Paris - Birthday Weekend

With the Dodo
The Dodo was in London for meetings and I was scheduled to be there a week later so we met up in Paris in the intervening weekend to celebrate my birthday.  We stayed in Montmarte at the top of Rue des Martyrs in a stylish apartment owned by an architectural writer and her husband.

Japan - Temples

and Outdoors

Japan - Bathing

Onsen

Japan - Countryside

Yachimata, Chiba

Tokyo - Tokyo Station

Character Street
A Japanese oddity that I'd not experienced before.  Deep inside Tokyo station, their Grand Central, there's a long hallway called "Character Street" where store after store sells 3-D approximations of beloved cartoon characters.

Tokyo - Regulars

The Usual Katsu Curry Spot
This trip we didn't repeat a lot of the usual things but this we couldn't pass up.  I had to cajole her a bit - she was complaining she was full and couldn't imagine eating such a big lunch.  "Let's just walk over and see" I said.  Walk we did, towards Meguro, where Jean used to work when she lived in Tokyo.  Down the steps from street level into a small hallway beneath the traffic and noise.  Barely noon and already a line.  We heard the sizzle of the pork and smelled it.  The waitress was making her way down the line, taking orders.  She looked at us in recognition.  "Less rice" she said in Japanese - remembering our usual order - even though we hadn't been here in a year.  We're once a year regulars.

Tokyo - Wandering

Hiroo, Ikebukuro, Uguisudani, Akihabara and Roppongi

We put on our traveling shoes and hit the streets, starting off in a small neighborhood called Hiroo.  I'd never been.  It's a bit schwanks, lots of embassies, small restaurants and cafes.  We ate breakfast and then sat in a tiny two-level cafe that could fit inside a double-decker bus.

Tokyo - Rock n Roll Izakaya

Food and Ambiance

Tokyo - Waiting for Pancakes

Super-Tower Pancakes in Shibuya
The new craze, apparently - impossibly fluffy, tall pancakes.  We went at 1:45, not realizing there were only three seatings per day and we'd just missed one.  In each seating they only make 20 servings.so they suggested we come back early for the 3pm slot.

Tokyo - Alley Food

Ebisu Yokocho
tightly packed, drunk crowd, greasy food, smoking

Tokyo - Asakusa

and Surrounding Hoods

Tokyo - Chocolate

Avant Garde Smores in Asakusa
While we were walking in the Asakusa neighborhood we noted a fancy looking chocolate shop and took refuge from the cold wind.

Tokyo - Ink

Not Tattoos...

File this under "strange things that I've never seen before."  Another Tokyo weirdness.  This is a store that is for pen lovers.  Ok, not exactly.  This is a store for ink lovers.  We stumbled into it while walking around.

Tokyo - Taiyaki

In a Flash

Tokyo - Noodles

Ichiran - Redux
After the museum, we went to a nearby ramen restaurant.  This is one we visited before and is pretty famous in Japan.  It starts as most do, with a visit to the vending machine outside the front door.  You pick your poison, insert some money and out pop paper tickets which you take inside with you.

Tokyo - Mori Art Museum

View Included
The Mori art museum sits on top of a skyscraper in the Roppongi neighborhood on the 50-something floor.  They were exhibiting the work of N.S. Harsh, an artist from Southern India whom neither of us had ever heard of.

Tokyo - Landing

The Redeye
After an overnight flight from Singapore to Tokyo, she looked much fresher than I.  I don't know how she does it.

Singapore - Family Goodbyes

Over Dinner, Of Course
On our last day we had a big goodbye dinner at the house.  Everyone was in a great mood, we'd had a fun visit.  I'd spent every minute attempting to become a better son-in-law.  My approach was simple - act like Jean.  Say yes to everything, try to pay for things and smile a lot.  I must say - I felt happier after I started doing that.

Singapore - Hawkers

The Best Thing About Singapore is Disappearing
Each time I come, there is one fewer.  Long gone is my beloved Lavender hawker - a ramshackle open-air food court not far from our condo.  I would come once every few weeks to nurse a beer or down a savory pancake or two.  It was across the street from an assortment of karaoke bars and cheap hotels - the people watching was second to none.  The shiny condo tower that replaced it casts a long shadow and no doubt will sanitize the whole neighborhood.

Singapore - Friends Dinner

Birthdays and New Years Celebration
I took the bus downtown and walked the last 1/2 mile to the National Gallery, a museum made from the former supreme court.  The clouds were threatening as I walked past the padang (cricket pitch.)  I was on my way to a dinner with all of Jean's friends.

Singapore - the Condo Roof

Even Greener
I went over to our condo to re-stain the teak deck on the roof.  It's clear our tenants love the roof, they've doubled down on the greenery.  Raoul, a Frenchman, explained that he decided to rent our place because of the roof.  His wife nodded in agreement.

Singapore - Changes

Before and After
When we bought our condo the neighborhood was one of the few which had never voted for the incumbent government.  It was known as an "opposition neighborhood" and was thus starved of funds.  It looked to be about 30 years behind.  One year after we bought our condo, the neighborhood voted the opposite way.  Soon after, the towers began to sprout.  This is the view looking north from our roof 4 years ago.

Singapore - the BEST Friend

Giselle
Jean and I picked her up from school one afternoon.  Imagine trying to pick out a small four-eyed asian girl from a sea of identically dressed four-eyed asian girls.  Thousands and thousands of them running out of school at the same instant - a yellow and blue wave. We stood waiting, looking - nothing. Eventually, she found us.

Singapore - Friends Five

Jiahui
Jiahui's nickname is Efficient Doggie.  Amongst all the friends, she simply gets things done.  If you talk about a movie you want to see, she'll ask in Singlish "got free tonight?" type on her phone and seconds later "booked, lah, 7pm."  If you have a dinner appointment with her at 6pm, she'll text you at 5:50, before you even arrive at the restaurant "hey, what you want, ah?  Ordering arrreddy, ok?"