Secret Agent Travel Itinerary

As if I need a reason to think about pictures and talk about travel.  Next month, November 9th, premieres the new James Bond movie Skyfall. If you want to see the preview for the first time, or again, go ahead I’ll wait. 😉

Bond movies all have the same ability to get my travel bug to jump and chirp.  It would appear that I’m not the only one.  Last week,  How to Travel like a Secret Agent, 50 Years of James Bond: a dream 007 travel itinerary, showed up in my inbox and I found 10 Bond Locales Every Man Must Visit. (I don’t think you have to be a man to enjoy some of these locations for all the ladies out there who are Bond fans too).

This led to my next mission of to see if I have any Bond worthy photos or locales in my photo collection.

What are your favorite Bond worthy locations?

Happy New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year or Happy Lunar New Year!  Whatever you want to call it good-bye last year.  1012 is the year of the Black Water Dragon and generally considered favorable. While in China we were instructed that those who are born in the year of the Dragon should wear red.  In fact, when it is your animal year (12,24,36 multiples of 12) you should wear red.  Why?  We were told that wearing red can protect you from the strength of the year.  (Think something along the lines that, not all positive changes are easy or “smooth seas do not make for skillful sailors”).  Since I have been home I have told all my friends born in the year of the Dragon about wearing red and informally surveyed some of my other friends about 12, 24, 36, 48 etc. and it was generally agreed that those were challenging  years (if they had known about wearing red they would have).

So, Happy New Year, wear red if it suits you. These pictures are from a New Year’s celebration I attended in Vancouver, BC in 2008 (not the year of the Dragon).  A quick google search tell me that the parade for this year will be on the January 29, 2012.

 

Kimonos and Samurai- Japan

Samurai, kimonos, sightseeing, fish eating, picture taking this is what great vacations are made from. I happily acclimated to the food, the climate and the crowds.  If you have a guide, host or old college room mate to show you around Japan all the better.  It is my good fortune that I had all three in one person! Thanks!!

The obi is so tight.

We dressed up in kimono.

They indulged us with some photos

Samurai Contemplation

Samurai actors filming outdoors

We found some samurai

The wooden peg locks the locker.

A place to store your shoes while you eat.

Big green obi.

Black and pink obi

Offerings at the Shinto wedding ceremony.

Busy day at the temple.

Mother and daughter dressed in kimono.

The Great Buddha in Kamakura.

First night in Japan. My friends made delicious tempura.

South Korea in Fall

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While I am at home watching the rain it has occurred to me that I haven’t posted pictures of South Korea.  While the fall weather can range from beautiful to dismal, it was really delightful and gave me a new appreciation for the season and crunching on fallen leaves.

Forbidden City

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To get to the Forbidden City one must first walk through Tiananmen Square.  Not that this is generally a problem.  As a side note, all of the stolen wallet/backpack stories I have heard about China, happened in Tiananmen Square.  It may just be a coincidence.  One thing I did notice was that there was an […]

Great Wall on a Gray Day

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The Great Wall is so great that even the sun is sometimes intimidated.  I don’t know if that is true but there wasn’t any sun when I visited the Great Wall, at Badaling, just an 80 minute bus ride outside of Beijing.  It was still great and the people seemed excited to be there except […]

People Mountain People Sea

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There is a phrase in Chinese, that roughly translates to, people from the mountain to the sea.  It means a really huge crowd. I had the opportunity to travel with the Chinese people who had the week off for Golden Week.  While I don’t think this was a rare experience, it maybe unique for a […]

A Brief Intermission/ Small Obsessions

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A brief intermission on a few of my small obsessions.  One is Chinese acrobats I probably haven’t mentioned this before, but I love them.  Another is taking pictures out the window of the airplane.  I have been doing this since my first window seat with my own personal camera. There is something really thrilling about […]

Sister Su Zhou

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The sky has heaven and the earth has Su Zhou the Venice of the East or the phrase goes something like that. There are 4 distinct and unique things that Su Zhou is known for: gardens, waterways, pearls and silk. Our tour guide said it is a city for the ladies and in Su Zhou […]

For the Birds

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It appears that the people of Nanjing love their pets. The most popular dog seems to be the small brown poodle although there are many types of fluffy dogs too. The dogs are typically very well behaved and off leash unless they are very young or excessively energetic. Dogs seem to enjoy their freedoms and […]