To me, our trip was always divided in to 3 portions: the initial Asia tour, Australia/New Zealand, and the final Asia stops (Bali/Maldives/Dubai). The last two are not equal thirds date wise, but the first portion just about was (25 days of 76 total).
Well, we are now heading out from Singapore and moving on to the Australia/New Zealand portion. Here are some scattered thoughts on traveling:
We are currently in the Emirates lounge, which is what Qantas is using while their first class lounge is being renovated. It is very nice.
Alyce has already proclaimed that she will be changing in to her pajamas “toot sweet” as soon as we get on the plane, which she then attempted to make less nerdy – but not by much – by changing it to “in a jiffy” after I gave her a confused look.
Anyway, here are some pictures.
Here are the pictures for Thailand…they are in a random order (because of the different cameras used to take them) and some of the pictures were taken by Patara (the elephant place) or Tiger Kingdom. The rest – as always – were taken by us. Some pictures are below; all of them are available in full size at the link to our smugmug site:
http://justinandalyce.smugmug.com/Other/Chiang-Mai/27816932_Xpf7dK#!i=2346035901&k=BRSshcR
Disclaimer: The following is thorough…extremely thorough. I write so much on my trip reports (and always have – I’ll probably post some retro reviews when things get slow) for several reasons: As a journal/report for myself, to help others who may be planning trips to the same destinations, and (now) to benefit anyone who finds our blog while searching for specific terms (I know I relied on others’ blogs in planning). The point is, the post is long. If you don’t feel like reading, scroll through and find the pictures you like then read about them…there will not be a quiz when I return…unless that is a trick. So here it is, the Japan wrap up:
Arriving in Japan after a 2 hour 45 minute flight in Cathay Pacific business class (which was excellent), it quickly became evident that we were not in Hong Kong any longer…The country’s respective cross walk sounds do a better job of describing the difference than I could: Hong Kong was like an old time bell/ringing fire alarm going off when it was time to cross the street; Japan was like a pleasant, occasional intercom chime.
Here are our Tokyo pictures. I took a good bit of Mt. Fuji/the sunset…probably uploaded too many of that. The link is below, and I’ve also included some pictures in this post.
http://justinandalyce.smugmug.com/Other/Tokyo-Japan/27699769_DqFSKX
I apologize for the cell phone pictures, but they should give you an idea of where we’re at. 
Taking pictures in Japan is kind of tough. You have to balance taking pictues with not wanting to intrude upon people by taking pictures of them – especially in the reserved Japanese culture. Alyce is able to get more in the action with the small camera, but there is no mistaking what I’m up to when I pick up my camera.
Anyway, here is the link to our Kyoto pictures. Pictures sizes are availble up to the original size, as before. I’ve also included some pictures in this post.
http://justinandalyce.smugmug.com/Other/Kyoto-Japan/27623294_9BzGT7#!i=2326409701&k=wWLsG92
We have departed Hong Kong, and it was a lot of fun on the whole. Getting around was surprisingly easy. The MTR is easy to navigate and is very cheap and efficient. The city buses were a little more complicated – but not too bad. Taxis are also plentiful and relatively inexpensive.
Navigating
Hong Kong is extremely safe. At no point did we feel even the slightest bit threatened. I would not have any hesitation walking around the city in the middle of the night.