The people

Syrians are among the most friendly, warm-hearted and cheerful people I ever met. They embraced us with open arms and went out of their way to help us and make us feel comfortable. Of course, Emma was the star and got lots of hugs and kisses (even from strangers on the street).

Blending in (somewhat :)

Wearing traditional dress was required for Carrie to enter the mosque.

Umayyad Mosque

A focal point of Damascus city life, the Umayyad Mosque is considered among the most important muslim places of worship and one of its greatest architectural sights. Its surpassed in significance only by Al Haram in Mecca, Al Nabawi in Medina and Al Aqsa in Jerusalem. Adding to the significance of Damascus in Islam's religious life is the fact that the city has served as a starting point for the Hajji (annual pilgrimage of muslims to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam. As a result, muslims from many different countries and religious fractions visit the city and Mosque. It was amazing to see so many people coming together united in their belief in Islam, but very different in terms of dress and custom.

The Umayyad Mosque is a symbol for the complex cultural and religious past of the city and Middle East as a whole. After the Arab conquest of Damascus, the mosque was built on top of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist (there is a shrine holding his remains inside the mosque). The Christian churn in tun had been built on top of the roman temple honoring Zeus. There is also the tomb of Saladin, the Arabic hero who expelled the Christian Crusaders from the Middle east after their conquest of Jerusalem. With Islam being far from a single religious confession the Umayyad Mosque is a symbol of one of the earliest and most profound forks for Islam faith, the split into Shias and Sunnis. As the second of the four islamic caliphates, the Umayyad dynasty established the largest muslim state in history and Arab and were responsible for establishing the Sunni after sizing power from prior successors to Mohammed. Oh yes, they also build the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus as the center of their empire.

Typical Damascus

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Souqs are Arabic street markets where everything imaginable is being sold or traded. The one in Damascus is one of the largest of the Arabic world. It spans across the entire old town, from one city wall to the other, a walk of at least 1 hour.

While people are reluctant to talk about politics with us, we see a lot of such statements around. Pictures and slogans of president al-Assad are everywhere, and posters of Nasrallah, leader of Hezbolla are a frequent sight as well. The Syrian and Palestinian flag is proudly displayed all aorund.

Talisman

These are pictures of our base camp in Syria. The Talisman Hotel is a beautifully restored old Jewish home in the historic city center of Damascus. And the only one with a swimming pool which the kids appreciated. We enjoyed the tranquility of the place just a wall away from the bustling and crowed street scene of Damascus.

On roads less travelled

We made it to Damascus!

Thank you Japan!

....for a truly amazing and wonderful time. Now on our way to the Middle East.....

Kids are going local

I was intrigued by the challenge to understand and be able to work with the Japan train system and schedule. Not easy at first since the degree of complexity is high (different rail companies, routes / stops frequently changing, trains may have more than 2 or 3 names, time tables and station descriptions often on in Japanese). But I did figure it out eventually and it was a lot of fun after that. What I like especially

1) You will always be able to get from A to B without having to wait for a train for long. You just have to find the right way through the maze of connecting trains 2) trains are super punctual 3) fares are reasonable and predictable 4) when I do get lost (and inevitably I do) there are always helpful people around to send me to the right platform.

The only mistake I made - taking a Tokyo metropolitan train with all my luggage during rush hour. But then again, who would have thought that 10 pm on a week day would be peak time for office workers to go home.

Origami Folding

Thank you to our friends from the SQE Team in Tokyo, especially Mai-san, Takaaki-san, Mariko-sam and Akihito-san for the lesson and fun times. The swans, Pikachu and Shuriken are beautiful and still with us as we continue our travel. We are convinced they will bring us good luck!

Life style or art form?

Most of our nightly accommodations are in ryonkan style rooms, the traditional japanese style inns with tatami mats, multi functional eating / sleeping arrangements, and strict shoe & kimono dress code. Some even had an Onsen bath in house (big public bath houses) which were relaxing and fun, even for the kids. We really enjoyed them. Only draw back, the staff ususally speaks very little English.

One of the boys' favorite features was that the room was easily changed into one giant soccer field (and used as such).

Caution: Hot!

Something we've noticed it that the hot water coming from the faucets all across Japan is really hot. Burning hot actually. Some interesting conservation potential maybe?

Fast and slow

Both seen and used in Japan.

The Shinkansen high speed train reaches 300 km/h (190 mph). Zooooooommmmmmm!

The other picture is a small alley way in Kyoto, found during our quest for vegetarian food.

Kamakura

Two perfect days at the beach - blue sky, warm water and excellent waves. There are also several really interesting temples in area that we had the chance to visit during water play intermissions.

While the beach is kept nice and clean, the ocean kept bringing lots of trash (mainly plastics in all shapes and forms) and a variety of dead animals to the shore. The kids enjoyed investigating and collecting 'stuff'.

Thank you Lawson

for saving us many times.....

Our big family purchases were at times logistically challenging for this chain of small conveniece stores but we were always met with lots of smiles. I want a Lawson in my neighborhood at
home!

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Seen along the road in Kyoto

Temples in Kyoto

There are many impressive ones and its hard to pick favorites. I post pictures of Kinkaku-ji 金閣寺 , Temple of the Golden Pavilion also known as Rokuon-ji, because the pictures turned out well (thank you Nexus One) . My favorite ones are the Zen Temples with their stone gardens.

Nara Park

There are about 1200 free roaming deer in Nara Park. They are very tame but eating them is not really an option. They are considered sacred messengers from the gods. The highlight in Nara was big Bhudda. Really cool see - very very big and very very old.

Happy 1300th Birthday Nara!

You still look great!

Election Time

Its been interesting to witness the election dynamics while we are in Japan. Candidates like using loud speakers, drive around town in colorful vehicles to get attention, and flyers and supporters are everywhere. The erie thing was that the day after elections all had disappeared immediately. It was like nothing had happened.

The upper house elections, held last weekend, dealt a blow to the government of Prime Minister Kan from the center left Democratic party. The party had just last year come into power after decades of rule by the Liberal Democratic party, but the momentum seems to swing back quickly (Liberal Democrats had the most gains in this election). While its not entirely Mr. Kan's fault (he's only been in office for a month), it didn't help that he proposed doubling the sales tax right before election time.

Japan has had 19 (!) Prime Ministers leading the country since 1989. I've often asked why, but no one had a convincing explanation so far. Feel free to reply to my post of you do have an idea....

Super Heros

The TOEI Kyoto Move Studio was a highlight, and not just because it allowed us to stay dry on a rainy day. The depictions of old style japanese architecture and culture (incl. Samurai and Ninja fighting scenes) were fun and we got to play around with them. The kids were almost inseparable from the superhero museum (about 1000 of them in all imaginable poses). There jaws literally dropped when they first walked in. Side fact, over 200 movies are made here every year. Couple of productions were going on while we were there.

Rain

It's rainy season and we get some drizzle and showers every couple of hours. The warm rain feels good and everything dries up quickly. Not inconvenient at all.

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Trains

The public transportation system in Japan, especially trains are amazing - fast, clean, efficient and easy to get around in. The picture shows our Nara bound train at Kyoto station.

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The most beautiful game

Wherever we go soccer (better known as football around the world) is being followed passionately. Even we got up at 4am today to watch the game. Now all of our favorite teams are out unfortunately. Good luck to Spain!

Lunch with the Tokyo PQO&C Team

Wonderful company, great conversations and good food for a very special lunch. Thanks to the Tokyo PQO&C team for the good times, and a special shout out to Takaaki for organizing.

Survival training

Using the subway in Tokyo is a unique experience, especially during rush hour. Taking little kids in the subway during that time is considered a really bad idea by most, and a suicide mission by some. Without having planned for it, we unfortunately ended up on the Tokyo subway car at 8:30am on a weekday. Luckily it was just a 1 stop ride to get closer to our hotel (the kids had run out of steam walking). We were all squeezed in pretty tightly with kids on both arms and legs spread wide to protect the third. Mission accomplished but no need to do it again.

Jinrikisha Ride

Sunday morning, the first day after our arrival: When we got tired of carrying Eric on our shoulder, bouncing Emma ion our chest and pulling Alex along by his arm it was time for a human powered taxi ride (Asakusa temple area).

Grass lands (or not)

The boys love to play soccer and ever since we arrived in Japan they have asked for a meadow to play on. Having scouted all across Tokyo, this is the only one we found (in Yoyogi Park). The grass looks green, but is is too sturdy and the ground underneath much too muddy for play. We blame it on the grass unfriendly climate.

Tale of Mejji

I couldn't resist to do another post about the Mejji temple that we visited today. Emperor Mejji is credited with bringing Japan into the modern age. Under his reign, about 150 years ago, he coined the phrase"Japanese spirit and western knowledge". The goal was to preserve customs and traditions while learningfrom the advanced expertise of western civilizations.

Oasis

The kids wake up at the first crack of dawn, which is about 4am in Tokyo. And they are ready to do stuff. So we have lots of time in the morning to explore. Today we went to the Mejji Temple and Gardens near Shibuya. So far, this has been my favorite place to visit. Its a world removed from the hustle and rush of modern day Tokyo. Its an oasis of tranquilly and tradition. Friends in Tokyo told me that the Japanese are not very religious, but that they love to visit the temples. And I can see why. Its a great place for reflection and rare chance to escape the pulse of a "always on" urban life.