After 15 flights and countless miles travelled by ferry, subway, bus, train, taxi, bike, tuk-tuk, water-taxi, hydrofoil, junk-boat, mag-lev train, kayak, rental car and however else we got from one place to another, we finally made it home safe and sound! Happy to report no major mis-haps or medical emergencies. Best of all, Molly and I will spend the rest of our lives piecing together all these truly amazing memories. It doesn't get much better than to experience the world with the love of your life. We hope you all had a great time following along, and we look forward [View Full Entry]

---

---

After hearing the golden words "welcome home" from immigration, we grabbed our packs and headed for Waikiki. We love Hawaii and this was a very special trip for us - back to the US! Aside from being the grand finale to our long voyage around the Pacific, Pat's mother and grandparents also met us there to celebrate our homecoming. We also had some of our best friends from back home in town vacationing with their family. The only thing better than spending time in paradise is enjoying it with your family and friends. Of course we toured all the major [View Full Entry]

---

---

After a quick train ride back to Tokyo we headed to Asakusa for our last night abroad. It was great staying in a different part of Tokyo. There were casino type places and amusement parks near our hostel and the neighborhood had a carnival type feel. Still incredibly clean though... Our last night we decided to have one final culinary adventure and went to restaurant that served Okonmiyaki. You sit down at a griddle and cook these "funky pancakes" full of meat and vegetables. Pretty tasty and definitely an awesome date spot if you're looking for an idea... We also [View Full Entry]

---

---

After three nights in Tokyo it was time to head south to Kyoto. We took one of the super fast Shinkansen trains and we were there within a few hours. The Kyoto train station is a massive open air complex that houses all sorts of offices, shops and restaurants. It also provides some great views of the whole city from the rooftop garden area. After after a tasty ramen and gyoza lunch we headed for our accomodation. We stayed at the unknowingly infamous Yuhara Ryokan (traditional Japanese guesthouse). The patrons are a mother and son family duo and quite possibly [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 100 - we finally broke the century mark!!! Our big reward was a beautiful blue sky, clean air, and water you can drink straight out of the tap!! We love Japan already! After nearly two months between SE Asia and China we are finally back to el primero mundo. Tokyo is Amazing! It is surgically clean and everything seems to operate with machine-like efficiency. On top of that there is a refreshing amount of greenery despite every inch of the ground being neatly covered with asphalt. We stayed very close to downtown Tokyo and Ginza so we could walk [View Full Entry]

---

---

We took the overnight train to Shanghai and were fortunate to have the cabin all to ourselves. The soft sleeper trains in China are fantastic! Very new, very clean, and super comfortable. We made our way to the new Pudong side of the river to check into our hotel (thanks for hooking it up Noonan). It was great having a few extra days to check out Shanghai before leaving China. We spent our first day walking through Xintiandi and the French Concession. We had an afternoon drink at a great bar called Face on the Rui Jin guesthouse grounds. That [View Full Entry]

---

---

Great Wall Day! We woke early and took a two hour bus trip to Mutianyu, our Great Wall access point. Rather than take the gondola up to the top (yes - they have a gondola at the Great Wall of China) we decided to hike up to the wall which kicked off a day of a lot of hot hiking - it was very humid and about 38 degrees Celsius - which is 99 decrees Fahrenheit! Despite the heat the wall was stunning!!! Climbing up out of the small tourist town below, we felt very isolated when we got up [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Xi An with just enough time to squeeze in an afternoon bike ride around the ancient city wall. It was a lot of fun and the part when Pat's bike chain fell off and he almost landed in the hospital was pretty great too!! He's OK though... just a few bumps and bruises. That night we had dinner in the Muslim quarter of the city. We were given a large piece of flat bread which we had to tear into tiny pieces and put in our bowl. They took our bowl away and added some lamb stew [View Full Entry]

---

---

Another quick trip on the CRH bullet train and we arrived in the City of Nanjing. Nanjing served as the first capital of the Ming Dynasty and the capital during other historic periods as well. On our first day we visited Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum and the Mingxiaoling Mausoleum (founder of the Ming Dynasty) located in the Purple Mountains. Sun Yat Sen is regarded as the National Father of Modern China and was explained to us as the "George Washington" of China. Probably becuase he was the first president of the Republic of China in 1912. His presidency was short [View Full Entry]

---

---

We boarded one of the new high speed CRH Trains at Shanghai Train Station and made our way to Suzhou. It was quite exhilarating traveling at speeds over 200k per hour (120mph)! The high speed trains make towns like Suzhou very close suburbs of Shanghai with a speedy commute. Upon arrival we walked through the new train station's construction site to our transport bus bound for out hotel. Our hotel was in the middle of Suzhou's old town and a close walk to the markets and canal district. Our main objective in Suzhou was to meet with a representative from [View Full Entry]

---

---