Author: Jose

Beachy Thailand: Krabi-Railay Beach

From the north of Thailand, we travel to the Krabi area in the south where we stayed at Railay Beach for a few days. It definitely had a different feel due to the transport...

Chiang Mai Thailand: Our New Asian Favorite

We loved Japan but Chiang Mai is our new favorite place in Asia. It doesn’t have the most beautiful scenery (but the mountains are beautiful) or the best attractions (though the elephant sanctuary was...

Ending with a Sputter: Final Thoughts on Japan

Our last stop was Takayama, a small town in the “Japanese Alps”. There is nothing wrong with the town but Karen and I both had colds and didn’t feel like doing much. This meant...

Rural Japan Shirakawa-Go

Our second to last stop was different in that we weren’t going to a town at at all but a village in the mountains of Japan. It’s a popular day trip from Kanazawa or...

Kanazawa and Kenroku-en Gardens

Kenroku-En gardens is supposed to be one of the three great gardens in Japan (along with Koraku-en and Kairaku-en). We are not sure what that even means exactly but it was on our route...

Daytrip to Himeji Castle

Kyoto is very convenient to Himeji Castle. About an hour by train with trains every 15-20 minutes. We were bold (for us) and didn’t even make reservations. Himeji is a cool little town but...

Day trip to Hiroshima and Itsukushima Shrine

Kyoto is about and 90 minutes to 2 hours away depending on train speed from Hiroshima. Itsukushima shrine on the island of Miyajima is a 10 minute ferry from Hiroshima bay. Hiroshima is the...

Our favorite Kyoto

Our longest stay in Japan was in Kyoto and that was a good choice. It was our favorite city in Japan and just had the perfect blend of size, connections, restaurants, and touristy stuff....

Tokyo Japan: The Old and the New

Tokyo is an interesting mix of old and new. It has wonderful shrines, temples, and gardens but lots of quirky modern neighborhoods as well. Though it is the largest city in the world at...