For my Japan trip photos, click here.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010 to Monday, 5 April 2010
We were on our way to Tokyo station quite early. Shinkansen leaves at 8.30 (from memory) so we didn’t have time to dilly dally.
Got to the platform on time, bought ourselves bento boxes for lunch and we’re on our way to Hiroshima.
It was our first Shinkansen ride. We were excited.
The Shinkansen passed the Mt.Fuji view but I was able to resist my urge to take photos of it. I don’t know why but for me Mt.Fuji wasn’t that exciting. I couldn’t remember if we needed to switch to another Shinkansen somewhere but the train ride to Hiroshima took about five hours from Tokyo and of course, most of the time we were sound asleep.
And so we arrived in Hiroshima.
We didn’t waste much time in Hiroshima station. Went straight to our hostel, checked in and straight back to Hiroshima station since we wanted to catch a train to Miyajima-guchi.
When we were waiting at the platform, I wasn’t sure of what was going on but nobody seem to be getting on board the train, so we tried asking around, and by asking around I meant asking around since it’s really quite a daunting task if you don’t speak Japanese.
Not sure what was really happening but apparently the train to Miyajima-guchi wasn’t running at that time and we had to take the tram to Miyajima-guchi.
No worries, I’ve been on trams before, they’re alright.
Mistake! Apparently everybody from the station (yes I’m exaggerating a bit) had already queued at the tram stop for tram No.2, the one that’s going to Miyajima-guchi. And after we got on the tram, it was jam packed with people *reminiscing my Tokyo trains experience* and so it began, the hour-long tram ride to Miyajima-guchi. It felt like so long that when there are actually space in the tram for me to sit down, I didn’t feel like it anymore.
An interesting fact: you get on the tram from the front door and exit from the left-hand side door where you pay your fares to the conductor there.
When we got to Miyajima-guchi, it was freakin’ cold. I finally sat on board the ferry that’s going to take us to Miyajima island.
And there it was, Itsukushima jinja. I went all the way to Hiroshima just for this.
And so began the long walk from the ferry terminal to the actual giant tori and when I got there I was amazed. It was huge. Photos didn’t turn out great since the sun was facing our way and I, being a lazy person that I am, didn’t bother bringing a tripod with me so I could HDR the view.
We stayed there until the sun went down. It was freezing. I bought a few manjus on my way back and when I finally got back to the ferry terminal, the warm tea in that pet bottle felt like the best tea I’ve ever had. It gave me warmth, it gave me sensation (of all twenty days of travel this day killed my legs the most. It was far and it was cold), it gave me life.
Back at Hiroshima station, I was already craving for some Hiroshimayaki and I got mine from Reichan in the Hiroshima station complex shopping mall. It was big, it was tasty, it was satisfying. And afterwards, we went back to our hostel.
The next day, it’s our second Shinkansen ride. We’re going backwards to Osaka. Took about two hours from Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka station. From Shin-Osaka station we had to take another train to Osaka station and from there we had to take the Osaka-loop train to Noda.
In Osaka, nobody speaks English.
That’s not an understatement, they’ll actually force you to speak Japanese. Don’t trust me? Well, seeing is believing. Go ahead and try.
And the subway system didn’t help making it any easier either. I think Osaka’s train system is the worst compared to Tokyo and Kyoto. We didn’t reach the ryokan without getting lost first by a rapid service that actually went past Noda. We had to go back a bit.
As usual, after we got to Noda station, maps didn’t help so we had to…yes, ask around. We finally found the hotel we were staying in and even there, they just spoke really really broken English. Example: yes, phone *pointing to a telephone*, black, free.
We waited until we could check ourselves in. It was 3PM by then and we went out again half an hour after that.
The site we were after was the Osaka 1970 Expo park. It was located at Banpaku Kinen Koen station. Got on the train to Senri Chuo station and took a monorail from there. Walked a bit more and I finally saw it from afar.
The Tower of the Sun.
As glorious as it was drawn in the 20th Century Boys manga..only without the ‘friend’ logo.
After getting lost again, of course, we managed to get ourselves to Dotonbori. Time to feast! My friends ordered tempura, seafood etc etc and I could only manage to get myself a pot of sukiyaki, with raw egg, of course. It was delish. And so the night ended.
The trip to Koya-san the next day was probably the longest trip without Shinkansen ever for us. It was two train rides, a cable car ride and we had to take buses within the Koya-san complex. The whole trip to Koya-san probably took an hour and a half one way.
Went straight to Okuno Dobyo, the deepest site at Koya-san complex and made our way backwards to the entry. It was already 4PM when we left. I was quite tired and hungry.
That night we went to Naniwa Kuishinbo Yokocho, a foodcourt which supposedly was modeled after Osaka in the 70s (or 80s) but we got there quite late and most of the food stalls were already closed. Dammit! Had a curry rice but it wasn’t great.
The day after, took another Shinkansen to Kyoto. After checking in, we had lunch at Sukiya. This was one of the many meals we were going to be having at this place. For us, it was cheap, it was delicious, it was fast. I, of course, got myelf a gyuudon with raw egg.
Inari station was only two stops away from Kyoto station. Here lies the infamous Fushimi Inari Taisha. For you who has seen the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, this is the place where they shot the oh-so-many-red-gates scene. We didn’t finish the whole complex as it was quite big. We decided to have a walk around the district and had a look at a lot of shops, mostly selling seafood and souvenirs.
That afternoon, we went to Gion. I had to see what it was like and it was quite packed. Had to take a bus to go there and, as usual, it was jam packed without any seats left.
Fact: get on the bus from the left-hand side door and exit from the front door next to the driver where you’d pay your fares there. Prepare small change.
We weren’t quite sure what to do in Gion so we walked around and ended up at an opening of a festival. Can’t remember what it was but it had something to do with the sakura. Got one free shot of sake and felt a bit woozy afterwards. Yes, I haven’t had anything to eat yet. Stayed in Gion until probably 8PM-ish and back to, yep you guessed it, Sukiya! Actually we wanted to have dinner in this fancy place where they’ve got like a kaiseki but it was fully booked.
Next morning, another Shinkansen ride to Himeji. Took about an hour from Kyoto. When we got there, me and a friend just rushed to Himeji-jo as there was a sign that said, in English, waiting time at the entrance of the castle was 40 minutes. I knew we couldn’t waste so much time since we had to catch our Shinkansen ride back to Kyoto later that afternoon.
So after a lot of queueing, we got to enter the castle. The wait is finally over.
Apparently not. It was the same inside. And after what felt like a few hours of queueing, we finally were able to go into the castle, explore all six levels of it, went back down and exit. We had to take our shoes off to enter the castle but they did provide plastic bags for us to carry our shoes. Free of charge.
After Himeji, rode the Shinkansen again back to Kyoto and I went to Pontocho dori, next to Gion, which is an alleyway famous for nightlife, geisha, restaurants and teahouses. Got some snaps of a couple of geishas, or as they say for geishas originating from Kyoto, geiko.
The bus ride to Kinkakuji the following morning was a long one. As usual, it was packed. I guess everybody wanted to get a look at what the Golden Pavillion is all about.
Got there after about an hour standing in the crowded bus.
Once we got to the photo spot of Kinkakuji, I was pissed and I can now say that Chinese tourists are the worst. Well, maybe that’s not true but these people made it seem that way for me.
I was just doing my business, that’s photographing my view in front of me. I was leaning on the fence in front of me when this couple of Chinese tourists started pushing me to the side.
First push I thought OK, they might just be getting themselves next to the fence in between other people so I sorta let that go. Then came the second push, so I took a quick look at them and went back to photographing. While I had a glance at them, the woman said something in Chinese, which I didn’t understand, but I was sure it wasn’t asking me politely to move away (I kinda guessed out of her facial expression), so I just continued taking photos when another push to my hand landed.
Seriously, couldn’t you just wait for a few seconds?
What does she think? That I’d be standing there the whole day just to not let her have her picture taken with her boyfriend/husband?
Back to Kinkakuji, I did a circle of the complex and out. Went back to Kyoto station area and had lunch. Not at Sukiya but at this fancy restaurant I wrote above.
Afterwards, went to Arashiyama to Sagano bamboo grove. To tell you the truth, I was expecting more, but I took photos nevertheless.
Later that night, I did my laundry and hung around at our hostel with a large can of Sapporo.
The following day, it was time to go back to Tokyo, but not before visiting Kiyomizu dera.
The bus to Kiyomizu dera was the same with the one we took to go to Gion, only we didn’t have to stop as far.
It was quite a long hike to the entrance but I persevere. It was still early after all. The temple was gorgeous. Especially with the sakura around it. Walked till I finished the whole complex and went back down. My friend rented a kimono and I took a few photos of her.
Had a bowl of Kyoto style noodle soup and we were on our way back to the hostel. Checked out and went to catch our last Shinkansen ride of the trip back to Tokyo.
To be continued…
No comments:
Post a Comment