Bush T May16

Travel Tales . . .
Travel Tales . . .
Trip to Japan
After a wonderful trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia
and then a similarly great cruise from
Singapore to Shanghai visiting Vietnam and
Hong Kong with Margaret and Bryan Jackson,
Carlos and I embarked on a tour of Japan to
watch the cherry blossons.
We arrivedin Tokyo thefirst week of April at the
peak of the flowering season. There are many
popular viewing spots in the city and the people
celebrate the arrival of spring and the much
loved sakura or cherry blossom by having parties
under the trees. There are beautiful parks
and we visited them all. Shinjuku Goen is perhaps
Tokyo’s most beautiful public space. The
Imperial Palace gardens were wonderful too
and we were lucky that part of it was opened
to the public on the day we visited. The most
festive park being Ueno.One of our favourites
was the smaller Hama-rikyu gardens and the
Sumida Park next to the river. Tokyo is a very
vibrant, clean city with a fantastic, punctual
transport system.It certainly has the best shopping
in the world.
From Tokyo we visited Kanazawa and Kyoto
by shinkansen (bullet train) where we spent a
week also visiting the gardens of Kenrokuen
in Kanazawa next to the castle and considered
one of japans three most beautiful gardens.
In Kyoto, apart from the gardens of Kinkakuji
(golden temple) and Ginkakuji, imperial palace
and Kyomizu-dera Temple , there were also the
famous zen gardens of Ryonanji Temple.Kyoto
was the capital of Japan for over 1 000 years
until 1868. It is regarded the spiritual home
of the Japanese peopleand still maintains
the essence of Japanese art and culture. It is
known for its imposing temples and shrines,
traditional handicrafts and art such as the tea
ceremony,where women still dress in their
beautiful kimonos and where you can still spot
a Maiko in the Geisha district.
A wonderful experience we will cherish forever.
Paula and Carlos Mendes
16