Postcard from The Great Wall

Dear Friends,
I'm writing today from Beijing, and I'm having a GREAT time!


Highlight of the trip thus far: a 10 km hike on The Great Wall.
We were lucky enough to have perfect weather for our trek, and could fully enjoy the breathtaking scenery. Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the "Lama Temple" (associated with the Tibetan monks) - that's "Lama" as in Dalai Lama, not the woolly animals.
In the evening we watched a mesmerizing acrobatics performance. More photos and videos to come soon. I hope everyone is well.

Ian

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2368941&l=21327&id=58013737


Ahoy!!!
We have made it to Shanghai for those who did not already know!
Above is a link to some pictures from the boat and our first day here.

Other than being sea sick for most of the 51 hour voyage, and getting scammed our first day in Shanghai, things are going good! Brahm has been pointing us in the right directions and giving us food and many many tips so mostly we have him to thank!
It seems to be the concensus that we will only stay here a few days before moving on to Hanoi....China is proving to be a bit more of a culture shock than we expected and we are both craving some relaxing beach time!

Anyways, check out the pictures and we will keep everyone posted on where we head next!

Love Tara

行ってきますね

Well, it`s finally all happening. As many of you know the big travel plans have been delayed by one week, but now with our Chinese visas secured there`s nothing left to do but get on the slow boat to China tomorrow morning. How slow is a slow boat to China, you ask? Well, it takes approximately 50 hours！　　

Last night in Japan
Two tired travellers get off the subway somewhere near Osaka port. They wander towards the area map hoping to find HOTEL A BEST marked there. Before the map can even be read a man comes up to offer help. He calls the hotel for them, he asks the station staff for directions, and he guides them to the correct street where he hails a taxi for them. Helpful beyond comparison right to the very end. Thank you people of Japan.
かならずやさしい日本人ですね。

And now from the clean comfort of Hotel A Best there`s nothing to do but wait for our ship to come in. 　By the way, the last supper ended up being... a bento on the bullet train. Classic!

Ian



A message to everyone who has contributed to my life in Japan:

日本に住んでる間にみんなさん信じられないぐらい心からもてなしてくれました。
生徒さんやその家族も友達に心からお礼を述べたいです。
私はいつでも日本のできごとを思い出すことができるでしょう。
ここがまるで私たちのホームであるかのようにみんあが作ってくれました。
本当に本当にどうもありがとうございました。

イアンより

A la Mode

When Tara was approached in a bar by a group of fashion students one night, and invited to be a model in their school show she was excited at the opportunity, but had no idea what she had really agreed to. What initially sounded like an amature fun project turned out to be a fairly MAJOR event, as advertised on the website below (and all over Nagoya).

http://www.mode.ac.jp/nagoya/campuslife/2008festival.html

Upon entering the performance area it became obvious that this was no small time school show. In fact the venue was the same gymnasium where the national sumo tournament is held. A variety of design-related displays were scattered around the arena, and a small stage was brightly light in the middle.
We explored the booths for awhile before finding our seats for the show.

Tara appears!
She was easy to spot, being the only foreigner in the group of 6 models. The models circled the stage before chairs were brought on stage and they were seated to have their hair and make-up done.
Since this was a student group it was part of their project to perform under pressure.

They only had a few minutes to complete their work on the models - so this portion looked like the fashion show equivalent of an F1 pit stop.

This is Tara's patented "Yes, I'm aware that I look good, thank you."-look. Look out Zoolander!

The crew exited the stage, and the newly decorated models strutted their stuff.

"Good thing they gave me this fan, 'cause I'm damn hot!"

The crew rejoins the models on stage for a round of cheers and bows.

Off-stage a few lucky girls got their pictures taken with Tara before she was whisked off to the shower room.

Later we went home.
And that's the story of how I picked up a model at a fashion show.

Hello!!

Ok - I know I have been lazy lately with the blog, but its partly due to how busy we have been and partly due to my frustration with bloggers inability to actually POST anything I make. So here's hoping this one works!

We are down to only 2 months left in Japan, and this means Sayonara Parties, packing, good-byes, and last minute adventures we haven't gotten around to yet. In other word - Unimaginatively BUSY. So here are some of the recent goings on:

We have officially booked a hotel in Beijing, and found a friend to stay with in Shanghai. We have also booked out BOAT from Osaka to Shanghai, meaning that other than trains, the entire China portion of our trip is set! Yatta!!

We have cancelled out Hiroshima trip in mid-August but still have Mt. Fuji and a trip to Tokyo. The trip to Tokyo wasn't a plan until this weekend, when after buying my NEW CAMERA!!!!....I WON 2 tickets to Tokyo Disney...haha. So to Tokyo we will go!

At the end of August I am going to be in a Fashion Show (!!!!) in Nagoya, which is turning out to be a pretty big affair. With practices every weekend and a TV broadcast of the show I am thinking its a bigger deal than they originally led me to believe..!! I must say, the costuming is pretty wicked though!!! There will be video and pictures of this for sure!!

Anyways we will continue to keep everyone updated of our last months in Japan and I PROMISE there will be more pics then you can handle!! I was itching to try out my new camera so Ian and I went to the park today to experiment. Enjoy!!

Love Tara!