Autumn in Hakuba, Nagano, Japan.

Belated postings from our autumn vacation :

In 1998, the Winter Olympics were held here in Nagano, Japan.

Last winter, we skied here & this autumn we came back here!

I took about 1000 pics in just a few days so there's more to come!








Even sandbags looks pretty in Japan!

















One of the best things to do is jumping onto heaps of leaves.

Tarantulas & ZIon National Park

And back to more belated, belated blogging on our summer adventure in an RV...

In Zion National Park, there were supposed to be tarantulas, the largest spiders in the southwest! We were assured that tarantulas are really docile & interesting creatures. They are nocturnal & stay mostly in underground burrows, Sightings are apparently common on park roads in late summer, when the males are out cruising for females.

If you do see a tarantula during your park visit in Zion, consider yourself lucky! .....we are quite content to be unlucky this time! These was what we saw instead :

RVs, RVs, everywhere!

These first 2 pics (top) shows our RV "Minnie". We didn't name her but this was clearly stated on her side. Also very appropriate once we saw how many other larger RVs there are out there! Our first overnight stop was at Zion River Resort, one of America's top 5 trailer park. This lovely park (our favourite) is located right by the Virgin River & is a base camp for the Zion National Park, the first national park in Utah.
Traveling in a RV, brought us in contact with many others who were exploring America in RVs too. In most places, ours (at 12 by 31 ft) was often the simplest model. We were in awe of many nicer models, with extensions sliding out everywhere! There were some people who had sold their regular house to live in these motorhomes instead. Those who have children, do home schooling. And they travel all over America!


















We also found out that depending on your
location, RV Parks can be super (as in Zion River Resort above) to scary (as in one trailer-park on the outskirts of Bryce Canyon). For anyone planning to do this, do go online & check out reviews. We had to go to that scary one only because there was a computer error with our reservation & we were re-routed to a place, not of our choice. And we had no choice too because of peak season, traveling in the summer.

Off we went, in a RV !!!

From Vegas, we collected our RV (recreational vehicle) & travel in the direction of Zion National Park. You know you're in Zion, when the roads turn red!

Our RV turned out better than we expected which was a relief! We have rented things online before & sometimes the results can be scary! Later on, at almost every trailer park, we realised that ours was always the oldest model on the lot! It could have been more modern after looking at others around us but luckily, it was good enough for us since we had expected worst.

Our first time in an RV! There were sleeping areas over the front seats, a small bedroom with a real bed in the back, a sofa bed. Also dining area, kitchenette with stove, oven, microwave, fridge, freezer. Plus, a separate bathroom & shower! Lots of cabinet space & aircon!!! And a slide-out section where at the push of a button, the living/dining area became wider!

We were simply thrilled to bits! Mostly, it was wonderful moving from places to places, without having to pack up the suitcases every few days!

We took a bumpy flight in a Cessna plane, to see how vast Grand Canyon is.






















The Skywalk is the highest manmade structure in the world (click to see how it was done) as it's 4000 ft high above the ground! For $35, you get to stand on it's glass base & have a very scary view of what's below!

















Hoover Dam is 726 ft. tall. That's 171 ft. taller than the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. & twice as tall as the Luxor Casino (338 ft.) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Between 1931 and 1936 when the dam was built, 96 men were killed in industrial accidents. None were buried in the concrete (unlike the Great Wall of China!).

From east to west & more . .

It wasn't easily to blog from a laptop, when you are on vacation - in a hotel room or in the deserts. There is either no Internet connection or very slooow connection which meant I didn't have enough patience to wait! And at the end of each day, I get too tired to blog!

So now, finally back in Tokyo, I can blog belated about what we did these past weeks!

We flew from Tokyo to Las Vegas. Nice flight, wonderful seats & pretty food with sakura butter. I actually enjoy flying as then, a mother cannot do anything except relax.

In LV, we had a super spacious room at MGM Signature, with super spacious bathrooms - yes, 2 bathrooms for the 4 of us! There were even real lions in the lobby!















Stunning malls with controlled "skies" & actual sized gondolas serenading in the canals.

We watched the gravity defying KA & once you've seen a production by Cirque du Soleil, you won't want to see any other types of "circuses"! This particular production amazes with its mobile, suspended vertical stage!

Happy Summer!

Today, we start off eastwards to America & around the world! From Las Vegas, we will explore a couple of canyons & national parks. It will be our first time in a RV! Then we head towards San Diego & Los Angeles & fly out again.

We will also meet up with friends & relatives in Germany & Singapore. And then, home to Tokyo. Have a happy summer!

An unusual church on an eroding island.

Over the weekend, we attended a christening at the German Lutheran Church here. It brought back memories of when our kids were christened as babies on Sylt. a German island off the coast of Denmark. My mother-in-law has always wished that her children would get married in St Severin, a unique church there in Keitum, Sylt. However, since none did, the next best thing was to have our kids christened there.
A historical & unusual church, St Severin dates back to the 1200s. The Gothic styled tower was erected by 1450 from bricks & stones. It served as a navigational aid until 1603 & as a prison until 1803. Almost every year, we go back to the church & take a photo in the same spot.

Sylt was once part of the mainland (Germany), and is still shrinking owing to erosion by the North Sea, which is common for most islands and shorelines in the region. It is the "Hamptons of Germany" as many celebrities too, frequent the island, one of Germany's playgrounds for the rich & famous. Our favorite are the endless, dessert-like sand dunes beaches.

The bridge on the left, eventually fell apart & was replaced by this sturdier one (right). Of course, we miss the old rickety one!

And if you should plan on heading out to Sylt, you can leave swimsuits at home.....nude swimming is common practice on the island !

Over the river & through the hills,

...past the ocean & on a plane, to Grandmother's house we went! Today, my mother is 70 years old. In our culture, we might not celebrate our birthdays each year but the big ones, mean a lot. And that's why, we flew to her for this!

My mother, is a typical traditional Chinese mother. She doesn't show her love physically, as the Chinese mothers of today would. She shows mainly through food (extremely "Joy Luck Club"!). When I was younger & living overseas on my own, trips home were always full of "Eat! Eat! Look - you're getting skinnier each time I see you! ". Now it's "Eat! Eat! If you don't eat now, you will regret & wished you ate more of my cooking, when you go back to Tokyo!". Or "Learn to cook this or my grandchildren will miss it too much".
My parents met outside a train station, when my father was lost & asked her for directions. Coincidentally, he was looking for her neighbours' home. So, she brought him there, on the back of her bicycle! My father is long gone now. He passed away just months before we were married. My mother, as per our tradition, lives with my brother & his family : 3 generations under one roof.

Traditionally, an envelope of lucky money would be one of the birthday gifts. So my mother gets this pink lucky envelope & as usual, she says "oh no need! no need!". A typical Chinese response - ask anyone with a Chinese mother. And a nice handcrafted bracelet, made just for her.