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Korean eating. Lots of little plates of pickled things, and more.

Dinner with fellow travelers. So many little plates. (Banchan) Three of us chose octopus, and one had beef.

We are not foodies. We don’t seek out the ‘of the moment’ restaurants or cooking trends. But we do love to eat, and to find small mom and pop places to spend our money. When we’re in travel mode, or bicycle touring, we eat out just about every night. And afternoon. Mornings too, if the hotel doesn’t have breakfast available. So that’s a lot of searching for and sitting down to meals.

Our very first lunch in Korea. A dumpling place in the Insadong neighborhood of Seoul. Rich had eaten here on a business trip layover exactly ten years before.

Cheryl very happy to be enjoying her first glass of white wine in the Ikseon-dong neighborhood of Seoul.

Rich enjoying a craft beer and a skillet of Oven Cheese Tteokbokki (오븐치즈떡볶이).

Tteokbokki is chewy rice cakes cooked in a red, spicy broth. This version at a place called Hang Out in the charming Ikeseon-dong area, a maze of little streets with so many different shops and restaurants, was more of a beer snack meal than the smaller street vendor versions we saw later on. This version had Sundae sausage and cheese as well as the rice cakes.

A stroll through the Gwangjang market to try Mung Bean Bindaetteok (녹두빈대떡).

This snack turned out to be a big serving. The small dish is pickled celery, we think. And kimchi came out after Rich, a kimchi fan, asked for it.

After a visit to Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the amazing museum complex designed by architect Zaha Hadid, which is well worth a visit, we went over to the Gwangjang Market to walk around and ogle the food on offer.

Had we not been full of mung bean pancakes I would have loved to try this pumpkin soup.

We quickly got a bit overwhelmed in the market.

Fish cakes, Korean glass noodles – Japchae is the dish of stir fried noodles – Tteokbokki, the spicy rice cakes, and the long sausages are Sundae: made with pork intestines stuffed with glass noodles, coagulated pig blood and vegetables, all steamed together.

You know how people like to talk about getting out of your comfort zone? Food is a fast and easy way to do that. I don’t consider myself an adventurous eater, Rich is willing to try anything but I’m a lot more picky, or cautious. And, I don’t like seafood all that much. I’ll happily have sushi or sashimi, but most cooked seafood gets a pass when I’m choosing my meal. However, once we got bicycling on our trip from Seoul to Busan, I really did have to eat what we could get. Whether it be from the ubiquitous convenience stores, or at a restaurant.

Bibimbap, or mixed rice dish. Sometimes in a hot stone bowl (dolsot), or mine in a tin bowl, vegetables and an egg. We quickly learned that not everyone finishes the little dishes of pickled vegetables and fish.

This little street is known as a Pocha, short for Pojang-macha, a restaurant or street that serves Korean comfort food. It’s where we had the bibimbap in the previous photo.

Our first night on our bike tour we had sushi and noodles. And yes, that stain on my placemat is the splash from when I dropped a piece of sushi in the soy sauce.

Chocolate milk. A great energy drink while cycling.

My favorite bike touring lunch, a picnic. This was taken right before we realized we were sharing our bench with spiders.

This is not a typical dinner scene on our bike ride, Rich got the beef bulgogi set meal, I got pasta carbonara. Our hotel offered Korean and Western food. Usually it’s all Korean food.

Bike touring lets us see a country in detail, and forces us to figure out how to feed ourselves. Korean convenience stores are easy to find, and although I prefer Japanese convenience stores, we did well finding things that appealed to us.

A well placed picnic gazebo for elevenses. Packaged pastries and drinks from a convenience store.

Dumpling lunch. A happy stop. Kimchi, spicy bbq, and meat dumplings. For the record the spicy bbq and kimchi were great, meat ones were a bit boring and bland.

So, how about when the food finding is not so easy. Or not so successful? Or you get to town kind of late and not much is open? Then it’s chicken and beer places. We had to resort to chicken and beer places twice, on long days. They are known as Chimaek. From chikin ‘fried chicken’, and maekju ‘beer’.

This was actually quite good after a day cycling. Chicken nuggets, noodles, rice cakes, a spicy sweet sauce, and leeks on top. The dish to the right was pickled jicama, we think. Or maybe radishes.

It’s a good day when you discover that this energy bar from 7-11 is really tasty. And they had a buy 2 get 3 special. The clerks in the 7-11s were very good at making sure you didn’t miss a special offer.

At our second Chimaek restaurant, we failed to snap a picture of the Cheeto orange chicken, but this salad with ice cream on top was not as bad as you would think. Yes, that’s corn and tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and red onions. Under the ice cream.

There was an evening when we pulled into town on our bikes, in Gumi, and planned on eating at the food court of a large grocery store chain, E-Mart. Food courts in Korea are good. We were looking forward to it. We checked in to our nice hotel, unpacked, showered, and strolled over with plenty of time for dinner. It was closed. There was a mysterious local holiday that no one but the management of the E-Mart seemed to know about, or care about. So, grumbling and hangry, we headed back to our hotel, and then spotted the sports team from the hotel lobby at a small place down the block and went in.

A small restaurant run by one lady, who does one thing. We ordered the one thing for two. Out came the small dishes of pickled things. Out came a burner.

And out came the bubbling Sundae Jungol hot pot. Remember, Sundae are the sausages, the hot pot also has pork intestines and vegetables in a spicy broth. It was quite good.

Once we reached Busan and were off the bikes and in a city it was easier to search out restaurants and plan ahead. While cycle touring you are often at the mercy of how far you were able to ride, and what time you get to town, and how much energy you have to find and walk to a restaurant. But with a few days to explore you can find what you actually want. Rich was happy to find that Korea has had a renaissance of craft beer brewing in the past decade or so.

Amazing Brewing Company in Seoul. Don’t let the same shirt fool you into thinking this was one night, it was three different nights with a limited wardrobe.

That face says “It’s not wine”. But it was good.

Korean food is quite varied. Most people know Korean BBQ and bibimbap, but there is a lot more to discover.

A Mexican restaurant in Busan. Grilled shrimp tacos.

Not bad. A bit too sweet, but a nice diversion.

I like a lunch that comes with scissors to cut your noodles. I did this all wrong. One of the little bottles was something for declumping the glass noodles. Oh well, press on. At the Busan train station.

Seomyeon Market food street, Busan. Tempura.

Beef bulgogi dolsot bibimbap. Quick, break that egg yolk, but don’t disturb the rice while it crackles against the hot stone pot and gets crispy and brown.

We took the train from Busan to Seoul and stayed for a week in an apartment which meant we could cook our own meals. As much as we enjoy eating new foods, it gets stressful and tiring to find restaurants, translate menus, and constantly try to figure out what goes with what – does this go in here or do you dump this into there? Our first lunch in our apartment after a visit to the big E-Mart grocery store was grilled cheese sandwiches.

Last dinner in Busan. Rice and pork soup. Made in huge vats, long boiled in the little street in front of the restaurant. The little bowl of pink is tiny salted shrimp, which you add to the soup, along with garlic chives and minced sauce.

Our apartment in Seoul for our last week in Korea was out in a neighborhood. While at first glance during the walk from the Jungnang metro station it appeared to be a lot of tire shops, new apartment buildings, and little clothing stores, the small back streets proved to be full of restaurants and places to buy groceries. It was easy to wander around and pick a place a for dinner.

We translated the sign to read Ssambap, This means things, rice, meat, vegetables, and sauce wrapped in a variety of leaves.

The plate of leaves at the left include lettuce, Korean perilla leaves, squash, bok choy, Napa cabbage, and cabbage leaves. The small round black dish is a freshwater snail and soybean paste stew.

My attempt at ssambap. That’s bulgogi beef on top, from the second round black dish in the table. Nice and spicy. I think a local would have a neater and tighter wrap. Think Korean burrito.

Seoul was fantastic for hiking, as we covered in the previous post, and it was also fantastic for simply walking into a restaurant and getting a delicious meal with very low stress or awkwardness. The owners were always nice and welcoming. They would help us out when we were obviously confused about how to proceed with our meal, and payment was always easy – just get up and walk to the cash register and tap your credit card. No tipping, and taxes already included. Another nice thing about walking up to pay is that you don’t feel guilty having left some of the little plates of pickled things. Our clean your plate mentality is hard to break.

Hiked off a mountain and into a tofu restaurant. The table of gentlemen behind Rich were having fun and that enticed us in.

Who’s excited by her tofu bibimbap with an egg on top?

The meal sets are another fun easy way to order. I got beef bulgogi (again), and Rich had ginger chicken soup.

The soup arrived bubbling away in its dolsot.

Korea is famous for its barbecue. That’s the one thing most travelers might know about Korean food – barbecue. And the many barbecue restaurants are super popular with locals. It’s a fun thing to do with a group of family or friends. The ubiquitous restaurants are easy to spot with the ventilation hoods over the table grill. We decided on our last night eating out in Seoul to finally try a barbecue place. We’re not really big meat eaters, but thankfully as with any meal in Korea there’s no worry about getting plenty of veggies.

Was it the cute pig on the sign that drew us in?

It was the perfect mix of some tables full, but not too crowded. That way we can watch how other diners proceed but not feel too overwhelmed. That’s a little dish of garlic in oil on our charcoal grill.

I was doing my best to be grill master of the meat we got. (We’re still not sure what it was, our translation app was a bit vague on this one.) The other dishes contain an egg soufflé/omelet, pickled daikon, Kimchi, leaves to wrap your bbq in, and loads of other veggies and seaweed.

The friendly waitress came over to give me a hand. I was being too careful, she dove in and tossed that meat around!

Belly full, happy to have a 15 minute walk to the subway station through little back streets.

We did willfully break some food norms. Koreans don’t walk and eat like we Americans do. Everyone else who got ice cream sat at the shop and ate it. We strolled.

One final river path walk in the morning before heading by train to the airport.

We had a great time in Korea. The people, the food, the biking, all of it exceeded our expectations. We are in San Francisco now, after a lovely family visit in Colorado, and we head back to France soon to pick up new touring bikes in Germany and then out for cycle touring!

The happy but jet lagged travelers in Colorado.

Mega trail around a mega city. Seoul, Korea.

A view from our first mountain park hike.

We knew that Koreans love to hike. Even if we hadn’t known that before coming to Seoul the sheer quantity of hikers using the metro would have tipped us off. Boots, backpacks, hiking poles, sun hats, we felt right at home with these transit enabled hikers. We hadn’t planned on turning our time in Seoul into a multi day hiking expedition, but that’s the joy of travel. Sometimes you just never know what’s going to happen and what you’ll find in a new place.

A view from our second or third mountain hike.

You may be realizing that what these views have in common is that we are looking down at the city. Down as in ‘we climbed a lot of darn steps to get up here’.

Looking at one mountain park we climbed, the little one to the right, while climbing another mountain park. Playing the game called find our high rise.

The air was quite clear on our first hiking day. Rain was coming in a few days so we hiked three days in a row.

Rich found the first hike for us by seeing the mountain park from our 12th floor window and navigating us there hoping there would be a trail. There was. And there was an amazing accessible boardwalk style trail all the way up to a temple and a cafe. Maps.me was helpful, showing some trails, and Alltrails had some as well, but lacking a great mapping site we relied on Rich’s wonderful navigation skills.

Once we were on the trails the signage was quite good.

Very comprehensive signage on the Seoul trail.

Since hikers are getting to and from their hikes on the metro, there are also signs to get you to the trails from the neighborhoods.

A comprehensive hiker sign. I like they have a backpack and a pole. And a big version in case you fail to see the smaller sign.

Seoul wraps around and up to some impressive mountains, when you get off the metro you see this. Head that way.

The signage and maps varied in detail, and confusingly played fast and loose with having north be at the top, but on the whole you were well taken care of, signage wise.

A big view of mountains and the trail networks. Including metro stations.

A map showing the 156 kilometers of the Seoul trail.

Not only was the number of trail opportunities great, the amenities along the trails, and the construction of the trails were impressive. Very nicely maintained steps, benches and picnic spots, restrooms, and my new favorite thing – carpeted trails. It looks like jute, or coir, and for stretches that are steep up or down, or could get quite muddy, it’s super helpful. It also stops the usual trail ruts from forming, or the footsteps turning into hardened mud. And dang, carpeted trails – what’s not to love about that?

This one was new. You can appreciate the weave.

A more worn in stretch of trail carpet. And our much worn Ecco sandals.

Restrooms, clean and with potable water unless otherwise noted.

A pine grove with plenty of picnic benches.

An accessible trail gently climbs towards the view spot.

Where there were stairs they were also well built and maintained. And usually wide enough to handle the crowds of enthusiastic hikers. This was a weekday so there was not as many people as we imagine show up on weekends.

And then down. This hike day, a section of the Seoul Trail, had about 2,000 steps.

It’s not unusual for us to come to a city and skip the A list sights. Doing things we love to do, like hiking or biking, or even just walking city streets, gives us more insight into what life is really like in a place like Seoul. Seeing the neighborhoods far from the tourist friendly zones. Going into restaurants with basically zero idea what kind of food they serve. And hiking trails like these, full of locals. I tell Rich he’s never happier then when there are zero other western tourists. I developed a rating scale for him of tourist bombs – a high of five is a lot of tourists and not going to result in a happy Rich, and a low of one is good, but zero is better. After the tourist bomb rating is the wide eyed locals rating – which shows how surprised the locals seem to be to spot two big foreigners on their trail or in their small neighborhood restaurant. Our best hike was zero tourist bombs, and five wide eyed locals, the highest rating possible in my new rating scale.

A friendly fellow hiker. Even with few common words he and Rich got along over pointing out buildings.

This is a typical hiking outfit for the locals. Rich’s is not! Our sandals were definitely unusual.

In addition to good trail signs, there are informational signs about archaeological sites, and signs asking folks to please not collect acorns and chestnuts as the wildlife depend on them.

Good informational signs with english translation.

This cute squirrel would like you to leave their food alone.

Another reminder to leave nuts on the ground for forage.

You might be thinking, ok, so that’s all impressive and interesting, but lots of places have trails, and signs, and views. Well hold on to your sun hats, there’s more.

Stamps! Like the stamps we didn’t collect along the Seoul to Busan bike route, and in Japanese train stations, there are also stamps we didn’t collect along the Seoul Trail.

So cute. Each station has a unique stamp.

Compressed air blowers. To remove the dust from your shoes and trousers before you head back into civilization.

The sight of these meant you were nearing the end of your hike. Or a connection out to a neighborhood or metro station.

Felt nice to dust off our sandals and legs.

Rock stacking. In California this is discouraged behavior, but here it has Buddhist origins, although some folks apparently just like the challenge, adding a rock as they walk by.

Ribbon blaze markings, so you can keep to the Seoul Trail at crossroads.

A group of adorable young hikers, an entire class went by us, greeting us in Korean. We were charmed.

The unexpected pleasure of hiking in Seoul was highlighted by all the amazing views. As you climbed up, wrapped around, or climbed down a mountain park, you got new views of a different part of this mega city.

A view across graves to a cityscape and another mountain.

This high stretch reminded us of Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe.

But we never had views like this in Desolation.

Scrambling down towards the city and a metro station.

Getting closer to civilization and lunch, passing by a community garden site.

The reward? Tofu Bibimbap. It was delicious and I let it sizzle in its dolsot (Korean stone bowl) so the rice got nicely crisped on the bottom.

I want to include some tips for hiking in Seoul: Keep your metro card charged up, all the hikes we did are transit friendly. Bring snacks or lunch, the smaller neighborhood parks might have a cafe, but the longer trails that we hiked didn’t. Bring water, we were able to refill on all of our hikes eventually, but bring enough water to last for most of your hike just in case. Now, how to find hikes. You can assume that every mountain you see has trails, but finding a trailhead might be a little tricky. Rich used a combination of google maps, maps.me and All Trails. You can find information about the Seoul Trail at English.Seoul.go.kr and on our links page. If you find yourself confused, ask a local or follow someone in hiking gear.

The happy hikers on one of our Seoul hikes.

We’re at Incheon Airport now, slightly dreading the 12 hour fight to the US. I will definitely do a post about the food we ate while in Korea. The good, the not my favorite, and the mysterious that Google translate failed to help us understand. See you soon San Francisco.

What we’ll miss about Japan. And what I missed!

A well propped up tree in Kenroku-en gardens, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture.

I will miss the trees. We visited a lot of gardens and parks to see cherry blossoms, but the blooms aren’t the only attractions. The trees, the green moss, the water features. Although Japanese cities were not all blessed with a lot of parks or green space, those that exist are so well taken care of.

The green. The water. The old tea house. Kenroku-en gardens.

This giant camphor tree in Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine is estimated to be as old as 1,500 years. Feel insignificant yet?

What was the progression here? Tree first than building? Small tree and a miscalculation of tree potential?

Spring is not all about cherry blossoms, this tulip display in Shikoku Mura open-air architectural park in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture holds its own.

I’m going to miss the small streets, with restaurants and shops that cluster together, usually near a train station. Each city has its share of large arterial roads, with plenty of car traffic and sometimes intolerably long signal phases, leaving you standing for minutes waiting for a pedestrian walk signal. But, when you find the area of small streets the entire nature of that city changes. Narrow and mostly car free or very car light, the small streets give you an opportunity to feel you’ve stepped back in time.

Chuo district, Kobe, this an alley between the railway tracks of Sannomiya Station. It’s packed with businesses.

Same district, Chuo, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The night time scenes are so bright and colorful.

The neighborhood of Motoshikkuimachi, Nagasaki. On the hunt for a ramen shop, we wandered around for ages after dinner, entranced by this warren of small streets.

An urban planner could explain how the geometry of the streets, the lights, and the heights of the buildings all work together just so, all I know is I love it!

Still Nagasaki, one of our favorite places. Even the vending machines add to the charm of the nightlife.

Within these fine grained streets, with corners hiding the next view, are the amazing small restaurants. I’ve mentioned the awkwardness of sliding open doors and facing a tiny space perhaps already packed with customers. It can be cringe inducing, but so rewarding to be able to eat at a restaurant that is run by people who focus on one thing. This type of food – we do this and we do it well. You will wait the required amount of time, you will likely be served on hand thrown ceramic plates, and the food will be exquisitely displayed.

A chef waiting to cook our Kobe beef. Yes, he knows this cut and presentation deserves a photo.

Tuna three ways said the menu at the sushi bar. Delicious, delicious, and delicious. Even a conveyor belt sushi restaurant has style.

A burger place in Takamatsu. The chef/owner does burgers and cocktails. That’s it. And they are fantastic. Did I mention the restaurant seats maybe 9 customers?

Shashimi at a small Izakaya in Shimabara. Mom and Dad cooking, their young daughter who started primary school that day sitting at the counter playing. The plate, which you can barely see under this load of fresh fish, was gorgeous.

The same Izakaya. After this tofu salad course I typed into Google translate that their ceramic plates were stunningly beautiful. She turned to him with a look we all recognize: it said, see? I told you so!

Another beautiful presentation at a Shabu Shabu restaurant in Kagoshima, famous for its black pork which was delicious. This sashimi course came with our set menu.

If it’s possible to desperately miss something you only got to do twice then we will desperately miss the Yatai of Fukuoka. The Tenjin neighborhood has small food stands, Yatai, which set up each night to serve up food in a space half the size of the storage unit holding all of our possessions back in the US.

And this is a Yatai. You look below curtain level to see if any seats are available, or you look for a line of patient customers waiting.

Rich added for scale. We had dinner at this one.

Not much room inside to take photos. And you don’t linger after dinner. For one, it’s not the most comfortable seating ever. And the owners need to turn the seats when there are only six or seven of them.

Not much room to cook either, but the chefs were making it work. It’s warm and cozy once you’re behind the curtains.

The number of Yatai was shrinking, but in the last few years they’ve enjoyed a new renaissance and there are about 150 now. In addition to dinner at one we spent a hilariously fun evening drinking at a Yatai bar. Everyone is friends at a Yatai bar which measures 10×8 feet.

Fairly unassuming from the outside, this Yatai bar.

The tools of the trade. Apparently it takes 3 hours to set up this Yatai each day. And 3 to take down.

My daiquiri and Rich’s mojito. Round two.

A super fun young recently engaged couple from Osaka. We were communicating with English and google translate.

And on Rich’s left two young women, engineers who had studied in Canada.

Boiled peanuts and potato chips (gone already) were the bar snacks which the cover charge supplied. Yes, we have that beer mat.

Again, it’s a seriously cozy space. You sit closer to strangers then you would anywhere else.

What else will I miss about Japan? The safety. The ability for Japan to have nice things that people respect and take care of. Public restrooms which are clean and stocked with rolls of TP which are not stolen. And the quirky things. Things you see and go, oh yeah, that makes sense to have.

Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu. You use these to remove dust from your shoes after strolling in the gardens.

Hot tea from a vending machine. A can of Royal Milk Tea, black tea with milk and sugar. Hot. This is on the ferry coming back to Kagoshima from Mt. Sakurajima volcano.

The little cartoon mascots everywhere. Such a cute deadly volcano!

The train to the Fukuoka airport has a cartoon dog keeping you safe.

You will always feel you missed out on experiences and places when traveling. We immediately have a list for “next time”. It says a lot about a place that you want to come back, soon. Regret is a rear view mirror. So what do I regret about our time in Japan now that we’ve moved on?

There are themed stamps at every train station! I failed to realize this until we had already been through so many stations. And I had no cute notebook in which to stamp these unique stamps.

Then I found one at a volcano park and was even more annoyed at myself. I could have had a whole book of stamps.

This is when Rich and I say to each other “I used to do important things.” Recalling our previous professional lives where we earned money, and made multiple decisions a day that impacted people and projects. And we laugh at ourselves. Another regret? Hotels in Japan supply you with pajamas. Really. Instead of a robe you get pajamas or a button up nightgown contraption or a yakuta, a light cotton kimono. Somehow the pajama tops and bottoms fit both me and Rich, sometimes with pretty funny differences. Do I have a single photo, let alone a collection of photos? No. If you go to Japan learn from my mistake and take photos of yourself in the pajamas in your hotel rooms. And take a notebook to collect the stamps.

I will not miss hearing Rich’s head connect with room doorways, low hanging light fixtures, and train doors. We hang things from the doors in our rooms as mitigation.

Sunset light on the happy travelers in Nagasaki.

No regrets that we visited Japan. Such a lovely place with wonderful people. Goodbye Japan. Hello Korea.

The blessings of volcanic activity: hot springs and public footbaths.

One of the longest public foot baths in Japan, the Sakurajima Volcanic Shore Park and Footbath, with Sakurajima, an active volcano and the source of the hot water, steaming away in the background. Kagoshima Prefecture.

There are things you know about a country before you arrive and are looking forward to – food, specific sights, cultural norms that are different from your own and therefore fascinating – but the things that catch you by surprise are the gifts of travel.

Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, is known as the city where Koi swim in the canals, full of plentiful spring water.

Plentiful water. Still a mind bending notion to someone raised in Southern California. The city of Shimabara has a castle, a lovely neighborhood of samurai houses, and so much free flowing water. Water under tea houses where koi appear to float in midair, a visual trick of the crystal clear water. Water running between houses in fern lined canals. Water fountains with ladles handy so you know the water is drinkable. So much water. And yes, some of it hot thanks to Mount Unzen, an active volcano which rises and steams and bubbles a short bus ride away.

The sight and sound of running water is calming. No koi in this canal, they are only in specific controlled areas.

Just a street. With a canal. Folks walk by. Locals garden. The postal workers do their jobs. Me: OMG! Water! So much water!

How much water is there in town? So much that even your lunch spot will have a tiny stream running through the restaurant.

After admiring the water in one neighborhood, we had lunch, a lovely set menu which is a wonderfully easy thing to order. Then we headed to a spot on the map marked as public foot bath. So far all the water had been cold and clear. Foot bath? That sounds interesting.

Yutorogi Foot Bath. This water is hot. Maybe 36c/99 f. It comes out of this stone trough.

The people sit and soak their barking dogs

Aaahhh. It’s not a fancy place. Just a nice spot next to a parking lot where anyone can sit, relax, and put your feet in water warmed by a volcano.

Right next to the foot bath is this public fountain. The sign tells you the mineral content and that it’s safe to drink.

So I did. It’s hot, look at how pink my hand is. You can see the mineral deposits here and in the foot bath.

Feet refreshed and ready for more walking we headed off to see the neighborhood of samurai homes. The canal which runs through the neighborhood was a perk for these high ranking, hereditary, military nobility.

But first, we must drink from every fountain we pass. No ladle, some were removed during Covid.

And walk on to the samurai street. Note the walls of volcanic stones.

The houses are occupied, but several have opened the front historical parts to curious visitors.

We headed back to our hotel, craving a proper onsen soak, but first we had to pass another fountain, and stop for another drink. How could we pass up this lovely landscaped fountain, which seemed to be part of the neighboring house’s garden.

How can we drink so much water, you ask? Plenty of restrooms in Japan, we reply.

One easy bus ride from our waterfront hotel took us winding up the mountain. The bubbling mud and steam clouds of Obamachounzen quickly let you know this volcano is not playing around. “An eruption in 1991 generated a pyroclastic flow that killed 43 people, including three volcanologists. “ The slopes of the mountain down to the sea will look familiar to anyone who has visited the big island of Hawaii. Lava field slopes.

An awesome sound, bubbling and steaming.

Popular sights in Japan frequently have cute cats to distract you from the sight.

Even though we hadn’t done much walking yet, just a few kilometers around the steamy and bubbly area of Obamacho Unzen, we headed right to the public foot bath.

Some very pink feet. This one was hot. Probably 110f/43c. Hot enough that you took your feet out to cool quite quickly.

We did a lovely hike after the foot bath and enjoyed the views of the volcano while having a picnic on an observation platform – keeping a wary eye on the plumes of steam. Then it was a bus back to the hotel, a lovely relaxing onsen and outdoor rotenburo soak at our hotel, and dinner at a local Izakaya. It was time to move on to Kagoshima, which was a ferry ride and train ride away. But first – foot bath by the ferry terminal!

We walked from our hotel to the ferry terminal, got our tickets, and headed over to the footbath.

This water was warm, not hot, and quite clear compared to others. We guess it was 90f/32c.

You can see the ladle behind Rich. If you so choose you could drink this warm water – before it enters the foot bath.

Again next to a parking lot. But quite a bit of seating space. The bath is emptied and cleaned each morning, it opens at 9 am. It was just refilling when we arrived.

That face says no, I don’t want to leave the foot bath.

But our ferry awaited, and we got a fantastic view of Mount Unzen as we headed out.

The blessings of volcanos. Hot springs. There are more than 27,000 hot springs in Japan. The volume of water that flows from them is 2.6 million liters per minute. I was a volcano fan before this trip to Japan, now I’m a volcano fanatic. And we weren’t done yet! Next up, a ferry from Kagoshima to see the slopes of Mount Sakurajima and yes, another foot bath.

Cute mascot, but this active volcano erupted in 2022 and triggered evacuation orders. Rocks fell as far as 3 kilometers/1.8 miles away.

The city of Kagoshima behind Rich and his happy feet. This foot bath was hotter near the source, and cooled down as you moved further away from the spigot.

Looking the other way, towards the active volcano. The visitors center showed the helmets school children have to wear on eruption risk days as they walk to school.

This water was not as clear, maybe more mineral content? But it felt wonderful on this cool cloudy day. Quite warm but not hot.

The happy travelers, we took a bus to the observatory to have a closer view of the volcano.

We’re in Korea as of today, but still catching up on all the fun we had in Japan. I was struck by the relationship the Japanese have with their volcanos. The idea of the blessings of volcanoes, and the use of the hot spring water, gives the volcanoes a different feel. Yes, potentially deadly, but also useful and part of life. Japan has the potential to harness this geothermal energy, mostly unrealized so far, but what an additional blessing that could be. But our feet were happy to take advantage of the blessings of the volcanoes.

We’re in Japan for Sakura – cherry blossom season.

Probably the most photographed trees in the world. Japanese cherry trees.

Our arrival in Tokyo happened to coincide with an early cherry blossom season. We had already made our flight and room reservations when a representative from Japan Meteorological Agency stood beneath a signal tree at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine and announced the season to be underway.

Our first small park in Tokyo and our first sight of folks in traditional clothing having photos taken.

Unfortunately, it was a rainy stretch in Tokyo as the fun got underway. Fortunately, we don’t melt. Parks and gardens are prime blossom viewing spots of course. So off we went. First was a night time cherry blossom event where the trees were lit up. It was beautiful, and wet. Very wet. But picking through the mud puddles was worth it to see huge trees and bamboo lit up with dramatic intensity.

Dramatic lighting made the blossoms pop.

A stunning arrangement of trees and lighting.

On a dry Friday as we wandered parks filled with blooming trees we overheard other blossom peepers talking about what variety of cherry trees we were seeing. There are over 100 varieties of cherry trees in Japan, a few are wild and native to the forests, but most are cultivated. These trees don’t produce edible fruit, but flowers are pickled and used as tea and in other confections. We love seeing a forest mountain dotted with blooming trees mixed in with conifers and maples.

Up close you can see the differences in the blossoms.

I’m sure many folks know the trees by blossom sight- we don’t!

You simply can’t stop yourself from taking photos. Every tree offers a unique moment you want to capture.

This might be the only time I see this, you think as you snap away. Blue sky makes a dramatic background.

Blooming trees are not confined to parks. As we walked around Tokyo we found allées of blooming trees, or simply single trees, putting on a show worthy of admiration.

The bright green of spring makes a perfect foil for the blooms at Tokyo Midtown.

A temporary lounge set up among the trees of midtown.

A single tree changes the feel of a street.

We left Tokyo for Kanazawa where we had a new batch of parks and gardens to explore. And a lovely castle. And more cherry blossoms to photograph.

Kenroku-en garden in Kanazawa. Normally a paid entry, the garden is free during Sakura.

A temple garden on a morning walk around Kanazawa.

Another random burst of blossoms on a bike ride outside of Kanazawa.

You find new ways to view the blossoms, hyper aware that the blossom season is fleeting. People are super friendly and nice about snapping photos of each other. Cherry blossoms bring you all together in one place, for the purpose of admiring the beauty, and recording this fleeting moment.

Photo taken on the grounds of Kanazawa castle by a friendly local woman.

Pose your husband in yet another stunning tree.

Trees reflected in the moat of Kanazawa castle.

A view from above of the trees in Kenroku-en garden.

Hemeji, which was a day trip from Kobe for us, has one of Japan’s most stunning castles. And with the blooms it was a crowded site. Rich got us there as early as we could, and it was worth braving the crowds. I’m particularly taken with the old trees – gnarled trunks, branches propped up with bamboo poles.

Alongside a canal in Himeji is a line of perfectly blooming trees.

A tree this size is likely about one hundred years old.

A venerable tree on Naoshima Island, getting some help with wooden struts.

After the bloom comes the time of Sakura snow. The petals blowing off and drifting, or, if it’s raining, sticking.

This would be a wonderful permanent paint job for this Tokyo car.

Petal confetti on a stone lantern base at Shikoku Mura (Village), Yashima

The fallen petals call your attention to the landscape.

Hana Ikada, or flower rafts. This is a sparse but beautiful version with just a few petals floating.

Drifts of petals on a footpath in Takamatsu, at Ritsurin Garden.

Being here in Japan for Sakura was a happy accident. We assumed we would be too early to see the bloom in Tokyo, but Sakura has been earlier than usual the past few years. If you do come to Japan for Sakura, be aware that hotel prices go way up. Rich booked our place in Tokyo before the season was announced, post announcement he looked to extend our four night stay and a single night extra would have cost as much as the four nights together.

We’re in Japan for two more weeks before moving on to Korea. We feel so lucky to have seen Sakura in a variety of cities and landscapes. Cherry blossoms and a Japan Rail Pass, what more could we want?

Konnichiwa Japan. Itadakimasu!

And hello to you too, Ramen bar condiments and Sapporo beer.

Somewhere around week two in Sri Lanka I announced that I missed abundance. It’s ironic since part of our decision to pack up our lives and travel was the desire to experience a less cluttered life. To have the freedom to shoulder our backpacks and go wherever we want. Well welcome to Japan, where abundance is always an option.

After a two hour immigration wait at the airport we made it to our apartment and headed out for some late food.

We made our first trip to Japan in 2007, before smart phones with translation apps. This time, we were ready for all Japanese menus. Our index fingers and thumbs were all warmed up for google camera translate. Uh huh. We bought SIM cards from a vending machine at Narita Airport but had not installed mine correctly yet, and Rich was using our US cell phone data sparingly until he got his new SIM installed. Well, long story short- the first restaurant we walked into we failed to navigate the confusing situation and quickly abandoned ship! Thankfully we found a small place with on screen ordering and settled in for our first meal.

Ramen Nagi in Shinjuku. You make your choices at the machine, pay, and hand the order tickets over to one of the waitstaff/chefs.

Rich in his happy place. A tiny ramen bar with about 8 seats

Some of the tiny but popular ramen spots have created problems with their lines of customers, so this one instructs you to line up in the alley, there is a small camera so they can see the line of customers, and a speaker to tell you when to come upstairs.

Rich paying the bill at a small sushi restaurant- too small and cozy for any indoor photos!

The automation is fascinating to see. As with many countries Covid accelerated cashless payments and waitstaff free ordering, but in Japan you get a fun mix of traditional and modern.

The modern, a chain called Cafe Gusto. You place your order at an on table screen.

And a rather cute robot brings your meal.

Karaage chicken. Different from what we know as fried chicken, the meat is marinated first, then coated in a potato starch batter and fried. Delicious.

Stand off, Cheryl v. Robot. We worked it out.

A helpful staff member explains the payment machine for us.

A Sakura (cherry blossom) post will follow with many photos, but this is all about food. We were craving Japanese food for the past few weeks so we’re thrilled to walk and sightsee and eat. Our walking mileage has gone up sharply which helps with the eating. We took a train out from Tokyo to Koganei Park to visit the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum. There was a festival going on despite the rain so we snacked our way through that.

Rich enjoying Takoyaki balls (octopus and batter) under the cherry trees.

With four nights in Tokyo we had a chance to try to get into a small neighborhood izakaya restaurant on Friday, and when it was full up, make a reservation for the next night. Another good travel hack, especially in places where you either have no local phone number or where calling is beyond challenging due to language barriers. Two folks working the small restaurant, no fancy automation here. We were grateful for our young server/owner’s help. We always find the further out from the heart of a tourist district the more patient and helpful the locals are.

The traditional. Happy customers enjoying amazing food in a small izakaya in Otsuka

The softest most silken tofu. Our charming and helpful owner/waitstaff guy told us not to use soy, or the grated ginger or scallions since it would overwhelm the delicate taste of the tofu. We obeyed.

Tempura white asparagus and a tempura seasoned soft boiled egg.

Tuna and seabream. Rich had saved some photos from on line reviews, and our guy suggested others since this small restaurant has a daily menu and limited quantities.

The shallow sake bowl tests your pouring skills- and perhaps your sobriety.

After four nights in Tokyo, and a longer stay running into Sakura prohibitive pricing, we hopped on the trains to head to Kanazawa. Our JR Rail passes will be getting a work out this trip as the Japanese train system is beyond amazing.

Rich buying our first ekiben, short for eki bento, train meals. I was tickled to learn that these lunch boxes are called ekiben if you’re on a train, *soraben* (sky lunchboxes) for a plane, and bento you eat anywhere.

Our first night in Kanazawa we struck out three times, a conveyor belt sushi restaurant with a closed waiting list, an unagi (eel) restaurant which was closed despite the hours listed showing it should be open, and another full up sushi restaurant all by 8 pm. We figured out it was spring break week for schools so things were quite crowded. We finally saw a small tempura stand restaurant and got two seats at the bar. Another kind and helpful waiter sat us, got us an English menu, and took care of us the entire meal. We had a great view of the chef working his tempura fryer with chopsticks and tongs.

I’m going to collect photos of the mise en place of our counter seats. And how cute is that jar of white wine?

That is a pickled ginger tempura. Never encountered by me before. I’m a pickled ginger fanatic and this was delicious.

So far no breakfast photos, you might be thinking to yourself. Well, we’ve been having hotel room or apartment breakfasts of Musilix and fruit and yogurt, but we did get out early for cherry blossom viewing and then had a second breakfast our first morning in Kanazawa. Cafe Tamon is a small easy to miss but for the help of a passerby who saw us looking in confusion at our phones, pancake specialty cafe.

We walked right by it the first time. Very low key signage.

Butter melting on the fluffy organic rice flour pancakes, whipped cream sporting a sprinkle of gold dust, vanilla ice cream, and a small jug of maple syrup for me and honey for my honey.

Rich waiting patiently for me to stop taking photos.

If there is a word which conveys more fluffiness than fluffy, that’s what these pancakes were.

Remember that conveyor belt sushi place with a closed waiting list at 7:40pm? We went back the next night at 6:40 and put our name on the list. About an hour later we were in! The nice thing about being the only tourists willing to figure out the drill, was that the host knew who we were – not one of many tourists: the only slightly confused looking non locals.

Screen ordering and the chef hands you your dish.

Conveyor belt sushi has had a hard time recently, apparently from a social media trend that has attention starved youngsters misbehaving and filming themselves. Insert eye roll here. I’m not sure if the screen ordering is a result of that stupid trend, but it worked out just fine for us.

Squid on natto (fermented soybeans), firefly squid, and roe. The different colored plates mean specific prices, your plates are counted up at the end of your meal and tallied.

Our third and final night in Kanazawa we were determined to try the unagi (eel) restaurant again. The Japanese name came through Google translate as eel welfare. We marched over at 6 this time and the lights were on! Yay! We went in and congratulated ourselves on being some of the first customers of the evening. One gentleman was just leaving, and another man came in and placed a to-go order. The sole proprietor sat us at the counter, gave us a menu and bustled about behind the counter. We got two draft beers and settled in.

Our eel man turned away a group of five Japanese, and then two western tourists. What is going on, we wondered? This is a frequent state for non Japanese speakers here. Confused but pressing on! When it came time to order all became clear – he only had two pieces of eel left. Ah ha! That’s why he had been closed two nights before- he closes when he sells out of eel. Two pieces of your best (only) eel, sir, and some tempura. So many times as a tourist a mystery remains a mystery, so we were happy to have this one solved.

We would have happily ordered five pieces, but two was quite filling.

That smile says it all. We love being in small restaurants run by a sole proprietor. One guy doing what he does best. On his own terms. Eel. And some tempura. Once take-out guy left we were the only customers.

By the time we left he had turned off his lantern, the universal sign of “I’m out of eel for tonight!”?

It’s been a good start to our four weeks in Japan. We’ve honed our perception and empathy skills since our last visit here, and we know how quickly the world can change under your feet. (Poor conveyor belt sushi restaurants. ) We feel empowered by google translate, but a few key phrases in Japanese learned on line (link in our link page) quickly telegraph both our helplessness and our desire to be polite and thankful. There is so much more to experience and share, but for now itadakimasu! Let’s eat!

The happy travelers. Looking forward to
more of Japan to enjoy.

The colorful buses of Sri Lanka.

My first bus photo. On a walk from Jungle Beach, near Galle.

Another thing to file under “Wasn’t expecting that!” The buses of Sri Lanka are eye catching. Very eye catching. Day and night they burst with color and bright decorations and lights.

At the bus station in Galle. After I snapped this photo the driver came out to wave at me.

In Kandy. Rich added for scale. The pink paint job and headlights which look like eyes!

Looking in the front door. That is some operator’s seat.

Not all the buses were so exuberantly adorned. There are state buses (with staid, some might say boring, paint jobs), and private buses (wow! Not all are wow, but a lot.). The private buses are licensed for a specific number of runs per day, this means they linger a bit at every stop hoping for more passengers.

In Kandy. A Tata bus. Most are Lanka Ashok Leyland, which seems to be a joint venture with the Indian company Ashok Leyland.

Kandy again. An awfully hot walk from the train station took us along bus row.

Did we actually ride the buses? No. We took trains when we could, but on routes with no trains we hired drivers. The buses looked pretty chaotic, and a few tourists with rental cars we spoke to confirmed that the buses are bullies on the road.

My favorite bus photo. Kandy again. This gentleman is ready for the buses of Sri Lanka calendar photo shoot.

In Colombo. She looks fairly straightforward from the front. The tassels along the door hint at what’s inside.

Come on in, invited the operators. They are a school run bus. They drop the school children off and wait to take them home.

I’m quite certain that no transit agency in California would allow this level of decoration.

In addition to a bus journey taking a long time, it is recommended that you don’t put your luggage down below due to dust and mud, so you must pay for an additional seat and face the wrath of your fellow crowded in passengers. We decided that we didn’t need to experience the buses of Sri Lanka as passengers.

Colombo bus traffic. You can understand how important these buses are to life in Sri Lanka, so many buses.

It’s easy to criticize or second guess a country’s public policy and governance, and Sri Lanka is working through a lot of challenges, but transportation is the lifeblood of any city, and even more important in rural areas. For the sake of the people of Sri Lanka I hope the announcement that a recently announced purchase of 500 new buses shows a commitment for improving transit. Many of the old buses are gross polluters.

This wraps up my bus post. Once a transit geek, always a transit geek.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka – doing what we enjoy most.

Sunset view of the 5th century ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya, the Lion Rock.

What is it that we love best when traveling? Walking and biking, of course. Sri Lanka has challenged us with the need to do taxi transfers and tuk tuk trips to avoid daytime heat or nighttime elephants, or to get from a hotel or guesthouse to a site.

A pond in the ornamental gardens leading to the Lion Rock. Tiny Rich added for scale.

Our first morning in Sigiriya, we had our guest house owner drop us at the west entrance and Museum to buy our tickets by 6:45 am, so we could explore and climb the rock before it got too hot.

It took a lot of stair climbing to even get here, the two giant lion paws mark the entrance to the rock fortress. The lion head crumbled some time in the past.

Not for the faint of heart or weak of knees.

The views are amazing on your climb up and down.

Ponds and walls speak to the history of this place.

A pond and the cable trolly used to get conservation materials to the top of the rock.

It reminded us a bit of Machu Picchu, the ability to look down upon the site really gave you a good sense of place.

First a capital for King Kashyapa AD 477–495, and then a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and considered one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning.

Laughing as we realize we still have to go back down all those steps.

We were staying close enough to be able to walk back to our guesthouse for a late breakfast, which made us happy. Any time you walk in Sri Lanka you do have to decline a lot of tuk tuk offers, especially at a popular tourist site like Sigiriya Rock. But we press on and enjoy the walk.

The small roads around town made for lovely walking. Sri Lankan people have an eye for design, so many lush gardens and pretty houses.

An afternoon walk to the nearby lake, Kayanwala Wewa. The road crosses an outflow which makes for a refreshing wade.

Sri Lanka has no natural lakes. Starting in 300 BC the Kingdom began to construct reservoirs and tanks. The Sinhalese people were among the first to build artificial reservoirs to store water. These irrigation systems of the ancient world are still intact. Sri Lanka has ten thousand man made bodies of water, lakes, reservoirs, tanks, ponds, and stepwells.

As you walk the small roads and greet locals you’ll hear an electronic version of Beethoven’s Für Elise. That signals the bread tuk tuk is near!

A pastry shop on wheels. The ice cream tuk tuks play ‘It’s a Small World’.

With temperatures reaching 90f/32c in the early afternoon, our walk opportunities were limited to mornings and after 4pm. Not only is the heat and humidity oppressive, but the UV levels will burn this pale human in 15 minutes. Sunblock, long sleeves, umbrellas, that’s the only way I can get out and about.

Yes, there is an app for that. My trusty UV Lens app.

Walking the small dirt roads is not without obstacles though. Sri Lanka has so many dogs, some wearing collars and belonging to a specific house, but many many more simply stray street dogs. Most ignore you after a hopeful glance for snacks, but some bark and come rushing towards you. Not fun. We accidentally solved the dog stress problem when I deployed my collapsible umbrella while walking by a dog and it recoiled in horror. Ah ha. Shade giver and dog deterrent – the humble collapsible umbrella.

Our second full day in Sigiriya we spent visiting the ancient and Sacred City of Pollonnaruwa. We had a car and driver to take us the 45 minutes to the site, and once there we rented bicycles to explore the site and it’s many amazing artifacts. Polonnaruwa was the second capital of Sri Lanka for three centuries between the 11th to 13th century after the destruction of Anuradhapura Kingdom (which we’ll also visit) in 993.

Rich can rarely find a bike that fits him well. But he looks happy anyway.

The restoration of the buildings and statues is on going.

My first time on a bike since breast reduction surgery in January. I couldn’t stop smiling – cycling in hot weather is much easier than walking.

Our trusty bikes in front of an ancient stupa. Since tourism has not fully rebounded we had many of the sites to ourselves.

The jungle had covered many of the buildings until restoration and conservation. The before and after photos are dramatic.

Ponds are an important part of the site. And beautiful.

Tempting on a hot day. But the signs clearly forbid swimming.

To enter the temple areas you must remove your hat and shoes, and put down your umbrella. As it gets later the sand gets hotter so visitors bring socks to wear.

Riding bikes around this ancient site was such a unique experience, but we did wish for better curation of the experience. Even the museum, which we visited at the end of our ride around, didn’t do a great job of giving you a sense of how people lived in Polonnaruwa. We didn’t hire a guide, which most of the visitors did, so perhaps that was a mistake on our part, but we so much prefer doing things at our own pace and we know we’re happier without a guide. From what we overheard from the guides I don’t think we missed out on much information beyond what we had from our guide book.

That photo bombing Sigiriya rock again, this time on a morning walk.

Unable to find bikes to rent we headed out on foot for what ended up being almost a 7 mile/11 km walk.

A local fishing at the lake, he had a bike. We were jealous.

The roads were getting smaller, the temperature was getting hotter.

The area around Sigiriya is not only an archeological sanctuary site, but also has elephants and rice farmers. We saw an elephant from the road when being driven back from Pollannaruwa. Our long walk took us alongside many rice fields. We were fascinated to see the methods the farmers use to either keep the elephants out of the fields, or to alert an overnight watcher of the presence of an elephant so an attempt could be made to deter the elephant using loud noises.

Empty Lion beer cans hung on string at the edge of a rice field. Empty bags and branches- not much of a defense against an elephant.

A night time elephant lookout platform. That looks like a lonely and nerve wracking job.

This canal proved to be a great bird watching area. So many bright blue Kingfishers darting along it kept us distracted from the heat.

A little roadside shop with chairs in the shade was a welcome sight. Two cold lemon sodas perked us up for the last mile.

An umbrella is key for mid day walking, we bought this UV protection umbrella in Taipei.

You never know what you’ll see walking around small rural roads. Local folks were unfailingly friendly and helpful. We reminded ourselves that the small children had possibly never seen tourists, the three years of very little to no tourism meant that their wide eyed stares were not a comment on our hot sweaty state. It can be a bit daunting to wander the back roads, but so rewarding.

Evening bread tuk tuk, with two ever hopeful dogs.

Riding trains in Sri Lanka.

Passing through tea fields on the way from Ella to Nanuoya.

Taking trains is a big part of our travel joy. Riding trains with open windows and doors, winding through tropical jungles and tea growing areas, feeling the soft warm air on your face, seeing life as the train winds along – that is magnificent.

The hand off of the token, the loop held by the man in the white shirt. Since much of the line is a single track the token is a safety measure to assure that only one train is traveling a given section of track at any time.

Rich enjoying the open window of the observation car (OBV), at the end of the train.

Our go to train advice site, The Man in Seat 61, recommends sitting in the non AC carriages to take advantage of the open windows.

Dramatic skies made the landscape even more beautiful.

Buying train snacks from a vendor who walks the train, samosas and other goodies.

Over a trestle. Obligatory head out the window shot.

The observation car never filled up, but the unreserved carriages were standing room only with locals.

From what we’ve read the trains got much more crowded starting June 2022, when the rising cost of gasoline and bus tickets increased train ridership by 50%. As tourists we are able to buy our way into the comfort of the reserved carriages, but we do wonder why ticket prices for foreigners aren’t higher, as one encounters at museums and archeological sites. There is much need for upgrades to the rail system and new trains and higher tourist prices could help fund that.

As our train waited at a passing track for another train to go by, the local farmers came out to sell vegetables to the passengers. Another reason to ride in a car with windows that open. We bought lettuce.

Following our taxi driver at Nanu-oya for the 17 minute drive to Nuwara Eliya, where we had an apartment for two nights.

Buying an adapter. Sockets in older buildings are different than those in new buildings so our adapter was incompatible at our next place.

After more than six weeks without an apartment stay it was nice to cook dinner and to have breakfast at our own pace. Typical messy table.

Headed out for a walk in the hills around Nuwara Eliya.

Although there are no marked trails, using Maps Me gets us going, and friendly locals steer us to the correct path when we get confused by the many social trails.

Walking the small roads and pathways is one of our favorite things to do. It can feel awkward to be so off the tourist track, but Sri Lankans have been only friendly and welcoming.

Tidy houses and streets and lovely gardens make the walking so pleasant.

A view across tea fields towards Sri Pada, or Adam’s Peak. 2,243 m/7,359 ft.

Buying samosas and vade to have for lunch with the rest of our vegetables.

We don’t want to sweep the problems Sri Lanka is going through under the rug, and post only fun photos without acknowledging the challenges the country is facing, but in many areas you don’t see the difficulties as a tourist. You can live your tourist life blissfully unaware of the undercurrent of struggle many are still facing. If you pay attention to little things, while in line at the grocery store for example, you recognize the stress on parent’s faces as they watch the register add up, and you hear from men who worked in Dubai but came home during the pandemic and are now working towards getting employment in Japan or Korea.

The big board at Nanu-oye station. We’re on the 9:10 to Kandy from platform 1.

Rich in his element. Traveling by train.

One of our drivers was taking Japanese classes. He had calculated that five years of work in Japan would be enough for him to come home and start a solid life for himself, his wife, and their two young daughters. As Americans who admire the bravery of immigrants, who come from a country of immigrants, we understand the determination and hope that the hard working people we meet find a way through and forward.

Still not tired of sticking our heads out the window to watch the train go through a curve.

Our one night in Kandy gave us enough time to visit the Sri Dalada Maligawa, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which houses the canine tooth of Buddha.

My long Indian dress met the dress code, knees and shoulders covered.

Rich was loaned a sarong at the security checkpoint to cover his knees.

The Monday morning crowd at the Kandy train station. This train goes to the capital, Colombo.

Arrived at the Polgahawela Station to wait for our connection.

Faced with a 3 hour wait in 90f/32f temperature, the travel planner wisely called for a Pick Me car to take us to our destination, Sigiriya, a 2 hour drive. Love of trains only goes so far.

We have a few more places to visit in Sri Lanka, and I’m sure a few more rice and curry meals to eat. We wish we could support every single small business we come across, buy every trinket, and eat at every restaurant, but failing that we will tell you all that Sri Lanka is an amazing place to visit. We’re in Sigiriya now, more on that to come. Happy travels.

Hello Sri Lanka!

Lifeguards at Galle Face Green on a Saturday afternoon in Colombo.

We have a new standard for judging ease of entry into a country. It’s not just how straightforward and easy the visa is, e-visa or otherwise, but also how easy and quick it is to get a local SIM card. Taiwan set the bar high back in January, but Sri Lanka is a very close second. That quick SIM transaction at the airport, and the joy of being able to get a hassle free taxi to our hotel had us nodding to each other – I think we’re going to like this country.

Locals enjoying the afternoon in the face of fast approaching rain clouds.

Strolling the promenade and enjoying snacks. A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Achcharu – fruit pickled in spices.

It’s easy to assume proximity means similarity, we assumed that with the UK and Ireland and were very wrong. We had heard while traveling in India that Sri Lanka was “India lite”, so again we assumed it would feel familiar and similar to India. Wrong again!

Isso Vade. Prawn topped lentil fritters. When you buy one it gets topped with a spicy sambal.

We’ve been reading about the troubles Sri Lanka has faced since 2019, and the economic crisis which is on going, and we were warned by a few Indians not to come here. So, we expected some issues. The first things we noticed were the things that made our arrival so easy. E-visa. SIM card. Taxi. All straight forward and easy. The drive to our hotel was much quieter than we had become accustomed to in India – here, honking is just not as common. It makes the streets feel so much calmer.

The Galle Green promenade before the rain moved in on our first evening in Colombo.

90% of construction projects in Sri Lanka have come to a standstill due to “shortage of cement, iron and other raw material and its high prices in the economic crisis”.

If you knew nothing of the financial crisis Sri Lanka is facing you could be forgiven for thinking all is well. The unfinished high rises under construction in Colombo, the executive and judicial capital of Sri Lanka (Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, a Colombo suburb, is the legislative capital.), are the first sign we saw that all is not well. There is less car traffic on the streets, based on our reading, due to the high cost of gasoline and diesel. Trains and buses are more crowded than previously. But these are things that as a first time visitor you wouldn’t know.

Chicken Kottu. Kottu translates from Sinhalese as chopped, and this popular Sri Lankan street food consists of chopped up roti (a type of flatbread), stir-fried with chicken, vegetables and egg. Delicious.

Sunday morning iced coffee on our way to a museum. Living the normal tourist life.

Ah, shady sidewalks. Yes, it’s hot and humid in Colombo, but the walking is good.

The National Museum. A good destination on a hot sunny day.

More amazing big trees at the museum. The shade is so welcome.

After only one night in Colombo we headed out by train to Galle, about a 2 hour train ride south. Our first Sri Lankin train! On the easy reservation site Rich booked us two seats in the air conditioned reserved seat (AFC) carriage.

To me a train ride means loads of uninterrupted reading time.

Galle is best known for the 16th century walled fort built by the Portuguese, added on to by the Dutch, and finally occupied by the British. The Fort, as it’s referred to by the locals, has plenty of hotels and guest houses, lovely streets with few cars and scooters, and tourist friendly restaurants for the mostly Russian and French tourists we shared the streets with. We stayed in the new town, at the Brixia Cafe and Guesthouse, which was perfect for us. We could walk to the Fort and enjoy seeing what the new town was like.

Dutch church in the fort under sunny skies.

Locals outside the courthouse in the shade of a banyan tree.

Some older buildings still being fixed up.

The street signs are in Sinhala, English, and Tamil. I love the colors of this wall.

You won’t be in Sri Lanka for very long before you notice how friendly people are. And helpful. Smiles and greetings, quick chats to ask where we’re from and how long we’ll be in Sri Lanka. With the troubles they’ve had you would expect folks to be a bit sour on life, but they aren’t. Our guesthouse host spoke openly about the challenges he faced during Covid, separated from his Italian wife for a year and half, and how he’d been lucky to get his building completed before inflation made it impossible, but he had the same positive attitude and warmth we continue to encounter.

A lot of visitors spend only one night in Galle, but with three nights we had time to figure out our favorite walking route to the Fort, through the entrance by the fish market.

Our pre-sunset walk into the Fort went by a cricket match in what had been a parking lot by day, near the court.

Sunset light and the Galle lighthouse behind us.

Jungle Beach, a short auto rickshaw ride away from Galle. Made a teeny bit longer by a driver who didn’t believe we had no interest in visiting the shop of a relative. Never a bad idea to follow along on your route with google maps

It can feel awkward visiting a country going through struggles like Sri Lanka, but we know that tourism was an important part of the economy, visits peaked in 2018 at 2.5 million visitors. By contrast only 400k arrived in 2022. The upsides are fewer crowds, obviously, and an easier time booking accommodations. The downside is an ever present awareness of those missing tourists and their money. Again, you wouldn’t really know how different it is from the locals attitudes towards you. Or, maybe we benefit from the ‘wow, we do miss tourists’ realization. We try to share the love, going to little beach side restaurants and buying juices, beers, and meals and tipping generously.

Fresh juice at the lovely trail side cafe of an entrepreneurial local. He and his family were selling juice, cinnamon, and aloe vera for the sunburned folks coming from Jungle Beach.

On our way to Unawatuna the skies opened up with rain.

So we ducked into a restaurant for lunch- an amazing lunch. Rich had curry rice, a Sri Lankan staple, with four different vegetable curries.

Mine was avocado curry with herbed rice. Absolutely delicious. Wasantha’s Sri Lanka Cuisine. She also offers cooking lessons.

And it was time to leave our fantastic Brixia guest house and Jinendra, our wonderful host.

Walking to the train station- yes, I’m carrying my backpack again. Six weeks post surgery and although I enjoyed having Rich carry my bag, it was time to shoulder my own pack again.

The Galle station. This time we’ll be riding in unreserved 2nd class carriages. Open windows!

Ah. The view out the door of the train. It’s quite nice with the breeze blowing through as the train winds along the coast.

The happy travel planner. Sitting in the open train door.

After a great train ride and short auto rickshaw ride we arrive at our beach stay at Unakuruwa beach at the Aga Surf View hotel. Please note that the king coconuts are cut to look like cute mice.

Our beach stay was three nights, at a lovely beach side hotel where we could have a morning swim before breakfast, and walk out our door to the restaurant for meals and cocktails, and we can walk along the narrow streets and pathways to more family run restaurants. We can see that in the time of 2.5m tourists per year this was a much busier area, with a lot of guesthouses sitting empty right now. Thank goodness for the tourists who are here, from Russia, France, Germany, a few British and even fewer Americans.

Bright hibiscus and bright houses. Makes walking fun.

One of the small beach cafes at Silent Beach. And a couple of the ubiquitous beach dogs.

Lunch in the shade at silent beach. The Sri Lankens are very good at decorating to give you that casual beach vibe.

Another small family restaurant a short walk from our hotel.

The beaches here are quite clean. Rich doing his part to help keep them that way.

We’re headed out to the safari part of our Sri Lanka stay, hopefully the next post will feature elephants. So far we are very happy with our Sri Lanka stay, and we hope for easier times and more stability for the people here. And we hope for our fellow tourists to keep visiting and keep spending.