Before the earthquake of March 11th, we had 72 hours to savor Tokyo. During that time, we spent an afternoon learning classic Japanese home cooking with the kind and talented team of Chef Takamitsu Aihara. Chef Aihara has received a Michelin star for his beautiful cuisine and we were slightly star-struck to be in […]
As you know, Piggy was in a big earthquake and has been watching the news carefully to see what has been happening ever since. Exactly how big was it and where was the epicenter of the quake that made Piggy leave Japan? Send your guess to katherine@365saturdays.org by email
The line at Haneda Airport at 5:15am. Safety first. Although we were having a great time in Japan and managed to get through the earthquake without any injuries, we decided to move the family out of Tokyo today. We just arrived in Seoul where we plan to catch our breath and get some sleep. More […]
By 6am on Saturday, there was limited train service restored and we could come back to Tokyo city via a series of zigzag rides with six different legs (shuttle, 4 trains, taxi). Somehow we made it back to Akasaka without getting lost. We finally reached our rooms at the Intercontinental around 9am, where we discovered it […]
We had spent the past two hours quivering inside the Guest Relations building. Packed together with 100 other people, tight as sardines in a can. It was a dreary routine. Wait for endless amounts of time inside, then when the tremor alarm goes off, run outside and wait, then come back in when everything is […]
What do you think about in middle of an earthquake? Put yourself in our shoes at Disney, walking under a ten-story tall volcano, when the ground starts to sway. What you would see is Carter and me grinning like idiots – Disney has the most realistic special effects! Then the staff all run to their […]
Okay, before I start this blog I want to get to the point: WE ARE OKAY! “Bye!” Mom and I said. We were going to the mermaid section of Disney Sea Tokyo park, while Carter and Dad waited in line for Journey to the Center of the Earth. “We’ll meet you back here in 90 […]
We stepped off the flight from Vietnam and giggled with excitement: we were in Tokyo! We had only flown for four hours but it felt like we had landed in a different world. Everything was so sleek, high-tech, and almost unnaturally clean. There is simply no comparison between a public bathroom in Tokyo and anywhere […]
Our wonderful Japan guide Mimi came over on Wednesday morning and we stepped out into the streets of Tokyo. Brrr. First stop, Ginza for jackets. Then we saw the Imperial Palace and Asukasa with its many tourist stands and great Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine. We were so impressed with Mimi. She was impeccably dressed, […]
From Halong Bay we hopped a short flight south to the middle of Vietnam. Here the village of Hoi An has been preserved and restored using old-style Vietnamese architecture. We stayed nearby at the exquisite Nam Hai resort that is one of the jewel properties for the year. A “villa” at the Nam Hai includes […]
Who doesn’t love a good love story? Every country seems to have one. Here in Vietnam, one of the most poignant is widely known but officially unrecognized by the Vietnamese government: it is the true story of Ho Chi Minh and his Chinese wife and it goes something like this. Ho Chi Minh was born […]
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, a government center that is home to the country’s largest concentration of intellectuals and artists. Dusty construction confronts us in every direction. The city population just passed the 9 million mark and the streets are buzzing. This is the perfect place for cultural adventures. So much is foreign here […]
Which famous person’s tomb is Piggy visiting today? Send your guesses to me at katherine@365saturdays.org!
Could one tourist site account for nearly 10% of a nation’s economy? If the nation is Cambodia and the site is the extraordinary Angkor Wat, then by our admittedly rough calculations the answer is yes. Cambodia only has a national GDP of $11 billion, ranking 124th in the world. Some 2.5 million people per year […]
Can you guess the name of the famous temple that Piggy is visiting today? Send your answer to katherine@365saturdays.org. Answers from February: In Thailand, Piggy was at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (called Wat Pho) in Bangkok. In Southeast Asia, Piggy was in Singapore, about to cross the Malaysian border to board the Eastern […]
Hello, this is Reporter K doing an article on Thai cuisine. On my recent trip to Thailand I experienced some wonderful food, wonderful enough to write an article on. The first authentic dish I experienced was yes, at the airport food court. It was a delicious ramen-like soup, with clear broth. There were also various […]
What’s there to do in Thailand outside of Bangkok? Plenty! Our favorite part of the trip was in North Thailand, a hilly area that was once the ancient Kingdom of Lanna, and is now a collection of nations and tribes split across the legal borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma. This region is geographically midway […]
ประกอบด้วยแปลไทยด้านล่าง (Thai translation at bottom) Rice has been eaten for thousands of years. For a while, people grew rice just like carrots; in a field of soil. Eventually, people found out that flooding the fields with water increased the quantity and quality of the rice. Farmers would plant seedlings in a non-flooded field, and when […]
Our guide Suzy brought us to the Floating Market, about an hour and a half south of Bangkok. This market had water canals instead of roads. We stepped into a “James Bond” boat and whizzed down a series of canals. As we sped along, water sprayed as high as the boat’s canopy; I nonchalantly munched […]
Piggy visited Thailand and looked at lots of temples. Can you guess what city this collection of temples is in? Bonus question: what is the name of the temple? There is also an emerald Buddha here.
As part of Road School, the kids are reading a textbook comparing eight major world religions. In the Hinduism unit we read about an ancient Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana which means Rama’s Journey. We had never heard about this story, but it is just as important in the East as the Odyssey or Gilgamesh. When […]
Where can you find Hindu Indians, Buddhist Chinese, and Muslim and Christian Malays living side by side in an island leased from a Sultan and developed by the British? The answer is George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the capital city of Penang, one of the states of Malaysia. On its first morning out of Singapore, […]
Eating in Singapore is a national pastime so compelling that more than 5 million tourists visit annually to participate. While some opt for the five-star tables, those in the know come for the street food. We were clueless and consequently delighted when we learned that the city was filled with “food courts” where hawkers selling […]
This is the true story of an Englishman who made a New Zealander dig forty-one holes in a hill, sixty years in the future. The Englishman J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Africa and came back to live in England at the age of three. His father and later his mother died of illnesses and he […]
The folks at Treetops are fond of saying “Anything is possible here.” That is a statement that begs to be tested. Can you arrange for local Maori elders to greet us on arrival with a ritual welcoming ceremony? Yes! Can you schedule a helicopter to fly us to an offshore volcano? Yes! Could you make […]
Piggy visited a set from the Lord of the Rings movies. Can you guess where she is on Middle Earth? Email your answer to me at katherine@365saturdays.org!
There are lots of volcanoes in New Zealand. This is the largest active volcano. It is a cone volcano. Can you guess which small island it is on? (Not North Island or South Island those are the two major islands of New Zealand). P.S. I am so sorry! I am really behind on the Piggy […]
We had a red-eye flight into Hong Kong that proved easier than expected, due to the kindness of a Kingfisher employee who saw the kids and decided to upgrade our seats! Thank goodness for a decent night’s rest. The goals for Hong Kong were simple: first, to rest and rejuvenate after a couple of weeks of intense […]
Can you guess where Piggy is spending the night? Send your guess to me by email to katherine@365saturdays.org P.S. Can you also guess what animal year is about to start here?
When we were in France, I fell in love with the castle Chenonceau. In India, I fell in love with The Lake Palace. The Lake Palace was the summer residence of the Maharana of Udaipur. Maharana means warrior king and is a title distinct from Maharaja. The current ruling dynasty in Udaipur has stood for […]
The cuisine of India is rich in history, dazzling in color, and overwhelming in variety. Countless legumes, vegetables, and spices are combined to create everything from street snacks to five-star entrees. I did a lot of eating and a bit of cooking while here and my first introduction to both came under the expert guidance […]
To break up a long drive from Agra to Jaipur, we stopped first outside of Agra at Fatehpur Sikri, which was briefly the Mughal capital (long story) and contains an impressive palace complex. Further along, we visited Chand Baori – a step well. Step wells are massive excavated stone cisterns that could store rain water, […]
Here is a true story: when the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was a prince, he visited a market at the palace grounds. There he spied a beautiful girl, Mumtaz Mahal, who was working at a bangle booth. She was the daughter of one of the court accountants. He was so entranced that he proposed on […]
The classic touring trip to India is called the Golden Triangle, which is exactly what we signed up to do for our first exposure to the country. It all takes place in Northwest India, right around the capital city and then to the immediate south in a desert area called Rajasthan. You fly into New […]
The final stopping point for our Nile boat trip was Luxor – home of multiple ancient Egypt sights including the Valley of the Kings that Gina describes. The last day here we stayed in the city and saw the massive temple of Karnak and the temple of Luxor as well as the Luxor Museum. All […]
Can you guess where Piggy is sight-seeing today? Email your answer to me at katherine@365saturdays.org
Before us towered Edfu temple, one of the best preserved temples in all of Egypt. Dedicated to the god Horus, Edfu temple is 118 feet high and a fantastic but small sized memory of the Egyptian builders and engineers. The temple’s gate is lower than the pylons to its left and right. Symbolizing the Nile […]
By far the most interesting pyramid to visit is outside Cairo at Saqqara. Here is the oldest of the pyramids, designed by Imhotep. At the time the pharaohs were buried deep in shafts – not 6 feet under but 600 feet under, the depth representing the importance of the pharaoh. This first pyramid was designed […]
Piggy enjoyed a quiet evening here. Can you guess the name of the town she was in? Remember to email your guesses to me at katherine@365saturdays.org!
In America, we all turn our televisions on and switch to our favorite news station, be it CNN or Fox News, or 7 News. Sometimes we hear bad things about the Middle East, and how there are extremist terrorists around every corner. Clips of fighting and barren towns, soldiers running and patrolling occupy your […]
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