Temples, Trees, Teeming

We took our first bullet train from Kobe to Kyoto. Was fantastic to see the countryside as you flew by in the train at 250 kms/hr.


Saw a few more temples that day, but these ones had some unique features in them. You weren't allowed taking pictures of the insides of a lot of them, but the picture below is one I stole offline to show you what the inside was like.


We saw a lot of buildings and inside statues that were part of the national treasure. The most fascinating was the temple that had the 1001 Kannon statues. And the buddha in the middle had 1001 arms.


We got to see the golden palace which was a beautiful site to see in the middle of the lake. The reflections of the building and the gardens on the lake were beautiful.


There is something absolutely stunning about the simplicity of a Japanese garden. Loved it.

Bright orange temple

Pretty sure the sign below says "watch your head".. Although for all I could know it could be calling me a silly goose or something.

The temples were packed with people. Because it was their week of national holidays, locals were out on their holidays as well and a lot of them were paying their respects at the temple. This particular fountain is where they wash themselves and each fountain represents something you might want in life (wealth, etc.). Crazy to see how incredibly long the line up was.

A glimpse of the crowds we had to walk through.

View of Kyoto

And there you have Kyoto. Next stop: Tokyo!

Carp, Cherry, Children

Our first port stop in Japan was Nagasaki, which was the second and last (as of today) place to experience a nuclear attack, as a result of the atomic bombings in World War II. Seeing the effects of the war on a lot of these places was interesting, moreso in speaking with the locals. '

When asked about the war and their view on it, you received a few different responses, some which were preceded with "I wouldn't say this very loud or to many people..." Interesting observations and dialogues around that for sure. I'm not much up on my history, but this makes me want to study up on it a bit more.


In Nagasaki, we visited and old castle where the shoguns used to live during the times of the samurai. We also visited some Samurai homes. I loved seeing all the different colored carp. Our first day in Japan was the first day of their week long holiday, 'The Golden Week', which is full of holidays. The one I can remember easiest was children's day. Any family with a son would hang carp streamers from their home.



Our last port stop with the ship was in Kobe where we disembarked from our ship. Kobe is the sixth-largest city in Japan. It is a prominent port city with a population of about 1.5 million. In Kobe, we drove up to Mt. Rokko, where you could enjoy full views of the city. After walking around up top, we took a tram down, and enjoyed remnants of the cherry blossoms scattered throughout the trees on the mountainside. I can only imagine what it would have looked like with all the trees in full bloom. Funny how when people think of Japan, they have views of tons of cherry blossom trees. Which makes sense when I could see how many there were everywhere and all the different types.






We also took a tour of a famous sake factory and got to try a lot of different kinds after. Not a huge fan of sake, but loved the plum sake- really tasty!


I didn't take many pictures in our last couple stops, partly because I felt like I had seen enough temples and buddhas to last me a lifetime, so why take another photo? And my camera card was filling up.

Next stop: Kyoto!

Edmonton, Early, Energized

Last Thursday, when I left my house, it was starting to look like this. While I love snow, and was a bit sad to leave it, I was excited to get to the airport and fly off to the beginnings of my next adventure!


My flight left on time and after leaving the snowyland, it was a stunningly beautiful and clear day over the Rocky Mountains and with my face pressed against the window, I enjoyed the majestic beauty of some of my favourite mountains.


Absolutely stunning! I couldn't help but pull out my camera and snap a few photos...

I arrived in Calgary and went for lunch and did a bit of shopping with a friend (yay for only 5% tax!) Then Lindie, Jenn, Erin and I went to dinner theatre. The theme was 'Night at the Museum'. So there's some stuff based from the movie, but it was night at the rock museum and it was fantastic. Wonderful mix of songs, great acting and singing as per usual and the food was super tasty and the company was even better!

We have a schedule of all the upcoming ones and I hope to get out there to see those as well!

On Friday, all the flights were sold out to Edmonton (thank you grey cup), so my friend Jenn drove Lindie and I up to the frozen land of Edmonton. It's a short (ish) drive, but it was super fun!


We stopped on some side roads on the way up and found this beautiful church surrounded by snow. When Jenn and I lived in Quebec, we'd always go on church tours. So we were happy to find some nice ones in Alberta as well!


The vehicle got a bit dirty on the way up, but it was a reflection of how they sand and plow their streets there when it snows. Driving through the wintry landscapes made me wonder what it would be like to live in wintry wonderfulness for a few months at a time. It made my heart long to live a little where I could be surrounded by snow.

Upon arrival at Anne's, she had a lovely sign waiting to welcome me! How fun!

We sat by the live fire and got cozy on the couch while watching a movie. How delightful with all the snow and cold outside to be bundled and safe inside!


The next day Anne had to work, so my friend Leslie picked me up and we hung out for the day with a couple of her different friends. We even played Yahtzee which is of course always a good time.


Then the unthinkable occured as I slipped my newly purchased Edmonton Oilers Jersey on. However, I tried not to allow my face to be in too many photos.


Anne and I went out for sushi and then headed to the game against the Sharks. It was fun cheering for both teams and pretending to be oilers fans while yelling out "Go sharks!" When people would turn around, they had no idea who had yelled it because we were wearing oilers shirts... tee hee hee

This is our sharks symbol...

And the man beside us was from Wales and had had a bit too much to drink perhaps. But was entertaining nonetheless. He wanted to be in our photo, so I figured, of course, why not?





I don't know who these oilers fans are but they kept taking the camera...


The next day there was football playing in the snow before watching the grey cup (more photos to come once I get those ones from Anne...) On Monday morning I flew home and went straight to visit some of my fave little people.



That's all for now folks. More to come on my second trip to Alberta and this weekend that is full of fun!! :) Enjoy the weekend!

Guest, Gyoza, Games

The last couple weeks have been filled with Canucks games, connecting with friends and just laying low and reading a lot and enjoying my down time.


The other night at the Canucks game, it was military appreciation night and my friend Destinye and I were lucky enough to meet a group of them outside in the parking lot. We took some photos for them and chatted awhile and it was well.. random. And really funny. We took a picture of them on their camera (and one of us so they knew who had taken their photo) and then we figured we'd take a picture with our camera to remember how funny and random our parking lot banter was.


What a great evening! The Canucks lost, but I honestly felt like they won, because the whole night was fantastic. I hadn't seen Destinye in months but spending time together was like a breath of fresh air in that moment. Exactly what I needed. I'm thankful for good friends who you can connect with regardless of how much time has passed between seeing each other.

But then Finn bit her head. Thankfully she was okay.

I should probably start a collection of all the photos I have with Finn.

At the game ready to get on the big screen which wasn't working during the first couple periods!


During first intermission a guy climbed into the jumbotron.. And then I stayed up there for 2 periods. Haha. Thankfully he got them fixed during second intermission, but then he was still stuck up there during the 3rd period. Hope he had a good time stuck up there. Haha


The night before that, Jannie and I went to the Canucks game to enjoy their 7 - 1 miserable LOSS. Boo. But Jannie is on the road to becoming a Canucks fan, so it's probably best to start loving them when they're losing, and then you're a fan for life, right?


Before the game, we went to my favourite Japanese place in Vancouver, called Hon-Jin. So tasty! And such good service. And the people beside us were probably talking about us in whatever language they were speaking. Only because we recommended some menu items and I hope they didn't hate them...



And here's a photo of precious Paisley. Just because she's a perfect pink bundle. And now I will stop using the letter "p" in excess.


A couple weeks ago, Cheri and i had a gyoza night at our place and it was fantastic. Cheri is pretty awesome and can make amazingly perfect looking and incredibly tasty gyoza! Mmm.. so good!! And fun to hang out with everyone too!

I think these were some of the best gyoza I'd ever had. Mmmm..

I always forget to take photos of myself to show I was there...

About a month ago I got a special invitation to join my mom and aunt's during their birthday dinner. Usually it's all sisters but one of them couldn't make it, and they had an extra ticket for a concert, so I got to come along! We went to a Thai place in the states and then to the Celtic Thunder concert. Was really great to hang out with all of my aunts together and enjoy being their special guest. :)


And so concludes a random post with random photos I have taken off my camera. A bit of what I've been up to. I'm excited for what's been going on in my life and for what I've been learning and being stretched on. Ahh.. not easy, but oh so good.

Enjoy this beautiful sunny day!