up quite fast, so if you want to go – go early or late in the day. The whole process of viewing the safety film, renting snorkeling equipment and getting into the water is very efficient. Hanauma Bay is a great place to look at fish without much effort. After snorkeling, Ray and Traci stopped at a famous local plate lunch place called Rainbow Drive-In. Ray had a Shoyu chicken plate lunch which was excellent and Traci had a Pork Long Rice special lunch, equally as good. Rainbow Drive-In is another take out place where they give you lunch in a cardboard box and the entrée is served on a bed of noodles. Prices were very cheap $6-8, and many of the diners were buying more than one plate lunch. After a morning of snorkeling and eating, Ray had to leave for the convention center for a long afternoon at the meetings.

Tuesday was the last full day in paradise. Ray had a few hours of meetings, and then Ray and Traci went to the Ala Moana Mall so Traci could check out the new and very chic Nordstrom which recently opened. While at the very impressive store, Ray and Traci tried the Nordstrom Gelato bar and had what tasted more like strawberry ice cream than gelato (but was still delicious). They then went to the food court at the ala moana mall where Ray had a noodle dish with shrimp tempera, while Traci had a manapua (humbow) – both were good for fast food fare. After exploring more of the mall including the Shirokiya (large department store) they left for the hotel. Ray and Traci had dinner at Sansei Restaurant – one of their favorite eateries on Maui, where Traci enjoyed mango crab rolls and miso butterfish while Ray had a shrimp and steak combination. They finished the night by enjoying some free samples at the Honolulu Cookie Company. The cookie company makes shortbread cookies with various fillers and dipped in different coatings all in the shape of a pineapple. The store is located in the Hyatt. While Ray and Traci didn’t buy any cookies that night, they ended up purchasing 3 boxes before leaving town.

Ray and Traci left the Hyatt the next morning and travelled home on Alaska Airlines non-stop Honolulu to Seattle service. Alaska has announced non-stop service to Maui starting in the summer which will be a welcome option for Seattle to Hawaii travel.

A Brief Visit to the Garden Isle

Ray was traveling to the national pediatric research meetings in Honolulu, so Ray and Traci decided to make a quick pre-meeting visit to Kauai, Hawaii’s famed garden isle. Fortunately, Alaska Airlines recently started flying non-stop from Seattle to Kauai, making the island even more convenient to Seattle natives.

A quick tip for travelers who like great adventures – purchase a hand held GPS device for navigating unfamiliar roads. We found our Garmin Nuvi invaluable at finding our way on Kauai with its unlit and largely unsigned roads. Especially with a night time arrival, finding our way to the Hyatt would have been a much more difficult chore.

We arrived at the Grand Hyatt Kauai after an uneventful trip. Ray was unhappy that Hertz “upgraded” his desired compact auto into a white Mercury Grand Marquis – clearly the car is rented because nobody wants to buy the large, bulky and gas guzzling boat car especially when gas on Kauai was $3.93 a gallon. The Grand Hyatt turned out to be an excellent place to stay while visiting Kauai. The rooms were spacious and well maintained, our “mountain” view room mostly looked over a grass field and road but it earned its 5 diamond AAA rating. Arriving with a 3 hour time change made the travelers quite tired and after picking up some provisions (drinks and comfort food) at a local grocer, sleep came quite fast.

During the first day to Kauai, Ray and Traci headed up to the Kilauea Lighthouse located on the north part of the island.
While the lighthouse has been retired, a nature park surrounds the authentic lighthouse. Visitors have amazing coastal views, birdwatchers have many species to marvel at, and enthusiasts get to see a picturesque lighthouse. Traci also wanted to visit a fruit stand called Banana Joes where legendary smoothies are found. Unfortunately, Joe was on vacation until late May so the travelers headed back to the Hyatt. On the way, a strip mall had a Jamba Juice which Traci had to settle for. Hungry for lunch, Ray and Traci used their Garmin GPS to find a plate lunch locale called Mark’s Place. The plate lunch restaurant is located in an industrial park which would be very hard to find without electronic assistance – it is an incredibly busy but efficient take out only lunch place where many of the local workers order their meals in bulk. Ray had a beef teriyaki plate lunch complete with a large amount of rice and delicious macaroni salad. Traci tried the Chicken Katsu, and both were quite impressed – it pays to find out where the locals eat (especially when looking for a Hawaiian plate lunch).

The afternoon was spent enjoying the spacious grounds of the Grand Hyatt – it has an extensive network of pools and a very large salt water lagoon where guests can kayak or as in Ray’s case, just float around undisturbed by ocean waves. The hotel has a single waterslide which is nothing to write home about – the whole feel of the pool area is like the Grand Wailea on Maui with a lot of the fun parts taken away. People who haven’t been to the Grand Wailea probably would be quite impressed with the Kauai Grand Hyatt’s great pools but because of Ray’s frequent visits to the Grand Wailea he was disappointed. The hotel is located on the ocean, and has a nice beachfront. Unfortunately, Kauai being the most exposed of the major Hawaiian islands has quite rough surf and is probably not the best place for play in the surf. Another main attraction is the wildlife inhabiting the grounds of the hotel – black and white swans, multicolored carp, parrots and other animals are found throughout the grounds. Near the front entrance to the hotel is a small pond guarded by black swans who almost act as sentries – expecting a bribe of food to let visitors pass unmolested. While the wildlife is quite extensive, it isn’t quite the Grand Hyatt on Maui. Either Maui hotels copied many of the Kauai Grand Hyatt’s best features and improved on them, or Kauai’s Grand Hyatt took many of the best ideas from Maui and tried to implement them in a limited fashion.

After a fun day at the pool, Ray and Traci tried another local spot for dinner – Brick House Pizza. Traci had tomatoes and Canadian bacon on her half of the medium pizza while Ray ordered Portuguese sausage on his – The wheat crusted pizza with garlic butter was well prepared, crisp and tasty. Going to another local hotspot also had the side benefit of very reasonable prices, which is a good thing since there aren’t many bargain room rates at the Kauai Grand Hyatt.

The next day started with Ray running the 1.1 miles from the hotel to Kauai’s famous Poipu beach – this beach was supposed to be a favorite for off the beach snorkeling, but the surf looked quite hazardous that morning and snorkeling plans were abandoned. Traci wanted to go to another Kauai park, called Spouting Horn where old lava tubes resulted in nature’s version of the “Fountains of Bellagio” (minus the Celine Dion soundtrack). Various sounds which might resemble something produced by the Blue Man Group accompany a geyser like plume of water when waves rush in.
In addition to the spouting horn, beautiful views and tourist stands (naturally) one finds a plethora of roosters cock a doodling around. Some old story about a farm burning down resulting in the scattering of chickens is used to explain the many animals scattered around Kauai – but roosters are seen in the wild on other islands. KFC must not have tapped these animals for the many restaurants in Hawaii.

For lunch, Ray and Traci went to another local plate lunch place – Kauai Fish Market. Unfortunately, Ray found the menu a little too authentic without his favorite Terriyaki or Kalbi Rib options, so Ray and Traci had lunch at the Grand Hyatt’s outdoor restaurant. Traci ordered the fruit plate and surprisingly found some of the fruits subpar – pineapple and yellow watermelon weren’t as tasty as the fruit plates purchased at Seattle’s Costco. Ray had his favorite lunch, Chicken Caesar, which was par (albeit overpriced). A single white swan floated from side to side in the pond which abutted the outdoor restaurant. Other than an attempt to find food in a neighboring patron’s purse while she wasn’t paying attention, the swan just floated side to side almost in a mechanical fashion.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the pool. For dinner, Ray and Traci tried the Hyatt’s Tide Pools restaurant which had a very striking resemblance to the Grand Wailea’s Humus restaurant. Humus is a floating restaurant in a lagoon with hungry carp masquerading as piranhas when eaters throw bread into their midst. Tide Pools isn’t floating but a lagoon surrounds many of the outdoor tables. Ray had a Prime Rib dinner which actually wasn’t bad – the quality of the meat was certainly not what you would find in a high end Seattle Restaurant like Daniels, but it was tasty. Traci had a dinner of a Garden Isle salad (Baby Lettuce, Hawaiian Hearts of Palm, Carrots and Cucumbers,
Dressed in Homemade Papaya Seed Dressing, and Toasted Macadamia Nuts) and steamed Hawaiian sea bass – she felt the flavor was good but the fish wasn’t prepared well – over cooked and firm instead of moist and flakey. Dessert was very good, a chocolate lava cake with ice cream and complementary due to the subpar sea bass.

With the conclusion of the 3rd night in Kauai, it was time to fly to Honolulu for Ray’s meeting. Kauai is a very beautiful island, and the coastal scenery is breathtaking. Many tourist activities abound including hiking to waterfalls, river kayaking, snorkeling adventures and something called ziplining – traveling downhill in harnesses fastened to wires strung thru Kauai’s forests. The area has a much more rural and untouched flavor than Maui, or especially Honolulu (Tiffany’s shoppers beware). Visitors also have to be aware of the frequent rain found on the island. While conditions may vary, the island beaches near Poipu seem to be a bit more turbulent than Wailea Beach in Maui or Waikiki in Honolulu – families with small children take note.