Temple Town

So it's not really called temple town but yesterday we visited the sprawling Senso-ji Temple which is the oldest in Tokyo, the first building was erected in 645. It was very bustling which I am sure was partially due to the break in the rain.



The temple features Kannon, Bodhisattva of Compassion: Amongst the many Buddhas, Bodhisattva Kannon is known as the most compassionate, relieving beings of their suffering and responding to prayers with great benevolence. This Bodhisattva Kannon, the principle image of Senso-ji, has been an unparalleled source of benefits and miracles, saving and protecting countless people over the course of the 1,400 years since its appearance in the world. The way of devotion to Bodhisattva Kannon can be described as emulating the compassionate mind of this bodhisattva in our day to day lives, treating everyone we encounter with kindness. source http://www.senso-ji.jp/about/index_e.html

Speaking of kindness the temple also had a status honoring Uryu Iwako a noted social worker from the 1800's. It's the first time I've seen a statue of a social worker! She was known for her compassion for the poor and orphans and founded a midwifery institute and hospital.

Earlier in the day we went to the Harajuko area which is known for shopping, entertainment, and teenagers dressed up in cosplay outfits. There we stumbled upon J's heaven; tons of bicycle shops of every kind! He fell in love with a vintage Nakagawa bicycle frame that was sadly too small.

On the walk home from the temple we came across this lovely graffiti.


The day before we went to a great vegan ramen shop called T's Tan Tan. It was rather difficult to find as it is located in the JR Line Tokyo train station. We buy a day pass for the Tokyo metro but it does not cover JR line so we had to buy 130 yen tickets to get into the station. It was worth it! We've been very lucky with the great food options. Each morning we head to our favorite breakfast place and get a great meal with juice for 400 yen each.

Check out J's great photos so far at his Flickr stream


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Subway success

It was quite cold and wet yesterday with a combination of snow and rain. We figured out the subway and made our way to a great vegetarian buffet for lunch called; It's Vegetarian. We also went through a grocery store, which we love doing when traveling. That's where we spotted the $80.00 melon.



We took the subway over to the The Museum of Modern Art but the main building was closed. We did get to see the The Crafts Gallery Exhibit That's where we saw a piece of art titled Song of Autumn by kashima ikkoku which featured Our Animal a praying mantis which we've seen on nearly every trip.

We managed to stay up a little later and had a lovely meal at a vegan place called Ain Sopf







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How far will we walk to reach a vegan restaurant?

Apparently 12km. Yesterday we thought it would be a good idea to take a long walk and get to know our area. We walked a little over 12 km and arrived at the Tokyo Loving Hut. It was more of an Loving Hut express, with out the extensive menu of other Loving Huts we have eaten at, but the boxed meals and desserts they offered were very good.












Before the day began I used the showers at our hotel. Unfortunately I am now quite sure I conditioned my hair with hand soap. We had decided to save our shampoo and uses free stuff whenever we can in hostels/hotels. (We were concerened with being able to find supplies on the road but now that we've been in a few more spots I think we will be able to manage finding supplies).The lack of english labels is making that challenging. Over the day we saw a lot of random temples, a lady feeding stray cats, large vocal crows, beautiful buildings, parks, a lake, etc. There are also funny signs and things that remind us that we have no idea what's going on.












We had to take a cab back to our little hostel as our legs were quite tired. The room is not bad but it could use a chair and table and a slightly thicker sleeping mat. But it's clean and good value and location. As you can see from the photo it's compact. I've already bumped my head twice on doorways.






Near our hostel their is a an amazing traditional fancy vegetarian restaurant called Bon they food was more like art and came in small multi courses. We ate in a very traditional room in which the table is low and you sit on cushions while your legs are in a sunken area underneath the table. There was toasty heating blanket for our feet. Many buildings seem to use electric heaters to heat a room at a time. The weather is cool and wet but still pleasant.













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The Weight

These are the bags for the trip. One 50 litre back pack and one 15 litre day pack each. They are osprey bags and the day pack zips onto the back pack. They hold our clothing, shoes, 2 snorkeling sets, toiletries, medications, vitamins, cameras and electronics, towels, coats, a sheet sack etc.

We are striving to travel lightly and mindfully and have carefully considered what we've packed and what we've left behind. It reminds me of this song "The Weight."

2 weeks to lift off

January 17, 2012 we depart Calgary to start our one year travel adventure. We start first in Tokyo for a week's stay at the New Koyo Backpacker's Hotel We don't have a set itinerary for Tokyo yet. Over the year we have a loose itinerary; from Tokyo we fly to Kuala Lumpur and plan to stay in Malaysia until around the end of March, then we plan to spend April-June in north India, Nepal & Bhutan, from there we will travel to Europe for the summer, in the late fall we will go to Arizona so J can take a hand built bicycle course and finally we will end the trip with about 2 months in NYC, arriving back in Calgary January 2013.

So why now? There were a lot of contributing factors. We know we only get this life once and that it is short. That became all too real when our highschool friend passed away suddenly in 2010. We also know that some regions may not be as easy to travel to in the future. Our kitty Mia passed away in 2011 which left us with no furry dependants. As well this Ted talk motivated us to take a year off now rather than wait for retirement:

How are we doing it? I quit my job and will need to look for a new one in 2013 while J has a sabbatical. We have ruthlessly went through our possessions selling or giving away unneeded items, stored personal effects at J's parents, and rented out the house furnished through a rental management company. We are tapping into savings and attempting to travel on a budget. We are also supported by many lovely people helping us with tasks such as J's sister taking care of mail and at home financial management, our dear friend Kate clearing the snow, J's parents for storage and moving and so on.

During the trip I will be blogging and posting photos. Not all photos will make it to the blog but you can check the rest out on J's Flickr stream as well as on my Flickr stream or my instagram. I plan on taking photos with my iPhone and gopro while J has his professional SLR.

I know there will be difficult times when we miss friends, family, familiar surroundings and our home but I am so lucky to be traveling with my soul mate. This video reminds me that home is where ever we are together.

Australia Photos

Check out the photo album for our trip to Australia and New Zealand at this link below:
Australia Photo Album

Back to the beginning

We arrived back in Sydney yesterday, Thursday. The flight from Auckland tired us out and upon arriving in Sydney all we accomplished was getting something to eat and having a nap. While in Auckland we watched a few movies, travelled around the city on the bus, ate at variety of vegetarian restaurants, checked out the interesting cafe/bike/motorcycle shop; Deus Machina, lounged at Parnell Baths Pool, and took a a ferry to Waiheke Island and spent the day in the beach. A highlight of the trip was going to dinner and coffee with a dear friend, Sue and visiting with her awesome family.

I also finished reading a second book; That Bird has my Wings: An Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row. It was an extremely profound and engaging book. It detailed the many life sufferings of the author, Jarvis Masters, and how he eventually ended up on death row. There is an active Free Jarvis campaign fighting for a new trial.

Today we made it to Bondi Beach after figuring out the public bus. Then we walked along the ocean walk way for about 4 kms to get to Clovelly Beach, which is narrow small rocky bay which is supposed to have good snorkeling. I say 'supposed to' because once we got there we discovered both of our snorkeling masks were broken and we were unable to snorkel. The shallow area was jam packed with families and further out was too rough so we decided to not swim either. We walked back along the walkway to another beach, Bronte, where we intended to swim around in the more gentle surf. We were pleased to see that water was not very busy. As we started to make our way into the water we realized why; the shore contained multiple blue bottle jelly fish. We retreated back and found our way to our hotel on the public bus. We figure there must be some cosmic reason that we were not meant to snorkel on this trip.

Tonight we plan on spotting possums in the park, and walking down to this terrific vegetarian restaurant: Yulli's Bar. Tomorrow we head home!

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