The second half of the Japan section of this trip did not disappoint, sightseeing was great, and the food was nothing less than amazing, and the beginning of this winning streak takes place at Himeji castle. Himeji castle was a war castle built in the 1330’s, designed to resemble a bird taking flight, this castles size and beauty was absolutely breathtaking.

The next favourite stop of this adventure was Naoshima art island, situated just a couple train rides and a ferry ride off the coast of the town of Kurashiki. Naoshima is considered an art island because throughout this small island, tons of amazing art galleries and interesting sculptures can be found almost everywhere. We only visited 1 gallery, and to say the least, it was impressive. The rest of our visit consisted of renting bikes and cruising around this coastal town and enjoying great views of intriguing sculptures.

After Kurashiki and Naoshima art island, we headed to Hiroshima, where the worlds first nuclear bomb was dropped on August 6, 1946. The A-Bomb dome is a building in the centre of the rebuilt city of Hiroshima, that was only 160 meters away from the hypocenter of the nuclear bomb, the building mostly survived, and was left exactly how it was after the bomb. It was mind blowing how near the bomb was too the building, and how this former trade centre, mostly survived, while a 2 kilometre radius of the city was completely burned to ash. 

Then back to Tokyo. Our Japan trip began, and ended here, but the second time was slightly more interesting. The main highlight of this second branch would have to be the Tsukiji fish market. An early, but good start to the experience began at 2:12 am, at the registration office for the fish auction, in order to get in to the market for your 20 minute segment, you are required to be within the first 120 people to register, which in turn requires being at the office very early, and waiting in a small, packed room with no chairs, for 4 hours. I was far too tired to stay awake for that whole time, so I dozed off on the floor and woke up to my parents nudging me to stand up. We were going in. After a 5 minute walk through an industrial area of fishing trucks and forklifts nearly running you over, you get into a large well-lit shed, where many fish buyers looked at, smelled, and tested 200-300 kg red tuna fish. After the actual market, we just had to go get some fresh sushi from a near by restaurant. after a 25 minute wait in line for sushi, at 5:45 am, we had a feast of the freshest, most delicious sushi in the world. the Tuna was extremely red, sweet and tender, and our server taught us many things about how to eat the sushi, (only dipping the fish into the soy sauce, not the rice) our sushi breakfast was a meal to never forget.

Just thought it was time for me to make my contribution to the blog site.  The boys (Leighton and Reid) would agree that I was the driving force behind all of this ‘craziness’.  When I was 18, I embarked on my first overseas trip intending to be gone for a year…. Australia was expensive and full of adventures and having never really been on my own, homesickness and dwindling funds played a role in my return home after only 3 1/2 months.  Lots has changed since then (of course) and I think part of me wanted to redeem myself.  My first pitch to the boys involved selling our house, buying a motorhome and traveling as much of the continent as we could cover in a year.  Needless to say, that plan wasn’t met with a positive response so the compromise (after much debate) ended up being 5 months – leaving after harvest and returning in time to seed.  We agreed as a family, that this was an opportunity that needed to be grasped now or forever lost.  We’re all healthy, grade 9 is still theoretically possible with homeschooling, traveling is the best possible family time and we just couldn’t find any compelling reason NOT to do it!

So after hours and hours…. and hours of planning, here we are.  One month in, 1/5 done and 3 countries entered.  Now, I don’t want to jinx myself, so I’m looking around right now for some ‘wood to knock on’, but we’ve had no major setbacks thus far.  It wasn’t looking good in the Philippines when Typhoon Marce made an appearance and prevented our Palaw sailing vessel from leaving port for 24 hours.  We had a 4 night/5 day sailing trip booked with Tao Philippines and a flight booked to Vietnam less than 48 hours after it was supposed to end.  Leaving one day late would be fine, 2 days late – doable, but 3 days would mean either changing our flights or missing half the trip we’d already paid for! Fortunately we were only delayed the one day and missed out on exploring Coron before leaving the Philippines.

My brief synopsis of the trip so far:

Japan:  Friends – we were joined by 2 of my pharmacist colleagues, Pam (with Seth and 8 year old Brandon) and Joanna.   Walking – sometimes over 30,000 steps per day and never less than 18,000!   Food – the best ramen, sushi, yakatori, sweets etc.!  Cleanliness – no garbage anywhere!  Trains – the Shinkansen (bullet train) that never ceased to give me a thrill as it flew by!  History – temples, shrines, pagodas, castles and Hiroshima’s Memorial Park commemorating the A-bomb disaster of WWII.  Electronics – this I was expecting!  What I wasn’t expecting was just how populated Japan is (cities seem to just blend one into another with very little open countryside along the bullet train tracks between Tokyo and Hiroshima) and how grey the (post war) architecture is.

Philippines:  Culture shock!  After Japan, the chaos, color and squalor was a lot t0 take in.  We started out our 2 weeks with a van ride from Puerto Princesa to El Nido.  Now this trip should probably realistically  (and safely) take about 6 hours.  We did it in 4.5 – with one breakfast stop and 2 bathroom stops.  Leighton was smart and jumped into the passenger seat at the front right away (he has a tendency toward motion sickness) but Reid and I got stuck in the back.  I spent the entire time hanging on for dear life – trying not to bash into either the door on my right or my child to my left!  Wifi and Sim card issues – El Nido is notorious for having terrible internet access.  Hospitality – we enjoyed our 8 (plus one) nights at High Chaparral Cottages with a wonderful host, Nitz!  We had the company of dogs, cats, goats, chickens, a cow, geckos, ants, spiders and frogs as well as some other great guests that Reid and I ended up spending a day ocean kayaking with.  Diving – PADI certification for all of us!  And finally sailing – our Tao Experience Sailing trip – an opportunity to spend 5 days with world travellers from Chile, Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Australia, Italy, USA, New Zealand, UK and of course the always laughing/smiling Filipino crew!

Vietnam:  We’re only a couple days in so far – I’ll comment later.   As of now – the FOOD!!!  I love Vietnamese food!!!

That’s all for now – so much more I could write.  I’ll end by saying that the greatest success we’ve had so far is in the relationships – with each other and with the people we’ve met.  Loving this time with my family!!!!