Travel Bits: November 2024

Returned from a Trip, Preparing for Another...... 

And just like that, my autumn trip to Japan is completed. During the trip, I had explored parts of Tokyo I had never before visited, drove to Nikko and got to spend some time at the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, had lunch by Lake Chūzenji and explored its surroundings on foot including the Kegon Falls and checked off a Travel Bucket List item by staying at the historic Nikko Kanaya Hotel.

As of 2024, the hotel is 150-years old. Historic and famous people including Albert Einstein, Dwight D Eisenhower, Helen Keller and Isabella Bird were some of the previous guests and visitors to this hotel.

I had read Ms Isbella Bird's travelogue on her travels in Japan, "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan" and had drawn much inspirations from the book, both for my own travels and writings. From the book, I had also read about her trip to Nikko in the 19th century. Thus, to stay at the same hotel was for me, a Travel Bucket List item. 

In my upcoming trip in the first week of December 2024, I will be checking off another Travel Bucket List item by staying in anther historic hotel, the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang's Georgetown. During this trip, I intend to spend more time writing rather than work on my engineering stuff. Thus, I had spent the better part of the month of November rushing through the loads of work accumulated whilst I was away on my Japan trip. Because the bills need to be paid, therefore work must continue. 🌏

Myself, at the entrance of the Nikko Kanaya Hotel on 27th October 2024, Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan (2024)