Glad we went after the trip

Just got out of the movie "body of lies". Glad we didn't see it before we went to Egypt
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New Year's Stroll

What better to do after services for the New Year than take a stroll down the center of the street.

Ok so we're a little late in posting the Japan part of our trip and hopefully I'll not forget all the interesting and tantalizing tidbits we accumulated. Back mid July we last talked about arriving in Kobe via the bullet train. Another surprise we had in Japan was that it is a cash society. Outside the major cities there was a very good chance that a business or restaurant would not take a credit card. And we never did find an ATM that would take any of our cards! Fortunately we had bought yen before the trip but if Mizuzu hadn’t cashed an additional check for us, it would have been tough.
We spent the first couple nights in Kobe. On the first day we went of to see Himeji Castle. It is an amazing place – check out the link. You really get the sense of the security of the place, the psychological impact it would have on anyone coming to deal with the powers that be.

Dead Sea

Remember those Dead Sea shots? Here are the ones we couldn't upload. See the white stuff on the rocks, it's salt. Imagine all the rocks on the bottom of the sea coated with a 1/2 inch of the stuff

So after slipping and floating at the public beach, we walked ( well some of us sort of cruised) south for a few minutes till we came to a hole out of which Australian Males were scooping out vast quantities of mud, covering themselves and then running apelike back into the water.


We scooped, covered but refrained from the extra antics.

Another Singapore Moment

Here are shots off the blackberry fromt he first couple days - most from the bus tour we took of the downtown area.

HOME

We're back - got in 2 hours before we left and that's why I screwed up Sarah's Birthday. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We'll try to get the rest of the pictures and the Japan stuff up this weekend. Off to lalaland.

Oh yes, the poll - the cake was from Beth at the reception desk at the hotel. She was so excited because she had the same as Melanie.

Yup, But the cake was good.

Finding the Bullet train

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