We took the bullet train (probably made by Bombardier) from Osaka to Tokyo. Bowing is so deep rooted in Japanese culture that it is institutionalized. Whenever a conductor would enter or exit the car, he would bow (to no one in particular).

The first stop was for lunch. Didn't eat.

The second stop was a Shinto shrine. 90% of Japanese are Buddhists and 75% are Shintoists. So at least 65% of all Japanese are both Buddhists and Shintoists. The Shinto religion has 8 million gods. The Buddhist religion has none. Go figure.

We checked in at Conrad, the high end brand of Hilton. The rooms (which start at US$700) were beautiful. A zen-like look of clean lines and sparse looking space. But looks are deceptive. It was ultra-luxurious with toy bears on bed and rubber ducks in the bath tub. On the corridor there was a nice visual illusion. Whichever way one looked there seemed to be a translucent barrier a few yards away. But as one walked close to the barrier, the barrier seemed to recede until it completely disappeared. But it was so subtle (and not obvious because of the dim corridor lighting) that none of the other guests had even noticed it. I wondered if it was my imagination and went back to check. No it was not my imagination. I wonder how they created this illusion.

Had dinner at a supposedly famous restaurant at Ginza district. Ginza is of course the Times Square and Rodeo Drive rolled into one. Ginza is also reputed to be the most expensive real estate in the world. After dinner we walked back through Ginza. Great experience.

What is striking about Japan is its cleanliness. Whether it is the winding alley ways of Kyoto or the glittering streets of Ginza, they are clean, no litter anywhere. Interestingly enough, there are no trashcans in sight. Yet the Japanese simply do not litter the streets.

And one more thing. The trains in Japan run on time. Not just on time, but exactly on time. As our Guide said, if a train is supposed to arrive at 9.26, it will arrive at 9.26 and not at 9.25 or 9.27.

We went on a brief tour of Osaka. The highlight was a visit to Osaka Castle. The Castle houses a Shinto shrine. It was built many years ago but a serious fire destroyed it. Again it was consumed by fire. In 1931 the citizens of Osaka donated funds to restore it to its former state.

Then we travelled to Kyoto (an hour by road) the former Imperial Capital, at the time of Shoguns. We visited one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the country. There I learnt that there were four kind of Buddhas: the Buddha who became enlightened and attained Nirvana, the Bodhisattvas who became enlightened but did not accept Nirvana out of their compassion for other beings, the Buddhas who serve the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas who do not fit into any of the above categories.

We had dinner at a famous Japanese artist's home. The highlight of the day was we had a couple of (authentic) geishas to entertain us. When we went to Tokyo the following day the guide there told us that it is unusual even for a Japanese person to actually meet with a geisha. They entire geisha culture seemed to be steeped some kind of mystery.

This afternoon we boarded the plane to go to Kamchatka, the Eastern-most area of Russia. It is to the Southeast to Siberia, but not quite Siberia. The plane stopped for refuelling in Anchorage. Although the plane was there for nearly 40 minutes, they would not allow to get off the plane and have look at the Land of Sarah Palin.

Later that day the plane arrived at Kamchatka. Well not quite later that day, as we crossed the international dateline and in doing so, lost a day. Let us see...we lost three hours traveling from Toronto to Vancouver, another four hours travelling between Vancouver and Kamchatka, and a whole 24 hours when we crossed the IDL. By now no one had idea what day and time it was at home. Just as well. One is not supposed to think about anything else when one in on a tour like this.

We checked into our hotel Avecha, probably the best in the city. Once we had a look at our rooms we didn't want to know what the second best hotel would look like. In fairness I must say each room had its own single beds, en suite bath with a single bath towel. There was even room to move around (two feet either side of the bed).

Our dinner was at the hotel's dining room called the Coliseum (patterned after the Roman one). After dinner, there was dance music. The first number was Jai Ho, a Hindi song from Slumdog Millionaire. Strange. Here we were in a remote part Russia, hoping to savour the culture of a distant land but were incongruously surrounded by statues of Roman Emperors and were being entertained in Hindi!

The final destination before returning to Toronto! We didn’t spend that much time in Aruba. It is more for the airline to refuel and for travelers to party one last time!. We arrived in Aruba around 4 pm and by the time we checked into our hotel it is almost time for our final gala dinner.

The gala dinner included musical entertainment. After the dinner, Chuck, along with his friends Leo and Jan, went to the casino, attached to the hotel (Radisson). After a while, Ben Sr. joined them. Ben recounted his 50 years in the business and at 1.30am we all decided to call it a night. Not because Ben Sr., 86 was tired, but people half his age were!

On October 29, we flew to Iguassu Falls, a collection of some 200+ waterfalls. We checked into our hotel and immediately visited the falls which is (are?) located in the Argentina-Brazil border. We went through a thick Brazilian jungle to get to the falls by buses and jeeps. The highlight was a boat ride that took us under a fall. Everyone got wet and good time was had by all.

Chuck read somewhere a list of the six most beautiful cities in the world. They are, not in any order;, Vancouver, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sydney, Cape Town and Rio. We covered three of these cities on this trip. This is Chuck’s first visit to Rio. The hotel we stayed in, Sheraton Barra is outside Rio. It is a luxury hotel with generously proportioned rooms and balconies with a great view of the ocean.

On the following morning we were taken on a helicopter ride over the city. The choppers weren’t ready and to keep us occupied they were serving beer. We wondered if it wasn’t too early for a beer (it was just before 10am). Brian Fedak from Winnipeg pointed out the absurdity of this line of thinking – surely it was evening somewhere in the world and, as world travelers, we should know that.

Then there was the helicopter ride. It was breathtaking. We had a panoramic view of this beautiful city. The chopper flew around the imposing statue of Christ the Redeemer. For Chuck, this city is far and away the most stunning in the world. We then had lunch in a Copacabana restaurant which had an endless supply of seafood dishes. Copacabana is a long stretch beautiful sandy beach. After lunch we were driven to Ipanema, an upscale shopping district. Those who were keen shopping got off there. The rest of us returned to the hotel to indulge in less mundane activities.

On the third day, we went back again to see Christ the Redeemer statue, this time by bus and by train which took us to the top. This is one of the most impressive statues Chuck has ever seen. While the helicopter ride gave us a bird’s eye view of the statue, it was not the same as seeing it standing in front of the statue. A wonderful wonderful experience. The afternoon was free except for those born to shop. The rest of us went for a walk along the coast, caught up on our emails or simply sat at the bar.