| Our Travels |
|
|
Tokyo i We got to Japan from Hong Kong in about four hours, traveling about 2500 km. Our plan is four days in Tokyo, six in Kyoto and the remaining four days back in Tokyo. Arriving at our hotel we started to check in. Because it was raining we had taken a taxi the short journey to our hotel. As I started filling in the check-in slip Dee said "I think I've dropped my wallet in the cab". Well I think the 400m sprint record has been broken. By an incredible act of providence the cab was still at the lights. He had Dee's wallet in his hand and handed it to me chuckling! I got some milage out of that for the next few days. On our first full day we went to the well known area of Ginza. This area is famous for its large, up-market department stores. Being on a budget, since we are currently unemployed, itinerant doctors we spent some time window shopping. Tokyo is an expensive place to live, most prices being equivalent to those in pricer parts of London. There are plenty of coffee houses here other than $tarbucks so I've been sorted for my caffeine fix so far! Well too much coffee is bad for you so we found the Sapporo lion beer hall for a few ales. We walked past this by chance and in the window was a plastic animated lion downing beer together with very realistic plastic models of the food. Beer? well go on then. (It just so happens that this place is recommended by the Lonely Planet so even better). After some very tasty beers we found another LP recommended place for some food. The New Torigin is a little place down a small alley. We had Yakitori which are grilled skewered meat and fish and combination rice. It really is great to eat real Japanese food. I think I will miss this benefit of traveling the most when we return to the UK. It is well known that the Japanese are a polite, friendly people. Whenever you enter a shop, cafe or restaurant you are greeted. Bows are a-plenty and we really are made to feel welcome. One touching example was when were at the train station after Dee's Japanese skills had bought us two tickets for the bullet train. We were looking at a map trying to figure out where the post office was. All of a sudden a kindly be-suited Japanese man asked where we wanted to go, and took us to the correct exit and gave us directions. He told us (in English) that he lived in the UK as a hippy in the early 1970s in Stratford-upon-Avon! Whilst in Tokyo we have spent time to try out the various cooking that is well known here. One night we went for Sukiyaki. This is a dish cooked on a hot-plate in front of you, and consists of Japanese beef, vegetables and stock. The hot food is then put into a raw egg, and it is absolutely delicious (oishii desu). We ate ours in a place called Ibuki in Shinjuku. The hostess guided us through the process of the cooking. I wish my Japanese was as good as her English. Shinjuki, which is a disrict within Tokyo, really is an interesting place. It is absolutely buzzing with modern consumer activity. Big department stores, record shops, cafes and restaurants are everywhere. We had a great time after the Sukiyaki soaking up the atmosphere and wandering around. I felt particularly untrendy looking like I had just been dropped off from "youth ramblers day with nature" with my boots, jeans, T-shirt and overgrown hair. We also took trip to Harajuku. This an area with lots of boutiques and cafes. Some great stuff here including a few places to pick up some up-market souvenirs. :: posted by Lliam 26/11/2004 Kyoto 
We took the Shinkansen, also known as the "bullet train", to Kyoto. This is rather more expensive than using the local train but we felt that two and a half hours with no changes much more sensible than 8 hours with just as many changes on the local train. We had opted to stay in a Ryokan whilst in Kyoto. This is a traditional style inn with tatami mats lining the floors and futons for sleeping on. The place is called the Shimuzu ryokan, and has welcoming staff and is placed in a quiet residential area about 10 minutes from the station. We have to be out by 10 in the morning which has really made us see much more of Kyoto!We have made several trips around the area of Kyoto during our stay here. The local tourist board have a walking tours guide that we picked up from the airport when we first landed in Japan. This has proved to be very useful in giving us ideas for our days. Since we had saved a lot of time on the first day we ventured to downtown Kyoto. Department stores, cafes and people fill this part of Kyoto and gives no impression of how old this once-capital city is. Once again the LP guide suggested a short night walking tour that took us to pontocho dori, familiar to those who have read Memoirs of a Geisha (Dee informs me). This is a narrow street lined with many restaurants and tea houses. We found a restaurant and had a really great five course Japanese set meal. I should have taken some photos as there were some incredibly intricate and edible designs in the appetiser alone! The next day we decided to go to the east side, or Higashiyama area of Kyoto. Along the way are several impressive Buddhist temples and grounds to view. It is currently Autumn here at the moment, and the trees are changing colour. The Japanese appreciate this time of year, and turn out to stand and have their photos taken under the many fire coloured maple trees. I even got the bug and got Dee to take one of me. I won't post it here on humanitarian grounds. I even saw a Maiko (an apprentice geisha) whilst Dee was in the loo. This upset her greatly as this was one of the experiences of Kyoto Dee didn't just want to read about. We felt that we needed a bit of an easier day so we went to the Imperial palace park for a wander. The Imperial palace, home of the Emporer, is off limits unless you apply in advance. It's not an expansive place but is a nice place to get away from the crowds and cars. We packed a picnic of sushi and had a tasty lunch to boot! These pre-packed boxes are great for our day trips and as a result we have had sushi for lunch nearly every day. Afterwards we headed back downtown to the cinema,to see catwoman and the less said about that the better...what a stinker! As you know Dee calls me the Yeti so it seemed appropriate to go to nepalese gaff called the Yak and Yeti. This isn't much of a compliment to Dee if you extend the logic! The curry there was lovely and so ended another enjoyable day. Nara next caught our attention for suggested places to see. It is a popular tourist destination about 50 minutes south-east of Kyoto by local train. It has the largest wooden structure in the world in the guise of the Todai-ji Buddhist temple, according to our Lonely Planet guide. This temple is also home to an awesomely huge statue of Buddha and two huge carved wooden statues carved in the 13th century. It also has deer. Lots of deer. As we were walking to the temple there were people feeding the deer. Dee wanted to buy some deer biscuits for later. I suggested that even semi-tame deer may be a bit of a handful, but Dee informed me that they we lovely gentle animals. When Dee opened that packet of biscuits Donna, Blixen, Dancer et al went psycho on her ass! A mass of deer surrounded Dee and one even started eating her shirt. Gentle you said right? 
Here is a picture of one of those wooden statues. Its not a great photo but gives you some idea of the scale of the thing! There is an equally fierce one on the opposing side of the gate.Leaving no compass point untouched we ventured west to Arashiyama for a day of strolling around more beautiful grounds and their temples. It is fairly easy to get a bit of temple overload, so just a couple this day. We took a stroll amongst the throngs in Tenryu-ji temple. The gardens here date from the 14th century. I think I'll get a Zen garden installed when I get home... and probably wake to find the town's drunks have either puked on it or spelled out something equally offensive in the gravel. Maybe just a small one then. We had an enjoyable time wandering around and were thoroughly shattered when we finally got back to the ryokan. This traveling malarkey is hard work but at least when my life flashes in front of me I'll able to sit down and eat popcorn! Dee felt that she had been hard done by at not seeing any Geisha. So the plan was to arm Dee with the camera and hang around the areas known for their Geisha activity. Dee was taking this part of the sightseeing a little too seriously and I refused to wear the camouflage clothing and night vision googles. As for the laser guided photographic equipment, we left that at the ryokan! After convincing Dee that a police scanner was not needed we went for our Geisha spotting. This route was based around Gion which is a traditional Geisha district. Our winding route also led us along some interesting streets selling Japanese ceramics. We also found a street dubbed as the prettiest in Kyoto, according to or LP guide. This was a very narrow picturesque street lined on both sides with traditional wooded Kyoto town houses. Very tranquil and very pretty! 
At the final part of the trip, Dee was rewarded by spotting two Maiko! Or was it one Geisha and one Maiko? When we got back Dee spent an hour on the web making sure that she had classified them correctly. Apparently
there are obvious and less obvious differences between these two species. We are waiting for the DNA tests and infra-red image information...Kyoto is a really beautiful place to visit when you look beyond the busy metropolis. We have enjoyed ourselves here, I think we will return again in the future because there were parts to the north we didn't get to see. :: posted by Lliam 27/11/2004 Tokyo ii This part of the trip was designed to be more the more relaxing end of our time in Japan. We had nothing particular in mind but to seek out more Japanese food! I had been promised by the map reader that a trip to Akihabra famous (to me) for its "Electric town" area. This is where all kinds of electronics can be bought. Although prices are equivalent to the UK so no buying for me! But its so shiny and has blue LEDs on it! Who'd have thought nasal hair trimmers could be so appealing! We took a trip to the Museum of Innovation and Emerging technology. This is essentially Japan's Science museum and there were some good hands on exhibits ranging from nanotechnology to space exploration. The ground floor dedicates itself to environmental and energy saving technology. One part of the display has a full size modern Kyoto town house. This has been cut away and illustrates all the groovy energy saving ideas such as thermal storage powered by solar panels for night heating and triple glazing. A lot of this energy saving equipment is much cheaper now and savings made will make back the initial outlay in about 10 years - Not bad for one more layer of glass and a couple of panels and pipes! Another floor had a robotics section with one prototype developed by Honda labs that has stable bipedal locomotion. (Wow! where did that come from?) Researchers have managed so well that some currently being used can play football, and have neural networks that learn as they go. Looks like iRobot is not that far away! We decided to go to Roppongi, for a few drinks. This area is famous for its night life, and this night all the gaijin had come out of the woodwork! Cafe and night club pimps were out in full force and the whole area felt like Picadilly circus! We ended the night with a few beers in a bar before walking home. Our final night we went back to Ibuki to have Shabu-Shabu. Another interactive dish where vegetables and tofu are cooked in a broth similar to Sukiyaki. Raw beef, in very thin slices, is swooshed around the broth until cooked (about 10 seconds). This is then eaten with some of the cooked vegetables and a sesame dipping sauce. We have greatly enjoyed Japan particularly the food and the culture, although as Westerners I suspect we will only ever scratch the surface of Japanese culture. However this doesn't detract from the overall experience we had of Japan, which was extremely enjoyable. :: posted by Lliam 2/12/2004 and edited by Dee 21/12/2004 |