Today we checked onto the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn. We sail for Abu Dhabi this evening. It is great to be on a clean ship with tap water you can drink – the simplest things can make you the happiest!

The cruise ship has it’s drawbacks and one of them is internet. Of course there is internet, however they require a King’s ransom to get it.

So, until we arrive in Mauritius on January 20th, this will be my last post.

Thank you for reading. I hope you are sticking to your resolutions and making the start of 2024 your best year yet. We’ll see you towards the end of January.

Cam and Meg

It is late on December 24^th here in India. Our readers in North America have a few hours left to buy those last-minute gifts, if they need to. As for us, we are in Coonoor, a hilltop tea plantation outpost. It was 26C today but with poor air quality. I miss Victoria’s pristine air. We are fully packed, and leave tomorrow at 09:00 for Munnar, another hilltop tea plantation town. It’s not that far, but the average speed you travel at is 30 km/hr. So 120 km takes about four hours of painful travel, with lots of horns, stops, bumps and cows on the road.

Christmas Eve Church Service

We will be getting up early tomorrow, not to exchange gifts. We decided the trip was our gift to each other and we simply didn’t have the space to lug gifts around for six months. Our church has a Christmas Eve candlelight service and they also do it by Zoom. I’ve sent the details out to family and if anyone is interested, please let me know and I’ll get you the details. It starts at 8AM December 25^th India time, 6:30 PM December 24^th Vancouver time.

Tonight we had Apple music playing a Christmas classic loop while we ate dinner. There are decorations around, trees, lights et al. It’s not the same. By participating in the service, which was not possible pre COVID, we can integrate with our family/community and fill the need within.

Traffic congestion in India

India is a unique country. Today for example, we were out sightseeing with our dedicated driver. There was also, what I felt, was half of India on the same road. As were leaving Lamb’s Rock in Coonoor, we were in gridlock. After over an hour, we had moved maybe 150 meters. At that point I said to Meg, “it’s 2.3 km to the restaurant we want to eat at, let’s walk.” Meg, always the trooper, was all in. 

We told our driver, who doesn’t speak the best English, we were going to walk. Then, hopping out of his car, we started walking and truly could not believe what we were seeing. The road, which could fit one car comfortable, was blocked both ways. There were buses that were trying to do three-point turns, more like a 103-point turns, on the narrow road. This of course blocked traffic even worse. Then some folks decided the traffic was too bad, so they got out of their cars and walked to the attraction. The problem was this: they left their car in the middle of the road, so now it is an alternating one way. Oh My…

Christmas Dinner – sort of…

We arrived at our restaurant after 30 minutes, ordered, and had lunch. Looking at the calendar, and having spoken to all three children within the past 24 hours, we were both feeling a bit lonely being away, so we agreed a pizza would be a good meal to cheer us up. It was as good as any thin crust pizza we have eaten. The meal picked us both up. Our next stop was the botanical gardens. We called our driver, who was still stuck in traffic and told him where we were and when to pick us up.

In the end, everything was alright. 

Reflecting on Christmas

Today, or when you read this, you will know that we took time to reflect on the gifts we have been given in 2023. To me, Christmas is not only for rejoicing but for reflecting. When we were young, Christmas was about anticipation. Now, as we are older and wiser, there is reflection to go with the anticipation. As I write this, I am anticipating a future Christmas, shared with our children, mothers and friends. I reflect on Christmas’s of yesteryear.

I also looked up at the cloudy skies this evening, but I didn’t see anything. The clouds were blocking everything, including the full moon.

May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve.

Where ever you are, whatever you are doing, may peace, joy, love, happiness and good health bless you and your clan today and always.

Cam and Meg

On our second day in Mumbai, we woke up and enjoyed the wonderful breakfast at our hotel. Before heading out, we made sure we were all packed and ready to go. Having seen numerous games of Cricket the day before, we walked back over to the Oval Maidan, the local Cricket pitch. This is a large, Grade I recreational ground, situated in South Mumbai, about a ten-minute walk from our hotel. It is so named because of its oval shape and is where anyone can play Cricket. On the weekends, up to 50 games are being played with balls crossing into each other’s area. 

The passion for Cricket in India cannot be under estimated. I very much enjoyed watching despite not having a clue of what the rules are. The only issue I had with taking all this in, was there were no females playing. Heading back to our hotel, we checked out of hotel and met up with our driver for the day. Heading through the traffic for The Gateway of India where we would catch a ferry to Elephanta islands.

Elephanta Island

The one hour and ten-minute ferry ride took us to the UNSECO world heritage site where we met our guide for the tour of the Island. Only residents of the Island, about 1,200 in total, can be guides. We learned a lot about the symbols, the carvings and life on Elephanta Island during our two-hour stay. Catching the ferry back our driver took us to our travel agent “India Someday”. They could not have been kinder or more helpful. They confirmed the number of details and gave us more advice and pointers for remaining 2 1/2 weeks.

We returned to our hotel, which was only about five minutes away, where we claimed our luggage, having left it after check out. Ready to head to the overnight train we went down the road and got some street food to snack on for dinner. The travel agent warned us the food selections at the train terminal were not great.

Getting to the train station

Driving the one-hour and 20 minutes from south Mumbai to North Mumbai was chaotic. Arriving safely at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, or LTT train station around 7:00 PM, we munched on our dinner sitting in the utter chaos that was the terminal. Our 8:50 PM train was announced around 8:00 PM and we went to our platform, finding the position where our car would be. The train arrived at 8:30 and we boarded, going to our two person sleeper cabin.

Our cabin and meal options.

For those who have not taken a train in India, it can be an experience. They were sleeper cars with 80 berths in them however, our sleeper car only had 24 berths. That is the difference between travelling first class and third class in India. First class also gives you air conditioning and since the overnight low in Mumbai was 28, air-conditioning was a very good investment. The train left a little bit late and after we got underway a room steward brought us our sheets. He then confirmed that we wanted dinner.

He seemed somewhat surprised that we were happy with a vegetarian meal. While we are not vegetarian, after 12 days on a cruise ship, eating beef almost every day, a vegetarian meal was a good break for our system. Our meal started off with tomato soup, which was unlike any tomato soup I had ever tasted. It was very good, however, it was very spicy, and Meg was unable to finish hers due to the heat.

We then received a tray with five dishes on it, and it was quite tasty. We ate in our cabin and after finishing, the steward came and cleaned we are plates. It was now 10:30 PM and the steward came back and said he had some breath mints and how much of a tip would we be giving him? I kind of looked at him and his friend standing next to him with his arms folded across his chest. There were signs all over do not tip staff, but curiously, his plate with breath mints on it also had some bank notes on it. I looked at him, and then he said how much you tip me? Caving into the basic extortion, I gave him 100 Rupees just so he would go away.

We then got into bed and tried to fall asleep to the trains rocking. Our coach was only two cars back from the engine and, similar to Thomas the Tank Engine, the horn sound incessantly. This naturally woke us up regularly throughout the night. We seemed to sleep best when the train stopped, which I thought was at a station, however I never looked out the window to confirm this. We were due to arrive in Goa, at the Madgaon station at 5:40 AM and we dutifully each set an alarm so we would not sleep through. This is where it got interesting…

A temporary panic attack!

Two berths down the coach from our two-person room, was a family in a four-person unit including two children. The three-year-old child had a tantrum of epic proportions after getting on the train which lasted about 30 minutes. Eventually everything was quiet. At one point I woke up during the night, when it was pitch black, and heard the child speaking. I thought to myself, “are we there? Are they getting ready to get off?” I looked at my phone and it was only 4:30 AM. Then I panicked and thought “is Goa on a different time zone?” I searched the internet and found all of India is on the same time zone, which I knew, but for some reason, at 4:30 AM, I could not remember. 

Well, I was up now, so I crawled down from my upper berth, managing not to step on Meg who was fast asleep on the lower berth, and went to the loo. Returning to our berth, I thought I might as well stay up, since I’ll be getting up shortly. I did a quick search of Google maps and found we were only half way there. This was supposed to be a nine hour journey, we had been travelling for seven hours, what’s up with that? I have now learned Indian trains do not seem to run with the same efficiency as Japanese trains. I turned off my alarm and tried to find Meg’s phone to silence hers, but woke her up doing so. 

Traveling along India’s train routes

I texted our driver to say we would be late. He replied back immediately, saying he was following the trains and would meet us there when we got there. Just before 9 AM we arrived at Madgaon station in Goa, over 3 hours late. Our driver was waiting for us. We then did the 40-minute drive to our hotel through lush forests and fields.

Arriving at our resort at 10 o’clock in the morning, we weren’t able to check in. Depositing our luggage with the concierge, we went and had a late breakfast, changed into our bathing suits and went swimming in the Arabian sea. We then walked around the town, scouting out places to eat et al. 

Goa is beautiful

Our first impressions of Goa were very similar to beach resorts in Mexico, but without the vendors on the beach. Of course, there were vendors in the town, which is basically one road in this part of South Goa. The north part of Goa is a bit livelier, translation, party town. Goa’s south is more family orientated. The beach is amazing: about 2 ½ km long of fine sand and between 50 – 100 meters from the buildings to the ocean, depending on the tide. Being only 15 degrees north of the equator, the sun and heat are relentless and the days are 11 hours long at the winter solstice.

We are now on day four of our four-day beach phase of our India trip and absolutely loving it. This has allowed us to catch up on outstanding chores, including updating the web site and Instagram pages. We are working on visas for the next phase of our trip and getting ready for our 4:30 AM departure from our resort to the airport 

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to ask any questions or suggestions in the comments section.

Here we are, on December 6^th, 2023. Last time I wrote, we were leaving Japan and I highlighted the cost of that trip. Since then, we have been to Taiwan, Singapore and then boarded a cruise ship. Internet is spotty, hence the delay in posting.

Where our cruise has gone so far

On the ship, we have visited Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. After visiting these three, we are now sailing for India – we have our visa’s and we’ll see what awaits us as we embark on a three-week tour of the southern part of India. We have multiple hard copies of our visas and passport pages.

It was not too long ago that Sri Lanka, Ceylon before 1972, was in the midst of civil unrest, protesting against the government. Most Canadians will recall, not that long ago, a minority of Canadians were protesting against the government and making international headlines. Today, in Sri Lanka, everything seems fine on this lush tropical Island nation of 22 million people. They were very warm and welcoming and we intend to return here to explore more of the island and its food.

Tours in Sri Lanka

We took two tours in Sri Lanka, one in Hambantota and one in Colombo. Both times Tuk-Tuks were our method of transport. Our first Tuk-Tuk had a sun-roof, which is a rare thing here. We spent a lot of time standing up with our heads sticking out of the window. You can see a video of that on Instagram. The Tuk Tuks’ don’t travel that fast, maybe 60km flat out, and they are rather noisy, but are they ever an experience!

Hambantota – gateway to Yala National Park (and elephants!)

Our first trip, from Hambantota, had us in a Tuk Tuk for about 45 minutes, then transferred to a safari jeep. We then toured Yala national park in search for animals. We saw a number of birds and mammals and just as we exited the park gates at the end of our safari, we saw an elephant. 

This beautiful elephant, completely wild, was just hanging around at the side of the road, drinking from a stream and “shooting” water. It was like a scene from the movies. The elephant headed over our way and the guide gave him a melon, which he “crunched” in one bite. Then two bunches of bananas were passed and devoured, peels and all. It was awe inspiring to watch the elephant gracefully use his trunk to feed himself. Where there was no more food, the elephant got bored with us and headed back for some leaves. 

Asian vs African Elephants

Seeing this majestic animal, it is devastating to believe anyone could hunt these animals for their tusks. Our elephant, who had no tusks, was likely an Asian male elephant. Noting the broken branches on the road, the elephant was likely “marking” his territory, according to the guide. A small percentage of Asian male elephants do not have tusks. Female Asian elephants do not have tusks. Both male and female African elephants have tusks.

From the safari, we went to a restaurant for a very late lunch, 4:00 PM in fact. Conveniently, it was at the restaurant of a “friend” of our guide, and rather out of the way. While the food was good, it was not earth shattering. 

Colombo, Sir Lanka – a beautiful city.

This morning, we arrived in the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. After leaving the ship, we went to the shuttle which took us to the entrance of the port. Not surprisingly, the touts were waiting for us, and our fellow passengers. The first tout wanted $50 for a three-hour tour but soon dropped that to $30. Considering his English was “pigeon” at best, we passed and decided to walk a bit.

Of course, other touts took the opportunity to entice us with various offers and prices. Eventually we settled on $20 for three hours with a fairly decent English speaking Tuk Tuk driver. This is still likely more than we need have paid, however considering the economic plight of the residents of this country and our blessings, I didn’t bargain too hard.

Buying Local

The tour was fine, not remarkable, but fine. Of course, it was about 20% of the cost of a similar one from the ship. One thing that was impressive about Colombo, was the number of green spaces and the friendliness of the local people. Naturally, half way through the tour, we were taken to a “tea factory”. After the requisite demonstration and samples came the “sales pitch”. We up and left as we are not going to lug stuff around India for another 3 ½ months. Our guide then took us to a “gem store” and we said “no”. “Oh Sir, you do not have to buy anything”.

It was at this point Meg said “that’s why we’re not going in, please drive away”. We know the drivers get a kick back, but we are really not interested in tea or gems. The tea was about $15 CDN for a small pouch, about double what you would pay at David’s tea. They also sold cinnamon, which I’m sure was laced with gold, considering the price. I had wanted to go into a grocery store to see if they had any cinnamon, just to compare prices, but we didn’t find the time.

Lunch on the tour

When we asked to go somewhere for lunch, we drove around for 10 minutes to a restaurant we were assured was “nice”. The sign read “Indian food”. We said “no, Sri Lankan food”. So, after another 10 minutes of driving, we were deposited at a buffet, where we had a decent meal for about $4.25 CDN each. We were not sure about any kickbacks here. There were a number of Uber eats vehicles outside the restaurant.

After lunch, we were dropped off at the port and then we walked a bit and found what was likely our highlight of Colombo. A bakery. The deserts were out of this world good and they were about $0.50 each. Yup, less than a buck CDN for two scrumptious pastries. 

From there we headed back to the ship, continually being asked by other Tuk Tuk drivers if we wanted a lift. Once onboard, we relaxed until sailing time.

Tomorrow will take us to India. We are so excited and a bit nervous. I’m really not aware of anyone who doesn’t say India is fantastic. Everyone also says it is a total assault on the senses. From that point, we are thankful we are starting in the south first. Of course, the visa thing is “out there”. Even though it is settled, who knows? Our visas were in place a week before the “storm”.

Our pending arrival in India

We’ll let you know how our travels in India go.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions for things to do/see in India.

Our tour of Japan was based on a few things. I (Cam) wanted to show Meg so many of the things I experienced during my six-month posting in 2021/22. There were also a number of things I did not get to do while I was here, I was working after all. My schedule had me working 11 days out of 14. I had Friday’s off and every second Saturday. 

Looking at commercial tours of Japan and seeing what there was, I crafted our itinerary and then went over it with Meg. I also thumbnailed a budget and, I’m happy to say, we came in under budget.

Transportation

A mix of transportation is how we got around in Japan. This included local, limited express and Shinkansen (Bullet) trains, buses, local subways and of course walking. The only trains you need reservations for are the Shinkansen and selected limited express trains. 

I have had a lot of success scheduling train travel in Japan by using Google Maps. Simply enter your start and end points and various routes will be offered, including prices. A note about train prices in Japan. The route you take to get from A to B will determine the cost. I’ve shown an example of travelling from Yokosuka-Chou Station to Nestay Inn Tokyo. 

The first option below uses the Keikyu line to the Oedo Line and then walking, costing ¥890 and takes 1 Hr and 31 Min. Option B would also leave at 6:36PM on the Keikyu line but transferring at Yokohama to the JO Yokosuka Line and then transferring again to the Shinjuku Line and walking. This travel would cost ¥1,170 or ¥280 more than the first option and it takes 11 minutes longer. Why would anyone do that? Well the JO line is operated by JR Rail, and if you had a JR Rail pass, you may want to use that line as part of the travel would be covered by the pass. Travel on the Keikyu and Oedo lines would not be covered. When you transfer trains you often have to “tap out” and “tap” back in again if the lines are operated by different companies.

Learning Japanese trains

I’m sure I spent way more money than I had to when I first arrived in Japan, simply because I didn’t understand the process. The first time my friend and I went to Tokyo in 2021, it cost us ¥2,000 and took 2 ½ hours. We spent over an hour in Yokohama station wandering around, we were so lost. Finally, a kind ex-pat took pity on us and pointed us in the right direction.

Our transportation costs for our time in Japan was $1,896 CDN for 49 days or $19.75/day/pp. This included four rides on the Shinkansen, all subways, local and limited express trains. Our travels took us as far north as Nikko and as far south as Hiroshima and criss-crossed the country seeing both coasts. We did not use a JR Rail pass as it would not be cost effective in our circumstance. Your mileage may vary.

FOOD!

We travel to eat. New taste and experiences are what make going to new places so fun. The food in Japan is amazing. Both of us starting feeling better after about a week and noted our diet took a turn for the worse in Taiwan.

We ate out a total of 54 times. Breakfasts were always in our room, usually fruit, bread and yoghurt. Lunch and dinner were eaten in restaurants about half the time, with the other half being in our Air BnB, on a park bench in the sun, on the go, wherever. We never ate on local trains, but did eat on Shinkansen’s, as that is allowed, they even have food carts!

Sushi – two to three times a week

Sushi was our number one meal, we ate that 18 times in seven weeks. Indian restaurants were a close second with eleven visits. Food is generally cheaper in Japan, at least in the restaurants. You don’t tip in Japan, and while there is 10% consumption tax, it is normally included in the price of the meal. Our total for food and beverages, including alcohol, was $2,656 or $27.67/day each. This includes all restaurants, groceries, water from vending machines when hiking, the odd random ice cream cone. OK, maybe the ice cream cones were not that random.

The amount above provided for high quality meals. We were not on a university students budget. One of my yoga teachers previously said about buying food – “you can pay with your wallet or you can pay with your health.” There was a lot of fruit and veggies, mostly from the grocery store. Our most memorable meal was at a Spanish restaurant in Takayama.

Activities

Coming to Japan, or going anywhere really, is to do “things”. While there are a lot of free activities including hikes, walking around markets and neighbourhoods, some things do cost money. Many of the popular temples have entrance fees. Tourist attractions such as castles are user funded so you need to pay.

Admission fees did not prevent us from doing or seeing things that interested us. We dropped a bunch of money on Disney Tokyo, not once, but twice. It was totally worth it. Overall we spent $1,382 in total on activities or $14.40 per person per day on average. That includes every fee, admission, tour and row boat rental that we did.

Although we have a great home in Victoria, you still need a place to stay when travelling. Being away for as long as we are, a place that was a bit bigger where we could have some meals in while not sitting on the bed was important. A combination of Air BnB’s as well as hotels was our plan. We never booked anything that was dodgy but we didn’t book the Ritz either. In all, our digs were fine, except one Air BnB that was not up to standards and Air BnB is looking at deleting that listing.

For our time in Japan, we staying at eleven different accommodations, for a total of 48 nights. The total cost was $4,757 or $49.55/night per person. This did include approximately $500 of points for three free nights in Nikko. If that is factored in, the cost would rise slightly, however points are there for a reason. To use and enjoy. We do not like leaving anything on the table, so we use our points as soon as we can. I think most people had a surplus of points post COVID and are trying to burn through them.

Miscellaneous Items

Where do you put things that don’t go anywhere? We are placing them the miscellaneous category. Photocopies, document fees, gifts for friends. The hospital visit is also under misc, we’re still trying to recover from the insurance company so this amount may come down. Our purchase of two pairs of running shoes to also goes to misc.

We walked close to 600km in Japan and in doing so, both of us wore out our shoes. At the end of our second visit to Disney, our feet were achy and tired. We were at the park from 8:30 AM – 8:30 PM, 12 full hours. The longest break we took was to eat a light and overpriced lunch. The day after Disney we went out and bought new shoes are our feet were much happier :). We kept the old shoes and are taking them with us to hopefully gift them to someone in India.

The total of miscellaneous costs was $762 or $7.94/day per person.

Total trip costs

All together, we spent $11,455 for 49 days in Japan or $119/day/pp. That includes every snack, each bottle of water, tours, trains, gas for rental car, etc. This does not include the travel to get to Japan. Some people arrive by plane, others by ship. Some come from Korea, some from other places. Some may arrive by parachute. That is a separate expense. 

There was no way we could have afforded seven weeks in Japan had we booked a tour for the entire time. I checked on-line recently on tours of Japan. “Premier” tours can cost $1,800 US/per person/day. For that price, we could have taken a two-day tour. The hotel would have been nicer; however, our digs were fine. More mainstream tours run about $7,000 CDN PP for around 10 days. 

Obviously doing things yourself and arranging everything on your own has both advantages and challenges. It certainly saves money, but when things go wrong, there’s no-where to turn. It all comes down to attitude. On a trip, the difference between adventure and ordeal is attitude. We try and have a positive attitude and pull each other up when one of us is a bit down. 

That’s why I enjoy travelling with my best friend.

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave any comments.

For loyal readers of our website, you may recall a post from early October, where I commented on the size of Tokyo. In particular, it would take a city of Tokyo’s size to be able to support an Accordion club. Fast forward about seven weeks and we are in Taipei with a population of about 2.7 millioin. I was amazed to see this site while strolling back from a flower market.

Maybe it is a regional thing? Now to be clear, I was NOT looking for this shop, or this type of instrument. I’m not sure what the music craze here is, however, I don’t think it is this. For curiosity, I Googled the name. Sure enough, they offer lessons, including on line lessons. Wow.

Night Market

We’ve seen some other interesting things here in Taipei, including the famed night markets. The crowds were almost oppressive last night, a Saturday. Meg and I certainly brought the average age up. It was difficult to order food as there are very few signs in English and Goggle translate is often lacking. Case in point, at lunch earlier in the day, we ordered what translated to crispy sausage. We are not sure what we received, it was likely heart and it certainly wasn’t crispy. We both tried it and left the rest. 

At the night market, we were hungry as our walking tour had just ended. We did manage to order chicken, well I did. All I did was point and hand over some money and the clerk passed us a bag of fried chicken nugget like things. The signs all around this stall had pictures of chickens. Normally night markets are delicious, however we did not get half way through these nuggets before we threw them out. After that we were a bit gun-shy and, even though we walked around for another 45 minutes, we did not order anything.

Restaurant dinner

We returned to our hotel prior to going to a different night market close by. All the stalls were busy, however there was almost no English at any of them. There was a lot of food which looked as if it came from the parts of animals we, as North American’s, don’t normally eat. In the end, we chickened out and headed to a rather busy sit-down restaurant and had a delightful meal.

We have wound down our time in Japan.  I’m drafting this at the Narita airport, awaiting a flight to Taiwan. Our plan to spend seven weeks in Japan, which seemed like such a long time when we arrived on September 30^th, flew by. Originally we were not sure we could fill the time. We had an aggressive tour planned, and in the end, we could have easily stayed longer.

Sometimes less is more

One thing we came to realize after about three weeks, is we needed to slow down. Three days in a place was often not enough. After leaving Tokyo, we visited six places for three days each (Nikko, Hakone, Takayama, Kanazawa, Hiroshima and Osaka). By the 18^th day we were exhausted. I know the organized tours will spend one or two days in a place like Kanazawa, or Osaka, and then move on. These tours are only about 7 – 12 days. We found three days was usually not enough unless you only wanted to see the Instagram things. 

Kyoto came after our 18 days of heavy travel where we stayed put for seven days. Those consecutive days in one place, in a hotel with a kitchen, were a relief. The eight days in Tokyo that followed Kyoto were also good for the mind. Looking forward on our trip, we still have not booked Bali/Indonesia. We’ll use the lessons learned in Japan to assist us in having a better three-week experience in Bali by not moving every two-three days. Remember, it’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it.

Walking – our primary way of seeing things.

We walked an average of 17,566 steps per day for 48 days (based on our step counter), our highest daily step total was 31,215 steps. Based on IPhone data, we walked about 12 km/day, on average. That’s 576 km’s for the time we were Japan. There were a number of days our knees and feet were sore, the onsens certainly helped on the days we could access them. 

I’ll update more on Japan in a few days, highlighting some more numbers.

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave any comments.

While we normally travel independently, there are times we take local tours to gain some insight and history of the area we are visiting. Reading about things only goes so far, guides, well good guides, will add some interesting things that you simply can’t find online. At least not without spending hours digging, and by then you’re likely to forget.  

Walking the Bamboo forest and a row boat ride

This past Sunday we took the bus and headed over to Arashiyama, walking through the bamboo forest. The photo is Meg standing in “Bamboo Alley” – note the height of the bamboo. We then explored the Okochi-Sanso Villa and gardens where we had a modified tea ceremony in the bamboo forest.  Then we continued walking toward the river where we rented a row boat and spent an hour on the Katsura River. It was a lovely day, +25C, and clear skies with light breezes.

A neat bike tour of hidden Kyoto

In Kyoto, we also took a bike tour and saw some interesting things we would have never seen.  the tour was about 3 1/2 hour and covered 7km. There were some stops and we had time to see things and have a snack along the way.

We also saw the Golden Temple, which was on our to do list.  The building is actually coated in gold leaf. You can’t get into the building, it can only be seen from across the pond. The guide took a great photo of us, catching the reflection of the temple on the pond.

A neat back street tour of Osaka

In Osaka, we took a back street food tour.  We learned a lot about the back streets of Osaka, including the red-light district and organized crime. We also learned why so many houses are abandoned in Japan. We then visited an Izakaya that we would have never walked into, although once inside we realized everyone was a tourist, so it may not have been the real experience. Osaka is reputed to be the food capital of Japan, we’ll reserve judgement until we’ve been more places. The next day we did venture into a local spot that we would have never tried before.

A walking tour of Kyoto

In Kyoto we also took a walking tour. We learned a number of things, saw one of the Gisha districts (shown here). The tour started at 9:30, however as it progressed the streets became more crowded as it was a national holiday.

It was a good lesson in “rising early”, which we did the next day as we ventured to Fushimi Inari Shrine, catching the first train at 06:30 and arriving back at our hotel by 12:00. It is a long hike up to the top, but seeing the 10,000 Torii gates was worthwhile.

Poking around on our own

We leave Kyoto in two days for Tokyo, so we’re now in the “poke around” phase, finding nooks and crannies that are interesting. Today we returned to Kiyomizu-Dera temple, which we skipped on the walking tour. The tour ended there, but the queues were way too long for us. They were much more reasonable today. The photo is Meg in front the “easy childbirth” pagoda. I’m hoping Meg isn’t planning anything I’m not aware of.

Then we found a Mom and Pop restaurant for lunch that had amazing food, and lots of local business men coming in for great food.

Thanks for reading, feel free to ask any questions in the comments, or give us some ideas.

Trains in Japan

Most people have heard of the Japanese bullet train, which is actually called the Shinkansen.  Normally trains in Japan run like clockwork, for the most part.  In our 4 1/2 weeks here we have had four trains late.  One was actually cancelled and another one was 15 minutes late. They did an announcement about the late one, saying it was delayed by 15 minutes due to a crossing issue.  The third train, the “Thunderbird Express”, from Kanazawa to Kyoto, stopped on the tracks and there was an announcement “the train has stopped due to a strange noise”.  We waited a bit and then we carried on and went to a station where we waited a bit more.  We left but stopped again on the tracks to do a “test”.  The explanations in Japanese were a lot longer than “crossing issue” or “test”.  

Our train from Kanazawa to Kyoto

Now I’m all for safety, especially when I’m on any form of public transit.  The thought of doing “track tests” when the train cars were full of passengers was a bit strange.  You realize, that when you’re in a train, or plane for that matter, you don’t really know a lot of what’s going on. The train picked up speed again and we seemed to moving along, although there were a few more unscheduled stops.  I wondered what further tests they were doing.  It made me consider how the train track scheduling was going to work with so many trains going in all directions, now that this one was behind schedule.

A tight connection in Kyoto…

While safety was a concern, I was also a bit worried about the pending connection in Kyoto onward for Hiroshima.  When we booked the trains, we gave ourselves 37 minutes to change trains in Kyoto. It’s a large station and there is usually some “confusion” for newbies finding where things are.  We also thought we would get lunch at a bento store.  37 minutes is not a ton of time, but who wants to wait around in a train station? Well, don’t we wish we had booked a later train now!  The delays cost us time and we arrived at Kyoto 23 minutes late.  Hmmmm – that leaves 14 minutes to sort out Kyoto station, run through the station, find a train platform et al. Sounds like an episode of the Amazing Race!  We knew we had to “boot it”.  

We exited the train and we were greeted by about 25 steps up with no elevators/escalator in sight.  I took both my suitcase and Meg’s and hauled them up the stairs. Meg is and has been amazing carrying her own bag, however with the time crunch, I knew this is time where I could help.  Besides, a workout when travelling is a good thing right?  

We found the Shinkansen entrance but we hadn’t left the Thunderbird Express section. Oh drats! We found a JR Rail “helper” person and they took our tickets for both trains and started asking some questions. Ummmm didn’t they know we were going to miss our train if we continued to chat?  When they were satisfied we were all good, they processed the tickets but then when Meg went through the gate some alarm went off. This was not the time to pull a Hugh Grant, in Bridget Jones, The Edge of Resaon, and leave her there to figure it out for herself…not if I want another 35 years of marriage. Things got sorted out, of course the clock was still ticking. Once we were clear to go, we headed into Shinkansen land, found the platform for our train and then our car.  The train was not there and we had eight minutes to spare. 

The train ride to Hiroshima started out fine, we had our reserved seats and stored our luggage in the special seats we had booked.  The weather was brilliant sunshine and we were looking at the country side. About an hour into the train ride, it became really dark outside (no it was not a tunnel).  Then we heard hail hitting the roof of the train, at which point the Conductor came on and said we were now five minutes late due to high winds. Of course, the train runs on electricity, which does not really react well to water or hail. I guess they worked it out, because we arrived in Hiroshima, late, but safe.

In the end, everything was OK, because if it’s not OK, it’s not the end.  I first heard this phrase when watching the movie ‘The Exotic Marigold Hotel’ (2011). The movie is set in various cities in India including Jaipur, where we’ll be in about six weeks.  I recall that phrase and I wrote it down at the time as it struck something within me.  It’s funny how some phrases, when you hear them, resonate immediately.  Had we missed our train in Kyoto, we would have simply taken another one. We may have missed the hail storm, who knows? Everything would have been OK.

I only wish I could put that phrase into use all the time and not worry as much.  There’s always room for growth.

We normally eat three times a day with “munching” taking place regularly during the day.  One of the reasons we like cruising so much is there is never a decision of where to eat.  You go to the dining room and chose what you want from the menu.  If you don’t like it, you ask for another meal.  If you’re really hungry, you ask for two meals. Seems pretty simple.  In Japan, we’re on our own and that’s fine. We know what we like and there are sites that provide ratings of restaurants so you know where to increase your odds of a good meal.

Our last night in Takayama, we chose to eat at a Spanish restaurant.  It had good reviews and the night before we were going to eat there, I went in to see if I could get a reservation.  The restaurant is on the second floor, so I went up the stairs, Meg didn’t follow, she had had enough stairs for the day.  As I opened the door, I fell in love with the place and knew I wanted to eat there.  I met the owner and had a table booked for 18:00 the next day.

Defective Wine Bottle

When we went for dinner, we were greeted with a big smile and shown the best table in the house.  We ordered a bottle of Italian wine, I know it was a Spanish restaurant, but the Italian wine did look better.  It did not disappoint.  We both secretly thought, can we take the other half of the bottle home because we never drink a full bottle at home.  We ordered two appetizers and two main courses and the food came in stages, there is only one cook, the owner. The last dish to come was a main and somehow that bottle of red wine was empty.  We both looked at each other and burst out laughing.  Did the owner sneak a glass for himself?  Did we spill some?  Was this bottle defective and leaking? We had to ‘fess-up, we were the culprits.  I think it was the fastest we have ever consumed an entire bottle of red wine and yet neither one of us seemed intoxicated.  If we are ever back in Takayama, we’ll head back to that restaurant.

Some of other meals in Takayama included a burger at a burger joint – Hida beef is a “thing” so we decide to try a burger. We had been three full weeks in Japan without a Canadian meal and didn’t feel we were “cheating”.  Besides, Takayama is in the centre of Japan so the fish is not a fresh as on the coast.  We also tried a Nepali restaurant.  There are a number of Nepali restaurants in Japan, most of which specialize in Japanese/Indian curry which has always been quite good.  This place, although well reviewed, was on the lower end of our Nepali restaurants in Japan.

We’ll keep updating on our adventures and travels.

Thanks for reading 🙂