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East Asia

March - April 2024
  • Aushim Krishan
  • Divya Deepankar
Divya and Aushim’s month long adventures across various parts of East Asia Read more
  • Aushim Krishan
  • Divya Deepankar
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  • 70footprints
  • 29days
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  • East Asia

    Art meets Science

    March 23, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    For our final day in South East Asia, our friend Ravi suggested we should ditch our original plan of going to Universal Studios and go instead to the ArtScience Museum. We liked the idea and queuing up for rides in the heat was anyway not appealing. So after a nice breakfast of dosas and idlis, we went to the museum to see two ongoing exhibitions - Future World and Mars: The Red Mirror. Both of them were incredibly good. The Future World exhibition was by Teamlab and involved interactive screens merging the digital and real worlds. One of the installations involved us drawing animals on paper using crayons, which we then scanned and they appeared as actual digital animals swimming in an ocean displayed on the wall. The crystal installation was the best reminding us of the tesseract from Interstellar. The Mars exhibition showcased the history and mythology of how Mars has been viewed by humans through the ages. We would highly recommend this. It’s a great way to spend a weekend afternoon.Read more

  • East Asia

    Family in Japan

    March 24, 2024 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    So we’re back in Japan and it’s a family reunion with a group of 7 - Divya and I, my parents, my younger brother Nishu and his wife Purva, and Purva’s mom. All of us landed around the same time (except Nishu and Purva who landed the previous evening) but at different airports in Tokyo. Our first task was to meet at Tokyo station to catch the Shinkansen (Japan’s bullet train). After some issues with having multiple Suica cards in our iPhones and navigating the immensely complicated Tokyo station, we somehow managed to catch the train. We reached Kyoto in the afternoon amidst slight rain and cloudy weather, not what we were hoping for. Nevertheless, after checking in to our hotel and having some delicious home cooked food from India (parathas, aloo, karela, kathal), we were energised to head out and start exploring Japan.Read more

  • East Asia

    Gion

    March 24, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We headed out towards the Gion district, one of Kyoto’s most popular areas. Our first stop was the Kiyomizu-dera shrine. After spending some time there, we walked along the bustling streets of Gion, lined with places to eat and shop. We tried some Matcha tea and tried some Japanese sweets. We also saw Matcha latte being expertly prepared by hand. Our next stop was the Maruyama Park and the Yasaka shrine. Both moms were a bit tired at this point so I stayed with them and we rested while the rest of the group went inside the park to see the Yasaka shrine, which they said was impressive, especially the lights. The Sakura was non-existent, mostly because of the weather - the rain had dropped the temperature and the flowers had not bloomed yet. Divya and Nishant wanted some fresh juice. As they went to a street vendor requesting ‘Orange juice’ it was indeed amusing to see the vendor blend the juice inside 1 orange, dip a straw and hand them an orange juice.

    We finally went for some dinner to a nice Udon/Ramen place to end the very long day.    Read more

  • East Asia

    Nara

    March 25, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We headed out early morning to Nara. The multiple Suica cards were still problematic, but Divya had a theory for what was going wrong - the phones were picking the same card again and again. After reaching Nara, we took a bus straight to the Todai-ji temple, and were surrounded by lots of wild deer - famous for bowing when they accept food from tourists. We tried this ourselves (especially Divya and Purva) and found the deer to be extremely greedy. While they were indeed bowing a little, they were more eager to just get the food through any means. The Todai-ji shrine was impressive with the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. The weather was not great - it was drizzling mildly the whole time. We encountered our first sight of Sakura in the Nara park, but only a handful of trees had bloomed, the vast majority had not. We had some lunch in a small local place, where we tried their Ramen and Warabimochi, and then headed to the Nara station to catch a train to Osaka.Read more

  • East Asia

    Osaka

    March 25, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    On our way to Osaka, we tested Divya’s theory on the Suica cards. We decided to turn off the express travel mode on the iPhone wallet settings. Purva and I had a strong hunch that this time it will work, and it did. We had unlocked a major achievement. After reaching Osaka, our first stop was the Osaka castle, another destination which was nice, but would be extremely stunning if the Sakura trees had already bloomed, which they had not. We then headed to Osaka’s biggest happening district - Dotonbori (by the river - Dotonbori). We randomly bumped into my cousin Shashank and his wife Sadhvi (who are travelling in Japan during the same time) in front of the famous Glico billboard. We then walked around the bustling market lit with neon lights all over and tried some street food - Takoyaki, before sitting down in a restaurant in Dotonbori for some delicious Okonomiyaki - Osaka’s speciality. After a hearty dinner, we headed back to Kyoto. We first got onto the wrong train (Thunderbird, which requires a special ticket) before changing trains mid way and accidentally separating the group because the doors closed before everyone could get on. Everyone still eventually managed to get back to the hotel easily and within minutes of each other.Read more

  • East Asia

    Swinging samurai swords

    March 26, 2024 in Japan ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    Unfortunately, I had caught a cold and was feverish the previous night and so decided to rest up for the morning after taking some medication. The rest of the group went to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, but even their experience wasn’t the best because of heavy rains. In the afternoon, I was rested and ready to head out. We went for a Samurai Ninja experience, situated in the Nishiki market. We had probably mistakenly booked the experience in Tokyo, but we went to the Kyoto site and the person at the door let us in after glancing at our tickets. We thanked our luck and went inside. The experience was fun. We all got to wear the traditional Samurai robes. The instructor was very enthusiastic and showed us how to hold and swing the sword. We practiced with wooden swords before using a real sword (Katana) to slash and cut some target sticks. We then also got to wear Samurai armour and helmet and click some pictures. Overall, a cute and enjoyable experience, especially the part with the real Katana.Read more

  • East Asia

    Nishiki market

    March 26, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    After the Samurai experience, we went strolling around the Nishiki market, full of street food and general shopping avenues. Most of the market was covered with a shed on the top, which meant it was shielded from any drizzle or cold weather and it made it more comfortable to enjoy the market. Divya, Nishu and I tried some Wagyu beef sushi and warm sake, which were both amazing. We later tried some sweet fried tofu, which made for a yummy early evening vegan treat for all. We then headed towards our planned dinner place, where we would be joined by my cousin Shashank and his wife Sadhvi.Read more

  • East Asia

    Indian feast in Kyoto

    March 26, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    The plan was to go to a Vegan Ramen place, which Purva had found after a lot of research. This was after her first choice - a restaurant called Kichikichi Omurice had said it would be closed on our dates. But then, when we reached the Vegan Ramen place, we found out that it was reservation-only for the evening, which was weird because we had tried to reserve it earlier and they had said they don’t take reservations in advance. Purva was bummed. After trying and calling a few other Japanese restaurants in vain, we decided to go to an Indian place called Chander Marutamachi, which was happy to give us a table for 9 people on short notice. We ordered heartily. The food was pretty good and most of the group was just relieved to taste some good Indian food after many days. Shashank and Sadhvi joined us and we shared our travel stories of Japan, and what we had and had not liked till now. After dinner, we took a bus (which was very crowded) back to the hotel and ended the day.Read more

  • East Asia

    Fushimi Inari Taisha

    March 27, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Divya and I woke up early morning at 5.30am and went to the Fushimi Inari shrine. Divya wanted to do it again because the experience the previous day was very inferior. I was also game because I couldn’t visit the previous day due to my poor health. The rest of the group took it easy and woke up later. The Fushimi Inari shrine was beautiful. This was finally our first dry, sunny morning in Japan since arrival. We managed to beat the crowds and were able to walk around, click lots of pictures and just enjoy the vibe. We also met Shashank and Sadhvi on our way out. They had also decided to come early and beat the crowds. By the time we were back, the rest of the group was almost ready for our next activity - Japan’s famous tea ceremony.Read more

  • East Asia

    Japanese tea ceremony

    March 27, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    After the whole group got ready, we shipped our large suitcases to our hotel to Tokyo, checked-out and stored the small ones at the hotel reception to pickup later in the day. We headed to the Kyoto station, stopped for some breakfast and then went to the platform to catch our train to Obaku where the tea ceremony was supposed to happen. Now, even though we reached the platform on time, it was practically impossible to get on the train because of how packed it was. We had to just wait for the next train and be late for the ceremony. Thankfully, on reaching the venue (which was a temple), our host was very gracious and invited us in. The ceremony itself was pretty good, peaceful and a fascinating cultural experience. We were told about the history of the tea ceremony and its significance for the Japanese people particularly the elites in the past, and how it has changed over the centuries. We then followed our host in following the precise rituals and hand movements to first have Japanese Mochi sweets and then prepare and drink Matcha tea. It was interesting to see the sheer number of rules and steps involved in making and drinking a simple cup of tea. Our host also took time to guide us through each stage, the whole activity lasting two hours instead of the planned one. Everyone left the venue feeling enriched.Read more

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