Sayonara Japan! Yassus Greece!

It is bittersweet to be writing the very last blog post for "Diller Japan Adventures"! We are now completely settled here in Crete now - we moved into our beach house, shipped over a car, Kirk is settled in her job and Joel is finally working, and we're constantly making new friends and exploring this island and the rest of Europe.

After returning from our whirlwind tour of Asia, the pace picked up even more as our time in Okinawa shortened. We do miss our friends and beautiful island...

Saying Farewell...

A farewell brunch at our favorite restaurant with some of our favorite people...

A farewell dinner with one amazing family...

A farewell luncheon and walk on the seawall with some of our best friends and the most hard core Star Wars fans we know...

Moving Day

On the bus to the airport: Bristow looks how we both felt - we just found out that our flight from Tokyo to Chicago was cancelled due to mechanical issues with the plane!

Bruce is still smiling: he's been through enough moves with us

For the sake of time, we're just going to fast-forward 68 hours. We made it to Crete! And this was our view from our hotel:

Proof of life: The dogs were exhausted, but they were troopers and survived the long flights and layovers. 

Our beach & mountain view...

Our Japan chapter comes to a close, but that doesn't mean the adventure is over for the Diller's. We are working on a new venue to continue posting our adventures in Greece. Once it's set up and looking good we will post the link here.

Our Asian Farewell Trip: Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• Day 8 - Travel to Kuala Lumpur (KL)

• Day 9 - City Tour

Our first day in KL we visited the City Gallery to learn about the history of this really modern city, and to see the City Show Model...

This is the incredibly accurate, yet tiny, model of KL. The City Gallery puts on a light show of the model to show the neighborhoods and the future expansion plans for the city. 

KL has a really great Bird Park!

• Day 10 - Breakout Games

We also are getting hooked on "Escape Room Games".
And it turns out there was a great variety of them in the mall close to our hotel!

The game we played was called "Dreadnaught". We did not win...

...so we HAD to play another game. So we picked "War for Rembrant". We also lost this game too, but it came down to the wire and we were so close that we picked a third game, that was easier.  The third time was the charm so we didn't go home without a win.

• Day 11 - Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world. 

Outside the towers is the beautiful view of the fountains and green space amongst the concrete jungle.

We had a fantastic time in KL! Not pictured on the blog was our stay in Little India, where we got to experience the holiday of lights, "Diwali", and all the delicious Indian curries and rice.

Well, folks, that was our farewell whirlwind trip of Asia. Thanks for staying with us! Stay tuned for the highlights of our final days in Okinawa.

Our Asian Farewell Trip: Bangkok

Our adventure picks up with us leaving Hong Kong and heading toward Bangkok, Thailand.

Bangkok, Thailand

• Day 4 - Arrive in Thailand

• Day 5 - City Tour

Here we are at the Grand Palace. The former King of Thailand passed away just over a week prior to our visit, which you can see the memorial behind us. 

We needed a boost while walking the streets of Bangkok, so why not try some freshly squeezed pomegranate juice!

Next, we enjoyed a boat ride along the Chao Phraya river. 

During the canal tour, we visited the floating marketplace where we enjoyed the popular Spicy Papaya Salad.

• Day 6 - Bizarre Foods Tour

If you've been following us for any amount of time, you know that we love to eat and try new, and sometimes bizarre, cuisine. That's why we signed up for the "Bizarre Food Challenge"! The company says this tour is for "Adventurous Eaters" - that's us!  We definitely got to try some "rare and bizarre items".

We kicked off our bizarre food tour with some blood noodle soup. We had the choice of either pork or beef blood with our noodles, and we picked beef. It was surprisingly very savory and delicious, without any harsh flavors of blood!

A close-up view of the beef blood noodle soup. Yum!

Stop #2: Som Tam Pla ra a.k.a. Spicy papaya salad with a fermented fish. Pla ra is the fish that is fermented for up to six months.  This was one of the toughest foods for us to handle and we definitely we're able to eat the whole fish. Its stink stayed on my fingers the whole day!

We can't remember exactly what this is, but it's a type of sausage and a soy sauce reduction.

Pig Brain Soup! This was my favorite...the brain was deliciously smooth and creamy. The broth was also very good and savory.

Fried frog skin!

Chicken foot soup!

• Day 7 - Jim Thompson House & Float Pod Center

We visited the famous home of Jim Thompson, an American businessman who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry in the 1950-60's. The Jim Thompson House "consists of a complex of six traditional Thai-style houses, teak structures that were purchased from several owners and brought to the present location from various parts of Thailand. Construction of the Thai house was completed in 1959." He outfitted his home with the many antiques and artifacts he collected from Thailand, but unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos.

After all the traveling, walking and eating on our trip, we needed some relaxation. Why not combine it with something bizarre we've never done before? At the Theta State Float Center (now closed), we were able to experience "Floatation Therapy".  Floating consists of getting into the pod (aka Sensory Deprivation Chamber) that is filled with water and enough Epson salt to cause you to float effortlessly. After getting over the newness of the experience, we both found it to be very relaxing.