Daddy and Daughters on the Town

As an alternative to the "Daddy daughter dance", which I was not able to attend for a variety of reasons, we opted for a day on the town. We dressed up, gave/received roses and then headed out on Manila town!

The Peninsula Hotel is a beautiful hotel with a large, fancy yet unpretentious lobby. It is seasonally decorated, has a large 2nd floor balcony attached to the lobby with two cascading stairways which make it a popular venue for wedding and other fancy parties as the gowned lady participants can make quite a photo descending the stairways. So we spent a few hours leisurely eating and taking in the sites and sounds of the hotel scene.

Very well decorated Christmas tree in the background.

Kind of a selfie on the cascading stairwell.

The lobby as seen from the balcony.

Girls enjoying the ambiance. They did get up and run around a bit, climbed the stairs, investigated doors and what they opened to, all with a very supportive and accommodating staff.

Party.

Posing from the balcony - note the fancy lady in the background ... 

Another girls on the balcony shot.

Wedding party. Ada actually took these shots. I like giving them the camera and letting them have a go - different perspective. Ada is a bit more keen than Emmerson. She would rather sit and eat brownies!

Emmerson getting ready to what she excels at.

Nutella brownies with raspberry sauce and caramel iced cream.

Note the camera on the chair to the guys left. Videoing lunch - people WAY into this aspect of the social media over here - shoot and share ...

Across the street from the Peninsula is Ayala Park - a private for public use park owned by the Ayala's. Kind of an interesting concept but there is a sign that explains while this is open to the public, it is the private property of the Ayala's and whatever they want to do with it is up to them - or something like that. Nice park in the middle of Makati - well used. 

Bamboo backdrop.

Sure will miss this stuff ....

Sisters and best friends.

In the stock exchange courtyard that butts up against the park. The Ayala's probably own the stock exchange too ....

Across Makati Avenue from the Peninsula.

Notice the Jeepney waiting to get thru Makati and Ayala Ave intersection.

Tokyo Around Town

It is a 4 hour flight from Nino Aquino International Airport in Manila to Narita Airport in the Tokyo satellite city of Narita. But the reality is it takes about a day ... pretty much any international flight and many local flights, due to airline regulations and transfers and getting to and from airports. We got up at around 4 a.m. to get our driver guy, Arnel to take us to the airport for a 7 am flight. We arrived in Narita around noon. Then after getting luggage and such we got our bus tickets for the 2 pm bus. Two hours later we were deposited in Kichijoji station quite close to our final destination which was Tracy Reeds apartment. So we commandeered a taxi in Kichijoji and gave the taximan the address and explanation of how to get to Tracy's place around 5 pm. It was about a 30 minute drive but of course things happen and he could not actually find Tracy's apt. After driving around her neighborhood for a while the taxi guy had me call her (she was up it the mountains enjoying the fall colours as one is supposed to do at this time of the year in Japan) and she gave me detailed instructions necessitating me to use my 20 some odd years old Japanese language skills to translate. It took us several drives around the neighborhood and a few more calls to eventually arrive at Tracy's apt at about 730 pm. So the reality of a 4 hour jaunt from Manila to Tokyo needs to be taken into this contextual reality - it takes about a day. While taking a bit of time, it was relatively straight forward and having Tracy accomodate us was absolutely wonderful. Always a perk when you have someone in the know as a willing host. The first day or so we were on our own but when Tracy arrived back from her leaf viewing excursion - she was full on fabulous. We awoke each morning with some sort of breakfast concoction baking away which the girls devoured with enthusiasm. She then helped us organize our days in Tokyo while she had to venture off to her duties at the American School of Japan. She then met us after her workday and our tour day for some really great dining and walkabouts in her neck of the woods.

Emmerson not sure what to make of this place -  one of the eclectic shops that make-up the Harajuku area of Tokyo. This is an area known for trendy shopping and for the infamous "cosplay" (costume play) scene.

From Harajuku we ventured off to Shibuya which is the super cool part of Tokyo, to walk around and shop and eat and hang out and such. It is a massive train station and the home to the Hachiko statue memorializing the wonderful story of a dog's loyalty to his owner. The girls have read the story and were excited to experience this tangible part of the story.

The scene as one ventures out of Shibuya Station.

We had to go to Tokyo Station to get our Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets in order for our trip to Kyoto. While doing so, we came across this rather rare scene - sumo wrestlers were congregating to get a train to their next destination. I am not sure about the details, what "heya" or training stables they were from - most likely several as indicated by the various yukata's worn by the wrestlers. They made quite the scene and lots of Japanese folk were as curious as we were - taking pictures and asking the sumo guys what they were up to. I gave the girls the camera and told them to document the experience - shy at first but eventually gained confidence and got some interesting pictures of the scene.

A really neat part of Japanese culture - the traditional juxtaposed with the modern.

One for the ages .... the sumo guys were super cool and accommodating to all the attention they were getting.

Ada's shot - cool shoes.

Ada acknowledging the dichotomous nature of getting around in Tokyo/Japan - incredibly efficient but does take a bit of figuring out. This was actually taken at the airport when we were arranging for our bus to Kichijoji.

Tokyo is well known for its vending machine availability and options.

This is the local station near ASJ and Tracy's apt. It was about a ten minute walk and from here we could catch a train that would take us into downtown Tokyo and beyond.

Enjoying a convenient store (7-11) breakfast treat.

On the train.

"Posu"

These images are certainly not organized ... this was back at the airport where we had a meal. Everytime the girls ordered a kids meal - which we typically do - they would provide very kid appropriate culinary .... hello kitty spoons and bowls and such which the girls got a kick out of.

Ada at the airport.

This was actually at the end of our trip. After several days in Kyoto, we returned to Tokyo, actually Narita (the satellite city where the airport exists) to stay the night in order to get an early flight the next morning. This is at the train station bike park. Try and find the girls ....

Out and About Tokyo

Several repeats here but thats OK! Hachiko statue outside Shibuya Station. Wonderfully sad story.

Out and about the streets of Shibuya. The girls posing with some hats from one of the shops on the streets.

Burger King celebrating Halloween in a very Japanese way. I could go off here for quite a while but it would bore the few people who actually look at this so I will refrain .... BUT it is super cultural and stuff. 

Just liked the reference to the Chicago butter chicken ... whatever that is.

Girls on the station platform. I love how they go from place to place and seem quite comfortable with their surroundings - much due to the fact that they have eachother to deal with all of these experiences. They create elaborate scenarios which can go on for quite a while and allow them to deal with some of the tedium of travel. Here they are in the midst of one of these scenarios.

Train at the local station near Tracy's place. I love this scene ... oh to be a part of my day to day existance. 

This photo should be in the Kamakura post - but it is not and I am not going to make the effort to reload and such. This is at the restaurant where we ate while making our way to the Kamakura giant Buddha temple. It is quite famous - an Australian chef who made his way by opening up this and subsequent restaurants focusing primarily on high quality breakfast items.

I used to surf near here ...

They are wonderful girls, daughters, travelers, friends, funny, quirky, polite, curious, willing - so glad we have done this with them.

And 7-11 in the background which is sooo much more than a convenient store in Japan - they are now into the finance industry as well. 

Ritual cleansing at the Kamakura Temple.

Some folk still do wear the traditional kimono - but most only on occasions.