September 30, 2024: Welcome to our very belated September cocktail hour. I’m so happy you’ve dropped by. Although the weather in Virginia finally became the perfect fall weather, we weren’t here to enjoy it, and in fact, our summer stretched out to the end of the month in Japan and Bali.
I can offer you some hot sake and a Sapporo. Or even some cold sake. We can offer a Michelob Ultra or Hop Slam. I’ve now developed a liking for plum wine and soda water – yum. Soda or seltzer water is also available.
From Japan, and then returning to Japan from Bali on the final day of the month, I wish you “Kanpai (乾杯!)” which means “dry the glass” or “bottoms up.”
How are things going as we are fully in the midst of fall? Have you read any good books, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you planned any adventures or had any fall getaways? Have you dreamed any dreams? Gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you been surprised by anything in life? Have you enjoyed the simple things in life? Have you learned anything new, taken any classes or just kept up with the news? Have you sung along with any new songs? Have you undertaken any new exercise routines? Have you marched or otherwise participated in political protests? Have you been battered, or alternately, uplifted by any news?
We spent the first week in September wrapping up our preparations for our trip to Japan and Bali, Indonesia. We went to our final summer concert: Julieta Venegas – Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and producer who specializes in pop-rock-indie music in Spanish – at Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts.
We took off for |*Japan*| on September 9, arriving in |*Tokyo*| on the 10th on a mostly empty plane where we were able to stretch out and sleep. Once in Tokyo, I took Mike to visit the Sagamihara campus of Aoyama-Gakuin University and to show him my daily walk from the university to my Leopalace apartment, where I lived for one semester in spring/summer of 2017. We met my friend and colleague Graham and his Japanese wife Ako at a Thai restaurant near Fuchinobe Station. After parting ways with them, Mike and I walked around the covered shopping arcades of Harmonica Yokocho in Kichijōji. I took Mike to see Tokyo’s oldest established Buddhist Temple, Sensō-ji, and Ueno Park. We strolled down Ameyayokocho Shopping Street on a relentlessly hot afternoon. We also visited the adorable neighborhood of Monzennakacho, a place I’d never visited during my previous time in Tokyo.
On the 13th, we took the Shinkansen to Nagoya, where we rented a car and drove through over 30 tunnels to |*Takayama in the Japan Alps.*| We visited the village of Ogimachi in Shirakawa-go and the more remote town of Ainokura, best known for farmhouses in the gasshō-zukuri style. Back for the evening in Takayama, we met Atsu, a Japanese man who spoke excellent English, at his tiny sake bar in Takayama and enjoyed drinks there. The next day, we drove north to Hida Furukawago and walked in constant rain around the canal-lined town and saw the excellent museum with its elaborate festival floats. Later that afternoon, we explored Takayama’s old town in the rain. When we left Takayama, we stopped at two towns along the Nakasendo Trail, Tsumago-juku and Magome-juku, on the way to Nagoya, where we returned our rental car. I got a bad cold from trudging around those towns in excruciating heat and humidity.
On the 16th, we returned to |*Nagoya*|, where we visited Nagoya Castle and and the famous flea market held on the grounds of Ōsu-Kannon Temple in 97°F heat; there I bought a dress and two pairs of pants. We also visited the Tokugawa Art Museum and its water garden in Nagoya. We enjoyed a delicious grilled fish dinner near Ōsu-Kannon Temple.
Thursday morning, September 19, we took the Shinkansen from Nagoya to |*Narita*|, where we spent the night in Wakamatsu Honten Ryokan and visited Naritasan Shinshoji Temple.
On September 20, we flew to |*Bali, Indonesia*| on Garuda Indonesia, a lovely airline. We stayed our first three nights in |*Jimbaran, Bali*|, where we explored the Bukit Peninsula, especially Nusa Dua and Museum Pasifika. We went with a driver through insane traffic to Pura Luhur Uluwatu to see the Uluwatu Kecak Dance, which was overcrowded and extremely disorganized. Finally, we went in search of batik at Krisna Oleh Oleh Bali, hung out at the Jimbaran Beach and, later, relaxed at the Movenpick pool.
A driver drove us to the east side of the island, |*Sidemen, Bali*|, stopping first at The Klungkung Palace, where we got taken by touts selling sarongs, which we happily wore in our photos. We enjoyed massages at Alamdhari Resort & SPA. One morning, we took a 2 1/2 hour walk through the rice terraces surrounding our hotel, dipped into the pool, enjoyed a private yoga class, and relished another massage. We went on an excursion with a driver to Tirta Ganga (a royal water palace), a White Sand Beach (meh), and Tenganan Village (known for its double Ikat textiles).
On September 26, we moved to |*Ubud, Bali*| for our last home-away-from-home, The Hava Ubud A Pramana Experience, to the west of Ubud’s center. We loved our visit to the Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA) in Ubud, which we had almost to ourselves. We enjoyed lunch at Café Lotus, right on the edge of the Ubud Water Palace. We relaxed for an afternoon by the hotel pool. We took a Gojek (like Uber) to the center of Ubud, where we wandered around Ubud Palace and the Ubud Water Palace; there, we had to dress up in a sarong and jacket. We visited Museum Puri Lukisan where we found, quite by accident, a Balinese dance performance. We enjoyed deep tissue massages at Sari Laba and went to a restorative yoga “Air Class” at Alchemy. Finally, we visited the Ceking Rice Terrace, aka Tegalalang Rice Terrace, a very touristy and rather confined set of rice terraces.
We left Bali at 12:20 a.m. on the 30th and returned to |*Narita, Japan*| on the morning of the 30th. We immediately took the Shinkansen to |*Kyoto*|, where we checked into the very nice Sakura Terrace The Gallery and wandered around the mysterious Gion area.
Before we left for Japan, we watched shows on streaming services: Atlantic Crossing, Another Self, Grantchester, Maestro in Blue, Pachinko, Trying and Modern Family. I read 3 books this month, bringing my total up to 39/52, with my favorite being Fault Lines by Emily Itami and Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen.
I hope you’ll share how the year is panning out for you, and what plans you have as summer turns to fall.
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I followed your Japanese trip with interest as we’re going there next year. You certainly visited some amazing places. September was a very quiet home based month for us but our exciting news for October is that we have another gorgeous baby grandson.
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Congratulations on your new baby grandson, Carol! How many grandchildren do you now have? I’m sure you’re very excited.
As for Japan, you know I lived and worked there in 2017, plus I’d been to visit Kyoto in 2011 when I was working in Korea. I didn’t want to do a repeat of the things I’d done when I was there before (except Kyoto and some of Tokyo for Mike’s benefit), but I regret some of the places we chose (like all the places around Okayama and Beppu and Yufuin in Kyushu). I wish I’d just taken Mike to my favorite places like Hiroshima, Miyajima, Koyasan, and the places south of Yokohama like Kamakura and Enoshima, and north of Tokyo to Nikko. I wish I had taken Mike to the places I loved the first time around. Oh well, live and learn. I won’t be going back to Japan (or Asia for that matter) again. I’ve already spent a lot of time there. 🙂
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Thank you. We are thrilled with our new little boy. We now have three grandsons and one granddaughter – very special. I suspect that will be our total so we’ll be making the most of our time with each of them.
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It sounds as though you had a wonderful trip. We had a busy September with two weeks away in the Highlands and Islands, which was great.
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It was wonderful in many ways, but difficult in many ways as well. I’ll get into it more in the individual posts. Sounds like you had fun in September. Will have to hop over soon to read. We’re still trying to re-acclimate to the time zone change, and the long long trip! 🙂
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