International Travel

It was raining this morning, so I stayed in the hotel until about 10. Which happened to be when the rain stopped! I then stored my bag and went to find cherry blossoms. Started with the temple I'd gone to on the first day and the river beyond it - not great blossoms. Also the shop I was hoping to stop at to check if they had a jacket that would fit Lance, was closed. Mondays. After the excursion, I took the train back to Ueno, and went to Ueno park instead. Better (still in progress) cherry blossoms, but also the atmosphere! This was the same place with the sakura market by the national museum. That market was open during the day, so I obtained some food. There were many people out with large tarps having breakfast or lunch under the trees. Hung out here for a while, enjoying the day.

I also tried to report my missing camera at the police box, but the guy said it would be better for me to report it in the prefecture I lost it in... oh well.

Then it was time! Back to the hotel to pickup my bag, and then train to the airport. I arrived about 2 for my 3:50 flight. There was not much security, I checked my bag & was through by 2:30. Found some whiskey in the duty free shops - though the selection was less than I expect from an airport shop. They had a really large heat cigarette section instead. I also didn't find any good loose leaf tea to bring home. Oh well! Spent my last cash (until I found more in my jeans pocket later) on some chocolates.

Maybe I should have paid for a seat - the leg room was questionable, and I much prefer looking out the window. So much good scenery out there! Too late though. Flight was thirteen hours - the lady next to me was 78 and from Puerto Rico. We had a decent conversation in mixed Spanish & English. She is well traveled, we went through all the places we'd both been using the map on the screen. She also was not a big fan of flying, and was scared of what I considered light turbulence - which is what triggered our first conversation. She was not the most mobile, so I never asked her to get up - just used the bathroom and stretched the two times she did.

Arrived in Newark at 2:50pm April 1st (after leaving at 3:50pm April 1st). Between the fast hike & the flight... my legs are so sore. Stairs are extremely rough. Got through security pretty quickly. Uber was the same cost as the train (I'd looked it up the night before), other than tip - so booked an uber and off to Philly! Had a long conversation with the driver, which included how when looking for a partner to parent children - it is most important that, even if you split up, you're able to have reasonable conversations with them and that they would put the child ahead of their own pride & ego. Some deep stuff. Also he plays soccer, and we talked about different travel locations.

& then Philly came into view! When I got dropped off, first thing I notice - a beautiful cherry tree. Might have been to early in Japan, but Philly can fill the void. A little past peak magnolia, but also still beautiful.

Brought my bag upstairs, and was getting ready to leave to find food (very hungry!), when I saw the countertop had a bagel and cookies from the farmer's market on it! Thanks Kallie! So I ate and relaxed for a bit. Then I headed out for more real food, assuming I'd barely get anywhere because my legs were dead. 45 minutes on the phone with my mom later, I was wandering in Rittenhouse, and went to meet up with Kallie & others for dinner. Quick reentry into Philly!

Goal of today: hike and see Mt Fuji. Trail: Mt. Mitsutoge to Kawaguchi lake, 9 miles with 4500ft of elevation. Got up at 6:40am literally dripping sweat, because the hotel is still set to heat so I can't turn the a/c up. Not cool (pun intended). Got out about 7, took the rail to a bus. Filled up my IC card and then found out I couldn't use it on the bus ticket anyway. Also the bus I wanted was full, so instead I took a bus to Kawaguchi and then the local train to my Mitsutoge. This worked out fine - also my neighbor on the bus was from England, and we had some great chats. He lives Thailand and has been four times, but this is his first to Japan.

First sightings of Mt Fuji from the bus! Clear skies, hard to miss. Unlike on the bullet train the other has day. Pretty cool!

Looks like the local is "expensive", so I might actually need to add more to my card to get all the way home by train later - not wasted!

Started hiking, first couple miles are roads. Decent elevation and sun, so I took a layer of pants off and added a hat to my head. A few bathrooms available going in, and I know there is one at the top too.

Pass some cherry trees that are starting to bloom. A man-caused waterfall. Finally, about 2 miles in, we hit some not cement path and start walking a pine stand. This is, or at least was, clearly a logging forest. I doubt the path is logged anymore, but there were a few spots you could see, and everything was to uniform to not be reforestation.

Stopped at a bench for a snack... Stopped again at the bench right up the road because it has a Mt Fuji view! 1h15 and 3 miles in. And that is where it all went wrong...

Discovered when I took the pants layer off, I took my camera out of the bag and did not put it back in. So I started down the hill, semi running. Almost all the way back to the train station. I did not find it. On the bright side, looks like the cherry trees are actually blossoming today, looks more pink than the first time.

I made a decision to commit to the hike - lucky yesterday I traded the SD card out of the camera after finally filling it, so I should have almost all my photos from the last couple months (except some spiders and bugs from the night walk). Maybe not my best choice, but hey. So, back up I go. Now we're looking at 15 miles and probably 5500-6000 feet of elevation total... Motivated by adrenaline and warmed, I achieved my previous Fuji view by 13:30, three hours after starting the hike. Take some (phone only) photos, and up up up! A few more photo stops, and at some point it gets a bit steeper. I should probably hike with a bell to keep bears away, even though they are annoying. Some birds, nice hiking this section. Then I see some snow! Just little patches, but exciting. There is also a guy actively maintaining the trail, cutting a tree up to move it off the path. Soon after passing him I find the bouldering section - people in climbing gear are going straight up. It looks like a nice spot to climb. This part is briefly flat.

Up up up, and the end is nigh! Slight misdirect to a building, but then I got to the top, just after 2:30.

Used my bag to hold my phone to take some timed photos. Then two women got to the top and asked if I could take pictures (I could). They also took pictures for me.

Okay, heading down! Stopped at a bench with a view of Mt. Fuji for more snacks. A bit muddy up here and still some snow. Once I get out of the mud though... Beautiful forest trail. Very good for running, which I did some of. Lake is flashing in and out of view through the trees, and a few more Fuji sightings. Really enjoyed the down side, and made decent time.

At one tower station, there was beautiful grass and an open lake view one side, Fuji the other. Stopped at Mt. Tenjo for more pics, after some phone issues that were fixed by a restart. A few viewing areas, and the top of the gondola. I skipped past that and continued on trail, pretty quick down the steps. Arrived at the station, 16:45. Total hike time just over 6 hours, 16 miles.

Caught the next local train to my original starting point, try the camera search one last time. The police box was unmanned and my confidence in dialing 12 to get a hold of someone, when everything was in Japanese, was lacking. So I moved on to the Mitsutoge Green Center, a sports and food and hotel venue a mile up the road (part of the trail). They did not have the camera, but took my name and number to give to the police. Very helpful, we'll see if anything comes of it. A quick search, they announce lost items online, so I'll be checking that regularly for a month...

Back to the train, have some time and they have a box for trash! I dumped my snack trash. Catch the local again. So much standing. I did the make the transfer to the JC rapid line into Tokyo, thankfully. Otherwise it was an hour wait. Picked up some food, intended to shower and go back out... Did not get back out.

After getting in at midnight, I once again slept in a bit... Decided to head to Omiya Bonsai village. I was also switching hotels, since the hostel was fully booked Saturday night. So I packed up and left about 10, and then stopped in Ueno train station to store my bag in a locker. Easy process, very convenient. Continued on to Omiya by train, which took about 45 minutes. Right near the train station in Omiya there was a bread shop, so I stopped. The bread was delicious! Not sure where to go, but assuming the bonsai museum was the right place, I headed that way. Two fellows, one white and one Japanese, came out of a parking lot and were walking in the same direction. We both pulled over into a temple area, where the Japanese fellow talked to the lady there and got a map of the town and some information I did not hear. He also got a map for me! Very helpful.

Pretty much followed these two guys to the first bonsai garden - turns out Omiya has 6 bonsai shops, so in visiting you tour all the shops and the museum. The Japanese man started talking with me, and I discovered they were coworkers - Kris, the German, was going home tomorrow. Y, the Japanese man, lives on an island - maybe Kyushu? He was in Tokyo for work, and invited Kris to go exploring with him. Y took a picture with me, and helped me understand some of how to look at bonsai trees. Example - you should get low and look up into the tree, so you can feel its grandeur.

We went on to the second garden. Y asked how I'd gotten to the village, and when I said by train he offered if I wanted to join them in Kawagoe after Omiya village. I said sure! No plans anyway, so hopping in a car to a temple village sounded like a good plan.

Carried on conversing and walking to the various gardens. Saw a few birds in between. The last garden and the first were probably my favorites. The guy at the last one spoke English, so I was able to ask some questions about things I'd noticed on the trees. Also, one of the bonsai trees in his garden was famous.

Walked back towards the museum & the parking lot - I think Kris and Y were going to skip the museum if I wasn't there, but I was interested in visiting. Highly recommend! There is a lot of interesting info about caring for bonsai trees and the effort needed in the museum. They also had an outdoor garden where you could take pictures. Some beautiful trees - and one estimated to be over 1000 years old. How many generations have cared for that tree! So amazing.

On to Kawagoe - charged my phone in the car, thankfully. It hadn't gotten to full battery overnight, so this meant I wouldn't have to worry for the day. In Kawagoe, aka Little Edo, we parked by the main temple area. First step - we got various food to share from the vendors. Soba, sweet potatoes, some octopus breaded thing, and fried chicken. Sat down and ate under the (not really bloomed yet) cherry trees. After lunch, we ventured into the temple. It was very cool - many of the buildings were imported from Edo (old Tokyo) palace, after the originals had burned down. They had big supporters who wanted it up and running again! There were also two beautiful cherry trees in full bloom behind the building, and birds hanging out on them.

Y had a time limit, as he was flying out that night, so we moved on and stopped at the outdoor 1000 buddhas section. Pretty neat space - not very big, but 1000 unique statues. One seemed to be picking its nose? We got some more pictures. At some point I added Y on whatsapp, so we could share photos. He is also a musician, and wrote a song called "Sakura", which is beautiful.

On the way out, I opted to depart, rather than have them drive me to the train station on the way home. Give Y a little more time flexibility, and I get to walk through Kawagoe. I quickly googled what to do there, and found a bell, a sake place, and a shaved ice place. First stop: shaved ice. They had a line, so I got a number and waited for a bit. When I came in and ordered strawberry milk ice, it looked HUGE. On starting to eat, it was actually fairly airy and doable. Still could have split it. Nearby was the bell - I filled up my SD card taking pictures of it, and switched out to the 16gb sd card I had from Cairns bug night walk.

Walking on, I found a temple - closed to the public, had signs about worshippers only past this point. Continued through the streets, busy area - it looked to be turning into the tall building section of the city, but right before that I found a festival! Turns out, they had a wine festival every year during sakura season. The trees were still not peak, but blooming a bit. At least 10 different wine vendors. I bought tickets, which were needed for food & wine - no cash at the vendors themselves. I also got a plastic cup for the wine tasting, 100 yen.  Then I tried some wines! Started with 4 whites. Very good atmosphere - music, trees, wine. Not too crowded. Excellent weather. After the wine, I picked up some food - brazilian style, meat in a fried bread pocket. Made my stomach quite happy. Switched back to wine, but tried some reds this time. The last red, the guy spoke English well. We talked a bit, and I asked what his favorite wine was. He gave me a free sample of a white he produced from table grapes, but due to the soil it worked well as a wine as compared to if the same grape was grown in Europe. Also table grapes are easier to grow in Japan because of how much rain there is. Turns out that was my favorite wine of the night. After another snack (same, but with cheese instead of meat) - I finished off the evening with that table grape white.

Headed to the train station, about an hour ride home. Trains come so frequently in Japan! Picked up my back, went to the hotel, and took a break for a while. Convinced myself back out for food about 9:15. Walked through the restaurant/night life area for a bit, then tried one place - they stopped accepting seating at 9:30, which was a minute before I tried. Next place I tried they were actively recruiting diners - but turned me down as soon as I said I was one person. Not sure if it was because I was solo, or didn't look like I'd be drinking a lot, but booooo. The next place accepted me immediately. I got some dumplings, scallion pancakes, and chicken hearts. Really should try grilling chicken hearts at home some time.

After food, grabbed some breakfast type snacks and headed back for bed. Considered using the spa area hot tub the hotel advertised, but decided to sleep instead.

A late start again, woke up by 8 but didn't leave until almost 10. Decided to check out Meiji Jingu Gaien, despite the morning rain. About 40 minutes by train. Upon arrival, I quickly discovered that garden was a misleading term for where I was, and there were a lot of stadiums. The weather turned beautiful, with a nice wind, and despite the unexpected buildings, I quite enjoyed the walk. 

Fun thing about the stadium - plants all over it! The baseball stadium also had a lot of activity, looked it up and there was a game that night. I considered going to one over the weekend (but ended up not).

Carrying on, I found Akasaka Palace nearby.  The first few entrances had guards and were blocked off, but found the public entrance! Decided to pay for the garden and building - hindsight good choice, the building is the main show here. Going through security they checked bags and had me take a sip from each water bottle I had. That was kind of fun!

I got the audio guide for the palace, and went through. No pictures. It was pretty interesting - one room had a ton of bird paintings in it. The audio guide talked about where the different marbles came from, who designed things and what style they were in, etc. There were photos of the major figures that had stayed or met in the palace (ex. presidents). Neat fireplaces. Towards the end of the tour, the security/guide lady stationed there stopped me and had me look out the window - for a great view of a tower adorned with phoenix statues! There were phoenix images in various other rooms too.

Outside, the gardens had a nice fountain and some cool trees. Around front towards the exit, there were two food trucks and tables with umbrellas. I stopped and got cake - what I really wanted was the three tiered tea platter I saw other people have, but don't know how they ordered that. Oh well! I followed that up with some scones, just enjoying the area for a bit.

Next stop, Tokyo Tower - I decided to walk, as it wasn't that much longer than by train, and there was a shrine on the way. Good choice! Hie shrine had a bunch of the orange gates, like the place in Kyoto but on a smaller scale. It was pretty neat seeing that in the middle of Tokyo. After passing through there, I carried on to Tokyo Tower. I tried to walk up, but turns out that is closed after 4pm. Elevator it is! Got to the top about 5:40, pretty close to sunset. Stayed up there until almost 6:30, through sunset and into the night. They had a good movie about the history of Tokyo and the tower, where I learned about it originally being named Edo and then getting renamed to Tokyo. On the way down, I was able to take the stairs - and it was very cool! The nighttime lights on the structure were stunning. I took a lot of pictures...

My phone was dying, so I looked up all the directions I should need, and walked towards the train to get to my 8:30pm teamlab reservation. On the way there was a temple I took a brief glance at. After taking the train, I had some time - looking for food, but found I could walk along the river. Beautiful night. Not much in the area, but the teamlab building itself had a vegan ramen place that I ordered from. Decent. They closed before I could get icecream.

Teamlab! Was not as artistic as I'd anticipated? Not that it wasn't neat, but it was a little mundane in some ways. The concepts were very basic. Like a room with tons of light strands hanging down and mirrors on all walls so everything reflected - cool, but easy to implement. Room with giant clear beachballs - more like a playground. Probably my favorite room because it was fun to play in, but not as much art. The full body senses they talked about, didn't really include smell (except in the orchids), and not as much for touch as I expected. It was primarily visual, with some different surfaces you walked on. Anyway - cool concept, but probably wouldn't go again. Also my phone died at last.

Left there about 9:30. Should have been back by 10:30, but... I got lost. In the end it turns out I got to the right train station, but at night I didn't recognize the direction I needed to go, even though I'd done it multiple times already and marked things for the 5 minute walk. So instead I wandered in the general area for a long time, thinking I was close but never finding it. Then someone offered to help as I studied a map, and the search I did in google on their phone turned out the wrong place, two train stations away. I followed that, got to the train station and knew immediately it was wrong. I asked someone for help this time, and they actually had a battery charger, so hooked my phone up and got it on long enough to get the directions. I marked the train exit I needed and went back two stops. This time - I made it back! At about midnight... Crashed very quickly after this.

On the first day in Tokyo, I slept in 'til... 8. With a slow start, I got out about 9:30 and walked to Senso-ji temple. Briefly stopped in at a smaller shrine en route, and then shops started being everywhere. It was pretty busy at the temple, the road leading to it is decorated for Sakura season. Cool building and pagoda. There was a lot of smoke from one of the incense burning areas, which irritated my senses - but must have a purpose, people were "bathing" in it. A small garden with a water feature, there were a bunch of koi. One guy seemed to be calling them over so tourists could take pictures. No one was on the backside of the building, and in the empty parking lot a statue was erected. I went over and read, it was in memory of a young son who died in a water accident, to guard against such incidents in the future. Lots of dogs, including one that had a terrible haircut and looked like a mini sheep from the back.

Continued on to the river, which had a good view of the skytree. Lots of Sakura trees lining it, I can see how in bloom it would look fantastic. Plan to revisit on Monday, when the blooms will hopefully have arrived.

Next stop, train to the imperial palace. I found an entrance to the gardens, and headed in. Bag check! The gardens had some blooms, but not quite spring yet. A few hybrid cherry trees were in blossom (not Sakura), and some other places. The old barracks building had a hedge next to it cut to look just like the barracks - brilliant. An old base of a tower that didn't get rebuilt after fire.

Started towards the other garden path, but you can't enter from the direction I was going and the entry was a twenty minute walk around to the other side. After a couple minutes I decided it wasn't worth it, turned around and headed to towards a board game shop. En route, I found lunch at an Indian curry place. Huge piece of naan. I then walked along a river that the path was closed for Sakura, and would be perfect viewing if any flowers were out.

The game shop took a few minutes to find, it was on the seventh floor of an old books building, home to many book stores. Very bright, kids were playing a game at the table. After a few minutes of browsing and translating, I'd picked up one potential and a store person came up to me and asked what I was looking for. He was very helpful - verified my choice and led me to a few other options. Success!

About 2:30, so I decided to go to the national museum. Took the train. Getting off at Ueno, I was sidetracked by piano music. Following the source, a guy was playing in the station. I listened, and when he finished the song, found out it was a line for public use, available for Sakura season. Cool! A little girl was up next, she was okay. Followed by a slightly older boy who was quite good. I stayed for over thirty minutes, before looking at the time and aiming for the museum. Got there at 4 and had an hour before closing.

Missed the general asia building, but kind of nice to limit my museum time to one hour - didn't get bored! I stuck to the japanese specific exhibits. They had a lot of cool swords, samurai outfits, an archaeology section, ink drawings, calligraphy... I enjoyed it. The closing music was Auld Lang Syne - just like at Osaka Castle! Is that a thing in Japan?

Upon leaving I went to walk through Ueno Park, and immediately find food tents and music - a Sakura celebration! Free ice cream too! I hung out and listened, got some food, and then discovered there was also free beer! Their check for giving it away was you needed to answer: are you at least 20, are you driving home, and are you pregnant. They were holding signs and went through it before you got the beer. Pretty funny and very trusting.

I got some more food, and then took the rest of the beer and walked down the lane, surrounded by Sakura trees - still not in bloom. Nicely lit up.

Headed back to the hotel, and made the mistake of starting to read... for 4 hours, late to sleep again.

Isn't it fun that Tokyo and Kyoto are anagrams of each other.*

I slept great at this hostel, and had a slow start. Went to Kyoto station first and bought a bullet train ticket to Tokyo. There was a line at 10am, irritating. But a lady was stationed there helping, and pretty much did everything for me. The only error was age asked if I needed to reserve baggage space, and I tried asking if there was overhead space and she implied not. Future note - there is plenty of free space overhead. I also got Green Car - the fancy car with seats that lean back a bunch and you can order food.

Left the train station and walked to Kodaiji temple. En route I stopped for breakfast, including a hot chocolate - first delivery was coffee, boo, but the final product was good. Getting to the temple brought me by a very large cemetery with a nice city and mountain backdrop.

The temple was packed. So many people, often in kimonos. Lines to take pictures with the few blossoming cherry trees. Lines to ring bells, lift items, etc. I skipped as lines as I could. Other than being packed, the temple was quite nice. Walking past towards the garden (general flow), there was a sign for a shrine. I never got to the shrine, but! There was a forest path I hopped on and walked until I hit a dead end. Kyoto Path it is called. A nice add to the morning.

Back into the throng around the temple, the regular street leading up to it was slow going as well. On top of the season it had been raining for two days, probably impacted foot traffic. Got into the hostel and bought a chocolate cookie, hung out, then collected my bags and walked to the station. Kept walking because the station is big... The shinkansen trains come very often, so checked my train number before boarding. They had a snack place on the platform, so rice ball while waiting!

Green car: seat heat if desired, leans back pretty far, place to plug your phone in. Recommend! The train was quite fast. I tried to watch the views as much as possible, with some playing on the phone. Ordered chips and icecream because I could (and the menu was limited). A great way to travel. Sadly Mt. Fuji was not visible, but plenty of other sights.

Upon arrival I transferred trains with the same ticket and headed to the hostel, arriving about 6. Dropped my bags and went to Ippudo for dinner, a chain ramen place. Pretty good! Looking for dessert I found a glass jelly place. Too much glass jelly, wanted more taro and beans, but it was pretty good. After this I headed to the hostel, picking up breakfast snacks on the way, and then went to sleep... Late because I fell into a book. Whoops.

Fun about the hostel: no shoes, they have sandals to change into on entry and a cubby per person plus an extra rack. No bags in the bed space, even though it's wider than the mattress. No eating/drinking except on the first floor (I'm in, cleaner beds!).

*Wrote this morning of the 30th, later that day found out "Kyoto" means capital and "Tokyo" is "To Kyoto" for East capital, shortened.

Slept okay. Didn't get out of bed quick, but about 8:30 I wandered to breakfast at the place I found on first arrival. Added a sesame bread thing, semi accidentally. Looks like people use the "bread" to make a sandwich with the yo tiao and egg - cool! I tried it, the flavors worked nicely.

After breakfast I walked to the river, where I was immediately met with an outdoor dance workout a group of older ladies were doing. Awesome! The workout machines were being used too. I did not partake, but sat under a tree and did some catch-up.

Headed back to the hotel, packed up, said bye to Michael, and headed to the airport. Directions said take a bus, but I ignored that in favor of the train lines - which took about the same time.

The most annoying thing about this airport - elevator or slow ramp that no one walks on to get up each floor. Soooo slow. Checked in and dropped my bag off, then found out I had to go back down to the first floor for a post office. Arg. I took the elevator, much faster than the walk. Finally sent my Australia and previous Japan post cards! Very easy, I paid and she dealt with the stamps and sending.

Back up the walking ramp. Through security - 5 minutes or less, very easy on a weekday at 11:30am.

My gate was right there, but food was a short walk away. I got a braised pork rice that turned out to be a meal with soup, cabbage, etc, and cold brew tea I did not want. Oh well.

I bought some dessert snacks to use up my cash, and headed to the gate. Twenty minute delay, not bad, then on to the plane! Tons of footspace, a meal, and tv screen - thanks Eva airways.

No views leaving Taiwan due to clouds, but Japan made up for it. Gorgeous from above. Time zone change shifted us an hour, so it was 4:30pm. Luckily I was already equipped with an IC card, but the ideal train to Kyoto was a limited express and needed a ticket on top of base fare. There were long lines for everything, and I got in the top up my card line, not the limited express ticket line. Decided not to worry about it and go the slow route, but on the platform the train people said "this is the one you need! Please buy the fare on the train". Victory! Timely and didn't need to deal with the line. Standing room only until Osaka, and then I snagged a seat. The conductor came by before Osaka and I paid for my ticket.

From Kyoto Station I took a very packed bus to the hostel. In hindsight the bus took 15 minutes plus waiting, and walking was 25 minutes... Oh well.

The hostel I would recommend. A nice cafe and bar space on the first floor, hold bags after checkout, kitchen and work space on the second floor. Only 6 people in my room and they were all pretty quiet. The mattress and pillow were great, can't ask for more. After settling in I got some chicken on the first floor and hung out a bit too long - going for more food a lot of places closed at 9. I found a place selling meat skewers and got the "popular variety". Back at the hostel, carrot cake! Bed. 

This is going to be long and descriptive because it was an awesome day.

Alarm was set for 6:06. Trying to catch a train by 6:30 to get a bus to the start of the hike. I woke up 5:45 anyway. Left the alarm on for Michael. Grabbed our bags, ate some breakfast, and off we go!

Successfully got to the trail about 7:30. I'd found a run through of it, and there were ten peaks to hit, about 15 miles with 1800 meters of elevation. En route were a couple visitor centers for water refills.

The first part of the hike was just beautiful. The fog, the birds, the stone steps. One hiker we passed was singing, tone type music that fit the vibe. We got to a pond, which turned out to drain quickly so rarely has water in it. The pond was it's own enclosed circle, with grasses and a stone in the middle and trees on the outside, fog filtering through. We could hear voices - Michael asked if they were people or mountain spirits. Spirits definitely fit the scene. If we weren't trying to go so far with a time limit (catch the far bus by 6:20 or walk an extra 70 minutes to a different stop), I could have hung out there for hours. So, so great.

The beauty continued, with some changes in scenery as we got towards the top of the first peak. Trees gave away to grasses and bushes, and the views opened up - to all fog. I took a picture of the peak post, which has a symbol on it. Putting them all next to each other is supposed to spell out Yangmingshan East West trail or something like that - which I think is cool! For note, Michael and I were hiking west to east.

A quick jaunt to peak 2, and then some down. Hiking down was not fast - the stones were very slippery from the morning dew. We saw an azalea that is likely endemic to Taiwan, in bloom. Ate a trail snack aka rice ball thing. Michael took a slip that looked a little painful right, but was fine. Right after we talked about how slippery it was. I tried going on the "path" to the side of the stone steps, but it wasn't much better. But... Beautiful! Also a great temperature.

Getting to the third peak, there were some ropes. Stone path also turned to clay with roots. At first the ropes seemed not so necessary, but as it got steeper and with the clay being so slippery, it was a good safety. On the way up we passed a fellow we'd later learn was named Arthur. He was local, but spoke some English. Didn't talk much beyond sharing woes about the slippery steep trail, but at the top when he caught up I gave him a congrats via body language.

He offered us to go first ("faster first") - but the downhill leveled us out pretty well. It was very steep, and I was lowering myself using the rope very actively, which was fun. We lost him on the next uphill (steeper than the last! More ropes!). According to my source, getting to that peak (4) was the end of needing ropes for the rest of the day.

Still basking in the morning atmosphere, fog obscuring views and adding mystery. Arthur caught up on the down again, but not for long when the uphill came. Peak 5 was actually the main peak of the same mountain as the previous two, and it was above 1000 meters, yay!

A lot of down to a "road" section - actually a nice path parallel to the road. Arthur caught back up here. He said in his old age he couldn't do the uphills as fast, but could catch us on the downs. Not that old, only 52. Arthur was only going as far as a visitor center where his scooter was parked. We hiked together the rest of the way. He'd done that part of the trail 5 times in the last year - uses hiking as his free gym and gets out once a week. One time was at night, and apparently there are barking deer all about! Sadly we saw none with daylight. We'd heard a monkey in an argument with a dog early on, but not seen either. Michael spotted some big yellow worm like things. There were also armored caterpillars in the first section.

On this near the road part, we heard a few birds. Arthur translated the names in Chinese to English on his phone. We also saw... A snake! Finally! I got pictures and video. Either it is a poisonous one, family of rattlesnakes - or it is a lookalike that is not poisonous. Probably the lookalike, but not going to test the theory. Arthur talked about how snakes will rarely bite unless you do something like step on them or pick them up. Then he mentioned the water buffalo - which would be later on, and I was excited to see. Apparently they are very soft, and used to humans, so as long as you don't do stupid things, shouldn't be an issue. The area with cattle had been closed down in 2019 for renovation after someone got gored, but the cattle had been there for many, many years without issue before that.

Saw some geothermal plumes - hot spring territory! Arthur said we would hike right through it on the way to our next peak (he'd be gone). He also looked up the public hot springs place nearby - full body nude section was only certain hours and closed Monday, but the dip your legs in part was always open. We didn't end up passing this hot spring, not sure if we came close or would have needed to go way off course. Oh well!

We got to what turned out to be a mini visitor center - closed because Monday. Bathroom was open, but water refill was in the main section. Carried on to the bigger visitor center, where the geothermal viewing was. Also closed - last Monday of the month. We did not bring enough water for this! I checked out the hot springs, and Michael found that the cafe on the back side was still open - phew! Couldn't refill water, but could buy some! Michael also got chocolate milk - or "chocky milk", as he liked to say. I followed suit with the chocky milk, and added a water and a frozen fruit bar (delicious!).

We said our goodbyes to Arthur and carried on to the next, and tallest, peak! At this point time was looking a little close, but still ahead of the guide's schedule and the latter half was a lot flatter than the first half.

Many more people at this point, but still a great day to be hiking here. Started seeing a lot of blue and copper skinks. Walked through the geothermal section. The whole path is very well marked with signposts every .2km or so telling you how far to the next place - for better or worse.

Got to the peak, and I waited in line to get a picture with the big post. I also took a picture with the 2024 sign they had chained up there :).

Next up, a ton of downhill to practice my speed on. Told Michael I need to work on it because Lance is so fast downhill. He joined the sideways down fun, counting to ten in each side and then switching. Michael can be a bit faster than me downhill, but not as fast as Lance pretty sure (on steps anyway).

Got to a sign saying "alternate route for trail X", but looked like our section was not impacted so carried in. Correct assessment! We got to another visitor center - closed for water refill on the last Monday of the month, but another cafe. I got another chocky milk... Delicious. Just beyond this we saw a really neat blue bird, probably bigger than a pigeon and kind of like a peacock. I pulled out my camera but struggled to get photos.

Peak 7, and then... Water buffalo! There were a ton of people here, and lots of picture posing. 30th birthday, couples that may have been anniversaries or engagements, and wedding photos. The water buffalo looked really neat - the horns were big on some, and it was clear they'd been bathing in mud. We walked a bit out of our way to see them before continuing to... Peak 8! Which turns out was all water buffalo territory, just not fenced like before. So we saw more of them without barriers, lying down in the mud. One really cute one was putting his nose underwater and blowing bubbles. I also discovered I'd lost my main water bottle, probably at the attempted bird pictures. Sad - I'd kept it all the way from Hawaii, and while it was intended for recycling after the trip, I guess I'll have to deal with the other, smaller bottles I'd picked up from airlines.

The last 6km and two peaks were fairly quick and flat. We went through a "reforested" section of Japanese cedars, that was very uniform but gorgeous in it's own right. During Japanese rule a lot of deforestation happened, and there were reforestation efforts all across the mountains - most of which didn't survive and were replaced by more hardy trees that could deal with the typhoons. This section was protected, so a small stand survived.

Views started opening up at some point, probably in the way down from the highest mountain but I'll mention it here. Couldn't see the ocean because it was still hazy, but many series of mountains.

Legs still felt pretty good on the last two peaks, though I was a bit thirsty and very low on water. Slowed down a bit, but not much.

The end of the trail had a beautiful, close to sunset color view of hills and city. Really great end.

Then we walked another kilometer on stone trail to the bus stop. 40+ minutes to spare, just over ten hours on trail (including all rest). Strava estimated 18 miles.

Tried to do a crossword while we waited, but the app was unhappy with the spotty service, so journaled and stretched instead. Another lady joined us at the bus stop.

The bus came barreling past, heading towards the turnaround before it would pick us up. Five minutes later, and off we go! Bus driver was a maniac. Should have known by how he passed us, but I was literally holding on to the seat in front of me to keep from bruising my knees. Clearly he knew the windy mountain roads well. Eventually he was forced to slow down in the city traffic, and we all survived. The crossword was working at this point, but I couldn't look at a screen so Michael played with it.

Dropoff was right by our place (Shilin station), easy! We stopped in for showers, and then headed down the block to find a restaurant. They were all rated quite well. Ended up at a Korean pasta place, and frankly was happy with everything we got. 3 different pasta dishes, seaweed rolls, Korean chicken. No dessert available, so we took a short walk 100ft direct the road to a chocolate place. I got cake and some souvenir chocolate. The lady was very helpful. Took the cake back to the hotel and feasted. Plus some crossword time before bed, now that it was working and I wasn't on a crazy bus ride.

A great way to finish up in Taiwan.

I was out the door about 7:30. Michael opted to sleep in, he'd done most of my plans for the day anyway. Ate a banana and yogurt and headed towards elephant trail... Early plan change! I'd get to Longshan Temple about 8:10, and online said chanting happened about 8, so I redirected.

There was no chanting yet, but many people with books that looked like they were waiting. The temple itself was neat, a few shrines and a main one. There were mirrors erected above the walls that made it feel like the city wasn't as close.

Chanting kicked off at 8:30 - it was pretty neat to be there. I stayed and enjoyed for about ten minutes before heading off to the trail.

Elephant trail was located in Xiangshan, which has a larger network of trails. As I started up, there was an orange juice vendor - plan for the end of the hike! The beginning section was a lot of people, but thinned out the further you went. All stone steps or paths. There was workout equipment on the way to and at many of the peaks! All sorts of people were using it, and it looked like some elderly folks with trainers. Life goals.

I ended up doing most of the Nangang mountain ridge trail, with a little bit off the main path and a small loop at the end instead of a straight out and back. On the way up I skipped Thumb mountain and didn't take many photos until I got to the main peak, Jiuwushan. There were also pull-up bars 100 feet off the peak when I started down the other side. A lady was doing hangs from the shorter one. I made two pull-up attempts. Both fails, first one was decent though. Third attempt on the lower bar after the lady motioned for me to use it. Success! Not even close to a dead hang start though...

Accidentally got off the main trail here, and was quite happy about it. Michael had also messaged saying he was awake and asked if I wanted to meet up. I estimated 1:30-2 I'd be down and ready for lunch, and carried on!

When I realized I was off the main route (which was quick because it wasn't all solid stone path), I checked out alltrails and decided to make a loop to get back to Jiuwushan peak. Great decision! Passed some beautiful shrines that were well kept. My favorite one was a garden, and had a view of the city framed by a blooming cherry tree. Got this section mapped on Strava.

Back at the peak, someone was taking a picture with a sign that was chained to the mountain, which says 2024 and something in Chinese. I hadn't noticed this before! So I took another picture.

On the way down, I practiced skipping steps and going quickly, so I can work on keeping up with Lance in the future. When doing the sideways stepping, made sure to use both sides. I'm clearly better at right foot on the lower side.

Took the Thumb peak trail this time - recommend! Very good views, 360 degrees. It's a little bald spot.

Grabbed some more photos as I went, number of people increased significantly. Stopped for that orange juice! The lady offered for me to sit and rest on the platform too, but I kept going down.

Michael was doing laundry and I was early (12:40), so I played on my phone in the park and took a nap. End goal of Michael's parent's friend's bar for lunch, but decided to try seeing the changing of the guards at a memorial in the city first. I had plenty of time, but I was slow to get moving and ended up missing it by a few minutes. Very cool buildings, but the lawn was covered in white stones and very sunny and hot. So I didn't explore much or go into the memorial itself, because I was hungry and tired and wanted off the reflective surface.

Michael arrived by bike, I got my own bike and we headed towards the bar.

Brett and Faith (the owners, I know another Faith!) apparently do not frequent that often, per the bartender (Andrew). I got a beer (okay) and a pizza (okay) and later nachos (good). Arthur at some point texted Brett, who ended up coming out. Talked with him for a while, Brett did taichi and Michael's dad was his teacher. Brett and Faith (who is Taiwanese) moved to Taiwan twelve years ago, and have a 9 year old daughter. Interesting to discuss cultural differences, such as inviting people over to your house - not done in Taiwan 

Brett walked us through Daan park - some parts I'd missed, like the bicycle water feature! If you pedal, water comes out of a fountain. Also a bird worthy of pulling out my main camera. We achieved our final destination, which was his recommendation for mango shaved ice. Across the street was an omelette place Brett also suggested. Brett left to have dinner with his family, and we ordered an omelette and then a shaved ice! They were both good - the shaved ice surprised me how much I liked it.

Brief rest in the park next door, Michael did some pullups on the adjacent bar. Looked at dinner at a famous chain, but the wait was 130 minutes... So we booked to Rhoene night market! Michael promised it was only one street, turns out a really long street. Andrew had mentioned they had a sesame ball that had one Michelin star for 60 NT, and that turned out to be front and center - so grabbed two! I waited in line for what ended up being not long while Michael went to get some other food and smoothies. Tried to communicate and he wasn't responding - until I realized I had airplane mode on. Whoops. Found each other eventually! He provided me with a strawberry milk. Then we started down the street. Michael got some more food. I got churros with chocolate - turns out covered in very messy powder, vs a syrup dip.

Google said take a bus and get home by 9:55. I ignored this, and we took two trains to get back by 9:40. Major win for Faith!

Stopped at 7-eleven and picked up trail food and breakfast in prep for the 15 mile hike. I got 4 of the rice seaweed triangle things with chicken, two bananas, and a yogurt. Back home, and bedtime!

I did not sleep well. A mosquito kept biting my face and buzzing. It was too warm. I got hungry in the middle of the night.

But that did mean I was awake before sunrise and headed out to a lookout! Some good color at 5:45. With the mountains, sunrise actually happened thirty minutes late at about 6:30. A few other people were there enjoying the morning.

While tiredly hanging out waiting, a group of young people swung in. Taking pictures fine, but talking loudly and making intentionally obnoxious comments on English. One guy was doing the "sorry for my friend" spiel and asked how I was. I told him I was doing well, but it was much quieter before they came along. Luckily they were not patient and left soon after it became apparent sunrise was not happening at 5:58.

My plan was to catch the 7am bus, so I went back and grabbed all my stuff. Sadly 7 eleven was not open until 7am, so no food. Hopped on the bus. Mistake: did not tell the bus driver my stop, and this bus plan had a transfer. I was paying decent attention, and tried to say something before the stop but wasn't aggressive enough. I went up and asked, and he immediately let me off and the lady in the front pointed where to walk back, just a few minutes.

Sadly that few minutes was the difference between transfer and not, and no Ubers were out that far. 25 minutes later I caught a different version of the bus I wanted, which would get me to another transfer.

At the next transfer I made a rash and expensive decision to order an Uber. The bus I'd need to catch passed, the uber came, and I got to the station 20 minutes before the bus would have. In time to catch the 9:39 bullet train, fastest option they had! Only 30 minutes after my intended train.

No time to eat. No reserved seats available unless I waited for the 10am, so I picked non-reserve, and ended up getting a decent standing place. Not a great view standing up, but! I managed to get speed on my phone and saw us hit 291km/h, which was very exciting.

Arrived in Taipei! Took the MRT to the Airbnb, which was letting me check-in at 11am. Got there at 10:50 so I waited until 11, but then the code wasn't working... Tired and hungry, I messaged the guy, left my stuff in the yard area, and went for food. I found a great yo tiao place just a block away! Ordered the yo tiao, a soy milk to dip it in, and dumplings.

Thankfully the door opened when I got back! I started laundry and took an hour or so nap.

Michael had slept in at the hotel and left later, but didn't make the same bus errors. He showed up just after I got up from my nap, about 1pm. I left for the national palace museum, which he'd already seen. Original plan was to see that Monday, but - museums are closed Mondays!

Bus went straight there, very easy. 3 floors to explore! From the start, a lot of reading if you want to get much out of it. Started with artifacts you'd find in the emperor's rooms, small things. Religious section. Really old stone and bronze artifacts. A section on clay, one on jade, one in calligraphy. Reading about the calligraphy was interesting, but looking at it - I can't tell the difference between the types, nevermind the subtypes. Sometimes I can see one is thicker and more proper looking, so it probably isn't running wild script. There were some cool adds, like a virtual archery part - terrible interface but fun anyway. They also took the 1000 horses paintings, put a horse statue up, and transitioned the coat from image to image but 3d on the horse via light changes. So cool!!

The last part was an entire exhibit on ink stones - by then I was read out and did not care much for the specific artists quirks in making a stone, or that century X, three legged ink stones became popular (okay I cared enough to read and remember days later).

Left the museum and walked through the garden, where people were hanging out and a couple parties were posing for photographs. Picked up a youbike, and headed back to the hotel. Michael and I then went to a baseball game! Dragons were the home team, vs the UniLions. This was quite fun. The stand section had cheerleader's and a guy with a speaker phone leading dances, singing, and chants. No regard for who was batting, at least in terms of timing. Hard for me to tell what they were saying, except when YMCA came on. It felt like I was in an adventure game!

This was an exhibition match, so seats were general admission and food was limited. We started with pork buns, then I got churros and later some near roll. Michael got a team hat as part of his neat tradition of getting hats for teams stadiums he's been to. The dragons were winning until the 7th inning, when it all fell apart. There was a brief moment of hope in the bottom of the ninth, but they did not execute.

Bike back to Shilin night market! This market was huge. Multiple streets. Crowded. Smelly sections. We obtained various food, and ended up sitting down at a place near where we started. Ordered via the pointing at the pictures on the wall, which was quite a production and everyone seemed to have fun.

By now I'm tired and was planning for a big hike, but realized I didn't have snacks ready and Michael didn't realize how early we'd need to be up, so decided to push the hike back a day. Got a yogurt and banana at a shop for breakfast prep, and headed back.

I wrote a lot of this and then lost it somehow, so... Take two.

I slept pretty well on the floor bed. Woke up early as usual, thought about a run. Decided against, and went for a short walk. Saw the lake - nothing particularly cool about it, other than lakes are nice. The mountains seem like the real draw. Lots of places trying to rent me a bike in my fifteen minute circle, so a good sign for our plan to bike around the lake. I went back to the hotel and sat in the common space, ate my yogurt and banana, and did some journaling.

Michael got up about 9, and we went in hunt of breakfast - found a place that looked reasonable, but much of what we tried to order she said not fit breakfast. I ended up with some watery rice with meat on top and dumplings on the side, which surprisingly satisfying.

Back to the hotel to see what discounts we could get. Committed to the aboriginal cultural center, and went to check out the bikes at the place he had a discount for. Deciding we'd rent, went back and got the coupon... Turned out the bikes we wanted didn't matter, cost the same total. Oh well. The guy at the bike store hopped on his electric bike and showed us where the path was. Our original plan was clockwuse, but he was very adamant about CCW being better and having to go up stairs the other way, or something. We went to the path and started biking CW anyway, I told Michael I would be surprised if he chased us down to tell us we were going the wrong way. Correct! He hollered from the opposite side of the parking lot, so we gave in and turned around.

Stopped early for a view of the lake. I offered to take a couple's picture. Found out there from Canada. We passed back and forth with them a few times in the beginning as we stopped for pictures, but we were much faster and left them behind shortly.

A few lake mountain scenic stops in this section, but my fun aside was the group in a garden park doing a dance or workout class. Cool! Also they may have color coded with the flowers?

We got to a temple - at this point we've discovered low gear is hard, and Michael's chain is prone to slipping if he's not careful. Not the most fun bikes to ride, but they'll get the job done... Hopefully... This temple was not one of our stops, Michael directed us up the hill to the pagoda. Long hill! A lot of sweat by the time we got to the top and parked our bikes, only to walk up a bunch of stairs to the pagoda. We'd seen it from afar, looked cool with the mountain backdrop. Up close was still neat. I went in and up the yet more steps to the top, where there were fantastic mountain views. Also a bell in the middle, which some people were ringing lightly by hitting it with their hand. I followed suit but extra lightly. Took a bunch of pictures.

Back down the pagoda stairs, the path, and then on our bikes down the hill! Much faster down then up... The next section we had a few more stops for scenery, and a mean stairs section with a trough for the bicycle. Should have stayed on the road! We also went back and forth with four Germans on electric bikes, first meeting them at a potential lookout that they'd sent a guy to be check (not worth while, skip). Not sure how we got ahead of them so often, but they passed us at least 3 times after that.

I went down one section that turned out to be a private area with many loud dogs to tell you, so turned around and walked up the very steep hill.

We reached Ita ??, the town on the opposite side of Shuishe where we were staying. We intended to come back for night market dinner time, but made a stop for lunch anyway. Saw pork bao buns and as we parked the bikes the lady across the way came over with samples of soba, which were good... But not pork bao buns. Which ended up being delicious, highly recommend. Then we did get soba :). Went a little further and ate it on a bench along the lake - I enjoyed it, felt like a food I could regularly eat for lunch.

After lunch, we were basically at the gondola to the aboriginal cultural center, so locked up the bikes again and took a ride. Decided the Queenie car wait (the car with a glass bottom) was not worth much, and got on a little faster via the regular (non-existent) line. Pretty low traffic on a winter weekday, but I can see it taking a long time to get on the gondola during busy days. It did provide some good views of the lake and mountains! Had two peaks before going down into the end area.

The cultural center map was very busy, and is when we discovered - although I'd seen references - that it might be more of an amusement park. A little concerning. Too late, got tickets already! We started at the top and worked our way down. Timing was good, the cultural performance area had a show about a traditional wedding, which we stopped and watched. A lot of music, dancing, and costumes which were very fun to watch. The "newlyweds" threw candies into the crowd. I didn't try for one, but the lady next to me offered the one she got. I tried it after the show - strong dislike, texture and flavor. Michael finished it.

Continuing down, there were replica houses of how nobles would live and other castes, along with various educational material. One section for kids where they could play with drums. We stopped for archery - I shot well the first shot, the rest weren't terrible. Michael started off missing the target but improved with each of his 6 shots. A lot of fun!

More gardens and buildings, and then we hit the amusement park. First ride was a basic roller coaster that ended splashing down into the water. I was initially eh, stayed with the stuff instead of paying for a locker while Michael went. Took some good pictures! Rides were free, turns out, and no lines. I was easily convinced to take a turn. Similarly to Michael, I was the only one in my car without a poncho. Being on the edge, the initial splash hit me, and so did the follow up water blasts. The wakeup I needed in the sun and heat of the day! We wandered down to the English garden, and then back and did the Mayan adventure rollercoaster. It included an inversion! A lot of fun, but I was close to dizzy after so did not need to do it again. Voted to get to the gondola, because it was already 3:30 and the last ride was 4pm. Inner park sky ropeway (gondola) to the main one, over the two hills, back to the bikes.

Continued around, hit some stairs... But saw some monkeys in the trees! Little did we know, further there were monkeys literally in the rail a little while later. Pictures but don't get too close!

Last stop was a temple. Which was awesome looking, but had lots of steps and I was tired from the sun so I checked out about two thirds of it. Ended up seeing it all because we biked past the front I'd skipped (after biking to the top initially). There was a mini koi farm/pool at the top, and a mass of koi that came to the human in search of food.

Not much further to finish the ride, we returned the bikes a little after 5 and back to the hotel. Rallied close to 6 and decided to try the night market on the other side, despite online saying it was officially closed at 6 and all public transport being off. Uber!

Pretty much it was all still open, so win! Walked around. Michael went to the ATM and I went to watch the sunset, because it looked really cool in the ride over. Just missed it, so I got a sausage instead. Not sure what type, might have been one of suggested local foods, who knows! Tasted good. We got a few other things, including I bought a bottle of millet wine. They offered a taste, I asked to taste a few others. Tried 4 but liked the first the best. The highlight was an egg burger thing we got. The guy was quite hectically making them, so many steps. Egg and something else made up the two buns, which he cooked as we watched, and added the extra (pork and cheese for us). While we were waiting, talked to a lady from Germany who was solo traveling. She has visited quite a few Asian countries, and was at the end of her month in Taiwan. Discussed the various places and her favorites, a bit about covid impact, etc etc. Invited her to join us for the next stop, which was dumplings. We also got some little bite size tart things of various flavors. She left for her hotel and we tried to get an Uber... Uh-oh. Nothing! 8pm was too late over here. Ended up asking a hotel to call a cab, which came twenty minutes later and was going to cost 840NT. The guy came in a big truck, which was fun. Drove us back to our place, and charged us only 800NT. A little expensive for a 17 minute ride on a normal day, but not this time!

Took a shower, turned on the a/c, played around, and off to sleep.

Today we succeeded in making the 9am ferry! Actually the 8:50. After waking up, put our stuff in a storage locker, I ate fruit, and we took an Uber to the dock. About 45 minutes, and arrived 8:30. There were immediately people trying to sell private ferry tickets, and we bought some. A little time to plug in and play on the phone that I forgot to charge last night...

Ferry took about 25 minutes. On arrival it took a bit if searching plus assistance from a store to find the dive shop. Once there, we registered our details and paid for 2 dives. A bit of free time, I went in hunt of reef friendly sunscreen. The shop had two types, and she said "this one island, these everywhere else". So I bought the mineral one for the reef, and... Turns out it is tinted. Guess that's what happens at primarily makeup stores!

Back at the dive shop, instructor, Lee, has arrived! Despite being told he doesn't speak English, his English is pretty reasonable. My phone is plugged in and we leave our stuff behind, hopping on the back of scooters Lee and a women are driving. First time in a scooter, took me a second to figure out getting on. Only a second though.

At the garage area, we gear up. Wetsuits on, other gear in the back of the truck. Leave everything else behind in a locker, and off to the dive site. There are quite a few other trucks for scuba and snorkeling. After a few minutes of waiting and a quick review of what he needed from us underwater, we geared up and headed in! Walking along the cement block like things for a bit before putting on fins. We immediately saw a big turtle! Some interesting structures but not much colorful coral. Through the dive we saw a lot of very colorful fish, a lion fish, a really big fish that Lee took a picture of me with, and a bunch more turtles. And an eel, lobster antennae, other cool things. Total dive time 37 minutes. Just before we got out I messed up my ear pressure a little, didn't hurt but something was off.

Take off the tank, throw stuff in the back of the truck, get in the very rusty truck (me in front, Michael sitting in the bed), and off to the next site! This was at Vase rock. We waited a bit to have time between dives. As I was putting the tank on, a lady asked (in Chinese but Lee translated) if she could take a picture with me after I had the gear on. Sure! Why not. Vase rock in the background even.

After the picture we headed into the water. A bit of a current you need to flow with to get out. We swam what felt like very slowly through structures with many fish and some very big turtles. Then we hopped over to the sandy part, and effectively rode the current back! So cool! Back into the fishy area, a big number of them swimming about - and they stayed right by me. One even nibbled a bit as I tried to be still. Lee got a picture of the event!

Took some timing with the tide again to get back in. During the dive my ear was fine but a little weird, but everything seemed to clear up on land, good to go again. Took the truck back to the garage, which also had showers - complete with shampoo and conditioner. Got dressed, back on the scooters to the dive shop. Michael spent a while getting his log book filled in (I keep no records), including listing what fish and such we saw on each dive.

Now, rent a scooter time! 300NT ($10 USD) for the rest of the afternoon, about 3 hours. First stop was lunch. Stomachs satisfied, we started a circle around the island. There are a bunch of suggested stops, which you pay once to access them all. The first stop was Beauty Cave. This was a series of trails and caves, with some tables setup on occasion. All well defined path. Views of the ocean occasionally.

Second stop was black devil cave. Similar. Third was wild boar trench, which may be called something else. This was cool, paths through forest that was above you and walls covered in ferns and roots. One spot was labeled "Old Banyan", but not sure which tree was the old one.

After this we were out of time and just rode around the rest of the island, taking in the views. After an accidental detour to the public ferry docks, got back to our rental place and returned the bike by 5. The dive shop had fireworks out front, so Michael asked what was going on. Apparently they light them when a god returns, and lucky us they were about to set them off. Ferry was at 5:20, so we watched them go - the guy lit a few with his cigarette and the rest with a lighter, other places were setting them off as well. Then to the ferry!

Ride back over was easy, and we ordered an Uber back - mistake, way cheaper to do a shuttle, but oh well. Picked up our stuff and went to catch the train  to the high speed line. After some discussion on the ferry and in the Uber, I was convinced to go to Sun Moon Lake and booked an Airbnb.

Bullet train time! We had some time to spare after buying seats on the train, and got some nourishment from the seven eleven. Then fast train ride to Taichung, and uber from there to the hotel. Train got up to at least 287km/h, and took about an hour. Uber drop was really easy, we were immediately greeted and shown where to go. Fun thing: the beds were on the floor, in a raised section of the room. Sleep time!

Woke up with the intent to go to Liuqiu (aka Xiao Liu Cho) today to dive, but didn't wake up Michael until 7:30 and traffic was going up, not sure if we'd miss the 9am ferry. So at 7:55 we changed plans and decided to explore the city! First stop: look for some Yo Tiao (fried dough sticks) for breakfast. We started by asking the security guard, who checked with another guy and then led us to the corner and gestured. Somewhere straight and on the right. We walked past one place that was possible, and asked another restaurant, who pointed us back to either the first spot or his preferred off to the left. The off to the left place we found wasn't right, they pointed us back to the first place. Fun adventure! At the first place we ordered the yo tiao and sweet soy milk to dip it in, along with assorted other breakfast foods.

After breakfast we took an Uber to the Buddha Museum. You walk in through the entry, which has food and souvenirs, and then out the other side, boom! Huge Buddha statue in the distance, the walkway lined with 8 pagodas and a large shrine/museum building between you and Buddha. We walked past a pagoda and a nice fellow waved us in, saying it was the info center and there was a ten minute video we could watch about the museum. His attitude was very cheery and earnest, something that we saw a lot at this museum. Opted yes, and I quite enjoyed the video.

Next pagoda we also got waved in, figured why not - turns out this one was where wedding ceremonies were held. I talked to the guy a bit, his daughter actually lives in Philadelphia - she went to Johns Hopkins and now works at some pharmacy center in cancer research. He was in Philly just last month! Despite Michael and I saying we were just friends, he offered we could get married there if we wanted.

No other pagodas on the side we walked up had people pulling you in, so we arrived at the main museum/shrine building. Walk in to an intricately carved piece of wood, with Buddha and many people. From there we went into the first shrine, which had the guy with one thousand hands, and mirrors with more images all along the circular walls. This had a cool effect to make it seem like infinite images. The lady here explained a bit about the shrine.

Next we walked past an exhibition on Buddha's life, which the ladies outside invited us to watch the 15 movie movie or view the exhibition. Started with just walking through, but was enjoying enough I went back and we watched the movie too. Probably didn't need both, a lot of overlap, but I learned a bit!

Golden shrine was next, this one the lady encouraged us to put candles on the shrine and showed us the ordering on how to do everything. We picked out dharma scrolls, and she asked if it answered our question from the prayers. She also explained a bit about the shrine, and showed us how the dharma text was written on a mirror so we could see that the text was within us. I commented how the wall of mini Buddha's behind us reflecting also worked well, and she got very excited about that. It sounded like she hadn't thought if it in that way, but loved how you could picture it as both the text and Buddha within.

Jade Buddha shrine! This is where Buddha's tooth is enshrined, the trigger for the whole museum. Took our shoes off before entering. I sat down and looked from there, and a guy came up to help explain the shrine. He did not speak as much English as the other volunteers we'd talked to, but his persistence in trying to get me to understand was admirable. He also pointed us to the signs with english descriptions, and talked about the tooth, images on either side of the statue, and the wooden carvings on the wall. Named which country each style of pagoda carved into the wall was from.

He then pointed us to the third floor to view the big Buddha, which we went to. Up close big Buddha! Very impressive statue. Four shrines to here, we went into one and the lady there invited us to put a flower on the shrine. I repeated what I learned earlier, and she seemed very happy. Did not go in the other shrines, just peeked in. By this time the sun and walking was taking us e toll on me. We walked back to the beginning, used the restrooms, and found a taxi to take us to Lotus Lake.

Lotus Lake was a let down. The dragon and tiger pagodas were under construction, but also everything felt a bit like an amusement park. I got icecream that wasn't good and an overripe banana. There were a ton of turtles around which was cool. Some guy came up to us and asked if we were American, and then tried to sell us on a tour of his temple. We declined, picked up "you bikes", and set off through the city to find the street art section.

The street art section was very cool - a ton of buildings fully covered, with some very good art. My favorites were the dogs and detailed nature scenes, but there were plenty of other great images. We started off by walking, but switched back to bikes when we saw the scope (plus Michael's shoes were having issues). Hung about here for a bit, before biking to Pier 2 art center.

Pier 2 was a nice area, but not the amount of art I was expecting. I mostly liked it because the train tracks had grass all about them, and it made for a pleasant walk. Grabbed a cinnamon roll from a store (good), and then we walked towards the lookout. Missed the side street to walk up at first but then found it. When we arrived at the top, pretty good views and a "Love" sign - reminded me of Philly! We arrived during dusk, and stayed catching up on journals (I was still very behind, but hey) for over an hour. The wind was perfect, there were local musicians (some good, some okay) playing in the street below to setup an amazing atmosphere. While we were sitting, some people came up and tried talking to us in Chinese. Michael said English, the guy said Spanish. We ended up having a lovely conversation in Spanish and a bit of English. Turns out despite lack of practice my Spanish is not too shabby. I talked to the lady (her aunt and husband were the other two). She was from Argentina, living there thirty years. Had one daughter who was born in Taiwan and one in Argentina. One of them was now in school in Sydney, etc etc. Very lovely interaction, a beautiful add to the night. They left, and we hung out a little longer before walking down. Passing the musicians, there was also some dancing going on! Two ladies were doing what I believe was a bit of tango, but my knowledge there is limited.

Walked past some restaurants, with a few in mind to go to - which ended up closed or not looking like what I wanted. Settled at an Indian restaurant. Towards the end of our meal, a guy from Canada walked in, and we had a long chat. He and his wife ran a coffee shop and taught English, had lived here for a few years now. May move back to Canada due to the uncertainty with China. The restaurant closed and we went our separate ways. Michael and I grabbed bikes and went the rest of the way to the hotel. Before going in, stopped at Formosa station and checked out the dome of light. Cool, wouldn't go out of your way for it - but it is in a central station, so easy to find.

Tried for better icecream at the night market (it was better but not great), I got some fruit for the next day, and Michael asked to buy a carrot off a juice stand again. The lady gave it to him for free, and then sold us a papaya milkshake. She was an exuberant greeter, we may have gotten our milkshakes from her the day before. Who knows!

Into the hotel and, for me, off to sleep.

Grand plans to do the Wenshan-Lushui trail today, with high hopes it would not be cement. I got ready and ate some breakfast, then woke up Michael about 7:30. More food and a bit later, stashed our bags at the hotel and took a taxi to the trailhead about 8:30. The drive was a little under an hour, and he couldn't drive us the last 3km for some reason, different district maybe? So we started our hike walking past the waterfall trail from the day before, 3km on road. Fairly quiet and beautiful views. We saw a sign for Wenshan trail (different), which advertised a hot spring, and took that. It was very short, and ended with a fence blocking what looks like it was once stairs down to the river. So close, and yet so far! Beautiful little trail with a suspension bridge. Back to the road, and not much further for the Wenshan-Lushui trail.

Kicked off by seeing a monkey! I have a good picture in my camera. This turned out to be the only monkey we'd see today. The trail immediately showed it would be fun, with some ropes and chains to help go up inclines and no pavement. There were also regular trail markers telling you how far you've gone and have yet to go. Early on we passed two people going the same way as us - never saw them again, despite stopping shortly after.

An hour in we met a German couple coming the other way. We talked a bit about the trail, they hadn't seen any animals and it took us an hour to get to that point, etc. Nice conversation. We passed another duo a few minutes later, but no talking, and a third crew a bit after that. Beyond that, no human contact until the end of the hike.

After various ups and downs, we found the halfway point! Walking past that we got to a bridge, and decided to have lunch - on the suspension bridge. Pretty good views, except I moved to the shady view free section. During lunch we also did the crossword for the day, ~25 minutes. Monkeys could be heard squabbling, but nothing visible.

Carrying on, this part was much flatter (relatively speaking). There were signs about the forest and the tribes that had lived there, and how the trail was originally a Japanese era police road to access the villages. Towards the last kilometer things started getting steep again, and there were more ropes and chains. We tried following the Lenshui trail when we got to the end intersection, but it was closed after 300 meters. Guess we're done! Talked to one couple going in, not sure what track they ended up doing. Bus timing: excellent.

Debated for a while where to go for the night. Made it back to the hotel walking from the bus stop/train station, and took a taxi with our back. Still deciding where to stay for the night. In the end we missed the quicker train because we didn't know we needed to buy tickets, and got on the slightly slower (not much) train fifteen minutes later that left all options open. End - decided to carry on to Kaohsiung and not stop for out of season rice paddie biking or go to Kenting. Booked a place via Airbnb right by the station and a night market.

Got into Kaohsiung about 9, took a little to find the hotel entrance. But then we dropped our bags and went back outside for food. Delicious! Not as nice as Keelung in terms of feel. This was a pretty wide street vendors came to, less crowded vendors, less people. We got noodle soup at a place, and sat down next to someone from Indonesia, here on vacation. Had a good chat with him. I got fruit for breakfast, and suggested a carrot as a noption to Michael for hearty. Only the juice stands had carrots, so he negotiated one from a very entertained lady.

I woke up about 7, and played around on my phone for a bit. 7:45 went down to the beautiful spread that was breakfast. Hung out and ate until 8:45, and then realized my wallet didn't have my hotel key in it. Left it in the slot for powering the room... Waited until 9 to call Michael (had texted), and woke him up to rescue me - which we'd agreed on 8:30 for wake up, so generous of me!

I got ready and then joined Michael for more breakfast. We got out around 10, and took a cab to the visitor center in Taroko National Park. Asked for recommendations, and were given four hikes and bus schedules for getting into and out of the park.

The first hike was 3k round trip, Shakadang trail. We walked along another trail to get to it, and then wanted to finish it before 11:30 so we could catch the bus to the next hike. I think we turned around a little early, but not sure. According to all trails, there is a much larger loop which looks very interesting. What we did was all paved, mostly under an overhang where they blasted the path out. Beautiful views.

The bus got stuck for twenty minutes at one of the construction sections, so took a while to get to Swallow Grotto, our next hike. Again fairly short. This one was one directional and ended at a tourist shop. Very pretty, all the marble that the river carved out. All paved still, not really hiking. Theme of all the walks today, sadly. I got a mango juice and sausage, both of which were eh but food is food.

We then had a conundrum - go back on the path and wait a while for a bus, or go forward on the road and get to Tunnel of Nine Turns at a similar time. One of the taxi drivers (all booked for the day and driving people around, so we couldn't take them or we would have) said it was twenty minutes walking. He was very wrong, probably 50 minutes. We still beat the bus though. And got some crossword in.

Tunnel of Nine Turns had more history, beautiful views, and paved still. Walking under the blasted out overhang. The walk was stunning, especially at the end, and there was a little cranny we missed on the way out but hit on the way back. Then catch the bus (don't do buses in Taroko Gorge, hire a car) to Baiyang Waterfall trail.

By this time we're pretty tired of cement, but this trail advertised a waterfall. The bus dropped us at a little center area, with some food places and a post office! Which we didn't have time for, because the last bus was at 5:30. Started up the street to the trail head, and the trail was on and off tunnels (8 in all), some quite dark in the middle! There were new beautiful sights, and a bridge to a wooden viewing area for the waterfall. Still all cement, but a bit nicer. The end made the day - in the last tunnel, there water coming down in the cave. On the way in, a nice lady had picked up all the ponchos other tourists had left (despite signs saying not to) have us one poncho, and another group gave us one as well. This was very useful, because it was quite wet! We had fun taking pictures by the water in the tunnel. When I was using just flash, Michael changed poses between pictures and it was like a stop action movie.

On the way out, two ladies had only one umbrella and asked us if it would be enough. We suggested the ponchos and offered ours. They wanted to give us food in return, hard to say no even though it felt unnecessary. I turned down the lemon cake (because lemon doesn't belong in desserts) and Michael ended up with it, but then she wanted me to have a sandwich. It was traditional from some area I wish I remembered. Simple, and exactly what my stomach wanted.

We returned with plenty of time to spare, and discovered... 5:50 not 5:30, so even more time! All the shops except 7-11 were closed. I got some chips and ate them before the bus came.

Bus took an hour or so to get back, plus a twenty minute walk we got to the hotel about 7:30. The restaurant we targeted was closed, so went to one across from the hotel. The lady said we weren't ordering too much when we got chicken, fish, and a soup. Turns out it was WAY too much. Half a chicken, a whole fish, and a big bowl of soup with more chicken. The vegetables were tried to order didn't make it on the list.

After way too much protein I got the fish and chicken leftovers packed up, and we went to the hotel. Where a lady was singing,l in the lobby, forgot they had a nightly show. I settled in for a listen. Then I tried to order one cider - some special was on so I could only order in pairs of two?? So I got a cider and a honey beer. The singer clearly did some classics, asking the crowd to join in. She also switched to some American songs a few times. It was quite nice! After she wrapped we went up to the room, with my leftovers and now more than half a beer. Which I promptly forgot about, and didn't remember until I was brushing my teeth. Oh well!

Woke up about 6, went back to sleep after some puzzles until 8! Sleeping in. Michael slept later, so I played around and got ready.

First direction was the big Buddha statue. The night market, day edition, was on the way. Stopped for breakfast here, I got chicken and rice. We also ordered papaya milkshakes successfully in Chinese, with the help of Carolyn telling us what to say via text!

Before getting to the Buddha, there were many stairs... And a shrine that was before a permanent version was erected, had been built and torn down every year for a ceremony. Less waste now! Some more cool buildings and statues en route to the Buddha.

Arrival at the Buddha, there were big lion statues in front of it I find impressive. Carnival games were also all about, and a bell you could ring! We had fun with that, and watching little kids try to ring it with the ram. We then walked up the inside of the Buddha statue, which led to some okay views out tiny port holes. Not really worth the climb.

We took a taxi over to the fishing district, to check out the colorful houses. They were quite colorful, but nothing I haven't seen at other port cities, and less numerous. Some nice shops underneath them, we got some fried fish stick (eh) and scones (good!).

We caught the bus back to the hotel, picked up our stuff, and went to the train station, heading towards Jiufen. Made some decisions about where we were going after, and decided not to leave our stuff in Riufen train station. With that decision, we took a taxi to Jiufen instead of the train bus combo.

At Jiufen, we eventually figured out storing our bags at a parking garage for a fee, and then went to old street. This was pretty cool! Similar to street markets, but buildings instead of stalls and covered in the main part. We sampled some oolong tea and dried strawberries. Stopped at a place for lunch and ordered some seaweed (good!), jellyfish (decent!), a soup and a braised beef bowl. Very happy with this. Onward, and off old street but still in markets. Tried to order a mango ice at a place, but they were out so we got pork buns instead. For dessert, we hopped in the long line and tried taro soup (iced). It was delicious! They were very efficient with the line, and the restaurant was filled as well as the steps at the top of the street with people eating the soup.

From there we could see a temple, and walked around a bit, before targeting a tea house -the  Jiufen Teahouse. We were given a card and told 20 minutes wait, can explore the downstairs of the teahouse. Quite a pretty place. We were seated - view would have been beautiful if it wasn't fogged in. Teapot was settled on coals next to us - I have a video of the guy coming over and being very precise in the setup of the coals.

After selecting the tea we wanted and cheesecake plus dates (or figs - but dried in a way I didn't like), a guy came and did the first round of brewing for us, instructing us on all the details. Including - preheat the cups with hot water, which you dump into the used water vessel before pouring the tea in.

The tea was a bit bitter for my taste, but still pleasant. Michael and I took turns on the next few brewing rounds. The whole experience was great. The oolong cheesecake was delicious.

After tea time the lights were coming on, and we wandered through the market taking pictures. I got a sausage to eat and some tea to take home. We checked the time and made decisions on where to stay, and then aimed for the old street for dinner and to get back to our stuff in time for a bus to a train.

Dinner we stopped at a place for noodle soup and fish balls. The seating was tight and we were at a small table with two ladies. We got to talking, and they were on vacation from the Philippines! Michael is going back there after Taiwan, so got all the recs on scuba diving from them. Elise and Beverly. We saw them again at the bus stop after we picked up our stuff. They had big bags of food to take home - apparently a thing to bring home snacks for everyone when going on vacation.

Took the bus to the train and just made the connection! The bus we wanted was skipping all stops, so we had to take the second bus - otherwise the connection wouldn't have been as close. Next destination: Taroko Gorge.

A couple hours later, we arrived in Xincheng station and walked twenty minutes to our hotel. At this point it was nigh on 11. The hotel was quite nice. We settled in and I was asleep probably midnight.

Woke up before my alarm but was a little slow getting out the door, aka played on my phone. Was a bit worried my eta to airport was 9:18, flight at 11, and potentially very long lines. Luckily on my way with the first train I looked up the connection and found that there was one earlier if I could make the train, which Google thought I could not. Just made it before doors closing! This got me to the airport at 8:55 or so instead, was better.

Line for check-in wasn't bad, the guy said to hurry and get in the security line because it would be long. Apparently it can be hours. Lucky me, took less than 30 minutes and I was near my gate before 10am, boarding 10:15. Enough time to sit and order some ramen.

Plane was delayed 30 minutes anyway.

On the plane, I was sitting next to Seahorse - a yoga and kungfu teacher from Belgium. They seem to put all the tall white people in the exit row, this was my third unassigned seat where I ended up exit row... In a row...

Seahorse (his travel name) and I talked quite a bit. He loves India, especially at the base of the himalayas. Very spiritual, with meditation and yoga and chakras. Spent six months with his wife in India a while back, when they traveled for 3 years pre-children. I got a few suggestions about temples, including one outside Kyoto that has a neat underground area most visitors walk right past the entrance to. I also wrote a bit.

At the end of the flight, he gave me a strand that could be worn as a necklace or bracelet from the birthplace of Kishna in India, that he keeps a few of to give to good connections.

Post flight, navigated into Taipei to meet up with Michael at Daan Park, where a flower picnic was going on. Seahorse and I ended up on the same train by coincidence, and talked more about Taiwan and his kids (one of whom lost a tooth!). Saw some rice paddies, and a very green beginning of Taiwan! A few cool buildings as well.

Daan Park is really neat! Kids were playing on the playground, there was a roller skating area, families had shade tents set up and were hanging in the lawn. After some misdirection came back towards Michael and saw a bunch of heron like birds! One with a yellow head, another that is called a black crowned night from, I think. Upon meeting up, Michael brought me towards the stalls and the flowers. Sadly, close to five, most vendors were closing up so I was only able to snag two small egg tarts to assuage my hunger (delicious). The flowers were on abundance, mostly hydrangeas and azaleas. We stopped at a pond that had so many birds, including a fluffy white egret (or egret-like).

There we did some planning and booked a hotel in Keelung for the night. After some bird watching, Michael headed back to the hostel to pick up his stuff. I took my camera out and got some photos, before jumping on a bus to the train to meet him. Got on the wrong train, same departure time, but managed to get off because I noticed the stops and asked. Some nice fellow was trying to help me and said it does go where I want, and everyone else on the train said no no no! The train over there! Everyone else was right. The nice fellow hopped off maybe ten seconds after I did, and helped me find the right train (also tried to lead me up the no entry stairs, which I could see and the people on the train started yelling again). Talked to the info lady for me, and got me to the right platform before heading off.

So I missed the quick connection, but the next train came fifteen minutes later so not an issue.

Told Michael the wrong car at first, but we figured it out. In Keelung, we walked to the hotel, put our bags down, and let my phone charge for ten minutes while doing crosswords. Then off to the night market!

Night market was awesome. Very hectic, pretty lighting, some cool buildings. We started with crispy pork (which I missed in the Philippines), quickly followed by assorted shumai (fantastic) and a duck burrito. We sat down at a noodle soup place and pointed at the food the guy next to us had for our order.

Only I was sitting due to space, but the same guy moved over when two ladies stood up so we could both sit together. He then talked with us a bit, knew some English. The food we got did not look like his, but was still delicious! Noodles, a little broth, sausage, wontons, a side bowl of cabbage. When we paid at the end, 55 NT. That is like $1.75 USD! Basically free! Couldn't believe it.

Next stop kiwi smoothie, which due to ordering issues was kiwi juice. Following Carolyn's recommendations (texting with her), we got a sesame ball next. Delicious! Then Michael convinced me to try mochi yet again (aka he was getting and I said sure I'll help). Two types, sesame and taro. Strawberry, paste, mochi dessert. I liked the taro, not the sesame. Didn't care for the mochi part, so when I had a bad ratio offloaded the extra mochi without innards to Michael (was going to throw it out).

Next a chocolate Oreo fried dessert thing, which was fine - the inner chocolate was nice. Then I got another sesame ball and some okay fried sweet potato puffs. Maybe they were good, but I had too much food in my stomach and didn't need more fried, so just reasonable.

There were also tons of carnival games about, though we didn't partake.

Headed back to the hotel, and did some crossword before conking out. Finished the Wednesday and Thursday by EOD, with a couple checks to help.

Today was a slow morning start, semi-intentionally. Breakfasted but didn't get out until about ten. Our focus was get Lance an anime/manga day.

We aimed for the anime district, and at the train station Lance saw a sign for a card captor exhibition - the first anime he got hooked on! It took us some time, but eventually we found it.

We went in, and it was a mini time lapse through the series, with a bunch of photo opportunities and some videos playing. We had a lot of fun posing, and Lance got a souvenir.

After this we started walking towards the district. So many capsule stores - which are stores with a bunch of capsule machines that you put money in and a toy or action figure or whatever comes out. It was a bit crazy.

We went in a few action figure and card stores - recognized Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, and a few other card games. All the anime that I watched in college, plus Lance's favorites. He came away with two action figures.

In between we ate a bit, once at "Strike Force". I got hot chocolate. Rating: communication mix up, it came out as iced cocoa, and also tasted more like chocolate milk. Not bad but not what I was looking for.

We also went to a little side street for kimonos. Lance was looking - the lady at the shop quickly took over. She spoke zero English, but communicated well. Sadly the kimono Lance was looking at was way too short, and his size they only have in black. After trying it on we tried to ask for other colors, and she brought us over to the rack to show us the size issue. The lady showed us how to put on kimono, the jacket, the right way to do the belt, and attachments to hold the jacket closed. The belt and the jacket clasp were colorful. The belt directions she gave us were in German - asked for English, and she pointed at the paper. Oh well! Lance learned that cross language communication, less is more (no need to try to explain all the why's in English and muddle the message).

After some more back and forth, she added a third under later, which was a beautiful blue with a pattern. Not very visible because of the main kimono, sadly.

In the end, Lance came away with a full kimono getup sans shoes (size 13 is rare in Japan), and we had a great experience.

Headed back to the hotel to drop stuff off, and then I tracked down a sushi restaurant - which turns out was full unless you had a reservation, so we kept walking and found another. Tried a bunch of things, including eel liver (not my favorite texture) and baby squid (good! Didn't stand out though). Also had the classic salmon sashimi to keep something we knew we liked.

Went in search of dessert - I got a strawberry tart thing that I quite liked. Lance wanted a repeat crepe - the guy remembered us from previous, we do stand out a bit... I jumped in and decided to get one as well, double dessert!

Final back to the hotel, did a last minute load of laundry, and I packed in prep for the morning.

Some research showed that today was the last day of a two week fire festival in Nara, which monks have been performing since the 700's. It started at 6:30pm and only lasted ten minutes on the final day, so we weren't sure if we'd stay that long.

Lance and I got out a little after 8 again, and to Nara closer to 9:30. At Nara, we walked past a mochi making place the information lady at the train station told us about. I bought one, and it was better than non-fresh I've had but still not my favorite. The red bean paste was great though. We didn't get to see the guy do fancy knife work, that's apparently between 11 and 3, not at a pre-determined time.

Arriving at the park, it does not take long to see the deer Nara is famous for. They are all over the place, and vendors are selling crackers for you to feed them. We bought some and joined in. A few were more aggressive in asking for crackers than others, I had one rubbing his head on my legs if I wasn't feeding him. Lance was feeding one when a Japanese guy showed us that the deer would bow with you, and the right way is to hold the cracker in front and bow with the deer 3 times before feeding it. Cool! Positive reinforcement training...

We then headed to the main temple, where the great Buddha was. The statue was huge!! Really neat to see, an impressive piece of work. On the back side there is a pillar with a slot that is (in theory) the same size as the Buddha statue's nose, that you can try to get through. Lance and I both succeeded, and had a lot of fun doing it. One lady videotaped all of Lance going through, including after he stood up and was talking to me - probably to emphasize how tall he was.

After this we wandered through the area surrounding the temple - a lot of construction so we couldn't see it all. Up the hill was the building where the monks lived and did the fire ritual, which we walked to. Had a good bowl of udon noodle soup at the cafe there, and then headed into the forest. Lots of shrines about, and of course many deer. We explored for a while, including the area around the botanical garden (did not go in). A bit tiring. Got green tea icecream at some point and took a short break, which was rejuvenating. Decided to stay for the ceremony.

After more walking and another rest, we searched for food and found a cute cafe on the second floor of the strip facing the start of the park. Hot chocolate rating: good. Not the greatest, but would get again. Could have been hotter. Sandwich rating: great.

5:30 we headed to the viewing area, and we were clearly a bit late to the party. Ceremony wasn't until 6:30, but the main field was full long before we arrived and the secondary viewing area had a decent number of people. We found a decent spot and settled into standing for the next hour while we waited. Also watched them wet the trees around the area with big hoses, and saw a fire truck on the way in.

The fire ceremony was very cool - the poles had big balls of fire at the end, and were quite long. Embers in abundance. "Good luck" if an ember lands on you... We were too far to worry about that. Ten poles were run up the stairs and onto the balcony in total, where they did some ceremonial movements before coming down and walking out.

After the ceremony we booked it to the train station and headed back to Osaka. Some live piano and singing outside the station in Osaka that was pretty good. We checked out the station, which had a neat water feature on steps, and found a basement food hall that seems common in the area.

En route back we stopped for cider and crepes, which were good. I went back out to a bar across the street (for real this time!) and got pizza (bad) and sangria (pretty good!). When my phone died I went back to the hotel for sleep time.

Lance and I got up about 7, and including eggs for breakfast (thanks Lance!) were out a little after 8. We took the train to Kyoto, and straight from there to Arashiyama, the bamboo forest. Very easy to navigate, took about an hour total travel time.

The bamboo forest was pretty impressive! Obviously a lot of bamboo, and then quite a few temples. We went to one garden & temple early on, which was showing signs of blossoms but not bloomed yet. The building and the art were beautiful, and short - Lance had to duck a bit.

We wandered through the forest and the gardens and found a few shrines, and then entered another temple grounds. This one was much less populated, more peaceful, and on a hill. Good viewing of Kyoto, and a nice pagoda close to the top. No buildings to walk around in, but I could hang out there a while.

After Arashiyama we took the train back to Kyoto and on to Fukushima (sp?) Imari, the thousand gates place. Tons of orange gates everywhere. We hiked to the top, taking an excess of pictures, and stopping at many of the shrines. I enjoyed all the fox statues, which are said to be messengers of Imari. There were also a bunch of frog statues with baby frogs on the back, will need to look up why.

Running out of time after this so we skipped the other temple we had intended to visit and went to Nishiki market, which was very cool. Ate a bunch of food - I had eel, shrimp tempura, a weird dumpling, sake, sweet potato tempura...

After the market started shutting down, and we caught a train back to Osaka. I was going to go to the bar across the street, but got to invested in other things in the hotel and timed out.

Woke up before my alarm, showered, and off to the airport! Easier to figure out now that I'd done in once. Took me a second to find Jetstar, but otherwise pretty normal security length. Not the instant pass through I had before, but not slow. Finished off my cash on a muffin and tip, and the plane boarded a few minutes later.

Luckily I'd prebooked a meal :). Also the window seat - despite no screen telling me where we were, I got really lucky and point of Japan! Just looked up at the right time. Some great views on the plane. Guess the left side was the correct side to fly on.

Upon landing, the animated figures and sound effects kicked in right at the airport. Weird. Eventually made it into a train, and headed into Osaka. Train was very timely, as promised. Complete with anime sound effects. Reunited with Lance at the hotel! Put my stuff down, Lance microwaved me up a pork bag bun, and we headed to Osaka Castle. The castle is pretty cool! Going in, the guy was saying "elevator or exercise, elevator or exercise", in a heavy accent. "No wait for exercise". We took the exercise/stairs. Each floor was a lot of history, artifacts and letters. Lots of reading in this museum, too much. Many floors later, we got to the top - views of the city! With the minutes until closing, they made an announcement and then started playing Auld Lang Syne as the closing music, which I found hilarious.

We walked the grounds for a while - saw some red headed ducks and a few other birds. Lots of crows. The cherry (and apricot, etc) blossoms are starting to peak out. A few have bloomed, but clearly most will be in a week or two. Views of the castle were good from many angles, and some nice walks through trees.

Back to Osaka Station, and we found a food hall for dinner. I got yakitori, dumplings, and we split a dessert waffle.

I went on a run this morning! 7:30am, took a right and ran down the boardwalk/beach. I was only planning to go 2 miles, but then a rock outcropping with a shrine looked so close... And then the end of the beach looked close... And then it looked fun to go around the rock at the end and explore more... So 4 miles it was! Switched to bare feet the last 1.5 miles, mostly packed sand until the final stretch so pretty easy to run on. This run was quite nice - felt like I saw a little of not-as-tourist Boracay beach. Some really cool parts.

Jumped in the ocean at the end, and as I was coming out Andrea & Dev were there, and about to leave. We were on the same flight, but I wasn't heading to the airport until 11. Jumped in the pool, showered, and joined people for breakfast. Mistakenly did not go get a massage - $16 for an hour deep tissue, apparently.

The service to get me to the airport was right on time. He walked us out to the street and hailed a cab (trike) - which me plus my backpack clearly too tall for. From the trike he got me on the boat, and then I was met on the other side and brought to a van. Very easy, no issues! They dropped me off in the right security  line for my airline. Fun - separate security lines for male and female, both getting into the airport and the recheck later.

Bought my ticket to Taiwan while waiting, then found Dre & Dev. Bought some very red looking hotdogs, questionable, before boarding (the bus to the plane). Flight was very easy, and an hour later, Manila!

Took some time getting to my hotel - waiting for the free bus to terminal 1, then getting to the non-passenger entrance so I could take the overpass walk. Hotel was nice (Savoy).

Eventually rallied and called a Grab, headed for Chinatown! Stop one: Dong Bei dumplings, take out only. This is on a little side street. The dumplings were great. Eating them was a bit awkward because there was no place to sit and Chinatown in Manila is pretty dirty. Cool light posts with dragons on them.

Second stop, Lord Howes for an egg tart - delicious! I ordered two but saved one for later. Had to wait for ten minutes because they come out in big batches, so played around on my phone and eaves dropped on my neighbors watching the new Avatar Airbender series.

From here I tried a third place, which was closed, so I wrapped up at Cafe Mezzanine. I ordered fried meatballs and some traditional pork soup. They took a while to come, but when they did the fried meatballs were great! The soup was good. The waiter apologized for how long it took and also started talking with me, the solo foreign diner. Small talk about what I was doing in the Philippines, and also suggesting I should get rice with the soup (80 pesos, for the fancy one). He also brought a chili sauce and some tiny lemons he said I had to try while I was here. A great experience. When I got the check, I said keep the change - he said wait right there. Came back with change, and asked me to give it to him hand to hand. Unknown why - the current speculation is to prove that I know what I was doing, and was not tricked by him into a large tip.

After dinner I got a Grab back to the hotel. Ate my other egg tart for dessert. Bed by ten, because 4:30am alarm!