Lovely Langkawi

An easy relaxing destination from Singapore - Langkawi, Malaysia. 

Many "resorts" minutes away from the airport.  Beaches, swimmable oceans, pools - but watch out for the cheeky monkeys!

I stayed at the Berjaya Resort. It did have cabins up in the hills and you did need to call for a vehicle to pick you up to bring you to the lobby but they mostly came within 5 minutes. 

There were cabins you could stay in out in the water as well but you also needed a ride to the main lobby. 

Breakfast was good - a lot of variety.  They had a few restaurants in the resort which were good too.  As there wasn't anywhere in walking distance to go to any other restaurants.

There are many places to see in the area - you would need a car or do a tour.  But walking from the resort there is the CABLE CAR SKY BRIDGE

A 3 minutes away ride from the resort is The Oriental Village cable car station. The cable car takes you up to the top of Mt. Mat Chincang surrounded by both spectacular and stunning views of nature.

View of chalets on the water from the water

Highlights from Japan

After Osaka, I went to visit Miah and Dwain and family who now live just outside of Tokyo.   Fortunately, Miah wasn't working this year and so we had some nice quality time with her and F; plus the Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom!

 

Hiroshima

The setting to one of my favorite books - Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is a children's historical novel written by Canadian-American author Eleanor Coerr and published in 1977. It is set in Japan after World War II. Wikipedia

It was a beautiful day to walk around the Peace Memorial Park where there is the Children's Peace Memorial with a metal crane to ring a bell and a metal statue of a girl holding up a crane.  Also many glass boxes of folded paper cranes from children all over the world.

I had some time to reflect the unforgiving consequences of the effects of the Atomic Bomb as I walked around the remains of the building it hit and from the binders of information which a group put together in multiple languages to "educate" the visitors.

This is the building  that the Atomic Bomb hit.

It was called the Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall before it was destroyed by the atomic bomb August 6, 1945.

It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Kyoto

Ah the beautiful Kyoto!  Riding the bullet train (and it is fast!) I fortunately saw Mt. Fuji - a rare sighting as most people say it's hidden behind low clouds.

Magnificent Mt. Fuji

Bullet Train

Our hotel in Kyoto was really far out in the suburbs, so we put our suitcases in lockers and went to explore Kyoto.  It was a perfect day and so many people were dressed in kimonos.  We stumbled upon Pontocho Alley - Pontocho Alley, is lined with traditional shops and restaurants, and no cars, modern buildings or gaudy signs are allowed.  We found a great Kobe steak and wine restaurant.  In the evenings, it is famous for full on geishas (however we didn't see any). 
Pontocho Alley is parallel to the river which I walked along taking photos of all the girls in their colorful kimonos. 

We also went on a half day tour to see 3 temples. The Heian Shrine, one of Japan's largest torii gate.  The Sanjusangeno Temple (a Buddhist Temple) was the most interesting but we were not allowed to take photos.  It has 1,001 slightly different armed statues of the goddess of mercy, Kannon.  

The last temple we visited was Kiyomizu-dera on Mt. Otowa.  Most of it was behind scaffolding but the most impressive part was the veranda which is 13 meters tall and was built without nails. 

Tokyo - Hakone

Tokyo is a HUGE city!  We only had about a day here so hit some of the tourist spots, such as, Senso-ji Temple.   It is the oldest temple in Tokyo.   We saw many Japanese girls in kimonos.  Men pulling rickshaws and local and tourists enjoying the markets and Cherry Blossom themed foods and souvenirs.

famous paper lantern

Senso-ji Temple

We also went to the Tokyo National Museum.

The next day we took a train (or a few trains) to Hakone.    There wasn't a lot to do/see in Hakone.   We took a bus to Ashinoko Lake and rode a boat around it.  The lake is over 3,000 years old. Boy it was cold on the boat. 

However I did warm up in the evening as I tried out our hotel's onsen.  Fortunately I met a lady who helped me out with the dos and don'ts of onsens.  Onsens are Japanese bath houses where you enter the bath areas completely naked.   Friendly advise - Onsen Basics

Japan - Tokyo - March 2017

Well, I finally made it to Japan.  It had been on my Bucket List for a while.  With my good friends moving there this fall, this inspired me to finally go.

Japan, a beautiful country, polite and gracious people and delicious food.

To take away the time to research hotels and transportation, I chose a self-guided tour which took care of the latter things.  The initial contact was through www.tourradar.com which then sub-contracted it to Bamba Experience - www.bambaexperience.com  Tour called Japan Highlight 8D/7N.

We explored Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Osaka on the tour and ended visiting Miah and Dwain outside of Tokyo.

Since we booked the trip quite late, our hotel accommodations were further from the train stations than I would have liked but it was peak season as it was Cherry Blossom Season.  Plus the directions which were given on how to get from the train stations to the hotel were quite clear and direct.