Safest place
Most everywhere I went was safe. Going to the elevator of the subway in NYC at 3 am dragging 2 suitcases, wearing a backpack and carrying a purse? No problem. In Valdez, finding out few people lock their doors and noting a lot of people leave their cars running with keys in the ignition? Commonplace. Seeing a sleeping man with his packages in the train station in Osaka Japan? Even a policeman was gently moving his possessions so they wouldn't get stepped on while trying not to disturb
China can be dangerous for the trusting and naive. But don't worry. They only want your money. If you come here and buy multiple items from one store, do NOT trust their figures. Add everything up yourself. Even when they used calculators I found a lot of "errors" being made.
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Friendliest place
Valdez Alaska. No contest.
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Most beautiful place
Alaska followed by Japanese gardens in Nara and gardens around Temple of Heaven. Just my opinion since beauty is so subjective. Keystone Canyon was eye-melting The single engine flight over the glacier was unforgettable.
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Biggest fear
Nagoya train station. I arrived alone at rush hour and started looking for someone who could tell me where the silver clock was where I was to meet my kids. No one understood what I was asking. One lady thought she understood and showed me her watch.
When my kids found me, i was cowering at the wall. Nagoya station is bigger than even Tokyo station as it is centrally located and there are several large stations in Tokyo.
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Moment when I realized this was a soul searching trip as well as a pleasure vacation.
Meeting Carolyn in NYC it was special to meet someone I'd not met before but felt I knew through the Internet. How many more people would I get to know and care about before I headed back to south America?
I don't take friendships lightly as i had so few when i was working due to time constraints. Being virtual friends is one thing. Being real friends is so much more.
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Happiest moments
Seeing my daughter's face in Anchorage and my son and daughter-in- law's faces in Nagoya
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Biggest delight
The two Japanese children on the Shanghai Ferry
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Biggest annoyance
The two Japanese children on the Shanghai Ferry
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Biggest surprise
Finding out how western friendly and inexpensive Beijing and especially Shanghai were. My observations concluded that many westerners have made the same type of move to China that I made to Ecuador. I came close to skipping China because I thought it would be harder than Japan.
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Best food
Other than some amazing food cooked at home by my kids (pineapple soup!!!) that would be China.
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Worst food
China. I can go the rest of my life without seeing duck head, intestines and cooked chicken feet on my menu
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Most embarrassing moment
Realizing I had been sitting on my daughter's boyfriend's mother's glasses at the beauty shop when she couldn't find them
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Craziest moment
Too many
The moment when i realized the friendly couple in Beijing only wanted my money
The lady in Osaka who would not allow me to ride the subway because she thought I was making a mistake.
A night of drinking Jack Daniels straight up singing karaoke as the only English speaker amongst some Japanese and Chinese co-conspirators.
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Most boring moment (days)
This would be the days spent at immigration in Quito
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Most solemn and poignant moment
Telling my new German friend how horrible I feel being an American and viewing such horrific pictures of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima
and her answer of "I'm German" We can only go forward from here All we can do with the past is learn from it. As my German friend said, it is counter-productive to feel shame for something that can't be changed.
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As much fun as I've had, I want to go home to Ecuador. I miss my dogs. I hope they remember me.
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