For the last full day in Vegas, another trip to a national park. This time, Zion, a famous national park that is actually across several state lines from Las Vegas, in the southwestern corner of Utah, but doable as a (very long) day trip. The drive there takes about 3 to 4 hours, but the…

After the madness of Vegas, time for something different. I had planned for six days in Vegas – two or three days each for sightseeing, and for getting over jetlag, both literally after crossing the pacific, and culturally after having been to half a dozen decidedly non-Western world countries. Plus one day for being an…

Alright, time to hit the town for some sightseeing. Which in Vegas means looking at Hotels. Yup, it’s a town you stay at in order to look at the places other people stay at. Which makes more sense than it sounds like, because those Hotel/Casinos are really something. I have a soft spot for weird…

The journey from Hongkong to Las Vegas was by far the longest leg of the whole trip – can’t get around crossing the Pacific. Was almost glad for the stop in Seoul – not only shortening the intercontinental flight to a bearable 10 hours, but also because Seoul airport had the first and only playable…

Last pictures from Hongkong are from the Man Mo temple – dedicated to the gods of writing and the god of war. Situated pretty much downtown, it’s tucked in between modern skyscrapers. It’s also up a hill. Lots of stairs in the Hongkong heat mean lots of breaks in snack shops along the way for…

Hongkong does not really have a lot of must-see sights – probably because it’s a very young city: only really started with possession by the British in the late 19th century, grew after the communist victory in the 1940s, and boomed with China’s return to the world stage of capitalism in the eighties. Fun fact:…

On to Hongkong – the last stop in Asia on this trip. Lots of skyscrapers? Check. Cliche chinese junk boat? check. Victoria peak in the background? check. Pretty much fullfills the postcard image already on the trip into town from the airport. When I say lots of skyscrapers, I mean LOTS of skyscrapers, very densely…

Mount Inari is a famous temple mountain, mostly for its huge collection of red gates along the paths. Usually a single red gate marks the beginning of the sacred area, but at mount inari, there’s hundreds of them. Almost like a tunnel, and along several hundred meters of paths. And yup, it’s pretty crowded, so…

First stop today: the national museum of Kyoto, which I came accross by chance, and which currently has a special exhibition of Ike No Taiga. Never heard of him, but seemed to be a big name, was wondering if it was worth the rather steep ticket price, when a Japanese girl in front of me…

Apologies if the rest of the Japan writeup becomes a more or less random mix of impressions – it’s been a while (currently in Orlando, two countries and three cities further in my travels), just did not get around to blogging. When I started out, I was afraid I would be bored in the evenings,…