Japanese styles..................

One of my recent favorite things was having the 
chance to visit Japan.....and 
viewing the styles of dress worn by 
Japanese women and children.

This lovely lady in traditional geisha dress 
greeted us upon arrival at the dock 
in Niigata where our ship, the Caledonian Sky, 
was waiting to transport us to wild 
and remote islands. 

The history of the Geisha in Japan is 
fascinating - read more HERE.

Childcare in Tokyo seems well organized and all the children certainly get to wear great hats!

Sweet little girls, dressed in wonderful costumes, danced 

and sang for us at the dockside in Hokkaido.

Tokyo schoolgirls in their uniforms - being a 

Brit I also attended schools where uniforms 

were mandatory - I loved them.

Teens starting to show their fashion sense.

Ladies queueing up for sweet treats.

A female rickshaw driver in a tourist area.

Young girls assisting at the Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo.

From the bus, a glimpse of a well-dressed lady working in her small vegetable garden.

The elderly lady who was cooking fish in the back room 
of a small shop we stopped at for tea in Aomori.

I'd love to spend more time in Japan!

Linking this post to Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for her A Favorite Thing Saturday party.

If only....................

............the children who came to play here could have seen the amazing places I visited in the the past few weeks! I hope someday they will have that same opportunity to travel the world and visit with people whose lives are so different, so far removed from anything they encounter in their daily privileged lives, so far away from the mainstream, and yet so rich in the natural order of things.

On Wednesday afternoons I've been taking my granddaughter to her voice lesson. The subdivision is a huge, quite pleasant, golfing community full of families with children. Many come to the playgrounds and swimming pools scattered throughout their comfy neighborhood. This Wednesday the sky was heavy with clouds but the air was pleasant. I grabbed a coffee and my book and sat here (iPhone pic) on a bench for an hour, reading in peace and quiet until the children arrived, noisy but having fun swinging and climbing as children do. I wanted to tell the children about my travels and how other children live. I wanted to instill in them the need to work hard at school, get all the education offered them, go out into the grownup world eager to earn, but save money to enable travel to amazing places. Travel is not cheap and should be done when young if possible. It will change lives, both for the traveler and the people they meet along the way.

Bering Island, Russia

Watching and listening, my thoughts returned to my travels and the children I met in Russia. These young boys and their lifestyle are especially memorable. I'll be sharing more of their story on this remote island in another post later. Bering Island receives just two cruise ships each year, ours (above) being one of them, and is blessed with just five, yes 5, days of sunshine annually.............someone was definitely looking out for us the day we visited, it was perfect. 

Hold that ship!

Chirpoy, Kuril Islands, Russia.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Click on pics to enlarge.

This afternoon was my unexpected, somewhat frightening, Zodiac experience. It's funny when I look back at the pics Paula was able to take. Later, when I receive a copy of the expedition DVD and can actually watch the video a crew member shot of the afternoon wild ride..........I'll be laughing even more.

A lovely afternoon, slight swell, sunshiny, breezy and 

thousands of seabirds nesting and flying overhead.

Magnificent rock formations........this water, 

the Snou Strait separating the 

two Chirpoy Islands, being a caldera 

surrounded by three overlapping stratovolcanoes.

Lianna, expedition Zodiac driver; Edwin, ship's wine 

steward; Adorely, waiter; and Marilou, bartender....

met us on the water with smiles and warming hot chocolate spiked 

with Baileys - if you wanted, and who wouldn't! 

Raising his glass in the background, Tim Soper our expedition leader, son of Tony Soper whom the British readers here will know as the writer/broadcaster/wildlife cameraman/expedition leader 

who co-founded the famous BBC's Natural History Unit 

and became its first producer.

Jamie, our afternoon Zodiac driver/Naturalist expedition 

team member....fighting with the kelp which kept 

invading our outboard motor.........

Off in the distance our lovely home away from home, 
ship of our dreams. 

Formerly the plaything of an Arabian prince (truly!), 

now the base from which we jumped into Zodiacs to 

experience the treasures of the oceans, wildlife and 

Nature ashore.......BUT

 .....making the return to the ship was a little difficult 
when the weather changed and the water became quite choppy.............

.....Paula and others managed to exit the Zodiac, Sheila, a delightful, adventuresome 80 year old lady from England, and I were still waiting when a huge wave hit us just as I was being helped out. One rope gave way, the boat was tossed sideways and fortunately I fell flat on my stomach into the bottom rather than over the edge into the sea! Completely saturated, I was concerned more for what was happening to Sheila - she was hanging on to the ropes for dear life but was a real trouper and fine! The guys had to cut us free from the ship, and driver Jamie managed to get us away from the waves churning about the loading deck. Somehow, one of the two crew on the deck fell into the Zodiac with us during all the commotion, so we ended up four slightly stunned passengers. Luckily I didn't have my big SLR camera with me that afternoon, just my point and shoot in my pocket - it was wet like everything I was wearing, but still worked thankfully.

Paula's pics above..................

................and how did we eventually get on board again? 

The ship hoisted the anchor and had to sail away without us.......eventually repositioning in calmer waters!

Here we were chasing the Caledonian Sky................

...and here I am (Sheila too) being assisted back on board, wet through but grateful all ended up well.
As you can imagine, our afternoon boating experience 
was the talk of the evening recap that day!