D MJ Binkley

The Japanese culture values hard work and social harmony. As modern as this country has become, they seem to continue to practice their traditional values and spiritual beliefs. It is refreshing to visit Japan because the people are polite and respect their elders. This was demonstrated a couple of times when younger people offered us a seat on the train. Yes, it made us feel older, but the kindness and respect were evident. There is also great reverence for the past and many Japanese value this greatly as evidenced by the shrines and embracing traditional clothing. All this is evidenced in our travels..... Nikko A short train ride from Tokyo is the town of Nikko with a population of 80,000. It was nice being out of the hustle and bustle of Tokyo even though we enjoyed ... read more

It is not unusual to hear from us that once again we are chasing a bucket list item. This particular one was generated as usual from those dang National Geographic magazines. This time, we were in search of those wonderfully photographed snow monkeys. Now technically, they are Japanese macaques, but since almost everyone calls the “snow monkeys,” that’s what we’re going with. We were eager to get to Nagano in early March to see the snow monkeys. We had read the best chance of seeing them in the snow was February, but we would not be able to get there until the 10thof March and yet we remained hopeful. Snowy snow monkeys here we come! A late morning flight from Okinawa to Tokyo and then a train ride had us arriving in Nagano late afternoon. We ... read more

A quick look at a map reveals that Taiwan is located off the coast of China, sort of between Japan and the Philippines. When planning this six-week journey, Taiwan became one of those destinations that we refer to as, “while we’re in the neighborhood” stops. When you spend 15 hours in a plane from North America to reach this part of the world, you must consider how you can maximize your travel time. Additionally, we needed to consider if we would find ourselves in this part of the world again and what might become of Taiwan in the next decade or so, given that the Chinese still, and always will, consider Taiwan as part of the Peoples Republic of China. Things could get ugly in this part of the world someday… As with many countries around ... read more

For those of you who have followed us for a while are quite aware, we are foodies who enjoy tasting new cuisine both at home and especially when traveling. The U.S. has plenty to offer those in search of new taste delights, given the size and diversity of the populace, but the opportunity to travel to distant lands and encounter completely new dishes is heavenly. Our friends Galen and Denise are living in Seoul and are fellow foodies so we knew we would be taken care of during our visit, and they did not disappoint. If you don’t care about looking at food photos or reading about a food experience, you might as well close this blog now, because it will hold limited interest for you. We will catch you on the next blog….. Arriving quite ... read more

After a thoroughly enjoyable time on Nevis with our friends, we packed it up and headed out to take the Sea Bridge ferry back to St. Kitts to finish our time in these small islands. This ferry leaves Nevis at 7am, Noon and 5pm. We didn’t want to take a chance of missing it after our adventure a few days before on St. Kitts, so we arrived early. As a matter of fact, we drove over to the dock the afternoon before to make sure we could find it as we had arrived in the black of night a couple of days earlier. Signage is greatly lacking....no, it actually does not exist so we made a test run. Arriving one hour early the next morning and first in line, we waited eagerly for this ferry ride ... read more