1. It's hot and humid! - When we arrived the temps were near 90 and the humidity would sometimes reach 90%. So, even a brief walk pushing a stroller could get very sweaty, very quickly. There are vending machines everywhere just in case you need a cold beverage to cool you down.
2. It is mountainous. - If I keep along the coast, it is fairly flat. But there is a very busy road between us and the coast so I tried to walk east to go further inland and I soon found myself trekking up a very steep hill. This is the hill that leads up to Reese's school. (More about that later.)
4. There is a lot of traffic. - Not traffic jams per se but lots of cars on the roads at all times...cars and bikes and motorcycles and scooters. Because of this I am reluctant to ever put Quinn down on the sidewalk. The sidewalks are narrow, even having Reese walk in front of me makes me nervous because cars are constantly whizzing by.
There are a few restaurants that we can walk to but not much else. Not even a mini-mart. To get around most people take public transit. Their buses are clean and reliable. They post the schedule and usually a bus will come within 1-2 minutes of the posted time.
On our 2nd night in town we all piled on the bus and went out in search of sushi...of course! It didn't take us long to find a place. But being able to order would be another challenge. Luckily lots of restaurants here have picture menus to help the tourists figure out what they want to eat. Which brings me to item #5.
5. Sushi in Japan is raw fish on top of sticky rice. - No crunchy rolls, no caterpillar or dragon rolls with avocado and special sauces. Just bare bones. It's good. But you have to really like raw fish. Reese doesn't we discovered. But thanks to our friends Eric and Suyong we knew that 7 Elevens here have lots of pre-packaged convenience foods.
Every time we walk outside the door, a new impression forms. Just small things but it's enough to remind us we're not in Kansas...er Chicago...anymore.
