Today we did not have a lecture but went straight for the cultural sights. We went to Harajuku and Meiji Jinku shrine. We didn't get to see to much of the town. But we saw the shrine. It is a shrine to Emperor Meiji who instituted the Meiji Restoration which forever changed Japan. While there we saw a wedding procession in typical Japanese style Kimono's and all. After that we went to a Rugby gam

Sorry this took a long time to put together due to one too many single malt whiskeys all will be revealed.On leaving Airlie Beach we decide to free camp at Home Hill a much recommended site we had heard so much about it. The camp site or to be more precise camp street runs parallel with the Bruce Highway on one side and the railway line on the other how peaceful Not really anything to do

Today we went to Tokyo Edo Museum. It was an interesting museum it was nice to see both full and scale models of the stuff i learned from classes. I got to see full models of the Tokyo bridge and the a kabuki theater. As well as what several Edo period homes looked like. That night the Meiji Kids took us to experience Tokyo night life. We went to a club called Atom. it was pretty cool three floo

Hello all So last month I went to the Philippines with my good friend Lauren. It was a total blast The island we were on was gorgeous it rained for maybe a total of 10 minutes the whole week it was never below 75 degrees F the ocean looked like it was made of turquoise and sapphire and I never wanted to leave. Our island was Panglao just off the shore of Bohol. Getting to our resort was t

Peter and Jo have a dog named Oscar.He always licks and sniffs people. Often he runs away when the gate is open and no one is looking. He has a strange habit of tipping his food bowl over and sorting his biscuits out. He eats the white ones first then the green then the red ones last. We went to a gallery and there were heaps of pictures made from paper cranes. They were done by an artist c

Blast from the past a train trip I've done too many times. Stairway to Heaven more like an escalator it's so smooth.Being a servant of God she couldn't refuse though I don't normally ask tiny ageing asian nuns to help heave my huge travel bag up onto the overhead rack. I wasn't thinking just excited at the prospect of going over the Alps by train again. The first time had been forty years b

Mohatma Indira and Rajiv Ghandhi. This is how the indians treat their popular politicians Jaharwalal Nehru the 1st prime minister of India is also fondly rememebered.I'll start with a little regarding the latter two most recent prime minister of India and daughter and grandson of Nehru not Gandhi Indira the 1st female prime minister in the 70's and early 80's up to her 1984 assassination b

Exactly 4 weeks ago i arrived in Delhi with my girlfriend Sophia. It was 1 am and still bustling. Soph was ill and the 3 hour journey from Agra had just taken 9 hours. We were not in the best of moods and to be honest the crowded dirty dusty and unfinished streets stripped of their surfaces and building facades did not really appeal. Then i got rather ill Soph flew home and i continued to det

I am writing this from a tiny cabin on a train that feels like it is headed to Hogwarts. In the early 1900s. Although I am sure that is incredibly inaccurate the latter of the 2 comparisons it honestly feels like we have time travelled. We are in a little cabin with 4 others with the window down and a sliding door. Itrsquos awesome. Unfortunately our cabin mates are not so into making friend

We left Ischia at 9am on Thursday After a ferry and a taxi ride we boarded the fast train to Florence. The Eurocity trains stop at all major stations if you travel in first and second class which we did you are required to prepay your tickets we each purchased 3 train travel passes and all up our tickets cost each of us 284 AUS. We arrived in Florence early in the afternoon and checked int

After trekking around Kakadu and Arnhem Land I was surprised to have a rare free morning in Darwin. I had heard so much about the new wave pool and being a bit of a beach lover I thought I better check it out for myself. After paying the 5 entry fee for a half day pass teamed with my swimmers towel hat and sunscreen I headed into the pool grounds. Scanning my surrounds for a comfortable spo

When I was in Kakadu I decided to be a bit tough and go Croc Spotting. Irsquove watched Crocodile Dundee enough times to know what to do I figured Irsquod probably see two or three and that would be ithellipIrsquod heard about this little billabong in Kakadu called Yellow Waters where I could go for a cruise see my two or three crocodiles birds and some other wildlife. I thought lsq

Driving up to Kings Canyon and hearing the description of the walk from an experience guide created some nervous butterflieshellip but I was excited about the challenge that lay ahead. The closer we got to the Canyon the bigger it gothellip and so did the nervous butterflies. As we began scampering up the first part of the Walk it became obvious why they call it lsquoHeart Attack Hillrsqu

Cruising around Central Australia with a sense of freedom is a great way to enjoy the outback. For our Product teamrsquos trip around Central Australia the self drive option was a great way for us to experience the outback in our own time. So we grabbed our trusty Britz 4WD Toyota Landcruiser and headed off into the open spaces of Central Australia with 2 other cars in tow and the rest of t

At the beginning of the year the Indian government changed the visa rules for tourists to whit that you had to stay out of India for 2 months before you can apply for a new tourist visa. This is fair enough from a government point of view as it stops people obtaining back to back visas and living in a country on a tourist visa ahem. This gave us some serious food for thought as we wanted to

Howdy all I've been in Yuxi just around 2 months now. I've got 10 months more here before I move on through SE Asia and then back home. I've been thinking about home a lot lately. This week marks one year abroad for me. I left Seattle on May 28 2009. I expect I'll be back in the states around the same time in 2011. Two years in Asia wowAnyway it's best not to look too far ahead as Yunna

23 05 2010Up at 0615 hours for the 0700 hours shuttle for the airport. Back in the lap of Emirates luxury. We had a small breakfast at the lounge and awaited our flight. There was a warning of a storm over the Bay of Bengal and the recent air crash in India which we were due to fly over was at the back of our mind.Got on board and we were 2 0f 4 people in business class so were truly spoilt. We bo

22 05 2010We woke up slightly sad as today was the day we left our little piece of heaven Shasa hotel. We have had a lovely time here and got to know the staff so well. The sun was shining and we had our last breakfast.The bright spot though was our Thai friend Meaw who we thought we would not see again was on reception with Jak and we were able to say goodbye personally. We got a picture of us

After 482 days of travel we now consider this part of our journey completed. We've accomplished more seen more and experienced more than we'd ever thought possible. Best of all we've grown very close with God and we met awesome people who changed our lives forever. To everyone who helped us along with an encouraging word took us in gave us advise and taught us something new we thank you from