Japan - Day 17  -  Fly back to Thailand.  Home sweet home.


5th January, 2008

Not much to share about today.  It was simply a travel day back home.  Devin was really glad to get back to the heat of Thailand and away from the cold weather.  We all had a great time on our trip.  I'll leave you with a few thoughts. 

  1. I had far more fun on this trip than I thought.  For some reason, I never imagined Japan as much of a tourist spot.  Quite the contrary, every stop had lots for all of us to see, and we missed out on a lot.
     

  2. The people we met were quiet, but very friendly.  I am impressed with the respect embedded in the culture.
     

  3. David can draw quite the crowd with his smile.  It's fun to watch people interact with him while we're on the train.
     

  4. I certainly got a few stares, as there aren't many 6'4" 300 pound bald white guys in Japan.  But I'm used to it, considering I get stares and laughs in Thailand also.
     

  5. Technology is everywhere in Japan.  Surprised?  Not me.  And yet I somehow managed to avoid spending a lot of money on said technology.
     

  6. Japan is a very beautiful country.  With the exception of the "concrete jungle" of Tokyo with a day-time population of 14 million people, I found Japan to be incredibly beautiful.
     

  7. Even though we went to many non-tourist places, every single Japanese person we interacted with knew more English than we knew Japanese.  This is something I find very humbling as I travel the world.  My quest to learn language didn't work very well here, as I would occasionally slip into speaking Thai. 
     

  8. The infrastructure of Japan is impressive.  e.g. Trains everywhere.  Efficiency is evident in everything, including collecting the garbage.
     

  9. I can't wait to see more of the world, but I also will put Japan on my list of places to see again.

 

 

Until next time, Sayonara!

 

Not very many pictures today.  Click on the image to see a larger version.
 

  
Devin had to get creative with David's bed in this hotel, so she pushed some chairs together.  David loved seeing the plastic food everywhere. And one last family self-portrait.