We landed in Vancouver at midday and jumped into a hired convertible, the roof down and the sun shining we headed to my friend's house - Norah Morrisson.

She is a dear friend of the family and has known me since I was 3 years old. She looked great, and we had a wonderful stay there.

We took the car into Vancouver, to Grouse Mountain. The weather was great - hot and sunny.

We took the cable car up there and spent most of the day breathing in FRESH MOUNTAIN air and enjoying just walking around.

We spent a few minutes looking at their bears, raised in captivity.

For those who believe in KARMA - there was a guy making the most amazing pancake type delicious treats both savory and sweet.

He had a jar for tips that said "Instant Karma" - I thought that was a great idea and dropped some change in the jar. When it was my turn to order, I made a reference to the "Instant Karma" jar and he smiled and asked, "Can you feel the karma already?" and handed me a chocolate covered pancake delight for free!!

The lady in front of me had ordered, but the man made another flavor by mistake. And he GAVE it to me!!!

So thus proves the rule GIVE FIRST and RECEIVE LATER!!

We then watched the Lumberjack Stage Show which was fun - what a great way for them to spend their days at the top of the mountain entertaining people.

Grouse Mountain is a HUGE ski resort in the winter.

Grouse Mountain is one of the places on my highly recommended to stay or visit list. A must see if passing through Vancouver.

There is so much to do that you could make a day or two of it.

From Grouse Mountain we drove to North Vancouver, to the place I used to live when I was a little girl of 3.

My parents moved out to Vancouver for 7 months and then returned to Northern Ireland and home.

Every time we are in Vancouver we visit the famous "flat" and get photos taken outside, beside the lamppost there.

I have one when I was three, then 13, then 21, now 35!! It's a great record to have. North Vancouver has a beautiful view over the city and seems like it would be a good place to live, Vancouver really is a spectacular and breathtaking city!

We drove back to Norah's over the Lion's Gate Bridge, which is gorgeous... [photo right] .and through Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is a HUGE park right beside the Down Town area.

It is a central point of the city. There people were jogging, swimming, walking, cycling, and there was even a McDonald's commercial being filmed when we were there. It was amazing, there were about 70 trucks for 1 commercial!!

It is a great city for people who LOVE the outdoor life. Living next to Down Town and Stanley Park would give you the perfect mix in my opinion. So Vancouver got the thumbs up BIG TIME!!! We spent the evening with Norah and Jamie and talked over old times.

The next morning we went sight seeing again drove back into Stanley Park and took a walk, drove down to the famous Cruise Ship Port; the building that defines Vancouver like the Opera House does Sydney.

The building, as you can see, has a beautiful "sail" effect. We had some breakfast and headed to the airport on our way to Tokyo!

We arrived at Narita Airport in Tokyo, at 3.45pm.

We did not get to our hotel until 8pm!!!

Everything they said about Tokyo being busy was true.

To jump right to the photos of Tokyo CLICK HERE.

At immigration we had to wait for 1 hour, with four immigration officials checking hundreds of foreign visitors. It was strange because they had eight officials checking in a few dozen Japanese.

Japan was not scoring well so far on the efficiency chart! However, we got through OK and proceeded to the terminal building. We had to find out how to get to our hotel.

It is worth telling you that Tokyo airport taxis are "cost prohibitive" according to the airport staff. How much was it, you may ask. .$300US Dollars, ONE WAY!!

So needless to say we waited in line for the bus - which wasn't due for another 40 minutes. The bus was $30usd per person ONE WAY.

Due to a bad traffic jam (which is common) and the rain (also common) we did not arrive at our hotel until 8pm. The rain had stopped.

We went for a wander as we were right in the shopping district of GINZA. (picture, right)

So a wandering we went. well what a sight awaited us!!

It was amazing. we walked 2 blocks and turned the corner - there was what could only be described as a combination of 40 Piccadilly Squares or 40 Times Squares as far as the eye could see.

Ginza is WILD!!

I have never seen so many neon lights!!

It was a Saturday night, and there were people everywhere. Not as many as I had expected, but they were all IMMACULATELY dressed.

Judging by the exclusive brand name stores everywhere I was not surprised.

Even the casual people looked awesome.Tracey would love it!!

The next morning we awoke at 5am, that's jet lag for you!!

We rolled over and went back to sleep until 7am and then went across the road to Denny's for breakfast - which for those who know me know it is my FAVOURITE American Eatery!! I was very excited.

We had French toast which was more "eggy" than "bready". I definitely have to say that this was not the traditional franchise-style approach.

There were as many Japanese dishes on the menu as Western, and the western ones didn't taste quite the same.

We had planned the things we wanted to see from the Hotel brochures the night before so we headed off towards the Imperial Palace, we decided to walk there.

The sun started coming out and the 90 degree heat kicked in. T

he Palace gardens were lovely, the trees beautifully cut.

The Palace itself is closed except for 2 days a year but it was a great sight to see around the outside.

From there we jumped onto our first OF MANY subways, and headed towards Omotesando.

This place is known as the "Paris of Tokyo", because of all the outdoor cafes and the designer shops.

People were shopping on Sunday.

Close by there was another well known district of Tokyo called Harajuki; it promised to be fun and certainly delivered.

It was the area were all the young trendy Japanese kids hung out, it was like Camden Market (London), except the outfits were a LOT weirder.

We stopped for Pasta and people watching.

As we made our way to the Meiji Jingu Shrine we passed by what was obviously a local hang out place.

Sitting in little groups on the bridge were groups of strange looking teenagers.

Their outfits were amazing; it was British Punk meets American Gothic!!

The make up on the girls was mostly black and they just sat around chatting with each other. We walked past and headed for more traditional sights; the Shrine.

The Meiji Jingu Shrine itself was spectacular (photo below).

We stopped and made a traditional prayer by throwing a coin into the large boxed area in front, through the steel gratings, and then joined your hands together in prayer and made a wish.

Everyone who went there did this ritual. As we walked around we say a few people dressed in what looked like traditional costumes, and we were lucky enough next to witness a traditional Shinto Wedding.

The bridal party walked behind the Priests and the bride and groom walked side by side, I was surprised the bride could walk anywhere in the shoes she had on!!

We left the shrine and headed for the subway. We had already bought a METRO day pass, without realizing that the subways are owned by different private consortiums and soon we were to discover that we did not have the right ticket for the stations we wanted to go to next..so we kept walking for a while and it was great that we did!!

We found Times Square - a huge, huge, huge shopping arcade which had spectacular views of the city. We found it by divine intervention.

By this time it was getting close to the time we would need to buy tickets for the... SUMO WRESTLING.

It was day one of a fifteen day tournament starting in Tokyo. There are 9 events over the year and only 3 of them take place in Tokyo, so we were very lucky.

We bought our $50 USd tickets and made our way to the stadium at Ryogoku.

On the way we stopped at Asakusa, where there was a gorgeous temple and market.

We were not disappointed.

There was a string of shops like a market bazaar all the way up to the temple grounds; the temple itself was beautiful, very ornate, not unlike the wat's in Thailand (map).

We walked around for a little while, prayed and wished some more and waved incense smoke to ensure ourselves of having a long and happy life!

After Tokyo we arrived in Jakarta for our first series of marketing efforts for the new product we were launching.

We were in Jakarta for the anniversary of September the 11th, which felt both strange and strained.

Next we spent 3 days in Singapore and finally arrived back in Kuala Lumpur . We checked into the JW Marriott, where our other partners had been living.

[The picture is taken in Singapore].

We went through a series of marketing meetings there and we were putting the finishing touches to the new product. It was great to reconnect with all of our friends there.

We then did 2 seminars. One on the 20th-23rd of September and the second on the 27th - 30th. I led the "Write Your Book in 20 Hours" Seminar which was the second one I have mentioned here, and it went very well.

It was a stressful month, however, and as you will soon read we were to make a life-changing decision.