March 2020

The next day, ship docked at Muscat (population: 1.44 M), Oman. Oman is not part of the UAE and is sultanate, not an emirate.

The first thing we did after exiting the ship was pay 10 UAE dirham (equivalent to 1 Omani rial, or $2,60) for two hours of internet time.  We spent the full two hours and had no more success than in Khor Fakkan.

Having blown much of the morning, we decided not to go into the town center, but, instead, wandered the seaside area. (There were taxis offering private tours for about $25 – 50.) Once again we went through a fish market.

We spent some time in the local souk, then headed back to the ship. Apparently, I found out after the fact that we did cover most of this walking tour route. 

We came back to the ship where we found, tied directly behind it, a Korean naval vessel. Go figure.

Muscat’s unusual architecture supposedly shows Arab, Portuguese, Persian, Indian, African, and modern Western influences. Too bad we never got to see that.

 

Oman is known to be the most peaceful country in the Middle East and  is filled with natural beauty. Thus, it’s been gaining popularity among the world travelers. I see Muscat mentioned as one of the great places to visit more and more. Our time in Muscat was too short for us to have a lasting impression, though.

If we ever end up in Muscat again, we should check out some major sites such as the Grand Mosque, Opera House and the Royal Palace. There seem to be good museums to check out, too.

Trip route: LAX -> Vilnius -> Dubai -> Abu Dhabi -> Khor Fakkan, U.A.E. -> Muscat, Oman -> “Almost India” -> Khasab, Oman -> Dubai -> LAX

October 2019

Japan was first unified as one country in AD 710, and the capital was established in present day Nara. It remained mostly here till it was moved to Kyoto in 794. This background would imply there would be enough to see in Nara (population: 360,000), but we only had a few hours to spend on our way to Kyoto from Osaka. We were in a tour group, thus, we did not have much control over our schedule. The map above caught my eye because it shows how most tourist things are conveniently located in one area of the city. So they took us to the green area, Nara Park, as we entered the city.

8 cultural sites in Nara are grouped together as the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara” and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Many of the sites are within walking distance from Nara Park.

The first thing everybody noticed as we got off the tour bus were the deer. They were casually roaming around the city, and they were every where!

Our guide promised there would be a lot more deer, and he herded & steered us to Kasuga Taisha, a Shinto Shrine. According to a folklore, one of the four gods of this shrine arrived here riding on a white deer, and from that point on, the deer were considered divine and sacred. Until 1637, killing one of these sacred deer was a capital offense punishable by death. Since WWII, though, the deer have been merely treated as “national treasures.”

1,000 stone lanterns lead the way to Kasuga shrine. There are hundreds of bronze lanterns donated by worshipers inside the shrine.

We had free time to visit nearby temples as we pleased, but we chose not to do so because we were tired and we were to see a lot of temples in our next stop, Kyoto. There, indeed, were lots of deer as promised by the guide.

You can buy and feed the “deer cracker” (sanctioned by the deer protection organization) to the deer who will love you for that moment.

There supposedly live over 1,200 deer in Nara city. It is fascinating to watch these animals acting definitely more like kids than divine beings.

Todaiji Temple has the biggest bronze Buddha statue in the world. We had seen many big ones in other countries, though, and, we were not tempted to walk 20 minutes further for that . You may call us spoiled.

Nara looked like a nice walkable city & probably deserved at least a day visit. But the deer, indeed, were the most interesting attraction in the city.

trip route: LAX -> Shanghai -> Suzhou -> Wuxi -> Hangzhou -> Shanghai (Zhujiajiao) -> Osaka -> Nara-> Kyoto -> Mt. Fuji -> Yokohama -> Tokyo -> Seoul -> Beijing -> LAX

 

October 2019

On our way to Yokohama from Kyoto, our tour stopped at Mt. Fuji (3,776.24 metres or 12,389.2 ft). There was nothing to see for a while till a snow topped mountain popped out of no where. That’s when I realized what made Mt. Fuji even more attractive and distinguished, aside from the fact that it is shaped perfectly,  was the fact that there was no other high mountain in surrounding area.

There are 4 trails to reach the peak of Mt. Fuji.  Most popular is Yoshida Trail, and we drove up from the city of Fujikamaguchiko to get to the trail head.  Fujikamaguchiko town was not all that picturesque as seen in the picture above, but, still, people (including me) did not stop taking pictures. For Japanese people, Mt. Fuji is more than just a mountain – a sacred place, and we could kind of see how that notion might have come about. It is considered an active volcanic mountain although the last eruption was in 1707.

The last landing zone where cars can go is classified as “5th Station”, and that’s where the trail heads are. People start climbing to the peak (10th station) from these stations. Fuji Subaru line 5th Station is where the Yoshida Trail starts, and there was a big eating/shopping area next to the big parking lot. Each year more than 300,000 people climb to the top. We were not there to climb up, thus, we just looked around and took more pictures.

This is the map that was at the Station, but it was hard to decipher. The map below might make a better sense.

We then drove to Lake Kawaguchi, one of 5 lakes around Mt. Fuji. A lone tree proved that it was, indeed, an autumn day in Japan. Apparently, the weather had been too warm for the leaves to change colors at the usual time. The little village on the shore of the lake had restaurants and shops, and we had our lunch at one of the restaurants.

Kawaguchi Lake is for viewing Mt. Fuji from the water.

There is no doubt that it is a picture perfect mountain from any angle.

Just in case you missed an angle, they took us up to a small hill on a ropeway (about $9) to see Mt. Fuji a bit up close.

We had seen it from a bullet train to Tokyo from Osaka (“quick! where’s your camera!”), but it was good to see it in more leisurely fashion. It was unlikely that we would have made a special trip for it, thus, it was a nice bonus we got from our tour.

Those who are ambitious, here’s more information about hiking in Mt. Fuji.

trip route: LAX -> Shanghai -> Suzhou -> Wuxi -> Hangzhou -> Shanghai (Zhujiajiao) -> Osaka -> Nara-> Kyoto -> Mt. Fuji -> Yokohama -> Tokyo -> Seoul -> Beijing -> LAX