Speaking of pricy camera accessories, did you know they make special camera lenses you can clip on to your iPhone? I kind of wish I'd found out about them before I bought a new point-and-shoot camera, but then, I suppose that a trip to photogenic Myanmar would not be the best place to start in with an untested method of photography. But still, I think I want some. Is it too late to put in a request to Santa?

I found a great travel site last week and I've been spending heaps of time on it. Most of the packing tips are for things I've already figured out, but I still love reading about it as I am convinced that one of these days I am going to manage to find the perfect method of packing. They also have lots of great ideas for things you can buy to make packing for travel easier...did you know there is a special packing cup you can buy to store your bras in so they don't get all squashed and deformed?? Genius.

They also have lots of bag reviews. I love bag reviews. I have many, many bags, most of which are great for traveling, but I am always on the lookout for something even better. Pockets. Pockets and compartments are key, which is why I have high hopes for my MEC backpack that I'm bringing to Myanmar. I usually use it as a gym bag so I don't get a lot of use out of all the little organizational bits but it has made a pretty good carry-on in the past. We'll see how it performs as my sole luggage, though.

And then there are the travel outfits. I mean, I'm not entirely sold on the actual concept of paying $175 for ballet flats, but the theory is lovely. Comfy shoes that look cute and fold up in your luggage? Sure, why not? (Again, is it too late to speak to Santa?)

Happy reading!

I decided to be responsible and buy an extra battery for my camera. All the reviews say that this camera sucks up the battery really quickly and since there will be three of us sharing a single hotel room with probably not very many sockets in a country where the electricity is a bit unreliable, I figured I'd better not count on being able to recharge my battery whenever I need to. In a similar vein, I bought a battery-operated charger for my phone, since I figure that of the three electronics I bring, that is probably the most important one. I can take pictures and, in an emergency, read a book. The battery was shockingly expensive but I don't have time to order one from Amazon for cheaper at this point.

Then I decided to be irresponsible and buy a new travel umbrella. This one is very cute (an elephant pattern!) and teeny tiny, so it will admirably fill the role of the perfect travel umbrella: namely, it will take up very little space in my bag and then prove to be useless in case of actual rain. Sure, I have other umbrellas that do that, but they are bigger and I figure if I'm going to carry an ultimately useless object around with me it should at least look good and not take up much space. Plus I can use it as a sun shade.

It is amazing to think that this time next week I will be in Bagan, tired out of my mind because we are planning to spend Sunday night on the overnight bus. Of course, since we can't make reservations online, it is entirely possible we will still be in Yangon and freaking out, but either way, it'll be warm.

One week from right now I will be sitting in my hotel room near Narita airport, presumably settling in for a good night's sleep so that I am well rested for my flight on Sunday.

Or possibly just lying there awake, staring at the ceiling, going "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" inside my head for hours.

One of the two.

I am pretty much all set for the holidays. I will need to pack this week as I really have to be pretty much ready to go by Thursday since Friday and Saturday are going to be busy. I actually have to pack two different bags since next Saturday I will post my suitcase filled with winter gear to the Sasakis as I am going straight to their place once I get back on January 1st. The plan is to stay for three days, embracing my inner teenager as I just lounge and nap and wake up in time for Keiko to put out delicious meals, although Hirofumi and family are coming over on the 2nd so probably instead I will spend a lot of time playing with the children. I'll head back to Hamamatsu on the weekend (I'm hoping that by leaving on the Saturday instead of Sunday I will miss the majority of holiday travelers) and then on Monday I'm going to Takayama, where I will do some sightseeing and possibly frolic in the snow. While there, I'm also going to take a short day trip to Shirakawa-go

My plan is to do all this traveling using the juhachi-kippu for the first time. It is primarily targeted at young people (hence the "18 ticket" name) but actually anybody can use it. The reason it is aimed at university students is because it is really cheap...for a set period of time you get five days of train travel for a total of ¥11000. It is very flexible...one person can use it for five days (they don't need to be consecutive, just within a period of validity) or five people can use it for one day or any combination therein. The catch is that you can only use local trains, which is where most older people with paying jobs throw up their hands and go "nope". The shinkansen is clearly out, but so are expresses, so it takes a while to get anywhere. None of the trips I'm planning should take more than five hours by local train, which is a reasonable amount of time and won't result in me being crippled. Taking the shinkansen would save me a lot of time but also cost me nearly ¥9000 yen per trip, so the savings are substantial.

I have to work at Seien on the 10th but since that is the last day I can use the ticket, I am planning to take the slow train to Tokyo after work for the weekend.

On the bright side, all this train travel should help kickstart my reading list for 2014. I've been keeping track this year and I have so far read 68. This is something of a surprise as I had assumed I would easily break 100, but then, most of the books I've been reading clock in at around 1000 pages. This summer I decided to read the entire Outlander series, which was about 7000 pages right there. I'm not sure if this means I need to start reading even more or try to choose smaller books.

Hallelujah, it is a Christmas miracle. I am all caught up on my recycling! I literally cannot remember the last time that happened. Recycling only happens every two weeks here so if I miss a week I suddenly have a month's worth of tins and bottles and whatnot and when I do take it out the next time, I fill up my bag but there is always stuff left over. And I'm not about to make two trips because I am usually sneaking it out semi-illegaly in the middle of the night rather than get up at 7 am on a Monday to take it out then.* And so it piles up. But lo! These last couple of months I have been good about taking it out every two weeks and finally it is all gone!

Pretty sure this means I am not going to manage to clean the apartment before I leave on holidays because asking for two Christmas miracles would just be greedy.

*At least the sneaking it out is an option...where Kylie lives, the bins are kept under lock and key and the community members take turns to stand out in front of them from 6-8 am on recycling days because sometimes local government is just plain ridiculous. "We trust you to vote and drive and pay taxes but not to separate your brown bottles from the green ones without supervision."

I had a nice visit yesterday with Tomoko and her girls. It is a lot of fun greeting them at the train station now because Zuzu is at the age where she shrieks "ALISA!" when she sees me and then runs in for a hug. Ani, at the less enthusiastic age of one, mostly eyeballs me suspiciously for a moment before deciding that I'm still alright.

This December is remarkably relaxed as far as weekends go, I haven't had too many things lined up. Which leaves lots of time for things like baking and making soup while wearing pajamas for an entire day, which is not the worst possible way to spend a winter. Next Saturday Kylie is hosting a Christmas party and then the weekend after that I am on holidays!

I am currently on an internet mission to find a spa in Yangon for my last day there. The one super fancy place never answered my email, and I just got a reply from the second one saying that sorry, they will be closed for the holidays.  I figure by the end of the trip I will have had my fill of sightseeing, plus a massage seems like a good way to prep for an all-night flight back to Japan, so it's back to google I go.

They say there is a first time for everything. In my case, I have too much vacation time this Christmas. You'd think such a thing would not be possible, but here we are. Andrew decided he wanted to take his family to Canada for Christmas but discovered, as I did, that traveling within our two-week holiday was outrageously expensive. Instead of then choosing to vacation in sunny nearby Myanmar, he simply extended the holiday by another week, well after I had already booked my tickets and also well into "it's getting far too late for reasonable flights to anywhere else" territory.

So, as it stands, I will arrive back from Myanmar on the morning of January 1st and not go back to work until the 14th. Well, almost. I do have to work at Seien on the 10th. If I had fabulous vacation plans I could ask Kylie and Pania to cover my classes for me but as I don't, I suspect I am better off actually showing up for work and pocketing the salary. I'm looking into a range of local options but the entire country is pretty much shut down from the 1st to the 3rd and the weekend is going to be insane as people return home from the holidays.

Also I had Korean food for dinner last night and am seriously contemplating flying over to Seoul to just eat for a few days.