Best Western Hotel Wakayama

... meals would be ready. We were given slippers and traditional Japanese gowns to wear and they have invited us and the other guests staying here to their early morning prayers and fire ceremony. It looks like an early morning for us all so we’ll sign off soon and hit the futon (our pillows are full of rice!!!).

Strangely though, our room also has television and there is an internet room downstairs. The building is very old and made primarily of wood. There are rice ...

... trip from Nara near Osaka to the half mile high Mount Koya, famous for the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism since the 9th century.

Under a light drizzle, my occasional travel companion, Michele, and I made our way to the gate of the Henjoson-in Buddhist ryokan. It looked very promising...

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ORIENTATION :

Henjou-Son-in ....

We grabbed a pair of slippers from the multitude carefully lined up, then checked in.

"Konnichiwa. Swami," I announced.
Koyasan, Japan, Kinki, Japan swami_worldtrav

... asi que me contuve.
En el camino de vuelta por el cementerio, nos encontramos un buddha sobre un pilar que cargaba una mochila en su espalda. Es nuestro Buddha Mochilero.
Cuando llegamos al hostal, nos echamos a dormir hasta las 10, la hora de desalojar. Nos fuimos de paseo a ver el resto de Koyasan: varios templos agrupados en el Danjo Garan y el Daimon, la puerta a la montana. Al volver pasamos por el templo de Kongobuji, pero yo ya estaba mas que harta de templos ...

... the main office to complete the formalities. This is were our first mistake was made, as we forgot to take off our slippers before entering. Next time we will know better. A short walk to the room and as the door was slide open by the monk, we were in awe. The room came complete with two futon beds, a kerosene heater, a tea table with electic heater to keep your feet and legs warm when tucked underneath. Last but not least, a view of the ...

As I write this, we've just reached our cruising altitude. Yes, I'm on our Air Canada flight headed back to Vancouver "home sweet home" BC. Aside from the crying child seated two rows in front of me, the flight looks to be pretty smooth... plus, I've my ER-6i's plugged deep into my ears, I don't hear anything but the smooth sounds of Common's new album. It's been a long trip... 6 weeks and 1 day to be exact. I miss home... so, I'm pretty excited to be sitting on this flight ...

It was a plane day today! We flew out of Niigata airport to Osaka this afternoon. It was a small plane. It sat maybe 80 people, had 2 propellers and was VERY bumpy. The picture below explains how we all felt! During our flight I sat next to Mika, and had a blast talking with her. She is very sassy, and can throw down some really funny jokes. We had a 5pm show, so we went straight to the theater from the airport. Well... we may have ...

... was about $40AUD. When we got home, we went for a walk to familiarise myself with the area. Then we went home and watched Sex and the city, as they had 'Cable' The next day was my first day at school there. Dear god, it was the scariest thing ever!!! The cool thing is that i was treated like a celebrity, people wanted to take photos with me and get my autograph.... and they kept touching my hair, that wasn't cool, but some had never seen ...

... And why is it that we are so attached to this particular individual memory?? And yet, alhtough I recognize that my individual existence will end just as all human lives have ended before me, I am still grateful for this particular perspective.The amazing, driving force to create, differntiate, evolve seems to laugh in the face of death. Maybe this is because this force goes beyond the individual-- it connects us, although we surely express it in very differnt ways.

I recently received an e-mail from a Ukranian friend of mine back home in Canada with a very keen interest on making it to Japan someday. I had a moment and thought I would post my reply, a short question and answer based on my personal experience and knowledge attained thus far while roaming the 'Land of the Rising Sun'. Here was my reply (please bear in mind this response was predominantly an Osakan perspective): > What's the best time to ...

... she took me back to the ship. I wanted to die. I have never felt worse in my entire life. When I got back to the ship the doctor gave me this amazing medicine that makes you stop throwing up instantly. It was great. I couldn't eat for a couple of days and I never caught up on sleep because while crossing the pacific we lost an hour everyday but I did live. I guess it wouldn't have been right if I didn't get sick at least once on the voyage. Next stop Seattle...