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".