Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Wow did we make it far during our first week. We were traveling at the speed of a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train)! Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.
The cats that had made Sakurajima
Island their home were very
friendly and more then willing to take
some of my left over food.
Waking
up in the Dinosaur Park, the submarine was still there. I was happy to see it
because then hopefully I would be able to watch it submerge. Just as I stopped filming
the sub and turned my back, it went under. It was a little frustrating, but we
had to make it to the ferry to head off to Yakushima and the forest that Hayao
Miyazaki used as inspiration for Princess Mononoke, one of the films that
inspired me to visit Japan in the first place.There
are homeless cats everywhere in Japan, some more comfortable around people than
others, but many of them are taken care of my locals that bring water and food
for them.The cats on Sakurajima that we
fed with some leftover lunch were very friendly. One of them even snuggled up with me after
eating and drank some water that I put into the plastic base that my ice cream
cone had come in – yum yum ice cream by the way.
Ash on Boat with Yakushima Island behind her
The
portion of trail I went on was under the forest canopy the entire way except at
the very end where I was surrounded by misty clouds and amazing ancient trees! Although lonely
planet and the Yakushima tourist center both quoted that the Onaida Nature
Trail would only take 7-8 hours it took me a total of two and a half days. It
was ridiculous how crazy the trail was; the people seriously marked trees in
the complete wilderness with pink plastic tape and then called it a trail. The
trail was full of obstacles, large boulders, streams, mountains after mountains
to climb, river, and two groups of monkeys. It was so rigorous that I had to
camp out in nature two nights and filter water. The first night I slept under a
wonderfully placed rest hut that was stuck to the side of a very steep section
of the trail; luckily the huts pillars were far enough apart for me to hang my
hammock because there were benches right in the center, but not big enough to
do anything except cook or sit on.
Near the end of the Oneida Nature Trail their is a clearing
where you have to climb over this large fallen tree. The
View was incredible and mystifying.
The
trees were so close together, it was difficult finding a place to hang the
hammock on the second night, but if there is a will there is a way! After
emerging from this beautiful but exhausting hike we were then off to see the
sea turtles.... We
got to the beach earlier in the day and went cross the highway into some trees
and hung the Nubé (our home). We watched a long video of what type of turtles
we may be seeing (all in Japanese of course). During this video all the
non-Japanese speaking tourists’ followed two gecko's as they searched for their
next meal near the lights, that were on the hut we were all huddled under,
trying to avoid the torrential down pour, and one very large spider that just stayed half way hidden (don't think his
whole body could fit in the crack he called home). We after much dead silence
(10 pm rolled around and some people went home) we were suddenly ushered single
file holding onto the shoulder of the person in front of you out deep into the
sand.This beach is where they allowed
us to see a female Loggerhead Sea Turtle laying eggs. She was beautiful, she
was approximately 5 foot in length, 4 foot wide with a neck of about 8 inches
in diameter, as she began burring the eggs, wildlife officials took blood
samples, tagged her back fin and replaced a GPS tag in her front fin.They dig up the eggs to count and protect
them; in July you can watch the babies scurry back to the sea, from human dug
nests. We loved this experience! After leaving the southern island of
Yakushima, we took the four-hour ferry ride to Kagoshima and some of our beloved
7-eleven food, and then slept in our fantastic hammocks. Luckily, we had grown
accustomed to hanging the Nubé no matter what the weather, so when it rained
that night we were nice and dry. The puddle that was similar to a lake under
our Nubé was something else. It made it a little interesting when getting out
and breaking down camp.
Set up our SMr Nube and Hammocks to make sure
that we both knew how they worked and what all
the components were.
The flight over the Pacific was an emotional one. Not bad emotions per say, but they did make the flight a lot longer then the quoted nine hours. It was like being on a roller coaster. First me were super excited, then anxious - what if Japan didn't live up to our expectations? what if it was horrible? what if...? - then we were tired, it is a nine hour flight after all, then we would get happy - we are really flying to Japan, other people do things like this...not us, right?. Well I think you get the idea, every emotions was coursing through our veins, minus anger.
Man! have flights changed since the first time I flew back in the 1990's as a child....
Head phones actually look like headphones, not stethoscopes that doctors use to listen to your breathing, minus the metal piece at the end.
You actually get your own TV that has a bunch of recently released movies, instead of multiple monitors that are attached to the ceiling that play the same movie on all of them. Oh, and the you have right in front of you provides information about the flight, music, games, and shopping too.
They feed your really good food and unlimited drinks. It also appeared that they gave an allowance of alcohol to those of age.
There's no longer a pull down shade, you press a little button down below to set what kind of darkness you would like and then before landing it gradually brightens back up to mimic a sun-rise.
We arrived into Narita Airport at a little before 4pm Japan time. We were through customs with no hiccups and on the Narita Express into Tokyo Station. The Express was a little expensive...but we really wanted to get into the city quickly and we were new to the train system.
Or at least that's my excuse, since I was the money manager and the navigator and the translator during the trip - not that I knew very much Japanese, but since I was the one carrying the money and knew where we were going, it was kind of a default . By the time we were into Tokyo station it was a little after 6 and we were headed to Kimi Ryokan in Ikebukuro. After taking a couple moments to get our bearing and figuring out the rail system we were off.
In our Yukatas in our room at Kimi.
Once settled out our Ryokan we were back out on the town to find food. We were hungry. After wandering around for about an hour we went back to the Ryokan and asked for any recommendations for food. They recommended going back to the train station as there are food malls with plenty of options, but after a long flight and being up super early to go through TSA we did not feel like walking all the way back, so we settled for the closest decent looking restaurant.
Our first restaurant in Japan was Chinese...
That restaurant happened to be a Chinese place named Ma La Gong Fang...alrighty, so we looked at the menu which thankfully was a picture book. And made two selections a celery, peanut stir fry and one that looked like sweet and sour. The server told us "no" and then started talking in Japanese..."uhhh, why not?" was our response. After trying to figure out some English to stick a sentence together that would make some more sense to us, which didn't work out very well, one of the other customers blurted out "chicken heads" to try and help the server and us out a little. "Well alright, we don't really want to eat chicken heads on our first night in Japan" is what was running through our heads.
We then asked for recommendations and ended up with a stir fry rice dish and some other things. Once the third plate arrived we were a little bit more confused by our food and how to eat it as they also provided a bowl of water with it. After tasting it was a sweet potato that had been caramelized in ginger which was still piping hot, so to make it cool enough to eat you had to dunk it into water and then eat, but first you had to pry it off the plate with your chopsticks. It was a decent meal and we even made friends with a couple of the other customers. Our fellow neighbors ordered us a traditional Chinese tea...oh, goodness, it was better then the sweetened chilled tea that you can buy in the US. Sharing the experience with the fellow restaurateurs was nice and even fun. It was a fabulous welcome to the country, even if it was on the basement floor of a Chinese restaurant.
There are only 6 days until we get on an airplane to head over the pacific ocean to Tokyo, Japan for our 49 day trip to all of the major islands: Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido, plus some minor ones. It feels like yesterday that I got mother to agree to travel to Japan with me, that we drove to Barnes and Noble to pick out a good travel book, and that we purchased an overall map of Japan to start learning the locations and geography. I grew up with manga and anime, like many children in the United States, but as I became older I started falling in love with their traditions, history, and contradictions.
I have compiled a lot of research on the different attractions, combining our interest in the Japanese experience and trying to cut costs. We finally came to the conclusion that we would try camping as much as possible and pay to use onsen/ofuro (indoor bath) or rotenburo (outdoor bath) whenever necessary/we really want to be clean. While in the Grand Canyon we tested out our Sierra Madre 3 person tent with 2 vestibules. The tent was fabulous, it didn't weigh too much, was easy to set up, and had plenty of room for us and our possessions. We did have to clear a path and make sure that we found semi-level location, so we opted into performing research on hammocks, but with hammocks you have to have a shelter in case it rains (we are traveling to Japan during their rainy season).
After hours, days, and many google searches later Val found a very interesting hammock set. After watching every video and finally deciding to splurge and purchase this amazing package, we finally received the set over the weekend (5.3.14). Val finally had a chance to set it up yesterday, although rather gusty in Eastern Idaho, and came to the conclusion that after some finagling that it would be perfect for all our trips. We really liked that it had a mosquito net, two could sleep under the same shelter, you could roll everything away to cook under the shelter, you can also convert it into a small tent by using hiking poles to prop up the two points, and it all packed down really small. Val and I are extremely pleased to be taking this on the road with us and can not wait to hang it from some beautiful Japanese trees.
Reservation for our first ryokan (traditional hotel)
Printed our Welcome Cards: discount coupons for different locations that are available to foreign visitors to reduce costs
Written some common words we will want in Kanji, English, and pronunciation
Copies of all vital documents
Received two months worth of medication: you can actually receive a vacation waver from your insurance that allows them to pay for more than one months worth of medication if you are going to be gone
Medicine documentation for entry: for some medications you actually need to supply documentation to the Japanese government for approval before entering the country. We also found that in the case of bringing medications abroad it makes it easier during customs to have:
On your doctors letterhead, type of medications, generics/other substitutes, what you are taking the medications for, how long your have been seeing the doctor, and contact information
British Columbia's capitol
Victoria's government building
Testing out our passports. For my 18th birthday we traveled to this amazing city.
Best place that we have traveled to out of the country thus far. We have recently been to Vancouver and we both thought it was the ugly step child compared to this amazing city right across the strait.
Must do and see places:
Noodle Box: amazing food! They had a great close knit atmosphere where there are only a couple of tables, local art on the walls, and wonderful service. We ate at the Douglas location.
Tour of the capitol building: We liking getting some basic history and knowledge about our northern neighbor and also getting to see some architecture. Plus it's free.
Butchard Gardens: If you can make it during an evening that has fireworks I would absolutely recommend this place, even if you can't get the fireworks. Everyone was very friendly. It's handicap accessible. You can even stay into the evening and view the gardens lite up by lanterns.
Tree top excursion: At wild play that is north of Victoria, by Nanaimo, you can bungee jump, zip line, do a tree top excursion and more. We did the tree top excursion and the zip line. Out of everything we did in Canada during our three day tip, this was the highlight. If you have a mode of transportation and low a thrill, this is your place.
As far as places to stay the night, we spent the night in the back of my vehicle at Sooke River Campground. This campground was a little out of the way, but as we weren't planning on spending all of our time in Victoria we took my vehicle to drive to the different attractions, since I live in the Greater Seattle area. We really liked the campground. It was clean, even the bathrooms, quiet after 9, and very peaceful. There were a lot of other tourists there from all around along with some locals that wanted to get out into some forests, even if they are near a town. Located near the campground was a gas station and a small convenience store.
Seattle and Space Needle from Lake
Washington on the Duck Boat Tour
Beautiful water and cultural city. Largely known for the Space Needle and being a mecca of new bands and musics. I personally know it as the land of flowers, since I always see the flower sellers at Pike's Place (more on that later). Side note: Sea hawk's just won the Super Bowl; not much of a sports fan, but it is pretty cool to live by a city that just won.
I have also been to the Space Needle, Pine St shopping area, taken the monorail between the two (great transportation), then walked down to Pike's place and the new Ferris wheel. My father also talked me into going on the duck boat tours, since it was the only time he had been to Seattle and the second time I had. Some comments on these attractions:
Getting around: If you aren't willing or able to drive around, that's a-okay is this part of the Pacific northwest. There are many buses that can get you from Tacoma, to Sea-Tac Airport, to Seattle, to Olympia, and you can even catch the Amtrak down to Portland. If you do decide that buses are how you want to travel, make sure to come with dollar bills and quarters (you need exact change) or buy an Orca card. Orca cards allow you to get a little of a discount on the pre-loaded card and give you some benefits, such as longer transfer windows, and can even work on ferries.
Activities:
Seattle Public Library
Seattle Public Library: a very interesting and modernistic perspective on how people interact with learning and books. They offer different lectures, never been to one, but just from walking around in the building I feel like they would be pretty good. The library has different colors for different floors, one was bright red, not faded or muted, but RED! It was spectacular, had a little photo shoot, right then and there with mother.
Space needle: personally, I wasn't very impressed with the observation deck. It was a good one time thing, but I wouldn't do it again, I wouldn't even recommend that you go up it. They did provide a free photo that they green screen the space needle into; you could e-mail the picture to yourself at the kiosk in the top of the needle. From experience I would just stand at the bottom and look up, see it from different perspectives there. The needle is an amazing engineering feet.
Monorail: It's a lot of fun, faster than buses, and takes you right to Pine Shopping center from the Needle. I've taken it many times and it's still fun to wander through the shops in the shopping center and get a free tea sample from Teavana. Last time I took the rail it only cost 2$ per person.
Seattle's hardest working man
Duck boat tour: Wow was this a goofy experience, the driver put on different hats while talking about different local attractions. They take you out onto Lake Washington, the building that is shown as the outside of the hospital in Grey's Anatomy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hardest working man, the needle, and plenty of other sites. It was worth the price and gave you a very good tour of the city. Especially if you have limited time or you want a good overview of what the city has to offer.
Ferris Wheel: Gone up in it twice and am still amazed with the magnificent view of the port. Especially on rainy days the clouds and calm of the water are breathtaking.
Underground tour: I heard a lot of hype about this place. It's where they give a tour of the original Seattle walk ways, before they lowered the grade a smidgen to correct plumbing and whatnot. I really had high expectations for this tour, but they really let me down. They did provide some good history of the city: fires, plumbing, how it started, infrastructure, etc. You do see a different side of the city on this tour. That's my two cents.
Uwajimaya: If you are any kind of fan of Asia you will love this store. They have everything from candies to fruit to books to cooking supplies and everything in between. Ah, I have spent many an hour in this store and sometimes even take the bus from Tacoma up just to visit this place.
Flower stalls at Pike's Place Market
Pike's place: Every time I visit this wonderful city I share Pike's Place Market. Yes, the market may be very touristy at this point, but I go to encourage the local flower arrangers, you can buy wondrous pieces of living art - I guess they are technically dead by the time the consumer sees them - for pretty cheap and the flowers, wreaths, depending on the time of year last a really long time. I would recommend anyone that's never been there to at least check it out once, plus you can see the first ever Starbucks and see the fish throwers.
When people think of San Francisco the first thing that's conjured to the mind is the Golden Gate bridge, but there is so much more to this fantastic city. I was blessed enough to spend one month with family and friends in this magnificent city and truly marvel in all of its splendor.
Gallivanting Val (mother)
and Aunt in front of exhibit
located right in front of
Asian Art Museum
Modern Art Museum: The exhibit that they had on display at the time seemed to revolve around the end of the world/wars. They had some very creative pieces and really made you think about what is considered art. One piece was colored lines draw directly onto the white wall.... Luckily they normally have free days but as the museum is currently under construction, you might want to check out some of the public art pieces.
Asian Art Museum: At the time that I visited (in August of 2010) they had the Shanghai Exhibit, it was an extra charge to see those pieces, but was totally worth it. Just checked their website to create the link and they had a yoga exhibit, makes me really want to head to San Fran and visit the museum. They even allow you to participate, how cool is that?! Don't forget to take your student ID card if you have one, they provide discounts.
De Young Museum: Another fantastic museum, yeah I know that I said earlier I wasn't much of a museum person, but when I saw that they had a traveling Europe exhibit and this was the first and only time it was traveling to the US, I had to go. We saw Monet, Picasso, and many other amazing and influential classical paintings. I even still have a Monet print hanging up that I purchase there. I wasn't too impressed with their permanent collection, but the special exhibits are absolutely worth going to, especially on the first Tuesday of every month, when the museum is free.
Rain Forest Dome at the
Academy of Science
Academy of Science: We stood in a line for about one to two hours on a beautiful Sunday morning, looking back I think the line added to the experience, you know that the attraction is going to be great when all of San Francisco lines up to attend. The line stretched out the admission doors, down the block around the corner, all told, it probably totaled at least half a mile. Once in those admission doors you have free rain of the entire place. There is a four story tropical rain forest, planetarium, aquarium, and a host of other interesting exhibits. What's even more interesting is that the entire building is very eco-friendly. They have a living roof that you can go up and see, it looks like the rolling hills that surround San Francisco. Select Sundays are free.
On a day that my mother and I went on a full blown excursion of San Francisco, we took the Amtrak from Menlo Park (where we were renting an apartment for the month) into the city.
We weren't really sure what the day would bring, but we decided to head in the direction of Pier 39. Once there we got some lunch at Boudin Bakery Cafe where we both got a bowl of clam chowder in a bread bowl. As you sat and ate, you could watch the bakery section move freshly made bread on a bucket wire system that sailed above you. They bread into different shapes; my favorite was the turtle.
We then continued to walk towards the Golden Gate bridge. Suddenly bicyclist started cropping up all over the place, you could tell they weren't regular bicyclists, they were rented bikes. Alrighty, so how do we get one of those? Following the water front we found a bike shop! Renting one of those bikes we headed off to the Golden Gate. You can ride across the bridge and down into Saucilito. One of the best things we did on that excursion. Taking the ferry back from Saucilito, you can land back at pier 39 and drop off you bikes. One the ferry ride, you get motor by Alcatraz Prison and get a beautiful view of the city from the water.
A quick peek of China town for some dinner and off to the Amtrak station.
Alcatraz Prison: as a child we went to the Prison and received a walking audio tour. You can see famous cells and get a great history of the island. It was one of the most memorable trips to San Francisco as a child. I would endorse this tour for anyone that likes history and/or has kids.
Environs:
Santa Cruz Boardwalk: Admission can be pretty cheap during some promotional periods, we went when it was ten dollars off admission with a empty coca-cola can, with the pier logo on it. The best ride was the white roller coast, not jerky, took some funny pictures of us on the ride (we didn't pay for the photo, just took a picture of TV screen...), the second best was probably the Fireball (got my Aunt to go on this one, and she doesn't like roller coasters).
Great America Theme Park: decent theme park, only had one good roller coast the Flight Deck, it was smooth, not jerky (essential for a mother that has a bad leg, she want's to enjoy the fun too), fast lines, and you don't feel like you are going to fall out of the restraints. For smaller kids they have plenty of great fair rides, I even enjoyed them as a break from the Flight Deck.
Red woods, California
Red Woods: With a fascination of trees (love to draw them), driving through northern California to Portland, OR (ten hour drive) we had to pull off to the side of the road and take some pictures. The Red Woods are a great place to stretch your legs and get some fresh air in your lungs during a long drive.
Many websites don't really supply helpful information of things to do in Tacoma. The only website I could find for things to do was tripadvisor.com but that wasn't all too helpful when I wanted to show my mother why I fell in love with the area.
Getting around: If you aren't willing or able to drive around, that's a-okay is this part of the Pacific northwest. There are many buses that can get you from Tacoma, to Sea-Tac Airport, to Seattle, to Olympia, and you can even catch the Amtrak down to Portland. If you do decide that buses are how you want to travel, make sure to come with dollar bills and quarters (you need exact change) or buy an Orca card. Orca cards allow you to get a little of a discount on the pre-loaded card and give you some benefits, such as longer transfer windows, and can even work on ferries.
Here's a list of some of the things we did (most free or very low in cost):
Puget Park, in the ravine
Puget Park to Rushton Way: On this walk you start in the proctor area walk towards Point Defiance but head into Puget Park, a ravine, that you can "hike" down into. You end up coming out on Alder St that leads right to Rushton Way, we turned South-East towards downtown Tacoma and walked along the water front. You can then take a bus from downtown heading up 6th Ave to make it back to the proctor area (bus fair: ~$2.50)
Many sites talk about downtown and being able to museum hop, I love the arts, but that isn't really my idea of fun while on vacation, I highly recommend going to all of the free exhibits. Being the hometown of Dale Chihuly and main other great artists, there are plenty of art pieces among the buildings and also in some government buildings. Definitely check out the glass bridge: loaded with glass pieces and they also have faux glass torches that are a lot of fun to pose on.
Tacoma Art Museum: has many great local, modern, and well known pieces. They do house 50 years worth of Dale Chihuly, pieces that have been donated by him over the years, with some really cool videos of large exhibits he has done around the world. If you are an art enthusiast I would highly recommend this. They do offer free days for specific bank holders and the third Thursday evening of every month is free.
Museum of Glass, affectionately known as MOG: had different exhibits with some interesting videos of how specific pieces were completed. The best part of the tour was when you could actually see them blowing and shaping the glass. They offer this free with the price of admission. I highly recommend taking a meander around the outside of the museum, they have plenty of pieces that allow more human interaction and a beautiful view of the port. If you are a college student you may want to take a gander on Sunday's as your admission is free.
Other Museums: also located in downtown Tacoma are the Children's Museum and the Natural History Museum. I haven't been to either one, so if you have any information on them that you would like me to add, let me know.
Point Defiance: a must see for anyone coming to Tacoma, even if you only go on the five mile drive. Side note: this was the first place I took my Aunt's family when she visited, we have a little bit before the sun set and drove down to the marina to take a stroll along the Sound. There are many things going on in this beautiful park, most of which are completely free!
Walrus at Point Defiance Zoo
Flower gardens: free and if you love taking photos you can have a blast posing around nature to create some amazing pics to share with friends and family. Or just take some amazing pictures of different species of flora. There is a rose garden and Asian themed garden.
Zoo: They had some animals that I hadn't seen in a while, only larger zoos generally have them, ie: elephants, walrus, and many others. I would highly encourage you to go when it's feeding time. The attendants will stand at different points along the enclosures and tell you about the history, care, and facts of the animal while you get to see them up close and personal.
Wright Park: a great place to cool off and see a little bit between downtown and the north end. They offer a great water park for little kids to escape the blistering heat during the summer time and a nice conservatory that only encourages a small donation when entering.
Food:
Cashew Chicken, Pad Thai,
& Thai Iced Tea at
Wild Orchid
Corina's: a local bakery is located only a couple blocks from Wright Park, near downtown Tacoma, and has great food. Pick up a scone and coffee then head off for a stroll around park.
Wild Orchid: located at 3023 6th Ave, this is an amazing Thai food restaurant. They give pretty big servings for relatively low cost (general range is 9-13$). There red & green curries, cashew chicken, fried rice, and Thai Iced Tea are all really good. During warmer days they open up a side of their restaurant and allow you to eat outside.
Engine House 9 (E-9): Another restaurant on 6th Ave is also a brewery. For 21+ year old's this is a great place hang out and drink: local micro brews, drinks on tap, and normal are all offered here. Even if you have kids this is a pretty family friendly destination with plenty of delicious appetizers. Fabulous nachos (which are mountain, easily feeding 2-3 people, for 12$), deep fried macaroni & cheese, hummus plate, and an abundance of other lip-smacking yummy's.
Gateway to India: located on 6th Ave. has amazing Indian food, I can't remember the main dish I purchased but it was really good and I had never had Indian before. The naan was really good. If you are a student they provided you with a discount, yay!
Shakabrah: Is an all day breakfast restaurant. I personally haven't been their, but whenever I make that statement I get shocked faces and avid encouragement to go spend my last couple of bucks there, not saying it's pricey. Once again, located on 6th Ave.
Trapper's Sushi: A new sushi place in the north-end they are a huge hit with the students in this area. They offer all you can eat sushi during lunch hour, so if you want to get your fill, best place to go for sushi.
After leaving the southern island of
Yakushima, we took the four-hour ferry ride to Kagoshima and some of our beloved
7-eleven food, and then slept in our fantastic hammocks. Luckily, we had grown
accustomed to hanging the Nubé no matter what the weather, so when it rained
that night we were nice and dry. The puddle that was similar to a lake under
our Nubé was something else. It made it a little interesting when getting out
and breaking down camp. 
