Sonnie
JAPANESE ADVENTURES: Iya Valley, Naruto, & More! Shikoku, Japan Part 2!
updated
Are you all excited about what country we're trying to head to next?! Let's chat about it in the comments below. Also, let us know where in this big country you'd like to go to or recommend we move to? (^_^)
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I hope you all play along and guess where I am before I tell you! ;)
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Watch More Here! (^_^):
twitch.tv/hudiniogaming
GAMES! (^_^):
Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel: Starts 0:00
Undertale: Starts 36:00
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By taking the night train, we didn't have to waste a day traveling and then pay for accommodation on top of that. So while we didn't sleep well, I still think it was a good choice for us.
You could order food for dinner, snacks, and breakfast. It was a bit expensive so we ordered a brownie and coffee set for breakfast. I ate the brownie. Joe drank the coffee. We also brought snacks from a local convenience store.
I'd normally recommend booking this kind of thing in advance to prevent yourself from being in a situation like this. But I was so conflicted about how long to stay in Bangkok since I heard you either love it or hate it. So I personally waited until we were there to see how long we actually wanted to stay.
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Thank you again to everyone who helped support us whether it be financially through Gofundme or emotional with your wonderful messages!
RELATED VIDEOS! (^_^):
*We Rescued a Dog
youtube.com/watch?v=0fcJoMUm0gw
*Fundraising for Khione
youtube.com/watch?v=ARmN2uieAmU&t=1s
*Khoine meets Rachel and Jun's Cats
youtube.com/watch?v=0t1a0Qe5nRQ&t=246s
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ALSO! Thank you SO MUCH for 11,000 subscribers!!!
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Hi, everyone! I'm so excited to take part in this awesome project that the amazing and talented Dana (Wanted Adventure) came up with! She had the idea to get a bunch of vloggers from all different countries and communities to talk about their experiences vlogging! This will give you a Behind The Scenes look at what it's like to vlog and be a youtuber in different countries around the globe!
Also, what do you guys think of the new intro Joe made for me?!
The Other YouTubers Involved! (^_^):
* Wanted Adventure
Channel: youtube.com/user/WantedAdventure
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=nnJiYDeQJLM
* Patricia B
Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCz5M3JxbZ6m7UPz5zjUERyg
Video:
* Andrea Heckler
Channel: youtube.com/user/booksandbrew
Video:
* Lenaturnsgreen
Channel: youtube.com/user/Lenaturnsgreen
Video: youtu.be/skudvMoasb0
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This is a HUGE Night Market. The biggest we've ever been to, but not the biggest in Bangkok! That honor lies with Srinakarin Rot Fai Market, but this night market is located in the suburbs of Bangkok and therefore pretty out of the way. Ratchada, however, is located in an awesome metropolitan area of Bangkok that was so different from the area our hostel was in. I really recommend going there. Add it and this Night Market to your list of Places To Go/Things To Do, etc. in Bangkok.
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RELATED VIDEOS! (^_^):
*A Cambodia Night Market: youtube.com/watch?v=8HKg5n7FKlQ
*What We Ate In Cambodia: youtube.com/watch?v=rlt5uRrtcbk
We got to see some Thai dancing by these awesome women keeping their traditions alive!
If you forget to dress appropriately, there is a place to rent clothes from, but I’m not sure how much it is and there was a line for it.
The architecture is so different from what we’ve seen before. Although Cambodia also had amazing details and carvings in their traditional buildings, Thai architecture has these bold, beautiful colors that I adored!
Admission to the Grand Palace is 500 baht or around $16 USD each. But like most sacred sites, if you’re a Thai National, it’s free.
The Grand Palace was built in 1782 when Thailand was still Siam. For 150 years it was home to the Thai Kind and the Royal Court. Today, it’s considered one of the most sacred places in Thailand.
I later read that the Angkor Wat model was built when Cambodia was under control by the Siamese by order of King Rama the fourth.
The Grand Palace closes surprisingly early at 3:30 pm so we definitely recommend getting there early in the morning in order to explore all 218,000 square meters of it!
Many of these buildings weren’t built for prayer, but rather as administrative buildings.
I seriously couldn’t get enough of these colored glass mosaics. I might redesign our flat. I think it’s a good idea.
This is the Buddist library …Sigh, Libraries are the best.
Originally, the palace was built of wood and scavenged materials. But it was slowly replaced and enhanced into the splendor you see here!
Unlike the Palace, Buddist Monks actually live here.
It was just a 10 minute walk here from the Palace.
It was so much more relaxed here with way fewer people than the Palace.
Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan
It was 200 baht to get in or about $6.50 USD.
This was the first public university in Thailand. It specialized in Science, Literature and, of course, Religion.
The school of Thai medicine is located here, so you can actually get a Thai Massage on site here too!
Wat Pho temple complex boasts the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand
Keep an eye out for our night market fun in the next video! Special thanks to my awesome patrons on Patreon including: Caz Avery, Fine Ass Amy Fresh, Kenneth Deed, Mirium Figurales, Steven Gardiner, David Smith, The Jesta and FewGrain 42!
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Thailand is a well known tourist destination with a lot to offer visitors, but it’s also well known for it’s scams. I did research and was familiar with some of them, but there are honestly too many to keep track of! There’s the “Sorry, the Grand Palace isn’t open today, let me take you to other places that pay me!” scam, the “These gems are actually cut pieces of glass, but we’ll tell you they’re very cheap here, but can be sold back in your home country for 5 times the price so you guy them” scam, and the “You actually handed me a real bill, but I’ll swap it out with a counterfeit one so you have to pay double!” just to name a few! We luckily didn’t fall for any of those, but here’s what did happen on our first day in Thailand…
Yeah, no. It was not a special holiday. Don’t believe this ish. We turned away multiple tuk tuk drivers away until a certain price caught our ear.
In his proposal, he mentioned taking us to like 5 or 6 places including a floating market and the Grand Palace, but, yeah neither of those last two places happened.
After the Golden Mount (Wat Saket), we were brought to a small, local temple. It was next to an elementary school. A man inside started speaking to us about how great our driver was to bring us here because most tourists don’t know about it. He insisted on showing Joe how to pray, Thai style and then mentioned that his wife and son were getting a ton of clothes at this local tailor because there’s a big sale going on due to this government holiday. So yeah, he was definitely a plant and part of the scam.
But before the Giant Buddah there was a pit stop! Our driver made seemingly casual conversation with us while driving and found out that we hadn’t booked our train ticket, nor our hostel for the next part of our trip and offered to drive us to a travel agency. Joe and I were honestly immediately suspicious and untrusting of the place. The guy was lying to us about their likely not being any accommodations available and we knew it because I pulled out my hostelworld app and showed him all the availabilities, he was trying to up sell us to a hotel with a pool (likely fake photos) and when he saw how suspicious we were he pointed to a set of huge, silver numbers on the wall stating they were officially recognized by the government. I raised my eyebrows as a way to say, “Those numbers mean nothing to us and you could’ve just put them up there yourselves”. When he realized we’d keep politely declining his offers, he literally leaned back in his chair with an annoyed huff and waved us off as if we’d completely wasted his time. But our driver then got a coupon for free gas for bringing us in and then we got to go to the Giant Buddha.
And the next stop was to a tailor! Surprise, surprise! Our driver stated, once again, that we didn’t have to buy anything, but that by just going in and looking at their stuff, maybe drinking a free beer, he’d get a coupon for some free gas.
And scams are something I actually really enjoy reading about. I find them fascinating and some are even funny! Like in Cairo, Egypt when people will pay before getting on a camel for a picture in front of the pyramids, but then the handler won’t give the order for the camel to kneel again until you pay even more! But holy cow are these con artists convincing! They lie to your face with a smile you feel like you can trust.
So why did we enjoy this scam? Well, for one, because I had done some research into the fake travel agencies and other scams, we knew not to give our money out to places tuk tuks brought us to. If we had paid that agency thousands of baht just to find out they kept it all and booked nothing, we’d had been a lot more upset. And we didn’t consider the day a loss because we were planning on just roaming around, but instead we paid next to nothing to watch the city pass us by in a tuk tuk while being refreshed by the wind and getting to see some sites along the way! Not a bad way to spend the day!
Unlike the fake sanctuaries around South East Asia, this one was legit. The places that let you ride, pet, feed, play or bathe with the elephants... The places that force these animals to do tricks for you like pick you up with their trunks or paint you a picture... Those places don’t have the animals best interest at heart and often do major physical and mental and emotional harm to their elephants. Elephant Valley Project, however, is different.
Their elephants are out enjoying their lands while being watched and cared for by their mahouts. When groups of visitors come to see the elephants, the mahouts radio their location and we hike off to them. We watch the elephants enjoy going where they like and doing what they want. Because these aren’t wild elephants that can’t care for themselves, this is the closest to natural their lives can get.
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RELATED LINKS! (^_^):
EVP: http://www.elephantvalleyproject.org
EVP Thailand: http://www.elephantvalleys.com
EVP vs other Elephant Sanctuaries: youtube.com/watch?v=i4SETSsXkx0
Doe: http://www.elephantvalleyproject.org/meet-our-elephants/doe
Darling: http://www.elephantvalleyproject.org/meet-our-elephants/darling
Mahouts Elephants in Thailand: http://www.mahouts.co.uk
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RELATED VIDEOS! (^_^):
Sapporo Ramen: youtube.com/watch?v=hOVhdOPq54k
This video takes place over a few days of relaxing and exploration in the north east of Cambodia: Senmonorom, Mondolkiri. Senmonorom is a smaller town/village just outside of a major natural park. We got to spend some days slowing down to get to know what life in Cambodia is really like here and we really enjoyed it! We saw restaurants being used as classrooms during the day, their local markets, slices of marinated beef being laid out in the sun to become jerky, and much more! It was a new experience for us filled with fresh sites, smells, and sounds. And we loved it. I highly recommend getting outside of the major cities in Cambodia and coming here!
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I waited almost two years to get my hair cut! The last proper one I got was in Scotland (I trimmed my bangs and ends on my own in the meantime). With the cats always pulling my hair as they walk across my pillow and other stuff, I was sick of my long hair and decided to just go with my short hair again.
I was really nervous because Japanese hair is so different from my own, but I trusted Micaela's stylist because her hair is similar to mine and always looks great!
I think it turned out well. What do you think? :)
MICAELA'S CHANNEL! :
youtube.com/user/Ciaela
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RELATED LINKS:
Nature Lodge's Website: naturelodgecambodia.com
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There was a big puppy mill closure in Fukuoka, Japan (our city) and we contacted wanting to help. When we asked our landlord about fostering a dog, he didn't really understand so we ended up adopting instead!
In this video, I discuss the issues foreigners face adopting in Japan, the adoption process we went through, and more! I also introduce and show a ton of home videos on our new Japanese Spitz Khione (named after the Greek goddess of snow). And talk about her progress with us during our first week together! I hope your as excited about our new family member as we are! (^_^)
RELATED CONTENT! (^_^):
Micaela's Channel!: youtube.com/user/Ciaela
Rachel and Jun's Video!: youtube.com/watch?v=p5rUnI7_Aas
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For More Information on Angkor Wat:
youtu.be/KsDGDzwuQ-I (documentary)
http://angkor-travels.com/html/angkormap.php
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Some Angkor Facts:
We watched the sky illuminate slowly during the drive and stopped only once to buy our tickets on our way.
You could get a one day pass for $37, a three day pass for $62, or a weeks pass for $72 depending on how into history and temple exploration you are. We opted for the one day pass to see all the main sites.
The temples of Angkor Wat are the world’s largest religious monuments and therefore a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s also known to be the prime example of Khmer architecture.
Ankor Wat is 248 square miles or 400 square kilometers.
Ankor Wat translates to City of Temples.
Ankor Wat also appears on the Cambodian flag.
Hindu was the original religion worshipped and studied here, but today it’s Buddism.
Sadly, Angkor Wat is rented by a private company and is for profit. Although the donate $2 from every ticket purchased to a local hospital. And some of the money goes back into the temples for their upkeep. But the majority of money for the restoration actually comes from an organization in Japan!
If this temple looks familiar, it’s because it was used in the film Tomb Raider.
We were told we were really lucky to see the sun rise because apparently the three mornings before this one, it was raining and no one could see the sun come up.
There are at least 200 faces carved into Bayon Temple. The destruction to the tomb makes it impossible to know the exact number.
Ta Prohm is the temple.
This temple is definitely the
wildest feeling and maybe that’s why it was my favourite. Nature took back what was hers and many of the trees here had to be removed to save the architecture from collapse.
If you wish, you can pay to be blessed by a young monk.
Ankor Wat took approximately 30 years to build during the first half of the 12th century.
Ankor Wat was abandoned for 400 years before being rediscovered by the French.
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ANSWERS:
1. I like your ears - Me!
2. Toilet Turtle- Lauren!
3. Boobs! - Gil!
4. Fried Pork Blanket- Joe!
5. One order of jellyfish, please- Joe!
Also, travel update! We're heading to Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and maybe even Osaka!
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Come along and eat some delicious Cambodian food with us in this video! We tried very traditional Cambodian foods and desserts such as beef meatballs, banana-tapioca pudding, and amok! Plus some random stuff like ice cream rolls, crocodile burgers, and even Cambodian pizza! Come check out what we ate!
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* Why shouldn't I give money to begging children?: 1:07
* Our first experience with a begging child: 2:45
* Why you shouldn't ignore child beggars: 4:45
* What you can give instead of money: 5:59
* What WE Do: 8:08
* Our Success Story: 9:47
Hello, again. This video is a bit more serious. During our travels around South East Asia, we've noticed children begging for money or working and trying to sell you something. At first, we didn't know the best way to handle begging children. Many families in Cambodia, Thailand, India, and more will take their children out of school to beg tourists to buy their souvenirs. After a day of seeing and interacting with these begging children, I discovered a great way of communicating them which could possibly help them and their future.
RELATED LINKS!:
siemreap.net/magazine/travel/why-you-shouldnt-give-money-to-begging-children
cambodianchildrenstrust.org
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MUSIC! (^_^):
Eternal Hope by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100238
Artist: http://incompetech.com
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RELATED VIDEOS! (^_^):
Amsterdam- youtube.com/watch?v=dCBAd4BISKc
Berlin- youtu.be/r0AADpFL6jI
Prague- youtu.be/9e2zKFHUukU
The Ferry/Italy- youtu.be/96pGRjxMlQA
Ingeborg- youtube.com/watch?v=IJmnvQf9cCU
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Check out our time at Poo Poo Paper Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand! They make paper out of Elephant Poo! I always love to promote ecotourism and eco friendly places to travel to and this was SO interesting, fun and educational.
PooPooPaper is made without cutting down any trees and therefore helps combat deforestation (a big issue in much of South East Asia). It's made from 80% elephant poo and 20% natural fibers from things like coconuts, banana tree bark, and more. There are no unnatural chemicals, chlorine, bleach, or even perfumes used in the process either so it's all environmentally friendly. The paper is dyed with food color powder and the products sold in their gift shop is printed on with soy based ink!
The company also operates on fair trade and humane principles so it's a great place to support all around!
PooPooPaper Park is open from Monday through Sunday 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM. It's 100 TBH per person which is a little over $3.
Also, I know I'm supposed to go in order and Cambodia is next, BUT I've been SO EXCITED to share this amazing eco friendly place with you!
POOPOOPAPER PARK WEBSITE: http://www.poopoopaperpark.com/en
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#poopoopaperpark #poopoopaper
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Starting from Siem Reap Kampong Phluk Floating Village is almost an hour away, but it was a fascinating ride and gave us a real inside peak into the lives of the Cambodian people.
I’m sorry about the shakiness of this footage, but as you can see some of the roads were really rough to get down.
This is a Cambodian school! They only operate between 7 and 11 am due to the heat and funds. The elementary schools always seemed to be way larger than the high schools due to students dropping out to work.
At first, I was trying to figure out what type of vegetation these bushes were when I abruptly realized they were the tops of trees! Suddenly, the extent of the depths of the water became apparent.
I’ve heard of tours in other countries and places of floating villages where no one actually lived there. This village was very active and definitely a real community. This may be due to the fact that tourism only hit this village about 10 years ago and is a relatively new source of income here. Most of the villagers rely on the fishing industry during the wet season and farm during the dry season as their main ways to make money.
The water was very brown from all of the mud and dirt getting kicked up from the rains and also from how much clay is in the soil here.
I can’t express how large this village was! I was truly surprised. I couldn’t find any information about exactly how many people lived here and our guide didn’t speak much English to provide information about the village. So we pretty much just observed and enjoyed.
I was fascinated by the fact that these families still had dogs, cats and livestock high above the water.
I’ve heard that the price of this tour sometimes triples during the dry season since there’s no prices listed at the stand where you buy the tickets, which seems a bit shady and I wouldn’t say it’s worth a TON of money to see. And since the ticket stand was pretty far from the actual village, I HOPE the money goes towards the locals there. Otherwise, it’s not the most ethical. So maybe just watch this video and experience it through us instead!
This village sits on a river which leads into the Tonle Sap. It’s the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and a huge biodiversity hotspot.
The name of this floating village translates to the Harbor of the Tusks.
We saw men and women weaving fishing nets, children playing in the water, people young and old bathing outside of their homes, a girl rowing a boat to her friends house and more. We saw multiple people bathing in the waters here. It obviously plays a huge role in their lives. It was all awesome and totally fascinating to see how people live here.
Our mangrove guide was a local from the village who didn’t speak any English.
Being on a small boat getting closer to the houses and the people gave us a brand new perspective which was really exciting. It got me wondering what it would be like to teach English in their local school and live in this community.
We were silly and forgot bug spray … I really recommend bug spray.
The crocodile farm was located right next to a shop with a ton of purses, belts and other things made from the skins of said crocodiles which was a bit upsetting to me. Also, you could hold the babies which I’m never a fan of. Babies should be with their mamas and not held by strangers being exposed to all of their new and exotic bacteria and germs and stuff.
Our guide brought us down the river and out to see the lake.
There was also a local temple we were able to visit too. The mangrove forest and the temple were the only two stops our boat made. At the temple was a few stray dogs and some monks. The details in the architecture and colors within the murals were so beautiful.
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TO SKIP AHEAD:
*Tiers Start At: 1:41
*Goals Start At: 6:35
A few of you guys thought it'd be a good idea for me to start a Patreon now while I'm a smaller channel instead waiting longer. I took your enthusiasm and feedback into consideration and after months of working on getting the tiers right, it's finally launched!
HUFFLEPUFF HOUSE: The lowest level starts at $1. It’s the Hufflepuff Tier as per Joe’s request (he’s a Hufflepuff). Within this Tier for $1 or more a month, you get a warm and fuzzy feeling for helping support me, my family, this channel and our travels.
SLYTHERIN HOUSE: For $3 or more a month you get your name at the end of ALL of my videos! You can, of course, opt out of this if you don’t want you name listed for any reason. Give me a little bit to get this up and running as I have a few videos already edited and ready to go without this list included.
RAVENCLAW HOUSE: In this Tier you can pay $5 or more a month for my favourite reward! It includes exclusive behind the scenes content, early content, extra footage, bloopers and whatever else I feel like putting up there! PLUS you can participate in polls on future videos, merchandise, the channel and more! Plus you also get your name at the end of my videos!
GRYFFINDOR HOUSE: For $15 or more a month you get a free print of one of my pictures from our travels (follow me on Instagram to see some of those) OR 5 digital pictures from our travels, PLUS a personally letter to you from me. AND you every Gryffindor gets exclusive monthly live video chats with me all together. Times to be determined. Plus all the rewards that the other tiers get too.
My Goals:
* Professional Lighting
* A Gimbal
* A Drone
* To one day maybe go part time
FOLLOW ME! (^_^):
*On Twitter: @SonnieTravels
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* The Mekong Hostel: http://www.mekonghostels.com
* White Rabbit Hostel: hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/White-Rabbit-Hostel-Siem-Reap/Siem-Reap/281218
RELATED VIDEOS:
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After living in Japan for a year, we travelled to Australia for the first time. It was our first time going to a Western cultured country after living in an Eastern cultured country. So we had some reverse culture shocks for sure!
My list for this video:
How big people are: Height and weight!
So many babies!
Wearing shows indoors!
Big cars!
No konbini!
So much skin!
So many tattoos!
Small Talk/Casual Friendliness!
RELATED VIDEOS:
Culture Shocks of Japan: youtu.be/O30szfG7Iok
Our Australian Vlogs: youtube.com/watch?v=PoJRhNAz4HU&list=PLWiE1aTP5E-WKr6J9P3BaTsoldPhk-LvL
FOLLOW ME! (^_^):
*On Twitter: @SonnieTravels
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You’ll likely never have to ask for help as many people will try to get your attention and show you what they have for sale or lead you into their shop. We’d just politely say, “No thank you” and move along if we weren’t interested and they would often move onto the next person.
During one particular haggling session Joe came up with the idea to discuss the next price we’d be willing to offer to each other in Japanese so hopefully they wouldn’t understand and we could make sure we were both comfortable with the prices.
But we quickly learned that the best way to get the price you want is to simply start walking away. If it honestly it’s offensively low, they’ll likely say ok to keep you there to make the sale.
These days eating these creepy crawlies is mostly a tourist based industry. Although we did see locals eating some crickets in another part of the country. However, these edible spiders are only found in forests which are in major danger in Cambodia and since we didn’t know how these animals were sourced, and they no longer seemed like a part of the local cuisine, we passed on trying them ourselves.
We ended up buying a painting by a local artist and since it was an oil painting and due to the humidity, we had to be really careful with it because it didn’t dry for almost a week!
Inside the market, there’s a wide variety of goods you can purchase, from all types of clothing and accessories like scarves and bags, to locally made toys, artwork, and painted coconut shells and so much more.
Aside from the stuffed elephant and Joe’s elephant pants, we bought these decorative bowls made from coconuts for our friends back in Japan. And this is the painting I mentioned earlier. It depicts some incredible parts of our journeys around Cambodia.
The clothing was so cheap we couldn’t resist honestly, so we also got these and lastly, I bought a few pairs of a different kind of pants for the rest of our travels here in Cambodia and south east asia.
These pants were different than Joes because they wrapped around you and therefore had this opening. We got them for $3 each and I LOVE them! They’re so comfy. These were silk versions of the same style made from local silk worms here in Cambodia. They were $7. Everything we bought was made in Cambodia. Everything we bought, we haggled for so you may be able to get them cheaper. This tank top was only $2. Joe got a couple of pairs of elephant pants for $4 each and his shirt for $2 as well.
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RELATED VIDEOS:
* Best Travel Phrases To Learn: youtu.be/mF5cOf6McLI
* Thing I Miss While Living Abroad: youtu.be/Wy33ndYey4k
* Culture Shocks of Japan: youtu.be/O30szfG7Iok
A video of a gondolier jumping out of their boat and over the bridge!:
youtube.com/watch?v=QdrvWP5WldE
The canals of Kurashiki: youtu.be/crEB7ti7vF8
Japan's most exciting festival!: youtu.be/yphwiiFMKh8
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This fiesta began in 1978 and became an international festival in 1984. Since that year, about 640 balloons from around the world have taken part in it.
Balloons take part in a competition to see which team can get closest to a target.
These fun shaped balloons are here to take part in the Balloon Fantasia. These adorable balloons were probably my favourite part of this festival. Which one is your favourite? The Up Balloon was pretty amazing, but mine had to be the big octopus balloon.
Anytime there’s an outdoor event in Japan or Korea, people tend to bring tents to hang out in and catch a break from the sun.
If you stay into the night, they fill the balloons up again and the you get to see a whole different side of them as they glow from the flames.
There was a huge whale that they floated low to the ground for the kids to play with. I noticed the guy in charge of the tail kept bobbing the kids on the head with it and laughing.
Yanagawa is known as the Venice of Fukuoka.
These boats are called, “donkobune”.
These canals were originally built for irrigation purposes, but later they were used for military purposes.
The songs these gondoliers were singing were songs made from poems by Kitahara Hakushu a local, Meiji era poet from Yanagawa.
Many of the bridges were too low to push the boat through, so under each bridge was a system to help pull the boats. And sometimes we got to help pull the boat along. When the water levels are too high, some of the gondoliers will actually jump from the boat, run over the bridge, and jump back into the boat once on the other side. It would’ve been cool to see that in person. But there are some videos you can see of it here on youtube.
After a delicious eel dinner (which is famous is Yanagawa), it was beginning to get dark and the lanterns we had seen throughout the day started to light up.
This festival is called the Hakushu Festival.
The boats would pass by or stop at different traditional performances on their way down the canal.
About 1,500 people in over 100 boats ride for 2 and a half hours along these canals, while eating and drinking.
There was an incredible sense of community here during this festival and it’s no surprise that people start booking these boats a year in advanced! The people who live along the canal, decorated their balconies with lights or were outside shouting greetings and lighting up sparklers. Other locals gathered on bridges or in areas facing the boat routes and waved enthusiastically to passersby.
Adventures on Shikoku!:
youtu.be/ij12GX3EnSo
Japanese Fall Foliage and Waterfalls!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODuSLLQaovs
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Saga Prefecture is the smallest prefecture on Kyushu, but wow is it stunning. I hope I can do it justice in this video. It’s most famous for its porcelain and ceramics.
This is an Omikuji a kind of Japanese fortune teller in paper form. You usually pay 100 yen or so for it. If you get the best one, you keep it. If not, you tie it up and leave it there.
The spider webs were in all the bushes and trees surrounding the paths and even blocking some!
Kagamiyama, or Mount Kagami, is over 930 feet tall (or about 284m) and this park not only has a temple, but also a lake full of koi fish, and plenty of walking paths all around.
The trees separating the coast from the city act as a barrier to protect it.
Around May, these terraces are flooded with water and apparently look spectacular as the sun is setting. There’s almost 300 terraces here!
The geology in this area was stunning and reminded me of parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Nanatsugama Koen translates to Seven Pots Park.
The sea in this area is usually really calm, but due to the typhoon we were treated to some amazing waves! You can usually take a boat ride from April to November down by these caves and into the largest one, but they were cancelled that day due to the rough waters.
There’s also hiking paths we took and we saw a lot of people fishing.
We raced against the sun to try and get to Futamigaura Beach in time to watch it set there. This area is technically in Fukuoka again and not in Saga and it was on our way back home.
During certain times of the year, the sun sets directly behind the torri gate and between these two wedded rocks. The wedded rocks are connected with a shimenawa which is a thick rope made from rice straw.
Torii gates represent the division of our world and the sacred world. They’re seen as entrance ways. They come in all different colors, materials, styles, and sizes.
This was the perfect way to end this wonderful day. What do you guys think of Yusuke’s planning?
Brisbane, Australia is part of the Sunshine Coast. It’s the capital city of Queensland with over 2.4 million residents and it’s often described as a laid back place.
I really wish we had more time here to see more of this city because it seemed right up my alley.
Did you know Burger King is called Hungry Jacks in Australia?!
The Nepal Peace Pagoda was built in 1986 for the World Expo in 1988 and was moved to this permanent location in 1992.
Queen Street Mall: This mall receives over 26 million visitors each year!
And I was shocked and amazed to suddenly see this lagoon! There’s enough water here to fill 5 Olympic sized swimming pools! This is a manmade beach complete with 4,000 square meters of sand, palm trees, and tropical plants. It’s won awards for having such incredibly clean water since it’s filtered so often. I would’ve LOVED to spend a day swimming, playing, and relaxing here.
And like I often do, I ran straight to the green areas of the city!
The City Botanic Gardens (also called Queen’s Park and formerly known as Brisbane Botanic Gardens) is almost 50 acres filled with ponds, playgrounds, art, a bamboo grove, and leads right up to the riverside! There are different events that take place here including cultural events, fitness classes, and markets. There’s also a bunch of cool birds like these dudes!
I would’ve loved to have the time to sit out here and have a glass of wine under the heatlamps.
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The Company We Used: cruisewhitsundays.com/great-barrier-reef-experiences/great-barrier-reef-adventures
Related Videos:
youtu.be/s3_sS0Ewk1M
The water in the bay area was beautiful and calm, but it didn’t stay that way for long!
The staff quickly started handing out vomit bags to everyone, putting on gloves, and getting garbage bags.
Keep an eye out for the constantly changing colors of water. All of which were gorgeous.
This was our first peak at the GBR! It’s no wonder it can be seen from space, look at the outstanding difference in color! The reef stretches for over 2,600 kilometers and is made up of over 2,900 individual reefs. And at last, we were at the pontoon at the Great Barrier reef!
There was a lot to do besides from just snorkeling which was great because they specifically told me not to go snorkeling until it was close to the point of leaving because the water would be calmer for me at that time.
As soon as we got onto the pontoon, we headed below to see some of the local wildlife!
See the ribbon on my snorkel? We all had to fill out health forms to show we were physically able to handle snorkeling. I was required to have one due to my health conditions so that the lifeguards knew to keep an extra close watch on me.
The GBR is the world’s largest coral reef system! It’s larger than the UK and about the size of Japan!
The water was actually MUCH warmer than the air. Thank goodness!
Pro-tip, it’s much easier to walk backwards in flippers.
To get the corals to look so colorful for documentaries, filmmakers will shine lights on them. But their natural look consists of more muted tones. I noticed this in Tobago too.
You may notice the white tips on the corals. That’s not coral bleaching from climate change. It’s actually new growth which is a really positive sign!
The largest threat to this reef, it’s creatures and our amazing oceans is climate change. With the temperatures of our ocean waters rising, the oxygen levels are dropping. This leads to stress on the corals which causes them to bleach and die.
Hope is not lost for our oceans and reefs, but global changes need to be made quickly in order to save them. Please contact your local government to show support for green and ecofriendly initiatives.
The current was really strong from the winds and kept pulling me back towards the boat and away from the reef. So this day proved to be more physically challenging than I initially thought it would be.
If you have money to spare, you can pay extra to go on tours, scuba drives, (jet rides), helicopter rides, and even stay the night on the float at the reeft! There are also professional photographers that take your picture at the reef, which are, of course, available for purchase, but everything you see us do in this video, is included in the main price.
This reef is home to whales, dolphins, sea turtles, porpoises, sea birds, sea snakes and over 1,500 species of fish. Approximately 10% of the world’s total species of fish can be found here!
Coral grows in roughly the same way that stalagtites and stallagmites do in cave systems. They build up over hundreds and thousands of years. Some dead coral has been dated back as far as 20 million years! So it’s important not to physically break or damage them.
We didn’t see or hear much about the harm to the reef from warming waters which I talk about later on too. One reason tour companies may not have discussed the issues facing the reef is because the damage has lead to a drop in tourism here which has impacted the local economies. Normally, over 2 million tourists visit the reef each year and they bring over 5 billion Australian dollars with them.
One wonderful thing about these types of tours is that they concentrate the tourists day after day into only certain points of the reef, leaving the rest to its natural and untouched state.
All too soon, it was time to leave and head back to mainland.
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For this video, we headed to Ramen Stadium in Fukuoka, Japan. Ramen Stadium has 9 different ramen restaurants each with a different type of ramen from around Japan. So we figured it was the best place for the first video of this new series! (^_^)
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Related Videos:
Trying Japanese Kit Kats!: youtu.be/YZ5FQ3HgHJ0
All About Kobe Beef!: youtu.be/iYVXFR9sI2k
Trying Japanese Omiyage!: youtu.be/T6Nc4UastIQ
The Beltane Fire Society:
* beltane.org
Related Videos:
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* A Bone Church - youtube.com/watch?v=SX3AatZizME
* The Leaky Cauldron - youtube.com/watch?v=rDiUmFJkNwc
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Beach hiking in Australia.
Including....
* Joe and my first traveling experiences!
* How were the people in Australia, Cambodia, Taipei, and Singapore?!
* Where do we want to go in the future?!
* How do we know when we use cheap accommodation that it's safe?
* How do we plan our travel itineraries?!
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*If you're offended by the idea of watching a Japanese person watch gross American porn, skip this video. :) You've been warned! ...But you're kind of missing out because it's hysterical.
*This video is not censored.
The Story Behind This Video:
Yusuke, Lauren, Gill, Joe and I were out for coffee and reminiscing about our times in high school. We mentioned things like the PEN Fifteen Club, asking your friends to spell "i cup" and then say "pretty colors", and more idiotic things. This quickly escalated to the crazy viewing challenges we had to endure (ie: the pain olympics, meat spin, etc.) and this lead to us mentioning Two Girls, One Cup. If you are unaware, this is a disgusting porn that people tried to see how long they could watch without running away. We didn't tell Yusuke ANYTHING about this video so he was very unaware of what he was getting himself into!
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We quiz our Japanese and American friends on some Aussie slang we learned while traveling around Australia!
Australian Slang:
* Brekkie
* Smoko
* Maccas
* Sparky
* Ambo
* Bottel-o
* Servo
* Sunnies
* Old Mate
* Fair Dinkum
* Blue
* Esky
* Root
* Rack Off
* Dunny
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After eating some Australian meat pies for lunch we went to try and find some platypus AND WE DID! They're so cute and so much smaller than I thought they'd be!
We really had an amazing time. What did you think of our day in Mackay, Australia?!
You may remember Ash from my Avengers Behind the Scenes video: youtu.be/Owhj1p8Mglw
or my Hogmanay video which was actually the first time we met!: youtu.be/2mjS35U6yoQ
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http://www.austinvilla.com.au/
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