Hello Group,

The trip was out of this world. We had such a great time, in part due to the information I got from this board. So, I wanted to share some of our experiences.

I must say at the onset, if you are the type of person who likes to go one or two places and stay, you will not think much of our trip, but if you are like us and like to be on the go every day and cover a lot of ground, then this may help you plan. We really pushed the vacation time to the limit this time and were gone 17 business days, alomst 4 weeks(12or 13 all we usually have at one time).

We left Houston and flew Cont Buss class(9:35am-12:45pm) to Honolulu for three days. The flight was OK, the seats not nearly as confortable as the seats(almost fat)on NW last Nov to Beijing. I don't do well on flights over 8-9 hours, so we always try to break the long flights in segments.

We had not been to Honolulu before, so we stayed a few days to site see and enjoy the water. The JW Marriot Ihilani Resort was wonderful and very easy to get to from the airport-we had a car, but they will pick you up also. We will use this for a rest stop again! it is a beautiful place.

We flew JAL to Osaka Kansai(12:40pm-4:25pm next day). I was very disappointed with this flight. The seats were old style and worn out. It made for a very uncomfortable 9 1/2 hours! The FA were very nice and tried their best. The Pilot kept telling us he was "so sorry" for the delay-the flight was over an hour late. We left on time, but had a horrible head winds and it was a bumpy flight. The ground speed was around 430mph a good bit of the way! The TV etc wasn't nearly as good as what we had on the Cont leg. But actually that proved to be the only "bad" part of whole our trip!

We got to Kansai, got the luggage-etc, found the luggage shipping place, dropped off the one big piece, found the JR Ticket office and bought tickets for the next Limited Express Haruka to Kyoto( left in about 15mons). The airport is one of the easiest to find your way in that I have been in.

Almost exactly 1hr15mins later we were at Kyoto station. This is a beautifull huge modern building! We followed the signs to the taxi stand and got a taxi to the Hotel Okura. I had all addresses writen in English and we had no problems even though most seemed not to understand our English! The ride took about 15mins and cost $10. That was all so easy I was pinching myself by the time we got to the Hotel and my husband thought that I was a great travel agent!!!!

The Hotel Okura is very nice, I will definitely stay there if we get back to Kyoto. I booked our room through JTB and got a better rate than any other place I tried, including the Hotel its self. We had a room with 2 queen beds and a bath that was to die for on the 15th floor. It had a heated "potty seat" and a center ceiling mounted shower head about the size of a dinner plate with lots of water pressure and I thought I would never get hubby out of there! The bath also had a huge tub and double sinks. We had a great view over the city and the mountains beyond. Every morning we watched the locals do their morning excerise in the garden area in front of City Hall. The breakfast was wonderful and there was a pastry shop in the lobby that had the best sweets I have ever had!! The staff was very friendly and helpped us with all our questions. They arranged for the taxi to take us to the pier the last day and gave me a free 4pm check out that day. Actually the best thing about the hotel was the location. It was across the street from the major shopping area. It is also right beside the E-W subway stop and this subway is an easy connection to the N-S one(one that goes to the Train Station) We could and did walk to many of the major sites. We also used taxis alot. They really aren't to expensive, less than the tours and are real time savers, if you get foot sore or want to do alot in one day. This had been a big concern of mine since everyone talked about how far apart the sites are and how hard it was to get around. They are spread out, but definitely doable on your own with some route planning.

The most helpful thing I did for us was to pick the trains we thought we might use from the HYPERIDA web link and print out all the Kyoto Walks maps and the Sightseeing Maps for Area 2 and 7 from the JNTO website. These maps are of the most visited site areas, very easy to follow and are great! We used the Kyoto Walks map for the "Hagashiyama Area" very evening to explore in the area on the way to a dinner site. This map, the "Along the Old Canal" area map and the Map for Area 2 were all easy to walk to and from our Hotel. Area 7 is the station area and we either took the subway, easy and cheap, or a taxi when we wanted to go there.

This first evening we were keyed up big time after the flight and stuffed! There was no shortage of food and drink-just seat comfort on the flight. After we got settled in the room, we walked down Kiyamachi-dori. The cherry trees loaded with blooms draping over the canal were so pertty at night, I couldn't wait to see them in the daylight. At Shijo-dori, we crosed the bridge into another world! We walked up to the Yasaka Shrine and wandered back to the river on one of the small side streets. We desided we wanted something light to eat before going back to the hotel.

I need to post this and start a new installment. There is more to this first majical evening in Kyoto!

OK, we have had a great walk and worked the kinks out of our legs, so we head up Pontocho Alley. The streets are still every busy and we did not feel unconfortable. This is an interesting walk at night.

We are almost to where we could cut back over to Kiyamachi, as we had seen some small eateries there earlier, when a nicely dressed Japanese man spoke and asked us if he could direct us. We said no thanks, but this started a pleasant conversation that lasted about 30 mins.

Turns out he was a professor at the University teaching English for bussiness people. Any way,when he found out we were from the US he asked if we would mind helping him with some translations-pick the best from a list of serveral. We agreed and he plls what best can be a desk dictionary sized booklet our of his briefcase! He has pages of Japanese phrases that are translated into 2 or 3 much more stilted English than Americans use i. e. very wordy. We had a good laugh about what he was trying to accomplish and gave him our take on the best English phrases. He told us some talked a little about Kyoto.

Ok, Sorry I hit the wrong button. I meant to say- he told us somethings about Kyoto and we said good night. We found a little dinner spot near the hotel and had beers, some kind of fried meat, rice and several sauces to dip in for about $8. It was very good and cheap! We went back to the Hotel and sleep very well!

The power of the written word: your description of fried meat w/ dips, probably yakiniku or teppanyaki, has my stomach growling and I'm now making reservations for shabu shabu, which is also dipped in sauces.

Enjoying your report! Will be waiting for Vladivostok especially.

Our first morning, we went to the hotel roof top restuarant for breakfast. There were lots of diahes to pick from-Japanese and western and it was all good. That morning there was only one other western couple there while we were. The city view is great. You came sit there and point to the things you want to see that day. After a pleasant feast, we hit the day with gusto!

AM- We walked in front of the City Hall beside the hotel and south down the next street (took about 20mins) from our Hotel to our 10am tour at the Imperial Palace(in English, I had made reservations over the internet about 2 months earlier-the only Imperial property I could get Reservations to). There is a subway from the Hotel to the Imperial Palace, but it didn't seem that far on the map and the area around the hotel looked interesting. It was, glad we walked, lots of neat little shops and homes. We enjoyed the Palace and our guide was good. You don't go into the Palace, but some doors are open and you can see inside. You do get a feel for the life of the Imperial family. It is mainly the delightful gardens-I'm a garden nut- and the building stlye that are so beautiful. The Imperial Palace Park was beautiful too-all the cherry trees were in full bloom and it was one of those misty days that have such interesting light, There were no crowds of tourist! This took about 1 1/2 hours to see.

From the Palace entrance we walked zigzaging through the small alleyway like streets toward Horikawa-dori and Nijo Castle. This is all shown on the Sightseeing with Map area 2 by the JTNO that I printed off the internet. We saw small gardens and shops and many interesting homes. We came out on Horikawa about half way to Nijo. We found a small "Pastry" shop and bought some wonderful fresh rolls with meat filling and some pastries and had a mini picnic on the Castle grounds. The walk took about an hour with stops. I was looking for Oan Obi.

Nijo Castle is very interesting and definitely worth seeing, you tour on your oun most of the inside and many rooms have models in the dress of the period set up. This helps with the understanding of the function of each room as there is no English. There were more tourist here -especially older school children. The gardens are most impressive and were especially colorful with all the cherry blooms draping over the garden walks. This took us about another hour.

It started to rain as we left the Castle about 1:30, so we took a cab back to the Hotel on Oike-dori at the river- min charge of ~$5.50. But there is a E-W subway stop in front of Nijo that will take you to Kamaramichi Station(where our hotel was).

We didn't do this because the time change had caught up with us. But this stop is a great place to start an afternoon exploring Kyoto's great shopping district including the Taramachi Shopping Arcade and big department stores.

If you are not into shopping, Do what we did the night before- just walk over to Pontocho Alley(an interesting alley like street next to the river lined with old buildings that are bars and small resturants on the river side and walk down to Shijo-dori. Cross the river here, and you are on the edge of the Gion Disrict. You can spend the rest of the afternoon walking the narrow streets on either side of Shijo-dori up to Yasaka Shrine. I really liked this shrine and the area. We came to this area almost every evening exploring different streets up to the Shrine on our way to a dinner spot. There are great places to eat down the back alleys. The back streets really give you a feel for old Japan, especially when you see a lady in a beautiful kimono!

PM It stopped raining about 3:30, so we took a taxi from the hotel to Ginkakuji(~$8). For some reason the temple was closed for the afternoon, so we didn't see it.

From there we walked down the Philosopher's Path. This is an interesting walk and there are several nice temples along the way. From Konchi-in Temple we worked our way along the canal to the large orange Tori in front of Heinan Shrine and continued along the canal to Higashioji. This walk took us about a hour, more if you go in any of the temples. I would do it again in a heart beat-there are lots of Temples and interesting local life along the way! We ate at the Garlic Restaurant above the Gion Kaikan Theater across from the Yasaka Shrine. This was very good and fun too. There were lots of young Japanese couples there- it seemed popular-Japanese dishes-chop sticks only!, no tourist. From there we walked back Shijo-dori across the river and up Ponotcho Alley to the Hotel.(From our Hotel it was a $10 taxi ride to the Train Station or we could just the two subways.)

Second morning we again ate at the hotel and enjoyed the view. There were a few more westerners mostly European. Since it was the 21st of the month, we took the E-W Subway in front of our hotel and changed to N-S subway to the train station. From there we walked to the Toji Temple Market. Wow what a treat! Hundreds of booths of neat stuff-clothes, antiques, household goods, food, plants and things I have no idea what they were! I shopped and looked till my husband couldn't stand it anymore! But as I said I did find three beautiful silk obis. One is a lotus flower and bird pattern with gold threads, the other two are ivory tone on tone patterns, one birds and the other flowers. All are in great shape. My husband tried some of the stall food, but I didn't because of my soy allergy! We walked over to the Garden area and wonder around for a while. This is really a nice garden and massive Pagoda. The temple is massive also and really interesting too. We walked back to the station and found a storage locker for our "finds".

PM - We bought tickets on the Kintetsu Limited for Nara. I was disappointed in Nara. First it is a big city! When you get off the Train and walk up to the street, it looks just like Kyoto, so for me the first impression was a real turn off. I expected more of a village setting for some reason! We found a food take out place and bought some more of the sandwich like rolls that we found so fresh and good. We walked up the street past Kofuku-ji. These grounds aren't nearly as nice as Toji's were, to me anyway. We walked on the the Park, found a place(tree stump) to sit and had lunch. Fortunally the deer did not find us, but we could see them and since it was hot we could smell them too! We then walked on to the Todaiji Temple grounds. It was a hot sunny day more so since Kyoto had been so cool and cloudy the last two days. The Nandai and Daibutsu are massive and interesting but were crowded with school children. I did not think the park very nice-lots tourist stands around the sites, not too much grass, no flowers, but lots of sand. From there we walked up the hill to Kasuga-taisha. That must be neat when all the lanterns are lighted. At this point, my husband was bored with temples and I was hot so we walked back to town and the train station and bought tickets back to Kyoto. Then took a taxi to the Hotel, we didn't want to mess with the stairs to ride the subway. This was one of thoses times went convience was more important to us than cost!

Agsin we walked over to the Gion District from the Hotel for dinner. Yasaka Shrine was lighted up so we walked around a bit this time. I got some of the most interesting pictures of the trip!

The third morning we ate at McDonalds! in the Train Station with all the other Businessmen! since the Hotel didn't start serving till 6:30 or 7.

We had to take an early taxi to the train station for the 7:44am Shinkansen Hikari to Himeji. I bought all our tickets the day before(when we went to Nara) based on my HPERDIA research.

We arrived in Himeji at 8:31 and walked up to the Castle. This took about 20mins. We could see the Castle the whole way so no chance to get lost! We got to the entrance gate about 5 mins before it openned. Like all things Japanese there were two men standing there, one by the gate and another by a bell with a watch. At exactely 9, one hit the bell several times as the other openned the gate! There were only two other people there so we had it all to ourselves. It is a beautiful Castle, well maintained, one of only a few that haven't been destroyed. Plus there were still some cherry blooms-I was so surprised! It took about an 1 1/2 hours to see at our own pace with an English guide booklet we got with our tickets. The Castle is huge and six stories up, but worth the climb!

As we left the Castle the tour buses and school groups were arriving. It pays to go early! We walked back to the station and stopped at a covered shopping area where we got a lunch to go- there are great little places on every street almost!

We caught the 11:41 Shinkansen Nozomi(Bullet Train-what a ride smooooth and fast!!!) for Hiroshima and ate lunch along the way. At 12:45 we walked out of Hiroshima station and caught the tram right in front of the main entrance for the "A" Dome and Peace Park. It took about 20 mins to get to the park on the tram. All my husband wanted to see was the Dome. Since we had already spent time at the Memorial Museum in Nagasaki last Nov, we just walked around a bit. At a board member's suggestion we went to the Hall of Rememberance. This Hall was worth the trip! It is an under ground building displaying stories and pictures from people who lived through the experience. I personally felt that this was better than the Museum-it is more personal.

From there we went back to the tram stop boarded it again and rode to the end of the line. This was the Miyajima Ferry dock (another 40 mins). We took the 10 min ferry across to the Island. This is a very scenic island noted for its floating Torii. The tide was just coming in a little after 3, so we got to see the people clamming around the Torii. There are a number of things to explore on the Island, but we were there for the sunset over the Torii and Harber. My husband was templed out by this point so we wandered around the village shops and then on out to the Itsukushima Shrine and the tip of the park area. The tide was comming in and had passed the Torii by now so there was a neat reflection in the water. The clammers were gone now. We walked back to the village across the inlet by the waters edge close to the Torri(it is huge) and took so pictures. This whole area id lined with the same type of lanterns as we saw in Nara. We found a Okonomamiyaki shop back in the village. By this time all the day trippers were gone! This is a neat pancake like dish that the cook made right in front of us! It was great to watch and eat! We walked back to the park and Torii for me to get some more pictures as the sun set over the bay behind the Torii. This was a beautiful setting and I got great pictures. The Island is peaceful this time of day and we really enjoyed it.

We caught the ferry back to the mainland and bought tickets on the next local train to Hiroshima Station. This all took maybe an hour. We had tickets for the 8:33 Shinkansen Nozomi, but it was only 7:15 when we got to the Station so I changed the tickets for the next Nozomi at 7:30. It was about 9 when we got back to Kyoto.

This was a great day. I am glad we did the trip. We did not feel rushed and were not to tired when we got back to Kyoto. I had picked out the things that I thought would interest us before we started and we added and subtracted as we went along. It was one of our most fun days!

I will say I did not buy a rail pass, it didn't pay for us as my husband wanted to ride the Bullet trains. That was neat, I must say, especially coming from a part of the US that loves driving everywhere!

We also bought reserved seats where they were availible since our train rides were all 30 mins or more. It seemed most did have seats in the other cars though. The local back to Hiroshima Station was the only train we didn't have reserved seats, but we did get seats when we got on. Closer to town the seats filled up though and many were standing.

We had one more day before we went back to Osaka to meet the ship. We spent this day seeing the things we missed that we felt we really wanted to see.

Our last day was spent seeing things in a very disorganized way, but I think it was because we side tracked ourselves looking at things I hadn't even thought about!

This last day was a blure bird day so the room and breakfast view was spectacular. My big deal was to see the Kiyomizu Temple at sunrise, but well! We finally took a taxi there about 7:30 ($10). The first of many later groups of older schoolchildern had just arrived and were having their picture made in front of the Gate. But other wise there were few people there yet. This a beautiful Temple complex, and if it is a clear day like ours, the view of the city below is very nice. It is really worth seeing and is a good staring or ending point for a day tour in that part of the city. From there we worked our way down to Higashioji through the interesting narrow streets.

We caught a taxi($24)to Kinkaku-ji(Gold Pavilion). I know this was really poor plannig-actually wasn't planned-to go across the city between the two sites the farest apart, but....I really wanted to see this temple because of its history and I was not disappointed. (If it had not been raining we would have done this site the first afternoon after Nijo etc.) It and its grounds a really beautiful. If we had seen Ginkakuji earlier, we mightwould not have made the effort because of the distance-you know best made plans....

From there we took a taxi back to the Nijo Castle area($8). There was a sword shop my husband wanted to see. We also went to a kimono shop in the same area. That was most interesting as it turned out to be a store front on an old home. The kimono area was in the back in the rooms of the home. I was treated like a queen as I was still looking for an antique obi for me-the others were for my girls. Finally picked a 1920's style with rich colors and gold threads in a large flower design. It was a wonderful hour for me and kimono clad young women entertained my husband in front with tea!

From there we took the E-W subway to the hotel stop(last one I think) We wanted to have a traditional tempura meal. There is a great little restaurant -Takasebure in the alleyway off Sanjo-dori near the river. Well I thought there was a bar we could eat at and there was, but they insisted we eat in one of the special rooms. It was a wonderful experience and the food was out of this world. But again I am sure there was alot of eye rolling behind the screens-no shoes, no chairs, foot high tables, beautiful presentations, but no clue as to what to do with some of the food items!! Finally after much hand waving when the second course was served, my husband handed his chop sticks to the server(an older woman in a kimono on her knees at the head of the table) to show us what she wanted us to do- ie- put the lovely pile of noodles on top of the tempura in the bowl of soup! Then she smiled and bowed herself out of the screen enclosed room and pulled the sceen closed!! It was another wonderful hour or so and the food was the best!

Then we walked backover the bridge to some of the antique shops in the Gion area we had seen on the night walks. After that my husband walked back to the hotel and I walked over to the Shopping Arcade and spent some time before walking back to the hotel.

We left in the taxi for the pier about 3:30. It took a little over a hour. You pull up right in front of the entrance. There are porters to take your luggage to the ship right there and it took about 15mins to go through the check in and get on the ship. There was no line, but we told there had been when all the buses arrived earilier. The ship's Kyoto bus had arrived around lunch time. That transfer would have cost us $190, the taxi was $110. Well worht the cost especially since we got to leave Kyoto when we wanted to and had a very confortable ride.

The Pier is really neat. Be sure and get out and explore after you get settled on the Ship. We didn't sail till midnight so had plently of time to explore after we got there. Which Princess are you on? Where are you going? We were on the Sapphire and went to Nagasaki, Pusan, Vladivostok, Muroran, across to Dutch Harbor, Seward, College Fjord, Glacier Bay, Juneau and off at Seattle after 19 days. If you are going to any of those ports I can tell you what we did also,

We spent a day at sea resting and exploring the huge ship-the largest we have ever sailed on by a lot!-900ft long, about 20 stories above the water line and 4000 crew and passangers! Actually we really didn't feel that there were that many people on board, but the ship does feel huge! Princess has done a good job with the design, but we still like smaller ships like the old Royal Princess better. We have been to Nagasaki twice this past year so I will talk about both visits. Now back to the places...

Nagasaki-when we stopped there in Nov on the Royal Princess, we did all the tourist type things. We took a taxi($10) from the pier to the Peace Park area, walked all though it and on down to the Museum. Spent a good bit of time in the Museum. I think my husband really enjoyed it. He is a big WWII buff, which was why we did the trek to Hiroshima. Personally, I think the Nagasaki site area is much perttier(if that is the right word) than the Hiroshima site area. But I like the hall of Rememberance better than the Musuem.

We then took a taxi ($8) to the shopping arcade wandered around there then back out on the streets behind and up hill from the arcade. That is a very interesting collection of streets with small shops, homes schools and temples. I really liked Kofukuji and Sofukuji Temples, we were the only ones there. I find the local temples and cemeteries in Nagasaki most interesting.

We had lunch at some little cafe type and found a tram stop near Sofukuji. Took the trams to the end over by Glover Gardens. Wandered through the back streets till we found a series of elevators that took us up to the top entrance to the Gardens. There were neat veiws of cliff hugging houses all the way up. Lots of locals use these elevators to get to their homes.

Glover Gardens was nice. I really liked the park. The homes were well restored and the rose gardens were in full bloom in Nov. Plus a young couple was having their wedding in one of the homes. That was an interesting sight -traditional Japanese wedding dress and Victorian home and garden!

From there we walked down to the Oura Church. Again there is an interesting cemetery in that area. An interesting contrast between Japanese and Western beliefs. Then we walked back to the dock. We used taxis at first because Nagasaki is hilly and I have trouble walking any distance up hill. You can get all over Nagasaki on the tram system for about $4 a day.

This time we walked back up by the Oura Church and explored that area again in more detail. We then spent time in China Town and walked over to the Meganebashi Bridge area. There is alot of construction in that area right now-they are working on the canal.

There are a couple of other sites, like Confucian Shire that we didn't get to.

We really like Nagasaki. It is a really pertty place to sail into and out of. The harbor is very pertty.

They are building a beautifull high bridge to connect the ridges on either side of the harbor. In Nov the bridge was started out from both sides. Now it is connected, but not finished. Nagasaki is a beautiful hilly harbor
city with a village feeling, very easy to get around in. It is, of course mostly post war construction, but has retained the feel of being older. One of my favorite memories is that of the tiny, toy-lookig delievery and garbage trucks serving the narrow little streets over by Glover Gardens!! Every house had a little flower and vegetable container garden by the front door. It was most colorful, but the cherry trees were history here.

Next day Pusan Korea...

Pusan is a really pertty modern city from the ship view. It spreads out along the coast and up into the hills in the background. We visiteg it on both the Nov trip aand this one.

In Nov I had arranged for a Goodwill guide as we were there on for about 6 hours. Both Japan and Korea offer this service. It you need a guide, we have found it is a nice way to see an area. They are people willing to provide guidance for only the cost of transportion and food for that day.

In Nov we had a young man who worked in the travel industry and had spent a year in the US. He was a great guide. His English was very good and he had borrowed a friend's car to take us around. It was the day of our Presidental elections and he was for the other guy, so it made for some interesting conservation!

We out to the Beomeosa Temple. It is in nice area up in the hills. He spent some time explaining the purposes of the different buildings. It was one of those blue bird days. The trees on the hillsides were a riot of fall colors. That and the bright colors on the Temple buildings made for some great pictures and an interesting site.

From there we drove to the Northern? part of the city so he could take us across a new bridge that he and Pusan were proud of.

We then went to the UN Cemetery and on to the fish market. I loved that!. The colors and types of seafood were wild! I couldn't believe that most every thing was alive-the tanks and pans- all had water pumpiing though them. It made for quite a show. We watched as one man looked for he perfect octopus for dinner, I guess. The old lady in colorful dress, big rubber boots and gloves pulled each octopus out of the tank to show him while the creature wrapped its arms all over her. It wasn't to his liking so she fought it off and pushed it back in the tank to pull out yet another one and repeat the process. She did this with four of them and the man refussd them all. As he walked away, she fought the last one into the tank uttering something in Korean that I'm sure I couldn't type here! Our guide just laughed. We walked on across a vey busy street into a large market/shopping area. I was looking for fans and small screens, so he talked to various shop keepers and we wandered around to different little shops. After an hour or so, we drove back to the dock and said good by. It was a great day.

This time we had 12 hours in port. We were told we shoud go to Gyeong-Ju and see the Ancient Silla Capital sites. This is about a 2 hour drive from the city. The ship was offerring a tour there. We usually don't do the ship tours as they are always slow paced and over priced, but a friend had taken this one and said it was worth it. So off we went, us and about 400 hundred other passangers on 10 busses! Actually, it was not as bad as that sounds. It was a good tour. We went first to Bulguksa Temple and it was really great, even my husband, who was very tired of temples, liked it. The grounds are very nice and covered with many different colorful buildings. We were in very small groups at this point so we learned a lot. The cherry trees were in full bloom all over the area along with many flowers, so every thing was made more beautiful with all that color.

From there we made the required tour shopping stop at a local craft market. Actually I could have stayed there a little longer than the ~20 mins we were given. I found and madly bought some really nice inlaid boxes as gifts, plus a few little things for the grandkids at really cheap prices!

Next, all 400 of us made a lunch stop at a tourist type restuarant over looking a beautiful lake for a tradional Korean Bar-b-que and a music and dance program. The program was interesting and the women's dress was very colorful sort of a combination of Chinese and Kimono. The meal was more interesting!! Hot plates in the center of the tables piled high with sliced meat steaming in a soysauce mixture plus individual bowls of rice and assorted vegatables lined up in the center of the table.(They had fixed a bowel of 4 hot vegatable groups on top of rice for me. One of the things was a terriblely hot bunch of chopped pepers, but the rest was tasty. I haven't a clue as to what I are except the rice, however!) Hubby thought the meat, sauces and vegables were good, but most people around us were complaining! When we left, I noticed that the huge piles of meat and vegatables were almost all gone so it must not have been so bad after all!!!

Next we went to Tumuli Park. This was very interesting-huge mounds of grass covered dirt that make up 20 Royal tombs-in a park setting. One was opened and set up a a musuem so you could see things that had been burried with the people and read about the histry of the area.

Our last stop for the day was at a large museum complex in the same area, can't remember the name. I don't normally like spending lots of time at musuems, but this group was very well done with English subtitles. We were on our own so we enjoyed the time spent there looking at what interested us.

We would not have picked Pusan or even Korea as a place to visit on our own, but as part of a curise we got to experience some of the culture. I'm glad, it really puts China and Japan in context for me. Sort of paints the whole picture. The life style and appaerance of the country sides are very simular. Plus Pusan is interesting city.

cwn:
LOVING THIS REPORT!!! Taling all kinds of notes..Thank you!!

Vladivostok

What can I say -It is Russia!

We had a day that sea before arriving in VladivOstok. That was good. It gave us a chance to clear our minds. We knew this next stop would be very different. We had heard such negative comments about the city we were almost, but not quite not looking forward to the day. We were planning to explore on our own as we normally do. And we headed north it got colder and more over cast.

We woke up at anchor. As we looked out our baloncey window, I would have thought we were in a downtown hotel looking out! We were docked at the base of the main Square and right beside the Victorian era railroad station, the terminus of the Trans Siberian Railroad and from our angle, we couldn't see water in two directions(we are no the back of the ship). Looking down at the train, I almost thought we had entered a time machine back to 1900! The station building is very pertty, but the trains are very OLD fashioned and worn looking to still be in use!

This was the coldest day so far. Plus it was overcast and blowing a gale! Our passports arrive while we were at breakfast(the only place we had to have our passport to leave the terminal area and, of course, to get back to the ship). We bundle up and head off. Out side the dock fence around the train terminal there are hundreds of people looking at the ship and a few vendors. We wander through the crowd and I realize my head is freezing. I notice a young woman selling scarves and hats among all the junk sellers and go to look. They are really nice, bright colors, and hand made. She is friendly and talkative so I buy one and off we go.(Actually before we leave that afternoon I buy two more, they were light weight but very warm and pertty.)

We walk across the bridge over the tracks and I feel like I am in any other part of Russia we have vivited. Grey buildings in sad state of repair and crumbling roads and sidewalks. We walk up to the Square and on up Svetlanskaya Street. This is really an interesting street. It is lined with Victorian era (1900-10) buildings that have not had any modernization done to the out side and very little to the inside (at least those we went in.) The city has a very European feel to it. It was a grand city early on-like so many of the russai cities, I guess.

As we are walking three young military cadets stop and speak too us. They walk along with us for awhite talking and poiting out sights. By now we are up to the area where the pacfic fleet is docked and rusting away according to my hubby. We leave the young men and walk up and over the hill and back down to a beach area with a small boat harbor near by, This area is empty now, except fot two brave children playing at the waters edge. There were men setting up tents and bring sodaand stuff in. Getting ready for warmer days and swimming?!!

It is getting along toward late lunch time(2pm) on the ship now(you wouldn't want to miss a meal!) so we head back up to town, stopped at a nice hotel, the Versaillis I think, and I bought some wooden handpainted doll Christmas decorations (I had bought some for my girls in St Petersburg several years ago and that was what they had asked for.) Also bought nesting dolls for the granddaughters.

Well, I can't seem to keep my fingers off the post button!

Later that afternoon the sun came out and the city looked alot different. Lots of colorfull banners, that didn't really show in the low misty clouds earlier. But it was still difinitely winter there!

It doesn't look like Asia to me at all. But it is very tired looking over all. Although the people were very friendly toward us, much more so than last time we were in Russia.

There is a new train station next to the old one. It has a flat roof. At sailaway the roof was packed shoulder to shoulder with people watching us leave. The sailawy was one of the perttiest we had, actually. There is a lot of ship building activty in the harbor. Lots of big colorful cranes too. The harbor is very nice. With the sun shinning on the city, the hills in the background and the many colored fishing fleet, it made for a very colorful picture.

Next, I'm in LOVE - Hokkiado!!

After we left Russia we had two days of cold and cloudy weather as we headed toward Muroran.

I had sent a lot of time trying to find out about Muroran, but there was not much on the internet other than a city tourist site. We really wanted to do an all day drive through the countyside, from what little I had found in guide books and internet sites it sounded like beautiful country. We could have gone to Sapporro, but we had sent all our time in cities. Sapporro sounded nice, but it was a new big city! I had looked at the train and its schedules, but they are not as accommodating as down south. We had finally desided to take pot luck with a rental car and hope for the best. Not knowing what we would find at the port, I determined that I would made arrangements in Kyoto with a Japanese travel agent for a car.

About a week before we left, I got a contact from one of my feelers to Sapporro. It turned out to be a great connection with a local tour opperator. He gave me everything we needed, car nice driver and a great itinerary!.

I have also loved Alasla since the first time we ever went. We have been back many times both on crusis and camping trips. I didn't really think there would be another place I would ever like as much just for the pure beauty and wildness of the place. Well!!

Hokkaido and LOVE go together!! That is some of the most beautiful country that we have ever seen!! It is every thing beautiful in Japan and Alaska rolled into one area!!! We will go back there and stay a while.

The ship docked at the commerical docks in Muroran. Muroran reminds me of most industrial cities in the US, just smaller scale and in an absolutely beautiful settting.

As I said, I arranged for a car and driver with a tour operater in Sapporro. There are no English drivers in Hokkiado. So we worked the trip stops out over the internet and both the driver and I had a copy that we could compare and point to. We were met at 8am with a big black confortable car and nice driver. Plus the tour director met us at the dock also and gave us his personal phone # in case we had a problem plus some last minute ideas! The driver had a cell phone and some extra stops that we found out were his favorite also.

We drove along the coast road up to Data to see the oldest Temple on Hokkaido. A week later and the Cherry trees would have been it full bloom, but that was OK because we saw them in Kyoto. Then we drove over to Lake Toya area, saw the lake and resort area plus the area destroyed by the volcano erruption. The Lake with snow capped Mt Toya in the back ground was beautiful. This would be a nice vacation spot. The Hotels were all very new and modern looking.

From there we went to the Mt Usu Ropeway. The ride and the climb to the top is worth it!! The view of the whole area is breath taking!!!

From there we drove inland and over one of the Passes(can't remember the name-it has a web cam sight-I had been watching-interesting) along a ridge line with more breathing views. The area was high and still snow packed with views to die for. We passed several ski areas. Something we found really neat were the glass enclosed snow tunnels, guess to keep the roads protected in drift areas. We ended up in Noboribertsu Onsen area. That is a nice resort area, would be nice to stay a while. The driver took us to some interesting sites-Valley of Hell and the Lake.

From there we took the toll road to Shiraoi and saw the Ainu Village. There is a nice Museum connected to the village about the Ainu culture, but there is also the usual tourist trap too.

We drove back along the coast to Muroran and saw some of the coastal sites, a beach area, Cape Earth where we rang the bell in the tower and everyone clapped for us and a site the guide took us to so we could se the ship at dock across the inlet.

The guide was great. We couldn't talk much to each other. But we have more pictures of the two of us at each different site than any other site on any other trip we have ever taken! I saw all the risers at all the big sites. Many times pictures were being taken of the groups of school children or tour groups. I guess the Japanese love to have their trip pictures with them in the picture!! The guides are well trained too, ours took great pictures-positioning us just so!

It was a wonderful day! Almost no English is spoken or understood by the locals and only the major road signs were in English. Glad we were not driving-we would have been lost alot! We got along fine with the driver-lots of hand signs etc! We saw a great deal and the people were very friendly. But most of all was the outstanding countryside.

This was our last stop in places of interest to the board, but I will tell a bit about the last part of the trip.

For the next 6 days we sailed across the North Pacific, the Bering Sea, crossed the International Data Line with 2 May 2nds, sailed through the Aleutian Chain with a stop at Dutch Harbor, Unalaska and spend a day with a rent car driving out from Seward to the Kenai River area.

We spent a two blue bird days in College Fjord and Glacier Bay. We took a whale watching trip out of Juneau and saw a number of humpback whales, sea lions and bald eagles up close enough to get good pictures, plus a 50 ton whale surface just 30ft from our small boat-WOW that was a little to up close and personal! However I did get a good picture to prove it!. We had one more sea day and flew Cont. home from Seattle.

Hope this helps some one else. If you have any questions post them, I will try to give you an answer. And please forgive my many typos!

Thanks so much for all the boards help with my planning!