Vignettes of the World
My Travel Journal
If you have only limited time in Arashiyama, I highly recommend three sites to visit: the bamboo grove, the Tenryu-ji Temple and the Okochi-Sanso Villa. After walking the bamboo grove, I entered the Tenryu-ji Temple via the North Gate. One dominant theme of the temples …
In my original planning, I envisioned spending one full day in Arashiyama’s most famous sites, including the bamboo grove, the Tenryu-ji Temple, Jojakko-ji Temple, Nison-in Temple and the Okochi-Sanso Villa. Those I have done on the first day indeed (and more). As it turned out, …
From the Kiyomizu-dera Temple I headed toward the direction of the Yasaka-jinja Shrine. I was quite tired, as in this day I have visited the Nijo Castle and have had to bear the cold at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. I pressed on, however, as I wanted …
The adventurous lunch of the day was at a convenience store. I have long heard that the convenience stores of Japan serve up wonderful egg salad sando’s. And it certainly lived up to its good name. From the 7-Eleven, going on Matsubara-dori, was a gentle …
When I woke up on my first full day in Japan, I decided to ditch the Osaka Castle and head right on to Kyoto. I took the JR line to Kyoto from the Osaka Station, having to navigate the morning’s rush hour, and arrived in …
The plane touched down at Kansai Airport and I looked for the train ride to Osaka. The plan, originally, was to stay that evening in a hotel in Osaka, then the next morning I would see Osaka Castle before heading out to Kyoto. I saw …
Ask just about any Hong Kong person and you would find answers to all things Japan. Japan is hands down the most popular travel destination for Hong Kong people. In fact, many in Hong Kong call it “going home” when they go to Japan. Clearly, …
The train to Shenzhen would depart in the early evening and I debated how to spend the day in Jiangmen. To be honest, there was not very much in this city that I wanted to see, as I was almost always only keen on heritage …
I have a very favorable impression of Jiangmen due to a personal memory of my grandma. When WWII began, resources were scarce. She would take her mother’s Qing dynasty clothes to the merchants of Jiangmen in exchange for money. “One piece of my mother’s Qing …
The theme of security and protection has been prominently featured in the diaolou’s that I have visited in Kaiping. But Nan Lou is perhaps the only diaolou that came with an official history in the defense of the nation. We called a car to take …