The journey continues through Asia
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2010
1
21
22
Trip End
Sep 01, 2010
Kyoto, Kinki, Japan
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Japan was definitely the country I was most looking forward to visiting and it hasn't let us down on any level (although again it is extremely hot as this time of year). The Japanese are so civilised and are very welcoming and helpful even when they don't have much of a grip of English. They clearly value customer service highly - loving the ticket inspector on the train bowing as she entered and left each carriage and a waitress at a bar we went to who accompanied us all the way to the lift as we left and bowed until the lift doors closed - and this is clearly not just for tourists, they do this for their own people too.
So we got to our first port of call by the efficient airport limousine bus system, dropping us right by the hotel which was very handy. It was the Hyatt Regency in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo - on the 13th floor so views were great across the city. Went out for our first foray in to Japan at around 8.30pm - you soon realise how many people live here, it's buzzing and packed but not scarily so for sure. Went to a rooftop bar near Shinjuku station which was full of young Japanese so we felt old but cool for a bit! Then walked round a street called Golden Gai in a slightly more seedy bit of the area - packed full of bars and restaurants. Clearly what goes on here that is dodgy goes on down long staircases as there was nothing on view! Decided to get something to eat and went to Loft - shoes off at the entrance and then we were wedged together in front of a low level counter. I went for salmon sashimi and Chloe had chicken yakitori - and shock horror she loved her first taste of authentic Japanese cuisine!
The next day (Monday) we did a bit of a tour of Tokyo - got a pass which allowed us to travel across the transport system for a day. First we caught the Yamanote overland line to Tokyo station - just what you'd expect of it, packed full of people rushing this way and that but incredibly well-organised so everyone gets to where they want to go. Had a walk in the gardens of the Imperial Palace right by the station and then caught the subway up to Tokyo Dome (the home of Japanese baseball) and an amusement park right in the heart of Tokyo. We decided to revert to childhood and spent a few hours at the park - the highlight being a monster rollercoaster which goes through a hole in a building and through a spokeless ferris wheel on its circuit. Got back to hotel about 6pm and then went out again to meet Plug who I'd been put in touch with via Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs management. Plug is English, has lived in Japan for 11 years and runs an independent record label which releases the aforementioned bands as well as many others. He turned out to be a great laugh and took us to some bars and a restaurant we would never have found through Lonely Planet. We ate at a Korean restaurant where the menu is a picture of a cow with the various bits of it described - you choose which bits you want and you then cook thin slices of them yourself on a hot griddle on the table. Tasted remarkably good even though Plug picked tongue, diaphragm, brisket and tripe. I think the lemon sours and Korean rice wine helped....thanks to him for a top night.
Tuesday we travelled to Osaka on the bullet train, yes it is seriously fast. Took two and a half hours to get to Osaka and then we managed to find the one exit out of the subway station near our hotel which didn't have an escalator or elevator - dragging our bags up a long staircase trying to avoid many Japanese coming down it is not easy let me tell you!
Stayed at Cross hotel - lucked out again as it was very nice. I walked to Namba station in Osaka to buy our tickets for the next day when we were travelling to the Buddhist temple in Koyasan from Osaka. Once this was done, we headed out to the busy Dotonbori area and decided to eat at a Lonely Planet pick which turned out to be a winner. It was an okonimiyaki restaurant called Chibo - okonimiyaki being a cross between a pancake and omelette stuffed full of meat or seafood or vegetables, whatever you want really. Got to our table and there was a big hot plate in the middle of it which the staff fired up. We suddenly thought oh Christ we're going to have to cook it ourselves (have you got a manual in English?) but fortunately we were able to watch the chefs cook up all their orders and then they chuck your one on the hot plate to keep it warm and cooking (same thing with the noodles we also ordered). One of the most fun meals we've had on the trip and again Chloe loved it!!
Yesterday we travelled to Koyasan which was nearly 2 hours away by train, cable car and bus up in the mountains south of Osaka. Very very helpfully the Cross hotel let us keep our big bags with them which turned out to be a godsend as we would have had a nightmare trying to lug them on the various forms of transport to Koyasan. Got there about 3.30pm and were welcomed by the monks at the temple we were staying at, Eko-in. Dinner was served in our room at 5.30pm - a vegetarian feast with some really interesting flavours and ways of presenting the food. We tried everything! We then decided to walk up to Okunoin, a huge ancient graveyard in Koyasan which has over 200,000 gravestones, monuments and mausoleums, all in different styles. Very eerie to walk through it at dusk but a very peaceful place - the big temple at the end of the path was particularly spectacular. Got back to temple about 9pm and went to bed on the beds the monks had made up in our room (not the most comfortable but good for the soul I guess....).
Today we were woken at 6.00am to attend the Buddhist prayers and fire ceremony - the first part was half an hour of prayers and an address by the chief monk. Obviously didn't understand a word of what was going on but I did get up and throw incense in to a pot at one point when prompted by one of the worshippers - my wife bottled it and didn't go up to do this. We were then led to another small temple to witness the fire ceremony. Conducted by the chief monk, he made a fire in minutes with all different coloured flames, blue, yellow, orange and purple (I'm sure health and safety would have had some issues as we all sat round the flames with sparks etc shooting up). A great experience and we left the monastery around 9.30am knackered but inspired.
Caught the cable car and train back to Osaka, picked up our bags from the Cross hotel (a big thank you to them), a taxi to Osaka station and then we caught an express train to Kyoto. Arrived at Kyoto around 2,30pm and cabbed it (we're done with lugging our bags too far in to the public transport system) to the hotel for our last couple of days in Japan - Chloe is being made up to look like a geisha tomorrow afternoon, watch this space for the photographic evidence.
Love
Mr & Mrs Lynch
Comments
Can't believe how adventurous you are with food - you obviously don't have a Hawkins stomach!! (Be glad!)