Travels in Japan and Russia
Long-time chapter members Ladd and Gail Seekins will present a slideshow of their travels in Japan and Russia at the November meeting of the San Gorgonio Chapter. In September and October of 2015, the Seekins spent three weeks in Japan and nearly three more in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. Their presentation will highlight the eleven cities they visited, five Japanese and six Russian. The meeting starts at 7:30 PM Tuesday, November 1, at the San Bernardino County Museum, 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands.
During their independent travel in Japan, the Seekins visited Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto, Nara and Kanazawa. Highlights in Japan were the Tokyo National Museum; the Edo-Tokyo Museum; two of the imperial palaces in Kyoto; the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine with its 10,000 vermillion tori gates; the 1200-year old bronze Buddha statue in Nara, the world’s largest; and the historic samurai houses and geisha districts of Kanazawa. On the last weekend of the climbing season, the Seekins did a little climbing on Mount Fuji. but rain turned them back just short of station seven.
In Russia the Seekins were leaders of a Rotary Friendship Exchange team hosted by Russian Rotarians in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and Yakutsk. Their hosts organized cultural performances and tours of the local museums, churches and other sights. In Irkutsk they celebrated 25 years of Rotary in Russia with the local Rotarians, visited the Taltsi open air museum and cruised on Lake Baikal. After the exchange, they spent a few days on their own in Ulan Ude, visiting churches, Buddhist temples and an Old Believers village.
The Seekins have travelled extensively and have presented slide shows at many past chapter meetings. Their most recent shows have been of their visits to national historic sites in the Eastern US and their travels in South Africa. Gail is a retired public health nurse who does extensive volunteer work for the Girl Scouts and her church. Ladd is a local business owner and volunteers for the Sierra Club and Rotary.
