Ha Long Bay

Where do I start...this was an absolutely wonderful experience, magnificently beautiful, absolutely stunning and serene

After catching our flight on Tuesday to meet up with Rob and Erin in Hanoi, we travelled by van down to Ha long Bay. the trip was quite eventful in its own way. One of the guys developed some kidney problems and had to be taken to a local hospital...would not be my choice but i think it was the best place for him to go to.

When we arrived in Ha Long bay, I was not prepared for how many junks there would be touring around these wonderful islands. there seemed to be hundreds and we didn't know which was going to be ours.

Ours was a lovely small one that could only take 7 couples, we were so lucky.

Sailing around in this junk was just awesome...and I didn't even get a little bit seasick once we started moving. even when we anchored for the night the water was so calm.

I was not prepared for the sheer magnitude of the islands and there beauty. One of our stops was to walk through a cave, it was huge. After this we stopped off for a swim and the waters were very warm.

The meals on the junk were superb. Well presented and yummy to eat. and not a sign of any chili. An onion flower - and yes i did eat the onion petals.
these flowers were made from peppers, carrots and cucumber.

Langkawi

We had a rather lovely weekend in Langkawi with the staff from Orchard. We were flying AirAsia, who put our departure flight back an hour and our flight home forward an hour. despite this setback we were in high spirits about our weekend. Our hotel looked like a pink castle and we were treated like royalty - well almost! the view from the entrance was astounding...was a pity we couldn't swim in the sea but the pool made up for it.

Joan an Donna enjoying the pool after a long walk. It was a saviour from the heat. Our first stop was to go up the cable car to the highest point on Langkawi. The climb was steep and up a sheer cliff but was so worth it. the worst part was when the cable car went over the joins...scary!

Wayne is at the highest point of Langkawi. After walking the long bridge we climbed the tower to find this place.

Bugs are amazing over in this part of Asia. I have no idea what sort of bug it is but it was beautiful. It just sat there and posed!

This is the bridge that joins two ridges. The views were incredible and it is so high up!

While i went for a walk into town the next day Wayne went snorkeling with Kermit (our underwater camera) I can now see what he talks about under the water.

We found a huge as grasshopper, Joan nearly stepped on it and it flew to this place and waited for us to take the photo. I am sure it is smiling at me.

We were watching the sunset and Wayne just had to take our photo - Ruth, Greg, Joan and Carolyn

While walking it rained so we hid in a mall for a short while and when it stopped we walked down to the Eagle statue and saw this hibiscus with water droplets on it.

The highlight of the walk was to see a hornbill. The first one I have seen in the wild. i had heard them and had seen them at Jurong Bird Park, but to see one in the wild and fly freely was awesome!!

Donna, Carolyn and Wayne having a nightcap before turning in for the night.

And the sunset was worth waiting for.

a walk through our local park

It has been a long time since we walked through our local park, so we walked home form Northpoint Mall. below are a selection of photos we took... Singapore is 44 this year!

and a mushroom

A great camouflage!

Jack fruit

Seeds hanging down like hair been braided.

Not grapes but certainly looked like them.

Wayne in amongst the ferns and trees.

Rambutan fruit...they look like prickly strawberries but don't taste like them...you break them open to eat the flesh.

A bug that flew down onto the leaf...not sure what but it might be a cockroach!

Butterfly on a leaf by some rumbutan that have fallen off the tree.

An amazing seed pod....beautiful colours and bright as orange/red.
And after they have lost there seeds.

Japan, an amazing place

Our flight left at the ungodly hour of 5.30 am which meant we had to be at the airport at 3.30 am which meant that it was a short sleep! Arriving in Tokyo was amazing. We had to find the train ticket counter so that we could exchange our voucher for a rail pass. This done we walked down a corridor to the train and walked straight onto the train. It was a shinkansen which is one of their fast trains. It took us an hour and a bit to get to the station we needed in Tokyo itself. The station was Ikebukuro, which is the 2nd busiest station and has like 40 or more exits, and we needed the North exit...luckily there were some English signs to tell us which way to go.

On the Narita Express, bound for Tokyo.
That was great till we stepped outside and everything was in Japanese. We had a small map to look at to know which way to go and we knew the hotel was only a short walk to it. We found the right street and started walking and we were the only white faces we could see. We checked into the hotel and then went walkabout. It was incredible. It was nearly dinner time and we were looking for somewhere to eat. The restaurants all had their menus on display but they were all in Japanese. We were hesitant to go in so walked the block until we found one that had lots of people in but there was a free table. We walked in and sat down only to have the waitress talk to us in Japanese. We had no idea what she was saying until we heard the word ticket. It turned out that it was a place where they had a vending machine to purchase the ticket for the meal you wanted and you gave that ticket to the waitress and then they cooked your meal. Wayne is holding the ticket for the meal in front of him.

The meal was cheap but very yummy. We ended up using this type of restaurant a number of times. The next morning we got up and had a Japanese breakfast before venturing out. We caught the train to the biggest fish market in Tokyo and possibly the world. It was huge, covering a number of warehouses.
Tuna heads here huge!Scallops were above legal NZ size.

It was amazing to see this place. We had read about it but we weren’t prepared for how big it was. We also visited a garden, which was more like a park but so well cared for and beautiful. The next stop was down to Kyoto which is a lovely city. Old and beautiful. We did a walk with a guide around the Geisha area. This was fascinating and yes we did get to see a Geisha on her way to the tea house to work. They were dressed in their kimono and had the face painted white. You can only have a geisha if you are introduced to one through a contact. And they are not cheap.

Maiko on her way to a tea houseGeiko on her way to a tea house. The next day we visited the Nijo Castle, which is nothing like the English castles. It is made of wood and not lavish at all. They do have moats around them and beautiful gardens too.

There is one of the oldest temples here and it is famous for its orange/red poles that lead the way to the shrines up a hill.

We wandered in the tunnels to the top of the hill and then back down to the village area for some lunch. Found this lovely place and the lady cooked our lunch for us. I asked if I could take her photo and she nodded her head and then pinched her cheeks to get some colour in them. There are so many temples in and around this city to see that we couldn’t and didn’t want to see them all, but this one was worth it.

One night we were looking for a meal and went into this place where it was busy. We sat down and looked around the people seemed to be cooking their meals at the table. We looked at the menu and tried to converse with the waitress and in the end just pointed to the pictures. We ended up with beef, mushrooms, onions, garlic and a burner thing that made the food taste like it was bbqed food, and you cooked it to the degree of cooked that you wanted.Our next stop was Hiroshima and the Peace Park, where a building still stands after being nuclear bombed. It was amazing to see this shell amongst the new buildings. From here we went to see the museum and this was heart breaking to read the blurbs but so worthwhile.


We also visited Miyajima Island which has the famous Tori Gates, which are the most photographed temple gates in Japan. On this island the deer run wild but are very tame. They were so tame that they come up to people to take the food out of their hands or handbags or even pockets. It was incredible to see.

Wayne is reading a map to ensure we were on the right track.

We were lucky enough to see a traditional bridal couple come off our ferry.

These are the famous Tori gates...unfortunately the tide was out but it was still spectacular.

Another highlight of this area was being able to visit some limestone caves. Our Waitomo Caves were much better than these but they were still well worth the visit. The entrance/exit to the caves.

100 plates, tiers of water and mud!
This bridge is built with no nails. Fascinating.
Tokoshima was our next stop. It is on the fourth island of Japan and although it was interesting we didn’t have enough time there to see what we wanted to. We intended to see some whirl pools but the signage was all in Japanese, the bus drivers couldn’t understand or speak English so we gave up and went back to our hotel for dinner. Dinner this night was in a local restaurant where no English was spoken; once again we were the only white people in the room. Luckily one of the chefs could speak a little and helped us order the food. Beside us was a picture of a drink that was whisky, we recognised the label, so asked for that and it turned out to be a mug of whisky and soda.

All the maps were in Japanese....very hard to find out where you are and where you are going to.

From here we caught a train back to the mainland and then another train to the other coast. The town we were heading for was Matsue, which still has some of the oldest streets and buildings. We went to the castle here and were able to go into the Keep which had great views of the city. People are fishing in the moat.


It was the right coast to see a sunset which we took advantage of. Unfortunately the clouds didn’t move away.
Then it was a long trek back towards Tokyo. We wanted to go into Hakone National Park as from here you get awesome views of Mt Fuji. We had found an hotel on the internet to book into and decided we would treat ourselves to two lovely nights here. It was worth it. From a smallish train station we had to get onto another train to take us in the right direction, change to another train to take us to the next junction, take another train which ran on single tracks so we were waiting for the coming down train so we could go the next stage. All in all it was a great train ride and the scenery was beautiful. Hydrangeas were out in flower and all the Japanese were taking photos of them. Halfway up the hill was our stop so we got off and walked for 5 minutes to our hotel. Dinner in this place and then a goods nights sleep so we could be up early to take the train to the end of the line, catch a cable car to get to the ropeway (which we call gondolas) to get a view of Mt Fuji. But alas it did not show. So we got off the ropeway and took a boat ride across a lake on a replica pirate ship. This was also supposed to give us a view but the clouds were too low all the time. We found a little nature walk and enjoyed this but still Mt Fuji didn’t show. We got back on the ropeway and got off this halfway to visit some volcanic activity. This had the smell of Rotorua and we noticed lots of people eating eggs and read about these eggs and that they are black and are suppose to give you long live. After looking at the activity we went down to the souvenir shop and they were selling these eggs so we bought

some...so now we are going to live a long time...hahahaha This area reminded Wayne of home!
The skink had an iridescent blue tail, and moved very fast.

Mt Fuji finally showed her top for us. Magnificent.

Then it was back to Tokyo, which meant it was back to Singapore soon. Going back to Tokyo we wanted to visit a place called Harajuku. It is a place for the fashion conscious and the ones who want to set a trend go. We saw many different and way out fashions. Girls dressed as Little Bo Peep...there were a number of them, people who just want to wear something different. It was fascinating.

The entrance to Harajuku was busy and there were people "dressed up". Little Bo Peep! Looks like it and there is a fashion trend to dress like this...i fail to understand why they would want to.This is the busiest intersection in Tokyo and we visited it when it was not peak time.

From here we wandered through a mall and found a 100% New Zealand store selling manuka honey. We had a taste and felt homesick...and the girl called us back when we were leaving and gave us a gift of a 100% New Zealand bag...so nice. This was how we found all the Japanese people...they just couldn’t do enough for you. We visited markets where they didn’t physically pull you into their stall, which is what they do in most of the other countries we have visited in Asia.

We even found a park where they were playing baseball.Then it was time to get on the train to catch our flight back home.Now it is time to plan the next one! To the north of Vietnam.