Author: TravellinPenguin

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).

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

This week’s travelling in Japan has been great fun. It has also been exhausting, rainy, sunny, funny and more than a couple of coincidences have happenedYesterday we were in Takayama, a beautiful little city that did not get damaged during WWII so there is still history there to be seen.

One of the highlights was going through the market that runs everyday beside the river.
I must share a funny story with you. Julie is a friend of mine in the photo club back in Hobart.
She and her partner are travelling on their own in Japan now.  At the last photo club ƒmeeting before we both left on our separate trips I laughingly said to her, “I will see you in Japan.” With millions and millions of people here in this country both of us knew that would never happen.

As I walked along the market strip I looked up and saw Julie and her partner walking towards me. What a laugh. We threw our arms in the air and gave each other a big hug. Our tour was only in the market area for 45 minutes and 20 minutes of that walking to and from the bus. What were the chances!?

Today we are on two trains going to Hiroshima. One is a regular train with a few stops and the second train will be a bullet train that moves amazingly fast. When it passes through a train station one can’t help but take a step back. However once on the train it doesn’t feel that fast at all.

I will put some photos up later when I get to the hotel. The only time I have to write any kind of narrative is on the train or bus. We have been going from the time we arise at 6:45 am until after dinner around 9:00 pm. We barely have time to put a couple of notes and pictures up on Facebook for friends and family to see.

As I said, we are travelling to Hiroshima. I don’t think I will take many photos except perhaps of the surrounding area. It somehow doesn’t feel right to me to photograph a place that is known for the many deaths of others. I remember how wrong it felt when we visited Auschwitz in Poland. People of all types taking photos of themselves standing in the gas chambers or the rooms where there were piles of hair or children’s toys or prosthetics stored. I think this is a very inappropriate place to take selfies. I also think this about Hiroshima. Whether one remembers the days the USA bombed Hiroshima; whether one feels it was right or wrong it still remains the place of much sadness reflecting on the deaths of many families. I cannot imagine my family and friends having experienced such horror. So you won’t see close up photos of anything except maybe the beauty of gardens.
Yesterday we went to a Washi paper making attraction and had the chance to make three postcards. We saw the process for making such wonderful paper and explored the gift shop that had wonderful things in it. As my experience tells me most book bloggers are all stationery freaks, loving fine pens, papers and cards, etc. I will share that experience in a separate post.

Enjoy the photos.

Three Days of Tokyo

As I write we are on the bus leaving Tokyo on the way to a shrine (can’t pronounce the name) that has a very large Buddha in it. It is south of Tokyo according to the guide, Sue.

For you Australians we are on a Bunnick’s tour out of Adelaide. No more than 20 people. We have all been having an excellent time and everyone is friends. The Penguin has been welcomed to the group with one member patting him on the head every time she sees him. Others ask if he had a good sleep and someone else told me I should confine him as we tour the fish market so he doesn’t act up.

So far he has learned to make Sushi, enjoyed several lunches, listened to and watched enormous Sumo wrestlers doing demonstrations and answering our questions. We have had so many laughs.

We saw a Sumo wrestler’s demonstration yesterday as we ate lunch in the upstairs of a restaurant. Those guys are big! After their demonstration they asked for volunteers. Three men volunteered. They had to wear the funny Sumo wrestler costume.  It was very funny. However the women needed representation and I climbed into the suit. The big wrestler had me imitate the Sumo moves. We then faced off. We went straight for each other.  The goal is to push them out of the circle. I pushed hard into his chest. He had so much fat and muscle and sweat it was like pushing into a hard, wet sponge. He backed up. I had him going. I then poked one finger into his chest and out of the circle he went. He admitted defeat.

There was another Sumo in the room too. The next thing I knew each one had taken my arm and lifted me right up into the air as though I was a feather. There is a photo but I do not have it yet as another traveller in our group took it.

There is hardly time to breathe before we are whisked away to another destination. The cherry trees are in blossom and once I get those photos sorted we will share them with you.

This is one of those experiences that you want to sleep because of exhaustion but don’t want to miss anything. We hit the ground running. The day before yesterday we walked 12,000 steps, ate three enormous meals of Japanese food and hit the bed so hard at night we have slept on an ice flow with no sleeping bag.

We are currently on our way on the expressway to another interesting night in a Japanese hotel. We will sleep on the floor for two nights, (I assume on futon type beds) and dress in kimonos when we meet for dinner. We have been ordered to relax near the hot springs.

I doubt the penguin will enjoy the hot springs but you just never know.

Absolutely no time for reading. Last night we went to the night district of Tokyo to see the lights and it was pretty amazing.

I will leave you with a few photos.