Singapore 2008

Alas! Unskilled photographers that we are - and with our first digital camera - we inadvertently erased most of the second memory card, leaving only three photos of this beautiful city.

Our hotel, a bit of Colonial Singapore backed by the high rises of today's modern metropolis. What most impressed us, besides the litter-less roads, were sidewalks free of chewing gum stains. It is illegal here to chew gum or even bring it into the country - and to drive a car older than 10 years.

In the Botanical Garden, famous for its hundreds of varieties of orchid (among the lost pictures...) It was raining the day we visited, but not this hard: we'd stepped out of the drizzle into this cave behind a waterfall. Rain, the equatorial climate and civic pride have actually turned much of the city itself into a garden.

Saying goodbye at the airport. Carl Cho not only brought together a super-talented group for the Writers Workshop, but escorted me to and from the venue each day. "I feel about you," he said, "as if you were my own grandmother." Which made me feel 1) cherished, 2) pampered, 3) old.

Japan 2008

From Tokyo (all photos gone...) we took the Shinkansen, the "bullet train" to Kyoto. At top speeds of 300 km/hr these are the fastest trains on earth - and the promptest. You stand on the platform beneath the car number on your ticket, the door opens exactly there, and if it starts to move when your watch says it's half a minute late, your watch is wrong (station masters' schedules are calibrated not in minutes, but seconds.) Inside, there's no sensation of speed, not even a jiggle, and as he enters and leaves your car, the conductor bows.

Kyoto has scores of breathtaking temples. I'm taking a rest before climbing the final flight of stairs to this one. Higher is apparently holier; we spent days ascending and descending.

It was plum blossom time: we probably couldn't have found a hotel room when the cherry trees bloom!

An ancient branch supported with a wooden crutch. We loved the way the Japanese treasured and tended very old trees - and very old people, too.

The come-on outside this restaurant was a realistic model of a shark's fin; the line of people waiting to eat shark's fin soup stretched into the street. We waited too and were glad we had!

The Japanese treasure and preserve old art forms too. Here, musicians wear the costumes and play the ancient instruments of the emperor's court.

A dance unchanged since the 17th century.

But they revel in the latest gadgetry too. Fast food, Kyoto style: at the entrance to this restaurant you press panels with the picture of the dishes you want; almost before you're seated a waitress brings them to your table.

I had to talk John into trying on the kimono that came with the hotel room. (It was so comfortable he's disliked pajamas ever since.)

I've loved sharing our snapshots with you. Thank you, Web friend, for coming along with us on this 60th anniversary trip!