Japan 2014 - 47 A Bus Trip back to Tokyo Narita Airport (2014-10-13) | So, with a ride up a mountain and a wedding done right, our two week holiday in the magnificent country that is Japan had finally come to an end. All that was left were a few last visits with the newly extended Brown family, before Ryan ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 46 Komagane - Terrance and Yuko Brown's Wedding Day (2014-10-12) | Finally, after nearly two weeks of sightseeing in Japan, the real reason for Ryan and I being in the country was at last upon us. Amazingly, our smart clothes that had journeyed with us still looked reasonably smart, which was a good thing considering the fact ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 45 Under Mt. Komagatake of the Chuo Alps - Suganodai Outdoor Recreation Area (2014-10-11) | So having enjoyed the spectacular views of the Chuo Alps thanks to the fantastic Komagatake Ropeway on our last free day before Yuko and Terrance's wedding, we reluctantly made our way back down the mountain, endured the tricky bus trip back to the starting point ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 44 Taking the Komagatake Ropeway to ascend Mount Komagatake in Komagane (2014-10-11) | Our two week long Japanese sightseeing trip was rapidly coming to an end now. With one day to go to the big day of Yuko and Terrance's wedding, Ryan and I decided to spend our last day as tourists by taking the Komagatake Ropeway up ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 43 Pizza at Good Life Cafe in Iida City, Nagano (2014-10-10) | We were lucky to be able to spend a day alone with Terrance before the wedding, and having already enjoyed some morning activities that included smacking baseballs at a batting cage in Ina, he next took us for a spin in his delightful new car to show us ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 42 A Baseball Batting Cage, the Arcade, and lots of Ice-cream in Ina! (2014-10-10) | Following a day of driving around the Kiso Valley, doing tourist things like viewing a historic post town, seeing a samurai museum, and partaking in the area's specialty, soba noodles, the next day was to be a complete change of pace as Ryan and I got to ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 41 Yoshinaka Yakata Museum in Miyanokoshi (2014-10-09) | Stomachs full following our soba noodles at Zcobo, the next stop on our day out with Yuko and the Brown family was a leisurely (more or less, thanks to some wrong turns and narrow town streets) drive through to the town of Miyanokoshi, where Yuko ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 40 Nagano Soba Noodles at Zcobo (2014-10-09) | Still in the mountains of Kiso Valley, Nagano, following our walk about the heritage town Narai-juku, we next enjoyed a scenic drive to Zcobo, a fancy restaurant completely tucked away in the mountain forest. Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat and is also synonymous with a ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 39 Narai-juku, the Japanese Heritage Post Town (2014-10-09) | After a good night in Ina, followed by a quick stroll around town in the morning, Ryan and I were picked up by Yuko and Terrance, who were to be our tour guides for the day. With them was Hester and Terry, Terrance's parents, who ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 38 A Stroll around Ina, Nagano (2014-10-09) | Having enjoyed a fun evening out in Ina, Ryan and I woke up with a little bit of time to kill before we were to be picked up by Yuko and Terrance for an outing. In other words, out we went for a short stroll around our ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 37 From Kyoto to Ina (and throw in Karaoke and an Izakaya) (2014-10-08) | Heading into our third leg of the holiday (the first being Tokyo/Yokohama, followed by Kyoto), we were now to travel to Ina, a small city in the Nagano Prefecture which is near to Komangane where the big wedding (and reason for the trip) was to ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 36 From Nagoya TV Tower back to the Meitetsu Bus Center (and Nana-chan!) (2014-10-08) | I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting these photos separate from the photos taken on the walk to Nagoya TV Tower and then the photos taken at Nagoya TV Tower. Nevertheless, I do have a separate folder for these, so if you have to know, ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 35 A jaunt up the Nagoya TV Tower (2014-10-08) | Having enjoyed a scenic stroll along the streets of central Nagoya (while we were waiting for our bus transfer), we eventually reached Hisaya Odori Park where the object of our mission resides - Nagoya TV Tower. Nagoya TV Tower is the oldest TV tower in Japan, completed ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 34 Walk from Nagoya Station to the Nagoya TV Tower! (2014-10-08) | So having stayed in Yokohama whilst visiting Tokyo, then moving on to Kyoto via bullet train, time had now come to move on to the third and final leg of our journey - a stay in Ina, a small city situated in the Nagano prefecture. However, ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 33 The Kyoto Municipal Zoo in Sakyo, Kyoto (2014-10-07) | So with a Goddess of Mercy, dolphins and trains now spotted on the day, Ryan and I next decided to take a lengthy march through to the Kyoto Municipal Zoo, passing by the massive red torii gate of the Heian-jingu shrine in the process. Kyoto Municipal Zoo is a small ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 32 Kyoto's Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum (2014-10-07) | Umekoji Park is a large green space in rather crowded Kyoto, and thus quite popular with the locals. Of course, the newly built (2012) aquarium took quite a bite out of the space, but I have to say that as tourists, Ryan and I kind ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 31 The Kyoto Aquarium in... Kyoto! (2014-10-07) | Talk about a change of scenery. For the last couple of days Ryan and I had been taking in a lot of Kyoto's well known ancient attractions, in other words, castles, temples and shrines, but now having both seen more than enough in this category, we ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 30 A long walk to Sanjusangendo and the 1,001 Figures of Kannon (2014-10-07) | Having enjoyed a particularly fruitful time of taking in an assortment of both splendid and grandiose sights the previous day (a castle, a temple, a shrine, a pavilion, and a manga museum), we kicked things off on our final day in Kyoto with a long walk ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 29 Walking through Kyoto to the Kyoto International Manga Museum (2014-10-06) | The weather had cleared up nicely now, and having already seen Nijo Castle, the Kitano Tenmangu shrine, the Hirano shrine, and the magnificent Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion) all in one day (our second but first full day in Kyoto), Ryan and I decided to take a nice long tourist stroll ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 28 Walking to Kyoto's Kinkaku-ji Temple - The Golden Pavilion (2014-10-06) | One of the biggest tourist attractions in Kyoto is without a doubt Kinkaku-ji, otherwise known as The Golden Pavilion, and having already seen a castle, a shrine and cherry trees in the morning, this was definitely destined to be the big sight for our day! Kinkaku-ji is ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 27 Strolling through the Hirano Shrine in Kyoto (2014-10-06) | In Kyoto you can't go very far without hitting some or other spiritual place, and having already been distracted by the interesting Kitano Tenmangu shrine on our way to the Golden Pavilion (following our visit to Nijo Castle), we next found ourselves wandering through the ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 26 Walking through Kitano Tenmangu in Kyoto (2014-10-06) | Having started our second day here in the culturally rich city of Kyoto with a visit to Nijo Castle, Ryan and I then headed off on our walking tour to the next big sight - the famed Golden Pavilion. Getting there meant of course quite a long ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 25 Nijo Castle in Kyoto (2014-10-06) | Having enjoyed our first day and evening in the culturally rich city of Kyoto (we saw a garden, a temple, and an observation deck!),  the second day kicked off with a trek to Nijo Castle, one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto and an ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 24 Staying at the Econo-Inn in Kyoto (2014-10-05) | Oh dear. I did the same with our room at the Super Hotel Yokohama - I completely neglected to really take any photos of our accommodation in Kyoto, namely the relatively cheap Econo-Inn! Terrance's fiance Yuko had arranged all of our accommodation for us using the supplied parameters ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 23 A Trip up Kyoto Tower (2014-10-05) | Having arrived in the morning via shinkansen from Yokohama, Ryan and I, after stowing our bags, had already begun our walking mission through Kyoto, with two attractions already ticked off - namely the beautifully ornate and tranquil Shosei-en garden and the imposing Higashi Honganji temple complex. Next on ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 22 Kyoto's Higashi Honganji (The Eastern Temple of the Original Vow) (2014-10-05) | Now in Kyoto, and already distracted once on our trip to Kyoto Tower, the next diversion to cross our paths was the Higashi Honganji complex, also known as The Eastern Temple of the Original Vow, whose main hall just happens to be the largest wooden ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 21 A Walk to Kyoto's Shosei-en (Kikoku-tei) Gardens (2014-10-05) | Having arrived in Kyoto via bullet train (and escaping the big storm lashing Yokohama in the process), Ryan and I successfully navigated our way to the hotel from the train station on foot, awkwardly managed to check ourselves in and stow our luggage, and then ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 20 From Yokohama to Kyoto via the Shinkansen (Bullet Train!) (2014-10-05) | A massive storm was moving in towards Japan, and so it was no surprise to wake up to a rather wet Yokohama on our day of departure to Kyoto. After yet another nice hotel breakfast room breakfast, we purchased umbrellas from the FamilyMart convenience store downstairs ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Oom Piet's Christmas Party at Durbanville Race Course (2015-12-05) | Jessica was in for quite a treat at the start of December - Natasha had organised that we join them and the Garrett's for Oom Piet's Christmas Party, a Christmas themed charity evening organised by the Durbanville Rotary Club. The evening was held at the Marco ... (Photo Gallery)

Japan 2014 - 19 The Nissan Stadium, aka The International Stadium Yokohama (2014-10-04) | Having ended off a long but super sightings filled day in Tokyo, Ryan and I took the train back to Yokohama, deciding along the way to make use of the remaining light to take a walking trip through to the Nissan Stadium before turning in ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 18 Going home via Tokyo Station (2014-10-04) | Having just enjoyed a stroll through the Imperial East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, Ryan and I decided that perhaps it was time to exit Tokyo for the day and make our way back to Yokohama - and to do this we decided that we needed ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Japan 2014 - 17 Strolling through the Tokyo Imperial Palace grounds (2014-10-04) | Ryan and I certainly had our walking shoes on, having already taken in the sights of Tokyo Dome Stadium, LaQua in Tokyo Dome City, the Yasukuni Shrine complex, the Yushukan War Memorial Museum, the Nippon Budokan and Kitanomaru Park all in one day! Not that we ... (Photo Gallery | Travel Attractions)

Drummies at Blaauwklippen Family Market (2015-11-29) | Sunday's family market held at the Blaauwklippen wine estate is something of a favourite of ours. With Chantelle working on Sunday last week, and Retha off on a wedding shoe shopping trip, I decided to treat the girls to some pancakes and ponies, and so off ... (Photo Gallery)

Lunch with Retha at Wild Clover (2015-11-28) | Situated on the edge of a private nature reserve along the R304, Wild Clover farm is a smorgasbord of activities, included among which is a more than decent restaurant, a onsite brewery, large secure outdoor kids play area, cottages for accommodation, a weekly market, archery ... (Photo Gallery)

The SA Blog Awards 2015 voting round is here... | The SA Blog Awards programme has been running for a good couple of years now (and courting more than its fair share of controversy in the process mind you). Nevertheless, seeing as I did pretty well with the African Blogger Awards earlier this year, trying ... (Blogging)