Such a Long Journey

It’s taken us 84 days to travel to 21 locations (not including nearly a dozen day trips) in 6 countries. We’ve stayed in 23 guest houses/hotels and one boat; used 7 different currencies; taken (and saved) over 2,000 photos/videos; and posted on this blog 66 times (including this time).
Our modes of transportation have included planes, trains, automobiles (cars, vans, buses, and minibuses), a scooter, bicycles, rickshaws, tuk-tuks (various types), boats (long-tail, ferries, a junk, kayaks, and speed-boats), cable-cars, and one elephant. Oh, and a *lot* of walking (I estimate between 250 and 300 hours-worth of being on our feet).
We met up with relatives and made new friends. We’ve eaten local foods, drank local beers, met local people, and tried to experience as much local life as we could.
And it has all added up to one life-changing journey.
In the end – which is hard to believe has arrived – it’s obvious to us that things have changed. It’s impossible to experience so many different things (good and bad) without learning many lessons, some individual and others between us. And while we feel an overwhelming excitement to come home, it is abated by a sense that something very special is coming to an end.
One thing is for sure though – we have never missed our family and friends more. And so, as we sign off for the last time, we want to thank-you all for following along on our travels. It has made not seeing you a lot more bearable, knowing that you have been sharing it with us, even if only in spirit. We’ll see you all soon!

Takayama

Takayama - our last stop! As Vee mentioned below, this town is beautiful, as is the surrounding area. It is a quaint, almost medieval, town and is full of old-fashioned shopping streets (photo #1) where you can buy tonnes of souvenirs and amazing food like Hida beef buns/sticks. Small rivers run throughout (see photo #2), covered in tonnes of bridges.
Today, we took a long walk through the town, and up into Shibuya park - beautiful normally, but made even more so by an overnight dusting of snow (as I type, it's snowing like mad outside). Photos #3 and 4 were taken in the park, and you can see the Japanese alps in the background. The mountains are stunning, and we actually took a day trip into them yesterday. Unfortunately though, by the time we took the Shinhotaka ropeway to its peak, we were in the middle of a blizzard! The trees behind Vee in the panorama shot aren't more than 10-15m, and you could barely see them. Slightly different to the blazing heat of places like Siem Reap.
The last photo is of a couple stuffed animals - 3 of the near 100,000 available in the town. Go figure.
I hope you enjoy, as these are almost certainly the last photos we will be posting! Amazing how time flies...

Last days in Japan

Yesterday Matt and I were both in agreement that we took the most beautiful train ride of our life. We left Osaka for the village in the mountains known as Takayama. The train ride was incredible. We rode beside the most beautiful, rushing, and deep aqua blue river. It was calm one moment and the next it was swirling and crashing over slate gray rocks, then slipping over waterfalls and rising and falling into huge swollen gorges. Seeing it against the vibrant greens of the bamboo trees, the deep evergreens and the snow capped mountains is something that will stay with me forever. It was so beautiful it literally brought me to tears. It is most comforting to know that we still have the ride back where we will see it all again. I am going to soak in every second of it and hopefully burn a vivid image of it into my brain forever!
But the day before that fabulous train ride we took a day trip to a more somber place - Hiroshima. As most people know it was the site where the first atomic bomb was dropped in war and we saw the devastation that occurred from it up close.
When you first arrive at the site you see one lone building left standing after the rest of Hiroshima was annihilated. It is quite something to see and we took many shots of it including the one shown here.
Next was a memorial to all the children killed in Hiroshima. Some of you may have heard the story of a young girl named Sadako Sasaki who contracted leukemia from radiation sickness. She undertook the task of folding one thousand paper cranes, as there is a Japanese legend that if you manage this feat, you receive one wish - her's was to become healthy again. Unfortunately, she only completed 644, and her friends finished the task to bury 1,000 cranes with her. Now, her memory lives on in the hundreds of thousands of cranes that are left by school children and others that share a wish for peace and the abolition of nuclear arms. It is a very touching site and certainly one that tugs at the heart strings.
What was also quite lovely is while looking at the memorial we were approached by an old man who could speak a little English. He asked Matt and I if we would please walk with him across the site to see another memorial. We were very curious and of course did. He did not talk much but from the few questions I asked, we learned that he was born in Hiroshima, and lost both his father and grandparents to the A-bomb. He was 75 he told us, and then he lead us to a memorial to the Koreans who died while in Hiroshima. It turns out 10% of those killed were Korean (mostly forced labourers), as was this old little man. He asked us to please take a picture, then thanked us for coming, then slowly turned around and walked away. What a wonderful moment that was.
Our last stops included another site dedicated to all those killed that they were able to identify through records. Here we saw graphic pictures and heard accounts of relatives who after the bomb, rushed to the centre of what was left of the city to try to find loved ones. Their accounts were horrific. Some even put their pain into paintings of what they saw: people walking around naked, with their clothes burnt off and their skin sliding off of their arms and fingers, people jumping into lakes and wells to cool off not realizing that the heat of the bomb had swelled the temperatures of the water to boiling points. It was just horrible.
Our last stop was the museum, which was just so informative and also very adamant in its wish for the world to get rid of every nuclear weapon. It truly was such an amazing experience and one that everyone should take up if they ever get the chance.
So now, our days are numbered as Takayama is our last stop! After that we are homeward bound. Time is flying, but I am going to soak in every second.

Lots of hugs!
xxoo
Vee

Osaka

Leaving Kyoto for Osaka is almost like going back to Tokyo, except not as nice. We stayed an extra night here instead of leaving for a night in Hiroshima - we figured a day trip was easy enough instead (plus a couple other reasons). Because of how easy it easy to get around, it actually took us a little over an hour to go from hotel to hotel, so our first stop in Osaka was the incredible aquarium. Favourites here included the sea otters (super cute, but the photos aren't as good), the manta ray (shown inside the MASSIVE tank), and the hammer-head and whale sharks (inside the same tank!). It was definitely better than expected, and a great thing to do on a rainy day.
Our second day included more rain, so we limited ourselves to Osaka castle, which to look at was great, but a disappointing visit (it's a relatively crappy museum inside). So we rested up for dinner out with our relations. From L to R: Tom, Rick, me, Adam, Kat, Vee, and Alison. What a great evening that was! This photo was taken inside a pub nearby the restaurant where we had all you can eat shabu-shabu and all you can drink! (Too bad for the time limit...)

Kyoto - City of Temples

Kyoto differs more from Tokyo than I had expected. While the former is a bustling metropolis with skyscrapers and an extensive subway system, the latter is a much older-feeling place. Buildings are generally small (except for some temples and quite possibly the largest train station I've ever seen); the subway system is "basic" (at least by Japanese standards); and while busy, it doesn't feel as rushed. We have a tonne of photos of the amazing temples, but have decided to share only a few with you to give you a flavour.
The first two are of the stunning Kinkakuji Temple - aka the "Golden Pavilion" - so stunning that we decided to post two photos of it. (The one of the two of us is actually the best picture of the two of us taken all trip - tourists are surprisingly bad photographers!) And yes, it's actually all gold leaf. Next is Himeji Castle (a quick 200 km away - takes an hour by train). This castle was amazing, but your entire 3.5 hour tour is spent in a lineup making your way through the castle - something we've never experienced before.
The rock garden of Ryoanji temple is actually quite popular among the Japanese themselves - and every rock garden is so well thought-out, it's hard not to appreciate. Finally is Heian shrine (where we watched the very traditional wedding), with the last photo being the street that leads up to the shrine. 75 straight days without rain, followed by rain on the 76th, 77th, and 78th! The weather in Canada is actually nicer at the moment than here.
Anyway, tomorrow we leave Osaka for Takayama - our last stop other than our airport hotel on the last night. We're feeling mixed emotions at the moment, but are looking forward to a couple days in the mountains.

Tokyo the Peaceful

One thing that is hard to miss upon arriving in Tokyo is how amazingly quiet it is for such a huge city. There is virtually no honking of horns, and no one yells. (These two things are especially noticeable if you've traveled for 10 weeks throughout other parts of Asia!!!)
It's difficult to prove that with photos (and I wasn't willing to video a major intersection), but I've tried to show the exteremely quiet side of Tokyo. The first three are of Meiji Shrine (the Meiji period is a significant one of modernization in Japanese history when Japan rose to world power status). The temple is relatively indicative of others in the city, and was a real treat to see (unfortunately no weddings like the one we saw today at Heian shrine in Kyoto). The other two are simply two more from Shinjuku Imperial Gardens in which we both happened to like how we looked! (You'll notice a young model budding with the cherry blossoms behind me - that photo shoot was fun to watch on its own!)

Tokyo - Old meets new

I wrote a while back about how we felt that India was a country of fine balances - which it certainly was. It is difficult not to say the same thing about Japan as well. It is an east-meets-west / old-meets-new / ease-meets-difficulty kind of place (I have never been in a country in which it is so easy to get around and so hard to order food.)
As Vee mentioned below, our first stop was Tokyo, which ranks as one of my favourite cities in the world. She also spoke of how easily it is to walk between serene garden and crazy-bright-lights neighbourhoods, and these photos attempt to show that. The first is of Hibiya park, which was about a two minute walk from our hotel which was a five minute walk from a train station. The next two are of Shinjuku Imperial Gardens (Shinjuku is the "Manhattan" neighbourhood of Tokyo). I will post a couple more photos from these gardens, but I've included them here because there are skyscrapers in the background. The last two are of a fountain park that was across the street from the Imperial Palace.
It is truly amazing to be in a place where you can watch Avatar in 3D after walking through a zen garden not five minutes prior.

Japan - WOW!

So I am officially in love with Japan. It has been such a blessing to have it as our last country on this most amazing journey. The amazing peace and tranquility you always hear about feeling in Japan is so absolutely true.

Our first stop was Tokyo. Matt and I were immediately entranced by this city. One minute you are in an ultra metropolis, then next, the most serene and blissful garden.

The first day we just explored the city. The Sony store is just ridiculous and we spent a good while checking out the 3D tvs, not yet for sale! Wow! I don't think they are quite in our price range, but oh so much fun! We also checked out the Imperial Palace and the very fun Fountain Park - of which Matt will post some pics. We saw some amazing temples as well with the most fascinating gardens.

These gardens are so simplistic it boggles the mind. If one was to just walk by you would see a few rocks, some moss and a ton of sand raked to perfection. However Matt and I learned that these rocks are so intricately studied and placed. There is so much thought, meaning and history behind the layouts of these gardens - and they have been in the exact same position for a thousand years!

It was just fascinating - and so peaceful. I think that is what has truly been the most remarkable thing about Japan. There are gardens EVERYWHERE and there is so much emphasis placed on the harmonization between nature and city. One minute you are at the Sony store, a few blocks away you are in a blissful garden, with ponds and lazy turtles suntanning on the surrounding rocks. There is such harmony and calm here, ugh, I really hope to take some of it back home with me!

And the Cherry Blossoms!!!!! There is so much celebration here for this time of year and I understand why. The beauty here just brings you to tears! Spring is just bursting everywhere and the cherry blossoms and other blossoming trees are just stunning.

What is also so catching to the eye is the contrast of the beautiful pinks and whites of the blossoms against the fresh vibrant greens of the willow trees. Pair that against the contrast of white rock, white sand, deep blue ponds and earthy moss and you have a match made in heaven!

We have had three amazing nights in Tokyo and as I write this (while consuming a delicious Sapporo) we are on our fourth and final night in Kyoto. Kyoto will be a whole new post as it is so much smaller and more quaint then Tokyo and such a stark contrast.

Today Matt and I were just beyond lucky to see a traditional Japanese wedding at one of the temples we visited. It was so stunning and the music, accompanied by two women in Kimonos dancing, literally brought me to tears. How lucky and privileged we were to see such a thing. It is something I will never forget and was certainly a highlight of the trip.

So Osaka tomorrow...then Takayama...then HOME. It's amazing the mix of emotions that course through my system when I think about this. So I just won't. All I have is NOW and I am going to enjoy EVERY second!

Missing all of you,
xxxxoooo

Hoi An

Hoi An was our last stop in South East Asia - thus ending a major portion of our trip. I write this from Tokyo - which feels so unbelievable different from the last 10 weeks that it makes us almost feel at home. We love it here - but that's for another post.
That being said, we also adored Hoi An - probably our favourite place up to now. The food was great, the shopping incredible (had to throw out some old stuff to make room for the new!), and the vibe was totally chill. Good times all around. Not much to explain in terms of the photos. The first four are of the river at different points in time and space. We took the first one as we biked to Cu Dai beach. The others are just "downtown". The one of all the fabrics is the tailor where we had all of our clothes made. It is actually a lot bigger than the photo suggests.

Ha Long Bay (2 of 2)

These photos show some of the activities we undertook while on Ha Long Bay (in time-sequential order). The first is inside the very aptly (but touristically) named "Amazing Cave". I took a tonne of photos inside as the place is massive - this photo only shows maybe one third of one of the largest chamber.
Next was kayaking around the karsts (called "hongs" in Thailand - still not sure if these are synonimous terms). Thanks to our traveling partner Karen for this photo!
The next three photos were taken on our long hike into rural village life. This was one of the more rewarding pieces of our journey as it didn't feel touristy at all. The last photo is of us and the farmer that welcomed us into his home for tea and a long chat (thanks to our guide Trung for translation!) He looks about 45, but is actually 60 and has a tonne of grandkids. He was just so smiley that it was contagious. It was a couple days we won't soon forget.

Ha Long Bay (1 of 2)

Well, I wouldn't normally post so many similar photos, but Ha Long Bay was simply breathtaking. Like Phra Nga Bay in Thailand, but on a MUCH larger scale. The first three photos are of the bay itself (the third shows the junks that people travel on - we were on one for three days and two nights). The next two are of the fishing life that exists every day on the bay. There are floating houses for the fisherman, their kids, and even their dogs! It's a pretty phenomenal thing to see. And few of the boats are motor-powered - the fisherman just putter along by rowing. It almost feels like a different era.

Good morning Vietnam - literally

So, apologies first for the tardiness of postings. Vietnam has (unsurprisingly?) one of the lowest ratings for internet freedom in the world, and sites like facebook and blogspot are extremely temperamental at best. Nonetheless, the trick seems to be staying up really late into the morning.
That being said, our first (and technically third) stay in Vietnam was Hanoi. It's actually a pretty fun city, but hectic to say the least. It's been said that to cross the street, you have to pretend that you are a rock, and the thousand oncoming motorbikes are the water. In other words, simply walk out into the street at a steady pace - don't hesitate! - and the bikes will simply drive around you. Seriously.
We spent the majority of our time in the old city, specifically around the juxtapositionally (it could be a word) serene Hoan Kiem lake, pictured itself in the first photo. This is a great place to take a walk, stop for a coffee and pastry, or start a meander down one of the shopping streets such as "silk street". You can also catch a cyclo (the bike-powered love-seats) as a bunch of tourists did in the second photo, or get scammed into taking a photo holding fruit carts, as we did in the third photo. Hanoi is also littered with propaganda (Vietnam is celebrating 80 years of communism, well sort of). While there, we caught a showing of the internationally-acclaimed water puppet theatre. It was as good as one could expect for $2 each, but definitely a fun and interesting way to spend an hour. The last photo is simply of a child fishing off the famous "red bridge".