Japan Day 11 - Hakone Is it possible to hear the word Japan without an image of Mount Fuji coming to mind? Japan's tallest mountain has long inspired many an artist and poet, and imagery of the majestic volcano is nearly synonymous with the country. It is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1708, and a subject of Shinto mythology. Such an incredible natural wonder and yet it had eluded me over the course of three trips to Japan. Today was the day we were searching for a view of Mt. Fuji. Of course that also meant that it had
Friday When Fletch and I first came to Fiji, we traveled around for a month as tourists. One of the islands we visited with our friends, Aaron and Mikaila, was Taveuni. From the resort where Aaron and Mikaila were working on the Coral Coast, which is on the big island, Viti Levu, we arranged a rental car and drove the two hours to Suva where the ferry left from. Since the ferry could accommodate vehicles, we decided to pack up the trunk full of dive gear rather than trying to fly and worrying about weight restrictions, giving the gear time
Tuesday In Palau, I heard that some of the Chinese tour agencies used to offer phony tours to the unknowing. They would separate the Chinese tourists out at the airport, those who had been to Palau previously and those who hadn't. The ones who had never been before would get an abbreviated tour around all the top landmarks, only the places they took them to weren't actually those landmarks. They would go to the bridge and tell them that was the famous natural arch. They would take them to the nearest corner on the reef and tell them that was Blue
Friday Planning our travels through the Philippines turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had thought it would be. With over 7000 islands, and each promising something unique and better than the last, it proved an impossible task to narrow the choices down enough to accommodate a 12 day schedule. Eventually we settled on four nights in Malapascua, four in Bohol, and four on Palawan (which honestly is a place deserving of 12 nights by itself). Everyone raved about Bohol. Between the beach, the zip-lining, the Chocolate hills, the Loboc river with its own assortment of activities, it
This post is dedicated to my Great Uncle who was stationed in Peleliu during World War II. The second assignment of the first marine division hit Peleliu on June 2, 1944. Not being allowed to reveal their location, my uncle wrote a letter home spelling out the first letter of each paragraph with the letters P-A-L-A-U. During the battle, he was shot by a round of artillery, and laid unconscious all night on the beach. The platoon sergeant recognized him and tried to drag him to safety. A sniper hiding in a tree shot two rounds, hitting my uncle in