Take Me There!!

Well, Turf was sick all weekend and I've been home nursing him back to health....which essentially means feeding him Theraflu, watching him sleep, fixing him something to eat when he wakes up, followed by more Theraflu and more sleeping. The good news is there as an Indiana Jones marathon on today and that is just right up my alley!

Also, I had time to sit down and make an "Asia Bucket List" for all the places I want to visit in Asia while we are here (I also have an "Okinawa Bucket list" but for suspense I will save that for another post!). I even decided to dress this post up with some pictures in hopes that maybe someone *anyone* will come visit :) This is also in no particular order, but I've mentioned some places that I am not counting on visiting but still hoping to! Pictures are below the captions :)

1. China

              *Bejing
The Great Wall of China, who hasn't heard of it? Its probably one of the most iconic places inChina and stretches much farther than we will ever go. Already in amazement.

The Forbidden City- The Chinese imperial palace from the Ming through Qing Dynasties

Temple of Heaven

                                          *Xi'an-Terracotta Soldiers

                                          *Shanghai

                                        *Hong Kong- this may become one of my favorite cities!

2. Tibet

 3. Nepal

                                            *Katmandu

4. Vietnam

                                          *Ho Chi Minh City

                                      

5. Guam

6. Indonesia

                                               *Bali- 2nd Honeymoon I think?!

                                          

7. Japan (Mainland, Obviously!)

                                           *Tokyo- Food. Shopping. GLORY!

 

                                          *Kyoto- my mom says this is where our ancestry is

                *Nikko- Toshogu Shrine is Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine!

           *Hiroshima-for the history aspect. Probably will be a humbling trip.

        *Osaka- Functions as one of the command centers for the Japanese economy.

    *Mt. Fuji- how can you live in Japan and NOT climb Mt. Fuji? This is on the list within the next year!

            *Himeji- Himeji Castle is the most visited in Japan

                                           

                                           *Kamakura

8. South Korea

                                                   *Seoul

9. Singapore- where we will depart for our cruise in December!

10. Tawain

                                           *Taipei

11. Thailand

                                           *Bangkok

                                        *Phuket- One of the stops on our cruise

 *Chiang Mai- The largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand

12. Cambodia

13. Malaysia

                                      *Kuala Lumpur- Also on our cruise

                                    *Langkawi- Again, on our cruise :)

14. India. This is one of those that I might not get to because of how expensive it will be. But LORD do I want to!

15. The Philippines-Not as high priority as most of these other places!

       Well, that about wraps it up! Probably the Philipines and South Korea are at the bottom of my priority list, followed by Guam, Nepal, and Tipet. India is high priority but probably not cost effective; same with Bali, and everywhere else I'm bound and determined to get to before we rotate back to the states. I found a tour through one of the travel agencies for China that tours through Bejing, Shanghai, and Xi'an that looks affordable, and the same agency offers a tour through Cambodia and Vietnam :)
My dad has also booked his tickets to come see us next July (YAY!) and he and Tami will be making a detour in Thailand through Bangkok, Chaing Mai, and Phuket before coming to Okinawa. If all goes well Turf and I will meet them there for 2 weeks before coming back here.
Mt. Fuji is a must-do and will probably take place next summer as well. I plan to visit mainland several times, but Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima are probably the places we'll see first.
We've been here for almost 6 months already (can you believe it!?) and I feel like time's-a-wastin'! I've got the travel bug bad and am hoping to squeeze in a short trip this summer still...maybe Labor Day weekend? We shall see!