A Royal Encounter, Hiking with the Queen Mother of Bhutan
So, you’re just going to have to trust us on this one because we have no photographic proof, but we did, indeed, hike and share a small lunch with the … Read More
Countries
Kuzu zangpo la – Greetings from Bhutan
The Kingdom in the Clouds. The Happiest Country in the World. The Last Shangri-la. Mystical. Magical. What a fascinating country. Bhutan is a (virtually completely) mountainous country roughly equal in … Read More
Springtime in Kyoto
Springtime in Kyoto – what a magical way to end our time in Japan. From the pictures we’ve seen, the only thing that can compare is possibly ‘Autumn in Kyoto’. … Read More
A Baker’s Dozen: Observations on Japan
Here are a few of our observations, based on our very short first visit to Japan: To our outsider eyes, Japan is an unusually homogenous country, due in part to … Read More
A Brief History of Japan
One of the things we’ve discovered about Japan is that it would be very hard to understand Japan today without understanding a bit about its long and unique history and … Read More
Kyoto, the Soul of Japan
Kyoto must be considered one of the world’s cultural and historic treasure troves. With 17 World Heritage Sites, more than 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines, Kyoto has been … Read More
Review: Hotel Granvia Kyoto
We’re not normally big fans of train station hotels, but the Granvia is an exception. While it’s not the Ritz (which we popped into and it was STUNNING), at a fifth … Read More
Two Tales of a City, Hiroshima
“Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It … Read More
A Morning Visit to Miyajima Island
We arrived in Hiroshima after a long day of train travel, and checked into the Sheraton Hotel. Even though it’s right at the train station, the hotel is first-class. We … Read More
Takayama – Gateway to the Northern Japan Alps
Next stop, Takayama. We took a shinkansen (a Japanese bullet train) from Yokohama to Nagoya, then switched to an ‘express’ train from Nagoya to Takayama. An express train is slower … Read More