Adding & Subtracting, a Packing List
I’m interrupting my parade of places to bring you this comprehensive packing post (at least from a woman’s perspective – guys, you’ll have to adjust accordingly). Many people struggle with packing, and have asked me for a complete list of what I’ve brought on my around the world journey. I thought 6 months into my travels is a good time to post not only what I brought, but what I wished I’d brought and what it turns out I didn’t need to bring. Also, I’ll get into what was gained and what was...
read moreArashiyama: Bamboo Groves & Zen Dreams
On the outskirts of Kyoto lies a place of amazing beauty, a place so green and silent it speaks to your heart and soul…at least before or after the hordes of tourists pour through… According to Wikipedia, Arashiyama is a nationally-designated Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty, and deservedly so. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere. There’s a hush in the place, a special feeling, that is hard to put into words. It’s a sort of timeless place that you can get lost in the feeling of. That’s why...
read moreKyoto – Temples and Geishas
Kyoto is a city of contrasts – modern buildings and very old temples, the latest fashions and traditional kimonos. It’s the kind of place I envision when I think of Japan. My first morning in Kyoto, I navigated the train system to get to Fushimi Inari, the temple of 10,000 gates (which should also be called the temple of a million steps!). It sits at the base of a mountain with thousands of giant red gates all in a long row snaking upward, which you walk through, following the path past many smaller temples or shrines. It leads up...
read moreMonkey Business in Yudanaka
Close to Yudanaka is the famous Snow Monkey Park, where Macaques, young and old, come to hang out in the hot springs. It’s one of the only places in the world where this monkey business is observed. To get there, after a short bus ride, there is a beautiful 30 minute walk on a winding trail through a forest filled with the scent of pine. At the end of the main trail, a rushing river roars past, with waterfalls and an onsen, its old buildings perched up on the opposite hill. At the Monkey Park ticket office, you pay 500 yen (about $4),...
read moreYudanaka – Ryokans & Onsens
I’m in love…with the ryokan & onsen experience!! It’s like stepping back in time to old Japan. A ryokan is a type of traditional Japanese inn that usually features tatami-matted rooms, communal baths that are separate for men and women, with onsen (or hot springs), if you’re lucky. When you walk into Yudanaka Seifuso, the first thing you do is take off your shoes and don a pair of their generic one-size-fits-all blue slippers, which are lined up on the inner doorstep. (Note there are very specific rules about what...
read more42 Ways to Tell You’re in Tokyo
1) The trains look like they came out of Star Trek 2) The traffic looks like a crazy giant video game 3) There are whole malls full of video games 4) You’re the only non-Asian on the train 5) The floors are covered with tatami mats and you’re sleeping on a futon on the floor 6) There are lots of rules about when you wear shoes vs slippers vs special bathroom slippers 7) Chop sticks are the norm 8) People walk around outside in kimonos and face masks and it’s not Halloween 9) Your coins have Japanese writing on them 10) The sewer covers...
read moreSongkran – Happy Thai New Year!
Love it or hate it, Songkran is celebrated once a year in April, from the 13th to the 15th, although they like to stretch it out a bit, sometimes for up to a week. How could you possibly not love a new year’s celebration? It depends on how much you like water… …when it is dumped over your head, ice cubes and all! The pouring of water on people is meant as a symbol of washing away sins and bad luck, and long ago, people walked around with bowls of water, sprinkling a few drops on you. It has since turned into a crazy water...
read moreTemples, Tribes & the Golden Triangle
North of Chang Mai in Thailand is the city of Chang Rai and the famous White Temple, and nearby, several different Hill Tribes make their homes. A little further north, is the Golden Triangle, which makes for a very full but fun and interesting day. First, on your way, stop by the hot springs, where you can buy and boil eggs (quail or chicken) in the steaming water… Then head to the White Temple, which rises like a sparkling white sugar confection. A very successful Thai artist, a painter who made his fortune, decided around age 40 to...
read moreTasty Fun at Thai Orchid Cookery School
Who doesn’t like Thai food?!! I love to eat it, I’d just never cooked it, and not being the world’s greatest cook, I didn’t know what to expect. But after a high recommendation from other guest house visitors, my Aussie friend Soraya and I headed to the Thai Orchid Cookery school for a day of cooking and eating… It’s owned and run by a lovely young couple who have been sharing their cooking skills for 7 years now. It’s well organized, professional, fun, friendly, and best of all for me, easy to...
read moreAgape – Home for Children with HIV
Agape means unconditional love. At least that’s the definition I was given at a home for children with HIV, just outside of Chang Mai, Thailand. One morning at my guest house, I was fated to meet at breakfast a young couple, Ben and Lauren, from Ohio, a state next door to my home state of Michigan. In fact, it turns out Ben’s brother lives in my home town of Grand Rapids. Small world. When they said they were headed that morning to Agape, a home for orphaned or abandoned HIV kids, and did I want to come along, I immediately said...
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