Last Days in Tokyo
We arrived in Shanghai two days ago, and I immediately had the sense, à la Dorothy and Toto: We’re not in Tokyo anymore. For one thing, I had to smuggle this post out of China. I use Blogger, a Google…
Shop ’til Mom Drops
I held on as long as I could, but to give you a sense of the full sensory overload: Yet another Pokemon store. This one had just had its “Grand Open” [sic] two days earlier. And also, bunnies (look up…
Hakone
Our 2-day journey outside of Tokyo was a loop of sorts that involved multiple means of transportation: train, to electric tram that zig-zags up the mountains (2 times it literally pulls into a dead end, they pull a track switch,…
A little less city, a little more touching nature
We journeyed outside Tokyo for a couple days. Today we hope to catch sight of Mt. Fuji, clouds permitting. We stayed one night in the historic Fujiya Hotel and had tempura at a delightful little mom-and-pop restaurant where I was…
Taking in Tokyo
Our arrival in Tokyo and the usual trek through immigration and customs, search for ATM and train tickets to the city, navigation of taxi stand and journey to hotel went so smoothly I barely felt that we were in another…
Patagonia Adventure, Nov/Dec 2015
My travel journal for this trip involved only pen and paper, so I have no day-by-day “blog” this time. But as I look back over my musings from the trip, the word that reappears is “blessed.” I was blessed with…
Dominican Republic, 2014: From Yogi to Tourist
The last few days at the yoga retreat brought out many emotions: elation that I had enjoyed the experience so much, despite not knowing the people beforehand; sadness that it was all ending and we had to go back to…
Silent adventures
The retreat leader had suggested to the participants that they consider spending one day, or part of a day, in silence. Only people who wanted to need participate, and to indicate to the others who were not participating that you…
Mucho Joga
In Spanish, the “y” is pronounced almost like a “j,” so, for example, Joe (yo, for I) is almost always up to something. So when I arrived at this resort of thatched-roof cabanas on the beach on the north shore…
Buddha in Hiking Boots
Before I started my 6-day “Intro to Backpacking the High Sierras” trip, I made an impulse buy (well, actually, it was a free Kindle download): Buddha in Blue Jeans: An Extremely Short Simple Zen Guide to Sitting Quietly and Being…