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  • Day 37

    The Finale

    May 10, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    The last day of our travels since we left NZ on 4th April. (37 days)
    The last day of constant adventure since we finished work and left Tauranga on the 19th Feb to start exploring the South Island of NZ (81 days).

    We started the morning with the blaring of sirens on our phone at 4.20am and a big earthquake that followed not 10 seconds later. Both of us were shocked into consciousness by the swaying of the building from the 8th floor where we were. Being from NZ, earthquakes are not too terrifying but being in a foreign country and not knowing whether the building’s integrity could withstand such a shake made it a little more scary! It shook for longer than I expected and aftershocks were more prolonged than I was used to.. but after peeking out the window and seeing the roof top crane still in its place I figured it was probably safe to head back to bed. Matt was sound asleep again by that point anyway!

    The few days we had in Tokyo were the perfect way to end our trip. We ate and shopped and explored. On this last day we went to visit the Sensō-Ji temple and to get a couple of souvenir caricatures drawn up @CaricatureJapanAsakusa.
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  • Day 36

    Tokyo Day 2

    May 9, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    We started the day with ramen from a booth @IchranShibuya. The whole process of food ordering and serving in Japan is fantastic and so efficient. We entered (another) underground restaurant where we placed our order and payment through a machine where we tickets were printed for us. This was a ramen only place and they had chosen to do one thing and do it well! We handed the lady the tickets and she gave us an order sheet where we had options for broth richness, spiciness, garlic content, meat content etc.. There was a panel indicating which seats/booths were currently occupied, free and being freed up. As soon as two were freed up for us, we entered through the typical Japanese half-curtains to our booth(s) which looked much like the prison call booths that you see in movies. There were bamboo blinds in front of each person which would be lifted and your order taken or dish served to you. The kitchen/meal preparation area was literally just on the other side of the blinds.

    It turned out to be quite a full day out to Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya. We explored the famous Meiji Jingu (shrine) and wandered through Yoyogi park after strolling through the vibrant and energised streets of Harajuku. In this area there is a very quirky sense of fashion that’s embraced. As in typical Japanese style, there are cafes of all sorts - dog cafe, cat cafe, owl cafe, otter cafe, maid cafe… the list goes on.

    We made it to Shibuya crossing aka “The Scramble” at rush hour and watched hoards of people crossing the 6-way crossing at the same time. It’s like a calm chaos that we did not see in the other countries we visited on this trip! The others were just pure chaos. In between the crisscrossing of pedestrians, we’d see Mario carts being driven along the main city streets. Yup, only in Japan is driving a go cart through the city in a Mario (or other cartoon) outfit a tourist attraction!
    The Birds Eye view we got from the top of one of the buildings was definitely worth the fee of a single beverage per person!

    After this, we went to see Tokyo city at night. Not as lively as Shibuya and Shinjuku as this was mainly the business district. There were loads of restaurants with little/no English on the menu which suggests it was mainly where locals would visit for their evening meals rather than tourists getting the Japanese experience! We settled on Japanese Katsu curry which really hit the spot!
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  • Day 36

    Tokyo Day 1

    May 9, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Arrived in Tokyo around 7am in the morning after 4 hours in a very uncomfortable Jetstar flight … that’s budget airlines for ya! (I wasn’t a fan of the headrest and Matt wasn’t a fan of no back seat pockets 😂) . We were both super happy to get off that plane and to feel cool air hitting our faces on the way out rather than humidity and an instant clamminess to our skin.

    After some airport-to-train navigation we had our loaded Suica cards ready to go for the hour long ride from Narita airport into Tokyo city. We stopped at a station close by to our accommodation @KINhotel and walked about 2km. On route we stopped to caffeinate. The vending machine hot and cold beverage options were one of the highlights of Japan!

    A lot of walking was done that day! We had 100yen sushi for lunch. After walking to two @Sushiro which were closed we found another sushi train and it was quite the experience. Ordering our sushi on a tablet and watching it arrive by conveyer makes for a fun lunch.

    We explored some areas of Japan that would be classed as “R18” or “Adults only” in our countries … if they even existed! As one of the must-see cultural regions of the city we entertained this and braved a 4-5 Floor mall which sold a broad and bizarre range of sex toys. The building was FIVE FLOORS!!!! Unreal. We felt like naughty teens in the store just finding everything immaturely amusing and also in disbelief that such a seemingly conservative country like Japan has an entire area of its this giant city dedicated to these fetishes. For insight, they had whole floors for life-size dolls, men’s toys, women’s toys, cosplay outfits, BDSM stuff as well as random vending machines that dispensed pieces of women’s clothing that made Matt’s face lose all colour and look like he was going to be sick 🤣.

    On a tamer note, we finished the day with a trip up to the Tokyo Skytree which was worth every dollar. The Skytree stands at (……….*MATT PLEASE INSERT FACTS HERE….)

    The Skytree were also celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Disney by having Disney character murals, fun facts and music filling the whole observatory. There’s something so memorable about watching the sun lighting up the sky red hot and setting in the distance while you have Mount Fuji in your line of vision and the Lion King’s Circle of Life is playing in the background. Perfection.
    It was really the unreal end to our first day in Tokyo and a way to stave off our sleep deprivation until nightfall.

    We had our first ramen of the trip for dinner afterwards. Again, they have machines outside to take your order, for payment and to give you a ticket. We had no clue what was written so it was a guessing game what we would be served. We ended up with 1 hot ramen and a cold ramen. We both agreed we prefer our hot ramen but the cold ramen was still so so delicious!
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  • Day 32

    Last days in El Nido

    May 5, 2023 on the Philippines ⋅ 🌩️ 26 °C

    Lio Beach, Scuba El Nido round #2, Nacpan Beach, Vanilla Beach, Maremegmeg and Las Cabañas.

    Rounded off the Philippines trip with another round of scuba. This time we went to North Entalula and South Miniloc. Interesting underwater topography but quite a bit of current meant that we couldn’t safely get to the areas with loads of marine life. Still a cool experience to be able to swim alongside a 30m wall underwater at Entalula and to experience the current wall that can exist in a channel between two islands at South Miniloc.
    Miniloc was the site we were most excited for because of the thousands of snapper and 700+ different forms of marine life out there! Both of us had fun either way and are becoming so much more comfortable with the process of ascending, descending and just being underwater in general.

    We didn’t want to waste our last full day so that afternoon we took a tricycle for $1200 return to Nacpan beach 40 minutes away. Such a beautiful beach that stretches up the coast. Perfect spot for sunbathing and swimming although sea lice are such a pain! Right now there are harmless spots and rashes all the arms and legs!

    Although the rain really bucketed down for periods, we were so lucky and got patches of sunshine while we were at Nacpan and when we got to Las Cabañas beach for sunset. No actual setting of the sun was witnessed but the bright colours that made the sky light up were well worth it!

    Side note: frogs in sewer tunnels sound like a baby cow stuck in a drain
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  • Day 30

    El Nido Diving!!

    May 3, 2023 on the Philippines ⋅ 🌩️ 28 °C

    Diving! We went on our first fun dives with @200BarDive in El Nido and our dive master Errol. We had another British girl with us and a boat of other fun people. It was great not to have a full boat and just the 10-12 of us on the smaller speed boat.

    Site 1 for the day was at Nat Nat. We dived to about 17-18m and saw loads of fish. On the descent, I came very close to standing on a Stingray on the sandy floor. We saw a couple of puffer fish, sea cucumber, a huge trigger fish, loads of clown fish and parrotfish.
    Highlight: watching two cuttlefish (male and female) interact and the colour changes that the male displays for mating. Who knew cuttlefish were so cool!!?!!

    Site 2 - Helicopter island or as Errol says ‘drumstick island if you’re hungry … because it looks like a drumstick’. We saw colourful coral, electric clam, poisonous lion fish, razor fish and schools of other small, curious and cheeky fish.
    Highlight: We saw a turtle!! Super mellow guy just at the bottom of the sandy floor eating seaweed. It would follow wherever the seaweed went and even went up to the surface and back down towards/on top of us again.

    One of the highlights from our trip so far! The water clarity was incredible and the ocean is so clean out here. They really do a great job preserving their environment in El Nido. Let hope it can continue to be el nido/the best for the turtles!
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  • Day 30

    Island hopping in El Nido

    May 3, 2023 on the Philippines ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Snorkel day!

    Super chill day snorkelling around islands and bays near El Nido.
    - Helicopter island
    - Matinloc Shrine
    - Secret Beach
    - Talisay Beach
    - Hidden Beach

    Each one was so different and beautiful!
    We saw loads of clown fish, little jelly fish (that created nice welts on our bodies!), eel, sea snake and starfish!

    We had onboard karaoke where Matt and I joined forces with the singular Italian, Irish and Swiss to form a miscellaneous team to sing Country Roads 🎤 🎶

    On the way back we were lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins before the storm came rolling through.
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  • Day 25

    Ninh binh, Vietnam

    April 28, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    We stayed at an Airbnb homestay with Anna at Ninh Binh Palm homestay for 2 nights. We borrowed her bikes and rode 30+km to visit some must see stops in the area.

    On route to our first stop, Matt’s bike chain snapped and to top it off, drops of rain started down and his haunting stomach cramps started to do their thing. After messaging our homestay host an sos message we just waited for the repair man and we’re on our way after that.

    First stop was Trang An - scenic boat ride down a river loop through caves. The longest cave we went through was 1km long and very low in some places! Super cool experience … especially when a bat comes out of nowhere right toward you! The ride lasted about 3 hours which is a LONG time for the poor rowers! Helped that we had stops where we could get out of the boat for a bit to stretch our legs!

    Second stop: Hang Mua peak where we climbed a lot of stairs to reach a dragon sculpture and a pagoda at the top. Neither of these were fascinating but the views were pretty incredible! Lots of people at this site which spoils it a little but still nice views either way. We heard some thunder rolling in from the distance and decided we didn’t fancy being on the top of the mountain so we started heading down for our 15km cycle back home … in the rain.

    Because the homestay is so close to the Bai Dinh Pagoda, we took some dirt roads and managed to see them in the night fully lit up. We didn’t have time on this trip to visit but next time for sure! Being the biggest pagoda complex in Southeast Asia, it’s one that we need more time for but at the same time, glad we caught a glimpse of it!
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  • Day 23

    Halong Bay … on a 5 star cruise!

    April 26, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Fun fact, there are 600+ cruise boats on Halong bay! They get to take 1 of 4 routes through Halong Bay and Lan Ha bay.

    We decided we would splurge to see the world famous Halong bay via cruise boat with Sena cruises. It was an experience with lots of food and random activities like a cooking class and tai chi as well as kayaking, squid fishing, karaoke and a small boat tour through some caves. After having spent the last few weeks backpacking, a room on a fancy boat with fancy people and fancy dining really made us feel like royalty! We had our own little outdoor seating area from our room and a very nice bathroom.

    It was a nice experience but probably one that both of us thought would be a once in a lifetime activity that we needed to do! We prefer our simple life of adventure!
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