Day 2 - Kyoto

Posted on April 20, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays | Leave a Comment

Bright and early after a HEAVY sleep in our bunkbeds, (I got the top bunk…boo) Sandy and I got up and decided to set out exploring on foot.


Sandy in her bunk.

We looked fruitlessly for an open breakfast restaurent before stumbling apon the biggest blessing in Japan…the vending machine.

Tasty warm and cold beverages on every street corner

Coffeed up (mine hot and Sandy’s cold) we headed in the general direction of some nearby temples. Along the way, we got our very first glimpse of a real geisha. Dressed in an exquisite pink silk kimono, she minced out of her house and walked (hobbled) in front of us to the street corner. I was so enthralled, I was bumping into people because I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Then the most surreal thing happened…

She reached into her little matching silk bag and pulled out…a mobile phone. *FLINK* She flips it open with expert precision and calls herself a cab.

Mouth agape, I stared, transfixed by the wrongness of what I had just seen. That did NOT just happen! Struck by the oddity of old world tradition meets new-age technology, we continued on our way.

Our first stop, Higashi Otani Mausoleum. There was lots of people around and the air was filled with the smell of incense. I got a great picture of Buddha in here. It’s a bit blurry but I love how he fills the picture.

Next stop, Yasaka-jinja. Not the best place for those nervous on stairs or in tight spaces because it has both! Another few geishas were on thier way to temple and were nice enough to stop for photos. My favorite is one I got from behind. LOVE those kimonos.

From here, we walked through a large market area (LOTS of great souvenirs - Sandy bought a geisha doll) and onto Kodajai Temple…

Dragon Path

and Ryozan-Kwannon Temple. Here we found our very first cherry blossoms and one giant Buddha!

Great big Buddha

After a 15 kilometre walking tour, we were pooped and hungry. Someone in the hostel had recommended a nearby restaurant so we headed there for a HUGE meal. Well worth it just for the atmosphere but the food was great too.

Still a little jet-lagged we made an early night of it, picking up some stuff for breakfast the next day and watching a movie. I’m not sure either of us saw the end of it!

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Day 1 - Arrival at Narita & travel to Kyoto

Posted on April 13, 2008
Filed Under Japan, Holidays | 3 Comments

My flight arrived at 9am on Saturday morning March 22. Unfortunately, Sandy’s flight didn’t arrive until almost 4pm so the first 7 hours in Japan I spent wandering Narita’s terminal 1. I have discovered that it is HUGE. I had my nails done, spent half an hour or so on a paid massage chair, another hour or so on the paid internet terminals (100 yen/10 mins) validated my Japan Rail Pass and read a substantial part of my book all while waiting for Sandy.

I also discovered that McDonalds in Japan is not quite the same as in the western world. Apparently they use some sort of wasabi flavouring in the burgers. Ordering was an experience in itself. None of the staff spoke English so I was reduced to pointing to what I hoped was a cheeseburger. It was OK, but it was the last time I ate at McDonalds in Japan.

Then again, I usually avoid Macca’s in Perth too…

When Sandy arrived, we went straight to validate her pass and booked our trains to Kyoto (what was meant to be a 3 and a half our trip) on reserved seats. This first train to Shinigawa was uneventful…we were tired after all that travel.

On arrival at Shinigawa, we had 10 minutes to find the next train track and rushed to ask a steward for directions. He pointed to a train sitting at it’s track and clarified with “Track 24.”

What Sandy and I didn’t realise at the time, is that trains in Japan are VERY timely and the train that was sitting there was actually a few minutes early to be ours. We were meant to wait 3 minutes until the next one arrived but of course, the language barrier prevented the steward from explaining.

We got on the train and then puzzled over why there were people sitting in our reserved seats. Obviously tired and hauling a lot of luggage, we were slow to react and the train left the station with us standing in the full compartment of people. We saw an almost empty car and decided to sit there until another steward came by but before that happened, the train stopped and people streamed in to the previously empty car. We were in someone’s seats!

Apologising for being so rude (Sandy doing it in French causing hysterical laughter on my part), we moved and asked the lady for help (by showing her our tickets and shrugging with a questioning look..lol) She then spoke to her companion, her father, who explained to us in stilted English that we were on the wrong train!! DUN DUN DUN…

Apparently, by getting on the train 3 minutes early, we were now headed in the right general direction but instead of going right to Kyoto, direct, we were now going all stops to Nagoya where we would have to change trains again for Kyoto - extending our trip from 3 and half hours to more like 5!

Sandy was less than impressed…

If fact, she was so tired and worried that she spent the rest of the trip speaking only to my reflection in the window. I think she was confused LOL

We called the hostel from Nagoya to let them know we were going to be late and they agreed to leave the key in the mailbox for us…whew! The rest of the trip to Kyoto was uneventful until we tried to follow the internet provided map to the hostel.

We discovered that a lot of streets in Japan have no names and therefore, do not show on the map. So, when we counted 4 streets down, we were really meant to count 6! Exhausted and desperate, we stopped a family on the street and asked for help. (Showed them the map and shrugged with a questioning look…lol) I pointed to K’s house on the map and looked around with my hands in the air (huh?)

They seemed as confused as we were and eventually stopped two boys on bikes, to in turn ask their help. After a gruelling 5 minutes, one of the boys face lit up and he pointed to a side street nodding vigorously. We thanked them all (Arigato-gozaimas!) and headed off in the direction he indicated.

FINALLY coming upon K’s House Kyoto a full 24 hours after I left Perth and 33 hours after Sandy left Montreal. We were never so happy to see a set of bunk beds and promptly hit the sack.

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Holiday over :(

Posted on April 13, 2008
Filed Under Japan, Holidays | 1 Comment

OK, so I’ve been back from Japan for a week now and I’ve decided that it’s time to update this seemingly silent blog with my adventures and tribulations of inter-continental travel.

I was actually rather clever (I thought), in that I brought a notebook with me on holiday and logged what we did each day along with any silliness that made us laugh or events that we didn’t want to forget.  This will make it much easier to tell you all about the things we did, places we went and anything else that might be of interest.

I haven’t had time yet to resize all of my photos (almost 1000 of them!) so I will add photos as I can. I’ve decided that I will dedicate a post to each of the 15 days I was in Japan so that each one will be fairly accurate and not novel length.

Here we go…

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Welcome back!

Posted on January 10, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, Things that give me inspiration | 1 Comment

I hope everyone out there enjoyed their holidays as much as I did!

Twas the season (not) to be posting..lol. It was hot and the kids are home for the summer holidays and we’ve spent a lot of time together. And now, sadly… I have returned to work.

We moved offices over the holidays. Now we’re in Nedlands and it makes the drive to work SO much easier. Not necessarily shorter but a lot more pleasant than doing the stop-start thing on the Mitchell Freeway.  There’s something about driving along the coast that still makes me really happy to be here.

In fact, there is on spot in particular on Marmion Ave where you’re approaching Scarborough and the ocean just appears and seems to magically swell to encompass the whole horizon that is still breathtaking to me.

If you live in Perth, I’m sure you know the spot. ;)

Plans for Japan are moving along (thank you to everybody that replied to that post - everything was really helpful) and we’ve booked our accommodation and will be purchasing a JP Rail Pass for transit once we’re there. Sandy has just bought her ticket!! Eep! No turning back now…lol

I’ll be following her lead this weekend. I’ve called the travel agent I normally use and I’m waiting for my options now. I need to decided whether a direct flight is more important or if I want to have a stopover that will get me into Tokyo a bit later. Sandy’s flight arrives at 3:30pm and my direct flight arrives at 9:00am. So I’m looking at sitting around the airport for 6 hours waiting for her. It might be better to have a layover somewhere else to break up the flight and that way I’m only waiting for Sandy a few hours.

It’s all very exciting!!

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