Question: Hi! Thank you for showing so much appreciation for Asia and your travels there during the Retreat for Goddesses. I take it for granted that I have family and friends in Japan, Korea and China.  We may finally get over to meet my husband’s grandmother this winter. Could you tell me where you stayed in Hong Kong and Japan, the tour company you used, and just any highlights you think should be seen? Thanks hon! – Monica, New York, NY

Jenny says: Monica, I’m so excited for your upcoming adventure to Asia. Traveling throughout that continent was a highlight of my life. I remember hearing so much about Asia during my last corporate job while I was developing conferences focused on the hottest marketing trends. Sofia Coppolla’s “Lost In Translation” was a huge inspiration for me, too. I wanted to see what all the talk was about! So my husband and I decided to create the trip of a lifetime by traveling through China and Japan for a month in 2007.

We hired Asian Pacific Adventures (http://asianpacificadventures.com/) to create a custom tour for us. The owner Hima Singh was amazing in putting together an itinerary that left no stone unturned! In China, we visited Beijing, Guilin (a personal fave!), Longsheng (we stayed in a fab hotel surrounding rice fields), Xi’an, Shanghai, Hong Kong. Our Japan visit had us in Kyoto, Hakone (hot springs resort town), Kameoka, and Tokyo. We had guides and drivers at every stop except Hong Kong since we had a friend living there.

Not-to-be-missed highlights? Oh … so many! Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an. A ryokan in Japan (we stayed at Gora Kadan – AMAZING). Karaoke, fish market and sushi in Tokyo. Big Buddha in Hong Kong. Great Wall in Beijing. Cruise on the Li River. Geishas in Kyoto. I could go on and on!

One of my fave quotes – “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” Enjoy.

xoxo
Jenny