Blogs from Asia - page 14708

Sadly, I have come to the end of my stay in Japan, and just as I am starting to pick up a bit of the language! Before leaving for Australia, I had to squeeze in a trip to Nara, only forty kilometres south (one hour by train) from Kyoto. Before Tokyo was the national capital of Japan it was Kyoto, and before that, Nara, which became Japan's first permanent capital in 710. The main purpose of my visit to Nara was to see Todai-ji, which houses Japan's largest statue of the Buddha ("Great Buddha of Nara"). The bronze Buddha stands 16.2m high and weighs 15 tons. The main building wich houses the Buddha is the world's largest wooden structure. Before you reach Todai-ji on the walk from Nara Station, you pass through Nara Park. This, I ... read more

Here are the images and comments from my last day in Singapore. It was a wonderful trip all around!! Truly opened my eyes. And now I am very happy to be home, and getting a little shut-eye. Thanks for everyone who kept tabs on me and kept in touch during my travels!! Look forward to seeing you soon. Your jet-lag-fighting friend -- Christopher... read more

"I still can't belive how such huge object like aircraft can fly, but I can not." On the flight to Tokyo, a 50 years oldish Japanese woman Akiko-san told me. Love her unique way of thinking. She emphasizes that Vancouver is just a little town! Yes, have been here in Tokyo for 2 days and I totally understand what she means. The city map looks like a maze, street names are not labeled clearly on street intersections, I was quite horrified by the subway system. Its route map is like a plate of colorful spaghetti overlaping, and each station can be as huge as my university campus. Darkness approaching as I arrived, and carrying 60 litres of cargo is not that fun. Depressingly, taxi drivers were frightened by an English speakers and refused to help. (Later ... read more

May 1 - May 15 Dharamsala may just be unlike any other town in the world. Where else can you, just in one day, start with French crepes, watch monks debate in a 1000-year old tradition, take a Hindi class, learn how to cook Indian food, have your fortune told by a blind man on the street, have pizza with Roquefort cheese and walnuts for lunch, have a traditional Tibetan massage, haggle over prices with Kashmiri traders, meet people from all over the world, watch the latest bootleg movie in a hole-in-the wall theater, and then top it all off by deciding whether to have Japanese or Korean sushi? There is tremendous energy here, but it is a mellow, laid-back feel. There is no aggressive peddling from shopkeepers here, and everybody is smiling and in no ... read more

So I had planned to go on a 2 day trip to what, in my bit of research, sounded like the nicest chilled out beach closest to Bangkok, Ko Samet (I had from the get go decided I couldn't be bothered to spend all my time trying to get down to Ko Samui et al to be surrounded by a bunch of partying Aussies and Brits). Cameron and his Chilean friend who had arrived, Max, wanted to get to a beach too because they were leaving for Vietnam soon so decided to come along. We left on Monday morning on the bus and let's just say it was another one of those trips where you feel like you could walk it faster! It took nearly half the day to get to the pier in Ban Phe. ... read more