Takayama is another beautiful Japanese city located in the Hida region (Gifu prefecture), surrounded by scenic countryside of the Japanese Alps. It is known for its festivals, historic architecture, and Onsen (hot springs). Moreover, this city and surroundings are supposedly hot spots among tourists like us, who like to explore the rural parts of Japan.... Continue Reading →
Japan – Part II
Day 2 in Japan started with an early Shinkansen (bullet train) journey with Fazul to our first destination, Mount Koya (Koyasan), a sacred Buddhist settlement. Early in the morning, we reached Yokohama station to catch the Tokyo - Osaka Shinkansen (alight at Kyoto). If I remember correctly, these bullet train tickets were quite expensive; just... Continue Reading →
Japan – a recollection – Part I
My first and only visit to Japan was in November 2011, and this post is a recollection of that trip using my memory bytes and few photographs. Tourism landscape in Japan must have significantly changed over these years; with latest statistics showing, Japan had approximately 37 million foreign tourists in 2024, compared to only 6... Continue Reading →
Bali
Bali requires no introduction! Those who have visited Bali, will have their personal 'best of Bali', with a list of must-try for their next visit; and those planning their first visit, will easily be able to find a lot of info about Bali (thanks to all the travel content and personal experiences available on internet).... Continue Reading →
Lofoten – Part II
Day 1: Kongsberg to Gimsøysand Sitting in an aisle seat of the Norwegian air flight to Evenes, I kept wondering why I had chosen a morning flight. With a taxi pick-up arranged (for few of us) at 0430, we had to wake-up pretty early and as usual, slept late last night too. I felt sorry... Continue Reading →