Have been in Kyoto for three nights now. We are staying in the Gion District. Our first night we went back to our favorite Gion restaurant from 2 years ago. Well, they have changed hands. It is now a very upper end (Kaiseki) restaurant. Kaiseki is the unique foods or dishes of a particular region or city. We sat at the counter watching chefs prepare our meal and were joined by 2 gentleman a few seats over at the counter. Fortunately, Henry, (chef in training) lived in Seattle for a year to learn English and spoke pretty good English. After exchanging smiles, we struck up a very broken up conversation with the other two gentlemen, both 50ish businessmen. When it came to where we were from, we all ended up signing “I Left My Heart in SF”. They knew Tony Bennett. That dinner cost us more than the other six dinners in Kyoto will cost and I have no idea as to what half of what we ate was.

As we got up to leave, the door swung open to their private dining room and the staff were all at the door bowing reverently as a monk and nun and another couple walked out. The monk saw me (Anglo) waved and said ” Good Morning” guffawed and corrected with “Good Evening”. They all hopped into a waiting sedan. Henry said he was the head monk at one of the main temples in Kyoto.

The kimono clad elderly female staff member handed us our shoes ( she also delivered and poured the sake. Celeste and I only drank Asahi beer. We shoed up and were ready to leave and Henry asked us to wait. The head chef (75 years old) was coming back in from seeing off the monk. The chef presented us with two napkins embroidered with the restaurant name and a fan. Pretty cool.

Last night we sought out a more economical meal. It poured rain all day and night so for a Friday night the crowds were minimal. We went into a small restaurant with an English menu (very important) and were the only ones there. At the counter, we ate our way through a few dishes and as the chef was preparing our stir fry garlic fried rice (always last dish) he beckond me to come behind the counter and take over cooking the rice while the sou chef took my picture with my camera. Then Celeste joined in and the two of us were cooking up a storm. Photos still in the camera. 😁

Today we visited the Arishiyama area in Kyoto’s northwest. Had not done so in our three other trips to Kyoto. This area is famous for their Bamboo Forest. Trekked for 4 hours uphill through scads of temple and shrines. Was a cooler day due to yesterday’s rain. One highlight was Gio-do temple which has a beautiful moss garden.

Finally settling in and overcoming jet lag. Our Airbus 330 from Honolulu to Osaka was accelerating down the runway for take off when after about 10 seconds (well before liftoff) the engines both went quiet and the plane braked to a slow roll down the runway. The pilot exited the runway and drove back to terminal. He said the air speed indicator had a malfunction warning light. Fortunately we were at Hawaiian Airlines hub and they had a replacement aircraft. We flew from Oakland to Honolulu on that very same A330 that crapped out. Glad it waited! Took two hours to unload us, wait for replacement aircraft to arrive, unload all luggage and food to new aircraft then reload us.

Today we did a day trip by train to the nearby town of Nara. Nara Park and its temples are one of numerous UNESCO Heritage sites. There are hundreds of these small deer roaming the park. They love to get fed food cookies sold by vendors. They are very tame and love to be petted and fed. Much like dogs.

Tomorrow we train up to Kyoto. Definitely our favorite location in Japan.

This is a castle built by a shogun around 750AD or so they say. It has been burned down and rebuilt three times over wars Complex is in the middle of the city. Must cover over a square mile. Double moated. We climbed to the top observation deck. Ugh!!

You gotta love a bar that lines up the bottles in front of you. Yukki trusts us. All USA music. In an area called Shinabashi. Staying at an Airbnb apt. Totally a hipster area. More piercings and tats on the streets than at home. All the small shops are boutique. Osaka is a huge city.

We stayed on a family farm/vineyard in Franschhoek. The farm was a combination of fruit orchards, olive trees and vineyards. The fruit is all shipped to the EU in their winter, Franschhoek’s summer. The olives are pressed into their own olive oil and the grapes are turned into their own label wine by another winery. We stayed in one of 6 guest cottages. They were quite luxurious and well guarded by the farm dog Joey. He is walking with me on the farm in top photo. As a guest, all tastings in the tasting room along with bread and their olive oil were complimentary. A bottle of wine appeared in the room each day.

Franschhoek was the highlight of our trip. One hour drive out of Capetown, they cooled in the evening from Capetown’s fog and boiled during the day under the sun. Sounds like Napa Valley. This valley was like vineyards in the Swiss Alps. amazingly beautiful terrain. Ran across a couple from Scotland who spend their winters here in their home. Charles Branson just bought a boutique hotel here to add to his hotel collection. We will return. 

Capetown is quite a beautiful city. We stayed in a hotel at Victoria Wharf. The area is much like San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, even with the morning fog. No sour dough French bread though. I would have to say it is actually nicer, cleaner and better organized. We purchased a two day pass on the double decker red tourists busses and saw the city in its entirety, even the three wineries and vineyards within the city limits. The southern coastal area of the city looks like the French Riviera with multi million dollar residences built down the cliffs to the beaches. There are numerous beach districts along the coast road with these homes.

We road the cable car to the top of Cable Mountain for spectacular views of the city and Southern tip of Africa.  

Zimbabwe has no currency of its own. Their official money is the United States dollar. The worn bills are never removed from circulation since they can’t print replacements. Tourists bring new money into the country. The government loves those $50 USD entry fees.

The falls drop off into the river below for over one mile in length. The river is part of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. We flew into Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe from Johannesberg on none other than British Airways. The falls experience was quite wet to say the least. One walks the length of the falls on a paved walkway at the top of the cliff for the entire one mile stopping at numerous pop out viewing areas. The mist was a wet experience. Very beautiful none the less. The town of Victoria Falls was small but interesting. Never felt threatened. Was quite vicious for tourists 10 years ago. Plenty of warthogs roaming the streets during the day and elephants late at night but we were snug in our beds by then. Plenty of great restaurants run by expats.

When the locals found out I was from Oakland, they asked me to come onto the stage and teach the locals a few dance moves. I obliged and they learned quickly. The buffet dinner after was amazing. I ate springbock, crocodile, warthog and mopani worms (fried).

The male elephants are solitary and loners. They are huge. The female elephants also have tusks. The elephant packs are always females and their children. The male elephants visit females at night as needs arise. They stay to themselves the rest of the time. Glad our Avis “whatever it is” can out run the elephants. They are also one of the Big Five. (Not the Avis rental)