Went to Japan Again

Went to Japan Again

June has come again and I had two weeks of time off to use.   My decision was to go to Japan again.  My goal on this visit was to see some friends and go to a couple of places I haven't yet seen in Japan.  The itinerary was to go straight to Tsuyama and spend Saturday evening and Sunday with my good friends Nikki and Logan.  Satomi was there Saturday night as well.  She helped arrange an amazing meal at a local Bar and Grill, Ryo's Tenpan Grill (if ever in Tsuyama try it out, the food is amazing!)

Satomi, Nikki, Logan and Me

After this I went to Kyoto to meet up with one of the first people I met in Japan.  I was able to catch up with him and meet his girlfriend.  We had a great evening of playing board games and talking.  It was nice meeting up with them.

Next, I had a full day on my own in Kyoto, so I went to see Toji Temple, one of my favorite places in Kyoto.

Garden Entrance

If you can go here at the beginning of May it is much nicer when the flowers are freshly blooming.  After the gardens I went into the shrine/temple area.  There is some nice things to look at here, but they don't allow pictures to be taken.  As you can see, I took some anyways.

Exit gate

Next I went to the aquarium.  I didn't even know Kyoto had an aquarium.  

Penguins are awesome

A dolphin just messing around until the show starts

These things are hilarious, always smiling

Fake waterfall outside the aquarium

Kyoto Aquarium was a nice place.  Maybe not the best I've been to, but pretty good.  The dolphin show was interesting, but some of the things the trainers had the dolphins doing was pretty lame.  I like dolphins (who doesn't?) so it could have been better.  

That was my time in Kyoto.  Next up on the itinerary was Nikko.  I had been interested in going to this place for many years, but as is the case, I just never made the time to go while I lived in Japan.  The Toshogu Shrine is a world heritage site and as far as Japanese shrines/temples go, fairly unusual.  There is a lot of color at this temple and the surrounding ones, unfortunately the main gate was being restored so I couldn't get any pictures of it.  Here are a few of the other attractions in the area.

I highly recommend going to Nikko.  Even though it is a tourist trap, the temples and shrines are very beautiful and worth the cost of entrance.  After looking around here we went to Chuzenji Lake.  There is a waterfall close to the bus station.

only a 5min walk from the bus station

Chuzenji Lake is the highest lake in Japan.

All of the scenery in this area is amazing.  The forest is old growth forest that reminded me of being at the lake in Canada.

These pictures don't do the forest justice, but you can get an idea.  The hostel we stayed in was really nice, just out of the town, very homey and comfortable.  Most of the people there speak English.

The town of Nikko is also very scenic.  It's located up in the mountains where everything is beautiful and worth contemplating.

Love the clouds piling up on the mountains

My friend Noriko

As you can see in most of my pictures it is cloudy.  Rainy season started just before I got to Japan, but I was just fine with that.  The temperatures were perfect for me and I had a really nice and relaxing time while in Japan.  It was great catching up with everyone I was able to meet and I wish I could have seen everyone.  I am making plans and hopefully I will be back in Japan in the near future.

If you want to see all my pictures of Japan please go to my facebook page and check them out.  Here is a link: https://www.facebook.com/turrdle/photos_albums  

Quick Weekender

Went to Yogyakarta 

(I don't know how to say it correctly.  I think JoeJakarta might be right)

This greets you on the end of a runway when you land

My friend asked me if I would join her on a weekend getaway a couple of months ago.  I, of course, said yes.  I have never been to Indonesia, but I do know someone from there, so I figured it would be worth the trip.

My friend booked the hotel and I'm happy to say that she picked a great hotel.  Staff were super nice and helpful. The rooms were really clean and nice.

Our hotel entrance

It looks as nice on the outside as the inside.

As seems to be the norm, there was controversy in meeting up with my friend.  She was coming from Thailand and I was coming from Malaysia.  She couldn't get on her connecting flight, so I had to spend the first night alone.  Not the best way to start a short vacation, but I've learned a valuable lesson from my travels.  The first thing you do is get a SIM card for your phone so you can communicate.  Because I did this, I didn't spend a lot of time wandering around the airport waiting uselessly.

The next morning she made it and we started planning what we would do.  Our first order of business was to rent a car with a driver.  He would then take us to Mt. Merapi, an active volcano, for sunset.  I thought this would be a super exciting excursion.

my friend and me

As you can see, not much of a sunset.  The ride up to the top of the mountain (I'm assuming this was the top) was an adventure in itself.  Once you get there you then have to rent a Jeep and get driven up to the top.  The roads are really rough, but lots of fun if you are into off-roading.

I think the lava from the volcano came this way.

The remains of the settlements after the volcano was done.

A local rock quarry

A lot of devastation was left in the wake of the volcano but there was also a lot of nice scenery.

There was a small museum on the way to the top

Alien Head rock.  I c an sort of see it.

Here's our transport to the top.

Off-roading in a Toyota Landcruiser disguised as a Jeep Renegade

After a rough ride around the top of Mt. Merapi we made it home safe and sound.  Once back to the hotel we immediately had to go to bed because we were going to do the sunrise trip to Borobudur Temple.  It left at 3:30am.  I wasn't to excited about it, but sunrises are usually pretty nice, so I was in.

Sunrise

As you can see, sunrise was about as successful as sunset was the day before.  Having said that, there was certainly some nice scenery to be seen around here.

The walk up to the top of this hill wasn't to hard, but by the time I got to the top I was completely soaked with sweat.  This country is very humid.

After the sun rose we went to Borobudur Temple to look around.  This is a really old Buddhist temple, and it is actually a nice looking monument.

Path to the temple

Borobudur from a distance

Yes, I was really there.

We got there nice and early, so there wasn't to many people wandering around.  It didn't take long though, for school tours to come and that means trouble for foreigners.

Picture Please!

It's a good thing my friend is very attractive, they always wanted pictures with her and not me.

Replacement Head

Nice looking park

Once we were done with that we got back to the hotel around 11am.  What to do with the rest of the day?  We went to the Water Palace.  Stupid me thought, hey it's only a 45min walk by way of google maps.  We went to at least two different places before we finally found it two hours later.

underground passage 

It's a pretty nice looking place.  Lots of work to get to unless you take one of the bike taxi's.  It only took about 15mins to get back to the hotel.

That night we just relaxed and took it easy.  Had some good eats at a guesthouse restaurant nearby.  Food was really good and filling.

I ate all of this, except the salad's

The next day we both went to the airport and traveled back to our respective homes.  I had a five hour layover in Kuala Lumpur and I had made arrangements with Hertz rentals to leave my car keys where I could get them, but of course they forgot.  I had to wait about an hour and a half for someone to come and give me the keys to my car, but I finally made it home safe and sound.  As tiring as the trip was it was exactly what I needed to feel a little work stress relief.  It was well worth it all and I would do it again, especially when you consider I only spent about $500.00 for everything.  One of the cheapest vacations I've ever been on.

Observations at the end of the road

At the end of November I started a long vacation period.  I decided to go back home to Canada and visit some of my family.  It was kind of a weird sensation how much I was looking forward to going home.  I'm not usually much about food, but I had the full intention of gaining a lot of weight when I got back.  Mmmmm....chilly cheese fries, bacon double cheese burgers, bacon and egg with hash browns, and pizza galore.  Thankfully, my family doesn't have any scales, so I never managed to find out how much weight I gained.

The first three weeks were uneventful, with me hanging out with my brother and sisters, getting reacquainted with my nieces and nephews and eating fit to burst my stomach which many days I actually thought might happen).  I got all my shopping done for both myself and Christmas, money was flowing out of my account like it was afraid to be in there.

The part of the vacation that wasn't so good is that my father (for all my friends in Canada, this is my biological father not the man that raised me), who has been sick for a few years now, was staying in a nursing home.  He had suffered from a couple of strokes and other ailments.  As uncomfortable as it was to go visit him, I sucked it up and went a few times with my brother Terry and sisters Tammy and Tracy.  He was sleeping every time I went, so I didn't really get to visit him.  After a couple of weeks here, his health took a turn for the worse and he was moved to a hospital.  The whole family came to see him at the hospital.  As unhappy as everyone was, I was happy to see that they were all keeping a positive outlook.

My father has always had the attitude that he didn't want to be a burden on his family and once he got sick I think he was hoping his life would end quickly and not drag on.  In a way his wish wasn't granted as he spent a couple of years in ill health.  Once he was in the hospital things changed. Within a few short hours the doctors determined that any help they gave him would only prolong his pain and suffering, so it was decided that he would move into palliative care and they would  slowly stop his meds and manage his pain until he passed away.  I have to say that I don't usually care much for doctors, but they fulfilled their promise here of him passing away pain free and as comfortable as he possibly could be.

While he was being moved to the care suite in the hospital the rest of us took a break and did some things.  My brother took me back to Brantford so I could take a shower and when we got back to the hospital my father was settled in and the family was surrounding him.  I think there were 13 people in the room when we returned.  The impression I got from the hospital staff was that was an unusually large amount of people to be around at the same time, but I think they felt it was a good thing.  I know it says allot about what kind of man he was that that many people would be there for him at the end.

When I walked into the room the first time I was struck by the scene.  His wife sitting by the bed holding his hand, the rest of the family arrayed around the bed.  It was quiet and somber but it didn't take long before people had relaxed and started talking.  As I said earlier my father didn't want people sitting around crying for him and I'm proud to say my family accommodated his wishes.  Many stories were being told about their memories of life around him.  Lots of jokes were told and funny stories about life lived.  Periodically there would be short silences of remembrance, but never uncomfortable.

My sister Tammy and brother Terry stayed the whole time, never leaving the hospital until the end.  I'm thankful that I could be in the country during this time and I was blessed with the honor of being in the room when he took his last breath.  I've always felt that there is some sort of ethereal connection between people and in this instance I feel like that belief was reinforced.  My sister Tracy and brother Terry were in the room with me, everyone else had stepped out to get a bite to eat or have a smoke outside, and were talking about something, I don't remember what, when both Tracy and Terry looked at my father and we all realized he hadn't taken a breath for awhile.  It became apparent that he was gone.  We all took a short moment to grieve in our own ways and then the nurse was called in to confirm what we knew.  Then the rest of the family was found and told.

Once everyone was back in the room all the love this family has for each other came out and the grieving started.  It was subdued, but it felt right. I was encouraged to see that as sad as this occasion was everyone was calm and I think my father would have been very happy with the way things went.  There was sorrow for the loss but it didn't take long and everyone was celebrating his life again.

I feel like I have been very lucky in life.  Not many people have past away during my life and I have never had to live through some thing like this before.  I was a little afraid of what it would be like.  In a couple of ways it was as I expected it to be, but in most others it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  Truly, having the love and support of your family around you in times like these does make it a lot easier to handle.

The ease with which my father passed and the way my family handled it has made me very proud to be a part of this family.  I love everyone in this family and I can only hope that when I go I will have a family around me to match what I saw here the past few days.  As tragic as it is to have this happen during the holidays, I am thankful that I was here to be a part of it.