One last morning in Tokyo

The previous post in this series is here.

We came back from Shinjuku and packed for a good hour.

The next morning we were planning to relax, go around the malls near the Tokyo Dome Hotel, then take an Uber to another Indian restaurant for one big meal before making it to Narita.

We got quite a scare when checking out. My friends son was walking right next to me, all happy that we were going back home that day. I made the mistake of letting him walk ahead for two seconds only to see the elevator door close before I could get in. The Tokyo dome hotel does elevators do not show which floors they are stopping at! So we had no idea where the kid got off. After some frantic searching, we were finally back together as a group. I kept kicking myself for a few hours for that mistake. Apple maps should also automatically have a feature to track which floor a person is in with the Find Me app. Showing everyone standing on top of each other in same location doesn’t help!

After checking out and leaving our luggage at the hotel, we had a nice breakfast at a bakery right below the hotel. Then we walked to a local mall and shopped some more! Then we made it to this Jain restaurant which was cramped but had great food. We were the only ones that early at the restaurant and we ended up talking to the employees for some time and heard their life stories.

It was then time to get an Uber back to the Tokyo dome and make our way to the train station. Had to take 3 trains (we got on a wrong train first!) and eventually made it with plenty of time to spare at the airport.

That helped because we all had extra Yen left in the SUICA App we had loaded just that morning to help with the wrong train situation! We could have listened to Jr. and done it on day 1.

There is a store in the Narita airport that accepts Suica cards. So we shopped that the store to account for every last Yen on that app which ended up being a fun exercise. here are a few photos from day 8

The entire trip was a great experience! Only wished the little one could have joined us. We will get her on our next family trip!

8 days in Japan, a good three months to blog about it!

Yogagraphy and portraits in Bora Bora lagoon

The previous post in this series is here..

We did spend time in the morning before breakfast taking photos in the lagoon with me doing yoga poses and later in the evening before dinner. This time we came a good hour before sunset time and got some amazing pics. It was not raining and that was a big plus! Will strongly recommend the Royal Hotel in Bora Bora. Fantastic setup, fantastic people!

Earlier in the morning.. or I should say way earlier than sunrise, the roosters that kept us up, ended up right outside our sliding door. I got to drink tea watching them and this cat that wandered around the premises.

The place was full of trees, especially Badam trees.. Told the family they were Badam and they did not believe me. Later we saw a sign naming the trees and was vindicated! The other tree was a “fish poison” tree that is actually toxic to humans. Good they label trees so we learned something.

Here are the photos..

This is a small subset. Had so many good photos did not know which ones to pick..

You can give your camera to any random stranger and get a click and it is frame worthy in this place !!

A video highlights reel..

We had a great dinner after taking pictures. The service was fast on the day after Christmas because they had more staff on hand. We went back to our rooms and went to bed. We had done our exercise for the day in the water..or at least that is how I consoled myself after that heavy dinner and dessert!

Hanoi by night

The previous post is here..

After our long drive back from Ha Long bay, we finally got to check in to the hotel at close to 7PM. We stayed at the La Nueva Boutique hotel. Will give this hotel two thumbs up for the rooms, service and amazing breakfast as well as the location.

We checked in and immediately went down to try and do two things. See the road with railway track in the middle with the restaurants on either side (which was a landmark we only drove past in the morning) and find dinner. We went in the wrong direction to find the railroad and after 20 minutes we were still more than 1/2 a mile away. One cab driver said most of the stuff is closed.

we were hungry by then and walked through the old quarter and found “Gurajat” ! Fantastic 100% vegetarian food in the heart of Hanoi! Long may the Gujjus live! After a nice dinner we walked back to our hotel. We barely wrapped up day 1 of the trip and we had walked miles all through the day.

A video highlight reel.. the shops kept coming as far as the eye could see.. it was amazing! vibrant night life, tons of restaurants, shops, smiling people!

Our driver had talked to his boss and convinced him to be the driver for the next day as well. It was going to be an interesting day..