I’m Crazy!
As I shared in my A Land Remembered March and April tour dates post, Kim and I were heading to Asia. Now we’re back, recuperating and prepping to leave for Florida on March 1.
Before I go into my trip highlights, I wanted to let you know our show in Lake Worth, Florida will be on the campus of Palm Beach State College. Other venues may have changed since I last posted the schedule so make sure you check out all the details. You can also find out more on each page dedicated to the venue under A Land Remembered Tour Schedule in the menu bar.
Trip Highlights
It was crazy that we went on a quick tour of Asia just before starting a big speaking tour but we were going with family and that was the time that was best for them.
I wasn’t too happy about it and wasn’t looking as forward to the trip as I would have liked. However, once we stepped foot in Tokyo, I changed my mind!
Here’s a very brief recap of what we saw and my impressions.
Japan
I loved Tokyo. We only had a couple of days so we can’t say that we really SAW Tokyo, but we did our best.
First impression – it’s so clean!
Everything from the airport to the train stations to the street was immaculate, and you saw people and machines constantly cleaning it.
Second impression – they REALLY like seafood.
We went into the Tsjukji Tokyo Fish Market and spent half a day wandering around the many streets and small alleys. It was fascinating. There were so many sea creatures for sale and immediate consumption, many of whom I couldn’t identify.
Third impression – Japanese toilets are the bomb!
At first they were intimidating due to the “control panels” on them, which were usually in Japanese (go figure), but once you got the hang of it, it was marvelously refreshing. Enough said.
Bali
Next we flew to Bali to meet up with our group.
First impression – it sure is HOT and muggy here! Yes, worse than Florida.
Second impression – traffic is crazy.
The streets were clearly laid out before large automobiles came to being. That partially explains why most of the locals drive motor scooters and there were thousands of them. I constantly expected to see an accident but they seemed quite competent zooming past cars and each other with just inches to spare. You’d see families of four on a small scooter, along with the day’s shopping on board. I was fascinated by this
Third impression – although we saw some poverty we never saw homelessness or beggars. Sure, we got hustled, but they were easy enough to brush off.
Fourth impression – Hinduism is a major religion and we really appreciated seeing the offerings virtually everywhere. We made a few ourselves.
Bali is part of Indonesia. While Indonesia has a majority Muslim population, Bali’s history goes way back and is largely Hindu. You literally can’t go anywhere that you won’t see Hindu temples. People make offerings everywhere, little baskets make of leaves that hold various small flowers and maybe something like a cigarette or a piece of incense.
Several places we went required everyone to wear a sarong. This photo is from “The Mother Temple of Pura Besakih. It is over 1,000 years old. We wore saris, made a few offerings and participated in a short religious ceremony.
Kuala Lumpur
Our next stop was in Malaysia.
The large photo in this post was taken on the observation deck on the KL Tower, one of the 7 highest communication towers in the world. Just stepping onto the glass made you dizzy!
First impression – I went to Kuala Lumpur expecting to see a struggling third world city. Boy, was I wrong!
The very large and quickly growing downtown is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. There are scores of very tall buildings, each one architecturally distinctive. It’s a flat out beautiful downtown with a lovely park which we enjoyed very much.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen an Aston Martin showroom, which was next to a Bentley showroom. There is plenty of money in Kuala Lumpur. Admittedly, we did see some slums on the outskirts.
The photo at right is of the Petronas Twin Towers, the signature landmark of Kuala Lumpur. The top floor is 1,230 feet tall.
Second impression – taxis are the way to go.
They are incredibly inexpensive, easy to hail and a much better way to get around than the hop-on-hop-off busses we attempted to use. They don’t have the motor scooter culture of Bali. Streets are wide and beautiful and the cars are nice. Take a taxi. Heck with the bus!
Third impression – if you think Bali is hot, wait until Kuala Lumpur.
We’d leave the hotel at 9:00 AM to go exploring and within 30 minutes would be soaking wet.
Getting There and Back
One of the best parts of the trip was flying business class from LAX to Japan and back again. We were able to do so fairly inexpensively because we used mileage points. It was so much more comfortable and really helped transition us into Japanese time which is 17 hours a head of Pacific Standard Time.
Then for $25 extra each, we saw we could upgrade our flight from Bali to Malaysia to business class.
Even our economy flights from Tokyo to Bali and Kuala Lumpur back to Tokyo turned out much better than expected.
It is going to make me work harder to get that private airplane!
We also traveled light with only one carry on each if you can believe that! That decreased our time at the airports significantly. I can’t recommend enough my eBags TLS Mother Lode Weekender bag. Although you can use it as a backpack, it is a LOT different than when I backpacked through Europe in my late teens.
In Summary
It was an incredible experience. I was so amazed at how progressive some parts of Asia were, much more so than places I’ve been to in the U.S. We are so different yet so much the same. That’s one of the wonderful perks you get with traveling outside your comfort zone and to an area much different than where you live. We could have spent much longer in each location but we’ll have to do that another time.
I posted a ton of photos on my Facebook page that you’d enjoy. If you’re not connected with me that way, send me a friend request.
It’s time to hit the road again with Patrick Smith’s Florida Is A Land Remembered. I hope we’ll see you somewhere along the way.
