Singapore: The events of the past few weeks

It has been a while since we have updated you of our travels - and not because we haven't been doing anything either. Since leaving Japan, we have travelled to Singapore where we are staying with our wonderful hosts Tarron and Charlotte in their apartment. Singapore has seen us LTD (living the dream) with some EPT (epic pool time), and catching up with old friends from our last visit to this awesome country.

Our love of Singapore is well known, and it feels like a second home to us in a way. We have visited our favourite food spots and reacquainted ourselves with the Orchard Rd shops. Something we hadn't done before however, was to see the pink dolphins at Sentosa - which were awesome, but not quite as pink as you would think. More like the offspring if, well you know, a pink and grey dolphin got together.

 Sentosa Island, Singapore

That is literally a pink dolphin

Shortly after arriving in Singapore, Matt then flew back to Auckland, for just over 48 hours and an interview. It was great to be back home although for just a short time, to feel what its like to be cold once more and  for an epic roast dinner cooked by dad. The result of this journey home - Matt got a position on the radiology training program, and will be a radiology registrar at Tauranga Hospital come December, something we are extremely excited about and looking forward to.

Feeling the need to celebrate this, we set off soon after Matt's arrival back to Singapore to Langkawi, Malaysia for some EBT (epic beach time). Unfortunately, Langkawi failed to deliver on its promised beautiful sandy beaches (which were littered with rubbish). The hotel we had booked too was filthy, which saw us check out early after just 1 of our 5 nights. We returned to Singapore a little despondent, but soon raised moral by leaving for Phuket, Thailand the next day. Having been to Phuket previously, we knew it was sure to please, and it certainly didn't fail to disappoint.

And it didn't. Phuket was epic. As much as I hate people bragging about their holidays as much as the next guy, I must say that having a penthouse with your own pool is pretty sweet.

Jill is currently in Indonesia for a girls weekend away, whilst the boys will hold the fort in Singapore. Our next stop is Cambodia for a few weeks, leaving on Tuesday. Stay tuned for our next update, until then, much love.

Japan: Kyoto - National treasures

We traveled on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) south from Tokyo to the ancient city of Kyoto, where some spectacular temples and shrines are a draw card for visitors from afar. Kyoto was hot - sitting in a valley surrounded by mountains on both sides, the temperature was above 35 degrees and the skies clear. Of the many shrines and temples to see, we decided to concentrate on two - Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple, and Fushimi Inari, a shinto shrine.

Kyoto skyline

Firstly, Fushimi Inari, a shinto shrine. It is one of several thousand shrines dedicated to Inari, the shinto god of rice. What makes this shrine amazing is the many thousands of red torii gates which form tunnel like trails leading up the sacred Mount Inari. Amazingly, this shrine pre-dates AD 794, when Kyoto became Japan's capital (until 1868).

Entrance to Fushimi Inari shrine complex

Start of the torii gates, painted in vermilion red

One of the highlights was coming across a bamboo forest, after we wandered down a side-track to see where it led. The forest had an airy, ancient feel to it. If you've seen the movie "House of Flying Daggers", it almost felt like there were warriors hiding in the bamboo trees, waiting to pounce.

The next site we explored was the Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple. It is an UNESCO World Heritage site, and the hondo (main hall) of the temple is classified as a national treasure.  The temple was founded in AD 798 and the present buildings were constructed in 1633.  Another cool fact - no nails were used at all in its construction. The large overhanging balconies (which provide a great view of the city below), were built to accommodate large numbers of pilgrims.

Entrance to Kiyomizu

3-tiered pagoda

The Hondo - a national treasure

These guys are actually all tourists - Matt didn't get the memo on the attire

Buddhist followers lining up for some holy water

Overall, Kyoto was one of the highlights of our trip to Japan. A direct contrast to the western world, it then strikes you that when the French started building Notre Dame de Paris in 1163, both Fushimi-Inari and the site of Kiyomizu-dera had been in existance for around 400 years.

Tokyo: Mount Takao

Not too far outside of Tokyo city is Mount Takao, a lush green forest park with a shrine at the summit (we are in Japan after all). We walked up the mountain one Saturday with Luke and Vanessa, to be rewarded with a fantastic view, hot soba noodles and cold Asahi at the top.

 

Japan: Tohoku countryside

Rural Japan could not be more far removed from the chaos and neon light ambush that is the cities. On our roadtrip north we got to see some of the still countryside, which is dominated largely by rice paddies. Japan is actually self sufficient in rice - one of those "Did you know's" that became a commonly asked question on our trip as we passed yet more rice fields.