See you....

State-side!

I'm so excited to be heading home!

Can't think of a better way to be spending this Thanksgiving...

xx,

Lauren

While the cat's away...

The mouse plays?!?

Or, however the saying goes....

I had a nice little weekend and kept busy.

KC's birthday was this week, so we had a party on her roof Friday night to celebrate.

This is the most perfect time of year in HK, and now is when we want to spend lots of time on the roof. 

While we were in Tokyo, Hayley had her baby!

Tallulah Belle Strange was born on November 4. I couldn't wait to get my hands on her. 

Hayley and Mark are just smitten, and I couldn't be happier for them. 

Just the sweetest little family!

I had dinner with the girls last night, and afterwards we ran into this guy.

 Look familiar???

Andrew Zimmer is the host of "Bizarre Foods" and they were filming in HK last night. Do you watch Bizarre Foods? (It's on the Travel Channel in the US). I love it! Mr. Zimmer and Maddy are actually family friends, so today they were having dim sum together. Be on the look-out of Maddy on an upcoming segment. 

Hope ya'll are enjoying your weekends! 

One more week, and I'm State-side!

xx,

Lauren

Fish for you?

It's my last day in Tokyo, and we're starting early. We arrive at the subway at 5:00am to get to the Tsukiji Fish Market. 

The Tsukiji market is the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. 

An auction happens everyday around 4:30 am and ends by 6:00 am. 

The fish is auctioned off to the sushi restaurants. 

Getting into the auction is a bit of a crap-shoot. 

 Sometimes the guards will let toursits in, sometimes not. 

 It was not our lucky day. 

 The market in itself was pretty incredible. Can you believe these tuna?

We left the market by 6:30 and went back to the hotel to shower and get the fish smell off.

We spent our last afternoon wandering around Shinjuku. 

I left Michael that afternoon, and he was off a meeting. He's in Tokyo the rest of this week and then heads back to the States on Saturday. 

We had a great weekend in Japan. Tokyo is a fascinating city, and unlike any place I've been before.

 If you're making your bucket list, add this one to it.

xx,

Lauren

A little more Japan

We started our Saturday morning in Shinjuku and made our way to the Imperial Palace. 

 The walk leading up to the Imperial Palace is beautiful. This was our first glimpse of the leaves changing, so I just couldn't get enough of. There is no leaf changing in Hong Kong. (Our trees have been replaced with skyscrapers.) 

 The Palace is home to Japan's royal family. The Palace was destroyed during WWII, but was re-built afterwards in the original style. 

 I wanted to run through this field of trees. 

 Standing on the grass was forbidden. 

 This seems to be somewhat typical in Asia. I'm not a fan of this rule. 

We hopped back on the subway and made our way to Ginza. 

 Michael wasn't feeling so hot, we made a pit-stop at the Pharmacy. The pharmacist gave him some yummy powder that seemed to do the trick. The man was super nice, but spoke no English, so MP pointed out his symptoms on a nice chart. Brillant. 

 Ginza is an up-scale area of Tokyo. It has loads of department stores, small boutiques, and coffee houses. 

Shopping was amazing in Tokyo. What wasn't amazing was the exchange rate. 

 Therefore, very little shopping was done by the Phipps family. 

We did see a protest. It was free of charge. 

 We ended our day in Shibuya-ku. 

 And stopped for a drink after dinner. These drink machines are everywhere in Tokyo. The machines will spit out hot and cold drinks. MP's choice was a coffee. Literally, there are drink machines on every corner. 

 *******

It's Sunday morning, and we're making our way to Shibuya Crossing. 

All traffic stops for pedestrians and they cross at the same time. It's kinda cool. 

 Look at this sweet little Japanese woman beside MP. 

 MP really liked all the drinks. 

 We stopped by Takeshita Street on the way to the Meji Shrine. 

 This is Takeshita Street, and it's literally a playground for teens. The street is sprinkled with arcades, shops, crepe stands, and piercing galleries. 

 The Meji Shrine is one of Tokyo's must-sees. 

 It's set in a huge park and you must walk deep into the trees to get to the Shrine.

 We saw a wedding. 

The family and guests were marching behind the bride and groom. Everyone was silent. Not a peep was made. I don't think they were making their way to the reception. 

When we were exiting the Meji Shrine, we came across a bike rally. 

 This is what a Japanese biker babe looks like. 

 While wandering through Harajuku, we saw some really interesting sights. 

 I must put a stoller for Dudley on my Christmas list! (This is a joke). 

 We made our way back to the hotel, just in time to see Mt. Fuji in the background. 

We have an early morning tomorrow. The alarm goes off at 4:30 am. Ahh!

xx,

Lauren