Intrepid Travel.

I recently discovered this site:

www.IntrepidTravel.com

and am pretty much in love. From what I've gathered, the "Intrepid-style" of travel allows you to experience countries from a culturally-sensitive viewpoint -- interact with and be among locals and do things beyond the "touristy" things to do. Basically, "doing as the Romans do," but for reals (not just saying it without meaning it).

I love Intrepid's focus on responsible travel: travelling in a way that is respectful of local people, their culture, local economies and the environment.

Check out the different trip styles and destinations (and examples of what you can experience at each destination!). Again, I say that I am in love.

I would be absolutely thrilled to do this someday. Preferably in the near future.

Kimono kids.

The preschool dressed us in kimono:

Sure, it looks elegant now, but at the time my breathing was much constricted. Perhaps Japanese women are not as, ahem, top heavy as I.



This obi was free-form. The ladies who dressed me just whipped it up out of nowhere! Amazing.

Kimono is wearable art.

FULL day.

They fed us. A lot. There was one day where all we did was eat. And hopped on a bus. And ate some more. And went on a tour. And ate and ate. We ate too much that day. And it's rude to not finish everything on your plate, you know.

But. I enjoyed every minute of it.

After our first visit to the preschool we were invited for lunch at Sharon Fruit and Herb Garden Restaurant. The food was so simple and so delicious, it was just absolutely ridiculous. I can't rave about it enough.

(Oh, I guess I did have that picture of the fresh lemongrass tea.)



Javier and I, we take pictures of food. And of things that amuse us. *


And we are easily amused:


After lunch, we got to take a tour around the gardens, where our scrumptious lunch came from.


They have programs for kids to teach them about plants and gardening. I loved that about this place.




After lunch, we took a cultural tour of sorts around the island, guided by our kind hosts, Mr. Noda and Ikeda Sensei.

We visited a spot where they hold an annual (?) festival in Yoron.


Ooh, a sumo mat!


And a beautiful view:


Way off in the distance, we could spot our hotel. So cool.


And THEN, we went to another cultural center where they hosted us with green tea and snacks. Mind you, this is barely an hour after we stuffed ourselves at lunch.


Sweet rice flour pancakes made from sugar cane grown in Yoron.

Fresh papaya.


And (hot) green tea. How do you drink green tea in hot humid weather?


You chase it with cool watermelon. Which there is no photo of because we gobbled that down really fast.

Sensei introduced us to a sweet old couple who just surpassed their 50th year anniversary. (The adorable bald man and the woman behind Ikeda sensei.)


And the day was far from complete. Ikeda sensei invited us over to her house where she hosted more tea (this time, iced) and snacks. *


Donuts, papaya, tomatoes and this rice flour cake that reminded me of the Indonesian kue lapis. *


That day was fun. Looking back on these photos and memories makes me miss it all.

I can't believe I'm still not done with these posts. Come back for more if you still have the patience.

* An asterisk means the below photo was taken by Sho (far left). He is a much better photographer than I.

Past travels.

I don't really get to do a lot of traveling, which is why I'm so excited for Japan in the first place. But I had enough travel photos to create a little collage for my header:

1. In LAX before leaving to Indonesia in 2005. Eep. Has it been that long since I've been out of the country?


2. This was captured at a beach within a five-minute walking distance from our hotel in Bali.


3. The most adorable Balinese babies you have ever seen. Taken in Bedugul (still Bali), a gorgeous lakeside village in the mountains.


4. My sister and I parasailing in Hawaii in 2003, about 20 minutes before I'm doubled over in seasickness, ready for the little boat to dock.


Of course, my plan is to take a bazillion more photos in Japan. I'll be posting them here.