In 2017, we spent 6 weeks in Tokyo with family. After 28 years in Japan, they were moving to Hong Kong later in the year and so we thought it was a good time to see them as well as Tokyo and its nearby towns and cities. This also included a trip by bullet train to the countryside a few hours north of Tokyo. Our family took us to enjoy a Ryokan, a type of traditional traveller inn which has existing for well over 1000 years in Japan. The classic Japanese dinner of more than 2

In 2018, after our year in India, we desired a little break in a location where we didn't need to be so alert when walking the sidewalks, and so opted for a week in Singapore. 'Twas an expensive week, but we really enjoyed it and left it with opinions differing from all the criticisms we had heard - such as it is a 'boring' and 'clinical' city. We stayed quite central in a high-rise hotel but still were surrounded by streets of low rise shophouses full of hipster cafes, stree