I’m starting to write this post as I sit on the train bound for Agra. This is it – by the end of the day I’ll have been to the Taj Mahal! (And also the Red Fort and will have taken my first train trip in India). It’s been a perfect 5 1/2 days in Delhi and I managed to check almost all the sights I wanted to hit off my list. There’s still so much more to see but it will have to wait for next time.

I hit the Lotus Temple (modern Bahai temple in a pristine setting in New Delhi) and Qutab Minar (a minaret and “victory tower” that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of South Delhi) on my own before meeting up with my Intrepid Travel tour group in the evening (day before yesterday).

Yesterday was the first full day with Intrepid. Our group includes 3 women from California and 1 from Sydney and our guide Saurabh. We started with a metro ride to Old Delhi and our breakfast stop. Unreal delicious!

A quick walk through crowded bustling Old Delhi brought us to Jama Madjid (mosque).

The rest of our walking tour took us through the narrow allies of Old Delhi, sampling Chai and parathas in Chandni Chowk. I got the opportunity to have parathas from two neighbouring establishments and compare. Very similarly delicious but I was hungrier this time so I think it gave today’s a bit of an edge.

We concluded the formal tour at around 1 pm and had time on our own so grabbed a couple of auto rickshaws to go learn about Gandhi. Unfortunately, even though our guide was very clear with the driver that our destination was Gandhi Smriti museum, we somehow got dropped 5km away at Gandhi Darshan. Also a museum but not the right one. We wandered the site there for a while and then ubered to the Gandhi Smitri museum and spent some time at Gandhi’s last place of residence and the location where he was assassinated on January 30, 1948.

Finally, we capped off the day with a delicious dinner at none other than ‘Hooter’ – haha actually an upscale Indian restaurant close to our hotel.

My first full day in India was a sensory extravaganza! Sights, sounds, tastes and smells! I successfully navigated the metro (actually quite straightforward) to Old Delhi and the meeting place for my ‘A Chef’s Tour’ food tour. I was an hour early so spent some time wandering by myself and stopped at Haldiram’s for raj kachori (recommended by my homestay host, Pankaj) so I could sit down for a few minutes. It was delicious – sweet and savoury all at once with so many flavours and colours!

***Disclaimer – this post might not be that thrilling, but it’s mostly my way of getting all these dishes straight in my head and remembering what we ate!

I met up with my guide, Kuldeep and a couple from France and South Africa who had quit their jobs in Lyon and were travelling the world for 2 years in search of their next stopping point. Loved hearing their perspectives on the countries we had all been to. After a quick orientation to Old Delhi, the Red Fort, the Chandni Chowk market and its temples, we headed to our first stop for jalebi – sweet, syrupy and sticky! I somehow missed getting my own photo so here’s a stock photo from the internet 😬

Next was the paratha – stuffed flatbread. I have this aversion to taking food photos (a story for another day) and so it took me a while to get my stride. I have a photo of the ‘accoutrements’ but not one of the actual paratha 😳 – so I’ll include another stock photo

This was followed by visit to a Sikh temple – Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib – where we toured the kitchen where the holy food is prepared and served.

On to Dahi Bhalla corner for our next dish – Dahi Bhalla – deep fried lentil fritters dunked in creamy yogurt, topped with different kinds of sweet spicy chutneys and then garnished with spice powders

We navigated the streets past the Swami Shraddhanand statue and all it’s pigeons and pigeon offerings:

Had some lemon soda (a lime spiced, sweet and salty drink reminiscent of Gatorade – there’s a difference in nomenclature between lemons and limes here….):

And headed into the spice market for a full on assault on the senses!

Loved the super sweet and perfectly spiced masala chai on the way out prepared by this gentleman in his most unconventional locale:

After that we sampled rabri – a sweet, condensed-milk-based dish, made by boiling milk on low heat for a long time until it becomes dense and changes its colour to off-white or pale yellow. Jaggery, spices, and nuts are added to it to give it flavor. It is chilled and served as dessert

We headed into an actual restaurant for paneer butter masala and tandoori roti followed by fennel seeds and and the prettiest little sugar cubes as a digestive aid:

The next dish was my favourite – Daulat Ki Chaat – a light ‘whipped cream like’ dessert with a touch of saffron. Made with milk, cream and cream of tartar.

The second last dish was kachori and my least favourite – the spice was good, but the kachori itself was tough and oily. I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to try it again – maybe it was just an off day for the chef…

We also had creamy, cold lassi (essentially a yogurt drink) and fresh fruit (watermelon, papaya and banana) from a street food vendor seasoned with cumin, salt and black pepper powder. Both were simple, refreshing and delicious after the other complex, spicy dishes!

We finished with the most unusual dish – paan – a betel leaf stuffed with rose petals in syrup and spices. I had a love/hate relationship with this dish – meant to cleanse the palate and help with digestion and gut health. It was so overpowering – sweet, salty, spicy and so floral – yet strangely pleasing at the same time! One bite would have been enough. I especially loved the crunch of the betel leaf itself. And I’ll secretly attribute the fact that it’s 15 hours later and absolutely no sign of ‘Delhi Belly’ after eating all that street food to the purported antibacterial effects of this unusual treat!

It’s interesting how much pre-conceived notions, assumptions and apprehension play into travel. On the one hand I had this idea that I would love India because it would be different and I would feel like I’m actually experiencing something new (not just western culture in a slightly different place – like Ireland for example).

But on the other hand, I was (and still am a little) nervous about what that would be like because I’d heard how dirty and chaotic India was (would I even be able to figure out how to get from one place to another, would people be aggressive, would it smell so badly I wouldn’t be able to stand it, would I not be able to find food because it would all be bacteria ridden and basically poison, and even – would I see a dead body on the streets because South Asians have a different perspective of death than we do and I’d heard that a dead body is no big deal to them – possibly because they culturally have a healthier, more enlightened concept of the inevitability of death than our culture…?).

Coming here was kind of like that caving trip we went on in Australia – as I stood there looking at this hole in the rock that I was supposed to wiggle though on my stomach, arms stretched out in front of me, not entirely sure it was actually bigger around than me, I had to consciously decide that I was just going to do it – no turning back. I have to psych myself up here and be prepared to take whatever comes.

Turns out it’s not nearly as hard as I thought it would be – sure, it’s a little uncomfortable, but so worth it! If the experiences I’ve had so far are any indication, this will be the first of multiple trips. This country is huge – it’s kind of like visiting Canada in 17 days and expecting to get any kind of cross section of what it has to offer – impossible!

Also the solo travel thing adds another element of difficulty. I don’t have my usual sidekick(s) to bounce things off of or be my back up (or help make sure I don’t lose things or leave them behind – since that’s often my m.o.). But when things go right – the feeling of accomplishment is unmatched 😆!

Also impossible would be choosing a single photo to represent my first impression so here’s a little gallery instead:

The positives:

My homestay! I would highly, highly recommend Tatvamasi to everyone for their first time in Delhi. It’s located in a (relatively) quiet neighbourhood in New Delhi, about a 15 minute walk (or 65 inr = $1.08 rickshaw Uber) from the Greater Kailash metro station. The host, Pankaj has a wealth of information and advice and most importantly, he didn’t make anything here sound overwhelming or difficult! He’s super ‘matter of fact’ – basically just ‘go here and do this’ – which totally gave me the confidence to do just that. If he thought I could do it then I must be able to. Also, the best piece of information he gave me was that ‘Indians are introverts’, so if someone approaches you and is being overly helpful and friendly, beware. Not that Indians aren’t friendly and helpful, the difference is in whether you approach them or they approach you.

Of course, his advice didn’t 100% completely keep me from getting ‘sucked in’. I lost an hour of my day (and my patience) with a pushy rickshaw driver who must have told me 5 times that he ‘respects me’ while taking me shopping to 2 places and past another 3 places I didn’t ask to go to. And those who know me, know how much I hate shopping when I travel! He was supposed to take me past India Gate and to Humayan’s tomb which should have taken maybe half an hour at the most and ended up taking almost 1.5 hours. And I haven’t yet figured out what the scam is with the tourist office he wanted to take me to (he tried to convince me at least 3 times) but I managed to get out of that – mind you I had to say ‘absolutely not, do not take me there, take me directly to the tomb now!’. Obviously here is where I essentially lost the last grain of patience I had left. I always have to learn things the hard way! Truthfully, I think what leads me to take a little of this garbage is that I feel sorry for people who have to work this hard for their livelihood – it must be such an energy suck to have to scam people all day long every day just to put food on the table. I gave him double what the Uber would have cost me for the trip I originally asked for. He called me ‘cheap’ and I (angrily) reiterated that I was still paying him double, even after he took my to a bunch of places I didn’t want to go and wasted an hour of my day, before I turned and walked/ran to the entrance of the tomb.

24000 steps, 17km and an hour and a half on the metro yesterday taught me how to say ‘No’ (at least to rickshaw drivers and other random men approaching me on the street and in parks). Oh – I also learned to say ‘no’ to people approaching me to take my picture with them – young, older, male, female – everyone wants a photo with the old, tall, white lady! 😆

Wait – somehow I managed to work the only negative into my first positive! So that’s that – no heading entitled ‘The negatives’. Oh, I could also complain about how the hard foam mattress doesn’t work well with my arthritic joints but that’s definitely a first world problem and really has no place in this blog 😬

I’m thrilled with how much I’ve managed to see and do so far – mostly thanks to the metro system which is incredibly easy and gets me huge distances in a reasonable amount of time – really important in a city as big as this!

But overwhelmingly, I’m thrilled with how India (so far) is living up to all my greatest expectations of the food and the architecture and the culture! All of the niggling worries due to stereotypes and negative opinions are gone. It’s definitely not perfect here – it’s dirty in places, the sidewalks are terrible, it’s loud (so much traffic and so many horns), the crush of the crowds can be intimidating, I had to make a wide circle around a rat on the sidewalk once already, and the scams are real. But if you just breath, relax, exercise street smarts and take it all in, it’s fascinating, even mesmerizing and most certainly thought provoking!

This is my first attempt at writing a blog on my phone – so we’ll see how it turns out. The number of seasons, cultures, environments and altitudes I’ll be in over the course of the next 3 months results in a complicated (to say the least) packing list. I’ve travelled quite a bit now (I think my country count is at 46) and I can honestly say I’ve never even made a packing list let alone agonized over it for hours. But this trip is different. We’ve been travelling ‘carry on only’ for a while now and the lack of choice in clothes and shoes doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, we were forced to wear the same outfit for 3 days in a row in Beijing when we finished our trip there after being in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Laos and the weather changed from high 20’s and 30’s to just 6C.

So I think I can sufficiently plan for clothes even with the varying seasons and weather conditions (more on that later).

Packing considerations – medications:

1. The threat of GI illness in India is real! And I love food! I chose a two week long food tour for that exact reason – I want to eat all the things with the least amount of risk possible! Managing the potential for gastrointestinal infections requires more medications than I’ve ever packed before! You’d think that because I’m a pharmacist, I’d always have an arsenal of meds with me… not at all. It seems my knowledge of meds has given me a ?healthy aversion and I have to have a really good reason to take something before I’ll ‘reach for a pill‘. And usually when we travel I assume that at least one of us will still be capable of hitting up a pharmacy. But this time I’m on my own and I won’t be able to just send Reid or Leighton out on a drug finding mission. My ‘evidence based’ approaches included updating my typhoid and Dukoral vaccines (I know Dukoral is really only roughly 30% effective but I have coverage for it which alleviates the sting of the ~$150 it costs and hey, I’ll take the 30%!). I was pleasantly surprised that I had zero side effects from the Typhim Vi injection – I was nervous after having my ass kicked by all of my Covid vaccines and for the first time ever influenza too. I also have a couple of courses of azithromycin with me (per the antimicrobial ‘bible’ in Alberta – Bugs and Drugs). Of course, for use only out of complete desperation – loperamide. And two additions that I absolutely can’t provide any reasonable supportive evidence for but logically there might be some benefit (and did I mention I’m desperate not to get sick) – charcoal tablets and probiotics. So stay tuned to see how successful I am at warding off unwanted bacteria!

2. Altitude sickness is a possibility on the 42km Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu so I have to be prepared for that too. Acetazolamide for prevention and dexamethasone for treatment. The only other experience I have with altitude was in Hilo, Hawaii back in 2010 when we were fortunate enough to have an insider tour of the Mauna Kea Observatories with Leighton’s cousin Michael. It was a bizarre and unpleasant feeling to be short of breath and exhausted after climbing 4 stairs! My O2 levels dropped alarmingly (Leighton had the highest levels of all 3 of us) so I’m doing my best to prepare with 3 days of acclimating in Ollantaytambo prior to taking on the Inca trail and the meds.

3. Finally, again cuz I’m on my own, I feel the need to pack assorted other meds so I don’t have to try to track them down in a moment of need – Gravol, decongestant, oral rehydration solution, Benadryl, hydrocortisone cream, Advil/Tylenol and Symbicort. OMG – I can’t believe this is me writing this! And I just realized I don’t have anything for heartburn which also never used to be a thing for me but somehow is on occasion now 😬.

So that mostly sums up the part of my packing list I’ve given almost no thought to in the past. The only other topic involves a little bit of ‘TMI’ so brace yourself. I’m worried about the toilets on this trip 😆. Almost every blog/article/packing list I read about India mentions the horrors of the toilets. So my packing list includes camping toilet paper, antiseptic wipes and even a reusable ‘pee cloth’ for back up. All of which must be tucked away in a convenient portable bag for transport to and from the ‘restroom’.

Packing considerations – clothing

First and most important – I have to bring only the amount of clothing I absolutely need and I have to be able to trust it to other people for washing since there won’t always be a laundromat handy for me to do it myself on this trip (Leighton and I actually made boozy laundry an event in the summer in Ireland – pub hopping between loads). I am however, bringing a bar of almond castille soap for general use (hair, face, body and laundry) so I’ll have the option of washing a few items in the sink as needed.

Weather will influence my clothing packing list of course. India will range from about 20C in the north to 30+C in the south so pretty bearable… but Rome will be around 12-14C. Fortunately, when Leighton joins me in Italy he’ll have our hiking gear for Peru with him which means checking a bag. The Inca Trail also has the potential to be in that 14C range so we’ll need some layers there as well.

Culture is the other consideration particularly in India and Egypt. So keeping modesty and respect in mind, I’m packing loose flowing clothing that will cover my arms and legs to below the knee. I also picked up a Turkish towel that is multipurpose – quick drying for beach or shower and pretty/thin enough to use as a scarf or shawl/wrap.

I feel like I have to address footwear. I’m absolutely in love with my Birkenstock ‘bend low’ white leather sneakers (recommended to me by my friend Megan who picked hers up in London before they were a thing here). They’re the first pair of sneakers I feel totally comfortable wearing with skirts/dresses! And they’re soooo comfy – wide toe box and great arch support. I can walk forever in them. So essentially I’ll be wearing them every day for the next 3 months except for when I throw on my flip flops or don my well worn hiking boots in Peru.

One final note. I read about merino wool underwear – like actual cute underwear for everyday! Amongst other benefits, it’s easy to wash and quick drying so I can just pack a few pairs and won’t have to send them out with the rest of my laundry – just a little added level of comfort :).

Packing List – in full 😳

Medications:

• Symbicort
• Acetazolamide
• Dexamethasone
• Azithromycin
• OCP
• Advil Cold and Sinus
• ORS – hydralyte tablets
• Hydrocortisone cream
• Loperamide
• Gravò
• Charcoal tablets
• probiotics
• Rolaids
• Tylenol
• Benadryl
• First aid kit (with bandaids)
• Advil
• Lozenges

Documents:

• Passport
• 2 sets passport photos
• Nexus card
• Mastercard
• Debit card
• Visa card
• India Visa
• Driver’s license
• International driver’s license
• Photocopies of passport and driver’s license
• Paper copy of medical/travel insurance
• Proof of vaccination
• Glasses prescription
• Printed address of hotel in Delhi
• USD

Electronics:

• iPhone
• Charging cord for iPhone
• Apple Watch
• Charging cord for apple watch
• Headphones for phone
• Headphones for plane
• Portable charger and cord
• India adapter
• Type C adapter

Clothing:

• 3 pairs merino wool underwear
• 2 Sports bras
• Bra
• Bathing suit
• Lulu jacket
• 1 pair leggings
• Black dress – EverByX
• 2 pairs shapewear shorts
• Black Lulu capris
• Black pants – Ministry of Supply
• Grey shacket – Ministry of Supply
• Pink dress tank top
• Pink maxi skirt
• Green t-shirt tunic
• Black key lime shirt
• 2 soft 3/4 sleeve sweat shirt’s
• V neck T-shirt green
• Sun hat
• Buff
• Silk scared
• White button down shirt
• White shirt with buttons
• Green linen shirt
• Sleeping romper

Makeup:

• Makeup remover
• Reusable makeup remover pads
• Q-tips
• Rodan and fields tinted moisturizer with SPF
• 2 eye shadow brushes
• 1 eyeliner brush
• 1 blush brush
• Blush
• 1 eyebrow pencil
• 1 eyebrow mascaras
• Eyeshadow
• BB eye-liner
• Corrector
• 2 makeup sponges
• Beauty blender
• Bronzer
• Mascara
• RF mineral powder and brush
• Setting spray
• Primer

Toiletries

• Deodorant
• Castille Bar Soak
• Moroccan hair oil
• Conditioner
• Wet brush
• Dry shampoo
• Invisalign retainer trays
• Sunscreen
• 3 hair ties
• Small hair elastics
• Banana clip
• 10 Bobby pins
• Pstyle
• Camping toilet paper and pee cloth in ziploc
• Vicks
• Nail file
• Nail clipper
• Eye cream
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Floss
• Razor
• Curling iron

Shoes:

• Flip flops
• Birkenstock sneakers

Miscellaneous:

• Day pack
• Trtl travel pillow
• Reusable snack bag
• Spork
• WBacteria filtering water bottle (Lifestraw)
• 2 Orange avocado necklaces – 1 long, 1 regular
• White gold hoop earrings
• Wedding band
• Masks
• Glasses
• Sunglasses
• Contacts (dailies)
• Laundry detergent strip’s
• Mesh laundry bag
• Compressible packing cubes
• Pen
• Small journal
• Hand sanitizer
• Antibacterial wipes
• Turkish towel
• Silk sleep sheer
• Master lock and cable
• Ear plugs
• Eye mask
• Headlamp

And I think I’ll end this post here. I’ll keep you updated as I figure out what I missed and what I ended up never using!

Here’s what you missed.  Over the last few months, I have been super busy learning, experiencing and seeing amazing things.  I apologize for the lack of blog posts.  Here’s some pictures to sum up the countries we’ve been to.

Phillipines:

If i had only 3 words to describe the country of Vietnam it would be motorbikes, coffee and rice.

Malaysia: FOOD!! (street food capital of the world)

Australia: (see following post)

Canada: Unfortunately, due to my grandpa’s passing, we detoured and spent a total of 14 days at home spending time with friends and family

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!!!!

 

 

 

Well the first week has been a bit of a blur with a bit of jet lag and a ton of sensory overload.  Tokyo was filled with weird vending machines everywhere selling everything from cold and hot beverages such as yogurt soda and hot canned coffee to tickets for ramen and other restaurant specialties.

Vending Machines Abound

We stumbled upon an agricultural fair on the grounds of the Meiji Shrine and it sure taught us how meticulous and strict the Japanese people are about their lives and especially their food.  Snacked on a Fuji apple as we looked around.

Although we visited the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, we saw and visited so many more shrines and temples in Kyoto. It is amazing how there can be thousand year old temples among modern new buildings right in the heart of the city.  The size, architectural detail, and intricacy in and around these buildings is mind blowing.