This past May I took my mom to Japan. I have always wanted to show her Japan but for one reason or another our schedules never worked out. I guess this was due to the fact that because of school and work I was only available to take her there during the summer. The summer in Japan is extremely hot and humid and really not the best time to be hiking around and sightseeing. You can do it but unless you enjoy walking mile after mile in a sauna it’s better to go during the fall, spring, or even winter. Magically, things worked out so that this year I was able to take her there in May.

My mom has traveled a fair bit, but until May she had never been to Asia. I’ve been to Japan 8 times for work and/or pleasure and so I know my way around and so I got to be a tour guide. It was quite the experience and I’m really glad that we finally got to do it.

Before we left Canada I purchased a couple of JR rail passes and I highly recommend that you buy these if you are going to visit Japan. Here’s why:

1. Cost – The JR pass isn’t cheap but when you are a tourist you’ll want to see as much as you can. Japan may be small but don’t let this fool you, you’ll have to travel and the best way to do this is by bullet train. The bullet train is expensive, but if you ride a few times the pass will definitely pay for itself.

2. Convenience -Bullet trains run every hour if not more and so you don’t have to worry about keeping a schedule. With the pass you can simply hop on the next train and off you go. You also don’t have to worry about calculating your fare. Simply show the pass to the JR attendant when you enter and exit the station and off you go! It’s like being a V.I.P.!!!

3. Experience – There are not many countries in the world that have bullet trains and so being able to ride one is an experience in itself. If nothing else you can brag to your friends that you rode on a train that reached speeds close to 300 km/hr.

And for my last trick I will demonstrate what makes Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan. Living Skies, Flat Land(relatively) and nothingness! There’s an old joke about there being no mountains in Saskatchewan and it goes something like “Mountains are nice, but they block the view.”

OMG, here’s a picture of “serious hills” in Saskatchewan.

One more Saskatchewan joke… “Cruise control takes on a new meaning when in Saskatchewan.”

While I wasn’t born in Regina, and haven’t even lived there for more than 6 years now, I still kind of consider it home. My Mom still lives there and so on occasion I go back to visit. It’s a nice little place and while it’s not the most exciting city on the face of the planet, it has it’s advantages. What are those you ask?

1. It takes a maximum of 15 minutes to get anywhere, even in “rush hour.” (i.e.) Traffic? What traffic???
2. People are friendly.
3. No hills. You can watch your dog runaway for days. (Check out the picture below for evidence of this fact.)
4. The Parliament Buildings and Wascana Park are Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet.
5. It’s not expensive to do ANYTHING there.
6. It has all the conveniences of a small city.
7. It’s home to the best team and fans in the Canadian Football League.
8. It has a nice University.
9. A super cool name that everyone loves to say.
10. Banjos and Hill-billies at Rider games are considered “high-brow” entertainment.

In point #4, I mentioned that you could watch your dog runaway for days cause it’s so flat. Here’s what I mean. (This photo was taken from a home that lies on the edge of town.

It was a showhome and one other cool thing about it was that the master bedroom’s bathtub has a faucet built into the ceiling. The only problem with it was that even though the tub is deep, water still splashes out since it’s falling from like 10 feet. This is evidenced by the drop of water on my camera lens, giving a partially blurry photo.

During my luxurious stay in North America’s entertainment capital, Regina. I visited Casino Regina with Party Master Jackie(aka My Mommy.) Since we’re both high rollers, we EACH threw down $5 and let Lady Luck have her saucy way with us. Sadly, the Party Master lost her fortune within minutes, I on the other hand came out a huge winner. Well, at first I lost some money… after 2-3 minutes of playing the slots I was down $2.57 cents. Let me explain how it all went down…

After losing half of my life savings, I naturally became extremely depressed. So much so that I even considered taking out a third home mortgage. This, in addition to my maxed out credit cards and who could forget, various other “payday” loans. As I stressed out, I contemplated immediately checking myself into rehab. It was then, that I decided to make like Amy Winehouse and proclaim,

They tried to make me go to rehab
I said no, no, no.

I decided to dance with the Devil one more time and pulled the arm on the slot machine. I walked out of that Casino with reckless abandon as I was sure the authorities were on to me. After all, I had just cashed out with $5.52.

The End.