April 2016 – hdworldtrek

Thank You –Part Two

Can you guess where this is?

Mariko is our dear friend from Japan.

She was our tour guide once before when we went to Tokyo.

The first of many, many sushi meals– one of my favorite foods in the world!

Mariko held a party for us and I would like to thank everybody who came for the lovely birthday party and gave me birthday and welcome to Japan presents.

Her friends let us stay in their beautiful traditional Japanese home in Kobe. We couldn’t have asked for more in our home away from home. I want to tell you how wonderful it was to come home each night to a beautiful place.

Mariko and her friends organized many fun things for us:

I especially enjoyed the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. Our teacher demonstrated a traditional tea ceremony for us. She showed us all of the tools and postures that you should use in a traditional tea ceremony. I was very amazed.

Going to the Harry Potter world was a real highlight for me, for sure!

Kazu, who is a high school friend of Mariko’s, treated us to a traditional Japanese meal and showed us around Kyoto.

She was very fun and we can’t wait to see her this summer in May and June 2016 when she and Mariko will come to visit us in America.

I also loved meeting Mariko’s friends in Nara….

And in Nara…. We would like to thank the famous roof tile artist who showed us how to make a Japanese roof tile.I found them very interesting and enjoyed making one myself.

I now have the tile in my room, so I see it every day!

We were sad to say goodbye to Mariko, but know we will see her soon in the U.S. — in just six weeks, now!

It was time to go to Thailand!

Oh my goodness in Bangkok, Ploy, was amazing. She was a foreign-exchange student in our neighborhood the year before we went on our trip. My Mom taught her how to swim and she spent some time around my swim team.

When she learned we were traveling to Thailand she offered to show us around. Thank goodness – Bangkok is wonderful, but hot and crazy – crazy traffic, crazy crowds, but we were so fortunate.

Ploy took us to see all the amazing temples and historical landmarks, Some with her friend Pear.

We especially enjoyed the floating markets, the street food,

and the Bangkok Renaissance – Marriott – executive club lounge level where we could go into the air conditioning and have food from all over the world!

Khob Khun to Ploy again and again….and we were off to Phuket!

In Phuket, we had a marvelous time being lazy and going to the beach. It was beautiful when we took a sailing tour to their offshore islands and had an awesome lunch with a little, funny monkey.

And you might remember my moms really enjoyed their Thai massages, here, too!

Unfortunately, because of the terrible earthquake disaster in Nepal, we are not able to go to Kathmandu next. So, we took a flight to South Africa two weeks early. We flew to Kuala Lumpur to Doha, on one of the world’s top airlines, Qatar, to Capetown, South Africa.

Total RTW miles logged upon leaving Phuket is 26,851. If any of these areas of the world interest you, you may refer back to my original blog for that area of the country. Or ask me any questions — I would love that!