The highlight of our trip to Lebanon was the Jeito Grotto. It’s a limestone cave just outside of Beirut. The cave is so big that it’s divided into upper and lower cave. The size of the chambers is simply breathtaking.

If you are heading to China, you HAVE TO see the Great Wall of China! We hiked the Great Wall on our recent trip to China and it was easily the highlight of our entire trip.
The Great Wall is very long; however, the most popular section of the Great Wall is near Beijing. The most well-known section is called “Ba Da Ling” (八達嶺). It is the closest section to the city and it’s always packed with tourists. The Badaling section has been completely renovated and rebuilt. Apparently most of …

Along with our camping trip to Toya Lake last month, we also visited Hakodate.
We enjoyed the freshest (wiggling on our plate) squid that was perfectly clear in color and tasted like heaven. We also had uni (sea urchin) for breakfast. Such a luxury!

It was a gourmet trip. We ate and ate and ate.
During our 3 day stay in Hakodate we managed to visit all the places we wanted to. We also had a little romantic afternoon boat rowing around the Goryokakukoen moat.

We fully enjoyed Hakodate. Being Vancouverites, …

This Sunday was the annual Healthy Marathon (ヘルシ　マラソン) in the nearby town of Biei. Biei is about 120km away from Takikawa, and is known for its annual marathon as well as its beautiful flower gardens spread over vast rolling hillsides. The Biei marathon attracts thousands of competitors and spectators every year during the June 8th weekend.
Kevin registered online for the 10k quarter-marathon back in early May along with our good friend, Matthew Caesar. Kevin spent a solid month doing a rigorous training routine of 3 day-a-week 6:00am runs …

After waking up in a strange McDonalds in Ueno and finding it much busier than when we had decided to nap quietly in the corner, we headed to Asakusa to drop our bags off at the hotel. Cathy had found us a series of great hotels over the next 5 nights in all the best spots in the City. It was a decision, in part, due to the fact that most hotels were almost fully booked, and we could only find one availability here and there, but it …