World famous Christmas tree

 

The 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, which stands at 80 feet tall and 43 feet wide, comes from Vestal, NY, just west of Binghamton. The tree is estimated to be about 80 to 85 years old. The tree will stand till January.13 to fascinate the millions of spectators during holiday season in NYC.

It is little sad to see the 85 years old tree be cut down for the show, but the tree will bring many smiles to the world and we should enjoy the holiday seasons with family and friends.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

New York City Marathon 2023

 

Today is the New York City Marathon day and beautiful perfect temperature of low 60s for the runners.

It is 26.2 full run and more than 50,000 runners will participate.

I ran the New York City Marathon in 2001, 2 months after the September.11.

With " WE UNITE!!" slogan, whole New Yorkers showed up on the side street and cheered for New York City, world, and all runners. 

The crowds were from very beginning to the last finish line, a continuous line of people.

I remembered that when I passed the point of 10 miles left, exhaustion became obvious and had to stop running, but my body were running for the last 3 and half hours and my muscles would not let me stop from running, whole body cramped when I tried to stop.

I kept running and tried to stop but I could not stop, it was a tough time for 20 minutes of battle with myself.

Then I heard " You are looking great!, The goal is around the corner!! " entire people on the side street cheered for all runners and my motivation got high again and started running gracefully.

My time was 4:07:23 and this experience has become one of my very important event in New York City until today.

Good luck to all the runners and enjoy the moment!!!

Autumn leaves in Kyoto

 

I am going to return to Japan next week for almost 2 weeks.

It will be a business purpose of trip but I will spare couple days to indulge myself being in Japan.

Eating delicious foods from breakfast to dinner in Japan will be a given. 

What I have been loving in Japan is to visit ancient capital of Japan, Kyoto.

Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869.

It is home to numerous Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, palaces and gardens, some of which have been designated collectively as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Can you imagine how wonderful to see the autumn leaves with more than 1000 years old temples in the background?

Once you see them, you will be addicted.

From the forecast, my visit to Kyoto maybe little early to see the peak of autumn leaves......

Let's go to Kyoto

I am in Japan now and visited Kyoto twice on this trip.

The autumn leaves have not yet turned, but it is going to be a beautiful once leaves turn red and yellow.

Let's go to Kyoto!!

Noah Pro Star Indoor

 

In Detail - Noah Pro Star Indoor

Once more, the good people at PUMA invited us into their deep archives of footwear. No fools, we immediately set to digging. Soon enough we came upon an absolute gem of a silhouette, all but lost to time. We made a few minor updates to materials and technology while preserving the core sensibilities of this indoor court shoe that is at once familiar and totally, perfectly unknown.

Here’s everything you want from court-sport casual, with clean lines and enough subtle details to reward attention. A dominant, crispy white made even crispier by accents of rich, deep green and the added contrast of gum peeking out from under the sole. Supple leather that’s double-stitched for durability and a soft, textile collar that yields to a terry cloth lining. While a perforated PUMA Formstrip breathes history, the debossed Noah cross on the heel plus a double-branded tongue and insole shore up this next step of our partnership.

It’s a shoe, we believe, that deserves company. So, we’re pairing it with a capsule of athletic wear that fuses our two distinct but overlapping philosophies. Call it the perks of friendship, ours and yours.

Available exclusively from Noah on September 21st and worldwide at PUMA Select retailers on September 23rd.

ATLANTIS BAHAMAS

We cancelled our trip to Maui due to the wildfire and our heart goes out to everyone in Maui.

We go to Maui every season for the last 17 years and it is our family tradition to spend summer there.  

We cancelled the trip a week before departure date and it was a serious decision we had to make.

Since we had no plan other than stay in NYC that we were just about to make simple plan for staycation.

Days went by and close to the labor weekend, I saw my son was so disappointed that he was at a loss for words. I knew I had to make some good plan.

One condition I had was close from NYC and beautiful ocean.

Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Costa Rica.....they all seems great choices. We usually like to stay in house and cook with local foods and freedom. But it was difficult to find good fit places with limited time.

So I started looking for big resort which is so opposite of our preference.

Found ATLANTIS in Bahamas.....It looked like Disney World....We did not like Disney World at all....

Inclusive like resort would be our last choice if we have to make one. Continue looking into the resort and I saw there are several types of hotels in ATLANTIS and caught my eye.....higher end, full kitchen, king size bed and queen sofa bed, perfect layout. Clicked to book.

Flew from Newark and arrived in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Shorter time than to Miami??? Got on a taxi and within 30 minutes and checked in a room.

We found out it was the last week before Labor Day and started the low season in Bahamas. Where is everyone? We did not wait any line for the water slides, pool & beaches were almost exclusive to us, gym & tennis, nooooo one. Jet ski, they did not even bother to check my sons age and ocean was all ours for an hour.

Casino, we were there for 10 minutes and spent $5 and received $60.

ATLANTIS is a great resort that offers great quality of hospitalities that any age and people with different preferences can enjoy.

If you go there during slow season like September thru November, you will have better chance to experience the better side of ATALNTIS resort. 

What a good surprise experiences we had and nice way to end summer.

 Next summer, we go to Maui.

ATLANTIS PARADISE ISLAND

The property was originally part of the Paradise Island Hotel and Casino, which opened in 1968. It was owned by Resorts International, a Merv Griffin company. Previously, Donald Trump owned a majority stake in Resorts International, spinning off ownership of the Trump Taj Mahal property from the company and selling Resorts International in full, including outstanding debts from the Taj Mahal construction, to Griffin. Paradise Island was purchased by South African hotel magnate Sol Kerzner and Kerzner International Limited in 1994, and Kerzner's new resort, consisting of the Coral Towers and the previously built The Beach Tower, opened officially on December 11, 1998. The property's name was changed to Atlantis when The Royal Towers was built. The Coral Towers and The Beach Tower were later refurbished to match the theme of the Royal Towers. On March 28, 2007, a 600-suite luxury hotel named The Cove Atlantis opened on Paradise Island. Another tower, the 497-room The Reef, opened on December 19, 2007.

As of July 2014, the property is owned and operated by Brookfield Hospitality. In October 2014, Atlantis, Paradise Island became a member of Marriott Bonvoy, a loyalty program for guests to earn or redeem Marriott Bonvoy points at Atlantis.

BIG BANYAN TREE

 

Lahaina’s historic 150-year-old banyan tree was badly scorched by wildfires, but it’s still standing.

How? As everything around the tree burned down.

Is this act of divine providence

Let's hope it will survive and continue to become a symbolic tree of Lahaina, Maui.

                             Mahalo Ke Akua