Thursday, May 30, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
china
Actually, this accidental mini adventure to China has really warmed me to the idea of exploring China more. I honestly had very little interest before :)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
My trip to Australia
I am so lucky to have had the oportunity to visit Australia.
It all started with an invitation to a wedding from my friend Dave. I have known Dave for a couple of years now, and we always keep in touch with the big happenings in our lives. We often talked about me visiting him in Western Australia, and I would build a picture of the things I would see and do.
Naturally, I had a lot of expectations slowly being built up. I love foreign travel and seeing new things and experiencing different cultures. Things that are different from America are so fun to experience, I couldn't wait to go!
My impression of Western Australia, however, is that it is exactly like Washington state. I mean, right down to the details, everything seemed so similar to life back home in Gig Harbor and Tacoma, and Seattle, Washington. We even abbreviate the same way WA= Washington---> WA=western Australia. Uncanny!
The biggest dissimilarity, and the most noticable one, for me, was the value of currency and goods there. I exchanged about 500 dollars initially, (to give a round number for example) and got back a heart-stopping 412. Whaaaaaaaat?
Everything was about double or triple the price of America and Japan, too.
On my first day, lovely Dave picked me up from the airport and we hung out with his friend and caught up, relaxed, and watched tv. Then I visited Dave's home for the first time, met his fiance, father, sister, brother in law, and niece. They were all wonderful, friendly, welcoming people.
After meeting everyone, Dave's fiance, Dave's fiance's mother, and I went to go pick up two more from the airport. Then we went to the city area and had some thai food from the marketplace and walked around.
The city area had a very small-scale Portland or Seattle feel to it. Very modern and young. Many, many young people, which is a change for me (because rural japan is mainly older people)!
Then in the evening Tomoko had a pre-wedding spa appointment, and Dave and I went to go have some drinks with his friends.
On the second day, it was the wedding! Beers and relaxing poolside followed by 10 of us in a hotel room getting ready while Tomoko and and her bridal party were preparing.
The wedding started at 3 oclock in a scenic vinyard in the Perth countryside. It was truly classy and elegant. After the short, romantic ceremony, we enjoyed croquette and string quartet music in the garden while eating hors d'oeuvres and chatting. I drank a white wine produced at the vineyard. so, so classy!
It all started with an invitation to a wedding from my friend Dave. I have known Dave for a couple of years now, and we always keep in touch with the big happenings in our lives. We often talked about me visiting him in Western Australia, and I would build a picture of the things I would see and do.
Naturally, I had a lot of expectations slowly being built up. I love foreign travel and seeing new things and experiencing different cultures. Things that are different from America are so fun to experience, I couldn't wait to go!
My impression of Western Australia, however, is that it is exactly like Washington state. I mean, right down to the details, everything seemed so similar to life back home in Gig Harbor and Tacoma, and Seattle, Washington. We even abbreviate the same way WA= Washington---> WA=western Australia. Uncanny!
The biggest dissimilarity, and the most noticable one, for me, was the value of currency and goods there. I exchanged about 500 dollars initially, (to give a round number for example) and got back a heart-stopping 412. Whaaaaaaaat?
Everything was about double or triple the price of America and Japan, too.
On my first day, lovely Dave picked me up from the airport and we hung out with his friend and caught up, relaxed, and watched tv. Then I visited Dave's home for the first time, met his fiance, father, sister, brother in law, and niece. They were all wonderful, friendly, welcoming people.
After meeting everyone, Dave's fiance, Dave's fiance's mother, and I went to go pick up two more from the airport. Then we went to the city area and had some thai food from the marketplace and walked around.
The city area had a very small-scale Portland or Seattle feel to it. Very modern and young. Many, many young people, which is a change for me (because rural japan is mainly older people)!
Then in the evening Tomoko had a pre-wedding spa appointment, and Dave and I went to go have some drinks with his friends.
On the second day, it was the wedding! Beers and relaxing poolside followed by 10 of us in a hotel room getting ready while Tomoko and and her bridal party were preparing.
The wedding started at 3 oclock in a scenic vinyard in the Perth countryside. It was truly classy and elegant. After the short, romantic ceremony, we enjoyed croquette and string quartet music in the garden while eating hors d'oeuvres and chatting. I drank a white wine produced at the vineyard. so, so classy!
The next day, I hung around Dave's house, and also went to a wildlife preserve to see the wild kangaroos featured in the post titled "Kangaroos!!!!" They were so so so cute. They box with each other just like people.
After that things were pretty relaxed. The morning of day 3, I went on a morning hike with Dave to a place with a small river and red rocks. It was a really good way to start a morning. The rock is smooth shiny, with very round divots and holes where the water erodes it.
I think I already mentioned in previous posts that Dave is a chef, so he definitely took me to some fabulous and delicious restaurants all over Perth. The food is very similar to Seattle's downtown area. Stuff that you'd find on an Anthony's menu, etc. Dave has good taste, and it was always really good.
We did have a couple of rainy days where we just hung out and didn't do much, but it was still fun!
The last thing I did was go to a zoo/wildlife sanctuary place. The kangaroos were very happy there, but some of the other animal's enclosures weren't very interactive. For example, the dingos and foxes did not look very happy or entertained, which was a shame. Many of the zookeepers were students doing that work for their part time jobs.
all in all a lovely holiday, with a bonus!
I didn't anticipate it, because americans aren't allowed into China without a visa, but during my layover in Guangzhou, China's largest southern city, I was given a free hotel for the night and spent the evening exploring and photographing. I will talk about that and put photos in a seperate post, but it was very exciting and a welcome bonus mini holiday.
thanks for reading!
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