Reset search
Our OEOur OE
SatelliteEdit route

Our OE

April - August 2024
We're off again! This time travelling by more conventional means.
All things going well we will visit; Japan, China, Singapore, Doha, UK, Spain, Germany, Turkey and the Philippines. Read more
Currently traveling
  • 41footprints
  • 3countries
  • 49days
  • 372photos
  • 16videos
  • 30.5kkilometers
  • 24.7kkilometers
  • 4.4kkilometers
  • 854kilometers
  • 188kilometers
  • 81kilometers
  • 14kilometers
  • 10kilometers
  • 4sea miles
  • 3sea miles
  • 5kilometers
  • 3kilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • Our OE
    Day 5

    Ginza, beers, and Kiwis abroad

    April 6 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    After lunch we returned to Ginza for a little bit of retail therapy - Vela was cold so needed a sweatshirt. The whole of the main street was closed to vehicles, which made for a pretty cool photo opportunity and a unique experience.

    We then walked a little way to a craft beer brewery where we met up with Cass' parents for a drink. Both beers were top notch, although the green tea flavour was not particularly strong.

    Next we headed a couple stations over to Shimbashi where we met up with Jordi for dinner. Very cool to meet up with other Kiwis while travelling!    Read more

  • Our OE
    Day 6

    Ebisu

    April 7 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Vela's birthday today! And finally some real blue sky in Tokyo!

    We started off with a trip to Ebisu, wandering around some pretty residential streets, finding a coffee shop, and then heading for some shops. After Nathan had enough shopping, we found a busy area where a cherry lined canal was the attraction. The Megura canal was sprinkled with Sakura petals drifting down stream, and there were little egrets standing in the water, picking out a meal.

    We wandered through the crowds of people to get our chance at some photos before we made it to the back streets for a sweet treat. Vela found a handmade jewellery store and we picked out a shiny new piece of jewellery as Nathan's gift to Vela for her birthday.

    Afterwards we found a little snack of fried octopus balls, and then headed to a quieter street. We made it across a very busy intersection - it was more crowded than Shibuya - and then discovered a nifty little coffee roasting shop where we had to have a little sample of the final product.    Read more

  • Our OE
    Day 6

    Omakase & Tokyo Tower

    April 7 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Vela's number one must do for her visit to Japan was to have Omakase for her birthday dinner. Omakase translates to "I leave it to you" essentially meaning you eat what you're given. There is no menu to choose from. Omakase chefs select the seasonal seafood and create an amazing range of sushi and other delicacies in front of your eyes.

    Vela booked this restaurant (located in a 120 year old building) two months ago. It only seats 10 and is very highly recommended. We enjoyed multiple different types of tuna, prepared in different ways, including being flame grilled and smoked in front of us.

    For appetizers we were served three small dishes of asparagus, octopus, and a shellfish (we didn't quite get the name).

    This was followed by a tuna sushi roll, with three different cuts of tuna - from firm to fatty - with the top layer being flange grilled in front of us. Then we had a range of different sashimi: snapper, scallops, piper, a fish similar to anchovy, shrimp, and salmon.

    We were then treated to a show of some fresh bonito tuna being smoked in front of us. The downstairs restaurant (a 1-Michelin star tempura restaurant) then delivered a tray of tempura prawn which were served in a Nori wrap. Tuna belly, grilled belt fish, sweet prawn with Sakura leaf, firefly squid (marinated in soy sauce) and grilled eel rounded out our main meal.

    As a little special extra to our meal, we were served two different types of sea urchin roe; an aromatic type and a creamy type. The aromatic type had a much stronger flavour, while the creamy one was more mild and sweeter. We both agreed the creamy one was best. As a final treat, we had a small custard slice for dessert.

    To work off our epic feast, we headed to Tokyo Tower for a little walk and a view of the city. Nathan prepared a small Japanese dessert with some matches as candles for Vela to blow out for her birthday wish.    Read more

  • Our OE
    Day 7

    Hakone

    April 8 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today we said goodbye to Tokyo as we headed for an overnight stay in Hakone. We started with catching the Subway to Shinagawa Station where, after Nathan stressed Vela out but wanting to double and triple check we were getting the right train, we connected to an intercity train.

    This took us through to Odawara where we stopped for lunch. We had a delicious teppanyaki steak and a Japanese curry, delicious and affordable and it might have ruined Japanese curry for us forever...

    Next we hopped on a bus through the mountains to Motohakone-ko, where we boarded a sightseeing cruise (more of a ferry to be honest) and jumped on the gondola over the mountain. We crossed over a geothermal valley, the source of the hot water for the onsen (Japanese baths) in Hakone.

    Next we transferred to a cable car, hooked down a narrow windy hillside (with Nathan acting as sherper) before arriving at the bottom of the valley where a geothermal fed river flowed. Our final mode of transportation for the day was to hop back on a bus for the last little stint to our accommodation.

    We were greeted by a very relaxing atmosphere, our room is significantly bigger than in Tokyo and has tonnes of character with two beds on a raised wooden platform. We quickly visited the onsen (and got a sneaky photo while nobody else was there) and settled in for a relaxing evening after a travel day involving 7 different modes of transport (subway, train, bus, ferry, gondola, cable car, and a hike).    Read more

  • Our OE
    Day 8

    Bullet Train to Kyoto

    April 9 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    This morning we awoke to torrential rain in Hakone, perfect weather to take another onsen before breakfast! After breakfast we had to check out and brave the weather as we needed to get to Kyoto. In the 5 minute walk to the bus stop we were already saturated. We then crossed the road (which was starting to look like a river) to get a bus.

    We're unsure if we timed it poorly, or if everyone was escaping the weather, but the first 3 buses were all completely full and couldn't let us on. We waited on the train for an hour, water speed through our jackets and the wind chilled us to the bone. A bus finally came with room for us, and we were even able to get a seat with hot air blowing up from underneath to defrost ourselves.

    We made it back to Kanagawa train station where Vela managed to work out the coffee machine and made herself a hot matcha latte (mood definitely improved from that point). We then marveled at the bullet trains, impressive when parked for their size, and maybe more impressive when moving for their speed. A conservative estimate puts their speed at 180km/h at least when they were going through the station.

    On board we travelled through seaside towns, across braided rivers, and through multiple tunnels. Nathan finally saw a cloud in Japan worth taking a photo of! We took advantage of the free wifi to get some planning and visa work done for Europe.

    We arrived in Kyoto, and after a brief mix up with our hotel, we found it. We're staying in a very cute little building, sandwiches between two much larger buildings. This is not the narrowest building we've seen, but definitely the narrowest we've stayed in!    Read more

  • Our OE
    Day 9

    Fushimi Inari Temple

    April 10 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Today's plan was to explore a couple of Kyoto's famous temples. We started the day right with Nathan going for a walk in the local area to find some coffee and a nibble. He returned with some delicious sweet breasts from a local bakery and nice hot lattes.

    Afterwards we caught a bus and a train to Fushimi Inari. This temple is famous for its thousands (not exaggerating) of Torii gates lining its walkways. The good Inari is the god of rice and crops.

    We were a bit surprised at how crowded it was compared to Tokyo, but that's the price you pay when you visit tourist destinations I guess. We walked around a bit, enjoying the scenery, and found a little lake with some koi which appeared to be having a morning chat with each other.

    We then exited the temple complex and found a cute little Udon restaurant for some lunch.    Read more

  • Our OE
    Day 9

    Kiyomizu-Dera Temple

    April 10 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    This Buddhist temple on the hill overlooking Kyoto is an UNESCO World Heritage site. We were greeted with crowds over again, but were still able to enjoy this scenic spot. There was plenty of Sakura still in bloom around the temple complex, although many of the trees are starting to show new green shoots as they shed their blossoms.

    After we'd had enough of walking around the temple, we explored the surrounding streets. Although quite pretty and authentic looking, it felt very touristy still, so we found a little coffee shop to escape for a while and recharge.

    We then headed across the river for an early dinner of tempura - essentially deep fried everything. Very delicious, but quite rich and oily, you can definitely have too much of it.

    Afterwards we went for a little walk around before catching a bus home. The first bus drove past us and stopped at the next station down the road, so we waited there for the next one which didn't stop there... Not quite sure what was going on, but we finally got on a bus home. We have an even greater appreciation of the subway network in Tokyo after our recent bus experiences.    Read more

  • Our OE
    Day 10

    Biking Kyoto

    April 11 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Something a little different today, we hired a couple of old dunger bikes and went on a sight seeing cruise up and down the Kamogawa River.

    Kyoto is a great city for biking around as it's relatively flat and has lots of bike lanes. We hired our bikes for 500 yen each, which works out to around 5nzd - what a steal! We then rode up and down the Sakura lined Kamogawa River, about 15km in total. On our way we also spotted some local wildlife; a congregation of carp, a paddling Coypu (gigantic river rat), Grey Heron, and a Black Kite chilling in a tree.

    After a quick stop for refreshments, we pedalled back up river to return our bikes before dinner. We then caught a bus back to tonight's accommodation - a traditional style Japanese guest house.

    The walls are rice paper, the doorways short (Nathan has to duck), and the floors are old and creaky. Although it was dark when we arrived, we took a couple of photos in the morning and you can see we definitely got the authentic experience!    Read more

  • Our OE
    2
    Day 11

    Kinkakuji - Golden Temple

    April 12 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    A very relaxing morning, with a small breakfast and coffee while Vela finalised all her visa documents for Europe and the UK. After lunch we headed out to one of Kyoto's main attractions, Kinkakuji.

    Being so late on the day, by the time we arrived there was almost no longer for tickets or to get through the main gate. So we were able to quickly get to a viewing point of the temple over the lake. Vela has been reading a book about this temple, which has burned down multiple times and been rebuilt faithfully to the original temple. The most recent burning was an arson attack, and when they rebuilt it they added gold leaf. Apparently 20kg of gold leaf was added, worth around 1.6million NZD.

    We walked around the temple complex, which includeda pretty little waterfall. We came across a coin tossing game where we donated a few coins. After a wild first throw, Vela's second leaves squarely in the middle of the tin cup, one-upping everyone who was aiming for the larger stone bowl. As we were leaving the complex, we got a final view of the top of the temple over the trees, where you can see the Phoenix figurehead silhouetted against the blue sky. With being burnt down so many times, the Phoenix feels like the right figurehead to me.

    Afterwards we went for a wander around some side streets. Vela found a sweet treat of ice cream and rice dumplings with a sweet soy side, but ended up not liking it - Nathan's benefit!

    For dinner we met up with Nathan's Aunty Jeanette, who just happens to be travelling Japan at the same time as us. Jeanette also brought her friend Pam along. We had yakitori chicken, and I think we ended up eating pretty much a whole chicken in the process. Very cool to be able to meet up halfway across the world!    Read more

  • Our OE
    2
    Day 12

    Osaka Castle (and some craft beer)

    April 13 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Today was another travel day. After breakfast we made our way to the train station and took the rapid service from Kyoto to Osaka. Pretty uneventful trip taking only two hours.

    After arriving we checked in and headed out to find some lunch. We visited a sushi train and spotted an unusual item on the menu... Whale skin... We ummed and ahhhed over the morality of trying this, and eventually settled on a "when in Japan", and "they didn't kill the whale just for us" position and ordered two small pieces. In hindsight it wasn't worth it. The whale was tough, chewy and tasteless. We think they're better off swimming in the ocean.

    After lunch we went for a walk around the 60m tall Osaka castle. On our way we spotted some Sakura, but the trees are definitely past their full bloom with the white and pink petals being replaced by their spring leaves. The trees lining the canal would have been completely white a few days ago but are starting to look more green/brown. We were very lucky with our timing to see them in full bloom elsewhere.

    We did notice some other blossoming trees as well, but we weren't sure if they were cherry trees as the flowers looked very different. After some research, it turns out that yes these are also cherry trees, and that the types of cherry tree with more petals on their blossoms often bloom a week or two later than the most common ones, which have only 5 petals.

    After a wander around Osaka castle we headed to the area around Dotonbori where we met up with Cass' parents, Freddy and Kim, for a couple of crafty beers. Afterwards we made our way over to Shake Shack - we had their burgers about 6 years ago in New York and Vela hasn't stopped raving about them since. So when we saw they were in Osaka we had to have another taste!    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English