Ready for Maxi

And so... many of you may, or may not, know this but Bettina and Tony are expecting a baby boy, Maximilian, at the end of December. Tony flew to California this past weekend to spend time with Bettina and "Maxi." Tony was excited to see his friends and family who showed up for Bettina's baby shower. (Thanks to all who helped organize the baby shower: Salomon, Paula, Cristina, Brian, and Karen). Now Tony is back in Japan putting the finishing touches on the family nest that he has been preparing over the past few months. Tony will head back to California at the end of November to help Bettina deliver Maxi. Once the baby is strong enough to fly then Bettina and Maxi will re-join Tony back in Japan. Needless to say, Tony and Bettina are very excited and a little nervous about brining new life into this world.


The weather in Japan has finally cooled off. The hot and humid sweaty summer was almost unbearable. Winter will soon approach and the leaves will turn and change colors in no time, bringing new hopes and challenges. Below are some photos of the new nest.

Welcome to Tony and Bettina's home. The front entrance is shown here. The home is fairly large (~1100 sq ft, 3Br, 2Ba Town Home) by Japanese standards. The home has wood panel floors and is also brand new and is located about 4 minutes away from a major subway line.

The kitchen appliances are typically smaller than those of the U.S. The combo microwave and oven has many cooking options/settings but it is challenging to use because the display is in Japanese. Notice the small oven for cooking fish on the left side of the photo.

Here is a shot of Maxi's bed which is located in the corner of his future room down the hall from Bettina and Tony. This room will serve as an office until Maxi is old enough to sleep on his own.

Tony and Bettina's home has many electronic controls. There is a control on the 2nd floor for controlling tap and bath water temperature. With the push of a button the bathtub on the 1st floor will fill up with hot water. There is an electronic control for the heated floors. Tony's favorite control is the toilet control shown above. The toilet contains a bidet and spray and blow dryer. The lid automatically lifts when he hovers over the toilet. The toilet automatically flushes and closes the lid when Tony is finished taking care of his business. This is a nice feature which will prevent him from getting in trouble with Bettina for leaving the toilet seat up.

This is a shot from the attached two car garage located on the lower level. In the foreground is the loaner Harrier (Lexus) SUV that Tony was driving until his brand new Vanguard SUV (background) was delivered by car agent Uno-san. The SUV is not very eco-friendly but it does burn less gas than the Harrier and it does have plenty of room for Maxi's toys...

Bettina's visit to Japan

After Tony spent two months alone in Japan, Bettina finally came to visit for one week to help Tony find a home. They spent three days house hunting and finally decided to rent a little brand new townhouse in Yagoto. Pictures will follow after move-in in September.

While Tony was at work Bettina visited Nagoya's main attraction the Nagoya's castle.

The weather was very tiring: extremely humid and hot which made sightseeing less comfortable.

However Bettina still boarded the famous bullet train Shinkansen for a speedy short 35 minute ride to Japan's most visited tourist attraction: Kyoto.

Can you find Bettina in the train station crowd?

Kyoto has so many temples, shrines and beautiful gardens that Bettina's and Tony's Kyoto pictures were not duplicate but complimentary. See Kyoto's Golden Pavillon, Kiyomizudera Temple, Heian Shrine and Gion's winding streets:

Finally the weekend arrived and Tony had time for sightseeing with Bettina. They decided to take the train to Toba, a little harbor city where the famous Mikimoto Pearl Island is located. Tony and Bettina watched the traditional pearl diver women demonstrate their skills, helped a little and visited the very informative Pearl Museum. Tony offered Bettina even a beautiful pearl tiara.

After visiting Japan's largest temple area, the shrine of Ise, Tony and Bettina were up for a real local treat, a summer festival with 9000 fireworks displays at the river banks of Shima Nationalpark. The fireworks were going on for 2 hours while food vendors were preparing delicious snacks at hundred of food stalls along both sides of the river banks.

While Tony will be up for many more of these summer festivals while in Japan, Bettina had to return home to work.

And now begins work - In Japan

Konnichiwa, O-genki desu ka?

Well, it's been quite some time since Tony and Bettina have updated their blog. They have a new country to add to their travel blog - Japan. They are in the process of relocating to Nagoya, Japan. Tony has accepted a 2 year term position with his company. Tony has an exciting job, providing support to a Japanese partner which is helping to make a next generation commercial airplane. And so the work begins but the travel does not stop.

Tony rented a nice summer residence in Balboa Island, CA for his lovely wife, Bettina, until he settles into Japan. In the meantime Tony is roughing it up at the Hilton Nagoya. Bettina will arrive this week to help with the house hunting. So what is (Nagoya) Japan like you ask? Well Nagoya is certainly different than Newport Beach. or Balboa Island. Nagoya is an industrial city. It is not quite as sunny Newport Beach. The trains are really packed but are never late. It is very quiet on the trains, hardly anyone speaks. If they do, it is typically not in a very loud voice. It is against the rules to talk on your cell phone while riding the subway. Tony takes three trains to get to work in about 45 minutes. His work place is a massive factory which is located right next to the water. It has rained on and off this past month. The extremely hot and humid weather is fast approaching. Prices are not quite as high as expected - if you are an efficient shopper. Nagoya is known for having good, tasty food at cheap prices. The other night Tony went to a Yakitori restaurant which served every piece of chicken that you can imagine (liver, heart, neck, leg, etc). Tony liked the chicken sushi but the sake was even tastier. There are plenty of nice restaurants and shops located at the main train station which is one stop away from the Hilton. The city streets are very clean and very safe.

Here is a view of the city from the hotel room:

Sake and Sushi
Grey rain in Nagoya
-- Warm cozy restaurant

Tony has been working terribly long hours with his Japanese partners. He did get a chance to escape to Kyoto with a few colleagues for the day. Kyoto is huge and in one day you can just barely begin to scratch the surface. Kyoto is the home of the Geisha. The trip from Nagoya to Kyoto aboard the Shinkansen (bullet train) lasted about approx. 30 minutes. Train speeds can be as high as 300 km/hr (186 mph).

Here is a photo from the Kyoto Tower located just across from the train station. The really nice places are located on the outskirts of the city off in the distance.

Tony took a walking tour and saw many shrines and temples. The picture below was taken at the Chion-in Buddhist temple. This temple boasts the biggest wooden gate in all of Japan. It also boasts the largest bell in Japan (shown below), weighing in at 74 tons. It takes about 17 monks to pull the giant log back to ring the bell.

Tony made many young friends while he was in Nagoya.

Children are open
Smiling and laughing a lot
-- Never forget those fun days?

*********************************************************************

Tony also visited Tokyo recently. Luckily, Tony and Bettina's good friend Nehal was next door, in Korea, on company business and flew into Tokyo for a mini-vacation. Tony traveled to Tokyo from Nagoya on the bullet train, once again, and joined Nehal for a site seeing tour. It cost approximately $100 and took 2 hours to get to Tokyo from Nagoya. Unlike Nehal, Tony was not too excited about Tokyo. It was just another big city with lots of shops and malls. Tony stayed in the area call Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a great place to stay if you plan to climb Mount Fuji. The main bus which travels to Fuji is located about 3 minutes from the Shinjuku subway station. Tony and Nehal tried to purchase a bus ride to Fuji but all seats were sold out. That was probably a good thing since Tony did not have all is his hiking gear in order. However, Nehal was determined and she purchased a ticket the following day. She was brave enough to "bag" the Fuji peak all by herself.

Here are some photos of Nikko which is home to many World Heritage sites. It is located about 2 hours north of Tokyo by train. Nikko is big. So big that that it would be best to spend a really long weekend there. It is a sacred place that was established in the 8th century by Shodo Shonin. It was a training center for Buddhist monks. That was until it was taken over by Warlord Shogunate Tokugagwa Iyesawa.

At Nikko, Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples scattered in the hilly woodlands peacefully coexist. It is one of Japan's major attractions.

Our good friend Nehal at the Shin-Kyo Bridge

Sayonara for now !!

Argentina and Uruguay

Senor Tango, Glaciers and Torres in Patagonia and lots of Mate with bombilla, jaja Argentina!

After our 3 nights in the very simple Residencial Luna in Puerto Iguazu (10$ per person per night but loud and dusty), we enjoyed our two nights in another great Hilton in Buenos Aires, located directly in the modern harbour district of Puerto Madero with a fresh breeze from Rio de la Plata and a great view of the city. While the concierge recommended an Argentinian steak dinner at San Telmo's "La Brigada Parilla" followed by a Tango show at La Ventana, our taxi driver convinced us to go all the way to Viyetes to see an authenic big musical style Tango show at Senor Tango which was really spectacular.



The next day we visited colorful La Boca, founded by Italian immigrants where we met Guillermo Alio, a renowned Tango dancer and famous artist (known for his collages of tango dancers) who taught in Los Angeles in the late 90's. He gave us a short lesson on the spot. We would have loved to take a real lesson with him if only time would have allowed. Don't miss Caminito-La Boca and Tango Multiple Gallery during your visit to Buenos Aires.




San Telmo's Plaza Dorrego is the place to see Portenos (nick name for people from Buenos Aires) dance Tango live on a Sunday afternoon right in front of Cafe Mundo Tango (best is view from their first floor balcony). Sunday is also the day for the arts fair at Plaza Francia in Recoleta, right next to the cementary where you can pay homage at the famous Argentinian mausoleums (like Evita and Julio Borges).

The oldest coffee house in Argentina is the elegant Cafe Tortoni where all important Portenos used to socialize. It is located just down the Ave de Mayo from the Casa Rosada, serves exotic salads and features daily tango shows in a very intimate atmosphere. As you can see, the performers where even asking Bettina on stage. Unfortunately she was not prepared or trained to dance in her Havaianas.

This experience convinced Tony and Bettina not to leave Buenos Aires without taking at least one tango lesson at Confiteria Ideal (near Corrientes). Confiteria Ideal offers a group tango lesson from 09:15 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. each day followed by a Milonga with a little show and live music.


We could have stayed in Buenos Aires much longer but our travel plans called for Patagonia. We flew via Argentinia's little Switzerland (Bariloche) to El Calafate to visit the still growing Perito Moreno glacier in the Las Glaciares National Park. El Calafate has the nearest airport to the National Park which is still 80 km away from this really overpriced town. We can recommend the Kosten Aike hotel in El Calafate from our own experience (after staying two nights in the simple and loud Hostel America del Sur) but we heard good reviews about Los Alamoas and the only hotel located in the National park called Los Notros. We did not have time to experience it ourselves but heard also that the Big Ice Trekking by Hielo y Aventuras and Cerro Feria's horse back tours are worth the time and money. We enjoyed the Safari Nautico along Perito Moreno's wall and the views from the balconies (pasarelas).


Due to overbooked tours to El Chalten to see the climber's dream Fitz Roy or to participate at Minitrekking (we were there at peak season) we decided to add another country to our trip and took a strenious day tour to the Chilenian side of Patagonia to visit Chile's famous Torres Del paine National Park with its chocolate dipped croissant shaped Cuernos de Paine and the landmark Torres Del Paine.


Our curiousity kept us going and we continued our trip around the Southern Hemisphere with a visit to Uruguay. We flew directly with Pluna from Buenos Aires to the upscale summer resort Punta Del Este (summer retreat for the high society from Buenos Aires and Montevideo) which resembles Monte Carlo and the French Cote Azur and Italian Riviera. Thanks to Muaro (Padi dive instructor, fluent in English and born in Punta del Este) we were able to complete our Open Water dive certificate in the rather cold and windy waters at the Peninsula of Punta Del Este where the Rio de la Plata meets the Atlantic. We were lucky enough to stay at the only Casino and Spa resort (Conrad) where we enjoyed great views of Playas Mansa and Brava. After two days we had to move on to explore the wilder coast line Northeast of Punte Del Este. We visited the alternative beach towns of La Paloma (surf beaches) and La Pedrera as well as Punta Del Diabolo which we found overcrowded during peak season. We finally found a little paradise in Uruguay when visting Cabo Polonio which is not even mentioned by Lonely Planet. In order to access the National Nature Monument of Cabo Polonio you have to hire a 6x6 Jeep van that takes you on a 20 minute ride through pine trees and sand dunes until you finally see the lighthouse and a peninsula with little fisher houses at the end of a wide beach. There are only two guest houses in Cabo Polonia and we can recommend La Perla. Bring more time with you and rent a little cabin and enjoy serenity, tranquility, wild nature, laid back hippie life with live music, candle light and fresh fish. Take a boat ride to the large see lion colonies and a horse back ride over the dunes and just forget the hectic of our daily lives for a little while!


Cabo Polonio - hidden paradies in the dunes!

Now we are in Sao Paulo and almost on our flight back to the US. Once we will have landed in Los Angeles we will have completed 40 flights and visited 12 countries in 12 weeks.

We are looking forward to sharing more of our pictures with all of you soon!

Hasta la vista familia y amigos! Life is a beach.

Second baptism under the Iguazu Falls

This is after our first shower under the main waterfall.

Brasil - 3 weeks are not enough!

Agua de Coco, Sucos, Acai and Havaianas!!!!

After the grey and wet welcome of Rio de Janeiro and Manaus, we had a wonderful time in sunny Salvador da Bahia, Rio Grande del Norte and Fernando de Noronha until the rain caught up with us at the Brazilian side of the Foz do Iguacu again!

The definite highlight was the Northeast of Brazil with its soft sandy beaches and turquoise blue warm waters in Praia da Pipa, Genipabu and in the Archipelago Fernando de Noronha where the warm waters invited us to finally start surfing and diving!

Let´s start chronologically with our arrival in Sao Paulo on December 20, 2007. We were lucky to be able to stay at the Hilton Morumbi which is definitely one of the nicest city Hiltons and very close to the domestic airport from which we boarded our plane to Rio.

Encouraged by Lonely Planet, we took the Real bus (a low $6.50 fare per person compared to the $74 cab ride) from Rio´s domestic airport (great view of the Sugar Loaf during landing) along Copacabana and Ipanema beach to the Sheraton in Leblon which has three swimming pools and a little private sandy beach with views of Ipanema beach. While this hotel offers great tranquility we would recommend a hotel located close to Avenida Atlantica at the Copacabana or at least in Ipanema since this is where all the happenings are (Leblon is nice but too far if you have to rely on public transportation). Along Copacabana we enjoyed fresh Coconuts and Caipirinhas at the numerous little kiosks, awed at the creations of the sandcastle artists and witnessed a colorful Christmas Parade (Parada Illuminada) under the umbrellas of a little beach bar among really friendly Cariocas (Brasilians born in Rio). One block from the beach in Ipanema and Copacabana are lots of juice bars which prepare fresh tropical fruit juices on the spot and the culinary highlight was our Christmas dinner at Churrascaria Porcao (it is really hard to resist the succulent meat brought on skewers to your table). Since the Churrascarias offer a huge selection of salads, vegetarians don´t have to leave hungry either! You can tell, we really enjoyed Brazil´s culinary delights! Unfortunately all our Sugar Loaf and Corcovado pictures are grey but it was still impressive to stand under the huge Cristo statute! Our tip: don´t take the expensive and remotely situated Corcovado train but save time and avoid waiting in line by hiring a taxi to drive up Corcovado.

(Santa Theresa)

After no sunshine and no samba in Rio (Christmas is a very quiet time in Rio - next time we will visit in January-February), we flew to Manaus, the only mega metropolis in the middle of the Amazonian jungle. We planned to get a real nature experience with the Lonely Planet recommended guide Max Maia who was very expensive and unfortunaley rather disappointing. His jungle lodge (Dolphin Lodge) is dark and extremely basic (cold water showers, single beds only, bad matresses, old mosquito nets and power only from 06:00 p.m. to midnight) and his jungle tour guide was not very motivated to show us a lot of wildlife. It is difficult nevertheless to spot wildlife in the Amazon so enjoy the plants and the birds.

Our tip: try to take a luxury boat cruise along the Rio Negro instead of staying in a basic, overpriced lodge. We also heard from fellow travelers that the Patanal has an abundance of wildlife (and is not as far from rio as the Amazon).

Our highlights of the Amazon: Crocodile spotting at night, survival training in the jungle, Piranha fishing, the colorful meeting of the brown and the black river just before they unite to form the Amazone river (Encontro das Aguas) and the river edge swimming pool at the Tropical Business hotel right next to the Rio Negro.

Our New Year´s celebration in colorful Salvador da Bahia:

We can highly recommend the Guest House ¨Solar dos Deuses¨which is located in a pedestrian area in the middle of the Unesco world heritage Pelourinho with nice rooms, good breakfast, friendly service and windows to the beautiful square in front of the Convento Sao Francisco (the church with the richest gold trimmings in all of Salvador). While a little dangerous at night (we arrived in the middle of the night and did not feel very safe at first) the Pelourinho is very colorful during the day with music, Capoeira acrobatic performances and friendly people at every corner. Salvador´s New Year´s eve celebration at the Lighthouse of Barra beach at the Baia Todos os Santos was broadcasted all over the country since the most famous Brazilian singer Carlinhos Brown and the world renowned drummer band Olodum were on stage to call in the New Year. We felt pretty safe among all the Bahians in the crowd and enjoyed the proximity to the stage and the long fireworks show and caipirinha stands along the beach. Definitely a sparkling way to welcome 2008 - Feliz Ano Novo Amigos!

Rio Grande del Norte - our favorite state of Brazil: with all the beautiful beaches and sand dunes, it is really hard to choose to head North or South of Natal. We recommend to take time for both and we really would like to come back to Brazil and drive in a buggy from Natal along the coast all the way via Fortaleza to Jericoacoara!

This time we had only one day time for a short buggy ride through the 80m high sand dunes of Genipabu (North of Natal) but the beaches of Genipabu are worth a stay of 2-3 days - especially if you stay like us in the full-service Pousada Vila do Sol with direct saltwater lagoon access.

Luckily we took 4 days to head to Praia de Pipa, 90 km south of Natal (a 2 hour bus ride) with its peaceful, relaxed and warm atmosphere. Tony was so inspired by the cozy ambience of Praia do Amor and the high waves that he finally took surf lessons and really enjoyed the warm waters. On our last day we met a really nice family from Brasilia that took us to Baia do Cunhau, a beach full of river and salt water lagoons and tidal pools. There are so many beautiful beaches around Pipa that you can spend weeks here just exploring. The streets of little Pipa are lined with wonderful restaurants (try the Lobster Fettuccine at The Doors), bars and boutiques and the guesthouses are still affordable (we found the best deal with our centrally located Pousada de Pipa II B&B Guesthouse). If we did not have our tickets to Fernando de Noronha firmly booked, we probably would have stayed longer.

The National Geographic world famed Archipelago de Fernando de Noronha:

Sit on the left side of the plane to get the first overview of the 10km long main island with it Morro de Pico landmark rock!

We actually found an affordable Pousada (basic but good value for money and centrally located: Pousada Alamoa) and reasonably priced restaurants (after being warned to be ready to spend a fortune on this Brazilian Paradise Island).

Here are our FEN tips:

First of all don´t cut your stay too short - you need 5 days minimum to visit and snorkel along all of the fantastic beaches, take a boat ride and watch the spinner dolphins.

Secondly: get your PADI dive certificate before you arrive to enjoy the more interesting experienced diver sites (during our Scuba Diver course we did not get to see too much during our two 12 m dives but spent way too much for the course....)....

If you are not into diving, don´t worry, you will see plenty of fish and turtles just snorkeling. Take a guide to be able to snorkel with lots of turtles in Baia do Soeste, rent your own buggy and enjoy the ride to the natural tidal pools of Praia Atalaia (check the once a day opening hours of this protected nature reserve and come 2 hours early to park your buggy in line to be sure to be amongst the 100 persons per day which are allowed to snorkel in the crystal clear waters filled with beautiful aquatic life).

The 50m of steep stairs down to 5-star rated Praia do Sancho and the strenious hike back up are worth it (bring lots of water, a snack and your snorkel gear). Baia do Sancho has the most turquoise blue water of the island and lots of colorful fish and turtles to swim with.

Have a late delicious lunch at Meu Paraiso at Praia do Boldro and stay at the elevated bar until sunset for the best view.

Visit the deepest sand beach of Praia do Leao which turtles choose for nesting and experienced surfers don´t miss out on the high surf of Praia Cacimba de los dos Padres.

Only once a week the barco Trovao dois Mares offers a 5 hour boat tour along the beautiful northern coastline including tow dive snorkeling where you get pulled behind the boat at high speed holding onto a transparent board.

There is even nightlife in FEN at Bar do Cochorro (Maracatu traditional story telling dance performance followed by social dance).

As you can see, lots to see and do in Fernando de Noronha but flights are rare and booked out fast, and therefore we had to head back to Natal after 3 days. Next time we try to hitch a sailing cruise from the Mediterranean (we met Germans from the island of Mallorca who sailed all the way from Spain to FEN)! For our European friends: check out arte tv in July for the 20:15 h evening special series on Fernando de Noronha and you might see us on tv!

We ended our tour of Brazil at Foz do Iguacu at the border to Argentina and Paraguy and we are so glad we chose this way to enter Argentina. After having visited the Niagara Falls and The Victoria Falls the Cataratas of Iguazu were still missing in Bettina´s list of the biggest waterfalls of the world and they are really the most impressive. The Brazilian side of the falls is an absolute MUST since it gives you the Grand Overview and is beautiful even in the pooring rain. Crossing the border from Brazil to Argentina is easier than the other way around and it is great to have the grand overview before getting the ´hands-on-experience´of the Argentinian side. Our tip for any Cataratas de Iguazu visit: splurge and spend the money to stay a night in a room with view of the waterfalls at the Sheraton in the middle of the Argentinian National Park of Iguazu.

Now we are looking forward to our travels through Argentina, but we are already missing Agua de Coco, sucos and the pristine Brazilian beaches.......

Below is a cute video from our trip to the Monkey Forest in Bali in December which we thought you might enjoy