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Our Adventure Voyageur
Struggled to find any fish!
14 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Today we headed to the Summer Palace which was used by the Emperors as basically a holiday home away from the Forbidden City. We managed to negotiate the metro for the first time which was so much easier than the actual train station as a lot of information is available in English. It's also so cheap! It cost us £1.18 for the two of us to do an half and hour journey which is just insane. The whole Summer Palace complex is mostly made up of the most beautiful lake of pale turquoise water. The trees had just come into blossom so the view was just stunning. There was many small collections of decorative buildings near the lakeside but then also individual temples and gardens tucked away up the hillside down windy tree lined paths. That's where we stumbled across a very picturesque garden around a central pond which was filled with so many goldfish. It felt like walking into a traditional Chinese painting scene. We also stumbled across a boat that was actually made of marble so very unlikely to actually float! It was a challenge walking around the hilly parts of the Palace because of how much our legs were hurting for the Great Wall yesterday. You didn't realise until it came to climb steps. We spent most of the day there and then felt so could fitment travelling the metro that we visited a street over the other side of the city which is known for having a large amount of restuarants. We had so many options that we were picky and waited until we found sweet and sour pork for me which I was craving. It was delicious! We headed back to the hostel after and are both getting so use to this hostel living that we spent a good couple of hours apart talking to different guys in the bar. You meet such interesting people travelling and it's just a shame that Facebook is banned here and we are unable to add all the people we meet there and then. It's also quite sad now that this our last day with these people and Beijing but moving on is just part of the travelling process I guess.En savoir plus
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Our Adventure Voyageur
Heaven is just a temple away
15 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
We started our day off by heading out with the guy Nick got talking to last night to a dumpling shop for breakfast where we had our first experience of Chinese dumplings. We weren't bowled over by the food but it was a nice filling breakfast and great to spend time with a lovely guy who just so happens to be from Nottingham. It was our last full day in Beijing so we decided to make the most of our new found love of the metro service and head to a a temple in the south called the Temple of Heaven. It was where the Emperors use to come to worship the Gods and the link to heaven often on offerings. The grand circular temples were elaborately decorated and although different were very much in keeping with all the other places we have seen with buildings built in the same eras. After we explored the grounds we decided to try and head to Tiananmen Square but the volume of people and the length of the queues put us off completely. We decided to abandon that idea and head to a park that was recommend to us for its cherry blossoms and we were not disappointed. Surrounding a beautiful lake is the most stunning park with so many varieties of trees as well as plenty of flowering cherry blossom trees. The backdrop to the park was the Beijing skyline so we just sat by the waters edge soaking up the beautiful view. They also had little stalls running selling all manners of things but the biggest hit was these loaves of bread. Every other person we saw had a bag full of bread so we felt we had to get some. We headed to the most crowded stall there by far and saw bread being sold by the second. That stall must be making a killing! The bread itself was about £1.15 for three loaves and it was a sweetened bread similar to brioche. We also found a candyfloss stall where a guy was making very impressive flower candyfloss sticks so we had to have one of course. He was also making rubber duck shapes. Rubber ducks are just everywhere here! After staying in the park for quite a while we did try and attempt to find a subway station. An hour and a half and a McDonald's later we found the subway! We even resulted to showing locals the map which did end with a woman holding my hand and leading me down the street until we found someone who spoke English. It's lovely that even with such a language barrier everyone is still willing to stop and help. It's sad though ending your day with coming back to the hostel and packing up your backpack ready to set off tomorrow. Being in separate rooms has meant we have met some lovely people here by being in the communal area so much that it will be hard saying goodbye to this place as well as this fascinating city.En savoir plus
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Our Adventure Voyageur
See you later Beijing!
16 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C
What a day! Today was the day we left the wonderful Beijing and headed south. We made our train this morning with only minutes to spare. We should of really realised from our bike ride to the station the other day that although on the metro map the station looks close it really isn't! Taking off 3 bags for each security check was also getting quite tedious so when we made it to the train it was a huge literal weight of our shoulders! The train was very nice and clean and we arrived in Taiyuan within 3 hours. We weren't very optimistic about that hotel we had booked but when the taxi driver just dropped us off on a street and told us to walk down an alley we were even more sceptical. We entered a maze of streets with shops that all looked the same. No one knew where this place was! We adopted a lovely guy who didn't speak English who actually spent 20 minutes with us walking around until he found the place for us. It then took another 20 minutes or so to try and explain to the desk our reservation. We soon realised we are so out in the middle of no where with no one who speaks English that staying here would result in us not being able to do anything or get anywhere. We made the decision to find another hostel and the lady at the desk was very helpful at flagging down a taxi and asking the driver where to go. We arrived expecting a private room that we had reserved but it wasn't to be. The bed was broken so they only had dormitories. By this point we wanted our own space to just relax so began to look for somewhere else and found another hotel further north which we reserved. While doing so the owner used another guest who spoke a little English to actually offer us a night for free in dorms then a night in private room for 100 yuan because the place we had booked was so far away. So kind of him really that we decided to stay. He also gave us one of the tiny oranges as an apology which tasted delicious. For only 10 yuan or around £1.20 each the owner cooked us a group dinner with the other guests who are all Chinese and we sat and ate together which was in itself such a special experience even if we both did suffer from biting on chillies! We spent all evening with them playing cards and trying to break language barriers but the sense of humour kept the atmosphere alive. Nick even blagged himself a free haircut tomorrow! As a woman's jacket in Beijing taught us we need to "Keep clam and forever has no end".En savoir plus
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Language barriers can't stop us!
17 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C
China is so hard to travel within without being able to speak the language... Be it in a hostel without anyone who can really speak English and without access to the Google but today we did it! Before our epic journey began we needed coffee and after a wander we found a place that looked like a business centre but they did sell coffee. We went in and ordered one coffee for £2.50, roughly, but within a few minutes a woman came over and offered us free coffees each in exchange for a photograph of us with the coffee. Perks of being foreign really! After coffee and with just a scrap of paper with some Chinese characters on and two bus numbers to catch we managed to get to Jinci Temple which was an achievement in itself. We had to look out for every bus stop to see the numbers of buses that stop there to work out where to get off to change to the next bus. The grounds of the temple were lovely to walk around even though a lot of the buildings were built in 2007 but made to feel older. We paid entry to the temple but we are not sure that it was worth us going in. There's only headings in English and brief sentences on details of each building. There are beautiful buildings, waterways, bridges and trees however. Nick even fed the fish crumbled up biscuit at one point. We left the temple and luckily found a taxi guy outside who we managed to let know that we wanted to visit a Buddha that is carved into the mountain side. Upon arriving we took the little buggy up to the bottom of the mountain where after a little walk we were greeted by the huge Buddha tribute. It was incredibly impressive and once we climbed to the top we just sat and admired it for a while before heading back down. With the help of another woman we managed to get a taxi to take us to the bus stop where we boarded the same buses back. The second bus was so rammed, you can just make out Nick in the photo with his black and blue bag! The sense of achievement stepping off the bus onto the street where we started was immense. We had done it! There was only one thing left to do and that was to go for pizza! Overall a very fulling day.En savoir plus
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Our Adventure Voyageur
Swiftly moving on
18 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ 🌫 11 °C
And within a blink of an eye we are on the move again. Tiayuan was really a stop over between Beijing and Xi'an and we managed to achieve the couple of things we wanted to do there. We boarded another train this morning but this time got there within plenty of time unlike our last train journey. It took about 3 and a half hours to get to Xi'an and luckily we were arriving at a station that allowed us to then get the metro to the area of the hostel. The metro is so cheap, roughly 60p each for a half an hour journey! We arrived and had pretty poor instructions to go with from the hostel so spent a good 20 minutes on the road showing people the address is Chinese and being sent up and down the road. Luckily a lovely man who spoke a little English offered to help us find it. He said someone helped him when he was travelling in Europe and he always wanted to return the favour when back in China. After a while he managed to find the building which was within a complex of gated buildings. Turned out the complex was about 30 metres from the metro entrance! After Nick jumped the fence we were in the area and found the hostel. we were greeted and taken upstairs where a guy told us to wait. We sat at a table while a group of guests were sat on chairs with yukalaies and taking it in turns to play guitar and sing. 45 minutes later and almost falling asleep it finally ended and they wanted to check us in. Although we booked ages ago they had given our dorm beds to someone else so we were upgraded from a 6 bed dorm to a private 6 bed room with a bathroom and balcony on our own! We're unsure if anyone will join us but hopefully not. This made up for the issues with check in a little. We headed out and found a shopping complex with a food hall to eat and luckily a lovely lady saved us when the cashier was trying to explain that we couldn't pay with cash but only an app. She paid for us and we gave her the money. Everyone is so willing to help here. The supermarket downstairs after was amazing especially a garden section that was even decorated with a huge fake blossom tree. They semester to put detail into every aspect of it. After some food shopping we wondered back and walked down a bustling street with music playing and women dancing as well as singers performing. The atmosphere was amazing and certainly a change to all we have seen so far.En savoir plus
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Never ending wall
19 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
For our first full day in Xi'an we headed ten minutes walk up the road to the city wall. It's a wall that has completely been modernised and maintained so that it is in tact and accessible to the public. There was the option to purchase a combined ticket for the wall and museum that was inside so we opted for this deal. The museum however was a little bit of a disappointment. It's main features which made up 60% of the exhibits were stone tablets with Chinese enscriptjons. Unfortunately they provided no translation or information on what the tablets said or their meaning which limited us to appreciate their significance. There was however a gallery of beautiful Chinese art as well as a large collection of stone carvings including a maze of pillars with characters carved on the tops. After the museum we headed to the wall and entered at the south gate which is nearest to where we are staying. The size of the wall was impressive but it was also incredibly wide so you can see how it provided aged deference barrier. We started walking at about 2.30 and didn't finish the complete circuit until 7.30 so it was quite a long rectangle wall to walk. There was the option to cycle around the top but that was more money so we didn't go for this option. Unfortunately the weather was awful; it was rainy and freezing cold. Xi'an as well seems to have a lot of pollution so that combined with the rain made visibility a views very poor which was a shame. Because the walk took so long we were still on the wall when it went dark and they switched on all the lanterns. They also lit up the turret style buildings so the once very boring samey wall suddenly transformed into something much more beautiful. Although it is impressive I did find it a bit too commercialised and much preferred walking the walls of York with my sister which have such character and interest and haven't been so restored.En savoir plus
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An archaeologist's dream
20 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ 🌫 12 °C
What an incredible sight! Today we visited the Terracotta Army about an hour away from Xi'an. I was very proud that we managed to get there ourselves based on TripAdvisor reviews and recommendations alone. That in itself felt like such an achievement. We entered pit one when we arrived which was where the site was discovered by farmers digging a well in the 70's. The scale of the hall took you aback and the rows upon rows of hand carved figures staring up at you was so impressive. There is 6000 soldiers and horses in this one site and only 2000 have been uncovered and restored. Seeing the fresh sections that had only just been exposed we caught a glimpse at the challenge they face trying to piece together these broken and worn down figures. This made the site even more phenomenal that not only were these statues hand made once but they have also been hand made again by the current archaeologists. There are two other pits of soldiers as well. One is equally as big but has little work to yet be done on excavating this section yet. It's amazing to think we could return in 50 years time and the whole site would be completely different. We did stop at one point to have a coffee and as a lovely treat were shown the traditional tea making of China and allowed to sample three different teas. This made the expensive coffee far more worth while! Overall a pretty great day indeed.En savoir plus
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Lazy last day
21 mars 2017, Chine ⋅ 🌬 13 °C
Today we had a very lazy day indeed. We fly to Japan tomorrow morning at 8.10 and our hostel annoyingly would not let us check out earlier than 8am probably because they didn't want to get up! They also wouldn't do the night before and we decided that actually a whole night at the airport was just too much to do. We booked a hotel right by the airport with a free transfer service running 24 hours. So this morning we packed up, did a bit of food shopping, treated ourselves to a shared Starbucks and checked out at the hostel at 12 (the latest time we could). We found out there is a tomb of an emperor that is like a small version of the Terracotta Army near the airport that was actually discovered when they wanted to build a new run away. Our plan was to check in to our hotel and then head there as a last thing to do. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. We got the metro to the nearest point to the airport as it's so cheap then got a taxi to the hotel. Turns out the hotel was further than expected and in a small mini neighbourhood that's a bit rough looking with not much going on. We were certain we wouldn't have any means to the head out again and get a bus or taxi to the tomb. We expected our fate and instead chilled in our massive room planning things for Japan and Australia. We went hunting for a restuarant but were certain the few kebab shop like places we saw wouldn't have English or many pictures so we came back and luckily the woman on reception kindly went and got us some noodles. In a way we were relieved that we didn't witness the style of "restuarant" they came from and we got to eat in the comfort of the room which was a bonus. We had such a chilled day I didn't even take 6 photos! The last photo is of a cute little chap we saw at the supermarket last week carved from some sort of melon style fruit. They have so many weird and wonderful fruits and vegetables here. We're now saying goodbye to China and heading off to Japan bright and early! We didn't see any pandas, our niece will not be impressed.En savoir plus
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Capsule hotel life. Welcome to Japan!
22 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
Today we left a rainy, cloudy China and headed over to the sunnier but just as cold Japan. We had an early flight so we left our hotel at 5am and played lots of rounds of cards at the airport while waiting to check in. After a pretty smooth flight we touched down in Tokyo. Filling out the customs form was a complete pain but we made it through customs. Luckily Nick had done his research so we had an easy transfer to a shuttle bus that took us the hour drive into the city and dropped us at the train station. It was a little less smooth trying to get to the metro station and buy a ticket but once we figured out we were using the ticket machine for the trains not the metro we were on our way in no time! We are spending ten days at a capsule hotel, a concept well known in Japan for their ever growing population and little land space. In the space of maybe one hotel room you can fit 20 or so capsules of double beds. It will take some getting use to having our bags near reception, our valuables in a locker and our bed actually 3 floors higher up but I'm sure we will adapt. We pretty much spent the day doing laundry and going to the supermarket which is a stones throw away from our hotel. Food is expensive so that will be a challenge but we had a lovely first meal for only £5.50 at the supermarket's food hall which we will be returning to without a doubt. Tomorrow lies a day of playing Vietnam (where we head next) and more laundry! Oh the fun we will have!En savoir plus
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"Planning" day
23 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
So we've had a very slow day today. We had decided to use today to finish our washing and plan what we will do in Tokyo as well as Vietnam where we head to next. Nick has made good progress on things to do in Tokyo but Vietnam was was less successful and neither of us could really be bothered to research that much. We did find out getting from Tokyo to Kyoto will cost a lot on a train so we are hoping tomorrow we can sort out an overnight coach and cancel a nights accommodation here. We did venture out to the supermarket today and had a look at all the weird and wonderful things they sell here as well as a go at the arcade. We've also discovered not only do they have a cat cafe here but an owl and hedgehog one too! We will definitely have to visit on while here. We had plan to go to see a film tonight as a treat but unfortunately the showing they had online isn't actually running so it's looking like a night of chilling in reception and an early night for tomorrow.En savoir plus
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I spot a fish!
24 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
We spent the morning today heading back to the main Tokyo station to purchase three day unlimited metro passes. While on the tourist information centre they have a robot to assist you called Pepper who interacted with you through speech. He didn't do much until he started dancing! We also spent time there painting traditional symbols and learning origami, mine was far more successful than Nick's! We also went and booked an overnight coach to Kyoto for next week which was half the price of the train and means we can save a night on accommodation too so that's a huge bonus. After we spent a good while sorting things out we headed to a shopping complex that has a planetarium and aquarium on the 9th floor roof. We went to see what Nick thought was a show on planets at the planetarium but turned out to be minimal information on planets and more songs sung by a Japanese girl band so that was disappointing! We headed to the aquarium after which had a little bit more to it and is probably one of the better aquariums I've been too. After a look around and a visit to the pokemon storw, we headed back to our trusty supermarket food court for some so cheap food in the evening and to relax back at the hotel.En savoir plus
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Michael Hartland I hope your going to bring back the charziard at least ;)
18/04/2017Répondre
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Our Adventure Voyageur
What a crackin' view!
25 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
Today we made full use of our metro passes and headed over to the west side of the city to a park where we thought a market was going to be held. Usually it is at the weekend but unfortunately on this particular weekend it was replaced with the Tokyo Outdoor Festival so no cheap fruit for us! It was still cool to look around the stalls though. We headed from there to a sky scrapper near by which you can visit the 45th floor for free to see the views over the Tokyo landscape. The view was spectacular and it's only when you're that high up do you realise just how big and industrialised Tokyo is. Seeing a patch of green was a novelty! After some food we headed to another park that is known for its different style gardens and cherry blossoms. The park was a little disappointing because their traditional Japanese garden was closed off without any prenotice before you pay to enter and we're not sure if we did enter the English garden or not! The grass also needed some serious watering! It was a nice park to explore though with lots of little tucked away areas and small ponds to find. We spent most of the afternoon there and then headed to what we hoped would be a cat cafe. Somewhere where you can literally have tea and play with cats! Online it said it was free to enter but it wasn't to be and at £9 each with drinks on top we decided actually that's a lot of just cats. There's a hedgehog one so we might head to that one instead. The area we were in was so cool though with its wide roads, bright lights and even a Godzilla peeking over the top of a building! For tea we headed to Korea town with the prospects of cheaper food. We found cheaper food but ate in a very dodgey place where smoking was allowed and with 3 tables smoking around us it was incredibly hard to not cough continously. We ate super fast and made a quick get away. We did stumble across a much nicer place where we went in and treated ourselves to gyoza which is something Nick has been wanting to try which were rather tasty indeed. It was then lovely returning to the hotel to a load of videos of Aeryn from my mum which was watched casually throughout the evening. So nice to see her and hear how much her speech is coming along! A nice end to a pretty good day.En savoir plus
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Escaping the rain
26 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C
The rain came today! We had plans to do quite a few outdoorsy things but decided to save these for a much nicer day and instead headed to the museum. What a good museum it was! Not only did it have descriptions in English but also free audio guides as well, both things we have yet to find out our travels! The building was impressively laid out with replica buildings and bridges in place with a vast array of model settlements of the history of Edo becoming Tokyo. They also had some Textiles and Japanese artwork which was interesting becuase we found out that it is created by block printing. We spent most of the day at the museum and could of easily spent more time but we were a bit worn out after reading so much. After the museum we headed to an area where the Sky Tower is which is the tallest broadcasting tower for Tokyo. It was illuminated with pink lights but even still it was hard to see through all the mistake and rain. The mall around the tower was where we spent the evening looking at the weird and wonderful shops, admiring baby turtles at a fish shop and eating crepes and katsu curry. We did well at escaping the rain all day!En savoir plus
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Game of cat chess anyone?
27 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C
Another rainy day in Toyko! After heading the the train station to find out prices for potentially visiting Mt. Fuji tomorrow we decided while in Tokyo we had to visit an animal cafe. We have discovered cat, pug, hedgehog and owl cafes in the city but for us cats seems the least cruel. After negotiating a sea of umbrellas we found the entrance which was up on the 8th floor of a back alley building with just a sign on the elevator lift. We didn't really know what to expect but the place was lovely. We were given slippers to wear and fluffy cat ears before we headed into the cafe itself. The cats have a palace of hanging bird cage beds and a huge tree with platforms to sleep on, and that was just the upstairs! They really had spared no expense on creating an amazing place for the cats to be. We opted to pay an extra for drinks but this one off cost meant unlimited use of the vending machine so we made the most of that by having about 4 coffees, coke, fanta and a few other drinks each within the 40 minutes we were there! You paid per 10 minutes so it did feel like we left pretty soon after we got there but we couldn't justify staying any longer for the price. It was a cool thing to do and definitely something Toyko seems to be famous for. Afterwards we headed over to a department shop Nick had seen online that sells things cheap. It wasn't what we expected and if you call £14 on a very naff t shirt cheap then you'd be loving it but we did have fun looking around. Even found a fish mask which my sister would of loved! We did try to find a gaming bar which we though meant you could play video games while having a drink but unfortunately the place wasn't what we expected. The bar was just decorated in old consoles hung up on string and the prices were steep so we didn't stay. Instead we headed to a small mall complex we'd seem and had a great meal that cost less that £8 which is very good for Japan! Nick playing chess with a cat on an iPad was definitely the highlight of the day.En savoir plus
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Snowball fights and mountain chasing.
28 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Today we found snow! We headed to one of Japan's most well known scenic spots Mt. Fuji. After lots of research and planning we had a route in mind and managed to pull it off successfully. We got up early and negotiated the metro and then found the bus terminal we needed and had our destination questioned by the driver. I found a nice scenic spot that is less touristy and also has a Japanese pagoda at the top of the viewing platform so it makes for some lovely photographs. This was where we were heading which did mean getting off the bus on the edge of the highway while everyone else carried on to the more well known spots. When we arrived we had been delayed by an accident but the mountain was clearly in view so we were optimistic. We walked through the mountain based town and were greated by so much snow everywhere! The ascent up the hill to the pagoda began and a third of the way up we were met by an ice cream van. Of course we had to try the cherry blossom and matcha tea flavours which were as interesting as they sound! We climbed higher and the view was amazing but unfortunately the clouds had rolled in. We'd booked a bus back for much later on in the day so we spent the next 4 hours in the park in case the cloud cleared and we got a good shot of the mountain with the pagoda. We wondered to higher platforms that others were scared to go to because of the snow, a foot deep in places. We came prepared in our walking shoes to headed further up for better views and then into a pine forest near the top of the hill. After climbing for a while through the steep snow we came to a clearing of crisp white snow so of course this meant snowball fight time! I won of course even with a tactical falling on my bum at one point! We walked/skied back down the hill and after a while decided the cloud wasn't budging so headed out of the park. We had a couple of hours to kill so saw a leaflet that in a near by town you can get a 10 minute bus to a lakeside view of the mountain. We decided to do it but of course the leaflet lied! You can make it to the lake in ten minutes but it's another 30 minutes to the good viewing point around the other side. We decided to do our own walk through the town and towards a hill that looks over the mountain. There we found the best view of the mountain we'd had all day and it was mainly clear! After some photos and admiring we headed back and got the train then bus from our dodgey highway side bus stop and made it back to toyko. We completed the day with a well deserved katsu curry of course and reveled in the fact that we'd seen Mt. Fuji and managed to do it for about a third of the cost of an organised tour!En savoir plus
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Bird enthusiasts in the making?
29 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
Stumbling unintentionally into new experiences make for the best kind of memories. Today we headed to the Meiji Jingu Shrine, situated within a beautiful forest-style park. We did sneak off the track to start with to go into the forest where we saw a mass of huge bamboo plants growing in the centre. It was incredible seeing the plant on such a large scale. After a stroll around the park and visiting the shrine itself we paid to enter a garden which had beautiful plants and winding paths that lead us to a lakeside. After spending some time watching the many koi carp we sat on a nearby bench where we saw a man holding out his hand and small birds swooping in to land on it. Nick held his in the same position and a tiny bird landed on his hand and had a good look around for food before flying off. After a while another man must of seen us trying to get the birds to land on our hands because he came over with peanuts and showed us how to hold them but to be cautious not to feed it to them. I was so shocked when one landed on me at first that I just let go of my nut as soon as it landed! This happened a couple of times but we soon got the hang of it and they came and sat on our hands for ages pecking at the nuts. It was such an amazing experience and one we didn't expect would happen. It actually became the highlight of our day. After we left the park we visited a popular shopping street and then went to a roof top Starbucks where I queued for about 30 minutes for a coffee but the view from the skyscraper was worth the wait! We then headed to the busiest and biggest pedestrian crossing in Japan. It was crazy just standing up on a wall and watching everyone try and cross from so many directions. Crossing it yourself however is a lot less busy than it looks. Later on we tried to find a river where they are meant to light up cherry blossom trees at night but unfortunately we found the river and there were no trees lit up. We plan to do more research on where to see this and maybe head somewhere else tomorrow for a second attempt. I'm incredibly hopeful that birds in the UK will land on us just as they did here when we return home!En savoir plus
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Sight-seeing cram!
30 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
Today is our last night in Tokyo before we get the bus tomorrow so we decided to make the most of it and see some of the sights we have missed. We headed first to the Imperial Palace which much to our surprise, even though the emperor of Japan lives there, there is no palace to see. We were expecting something like Buckingham palace but unfortunately it was just a garden with a walled off area where, we are assuming, the emperor lives but you cannot see any of the building. It was a little disappointing but at least the grounds did have a pond area which was beautiful. After the "Palace" we made our way to see the Toyko tower which is the old communication tower before the Sky Tree came about. The tower itself is an orange and white design that is similar to the Eiffel Tower. We just stopped for photos and then headed off again to another park that was smaller and in a little valley. At the lowest point was a beautiful pond with loads of koi carp swimming around. We spent ages on a stone platform that jutted out into the water, just watching the fish swim all around. It was a peaceful break amongst a busy and productive day. Our last stop for the day was a train ride to an island south of the city where there is a big entertainment complex and many shopping malls. There they have a huge bridge across to the island, a mini statue of liberty and an artifical beach. It had a very chilled out vibe so strolling along the waterfront was lovely to do after a lot of coming and going. We had yet another great katsu curry dish for dinner and ended the evening with a bit of shopping and playing in the arcade! We are definitely not looking forward to packing up all our things tomorrow and moving on that's for sure!En savoir plus
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Bye bye Toyko
31 mars 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Today was the day we said goodbye to Toyko. We decided to book an overnight bus to Kyoto as it was half the price of the train and we could save money on a nights accommodation. It was a great plan until Nick checked his bank account. The hotel wouldn't give us just a nights worth of money back, they insisted they had to refund the whole stay and Nick paid again. Turns out he was charged £24 by the card company for the refund and then another £9 by lloyds because he had to use his bank card! So our money saving scheme wasn't as great as planned! With that in mind we decided to have a chilled out day of planning so we spent most of our time at the supermarket we love so very much. We hit up the arcade and wondered around the floors of shops before sitting down for a snacky lunch. Nick won a game of trumps by his 8 of clubs trumping my 7 of clubs. As you can see by his face he wasn't that happy about it really! I'd been eyeing up this ice cream place since we have been in Tokyo and seeing as it was our last day I gave in and got one. We alternated between spending time in the food court, Starbucks and then the hotel lobby. Luckily the hotel staff were lovely and let us keep our stuff there all day and use the reception after checking out, a huge literal weight off our shoulders. After some food in the evening we strapped on our bags, mines gained about a stone in weight, and headed to the bus station. This involves a long walk at one metro station to change lines, a walk we are so glad we never have to do again! We got there pretty early and when the overnight bus came we settled down with eye masks and ear plugs ready for the journey ahead.En savoir plus
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Sleepy backpackers!
1 avril 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
We've safely arrived in Kyoto! Our night bus got into the main station at 6am this morning. It wasn't as bad as expected and we did get some sleep but annoyingly the bus driver stopped 3 times for a break which is fine but each time he'd turn on all the lights and make a loud announcement and play a beeping sound before we drove off again which was very disruptive. Kyoto is freezing at 6am and nothing was open, not even Starbucks. We found some seats in the ticketing office which were luvckily in an enclosed room, separate from the open station; we chilled out for about 2 hours. It was so cold that I had so many layers, even Nick's over my legs. We couldn't go to the hostel until 8am which is when reception opens but luckily they agreed to let us use reception up until check in so we had somewhere to rest and put our bags. We used this time to plan our Vietnam trip more and put the foundations in place by booking an internal flight, a couple of hotels and setting our route out. We also have a good idea for Cambodia now as well. We both feel we are not the people to just "wing it" and book things a day before so having steps in place of a plan feels very reassuring. We planned up until check-in at 3 and got to see the hostel in more detail. We are in a converted traditional Japanese house with many interesting design features. The place itself is small but it has a nice feeling and the manager is lovely which is always a bonus. We had much needed showers and headed out for food. I was brave and tried something new which even resulted in me eating raw egg that was on top of my dish, a proud moment! After some food shopping it was back to the hostel for much needed rest and sleep. Not a very exciting day but I'm not sure we could of handled much more after the bus journey.En savoir plus
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Antique markets and arcade winning!
2 avril 2017, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
We had planned to head to Kyoto Castle today but in the morning we found out about a market that was being held at a temple so decided to head there. We had hoped there to be some fruit stalls with the prospect of healthy food at a reasonable price but it turned out to be an antiques market instead. They had so many beautiful chinas and crockery that it was such a shame we weren't able to buy some. Seeing as the market was in the car park of a temple we decided to then visit the temple afterwards. Inside we saw the tallest progoda in Japan, you can see a very tiny Nick in the photo of it! The grounds were lovely with a lake that had turtles in and budding cherry blossoms surrounding. After the temple we headed to spend the afternoon at a mall we passed on the way. Daiso is by far our favourite shop. Everything is 100 yen (70p) unless stated otherwise but the things you can buy are such good quality. We mainly use it because we can get bags of peanuts for 70p instead of around £4 in supermarkets. We spent a bit of time in the arcade and played an awful horror zombie 3D game which was way too scary for my liking! We managed to also win a cute little whale on a grab machine which we were super proud of. In the mall they also had a pet store which was a little sad at first as the puppies and kittens were kept in white plastic cages behind glass but we watched for a while and they are cleaned regularly and have toys and each other to play with. We even came back an hour or so later and even though these animals ranged from £2500 to £3500 in price at least 3 had been sold and taken home so that was reassuring to know that hopefully they aren't kept there long. We plan to return towards the end our time here to see if any of the ones we saw still remain.En savoir plus
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Exploring on foot
3 avril 2017, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Today we headed to the Imperial Palace, a walkable distance from our hostel. We decided to spend the day walking to all the attractions we wanted to see to get some exercise and save money on buses. The start of the palace grounds is about 15 minutes away and we knew from past experience not to expect seeing the actual palace. The grounds are huge; 1.3km by 0.7km in a perfect rectangle shape. Everything, including the streets, are very geometric block-patterns of rectangles here. We explored the start of the garden including a small stream and wandered up to the top part of the grounds. It was lovely to actually see some cherry blossoms in bloom and flowering more than we had seen before; although they are swarmed by people taking pictures with them of course. We stopped at a bench, at one point, and a snack or two later ended up feeding the pidgeons. They love crackers. Nick gained the trust of one pigeon who repeatedly came up on his knee for extra crackers. After enjoying the garden for some time we saw on the map that a shrine was probably about another 15 minute walk north so we decided to head up there to check it out. The grand tomato-soup red arches and buildings of the shrine were very striking against the green landscape surrounding it. It was definitely one of the nicer places of worship we have visited and also less busy than others have been. We headed back after through the grounds of the Imperial Palace and past where our hostel is to carry on south to go to a shopping area. I managed to find an area of second hand shops, much to Nick's delight, and we had a look around those for a while before rounding off the evening with good food and a trip to a discount store. Hopefully our legs don't hurt too much tomorrow as we plan to walk again!En savoir plus
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Power walking and temple hunting.
4 avril 2017, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
We've been worried about how badly we've had to eat in Japan simply because we cannot afford to buy healthy food, therefore today we decided to power walk across the city to see a wide array of temples and shrines. This part of Kyoto is also known for it's traditional-style Japanese houses and streets where many men and women walk around wearing beautifully decorated kimonos. It took us around 45 minutes to walk from our hostel to the first temple and unfortunately it seemed everyone had the same idea as us because it was incredibly busy. Not only this but the place was a little bit spoilt by the fact that the grounds around the sacred buildings were being used to host a variety of food and entertainment stalls, making the place seem more of an attraction than a religious site. We still had a lovely wander around; looking at the bright-red decorated buildings and small pond which housed turtles in the middle. We made our way through the old traditional streets and visited another temple which was very different- white and brown architecture and was far less popular with the tourists. After seeing Japan's tallest pagoda the other day we saw, what we think, is a close second today. There were so many people dressed-up, taking pictures in their kimonos around us. We were lead down the windy streets to another temple at the top of a hill. Here we got some lovely views of the city and surrounding hills. After spending some time exploring we decided to head back to a shopping area and to find some tea. On route we crossed a bridge where we saw a woman throwing bread off the side to a heron below. This was attracting some large birds of prey. She saw us watching her and came over to give Nick some bread but the next thing we knew one had swooped down and had took it out of her hand. We had some bread as well so began throwing bread up in the air and watching them swoop and dive to catch it. It was an amazing thing to see and they swooped in and about our heads quite a few times. We collected quite a crowd watching troop- all taking pictures. Clearly our bird feeding hobby is something to be admired!En savoir plus
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Unintentionally climbed a mountain!
5 avril 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
We decided it was about time we visited the number one attraction in Kyoto, Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine. The shrine is situated south-east of the city and would, by far, be our longest walk yet. We set off and quickly got into a good rhythm of walking. After about 30 minutes we stumbled across a grand looking temple with beautifully ornate buildings so decided to deviate from our plan and have a look around. Unfortunately we were unable to go inside any of the buildings but walking around the huge courtyard and admiring the intricate details outside was good enough for us and also meant we didn't go away from the plan for too long. We continued our walk and luckily our map shows us where Starbucks are so our first destination was to head for the closest Starbucks to the shrine to recover, have a tea and eat lunch. After about 2 and a half hours of walking we finally arrived at Starbucks! Sitting down felt amazing and then accompanied by an English breakfast tea was just fantastic. We regrouped and then set off for the Shrine. We couldn't find the entrance but actually entered from a side path, it seemed, and all I can say is wow! We were greated by a continual channel of huge archways in varying shades of red depending on age. It was incredible to see. The columns of each archway were also engraved with black Japanese symbols. We joined what seemed like a busy path and began our walk through the arches which are surrounded by forests. Not long in we saw a sign to a path off the main track so decided to go and explore, we were so glad we did. We found a little shrine but then behind this a path through a bamboo forest and into the wilderness. We decided this was to be our route. We didn't have a map but later saw one on a board that showed this path as a side loop from the map area. This way we stumbled across waterfall shrines, small sacred graveyards and little Japanese houses and farm land. Eventually after an hour or so the path led us upwards and that's when the mountain climb happened! We were about 50 steps up and a guy coming down told us we were nearly there. He lied. We weren't anywhere near but we did it and eventually reached the path of archways again. A few more shrines on and we reached the summit. When in the forest though there is no nice view nor at the summit. Luckily about 10 minutes down the other side, along the arched route, we got to enjoy a beautiful view of the city and felt such a sense of achievement. After meandering back down we began our walk back, where after about an hour and half we went back to our favourite mall to revisit the pet shop and have dinner. Most of the puppies and kittens were still there but a few had gone which was reassuring. We will definitely miss where we have dinner because we order one bowl of curry covered udon noodles and then bulk this out with the free spring onions and crispy batter they provide, and I mean really bulk this out! We decided, after all that food, to get the bus back from the station to our hostel. Given the long trek we endured I think we earned it!En savoir plus
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Beating the arcade at it's own game
6 avril 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Today we decided to have a bit of a break from sight-seeing and headed to an arcade instead. Once again we walked there and back. It was only a few blocks before we found ourselves at our first arcade. Here we played a pirate shooting game, where we defended against hordes of skeletons. Awesome game! Then I saw a grab machine with a cute pink bunny rabbit that I had to have. I thought 'why not, let's give it a go' and surprisingly on the third and final play it flipped over the shelf and was all mine. Our second arcade toy win! To savour the victory we broke for some lunch, at a place we ate the other night, and a bit of shopping. We also treated ourselves to a joint ice cream on our day of no sight-seeing. Then we moved on and found another arcade, which was huge, spread over several floors and full of so many different games. We had an explore and on the first floor there was a host of sweet machines. Nick noticed a group of teenage boys excitedly surrounding one of the machines and went to watch; a stack of boxed sweets had fallen and they were filling their pockets. They were so concentrated on their own machines that they hadn't noticed other sweets falling from other ones. When Nick returned later he noticed the sweets were still there. Free sweets! Whoop. We headed up and found our favourite floor, the floor where you play slot machine style games with token coins. We like to walk around and collect any coins we see on the floor, under machines or left on the counter to use. Usually this results in about 3 coins and a couple of 1 yen coins but boy were we in for a treat! We collected so many of these coins it was amazing. The photograph was taken also before we found at least another 15! When you pay 1100 yen for 300 coins (just under £8) we were laughing. We then spent a good half an hour or so playing on a particular slot machine and actually doing rather well. As always the coins run out but it felt great that we got to play the machines for free. We had planned to come back and pack our bags before heading to the castle near back to watch the illumination of cherry blossom tress but unfortunately the rain has stopped us from venturing out again. It's looking like a lazy evening of watching YouTube and chilling out.En savoir plus
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Train rides and treat night
7 avril 2017, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
It was time for us to pack our bags and head off to another city once again. This time our destination was Osaka. We'd booked an Air B&B room for this trip but unfortunately we were unable to check in until 3. Having checked out at 11 from our hostel and knowing it would take an hour to get to the new place we had some time to kill. We headed to the station and visited our favourite coffee shop, Starbucks. Having spent quite a lot of the morning there we then had a pretty satisfying noodle dish lunch to share before beginning our journey to Osaka. Nick had discovered that if we walked to another station about 1.5km away we could do the journey much cheaper and end up at the station right by where we are staying. 1.5km walk with a very heavy bag is quite tough though! Mine is proving to not be that comfy and I'm so close to just giving up and buying a suitcase but I'm trying to persevere! We even saw our first double decker train at the station when we arrived. We made it to Osaka and had a lot of trouble finding the building among a maze of streets that all look the same but eventually we did around 4pm. Upon opening the door to our room we were greeted by what can only be described as a war zone! The room hadn't been cleaned so we were initially wondering what we had signed up to but Nick contacted the guy who told us our room had changed to across the hall. It has all we need really with a mini kitchen, fridge and microwave so at least we can make of our own food to save money. We explored the area and found the local supermarket and decided that tonight we were going to buy a Google Play card to watch movies on our tablet and get snacks and treats. I had the Japanese version of a pasta ready meal and it was great; and only £2.10 to boot. Bargain! We had a pretty relaxed evening of watching Finding Dory and The Jungle Book before an early night ready for our first day tomorrow!En savoir plus
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