Japanese Travels Continue

| TravellinPenguin
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The Penguin met some turtles in a temple lake.

Since I last visited this page we have done quite a bit more of travelling. We visited Hiroshima Peace Park (beautiful) and also the WWII museum (disturbing).

We relaxed at several temples, heard a great deal of history from our guide dating back to the 8th century. We have heard of Shoguns and Warlords and it is enough to make me want to read the James Clavell book Shogun written in 1975 (yes, all 1000 pages of it).

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We laugh at the number of dogs being wheeled around in prams or dressed in trendy little outfits. Very funny. Very spoiled.

We have eaten great deals of food, slept in hard beds that were like slate that made our backs feel great and walked our shoes off. Garmin even sent me an email to tell me I was ahead of several strangers with my fitness bracelet and number of steps taken. Something over 60,000 steps!

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The colours of the temples are stunning. I particularly liked this one.

We have laughed with the wonderful group we are travelling with and maybe made a couple of life time friends. It has all bee wonderful.

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The enormous Buddha of Kyoto, 8th century.

We got an email from our dogs in Hobart telling us they love and miss us (I had not idea they were computer literate). We have ridden busses, trains and subways. The subways are not as hard to figure out as I thought they would be.

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Flowers seen along the street.

The train station in Kyoto is fabulously modern and it has to be seen to be believed. Perhaps google images of it. The modern architecture is stunning.

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Bookmarks in a shop.

We have spent two nights in Hiroshima and three nights in Kyoto. Today we go to a textile factory and a Japanese tea ceremony and performance. We have this morning free, the first free half day we have had and we relished at sleeping in until 8 am and then the alarm woke us. Enjoying the down time but it all starts again at lunchtime.

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Lots of gold in this temple near Hiroshima.

We have 4 sleeps left until we get home and no doubt that will be jam packed with our guide’s activities. She has been wonderful.

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Cherry blossoms in full bloom everywhere we go. Beautiful.

I will leave you with an assortment of photos in no particular order. By the way has anyone read Shogun or his other books about Asian?

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A budding photographer who was not going with his mother until he got this shot perfectly right.
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These wonderful bridges are present at several temples and parks.
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Taxi rank below our Hiroshima Hotel at train station. The first row is numbered 1 to 8 from the right hand side. Once Row 1 has cleared all of the taxis move forward one row. Once they are cleared completely they then all move forward again. The new taxis coming into the rank take their place in the back row and cannot move until all the rows in front of them are clear. Mesmerising to watch.

6 thoughts on “Japanese Travels Continue”

  1. Loved this – such memory lane stuff. But isn’t that Golden Pavilion the one in Kyoto?

    Mr Gums often comments on something reminding him of Kyoto station (forgotten the last thing – may have been in Melbourne) but it certainly makes an impression. We’ve been to Japan three times and there are three places we’ve visited very time – Tokyo, Kyoto and Kanazawa. Now the shinkansen goes to Kanazawa we can’t wait to try that because it’s always been a little bit of an excursion to get there.

    Anyhow, enjoy your last days (there, I mean!!)

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  2. i’m glad to see the turtles; the pictures are marvelous… i read Shogun long ago and remember enjoying it; there are sequel(s) also, i think… i’d have trouble keeping up with your guide, also; but it’s so nice to have the pictures to admire without going to the effort of obtaining them… tx a bunch…

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  4. What great photos. I appreciate you sharing them and your experiences with us. I know I don’t have the stamina to keep up with your tour in real life! The temples are gorgeous and I like the turtles in the first photo (I just like any turtles).

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  5. I remember enjoying Shogun very much over 30 years ago, reading it on the bus on my way to work. Glad you’re having such a great trip, can’t believe it’s gone so fast.

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  6. What a wonderful trip. I’d love to watch those taxis! And oh my goodness, I love those bookmarks!

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