Two weeks seem to have gone in a flash and no sooner had we left that we seem to be straight back in London and thinking about work.
It has been a fantastic trip and we have seen so much together that I wanted to try to capture a brief snapshot of the fun we have had, so here goes:
Visited Tokyo
Enjoyed raw fish at the fish market
Looked for but did not find cat cafe
Tried Maid cafe (for all of 5 seconds, yuck)
Realised we had two teenagers on the trip
Found Nellie is good at sarcasm – beating Mr Fogg on this one!
Saw lots of shrines
Visited Korea Town – twice!
Listened to at least 15 K-pop records at the same time (a bit like cats wailing)
Had authentic Korean food cooked in front of us
Tried Korean face mask – wow fab things
Saw so much K-pop merchandise- we need to change businesses and start a boy band!!
Ate soooo many fruit smoothies and ice cream thingies
Walked miles
Visited Harajuku, Akhibara, shinjuku, Ginza, Asakusa and the Sky Tree Tower
Spotted hundreds of Starbucks ( and Excelsior)
Found new favourite cafe chain called Choco – co
Explored local food stores and amazed at the weird things you can buy
Travelled to Kyoto on the bullet train
Stayed in a 90 year old traditional house- simply lovely
Walked some more miles
Endured 36 degree heat
Visited Nara, met aggressive deers
Ate shaved ice cold tea flavour
Got hot and bored at the Imperial Palace
Visited Ryoan-ji- a famous Zen garden
Got eaten by giant Mosquitos
Managed to buy fabric protector in the local shop instead of bug spray
Entertained everyone with my attempted mine for bug spray to bemused 18 year old in shop
Saw giant green bug in Nellies room – pretty
Learnt that Nellie knows quite a few Japanese words
Found another cake shop – yummy
Ate Chinese food, Thai food and Italian
Became adept at chop sticks
Visited Fushimi Inari shrine – wonderful to see
Visited Kyomiza-dera and watched Mr Fogg drink from the fountain of youth again (it’s not working!)
Walked more miles
Saw lots of pretty dragonflies
Navigated the busses
Went to Arishiyama and saw the monkies.
While at Arishiyama visited the bamboo grove – both teenagers pointed out how dull it was
Found another pretty shrine
Watched a dumb American irritate the monkies
Found Nellie prefers big cities to rural stuff
Sweated buckets!
Travelled to Hiroshima via bullet train
Enjoyed bento boxes on the train
Stayed in ryoken – great reception and service but it’s gone downhill since we last stayed.
Possibly got stomach bugs from inedible food
Slept in same room – Mr Fogg snored loudly
Met Masato-San for a tour of Hiroshima – saw the Peace Park, Hiroshima Castle and the Peace Museum.
Also saw actual ground zero – we thought it was the A bomb domb but we were wrong
Learnt more about Hiroshima and aspects of Japan we did not know
Took a train and ferry to Miyajima Island – and decided this was our favourite place
Stayed at the Watanabe Inns with the Watanabe family – 90 years of Ryoken ownership- a magical place.
Had amazing food at the Ryoken
Ate a fish which looked at us from the plate (I now know what you call a fish with one eye) – delicious
Ambled in traditional yukata robes down to the waterside to see the shrine lit with lanterns at night
Saw lots of friendlier deer
Saw more shrines
Travelled to Kobe
Ate the worlds best beef in the tiniest restaurant
Had beer
Stayed at the Hotel Trusty – nice place, shame about the name
We were too tired to explore much so chilled rather that sightseeing
Returned on a 4 hour bullet train to Tokyo
Ate more bento boxes
Tired Nellie out completely (we suspect she will sleep for the week when in Cumbria)
Had one last wander in Tokyo at night
Got up at silly o’clock for the train to the airport
Got posh family behind us on the plane with spoilt brat
Slept
Ate
All told a magical two weeks. Would we repeat this?? Yes, any time. It has been good to explore Japan and see some area with different eyes.
Bye bye Japan – for now
Posted by YourTourGuideChick