Day 13 - Hikone Castle

On our last day in Hikone we headed off to see the local castle. I must say I didn't know what to expect from a Japanese castle and since I was feeling under the weather I was considering skipping this activity. Boy am I glad I went though, what a beautiful castle and surrounding area. We were treated to a guided tour of the castle grounds as well as the museum. We even were able to get a group picture taken with the Hikone mascot in front of the castle. After our visit to the castle we went to downtown Hikone for a farewell lunch. I think the highpoint was when we each were asked to speak for a moment about what our favorite "one moment" was on the trip. For me it was our trip to the beach in eastern Taiwan. We had been out for a long day and when we stopped for the beach I don't think anyone was very excited. I was only going to walk out and see what was there but after a few steps from the bus I thought - wait a minute, I am in Taiwan standing on the beach and that is the Ocean out there how many more times will I be able to do this. So with that thought in mind I headed right down to the water and enjoyed the surf. What I found so special about this moment was that is was not long at all before everyone else was playing in the water too, skipping rocks and chasing the tided. After we were done in the water we took a series of "jumping" pictures that were a lot of fun. I think this was the event that sealed it for me that we were all there to make as much as we could out of this trip and the fact that such a diverse group enjoyed themselves as much as we did is a great feeling

g. Of course I can't leave out the part about Suyash bring that horrible smelling hot dog on the bus that he bought from the street vendor - talk about trying everything that comes your way.