Back to Oz via Asia | FindPenguins

Newest first

Footprints
Photos

Trip start
September 10, 2024
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 2
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 at 5:18 PM
☁️ 30 °C
Altitude: 13 m
Malaysia George Town 5.419056, 100.3396755°25’9” N 100°20’23” E
Georgetown, Penang
September 11, 2024 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Our time in Europe is done (for now) and we've started the journey back to Australia. But not too quickly. After several months of hectic sightseeing, we opted for some chill time in Malaysia before continuing the adventure.

Our first stop is Georgetown in Penang. Not heaps to see and do, but that was the point. But what Georgetown does have is food and art... so I will cover those two topics in separate posts.

But for now, here are a few pics of Georgetown itself. We have arrived towards the end of their Monsoon season, so we had a bit of rain. But that was a welcome respite from the high heat and humidity.Read more
1 like
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 3
Thursday, September 12, 2024 at 6:09 PM
☁️ 30 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Malaysia George Town 5.417714, 100.3360315°25’4” N 100°20’10” E
Foodies Paradise
September 12, 2024 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Georgetown in Penang has a brilliant food reputation. The food is so good in fact, that Michelin created a special recognition for street food stalls. We went to a few restaurants, but the majority of meals were street food. We did not have one bad meal the entire time.

The majority of food is Malaysian, Indian and Chinese... and it is delicious. And cheap! Average street meal cost us less than AUD$5.Read more
1 like
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 4
Friday, September 13, 2024 at 2:31 PM
☁️ 28 °C
Altitude: 13 m
Malaysia George Town 5.419253, 100.3382835°25’9” N 100°20’18” E
1
Street Art
September 13, 2024 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
There's a bit of an art culture in Georgetown wth lots of street art hidden around town. In partcular, I like the wire sculptures that tell a story in a cartoon-like format. So bloody clever!
Traveler Brilliant!
10/6/24Reply
2 likes
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 9
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 5:54 PM
🌬 28 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Malaysia Sungai Melaka 6.350822, 99.7187616°21’3” N 99°43’8” E
Langkawi
September 18, 2024 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌬 28 °C
After the hustle and bustle of Georgetown, we sought further relaxation on the island of Langkawi. A laid back place with lots of great food and beautiful scenery. We scored a great unit with a view of the ocean!Read more
1 like
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 16
Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at 11:45 AM
☁️ 30 °C
Altitude: 9 m
Malaysia Sungai Melaka 6.350886, 99.7187036°21’3” N 99°43’7” E
More Langkawi
September 25, 2024 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Some more photos of our visit to Langkawi. Very relaxing, despite the occassional rain shower.
2 likes
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 20
Sunday, September 29, 2024 at 10:46 AM
☁️ 30 °C
Altitude: 16 m
Singapore Coleman Bridge 1.290075, 103.8486861°17’24” N 103°50’55” E
1
Singapore
September 29, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
The next stop on the Asian leg of our journey back to Oz is Singapore. While we have been to Changi Airport a number of times with connecting flights, we never actually left the building to see what's here.Read more
TravelerSame, always at the airport, will visit one day.
10/7/24Reply
Traveler Amazing colors
10/8/24Reply
2 likes
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 21
Monday, September 30, 2024 at 3:30 PM
☁️ 30 °C
Altitude: 39 m
Singapore Singapore Botanic Gardens 1.311628, 103.8150061°18’42” N 103°48’54” E
National Orchid Garden
September 30, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
The botancal gardens in Singapore have a massive orchid garden with the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen.
1 like
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 21
Monday, September 30, 2024 at 3:45 PM
☁️ 30 °C
Altitude: 14 m
Singapore Symphony Lake 1.313458, 103.8144391°18’48” N 103°48’52” E
1
More Orchids
September 30, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
A few more orchid photos for your enjoyment
Traveler Beautiful😃
10/8/24Reply
1 like
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 23–25
October 2, 2024 at 12:22 PM - October 4, 2024
2 nights
☁️ 31 °C
Altitude: 18 m
Japan Oedo Antique Market Tokyo International Forum venue 35.677156, 139.76509435°40’38” N 139°45’54” E
Tokyo
Oct 2–4, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
To finish our year-long trip, we decided to pay another visit to Japan. Durig our last visit 7 years ago, we explored the southern part of the island, This time, we are travelling through the regions north of Tokyo. It's the start of Autumn, so we're hopng to see some colour in the beautiful mountain areas.

Our first stop was just a day in Tokyo to organise trains and accommodation. Here's a few photos before we jump on the Shengkensen...Read more
2 likes
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 25
Friday, October 4, 2024 at 7:57 PM
🌙 21 °C
Altitude: 23 m
Japan Akita Eki 39.716714, 140.12901739°43’0” N 140°7’44” E
1 1 1
Akita
October 4, 2024 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 21 °C
Apologies for the delay in postings, but my laptop has decided to sh*t itself and it's a bit more tedious processing all these photos and text. Anyway...

After a brief relax in Tokyo, we jumped on the Shinkansen for the coastal city of Akita. I love the Shinkansen trains. All those years travelling Queensland Rail to Brisbane pushing the technology to 90 km/h and here we are, rocketing through Japan at over 300 km/h. And these things arrive and depart within seconds of schedule... I am in awe of these people.

A lot of the things we wanted to see and do turned out to not be so easily accessible by public transport in the north. So our cunning plan is to rent a car from Akita and drive north around the Tohoku region to see as much as we can.

Akita is where the famous dog breed comes from and we saw a lot of them. Owners love to show off their dogs and you can even go to the doggy cafe and have a latte with them.

One of the things we really want to see on this trip are the autumn colours. We're a month early, but the leaves are starting to turn, so fingers crossed we'll see some great displays when we get to the mountains.Read more
It looks like they would eat you for dinner🤣 [Linda]
10/27/24Reply
Ahh😍 thats a big dog😀 [Linda]
10/27/24Reply
What are you doing ?🤣 [Linda]
10/27/24Reply
2 likes
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 29
Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at 10:21 AM
☁️ 16 °C
Altitude: 61 m
Japan Kakunodatemachi 39.596869, 140.56229439°35’49” N 140°33’44” E
Kakunodate
October 8, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Driving in Japan is pretty laid back, at least away from the cities. Of course, the drivers are very courteous, which can result in some congestion as everyone tries to let everyone else go first 😁.

Our first destination is Hakunodate, a small town famous for its Samurai houses and cherry blossoms (in spring of course). Many of the homes are original, privately owned but open to the public to view.Read more
2 likes
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 31
Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 10:21 AM
☁️ 11 °C
Altitude: 952 m
Japan Tayama-mura 39.982953, 140.80153139°58’59” N 140°48’6” E
Heading North
October 10, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Now we're heading north through the mountains. We stopped for a night at Lake Towada before heading up to Mount Hachimantai where we hoped to find some Autumn colours at 1,613 m.

We weren't dissapointed... while it's still a little early, we found some great scenery walking through the forests.

Came across an archaelogical site of stone circles from 2,000 BCE. Like Stonehenge, these aligned with the sun and stars to predict the seasons.Read more
1 like
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 32
Friday, October 11, 2024 at 11:41 AM
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 45 m
Japan Hirosaki Jō Ato 40.607211, 140.46431940°36’26” N 140°27’52” E
1
Hirosaki
October 11, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Our next destination was the city of Hirosaki, which had a great archaeological site for the main castle surrounded by lovely gardens.

Interesting that the main wall was damaged in an earthquake, so had to be repaired. This required one of towers to be moved 50 metres temporarily. Fascinating to see the videos on how they moved a 3 storey tower in one piece.Read more
Traveler Stunning photos.
11/18/24Reply
4 likes
Back to Oz via Asia Traveler
Show trip
Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
Share
Day 33
Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 12:04 PM
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 285 m
Japan Kawaratai 40.521264, 140.17343640°31’17” N 140°10’24” E
Shirakami-Sanchi
October 12, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
The region around Hirosaki is famous for it's apples, so we stopped at the Apple Park to see the orchards and the amazing varieties of apples. Check out the Hokuto apple, officially the largest apple variety in the world. You would only need one or two to make a pie.

From there, we drove up to Shirakami-Sanchi, a world heritage Beech Forest on the slopes of Mount Iwaki. We spent several hours hiking through the beautiful woodlands before continuing our journey north.

We made a quick stop at yet another beautiful shrine, Iwakiyama-jinja, before stopping for the night in Nagadairamachi.Read more
2 likes
Trip end
November 12, 2024