DaBomb - DaCastle - DaDecision to Come Home

Hiroshima the 'A' blasted city. Was it really worth the detour, well in all heaviness sadness and reality-ness, yess!
It certainly isn't the happiest city though the A3 Wagyu beef we had was amazing and the kids had a memorable five course kids menu.
We went for the museum and amazed by what the A Bomb actually is we carried on to the part where stories of the victim is shown. Our religious roots have taken us to the Jerusalem Yad Vashem museum and somehow the atmosphere of this place reminded me of the feelings I had being there.
The kids each one on his own level went through this museum with interest and amazing quietness, much to the contrary of every other activity since months.
I think in their own way they have integrated what is shown here as something horrible.
We were told by an in utero survivor  that the Nagasaki bombing carried out after Hiroshima was done for testing purposes in order to collect and confirm data of damage done by the first A blast, will truth ever be known?!

Nevertheless sleek lines are to be seen here as anywhere in Japan.

We decided to avoid a long train ride and stopped in Himeji, a city holding a castle, the biggest wooden construction in the world. Unfortunately this one was in restoration and we saw little of its outer beauty, the inside being fairly boring!

We are tired, not only physically but mentally, tired of being on top of each other with no space to let even your thoughts roam free, tired of living out of a luggage, tired of constant restaurant food, tired of planning, tired of lack of settlement. So the obvious thing to do is to go home.
After two hundred ninety three days of traveling we decided to skip a week and come home.
Tokyo will be our last four days destination before a loooooooooooong flight.
We got here this noon and were to lazy to even get out of the hotel.
Val was going to plan what to do tomorrow but that kind of vanished with the day. Again tired of reading up and planning and preparing.
Are we complaining, not at all, this is merely the way things are.
The kids are super excited at getting home, Val is over the moon, I am happy yet have some mixed feelings.
I suppose the things that makes it easier is the current weather in Belgiumland.

Coming home from the journey we have just had brings with it excitement, excitement of some projects we have together and individually. Warmth at the idea of seeing back friends and family.
Ease at being in a familiar place and getting back to some old and instore some new habits.
I need to emphasize that the need of being with people you've known for a while and you trust is important.
And again space, Julian's space, Matthew's space, Val's space and My space.

I guess the importance of being alone is as important as being well accompanied.

This should be one of my last blog entries and I probably need to take some time to process and integrate all the movements of the last year.

This has been an amazing journey and one of the best decisions I have taken in my life, and as I have said many a time before, we were taken care of all the way.
I can't help but think of the poem/story I have read many a times before and though this one is portrayed with The Lord as the leading entity you can replace that with whatever you want. I usually find Go(o)d an excelent alternative; on a personal level I believe in 'Positive Energy' !

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from anguish,
sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints,
so I said to the Lord,
“ You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied,
“ The years when you have seen only one set of footprints,
my child, is when I carried you.”

--Author Mary Stevenson--

I believe that if you believe, we can achieve anything. (HR)

Kyoto - Nara - Legs

 

Our small little house doesn't really help putting aside the kids obnoxious mood, have that out of the picture, and we had a great time in Kyoto.
Cycling is the way to go given the fact that you circle from one end of the city to the other in just over an hour.
We have seen a few historic places of which to stand out the Golden Pavillion and the Fujili Inari temple.
We payed a visit to Nishiki market a place with one excellent sushi restaurant and full of possibilities to buy just about any kind of Japanese food.
We had Raw fish every day.
We cycled from one end of the city to the other finding out that Kyoto isn't that big. The weather is on our side and i will dedicate a part of this post to talk of the third word in my title, but for now although we love Japan, or the little we've seen and felt of it I suppose the order and quietness of our surroundings brings a less emotional reaction then the last two countries we visited. If in any culture shock we are it is this 'posé' still almost emotionless way that people are. A bit robotty as if programed to be kind, helpful and abiding by the rules; all excessive emotion seems to be taboo in the day to day living. It does make it an easy country to travel in. I am kind of embarrassed asking someone where to go because people literally get out of their way to bring you where you want to be if they feel their vocabulary isn't sufficient to explain it properly.
Having said that we have just been here a few days and it is to soon to make an opinion this is just how I experience it.

We left Kyoto to stay at a Ryokan in Nara. Now this place is located in Nara Park and here to prove my theory of composed and quiet, tis park is filled with deer just wondering around amidst the crowds (and crowds they are) visiting the temples, shrines and pavilions. It is normal to move around the park and feed or pet a young deer or fifty.
The Ryokan has had it's tradition for over sixty years it is in a house that is approximately five hundred years old. Our host a giggling lady, we guess in her late sixties, is so kind funny attentional, though her vocabulary in English doesn't extend over twenty and a half words.
We are shown to our rooms Tatami's on the floor, a private dipping bath and are advised to put on our robes for the evening meal.
Staying here and participating at diner and tea in accordance to the way it has been done traditionally in Japan is a must do experience. The kids loved it.

Legs.

There is something about Japanese women and fashion, short fashion, socks fashion, high heel fashion, to mention but a few.
It seems to us as if fashion is taught from a very young age. It is perfectly normal to see a kid dressed as a young adult with knee high socks in shorts and given bu that element since it is taught and seen as normal, it produces a delicacy for the eyes being.
Even Vals points out the beauties.
It seems the shorter the short or skirt or dress, the higher the heels, the longer the legs.
When the Japs are beautiful they are gorgeous and I am feasting my eyes out at the metrage of legs I see here.
High heels seem to be the standard though you find your beauties wearing chique short lace dresses wearing red Crocs too.

Fully aware of the end of our trip I often find myself with mixed feelings but foremost grateful of this magnificent journey we are having being it geographically, family wise, or spiritually.

Here's some spirituality for ya!

Japan Pics Click

Sophistication, Sushi, Soiling!

Arrival at Kansai Airport or KIX, our first Japan experience.

• KIX, built on an artificial island I am adding a picture to show the sophistication and aesthetics of the airport.
• Sushi train at KIX. Each table has a private screen with pictures you can press on and add quantity. Once your order placed it is brought to you by express lane with a separate train that stops exactly at your table. All items are freshly made and delivered.
• Heated toilet seats, they lift up automatically as you enter the toilet, water cleansing of your behind and heated wind for drying purposes. All controls are on my right I needn't come near the toilet with my hands. A special button with a music note to 'mask' windy noises with a wavy sound.

We took the train to Kyoto the kids are noisy, very noisy, the Japanese are quiet, very quiet.
The man who checks the train tickets introduces himself, takes a deep bow, proceeds to stamp the tickets and once finished thanks everyone and bows again.
We are all sitting in pairs, Matt found a button that allows a pair of adjacent seats to pivot thus allowing four people to sit opposite each other. He keeps on repeating "Maman c'est un reve on est au Japon".
The kids are noisy, very noisy, the Japanese are quiet, very quiet.
We arrive in Kyoto exit the train the stations exit is in an electronic shop.
We find a taxi that brings us to the traditional Japanese house we rented. It is small but so practical.
We wonder the streets it is seven PM, the streets are quiet, very quiet, our kids are noisy very noisy.
A little restaurant serving Yakitori and Sashimi make our evening complete.
We walk back, our kids are noisy very noisy, the streets are quiet, very quiet.
Late wake up rainy day pouring, it is over twenty degrees Celsius, we are cold, we are scared of coming back to the Belgian weather.
Another good night sleep after take away sushi.

The sun is shining, we heard about the AOI Matsuri festival, traditional parade but when we get there we can't see anything because it is to crowded so of we are to loose ourselves in Gion the geisha quarter of Kyoto.




An amazing place, we walked for about four hours amongst the old houses, spotting geisha's, looking at school kids, we are stunned by the beauty of Japanese women and the way they dress. Louboutin seems to be the standard in casual day to day dress as Nike or Puma may be in the West.
The kids are happy yet still noisy very noisy and apart from the gambling halls even the parade was the quiet, very quiet.
Looking at the Japanese or as little as we know externally now they seem calm and composed.
People have literally walked out of their way more then once to help us. Someone even proposed to Val to wait in front of the supermarket to get butter from home(the super had run out).
Kindness here has a different meaning so does helpfulness, we are in awe at the smiles and willingness to help.
We have as we did in India difficulties to find a bin yet on the contrary to India everything is immaculate.
If anything negative is to be said is that the kids are trampling my nerves like a heard of elephants fleeing fire, I am impatient and my tolerance is tested again and again.
I think we all need space! The twenty four hour, seven days a week scheme takes its toll once in a while.
This too shall pass.

Sayonara!

China - More Nature - Closure

As I am writing this we are a day short of leaving for Japan.
I am sitting at the desk of our fancy hotel in Shanghai, we had sushi for lunch, everybody is sleeping and I am about to wake up the happy family to go to the acrobatic show which apparently is a must do.
It feels good to be in the city and get that buzz though the last few days have been mesmerizing.
Matthew was feeling ill and I spend the last day in Yangshuo Djudj doing something he'd been speaking about since two weeks a pick nick! Rented a scooter got some bacon and eggs sandwiches and of we were the two of us.
We rode a magnificent sand/stone country road amidst of the rice fields being plowed manually and the karst mountains serenely standing surrounding it all as if protecting everything in the valley.
Djudju couldn't stop saying "c'est magnifique, t'as vus comme c'est beau".
A serious rainfall interupted our ride and we took shelter under a few trees to eat our pick nick supposed to be eaten on top of Moon Hill.
The shower ceased as we finished our lunch and a three minute ride took us to the eight hundred forty something steps to climb to the top.
The purpose of our trip, at least for Julian, being eaten already, his motivation to get to the top was lunched away as well. After a short pouting and a final bye bye I'm going up from me he finally resolved to gain his mood back and we had a great climb to the top.
Though the chase was better then the catch we had a great time.
We left on the next morning to Longcheng to see the rice terraces, I had read somewhere that they were the second biggest in the world but little were we prepared not is it possible to imagine how beautiful it is without having been there.
This is probably one of the most beautiful places I have been.
I'll let the images speak for themselves but I need to mention as a proud dad that my kids have walked for eight hours up and down the paths along the terraces, they swam in the stream and only took an short hour lunch break.


The first complaint came ten minutes before arriving back at the hotel in a humorist way; Djudj sat down and said, that's it I am sleeping now and closed his eyes in joke!

We all had a foot massage as we got back to the hotel, after an unforgettable day with images printed in our heads forever!




Shanghai revealed to be a welcomed back to 'European' standards, we are staying in the 'french concession' quarter and the alleys full of trees and terraces I know again but the one you can sit at this time, has  distinct Parissy feel to it.
The acrobatic show was amazing and a rainy day made us opt for the 3D version of 'The Avengers', in both cases the kids were glued to there seats with their mouth open and for all I can say so was I.

So there, in Shanghai thinking back on China with unforgettable memories, this is an amazing country.
There is a mixture of primitivity and modernism, of rich and poor, of followers and entrepreneurs. We are in Shanghai and seem to be in a modern rich up to date place while yesterday we were looking at plows pulled by buffaloes let alone people. There is the greatness of what the party has achieved here economically especially if you compare the status with democratic India. There is also a sense of big brother although very subtle, you can avoid seeing it if you are not attentive to it.
People thread on eggs each time the subject is touched and the look is usually more revealing then the tongue.
As in India this country is so young, it is in full development and as with every being you can only learn to walk properly by falling down a few times and mistakes are there to learn from.
The opposites between the last two countries we visited are extreme and non of them are comparable two my part of the world, again I am astonished at the differences of living, eating, driving to mention but a few and especially thinking. Qualifying any of these of better or worse, right or wrong would be unjust, it is different and I like that.
The end is in sight and one of the conclusion to draw here is that this is what makes the world so rich and this is what allows me to grow, I'll take what I feel I can work with and what suits me and hopefully grow more whole.
Excitement of being back home is growing, yet nostalgia creeps in too.

!Last China Pics!

China cntnd......

We definitely underestimated our Chinese way of traveling, hopping from place to place, from plane to plane, hotel to guesthouse, greasy food to fatty food is taking it's toll. We are cranky, short, tired and at each others throat.

Chengdu is the next city we are staying in a hotel in the middle of a walking street crowded with people, like ants they are carrying souvenirs going in and out of shops to roam and seek out there next present and or memorabilia. Tens of food stalls all serving local Szechuan food, greasy fried insides and outs, sugar coated fruits, not much to make us happy. I am watching my flat-er stomach inching away from its curvyness to ball-ness by the minute. The food isn't particularly contributing to our energy levels
Chengdu is a big city crowded car infested but the part we are staying at has it's charm. The kids as always are an attraction wherever they are. Our first hotel breakfast consisted of an non successful dim sum assortment that even I couldn't get by in the morning.
So after a few danish at Starbucks, yes Starbucks, we were of to see the panda's.
My favorite bear I slept with as a kid was a panda so I've always had an affinity with those creatures and seeing them alive was special to me in a sense that it awoken my inner child who was filled with joy at seeing the very creatures he held by his side for year son end.
The kids loved it and the plane and one day detour was really worth it.
A lazy morning and lunch in the busy aunts nest and of to Xiang to the Terra Cota army.
A Belgian couple from Dendermonde shared our van towards the army and being away from home for so long it felt good to speak our own indigenous language.
After calmly but firmly, without showing anger at risk of loosing face, demanding my money back for not working audio guides we found an English speaking guide that gave us some explaining about the Army. An amazing place and though not as impressive in grandeur as we would expect it is oneof the must dos,and we had a great day.
On to Beijing.
We are staying in a cute courtyard hotel,when you are here you don't even notice you are in a city of twenty million people,it is quite and remote. Once out of the alley traffic hits you the food stalls sell insides outsides lefts and rights,,I have a distinct theory about Chinese and edible animals. If it's edible it means you can eat it,''all of it''.
We had our Peking duck served with insides outsides and deep fried bones.
A walk around the city temples squares, forbidden or not guided by a young guide who's voice was getting on our nerves not to mention his explanations,let me quote a few. "China is big so you have southern China and Northern China" (I couldn't help but add' and eastern and western China),"Beijing is big, so there are many cars so there is many traffic" or "the great wall is over sixteen thousand miles long", again add a harsh cutting voice and imagine the brain sized as a pea or at least that's what it felt like(is this way of describing bad karma?).
We finished our day at a western restaurant a sister resto of the one we had found in Chengdu after a magnificent day on the Great Wall.

A five hour walk up and down climb and run to one side then the other to be ended by the skid-track down the mountain swearing at scared Chinese in my best Antwaarps who were slowing down everyone. The kids walked for five hours with only once complaining, we need nature open space and long walks, we love it.
My writings of China have been sporadic and less frequent then other countries, mostly due to the Orwell effect which doesn't facilitate my posting.

As I mentioned we underestimated this part and being on an organized trip constrains the possibilities for rest and relaxation, nevertheless it still remains fascinating.

We arrived in Guilin and got driven to a lovely little hotel in Yangshuo.
This Area is amazing, it holds an impressive similitude with  the Panga Bay in Thailand as it is a Karst mountain range, basically coral mountain that are pointing up and on land due to the pre historic lowering of the tides. Nearly everywhere you look you get postcard images in front of you.
The lush greens on the mountain, the rice fields, the butterflies the birds, it is just astounding.
We spent the first day getting wet through and through after a bamboo raft down the river and a cycle ride in the first monsoon showers. Given the high temperature it didn't really matter. The kids had a blast and so did we.

The place we were staying at got filled with Shanghai expat Germans, much to the liking of the kids who suddenly had plenty of friends to play with.
We took a boat down the river and cycled back after a local lunch for a little seventeen kilometer. All went well until Djudju stuck his feet in the wheels resulting in a serious scraping of his talon. Crying as if his foot was cut of, he finally calmed down until mum showed up where as the cries renewed louder and stronger, to an impatient dad who wanted to get on.


Matthew made acquaintance with a Belgian couple who we spent the day with going to the market.
The pictures are not for the faint at heart and I'll try and describe it to you(if you are a vegetarian you might wanna skip this part).
As we had seen in previous market this one again offered limitless photographic possibilities being portraits or most interesting or shocking depending on how you look at it, the butchers corner.
 As I've mentioned before, if it lives it's edible so avoiding to be confronted to cats and dogs we have had the opportunity to explore this markets fish, poultry and pork department.
The poultry is piled up one on the other if you want to buy a Chicken or a rooster you choose it, inspect it and then you get offered with two possibilities. Either the feathered two legger is tied up and you can take it home holding  it upside down by the legs, or, this is the interesting part, it's throat is slit on the spot, it is then deposited in a plastic bin with a lid where it can bleed to death while you can hear it's body move around the message not being passe yet from the brain down that it is dead. You then have the option of having it plucked through boiling first.
Ducks undergo pretty much the same ordeal. We saw one duck being plucked while his brother was watching what was soon going to happen to him.
The fish where being scaled alive, some didn't even bother knocking them unconscious first.

The teeth, cheeks and eyes,basically the skinned face of the pigs were displayed gloriously on one table next to the pigs boneless 'faces' on the other.
The most interesting part besides the most esthetic pictures I've probably taken was the kids reactions.
Their view is one of a different approach all together. Their is some kind of compassion as far as the stacking of animal goes but when it comes to bloody teeth, eyes, teeth and so on their view is one of wonder and amazement rather then disgust and revulsion like mum. A skinned face with bulging eyes triggers a woooow have you seen that cool rather then a yuck!
We left the market and crossed the river to cycle back being charged the white mans' fee of ten yuan one way instead of one yuan both ways. On the way back my bicycle caved in the wheel got stuck and Djudj and I had to be picked up.
we ended the day with a light show performed by six hundred something people and choreographed by the same choreographer who did the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics for a perfect closure to a wonderful day.

We are four planes away from home and though dreading the weather after a year of light clothing I must admit I feel some excitement at the fact of settling for a while.I feel a bit like a horse who reeked the stables and gets his mind set around that and only that. I think we all definitely want to see Japan but at the same time it would be OK if it should end now.
There are major plans on both end of the couple to alternate parts of our live and progress to something greater. Having been out of context for almost a year, and on top of each other surely fed the spirit and allowed time for introspection and confrontation, willed or forced.
I suppose the challenge of any resolution is the putting into practice despite the daily routine creeping back in place.
Talks are going around about warmer living alternatives, having lived 'outdoors' for almost a year, we are dreading the Belgian weather more then anything, at least this is one of my big fears.
Exploring the where and how and when is a new adventure on it's own.
This is the last bend before the final straight to home..........

 

Pictures of China here